by Kali Harper
“Yes, but, Astrid, you’re missing the point. Alex says someone came through town a few days ago asking for the same charm I’d requested earlier. A charm isn’t what banished Morpheus as it simply doesn’t exist, but if someone wanted to shield their thoughts, they probably had a good reason for it.”
“And you think Alex will know this person by name?”
“If not, at least we can get a description. Ahh, there he is now.” Lance gestured up the way as Alex headed in our direction. His face was paler than before, and when he finally joined us, he was out of breath. “Thank you so much for agreeing—”
“Can we do this somewhere else?” Alex cut Lance off, opening the door to The Magician’s Closet before ushering me inside.
“What’s this about?” Lance asked once we’d all gathered inside Morpheus’ shop.
“Sorry, it’s Marian Gray. She’s after me again.”
Lance released a soft chuckle. “Things not going as well as you planned?” When I looked to Lance, he said, “His ex. You know she’ll find you eventually.”
“Yeah, but maybe by then I can breathe.” He removed a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his brow. “The woman’s a demon, I swear. Anyway, you wanted to know who was in the other day?”
“Please, but make it quick. We should really be getting back.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I don’t know the fellow by name, but I’ve seen him around these parts a few times before. He comes into Fairmount with his daughter as well. I think her name was Darby, but you’ll have to excuse me if these ears aren’t what they used to be.”
Lance and I both looked at one another, and as the anxiety rose in my chest, Lance thanked Alex for his time and let him out. “We need to get back to Emberdale. Now.”
Chapter Eleven
“Where are they?” Lance’s voice echoed in the open foyer, his shoulders bunched together as he stared Lucy down. I’d seen him upset before, possibly even worried, but this was new. This was a combination of the two and as terrifying as it sounds coming from someone who normally kept a level head on his shoulders.
“Lance, please.” I placed a hand on his arm and frowned when he pulled away from me. “You need to calm down. Yelling won’t do us any good.”
“What’s this about?” Lucy asked, ignoring Lance for the moment as she looked at me. “Does he always run hot and cold like this?”
I shrugged. “Not like this, no. Are the girls around? I thought they were going to stay here.” It’s why Sammy had worked so hard to ward up the place before we left. If Lucy was here, where had Darby and Izzy gone?
“Mark came to pick them up.” Lucy beamed. “I thought he’d be upset with me or Darby, but he took her in his arms and that was it.”
“Where is he?” Lance growled, narrowing his gaze when I stopped him from stepping on Lucy’s toes.
“You need to leave,” I told him, using the strongest voice I could. It shook and wasn’t at all convincing, so I said it again. “Now, Lance.”
“We’re in the middle of an investigation he—”
“And we’ll still be in the middle of one if you lose your temper.” Standing between them, I waited for Lance to speak again. Instead, his jaw tightened as he excused himself and walked outside. “Give me a minute,” I said, slowly closing the door once he’d gone. Without looking out the front window, I knew he was on the porch waiting for a reason to come back inside. So when Lucy opened her mouth to say something, I cut her off and headed into the kitchen. “Tea?.”
Lucy followed after me, her steps slow and hesitant. “Astrid—”
“We need tea,” I told her, putting on the best smile I could as I filled the kettle and placed it on the stove. “Have you had breakfast?”
“I… I never have breakfast.” She played with a vase of wildflowers on the kitchen table, paying particular attention to the Baby’s Breath.
“Are those from Mark?” I didn’t really keep flowers around for the same reason I hadn’t been able to finish Maggie’s garden. Who has the time?
“They are.” She passed me a shy smile, her cheeks a rosy pink as she pulled out a chair to sit down. “He’s a good man, Astrid.”
“You wouldn’t be dating him if he wasn’t.” Removing the kettle from the stove, I filled two mugs with steaming hot water and added the tea before joining her at the table.
“Then why did Lance come in here all upset? Those girls have done nothing wrong.”
“I know.” I’d never been the best at talking with my family, not openly, anyway. So when Lucy urged me to continue, I tried to think of something else to talk about. It won’t help. I had about three more minutes until Lance’s patience ran out, and the last thing we needed was to discuss this while screaming at the top of our lungs. “I’d hate to ask you this, but—”
“You need to know where he took the girls.” She stared into her tea and traced the rim of her mug with a fingertip.
Her flashy red nail polish clashed with the pastel blue of the cup, and without her lipstick to match, the color was sorely out of place. In fact, it seemed as though she hadn’t realized Mark was coming at all. If she had, she would’ve dressed herself up at least a little bit, but she hadn’t even had the time to put her foundation on.
“They were going back to Fairmount to see about getting Izzy’s memory erased,” her voice shook as she spoke.
“Isn’t that forbidden?” Who could do such a thing?
“It is if you try to use it on witches or other folk like us.”
“But you’d make an exception for humans? I don’t mean to raise my voice, but isn’t there something else you can do?”
“Like what, Astrid? Should we have her take an oath never to share our world with anyone else? She’s in no danger if she blabs to the other humans about us, but we will be.”
“If they believe her.”
“She’s a straight-A student, one of the highest in her class, and usually abides by the rules. She’s nothing like I was.”
