Witches' Craft

by Morgana Best

  Breena sat on the floor and rubbed her head on my knee. I took a large gulp of Witches’ Brew by way of response. “I just saw my parents on the beach.”

  Aunt Agnes dropped the bottle, but Maude caught it mid-air. She placed it on the table next to a large purple candle covered with pentagrams and emitting the pungent smell of asafoetida, commonly known as ‘Devil’s Dung.’ It was aptly named. The aunts let out a string of language that made my ears burn. Lucas too looked shocked.

  “You had better start at the beginning,” Aunt Agnes said, motioning that we should all sit at the table.

  “I just want to know what that note says!” I blurted out.

  “What note?” the aunts asked in unison.

  “Lucas told me to go for a walk on the beach with him.”

  “We know that, dear,” Aunt Dorothy said. “We were here at the time. It wasn’t that long ago. Let me see. Hmm, it was only about an hour ago. Or was it slightly more than an hour?” she asked herself.

  Aunt Agnes rubbed her forehead. “Please go on, Lucas,” she said.

  “Pepper’s parents called me very briefly and said to meet them at the beach and that we were to act as if we didn’t recognise them,” he said. “That was all they said. When we got there, Pepper’s father pretended to fall and slipped this note into my hand.”

  “I had no idea they were back in the country!” Aunt Agnes exclaimed. “Then again, that’s what they would want everyone to think. What does the note say?”

  Lucas handed the note to me. I opened it and read it aloud.

  Meet us at the tunnel 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

  “That’s strange,” Lucas began, but Aunt Dorothy interrupted him.

  “Yes it is. I’m sure they’re better educated than that.”

  Aunt Agnes frowned deeply. “What on earth are you going on about now, Dorothy?”

  “Tautology, of course.” Dorothy shot Agnes a piercing look. “Why did they say ‘a.m.’ as well as ‘morning’? They could have said ‘seven tomorrow morning,’ or ‘7 a.m.’ A.m. and morning mean the same thing. It’s very strange that they would say both.” She tapped her chin and looked off into the distance. “Maybe they’re imposters.”

  Agnes groaned aloud. “I’m sure Valkyrie would recognise her own parents.”

  “What tunnel?” I heard my voice come out too loudly, but I didn’t care. “What tunnel?” I said again. “You didn’t tell me there was a tunnel! Why do you always keep things from me?”

  The aunts exchanged glances. “We didn’t want to overburden you with information, Valkyrie, dear,” Aunt Agnes said in a bored tone. “There is a tunnel under this house, but we haven’t used it in years.” She waved one hand in dismissal.

  “Where does it go?” I asked them.

  Aunt Agnes shifted in her seat. “Go on, tell her,” Maude said.

  “It comes out as a secret passageway in Henry Ichor’s house.”

  “My uncle’s house?” Lucas said. “But I had no idea!”

  Aunt Dorothy reached across the table and patted him on his cheek. “But of course you wouldn’t know. How could you? Henry died. He was murdered suddenly overseas. He wasn’t expecting to be murdered of course, so he didn’t have time to tell you everything.”

  “Why is there a secret passageway between here and Henry Ichor’s house?” I asked them.

  Aunt Agnes’s face turned bright red. “I think I mentioned that Henry and I were dating.”

  “Oh.” I thought I had better not say any more. A passageway between two houses screamed a lot more than just simple dating. Still, Aunt Agnes was horribly embarrassed, so it wouldn’t do to ask any more questions.

  Something occurred to me. “Isn’t this dangerous? Would the tunnel be discovered at Henry’s house?”

  Aunt Agnes frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, isn’t it obvious? Lucas is here because his uncle’s house is in a state of disrepair, so he’s staying here while it’s renovated.”

  Lucas cleared his throat. This time, he was the one to turn bright red. “I haven’t been completely honest with you all.” He avoided my eyes as he spoke.

  Anger bubbled away inside me. “Is there anyone in my life who tells me the truth?” I snapped. “Are you keeping secrets from me too?”

