by Ava Day
“It was pretty crazy,” I admit.
“Want to get together and talk about it?”
“I would love that. Wine, can there be wine too?” I say.
“Of course,” he chuckles, “I'll be over to pick you up in a bit.”
“I'll be waiting.”
Fifteen minutes later, I'm climbing up into Brent's truck. He leans over and kisses me on the cheek. Turning my head I catch his lips with mine and I savor the moment as it fades. We head back to Brent's house. To my surprise, he's already prepared an elaborate dinner for two.
“Somebody has a plan,” I say.
“We've never shared a proper meal, alone,” he replies.
“I'm not complaining. How romantic.”
“I'm glad you like it,” he says. Brent pulls out my chair like a proper gentleman. We have a wonderful meal together while I tell him everything that happened, not sparing any gory detail. After clearing the plates away and pouring some more wine, Brent says, “I have to be honest with you, Penny.”
“About what?” I ask.
“Everything that's been going on lately. All of the magic stuff is putting you in danger and I worry about your safety,” he admits.
“I can take care of myself, you don't need to worry,” I reassure him, although I've been having the same thoughts lately. This new life I'm leading has already put me in danger more than once. “Today was just an isolated incident.”
“I hope so,” Brent replies unconvinced.
“Anything interesting happening around here lately?” I ask.
“Only that my girlfriend was attacked by a wraith, just normal everyday stuff,” he jokes.
“She sounds brave,” I reply leaning in for a kiss.
“She is,” Brent says between kisses.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this because the last thing you need is another magical mystery to investigate, but I remembered something that might help you,” Brent says as we wash dishes together.
“What is it?” I reply.
“About 25 years ago, ten people all went missing around the same time. Their bodies were later found and the police thought it had something to do with the occult. Do you think it could be related to the evil that everyone is warning you about?” Brent speculates.
“What? No one ever mentioned that to me! They're all going on about evil coming back and they didn’t bother to discuss something like ten people being murdered?” I say angrily.
“To be fair I don’t even remember it because I was so young. It was a long time ago and it took everyone in the town years to get over,” Brent replies.
“Did the police ever catch who did it?”
“I think so, but I'm honestly not sure what ever came of it. It’s something the town never really talks about.”
“Thanks for a shove in the right direction. This piece information might really help us catch the necromancer before they can execute their plan,” I say.
“Necromancer. That doesn’t sound dangerous at all,” Brent sighs.
We finish cleaning up the kitchen and I decide to spend the night at his place. There’s something about all this death and destruction around me that makes living in the moment that much more important.
Chapter 20
The sun is shining brightly in the morning when I hop out of Brent's truck in front of the Beacon. My mind is already busy. I let myself in the front door and head up into the apartment to check on Joy. She’s in the kitchen making herself some tea.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Normal, whatever that is.”
“Good, I was hoping you'd say that. I have a new lead in finding the necromancer,” I reply.
“Oh really?”
“Yes, so apparently 25 years ago, ten people were all murdered. The police thought it was tied to the occult,” I explain.
“So?” Joy shrugs.
“So! It could be the same person that we're trying to find now!” I exclaim.
“Oh…” Her eyes light up. “That makes sense. Sorry, I’m still a little slow.”
“I'm going to take a quick shower and head out to the library. Are you feeling well enough to join me?” I ask.
“Of course, plus you're not getting away without telling me why you didn't come home last night,” she teases. I pretend not to hear her as I quickly walk into my bedroom and shut the door.
Verne is sitting on my bed waiting for me. “It's not good to involve people who can't use magic in the affairs of witches,” she says.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your boyfriend, Brent. He knows entirely too much about magic. You should stop seeing him before it ends badly for one of you,” Verne continues.
I hold my tongue. Becoming a witch has derailed my life enough. There’s no way I’m giving up on Brent. “We'll be fine. He's a former soldier. Brent will be safe,” I explain.
“I just want to warn you is all. It's not against the rules, just frowned upon,” Verne replies.
“Did you hear me telling Joy about the occult murders that happened 25 years ago?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Don’t you think they might be connected to the necromancer?”
“Police always blame unsolved murders on the occult,” she sighs.
“True, but it's worth looking into. Now if you'll please excuse me, I need some privacy so I can take a shower.”
“Of course,” Verne replies as she fades away.
