Witch Out of Time

I scrambled in through the window and stepped aside so Gilda could effortlessly lock us in with another flash of magic. I was a believer at that point. Gilda quickly explained how Clarence cursed all the adults in Rutland and ordered them to bring their children to the school. He planned to offer the kids up as a feast to the invading demons while the adults helped tighten the knots in the magic channels. Jacob, the little cowboy, used the CB radio in the principal's office to call for help. Gilda was looking for Clarence at the Sheriff's Office when she heard Jacob's plea on the radio. She immediately went to the school and turned Clarence's imprisonment spell into a protection spell.

"I made the shield utterly repulsive to demons. They'll eat their own eyeballs and dig out their eardrums before coming close to the building," she explained.

Gilda led me and Jacob down the back hall to the gym. It was packed with costumed children of all ages. The littlest ones were napping against the walls while the older kids were shooting hoops. Judging by the candy wrappers on the floor, they had plenty of sugar for supper. A group of smaller kids immediately surrounded me, asking if I were the sheriff and where my gun was. Since Sheriff Williams was busy enjoying a demonic curse, I was officially in charge. I told the kids not to worry and that I didn't need a gun since I had a powerful witch helping me. Then they asked if she was my wife. Gilda burst out laughing at that question. I sighed and shook my head.

"I don't think I could ever get that lucky," I confessed.

"You might if I can't get back to my reality," she sighed. "Okay. Listen up," she announced and clapped her hands, quickly silencing the gym. "No matter what happens, I need everyone to stay inside the school. The protection spell I put on the building will last all night. You have nothing to fear inside this building. Deputy Higgins and I have to leave soon to stop the monster that cursed your parents. Get some sleep if you can, and keep us in your thoughts."

Most of the smaller children crowded around Gilda for a group hug before we escaped the gym. We went to the opposite side of the school and locked ourselves in a small classroom. Gilda went to work clearing a space in the middle of the floor. Then, she found a bucket of red paint and began painting a large pentagram on the carpet.

"What are you doing? And what the hell happened while I was asleep?"

"Clarence happened. Like I said, he plans to shatter the veil at midnight so demons can invade Rutland."

"What veil? What are you talking about?"

"The veil between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. It grows thin on Halloween, allowing good spirits to visit the earth. Even when it's thin, it's still strong enough to keep demons in hell, but some can escape with a little help from the outside. In my reality, I foolishly kept Clarence among mortals instead of sending him back to hell. He was my lover's father, after all. I would have never met Glen without him. Clarence studied me from my mantel, learning the mysteries of my channeling ability."

"From your fireplace mantel?" I interrupted. "How big is your fireplace?"

Gilda sighed and looked at me in annoyance.

"In my reality, the one that runs parallel to this one, the Spirit of Halloween helped me trap Clarence's soul in a garden statue. It was a creepy little smiling gnome with a pointy hat. I assumed he was harmless like that, so I kept him as an ornament on my mantel. I quickly realized he was very dangerous when the veil thinned. Unseen magic channels can flood demons and witches with more power on Halloween. I'm gifted at channeling. Energy flows through me all the time, and channels naturally bend toward me. I discovered too late that Clarence could see all of it in his disembodied state. A few Halloweens ago, he summoned a portal in my kitchen and jumped into a nearby time channel. It took him straight to Limbo, which is a gateway realm connected to every reality. From there, he found a window into your world. Now, here we are, trying to stop a demonic invasion. I hope that makes sense. I'm sure this is mind-boggling to a mundane human."

"I believe you, Gilda. What I can't believe is that you left your own reality to stop him. Why? How did you know he would destroy our world?"

"I told you. I'm a good witch. I'm not going to let people suffer because of my mistake. The chaos Clarence created rippled across reality. A sickening feeling of loss and suffering hit me one morning, so I used a dream spell to travel through Limbo to find where the feeling was coming from. I saw hell on earth. I saw you and all the children ripped apart by demons. I have to stop that from happening, and I need your help. Sit inside the pentagram, eat some candy, and start reading the incantation I wrote in the notebook."

Gilda shoved a plastic bowl into my hands that held some candy, a little mirror, finger paint, and a notebook.

"What is this for?"

