by Linda Wisdom
“But he did drop that bombshell. So what’s next on the agenda, oh wise one?” Stasi chose a brownie.
Blair stared after Jake, then swung her gaze across the room to Roan where he stood talking to Agnes.
“Pull out your No More Ms. Nice Witch persona, babe. I don’t know what’s going on, but judging by the ‘I am Alpha male and you shall do my bidding’ vibe, we could end up with a fight on our hands.”
***
“I love these custom dollhouses,” Blair commented, leafing through a toy catalog that had arrived in the Wednesday afternoon mail. “I just wish they weren’t so expensive. Look at this one. It’s a French chateau with antique furniture that looks so authentic you’d swear they were Louis XV. And a haunted house that’s priceless. The bedposts look like a stack of skulls! I could easily have sold that last October.”
“I love the one that looks like a Southern plantation house. Just looking at it makes me feel like Scarlett O’Hara,” Stasi said.
Blair looked up when a familiar classic aqua and white T-Bird whizzed past her window and made a turn around the building.
“Jazz is here,” she said, heading for the door and flipping the sign from Open to Closed.
“You look great!” Blair hugged Jazz after she climbed out of the car. Irma, the ghost who inhabited Jazz’s T-Bird, and her ghostly dog Sirius floated through the door on the passenger side. Blair looked around apprehensively. “Where are the fuzzy ankle biters?”
Jazz grimaced as she stamped her feet up and down. “You so wouldn’t believe what they did. I thought you were having a warm spell up here?”
“We were until two days ago.” Stasi stepped in and hugged her, too. “And now everyone’s hoping for snow for the winter carnival.”
Jazz shivered at the mention of snow. “I thought you’ve had more than your share of that nasty white stuff already.”
Blair watched Jazz pull a bright yellow leather tote bag out of the back seat. “Packing light, aren’t you?”
“There’s no packing light for Jazz,” Irma commented, resting her ghostly hand on Sirius’s head. “While all she gives me are a few catalogs from which to choose my clothes.” Irma had been stuck in the same 1950s outfit in which she had committed suicide until Jazz had finally found a way for her to update her wardrobe.
“Your wardrobe changes are easier than mine—if I used your method my charge cards wouldn’t be maxed out all the time, but where’s the fun in that?” Jazz pointed out. She hefted the magickal tote bag. “You’d be amazed what I have in this bag—it’ll hold as much as I want to put into it. It was a birthday gift from Thea—and a lot safer than Croc and Delilah. Magickal crocodile stilettos are all very well, but they totally fixated on my housemate. It got so Krebs was afraid to go to bed without having me check out the room first. They managed to sneak through all the wards I put around his space. Not to mention they were always getting into my makeup.”
“How are they doing living with Mindy?” Stasi asked, aware that Jazz had passed the sexy shoes on to the blond elf who used to work for Dweezil, the owner of All Creatures Car Service, where Jazz worked as a driver. Mindy now ran her own limo service in San Diego.
“She loves them, and vice versa, because she caters to their makeup and perfume addictions. She even bought them the whole new MAC makeup line, so they’d stay out of hers. I wish I’d thought of that. Still, they’re much happier with her, even if I hear they’re still pining for Krebs.”
The three witches and two ghosts walked (and floated) upstairs. Bogie barked a hello at Sirius and the two dogs headed for the family room.
“This will warm you up.” Blair poured cinnamon spice mocha coffee into a dark orange mug with Witchy Woman in script across it and handed it to Jazz. “So what’s got you in a snit? And don’t say you’re not in one.” She indicated the sparks flying around Jazz’s head.
Jazz sat at the table, sipped the hot brew, and released a blissful sigh. “Fluff and Puff have found another way to make my life miserable.”
“I didn’t think they could get any worse.” Stasi sat down across from her.
Jazz turned away and leaned over, tugging off her Ugg boots. Sounds of coughing and choking sounded from her ankles.
Blair and Stasi looked down.
“What the—?” Blair’s jaw practically dropped to the floor.
“How did they do that?” Stasi whispered.
