by Tegan Maher
From the head motion of a smooth turn to the left then right, I guessed that Yellow had suffered an attack of eye-rolling. “Haven’t you wondered who the rest were?”
“It was to be anonymous!” shouted Green.
“And clearly that wasn’t working! Remember the letters we got? And the multiple murders?”
Bear made a calming noise. “I think it is best if you explain to me what is going on. I mean with the capes and spells and secrecy.” He lifted the edges of his cape and flapped them around for emphasis.
The room got quiet, and though their eyes were hidden by the masks, I could tell they were avoiding Bear’s stare.
Since there was nothing to lose, I jumped in. “If all three of the dead people worked at Malone’s, then I assume you three did as well? Then these yearly meetings have something to do with your time there? And it is no stretch to guess that whatever it is, it is pretty sketchy?”
No one answered, even in protest, and I looked at Bear and raised an eyebrow.
He nodded back. “When Malone’s closed down, I heard a rumor that the namesake Malone was murdered so that someone could steal his luck. Luck is a funny thing, if you remember what I said earlier. While it can turn many events to your advantage, it can’t protect you from everything, especially if those close to you are not trustworthy.”
I shuddered slightly. Mages were ruthless as a group, and family and friends were often more dangerous than your actual enemies. Magic could be inherited from those you were closest to, and more often than I cared to think about, I had heard stories of those nearest and dearest dispatching a family member for their magic.
“The story said that some of those at the casino had set up a trap to catch him and steal his magic from his heirs. Dark Magic was used, the kind that required exactly six members to take part. They would need to refresh the spell every year. They would be anonymous to everyone… even each other.”
Green stood up, his chair flipping over backwards. “That is a heinous accusation. If it was all anonymous, then how would you hear about it?”
Bear narrowed his eyes. “Someone had to organize it, didn’t they? The man that told me was drinking heavily and scared. He had been recruited by a white raven but dismissed it as a test. He didn’t even bother to respond—that is how little he believed it—but a then a few months later, Malone’s was closed and Malone was missing. The guilt ate at him. He had a rough past but had turned a new leaf, and he figured that was why he had been invited into this dark pact.”
Green pointed at Bear, and despite his hand being covered by the green cape, it was clear that he was shaking. “Tell me this man’s name. Who makes these false accusations?”
“Ben Miller. He was a bookie, the legal kind. He ran his car off the bridge north of town. They didn’t find his body for a decade and weren’t sure when it happened, but I think it was that night. I never saw him again. Sure was lucky for those involved, wasn’t it? Now sit down, you fool. We all know your theatrics are for nothing.”
Green turned to Yellow and Orange but neither spoke, and eventually Green sat back down.
I caught Bear’s eye and quirked an eyebrow. I hesitated to ask out loud, but I needed more details.
He continued, “I had not met Ben before that night, and he was so drunk that he could barely stay on the stool. It sounded more like the raving of a madman than anything. I might never have thought it was real until tonight. He told me the details as they were presented to him. Six people were needed for the spell. It would kill Malone and harvest his magic, his luck, by tying it to his great love, his casino. Here it could grow year after year, and each of the controllers would receive their share so long as they renewed the spell near the anniversary of the first casting.”
The room started to carry a heaviness of emotion. Tension was crawling up my back and tightening my throat. Though no one admitted to the truth, the lack of refutal was as good as an admission.
“It was a thievery spell, designed for groups that didn’t trust each other. It could be renewed by anyone but only broken by all. If anyone tried to break the spell, there would be a great penalty. It is greed that keeps them coming back to take what was never theirs. But it has a heavy price: if they aren’t present for the renewing then they will be counted out forever, and a magic toll will be removed for all they received. Their continued involvement is their protection. Once in, never out.”
Green slammed a fist on the table. “Lies!”
Yellow finally moved. “It doesn’t matter what they think. We need to renew the spell now.”
Orange gasped. “We are here with security. We can destroy it. Thirty years is enough. That gives us at least enough to settle our affairs.”
“No!” screamed Green and Yellow in unison.
Orange stood. “The supplies are just over behind the tree. I won’t even have to leave the room.”
Yellow also stood. “I need to get something to drink before we continue.”
Yellow crossed the room to the far corner as Orange moved to a different corner. I was just turning to Bear to see how he was feeling about the whole investigation being swept under the carpeting when the lights went out and only the four flickering candles on the floor could be seen.
Chapter Seven
I was on my feet in a second, running into Bear in the process. We pressed our backs together, and I reached for magic to form a light, but there was nothing.
There was a flurry of noise and a large crash.
“Ella! Stay close.”
A large furry object slammed into my chest, and it took me only a split second to realize it was Patagonia, who had been knocked to the ground when I stood up quickly.
She used her razor-sharp claws to move up to my shoulder, balancing half her body on my lower shoulder and the other half on Bear. I was sure which half was on me because her tail kept hitting me in the face.
