by Erin Johnson
Due East, Beasts & Campfire Feasts
A Cozy Witch Mystery
Erin Johnson
To all my teachers and mentors (whether I’ve met you in person or not).
Thank you for your encouragement, positivity and know-how.
You helped me find my way.
Contents
Stay up-to-date
1. Hard Ticket to the Badlands
2. Uphill Battle
3. Closing Time
4. Kusuri Town
5. The Council
6. Cat and the Cat
7. A Rude Awakening
8. The March
9. Campfire Cooking
10. Hot Springs
11. Monster on the Move
12. Giga Deer
13. Big Brother
14. Sketchy
15. Misaki
16. The Jade Fish Necklace
17. A Little Bird Told Me
18. A Confession
19. The Peak
20. Rock Snake
21. The Kusuri Herb
22. Slitherin’
23. Down the Rabbit Hole
24. Ryuu Tanaka
25. Captain Kenta
26. Dragon Sound
27. The Showdown
28. Cat Fight
29. Final Round
30. Reunited
31. Steamy
A note from the author
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1
Hard Ticket to the Badlands
I trembled as I held my arms overhead.
“Hands up or you die,” the deep voice growled again from the dark shadows between the trees.
I glanced around. Annie was the last of my friends to hold her ground. I admired her grit, but…. Come on, Annie, we don’t want to die. She slowly lifted her arms, a scowl on her face.
Iggy piped up from his lantern, which rested beside my foot. “What if you don’t have hands?”
I nudged his lantern with my toe and muttered out of the corner of my mouth, “Not the time for sass, Iggy.”
My friends and I stood surrounded, vulnerable with our arms in the air. All except Hank, who lay sprawled at the base of a giant tree. He didn’t stir, his eyes closed.
I bit my lip as worry twisted my stomach. Horace had healed him before abandoning us—again. Thanks to my brother, the gash from the lance Hank had taken to save me had stopped bleeding. Shouldn’t Hank be awake by now?
“Drop your wands.”
I didn’t have one, but Annie, Sam, Wiley, and Yann dropped theirs. Our captors closed in around us, only their eyes and glowing wands visible. The ferns around us rustled as they approached, and the boughs of the trees above us shook. Wiley cleared his throat and I glanced to my right. He flashed his eyes at me and I frowned back.
What was he thinking? His eyes darted around at the glowing points of light from our attackers’ wands, then back at me. I arched a brow—what? With his long arms still high overhead he wiggled his fingers and jerked his head at me. Oh! I finally got it. Since I didn’t need a wand, he wanted me to work some magic? I gulped and looked around—there had to be at least two dozen of these people, based on the number of glowing wands.
Maple leaned forward and peeked at me from Wiley’s other side. She grimaced and hiked her shoulders in question. Maple sang her spells, so she still had her magic, too. And maybe the others could still manage some, though I imagined it wouldn’t be as strong or targeted without their wands. I gave a slight shake of my head back at Maple. I didn’t know—should we fight back? I let out a shaky breath and tried to blow my bangs from my eyes, but the chilly, humid air had plastered them to my forehead. Think, Imogen.
I tried to recall some useful spells to attack with, but my mind seemed as dense and dark as the forest around us. My chest heaved and my breath came in short pants. I caught Wiley’s eye. He clenched his jaw and gave me a short nod. Maple nodded at me too, her brows knitted together in worry. Oh shoot. We were doing this. I closed my hands into tight fists overhead and mentally readied myself.
I looked to Francis. The vampire seemed composed. I gulped. That was good. Francis was super powerful, so maybe we could pull off an escape? He hovered, as usual, a few inches above the mossy forest floor, his expression as disinterested as ever. He’d ripped up his tuxedo jacket and wound the strips around Hank to stop the bleeding, so now, between the white button-up shirt he wore and his nearly translucent skin, Francis practically glowed in the dark. His dark eyes flashed at Maple, then me.
“Now.”
Magic spiraled around the vampire in a black whirlwind as I sucked in a deep breath, pulling magic from the lush forest with my swallow powers. Annie and Wiley braced, and Maple’s lips parted, ready to sing her spell. But before I could even finish my breath, several small gusts of wind blew past my face and a sharp sting in my neck broke my concentration. Francis dropped to the ground and Maple cried out. I couldn’t feel the connection to my magic anymore. Confused, I swallowed, then winced.
“Ow.” I frowned and lifted a hand to my neck, half expecting to slap a mosquito away.
Iggy peeked out from his lantern at my feet and grimaced up at me. “Oh. You’ve, uh—you’ve got something in your—” He gestured at his own neck… or where one would’ve been.
I frowned, his horrified expression doing nothing to calm my rising panic. I patted around and my hand connected with something soft and fuzzy and large and attached to my neck. I shrieked and slapped at it. “Get it off me!” I high-stepped in a small circle around Iggy’s lantern, shrieking. I could handle prison breaks and dead bodies and treacherous kings, but a monster bug sucking at my neck was the last straw.
