Haunted Hex (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 10)

by Sara Bourgeois

  If I made her a cup of the mental focus mushroom tea, she’d know. It would probably tick her off too. In the end, I went with a nice cup of honey vanilla chamomile. She probably needed to relax after such a harrowing experience. There was no way Lilith got enough rest in the hospital. No one ever does.

  I plucked the bag from a lovely white box with a picture of a chamomile flower on it and set it next to a clean cup on the counter. The water would take a while longer to heat up, so I went to the fridge to grab sandwich makings.

  As soon as I opened the door, my heart sank into my stomach. There on the top shelf was a huge plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

  I grabbed the plate and took it into the parlor. “Where did you get these?” I asked Lilith.

  She looked a little taken aback and I realized I’d sounded panicked. I needed to dial it back a notch because I didn’t want to get her agitated.

  “Sorry,” I said and nervously straightened out the hem of my shirt. “It’s just that I know you don’t bake.”

  Dad came through the door just then, and he saw the cookies in my hands. Our eyes locked, and he knew why I wore a mask of anxiety.

  “I found them on the front porch,” Lilith said. “I’ve never been one to turn down chocolate.”

  “Lilith, didn’t you think it was strange that someone left you cookies on your porch?” Mom asked her gently.

  “Maybe, but there was a note,” Lilith said.

  “Where is it?” I asked.

  “I left it…” Lilith stopped to think. I could see some of the light retreating from her eyes. She was going back into the fugue state she’d been in before. “I left it on the dining room table.”

  I rushed into the dining room and located the note. She’d placed it on top of a pile of unopened mail. Dad joined me, but I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to find.

  It wasn’t as if Samara was going to use the cookies to cast a spell on Lilith and then leave a note outlining her plan. Plus, as far as I’d been able to figure, the cookies were a spell to summon the dead.

  Thank you for stopping in the other day. I look forward to more fascinating conversations in the future.

  “Stop in where?” I asked Dad.

  He took the note from me and looked it over. Once he double-confirmed that it wasn’t signed, he took the piece of sky blue paper into Lilith.

  “Lilith, who is this from?” Dad asked. “Who did you go see?”

  “I...” she said before more of her awareness retreated from her eyes. “I don’t remember. I just know that when I saw the note, I knew it was fine to take the cookies. They were from a new friend.”

  “We need you to remember,” Dad prodded.

  “Remy,” Mom chastised.

  “I know,” he said and gave her a pleading look. “But we have to know.”

  “I need to lie down,” Lilith said, and she sounded utterly exhausted.

  “Okay, Lilith. I’ll help you to bed,” Mom said.

  “What about food and tea?” I asked.

  “Could you bring the tea to my room?” Lilith asked my mother.

  “I can,” she said and helped Lilith get back up from her chair.

  “I’m not so hungry anymore,” Lilith said.

  “I’ll finish making the tea,” I said.

  Mom left the room with Lilith, and Dad took Laney. He and I went back into the kitchen where I pitched the cookies in the trash, just to be safe, and finished making the tea.

  “You’re throwing them out?” Dad asked.

  “I think it’s the safest thing to do. If she’s been eating them, that’s what could be causing this. She can’t eat any more, so they have to go,” I said.

  “I agree,” Dad said. “But I was thinking… those cookies are a summoning spell, right?”

  “I think so,” I said.

  “So, why would they be causing what’s going on with her?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet,” I said. “But Amelda and the other Aunties are fine, right? So, it’s not the reduced magic that’s causing this in Lilith.”

  “Unless it’s just hitting her harder for reasons we don’t understand yet,” Dad said.

  “Still, the cookies need to go in the trash,” I said. Just then, Laney began to fuss a little. “I’ll take her.”

  “And I’ll take the tea to Lilith and help your mom get her settled for the night. You take the baby home, Kinsley. Go home to your husband and enjoy your family,” Dad said.

  “I don’t know how I can with all of this going on,” I said.

  “You have to, sweetie. You only get this short time with your baby girl, and you’ll never get it back,” Dad said. “Lilith would not want you to waste it.”

  “I’m not wasting it,” I said.

  “It will be gone just the same,” Dad replied.

  He was right. Thorn, Laney, and I would never get this time again. Plus, I was exhausted. I’d been tired before all of this started, but my fatigue had only grown.

  “Will you call me if you need me?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Dad said.

  We finished saying our goodbyes, and I headed out to my car. On my way down the sidewalk, I could have sworn I heard someone rustling the branches in a huge lilac bush across the driveway.

  I heard it again, and I looked between the car and the bush. I had to decide what to do. Everything in me wanted to go see what was making noise in the bush, but I knew I should put Laney in the car and leave. Or go back in the house.

