by Amy Boyles
“Yep.”
We slid onto the road. I sneaked a glance back at Cordelia, who looked like she was still giving Zach what-for and hell’s bells. His head hung to his chest, making him appear good and chastened.
If you ask me, the guy deserved it for stringing my cousin along for so many years without attempting to make a commitment.
Except now he was.
I thought about loss for a moment and how Axel had lost Argus, a friend, and not long ago my uncle, who had left me Familiar Place.
“Do you miss my Uncle Donovan?”
Axel’s gaze dragged from the road to me. “I do. He loved matching witches and familiars. He was great at it, too. A person could walk in the store, and within minutes they’d have their familiar. He was also a caring, good person. You would’ve liked him.”
I stared out the window, watching the light from the streetlamps pool on the road. “I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to know him… If he hadn’t drank that bad cider and died, do you think he would’ve left me the shop anyway? I mean, reached out and found me, brought me to Magnolia Cove?”
Axel nodded. “Without a doubt.” We reached the First Witch Center. He slid into a spot and killed the engine. “Your uncle knew about you and wanted you here, Pepper. But everyone was forbidden from contacting you; otherwise someone would have.”
He cupped my chin in his hand and kissed me. “And I wish I’d known about you sooner, too.”
I smiled shyly. “It must be my amazing conversational skills that make you say that.”
He chuckled. “It’s that and much, much more. You snapped me out of my stupid idea that I couldn’t get close to someone because of what I am.”
I touched his cheek. “You’re not a creature. No matter what anyone says. That’s not the sum of who you are.”
He smiled. “That’s what I mean. For so long that’s how I felt. Though there’s tension here at the town, it’s minimal. I can deal with a few distrustful stares. But the fact that you accepted me and didn’t care about all that”—he took my palm and kissed it—“you don’t know what that means to me.”
I smiled. “I’m guessing it means a lot.”
“My heart swells when I see you.”
We stared at each other for a moment, and then, feeling the tension begin to head, I cleared my throat. “You ready to go investigate the heck out of one sorcerer’s shack?”
He grabbed his keys. “Let’s do it.”
We reached the shack a few minutes later and crept inside. Axel lit an orb in his hand and threw it up. The ball of light exploded outward, dotting the ceiling like a hundred small orbs of illumination.
“That’s cool. Do you do constellations?”
He winked. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I held back a laugh and glanced around the room. “So. We’ve done this once before. Where do we start?”
Axel rubbed his chin. “Garrick’s had his way with the place, so we’re just looking for a clue as to where that box might be hidden. Maybe he wrote it down on a slip of paper, or maybe we’ll find a contract of some sort. No clue. We just need to look.”
I took the back wall, which held a large cabinet with two wooden doors. I opened them. Something furry fell from a shelf directly onto me.
“Ah,” I yelled.
“Are you okay?” Axel said, rushing over.
“I was attacked,” I whispered. “Something jumped out at me.”
He stared at the floor. “It’s a ball of string.”
I smirked. “It was very scary.”
Axel patted my shoulder. “Keep looking.”
I dug through the cabinet, finding nothing but dusty bottles until I reached the very bottom. Sitting under a thick coat of grime was a box.
A silver box with a small lock that looked to be just about the right size for the silver key.
“Axel,” I said quickly. “Look what I found.”
He came over. “Well, what do we have here?” He slid the box from the shelf. “It’s heavy.” He took it to a table and laid it down.
I blew the grime off the top and smiled at him expectantly. “Do you think the key will fit?”
He fished it from his pocket and grinned. “Let’s see.” He was about to put it in and said, “This is what I love about my job. As serious as it all is, it’s the challenge of putting the puzzle pieces together that fuels me.”
I elbowed his arm. “Would you just see if it fits?”
“At your service.”
Axel placed the key to the lock. The silver slipped inside, and I felt hope bubble in my chest. I brought my fingers to my mouth. My eyes widened.
Axel turned the key and—nothing happened.
“It’s not the right key,” he said.
My hopes crashed to the ground. “I really thought this whole nightmare might be over.”
A somber look crossed Axel’s face. He rubbed my shoulder as I pressed my temples. “We’ll get this solved, Pepper. I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to free you from this spell.” He pressed his hands to mine. “I will do this. Trust me.”
I nodded. “I do. I will.”
“Let’s search a few more minutes. There may be something else here.”
I worked my way through the rest of the shelves, ignoring the headache that still fought to take over my focus. I didn’t find anything else that appeared helpful. No papers revealing the secret location and no more boxes that could hold the labradorite that we needed.
“Can’t we just order some labradorite online? Or does someone else sell it in town?”
Axel nodded. “We could and they do, but Argus’s labradorite will be charged with his power. It’ll hold spell memories and have energy that we need, sort of like a charged amplifier. If we bought a new stone, it wouldn’t hold the sorcerer’s power—and that’s what we need.”
I nibbled the inside of my lip. “Okay, so if we need an amplifier, what about Sylvia Spirits’s hats? Could that work?”
Axel shot me an amused look. “You want me to put on a frilly, pointy hat and see if that helps?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. First thing tomorrow morning we’ll head over there and I’ll get one.”
