Witch Fairy Tale (A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Book 8)

by Sonia Parin

  “Don’t sound so offended. It’s not as if I used you as a lab rat. I doubt anyone would have been able to stop you from eating the fish.”

  “That’s right, but it doesn’t let you off the hook.”

  Lexie sat down and stared at the roast beef. It hadn’t lost its appeal.

  “We could think of this as a celebratory meal.” Luna’s voice rose with excitement. “You came back from the dead.”

  Relenting, Lexie said, “Fine. If anyone comes, we can offer to compensate them.”

  “What with? I lost all my gold.”

  “We’ll think of something.”

  “That’s good enough for me.” Jonathan got busy carving the roast and serving it. “Thank you to whoever provided this meal. Dig in.”

  “It’s quite good,” Lexie said around a mouthful. After a moment, she added, “We’ll stay here for the night. At least, I think it’s nighttime. It looks dark outside but I think if we follow the road, the trees will eventually thin out. We’ve had a long day so we should really leave it to tomorrow.” She nodded. “Yes, tomorrow we’ll focus on finding our way home.”

  With the meal finished, they tidied up and settled down around the fireplace. Silence prevailed until, not surprisingly, Luna spoke up.

  “You think you’ve been set up. Who wants you out of the way?”

  Good question.

  Rolling onto her back, Luna appeared to fall asleep but she continued talking.

  “This could be a solution to everyone’s problem. Lure you into the Crone’s realm, and keep you here. It’s the only place where you can be contained. Of course, this means you have been found guilty without going to trial.”

  Could they do that to her? “My mom wouldn’t stand for it.”

  “Have you tried contacting her?” Luna asked.

  It should have been a priority but it hadn’t even occurred to her. Closing her eyes, Lexie focused on her mom and mentally called out to her.

  Since Luna could hear her thoughts, she knew there had been no response.

  “How about the Crone?” Luna suggested.

  “I’m not sure that will work. We’re not… connected.”

  “You could go into one of your trances and try to contact her.” Luna rolled over. “I’ll be quiet so you can concentrate. Go on. Meditate.”

  Lexie patted her stomach. “I’m too full. If I meditate now, I’ll fall asleep.” Not long ago, the Monkey God had taught her how to meditate but first he’d made her go without food. No easy feat when the Monkey God had indulged in one feast after another.

  “Then, this is as good a place as any to chill out,” Luna said.

  Jonathan stretched his feet out and crossed them at the ankles. “This all started with Rebel getting sick. I just don’t see how someone could have planned that.”

  “Germ warfare,” Luna suggested.

  Lexie glanced around the rustic cabin. “But we hadn’t set foot outside the apartment in days.” After their adventure in Cat’s forest, they’d needed time to relax and hit refresh. While Lexie had wanted answers about her father, she’d been told to sit tight because he needed time to adjust to being alive and living inside his wife’s evil twin sister’s body.

  They’d had food delivered to them and had spent time getting to know the new addition to their household…

  “I’m starting to like the idea. Think about it,” Jonathan said. “Rebel’s illness set off a chain of events that got you here. If someone wanted to contain you, this would be the ideal place.”

  Whoever had planned it would have done their homework. They would have found out about Cat’s forest being under siege and they might have heard about her plan to take the gnomes to Lexie’s apartment. Rebel had fallen ill soon after their arrival. She didn’t want to think the gnomes were responsible.

  “When we left the apartment, we were followed by several O’Rourke detectives,” Lexie mused.

  “They were making sure you made your way to Jonathan’s pub,” Luna suggested. “I’d even go so far as to say they herded you there.”

  They could have stopped her at any time and hauled her away to their dungeons. But they hadn’t…

  Because they couldn’t.

  “I can’t believe the Crone would have gone along with the plan to imprison me here. I’d rather leave her out of the equation.”

  Luna shifted away from the fireplace and took a few minutes to get comfortable again. “If you have been brought here as punishment for killing the serial killer, you didn’t do yourself any favors by calling on the elements to blow the cards around. It will work against you. You’re showing a trait for violence.”

