Silas crosses the kitchen, holding a bag of frozen peas. As he passes the sink, he reaches for a folded dish towel. He wraps it around the peas. “There,” he says. “This will be cold, but not too cold against your skin.” He holds it out towards me.
I stay rooted by the door.
“Come on, sit at the table,” he says. “You look pale. I think you’re in shock. Baby, will you get her a glass of water?” Silas asks Azure.
His use of ‘Baby’ gets me all riled up again. “How can you call her Baby when you’re planning on marrying one of my best friends?” I say. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Silas furrows his brow. “Penny,” he says. “I call her Baby because... she is my baby—my baby sister that is.”
“What?” I sputter. At first, this data scrambles my brain. Sister... what is he talking about? “How could she possibly be your sister?” I ask Silas. “You’re a werewolf. She’s a witch.”
Silas grins. “Our mother is a witch. Dad’s a shifter. I inherited the werewolf genes; Azure took after mom. It happens all the time, Penny.”
“You can’t be brother and sister,” I say, looking back and forth between the two. Azure nods slowly, waiting for me to catch up.
I’m too stubborn to give in easily. “Impossible,” I mumble. But then, things start to click into place. The way Azure sounded so familiar when she greeted him. The way they hugged hello. Even, perhaps, the late-night visit.
“Who calls their sister ‘Baby?’” I say with disgust, mostly just because I’m upset that I’ve read the situation so wrong.
“I do,” Silas says. “I have since we were little. When she was born, I was a six-year-old. I called her Baby because I couldn’t pronounce Azure. The name stuck.”
“You can’t be brother and sister,” I say. “That’s impossible. Cora would have told me. Or, Silas, you should have told me. You said you didn’t even know Azure.”
Silas speaks softly and carefully. “Cora didn’t tell you because Cora doesn’t know. No one does. We keep our relationship a secret.”
“What’s the point of keeping your brother-sister relationship a secret?”
I’m so distracted by this new development that I find myself walking towards the kitchen table. I slide into the chair and it’s a huge relief to place the peas down on the table and let my wrist rest on top of them.
Silas takes a seat too. Azure walks towards the stove. She grabs the kettle off of a back burner, carries it to the sink, and starts filling it with water.
“To understand why we keep the fact that we’re family a secret, you have to know a little bit more about the magical realms,” Silas says. “You’ve lived here in the Earth Realm your whole life, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” I say. In fact, I’ve lived in Hillcrest practically my whole life. But I already feel out of my league by admitting to the fact that I’ve only lived in one realm. I don’t need to make myself seem even more unworldly by pointing out that I’ve only lived in one town.
“Okay,” Silas says. “Think of the five magical realms as kingdoms. There’s one portal into each kingdom. Whoever controls the portal has a great deal of power. In effect, the being that controls the portal is a bit like royalty.”
“So I’m royalty?” I say.
Azure is reaching up to a high cupboard. Her fingers brush a box of tea and knock it down. She catches it. “Don’t let it go to your head,” she says as she places the box of teabags onto the countertop.
“I’m not,” I say. “It’s just... wow. I’ve always fantasized about being a princess. I mean, not because of the big, poofy dresses. I like dresses, but not that kind of dress.” My left hand is now free, so I wave it in front of my face, dismissing poofy princess dresses. “But the fun part would be living in a castle. And having servants. And marrying a prince. He’d be so loaded I wouldn’t have to work at all. Now, all of that sounds pretty darn—”
“Penny,” Silas says, cutting me off. “Not the kind of royalty that lives in a castle. Unless you want to call Blackbear Apartments a castle...”
“Not even close,” I say.
“Right,” Silas says. “We’re talking about royalty in terms of influence, power, and control. Think about it. If you and your coven can open and close the portal into the entire Earth Realm, you have a lot of power, don’t you?”
I nod.
“Well...” He looks over at Azure. “My baby sister here has the same amount of power in the Air Realm. And I—”
He stops short as the tea kettle begins to whistle. Azure pulls it off of the burner and then begins pouring hot water into waiting mugs.
