If the Curse Fits

by Kennedy Layne

  Let’s just say that Orwin’s thick Coke-bottle glasses had made it easy to tell that his pupils had enlarged to the size of dimes and his mouth had hung open like he was in the business of catching flies. Oh, and his black-rimmed glasses had nearly fallen off his nose.

  That doesn’t surprise me. I take it he saw the mark?

  Pearl was talking about the one distinguishable feature that had been seared into the minds of all witches and warlocks who’d come after her…the infamous wart on the end of Ammeline’s nose. Trust me, that specific horrid characteristic was not just a fairy tale.

  “Yes, Orwin saw the wart,” I confessed, tensing when the police officer had relinquished the second college student. He was now headed our way, until he wasn’t. “Oh, Orwin. You’re a genius.”

  Orwin had stood up from one of the tables and all but bumped the officer into the table of the older couple, who were grasping for their now cold coffees.

  “Tempest—” Piper had begun, but I was quick to cut her off.

  “Lou,” I insisted, not able to hear my name without hearing the disappointment in my father’s tone. It seemed like everyone and their mother had daddy issues. If I could at least get Piper to call me by my nickname, I’d feel as if I’d won half the battle. “Please, call me Lou.”

  “Fine,” Piper relented in that soft tone of hers that made me realize taking her on the road for future cases might not be such a good idea. “How bad is this curse? Do you only have weeks to live? Months?”

  You should know that I will do everything in my power to make sure Piper stays here in Bedford…where she belongs, Miss Lilura.

  “It’s not like that,” I corrected Piper, having gotten more than I bargained for with this familiar. It was apparent that Pearl knew what I was going to say before I said it. That was a very unfair advantage. “You see, I think Ammeline believed I should have somehow realized the man had stolen the cane from her that fateful morning. She became so overwrought with anger that she instantly hexed me with the first thing that came to mind—foreseeing the nature of a crime with evil intent before it happens.”

  I could tell that I’d lost Piper along the way, and Pearl was once again lifting the right side of her whiskers in disdain.

  I tried again.

  “I’m not talking just any type of crime…but murder. I see murders before they occur. The most heinous crimes you can imagine.”

  “You’re saying you see the gory details of someone taking their last breath before they die?” Piper’s blue eyes widened as the meaning behind my words finally hit home. “And when the victim dies, you’re left feeling as if you couldn’t save them. Is that what happened today? Oh, my goodness. You poor thing. How horrible. What a wicked hex.”

  That does sound like a travesty, Miss Lilura, but I’m sorry to tell you that Piper cannot rid you of your hex. You must seek help elsewhere…far, far away from here.

  Chapter Four

  “That gentleman over there was in line with me, and he can inform you that neither I nor my companion were anywhere near the restroom,” Orwin said loudly, turning the officer’s attention to the three men at another table. He’d succeeded in getting the officer’s interest off us for a short bit. “Isn’t that right, sir?”

  “Listen, I’m sorry that I can’t help you,” Piper said softly, sitting back in her chair now that the police officer tasked with taking statements had shifted his attention over to the three men. “I did come into the Allifair gift on my eighteenth birthday, but it’s not that simple. Like anything else dealing with the arts, learning the various healing spells takes time and practice. Truthfully, I’m not that good at it yet, and I’m definitely not dealing with the more serious ailments—if a hex could be called an ailment.”

  I will make sure my charge gets plenty of practice right here in Bedford, Miss Lilura. Come back in another fifty years or so…on second thought, sixty is a nice number.

  “I don’t understand why you would want me to go with you if I can’t be of any help.” Piper had clearly heard Pearl’s rejection to my internal thoughts on the subject, but I was quickly realizing that the familiar might be right. I wasn’t so sure Piper had what it took to try and save the lives from my visions…or to solve the mystery of their murders when Orwin and I were too late to prevent the victim’s death. Piper didn’t seem to have the moral or physical toughness this kind of work required. “Besides, I have a life here. Bedford is where I grew up. My family and friends are here, and I’m still learning the ways of my coven.”

