Three's a Coven

by Samantha Silver

  “I’m guessing you’re not a regular gambler then,” I said with a grin. “Betting money on somebody because they’re nice doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me.”

  “You never know,” Ellie said to me with a wink. “Besides, I know she’s more than just nice. Tonight, she is going up against The Obelisk, from the coven of Oberon.”

  “So?”

  “So while normally The Obelisk would be able to beat her relatively easily, I know for a fact that there has been a lot of tension between the coven of Miranda and the coven of Oberon lately. I don’t know the details, but I know that a member of the coven of Oberon was accused of stealing a priceless heirloom from the coven of Miranda. So Miranda’s Thunder – ok, her real name is Fiona - definitely has a lot of reasons to want revenge tonight.”

  “And you’re hoping that the extra incentive will make her a better fighter than she normally is, right?”

  “At 11 to 1 odds, I’m absolutely willing to bet on that,” Ellie said to me. Before we had a chance to continue, however, one of the golden chariots that had taken us into town from the pyramid suddenly stopped in front of us.

  A moment later, the door opened, and Sara jumped out.

  “Great. I was hoping I’d be able to find you guys.”

  Chapter 13

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as Sara closed the door behind her and the chariot slid off gracefully.

  “It turned out I wasn’t needed at work today, and when I came home, no one was around. My familiar told me where you guys had gone, and so I took the portal over here as well, hoping that I’d be able to find you and give you a hand.”

  “Great,” Ellie said, catching Sara up on what we had discovered about Chief Enforcer King. “So now we know she was gambling, the only thing we don’t know is why. It wouldn’t have been just for fun, she would have gone somewhere with a license. None of this underground stuff.”

  Sara frowned slightly. “I have a cousin who lives here. I don’t know her well; she’s actually my second cousin, and she was born into this coven, but we are related. I actually forgot she lived here; I called my mom this morning while I was at work and told her what was going on, and she reminded me. We could go and see if she knows anything.”

  “We do have three hours before the duels start,” Ellie said, looking at her phone. “Let’s do it. Where does she work?”

  Fifteen minutes later the three of us were sitting in a saloon style restaurant, where every single item on the menu was some variation of spaghetti. I had to admit, the Spaghetti Western theme was definitely growing on me. This was the restaurant where Sara’s cousin had told us to meet her, and as soon as the girl slipped into the booth across from us, I knew she just had to be related to Sara.

  Her hair wasn’t quite as red; it had a bit of a brownish tinge to it, but I would have recognized those same green eyes anywhere. We could have been on the moon and I would know this girl was related to Sara. Boy, were those Leach genes powerful.

  “Hey, Sara,” the girl greeted Sara, before nodding at the rest of us.

  “How’s it going, Selena?” Sara replied with a smile. “It’s been too long.”

  “It really has, hasn’t it? But of course, it’s so hard to get everyone together. I didn’t know you were going to be in Desert Plains.”

  “Neither did I,” Sara replied. “It was really a last minute thing, so thank you so much for meeting us.”

  “Anything for family,” Selena answered as she picked up the menu. “As long as you buy me spaghetti, feel free to pick my brain as much as you want,” she added with a wink.

  “We were hoping you could help us with something the Chief Enforcer in our town might have been investigating here,” I said. “We know that she placed a bet at one of the witch bars, but we don’t know why. We don’t think she was doing it for fun, we think it might have been part of an investigation.”

  “Which bar was it?”

  “The Magic Brew,” I replied, and I couldn’t help but notice Selena’s eyebrows rise. “So there is something strange about that place?”

  “There have been rumors,” Selena said. “I can’t substantiate any of them, as I don’t know the details and I don’t work there, but I do work in gambling in this town. My day job is working for a registered gambling outfit, but I also answer the phones for a hotline at night for an organization that may not be quite as up-to-date on their license as they should be.”

