CHAPTER 37 - THE WRAITH
When Maria had not contacted them the following day, the four friends set off for Puerto Plata. They shopped along the way, and ended up sunning at the beach. After a lazy day, far from their worries at Cristo, they took one last refreshing dip in the sparkling sea. Toweling themselves to a barely damp state and shaking the sand from their sandals, they bid the beautiful beach a fond farewell and trotted back to the car.
There was a momentary delay in departing when Robin found the last batch of souvenirs she'd bought from the beach vendors wouldn't fit in the small car. Always one to fuel the fire of chaos, Cat playfully suggested the three straw burros should ride inside the car while her small friend might make the journey strapped to the roof rack. Robin was loudly voicing her retort, but Sam and Raven managed to wedge the souvenirs among the packages on the floor under Robin's feet, so peace was restored.
At last, sunburnt and happily exhausted, they headed back to Las Naranjas. Raven drove carefully down the bumpy, dirt roads, expertly avoiding potholes, while her companions slept. They were still three miles from the hotel, when the sky began to blacken and a strong wind rose, dangerously bending palm trees over the road. Thunder rolled across the sky warning the travelers of the coming storm.
"Can't you step it up, Raven?" asked Robin anxiously.
"Only if you want this car to slam into one of these potholes and break an axle." Large raindrops began splashing onto the windshield.
"Well, that's it!" announced Samantha. "The local gods are announcing the tropical storm is now officially underway," Samantha said. Ten minutes later, the heavens burst and the deluge began in earnest.
"Damn those smarty-pants local gods anyway," growled Cat.
"Can't you go faster?" persisted Robin.
"No! No! Go slower!" commanded Cat who couldn't see through the rainy window.
"Why not pull over to the side of the road until the storm passes?" inquired Sam.
"Be serious, Samantha, if we sit still, all this water will either bury our car in mud or wash us away," replied Raven.
"Ah, multiple choice!" exclaimed Cat in mock amusement.
"Damn it," Raven snorted, "no choices for you. I'm driving! I get to say what's best right now." As if to punctuate her statement, a series of brilliant lightning bursts rent the sky.
"Well, all right!" agreed Robin. "At least now you can see where you're going."
Raven pointed to a palm tree lying by the side of the road. "Look! There's that fallen tree. We're only a mile from the hotel now. I say we keep going, very slowly, and very carefully. I'm sure we can make it." Her companions made no reply. "Trust me, would a Druid lie?" Her comrades sighed. "I'm taking that sigh as an affirmative," Raven said in mock gaiety.
"Let's not waste time worrying," Samantha said and, in response, Robin and Cat closed their eyes, lips moving in silent prayer as they envisioned a circle of protection surrounding the car. So they continued, progressing slowly, Raven squinting through the rainy windshield, until, at last, the little red car pulled up to its usual parking space at Las Naranjas. "We made it!" she announced with relief. "You may give thanks for our safe arrival like the polite, little Wiccans you are."
"We give thanks to any gods and goddesses who may have, in their infinite kindness, brought us home safely," murmured Samantha reverently.
"And to any local spirits or entities who offered us their protection. May they continue to protect us," added Cat.
Deep within the mysteries of all things, invisible beings heard Cat and began to stir. They considered the tall woman's prayer and watched her with curious interest, while Cat's companions stared at her in a puzzled manner.
"Don't look at me like that!" Cat exclaimed. "The earliest Greek legends tell of heroes who, when traveling, would offer homage to their own gods first, and then to the local gods of the area they found themselves in."
"Touching all bases?" chuckled Raven. "All right, who's going to stand in the rain long enough to get our packages out of the trunk?"
"Please, not me," begged little Robin. "All this rain running down the road might wash me away."
"All right," Cat agreed. "Grab up whatever packages you can carry and head for the entrance." Robin grabbed an enormous armload and opened the car door. She stepped out, only to sink into water over her ankles. Squealing in terror, she tried wade to the porch steps, but one sandaled foot was stuck fast in the mud.
Cat, laden with her own purchases, had already exited from the other side. She wasted no time. Shifting her packages to her left arm, she grabbed Robin's belt. The little woman was pulled straight up, packages and all. Cat strode through the mud and into the hotel, depositing Robin and the packages on the lobby floor.
At least, thought Robin, the lobby is empty. None of the hotel staff witnessed my humiliation.
Robin was spluttering her indignation at being treated like a bundle of rags, when Cat exploded. "Would you rather I took you back out and left you where I found you?" Convinced that her tall friend might do just that, Robin held her tongue. "Ask Sam and Raven to help you get this upstairs," Cat snapped. She turned and strode back to the car.
Raven and Samantha passed her on their way in. "Give me the keys," Cat said, "and I'll get the rest of the stuff from the trunk." Raven juggled her own packages long enough to fish the car keys out of her pocket. Cat snatched them and marched back into the storm as if she were about to do battle. Meanwhile, Raven, Samantha, and Robin restacked their bundles and, as the hotel had no elevator, started clumsily up the wide flight of marble stairs to their second-floor suite.
Joseph noted their noisy arrival and slipped out from behind the staircase with the stealth of a cat. He stood watching their retreating figures, then turned his attention to Cat. Tiptoeing over to the window, he saw her standing, outside, in the downpour. The car keys were clamped between her teeth as she juggled an armload of packages, while struggling to close the trunk. Smirking, Joseph hurried off to tell Ramon.
Cat staggered into the hotel lobby with the remaining packages. Arriving at the base of the main staircase without dropping anything was, she thought, a sign of great success. Resting the armload of packages on the broad staircase rail, she began to push her load up along it as she ascended the stairs.
