When the other witches saw what she was doing, they joined her. They ran around chasing chickens and sending them back all the way down the street and towards the town square.
“Maybe we should just go back inside and wait,” Carly said.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Jessie said.
The two non-witches retreated into Carly’s house and watched the chaos from the window. The Nightshades weren’t Winterfield’s only witches, and a few of the others ran out of their houses with their wands in their hands ready to zap chickens.
“It's a shame we can’t help. It does kinda look like fun.” Jessie said.
“Yeah.” Carly agreed with a chuckle.
She felt better than she’d felt in days, and even though the spell didn’t wake Nick, it did wake her from her unhappy stupor. The two of them set the table and made some sandwiches to go with the spread. Once the chicken chase was over, they would go out and invite all the witches who’d helped in for a big family style dinner.
By the time Belladonna, family, and new friends made it to the chickens inhabiting the square, Ben stood outside of the police station with his hands on his hips and his jaw practically on the ground.
He gestured towards the flock of fryers, and Bella could almost read his mind.
What have you done?
She could see the question written across his face. For a moment, Belladonna almost thought he was mad, but he couldn’t help himself and flashed her a smile.
What he did next really made her heart pound and started the butterflies dancing in her stomach. Ben started trying to round the chickens up and herd them towards the witches. When other people saw him doing this, they joined Ben and corralled the chickens into the center of the square where the witches picked them off easily. Even Carly and Jessie who now watched from the yard ran towards the center of town and joined in.
With everybody helping, the chicken chaos was over in minutes. People laughed and hugged as the sense of community and accomplishment spread through the small crowd. Everyone went back to Carly’s place for dinner, and Bella used a touch of magic to make the food the girls had prepared go just a little bit farther.
When the party was over, and everyone except the Nightshades, Jessie, and Carly left, they got down to business again. Since waking Nick didn’t work, they had to figure out what to do next. Ben left to walk Olwen and take Linda some dinner, so it was up to the women to decide the next steps.
Belladonna filled them in on seeing someone at the old church and on the call Francine had received. That’s when it hit her that she hadn’t seen Francine during the chicken chase. Bella pulled out her phone and dialed her new assistant’s phone number.
“Oh yes, I saw what was going on. I’m sorry I didn’t come out to help. I was worried people would be frightened of me, and you have my wand.” Francine said, and she sounded embarrassed.
“That’s okay, Francine. I just wanted to check on you.” Belladonna said and then the two witches said their goodbyes.
After she had gotten off the phone, Bella had an idea. The party planning committee could take a field trip out to the abandoned church. That way, they could investigate and discuss a few ideas for the upcoming celebration.
Belladonna sent Ben a text message telling him that the ladies were going to have a party planning meeting and that she’d see him in a couple of hours. Ben texted back that he loved her and he’d feed Sterling.
“That one’s a keeper,” said Granny Pepper from behind Bella.
“Oh my gosh, Granny. You startled me.” Belladonna brought her hand up to her chest and covered her hammering heart. “Are you and Aunt Sumac trying to scare the bejesus out of me? Do you guys have a bet or something?”
“Actually, we do.” Pepper cackled. “We’ve got a bet to see which one of us makes you pee first.”
“That’s not nice. Are you serious?” Bella asked skeptically.
“Haha. Yep. First one to get you to piddle your pants gets to pick the next movie for movie night. So, did ya pee?”
“NO!” Bella exclaimed.
“Not even a little bit?” Granny Pepper pressed hopefully.
“I’m ignoring you now,” Belladonna said and walked off as Granny laughed.
It didn’t take the party planning committee, plus Sumac and Pepper, very long to walk out to the old church. They brought flashlights, candles, and a few things Aunt Sumac dug up from Carly’s house that they could use in spells if needed. They had a bag with a few herbs, salt, some silver, and three bars of chocolate that Sumac insisted was for spells.
When they arrived at the church, the place looked completely dark and abandoned. The women all went inside to have a look around. Everybody except Granny Pepper had a flashlight, but they needed to light the candles if they planned on staying for any length of time.
“Keep the candles away from anything that could catch fire. I hope the wood in here isn’t too dry.” Belladonna said.
“It smells a little musty, I doubt it’s very dry,” Murielle answered.
All of them set up candles in the center of the main room of the church. They put them in the shape of a pentacle and hoped that it would offer some protection.
The room had pews lined up against the walls like they’d been ripped out and stashed there. You could see the places on the floor where they’d once been nailed down. That left a big open space, which was now filled with candle light.
“Let’s spread out and look around a bit. This place isn’t that big, but there has to be at least a couple of auxiliary rooms.” Aunt Sumac said as she walked through a doorway behind the old pulpit.
Belladonna wasn’t sure about splitting up, but Sumac was right. The building was small, and they wouldn’t be that far apart. She thought for a moment and decided that pairs would be better.
“Aunt Sumac, wait for Granny. Jessie, you come with me, and Carly you go with Murielle. That way everybody has at least one witch with them.” Belladonna instructed.
She and Jessie found a dilapidated staircase that led into the old church’s basement. While neither of them was too keen to go down there, they figured they should check it out.
