“MALL WITCHES”

A Frost Harrow™ Story

For Gillian Flynn & family—who enjoy the antics of Bad Girls.

March 1994 – Frosthaven, Wisconsin

“You’re sure this is okay, Cassie?” Ivy Frost asked.

Cassie smiled, grateful for the concern in her pretty friend’s blue-grey eyes. Despite coming from Frosthaven’s “ruling family,” Ivy really was a good soul. Even now, with a delectable high school senior hanging on her arm, Ivy was willing to put Cassie’s needs above her own.

“It’s no problem if you want to come to the movie with us,” Greg De Grasse, Ivy’s date, put in. He wasn’t too tall but had sparkling grey eyes, long brown hair, and a body to die for. Cassie had seen his buff form at numerous swim team meets. Part of her wanted to see even more, but he was Ivy’s boyfriend now (her first since returning to Frosthaven) and Cassie didn’t want to poach her best friend’s beau—especially not after all the shit Ivy had been through in the last few months.

With considerable effort, Cassie pushed down her prurient thoughts.

“Even though it’s Friday night,” Greg continued, “I’m sure there’ll be plenty of seats left.”

Cassie flashed an indulgent smile. “At the last showing of Jurassic Park? I’m sure there will be. That movie’s been out forever.”

“Which is why we’re going,” Greg said defensively. “Might be our last chance to see it on the big screen.”

“And I haven’t seen it at all,” Ivy piped. “C’mon, Cass. It’ll be fun.”

“Thank you, but no. You two cute nerds go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I have other plans.”

She waved the photocopied flyer she’d gotten in the mail. “Spring’s Springing Treasure Hunt… Remember?” She quoted: “‘Visit these four stores for amazing free merch and get a special surprise at store five!’ How can I resist?”

Greg frowned. “Ivy told me about that flyer earlier. I know those stores. I’ve had run-ins with some of the girls working there—or with their boyfriends. They haven’t been… kind.”

“Greg says the other lifeguards call them the ‘Mall Witches,’” Ivy said. Greg had been on guard duty in the high school pool when he and Ivy met. Cassie had insisted they attend that open swim, but it was Ivy who’d gotten lucky.

“They’re a crosstown clique: Frost High, Haughton Academy, other local schools,” Great explained. “They think they own anyplace they go. The pool… the beach… here at the mall… wherever. I guess their old-fashioned parents are making them work to get some ‘real life’ experience. Back around Halloween, my friend Emily gave them the name. She said they were like a little witchy-bitchy coven.”

“A bloomin’ bevy of bitchy witches!” Ivy quipped.

She and Greg laughed. He surreptitiously slipped his hand into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled her close. Ivy put her hand on his hip.

Cassie didn’t know if the two were knocking boots—yet—but she figured her best friend definitely didn’t need a chaperone for tonight’s movie.

“The point is,” Greg said, “the girls working in those shops are not nice.”

Cassie waved her hand dismissively. “It’ll be fine. I’m good with people. And it’s a public mall, right? And besides… Free stuff!”

“But the mall closes at 10:30 tonight, and our movie doesn’t get out until after eleven,” Ivy noted, concerned.

“So? The lobby near the theater stays open until the last show empties out. I’ll just hang out there until you young lovers finish getting your geek freak on.”

Ivy blushed at that, and Greg smiled.

Maybe they were having sex already. Lucky them. Cassie couldn’t resist the grin that tugged at the corner of her red-painted lips.

Greg steered Ivy in the direction of the mall’s four-screen multiplex. “Okay, Cass. See you when the show gets out. Have fun. Stay safe.”

Ivy wiggled her fingers in a farewell wave. “Bye!”

Cassie cupped her hands and called, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

***

“Congratulations!” gushed the curly-haired brunette teen behind the Orange Julius counter. She stamped the photocopied promotional flyer with a smiley face and handed it back to Cassie. The name tag on her blue uniform read “Stephanie,” and it looked like she was the sole employee working at the Orange Julius stand tonight. “Only a tiny number of our very best customers got this offer, you know.”

Cassie doubted that was true. She didn’t remember the last time she’d bought anything here; how could she be a “best customer?” But she wasn’t one to turn down freebies, and the idea of a surprise at the end of this little treasure hunt intrigued her.

“What flavor would you like?” Stephanie asked. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, as if she just couldn’t wait to serve.

Cassie surveyed the menu. “Strawberry.”

“Large?”

“It’s free, right?”

“Sure. I’ll whip it right up for you.”

Stephanie fetched some pinkish powder, some ice, strawberries, and a few other ingredients from under the counter.

As she dumped the batch into a blender, she called back over her shoulder: “Hey, be sure to visit the other three stores on the flyer—in the proper order—to get your special treats and qualify for the extra secret reward.” She handed a big paper cup containing the frothy red drink to Cass. “Anything else I can get you tonight?”

“Nope.” Cassie took a sip of the Julius with the plastic straw stuck through the drink cover: very strawberry, super sweet and tasty. “Thanks.”

“You have a great night, now,” Stephanie called as Cass walked away.

Cassie waved her fingers. “Yep. You, too.”

She checked her flyer. Flatiron Mall wasn’t very big, basically a long strip carpet with a J.C. Penny at one end and the theaters at the other—not like the newer two- or three-level malls. Despite that, its enclosed shopping strip still contained plenty of businesses catering to everyday shopping needs, as well as food stands and the kind of popular stores where teens liked to hang out.

Next on Cassie’s list: Spencer Gifts, repository for everything from joke presents to black light posters to drug paraphernalia to vibrators. Unlike the Julius, she’d done a lot of hanging out at this store, at least before she discovered that real boys were better than buzzing phallic machines.

