“Meow!”
They all stopped short and spun around, expecting to find Belladonna behind them. But it wasn’t Belladonna. It was the black fluffy cat.
“There are a lot of black cats around here,” Celeste said.
“Well, it is Salem,” Fiona replied.
“Hey, this is the street.” Jolene pointed up at the street sign for West Great River Road. She turned the corner and her heart sank.
“There are no homes here,” said Celeste, the master of stating the obvious.
“No. Number two is a pharmacy.” Morgan stopped on the sidewalk in front of the pharmacy.
Jolene double-checked her notes, and then the GPS map on her phone. It was, indeed, the street they had for Sam Gooding—West Great River Road. She flopped her hands against her sides. “Well, that figures.”
A smattering of pedestrians weaved in between the girls as they stood on the sidewalk staring at the pharmacy.
“Now what?” Celeste asked.
“I should’ve known it was too good to be true,” Morgan said. “Maybe there is a clue here, though.”
Fiona took the alexandrite stone out of her pocket and aimed it toward the pharmacy. It didn’t glow. She turned a full circle with it but it didn’t indicate anything.
“Maybe it doesn’t work anymore or maybe the clue really has nothing to do with Sam’s house. He may have hidden it somewhere else,” Celeste suggested.
“True.” Morgan’s eyes narrowed at something past Celeste’s shoulder. “Hey, isn’t that the museum guy? Henry?”
Jolene saw the curator from the Ephemera Museum standing on the corner. His eyes lit with recognition as he notice Jolene and her sisters.
“Hi, there. Remember us?” Fiona waved to Henry.
“Yes, yes, you were the ladies at the Museum yesterday, right?” Henry shuffled toward them, chuckling. “I never forget a pretty face, much less four of them.”
“What brings you here?” Jolene figured he was probably going into the pharmacy for medicine.
“Just taking my morning constitutional. I try to get two walks in every day when the museum is not busy.”
“Oh, that’s right. I remember you said that yesterday,” Morgan said.
“What brings you ladies here? Filling a prescription?” Henry nodded toward the pharmacy.
“Oh, no. We were just doing some research.”
Henry pursed his lips. “You mean on the fellow you were asking about yesterday? Sam Gooding?”
Fiona nodded toward the building. “Yeah, we think we discovered where his house used to be. Now it’s a pretty modern-looking pharmacy.”
“That’s the trouble. A lot of the old places were torn down to make way for progress.” Henry cast a glance at the pharmacy and shook his head. “Well, I best be going. Can’t stay away from the museum for too long. You ladies have a nice day.”
“It makes perfect sense that his house wouldn’t still be standing after three hundred years. But this is likely the location where his house was.” Morgan looked down the street, her face a mixture of thoughtful concern.
Jolene recognized that Morgan was having a feeling of intuition and she wasn’t surprised. She, herself, felt an energy shift. “You’re getting one of your gut feelings, aren’t you? I feel something, too. That niggling feeling that were being followed or watched.”
“Exactly,” Morgan said. “Do you sense another paranormal?”
“I'm not sure, but we better be prepared.” Jolene’s fist curled around the black obsidian amulet that hung at her neck.
Fiona had made each of them a similar amulet, specifically to help ward off negative energy that might be directed at them during a paranormal attack.
"Where is it?" Celeste's eyes darted around the area.
Jolene felt bad for her sister. Celeste didn't have the intuition that Morgan and Jolene did, and therefore had no idea which direction the threat was coming from. It was like going into a fight blind.
“It seems like it's over here.” Jolene followed her instincts, heading west on the street toward a cluster of buildings. “I think there’s something—”
“Meow!”
Two cats shot out from behind the buildings—the black cat they kept seeing, followed by a friend—a pure white cat.
“Is that Belladonna?” Celeste asked.
Jolene didn’t stop to answer the question. She took off after the two cats. If it was Belladonna, she didn’t want her wandering the streets.
The cats turned down a narrow alley. Jolene followed at full speed. She thought she heard a high-pitched cackle as she careened around the corner and then promptly tripped over a big, black cast-iron pot. She flew through the air and landed face first on the pavement.
