Covens and Cocktails

by fox, angie

  “We can do it in the showroom with the cauldron,” my mother said.

  We followed her back into the showroom. I wasn’t sure what my mother was feeling right now, but she must be upset. I wondered if she was blaming herself for the spell gone wrong. After all these years without a mistake I just knew it wasn’t her.

  “Do you know which spell you want to try?” my mother asked.

  I nodded. “I think I know which one would be best. It will draw out the identity of both people we’re looking for.” Well, ideally.

  “Just tell us what we need,” Nicolas said.

  A short time ago I would never have attempted a spell like this. Even now I couldn’t believe I was trying all these spells without the book, but I had no other option right now.

  “We need mint, bay leaf, clove, and sage,” I said.

  “You’ll find every one of them on that wall.” My mother pointed toward the far wall.

  Nicolas and Liam walked over to the wall lined with glass bottles and began gathering ingredients as I started to prep the cauldron. I hoped that we could hurry. I was worried that Annabelle needed us.

  After all the ingredients had been gathered, we huddled around the cauldron. We each took turns dumping the items into the water. Once the final items had been placed inside, we grabbed each other’s hands. I had hoped that I would be holding hands with my mother and Nicolas. Instead I was sandwiched between Nicolas and Liam. Having two gorgeous men next to me made it hard to concentrate. Especially when I looked up and they were both staring at me.

  We recited the words and watched as the spell came alive. The water bubbled and danced. Lights flickered and then finally there was calm again. I opened my eyes and looked around. So far there was no clue like we had asked for.

  “Maybe there’s something outside.” My words were full of doubt.

  When I’d performed the spell in the past there had been a clue written in the sky with the clouds. Now that I thought about it that had been kind of cool. Nighttime would make it a lot more difficult to read any message in the clouds though.

  “Let’s go outside,” Liam said.

  Having an audience while doing the spell and knowing they would be looking for the clue added even more pressure on me.

  We started for the front door when I paused and looked around. “Where is Superman?”

  My mother looked around. “I didn’t realize he was gone.”

  “Me either,” Nicolas said.

  I wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone. I’d been so engrossed in casting the spell that I hadn’t noticed. But he’d been there when we’d returned from outside and during the spell.

  My mother went to the back room and peeked in. A crease of worry settled between her brows. “He’s not there.”

  “Maybe he went outside for some fresh air,” Nicolas said.

  “I bet that’s what happened,” I said. I could tell that my mom was upset.

  “We’ll find him,” Liam said.

  My mother nodded and walked back to where we all stood. I hated to see her upset. If Superman had left I would have to hunt him down and give him the tongue-lashing that he deserved. We made our way to the front door. So far I didn’t see Superman standing outside on the sidewalk.

  When we stepped outside, we all looked around for him. Much to my disappointment, he was nowhere in sight. The sidewalks were devoid of people since all the shops had closed for the evening. Few cars moved along the road in front of the shop. The look on my mother’s face when she realized he had taken off was heartbreaking. I knew that this had been a crazy night, but that was no reason for him to leave without saying anything. That was not something the real Superman would have ever done.

  Chapter 4

  “If he was just going to leave like that then you didn’t need to be on a date with him. You don’t need a jerk in your life,” I said.

  She nodded and I hugged her.

  “You’re too good for him,” Nicolas said.

  “Much too good for him,” Liam added.

  I looked up at the sky to see if there was a clue. Nothing was there other than the expanse of glittering stars. I was beginning to think that the spell hadn’t worked.

  Nicolas squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. Give the spell a few more minutes before you give up.”

  He had read my mind. I glanced down at the sidewalk and noticed a piece of paper. It was part of a newspaper. It had an address for a local shop. I picked up the paper and tossed it in the nearby trash can. The paper flew out of the trash and landed at my feet. Since there was no wind I figured this was my clue.

  “I think this is the clue we’re looking for,” I said.

  Liam leaned in close and read the address. “Let’s go.”

  It was a short distance to the bookstore, so we walked. There were no lights on in the place but the front door was open.

  “That is odd,” I said.

  It gave me the creeps. It felt as if someone was luring us into their trap. They probably were. We stepped inside the darkened building. Books lined the shelves and a couple of leather chairs were placed near the front door. We’d barely made it inside when Superman appeared. My mother let out a little gasp.

  “What are you doing here?” Nicolas asked.

  “Better yet, why did you leave my mother?”

  He gave us a confused look and then said, “I am sorry. I’m not sure what happened. One minute I was in her shop and the next I was here.”

  I looked at him suspiciously. With the weird things happening around Enchantment Pointe lately I couldn’t say that he was lying. It was very possible that something like that could have happened.

  “Are you okay now?” Liam asked.

  Something seemed off about him. But I figured he was just confused after what had just happened.

  “Do you know who owns this shop? Where are they?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Why don’t you all go outside while Liam and I look around for the shop’s owner?” Nicolas asked.

  I nodded. I was just glad that I didn’t have to deal with this on my own.

