A Cold Spell
Private Eye Witch Cozy, Book 2
Stacey Alabaster
Fairfield Publisihing
Copyright © 2019 Fairfield Publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Thank You!
1
I couldn’t decide which was more terrifying: having a hex put on me or never being able to change my hair color again. Each time I tried to put the black box dye on, it just slid off, and there I was, left with hair as bright as Jessica Rabbit’s. “I think red is starting to suit you,” my cat Indy called out as I walked toward the door, grabbing my black coat before I left. It looked like I was going to a funeral, but I was actually attending a witches’ picnic. To most people, those might not sound like two distinct things. Only Indy knew about the troubles I was having with my hair and the hex. At least cats knew how to keep a secret.
If the rest of the witches knew that I was under the influence of a hex, I didn’t know how they would take it. So, I was acting like it was a fashion choice and that I couldn’t be happier to be walking around town like I was Ginger Spice. My motto was ‘everything is fine’ if anyone asked. That was the official story, anyway: everything was fine.
“How are you?” my best witch friend Vicky greeted me as I climbed out of my car. She’d run all the way over from the rotunda with two margaritas in her hands and she’d managed to only spill about half of the cup’s contents, which was impressive for her.
“Everything is fine!” I clinked my glass against hers.
“You know, I never would have guessed that witches did things like this,” I said as I followed Vicky to the collection of picnic blankets in the middle of the park where the rest of the coven were either lounging around or playing lawn bowls or croquet. “So wholesome.”
“We’re good witches, remember?” Vicky said with a grin.
I smiled at her and nodded. “Of course,” I said, but as I turned around and caught Prudence glaring at me, I started to wonder if “good” meant the same thing as “friendly.” The coven was a tightknit bunch, and I was still considered an outsider by everyone except Vicky.
The margarita was delicious, though—a combination of both lemon and raspberry flavors. And it didn’t take me long to finish, seeing as only half of the cup was still full. Vicky grabbed me another full cup and handed it to me “I just love frozen things,” I said, taking another sip.
Prudence looked very amused to hear this for some reason. “Well, that’s very lucky,” she said cryptically.
“Huh?”
She didn’t answer, just flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and sauntered away.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s weird,” Vicky said.
The annual picnic was a big event. Our leader, Geri, always booked the entire park, apparently, and there was usually live entertainment. Vicky was supposed to be performing, but she had broken her guitar string and hadn’t brought any backups, so another one of the witches, Clara, was up in front of everyone, banging on a pair of bongos. She sounded way off rhythm to my ear.
“Can’t you just fix it with a spell?” I asked, looking at Vicky’s broken guitar. I assumed it would be easy enough to fix a broken string, but she shook her head and made a face.
“I’m worried that I might accidentally do something that would cause me to lose all my musical talent forever,” she said. “So, I never let my magic come anywhere near my music. It’s far too important to me to risk.”
Yes. Vicky had a habit of casting spells that were meant to do one thing but did the total opposite. “Well, we can head over to the music store and pick up some new strings later,” I said. “But let’s try and, er, ‘enjoy’ this bongo playing in the meantime.” We both laughed and turned our attention to Clara, who was now warbling as well as banging. And I found myself having a good time. It was good to have friends and to be part of a large gang, even if I was still on probation. Vicky and I clinked our glasses together and laughed as Clara launched into another song.
I had no idea what was about to be sprung on me, though.
The peaceful picnic took a turn when Geri approached me with a dark expression. Suddenly the bongos in the background sounded eerie and foreboding instead of funny. They slowed right down. Bang. Bang.
“Enjoy this while you can, dear,” Geri said. “As your test starts soon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, you are on probation,” she explained with a smile that seemed sweet, at least on the surface. “And part of the probation process is casting a series of spells to see if you are, let’s just say ‘suitable’ to join us on a full-time basis.” Oh great. “Oh, but don’t worry,” she said when she must have seen my face drop. “They start very easy and then increase in difficulty as the curriculum goes on.”
Sure, it all sounded super fun, easy, and exciting. A gently-guided time. That was the official story. Everything was fine. But I knew that judging eyes would be watching me the entire time.
I thought I’d at least have some time to prepare and pore over the spellbooks. What I didn’t realize was that I was going to have to perform my very first spell right there at the picnic—with absolutely no preparation or warning.
Geri smiled at me. “It’s a freezing spell—as simple as they come! You’ll take someone and freeze them! Temporarily, of course.”
Prudence looked smug as she held her glass of pink lemonade, twirling her long black hair with one finger. “Anyone can do this… It is the easiest spell for a witch to do. It’s as common as a cold.”
