Southern Hauntings

by Amy Boyles

  Describing Peaches as plump was an understatement. The cat was rounder than a doughnut.

  CJ and Betty’s voices drifted down from the upstairs hallway. My body switched into full-on panic mode. “Where am I going to stash you? Can you be invisible? But then how do I know if you’re with me?”

  Peaches winked at me. “I can always jump into the critterling. It’s what I’m used to.”

  I nearly clapped with joy. “Perfect.”

  I pulled it from my purse and showed it to him. “Here you go.”

  And like a cartoon genie dissolving into a wisp of air and being sucked back into his lamp, the cat shrank and disappeared into the figurine.

  “Awesome.”

  No time for a fist pump of victory. I exited the room and quietly shut the pocket door. I positioned myself in the front hall by the time CJ and Betty appeared back downstairs.

  “Have fun?” I smiled brightly, clutching my purse as close to my body as possible.

  “Beautiful home,” Betty said. “I’m going to seriously consider it. And the picture window upstairs—”

  CJ nodded. “The rose one?”

  Betty poked the air. “That’s the one.”

  Pride filled CJ’s voice. “You think it’s gorgeous, don’t know?”

  “No,” Betty snapped, “it’s hideous. Most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Well, that’s not what I expected you to say,” CJ said, clearly wounded.

  I linked my arm through Betty’s. “She’s very picky,” I whispered.

  “It could be a deal breaker,” Betty said. “I have to think about it before I make an offer.”

  CJ opened the door. “You just let me know, Ms. Craple. I’ll be here.”

  “Come on, Pepper,” she yelled. “Let’s figure out a good lowball offer.”

  I smiled weakly at CJ over my shoulder. “Bye, CJ.”

  “Toodle-oo, Miss Dunn. See you around.”

  The couple CJ had his appointment with arrived as we were leaving.

  Betty shot out at them, “You’ll love the place. But that rose window is hideous, and it’s not worth the price they’re asking.”

  The couple exchanged confused looks while I dragged Betty away. “Would you stop? You’re making a spectacle out of us. We’re trying to stay incognito, remember?”

  Betty waved a hand down her body. “Hard to do when you’re born with a personality like mine. It’s difficult to remain meek and quiet when a lion purrs inside me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh jeez.”

  “But the real question is—did you get the cat?”

  My lips curled into a secretive smile. “I sure did.”

  We returned home to an empty house.

  Betty rubbed her hands. “Okay, where’s the cat?”

  “In the critterling.”

  “Convenient way to travel.”

  I nodded appreciatively. “Agreed. Now let’s crack this sucker and get him out.” I pulled the figurine from my pocket and settled it on a table.

  I paused.

  “I smell fear,” Betty said.

  I nibbled the inside of my cheek. “The thing is, last time I released the cat, he broke all the lights in the room.”

  Betty splayed her legs wide and opened her palms like a quarterback ready to receive. “I’m ready.”

  “That makes me feel so much better.”

  Not at all.

  I exhaled a deep shot of air and tapped the golden cat between its emerald eyes. “Peaches, are you in there? Okay, stupid question. I know you’re in there. Can you come out, please?”

  A light mist streamed from the figurine’s head and coiled on the floor. The mist shrank, and the edges sharpened. A couple of seconds later, the ginger-colored cat sat on the floor, his tail coiled tightly around his legs. He blinked slowly, as if he couldn’t be bothered.

  “Yes, Pepper? I was enjoying a nice nap.”

  “Oh. Um. Well, I kinda thought you’d want to talk.”

  The bored look on his face was one of a kind. Genuinely, this cat had no time for me. At all. He was too busy being a ghost.

  But then why’d he come?

  He yawned. “What would you like to talk about?”

  I cleared my throat. My gaze cut to Betty for help. She smiled as if she enjoyed watching me squirm.

  “I’d like to talk about why you, a ghost-cat, were placed in the critterling.”

  “What can I say? I have unfinished business.”

  “What sort of unfinished business?” Betty asked.