“Get ahold of yourself, woman!” Iggy yelled up at me.
“Freeze!” the deep voice commanded.
“I’ll handle it from here.” The second voice sounded lighter, feminine.
I stopped dead and threw my hands in the air. I willed myself to stand still, even though a giant bug was stuck to my neck. But I forgot all about my personal bug nightmare when I caught sight of Francis.
He was still Francis… more or less. Two large, leathery bat wings unfolded from his sides instead of arms, and where his hands would have been were single, long fingers tipped by sharp claws. He flapped his enormous wings and blew a gust of chilly, damp air at me that sent goose bumps prickling up my arms. It looked like he’d been stopped midtransformation. He beat his wings and hovered a foot or two above Rhonda, who lay sprawled on the ground.
“Hold my legs, and I’ll carry you away.” Francis hovered lower, his black shiny brogues dangling in front of Rhonda’s face.
She batted them away and rolled onto her back, one hand thrown dramatically over her eyes. “I’ve been hit. I’m poisoned.” She moaned. “I’m dying. Save yourself.”
I frowned—what was she talking about? As she turned her head, the feathered dart stuck in her neck became visible.
I gasped and patted at my own neck till my fingers closed around the feathers and I yanked the dart out. I winced at the sting and rubbed the tender skin where it had hit me.
“They’re poisoned?” My heart pounded. Sea snakes, that would only make it flow through my veins faster!
Rhonda wailed, “I don’t think
they’re B12 shots!”
Francis’s feet touched the ground as three more darts flew through the air and embedded themselves, two in his chest and one in his forehead.
“Was that necessary?” Francis rolled his eyes and fumbled at them with his single finger on each wing, trying to pull them out. “Is it not clear that you’ve shut down my magic already?” He spread his leathery wings wide, the long clawed fingers curved upward as he shrugged.
“Oh darling—you’ve been hit as well.” Rhonda blinked up at him from behind her fingers. Then she propped herself up on one elbow. “Wait—you said they shut down our magic?”
“Most annoying.” Francis lifted his nose, and his nostrils flared with disdain. “And just as I was transforming.” He sniffed. “Now look at me.” He looked from one leathery wing to the other. “Some kind of hideous… batman.”
Wiley gently plucked a feathered dart from Maple’s shoulder while Annie, Yann, and Sam held ones as well. We’d all been hit… but with what?
Rhonda pushed herself up to sitting. “Oh. So they weren’t poisoned darts? Huh.” She was on her feet in moments, perfectly fine.
“Stop moving and be silent!” the voice from the shadows bellowed.
“I said I’ve got it,” the higher voice growled.
“Eep.” I froze again and pressed my lips tight together.
“Hmph. Or what?” Iggy glared. “I’m impervious to darts.”
I kept my arms above my head, but shot him a flat look. Iggy’s flickering orange light spilled from the lantern and lit up the winding roots, fallen leaves, and green moss that made up the forest floor. “You realize they could literally just dump a glass of water on you and you’d be out?”
Iggy scoffed. “Yeah, well, when they start shooting glasses of water at us, I’ll be concerned.”
I raised my brows.
Iggy’s face fell. “They’re not going to do that, are they?”
Well, now I felt bad. I let out a sigh and opened my mouth to try and reassure him, but was cut off when three figures dressed in head-to-toe black stepped forward. Another dropped from the tree above and landed with a soft thud. I lifted a brow. If it looks like a ninja, and moves like a ninja…. I glanced over my shoulder and jumped when I spotted three more behind me. I dipped and scooped up Iggy’s lantern, then edged closer to Hank. My friends closed ranks around him. Rhonda plucked the last dart out of Francis’s forehead and tossed it aside. Maple slid closer to me, and we wordlessly found each other’s hands. I gave her cold fingers a gentle squeeze.
Four people, one tall, two of medium height, and one short, stalked toward us. Their glowing wands lit up their eyes, the only parts of their faces visible under their black hoods and behind the scarves they wore across their noses and mouths. More pinpricks of light glowed all around us, the light from the wands of their comrades.
The shortest of the four strode forward, wand pointed squarely at my chest. The ninja pulled back her hood and tugged her scarf down from her face. I raised a brow, slightly surprised to find a pretty young woman standing before us. She wore her shoulder-length hair half up in a top knot and scanned our group from beneath thick, straight brows. “I am Misaki Mori, one of the head guards of Kusuri. You will answer my questions.”
What was this about Kusuri? I frowned at Maple, puzzled. “I thought we’d gone to the Badlands?”
She nodded, a little crease between her brows. “Me too.”
I glanced up to find Misaki watching our exchange with hard eyes. “Is that what you call our island? Bad lands?” Her tone had darkened and she shook her head. “Typical.”
I lifted a brow. What was going on? Their island? I gasped. “Wait… do you live here?”
I gaped at Maple, whose mouth hung open. As far as I knew, everyone in the kingdoms thought the Badlands were uninhabited—aside from the monsters they’d banished here.
