Time Jacker by Aaron Crash (nonfiction book recommendations .TXT) 📕

“Makes me wanna puke,” Aunt Sue agreed. “Okay, get on with it.”

Bailey took the water, looked at it, and then handed it to Gabby. “I probably shouldn’t get that on me. Will you sprinkle some on the lead balls while I say the spell?”

Neither Aunt Sue nor Moms were sipping on their beers. They clearly didn’t want to miss a thing. The old women didn’t have much excitement in their lives, and so a beautiful dark-haired magician with two colors of eyes casting a spell would make their month, if not their year.

Bailey was hiding her red eye for now, and it was a normal brown color. Her blue eye sparkeld extra bright as she spoke the words of the spell. “Creare excrucior in lucem, et tempora usque in aeternum. Now, Gabby.”

Gabby sprinkled the holy water on the lead balls, which glowed some but soon went back to being dead metal.

“All of you, repeat after me.” Again Bailey spoke the bastardized Latin.

Soon all of them were saying, “Creare excrucior in lucem, et tempora usque in aeternum.”

The lead balls got brighter and brighter and brighter as the candles dimmed, and all at once the entire place went dark. The only thing glowing were the lead balls.

“Oops, that’s the breaker.” Aunt Sue pushed back from the table and hurried outside to the electric box.

Moms sat looking over the glowing orbs at the center of the table. “Well, I don’t know how you did it, but that’s something right there. I always suspected there was real magic in world. This isn’t a trick, is it, Bailey?”

Gabby was the one that answered. “Every word we speak is powerful, Mrs. Masterson, but more powerful is your love for your son and his love for you. Jack has a good heart. It’s thanks to you and his father. You did a fine job raising him.”

The lead spheres pulsed one last time, and then all was dark for a second until the lights flickered back on.

Jack set up the cylinders and started reloading the equipment on the table.

When he placed the cap-and-ball revolver on the table, Moms blinked. “That’s a beautiful gun, Jack. Is this part of the deals you made with Pinetree?”

Jack grinned. “It’s definitely part of my new business venture.”

Aunt Sue cracked open a fresh beer. “You a pimp, Jack? A pusher? Are you going to pursue a life of crime?”

Gabby furrowed her brow. “I hope not. I really hope not.”

Bailey sipped her beer noisily. “Fifty-fifty chance he’s in jail by Christmas.”

There was a shocked moment of silence. Then Moms laughed. “Oh, Bailey, you’re such a kidder.”

She was kidding. Jack wouldn’t be going to jail, ever. Now, being eaten by a demon or being trapped in an eon palace? Those were definite possibilities.

Jack finished loading all three of the cylinders, so he had eighteen rounds now. He cleaned the revolver while they all talked, then left, kissing his mom goodbye and giving Aunt Sue a hug.

Bailey hugged them both as well, but it was Gabby that lingered. It was clear that the angel loved the Nefesh in the room, that special soulful magic when people got together.

Back in the car, they were quiet for a minute.

Jack spoke first. “Bailey, I know you looked into the sex lives of my mom and aunt. I meant what I said. I don’t want to know.”

Bailey rolled her eyes. “You humans have so many hang-ups. Fine. But we’re not done yet tonight. I’m on a roll casting spells, so I want to craft the hell keys tonight. We gonna party like it’s 1669.”

“Where to now?” Jack asked.

“I need a fire. And some of your blood, though I think Gabby’s blood might work better. The blood of an angel? That’s going to have some hardcore properties.” Even though it was night, Bailey kept her sunglasses on.

Gabby didn’t say a word. She held something in her hand. Jack could see her closed fingers in the rearview mirror. From the look on her face, it seemed important. And it seemed that the angel was making up her mind about something.

Jack had an idea of what she was holding in her hand, and also what he needed to do.

Chapter Thirty

JACK DROVE HIS CAR to the nearby King Soopers for some supplies that Bailey had forgotten. Then they were back on the road.

Jack knew it was time to tell the women his big secret. Bailey might not care, but it would mean everything to Gabby. “I used to watch westerns with my old man. These weren’t the cool spaghetti westerns, no, these were the old-fashioned westerns. You know, the ones where the cowboy’s horse would do tricks, or he’d just bust out into song for no reason. My dad loved those cheesy black-and-white westerns you can find free on the streaming channels nowadays.”

Bailey wasn’t listening, or didn’t appear to be, but Gabby was. She was hanging on every word. It was dark outside, and the lights flashed through the windows.

Jack continued. “The good guys wore the white hats, the bad guys wore the black hats, and it wasn’t hard to tell who was going to get gunned down at the end. Funny thing was, my dad would nod and point at the TV. He’d tell me that sooner or later, the bad guys would always go down. In real life, there’s a penalty to being an asshole, and some pay it early on, and some pay it later. It might not be a bullet between the eyes, it might be a prison sentence, but if you’re an asshole, you’ll soon wind up alone.”

Bailey laughed, obviously thinking it was bullshit, but Gabby didn’t say a word.

At a stoplight, Jack caught the angel staring at him.

“The point is, I never wanted to be a bad guy. But in the police academy, something happened, and I don’t think I’ll ever get to wear a white hat again. I had a friend, Jennifer, and we’d hang out a lot. I figured