by Tegan Maher
“They could have come up with a better name,” Pawdrey grumbled, and I suitably ignored her.
“Of course,” the fairy said, motioning for us to wait in a large space set up with comfortable couches, chairs, and plenty of food and drinks. “Please, wait over there and someone will call you up shortly.”
I left Pawdrey to take up one of the comfortable chairs and headed over to the snack table, my stomach grumbling to let me know it was 100% down with this.
“Hey, Mina, nice to see you again,” a familiar voice said. I turned to find myself facing Patricia, a witch I’d met on one of my first days in the paranormal world. She was friendly and warm, and I instantly smiled as soon as I saw her.
“Patricia! Hi, how are you?”
“Good, good. Well, as good as one can be when they’re trying to wrangle an overly enthusiastic cat around,” she said with a laugh.
“Is your familiar auditioning as well?”
“Oh, yes. Turnip is such a great cat. He wants to go for the lead role.’
“Pawdrey is going for the same role, but for the female cat,” I said with a smile. “Hopefully the two of them get the role, then they’ll star together.”
“Wouldn’t that be adorable?” Patricia said. Then, she leaned in closer to me. “Did you hear that they actually got the Ruby of Remembrance to be used in this movie?”
“I heard a rumor, but I have no idea what that is,” I said with a sheepish shrug. “I’m guessing a famous jewel of some kind?”
“Oh of course, I forgot that you’re new to the paranormal world. The Ruby of Remembrance is one of the biggest and most famous jewels in the whole paranormal world. It’s the size of your fist, and set in a gorgeous gold and platinum setting made in Bruxspells. It’s worth millions of abras. This is a big production if they were willing to use it in the movie.”
I nodded. “Yes, you’re absolutely right. Well, I hope I get to have a look at it. It sounds amazing.”
“It is. It was discovered by a dragon shifter in Mozambique; his mother had passed away and in his mourning he traveled as far as he could from their home here in America. He came across the stone there, brought it back to America, and named it the Ruby of Remembrance for his mother. He sold it to one of the richest elves in the world and used the money to create a foundation in his mother’s name, and now the ruby itself is loaned to friends of the elf.”
“Wow,” I said. “At least it’s discovery led to some good things.”
“Exactly,” Patricia said. “It’s a beautiful stone. I’m glad it’s being used in a movie rather than being locked up in a safe somewhere so that no one can appreciate it.”
“Agreed. It sounds beautiful.”
“Oh, it really is,” Patricia gushed. “I hope we all get to see it.”
A moment later my name was called. “Oh, gotta go,” I said. “That’s us.”
“Good luck,” Patricia said with a wave as I rushed over and scooped up Pawdrey, taking her over to the fairy who had signed us in.
“Come with me, please,” she said, motioning for the two of us to follow her. I carried Pawdrey into a nearby tent with five paranormals: a wizard, two witches and a vampire. My attention was immediately drawn to the witch on the other side of the room, however. She was tall, with wavy blonde hair that shone like the sun, and a face that could most accurately be described as ‘perfect’, but that wasn’t what drew my attention. Just below her neck sat the most gorgeous stone I had ever seen. It was deep red, and glimmered in the light, as if demanding all the attention from everyone at all times.
This had to be the Ruby of Remembrance.
“Welcome, Mina. And Pawdrey. It’s nice to meet you,” the vampire said with a nod of his head. “Mina, we will ask that you take a seat over there while Pawdrey completes the audition.”
“Sure,” I said with a smile, watching as Pawdrey strutted up to Lindsay and rubbed her head against her leg.
“Aren’t you a sweetie?” Lindsay said, reaching down to stroke Pawdrey behind the ears.
“Right. Because you don’t speak, we’re going to ask you for this audition to simply follow some commands, and act with Lindsay here, since you’re going to be her familiar,” the shifter said to Pawdrey. I couldn’t quite tell if he was a lion shifter or a wolf shifter. I wondered if he could be half and half. I made a mental note to ask Scarlett.
