“What are you looking for?” I asked her, confused.
“Here it is!” she announced, holding up the yearbook we found in the attic earlier in the day.
“What’s that?” Jax asked.
“It’s an old yearbook. Stone locked us in the tower last night. This morning we found a secret passageway and crawled up to the attic. Mercy and I found this up there,” said Alba.
“Well, what’s that got to do with any of this?” Jax asked confused.
Alba flipped through the pages quickly. “We saw a picture…here!” she said, slamming her pointer finger down just above the picture. “Look!”
There it was in black and white: BethAnn and Oliver enjoy the Autumnal Equinox celebration in the town square. “That’s got to be the same Oliver,” she said triumphantly.
Jax’s eyes widened when she saw the black and white picture in front of her. “And that’s The Black Witch!” she said.
“What?!” I demanded, falling to my knees to look at the picture too.
“Yeah, BethAnn. That’s the Black Witch’s name,” Jax said plain as day.
“How do you know that?” Holly asked uncertainly.
“I saw her picture hanging somewhere. She used to go to this school,” said Jax, closing the book and gesturing towards the cover. “Obviously. They are in a Paranormal Institute yearbook.”
“What year is the yearbook?”I asked.
“1936,” said Jax, reading from the cover.
“How old do you think he was in that picture?” I asked the girls.
Jax shrugged. “I don’t know. I would guess he was 20.”
“Ok, for easy math’s sake, let’s say Oliver was 20 in 1936, that means he was born in 1916 and so he’d have to be around a hundred year’s old right now, right?” I asked.
The girls nodded at my rationalization.
“He didn’t look like he was over one hundred when we met him,” Holly said.
“Exactly. Are we sure that this is a picture of him?” I asked and flipped open the book to scrutinize the picture once again.
“It looks like Mr. Bushwhack,” Morgan admitted, looking over our shoulder at the black and white photo.
“Morgan says it looks like him,” I said to the girls.
“So Oliver Bushwhack and the Black Witch dated?” Sweets asked, confused. “That’s so bizarre. I wonder what that means.”
“Well, I hate to state the obvious, but I think it means that Oliver Bushwhack is a paranormal,” I pointed out.
Jax and Holly nodded.
“He’s got to be,” said Alba.
Morgan shook her head. “Wow, I just can’t believe it! All that time Mr. Bushwhack was a paranormal and we never knew!”
“So he makes sure that the girls in the youth group all take a purity vow,” I started to work it all out aloud.
“They remain virgins until he can kill one of them for a sacrifice on the Autumnal Equinox,” Alba says, taking over my thought process.
“It makes sense,” Jax said.
Morgan’s head was shaking back and forth, as if she couldn’t believe what we were proposing.
“Well, then why would he kill Morgan on the side of the road?” Sweets finally asked.
I glanced at Morgan again. She was in a trance, watching something replay in her memory.
“Are we triggering a flashback, Morgan?” I asked nervously.
“I can see him,” she said fearfully. Her hand once again fingered the small cross at her neckline.
“Who can you see?” I asked her.
The girls turned to look at me.
“I think she’s having a breakthrough,” I whispered.
“Oliver. On the side of the road. He offered to give me a ride home,” she said, fear biting through her voice.
“But I said, ‘No, thank you. I’m almost home.’”
“And then what?” I prodded.
“And then he said that he insisted. I said, I was almost home and I’d just drive my dad’s truck back to school, but then he pulled the car over to the side of the road,” she choked back her frightened sobs while she relived the terrifying experience in her mind.
“He got out of the car and came towards me. I just kind of laughed at him, I thought he was trying to be funny. Like pretending he was going to grab me, but then he actually grabbed me. And I screamed! I tried to get free. We wrestled around, but he had a knife in his pocket,” she cried. “And he held it to my throat and told me to get in the car. I started to, but then I decided he wouldn’t stab me. I knew him. He was my teacher. He would never hurt me, so I tried to get loose. I pulled away from him.”