Each succeeding step was gained with great difficulty and, as she reached each step in turn, she thought her friends would be returning to her aid. By the time she reached the top step, she realized they weren't coming. Probably prowling through their own damned purchases, she thought with irritation.
Cat halted. She couldn't see past the packages to find where the top stair joined the landing and put out one foot experimentally. Going to make it, she thought, if I just go slowly, step by step. She continued with difficulty along the corridor in the direction of the suite. Suddenly, to Cat's surprise, the light in the hallway began to dim. She paused to consider this. No, it's not the light that's changed, she thought, it's more like the atmosphere. She hesitated behind her pile of purchases, searching the surrounding area with her mind. Searching . . . searching . . .
Nothing to the left . . . nothing to the right . . . nothing ahead. Then she heard a creaking sound followed by a low, throaty growl.
BEHIND ME! Cat thought in alarm. She caught her breath sharply and whirled around. The door to the fire exit was swinging open.
Cat's terrified spirit jumped out of her body, leaving her physical being holding the packages, staring blankly. Meanwhile the spirit Cat, hovered above the scene, looking back down the hall. The fire exit door was now wide open. And something dark was there, crouched low to the ground, its eyes glowing in the stairwell's blackness. Whatever it was, it had begun crawling down the hall, on all fours, inching closer.
It growled at her!
Cat's spirit continued to hover near the safety of the ceiling. Unable to intervene in an out-of-body state, she watched helplessly as the strange, shadowy shape with its glowing eyes came creeping from the darkened staircase and continued
slowly, but surely, along the corridor.
It was coming for her physical self! And she couldn't move!
Her spirit watched, knowing it was safe from this horror as long as it remained apart from its mortal body. It also knew that, without a spirit, her body was incapable of moving or defending itself. Realizing her physical being was only seconds from death, Cat was forced to make a decision.
As her spirit crashed back into her body, Cat sprang to life. She steeled herself to confront the horror that stalked her. Only ten feet away, the creature paused and bared its fangs. As an unearthly howl rose from its throat, Cat threw the packages in its face and ran for the suite door.
Inside the suite, Robin was showing her new jewelry to Samantha and Raven when the eerie howl sounded. They froze, then shouted, "CAT!" Robin and Samantha raced to the door. Raven fumbled in her suitcase for her athame. Samantha tried to unlock the door, twisting the knob in vain.
Out in the hallway, facing death, Cat desperately sought to curb her terror and replace it with pure rage. She forced herself to hate the creature that meant to destroy her. As her rage grew, so did her aura. Cat’s glamour blossomed forth, quickly transforming her into a huge, threatening, presence. The creature blinked and paused, uncertain. Now it was Cat’s turn. In the throes of full glamour, Cat threw back her head and roared!
By then, her companions had managed to pull the door open and Robin stepped out to face the dark, slinking creature. Pointing dramatically, she addressed it
"In the name of all the Gods and Goddesses,
I charge thee, STAND BACK!"
The creature paused, looked slyly up at Robin, and another throaty growl filled the hall. Cat, who was unable to maintain a towering presence for more than a few moments, returned to her true form and the creature turned on her. Samantha brushed past Raven into the hall. She crossed her two hands before her face, palms outward, and started toward the dark form, intoning.
"Against ye, fiend, we bar our window!
We bar our door!
We bar thy entry to us forevermore!"
The creature stopped snarling and began to withdraw.
All four women were in the hall now. Raven advanced toward the crouching shape, holding her athame before her, inscribing five-pointed pentagrams in the air with the ceremonial dagger as she came. Samantha, Robin, and Cat advanced down the hall behind her. They raised their arms in casting position, chanting.
"In the name of the Guardians of The East,
The South, The West, and The North.
We bind thee, fiend!
Return to whence ye came!"
The cone of power was rising, the air electrically charged. Raven's tracings in the air glowed in brilliant, blue flame. The creature shifted uncomfortably and backed up before the advancing women.
"By Earth and Water, Wind and Flame!
We charge thee, fiend, in the old ones’ name!
Return now to whence ye came!"
Each woman pointed a commanding finger at the shape.
"SO MOTE BE IT!"
With these words, the electrical charge leapt at the creature. There was a horrified howl as the beast turned and fled back toward the stairwell, with the four women close behind.
The creature suddenly swerved and darted toward the main stairs. Down, down the marble staircase it ran, to the last step, then across the lobby, and out into the street. The four women, with Cat in the lead, dashed across the lobby in hot pursuit. They burst through the front door just seconds behind it. Stepping over the security guard, who'd been knocked to the ground, they caught sight of an old, battered truck coming up the road.
The dark shape ran into the truck's path, disappearing under the wheels. The pursuers stopped short. The driver swerved hard to avoid the creature and the truck lurched dangerously, threatening to overturn. By the time the vehicle had been brought to a safe halt, the women and the guard arrived. They looked under the wheels and up and down the road. They beat the bushes.
Nothing!
The truck driver and the women stared at each other in amazement. There was no way to explain it. The creature had simply vanished.
Everyone stood there bewildered until, finally, the driver climbed back into the truck, restarted the engine, and drove off. The women took one last look around, but there was nothing to be seen. And so, with a shrug to one another and a nod to the guard, they walked slowly back to the hotel and went inside. They crossed the lobby in silence and proceeded up the main staircase to their suite.
Even though they encountered no one, it didn't mean their little drama had gone unnoticed. Even now the invisibles were watching. The local gods looked down on the tall woman and her friends, and found them worthy.