I had to crack a smile when recalling last month’s foray with Jack and Heidi. We’d all decided to take a Sunday and spend it doing something fun. There was no denying that we’d all enjoyed ourselves, but Liam was right in that I’d shivered for at least two days after their excursion.
“Double the thermal layers…got it!”
I realized that Leo hadn’t chimed into the conversation, so I made my way back over to the railing.
He was nowhere to be seen.
“Leo and I will be ready,” I replied, leaning as far over the railing as I could to get a look near his water bowl. Still no sign of him. “And Liam? I really appreciate this.”
“If there’s a chance that you talking to the stone golem alone will get him to stop vandalizing the shops in town, then I’m all for it. See you in an hour.”
I disconnected the line and called out to Leo.
“Liam will be here in an hour. Try and find those booties that Heidi bought you last year,” I advised loudly, quickly changing into the first layer of thermal underwear.
I put the pants and shirt that fit snug on first before adding the second layer that was a bit looser. I then managed to get a pair of jeans overtop the two layers and also added a tightknit turtleneck. I was partial to broomstick skirts, but those wouldn’t do in increment weather like a blizzard. My snowsuit was hanging up on the antique coatrack next to the entryway table, and my winter boots were still by the door.
“Leo?”
I had stopped moving long enough to catch the slightest muffling sound. He was somewhere around here, though I couldn’t fathom what he was doing that made him sound so far away.
My scarf, gloves, and hat were also downstairs.
All I needed were the goggles that Liam had reminded me of, and they were somewhere in the armoire. I opened the doors and spotted them right away…along with Leo.
I’d caught him off guard, and he rose so quickly that a pair of socks got stuck balanced between his two ears.
“What on earth are you doing in there?” I asked, stepping to the side so that he could hop down. I grabbed my goggles, but I wasn’t able to snag the socks off his head before he continued to stroll toward the bed. He hopped up and then plopped down on his haunches in defeat. “What’s wrong?”
I’m out of blueberry-filled edibles. How can I figure out the connection between Gargoyle Gary and the squirrelpocalypse if I don’t have any mental antioxidants?
There were times that when Leo got overly excited or absolutely terrified that his short-term memory issue kicked in. Now was one of those times, but I did my best not to smile. He’d take my reaction wrong, and the day would be sent off course.
“I think I know where some of those blueberry-filled edibles are,” I commented with assurance, tenderly removing the rolled pair of socks from his head. He must have been scrounging around in the armoire for a while, because I could literally sense the static electricity radiating off his fur. “You know, if you didn’t want to ride on the snowmobile, you could always do your blip thing and meet me at the teashop.”
And miss the opportunity to scout for Skippy’s hibernation stash? I don’t think so. Load me up with mental antioxidants, Raven. Let’s get this party started!
Chapter Fourteen
“I’m impressed, Leo.”
The things that I do in the name of defeating the squirrelpocalypse…
Leo continued to grumble and complain as he sauntered rather ungracefully out the front door of the cottage toward the snowmobile parked right outside of the wrought iron fence. He’d decided it was in his best interest to wear the knitted jacket that Wilma and Elsie had made him last winter when they’d first gotten into their new hobby.
Liam closed the door, but he didn’t let it latch all the way. He’d already lifted his goggles up so that they were resting on his ski cap, but he was waiting patiently for me to finish bundling up.
“You want a cup of coffee to warm you up before we head into town?” I asked, having yet to put on my jacket and gloves. “You look like Rudolph.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer when we come back. Right now, the sooner we get this conversation over with, the easier I’ll rest knowing that there will be no more vandalism. Madam Rose didn’t have nearly as much damage as Monty, but there was still quite a mess made.” Liam had taken my jacket from me and turned it around, making it easier for me to slip my arms into the sleeves. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
“No, but it’s not like we can use magic on the statue.” I brought the zipper up as far as it would go, adjusting my scarf that I’d kept underneath so that the cold wind wouldn’t sneak past any gap in the fabric. I grabbed my keys and gloves, having already secured my phone into the right-side pocket of my snow pants. “It’s worth a shot. Did you see Ted and Justine when you went through town? They aren’t picking up the teashop’s phone.”
“No,” Liam said with a concerned frown. “I drove down River Bay quite slowly, and I didn’t even see the lights on in the teashop. Maybe they fell asleep? Wait. Do golems sleep?”
“I have no clue,” I replied honestly as I slipped my right hand into my winter glove. I kept waiting for any sensation to pierce my palm, but everything seemed ordinary. “You’d think I would know if something was wrong, but I haven’t picked up on anything that’s been happening around town. Maybe Leo’s right, and my ability to sense danger is defective or no longer active.”
“You aren’t defective,” Liam replied defensively, causing me to smile at the way he’d come to my defense. “A little accident-prone maybe, but not defective. Don’t let go of me this time, okay?”
I scrunched my nose at his teasing, recalling how I’d fallen off the back of the snowmobile the first time that I’d ridden with him. He’d taken off…and I’d been left behind, flat on my back in a pile of snow.
Leo had laughed for days.
