It Never Rhines but It Pours (25 page)

Safe. What a nice word that was. Too bad it was merely an illusion. Nothing in this world was safe, and if I did just go home and hide my head I was dooming not only my children, but everyone I knew and loved, to death or slavery. I squeezed my eyes shut and silently screamed,
“I want to be normal again!”

When I opened them, Pravus was staring at me in concern. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I said shortly.

“You just looked like you were going to throw up or something.”

“Yeah?”

He shrugged. “Just don’t do it on my pentagram. I don’t want to have to redraw the lines.” He hefted the skin bag in his hand and twisted a small cap on the end. The bag was filled with a dark liquid. Slowly, carefully, Pravus started adding another design to the pentagram with a drizzle of fluid from the bag. I wrinkled my nose. Oh no. A sharp metallic smell filled the air. Oh crap. Blood. I hated anything that had to do with blood.

Sarah flounced back into the garage with a peanut butter and banana sandwich. She took a bite, sat back down on the ground, and watched Pravus with interest. “What’s he doing?” she asked around the mouthful.

I made a face. “I hope he’s not doing what I think he’s doing.”

Pravus looked up from his intricate pattern. “If you think that I am creating another pentagram around the first with blood, then you are correct.”

I covered my mouth with a hand. Sarah said, “Cool. What kind of blood?”

Pravus quirked an eyebrow at her. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah,” she took another bite. “is it human?”

He nodded. “Human blood
is
the most effective. And the younger the better.”

My stomach turned over and I swallowed hard. “Sarah?”

“Yeah, Piper?”

“What are we doing?” I whispered. Pravus went back to his blood drawing.

“We’re casting a spell on a billboard so that if there are other humans with abilities out there, then they can find us and join the USB and then our family will be safe.”

“But at what cost?”

“Cost?” she shrugged. “Look, Piper. It’s not like
you
went out and killed anyone. Wherever that blood came from, it had nothing to do with you, and it would still be in that bag even if you weren’t asking him to cast a spell. It’s not your concern.”

I shook my head. It didn’t seem right. All of this was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. There was a good chance that there was baby blood in that bag. Baby blood! I was going to do something that required a baby to have been killed! What kind of person was I? How could I justify this? Maybe it would be better to just die. Maybe there are some things that you should never do, no matter how good your reasons are.

I pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose and tried to think clearly. I loved my family. I loved Mark and the girls, and Mom and Dad, and even Sarah. I didn’t want them to be hunted down by witches. Hunted down and drained of blood and used in rituals just like the one that we were about to do.

“Ready?” Pravus was standing in the center of the pentagram. While I had been thinking, he had lit the candles and also lit five sticks of incense at the five corners of the pentagram.

“No,” I said. “Sarah, I don’t think we should do this.”

“Piper!” Sarah came to her feet. “We
have
to. Besides, it’s already mostly done anyways. You can’t back out now.”

“Yes, I can back out. I don’t want to do this.”

“But
I
do!” she yelled. “You think you’re the only person in the world who loves their family? I want Mom and Dad to be safe just as much as you do! And this is the best way to do it!”

“Make up your mind, ladies,” Pravus growled. “The spell is almost complete and if I don’t finish it soon it could backfire.”

“Backfire?” I shrieked. “No one said anything about backfiring!”

“As soon as I begin drawing the pentagram the spell begins,” Pravus said, beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. “If I don’t complete the incantation the whole thing will be ruined.”

“Do it!” Sarah yelled.

“No!” I cried.

“Make up your minds!” Pravus grunted.

“Do it now!” Sarah said louder and clamped a hand over my mouth.

“Mmhhm!” I struggled to break free but it was too late.

Pravus raised his hand and started to chant, “Trinus dea, ego dico vos! D’hul Karnain, audite meus placitum! Tribuo meus prex, ego precor.”

I heard the door to the garage open behind me. Sarah was still holding me in a death grip. I tried to turn to see who had entered but couldn’t. “Mhmhmm!” I screamed and bit Sarah as hard as I could.

“Ow!” she cried and fell back.

I whirled to see my mother standing in the doorway, her mouth dropped open in shock. “What is going on out here?” she asked in horror.

“Eximo mens illae mulier!” Pravus went on and there was a searing flash of light and for a moment I couldn’t hear or see anything.

Chapter Twenty-six:

Things Go Horribly Wrong

For a moment, I felt like I was in one of Mark’s Xbox war games and someone has just thrown a “flash-bang.” My vision was completely white and my ears were buzzing. I staggered and bumped into a yielding surface. It was Sarah.

“What happened?” I yelled, ears still ringing. My voice sounded faint and tinny.

My vision started to clear and I could just make out her face. Her lips were moving but I couldn’t hear anything. “What did you say?” I yelled louder.

Sarah shook her head and pointed to her ears. I shook mine to try and clear my eardrums and gave my earlobes a couple of pulls. Color started to seep back into my vision and I looked around the garage. Pravus was standing in the middle of the floor with a shocked look on his face. Not good. Not good at all.

The pentagram on the floor was hopelessly smudged. It looked as if some giant hand had smeared the chalk starting at the center and wiping outwards. Pravus was standing in the middle of what now looked like a blurry flower. The candles had all been knocked flat as well. From the look on Pravus’ face I could guess that this was not exactly the outcome he had intended. What had happened? I struggled to recall the events leading up to the whiteout.

I’d changed my mind. I remembered trying to stop the spell and Sarah fighting with me. But then … I shook my head again and for a wonder my ears popped and cleared. “Sarah!” I said turning, “what happened …” as I finished my turn I caught sight of the body lying in the garage doorway. Sarah was standing over our mother, hand over her mouth and fear in her eyes.