“It’s okay, Morgan,” I said quietly, feeling a huge lump in the back of my throat as I tried to swallow. “You don’t have to say it.”
She shook her head violently as the story continued to play out in her mind. It was as if she were seeing the whole thing for the first time. “I pulled away from him, and he came after me again and we fought and then I felt the knife and I saw blood …and then…and then…everything went black,” she finished and began to sob.
“Oh, Morgan. What a tragic story, I’m so sorry for what you went through,” I consoled her. I only wished that I could hug her and help her to feel better. Then and there I vowed to learn to be able to physically touch a spirit.
“What did she say?” Alba asked quietly.
“It was Oliver.” I hung my head sadly. “She remembered everything. He was trying to abduct her, but she tried to get away and they wrestled and he had a knife, and well, you know how it ended.”
The girls all bowed their heads sadly. We were all quiet for several long moments, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“What do we do now?” Holly finally asked.
Alba shook her head. “I really don’t know. Do we go to Stone?”
“We can’t go to Stone, she just threatened to kick us out of The Institute if we keep getting involved in Morgan’s murder. I can’t afford to get kicked out of college!” I insisted. As much as I’d love to never have to go to school another day in my life, I knew that I couldn’t return to Dubbsburg until I could prove I’d gotten my gift under control. And suddenly I wanted to do just that, more than anything else. I wanted to learn to use my gift for a greater purpose.
“You don’t think she’d want to know that we solved the murder?” Alba asked wearily.
Morgan moved closer to me. “Mercy, there were at least six other girls in my youth group that Mr. Bushwhack gave purity rings to. Do you think it’s possible that he’ll go after one of them before the celebration tonight?”
“I think it’s entirely possible,” I said to her and then turned to the girls. “Morgan said there are six other girls in her youth group that were given purity rings by Oliver. What if he’s going to go after one of them before the Equinox celebration tonight?”
“They are all in grave danger!” Jax said, fear evident in her voice.
Finally Sneaks, who had decided to hang back and pretend like she was sleeping walked towards me. “I told you Mercy. I knew it. Those girls are in danger, but so are you and these girls.”
“Mom, hush, we’re trying to figure this out.”
“Mom?” Jax asked confused. “Mercy did you just call the cat, Mom?”
“She can talk to the cat now,” Sweets shared excitedly.
“What?” Holly’s eyes shot open wide as she spun around. “When did you learn to do that?”
“While you were out after your vision,” I explained.
“So, you renamed her Mom?” Jax asked, shaking her head.
“No,” I said with a nervous laugh. “The cat is my mom. My mom is the cat. She did a spell. She’s spying on me.”
“I am not spying on you, Mercy! Stop saying that!”
“You are too, Mom,” I said rolling my eyes. “She says she’s not spying, but I know she is.”
“That’s so cool,” Holly said, looking at Sneaks.
“Sorry, can we get back to Oliver?
” I asked impatiently.
“I know Stone doesn’t want us to, but we’ve got to alert the Aspen Falls PD,” said Alba.
Holly nodded in agreement. “We can’t just sit around and do nothing and let that monster claim another innocent victim!”
“Stone would kill us!” I disagreed.
“We could call in another anonymous tip,” Alba suggested.
“Would they believe us?” Holly asked.
“I think we’ve got to try, what do we have to lose?” Alba concluded.
{ Chapter Twenty}
After placing a second anonymous call into the Aspen Falls PD and warning them that Oliver Bushwhack was Morgan Hartford’s killer and encouraging them to make sure all girls in his youth group were safe and accounted for, we took a break to get ready for the Autumnal Equinox town’s celebration.
We had no choice but to go to the town event, if for no other reason than to make sure the citizens of Aspen Falls were protected. Hopefully by the time it started, Oliver Bushwhack would be safely stowed away in police custody.
