The Coven’s Curse

by Clyde Andrews

Table of Contents
Part 1 and part 2
appear in this issue.

Conclusion

“He’s possessed. Remember, James? Now help me... I need to pick this lock.”

“How?”

“I told you not to be silly,” she frowned. “My bra has an under-wire in it. I need you to unclasp my bra so I can get the wire out.”

“Can’t you... um... get it off yourself?”

“My hands are tied like yours. I’m good at getting it off, but not that good. Just hurry.”

James found it difficult unclasping Mandy’s bra. What with his bound hands, he also had to do it under her T-shirt.

“Oh darn!” James muttered under his breath.

“What? What is it?”

“I can’t seem to... no, it’s no good... this bra is stuck... I can’t do it,” James said. “Do you have a pen?”

“A pen? Why the heck would you need a pen to unclasp a bra?”

“I need to use an unlocking formula on it...”

“Oh, no you don’t. You can’t even conjure up a glass of water without spilling it. I’d hate to see what would happen if you started drawing formula on me.”

James blushed. “I’ve almost got it now... Hang on.”

“Where am I going to go?”

After some doing James finally managed to get the bra off. Mandy, however, only took seconds getting the wire she required.

“There... almost done... Now to try and pick this lock,” Mandy smiled, relieved that she had something to do other than wait for James to wake up.

“Better hurry up... It looks like Will has placed himself in the pentacle,” James whispered. “What do you suppose they are going to do to him?”

Mandy looked away from her work. “Sacrifice him, by the look of it. Then we’ll be next, I think.”

James fell silent.

* * *

L.J.P. and Mrs. Walters eventually arrived at the Docklands.

“See, I don’t need a flashy car. I got you here... in the end.”

Mrs. Walters burst out into laughter. “Getting somewhere and getting somewhere in style, there is a difference you know.”

“What fun would that be? Anyway, we’d better see what mischief these kids have found themselves embroiled in, my dear.”

“I agree.”

L.J.P. and Mrs. Walters cautiously approached building seventeen on the edge of the docks. What they saw when they entered the building took them both by surprise.

“I see we have indeed stumbled upon the Coven and this so-called Priest,” L.J.P. quipped.

The Priest, busy at the alter with his Coven, reluctantly turned to them as soon as he heard L.J.P. speak those words.

“Ah, finally. Now the party is complete and I can get on with my work.”

“I don’t want to dampen your fun, but we’ll just take these kids from you and then be on our way, all right, dear fellow?”

“Oh, L.J.P. I see that you can’t quite grasp what I am doing here. With the spilled blood of an innocent on this very pentacle I will be able to summon forth our great Lord.”

“I can grasp it... It’s understanding it that gets me. Mrs. Walters, be a dear and draw a protection circle around us please. Don’t forget to lock it.”

“Of course, L.J.P.,” she said, getting to it immediately.

“A mere protection circle scribbled on the ground in chalk will not help you when our Lord arrives. He is all-powerful. He is supreme. He is our Lord.”

“Tell me Priest, when this so-called Lord of your arrives, will he know that you are a complete nutter?” L.J.P. smiled.

“Enough of this petty discussion. My friend, Will here is going to help us at the pivotal stage. He will gladly spill his own blood upon the altar to realise our dream,” the Priest boomed, his voice echoing through the church.

Just then L.J.P. noticed that it was indeed Will standing behind with the Priest, smiling with an innocent boyish expression. L.J.P. knew straight away that Will was under the influence of this mad Priest.

Mrs. Walters, having completed the locking formula, nudged L.J.P. and motioned with her head toward her daughter and James suspended from the ceiling in the cage.

L.J.P. nodded. Just as he was about to put a plan into motion, the Priest did something that stunned them. The Priest took up a black candle and threw it onto the floor even as he droned an incantation. Almost instantly a great wall of fire burst from the small flame of the candle, cutting L.J.P. and Mrs. Walters off from the activities at the other end of the church.

“This puts a spanner in the works somewhat, doesn’t it, my dear?”

