24. No Escape

Chapter 24

No Escape

T he witch and vampire of Newbury Grove darted through the nightmarish landscape. They ran in and around houses, holding hands, never letting go. A love transcendent of death itself. They ran for their freedom. They ran for their escape. They ran for each other.

They encountered the occasional pack of ghouls shambling their way toward them. The eerie, unrelenting march of those who had succumbed to the banshee's wail. Their faces sunken and painted to appear like a skeleton mask—white faces with black rings around their eyes. They marched, unrelenting, unthinking, unstoppably toward the lovers as they made their escape.

A few twists and turns led them right into the direct path with a pack of the ghouls. Armed with a broomstick and hockey stick, they fought back together. They fought as one. Hugo struck at the ghouls with his black graphite stick. His hook like blade slashed down across their faces, knocking the ghouls to the ground. He spun, following the momentum and struck at another with the taped knob end of the hockey stick. One by one, they fell.

Alice jabbed at the ghouls in the face with the broomcorn, knocking them off balance. She spun the handle around and struck a mighty blow to their heads with the broom handle. The two fought side by side, back-to-back, and were unstoppable. No magick. No reinforcements. Only the sheer willpower of the pair fighting for each other.

The dock was in sight. They made their way out from the houses and sprinted across the open field. The ghouls followed them. The rider emerged from behind the houses. The fiery snorts of the festering black horse led the charge of the banshee's army in pursuit of the two lovers. The black carriage, driven by the headless rider, emerged around the corner of the cobblestone path—all in pursuit of Hugo and Alice.

The thunder crashed, and the skies roared. The three knocks were so rapid, it was hard to tell where one ended and the next began. The wails of the banshee's army nearly drowned out all other sounds as they approached the decaying dock.

Hugo and Alice sprinted across the landing. There was no sign of the ferryman or his boat, only the inky black darkness of the cave on the other side of the lagoon. Their feet thundered across the grayish, wooden planks. They stopped at the end to catch their breaths. Hugo's legs and body burned. He didn't know how much more running and fighting he could do. Thankfully, he was near the end.

"How did you call the ferryman?" Hugo asked, taking breaths between words.

Alice bent over, hands on her knees. "It was a bell," she said, struggling for air. "How do you contact him here?"

"We don't," Hugo replied as he stood. "He randomly shows up."

"What do we do?"

"We can't swim to him. There's something in the water." Hugo scanned the surroundings for any sign of hope, but he found none. "We're stuck. We came this far, and now we're stuck."

"Hugo, what do we do?"

They both stared out to the open cavern. Hoping. Waiting. Nothing came. They were alone. Trapped with no escape.

Their faces fell grim. No smile. No gleam in their eyes. The hairs on the back of Hugo's neck stood on end as a chilling shiver crept down his spine. A sense of impending doom replaced the once exhilarating reunion with Alice. As the grim reality of what was to come set in, his heart sank and hope was fleeting once again.

They turned to each other, their eyes meeting once more. Hugo wanted to comfort Alice with some semblance of hope. He hoped to find it in her emerald green eyes. He only found fear and anxiety riddled across Alice's face. Her eyes welled, begging, pleading for Hugo to have an answer. He didn't. There was no answer. He could only shake his head in a slow, disappointing ‘No.'

Alice collapsed her head into his shoulder. They dropped their weapons, embracing each other. At least they would be together. In this land of despair, they had each other. To Hugo, nothing else mattered except that they were together. They turned to face the oncoming storm—the banshee's army, the rider, the death coach—all descending on their location.

The ghouls stopped at the edge of the decaying grass. They parted to make way for the rider and the banshee's coach. The rider and his festering horse moved in for the kill. With every step of the black hooves, fire spewed forth from the horse's nostrils. The rider gripped the hilt of his sword and unsheathed it. The fiery blade blazed an arch into the sky.

Hugo retrieved the hockey stick. "I'll distract him and hold him off as long as I can. You run up the dock, and run as far as you can. Just run," he said as he raised the blade of the hockey stick above his shoulders, ready to strike.

Hugo's hands trembled, betraying his stoic fighting stance. The sensation of his heart racing coursed through his chest. A bead of sweat rolled down his neck. His body tensed; every muscle tightened. He needed to relax, or else he couldn't save Alice. He inhaled to calm his nerves.

"Hide somewhere until you can figure out how to escape," Hugo commanded.