Sauntering into the place, with its blaring music, crazy tchotchkes, and dim lighting, gave Cassie a warm familiar feeling, though she didn’t recognize the lone salesgirl; her name tag read: Nicole.

“Yo, I’m Nicky,” the Goth teen with short black hair intoned darkly. She wore a studded black leather pants and vest over a black leotard. Rings of dark makeup circled her pale blue eyes. “Whatta you want?”

Cassie handed her the flyer. “I’m here for my free gift.”

For a moment, Nicky looked shocked. “Oh! Yeah. Okay. That’s the special ad all right.” She stamped the flyer at the counter—another smiley face—and motioned toward the back of the store. “This way. Don’t trip on the stuff in the aisles. We’re rearranging the displays.”

Cassie followed her deeper into the music-filled gloom, lit only by black lights and the occasional flashing strobe.

The Goth girl stepped into the back room briefly only to emerge with what looked like a baby food jar filled with glowing pinkish paint. “Our latest thing,” she explained. “Not available to the public—yet.”

“More black light paint?” Cassie inquired, arching an eyebrow.

Nicky twisted open the jar and dipped a finger into it. “Hold out your hand…”

Cassie did. The Goth salesgirl dabbed a line of glowing liquid onto the back of Cassie’s hand.

The paint felt warm and seemed to glow even brighter than it had in the jar.

“Not just black light paint…” Nicky said, her conspiratorial whisper almost drowned out by the store’s music, “…edible black light body paint!” Her Cheshire Cat grin glowed faintly under the black lights. “Go ahead… Give it a lick.”

Tentatively, Cassie poked out her tongue and tried it. It tasted sweet if a little chalky.

“Imagine the fun at parties… Or… whatever you’re into,” the salesgirl said with an exaggerated wink.

The suggestion set Cassie’s imagination whirring. All the things she might do with it—and with whom—briefly flashed through her mind. She tamped down the cascade of erotic notions, and the threat of crotch wetness, by lapping off the rest of the paint and washing it down with a gulp of Julius.

Nicky, still grinning, handed her the jar.

Cassie stuffed it into her small denim purse. “Yeah… Could be fun.”

“You bet your life. Anything else you want? Got some new… personal massage units in…” Another broad wink.

“No thanks,” Cassie replied brightly. “I’m hoping the paint will help me get lucky.” She returned the wink.

“I hope you get lucky tonight, too… Very lucky.”

Was Nicky coming on to her? If so, Cassie decided to ignore the pass and keep moving. With a noncommittal smile, she squeezed through the overcrowded aisles to the front of the store and left. “Thanks!”

“Catch ya later!”

The chalky taste of the body paint resurfaced as Cassie wandered the increasingly deserted mall. A number of shops were already shutting down—pulling metal anti-theft latticework over their storefronts—and the lights in the mall thoroughfare dimmed, a subtle hint for patrons to wrap up shopping and head home.

Cassie might have gone home, too, if she hadn’t been depending on Greg (and Ivy) for a ride, and if she didn’t have a treasure hunt to complete.

Just two more stores until the promised mystery prize.

A couple deep draws on her strawberry drink chased away the last of the pigment’s chalky aftertaste, if not as quickly as she might have liked. Still, as foreplay with the right person in a room with a black light, Cassie could imagine the body paint could be fun. Her imagination offered up visions of a few hunky classmates who might try it with her.

Sex wasn’t always on Cassie’s mind, but it occupied her thoughts enough to be a distraction—especially at school. So many handsome opportunities at school—and in a mall, for that matter.

No hooking up with random mall studs tonight, she told herself. Ivy and Greg would flip out if I’m not sitting on those lobby benches when the movie ends.

Heaven Scent, a mid-to-high-priced perfume and cosmetics store, came next on her flyer. Normally, Cassie wouldn’t have shopped there—too expensive—but she hoped whatever merch they gave her might add to her sensual arsenal.

Even the interior of the sales floor looked pricey. Wide black marble tiles portioned off by grid-patterned golden stripes supported gold-trimmed mahogany makeup tables and chairs. Niches lined with full-length mirrors allowed customers to check how their makeup options looked with their ensemble. Gold-capped perfume and makeup bottles sat atop backlit shelves. A section marked Accessories offered glittering handbags to carry your kit in. Each purse cost more than Cassie’s mom made in a week.

“I’m Ashley. It will be my pleasure to assist you this evening,” the young woman at the shop proclaimed as she smiley-stamped Cassie’s flyer. Ashley had flowing red hair, emerald-painted lips, and long red nails. She must have been poured into her stunning green satin dress, because it clung tight to her slender curves. The chill in the store made the salesgirl’s nipples visibly push against the silky fabric. She extended her hand, “Call me Ash.”

Cassie swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She’d never been with a woman, and wasn’t much interested, but looking at Ashey, and feeling the warmth of her handshake, Cass could see how lesbianism might be attractive. “Cassie,” she said, and then added, “…Cass.”

“Wonderful to meet you, Cass.” Ashley’s practiced smile looked as perfect as the rest of her. Clearly, she—or more likely her family—could afford the best dentistry as well as the best hairdresser and clothes. Cassie wondered how much the posh girl had to work on the rest.

“Likewise.”

“Heaven Scent is proud to participate in this promotion for our best customers. I’m so pleased that you could come in tonight.”

“The flyer did say ‘tonight only,’” Cassie remarked.

“Yes. Of course. But you’d be surprised how many women just throw offers like this away without coming in.”

