09 - Return Of The Witch Read Online Free Page B

apple bob as he swallowed. “The quintessential. What is it?”
    I came back to him on a whisper of air. “Where did you hear that?”
    He pointed to the computer. “Paige talks about it in her article. Says that this witch from New Castle must have acquired the quintessential to escape the Eighth Sphere.”
    “Did she now?”
    “Her words. Not mine.”
    I pulled the chair out again and took a seat. “The quintessential is the fifth element.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning there are four basic elements in nature: earth, air, fire and water. In witchcraft, they’re known as essentials. The fifth element, or essential, is the quintessential, which is abstract energy. Now then, a disciplined witch, such as myself, can sometimes harness fleeting bits of the quintessential in her witchcraft. It’s the true force behind magick. It’s what allows me to make zip balls, conjure up thought forms, shape-shift and perform a host of other cool witchy things. Yet, no witch can claim ultimate domain over the quintessential. It’s impossible.”
    “Paige thinks you have,” said Carlos.
    “She’s wrong.”
    “ She also says that a ripple in the universe confirms it.”
    “ A ripple? Seriously?”
    Dominic offered, “Something in the macrocosm. She called it a disturbance, an energy displacement in the time-space continuum.”
    “No.” I shook my head. “There’s no ripple. Someone somewhere must have picked up on the vortex perturbation. You know, a secondary influence causing interruptions in static wave particle placements will insinuate similar anomalies. That’s probably how they knew the disturbance originated here in New Castle.”
    “What?” said Carlos.
    “A false reading.”
    “Oh.”
    “In any case, I can assure you that I do not possess the quintessential. Furthermore, I highly doubt that Ingersoll’s Witness, or any other witch-hunting entity had anything to do with those women disappearing, despite what Ms. Paige Turner proclaims on her web site.”
    Dominic asked, “ How do you explain the strange chalk dust in the women’s clothes.”
    “ What’s to explain? Chalk is chalk.”
    “Why the different colors?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “ The witch from Salem. They found brown chalk in her clothes. The Georgetown witch, red and the Newburyport witch last night had white.”
    I laughed at that. “Are you kidding me?”
    “Why? What’s so funny?”
    “Come on. It sounds like these girls obviously knew each other.”
    “ They probably did. They all have guest member profiles on Paige Turner’s web site.”
    “ So there you have it. Don’t you think that sounds just a little bit suspicious?”
    “In what way?”
    “Really? You call yourselves detectives? Guys, this has all the hallmarks of an internet hoax. It’s a coordinated deception. Come on!”
    “But they’re witches,” Carlos argued. “Why would they perpetrate such a hoax?”
    “Duh! Because they aren’t really witches.”
    “ They have their web sites.”
    “Their web sites don’t prove shit . Don’t you get it? Any candle-burning, incense lighting Wiccan with a blog can call herself a witch. That doesn’t mean she is one.”
    “ Still, I don’t like any of this. It bothers me that Paige Turner knows about Ursula.”
    “She knows about Ursula?”
    “ You read her blog. She mentions another witch traveling with you to the dark dimension.”
    “ Again, how would she know that?”
    “ Oh, I don’t know, maybe because she’s a real witch like she says she is? Isn’t that information you’d be privy to?”
    “No. It’s not as if there’s some witches’ Yellow Pages one can refer to. Like I said, real witches don’t advertise.”
    Carlos asked, “So, what do you think we should we do?”
    “ You shouldn’t do anything. It’s none of your business. You have three women, possibly missing, possibly not, in somebody else’s jurisdiction. You got some flighty chick with a web site trumping up bullshit about