“I have a test sample made up, a proof of concept, if you will, but first…oh, this is a bit awkward.” The steam suddenly went out of her, and she seemed like a balloon that popped. She looked to Beth.
Beth rolled her eyes. “She wants a trade. She—we both love helping you guys, and it’s only fair that you help us a little.” Beth’s role at the lab had been temporary last I heard. A way for her to stay busy and help Dr. Trout while she finished up her rehab, but it looked like that had fallen into a more long-term arrangement. That would be good for Beth. A purpose and direction would keep her focused on staying clean.
I nodded along. “Totally. That seems fair. What do you want from me?” I mentally added up my money. I had some in savings, and rent from Bear and Badger would come in at the end of the month. Plus, Bear would pay me out from his security contract, probably including a bonus for “fixing” the property owner’s problems. But overall, things were getting tight for me financially, especially with the incoming hospital bill from nearly dying. “I can pay, but it might take a few months—”
Once Beth had broached the topic and I had agreed to a trade, Dr. Trout had regained her confidence. She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “No. I want to study you. Specifically, this gift you have for sensing the spectral signature of magic. And I think you might have other gifts. You too, Vanessa.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Nothing special about me. I’m a pretty good learner but nothing fancy. Especially in comparison to Miss Fancy-Gifts over there.” She hooked a thumb at me before getting up to dig through the fridge in the corner.
“I doubt that’s true. I have some suspicions. It is hard to get test subjects to be honest and allow me to examine their abilities. It’s this darned attitude that mages have about science.” She put on a fake falsetto. “We have magic. Leave the science to the humans. Blah blah blah. I never want to learn or get better because I’m an idiot.”
I could hear her teeth grinding in frustration and chuckled. I had definitely noticed the attitude, though it seemed to bother her a lot more than me.
“I mean, if I could conduct research and learn more about your gifts, we might be able to figure out how they work and how to make them work better.”
My ears perked up. I had so relied on the idea of Colleen teaching me, but maybe there was another way. “What do you think you could learn?”
“I don’t know. That is what’s so great. The possibilities are endless. I couldn’t really test myself before, but now with Beth… we’ve been doing some research, and the results are promising.”
Beth nodded along. “My strength has already doubled just by implementing a few changes. Can you tell, Vanessa?”
I swiveled to look at Vanessa. She was sitting, staring at the ceiling, a smear of chocolate on one corner of her mouth. She turned to look at me. “This might be the best cake of my life. I feel exactly like I’m on vacation. The warm sun on my skin, the salty ocean breeze, the slight haze you have after drinking a Monkey Lala. Screw going to Hawaii. I’ll just buy three of these cakes and stay home.”
Beth nodded. “Yep, a vacation in a cake. And it isn’t just the sensation; you really do feel recharged like you had an actual week-long vacation. Better than anything I made at the Golden Pyramid Casino and I did it with half the effort. Vanessa, give Ella a slice.”
“I could definitely use a vacation. And count me in, but… I don’t want this getting out. I don’t mind if you two know stuff, but…” I wrestled with how much to share.
Dr. Trout, perhaps guessing more than I gave her credit for, shook her head. “No one will know beyond the four of us in this room. And we’ll be careful about when and how we meet up. There is something off in Rambler, and sometimes I think I’m… well, I’m probably just being paranoid, but we will keep the testing and the results confidential for now. In the future, we can discuss how I can share what I learn. Fair enough?”
I nodded as I ran my fork through the dark chocolate cake and ate a bite. I braced myself for the magic but was still surprised. I had eaten many of Beth’s desserts and was familiar with her signature aura, but this was smoother, more nuanced and graceful. Instead of the magic hitting me instantly, like a splash of cold water, it was smooth as it wrapped around me. The emotions bloomed naturally and enswathed me. There was a lightness in my chest, and my shoulders relaxed. I hadn’t realized how much tension I was carrying in my body until it melted away. The aches and pains in my body lessened, not gone but no longer dragging on my consciousness. And, as always, the cake itself was wonderful.
