“I know a little bit,” Amy said. “In fact, the other day, I began to read up on the rules of inheritance, and I did find the law concerning the reading of wills in the cases of criminal investigations. Until the will is made public, without a reasonable belief that the contents of the will could be associated to the crime, the Chief Enforcer is not permitted to view the legal document before the rest of the paranormal citizenry.”
Chief Enforcer King nodded, obviously impressed. “You do know your stuff. You should have been born a shifter; you would have made an excellent Enforcer.”
Amy’s face flushed with pride for a moment.
“And don’t think I don’t know exactly why you came here,” Chief Enforcer King said with a smile of her own. “Knowing this, you would have known exactly what you needed to tell me to give me access to the will before the public reading, a week from tomorrow.”
I looked between the two women, impressed with both of them. Both Amy, for realizing what we had to tell Chief Enforcer King, and Chief Enforcer King for being able to see straight through Amy’s plan.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amy said, putting on a fake air of innocence. “I’m simply doing my duty as a citizen of Western Woods and telling the Chief Enforcer what I know about a crime which was committed in this jurisdiction.”
“Of course you were,” Chief Enforcer King said with a smile. “Can I trust that you will be willing to repeat what you told me in front of a magistrate?”
“Absolutely,” Amy nodded. “Although if I am asked to reveal my sources, I am going to have to invoke the seventh article of the Paranormal Charter.”
“Understood,” Chief Enforcer King said. “I don’t think it will come to that, though.”
Amy stood up, and I followed her lead. The two of us shook hands with Chief Enforcer King, who thanked us once again, and Amy and I made our way back outside.
“I didn’t realize that Chief Enforcer King wouldn’t have gotten to see the will until now,” I said as we left.
“That’s because you don’t study paranormal law,” Amy said. “While a lot of it is similar to the human rules, there are certain aspects to our laws that are different. Don’t worry though, the very few paranormals know about them as well; I wouldn’t have known about the specific rule about wills if I hadn’t been reading about them at the library after the three of you told me about the will.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did. Now, hopefully Chief Enforcer King can get access to that will, and then she’ll hopefully have the proof to arrest Farawir.”
Chief Enforcer King was right: Amy would make an excellent enforcer.
Chapter 19
When we got back that afternoon, Amy and I decided not to tell Sara exactly what had happened in our discussion with Chief Enforcer King. After all, we didn’t want to get her hopes up needlessly, just in case something went wrong and Chief Enforcer King didn’t manage to arrest Farawir for his father’s murder.
In the meantime, however, I set about my plan to start getting the paranormals of Western Woods to learn to enjoy each other’s company regardless of species. I was definitely going to need some help, though, and I didn’t want to tell my friends exactly where I was getting it.
“Hey, Mr. Meowgi, do you want to go for an adventure?” I asked my familiar.
“You don’t have to say that word twice, I’m in,” Mr. Meowgi replied.
“Where are you going?” Amy asked.
“I have a plan for a little bit of a party,” I said. “But unfortunately, I need to get some stuff for it first.”
“Really? What kind of party?” Ellie asked as she walked in through the door. “I love parties.”
Looking at my friends, I realized that I definitely wasn’t going to be able to keep this secret for long. And besides, a part of me really didn’t want to, either. I figured I would tell them, although I wasn’t mentioning what I was going out for, and see what their reaction was.
“I was going to host a party in the coven gardens for all different paranormal types,” I said. “I want to show a famous human movie, something that maybe everybody can get a laugh out of and appreciate. I figure that maybe if everyone can come together and enjoy a movie, then maybe the paranormals here will realize that we’re not all that different, and things might be able to change just a little bit.”
“I actually think that’s a really good idea,” Sara said. “I would love to watch human movies with you, and I hope it works out.”
“I can bake some food for it,” Ellie suggested. “I’m not sure if it’s going to do exactly what you want, but I’m happy to try for you.”
“I don’t think it will work,” Amy said. “After all, there’s a reason things have been the way they have been for thousands of years. The system we have now works, and I’m not sure that changing it is a good idea.”
“Oh, come on,” Ellie said. “You never know. I agree that this system we have now works, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to improve it. Besides, nothing exciting ever happens here. Let’s support Tina with this and see what happens.”
“Fine,” Amy said. “I’ll come. When were you thinking of having this?”
“Would tomorrow be too early?” I asked. “I don’t really know how to get the word out.”
“We can take care of making sure all the witches know,” Ellie said. “And I can make sure that the fairies know as well. Bluebell at the café knows absolutely every fairy in town, and so I can make sure she spreads the word to them.”
“I would have said that I could tell the elves, but unfortunately that’s not true anymore,” Sara sighed. “I’ll go to the hospital though, and get my mom to tell everyone she can.”
“And I suppose I can spread the word among witches,” Amy said.
I was actually so touched by my friends’ support that tears welled into my eyes. “You guys are amazing,” I told them. “I have to go source some stuff, but I’ll be back later, okay?”