The whistling sound dies down. Silas continues. “My werewolf pack and I control the portal to the Water Realm,” he says. “So... you see... This marriage between Cora and I has vast political implications.”
“It does?” I say.
I reach up with my left hand and massage my temple. Man, I really wish I didn’t drink two glasses of wine this evening. Or was it three? A headache is beginning to spread through the back of my skull. The dull ache adds to the pain I’m already experiencing in my wrist.
“I’m confused,” I say. “Why does it have political implications?”
“Because,” Azure says. She walks a mug of tea over to the table, and sets it in front of me. “Like Silas said, the realms are like kingdoms. What do you think would happen if three out of five kingdoms became united, practically overnight, due to one single marriage?”
“Well, they’d be sitting pretty,” I say. “Those three kingdoms would have all of the power. Kind of a monopoly.”
“And how would the other two kingdoms feel about it?” Azure asks.
“Umm...” I massage my temple some more. Darn wine. Darn headache. “Scared?” I say. “Not very happy? Intimidated? Weak?”
“How about threatened?” Silas says. “Do you think the other two kingdoms would feel threatened?”
“Sure,” I say.
“Do you think they might get defensive?”
“Maybe,” I say. “Yeah, sounds like a good possibility.”
“And how about if they knew about the union before it was going to happen. Do you think they might try to make some moves to stop it from happening?”
I nod. “Yeah. Definitely. I mean, that makes sense.”
Azure places tea in front of Silas. Then she takes a seat on a chair. She cups her mug between two hands, and blows on the steam.
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” she says, before delivering another soft puff of air to her steaming mug. “We’ve kept the fact that we’re family quiet for years. I was initiated into the Air Coven of witches at a young age. They warned me about how sensitive other realms could be towards family ties. When Silas became the beta wolf of his pack, we became even more vigilant about keeping our relationship a secret.”
“And now that I’m an alpha and I’m marrying Cora,” Silas says, “The Terra Coven, Air Coven, and my wolf pack still in the Water Realm will all be united. Not all of my pack are moving here to Earth. Some will stay in Water. Our bonds are strong.”
“Why not just keep it quiet for good, then?” I ask. “If letting it out of the bag that you’re brother and sister is going to be such a potentially dangerous thing, why not just keep it a secret?”
“Well, for one thing, Cora wants a wedding,” Silas says. “So the public will know that the Water Realm and Earth Realm are in alliance. And for another thing...” He glances over at Azure. “Azure here wants to be invited to the wedding. And I want her to be there... as my sister.”
He sighs. “I don't want to lie to Cora about the fact that I have a sister. I want my marriage with Cora to be based on a foundation of honesty.”
I didn’t expect to hear those words, tonight! Here I was, thinking I was catching Silas red-handed, and now I’m listening to him talk about honesty! This is a pleasant surprise.
“I think honesty is the best policy,” I say. “That’s what Jumper Strongheart says
.”
“Who?” Azure asks.
I wave my left hand in front of my face. “Not important,” I say. I sip my tea, thinking. It’s hard to think, what with the throbbing in my wrist and the ache in my head, but I do manage to put together a few coherent thoughts.
“So—this is why you’ve been acting so mysterious, Silas?” I say after a moment. “On the night that Hiroku was murdered, you told Cora that you were doing something that would be ‘good for your future.’”
“Right,” Silas says. “I was meeting with Azure. We’ve been making a strategy about how we want to introduce this news to the magical realms.”
“The news of the marriage,” I say.
“And the news that Azure and I are sister and brother,” Silas says.
“Got it,” I say. I think I really do have it. “And you couldn’t tell me that you knew Azure, so you had to lie about that, too.”
“For obvious reasons,” says Silas. “I’m sorry.”
“And tonight—you’re here so late because...?”
“I’ve been putting in long hours at the construction site. Azure asked me to come over and help her put together a new mattress frame. I couldn’t say no. I am a carpenter after all, and her big brother.”
