Chapter 12

[Wabash]

After the light had faded and fighting noises had died down, the villagers ventured out of their stores and businesses to inspect the common. Remarkably they found little out of the ordinary…

…a few scattered leaves from some disturbed bushes….

…the faint dissipating odor of ozone in the air….

…no injuries or emergencies in sight….

Having ascertained those things, they returned to their normal business. They did not want anything to do with the "weird business" as they put it. Rather they trusted that a certain professor and his alter ego would deal with it as he had for the previous generation.

But some still concerned themselves in any event…..

[MacLindy's Diner]

Abbie considered her handcuffs as well as the counter incredulously. She had Margaret dead to rights, cuffed and ready to be hauled away to jail….

…but that was before the bright light swept the fight and combatants away….

Jenny shook her head. "Nothing you could have done, Abbie. Get over it. If the other coven members teleported her away, that's how it goes."

"You seem awfully cavalier about the whole thing!" Abbie complained. "How the Hell are we supposed to deal with them if we can't hold onto them when we have them?"

"Such matters can seem beyond our control," Brother Tony advised from where he finished setting the last table right side up. "I pray that our friends are all right wherever they are now."

"You and me both. If those hags hurt Crane or Katrina, they'll get a piece of me," Abbie vowed tersely. Just then her cell phone went off. She glanced at the readout and winced. "Great. It's Irving."

"Just what we need. Another lecture," Jenny cracked half-seriously.

Abbie shrugged and answered it, "Mills. How are things back in Sleepy Hollow?"

"Everyone's accounted for here. Meantime what the Hell's happening there? I sent you and your sister up there to hook up with Reverend Caldwell. Now I hear there was a standoff at your location?"

"The coven beat us up here, Captain. Jenny, Brother Tony and I were almost drugged by them. Meantime Dubois and Katrina engaged them out on the village common. Then they all disappeared," Abbie reported.

"Disappeared? Are you serious? People don't just go poof!" he insisted.

"Bright light swept them all away. I can't reach Crane. Angela Dubois' office doesn't know where she is. Brother Tony will back me as will Jenny," Abbie continued. "We're helping to straighten up the café. As soon as we hear anything else, we'll follow up."

Irving bit his lip. He wanted to lecture the lieutenant about being pro-active. Still he knew she had more experience pursuing the supernatural than he did. He tabled his criticism choosing to trust her upon that consideration. "As soon as you find something, you report in. Got it?"

"Yes, Sir," Abbie concurred. She heard the café's phone ring and saw the manager answer it.

Brother Tony took the receiver and spoke into it. A smile broke across his worried features and he nodded enthusiastically. Then he hung up.

"Hang on just a minute," Abbie advised. "Brother Tony?"

"Angela and the others just returned. They're waiting for us at the church. Follow me," he bade the sisters. He held the door open both politely and in anticipation.

"They're back, Captain. I'll call when I've talked to Crane," Abbie advised.

"Do that, Lieutenant. Thank you," Irving concluded before hanging up.

"He doesn't approve?" Jenny supposed sarcastically.

"Probably not. I just want to make sure they're all okay," Abbie clarified as she slid her phone back in her pocket and headed out the door.

"So do we all, Lieutenant Mills," Brother Tony concurred. "Coming, Jennifer?"

"Try keeping me from that story," Jenny agreed as they left the café and headed for the church.

[Wabash Congregationalist Church—Five minutes earlier]

Kate blinked her eyes in order to focus them. Even as everything blurred back into focus, her mind swam with what she'd experienced.

A dream world parallel to our own….

The goddess, a figure she'd considered only a myth at best and more than likely a fiction, really existed….

The figures from her nightmares were real. The coven had faces under those robes. The man from the mercantile actually shared head space with something a lot darker than advertised….

Her parents were actually people from the past as Professor Dubois suggested.

She rubbed her temples while trying to soothe the headache there. Pain's white hot needles stuck at her again and again. She slumped into a pew in the process.

"Katherine, are you unwell?" Katrina worried. She moved to her daughter's side urgently.

"It's so much to take in, Mom," the co-ed complained. "How do you and Dad cope with all of this stuff? It's like information overload."

"Take a deep breath, Katherine. We have all of the time in the world. Be assured of that," Ichabod comforted.

"How can anyone do that to us, Dad?" Kate grasped onto her parents desperately.

"Some people don't care what pain they cause others, Katherine. You'll have to deal with that," Dave added from the corner. He took several deep breaths to try and calm himself down. "I've had my own run ins like that."

"And we must all survive them," Ichabod added. Once more, he recalled the scene between his friend and the latter's fallen granddaughter. "But none of us should do it alone. Would you agree, Katrina?"

"Indeed, my Love. Katherine, you are not alone. We love you," Katrina affirmed before laying a kiss on Kate's forehead for emphasis. "And we have our friends as well."

Kate nodded. "It does make easier, I guess. I just need to be patient." She rubbed her hands over her face.

"That's all you can be," Dave concurred. "Meantime, in the midst of the struggle, you maintain your faith and values. I had a great teacher in that regard." He smiled and rubbed his wife's shoulder affectionately.

"Dave, honestly! All I was doing was being true to God and myself!" Angie protested although she got his point. "You did the same for me too. Take some credit." She heard a key rattling in the door locks outside. "Now who?"

At that moment, Brother Tony opened the door gingerly and peered inside. "My friends! Thank God you're all right! We were concerned!"

"Where are those witches anyhow?" Abbie pressed as she followed along with Jenny.

"Our goddess imposed her will on the matter," Katrina declared. "They will not trouble us again."

"Yeah whatever. I've heard that line before. Excuse me," Dave scoffed before stomping out of the church rather heatedly.

"Sorry. Brother Tony, I need to…." Angie excused herself.

"Go, Angela. It's quite all right," Brother Tony concurred.

"Damn! What was that about?" Jenny wondered. "What's got Mr. Doom and Gloom in a twist. We won. Good for us."

"I am afraid, Miss Mills. It is not that simple," Ichabod disagreed with a shake of his head. "Some victories reopen wounds and pour salt in them. We should allow him his time lest the demon emerge once more."

"A sound strategy, Captain Crane. Let us help Katherine at this point," the minister concurred.

"So this is the girl that the coven wanted?" Abbie queried. "Wonder what the big deal is?" She smiled and offered her hand. "Hey. I'm Abbie Mills. And you are?"

"I'm Kate Crane…their daughter. You work with my Dad?" Kate supposed albeit guardedly. Something about Abbie's query put her off.

Abbie stared at her. "You're…his daughter?" She turned to her partner and the latter's wife. "Is she for real?"

"Katrina and I are her parents, Leftenant. Somehow when the Sisterhood banished Katrina to Purgatory, Captain Dubois managed to teleport Katherine here thereby sparing her the dark realm's existence. She apparently has lived in this time ever since," Ichabod deduced.

"And I floated from foster home to foster home until I moved out two years ago and went on my own. Love the System," Kate continued.

"Yeah it's a paradise, all right," Jenny commiserated while eliciting a nod from Abbie as well. "As the reverend said though, you're out. Move forward and deal with your own ghosts."

"Even as you keep your faith," Brother Tony interjected.

"I have so many questions," Kate complained.

"And as I told you, Dear Katherine, we have time. Take comfort in that," Ichabod reaffirmed.

Kate hugged her parents even tighter. Everything she had known was being turned on its head. The empty space now had something in it….

…now she needed to understand….

Time would be needed as Father urged and Mother soothed….

But what would come of that? She knew not of the answers. All she could do was hang in there and hope. Hang in there indeed…..