Brewing Trouble: A Witchy Mystery (Tree's Hollow Witches Book 2)

by Sara Bourgeois

  “You’re evil.”

  “Only a little.” She said and winked at me.

  Thankfully, most of the bodies were covered with thick tarps, and Esme did the dirty work of looking at toe tags until we found who she was looking for.

  “What exactly are we doing here?” I asked when she peeled a tarp down and revealed Viktor Popov was the target of her hunt.

  I expected that she wanted to look into his death, but I didn’t know what that had to do with the morgue. Maybe she knew how to search for clues on the body? She was an ER nurse, but perhaps she knew something about forensics.

  “You, me, and Brad all know this wasn’t a suicide.” She said and started to pull a few items out of a black silk bag I hadn’t noticed she was carrying until right at that moment.

  "What are you doing?" I asked her again. "Are you going to do some sort of forensic examination?"

  "Oh my Gawd, Lenny. I'm a nurse." She said and continued to pull items out of her bag.

  It was then that I noticed what she was taking out of her black silk satchel. There were purple, blue, and black candles, several crystals ranging from clear to blood red in color, and finally, she pulled out a black cloth with a pentagram in the middle. She laid the fabric on Viktor's chest and then surrounded his body with the candles and stones.

  "Please tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing," I said and took a step back from the table.

  "We need to talk to him. We've just got to wake him up." Esme said calmly.

  "That's necromancy, Esme. You're talking about dark arts."

  I didn't know much about my witchcraft yet, but I'd done some studying since I'd found out about what I was. Someone like Esme who'd known most of her life that she was a witch was far more accomplished at magic that I was, but I knew what was dark and what was light. It was true that some things fell in the middle or into a gray area outside of both.

  "It's only for a few minutes, and we'll send him right back," Esme said as she lit the candles.

  "Send him back where?"

  "Wherever he is. Think about it, if he's in a bad place, we're doing him a favor. He'll get a brief reprieve." She said before taking my hand and closing her eyes.

  At this point, I could tell there was no stopping her. She was going to wake this man from the dead whether I liked it or not, and I didn't feel right about ditching her even if I wanted more than anything to run as fast as I could out of the morgue. She started to chant, but I had no idea what Esme was saying.

  The room grew very dark around us, and the candles appeared to be the only thing keeping us from being swallowed by the inky blackness that was moving in around us like the high tide coming in from the ocean. Everything got really cold as well. It's not like the morgue was warm, to begin with. It felt an awful lot like a walk-in cooler at a restaurant. That thought made me queasy as soon as it popped into my head, but now the room felt positively icy. I shivered, and goosebumps erupted all over my body.

  A low vibration started to fill the room as Esme's chanting picked up speed. The sound and feel of it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and something like dread filled my belly until it took all of my strength not to wretch. I couldn't find the strength to break contact with Esme, but I knew that when this was over, we were going to have to have a long talk about using this type of magic. Figuring out what happened to Viktor Popov was important to me, but it wasn't worth this.

  I found myself terrified when I saw what I thought was Viktor's little finger twitch. Then it was his toe, and before long, I realized the vibration filling the room was a moan coming from his mouth. I looked at his body, and for some reason, I could tell he was becoming animated but not alive.

  "Okay, Lenny. Listen carefully." Esme said and squeezed my hand. "I've pulled him through from the other side, but he'll need a minute to marinate. Your job, when he's finally able to speak to us, is to keep a protection spell on us. We also need to keep him on this metal table. You cannot under any circumstances let him get up and walk away. Okay?" She said with a smile.

  "What the truck, Esme." I couldn't bring myself to actually curse, but this occasion felt like the appropriate time for something a little stronger than anything non-obscenities could convey. "I'm not sure I can do a protection spell that strong. I don't know if I can keep a guy that you necromancied back from the other side from getting up and fleeing. Can he hear us?"

  "I don't know." She said thoughtfully. "I'm sure he'll be able to soon."