Jazz grimly looked at the outside of her right ankle, where Fluff and Puff now resided as a tattoo. The bunny slippers continued to cough and choke, spewing out bits of the boot’s shearling lining.
“You better not have ruined the lining,” she warned them. “And no complaints. You did this to yourselves, so you have to pay the price.”
Puff raised his head and snarled at her while Fluff continued hacking as if he was ready to cough up a hairball, which he did a second later. The three witches groaned in unison.
“I told them they were staying here with you and they told me they weren’t.” Jazz crossed her legs with her right leg on top, the foot swaying to a beat only she could hear. “I woke up this morning to a strange feeling on my leg and found them literally attached to me. At least they didn’t choose the ankle with my ankle bracelet. I hate to think what they would have tried. One of them probably would have swallowed the broom charm.”
Blair couldn’t hold back her grin. “Oh, this is good. Very good.” Her grin soon turned into laughter that wouldn’t stop. Stasi joined in the mirth, but Jazz didn’t look the least amused.
“This isn’t funny!” Jazz argued. “My ankle itches all the time now.”
“You should have heard her this morning. The language was very unladylike,” Irma confided, leaning over to inhale the coffee in Blair’s mug. Her look was so wistful that Blair almost offered her a cup, but she didn’t want coffee all over the kitchen floor. Ghosts couldn’t hold food, of course—it went right through them. “Even the carriage house shook, the way she stomped around the house ranting and raving. But those little critters weren’t going to move from her ankle no matter what spells she tried, and she tried a lot of them. They made sure to stay put.”
Blair regretted she was drinking her coffee at the time because she almost spewed it everywhere.
“Wait a minute.” She held her hand up, palm out as she fought her hysterical laughter. “Are you saying they cursed themselves onto your ankle?”
Stasi was already cradling her face in her hands while her shoulders shook with mirth. “I love it! The curse eliminator is cursed!” Her voice was muffled by her hands.
“I am not!” Jazz insisted, in a voice a few octaves too high.
“Sure you are!” Blair howled, practically bouncing out of her chair. “This is priceless, Jazz!”
“For someone whose success rate as a curse eliminator was almost 100%, she’s sure losing ground. After all, she couldn’t get me out of the car for over fifty years,” Irma chimed in.
Jazz ground her teeth so hard it was amazing they weren’t stubs.
“Okay, not funny.”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t laughed this hard in ages.” Blair held her stomach and hooted. Stasi kept her face buried in her arms on the table, her shoulders shaking.
Jazz’s foot jiggled faster as her agitation level rose. Fluff and Puff screamed out their protest as her movements increased, but they didn’t try to escape her ankle, nor did she stop her action.
“Oh wait!” Blair jumped out of her chair and ran into the family room. She returned with her cell phone and started snapping off pictures. “We so need proof of this.”
“What are you doing?” Jazz leaped out of her chair and tried to grab Blair and the phone, but Blair hopped out of her reach, busily punching numbers.
“Yes!” She held up her phone in victory.
“I think this would make a great holiday card,” Stasi said, not even wilting under Jazz’s glare. “Who all did you send it to?”
Blair’s grin broadened until it th
reatened to split her face. “Everyone.” She looked down when her phone twinkled “All Star.” “Maggie loves it.”
“You witch!” The plates and glassware trembled under Jazz’s fury as she advanced on Blair.
Blair remained just out of her reach, looking down again when she heard “When You Wish Upon A Star” and reading another text message. “Lili is using it as her screensaver.”
Fluff and Puff’s laughter added to the chaos.
“Just remember who does the revenge spells here, Jazz,” Blair thought it judicious to mention. “You didn’t like that humongous zit you got when your lost your power last year, did you?” She wasn’t making a threat, just letting her friend recall that she also had a lot in her witchy arsenal.
Jazz stopped and stared downward. “This is all your fault and once you’re off my ankle you will pay like you’ve never paid before.”
Then she glared pointedly at Blair’s cell phone, but nothing happened.
