by Mara Webb
The two of them laughed and I couldn’t help but smile as I realized they were just poking fun at me again. I was one of the gang.
“Best thing you can do is finish your cereal, crash on the couch for a few hours and then go check on lover boy in the morning,” Kate said.
“Which lover boy?” Effie cackled.
“Knock it off, the pair of you,” I replied. My eyelids grew heavy. My day would be so busy from the moment it started, and I couldn’t do much if I didn’t get some rest.
I needed to make sure Miller was okay, make sure that there was no more murder on the islands that I was supposed to protect and then try to pull my plan together to stop Max and the band in their tracks. If we didn’t get someone else to win that stupid contest, then the whole of Hallow Haven would be at risk.
I needed to introduce someone into the Battle of the Bands at the last minute and pull the rug from under Max and his cronies. I needed Miller to help me find the one person that had a shot of helping us, Damon the busker.
18
I woke up under a blanket that was knitted from the brightest wool I’d ever seen. Whoever had put this over me during the night had tucked it underneath my body, causing me to struggle against it for a moment like I was trapped in a caterpillar’s cocoon.
“Wakey wakey, lazy bones,” Effie called from the kitchen.
“What time is it?” I asked, my voice croaky.
“It’s just after eight. I know we’ve all had less than four hours of sleep, but I made coffee!” She pointed towards the cauldron bubbling in the fireplace, the richness of the blend flooding my senses. “This will blow your socks off.”
She reached into the cauldron with a ladle and tipped a generous amount into a mug she had brought in from the other room. I wriggled my arms free from the blanket and wrapped my hands around the ceramic, the warmth seeping through to my skin.
“It will be the perfect temperature, it’s an old recipe from our grandmother,” Effie nodded. “She was the one that got me into baking in the first place. She made the perfect coffee and the best darn snickerdoodles you’ve had in your life.”
“Ahh is that Nana’s brew?” Kate shrieked, bouncing towards the sofa and jumping from a few feet away to land in a seated position beside me.
“You bet, I think we all needed it today,” Effie smiled, handing another mug to her sister. I took a sip and felt immediately energized. Ahh. Clarity seemed to simultaneously kick in and my thoughts about what needed to get done all slotted into order.
“I need to get to Miller’s house,” I announced. I stood up, casted the blanket aside and realized I was wearing fresh clothes that I was definitely not wearing when I came to the house in the dark. My magic must have dressed me.
“And you dressed up for the occasion, very nice,” Kate teased. I polished off the coffee, handed the mug back to Effie and made a bolt for the door.
“I’ll call you guys when I know what’s happening next,” I yelled. “Just, I dunno, stay vigilant?”
“As you wish, chief,” Effie laughed.
I hurried down the steps outside their house and through the metal gate in the fence surrounding the property. I still didn’t know what I would find at Miller’s place, the howling had sounded so close that I had feared he was loose on the island. I needed his help, now more than ever, and if anything had happened to him then it would be all my fault.
I knew I had to do whatever I could to interrupt the activity up in the clearing, but I was supposed to be making sure he was okay too. It was my presence on the island that had triggered this werewolf situation, this was all on me.
I ran up the hill sloping away from the lower ground, past the cemetery, and charged onward towards Miller’s home. The coffee was clearly something supernatural, I don’t think I would have been able to run this fast on a normal day, let alone after only a few hours of sleep.
Once it was in sight, it felt reassuring that the door to his house was still closed. A werewolf wouldn’t shut the door behind themselves after breaking free from a cage, right? I opened the door and walked through the house to the bare room where Miller had constructed his prison.
Inside the cage he lay, shirtless and sleeping. The cage door was dented as if something powerful had tried to burst through the metal bars. The thought of him, even the werewolf version of him, slamming himself against the steel over and over made me feel terrible. He woke up as I stepped closer.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly.
“You smell like him,” he replied, clambering up onto his hands and knees. I found the key in the pocket of my shorts, even though my magic had changed my outfit it seemed that I had remember to transfer this with me.
I unlocked the door and he crawled out. Once he was standing again, his naked chest exposed, I found myself unsure of where to look. He looked out of breath, or as if he was trying to stop himself from saying something he would regret.
“I need your help,” I said, hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Were you hurt? Did he protect you well?” Miller asked. He was less than a foot away from me but took the smallest of steps to close the gap. I felt the buzz of electricity across my palm, like what had happened with Ryder, and I couldn’t look Miller in the eye.
“I’m fine, but I need you to help me find Damon. I can explain on the way… and you should put a shirt on,” I said, giving him a half smile. “I’ll wait outside.” I turned and walked out towards the front door, but Miller reached to grab my hand and pull me back to him.
“I… I could sense that you were in danger and I couldn’t get out of here to help you. I’m just glad that your other guardian was able to do what I couldn’t,” he said.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. Now we stood, faces close, as I once again found myself in a position of being tempted to kiss someone but freezing up instead. I wanted to, boy did I want to, but we had to make sure that we found Damon and solved the big problem looming over all our heads. I slid my hand out of his grasp and walked out of the house to stand in his front yard while he got dressed.
