Witch in Charm's Way

by R K Dreaming

  Allegra had always had an impression of me that was slightly different than my impression of myself.

  Despite the overcast day, I left the café every hour to rush to the bathroom and top up my sunblock. The daylight hours crept by horribly slowly.

  I was so glad when four o’clock arrived and the sun began to set, and the itching burning sensation on my skin subsided. It had been driving me crazy.

  By eight o’clock in the evening the café had still not shut up for the night, but Aunt Adele took pity on me. She told me to go off and do my thing while she looked after our last few customers.

  I went back upstairs and eyed up my stack of books on my bed in dismay. My reading had not found me a single helpful thing. Even if it had done, next I would face the task of convincing myself to use my wand again after all of these years.

  I didn’t know what I would do if I found that my last bit of magic had grown too rusty to cooperate. Would I tell Allegra my secret? Could I ask her to perform the spell I needed without telling her why?

  I paced around my room, too full of my night-time pent-up energy to face reading through the rest of the books with their tiny cramped handwriting. The mere thought of more hours spent trying to translate the magiolingvo passages in them made my brain protest. I was out of practice with reading the language of magic.

  I was filled with that odd sensation again, as if the night was calling to me. It wanted me to go out. It wanted me to be free. And that was what was so very dangerous about it. It was tempting me into something new.

  I didn’t want it.

  And yet I had to go out if I was going to keep my promise to Aunt Adele.

  I went to the window and stared out of it. The sky was a shade of midnight blue filled with stars. The moon was bright. I could smell the salt air coming in from the sea. Beyond that line of trees was the cliff path leading down to the beach.

  All day — since I had woken up from that dream of Lily in fact — I had been imagining the smell of blood.

  The iron tang had been particularly haunting the entire time that I had been working in the café. Lingering, as if Lily’s spirit was reminding me of my promise. I knew it was my imagination, but it had smelled so real.

  Gosh darn it, I thought suddenly. Esme Westbrim, you are not a coward!

  And heck, my family already knew I was back in town so there was no point in hiding inside any more.

  I grabbed my jacket and headed outside.

  I took a lantern with me. I suppose I could have tested my magic by trying to light my wand tip, but the thought of using magic again was daunting.

  What if I failed?

  Lantern in hand, I went down to the bottom of the café garden. It turned out I didn’t need it. The path here was strung with bright fairy lights and well lit. So was the steep downhill path that zigzagged along the cliff face all the way down to Brimstone Bay Beach.

  The wind whipped through my hair as I went, bringing with it the fresh scent of the surf. How I had missed that smell all these years. It smelled like home.

  It smelled like a childhood spent building sand castles with my cousins, and waging war from our sandy fortresses, pretending we were the Brimstones versus the Hardwicks. Allegra, Flaffy, and I had almost always played the Brimstones. Viv, Coco, Cora and the twins’ little sister Cordy had played the Hardwicks.

  When I reached the beach, I took off my shoes and let my toes sink into the fine soft sand. It was like silk. It was so odd that Humbles never guessed that Brimstone Bay was magical. How else would you get silky white sand and crystal clear turquoise waters in England?

  The summers were always hot here, the springs and autumns mild, the winters crisp and snowy. Perfect weather for all times of year.

  Enjoying the squishy feeling of the sand beneath my toes, I made the long walk across the bay towards Beachbum’s little kingdom.

  I smiled as I approached it. I could see the distant orange glow of a huge bonfire raging, and hear gentle music coming from the shadowy figures sitting around it. A few couples and small groups of friends were dancing. Their laughter rang through the night air.

  My cousins and I used to dance like that. I missed it.

  Shaking off my reminiscent air, I picked my way through the small crowd until I found Beachbum.

  He was lying on a hammock, and was playing a ukulele while he puffed away at a glass pipe that was emitting fragrant purple smoke.

  The hammock was floating in mid-air and definitely should not have been doing so out here in public. Clearly there was nothing holding it up. I was sure that a few of the gathered crowd were Humbles, and I wondered what reasoning Beachbum had used to explain his minor miracle to them.