“I wasn’t even bringing it in here without a protection spell,” Blair explained, tucking the phone in her pocket. “You have to admit you would have done the same if it had been me.”
“I’m off to lie down. You all wear me out.” Irma winked out to the guest room.
“You know what, why don’t we all calm down?” Stasi took the role of peacemaker, which was her usual post when things got too heated. “Let’s have a leisurely dinner and catch up. Any new gossip?” she asked, opening the freezer and pulling out a container of beef stew while Blair got up and rummaged for the ingredients for dumplings.
“I talked to Thea the other day. She said she’d be up here this month,” Jazz reported.
“Fantastic! We haven’t seen her for ages,” Blair commented.
Stasi dumped the frozen stew into a large, copper-bottom pot and turned on the heat. Well familiar with the kitchen, Jazz went exploring and found some sugar cookies. She cooed with delight as she bit into a chewy cookie, breaking off a small piece for Bogie, who’d shown up for his share, and ignoring Fluff and Puff’s pleas. “As long as you’re on my ankle, you’re not getting a thing,” she warned the slippers. “Did Mrs. Benedict make these?”
Blair nodded. “She dropped them off the other day. Her grandchildren were coming up and she baked I don’t know how many dozen cookies.”
Jazz used her forefinger to sweep the multi-colored sugar sprinkles off her lip and into her mouth, looking pensive. “Seriously, Fluff and Puff are driving me crazy. We’ve barely gotten over the damage they did to Cupid’s front lawn, even if he deserved it.” She ignored the cheers and raspberries coming from her ankle. “He was hopping mad and that was not a pretty sight.”
“I loved that they sought revenge on my behalf.” Stasi flashed them a warm smile.
“Good, then you can get Trev to handle the lawsuit Cupid’s threatening to file against them—and me, since I’m supposed to be in charge of them. Yeah, like that’ll happen.” Jazz started to take another cookie, but Stasi took it out of her hand, reminding her dinner would be ready soon. “I saw the banners up for the Winter Carnival. What is Agnes up to now and what does she want you to do?” She did her part by pulling out plates and silverware and setting the table.
“As much as possible,” Blair said. “And by the way, Roan Thorpe, the new owner of Snow Farms—who just happens to be a Were and part of Jake’s Pack—is involved, too. Not to mention it seems he’s Jake’s brother.”
Jazz looked up sharply. “What? When did all of this happen? And I gather it’s not a good thing.”
“Very much not a good thing. Roan Thorpe has this ‘me Were, you witch’ attitude,” Stasi said. “Then there’s Jake with his ‘I wish he was on the other side of the universe’ attitude. No Brady Bunch vibes there.”
“We don’t like him,” Blair said, stating the obvious. “And if things get worse I may be coming up with some innovative revenge spells against Roan. He and Jake could be the main attraction on Jerry Springer, because I can’t see them on Oprah or Dr. Phil willing to talk their feelings out.”
“It’s always the quiet ones that hand us the surprises. Plus you have to wonder if trouble doesn’t sometimes follow us.” Jazz finished setting the table and set out glasses filled with Diet Coke. “So Stasi, where’s your sexy wizard?”
“Working on a case. He was up last weekend anyway, and he knows at the full moon I like to be with my sister witches. This time is just for us.”
A soft pinging sound was heard from the family room, along with You have wallmail.
“I’ll go.” Jazz left the kitchen then called back. “Thea’s at the B&B and will be here in time to go out to the lake tonight. And there’s another from Maggie. She’ll arrive in a half hour or so.”
“Tell them we’ll hold dinner for them,” Stasi called back, returning to the freezer for another container of beef stew while Blair doubled the ingredients for the dumplings.
Suddenly feeling a strong urge to look out the window, Blair wandered over to the sink and looked out. Jake had installed motion detector lights along the side of the stairs last November, so she could easily see the familiar black and white dog sitting near Jazz’s car.
For one long moment their eyes met, then the dog stood up and loped off.
You’re a fool, Jake Harrison, and I intend to prove it to you.
She pasted a smile on her lips that wouldn’t have fooled anyone and returned to making dinner.
