by Erin Johnson
He rose. It was like he slowly unfolded himself, growing taller and more menacing as he stood. He turned his sharp, hooked nose in my direction. “I think you won’t want to miss what I have to say to you.”
I gulped.
He smiled, and I wished he hadn’t. He revealed tiny, pointed teeth, his cold eyes sharp and mirthless. “I believe I’ve found a cure for you.”
33
A Confession
I recoiled in spite of my best efforts to hold my ground. One of the old ladies cackled, a rasping, coughing sound, and the other two—they had to be her sisters, they looked so alike—took it up, their barking laughter echoing around the room.
Viktor joined in with uncontrollable giggles until Neo shot him a hard look, and Sacha came up from behind and wrapped him in a tight bear hug. His tic quieted and he grew still, though a muscle in his face still twitched.
I gulped and wished, desperately, I was in my bed.
The lady cutting the creature set down her knife and handed Ludolf a beaker of glowing green potion. It steamed and bubbled. He approached me, his movements deliberate and eerily controlled. I felt as though I were being stalked.
Neo and the boys edged away from me. Cowards. I balled my hands into fists at my sides to hide their trembling. I thought back to what Opal had said about potion masters being able to possibly find a cure for a curse. I lifted my chin as Ludolf’s hard eyes locked on me, his pupils so wide, nearly his entire iris was black.
“No offense.” I licked my lips. “But you’d need to know exactly what curse was used against me to concoct a cure.”
He didn’t stop his slow advance.
My mouth grew dry. “I understand that trying to cure a curse without a thorough knowledge of it can do more harm than good.” Was that what he intended? I edged back, my heart thundering in my chest. “I don’t want it.”
He loomed over me.
“No!” I screamed.
My voice echoed off the walls, but Ludolf in a quick flash doused me with the potion. I cringed against the cold stone wall, shaking as the potion burned, then cooled, then evaporated away, leaving me dry.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the memory of Eve dousing me with the curse that had stripped me of my powers and ability to shift wouldn’t stop playing behind my eyes. I trembled, lost in the horrible memory, until Ludolf’s quietly menacing voice brought me back to the present moment.
“Try.”
I peeled an eye open and stared at him, not understanding.
“Try to use magic. Or shift.” His chest heaved, and a childlike eagerness laced his words.
I didn’t understand his excitement, but it creeped me out. I let my arms drop to my sides and nodded. I tried to shift. Nothing happened. I tried to sense the magic inside me. Nothing.
I shrugged and shook my head at him.
His expression darkened. “Try harder.”
I gritted my teeth. “It didn’t work.” Anger burned in my chest and throat. “Like I said, you’d have to know what was used to curse me in the first place. It’s useless!”
He moved closer and lurked over me. “How dare you question me.”
I froze. He’d always been sort of quietly menacing, but there was a gleam to his eye I’d never seen before. Open hostility hardened his words. “I know what I’m doing.”
I huffed. “If that were true, then you should know you can’t—”
“I know what curse was used against you!” he shrieked.
Icy dread flooded down my spine, and I stared, frozen, up into his hard face with its sharp nose, cold eyes, and stringy hair. “How?” I sucked in a shaky breath. “How do you know what was used against me?” My chin trembled, and tears welled in my eyes, though I wished them away. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
That case I’d been working, defending that young kid—Ludolf had been the one he’d taken the blame for. Shell, he was probably still behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
Ludolf watched me, unblinking. “You were getting too close.”
Goose bumps prickled my arms.
“That boy had agreed to take the fall for me. He was paid well for his years in prison. You needed to be silenced.”
I leaned back against the wall for support. It felt like the room was spinning around me. “How did you know?”
“Emerson was in my pocket.” He narrowed his eyes. “You recently put him behind bars, yes?”
I’d been right—all those years ago, I’d been right and punished for trying to do the right thing. That kid—I’d convinced him we could fight it, that I could protect him. Next time I went to visit him in prison, there’d been a man to see him—a Mr. Ronstadt. I hadn’t recognized the name, but my client changed his tune. The kid told me he was taking the fall and warned me to drop it.
I suddenly remembered—that’s where I’d seen the name Ronstadt before. He was the same man John (now an iguana) had told me came to buy the remainder of the potion that had turned him into a lizard. He’d bought the contaminated potions for Ludolf, just like he’d convinced that kid years ago to take the fall for the mob boss.
My throat grew tight. “Why not just kill me?”
He shrugged his bony shoulders. “Why? It’d attract attention and be such a waste. No. Much better to discredit you and have a little test subject as a bonus.”
I thought I might be ill. “A test subject? For what?”
He leaned away. “That’s all I care to say for now. We’ll summon you when we have a new iteration to try.”
“A new—?” I glanced at the old women working away behind him—his hex makers. And now breakers, apparently. He was going to keep experimenting on me with cures until he found one—or more likely, one wound up killing me.
“Why are you doing this? If you want to kill me, just get it over with now. I’m not coming back down here to be experimented on like a lab rat.”
“Jolene!” Neo hissed.
I darted a quick look at his panicked face. Yeah, probably not the smartest to taunt Ludolf with the option of killing me, but I was furious. I hadn’t consented to being tested on.
