P. Stormcrow

For an open concept warehouse-slash-office-slash-base, the place had a surprising number of private rooms. As Finn followed Jackson passed through the main area, she caught a glimpse of Dr. Laurent standing with Ms. Callaghan, deep in discussion, and wondered what or who they were talking about.

No, her mind was just finding excuses to avoid thinking about whatever was in that bag. 

You can do better, Finn.

Three more turns later, she found herself in a room with little else other than a big red button next to the single door they entered from and an industrial steel table without casters in the middle of the space. The only distinctive feature was the symbols etched into every inch of the four gray concrete walls.

“Welcome to lockdown chamber one,” Olivia jested as she rejoined them, holding the doll in the bag with her left hand and a suitcase with her right. With her shoulder, she shoved the heavy door close behind her.

As soon as it clicked shut, the sigils all flared with a brilliant gold light then dissipated, leaving only an afterimage in Finn’s vision.

“Sorry, I should have warned you about that,” Jackson murmured.

“It’s fine.” 

Finn rubbed her eyes and blinked even as Olivia swung around the table and set the heavy box down on the floor. Then, with slow steady hands, she opened the bag to fish the doll out. Finn noted that she held the semi-realistic girl by the shoulder rather than the air. Chills crept up her spine.

Never hurts to show respect, right?

Although Olivia didn’t quite run, she hastened with a fast walk to join them on the other side of the table. The three of them stared at the doll in silence and Finn summoned in her mind the faint memories of the ritual the coven had conducted. It wasn’t easy. Every time she thought she had recalled a detail, it slipped away as if her brain refused to lock on to the elusive feelings the magic had conjured.

Not that recalling any of it would help. None of them were witches.

“So now what?”

“Right.” Olivia jumped into action again and reached for the suitcase she had set down earlier. When she tried to heave it up onto the table, Jackson stepped up and offered a hand. Together, they managed to place it next to the doll.

Curiosity propelled Finn forward, and she watched as Olivia opened the lid and lifted out a steampunk version of a camera made of gears and tubes. While she focused on setting the machine up, Jackson retrieved an oversized book from the same case and flipped it open.

An atlas?

She had heard of dowsing before, but this resembled nothing she had imagined. Bewildered, she froze on the spot and watched as Olivia prepared slides. 

“It works like a projector,” Olivia explained without looking up. She must have sensed Finn staring. “Once we feed it a piece of the magic, it’ll show where the thread leads to. The map will give the device a place to anchor its findings.”

It made sense, but what did she mean by a piece of the magic?

Finn got her an answer a second later when the pink-haired girl turned to the doll. Her stomach dropped and her mouth grew dry as a dessert.

“I’m going to need a small sliver of it.”

Well shit. She exchanged an uneasy glance with Jackson and swallowed hard. Just as she readied herself to volunteer, her partner pulled out a utility knife from his pocket and extended its blade. 

“I’ve got it.” Jackson moved with graceful swiftness as he neared the doll and reached for a strand of hair.

An inhumane screech rang through the air. The doll’s eyes flashed red. Everything else became a blur as it launched itself at Jackson, knocking him over. To save his balance, he grabbed the table, but missed. Instead, his arm swiped the projector, and he brought it down with him to the floor with a crash. Meanwhile, the haunted doll landed on top and though he tried to pull it away, it remained resolute in its position, seated on his chest, its tiny arms braced forward. Then Jackson began to cough and splutter.

“Oh my God!” Olivia screamed as she leaped back, just in time to dodge a flying gear that had bounced off the ground.

Finn’s body acted before her brain even caught up to the situation. She jumped into the fray and tried to yank the creature off him. It was heavy—heavier than she thought possible for anything that size.

To her horror, its head spun around and turned further until it faced her in full with its flashing eyes while it still clung to Jackson. No, its tiny hands were pressing down on his windpipe, choking him.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Her partner would not become its next victim! Finn yelled and pulled with her entire body’s weight until she fell back. The doll slipped from her grasp and rolled on to the ground but rose on its dainty feet much faster than she could. It reoriented its head, reached for a shard of glass, and advanced toward her.

She tried to get up but her legs wouldn’t listen and the weakness left her scrambling backwards on all fours. Reason fled from her mind. Whatever panic and bravado that had driven her to save her partner earlier had now abandoned and fear kept her from doing much more than whimpering and attempting to put some distance between her and the murderous toy.

