Elemental Shadows (19 page)

When Kyle and I looked confused, she shook her head. "Take off your shoes, invoke Spirit," she looked at Kyle. "Bring lit incense with you," and then at both of us. "And walk widdershins. You'll know what I mean."
 

Kyle grabbed a stick of incense out of his bag before the two of us went to the sliding glass door in the dining room. We removed our shoes and I lit the incense with a pass of my hand. Kyle waved it in the air to douse the flame and once the smoke was good and thick, we stepped out onto the grass.
 

Walking widdershins, counter cock wise, was something I'd never done in a circle. Where clock wise, or deosil, was building or creating; widdershins was the act of tearing down. And after our first rotation around the edge of the garden, I invoked Spirit. Kyle waved his incense.
 

Within seconds I was overcome with weighted impressions of fear, remorse, betrayal, shock, anger, frustration, and despair… Everything toppled on me so hard and fast I crashed to the ground and was instantly surrounded by dozens more negative emotions.
 

Sam!
 

I put my hands over my head to try and block all of them out as they wove around my own similar feelings. They fed on my fear of being in this Circle and then pulled out my own guilt over Arwen's death.
 

Sam! Please, baby! Dismiss Spirit.

I held onto that voice and I knew it was right. I had to dismiss the thing that fed those ghosts of past injustice away. I took in a deep breath and yelled, "So mote it be!"
 

The silence in my head was deafening, until I felt hands on my arms. I smelled Kyle's incense and looked up to see him looking down. Grey was right there, licking my face and pushing her nose against my cheek. I reached out and grabbed that wolf as hard as I could. I felt her lean into me and I blinked back tears.
 

"Sam…it's okay," Arden said somewhere behind me. "Do you understand now?"
 

I nodded. But I couldn't speak for fear of blubbering like an idiot.
 

"He killed people here. In this garden. And he did it for years," Kyle said.
 

And he'd done it even while I lived with Ina. Oh Goddess…how many of those guests Ina had taken in and I'd met, broken bread with and shared time with had Dionysus killed over the years? So many that vanished and Ina said they had just moved on because they were transient.
 

They were here…all buried beneath the grass.
 

"We need to start," Arden said as I sat back but still held on to Grey. "Kyle, I need you and Sam to watch, okay? Same as with the Circle at my place, just observe. Usually Coyote Flames aren't built within Circles, but I want sacred space. I want there to be no mistakes. And Sam…bring Grey with you. I don't think I truly realized what a great asset she is for you until now."
 

I nodded but I didn't look up. I was wiping my eyes, realizing no one else had seen my break down. Just Kyle, Arden and Grey.
 

And then a very warm hand touched my hand. I looked over to see the familiar masculine hand of Crwys Holliard. He took my hand in his and helped me stand. Grey wagged her tail and sat at my feet as I looked up into his amber red eyes. "What….what're you doing here?"
 

"Arden called me. Filled me in. I'm here in case you get do get those kids out. A police presence you might say. Levi's here too, with a few more Revenants. They're patrolling the house's perimeter. Just in case something goes wrong."

"Like what?"
 

He brushed a tear from my cheek with his thumb. "It's a door, Sam. Doors swing both ways."
 

Oh. He meant in case something else comes out besides the children. I'd seen Crwys's power. I knew what he could do. I just didn't know what he was. And that was really starting to bug me.
 

That's when someone screamed.
 

Crwys was gone from my side in the blink of an eye as everyone ran back inside. The single scream became a chorus of them.
 

I ran behind Kyle with Grey at my heels, back in through the glass doors to the kitchen. One of the girls, Annie I think, was crying as she gripped her throat by the kitchen sink. Dayle had her arms around her, talking to her in a gentle voice. Another girl, Joan, sat on the floor, breathing into a paper bag with Adrian at her side.
 

"What the hell happened?" Crwys asked as Kyle, Grey and I arrived.
 

Arden stood in front of the door to the TV room, a spoon in her hand. It was one of the wooden kitchen spoons and not her athame. "We've got company. Apparently somebody doesn't want us to do this."
 

Company? In the TV room?
 

I ran around the other way to the door that fed from the formal living room to the TV room and stopped just inside the door. I heard Crwys's boots stop just behind me and Grey's growl as she brushed against my legs.
 

Standing either in the center of the room or against the back wall of the room, depending on one's perspective, were three very distinct shadowy figures. They were all human-like in form, but with no features.
 

I glanced at Arden on the other side of the room, blocking the door into the kitchen. "Did they try to get past you?"
 

"Joan and Annie were in here changing when they appeared and knocked both of them down."
 

"They tried to choke the women," Crwys said. It wasn't a question.
 

"Yes," Arden said. "So I used a basic ingredient to put up a barrier."
 

I looked at her feet. Salt. She'd spread it out in a line across the threshold. But they were shadows. Why not just go through walls?
 

"These aren't like the ones we saw before," Kyle said. He was just behind Arden looking in. "These look like full grown people. Sam, this is like the one at Rose's house."
 

The shadows reacted to him and moved toward the door. Arden held up the wooden spoon which flashed a brilliant white. They moved away with their hands—or what looked like hands—up to protect them.
 

I moved further into the TV room and got the attention of all three.
 

"Sam…" Crwys said.
 

"If they attack me, burn them."
 