I always wonder where she goes when that happens. Is she still sitting there, just invisible? Grabbing my towel I go take a much needed shower. Afterwards, Joy and I take a walk over to the library. The same group of women are sitting around the table in the window. Diane with the frizzy grey bun waves at us we enter.
“It's nice to see you two again so soon,” she says.
“Likewise,” Joy replies.
“Hello ladies. Are we interrupting?” I ask.
“Not at all, Madeline here was just trying to convince the rest of us that she saw a woman flying on a broomstick. Complete nonsense,” Edna huffs.
“Yeah, that’s crazy,” I laugh. It was probably Beth. “I have few questions, if you don't mind?”
“Go right ahead, dear,” Diane replies
“We heard there was a mass murder committed in Spring Valley 25 years go. Did the police ever catch the person responsible?” I ask. An uneasy look passes around the table before one of them finally speaks.
“They did catch him, but he was innocent or so they say. The local paper stopped covering it so it would fade away. Most people forgot all about it and the man who got away with murder,” Madeline replies.
“Does he still live in town?” Joy asks.
“Nope, he moved as soon as the police released him from their custody. Would you want to live in a place where everyone thought you a murderer?” Diane says.
“I would move as far away as possible,” Joy replies in agreement.
“Does this guy have a name?” I ask.
“I'm sure he does. You should ask Alice, the librarian,” Madeline says.
“Thanks ladies. Sorry for interrupting your book club.”
Joy and I approach the desk and ring the little bell. Footsteps above us get closer to the stairs until we see Alice descending with an arm load of books and her glasses perched at the tip of her nose. We wait patiently for her to set the stack of books down carefully on the counter. She finally turns her attention to us.
“How may I help you?” she asks.
“We were wondering if you had any court information about the murders that happened 25 years ago,” I say.
“This isn't the courthouse. You'll have to go there if you want court documents. Any other information you can find in the old newspapers,” she replies, pointing to the back corner of the library.
Lucky for us, we have a small date range to search through and find the original paper when a suspect was first named. The article is buried somewhere on the fifth page of the newspaper.
I skim the fluff piece quickly and find the name we are looking for.
“His name was Dwight Newberry,” I say to Joy.
“Alright, let me see if I can find this guy on social media,” she replies.
I flip through a few more pages while I wait for Joy to finish her search. This article is complete garbage. It's written as if it's just an afterthought, not an event that shocked the community. Folding up the paper carefully, I slide it back into the drawer it came from.
“Alright, I think this is the guy,” Joy says holding up her phone for me to see.
“He looks too young. Is his birthday public?”
“He's only 35, that rules him out unless he started being evil at a young age.”
“Kids these days. Keep looking.”
“This is fun,” Joy says.
“What is?” I ask.
“Playing detective. We should be private investigators, Penny.”
“We’re building a business that needs more of our attention,” I remind her.
“We could do both. We're already doing this and not getting paid for it.”
“True. Did you find anything new yet?”
“No, still trying to find him. So what do you think? Private investigators?”
“I'll think about it, but first let's solve the case we're working, the one that's unsolved,” I reply. Joy peers up from her phone and sticks her tongue out me.
“Here, found him. Dwight Newberry,” Joy says, “He is in his fifties and matches our guy.”
“Is there a picture?” I ask.
“Too many. This guy needs to keep his private life more private,” Joy replies with a laugh.
“And it would seem that he is out of the country enjoying the sun in Jamaica.”
“Some necromancer, spending time on the beach.”
“He's not the guy, Joy. There's no way he would be working magic from that far away,” I reply.
“What if these pictures are just a cover? They might be fakes.”
“Most of the pictures are from other people he's vacationing with. I doubt he's got a fake account for every member of his family and all his friends.”
“Ok, so Dwight is off the list?” she asks.
“If that's the right guy,” I reply.
“We need to make sure then. Let' try to find his yearbook picture and compare,” she says.
“I don't want to have to talk to the librarian again, she creeps me out,” I say.
“Fine, but you owe me,” Joy laughs.
I swipe through Dwight's vacation photos, he seems normal enough. Although, I have no idea what a necromancer is supposed to look like. Joy comes back over to me and leads me over to the yearbook section with her.
“I love social media. Dwight has the year he graduated high school listed for anyone to find,” Joy says.
