Part 11
A soft warm day in the fall, Patti Krebs stood high on a scaffolding
eighty feet about the ground. With a brush in one hand and palette in
the other, she carefully worked on the face of a woman in the
exterior relief mounted on the Palace of Fine Arts. After eighty some
years of weathering her restoration class at the United Artists
College had volunteered to help in the city's restoration work.
Though having replaced the old 1915 building, even the rebuilt one
had seen a great deal of deterioration from smog, acid rain and soot.
Though a florist by trade, Patti like her sister had always enjoyed
painting. As the years of dirt were removed she found a stunningly
beautiful woman. Looking to the side the woman in the relief seemed
to be reaching for something. Patti hummed away as she continued to
apply cleaner to the woman. Working on the face she flicked off a
little speck of black. As Patti blinked, she could have sworn that
the woman did too. Shaking her head slightly she applied the brush
again as the woman's skin became softer and she turned toward Patti
and pleaded, "You must help me, please." As the statue turned back it
completely returned to the concrete texture and did not move again.
Patti almost lost her balance as she grabbed onto the sides of the
scaffolding. Putting a hand on the statue Patti went into a vivid
premonition.
"Come back here you blasted witch!" cried a man in a white shirt and
skinny tie running next to the lagoon.
The woman carrying a small object threw it up in the air and it
vanished.
"Noooo," cried out the man as he mumbles some words. The woman
screamed, vanished and then reappeared into the side of the Palace of
Fine Arts in the midst of the reconstruction. The man spun around and
vanished.
The premonition ended and Patti sat there exhausted. Now barely
hanging on she looked up as a friend came to she her. "Too much sun?
Take a break, Mrs. Krebs."
"No, I'll be fine. Have to finish this work," she said breathing
heavily. She wanted to find more about this trapped witch and her
vivid premonition.
He shook his head. "That's enough for today. Go home to your
children," he said. "We'll pick this up again next week."
Patti reluctantly agreed, climbed down from the scaffolding and took
her hover car home.
Up in the old attic, she poured over the Book of Shadows. Nowhere
could she locate the witch or her oppressor. They had found
references to demons from centuries before, but she could not find a
reference to this twentieth century evildoer. She closed the book
fingered the pages and was determined to find out more from this poor
soul.
After dark she reentered the construction site, climbed up the
scaffolding and sat directly opposite the stunning woman.
"Where are you from? Are you an innocent or a punished evildoer?
Well, there is only one way to find out," she said and began to
recite.
"Shackles that bind thee,
Dissolve and be gone,
Out from this wall,
May your life now move on."
The reddish-brown concrete sparkled in the dark night air. White orbs
formed in front of it as her skin softened into a pinkish glow. The
woman morphed from the relief leaving an impression matching her own
form. The woman fell from her mount and collapsed in Patti's arms.
"Miss. Oh Miss," said Patti shaking her. She had completely lost
consciousness. Patti put her over her shoulder, carefully carried her
down the steps and helped her back to the Manor.
With her kids away at college and her husband out of town on
business, she was looking for a little excitement and helping an
innocent was an answered her prayers. Putting a cloth on her
forehead, she gently nursed her back to reality. Her eyes fluttered
just a bit and then she sat up quickly.
"W-w-w-whoa! Where am I?" she exclaimed.
"Easy. You've been through quite a lot. From my observations you were
attacked by something magical and encased in the wall of the Palace
of Fine Arts. Sound familiar?" asked Patti still rubbing her forehead
with the damp rag.
"Yes. I remember that. Mordred was after me. I'd stolen his magical
amulet. He traced me to the park and I ..um." she said stuttering
trying to find the words.
"My premonition showed you destroying it and then being entombed in
the artwork," said Patti coaching her a bit.
"Yes, um. No. I just projected it to another place. Mordred may have
thought I did. I really don't remember anything after that," she said
shaking her head.
"Your survivalist instincts were still there. You tried to send me a
warning. I was working on the relief, I mean you. I many have been
the first witch to ever get that close to you since your were
mounted, um entombed eighty feet off the ground. What was this thing
that you since to Never-never Land?" asked a curious Patti.
"He is a powerful warlock that could control the minds of good
witches. But that power only existed by channeling his power through
the amulet. My sister had been taken over by this demonic individual
so I stole it awakening all those under his control. It now resides
in another plane of existence created by me and only accessible by
me," she said sounding confident in herself.
"Now how do we deal with this rather formidable enemy?" asked Patti
sitting next to her charge.
"There is a way. In my apartment I have assembled from several
sources the ingredients of a potion to rid us of him. I would have
done this first, but I was determined to first free my sister. We
should go there now," she said.