Yeah, but I’d only known that I was a witch for a month, so nothing was going to be that ‘easy’ to me. I was nervous. I felt like I should be started on the ‘pre-beginner’s course,’ you know, where the only spell you have to do is add seasoning to a nice chicken broth.
Prudence was still grinning to herself. Now I suddenly knew why she had been so amused about me liking frozen things. But my margarita was suddenly melting from how hot my hands had gone.
I whispered to Vicky. “If this is really such a common spell, why don’t we walk around seeing frozen people all the time?”
She shrugged a little and took a sip of her drink. “It’s only a temporary measure, not something you do just to, like, decorate your garden. You quickly freeze someone and then unfreeze them again, usually in the heat of the moment, you know…good for when you are in danger.”
I sighed and a little grin spread over my face.
“I’m going to be in danger a lot as a witch, I take it?”
“Oh yes.” She sipped on her marg and grinned at me. “But it’s also a lot of fun.”
Ah, yes. I took a deep breath. Vicky was right, and that was what I had to remember. This witch thing could actually be a lot of fun if I let it. I mean, who doesn’t want to have magical powers? And who doesn’t want the chance to freeze someone when they are annoying you?
“So, who do I have to freeze?” I asked, thinking that it might be a random passerby. Someone walking by on the other side of the park who I could quickly freeze and unfreeze without them ever knowing. They would just look like one of the statues and no on
e would notice. It might even be funny. Vicky was right. This was going to be a lot of fun.
For some reason, Prudence was doing a lot of the talking that day, even though Geri was the leader. Prudence just liked to think that she was.
“Oh, it will be one of the witches,” she said, failing to hide her smile as she gave me this news.
Oh, great. Talk about a bunch of pressure. Yikes. I was hoping that I would at least be able to choose which witch I got to freeze. I would pick Vicky. At least she would be supportive. Maybe I could even pull her aside and whisper. “Psst, just in case this doesn’t actually work, can you just pretend to be frozen?”
She’d read my mind. She leaned over and whispered and nodded. “I’m a good performer, don’t worry. I can pull this off.”
I gave her the thumbs-up.
But it wasn’t Vicky I was going to get to freeze.
It was the leader of the coven herself. Geri.
A hush went over the entire coven and there was no longer any music at all, even though I would have killed for the bongos to break the tension right then.
Geri was wearing a long robe and a somber expression as she walked to the center of the circle we had all made. She was getting herself in position, head down, making sure there was enough space between her and everyone else in case my aim was a little off and someone else got caught in the crossfire.
Prudence told me the words to say and told me to use my full concentration.
“So, er, where does the person ‘go’ when they are frozen?” I asked Vicky with a gulp as I tried to repeat the words to myself silently so that I wouldn’t get them wrong.
She shook her head. “No one knows. Maybe nowhere…maybe for a moment or two, the person ‘dies,’ I suppose.”
“Well, that is reassuring.”
“Nah, it’s probably not that. It’s more like suspended animation.”
I gulped. I didn’t want to kill anyone, even if it was only temporary. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to suspend them.
I closed my eyes to say the spell, and Vicky nudged me. “Don’t do that. Full concentration, remember?”
“Oh, right. Thanks,” I said, smiling at her. At least I had one person on my side.
I stared right at the center of Geri’s forehead and whispered the words. And there she stood, still as a statue.
It was incredible. All I could say was “whoa!” as I looked at her, not even her robes moving in the wind. Prudence walked up to her and gave her a gentle tap just to make sure it had really worked and no one was bluffing.
Now, it wasn’t up to me to unfreeze her. I’d been told that one of the other witches would take care of that spell as it was too advanced. I’d just had to demonstrate that I could freeze.
But no matter how many times Prudence said the words for the reversal spell, Geri remained perfectly still. Uh-oh. There was a rising panic amongst the crowd as one witch said it, and then another said it, without any luck. Or any movement from Geri.
Vicky looked stricken. “Oh no. I think you may have permanently frozen her.”
Prudence had her arms crossed in a way that was both smug AND disappointed, like she was happy that I’d failed and yet furious about it at the same time. “Now you’ve really screwed it up, Ruby. And we no longer have a leader.”
A total ban had been placed on any witch performing the freezing spell until the problem had been found and corrected. Because none of the witches could reverse it, there was a theory that there was a ‘software’ problem, so to speak, with the original spell, and that the spell needed to be updated. Apparently, things like this could happen. We didn’t know what havoc it could cause in the meantime if anyone tried it again. Fine by me. I didn’t want to freeze anyone anyway, and it also meant that my exam curriculum was put on hold for a little while. Though Prudence had told me I’d better still study. “Trust me, you need to study more than any witch before you,” she had said while dragging a very-still Geri to the back of her car and popping her in the backseat like she was flat-pack furniture.