Ludolf bristled and somehow seemed to grow taller and wider. He loomed over me, face red and blotchy. “You will do exactly as I say!”
I recoiled, pressing against the wall.
Spit flew from his pale, thin lips. “I am the law! If you don’t obey, you will suffer, as will everyone you care about!”
I trembled.
“I will summon you.” He softened his tone to deadly quiet and adjusted his tie. “And you will come, Jolene.”
34
Together
I barely slept, despite how exhausted I was. I woke in the late evening and lay in bed, ruminating on my shipwreck of a life until the sun set. I dragged myself up, ate the last of the cheese crackers in my cupboard, then dashed down to Will’s clinic.
Heidi opened the door and stuck her head outside as I slipped in.
She peered up at the dark sky. “Ew. It’s gross out.”
A steady rain pattered the roof. I glanced around at the lobby and gave a half-hearted wave to Will. He sat slumped in a chair, golden chests littered around the room, a pile of empty glass vials on the coffee table in the middle.
If I’d come here looking for a pick-me-up, I had a feeling I was out of luck. I fished out a clean rag from the cupboard behind the front desk and wiped off my wet face, then tousled my damp hair.
“What are you—erp—up to?” Heidi hiccupped and swayed on her feet, her eyes unfocused and glassy.
Ah. That made sense with all the empty vials. I came around the tall front desk and leaned my back against it. “How many of those potions have you guys had?”
Heidi lifted a half-empty vial of pink liquid and downed the rest of it in one shot. She tossed the vial over her shoulder and it clinked to the floor, then rolled around the linoleum until it stopped under one of the chairs.
Will shrugged. “Who cares, sister? We have like a thousand of them, and
they’re all worthless.” He grabbed a folded-up newspaper and held it out to me. I reached over and opened The Conch.
The front page read “Potent Potions or Deadly Draughts?” A magically moving photograph of Pearl Litt being hauled off by the police, soaking wet, took up half of it. I skimmed the first few lines, then handed it back to Will.
“You don’t look surprised.”
I shrugged. “Who do you think helped drag her out of the ocean?”
Will chuckled, but Heidi’s eyes grew wide, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth as she hiccupped again. “Wow—hic—way to go, Jolene! We should—hic—celebrate.”
She fished a green vial out of the nearest golden chest and held it up to me. “Ooh. This one’s pretty. Want it?”
I shrugged. “It might turn me into a lizard, but at this point….”
She giggled as she stumbled over and handed it to me. I eyed the swirling green liquid inside. “What’s this one do?”
“Mm.” Heidi pulled a glossy pamphlet out of her pocket and ran a finger with a painted gold nail down the page. “Ah! Says it’s calming.”
I popped the cork off with my thumb. “Beautiful. Cheers.” I downed the liquid. I grimaced—it burned my throat on the way down and warmed my stomach. “Is it supposed to burn?”
“Who knows?” Will threw his head back and cackled, and Heidi, between hiccups, giggled along.
I shook my head at them. “You guys are toasted on potions.”
“Catch up!” Will chucked a vial at me. It flew past, hit the wall behind me and shattered. The potion foamed and burned a divot in the linoleum.
I curled my lip. “Snakes!”
Will slumped lower in his chair. “Sorry.”
I shot him a half-hearted grin. “We spoke with Madeline L’Orange, the reporter, not long before we arrested Pearl Litt. Sorry her exposé hurt your chances of selling this stuff.”
Will barked out a humorless laugh. “We got caught and cleaned, lady. We weren’t going to have a fireball’s chance in the sea.”
Heidi nodded. “Duped.” She let out a wistful sigh. “I’ll probably never move out of my parents’ house. They’ll be doing my laundry and cooking my dinners till I’m eighty.”
Will and I exchanged looks. Didn’t sound so bad.
He rolled his enormous eyes. “Yeah, well I’m a—” He sniffed. “Mature man, shall we say, barely eking out a living, and I just lost what little I had saved on tiny amounts of worthless liquid.”
I slumped into a chair next to Will and leaned my head against his beefy shoulder. “Well, if it makes you two feel any better, Ludolf summoned me again last night.”
Will stiffened.
“And he decided it was cool to test potions on me against my will, so there’s that.” My chest grew tight as I stared, unfocused, at the coffee table littered with vials of potions and old magazines.
Heidi gasped.
“Um.” Will leaned away and grabbed me by the shoulders, searching my face. “Are you serious? That’s messed-up, Jolene.”
I sniffed. “He’s ‘the law,’ so I guess I have no choice.” I shrugged it off, but it felt nice to have friends who could at least sympathize with me.
I sat up straighter. “Here’s the thing I can’t get over—why, though? Get this, he had Emerson, my old boss, in his pocket. Years ago, I was working this case and had a hunch he was behind it all. I got too close to the truth, and he’s the one who cursed me.”
“No.” Heidi slumped into a chair, gaping at me.
I shrugged. “Well, I mean, he had one of his goons give the curse to Eve to use, which definitely threw me off his trail—”
“Hold up.” Will held up a huge palm. “You’re sure about this?”