"We're going to summon the Spirit of Halloween. He's strong enough to help us untangle the knots Clarence made in the energy channels throughout Rutland. He can do it fast, too. It's the only way to keep the veil from exploding."

"Holy hell... we're going to summon a spirit? Is he like a creepy ghost or something?"

"No. The Spirit of Halloween is more like an angel, an entity of pure energy. He'll use your body as a temporary anchor in this reality. You've lived in Rutland all your life. It's in your blood. Infuse that with the Spirit's power, and Rutland becomes his home too, allowing him to abundantly bless it before he leaves."

"Uh... I'm not sure how I feel about being possessed by a spirit."

"Greg, it will be an incredible experience. The Spirit will be able to wield magic with your body. If you have never felt it before, it's like an orgasm. You'll be, um... What did the kids call it? Oh, a superhero! That's not a bad thing, right?"

"Wow, I guess not. Okay, how do I start?"

"The instructions are in the notebook. Follow them perfectly. The Spirit will do the rest when he gets here. The summoning will take about three hours if you read quickly, leaving us one hour to prevent total catastrophe. In the meantime, I have to find Clarence's source of power in this reality. I have no idea how he caused so much trouble. Good luck, Greg."

Gilda pulled me close for a goodbye kiss. Mmm, blackberry cobbler. Her smell and taste aroused me to the core despite my anxiety about being possessed. She pulled away too soon and rushed to the window. She was gone in a flash, leaving me alone to call the Spirit of Halloween. I sat in the middle of the pentagram and opened the notebook. First, I had to paint half of my face like a skeleton to represent the realm of the dead with my living body. That's what the finger paint and mirror were for. Then, I had to eat candy while reading the summoning spell, and damn, the spell was really long. Good thing I was a speed reader. I finished the spell thirty minutes early. Nothing seemed to be happening as I set the notebook down and looked around the room. Suddenly, Gilda's pentagram glowed red under me as a gust of wind swirled around the room, throwing paper everywhere. The air grew thick with electricity, making my hair stand on end. Then, the power rushed inside me. I gasped as euphoria pricked every nerve in my body, making me feel aroused and light as a cloud. Then, a powerful voice spoke inside my head.

"Hello, Gregory Higgins. Thank you for summoning me. I am the Spirit of Halloween. Shall we find Gilda and save Rutland?"

"Holy hell... let's do it," I nodded.

Gilda was right. Being possessed and full of magic felt really fucking good. Spirit and I stood and approached the window. He effortlessly guided my movements. It was surreal. My hand touched the glass, and I felt the shape of the protection spell around the building. Then, I could see the magic shimmering in the glass like thousands of tiny prisms. Spirit simply imagined what he wanted to happen, and the magic obeyed him. A hole opened in the window, and we stepped outside.

Holy hell, everything looked different. It was still dark, and it was still Rutland, but now I could see strange shimmering lines winding through everything. My mind made perfect sense of the overlapping layers. Living things like trees and grass were full of brighter energy compared to rocks and pavement. A firefly was hovering just to my right. It appeared to be moving in slow motion. I could see its spirit glowing in different shades of red throughout its tiny body. Then, I noticed a river of green light flowing through the air behind it. It came right out of the ground and swirled endlessly into the sky. The night sky was full of colorful glowing rivers, and a lot of them were crisscrossed and twisted, creating swollen knots that glowed an ominous red. An exceptionally large knot had formed over the 24-hour fitness club next to the Sheriff's Office. Another one was glowing red over the grocery store across the street. That's what Gilda was worried about. I could feel the pressure building inside the knots, and they were getting ready to explode. Then I noticed the veil. It was a thin mist of blue light that kept the dark energy channels separated from the light channels. It was more like a maze than a veil. It encased some of the channels like plastic around an electric cord, and sometimes it would shimmer brightly for an instant like something was pushing against it.

"Damn, Smiley has been busy," Spirit noted.

"Why do you call him Smiley? Gilda calls him Clarence."

"The name Smiley appeals to Clarence's playful side. He chose it himself. Even demons can have positive energy about them. I can draw on that energy and amplify it, cooling the demon's hatred of mortals. It makes him more reasonable."

"That's good," I nodded.