“That’s what big brothers are for,” Azure says.
“And Azure... when I saw you in the Nugget building, and you seemed so frightened and timid, why was that?”
“Silas got in touch with me and told me he had big news. He told me he was going to marry one of your coven members. It took me a while to wrap my head around it. I knew how much this could upset the Fire and Spirit Realms. It’s a very sensitive subject. I don’t do well with things of this nature—you know, political stress.”
“You said that you would be leaving soon; going back to the Air Realm. But that was a lie, wasn’t it?” I ask.
Slowly, Azure nods. “I plan on staying here—at least until the wedding. I want to get to know my new sister-in-law. Plus, it will be good for our covens, the Air Coven and the Terra Coven, to develop some trust in each other, since we are entering into an alliance and all.”
I pause, and sip my tea. Well, she has that one right. I trust Azure about as far as I can throw her—which isn’t very far. If she’s going to be Cora’s sister-in-law, we’re going to have to fix up our relationship. Start over from scratch. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I am willing to try—for Cora’s sake.
The throbbing in my wrist is becoming a steady ache. I think I need to go home and take an aspirin. I’m so tired and achy that I can barely think straight. But before I go, there’s one more thing I feel the need to voice.
“Azure, Silas—I hate to break this to you, but all of your secrecy and strategizing may have been for nothing. The Terra Coven might not be in control of the Earth portal for very much longer. Silas, your marriage to Cora could mean very little.”
“What do you mean?” Silas asks.
“Well,” I say, fighting to concentrate despite the pain. “You said that each realm was kind of like a kingdom. The beings that control the portal were like royalty. I’m telling you that Cora, Marley, Annie, and I might not be royalty for very much longer. We controlled the portal because we were learning to be witches. However, all that might be over.”
“Why?” Azure asks.
“We were learning to be witches by reading the book: ‘The Art and Science of Becoming a Witch.’”
“Of course,” says Azure. “That’s the only way for any human to become a witch.”
I sigh. It hurts to say this, almost as much as my arm hurts. “The book is gone,” I say. “My volume of ASBW has disappeared, and so did the copies I made for Cora, Marley, and Annie. They’re all missing. Someone stole them.”
My shoulders droop. I feel like such a failure admitting this. “I thought that maybe you guys took them. Azure, I was sure that you wanted to prevent our coven from becoming powerful. You and Silas had been acting so strangely—I felt sure it was all connected.”
Azure shakes her head. “Penny, I’m sorry you thought that. But it wasn’t me. I didn’t take your book or the other copies. Now that Cora’s in the family, I’m on your team.”
I sigh. “I see that now,” I say.
Silas is quiet. I can see that he’s thinking hard. I drain the last sip of tea from my mug.
“I’d better go home,” I say, warily. “Can I take the peas with me?”
“Of course,” Azure says. “I’m sorry about your wrist. I feel like that was my fault.”
“It was an accident,” I say. Thinking of the wrist-smushing incident, I add, “Mind if I go grab my phone from your room?”
“Not at all,” Azure says.
I excuse myself from the table, and cradle my arm in the dish towel-wrapped frozen peas as I walk down the hallway towards Azure’s room.
I’m a bit wary of the doorway. It’s probably similar to how someone might feel around dogs, if they’ve ever been bitten by a mean-tempered one. I hesitate for a minute, and then remind myself that I’m strong and I can do anything I put my mind to. Repeating this in my mind, I cross the threshold into Azure’s room. Thankfully, I make it through safely.
Azure’s bedroom is small and simple. The Blackbear Apartments all have similar floorplans, and Azure’s room is actually a lot like mine.
I see a mattress on one side of the room, leaning up against the wall. Strewn across the floor are boards of various lengths and widths. Two of them are connected at a right angle, and others are piled off to one side. One is lying across the room, with one end near the doorway. That must have been what fell and smashed against the door, pinning my wrist.
I look down and spot my phone.
