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CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

It was just before lunch when I decided it was time for Rob Maxwell to face his fate.
 
When I was finished with him, he’d pay for his role in killing my parents and he’d pay for all those years that he’d gone out of his way to make me and so many other students feel like worthless pieces of shit.

What I planned for him wasn’t a big show for those here at school.
 
In fact, I wanted to keep it as quiet as possible until the police came looking for me at school.
 
Then, once Maxwell was sitting in jail for what he’d done, the word could spread as far and as wide as it wished.
 
I’d encourage it and certainly the media would run with it.

This was going to be classic.

When I left chemistry class and started for the cafeteria, I lingered in the hall by my locker until I saw Maxwell in the crowds of students moving toward the lunch line.
 
He was alone and stood tall above everyone else, his face a stone of faux masculinity he’d perfected likely by taking the stereotypes of too many action films to heart.
 
He looked like a caricature, albeit a formidable one.
   

It was important that I wasn’t seen with him.
 
I turned slightly away so he wouldn’t notice me, opened my locker and tapped into the amulets while searching for something that wasn’t there.
 

I told them what I expected to happen to him and then turned back to watch Maxwell stop in the crowd and then move away from the cafeteria.
 
Behind him, at the far end of the hall, was one of the school’s exists.
 
He walked to it, pushed open the door, hooked a right and kept moving until I no longer could see him.

Immediately, I went into the boy’s restroom, slipped into a stall, made myself invisible and then teleported myself outside.

He was walking toward the parking lot.

He went to my car, which I could have
sworn
I’d locked but unfortunately I hadn’t, and stepped inside.
 
Everyone knew that Maxwell’s uncle was one of the city’s best-known mechanics.
 
Everyone knew that for the past several years, Maxwell had worked under his uncle, learning the trade so that he could either one day take over his uncle’s business or open his own.
 
Everyone knew he was a wiz with cars, so I knew it wouldn’t be a stretch for anyone to believe that he’d know exactly how to hotwire my Audi and take off in it.

Which is what he did, but at first, with no fanfare.
 
I made sure no one from school saw him or the car as he turned onto the street.
 
Then, I leaped into the air and flew above him as he accelerated to the exit for I-95 north.

It’s there that things got interesting.

The Audi was nothing if not fast and Maxwell was nothing if not a gifted driver.
 
While no one was going to get hurt in what was about to transpire, what was key is that he had just stolen my car and now would be charged for Grand Theft Auto.
 
You could get ten years for that.
 
In fact, he would get ten years for that.

Worse for Rob is that by driving as fast and as recklessly as he was about to drive, there were a whole host of other legal issues he’d need to deal with once I set the state police on his ass.

The air was cool on my face as I followed him onto the onramp.
 
He cut left into traffic, sliced in front of a car and then floored it.

Traffic was light.
 
The Audi was small and tight.
 
He pressed hard onto the gas and flew down the highway, weaving between cars and blaring his horn for people to get out of his way.
 
When they did, he went faster, roared past the Broadway exit and pressed even harder toward the mall.
 
Soon, a state trooper would be waiting for him on the side of the road in a speed trap.
 
Then the fun would really begin since Maxwell was going to make every effort to evade him.
 
More police would be called in.
 
A chase would ensue.

And within minutes, that’s what happened.
 

Sirens blaring, lights flashing, the police came after him with a vengeance.
 
Cars moved to the right and stopped, allowing Maxwell and the troopers to barrel through.
 
I soared above them and made Maxwell push the car even harder.
 
He was going 120 mph now, but the police were just as fast.
 
They kept time with him.
 
One was beside him, flagging him to pull over.
 
Another knocked his car against the Audi’s bumper, causing it to swerve slightly.

But Maxwell wouldn’t stop.
 
He cracked past the mall exit and pushed harder toward Orono.
 
The car was steady on the road.
 
I’d give him another mile, then I’d cut the engine and let them have at him.

I was just about to do so when, in the distance, I saw Anna.
 
I touched the amulets and was surprised to find that they were hot.
 
I was flying so fast in the brisk air and was so preoccupied, I hadn’t felt any heat from them.

