Chapter 12
BASH
“Who the hell is Hansel?” Winnie asks once the older man is gone.
Pan waggles his fingers at me. “You bring the phone?”
“No.” I look at Kas. “Did you?”
He sighs, as if he was expecting me to forget, as if he is annoyed that he had to be the one to remember for the two of us as he digs the phone from his pocket.
Pan takes the phone and scrolls through the contacts, searching for John Judy. Once he’s found it, he taps at the call button and a connection is made within seconds. “I need a trash cleanup on Beech Lane....yes, Peter Pan…good.” Then he hangs up.
“Who is John Judy?” Darling glances between us. “And Hansel? Witch Killers? What is going on?”
To Pan, I say, “The coffee shop? Then the Lost Knife?”
Darling sighs and scrubs at her face.
“Yes,” Pan affirms. “The coffee shop is probably closed but it’s worth checking.”
“Is anyone going to tell me what is going on?” Darling says.
“Come on, Win.” Vane corrals her, urging her forward. “We’ll fill you in as we walk.”
We leave the dead bodies behind. John Judy is fast and efficient with cleanup and the bodies will be gone within the half hour.
“The people who attacked us were Witch Killers,” Pan says as we walk down the middle of the empty street. “They have only one driving mission.”
“Let me guess,” Darling says. “To kill witches?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m not a witch.”
“You have Myth Maker power passed down to you from Captain Hook,” Kas points out.
“And Merry went into the Lagoon when she was pregnant with you,” Pan adds.
“But I don’t have witch power. I only have the Shadow. Which I took and could easily give away.”
“The fuck you will,” Vane says.
“In theory,” Darling corrects.
“It’s clear that Merry did not just wander away,” Pan says as we reach the end of the block.
“Leo was drugged,” Vane adds. “Probably at the coffee shop.”
“Which means Merry is being used as bait,” my brother says.
“Yes.” Pan crosses the street.
“Is my mother in danger?” Darling asks.
“Not yet,” Pan assures her. “But only as long as she’s useful to them.”
The glowing lights of the city proper come into view just ahead. Beech Lane ends on a median where a row of beech trees create a natural border between the city and the more suburban streets.
“Part of me wanted it to be Doren.” I drape my arm around Darling’s shoulders. “It would have given me the perfect excuse to gut him.”
“We still could.” Kas comes into step beside me. “Make an evening of it.”
A gray tabby cat crosses the street a few yards from us, hissing at Vane before darting beneath a parked car.
“We have more important things to worry about now,” Vane says, lighting another cigarette as we step up onto the median and cross beneath the canopy of beech trees.
South Wind never truly sleeps, but this part of town is quiet and still, making it feel like we’re interlopers looking for fun, or trouble, or both.
“And Hansel?” Darling asks. “I know his story. My mom used to read it to me as a child. He’s the most famous of witch killers.”
“Actually, Gretel is,” I correct. “Gretel was the one who killed the witch. Hansel was the one who got them home.”
Darling sighs, but it comes out through her nose.
“Hansel showing up is unusual,” Vane cuts in, the cigarette now burning from the clutch of his two fingers. “Why help us?”
“I don’t know,” Pan says. Do I detect a thread of worry in his voice?
“Why did none of us have our powers?” Darling asks.
“It was the glowing bone shard,” I tell her.
“As the story goes, Hansel and Gretel harvested the bones of the witch they killed, pulling them from the ash of her oven. Somehow, in the killing, forged in fire or intent, the witch’s bones put off a negative effect on other magic.
So the bones were cut and now each Witch Killer carries one. ”
“Great.” Darling reaches up and threads her fingers through mine where my arm hangs off her shoulder. “So now what?”
“Well,” my brother says. “We could take Hansel’s advice.”
“Or,” Darling cuts in, “we don’t.”
“I’m with Darling,” I say and give her fingers a squeeze.
“I don’t know if I trust Hansel anyway.” Vane blows out smoke. “We should form our own plan.”
“Agreed,” Pan says. “We do what we set out to do: find Merry and then get back home as quickly as possible.”
Beneath the crook of my arm, Darling shivers.
“Yeah,” I hear her mutter beneath her breath. “Home.”