  My head snapped toward her. “You can hear him?”

  She nodded. “Part of me wishes I couldn’t.”

  I hid my laughter from Peaches.

  Thing was, I could hear animals because that was part of my magic. It was good to know that Betty could hear Peaches as well.

  He yawned again. Did he have chronic fatigue or something? “The kind of unfinished business that pertains to cats.”

  “Well, this is awkward,” I said out of the side of my mouth.

  “Why is that?” Peaches asked.

  I frowned. “Because you don’t seem to care about whether or not we’re here.”

  “I came with you, didn’t I?”

  Okay, the whole distant-kitty thing was getting on my nerves. I needed to know things, and I needed to know them now.

  I glanced at Betty, who shot me an encouraging look. I inhaled deeply, steeled myself and started questioning the spirit.

  “Why were you in the familiar holder?”

  “All right, if you must know, I stayed here willingly after I passed away. Mr. Albod and I were very close. I wanted to keep him company.”

  “Because he was old and frail?” I asked.

  “No, because he was young and spry.” The cat paused. “Of course because he was old and frail. He needed me. But then something happened.”

  I leaned in. “What?”

  “One night Mr. Albod became scared. He was convinced someone wanted to kill him, so he locked me in the familiar holder only to be released when the right person summoned me.”

  His gaze swept from my toes to head. “I suppose that person is you.”

  “Don’t sound too thrilled about it,” I murmured.

  “Oh, I’m not,” Peaches explained. “I had hoped it would be Mr. Albod who released me. But as I see”—he sniffed—“it was not.”

  “Too bad for Pepper,” Betty said.

  “Too bad for me, really.” Peaches placed one paw over his nose. “The only thing I wanted in life was to see Frederick again. He was my master and a wonderful wizard.”

  “Peaches, there’s a reason I wanted to talk to you,” I said slowly, working up the courage to explain the situation to him. I don’t know why I lacked courage. Peaches was only a cat, after all.

  But seriously, he was the most judgmental cat I’d ever met. I felt that if I moved the wrong way, he would deem me unworthy to talk to.

  Yes, he was that snobby, and I’d rarely ever met a snobby animal.

  “A woman was murdered last night—Willow Dean Gar. Did you know her?”

  Peaches hiked one shoulder in the feline equivalent of a shrug. “Who hadn’t heard of her? Batty as a bat, as they say.”

  No one says that. “Um. Yes. But she told me something before she died.”

  “Oh, quit pussyfooting around it, Pepper, and spit it out.” Betty folded her arms and glared at the spirit cat. “The old bat told Pepper that owning the critterling would get her killed. There are forces who want it, and now she’s on their hit list. We think Willow Dean was murdered because she tried to warn Pepper.”

  “It’s a strong possibility,” I added. “Quite strong.”

  “Hmm, you don’t say?” Peaches said.

  “We do say, actually.” I knelt and made myself eye level with the cat. “Willow Dean said it’s one of a kind. That’s why someone would want to kill for it.”

  “Oh, it is,” Peaches confirmed. “Made by a powerful wizard years ago. Fr
ederick was offered time and again the opportunity to sell it, but he never did. You can harness the power of your familiar by teaching an animal how to place their essence in it. I used to do it all the time when I was alive.”

  Peaches sniffed. “Poor Frederick.”

  I smiled sadly. Clearly the cat had loved Mr. Albod in life and still loved him in death.

  “But just because something is powerful and can hold a familiar doesn’t explain why anyone would kill for it. Is it because of the value of the gold? The emerald eyes?”

  Peaches blinked at me in surprise. Wow, an actual emotion from the little guy. I was shocked.

  “No, of course it’s not the jewels and metal that make it valuable. It’s what you can do with it.”

  I frowned. “You can put a familiar’s essence in it.”

  Peaches shook his head. “That’s only the tip of the iceberg. If you use the figure correctly, the witch or wizard can inhabit the body of their familiar.”

  Realization hit me on the head with a hammer. “You’re saying it’s possible to be inside your familiar’s body?”