“Hey, give him a break. In Dwight's case we're using it to make sure he's not a vicious killer,” I say. Standing next to each other we scan the shelves for the correct year. We find it and I pull it from the shelf. Flipping to the index, I find Dwight's name listed and corresponding the page number.
“There’s no picture for him,” I tell Joy.
“So is this the right Dwight Newberry or not?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well that's another dead end,” she says.
“Can't have every lead pan out,” I reply, shrugging my shoulders.
I make sure to put the yearbook back in the exact same spot as I notice the librarian eyeing us from across the room. Joy and I scurry out of the library, waving goodbye to the ladies in the book club.
“What do we do now?” Joy asks.
“Get some lunch, I'm starving,” I say.
“Excellent plan,” Joy agrees. We head home having not made any ground towards uncovering the necromancer’s identity.
“Do you think I'm making a mistake with Brent? Verne warned me against having a relationship with him because he's not a magic user himself.”
“Brent knows the danger. He's handled everything very well so far.”
“I think so too. He's worried about my safety and I'm worried about his. This is ridiculous. We're both adults, some things will happen that are out of our control.”
“That's fatalistic, don’t you think?”
“Sure, but it's the only way I won’t worry about either of our fates.”
“Then don't listen to Verne. What does she know about love anyway?”
“I wouldn’t know. Maybe we should ask her,” I say as we turn the corner.
Chapter 21
The sign for the Beacon greets us at the end of the street. As we pass the alley way, a hooded figure rushes out from the shadows towards us. I start to throw my hands up to defend myself before I realize that it's just Beth excitedly approaching. Living alone for so long hasn't done her any favors in the fashion department. She hands me a folded note. I open it and begin to read.
I need your help to get inside the Beacon so that I can restore my voice. Evil is coming for us all and you'll want me to fight at my full strength.
“Let me read it,” Joy asks. I hand the piece of paper to her.
“Do you know where the spellbook is that you need? I'm sure Verne can find it,” I say to Beth.
Pulling the paper from Joy's hand, Beth produces a pen and starts scribbling wildly. Joy shoots me an irritated glance. Beth finishes writing and offers the page back to me.
It's called The Countering and Removal of Curses, Hexes, Enchantments, and Charms. It may be difficult to find. Verne used that ridiculous magical ring to convert all of our books into some obscure runic language.
“It's alright, I'm getting pretty good at reading the runes.”
Yes, it was a foolish idea. Neither us could read that dreadfully old language.
“I hate to tell you to wait in the alley, but this might take us some time to find even with Verne's help,” I say.
I will be fine, there is no need for me to stand here like a ninny. Even without my voice, there are a few spells I can perform. Ask Verne how to contact me when you've found the book.
“Sounds like a plan,” I tell Beth as I finish reading. Without any fanfare, Beth stalks towards the nearest shadow and disappears.
Joy rushes over to the exact spot in amazement. “I may not like her all that much, but she has to teach me how to do that!” she exclaims.
“That is a useful trick.”
“Looks like lunch is postponed until further notice,” Joy says.
“You'll just have to use that as motivation to find that book sooner than later,” I tell her.
We make our way into the building to inform Verne of our encounter with her sister. We don't have to go far to find her. She's waiting for us in the kitchen of our apartment. “How did your lead pan out?” she asks.
“Not very well.”
“What a shame. That would have made things a little easier,” Verne says.
“On a more important note, we just saw your sister outside in the alley,” Joy explains.
“Where is she now?” Verne asks excitedly.
“She left. Beth thinks there might be a way to break the spell that is keeping her out of the Beacon. The book is called The Countering and Removal of Curses, Hexes, Enchantments, and Charms. Ever heard of it?” I ask.
“We do have a copy of it. I'm not sure where it would be. There's the balcony, then there's the room in the basement, and who knows how many dimensional rooms have books in them,” Verne ponders.
“Wait, you mean to tell us that there are more books than what is stored in the balcony?”
“Why of course! I'm offended that you think my collection would be so small,” Verne laughs, feigning outrage.
“This place is so full of secrets,” Joy says.
“You have no idea,” Verne replies.
“Joy and I will start in the balcony. You can search the basement or whatever dimensional rooms you can find,” I tell Verne.
“An excellent pla
n. I'll come find you if I locate the book,” Verne says as she shimmers and fades from view.
“Let me translate and write down the title of the book in runes. It will make finding it easier,” I say to Joy.