Dear Readers,
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond. I tried to follow the short story rule here that short stories are 500 - 7,500 words. (I went a little over.) It was a lot of fun developing a new world and set of characters. It provided a wonderful distraction while I finished up Wildcat Fall.
As my usual modus operandi, I did not tie up loose ends and left everything dangling. I hate to end stories! I am cruel and have a black heart!
Love, Leslie

Chapter Ten

I was making popcorn for the big bowl. Judith, Polly, Mom, and I were sitting around talking, getting ready to watch a movie. “Mom, you said there were other dangerous groups out there. Who’s next on your danger list?”

Polly’s voice grew low and seemed to rumble from her chest. “The worst are Demons. They hunt for sport. In the past, a demon would track and observe a Coven for years until one day, it would attack and murder everyone.”

“Why would they do that?”

Mom shook her head and grabbed my hand. “They do it because they’re demons. They take pleasure in killing.”

“Why don’t they kill humans?”

“Demons listen to the Devil. And even the Devil has to answer to God. People are God’s project until they are judged.”

“But my Particular is a demon.” Luna climbed into my lap, and I absentmindedly scratched her behind the ear.

“Luna is a protector and will give up herself to safeguard you. But if she could help you flee and save herself too, that’s what she’d do.”

Luna was batting my fingers with her paws. I heard her talk in my head. ‘Polly is right. Those demons your grandmother is talking about would kill me, too. Even though I have lived for thousands of years, all things can end.’

I kissed my grandmother and my mother goodnight. Each day and night I’ve spent here had been like a roller coaster. I was tired and couldn’t wait to go to sleep even though it was only nine o’clock. “How about one more group before I go up?”

I heard Polly chuckle and say, “Here we go.”

Mom frowned. “Well, the next group is made up of scientists working with our military. Together, they have a department hidden away in the depths of the Pentagon. In this sector, they chase after Witches, UFOs, aliens, Bigfoot, and the Yeti. They want to capture and use powers as weapons.”

I smiled. “That idea sounds like it’s straight out of a graphic novel.”

Mom shrugged.

“But has that worked?”

Mom looked at Polly.

I watched Polly smile and nod. “Go on and tell her.”

Mom took a deep breath. “The government has a Witch who’s joined in with them.”

“A Witch that works for the government?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head. “And they haven’t made an effort to control her powers or cut her open?” I pictured a lab full of mad scientists in long white lab coats and soldiers in full-body armor dashing around deep limestone caves lit by huge halogen lights. Just another crazy lab vision gleaned from the movies.

Mom grinned at my vision. “No, they let her live. She makes herself more valuable to them alive.”

“How?”

“She’s violent and kills for the government. Whether she eliminates groups of terrorists, insurrectionists, or enemies of the state, this Witch helps them strategize and carry out evil deeds.”

I motioned towards them. “How do you know all of this?”

Mom tapped her head. “We still have an open channel into her mind and see through her eyes. It’s been fractured but we get glimpses of what takes place.”

“Does this Witch helped them locate other Witches?”

“No. She knows that would condemn her to certain death. She walks a very fine line. We believe she’s convinced them she is the last of her kind.”

“Why would she want to work for the government?”

“It’s a very sad story. We think she had a mental breakdown almost a century ago when she denounced all of us and abandoned her Principal. We thought she’d died.”

“Fourteen years ago, the Witch resurfaced and joined the science group. They treat her like a queen and she basks in the adoration.”

I straightened up and looked at my grandmother. “You know this Witch.”

Polly stared into my eyes. “Gladys is my sister. She’s been lured to their side and chose evil over good.”

This is really turning into a graphic novel, I thought. Of course, who was I to talk? I was just another cliché, girl Witch hidden at birth as a boy for fourteen years. Fourteen years? I closed my eyes. “Wait! Did my birth create all of this?”

I looked down at Luna, curled up in my lap. “Was Luna her Particular?”