CHRISTINA CROFT has been published twice by Parents Make the Difference, which is a world-wide publication. The Murder Hole, insolent rudder, Steelcaves, Burning Word, Dark Moon Rising, and Shadow Keep have all published work by Christina. She has more work forthcoming in Alternate Realities.

                                                                  nevok
         

Shrouded in blackness, animosity fuming, the clouds made a brutal attempt to ingest the full copper moon.  My dark, brown eyes hypnotized by the awesome magnitude of nature at war, shimmered with leftover moon-glow, as I said, “What an absolutely, wicked sight!”

I drove frantically looking for shelter, somewhere, and nowhere near a place called Nevok, New Hampshire. My radio blasted with gritty static, as I reached across the dash of my black, 69 Dodge Challenger and lunged for my crinkled, coffee stained map. Being a speed demon did not serve me well at this point, as I spun off the road in a dusty whirlwind. “What the hell else is going happen!” I screamed.

Settled, I stretched out my map, gazed hard to find Nevok on it. “Oh, blasted map, it must be out of date. Nevok is in the freaking Twilight zone or something!”  I shrugged my head, lit up a cigarette, saying, “How could I keep passing so many signs to Nevok; it seems to be getting farther away?”

I got back on the road, drove about five miles, when I smelled an intoxicating scent. It was sweet, lip-smacking good. “What is that?” I asked myself. Without warning, a glimpse of a person buzzed through my peripheral vision. In my blotched up rear view mirror I saw a woman, dressed in black, hitchhiking; she’d almost become road kill.

I backed up, put down the passenger side window, saying, “Hey! Sorry, about my crazy driving! Need a ride?” I foolishly unlocked the door.

Pale, white arms fell about the inside of my car, her scent invoked a spell of flaming desire, as she looked in with green eyes to die for, and said, “Oh, you’re a lifesaver! Thanks, I’m Katrina.” She entered my car without any hesitation, playing with a chain that held the letters of Nevok spelled out on it.

“No problem, I’m lost; maybe you can help. Are you from Nevok? I’m trying to get there,” I mumbled, in a daze of blissful confusion. Katrina made me feel as though I’d just gotten off of a roller coaster; I was sickened, but content.

Katrina slid closer to me; her body burned my skin. “Hey, Billy, its okay, I know exactly where you need to be,” she said, while she grabbed the car keys, and toyed with my hair.

Just how did she know my name? Panic set in. “Hey, this is not a good idea, Katrina, get out!” I took back my keys, ordering, “Get out, now!”  A fury ignited in me; I shoved Katrina out of the car.

Driving like a demon, I looked down at the floor; saw her broken necklace. The letters, which appeared to be carved bone, had slipped off of the chain. As I picked them up, the scrabble man in me also realized they spelled Koven, but with a K. Was Katrina a seductive witch, on the hunt for a tasty soul? To my delight I’ll never know.

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© 2002 Christina Croft