“I told you he was powerful,” Mrs. Walters said, her voice becoming strained all of a sudden.

“No matter... We must work together to defeat him, and we must stay in this circle,” L.J.P. said as the great wall of fire reflected in his spectacles.

“Then what are we going to do? The ceremony will not take long. They’re already at the chanting stage.”

L.J.P. smiled. “Never fear, Mrs. Walters. We have a Coven, too. James, can you levitate that candle over the wall of fire, there’s a good fellow? We can’t extinguish it from here, it has to be done at the source.”

James whispered to Mandy: “Can you levitate objects yet?”

Mandy was still busy trying to pick the lock with the under-wire.

“Mandy, did you hear me?” James said, sounding desperate. “Can you levitate stuff?”

“No I can’t... sorry, James. But I’ve nearly picked this lock. We should be able to get out of here soon.”

“James, dear fellow, can you hurry please? Can you get us the candle. We don’t have much time.” L.J.P. called from below.

“I don’t think he can do it, L.J.P.” Mrs. Walters said turning to L.J.P.

“Nonsense, my dear. I gave him all the books he needed to get the basics mastered while I was on holidays.”

James began to feel his cheeks flush. “L.J.P. hold on, I’ll have the fire out in a minute.”

James struggled as he tried to pry his chalk from his jeans pocket, his bound hands making it difficult. He noticed Will had also began to chant with the Coven as he stood in the pentacle below and L.J.P. had began to pace about in his protection circle. L.J.P. looked concerned. James frowned.

“Hurry, James, please,” Mrs. Walters added.

“When James has levitated the candle to us, and the fire has been put out, I want you to leave the circle and make a dash for Will. They won’t expect that. It will create a diversion,” L.J.P. said, looking hopefully up at the cage.

“Okay,” Mrs. Walters said. “I hope you know what you are doing.”

“So do I.”

James, once he retrieved the chalk, immediately began to draw a circle on the cage floor. His tongue pocking out from the corner of his mouth as he tried to remember the formula. Reading a spell from a book was difficult enough; remembering one, that was tough.

Mrs. Walter rubbed out the locking formula with her index finger, ready to charge toward the altar as soon as the flames disappeared.

James was losing confidence. He sighed, cursed himself, and then decided to try one more time. Perspiration beading from his forehead.

Mandy turned to him. “You missed a seven there,” she said, seeing James’s frustration.

“Thanks,” James squeaked. He placed the numeral where Mandy had instructed. The formula worked.

James grabbed the glass of water from the magic circle and threw the contents onto the black candle, extinguishing the flame and the fire wall all in one go. “Woo hoo!” he cried with joy.

At that moment Mrs. Walters bolted for the altar. The Priest spun around, furious that his fire wall had been extinguished. Before he could react, Mrs. Walters had snatched Will from the pentacle with a rugby-style tackle.

“No matter what you do, L.J.P. it will only delay the inevitable,” the priest screamed.

“We need to rethink our strategy, my brothers,” a voice said from behind the altar.

All in the church turned to the voice. Stepping out from the shadows came a man: a man that looked exactly like the Priest.

There seemed to be a collective gasp from all that saw this ‘second’ priest.

“What’s going on here?” the first Priest spat.

“It’s simple,” the second priest said casually as he approached the pentacle. “I am the true leader of this Coven. And I tell you all this: our great Lord will come. But this man is misleading you all. He is doing it all wrong. Do you all want to suffer in eternal damnation? He is performing a blasphemous ceremony, one that will see you all suffer.”

“What are you talking about?” the first Priest said, turning to look at the Coven. They looked puzzled.

“The ceremony requires a virgin. This boy is not one: he has been spoilt. How dare you summon our Lord under such conditions? He will be angry with us. Now leave us, brothers, leave us so I can smite this fake leader.”

There was a mumbling among the gathered. Even Mrs. Walters, James, and Mandy looked shocked. Will, still possessed by the first Priest, struggled as he tried to free himself from Mrs. Walters’ clutches.

