Holly raised her hand quickly. “Ooh, me. I can’t imagine what I’d be missing out on if I wasn’t friends with these girls.”
Harper nodded. “Very well then. Hang onto your party hats, girls!”
We grasped each other’s hands, and in the blink of an eye we were standing under a palm tree and next to a calm blue pool. Holly’s doppelganger was wearing the skimpy Mrs. Claus bikini she’d modeled for us earlier and relaxing in a lounge chair. A handsome man was sitting next to her in swim trunks, and the two of them were immersed in conversation.
“See! That’s where I should be!” Holly exclaimed, gesturing excitedly. “Poolside with a cute boy by my side.”
Alba rolled her eyes.
“Do you know him?” Jax asked.
Holly shrugged. “Yeah, he’s just an old friend.”
The man reached down and grabbed his drink and took a sip from his straw. “It’s so good to see you again, Holly. How’s school been?”
She groaned and leaned her head back against the lounge chair. “Booooring! I don’t want to talk about school,” she whined.
“I take it it’s not going well?” he asked with a chuckle.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Pretty sure I’m flunking out of a couple classes. I thought witch college was going to be easier.”
“Do you actually study?”
She giggled. “I gave up on studying,” she admitted. “There’s just not enough time!”
“Not enough time?” he asked. “What else is there to do out there in the mountains?!”
She raised one eyebrow as she glanced at him. “There’s a wizard college next door, duh. Cute boys. I date a lot.”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course you do,” he chastised. “What’s the point of going to college if you’re not even trying?”
Holly shrugged. “I don’t know,” she pouted. “I wanted to show my parents I can be responsible.”
“Flunking out of your classes probably isn’t showing them that,” he said.
“Yeah,” she sighed.
I looked at Holly as she watched herself talk about school. “Ugh,” she groaned. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“We’re keeping you focused on school and not boys!” Jax cheered. “Yay, us!”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Fine. Yay, you. Thanks, girls,” she said with a curt nod. Then she looked at Harper. “This is dumb. Can we go?”
Harper nodded as she looked at her watch. “We can go, but the next two stops are going to be fast. We’re running out of time.”
Jax threw her arms out. “I can already tell you where I’d be without my friends. Bored and lonely on a couch at my aunt’s house. No Christmas decorations. No presents. No stockings. No Christmas ham. And certainly no cheer.”
Harper couldn’t help but smile. “Then we don’t need to go see it, I suppose. That’s exactly what you’re doing right now. You’re watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel in your bedroom.”
Jax threw up her hands. “See! I knew it. Do I at least visit my cousins?”
Harper shook her head. “You never found out that Reign was your cousin. Merrick knows, and your mother knows, but they haven’t told you. And since you don’t know Mercy, she hasn’t told you.”
Jax palmed her forehead. “This day just keeps getting worse and worse!”
I chuckled at Jax’s response. “Ok. Let’s save some more time. Let me guess what I’m going right now. I’m at my mom’s motel. She probably put up some cheesy decorations. We’re having TV dinners and watching movies on the Hallmark channel too.”
Harper shook her head. “Nope. I think this one you’ve got to see to believe!”
“Please don’t tell me I’m in the cell next to Reign. You could have just shown us that while we were there if I am,” I groaned, shaking my head nervously.
“Nope. Not in jail either, I’ll give you a quick peek, and then I have to get you girls back home. Hang on everyone!”
As I closed my eyes, a mental snapshot of where we were going next flashed in front of my eyes. I pictured myself in a seedy motel sitting next to my mother on our queen size bed watching movies. But when we arrived where we were going, I was shocked to find myself sitting on the couch inside my old house in Dubbsburg.
“Where are we?” Jax asked curiously, looking around.
“This is my house in Dubbsburg,” I told her. I looked up at Harper. “Why are we here? Did I come home for Christmas without my mother?” I couldn’t believe I’d do such a thing. Why would I want to come here without Mom?