  It didn’t matter much I supposed. Humbles were so ready to believe in these marvellous ‘witching tricks’ that brought tourists flocking to Brimstone Bay in the first place. The town’s leaders had negotiated some leeway with the Conclave of Magic in regards to the International Secrecy Pact when it came to things like this.

  “Hey there, Dude,” I said to him, unable to keep the big smile off my face.

  He stopped playing his ukulele, and pushed his dark sunglasses down the bridge of his nose to look enquiringly at me.

  A big smile creased his face when he recognised me.

  “Look at you, little Esme Westbrim, back home again!” He hung over the edge of his hammock and lazily opened his arms for a hug.

  Chuckling, I embraced him.

  “What happened to your hair, man?” he said. “The Dude does not like this unnecessary artifice.”

  I shrugged.

  He looked almost exactly the same as he always had, except the firelight was catching on wrinkles that had not been there before. His long dirty-blond hair was still shaggy, and he still had the same scruffy beard. He hadn’t adjusted his attire for the sake of the increased Humble tourism in town either. He was still wearing wizarding robes that he’d cut off at the knee, leaving the edges frayed.

  I had no idea where he bought Hawaiian-print robes from. Perhaps he just transfigured them out of normal robes to suit his style.

  He waggled his finger at me. “For some reason, the Dude thinks that you did not come here to party, young Esme.”

  I nodded. And said quietly, “I think you can probably guess why I’m here?”

  He chuckled. It was a lazy and easy-going sound. Not the sound of a guilty man.

  “I wondered how long it would take someone to find me. Didn’t think it would be you that came looking though.” He scratched his head quizzically. “Thought it would be that new fella. You know, the Hollywood one?”

  “He’ll probably get round to it,” I said. “After he’s done interviewing the other sugar daddies in town.”

  The Dude threw back his head and laughed. “Ain’t no sugar daddies like me in this town, baby,” he said.

  “Aren’t you worried?” I asked him.

  “Ain’t got nothing to worry about. Pull up a pew.”

  He took his wand lazily out of the breast pocket of his robe and waved it, muttering an incantation under his breath.

  Beachbum might be the most laid-back wizard that I had ever known, but he was very good at magic, which was probably why the town council hadn’t managed to throw him out of his little kingdom yet.

  Another floating hammock appeared suddenly in mid-air beside me. He waved his wand again. I felt a bouncing gush of air beneath me, giving me a leg up into it.

  Beachbum chuckled again as I half-soared, half-fell into the hammock.

  I laughed too. I had forgotten that this was why we used to hang out with him. He made you feel like you didn’t have a care in the world.

  I lowered my voice so that no one nearby would hear us. “You’ve heard about what happened to Lily Silverswift?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Couldn’t not hear it. It’s the only thing they’re talking about on the beach today. You found her, I heard?”

  I nodded.

  He shook his head sadly. “
That poor kid.”

  “Was it true that you and she were, er… Seeing each other?”

  He looked astonished. And then he laughed until tears were running down his cheeks.

  “Good one,” he finally gasped, his laughter subsiding. “Where did you hear that?”

  “From her ex-boyfriend,” I said. “She’d told him that she was seeing an older guy. A sugar daddy. We thought it might be you. You know — sugar, fairy dust?”

  He shook his head. “If she was seeing someone older, it wasn’t me. It would have been someone special though. The girl was full of life. Damn shame what happened to her. Poor kid.”

  “But you knew her,” I persisted. “Didn’t she tell you if she was seeing someone?”

  He shrugged. “I think she might have been seeing more than one someone,” he said.

  “Really?”

  He shrugged again. “Kids these days. They just want to live. Right thing, if you ask me. They’re not thinking about anything serious. Not at her age.”

  “I don’t think the guys she was seeing would have been saying that. They’d have been jealous. She was so beautiful. You don’t see many girls like her.”

