by Elle Adams
Jarvis emerged from the darkness and pounced. There came a crash, a squeak, and then a naked man was lying on the side of the road under Jarvis’s claws. For some reason, I hadn’t factored the clothing loss into the scenario of confronting my would-be killer. This is awkward.
“I think I preferred you as a rat,” I told the strange blond man. “What’s your real name?”
“None of your business.” He shifted back into a rat and tried to sprint off, but Carmilla pinned him once again, her teeth bared.
Once again, he shifted into the form of a blond male human with a defeated look on his face. “I’ll come quietly.”
“Why pens?” I didn’t know why that was the first question to come out of my mouth, but this had to be the weirdest interrogation I’d ever been involved in. “Why do you want me dead?”
For the third time, he shifted into a rat and ran for his life, dodging the claws and paws that tried to pin him down. This time, I waved the sceptre and cast a freeze-frame spell, causing him to skid to a dead stop.
After striding over to him, I picked the rat up by the tail and carried him back to the police station. The officers all gawked at me when I entered via the automatic doors.
Ramsey hurried to my side. “Is that him?”
“I’d put him in a cell before I undo the spell I used on him,” I said. “I want to know if he’s acting alone.”
“You think he isn’t?” asked Ramsey.
“He seems to have a grudge against me, but I’ve never seen him in my life,” I said. “He and Nolan came here to disrupt the cheating scam, allegedly, but there’s got to be another scheme at work.”
“I’ll put him in the holding cells.” Ramsey took the rat by the tail, while Minty and Jarvis looked on in satisfaction from the doorway.
I followed Ramsey through to a short corridor that led to the holding cells. Several people sat in small cells behind bars… including Persephone Henbane.
She shot me a hurt look. “Do you always treat your guests so badly? You denied me a trophy, shut me in a cage, and forgot about me.”
“I didn’t forget.” The final piece of the puzzle slid into place. “Was it all Tiffany’s doing, or did you have a hand in their scheme?”
She blinked at me. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me,” I said. “Nolan’s rat familiar was working with more than one person at once. Nolan asked him to sneak into the contest to expose the cheating scams, but someone else wanted him to help assassinate the Head Witch without leaving a trail leading back to the person who hired him.”
Persephone was silent for a heartbeat. “You’re mad.”
“You didn’t say I was wrong.”
Who else among the contenders had such a grudge against my family that they’d be willing to go to such lengths to have me killed? The contenders didn’t know me, but Persephone did.
Ramsey stepped up to her cell. “Two people are dead. If you are in any way involved, then I’d advise you to make a confession.”
“You’ve clearly decided I’m guilty.” She raised her head, her eyes bright with defiance. “The Head Witch is a fraud, and it’s about time the Wildwood witches were ousted from the power they’ve held over the rest of us for so many years.”
“So you decided to target me because you think I’m a weak link?” I moved closer to the cell. “You’re wrong. And you’ll stay behind bars for a long time for what you did.”
I turned my back on her and instead moved to the cell in which Ramsey had put the rat.
“Are you going to turn him back?” he asked.
“You know what? I think I’ll leave him like that for a while.” I walked past Nolan, also ensconced in one of the holding cells. “Him too.”
“I’ll have to properly interrogate them tomorrow,” said Ramsey. “And then there’s the matter of what to do with Minty and Jarvis too.”
“Good point,” I said. “Their owners weren’t exactly morally scrupulous, but a familiar losing their witch or wizard is punishment enough. We should let them go.”
“The Henbanes.” Ramsey spoke in a low voice which nevertheless reverberated with uncharacteristic anger. “Of course it was them. Why didn’t I see it before?”
“They took care to cover their tracks,” I reminded him. “They didn’t even seem to be trying all that hard to kill me.”
“Nevertheless.” He blew out a breath. “We still haven’t tracked down the creator of those cursed pens either.”
“I know,” I said. “Also, we’ll need to hunt down any rat-shaped holes behind all those cabinets in my office. Preferably before Grandma’s ghost comes back.”
“You’re going back now?”
“No,” I said. “I think I should go back to the ceremony. For Mum’s sake.”
I left the police station with Tansy and made my way through the dark street towards the town hall. In the entryway, though, I found Harvey Walton hovering outside the oak doors.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Looking for you,” he said. “I heard something about a rat… and a murderer.”
“The murderer is behind bars,” I said. “And my brother is going to take care of the rest while I tell my mother. You weren’t coming to the trophy ceremony, were you?”
“I don’t have anything else to do tonight,” he said. “I like the dress, by the way.”
A flush crept up my neck. “It’s not exactly designed for chasing killers around, but it does the job.”
I felt like I was walking through a dream as Harvey and I entered the main hall and joined the crowd celebrating Vanessa’s victory… or rather, celebrating the murderer’s arrest, even if they didn’t know all the details yet. Even Mum. That would be a fun conversation, but Harvey’s presence at my side indicated he had no intention of leaving me to face her alone.
This wasn’t the first date I’d expected, but it was the next best thing.