  “Okay, so you have your nose to the ground when it comes to gambling, right?” Ellie interrupted, leaning forward enthusiastically.

  Selena nodded. “Yeah. At least, I like to think I do.”

  “So what’s going on at The Magic Brew?” Sara asked.

  “Well, there have been rumors going around that they’ve gotten into more than just taking bets. Magic in gambling has always been difficult to deal with. After all, an errant witch could cast a spell during a duel to take down the opponent they don’t want to win. It used to happen, as I’m sure you know. Now, of course, spells have been placed on the arena to stop that sort of thing, but there has still been the occasional crime ring that’s tried to use magic to get an advantage when gambling. For the last couple of months, there has been a rumor that The Magic Brew has been taking their gambling proceeds and re-betting them, but not honestly. They’re cheating to make money.”

  “But why would Chief Enforcer King be looking into that?” I asked. “That has nothing to do with Western Woods.”

  “It must somehow,” Ellie frowned. “Because you’re right, otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense for her to be looking into it.”

  “Why are you guys looking into your chief inspector anyway?” Selena asked.

  “She disappeared a couple of days ago,” I replied. “No one has been able to find her, and we think there’s a chance that her disappearance could be linked to the murder of one of our professors.”

  Selena’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, that astronomy professor from your coven? We heard about that over here. An absolute tragedy.”

  “Did you know her at all?” I asked. After all, if Professor Lei did have something to do with Desert Plains, it could lend credence to the idea that maybe chief inspector King’s disappearance was linked to the professor’s death.

  Selena shook her head. “No, I never did. No one else I’d spoken to about it mentioned ever seeing her either.”

  Great. There went that theory. We paused for a minute while a waitress came by to take our orders; I got the spaghetti carbonara, since it had been a long time since I had had the dish.

  “What do you know about this gambling thing at The Witch’s Brew?” Ellie asked, getting the conversation back on track.

  Selena shrugged. “Not much, really. I don’t even know if there’s anything to it. All I know is what I’ve heard from others. I don’t know how it’s done, but the group is taking money and placing large bets that end up working out for them, even when the odds say they shouldn’t.”

  “Can you give us anything to work with?” Ellie asked.

  Selena shrugged again. “As I said, there’s nothing solid on this group out there. The only thing I know is the name of the person in charge. Aquila. And again, I have no idea how true that is. That’s all I’ve got for you, sorry.”

  “Thanks,” Sara said with a smile to her cousin. “That’s helpful.”

  “I wish I could give you more, but I just haven’t really heard anything else. The group is being very secretive. Of course, I can understand why. No one wants to go around advertising the fact that they’re running some sort of gambling ring.”

  Just then, the waitress came by with plates laden full of huge servings of spaghetti, and the conversation was forgotten as the four of us dug in to our food. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until the aroma of spaghetti mingled with egg and Parmesan cheese wafted to my nostrils.

  “So do you guys think someone from Western Woods was involved in this gambling ring?” I asked through a giant m
outhful after a few minutes.

  “That seems likely, at least to me,” Ellie replied. She was busy eating a meatball that had to be the size of her fist.

  “I agree,” Sara nodded. “If it was just a Desert Plains thing, then there would be no reason for Chief Enforcer King to get involved. That has to be it.”

  “For what it’s worth, I can’t say I’ve seen too many people from your neck of the woods hanging out here,” Selena said. “If someone involved is from Western Woods, then they’re being quite subtle about it.”

  Ellie nodded. “I would expect them to be; after all, you don’t manage to run an allusive gambling ring without learning to hide pretty well.”

  As the four of us finished eating our spaghetti, the conversation moving on to other topics, I couldn’t help but think that if even Chief Enforcer King couldn’t bring this person to justice, what chance did the rest of us have?

  Chapter 14

  Once we finished eating, Selena thanked us, said goodbye to Sara - with the promise to stop by if she was ever in Western Woods - and Ellie, Sara, and myself all made our way towards the arena which was going to hold that night’s witch’s duel. After all, what better place to get insider information about gambling than a dueling tournament on which bets were placed?

