Chapter 14
"Are you sure that using basil as a substitute is O.K.?" Bryce asked, handing the leaves to Naia.
"No, but won't it be fun to find out?" Naia chuckled. Using one of the tombstones as a table, Naia placed the basil into the mortar with some other ingredients. They had all agreed that the graveyard was the best location for what they were about to do and they headed there after picking up some items. The dark weather, however, certainly made the cemetery an undesirable place to be. At least it had yet to rain.
The stench from Naia's cave and bowl turned out to be a spell. The fairy had sent someone from Jarethcomb to gather supplies, but like the rest of the creatures was most likely running wild in Spooksville. Instead, Bryce, Watch, and Tira helped the fairy with her spell while Amy rested nearby.
"From the ingredients we got, this just seems to be a recipe for a sauce. How can this be a spell?" Watch asked.
"This recipe is not the spell. It enables me to cast the spell," Naia explained, handing the pestle to Bryce. "Concentration is important and this mixture will greatly help to open my mind and strengthen its abilities."
"I see," Watch said. "They have discovered in our dimension that there are different levels of consciousness. A person's brain waves are strongest when daydreaming – I imagine your recipe somehow induces that.
"Brain waves?" Naia asked, pushing back her red hair again. "Yes, that sounds correct, though I have not heard it explained that way."
"You were saying that casting magic is science?" Tira asked.
Naia picked one of the red flowers growing in the cemetery and handed it to Bryce to crush. "Yes. My race has developed science to a great degree over centuries. We have also done the same with morality because without it we would destroy the world with our science. The humans of my dimension don't understand that."
"They don't understand that here either," Bryce said, mashing everything in the mortar to paste. "A lot of people are dying from poor judgments about science and technology."
"In my dimension as well," Amy added from her place against a tombstone. "Maybe humans really are programmed to self-destruct."
"Not the most comforting of thoughts," Tira said.
"But the creatures of Jarethcomb are not without their faults," Naia offered. "Just look at what the Lilais are doing. I am afraid the harbingers may attack even me now because we are about to revert them to their true form."
Watch looked at her. "Why do you say that? After they've changed back they should be pretty harmless."
"She doesn't mean before they change back," Tira said, pointing to the cemetery gates where possessed townsfolk stood with harbingers on their shoulders. Now they understood why Naia had instructed Bryce to relock the gate. She knew they would come.
"You could have added 'weapons' to that grocery list of yours," Bryce muttered, handing the mortar to Naia.
"Well I don't want you to hurt them," she said. "You'll do fine," she waved off. "I'll be in the car casting the spell."
"These trees are pretty dry – I don't think the branches will hold out long," Watch said, snapping a small branch off.
Bryce broke another off and handed it to Tira. "I prefer them to using rocks and pieces of tombstone though. These are people from Spooksville after all."
"We'll aim for the creatures," Watch decided. "It'll work best if we work together: one of us can distract while the other two hit from behind. We need to keep close to the car so that they don't stop Naia."
Bryce turned to Amy. "Let's get you into the car," he said, holding out his hand.
"No," she said, taking a hold of his hand. "Just help me up and hand me a branch."
"Being tough like that, you'll fit right in here," Bryce smiled, pulling her to her feet. He handed her the laser pistol instead of a branch though – it would be easier on her wounds if she didn't have to swing with force.
"Here they come," Watch said, tightening his grip on the branch. As oppose to trying to get over the wrought iron gate, the harbingers decided to make their human hosts help one another climb the walls of the cemetery. This way they would be coming from all sides.
"Get back," Watch told the first one that approached them.
"I thought these guys were supposed to be intelligent," Bryce muttered as a few more approached.
One of them stepped within hitting distance. "I suggest you convince Naia to stop," it said through its host.
"We are not done," said another.
"Oh, I'd say you are," Bryce said, swinging his branch to show them he was serious. "You picked the wrong dimension for puppets."
"You will have us starve and be poisoned?" one of them asked.
"It won't be like that," Bryce insisted.
"We have friends in your dimension helping," Tira explained with her weapon still held up. "They won't rest until an acceptable arrangement has been made."
"And can you guarantee we will be safe? That this 'arrangement' will last?" the first harbinger who spoke asked.