I nodded. “He told me himself.”
“Holy sea snakes,” he breathed.
I pressed my lips tight and nodded, eyes wide. “Uh-huh—and get this, he told me it was a bonus that he got to test potions on me.” I looked from Will to Heidi. “Why is that a bonus? Why is he testing potions in the first place? He has these three creepy old ladies working full-time as hex makers—to what end?”
Will frowned. “That is weird.”
I nodded. “I’d been right all those years ago—he had that kid I was defending taking the fall for him. Who else has gone down for his crimes? And if he had Emerson in his pocket, a top lawyer in Bijou Mer, who else has he bought?” I raised my brows even higher. “This is big.”
Will looked like he might be ill. He lurched forward, fished two random vials out of the nearest small chest, and uncorked both, downing them together. He scrunched up his face. “Eck!” He shook his head, ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth, then turned to me. “Last time you tried to expose Ludolf, you got cursed, Jolene. I just want you to remember that.”
I nodded. “How can I forget?” Not having magic was a daily hindrance, and not being able to shift was like losing a piece of me. “But it’s different now. He’s not going to stop, and Opal Whittaker, before Pearl killed her, told Peter and me that trying to cure a curse with the wrong potion can cause even worse damage—even be deadly.”
Will groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Heidi’s lower lip quivered. She scooted over the chairs until she sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “You’re in danger.”
I nodded. “I mean, what’s new, but—yeah. Worse danger, that’s for sure.”
“How can we help?”
I gave Heidi a sad grin and squeezed her hand. “Thanks, friend. I’m not sure. I think I need to look into Ludolf more—see what I can learn and go from there. Hope I live long enough to learn something that can help me get out from under his talons.”
Will curled his lip. “What about lover boy?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “We…” I thought of our conversation on the dock. “We talked but didn’t make much progress. He doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a shifter, but I can hardly tell him about Ludolf.”
“Why—hic— not?” Heidi swayed slightly in her seat.
“She’s got a point—you’ve already told him everything else.”
I scoffed. “Well, for one, it puts Peter in danger.”
“Ha!” Will rolled his eyes. “Ludolf already threatened him, right?”
I gave a begrudging nod.
“Then maybe you should tell him—maybe he could help us.”
“It’s not a bad idea... if he’s still talking to me.” I sighed, my stomach already in knots at the thought of telling Peter about Ludolf and the giant mess I was in. Would he be grateful for my honesty and help? It’d be nice to have the police, or at least one of the good ones, on my side. Or would he see it as just another shifter problem... another wedge between us?
Will flashed his eyes at me.
I hugged my arms around my middle. “Fine. I’ll talk to him about it. I just need to find the right time.” I raised a brow. “And… us?”
“Look at me.” Will gestured at his crumpled lab coat, a green stain on the lapel. “I was a top surgeon here on the island, now this?”
“Were you?” I blinked innocently. “You haven’t mentioned it.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m tired of living in the shadows, barely able to afford rent, patching up stupid Viktor and all Ludolf’s freaks.” Will heaved a sigh. “Plus, you’re my friend and whatever. I’m not going to let him experiment on you like a lab rat.”
I nudged him. “So sappy.”
He glared at me. “Don’t push it.”
I leaned my head on Will’s shoulder and squeezed Heidi’s hand. “Thanks, friends.”
Will toed the golden chest on the coffee table. “Well… drink up. Crossing Ludolf means we’ll probably all end up dead soon, anyway, so might as well enjoy ourselves.”
Heidi dug out three glowing vials—purple, orange, and blue—and handed one to each of us. We uncorked them and held them aloft.
“To friendship.” Heidi beamed.
“And getting justice,” I add
ed.
“And suicide missions!” Will clinked his vial against ours, and we all threw them back. I sincerely hoped he was wrong.
Think Jolene’s mystery-solving days are over? No way! Keep reading to dive into the next magical mystery today!
When a bride’s murdered on her wedding day, can this team catch the killer?
Read Breaking Bat to solve a nuptial nightmare today!
Click Here to get your FREE copy of Saved by the Spell and check out rookie officer Peter Flint’s first case with Daisy. Saved by the Spell is the prequel to the Magic Market paranormal cozy mystery series: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/39ltzc764w
Keep reading for the next book, Breaking Bat!
Breaking Bat
A Cozy Witch Mystery
About Breaking Bat
When a bride’s murdered on her wedding day, can Jolene, Peter and Daisy catch the killer?
When former lawyer turned pet psychic, Jolene Hartgrave, is called in to consult on the case of a wedding day tragedy, she’s shocked to recognize the murdered bride as someone from her childhood.
Jolene vows to tie the knot on the case and to mend her rocky relationship with hunky cop Peter, even as she struggles to confess to him one final secret--her connection to the underground shifter mob boss.
As Peter and Jolene investigate how a girl from the seedy Night Market district came to be killed at her own wedding to the magical island’s elite, they uncover political scandals, jealous rivals and country club clashes.
Will Jolene engage justice for a fellow shifter and prove to Peter she’s trustworthy? Or will she let a killer roam free and lose the man she’s crushing on?