The Witch Within

by M. Z. Andrews

  “Hey, Jax,” I said, grinning as she hugged me. It felt good to have the old Jax back. The one we knew and loved and not the mean witch that would use her powers for evil instead of good. “Miss me?”

  “Miss you? Of course I do! I was going crazy! I thought maybe something happened to all of you!”

  “Now I know how I rate,” said Reign. “Don’t I get any hugs?” He held his arms out.

  Jax peeled herself off me and flung her tiny frame into Reign’s arms. He swept her off her feet and spun her around. “Reign! I missed you too!”

  “Uh-hum,” coughed Holly.

  Jax smiled and threw her arms around Holly’s neck, then took turns giving each of the group hugs. She came to a screeching halt in front of Alba. “Fist bump?”

  Alba held up her balled hand and tapped Jax’s hand. “Glad to see you, Shorty. You doin’ alright?”

  “Now I am! Omigosh, where have you been?!”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Tell me, tell me, tell me!” she pleaded, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet anxiously.

  “We will,” I promised. “Just not right this second, okay? We have some things that we need to go take care of. When we come back, we’ll tell you what’s going on.”

  Jax’s face screwed up into a pout. She stomped her foot on the floor. “No! I’m not letting a single one of you out of my sight! I’ve been sitting around here for three days. Three days! Char’s great and all, but I need to be with my witches! Wherever you’re going and whatever you’re doing, I’m going with.”

  “Shorty, I don’t think that’s such a good idea…”

  Jax closed her eyes and held up a flattened palm in Alba’s face. “No, no, no. You are not getting rid of me. You know when you’re doing a craft project and you get glue all over your fingers and it dries and it’s like you have a second layer of invisible skin? Yeah, that’s gonna be me. I’m gonna be the glue you get all over your fingers. I’m gonna be stuck to you so tight that you won’t even know I’m there. And whatever you do, you won’t be able to peel me off.” She stood proudly with her hands propped up on both hips in a superhero pose. “I’m part of this team, and whatever the team has cooking, I’m gonna be right there in the kitchen too, cooking up a—”

  “We get it,” said Alba rolling her eyes. “You’re coming with.”

  Jax squealed. “Char, I hope you don’t mind, but I have to go with my friends. We’ve got some serious witch business to attend to.”

  Char nodded. “Yes, that’s what I hear. Well, good luck. Sweets, when will I see you back at work?”

  “Can I still have tomorrow off for Jax’s birthday and graduation?”

  “Of course!”

  “Then I’ll be in on Monday.”

  Char nodded. “Monday it is.” She waved at us as we moved towards the doorway. “Good luck with your project. I hope it all works out.”

  As the last to leave, I stuck my head back inside. “We do too, Char. We do too.”

  36

  “So are you gonna tell me what you’ve been up to now?” asked Jax, bouncing up and down on her toes.

  Alba scowled at her. “No.”

  “Oh, come on, Alba, don’t you think it’s time we told her everything?” said Sweets.

  Jax cuddled up next to Alba’s side and looked up at her, doe-eyed. “It’s okay, Sweets. I think I know what you’ve been up to anyway,” she sang.

  Sweets looked shocked. “You do?”

  Jax’s head bobbed up and down assuredly. “Of course! You’ve been working on getting my powers for me for my birthday, haven’t you?”

  “Jax,” I began hesitantly. While that was definitely part of it, it wasn’t all of it, and by now I was tired of hiding the truth from her. I was starting to think we weren’t going to be able to fix anything, and Jax had a right to know what had happened.

  Jax shot forward and clapped a hand over my mouth. “You don’t have to say another word, Mercy. I’m just so thankful that I have such great friends, and such a great cousin! I don’t need to know how you’re doing it, I’m just thankful that you are!”

  “Shorty, listen,” said Alba, slowly. “There’s something you need to know.”

