Rhinestone Way

by Addison Creek

  The creature swayed and nearly fell, then came upright again. Even worse, he could move much faster through the swamp than we could. He slithered with surprising speed.

  I quickly did the wrist motion again. All my friends were behind me now, trying to back away.

  I let another blast of air go. This one felt a lot bigger than the last, so much so that I staggered backward into Jackie, who was forced to catch me. This time the giant creature slammed backwards to the ground in one shocking motion.

  Underneath us a wave of sludge hit our shins and nearly covered our knees. Luckily it just missed getting inside my boots.

  “Nicely done!” Kelly cried, breathless with terror.

  The sun was high overhead and I had to squint to see the creature. That was no comfort, because he was upright again in an instant. What I was doing was barely slowing him down.

  He came on, this time moving more slowly and methodically. As he gained ground, I noticed a movement behind his giant, oddly shaped body. Lizards were coming toward him, not just a couple, or even five or six. There were at least fifty large blue lizards converging on the back of the giant creature.

  “Um, Jackie, are those lizards dangerous ones?” I asked.

  I could feel more than see Jackie peering around my arm.

  “Those are caterpillar butterfly lizards,” she explained, sounding remarkably calm underneath the circumstances. “They live here too, but they don’t like anything that isn’t like themselves.”

  “So they have a problem with us?” I asked.

  “Yes, but they have an even bigger problem with that swamp thing. They know we’re witches.” Jackie was gasping now as more lizards kept coming. The swamp creature had yet to notice that they were there.

  I spellcast once more. This time when the lizard was knocked back, the lizards pounced.

  We stopped our retreat and watched in amazement as the lizards drove the creature back into the ground.

  “Is he going to die?” Lowe whispered.

  “No, definitely not. They’re just going to force him away. For now,” said Kelly. “They aren’t big enough to kill something that huge,” she added.

  As we watched, the creature slowly disappeared into the ground. The lizards became more frantic the closer they got to winning. Just as the creature was about to disappear, one last wave of lizards pounced.

  With a huge squelch the creature sank beneath the surface of the swamp. A massive wave of goop slammed into all of us.

  We were now covered in filth.

  We also hadn’t made any progress on Hannah’s assignment.

  “Just what is going on here?” Quinn’s angry voice penetrated my ears. I glanced around and saw the sheriff standing in the distance in the clean part of the field. He looked furious.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  We friends spun around and watched Quinn striding toward us, a collective squelching underneath our feet as we did so. His eyes were storming and his jaw was set, but he had to move very slowly because of his bum leg.

  “We’re in big trouble,” whispered Lowe.

  “That sheriff is attractive,” murmured Jackie in appreciation.

  “At least he didn’t catch us snooping,” I whispered back, choosing to ignore Jackie. No use in agreeing with the obvious.

  In this case there was only Hannah to blame for our being out here. Luckily she was a larger than life figure, and she was enough.

  Even as we hurried in Quinn’s direction, I wished there was a way not to. We were covered in the most disgusting smell imaginable. I really didn’t want Quinn to see me like this.

  When we converged, we were all still in the field. Quinn stopped short and braced his hands on his hips. He was wearing the black sheriff’s uniform and he looked very handsome in it.

  “Tell me what you’re doing out here,” he growled. His eyes scanned the area behind us again, prompting us to turn around to see what he was focusing on.

  It turned out that there were still at least a hundred lizards dancing and partying. Apparently we had found the swamp fraternity that hung out in these here parts, and they were delighted with themselves. There was still a faint gurgling and rumbling under our feet, but the noise was growing more distant by the moment,

  All four of us started speaking at once. Kelly tried to say that we weren’t doing anything wrong. Jackie referenced the Young Witches gathering. I brought up Hannah’s orders. Lowe said something about us not getting into trouble.

  Quinn finally held up his hand. “One at a time, please!”

  I took a deep breath when he pointed to me. “You tell me what’s going on.”

  “We went to the first Young Witches gathering of the year this morning. Hannah has appointed herself to be in charge. Well, really it was her mother, but it amounts to the same thing. She’s in charge, and she gave out assignments to all the young witches who came to the meeting. Unsurprisingly, we got the worst one.”

  “How could you be so foolish as to go into the swamp! Do you not see those lizards? That’s so dangerous!” Quinn was fuming.

  “What you talking about?” I asked.

  “There are signs up saying that this area is dangerous. This is where the lizards are,” he cried. He was nearly frantic with worry. The rest of us exchanged glances, then started to climb away from the swamp.

  “We didn’t see any lizards when we got here,” said Jackie.

  “I do believe you’re referring to a different kind of lizard. The swamp lizard is not the deadly kind. What do lizards have to do with anything anyway?” Kelly asked.

  Quinn was still glaring at me. “There is no way anyone should be going into this swamp, and especially not a young witch. I’m going to have a word with this Hannah and tell her exactly what she’s done wrong here,” he added.

  I flinched. That sounded about as safe as parachuting over a lava field. “I’m sure she was just trying to help the town be cleaner and safer,” I said.