  As hard as it was to admit, it was time to cut my losses.

  Wise choice, Miss Lilura.

  “Then you should stay here, Piper,” I relented, clearly seeing that taking Piper with us on this hunt was no longer a viable option. Talk about a crushing realization. “I was hoping you could help us, and it’s now obvious that your powers don’t extend to hexes cast by the only known Lich queen in existence. I do appreciate you listening to my plea, though.”

  Piper parted her lips to reply, but Orwin’s sudden presence in the chair next to her cut off her reply.

  “I bought us a few minutes.” Orwin pushed up his glasses as his gaze switched back and forth from Piper to me. “Well, can she help us or not?”

  “No, she can’t,” I replied, forcing a smile to my lips. I’d had a lot of setbacks in these last three months, and solving these murder mysteries for victims I couldn’t save had taken its toll on my civil discourse. What I really needed now was to solve our current case quickly and then hit the road. Maybe I’d get lucky and not have another horrifically detailed vision for a couple of days. “Piper can’t help us, and I need some quick answers.”

  “You mean she can’t cure you, but she has decided to come with us, right?”

  “No, she can’t.” I left it at that, and turned my focus on the murder. I cleared my throat in hopes that Orwin would follow my lead. With the druid blocking his powers, my partner couldn’t hear my thoughts. Who knew I’d grown used to such a gross violation of my personal privacy? “Orwin, were you able to figure out who the druid is? I originally thought it could be Knox Emeric, but then I realized you read his thoughts at the gas station earlier. I think we can safely rule him out as our prime suspect. The faster we solve this mystery, the quicker we can be on our way out of this burg.”

  That would be best for everyone involved, Miss Lilura.

  Orwin’s eyes widened a bit when Pearl agreed with my sentiment. Granted, he hadn’t had the time to experience hearing Piper’s familiar constantly give her unsolicited advice during our conversation, but it wasn’t like we’d have to deal with her anymore once we hit the road.

  I did find it interesting that Pearl had no trouble reading our thoughts and vice versa, but Orwin’s gift had all but been shut down. That alone supported the druid angle pretty well. Orwin’s self-protection ward only covered a spell aimed toward harming him personally, but what about Pearl?

  A familiar’s link to the supernatural is vastly different than the powers inherent to a gifted witch or warlock. Did you not take the history class of your coven, Miss Lilura?

  “Just for the record, I know I’m right about Area 51,” Orwin murmured, apparently deciding that now was the time to go head to head with a snooty familiar regarding conspiracy theories. “No need to go down that road with me again, unless you can offer me rock solid proof that the UFO crash never happen.”

  Is that your idea of a gauntlet, Mr. Cornelia?

  “You’d be surprised at the vast amount of knowledge Pearl has managed to accumulate in her two thousand plus years.” Piper stroked the sleek white fur as if Pearl were made of china. “She’s a wealth of information, and comes from a very, very long line of special Egyptian familiars. In fact, her great grandmother belonged to Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.”

  “Then why does she speak with an English accent?” I couldn’t help but ask, regarding Pearl warily.

  Speak to me directly, Miss Lilura. As for your inquiry, the financia
l backer of the excavation employed an archeologist by the name of Howard Carter to explore the tomb. Oh, how I loved my Howard, but it was the Lord Carnarvon’s daughter who had the gift, you see. I had no choice but to accompany her back to England. I remember my dear Evelyn fondly, and I do miss her so.

  Orwin shot me a glance that told me I just might have been too hasty in my decision to abandon our quest to bring Piper along with us. It was basically a two for one, but I’m sure even Orwin could recognize the potential problems with that kind of arrangement—Piper wasn’t cut out for the kind of life we’d chosen for ourselves based on our situation, and Orwin was allergic to virtually anything with fur.