When the lights came back on, I whipped around to check on Orange, who stood frozen, arms full of supplies. I looked around but couldn’t see Yellow anymore, though the many tables that had been pushed up against a wall blocked a lot of my view.
By the time I moved, Patagonia was already on the ground racing after Bear. We walked around the circle of candles, only half of them lit, before I saw Yellow on the ground.
Her mask had been torn off to reveal a redheaded woman, her throat crushed and her eyes staring up at the ceiling.
Bear leaned over to check her pulse then shook his head. “She’s gone.”
Orange and Green stopped at my side, going no closer to the body.
I moved forward. “Surely something can be done?”
He flipped her cape over to reveal a hole in her chest the size of my fist.
“That… that could not have happened naturally? It must have been magically assisted.” I reared around to face Orange and Green. “Go to the far side of the room. I must speak privately to Mr. Freeman.”
They retreated, already in a whispered conversation of their own as I went to seek a reading on the death.
“Bear, can you shield me?” I asked, but he was already moving into place.
I was not surprised, though, when I tried to get a vision and nothing happened. I turned to Bear. “Something isn’t right.”
He gestured to the body. “I’ll say.”
“I mean beyond that. There is something…” I was missing something. I knew it. It was right under my nose and tickling the back of my brain, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was like a dream that I could only catch whispers of but dissolved when I tried to focus.
Orange called over to us. “Please come back here! We have decided to break the spell. It is too dangerous to continue. Will you guard us?”
I put a hand on Bear, and he nodded. He trusted that I could figure it out and whatever I wanted to say was important. “If you answer a few things first.”
Green huffed loudly. “You don’t need to know anything.”
“Yes, we do,” I said.
“We are all in danger, and everything this evening has been leading you to break the spell. I want to understand why.” Once I said it, little bits of information started to fit together. I didn’t have the full picture yet, but I knew I was moving closer.
Orange shook her head. “That is possible, but if so, then whoever it is can get their way. I think it was a revenge plot against them. I recognize Yellow. She was Bethany Kernel, the gambling commissioner, and was about to be indicted for fraud along with Meg. This is probably personal, but now that both of you know the story of what—”
“Stop! Say no more!” Green screamed.
Orange reared around. “It is too late. Everything is out. We cannot leave this place until we either renew or break the spell, and I have no intention of ever returning. Now that Mr. Freeman knows what happened, it is too dangerous to continue. The secret is out. It is done. Over. There is no other option.”
I shook my head. “Exactly! You have no other options. But I have one question. What is the penalty if you try to break the spell without everyone alive involved?”
Orange shrugged. “Whoever tries to break the spell will be killed instantly, and the remaining members will get the full benefit of the spell. All of the remaining luck.”
I turned to gesture to the spelling circles where three of the candles were extinguished while the other three continued to burn. “Then I think you should stop because one of the spell casters is still alive and hoping that you two try to break the spell. And I know who it is.”
I cupped my hands around my mouth to shout. “Isn’t that right, Meg? I know you’re still alive!”
Chapter Eight
Green spun around. “How can that be? We all saw Red was dead!”
“I was told that no one can work magic tonight, why is that?”
“So they can’t mess with the main spell. That is why we wear the capes; it hides our identity in addition to blocking that magic.”
I growled and tore off my cape. “She planned every aspect of this to force you into breaking the spell so she could get all the remaining luck! Every aspect including both of us being invited as security to push you.”
Two capes had been provided despite her saying that she thought only Bear was invited. Had she even known of my ability to view deaths and that it would be blocked by the cloak? It was quite possible if she had watched us for months in secret.
I turned to explain, sure that Red was somewhere listening. “Red has been behind this since the beginning. She summoned you by white raven, same as she employed Freeman Security. She probably knew that he knew the true story and would mention it when you both refused to speak. You received letters from someone that wanted you to break the spell. Only the organizer knew everyone’s identity.”
Orange shook her head. “Yellow said they figured it out.”
“Or Yellow was told by Red because someone had to help Red with her plan, and that person had to be dispatched because that person would never break the spell, knowing that one member was still alive. It was all so tidy, even so far as getting rid of her cheating husband, his mistress, and her partner in crime. If you attempted to break the spell, she would get all the luck, and the rest of you would be killed. Practically the perfect crime.”
Orange tipped her head to the side. “But we could have left any time?”
I stepped back in shock. “I thought you said you couldn’t leave without either renewing or breaking the spell.”
“I mean, that is more or less true. If we leave without doing either of those then all the magic goes back into the earth and atmosphere.”
I looked at Bear, who rolled his eyes, then I turned back to them. “You selfish, greedy—” I cut myself off from the stream of expletives. Of course people who’d kill a man to steal his magical abilities and had continued to profit off it for thirty years would consider just leaving to be not an option.
“We’re leaving.” Bear grabbed my arm.
