Don't Give a Witch (Bless Your Witch Book Six)

by Amy Boyles

  “What is it?” Gladiolas said.

  Sera flipped the trophy so its contents could spill out onto the floor. But there was nothing inside to come out. My heart pounded in my ears as I announced from the side—

  “The trophy’s empty. Never Forget is still missing.”

  EIGHTEEN

  And that was all it took for Pearbottom to drop his plans to skewer Boo Bane’s brain. Gladiolas, bless her soul, called Roman and Pearbottom back to Castle Witch instantly.

  Roman cornered me a few minutes later. “What’d you do?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing. I didn’t do anything.”

  The corners of his eyes crinkled as his perfect plump lips coiled into a smile. My heart fluttered in my chest. “Thank you.”

  I shook my head. “There’s nothing to thank me for.”

  “Right.”

  “Where’s the potion?” he said.

  We stood in the hallway. A hundred unhappy-looking witches and wizards milled about. “Someplace safe.”

  Jonathan Pearbottom stormed past. His face was pinched into a scowl. “Pearbottom’s irate about this whole thing. Turns out he never opened the trophy to see if the potion was inside.” Roman chuckled. “I couldn’t open it because the thing was locked up tight.”

  I laughed. “He had one job, right?”

  Roman nodded.

  Gladiolas’s voice boomed overhead. “Can everyone please meet in the theater? We have an announcement.”

  We shuffled back inside, contestants and guests alike. When everyone was settled, Gladiolas raised her hands. “Our inspectors are looking into the theft for the second time,” she said. “I have the utmost confidence that they will return Never Forget when we announce the winner. For now, I want to take a break and give them time to do their jobs. We’ve seen about half the contestants so far, and we have half to go. This isn’t protocol, but we will stop for today and reconvene tomorrow morning. I promise we will have a prize to the winner by this time tomorrow afternoon. We will see you back at eight a.m.”

  Though many of the blue-haired older witches and wizards looked angry, there was nothing they could do about it. If they wanted to go hunting for Never Forget, they could, after all.

  “It looks like you’ve got a job to do,” I said to Roman when we were outside.

  He scratched the back of his head. “It’s not one I want to do.”

  “If you don’t look like you’re trying, these elder wizards will arrest you.”

  Roman thumped his fingers on his chest. His black T-shirt stretched tight over his pectorals, defining his chiseled muscles so that they looked cut from rock. I nearly swooned.

  “You can’t get arrested,” I said.

  “It might be the best choice.”

  I cuffed my hand around his arm. “Don’t say that. It’s not the best choice. I can’t have you locked away. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  His green eyes flared with mischief. “Really? You don’t know what you’d do? Are you admitting something?”

  I edged away from him. “Like what?”

  He steered me down the path toward the castle. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you don’t want to be apart from me. It might take death or some other natural phenomena to make that happen.”

  I shook my head. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “All I’m saying is I don’t want to be without you either. I’m willing to admit it.”

  “I’m willing to admit that, too.”

  “Ah, so you do want to get married.”

  I jerked my hand away from him as if Roman’s skin had burned me. “Where did that even come from? That wasn’t a natural segue in the conversation.”

  “It was natural enough for me.”

  “That’s because you don’t make any sense.”

  “I make more sense than most people.”

  Roman walked me back to my room in silence. It wasn’t a rough, cold silence, the kind where the air is heavy with tension. Okay, so some tension clung to the air, but it wasn’t bad. It was more thoughtful than anything.

  I just didn’t know where all this marriage stuff was coming from. We’d had an amazing time in Paris. He fed me food, we had picnics, we saw sights, we laughed until our sides hurt. It was wonderful. But the idea of completely changing my life sent my stomach lurching down to my feet.

  We reached my room. Roman turned to me and swept me up in a blazing kiss before I had a second to protest. I didn’t want to protest anyway. My arms slackened, my mouth opened and I melted into him.

  “I’ll call you later,” he whispered into my air.

  Spikes of energy tingled down my body. “Okay,” I said, though my tongue was completely tied.

  I stumbled into my room, feeling half-drunk off his kiss. A whimsical smile spread across my face as I greeted my family.

  “Hey, y’all,” I said, saluting them.

  Grandma saluted me right back. “Dylan, thank goodness you’re here. What a pickle!”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You’re a judge. What’s Gladiolas saying about this whole thing?”

  Grandma threw her hands in the air. “What can she say? The Magical Abilities contest has the biggest audience it’s seen in years. Everyone’s waiting to see if we’ll find the prize in time to award it tomorrow night.”

  “They’ll find it,” I said.

  “Yeah, but then what about Roman?” Sera said.

  “I’m still trying to figure that one out,” I said.

  Sera bobby pinned her hair out of her face. “What do you mean, you’re trying to figure it out? This is a job for the witch police.”

  “I know,” I said. “But they might need some help.”

  “Oh jeez,” she said. “You should stay out of it.”

  I plopped down in a chair and toed off my sandals. “Anyway. How’d it go today, Reid?”

  Reid stopped scrolling on her tablet. She glanced up and grinned wide. “It went great. I did something totally different.”