Her sisters appeared at the mouth of the alley in time to see her land sprawled out on her stomach.
“Is that a cauldron?” Fiona asked incredulously.
“Looks like it.” Jolene pushed to her feet and inspected her stinging palms.
“Are you okay?” Celeste asked.
“Fine. Did you see where they went?”
The sisters looked down the alley. It was empty except for three rusty blue dumpsters. There was an acrid smell of garbage.
“They could be anywhere.” Celeste looked behind one of the dumpsters. “Do you think that was Belladonna? How did she get out?
“How does she ever get out?” Jolene asked. “This wouldn’t be the first time she’s suddenly appeared somewhere.”
“I hope she’s not rummaging in the dumpsters. It’s not like we don’t feed her plenty.” Fiona gingerly picked up the lid of one of the dumpsters and peered inside.
“That’s for sure.” Jolene looked into the pot she tripped over. It had residue of a green liquid inside. “I wonder what this is doing here.”
Fiona took out the gemstone and aimed at the pot. “Well, it’s not a clue.”
“Probably from the Witches Brew.” Morgan pointed to a sign on one of the doors. “Looks like this is the back alley for that restaurant.”
“Maybe they have breakfast,” Fiona said hopefully. “We should check them out.”
The cauldron did belong to the Witches Brew restaurant. Jolene was relieved to see that it was a promotional gimmick to have it in the alley. Not that she'd believed it was an actual witch’s cauldron, but given the preponderance of black cats, the flying broomsticks and the cackle she thought she’d heard, she was almost starting to believe in witches. Especially after Mateo’s mysterious words the evening before.
It turned out that the restaurant served up a pretty good breakfast and the girls ate hungrily, except for Celeste, who just had an herbal tea. They ordered lox minus the bagel and cream cheese for Belladonna, hoping the treat would stave off any unpleasant repercussions the cat might be conjuring up to punish them for keeping her locked in the hotel room, though Jolene wasn’t totally convinced she hadn’t gotten out and was running around Salem with the fluffy black cat.
They finished breakfast and headed back out onto the street.
“Where to next?” Fiona craned her neck, inspecting the other storefronts on the street. “There’s no ice cream shop here.”
“Forget about ice cream,” Morgan said. “We need to get back to the hotel and dig a little deeper on Sam Gooding.”
“Yeah, and make sure our cat hasn’t done anything crazy,” Celeste added.
15
The closer they got to the hotel, the more jumpy Jolene became. She sensed something wasn’t right. Or maybe she was just reacting to Morgan’s nervous energy. Although Morgan was trying to act nonchalant, Jolene could see she was on alert, her eyes constantly darting about as they walked. Jolene knew Morgan’s intuition was telling her to be cautious.
Jolene spent the time not thinking about Mateo. Well, not hardly. He hadn’t called or texted her. She shouldn’t be surprised. He often just disappeared without even saying goodbye. It was his modus operandi. She wondered if he was off with the long-haired beauty she’
d seen him with. Did he kiss her after their meal, too?
Thoughts of Mateo were crowded out of her mind by a surge of energy as they approached the door to their hotel room.
Morgan felt it, too, and shot her arms out to stop Fiona and Celeste from entering. “Something’s not right,” Morgan whispered.
Celeste put the to-go bag with Belladonna’s lox on the floor and the sisters dialed up their energy levels, each of them knowing they might need to call on the full power of their gifts if they were attacked.
Morgan slipped the key card into the lock quietly.
Click.
She shoved the door open and the four of them sprang inside, clutching their obsidian amulets and summoning all their energy, ready to defend themselves against whoever was waiting inside.
“Meow!” Belladonna leaped down from the counter and leisurely trotted over to them.
The sisters carefully checked each room, but Jolene knew they wouldn’t find anyone. Belladonna would never have been so lackadaisical if an intruder was in there.
But someone had been in there. Jolene could see the energy trail. “Someone was here.” Jolene pointed at the floor as if her sisters could see the fading trail of brown energy.
