The casting room was in the basement of the house, dug straight into the bluffs. Plain gray cinderblocks made up the walls. A round candelabra hung in the center of the space, decorated with moose antlers and barbed wire, a disturbing combination. The casting circle in the center had been burned into the cement floor, probably with acid. There was no way to disturb that circle, or break it.
It had taken a lot of magic to create this place. Merilee was almost impressed.
Almost, until she smelled the death that lingered in the air.
True to his core, Dick the Elf had completely drained people, other witches, of their power in order to create this space.
Never enough.
Merilee was finally let out of the backpack. She made a show of stretching herself out, working out those kinks in her back, making them all pause and look at her.
Sure, she wasn’t as magnificent as she’d once been. She was still a remarkable specimen, particularly for a cat.
She didn’t do more than glare at Sue and hiss once in her direction, giggling when the woman flinched.
Good. She should be scared of what Merilee could do, given free rein.
Chester’s looks didn’t surprise her. He was still a pimple-faced boy, though maybe he’d classify as a man-child, as he was probably in his late twenties. His round face and unfortunate skin spoke of too much sugar and not enough exercise. Greasy black hair hung down over his eyes. It was probably intended to make him look like a bad boy, but instead, he looked like a pathetic loser. The black T-shirt and pants he wore were too tight, and encased his body like the thin skin of a particularly gross slug.
Would he get skinnier as Dick used him up? Or was Dick robbing him of all his vitality, so that soon he’d collapse in a pile of his own blubber?
Finally, Merilee looked over at Angelina and nodded. She was ready.
Dick’s magic was cold at first, surrounding her in a chilly magical bubble. It heated up as he went along, weaving more spells into it.
Merilee tried not to be impressed, but honestly, it was better work than she’d expected from him.
Then again, he was a Seer. He’d probably known that Merilee would be bringing her cat with her, and had prepared accordingly.
When Dick finished, he turned to Merilee and asked, “Is she your familiar? You seem very tied together.”
Angelina grimaced. “No, she’s not a familiar. It’s much worse. She’s my sister.”
Dick the Elf seemed puzzled by that. Then again, he’d probably been an only child, spoiled rotten by his long-departed Mama.
Merilee tilted her head to one side as the pair of them started preparing for that evening’s casting. It was interesting to see how humans at this level worked together. Sue stayed off to one side, oozing resentment. She was merely a minion, after all. An important one, true. But she’d eventually outlive her usefulness.
Chester also didn’t do much but stand there, occasionally providing power to Dick. Seemed that some of that fat stored magical energy. He was a type of battery.
Could Angelina use him as a power source? That would be kind of cool, to turn him against Dick. Though they didn’t have any spells prepared for that.
Across the back of the room, a long, narrow board lit up. It was a stock counter, with three-letter combinations and prices flowing across it.
Angelina had explained that the stock symbols would flow randomly across the board. Once she started her prognostication, the stocks that had more importance, that is, the ones whose price was about to rise, would start appearing more frequently. There was one time when the entire board filled with just one stock. They’d made a lot of money that night.
It was Sue’s role to watch the flow of companies, pick out not merely the most obvious winners of the night but the runners-up as well. She stood with a pencil and paper at hand, ready to take notes.
Must really frost her to be demoted to the place of mere scribe. Then again, she knew the companies that those three-letter symbols represented. She’d have a better idea of what they were getting themselves into than most.
Finally, they were ready.
Merilee could tell that all the spells so far had been fairly clean, not really tainted. It wasn’t until they started reaching further into the future that it was going to get icky.
Angelina hesitated.
“It’s all right,” Dick assured her. “See? Nothing bad has happened before now. Nothing bad is going to happen. You’re so good at this! It’ll be fun. Like it used to be.”
Angelina shook her head. “I’m not sure about this.”
“Well, you better get sure, little lady,” Dick said, still assuming that “aw shucks” routine of his was going to work.
“No, I don’t think so,” Angelina said. She turned to Dick, her hands raised, filled with an offensive spell.
“Now, see? Why’d you have to go and spoil all this good fun?” Dick said. He sounded so disappointed in her.
Merilee could tell that the act was partly a spell, subtly influencing all of their actions.
Luckily, she was a cat. She honestly didn’t care about whatever he wanted.
Angelina kept Dick’s attention on her. She’d positioned herself so that Dick the Elf’s back was to Merilee.
She flung the first spell in his face.
He had the temerity to laugh at her. “Now, I knew you were going to do that.”
Angelina, clearly frustrated, threw a second spell at him.
Again, it dissipated on either side of him, like a river running around a solid rock stuck in the center of it.
“And that too,” Dick said, still far too full of his charming self. “Why don’t you try something unexpected?”
“Like this?” Angelina said, reaching over and slugging Sue.
Merilee couldn’t contain her giggles as Sue went down like a sack of wet cement.
“Now, that wasn’t very nice,” Dick admonished her.
But he hadn’t foreseen it. Merilee felt certain of that.
Good. All they’d really needed to do was to break the script once. It would never get back on track. Hopefully they’d reached that spot sooner than Dick was prepared for.
Merilee sat back, balanced on her rear paws. With her front paws, she grasped one of the two items that dangled from it.
The wooden one. With the funny markings on it.
Merilee concentrated on the amulet, sending her magical senses both through and around it.
It was easy to see how it worked. Normally, all she would have had to do was to step on it.
Holding it between her paws activated it just as well.
Merilee felt herself start to grow. It startled her how fast she shot up. Color sprang back into the world again, as her sense of smell faded. She balanced upright, awkward for a bit until her knees unhinged then rehinged again, going forward instead of backwards.
It was strange, supporting herself on two feet instead of four.
The collar had grown with her as they’d planned, and still circled her neck.
It took a few more moments before the transformation was complete, and Merilee stood as a human again, ready to take on the world.