16
I returned to my office the following morning, feeling surprisingly alert considering how late I’d stayed up the previous night. First at the trophy ceremony, then helping Mum clean up the aftermath and checking in with my brother. It’d been a fun evening considering how badly it’d started, and the fact that Vanessa had left the party early in a huff was just the icing on the cake.
To top it all off, I had my office back, and I started my day by casting a barrier spell over the back wall until Ramsey was able to come over and help me hunt down any gaps so that no more small animals managed to sneak in. Or shifters, as the case may be. A shimmering semitransparent shield now covered the entirety of the cabinets stacked against the back wall.
“That ought to do it.” I regarded my work with satisfaction and lowered the sceptre. “If I have to wait until the weekend for Ramsey to help me move all those cabinets, then at least I’m less likely to get ambushed by any more intruders.”
“It should stop those papers from falling on your head too,” Tansy remarked.
“Always a bonus,” I said. “Now I have two days of work to catch up on.”
Grandma wouldn’t be thrilled, but I still hadn’t seen any signs of her since before I’d disposed of the sage I’d found behind the front door. I was inclined to blame Aunt Shannon for that one, but I was also pretty sure the rat wouldn’t have been able to break in if Grandma’s ghost had been around. The bonus to her absence was that she wasn’t around to berate me for opening the laptop instead of picking up a pen and paper. Not that there were many pens in sight after Ramsey had insisted on checking every single one of them for lethal curses.
Chloe helped me navigate my way through the new accounts she’d created for me. “Everything’s there, so you can arrange the desktop to your liking. I still don’t have the passwords for the former Head Witch’s account, though.”
“No worries,” I said. “I’ll write mine down on paper so that future Head Witches don’t have the same issue.”
I opened the calendar app to find that Chloe had alr
eady filled in all the meetings on my schedule for the next few weeks. Of which there were a lot.
“You have a meeting this afternoon,” Tansy read over my shoulder. “What are you doing until then?”
“Removing that, I hope.” Grandma’s ghost appeared in front of the desk, pointing at the shielding spell I’d put over the cabinets.
I jumped out of my seat. “There you are.”
“Well observed,” she said. “What did you do to my cabinets?”
“A shielding spell,” I said. “There’s a hole in the wall back there which allowed an intruder to sneak in, so I took precautions until I can remove the cabinets and check.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” she said. “I have everything where I want it.”
Now I remembered why I’d been so relieved when she’d first disappeared. “Grandma, someone broke in here and tried to kill me with a cursed pen yesterday.”
“So that’s where all the pens have disappeared to.”
“You don’t need pens. You’re a ghost.”
“Nobody has any respect for me anymore, do they?” She sniffed. “First you left sage outside the door and now this.”
“I didn’t leave that sage out, Grandma,” I said. “I think it was Aunt Shannon, but it might as easily have been the person who wanted me dead. You know, they almost succeeded precisely because there could be a wild manticore hidden at the back of those cabinets and I’d have no idea.”
“I am fairly sure you’d smell a wild manticore, Robin.”
“Hilarious.” I shook my head. “You’re welcome to stay in here, but the office is mine, and I need to be able to keep it secure against further intruders. You haven’t even asked who wanted me dead.”
“I imagine you were about to tell me,” she said.
“Persephone Henbane.”
“That one?” She snorted with laughter, startling Chloe and waking Carmilla from her nap. “I hardly think she’s a mastermind.”
“Well, Tiffany hasn’t confessed to anything,” I said. “Or even come to her niece’s defence. It was quite the scheme, though. She had a local rat shifter acquire several cursed pens and then smuggle them into the Familiar Contest by hiding among the contenders’ familiars.”
“I could have told you myself that the Henbane witches would be first in line to see you lose your title,” she said. “I did tell you, in fact.”
“You didn’t say they were planning to assassinate me,” I said. “Anyway, Aunt Shannon was acting suspiciously too. I’m pretty sure she’s the one who left sage out there.”
“I’d expect nothing less from her,” she said. “Shannon is stubborn, but she’s willing to accept your status as Head Witch until she has a chance to try again. The Henbanes, however, never had a chance at winning the title fairly.”
“If you think Tiffany’s the mastermind, how can I prove it?”
“With difficulty, I imagine.” She looked over my shoulder. “What did you do to my accounts?”
“Nothing,” I said. “These are mine. Besides, someone tried to kill me with a cursed pen, so I think I’m justified in switching to doing things the digital way for the foreseeable future.”
She sniffed. “You’re determined to stamp all over my legacy, aren’t you?”
“You’re welcome to take it up with Mum if you have an issue with how the coven is being run,” I said. “The Head Witch is more of a ceremonial role, or so I’m told. Carmilla also told me that you fought your own battles back in the day.”
“Did she now?” Grandma cast a disgruntled look at her familiar. “That was a long time ago, and I was willing to accept the risks.”
“So am I,” I said. “I won’t let anyone else place their lives on the line for my sake, especially if the Henbanes are still scheming to take my position by force.”
Tiffany had yet to make a statement on her niece’s actions, but Persephone was sitting in a jail cell, and Nolan and his rat wouldn’t be getting off lightly for their role in the events. I expected Ramsey to ask me to come to the office and remove the spell I’d placed on the rat so he could stand trial at some point… but Tiffany wouldn’t be facing punishment. She’d hidden her tracks well.
