I gasped so hard I nearly fell out of the tree, gripping the branch to steady myself. “Seriously? Anne? That little quiet thing? I mean, I guess you’re right, but I just can’t imagine it.”
Before I had a chance to mull over Willow’s words further, though, Jason suddenly checked his phone, turned off the TV, and got up. The two of us were rapt with attention as he went to the kitchen, moving out of our line of sight for a minute, then returned a minute later with a small cooler bag. Grabbing his shoes, he moved toward the front door.
“Looks like he’s going out,” Willow said, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I wonder where. It’s almost midnight.”
“Should we follow him?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I want to see what’s inside his place. If we can find proof that he had the poison in there, then we’ve got him.”
“Ok, good plan,” Willow said. Jason made his way to the front door, turned off the lights, locked up, and walked down the street. The fact that he walked and didn’t take a broom meant he wasn’t necessarily going super far, unless he was going to take the portal elsewhere. I had no idea how long we were going to have until he came back. We were going to have to be quick.
Chapter 17
“Time for an invisibility spell,” I said to Willow.
“I brought potions just in case,” she replied, pulling out a couple small vials from a pocket. Perfect. I took one from her and swallowed it, immediately disappearing.
“How long will this last?” I asked.
“Two hours,” Willow said. “I figured we might need them.”
“Good thinking.”
We made our way to Jason’s building. I headed to the front door, pulling out my wand, just in case. Unfortunately, it appeared multitasking wasn’t my strong suit, and taking out my wand and going up the stairs leading to the door didn’t go well together. I tripped on the top step and fell straight into Willow, who let out a small yelp, the two of us falling against the building’s front door with a thud.
“Rhea above, you scared the crap out of me!” Willow hissed.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.
“We’re trying not to get caught here,” Willow pointed out.
“I’ll let my two left feet know,” I replied.
Willow carefully opened the front door to the building and slipped inside. I closed the door behind me and we stood still for a moment, taking in the surroundings. The lobby was low-ceilinged and dark, with a couple of upholstered chairs in the corner that looked like they hadn’t been replaced since the eighties. The lightbulb above flashed intermittently; maintenance didn’t exactly seem to be a priority in this building.
“Let’s get going. I feel like I’m in a horror movie here,” Willow whispered to me, and I nodded. The two of us headed down the hallway to the left, stopping in front of the first door on the left, which had to be Jason’s, given the location of his windows.
“Ready?” I asked.
“To commit my first-ever felony?” Willow said. “My mom was right—you are a bad influence.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said as I cast a quick spell to get rid of any wards, then opened the door and stepped into the apartment. I turned on the entry light and had a look around.
The money Jason Oakland saved on rent by living in this dump should have been invested into a cleaning service. I scrunched up my nose as I looked around. Why was there an old slice of pizza crust on the ground next to his shoes in the entryway? Did he even own a broom? I had so many questions.
“We’re going to die from botulism just by spending time in here,” Willow muttered. “Hold on, I’m going to go close the curtains so we can turn the lights on in the rest of this place.”
About thirty seconds later, the rest of the lights in the apartment flickered on, and I stepped through the entryway into the kitchen. It was just as dirty in there; dishes were piled high in the sink, the counter had a glob of jam so old it was developing white spots, and the smell made me want to run away and never come back.
“It’s a miracle he hasn’t killed himself by accident,” I muttered as I looked at the fridge. I was legitimately scared as to what I was going to find in there. I wasn’t expecting to find a severed head or anything like that; I was much more terrified of a year-old milk carton or something.
I held my breath as I opened the fridge door. I figured this would be the ideal spot to store poisonous potions. Some potions had to be stored at room temperature, but much like regular food, most potions kept longer if they were in the fridge.
Of course, that was assuming that Jason kept some of the potion. If he was smart, he would have dumped it down the sink as soon as he’d killed Blaze. But then, this was Jason Oakland we were talking about. He wasn’t exactly a candidate for the paranormal branch of Mensa.
The fridge was in exactly the shape I was expecting. Old food was so solidly plastered on the plastic shelves that they had basically molded into the plastic, and frankly, I was tempted to just burn down this whole apartment in the name of public safety.
My eyes were immediately drawn to four different cauldrons, however. They were all filled with different-colored potions.
“Willow,” I called out, and I heard a reply a minute later.
“Don’t go into the bathroom. I’ve seen things I can’t unsee.”
I laughed. “Did you by any chance bring any extra vials?”
“To collect samples of any potions we found so we could test them for poison later? Because you didn’t think to do it? Why yes, yes I did.”
“I knew I was your friend for a reason,” I grinned. “Hand them over.”
It took a second or two of maneuvering—because Willow had had the vials on her when we took the potion, they were invisible as well—but eventually Willow handed me four glass vials, which I filled with a bit of each potion and stoppered before slipping them into my pocket.
“What do you think?” I asked. “Poison?”