  Granted, there was a good chance that Orwin’s allergies could be dealt with…well, whatever Piper did to heal someone of his or her minor ailments. It might be something he could ask her to do before we hit the road together—along with grilling Pearl about Area 51 in hopes of proving that at least one of his conspiracy theories were viable—but what I’d been hoping for in the grand scheme of things just wasn’t going to be in the cards.

  As for Pearl, I had no doubt that the sleek white feline familiar had the wherewithal to handle her own self should the need ever arise. I, for one, certainly didn’t want to end up on her bad side while we were stuck here dealing with this mess.

  In case you didn’t notice, you’re already chained to that particular pole, my dear.

  “Orwin, just tell me what we’re dealing with,” I practically pleaded, really wanting to take my wounded ego and leave this town as quickly as possible. I’d truly trusted in the suggestion that Piper had been the answer to all of our prayers. My error in judgement was a hard pill to swallow. “Who do you believe is the—”

  “Back up the train,” Orwin ordered, pushing up his glasses once again as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on the table with a perplexed expression. “Did you tell Piper that you’re not the only witch or warlock who has been on the receiving end of Ammeline’s wrath? If we don’t stop her rampage, our kind will be exposed and eventually cease to exist. It will be back to the good old days of burning witches at the stake. I, for one, do not want to go out that way.”

  “Wait,” Piper exclaimed in astonishment. “What am I missing? Are we in danger?”

  My sweet Piper, this is not our concern. You have much to learn before you could even consider going on such a quest like this, and it is best we bring this conversation to a close. Miss Lilura, I suggest you muzzle your partner.

  “No, no, no,” I reassured Piper while shooting Orwin a frustrating glance. Who would have thought that Pearl and I would ever be on the same side? “You have nothing to worry about, Piper. Ammeline can’t sneak up on me without notice. I made sure to cast a proximity spell so that I would be given a sense of her location should she be anywhere within a hundred miles of us.”

  “That doesn’t mean another warlock or witch won’t be sent along to do her bidding,” Orwin muttered underneath his breath, glaring at Pearl as if this were all her fault. He seemed to have forgotten that he worked for me and that I paid him a hefty paycheck to follow my lead, clearly deciding that he would override my executive decision to abandon our plan of bringing Piper with us. Then again, he did have a personal stake in all of this. “Piper, we’ve been stuck traipsing around the country for the last three months attempting to save people from dying. Lou here receives a vision of the victim before he or she is murdered. Sometimes we make it there in time, and other times we arrive too late to do much of anything but catch the person responsible.”

  I won’t say that you haven’t been hexed but good, Miss Lilura, but it is still in everyone’s best interest that the two of you be on your way. You need to do something about your warlock.

  “Temp—I mean, Lou—told me what has been happening to the both of you, and I can’t imagine having to deal with that on a daily basis.”

  “Let’s just say that I’m not in any hurry to see another body. It’s disconcerting, to say the least.” My gaze landed on the young man who’d been on his computer during the time the woman’s body was found. “Orwin, were you able to pick up anything from that young man before the druid stepped in and shut down your ability?”

  “No,” Orwin said somewhat distractedly. He wiped his nose with a napkin as he focused on Pearl. “You know something, don’t you?”

  “Pearl?” Piper asked, her sweet voice almost a magic of its own. There was such an innocence about her that it was really hard to lie to her. “If there is something you know that can help Lou and Orwin, please tell them now.”

  Pearl’s green eyes narrowed as she contemplated Piper’s request. As much as her familiar might give off such a superior air, it was clear that she loved her host very, very much. Piper was definitely her Achilles’ heel.

  It has been said that Ammeline’s immortality could cause her to go insane in the nearly three hundred years she’s been trapped here on this earth in her decaying body. Now, go forth in your quest. We wish you luck.

  Chapter Five

  “As much as it pains me to admit this,” Orwin muttered, sitting back in the chair as we both watched Piper go with the officer to give her statement, “that sarcastic white ball of Egyptian cotton could come in handy.”