"Úm.. um..?" asked Patti.
"Bennington. Angela Bennington," she said smiling just a bit.
"Patti Krebs. You see, you've been entombed for quite sometime," said
Patti hesitantly.
"I am sure my sister witch would have preserved my ceremonial items.
We are both very serious witches, Mrs. Krebs," she said confidently.
"I'm afraid longer than you expect has passed. It has been about
eight decades, Angela. I'm afraid your sister my no longer be
around," Patti said softly as Angela gasped.
Poof! The smell of brimstone entered the Manor. "Be assured she is
dead for I killed her after I dealt with you, WITCH!" exclaimed the
warlock Mordred.
"You! Then I will cast you into.." cursed Angela as she disappeared
at the wave of a hand.
"And for erasing my spell," he said to Patti. "Kindly join her."
Another wave of his hand she also disappeared. A new carved plague
appeared on the mantle showing two women arm-in-arm standing in front
of the Manor. It has a slight relief to it with each of the figures
vaguely resembling the two witches. A satanic laugh occurred as
Mordred waved his arms above his head and disappeared.
Richard Krebs marched into Melinda's shop with a worried look on his
face. He paced while Darien Warmouth went to get his sister-in-law.
"Darien, how wonderful to see you," Melinda said while she wiped off
her hands and then kissing him gently on the cheek.
Without missing a beat he asked, "Have you seen Patti? She's missing!
No one has heard from her in two days," he said wringing his hands.
"You know that is funny. We were supposed to have lunch together
yesterday. I left a comm-message, but I thought she was just off
helping an innocent. She get so involved that sometimes it's a couple
a days before she gets back to us. Did you try.." Melinda started to
say.
"Scribing didn't help. Summoning potions didn't help. I've spent the
most nerve-racking twelve hours since I got back from Tokyo. Neither
of the twins have heard from her," he exclaimed looking ragged
without any sleep.
"And Mom?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Just a quick inquiry, I didn't want to worry her."
"What about around the Manor?" asked Melinda racking her own brain.
"Everything is normal. Her purse and keys are in place. No e-mails,
comm-messages or voice print ID's in the last forty-three hours. She
must have been kidnapped or worse," he said nervously.
"Calm down, Richard. Do you have her daily schedule?" she inquired
looking over her own.
"On that tablet there. I last spoke to her in the morning. She had
some field trip for her art restoration class or something like
that," he said shaking his head not completely making sense.
Melinda snapped her fingers so loud that Richard jumped. "That old
building they were working on. The Palace of Fine Arts. She was
getting such a joy out of it. Kind of like when she restored the old
Manor. Let's start there and work forwards or backwards. Darien, take
care of the shop for me. And if Margaret Pruett calls, tell her the
Amazonian shaftwood is being shipped tomorrow and we'll have it by
Thursday."
"Sure, Melly. I hope you find your sister," she wished them.
"We always do," she said under her breath as they left.
Landing her hover car near the entrance to the park, Melinda noticed
a great deal of commotion near the construction site. She and Richard
hopped over there quickly.
Walking up to someone who appeared tobe in charge, she inquired, "I
am looking for my sister, Patti Krebs."
"And we all are. This is a disgrace. Vandalism of the highest order.
Desecration of a national monument. Look, look at the work she was
doing," he pleaded having her look at an electronic pictogram
rotating through various close-ups of the last work she had been
doing. A gapping hole was left in the design with the outline
indicating a human figure. Another picture shown the female form that
had vanished.
"And you think my wife had something to do with the disappearance of
this portion of the sculpture?" asked Richard Krebs.
"Yes, no, maybe. She was the last to have worked on it and our
sensors indicate her present on site after it had been closed," the
irate gentleman said cynically.
"Could I please see the site? I'm an artist too and I might be able
to shed some light on it," asked Melinda gently trying to soothe his
nervousness.
He turned to one of the security guards. "All right. Five minutes.
Brad, show Mrs. Krebs' sister up through the scaffolding. But only
her."
Melinda thanked him and started up the ladders.
Later in the hover car, Melinda met with Richard.
"There is definitely magic afoot. The concrete was so smooth where
the figure had been remove that only a spell could have done that. It
was probably the removal of someone incased in the concrete. And my
sister would have had the compassion to do that. Somewhere she has
gotten into trouble for doing it," she explained. "I'm sure of it!"
"Great. She did something for someone somewhere and something else
happened to her because of it. Sounds emptier than a newly dug
grave," said an exasperated Richard.