Mr. Meowgi and I left, my heart lightened with the knowledge that I had a few allies, even if they weren’t completely on board with my opinions. They really were the best friends I could ask for.
“Do you really think it’s going to work?” Mr. Meowgi asked. “Getting people together, I mean.”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I don’t expect this movie night to change anything majorly in its own way, but I think if we can get a few paranormals together enjoying themselves for once, it might sow the seeds of something great in the future. After all, the only time I’ve ever really seen paranormals together was at funerals, and even then the same species seemed to hang out together.”
“That’s only natural, though,” Mr. Meowgi said.
“No, that’s not natural. There is no reason why a witch can’t be good friends with a vampire, or why a fairy can’t work as a lawyer, or anything like that. After all, we’re all paranormals, and we should be embracing that similarity rather than discussing our differences.”
“Well, I hope you manage to shake things up, but only because I’m a fan of drama. I don’t particularly care what you paranormals do.”
I grinned at Mr. Meowgi. “Good, because I need your help. I didn’t want to tell the others where I was going, and I’m afraid I can’t find The Bloody Mary by myself.”
I was careful to open the door as little as possible as I entered The Bloody Mary this time around, and the hissing from the patrons was a lot more muted than the last time I was here. Looking towards the counter, I was pleased to find the same bartender as the last time I was here.
“Great, the witch is back,” he muttered. “I’ve already told you, I can’t serve you here, and I don’t want you coming around and bothering my patrons.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to talk anybody,” I said. “I just wanted to ask you how I can find someone, and you seem like the kind of person that would know where to find him.”
The bartender gave me the side eye, obviously n
ot trusting me as he moved to the other end of the bar.
“What you want to know?”
“Where can I find the elf Kyrandir?”
“Why on earth would a nice witch like you want to know where he is?”
“That’s my business. So, do you know, or not?” I replied, channeling my inner Ellie and trying to be more hard-core than I normally would have been.
“Yeah, I know where you can find him. If he’s not in the human world, he’ll be at the back of the club where the elves go, The White Tree.”
“Thanks,” I said with a nod.
“Now get out of here, and stop using me as a source for information. It doesn’t look good for my business when I have witches in here.”
“Fine, sorry,” I muttered. “By the way, tomorrow I’m hosting a human movie party in the coven gardens. It’ll start just after sunset, if you want to let the vampires know they’re all welcome.”
“What movie is it?”
“Ummm,” I started, realizing that I hadn’t even decided on a film yet. The bartender gave me a strange look, and I spat out the name of the first movie that popped to mind. “Spice World.”
Seriously? Spice World?
“What’s it about?”
“A group of human girls who are pop stars,” I muttered, slightly embarrassed. But hey, I had said we were going to watch Spice World, so I was kind of stuck with it now, wasn’t I?
The vampire gave me a curt nod. “I won’t make any promises.”
Hey, that was better than nothing, right?
“Thanks,” I said. “There will also be food, made by one of the cooks from Hexpresso Bean. Don’t worry, I’m going now,” I said, noticing the expression on the bartender’s face was going back to annoyed. Mr. Meowgi and I slipped back out of the bar, and stood outside for a minute while waiting for our eyes to adjust back to the sunlight.
“I like it in there; it’s nice and dark,” Mr. Meowgi said. “Why can’t witches appreciate a good night atmosphere?”
“Because nighttime is for sleeping,” I replied. “Hey, do you happen to know where The White Tree is? Apparently, it’s the club where all of the elves have a tendency to hang out.”
“Sure,” Mr. Meowgi said. “It’s in the forest.”
Great. Of course it was.
Chapter 20
Mr. Meowgi led the way deep into the forest, and while it was daylight and not nearly as creepy as that place was in the dark, it remained an incredibly thick forest that I was definitely not a fan of.
After about five minutes of following a single meandering trail, Mr. Meowgi and I arrived at a clearing that led to a small hill, into which was carved an open cave.
At the front of the cave stood a tall, robed elf with dark hair and eyes, who looked over at the two of us with an idle curiosity.
“You are here to meet somebody,” the elf said, and I couldn’t help but feel a shiver crawl up my spine. Elves had this magical ability to sense what other beings were feeling, and while it wasn’t strictly mind-reading, it was still incredibly creepy.
“I would like to see Kyrandir, please,” I explained, and the elf’s eyebrows rose just slightly.
“I realize he probably doesn’t get visitors often,” I said.
“Please, follow me,” the elf said, not replying to my comment. He turned and made his way inside the hole in the hill, and Mr. Meowgi and I followed after him. The interior of The White Tree was actually quite bright. Stained glass windows let in a lot of sunlight from outside, and candles along the wall were placed liberally, sending even more of a warm glow throughout the room.
I had a feeling that this place didn’t actually serve alcohol; there was no bar, only large, comfortable seats surrounding small tables, with everything made of wood. The floor was wooden as well, as were the walls, but they were decorated with natural logs which gave the whole place a very woodland feeling. If we were back in the human world, this would’ve been a hipster’s dream.
