Get with the Potion

by Samantha Silver

  Around three, when I knew the students would be gone from the Academy, I made my way over and back into Professor Kaminek’s classroom, leaving Vinnie snoring away on the couch.

  “Well, if it isn’t Ali Everwood,” he said with a smile when I walked in. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  I was about to open my mouth to correct him, since I’d seen him just the other day, but remembered at the last second about the potion I’d made to swap bodies with Leda.

  “Yes, it’s been too long,” I said.

  “So what have you been up to lately? I heard that you solved Blaze’s murder.”

  I gave him a wry smile. “You don’t have to dance around the elephant that’s been following me from room to room. I know I’m the main suspect in Danielle’s death.”

  Professor Kaminek shook his head sadly. “I have heard a few people say something to that effect, yes. Of course, anyone who knows you knows that while you may have a bit of a quick tongue, there’s no real malice in you. I know you didn’t kill that poor woman, but I do hope the enforcers find the real killer, and soon.”

  Little did he know that the enforcers were absolutely nowhere on that front. “Me too,” I replied. “Although I did have something to ask you that may be related.”

  “Oh?”

  “You have a student, Jon Gress. He went away on a trip to England when all this happened?”

  “That’s right,” Professor Kaminek said. “Did you know Jon has family in England? His father moved here when he was a boy, but Jon’s entire paternal side of the family lives there. My wife isn’t from Mt. Rheanier, and she never kept in touch with her family. I always thought that was sad, so when I saw there was an opportunity, I recommended Jon for the spot. I thought it would be good for him to meet some people from Newtcastle-on-Tyne, where his father’s family is from and where the potions class took place. In exchange, I’m having four students from there attending some of my classes in the next semester.”

  “Oh, that’s really good of you to do,” I said. “But so, if someone were to confirm an alibi for Jon for that morning, who would they go to?”

  “The chief enforcer here in town,” Professor Kaminek said, giving me a knowing look. “I know what you’re like, Ali. You can’t go doing this by yourself. It’s not your place. If you know something, go to the proper authorities. But I can tell you: as far as I know, Jon was there. He would have been in class when Danielle was murdered, and I’m sure an unexplained absence would have been reported to me by his professors.”

  “Ok,” I replied. “You’re sure of that?”

  Professor Kaminek nodded.

  “I’m sure.”

  “Alright, thanks for the help.”

  “Please, Ali. Leave this for the authorities. I know you like to do things your own way, but this is really not the time.”

  I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  I turned and left the classroom, my mind whirling with thoughts as I left the Academy. Suddenly, I froze. Something Professor Kaminek had said stuck with me, and I turned to enter the building once more. I had a question to ask.

  When he looked up from his desk at my knock, the professor’s eyebrows rose. “Yes? Was there something else?”

  “Yeah. Sorry, just a quick question, it’s probably nothing. You said that your wife wasn’t from here. She’s from a fire coven, right?”

  “That’s right,” Professor Kaminek nodded, looking a little bit surprised. “What has my wife got to do with anything?”

  “Nothing,” I said quickly. “Something totally different. But where was she from, exactly?”

  “Pacific Cove; she belongs to the coven of Mars.”

  I nodded. “Ok, thanks.”

  “I’m curious as to what that has to do with anything, though,” the professor said.

  “Honestly, nothing,” I replied, shaking my head. But that was a lie. It was everything. “Thanks.”

  I made my way out into the hallway and began pacing. Everything suddenly clicked. I knew who had killed Danielle Dashwood, but I just wasn’t completely sure of the why. I took out my phone and turned on the voice recorder.

  Striding back into Professor Kaminek’s classroom, I threw it out there. “So why did you do it? Why did you kill Danielle?”

  He laughed. “Oh, Ali. You can’t seriously think I’m the one who did this.”

  “I do,” I nodded. “I know it was you. I just don’t have all of the answers.”

  He crossed his arms in front of him. “Oh, this should be good.”