  He nodded. “Yep, the boys might have wanted more, but I don’t think she did. She told me she was holding out for something special. And she was determined to find it here in Brimstone Bay. The place were magic comes to play.”

  I nodded. It made sense. Lily might have liked Oberon, but it seemed she’d known better than to think she could have a long term future with a dhampire. People would have made their lives too hard.

  He took a long drag of his pipe and then hiccupped. He giggled as he watched a purple bubble gently float up and away. Whatever was in it was clearly making him happy.

  “Want some?” he asked me, offering the pipe.

  I shook my head.

  He giggled again. “Yeah, you’ve been getting fairy dust of a different kind over there in Dele’s café. That Dele was always good at her thing. Heck, if she sold it in powder form, I’d have been selling it out here day and night.”

  “Selling what exactly?” said a commanding voice.

  I turned around in horror. Agent Constantine was glaring at the both of us.

  Even Beachbum must’ve been shocked because both of our hammocks fell straight out of the air. We landed with a crash on the sand.

  “Damn boy,” said Beachbum, getting up and lazily patting the sand off himself. “You near scared me half to death. This old ticker ain’t what it used to be.” He patted his chest.

  “You’re not sick, are you, Dude?” I asked in concern.

  “Not if I can help it,” said the Dude.

  He dropped down on the sand to sit cross-legged beside me. By his grin, I knew he had decided to stay down here to annoy Agent Constantine, who did not look like he wanted to sit down and join us. This left him towering above us, glowering like the adult in the group.

  I couldn’t help but take a leaf out of Beachbum’s book and start giggling.

  Chris looked suspiciously at me, as if I might have been partaking of a certain perfumed pipe.

  I bit my lip to stop my laughter.

  “How can we help you officer?” I said.

  Beachbum and I were now shaking with the effort of holding our giggles in.

  “You can tell me where you were on the night that Lily Silverswift was murdered,” he said.

  “You know where I was,” I said.

  “Not you,” he ground out. “Him.”

  “He has a name,” I said.

  “Yes siree,” said Beachbum. “And that’s Beachbum to you.”

  Agent Constantine glared.

  Beachbum and I started laughing again.

  “Are you going to tell me where you were?” said Agent Constantine, sounding very stiff indeed, “or am I going to have to drag you into the station for questioning?”

  Beachbum looked at me. “What do you reckon, pink-witch? Shall we talk to Chief Hardwick’s man? This new chief ain’t to my liking, you know. Chief Raine knew what was what. Not sure I like Officer Roughety Toughety here much either.”

  I covered my mouth to cover my peals of mirth. Roughety toughety! What a Beachbum thing to say!

  Agent Constantine was glaring at me, a muscle in his jaw ticking like he had just about had enough.

  “He’s okay, I think,” I managed to choke out.

  Beachbum nodded as if my word was good enough for him.

  “In that case, officer, pull up a pew.” Beachbum pointed down at the sand.

  Agent Constantine stubbornly continued to stand.

  “Or not.” Beachbum shrugged. He scratched his head. “On that night I was er… Let’s see. First I was here hosting one of Beachbum’s famous pit parties. You can ask anyone.” He waved vaguely in the direction of the people gathered around the roaring flames. “Fire pit, you know. The kids like it. And I like the kids.”

  “Er, I don’t think you should say that,” I told him. “It sounds a bit wrong.”

  He fluttered his hands at his chest and opened his eyes wide. “What? Me? No! Scourgify your filthy mind.”

  “Hey,” I objected. “I haven’t got a filthy mind.”

  “If you say so,” he said.

  “I do say so,” I said.

  “Are you two done acting like children?” said Agent Constantine.

  “Yes sir, sergeant sir,” I said, saluting him.

  He scowled.

  I smiled.

  “If you’d been nice to me earlier,” I said, “I was going to tell you all about Sugar Daddy and everything.”

  He glared. “You be quiet. You and I are going to have words after this.”