  “Now you understand. You can switch places with an animal. Go where it goes. See what it sees. Spy on others. Learn things about people you shouldn’t. That’s the real power.”

  I glanced at Betty. “But why would that be so important? We’re witches and wizards; we have a lot of power.”

  “But there are certain things witches and wizards can’t do,” Betty explained. “They can’t shape-shift, not into an animal, without real effort. So to be able to link to your familiar would be something else.”

  “Not just yours,” Peaches explained, “but someone else’s too. Say you want to spy on a witch. All you would have to do is pinch fur from their familiar, use the critterling and voila, you’re now in the body of that animal.”

  I gasped. “And no one would know.”

  “How could they?” Peaches said. “It’s only animals we’re talking about. Humans don’t pay that much attention to their familiars, not enough to notice if they’ve been possessed by a witch.”

  A cold chill ran down my back. “That’s horrible,” I said. “I would never think that anyone would be so diabolical.”

  Betty smirked. “Takes all kinds. So what are you saying? People know what the critterling can do?”

  Peaches nodded. “The wrong people, I’m afraid.”

  This was the gold I needed. “What people?”

  “If I knew that, I’d tell you. All I can say is that Frederick was afraid for his life. Why he didn’t get rid of it is beyond me. He kept it until the end.”

  I placed a sympathetic hand above the cat’s translucent shoulder. It felt awkward and stupid, but seemed the right thing to do.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that your owner died and left you caged up for me to find.”

  Peaches stared at me curiously. “What are you talking about?”

  I grimaced. “The fact that Mr. Albod died and left you. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I don’t know how else to say it. I thought you knew.”

  Peaches bristled. “I thought you understood. You found me at the Albod house because that’s what you’d been instructed to do.”

  “No. I wasn’t instructed by anyone. Mr. Albod died, and his children are selling the estate. I bought the critterling at a yard sale.”

  “Then things are worse than I thought.” Peaches rose, readying to get on the move.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dear”—Peaches sniffed—“Mr. Albod isn’t dead. Mr. Albod has been kidnapped.”

  NINE

  My jaw fell. “I’m sorry? Mr. Albod’s been kidnapped?”

  “Yes. Didn’t you know?” The cat’s gaze swept from me to Betty. “Of course he’s been kidnapped. You don’t think he’s dead, do you?”

  I glanced at Betty. “Was there a funeral?”

  “We didn’t hang in the same social circle. Frederick never went to the senior center.” She thumbed her nose. “I can find out. But cat, you might not like what you learn.”

  “If I learn that my wizard is alive, then it’s what I’ve known all along.”

  I pressed my fingers into my temples. “Why was he kidnapped? For the figurine?”

  “Exactly.” Peaches lifted his tail in the air. It curled at the tip, creating a perfect question mark.

  Which was exactly how I felt—that a giant question had dropped on me and squished me flat. This didn’t make any sense. Either the cat suffered from delusions…

  Or he was right and Mr. Albod lived.

  Which would mean we’d need to figure out what happened to him after he was pronounced dead. Had there been a funeral? Was he buried?

  The last question was easy enough. There as only one cemetery in Magnolia Cove. But investigating these questions was more than Betty and I could do.

  Or at least it was more than I wanted to do with Betty. I’d need Axel’s help.

  I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. Thing was, I had a feeling Axel wouldn’t be too happy about this.

  “Peaches, can you stay here with us? With me, I mean, so that I can investigate?”

  “Where else would I go?” he said in that bored voice of his.

  “Glad you think it’s a win-win, too,” I murmured. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll introduce you to Mattie.”

  Introductions were interesting, to put it nicely. Mattie eyed the ghost-cat as if Peaches was her super-villain nemesis.

  Mattie’s fur bristled. “Who is that?”

  “Manners, Mattie,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “I got manners.” She spat out the words, and I rolled my eyes.

  Sure you’ve got manners. Just not for other cats—even dead ones.

  “This is Peaches; he was Frederick Albod’s familiar.”