I had to get back to the ‘real world’ for a while, so I apologized and told everyone I might be out of range for a couple of days. Not that I was particularly popular with the coven at that point in time. I didn’t think any of them besides Vicky was going to miss me or my input about how to unfreeze Geri. My detective agency—Sparrow’s Private Eye—was still in its toddler stage and needed my attention. I could still smell the fresh paint as I walked through the doors and looked at the messages I’d received overnight. “Dear Miss Sparrow…” most of them started. “I am having this terrible problem locating my pet lizard.” Maybe I’d been naive, but I’d thought that most of my cases would be high intrigue and full of multiple clues to solve and maybe some undercover work. That was the way I had tried to brand myself. As a sleuth who could take on the most challenging of cases. On my business cards, there was even a picture of me wearing a long black overcoat. See? Intriguing.
But it was surprising to me the sheer number of people who called to ask me if I could find their lost pets for them. I mean, really, I was running a detective agency, not a pet psychic business.
Business was so slow that I was watching a fly that had slipped in the door and was struggling to get out, banging into the wall. Buzz, buzz, it went frantically. Poor thing, all it wanted was to be able to find its way home. But even when I opened the window and tried to gently shoo it in that direction, it remained disoriented and unable to find its way toward the exit that would free it.
Okay, I really needed something to occupy my mind or I was about to lose it.
Just as I was about to consider actually taking one of these lizard—or mostly cat—cases, a woman walked in looking very unsure and sheepish, adjusting her glasses and asking if I was Ruby Sparrow.
She had on a striped top in alternating shades of brown and beige and thick blonde bangs that sat underneath a hat that looked little like a train conductor’s hat, though I was pretty sure she wasn’t actually a train conductor. I think she was just a hipster. She was wearing round rimmed glasses and had a small silver nose ring. She told me that her name was Beth.
“I’m not sure I’ve come to the right place,” she said, her voice husky just because it was dry.
I handed her a glass of water and said, “This is a detective agency. Are you looking for a detective?”
Beth gulped down the water and nodded, looking up at me with wide eyes. “Yes, I know that you are a detective. It’s just that I’m not sure that you deal with matters…like these,” she said with a giant pause in the middle of the sentence.
Okay, I was intrigued. “Like what?”
She was still shaky as she spoke. “A murder?” she said, like it was a question.
Well. A murder. At least that was a juicy case to sink my teeth into. Something a little heavier and involved than a missing cat. But I also felt a little in over my head. Plus, I didn’t usually deal with murder cases. That was more of a police matter. And it wasn’t like I had much experience—I’d only had my PI’s license for a month, and I’d never officially investigated a murder.
I sat down across from her at my desk. I was going to try and fake it till I made it, so to speak. So, I pulled out a notepad and a pen and kept my face composed as though this was something I dealt with regularly.
“Who was the victim?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. I reached over and poured myself a glass of water. “It’s a little warm in here,” I explained.
Beth had relaxed just slightly now that she felt like she maybe was in the right place after all. “Her name was Teresa. She was a good friend of mine.”
I nodded. “How did you know her?”
She hesitated for just a moment. It was quite possible the memories were too painful for her. “We met at a yoga class. But we were friends outside of the class…for about three years. Until she died.”
I nodded again. I wanted her to give me as much information as she could without me pushing for the an
swers. That was one of the tactics we had learned in PI training. It kept the information pure and free from our own influence and guiding.
“It’s such a terrible thing, Miss Sparrow,” she said, and I interrupted to tell her that she should call me Ruby. “Ruby,” she said. “It’s like no one even cares about what happened to Teresa. Her killer has just vanished into thin air and everyone thinks that is fine.”
“What about the police?”
She sighed and looked at her hands. “They didn’t know Teresa like I did…and they also aren’t taking some of my concerns seriously.”
“And what concerns are those?” I asked, leaning forward a little as I started to take notes.
“I’m concerned that someone else is in danger of dying the same way that Teresa did.”
I nodded. “But everyone else thinks you are worrying about nothing?” I asked as she nodded.
“Teresa was killed while she was at work,” Beth explained, nervously fiddling with her glasses. “And now all of the employees have just returned to work as though nothing even happened.”
I was still taking note. “Where did she work?”
“Do you know Old Swift Town? It’s sort of like an old-fashioned amusement park. Just out of town.”
I nodded. “Of course. It’s a major tourist attraction.”
“It’s been three months since Teresa was killed,” she said. “And the park is more popular than ever. But I’m worried.”
Hmmm. I see. This was practically a cold case by this stage. No wonder poor Beth was starting to feel out of options. Her good friend had been killed and for everyone else, life had just gone on as normal. And yet here was poor Beth, still frozen in the same time and place.
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