  Grandma opened a dresser drawer and started riffling through the contents. I’ll just take a moment and remind you that this was not my grandma’s room and those were not the contents of her drawer.

  “Reid did a great job,” Grandma said. “You should both take a lesson from her.”

  “Wow,” I said. “So what was the thing you feared most?”

  Reid giggled. “A math test. I made a giant math test appear.”

  “Creative,” Sera said. “So how did you conquer your fear?”

  Reid poked the air. “Simple. I made a 100 on it.”

  I laughed. “That’s awesome. You get points for creativity for sure.”

  Reid ran a finger down the tablet. “Yeah. The whole room exploded in laughter.”

  “That’s great,” I said. “So, Sera, are you up first thing tomorrow?”

  Sera shook her head. “No. The thing I feared most was winning the cup. That’s how I managed to knock it over.”

  “Thanks for doing that,” I said.

  Sera shimmied out of her jeans and pulled on a pair of shorts. “You’re welcome.”

  Reid scowled at me. “What does that mean?”

  I sighed. “It means that this is super secret, but I know who stole Never Forget. It wasn’t Henrietta, well not completely. I had Sera knock over the cup and Milly take the potion so that Roman’s dad wouldn’t be poked by Pearbottom.”

  “So who is it?” Reid said.

  I rubbed at a tender zit on my chin. “I’m not telling. At least not right now.”

  Grandma tugged a slip out of the drawer. “Here we go.” She pulled the thin fabric over her head.

  “What are you doing with that?” I said.

  The door clanged open. “She’s trying to figure out what to wear to dinner,” Milly said, caning into the room. She tossed a drawstring bag on the bed. “There you go, toots,” she said to me.

  I picked it up. “Thanks.” The bag felt like it had rocks in it. “Isn’t this supposed to be a liquid?�
��

  She snorted. “It’s magic, toots. When you open it, it’ll be liquid, but for now it’s solid.”

  Reid smacked her lips. “So does this mean I can have the potion?”

  I shook my head. “No. Grandma, can you put it someplace safe?”

  Grandma nodded. “Of course.” She tucked it into her pocket. “It’s been too long.”

  I flared out my arms. “Let me just reiterate that no one touches it. Not until this is all over.”

  Grandma looked at me as if she was offended I’d even suggest it. “Of course not. Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Good,” I said.

  “Speaking of dinner,” Sera said, “who wants a snack?”

  Reid jumped from the bed. “Me. I do!”

  Grandma nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Dylan, Milly, y’all want anything?” Sera asked as they moved toward the door.

  We shook our heads. “No thanks.”

  Once they were gone, Milly studied me with her beady eyes. “What’s on your mind, toots?”

  I scoffed. “Oh, I don’t know—Roman might be arrested, someone’s wiped Chasity’s memory of ever giving me the pact ring, and the person who killed Roman’s family is here, right now, but I have no idea who it is.”

  Milly tapped her cane on the floor. “But that’s not what’s really bothering you. What’s actually bothering you is that Roman wants to get married.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Milly cackled. “Listen, kid, I’ve been around the block a few times. I know the look that people get when it comes to fear of commitment. Usually it’s men I see wearing it, but you’ve got the look today.”

  I rose from the chair, went into the bathroom and washed my face. I was hoping that would curb all future conversation about the matter, but when I returned, Milly kept right on talking.

  “It’s not that you don’t love him,” she said. “It’s that you’re afraid of how things will change. Toots, things are always changing. That’s how life is. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you don’t have time to keep a shop open now that you’re a witch? You keep getting pulled into other things.”

  I patted my face with a towel. “I know. It’s like the whole last year has been completely topsy-turvy.”

  Milly nodded. “That’s how it goes when you’re a witch. And just think, there are other people out there, others like you who don’t discover they’re witches until they’re all grown up. How many of them do you think make it?”

  “You mean before another witch kills them for their powers?”

  Milly nodded. “Happens all the time. We don’t necessarily hear about it, but it does happen. What if you could help those people? Help find them and explain what they are?”

  “I want to run my dress shop,” I said.

  Milly shrugged. “Run that, too. Get a new assistant. I’m only trying to tell you that no matter what happens, one day you’ll turn forty anyway.”

  “Thanks,” I grumbled.

  Milly thumbed her hooked nose. “Life goes on whether you want it to or not. If you’re afraid of change, you’ll never be happy, toots. I know for a fact. But if you’re happy with this man and love him, the only thing stopping you from being truly happy is yourself.”

  “I love Roman,” I stammered. “I love him with all my heart and don’t want to be without him.”

  Wow. Did I say that? Did I really just say that out loud?

  Heat rushed up my neck and face. I turned from Milly. “You hungry? I know they went down for a snack, but dinner should be getting served soon.”

  Milly thumped her stomach. “Is a tomcat horny?”

  “Uh…”

  She hoisted herself from the chair with her cane. “I’m starved.”

  We had a big table at dinner. My sisters and grandmothers were there, of course, and so was Nan.

  “I made a new broadsword today,” Nan said triumphantly. She pulled a long silver sword out from under the table and raised it for our approval. We cooed a chorus of oohs and ahhs. Seriously, it was impressive.

