Student Bodies (23 page)

She held her fetish in front of her body and gave it a shake. “He's not far. Let's go get him.”

We pushed through the locker room and the sound of dance music pulsed through the air, so I opened the door and poked my head outside to take a look.

And there he was. Willard Schubert stood alone halfway up the hall and literally throbbing with malice. He was coated from head to toe with Soul Worms. The near-transparent larvae squirmed and slithered all over his body, falling in clumps that landed at his feet. But that was nothing compared to what I saw next as I stepped into the hall. The entire floor in front of Willard was a squirming mass of Soul Worms. They rolled out like a carpet down the hall and into the foyer in front of the gym doors.

“H-holy shit,” I whispered as I stepped out into the hall. “This is unreal… The Soul Worms, they're everywhere.”

“Holy shit is right,” Twyla gasped as she stood beside me. “What the hell are those things? They're disgusting.”

“Only the blackest of magic,” Betty rumbled. “Call your mother, tell her that we've found the boy.”

I nodded as Twyla handed me her grandfather's phone. I punched in Mom's number and stared in horror at Willard Schubert as the gobs and clumps of the worm-like creatures fell off his body and onto the floor. It was as if Willard himself was a wellspring for Soul Worms. They were manifesting on his body, fed by the malice he emitted, like he was a pulsing beacon of evil.

I held the phone to my ear as the percussive beat of dance music pounded up the hallway.

“Julie,” she answered. “Where are you?”

“We found him, Mom,” I said. “I'm looking at Willard Schubert and he's standing about fifty feet in front of me. He's somehow become a fountain for Soul Worms; they're pouring off his body and onto the floor. The entire hall from where he is standing right up to the foyer in front of the gym is nothing but Soul Worms as far as the eye can see. Where are you?”

“We're inside the gym behind a magic shield. We spotted the Soul Worms the minute we made it to the first floor. They're everywhere, Julie. Every single student and staff member in the gym is covered with them. Get behind a shield. It's the only way you can protect yourself from becoming infested.”

And that's when Willard started walking. He'd stood motionless from the moment I stepped out of the locker room and now he was heading toward the foyer, his body sweeping the ghostly maggots forward.

“Damn it, Mom, he's on the move,” I said. “And he's taking the Soul Worms with him. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

She didn't answer at first. All I could hear through the phone was the pounding rhythm of dance music. Willard had cleared the hallway and was now headed through the foyer and to the main doors of the school.

“Willard!” I shouted, knowing full well that his mind was firmly in the grip of the black mage Adriel and that he couldn't hear me even if he wanted to. He pushed through the front doors and that's when I saw the first few students following him. Each one was covered with Soul Worms and they plodded like zombies toward the doors. My mind flashed to when Travis Butler marched through the doors at McDonald's straight into McLeod Trail. Five more students passed into my field of view and headed out the door.

“Julie,” Mom shouted into the phone. “Everyone is leaving the gym, can you see them?”

“Yes,” I shouted back. “Willard has left the school and the students are following him. How many do you think are in the gym?”

“At least a hundred or more,” she said in a panic-stricken voice. “There's nothing we can do for them unless we kill that spell at its source – Adriel. We need to follow them. Meet me back at the car and I'll contact the coven. Be careful.”

I nodded into the phone as my heart hammered inside my chest. “I will. Give us five minutes.”

I handed the phone back to Twyla who stared at the procession of students walking out the main doors. She looked like she'd been struck dumb by the scene and I wouldn't have been surprised if she was. This was off the scale black magic and for the life of me I didn't know what to do.

“Back through the locker room and to my Mom's car,” I said as I spun around on my heels. “This is playing out exactly like we thought.”

Twyla grabbed my arm and squeezed. “We don't know where they're going and your mother needs to get her coven together. I'm going to follow them; I'll text your mother's phone and tell you where everyone is headed.”

I turned to face her and nodded reluctantly. “OK. Just keep as far the hell away from the students as you can. If you get any of those Soul Worms on you it means you become one of them. They're just student bodies – empty shells of the people they once were unless we can kill the spell.”

She clenched her jaw. “Tell my grandfather not to worry – can you do that?”

I nodded. “Will do. Now be careful.”

Betty and I pushed through the door into the boy's locker room. In seconds we were back up the concrete stairway and marching through the snow. I glanced momentarily at a round patch of scorched grass where snow should have been and shuddered. I'd torched Adriel's demon but the creature would be back along with a blood coven of witches and a black mage.

Spirits protect us all.

 

CHAPTER 24

 

“Where's Twyla?” asked Mom as she opened the driver's side door.

“She's following the kids from school,” I said. “She knows to steer clear of them as the Soul Worms will infect her if she gets too close. She's going to text their location because we have to warn the coven.”

“Smart girl,” said the old man. “She'll be OK, she's got her
dlézi
and a deerskin pouch full of tricks.”

“She has my cell number?” said Mom as she climbed into the car.

I held the back door open for Betty and the Great Dane jumped inside. “She does. I don't really know what the hell we're supposed to do now. Anything could happen to the infected. They could walk out into traffic like Travis Butler.”

Betty shook her head. “I don't think so. This entire attack is a ruse to draw out all of the witches in your mother's coven. She'll do something on a grand scale, something that requires every single white witch's direct involvement.”

Mom started the car and flipped the gearshift into reverse. We pulled out onto the street and headed to the intersection. Just as we were about to turn right, Mom jammed on the brakes and the car slid to a stop, barely missing a light post.

“
Oh my God,
”
she gasped as she stared out at the scene in front of us. Traffic had ground to a standstill as people stepped out of their cars to look at a stream of more than a hundred Crescent Ridge students walking in single file straight up the boulevard.

