by Amy Boyles
“In the dungeon,” Rose called.
“The dungeon,” I muttered. “What is she talking about?”
They weren’t in the dungeon, but they were in the magic room, which my mother had now outfitted with all sorts of whips and knives.
My eyes widened as I stared at the objects. “Mama, is there something you want to tell me? Do you have some sort of fetish thing that’s only now getting out to the public?”
She glared at me. “Absolutely not, Charming. I’m experimenting on ways that will rip a shirt.”
“You said it was a spell.”
She sniffed. “The spell might include tools.”
“Okay. Weird. I have things to tell you. First, Cap was arrested for Langdon’s murder.”
Rose cupped her cheeks in surprise. “Not Cap.”
“Yes, him. Thorne said they found evidence in his house.”
“Oh, I heard about that evidence,” Rose said.
I gaped at her. “How could you have heard of anything? They just arrested him.”
Rose shrugged. “News travels fast. I was outside walking Pig, and Mayor Dixon said that just between us they found something in Cap’s house that made it look like he could have been trying to control someone else.”
“What did they find?”
“I don’t know, but Cap denied it. Said he was using the thing to control his own feelings.”
I groaned. “About Belinda. If he needed to control his feelings about anyone, it would be her.” I slumped against the wall.
My mother and Rose gave me confused looks. Time to explain. “He loves a woman he’s not supposed to, and maybe in order to quell that desire, he uses some sort of magical object to help.”
“But why would Thorne arrest him if he knows we’re dealing with a spell?” Mama said.
I considered that and then realized the vampire was much smarter than I gave him credit for. Something I hated to admit. “Because if he makes an arrest, whoever is guilty will think they’re in the clear. They might relax, screw up.”
My mother tapped her chin. “Smart thinking.”
“Agreed.” Then I remembered I hadn’t told them the rest of what I’d learned. “I discovered a witch could use the fire springs to create the sort of spell we’re looking for.”
My mother considered that. “I think we should follow that lead.”
I stared at Rose, shocked that my mother liked my idea. Wow. She was really getting into this whole investigation thing. I mean, first she sucked it up and broke into a vampire’s house with me, and now she wanted to stake out the fire springs.
I mean, talk about a win.
Rose motioned toward Pig. “Can Pig come?”
Mama shot Rose a disdainful look. “Do you think she’ll cause a ruckus?”
“Oh no, Pig wouldn’t do that. She’s the sweetest pig there is.”
My mother gave me a skeptical look. “Pig stays here. She can come with us on our next stakeout. If we have one.”
Rose looked disappointed, so I hugged my arm around her. “It’ll be okay. Like Mama said, Pig can come next time.”
“Soon as night falls, we’re heading to the fire springs,” my mother announced.
It could not get dark fast enough. I was on edge, feeling like we were finally closing in on what had happened to Jimmy. Maybe we’d learn the truth tonight.
I could only hope.
We loaded up into my car. My mother sat in back with the broom. “I still don’t like this bristly thing. Do me a favor and set it on fire at the springs.”
I shot her a dark look in the rearview. “It was a gift. Besides, you’d better be careful or it might spank you, too.”
“Yes, Glinda,” Rose chirped, “and gifts should be cherished.”
“Not when they’re hideous broomsticks. Probably has beetles living inside it.”
I shook my head and followed the signs to the fire springs. We reached the entrance, which was marked by a steel sign with red lettering.
“Steel so that it doesn’t burn,” I remarked.
A lot with several parked cars sat off to the side.
“Park in here,” my mother commanded. “We’ll walk toward the back and look for a spring that isn’t very obvious. And bring the broom,” she commanded.
“I’m not burning it,” I argued.
“I was only joking, Charming. Bring it in case we need it.”
I doubted she was joking, but I did grab it. We walked quietly through the springs, which were something to witness.
They were like little ponds of fire. Every few minutes one would gurgle and spit. When the spitting got loud, a violent explosion of fire shot up from the ground, spraying into the air.
After a few sparks nearly lit my hair on fire, I learned to give the burping springs a wide berth.
“These are dangerous,” Rose said. “Someone could get hurt.”
“Don’t get hurt,” Mama said. “That’s your reminder.”
We found a spot where we could scan the springs from a high plateau. A few trees sprinkled our view, but for the most part it wasn’t obscured.
We nestled onto the grass. Rose was slower moving, complaining that once she got down, she might not be able to get up again, but my mother quickly reminded her that we did have magic and could, in fact, help her up.
Or at least she could since my magic was limited.
We’d been staring at the springs for a few minutes when a witch approached.
“Who is that?” Rose said.
“She’s got a hood on. I can’t see,” I said quietly.
“Maybe you can whistle and she’ll lower the hood,” Rose suggested.
Mama shook her head. “Just wait. Perhaps she’ll lower it on her own.”
The figure stepped up to the fire spring and extended her hands. The flames leaped high into the night air.
A tree rustled behind the figure. The branches bent left and right, being pushed so far I thought they might break. A moment later a creature leaped from the trees and out into the night.
Rose gasped. The thing was covered in hair from head to foot and looked more like an ape man than anything I’d ever seen.
