Mirela blinked at me and shook her head. "I do not know of what you speak. Mab brought nothing with her."
I whipped my head to Orion. "This doesn't make any sense. She was practically attached to that thing since she swiped it."
Orion pursed his lips. "Something must have made her think it was safer to hide it than to hold onto it."
The witches outside started their chorus of high-pitched screams and there was a sound of stampeding feet toward the caves. "And it sounds like we're going to find out what that trouble is right now."
Orion rushed to the door. Mirela and I followed and watched him fling the entrance open. A wall of fog fifty feet tall and twice that long rumbled out of the woods on the far side of the encampment. Hell hounds burst from the fog and flew across the ground. They overturned the cooking pots and trampled the campfires. The scent of sea air permeated the camp as the wall stopped fifty feet from the cliff wall.
Mirela pushed past us and waved one arm above her head. "This way!" she called out.
A dozen women and girls turned in her direction. Orion and I stepped out the door and to the side as they rushed into Mirela's home. She slammed the door shut behind them and turned to us. The witch leader jabbed a finger at the wall of fog. "What is that?"
"Trouble," I quipped.
It was trouble with a capital 'M' as a form emerged from the center of the fog. It was Mel Palaemon, and he was smiling.
The young man stopped ten feet short of our position. He crossed one of his arms over his chest and swept into a low bow. "Good morning, my dear new friends. I'm sorry to arrive so early, but time grows ever short for my plans."
"Your plans for Mab," I stated.
He straightened and bowed his head. "I see you've figured out some of the puzzle, but is Mab able to give you all of the pieces?" He looked past us at the shut door. "When we last met she hardly seemed in a condition to do anything more than have her diapers changed."
Orion stepped into his line of sight and scowled at Mel. "What do you want with her soul?"
Mel closed his eyes and shrugged. "I'm afraid that's none of your concern. It's an issue between Mab and myself, one I intend to end very shortly."
Mel snapped his fingers. Two large mastiff-sized hounds burst from the fog behind him and ran up to flank him. He lay his hand on one of their heads and stroked its illuminated noggin. "These hell hounds are quite useful, aren't they? A little more brutal than the Death's Messengers, but they are far more-"
"Get down!" Mirela yelled.
Orion and I hit the deck. A small paper bag flew over our heads and landed in front of Mel. The contents spilled onto the ground and exploded into a greenish mist.
I heard Orion gasp a second before the smell hit my less-sensitive nose. It smelled like a skunk bedded a rotten egg and had a love-child. The stench ripped at my nose hairs and played them like they were the strings on a hard-metal guitar.
The dogs beside Mel were just as affected. They reared up like wild stallions and gnashed their teeth at the green air as it floated toward them. Mel stepped back and slapped his hand over his face. His eyes glowed an unnatural blue like the deep ocean as he glared at us.
"Hurry!" I heard Mirela call to us.
Orion grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "We need to go!"
"I-cough-hate monologuing, anyway," I quipped as we turned tail and ran.
Mirela stood beside the now-open cave entrance. We shot inside and she followed, slamming the door shut behind us. Orion and I stumbled into the center near the stove and coughed out our lungs.
I swept my eyes over the perimeter. "Where's Toughs?"
Mirela raced to the rear and stopped short of the corner. "She must have been taken by my tribe. That fool and his talking allowed the others to escape out the back, and we must do the same. The stench bomb will not last forever."
Orion grasped my arm and tugged me toward Mirela. We stumbled around the corner and found it led to another bend in the cave that followed the curve of the exterior cliff. The three of us ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Mirela a little ways ahead as leader.
"How did you know to prepare the bomb?" Orion asked Mirela.
"Mab told me she feared an attack by dogs, and I prepared appropriately," Mirela explained to us.
"How far. . .does this cave. . .go?" I gasped.
"We are nearly at the end."
