The Witch Squad: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #1

by M. Z. Andrews

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to calm my own emotional thunderstorm bubbling up inside of me. We were only trying to help. And now we would be punished for our actions.

  Sweets immediately apologized. “I’m sorry Sorceress Stone. We were only trying to help.”

  “Silence!” she hollered. “I was extremely specific when I told you that I would handle things. You were to be eyes and ears only. You were not to speak!”

  “We didn’t speak,” I argued. “When we were down at the crime scene, we didn’t do anything wrong. We went back because an energy was pulling us back.”

  Sorceress Stone shot me an evil glare and I suddenly wondered if she were The Black Witch that the Fire & Ice twins had been referring to. “Your old school warned me about you, this was your doing, wasn’t it?”

  I stepped forward, as I felt a rod of steel shoot down my spine. I was not about to take any guff from this lady, even if it did mean I had to go to a correctional facility for the next year. It was better than being demonized by this crazy witch. I was just about to tell her where she could stick her little air show, when Alba put one arm in front of me and stepped forward.

  “It wasn’t Mercy. It was me, I insisted she go with me back down to the crime scene and I asked the girls to all go with me,” Alba bravely admitted with her own stiff posture.

  I looked at Alba, I couldn’t believe she wouldn’t just let me take the blame for everything. “It was both of us,” I said, stepping forward, shoulder to shoulder with her.

  Holly stepped forward next, then Jax, then Sweets. “We all did it.”

  “I know you all did it. I saw you walk in together! Detective Whitman told me you were all down there. What? You think this show of solidarity will do something to my heart? This isn’t about my heart, ladies. This is about a serious police investigation. It’s not a game. You are not to get involved in this case. One more misstep like this and I’ll lock you all away in the highest room of this school! Do you understand?”

  Sweets immediately nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Jax and Holly nodded and Jax linked arms with me. I could tell she wanted me to agree too.

  “I understand,” I finally said in a huff.

  “Fine,” Alba said angrily.

  “Now go to your rooms, I’ve had enough of looking at the five of you for one day!”

  { Chapter Nine}

  “This sucks,” Alba said. Lying on her back atop the furry rug in my dorm room she tossed a bean bag up and down. I couldn’t help but agree with her. This did suck and the pure deliciousness of the Baked Apple Pie candle flickering near the open window didn’t make it suck any less.

  “I can’t believe we’ve been here all of a day and we’re already in trouble!” Holly complained. “I hope this doesn’t affect us getting to do the social this Friday night.”

  Sweets looked at her curiously. “There’s a social this Friday night? With the boys?”

  “Yeah, with the boys,” I said with a little laugh. “Who’d you think? With the teachers?”

  Sweets smiled timidly. “Oh, yeah, of course. Boys sort of make me nervous.”

  I sat up straight in my chair and peered at Sweets curiously. “But you’re a matchmaker. How can boys make you nervous? You put couples together, right?”

  Sweets nodded. “Yeah, I’ve put other couples together, but I can’t do a spell on myself! I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

  I sighed and slumped back against the hard dresser drawers I was sitting next to. It was hard to have a boyfriend when you were a witch. No one ever wanted to date the witch. People always had something jack-assy to say, ‘Don’t date her! She’s a witch. Witches are worse than Taylor Swift, they won’t just write a song about you when you break up, they will put a hex on you!’

  Yes, dating in the witch world as a teenager was non-existent. My mother told me it would get better as an adult. She said being a witch was sort of an aphrodisiac to men in their late 20’s and early 30’s. Unfortunately, she had added, it was mostly more of a sexual fetish for those men, and they weren’t always one to stick around for the long haul.

  Case in point, my father. He had been the hit it and quit it type of guy and while I’d always envisioned meeting him someday, my mom told me I wouldn’t like him. He was too handsome for his own good, he was cocky and quite the ladies man. Who wants a guy like that for a father? she would always ask me. Which always made me feel bad, I mean, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not only hadn’t I gotten to pick my father, I also hadn’t gotten to meet my father either.

