Spooky Skeleton

by Addison Creek

  Grant might not thank me for sending Tommy, I thought with amusement.

  The door into the small room off the Cleaver Kitchen was closed. I stuck my ear to it but heard nothing. Lark and Pep also took turns listening.

  After making sure that Pep and Lark were ready, I opened the door.

  For one wild moment I saw several pairs of eyes turned toward me. A red light coming from Cleaver Kitchen allowed just enough illumination to let me see the forms of all of my family members, bound and sitting on the floor while several figures swirled around them.

  The second in which I made that realization was all I had. The next instant, we were under attack as a hooded figure whirled around and threw something at us. I closed the door with a snap and then opened it again and stormed into the room.

  The figure having lost his hood, I found Bert the unruly Down Below ghost glaring at me. Our most recent addition to the crew at the haunted house had taken my entire family prisoner.

  “Bert!” I gasped. I felt like a utter failure. I hadn’t seen this coming at all. What was going on?

  “What! Why is everyone surprised to see that I’m a criminal mastermind?” he nearly shouted at me.

  “What makes you a criminal mastermind?” Lark demanded.

  “Yeah, I’d like to know the same thing,” said another of the hooded figures, turning around to challenge Bert:

  Buck. Well, at least that didn’t surprise me.

  “I was the one who planned all the jobs we did with Elton,” he spat out.

  A third figure removed his hood, revealing himself as one of the skeletons from Down Below. I didn’t remember his name, but these three looked an awful lot like the three that had interrupted my date with Grant. I didn’t know how I was going to get us out of this mess, but at least I was getting a glimmer of the pattern of how everything that had been happening was connected.

  My eyes found Cookie’s and then my mom’s. At least they both appeared to comfortable. Cookie was even sitting on a pillow.

  I frowned at Cookie, thinking hard. She looked unhurt, so I tried to ask her with my eyes how she could have let herself be captured by a couple of silly ghosts.

  She shrugged at me.

  My mother was much less calm. She kept trying to talk and yell through her gag.

  “Why is my mother the only one gagged?” I demanded.

  “She was the only one arguing. The others kept quiet when I told them to simmer down,” said Bert.

  “Even Cookie?” said Lark, sounding surprised.

  “She’s behaved perfectly,” said Bert. “I don’t know why you all are always saying bad things about her. She seems perfectly pleasant to us. The sort that would bake us cookies.”

  “If you hadn’t tied her up,” Pep pointed out.

  The rest of the family was there as well, and they all appeared to be unharmed. Lizzie was visibly furious, which didn’t surprise me; she was always mad about something. Audrey was there, still in her apron. She looked more tired than the rest, but then she got up the earliest to start cooking for the day.

  “Why did you take my family prisoner?” I asked.

  “Easier than killing all of them,” explained Bert.

  At that Cookie snorted.

  “Why would you want to kill them, and what was your relationship to Elton?” I asked. The reference to the murdered werewolf had not been lost on me.

  “We used to rob banks together. He stole from us. Can’t trust nobody. He was hiding out around here. Had no idea he was in the area until we got here and there was howling. Thought I’d go to the grave not knowing what had happened to my money, and thought I’d stay there, for that matter,” said Bert.

  “How does my family fit into a murder plot?” I asked. By now it was clear who had killed Elton, and why.

  “We lost everything in that haul Elton stole. We were going to retire on that stuff, and then he up and took it. Have you seen the treasures in this mansion? They’re unbelievable. They make what we took all those years ago look like nothing. I wanted in. We hatched a good plan and then went through with it. Your family was in the way of what we needed.”

  “You mean in the way by owning their own possessions?” I clarified.

  Bert scratched his head. He was a forty-watt bulb in a sixty-watt world.

  “When you put it like that, you make it sound like we’re doing something bad. I don’t see it that way. We’re giving someone a new opportunity to experience a magical possession, and your family an opportunity for growth,” he said. “Once we untie them, which reminds me. We have to tie up you four now.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” said Pep, stepping back and throwing some of the herbs we’d taken from Audrey’s supply. Lark and I spread out to make ourselves a harder target for the thieves. If I could get to Cookie’s bonds, we’d have had all the reinforcements we needed.

  Buck came at me. I tried to dodge, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  He seized me and threw me backward, and I went tumbling through the air. Then suddenly I stopped. Cookie had used an enchantment to slow the impact of my back against the opposite wall. When I finally landed, I was more floating than falling.