The girls had all gone back to their rooms to take a little nap and recover from the whole Evan situation and Morgan had decided to take a bit of time to herself to wander the campus and get her emotions under control. I’d asked Mom to give me a little bit of space and come back later, and thankfully she’d obliged. The Witch Squad planned to meet back up for supper in the courtyard together before we headed over to the street dance. Jax and I finally had a little breather and time to talk privately. It saddened me that my usual, bubbly little elf was extremely unbubbly and uncharacteristically quiet.
“Jax, can we talk?” I asked her quietly, casting my green eyes guiltily towards the floor.
She shrugged lightly as she sat quietly at her desk, scrolling through pictures on the Witchgram App on her phone. I pulled my chair up close to hers and watched her for a moment, trying desperately to come up with any words that would make it right between the two of us again.
“Jax, I don’t know where to start. I don’t know how to make this right,” I finally began uncomfortably. “What I said the other day…how I treated you. I was terrible.”
“Mercy, you don’t have to…” she interrupted calmly.
“But I do, Jax! When I got here, you were the sweetest, most sincerely nice person to me. You were eager and excited and accepting and I just stomped all over that. I was the opposite. I treated you terribly and I regret it so badly.”
“Thanks Mercy, I appreciate the apology.”
“It’s not just that, Jax. I feel horrible about the things I said to you when you told us you weren’t a witch. Just because I don’t want to be one, doesn’t mean that others don’t want to either. And your family is all witches. Of course you have every right to have the need to be accepted by your own family, and I mocked that. And I hurt you. I’m so sorry,” I said, tears streamed down my face by now.
Jax still hadn’t turned around to face me. Instead a fat tear began to fall down her cheeks as well. She wiped them away and then finally turned to look me in the eye. “Mercy, what I don’t understand is, why wouldn’t you want the amazing gift you’ve been given? Look at how you’ve been able to help Morgan and we’re going to get a murderer off the streets because of you! Don’t you see how amazing that is? And how brave you are?”
I looked down at my lap. No one had ever called me brave before or told me that my gift was amazing. I didn’t know what to say. I splayed my hands out in front of me and shrugged. “I’m not brave,” I finally managed.
Jax turned her chair around so our bodies were squared up. “But you are brave. You led the girls down to a dungeon to save me, Mercy. That is so incredibly brave. I don’t think I would have been brave enough to do that on my own. I would have followed you, but I won’t have led the group. You’re a natural born leader.”
“Jax, you’re too nice. I’m not a good person,” I croaked out, swallowing back the lump in my throat, trying not to bawl like a four year old.
“Mercy Habernackle! Don’t say that! You are a very good person,” Jax argued. “I don’t care what happened back home, you were just misunderstood. Different doesn’t mean bad. It just means misunderstood. You’re a good person here,” she said. “And here.” She reached out and touched her finger to my heart, making it even more difficult to keep my tears reserved.
“You’re too nice to me, Jax. I really don’t deserve it. I almost got you killed,” I said, sniffling.
“You didn’t almost get me killed. Freddy almost got me killed and Evan almost got me killed,” she insisted. “Speaking of Freddy, we need to do some serious spells on that jerk. Know any good witches who do voodoo?” she said laughing while brushing at her tear stained face.
“I know a witch who knows a witch,” I told her with a broad smile.
“Ok, now no more talk about this being your fault, understand?” she asked me seriously.
I nodded. “Yeah, alright. But no more talk about me being a good person,” I added.
She giggled. “Just as long as you remember that you are, I’ll try to quit reminding you. But no more talk about not wanting to be a witch. While you’re here, I want you to think of those that don’t have your gifts,” she said pointing to herself. “And I want you to appreciate your life and your gifts and your mother and especially your friends. Because we’re here for you.”
“Ok. Now, we should get ready, because after the day that I’ve had, I’m starving.”
“You’re starving? I haven’t eaten in forever,” said Jax, rumbling around through her mini fridge. “I had a few bottles of orange juice in here, but I don’t see them. Did you happen to take them?”
I smiled. “We’ll blame those on Holly,” I said with a laugh. “Now, let’s get going!”
