by Joyce
Brian’s apartment was on the second floor. Dorothy had given back the key, but she had made a magical duplicate that opened easily when she used it.
“That’s my girl.” Olivia smiled. “She’s so good, isn’t she?”
Dorothy was right about the state of the apartment. It looked as though someone had gone wild in the place. Pillows, furniture—everything was thrown haphazardly throughout the three bedrooms, kitchen and living room.
“So we can grab something that belongs to him and use it to find him, right?” Dorothy asked.
“Yes.” I put down the cotton tote bag that held our supplies. “But you’re going to have to promise not to be disappointed if he doesn’t want to be found.”
She nodded. “I really thought we had something, Molly. Didn’t you?”
“It’s so hard to tell with a man like Brian,” Olivia supplied. “He’s a little wild and likes to have a good time. This could be the result of that.”
“I’ve been here before, Mom. It didn’t look like this. Brian was collecting things to make the place more his. Why would he trash it this way?”
Elsie, Olivia and I exchanged knowing glances. Dorothy had a lot to learn.
“Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Brian is in some kind of trouble and we can find him and help him,” I suggested.
“Here’s his altar.” Elsie pointed to a stone near the fireplace.
We examined it. The altar looked as though it had been used. There were burned smudge sticks and used candles on it.
“Look!” Dorothy grabbed something from under it. “It’s Brian’s wand. He wouldn’t have left that here for anything. I knew something was wrong.”
“Why don’t you go down into the garage and try to spot Brian’s car,” I said. “We’ll get started up here.”
“I don’t know. You might need my magic. I should wait.”
“We won’t start without you. The altar needs cleaning before we use it. I know looking for Brian’s car isn’t magic, but it could help us if we need to report this to the police,” I told her.
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll be back.”
After she was gone, Olivia thanked me for sending Dorothy away. “She’s too emotional about this. Maybe you and Elsie could handle the spell.”
“I agree. If Dorothy puts too much energy into it, the spell won’t work. Let’s give it a try without her.” I started cleaning the altar by removing the trash from it.
“You don’t really think something happened to him, do you?” Olivia asked.
“He was kind of messed up when we saw him at the shop,” Elsie added. “He looked like he could do something like this. I hope Dorothy doesn’t get her hopes up on getting him back.”
After the altar was cleaned, we used sage to clear the air. I put one of Brian’s socks on the altar for something personal. I was concerned that his wand could throw everything off.
“All right. Let’s try the attraction spell and see what happens.”
Elsie and I joined hands and began to murmur the spell together. Olivia stayed close by and said the words too. I didn’t think it would help the magic, but it couldn’t have hurt.
Dorothy came in before we had a chance to work the spell. She immediately joined us. I could feel her emotional magic swirling through me. It was powerful and unfocused. I tried to keep us on track, but I lost control with the surge of Dorothy’s worry and passion.
The altar cracked under the pressure, which drew our attention away from the spell. The door to the apartment blew open, and there stood Brian.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Trying to find you,” Dorothy answered. “Where have you been?”
“I don’t see where that’s any of your business, and I don’t appreciate being summoned.”
If possible, he looked even worse than he had before. The circles were more pronounced around his bloodshot eyes. His skin had a yellow tinge to it. I could see the lack of vitality in him. He was fading away—or someone was draining him.
“Are you hanging out with that old vampire?” Elsie asked after noticing the same things I did.
“What are you talking about?” Brian stormed into the apartment. “You should get out of here now. Quit following me around. You old women don’t have any idea how to have fun. Did you think I was going to hang around forever being bored out of my mind?”
“Don’t talk to them that way,” Dorothy said.
“What way? You’re just as bad. You might not be old yet, but you’re even more boring.”
“Brian, you don’t know what you’re saying,” Dorothy continued. “Stop now, before I get really angry.”
His face scrunched up. “Are you threatening me? I could lay you out with my magic in two seconds. You don’t even know what you’re doing.”
“Dorothy,” Olivia tried to call her back from the brink.
“Don’t do this, Dorothy,” Elsie warned.
“Let it go,” I said. “Take a deep breath.”
It was too late. Brian was still in the doorway, but he was flat and solid.
CHAPTER 24
I transform this magic to be my own.
I transform this love to be mine.
I transform.
“Oh no!” Olivia said. “This is terrible.”
“No.” Elsie knocked on him. “He looks good this way, and he’s not so argumentative.” I put my arm around Dorothy’s shoulders. She was crying as she stared at what she’d done.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was so mad at Brian. It happened so fast.”
“And of course, being an earth witch, you made him solid. I understand. But how did you do it? We haven’t taught you anything that complex.”
“I guess I got it from the book at the shop. There are a lot of spells in there.” She sniffled. “I didn’t even stop to think if it would work. I was so angry, I just did it. It was like the words from the spell came into my brain and poof!”
“All right.” I made myself take a deep breath and calm down. This was bad, but we could probably reverse it. “Let’s join hands and reverse this spell.”
We tried every spell reversal we could think of. Even with Dorothy’s potent magic, none of them worked.