"Look around us, Greg. Can you make sense of what is happening? Can you locate Gilda without me explaining how? Remember, time moves slower for me, but we're still running out of it."

I nodded and took a deep breath. The high school was on a hill, giving me an excellent view of Rutland. I counted the knots over the city. There were five dangerously large ones close to the city center. I noticed a shudder from the biggest one over the fitness center. The veil sparked like lightning where the channels pinched and twisted it. Something was making the knots tighter.

"Spirit, what is the veil exactly? What controls it?"

"Excellent question. The veil is the will of mortals. Humans, ants, birds, trees, and all living things give it power. It is made of their hopes and dreams for the future."

"Trees can dream?" I chuckled.

"They can. Humans cannot see the passive desires of all living things. Those desires naturally resist chaos, preventing horrors from spilling into their realm. But mortals, especially humans, desire to experience the unknown. They often wish to make contact with their deceased loved ones, and over the course of a year, those desires cause the veil to thin. It's as predictable as the lunar cycle. It's my job to remind mortals not to constantly dwell on the dead, or they might accidentally call something nasty across the veil. Halloween festivities help people remember the joys of living while poking fun at their fears. It naturally strengthens the veil. The winter holidays make it even stronger."

"I think I get it now. I know how Smiley made the knots. Gilda said love and sexual pleasure are the sharpest energies known to man, and they fuel her magic. That shit is directly tied to our hopes for the future. Who doesn't want to fall in love and have great sex? What I saw at the Sheriff's Office was a mindless orgy. My friends didn't even notice I was there. They weren't happy or ashamed about what they were doing. They were just acting like mindless animals, or maybe sex zombies."

I shuddered at the disturbing memory.

"Perfect summation, Greg. Humans are mindful and social animals. Take away human hope and replace it with meaningless sensations, and society will crumble overnight. It's even worse when the pleasure is one-sided and used to mistreat other human beings. There is nothing wrong with an orgy as long as everyone is consciously enjoying the dirty fuckfest. Mindless sex is nowhere near as pleasurable as intentional sex, but they both can influence the veil. One weakens it, while the other strengthens it."

"Shit... Smiley has most of Rutland engaged in a mindless orgy right now. We have to wake them up. That should stop the veil from shattering."

"It's not that simple, Greg. The damage has been done. The natural thinning of the veil won't stop until midnight. It will shatter and flood Rutland with demons if we can't untangle the knots and strengthen the veil. We have an hour and a half to prevent disaster. Do you know how we can strengthen the veil?"

Spirit already knew, of course. He was simply testing my dirty mind at that point.

"Holy fuck. Intentional sex can reverse the damage, right?"

"Yes, and we need all the adults in Rutland doing it at once to loosen the knots, and they need to be mindfully enjoying what they're doing."

"Fuck, so no drugs to get them in the mood?"

"I didn't say that," Spirit smiled. "When humans dream, they're mindful of their actions. Arousal from a dream is a healthy, complex emotion. It can strengthen the veil, but it's not as powerful as emotions in waking life. So, maybe we could convince them that they're dreaming."

"Wait a minute, Spirit. Are you suggesting that we wake everyone up, convince them that they're dreaming, and then encourage them to fuck each other again?"

"Does it sound crazy enough to work?"

"It does, especially if they take something to get them in the mood. Hey, can you make a love potion? Or better yet, can you make a dreamy orgy potion?"

"I can make anything if you have the ingredients. Is an apothecary close by?"

"I have something better. We call it an evidence locker."

A quick walk back to the Sheriff's Office to steal some keys preceded a tour of the climate-controlled storage shed behind the building. We opened all the lockers and collected enough narcotics to literally drug the whole town. Spirit selected cocaine, marijuana, and a little bit of psilocybin to induce the illusion of an erotic dream. Waking people up under the effects of the potion would help us enact our plan, but first, we needed some sugary soda to mix it with. We swiped a wheelbarrow from the hardware store before strolling over to the supermarket. Many mindless orgies were occurring on the polished tile floor. Naked bodies were stacked on top of each other in the meat department, the dairy aisle, and even in the self-checkout lanes. I tried my damnedest not to stare as I stepped over naked friends and neighbors on my way to the drink aisle. A few gallons of cola later, and some giant water jugs to mix it in, we had enough potion to make the Halloween orgy better, but we needed to find Gilda first. We decided to investigate the fitness club since it had the biggest tangle of energy. We entered the upscale gym and weren't surprised to discover more naked bodies on the floor.