“You’re a witch, and I’m a vampire. We’re the things people are scared of. I think we’ll be fine.” Carly said jovially.
Bella figured she was right. They were the things that went bump in the night, so there was no reason to be afraid of a dark, damp basement in an old, abandoned church. There could be a dark, psychotic witch bent on revenge down there, or a ghost, but that was nothing they couldn’t handle.
So, Belladonna thought it was strange that she was so uneasy. Every single stair creaked loudly on the way down, and they did it with every step both Carly and Bella took. Belladonna could almost swear she heard extra creaks like there was a third person on the stairs with them, but she tried to ignore that. It had to be the work of an overactive imagination.
The moment they got into the basement was the very second that Belladonna realized she shouldn’t have ignored her instincts. Something wasn’t right down there.
“We should go back up,” Belladonna said as she scanned the dark basement.
There was enough moonlight pouring through the ground level windows to partially illuminate the space. It looked as though the light was hitting a thin black mist that hung in the air.
“Let’s just have a look around. I’m sure it’s fine.” Carly said.
Belladonna nodded her head yes. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but if Carly wasn’t picking up on anything sinister, maybe it was all in Bella’s head.
Towards the back of the room was a pass-through window and a door into the church’s kitchen. Some of the walls of the basement were lined with wood partitions that were probably used to separate the vast open space into different smaller areas.
Belladonna could hear what sounded like mice or giant insects scurrying around in the dark corners of the room. As they approached the kitchen, the overwhelming smel
l of rotten meat mixed with wildflowers assaulted Bella’s nose and made her eyes water.
“Ugh. Can you smell that?” Carly said and covered her nose with her arm.
“Yeah. It smells like rotten meat and flowers. That’s impossible, though. No one has used that kitchen for decades at least. Even if they left food behind when they were run out of town, it would be long turned to dust by now.” Belladonna was rationalizing to herself more than to Carly at that point.
“It could be a dead animal.” Carly offered.
“I don’t want to find out,” Bella said and had to fight the urge to grab Carly’s hand for comfort.
“I don’t like what you’re saying about me.” A deep, scratchy voice practically yelled from behind them.
Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac were upstairs looking through an old Sunday School room when they heard Belladonna and Carly shriek. Sumac crammed the last square of chocolate from the bar she’d been munching on into her mouth and made a beeline for the stairs to the basement.
Pepper dropped through the floor and found herself face to face with another ghost. Sumac came down the stairs just in time to see her mother facing off with the specter of an angry minister. He had a spirit Bible in his hands, and he was trying to smash Pepper with it.
Granny stayed composed and lit her pipe while the furious apparition tried to beat her with his book. After a few more tries at whacking her, he finally quit and tried a new tactic. Instead of trying to hit her, it appeared he was attempting to obliterate her with a nasty glare.
This had the effect of making Granny break out into a fit of laughter. “Are you about done?” she taunted the angry ghost.
“You and your family are demons. I will destroy you!”
“Yep, he’s a nutter. Sumac, come here, please. We need to bind this fool to the basement before he figures out what he is and goes level five poltergeist on us.” Granny said after another puff.
Sumac joined her, and they bound the angry soul to the basement. Belladonna watched, and it was only after they were done that she realized she had a death grip on Carly’s hand.
“Oh sorry.” She said self-consciously.
“It’s okay. I was scared too.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never encountered a spirit like him before. You could feel the hatred radiating off of him.” Belladonna said.
“That’s because someone who practices dark magic has been using this church,” Sumac said as the now bound angry ghost floated harmlessly towards the church kitchen. “Nasty specters lost their power when dark magic was defeated before. They were still around, but they were harmless shadows. They couldn’t use negative energy to interact with the world. Somebody fed that guy some hate, and he was able to manifest.”
“Lexi has been here, then,” Murielle said from the stairs.
Belladonna didn’t see Muri and Jesse come down the stairs, and when Murielle spoke, Bella jumped three feet in the air. She cursed under her breath and stomped up the stairs.
“Muri gets to pick the movie.” She grumbled once she reached the top.
Seven
Belladonna was giving one of her regular customers a haircut the next day, and she was hit with inspiration. She’d watched a movie the other day where a bunch of kids were at a rave and got chased out of the warehouse and across a river by a psychopath with a chainsaw.
The part with the chainsaw wielding psycho wasn’t important, but was important was the part about the massive rave. Bella guessed not many of Winterfield’s residents had ever been to one, and she figured it would be a lot of fun. She and the party planning committee could put one on paranormal style.
She couldn’t wait to get the girls together after work today and run the idea by them. When Belladonna looked in the mirror, Mrs. Anderson was sitting in the chair staring at her in the mirror in a state of shock.
“What’s wrong, Sharleen?”
“Are you okay? You were snipping away at my hair, and then this huge, crazy smile appeared on your face. I wasn’t sure if you’d just remembered the happiest moment of your life or gone mad.” Sharleen Anderson muttered.
“Haha. I’m sorry. I just had an idea for the party, and it’s brilliant if I do say so myself.”