Cassie had almost tossed the flyer, but on second glance, she’d felt compelled to give it a try. Living with a single mom, luxury items were often a stretch, even now, after Cassie’s four older siblings had moved out of the house. A few freebies felt like a reward she deserved, especially considering how tricky navigating junior year in high school—and hot boys and jealous girls—had become.

From behind the counter, Ashley produced an unbranded silver atomizer about the size of a lipstick.

“This is our latest scent,” she declared. “We at Heaven Scent feel it’s our greatest ever and sure to be a top seller, whether you’re an angel… or a seductive devil. And tonight, for you, Cass, it’s free.” The words came out as an alluring purr, as if the pitch might be followed up by a warm, wet kiss and a passionate roll across the black marble floor.

As Cassie leaned forward to accept the gift, Ashley spritzed her with it.

“Oh!” Cassie gasped, startled. For a moment, the world spun, and her eyes stung. A scent like musky honeysuckle hung in the air.

“Divinely devilish… Isn’t it,” Ashley breathed.

“Yeah… Sure is,” Cassie replied without thinking.

She blinked and steadied herself. Like the body paint, this new gift immediately conjured erotic possibilities in her mind.

“What man could resist you wearing this?” Ashley asked rhetorically. “Not that you have any trouble getting boys, I’m sure.”

“I… I do okay,” Cassie said, still a bit disoriented.

A knowing smile played across the redhead’s lovely face. “I’m sure you do.”

She straightened up, instantly becoming more professional, less intimate. “Can I interest you in something to go with it? One of our purses? Our new, natural cosmetic line, Barely There?”— she quoted what must have been an advertising line—“‘Only you know you’re not bare,’ maybe? Or maybe something less… wholesome?” Ashley’s green eyes sparkled mischievously.

“No, thank you. Not tonight.” Cassie took a deep breath and picked up her drink from the counter where she’d set it upon entering. “I still have another store to visit.”

“Yes. Of course. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on your just rewards. Would we?”

“Nope. Well, thanks… Ash.”

“You’re so welcome. Do come again.”

The salesgirl didn’t mean the last suggestively, but for an instant, Cassie heard it that way.

These inopportune outbreaks of libido bothered her. It hadn’t been that long since she’d gotten laid, though she didn’t have a steady at the moment, She made a mental note to keep a date with Mr. Eveready tonight to take the edge off. She hoped his batteries were fully charged.

Another long slurp of sweet strawberry broke that train of thought. No sense pining for masturbation—or sex—when you had no easy opportunity.

“Later…” she muttered to herself between sips of Julius. “Later…!”

By the time Cassie arrived at the Cinnabon storefront, the sugary fruit drink had lifted her spirits and refocused her on her little quest.

“Hey, I’m here for my free stuff,” she announced, presenting her flyer to the bored looking girl behind the counter.

“Y-you are? Oh! That’s… great.”

Clearly the teenager in the shop-branded blue apron and cap didn’t mean it, but she smiley-face stamped the paper quickly.

“You’ve won this classic bun,” the girl—Melissa on her name tag—said. She sounded rehearsed, but not excited, and also nervous. Maybe she was new here. “C-congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

Melissa fetched a frosted cinnamon bun from the display case, which looked pretty empty at this time of night. Aside from Cassie, no shoppers remained anywhere in sight.

“Almost forgot… You get an extra-special spritz of f-frosting.”

“Thanks, but…”

Before Cassie could finish, the shop girl picked up a white tube and slathered on a heap of gooey white topping.

“…I don’t need any… extra.” Truth be told, the Julius had given Cassie plenty of sweet (and calories) for the night. She was already feeling a little jittery and unsteady; sugar high, probably.

Melissa shrugged. “Whoops. But you seemed so sweet—and it’s late in the day. I gotta use up the frosting or throw it away. That’s okay—right?”

She smiled, but Cassie couldn’t tell if the grin was a put-on. Certainly, Melissa didn’t seem too pleased to be working—at least not tonight at this stand. Cass remembered what Greg had said about the Mall Witches being forced to work by their parents, despite not needing the money. Maybe Melissa fit that profile.

Oh, well. Cassie had been warned.

“Sure. Fine,” she said, taking the dripping bun.

“Give it a t-try… You’ll love it!”

Cassie nibbled an edge.

“No, no, no,” Melissa teased. “A big bite. The frosting is the best part!”

Cassie shoved a third of the pastry into her mouth and chomped it. The cinnamon gave a pleasant tingling to the warm dough, but the icing… Tasty, sure, but almost enough accumulated sugar to send a girl into diabetic shock.

“Great. Right?”

“R-i-i-ight,” Cassie managed around a sticky mouthful.

Smearing the goo off her lips with the back of her arm, she reclaimed her treasure hunt flyer. “So… I’ve completed the hunt. Where do I go for my ‘secret prize.’”

“Oh. The special prize. Y-yes… Well, if you hurry, you can get to Bewitching Waxworks before they close. They’re at the far end of the mall, near the theater. Not much time left. You cut doing this thing close, didn’t you?”

Cassie forced a contrite smirk and stifled a sharp retort. Somehow, Melissa was managing to be both obsequious and bitchy.

But, Cassie’s little quest was almost over. No sense putting her foot in it now by pissing off the sales staff. “The rules said that the offer only applied in the last hour before the mall closes.”

Melissa returned Cass’ fake grin. “Oh, yeah. Good for you, following the rules. I bet you never step over the line; do you.” It came out more a statement than a question.

If only she knew, Cassie thought. But she replied:

“That’s me Cassie Peters, practically perfect in every way.”

The shop girl burst out laughing. Maybe she’d never seen Mary Poppins and found the line genuinely new and hilarious, or maybe she was just carrying sarcasm to new heights.