  “It could have been worse,” Lexie said. She had called on a gentle breeze but Lexie knew the wind could just as easily have turned into gusts as sharp as an eagle’s talons.

  Okay, so the gentle breeze had actually turned into a mini tornado… “If I hadn’t scattered them, we would still be going around in circles, which leads me to believe the queens were in on the plot too. Assuming there is a plot against me.”

  “Then there’s the Fairy Tale Fairy,” Luna said. “She’s been keeping tabs on you. Do you think she was telling the truth about trying to keep all fairy tales alive? She might be part of the conspiracy to get you out of the way.” Luna yelped. “The more I think about it, the worse it gets. What if we’re barking up the wrong tree and this is about the Fairy Queen you met in Cat’s forest? Remember, she’s the one who gave you Rebel as a gift. Rebel might have been spying on you all along. I told you we couldn’t trust the fairy. All this time, we’ve been living with a conspirator. She could have killed us both in our sleep.”

  The light in the cabin mellowed. Lexie looked around them. They were still alone. Were they being watched? A log shifted. Bright orange flames danced around and then settled down.

  “We’re here for a reason,” Lexie whispered.

  Jonathan cleared his throat. “Relax. We’re under protection.”

  Luna and Lexie looked at him. They should have prompted him to say more but they both knew Jonathan only spoke when he needed to.

  He’d sat back and closed his eyes. A sign he wouldn’t be saying more any time soon…

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The O’Connors

  “Should we take turns to sleep?” Luna asked.

  Jonathan surprised them by again saying, “We’ll be fine in the cabin.”

  Luna tilted her head. “You sound sure of yourself. Are you offering us empty platitudes and assurances or is there something you know that we don’t know? In these times of uncertainties, concrete information would go a long way toward raising our spirits. We had a scrumptious meal tonight but none of us gave any thought to tomorrow. If we are to face scarcity or worse, I’d like to spend the rest of the evening savoring the memory of my last meal.”

  Jonathan sank lower in his seat. “Since entering the Crone’s realm I’ve… I’ve felt connected.”

  Luna sidled up to him and sniffed him. “I don’t sense a malevolent presence. Please explain.”

  “Connected to my people,” he added.

  “Oh.” Luna stepped back. “This is a tribal thing.”

  “His people, Luna. The Guardians.” Jonathan had never spoken of them other than to complain about having his cover blown. He too had been in denial, living a life away from his responsibilities.

  When Lexie had been ambushed by Cat and Mirabelle and tricked into accepting her role as incoming High Chair, Jonathan had been dragged out of exile and forced to accept his role as Lexie’s scribe slash guardian.

  “Exile,” Lexie said. “You never explained why you’d been in exile.”

  “Are you a fugitive?” Luna asked.

  “Self-imposed exile. I’d had enough and I wanted out.”

  Luna grumbled. “It seems we are all carrying excess baggage.”

  “What sort of connection are we talking about?” Lexie asked. “Are you actually talking to your people?”

  His bro
ws furrowed. “I can hear them and I can sense them in a way I haven’t been able to before. It started while we were out on the road. There’s a connection. It’s like a chain link.”

  “You’re the missing link?” Luna asked.

  He chortled. “I think they were doing well enough without me.” Jonathan leaned forward and brushed his hand across his face. “But I now feel linked to them.”

  Luna put her paw on his boot. “Does this come with benefits? As in, is there something to be gained by it?”

  Jonathan gave a distracted nod. “While in the Crone’s realm, I can identify a need and fill it. After what happened to you with the poisoned apple and our encounter with the cards, we needed time out to regroup.”

  Surprised, Lexie asked, “Are you saying you conjured this cabin?”

  Luna sprung up and didn’t wait for him to reply. “Can you conjure my gold? I can more or less… well… sort of give you precise co-ordinates of where I left it. Let me think… there were trees, low hanging branches and a hill…”

  “No,” Jonathan said.

