“Death,” answered Syn and Lola in unison.
I opened the door carefully. There was a bed opposite the door, under a window, a dresser on the left wall, and an armoire on the right. And a mummified body in the bed.
“Who is that?” asked Lola as we stepped further into the room. There was a makeup table in the corner next to the bed. The empty chair spun around to face us.
“What?” Lola jumped back into the hall.
The ghost materialized slowly. It wasn’t wispy and translucent like some others I had seen but in full color. She had long black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing a white blouse and a dark blue skirt.
“What do you want to say?” I asked.
She opened her mouth as if to speak but nothing came out. Instead, blood poured from her neck down the front of her blouse. She shut her mouth. I inched further into the room to look at the body on the bed. She was wearing the same clothes as the ghost in the corner. Her skin was dark and wrinkled.
“Her throat was cut,” I announced. “She can’t speak.”
The woman stood up and pointed out the window to the stable. There was a heavy padlock on the door. She moved towards the make-up table mirror, dipped her finger in the blood spurting from her neck, and wrote Hurry on the mirror.
“We have to go,” I said. I pushed past Syn and Lola. We went through the kitchen and out the back door. I took some of Theo’s hair that I had tucked into my pocket before we left Blossom’s shop and said a few words over it. The hair burst into flames and disappeared.
“What did you do?” asked Syn
“It’s just a precaution.”
We made it to the stable. Syn examined the lock. It was heavy and too thick for Syn to pick.
“Stand back,” said Lola.
Syn pulled me out of the way. Lola grabbed the lock and yanked. The thick heavy chain fell away from the door.
“Wow,” I said.
“Thank you. Thank you. Hold your applause,” she said with a bow.
I was first through the door. The air was thick with the smell of manure and urine. “Hello,” I said.
Silence.
“We’re here to help,” said Syn. “Anyone here?”
“Rose!” I yelled.
Each stall had a wooden door with a padlock on it. “Are the locks ananite too?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s what it looks like,” said Syn.
“Burn,” I commanded as I held out my hands.
The red flames shot from my hands and wrapped around the stable. Syn and Lola ran as the flames consumed the outside of the building. When the fire stopped, only the stall doors were left.
Syn and Lola stared at me. Mouths ajar.
“Elemental powers and casting spells are two completely different things. Go get the girls.”
There were twenty girls in the barn. Wearing torn up clothing and extremely weak. Syn carried a few through the burnt rubble because they were too weak to walk. While others stumbled through the debris sobbing. When no one emerged from the last stall I went in.
“We are here to help you. We have to leave before he comes back,” I stated.
She turned to face me. Her face was puffy, and her lips were so dry and cracked they bled. Her legs had small scars all over. Even with the swollen face, I knew who she was. “Rose?” I asked as I knelt by the mattress.
Her eyes grew wide and watery as she nodded her head.
“Hi, your mother sent me,” I told her.
“My mom,” she sobbed.
“Yeah. Come on let’s go home,” I said as I held out my hand.
She took it and I helped her stand. She leaned on me, and I helped her through the debris. As we neared the group at the front of the stable, I could see Syn and Lola. They weren’t moving.
“He’s here,” trembled Rose. She collapsed to the ground shaking.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“It’s too late,” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth. The other girls had done the same. They trembled on the ground and wouldn’t even look up.
“Syn? Lola?” They made no sounds. No movement.
Theo Jasper stood in the driveway and smiled.
“I can add you and the other girl to my sacrifice,” he pointed to Lola. “I’ll just kill the boy.”
He stalked towards me. His smile widened. I didn’t move. I didn’t flinch. When he was ten feet from me, his left leg was consumed by flames. A scarlet-haired girl on the ground next to me stopped rocking and looked up.
Theo jumped around trying to put the fire out. Only when he jumped back a few feet did it go away. When he stopped beating his leg, he regained composure and started towards me again. The same thing happened. He jumped back, and the fire went out. His face was twisted in confusion. He may have been a talented warlock but not that bright. He smiled when the flames went out again.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I haven’t moved. I’m not doing anything,” I answered.
He grinned. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy sacrificing you.”
“Your stable is gone. Where are you going to put me?”
“Ha! I can build another one,” he said.
Why won’t he cast a spell? Surely, he had to have realized my spell only worked when he got close to me. Why won’t he cast a spell from where he’s standing?
Magic is like fighting. Some people are better at casting spells that only work when they are close to that person. He was one of those people. He kept coming towards me because he needed to be close to activate a spell.
He darted towards me again. This time he reached out his hand to grab me but before he could make contact flames engulfed him. He writhed in agony. Screaming at the top of his lungs. The girls stopped rocking. Syn and Lola were released. They stared at me.
“Fire restraining spell,” I said. He burned into ash.
Syn and Lola wrangled the girls while I got Rose and helped her to the group.
“What happened?” she asked.
