“I was actually thinking that I might try and solve it,” I suggested quietly, not entirely sure how Willow was going to react.
“You?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, me,” I said. “Think about it. I don’t have a job right now, so I have plenty of time on my hands. And you say I need to practice being a scalpel rather than a hammer. What better way to practice subtly solving puzzles than by trying to solve this puzzle in particular? After all, what a magical fixer does isn’t really all that different from trying to solve a murder.”
“Other than the part where doing this would end up with you being in the crosshairs of a killer,” Willow said, crossing her arms. “For you, it might be a puzzle, but for the murderer, it’s about getting away with it. If you manage to get close, you’re probably going to end up in his sights.”
“Not if I do it subtly,” I said with a smile and a wag of my finger. “I can figure out who it is, go to Chief Enforcer Loeb, and give her all of the information, and she can deal with the actual confrontation while I get paid the money.”
Willow still looked skeptical. “I don’t know,” she said. “It still seems pretty dangerous to me.”
“Well, for half a million abras, I’m willing to put myself in harm’s way.”
“It’s not even guaranteed money,” Willow said. “You only get paid if you actually manage to find the killer.”
“Yeah, and if I don’t succeed, the killer would have no reason to come after me. So it only becomes dangerous if I actually deserve the money.”
“That makes so little sense my brain doesn’t even know how to reply to you right now,” Willow said, shaking her head. “I know I’m not going to be able to dissuade you from this, since once you’ve got an idea in your head you always go for it, no matter how bad of an idea it is. But please, I’m begging you, be careful. This isn’t you casting spells on idiot teenagers trying to bully me anymore. This is you going after somebody who legitimately murdered one of our citizens.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “But I promise I’ll be careful. I’ll be a scalpel, just like you when you’re healing people.”
Willow still didn’t look convinced. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help that doesn’t involve committing any crimes or doing anything that might get us murdered, let me know.”
“Thanks,” I said gratefully. “You really are the best friend I could ever ask for.”
“Just do me one favor: absolutely do not do this with your grandmother and Connie, please. Those two old ladies are insane, and having them involved in this too is just not going to end well.”
I laughed. “Absolutely agreed. I’m not going near either one of them with a ten-foot pole.”
Chapter 7
Willow and I finished eating, with Willow catching me up on her life, and the two of us split up. She went back to work while I began walking along the lake, trying to figure out how I was going to investigate a murder.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know anything. One of my guilty pleasures was watching human-world police procedurals on TV; I was a big fan of a show called Hawaii Five-0, so I figured I wasn’t completely lost in this space. The first thing I had to do was try and find some suspects. Who would want Blaze dead, and why?
To do that, I knew I had to speak with the people who knew him best. That meant going deep under Mount Rheanier, to the caves where the dragons spent most of their time. I had never been there, but I did know the way. Heading back into town, I took the road that led directly toward the mountain. It eventually ended and turned into yet another forest trail, and I walked along, enjoying the sounds of the late-season birds that either hadn’t migrated yet or were going to brave the winter here in Washington. After about an hour of walking, I reached the base of the caves where the dragons lived. It was currently guarded by a large black and blue dragon.
As soon as he saw me, he let out a roar, then shifted back into human form.
“What brings you to the dragon’s lair?” he asked. “We are in mourning and not receiving visitors.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said genuinely. “I was hoping to speak with some of Blaze’s friends. I was the one who found him on the ledge yesterday.”
The dragon shifter’s face softened. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Thank you for finding him. But I’m afraid I still cannot let you in there. We have had paranormal after paranormal coming in to question the family and friends of Blaze, before the funeral has even been held. I’m afraid I cannot let anybody who is not a dragon into the caves right now.”
“That’s alright, I understand,” I said. “Can you tell me when the funeral will be?”
“It will be held tomorrow morning, exactly forty-eight hours after the discovery of the body. Normally, we do it forty-eight hours after the time of death, but as we don’t have an exact time yet, we have to go with when the body was found.”
I nodded. “Thank you. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”
“You are trying to solve the murder, are you not?”
I shrugged. “I got fired from my job. I called the Enforcers when I found Blaze’s body, and as a result, I wasn’t able to collect all the plants I needed. So I have a lot of time on my hands right now, and I figured I might give it a shot.”
“And the money the family has put up hasn’t hurt, either,” the dragon said, a smile flittering on his lips. I gave an embarrassed shrug in response. “Because you are the one who found his body, I will answer whatever questions I can. But I cannot allow you into the caves.”
“I understand,” I replied. “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted Blaze dead?”
“Of course not. I’ve been thinking of nothing else since I heard the news. Blaze was a good dragon. He was very helpful in the community, and always willing to help out when someone had an emergency at work and needed another shifter to take over.”
That made sense. Shifters worked almost exclusively in roles of security or law enforcement. A lot of the dragons in town who worked security required very little training, and so it would have been possible for Blaze to cover a shift easily.