Either way, Cassie decided she didn’t have any more time to waste. “Well, thanks a lot.”

“You’re so welcome. D-don’t forget to finish that bun. Yum yum yummy!”

“I won’t,” Cassie said, hurrying way. With a sticky bun in one hand and her drink in the other, she didn’t bother trying to wave.

She dumped the pastry in a trash can as soon as she moved out of Melissa’s sight.

More sips of her drink—nearly finished now—cleared the cloying frosting from the roof of her mouth. She definitely felt jangly from the sugar, now, and could hardly wait to claim her prize, plop down on the padded benches near the exit of the movie theater, and wait for her friends.

Nearly all the shops had closed by the time she reached Bewitching Waxworks, another shoebox-sized local business sandwiched between a large sporting goods outlet and a Waldenbooks, not too far from the cinema.

The lighting in this end of the mall had faded nearly to black now as businesses closed, leaving the thoroughfare lit mostly by dim security lighting.

Cassie checked her watch—nearly 10:30—and ran, fearing the waxworks might shut before she got there.

It would suck to come this close and miss out.

When she arrived, the sliding glass doors to the shop stood half closed, but Cassie slipped inside.

Phew! Made it!

Teardrop pendant lights provided the salesroom’s dim illumination, supplementing the lit candles atop displays throughout. The floor appeared to be pale hardwood but was likely some kind of commercial-grade laminate. Numerous pleasant odors from all the melting wax warred for attention in the storefront’s close confines: bayberry, sandalwood, pine, baking cookies, floral and fruity scents.

A teenager with dirty blond hair sat perched behind the sales counter, talking on the phone. She wore an attractive pink sweater off one shoulder in a way that made the fabric tight across her breasts and expensive-looking low-cut jeans. She looked up as Cassie entered the store.

“Yeah… That’s great… Perfect. I knew you could do it,” the girl told the person on the other end of the line. “Just like we planned… Yeah… Look, somebody’s here. Gotta go. See you soon. Toodles.”

She hung up and grinned a saleswoman’s smile. “Hi.” She made the word sound like it had two syllables. “I’m Beth… Welcome to Bewitching Waxworks. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Beth,” Cassie said dumping her now-empty drink into a trash bin by the counter. “I’m here about the treasure hunt… I think I’ve won.” She held out her fully stamped flyer.

Beth took it. “Oh! You made it. How rad. I hoped you would.”

Cassie narrowed her eyes and studied the salesgirl. “Do I know you?” The blonde did look somewhat familiar…

Beth laughed, a flighty, musical sound. “Oh, no… I mean, I… We—the shop that is—have been hoping that someone would come in and claim the reward they’ve got coming… Claim the Grand Prize, I mean.” She flashed an open-mouth smile and her hazel eyes twinkled in the light from the countless lit candles.

“So… What do I win?” Cassie asked.

“A candle, natch!” Beth bustled behind the counter. “One very special candle.”

“A new scent that you haven’t released to the public yet?”

“How did you know?”

“Theme of the night.”

“Oh, yes… Of course.” The salesgirl brought out a tall box and removed a thick red and black taper from it.

The candle looked a bit phallic to Cassie. (But maybe everything looked like a cock to her tonight.)

Mr. Eveready, here I come…!

“We all—the waxworks I mean—want to make this a new and exciting experience,” Beth said. She set the candle on the counter next to Cassie and lit it.

“New?” Cassie asked. “Am I the first winner?”

“First one so far. We might have more… We wanted to see how this time goes, first.”

“And how did it go, do you think?”

“You’re here, aren’t you? It went perfectly. And you made it just in time. If I hadn’t been on the phone, the shop might have closed. And then where would you be?”

“Waiting until the movie got out for my ride home. Guess I got lucky.”

“I’m betting you get lucky a lot.” Beth’s hazel eyes seemed to spark as she said it. She pushed the candle forward. “Go ahead. Give it a sniff. If you like it, it’s yours.”

Cassie leaned close and inhaled. “Mmm… Nice… Almost like cinnamon.. and something else… roasting marshmallows?” She really liked it, though the aroma did make her head swim—or maybe that was still the sugar.

“I call it ‘Secret Fire.’ What do you think, Cassie?”

“It’s… Wait… How do you know my name?”

Beth smiled and batted her long eyelashes. She leaned forward, her tight sweater making her breasts loom large. “We had to coordinate, didn’t we? All the participants. To make sure you won without… cheating.”

Cassie felt suddenly hot, and the light in the room seemed dimmer.

“Do you like to cheat, Cassie Peters? I think you do.”

Cassie took a step backward, toward the doorway, but her legs wobbled.

“I bet you’d do anything to get what you want…” Beth slunk closer, her eyes narrow, predatory. “…Even steal someone’s boyfriend.”

Cassie’s mouth had gone dry again. It took all her concentration to keep from falling over as she took another step back. “B-but… You said you didn’t know me…”

“We’ve never met,” Beth intoned dangerously.

The world spun, and Cassie couldn’t stop it. She felt tired and blazingly hot. Everything smelled sweet and musky, intoxicating.

“…But I think you know my boyfriend, Heath…”

Cassie’s vision narrowed to a long tunnel; darkness closed in all around.

“…Don’t you.” Not a question.

Heath…?

Cassie crumpled to the faux-wood floor, and everything went black.

***

“I-is she dead?”

Voices in Cassie’s darkness… Familiar but difficult to place…

“She’s not dead.” A commanding voice, impatient. “Are you blind or just stupid, Mel? Can’t you see her big fake boobs moving up and down?”