She was flying from the north and heading straight toward Maxwell and the police, who couldn’t see her because she was only visible to me.
 
She landed in the middle of the road, her long brown hair whipping around her face as she looked up and smiled at me while raising her hands.
 

Only she wasn’t raising them at me.
 
They were raised for Maxwell, who was roaring toward her.
 
She was either going to hurt him or kill him.
 
I wasn’t sure but I had to intervene.

I cut the car’s engine but it was too late.
 
He was going too fast.
 
Anna shoved her hands in front of her and what I saw was a massive ripple shoot through the air mass and slip beneath the car.
 
Like a rearing horse, it lifted up into the air and started to flip backwards until it began to turn.
 
The three police cars also tumbled above Anna, whose laughter cut through the sound of their sirens as the vehicles spun above her head.

She turned around to watch them fall to the ground behind her.
 
I literally had seconds to act before they struck the pavement.
 
I teleported myself beside Anna, imagined a gun in my hand, shot her in the face and watched her head yawn open as I tapped into the amulets and pulled each person through their car door to safety.
 

It worked.
 

In the middle of the road, the cars collided on top of each other and began folding in on themselves.
 
To the left, the men landed in the grass and now were rolling onto their sides.
 
Maxwell got to his feet, but he was hurt, stunned and started weaving toward the smashed cars.
 
The Audi had ignited into flames and the smell of gasoline was everywhere.
 
In moments, the lot of it would explode.
 
Worse, a mass of traffic had screeched to a stop behind us and people were rushing out of their cars and running in our direction in an effort to help.

And then there was Anna, her face already mending itself as she cocked her head at me.
 
“You think you won?”
 
She molded a piece of her right cheek into place and I watched it heal as if a bullet never had ripped through it.
 
“You didn’t.
 
This is just the beginning of the end of you.
 
You’re about to lose everything.”

Before I could react, she swung her hands sharply behind her and blew each car into such a ferocious, searing wave of flames, they incinerated Maxwell
 
and the state troopers on contact.
 

She swung about in a circle and the fire became a ring that fanned out and cremated the first few citizens to reach the accident.
 
In horror, I watched them turn to dust.
 

As quickly as I could, I snuffed the fire before it could touch anyone else.
 
Gun in hand, I turned to confront Anna, but she was gone.

I looked at the wreckage and knew I had blood on my hands.
 
I created a situation that allowed at least a dozen people to die.

None of this was supposed to have happened, but I underestimated the witch and the war that was growing between us.
 
I felt sick to my stomach.
 
I felt sick for the dead.
 
I knew what this would mean to Jennifer and Alex.
 
They’d know I was at least partly responsible for it, which was true, and they wouldn’t tolerate it.
 
This was it for me with them.
 

School.
 
I didn’t want to go back, but I had no choice.
 
The lunch period was almost over.

I teleported myself into a bathroom stall, tried to collect myself and was startled when the bell rang.
 

I was shaking but willed myself to control it.
 
I felt as if I’d been turned inside out.
 
Rob Maxwell was dead.
 
Three police officers and several innocent people were dead.
 
My friendships with Jennifer and Alex would end.
 

I could see it all play out in front of me.
 
The police would run a check on my license plates, they’d contact the school thinking I was the one driving the car and then it would be discovered that I was alive but that Rob Maxwell was missing.
 
Remains at the scene would be checked for DNA.
 
Eventually, it would be confirmed that Maxwell stole my car and went on a joy ride that ended in the deaths of many.

The evidence would prove all of this, but there were two people who would know it wasn’t as straightforward as that—Jennifer and Alex.
 
How could I face them?
 
What would I say to them?
 
I had to tell them the truth and the truth would lead to a fallout because I knew they wouldn’t accept my part in it.

I walked out of the stall and came face-to-face with a mirror.
 
I looked pale, haunted.
 
Everything about me looked terrified and wrong.

What had I gotten myself into?

CHAPTER FIFTY

It all went down as I knew it would.
 

At the end of the day, Principal Roberts came to see if I was in chemistry class.
 
When she saw me sitting at my desk, the relief that crossed her face was unmistakable, but so was the expression of foreboding that followed it.