  Why I was defending Hannah, I had no idea. Possibly it was because an angry Quinn was not a phenomenon that I wanted to wish on my worst enemy. And yet . . .

  Quinn rolled his eyes. “Very well. I’m still going too speak with her, and I’m glad that none of you were injured on this foolish mission. You were very lucky.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. What do lizards have to do with anything?” Kelly wanted to know.

  Quinn and I exchanged looks. “It’s police business,” Quinn said eventually. “It’s what I’m doing out here to begin with. Now, I’ll escort all of you home.”

  “Oh, no you won’t,” said Jackie, already wiggling away. “There’s no way you can escort me anywhere. The press would have a field day with my mother if you did that. I’ll just go home, get cleaned up, and get back to the office. Thanks anyway,” she said.

  “Same here. I’ll be fine. I smell so bad, I’m sure I’ll be safe until I get home,” said Kelly with a tired grin.

  We had slowly started making our way back to the road. In the distance we could see the trolley coming.

  “Think they’ll let us on?” Jackie wondered.

  “The skunks ride the trolley from time to time. Why shouldn’t we?” Kelly wanted to know. With that she waved goodbye, and she and Jackie made their way to the platform to wait.

  “I’m already here, so I’m definitely going to walk you two home,” said Quinn, visibly bracing for an argument. When neither Lowe nor I objected, he gave one sharp, pleased nod, clasped his hands behind his back, and started walking toward Misdirect Lane and our house. We fell into step beside him.

  Lowe, who had loved the swamp almost as much as she loved the lab, started plying him with questions about lizards and about his presence there. He tried to dodge most of them, but he was eventually forced to explain that he’d come out to see if the deadly lizards in question were around. He had also been wondering if smugglers were using the swamp for nefarious purposes, so he was keeping an eye on that as well. Unfortunately, all he found were thr
ee young witches and Lowe, causing trouble.

  Lowe threw her head back and laughed at that. We were almost home by then, and I hadn’t said a word. I was lost in thought, unable to let go of the idea that Quinn was surely going to keep trying to explain to me how he could possibly have a wife.

  But he wasn’t.

  So I thought maybe he no longer cared that I was mad at him for not telling me. Or maybe he no longer thought I had a right to know anything beyond what was public knowledge.

  My heart started to ache. Usually when I got angry or sad, my tendency was to become sullen. If he didn’t want to talk to me, I didn’t want to talk to him either . . . except that I really did.

  “Here we are,” said Quinn as we came to a stop outside of our house. There was no sign of Lisa or Lucky, but the war raged in the garden as usual.

  “Thanks for walking us home,” said Lowe. She glanced at me and then at the house. “The faster I shower the less likely it is that I’ll smell for weeks, so I’d better get going. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” With one last glance at Quinn she turned on her heel and headed for the house.

  Quinn called out a goodbye to Lowe, then stood silently, waiting for what I didn’t know. I silently cursed my cousin for leaving me alone with him; the situation was in danger of turning into a moment of truth. He looked at me and I saw his lips twitch, but before I could even formulate something to say I felt a movement on my forehead.

  My mind rushed to form an image of a huge bug crawling around on my face, and without thinking about it I reached up and slapped my hand to my forehead. But there was no bug; all I felt was something wet and gloppy. The crawling sensation had just been some sludge dripping along my skin.

  I felt ridiculous. Not only that, but my quick arm notion had managed to splatter some of the glop from my arm onto Quinn’s shirt.

  I looked up in horror, first at his chest and then at his face.

  For one horrible moment neither of us said anything. Then he swallowed hard.

  “I feel as though you and I need a chance to talk. I would prefer to talk to you at an actual planned moment, and not . . .” He trailed off.

  “Now?” I supplied.

  He nodded, looking relieved that I’d said it and he didn’t have to.

  “Okay,” I said. But was he suggesting a date? It didn’t sound like. a date. It sounded more like a formal meeting with lawyers or negotiators. Not that I really knew how lawyers talked.

  “Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tomorrow night?” he asked.

  Slowly I lowered my hand from my forehead and nodded, suddenly unable to speak.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked. Clearly he hadn’t lost his voice.

  “Yes, that sounds good. We should talk,” I told him.

  Maybe he’d finally explain his wife. If she was involved in any of this pearl nonsense, tomorrow night would be an excellent opportunity for me to get some information about her. I might also find out something about the guy she’d been with at the university.

  “Great. I’ll pick you up here,” Quinn said. “We can eat at a restaurant, then go for a walk, hopefully where we can talk privately,” he added.

  Now it did sound like a date.

  He wasn’t going to leave until I said something.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I said.

  He nodded and smiled a genuine, warm smile. “Looking forward to it.”

  That night we returned to the unicorn field to try the third packet from Professor Burger, but not before my grandmother had had an entertaining day, with a lot of it spent laughing at me after she watched Lowe and me trail in covered in muck. She only stopped thinking it was funny when she found out that Hannah was involved, but even then she kept making comments about how she wished she’d taken a picture of us.

