“I’m going to call you an ambulance,” I said, taking out my phone.
“No, call the cops, first,” Jason said. “I’m fine, physically. I’m just… actually, I’m just shocked. Give me a minute to process this.”
I called 9-1-1 and told them where to meet us, then called Chief Gary to let him know what had happened. He promised he was on his way, and I sat down next to Jason. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it,” I said quietly. “I wasn’t allowed to. I wanted to. I wanted to tell you so badly. But we’re not allowed to tell anyone who’s not an immediate family member.”
Jason looked at me. “Why not?”
“We’re supposed to keep ourselves secret. And I mean, I can understand it. Do you really think the reaction if the world at large found out about us would be that great?”
Jason gave me a small smile. “I imagine it would be pretty similar to what happens in X-Men.”
I laughed. “You’re such a boy. But yeah, I think you’re right. So the Witches’ Council takes these sorts of things very seriously. We’re not allowed to use magic in front of non-humans.”
“Do you refer to us as muggles?” Jason asked, and I giggled.
“No,” I replied. “Maybe as a joke from time to time.”
“This is so much to get my head around. And Charlotte, she’s a witch too?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Sophie isn’t, but her mom is. Because her mom is, Sophie’s allowed to know about us. Also, Charlotte can’t talk to animals. She can control the weather, which I can’t do, but she uses her magic very, very rarely. She’s better at it than I am though.”
“As I would expect her to be. I’m going to start calling her Hermione.”
“She’ll probably love that,” I admitted.
“So what’s going to happen now?” Jason asked. “I mean, you’ve told me about the magic. You’ve broken the rules. What are they going to do to you?”
I shrugged. “I honestly have no idea.”
Chapter 21
It didn’t take too long for me to find out. A few hours later, the police came by, arrested Jake and took our statements. Then afterwards, Chief Gary came and scolded me for not calling him before coming here, and Jason and I had a long conversation–I found out that he’d woken up twenty minutes after getting my text, immediately went to Jake’s house and had the same neighbor tell him what she told me–and drove home in the same car. There was a letter sitting on the dining room table addressed to me, but without a postmark on it.
“It just appeared there,” Bee said, staring at it suspiciously. “About two hours ago. I wouldn’t touch it. I don’t trust anything magical.”
“I’m magical, Bee,” I said, exasperated.
“Exactly,” Bee replied, flaunting out of the room.
“Wow,” Jason said. “You just had a conversation with the cat.”
“I did,” I replied. “Although sometimes I think my life would be easier if I couldn’t speak to this particular cat.”
“I heard that!” Bee said from down the hall.
“You were meant to!” I shouted back, and Jason shook his head in amazement, going to the kitchen and grabbing himself a drink of water.
Sighing, but deciding Bee wanting to keep all the kittens was a battle for another time, I opened the letter with apprehension.
The page I pulled out of the envelope was blank, but as soon as I looked at it, words began to appear on it, as though by magic. Well, technically, it was magic, I was sure.
Angela Wilson,
You are being summoned to a council to be presided over by the current board of Witches and Wizards, due to a recent infraction of the Witches and Wizards’ Code, Article 23.1 of the 5th directive. Please present yourself to the Council at the following time and place:
Willow Bay Library, Upper Floor
September 29th, 7:00pm
The upper level of the library will be enchanted so that no others may enter. You will not be allowed to present witnesses in your defense.
Should you choose not to attend, you will be presumed guilty and your magical powers revoked permanently.
Well, if that letter was intended to scare the bejeezus out of me, it certainly worked. My face paled as I read the letter over and over. My appointment was that very day! I looked at the clock; it was already three o’clock. I had just over four hours. I called the one person I knew would be better than anyone else in this situation.
“Hello?” Charlotte answered the phone.
“Listen, I know this is going to sound brusque, but I need you to not ask questions. Jake, the roommate, killed Matt Smith, I confronted him and he almost killed Jason. I had to use magic to stop him, Jason knows, and now the Witches’ Council has set up a trial for me. It’s at seven, and I’m not allowed any witnesses.”
“I’ll be there in forty minutes,” Charlotte said, hanging up the phone without another word. Charlotte was a know-it-all, and she often scolded me for getting into situations she thought were ridiculous, but she was still the best sister ever. I knew she’d have my back on this.
“Wait, how do you know that stuff?” Jason asked, picking up the letter and flipping it over. “This is totally empty.”
“Can’t you read it?” I asked him, and he shook his head.
“Weird,” I said. “It must be enchanted. I bet the only person who can read it is the person its addressed to.”
For the next forty minutes I tried not to panic too much. I sent Sophie a quick text, telling her I wasn’t going to be coming back to the clinic this afternoon. I went out to the back looked out over the yard.
Jason came out and wrapped his arms around me.
“Do you need some time away from me?” I asked. Jason looked at me, surprised.
“Why would I need that?”