By the end of the day, it was confirmed that Maxwell was missing.
 
I gave a statement to the police that someone must have stolen my car.
 
No, Maxwell and I weren’t friends.
 
Yes, it could have been him who did it, but how could I know for sure?
 
Yes, he bullied me.
 
No, I wasn’t sure if he was part of the group who killed my parents.

One of the officers laid a hand on my shoulder and told me to contact my insurance company.
 
I had to sign paperwork.
 
When I was finished, each said they were sorry and wished me well.

I didn’t want to see Jennifer and Alex—at least not yet.
 
When I was out of eyesight and knew I was alone, I teleported myself to the one person I needed to see most—Jim.

As always, he was sitting on his front lawn with a beer in his hand and this time, a shotgun by his side.
 
He was listening to the radio and there must have been a dozen cats either rubbing against his legs or lying in the grass next to him.
 
When I appeared behind the stand of trees and he saw me, the concern on his face was clear.

“Sounds like you’ve had another stellar day, boy.”

“How do you know?”

“Radio.”
 
He took a long pull on his beer, crushed the can and tossed it on the ground.
 
This time, he didn’t hold out his hand for another, which was unusual.
 
“Go ahead, now.
 
Spill it.”

I left out nothing.

“Why didn’t you chop off her goddamn head when you had the chance?”

“Because I thought I could save Maxwell and the three officers by pulling them out of their cars before they hit the pavement.
 
I didn’t know she would go so far as to kill them.
 
And not just them.
 
There were at least eight citizens who left their cars in an effort to help.
 
They died because of her and because of me.”

“You didn’t kill those people, son.”

“Of course, I did.
 
I set the whole thing up.
 
She just came to the party and finished it off.”

“You and I both know that’s bullshit.
 
You just wanted to land that Maxwell kid in jail, which is what the son of a bitch deserved.
 
You never intended to hurt anyone.
 
I know you like you’re my own boy.
 
You’re no killer.
 
You didn’t cause those cars to explode.
 
She did.
 
It’s on her.”

This time he held out a hand.
 
I popped a beer into it.
 
“We got some thinking to do,” he said, cracking open the can.

“You think?”

“He’s obviously given her permission to kill to get those amulets.
 
That’s pushing it for a witch.
 
Death usually isn’t an option.”

“Why?”

“Because they’d rather stay under the radar.
 
It’s how they’ve survived so long.
 
There are more witches walking among you than you know.
 
They just keep to themselves and go about their lives.
 
Some of them are even good people.
 
But this group you’re involved in is a bunch of bad-ass motherfuckers.
 
They’re serious.
 
Unless we do something big to warn them to keep away from you, they’re not going to stop.
 
They’re going to try to intimidate you.
 
They’ll come after me and your friends to do so.
 
They might even frame you somehow.”

“Will they kill you?”

“They’ll kill
us
,” he said.
 
“
Us
.
 
Why stop at what happened today?
 
They’ve made up their minds.
 
They want those amulets.
 
They think they can get them.
 
They plan to do whatever it takes to rip them from your neck.”

“So, what do I do?
 
How do I stop this?”

“You need to get to that little witch bitch, Anna, and cut off her fucking head.
 
That’s what you need to do.
 
She kicked your ass today.
 
You had the edge for a minute when you bumped off her lookalikes, but now you’ve lost it.
 
Today, she won big.
 
She knows it and he knows it.
 
And because he knows it, he’s going to be sending her back, probably with reinforcements.”

“I can’t exactly take her out if she’s not here, Jim.”

“Well, no shit, boy.”

“So, how do I get her here?
 
If I wait for her, it could be days or weeks before she comes back.
 
In the meantime, she could do anything to any of you.
 
I need to take her on now, but I need to get her here in such a way that I still retain an element of surprise.
 
It’s only when her guard is down that I can I shoot her in the face and cut off her head.
 
And how in the hell do I do that when she’s not even here?”

“You do it with the help of another witch.”

“You think I hang out with witches, Jim?
 
Seriously?
 
Is that what you think?”

He leveled me with a look, held up his beer and drank.
 
“No,” he said with a belch.
 
“But I sure as shit do.”