Her worst nightmare had come alive before her very eyes, and it was about to kill her.

“I don’t think so.”

Jackson appeared, looming over them with rage written all over his face. He lifted the large base of the projector high above his head.

“Wait,” Olivia cried out.

If he heard her, he made no indication. Instead, he roared and brought the heavy piece down over the doll’s head like a hammer. Finn’s heart kept to her throat.

White blinding light flooded the room, and she shielded her eyes. The sound of something shattering inspired a sliver of hope and when she could see again, she let out a long sigh as porcelain pieces laid scattered across the floor.

“No no no,” Olivia ran for the doll and sifted through the broken shards aside with frantic movements. 

Shaken still, Finn watched as she picked up a piece where markings remained bright. As her muscles unlocked, Finn pushed herself to move, and she crawled closer to glimpse what Olivia was studying.

The lights above their heads flickered then dimmed and a soft blue glow grew from the single rune on the broken piece Olivia picked up. It coalesce a a languid pace into an image of a blond woman in a crisp, collared shirt, torso up, completed with a headset over her head and a mic hovering over her mouth.

“Thank you for choosing Magic Helper. Unfortunately the activity you were just engaging in have voided your product’s warranty. However, if you would like to inquire about our extended repairs program or would like to purchase a replacement, please visit www.magichelper.store. All new, you can speak to one of our representatives through our online chat at chat.magichelper.store. To indicate that you have received the message, please say thank you. Otherwise, please hold while I replay this message.”

“What?” Jackson exclaimed.

“Thank you for choosing Magic Hel…”

“Thank you!” Olivia shouted.

The illusion faded, the lights returned to normal and silence settled in the room.

“Seriously?” That was Jackson again and Finn half feared that the message would play again.

When nothing happened, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“So if we break all the toys, is the same message going to come up?” Jackson asked, still maintaining a hushed tone.

Olivia cringed. “Do you really want to go through that again?”

“Good point.” Jackson paled and rubbed his neck. 

Finn shuddered at the thought and stared at the broken pieces. She froze. Why did she freeze? Slow anger churned in her stomach, replacing the earlier fear. In their line of work, freezing meant the difference between life and death.

“Reed?” Her partner stood before her with a hand extended, but the understanding on his face was almost more than she could bear. 

Still, she took his hand and let him haul her to her feet. She could beat herself up later. Right now, they had a case to crack and a new lead to chase down.

“Can you contact Satellite? We’ll clean this up and catch up after.” Jackson directed the question to Olivia who blinked in surprise.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. We’ll even bring the pieces back to you.”

Olivia gave them both a final dubious look but shrugged in the end. “Fine. Be careful with my evidence.” She pivoted on one foot and marched out of the room.

As soon as Olivia left, Jackson turned and grasped both of her shoulders, pinning her with his gaze. The scrutiny brought on a whole new level of discomfort that she disliked, but she forced herself to remain still and face him head on.

“Are you okay?”

His concern annoyed her even more. “I’m fine,” she snapped.

“Finn…”

The very use of her first name told her how concerned he was. “I’m fine!” She shrugged him off and stalked toward the door, unwilling to confront the unspoken question that hung in the air.

“Wait!” Jackson caught up to her.

Damn him and his long legs. She spun around and glared up at him. “Look, I was just surprised. It won’t happen again.”

“What won’t happen again?” He gaped at her, bewildered.

“I know I froze! Happy?” She knew on some level that he wasn’t who she was angry at, but she couldn’t stop herself from lashing out, regardless.

“Finn—” he repeated as if using her name would bring reason back to her—”that was one of your worst fears come to life. You’re human. Cut yourself some slack.”

It didn’t matter that he read her so well that he gave voice to what was running through her head during the attack. “Slack almost got us killed!”

At that, Jackson grinned and leaned in a little closer. “Yeah, but you also saved my life. And I saved yours. We both survived. And that’s what partners are for, right?”

She stared at him and his cheeky smile, so close it wouldn’t take much to pull him in and kiss him, just to wipe the smug off his face. That she entertained the idea at all made her blush. Instead, to hide her embarrassing reaction, she rocked backward, threw her hands in the air and stalked off with a growl.