by R K Dreaming
“No she does not, and we don’t plan on telling her,” said Viv.
“We have to tell her,” said Allegra. “It’s not like we can pretend that Esme is staying at a hotel. If she finds out the truth from someone else, we’ll be in for it.”
“All the more reason not to mention me being here at all,” I said grumpily.
“Can’t,” said Allegra. “They’ve heard about the murder already. Granny thinks the Hardwicks inherited the castle so she’s been gleeful about them dealing with the scandal. She’ll soon hear it was you who found the body and she won’t be so gleeful then.”
I groaned. Allegra always did make sense.
“You have to come home some time,” said Flaffy. “You have to meet baby Luna.”
Flaffy knew exactly how to win me over. I adored babies. Uncle Radaghast’s son Prospero and his wife had a six-month-old baby girl, and I had been gushing emotionally over the photos that Allegra had sent to me. Probably because I’d been dreaming Drew and I would finally have one soon. Which would now never happen.
Flaffy could see that the talk of little Luna was winning me over. “Come on Saturday,” she said brightly.
“The family gathering?” I said in tones of horror.
It was tradition for our family to gather together on Saturdays for an informal meal and a catch up. Although all of the family pretty much lived in Willow Manor or on the estate, everyone was busy in the week with their own lives, so Granny Selma insisted on a weekly gathering.
“The family gathering,” said Allegra firmly. “It’s the best time for your appearance. Everyone will be around, including the children and the in-laws, so granny won’t want to give you too much of an ear full in front of them all.”
“Good point,” I said grudgingly, but already trying to think of ways to get out of it.
Viv smirked as she watched me. “Don’t even think about it,” she said. “You might as well eat the frog and get it over with, or you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Why do you think I went to London?” I said. “So I didn’t even have to hear the start of it.”
“It’s not funny,” said Allegra. “I can’t believe that you stayed away for this long. When you left I was sure that you’d come home before now.”
She looked hopeful.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said to her. “This visit is temporary.”
“If you say so,” she said, a small smile playing on the corners of her lips.
“This cake is amazing,” said Flaffy, who had taken her first bite of the passion and white chocolate mousse cake.
Allegra tried it. The taste stopped her complaints all at once. An expression of bliss spread over her face.
“Incredible,” she agreed. “I can’t believe we’ve missed out on this all these years!”
“Thank you, dears!” trilled a voice.
Aunt Adele had floated into the kitchen through the wall, and she was beaming at Allegra and Flaffy.
She continued to beam as I made the introductions.
“It’s so wonderful to meet you girls at long last,” she cried out, swooping in to plant chill kisses on their cheeks.
She rambled on about all she had heard of us from afar over the years and grew tearful at finally having been reunited with her family, even if it had to be after death.
She didn’t let the mood grow maudlin however, making everyone laugh when she pinched Flaffy’s rosy cheek and called her adorable.
“Granny Flaffy would have loved having you as a namesake,” she said, looking sentimental.
Flaffy beamed at this.
Our legendary Great Great Grandmother Flaffy had been the first Flaffy Westbrim, and she had been the one who had started up the family business, Flaffiness Emporium, which had made the vast Westbrim family fortune.
Everyone in the family — apart from me — worked for the family business. We sold products that quite literally contained little bits of magical happiness. We were in the business of selling joy.
This was the unintended upside of the fairy-tale curse that had been inflicted on the women of our family. It had given us the gift for inventing ways to magically infuse objects with little bits of happiness — sweets, toys, books, anything you could think of.
Happiness was not a thing that magic should have been able to make, so this gift was astonishing. It had made our family famous.
No one in the world could make happiness charms the way we could.
And by ‘we’ I did not mean me.
My cousins were particularly good at it, constantly inventing remarkable new ways to coax happiness into everyday things.
But even the happiness that they could make for others was fleeting. And making a lasting happiness for one’s own life was another matter altogether. If only the family women had been as good at that.