  “It’s ok, Sweets. I’ve never had a real boyfriend either,” I admitted.

  Sweets stopped licking the frosting off of the cupcake she was holding and looked at me in surprise. “But you’re so beautiful!”

  I gave her a little smirk, “Thanks Sweets, you’re beautiful too. Beauty’s got nothing to do with it though. Boys like normal girls. Boys don’t like girls like us.”

  “Girls like what?” Holly demanded, her ice blue eyes glinted in the sunlight. Apparently she took offense to being lumped in with the rest of us undateable witches.

  “Relax, Cosmo, don’t get your tights in a twist,” I said. “You’re a witch just like the rest of us.”

  “Cosmo?” Jax asked.

  “Yeah, Miss Cosmopolitan over there. She’s got the perfect platinum blonde hair, the perfect blue eyes, the perfect flawless skin. She’s got the boobs, the butt, the perfect waist line, she’s like a dream come true for a guy. Apparently she doesn’t want to be lumped in with us undateable witches.”

  Holly shook her head excitedly, “You’re looking at this all wrong Mercy. We aren’t undateable witches! I never had a problem dating in high school.”

  “Of course not! That’s my point! Look at you!”

  “Yes, look at me! I take pride in my appearance. Call me Cosmo or tell me I’m vain, but the fact of the matter is, I have never let being a witch stand in the way of me meeting boys.”

  “Not everyone can look like you Cosmo. The rest of us are just plain looking girls that are witches. You’re the exception, not the rule!” I argued.

  Holly shrugged and sat back down. “All I’m saying is some of you could try a little harder.”

  Alba caught her bean bag in mid air and then let a big chortle escape her lips. “Ohhh, snap.”

  “You think you’re not included in that slight?” I said sideways to Alba.

  Jax put her hands on her hips and bounced up off the bed. “Well, I know I certainly try hard,” she pouted.

  “Jax, you try too hard. What are you trying to prove anyway?” Holly asked her pointedly.

  “Ohhh,” I hollered, letting my hand cover my broad smile.

  Jax looked hurt. “I’m not trying to prove anything. What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you look like a witch!” Holly spat distastefully.

  Jax furrowed her eyebrows and made a face. “Isn’t that the point?”

  “No!” I laughed, “That’s not the point! You’re at witch school. We’re all witches. Why do you need to dress like you’re an actress at a Renaissance Festival or something?”

  “I like dressing this way,” she countered. “It’s cute.”

  “I think she looks adorable,” Sweets added, agreeing with Jax.

  “You would,” Holly said, rolling her eyes.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sweets demanded.

  “That dress – you look like your grandmother dressed you – from her dead friend’s rummage sale,” Holly admitted.

  Appalled Sweets looked down at the sunflower covered sundress she wore. “You don’t like my dress?”

  “It certainly isn’t flattering,” Holly said flipply, lifting her left shoulder in a just saying sort of way.

  “It’s not?” Sweets’ bottom lip began to quiver.

  “That’s enough Holly,” I finally said. I should have ended this awhile ago.

  “What? I’m just saying, girl has got some boobs and
an ass. Why not flaunt it? Why hide it all away in a field of daisies?”

  “They’re sunflowers,” Sweets said quietly.

  “Her dress certainly doesn’t show off the goods to boys. When you’re overcoming the odds, like we are, you’ve got to advertise the merchandise a little, ladies.” With that she readjusted her breasts inside of her shirt, hoisting them higher, until they threatened a wardrobe malfunction. “Hidden away in a ratty old hoodie, these puppies aren’t going to sell themselves!”

  “False advertising is illegal, ya know,” I quipped. I knew that last comment was for me and my non-descript style. I’d never been the girly girl, the fashion girl, the makeup girl. I was a witch – and a bit of a tomboy, and lately, I’d led with that. It was just easier. Who wanted to allow someone to get to know you, you let your walls down, let them in, and then the minute your secret is revealed – bam! – they’re out the door so fast it knocks the broomstick off the mantel. That didn’t make any sense to me.