I grinned. “Thank you.”
Our gazes locked and Axel smiled at me. I tipped my chin and felt the heat rise between us. He took a step forward, cupped my chin and tilted my head back for our lips to meet.
A scream interrupted the moment.
I jerked back. “What?”
He grabbed my hand and waved a palm over the shack. The orbs of light darkened, and he led me from the room.
“It came from the center,” he said.
We followed the light spilling from the building. We reached the glass doors, and Axel threw them open.
We found a nurse holding on to a geriatric patient. The elder woman lay on the floor, her arms hanging limply by her sides.
The nurse glanced up at us. “I don’t know what happened. She stumbled from her room and collapsed. I shouldn’t have screamed. I’m used to death here.”
Axel reached out and glanced at the dead woman’s arm. He frowned.
“What is it?” I said.
“From the looks of it, this woman had a little help dying. From the puncture marks, it appears she may have met the same fate as Argus.”
I grimaced. “You think she was murdered?”
He nodded. “I do believe so.”
SIXTEEN
“Ingrid Gale was her name,” Garrick said, hovering over the body.
“I think she was poisoned,” Axel said.
Garrick sighed. “I suppose I’m going to have to do toxicology on an old woman, just to make you happy?”
Axel shook his head. “You’ll be doing toxicology to make yourself happy. I don’t know what’s going on here, but take a look, make sure it’s not related to Argus’s death.”
I felt bad for Garrick. Boy, had he had some night. First he shows up when Zach’s proposing to Cordelia
, and now he had more work on his hands than I’m sure he wanted.
Oh well, that’s how it goes some days, I suppose. When it rains, it unleashes a flood that disrupts everything in our lives.
“I’ll check into it, Reign,” Garrick said.
Axel smiled. “Thanks, Young. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
“Hope not, but I could use one less headache this week.”
I shot him a comforting smile before Axel and I left. “What do you think’s going on?”
Axel dipped his head toward me, keeping his voice low. “I don’t know, but we need to find out.”
We had almost reached the car when Samuel Amulet shot out from the darkness.
“You have it; I know you do,” he said, running toward Axel. “You’ve got the stone, and I want it back.”
Samuel swung to punch Axel in the face. Axel raised a hand, and Samuel’s fist got stuck in the air as if an invisible force was holding it back.
“I don’t have the labradorite,” Axel said. “Now stand down.”
“I don’t believe you,” Samuel spat. “You’ve got it.”
Axel opened his arms. “Where exactly do you think I’m hiding it?”
Samuel’s arm relaxed. “Up your—”
“Don’t even go there,” Axel warned. “Or you’ll know what it is to feel a punch.”
Samuel crumpled to the ground. “It’s all so close. The power. It’s within my grasp.”
“Did you know another resident died tonight?” Axel said.
Samuel’s eyes flared open. “Who?”
“Ingrid Gale.”
Samuel’s eyes narrowed. “Ingrid was good friends with my grandfather.”
“Do you think she might’ve known where the stone was?” I shot out.
Samuel blanched. “I don’t know. Why would I know?”
“You’re the one who wants it so badly,” I said. Not true. Obviously we wanted the stone as well.
Samuel staggered back. “I’ve suddenly got someplace to be. But watch out, Axel. If I find you’ve got Grandfather’s labradorite, I will take you down.”
“Go for it,” Axel said.
“I will,” Samuel said.
“Okay.”
“Watch your back,” Samuel added.
“I don’t have to because I could sense you coming a mile away.” Axel tapped his nose. “Werewolf smell.”
Samuel ran into the night. I glanced at Axel. “Think he had anything to do with it?”
Axel’s face darkened. “It’s strange that he was here. Why?”
I shrugged. “No clue, but let’s get going.”
Axel dropped me off at Betty’s. When I reached the porch, Jennie the guard-vine dipped down. I stroked Jennie’s bud, which made the plant shiver in what I assumed was pleasure, but I learned a long time ago never to assume, y’all, because usually my assumptions ended up being wrong.
When I opened the door, I was met by Betty, a shotgun strapped over her legs.
“Whoa. I thought that whole deal was over. That you trusted me to come in after ten p.m.”
Betty stroked the barrel. “It’s not for you. It’s in case Zach comes back to bother Cordelia.”
My eyebrows shot to peaks. “Did he do anything stupid?”
“If you call showing up and proposing to a girl you kept on the hook for three years without making a move stupid, then yes.”
I smirked. “I meant anything else.”
Betty shook her head. “That was enough.”
“Where is she?”
“Upstairs.”
I padded up to her room and knocked softly.
“Come in.”
I stepped inside to find Cordelia puffy-eyed, crumpled on her bed. Amelia sat beside her.
“Am I interrupting?”
Cordelia shook her head. “No. Come in.”
She reached for me, and I took her hand, sitting on the edge of the bed. I didn’t even have to ask what had happened after I left, because Amelia filled me in.
“Zach left a little while ago, but not before turning Cordelia upside down.”
Cordelia swiped tear-drenched hair from her eyes. “I had it all worked out. I was fine. Really I was. We’d broken up and I moved on. Then he shows up and throws me for a loop. Why did he have to do that?”