I let out a long sigh. “It is truly special, Beth.” I took another bite then gasped when Dr. Trout pulled it away. “I’m not done yet.”
“You can have it afterward. First we need to deal with the matter at hand. Too much of Beth’s magic is going to sully the whole thing.”
Beth snorted and set a vial in front of me then a row of three vials behind that then another single vial. Then she sat down, a notepad in front of her.
I looked at the vials then at her then Dr. Trout. “Uh… what am I doing?”
Beth looked up. “Sorry. The one in front is the detection spell. The other three are test spells. One of them matches the signature from the detection spell. And the last should turn off the spell. None of the three in the middle need to be activated. The detection spell and counterspell do.”
Some potions needed to be activated—usually expensive, complicated, or magic-heavy spells. I took the first spell, pushing out a bit of magic as I swallowed it. I looked at the other three vials, each a different shade of pink, green, or blue. “What do these spells do? Nothing too crazy, right? I don’t want to end up with blue hair. And how do I know when the detection spell works?”
“One of them is a tooth-brushing spell, one’s a stool softener, and one’s a baby aspirin. Nothing too crazy. And we aren’t totally sure how you will know that it’s working, so just talk me through the reaction to each. Now get on with it.” Beth seemed to be picking up Dr. Trout’s commanding tone.
I picked up the green vial. It smelled slightly of mint, reminding me of toothpaste or gum. It took a few seconds for the spell to activate, then a slight foaming sensation filled my mouth. It was cold and fuzzy, and I had to resist the urge to gag, but once I relaxed, it was refreshing.
Once I was sure the spell was over, I reported my findings. “Minty, foamy, and”—I ran my tongue over my teeth—“effective.”
I grabbed the pink vial and threw it back. A little tingle spread over my body, and I noticed the small ache in my neck—a reminder of my near-death experience that had gotten aggravated during the hair washing, cutting, and styling process—disappeared.
“My neck doesn’t hurt, and I felt a light tingle go over my body. Baby aspirin?”
Dr. Trout looked at Beth’s notes over her shoulder. “Are you picking up anything else?”
I closed my eyes and scanned my senses. If I strained, I thought I might be able to sense something, but nothing I could put my finger on. “I don’t think so. Not even a signature. Is that normal?”
She nodded. “Yes, I pulled these exact spells because they are mass-produced for the hospital. Because of that, they don’t end up having much of a signature that I can see. It’s possible the spell isn’t even working. I’m not sure which vial is which. Beth set them up.”
Beth smirked. “And I’m not telling until the test is over. Obviously.”
I grabbed the last spell and threw it back. The magic settled in my gut, and I heard my stomach gurgle, probably the stool softener, then a new sensation started. I twitched my nose then gave it a rub. It felt exactly like a feather shoved up my nose.
I sniffed and snorted, rubbing my nose harder despite the pain that started to flare from my manhandling. Then I sneezed and sneezed again, big, uncontrollable, and difficult to contain. I held my breath for a few seconds.
“That was—” The tickle returned, causing me to jump in my seat then sneeze again. “Oh man.”
It was quite violent, and suddenly, I needed a few more seconds to gather myself. “That’s not supposed to happen, is—” I sneezed again, caught so off guard that I managed to bang my forehead on the table then fall over backward out of my chair.
From the ground, I heard Beth say, “At least we know the detection spell works.”
I crawled onto my knees and swiped the antidote off the table and chugged it down as quickly as I could with my spinning head.
I breathed in deeply, preparing for the next round of sneezes, when the urge disappeared. “Holy snot rockets. That was intense.”
Dr. Trout came around to check the back of my head for a lump, but I shooed her away.
“I didn’t hit the ground, and my forehead sounded worse than it was.” I rubbed the spot that was only slightly sore and probably only because I already had a bruise there. Frankly, I had bruises everywhere, and pain was being graded on a curve.