  “Danielle was blackmailing you, wasn’t she? You’re not her first target. Her first target, Anthony Green, didn’t have the money to pay her. So she never got anything out of him. But that planted the seed in her head, the seed that grew into a bigger idea. Blackmailing people could work, she just had to go after someone who had a little bit more money. And who better to choose as a target than the professor who wears designer clothes and goes on exotic holidays with his wife?”

  Professor Kaminek’s eyebrows rose. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned by what I was saying, but I knew I was getting there. “I knew Danielle had been visiting Pacific Cove, and that she spoke to a woman there investigating Las Brujas, who operate mainly through blackmail. I always thought that was why she had come to Pacific Cove, but it wasn’t. The first person she spoke to there was Martin Lefeu. And let me guess, your wife’s maiden name is Lefeu?”

  The professor lay out his hands in front of him. “What can I say? That was her last name. But that’s not exactly a secret. Pamela hasn’t seen or spoken to any of her family in years, though.”

  “She may not have told you about it, but she was keeping in touch with her brother, the drunk. He knew what you were doing. He mentioned that his wife’s husband was a no-good person, but he didn’t elaborate. So what is it? What did Danielle have on you?”

  Professor Kaminek laughed. “Seriously? Do you really think I’m just going to admit to you I’m a murderer because you have some half-baked theory?”

  “Oh, it’s going to be so easy to prove all of this. If you took out the money to pay Danielle, there’s going to be bank records. There’s Martin, who will probably spill everything if we go and ask him.”

  “Martin’s a good-for-nothing drunk who should have died in the gutter years ago,” Professor Kaminek spat. Evidently, I hit a nerve. Time to go for the home run.

  “Well, he didn’t. And he was more than happy to give Danielle ammunition to bribe you with. Did you tell your wife what you were doing? Does she even know the extra income comes from you doing something shady, or does she really think that’s the kind of salary you make as a teacher at the Academy? How’s she going to react when this house of cards you built comes tumbling down? She might be willing to hide a petty criminal’s actions if it keeps her comfortable, but will she really be willing to sleep in the same bed as a killer?”

  “You know what? Fine, I will tell you. Because the thing is, you’re Ali Everwood. You’re a perennial screwup, everyone in town thinks you’re a killer, and people don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth at the best of times. They’re certainly not going to believe you over me, a respected professor in this town.”

  I bit back a smile. This was exactly what I wanted.

  “You’re right. I did kill Danielle. That witch got exactly what she deserved.”

  Chapter 23

  “You knew her usual running route.”

  “That’s right. Everyone knew she ran around the lake every morning. It wasn’t hard to hide in the woods, wait for her to show up, then strangle her from behind. It was over in a minute.”

  I shuddered instinctively. “I was right, wasn’t I? She was blackmailing you.”

  “Yes. I had no idea Pamela told Martin what I’d been doing. She only found out herself about a year ago. She was horrified at first, but she’d become so accustomed to the lifestyle that eventually she came around to it and promised to keep it all secret. I didn’t know
she told him. I had mentioned once in class that my wife had a brother. Danielle must have remembered and gone to him for the information.”

  “What were you doing that was illegal?”

  “Potions,” Professor Kaminek explained. “I was selling black-market potions. Not in Mt. Rheanier, of course. I have way too high a profile here. But I’d go to the large paranormal cities, and I’d sell them there, where no one was ever going to recognize me or care. It was the perfect setup, and I made so much money.”

  “Until Danielle found out about it. What did she ask for?”

  “A million abras,” Professor Kaminek said. “I don’t have that kind of money. I’ve been spending all the extra that I make. I told her that, and she didn’t believe me. She told me if I didn’t come up with the money by the end of the week, then she was going to go to Chief Enforcer Loeb and tell her everything she knew.”

  I nodded. That story certainly sounded familiar. “So you killed her.”