“What do we do now?” Elsie knocked on him again. “It weighs as much as Brian.”
“We can’t leave it here,” I said. “I don’t know if he made this mess or if it was someone else. I don’t want to wait around to find out. We’ll have to take him to the shop. Maybe we can get rid of the spell there.”
Everyone agreed, but Brian was too heavy to move. It was daylight, and the apartment building was crowded with people going in and out. We couldn’t use the transport spell to move him. We had to get him downstairs.
Elsie thought of getting a hand truck. She felt sure the superintendent would have one, and she went down to borrow it from him.
Olivia was consoling Dorothy, but we had a real problem on our hands. Dorothy’s emotional outbursts of magic would have to be curbed. She was so sweet, kind and gentle. It was hard to believe she could fly off the handle that way.
We were going to have to include some anger management with her training. I didn’t like the path she was taking. We had to find a way to help her until she could curb her outbursts on her own.
“I guess Brian’s car was still in the garage,” I said as we waited for Elsie.
“Yes,” Dorothy replied. “But it was like his apartment, really messed up, and he’d left his keys in it. Brian’s proud of that car. He’d never do that.”
“Well, I think we could clearly see he wasn’t himself,” Olivia said.
“What’s happening to him?” Dorothy asked. “Is there anything we can do to help him?”
Olivia shook her head. She had no idea. I didn’t either. I had never
seen anything like it. We were going to have to do some research on the subject.
Elsie returned with the hand truck. “I told him I was Brian’s mother. He said it was fine. Help me get him on here.”
It was touch and go getting Brian’s sturdy form on the hand truck. I thought for a moment that he might fall off on the green carpet. But we managed to keep him on the hand truck and get him into the elevator. It was another thing getting him into the car.
Dorothy offered to go back and get her car so Brian’s one arm could stick out the window. Brian was six feet tall—and he wouldn’t bend. We had to be careful not to break anything that might have to be repaired later.
“The problem as I see it,” Elsie said, “is that we should have left him in his apartment if we couldn’t move him somewhere safe.”
I took out my phone. “There’s only one safe way we’re going to get Brian from here to the shop, ladies. I’m calling Joe to see if he can bring the SUV.”
“Good idea,” Olivia commended. “I’d hate to bring him back with a broken or missing arm.”
“Although Dorothy would probably hate losing the man parts even more.” Elsie giggled.
Dorothy’s pale face turned a bright shade of scarlet.
Joe answered right away, and I kind of explained the situation to him. He said he was in the middle of a boring rehash of everything involving the case and would tell his captain that he had an emergency.
We waited on the sidewalk with Brian. He looked like a big ad for a young man who might be on drugs. Dorothy glared at the people who came too near.
About fifteen minutes later, Joe pulled up. “What’s with him?”
“I can’t explain. Thanks for coming so quickly.” I smiled and kissed him. “He’s going to the shop. We need to do some work on him.”
He lifted one brow. “This is club work, right?”
Elsie giggled and Olivia laughed and fluttered.
“Club work?” Dorothy looked confused. “Oh. I get it. Club work. It’s for our club. I see.”
“Molly, there isn’t a missing person report I should file, right?” Joe asked seriously. “The club has this in hand, right?”
“He’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I didn’t want to take a chance on damaging him.”
“You can’t get the parts back, you know,” Elsie confided.
“Okay. Let’s get him into the back. I have some bungee cords to make sure he doesn’t move around and hurt himself.”
We wheeled Brian over to the SUV. Joe opened the back, and we were able to get Brian inside without using magic.
“We’ll meet you at the shop.” I handed Brian’s car keys to Dorothy. “Are you okay to drive?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. I’m so sorry. I have to do something about this, Molly. I’ve never had a temper. I don’t know why I keep lashing out with my magic.”
Elsie and Olivia were quick to shush her with Joe standing right there. It struck me that I’d made a good bargain with the Bone Man to protect Joe, even if I wasn’t quite sure yet how to fulfill my part of it. Accidents happened a little too frequently now.
“I guess we can’t do the magic-bubble thing while I’m driving.” Joe smiled as we pulled out of the parking lot. “I’d love to hear more about this.”
“We may not need the bubble anymore,” I told him. “I don’t know for sure yet, though, so let’s not take any chances.”
“So does the club do this often? Was this some enemy you had to defeat?”
I smiled. Of course he’d think about it in terms of movies and video games. “No. Actually we were hoping he might join our club.”
Joe grinned. “Probably not so much now. Does he know? I mean, does he realize that he’s a statue?”
“I’ve never had the experience. It might be like a person in a coma—some hear what’s going on around them, some don’t.”
“I thought you had to be born into the club?”
“You have to be born a potential member of the club. It’s difficult to explain in this context.”
“Okay. Can the club fix this?” He glanced at me when we stopped at a red light.
“I hope so.”
We reached Smuggler’s Arcane quickly. I was a little worried about the potholes in the streets, but Joe took it slow. When we got Brian out of the SUV, he was fine. Not so much as a chip off his head.