  "Perhaps we should stop discussing how he can escape, then." My voice cracked with fear. "What happens if he does get out?"

  "You know, I'm not sure," Esme said and relit a candle that had gone out. "It's not like I do this all of the time. I've studied a little necromancy, but I'm not a full-time raiser of the dead."

  "Have you done this before?" I asked, and I wasn't sure if I'd be more horrified if she said yes or if she said no.

  "Honestly, no. You'd better have that protection ready, Lenny. I think he's coming around."

  The moaning sound coming from the dead guy was getting much louder. I hoped that there weren't any more doctors down in the basement with us because I'm pretty sure they would have heard the sounds he was making. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure how to protect us from the risen dead, but I know I needed to come up with something fast.

  "Take a step back from the table," I told her. "Make sure you're out of arms reach."

  I closed my eyes and imagined that the flames were indestructible. I didn't want them going out while we were talking to Viktor. Next, I pictured his legs strapped down to the table at the thighs and ankles.

  The moaning stopped, and next came a sputtering noise that sounded like Viktor was drowning and gasping for breath. He sat bolt upright and looked around the room frantically until his eyes landed on us. He snarled and growled while reaching out towards us.

  "What is this? Why can't I get up?" He hissed. "Is this another trial?"

  "What does he mean?" I turned my head and whispered to Esme.

  "If I had to guess, we just ripped him out of H E double hockey sticks." She said with wide, fascinated eyes. "I've heard you're put through trials and tribulations down there if you're bad but not bad enough to burn for eternity."

  "It's you." He said with eyes glued to me. "I warned you to stay out of things, and for that, I ended up dead."

  "Wait, you were trying to help me?" I said in disbelief.

  I'd never considered that he might be trying to warn me for my own good. I thought he'd been trying to protect his own wicked interests.

  "Yeah, toots. I wanted to get you to stop sticking your nose where it didn't belong. You're messing around with some dangerous people, but I thought if I told you that, it would only make you more curious. So, I figured I'd put a little scare in you. And, look where it landed me." He said and gestured around the morgue. It appeared the severity of his situation was settling in.

  "It never crossed my mind that you might have been trying to help me. I just thought you were some awful, violent man that wanted to scare me away from the case for his own gain. I guess it worked." I said and wished there was something I could do to help my new friend.

  There was something I could do. I could solve the mystery of Viktor’s slaying. If he had been murdered.

  "Did you really kill yourself?" Esme beat me to it.

  "So, I really am dead?" Viktor said and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I had hoped this was all a nightmare. The things I've seen do not bode well for my eternal resting."

  He tried to get up again. I could sense that he was like a frightened animal. We'd brought him back from a dark place, and Mr. Popov did not want to go back. He was planning to escape.

  "Let me go." He pleaded when it sunk in that he wasn't getting up.

  "We can't do that," Esme said. "But, we can help you if you answer my question. Did you kill yourself, or were you murdered, because I don't think you offed yourself."

  "I didn't kill mys
elf." He murmured. "I don't know what happened. I was in my shop getting ready to head over to the bed and breakfast." He said and then looked at me again. "Lenny, your aunt called me and told me I'd won. I worried that I'd see you again and you'd tell everyone I'd threatened you, but I thought maybe I could explain myself. My father used to work for the men you need to be afraid of. My best friend and I, we got out when we were still young. But, there are still people connected to the family in Tree's Hollow."

  "So, somebody killed you," I said. "Do you have any idea who it was?"

  "They came at me from behind. Whoever it was had been waiting in my office. For how long, I have no idea. I faded out and woke up in the waiting room for the underworld. Man, there is a lot of paperwork involved in dying. It's insane."

  "You have no idea who killed you, then?" Esme said without masking the annoyance in her voice.

  "Well, there is one thing I remember."