“Let’s do this,” I declared with determination, motioning for him to move aside. He pulled the door wide so that I could walk out in front of him, though he stayed on the large slab stoop after I’d stepped off. “What?”
“Keys.”
I grimaced when I realized that I’d already shoved them in my coat pocket to join my phone. Visibility was low, the gusts of winds were more like severe bursts of energy that could knock a person off their feet, and the cold somehow had already seeped into my multilayers of clothes.
The ride into town on the snowmobile wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“It’s fine,” I retorted as I pulled the goggles over my hat and settled them over my eyes. The respite from the inclement weather was a welcome relief, and I was able to blink away the tears that had formed from being exposed to the biting wind. “No one is going to break in while we’re gone.”
“Raven.”
I’d already taken three steps when I sensed that Liam wasn’t following me.
I was so bundled up that I couldn’t turn just my neck. I had to completely turn my body around.
Sure enough, I found Liam right next to the door on top of the stoop with a massive frown on his face. Trust me, it was easy to see considering that he hadn’t pulled his goggles down over his eyes just yet.
“Liam, I know how you feel about security, but the only crimes that ever happen in Paramour Bay are more of the supernatural element and not actual crimes.” I realized by the way he was staring at me that I’d just confirmed his belief that someone could want to break into the cottage, especially seeing as that is where the Marigold’s family grimoire was kept in an enchanted drawer inside the coffee table. “Fine. Move aside.”
“Just take off your glove and hand me your—”
I made a motion with the same glove that was positively not about to come off my hand in this weather. Liam finally sighed in resignation, though he remained closer to the door than to me…mostly because I didn’t think he was sure that I was going to follow through with my agreement not to leave things unsecured.
“Shu
sh.”
With the blizzard basically right on top of us, gathering energy from the elements around me was easier than making myself a cup of coffee. I made sure to collect more energy than necessary, just because of the fabric that was between me and the door. A simple chant, a sprinkle of magic, and voilà!
I loved cantrips, because they made everyday tasks so much simpler.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously,” I responded, pleased to know that my ability to cast simple forms of magic was unaffected by whatever plagued my gift to sense danger. “Go ahead and try it.”
Truthfully, all I wanted to do was to hop on the snowmobile and go as fast as possible in order to reach our destination. We were going to stop at the teashop for a good ten or fifteen minutes to warm up before once again sacrificing myself to the blizzard in order to speak to a stone golem.
I did have to wonder why Gary wasn’t taking advantage of the town being closed down, though.
Liam had already gone to step up on the slab of rock that served as a welcome mat of sorts, but he was pushed back by the invisible barrier of energy that I’d solidified with a spell. I was quite proud of myself.
“Remind me to come to you when I need to keep something safe,” Liam muttered in amazement as he joined me to walk toward the wrought iron gate. The snow was falling quite heavily, and I could just make out the shape of the black snowmobile. “Let’s do this. Remember, don’t let go of my waist.”
We’d walked—more like stomped—our way down the path.
Ted always managed to have the cobblestone lane from the driveway to the front stoop clear, as well as the one that led around to the side toward his home. I’m pretty sure that he utilized magic in some way, because I’d never seen him with an actual shovel.
Anyway, I was finally able to make out Leo as Liam opened the gate for me.
He’d been sitting on the seat of the snowmobile this entire time, and he certainly wasn’t hard to miss. The neon green yarn that Elsie and Wilma had used in crafting the jacket could probably been seen from outer space.
“It’s a good thing that you have a fur coat,” I muttered, standing to the side while Liam motioned for Leo to scoot forward. He did, and without complaint. I bit my lower lip in concern. “Leo, why don’t you just do your blipping thing. Seriously, there’s no need for you to be super cold when you could have already been at the teashop with Ted and Justine.”
And miss my chance to be taken through areas that I usually don’t go through? We’re talking about tactical advantages during the squirrelpocalypse, Raven. This is how wars are won…with determination, grit, and paws on the ground.
“You found those hand warmers that I had stashed in the coffee table, didn’t you?”
I plead the fifth. Now don’t dawdle. Let’s get this show on the road!
Chapter Fifteen
“This is just downright eerie,” I whispered as Liam turned off the snowmobile’s engine. The deafening silence was rather unnerving, and I realized that this is what a ghost town truly resembled…abandoned, lonely, and noiseless. I could literally hear myself breathing. “I’ve been at the shop late at night doing inventory, and I don’t recall it feeling or sounding like this. It’s like we are the only two people in the world.”
“It’s the weather,” Liam explained, waiting patiently for me to hop off so that I could stand on what I was sure was the sidewalk. It was hard to tell with how much snow had fallen in the last ten hours or so. “A heavy layer of wet snow dampens sounds waves. It basically creates a barrier. You’re used to hearing the resonating sounds of the neighborhoods and even the boats and dinghies down near the bay. The snow basically isolates us.”
I’d already made sure that Gary was still positioned in front of the bakery as we’d ridden past, and the numerous inches of snow that had accumulated on his head, back, and wings confirmed that he hadn’t moved a muscle since last night.