I sighed and sunk lower in my chair. “Why did they go to Fairmount instead of getting the spell from someone else?”
“Like who? Harris? Maggie told me about him yesterday. He’s too cautious to come anywhere near charms like that.”
“But what you’re talking about isn’t a charm, is it?” Charms had a time limit. What Lucy was talking about was stronger and more potent than that. I think I’m going to be sick. “They could’ve done the same thing to me,” I told her, averting my gaze. “When you sent me here and Maggie charmed me, the rest of the town could’ve sent me away and erased my memory the same way they’re going to do to Izzy.”
“Izzy isn’t a witch,” she reminded me.
“Does it really matter? What if they erase the wrong thing? What if she forgets about her friendship with Darby? Darby would be crushed.” That one hit her harder than I’d planned, and as soon as Lucy pushed away from the table, I did the same. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Whether or not you meant it doesn’t matter,” she hurried into the living room, talking as she did, “but you’re right. We can’t let them erase Izzy’s memory like this. The poor thing’s probably scared to death.”
“She doesn’t know?” I asked, helping Lucy with her coat before opening the front door to Lance who stood on the other side.
“Mark told them he was going to show Izzy around the town and share a bit of our culture with her, but the look in his eye... Astrid, if you’d seen it—”
“It’s okay, we’ll find them.” To Lance, I said, “They’re back in Fairmount. We must’ve missed them when we left.”
Lucy locked the door and joined us. “They’re going to erase Izzy’s memory.”
“Not yet they’re not.” Lance took his cell out of his jacket pocket and punched in a handful of numbers before putting it to his ear.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“Richard. If they’re going to do what I think they are, they’ll need his approval.
”
“The mayor of Fairmount?”
“Yes. He may have his own rules on how magic is handled in his city, but once I explain how critical Izzy is to our investigation, then maybe—” He held up his hand as someone spoke on the other side of the line. “Richard Fisher, please. Tell him it’s Lance Barker. Yes, yes, everything’s fine. Thanks, Kelly. I’ll tell her.” There was another pause, and when Richard picked up, Lance stepped away.
“He’ll get things sorted out,” I said, taking Lucy’s hand in mine. “He may be a little rough around the edges, but he’s a good guy.”
“I know, dear. I just don’t like being scolded like that. It was terribly unprofessional.”
I had to agree, but then, this wasn’t just any investigation. I’d seen Lance work cases from Maggie’s murder to simple theft when nothing else was going on. He always kept his wits about him unless kids were involved. I didn’t have to ask to know he had a soft spot for them and had a greater need to protect them over anyone else. I can’t say I’d ever felt the same way until after Darby and Izzy arrived. Now, all I wanted to do was to keep them safe.
“Richard will do what he can, then speak with us once we arrive,” Lance said, pocketing his phone. “I just hope he can stop them in time.”
“You said they’d need his approval,” I told him, walking behind Lance along with Lucy and Sammy who’d caught up to us once we left the property line.
“If they want it done correctly, yes.”
“Mark would never turn to that,” Lucy insisted.
“Probably not, but it’s something to consider if they didn’t meet with Richard. Whatever happens, we can’t let Izzy’s memory go until after we locate Morpheus. She’s the more talkative of the two, and if Mark has her memory erased, the chances of us getting any information from Darby will be lost along with it.”
We reached Fairmount in record time. Lucy insisted we go by broomstick through Harris’ portal, but Lance opted to take his Station Wagon instead. Sitting in the backseat took me back to the first time I was in his car. He practically lived out of it at the time, working so late into the night he rarely left his desk. I had to wonder if this case would be much of the same.
“If Richard is the mayor of Fairmount, why haven’t I seen any police?” I asked, filling the silence between us.
“They’re different from what we have in Emberdale,” Lance explained, turning down a side street by Laura’s flower shop. “The guardians here are known as Celestials, the most powerful witches and wizards of our time. It’s their job to keep the wards in place and put out an alert if anything looks suspicious. You never see them because they’re cloaked.”
“But they know you’re trying to find Morpheus, right? Why not ask for their help? Maybe they saw something.”
“If they had, Morpheus would’ve been back by now,” Lance said. “The reason I’m working the streets instead of them is because not many realize they’re there, including our suspect. I’m only telling you this now so you understand why Fairmount has no need for law enforcement. Something like this doesn’t usually happen.”
“Well, it has, so maybe they need to rethink things a little bit.”
“Maybe they do, but the Celestials have other things to watch for aside from the goings-on in Morpheus’ shop.”
“What about the outside?” I asked once he parked the car.
“As I said, they have other things to watch for. Unless someone acted suspiciously, their attention would’ve been elsewhere.”
I didn’t believe that for a second, and after getting out of the car and helping Lucy with her door, I could tell I wasn’t the only one. “Someone saw something, I’m sure of it.” But like Darby and Izzy, whoever did was likely covering for someone they cared about. And here I thought we’d work on this together.
“Nothing like old times,” Sammy chimed in, walking at my feet as we crossed the street.
Things were going so well, too. Lance had actually let me help with an investigation, and now he was starting to put roadblocks in the way of our progress. “You don’t think he suspects Lucy, do you?”