But that wasn't what had everybody gawking. It was the hole. And I'm not talking about a hole in the street. Straight in the middle of the boulevard more than a block ahead was a hole that hung a few feet above street level like a living shadow and every single person who'd been at that dance marched straight into the hole and then disappeared into thin air.

“
M-Mom, what the hell is that?
”
I gasped.

She shook her head hard. “I don't have a clue, Julie, not a bloody clue.”

Betty poked her head between the seats and growled. “I have – this is very old magic. Adriel has created a portal. The staff and students are going to pop out somewhere else entirely and I've no idea where.”

“I need to contact the coven now,” Mom said, her voice shaking. “This is beyond anything I've ever seen in my life.”

I opened the door and readied myself to step outside. “Well, let's just follow them; it will lead right to wherever Adriel has taken them.”

A surge of magical energy filled the car's interior and the door slammed shut. Then the locks engaged.

“You'll follow them right into this Adriel's clutches,” said George Standingready. “Use your head, girl.”

I gave a reluctant nod. Then I spotted a familiar form standing on the front stairwell leading to the main entrance of the school.

“Oh shit, it's Twyla. Open the doors because she'll follow them right into that hole,” I shouted.

There was another ripple of magic and the back door opened. I dashed outside and raced down the hill.

“Twyla, come back to the car!” I shouted.

She turned to face me
. “
What?”

“Come back with me. Don't follow them, it's a trap!”

She glanced over her shoulder as the last student passed by her and nodded, then she leaped over the handrail and raced through the snow. In seconds she was standing in front of me exhaling heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

“So, what do we do?” she said, visibly shaken by what she'd seen.

“We get back into the car and figure this out,” I answered.

Together we raced up the hill and climbed back into the car, wedging Betty against the rear door on the driver's side.

Mom looked in the rear-view mirror and said, “I've contacted the coven. They've gathered everyone at Coven House, but there's no sign of any portal at their end. There aren't any students appearing out of thin air. Nothing.”

I gave Mom a wild look. Where the hell would Adriel have taken the students? If she wasn't attacking coven house then what the hell was her plan?

I was just about to step outside the car again when Mom's cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen and said, “Marcus is calling? What the hell is that boy calling us for when all hell is breaking loose?”

I snatched the phone out of Mom's hand and pressed the receive button. “H-hello?” I said, trying to contain the panic in my voice. “Marcus?”

But it wasn't Marcus Guffman on the line. Instead of his familiar voice what I heard was a voice that made my blood run cold.

“Julie, this is Wallace Guffman. I'm at the weir and Marcus is standing on the edge. I've been pleading with him to come down. What the hell is wrong with him? Why won't he listen to me? He just got up from the dinner table more than an hour ago. His mother tried to get him back into the house, but he wouldn't listen. He just walked out into the cold. He's not even wearing a coat. Please, can you come down here and talk with him? He'll listen to you. He always listens to you.”

My heart sank. I tried to open my mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. Somehow Marcus had become infected and was under the same spell as the students who'd been at the dance. He was at the weir on the Bow River. The artificial barrier across the river that for years has claimed countless lives as anyone who fell into the weir would remain trapped by the undercurrent, spinning around over and over again in the fast-moving water until they drowned.

“Julie? Are you there? Is your mother there? Wait… What the hell?
”
 

“Mr Guffman, what is it?” I said in a panic-stricken voice.

“
Kids
!” he shouted in a mad voice. “There's a bunch of kids walking through the bird sanctuary and they're headed this way. What the hell is going on? Jesus H Christ… What the hell is this?
”
 

The genuine terror in Wallace Guffman's voice shook me out of my stupor. I took a deep breath and spoke calmly into the cell phone. “Help is on the way, Mr. Guffman. We'll be down there immediately.”

“I'm calling emergency services. These kids are all lining up on the path overlooking the weir. What is this, some kind of suicide pact? Drugs? What the hell is going on? It's like they're sleepwalking!”

If Wallace Guffman were to call emergency services then whoever showed up on scene would wind up stuck in the middle of what Adriel was planning. And what a plan she'd hatched. She'd have every white witch in the coven casting spells left right and center to save the students and that's when she'd attack. I glanced over to Betty as I held the phone against my chest.

“Betty, it's Marcus's father. He says there are dozens of kids coming out of the bushes and Marcus is standing on the edge of that weir looking like he's about to jump into the river. Wallace Guffman is going to call emergency services.”

The dog cocked its head to the right and blinked. “Hold the phone in front of my mouth.”

I flipped the phone into speakerphone mode and did as instructed.

“Wallace Guffman? I'm Betty Priddy and those children are going to be fine. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” he replied. All the panic had left his voice.

“You'll throw your cell phone into the river as soon as we're done talking. You'll stay in a safe location and wait for me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Good then. Everything will work out, you'll see. Goodbye.”

I could have sworn I heard a splash seconds later so I pressed “end” and handed the phone back to my mother.

“They're at the weir. Marcus is there – he's been infected. Adriel plans to kill each student by getting them to jump into the weir. They'll all drown, Mom. Every last one of them, including Marcus, is going to freaking drown! We have to move now.”

“
Dear God,
”
Mom whispered as she punched the speed dial and within a second or so she was on the phone with the Blessed Maven. She filled her in on what was happening and less than three minutes later we'd pulled a U-turn and were headed toward the Bird Sanctuary and the weir.

Marcus had been infected with Soul Worms and suddenly everything that Mom had told me from the very start was becoming a reality. She'd said that something terrible might happen to Marcus because of who I am; because I was a Shadowcull. I'd fought her tooth and nail only to come to the realization that she was right. I'd broken his heart in order to distance myself from him, but it was no use; somehow he'd fallen victim to the same spell that killed Travis Butler. The spell that now infected more than a hundred students and staff whose only hope of survival would come from a bunch of white witches and no shortage of dumb luck.