“Could be,” Willow said. “I don’t recognize any of those by sight, and I’m pretty good at telling my potions apart these days.”
“Ok, we’ll see when we get home,” I replied. “Did you have a look around the rest of this place?”
“I did,” Willow nodded. “Couldn’t find anything else. Should we get out of here?”
“Yeah,” I said, but a second later, the front door to the apartment creaked open. I stared wide-eyed at where I knew Willow was standing, even though I couldn’t see her. Jason was back.
“What do we do?” Willow whispered.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Try and get out of here without him touching us.”
I slipped toward the hallway and looked down at the open door, and as soon as I did, my blood turned to ice.
Jason wasn’t there. In fact, there was no one there. That meant there was another intruder in here. Someone else who had turned themselves invisible was now in this apartment with us.
I moved back and grabbed Willow by what I thought was her wrist and pulled her deeper into the kitchen.
“There’s someone else in here,” I whispered as quietly as I could.
“What do we do?” she replied.
I shrugged before realizing a second later there was no way Willow could see my reaction.
“What if it’s linked to the murder?” I asked. “We need to find out who it is.”
“Ok, we have to break their spell. Let’s split up. We can’t let them know we’re here.”
“Yup.”
With that, Willow and I broke apart. I moved carefully through the apartment. After all, if I hit the person who was in here with us, that would let them know they weren’t alone in here. I managed to squeeze myself into a small gap between the fridge and the wall while I waited for the intruder to come into the kitchen; there was no way they would bother to check the gap I was in for any reason.
My plan was to wait for the intruder to come into the kitchen and make a sound, or maybe
open the fridge door or a cupboard. When they did that, I would jump out, cast a paralyzing spell, and then reverse their invisibility spell so that I could see who it was.
It was perfect. Well, apart from one tiny flaw. Sure enough, the intruder came into the kitchen. I could just make out their footsteps as they walked past me, and I held my breath, not daring to so much as breathe lest my presence be discovered. I jumped out from my hiding spot, pulling out my wand and preparing to cast my spell, but my foot got caught under the fridge and instead I fell to the floor with a bang, hitting my arm and dropping my wand.
Ugh. This was so not my best moment.
“Get out of here!” I called out, hoping Willow would get the hint, but hoping the intruder would also think I was speaking to them. I pulled on my leg, trying to free it, but only succeeded in causing a jolt of pain to shoot up it instead. The intruder was muttering something, and I was sure a spell was being cast against me. I felt around for my wand and grabbed it, quickly casting a shield spell. It worked; the intruder stopped speaking and as far as I was aware, everything was still normal.
“Rhea, goddess mother, free my leg,” I muttered, and an instant later I managed to release my foot from under the fridge and scramble to my feet.
Now I just had this intruder to contend with. A magic fight where both participants were invisible was not exactly ideal, but it was what I had to deal with.
Chapter 18
“Rhea, mother of the gods, reveal this witch or wizard,” I shouted, pointing my wand around the room. I figured if I could see the person I was up against, I’d have a better shot of managing to stop them before they got me. Unfortunately, nothing happened. They must have cast a protection spell around themselves, like I’d done.
This was ridiculous. If whoever was there was protected from magic, there was only one way to defeat them: without magic.
I listened for the other witch or wizard’s footsteps. I heard them a minute later, and I charged.
My shoulder connected with something and I heard a squeal, and a cry of “oh no, my wand!” as the intruder and I crashed to the floor. There was something familiar about the voice.
At the same time, there came a cry from the other room. What on earth was going on? This was ridiculous.
“Rhea, mother of the gods, cancel out all spells cast in your name,” I called out, waving my wand around the room. It meant that Willow and I would become visible again, but at least we’d know who we were up against.
I found myself staring right into the face of Grandma Rosie.
“Seriously?” I said, scrambling to my feet to help my grandmother up. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question,” Grandma Rosie said, carefully straightening out her clothes. She was dressed in a bright purple tracksuit that would have been popular back in the eighties. I was half expecting her to be holding a couple of one-pound weights in each hand. Was this seriously the disguise she was going with? What kind of senior citizen goes for their evening stroll in the middle of the night?
“Willow? Are you ok?” I called out, looking into the living room, where I found my friend helping Connie up off the ground.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Is that your grandmother in the kitchen?”
“It certainly is,” Grandma Rosie replied for me, peeking her head over my shoulder to look into the living room herself. “Now, what on earth are you doing breaking and entering into this young man’s home?”
I threw up my hands. “Seriously? I could ask you the same question.”
“We were looking for the bathroom and got a little bit lost,” my grandmother deadpanned, and I groaned and buried my head in my hands. Was this seriously where I got it from? Was I destined to be Grandma Rosie when I grew old?
“What about you?” she continued. “Why are you here?”
“We’re trying to find proof that Jason Oakland is Blaze’s killer,” I replied. My grandmother narrowed her eyes at me.
