Last Exit Read online

  Humiliation raced to take the place of the pain. Anger chased behind it, snapping and snarling. The pulse of the mantle evened out into one long throb.

  “It’s okay," I told Tubby and Hannah. “I know what to do now.”

  The spot I knew as my third eye tingled. I let it slide open and saw the creatures before me for what they were. Human, yes, but not by much. Flat black eyes stared back at me. They all had gray skin, almost the color of the clouds littering the sky. Ginger Chest Hair and Pink Bra had slits on the sides of their necks like gills.

  Thick Woman raised her arm for another blast. A word I didn’t understand slipped from her lips. My vision blurred, and the light from my third eye winked out. My eyes burned like I’d gotten soap or some other corrosive substance in them. I stumbled, turning my back to Thick Woman, rubbing at my face.

  “Tell me how to help.” Hannah tugged at me. I couldn’t answer. The stinging in my eyes took all my focus.

  Thick Woman didn’t give us a chance to regroup. She whispered the word again. This time I heard it, but not with my ears. The word registered in some deep, dark part of me I didn’t yet have access to.

  Thick Woman had said, “Trepidatio.”

  “Look at her. She don’t know what to do.” Ginger Chest Hair giggled.

  “She’s gonna figure out how to die,” Thick Woman yelled.

  Wait a minute. We hadn’t agreed to fight to the death, had we? I’d thought this was more of a playground scuffle. Whatever it was, I was losing. I needed to get my shit together.

  “That’s what you think,” Tubby shot back. Words barely out of his mouth, he drew in a whistling breath. “No. Not that.”

  Hannah echoed Tubby’s panicked inhale. “Get ’em off her.”

  I gave my eyes another rub and forced them open. A scream lodged itself in my throat but wouldn’t come out.

  Snakes roped around my feet. A copperhead, tongue flicking from its thick, triangle-shaped head crawled up my leg, diamond-pupiled eyes empty of anything other than ruthlessness. I stilled.

  He won’t bite if I don’t move. He thinks I can’t see him. He’ll go away if I stand still enough. The thoughts ran together in a jumble. Hysteria sparked and then roared as though doused with gasoline.

  The copperhead inched its way up my leg, tongue still flicking the air. A coral snake, its red and yellow bands on prominent display, slipped over my boot. From somewhere behind me came the chitter of a rattlesnake’s warning.

  The panic, now a roaring fire, seized my heart in a burning vise. It begged me to brush off the copperhead, to kick the other snakes away from my feet, to run fast and far.

  But the snakes had me beat in terms of speed. I’d been bitten by two snakes, both of the supernatural persuasion. I occasionally had nightmares about the speed at which they’d moved.

  “We can’t shoot them. We’ll hit you. Use your magic.” Hannah said from behind me.

  I found the spark that made me different from most people and latched onto it. Just that small action broke Thick Woman’s spell. The copperhead flashed transparent a couple of times. Then its woodsy pattern faded back into existence. But now I knew it wasn’t real.

  I raised my head to snarl at Thick Woman. “That all you got?”

  I forced my third eye open again. Those soulless black doll eyes made gooseflesh shiver over my skin.

  Thick Woman chuckled. “Had Red kept her big mouth shut, you’d ’a never knowed. But that’s all right. I can take care of ’er.” She flicked the wand in Hannah’s direction.

  Hannah let out a scream, but it was muffled as though she was screaming behind her hand.

  Going against my instincts not to turn my back on Thick Woman, I spun to see what was the matter. Hannah’s lips appeared to have disappeared altogether. From the nose down was one rough stretch of skin. She grabbed her chin, still screaming through her nose, and tried to pull it apart.

  I took a step toward her. Fire stabbed into my back. My vision flashed the same way a bolt of lightning does. The shockwave raced through my brain. My knees softened and folded. I hit the ground hard. I lay staring at the gray sky like it was the most interesting thing since streaming TV.

  “Now wait a minute,” Tubby shouted, his voice far away.

  “Take him,” Thick Woman yelled.

  Tubby let out a girlish scream. He staggered into my vision, Pink Bra fastened to his back like a particularly ugly jockey. Tubby ran out of my field of vision, still bleating that pitiful high-pitched scream.