“Perhaps you’ll be the one to complete the family quest!” said Aunt Adele to Flaffy.
Flaffy’s eyes lit up.
Even though they loved their little sister, Allegra and Viv looked a little jealous at this. They all wanted to be the one to win the family quest.
On her deathbed, instead of naming her successor, Great Great Grandmother Flaffy had set a quest. Only one who was worthy would find the mysterious key that unlocked the ownership of Flaffiness Emporium. Until then it remained in a trust that belonged to all of us and none of us. Currently Granny Selma, the eldest of her siblings, held the purse strings.
“Do you think so?” gushed Flaffy with stars in her eyes.
It made me giggle, and put a fond smile on Allegra and Viv’s faces.
“Better you than Coco or Cora,” said Viv to Flaffy, and flicked her little sister’s braid.
Coco and Cora were Uncle Radaghast’s eldest daughters. Twins. And they weren’t exactly our favourites.
“Enough about all that,” said Allegra. “Now what about this murder?”
Aunt Adele insisted that we go somewhere more comfortable, and led us all through to her private lounge, which she called her cosy nook. She told us that she and Uncle Alaric had much preferred this smaller lounge over the larger family lounge. Her eyes grew a little misty as she thought of him.
Flaffy opened her mouth, probably to ask Aunt Adele why she and Uncle Alaric had never had children, but she shut it quickly when Allegra dug an elbow into her ribs.
Aunt Adele and I filled them in on what had happened with Lily Silverswift and her friends, and how I had discovered Lily in the garden at night.
“Chris Constantine?” said Flaffy dreamily. “I can’t believe you’ve actually met him.”
“I’d heard he was here in Brimstone Bay,” said Allegra.
“Who told you he was here?” demanded Viv immediately, looking at Allegra suspiciously.
“None of your business,” said Allegra looking a little annoyed.
“Allegra’s got a new mystery man in her life,” said Viv, in a mocking tone. “And she won’t tell us who he is.”
I gasped. “Allegra Westbrim, you little sneak! I can’t believe you haven’t told me about this.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Allegra protested, but her cheeks had gone a tell-tale pink.
“Then why are you blushing?” demanded Viv.
“I’m not blushing,” said Allegra, glaring at her younger sister.
Viv smirked. “Allegra and Chris Constantine sitting in a tree…”
I felt a stab of jealousy.
“It’s not Chris Constantine!” snapped Allegra.
“Oh, so it is someone?” said Viv, arching her eyebrows.
“Now, now, girls!” said Aunt Adele. “Let Allegra keep her secrets. After all, a fairy-tale romance isn’t a fairy tale without a little mystery. She’ll tell you when she is ready.”
“What about yours?” said Flaffy to Aunt Adele. “Were you happy? Please tell us you were happy!”
It was like she wanted reassurance that maybe the fairy-tale curse wasn’t a curse after all.
Aunt
Adele nodded, a dreamy expression coming into her eyes. “Alaric and I were very happy. So don’t lose hope, dear hearts. You’re all young yet. And I’m sure your Prince Charming is out there somewhere.”
Viv snorted. “I don’t want a Prince Charming. Charming men are fickle or duplicitous.”
She said charming like it was a filthy word.
Flaffy shot her a dirty look. “Not always. Was Uncle Alaric charming? Was yours really Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?”
Aunt Adele laughed fondly. “Seven ghosts in a tower taking me in? A charming young prince from a foreign kingdom, otherwise known as a young gallant from an enemy family, coming to rescue me from an evil witch? Of course mine was Snow White!”
“Ooh!” Flaffy gave a great sigh of contentment, and pressed her palms together dreamily.
“Stop it, you great romantic,” said Viv. “Love isn’t the be-all and end-all, you know.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t want to find someone too,” said Flaffy irritably. “And it’s good to hear that the curse doesn’t always ruin things for every woman in our family. That sometimes things do end up happily. No one else in these last few generations has been as lucky as Aunt Adele. Look at what happened to mum and dad, and to Aunt Aurora and Uncle Stefan.”