Pawdrey let out a meow and jumped onto the table in front of the casting crew, then sat down, looking at them politely.
“Good,” the wizard said from his seat on the right. “Can you hop onto Lindsay’s shoulder and stay there while she walks around?”
Lindsay walked up to the table and carefully put an arm on it. Pawdrey jumped noiselessly up onto Lindsay’s shoulder and perched herself in place.
“Don’t use your claws,” I mouthed silently, hoping Pawdrey could hear me telepathically.
“Good, now jump down and walk next to Lindsay, please,” the vampire said. Pawdrey carefully jumped off Lindsay’s shoulder, landing perfectly on her feet, and as Lindsay began walking around the room toward the flap at the front of the tent Pawdrey carefully followed, right next to her left foot, careful never to get under the actress’ feet.
If only she could walk that nicely when she was with me. Going through the house when Pawdrey was around was like a constant game of Mario Cart where someone throws the banana in front of you, except the banana has claws and fights back.
Suddenly, everything went black.
3
“What the-?” I started, standing up, but I was interrupted by a shriek coming from the middle of the room. It sounded like Lindsay.
“Are you ok?” I shouted.
“The ruby!” she cried. “Someone got the ruby!”
A burst of light suddenly brightened the room; one of the witches had pulled out a wand and cast a lighting spell.
My eyes turned to Lindsay, who stood in the middle of the room, her hand pressed against her throat, her face white.
“It’s gone.”
Sure enough, the sparkling ruby at her throat had completely disappeared. A thin red line against her neck showed where the chain had been torn from her neck. Her mouth was open, a horrified expression on her face.
The rest of the paranormals in the room seemed to be in shock. In fact, so was I.
“I tried to stop him,” Pawdrey said in a small voice. “But I think I missed.”
“It’s ok,” I said to her. Then, gathering myself, I took over the room.
“Ok, I’m calling the Chief Enforcer,” I said, pulling out my phone. “Someone here needs to call security and stop anyone else from getting on the grounds.”
“I’ll do it,” the vampire said, pulling out his own phone and dialing a number. I already had mine pressed against my ear as I called Chief Enforcer Tyson.
“You,” I said, pointing to the witch who was part of the casting group. “Go get anyone who might have seen someone come into the room.”
The witch nodded, her face pale. “The fairy, she should have been watching to make sure we weren’t interrupted.”
“Bring her in,” I ordered, right as Chief Enforcer Tyson answered the phone. I gave her a quick rundown of what had happened, and she told me she’d be there in two minutes.
“We can’t let anyone know what’s happened here,” the wizard said when I hung up. “It’s imperative that it be kept a secret. No one can find out the ruby is missing.”
“Why don’t we focus on finding the ruby first?” I said, sitting back down in the chair where I’d been when the jewel was stolen. My legs felt a bit like jelly. “That should be the most important thing.”
“Of course,” the shifter said. “But who could have taken it?”
Before anyone had a chance to answer the flap to the tent re-opened, a gust of air hitting my face, and the witch re-entered, followed by Chief Enforcer Tyson and the fairy who had greeted us, still holding her clipboard.
“Alright,” Chief Enforcer Tyson sai
d. “What happened here?”
“We were going through the audition, and then the lights went out, and next thing I know the lights came back on and the Ruby of Remembrance was gone,” the shifter answered.
“He shoved me. He shoved me, and then there was a pain in my neck, and before I knew what had happened he’d run off,” Lindsay said, her eyes wide. She couldn’t stop clutching at her neck, as if needing constant confirmation that the theft had really happened. “Oh, I can’t believe it.”
“Did you see anyone entering or leaving the tent?” Chief Enforcer Tyson asked the fairy, but she shook her head.
“No, I didn’t. I mean, I’m not sure I would have. There’s so much to do out there, so much to organize, I wasn’t keeping a close eye on the door. We haven’t had any problems with intruders coming in earlier.”
“Alright,” Chief Enforcer Tyson said. “I’m going to need a list of everyone who has checked in here today from you.”