“No. Mercy you got kicked out of school three weeks ago. After your brother was arrested, you got into an altercation with Sorceress Stone, and she expelled you from the program. You were so upset about everything going on with your brother and school that you just went back to Dubbsburg.”
My eyebrows furrowed as I lifted one lip. “I got expelled?”
Jax’s jaw dropped. “My mother expelled my cousin?!”
“She’s not your real cousin, Jax,” Holly reminded her.
“She is too! How could my mom do this to her?”
I sighed. “It’s not real, Jax. I just can’t believe I got expelled. I was just thinking of how proud I was and how much I was changing. I guess without the four of you I wouldn’t be growing up like I thought I was,” I admitted, hanging my head.
“Don’t get too down on yourself, Red. All of our lives would have been different if we’d never been friends,” said Alba.
“Ok, it’s been fun, girls, but I really have to get you back. We’re on a tight deadline,” Harper said. “Everyone hang onto me!”
We did as she asked and in a flash, we were standing in Habernackle’s Bed, Breakfast, and Beyond once again. Before we had a chance to take a breath, we heard an angry voice from behind us. “You’re late!”
20
“We went as fast we could,” Harper snapped at the unusual figure hidden beneath a dark robe.
“Well, now I don’t have much time to take them on their last tour,” growled the voice.
Harper sucked in a deep breath. “It’s not my fault. We had a lot of errands to run.” She turned to us. “It was nice to see all of you again. Please, remember everything you’ve seen tonight.”
“We will,” I assured her. “Bye, Harper.”
“Bye, girls. Merry Christmas,” she said as her ghostly body vanished into the darkness.
“It’s about time. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and not much time. Are we ready?” asked the voice.
With Harper gone, it gave us a moment to turn and scrutinize our newest ghost.
“Who are you?” Sweets asked.
“Why do you need to know?” asked the voice.
“Because I recognize the voice. I just can’t quite place it,” she responded kindly.
“I know who it is,” I said with a little smile. “And I know why he’s wearing that cape over his head too.”
Alba nodded. “It’s you, isn’t it Ronnie?”
The voice sighed. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“Why are you wearing that cape? We can’t see you,” said Jax, trying to peek underneath of it.
“You don’t want to see me, either,” he assured her. “I’m a mess. I didn’t want to come do this, but the P.T.B. were persistent.”
“The P.T.B.? What’s that?” asked Holly.
“Powers that be. They’re a strict bunch.”
“So, we’ve had a ghost of Christmas past. We’ve had a ghost of Christmas present. Might we assume you’re our ghost of Christmas future?” I asked him bluntly.
“You really are a bright bunch, aren’t you?” he chuckled sarcastically. “Yeah, I’m going to show you what your future would look like if you stopped being friends and went your separate ways.”
Jax looked at him sadly. “You don’t even have to show me. I already know I don’t want to go our separate ways.”
“Well, you’re not the only one here. There are others. And we’ve got places t
o go, so let’s go,” he said briskly, as his darkly cloaked figure moved towards the outer wall of Habernackle’s. The five of us followed him through the wall and onto the street.
He stood back and held his broken arms out by his side, conjuring a large cloud of snow to swirl around us until it rose above our heads making it impossible to see outside of the twister. Seconds later, he dropped his arms to his sides, letting the snow fall to his feet where it immediately disintegrated into nothing more than colorful air particles. When we looked around, we found ourselves in an office setting in front of a secretary’s desk. The lights were on in the office, but the office was quiet and seemingly empty.
“Where are we?” Jax asked.
“Shhh!” Ronnie’s ghost hissed.
That was when we heard the first giggle.
“Did you hear that?” Sweets asked, cupping her ear.
We heard the giggle again, this time it was followed by a low guttural growl. “I heard it again,” I said. “I think it’s coming from that office.” I pointed towards the last door, which had a gold nameplate hanging in the center of it that read Wallace Grinnell, Executive Vice President.
“Should we go see?” Jax asked.