I couldn’t help but notice that the eye of every elf in the room was trained on me. I felt incredibly out of place; this was obviously not a place that was regularly visited by witches. At least in the vampire bar none of the vampires seemed to really care that I had been there. The way the elves looked at me, you would think that I had invaded their sacred space.
Then again, for all I knew, maybe I had.
The elf led me to the very back of the room, where, sitting in a chair with his back to everybody, sat Kyran. He had his phone out, and was busily typing away on it, but as soon as he saw me he stood up with a grin. The other elf stood for a second, bowed at me slightly, then turned on his heel and left without saying a single word to Kyran.
“Hey,” Kyran said, motioning for me to sit down across from him. “What’s up?” Mr. Meowgi jumped up onto Kyran’s lap, and Kyran began stroking his fur, earning a purr of happiness from my familiar.
“I was looking for you,” I said.
“I guessed that; I can’t imagine why a witch would come in here for any other reason.”
“I kind of got the impression it has been a while since any witch has been in here,” I replied. “Don’t tell me I just committed some kind of huge faux-pas.”
Kyran grinned. “You definitely did, and I would know, I’m the King of faux-pas in this world.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here, so that the other elves in here stop shooting daggers at you.”
He didn’t have to ask twice. Kyran and I left the club, with Mr. Meowgi following hot on our heels. We walked into the forest, back along the trail towards town.
“So, what did you want from me?” Kyran asked.
“You go into the human world regularly, right?”
“Sure,” Kyran nodded.
“I’m wondering if you’d be able to get me something.”
Kyran smiled. “Missing stuff from home?”
“Not really. I mean, some things, yeah. But honestly, I’ve been so busy with learning to become a witch, and trying to find a couple of killers, that I haven’t really had any down time since I’ve come here. But anyway, as I’m sure you know, this town has a pretty rigid hierarchy when it comes to how paranormals can interact with each other, and they seem to actively discourage mingling between paranormals of different species.”
“I had noticed, yes,” Kyran said, a casual smile flittering on his lips.
“Anyway, I’ve decided that’s ridiculous, and I wanted to take a small role in fixing it.”
“Really?” Kyran asked, raising an eyebrow. “And how exactly were you planning on doing that?”
“Well, I’m not about to do anything drastic or anything like that, but tomorrow I was going to organize a movie night in the coven gardens just after sunset, but I wanted to make it a human movie. After all, basically nobody here understands any of my references, so I figure human movies might be a nice novelty for the people here. I’m inviting all of the different paranormals, and while I don’t expect an amazing turnout, I was thinking maybe if I make it a regular thing slowly more and more people might show up, and it might start changing people’s attitudes.”
I was expecting Kyran’s reaction to be much like Ellie, Sara, and Amy’s. Okay, maybe not Amy’s. After all, she was much more in favor of keeping the status quo than Kyran, who was actively breaking it. I expected Kyran to tell me that it was never going to work, that no matter what the people here were set in their ways.
But to my surprise, he nodded.
“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” he said. “In fact, I think the fact that it might be small at first may work in your favor.”
“Wait, you actually think this is a good idea?”
“I do,” he replied. “You’re right, of course, that the separation of paranormals in this town is ridiculous, and as you know I definitely don’t agree with the hierarchy in jobs here. I don’t think this is going to be some magical Band-Aid that will fix everything, but I think it’s a step i
n the right direction, and I think Western Woods is lucky to have somebody like you who’s willing to step out of the box that we live in and work to make some changes that overall will be good for the town.”
An involuntary blush crawled up my neck; I was actually touched by Kyran’s words. It was very nice of him to say, and I only hoped that my plan could live up to expectations.
“So you can get me a projector and a DVD?”
“Sure,” Kyran said. “I assume you’re going to take care of having a screen ready?”
I nodded. “I’m pretty sure Amy can make a big white screen out of nothing with her magic.”
“What movie did you want me to get?”
“Have you ever heard of Spice World?” A part of me really hoped he hadn’t. As much as I enjoyed that movie, it was basically the girliest, most immature thing on the planet.
The look Kyran gave me, on the other hand, told me that he was very well aware of what Spice World entailed.
“You mean the movie that features award-winning actor Richard E. Grant?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Of course I can get that for you,” Kyran laughed. “Although I’m curious as to how you came to the conclusion that that would be a good first choice instead of one of the major classics, like, you know, Star Wars.”
“It’s possible someone asked me what movie I was showing, and I panicked and said Spice World, and now I can’t back out of it,” I admitted, and Kyran laughed.
“Well, there certainly are worse movies out there. I’ll get you everything you need, and bring it by your place tomorrow morning if that works for you.”
“Thank you so much,” I said, a grin crossing my face. My heart swelled as I realized my plan was actually coming together, and I might actually pull this off after all.
“Not a problem. It’s for a good cause, I’m happy to help. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
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