***
The five women wore pale blue robes and matching moonstone pendants and rings. The silken fabric lifted and fluttered in the night breeze as they walked along the lake’s edge until they reached a flat-topped boulder that jutted out over the water. They walked with sure-footed grace along the length of the large stone’s surface until they stood on the tip of the rock, presenting an ethereal picture as the full moon cast silver rays over them.
“May our sanctuary provide us with continued protection and strength,” Stasi intoned, taking multi-colored dust out of the gold mesh bag she held in her hand and sprinkling it over the water.
“May our sanctuary give us sustenance and nurture us.” Blair followed with a pinch of silvery dust.
“During this full moon we ask that our sanctuary always be there for us in our time of need.” Jazz opened her bag with its dust spilling forth the color of creamy pearls.
Thea stepped forward next. “May our sanctuary offer us the strength we need during harsh times.” She pulled out her red silk bag, watching the red dust glimmer before it dusted the water’s surface.
Maggie, taller than the others, was last. “And may our sanctuary always give us peace.” Magickal dust the deep shade of sapphires floated in the air before settling on the lake.
As the last dust touched the water, the color of the lake turned the rare translucent color of a moonstone, echoed in the gemstone pendant each woman wore. At that moment, all five women’s moonstone pendants and rings glowed bright. When a star shot across the velvety night sky, they looked at each other and burst into joyous laughter.
“And thank you for making sure the lake monster didn’t rise up and eat us!” Jazz shouted across the shimmering water as she spun in a tight circle.
“Will you ever grow up?” Thea shook her head as she dropped her hood. “You say that every time I’m up here.”
“Growing up wouldn’t be any fun.” Maggie dropped her hood also, shaking out her shoulder-length blonde hair.
“No, she’d rather encourage the lake monster to rise up and seek out a late night snack,” Blair said.
“Raise your hand if you vote we should push Jazz out front if a lake monster does show up.” Stasi raised her hand and the other three did the same, while Jazz shook her head.
“And you call me the immature one,” she grumbled.
Five heads lifted when a faint howl rippled through the air, followed by several more.
“I thought there weren’t any wolves around here,” Thea said quietly.
“There aren’t.” Blair
spun around to face the direction from which the howls had come. She, Jazz, and Maggie took several steps then stopped, their heads cocked to the side. A moment later, they heard the chilling howls again.
“There are now,” Maggie said, flexing her fingers as if readying for a battle.
“And we know it’s not Jake,” Stasi said. She exchanged a telling look with Blair and Jazz, because they all knew exactly why there were wolves out there now. The Pack was gathering. She rubbed her arms. “Let’s get back to the apartment and into warmer clothing.”
As they turned to retrace their path along the lake’s edge, Blair looked over her shoulder at the lake. A faint undulation appeared in the center, the watery rings moving in ever-increasing circles toward the water’s edge.
“Maybe it’s true after all,” she commented. ”Maybe there is a lake monster.”
Thea followed her gaze. “I haven’t been up here as much as some of you, but I’ve never seen a sign of anything like that. It’s got to be a local legend to keep kids from rowing out there late at night.” She suddenly seemed lost in a world of her own that the others took to mean she was thinking of a new book idea.
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t something living in the lake,” Jazz said, pausing to look out over the lake, quiet now except for a few lingering ripples on the serene surface.
“I think it’s a good thing—helps to prevent someone from coming out here during the full moon in hopes of catching us dancing naked around a bonfire,” Blair joked.
“Oh right, someone would be dumb enough to come out on a night like this when they could be sitting in front of a roaring fire?” Jazz shivered under her thin robe. “I love you all, but doing this during the winter really sucks. Even thermal underwear isn’t helping.”
“I’ve already turned into a witchcicle,” Thea complained with a hint of a whine as she rearranged the flyaway strands in her glossy black cap of hair. “Can we go back now?”
As the five women took the path leading back to Blair and Stasi’s building, they didn’t notice the faint outline of a scale-covered head popping out of the water and gazing in their direction.