“You know, to like, process this. After all, it’s a pretty big thing, finding out magic is real and your girlfriend is a witch.”
Jason wrapped his arms around me. “I don’t need any time. As far as I’m concerned, I know everything that I need to know about you. I know you love animals. I know you love your friends and family and would do anything for them. I saw the perfect example of that today. I know what lengths you go to in order to stop injustices. I know how funny you are. And I know how good you are in bed,” he finished, and I punched him lightly on the arm as he laughed. “Those are the things that are important about a person. So you can talk to animals. So what? What I see is someone who took something she does better than anyone, and used it for good. You became a vet. You’re still the same person I fell in love with. You always have been. The only thing that’s different is now I know you can kick my butt if we ever get into a fight.”
I laughed and leaned against him. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Though it might all be moot, since it sounds like the Witches’ Council wants to take away my magical powers as punishment for telling you about my magic. The letter said if I don’t show up I automatically get found guilty, and that’s the punishment. And really, there’s no way that I won’t be found guilty. The rule says no telling or showing humans without magical powers about your magic. And I did exactly that.”
“But you did it in defense of me! I would have died if you hadn’t!” Jason argued.
“I know, but I don’t think that matters. They’re super strict about this sort of thing.”
“That’s completely ridiculous,” Jason said, shaking his head. “I want to go in there and testify.”
“You can’t,” I said. “The letter says no witnesses will be allowed in my favor, and that the upper floor of the library will be magically barricaded so no one else can come up while the meeting is happening.”
“That’s insane,” Jason muttered as I heard Charlotte’s car pull up the driveway.
“It is. But Charlotte’s here, and if anyone will be able to figure out how to get out of this, it’s her.”
The fact was, I was ready to take whatever punishment I was given. I knew when I was casting the spell that
I was in trouble. I knew that I would likely lose my powers. And the thing was, I was ok with that. Because Jason was here, next to me, breathing. That was the most important thing to me.
Charlotte rushed in. “I’m here,” she said. “Tell me everything that happened.”
I explained the events of that morning, and showed her the letter. Sure enough, Charlotte only saw a blank page as well, so I read the contents out to her.
“That’s not good,” Charlotte said. “I’ll be right back.”
She came back with a large, leather-bound volume. “What’s that?” I asked, staring at it. It had to have at least three thousand pages. Charlotte gave me an exasperated look in reply.
“It’s only the guide to all magical law,” she said. “Along with every spell known to man. How are you a grown witch without your own copy?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I learned all the spells I needed as a kid, I guess.”
“You are unbelievable,” Charlotte said as she looked at an index and started flipping through the pages. “You have a gift, and you choose not to learn your skills to their fullest potential.”
“Wait, all of this book is full of spells?” Jason asked. “That’s awesome!”
“Yes,” Charlotte said. “Well, most of it. The last three hundred pages or so involve magical law.”
I groaned. “Don’t tell me we need to read all of it.”
“Oh no, don’t worry. I already know most of it, I just need to check on something.”
“You really are Hermione,” Jason said, and Charlotte blushed.
“Well, thank you,” she said, and I laughed at how much of a compliment she found that to be. “Unfortunately for Angela, I’m not sure there’s really anything in here that will help.”
“Shouldn’t there be some sort of exception, like in defense of a third party?” I whined.
“What there should be, and what the law supplies, are two very different things,” Charlotte said. “There is no such provision in the books. You are absolutely guilty of this magical crime. I’m simply looking up the punishments for it. Your best bet is to beg for leniency.”
I groaned. “Great.”
“Here it is,” Charlotte said. “For a person found guilty of a crime found in the 5th directive, the punishment is to be determined by the courts. The maximum punishment is the complete removal of the guilty party’s magical powers. The minimum punishment is the removal of the guilty party’s magical powers for one month.”
There. I honestly think your best bet is to plead guilty. Admit to what you’ve done, and tell them that it was to save the life of your long-term boyfriend. It’s not like you did it just for kicks. Make sure they know that.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, and Charlotte nodded.
“Yes, I’m sure. That’s your best bet.”
“Ok,” I replied.
“I’ll wait for you downstairs in the library,” Jason said, squeezing my hand. “No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you. After all, you did save my life today. I’m pretty stoked about that.”
I smiled at him. “Me too. Thanks.”
Chapter 22
The speed at which all of this felt like it was going was dizzying. It felt like absolutely no time at all passed before six-thirty came around and it was time to go to the library. Jason, Charlotte, Sophie and I all piled into Jason’s car–mine was still in Portland, as Jason and I decided to drive home together–and made our way down to the library.
“Oh, hello, dears,” Rose, the long-time librarian said as we walked in. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen all of you. Well, except for Charlotte of course. She was here two days ago.”
“Hermione,” I heard Jason whisper, but I was too stressed to giggle at the joke. My entire magical future was at stake here. As if sensing my anxiety, Jason wrapped his arms around my shoulder as we exchanged pleasantries with Rose and headed deep into the library toward the stairs leading up to the second level.
