by Tess Lake
Hilda had recovered quickly, and although no one could officially know where she’d been while she was missing, our witchy explanation was that she’d perhaps swum out into the water to collect another ingredient for the spell that the shadow witch had cast. She’d also likely been the one to dig up the graves. On that matter, not even Aunt Cass knew why she would want the flesh of what we presumed was Juliet Stern and the unknown Torrent.
I told my family about what I’d seen, but when we all flipped through the journal it was back to being mundane entries about eggs and how many loaves of bread were being sold. Unfortunately, generations of Torrent witches hadn’t bothered much in keeping family tree records, so beyond Aunt Cass’s and Grandma’s grandmother, we were a little unclear on where the unnamed Torrent witch and her daughter fit.
There were plenty of unanswered questions. Christian, the man who’d flung a fireball at us, had been acting strangely for a long time according to his wife. She’d told Sheriff Hardy that he’d been withdrawing cash and spending it, with no memory of doing so. It appeared the shadow witch had been in Harlot Bay for well over a year. But what was she doing all that time? Why was she taking photographs of us eating pizza? For that matter, what had she been doing with Wolfram Dole’s body? Why had she made him leap over a high fence and likely killed him? The best answer I had on that question was that evil witches do evil things.
I hadn’t yet found the time to see Hattie Stern to talk to her about Juliet, always seeming to find some other reason to put it off to avoid it. Hence why I was writing the cards when Eve arrived.
I took them out of my pocket and put them facedown on the table. There were other bits of good news sprinkled throughout the week. Coldwell had been fired, removed at once from dominion over Sunny Days Manor, and the Rosenthals had elevated Mr. Sharp to control. The food was good again, and every time you went past there were tradesmen working on a backlog of repairs. The three men we’d encountered were still refusing to talk, and the wheels of justice were turning slowly. Carter was still having a great time applying the blowtorch to Coldwell in his newspaper. Sheriff Hardy was aware of the situation, and although there was still no concrete evidence connecting Coldwell to the three men, he’d privately gone to have a conversation with Sylvester, making it very clear that if anything happened to Carter, Sheriff Hardy would be coming to investigate him and no one else.
Molly and Luce had finally received their part, and the coffee machine was up and running again. Will hadn’t proposed as yet, something Luce was ignoring, although I think she was at a low simmer most of the time about it. The moms were back at work, the new Big Pie Bakery bringing in a steady flow of money that was slowly increasing as tourist numbers began to grow.
Aunt Cass had managed to soothe all her suppliers and pay her invoices, and now she was at the office of the Chili Challenge with her three new teenage staff members, packing boxes. She was talking expansion into other areas, including concocting a chili sauce all her own. On that topic, Aunt Cass had suggested pulling in Will to help establish a garden so she could grow some magical chilies. Luce was still fending her off, not wanting to get her boyfriend-possible-future-husband involved in what was sure to be a fiasco of the highest order at some point.
I looked down at the cake and wondered if I should serve Jack and myself a piece when he arrived. I noticed the cards sitting on the table facedown and realized I’d almost forgotten they were there. I’d thought I was getting better at remembering, but whatever it was that was pushing at me was subtle and devious. I turned the cards over. On the first one I’d written: “There is a spell cast on you.” In brackets below, I’d added “Harlow Torrent,” just in case I forgot who you was. On the next card I’d written: “There is something strange happening in Harlot Bay.”
That was a difficult one to hold on to, and I often found myself daydreaming, thinking of other things.
Just inside, in the basement, Grandma stood frozen with her hands out in front of her. I suppose it seemed likely that whatever this strange thing was, she was somehow involved in it.
I shuffled the cards and then slipped them into my pocket. I stood up, about to take the cake inside when I heard some wild shouting from around the far side of the mansion. It was a woman, joyful, laughing madly. I walked out to the driveway and then heard the sound of hooves, a horse galloping. No, two horses. The first rounded the corner of the mansion, and I felt that crackle of magic through me. The past come to visit again. Even from a distance, I knew who it was: Juliet Stern, young and wild and free, her hair streaming out behind her, perhaps years before she’d lost her daughter to the shadow witch. Her horse was flecked in mud, and as I watched, she threw a ball of light behind her. Another horse rounded the corner, and the witch on its back ducked down to avoid the light, which hit the mansion and dissipated harmlessly.
I knew instantly that she was the unknown Torrent witch.
“Bad shot, Stern,” she called out. She flung a ball of light herself. Juliet galloped by me, the ground thundering, the horse passing so close I could’ve touched it, ducking her head and laughing as the ball of light zipped past her head and flung off into the distance. I looked up at the Torrent witch, who was grinning madly, wearing a tight dress that my mother would say was showing definitely too much cleavage. Her face was alive with joy and I saw her look down at me. She grinned as she went by, and in that moment I knew she could see me just as I could see her. I know I must’ve looked strange to her in my jeans and T-shirt, an oddly dressed figure by the side of the road.
We looked at each other for a frozen moment and then she was gone, bolting past, laughing wildly as Juliet Stern careened around the corner and the Torrent witch followed her. The moment they were out of sight, the sound of the hooves vanished and I was left in the quiet peace of the Torrent Mansion, a few birds somewhere gently singing to themselves. I stood there for a while, feeling that familiar motion of the earth tilting, great and secret things whirling by themselves and me being flung along with them. I wondered briefly if it had been a quirk of the magic but then quickly dismissed it. I believed I’d seen the past and it was truthful.
I heard Jack’s truck coming up the road, but it was a faint background noise compared to the roaring of the blood in my ears.
The unknown Torrent witch was me, my duplicate, my twin, wearing my face.
I’d just seen myself riding a horse, laughing and throwing magic at my best friend Juliet Stern.
Thanks for reading my book! More witch stories to come. If you’d like an email when a new book is released then you can sign up for my mailing list here. I have a strict no spam policy and will only send an email when I have a new release.
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In the next book love comes to Harlot Bay… along with poison…
xx Tess
For a complete title list visit www.TessLake.com
Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries
Butter Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #1)
Treasure Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #2)
Hidden Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #3)
Fabulous Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #4)
Holiday Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #5)
Shadow Witch (Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries #6)