A snickering giggle. A deeper, sultry voice. “You’d have to be blind to miss those hooters.” Cassie was only dimly aware of hands pawing her, but she remained paralyzed, helpless. “Don’t feel fake to me.”

“Maybe Steph should get the name of her plastic surgeon.”

Mocking laughter amid the blackness.

“Fuck you, Ashley!”

“Fuck you with a broomstick, Steph.”

The authoritative voice again:

“Shut up, Ash. You, too, Steph. Nicky… Hands off the merchandise.”

A sigh—Nicky, Cassie dimly supposed. Where did she know Nicky from? Were they friends?

“O-kay, ‘boss.’ Slut has nice knockers though.”

“You going lezzie now, Nic?”

“Go ride that broomstick, Ash.”

“Cut the crap, all of you. We’ve got shit to do, and it took this little whore way too long to pass out.”

…Pass out… I passed out. Passed out in the mall…

“It’s not my fault.” That first voice again—Mel, Cassie remembered, from the bun shop. “I hit her with the mega-frosting, just like you told me. I gave her tons. That’s why I thought she might be… d-dead. Maybe Steph messed up her dose.”

“I didn’t! I did just like Beth said! Enough in the drink to set her up for the rest. You’re the one who was supposed to finish the job, Mel! Bitch is made of drugs, or something.”

Drugs… They drugged me…

Soft hands fondling Cassie’s hair. Nicky, again… Must have been. The Goth girl’s husky voice came soft near her ear.

“Sure. Bet she smokes weed all the time… Every time she’s blowing somebody else’s boyfriend. Gets high with them and then…”

“Knock it off with the fucking hands, Nicky!”

The leader again… the girl from the candle store… Beth. That’s where Cassie knew them all from: the mall. Before they drugged her and she passed out.

Reluctantly, the hands withdrew again.

Thank God… Cassie liked being touched, but not here, not now. Not by these… assholes.

“And the little whore did not steal Heath! He just… strayed. She shook those big fake boobs at him, and he strayed. That’s all. Everybody strays. And once we’re done here, he’ll come back to me—come back for good. Now, help me get the candles set up. Let’s start this goddamn ritual and get it done.”

“Remind me what the rest of us get out of this vendetta of yours again, Beth?” Ashey’s droll tones. “I mean, payback against this slut for you, sure, but…”

“You get what we all get: eternal beauty and immortality. That not enough for you, Ash?”

A terrible chill shot through Cassie as the blackness surrounding her faded to a thick, grey gauze.

These weren’t just salesgirls, they were the mall girls… the Mall Witches.

Jesus…!

Was everything Cassie was hearing real, or was this some kind of drug-induced nightmare?

“B-but you’re sure this will work, Beth? Really sure?”

“I did the research, okay? We all watched the movie…”

“A fucking Disney movie.”

“Nicky, do you want to be in this coven, or are you going to fucking leave right now?”

“Yeah, okay. I’m staying. Please do explain how this is gonna work, exalted leader.”

“Put a sock in it, Nicky! So, it’s only a kids’ movie, but all that witch stuff is based on things that happened, right? I mean they really had witches in Salem. Everybody knows that. And they used their powers to get what they wanted. Right?”

“But the witches in the movie had a book from their… m-master…” Mel whispered the last word. “…Satan.”

“Well, I got a book, too,” Beth boasted. “I found it in my dad’s stuff. By some English guy: Dennis Whatley or Wilbur Wheatley, or something. He wrote about devils a lot. Made some movies, too, back in the bone ages.

“But it’s all real witch stuff; he says it is. Our Lord Satan is out there, and him and his buddies will give us everything we want. All we gotta do is this one little thing…

“I wrote down all the shit we need. Tonight’s the dark of the moon, and when we’re done, it’ll be just like the movie for us: eternal youth and power, all that radical shit. We pay this bitch back for Heath, and then nobody can ever boss us around again. We can quit these fucking jobs and do what we want. We’ll be a real coven. Get me?”

Four witchy voices agreed.

“Okay, Nic, paint the signs on her forehead, breast, wrists, and ankles… No, wait… Ash, you do it. Don’t want Nicky wasting any time copping a feel.”

“Fuck you and rotate, Beth.”

Warm, long-nailed hands roughly pulled up Cassie’s sleeves and cuffs, smeared something warm there…. Opened her blouse halfway and did the same, and then on her forehead.

Cassie shuddered mentally. She wanted to struggle, wanted to scream, but she couldn’t even open her eyes. She must have done something, though, because Ashley said:

“Hey… I think she’s coming around.”

“Good,” Beth replied. “We want her awake.”

“Does the ritual work better if she’s awake?” Steph asked.

Beth laughed, a harsh, cruel sound. “Nah. I just want the whore to see what’s coming. Our Lord and Master loves fear.”

“Th-that’s the point, right—scare her?” Mel squeaked. “Scare her so that she’ll never steal anyone’s boyfriend again.”

“Melissa, darling,” Ashley drolled, “what part of the words virgin sacrifice are you not understanding?”

“Virgin,” Nicky put in with a chuckle.

“But I thought she slept with Heath,” Steph noted, sounding puzzled. “I thought that’s what all this was about.”

“She only gave him a blowjob,” Ashley clarified. “Blowjobs don’t count.”

“They don’t?” both Steph and Mel asked.

“No, ninnies!” Beth shot back. “You can give blowjobs and not get your cherry popped. How do you think a girl saves herself for marriage? And this little whore is the Blowjob Queen of Frost High.”

“You two must live under a rock not to know that,” Ashley added. “Even Nicky knows that much.”

“Sure,” Nicky affirmed. “Every football jock from here to Duluth wants to play Frost High just to get a shot at Cassie Peters.”

