She grinned at me. “You doing that gathering in the woods behind the farmhouse?”
“Yup.”
“Hm. Stay in a dusty old secondhand shop or have a day out and about foraging in one of his favorite spots in the world? Yeah, I’m thinking that isn’t really a choice.”
“My shop is not dusty.”
“Not with me around, it isn’t.”
It took both of us working together a full ten minutes to get all three kidlings ready to go out the door. But it was worth it. If I’d gone alone, I’d have been alone with my thoughts. Not what I wanted right now at all. Besides, Kimberly could do with some time for herself too. Yes, she’d still be running the shop, but on a slow day like this, that didn’t require all that much effort.
For once I was even happy that little Mason kept up a steady stream of conversation, even if it was a bit one-sided. Conversations usually allow others to speak every now and again too. Not so much with Mason when he’s excited about something.
And he was excited about the upcoming spring festival at their school. Having a festival on the way would be enough to excite any six-year-old. But what had him going wasn’t so much the festival food, games, or even the prizes. No. It was the talent show.
He and Nancy had both decided to enter. Him, as an amateur magician. And Nancy—Goddess help me—with her ventriloquist doll, Sassy. I still had nightmares about that thing being in my house.
Still hadn’t forgiven my sister for giving it to her, either. She’d pay for that, eventually. I’d see to that. Helping me catch up with potions and brews only went so far.
The shop wasn’t far from home, so we were there in minutes.
“Run in and put your stuff up in your rooms. Then come back down and meet me at the back door.”
The kids ran up the stairs, and I took a minute to change baby Pearl and get her situated in her wearable harness. I hadn’t tried it going into the woods yet. I was really hoping I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew here.
That path up the hill had some pretty darn steep spots. Hard enough for a witch without a good-sized baby strapped to her. I looked her in her baby eyes. “It sure will be nice when you get around to walking and talking, you know.”
She blinked at me. I took that as agreement.
WHEN WE CAME BACK DOWN off the hill, the kids were almost as loaded down as I was. We'd had a very successful gathering session.
If you’re thinking late winter wouldn’t be a good time for gathering, you’d be wrong. Thanks to the good Goddess, my woods were full of harvestable ingredients every season of the year. The items I gathered differed, of course, depending on the time of year. That made gathering times in each and every season a necessity.
Little Mason once again proved himself to be a valuable member of our little family. That boy could shimmy up a tree faster than my niece, Amethyst. And trust me when I say that’s impressive. Amethyst was good. Mason was better.
Maybe we should arrange a little climb-off in the near future. With the massive amount of power that the Goddess had seen fit to give to Amie, it might do good to put her in second place for once. Everyone needed a little humility.
My cell phone beeped as I was settling baby Pearl into her swing to give my poor back a break. The kids dumped their bags on the kitchen table and headed for the stairs at a dead run.
“Shower first, then play,” I called out after them.
“Can I take a bath instead?” Mason asked. I knew what that question was all about. He had an entire fleet of bathtub boats.
“All right. But get clean first, then set a timer and get out of the water ten minutes after that. Deal?”
“Fifteen?”
Oh, Goddess, not another little negotiator. I’d had enough trouble raising my daughter Ruby. That girl negotiated everything.
“All right, but not a second longer.”
Nancy grinned back at me. “I’ll time him, Auntie.”
I almost forgot about the cellphone beep. Well, technically, I did forget. Right up until it beeped at me again. Glancing at the screen, I saw that I had three missed calls.
Please, Goddess, don’t let it be Kimberly needing me. I’d left my phone on the kitchen counter while we went up the hill. There hadn’t been any need to take it. The little outdated phone that I clung to keeping like my life depended on it wouldn’t get a single bar in those woods.
I flipped the screen to open the call list. Not Kimberly. But almost as bad. Maybe worse, in one way. It was Orville.
Even though I hate to admit it, even to myself, but if it had just been one missed call, I’d have been tempted to let it ride. He’d really put me under a lot of mental pressure with his proposal of marriage. The man needed to give me some space to think.
But if my man called me three times in fairly rapid succession? Something was up. He just wasn’t the needy type.
I pressed to return the last call, my breath firmly in place in the chest with my rapidly beating heart. Please, Goddess, let him be okay.
“There you are,” he said by way of greeting. “I’m going to buy you a new phone, Opal. One that has a chance to pick up bars, even in that backyard jungle of yours.”
I took a deep breath. If he was talking about my outdated phone, then he was okay. “I’ll have you know my little jungle is up to that challenge, Orville. But you can come test your fancy-schmancy phone up my hill any time you like.”
“Count on it, but be ready to eat some humble pie when I do. My phone is state of the art.”
“Sounds like a battle of nature versus technology then, doesn’t it?” I was betting on my Goddess and her nature any day of the week.
He chuckled. “Trust you to look at it that way.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t ring me three times to talk to me about upgrading my cell phone, Orville.”
“No, I didn’t. But I’m having issues with the reason for my call. It isn’t an easy one to make. You know how I feel about you getting involved in investigations, right?”