"Do you feel that, Greg? She's below us."

I knew exactly what Spirit was talking about. I could feel Gilda's heartbeat like a tingle of magic inside my chest. It actually tingled in a lot of places.

"How is she doing that?" I smiled.

"She blessed you with a potency spell. You're connected to her because of it, and my power amplifies the connection."

We hurried to the basement level and stopped to read the warning sign on the door at the bottom of the steps.

"Attention Gym Patrons: The Smiley Club (also known as the Cult of Smiley) is the most intense fitness training program you will ever experience. Some compare it to torture since it probably is. It requires herculean mental and physical stamina. CrossFit is a walk in the park compared to this. Abandon all hope when you enter here."

We entered despite the warning. I honestly didn't fear anything with Spirit's power coursing through my veins. The room was pitch black and smelled like sweat. I hit the switch by the door, and the lights reluctantly flickered on, and holy shit, it was a torture dungeon. The simple concrete room had five torture tables, creating the five arms of a pentagram painted on the floor. Two naked men and three naked women were strapped to the tables. Their mouths were gagged, and their eyes were blindfolded. Mini jumper cables were attached to their nipples and other sensitive areas. A computer in the corner controlled the current they received. Their bodies would jerk from a jolt every few seconds. Black strings of energy oozed out of them and branched off in every direction. Some of the black strings passed right through me. I could feel the dark energy tugging at my mind, telling me to abandon all hope. If Spirit wasn't there, it would have pulled me under with the rest of the town. The scariest part was finding Gilda lying on the floor at the center of the pentagram. She was unconscious. I wanted to run to her, but Spirit wouldn't let me move.

"Calm down, Greg. I've seen these spells before. Smiley is demented and brilliant. He merged a void channel with a dream spell. It's literally destroying people's ability to think and turning them into sex zombies. If Gilda hadn't fortified you with the potency spell, it would have brainwashed you, too."

"I figured that out already. What's wrong with her? How do we get her out of there?"

"The caustic energy of the void knocked her unconscious. She should have known better than to step into it."

"I bet Smiley pushed her in. How do we get her out?"

"We can break the spell, but we need to drug the town first, or everyone will wake up and panic. Are you up for a bit of power walking?"

Power walking was an understatement. Spirit could move my body at the speed of light. At least, that's what it felt like. Reality blurred around us as we raced all over town and gave a swig of drug-laced soda to all the sex zombies. It happened so fast I couldn't remember most of it. Two minutes later, we returned to the gym basement and used a broom handle to scratch the paint off the floor, breaking the lines of the pentagram. It instantly stopped the spell. I watched the last of the dark energy disappear into the floor before rushing to Gilda's side. She groaned as I pulled her into my arms. Her blue eyes slowly opened and squinted at my face.

"Glen?" she whispered.

"Sorry, it's just boring old Greg and the Spirit of Halloween."

She chuckled and smiled.

"Don't apologize. I'm thrilled you're both here. Clarence shoved me into the spell when I attempted to break the lines. Free the victims from the tables and make sure they're alright. Then we need to go upstairs and convince people to start fucking again."

"I'm way ahead of you, Gilda. I convinced Spirit to make an orgy potion, and we just gave it to the whole town. Want a sip?"

I pulled a cola bottle out of my pocket and offered it to her.

"A man after my own heart, but I'll pass for now. You already know what I need to get my energy back."

I smiled and gently lay Gilda down so Spirit and I could check on the prisoners. Their vital signs were good, but only one was conscious, and I knew her.

"Holy fuck, Claire? How long have you been down here? I thought you were in Virginia with your mom!"

The pretty blonde groaned and squinted at my face. Claire and I had been living together for more than a year before we broke up. She went no-contact for an entire month after I accused her of cheating with a coworker. She randomly sent me a text last week to say she was in Virginia and might return to Rutland in a month or so.

"Greg?" she groaned. "What the fuck is going on? Where's Jason? That jackass stole my phone and locked me down here. Why is your face painted like that? It's September, not Halloween."