Dr. Trout pulled out a much larger vial from the fridge, more like a pint glass full of amber liquid, and brought it over along with the remainder of the cake.
I eyed the liquid. “Any chance that we can change the… uh… signaling method? Going to be hard to be sneaky around the killer if I’m sneezing my head off.”
“I didn’t realize that was how it was going to work. I guess I could tinker with it. But frankly… I didn’t mention this earlier, but in order to build this spell, I had to use some of the activating liquid from the last Legacy tablet. The successful test means we have a tiny bit left, and I might be able to make one more potion, but—”
“No! I mean, I’ll figure it out. A sneeze is a sneeze. They can assume I have allergies or a cold. I don’t want to waste anything. How long will the spell stay active?”
Dr. Trout hesitated, so Beth took over. “We aren’t sure, but based on the formula, we think several weeks. That’s why I made up the antidote for the test batch. Otherwise you couldn’t eat any of my baked goods without signaling. But if I had known you would sneeze, I would have waited. I can’t imagine how dramatic it would have been with a mouthful of chocolate cake.”
I groaned and pushed the cake over to Vanessa. It looked good, but my stomach wasn’t feeling all that steady.
Dr. Trout passed me a smaller vial. “This is the antidote. You probably want to keep it on you, given how strong your reaction is. Do you have a plan? Since the activation length is unknown, you will want to plan on getting the second batch within two weeks of now, maybe sooner. The activation spell is going to degrade pretty quickly but should still be fully effective if you want to wait until next Monday or Tuesday. After that I can’t promise anything.” All this guessing was going to give her a rash.
“It’s okay. A week will hopefully be enough time. I plan to start tonight. We know that the ingredients for Legacy are somehow connected with Ned and likely with his death, so I will start there. I might need to poke around a lot, but if I can find the wasps’ nest and hit it with a stick, then hopefully the Legacy creator will be revealed, and this spell will help me identify them.” I grabbed the potion, chugged down the whole glass, then activated it. The taste wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible. I had had some that were so bad that they would curl my toes. Which was probably why witch boots had upturned toes: a risk of the lifestyle.
After I was done, I wiped the back of my hand across my face. “We can poke around starting tonight. I have a few ideas. Maybe one of the store owners is actually—”
Vanessa interrupted. “We can’t tonight.”
Actually, what she said was “Wah con torah” with a mouth completely stuffed with cake. Once she had swallowed, she clarified what she meant. “The rehearsal dinner is tonight. We need to go change soon so we aren’t late.”
I blew out a sigh. “And we can’t investigate tomorrow because of the wedding. Okay, no biggy, we’ll get through that then start first thing Sunday. Who knows? Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll just randomly run into the killer before then. Otherwise I have some ideas. But no point in waiting.”
I drank the signaling spell and activated it while bracing for sneezes, but nothing came. “Will I need the magic to work on me to sense it?”
“Can you sense magic only when a spell is active on you?”
I shook my head. “No, anywhere near me is good enough. Like I can just sniff this and recognize Beth’s signature.” I gestured to the cake in front of Vanessa, or rather, the sprinkling of crumbs on an otherwise empty plate.
“That should be good enough, then.”
My stomach churned, and I grabbed it dramatically. The stool softener seemed to be fully active. “I wish you had told me sooner.” I stood and ran for the bathroom.
Beth chuckled and called after me, “Next time you should ask these questions ahead of time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Even though we had to race back to change, we still made it to the rehearsal five minutes early. No one else had arrived yet, with the exception of Vin, who was taking swigs from a hip flask, and Auntie Ann, who was giving him looks but kept her mouth shut.
I smoothed down my dark-blue dress. The racerback, high neck, and short skirt was different than my normal style, but Auntie Ann had picked out dresses for us. Vanessa had a red version with cap sleeves but a much shorter skirt. Combined with our hair, we looked ready to break hearts and rules.
When Tiffany finally entered thirty minutes late, she did a double take before stomping over.
“Your hair!”