“Of course,” the fairy said, taking her clipboard and handing it to me. “Would you mind making a quick copy of this?”
“Uhhhh,” I said, biting my lip. “I’m actually very new to the paranormal world and I’m afraid I don’t know a spell that can do that.”
“Oh, I can do it then,” the wizard offered. I handed him the clipboard and he muttered a quick spell, pointing his wand at the paper. It instantly doubled, and the wizard handed the new copies to the Chief Enforcer before giving the original clipboard back to the fairy.
“Good,” Chief Enforcer Tyson said, nodding. “Now, I want each one of you to tell me anything you can remember, starting with Mina.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath as I thought back. I recounted everything as best I could, then Chief Enforcer Tyson turned to the vampire.
“Did you see anything, with your superior sight?”
“I did not,” he replied. “I was as surprised as the others when the lights were extinguished. I can see better in the dark than the rest of you, of course, but it still takes a minute for my eyes to adjust after I’ve been in a bright room for some time. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
The witch sitting next to him went next. “Same as Vlad, except I don’t have a vampire’s eyesight. I have vertigo, however, and I do very badly in the dark. As soon as the lights went out I clutched at Sean here next to me, as I was worried I might fall off my chair otherwise.”
“She did,” Sean confirmed. “I thought someone was grabbing me to attack so I tried to shake her off at first, until I realized it was just Sandra. Then I heard her muttering something and her wand lit the room back up.”
Sandra’s wand was still lighting the room, in fact. The lights above were out, and Chief Enforcer Tyson looked over at the socket near the wall. The lights had been unplugged, and heading over there, the Chief Enforcer plugged the lights back in. They came on instantly.
“Was anyone near the wall?” she asked, and everyone in the room shook their heads. No one had been close to the socket.
Sandra put her wand down, ending her light-emitting spell. Chief Enforcer Tyson turned to the shifter. “And you? Did you see anything?”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Same story as the others. The lights went out, but before I had a chance to even really register what was going on they’d come back on, and the ruby was gone. Are you alright, Lindsay?”
The actress nodded. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t know what was going on.”
“Well, the most important thing is that you’re ok,” Chief Enforcer Tyson said. “Thank you, all of you. I’ll get your contact information and let you go, as I want to interview some others outside.”
“I suppose this means we’ll have to cancel the rest of the auditions for the day,” Sandra said. “This will put us well behind schedule.”
“Not only that, but we’ve got to have the ruby recovered. The studio is currently liable for its return. If we don’t get it back, the whole company is going bankrupt,” Sean added.
“And this movie doesn’t get made,” Vlad, the vampire, said. “And we’re all out of a job.”
“Well, they have to find the ruby then,” Lindsay said. “I turned down a role in the latest Kunfordir movie to do this one because I wanted to wear the ruby. And I was offered revenue share. If this movie doesn’t get made, I’m left with nothing.”
“We all are,” Sandra said, pressing her lips together. She obviously didn’t think much of the actress putting herself first like that.
The shifter seemed to be the only one who noticed me, and Pawdrey, who in the commotion had come over to stand next to me. “Thanks for coming in,” he said. “I’m sorry about all of this. We’ll be in touch, if there’s a movie to be made.”
“Thank you for having us,” I replied. “For what it’s worth, Chief Enforcer Tyson is very good. If there’s anyone who will find the lost ruby, it’s her.”
“I hope so,” Sandra said. “And I agree with Jeremy. Thank you for coming in.”
Exchanging goodbyes with the rest of the paranormals, I left the tent with Pawdrey on my shoulder, half feeling as if it had all been a dream. After all, none of this could have really happened, right?
4
The main space outside the large audition tent had mostly been cleared of paranormals. Chief Enforcer Tyson spoke with a couple in the corner, after having searched all of us and then let us go. Scarlett was seated in the area where I’d waited to be called in, obviously waiting for me. She jumped up as soon as she spotted me and rushed over.