  Bethel let me take the lead this time. I still wasn’t very good at cauldron work and potions, and she thought there was no time like the present to practice. The unicorns thought what we were doing was novel enough to watch, and the same was true of the cats, who gathered around in their random way.

  At first nothing happened with the cauldron, but just as we were about to give up, Tiger came trotting over. He apparently spoke to the rest of my family, though I couldn’t understand what he said. When he finished Bethel translated. “He thinks the flame is too high. It’s not going to reach a smoke point until you lower it.”

  I lowered the flame, and a few minutes later a bright yellow steam wafted into the air. I glanced into the cauldron. “What is this good for?” I asked my grandmother.

  She looked inside and sniffed. “Grass fertilizer, I expect.”

  We all laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  There are few problems more clearly defined than the ones we were now faced with. A boy had been murdered. His friend was likely hiding in the woods or kidnapped, neither theory seeming to promise any good outcome. It was as if there was only a very small chance that Kyle would return safely to his family.

  Meanwhile, in trying to solve the case we were snooping around chasing everything from owl feathers to stolen pearls. There were killer lizards and giant slugs. You know something is wrong when your biggest problem in a day is something even worse than giant slug. We were snooping around murky yellow swamps and nerdy ladies in labs.

  We were getting nowhere fast.

  At breakfast the next morning we tried to change that. The day was overcast and humid, boding ill for later. Outside I could see the white coats of the unicorns against the colorless sky. Maybe Quinn and I wouldn’t get our walk in after all.

  Lowe and I were discussing whether Henry and Kyle might have any friends who would know what they’d been up to. “I think I remember some of their names,” she said over her bowl of cereal just as Bethel came in from tending to the unicorns.

  “Whose names?” she asked.

  When we looked at her but didn’t answer she said, “Are you talking about Henry’s murder?”

  I couldn’t tell what she made of our snooping.

  “More like that and Kyle’s disappearance,” Lowe corrected her.

  Bethel squinted at her other granddaughter. “Very well, but I don’t want that to mean you shirk your responsibility to the coven,” she said, turning her gaze toward me. Lowe had come with us to the swamp, yes, but she had no responsibilities to the coven.

  “You think in your free time you could have taken up knitting or something else productive. No, you have to go snooping in places where you don’t belong,” Bethel grumbled.

  At least she didn’t try to forbid us from pursuing the mystery. It would have been awkward to have to sneak around defying her.

  In the end Lowe and I decided to go in search of Kyle and Henry’s other friends. This seemed like the next logical course of action. So far in our snooping we had been doing research and experiments, but no interviews with anyone who might have been directly involved. Except for Kelly, in fact, we hadn’t talked to anyone who might be connected to the case at all, and Kelly didn’t know anything about what had happened. New avenues of information were required.

  After saying goodbye to Tiger and Spunk and promising Bethel I wouldn’t shirk my coven duties, we were off. Kelly was going to meet us downtown and go with us to speak with Kyle’s friends, then we intended to stop in and see Jackie at the town hall.

  Downtown Twinkleford was mostly still a mystery to me. I hadn’t lived in town long enough to really understand the twists and turns of the streets, and since downtown was usually packed with townsfolk, it was even harder to navigate than some of the other neighborhoods.

  We were going downtown because Lowe thought that some of Kyle’s friends worked in a bakery there. Our mission required us to walk past the shoe shop Nancy had owned, so we stopped to peer in through the paper-covered widow. A sign in the window read, “Under new (better) ownership and opening soon.”

  “That should be interesting,” said Kelly, who’d met us at the trolley station
.

  “We’re getting close,” said Lowe soon after we started moving again. “I can smell it now.”

  I sniffed a sort of sweet tang in the air, but it didn’t smell like any bakery I had ever been near.

  “What sort of baked goods are there?” I asked. At the markets we went to there was always a strange array of pastries for sale. By now I knew enough about Twinkleford to expect the unexpected.

  “I would call it an alternative bakery. You’ll just have to see for yourself,” said Lowe carefully.

  As with many storefronts in the downtown area, this place was small and swamped. When we squeezed through the front door an elderly witch turned around to glare at us. Our offense was unknown, at least to us, but she definitely wasn’t pleased and she thought we needed to know it. In the front of the crowd were a couple of vampires placing an order, and every cramped table was full. Customers waiting to have orders filled were pressed against every wall.

  We had just managed to squeeze the door shut behind us, but like everyone else in the place we were very cramped. Kelly kept scanning the employees to see if she recognized anyone. A swarthy fellow was minding the register, and three pale young men and an old woman were also trying to fit themselves behind the counter. Each was moving at a fast and steady pace to deal with the customer demand.

  “Orio is here, at least,” Kelly whispered.

  “What about Thompson?” Lowe asked.

  “He’s the one on the left,” Kelly explained.

  Shorter and stockier than Orio, Thompson took up more room behind the counter and moved with a lumbering step. One of his arms sported a spreading tattoo. His eyebrows were so thick they touched in the middle.

  The parting of the crowd gave me my first look at the bakery case. I started in surprise when I saw it.

  Twinkleford bakeries definitely weren’t serving plain old chocolate croissants. There was nary a blueberry muffin in view.