  I searched for Linus. Swarthy had him by the arms. Linus fought, but he was an old, soft human man. He didn’t stand a chance.

  Tubby ran past, trying unsuccessfully to shake Pink Bra.

  “Help me, Hannah.” He slapped at Pink Bra’s legs. “Don’t matter if you can talk. They taking me down like lionesses on the savannah.”

  Thick Woman tackled Tubby and dragged him to the ground. Both women crawled over him, arms and legs everywhere.

  Ginger Chest Hair stepped into my field of vision, rows of teeth bared in a menacing grin. “My sister’s been wanting a man.”

  Someone, maybe Swarthy, let out a scream. “Fucker bit me.”

  I swung my head in time to see Linus elbow Swarthy and make a run for his car. He opened the door of his Lexus. Was he going to abandon us? Before the thought even had time to ripen, Linus reached into the car and made the horn blow.

  Linus let off the horn and yelled, “Twila, you and Demeritus get off Mr. Tubman. Right now.”

  Both girls screamed laughter. Thick Woman popped her wand at Linus. He fell into his car as though pushed by a huge, invisible hand. The door shut, and the locks engaged. He tried to start the car. All the engine did was go urrrur-urrrur-urrrur. Linus pounded the wheel, face contorted with anger and more than a little terror.

  Tubby screamed, this time in real pain. I tried to roll over and found that I could. Whatever Thick Woman did to me must have been wearing off.

  What I saw infuriated me. Both Thick Woman and Pink Bra straddled Tubby. He was bleeding from one arm. The wound looked like a bite. What the hell were they trying to do to him?

  I got my knees under me and crouched, panting and clutching my sore stomach. Pink Bra and Thick Woman were trying to pull poor Tubby’s clothes off. He pushed at their hands, bleating like a trapped animal. His eyes rolled over to me.

  The panic in them tripped a switch inside me. Unfortunately for this family of weirdos, that switch was right next to where I hid all my magic. I got to my feet and walked on unsteady legs to Hannah.

  She’d started crying and clogged her nose with snot. Now she staggered around, trying to draw oxygen. I imagined myself knocking the magic right off her and clapped her on the back. She fell forward, sucking air in large whooping breaths. I grabbed onto the branches of a tree and used my other hand to steady her. The effort pulled at my sore muscles, and my vision swam. Hannah got hold of herself and faced me, red-faced and angry. There is nothing scarier than a pissed-off redhead.

  “Get them,” she gritted through her teeth.

  Still staggering, I approached Pink Bra and Thick Woman. One of them had raked scratches over Tubby’s face. I didn’t have the strength to get them off Tubby, but Orev might.

  I raised my arms as though wings were attached, gathering my power and making contact with my raven familiar. His caws echoed through my head.

  The gray sky darkened with the silhouettes of many birds. Their wings beat a malevolent thunder. A hawk swooped in and clawed Pink Bra’s back with lethal looking feet. He pecked her cheek, drawing blood. A piece of flesh flapped open. Pink Bra shrilled, rolled off Tubby, and ran for one of the dilapidated houses.

  I imagined myself as a bird, diving for Thick Woman. The birds flocked to her. They flogged and pecked at her. Unlike Pink Bra, she didn’t scream. She waved one arm, and the birds swept back, driven by some invisible force. The birds scattered into the sky, angry squawks the only thing to prove they’d been there. She got off Tubby and f
aced me.

  I held out both hands, this time in a challenge. “Finish it.”

  Anger beat at my temple and neck. Thick Woman had hurt me and my friends. Now we’d dance.

  I limped toward Thick Woman, abdomen aching so badly I could barely lift my feet. This injury had taught me that every nerve in the human body had some connection to those muscles below the navel. For the first time, I thought about my broken fertility. Had Oscar’s sword killed it forever? The thought made me see red. Unfortunately, the only enemy in front of me was Thick Woman. Too bad for her.

  I drew magic from the humidity, the dirt at my feet, even from Thick Woman herself. The mantle grew like an extra lung, one filled with magic.