  Aunt Agnes patted my hand. “It’s for your own good, dear.” She turned to Lucas. “You had better explain.”

  “When my uncle was murdered overseas, sure I could have moved into his house, but I came here under the pretext that the house needed to be renovated so I could keep an eye on Linda’s husband, Paul Williams. If you recall, he was under investigation.”

  Aunt Agnes drank a whole glass of Witches’ Brew in one gulp, and then poured herself another. “Yes, Paul Williams was a Shifter and he illegally turned others into Shifters. And then he was murdered right here on the property by a former taxidermist client of his.”

  I interrupted her. “But after he was murdered, why didn’t you go back to your uncle’s house? Why did you continue to stay here in the cottage, pretending your uncle’s house was being renovated?”

  “I had a good reason,” Lucas said in an even tone. “You were in danger and I wanted to stay here to protect you.”

  I fell silent, processing the information. I looked straight into Lucas’s eyes. “Is that the level truth?”

  “Absolutely the truth,” he said. “With all this stuff with The Other and the Council, I needed to be close by to protect you.” He said it firmly, as if he would brook no argument.

  “Thank you,” I said in a small voice. I had to admit, I liked having him around.

  “The tunnel actually leads to a safe, hidden apartment Henry had built within his own house,” Aunt Agnes said. “Did you know that, Lucas?”

  “I knew about the secret apartment but not about any secret passageway or tunnel,” Lucas admitted. “I assume Pepper’s parents would be in that secret apartment right now.”

  “How would they get past your managers and any people who work at the winery?” I asked Lucas.

  “There is a back way in, so it wouldn’t be difficult. Remember, it is a secret apartment after all,” Lucas said. “And my uncle had really good security in and around his house. That’s why I suppose they had to wait to murder him until he was overseas.”

  “Then if there’s a tunnel, why can’t I go and see my parents right now?” I jumped to my feet, but Lucas put a restraining hand on my arm.

  “Because we have to do exactly what your parents said. This is a dangerous situation, Pepper.”

  I felt as if a thousand volts of electricity were running through me. Today was the first time I had seen my parents in five years. For years I had thought they were dead. I had finally seen them briefly but was denied speaking to them.

  Lucas must have known what I was thinking. “You could place your parents in danger if you do anything. They would come into this house if they could. You know that. We have to do as they say, nothing more and nothing less.”

  “I suppose so,” I said with great reluctance.

  “We need to talk about this some more, of course, but there’s a pressing matter. I had a complaint from that boarder, Ethelbert Jones,” Aunt Agnes said. “He said there was a serious problem with the cottage and I had to go over there and sort it out within five minutes. I suppose the five minutes would be up by now.” She looked at her phone.

  “Did he say what the problem was?” Lucas asked her.

  “No, but I don’t think he’s going to be someone who is easy to have around.” With that, Aunt Agnes hurried out the door.

  “Where is this tunnel?” I asked the aunts.

  Aunt Maude reached across the table and poured some more Witches’ Brew into my goblet. “We’ll show you in the morning.”

  I waved one finger at them. “You don’t trust me, do you? You think I’ll go to the tunnel now and try to get my parents. Isn’t that right?”

  “Of course not,” Aunt Maude said, just as Aunt Doroth
y said, “Yes, that’s exactly what we think.”

  I groaned and put my head between my hands.

  Lucas patted me on my back. “Pepper, I know this is a shock for you and it’s so soon after you were kidnapped by Weston Maxwell that you haven’t had time to process it. Your parents really do know best. They are the ones who are in danger from The Other and we have to do exactly what they say.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t one to be patient at the best of times, and this was too much. I drained my glass of Witches’ Brew and then sat on my hands.

  Aunt Agnes burst through the door, scaring Breena who hissed and ran out of the room.

  “He’s dead!” Aunt Agnes said. “Ethelbert Jones is dead!”

  Chapter 3

  All the colour had drained from Aunt Agnes’s face. “He was murdered.”

  Aunt Dorothy crossed her arms over her chest. “This could not come at a worse time, not with Valkyrie’s parents arriving back right now. It is inconvenient.”

