I remembered things differently. “You hated me. You thought I was a mouthy female telling you how to do your job.”
He held up a finger. “Correction. I thought you were a beautiful mouthy female who I wanted to kiss senseless. You were a bossy little thing, I would never deny that. You were also confident and smart, two things I find very attractive.”
“Did you think you would make this your home?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Be honest. When you first arrived, did you think this was anything other than a way station?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, uncertainty washing over his features. “I was kind of lost at the time. I didn’t know what I wanted. I thought Max was a family friend, one of the few people I knew and respected, and I wanted something new.
“I knew Max worked for the circus when I was a kid, and there were times I grew angry at my mother when I was younger and threatened to run away and join him,” he continued. “She would always get a sad expression when I said that. I know, in hindsight, that she always worried I would find this world alluring. She probably figured she would lose me to Max’s odd lifestyle. I didn’t recognize her worry then. I do now.”
“Do you think she wanted to keep you from Max forever?” I was honestly curious. I’d never met Kade’s mother. All I knew about her was that she broke up with Max when she was pregnant because she was determined to give Kade a normal life. I respected her devotion to her son, but I often questioned if she made the right decision. If Kade were allowed to explore his magical roots at a younger age, there’s no telling how much power he’d now be able to wield.
“I don’t know.” He rested his cheek against my forehead. “I just don’t know. She didn’t leave a letter. Wouldn’t you leave a letter if you wanted your son to know the truth after you passed? I mean ... she knew she was sick. She knew she didn’t have much time. Why not tell me the truth herself?”
I’d considered that question. “I think she was afraid.”
“Of what? That I wouldn’t love her? No matter how angry I was, I wouldn’t have left her. I would’ve stayed.”
“Yes, but would things have been different between you?” I asked. “Would your anger have tainted the last hours you spent together? Would the entire conversation have revolved around Max instead of the good times you shared with your mother?”
He sighed, the sound long and drawn out. “I guess you’re right. I never really considered that.”
“Of course I’m right.” I grinned to lighten the mood. Then I sobered, because it was a serious conversation. “She was your mother. She loved you. She didn’t want her legacy tainted. I’m sure she felt guilty. That said, everything I’ve heard about your mother makes me think she believed in destiny. Your destiny was to find this place, to find me. It was going to happen regardless.”
“Ugh. You’re sweet in the morning. That’s why it’s my favorite time of day.” He scooted lower, so we were face to face, and kissed me. “I love you so much.”
I scowled. “You did it again! It’s my turn.”
He snickered. “Actually, that time I wasn’t competing.”
“Oh, well ... .” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “You belong here. Before long you’ll understand your magic better and fit seamlessly into our group.”
“That’s some distinguished company. Do you think I’ll be positioned next to the clown with his ass hanging out of his chaps or the dwarf wearing an evening gown in our official superhero photo?”
I poked his side. “You’ll be right beside me ... and Luke, because if Luke doesn’t get to be at the front he’ll melt down and we’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Good point.” Another kiss, and then Kade added some wandering hands to the mix. “We have a long day and we should probably talk about a few things over breakfast. But while we’re still alone I thought we might spend some quality time together.”
“Good idea.”
WE WERE LATE TO BREAKFAST, but only by two minutes. I was hoping we could slide by without shade being thrown our way. Alas, that wasn’t to be.
“Oh, look at the lovebirds,” Raven teased. “I see you’ve moved your nooner a few hours earlier today. That’s probably wise.”
I glared at her. “Must you always say whatever comes to your mind?”
Raven nodded without hesitation. “It keeps me young. Besides, it’s not as if everyone doesn’t know what you guys were doing in there. Kade is loud.”
“Hey!” Kade was mortified. “Stop talking right now. I’ll lock anyone up who says another word I don’t like.”
“Does that include me?” Max asked, sliding around his son as he headed toward the table. “It’s been years since I’ve been incarcerated for any reason. It might be fun for nostalgia’s sake.”
Huh. Max was joining us for another meal. I couldn’t remember the last time he ate with us more than twice in the same week.
“How many times have you been arrested?” I asked.
“Enough times to know that jail is no fun.” Max shifted his eyes to a glowering Kade. “You need to calm down and realize that we tease because we love. And, yes, everyone knows what you were doing. You might want to stop yelling ‘yippee’ whenever you’re alone with Poet.”
Kade was mortified. “I’ve never yelled that.”
“He’s teasing you,” I said, poking his side. “There’s no reason to get worked up. I mean ... come on. You’re being a bit of a baby. You thought it was funny when we teased Raven and Percival about playing Ride ’Em Cowboy.”
“And thank you so much for that,” Raven drawled.
I offered her a mock salute. “You’re welcome. Think of it as payback for starting this conversation.”
“I’ve learned my lesson,” she said. “I’ll never tease you again. Please don’t spank me as punishment.”
“I’m gay and I think my head just imploded,” Luke supplied, smirking at the visual Raven painted.
