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Chapter 14: Spellraising
A white light emanated from Dana and Katie's joined hands hitting the glowing jack-o-lantern inside the cauldron they were standing around, before bouncing back and forcing them to stumble apart. "Faex!" Katie cursed as she threw her hands in the air and turned away.
"Well that didn't work," Kendall commented as she stepped up to the cauldron and peered inside.
"If you have another idea you, now would be a good time to share it," Katie snapped, making Kendall roll her eyes. "What I meant was, we've tried the same thing over and over again," she bit out. With different combinations, but whether it's one of us, all three or just two, nothing seems to be working. So maybe we need to do something different."
"What are you suggesting?" asked Dana as she flexed her fingers.
Kendall looked down at the notebook in her hands and took a moment to re-read the scribbles she had been leafing through before addressing the other witches again. "What if we're going about this the wrong way? I get that reversing the spell is the right way to do this, since we don't have a way to actually break the curse. But what if it's not the only way?"
Katie walked back to the table staring at the leaves of paper on which they had written all the spells, potions and combinations they had tried, crossing off the latest one, before pulling her hat off her head and setting it on the table. "This is a very complex spell," she voiced with a slight edge to her tone. "One that was very carefully crafted with very specific ingredients that have a specific meaning in this world. Why else would a witch use a carved pumpkin as anchor?"
"Exactly," Kendall pointed out as she joined her. "And even with the list of items Commander Myers gave us we are not closer to finding out how it was cast, let alone finding a way to reverse it."
"It is the only way to undo this," Kaite insisted as she slammed her hands on the table.
"But what if it isn't?" Kendall countered, very aware that both the other witches were staring at her. She took a deep breath and placed the notebook on the table and began to explain, "Look, I'm usually all for doing things by the book, honestly winging it is more my younger sister's thing. But I've been reading these notes that one of those girls wrote and it talks about not being in a world of magic, not having all their powers and having to find a different way to keep magic alive. We have tried reversing the spell and clearly it's not working and we are running out of time, so one way or another we are dooming these people. Why not try a different approach?"
Dana turned away from them, returning to the cauldron and staring at the floating pumpkin inside while Katie shook her head, "You want us to experiment with the unknown? Hallow's Eve is almost at its end, this no time to, how do the mortals say it?... Yes, think outside-the-box."
"Why think outside-the-box when we can think inside the pumpkin?" said Dana, turning around to face the others with a wide grin on her face.
Katie and Kendall shared a look before turning back to the blonde. "You're making even less sense than this one," the curly haired witch scoffed, but Dana ignored her as she ploughed on. "Don't you get it? You're both right. About a different approach and about it being too dangerous to try something radically complex. But there is another option."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Kendall.
Dana walked around the cauldron and held her hands out gesturing to the pumpkin. "The answer has been right in front of us all along. The pumpkin is the anchor which means it's been fortified to contain the spell. So instead of trying a complex way to reverse it, why not use a simple spell, backed by the power of three witches to pull the magic back into the pumpkin?"
Kendall's eyes lit up as she joined her by the cauldron. "It won't get rid of the spell but it might just be enough to release those who have been affected before midnight." She turned back to Kaite, confidently meeting her eyes, "What do you think?"
Circuit flapped his metallic wings as he flew down the upstairs hallway of the Collins mansion, yellow eyes glowing as they scanned each room on the lookout for the remaining Time Force Rangers. Time was ticking away and they had strict orders to return before midnight, so one way or another, he needed to get the team on the Time Ship, though he had no idea how he was going to explain to Alex why he was returning with a robot, a couple of superheroes and a witch. That is if there was a Time Force when they got back. If Eric and the others weren't able to stop this madness there was no telling what would happen to the timeline.
He resisted the urge to scan for changes as he flew into the nearest open door, coming to a stop when he noticed a black-clad figure sitting on the writing desk with jewels scattered around her while a large safe lay wide open on the wall behind her.