  “That’s right. I was at the hospital that night, when you hexed her. I’d hurt my arm trying to get some leaves out of the gutter at my house, and I needed a potion to fix it up. I heard her shouting to anyone who’d listen that you were going to be sorry, and I figured that was my best opportunity. No one would suspect me of murder in the first place, but I had the perfect patsy in you.”

  “Always happy to be of service,” I deadpanned. “Anyway, thanks for letting me know. You’re right. Nobody in their right mind will believe me if I tell them this story, so I guess I’m just going to have to drop it. You’ll probably get away with it, and it’ll be our little secret. After all, I’m not like Danielle at all, and I would never blackmail somebody.”

  I would just secretly record a conversation of them admitting to murder and hand it over to the authorities. Totally different situation.

  Professor Kaminek’s mouth turned to a thin line. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Ali.”

  “Oh, come on,” I complained as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at me. “I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s fine. Besides, how are you going to explain a body showing up in the middle of the Academy?”

  “Do you know how many enemies Danielle had? It’s going to be obvious to anyone who’s been paying any attention that you were trying to solve this case. That’s what you did with the dragon who was killed, and that’s what you’ve been doing. You and your sister. She’s going to be next.”

  My heart froze. “You leave Leda out of this. She had nothing to do with it. The other day, when she visited you, that was actually me. I made a body swapping potion since I figured people would be more likely to talk to her than to me.”

  That pronouncement gave Kaminek pause for a second, and he narrowed his eyes at me, trying to figure out whether or not I was telling the truth. “How do I know you’re not lying to me? Lying is second nature to you. Just like that time when you were at the Academy and I caught you trying to alter your grade on an exam you’d failed.”

  I shrugged. “My mom would have killed me if she knew I’d failed a test. It was worth it. Besides, you said it yourself, that I seemed a little bit strange. In fact, if I remember right, you said it a couple of times, because as hard as I tried, I still failed at doing a perfect Leda imitation. And how would I know about that part of the conversation if it hadn’t been me?”

  “Alright, I suppose that does make sense,” Kaminek said, his eyes narrowing. “Still, just to be safe, I think I’m going to take your sister out of the picture. But the first witch that needs to be taken care of today is you.”

  My heart sank. Leda had been right. I shouldn’t have body swapped with her. Now, if Kaminek managed to kill me, he was going to kill her, too.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I just couldn’t.

  Kaminek was going to try to kill me right now, and I had to do everything to make sure that didn’t happen. I pulled out my wand just as Kaminek cast a spell at me.

  Fire shot from his wand toward me, and I had just enough time to cast the same water spell that had saved me from the fire ghost at Smells and Spells a couple of days earlier. By the time the water burst from my wand, the flame was so close I could feel its heat against my face, and as the water connected with the flame, steam filled the room with a loud hiss.

  “You can’t win,” Kaminek shouted at me. “I’m a respected professor. I’ve been doing magic professionally my whole life.”

  “And yet, you never learned the most important lesson of all,” I replied. “You can never win when the other person wants something more badly than you do.”

  I gritted my teeth and focused on my magic, the strength inside of me growing and pushing the torrent of water further back toward the professor. It was basically a game of magical tug-of-war. If I was lucky, a few other professors would have stayed at the Academy this late, and hopefully one of them would hear the ruckus and alert Chief Enforcer Loeb. It was unlikely, though; Professor Kaminek was well-known for his habit of being the last professor to leave the Academy every afternoon.

  Eventually, I decided this was enough. If we continued doing this, my energy levels were going to wane, and I’d have trouble casting any more spells. I moved carefully behind one of the thick desks used to make potions toward the back of the classroom. The desks essentially acted as magically enchanted barriers to protect students in case any potions went really wrong. If someone did something insane, we were supposed to hide underneath the desks, and we would be safe from any effects of the magic until a professor or magical fixer could come by and fix it.

