“Is Amy going to be here?” I asked, and Sara nodded.
“She texted me about half an hour ago, wanting to know where we were. I told her we would meet her here, so shout out if you see her.”
“Are all of these people from the coven?”
“No, while some coven ceremonies are private, funerals are not, and anyone from the town who would like to pay their respects is able to do so. So not only did Philip have some non-coven friends in town, but a lot of people are going to be here simply out of idle curiosity. It’s been a long time since we’ve had anyone murdered here in town.”
As Sara kept an eye out for Amy, I looked around as well, but I was almost more focused on the other people around. After all, I still knew very few of the people who lived here in Western Woods, and I was curious. Near the edge of the lake, a plump woman with curly blonde hair and a fancy black dress cried into a handkerchief. She was being comforted by a man in robes who I assumed was the priest - or whatever the magical equivalent was - and I had to assume that this was Myrtle, Philip’s wife.
About twenty feet away from Myrtle stood Patricia, tall, stoic, and looking completely alone. Even though she was a homewrecker, by all accounts, I had to feel a little bit sorry for her. She was obviously grieving as well, though I couldn’t help but wonder if she had been the one to put Philip here. After all, he had broken up with her just before he was killed.
Among all of the other unfamiliar faces were a few that I recognized. Randy Tonner was there, along with his husband Eric. Caranthir stood at least a foot taller than almost everybody else, the elegant elf looking suitably somber for the occasion. Sara’s mother and her fiery red hair stood out as well; she was speaking with Caranthir and a couple of others, one of whom still had her triangular badge on. This was obviously the group of Philip’s former coworkers.
“Oh, there’s Amy,” Sara said suddenly, grabbing my arm. The two of us made our way towards her, and she smiled when she saw us.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good, thanks,” I answered.
“Cool. Hey, do either one of you know why the backyard has been turned into a lake?”
Sara and I looked at each other. “It’s a long story,” I replied. “We’ll tell you later.”
Just then, the priest stood up on a makeshift stage that I assumed had been conjured just then, as it wasn’t there when I had seen him a few moments earlier.
He pointed at his throat with his wand, muttering a few words, and when he spoke a few seconds later, his voice was amplified, as though he was using a microphone.
“Witches, wizards, and all magical creatures. I please welcome you to take a seat, as we will begin our celebration of Philip Vulcan’s life shortly.”
A buzz came up from the crowd as everyone began to mill around, trying to find a place to sit. Sara, Amy, and I found a patch of cool grass on a bit of a hill a few feet away, which allowed us to see everything, even though we were pretty far from shore. Eventually, when everybody was seated, the priest raised his arms, indicating for everybody to be quiet. His bald head practically glowed in the sun’s glare, and I imagined that he must have been quite hot in the heavy-looking robes he wore.
“Welcome, and let me begin by thanking all of you for coming to celebrate the life of one of Western Woods’ great magical citizens. As many of you know, I am the Oracle of Jupiter. Philip Vulcan may not have been born here, but he moved here for love, and I know from speaking with him that he was always touched by the way the people of this great town welcomed him as one of their own. Even though he was not guided by Jupiter, as most of the rest of us are, he fit in well in this coven, and we accepted him as family.”
The Oracle continued on for about ten minutes, speaking about Philip Vulcan and his life, and the impact he had on the people who lived here. Afterwards, his wife Myrtle got up to speak. She managed to keep it together, and I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was the killer, rather than Patricia. Had she known about the affair and killed Philip in a jealous rage?
“Now, in the tradition of his original coven, the good witches and wizards guided by the celestial being Io, please join me in sending Philip Vulcan’s body back to the skies. I will ask everybody to stand for the ceremony.”
A small murmur ran through the crowd; evidently, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what was going to happen now.
“What does Io’s coven do for funerals?” I whispered to Sara, who shrugged.
Amy shot her a look. “You really should have read more books in the library when we were at the Academy,” she said. “Many of the celestial covens ruled by fire use funeral pyres. In the case of the coven of Io, the pyre has to take place over water.”
So we were about to see the magical version of a Viking funeral. I had to admit, that was pretty cool. Sure enough, the Oracle stepped off the stage, and with a wave of his wand and a muttering of a spell, the stage disappeared to reveal a boat about seven feet long and two feet wide. It was completely encased, like a coffin.
Two wizards that I didn’t recognize stepped up to the boat. One of them held an old-fashioned torch, whose flames leapt high in the summer breeze. They held hands, and one of the men placed the torch on top of the boat, before both of them pushed it into the lake.
There had to be some sort of accelerant on the wood, because the boat caught fire immediately. Flames and smoke rose high up into the air, the crackling of the flames mingling with Myrtle’s sobs as her husband’s body drifted out towards the center of the lake.
For about three minutes everyone stood in silence, except for the sounds of crying, until finally the wooden boat and the body had been completely engulfed in flames and it all petered out without so much as a sound. Smoke continued to rise from the lake, but Philip Vulcan’s body was gone.