“Did they take something? Where did they go?” Fiona asked.
But the energy trail traipsed all over the hotel suite and was quickly fading. “It looks like they went everywhere.”
“That’s odd. I wouldn’t think Belladonna would let anyone in here,” Celeste said.
Jolene remembered the white and black cats she'd chased down the alleyway. “Maybe Belladonna wasn’t here.”
At first glance, it didn’t look like anything had been taken or disturbed, but Jolene called upon her photographic memory to remember how the hotel room had looked when they'd left. She could tell that the papers that had been on the desk had been moved carefully and put back. “Someone did look through our things. It’s subtly different. It’s almost as if they didn’t want us to know they were here.”
“Was it a paranormal?” Fiona asked.
“Possibly, but not the same energy trail that I saw at Amity Jones’ house,” Jolene said.
“Maybe we have more than one paranormal on our trail,” Celeste suggested.
“Mew!” Belladonna’s tail and ears went up and she trotted over to the door sniffing underneath.
“Someone’s out in the hall,” Morgan whispered as she tiptoed over to the door.
Jolene, her energy still at full power, sensed it, too.
Celeste got on one side of the door and the other three lined up on the other side. They tensed, ready to attack whoever was out there. Was it the person who had broken in earlier?
Morgan gave the nod and Celeste jerked open the door.
Jolene’s heart crunched when she saw who was standing outside. It was Mateo, and he wasn’t alone. Standing next to him—very closely—was the dark-haired beauty.
Morgan relaxed. “Oh, it’s just you.”
“It’s good to see you, too.” Mateo smiled through his sarcastic reply, his eyes seeking out Jolene.
She'd crossed to the other side of the room in order to be as far away from him as possible. Her chest constricted when their eyes met, and she quickly looked away, then leaned a slim hip against the desk and crossed her arms. The nerve of him, bringing his gorgeous girlfriend here after trying to kiss her!
Morgan opened the door wide. “Come on in.”
“What’s going on? I sense worry,” Mateo said.
“Someone was in our room,” Fiona answered.
“Is anything missing?”
“We don’t think so. At least we haven’t found anything missing, yet.”
Mateo glanced around the room, frowning. “It’s a good thing we came, then. We debated telling you this but … well, Cassiopeia felt very strongly that you might need to know.”
Jolene noticed Morgan’s eyes narrow at the woman, Cassiopeia. Darn right she should glare at her, Jolene thought, though it was more appropriate that Mateo be the recipient of Morgan’s steely gaze. More likely, Morgan should be feeling sorry for Cassiopeia. The woman probably had no idea what she was getting herself into with Mateo.
“Hey, aren’t you the woman from the mystical shop in Freeport?” Fiona asked.
Jolene’s suspicion meter pegged into the red. That was a strange coincidence—the woman who was the source of this whole thing showing up with Mateo?
Mateo nodded. “She is. This is Cassiopeia Ortiz. My sister.”
“Sister?” Morgan said. “I didn’t know you had one.”
Mateo grinned. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
Morgan shot an arched-brow look at Jolene.
Jolene knew exactly what that look meant. It was Morgan’s way of saying ‘see, you were worrying about Mateo with another woman for nothing’. But Jolene was not placated. She still had unsettled feelings about Mateo. Sure, he wasn’t hanging out with a beautiful woman—or at least not this beautiful woman—but he still hadn’t called after their date. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much. She wasn’t in the market for a steady boyfriend, especially not one who disappeared for months on end like Mateo was apt to do.
“Meowurrr!” Belladonna wound a figure eight around Cassiopeia’s ankles, earning a scratch behind the ears.
Traitor. Jolene glared at the cat. Belladonna might take to Cassiopeia right off the bat, but Jolene certainly wasn’t going to, even if she was Mateo’s sister. Jolene was just in that kind of mood at the moment.
Belladonna butted her head against Cassiopeia’s hand, then trotted over to the other side of the room, near the doorway to their bedrooms.