“He’s dead,” I answered. “And now we need to get home. Everyone needs to join hands.”
I focused my energy on Blossom’s shop. The stable disappeared in a cloud of lavender smoke.
“Why lookie here, you—” started Blossom.
As soon as my feet settled onto the floor of Blossom’s spell shop the ground came up to meet my head.
Chapter 15
Witch Improvement
It took a day and a half before I got back on my feet. When I regained my strength, I took a bath in the hottest water I could stand. After thirty minutes of relaxing, I got out of the tub, dressed, and headed down to my office. It was empty but there was a stack of papers on my desk. I noticed a clear vase filled with fresh cut flowers when I sat down. Pink, purple, and red lilies. I flipped through the papers. Twenty-one pages with pictures and information on the young women we found.
“But we only found twenty girls,” I said to myself.
I removed the sticky note from the top page and examined it. Lola’s handwriting.
Detective Warren wants to meet with you as soon as you are able.
I should have made him wait. After all, he didn’t believe me when I said we should keep searching for the missing girls. After retrieving my purse from my apartment, I made my way to the bus stop. Lola, Syn, and Blossom had done so much for me I didn’t want to bother them. The wait for the bus was forty-five minutes. The longest time I have ever waited for the bus, but it gave me some time to think. Being a private investigator can be dangerous. Up until Theo, I hadn’t had any dangerous or life-threatening cases. I love my job. I love helping people. But I’m starting to think I may not be fully equipped to handle all that comes with it. Being half elemental, I am better at fire magic, but I can’t use that for everything. I need a refresher on my basic magic skills and to learn some new spells. I was able to handle myself in this case but next time anything could happen. A warlock who specializes in fire magic pe
rhaps. I just… I just want to be able to protect myself. Lola might want to tag along on some cases and maybe Syn too. I want to be able to protect them and my clients. I need to be prepared. But how am I going to do that?
As I walked up to the door of the police station, I wondered if I was about to get scolded. I kept investigating even though the detective told me to let it go and I confronted Theo without back up from the police. When I stepped in, the room stopped. Four police officers stood in the lobby with the desk sergeant. Everyone stopped talking.
Why are they staring at me?
I walked up to the front desk. The desk sergeant held up one finger to me as she picked up the phone and dialed.
“He’s waiting for you,” she said as she hung up.
“Thank you.”
When I got off the elevator Detective Warren was right there waiting for me. His gray tie was loose, and his white shirt was wrinkled. The bags under his bloodshot eyes were heavy.
“Looks like you haven’t slept in a while,” I said.
“It’s been rough,” he said. He led me past his desk to one of their interrogation room. “Have a seat.”
“Am I being arrested?” I asked. I sat in a metal chair across from the door.
“Don’t know yet,” he answered. “You did kill someone.”
Oh yeah. I forgot about that part of things. “It was self-defense.”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone’s been saying,” he said. “Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I tried calling you. I tried telling you I didn’t think the professor had anything to do with it but you either wouldn’t answer your phone or you wouldn’t listen.”
“You are the one who turned us on to Pierce in the first place,” he said. Detective Warren’s face turned red.
“I gave you the information I had at the time. You were supposed to investigate. After all, that is your job. And when I learned more you wouldn’t listen. What was I supposed to do?”
“You killed him. We could have interrogated him,” he said.
“He was going to kill me!”
He sighed.
I sighed and folded my arms. Are they seriously going to arrest me? I was defending myself. What did he want me to do?
“You won’t be charged. Everyone says it was self-defense, so we believe it. But you need to remember you are not a cop. If you have evidence against someone, especially if they are dangerous, call us,” he said.
I jumped out of the chair. “I tried calling you. You wouldn’t listen to me! It’s not my fault. And don’t get mad at me because I solved a case you gave up on.”
I’ve stormed out of a lot of places in my life but never a police station. I felt the stares as I walked out of the building. I did what I had to do for my client. She wanted her daughter back and I did my best to make that happen.
On to my next stop.
The bus ride to the college was longer than usual but relaxing. We drove by the park, and I remembered talking to the families of the missing girls.
“I should check on them,” I mumbled to myself.
The school was relatively empty when I walked in. After waiting for an hour and a half, the dean sent for me.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“Are there any night classes I can take? Like for witches?” I asked.
“Um… Yes. We do have a few classes. What would you like to take?” she asked.
“I feel like I need to work on my magic. Fire magic I am pretty good at.”
“But you can’t use that for everything,” she added.
“Right. And defense magic is something I also need help on,” I said.
“Okay. Intermediate Spells and we have Defense magic class. Now, these courses aren’t always on campus. They can be anywhere on the island, or you might get transported to other islands. Both classes are a little over an hour,” she explained.
“How much?”
“It’s two thousand per class and there are twelve classes,” she said.
“Each?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Wow. Might have to think about that,” I said.