In her drugged haze, the witch girls’ accusations whirlpooled through Cassie’s mind. What they said couldn’t be true, could it? Sure, Cassie liked giving head, and she’d done a few things with a few guys—maybe more than a few… Usually, she felt proud of her sexual prowess, but…

She also felt cold. Very cold. Real cold, not just the awful chill in her mind.

She realized it must be the chill of a metal table beneath her. She was starting to recover some feeling… But she still couldn’t move…!

“Boy, ol’ Heath couldn’t stop talking about it…” Nicky continued. “Told the rest of the team that she was the best cocksucker he’d…”

“Enough!” Beth barked. “The point is, we’re doing a public service by taking this whore out of the picture. Now stop fucking bickering, light the candles, and finish drawing the magic circle around the table while I get my knife.”

Knife…!

Cassie fought harder against whatever they’d dosed her with. She dragged her heavy eyelids open, just a slit.

The would-be coven walked in circles around the cold steel worktable where Cassie lay. She glimpsed the girls’ heads weaving in and out of her field of vision. Bewitching Waxworks’ teardrop pendant lights dangled from the ceiling, lower than they were out front, low enough to work by. This must be a back room used for candle making.

“H-how much blood do we need for the ritual?” Mel asked.

“And how are we gonna make sure she doesn’t tell anyone after?” Steph added.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie saw Nicky shake her head. “Boy, you two are really dense!”

“There’s not going to be an ‘after,’ ladies,” Ashley explained. “Virgin sacrifice, you dimwits!”

Nicky frowned. “Kind of a shame, really.”

Cassie wanted to scream, “It won’t work! I’m not a virgin, you stupid bitches!” but she still couldn’t talk.

Again, Beth’s harsh laughter. “Do you think our Lord and Master Satan is going to give us eternal life and power just for a little blood?” She moved closer, and Cassie saw the wicked curved blade in her hand. “With this un-blessed, magically inscribed kris dagger, we’re going to take all of it from her. Every… single… fucking… drop.”

Cassie’s breath caught in her throat, and her heart nearly stopped.

Yes, this small room filled with dark shadows was where the Mall Witches made black magic candles… And human sacrifices! She tried to scream again, but only succeeded in baring her teeth.

“B-but…” Mel began.

“…How are we going to get rid of the body?” Steph finished.

“Too late to back out now, ladies,” Ashley said calmly.

“Your dad owns a company that imports and exports solid waste, doesn’t he, Steph?” Beth said with a sly grin. “Who’s gonna notice one whore’s body among all that other trash?”

“Not… A… Whore…!” Cassie managed to say between drug-clenched teeth.

“Holy shit!” Nicky blurted. “She’s awake!”

“Quick,” Beth commanded, “grab her arms and legs and hold her down. Now’s the time! I just have to un-purify the blade.”

Cassie’s eyes were wide open, and her vision had cleared. She could even move her head a little. Beth stepped out of the flickering candlelight to an empty corner of the small work room.

“What does she mean, un-purify?” Mel asked Steph, who didn’t seem to know, either.

“She’s going to pee on it, you stupid twats!” Cassie said in a voice clearer and louder than she expected. The drug’s effects were waning fast. “Killing me won’t get you immortality or any fucking powers. It’ll only get you prison for the rest of your fucking lives.”

Ashley grinned a catlike grin. “Only if we get caught,” she purred. “Nearly ready, Beth?”

The redhead dug her long crimson nails into Cassie’s left wrist; Nicky grabbed the right, while Steph and Mel held her ankles. Cassie tried to struggle, but though she’d gained some movement, she remained far too weak to break free.

“Ready,” Beth announced, shaking a few drops of urine from the curved knife.

“You stupid bitch!” Cassie snarled. “If you were any good in bed, Heath would never have asked me to blow him!”

She realized that provoking the coven’s wannabe high priestess might not help her situation, but she need time to either think of something or regain more strength.

“So! You admit it! You admit you seduced my Heath!”

“I didn’t seduce him; he begged for it! And he’s not your Heath. He’s just another horny jock looking to nail anything in a skirt.” Sweat drenched Cassie’s terrified, trembling body, but she pushed on. She could feel her fingers and toes now, as well as the manicured nails of the witches holding her down. “I just happened to be available and willing. You think I was the first time he cheated on you?”

Beth’s wicked smile transformed into a hideous grimace. She waved the still-wet knife at Cassie. “Killing you is going to feel so fucking good, bitch! Coven… Repeat after me: Hail to our Lord and Master, Satan… We summon thee!”

“Hail to our Lord and Master, Satan. We summon thee,” the others parroted.

Cassie thought that only Ashley’s response sounded enthusiastic, but they all still kept Cass gripped tight.

“Come to us, Master!” Beth implored. “Send Baphomet, your Black Goat, to grant our wishes! Accept this soul we offer as tribute!”

“Come to us, Master. Send Baphomet, your Black Goat, to grant our wishes. Accept this soul we offer as tribute.”

Cassie wanted to fight, but it was no use; she still didn’t have the strength. She stopped struggling, trying to save what little energy she had for one last, desperate attempt to escape.

The rush of her blood roared in her ears. Her heart thumped so hard, it seemed ready to burst from her chest. The cloying scent of the burning black and red candles stung her eyes, and tears ran down her cheeks onto the metal table below.

Beth grinned in triumph. The candles painted her upturned face with a flickering, hellish glow. “We give you this life, that we may remain forever young!”

“And because she fucking deserves it!” Ashley added.

Cassie screamed with all her might, screamed beyond hope that someone nearby might hear her.

The leader of the Mall Witches raised her un-hallowed kris high, and a trickle of urine dripped from the knife onto Cassie’s lips.