  “Wow. I didn’t know you had blacksmithing skills,” I said.

  Nan did the thing where you frown and nod at the same time. “I’m actually a bladesmith. I only make blades.”

  “Fascinating,” Reid said. Not sure it was a mocking tone, but it seemed pretty close. “What’d you make it out of?”

  Nan tapped the pommel proudly. “That’s high carbon magical Damascus steel—used only in certain magical situations. I’d been on the wait list for some time. It was between me and one other protector for who would get it.”

  “What’d you do? Fight for it?” Sera said. A teasing smile sprinkled her face.

  Nan shook her head. “No. It was a young whippersnapper. Kid knew I would be too much for him, so he backed off.”

  Nan scratched the base of her silver curls. Here at the castle she wore her protector uniform, but if we were at home, she would have been wearing her floral housecoat and fuzzy slippers. Yeah, I’m sure that young protector thought Nan would be too much for him.

  Grandma cleared her throat. “That reminds me of the time I was trapped in the Arctic Circle. It was years ago. The Bering Strait wasn’t as wide as it is now. I stood in Alaska, staring at the Russian side. I’d just left my lover over there to fight a band of harpies. Anyway, I was half-starved. I hadn’t eaten in ten days, and I was beginning to hallucinate the craziest things.”

  “You mean sort of like now?” Reid said.

  Grandma ignored her. “There was nothing to eat except one fish. I could see it swimming in the ocean. There was a catch, though. The only thing standing between me and a solid meal was a deadly sea lion.”

  “In all the ocean you could only see one fish?” I said.

  Grandma nodded.

  “Fascinating,” I said.

  “What are you going to do with the sword, Nan?” Reid said while nibbling on a wedge of Colby cheese.

  Nan sniffed dramatically. “Why, I’m going to fight evil, Reid.”

  “That reminds me,” I said. “Milly suggested we start a service where we help newbie witches.”

  My sisters stared at me blankly.

  “You don’t like witches,” Sera said.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “No, you don’t,” Reid added.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Okay,” Reid said in a tone that suggested she didn’t believe me.

  “Anyway.” I turned to Sera, searching her face with interest. “We could run our businesses and help people.”

  “We barely have time for our businesses now,” she said. “In case you don’t remember, we’ve been solving murders. Oh, and we were put on house arrest.”

  “I remember.” I shrugged and spoke slowly, unsure of how my words would be taken. “Or, we could start a service where we help people and sell our businesses.”

  “No,” Sera said. “No way. I’ve always wanted to own a bakery. Besides, this is the expression of my witchy talent. It’s what I love.” She bit into a spear of asparagus and slowly chewed. “If you’re serious about helping people, we can find a way to do it.”

  I smiled hopefully. “You think so?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Let me think about it. I need to work it out because right now I don’t know how to fit it all together.”

  “Great,” I said. “That sounds absolutely super.”

  We finished up dinner. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. Roman hadn’t tried to call me once in the past few hours. That was weird. He’d said he’d catch up with me later, and I believed that.

  As my family strolled back toward the room, I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling crawling around in my stomach. I suddenly felt the sensation that something was wrong and that I needed to find Roman.

  “Have you figured out what you’re going to do tomorrow?” Sera said.

  “You mean for the competition?”


  She nodded.

  I shook my head. “I haven’t got a clue. Maybe I’ll animate a dress and have it pretend to want to eat me.”

  “That sounds like a horrible idea,” she said.

  I sighed. “I know. I’m all out of fresh ones.” I paused. “Listen, I’m going to swing by Roman’s room. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I headed up a side set of stairs. I reached the door and knocked a few times. No answer. I knocked again even though I knew there was no point.

  Right as I was about to leave, Fawna Merriweather exited her room and approached me. She was wearing some sort of coppery-looking eye gear.

  “They help me see the spirits that are surrounding us,” she said before I had a chance to ask.

  “Fascinating,” I lied.

  “You’re looking for the policeman?”

  I nodded.

  “You’ll be in luck. He’s easy to find,” she said.

  I perked up. “Oh? Where is he?”

  “They came about an hour ago. Some of the council members.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “Where did they take him?”

  Fawna cocked her head to one side. The headpiece dipped forward. She caught it before it slid off her head. “They said they were taking him to jail.”

  NINETEEN

  I arrived at Gladiolas’s room a few minutes later. She was the only one I trusted to give me the exact story about what was going on.

  She answered within a couple of knocks. Her face sagged from fatigue, and her normally healthy-looking skin had taken on a grayish shade.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  Gladiolas pulled her cotton robe closed and cinched it. “I’m fine. It’s all the excitement from this contest. I’m not young like I used to be. It’s getting to me.” She offered a weak smile. “But enough about me. What’s going on?”

  I sighed, feeling guilty for weighing her down with my problems. But if there was anyone I could go to when I was in trouble, it was Gladiolas.

  “Can I come in?” I whimpered.

  “Of course.” She opened the door wide enough for me to slip through. “Please sit down. Can I conjure a pot of coffee?”