At the mention of the latter couple, she shot me an apologetic look.
Aurora had been my birth mother. She had run away as a teenager with my father Stefan, a Humble, and had me, but then died shortly afterwards.
I had been raised by her sister, my Aunt Evanora, who was as wonderful a mother as anyone could have been. Evanora, my mum, had never found love and never been married, and had been glad to have me.
“It never ended up happily for Aunt Adele either,” said Viv. “Unless you think that being separated from her family for decades has been easy for her.”
She shot an apologetic look at Aunt Adele, who nodded.
“Your Granny Selma may have been the wicked witch in my love story, but she’s still my big sister and I loved her once.”
“Don’t you love her anymore?” said Flaffy anxiously.
“That sort of love never goes away,” said Aunt Adele sadly. Then she said brightly, “But we mustn’t dwell on the past. Not when there’s so much living to do in the present!”
“Unless you’re Lily Silverswift,” I said glumly. “I keep thinking if only we hadn’t argued, then she would have still had her wand and been able to defend herself. Maybe none of this would have happened. That poor girl.”
Allegra squeezed my hand sympathetically. “It’s not your fault. You can’t think that way.”
“It’s that werewolf James’s fault,” said Flaffy hotly. “They were arguing just before she died. It had to have been him.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t him. I went to find him down at Kitten Cove beach and we had a chat.”
“What?” screeched Allegra. “On your own?” She looked horrified.
Allegra had always been overly protective of me, given the situation with my lack of magic. We were the same age.
“Relax,” I said. “I knew he was safe. Otherwise the cats would have never let him into Kitten Cove.”
“You should never have had to go investigating by yourself,” said Allegra hotly. “If that stupid Chief of Police was doing his job properly then maybe someone wouldn’t be trying to get away with murder!”
“Chief Raine isn’t stupid,” I protested, staring at Allegra in astonishment. I thought she liked Gulliver Raine.
“And he’s not the Chief of Police either,” she said angrily.
“What?” My mouth dropped open.
“Not anymore,” said Viv glumly. “The new mayor has pushed him out. Made up stories about Chief Raine being incompetent. Granny is fuming.”
“But they can’t appoint a new chief,” I said, my mind whirling at this unpleasant news.
Gulliver Raine had been chief for as long as I could remember. And he was excellent. And he was one of the Raines of Magicwild Sanctuary. Members of his family had been famously fierce guardians of the witching world through the centuries. And he had protected me once by keeping the last time I had been accused of murder a secret from everyone.
I couldn’t believe he wasn’t chief anymore, and I wasn’t the only one.
“Gulliver Raine incompetent?” said Aunt Adele, looking outraged. “I’ve known him since he was a boy. If he’s incompetent, I’ll eat my hat. And that will take some doing these days, I tell you!”
“Lies of course,” said Viv. “His Royal Stuffiness Mayor Antioch Blaze wanted to appoint his own man.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“Hawke Hardwick.”
“No!” I gasped in horror.
“Hawke?” said Aunt Adele in disgust. “Alaric never did like him. Called him a snivelly little weasel once. His least favourite nephew. Don’t tell me Antioch Blaze used that sordid affair about the Loveluck girl to push Gulliver out? I had high hopes for Antioch Blaze!”
Allegra nodded. “Mayor Blaze has been telling everyone that if Chief Raine wasn’t getting old and absent-minded, he’d have caught the Loveluck girl’s killer.”
“Gulliver’s only sixty!” Aunt Adele protested. “And as sharp as he ever was. And that Hawke must be only ten years younger.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Viv. “The Daily Oracle loves Antioch Blaze, and they printed it. And that’s what all the power-players in town want to believe too.”
“Chief Raine never was corrupt enough for their liking,” said Allegra sourly. “I’m telling you this is all going to go downhill fast.”
“No wonder you’ve had to investigate this murder on your own, Esme,” said Flaffy sympathetically.
