“That’s exactly what we need,” Eliza said.
“And here I was hoping I had a secret admirer.”
“Actually, Gavin does find your bosom distracting,” Amethyst told me, still channeling.
His name was Gavin? My own increased blood flow made my cheeks redden. “I was joking,” I stammered, instinctively crossing my arms over my bosom, which I personally didn’t think could be distracting.
“We can set up their blind date another time,” Eliza quipped. “Which shoe is it?” She glanced at Amethyst, whose eyes had returned to normal.
“Her left.”
“Lift up your left foot,” Ariadne insisted, approaching me with a small pewter spatula.
“My foot… Why?” I asked.
“Just do it!” Eliza ordered.
“Okay, okay…” I picked up my foot and Ariadne wrapped her hand around my ankle. I craned my neck to look over my shoulder and saw a circle of green chewing gum stuck to the sole of my boot. “Ew, gross.” How did I miss that?
“It’s not gross,” Ariadne said as she scrapped it off the bottom of my shoe gleefully. “It’s serendipitous. And one so seldom finds a chance to use that word in conversation.”
“Glad I could help you get your grammar fix, but why do you want the gum on my shoe?”
“It belongs to Thomas.”
“Belonged,” Eliza corrected her.
“A mere belonging wouldn’t be enough,” Acantha’s voice shouted up as her footsteps rapidly ascended the stairs. She was winded when she joined us, immediately tying her hair back. “Phew! There are so many people down there, even my head is spinning. No wonder you two little mice are hiding up here.”
“We’re not hiding, we’re setting up a spell,” Ariadne explained.
Amethyst grinned over at me. “Which gave us a convenient excuse to hide.”
“No matter,” her mother said, walking over to her. “Stand up straight, Amy! And did you have wear your baggiest, grayest shirt on our busiest day in history?”
“That is in fact exactly why I wore it.” Amethyst swatted her mother’s hand away as she tried to fluff her hair.
“I swear, if I couldn’t remember pushing your big head out of my body, I’d think you were my cousin’s daughter.”
“Mom!” Amy wrinkled her nose as her boisterous mother kissed her cheek.
“Anyway,” Acantha declared musically. “If it had just been a possession, there’s no way we could cast the spell. It’s what’s inside the gum that we need.”
What they heck could be inside gum? I mulled it over for a second and then cringed. “I reiterate my earlier response. Gross.”
“Even modern day DNA tests use saliva. Better than hair.”
“Okay, enough with the blood, bosoms, and birthing already,” I grumbled.
“Blood?” Ariadne asked. Crud. That was only in my head.
“Bosoms?” Acantha said at the same time, feigning a shocked expression. She hadn’t been up here for that.
“Do you happen to have any of his blood?” Ariadne inquired. “Because that would be so convenient!”
Actually, it would get me convicted. “No.”
“Then why did you mention it?”
“Because I was thinking about what happens when you blush,” I replied hastily.
“Oh, that’s right. You were a biology major in human college, weren’t you?”
“Well, botany, but we still covered the basics.”
“Ladies,” Eliza interrupted us. “The Blessing is tonight and I have plenty to do that does not involve the potential murder. Let’s get on with it.”
They didn’t have to tell me what they were casting. I’d seen this spell in action before. There was a circle of sea salt on the floor, which was made of a single solid piece of slate polished and sanded so smooth it could have been mistaken for ice. The tower room was relatively small, probably 12 by 12 feet, but I still wondered how the builders got that slate up here in one piece. It certainly involved levitation.
Inside the salt circle were various bundles of herbs and flowers, including my family’s river hyacinth, along with common reagents like powdered basilisk fang and a petrified faun horn. In the very center of the circle sat a triangle of two wooden bowls and a tiny bronze cauldron, bubbling hot from a special quartz crystal beneath it that flickered with flames.
It wasn’t exactly a magical paternity test, but we used it in a similar way. Soon, one of the curators would reveal a braid of Hetty’s hair and pluck out a single strand to place in one of the bowls. Usually, we put another strand of hair belonging to whoever we were testing in the other bowl, but today gum would have to do. Then say the magic words and poof. Literally poof. Black smoke for unrelated, white smoke for a family member.
“Who developed this spell?” I asked, just out of curiosity.
“Enora. Seven generations back,” Eliza said, referencing an earth witch. Of course it came from her side. “To see if a suitor from England was actually related to Hetty’s clan as he claimed.”
“Was he?”
“He was indeed.”
“She was the first one to have multiple daughters, right?”
Eliza pursed her thin lips. “Only because she knew if they were fathered by him it wouldn’t dilute the line.”
“And because the Earth side of the family was becoming far outnumbered by the Air due to their one daughter policy,” Ariadne added, confirming the story I’d always been told.
“We’ve never been threatened by your numbers,” Eliza said. “Power is the only thing that matters.”