"To hell with hiding," Alice said as she whisked the broomstick up into her hands. She stood poised with the broomcorn pointed at the rider. "We both get out of here or none of us do."

"Don't do this. Run. Run for your life. I'll distract him. I'm already dead."

"We'll do this together as we always do."

Hugo smiled at Alice, his hope renewed. He nodded. "Together."

The two lovers—the neighborhood witch and vampire—stood poised in a fighting stance at the end of the dock, ready to fight for each other. Together.

The rider and horse stopped at the entrance of the dock.

The banshee's black coach halted at the end of the cobblestone path. The door flung open and out emerged Madeline Sinclair. She strode with purpose, using the end of her black parasol as a walking cane, not for function, but to emphasize her power and might. She slammed the end into the ground with each step.

She held the bronze death mask in her other hand. Her shoulders pulled back. Fury in her eyes. She stepped off the cobblestone path, passing in front of the rider and onto the dock. She stopped.

"You almost made it, didn't you? You almost escaped from my prison. And for what? To return to the mortal realm? The realm of pain. Of suffering. Of death," Madeline said in a stern tone.

Hugo and Alice nodded at each other and lowered their stance, ready for a fight.

"You know the price to leave. Did you expect to pay it?" Madeline asked.

"Don't you worry about it. We've got it covered," Hugo barked back. He turned to Alice and whispered, "What's the price?"

"Gold," Alice answered in a hushed tone. "I have leprechaun gold in my pocket."

"Leprechaun?" Hugo asked.

"You have much to learn, Hugo Dodds," Alice replied with a sly smile.

"You're welcome to dive and find the bell yourselves to call the ferryman. It offered too much hope—false hope. Those lost souls ran to the bell, rang it, and the ferryman came, only for them to meet their wasted fate. If you can't pay the ferryman, then you turn to ash and dust. So, I had the bell cut off and thrown into the lagoon," Madeline said.

An eerie silence fell over the land. The ghouls were rendered mute. The knocks stopped. The thunder and lightning ceased. A breeze picked up and chilled Hugo to his core. He inhaled deeply, never taking his eyes off the banshee.

Madeline offered, "You only have two options. Swim and hope those lost souls in the water don't drag you under, or she comes with me."

"She?" Hugo asked.

"We're not going anywhere with you," Alice yelled.

"I've given you the chance. You wore thin on my patience. My rider is yearning for the opportunity to send someone to oblivion, and I'm going to oblige him. I only need to extract the spell from one of you," Madeline responded as she held the bronze death mask aloft.

"Do we swim for it?" Hugo asked.

"We'll fight," Alice said. "We have to at least try."

"Just making sure we're still on the same page," Hugo said as he repositioned his grip for a better swing.

"Your highness," a familiar voice said. "Your highness, I have a proposal."

Thaddeus Price made his way through the crowd. He stepped off the cobblestone path and stood behind the rider and Madeline.

Madeline turned to face him. "Another one of your proposals?"

He removed his leather tricorn hat. "Yes, your highness. Don't waste this opportunity."

Madeline tilted her head and pointed her parasol at him. "What opportunity, Mr. Price?"

Thaddeus approached her with small steps, one arm outstretched with the other holding his hat close against his chest. "You have a rare opportunity here. You have not one, but two people who drank from the spell. Not one, but two people from your town. Two excellent additions to your army. Why waste it?"

Madeline remained silent, as her eyes followed Thaddeus' every move. He stepped out onto the dock, slipping past the rider's horse. He remained focused on the fiery blade held above the rider's head. Thaddeus turned and walked backward along the dock with his caved in head fully visible to Hugo and Alice.

"Who is he?" Alice whispered.

"He's the witch hunter who burned Johanna," Hugo answered.

"Witch hunter?" Alice asked.

"He might also be the man who helps us survive," Hugo said.

Thaddeus stopped halfway between the rider and the two lovers. He placed his hat back onto his head, securing it with a few tugs. He stood tall, pulling the lapel of his green coat. "We can work out an arrangement. Something to benefit us all."

"What arrangement do you have in mind, Mr. Price?" Madeline asked.

"I am a man of survival. Always have been. I offer these two in exchange for my release," he answered.

"You offer them to me?" Madeline asked with a sarcastic tone. "I have them where I want them. What do you have to offer that I don't already possess?"

He pulled back the right side of his coat and stuck his hand into his pant pocket. "Were you ever curious as to how I never succumbed to your tests? How I was able to move and walk freely in your little domain, your highness?"