The other coven members leaned close, pinning Cassie, making sure she couldn’t wriggle away.

“Take this whore to the deepest pits of hell and ravage her forever!” Beth shouted.

Cassie sucked the drops of piss into her mouth and spat them into Ashley’s left eye.

The green-eyed witch shrieked, and let go with one hand to wipe her face.

Cassie yanked her right arm free and smashed her fist into Ashley’s jaw.

The redhead staggered into Beth, still holding the urine-soaked dagger above her head.

Cassie swung to the left, bashed Nicky in the nose, and sat up. She kicked her legs free from Steph and Mel as the Goth girl toppled into a stack of boxes marked “Paraffin” and “Cleaning Supplies.”

Ashley and Beth, tangled together, staggered backward. The dripping metal blade of Beth’s sacrificial knife smashed into one of the dangling pendant lights.

BANG!

The entire workroom lit up as electricity surged through the dagger into Beth and Ashley.

Mel and Steph shrieked as the expensive clothes of the coven leader and the posh redhead burst into flames.

Cassie rolled off the table and got to her feet.

The food court girls turned to run, but tripped over the burning candles they’d placed at the edge of the magic circle. Uncannily, the flames from those candles leaped up the legs of their service uniforms, setting those girls ablaze as well. The pair howled even louder.

Beth and Ashley didn’t scream. Their burning bodies twitched spasmodically, Beth’s dagger still tangled in the writhing, sparking light cable.

Almost instantly, the preternatural fires filled the small workshop with thick black smoke.

Still unsteady, Cassie coughed and peered into the darkness, trying to see where the exit lay.

Something must have gone wrong with the mall’s fire-suppression system, because even with four of the Mall Witches burning, the shop’s sprinklers didn’t come on.

“Jesus Christ almighty…!” Nicky blurted, thrusting broken boxes aside as she lumbered to her feet.

Several of those ruptured boxes hit Steph and Mel, and something inside exploded into a fireworks burst of blazing liquid.

Cassie pressed herself against the wall, barely avoiding being struck, but the flaming spray drenched the back of Nicky’s studded leather jacket.

Nicky screamed and bolted across the room, knocking aside the other burning witches as she fled. “Aaaaa! Help me!”

The Goth girl must have known the exit’s location, because she raced straight through the room’s sole doorway, which Cassie could barely see.

But now she spotted the way out.

Steph, keening like a boiling tea kettle, tried to claw Cassie as she darted past.

Cassie side-stepped and leapt beyond her.

The heat of the burning shop girl followed her as Cassie sprinted out the door and through the smoke-filled candle shop. She paused only long enough to grab her purse from where it lay on the sales counter. Then she fled from the chaos into the cool darkness of the mall.

Ahead of her blazed Nicky, still running, still screaming. “Helllp meeee…!”

Cassie almost felt sorry for the Goth girl.

Almost.

At least she liked my tits.

And either Nicky had pulled a fire alarm, or the system had finally started working, because now emergency evacuation lights flicked on, sprinklers spouted hissing torrents of water, and warning klaxons blared.

Cassie took a moment to orient herself. Then, on still-unsteady feet, she raced for the nearest exit.

A brief glance back at the burning remains of Bewitching Waxworks only made her run faster.

***

“Jesus, Cass… Where’ve you been? We were so worried!”

Ivy threw her arms around Cassie and gave her a bone-crushing hug.

Cassie relaxed into it, all the craziness of the night and all her tension melting into the loving embrace of her best friend.

Around them sirens blared, the red lights of fire engines flashed, and the rush of water from fire hoses roared like a waterfall. Choking black smoke filled the air. Despite the firefighters’ best efforts, gouts of flame still leaped from the roof of the Flatiron Mall.

Ivy let Cassie go, and the two of them leaned back against the hood of Greg’s 1990 Crystal Blue Ford Mustang convertible, where Greg and Ivy had been waiting.

“We didn’t know what to do,” Ivy babbled. “We didn’t know where you were, and they wouldn’t let us into the mall to look for you when they evacuated the theater.”

“That was probably a smart decision on their part,” Cassie noted. She felt bone weary, and already her whole experience with the Mall Witches seemed like a very bad dream.

“But you’re okay?” Greg asked, concerned. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks…” Cassie muttered.

“He means you look like you’ve walked out of a blast zone,” Ivy explained. “I’m just glad that all of us are safe and sound. We had a near miss tonight!” She gave Cassie and Greg a big hug.

Greg hugged back, and Cassie collapsed into her friends’ warmth. She leaned her head on Ivy’s shoulder.

She hoped that her ordeal was over, hoped the cops wouldn’t connect her to the fire—or the burning of Nicky and the rest, if any of the wannabe coven survived.

And if the police did ask, Cassie’d say she didn’t remember much—which would be true, because already her memories of the whole terrible ordeal were fading. Maybe that was the drugs the evil girls had given her.

Would she remember any of it in the morning?

And she certainly wouldn’t tell anyone—not even Ivy—about what she thought she’d seen when she glanced back at the blazing ruins of the Bewitching Waxworks shop. Because surely the face in the billowing smoke and flames had been a trick of light and shadow and her imagination.

She could not have seen the monstrous visage of some hideous, infernal demon laughing at the carnage and destruction.

Even if everything else that happened tonight was real, Cassie had to have imagined that.

It had to have been the drugs.

Right?

THE END

Thanks to my buddy David Annandale for acting as my backstop on the devil and witch research (much of which didn’t make it into the story). Any details that I’ve gotten wrong are not his fault.