“You can’t!” shrieked Orange. “We’re not sure what will happen if you do that before we renew the spell.”
We were already to the door when something hit me hard and knocked me to the ground. I fought like my life depended on it because I knew it was Red. She needed everyone to die if she was going to get away with it.
But she hadn’t counted on the fact that Bear and I combined were much stronger than she was. She had relied on luck too long, and we quickly overpowered her.
Bear held her and wrapped the black cloak he had been given around her with the goal of blocking any further magic.
She continued to try to fight. “It was a perfect plan, it still is. Orange, Green, please. We can all take our share and go on our own way. In fact—”
I felt a surge of red-hot magic. The aura was hot like peppers and burned my senses a slip second before there was a terrible explosion that knocked Bear and me off our feet. My ears rang, and a million lights danced in front of my eyes. A strong arm grabbed me and dragged me toward the entrance.
A beam fell so close behind me that it clipped the heel of my shoe as I ran in the darkness, totally blind. Bear tripped, falling hard to the side, when a shot of purple magic blared through the place he would have been. We exited the door hard, then the whole building exploded, throwing us across the parking lot and into a large, soft bush.
Chapter Nine
I stared at the building from the road. The paint on Bear’s car was bubbling up from the heat, and while we were both slightly injured, it was nothing that wouldn’t heal with time.
“Bear, I don’t understand what happened.” I rubbed my backside where I was sure a huge bruise would form.
“The spell went off. Perhaps one of them tried to renew it. Maybe break it up. I am not sure, but us being there threw it off. All that magic came to us.”
“Does that mean we are lucky now?”
“I think we have always been pretty lucky, but I think we used up all of Malone’s luck getting out of there alive.”
I stared a bit longer before I asked, “Should I check to read the holograms of their death?”
“I don’t think you need to do that. You figured it all out perfectly, I am sure of it.”
“But why didn’t the luck save them?”
“Luck cannot save you from bad decisions. They might have avoided consequences for a while, but it got them in the end.”
Patagonia crawled out of a bush and pawed at my ankle. The fact that she didn’t bite or claw me meant she was a little off her game. I scooped her into my arms and cuddled my face into the softness of her neck. She purred loudly, and we both relaxed in the flickering lights of the fire.
My phone chirped in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from Vanessa that her car was dead, and she needed me to pick her up from the party. I supposed my luck really had run out.
Interested in learning more about Ella, Patagonia and the whole gang? Visit Nikki’s website for more books, information and sign up for a newsletter and receive another free short story. http://nikkihaverstock.com/
About the Author
Nikki Haverstock is a writer who lives on a small ranch high in the Rocky Mountains. She has studied comedy writing at Second City and has published 13 cozy and paranormal mysteries that are heavy on the humor.
Before fleeing the city, she hosted a competitive archery reality show, traveled the world to study volcanoes, taught archery and computer science at a university and worked on her family's ranch herding cattle. Nikki has more college degrees than she has sense and hopefully one day she will put one to work.
Nikki likes to write comedy pieces that focus on the everyday humor of friends, family and the absurdity of life. She tried stand up but the cattle weren't impressed.
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Hex the Halls
Danielle Garrett
Hex the Halls
Santa is on his way to Beechwood Harbor, in search of the magic of Christmas. The night before his visit, strange magic plagues th
e town and throws Christmas itself into jeopardy.
Will Holly and her friends at the Beechwood Manor be able to send Santa back to the North Pole with happy memories and good tidings, or will the magic of Christmas be broken for good?
Chapter One
“Who’s up for a Christmas movie marathon?”
Adam groaned as he turned to glance over the back of the couch at our roommate. “Evie, it’s literally the day after Thanksgiving. Can we get a tiny bit of respite before you crank the holiday tunes to a hundred and try to suffocate us with tinsel and wrapping paper?” He paused, a slow, mischievous smile stretching the corners of his mouth to reveal a pair of devastating dimples. “On second thought, if you wanted to get into the spirit of the season and bake some Christmas cookies, who am I to stand in your way?”
Laughing, I shook my head and sat down beside him, cradling a mug of tea. “You’re so predictable.”
Adam flashed an innocent look—no small feat considering he was the biggest troublemaker in the harbor. “What? I’ll pitch in for ingredients.”
“How do you feel about store bought?” Evangeline asked.
“Umm, have you met Adam?” I interjected playfully. “He’d eat corrugated cardboard as long as there was a generous layer of frosting on it.”
My boyfriend frowned down at me, a spark of humor playing in his dark brown eyes. “That’s flattering. Love you, too, sweet cakes. Or should I say sweet paper pulp? Since apparently the two things are interchangeable in my mind?”
I wasn’t backing down from this fight. With a syrup-sweet smile, I bat my eyes up at him. “True or false, pumpkin, you went dumpster diving outside McNally’s last time you shifted?”