“I thank you all for coming to the ceremony,” the Oracle said about thirty seconds after the last of the flames had been extinguished. “Please stay as long as you would like to celebrate the life of Philip Vulcan. There is food, and refreshments.”
With that, everyone began to talk once more, the low hum of voices passing over the crowd.
“That was incredible,” Amy said, her eyes glimmering. “I’d heard of the funeral rites of many of the fire covens, but to see one in person was just something else.”
“I thought it was quite touching,” Sara said.
I nodded in agreement as the three of us made our way towards the large number of tables containing food. I hadn’t noticed before, but there were now at least a dozen of them, all with delicious pastries and plenty of drink dispensers.
“Do you think they’ll have Dragonberry juice?” I asked, looking around.
“For sure, it’s over there,” Sara said. “I’m going to go get some of this delicious food, after all, I skipped breakfast this morning.”
The three of us separated as we weaved our way around the groups of people munching away and chatting idly. I grabbed my juice, and made my way away from the crowd, before spotting Chief Enforcer King standing by herself under a tree, overlooking the group of people.
Making my way towards her, she smiled as she saw me coming.
“Tina? How are you settling in?”
“Great, thanks,” I told her. “There have been a few challenges, what with some of the people in town thinking I killed Philip, but for the most part it’s been great.” I joined her under the tree, and as I stared over the crowd, I couldn’t help but notice my familiar standing directly underneath the table featuring what looked like shrimp. I had completely lost track of Mr. Meowgi, but it was good to see he was fending for himself, as he did his best to look like a pathetic cat who definitely had not been fed breakfast that morning and who was absolutely starving. I made a mental note to keep an eye on him; I didn’t want him to get bolder and start stealing food directly off the table.
Chief Enforcer King nodded. “I’ve heard the rumors as well. It’s disappointing to say the least.”
“Do you have any idea who actually killed Philip?” I asked.
“I’m afraid I can’t speak about an open investigation at all.”
“Oh. Right, sorry.”
“Not to worry. You’re certainly not the first person to ask me that. With murder being so rare here in Western Woods, I think the whole town is both a little bit on edge, and also taken in simply by morbid curiosity.”
“I think you’re right,” I said, motioning around. “After all, I don’t think all of these people were Philip’s best friends.”
Chief Enforcer King laughed. “You’ve got that right. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I wanted to have a little bit of a chat with Patricia Trovao.”
“Sure. Nice to see you,” I said.
“You too. See you around.” I watched as Chief Enforcer King walked away from the tree and made her way towards Patricia. Did she suspect her of murder as well? Did she know about the affair? There were so many questions, and I just didn’t know how to answer them.
I watched closely, unable to listen in, as Chief Enforcer King spoke with Patricia. It certainly didn’t look like an interrogation to me; in fact, if I hadn’t known that this was the head of law enforcement for the town, I would have thought that it was just a conversation between two friends. They seemed quite friendly, as though they were just having a conversation. Maybe they were. After all, what did I know about Chief Enforcer King’s methods?
“Enjoying the view?” a familiar voice said at my side, and my heart skipped a beat as I looked over to see Kyran standing there, grinning away.
Chapter 21
“I thought you were in the hospital!”
“One of the cool things about being an elf, not only are we immortal, but when we don’t die we heal a lot faster than you genetically inferior witches,” he added with a wink.
“So you’re okay then,” I said, my eyes immediately going to Kyran’s mid-section, which was covered by a T-shirt so tight it didn’t even come close to hiding the fact that he was extremely fit.
“Never better. Though the Healers at the hospital did help with that. And how about you? Not having too much trouble here in town are you?”
I didn’t know why, but I found myself telling Kyran all about the Dragon who knocked me off my broom. After all, hadn’t all of my friends warned me against this guy? I shouldn’t even have been talking to him, let alone telling him what had happened.
As I told the story, his face darkened. “Have you told Lupo about it?”
I nodded. “Sara took me to see him straight away.”
“Good. Let me know if the problem is not solved to your satisfaction, as I’m pretty sure I know which dragon shifter it was.”
“Who was it?” I asked, curious.
“The same one who did this to me,” Kyran said with a wry smile. “He thinks the rules don’t apply to him, because his father is one of the overseeing Senators for the shifter race in the paranormal world.”
“Great. So not only did he knock me off my broom, but his dad’s important.”
“Yeah. Sometimes he gets away with things that he shouldn’t. So, as I said, let me know if you ever have any trouble with him.”
A part of me was actually afraid to ask what Kyran was going to do about it if he did get involved. After all, the guy had just gotten burned by the same guy - quite literally.
“Thanks,” I just said. “I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. Can I get you some more dragonberry juice?”
I accepted and watched as Kyran made his way through the crowd. I couldn’t help but notice a number of the paranormal community making way for him as he passed, almost as if they were afraid of him. I couldn’t understand why; as far as I was concerned, Kyran was a totally nice guy.
When he came back with the juice a couple of minutes later, I took it happily. “This is my favorite part of the paranormal world so far,” I said.
Kyran laughed. “You have the ability to do spells to do almost anything, you can fly on a broom, and you can make potions that make you feel almost anything, and yet dragonberry juice is your favorite part of life here?”
