Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies

Chapter 12

Todd’s attention wandered from his plate around the diner. Being situated in front of the motel, it was the obvious choice for a meal, and Todd was already a “regular” according to the staff. No one knew his name, but the waitresses called him sugar or honey whenever they took his order.

Todd’s clothing was more presentable when he woke up. Though he didn’t recall taking it off, he found all of his clothes folded neatly on the bed when he woke up. He’d looked around for Vanessa, feeling rotten when he found her sleeping on the floor.

Across the booth Vanessa sat, her gaze distant and unfocused. She looked so much like Velma that she made Todd’s chest hurt if he stared for too long. Yet he could only look away for a moment or two before his attention shifted to her again.

She clasped her hands, the fingers of her left hand folded over the right, and her cheek resting against both while she stared out the window at the highway.

He’d already noticed her missing fingers and scarred hand. But the scars were hidden under black leather gloves with enough of each finger cut off to expose the upper half. On her disfigured hand, he’d noted the pinky socket was sewn closed close to the hand, while the nub of her ring finger peeked out from the cut leather. The skin exposed looked too white and smooth to be real, like Vanessa was a wax figure rather than flesh and bone.

When she noticed his attention, Vanessa lowered her right hand under the table, using the left to sip from her mug of coffee.

Velma had told Todd the story of how her sister’s powers had manifested. She’d been in the living room when Vanessa blew up the TV, and she’d described the event so vividly that Todd almost felt like he’d been in the room with the rest of the family.

Here in front of him was the actual witch, but she didn’t look like he’d expected. Then again, he’d expected someone dressed all in black, with frost white skin and black hair. Which meant he’d been thinking of a goth, not a witch.

Vanessa wasn’t wearing a stitch of black aside from her floppy hip bag. Her skirt was an earthy brown, and her blouse a cream color; almost white, but not quite. She wore a necklace with a crescent shaped pendant and hoop earrings from which other mismatching pendants hung.

Todd looked back down at his plate, and then decided he was full and pushed it away. “When are you leaving?”

“What?”

Todd raised his head and found confusion in Vanessa’s green eyes. “You stayed to sober me up. I’m sober now.” Vanessa stared at him, saying nothing. “Isn’t is time for you to run back to your people and keep up the hunt for Sandy?”

“We can’t find Sandy,” Vanessa said, pouting as she lowered her mug to the table.

“Why not?”

“Because she doesn’t want to be found.”

“I don’t understand. Can’t you cast some spell to see her?”

Vanessa glanced around the diner, and then sighed. “You must imagine us like a child’s story, like we send the developing teens to Hogwarts and they take spell-casting 101. But the knowledge of magic is secondary to the ability. Sandy doesn’t need to read books before she can cast spells. The ability is built in, you see?”

“I guess,” Todd said. “So, even if you cast a spell to try and see her, she already knows enough to block your second sight.”

“Exactly. I thought it was the cats being around her, but when she saw me through my fire spell, she shut the spell off. She snuffed out a fire.” Vanessa gave a tiny laugh. “You can’t appreciate that, but it throws everything into chaos and confusion.”