Witch Way Box Set

by Jane Hinchey

“It's a blood moon in two nights. Coupled with the dead bird, Gran thinks it's a sign.”

  “Well, you can't ignore the fact that we also have a dead body,” Jenna added.

  “And the geospirals,” I said.

  Remy visibly paled. Slowly she leaned back in her chair and stared at me with dazed eyes. “What?” I whispered, reaching for her hand. “What is it?”

  “It can't be,” she muttered, shaking her head.

  “What can't it be?” Jenna prodded.

  Blinking, Remy sat forward. “The blood sacrifice and dark magic and geospirals and alexandrite gemstone”—she ticked them off on her fingers—“are all part of a ritual.”

  “I knew it,” Gran grumbled, “I knew something bad was coming. I can feel it.”

  “You're not wrong,” Remy told her. “I need to get back, look this up.” She rose to her feet, but Jenna clasped her wrist, forcing her back down.

  “Hold on, hold on. Let's eat first, okay? Then we'll go. You can't work on an empty stomach.”

  “Jenna's right. Let's order dinner. We won't linger, just eat and then go. Sorry, Gran,” I added, knowing Gran had been looking forward to hustling more men at the pool table.

  “Not a problem with me, love. We've got those charms to make as well.”

  We quickly ordered our meals, our thoughts consumed with Remy's revelation, all eager to head back to find out what it all meant. But first—food.

  “Harper. Was Tamir's heart missing by any chance?” We were back in Remy's cabin amongst old leather-bound books and her industrial plated laptop. Gran was burning incense and muttering an incantation so we wouldn't be overheard. Archie and Bandit lay curled together on Remy's bed, their soft snores bouncing off the walls in the bout of silence that followed Remy's question.

  I cleared my throat. “Mick seemed to think so. I didn't look. I'm guessing that's pertinent?”

  “I think whoever is behind this is calling forth the Goddess who will bring immortality and great riches.”

  “Does this Goddess have a name?” Jenna asked.

  Remy shook her head, turning the pages on the book spread out before her. “That's the weird part. No.” The air was heavy with the scent of incense and the wind outside buffeted the cabin in a sudden gust. Goosebumps broke out over my skin, along with an impending sense of doom.

  “Tell us about the spell,” I croaked, but I already knew, deep down inside it wasn't good. It was bad. Hell bad.

  Remy cleared her throat. “It's kinda gross,” she warned. I'd figured as much and motioned for her to continue. Gran paused to listen.

  “The ceremony is conducted in three parts. The first two are the nights leading up to the blood moon. The third is the night of the blood moon.” The wind howled again, and the cabin shook, as if the elements themselves were trying to silence Remy's words.

  “Part one is done, isn't it?” It wasn't a question. More of a statement of fact. Tamir had been the first sacrifice. They had cut his heart from his chest and replaced it with a geospiral rock. Remy inclined her head.

  “Sacrifice one,” she read from the book. “A human male heart is removed from the body and burned. In its place, the symbol of the Goddess.”

  “A glyph rock. Is that the same as the geospiral ones?” Jenna asked.

  Remy nodded. “A geospiral is a form of glyph. And as your parents discovered, Harper, they are a language. The circles mean different things. We just need to decode them.”

  “So, what's next on this crazy ass agenda?” Gran demanded.

  “Sacrifice two,” Remy continued. “A human female heart is removed from the body and burned. In its place, the symbol of the Goddess.”

  Chills danced up my spine, a sense of foreboding so deep my bones ached with it. A woman would die tonight. Gran's eyes were shrewd as she looked at each of us around the table. “It will not be one of us. I won't allow it.”

  “To be safe, I think we should stay together.” Jenna sounded confident, but I could see the slight tremor in her hands. She was as freaked out and scared as the rest of us. I wished Blake were here, a strong alpha male presence would have calmed our nerves, but he hadn't answered his door when I'd dropped by after dinner. He was either a very deep sleeper, or he wasn't there.

  “And tomorrow night? The culmination of all this, assuming whoever is behind this is successful in finding a female victim tonight?” I asked.

  “Sacrifice three.” Remy looked right at me and my heart stopped beating. “Two sacrifices. Hearts in love. A male and female.”

