by Amy Boyles
“Dylan, are you still screwed up over him?” Sera said.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “No. Of course not. That was ages ago. I mean, he only broke my heart, took my virginity and then stomped all over my reputation. It’s not like it’s a big deal or anything.”
“And you wonder why no one’s put a ring on that finger yet,” Reid said.
“I don’t wonder that,” I snapped.
“I do. But now I know.”
“Listen, Colten Blacklock has absolutely nothing to do with why I didn’t date anyone before Roman.”
Now it was time for Reid and Sera to exchange looks.
“He doesn’t,” I said feebly.
Sera clapped her hands. “Okay, well, back to Dewy Dewhead. I wish there was some way to get rid of her. Get her out of here before she emotionally scars us for good.”
I rubbed my hands together. “Easy. All we need to do is prove that Dewy was one of the witches who attacked us.”
Sera quirked a brow. “Do you really think it was her?”
I snatched a crumb of cake off Reid’s plate. “Why not? She’s a witch. A bad one, at that. And we were attacked by bad witches. Seems like a logical conclusion to make.”
Reid smirked. “Not really. But how are we going to do it?”
I shrugged. “We sneak into her house and do the truth serum spell on her before she even knows we’re there. We simply ask her if she attacked our house.”
Sera dried a plate. “If it were that easy, why didn’t the witch police do that?”
“Perhaps I can shed some light on this,” said a deep, velvety voice.
Sera and I jumped. “Ah!”
“Sorry,” Reid said. She pulled Reggie out of her backpack. “I forgot to tell you I was lugging it around.”
Sera clapped a hand over her heart. “For goodness’ sake. Next time let us know.”
“Sorry,” Reid said meekly.
I cracked my knuckles. “Okay, Reggie, illuminate us. Why didn’t the witch police use the truth serum on Dewy?”
“The truth serum spell can be—how shall I say—a little tricky.”
“How so?”
His pages hummed. “It’s not exactly legal.”
I smacked my palm to my forehead. “Why would you teach us an illegal spell?”
“Well, it’s not exactly illegal, either. It’s not looked on very highly.”
“So you taught us a spell we can’t use.”
“Not true,” he said. “It can be, and is used. It’s just not one of the go-to spells a witch investigator would use.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Reid chimed. “Why is that?”
“Well,” Reggie said, clearing its throat. “There’s only one teensy problem with it.”
“Yes,” I said. “And that is?”
He jumped from Reid’s backpack and landed on the table. “The old laws deemed the spell illegal, but that law was replaced. An amendment was made to it, making the spell perfectly legitimate.”
“Then why don’t the witch police use it?” Sera asked.
“Because if it’s used against a witch and the witch realizes it, she can invoke the old law and say the perpetrator used the truth spell on her illegally.”
“So what’s the punishment for that?” I asked.
“Witch prison,” Reggie said. “You’ll go away for the rest of your life.”
TEN
“Are we still doing this?” Sera asked, wiping crumbs off her face. We’d brought one of the cakes in the car with us. For, you know, courage. I’m not going to lie; I can be a bit of a stress eater. In fact, all of us could be, as proven by Sera.
She tore off a hunk and nibbled on the edge. “Seriously? Are we breaking into Dewy’s house and doing this truth spell on her?”
I nodded. “Why not?”
“Because you might go to jail,” Reid chirped. “For apparently the rest of your life. Until you’re an old, shriveled-up lady who looks like a piece of leather wrapped over bones.”
“Thanks,” I said.
She beamed from the backseat. “You’re welcome. Just giving you something to look forward to.”
“How kind.”
Sera dropped the chunk of cake into the box, closed the lid and tossed it into the floorboard. “She’s right. You could go to jail.”
I turned onto Main. “Only if she invokes that old law. What are the chances of that?”
Sera brushed crumbs off her hands. “I don’t know. All we know about her is that she likes to talk about how hot your boyfriend is. Oh, and apparently she likes to torture you.”
“Exactly. I don’t think someone like that would even know the old law.”
“You didn’t know about it,” Reid said.
“That’s exactly why I don’t think she will, either.”
Sera touched my arm. “This is the woman who was going to kill a baby unicorn and somehow got out of it.”
“She didn’t get out of it. She went to jail.”
“So she might know about the law.”
I threw up my hands. “The truth spell erases the person’s short-term memory. All we have to do is wipe her memory of us being there at all and we’ll be in the clear.”
Sera tugged on her seat belt. “What if she admits to being one of the witches who attacked us?”
“Then I tell Roman.”
“Do you think he’ll use it?”
“I hope so. I’ll break up with him if he doesn’t.”
Kidding. I was kidding.
I pulled behind the row of buildings that Dewy’s was on. “Apparently she’s living above her store.”
“How are we going to get in?” Reid said.
Crap. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Perhaps I can be of use,” Reggie said.
“What’s that thing doing here?” I said.
Reid shrugged. “He jumped into my backpack. I thought it might be useful.”
I shook my head. Whatever. “Okay, Reg. How can you help us enter her house?”
“I can teach you to sink your hand through the wall and unlatch the lock from the inside.”
