Mysterious Mintwood Murmurs

by Addison Creek

  “It’s not really his call,” I said defensively, knowing that was only partially true.

  After all, Jasper had his own secret. Deacon was his lifelong friend. We all just had to hope that Deacon would understand certain information had been kept from him.

  “We have to tell him,” said Greer. “If he finds out that I’ve been lying to him . . .”

  “You haven’t! And anyway, you didn’t really have a choice,” I said.

  “He might not see it that way. You know how his mother is stubborn? He has that too,” she said.

  “We can tell him. He can have a piece of green jewelry. Maybe an earring or a nice headpiece,” I said. “A hair clip.”

  Greer rolled her eyes and then laughed. “Yeah, and he could wear it to our wedding at the Easton Estate and give my mom and his mother heart palpitations,” she said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said.

  I went to clean up after that, so I could be out from underfoot. All the way up the stairs I could hear her banging around in the kitchen. What Charlie had wondered earlier stuck in my head. Where would Greer want to live? I had gotten used to my friends being around. What if she wanted to leave Mintwood? What if Deacon hated the idea of living here? Sure, they wouldn’t go far. But I knew it wouldn’t be the same.

  Not only that, but the ghosts were attached to my friends. Who would Paws spar with if Greer moved away?

  Maybe Jasper was right and they’d stay nearby. They certainly wouldn’t leave the county. Maybe Deacon wouldn’t care where he lived. Maybe he would fall wildly in love with Tank or Paws. Okay, Tank anyway.

  A couple of hours later, the six of us were gathering around the table. We’d squeezed five in at the kitchen nook before, but six was just too many, especially when three were guys. Elbow room was important at meals. We had decided to eat in the rarely used dining room instead.

  Charlie and I had cleared off the table while Greer finished the preparations. Hansen helped Greer. They were the only two among us who were known to be good cooks. I had a suspicion that Jasper was also a talented cook, but he was mostly keeping it quiet.

  Deacon was tired from his journey, but clearly happy to be here. He’d gone home to shower before coming over, and his longish hair left slightly damp spots as it brushed his shoulders.

  Once the six of us were seated around the table, we dug into Greer’s sumptuous feast.

  “Are you glad to be back?” Charlie asked Deacon, spooning piles of rice and veggies onto her plate as she spoke

  He grinned. “Mostly. I’m happy to see my girl. My mother is going to be another story. She’ll want to discuss the wedding and our decisions about every little detail. She won’t be able to think of anything else until the wedding is over.”

  “I don’t see why our mothers get to rush us into making choices that we’re not ready to make,” said Greer. She kept her tone light, but there was an edge to it. Her hair was down and she wore a shirt with a pattern for once. She looked pretty. Deacon had noticed too. He kept glancing in her direction and smiling. Then his eyes would skate to her ring. He was so happy, he almost glowed.

  “For us to get married, we’re going to need to make decisions. Since when aren’t you ready to make them?” Deacon asked.

  “Since I found out they were going to be so complicated,” said Greer.

  Deacon curled one of his long hairs behind his ear and said, “Do you think Mom will make me cut this?”

  Greer grinned and nodded.

  “She’ll probably cut it for you,” said Charlie, waving her fork around as she spoke.

  “Like when I was little,” groaned Deacon. “Good point.”

  The conversation shifted to different topics, until finally Deacon asked, “So what have you all been up to?”

  The chatter came to a halt at that. Deacon frowned, then we all started talking at once.

  Jasper told him about his latest construction project, Hansen started talking about a story he was on, and Charlie, Greer, and I told him about the spring festival. Deacon was worried about how much work Liam had taken on and said he’d be happy to make some time to help him.

  “Also, we found out there might have been a murder a couple of years ago,” Charlie offered.

  Deacon raised his eyebrows. “Another one?”

  “Yeah, but this one wasn’t investigated as a murder at the time. It was treated as just a car accident,” she explained.