"Hello beautiful," Nadira purred as she picked up a long velvet box and opened it to reveal a string of diamonds. She pulled them out and hung the necklace before her eyes, carefully examining the stones
"Nadira stop! You shouldn't be doing that," he chirped.
She gracefully looked up, twirling the necklace around her finger stared at him with a scowl.
"The name is Catwoman," she sneered. "Now go away you little pest before I decide I'm in the mood for a late night snack." Hopping off the desk she turned around and picked up the bag she found and began shoving all the valuables from the safe into it.
"I'd listen to the bird, if I were you," a heavy English accent announced and Circuit was relieved to see Andros walk into the room with his gun raised. There was the small fact that he still thought he was James Bond but at least he was on their side.
Nadira lowered the bad onto the desk and turned around to find herself staring at the barrel of gun. "Hello there handsome," she purred as sauntered towards them. "Be a good boy and put that away, would you? We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt."
"That M'lady is entirely up to you."
Circuit looked from Nadira to Andros, both locked in a staring match and neither moving an inch. There was a mischievous smile on the would-be-thief's face while the so called super spy was sporting a smirk of his own. "I'll leave this to you," he said to Andros before leaving the room in search of Jen.
The sound of loud voices reached him as he made his way downstairs leading him to the front door where Jen was standing guard arguing with Alyssa and Cole. "Let us go," Alyssa cried. "You can't keep us locked up in here. We need to get home."
"For the last time, you're not going anywhere," Jen snarled. "It's too dangerous outside. Stay put."
Cole took a step towards her but Alyssa stopped him. "Look, I don't know who you are or why you're doing this? But Tarzan here isn't used to being cooped up inside a building, if you don't let him go outside, things aren't going to be pleasant for you. Now let us go."
Jen took a step forward, her face slowly changing and her words dripping with venom, "Like I told you when you tried to break the window, NO ONE IS GETTING OUT!"
Alyssa screamed and Cole called out "Monster" before rushing her but the vampire was ready for him. Grabbing his hands with her own and planting her feet in the ground before using her newfound strength to fling him across the room, straight into the staircase.
"Tarzan!" Alyssa cried as she ran after him while Circuit flew over to Jen who was watching them with a murderous gleam in her eyes.
"Jen calm down," he soothed. "You don't really want to hurt them, they're your friends, it's not their fault. This is not you."
She took a deep breath and the robot relaxed as he watched her face return to normal. "Thanks Circuit," she whispered. "Sending Lucas along with the others was a bad idea. It's getting harder to keep it together. I don't know what's stronger, the urge to wring their necks or drink their blood."
"Hang in there, we'll get through this."
"How much time do we have left?"
Circuit's eyes glowed as he projected the bold digits that showed them the time ticking away to midnight. "Fifteen minutes, just great," Jen grumbled as they moved down the hallway. "Why is it taking them so long to undo this?"
Katie completed the chalk circle around the cauldron and looked up at the other two witches who were huddled around a scrap of paper whispering to each other. "Do you have a spell yet?" she asked as she returned to the shelf, browsing through the glass jars.
"We're getting there," Kendall pointed out. "Spell writing is something my sisters usually handle. But Sabrina here as a knack for rhyming."
"Let's just say I've been in too many situations where I've had to come up with spells on the run. But this is not working," Dana grumbled as she scratched out a line.
"This is far more complicated," Kaite scoffed out as she emptied a jar of cinnamon into a bowl and reached for the box of sage. "Your witchcraft is feeble if you rely on such silly things like rhymes. You need only to speak clearly of what you want, straight and true, leaving nothing to chance." She emptied the last of the lavender and rosemary into the bowl and crushed the herbs together, before proceeding to sprinkling them around the circle she had drawn.
"That's easy for you to say," Kendall grumbled as she turned her attention back to the sheet of paper just as Dana grabbed it and scribbled a few lines before handing it back to her. "That might work," she murmured. "But we'll have to change this bit here."
"Right," Dana nodded. "And move this line here."