  “It’s always an inconvenient time to be murdered, Dorothy,” Aunt Agnes snapped. “Think of the poor man who is dead.”

  “He didn’t like pets,” Dorothy retorted, as if that explained everything.

  Aunt Agnes nodded slowly. “Anyway, I’ll have to call the police.”

  “Are you sure he didn’t die of natural causes?” I asked her. “When Beckett Maxwell died, the police thought it was natural causes and told me they should never be called for natural causes.”

  “Mr Jones was definitely murdered,” Aunt Agnes said.

  “How do you know, Agnes?” Maude said. “Do you suddenly have medical experience?”

  Lucas and I exchanged glances. Lucas had remained silent throughout the whole exchange.

  “No, he was staked,” Agnes said with a shudder.

  Aunt Dorothy let out a squeal. “Staked! There’s a vampire hunter on the loose!”

  Lucas finally spoke. “There’s no such thing as vampire hunters.”

  “He wasn’t staked like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It wasn’t that kind of stake. It was a stake.”

  Maude nodded slowly. “I told you he ate too much. Did he choke on it? Or perhaps his liver finally gave out.”

  Dorothy nodded. “I agree with Maude. You could clearly see the man was not in good health. Perhaps he over ate a lot of fatty food. Steaks aren’t good for you.”

  Aunt Maude snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. Steaks don’t kill people, Dorothy.”

  “What does?”

  “A bad case of flu. Falling off a cliff.”

  Aunt Agnes banged her fist on the table, causing all of us to jump. “It wasn’t a steak like that, and I already told you it wasn’t a stake like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was an orchid stake.”

  “An orchid stake?” I repeated. I was sure I hadn’t heard her correctly. “What on earth is an orchid stake?”

  Aunt Agnes turned her attention to me. “Yes, didn’t you know that Ethelbert Jones was here for the orchid show? That’s why he had all his orchids with him. That’s why he specifically requested a cottage with a sunny north room and that’s why we put him in the Retro cottage.”

  I shook my head. I was totally unaware that Mr Jones had brought orchids with him and I didn’t even know there was a local orchid show.

  Aunt Agnes was still talking. “Yes, that’s why he has an orchid stake through his head. It was a sharper one than usual, of course,” she said. “You know, the stakes they put in orchid pots to hold the orchids upright?”

  “I’ve never really thought about orchids,” I confessed. “We’ll have to call the police,” I added, wondering why no one had done so.

  “The timing is a bit too strange for my liking,” Lucas said. “I wonder if Mr Jones was connected in some way with The Other. I’ll have to check my connections.”

  “Should you check them before we call the police?” Aunt Agnes said.

  Lucas rubbed his chin. “I suppose we should call the police now, but I really don’t like it. It seems strange that Pepper’s parents come back after five years and suddenly someone is murdered in one of the cottages.”

  “People always get murdered in the cottages.” Aunt Dorothy waved one hand at us and nodded slowly.

  We all stared at her. “Dorothy!” Aunt Agnes snapped, but Aunt Maude chipped in.

  “I’m afraid Dorothy is right,” she said. “Several people have been murdered in the cottages.”

  “But not all have been to do with the Council or The Other,” Aunt Agnes said confidently.

  I tried to go back through the catalogue of murders to see if she was right. “Talos Sparkes, the wine scientist who made Witches’ Brew, was murdered by Shifters. Joseph Maxwell was murdered by The Other. Linda’s husband was murdered because he was a taxidermist and he threw a client’s deceased stuffed dog across the room.”

  “It wasn’t actually the real deceased dog,” Aunt Dorothy reminded me. “That was precisely the problem.”

  Aunt Agnes poured herself another class of Witches’ Brew. “I think we should call the police. They will only question me because I was the one who found him. Valkyrie, we will particularly need to keep you and Lucas out of this. Let’s all get our stories straight before the police come. I will say I was speaking with Mr Jones on the phone just as Lucas and Valkyrie came through the door.”