  “That’s awful,” he said.

  “We found out about it because we went to the wedding dress shop,” she continued, then she stopped.

  Deacon didn’t appear to know what to do with his face. He half turned to Greer, who was blushing furiously.

  “You failed to mention that when you were going through your list of activities while I was gone,” he said, amused sparks coming from his eyes.

  Greer only squirmed further.

  “Must have slipped my mind,” she offered, but she was smiling.

  “Must have,” he agreed, a grin splitting his face. “Find anything you liked? At the wedding dress shop, I mean.”

  She shrugged. “Not especially. Not really my scene.”

  “I’m shocked,” he said.

  The six of us continued with dinner. Every so often a ghost would catch Hansen’s eye through the window.

  He still wasn’t used to seeing them.

  Given that Deacon was still in the dark about witches and ghosts and all the rest, it made the rest of us jumpy.

  “Beautiful night isn’t it?” Deacon eventually said to Hansen.

  The reporter glanced his way and tried to look more relaxed. “Yeah, sure is.”

  “I’m so glad to be back in Mintwood,” said Deacon, leaning back in his chair. He rested a hand on his stomach and glanced at Greer, who looked more relaxed and happy than I had seen her in a long while.

  I just hoped that mood would last once Deacon found out that I was the Witch of Mintwood.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After dinner, we all helped with cleanup. Then Jasper made the excuse that he’d forgotten something at the office. Greer would usually have wondered what we were up to, but she was preoccupied with her wedding and with Deacon. For his part, he was so busy drying the dishes that he barely noticed when we slipped away.

  Charlie, Jasper, and I all left together. Hansen left, and headed home.

  Trees rustled around us as we moved away from the road, but I felt no danger, no sense that we were being followed or about to run into dark ghosts. Given what had been going on recently, that was a relief.

  With Jasper alongside me and Charlie following slightly behind us, we didn’t have to wait long. The ghost of Cobalt Wolf appeared in the night.

  “Interesting company you’re keeping these days.” He wasn’t talking to me.

  Jasper grinned. “I like the company I keep.”

  “I’m sure you do. Not really good for our kind, though,” said Cobalt, finally looking at me. “What is it you want?”

  “Don’t talk to them!” one of the other ghosts cried out of the darkness.

  “Don’t tell me what to do!” Cobalt Wolf barked back. “He’s family and she’s the Witch of Mintwood! I’ll speak with them if I please.”

  The other ghost grumbled in the darkness, but didn’t keep arguing.

  Cobalt turned his attention back to us.

  Charlie and I stood still.

  “You’ve come to ask some questions, I see. I must admit, I’m not surprised. I’ve waited a long time to discuss this with you,” he said.

  “Who?” I asked. He’d been looking at me when he said it, and I wasn’t entirely convinced he knew what we wanted.

  “Both of you. You’re playing with fire, hanging out with a Witch when you’re a Witch Hunter,” he said to Jasper. “Descended from important families, both of you, and on opposite sides of the game. You really don’t understand any of this at all, do you.” It was a statement, not a question. “I hate it when young ones do things they d
on’t understand. Oh well, I might as well tell you about it.”

  “We would appreciate that,” said Jasper, inclining his head.

  Both of us wisely refrained from telling Blue, real name Cobalt, that his griping about young folk was in fact a defining characteristic of getting older. We would learn as we went, and we just hadn't learned it all yet. But he clearly appreciated that we had come here to make a start.

  Blue pressed his thick lips together and glanced at his descendant. “Back in my day, we certainly didn’t seek out all witches. We merely sought out the ones doing harm. In those days there were no covens to keep the witches in check. They were all laws unto themselves. Some had good hearts, but many were weathered and blackened. It was those that we sought and fought against.”

  “Why has it changed?” I asked.

  “Has it?” Blue asked.

  I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re not in any danger from Witch Hunters, are you? Despite the fact that you’ve lived here for a long time, the Witch Hunters have never come after you,” he pointed out.