I squeezed her hand. “I don’t know. Maybe he genuinely realized his mistake. Sometimes after we lose something, we realize how much we’ve taken it for granted.”
“And Zach took you for granted a lot,” Amelia said.
Cordelia knuckled tears from her lashes. “I know. He did. And he’s admitted it. Said he won’t do it again and wants to marry me.”
I frowned. “To make up for it? Or because he’s realized his mistake.”
“That’s what worries me,” Cordelia said. “We haven’t been in the same space for ages and he shows up with a ring? Says he made the worst mistake of his life by letting me go. While here I am, stupid me, trying to move on. I had moved on.”
I ran a hand over her hair. “You need to listen to your heart on this one.”
“That’s what I said,” Amelia added.
Cordelia sniffled. “I know. I thought I had it all worked out. I mean, I’m the one who has her crap together, right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Amelia said.
Cordelia sighed. “I’m the levelheaded one.”
Amelia scoffed. “I’m levelheaded.”
I raised my palms. “Y’all, everyone here is levelheaded and smart. Amelia, what I think Cordelia’s trying to say is that she doesn’t understand why she’s got so much turmoil rolling around in her stomach right now.”
“I understand that,” Amelia said. “I’m glad I’m not in this situation.”
“Thanks,” Cordelia said drily.
“You’re welcome,” Amelia said.
The flame in Cordelia’s eyes told me she wanted to punch her cousin, so I grabbed Amelia. “We’ll give you some space. Come on, cuz. Let’s get some sleep. It’s late.”
We left Cordelia, who I heard burst into a fresh stream of tears as I shut the door. I said a silent prayer for her and slipped into my room, where I found Mattie and Hugo.
I greeted them both, changed my clothes and slipped under the covers. The headache still pinged at my temples, but now it was spreading to the top of my head. I hoped sleep would dampen it.
I sincerely hoped it would because it didn’t look like I had any other options for calming it.
By the time I woke up the headache was still throbbing strong. I showered and padded downstairs for breakfast, where I could grab a cup of coffee. Maybe the caffeine would help.
When I got downstairs, I found Betty taking a skillet of biscuits from the fireplace.
“Try one,” she said. “By the look on your face that headache is back and in full force. These might help.”
They steamed and Betty waved a hand over them. “Now, then. They won’t burn.”
I dug in. The dough flaked off, and the biscuit melted on my tongue. I moaned. “Wow. That is heaven in a skillet.”
She smiled. “Did it help?”
“Not yet, but I’m hoping it does soon.” I sank into a chair. “You seen Cordelia?”
Betty shook her head. “No, but when she gets her butt down here, I’ll make her eat six of these. They should help her aching heart and make her realize Zach is a sap that needs to be kicked to the curb.”
I cocked my head. “Sometimes decisions aren’t as easy as we want them to be.”
“Bull. Every decision is easy. Just make up your mind and go.”
I laughed. “In the perfect world of Betty Craple.”
She nodded. “Exactly right.”
Amelia bounded down the stairs. “No breakfast for me, thanks. It’s my first day at the Vault. I don’t want to have any tummy troubles from nerves. You know how I get nervous and then I’ll have to go to the bathroom and I might be there awhile. That would be super embarrassing.”
“Thanks,” she said.
I grabbed my purse and headed outside. The humidity was already at a thousand percent, making the air feel like a hot, nasty blanket. It was going to be a blazing day, but summer would soon be at an end and fall would arrive.
Thank goodness. ’Cause every time I even glanced at a sweater in my closet, I cringed. The idea of putting heavy fabric on made me want to jump in a pool—any pool.
Axel had promised to pick me up early. It was too early for Charming Conical Hats to be open, but there was something else I wanted to do and that was talk to Rufus.
I figured I had at least an hour before Axel picked me up, so I decided to head on over to the station.
Not that talking to Rufus would help, but maybe begging would do some good.
When I opened the door, one of the officers greeted me. “I want to speak to Rufus.”
The man dressed in a brown fedora, blue shirt and brown vest stared at me for a moment. “He’s not allowed visitors.”
I bit down on my lip. “Please. It’s important. I’m not going to break him out. I only need to talk to him.”
“I want to see her,” I heard Rufus call out. “After all, she’s the reason I’m here.”
The officer glanced around nervously. Other than him, the station was empty, but it was still early. “Five minutes.”
“Thank you.”
When I reached the row of cells, I saw Rufus reclined in a wingback chair.
“I see you’ve got some creature comforts. Must be nice. I have a horrible headache that I can only get rid of by using my magic.”
Rufus locked his hands behind his head and smiled. “Sounds like quite the predicament.”
“It is. I need to be free of the spell.”
He laughed. “That’s not going to happen, but I tell you what—” He rose and slinked over to the bars. For the first time since I’d met him, I saw what Amelia was talking about—the almost animallike sexuality that sizzled from him.
I swallowed and retreated a step. “Tell me what?”
“You can get rid of the headache; all you have to do is use your power.”
“No.”
He shrugged. “You don’t even know what it’ll do.”