  I had no idea how we were going to get that information, but hey, what did we have to lose?

  To my surprise, the dueling arena on the outskirts of town was a lot like a roman coliseum, but with a bit of a western touch. Instead of being built out of stone, the huge structure was made of wood, and all around the outside were magical portrayals of witches and wizards - I assumed the ones that were competing tonight - fighting each other as though projected onto the walls. By now, I knew a lot better than to look for an actual projector, these images were obviously put in magically.

  Ellie, Sara, and I joined the queue of people making their way inside the stadium. Evidently, this was an incredibly popular pastime, and all-around people whopped and hollered while cheering and calling out the names of their preferred competitors. It definitely was not unlike the scene outside of CenturyLink Field when the Seahawks were playing.

  While jerseys didn’t seem to be much of a thing, a lot of the fans were specific colors, which I figured indicated that they were fans of certain competitors. A mustard yellow and black wearing woman had “Miranda Thunder” written on the back of her shirt, so I figured those must have been her colors.

  A fairy fluttered past me a moment later, her royal blue shirt featuring a large, white oblong rock on the front of it. She obviously had to be cheering for Maranda’s opponent tonight.

  After about ten minutes of standing in line, the three of us made our way to the front, where we were briefly checked by security and let inside.

  “We don’t need tickets or anything?” I asked, and Ellie shook her head.

  “No, the organization that runs the duels doesn’t charge for entry; they make so much more money by licensing the rights to gamble that it’s not worth it. Besides, free entry means a packed stadium every night, which means good publicity.”

  I nodded as the three of us made our way to the main arena and found ourselves some seats. We were about halfway up, and as soon as we stepped out into the Stadium my head began to spin as I realized just how high up we were.

  The floor of the arena had to be built down below ground level; we were at least three stories higher than the dusty arena floor. I grabbed at a railing and made my way down the steps with the others until we came across three empty seats, which we promptly took.

  “I’ll go get snacks, save my seat,” Ellie said once we sat down, and made her way back from where we had just arrived.

  “Have you ever seen one of these duels?” I asked Sara, and she shook her head.

  “No, never. I see the results, of course. And I’ve watched them on TV. But I’ve never seen one live. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan. Growing up we always played duels amongst ourselves, since that’s what you do when you’re little witches. But for me, it was never a fun experience, since everyone beat me all the time.”

  “I can understand that,” I nodded. “Kids can be cruel.”

  “Especially Amy, since she had all of the talents that she still possesses with none of the humility that comes with being older than seven.”

  “Oooh, that would have sucked.”

  “She apologized for it all a few years ago. She told us that she didn’t understand why any of us were even friends with her, given how she acted when we were little.”

  “What did you say to that?”

  “I told her that I didn’t know why I was friends with her, either,” Sara replied with a laugh. “But I mean, that’s what kids do. Obviously, I didn’t hold a grudge.”

  I nodded as Ellie came back, carrying a tray laden full of food and drinks, and waving a brochure in her other hand.

  “Sara, have a look at this,” Ellie said, thrusting the piece of paper into Sara’s hand.

  I peeked over Sara’s shoulder, curiosity piquing my interest, and read the brochure that Ellie had handed over.

  Wanted: Witches and Wizards with Skills on a Broom

  Are you a witch or wizard with exceptional flying skills? Desert Plains Duels is currently searching for new talent to take part in a new sport that will rock the magical world: broom racing. Competitors will be required to fly with not only speed, but also skill as they avoid obstacles in a sport that will test their physical limits but also potentially bring glory that they have never envisioned. If this sounds like something you would be capable of doing, please send an audition video showcasing your broom riding skills to Desert Plains Duels by September 30th.