  Liam and Nicolas looked around while we went outside so Superman could get fresh air. As we stood on the sidewalk waiting for the men, another piece of paper floated to my feet and stuck to my shoe. I knew that it was meant for me. I reached down and picked up. This time it was just an address.

  “Do you recognize this?” I asked.

  My mother and Superman looked at it and shook their heads.

  “I’ve never seen it,” he said.

  “I don’t know,” my mother said.

  Nicolas and Liam stepped out from the shop.

  “No one is there. We’ll close the door and call the police. Maybe they can find the owner,” Nicolas said.

  I nodded. I hoped that the reason for the missing owner didn’t have something to do with the reason Superman had gone missing for a moment too. It was looking more and more like that was the case.

  “We have to go to this address,” I said.

  Nicolas leaned over and looked at the address. “You all stay here. I’ll go get the car.”

  “Do you think we can find the place?” I asked.

  “Enchantment Pointe isn’t that big. Plus, that’s what my navigation is for.” He winked.

  Nicolas walked away. My mother talked to Superman, so that left me alone with Liam. I studied my shoes as we stood on the sidewalk. I noticed out the corner of my eye that Liam was watching me. He stepped closer.

  “We’ll find Annabelle, don’t worry,” he said.

  I met his stare. “I want to find her safe. I feel as if this is someone playing tricks again.”

  “You have every right to feel that way. There has been a lot going on and I know you don’t trust anyone.”

  “I trust you,” I said, looking down at my shoes to avoid his stare.

  “I’m glad. You can count on me for anything.” The sincerity in his voice made me weak in the kne
es.

  There had been a time that I hadn’t trusted Liam or Nicolas. I hoped that was all behind me now.

  Just then Nicolas pulled the car up to the curb. Liam opened the door for me and I slid in. My mother and Superman got in the back with Liam.

  Nicolas punched in the address and then pulled out onto the street. “Here we go.”

  We drove through the streets of Enchantment Pointe until we came to just the outer edge of town. Nicolas made a few turns. We were mostly all lost in thought. Superman was doing a lot of talking—I wasn’t sure about what. He talked too much. I thought he was asking about my mother’s business. I suppose he wondered why she had messed up the spells. I knew that made her feel uncomfortable. Maybe we’d soon figure out who did this or what went wrong and put it behind us.

  Finally we turned on the correct street. There were older houses, probably built in the 30s or 40s.

  Nicolas pulled the car up to the curb. We stared at the house. It was a white two-story with black rocking chairs on the porch and a jack-o-lantern on the steps.

  “Is this the place?” my mother asked.

  “It’s the address.” I checked the paper again.

  My mother leaned closer from the backseat. “I wonder who lives here?”

  “I guess we’ll find out,” I said, opening the car door.

  “Well, I won’t let you go alone,” she unfastened her seatbelt.

  “No one is going alone,” Nicolas said as he cut the engine and opened his door.

  We all gathered on the sidewalk and headed toward the front door. A car drove down the street and a dog parked at a neighbor’s house. I bet if anyone saw us they’d think we were strange, but it was Halloween time, so we did have somewhat of an excuse.

  We made it to the front porch and gathered around the front door. My heart sped up as I rang the doorbell. After I rang the bell one more time, it finally opened.

  I couldn’t say that I was shocked to see Misty. She’d changed from her black dress and pointy witch’s hat. Her outfit looked familiar. That was when it hit me. The pants and shirt looked like the ones worn by the man we’d seen in my mother’s shop. But that had been a man, right? Misty stared for a moment and then offered a fake smile.

  “What can I do for you, Ms. LaVeau?” She clearly hadn’t gotten over the fact that I had taken away her coven leader status.

  I looked over her shoulder into the house. It was dark and only the glow from a candle lit the background. The spell had given me this address for a reason and I intended on finding out why right away. If Annabelle was there then I wanted to know.

  Misty couldn’t be surprised to see me there. She’d probably known that I would show up. I just had to find out what she was up to. She was probably the one who had messed up the spell. She was just trying to make it look as if it was Annabelle. She didn’t like Annabelle. Plus, Annabelle was my friend, so that made it even worse. But Misty didn’t like my mother either. Misty didn’t like a lot of people and I thought that said a lot about her character.

  Misty glared at me, waiting for a response.

  “Is Annabelle here?” I asked.

  She snorted. “Why would she be here? We aren’t exactly friends, you know.”

  “I am aware of that, but I have reason to believe she is here.”

  Misty looked me up and down and then frowned. “No, she is not here.”

  “Come on, Misty, just tell us the truth.”

  She glared at Nicolas. “You all can leave now.”

  “I’m not leaving until I get an answer.”

  “I already gave you an answer,” she snapped.

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “It wasn’t the right answer.”

  “You are crazy,” she said.

  “Don’t you talk to my daughter that way,” my mother wagged her index finger at Misty.

  Misty stared at my mother for a second and then said, ‘”Like I said, she is not here.”

