Hecate stood, in all of her intimidating glory, in the shadows of the evening. “That poor fool is too far gone.”
“He’s not a fool.” Frankie slowly released Tommy and rose to his feet. “You’ve been tormenting him. Torturing him. Just like you’ve been trying to do to me.”
She laughed. “Please. Don’t try to act tough. I know that my phantom has been working her way into your mind. If it wasn’t for your silly mortal friend, then I would’ve had your soul by now.”
The witch opened his mouth to reply, but the sight of Tommy rising to his feet and running toward his house distracted him.
“Enough of that,” Hecate said. “That’s not why I’m here. I wanted to let you know that my proposal is still on the table. Your soul for the chance to go back to your time. Now that it’s just the two of us, we can finally come to an agreement.”
“I need an assurance that Zanabar will actually take me back to 1984. To the one that I remember leaving, not an alternate one. Otherwise, there is no deal.”
Hecate shrugged. “The only thing I’m able to do is to bring back Zanabar to this time. Which I’ve done. After that, it’s up to the two of you to hash out the details.”
Frankie was shaking his head before she even finished. “No. I need a guarantee.”
“Would you like me to summon Zanabar here to talk to you?”
Frankie turned toward the direction Tommy had run off to. He didn’t like it that he was alone in the middle of the night. Not in the state that he was in.
Tommy had been the perfect distraction. Up until Frankie had seen him, Frankie had every intention of coming to the crossroads to trade in his soul for a trip back to 1984. Thankfully, he had changed his mind. “You do what you want,” Frankie told Hecate. “I have other things I need to deal with.”
“Wait!” Hecate groaned. “I can work something out with Zanabar. I have a few souls that I’ve collected through the years that might be of interest to him. Or rather, their powers would be. Former witches, you know?”
“I need a guarantee,” Frankie demanded.
“All right! All right!” she droned. “I’ll make sure Zanabar agrees to take you back to 1984. The one that you remember.”
Frankie nodded, contemplating the consequences of his decision. But he knew it was the right choice. His soul in exchange for putting an end to this was a trade he was willing to make.
“So do we have a deal?” Hecate asked. “I need an official confirmation.”
The witch studied her for a moment, then closed the distance between them in two steps and reached for her free hand. “Deal.”