  Alba laughed again. “Ohhh!”

  Holly shot me an evil look. “These aren’t fake, just so you know. I grow all my own produce.”

  “Sure ya do. They didn’t come free with 7 pairs of panties at the mall, did they?”

  The blonde crossed her arms over her chest, “No! And even if they did, what’s so wrong with that? You guys! We’re witches. It’s an obstacle, not a road block. We’re still women. We’re not freaking corpses. And I think you want to start the social night on the right foot. If this is the first time we’re going to meet some of the men around here we need to put our best selves out there. They’re like us. They aren’t like guys from back home. These guys are going to be paranormal also. Witches aren’t going to scare them away.”

  I hadn’t thought of it like that before. Everyone here was like me. Everyone. “We got it, Cosmo.”

  Sweets shot Holly a shy look. “I only brought dresses to wear. My mother said they look cute on me.”

  “There’s got to be a fairy godmother around this town somewhere!” Holly suggested with a smirk.

  Alba, who had been taking in the whole conversation rather quietly, finally sat up. “Fairy godmothers and men aren’t going to solve all of our problems.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed and fell back onto my bed with a heavy heart. “What do we do now?”

  Just then I heard a familiar thud outside my dorm room window.

  “Hey fella,” Jax cooed. “How’d you get up here?”

  I turned my head to the side and saw Jax pulling a big black cat out of the window and into our room. I sat up in surprise. “He’s back?”

  “You know him?” Jax asked me with surprise.

  I shook my head. “No. Do you?”

  She shook her head also. “Nope. Never seen him before.”

  “He was in here earlier today, I feel like someone brought their cat to college and he keeps escaping from their dorm room.”

  “We could put up a sign?” Sweets suggested.

  “Nah, Stone won’t let us have pets,” Alba countered. “That’d only be stirring the pot around here.”

  “So what do we do with him?” Holly asked.

  “I’ll take him back outside again. He’ll get the hint,” I said, pulling him into my arms and stroking his soft black fur. “But for now, he can chill here with us. Can’t you little guy?” I scratched under his chin and he rubbed his long body up against mine in a friendly manner. I could tell he liked that idea and wanted to stay.

  “So what are we going to do about Morgan’s body?” Alba asked.

  “What can we do?” Holly asked. “We’re not supposed get involved.”

  “It’s too late for that, we already are involved,” I said.

  The room let out a collective sigh as we all relaxed in silence while thinking about what could be done.

  “Can her ghost come find us?” Alba finally asked me.

  “I don’t really know. That’s why I’m here. Before I came here, we had people and ghosts traipsing in and out all the time wanting to talk to each other. My mom is a medium too, you know, so they were coming to see her. Sometimes ghosts would randomly find me on the street. It was weird and awkward, I never knew what to say and I never knew how they found my mother. I assume it was word of mouth. There’s no way that Morgan’s ghost would know to look for me specifically.”

  “Yeah, same,” Holly agreed. “I have these – gifts, I just don’t know how to use them.”

  I rolled my eyes. I was so tired of hearing being a witch referred to as a gift. “Personally, I don’t think being a witch is a gift. It’s a curse is what it is.”

  “Mercy! How can you say such a thing!” Jax exclaimed. “It is a gift. Witches are a minority in this world.”

  “Jax, minorities are routinely discriminated against, why would I intentionally want to be a minority?”

  “You can do something so few people can, you have the powers to speak to the dead! And Alba! She doesn’t even have to break a sweat to move the furniture,” she said with a little titter.

  That made Alba smile. “The perks. What can I say?”

  “Being a witch is so much more than just having these random powers. I think once we’re done with college, we’ll see how our powers really are gifts. I think you’ll appreciate what you’ve been given someday,” Jax added confidently.

  “My God, you sound like my mother!” I cried as the black cat jumped up onto my lap and snuggled his soft face against the slope of my neck.

  “Well, then your mother is right,” Jax said with a laugh. “Maybe we should all go to class and learn a thing or two.”