Sammy was quiet for a long moment, and it was then I really wished I could read his mind. Still, whatever thought process he went through was unknown to me, and when he spoke again, his words forced the air from my lungs. “She did act kind of funny inside Morpheus’ office. What about when you suggested the police? Do you remember how she acted after that?”
I did, and it had bothered me ever since. We’d all been shaken up by the discovery, but there were times Lucy seemed a little more out of sorts than everyone else. She’d been alone in Morpheus’ office, so who knows what she could’ve done by the time we joined her.
“Lucy would never—”
“Don’t finish that sentence unless you’re sure,” Sammy said, following me as we walked into Richard’s office. Deep in thought, I almost didn’t catch what Sammy had said until he clawed at my pant leg. “Think about it. The guidance spell, never telling you this was your calling. There are things she’s kept from you before.”
“To protect me.”
“Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?”
Anymore, I wasn’t so sure. Standing beside Lucy, I couldn’t imagine her wanting to hurt Morpheus. She was so focused on getting my first broomstick, there was no reason she’d want to get rid of him. If there was, why did she ask me to go and see him in the first place?
“Maybe she’d already done it and needed an alibi,” Sammy offered, sounding a little too proud of himself for my liking.
“You don’t like her because she isn’t Maggie,” I told him.
“No, I don’t like her because we were just starting to get somewhere with your magic, then she walked to claim our victory. Maggie was there for you.”
“I know, and I won’t ever mistake what she did for something Lucy never could’ve done.” But my aunt couldn’t have banished Morpheus. I refused to believe it.
The mayor’s office wasn’t at all what I expected. Porcelain gargoyles perched on pedestals all around the room, their eyes fixed on us as we sat down. Sammy jumped in my lap, his fur raised higher than I was used to, and when he shivered, the aftershocks went all the way up my arms. Without saying anything, I stroked the fur between his shoulders and all along his back before scratching his chin once he settled in my lap.
“We don’t normally allow familiars in here,” Richard said, glaring at me with a pair of ice-blue eyes. “They disturb the air.”
“Sammy’s Astrid’s familiar,” Lance explained, “and was present when these two discovered Morpheus was missing. He’s a witness, same as them, and I’ve not once seen Sammy do anything to disturb others.” Then, Lance laughed. “He is a cat, after all. He lays about much of the time, so I can assure you, the last thing he’s planning to do now is disrupt whatever balance you have here.” He took his seat and removed his pad of paper from his breast pocket. “Sadly, our investigation hasn’t gotten far.”
“Which is why you wish to keep the human’s memory intact,” Richard said with a nod, placing his arms on his desk. The dirt under his nails didn’t resemble someone sitting in a cushy office chair at all, but then, things were different whenever magic was involved. “You’ll have to excuse my earlier comment. Some folks come in here with dark intentions, and I can’t know what those are if my gargoyles can’t sense them.”
“Celestials?” I asked, looking from the odd statues to Lance.
“In one form, yes,” Richard answered for him. “She knows about the Celestials?”
“She’d asked about how the law’s enforced here,” Lance said, shrinking in his chair the slightest bit. “Hiding them in the shadows is unwise, Richard. Especially now when we could use their intel for something else.”
Richard wiped at his eyes, his voice weary. “As soon as I heard about Morpheus, I questioned them. None of the Celestials heard or saw anything. Now, would you like to tell me why I had to hear about this from Darien inste
ad of you? We can handle our own investigations, Lance.”
“I understand, but…” Lance sighed. Over the next five minutes, he told Richard about the Canundrum along with how the girls got trapped inside of it. “We thought Morpheus was hidden inside the book. If he was, there would’ve been little reason to report it. Speaking his name would’ve gotten him out, then we could’ve gone from there and brought what we learned to you.”
Richard took a long breath before he spoke again. “And once you realized the Canundrum wasn’t him?”
“I made a few calls, the first being to Darien as I knew he’d be up and was in the area at the time.”
“You didn’t tell me this,” I told Lance. “Is that why you left in such a hurry the other night?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let whoever was inside the Canundrum know I was aware of the truth in case it happened to hold our suspect.”
“But they aren’t,” Richard said, looking between us. “You’re sure these children couldn’t have done this, even by accident?”
“Darby finished her first trial recently,” Lucy explained, “but she could never do something like this on her own.”
“Even if Morpheus refused to give her friend the magic she felt Izzy deserved?” Richard asked.
We were all quiet for a long unnerving moment. None of us had even considered Darby. She was just a kid, and if she needed to pass all of Morpheus’ trials in order to reach her full potential, then I couldn’t see why she would’ve been able to cast one of the most powerful spells ever known.
“She could never weave such magic,” Sammy said.
“Not alone, no,” Richard agreed. “Because you’ve started this on your own, I’ll allow you to continue unhindered. However, if I learn you’re protecting the child, there will be consequences.”
“Of course. Thank you so much for your time.” Lance stood to leave, pausing short of the door. “So they never came here about Izzy?”
“No, and none of the Celestials have seen them going into Oswald’s, either. Get to them before they find another way to wipe her memory for good.”