  “Would you mind if we came in and looked around?” Liam asked.

  Misty shook her head. “So you all are crazy. Good to know. The answer is no, you cannot come in and look around.” She started to close the door and I stopped her by placing my foot in the way.

  “I will find out the truth and if you are lying to me then you are in big trouble. If you’ve done anything to hurt Annabelle then you will be sorry.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have to listen to your threats.” She shut the door in my face.

  I knew she was lying, but I had no way to prove it at the moment. I would have to think of something else.

  “What do we do now?” my mother asked.

  “I think we have to find a way into her house.”

  “Is this even Misty’s house?” Liam asked.

  I looked at the door again. “No, I don’t think so. Unless she recently moved.”

  “Maybe she is here visiting a friend,” Nicolas said.

  “I guess we should find out who owns the house,” I said.

  “It’s certainly a place to start,” Liam said.

  I’d have to try a spell first. If that didn’t work then we’d have to look up the information. I wasn’t sure how we’d do that at this time of night.

  We turned to around to leave. We had no other choice but to get out of there. It wasn’t like Misty was going to change her mind and give us the information we wanted.

  “If we go to the car maybe we can sit there and come up with a plan,” I said.

  When I looked back, I spotted Misty peeking out from the curtain at the front window. She motioned for us to go away.

  “Where did he go?” My mother placed her hands on her hips.

  I looked around. Superman was gone again. Where could he have gone this time? Why did he keep slipping off? It had to make my mother feel terrible. She had bad luck with men. Maybe I should have tried to conjure up a date for her like she had always done for me. My high-school prom date had been a garden gnome. I still hadn’t forgiven her for that stunt.

  I had no idea how my mother had met this man. She’d never mentioned him and tonight was the first time that I had seen him. This must have been a very recent event.

  “Let’s look around for him,” Nicolas said.

  “You take that side of the house and I’ll take this side.” Liam pointed. “Why don’t you two stay here and guard the front of the house?”

  I nodded. “Just be careful. I don’t trust Misty.”

  I had plenty of reason not to trust her. If she hadn’t tried to take me out as the leader of the Underworld then she would still be the leader of the Enchantment Pointe Coven instead of Nicolas.

  After a couple minutes, the guys returned.

  Nicolas shook his head. “No luck.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “How will we find him?”

  Why was everyone coming up missing? Someone was playing games with their magic.

  “All we can do is cast another spell and hope that it gives us a better answer,” Nicolas said.

  “I should have known Misty would try something to get back at me.” She’d led me here on purpose by manipulating the spells and now it was up to me to figure out what her little game was. But how would I come up with another spell? I wished I had the Book of Mystics with me. Maybe I was using it as a crutch now, but before I’d had it I had been bad at every spell.

  “Now that I think about it, I found it funny that when Superman disappeared earlier the place where I found him led me to the clue that led us to Misty,” I said.

  I hated to break this to my mother, but I wondered what kind of guy she’d agreed to go on a date with. I needed to find out how he knew Misty. I refused to think that this was a coincidence.

  As soon as we were in the car, I would insist that my mother tell me everything she knew about this man. Once I knew where he came from, I could figure out if he was involved with Misty in some way. I wanted to believe for my mother’s sake that this wasn’t the case.

  “I just know th
at Annabelle is in there,” I said.

  “We could break the door down,” Liam said with a smile. I knew that he was only half joking.

  “If we break the door she will try to do magic against us. I’d rather not have to do a magic battle tonight. We have to lure Misty out of there,” I said. “Once she is out then we can go in and find out what is going on in there.”

  “We can do a spell to get everyone out of the house,” Liam suggested.

  Nicolas shoved his hands in his pockets. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  “I agree,” my mother said.

  I nodded, but something didn’t seem right. I kept that fact to myself though.

  “We have to do a spell right here on her front lawn,” I said.

  “I’m game. I want to know where he went to, so I’ll try anything,” my mother said.

  “Like I said, if we do the spell and make Misty come out then we can go in and look for Annabelle. Even if we do the spell to get everyone out we have no way to know if it really worked.”

  That was my way of admitting that I was still not confident with my magic skills. But who could blame me after years of failed attempts? I wondered if the others could sense my doubt. Probably it was written all over my face.

  Chapter 5

  As soon as the spell was finished I looked around for Annabelle. Instead of Annabelle, I spotted the man who had been in my mother’s shop.

  “Look who it is.” I pointed.

  The others had barely gotten a glance of the man before he had vanished back inside the house.

  “I should have known Misty had something to do with that man in the shop.”

  It was funny that the man was wearing the exact outfit Misty had been wearing when she answered the door. Either they were sharing each other’s closets, or Misty was dabbling in a mirroring spell in which she would take on someone else’s appearance.

  Annabelle had been nowhere in sight, but somehow I felt her presence.

  When I glanced over my shoulder, Annabelle was standing directly behind me.

  I reached out and grabbed her. “I am so glad to see you.”