Charms & Clouds

by Emilia Spring

  I was listening to Riley's every word. It was pretty much the only way I was going to get all the details – or at least the details she wanted us to get.

  “Clara was found dead at approximately ten pm last night, cause of death unknown,” she said, shuffling papers. She looked at Marguerite, who looked back at her.

  “And?” Sam asked.

  Riley sighed. “Your aunt has a long-standing grudge against Clara,” she said.

  “Half the town has a long-standing grudge against her,” Marguerite muttered.

  I thought back to my first day in Pine Lake, when Marguerite had basically overruled Clara when it came to me staying in town. Yes, I could see that being a grudge.

  “How does that tell you anything?” Sam said smoothly.

  Riley sighed, turning her attention towards Marguerite. “It would be easier if you voluntarily answered questions,” she said. “You're the last person seen with the victim. We also found one of your discs underneath her body.” She placed a bluish disc in an evidence bag on the table.

  Marguerite studied it for a few seconds in silence, then she shrugged dismissively, her hands carefully balanced on top of her cane. “I’ve sold plenty of those over the years.”

  “We think there may have been something in this one.” Riley rotated the disc until you could see the small opening.

  I looked from Marguerite to Riley, alarmed. “Like what?”

  Riley turned to look at me. “We think it may have been poison.”

  “I thought you said cause of death unknown?” I pointed out.

  She nodded. “We’re waiting on the autopsy results,” she said. “The magical ones.” She rolled her eyes. “And toxicology takes a while.”

  I knew how long regular autopsy results took to get. I couldn’t imagine magical autopsies. “What about her magical signature? Was it on the disc?”

  “It's being processed by the evidence team,” Riley said patiently.

  “So why have you brought her in?” Sam frowned at her, crossing her arms across her chest.

  Riley gritted her teeth. “I'm just doing my job,” she said. “She was the last one to see the victim, she had a long-standing grudge against the victim, and she had means, motive, and opportunity.”

  I relaxed slightly. “So this is an interview and not an interrogation.”

  “It’s an interview that could become an interrogation,” Riley agreed.

  “You know you’re not going to be able to keep her,” Sam said.

  Marguerite looked entirely unimpressed about the conversation going on over her head. “I didn't kill her.” She turned to look at Riley, a smile on her face. “If I had killed her, you wouldn’t have known it was murder.”

  I put my hand to my face and sighed. Even Sam groaned in exasperation.

  Riley sighed. “Right now we’re trying to figure out if it is a murder.”

  Marguerite leaned back in the chair, putting on her old lady act. “I couldn’t hurt anyone.”

  Sam snorted. Marguerite hit her with her cane.

  Riley scrubbed a hand through her dark hair. “Would you please just answer the questions?”

  “Only if they’re good ones.”

  I bit back a grin, and then settled in for the long haul.

  “When did you last see Clara?” Riley sat in the chair opposite Marguerite’s, a notepad on the table.

  “At dinner during the Summit,” Marguerite answered promptly. “We had it catered. The food was actually edible.”

  I saw Sam’s chest puff up. She must have catered it with Clementine.

  “What did you do after dinner?” Riley jotted something down, even though it looked like nonsense.

  “Read a book and napped.” Marguerite raised an eyebrow.

  I raised both of mine. Where was sacrificing goats? Where was causing trouble? Reading and napping my rear end.

  “And you didn’t see or hear anything weird?” Riley looked at her, apparently resigning herself to how questioning was going to go.

  “Nope.” Marguerite emphasized the ‘p’.

  Riley sighed and dropped the pen. “Go,” she said, waving a hand at us. “I’ll come talk to you tomorrow.”

  She had a few final things to ask, but my mind kept drifting to Gianna, out there in the station with Rose. What happened? Obviously something was bothering her, and I wasn't sure whether or not to push her about it. I didn't want to send her running away, but I also didn't want something to get worse and worse until there was nothing I could do about it.