Another fifty yards of twists and turns, and we saw the exit. We burst into the early-morning air and was surrounded by the thick woods. A dozen pairs of tracks led into the snow away from the cave entrance. One trembling figure stood beneath the protective branches of an evergreen tree.
Toughs. Or Mab. Or Toughs-Mab.
CHAPTER 20
"Toughs!" Orion called out.
She managed a shaking smile. Her arms were wrapped around her and she shivered. Orion and I rushed over to her while Mirela remained at the cave entrance.
I grasped one of her quivering shoulders and looked her over. "You okay?"
Toughs nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm okay. Just cold."
Orion took off his tattered jacket and hung it around her shoulders. "You woke up pretty fast this time."
She grimaced. "Yeah. The spell is getting thinner."
Mirela walked up to us and held the necklace out to Toughs. "Regardless of what you wish, you need this right now."
Toughs pursed her lips, but took the necklace. "I know that now."
"Do you happen to know how to get this Mel guy off our tail permanently?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No. I remember knowing him, but I can't remember what he is to me or how to get rid of him."
"Or what he is to anyone else," Orion spoke up.
I glanced at him and arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"It means I've never smelled anything quite like him," he explained. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "That sea-salt air and those blue eyes. That isn't were powers, or even wizard and witch abilities."
My shoulders slumped. "So you're saying we're dealing with a whole new creature?"
Orion nodded. "Seems so." He turned to Toughs. "Does that sound right?"
She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. I don't remember."
"What is your heart telling you?" Mirela asked her.
Toughs pursed her lips and stared hard at the ground. "It's. . .it's telling me he's on to something."
A long, deep bellow echoed from the mouth of the cave. The cry reverberated with anger.
I turned to my companions. "I think that's our cue to leave."
"Promise me you will see me soon," Mirela pleaded.
Toughs smiled and nodded. "I will. I promise."
I spun Toughs around and pointed her in the opposite direction of the cave. "Nobody's going to be seeing anybody soon if we don't get out of here."
Orion grabbed Toughs and me, and tossed us over his shoulders. I gasped as the air was knocked from my gut. "Can you give us a warning sometime?"
He grinned. "I could, but where's the fun in that?"
I yelped as he sped forward over tree and dale. Mirela waved to us and Toughs waved back before our witch friend hurried away.
I glanced over my shoulder and Orion's to glare at him. "I'm a werewolf, too, you know. I can run!"
"I know these woods better than you, and I'm nearly as fast even with you both," he pointed out.
"Do you even know where we need to be going?" I questioned him.
He shook his head. "Nope, but anywhere away from that guy is better than near him."
I looked to Toughs and nodded at her necklace. "How easy is it for him to follow that thing?"
She picked it up and furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I think within a mile or two."
"We'll start there," Orion commented as he pushed faster through the snowy forest.
The chilly run lasted until we hit the far road and found ourselves opposite the junk yard. A snow plow sat in the lot in front of the clean house. A few ligh
ts twinkled through the windows.
Orion set us down in the yard and took a few steps toward the house. "I'll see if Jerry can lend us one of these hunks of junk."
I checked my watch. The damn thing was dead. "Damn water. . ." I mumbled as I shook my wrist.
"Let me fix it," Toughs spoke up as she stepped closer to me. It was a little odd being face-to-face with someone who only that morning had barely reached my waist.
I arched an eyebrow. "You can do that?"
She wrapped her hands around my watch and closed her eyes. I saw her lips move, but couldn't catch a sound. A brilliant purple light peeked out from between her fingers and illuminated our faces. The light held a warmth to it that relaxed my muscles like an expensive massage and dried my clothes like a profession dry-cleaners. I heard a few clicks and clacks, and the light disappeared.
Toughs opened her eyes and removed her hands. "That should do it."
I lifted my wrist to my face and examined the machine. It looked brand new. It hadn't been when I bought it. The hands moved in time with the hour. Nearly six in the morning.
I dropped my arm to my side and studied Toughs' face. "Could you always do that even when you were Mab-Mab, and or is this stuff you can do as only Toughs-Mab?"
