Edgewise by Graham Masterton Page A

Quinn’—claimed that FLAME was responsible for burning Ms. Whitney alive, and that more mothers would face a similar fate unless they were prepared to be far more reasonable about custody, access, and maintenance payments.”
    The silhouette of a man appeared—a man wearing a headdress that looked like a pair of devil’s horns. Behind him was a solid orange background, with the word FLAME painted on it in letters that were supposed to look like fire.
    The man said, in a flat, dry, Minnesota accent, “Today, we executed another witch.”
    Lily started to tremble. She had had so many nightmares about this man, but she had never believed that she would ever see him again or hear his voice. But here he was, right in front of her. She was so shaken that she had to pull out a chair and sit down.
    â€œWitchcraft is no longer a crime punishable by death,” the man continued. “It used to be, in the thirteen original colonies, and some people think that it still should be. Women may not work spells any longer, or consort with Satan, but they are still regularly using trickery and deceit to destroy the happiness of decent and hardworking men, and to deprive them of their right to fatherhood. If that isn’t witchery, we don’t know what is.”
    My God,
thought Lily. She knew that her own behavior had been far from saintly while she and Jeff were breaking up. At times she had been unforgivably spiteful and awkward, and she had never made it easy for Jeff to keep up his relationship with Tasha and Sammy. But no matter how mean-minded she might have been, no woman deserved to be burned alive for it.
    The phone rang. She was trembling so much that when she picked it up, she nearly dropped it.
    â€œMrs. Blake? This is Special Agent Kellogg. Are you watching the TV news?”
    â€œYes. Yes, I am.”
    â€œYou can see this man ‘Victor Quinn?’ Is he the man who broke into your home and kidnapped Tasha and Sammy?”
    â€œYes. I’m sure of it. I’d know his voice anywhere.”
    â€œAre you okay? This hasn’t disturbed you too much, has it?”
    â€œI’m shaking like a leaf, to tell you the truth.”
    â€œWould you feel better if I came around?”
    â€œNo, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. It was a shock, that’s all.”
    â€œOkay, Mrs. Blake. I’ll probably call you again tomorrow. Thanks for the ID. I believe it could help us a lot.”
    â€œJust find him,” said Lily. “Just find him, and find my children.”
    She went to bed early that night. It had stopped snowing for a while, but the roof was thickly covered and the whole house creaked like a ship at sea. She picked up
Minnesota Monthly
and tried to finish off the cryptic crossword she had started yesterday, but none of the clues seemed to make any sense at all. “
Brushes with insects help crones to become airborne.
” What the hell did that mean?
    She closed her eyes. Her head fell back against the pillows. She began to breathe deeper and deeper, and her fingers opened so that her ballpen rolled out of her hand and dropped onto the floor.
    She dreamed that she was walking through the birch woods. She wasn’t alone. She could hear footsteps all around her, and people whispering, but she couldn’t see anybody. She realized that she was lost, and that she had no idea where she was going, or how she was going to get out of the birch woods before it grew dark.
    On either side of her, behind the trees, she saw pale-gray shapes running through the undergrowth.
Wolves,
she thought. But maybe they weren’t wolves. Maybe they were witches.
    Oh God, I’m frightened. Oh God, I’m frightened.
The branches scratched her face and caught in her hair, as if the birch trees themselves were trying to stop her from escaping.
    Her heart beat faster and harder, and she started to run. Up ahead of her, she thought she could see a light