  Control yourself. Don’t kill her. The possibility of causing her to stroke out was very real. I had done that to Michael Gage.

  Thick Woman had electrocuted me, caused me to hallucinate, trapped Linus in his car, tried to rape Tubby, and sewed Hannah’s lips shut. But no permanent harm had been done. Other than the bite marks and scratches on Tubby.

  I glanced at him. He stood staring at the bite mark on his arm, a sick expression on his face. A flash of anger threatened to undo my control. A few deep breaths, and I had it again. What could I do to Thick Woman that would scare the smartass out of her but not do permanent damage?

  Burn her clothes? Blow up her gun? No. Both had the potential to get out of hand. My memory flashed on Thick Woman’s snake trick. It had scared me, but it also said a lot about her. People hurt others in ways they fear being hurt themselves.

  I focused my magic on Thick Woman. It slipped into her brain through the corner of her eye. She screamed and clapped her hand to the eye. She raised her wand.

  Hurriedly, I planted seeds of the images I wanted her to see, but I did it gently. By the time I finished, sweat rolled down my sides and slimed the back of my neck. Controlling the magic was harder work than just letting it go.

  Thick Woman coughed. The cough wracked her body, and she bent over with it. She tried to clear her throat. That turned into her gagging.

  She bent at the waist, straining and gagging at the dirt. It sounded as though she had something caught in her throat. She dropped to her hands and knees, back arching with the force of trying to dislodge whatever it was. Her nostrils flared with her panicked breaths.

  I gave what I’d lodged there a gentle push that cost me way more energy than an all-out shove would have been.

  A huge snake head, complete with flickering tongue, pushed its way out of her mouth. I bit back a smug smile. It had worked.

  “What the hell?” Ginger Chest Hair ran to Linus’s fancy car and jumped on the hood, denting it.

  Thick Woman’s eyes crossed, trying to see what was coming out of her. I gave the snake a gentle nudge forward so she could see its shiny head.

  Her eyes widened to the point that it wouldn’t have surprised me if they had popped out. Thick Woman screamed around her mouthful of snake.

  I grabbed my knees, panting with effort, and continued to seep gentle magic into the snake.

  Thick Woman fell on her back, legs kicking, still shrieking through her nose. She slapped the ground next to her, signaling her surrender.

  I let go of the magic powering the snake. It disappeared, and Thick Woman relaxed. She lay on the dirt, sobbing and breathing hard. After a few minutes, she began to catch her breath. She rolled to her knees and grabbed her wand off the ground where she’d dropped it.

  “Now, Twila, you done lost fair and square.” Swarthy came forward.

  “I didn’t holler uncle.” She got to her feet and held out the wand.

  “If you do anything else, I’m going to kill you.” My tired voice barely rose above a whisper, but Twila—aka Thick Woman—must have seen the truth in my eyes. She stuck the wand back into her pocket.

  “Fine. You want the location of a damned soul? Only person can give that to you is Pappy.” She pointed at a nearby hill. “He’s at the top of that hill.”

  I stared at Twila, throat clogged not with phantom snake but incredulity. She could have sent me to that hill before we started this whole pissing match.

  “Why’d we just do what we did?” I managed to ask.

  She turned to me, smiling, those awful rows of teeth on full display. “I done told you. I hate chicks like you. You get all the men, and you ain’t nothing but a little slip of a girl who don’t know how to give ’em proper use.”

  She spun on her heel and marched toward the house Pink Bra had disappeared into. Over her shoulder, she said, “Don’t be here when I come back out.”

  She went inside and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the windows. Swarthy approached and stood picking at his fingernails a short distance way. He might have thought it was too far for me to hurt him. He’d have been wrong, but I wouldn’t prove it.

  He pointed at the spot where the yard ended in cactus and wild brush. “Path back there. Take you right to Pappy’s hill.”

  I stared hard at the hill but still saw no house. All I saw was a big, gnarled oak tree, limbs stretching far and wide. If Pappy lived on this hill, where did he live? And what was he? I had a feeling I wouldn’t like finding out.

  12

  The three ramshackle houses of Freakazoid Ranch sat on the edge of a hill. The path Swarthy mentioned, a well-traveled white dirt lane, was between the second and third house. Muscles aching with tension, I made my way to it.