  “And you’re telling me that isn’t because they don’t know I’m here?” I asked.

  That was silly. It certainly seemed as if they knew.

  I glanced up and saw the stars bright overhead on the cloudless night. Next to me Jasper’s face was unreadable. Blue didn’t bother to reply, so I asked another question.

  “If the Witch Hunters are only going after dark witches, why haven’t they taken Ellie down? Puddlewood was a big target. Now there are hundreds of dark ghosts,” I pointed out. I tried not to sound bitter, but come on. What were these Witch Hunters even doing? Were they good for anything? I wasn’t certain.

  “I imagine they’ve been working on just that,” said Blue. “At least, the old Witch Hunters would have done so.”

  “I haven’t seen any evidence of them,” I said.

  Then I remembered the man who had come to Jasper’s cabin recently. I remembered the secret meeting I had once snuck up on. Were there more Witch Hunters around than I had thought?

  “The Witch Hunters are who, exactly?” Charlie asked.

  “What do you mean? You want names? I don’t know their names,” Blue scoffed.

  “No, I want to know what sort of man or woman becomes one,” said Charlie.

  “Men. Only men,” said Blue. He glanced at Jasper for confirmation.

  “I couldn’t actually tell for the most part who was in the room, but yes,” Jasper said, “I think the group I saw was mostly if not all men.”

  Blue inclined his head.

  “Let men be foolish and chase after women. They will one way or another anyhow!” one of the other old ghosts cackled from a corner of the little graveyard.

  “The Witch Hunters were a group of men who formed after a gathering of dark witches destroyed their town. Over the generations, that gathering has changed and expanded, but that’s really it. A group of men who had experienced the secrets of magic and not in a good way. My grandfather was one of the founders. His best friend was killed by a dark witch. He promised to avenge his friend’s death and he spent the rest of his life trying to do so. Albeit secretly.”

  “So Witch Hunters don’t have magic or anything like it?” I asked.

  Blue shook his head. “No. I would have liked to have magic. That would have been enjoyable,” he said wistfully.

  “We should have come to talk to you a long time ago,” said Charlie, sounding sad about it. “You know all these things that would have helped us.”

  Blue chuckled. He appreciated praise as much as the next cocky ghost. “Thank you. I do like to share my knowledge. Not that I’m always happy to help,” he added quickly at the sound of a growl from one of the other ghosts.

  We were reminded that Blue wasn’t really supposed to be talking with us at all, although how such a restriction could be enforced was a mystery to me.

  The shadows were shifting around us now, and I kept feeling as if we were about to be interrupted. Maybe Jasper’s grandfather would wander out here and wonder what we were doing.

  “Will the Witch Hunters help us with Ellie and the dark ghosts?” I asked Blue.

  Blue frowned. “I don’t know about this Ellie.”

  I filled him in on my grandmother’s former friend.

  “Sounds positively delightful, and power hungry. Never a good combination,” said Blue. He took a deep breath and glanced away from us. “I don’t know what they’ll do. Back in the day, yes, I do believe they would have appreciated being pointed in that direction. Nowadays . . . well, it’s harder to say.”

  “We’re going to have to find out. The coven isn’t interested in helping, and I can’t fight them alone,” I said.

  “Then you’d better hope you have a Witch Hunter or two on your side,” said Blue.

  He had started to fade and move further back into the cemetery. His family was ordering him away. He had spoken with us for long enough.

  We headed back to the farmhouse in silence.

  Fascinated with what we had heard, Charlie went straight to her room when we got home, eager to write down everything she could.

  Jasper and I talked long into the night about the Witch Hunters. In the morning he called his grandfather.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  While Jasper was at work the next day, I made a plan to go back and see Henrietta at the dress shop. Greer and Deacon were sleeping in and Charlie had gone to the office with a promise to meet me at Henrietta’s a little later.

