A Witch and her Familiars

Chapter Three - Knight in Shining Armor

"Run!" Daphne screamed again, grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her down the sidewalk. She stumbled at first, but soon she was the one dragging Daphne forward. They dashed past Folton's Fruits and inside, Daphne could see the shrunken form of Ms. Folton, the owner.

"Help!" Daphne shouted to the old woman, but even though the door was wide open and she was facing the street, Ms. Folton made no move to help them. The girl tugged Daphne past the store, and she wondered how it was possible Ms. Folton didn't see them... or how she didn't see that thing behind them.

It skittered down the street with the same jerky, eerie movement of a spider, but it looked much more like a giant crab or scorpion. Its shiny, pored shell was mottled in different colors that mixed together into muddled beige. Its hooked feet grabbed greedily onto the chinks and cracks in the sidewalk as it pursued the girls. Daphne quickened her pace.

"This way!" The strange girl pulled Daphne onto a side street before she could find breath to protest. Daphne knew immediately that this street—alley, really— turned into a dead end, but the girl leading her didn't seem to know the area as well.

She scanned the alley as she was pulled along, hoping to see a pile of crates so they could try climbing, but there was nothing but overturned trash cans and broken beer bottles.

The pair rounded another corner and was met by a brick wall. "We're trapped!" moaned the blonde.

"No, there might be still time." Daphne opened her purse and pulled out her wand. "If I can distract it, you might be able to escape."

"You're not going to be able to fight it with that!" she exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the wand.

"Just trust me!" Daphne reassured her. She could hear skittering noises coming from around the corner. She forced a deep breath and a look of calm. "Look, you need to run. Get out of here. I'll be fine."

"I'm not going to—" but the girl's voice faded into a squeak as the thing chasing them stepped into view.

Daphne took a deep breath and tried not to panic when she recognized the monster crawling towards them. It was a Reliquus, as mysterious as it was dangerous, and rare, too, if the books were to be believed. What was such a powerful monster doing in Detroit?

She had no time to wonder. The Reliquus inched towards them, mandibles moving in and out as it looked around with its insectoid eyes. By her side, the blonde girl stood petrified. She needed to act.

Daphne held her wand tighter in her hand and ran towards it, focusing on the pulsing magical energy inside her, just as her mother had taught. She pointed the wand at the Reliquus and urged the magic forward. It shot from her wand in a glowing blast of blue energy, throwing the Reliquus backwards off its many feet. It was quickly up again. Daphne sent out another bolt, catching in the leg; it stumbled back and clicked at her warily.

The blonde stumbled back, shocked into movement. Here eyes were open wide as saucers as she looked from the wand to the Reliquus. "What is that? What's happening?" she whispered.

"Go now!" Daphne yelled, pushing her into action and sending more magical force at the Reliquus. "We don't have much time before— ah!" She screamed as one of the Reliquus's segmented legs rose up and knocked her to the ground. She fell hard on her elbows; the fall jolted her wand out of her hand.

She grabbed for it, but it was swept away by the creature's skittering legs as it crawled towards her. She dove after it, but the Reliquus was faster. There was a sharp pain in her ankle, and she felt herself being lifted up, up, up in its shiny mandibles, far away from her wand. She screamed and thrashed, but the grip around her ankle was too tight. As she twisted in the air, she saw the blonde girl running away and felt a surge of comfort; at least the mortal would get away. She closed her eyes as the dripping mouth grew closer.

Suddenly there was a crunching, cracking noise and a sharp hiss from the Reliquus. Its pincers opened and Daphne felt herself falling. She braced herself for the ground but instead got a soft landing in one of the piles of trash. She struggled up to see what was going on.

The blonde girl was fighting the Reliquus off! In one hand she held a metal trash can lid like a shield and in the other a broken glass bottle, which she slashed and at the beast like it was a sword. "Are you okay?" she yelled to Daphne between stabs.

"Yeah!" she yelled back, scarcely believing her eyes. "Are you?"

She thrust her bottle forward again into the Reliquus's armored leg, sending a stream of slightly glowing goo spewing out. It clicked its pincers madly and stabbed them at her, but she dodged. "I'm fine!" she panted, "But I don't know for how much longer!"

"Then let's go!" Daphne ran up to the girl and pulled her away from the writhing monster, which was still hissing and flailing its legs. She saw her wand on the ground and scooped it up as she ran past; while she was bent over, she felt something pass over her head. The girl screamed and fell against her.

Daphne saw blood pouring, but before she could see what had happened or even cry out, the blonde was on her feet again. "I'm fine!" she said through gritted teeth. "Just go!"

Daphne heard the Reliquus behind them, but its injured leg slowed it down, and the two ran out of the alley supporting each other. They made it halfway down the block before the girl started to stumble. Daphne's eyes widened; she had forgotten that the girl was injured. She looked only half conscious. Her head lolled from side to side as blood dripped down onto the sidewalk.

Strangely enough, no one in the passing cars stopped to help. Some of the drivers would blink, then shake their head as if the bleeding girl was a trick of the light and drive away.

She managed to get the girl into her apartment without any help. And set her on the couch with a towel under her bloody blonde hair. Daphne washed her hands in the bathroom frantically, wondering if she should call the human police. Would they be suspicious of what happened? And there was the matter of finding a phone to use, since the apartment didn't have a landline and Daphne wasn't allowed a cell phone.

At last she settled on magic, since magic had got the poor mortal into this mess in the first place. She grabbed an old spellbook and started chanting healing charms, directing her magic to the girl. It was exhausting, but it seemed to work. Though the girl remained unconscious, the bleeding stopped and her breathing slowed to a comfortable, sleepy pattern.

Daphne sighed in relief, then plopped down on a chair next to the couch. Within a few minutes, she was as deeply asleep as the strange girl in her apartment. She dreamed of strange monsters chasing her through alleys and the way the girl's bottle flashed in the sunlight like a beacon, like a star.