“Don’t you encourage her!” said Allegra. “She should never have gone to see that werewolf alone!”
“Relax,” I said. “Captain Villain wouldn’t have taken me if it was dangerous. Now do you want to hear what James said, or not?”
Allegra nodded grudgingly.
I filled them in on what James and I had spoken about.
“And you’re sure he’s innocent?” said Viv doubtfully. “I mean, you did say that Lily had been savaged. And he is a werewolf.”
“I think that was probably misdirection on the part of the real culprit,” I said. “It wasn’t even a full moon.”
“Maybe they didn’t want to point the finger at a werewolf,” said Allegra. “A vampire could have savaged her.”
Suddenly I felt chilled. It was true. I had not wanted to take a close look at poor Lily. One glimpse had been enough. And yet those wounds could have been a vampire. And if that was what they were aiming for, had they guessed about me? Is that why they left her in the castle garden? I swallowed hard.
No, no. They couldn’t know. They couldn’t be trying to frame me. That was ridiculous.
“Why did you think it was misdirection?” said Allegra to me. “It could actually have really been a vampire for all we know. Not a frame job. After all, she was hanging out with Oberon Maltei.”
“No way!” I said instinctively. “Not Oberon.”
“Why?” said Viv. “Is it cuz he’s hot?”
“Of course not,” I snapped. “Everything isn’t because someone is hot or not.”
“Well you think he’s innocent for no reason,” she said. “And people like to think pretty people are good. People should know better.”
“He seemed nice to me,” I said. “A good guy. You like him too, don’t you Aunt Adele?”
She nodded. “He always was such a sweetheart,” she agreed.
I was relieved.
But she ruined it by adding, “But the thing is that you never know. The one thing life has taught me is that you never know what is in someone’s heart, or even what one might do in the heat of the moment that they never wanted to do.”
I felt betrayed. I had felt sure that she would back me up.
Was it the prejudice against vampires that had made her doubt Oberon, I won
dered. It made me sad.
“What were you saying about the werewolf James?” said Flaffy to me.
I sighed. “He said that Lily was seeing some older guy who she called her sugar daddy. So maybe it was the sugar daddy who did it. Chris Constantine will be looking into it by now.”
Viv burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” said Allegra irritably.
“S-sugar daddy,” Viv gasped, clutching her sides.
I scowled at her. “I don’t think it’s funny. James was really worried about her getting tangled up with this older man. He thought this rich guy was a bad influence on her. Do you three have any idea who it might be?”
I looked at them hopefully.
Viv was shaking her head. She stopped laughing long enough to say, “Not rich. Different kind of sugar.”
“Spit it out,” said Allegra.
“Sugar,” said Viv. “That’s a code word for drugs, isn’t it? Duh!” She rolled her eyes as if we were all stupid for not having realised this.
“How are we supposed to know that?” said Flaffy, giving Viv an arch look.
“Ha! You know nothing Jon Snow,” said Viv.
“Jon Snow?” said Aunt Adele, looking baffled.
Viv opened her mouth to launch into a description of her favourite TV show.
“Shut it,” said Allegra. “So you’re saying that this sugar daddy was someone who was dispensing drugs, and not someone who is rich?”
“Dealing.” Viv rolled her eyes. “Chemists dispense. Dealers deal.”
“I wouldn’t know,” said Allegra loftily.
“Get over yourself,” said Viv. “Some of it is harmless fun. And which naughty person do we all know who likes to deal a little stardust on the side?”
We all looked at each other. “Lebowski,” we said together.
6. To Beach Or Not To Beach
“Lebowski!” said Viv with a big grin. “How’s that for detective work?” Her eyes narrowed. “And now that I come to think of it I’m pretty sure that I saw those two hanging out together more than a few times at the beach and Club Nocturne.”
“Lily and Beachbum?” said Flaffy doubtfully. “But Lily was so gorgeous, and Lebowski is such a… Well you know, a beach bum. And he’s so old!”