by K. J. Emrick
Inside the Circle, an image snapped into view, the forceful appearance sending a pulse of energy outward through the room that ruffled both their hair and their robes. Addie’s ears popped.
The image, hovering three feet above the floor, was so clear it was like they were looking at it through a window. A woman stared back at them, her face unnaturally magnified until it filled the Circle from edge to edge.
Addie recognized her immediately, and she felt sick to her stomach when she did. The woman was of an indeterminate age. She wasn’t old, but she wasn’t young, either. She was stunningly beautiful, with a narrow chin and an upturned nose, almond eyes, and long midnight-black hair. Addie remembered those eyes very well.
She also remembered that disdainful smile.
“Is this thing on?” the witch Belladonna asked them. “Hello-o-o? Am I coming through?”
They stood there in disbelief, transfixed by what was happening. Another witch had hijacked their Circle. Addie had never heard of such a thing. The power needed to accomplish something like this was immense. Addie could only imagine the physical strain this must be taking on Belladonna’s body.
“Can you hear me?” she said to them. One hand came up and tapped at the edge of the scrying, making her image ripple over and over. Each poke produced the sound of an out of tune kettle drum.
“Hello…? Seriously, if I called you three just to be ignored then I’m going to be very unhappy.”
“We hear you, witch,” Addie snapped at her.
“Now, that’s not very nice.” Belladonna smirked as the image resettled itself. “We’re all witches here, after all. Oh, hi guys! There you are. I see you now. It’s been a while, huh?”
Kiera dropped her hands and lifted her chin indignantly. “You are not welcome in this Circle, Belladonna. You have no right.”
In the image, the other witch pursed her lips. “That’s not very friendly.”
Addie could feel the power of Belladonna’s Essence emanating through her projection. Only the strongest of magic users would be able to speak through a scrying Circle like this. This Belladonna was not someone to take lightly. Addie had felt this witch’s power before. There was no doubt that she was powerful. She might even be stronger than any of the Kilorian sisters, at least individually, although Addie was willing to bet Kiera could stand spell to spell with her.
Together, however, this little coven of theirs would knock this evil witch back on her broomstick.
Willow snapped her fingers, drawing Belladonna’s attention to her. “My sister told you to go. What are you even doing here?”
Belladonna winked at Willow. “Just reminding you that I’m around. Things are happening in your little town. Not all my fault, either, although I do like to take credit for my own work.”
That caught Addie’s attention. Was she talking about the murder at Pendulum Lodge? “Do you know where Eugene Forrester is? Do you? Is this another of your plans to kill someone to get our attention?”
In the image, Belladonna’s eyebrow rose. “Eugene who? I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re… oh, wait. You’re talking about the murder at that log cabin place outside of town. Sorry. Can’t take credit for that one. It’s a bit too plain-jane vanilla for me.”
“So you’re telling us you don’t know where Eugene is?” Willow pressed, stepping closer to the Circle but not crossing the lines of braided metal lest she break the scrying.
Belladonna laughed, and it was not a pleasant sound. “Oh, Willow. You’re so brave there in your castle on the hill. No, dear. I’m not hiding Eugene. I have other irons in the fire. Bye now.”
She clapped her hands, and there was a bright flash that blinded the three of them for several long seconds, exploding out from the Circle.
When they could see again, Belladonna was gone.
“Well,” Willow said after a long silence. “That happened.”
“Indeed,” was Kiera’s only comment. “That witch is strong in her powers, and determined in her quest to get at the Well of Essence under Stonecrest.” She sighed. “One more burden to carry on our shoulders. We’ll have to table that for now, and take Belladonna at her word that she wasn’t involved in Danny Bellinger’s murder. For now all of the evidence points to a non-magical death, and to Eugene as the murderer. Let us try again to search for him.”
“And,” Willow added, “for Alan as well.”
Kiera gave her a grateful smile. “Yes, Sister Addie. For my son, as well.”
Chapter 9
Waking up in bed was an entirely different experience when you didn’t wake up until noon.
Addie slid her hand through the sheets all around her. Daylight was streaming in through her windows. She could feel the warmth of it against her bare skin. She could see it slanting across the floor when she cracked her eyes open, and quickly shut them again. She didn’t want to be awake yet.
Addie and Willow had stood with Kiera around the Family Circle much longer than they should have. Each of them was completely drained by the time they were done. Finally, at dawn, they had decided to call an end to their searching.
They had not found Eugene.
They also hadn’t found any further trace of Alan.
For a short while they had even searched for Belladonna, reasoning that despite their warning to her to stay out of Shadow Lake, she must still be close by. Granted she was powerful, but hijacking the Circle like that could only be done from within a certain radius. She had to be here. Somewhere.
Addie did not like the idea of that one bit, but she couldn’t do anything about the evil witch right now. There were too many other things going on. Until Belladonna showed herself again, that evil witch would just have to be one more thing they put on the back burner.
The truly pressing matter was finding Eugene. He was the prime suspect in the murder of Danny Bellinger. Why else would he run? If what Dahlia the private investigator had said was true, he had likely killed his wife as well. They needed to discover where he had gone before he killed again.
