Page 97 of Sweetwater and the Witch

Footsteps muffled by the heavy currents of psi sounded in the hallway outside the chamber. She took her hand out of her pocket and gripped one of the bars of the cage. A man appeared in the arched doorway. Overmuscled, dressed in a lot of khaki and leather, his thinning hair caughtback with a strip of leather, he looked as if he moonlighted as a bouncer at a downscale nightclub in the Shadow Zone.

“About time you woke up,” he said. He snorted in disgust. “The boss says you’re a genuine fire witch, but it looks like she got that wrong. My partner and I didn’t have any trouble at all grabbing you. You aren’t exactly setting any fires in here, are you?”

Ravenna gave him a dazzling smile. “Your boss is delusional and paranoid, but she is smart and she’s organized. When she’s finished with me, she won’t need you or your pal. She’ll put the two of you in a trance, strip your amber, and send you on a long walk in the tunnels.”

“Huh?”

Bouncer Guy moved a few steps into the room, stopped, and squinted at her. She got the feeling he was trying to come up with a suitably threatening response, but he was too slow.

“That’s enough,” Louise Lace said from the doorway.

She was no longer posing as the adoring acolyte of the insane leader of a witch hunting cult. The long black robes were gone. Tonight she wore a sharply tailored business suit, pumps, and some discreet amber jewelry. Her hair was cut in a stylish bob. She looked as if she had just walked out of a business meeting.

She looked normal. Except for the eyes.

Louise motioned with her right hand. “Wait out in the hall, Meeks. I want to have a private chat with our guest.”

“Whatever.”

Meeks shot another wary glance at Ravenna and stomped toward the doorway.

When he was gone, Louise moved closer to the cage.

“I hadn’t planned to take care of this personally,” she said. “But you left me no choice.”

“You were the one running the witch hunting cult, not Fitch,” Ravenna said. “You used him as your front man. You organized the whole thing. Youarranged for him to escape the asylum. You brainwashed and hypnotized the recruits, and you used the rez-net to identify your targets.”

“Congratulations. You’re the only one who managed to figure it out.”

“I’m embarrassed it took me so long. I never would have tumbled to it if you hadn’t tried to kill me by remote control. You’re convinced you’re a real witch, aren’t you? You think your psychic side is actually an ability to work magic. You tried to hunt down those of us who looked like real witches, because you were afraid we might be more powerful than you.”

“You just proved you’re a witch,” Louise said. “Only another witch can see the real me. I can’t allow that. If the public finds out about my true powers, I will be in danger.”

“Are you a triple talent? That would probably explain the delusions. Everyone knows triples run a high risk of para-psych instability.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Louise’s face contorted with rage. She raised the flamer and took a step closer to the cage. “I’m not unstable. This is exactly what I mean when I say I have to make sure no one recognizes me. As long as people like you can see me, my life is in danger.”

“Are you out for revenge against every member of the FBPI task force that took down your witch hunting operation?” Ravenna asked. “Or am I special?”

Louise’s smile was now ice-cold, but her eyes glinted with a dangerous energy. “You’re special, all right, because you’re a real witch, like me. But I am far more powerful.”

“Nope, you’re just very good at navigating the rez-net. Speaking of which, do you know how easy it was to get your attention? Well, okay, at the time I thought I had gotten Fitch’s attention, but it amounted to the same thing.”

“You used the craft,” Louise shrieked. “Magic.”

“No magic involved. I just took a close look at the three women Fitch flatlined. I realized the one thing they had in common was that they had all registered at the same online ancestry research website. All had strongbut highly unusual talent ratings. I registered at the same site, set up a similar profile, and the next thing I knew, your enforcers kidnapped me.”

Louise took another step closer to the cage. She was only inches away now. Her face twisted. Energy writhed in the atmosphere.

“Why can’t I hypnotize you?” she rasped. “Tell me.”

The last piece of the puzzle slipped into place. Ravenna smiled.

“I get it,” she said. “Now I know why you came looking for me after you walked out of prison. You realized you couldn’t control me when you had me kidnapped the first time. You can’t stand knowing I’m immune to your hypno talent.”

“You’re the one in the cage, not me.”

“For now.”

---