  Esme and I leaned in so we could pay extra attention to what Viktor was about to say. I had a feeling in my gut that he was about to solve the whole thing for us. Then, his eyes shifted behind us. My heart skipped a beat because for a moment I thought we'd been caught. How were we going to explain that we'd brought a man back from the dead to question him about his murder?

  "Mama!" He cried out and started to sob. "Mama you came for me!"

  "Oh, Gawd," I said. " What is it with these guys and their Mamas."

  A blinding white light opened up behind us, and another loving Russian mother stepped through. She reached her arms out to her boy, and I watched as Viktor's ghost separated from his body. He ran into his mother's loving embrace, and she escorted him back over to the other side.

  "Rescued from the devil by his Mama," Esme said.

  "At least we saved a soul today," I said and helped her pack up.

  "Yeah, and now we know it was a murder, but we've got no clues. He was about to give us a clue." She was frustrated. "We could pull him back again. Make him tell us." Thankfully Esme sounded half-hearted about this idea.

  "Esme, we helped him. We shouldn't pull him back again."

  "You're right, but what do we do now?" She said as we headed out of the morgue.

  Chapter Ten

  We should have told Brad what we knew, but how would we make him understand? Instead, I tried to put it out of my mind for a while. The next day Nathan showed up with a truck to help me gather my things from storage. Brad joined us, but Esme had to sleep because she was going to be pulling a double shift that included an all-nighter. It was the price she paid for getting a weekend day off to go out on a "girl’s night" with me.

  I hoped that she didn't hate me when she figured out that she'd volunteered for an overnight double shift to get tricked into a double date with Brad. Oh well. Even if she did, Esme tricked me into practicing necromancy in the hospital morgue. We could call it even after the date.

  The move was uneventful. I'd called the utility companies first thing in the morning, and the power and water were on by the time we'd moved all of my furniture and belongings into my new house. I called the cable company to get internet turned on, but they said it would be three days.

  I made the appointment, but I figured I'd use my magic to get the internet sooner. What's the point of being a witch if you can't use a little magical Wi-Fi? It was only going to be for a few days, anyway.

  Brad helped us get all of the big furniture into the house, but he had to go shortly after. He did agree to a guy’s night with Nate that weekend. So, the double date was set.

  I was in the kitchen unpacking my pots and pans when I saw it. At first, it was just a shadow that passed behind me. It could have been explained by a cloud passing in front of the window or a bird flying close. But by the third time it moved across the kitchen floor behind me, I couldn't deny what I'd seen. I was surprised that it didn't talk to me. That's what worried me the most.

  Was the spirit shy? Or, was it something worse. To be honest, I was still thoroughly creeped out about the ritual in the morgue. At some point, I was going to have to stop being scared of ghosts given how much the seemed to like me.

  That was when I realized why I'd gotten the house so cheap. They couldn't rent it because there was a ghost. This wasn't the kind of spirit that visited me, but another type that could probably be seen by just about anyone. It most likely wasn't even aware that it could talk to me. I got the feeling that this little show it put on for me was how it started the process of getting whoever had moved in to flee in terror.

  "I can see you," I said to it. "I've dealt with my share of ghosts, and I'm not afraid of you."

  "What was that, Lenny?" Nathan called from the back bedroom where he was putting my desk together.

  "Not talking to you," I called back. "This house came complete with an inhabitant of its own."

  "More ghosts?" He said.

  "Yep."

  "Do I need to come in there?"

  "Nah. I'm pretty sure this one is harmless. We're just making our acquaintances." I said and looked right at the flickering entity in front of me.

  I felt its curiosity as it studied me. I'm sure it had never encountered a person who wasn't afraid. It flickered for a while longer as its form came into focus. Once it was fully developed, I could see that the ghost was that of a middle-aged woman. She looked like a fifties housewife in a knee length turquoise cotton dress, white leather flats, and a black and white polka dot apron. The apron was accented with red piping around the seams that matched the exact shade of lipstick she wore.