  Or call the police.

  Anything but walk over to the bush and investigate. Fortunately, I didn’t have to investigate myself. Meri darted off in the direction of the bush.

  After a minute, Meri returned. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

  “There’s no one there,” Meri said when he trotted back.

  “Oh, good. It must have been a raccoon or something,” I said.

  “Not unless the raccoon is wearing boots,” Meri said.

  “What?”

  “There are boot prints on the other side of the bush,” Meri said. “They retreat off into the grass, so I can’t follow them.”

  “Is the grass flattened? Maybe we could follow that,” I said.

  “Kinsley, you have a baby in a sling. You’re exhausted. Oh, and you’re not some sort of tracker. You need to go home,” Meri said.

  “We should at least call the police,” I said. “But we don’t know how long those footprints have been there. Someone was for sure out here before, so it could be from then. I mean, I thought I heard something…but…”

  “Let’s go home, Kinsley,” Meri said.

  “All right,” I relented.

  I got Laney buckled in and got into the car. As soon as I did, Meri said, “Lock the doors and pull out of the driveway.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it, Kinsley,” Meri said.

  “Okay, okay,” I said and did as he instructed.

  As soon as we were halfway down the block, I pulled over. “What was that?” I asked.

  “Call the police and tell them someone is outside of Lilith’s house,” Meri said.

  “You said they were gone,” I said.

  “Yeah, because they were listening,” Meri said. “He was hiding in the shadows next to the house. I wasn’t sure if you could make it back inside, but call the police. I was trying to hint to you that you were in danger without… I don’t know. I wanted to get you away. But, he’s really still there, and you need to call for help.”

  So, I did. I called the dispatcher and told her that I thought I’d seen a prowler outside of Lilith’s house. I wanted to go back, but when I called my dad to tell him, he insisted I go home.

  He said he would make sure all of the doors and windows were locked, and then while I drove, Dad called Thorn and told him to meet me outside when I got home.

  Thorn came out the front door as I pulled into the driveway. “Do you need to go?” I asked.

  “No, my deputies can handle it,”
Thorn said. “I’m not leaving you.”

  We went inside, and I told Thorn about hearing the rustling in the bush and about how Meri had lied to get me in the car. As I talked and paced in front of the fire, Thorn held Laney against his chest and rocked her to sleep.

  “Smart thinking cat,” Thorn said. “Come on, sweetie. Laney’s out. Let’s go to bed.”

  “I can’t go to bed right now. I have to know if my family is okay,” I said. “Plus, I’m too wound up.”

  But even as I said the words, I felt myself slump. I hit a wall hard.

  “You know that if anything happens, not only will your family call you, but my deputies will call me. I’m going to leave one of them patrolling Lilith’s neighborhood for the rest of the night. Now, come to bed,” Thorn said.

  There was a time when the commanding edge in his voice would have ticked me off and made me want to do the exact opposite. That night it was a comfort. I could lean into his need to protect me, and maybe… just let him.

  I woke up twice in the middle of the night. Once, Meri was on the windowsill watching outside with wide eyes. When I started to get up, he told me to go back to sleep. I didn’t want to, but I was so exhausted that my eyes closed on their own.

  The next time I woke, Thorn and Meri were watching out the window. “I just needed to feed the baby,” Thorn said as he held Laney and patted her back.

  “Then why are you watching out the window?” I asked as I raised myself up on my elbows.

  “The stars are beautiful,” he said. “Go back to sleep, babe.”

  I wanted to argue, but again, I could not. If you asked me, though, I would have sworn they were watching something, or someone, outside.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning, Thorn was reluctant to go to work. It made me even more suspicious that he and Meri had seen someone outside the night before.

  “I probably won’t stay here much today,” I said. “I want to go check on Reggie at the shop, and I’d like to go visit my parents and Lilith. So, I won’t be around at home. Why are you so worried about going into work?”

  “You know why,” he said. “There was no one around by the time my deputies got to Lilith’s house last night, but I believe the cat. Someone was there. Someone is stalking your family.”

  “Is that all?” I asked.

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” Thorn asked in return, and I knew. His answering a question with a question was a clear deflection, and he knew as soon as he did it that I’d picked up on his attempt. “Fine, I did think I saw someone last night. Kinsley was fussy and needed a change. You were so tired, so I got up to feed her and change her diaper. When I did, I thought I saw something outside. The cat saw it too, and he’d been keeping watch. But, you already know all of this, don’t you?”

  “You should have just told me last night,” I said.

  “Why, so we could both sit up all night staring out the window?” Thorn asked. “Besides, Meri and I only thought we saw something. Shadows and bushes moving. Stuff that made me look twice, but it was never enough for me to call my deputy away from Lilith’s house. Maybe you should come with me this morning. I could drop you off somewhere. The shop or Lilith’s house?” Thorn asked.