  As soon as I got control of myself, I grabbed the Freeze Dried Blueberry Bomb out of my pouch. Cookie had warned me against it, so I used a split second to glance at her.

  She nodded once, then ducked. She had simply stood up. Her bonds were gone. She had been placid this whole time because she’d been working on untying herself!

  Battle raged. Bert, Buck, and the skeleton all attacked us. I screeched when I realized that the skeleton was attacking my defenseless family. Just as I was about to engage him, Buck blocked my path. Furious, I fought him off. But it was no use. The skeleton wasn’t going to be stopped.

  Just then the drapes covering the hole in the wall shifted and another skeleton came shooting through. He looked so much the worse for wear that at first I didn’t recognize him.

  I dodged something Buck had thrown at me, then my eyes went back to the skeleton.

  Paul had come to the rescue!

  With his help, we were no longer outnumbered. Lark and Pep fought Bert, who was no match for them. I used the tricks and enchantments Cookie had taught me and quickly overpowered Buck. Even Tommy helped.

  The second my mom was free, she shot to her feet. Cookie was already creating an enchantment to tie up the criminals. Bert kept swearing and asking Buck was what happening. Buck kept telling him to be quiet.

  Meg went tearing out of the haunted house to put an emergency sign on the gate saying that the haunted house was closed tonight. Given how scared we ourselves had been, we were in no condition to do it to others.

  It wasn’t long before everyone was safe. We had solved the mystery and saved the day.

  Now I really did need that bath.

  Chapter Thirty

  Later that night, Grant came to find me in my favorite spot in the library, where I was cradling a mug of tea and staring out the window. Cookie had given me several books to look over, and I had set them on the table next to me but hadn’t been able to focus on them yet. Two were about enchantments and the third was about knots. I wondered if she was trying to be funny.

  “They’ve been arrested,” said Grant. “You won’t have to worry about them anymore. Jefferson Judge had already asked to have a meeting with me to discuss them. He thought they had more potential than the rest to do something that was outside even the Below Law.”

  “There are laws Down Below?” I blinked up at him. It had been a long night. By the time I finally got a warm bath, I had been cold for hours.

  Also, one thing was still nagging at me. Maybe now that Grant was here he could clear up my questions.

  “Of course there are laws. The Fudge made most of them, so many of them are useless. But a few are good,” he said.

  He removed his hat, sat down next to me, and took my hand. I liked that he’d given up asking permission to sit down. We both knew he always had it. He loo
ked a little tired, but otherwise fine.

  “I guess that’s good,” I frowned, still looking outside, remembering that Peter had even tried to warn me. He had said things were too quiet Down Below, but I hadn’t listened.

  “How did you know I’d be here?” I asked.

  “I thought you might have trouble sleeping. I wanted to help. And I wanted to see you,” said Grant. His voice softened at the end and I smiled for the first time all day. But I still couldn’t get my mind off the case.

  Other hints that I had missed had been playing over in my mind ever since I’d gotten in the bath.

  For example, when I had finally managed to confront Evangeline, she had made a cryptic comment that now made sense. She had said, “There is definitely more to this than meets the eye. Most of the time anyway. But sometimes there’s just enough.” I realized now that she had been referring to how sometimes Elton was a werewolf, but most of the time he was a normal looking human.

  Another example was the deal I’d made with the Fudge. Now I knew why the Fudge had wanted to be kept abreast of the investigation into Elton’s death; he must have known that someone from Down Below was involved. When I had a spare moment, I would try to speak with Jefferson Judge about that, though there probably wasn’t much any of us could do. The Fudge ran Down Below with an iron fist and a salty quill. My only hope was that he never had reason to make a deal with the Root of All Evil. The Fudge and the Hammer would be a very unpleasant combination.

  “What’s bothering you?” Grant asked. “There’s obviously something.”

  “I didn’t figure it out in time,” I sighed. “I mean, I realized that my family was in trouble, but I left them alone with Bert and Buck. In fact, I invited those two upstairs. I had no idea they had killed Elton. It never even crossed my mind. But once I saw them holding my family prisoner, it made more sense. Elton was hiding something, and that implied that he was a former criminal. Bert and Buck were new to the area, which was why Elton was killed now and not a long time ago.”

  I huffed out a breath and continued to glare. I wanted to be an investigator, but the only trouble was I might not be very good at it.

