Student Bodies Read online

  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 yo
u 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.

  There was a chilling silence inside the car as we sped down Blackfoot Trail. Twyla placed a reassuring hand on my knee and tried to force a smile. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now, Julie. But I’m on your side, so is my grandfather. Whatever happens tonight, know that you have friends with you now.”

  I literally felt like I was going to throw up. I fought back a surge of bile and gave the bead a tight squeeze. “Thank you, Twyla. I don’t think I’d be here today if it hadn’t been for you and your grandfather.”

  He grunted from the front seat. “And we’ll be here tomorrow, young lady. Don’t even waste a moment worrying because these old bones have seen plenty of battles over the years. When the right moment arrives, I’ll unleash something this Adriel won’t see coming. Something she won’t have dreamed of in a thousand lifetimes.”

  I needed to believe the old man. I needed to believe him like I needed air to breathe, but my boyfriend was standing on the edge of a concrete platform overlooking the Bow River weir and for all I knew, he could have already jumped into the river. My heart was beating like a jackhammer as the cold realization that Marcus might possibly already be dead started to set in. Stinging tears filled my eyes and I turned my head to look out the passenger window.

  I needed to find the strength to keep it together. I had absolutely no other choice than to keep my emotions in check because in spite of my love for Marcus, in spite of how I’d never forgive myself if something happened to him, this was about something bigger than me – bigger than everyone in our car. More than a hundred lives hung in the balance and the only thing that could save them was a coven of witches, a Great Dane that was possessed by a spirit, a pair of First Nations’ shamans, my mother and me.

  We pulled into the parking lot at the Bird Sanctuary and were met by two minivans. Parked near the pathway leading up the river was Wallace Guffman’s old Jeep Grand Cherokee, but he was nowhere in sight. Mom placed her car in park and shut down the engine as I hopped out of the backseat and into the cold. The sliding doors on both minivans opened near simultaneously and I recognized the shrunken form of the Blessed Maven as she climbed out.

  She started waving her cane furiously and began to bark orders as eight other witches climbed from inside the two minivans.

  And I didn’t recognize any of them.

  “Head straight through the pathway and up to the river’s edge,” shouted the Blessed Maven. “Bring those bags of salt and spread it a foot in front of the waterline. It’ll dissolve in the snow, but it will buy us enough time to find out how to craft a counter spell.”

  Mom rushed up to the Maven with Betty galloping alongside her. “Adriel will attack us while we’re trying to save those kids. She’ll bring her blood coven through a portal.”

  The old lady snapped at her. “Don’t you think that I hadn’t already considered that, adept? We’ll make do with what we’ve got and our first order of business is to save those children. What happens to us is of no importance.”

  Mom made a slight bow and then she dashed to one of the minivans. She grabbed a twenty pound bag of salt and started up the path toward the river.

  “Shadowcull,” the Blessed Maven bellowed. I raced up to her and gave her a tiny bow. “You will act as the warning for when Adriel makes her presence known. A Shadowcull’s heightened magical senses can pick up even the tiniest foreign magic. Get up to the river’s edge and keep a sharp eye for any possible site where she might attack. If she breaks through then you must unleash hell on earth, do you understand?”

  “Yes, Blessed Maven,” I said. I was about to run back to the car and grab Twyla when George Standingready hobbled up to the old woman.

  “Hello, Wilma,” he said, beaming at the Maven. “It’s been more then forty years since I last saw you, time has withered us both, yeah?”

  She cocked an eyebrow and I could have sworn that I saw a thin smile form on her wrinkled face. “Well, hello, George Standingready. By the Spirits, won’t Adriel be in for a thumping now! We’ve two lifetimes between us. Do you have your beads?”

  He gave his fetish a small shake and ran his hand gently along the side of the old woman’s face. “You’re still as beautiful as the first day I ever laid eyes on you, Wilma.”

  She placed her hand over his a
nd smiled warmly. “And you’re just as smooth a talker. Are you ready for this?”

  He nodded and said, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  The pair plodded down the snowy path. In the distance I could hear the sound of thousands of tons of water splashing over the weir so I grabbed Twyla by the hand and raced into the line of bushes. We emerged through a thick stand of diamond willow to find in front of us the rushing water of the Bow River.

  Not to mention an extended line of more than a hundred students standing a few feet away from the river’s edge. Each wore a blank expression; their eyes were lifeless orbs that could barely even blink. And on the platform was Marcus, the cold wind whipping his hair. He didn’t shiver, he didn’t even look like he was breathing. He just stood motionlessly, his eyes fixed on the one hundred yard wide wall of swirling, churning water. All it would take would be one strong gust of wind and he’d be off the concrete platform.

  But at least he was alive.

  “So, what now?” asked Twyla as we hustled clear of our classmates. A thick cloud of ice crystals floated above the weir. I gazed out into the darkness to try to identify a likely spot for Adriel to make her appearance when I caught a glimpse of Betty the dog as she led Wallace Guffman away from the river and down toward the parking lot.

  “We save our strength for what’s about to happen,” I said grimly. I pulled my hood over my head. “Your grandfather – he talked about something that he was going to do, something that hasn’t happened here for more than a hundred and fifty years. What’s he on about?”

  She shrugged as she fiddled with her bone bead choker. “His power is linked to the land,” she answered as she looked helplessly upstream at the weir. “So is mine. I don’t know what he’s got planned but if I know my grandfather, it will be the last thing anyone would expect.”

  I nodded and glanced in the direction of the white witches, busily forming a salt circle around the concrete platform. One of them knelt down and touched the salt ring with one finger and a wall of magical energy shot up around Marcus. It would contain him for now, but eventually the salt would dissolve into the snow and all it would take to end his life would be a whisper of black magic.