"Not necessarily. I found this clamarus enchantrus petal off in the
corner. The police missed it and it's very rare. Plants are my
specialty. We're going back to my shop," she said as she dropped it
into forward and headed back to her shop.
Now joined by her mother, she poured through her older records after
they found nothing in her usual computer databases.
"There's a hundred and fifty years of Wicca history here. Boy, am I
glad I bought out the old Enchantment Bookstore years ago. Next to
the old Bo'S this has the best set of records I've seen," commented
Melinda.
"Whatever. I still don't see why you didn't call me when you thought
MY DAUGHTER was missing," said a very peeved older Piper.
Melinda looked up from the old book. "Mo-ther! We had no real
evidence until I commed you. And even now I haven't found anything."
"You should be looking up Grams' old files at the Manor. She knew
more than I ever did," said Piper rather ironically.
Melinda continued to flip through the old book on Wicca
herbalogy. "Believe me, Mother. This whole shop has a lot more data
than great-grandmother's old file box. Hello, what do we have here?"
"What?" exclaimed Richard.
"The old Berkendorf coven that was strong in the mid-twentieth
century used the clamarus enchantrus as a base for protection spells.
So possibly the innocent had some with him or her just before the
imprisonment. I think I have some more information on their coven in
these old bookstore files," said a hopeful Melinda going through
another box.
"What are you looking for?" asked Piper.
"Rosemary Denver's History of the Occult in California. She kept lots
of great little tidbits in her journals. Nothing that was ever
published or could ever be published. Here it is. Give me a little
while. This is like an encyclopedia and like the B o'S it has NO
index," said Melinda sounding a bit ironic.
Piper sat down next to Richard as Melinda began her research. Going
over every page she cautiously and thoroughly devoured every passage.
The afternoon dragged onto evening and then late evening as Richard
showed up with some Chinese food.
"Nothing?" he asked.
"Still more to go through. Rosemary Denver wrote down everything she
had heard, but never organized it. Think of the entire Third Avenue
Branch of the San Francisco Free Public Library with all its books
piled in the front lobby. Just pick through every one of them just to
find the title you wanted. Pass me that moo go gai pan," Melinda
asked trying not to drop anything on the ancient text.
"Melinda, it's still a long shot. We need to organize every witch in
the Bay Area and.." said Richard firmly.
Melinda looked up momentarily. "And then alert whomever did this to
her? Richard, let's keep this low order. We can do it. Witches from
all come to my little shop just to find the smallest tidbit of
information. Every tiny little pixel or byte of information can
be..Gotcha!"
Piper dropped her egg roll. "What do you have, Melly?"
"One of their sisters had a run in with the warlock Mordred. She
acquired.. read stole.. a powerful magical amulet from him. He seemed
to specialize getting rid of his adversaries by encasing them in
works of art. Still right on the money. And here we have a potion to
deal with him," she said triumphantly.
"That's only the first part. Secondly we have to find your sister
before we get rid of the only THING that knows where she is. And the
first place to look is the Manor!" said Piper.
Melinda grabbed the old witch history and the other two people and
orbed them to the Manor.
Halliwell Manor or Krebs' Kastle as Richard sometimes kidded to Patti
was dark with only a few lights on. Neither spooky nor creepy, just
empty was the feeling that crept up Melinda's spine. Though it had
been the scene of many happy family gatherings, the battles and pain
that had occurred there was always at the back of her mind.
"I'll check upstairs," chimed in Piper as she headed up the stairs.
Melinda and Richard started on the basement where they only found
years of accumulated treasures and junk.
Piper found the same up in the attic and the second floor. Nothing
that appeared to be new or added to.
"Of course if he turned them into an existing object, then it could
be anything at all. Since he originally used a human form, I'm
betting that he would do it again. For what warlocks have in power,
they lose in imagination. Never fails that they keep pulling the same
tricks and they keep making the same mistakes," mused Melinda as she
perused the furniture and objects in the parlor.
"Thank God that we're usually just a wee bit smarter than they are.
And a wee bit ahead of them or else we wouldn't be here today. What
about that urn there?" asked Piper.
"Probably not. Patti picked that up at a flea market last month. Ugly
thing, though she thought it might come in handy demon fighting
someday," said Richard sighing.
"Anything else you see?" asked Melinda to her brother-in-law.
Richard looked around the room shaking his head. "No. Patti was the
curator in this little museum. I just live here, Melly," he said with
regret.
"Prue would appreciate that," Piper said quietly to herself.
"Yes, Mom," snapped back Melinda. "You see something?"
"Nope. Just trying to see it through your Aunt Prue's eyes. She loved
old things like that. Flea markets, museums, estate sales. You name
it. Whoa, what have we here?" asked Piper going to the mantle. "This
on is sitting on top of the dust."