“I think this conversation is getting away from us,” Max noted, clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention. Even though he was amused by some of the banter, he was often uncomfortable when conversations degraded ... and this one couldn’t sink much further without dropping into an underwater abyss. “I think we should talk about our plans for the day.”
“What plans are those?” I asked, moving toward the grill so I could help Nixie, Naida and Raven with breakfast preparations. “My understanding is that we’re to proceed as if it’s a normal day.”
“That is the plan,” Max agreed, nodding in thanks when Nellie poured him a mug of coffee. “We have no idea who we’re dealing with, or even if the threat remains. Two deaths signify that whoever is doing this is nowhere near done. I have no concrete information either way, though. This area is thick with magical memory shards. That makes detecting a new threat almost impossible.”
“Naida mentioned the shards,” I mused. “She said they were all over the creek.”
“They’re everywhere,” Max corrected. “Some of them are heavier than others. I accidentally walked into one yesterday that showed me a rather interesting fight between Bay and what looked to be a killer. She was leading an army of ghosts.”
I nodded absently. “She’s a necromancer.”
Kade made a face as he sat at the picnic table. “I thought she was a witch.”
“She is. She’s also a necromancer.”
“I’ve known necromancers throughout the years,” Raven offered. “It’s not a very comfortable gift. Most of the ones I’ve known lost their minds ... and then some. She might not have a happy future.”
I shook my head. “I’ve seen her future — at least flashes of it — and she’ll be fine. I think having such a tight-knit family will save her. Still, you’re not wrong about the gift. She’s not comfortable with it and hasn’t put together the fact that many of the things she views as misfortunes in her life are really the result of her powers.”
“How so?” Max asked. “I mean ... I’m interested in the nec
romancer aspect. I’ve heard tales about necromancers throughout the years. They’re extremely prevalent in the South, or at least they were fifty years ago. Perhaps they’ve fallen out of fashion.”
“I don’t think most necromancers live long,” I added. “Bay will be okay, though. As crazy as her family is, they can absorb some of the risks she will ultimately face, stand with her no matter what. Landon will help save her, too. He gets her ... even if he doesn’t understand everything about magic. When it comes to her, he’s willing to take it all on to keep her safe.”
Max’s lips curved as he glanced at Kade. “It’s a rare man who can take that on, but they do exist.”
I returned his smile. “Bay will be fine. She’s not the one we need to worry about. We have a killer on the loose and only two days left of the festival. At the end of those two days, we’re out of here. We have another gig in Detroit.
“When that happens, the killer will either leave at the same time or stay behind and become the Winchesters’ problem,” I continued. “I don’t know about anybody else, but I would prefer Billy’s killer to be caught and punished before we leave. I don’t want to leave that thread hanging.”
“We’re in agreement there.” Max stroked his chin, “But I really don’t know what to do. Once we know who the killer is, I can handle it easily enough. Even if it is a powerful witch, that’s not an issue.”
“Other than the dead bodies, it’s been really quiet here,” Raven noted. “I know that’s weird to say because ... you know, dead bodies ... but it’s almost been a vacation other than that. It seems weird that nothing else has happened.”
“Yet,” I corrected. “Nothing else has happened yet. Perhaps whoever is doing this has plans for tonight or tomorrow night. That would make sense.”
“Mercury is in retrograde tonight,” Nixie offered. “That’s a magical convergence. It might be happening tonight.”
While I didn’t follow astrology like she did, I wasn’t prepared to completely rule out the possibility she was right. “I don’t know what to do besides keep our eyes open,” I said. “We have no leads and we’re running out of time. I’m at a loss.”
“Everyone will keep their eyes open,” Kade promised. “If anyone sees anything that’s even remotely suspicious, I want you to report it to me.”
“We don’t know what constitutes suspicious,” Raven argued. “Sure, if we see someone running around with a knife trying to carve up people, that’s definitely suspicious. What other suspicious behavior are we supposed to be watching for?”
And that right there was the problem. “I don’t know.” I rubbed my forehead. “There has to be something we’re missing. We haven’t exactly put our full efforts behind this investigation because we’ve been distracted by the Winchesters.”
“Oh, but what a distraction,” Nellie said, taking on a moony expression.
“Ugh. You’re going to be all kinds of awful when we leave,” Luke complained. “You know that witch is old enough to be your mother, right?”
“I’m older than her,” Nellie countered. “I would be robbing the cradle if we hooked up.”
That was a terrifying thought. “Listen ... .” The rest of my sentence was drowned out when the dreamcatcher started alerting and a wailing filled the air as I snapped my head to the east.
“Someone’s here,” Max said, hopping to his feet, his expression intense. “Split into groups. Nobody goes alone. We need to find who crossed the barrier. This might be our only chance.”
I wasn’t afraid as I nodded. We were finally seeing some movement. I only hoped it would lead to answers.