“LEAVE,” the second priest bellowed, “or you shall all feel my wrath. I have our Lord’s blessing!” At that moment a great demon appeared behind the second Priest with a shimmer of light and a cloud of black smoke.

All the brothers of the Coven fled as fast as they could run. All that remained from the dark Coven was the first priest, who stood defiantly in front of the second.

Mrs. Walters seized the opportunity to begin a spell to return Will from his dark captivity.

“You are a fraud, a fake,” the first Priest said to the second. “And your parlour tricks don’t fool me.”

The second Priest smiled, crouched down and changed a formula or two on the pentacle that the first priest was standing in and neatly locked him into the pentacle. .“That may be so, but it worked to get rid of the Coven and to trap you, dear fellow,” the second priest said as he began to change form.

As the second Priest changed into L.J.P., the demon disappeared. Mrs Walters, finishing her resuscitation of Will, noted this rather pleasant development. “I wondered where you had got to, L.J.P.,” she smiled.

“You know how we were talking about the practical jokes I used to play on my friends. Well, you just saw my favourite one,” L.J.P. chuckled with a gleam in his eye as he remembered past joys. “It used to confuse the hell out of poor Fred Wallows, let me tell you. Especially when I would transform myself into his girlfriend. He’d get such a fright when he tried to make a move on her.”

James and Mandy laughed, and Mrs. Walters let out a little chuckle behind her hand.

“L.J.P.’s fantastic, isn’t he?” James said.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Mandy added.

“This is not over, L.J.P.,” the Priest said. “The coven will be reunited. I will prevail. That is my promise and your curse. I will prevail!” With that the Priest clapped his hands, disappearing from sight.

“Where... did he go?” Will stammered.

“Who knows?” L.J.P. replied. “But I do know it will take him a long time to convince the Coven that he is their true leader. We’ll be safe for now.”

“Seeing is believing, right?” Mrs. Walters smiled.

“That’s right, my dear. It’ll take a lot of convincing to make them see things his way. I’m just glad we all worked together to pull this whole stunt off. Mrs. Walters, you were fantastic.”

“Hey! What about me?” James called from above. “I helped, too.”

“You, young man, you’ve got a bit of explaining to do. I thought I gave you clear instructions about what you were supposed to know by the time I got back.”

James blushed again. “But I did put out the fire... in the end.”

“Oh, L.J.P. please don’t be so hard on him. He did the best he could, honest,” Mandy said, coming to James’s defence.

L.J.P. just smiled, looking up at them from above the rim of his spectacles.

“I think we’d better get out of here. This place gives me the creeps,” Will said. “And why the hell am I dressed like a choir boy?”

Mrs. Walters ruffled the hair on Will’s head. “I think it’s because you have such an angelic voice,” she joked.

“Very funny... You know it’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair, dear fellow?”

“You guys know what happened here. All I remember is waking up in a room with that jerk Priest drooling all over me.”

L.J.P. rubbed his goatee. “I’ll have a look at you later, just to make sure he didn’t hurt you in any way. All right?”

Will nodded, then managed a weak smile.

“Hello down there,” James called. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

L.J.P. turned to Mrs. Walters. “Are we forgetting something, my dear?”

“Why no, I don’t think so. We saved Will, discredited the leader of the Coven, and even disillusioned the other members — no, I think that’s it. Shall we go?”

“What a good idea, my dear,” L.J.P. said, offering to escort Mrs. Walter and Will from the fake church.

As L.J.P., Mrs. Walters, and Will left building seventeen, James turned to Mandy and said: “I think that was their way of saying that I should have done my homework.”

“I think you’re right,” Mandy frowned.

“How’s that lock-picking going?”

“I think it’ll be a while longer.”

“I just hope they come back for us then... otherwise we may be spending the night up here,” James sighed.

“Oh, they will... eventually,” Mandy said. “At least we won’t be thirsty. Just promise me that next time you will do your homework.”

“You better believe it.”