In a few minutes he emerged from the house in uniform, still rubbing some pomade through his hair. I wish I could look so good after such a short window to preen.
“He could be anywhere,” Miller said as we walked back towards the high street.
“I know, but we have to try. Is there any way to call him? Do you have his number? Or an address?” I asked.
“He busks on the sidewalk and takes his payment in the form of lyric ideas, I doubt he can afford a cellphone,” Miller replied. He had a point. Inspiration. It gave me an idea. I walked faster, Miller jogging a few paces to keep up.
“I’ve just thought of something,” I announced. “Max and the band are using some of Jake’s love letters as lyrics for their songs, right? The apartment over The Guitar Yard is full of notepads and journals with all sorts of stuff that Jake wrote down, all these different ideas he had. What if we offer all of these to Damon?”
“That would be the ultimate payday for him, I get it,” Miller nodded. “It still won’t help us track Damon down though. We can only hand it all over if we actually know where Damon is.”
Dang. He was right. The high street was coming into view now, the sun glistening on the morning shoppers. When we got to The Guitar Yard, it seemed that we weren’t alone.
“Damon!” Miller and I yelled in unison.
“We needed to find you!” I grinned. “What are the chances of us bumping into you like this?”
“Pretty high,” Damon chuckled. “You’ve said my name about fifty times in the last ten minutes, I heard it carry on the air and I am too nosy to ignore it. Like I’ve said, I thrive on anonymity. All of a sudden someone is talking about me none stop, I had to check it out.”
“I want to show you something,” I said. “Come this way.”
I walked into The Guitar Yard and Miller followed behind, Damon waited out on the sidewalk.
&nbs
p; “Is this a break in? I don’t really get down with petty theft,” Damon winced.
“No,” Miller said. “Sadie has an idea of how you can help us with a murder investigation. Or is it now an investigation into dark witchcraft? I’m not sure anymore, but basically there is a lot of shady business happening and we need to bring it to an end.”
“Is this your sales pitch?” Damon laughed. “That all sounds awful, I am more of a music man than a crime fighter. Hmmm, that’s not a bad idea for a lyric though.” He swung the guitar over his shoulder and began to strum just before I ran over and grabbed the neck of it, muting the sound of the strings.
“Damon, upstairs is the absolute motherlode of notes. If you help us out then you can look through it all, but you need to help us,” I pleaded.
“Sweet! What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“I need you to enter the Battle of the Bands contest,” I said.
“No. No, that’s not for me. I like to stay private. It’s nice of you to think that I had a shot, but it’s not something I’m interested in,” he sighed.
“I know, but I have an idea about how you can perform and still keep yourself private. I need you to trust me,” I said, giving him the saddest puppy-eyed look I could muster.
“I…” he hesitated. “Miller?”
“I’d trust her,” Miller nodded.
“I guess that’s all the endorsement I need,” Damon shrugged. “But if this doesn’t work then I’m going to have to move islands again and it’s such a drag!”
“I’ve got you covered!” I smiled, thrilled that my plan was coming together. I pulled out my cellphone and fired off a few text messages to let the group know that things were falling into place. I had Kate agree to meet me at the radio station within half an hour and quickly took Damon up to show him Jake’s apartment. We had work to do.
“Good morning Hallow Haven! Can I get a what what?” Kate bellowed down the microphone. “Oh yeah, you can’t respond. Never mind. It’s your girl Kate Knockout with a surprise, something to spice up your day. As if it needed spicing up, because obviously someone let me present my show during daylight hours today which is crazy, am I right?”
“Psst!” I whispered from across the studio. I tapped the face of my watch to prompt her to hurry up.
“Sorry, I’ve had a few too many cups of Nana’s brew this morning. I’m sure you’ve all been there!” she laughed.
Since I’d left Kate and Effie’s house, Kate had drawn black stars around her eyes with liquid eyeliner and added a deep blue eyeshadow to both lids, making the top half of her face look like a night sky. She already looked cool with her dark hair and bright green bangs, but this was something else. Maybe the thrill of a prime-time slot on the radio had inspired her to go the extra mile with her aesthetic, despite the fact none of the audience could see her.
“As you all probably know, the Battle of the Bands competition is coming to an end. So far it seems that you have all had a favorite, even though the lead singer is awful, not as handsome as he thinks he is and is violating several codes of conduct when it comes to–”
“Ahem!” I coughed.
“Right, yeah, TMI. Anyway, we have a last-minute entry that is gonna blow you guys away. I want you to hold onto your hats, folks. You guys have heard of the masked singer before, I’m sure. Well this guy will never be talking off his disguise… I present to you… Doe!”
Right on cue, Damon stepped towards a mic in a separate booth. He had pulled the hood up on his hoodie so that his face was largely in shadow as he began playing his song. I tapped my toe along to the music as I grinned proudly at my idea for his stage name. I figured that people always use John Doe or Jane Doe when someone is unidentified, so why not just steal the last name and make it his pseudonym.