“Are you alright? What’s going on? Security came and told everyone to clear out, I said I was your cousin and they let me stay.”
“Someone stole the jewel, the Ruby of Remembrance,” I said in a hushed whisper. “I was right there, too.”
Scarlett’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding?”
“No. And if they don’t find it, they’re going to have to cancel the filming of the whole movie.”
“How awful.”
“It would be a huge shame,” Pawdrey said. “You have to find that ruby.”
“I can’t find it,” I said. “I have no idea where to even start.”
“Well, that’s a you problem, not a me problem,” Pawdrey said, while carefully licking her paw. “But I’m not going to lose this role because some paranormal decided they needed some new jewelry.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s my job to find the ruby,” I said. “Besides, how would I go about it? Did you see anyone rush by, looking suspicious?” I asked Scarlett as the three of us walked away from the makeshift studio and back down the street.
“No, I didn’t,” Scarlett replied. “It was chaos in here, though. It seems like half the town showed up to audition for some role or another. The fairy working to organize everyone was beyond professional, but even she seemed to be getting a little bit flustered, with paranormals constantly coming up to her and asking questions.”
“Did you see anyone go into or leave the tent?” I asked, and Scarlett shook her head.
“No. But of course, I wasn’t really looking at the tent. The fairy gave me and everyone else applying for a speaking role an audition script, so I was going over it. I wanted to have the lines memorized by the time it was my turn to go in, so my focus was on that. I didn’t know the two of you were in there.”
“Well, up until the theft, I was doing amazingly well, I thought,” Pawdrey said.
“You were,” I agreed. “You obeyed the instructions very well. But what about you? Did you see or hear or feel anything? After all, you were right next to Lindsay. There was a chance that the thief could have tripped over you if they’d gone the wrong way.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t,” Pawdrey replied. “As soon as I heard Lindsay scream I knew something was wrong, I jumped forward in the hopes of getting the attacker, but I must have gone the wrong way. I missed them completely.”
“That’s too bad,” Scarlett replied. “If you’d managed to scratch them or something it wo
uld have been pretty obvious who the thief was.”
“I’m also disappointed,” Pawdrey replied. “Instead I jumped into Lindsay. I hope I didn’t scratch her. She seemed to enjoy my company. I hope I made a good impression.”
“I’m sure you did,” I replied. “Just by trying to help her I’m sure she’s very pleased with you.”
“Well, I’d hate for my efforts to be for nothing. That ruby had better show up.”
“Easy for you to say. I never even got to audition,” Scarlett said with a sigh. “Our auditions were supposed to start at ten-thirty.”
“Most paranormals didn’t get to audition,” I replied. “I ran into Patricia as well. Her familiar was going for the role opposite Pawdrey.”
“Oh, that would be cute. She has a really nice long-haired cat,” Scarlett said. “He’s adorable. He’d look cute with Pawdrey.”
“It doesn’t matter who they cast next to me, I’ll be stealing the show no matter what,” Pawdrey said confidently as we reached the house. I’m telling you, Mina, you had better find that ruby so I can keep doing my work.”
I shook my head at Pawdrey. Not only did I have no idea where to even start looking for the thief, but it was well beyond my skillset to even try. And sure, I’d solved a few murder cases here and there, but at least those had a decent number of suspects. Here, there were hundreds of potential suspects, if not thousands. Anyone who had been in that tent could have stolen the jewel. Heck, anyone who had been in town could have stolen it.
“Did you know the jewel was being used in this movie?” I asked Scarlett, who nodded.
“Yeah, I heard about it when I got there. A witch I went to the Academy with told me. It’s really cool. The Ruby of Remembrance is one of the most famous jewels in the whole paranormal world. Of course, if they don’t find the thief, it’s going to suck for our town. I don’t want us to get a reputation as a place full of criminals.”
“There’s nothing even saying the paranormal who stole the jewel was even from Fairy Falls though, is there?” I asked. “I mean, couldn’t someone have just taken the portal in and come to the audition tent?”