  On the way to the shop I stopped to check on all the cats. Going to Mayor Clabberd’s house was easier in the morning, when there was no fear of ghosts. Duchess had grudgingly decided that I was merely to be watched at all times instead of feared. The Ivy cats were always glad to see me, and they added a cheerful touch to the day.

  After playing briefly with the Ivys, I headed to Henrietta’s place and found Charlie waiting next to her Volvo, looking pleased with herself.

  “What is it?” I said.

  “I tracked down the other couple that Haley was working with when she died,” she said. “They said they were at a conference out of town when she was run off the road. They adored her. She had told them about the threatening letters she’d received. Ghost Haley might not remember what she thought they were about at the time, but the husband I just talked to did.”

  “What?” I asked eagerly.

  “Haley thought she was getting the letters because she had seen something she shouldn’t have. The husband thought she might have seen someone cheating on someone else, but he was speculating. At the time, Haley just gave vague hints as to why she thought that.”

  “Ghost Haley doesn’t remember that,” I mused.

  “She remembers enough to think that her sister is still in danger,” Charlie pointed out.

  “Sure, because the killer was never caught,” I agreed.

  Charlie nodded slowly, then set out across the street to Henrietta’s.

  The shop was dark when we entered, and there was no sign of the proprietor. Wedding dresses on mannequins hung quietly all around us.

  “Henrietta?” I called out.

  There was no answer.

  We moved toward the back of the shop.

  When I came around the door to Henrietta’s private room, I had no idea what to expect, but that’s where we found her, sitting on a stack of wedding magazines and sniffling, her eyes puffy and swollen.

  “What happened?” I asked. I rushed to kneel beside her while Charlie came around to her other side.

  Henrietta tugged out a white linen handkerchief. “I shouldn’t even tell you,” she murmured.

  We waited.

  “I was threatened. A note was left for me,” she whispered. “They told me to stop looking into my sister’s death! I’m not even doing that, though,” she cried. “There was one article in the paper, simply marking the anniversary of when she died!”

  Charlie glanced at me. “I don’t suppose th
ere are cameras on the street that might let us see who left it.”

  “There aren’t,” said Henrietta, snuffling.

  But then another thought struck me. I pushed myself to my feet and headed toward the outer room. Charlie looked after me with a quick frown, then let me go without a word.

  Back into the main part of the shop I went, grateful that the space was empty. I took a deep breath and pulled my wand out of my sleeve, where it had been snug against my wrist.

  I peered out the window to see if anyone was coming. Seeing a woman walking by with her little dog, I ducked back into the shadows and waited a bit more, staring out the window, hoping for the right moment. I must have looked ridiculous, but there couldn’t be anyone on the street if I was going to do what I needed to do.

  When an opening came at last, I stepped out without hesitation.

  The day was blustery and the wind nearly blew me sideways. I took in a great gulp of air and shut my eyes tight until the gust passed.

  There were people far down at the other end of the street, but their backs were to me. I probably had just a matter of moments before someone else came along.

  My wand in my hand, I waved it and closed my eyes. The world shifted, as green light swirled. I swayed as time rushed away.

  The speed of time moving backward made me dizzy. I saw what had happened on the street for the past few hours. Henrietta had several visitors, excited ladies hurrying into the shop. Many came with friends, or with someone who could only be their mom.

  When I had tried to look back in time before, I had needed help. I hadn’t been able to go very far on my own. But the practice had apparently made me better at it. This time I found exactly what I was looking for.

  There it was! A figure walked up to the door, a large hat obscuring her face and her long coat making it hard to see what she was wearing.

  All the same, I immediately recognized the person standing in front of the wedding shop sticking the threatening note to the door. I was sure it was the same person who had killed Henrietta.

  I was looking at Mrs. Robertson.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I hurried back inside to get Charlie, who was still sitting with Henrietta, speaking in soothing tones to try to comfort her. The shop owner had calmed down considerably.