  Trust me, I'd worked with kids where you let it get worse and worse, and when it exploded, it was bad.

  I would have to talk to her later, explain that it would really help. I couldn’t make her tell me. I was going to have to trust her.

  “Are you paying attention?” Marguerite asked sharply.

  I jolted. “I am now.” I turned back towards them.

  Sam bit back a snicker.

  Marguerite rolled her eyes. “We’re leaving,” Marguerite said curtly.

  “Yes ma’am.” I followed her out the door, heading to find Gianna.

  Chapter Seven

  I propped my hands on my hips, staring at the two saltwater tanks. They were surprisingly clear, even with the wavemakers going. I had finally gotten the freshwater tanks set up, too, with gravel in those. I would put sand in the saltwater tanks.

  In order to properly cycle the tank, I had poured some ammonia in the water-filled tanks. I had two testing kits, one for saltwater and one for fresh. First the ammonia level would go down and then nitrites would go up, and then those nitrites would turn into nitrates, which weren’t harmful to fish like high levels of ammonia were.

  The live rock that I had bought was now in the saltwater tanks, taking up a bit of room. I had some bright pink sand that I would pour in, something I probably should have done before now. Go figure.

  “What are you doing?” Gianna asked, peering over my shoulder. “Where are the fish?”

  I took a sample of the aquarium water, and did what the test told me, adding in the requisite number of drops before I shook the tube. “We have to make sure that this is white,” I told her. “Before we can add fish. White means no ammonia, and ammonia can poison the fish.”

  It turned a deep, dark red.

  Gianna looked at me. “I guess you're not getting fish any time soon.”

  I bit back a grin. “The internet says a week or two,” I admitted.

  Gianna rolled her eyes. “You know the internet can lie, right?”

  “Even a broken clock is right twice a day,” I said primly.

  Gianna pretended to gag. “I think even Sam would say you're being dramatic.”

  I stuck my tongue out at her. “Thanks for that.”

  She grinned.

  I pulled out the notebook I had tucked in my pocket and jotted down the test results, then continued to do the rest. “Are you okay?” I didn’t look directly at Gianna, not wanting to startle her.

  “She's nice,” Gianna said, looking pointedly at one of the tanks, even though there was nothing in there.

  So I was correct. There was something bothering her. “Want to help with the sand for the saltwater tanks?”

  She made a thoughtful noise. “Sure.”

  I headed towards where I’d propped up the bags of sand and stopped when there was a knock on the door. Out of habit I checked my phone in my pocket and winced when I saw three missed texts. It was Avery, who’d invited herself over apparently.

  I opened the door, not at all surprised to see Avery and Charlotte standing there. “Sam's practicing with Clementine,” Avery explained.

  “Hi Avery, Charlotte.” I smiled at both of them, stepping back so they could come in. I had never really had a lot of extended family. Did you hug your cousins? Your friends? I had gotten really used to not hugging people as a social worker. You didn’t want anyone to use anything as a ‘conflict of interest’ against you.

  Avery and Charlotte turned towards
Gianna. “Hi Gianna,” Avery said with a warm smile.

  Gianna smiled at the floor, her hands behind her back, and then disappeared back into the back room.

  “I didn't realize she was so shy.” Charlotte glanced at me.

  “Being isolated from most of your town does that.” I didn’t pull punches.

  Avery winced, and even Charlotte looked unhappy.

  “Is she okay?” Charlotte asked. It wasn’t really a change in topic.

  “I hope so,” I said, the words cryptic even to me. I leaned back against the counter, raising my eyebrows. “What can I help you ladies with?”

  “Who are you pretending we are, customers?” Avery grinned.

  “I just got your texts,” I admitted. “I didn't see what you came here for.”

  “Marguerite is at home, stomping around,” Avery said with some amusement. “I was wondering what you’d heard.”

  “Oh yes, Natalie is up on all the gossip,” Theodore muttered.

  I turned to frown at him, only to see him staring back at me. Avery apparently caught me looking, because her brow furrowed.