Well, it doesn’t contain the evidence that I hoped for, but I can’t really be upset about that. Silas wasn’t cheating on Cora after all, and that’s a good thing.
Yes, it does mean that I’m back to square one with this case, but I’m just going to have to deal with that.
I stoop down and pick up my phone. As I slide it into my pocket, something on Azure’s desk catches my eye.
It’s a mirror, but it’s not reflecting anything that is going on inside of the room. It seems to be ‘reflecting’ something else altogether.
The place that it is reflecting looks quite tropical. I see bright, white sand. Instead of a turquoise ocean to go along with the pretty white sand, I see what looks like hot lava, swirling along the shore. A red hot sun burns in the sky. Off to one edge of the scene, I see a stucco house. Above it there’s a little sign. It reads, ‘Simone Feur.’
Hunh. I have no idea what this is all about.
I watch the scene for a moment. The lava swirls and bubbles as it oozes along the beach. It slowly shifts colors from red to orange to gold, and back to red as it moves. Besides that, nothing in the scene changes.
I’m not quite sure what to make of it all, and I’m in too much pain to hang around watching the weird scene in the mirror any longer.
I need to go home and get some rest.
With my phone now safely back in my possession, I pick my way across the obstacle course of mattress-frame boards, and exit Azure’s bedroom. Then I quickly say goodbye to Azure and Silas, and step out into the cool night.
It’s time for me to go home and nurse my wounds.
Chapter Thirteen
When I step into my apartment, I make a beeline for my medicine cabinet. I really need to take the edge off of my wrist injury. I might even need to go to the doctor’s tomorrow. I’m not sure.
My wrist doesn’t look broken. I can wiggle my fingers. Maybe it’s just badly bruised, or sprained, like Silas said. Hopefully, I just need some sleep.
Turkey trots into the bathroom and looks up at me.
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” He asks.
“Yes,” I say miserably, as I wash two pills down with water. “I’m sorry. My arm got slammed between a door and a doorframe. Can you feel it too?”
“I can�
�t feel your physical pain,” Turkey says. “We don’t have the same body, after all. It’s our minds that are connected. I can feel your emotional pain. Your date didn’t go well?”
Thinking of Max at last gives me a positive feeling. I smile weakly. “No, actually, my date went really well. It was a date, wasn’t it? A real date—with Max Shire.”
“Alright, don’t go getting all moony on me,” Turkey says. “If the date went well, why do I feel like there’s a big grey rain cloud hanging over us?”
I close the medicine cabinet, and then begin gingerly stripping my clothes off, starting with my cowboy boots. This takes quite a lot of effort, seeing as I only have one good arm with which to work.
“It’s because of this stupid case. I mean, I thought I was so close to cracking it. I thought I was really on to Azure... and I was sure Silas was her accomplice. It turns out, I was wrong about everything.”
I wince as I try to pull my wounded arm through my sweater sleeve.
“Here,” Turkey says. “Let me help. Sit down here.”
I glumly take a seat on the bathroom floor. It feels cold against my bare legs, past where my dress stops. Turkey bites into the sleeve of my sweater and begins gently pulling it. I use my good arm to hold my wrist steady as I slide my right arm out of the sleeve.
“Thanks,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief once the sweater is off.
Now that my sweater is off, Turkey is examining my wrist.
“What do you think?” I ask.
“I think you’d better keep icing it,” Turkey says. “It’s very swollen. But it doesn’t look broken.”
“Good,” I say. “My confidence as an investigator got smashed to pieces tonight, but at least my bones are intact.”
I have no energy for getting up off of the bathroom floor. So, I just sit for a minute, and stare blankly at the wall. “What’s wrong with me, Turkey?” I ask, finally.
“Well... do you really want to know?”
I feel a lump forming in my throat.
“Yes,” I say. “I really want to know. I need the honest to goodness truth right now, Turkey. How am I ever going to get better if I don’t ever face the facts? Tell me. What’s wrong with me?”
A Hillcrest Witch Mystery Collection Page 48