  I pressed my lips together and pretended to zip them up. Beachbum and I exchanged a glance, and both tried not to laugh.

  “Continue,” said Agent Constantine stiffly to Beachbum.

  Beachbum scratched his head again. “Er… Then I left the beach,” he said.

  “What time?”

  “I don’t know what time, man,” said Beachbum. “Sometime late. Say, four or five or six hours after sunset?”

  Agent Constantine looked disgusted at this vagueness.

  “Was it four or five or six?” he bit out.

  “I don’t know man. Something like that.”

  “Where’d you go?” Agent Constantine said.

  “Club Nocturne, where the big boys and girls play,” said Beachbum, looking very pleased with himself.

  Agent Constantine frowned. “Club Nocturne? You?”

  “Yep,” said Beachbum. “I got a personal invite from Oberon Maltei Junior, and you know his daddy owns that joint.”

  Agent Constantine’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that you saw Oberon Junior at Club Nocturne that night?”

  “Sure. They were here at my beach party first. Then they wanted to go to the club, so we went.”

  “Who is ‘they’?” said Agent Constantine.

  “All of em. The usual crew. Oberon, Lily, the Hardwick boy, the snooty twins. I partied with them, man. They aren’t so bad once they chill out a bit. It was fun.”

  The look on Agent Constantine’s face had darkened. “Is that your official statement? That you partied with Oberon, Lily, Lorcan Hardwick, and Petra and Paolo Ambers in Club Nocturne on the night that Lily died?”

  “Yep, it was fun too. I musta left sometime after midnight. I can’t take too much of that place, man. Too many wired folks everywhere. It’s not my scene.”

  “And were they still there after you left?” said Agent Constantine.

  Beachbum nodded. “Yep, they were going strong.”

  “All of them?”

  “Yep, all of them.”

  “Name them,” Agent Constantine said, his pen held ready.

  “Jeez Louise. What you said before.” Beachbum repeated the names.

  I watched Chris Constantine’s face throughout this exchange.

  “You didn’t know,” I said.

  He frowned at me a
s if he wanted me to shut up, but I continued.

  “You didn’t know that they were there. So what happened? Did they tell you that they were here at the beach and then they all went home alone? They never mentioned the club part?”

  This had been a total guess on my part, but I could tell by the look on his face that I had hit on the truth.

  “Weird,” I said. “Why wouldn’t they tell you that bit then?”

  Agent Constantine glared at me and Beachbum. He pointed at Beachbum. “You, come into the police station tomorrow morning and make an official statement,” he said.

  “Sure thing, man,” said Beachbum.

  Agent Constantine pointed at me. “And you, come with me.”

  He didn’t wait for me to follow his instructions. He leaned down to grab me by the arm and hoist me up.

  “Hey, you’re ruining my vibe,” I told him.

  “I’ll ruin more than your vibe,” he threatened.

  I chuckled. Just being out here had put me in such an inexplicably good mood that it was impossible to take his threat seriously.

  “Ooh,” I said. “I bet you say that to all the ladies.”

  He scowled.

  “But it would come across better if you cracked a smile when you said it,” I said.

  We must have gotten far enough away from the other people for his satisfaction, because he suddenly rounded on me.

  “Did you think for a minute he could have been dangerous?”

  My mouth dropped open. “Who? Beachbum?”

  “Yes. That beach bum.” He looked disgusted.

  “Ew. What have I told you about being snooty? I’ve known Beachbum a long time. He’s alright.”

  “And what did I tell you about staying away from my suspects?”

  “Whoa. How was I supposed to know that he was one of your suspects?”

  “You as good as said you did.”

  “Whoops,” I said, unable to resist goading him.

  “Don’t play games with me. A girl is dead.”

  “I know she is, officer,” I said more sombrely. “I found her. And I want to find out what happened to her as badly as you do.”

  “I don’t care what you want,” he said. “I will tell you this for the last time. You stay out of my case.”

  “Whoa,” I said. “What’s the problem? Are you afraid of a little competition?”