  “I’ll give you a cut. Let’s say 1%. That should be fair since I’m the one who put my neck on the line to get the gold in the first place. We procured it from the Giant… Okay, we actually stole it.”

  When Jonathan didn’t answer, Luna’s face scrunched up.

  “What else can you do?” Lexie asked. “Can you get some insight into why we were led into the Crone’s realm?”

  “I’ve been trying to…” He sat back and raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sure I can contact my people more directly… deliberately. They know something. I can feel it.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out.” She didn’t want to be responsible for pushing him to approach his people before he felt ready.

  “It might be the only way.” Jonathan sat up again. “The Crone’s realm has been known to act as a bridge by magical beings traveling around. Actually… How did all this start? I mean, what happened before Rebel got sick?”

  Lexie reminded him about Cat’s forest being under siege. “Peace won’t be restored until Mirabelle can rebuild Mackenzie Hall. She-whose-name-we-don’t-dare-speak destroyed Mirabelle’s forest and all the creatures dwelling within it fled.”

  “They didn’t travel from England to Australia by plane,” Jonathan said. “There’s only one way they could have traveled such a great distance. Through the Crone’s realm. That means we can find our way out.”

  “How sure are you?” Lexie asked.

  “Sure enough. It’s like tapping into universal knowledge.” He closed his eyes. “The information is just there.”

  “How many other O’Connors are there?”

  “Too many to count and each one gains knowledge by osmosis.” Jonathan’s eyes snapped open. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that. But it makes sense of a lot of things.”

  “Such as?”

  Jonathan thought about everything he’d written in the Mackenzie Chronicle. Events he could not possibly have witnessed because he’d been too young. “Stuff. Things that I know but didn’t understand how or why I knew it. Anyway, if I can tune in, I might be able to find a door.”

  Yes, but what would they be going back to? How determined where the O’Rourke detectives to take her into custody?

  “You’re frowning,” Jonathan said.

  “Do you blame me? I’m starting to think someone is out to confuse me. Is someone trying to kill me? Do they just want me out of the way or have I been sent here as punishment?”

  “You might have been sent here for rehabilitation,” Luna said. “You know, nip your bad habits in the bud before they get out of control. We should approach the Queen of Hearts and try to cut a deal or negotiate a surrender. You could give yourself up in exchange for our freedom. I promise I’ll visit you.” Luna rolled her eyes. “Okay. I just heard myself. Sorry. I do remain your loyal feline companion and will stick by your side no matter what. I only hope they have my favorite food.” She turned to Jonathan. “You could open a pub here. I’m sure you’ll do well, and since I gave you the idea, you could pay me. I’m suddenly seeing the bright side. We could build a beautiful home with a stunning view of the rolling hills.”

  “You seem to forget we need to get back to Rebel.”

  Luna tilted her head in thought. “Do we? I thought we’d decided she’d played a role in your capture by pretending to be sick?”

  Lexie could think of other reasons why they needed to return. She couldn’t lose her dad again, and… she had a role to play, a purpose… Yes, she had killed a man but she had rid the world of a bad person.

  Luna pranced up to Lexie. “Perhaps it’s time you talked about it.”

  Lexie pressed her lips together. Consequences. She hadn’t wanted to discuss what had happened at the warehouse. Did everyone see that as a sign she felt above it all? She had passed down a sentence without any thought to what she might have to face.

  “I stand by what I did,” she said.

  Luna leaped up onto her lap. “Yes, but… can you explain it? You said you saw what he had done and what he would do because he would get off on a technicality. How can you be sure you can trust what you saw? Where did the visions come from? Have you become an all-knowing entity?” Taking a step forward, Luna sniffed her. Her voice lowered as she asked, “Are you a God?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” She hadn’t wanted to talk about it because she hadn’t quite understood what had happened to her.