Was that the reason that he wasn’t vandalizing the other shops?
Did the stone golem actually comprehend that someone would notice that he had no snow accumulated on top of him? He hadn’t cared about his previous tracks, but then he also hadn’t expected Monty to show up so early last Thursday or Mindy to be working so late. Had Mindy’s boutique been the result of the second vandalism, I would have said that the gargoyle had been delivering some type of warning.
Why Madam Rose’s place of business, though?
By this time, Liam had hoisted his left leg over the snowmobile and came to stand beside me as he slid his hand in the rubber ring that retained the key to the engine. It was one of those spiral wristbands that made it easier for him to carry his keys when snowmobiling. It also had a disconnect, which killed the engine if the rider fell off the snowmobile.
“Leo?” Liam called out, his rich voice resonating off the awning behind us. “Are you coming?”
I’d fully expected Leo to continually comment while we rode through several areas where Skippy and his band of ninja squirrels could have hidden their hibernation stash, but my familiar had gone silent. That kind of behavior was very odd, especially given the circumstances.
On the bright side, it did appear that the numerous hand warmers had done their job.
Leo wasn’t even shivering, the way he’d done in the past when Liam had given him a ride on the snowmobile. The snow was still coming down rather heavily, and there were even times when I couldn’t even make out the gargoyle positioned in front of the bakery. The faster that we spoke with Gary, hopefully the sooner we could get him back to whomever created him in the first place.
“Leo, did you—”
That…was…epic! Raven, there are areas in those woods that would be the perfect hiding spot for mounds of acorns. All I have to do now is wait for this storm to break, the snow to melt, and then I can add that area to my search grid. Come this Spring, there will be a new king in town!
I stifled a chuckle, as Leo always managed to convince himself that this was the year that he would locate Skippy’s winter stash of provisions. It was easier to go along with him than anything else, but his good mood would definitely help in the upcoming confrontation.
“Well, the current king is Gary,” I replied wryly, knowing that my comment would have Leo scrambling off the snowmobile. “Be care—”
Needless to say, Leo had jumped off the leather seat…right into the large mound of snow. With his weight, he sunk pretty quickly into oblivion.
I was just measuring how much snow had fallen.
“Let me help you, big fellow.” Liam reached down and picked up Leo, all but carrying him to the entrance of the teashop. The awning above had helped prevent the snow from piling up against the door, but there was still quite a lot that would have to be removed before tomorrow. “It’s awfully dark inside the teashop. Are you sure that Ted and Justine said they’d be here?”
We’re talking about a wax golem and a plastic one. They’re probably in the back room attempting to make a Weeble.
A niggle of worry began to settle over me, but my hand still remained unaffected inside of my glove. I reached up and lifted my goggles so that they were snug against my hat. My eyes immediately began watering at being exposed to the cold, but I wanted to try and see better inside the teashop.
“Maybe they are in the back room,” I murmured, grimacing at the fact that I was going to need to take off my glove in order to reach my keys, which were safely tucked deep inside the pocket of my jacket. “Remind me to get one of those wrist thingies.”
I can’t feel my ears. Remind me to get one of those hats and a pair of ski goggles.
“Leo, we were on a snowmobile,” I replied as I began to work off my glove. “Of course, your ears are cold. My cheeks are numb, too.”
I didn’t need to know that. There’s such a thing as TMI—too much information.
“I didn’t share too much information with you, Leo.” By this time, I’d reached into my coat pocket and finally produced my keys. “I was talk
ing about the cheeks on my face, thank you very much.”
Well, be specific then. I can’t go around deciphering what you mean when we’re about to dethrone Gargoyle Gary.
“These are the moments that it would help to have Mom around,” I muttered, wondering what our chances were to get her to hop on the snowmobile.
Don’t go giving me ideas, Raven.
“You said that you were only going to talk to the stone golem,” Liam replied with uneasiness. He even glanced over his shoulder, though visibility was really low. I could barely make out Gary’s shape underneath the bakery’s awning. “Do you need help with that?”
“No,” I replied in frustration, having finally slipped the key into the lock. “My fingers have joined my cheeks in the numbing department. Leo, give me one of those hand warmers. You’re the one with the fur.”
It’s not my fault that you don’t have enough healthy mental antioxidants. I can only keep telling you about the benefits from the blueberries for so long. The rest is up to you.
Leo sauntered into the teashop first, shaking off the melting snow that had soaked into the fabric of his knitted sweater. When those hand warmers began to run out of heat, he was going to be freezing.
You’re dismissing my mental antioxidants again, Raven. Tsk-tsk. You’re a lost cause.
“I hate to break this to you, but Ted and Justine aren’t here,” Liam said as he flipped on the light switch. He tilted his head in such a way that it conveyed he was listening for any sounds coming from the back room. He seemed to forget me talking about how the magical beads prevented sound from traveling out of the storage area. “Stay here.”
While Liam began to make his way across the tiled floor, I reached into the same coat pocket that had held my keys. I’d also safely tucked my cell phone inside.
“I’ll call Mom and Beetle. Maybe Ted went over to their house.”
Stony Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 16) Page 11