  Mattie jumped from the window and padded over to him. She sniffed the ghostly image and hissed.

  Peaches hissed in return.

  “Mattie, Peaches,” I scolded, “y’all two need to get along.”

  “Why’s that?” Peaches asked. “It’s obvious the alley cat doesn’t like me. Am I supposed to be nice to her?”

  “Alley cat?” Mattie shrieked. “Who are you calling an alley cat?”

  “You,” Peaches said.

  Mattie launched herself at Peaches, and what happened next is exactly what you would expect. She jumped straight through him.

  But Mattie had hurled herself expecting to hit a solid substance. When she didn’t, the cat tumbled forward onto her front paws and executed a perfect front roll.

  Dazed, Mattie sat on the floor collecting herself. I decided to save her and scooped Mattie into my arms.

  “He’s dead, Mattie. A ghost. You can’t fight him. Which is why”—I shot Peaches a hard look—“the two of you need to get along. Seriously. You must learn to like each other, or at least tolerate one another. Y’all don’t have to sing ‘Kumbaya’ or anything, but you must figure out how to share the same space.”

  My scolding voice appeared to work. Peaches hunched his shoulders, and Mattie wouldn’t look at me.

  Once both cats were properly chastened and ignoring each other in a way that suggested they’d at least tolerate one another, I left the house and headed over to Axel’s.

  I called on the way to make sure he would be home. He assured me he was and to come right on in. I didn’t even need to knock.

  Wow. We’d definitely reached a new point in our relationship if I could simply waltz right in.

  As soon as I opened the door, he whisked me into his arms and pulled me into a kiss. My fingers curled into his shirt, and his hands clasped my hips, pulling me to him.

  He smelled of leather and pine and tasted of coffee and cinnamon. I considered the combination blissfully perfect.

  When we came up for air, I sank back and shot him a dreamy smile. My mind buzzed, and my head felt like I’d sucked helium.

  “Wow. What was that for?”

  He raked his fingers t
hrough his onyx hair. Axel smiled bashfully. “I feel so drawn to you. I couldn’t help myself.”

  I hitched a brow. “It’s the mating thing again, isn’t it?”

  “I think so.”

  I clicked my tongue. “We’re not officially anything, so the mating thing is going to have to wait.”

  “We’re officially together.”

  “Together isn’t mated.”

  He said nothing, but something sparked in his eyes.

  “What is it?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing.”

  “It’s something.”

  “No. It’s not.” He clapped his hands. It dispelled the thickening energy in the room.

  It was like our magic and desire intermingled and created a power baby. Yeah, I know a power baby isn’t really a thing, but that was the easiest way to describe it.

  Not that I wanted a baby. I did not want a baby.

  No, thank you. I did not need a baby. Or want a baby.

  Sheesh. I should stop thinking about babies already.

  Best way to do that was to concentrate on ghost-cats. “Peaches, Frederick Albod’s late cat, came out of the familiar holder.”

  Axel’s fingers traced down my forearm, leaving a trail of heat on my flesh. “You don’t say.”

  “I don’t say. Wait. I do say. He says that Albod is alive.”

  Axel’s brow furrowed. “Alive?”

  “Just wait. Not only alive, but has been kidnapped.”

  “An old man? Kidnapped?”

  “That’s what Peaches says. One night Mr. Albod was terrified of something, so he locked Peaches in the familiar holder and he wouldn’t be released until the right person touched it.”

  “That was you,” Axel mused.

  I shrugged. “I guess so. But come on, Mr. Albod alive?” I paused. “Is that even possible?”

  Axel’s gaze drifted around the room as he thought. “I honestly don’t know. I can check it out. Find out what happened to the body, make sure it all adds up.”

  “Here’s the other thing.” I exhaled a breath and sank onto a kitchen stool. “Peaches said if worked correctly, the critterling will allow a witch to enter someone else’s familiar.”

  “To spy on another witch?”

  I nodded. “Or worse.” I didn’t want to say murder, but that’s what I thought.