I stared at the face for a moment, and it was only after a few seconds that I recognized the cheekbones and sharp jaw.
“Jimmy,” I screamed.
Both the figure and the hairy man swirled toward me. I cringed as the man, aka Jimmy, darted across the minefield of fire springs.
The three of us glanced at each other. Fear paralyzed me as I realized my friend Jimmy was heading straight for us.
And it didn’t look like he wanted to have a friendly chat.
EIGHTEEN
Jimmy was almost on us when Broom rose straight up, bristles lifted to the sky.
I opened my mouth to screech something to my mother to stop Jimmy, but the broomstick jumped into action. The handle crashed down on Jimmy’s head, making him howl in pain. The brush end swiveled around and spanked Jimmy from top to bottom.
Jimmy, covered in fur and acting feral as could be, howled. Broom didn’t let up until Jimmy ran from the springs, disappearing into the night.
Then the stick chased him.
In the melee, the witch disappeared into the night, and none of us knew which direction she had gone.
After a few minutes Broom returned, and then we walked back to the car. No one had said anything until we were strapped in and Broom was tucked inside.
“Well, I didn’t expect that,” Mama said.
“Which part? The fact that Jimmy is a hairy feral man or that the broomstick chased him away? Or was it that you froze and didn’t stop Jimmy with your magic?”
I was testing her, unsure if Mama really had frozen.
“I didn’t expect any of them,” she said snidely. “But you don’t have to rub it in.”
I shrugged. “No one’s rubbing anything in.”
From the backseat Rose said, chipper as could be, “I for one am glad that Pig didn’t come with us.
Poor creature would’ve been scared to death.”
I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. “Who knows? Maybe she has secret powers we aren’t aware of,” I snapped. “But what happened to Jimmy? Who was that? Why would someone do that to him?”
Mama shook her head. “I didn’t stop him from almost attacking us.” She stared at her hands. Her face was pale, the blood drained away, and her eyes held a glassy, faraway look.
I think my mother was in shock.
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I didn’t do anything. I just saw that…creature coming for us and couldn’t move. I was frozen.”
I gently squeezed her shoulder. “We were all afraid. If it hadn’t been for Broom, I don’t think any of us would’ve survived.”
She nodded, but I could tell she was numb to my words. What she needed was some sugar and female bonding.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” I cranked the engine. “Who wants a root beer float?”
“Oh, I do,” Rose said. “I bet Pig would love one, too.”
“Great. Let’s get home and make some, get our heads screwed on straight and figure out our game plan. Sound good?”
“Sounds great,” Rose said enthusiastically.
My mother mumbled her agreement, but until we got some calories in her, she would be in this state.
As much as I enjoyed my mother when she wasn’t flinging insults at me, I hated to see her broken.
Luckily sugar was a great cure.
A little while later we sat around the kitchen, scoops of ice cream sitting in tall glasses.
With one hand on the fridge door I said nicely, “House, can we have some root beer?”
A moment later I opened the door and there sat a gallon of Barq’s. “Classy. The house has taste. No knock-off brands for us.” I poured the fizzy drink into the glasses and waited for the bubbles to recede before topping each off.
I sat and faced my mother and aunt. Rose was already nibbling ice cream from her spoon when I dipped mine in and brought back a creamy, soda-filled treat.
The sweet ice cream and tangy root beer hit my tongue. I moaned. “Oh, that is what we need. Mama, you have to eat. It’ll help.”
“I don’t know what got into me.”
I pointed my spoon at her. “What got into you was that you were being attacked by a creature that used to be human. We need to know what spell did that and who’s controlling it.”
She sat listlessly. I snapped my fingers in front of her. “In the words of Cher in Moonstruck, ‘Snap out of it!’ Get a grip. For goodness’ sake, you’re Glinda Calhoun. Half the witches in the world want to be you, and you’re acting like you died. You didn’t. None of us did. Now do us all a favor and figure out the spell. You’re the best person for the job.”
Mama exhaled a deep shot of air and slowly lifted her spoon. She dipped it in the float and took a small bite. “Thank you for making this, Charming,” she said in her usual voice dripping with smugness.
I smiled. Mama was back. Great. Now we could get to business. “So Jimmy isn’t dead. He’s been transformed into some sort of hairy ape creature.”
“It’s a Bigfoot spell,” Mama said matter-of-factly.
“A Bigfoot spell? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Oh, they used to be all the rage,” Rose explained. “But then they fell out of fashion when the space age became popular. Then folks started looking into alien spells.”
My head swam with confusion. “I don’t understand any of that.”
“Bigfoot sightings are usually attributed to witches,” Mama explained in human speak, something Rose was incapable of. “Whenever a person claims to have seen Bigfoot it’s usually a witch who’s worked the spell.”
“Is it a spell or a curse?” I questioned. “Jimmy isn’t going along with it of his own free will, I can promise you that.”
She patted my hand and gave it a squeeze. “At least he’s safe.”
“For now,” Rose said. “But we’ve seen him as the creature, and the witch knows we saw him.”
The room quieted. I closed my eyes. “This is so bad.”