"Patti never worried too much about the dust. She was always so
busy," he said looking down.
"Don't write her off yet. This old wood carving looks unique with the
Manor behind it," Piper said turning it over.
"Very rich ebony. The wood along is worth hundreds of dollars. Even
though it appears to be old, there is the manor, as it looks today
with Patti and some other woman standing in front of it. This has got
to be it. Richard, did Patti ever commission something like this?"
asked Melinda.
"Not at the prices you're quoting. And in our thirty years of
marriage I never met the woman she is with there. And its uglier than
that vase over there!" he said pointing to the Grecian urn.
"Hay, that's my daughter you're talking about, Richard!" snapped
Piper. Then she gave him a quick wink, as Melinda looked a little
startled.
"OK, I'll try and release them and.." started Richard.
"No, wait a minute. First we prepare our defense. Releasing them will
only bring down the wrath of the warlock Mordred. They are safe
there. Mother, shall we adjourn to the kitchen?" she asked casually
walking in that direction.
"Damn straight," she said following her a little more slowly.
As the clock struck midnight, Piper, Melinda and Richard gathered in
the attic. A full moon showed through the window. A circle of candles
lay on the floor as Richard placed the ebony carving in the center
and Melinda lit the candles. Richard had spent the last two hours
tenderly caressing the image of his wife. They stood back behind the
candles.
"My wife. Let me do it," said Richard quietly.
"Blow ye winds from east and west,
Return my love to her hollowed nest,
Break the bonds that bind both of thee,
Destroy the curse, return to me."
With only one repeat of the incantation, the black ebony wood melted,
turned into blue sparks, followed by a whirlwind that formed the two
freed witches. Both took one great breath and then broke out into
grins. Richard grabbed his wife and sobbed in her arms.
"I really thought I had lost you that time, my sweet. I couldn't have
gone on without you!" he cried in her arms.
Piper and Melinda came up and hugged her too.
Melinda turned to other witch. "Melinda Armstrong, Patti's sister.
This is my mother Piper Wyatt."
"Um, greetings. Angela Bennington. It is a bit disconcerting being
rescued twice. Has it been a great deal of time?" she asked.
"No, only a couple of days," explained Piper. "It wouldn't have
happened at all if Patti had not gone off by herself to perform a
little magic!"
"If I hadn't been so alone. I was sure I could handle it by myself!"
Patti said quite bravely.
"Another reason you're a lot like Prue. Well, the danger is not pass
because Mordred will come down upon us shortly," explained Melinda.
Angela shook her head. "I fear we have no defense against him, sister
witches."
"Nope, we found your case history, so to speak. San Francisco has a
very close niche of witches here and we concocted the potion to get
rid of this fairly powerful warlock," said Melinda holding up the
potion.
"Methinks not," said a malicious voice form behind them in the
shadows. The potion flew from Melinda's hand to an up-stretched
arm. "Your knowledge of the craft is quite impressive. But then so
will be my next portrait of all of you. And this time I will burn it
and this house to the ground."
"Never!" cried Melinda. "Potion!" she said holding up her hand. It
disappeared from the grip of the warlock and reappeared in her hand.
She then threw it toward him as he smiled, waved his hand and it
vanished in a bright blaze of white light.
"My powers are great, thy foolish wenches," he called out.
"So have the Three," sneered Piper as she threw out her fingers and
the warlock vanished in a billion tiny black blobs.
Angela Bennington shook her hand looking quite disturbed. "I have not
seen that trick among good witches before."
"Just a little trick left over from the Charmed Ones. Still comes in
handy," Piper said nonchalantly cleaning hr fingernails.
"That's one power Patti and I will never have," she sighed though she
knew how much trouble her Mom had mastering it.
"How can I thank all of you?" asked Angela with a few tears near the
corners of her eyes.
"All in a days work," said Patti hugging her tightly. "And may I add
you also have a place to stay if it's fine with Richard."
"Anything you wish my darling!" he said honestly and lovingly.
Angela looked astonished. "I don't know what to say. My life ceased
long ago and I know not even if my family still exists."
"That then is our next mystery. If Patti can give you a home, I could
use some help at my herb and Wicca shop. We can get you geared up to
the mid-twenty-first," said Melinda smiling brightly.
"You're not the first and hardly the last time-twisted person we
helped. But I best be getting home. It's nearly dawn!" exclaimed
Piper looking at the rim of light coming over the horizon.
"And what a beautiful new day it is!" exclaimed Angela Bennington who
still had the rest of her life ahead of her thanks to Patti.