"Burn them? How am I going to burn shadow?"
 

Eh….good point. I thought about the one I'd fought in Rose's house and decided it might not be a bad idea to call in reinforcements. I just hoped I had enough juice. With a wave of my arms I summoned my Elements just as I had before. All four of them appeared in their physical forms and waited for my signal to attack the shadows.
 

But instead of attacking the way the shadow had at Rose's house, all three of them moved back into a huddle in the far corner.
 

"They know what you're doing," Arden said.
 

"Oh wow…is that what an Elemental Witch can do?" one of the girls said from behind Arden. "Those little guys are so cute!"

"Yes it is," Arden said. "Now hush."
 

Crwys stepped into the room with me. My Salamander looked ridiculously happy to see him and actually moved over to sit on the detective's shoulder. That…was weird. "I've never seen Shadow People react intelligently."
 

"So you have seen them."
 

"Yeah. I told you, they're junk. The extra pieces of dough after you punch cookies out."
 

I slowly turned and
looked
at him.
 

He shrugged. "I bake."
 

"Wait," Kyle said as he disappeared and I heard him running around to the other side. He came in behind Crwys and I. "Sam, ask your Sylph and your Salamander to play a game with them."
 

Now Crwys and I slowly turned and looked at Kyle.
 

He waved his hands. "Never mind. Did Ina keep a flashlight?"

"Kitchen drawer."
 

"I'll get it," Dayle said. Within seconds she was at the other door and handing Kyle the flashlight.
 

He stepped past us to the coffee table and pointed the beam at us. When he straightened he looked at the shadows. "If you don't want her Elementals to tear you all a new asshole, or even an original one, listen carefully. One flash for yes. Two flashes for no. Do you understand?"
 

The flashlight flashed once.
 

Well I'll be damned.
 

"Well I'll be damned," Crwys put his hand to his chin.
 

And here we had the beauty and elegance of a Hedge Witch in action. Kyle held out his hands. "Were you human?"

One flash.
 

"Recently?"
 

One flash.
 

"Did you mean to hurt the girls?"
 

One flash.
 

I gave them evil looks.
 

"Were you trying to find a way back?"

One flash.
 

Kyle glanced back at me before he asked. "Were you once three Elders of New Orleans?"
 

There was a pause and then one flash.
 

I gasped. "These are the dead Elders?"
 

One flash.
 

"How," Crwys said. "How in the hell did they get like this? Wait, that's not yes or no." He licked his lips. "Did someone make you like this?"
 

One flash.

"Was it Dionysus?"
 

Two Flashes.
 

We glanced at each other. "Was it another Shadow Person?"
 

One flash.
 

I cleared my throat. "Was it Ronald Kennett?"
 

One flash and the light stayed on. Thunder vibrated the house and I felt it under my feet. Everyone made a noise of surprise as the Shadows disappeared or seemed to melt into the corner shadow…and then that shadow grew wide and tall until it bent against the ceiling and towered over us. Red eyes showed in the shadows as a mouth with tiny, silver teeth opened up and laughed.
 

That laugh boomed over us and I looked at my Salamander. "Kick its ass."
 

But just before I was about to repeat the Elemental showdown the shadow vanished.
 

I dismissed the disappointed Elementals and Arden, Kyle and I did a magical sweep of the house.
 

"I think it’s gone," Arden stood in the center of the TV room. She looked irritated.
 

"Did it look like the big one ate, or absorbed the little ones?" Kyle was the first one to venture what I was thinking.
 

"Yeah, it did," I said and put my hands on my hips. "Let's get that Coyote Flame built before it decides to come back."
 

Half an hour later, Kyle, Crwys ,Grey and I witnessed the Coyote Flame. And that's pretty much what it was. A huge, purple flame. Arden tethered it to a spot in the North where my Gnome stood guard.
 

I was pretty sure no one else saw the red glitter within the Flame. I wasn't sure if the magic was Arcane, but the connection was. I stepped out in front of the Flame at Arden's gesture and called out Kathy's name. After several minutes I heard her call out my name.
 

"Follow my voice!" Cold air moved my hair against my cheek as the Flame whipped about and reached as high as fourteen feet. It abruptly widened and creaked like an old tree as I saw something moving inside of it. Crwys was ready just in case what came through wasn't Kathy.
 

But there was no need to worry. Robin's niece came tumbling out like a toddler on a long, fast slide. She did a roll on the ground and came up sitting on her backside. Wearing jeans, a Hello Kitty t-hirt, and pink sneakers, Kathy looked around at everyone and when she saw me, she yelled out, got up and came running. I held on to her hard and pulled her away from that Flame, just in case it wanted to take her back.
 

As we sat to the side, I realized why Arden had chosen those particular women. Each called out a child's name and coaxed them forward, brimming with love, warmth, and welcome. And when the last child on the list appeared and Adrian scooped him up, Arden dismissed the Flame and staggered away.
 

Kyle helped her inside as we ushered the children in. I wanted to set them up in the TV room, but after recent events, I turned the flat screen on in the formal room and let them play. They all looked as if nothing had happened. Like they had been away on a play date.

When I mentioned this, Joan was the one that came up to me. "I'm a child psychologist. Children are much more resilient than we give them credit. Plus, the place where they went fed on their fears and their anger, their terror and their resentment. It kept those things when they left."