“Mom!” I cried and rushed to her side. She was crumpled on the ground, eyes closed, and face slack. Her eyelids were twitching wildly and her breathing was heavy and erratic.

“What did you do?” I screamed at Pravus.

“Me?” he finally moved, stepping carefully over the smudged chalk onto bare concrete. “I didn’t do anything. Your mom walked in at precisely the wrong moment.”

“Wrong moment!” It was all I could do not to jump to my feet and throttle him with my bare hands. “What do you mean ‘wrong moment’?”

He shrugged and brushed chalk off his hands. “She interrupted the spell. I’m not sure what affect that will have on her.”

“You never said that this was dangerous!”

He shrugged again. So help me, if he did that again I was going to kill him. “I assumed that you knew that any spell has the potential to be dangerous.”

“Why you little …” Sarah was obviously not restraining her murderous impulses as well as I was. I grabbed her ankle as she lunged at Pravus.

“Sarah!” She barely caught herself from face planting on the concrete. “We need to get Mom in the house and see what’s wrong with her. Taking it out on Pravus is not going to help anything,” I glared at him, “right now.”

Pravus sighed, “You try to help someone,” he muttered.

I ignored him. “Come on, help me lift her.” Between the two of us, we were able to half carry, half drag Mom to the living room couch. Pravus trailed after us at a distance.

I wet a hand towel in the sink and pressed the cold cloth to her forehead. “Mom?”

Her eyes fluttered open and I felt the hard knot of fear in my chest slowly release a bit. “W-what happened?” she asked feebly.

“You passed out,” I said truthfully.

“What is all the commotion about?” came an imperious voice behind me. Nana had woken up from her nap.

“Piper!” Mom grasped my arm, “who is that woman?”

I looked in shock from her to Nana. “That’s Nana.”

“Who?” There was no recognition in her eyes. “That woman is an assassin! She’s here to kill me, Piper!”

“What is she going on about?” Thankfully Nana was a little hard of hearing.

I looked with wide eyes at Sarah. Her eyes were just as huge. “Get her out of here,” I whispered.

Sarah stared blankly at me for a moment before leaping to action. “Hey Nana, are you ready for lunch? Why don’t you come in the kitchen with me and tell me what I should fix.” She led Nana off by her elbow, shooting me questioning looks over her shoulder.

I turned back to Mom. “How are you feeling?” I asked.

“How do you think I am feeling?” she snapped irritably.

“Headachy?” I guessed.

“No!” Mom looked around the room with suspicious eyes. “I assume we are hiding out here in this safe house until things blow over.”

“Safe house?”

“It’s all right, Piper. I know all about the aliens,” Mom said calmly.

“Aliens?” I choked. Did she really know about the aliens?

“Yes, aliens.” Mom sat up and gave me a look. “Why are you repeating everything I say? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Umm …”

“Never mind,” Mom got shakily to her feet. “I notice that you have neglected the protective headgear.”

I couldn’t stop myself, “Protective headgear?” I repeated dumbly.

“This is not the time to let your vanity rule your actions,” Mom said briskly. She saw Pravus standing awkwardly in the doorway. “When she was child,” she explained to him, “she hated to wear a helmet while she was bike riding. She said it made her head look like a giant mushroom and it was hot. It’s just the same now! You would think that protecting your brain from being stolen by aliens would be more important than hat hair, but no, not for Piper!”

“Mom!”

“Don’t worry,” she patted my arm. “I’m sure they have some emergency supplies in the kitchen. All the safe houses should be stocked with aluminum foil.” She headed off for the kitchen. I watched her go with my jaw hanging down to my knees.

As soon as she was gone I turned on Pravus. “What did you do?” I hissed.

“I didn’t do anything!” he protested.

“Anything! Anything!” My voice was rising into a shriek. “My mom has gone stark raving mad and you say you didn’t do
anything!
”

Pravus folded his arms defensively across his chest and grumbled, “It’s not my fault.”

“Not your fault!”

“Your mom’s right,” he complained. “You
do
have a problem with repeating everything people say. You’re like some giant, annoying parrot.”

I was halfway across the room with my fingers outstretched like claws before common sense kicked in and I realized that I might need him alive to reverse the spell. I stopped myself and stood there trembling, hands clenching and unclenching at my sides.

“Fix it,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Fix what?”

“Fix it or I’m calling Cecily over here right now.” I meant it too.

Pravus gulped. “Fine. I’ll have to do some research. I’m not sure exactly what happened.”

“Can I assume that there is
not
a spelled billboard in the Orlando area right now?” I asked caustically.

Pravus glared at me and headed back to the garage to start gathering up his witch paraphernalia. I followed. “I’m going to have to go get some more supplies. And talk to some peers.”

“You mean witches that can cast a spell without it backfiring and attacking innocent bystanders?” I asked.

He glared some more and stomped off in a huff. I liked that. My mom was the one babbling on about aliens and he had the gall to get offended that I was questioning his witchly prowess.

Calling Cecily was not such a bad idea. Pravus would be gone on his magic shopping trip so the chance of her decapitating him on sight was low, and I really could use her advice. I punched in her speed dial number and listened to the phone ring. It was the middle of her sleep cycle so I hung up and dialed again. And again. And again. Hopefully she had left her phone volume on and the incessant ringing would wake her.

I was about to give up when she finally answered. “-mmllo?”

“Cecily?”

“Who else would be answering this phone?” She obviously had not gotten up on the right side of the bed.

“We have a problem.”

I could almost feel her snapping to attention on the other end of the line. All signs of sleep were gone from her voice. “What’s happened?”