“I knew it. I knew this whole time you were trying to get in on my turf and sneak the reward money out from under me. I just knew it.”
“I really only made the decision the other day,” I said. “But after I was fired from my job, I figured I didn’t really have any other good options.”
“How did you figure out that Jason is the killer?” Willow asked Connie, who made her way next to Grandma Rosie.
“Like we’re going to tell you anything,” Grandma Rosie said quickly before Connie could answer. I rolled my eyes.
“Look, obviously we all know he’s the killer. It’s not like telling us how you got to that conclusion is going to change our minds.”
“Then why don’t you tell us how you got here,” Grandma Rosie said, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Fine,” I said, throwing up my hands. “We found out Jason was selling illegal potions to a bunch of dragons looking for a good time, including Blaze’s sister, and Blaze was threatening Jason to get him to stop selling to Bridget.”
Connie nodded. “That’s what we found out, too. We haven’t spoken to Bridget, but Rosie knows a couple of dragons, and that’s what they told us.”
“So why did you come here tonight?”
“We wanted to find traces of the poison he used before he got rid of it,” Grandma Rosie said. Great minds really did think alike. Although frankly, if this was an idea Grandma Rosie came up with, I was starting to wonder if I was really on the right track.
“Ok, well, let’s agree that we never saw each other and get out of here.”
“If you breathe a word of what happened here tonight to your mother, you’ll be sorry,” Grandma Rosie said to me, grabbing me by the arm.
“Are you threatening me?” I said, pulling away. I couldn’t believe my seventy-something-year-old grandmother was actually threatening me. Why couldn’t I have a normal grandmother who spent her nights baking cookies, not breaking into illegal potion dealers’ homes?
“I’m just letting you know how it is,” she replied.
“Fine. I won’t tell her if you don’t tell her,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Grandma Rosie. The two of us stared each other down for a second, until Willow waved a hand between our faces.
“Come on, both of you. We need to get out of here before Jason gets home.”
“You two can leave. Connie and I haven’t had a look around yet.”
“Fine,” I said. “We’re going.”
I grabbed Willow by the wrist and the two of us left the apartment.
“What if he comes back while they’re still there?” Willow asked, looking back toward Jason’s place as we walked briskly back to the park.
“Not our problem,” I replied firmly. “Besides, those two old ladies can take care of themselves. And if they get locked up in jail when they get caught breaking into a second place in less than twenty-four hours, well, I guess the reward money will have to go toward their bail.”
Willow laughed. “Well, let’s see if we can figure out what these potions are made of and get back to your place before we get caught out here and arrested instead.”
“Wouldn’t Grandma Rosie just find that to be the biggest hoot,” I muttered as Willow and I made our way back to my place. As we entered, I pulled the vials out from my pocket and set them down on the table. Vials were always magically enhanced to make them unbreakable, so even though they were made of glass, they had come through our entire adventure completely unscathed.
Willow and I looked at the samples carefully now that we were no longer at risk of being caught.
The first potion, which had been in the biggest cauldron, was a dark rust color. It looked thick and grainy, and frankly, not at all appetizing. The one next to it, on the other hand, was blue with swirls of silver, like a flowing river in the moonlight.
“I hope that one’s ok to take,” I said, motioning toward it, and Willow gave me a you-know-better-than-that look.
“Really? You want to be able to drink a random potion we found in
that apartment because it looks pretty?”
“The pretty ones shouldn’t be poisonous. It’s not fair.”
“That’s exactly how nature works. The bright colors are supposed to tell you to stay away. It’s too bad you were born with the instincts of a suicidal bird. You’d be the first one trying to eat the poisonous butterfly.”
“What can I say, at least I’d die with a full stomach,” I said with a shrug, turning my attention to the last two vials. One was a rather dark shade of green, with foam on the top, and the last one was a canary yellow color that reminded me of a fresh can of paint.
“Do you have any poison testing strips here?” Willow asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah, of course.” Every good earth coven witch owned poison testing strips. Potions were an essential part of our lives, and we had to make sure when we made new or complicated potions that we weren’t going to risk our lives by drinking them, plus be able to check potions of unknown provenance.
Why Jason Oakland didn’t bother with these precautions when he made his was absolutely beyond me. He was probably too lazy to check, or too concerned with how it would affect his bottom line to worry about it.
I pulled out two strips and handed them to Willow, then took another two myself. I placed them in the two vials closest to me, with half the strip inserted into the potion and the other half sticking out. If the strips turned red, that meant they were poisonous. If they turned green, we were good to go.
I was so intently focused on the strips, convinced one of them was going to go red, that when they all turned green, I groaned.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “Maybe we should try again.”
Willow gave me one of her looks. “Really? You think the magic might be wrong?”
“Fine,” I admitted. “None of these are poisonous. I was seriously hoping one of them would be, though. It would have proven that Jason was our killer. Now we’re just going to have to find some other kind of proof, since there wasn’t any in his home.”
Going through the Potions Page 10