“Yes, we live here. Is that so hard to believe?” Misaki scowled and edged closer, her lips curled back from her teeth. “Now tell us. Where is he and what have you done with him?” She scanned our group, her intense gaze boring into each of us.
My foggy mind struggled to process. Who was she talking about?
“Answer me!” Her chest heaved and her wand glowed brighter, the light bouncing in her trembling hand.
I lifted my hands in surrender. “Uh… do you mean Horace?” I raised my brows hopefully.
Her face darkened and she pressed her lips tight together before shouting, “You know who!”
Her voice echoed around the trees, followed by screeches and the flap of many wings taking flight. She paled and grew still. We all did… listening.
I gulped, my throat tight. “We’re not with Horace.” I bit my lip and tilted my head from side to side. That wasn’t exactly true. “Well, it’s complicated. You may have seen us come through with him.” I gestured toward the portal mirror that lay shattered on the ground. We’d barely escaped through it with our lives when Hank’s dad, King Roch, set the guard on us. “But we’re not really with him. I mean, I am his sister, but we’re not part of his army.”
Wiley cleared his throat and flashed his eyes at me. I frowned back, and then it clicked. Oh yeah, maybe not best to be sharing all my personal details with these strangers. Annie planted her hands on her full hips. “You mean to tell me then, that you all”—she gestured at Misaki and who I assumed were other guards—“are not with Horace?”
Misaki scoffed and turned to the tall guard. “Why are we talking about this person?” She turned on us, her eyes narrowed, and spoke slowly, enunciating each word. “What have you done with Captain Kenta?”
I frowned, then glanced at my friends. Rhonda pulled her lips to the side, an arm around Francis. Though still tall, he didn’t quite tower over Rhonda the way he usually did when he magically hovered. Wiley shook his head, Maple widened her eyes, and Sam shrugged and held his hands up—a gesture that would have been perfect, if only his palms were up, instead of down. I held back a grin—with his elbows bent, palms down, and his shoulders lifting up and down, he sort of looked like he was trying to fly away. I shook my head and tried to focus—right, captors interrogating us.
I turned to Misaki. “We don’t know who that is. We came through the portal mirror moments before you surrounded us.” I gestured at the broken glass.
She stomped forward. “You expect me to believe our captain disappears last night and you lot mysteriously show up in our forest, and that’s all just a big coincidence?” She stopped just a few feet away and pointed her wand right at my chest.
I held my hands up and angled my head away from her wand. My voice came out as a squeak. “Yes?”
Her nostrils flared and she bared her teeth. She didn’t look so pretty anymore—more terrifying and murderous. She opened her mouth to speak, or possibly curse me, but stopped when a grating shriek pierced the air.
Her big, dark eyes widened and she spun to look up at the tall guard who stood behind her.
His round glasses reflected the light of his wand so I couldn’t see his eyes behind the spectacles. His deep voice came out calm and measured. “We need to move before the kaiju finds us.” He grew quieter. “You’re too close to Kenta to be objective. Let’s let the council handle it.”
Misaki let out a shaky breath.
“Why?” A stocky guard with broad shoulders stomped forward, his eyes narrowed at us. “Kenta goes missing, then these trash show up? What is there to decide? It’s obvious. We should just take care of them now.” He pounded a fist into his other palm. “Jungle justice.”
Iggy sniffed. “Is that like jungle fever?”
I flashed my eyes at him, hoping he got my message. Can it!
The fourth guard sniffed. “Or let the kaiju do it.” His voice came out raspy and hoarse, as though he didn’t speak often.
Misaki shook her head. “No, Jun’s right.” She nodded at the tall one with the glasses. “We’re taking them back to the council, per protocol.”
Th
e stocky one scoffed. “Oh, we’re following protocol now?” His voice dripped with disdain. “And how are we going to explain what we were doing out here?”
Misaki stiffened. “I’ll take full responsibility.”
Another monstrous shriek shot through the night, louder now, closer. Shivers crept up my spine and Maple and I squeezed each other’s hands tighter.
Misaki and the tall one, Jun, exchanged looks. She turned to the rest of the ninjas and barked out a few orders in another language. Dark figures dropped soundlessly from the trees around us. She turned to my friends and me, her dark eyes blazing.
“If you want to live, we march now.”
The stocky one glared at us, a malice-filled twinkle in his eye. “Shouldn’t we tie them up?”
Misaki pressed her lips tight together and shot us all a hard look. “The serum in those darts kills your magic.”
I gasped.
Wiley lurched forward. “Who do you people think you are? You can’t just—”
Jun held up a long hand. “It’s temporary.”
Wiley pressed his lips together, his chest heaving.
My eyes widened. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
Maple shook her head. “Me neither.”
Wiley scoffed. “Yeah, well, you underestimated us, because you didn’t know one of us was a swallow.” He spun to me. “Go, Imogen, work your magic!”
I pulled my lips to the side and held up a finger. “No, I don’t have magic either.”