  Jax hung her head. When she looked back up again, her eyes were filled with tears. She swallowed hard. “Alba, please don’t say it. I already know what you’re going to say. I know that it might not happen for me. I know that the reason that you’ve been gone for so long is because it’s been harder than you thought it would be to reverse the curse. I might be a little naive, but I’m not stupid. Here’s the thing. I know that if I don’t become a witch by tomorrow, I’ll never be one. Time’s running out. And then you and Holly are going home for the summer. Libby and Cinder, you’re both graduating. And next year I’ll be going away to nursing school, or maybe a performing arts school. That might be fun.” She smiled through a face full of tears.

  Reign threw an arm over Jax’s shoulder and squeezed her head under his arm. “Don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.”

  Jax pushed herself upright. “It’s okay, Reign. I’m okay. While you’ve been gone, I’ve finally had a chance to make peace with who I am and who I’m not. I’m not a witch,” she said with a half-smile. “I’m just a girl. In a day and a half, I’ll be eighteen, and I’ll have to start adulting. I’ll have to learn how to lead a nonparanormal life with normal people at a normal school.” Her voice quivered as she spoke, but she fought hard to keep it together. “But today, I’m still a witch in training. Today I’m still a member of the Witch Squad. So, whatever you’re working on, whatever you have to do—whether it’s still trying to get my powers for me, or whether it’s working on graduation projects—I just want to be a part of it, because it’s probably going to be the last time that I ever get to be a part of the paranormal world and hang out with all of you.”

  “Aww, Jaxie,” cooed Sweets, reaching out to grab her hand. “We love you. Of course you can be a part of what we’re doing today.”

  “Thanks, Sweets,” said Jax, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

  Holly and Libby took turns giving Jax a hug.

  Then I walked over and put a hand on either of Jax’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You know, Jax, it doesn’t matter if you are or aren’t a witch. No matter what, we’re still cousins, and you and I will always hang out.”

  “I know, Mercy.” She nodded and gave me a tight smile.

  “So, can we quit all this moping around and just go do whatever it is that you’re doing? You don’t have to tell me anything. Just let me come along for the ride. Okay?”

  Alba was the last to toss an arm around Jax’s shoulder. “You’re a cool kid, Shorty. You know that? I’m gonna miss you this summer.”

  Jax leaned her head on Alba’s shoulder. “Aww, thanks, Alba. I love you.”

  Alba shoved her away, reaching up to swipe at her own eyes. “Eh, I love you too, kid.”

  Standing in the middle of the Winston Hall dormitory less than thirty minutes later, I pointed at the little couch and chairs in the downstairs lobby area. “Okay, I think you guys should stay out here.”

  Holly wrinkled her nose. “Why?”

  “Because I think Brittany will tell us what we want to know if she’s not surrounded by this flash mob of people,” I explained. Our group was up to eight now. And while there was logic to my explanation, I’d neglected to add the real reason I wanted the whole group to stay in the lobby. If Jax came with us, Brittany might do something stupid, like tell Jax sorry for her loss or offer up one of those other generic bereavement greetings. No, Jax had said that she didn’t need to know what was going on, she just wanted to go along for the ride. That meant we had her permission to keep her in the dark about her mother until we had finished our investigation.

  Holly looked confused but nodded like she wasn’t. “Oh.”

  Reign nodded too. “You know what? I think us not going in is a great idea. How about we all go get a cup of coffe
e and a bagel or something? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m positively starving.”

  Sweets nodded emphatically. “I’m starving too, and they make the best chocolate chip bagels here.”

  “Oooh, Sweets, grab me a double caramel macchiato and one of those bagels, would ya?”

  Sweets smiled. “Of course.”

  “I’m going with you, Red. Just in case Hobbs doesn’t wanna give out the information we need. I might need to lean on her a little.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, jeez. As tough as you think you are, Alba, you’re not a member of the mob.”

  “Shut up. Come on.”

  We entered Brittany’s office, her eyes widening when she saw us. “There you are! Finally!”

  I quirked a brow. “You’ve been waiting for us?”

  “Well, not me! The Council! From what I understand, you were supposed to be investigating Sorceress Stone’s death and then you just disappeared!”

