The Binding Witch and The Fortune Taker

Into Darkness

Indira was on her stomach, and the back of her flowered tunic was smoking. Her clothes were singed around the edges.

"Indira!" I said, and dropped to my knees next to her. My hands shook, but I put one on her shoulder. "Hey, are you..." I was afraid to put the final word to that sentence, for fear of the answer. "Are you there?" I held my breath and glanced up at Miri, who remained still.

Indira stirred.

My heart leapt.

She rolled over, and groaned. There was a hole about six inches in diameter in the center of her once-pretty tunic, and her skin there was bright pink.

"That. Hurt." she uttered.

I sighed with relief and slowly shook my head. "You are one badass sari vendor, Indira. Stay here. I can get help."

"No." She grabbed my hand and hoisted herself up to one knee. "We must find Miri." She used my arm as leverage and stood. "Get...knowledge."

"She's over there." I jerked my thumb at Miri's body, about twenty feet away from us. "Hasn't moved a muscle."

Suddenly, I connected the dots. Indira didn't seem fazed by Madame Miri's appearance or behavior at all. In fact, she said she had seen it before.

"Indira," I said. "Daayani means witch, doesn't it?"

"Witch is...Miri?" she said.

"More or less." I said. I wasn't about to get into the semantics of hedge-witch-infected-by-insane-talismans versus actual witch.

"Ah, yes." She gave me a wry smile. "Daayani means witch."

"Sometime, you're going to have to tell me more about what you know about witches." I said.

"Ah, sure," she said.

A few yards away, Miri tried to push herself up, then collapsed. She tried twice more, failed, and began to whimper.

Indira and I looked at each other.

"Trick?" I said.

"Maybe." Indira said, and shoved her finger on my chest. "This time, you stay."

My shoulders slumped. Of course, Indira's injuries were all my fault. Not only was I probably still going to die, but I also hurt one of my friends.

She waited until I nodded, then hobbled over to Miri.

I rubbed my arms and shivered. I don't think it was getting significantly colder that evening. I think I was getting feverish.

Crap.

I slipped off my backpack and undid the zipper. Pieces of glass tinkled at the bottom and the potion had soaked into wooden charms, which rendered them useless. "Well, that's all shit now." I zipped up the backpack and put it back on. So much for using the health potion or improvising my defense with the charms. Though, to be fair, those charms weren't going to do anything against the kind of firepower Miri was packing.

Indira bent down over Miri, with her back to me.

My teeth started to chatter.

Indira turned and motioned for me to come over.

I crossed the clearing and peered down at Miri. "She alive?"

Indira lifted one of Miri's eyelids and let it close. "Some. Enough for talking."

I stepped over Miri and crouched by her head. "Miri, can you hear me?"

Miri moaned. So much for the rage demon.

"What are those talismans for?" I said. "What do they do?"

Miri lay still and tried to focus on me.

"Oh, fine." I said. I was going to have to get information the hard way. For me.

I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes and lowered my carefully constructed mental walls. I winced in empathy as a sharp stab of pain and regret stretched out from the connection between our gaze. I felt her utter despair and my walls crumbled as the connection was established. I gagged a bit, but just had to ride it out the best I could and get the answers I needed. So I could, you know, not die.

"You look like hell," I said. "What happened?"

"You happened." Miri whispered. "How do you live with this?"

Miri's emotions pushed at me in pulses. Failure. I'm a failure. Nobody wants me.

This lady had some serious self-worth issues.

"Live with what?" I said. "Wait." I shook my head. "Never mind. How do those talismans work?"

Miri drooled and her gaze went far.

"Hey!" I shook her. "Miri! Answer me! What do those talismans do? How do I reverse it?"

She took a rattling breath. "It steals a person's innate talent or gift and..." she shivered, "gives it to the holder of the talisman."

"That's sick, lady." I shivered.

"You don't understand," she said. "I had to have more or the power would fade after thirty minutes. An hour, tops. No one's fortune stayed with me for hours like yours did."

"Did you kill those four people in Michigan?" I said.

"I didn't mean to," her eyes rolled back in her head, then forward again, like some kind of malfunctioning slot machine. "I didn't know that would happen!"

"'The talismans made me do it,' is not a valid excuse for killing people," I said. "Especially since you did not stop."

"But I can't stop," she said. "The talismans want. They need. But it's...too much. I don't want it anymore."

Indira gripped my shoulder.

I squeezed her hand and was grateful for her presence.

"So you took too many fortunes and have a little headache?" I said. "Serves you right. Now tell me how to fix it."

"I want to give yours back," she whispered. "T-take it. I don't want it." She reached out to me.

Damnit. Waves of her anguish washed over me and I turned and threw up. Retching noises came from Miri.

Then it hit me. We were in some kind of crazy empathy feedback loop because she'd taken my fortune: empathy. How she didn't get it all, I don't know. I looked up and saw the talismans in her outstretched hand and it dawned on me.

It takes a strength of character to handle the gift of empathy.

I have that. It's not the same as magic, but it's powerful. She can't even handle a small serving, but I can handle the whole enchilada. Or pizza. Or pie. Whatever. I could take back the power she took from me and save myself. Maybe by the time Mom would be back with a way to help everyone else.

"Kate, no!" Indira cried as she'd realized what I was doing.

Time slowed down to a crawl as I closed my hand over Miri's. Our eyes shut in agreement and we fell into darkness.