While Belladonna was congratulating herself, she picked up her wand to add the finishing touches to Sharleen’s new hairstyle. When she waved the wand over her client’s head, it turned her hair into a mass of little writhing and wiggling garter snakes.
Sharleen’s screaming pierced through Belladonna’s self-congratulating reverie. She gasped and tried to wave the wand again, but Sharleen jumped out of the chair and started to run around the salon as if her hair was on fire.
“Get them off me! Get them off me!” Sharleen screamed.
She started for the door, and Belladonna panicked. “Francine stop her.”
Francine blocked the door and whispered the word “Pacify.”
Sharleen started to slow down and eventually stood in place. She wasn’t running around anymore, but her extreme anxiety was still evident in the way she was chewing on her fingernails and tapping one foot.
“Okay, Sharleen, just stay right there. Those are garter snakes, and they aren’t poisonous. It’s unpleasant, but you aren’t in any danger.”
Belladonna spoke soothingly as she walked towards Sharleen. When she waved her wand again, the snakes disappeared.
“There. All better…” Belladonna trailed off when she realized she’d turned the snakes into angel hair pasta. “Hold on. Let me try again.” Bella said desperately.
“No, absolutely not. Don’t do anything else. You’ve done enough already.” Sharleen was ugly crying and sobbing so hard that she was shaking violently.
“I can help,” Francine murmured.
Belladonna thought it over for a few moments. She wasn’t sure if letting Francine practice magic on her client was a good idea. Heck, for all she knew, this could be Francine’s fault, but what choice did she have?
Sharleen was crying so hard that she didn’t hear Francine’s offer, and that was probably for the best. If she had been so upset that she didn’t want Belladonna to use more magic, there was no way she’d want a former dark witch casting a spell on her hair.
Belladonna gave Francine a silent nod and then prayed to the goddess that she’d made the right decision. She was almost in tears when Francine was waving her hands over Sharleen’s hair and chanting softly. Without her wand, she had to improvise a bit.
Belladonna let out a huge sigh of relief when Mrs. Anderson’s hair returned to normal. Francine had even completed the finishing touches that Bella was attempting when she turned Sharleen’s hair into snakes.
“I owe you big time,” Belladonna told Francie when Sharleen was gone. “I don’t know what happened. I’m going to call my Aunt.”
Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac arrived at the salon fifteen minutes later. Sumac turned her around by the shoulders until Bella felt a little bit queasy and then unceremoniously announced that her Belladonna’s magic was broken.
“What do you mean it’s broken?” Bella asked near tears.
“The best I can figure is that Lexi character deflected part of the binding spell we put on her back onto you. It didn’t work entirely, but your magic is not going to function properly until we figure this out. You’re tainted.” Sumac said bluntly.
“Well, you can take it off, right?” Belladonna was now in tears.
“We’re going to have to go home and look this up in some of the old books,” Granny said solemnly. “No one has dealt with anything like this in a very long time.”
Belladonna called a cab to take Granny and Aunt Sumac to the bus station, and they had a long, tearful goodbye while they waited. The Nightshades knew that splitting up right now was dangerous, but they didn’t have any other choice.
Lexi had figured out how to warp very powerful white magic into something darker, and that was a thing that hadn’t been done since ancient times. Sure
, she’d not been able to twist it entirely, but it was only a matter of time and practice before she could bend any magic to her will. She had to be stopped because if that happened, Lexi wouldn’t need a coven to unleash the darkness into the world. She’d be able to do it with a flick of her wrist.
Belladonna called Murielle at the library to fill her in on what was going on. Muri said she hadn’t taken her lunch break yet, and she offered to pick up food for the three of them at the diner.
“I’ll bring food, and we can talk this over.” She whispered into the phone.
“Why are you whispering?” Belladonna asked through a sniffle.
“My boss, Mattie is being a tyrant today. If she catches me on the phone, I’m sure she’ll send me down to the basement to reorganize boxes all day or something even more heinous. It’s like now that I’m back from my honeymoon, she’d decided it’s her mission to make me miserable. I’m going to go now while she’s upstairs. See you in a few.” And the line went dead.
“Murielle is bringing us lunch,” Belladonna said to Francine.
“For me too?” she asked.
“Yeah, you saved my butt today. Lunch is the least we can do.”
Murielle showed up twenty minutes later with burgers, fries, and milkshakes for all three witches. She told them she was lucky she got to the diner when she did because the place was swamped as she was leaving and the new waitress couldn’t keep up the way Linda did.
“There’s going to be a riot in there if they don’t get Linda back soon,” Muri said as she passed out the food.
“Yeah. Things just keep getting worse, and I wonder how much bad stuff is going to happen before we get Lexi. We’ve got to find a way to at least patch this stuff up. Brynhildr’s party is soon, and she’s counting on us not to let Winterfield fall apart while she’s campaigning.” Bella said.
Belladonna checked her computer and wasn’t too shocked to see that the rest of her afternoon appointments had canceled. Word traveled fast in a small town. It was a good thing she had the inheritance from Elsbeth Tory’s estate because the salon probably wouldn’t make any money for a while.
Party Hexed: Cozy Witch Mystery (Witches of Winterfield Book 4) Page 4