I cocked my head and jabbed a finger in her direction. “I nearly died, and Vanessa was hardly in any better shape. Our options were going bald or this. And yes, we are fine. Thank you for asking. I just know you were so concerned.”
She lost some of her steam and seemed genuinely out of words. Apparently forgetting to ask about her wedding party after they were in the hospital was too much of a breach of etiquette even for her.
Her mother, Mixie, swooped up to save her hapless daughter. “We were all so concerned and were going to visit and send flowers, but Ann insisted that you both needed your rest.”
I gave the statement fifty-fifty odds of being the truth versus a lie. Auntie Ann very well might have said that, knowing that a visit from Tiffany was not what any of us wanted, but if that was the case, then why was Tiffany so caught off guard? Either way, it seemed that the explosion was working in our favor.
“Both of you girls look just… so unique!” Mixie preened, carefully picking her words. She passed us a business card for Lexine at the salon we had visited earlier. Mixie snapped her purse shut. “Don’t forget to be here at nine a.m. It’s a human place, so behave.” She shuddered at the thought of humans. “I’ll bring the bridesmaid dresses. I was able to convince them to fit us in tomorrow. They are highly recommended, and I hope they can do something with your hair.”
Mixie grabbed Tiffany roughly by the arm and dragged her off.
The ceremony and reception were at the Golden Pyramid Casino. I had expected a church or maybe some high-end country club, but apparently the budget for the wedding had gotten so large that Olivia had to step up. Her wedding gift was a venue, and considering that she hadn’t been sucked into any other wedding drama, it was probably worth it.
There was something that I needed to talk to Olivia about, but I couldn’t think of what. It was probably related to Legacy. She would want an update on what we had learned, but we could do that after the wedding, assuming we all survived.
My luck was definitely starting to turn. Once everyone arrived, we did one quick run-through before Auntie Ann put down her foot that Vanessa and I were still recovering and we should sit and watch instead of standing endlessly. That was why we were able to sit in the back row and whisper to each other while everyone else ran through the wedding another dozen times.
And though I had originally thought Auntie Ann was being dramatic, after about forty-five minutes, I was feeling every injury I had sustained, even though I was doing little more than sitting and sna
rking.
Tiffany stomped down the aisle in her seven-inch-high white platform heels covered in seed pearls and rhinestones. “One last time,” she shouted over her shoulder like a drill sergeant.
An audible groan rose from everyone, even Mixie, as they slowly trailed down the aisle.
I sank down in my seat, fanning my face with the fifteen-page instruction packet Tiffany had given me to remind us of our duties. I tried to look weak and pitiful. I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t even look at the marshal as he passed.
I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he was Thomas’s father, or maybe it was the fact that he was more crooked than a familiar’s hind leg, but my unease was at an all-time high.
Victor Bruno and Ben Ricci, Thomas’s half brother, were ushers and would help seat anyone that Tiffany deemed important. Marshal Felix Ricci would walk Tiffany down the aisle then sit with the other two men. I still thought it was so weird that they were included in the wedding when neither Tiffany nor Vin were close with them. They all wore black pants and shiny black shoes. Perhaps they got some kind of discount for buying in bulk. As Victor and Ben passed, they turned to look at me. My skin crawled in response.
I tried to dig into my feelings, needing to understand why I was so unsettled, and finally decided that it related to the explosion. Of course I would have some mental aftereffects, even if my physical injuries were healing up faster than I expected, due in part to the best magical care available.
I was vulnerable, and like a hurt animal, I was hiding from those who I knew had the power and mentality to hurt me if they so chose. It made sense, even if I hated to admit it. In a few days, I would be back to my normal self and wouldn’t hide like an injured animal licking its wounds. Victor’s familiar, a bedraggled old orange cat that had almost killed me once when I was in rat form, wandered by.
Suddenly I sneezed, loudly, and everyone turned. The weight of the stares pressed me into my chair. My eyes were wide. Was it the detection spell?
Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 33