Doctor October and Dorothy sat in the doctor's panel van. The interior walls in the storage area were filled with all sorts of spell components and other magical instruments, from powdered herbs and dried animal parts to salt, chalk, and a spare Vortex Pistol. Dr. October handed this last to Dot.
"This is the Vortex Pistol," Dr. October said. "Shoot a Breacher anywhere with this and it sends them back to their own dimension."
"What if I shoot one of their human cronies with it?" Dot said, taking the pistol.
"It turns them inside out. Not a very pretty death, and very painful."
Dot's face blanched. "Oh. No shooting the humans then."
"And you only have fifty shots. If you need more than that, you're in more trouble than this can get you out of.
"Now let's get this bonded to you so no one else can use it," Dr. October said. He grabbed a piece of chalk and a canister of salt, then hopped out the back of the van. Dot followed him.
The van had been parked in an alley a few blocks from the warehouse where he discovered Dot. He moved the van into the warehouse to get it out of the snow before letting Dot enter. It was a combination mobile lab and office.
Twenty feet from the rear of the van, Dr. October drew a large pentagram on the warehouse floor with the chalk. He then used the salt to draw a circle around the five-sided star. Before he completed the circle, he gestured for Dot to enter. Once she did, he completed the circle.
"Whoa," Dot said. "I could feel a change when you closed that."
"Good," Dr. October said. "It means you are attuned to magic and not another hedge witch who read a few books and stopped shaving her armpits.
"I need you to sit cross-legged in the center of the pentagram and place the pistol on the ground in front of you. Then put your hands on your knees, palms up." Dot complied. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but Dr. October interrupted her. "No talking unless you are repeating something you are instructed to say. If you accept, nod your head once." She did. "Good."
Dr. October walked around the perimeter of the magic circle, examining the pentagram and reassuring himself everything was correct. When he was satisfied, he stood in front of Dot, outside the circle, facing her. He pulled an eighteen-inch yew stick from an inside pocket of his long coat and raised it over his head in his right hand.
Dr. October chanted strange words that Dot couldn't understand. Not just a different language, but the pitch of his voice sounded was as if someone—or something—else was speaking through him.
The yew wand began to glow a bright green, similar to a glowstick. She looked down at the Vortex Pistol in front of her and saw the same glow emanating from the weapon. She gasped.
Doctor October lifted his face towards the ceiling and closed his eyes. He continued the chant and the wand glowed brighter, as did the pistol. Dot looked back and forth from Doctor October to the pistol and back. She fought down an urge to ask a question, to cry out, to make any kind of sound, but felt that would break the doctor's concentration and disrupt his ritual. Instead, she found herself reaching her left hand towards the pistol.
She picked it up with her left hand and examined the barrel. As she did, the glow expanded up her arm so that in moments, her entire body glowed with the same green as the pistol and Dr. October's wand. She gasped.
Dr. October continued his chant, but opened his eyes and looked down at Dot. His eyes widened, but he could neither speak nor gesture for her to drop the pistol. He panicked, spoke the final words too quickly, and pointed his yew wand at Dot.
A great flash of green light shot up from inside the magic circle, completely obscuring Dot inside. He had finished the spell, but did he get it right?
The column of light retracted, growing smaller in diameter, until it became a thin beam shooting towards the ceiling, revealing Dorothy Morgan in the center of the circle. She no longer looked human, but rather elvish in nature. Her face was longer, she was rail thin, but with a wiry strength about her. From the back of her left hand, a protuberance extended looking similar to the barrel of the Vortex Pistol.
Dot looked down at her hands, examining the gun barrel at her left wrist. Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Doctor?" she said, her voice unchanged. "What happened to me?"
"You stupid, stupid woman," the doctor said, but not without sympathy. "Why did you pick it up?"
"I... I don't know."
"The bonding ritual completed, but not as I intended. The pistol was supposed to only be magically bonded to you, not physically. By holding the pistol as I completed the ritual, you have become one with it. You are now a living magical weapon."
"How do I get it off me?" Dot said, panic edging into her voice.
"I don't know if I can, but we have more pressing matters." Dr. October stepped forward and swiped his foot across the salt circle, breaking it. "We must stop these other Breachers from creating more openings into their dimension."
"Then can you help reverse this?" Dot asked as she stepped from the circle.
"We can try. That is the best I can answer for now."
Dot looked at the doctor for the first time after the ritual and she gasped. "What?" Dr. October said.
"Your eyes," said Dot, a note of fear in her voice.
Dr. October reached up and touched his face. His eyes felt larger, the eye sockets rounder. He ran to the driver door of the van and looked in the mirror. He stared for a moment, seeing large black eyeballs, with dark purple irises, and no pupil. He rounded on Dot. "Do you see what you've done!" he shouted. "You changed the ritual, and because of that, you changed yourself and you changed me!"
He spun slowly in a circle, an angry wordless cry escaping his throat. He stopped suddenly when he faced east. "What is that?" he said, calmer, curious.
"What is what?" Dot asked, still trembling from the doctor's verbal assault.
"There, in the distance," he said, pointing at the warehouse wall. "Can't you see it?"
Dot looked at the wall and saw nothing except the schedule, the timeclock and some work orders. "What do you see?"
"I can see a Breacher."
She looked again where he pointed and saw only the wall. "I don't see anything."
"It must be an effect of the change on my eyes." He turned to his left, towards the north and said, "And there's another. I can see the Breachers." He headed towards his van. "Come along, we must get moving."
"Why don't we split up?" Dot said. "We each take two, cut the time in half."
"Are you sure you can handle it?"
"I feel stronger, quicker," Dot said, flexing her arms down to, and including, her fingers. "And I am armed for the Breachers."
The scientific sorcerer stared at her for a thoughtful moment, then said, "Okay, let's go. You take this tracker." He handed her the Breacher tracker. "It will be able to get you within about a hundred feet."
"Okay," she said and put it in her pocket.
"And I have no idea how the Vortex Pistol will affect you, with it being a part of you now. Use it sparingly, only when you have a clear shot. Otherwise, good luck.”