About “Mall Witches”

If you’ve read any of my “DVD extras” about my Holiday Horror Stories—either the Frost Harrow™ ones or the Dr. Cushing ones—you know that they usually start with something like, “I had a Frost Halloween (or Cushing Christmas) story coming up and no idea what I should write about…”

Naturally, that’s true again this year (2024).

And as often happens, I expressed my concerns to my wife of four decades, Kifflie Scott, as we were going to bed one night.

She responded, as is tradition, with musing on what characters I hadn’t written about recently. Jimson? Well, I’d done “Devil’s Lake” not so long ago—and I did Jenni (with some Tony) last year…

I said I felt like it had been a while since I’d written anything with Ivy or Cassie, so maybe I should come back to them (since Ivy is the putative heroine of the series). I also had an itch to do a story about witches.

Yeah, I’d done “Witchpool” (one of my favorite titles, and a story favorite with my wife and my readers) last Halloween in 2023, but something about the subject just felt right. Again.

With those two notions whirling around my skull as I lay in bed, I muttered: “More witches!”

Which is the famous reply to the timeless question, “And what do you burn apart from witches?” as posed in the classic film Monty Python & the Holy Grail.

But Kiff parroted back what she’d heard, rather than what I said: “Mall Witches!”

She thought that was a great idea.

And after a bit of chatting, with her throwing out ideas of where witches might work in a mall (Orange Julius, a perfume shop) and me adding to them (Spencer Gifts, Cinnabon), the notion seemed settled.

“Mall Witches” it would be.

So, she settled in for the night, and I got up to jot down the notions we’d just run through in my commonplace book.

I quickly settled on teenage Cassie Peters (she’s 17 at the time of the story) as the protagonist of this witchy tale, with Ivy (16 years old) and her then-boyfriend Greg as support. The story takes place in the spring of 1994, a few months after the two previous teen Ivy-Cassie stories, which, in chronological order (not published order) are, “Omens & Visitations” and “Lunchroom Zombies.” You can find both of those on my site.

Cassie became my main character because, at that point of her life, it was easier to get her into trouble than Ivy—who was still recovering from her parents’ sudden deaths and moving in with her grouchy relatives. Ivy had enough to deal with already.

Besides, Cassie’s overactive libido made it easy to see how she might run afoul of a teenage coven—well, more of a wannabe coven.

My first notion was that one of the witches would steal away Cassie’s boyfriend. Cass would catch them flagrante by accident—at the mall—and conflict and supernatural stuff would ensue.

But I soon moved beyond that idea, to the one I used, because Cassie is the person who, in the series, has a reputation for stealing other people’s beaus. And it made sense to me that she could get in trouble with a group of bitchy Mean Girls by fooling around with somebody’s boyfriend and thinking nothing of it, while the girlfriend in question would be furious and plot revenge.

Conflict established.

Because “Mall Witches” is plural, I needed more than one witch in this little payback scheme.

I debated how many witches I needed. Thirteen is traditional for a coven, but online resources note that any group of three or more could be considered a coven. Three might have made for a shorter story, but I decided that five would be an appropriate number for the kind of treasure-hunt setup I’d put Cassie through.

Tribute names usually figure into my books and stories, so I pumped the internet for witch names that would reflect things I like.

Samantha and Sabrina I tossed out because they were just too on the nose. But quite a number of witch actresses or which characters have been named Elizabeth and Stephanie. So, I settled on those two first. You can also take them as tributes to my friends Beth Koch and Stephanie Mihm, if you like.

The other three names—Ashley (Ash), Nicole (Nicky), and Melissa (Mel)—I picked because they were popular names in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when these girls would have been born. Plus, they sounded witchy to me.

Nicky got a different spelling for her nickname because Jenni Malone (from last year’s story) has an older sister named Nikki. Though none of these three witches are true tributes, I do have a step niece named Nikki, a dear friend named Melissa, and my one of my daughter’s best friends in school is called Mel.

Strangely enough, after I’d settled on the name Ashley, I discovered that a new baby cousin, twice removed, was just born and given that as a middle name. I trust and hope that little “Ashley” will grow up to be a wonderful person like her parents and grandparents and nothing like the vain redheaded witch in this story.

For background on what might have been going through the minds of young wannabe witches at the time, I watched the 1990s witch movies Hocus Pocus and The Witches. Both are well worth seeing, if you haven’t.

With that done and my cast names settled, all that remained was for me to put Cassie through the ringer and make sure the Flatiron Mall—originally named for a local mall in Racine—created a suitable blazing finale.

One of my later Frost Harrow books mentions that the mall had been rebuilt/remodeled before the start of the story. Now you know why.

I wrote and polished this tale in the second and third weeks of October 2024. I trust it will be up on my site just before Halloween.

After a reading session with the Keno Writers—Jean Rabe, Steve Rouse, Warren Langlois, and Chris Verstrate—my regular writers’ group, I decided that my original aftermath section ran too long for casual readers.

So, a lot of stuff that might (or might not) matter to regular Frost Harrow followers got trimmed. I may release a “special edition” of the story with that original coda at some point. Let me know if you’re interested.

And I said that I “trust” this will come out just before Halloween earlier, because at about that same time, my family will be driving 1000 miles to the east to celebrate the life of my mother, Marjorie B. Sullivan, who passed away less than a month ago, on 19 September 2024.

Mom lived in Massachusetts, on the edge of Cape Cod, for much of her life, aside from brief stints in other places for school or where she and my dad had early work opportunities.

She now returns to the ocean waters she loved so much.

Goodbye, Mom. You’ll be in our hearts forever.

I hope that all of you will enjoy this story at least as much as I enjoyed writing it.

And I wish you all a safe…

Happy Halloween!