  “I have to agree with Jax about that,” I said, nodding my head and jumping off the bed. I glanced down at my watch. “I’ve got Incantation class in fifteen.”

  Alba stood up too, “Holly and I should go, too. We both have Energy in Nature next.”

  “What are we going to do about Morgan?” I asked before Holly and Alba could reach the door.

  “I have Ghost Science this afternoon, maybe I’ll figure out how to call her,” Alba suggested. “I’ll let you know at dinner.”

  { Chapter Ten}

  Talk around the school about the Hartford girl’s murder seemed to die down by the end of the week, but our little clique had managed to earn ourselves a nickname – The Witch Squad – after word spread that Sorceress Stone had disciplined us for our independent detective field work. Chatter about Friday night’s social event with the school of wizardry next door replaced talk of the murder. I didn’t give the social much thought; after all, I wasn’t really in the market for a male companion. In fact, I hadn’t been in the market for any companions whatsoever on the first day of school, but yet people seemed to have a way of finding me.

  It had begun with my ooey-gooey sticky sweet roommate, Jax, which had somehow cultured into a bad rash resulting in blistery Alba, Holly was thrown in as an ornate bonus, and Sweets – well – I had to admit, was the icing on the cupcake. I mean, what wasn’t to like when it came to Sweets? She was quiet, unassuming, unintentionally lovable, and she brought me treats.

  In addition, I had also seemed to have inherited a cat. I’d named him Sneaks – only because he constantly seemed to sneak into my dorm room whenever he could. No matter how many times I took him back outside, he always managed to sneak back inside. I hadn’t been able to figure out yet who he belonged to, but I thought eventually someone had to come around knocking on doors looking for him – I mean he was a smart cat – someone had to be missing him. He seemed to be able to obey commands and when I talked to him, he actually appeared to listen. Something in his eyes seemed sympathetic and I appreciated the quiet, content way about him.

  Thursday after class, the Witch Squad drove down the hill into downtown Aspen Falls for a little girls shopping trip. Holly had convinced us all that we needed new outfits for the social and she promised she’d put her fashion skills to good use and pick us each out something flattering. So when it was time to get dressed for the event Fri
day after class, we all had something nice to wear.

  As usual, Holly found a way to make her breasts the star of her show. They were on full display, front and center in her tight little red dress. She had thrown on black heels and blown her hair out and I had to admit, she was looking extremely hot, and perhaps I was slightly jealous.

  I looked down at my cleavage. Holly had insisted I lead with my chest and wear a boob shirt too. Unfortunately, the shirt hadn’t come with the boobs. My little ladies didn’t do much in the tight black top she’d picked out. But I could see how they looked better in the new shirt than the Pretty Reckless band t-shirt I’d have probably worn instead. She had wanted me to wear contacts for the occasion, but I thought I looked better in my glasses, I did allow her to put a little eye makeup on me though.

  Jax had finally simmered down the witchy garb, but she just couldn’t seem to abandon the purple and black striped tights. Luckily, purple and black tights under a black mini dress actually looked kind of cute. Even with her pointy toed black heels, she managed to make witch - cute. We had even convinced Jax to get rid of the orangey-red dye job and she’d switched it up to a more normal blonde.

  Holly intentionally amped up Sweets’ va-va-voom factor by stuffing her into a pair of black pleather pants and a garnet red corset top with a sweetheart neckline. Sweets had gone from a sweet sugarplum fairy to a BDSM seductress in the time it took to cinch up her girdle.

  “The only thing that you’re missing from that outfit is your whip,” I told her with a little laugh.

  “Is it too much?” she asked nervously.

  How would I even begin to answer that question? “Too much what? Boob?”

  “Too much anything?”

  “There’s certainly a lot of boob, that’s for sure,” I answered, grinning broadly.

  “You don’t like it, do you?” she asked.

  I could tell a lot was riding on my answer and I didn’t want to hurt Sweets’ feelings, so I went the neutral way. “You look hot,” I said with a shrug. “You just don’t look like the Sweets that I met in Witchcraft 101 four days ago.”