“You’ve made your feelings on that matter perfectly clear on many occasions, Orville. So, yes, I know your feelings. But I’m not doing anything of the sort right now.”
“I know. That’s why this is so hard. Could you meet me at the old Grayson farm?”
My curiosity was definitely up. But I had lots of questions. “And how does me meeting you factor into the whole me getting involved in investigations?” Color me confused.
“I need a witch consultant on this one.”
My eyebrows flew upward of their own accord. Orville was asking for my help? As a witch? That had never happened before. And we’d been friends a very, very long time.
Glancing over at the small pendulum clock on the wall, I bit my lip for a minute, thinking. “I have the kids right now. I’d have to drop them off with Kimberly at the shop, and it would take me a while to pack them all up to get there. Is this a rush kind of thing? If it is, I can have Kimberly close the shop and come home.”
That would be a heck of a lot faster than getting three kids ready to go. And lucky for us, we’d both driven to the shop today, as I had been planning to let her and the kids leave early today, anyway. No need for all of us to waste a fine Saturday like this one. I felt kind of bad that I’d been the one to leave early instead.
“No need for you to lose profit over this, Opal. Just get here as soon as you can. No real rush. It’s nothing life-threatening. More of a puzzle that I need help with.” He paused for a few seconds. “Of course, sooner would be better than later.”
He disconnected the call. I stood for a minute staring at the phone. He’d been very enigmatic about the whole thing. What kind of case? What kind of puzzle? At this point, my curiosity really couldn’t go any higher.
A decision in place, I dialed the shop. Kimberly answered on the first ring.
“Did the sheriff get hold of you? He’s been trying for the past hour.”
“Just got off the phone with him. How’s the shop
? Any busier than earlier?”
“Nope. Not a single bell ring in the past hour. Only three visitors all day. And only one that bought anything.” She hesitated. “It’s unusual for a Saturday. Do you want me to close up early and come home?”
That’s one of the things I loved about Kimberly. You didn’t have to explain every little thing to her. The woman was great at just taking the facts and reaching a logical conclusion. A lot like me in that way, I thought.
“That would be lovely, dear.” And then, just because I had to tell someone or bust...
“The sheriff needs my help with a case.”
Chapter 2
The Grayson farm was pretty much as far as you could get from my little farmhouse and still be in Wind’s Crossing. Or at least the town’s domain, anyway. The farm was way outside city limits. But it was still in the county, so that meant my man was in charge of any investigations there.
He had been pretty closed mouthed about what he needed my consultation on. It had my curiosity in overdrive. Unfortunately, miles are still miles, and even with the boost that Kimberly coming home early gave me, it still took me a good forty-five minutes to pull up into the farm’s long drive.
When I finally reached the house at the end, Orville was waiting for me. He was sitting in the swing on the small front porch. All alone.
A quick glance around didn’t show any other cars than just the two of ours, either. It would appear we were alone here. And just when I thought my curiosity couldn’t go any higher.
He stood as I approached. “Thanks for coming, Opal.” He hesitated. “I guess it would be best if you’d just follow me.”
I did. We wound up standing under a very tall tree. Orville stopped and looked up into the top of the giant.
“Anything strike you about this tree?”
My brows furrowed, and I gave the tree a good once over. Walking all the way around it, I studied it closely. Finally, I shook my head. “Not that I’m seeing. Should something stand out to me?”
Orville scratched his chin. “Amie’s dang good at climbing trees, right?”
My eyes went back to the tree and up. The first branches were about ten feet off the ground. “She is. But I would seriously doubt anyone’s ability to scale this tree without some dang good equipment.” Then I looked at him. “Mind telling me what the devil is going on here?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Actually, that’s what I’d really like to know too.” He pointed up into the tree. “See that broken branch up there?”
I followed the path of his pointed finger. “Yes.”
“Well, old man Grayson was found up there this morning by his son.”
My eyes traveled back to the branch of their own accord. “Old Mr. Grayson is, what, about a hundred years old?”
Orville grunted. “Not quite, but he’s well past the eighty-year mark for sure.” He wasn’t looking at me. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Pardon the pun, sheriff, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say you don’t know how he got up there. Didn’t he tell you?” Then I looked again at the broken branch and had a horrible thought. “Is he okay?”
“He will be.” He gave a small bark of a laugh. “I guess it’ll take more than a fourteen-foot fall to make more than a dent in that old coot. He did break his arm, though. His son took him to the hospital to get x-rays and a cast.”
“Lucky man. But how did he get up there?”
Finally, Orville looked at me, the color rising in his cheeks. “He swears he doesn’t know. He says that he and some friends had a bit of a jamboree out here last night. Guitars, banjos, the whole works.”
“And probably more than a fair share of whiskey and moonshine being passed around, if I know Mr. Grayson.”
“That’d be my guess as well. Although, he wouldn’t own up to the moonshine part of that. I have yet to find that still of his, but I don’t doubt for a minute it exists. Too many people in town talking about it not to.”
“You think maybe somebody waited until he passed out drunk and put him up there as a joke?”