Dorothy put her arms around him when she got there. “I’m so sorry, Brian. I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t necessary. I shouldn’t have done it anyway. You couldn’t help what you were doing. I’m sure it’s the result of some kind of spell. At least you’ll be here safe with us.” She kissed his flat mouth.
Elsie giggled. “Watch that. We’re right out here on the street. We don’t want the shop to get a bad reputation.”
We didn’t have a hand truck. Our supplies came in smaller packages, or we moved them at night with magic. In this case, we couldn’t wait until it was dark to hide our activities. Joe helped us get the “tree” up the stairs and into the shop. We made him tea and cookies for his efforts. Dorothy spent the whole time trying to find the right spot for Brian.
“I need to get back.” Joe smiled at me, Elsie and Dorothy. “I miss seeing Olivia, even if she was a little crazy sometimes. I know she was a good friend.”
Olivia fluttered close to him. “I can’t believe you just said that, Joe Renard. I’m right here, you big lug. Take that.”
I hadn’t thought to tell Joe about Olivia. He couldn’t see ghosts—why would the subject come up? I didn’t think there was any point. He was becoming more involved with our witchcraft. I didn’t like it, but it was hard to put the genie back in the bottle once it was out.
Olivia put her fingers together to pinch Joe’s ear. He yelped, glancing around himself as he got up from his chair. “What was that?”
“She’s not exactly gone,” Elsie explained. “Olivia kind of hung around to help with Dorothy. She’s her daughter, you know.”
Two books moved from one of the big shelves on the wall to the counter where we kept the cash register. Olivia was in her glory. She danced across the ceiling like a beam of sunlight. “I did it! I really did it. I knew I could do it. I just had to keep practicing.”
“You mean she’s a ghost?” Joe’s eyes scoured the room. “Really? Is that part of being in the club too?”
“What club?” Elsie asked. “Oh. You mean the coven. No. Witches don’t particularly like ghosts. The council wants us to get rid of her. We refused.”
“Elsie!” I couldn’t believe she’d forgotten herself to such a degree around him.
“I’m sorry, Molly. I wasn’t thinking.” Elsie shook her graying curls. “I know better.”
Dorothy held her breath, her dark eyes wide in her face. “Is it okay?” she asked finally. “Is the council coming for Joe?”
I could see my husband was completely confused. I put my arm around him. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing. I’ll answer any questions you have later.”
“Okay.” He still looked uncertain. “You mean the bubble thing?”
“Oh, the enchanted bubble.” Elsie clapped her hands. “Let’s do it now. Then Joe will be protected.”
Before I could protest, she’d created an enchanted bubble around the entire shop. Non–magic users wouldn’t be able to see it, but it would stand out like a beacon to other witches. It couldn’t stay up for long.
“Look, Molly!” Elsie held out her hands like a woman handing out prizes on a game show. “I can still do it.”
“This is really weird,” Joe said. “Anyone in the club can make one of these?”
“Pretty much,” I told him, trying not to be angry with Elsie.
“I can’t,” Olivia complained. “At least not anymore. Not since I died. Who knows, now that my ghostly powers are coming in?”
; Within the bubble, Joe could see Olivia. He jumped back and stared at her. “It’s true! You’re a ghost. I can’t believe it.”
“Oh, you can see me now, huh?” She put her hands on her hips. “Don’t bad-mouth the dead, Joe. You never know when they might be watching and listening.”
“I’m sorry, Olivia.” Joe grinned at her. “But we’ve known each other a long time. You’ve always been the wild, crazy, sexy one.”
“Sweet talker!” She patted her blond hair. “I suppose that’s true. And I always had a better time than Elsie or Molly because of it.”
“And Dorothy is your daughter?” he asked. “Was that by magic? I don’t recall you ever being pregnant.”
“Well, that’s a long story. It all started when I met an evil witch named Drago. Of course, I didn’t know he was evil. He was handsome, sexy and the best lover I’d ever had—”
Someone knocked on the outside of the bubble. I didn’t even know that was possible. My world was getting crazier by the minute.
“Yoo-hoo. What are you people up to in there?” Cassandra pressed her face to the bubble.
“It must be the only time I’ve ever been happy to see her,” Elsie muttered. “I didn’t want to hear about Olivia’s love life again.”
“But what do we do?” Dorothy asked. “Joe is in here. She’s going to know that something is going on.”
“Hide!” Elsie said.
“It’s too late for that.” I grabbed Joe’s hand. “Either the Bone Man is keeping him safe or we have a problem.”
Elsie managed to disperse the bubble. Cassandra looked at us with a knowing gleam in her eyes.
“So what’s going on?” she asked. “What’s so secret that you can’t do it out here in the open?”
She stared at each of us.
“We were just practicing,” Elsie said. “You know, teaching Dorothy how to make an enchanted bubble.”
Cassandra nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s important, although many witches use that technique to hide their activities from the council. I know you ladies wouldn’t do that, would you?”
I started to say something that would explain why Joe was there with us. I didn’t have a clue what that would be, but I needed some defense against her judgment.