Alba took it upon herself to charge ahead towards the sound of the voices. “It’s why we’re here,” she said. “Come on.”
The rest of us followed behind her closely. Without hesitation, we walked through the door – finally getting used to being ghosts. Surprisingly, though, the office appeared empty.
“There’s no one in here!” Holly said immediately upon entering.
Then we heard it again – the giggle from a woman and then the low guttural growling from a man. I moved closer to the desk and peered over the edge and down to the floor. The rest of the girls followed my lead and looked over it as I did.
Immediately, the sight of what was on the floor caused me to cover my eyes and look away. “Oh my god!” I screamed.
“Ewww,” Jax cried out.
“Is that you Holly?!” Sweets asked with a hand covering her eyes.
“Seriously Cosmo? Behind a desk?” Alba asked.
I looked at Holly. Her face flooded crimson with embarrassment. “Maybe we should wait out there,” she suggested as the few items of clothing around the room finally caught our attention.
Alba nodded. “Yeah. I’d say.”
The five of us left the room and rejoined Ronnie who was waiting for us in front of the secretary’s desk.
“You could have warned us!” Holly yelled at him. “How humiliating!”
He lifted his arms in his robe as if to shrug. “I got a little chuckle out of it,” he admitted.
Holly balled her fists and pounded the air next to her sides. “Ugh!” she screamed at him.
“So now what?” I asked as I sat down on the secretary’s chair. “We just wait for them to finish what it is they’re doing in there? Are we waiting for them to come out? Is there more to this?”
Ronnie was silent.
I sighed. Leaning back in the chair, I happened to notice the desk plate on the secretary’s desk. My eyes widened.
“Guys, look!” As all eyes turned towards me, I pointed at the nameplate on the little block of wood on the corner of the desk. “Holly Rockwell!”
Holly’s eyes widened. “I’m the secretary here?”
Alba nodded her head. “Oh, nice, Cosmo. You’re sleeping with your boss.”
Hurt, Holly looked away.
Sweets shot Alba an angry look. “Alba, stop. So what if he’s the boss. I’m sure they’re very happy together. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
As if on cue, Mr. Grinnell’s door opened, and a much older version of Holly emerged with a triumphant smile on her face. She straightened her skirt as she breezed past us. “I’ll just get my purse,” she hollered from behind her desk.
“How about one more kiss before I leave, sugar?” Wallace asked as he waltzed out of his office and leaned against the door frame, straightening his tie.
“Wait, you’re leaving? I thought we were going out to supper! It’s Christmas Eve,” Holly whined.
He laughed. “Sweetheart, that was an hour ago. I didn’t know we were going to do all of that,” he said, referencing their little tryst behind the desk. “I have to get home to Jen and the kids. It’s already getting late. She’s going to wonder where I’ve been.”
Holly stuck out her bottom lip. “So you’re picking your wife and a couple of kids over me, again?” she asked sadly.
Wallace kissed the tip of Holly’s nose. “I wish I could stay with you, sugar. But it’s Christmas Eve. The kids want me there when they put out the cookies for Santa.”
Collectively, we sucked in our breath around the room. I looked up at the real Holly, standing next to me. Her eyes had already gone blank. Everyone in the room knew where her mind had gone. It was almost too painful to watch her reality come full circle in such a demented way.
Alba and Sweets caught her before her knees buckled. I looked at Ronnie. “Get us out of here! Now!”
21
Ronnie lifted his arms again. A huge gust of wind gathered up from nowhere and swirled around us, causing my hair to whip at my face. It lasted only seconds before the wind settled and we were suddenly in a tiny studio apartment.
The furniture was sparse. There were no pictures on the walls and very few signs that anyone actually even lived there.
“Whose apartment is this?” Jax asked, walking around.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out. The front door opened and in walked Alba. The lines around her mouth and the grey in her hair suggested she was much, much older. She shut and locked the door, threw her keys and a few envelopes down on the small table next to the door, and dropped herself onto the worn sofa.