“Had he been having any issues with anyone recently? Perhaps not something that would result in his death, but even a minor spat?”
The dragon thought for a minute, then nodded. “Yes, come to think of it, I think there was something.”
“Oh?”
“A few days ago, I saw him along one of the paths. He was in the middle of a heated discussion with one of the wizards from your coven; I believe his name is Jason.”
“Jason Oakland?”
“Short, with black hair, and beady eyes? Looks a little bit like a rat?”
“Yeah, that’s Jason Oakland,” I nodded. “What were they arguing about?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t want to intrude, of course, so when I saw their conversation was very private, I moved on. But I did hear Blaze telling Jason that he needed to stop, and that was final. Jason told Blaze that he didn’t know what he was talking about, and that if Blaze didn’t get off his back, he’d be sorry. That’s all I know.”
“Ok, thanks,” I said, nodding slowly. I had never liked Jason, and I wondered what Blaze had to do with him. Jason was a few years older than me, maybe six or seven years older, and even when I was growing up, he had a reputation of being a loser. I had no idea what he did for money, but I was fairly certain he didn’t have a real job. “Do you know when Blaze disappeared? When was the last time anyone saw him?”
“Late the night before he was killed,” the dragon replied sadly. “He ate dinner with his family, then apparently he received a text message around eleven and said he was going out. He never came back.”
So that meant he could have been killed any time between eleven at night and around maybe ten the next morning, when I found the body.
“Alright, thanks,” I said to the dragon. “I’ll see you at the funeral tomorrow. I’m sorry again for your loss.”
> “Thank you,” the dragon replied. “I do hope the reward offered by the family results in a quick resolution.”
So did I. Hopefully a resolution that would lead to me having enough money to tide me over for a little while.
I walked back to town with my hands buried in my pockets, deep in thought, staring at the ground in front of me. That was a long window during which it was possible Blaze was killed. I wondered if maybe the Enforcers didn’t have a more definite time of death, now that they would have had the body examined by Healers. I also wanted to know what the text he received that had him leave the house late at night was.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think there was much of a way for me to find out either one of those things. The information would be at the town hall, protected by shifters. I could always try and break in, but no, that would probably land me in a lot more hot water than I was after right now.
Still, I was stuck. I figured at the funeral the next day I could get some more information, so I made my way back home and spent the afternoon chilling out, enjoying my first afternoon of unemployment in years.
The next morning, Leda and I decided to go to the funeral together.
Leda and Willow were actually quite similar in a lot of ways. Maybe that was why I got along with Willow so well, and why I had stopped to help her back at the Academy when the wizards were bothering her. Neither witch was particularly skilled, but they both worked hard to get good grades. Leda had graduated from the Academy a couple of years ago and worked for a small, local manufacturing company making magical bath bombs, shampoos, soaps, and other health and beauty products.
Leda and I had the same black hair as our mother, but her face was rounder, her mouth thinner, taking more after our father. Leda lived in a studio apartment in town; being as she made a better living than I did, despite being the younger sibling, she could afford to move out, unlike myself, who lived in the shed at the back of the cottage.
“How are you doing?” Leda asked when I met her on the street in front of her apartment. The two of us were dressed in dark blue, the traditional color for a dragon funeral in Mt. Rheanier.
I shrugged. “I’m ok, thanks. I’m always ok.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Leda said, looking at me askance. “I heard you lost your job as a plant collector.”
I sighed. “Seriously? Is that news making its way around town already?” It figured. Weren’t small towns always that way?
“Does Mom know yet?”
“I don’t think so. She hasn’t knocked down the front door in an attempt to yell at me for messing up my life.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not even a little.”
Leda and I walked along in silence for a few minutes. “How are you doing?” I finally asked her. “Is everything ok at work?”
“It’s great,” Leda said cheerily. “I’m really happy with how things are going. I came up with a cool new recipe the other day. It’s a bath bomb that makes you hallucinate so you feel like you’re swimming in the tropics.”
“Oh, that sounds cool.”
“I’ll bring you one to try out. It took me ages to get the potion right. One of my first attempts failed so miserably I thought I was swimming through the River Styx, and when I finally came to, I had splashed water all over the bathroom.” Leda laughed. “But I got there in the end. It just took a few attempts, and at least now I know how to make a bath bomb for my enemies.”
That was my sister, always looking on the bright side of everything.
The funeral was to take place at the top of Mt. Rheanier. Someone had created a series of magical gondolas that went from the trail leading to the dragon caves all the way up to the location of the funeral. The gondolas were large, each holding eight or so paranormals comfortably, and moved up and down the mountain, gliding wirelessly a few feet above the trees. Leda and I stepped into one together and were immediately whisked up, with my sister pressed against the window, enjoying the view.