  Gran gasped, a rattling wheeze. I'd never heard such a noise from her before and I touched her arm in concern. “You okay?” I whispered.

  “They have Judith and Keith. Saving them for the final sacrifice,” Gran said, voice shaking with anger. “For the ritual to work the two hearts have to be filled with love—for each other. I'd say there's not a lot of that around these parts, slim pickings. So, when word got out that they were heading back to Whitefall Cove, the killer made their move. Took them to use later.”

  “Oh God. You're right. That makes perfect sense.” Laying my arms on the table I briefly rested my head on them. “And the dead bird, and missing ring, they're all part of the overall ceremony, right?”

  “Yes,” Remy said.

  Gran nudged me. “Okay, buck up, kiddo, we've got work to do. First up, let's finish these protection charms. Then you need to do what you do best.”

  I sat up. “What's that?”

  “Find out who the killer is. Focus on the clues. Someone killed Tamir. You just need to find out who, before tomorrow night. You need a murder board.”

  She was right. Rather than focusing on the horror of the dark magic, focus on the clues. Whoever did this was human. And they were here, under our very noses.

  “Remy, you have any Post-it notes in your stash?” I asked, standing up.

  She nodded. “Sure. Here, catch.” She tossed me a square, yellow pack of Post-it notes. Jenna was digging around in her bag and produced a marker, holding it out.

  “Okay ladies.” I smiled, pushing down the fear and worry. “Let's do this. Who do we have?”

  “Omar Ali.” Jenna was reading from the notes on her phone. I wrote Omar's name down on a Post-it and stuck it to the wall. “He had a ten-minute gap between when they came back from the caves to when he appeared at the swimming hole.”

  “And the bean-pole guide. What's his face,” Gran said.

  “Nigel Franic,” Jenna supplied. “He had a smaller window of opportunity when he separated from Omar and Tamir to get changed into swimmers.”

  “Cutting out a heart would take time,” Remy pointed out.

  I tapped the marker against my palm. “It didn't look that surgical,” I admitted. “It was...rough. A lot of blood.”

  “And you'd have to get through the chest bone. So, you'd need to be strong,” Jenna said.

  “So, we're thinking a man?” Remy said.

  “But you can't discount the possibility that more than one person is involved,” I pointed out. “Omar and Nigel could have been working together. Who else do we have?”

  “The Webb’s. Andi, Kaylee, and the mysterious Colin,” Jenna read from her phone. “Maybe Colin is ducking back with no one noticing, doing the deed and hightailing it out of here all without being seen.”

  “It’s possible.”

  “What about Andi and Kaylee? I mean Andi seems as sweet as pie. I couldn't imagine her hurting a fly, let alone cutting a man’s heart out of his chest,” I said.

  “Kaylee has a lot of angst and anger. I heard her arguing with her mom, but that's not unusual for someone her age,” Gran said.

  I added all the names to the wall.

  “We need to interview them. Motives and alibis.”

  “But we need to be subtle about it,” I pointed out. “We can't tip our hand that we know what's going on.”

  “Play dumb, you mean?” Jenna's lips twisted in a grimace.

  “Yes. We can't just go marching
up to them demanding answers.”

  “Harper's right.” Remy closed her laptop. “We have to be smart about this. We're going to the caves with Nigel in the morning. That seems a good place to start.”

  Chapter Ten

  “You look different this morning, Blake.” Remy cocked her head and studied him. I followed suit. She was right. His hair was more styled, he'd wound a scarf around his neck and his T-shirt was tucked in.

  “Thanks. I'm trying something different. You like?” He gave a little twirl and my eyebrows shot up into my hairline. Had he turned gay overnight? Remy laughed, then quickly sobered when he shot her a cold as steel frown.

  “You look great,” she assured him. “You even shaved.”

  He ran his hands over his smooth cheeks. “Wanna feel?” he asked her, but she shook her head.

  “Nope. I'm good thanks.”

  Clearing my throat, I drew everyone's attention. “Are we all ready? Gran? Are you sure you won't come? I don't like leaving you here by yourself.”