  “Are you staring at a fish?” She looked almost concerned.

  “He's an amphibian,” both Theodore and I said at the same time.

  I heard Gianna laugh in the back, so she obviously heard the exchange.

  However, neither Avery nor Charlotte looked convinced about my sanity.

  “I actually have some questions for you, too,” I said, since I could take advantage of it. Not growing up here, or even having been here long, I didn't know much about the history of the town. I didn't know much about my mother, or why I had been given away, or pretty much any of that. It sort of sucked, but I'd grown used to it.

  Still, I had bigger priorities right now. “Riley mentioned that there's a long-standing grudge between Marguerite and Clara?”

  Avery nodded, and Charlotte bit back a smile. “Marguerite originally beat her for Council head,” Charlotte explained. “But Marguerite didn't want the position, so Clara got it.”

  “They didn’t like each other before then,” Avery added. “But that was what made it worse.”

  Ah. “So is Marguerite sort of the de facto head?”

  Avery shrugged. “They're going to have to elect a new one,” she said. “Marguerite sure as hell won’t take the spot. Especially when they've accused her of murder.”

  I thought back to Marguerite’s words and tried to keep a straight face.

  “What about the other council members?” Something hit me. “I heard they go on the summit when there's a new one? Has Riley questioned him? Or her, or whatever.”

  “Zane?” Avery looked thoughtful. “He's not bad. Bit quiet. Done a lot for the community.”

  “She’ll talk to all of them,” Charlotte broke in. “She won't single Marguerite out without a reason.”

  “She was pretty confident about it,” I said doubtfully. “Who else is there?”

  Charlotte looked thoughtful. “Oscar is the next longest running,” she said. “He is a bit younger than both Marguerite and Clara.”

  I thought through the others. Diane was a nice woman, someone who had stuck up for Gianna and I in the past. “Is he a council member proper, or an assistant like Sage was?”

  “Full council member,” Avery answered promptly. “The background checks are stronger, after what happened with Sage.” Her face twitched, as if she was having trouble taking what she said seriously. “They’re trying to prevent it from happening again.”

  I sort of found it funny, too.

  “Could any of them be guilty?” I asked.

  Avery shrugged. “All of them have the ability to do it,” she admitted. “Killing somebody doesn't take dark magic on its own.”

  I looked at her, confused.

  “They can kill by human means,” Avery said, “or they can kill by magical means that can’t be detected. It doesn't have to be dark magic. Somebody who was a water witch drowning somebody in water would come across as non-magical.”

  “And it wouldn't be dark magic?” I thought of the tarry, goopy magic I had seen come from Sage’s hands and shuddered.

  Sam nodded. “It's not inherently dark. Dark magic is kind of its own variation.”

  And here I thought we’d left dark magic behind us. “Do they think what killed her could have been dark magic?”

  “Could be,” Avery said with a shrug. “Magical autopsies take forever, though, so I’m not guessing we’ll know anytime soon.”

  Bureaucracy. Just when you thought everything couldn't take longer, it did.

  “Can I talk to them?” I asked, aware that I was probably skirting pretty close to a line. But still, I was curious. I could easily use my new-to-town status, play that up to get them to talk to me.

  “You want to talk to them,” Gianna said, coming out of the back. The three of us turned to stare at her. Her face was tough, and she had her arms crossed over her chest. “Oscar’s coveted the head Council position for a long time. Diane’s happy where she is, though.”

  Silence reigned in the room for a few moments, all of us gaping at her. “How do you know all of this?” Charlotte sounded shocked and mildly alarmed.

  I turned to look at her, surprised.

  “Sage had a lot of gossip on them,” Charlotte admitted. “Before she went completely rogue.”

  “When you're isolated from the village, you get to be pretty good at learning the gossip.” Gianna's lips were thin. “Mom listened in on everyone.”

  Huh. I wasn’t really surprised. If people didn’t want to see you, you could go quite a few places unnoticed. “Who would you recommend talking to?”