“It’s going to be ok,” Sophie told me, squeezing my hand. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Sophie’s right,” Jason told me. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Remember: plead guilty, explain what happened, and beg for a lenient sentence,” Charlotte insisted. “You have mitigating circumstances, they should factor that in.”
I nodded, thanked the three of them, then headed up the stairs. Halfway up it felt like I’d walked through a sheet of water; everything felt cold and wet, but there was no visible change to my exterior. That must have been the enchantment to stop anyone else from coming up to the second floor of the library.
Not that anyone ever went up there to begin with.
As I walked up the stairs and onto the second level, my breath caught in my throat. All of the tables had been re-organized and moved against the far wall in a long row, leaving a large, open space in the center of the room, with a single chair in the middle. Behind the tables, seated in the remaining chairs, were the people that I assumed made up the Witches’ Council.
To say they were intimidating was an understatement.
The only witches I knew in my life were Lisa and Charlotte, and also my second grade teacher who had long since retired and moved to Florida. They all looked completely normal. These people didn’t.
There were five women and four men. All looked to be at least a hundred years old, and I couldn’t guarantee that they weren’t that old. They all hair pure white hair, except for one witch who had died hers a hot pink color, and I did my best not to stare. All were dressed in pure black, although they were wearing human clothes–suits, and in one case a long dress–rather than robes. Light shone from behind them, making them harder to see, but I could make out scarred faces and I was pretty sure at least one glass eye.
I took a deep breath and tried to relax. After all, I’d seen the maximum punishment available. This council wasn’t about to smite me on the spot. I hoped.
“Angela Martin,” the witch in the middle of the group said as soon as I sat down on the chair that was obviously meant for me. I hadn’t felt this much like a scared little girl in the principal’s office since, well, I was a scared little girl sitting in the principal’s office. To be fair, it had only happened once, and it was really Sophie’s fault. But that wasn’t important right now. “You have been summoned in front of the Witches’ Council, charged with ignoring Article 23.1 of the 5th directive of the Charter of Witches and Wizards. Do you understand this charge?”
“Yes,” I replied, my voice coming out as little more than a squeak.
“Do you plead guilty to this charge?”
“Yes,” I replied again, my voice sounding more confident than ever. “However, I would like to explain mitigating circumstances that led to my breach of the article. I was acting to save the life of my long-term boyfriend.”
“Silence!” the witch roared, and I cowered in my chair. “This proceeding does not allow for justification. Either you broke the rule, or you didn’t, and you’re admitting that you did.”
“Hold on, now, Charlene,” the witch in the dress said. “I know we’re not supposed to hear justification, but this sounds like it could have some merit.”
“Millenials, they always have some sort of excuse as to why their rule breaking is acceptable,” one of the Wizards on the other side of the table replied. “If we allow excuses for rule breaking, well, we’d be no better than the communists,” he muttered, almost to himself.
I couldn’t quite understand what excuses and communism had to do with each other, but decided to keep my mouth shut.
“I don’t care, Charles. No one cares about your dumb communism theories, that ship sailed long ago. I want to hear what the girl has to say,” another witch said.
“Silence!” the witch in the middle cried once more. I held my breath as the rest of the council stopped talking. “We will hear what the witch Angela Martin has to say. But make it short, criminal,” she said to me. “We are not so young as you, we have better
things to do with the time we have left than listen to sob stories.”
I cleared my throat, hoping my voice would hold. I managed to splutter out the Cliff Notes version of what had happened in about two minutes flat. I did my best to stick to only the relevant points, and made sure to point out that Jason was my long-time boyfriend, that we were talking about moving in together, and that he would have died had I not intervened.
When I was finished, there was silence among the Council. Finally, the lady in the dress spoke.
“You know, I sometimes feel as though we are slipping behind the times. Young people today often take steps we would not have considered before marriage; it does not mean they are less committed to themselves. I did not move in together with Jacob before our marriage, and sometimes I feel as though many of today’s youth are in more committed relationships than we were at the time. After all, I had only known Jacob for a month then.”
“Yes, and I wish we had moved in together as well; I never would have married you had I known you had a penchant for leaving your unmentionables strewn all around the bedroom as though they were decorations,” the wizard sitting next to the witch said, and the whole table burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Laughter was good, right?
“You’ll all excuse me,” the witch Charlene, in the middle, said eventually. “This is a Witches’ Council, should we not be attempting at least a modicum of decorum?” The laughter died down and one of the other wizards chimed in.
“I don’t think it makes a difference at all whether or not they were serious, they weren’t married. I take the opposite view of Darla, I think young people these days consider their relationships in general to be far too disposable. The divorce rate in this country is astronomical; think of how many humans there are out there who know our secret but are divorced from their witchy spouses.”
Sleeping with the Fishes (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (Willow Bay Witches Book 6) Page 13