The lights on the phone beside Kate began to flash wildly. Damon sang about an old girlfriend, or so it seemed, and the pain in his voice as the song progressed made it feel all the more powerful. By the time he had finished singing, both Kate and I had tears in our eyes and Effie was curled up in a ball on the floor.
Kate began to answer the calls from listeners and encouraged them all to vote for their favorite act. So far it seemed like my plan was working, but we weren’t finished yet.
19
It was important that Max and the band didn’t win. Effie and Kate continued to share their Kelly Clarkson story as we set about organizing the platform on the sand. We agreed that the winner should be announced in a public place, if they somehow won despite Damon’s performance then we would need to be there to deal with the fallout.
Kate had informed the listeners of the station that they were to meet outside The Sand Witch at sundown. She’d managed to convince Scott to bring forward the end of the contest so they could have a big beach party at sunset.
Every other entrant would be there, even the ones singing songs about lettuce leaves and grocery lists. They were all going to be standing on the sand waiting to hear if they had won the big prize.
“Do you remember what we are doing today?” Kate asked her sister.
“Yes,” Effie sassed back. “I’m not dumb.”
“Are you sure about that? Because it seems like you are applying more lip gloss than anyone ever has on planet earth, ever,” Kate teased. “You haven’t forgotten that you aren’t trying to get back together with Max today, right?”
“I just think he should know what he’s missing,” Effie explained.
“Yeah, but he’s gonna be missing his freedom soon, because he will be in jail,” Kate huffed.
“Providing we get a confession,” Miller added. “So far we have no witnesses to come forward that place anyone at the scene of the shooting at The Guitar Yard. What I do have is Sadie’s account of seeing the group gathered up in the clearing with Mrs. Hall on the ritual rock.”
“Your girl’s not a liar,” Effie said, spinning away from the mirror to shoot a scolding look in Miller’s direction.
“M…my girl?” he smiled. “I must have missed something.”
“Yeah, like, when are you two just gonna kiss already?” Kate asked. “Honestly, all we get around here lately is bad news, or sad news, or rainstorms. I’m thinking of adding some island gossip to my radio show and you two getting together would be awesome for me, career wise.”
I parted my lips to speak but found my mind had gone blank. I could feel tingling across my hands as if the very idea of kissing Miller was flooding my body with electricity, I just had to hope no one would see any blue lightning on my skin this time.
Kate, being something of a mind reader, was smiling at me like that cat that got the cream. I felt so embarrassed, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it long.
“I suppose you are aware that Bearbrooks decided to whip up a Shell’s Day celebration at the last minute?” Kate said. “They thought that, as there would already be live music taking place at the music festival at the weekend, they could just add a little romance to it. There is gonna be a lot of coupling up! So, if either of you wanted to, oh I don’t know, take a guest with you…”
“Leave them be,” Effie groaned. “Just because I am clearly struggling to come to terms with my ex-boyfriend being a killer, a very handsome, shockingly hot killer…” she drifted off for a second. “And you happened to date a guy that was in the same band as Max who is equally terrible, doesn’t mean we have to poke at Miller and Sadie until they figure out that they are into each other!”
This time it was Miller that looked as if he might speak, but then didn’t.
We were inside The Sand Witch when Scott rushed in. “Kate, there you are!” he panted. “The guy setting up the sound said that you told him to mute any bass players that may need to get onto the stage, he said something about bass players all being sexy liars?”
“Well they are,” Kate huffed, clearly thinking about Tim. “But I guess they should be allowed to play if necessary.” Kate and Effie wandered out of the café and Miller and I were left alone.
The café had been shut for the day as we needed to use it as a headquarters. It would be open again in an hour or so when the guests began to arrive. I felt suddenly awkward as I looked over at Miller, replaying everything Kate and Effie had just said.
Was it obvious that we were into each other? I mean, Miller was so… I don’t even have the words in my brain, how could I say anything? I wanted to know so desperately what he was thinking, even just so I could prepare a response.
“Sadie,” he said.
“Yes?” I thought back to meeting him for the first time in the storm shelter at Pete’s Za. Even then he had caught my attention to the point of distracting me from the danger all around me.
“I wanted to… I have to tell you,” he stuttered. He pressed his fingers to his face, drawing them downwards as if trying to will himself to speak. Recently he had grown out his facial hair a little, it only seemed to enhance the shape of his jaw even though it was somewhat hidden.
“If this is about—” I started to say, hoping I would think of an end to my sentence. Miller dropped his hands from his cheeks and rushed towards me, closing the gap between us until we were toe to toe. He kissed me, cupping my face and closing his eyes. I closed mine too, lost in the moment and smiling against his lips. It was happening. It was happening right up until it wasn’t.
The pressure of his mouth on mine disappeared. His hands were no longer on me, and I was no longer close to him. I could hear birdsong. I opened my eyes and began to panic. I was in the clearing on the hill. Something had transported me from The Sand Witch, something magical, and now here I was in the clearing surrounded by the four members of the band that we were looking for.
“It worked!” Max yelled, jumping up and down. “When Effie took that book back, she obviously didn’t realize I had photocopied a bunch of the pages,” he cackled.