I nodded. “I suppose you could say my life is a bit food oriented.”
“So you’re basically Liz Lemon.”
I gasped. “A human world reference! You’ve seen 30 Rock?”
Kyran grinned. “I told you, I spend a lot of time there chasing away paranormals trying to stir up trouble. I can’t say I’ve seen every episode, but I’ve seen enough.”
“And do you know Harry Potter?”
“Of course I do.”
I laughed. “Finally, someone in this place might actually understand my references.”
“Oh, you’ll be making magical ones soon enough, I’m sure.”
“Speaking of magic, what kind of magical powers do elves have? You said you’re immortal, is that all?”
“It’s not all, no. And despite our immortality, we can be killed.”
“Like in Lord of the Rings.”
“Exactly like that. And we do have magical powers, although they aren’t quite as obvious as yours. Elves have a very intuitive kind of magic. We’re able to sense things that other creatures can’t. It was how I knew as soon as I saw you that you were the new arrival in town.”
“Ok,” I nodded. “But so, you can’t do spells, or anything like that?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking. We are connected to the earth, however. If I wanted to create a thunderstorm right now, I could do that. Or, I could make the level of the lake rise. But I couldn’t conjure up a cupcake right now.”
“Well then what’s even the point of having magical powers?” I asked, and Kyran laughed.
“Alright, well, that’s my quota for interaction with people in town met for the day. I’m going to head off.”
A part of me wanted to ask him why everyone seemed to avoid him as best they could, but I didn’t want to be totally crass.
“What made you come here in the first place? Did you know Philip?”
“Saw him in the hospital a few times, but no, I didn’t know him at all. I just came for the potential drama, but it looks like this is going to be a much more well-behaved wake than I had hoped for.”
I wasn’t entirely sure if Kyran was joking or not. “Anyway, I’ll see you around.”
“For sure,” I said, watching as Kyran headed away from the lake and back towards the town.
I turned to see if I could catch a glimpse of Amy and Sara, but I assumed they had found other people to talk to themselves, as I couldn’t spot them in the crowd at all.
“Well, might as well get a bit of food,” I muttered to myself as my stomach grumbled. After all, I hadn’t had any breakfast either. I found my familiar still happily begging for food under the shrimp table.
“You know, that breakfast you fed me really didn’t feel like enough food,” I heard a voice underneath me say.
“Oh, really?” I asked Mr. Meowgi, giving him a sly look as he peered up at me from the ground, giving me his best begging face. “And I’m sure you haven’t been sitting here begging the entire time.”
“Of course not, do I look like a cat who would shamelessly ask for food from strangers?”
“You absolutely do.”
“Well, I never,” Mr. Meowgi huffed in false outrage, and I laughed. I threw him a piece of shrimp, which he happily devoured, when I suddenly overheard a snippet of conversation between the people next to me.
“Oh, yes, well Myrtle knew all about it, you know.”
My eyes widened as I looked over at who was speaking. It was a witch, for sure, speaking with another witch, but I didn’t recognize either one of them. Although seeing as one of them wore one of the hospital badges with an H on it, I knew she had to be a witch Healer.
I stepped away from the table, turning my back to the two witches, trying to look like I was just casually eating some food instead of eavesdropping on their conversation.
“I just can’t believe it.
Myrtle had always been so independent. You know, her parents never wanted her to marry outside of the coven to begin with.”
“I know. It’s such a shame. She used to be so independent. And yet, Philip and Patricia were quite close to one another. I think it was more than friendship, personally.”
The other witch made a tutting sound. “I imagine that’s why Caranthir had Philip fired.”
“Goodness, I haven’t the slightest. I imagine that’s the case. I was surprised all the same. I suspect Caranthir was actually training Philip to take on a bigger role at the hospital.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, but do keep that information to yourself, as I’m not certain. But I was in the break room only a couple of days before Philip was fired, and I overheard Philip and Caranthir talking in the next room. Philip was talking to Caranthir about invoicing and accounting. They were obviously keeping it hush-hush, so I just left. But I thought it was nice that Caranthir was helping Philip get a leg up on his career.”
I stopped, my mouth dropping open. If anyone had chosen that exact moment to look at me, they definitely would have thought I’d seen a ghost. Everything clicked.
What was the name of that company on the invoices I’d gone through – Helio-something? Helios was the Greek god of the sun, and who had told me that Caranthir was the elvish name for Sun-God?
Plus, in his office, there had been a large picture of a sunrise.
I had a hunch that I knew exactly where Philip Vulcan had gotten all that money he spent. Where on earth were Amy and Sara?
I looked around once more, but couldn’t spot them anywhere. I couldn’t see Chief Enforcer King, either. Maybe she had gone home after speaking with Patricia.
I did, however, see Caranthir in the distance. He was walking down the path, away from the lake and back towards town, evidently having done enough grieving. Unfortunately, he was already way off in the distance, and I knew if I didn’t take off after him now, there was no chance I would ever be able to catch up to him.
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