He swallowed. “That would have been my first thought, yes. Even though that would be an awful rotten thing to do to an old man. I mean, that fall could have easily killed the man if he had landed wrong. With his lifestyle, he has to have a whole passel of guardian angels standing at the ready.”
“You said would have been... what makes you think different?”
Orville pulled out his cellphone. “That case with Valerie a while back. When we found her body, she had a spell mark on her. Now I know that mark didn’t have a thing to do with her death. Your karma spells don’t work that way. But Old Mr. Grayson? Well, he had something on the back of his neck that looked an awful lot like a spell mark to me.”
He held out his phone with a picture on its screen. I took the phone and studied it. “That looks like a spell mark, all right.” I hesitated. “You think that mark has something to do with all this?”
Another lifted shoulder and he was back to not looking at me. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this question, after all the years I’ve known you and your family, but here it goes anyway.” He took a deep breath. “Is it possible for one of you to fly on a broomstick?”
If he’d expected me to laugh and deny the possibility, he was vastly disappointed. I was quiet for a minute, considering how best to word my response.
“Possible, yes. But not just any witch could pull it off. It would have to be one with substantial power and control over their element.” Like my mom, for instance. Not that I was saying baby Pearl was up to this. Not yet, anyway.
When Mom had discovered that levitation spell of hers, the very first thing she’d used it on had been a broom. Even with her power, it had taken her a good amount of practice to ride the dang thing. Sometimes you just have to invest in the classics. Mom was like that.
“So, we’re talking about an elemental, then. That narrows it down quite a bit, doesn’t it?” He reached out and took his phone back, glancing at the screen yet again. “Don’t suppose you recognize that spell mark?”
“I do not.” I paused. There was only so much it was safe to tell Orville, even if he was my man. For instance, the whole thing about having a council of witches overseeing the daily lives and magic of all magic holders. That was kind of a secret we held pretty close to our hearts. Something the rest of the world didn’t really need to know about.
“I should be able to find out the origination of the mark for you though. It might take a day or two.”
I was sure the witches’ library held a catalog of all active spell marks. Of course, that would be my second choice for information. It wasn’t all that quick of a trip to the library.
Patricia Bluespring was much closer. She was one of the lead enforcers of the magic law. If any single witch would have magical signatures memorized, it would be her.
Plus, she lived on the same estate as my daughter and Amie. A little visit couldn’t hurt. With all the trouble those two could get into, it would be prudent to check in on them every so often. They weren’t the best at calling me when trouble comes around.
Seems like lately, that happened a lot in my family.
“I know I say this a lot,” Orville said. “But sooner would be better than later. I need to know what I’m dealing with here. I don’t want that spell mark to lead me in the wrong direction.” His eyes were back on that branch. “This isn’t just some harmless practical joke. It could have turned out to be murder. We got lucky this time. Might not next time.”
“I fervently hope there is no next time.”
“As do I, Opal. As do I.”
WE PARTED WAYS AFTER that. Orville to check in with his office, and me to head back home. I waited until I got back in my tiny little living space before I called Patricia.
For once, I had the place to myself. There was a note on my closed apartment door that told me that Kimberly had taken the kids out for Carney’s. She promised to bring me back a slice.
> My stomach grumbled at the thought. It was going on supper time, now that I actually stopped to think about it. And that tiny little sandwich I’d had for lunch really hadn’t gone all that far. I was running out of fuel.
That trip up the hill and back carrying baby Pearl had burned a heck of a lot more calories than I usually use in a given day. Shoot, maybe even for an entire week. I needed more of that.
I let the thought of all those extra calories burned off sway me into allowing myself a brownie. It would be my second of the day, and I tried to limit myself to just one. That was hard for me. But now that I had a reason... why the bloody heck not treat myself?
Chewing that first delicious bite slowly, I pulled up Patricia’s number on my phone. I hit the button to put the call through even as I swallowed.
“Patricia Bluespring speaking.”
That was Patty all the way. Formal to a fault until she knew who she was dealing with. She must not have my number saved in her phone. I’d like to think we were past that stage of formality.
“Hello, Patricia. It’s Opal Ravenswind. How are you this fine evening?” It was always nice to lead with a small pleasantry, I thought.
“I am well, Opal. Is the same true of you and yours?”
Well, given her close proximity to my daughter and niece, I kind of thought she knew the answer to part of that better than I would. “I’m well. Hopefully, that is true of the others in my family too.” I paused slightly. Surely that was enough pleasantry. I was just opening my mouth to voice my request, when she beat me to the next line.
“That’s good. I’m actually glad you called. There’s something I need to talk with you about. I’m not quite sure yet, but it might turn out to be council business.” A longer pause. “I’m not comfortable talking about it over the phone. But you should know that it concerns a member of your family. Could we meet?”
That one little bite of brownie turned to a solid, uncomfortable stone in my stomach. I’d had my reservations about moving Patricia and her tiny home onto the kids' new place, but doing so seemed to solve a lot of problems for them, so I’d kept my trap shut. But if Patricia had learned Amie’s little secret—or maybe not so little secret—then we could be in for a whole passel of trouble.
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