Grandma huffed. “Your funeral.”
I could have reminded her that her funeral was still all too clear in my memory, but I didn’t. “Thanks for understanding.”
My phone buzzed with a message from Ramsey, asking me to drop by the police station. When I rose to my feet, Grandma tutted. “Skiving off already?”
“No, I’m going to undo the spell I put on one of the murderers,” I said. “When I used the sceptre to cast a freeze-frame spell, it turned him into a statue. In rat form. Were you going to tell me that might happen?”
“Oh, that?” She cackled. “Delightful, isn’t it? Don’t try the rain spell indoors unless you want to use a boat to get around.”
“I didn’t plan to,” I said. “How did you learn to use the sceptre when it first chose you? It’s far stronger than a regular wand.”
“Not to everyone.” She gave me a considering look. “I suppose it did choose you as worthy.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said. “The sceptre always picks its wielder. It chose me because I was there.”
“That’s what you think?” Grandma’s ghost let out a cackle that made me scowl at her. “Oh, don’t look so offended. The sceptre doesn’t simply pick the first person who touches it.”
“I know.” But I’d thought the sceptre had deemed me worthy because I’d caught its predecessor’s killer, not because I was the best Head Witch for the job.
“Then you should also know the sceptre is said to make its choice based on who it believes is the best Head Witch for this particular moment in time.”
My mouth parted. “You mean the sceptre did choose me over Mum?”
“Yes, it did.” She cackled again. “I bet that annoys her to no end, but she can’t argue with the sceptre.”
My phone buzzed again. “You tried to argue with it.”
“I most certainly did not,” she said. “You’re the Head Witch, whether any of us likes it or not.”
“Does that mean you’re going to help me?” I asked. “I could use some pointers on using the sceptre.”
“Don’t push your luck,” she said. “Go and see that brother of yours. Tell him not to make too much of a mess of my office.”
“My office,” I muttered, but I’d won a victory in getting her to admit the sceptre had chosen me over everyone else, including Mum. Grandma and I might not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things, but there was still a great deal she could teach me. If she was patient with me, I was more than willing to learn.
Upon arriving at the police station, I found myself ushered through to the holding cells at the back, where I used the spectre to undo my freeze-frame spell on the rat. After bouncing off the walls, the shifter fell into a heap, still in the form of a rat.
“If he thinks he’ll get out of the trial if he stays in that form, he’s wrong,” said Ramsey. “He’s due to be tried after Persephone Henbane.”
“Has Tiffany said anything yet?” I asked.
“She’s denied all connection with her niece’s scheming,” he said. “She refused to even come to the trial.”
“Grandma is convinced that Persephone didn’t come up with that scheme alone,” I said. “I think she’s right.”
“Maybe, but there’s no proof,” he said. “We’ll see how the trial goes. It’ll take place tomorrow morning if you want to come.”
“I’ll be there.” Even if Tiffany walked free, we’d have at least one Henbane witch incarcerated where she couldn’t harm me. “Ah—what did you do with Minty and Jarvis?”
“I sent them home,” he said. “Another contender offered to take care of them.”
“At least they have each other.”
That was a small consolation, but the two familiars hadn’t been totally responsible for their owners’ choices. Hopefully, the n
ext person who took them in would have a better influence on them.
On the way back to my office, I dropped by the café to speak to Rowan and found her working behind the counter with Ralph perched on her shoulder.
“You got the job, then?”
“That’s right.” She smiled at me. “Sorry I didn’t show up to last night’s trophy ceremony. I didn’t know it would end up being that exciting.”
“Honestly, you didn’t miss much,” I said. “Except Vanessa barging off in a huff because nobody was paying attention to her.”
“She won, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but everyone was more interested in learning about how I caught the killer,” I said.
“I bet,” she said. “I don’t mind not winning, for the record, but I’m glad my sister didn’t get the prestige she wanted.”
“The contest isn’t that much of a big deal,” I said. “Though Anne and Malcolm raked in a fortune from bets on previous contests.”
“I heard,” she said. “Word says the Henbanes were involved in the murders, but that Persephone acted alone.”
“I don’t think she did, but it’ll be difficult to prove when Tiffany is refusing to even come to the trial,” I said. “The next contest isn’t going to be for a while, which is good, because I think I’ll be in charge of the next one.”
“Can’t you leave that to your assistant?”
“I might have to,” I said. “I’m still learning what traditions I’m allowed to keep and which I’m not, but I think I’m making progress with Grandma.”
“Does that mean she’s going to give you some time off?” she asked. “For, say, a gaming session or The Lord of the Rings movie marathon in my new flat above the café?”
“If I’m free this weekend, I’d love to, but I still need to rat-proof my office.” The smell of coffee reminded me why I’d come here. “Anyway, I’d like a latte, please.”
Rowan went to fetch my drink, while I looked towards the door in case any of my family’s familiars showed up. Or Harvey.
Instead, Piper walked in. She put on a frosty expression when she saw Rowan giving me my drink, but she came over to the counter. “Hey, Robin. I didn’t know you’d have any free time today.”