  "Chocolate chip cookie." She said and held her hands out as if she held a platter of cookies. "Oh, my. I'm so sorry. I usually have cookies fresh from the oven for guests. There are mints on the coffee table..." The smile melted from her face as she turned around and saw that the coffee table she spoke of wasn't there. "Oh, my. Oh, my."

  It hit me that she wasn't trying to scare me in the kitchen. She was just running around baking her batch of cookies completely unaware that she had a human infestation on her hands. Now that the ghost realized what was going on, she looked distressed.

  "I'm Lenny," I said and smiled. "It's nice to meet you." I really hoped that this woman knew she was dead. I did not want to be the one who had to break it to her.

  "I'm Abigail Lenox." She said and extended a hand to me. It was then that she noticed how transparent her body was. "Oh, my."

  Abigail smoothed her apron and straightened her hair. She took a deep breath, and then her sweet smile spread across her face again.

  "I apologize, Lenny. I've been here alone for so long that I'd forgotten my manners. Most people leave when they figure out I'm here, so I've been living in my own head for far too long." She said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, dear. I assume we'll be sharing the house. That is unless you run screaming out of here in the middle of the night." She said with a chuckle. "You wouldn't think little ole me would be that scary."

  Just then, Nate walked into the room and caught sight of my new roommate. I was pleased that he'd adjusted so well to the notion that we shared our world with certain departed souls.

  "Hubba hubba," Abigail said. "Will you look at that. That's grade A 100% all American Hunk if I've ever seen it."

  So, there's a ghost living in my house. I have no desire to get rid of her. She's actually quite delightful. I'm not sure if Jezebel is a huge fan, yet. But, she'll get used to it. Abigail promised to stay out of my bedroom and office, and while she can't actually bake for me, she pledged to help me out with pointers in the kitchen.

  Her story is a little sad. She was married to a traveling salesman back in the 1950's, and he wasn't the kindest or most attentive husband. Abigail often suspected that he was gone much longer than he needed to be for his work, and that could only mean one thing. He was having an affair.

  She died at the age of 42 of cancer. Abby didn't tell me specifically what type of cancer, and I have a feeling that's a sore subject for her. I didn't want to press her, and I'm sure she'll tell me eventually.
It was even harder for her to talk about her sickness than it was to tell me about how her husband, Jerald, was never there for her in the end. Abby suspected that he'd moved on with his mistress long before she actually died.

  But, all of that is really depressing, so instead, let's talk about the double date. Nathan and I decided that mini golf and dinner sounded like a good time. I know it's cliché, but it always looked fun in the movies, so I decided that we'd give it a go.

  I picked Esme up in my Jeep and told her what we were doing. We had to drive to another town for the mini golf because there isn't any place in Tree's Hollow that has it. Plus, I thought it would be a good idea to go to a new restaurant. The drive turned out to be about an hour long, and Esme spent the time telling me stories about her last double shift in the ER. Several times I wanted to ask her to stop, but I figured I was pre-paying penance for what I was about to spring on her.

  "Oh no, you didn't," Esme said when we pulled into the parking lot and got a glimpse of Brad standing with Nate next to his truck. "You little witch."

  I could only chuckle when I saw an equally stricken look spread across Brad's face. This was the right thing to do, though. These two people belonged together, and everyone would be a lot happier if they just got over themselves and admitted their feelings.

  Despite that Brad acted like we'd ruined his night for the first few minutes, he paid for Esme's admission to the mini golf park. Nathan and I tried to keep to ourselves as much as possible to force the two of them to talk to one another. It was hard at first because Esme kept trying to get my attention. Then something happened. Brad made a joke that made her laugh, and she softened a little bit.

  Nate and I stayed one hole ahead of them for the rest of the game, and while I couldn't hear what they were saying, I could see that they were chatting and laughing the entire time. At one point, Esme even reached out and touched Brad's arm while she was talking to him.

  Success.

  By the time the rounds of mini golf were over, I was starved. Everyone else wanted to play some video games in the arcade for a while, though, so I got some nachos from the concession stand.