“We’ve never been threatened by your power,” Amethyst replied. “And haven’t lost any of our own, either.”
“When you multiply like rabbits, you’ll surely get a purple bunny every now and again.” Eliza gave her a fake smile. “Doesn’t make all the white and brown bunnies any less mediocre.”
“Mediocre?” Amethyst laughed. “Is that any way to speak of your granddaughter’s heritage?”
Oh, boy. Looks like someone was growing out of her mousy stage after all.
She was referring to Eliza’s daughter Eva’s scandalous infatuation with an ill-bred Aer boy with a few too many humans in his lineage, much to Eliza’s dismay. It took her two years to get him to agree to marry, and rumor has it that little Erica (oh, how her grandmother hates that name) has two half-sisters on the Fire side.
“Aren’t you almost old enough to move into a little house of your own yet? Or do you have to wait for one of your aunts to die first?”
Dang. Things were pretty crowded on the Airy side of town though. “I’m perfectly happy right where I am,” Amethyst replied icily, even though it was probably true.
“Well, it’s a good thing you are because I doubt you’ll be leaving until that pretty blonde head of yours has turned gray.”
“Let’s not dig up ancient family drama,” Acantha suggested. “To each their own.” Ever the pacifist.
“It’s not all that ancient, really,” Ariadne mused, apparently oblivious to the tension building in the room.
Acantha sighed, batting her eyes rapidly in an attempt to conceal her frustrations with her first cousin. “But it is irrelevant.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s cast this spell already. If I hear one more pixie theory I’ll—”
“The pixie population did spike considerably three years ago,” Ariadne interrupted me.
My eyes bugged out. “So I’ve been told.”
“Lots of emerald ones this year, I’ve noticed, and are they ever malicious,” Ariadne continued. “They have the shortest life expectancy, but the quickest reproduction rate. Which is why they make such wonderful fertilizers, when powdered of course.”
“If I hear one more factoid from you, I’ll sew your lips shut with the needle Great Aunt Anya made from that vampire’s coffin nail,” Acantha told her in a sickly sweet voice. “Now, Gemma. We were hoping you could cast the spell. It works best if done by someone close to the subjec
ts.”
“I didn’t even know him,” I said. “I met his ghost, but—”
“You’re the closest thing we’ve got, dear.” Acantha smiled warmly and held out a wand for me to use.
My hands were shaking as I reached out to take it from her. I liked wands about as much as I liked cats.
Under any other circumstances, for any other spell, a room full of Daughter’s Daughters would never dream of letting a witch from the wrong side of the road cast instead of them without questioning her ability to do so. Especially Eliza. But in this case, I was probably the most qualified.
The Earthy witches might have designed this spell, but my side of the family certainly cast it the most often. Boys will be boys. When some unknown woman showed up on your doorstep with a child in tow, a picture of your brother, and a sad story that gave her a right to live in your backyard or even inherit your house, you had to check it out. In fact, that’s how I always pictured my first time casting this particular spell. Or maybe on my own hypothetical boyfriend before things got too serious to make sure he wasn’t a descendant. How could I have ever imagined this scenario?
A jolt of power surged through me the moment my fingertips touched the wand. My mind’s eye saw a splay of sparks against a starry sky, heard the clang of a hammer on an anvil and I tasted iron. This wand came from my side of the family.
“Is this…”
“Your Aunt Rhiannon’s third favorite wand,” Ariadne answered the question I couldn’t finish. “It hasn’t been used in over a hundred years.”
I let out a beat of nervous laughter. “I guess everyone likes her first favorite wand, huh?”
“It is a beauty.”
Acantha removed a key from a chain around her neck and slid it into a lock on a box carved from marble. Ariadne did the same thing, but Eliza had to fish around in her purse to get hers. With all three keys in their respective locks, the witches turned them at the same time and the lid popped open.
Ariadne reached for the braid nestled in the velveteen fabric inside, but Eliza out maneuvered her and plucked a strand free first. Into the first bowl it went. Once the chewing gum was in the other, all eyes were on me.
“That spell can’t boil forever, you know,” Eliza said after a mere two seconds of my hesitation. “If you don’t think you can—”
“No one wants to know the outcome more than me, Eliza,” I huffed. “I’m the one being tailed.” The witch wisely shut her mouth and let me focus, which I achieved in the space of a single deep breath. Once I had the reins on my magic, I waved the wand over the cauldron and said, “Cognata stirpis veritas.”
Poof. A plume of black smoke rose thick from the cauldron. Thomas wasn’t related to Hetty in any way, shape, or form. The witches around me groaned, knowing that things just got a lot more complicated. I did my best to keep my smile as modest as possible, but still felt my eyes crinkling in the corners.
“So much for pixies,” I murmured.
“This revelation does not leave this room,” Eliza said firmly.