She sighed. “Well, you did save all those girls. And most of them went here and you cleared Pierce of any wrongdoing. So… If you work here, we will cover your classes.”
“Work where? Doing what?” I asked. What could I do here?
She typed something into her computer and then pulled a piece of paper out of her desk. “Okay. We have a Security Department. I think they could use you.”
“What would I be doing?” I asked. “Security guard?”
“I think computer work and handling student complaints. They lost a person recently and could use the extra help.”
“Okay.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yes. What do I have to do?”
“Okay,” she handed me a piece of paper. “Fill this out and bring it back in a week. That’s when the new semester starts.”
“Okay,” I said. I stood up and tucked the paper into my purse.
“Welcome aboard.” She stood up and shook my hand.
Chapter 16
Emerald Stars
It took me an hour to get back to the apartment building. The sound of voices took me to my office. Lola sat at my desk while Syn sat in the chair opposite my desk.
“We should keep him around,” she said. She got up and moved to the chair next to Syn.
“Wait when did I get two chairs?” I asked.
“You needed two chairs, and the other one was infested with cat hair. It had to go,” answered Lola.
“And why should we keep him?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s not bad. He’s weird, you know being covered up all the time. But he’s cool,” smirked Lola.
“He’s just hiding his markings,” I said.
Syn stared at me for a moment then stood up and closed the door. He sat back down and took off his jacket. He was wearing a light blue tank top. His arms had a swirl of black markings carved into his skin. They were also on his back.
“How did you know?” he asked.
“I didn’t. Not really but it makes sense. Some days are way too hot to be wearing a jacket and yet here you are.” I figured he was hiding something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. His markings told me he was a Sinth.
“I thought Sinth’s had to stay on Niarus. Or they had a master or something,” said Lola.
“My master is dead. I escaped before I was sold to someone else,” he explained.
“I thought Sinths were assassins, not slaves,” I said.
“We’re both,” he replied. “Our mothers are impregnated against their will and then once we are born, we are taken from them and raised in a school that teaches us how to kill people when commanded.”
“If commanded to kill us, would you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to kill people anymore if I don’t have to.”
“Okay, we’ll keep you,” I said.
He smiled, and Lola laughed.
“What happened after I passed out?” I asked.
“Blossom took care of you while we called the police and got the girls to the hospital. Detective Warren was very sorry he didn’t listen to you. I stayed with the girls at the hospital along with some officers and we helped them call their parents. Syn took the police back to the farm. Theo’s smoldering corpse was still there,” explained Lola.
That’s good, I guess. I would still like to know why he did it. Or what was his end goal? Was he going to blow up the island or did he have someone else in mind? And why did he kill his mother?
“We still don’t know why he did it,” said Syn as if he was reading my mind. “He did kill his mother, though. The police were thinking maybe she learned about what he was doing because it was her family farm. She found the girls and he killed her. But we’ll never know for sure.”
There was a timid knock at the door. “Yes,” we said in unison.
Mrs. Stone opened the door. “Um-I’m sorry is this a good time?” she asked.
“Yeah, come in,” I said.
Syn stood up and gave her his chair. He stood by the door.
“I just wanted to drop this off,” she said as she handed me an envelope. “And to check on you. Rose was worried, but they still have her and the other girls in the hospital. They need to get their strength up.”
“I’m fine. I just overdid it with the magic that’s all. How is she doing?”
“She’s okay. I guess. She’s been sleeping a lot and having night terrors. But she’s alive and I have her back. So, we’re okay. She wants to meet you. If that’s okay.”
“I would love to meet her,” I said.
“Good. Perhaps in a few days when she’s a little better.”
“When she’s better, bring her by,” I said.
“I will. Hopefully, she’ll be up to see the Emerald Stars. They are something she’s always wanted to see. But anyway, she should be getting up soon I should go,” she said as she stood up. “Thank you. All of you.”
Lola and Syn beamed as she left the room and closed the door behind her.
“Helping people is fun,” Lola smiled.
I opened the envelope to find more money than we had initially agreed on. I gave some to Lola and some to Syn for their help and went back to bed. I slept off and on before deciding to get up Sunday afternoon. I had messages from Tania’s and Waverly’s families thanking me for my help. I would call them back later to check-in.
The girls were free and safe, but they still had a long road ahead of them. Not just physically but mentally as well. Being kidnapped and held prisoner for any amount of time can take a toll on one’s mental state. I knew a good therapist that I would recommend to all of them. Hopefully, she could help them get their lives back on track. I felt rested enough. I fretted around the apartment until the evening when I went outside. As the moon went down the emerald stars could be seen more clearly. Most people from the neighborhood would be on the hill. It’s a large open space about two blocks from my apartment. As I walked the streetlamps lit themselves as it grew darker. I reached the hill and was looking for a spot to sit when I heard someone yell my name. I looked up and Blossom, Lola, and Syn were sitting on a blanket and waving me over.
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