  Since connecting to the elements, she had stopped asking how and why it all happened because no one seemed to have any answers.

  “You might be evolving,” Luna suggested.

  “Into what?”

  “Into the most powerful witch in your Coven. Mirabelle wouldn’t like that.”

  “Are you suggesting she is responsible for us being here?”

  Luna jumped off her and went on a wild sprint around the room. When she stopped, she stared at Lexie, her eyes wide with a look of terror. “What if this has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me and my sister, Venus, is behind all this?”

  Lexie laughed. “Now who’s being paranoid.”

  Jonathan clasped his hands. “Let’s assume no one is trying to kill or imprison Lexie and we have hit a temporary glitch because we fell through a rabbit hole. How do we get out? That’s what we should focus on.”

  “Assuming there are no real impediments, the road should lead us to an exit. We have all the ingredients.” Lexie’s eyebrows slammed together. She dug inside her pocket. “Hang on. We’re missing one. Ginger.”

  “Ginger from the Gingerbread house you destroyed?” Jonathan asked. “The one presumably owned by a wicked witch?”

  “I think the sooner you tap into your O’Connor powers, whatever they might be, the better. I get the feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

  Luna’s head lowered. “Don’t look now, but we’re being watched.”

  “What do you see? Who’s out there?”

  “A tiny light. I think it’s the Fairy Tale Fairy.”

  As Luna stalked her way to the window, Lexie closed her eyes. Hearing Jonathan say he’d been trying to contact his people had surprised Lexie. Despite his lingering misgivings about being forced to face up to his responsibilities, he wanted to help.

  Until recently, Lexie had been relying on anyone and everyone who would offer assistance. Octavia had been a steady presence, working in the background, using Mirabelle’s library for research and generally being a good sounding board.

  Cat and Mirabelle had also been helpful. However, during her last clash, Lexie had stood alone. She would not have accepted help even if it had been thrust upon her.

  When Lexie had tackled her mom’s evil twin sister, Luna had tried to help her and, in the process, she had nearly died.

  What if Jonathan put himself in the line of fire? “What made you so sure we’d be safe here?”

  Jonathan brushed his finger across his chin
, his gaze fixed on the flames. “I haven’t experienced this firsthand, but I know... somehow, don’t ask me how, throughout the ages, guardians have always taken care of details like providing a campfire for the night or procuring food.”

  “But you were with us the whole time.”

  Jonathan shrugged. “It’s just a matter of asking. There must be another O’Connor here.”

  Watching them?

  “Not physically here. Just… here.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Spy game

  “Luna’s been gone a while. Do you think we should go out there and find her?” Jonathan asked. “She might need our help.”

  Lexie tapped her head. “If she’d run into any trouble, she would have let me know.”

  When they heard the front door creak open, they both turned in time to see Luna scampering in.

  “Luna, what’s that in your mouth?” Lexie asked.

  Luna rushed in, the Fairy Tale Fairy dangling from her mouth. “Where do you want her?”

  “Hang on.” Jonathan strode over to the door. He secured the latch and resumed his place by the fireplace. “The cabin is warded. Now she’s inside, she can’t leave unless I open the door for her.”

  “How do you know the cabin is warded?” Lexie asked.

  Jonathan could not have looked more confounded. “I… I just know.”

  With the fairy still dangling from her mouth, Luna asked, “What did I miss?”

  “We’ll tell you later. You can put her down now.”

  Luna spat the fairy out.

  The fairy fell on her butt and scowled up at Luna. “There will be serious repercussions, cat.”

  Luna snarled at her. “I somehow doubt it. Lexie is about to give you the third degree. Once she does, there won’t be any fight left in you.”

  “There are compacts between our kind. Do you dare breech them? She can’t torture me,” the fairy complained.

  “You’re out of luck, fairy. Lexie is not the brightest bulb in the realm. She’s not up with all your silly rules and regulations. Treaties, pacts, or protocols.” Belatedly, Luna shot Lexie an apologetic grin.