But how were they going to find him? That was the real question. Perhaps if they—
“And you humans think cats are lazy.”
Addie sat up straight, blinking down at the black and white lump of fur nestled into the puffy folds of the comforter, up against the outline of her leg. “Doyle! What have we talked about? This is my bed. You do not sleep in my bed. You have your own bed, remember? The whole point to us getting you your very own cat beds—plural mind you, more than one—was so you could have your own place to sleep.”
He rolled over languidly, humming to himself as his eyes slid closed. “But you’re just so warm. It’s the duty of the humans of this household to make my life comfortable. I am feline royalty, after all. So. I command you then to lend me your warmth while I sleep.” One paw patted the air above him. “Make it so, my adoring human. Make it so for your—oof!”
Addie tossed the blankets aside and Doyle found himself rolling off the bed, clawing to hold on as the weight of the comforter kept dragging him down. Finally, he gave up.
He glared at Addie as he helplessly sank over the edge with the bedding, claws hooked in deep. A second later he hit the floor with a thump.
She covered her mouth with a hand to hide a fit of giggles. Sitting there in her bra and panties, knees up to her chest, she waited for Doyle to extract himself from the tangle of bedsheets.
When he jumped back onto the bed he sat with his back turned to her, twitching his whiskers, and very purposely not looking in her direction. “Very funny. Ha ha, meow meow. If you were one of my slaves I’d have your eyebrows removed as punishment.”
Reaching over to the loveable, annoying feline she ruffled the fur at the back of his neck and between his ears. Just the way he liked it. “In that case I guess I’ll just have to be glad that I’m not one of your servants. Now. I’m nearly naked, and I need you to leave so I can get ready for a shower.”
His ear twitched as he shifted his weight from foot
to foot. “I’ve seen you naked before, I have.”
“When I was a little girl in the bath!” she reminded him, scandalized that he would ever bring that up. “I’m a little more grown up now, don’t you think?”
His eyes flicked toward her and then away again. “Yes. You know, if humans could just grow fur over their bodies then this wouldn’t be a problem. You wouldn’t have to worry about clothing if you were decently covered in fur like cats are.”
“Well, we can’t do that, so you can just take your furry butt out of here.”
“How about I just close my eyes,” he suggested instead, “and promise not to peek?”
“No. Out!” She picked up her pillow and threw it over his head, intentionally missing, but not by much. “Out, or I’ll make sure Kiera cooks nothing but vegetable stew for the rest of the year!”
“Mrrow!” he yelped, jumping off the bed and scurrying around the room until he got to her bedroom door. “You know, you’ll be missing me when I’m dead. You should appreciate these moments with your favorite cat while you still can!”
Then he scampered off into the hallway, tail lifted high, and Addie heard him racing down the stairs like a rampaging bull. She laughed at him as he went. It had been a long time since Doyle had pulled the whole “someday I’m going to die” card. He liked to play on their emotions to get what he wanted, when he thought it would work. She usually laughed it off and rubbed his neck and gave him a bit of canned tuna, and then he was fine. She knew he was just being ridiculous. Besides, with the magic running through Doyle’s kitty-cat veins he might just live as long as Addie would.
Now there was a thought. Her and Doyle, both old and senile, still living in Stonecrest.
“Uh, no,” she said out loud to herself as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Addie Kilorian is not going to become a crazy old cat lady.”
After she found clothes for the day she strode down the hallway without bothering with a robe. It was late in the day and the only ones here—besides her vainglorious cat—were her sisters. Kiera and Willow probably weren’t even awake yet. It was a short trip down the hall to the bathroom anyway. Turning the knobs on, she stepped under the steaming hot water of the shower and luxuriated in the way it felt against her bare back.
She could only take a few minutes to wash everything away. Her stomach was already growling for food and she needed to check in on the café even though Darla should have everything well in hand there, what with showing up in the middle of the night to get things ready. Once that was done, she and her sisters were going to make one more attempt at finding Eugene Forrester.
If they couldn’t find him with their magic, then they had all agreed to give up on trying and let Lucian do things his way. The Typic way, as Willow had put it. She felt bad that they couldn’t do more to help him, but their magic did have limits and normal, non-magic police officers investigated normal, non-magic crimes every day. He would be fine without their help.
Although the thought of spending more time together with him made her shiver under the caress of the hot water. And they had a date! She was really looking forward to that. She thought about where they would go, and what she would wear, and what she would say to him. It was like being a teenager all over again, back when life was simpler and finding a cute guy to spend time with was a part of her life plan. Now that she was older, could she afford to think like that again?
She certainly hoped so. There had to be time to enjoy life, even if there was a dozen and more things she and her sisters needed to do in their capacity as the guardians of Shadow Lake. Like find Eugene, for instance.
Throwing her head back in the water and thoroughly soaking her unruly red hair, Addie wondered what Doyle would think about her sudden attraction to Lucian. Especially after he’d tried to play on her sympathies this morning with the whole ‘missing him when he was dead’ thing. What a little drama fiend that cat could be. Sheesh. Miss him when he was dead.
Her hands stopped massaging shampoo into her scalp.