  “Yeah,” I said with a sigh and a nod. “Sorry about that. We have been investigating, but the trail finally went cold.”

  “Well, you just left the entire Council hanging. They aren’t very happy about that. You’re lucky they were here all week anyway to judge the graduation projects. But after that, they’re leaving.”

  “Then whoever did it will get away!” I said.

  Alba held a hand out to settle me down. “Don’t worry. We’re trying not to let that happen.” She looked at Brittany. “We’re gonna need a little information from you.”

  “I’m not sure what information I can give out that would help.”

  “We need to know who sat on last year’s Council.”

  “Oh,” said Brittany with a surprised face. “Yeah, I have that list somewhere. I think I actually have it saved on my computer.” She studied her monitor carefully as she clicked through a bunch of different screens, until finally, we heard the printer behind her sputter to life. She reached around behind her and grabbed the sheet of paper. “Here you go.”

  I was shocked at how easy that had been.

  “Thanks,” said Alba with a little salute.

  “No problem. So what should I tell the Council if they ask about the investigation?”

  “Tell them we’re really close to solving it and just to stay put for another day,” said Alba.

  I looked at Alba with surprise. We were hardly close to solving the murder, but I wasn’t going to counter her.

  Brittany nodded. “Okay. Will do.”

  We met the rest of the group inside Paranormally Delicious. The group had taken up residence inside the little coffee shop by pushing together two tables and collecting all the chairs.

  Cinder was the first to pounce the second we walked in the door. “Well? What did you find out?”

  Alba held up the sheet of paper and waved it in the air proudly. “We got the list!”

  “Yay!” said Holly, grabbing at the sheet. “Lemme see!”

  Alba tore the paper away from Holly’s greedy hands. “Hold your horses. I haven’t even looked yet!”

  “Why do you get to look first?”

  Alba sneered at Holly. “Because I’m the one holding the paper.”

  I plucked it out of Alba’s hands when her eyes were turned. “Now I get to look first,” I said with a small laugh. I slid into the chair between Jax and Reign. “Okay, let’s have a look, shall we?”

  Jax rubbed her hands together excitedly. “What are we looking at?”

  “It’s a list of last year’s Council members,” explained Reign.

  “Oooh. And why are we looking at it?”

  “I thought you were just along for the ride,” said Reign. “You said you wouldn’t ask any questions.”

  Jax bit her lip and pretended to zip her mouth shut.

  I scanned the list, shocked to see some of the names as people that I actually recognized. “Avery Brooks, she’s the lady that does all those infomercials.”

  Sweets nodded. “I’ve seen them! Yeah, I know who she is too. Cool.”

  Reign pointed at another name. “Sally Murtaugh, she’s a retired senator.”

  Suddenly, Holly, who was sitting across from me, sucked in her breath. She’d been staring at the list too. She pulled the list over to her and spun it around. “Oh. My. God. You guys! Dixie Carlton is on this list!”

  “Dixie Carlton the actress?” asked Jax with shock.

  “Yes!” breathed Holly. “I can’t believe this! I didn’t think she was actually a real witch. I thought it was just a rumor! But it’s true! And she was on the Council.”

  “Wow,” said Alba. “I guess Char was right, they were big names up until this year. That’s so strange.”

  Holly put her hands flat on the table and pushed herself up. “Guys. We have to go interview Dixie Carlton. We just have to! I want to meet her so bad!”

  “Sorry, I guess I’m a bit celebrity challenged. Who’s Dixie Carlton again?” asked Reign.

  Holly turned to face my brother. “Oh my gosh, Dixie has been in a ton of movies. She actually started out as a country music singer in Nashville, but now she has her own clothing line and she’s all over social media. I’m a huge fan of hers.”

  “I can tell.”

  Holly faced Alba. “Oh, come on, Alba. Let’s go see her. Maybe she can tell us how last year’s Council appointed this year’s Council!”

  Alba shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with it. We need to talk to someone on the Council. According to the list, her home address is still Nashville.”

  Jax crinkled her forehead. “Nashville! The eight of us are going to go to Nashville and be back in time for graduation Sunday? That just doesn’t sound realistic.”

