Page 28 of Down and Dirty

Chapter 12

The darkness gave way to moonlight. This time I was with Erin and Mary as an observer. They were sitting at a table just outside her gypsy trailer. She had tarot cards spread out in front of her and sage burning in a nearby bowl.

Boxes sat outside the gypsy wagon.Did she pack everything up herself? Why?

“Why are you packed?” Erin asked.

“Change is coming.”

Erin sighed. “You said you’ve seen the face of evil. Does evil have a name?”

Her long fingernails tapped on the tower card, and she whispered to herself. “It’s too late.”

“I’ll go to the police with you. They can protect you,” Erin said.

The windchimes twinkled on the wind, and Mary quickly lifted her gaze, scanning the trees.

“Who’s there?”

Several birds broke through the leaves and swept passed.

Mary gathered her cards and shuffled again, her eye darting around the perimeter of the woods around her.

“Come on, we should go,” Erin said, glancing around the trees as unease settled in her eyes.

Mary flipped one card and then two. A gasp left her lips as a bullet rang out. Mary fell onto the card table, her eyes open and devoid of life as she stared unseeing into the trees.

Twigs broke, and I turned to find Erin running in the direction of the waterfall. I started to follow, but I spotted a dark figure chasing her. Before I could see the person’s face, I was snapped out of the darkness with a burst of white light.

The witches surrounded me in a circle with their backs to me as if protecting me from some unknown force.

Pain ripped through my body, tearing a scream from my lips.

My eyes shot open, and I blinked. The ceiling above me was definitely not in my living room. The same paramedic from the landfill—Patricia—stared down at me. Determination glittered in her eyes. “Ms. Bennett, can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?”

“Four.” Although two seemed to float in and out.

“You’ve fallen and hit your head again.”

“How did I get here?” I asked as I blinked to clear my confusion.

“Your sister called. Do you remember anything?”

I shook my head, immediately regretting the movement when a hammer-like pain seared through my brain. The overhead light was blinding, and I closed my eyes.

“Oh no, you don’t. Faith, you have to stay up and talk to me.”

“The light hurts,” I said, turning my head to the side, away from the blinding light.

“I’ll turn them off if you keep talking to me,” Patricia said, turning off the light. The only light now coming in was from the sunlight on the back window. Even that dull light strobed viciously behind my eyes.

“Thank you. I remember I was at home doing a reading and then Keaton walked in.”

“Is that a friend?” she asked.

“The detective that was at the landfill.”

“Right, okay, I remember him. Tell me more.”

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