“Oh, wow Alba! You – you’ve aged!” Sweets said with astonishment.
Alba looked at herself curiously. “I do look old. How old am I? Whose apartment is this?”
The older version of Alba let out a loud sigh, grabbed the remote from the coffee table, flipped the television on, and leaned her head back.
“Obviously, this is your apartment,” Ronnie said from the back of the room.
“It’s pretty small. I guess I had hoped that Tony and I would have been able to afford a bigger place by the time I was this, uh – old.”
“Oh, you and Tony aren’t together,” Ronnie said as if that was somehow implied by the setting.
Alba spun around to look at Ronnie’s ghost. “What?! We’re not together anymore? Since when?”
Ronnie limped backwards. “You two divorced years and years ago. You’ve been single and alone since you graduated from the Paranormal Institute.”
Alba shook her head. “And alone? What about my parents?”
“After you graduated, you shut them out of your life. Hate filled your heart, and you didn’t have room for family,” he said bluntly.
She shook her head, denying what he was saying. “I wouldn’t shut my mom out.”
“Your mother and father allowed Tony to continue living with them. You were so upset about that that when you graduated, you moved out. You’ve been all alone ever since.”
“So I’m spending Christmas Eve alone in this dumpy little apartment?” Alba asked, shocked. She held her hand over her heart like she’d just been stabbed in the chest with a knife.
I reached a hand out to her. “Alba…I’m so sorry,” I began. I knew it wasn’t real and I knew Alba knew it wasn’t real. I knew this was all just a giant what-if, but the look of pain on Alba’s face was real. It wasn’t fake pain my friend was feeling, and it hurt me just looking at her.
She reached her hand back towards me and blindly grabbed my arm for support. I let her lean on me. “This isn’t real,” she chanted quietly to herself. “It’s not real. I don’t want this to be my life.”
“I know, Alba. It’s not real. None of this is real. It’s all make believe. It’s all a spell – a conjuring. We’ll wake up tomorr
ow morning, and you’ll still be married to Tony.”
Ronnie pointed at Alba. “It’s not real yet, but if the five of you continue to argue and fight each other, eventually your friendship will dissolve. You can’t keep treating each other like you have been forever and expect your friendship to survive. The five of you need each other for very different reasons, and you all have to respect those differences.”
She nodded as she tried to regain her strength and set her mind right. “Can we go?”
“Very well,” he agreed. “We have more to see.” He created the cyclone once again, rustling all of our hair in the process.
The high winds settled and everyone looked around in a daze. “Can we do this next time without the wind?” Holly asked grumpily picking at her hair. “I’m never going to get these knots out!”
Her comment was ignored as the bright lights in a new environment made our eyes squint and forced us to recapture our bearings. We were in a mall somewhere. Children swirled around our hips everywhere. Christmas music was playing over the loudspeakers, though it was difficult to hear through the barrage of children’s voices, laughter, and cries. We faced a large North Pole display with a thin version of Santa sitting in an oversized wooden chair in the middle of a red and green carpet. There was a Christmas tree behind him complete with fake presents under the tree and a Radio Flyer sled with a big red bow.
“What in the world?” Sweets asked, turning around slowly to take it all in. “Why are we in a mall?”
“Who’s left to visit? We’ve seen me, and we’ve seen Alba. It’s one of you three,” Holly pointed out.
I looked at Sweets and Jax curiously. “This can’t be me. I have no idea what my future holds, but I am literally positive that it doesn’t hold me bringing my kid to see a mall Santa on Christmas Eve.”
Jax smiled brightly as she nodded at Sweets. “She’s right – it’s either me or you, Sweets.”
No sooner had she said that then an elf appeared out of Santa’s workshop. She had on a green elf hat and fake pointy elf ears. She was dressed all in green and red, from her striped tights to her short mini red and green elf dress and her red and white striped sleeves.
A Very Mercy Christmas: A Witch Squad Holiday Special (A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Book 5) Page 12