***
By the way that Holly’s ‘girls’ were heaved up in her shirt like masts on a sailboat, I could only assume she was hoping to bump into Alex, the guy from the morgue, at the Autumnal Equinox celebration in the town square. “I take it you’re not broken hearted over Evan?” I asked her as Jax and I joined the girls at their table in the courtyard that evening.
The sun was low on the horizon and there was a faint cool breeze rustling a pile of dead leaves that had collected next to the low stone wall. I had opted for the warm and cozy look this evening, wearing a long rust colored duster sweater over my usual black t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans with my black Converse sneakers.
Holly fluttered her fake eyelashes and gave me a whimsical smile. “Oh, gosh, who’s Evan?” she said with a laugh. “I’m looking forward to having a little fun after all of this serious stuff we’ve had to deal with.”
“Me too,” said Jax. “The last 24 hours has been brutal, I want to enjoy the celebration tonight! And I can’t wait to eat! I’m starving!” She dove into her plate, eating more than I’d ever seen Jax eat in the past.
“Where’s Alba?” I asked, looking around.
“She’s coming. She went to make sure that Libby and Cinder are alright and that Evan got what was coming to him,” Holly said with a harrumph.
“Good. Sweets, you’re being awfully quiet.” Looking down the table at Sweets, I noticed she was sitting with her back unusually straight and staring off into the distance as if she were daydreaming.
Upon hearing my voice, she shook her head as if clearing the cobwebs out of her mind and then she trained her deep eyes on mine. “I think I just had a premonition.”
I looked around to the other girls’ faces. “I didn’t know you had premonitions, Sweets.”
“I don’t have premonitions. I’ve never had one before. Maybe I was just daydreaming,” she said, unconvinced about her own vision. She shook her head again and then speared another bite of food.
“It could have been a premonition, Sweets. What did you see?” I asked her with interest.
“I saw a storm cloud above Aspen Falls and a raging fire. I saw Oliver’s evil face laughing. The feeling that I got was that no o
ne is safe,” she said tentatively.
I shot Jax a furtive glance. If Sweet’s vision was real and we were in for a fire storm, I wasn’t entirely sure that Jax should go to the equinox celebration with us after all. After everything she’d just gone through, perhaps she wasn’t ready to handle it if something happened.
“Jax – “ I began before she cut me off.
“I’m going, Mercy. There’s no way I’m not going. We need to make sure that those girls are all safe.”
“What girls?” Alba asked, as she sat down her try and slid in next to Jax.
“The youth group girls. Sweets had a vision about Oliver. She doesn’t think anyone is safe,” said Jax.
“Since when do you have visions, Sweets?” Alba asked, confused.
Sweets threw up her hands. “I don’t know? I just had one. Maybe it’s nothing. Don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here eating this pumpkin spice bar with cream cheese frosting…mmm, these are good. Has anyone tried these yet?”
I had to laugh. Leave it to Sweets to divert serious talk with frivolous food talk. “Sweets, stop. Don’t dismiss your vision. Just because you haven’t had one before doesn’t mean it’s not real. We are all learning about our powers and abilities. That’s the point of college, right? To grow as witches?”
She shrugged and licked off the white frosting. “Mm-hmm, I suppose.”
“Alright, we need to go tonight prepared and alert,” I asserted. I turned to Alba. “Well, what’s the status on the twins and Evan?”
Alba swallowed her bite of food and then beamed at us. “They recovered Morgan’s body. Evan was found, chilling on ice in the basement of Warner Hall. Cinder and Libby were nowhere near him when he was found, but I did talk to them and they are both just fine. They said they heard that Evan was being arrested and he’s already been kicked out of school.”
“Witch bump,” I said and held my fist out to each girl to bump. “That’s awesome!”
“Yay!” Jax cheered. “Oh! I feel so much better! Now all we have to do is deal with Freddy and I’ll feel amazing!”
“Oh, I talked to Libby and Cinder about Freddy. They’re going to take care of him, too. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him ever again,” Alba added with a wicked grin.
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