"Of course not," Watch told them. "And that will be up to the future to deal with. Hopefully they'll learn from your mistakes here today."
"Hey!" Tira said in surprise. Feeling something claw at her leg, she jumped to the side and found that a harbinger without a host had snuck up behind her. Watch took a swing and launched the reptile towards the back of the graveyard.
That is when the fighting began. Angered by the force Watch used, the harbingers with hosts attacked the four of them. It was alarming how the harbingers multiplied in numbers. While Amy took care of anyone sneaking up from behind, Bryce, Watch, and Tira took care of the rest. They felt very sorry for hitting people they saw on a regular basis, but it was harder to hit the harbingers than they had originally thought.
"Naia!" Bryce called. "Hurry up." He glanced into the car and saw the saucy paste was gone and that the fairy was now meditating.
"Something's happening," Tira assured him. She hit one of the creatures square on the head – it fell off its host. "There's an energy gathering."
"I don't know if we can fight these guys much longer though," Watch said. He was on his third stick. "We should seriously consider Sally's idea about going to fighting classes after this."
Amy squeezed off three shots into the last person. "The gun's dying," she warned them.
"And that would be the cue for a new wave of them to head over the walls," Bryce said, watching more harbingers head toward them. He was also on his third stick. They were running out of the reachable dry, brittle wood.
Watch took the pause between attacks to break more weapons for them to use.
"I know," Bryce exclaimed, picking up pieces of the tree. "Surround the car. We'll create a barrier," he said, holding up a lighter.
The three of them raced to place the wood around the car while Bryce started lighting it. Using Watch's two lighters, he broke them open for the fluid and sprinkled the wood in it.
"Dammit, it's taking too long," Bryce said, sitting back. Suddenly he was smashed against the car. "Argh!" he groaned, realizing a harbinger had reached them and taken the opportunity to kick Bryce in the chest. He couldn't catch his breath. Amy shot the host four times before she went down.
"Just grab a piece of wood quickly," Watch instructed them. Twenty harbingers were about to reach them.
"Riraito shiroi!" Saline shouted. Bryce had not seen her approach, but she must have come from the Secret Path. When he looked over at her, the little fairy had a hand spread on the ground and she was muttering something in another language.
After saying her piece, which Bryce assumed was a spell, she spoke. "I told Adam I'd come find him, but when I was on my way I sensed I would be of more help here," she explained.
Watch ducked as a harbinger and its host approached him and took a swing. The fist bounced away mid-air. Saline had cast a boundary around them and the car.
Tira sighed with relief. "Thank-you for coming," she said. "We've just about reached our limits for the day."
"I knew Naia would be reversing the spell," Saline admitted, sitting cross-legged in her white dress. "I didn't know it would be so soon, but I can see why. Naughty little Lilais."
"I can think of a couple other, more appropriate words for them," Bryce said angrily. He took another deep breath.
Saline chuckled. But it faded quickly. "But down to business," she said. "Someone needs to look at Naia. You need to tell me exactly when she opens her eyes. If I don't remove the barrier soon enough, the energy from her spell may cook us in this bubble."
The four of them stared at her.
"When she opens her eyes, we must all dive to the ground – away from the car – very quickly," Saline instructed further.
Watch stepped over to the passenger side window where the fairy sat. "I'll stand and watch Naia, you guys lay down," he said.
"How much longer should the spell take to cast?" Bryce asked, remaining in his resting position against the car.
Saline closed her eyes. "From the sense I get from the energy gathering here, any second," she said. Her eyes popped open. "Lay down quickly."
Except for Watch, they laid down in the red flowers. They made sure their friend had enough room to drop down quickly.
The harbingers surrounded the barrier now, pounding at it with the gang's former weapons. The four of them worried if they would be safe once the barrier was removed. Then again, roasting to death sounded a bit worse than being bludgeoned.
"Now!" Watch exclaimed, dropping on his stomach.
Saline removed her hand from the ground and placed it back down quickly. Suddenly lightning shot from the dark, cloudy sky above and hit the car Naia was sitting in. The heat that emanated from the vehicle climbed higher and higher, and then, white light shot out spherically from the sports car and heading out in all directions.
All the harbingers and their hosts dropped to the ground.
"Whoa," was all Bryce could muster.