  Gently Grant untangled our fingers, leaving my hand feeling cold. But since he put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, I immediately felt better. He smelled fresh and clean.

  In other words, he smelled like Grant.

  I smiled downward as I finally stopped staring into space. My whole body started to tingle.

  “You did an amazing job. Only you would save the lives of nine people and be dissatisfied,” he said, his voice husky.

  I cocked my head. “Who are the nine?”

  “Wasn’t Uncle Taft there?” he asked.

  “No, he wasn’t. He was in his study experimenting with clocks. He can stay in there for days. He had no idea anything was wrong,” I said.

  “Oh, well, if you only saved eight people then I’m entirely unimpressed,” Grant teased.

  I rolled my eyes and said, “I should have known they were dangerous, that’s all. My family was in harm’s way and it was my fault.”

  “No one knew they were dangerous. Cookie, the Fudge, your mother, even Erika and Jezebel had no idea,” he said.

  I nodded slowly. I supposed that was true. I hadn’t been alone in letting them come upstairs. Plus, the Fudge had been furious when he’d found out what they’d done. He had turned around and lectured all the other Down Below denizens about how stuff like this was why they couldn’t go on field trips. Then he suggested a diamond-hunting expedition in Canada.

  Grant’s words were providing some comfort, even if I resented needing it.

  “My point is that you got there before they did more damage. You couldn’t save Elton, but you could save your family, and keep Bert and Buck from stealing anything else. Bravo,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I said, aware that I was blushing. The way Grant saw what had happened wasn’t the way I had seen it, but I was grateful to him for trying.

  “One thing I would like to talk to you about is the Root of All Evil,” he said.

  I sucked in my breath. That was a serious topic.

  “Is that the only thing you want to talk to me about?” I whispered.

  There was a long enough pause so that I glanced up. Finally Grant said, “Only thing work-related.”

  “Did you want to talk about it now?” I said.

  “No.”

  “What do you want to talk about now?” I said.

  “Actually, I had a question for you. I wanted to ask the other night, but we were interrupted, and now we know it was by Bert and Buck.”

  My mouth felt dry, but I managed to say, “Ask away.”

  He smiled, took a deep breath, and plunged right in. “I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend,” he began. “I didn’t think I could find a woman who understood my life. I know I can be rigid. There’s nothing more important to me than getting to the truth. Every step of the way I’ve seen the same thing from you. What matters most to you always comes back to the truth. Your family is the most important thing to you, and on top of that you have excellent taste in chocolate and cheese.”

  Grant Hastings might not be used to dating. He might work more than he should, and he might have strict rules about the right way and the wrong way to do everything. But he loved that I was an investigator, an appreciation I had never thought I’d find. He loved me for me, and he made me feel better when I thought I’d screwed up. He was honorable and he was honest. Not to mention those broad shoulders.

  I leaned forward and kissed him.

  When we finally came up for air, we sat in silence for a while with our hands entwined. Grant smiled warmly at me in the dark library. The irises of his eyes were like the midnight sky, and the sparkle in their depths when he looked at me was like the stars. I was getting sappy, but fortunately there was no one here to see it.

  The light in his eyes mirrored mine. Suddenly I felt warm all over. Grant was here and we could take on anything together, especially if I was the one who solved the mystery. I wasn’t going to say that to him, of course.

  We were about to get very good practice in taking on formidable opponents.

  “Is it time to talk to your mom?” he asked gently as his fingers stroked my arm.

  “Is it ever?” I murmured.

  “Maybe it won’t be so bad,” he offered.

  “Famous last words,” I said. “Yes, it’s time.”

  The End

  ~

  A note to readers

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  on Amazon.com. Reviews are much appreciated!

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  By Addison Creek

  Witch of Mintwood Mysteries

  Witch Way to Mintwood

  Witch Some Win Some

  Spell by Midnight

  A Witch on Mintwood Mountain

  Witch Raising Situation

  Witch Way Round

  Witch Wish Way

  White Witch Wonder

  Muddled Mintwood Murderer

  Wonder Wand Way

  Witch of Mintwood Mysteries 1-3

  Witch of Mintwood Mysteries 4-6

  Witch of Mintwood Mysteries 7-9

  Witchy Minter Wonderland

  The Jane Garbo Mysteries

  Spooky Business

  Spooky Spells

  Spooky Spider

  Spooky Spindle

  Spooky Skeleton

 

 

 
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