  Behind the houses stretched out a valley spotted with patches of vegetation. The death throes of summer had burned most of it to a crisp, but a few dots of color here and there attested to the resilience of nature. The sky, even full of clouds as it was today, spread out vast and endless like an artist’s canvas. The path to Pappy’s, bright and sandy, traveled up the nearest tall hill, right to that huge tree with its long, crooked limbs.

  I stepped onto the path and took one last glance over my shoulder at my friends. Hannah, Tubby, and Linus had congregated near Linus’s car. Hannah waved to me.

  None of them had offered to accompany me on this little errand. I didn’t blame them. This whole experience was the stuff of nightmares. If Pappy turned out to be as much of a dead end as those freaks behind me, the better part of a day would be lost. And Oscar would surely be back tonight.

  Thick Woman and Pink Bra sneered at me through the window of the house they’d fled into when I’d started to really hurt them. The memory of their glee as they attacked Tubby slithered behind my eyes. Their behavior had been frightful and ugly. Anger sloshed inside me, ready to spill over and spread some crazy. One sneer from any of us would start the fight all over again.

  If Tanner had been here, he’d have given me some bullshit lecture about letting it go and being the bigger person. But I knew better. The simple truth was that people who hated other people on sight usually had a few empty drawers in the old mental toolbox.

  Even so, I’d have just about eaten a turd to have Tanner with me. The image of his earnest face and those green, green eyes haunted my memories. Loss stabbed deep into my heart. The night with Wade pretty much guaranteed Tanner and I were quits even if he came back. I’d have to tell him what happened. Then he’d never speak to me again.

  I gave my head a hard shake. Now wasn’t the time to mourn Tanner. I needed to be thinking about what lay ahead.

  “That might serve you better.” Priscilla appeared next to me, swinging tattooed arms like a suburbanite on a power walk. Only this walker was transparent and wore an ankle-length dress topped with a sleeveless chemise.

  “What do you think’s at the end of this trail?” I pointed at the tree. Something hung from one of its branches. Maybe a swing. We were too far away for me to tell for sure.

  “Whatever it is, you’ll find a way to use it to your advantage.” She marched along beside me, feet hovering several inches over the tops of the cacti.

  “What happened to me being a coward and a loser?” I almost missed the constant criticisms. This new, nicer Priscilla scared m
e a little. Maybe something awful was coming, and she didn’t have the heart to tell me.

  “I still think those things of you.” She shrugged. “But you’re changing. Becoming something more. Our time together is almost over.”

  “What do you mean?” My voice echoed in the wide expanse of empty before us.

  “Once you absorb the mantle, I’ll no longer be separate from you. Just as the Gregorius Witches before me became part of me, I’ll become part of you.” She delivered this piece of information with another mysterious smile.

  I trudged along, thinking that over. Would I gain Priscilla’s cold ruthlessness?

  “You’ve already got it.” She stopped and faced me. “What is it you really fear? Why not just say it?”

  I stopped on the trail. Anything I said would start an argument, and Priscilla would win. She had answers I’d never even thought of the questions for.

  She crossed her arms over her chest, the primitive tattoos rippling with her movement. “Speak.”

  “I fear not being me anymore.” And that wasn’t all. I feared something else, something I couldn’t quite articulate, but it loomed big, stitched so deeply into the scar tissue spell that I couldn’t even see it enough to identify it.

  “You’ll be more you than you ever were. You’ll be part of something immortal.” Her dark eyes bored into my face, their chill creeping deep.

  But how much of Peri Jean Mace would be left? I wanted to still love my friends and family.

  Priscilla shook her head and took off walking again. I followed at a safe distance. We closed in on the hill. There was no dwelling up there. Only that tree and whatever swung from it. The object swinging from the tree gave me a bad feeling. I turned to say something to Priscilla, but she was gone. Of course. Just when I might need her.

  I climbed a little more of the hill. The use of my climbing muscles woke up the pain in my gut. My stomach let loose a blinding blast of agony. I stopped, put my hands on my knees, and tried to catch my breath. There was no way I’d be able to fight anybody like this.