Miss him.
When he was dead.
Could it be that simple?
She quickly rinsed out the lather from her hair, swiping it away from her forehead and eyes, because now she was thinking about Eugene again. Somehow, they’d missed him. They couldn’t find him. He was somewhere that they couldn’t see him even with their magic.
They had missed him, and although they had thought of several reasons why that might be, there was one more that they had overlooked…
Oh, curse her Irish eyes.
She stumbled out of the shower and nearly slipped and hit her head on the wet floor tiles. She got dressed as quickly as she could, only realizing now that she had two mismatched socks and the blouse she was wearing had a loose thread on the left cuff. There was no time to change. They had to get back to Pendulum Lodge, and they had to get Lucian to meet them there.
The house phone was downstairs. Thankfully, she had transferred her cellphone to her back pocket when she took out her clothes for the day and even more thankfully, she had Lucian’s name and number saved in her contacts list.
The stairway down from the second to the first floor curved in a long, gradual spiral of limestone wedges. Her footsteps echoed as she waited for the call to connect.
“Hello?” he said behind a yawn.
She smiled, just to hear his voice. “Well, I guess we weren’t the only ones who didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Mmm.” She could hear him stretching. “Just woke up. I only had time for a few hours. You?”
“The same. Listen, Lucian, can you meet me back at the lodge?”
“That’s kind of a strange place for our date, don’t you think?”
“What?” Addie stopped on the next step, staring down at the phone before putting it back to her ear. Did he really just say that? “Lucian, I’m not talking about our date.”
“Why not? You did promise to go on a date with me, remember. I distinctly remember something about popcorn.”
“I know… I’m not saying… I mean I am, but I’m not…” She took a deep breath, looking up at the spiral of the stairs above her. He had her all turned around. “Lucian. I need you to meet me and my sisters back at Pendulum Lodge.”
“Oh. I see. This is a witch thing.”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “It’s that kind of a thing.”
“Okay. Did you guys find something?”
“No, no we tried but we couldn’t find Eugene. We tried all night, actually, but then I woke up and I was talking to my cat. You know, Doyle?”
“Right. The talking cat.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t waste my time talking to a cat who couldn’t talk back.”
“Of course not. Because that would be crazy.”
“Lucian, just listen, okay? Doyle reminded me of something I forgot, and I think if we go back to Pendulum Lodge, then we can find Eugene.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, no, actually. There’s a lot more to it. Is everyone still there? Dahlia and Christine, I mean? Oh, and Eugene’s girlfriend too.”
“Uh, sure.” He thought for a moment. “Rosemary was discharged from the hospital last night and she said she was spending one more day here before going home. Same with Dahlia and Christine. That will be everyone except the woman passing herself off as Eileen Bellinger. We’re still sorting her life out but she’s not leaving that jail cell until we do.”
“Okay. Good. Thank you, Lucian.”
“I’m trying to learn about your world, Addie. I want you to be able to trust me. I want you to let me in.”
She let his words warm her deep inside. She so wished that she had time to explore the feelings he was stirring within her. If she was right about going back to the lodge, though, there was no time for anything else.
There never seemed to be enough time.
“I’ll see you there,” she told him. “Thank you, Lucian.”
She hung up before he could say
one more perfect thing. Putting the phone into her pocket, she raced the rest of the way downstairs and then down the hall to the dining room. She knew if her sisters were awake by now then they would be in here. No need to search Stonecrest with her magic if she could just turn a corner and find both Willow and Kiera sitting there at the table in the dining room, both of them with a plate of eggs and toast in front of them, talking to Doyle and…
Doyle, and a big black tomcat.
Everyone fell silent as she came to a stumbling halt. Willow and Kiera wore amused, inscrutable expressions. Kiera took a long sip from her cup of tea.
Doyle glared at the strange cat sitting in the chair right next to him. Although, Addie realized now that the big black cat wasn’t exactly strange. He was someone she had seen before.
Belladonna’s familiar. The evil witch’s cat was here in the house with them.
“Y-You?” she stammered, searching her memory for his name. “Domovyk? Why are you here in Stonecrest?”
“He ran away from Belladonna,” Willow said. “Apparently even cats know that woman is cracked.”
The big black cat sniffed. “I am seeing things in a new way, yes.”
Addie had heard him talk before, and she wasn’t surprised. He had a Ukrainian accent, not quite Russian, not quite Romanian. His face was wide and sleek, and those eyes were an alarmingly bright green. The last time she’d seen Domovyk was a week ago, and he’d told her that he thought he was with the wrong witch.
So sure, it was possible that he’d left Belladonna.
“But why are you here?” she asked again.
Willow shrugged. “He wants to stay here.”
“I am not a crazy cat lady!” Addie blurted out.
Everyone looked at her. Now she felt completely stupid.
Doyle growled at the black cat. “You won’t have to worry about any of that, because this bloke’s leaving.”
“Doyle,” Kiera chided. “Be nice.”
He grumbled under his breath and turned around in the chair, showing his back to Domovyk.
“This is…” Addie searched for the right word. “Interesting, I guess, but we need to get back to Pendulum Lodge.”