  We'd survived the night in Remy's cabin, alive and intact. Andi and Kaylee were accounted for, so I allowed myself to relax, just a notch. The killer hadn't progressed to the second stage of their evil plan, which meant I was one step closer to finding Mom and Dad. Today’s plan was to search the caves.

  “I'll be fine, love.” Gran was already dressed in her bikini, a large red brimmed hat shielding her face. “And I've got Archie and Bandit to keep me safe. I intend to spend the morning by the waterhole—less chance of anyone trying anything nefarious out in the open like that.”

  “Wear your charm,” I warned her, my fingers going to my charm tied around my wrist.

  “Already am.” She wriggled her foot, drawing my attention to the woven cord encircling her ankle. “Don't worry about me, you focus on finding Judith and Keith.”

  “Morning folks!” Nigel appeared, the heavy scent of tobacco clinging to him. “How many do we have today?”

  “Just us,” I said. “Gran won't be joining us.”

  “Okey dokey. So, you can ride with me or bring your own vehicle, the choice is yours. However, if you ride with me, be warned I can only stay a couple of hours. This is meant to be my day off and I've got errands to run today.”

  “You're working on your day off?” Jenna asked.

  Nigel shrugged. “To make up for the mix-up yesterday. It's all good, don't worry about it.”

  “We'll take my vehicle,” Remy interrupted. “That way we can stay as long as we want without disrupting your plans.”

  “Load up and follow me.” Nigel was chirpy this morning, and my eyes met Jenna's as we headed toward Remy's Land Rover. Nigel struck me as the quieter type, broody, maybe tired and fed up with dealing with tourists and counting down the days until retirement. Of course, that was just my impression, I had no idea if I was right or not.

  The track to the caves was rough, windy, but so worth it. We eventually cleared the rock-hewn dried-out creek beds to find ourselves in a clearing that Mother Nature had created. Instead of dirt, the clearing was one massive slab of rock. Nigel’s four wheel drive was parked on the opposite side and Remy pulled up next to him, killing the engine.

  She swiveled to look at us. “I will focus on mapping this place, and doing stuff for work, so I'll leave it to you to ask the important questions of our intrepid guide.”

  “Got it.” Climbing out, I grabbed my backpack from the floor and slipped it over my shoulders. Jenna and Blake did the same, while Remy opened the rear of the Land Rover and pulled out a larger duffle. Digging around in it, she pulled out a square box, clipped it to her belt, then slipped a head-mounted flashlight on. Another piece of equipment joined the first on her belt.

  “What's all that?” Nigel asked, curiosity drawing him closer.

  Remy didn't look up. “I work in ancient artifacts,” she explained. “These are tools to help me determine if an artifact is the real deal or fake.”

  “You're expecting to find artifacts down here?” Nigel scoffed. “Fat chance of that.”

  Remy winked at me but remained silent and the penny dropped. Her equipment wasn't to identify artifacts at all. I'd ask her about it once Nigel was out of earshot.

  He began handing out glossy printed maps to each of us. They were very basic.

  “Gather round,” he said, holding a map aloft. It fluttered in the breeze. “Obviously we're here because you want to see for yourselves where the Joneses were exploring.” His voice was even, no inflection of emotion. “They were experienced spelunkers—cave explorers—so I wasn't with them most of the time. Omar and Tamir kept me busy, as the pair of them apparently have no sense of direction.” The last was uttered with a small shake of his head. “Anyway. This”—he pointed to a spot on his map—“is where they were last. So that's where we'll start today. Has anyone done this before?”

  “I have,” Remy said. “Many times.”

  “Excellent. You're now the team leader.” Nigel dug a hand in the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a glow stick. “I'll be marking the trail with these, so you can find your way out. Like I said, I'll be taking you through the cave system up to this point, but I can't stay. These are your exit. They will stay alight for twenty-four hours so you have plenty of time, all I ask is that you pick them up on your way out, so we aren't littering the caves with burned out glow sticks.”

  Remy nodded, folding her arms over her chest as she listened to Nigel’s instructions.

  “As you can imagine, it's dark in there. There are no lights. You have your torches and glow sticks. Stick close together. Now if you'll follow me into the entry cave, I want to show you something.”