  “It’ll never work.” I audibly sighed my utter frustration, having had incredibly high hopes that Piper would be the answer to my prayers. She wasn’t even close to the answer I needed. “Piper is too much of a babe in the woods. She’s far too trusting, and she’d only hinder us from solving the murder mysteries that fate has all but been forced to email straight to my head.”

  As I had previously mentioned, I hadn’t had a premonition of anyone’s murder in almost a week. It had taken us only four days to solve the aforementioned man’s murder. I hadn’t realized just how many days had passed since I’d envisioned Albert Wallace’s death. He’d been bled dry by the time we found him, courtesy of a brood of vampires outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

  Nasty things, those bloodsuckers.

  “I bet Pearl knows all kinds of things about how to neutralize vampires, werewolves, and goblins.” Orwin sniffled as he tried to clear his sinuses. “I mean, besides the obvious…silver to bring down a werewolf, dragging vampires out into the sunlight before driving a pine garden stake from the local hardware store through their chest, and cold iron to kill a goblin. That vampire business got kind of messy, though.”

  “You can’t even breathe while in the same room with Pearl. Besides, you said yourself that being around a familiar would send you straight to an insane asylum,” I pointed out, reaching for my jacket. It was no longer hot in here, and it was best that Orwin and I be ready to take our leave at a moment’s notice. Having a druid in the mix made this situation rather unpredictable and dangerous. “Apparently, fate had other ideas than us having access to another ally and a healer to boot.”

  “You believe in fate, but you don’t believe in coincidences. You see the problem with that, right?”

  Orwin’s sigh of frustration was hard to miss. He pulled out his cell phone, setting an all-time record for him not having his nose glued to the display for the last hour. He was a tech junkie and always chasing electrons for one purpose or another. No doubt he was pulling up information on druids to make sure we had all the facts and a list of their weaknesses.

  To catch you up to speed on our process, we’d been living out of hotels for the past three months. It wasn’t like I’d been afforded a lot of privacy as of late, which was the reason I was currently debating on investing in one of those fully outfitted RVs. I’m not talking the small ones that wouldn’t do me any good with Orwin’s particular talent, but one that offered me the luxury of having a small bit of privacy and a base of operations.

  Of course, it would have to be one of those luxury coach jobs that could pull my Jeep and provide us a functional headquarters to work out of while we were on the move. It would allow us to carry more supplies, a wide range of weapons, and a library of magic to
mes for reference. As it stood, Orwin spent a great deal of time trying to track down arcane volumes of some sort or other. The footlocker we had for them was full to bursting in the back of the Jeep.

  I guess it didn’t matter now.

  Without Piper joining us, an RV would be nothing more than an added expense for just the two of us. Although, mental health was important, right?

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this silence might be the thing that sends me over the edge.” Orwin never looked up from his phone, though he continued to provide me with information. “We can cross Knox Emeric off the list, as well as the three men who were with me in line.”

  “Really?” I casually glanced over to the table that was currently occupied by three suits who were all staring toward the restroom. My current position was somewhat blocked by the large condiment station. “Why is that?”

  “I was close enough to all of them to pick up on some of their thoughts, and not one of them gave me the impression they were anything other than the average male wondering how many points they would score in this weekend’s fantasy football league.”

  “Then that leaves the older couple, the two college girls, the young male who seems to be almost as techy as you, and the victim’s three friends.” I wasn’t surprised when two men came around the corner with a gurney and began to cart out the body in a long zippered black bag. I was quick to try and fixate on everyone’s expression, but all I could make out was shock, horror, and disbelief. “It is possible that someone snuck into the restroom, stabbed the victim, and then quickly left the café without anyone being the wiser.”

  Orwin had already pointed out that the café didn’t have security cameras on the inside. This was a small town, and the crime rates were too low to justify the cost. I had a feeling that something of this nature might change their mind rather quickly.