Page 6 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

Esther Jean threw her hands in the air.

“I didn’t expect that to be real, all right?” She bellowed. Wolves cowered. “Who knew that’s the magic they’d choose not to see through?”

“Sometimes, first love sticks.”

“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

“You may be powerful, Esther Jean,” Carlita said. “But even you don’t know everything. Maybe Rob and Lucas really were in love when they were kids. They weren’t just going through the motions as most kids do. Your fake memories couldn’t change true love.”

Again, Esther Jean’s hands were thrown in the air.

“No bother.” Carlita waved her off. “Things will still go as they are supposed to go.”

Esther Jean shook her head, a concerned look on her face.

“He may be strong, Carlita.” She said. “But he ain’t ready. Maybe if he’d stayed gone another ten years…but he’ll do what he’s supposed to do…because he’s a good boy…but he ain’t strong enough to stop him. This time, we ain’t winnin’.”

“Do we ever?” Carlita asked. “Really?”

“Well, no.”

“Then,” Carlita sighed, “this time will be no different.”

“I suppose not.” Esther Jean said with finality. “Our plans have gone to shit, damnit.”

Carlita stepped back, as though ending their meeting, but her eyes landed on Esther Jean’s once again.

“What?” Esther Jean snapped.

“It’s a shame, really.”

“An apocalypse is always a shame.”

“No.” Carlita shook her head. “You actually loved this one. He was special, wasn’t he?”

Esther Jean just stared back at Carlita.

“I think you might have even believed he would end all of us.” She added. “Eventually. If he had just stayed away long enough to mature more.”

“Well,” Esther Jean replied evenly, her eyes boring into Carlita’s, “we’ll never know now, will we?”

For several moments, Carlita and Esther Jean stared at each other, and a pack of confused werewolves cowered in the periphery. Finally, with an air of finality, Carlita shrugged.

“There’s still time.”

“Hours.” Esther Jean scoffed. “We got hours.”

“Rob will know sacrifice,” Carlita said simply. “But maybe he won’t be alone in that this time. Unlike you, I’m an oracle. I know when there’s reason to hope.”

Esther Jean didn’t have a chance to respond. Carlita simply disappeared into the shadows, a plume of dust billowing into the air where she once stood. Esther Jean shook her head at the now empty spot that Carlita had once occupied. Sacrifice. Yes. Rob would know sacrifice. Just like every other witch before him, reaching back to the dawn of human existence. There was no way around that fact. Sighing to herself, Esther Jean turned on her heels to stride away from whence she came, the pack of wolves catching her eye.

“Well?” She snapped at them, making them all shiver. “Scat, ya’ assholes! Go mark your territory or some shit! Tell your master I said to go fuck himself!”

Each wolf let out a yelp, as though having been kicked in the behind, then they all scattered, disappearing into the dark. They were not nearly as dramatic or graceful as the oracle had been. Esther Jean stood there in the now empty parking lot, the chilly early Spring breeze forcing her to wrap her arms around herself as she looked up at the orange moon. The ground had stopped shaking, but she knew that didn’t mean anything had changed.

“Why’d ya’ have to take Lucas with ya’, ya’ damn fool?” She said to no one. “You would-a got out of here if you hadn’t.”

With a grumble and a “clop-clop” sound from her gardening clogs, she stomped back in the direction from which she came.