  I beamed at her. “Don’t worry, Jax. We have a new, high-tech ride. And lemme tell you, you are going to love it!”

  “What is this?!” asked Jax as the eight of us stared at the raging bonfire beneath the raised river and the two spinning steam saunas.

  “It’s a time portal,” said Alba proudly as she stood back to admire her handiwork. “We made it.”

  “You guys made this? No way!” breathed Jax. She stared at it in awe, as did the rest of us. It was a pretty cool sight to behold, and it was still shocking to me that we’d pulled it off.

  “Way,” said Alba with a nod. “It’s gotten quite a workout. We’ve been going back in time trying to stop the curse from ever being placed.”

  Jax’s eyes widened. “You went back in time?!”

  “Yeah, but it didn’t work out so well,” I admitted. “It started this whole chain reaction.” I stopped talking. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Jax about everything that had changed as a result.

  Jax looked sad only for a split second. “Oh well, it’s still really cool that you went back in time. I just wish I’d gotten to go with you.”

  “Well, hold on to your panties, cuz we’re going for a ride now,” said Alba, stepping into the steam sauna. “Come on!”

  Inside, we took our positions. This time, Jax stood between Holly and Sweets and straight across from me. She wore her excitement on her face the same way she wore her heart on her sleeve.

  “Now what?” she asked, looking around at the inside of the steam room.

  “Now Alba chants,” whispered Holly. “Hang on. It won’t be long.”

  Dixie Carlton is a well-known witch,

  She’s an actress, a singer, and she’s really rich.

  She lives in Nashville and is a superstar,

  We need to see her, but it’s too far.

  So take us to the place and day,

  Where we can see her right away.

  When the tunnel of lights changed directions, Jax’s ears perked up. She looked around curiously. “What’s that noise?”

  “That’s the sound of our ride.” Alba grinned. “Right this way.”

  37

  “That. Was. Amazing!” screeched Jax as we exited the spinning tunnel of lights onto a super plush lawn next to a lazy river. The sun blazed down on us, making us
all squint and cover our eyes with our hands.

  “Yeah, it was cool.” Alba dropped her backpack onto the ground and arched her back while looking around. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with any directions. I have no idea where exactly we are.”

  Only a wide expanse of the same plush green grass seemed to surround us in every direction. But Reign pointed towards the horizon. “I’m pretty sure I see something up there. Come on.”

  Sure enough, after walking for several minutes, we came to a tennis court. Then we passed a basketball court, then a pool with a pool house bigger than my house in Dubbsburg. Then, finally, we came to the mansion. It was a sprawling house, with numerous patios and nooks, and doors all over the place. We tried the first five doors we saw but found them all locked.

  “Well, how do we get in?” asked Sweets.

  Libby pointed towards another, smaller pool closer to the house. It was just off a side patio that had sliding glass doors leading to the house. One of the pool chairs had a towel strewn across it, and a fruity beverage sat on a side table with a bottle of sunscreen lying next to it. “That one.”

  “Looks like a safe bet,” I agreed. “Come on.”

  Keeping low so we wouldn’t be spotted, we tried the sliding door, and sure enough, it slid right open. The door led to an oversized living area with high ceilings and big bright windows that overlooked the pool. The furnishings were all beige and white and looked like something that had been ripped right out of a home furnishings magazine.

  “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’re in Dixie Carlton’s house right now!” squealed Holly.

  Sweets nodded, equally starstruck. “This is pretty exciting! Just think, we might even get to meet her!”

  Alba lightly fingered a platinum record plaque hanging on the wall. “That’s the plan.”

  Suddenly a scream tore through the quiet of the living room, followed by the sound of glass shattering. The group of us turned to find a blonde bombshell in a barely-there black bikini and a filmy kimono-style cover-up standing in front of broken glass with a puddle of pink slush at her feet. Painted with a distinct Southern twang, Dixie’s fierce voice filled every corner of the room as she shouted out, “Don’t move! I’m calling security!”