  Aunt Dorothy gasped. “You say we should lie to the police?”

  Aunt Agnes turned to her. “Hush, Dorothy. It wouldn’t be the first time, and it was only to say Valkyrie and Lucas arrived just as Mr Jones called us.”

  I shuddered. “That means the murderer was either here at the time or was very close. I didn’t see anyone, did you Lucas?”

  As soon as I asked, I realised Lucas would already have said if he had.

  “No, and I didn’t sense anything either, but I was so focused on your parents, Pepper.” He shook his head. “I know I keep saying this, but the timing can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Hopefully it is,” I said, and then felt bad about using the word, hopefully, in the same context as a murder. “I don’t know anything about orchids, but I saw an episode of Midsomer Murders where an orchid grower was murdered by rival orchid growers. These orchid growers must take things really seriously. In fact, I think I saw that episode about five times.”

  “It’s one of my favourite shows,” Aunt Dorothy said. “I like Ben, but I’m still not sure whether I like the original Barnaby better than the new Barnaby.”

  Aunt Agnes stood up. “Am I the only sane person in the room? I’m going to call the police. All of you be quiet.” She stormed out of the room and then poked her head back through the door. “Where is Hecate, I mean Breena? We can’t have the police seeing her at all. If they do, they’ll question her, and she won’t be able to tell them anything about her past. That won’t do at all.”

  “What can we do with her?” I said. “If we lock her in a room, she’ll scratch on the door to get out.”

  “You decide. I’ve got to call the police.” With that, Aunt Agnes slammed the door.

  I shot Lucas a stricken look. “What are we going to do with Breena? We can’t have the police taking her in.”

  Lucas patted my arm, sending tingles of electricity through me, as always with his touch. “I’ll help you find her.”

  “I wonder if I should take her to one of the rooms upstairs and wait with her until the police go,” I told him.

  He shook his head. “No, the police will want to speak to you as well as the aunts. You might as well get it over with. They shouldn’t want to speak to us again because Agnes was the one who found the body and none of us were at the scene.

  “What do we do with the cat?” I asked him.

  “Maybe you could convince her to turn back into her animal form,” Lucas suggested.

  Aunt Maude snorted rudely. “Have you ever tried to convince a cat to do something she didn’t want to do?”

  Lucas nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Anyway, the first thing we ha
ve to do is find her, and then we will have to try to explain things to her.”

  I walked into the formal dining room looking for Breena, but she was nowhere to be found. I skirted around Aunt Agnes, giving her a small wave. She was still on the phone to the police. “Breena, Breena!” I called out, and when that didn’t work, I called out, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

  I finally found Breena in the living room, curled up in front of the fireplace in her human form. I tapped her shoulder. She jumped up and hissed at me and then made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a purr. “Breena, do you remember Mr Jones, the new boarder?”

  Breena hissed, and then nodded.

  “He’s dead,” I said.

  “You could have broken the news to her more gently,” Aunt Dorothy said behind me.

  I ignored her and kept talking. “The police will be here soon to question us all, but not you. Is it possible you can go back into your cat form while the police are here?” Breena looked at me doubtfully, so I added, “Or maybe we could lock you in a room upstairs with a saucer of milk.”

  Breena’s eyes widened, so she clearly didn’t like that idea.

  I took a deep breath and said in the most patient tone I could muster, “We don’t want the police to question you because they would ask you where you came from. In fact, they would ask you where you’re living now and ask you a lot of questions you can’t answer. You don’t want that, do you?”

  She shook her head.

  “Well then, you think you can turn back into a cat?”

  At that inopportune moment, Aunt Agnes burst through the door. “I rang the local cop shop and they patched me through to the detectives, who unfortunately happened to be out this way. They’re coming right over.”

  “Quick! Into the kitchen, and please change into a cat,” I said to Breena.

  We all hurried in the direction of the kitchen. I turned and looked over my shoulder just as the police knocked on the door.

  Aunt Agnes must not have noticed Breena was still in the foyer, because she opened the door to the detectives. “Come in.”