27
Twenty-Seven
The dreamcatcher had been breached, but we didn’t know where. The one thing our group always came together over was safety, and we wordlessly broke apart like waves hitting rocks as we tried to find the entry point.
I wasn’t surprised when Kade opted to stick close to me. He was the security guru — and keeping everyone intact was his highest priority — but he always gravitated toward me in situations like this.
“What do you think?” he asked when we reached the outside wall.
I studied the trees on the other side of the barrier, the same trees that led to the clearing in the forest.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged as I tilted my head to the side and considered our options. “We could head into the woods.”
He extended a hand to still me. “I don’t think we should do that without backup.”
I understood what he was really saying. He was afraid. If I had to guess, he wasn’t yet comfortable enough with his magic to serve as backup should I engage in a fight. I understood his worry, but I wasn’t in the mood for faltering courage.
“You can stay here.” I opted to approach the issue from a different angle. “I can protect myself. You stay here and watch the border because you’re not comfortable being my backup. I’ll be fine.”
Kade’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”
I almost laughed at his outrage. “Stay here,” I repeated, only barely managing to keep a straight face. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’re not going out there on your own.”
“I’m not?”
“No.”
“Are you coming with me?”
Frustration, quick as a snake, coiled around him. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” he hissed, grabbing my hand and dragging me over the dreamcatcher line. It was clear my dare had done its job. “We’ll talk about this later.”
This time I let my smirk out to play. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
THE TRIP TO THE CLEARING turned out to be a waste of time. Kade was on full alert for the duration of our trek through the woods, but the clearing was empty ... and the trees were eerily still.
“Nothing?” I asked after he searched the area directly behind one of the rune-carved trees.
He shook his head, frustration evident. “Nothing.” He straightened and held my gaze. “I don’t think anyone has been out here.”
“Is that something you know or something you assume?”
He shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t know. There aren’t any obvious signs, and I can’t help feeling we would know if someone had been out here.”
He had a point. “We should probably head back and check with the others.” I absently ran my finger over one of the runes.
“What are you thinking?” he asked after watching me for a beat. “It’s obvious something is on your mind.”
Something was definitely on my mind. “I’m thinking that it might be wise to go back to Bay’s four-corners suggestion.”
“I don’t know what that is,” he replied, his expression blank. “Is that a thing?”
“The four corners,” I explained. “It’s a Wiccan concept. North. East. South. West.” I pointed in each direction as I turned. “It’s one of the more common conjuring techniques for witches.”
“Why do you think that’s important now?” Kade asked.
“I don’t know. The runes. Four corners. The dreamcatcher. Four casters. The Winchesters usually work in fours for their bigger spells.”
“Did Bay tell you that?”
I nodded. “She said they do circle work in threes but they need Tillie for the bigger spells. I’m wondering if that’s because the younger girls have been dabblers instead of true practitioners for most of their lives.”
Kade arched an eyebrow. “And she just volunteered that information?”
I was amused. “How many times do I have to tell you that the Winchesters are not our enemies?”
“I know but ... .”
“They’re like us.” It was the simplest explanation I had. “Okay, they’re not exactly like us, but they’re mostly like us. We’re not bad people. They’re not bad people either.”
“I get that. No, I really do. It’s just ... I don’t want to make a mistake where you’re concerned. I don’t want to trust the wrong pe
ople with your safety.”
“And who are the wrong people?”
He shrugged, sheepish. “I don’t know. Anyone with the power to hurt you.”
“Well, I’m not the most powerful person in the world. Even though you’re growing ridiculously amazing on pretty much every front, you’re not the most powerful person in the world either. Sometimes we’re going to run into people more powerful than us.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Sometimes he was too cute for words. “We’ll be fine. The Winchesters aren’t going to hurt us. It’s okay to trust the right people.”
“And you’re sure they’re the right people?”
I nodded without hesitation. “I feel their goodness. Sure, they’re a little crabby and rough around the edges, but they’re good people. If it comes to a fight, they’ll stand with us.”
Kade’s smile was wan. “I hope so. I don’t want to have to kill your new friends.”
“That would definitely suck.”
He chuckled and held out his hand for me to take. “It would totally suck. What do we do now?”
“Check with our friends and then prepare for a day at the circus.”
“That’s it?”
“The show really must go on.”
He grumbled. “I hate it when you say things like that.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I’m not sure that’s good.”
I STOPPED IN THE TRAILER long enough to change clothes after checking in with the others. They came up empty during their search as well. The dreamcatcher never gave off false positives, so we were dealing with something else … although I had no idea what.
For now I had to contend with the everyday operations of the circus. That meant getting into character.
I opted for one of my bohemian beaded skirts – the blue, because Kade said it reminded him of my eyes and we were living a romantic lifestyle these days – and then made my way to my tent. We were still an hour away from opening, but I thought the solitude would do me good.
Freaky Witches (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 7) Page 26