A coy smile slipped onto Toughs' lips. "I'll leave that up to you to decide."
I snorted. "You're definitely Mab. Any idea why you wanted to shrink yourself into a pint-sized suit?"
Her smile faltered and she shook her head. "Only that I was afraid of him, and that he'd do something to stop me."
I raised an eyebrow. "Stop you from doing what?"
She pursed her lips and stared hard at the ground. "I don't know. I just know it was really important, and I've been waiting a long time to do it."
The door to the house opened and Orion stepped out. He held up a set of keys which he jingled. "We have our clunker."
I scoffed. "It can't be as bad as mine."
Me and my stupid mouth. The 'car' turned out to be a repo-ed wreck. The paint peeled off the few original parts that were left and the other portions were a post-modern mash-up of rusted gray and gray rust.
"I can see why they didn't mind it being repo-ed," I quipped as we drove down the road. I plucked a matches case from between the front window and the dashboard and held it up. "Anybody got a cigarette?"
Toughs sat in the backseat and bounced at every hole we hit. She swayed from car door to center of the seat and back. "Doesn't this thing have any shocks?"
Orion shook his head. "Probably not. Jerry robbed a few parts for his snowplow thinking he wasn't going to be using it."
"He's not," I pointed out.
"We're almost to town," Orion assured us.
I glanced out my cracked window at the sleepy town that ran down the hill in front of us. "So what do we do when we get there?"
Orion looked through the hanging rear view mirror at Toughs. "Any ideas, Mab?"
She winced. "Please don't use that name. Not yet."
"She's got a point," I spoke up as we passed a local in a truck. "Somebody here's that name on this girl and they're going to start asking questions we don't want to answer right now."
Orion sighed. "So what do we call you?"
"Just stick with Toughs for now," Toughs suggested.
"And you have any ideas where to go, Toughs?"
She furrowed her brow. "I think we need to go to the diner."
"Did you leave something there we can use?" I asked her.
The young woman shook her head. "No, I'm just hungry."
"That Mel guy might find us there," Orion pointed out.
I leaned back and cupped my chin in one hand. "Actually, that's a good reason to go."
Orion raised an eyebrow. "So he can find us?"
I dropped my hand and rolled my eyes. "No, because he would expect us to avoid that place, so it should be safe."
"Or he could know that we know to avoid that place, and realize we'd believe it would be a safe place," he countered.
"But maybe he knows that we know that he knows we wouldn't go there, so it'd be safe."
"Or he could think what you said plus knowing we know, and go there to check it out."
Toughs leaned forward between the seats and stuck herself between us. "I'm still hungry, and you two can watch for him while I make some food."
I fell back against my seat and shrugged. "Or we could do that."
Orion parked the clunker in the alley behind Mab's diner and we stepped out. The crunch of car tires on the main drag and a few kids walking early to school showed life was once again in the town. We walked up to the back door and were presented with our next dilemma.
Orion grasped the knob and tried to turn. It wouldn't turn.
I looked to Toughs. "You don't happen to have been carrying a key around with you all this time?"
The young woman smiled and shook her head. "There's no need." She nudged Orion out of the way and grasped the knob. I noticed a faint light emit from her palm and suck into the keyhole like a strand of spaghetti. A sharp click came from the knob, and Toughs turned it and opened the door.
Orion glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "Have you always been able to do that?"
I held up my fixed watch. "At least for a half hour."
Toughs grinned from ear-to-ear. "I have many talents, and I'll remind you of my cooking one right now."
She led us into the back which was comprised of a large pantry and the stainless steel kitchen with pristine counters, shining cupboards, and a retro floor that matched the one in the front.
In the center of the kitchen was an island with a few bar stools. Toughs gestured to them as she walked over to a few cupboards. "Make yourselves at home," she offered as she procured cooking wear the likes of which my mom would drool over.
Orion and I took our seats, prepared for a feast. We weren't disappointed.