  I thought about it for a moment. “No, I can’t,” I said. “I have to be able to be at home, Thorn. I can be out and about most of the time, but I can’t keep Laney away from home all day. She’s so young, and it would be nearly impossible.”

  “You could pack a bag and stay at Lilith’s all day,” he suggested.

  “She needs to get better too,” I said. “I think having the baby there all day would be too much.”

  He finally relented and went to work. I sent him off with a full Thermos of coffee and the chicken he hadn’t eaten the night before. There wasn’t much left after he’d had at it while I was gone, but it was enough with some biscuits for a decent breakfast.

  After Meri and I had our morning meal, I got Laney’s diaper bag ready to go, and we headed out. Only, I didn’t go to Lilith’s house or the shop.

  It wasn’t that I was lying to Thorn. I really did intend to go to both of those places, but I had somewhere else I needed to stop off first.

  Mercy Cullen worked at one of the construction offices in the new section of town. I found that out fairly easily by looking her up on social media, and decided that I needed to drop in on her for a chat.

  She was on the phone when I walked into the office, so I sat down in an uncomfortable metal chair and waited. Laney slept against my chest none the wiser to the fact that we were on an investigation.

  “You’re Kinsley… Wilson,” Mercy said when she hung up the phone. “What brings you in today?” There was a bright smile painted on her face, but her voice cracked a little. She knew who I was, and it made her nervous for some reason.

  Now, it could have just been because a woman had been found dead on my front lawn. I had no way of knowing if people suspected me, and I didn’t get out enough to hear any rumors.

  “I wanted to talk to you about Samara,” I said.

  “Oh,” Mercy said. She grabbed a can of Diet Coke from her desk and took a huge gulp. “I had hoped you were thinking of building a new house.”

  The defeat in her voice was evident. Tears began to glisten in her eyes, and Mercy grabbed a tissue to dab them away.

  “Is anyone around?” I asked.

  “Why?” she asked and flinched. “I mean, no. It’s just me in the office most days.”

  “Because I want to talk to you about Samara,” I said.

  “If I’m being honest, I knew you’d come,” Mercy said.

  “She had your name written in her grimoire,” I said. “In the back with other things, but I don’t know what they were. She’d scratched the rest of the list out, but your name was there. Oh, and she’d drawn a skull next to your name. Do you know what that’s about?”

  Mercy took a deep breath. “Samara and I were very close,” she said. “I mean, we were at one point. We’d been best friends since high school, but she changed.”

  “She changed?” I encouraged her after she got quiet and sort of spaced out.

  “Yeah. It was pretty abrupt too,” Mercy said. “Before she was a happy person who was kinda into spooky stuff, but her obsession with ghosts and Halloween never made me think she was depressed.”

  “I wouldn’t think so,” I said. Most of us were into spooky stuff.

  “But it became something darker,” Mercy said. “She became… darker.”

  “What do you think happened?” I asked. “What brought it on? Do you know?”

  “When the magic went away,” Mercy said. “We’re both witches, but you already knew that. Anyway, I never realized how much of Samara was dependent on that. It became apparent when we could barely do spells anymore.”

  “She didn’t take it well?” I asked.

  “Not at all,” Mercy said. “It was like her whole identity was gone. Samara thought that her magical skills were the only thing that made her special. She was adrift and couldn’t seem to cope or adjust.”

  “But you’re doing okay?” I asked.

  “I have to be,” Mercy said with a shrug. “Samara’s death has hit me hard, but I know death isn’t the end. That helps. I’ll see her again.”

  “So that was it?” I asked. It was a sad story, but it wasn’t particularly helpful.

  “No. She got super depressed the first week, but then she withdrew completely. Honestly, when I heard she was dead, I thought she’d committed suicide,” Mercy said.

  “Wow, really?” I asked. “And you have no idea what brought it all on?”

  “I don’t,” she said. “One day she was… well, she wasn’t fine, but she was still taking my calls and answering my texts. Then she went to the grocery store to get more chocolate chips and some hamburgers, and everything changed. She wouldn’t talk to me for a couple of days, and then she pretty much told me to leave her alone.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said because
I didn’t know what else to say. “I wish there was some way of knowing what happened.”

  “She kept all of her secrets close,” Mercy said. “Even I didn’t know everything about her, but she let me in more than most. I think that’s one of the reasons she loved that old house so much. It kept people away. Sure, kids would go out there at night and dare each other to break in, but none of them were ever brave enough. Everyone thought the place was haunted. Which it totally is, but where around here isn’t?”