  Gianna looked thoughtful. “Oscar first,” she decided. “And maybe this new Council member.” She frowned. “I've heard his name before, but I don't remember much about him. That's a red flag.”

  I stared at her for a while longer, flabbergasted. For somebody who supposedly didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the town, or had the town pay a lot of attention to her, she knew a heckuva lot.

  “What else do we know about Zane?” I asked, looking between Avery and Charlotte.

  “He really came on the scene about 10 years ago,” Avery said. “He’s a fire witch.”

  “Any relationship to Sage?”

  Charlotte shook her head.

  I sagged in relief. I didn't want to deal with her again.

  “He lives a far way away,” Charlotte said. “But he's renting a little house somewhere in the human part of town.”

  I looked at her sharply. “The human part of town?”

  Avery nodded. “It's not entirely unheard of,” she said. “Some don't feel comfortable around their magic counterparts.”

  Yeah well, that definitely wasn't me. I felt a lot more freaked out that somebody could discover I was a witch at any point in time. Not that anyone would believe me. Best case they would try and commit me to a hospital. I wasn’t insane, I was magic! I’d heard that defense in a court before.

  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Anything else you can tell me?”

  “If I think of anything I’ll text you,” Avery said. She glanced at Charlotte, who nodded.

  “Thanks.” I slumped a bit, even though I was still standing. I hadn’t slept entirely well after the early-morning trip to the police station. That was why Gianna had stayed home from school. “I’ll swing by the library on the way home, okay?”

  Charlotte threw me a mock salute. “We'll be there,” she said. She smiled at Gianna, her face and body warm. “It was nice to see you.”

  Something flashed across Gianna’s face, and she ducked her head.

  “Bye Natalie, Gianna.” Avery waved, and then they headed out the door and closed it behind them.

  I watched them as they left, and turned to look at Gianna, who had gone over to the bird cages and was stroking Craig’s huge beak. “You okay?” I asked, trying to keep my words careful and nonjudgmental.

  Gianna paused, but didn’t
look at me. “I have something to tell you.”

  Lead settled in my stomach. I swallowed thickly. “Okay.”

  “You know that woman who was here yesterday?” Gianna sounded nervous. She turned away from Craig, heading over towards the counter and leaning against it.

  My heart started racing. Was she going to confess that something had happened? I wasn't sure I could deal with her being accused of yet another murder. Surely, the townsfolk would start thinking something was wrong with me.

  “Clara?” I confirmed.

  She nodded. She looked away from me, turning something over in her hands. It was a bird toy, one I had seen hanging in Apple’s cage. “She looked different,” Gianna admitted.

  I stayed quiet, waiting for her to elaborate. It didn't make a whole lot of sense on its own.

  “There was like, a countdown on her head.” Gianna pointed to her forehead. “It had numbers.”

  Well wasn't that creepy. “Do you remember what it said?” I asked, wary.

  Gianna looked thoughtful. “Twelve hours and thirty-two minutes,” she said. “It was counting down.”

  Yeah, that was something we weren't going to take immediately to the police. Maybe Riley, but even then – I wouldn't put it past Riley to run screaming. I sort of wanted to.

  “I guess we found another thing you can do,” I said.

  “Yeah.” Gianna didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic.

  “You are what you are,” I told her. “It’s not up to you.”

  She shot me a dark look, but it faded as quickly as I saw it. I bit back further words. She wasn't pulling away, not exactly. But she was right in that I was an outsider. I didn't know what it had been like for her.

  There was a good chance I would never know what it was like for her. My magic may have been insane, but at least they didn't accuse me of, like, bringing someone back from the dead. Even though it hadn’t actually happened.

  I reached out and squeezed her hand. She didn't flinch away. “We’ll talk to someone, okay?”

  “Like who?” Gianna asked with all the drama of an 11-year-old.

  That was a good question. “We could start with Great Aunt Mabel?” I suggested.

  “Yes, ask the ghost,” Theodore drawled.