Well, that was useful.
“Great. Give me the skinny.”
“You’ll need to imagine you’re transparent.”
I waited for the punch line. None came. “Is that it?”
“That’s it.”
“Great. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Of course, usually only very high level witches can do that sort of magic.”
I groaned. “So is it going to work?”
“Probably not.”
“I’ll try anyway.”
Okay, so I’m not going to lie and say I was totally comfortable breaking and entering. Well, technically I wasn’t breaking. Only entering. It was late. I figured Dewy would be asleep. Or at least close to it. I didn’t see any lights on, but that didn’t mean anything.
We exited the car and slinked over to the door that I’d seen Roman come out of earlier. I nibbled my fingernails for some good old-fashioned luck, placed my palm beside the lock and thought about making my hand thin enough to push through the door.
The light snapped on. The door flew open.
Dewy Dewberry hovered over us. She wore that same stupid flimsy nightgown that would freeze any normal person during winter. Apparently this witch wasn’t normal.
“Oh my gosh, Dylan. Do you totally need something?”
I jerked my hand from the door. “Just making sure you’re okay in here. Thought I saw a hobo.”
Her gaze cut to the lock, my hand, and to my sisters cowering behind me. “Did y’all come over for some hot chocolate and bedtime stories? Because I totally have some cocoa I can make. Mmm hmmm.”
I cleared my throat. I was inches away from backing out of this entire thing. My brilliant plan was foiled. I wanted to do this whole gambit while Dewy wasn’t paying attention, wasn’t suspecting it.
Sera poked me in the ribs.
“Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you.”
Dewy crossed her arms. “Is it about Colten? I ran into him and he totally asked me out to dinner. You know, the whole seducing thing that I do. I couldn’t help it.”
I screwed up my memory, focused on the truth spell and said, “No, I didn’t want to ask you about him.”
“Then what is it you need to know?”
I took one of the steps, tapped my finger to her forehead and said, “Did you attack my family?”
A wave of power rushed up my arm and through my hand. I saw the blue crystallize over Dewy’s face. Magic swelled over her like a bubble, fizzing away as quickly as it had been created.
Dewy blinked. She smiled. “Dylan Apel, did you totally just use a truth spell on me?”
Uh-oh. Crap. That wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to tell me the truth.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I wish you hadn’t done that.” Dewy licked her lips. “Really. That was totally a bad idea. I mean, your family has gotten away with a lot of things. A lot. But you’re gonna have to pay for this one.” A sparkle twinkled in her eye. “For once you’re going to face justice.”
I swallowed. “What?”
“Yep.” Dewy opened her mouth so wide it looked like her jaw unhinged. She paused for a moment, and then she released a high-octave scream.
The sound pierced my body. My knees buckled. My body convulsed. I covered my ears to block the sound as I sank to the ground.
Tears stung my eyes. I blinked, trying to clear the fog in my brain. I had to think of something. Come up with a way out of this. I glanced at my sisters and saw them curled up on the sidewalk same as me. Oh boy, we were in trouble.
Shadows rose from the concrete, appearing from vapors of smoke. My head buzzed. Dewy still screamed. It was difficult to focus, to concentrate on anything.
The figures approached. Dewy’s screaming stopped.
“Dylan Apel,” one of them said.
“Hello, Em,” I croaked.
Esmerelda Pommelton, Queen Witch of the South, glanced down at me. There were three other figures with her. I noticed one was Councilwoman Gladiolas.
“Dylan,” Em repeated. She shook her head. “That there witch, Dewy Dewberry, just accused you of usin’ a truth serum on her. That true?”
I bit my lip. I didn’t know what to say. “Um. I’d like to see my lawyer?”
Em nodded. “You’ll get one, chicklet. But right now we’ve got to take y’all someplace else.”
“Where?” I said, my gut twisting.
Gladiolas took a step forward. “Dylan, we’re taking you and your sisters to witch prison.”
Em pulled me off the concrete. The other figures grabbed Reid and Sera. Em snapped her fingers and we vanished.
ELEVEN
I sat in a cold, sterile room with my sisters. We’d been kept here for two hours without anyone telling us what was going on.
I was getting hungry. I kinda wanted some cake.
The door smashed open and in walked Roman. He scowled. I cringed. “What’s this about?” he growled.
I bit my bottom lip. “I did a spell on Dewy.”
He shut the door, grabbed a steel-framed chair and swung it around so its back was facing us. He slid down and sat, crossing his arms on top of it. Ropes of muscle bulged from his neck. I’m thinking Roman was officially PO’d with me.
“They say it was a truth serum spell.”
“It was.”
He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and sighed. “The penalty for that is prison.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“What were you thinking?”
I pulled my knees up under my chin and curled my arms around them. “That she attacked my family. I wanted to know the truth.”
Roman’s chest inflated as he inhaled. I’m pretty sure he mentally counted to ten to keep himself from snapping. “You can’t just go around doing truth serums on people. If crime solving was that easy, there wouldn’t be anyone doing crime.”
I pulled my legs closer. “Maybe it should be that easy.”
He sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”
I smiled cheerfully. “Get me out of this?”
Roman shook his head. “Dewy might press charges.”
“She’s a unicorn-baby stealer!”
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have rights.”
“She’s tormenting me. Trying to make me go insane.”
“How?” he asked.
“By dating Dylan’s ex-boyfriend from high school,” Reid chimed.
Roman’s gaze flashed over to my sisters. “I can’t believe the two of you went along with this.”
“Eh. We were bored,” Reid said. “But seriously, can you get us out of this?”
Roman shook his head. “Not this time. I don’t know any loopholes to free you. Reid, you’ll probably be released since you don’t have magic.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” she grumbled.
“Sera, since you didn’t actually work any magic, you might also be set free.” He leveled his green eyes on me. “But Dylan, I don’t know any way for this to be overlooked.”
I dropped my feet to the floor. “Dewy’s a bad, bad person. Trying to get a little truth out of her shouldn’t be a big deal. She tried to seduce you at the Valentine’s dance. Doesn’t that count for something? Isn’t it illegal to try to seduce people with magic?”
“No.”
I crossed my arms. “It should be. That’s worse than trying to wiggle a little truth out of someone. Especially if your family was just attacked.”
“I know it’s been stressful, but you have to be patient,” Roman said.
“I don’t want to be patient. I want to fight. I didn’t even get the chance to find out the truth. The spell didn’t work.”
Roman quirked his brow. “It didn’t?”
“No.”
He drummed his fingers on the chair. “I’ll be right back.”
I glance at Reid and Sera. They shrugged. About three seconds later Gladiolas barged in. She wore her normal bland pantsuit. It was gray, the same color as the walls. She fluffed her curly bangs and closed the door.
The councilwoman leaned both hands on the table. “Let me get this straight. You performed a truth serum spell but it didn’t work.”
I spit out a bit of fingernail I’d been nibbling. “Right. I asked Dewy the question and then she started screaming and you showed up. End of story.”
Gladiolas sighed. “Okay. You’re released.”
My eyes widened with surprise. “We are?”
She nodded. “You didn’t actually perform the spell. You didn’t get the information out of Dewy, so you didn’t work the magic properly. It’s a loophole I’m going to exploit for you.” She rubbed her forehead. “You girls cause more trouble.”
“But we’re worth it,” I said cheerfully.
“I’m not sure about that,” she grumbled. “Gather your things and get out of here before one of the other council members sees you.”
I jumped out of the chair and wrapped my arms around Gladiolas. “Thank you.”
“You owe me one, Dylan Apel.”
“I think I owe you more than one.”
We tiptoed from the room and stepped into the dark purple hallway of the witch police headquarters. An eerie feeling crawled over my belly. I stuck my head back inside the room.
“Um, Gladiolas?”
She glanced up. “Yes?”
“We don’t know how to get out of here.”
“Join hands.”
We did.
“Wait.” Roman strode down the hall. “Gladiolas, send Sera and Reid home. I’d like Dylan to stay.”
“Very well.” Gladiolas snapped her fingers, and my sisters vanished.
I turned to Roman. “What’s going on? I’m not going to be locked up, am I?” I laughed when I said it, but I knew it might not be too far from the truth.
He hooked his arm around me. “No. There’s someone I’m going to take you to meet.”
“Who?”
“A contact I’ve got.”
I nodded. “Okay. Why?”
Roman slid his sunglasses down over his eyes. “Because he has information on Edgar Norwood. Information that could help us crack this case.”
***
My boots clacked against the black tile of the headquarters. It wasn’t that it was gloomy. Okay, it was, with its deep purple walls and black tile flooring. Occasionally a splash of color appeared—a red or teal that kinda made my day—but other than that, it was a dark, ominous place.
Roman held my hand as we walked through the halls. “You’re off the hook, darlin’. Why the worried look?”
I shook those thoughts out of my head. “Oh, no reason. Nothing.”
He frowned. “Lay it on me.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Why didn’t my spell work? I’d performed it before on Reid and had no problems.”
Roman shrugged. “I don’t know. Could’ve been a fluke in the spell. Could be Dewy keeps a counterspell cast on herself.”
“You think?”
“Maybe. We are talking about someone who tried to kill a baby unicorn.”
“Steal its horn,” I corrected.
Roman smirked. “Same thing. There’s no telling what kind of secrets she’s hiding.”
We reached the end of the hall and entered a set of glass doors. The vacuum seal sucked as Roman pushed it open. A row of cubicles, now empty given how late it was, lined both sides of the room. A series of glass-encased offices were carved out of the back wall. A light glowed from one.
“That’s where we’re headed,” Roman said.
I clutched his arm as we crossed to it. I swear my feet clacked as loud as gunshots over the floor. Sweat streaked down my back. Yes, I was nervous. To be honest I didn’t even know what I was doing here.
Roman knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
We entered. A pudgy man with slicked-back gray hair and a balloon for a stomach sat behind a mahogany desk. A cigar rested between two of his meaty fingers. He bit off the end, spat it into the trash and rose, extending his hand.