Katie smirked as she returned the bowl and pulled a large jar with flat stones as balck as coal towards her. Her eyes lifted to the clock on the wall before dropping to the witches still working on the spell.
Jen stopped short when she saw Maya slowly walking towards Wes who had his cape covering the lower half of his face while his eyes stared into the young woman's eyes. "Wes," she whispered but her eyes widened as she watched him grab a listless Maya, pulling her against him as drew his head back, baring his fangs.
"No!" she cried, using her speed to ram into them, forcing them apart before she grabbed Maya by the shoulders and sped her to the other room and returning to face Wes. He growled as snarled as he gracefully leapt to his feet. Jen instinctively reacted, her face shifting as they squared off.
To her surprise, he instantly calmed down, pulling his fangs back as the darkness in his eyes faded. "You most certainly are a magnificent creature," he said in a smooth voice that sent an involuntary chill down her spine. "But right now I'm craving something a little more alive."
With every word his tone grew darker and venomous as his eyes darkened once more.
The sound of hurried footsteps reached her ears and she turned around to see Andros running in but when she turned back to Wes, he was gone. "Damn it!" she growled as she shifted back to normal.
"Did I interrupt something?"
"No," she snapped as she turned to face him. "What's going on?"
"Our little cat burglar has agreed to not to turn tail and run for the moment," he informed her as he adjusted his jacket. "She's striking up a conversation with our friend from the mob as we speak. However, Frankenstien's monster, and this zombie fellow seem to have broken out of their holds."
"Fine," she growled. "You get the zombie, I'll keep the monster away from the doctor."
Kendall lit the candles around the cauldron and stepped into the circle, joining the other two witches. "Are you ready?" asked Dana as she held out her hands, the other two nodded, reaching out with their own hands to form a triangle.
"This is our only chance," the brunette whispered. "I hope it works."
"It's not the best spell written but it will serve our purpose," Katie pointed out. "I should not have to tell you this, but unless you believe in what you speak and the magic behind your words it will have no effect."
"Let's do this," Dana declared.
"As one," Kaite concluded, nodding to the two of them as they fell silent, dropping their heads as they focused their energy, willing it to flow from one to the other, merging into one unified force. The wind stirred around them as the crystals placed at their feet began to glow a bright blue and the candles burned brighter. Together they looked up and recited, "Powers of the casters three, hear our call, head our plea. Return now to that which holds, this wicked curse from time untold. Before the end of this hallowed night, free your captives from your might."
The wind grew stronger as their joined palms began to glow. "Ad ex qua venisti," Katie lead as a beam of light shot out of her and Kendall's joined hands and hitting the pumpkin inside the cauldron.
"Ad ex qua venisiti," Kendall repeated, as a light came forth from her and Dana's joined hands.
"Ad ex qua venisiti," Dana concluded, the light emerging from her and Katie's joined hands.
The candles blew out and the basement lit up as a bright light shot out of the pumpkin passing through the floorboards reaching up to the sky. The three witches held on to each other, eyes closed as they continued to focus while the wind howled and light bulbs shattered around them. Across the city a veil of green smoke lifted into the air, drifting towards the light where it began to swirl, faster and faster like a raging tornado surrounding the little store before contracting as it lowered into the pumpkin, growing smaller and smaller until all the smoke was contained.
The wind settled and the basement was flooded with darkness, the flashing green glow of the pumpkin, the only source of light. "Did we do it?" Dana asked after a moment of silence, not daring to be the first to break free.
"It would seem so," Katie declared as she pulled her hands free. "Perhaps we should have insisted the spirit stay behind to confirm it but nevertheless, it appears I was mistaken, the two of you are indeed true witches."
"We could have told you that," Kendall voiced. "We should probably go topside and check though, before we find Commander Myers and find a way home.
"But what do we do with…" Dana began, stopping short as the glowing pumpkin began to rise out of the cauldron. Katie stepped back as Kendall raised her hands a loud scream escaping her lips.
That's it for now. Please do review and let me know what you think.
Till next time...