  I dropped to the ground, ending my spell as flame rocketed above me. Ducking my head to make sure I was well and truly away from the flame, I was pleased to see the enchantment worked just the way it should. The desk basically acted as a protective barrier, and as long as I kept it between Kaminek and myself, I was safe.

  “You can’t hide. Come out from there,” Kaminek called out. “You’re only delaying the inevitable. If you come to your death like a grown witch, I’ll make it quick and painless.”

  “Oh yeah, I totally believe you, Professor Double-Life,” I called out. “I’ll be right out.”

  I pressed myself against the barrier at the bottom of the desk and looked around. The whole room was decorated for Halloween, and about three dozen pumpkins were lined up against the windows. I took out my wand and pointed it at them. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure this spell was going to work, since it was a variation on a spell I’d learned as a child, but oh boy was I going to give it a shot.

  “Rhea, mother goddess, turn these pumpkins into poison and have them hunt down Professor Kaminek.”

  I pointed my wand at the pumpkins at the same time as I heard Kaminek’s footsteps coming toward me. I closed my eyes and held my breath; his steps were so close now I could feel the vibrations coming through the floor. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped.

  “What the—?” he said, then I heard a cry of surprise and panic as he moved away from me, his footsteps moving further back. He cast a protection spell and I dared to take a peek to see what was happening.

  The pumpkins that had lined the windowsill had gone from lifeless gourds to floating jack-o-lanterns. Dark purple smoke escaped their carved eyes and mouths, left in their wake as the pumpkins followed after Professor Kaminek, like they were drawn to him. Every couple of seconds, one of the pumpkins spat a shot of gunk toward the professor. One of them had hit him on the shoulder, and his shirt had melted away in that spot, exposing skin that had turned red and sizzled. The professor clutched at it, glaring at me.

  “What in the name of Rhea did you do?” he shouted at me.

  “Seriously? You’re trying to kill me. You can’t be surprised that I’m not just taking this lying down,” I shot back. I stepped toward the pumpkin army, confident that they weren’t going to harm me. After all, the spell had specifically told them to go after Kaminek.

  “Now this can all end. If you let me take you in to Chief Enforcer Loeb, I’ll call off th
e pumpkins, and you don’t have to die the world’s most embarrassing death.”

  “Never!” Kaminek shouted. “You’re a failure of a witch. There’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to defeat me.”

  “And yet you’re the one currently stuck behind a protective shield, trying to avoid my pumpkin army,” I said, careful to keep my wand pointed directly at the professor. I didn’t want him to get away.

  “Not for long,” he replied, suddenly breaking his shield spell and muttering something I couldn’t hear. I dove behind one of the desks as a loud explosion filled the room. I covered my head with my hands, but I was fine. The desk had protected me once more. Looking around, though, my pumpkins weren’t so lucky. The whole room was splattered with fibrous strings of orange, seeds scattered everywhere. The last bits of purple smoke were vaporizing into the air. I didn’t know what Professor Kaminek had done, but my pumpkins were dead.

  On the other hand, the professor didn’t look so great himself. Before being shredded to bits, my pumpkins had made one more valiant attempt at poisoning the professor, and his body was now covered in red blotches that looked incredibly painful. He writhed around, trying to hide the pain, but I could see he was struggling with it.

  This was my opportunity, my last chance to stop him once and for all.

  “Rhea, mother goddess, take this wizard and snap his wand,” I said, focusing all my energy on the wand now hanging loosely in Professor Kaminek’s hand. He tried to raise his hand to counter the spell, but the pain must have been too terrible, as he missed and his wand snapped in his hand.

  He let out a howl, a pathetic sound, a mixture of horror and pain as he must have realized it was all over.

  “Rhea, mother goddess, stop this man from making any movements.”

  That was it. Now, Professor Kaminek was paralyzed from the neck down. I pulled out my phone and dialed Chief Enforcer Loeb, telling her where I was. She told me not to move, that she would be there in an instant.