Chapter 2
HOLLYN HATED COLD WEATHER, and in Assjacket, West Virginia, the temperature was hovering somewhere between nose-turned-drippy-faucet andoh, is that your toe that just dropped off your foot? The sky was covered in thick, gray, smothering clouds, and the sun hadn’t made an appearance even once over the last few days since she’d gotten into town. Snow had threatened with a few light flakes, but so far, the ground had remained dry. She just hoped it stayed that way for one more day while she locked down a way to get where she needed to go.
“So, where to now, doll?”
Although she didn’t have to look up to know who was talking to her, Hollyn dropped her head back onto her shoulders and rolled her eyes at the bird above her. “I really don’t know, Bertie? That felt like another waste of time. It went as well as anything else I’ve tried.”
The seagull rode the air and circled above as she said, “But she came so highly recommended. You mean, she didn’t give you any clue how to defeat your father?
“She mentioned a possibility, but I don’t know how to get to it.”
“What isit?”
“She did tell me about a talisman in the form of an amulet, that would amplify my voice so that whatever resistance he has against my power would be useless. The only thing is that I must find it and use it before the next full moon—which gives me two weeks.”
“Great! Where do we find the talisman?”
Hollyn stared at the ground as Bertie landed at her feet. “She gave me something. A book with a map inside. It points to a vague location. I guess that counts for something.”
Baba Yaga had finally agreed to meet with Hollyn, and as weird as the meeting had begun, by the end of their conversation, the news had been better than expected. Not only had Baba Yaga told her it was possible to defeat her father for good, but she had also told her where she would find something to help her...sort of. It seemed, the only time Baba Yaga gave a straight answer was when she was mad, and Hollyn knew better than to make her mad.
Instead, she complimented Baba Yaga’s glamour shot hair style and brightly colored make-up. The voluminous, electric-blue pant suit had thick shoulder pads and a wide, black belt with a pattern of sparkly rhinestones on top of pleather that cinched her waist and accentuated her figure. She wore matching heels and clanging bangles on her wrists. Hollyn tried to notice every detail and give her the respect she deserved. It had seemed to work.
Baba Yaga had flipped her hair and asked her, “What happens if you get what you want?”
Hollyn had replied, “I’ll finally be free.”
“Be careful what you wish for...and all that wisdom-y stuff.”
“Is there a better way? I mean, I just want to help my aunt and be free of my father forever, and if I can do that with this talisman, I’ll go wherever you say it is just to give it a try.”
Baba Yaga cocked her head to the side and gave a slight smirk as she asked, “What if it comes with sacrifices? Isn’t that just switching one problem for another?”
A small kernel of doubt had invaded Hollyn’s mind for just a moment before she shook her head hard and replied, “Anything is better than living like this.”
A thick chuckle rolled from her lips before Baba Yaga said, “Well, since you are so determined, I’ll tell you where you can find it.” She stared at her bubblegum pink fingernails for so long, Hollyn thought she might have changed her mind. Then, she looked up quickly and said, “There’s a small group of uninhabited islands in the middle of the Atlantic halfway between the Bahamas and the west coast of Africa. The talisman, a bedazzled amulet, is hidden in a cave below the water line, in a mostly inaccessible recess in the cave wall. You’ll need scuba equipment to find the small depression in between a rocky formation that looks a lot like Bullwinkle’s head and another that looks like a broken pinecone.”
“Um, who’s Bullwinkle?”
“Use the flight time to Google him.”
“Flight time? I don’t do heights.”
“Oh, well, Google how to get over a fear of heights while you’re at it.”
“How am I supposed to find the island? How am I supposed to find the right cave to spelunk into? How do I access a mostly inaccessible recess in a cave? And how the heck am I supposed to find a pilot in Assjacket, West Virginia? I don’t know anybody here.”
“He won’t just be your pilot. He’ll be your guide and your partner. I can tell you where to find him, but it is going to be up to you to charm him and get him to do what you want. You can talk to men, can’t you?”
Frustration enveloped every inch of Hollyn’s being in that moment. “I think you know the answer to that. Give me a break! I came to you because I was told you could help me.”
“And what fool told you that? I’m fairly certain I have earned a reputation totally opposite to that, but your motivation is a driving force that I just can’t resist. Alright, I’ll make a social call on the only working pilot in Assjacket who knows where that small chain of islands just happens to be. I’m sure, once I talk to him, he’ll be happy to fly you wherever you need to go.”
“There aren’t any female pilots available?”
“I can’t get one here within the time frame you gave. If you need to have the talisman by the next full moon, Kai Iona is your only choice.”