  We obediently followed him into the first cavern, which was massive. Easily the size of a football field. The entrance was the size of a tennis court; we could have driven our vehicles inside. But the pièce de résistance was the hole in the roof, a circle, letting a stream of light in. Beneath that light was a small hill covered in green grass with a tree growing on top. The tree was fully grown and still didn't reach the roof of the cavern. We traipsed across the floor of the cavern until we reached the mirage, which was stunning, beautiful in its dark surroundings.

  “Nature can do wonderful things,” Nigel said, pride in his voice. “You'll find a couple of these air holes throughout the caves, giving a reprieve from the darkness.” He held up his map again and pointed to two different areas. “Here and here.”

  “How long will it take us to get to the area my parents were exploring?” I asked.

  “An hour, maybe less depending on how fast we travel,” he answered. “Hope you're not claustrophobic. Some tunnels are narrow. You can stand, but you'll have to shuffle through sideways. Other parts are low, and you'll have to crawl. Pleased to see you're all wearing long pants. Sensible.”

  “Remy warned us,” Jenna said in acknowledgement to our spelunking expert friend.

  “Okay, let's go. Stick together, don't lag behind. If you want to stop, we all stop. Do not get separated from the group.”

  Nigel led the way, Jenna directly behind, then me, Blake, and finally Remy.

  Jenna struck up a conversation with Nigel, chatting away about the differences between Australia and America as we made our way through the main cavern and into one of three tunnels. Torch in one hand and map in the other, I followed, half listening to their conversation. Behind me Remy turned on one of her gadgets and a light flashed as it flared to life. “What is that?” I whispered.

  “Energy detector,” she whispered back. “It'll alert me of any other living creatures within our vicinity.”

  I crossed my fingers it would find Mom and Dad, although as we were plunged into complete darkness except for the beams of our torches I shuddered at the thought of being kept down here for days, for surely their batteries would have died by now, along with any glow sticks. Although, I argued silently in my head, it depended on how many glow sticks you had with you. They were explorers, therefore well equipped. And if one glow-stick la
sted twenty-four hours, they'd have only used four, and from memory, my dad always had his pockets stuffed with the things whenever they were on an expedition. Ditto food and water. They'd have enough for a few days. I found that comforting.

  “Have you always run the tours Nigel?” Jenna asked.

  “Yep. Colin takes care of the four-wheel-drive stuff, I do underground. I know these caves like the back of my hand, used to come here just for fun when Arrowstrand was a sheep farm.”

  “So, this was your R and R?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “But didn't you say part of the caves were unexplored? Because they're so vast?”

  “They're a labyrinth, all right. I meant, the caves and tunnels we're passing through now I know like the back of my hand. I've been visiting for years, which is why it made perfect sense for me to run tours of these parts of the caves.”

  “What about to the north?” Remy asked, “It looks like it ends abruptly on the map.”

  “There was a cave in,” he explained. “So we keep the tours contained to this area. And it's where your parents were focusing their efforts,” he added for my benefit.

  “And did they find any indications that there's a copper pyramid down here?” I asked.

  Nigel laughed and I could just make out the silhouette of him shaking his head. “Nope, not that I know of. Omar and Tamir were convinced it existed too.”

  “Oh?” Remy prodded.

  “Seems they were following the same leads as the Joneses. Or plain out following the Joneses and hoping to pip them at the post,” he said. “Keith and Judith had a theory that the circular etchings found at Chambers Gorge and Sacred Canyon form a map. Pointing here. I've looked at it a million times and I can't see it.” He shrugged. “But I know Australia sits on the 44th Parallel ley line and nothing can be ruled out.”

  “You know about Grid Point 44?” Remy asked, surprise in her tone.

  “Yup,” Nigel replied. “Careful now, watch your heads, we're branching off here.”

  I duly noted on my map our location and lowered my head as we shuffled through a tunnel. It was as black as Hades down here and the further inward we traveled, the colder we got. Jenna had lapsed into silence and the only sound was that of our footfalls scuffing over the dirt and rocks. It smelled different too. Earthy and musky. There was a cracking sound, a flare of light, and Nigel dropped another glow stick when one tunnel intersected another. It was comforting that even without Nigel we'd be able to find our way out, for despite following on my map I had a feeling I'd never be able to make it out on my own.