“Merowl!”
“What’s she up to?” Mateo asked.
“Nothing. She’s been acting strange today. I think she’s mad that we went out to breakfast,” Celeste answered.
“I’m just glad she didn’t get out,” Morgan laughed. “We thought we saw her outside and if she was trotting around the halls of the hotel, we would be in a lot of trouble with the owner.”
“Yeah, we’ve already been warned a couple of times about keeping her in her crate. I know what will settle her down, though.” Jolene went back out into the hall to get the bag with the lox that they’d left there. Brushing past Mateo, she ignored the warm rush of electricity that jolted through her when their arms touched. She concentrated on ignoring Mateo while she put the lox in Belladonna food dish.
Her sisters brought Mateo and Cassiopeia up to speed on their research into Sam Gooding and how they suspected he had left a clue as to where the scrying ball was hidden.
Belladonna purred and butted her head against Jolene as if in a show of solidarity against Mateo, Jolene imagined. She took comfort in petting Belladonna's silky fur, running her fingers from the tips of her ears all the way down her body to the tip of her tail, which she noticed was tinged with green... just like the green that was in the cauldron.
Had Belladonna actually been out in that alley? That would explain why someone had been able to break in their room and escape relatively unscathed. Jolene had seen Belladonna scratch their ‘enemies’ up pretty bad and, although she didn’t actually know the intruder was unscathed, Belladonna would be more riled up now if she’d been here when someone had broken in.
“So, what is so important?” Morgan asked once they were all settled on the sofa and chairs.
“We can speak freely.” Mateo nodded toward his sister. “Like me, Cassiopeia is a paranormal. Well, she’s actually more than a paranormal. She has additional powers and we think it might be time that you girls discovered yours.”
“Additional powers?” Jolene said. “Like what?”
Cassiopeia spoke, her voice deep and melodic, “There’s much more to your powers than you ladies know.”
“We’ve been working on developing them. Just this past year I made a major breakthrough with mine.” Fiona pulled her hand from her pocket and opened her clenched fist, show
ing a handful of pebbles that glowed like lava.
“I know,” Cassiopeia said. “But what I’m talking about is something on another level.”
“Another level? What do you mean?” Morgan asked. “Is there something that will make us even more powerful?”
Mateo and Cassiopeia exchanged a knowing glance. “Yes, you will become more powerful. This new level could give you an edge over mere paranormals.”
“Mere paranormals? You mean there are different kinds of paranormals?” Morgan asked.
“Yes.”
Morgan leaned forward, her elbows on her thighs. “Okay, you have my interest. What is this ‘new level’ you’re talking about?”
“The ability to use spells and charms with your paranormal gifts,” Cassiopeia said.
Jolene snorted. “Spells and charms? You mean like witches?”
“Yeah, we don’t believe in that stuff.” Morgan looked around at her sisters. “Do we?”
“No.” Fiona shook her head. “It’s taken us a while to come to terms with our paranormal abilities but we’re comfortable with those now. We realize we’re different from other people. More sensitive to energy. But witches? We’re not witches.”
“Yeah, I don’t think there really are such things as witches. Maybe what you think are witches are just really powerful paranormals,” Morgan suggested.
“Or maybe you guys have been hanging around in Salem too much,” Jolene added.
Cassiopeia sighed and turned to Mateo. “Maybe you were right, they’re not ready.”
“They have to be ready. We need to find the crystal ball soon before it falls into the wrong hands. Others are looking.” Mateo turned serious. “Look, you guys, you don’t have to believe in this stuff right now, but what harm would it do to memorize one of the spells? Just in case you need it.”
Morgan shrugged. “I guess it can’t hurt and if it keeps you guys from pestering us about it then let’s just do it.”
“Well, you can’t ‘just do it’,” Cassiopeia said. “The spell can work for anything you want. It has unlimited power. But it needs to be said with heartfelt intent in order for it to work.”
“What does that mean?” Jolene asked.
Spell Found (Blackmoore Sisters Cozy Mysteries Book 7) Page 8