Witch Clan: Warriors! by John Stormm (good book club books txt) 📕

“Forest Devils?” Hex and Jinx exclaimed in unison. “They gave you gifts? They didn‘t try to trap you or kill you in your sleep?”

“Grandma Emma talked a bit about it,” Jinx explained, “but with all the news on the scrybox, it‘s a bit much to get our minds around.”

“They’re not devils,” Johnny stated flatly. “They’re fae, and they’re not your enemies. In fact, if somewhere in your world’s past, people hadn’t interacted on friendly terms with them, you wouldn’t have the talents running through your bloodlines as you have today. So, you already have more than a few fae gifts yourselves.”

“My great granddad always used to tell us tales of the Old Race,” Foggy said. “He used to claim that we are distantly related, but he died before the Forest Devils started sneaking in and killing people. Nowadays, who knows what to believe?”

“Do any of you have access to a real scrying device besides the scrybox?” Johnny asked.

“I do,” Cat admitted, “up in my loft. What do you have in mind?”

“When we get Charm back,” Johnny explained, “we could all get together and you can see what I saw, and then we’ll talk about who the Devils really are. Until then, we are just wasting time we need to get Charm back.”

“Not that I don’t believe, Stormy,” Hex said as Jinx remained disturbingly silent, “but there’s a lot to this story on all sides that has a troubling ring to it. If he lives through this, I’m going to insist he comes with us to use Cat’s mirror and we get to the bottom of this thing. Are you all with me?”

“Exactly!” came the unified response.

Johnny was elated. The gang would move out at dusk.
Witch Kids To The Rescue!

On the east side of the Market District, bordering the docks and the railroad yards about two full blocks of old and ramshackle warehousing and factory outlet buildings crowded each other for space along the narrow streets and alleys. The gang were looking for a relatively small, two story, red brick structure billed as Star Casket Company. It was there where Charm was being held against her will until she could be interrogated, processed, shipped away for institutionalization and made to tow the party line as a government witch.

Mindful of the guards on the rooftop, Cat was stealthily casing the second floor for a window she could jimmy quietly and gain entrance, while Dodger and Jolt were doing likewise from ground level in the back of the building by the loading docks and dumpsters. Foggy posted himself as the lookout where the alley met the street. Hex and Jinx stood across the street in the front of the building, pretending to be arguing as a guard watched from the front door. Unbeknownst to said guard, the rotten mortar was quietly disintegrating from around a few bricks in the alcove over his head. Amused with the arguing siblings, the gravity of the situation was not lost on the Shadow guard when the loose bricks crashed upon his head, knocking him senseless on the steps at the entrance.

Taking their cue, the Noggins twins raced across the street, relieving the guard of his keys, wallet and Stinger. What seemed like an eternal moment, they froze inside the foyer, sensing their mates gaining entry into the back and upper story of the building. Charm could not be sensed as she was shielded in a cell somewhere within, but this was to be expected. The Shadows would not want desperate parents searching and finding their missing children. Charm’s parents were lost in a train wreck that nearly claimed her own life as the family were fleeing to someplace rural, where she would not be taken away to be trained as a government witch. Her last remaining “family” were the diverse children closing in on the warehouse with felonious intentions.

Sliding through the upper story window as silently as ink might ooze across a window sill, Cat gained entrance and let her eyes adjust to the gloom within. A stairway in the corner led to the rooftop. Looking around the room, she found a piece of an old bed frame she could wedge into the door bar, cutting off the Shadows on the roof from spoiling their fun below. No doubt, Stormy would have other means to reach ground level. The Shadows in the safe house proper would be the ones with the most information on Charm and they needed to be kept all in one place. The ones on the rooftop were now relegated to the one person that Cat had no intentions of ever crossing again. He didn’t even need a force lash to fry someone.

Dodger deftly picked the lock and opened the door only a crack to see what lie within. He was hoping a guard would be at the back so that there’d be one less for Joltin’ Joey to deal with when they got to the common room. No such luck. Jolt was going to have to take out four Shadows in one fell swoop. Either of his makeshift wristbands were the equivalent of a pretty good Stinger and that coat of Stormy’s was fair protection.

“Just so you know,” Dodger whispered, “if they blink you, it’s still going to hurt some. Just try to blink them all first and be ready for the jolting.”

“Four to one odds,” Jolt complained, “and these are Shadows and not simple Jackets. You can believe I’ll try like my life depends on it.”

“It does,” Dodger returned. “I don’t reckon Stormy will have an easy time with the five to one odds on the roof either. I hope he truly has some tricks up his sleeve because now he doesn’t even have the coat to protect him and those Shadows will probably be packin’ lashes.”

“Don’t remind me,” Jolt whispered, “I’d feel guilty already except you all said how he blasted that chimney in the alley. Our boy is a witch’s witch. He’ll probably zap ‘em all before his feet even touch the roof.”

“Let’s get upstairs,” Dodger said with a nod towards the stairwell. “We want to be in position at the door when Hex dowses the lights.”

With all the stealth of seasoned cat burglars, the boys crept up the rickety staircase, keeping their feet planted nearest the walls so as to prevent the old steps from creaking. Nearer to the top, the sound of a scrybox playing a rowdy soccer game blared from the adjoining common room. The back stairway door from the room was locked by a knob on the inside. Dodger made use of his pocket knife to quietly pry loose the door pins. When the signal came they would simply push the door down and Joey would blink anything in the room. He took a moment to spy through the gap between the door and lentil.

“As best as I could make it,” Dodger whispered, “there are two on the couch on the left wall and another seated on a chair directly across from us. I hear the fourth talking from somewhere off to the right but can’t spot him through the keyhole or anything.”

A momentary flickering of the room lights before the full darkness set in and the complaints of how the soccer game was interrupted served as the boys’ cue to make their entrance. Joey took the lead with Dodger bringing up the rear, careful not to allow the flash of Jolt’s wristband stingers blind his night vision. In the first instant, Jolt zapped the Shadow across from the door and the guard to his immediate left. Seeing the second man on the couch raising his weapon, Dodger jumped on him and held on for dear life. Joltin’ Joey frantically looked for an opening to blink Dodger’s quarry when the fourth Shadow fired on them from a small kitchenette off to the right and the room fairly crackled with energy as Dodger and his prey slumped spasming to the floor.

“Cripes, that stings!” Joey exclaimed, as the fae coat caught the charge and repelled it back into the fourth Shadow.

Jolt was the only one in the common room left standing when Hex and Cat came through the opposite door.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Hex apologized. “We found Charm’s cell and had more locks to get past than we expected. You and Dodger took out all four Shadows by yourselves?”

“Us and the fact that they were stunned by my remarkable taste in men’s wear,” Jolt joked as he watched the residual play of energies moving through the weave of the coat towards his wristbands..

Cat looked after Dodger as Hex helped Foggy drag the guard from the front door up the stairs to the common room. With Charm free and all the Shadows locked in Charm’s cell, they began ‘the Fog treatment’ to obscure their captives minds about anything that occurred within the past day or so. By the time the Shadows all regained their senses, none of them would have any recollection of what had happened or how they got there. Up on the roof, the sounds of a deadlier battle shook the building.

* * *

Sylph stood entranced on a nearby rooftop directing the efforts of the zephyr that flew Stormy to his rendezvous with the Shadows on the safe house roof. The sky was overcast and lowering with a threatening storm as he sailed overhead in his crimson cowl and mask. His black turtleneck shirt and slacks accented by the crimson sash and cape made him look like a comic book superhero, but his mood was