Madeline's eyes narrowed. Her lips collapsed tighter. She drove the end of her parasol into the ground.

"You see, your highness, every witch-finder is issued standard gear, and when I died, do you know what standard gear I had on me?" Thaddeus asked.

Hugo and Alice turned to each other. Their eyebrows arched as if they knew what Thaddeus possessed.

He continued, "Survival gear. Survival against witches like yourself." He withdrew a black, twisted, anti-magick wand from his pocket—the same anti-magick wand Johanna wielded against Alice in the mortal realm. A haunting reminder of the many witches and wizards it claimed from Thaddeus' past life.

With a flick of his wrist, Thaddeus sent a black bolt careening across the sky toward Madeline. It struck her. She dropped the mask and fell to the ground on all fours. She screamed out and writhed in pain, as she clutched her stomach where the bolt found its target.

"Attack him," she mustered.

The rider charged down the dock at Thaddeus, the sword pulled back and ready to strike.

Thaddeus flicked his wrist again, this time pointing at the rider. No bolt came. Thaddeus tried once more. There was nothing. The anti-magick wand wouldn't strike at the rider.

"No," Thaddeus yelled as he raised his hands to shield himself. "No!"

The rider swung the fiery sword, cutting Thaddeus in half. His body torn asunder, he dissipated into ash and oblivion.

Hugo and Alice readied themselves for the fight as the rider drew closer to them.

"I'll go high, aiming for his sword," Hugo said.

"I'll go low, trying to knock him off," Alice replied.

The rider lifted the sword high above his head, ready to strike once more.

The three knocks resumed. They grew louder and louder. Faster and faster.

Madeline stood with fury in her eyes, wiping the dirt off her black Edwardian mourning gown. "I only need the woman for the mask. Send him to the same fate!"

Hugo and Alice's breathing audibly quickened. A surge of adrenaline coursed through Hugo as his heart pulsed and thumped in his chest. Alice moved closer to Hugo, their shoulders touching. If this was it—if this was the end—at least they touched for a final time. Hugo wanted her touch to last for an eternity.

"I love you," Hugo said. "You were my hope, my light in the darkness."

"I love you too, Hugo," Alice replied through the sound of tears. "You accepted me for who I was when no one else would. I'll cherish you forever."

"On the count of three, strike. One . . ." Hugo started.

The knocks stopped. Glass shattered off in the distance.

"Two . . ." Hugo's voice grew louder. He loosened his grip to not constrict his movement.

The rider reared back the fiery sword, ready to strike.

"Three!" Hugo shouted.

A great crack, the sound of wood striking against the chest of the rider like thunder, echoed throughout the land. The festering black horse reared back as it was caught off guard. He neighed into the air as the rider tumbled and crashed against the wooden dock. The festering horse bucked and kicked, fire spewing from its nostrils. Its hooves cracked the wood beneath it with every blow.

Hugo and Alice let out a giddy shout as they jumped up and down in the amazement of who came to their rescue. Of course, it could only be this individual. The only one who could find them in the darkness. The one still on a mission to find Hugo and Alice.

Floating in the air where the rider once sat upon his fiery steed was the great horse-dog, the hickory broomstick known as Galahad.

"Gally!" Hugo shouted. "You've been here the whole time?"

Galahad rushed in and tapped Alice and Hugo on the shoulders, a sign of affection and love.

"The knocks. You were the knocks. Three knocks, of course," Hugo said.

"Get them!" Madeline cried out.

The rider rolled over, his sword laying behind him. He retrieved the fiery blade and rushed on foot toward the trio. The rider maneuvered around the festering horse's temper tantrum, careful to not be kicked off the dock into the water below.

"Time to go," Alice said as she dropped an ordinary broomstick for a magical one.

Hugo stopped her, placing his hand on the broom handle and swinging his feet over the padded, leather, saddle seat on Galahad. "You rescued me, I rescue you. This is how it works."

Alice did little to protest.

Hugo chucked the hockey stick at the rider, further impeding his progress. It tumbled through the air, end over end, spinning toward its target. With a flick of the sword, the hockey stick was sliced in half, but it did its job. The rider was momentarily delayed.

"Hurry, jump on. Besides, you have to pay the ferryman the leprechaun gold," Hugo said.

Alice climbed on the back of Galahad and held tight around Hugo's waist. With a great yaw , they took off, heading for the open cavern.