CHAPTER 21
Toughs cooked as well as Mab, or herself, or whatever. It was good, and consumed, and I took the liberties of licking a few plates clean.
"So are you able to tell us how you know what food we always want?" I asked Toughs as she sat opposite me.
She smiled and shook her head. "No."
I sighed. "If I had any doubts you weren't Mab you just shook them away."
Orion didn't enjoy the meal as much as I did. He kept leaving his post at the stool to check the rear and front doors.
The last time he came back his lips were pursed. "We probably shouldn't stay here any longer."
I tossed down my napkin and sighed. "Yeah. That Mel guy-"
"Melicertes," Toughs spoke up. Orion and I looked at her with blinking eyes. She frowned. "His name is Melicertes."
I snorted. "No wonder he's so angry all the time. Is there anything else you can remember about him other than his name and that he's bad news?"
She furrowed her brow. "He's close. Very close."
Orion grabbed our hands and pulled us toward the rear door. "That's all I needed to hear."
"Wait!" Toughs shouted. She dug her heels into the floor and slid a few feet before Orion stopped. She nodded at the doorway to the front. "Through there."
I yanked my hand from his and tugged him that way. "You heard the girl!"
The three of us hurried through the diner and out into the street. The time was a little before eight. A few late schoolers flew by in their cars. Some of the shoppers glared at their high speeds.
"Across the street," Toughs ordered us.
We jay-sprinted across the slushy road and down to the next block that abutted the river. Toughs led us around the corner where we pressed our backs against a wall while she scowled at the air.
"He's getting closer. He can sense my necklace."
I being on Orion's other side leaned forward so she could see me. "Do we really need that thing or can we flush it down some public toilet?"
She grasped the necklace and shook her head. "No, we need it. It's very important."
&n
bsp; "What about the book of spells?" Orion spoke up as he looked down at Toughs. "Would that help?"
Toughs shook her head. "I don't know, but it might."
I furrowed my brow. "Where exactly did you hide that book? The one you've been carrying around most of this time?"
Toughs smiled. "Hold your hands open in front of you very still and I'll give it to you."
I narrowed my eyes. "This isn't some filthy joke, is it?"
She shook her head. "No, now just do as I said."
I pursed my lips, but held my hands palms-up in front of me. Toughs closed her eyes and mumbled a few muffled words under her breath as she drew a circle with her finger. A circular portal a foot wide opened above and a little in front of me. The book dropped out of the hole and into my hands. I yelped and tossed the book like it was a hot potato. Orion caught it before it hit the wintry ground.
Toughs frowned at me. "I told you to hold still."
"You try holding still when things are dropping on you," I countered.
Orion glanced up at the swirling darkness and furrowed his brow. I sighed. "I know that look. What is it?"
He shook his head. "This portal looks exactly like the one attached to the side of the ship."
I squinted at the portal as the darkness shrank to nothing. "It did." I looked to Toughs and jerked my head where the portal had once swirled. "Is that a hard spell to pull off?"
She furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I just found it in the book and used it."
Orion snapped his fingers. "That's it!"
I raised an eyebrow. "What's it?"
He grabbed our hands and pulled us around the corner from which we came. "Hey! Wrong way!" I yelped.
"Not quite!" he replied as he turned us off into the alley. It was the same one I'd gone down to rescue Toughs the first time Orion and I saw her.
He didn't slow down until we reached the two boards and the swirling vortex. We skidded to a stop at the edge of the blackness.
Orion looked to Toughs. "Is this one of those spells?"
She nodded. "Yeah, it is, but why is this important?"
"There's a matching hole in the side of the ship," Orion told her.
Toughs eyes widened. "Then you think this will lead us to the ship?"
I raised my hand. "Um, one problem. Isn't that ship supposed to be on the ocean right now?"
She shook her head. "Only if it is in night, and it isn't quite evening there."
I looked to Orion. "How are you going to prove your theory this leads to the ship and not to some person's outhouse?"