“Let me go back and explain the spell,” Mama said. “Bigfoot spells are control spells, that’s for sure. Why would a witch do that? Either to make a person do what they want by controlling an individual, or perhaps the witch wanted to get something done and couldn’t do it themselves or else they’d be caught. So they created a Bigfoot to do their dirty work for them.”
“Neither of those are good,” I said. “Both involve controlling someone.”
“That’s exactly right.” Rose licked ice cream from her spoon. “We’re talking about true evil. There’s a lot of that in the world.”
I turned back to Mama. “Tell me more.”
She brushed her hair back from her face. “There isn’t much to say because we don’t know which witch is in control of Jimmy and we don’t know why the witch spelled him. Two things working against us.”
“But it was the same witch who placed the spell on Langdon. Yet when he died, he was human.” Then I remembered the long hair I had found on Langdon’s body. “But he had a hair on him, like a really long one. Could it have been one from when he was a Bigfoot?”
“Perhaps,” Mama said, her eyes narrowing, “Langdon was blackmailing the witch. When she lifted the spell, Langdon remembered what she had done to him and he was using that against her. So she had him killed.”
I groaned. “What if it’s even worse than that?”
Rose’s gaze darted from Pig, who she was currently feeding ice cream float to under the table, back to me. “What do you mean?”
“What if Jimmy did it?”
Mama grimaced. “That does complicate things. Jimmy would be highly dangerous. Exceedingly dangerous.”
“He already tried to attack us,” I said. “The person I know inside Jimmy isn’t there. He’s been taken over. We have to save him.”
“In order to do that, we first have to know who cast the spell,” she said. “Until we figure out the witch behind it, we’re powerless.”
I sighed. “But now the witch knows we’re on to her. She won’t be easy to catch.”
“Someone in town must know something,” Mama said. “Or at least have their suspicions.”
A thought occurred to me and I gasped. “What if now that the witch knows we know, what if she decides to get rid of Jimmy? As long as he’s around, he can lead people back to her. It’s in her best interest to kill him.”
Rose grimaced. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re right, Charming.”
Mama nodded in agreement. “Then we just have to find the witch before she can do that. I don’t think she got a good look at us.” A spark lit in my mother’s eyes. “Which means, Charming, that you’re free to walk about Fire Town and hand out your matchmaking questionnaires.”
I frowned. “Why would that help us?”
“Because it not only gives you a reason to snoop around the Fire Town, it will help us look for ingredients that might have been used in the spell.”
“What sort of ingredients?”
Mama snapped her fingers, and the book from her magic room appeared on the table, open to the very center. She thumbed through it while Pig snorted happily. Pig now sat in Rose’s lap greedily licking the float.
“You realize you’re teaching Pig bad habits,” I scolded.
Rose scratched Pig behind the ears. “She’s thirsty, and if you were thirsty, I’d give you a float.”
“I’m not a pig.”
“Even if you were, I’d offer you the option.”
“I found it,” Mama said, interrupting our ridiculous conversation.
“Found what?” I asked.
She tapped a fingernail in the book. “The Bigfoot spell.”
I peered over the table, trying to get a look. “Is it called that?”
“Well no, not exactly, but it’s the same basic principle.”
“What’s it called?”
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“Why does it matter?” she said, exasperated.
“In case anyone mentions it, I want to know what it is.”
“Fine.” She released a heavy sigh. “It’s called Animal Transformation Spell.”
“Pretty vague.”
“You asked,” she snapped. Mama pushed aside a lock of hair that had fallen into her eyes. “The things you need for this spell are mandrake root, blood and milk.”
“Oh wow. Well, it looks like that should be easy to track down,” I said sarcastically. “I barely know what a mandrake looks like, every house will have milk and we’re all full of blood. It’s not like someone’s going to walk around carrying a vial of the stuff.”
My mother shot me a dark look. I shrank back. “That’s what’s required. It also says anyone who’s under the influence of the spell may appear to have a cold.”
I quirked a skeptical brow at her.
“That’s what it says,” Mama said snidely.
“When they’re a Bigfoot they’ll have a cold? That doesn’t make sense.”
Mama sighed, obviously frustrated with my question. “No. Some who are cursed can transform back to human, but not all.”
“What does that depend on?” I asked.
“The depth of the curse.”
I frowned. “So Langdon had turned back to human but if he had been a Bigfoot does that mean he wasn’t as deeply cursed?”
She shrugged. “That or the curse was revoked.”
I shook my head. “This is a wild-goose chase.”
She shot me another harsh look.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll hand out my questionnaires in Fire Town tomorrow. I’ll see if anyone has any mandrake. I’ll ask who keeps gigantic vials of blood in their basements.”
My mother closed the tome. “I don’t need your sarcasm. Rose and I will be working, too.”
“We will?” Rose said.
“Yes, we need to see if we can discover a generic cure spell, though I have the feeling that unless we know who is behind it, we won’t get very far.”
She tapped her teeth. “You’ll need to work fast, Charming.”
“I know. I’ve got to save Jimmy. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
My mother shook her head. “I’m afraid you don’t understand. The transformation spell, if allowed to go on for too long, can cause irreparable damage to the person afflicted by it.”