  I raised my eyebrows and looked at Sara. “That looks interesting.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Ellie said. “They had a bunch of these brochures out by the concession stand, and as soon as I saw it I thought of you, so I grabbed one.”

  “I don’t know,” Sara said slowly.

  “What’s not to know? You’re easily the best witch in Western Woods on a broom,” Ellie said.

  “Maybe, but I doubt I stack up compared to others. What about all of the witches from the covens ruled by air? Surely, they’re going to have a ton of witches and wizards who are a lot better than me.”

  “They might, but they might not,” Ellie retorted. “You’ll never know if you don’t try out. Besides, this could be an amazing opportunity for you. Riding your broom has always been your favorite part of being a witch, and what if these broom races take off? You know how popular the best duelers are. Maybe that could be you. Speedy Sara. Striking as fast as a bolt of Jupiter’s lightning.”

  Even Sara couldn’t help but smile at that one. “Okay, fine. I’ll look into it a little bit more.”

  “Good, I was hoping you would say that,” I said. “I agree with Ellie. It could be really good for you. And you are really good at riding your broom.”

  Sara gave me a small smile of encouragement. “Thanks,” she said, but I had a feeling that she wasn’t completely sold on the idea just yet.

  Ellie handed us small tubs of what looked like a multicolored popcorn, and I peered at it curiously. I wasn’t especially hungry, seeing as I had just finished a giant plate of spaghetti a little while earlier, but this looked so strangely enticing, I kind of wanted to know what it was. And how it tasted.

  “It’s called pep pop,” Ellie told me, noticing the strange expression on my face. “It’s super low calorie, so I figured it would be appropriate given how much spaghetti we just ate. But it’s magically enchanted to make you want to get up and cheer, so they sell it at all of these events to get the crowd going.”

  “The more I learn about magical food, the more I’m pretty sure this is what the human world would be like if all drugs were legal and everyone was taking them all the time,” I joked. “What kind of drink is that?”

  “Just water,” Ellie said with a grin. “It’s so warm and dry out here, you
get dehydrated without even noticing it.”

  “Thanks, mom,” I said with a smile as I happily grabbed a large cup of water from the tray. I took a careful bite of some of the pep pop, and immediately felt my mood rise, like I knew something cool was about to happen. Wow, these magical foods really did work quickly.

  A few minutes later, just after the sun dipped over the horizon and the sky went from a deep blue to black, the lights in the Stadium came on and a hush came over the crowd.

  “Witches, wizards, fairies, shifters, vampires, and more. Welcome, one and all to the most riveting fight in the paranormal world,” an amplified voice boomed over the crowd. “Tonight, we have three duels with which to entertain you. First of all, The Titan takes on The Fires of Hell. Then, Fighting Luna takes on Thomas the Terrible.”

  “Well, Thomas the Tank Engine sure went badly somewhere along the lines,” I muttered to myself.

  “What’s that?” Sara asked next to me.

  “Nothing, just a human world joke,” I replied.

  “Finally, the fight you’ve all come here to see. Miranda Thunder takes on The Obelisk. But first, help me in welcoming our first two competitors: The Titan, and The Fires of Hell!”

  The crowd erupted in a deafening roar, and I found myself jumping to my feet along with everyone else, despite the fact that I had no idea who either of the two competitors were. The pep pop was definitely doing its job after all.

  “The Titan is actually not from the coven of Titan, but rather from the coven of Titania, which is a little bit confusing,” Ellie said into my ear as the two men walked out from opposite ends of the Coliseum and into the arena. “He’s the one dressed in blue and orange.” Sure enough, the man on the far end, to our left, came out wearing blue and orange striped robes that gave him a real Harry Potter look. He looked small, but strong. “He’s a young up and comer,” Ellie continued. “Last year was his first season on the professional dueling circuit at the top level, and he managed to topple a couple of witches and wizards who were on paper much better than he is. He’s a real wildcard, but he’s cemented the fact that he deserves to be here.”