“I do think I should make the time to go to the top of the mountain more,” she said to me. “I just wish there was a way to do it without flying. They should make this gondola a permanent installation.”
“Yeah, but then what? You’d get to the top and you’d just freeze in the wind and cold until you couldn’t stand it anymore, and you’d come back down.”
“Sure, but someone could build a large building up there to hold visitors. The view is fantastic. I mean, look at that.”
Leda had a point about the view. Looking out of the gondola as we rose above the entire mountain was absolutely amazing. The whole valley spread out below us. The sun’s rays glanced off the calm waters of the lake, with the town’s adorable buildings so small they looked like toys. The leaves on the deciduous trees were turning, mingling with the deep pine color of the evergreens.
We reached the top of the mountain and stepped out. I immediately wrapped my arms around myself; it was significantly colder at the higher elevation, and the wind was not only cutting, but it was also a lot stronger. My hair whipped around my face as I looked around.
We were standing on a large ledge at the top of the mountain, giving us a 360-degree view of the world around us. To the left was the large caldera of Mt. Rheanier, about a hundred feet deep and maybe three hundred feet wide, and almost a perfect circle. Paranormals were streaming toward it, and Leda and I joined the crowd, following a path deep into the crater formed by the last explosion of this mountain some thousands of years ago. As we stepped down into the hole, the wind abated, but it was still significantly colder than in the valley below.
In the center of the caldera was a huge bonfire. Leda and I approached it, joining the group of paranormals who all streamed toward the fire, everyone pretending that wasn’t at all for its warmth.
I looked around to see if I recognized anyone before the funeral ceremony began. After all, I wasn’t here just to mourn Blaze—I was here to see if I could find his killer.
Chapter 8
My eyes scanned the crowd. It seemed as though half of Mt. Rheanier had come to pay their respects to Blaze. On the other side of the fire was a group of dragons huddled in a circle. Standing away from them, her arms wrapped around herself, tears streaming down her face, was a dragon shifter I recognized as Blaze’s sister, Bridget. She had always been nice, and my heart broke for her as I saw her standing there by herself. I made my way toward her.
“Hey,” I said softly to her as I approached. She still jumped a bit, as if I’d surprised her.
“Althea, right?” she said by way of greeting. “You’re the one who found my brother.”
“That’s right,” I said with a nod. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe anyone would do this to him. Who would have wanted him dead?”
“I was hoping you would be able to help me with that.”
Bridget turned and gave me a hard look. “Let me guess, you’re after the reward money.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I am,” I said, holding my arms out. “I lost my job, and so I have nothing better to do than try and solve your brother’s murder. To be honest, though, I liked Blaze. He was nice. I don’t think he deserved what happened to him, and as much as the money would be nice, I also think the more people helping to find his killer, the better.”
“You really think that, do you?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t agree? But it’s your family that’s put up the reward money.”
“My mom and dad put up the reward money,” Bridget stated. “I told them it was a bad idea. Do you know how many people have come by the caves looking for information? Everyone and their familiar is trying to solve this case.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, a bit of guilt washing over me. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“No, I understand. Really, I do. And of everyone, you’re the one who found him. So I thank you for it.”
“I understand he left the house the prev
ious night and didn’t come back?”
“That’s right,” Bridget sighed. “We were playing cards, and he got a text, and he left. I don’t know where he went, I don’t know who the text was from. All I know is that it was there. And I don’t know who would have wanted to kill him. You knew Blaze. He was so friendly, and he got along with everyone.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “I’ve been having trouble understanding who might have wanted to do this to him, too.”
“He had been trying to find himself recently,” Bridget said sadly. “It wasn’t easy for him. Our family has so much money, he didn’t want to take a job away from somebody who might have needed it, but he also didn’t want to spend his life just sitting around doing nothing. He wanted to make something of himself, you know?”
I nodded. “I can understand that. He was a good dragon, but he definitely had a lot of energy, and I can see how a life of simple luxury would have not been for him. He seemed like the type who wanted to do more.”
“That’s right,” Bridget said. “He hadn’t quite found what he was after. Hopefully he manages to find it in the next life.”
Just then, the sky was covered as four dragons flew in a circle, slowly making their way down toward the caldera. The funeral was starting. I left Bridget and made my way back to Leda, who was standing with the other witches and wizards who had come to the funeral.
We watched as the dragons continued to spiral toward us before eventually landing next to the bonfire, one facing east, one facing west, one facing north, and one facing south. The four dragons shot fire into the sky, and as soon as that was finished a dragon shifter in human form, standing on top of the caldera’s rim, began to speak. His voice had to have been magically enhanced, as it boomed across the entire space.
“Paranormals, I thank you all for coming to remember the life of Blaze, a young dragon whose life was cut short too early. I have known Blaze since he was a hatchling, and while he may not have lived a long life, the life that he lived mattered.”
Going through the Potions Page 4