Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗
- Author: F.J. Blooding
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“Honestly? I don’t know.” Brian spun in a slow circle then shrugged.
“I want to find it. If they were here, so many of them, they were probably in a building. If not, I need to see where. Search for trampled grass, broken saplings. Whatever. I need to know if they left a clue.”
Brian nodded and took off in one direction.
She couldn’t say which direction he went. She had no mountains to tell her which way was west, and she wasn’t on streets she knew like her apartment at night. She was lost. Great.
After searching for the better part of a half hour, her phone buzzed. Taking it out of her back pocket, she checked it. Dexx. He texted her, Where are you?
With a grimace, she Swyped back, Looking for demons. She didn’t bother stashing it back in her pocket. She paused in her meanderings as her phone vibrated again, then again, and again in quick succession.
Are you ducking kidding me? His phone was on auto-correct.
Give me your location.
I’m going to ducking kill you. You hear me? He must be really upset to miss that.
She grimaced and texted back, I’m fine. They’re gone.
His reply was almost immediate as if he’d sent it before she’d responded. Call me.
So she could get an ass-chewing for doing her job? Not likely.
Her phone vibrated again. Brian. Found nothing. You?
She scanned the area one last time. No.
Bring it in, he responded.
Sure. If she knew where she was.
She’d made it out of the small cemetery and into the surrounding woods. Nature amazed her. When humans deserted a place, the trees and grass and other things reclaimed it. No muss. No fuss. Just took it back.
She retraced her steps, the sun starting the darkening decent. She should have brought her flashlight, but hadn’t realized they’d be there this long. If she got truly lost, she’d use the flashlight app on her phone.
Dexx’s text message vibrated in her hand. She ignored it, looking for landmarks to guide her back.
That’s when she saw it.
A broken branch and what could have been a game trail leading off to the side. She hadn’t seen it coming from the other direction. Her eyes never stopping, she took the path, following the broken branches and the flattened vegetation.
The trail spilled out into what had to have been the front lawn, and rising out of the forest stood a good-sized stone church.
Her phone buzzed again. She hit the call button, Brian’s name, and put the phone to her ear.
“Where are you?”
“Really couldn’t say for sure, but I found the church.”
“Is anyone there?”
It didn’t look like it. She heard nothing but birds squawking all around her. She saw no movement through the large busted windows. “No. I think it’s empty.”
“Is your GPS on?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Give me a minute. I’m coming to you.” The call went silent.
She ignored Dexx’s text message and scanned the area in the dimming light. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary for a large, abandoned building. Not all empty buildings were haunted. She knew that. However, her experience with the girl ghost, Jessica, was still fresh in her mind. She waited for Brian to show.
Which he did surprisingly fast. “Dexx is pissed,” he said as he broke through the tree line. “He told us to wait for him.”
She shook her head and took a step toward the church.
Brian stopped her with a hand on her arm. “And since I don’t know how to expel a demon, after what I’ve seen these guys lay out for you? I’m in agreement. We wait.”
It took Dexx a lot longer than Paige wanted to wait, though she couldn’t disagree with them. She’d been to one crime scene and one unattached investigation. She’d been hit with a trap spell both times. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d been abducted from her own room, tormented, and had a demon forced into her.
Yeah. She could use the support and the backup. Brian might not know how to handle himself in a fight with a demon, but Dexx did.
It did give her time to scope the place out. No movement. None. No graffiti. No signs of disturbance from the outside.
She called up her globe and searched again, hoping for a glitch. After all, she’d been possessed by a demon. Maybe that had jacked things up. She pulled the perimeter back. No one. It was like, either all the magickal people on the continental U.S. were hiding under the same shield, or every single one of them had disappeared. She couldn’t figure out which scared the crap out of her the most. She couldn’t even find her grandmother, mother, or sister. She was always able to find them.
Dexx must have thought he traveled a bit cross country. It really wasn’t that bad, just dirt roads that could barely be considered roads anymore. Paige heard Jackie’s rumble and a car door slam. She gritted her teeth as she played all the possible conversations that were about to ensue. They all started with, “What were you thinking?” and ended with, “Shut the fuck up.”
Brian walked back to meet Dexx half-way. The sun slid behind the trees, casting long shadows over the gravestones.
Paige didn’t want to be left by herself, even though she had full control over her gifts. She had great and powerful abilities, but it had been years since she’d used them. Like a marathon runner taking a break for three years.
Dexx had his duffle bag slung over his shoulder, his sawed-off in his right hand. His expression was tight, fixed. “I see you found their lair.”
“Maybe,” Paige said, matching her gait to his as she turned and headed back toward the church. “Seems empty now.”
“Then why are we here?”
“To see what they left behind.”
“What are we hoping to find?”
She frowned at him. The shadows hid his expression at that angle.
He stretched his neck. “I just want to know if this is even worth the trip.”
“We’re here.”
“And there could be a trap in there.” He stopped and hitched the bag on his shoulder. “What brought you here?”
“The scry globe.”
Brian folded his arms over his chest.
“And what did you see?” Dexx asked.
“About a dozen demons in this location.”
“You’re sure.”
“My globe has never lied before.”
“Okay. Fine. I’m assuming you’ve scried since you got here. Where are they?”
Paige faced the church and let out a long breath. “I don’t know. Nowhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” she said, twisting toward Dexx, “I can’t see them. They’re either hiding or they’re all gone. All of them. Every single one of them, including Grandma and Les, and every other magickal person out there.”
Pale light from above, probably the moon, glinted in his eyes. They concentrated on her chest.
Paige touched the bandage. It seemed like days ago, but her abduction had been just mere hours. Well, a bit longer than that, but still. Her wounds hadn’t healed and she didn’t think much of them. “What is it?”
He shook his head and stomped toward the church.
Brian moved to follow. “I feel as though I missed something.”
Dexx wasn’t forthcoming with answers.
Paige was just as confused as Brian.
Reaching around his back, Dexx pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on with a loud click. The interior of the church was one large room. The bell tower reigned in the far back, rafters partially fallen, dangling dangerously. He scanned the roof.
“Looks a bit unstable,” Brian commented.
Paige pulled out her phone and brought up the flashlight app. After a second or two, the light came on, bathing the area in a bright light. “I’m looking for anything other than dirt and leaves.”
“Like?” Dexx asked, meandering toward the back.
“Like a clue as to where they are and what their next move is. The idea is to stop them, Dexx. Before they kill someone else.”
Brian pulled out his phone, staring at it. “How’d you get the light thingy to work?”
“App.”
“Oh.” He flailed with his phone, then shoved it in his pocket.
Dexx dug another flashlight out of his bag. “Here.”
Paige decided to ignore his tone
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