So much for shutting down the pixie theory. I sighed, then nodded in agreement with everyone else.
“What do we do now?” Ariadne asked.
“Nothing,” Eliza answered. “Absolutely nothing. The human police will continue with their investigation and we will continue with our celebration.”
“Chances are, he was killed by someone he knew,” Ariadne said. “That’s how it usually goes on those crime shows, anyway.”
“In a way, this is a good thing, right?” I offered. “I mean, someone killed him.”
“Or he chose a theatrical way to kill himself,” Amethyst theorized.
“Either way, it wasn’t supernatural,” I concluded. “So the cops, well, they’re looking for someone, not something we don’t want to have to explain.”
“That is a bit of a silver lining, isn’t it, Gemma?” Acantha smiled and began clearing away the spellwork.
“Happy Hettymoot,” Eliza said abruptly, then turned and started down the stairs without another word.
I wasn’t in the mood to make small talk and they all seemed a little down after the spell, so I quickly followed behind her. But I stopped hearing her footsteps on the second level and by the time I got to the main floor of the museum, she was gone. I wished I knew how to teleport away and avoid this crowd. And Not-So-Secret Agent Man, who was still lingering near the bottom of the stairs.
“Gemma!” Ariadne’s voice whisper-yelled from behind me. I spun around and found her on the landing. “You can’t just run off. Amethyst has seen you—”
“Stop right there,” I told her. “I don’t want any spoilers.”
Chapter 10
“Spoilers?”
“Predictions. Premonitions, prophesies, whatever,” I said. Especially if they involved me wearing an orange jumpsuit in the not so distant future.
“Well, in any case…” Ariadne shook her head as if I was insane, which I might have been. Then she reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a small jewelry box. “You’ll still need these.”
I climbed the stairs and took the offering from her outstretched hand. When I popped it open, I saw a pair of gaudy dangle earrings made of tiny silver discs linked together. “Thanks, but, um…”
“Not exactly your taste?” Ariadne laughed. “That’s what you get when a teenager takes initiative.”
“I guess the 90’s are back in style…”
“Back in style? But they just ended.”
Yeah, like twenty years ago. “It’s all new to them.”
“Time does indeed fly.” Ariadne plucked an earring from the box started fiddling with the bottom. One of the little disks broke off, but she grinned. “Here.” She dropped the fragment on the tip of my finger.
“What does it do?”
“They’re eavesdroppers. All you have to do is get one of the beads on the person whose conversation you need to hear. Inconspicuously, of course. It shouldn’t be hard, they’re sticky. Just press it onto his clothes.”
“His?”
“Gavin,” she replied. “The police officer waiting for you downstairs.”
“Ariadne, I appreciate the help, but I don’t think I should do anything to cast more suspicion on myself.” I offered her the jewelry box instead of taking the earring she was trying to give me. “Tell Amy I said thanks.”
“Trust me when I say that you really ought to get ahead of this, Gemma.”
I let out a hesitant sigh. I guess it couldn’t hurt. Just because I had them didn’t mean I needed to use them. “So I press the little bead against their clothes and then what?”
Ariadne smiled, her gray eyes twinkling mischievously behind her coke-bottle glasses. “Well, unfortunately, you have to actually wear at least one of the earrings to hear the person. Lucky for you, your hair is long and thick enough to cover it up.”
“How long does it last?”
“Only for the length of their next meaningful conversation. Then the bead will reappear and the earring will be intact, so no worries of any evidence left behind.”
“Alright, I’ll think about it,” I said.
“Better think fast.”
She dropped the earring back into the box and headed back upstairs. I thought about reattaching the bead, but instead I snapped the box shut and put it in my pocket. It’s a good thing I did, because by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs there were two police officers waiting for me instead of one. My eyes locked with Captain Kavanagh’s baby blues and I nearly ran back up the stairs.
Not-So-Secret Agent Man’s back was to me, giving me the perfect opportunity. My heart slammed into my ribs as I pinched the miniscule silver disk between my fingers. I would have to squeeze past him to get out of the museum anyway, why not leave a little something on his shoulder as I did?
“Excuse me,” I murmured, barely brushing my hand across his coat as I slid between him and the bannister. As promised, the little bead stuck right to him. It sparkled like
an errant speck of glitter, but who in their right mind would suspect glitter?
“May I speak to you for a moment outside, Gavin?” Captain Kavanagh asked, but his tone told me that it wasn’t a request as much as a requirement.
“If you must, Brian.”
Okay, well, now at least I knew their proper names for sure. So much for my clever nicknames. The worst undercover cop ever followed the captain outside. I had to get that earring in my ear quick to hear what they were saying. I made my way to the front porch and stepped around the corner of the museum to put on the tacky jewelry, then tossed the length of my hair over my shoulder and took a seat on the railing.
Resting Witch Face Page 10