by Amy Boyles
"I found a thread out on the sidewalk. I showed it to Milly, and she destroyed it."
Well, there went that.
Roman paused in his assessment of my limb. "What?"
I explained the entire thing.
"So what do you think?" he asked.
I lowered my voice to a mouselike whisper. "Either she killed LaRue or she's telling the truth."
Roman released my hand, tipped his head to rest on the back of the couch and scrubbed a palm over his face. "This just gets better and better."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, yeah, I asked the guards who else had visited LaRue after us."
"And?"
He closed his eyes. "They gave me a name."
Why was he stalling? "And it was?"
"Cooper."
I shrugged. "Okay."
"Eliza Cooper."
I nodded. "Okay. Who's that?"
Roman's face darkened. "My aunt."
My heart stopped. Holy cow. I'd forgotten her name. I'm sure Roman had told me, but it slipped my mind. I mean, why would I be tying Roman's aunt to a terrible person like LaRue? "You're telling me your aunt visited Wanda LaRue before she died."
"Yes."
"Why?" I said.
He shook his head. "No idea."
"She's been calling you these past couple of days, right?"
Roman rose. He stretched his arms over his head. His shirt snaked up, revealing an edge of the dragon tattoo that was etched into his left side. I bit my lip. It was so sexy, I swear.
"She's been calling. When I phoned her today, she didn't answer."
I frowned. "So what are you thinking?"
He threaded his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what I'm thinking. I'm not thinking anything. It seems we've both had weird things happen."
"I agree," I said.
Grandma entered the living room. She stared at us suspiciously. "Are you two trying to figure out how to get Dylan out of that house-arrest anklet?"
I threw Roman a what-the-heck glance. "No."
She crossed her arms. "You have the look of guilt on your face, Dylan. I don't believe you."
"Okay. You caught me. I was about to take a fire iron to the thing and see if I could break it off."
"Oh dear, that won't work."
I slapped my hands against my thighs. "Well, shucks. Know something that will?"
Grandma shrugged. "Of course I know something that will."
I bolted up. "You do?"
She nodded. "What kind of witch would I be—an ex-witch police undercover investigator at that—if I didn't know how to break you out of that cuff."
I grabbed my grandmother by the arms. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Dylan, you of all people should've remembered how to break a cuff from the witch police. Months ago, when Pearbottom arrested Roman, how did we break him out of the handcuffs?"
Oh my gosh, she was right! I'd nearly forgotten all about that. "But that wasn't this kind of anklet. That was a pair of handcuffs."
She twisted her hand right and left. "Tomato, tahmahto."
"Do you think it'll work?" I said.
"He's only a baby. He may not understand."
I frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about getting Adonis to break your cuff."
I shook my head. "I thought you meant Titus."
Grandma laughed. "Dear, I think we've bothered Titus quite enough. If you need help from a unicorn, I suggest you ask our little friend."
I shot Roman a look. "Think it'll work?"
"It might."
I nibbled the edge of my finger. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Grandma crossed to the side buffet and pulled out her World War II helmet. She strapped it on. "The witch police discover you've taken off the anklet. Pearbottom shows up to arrest you."
"Oh yeah, that's kinda bad. Maybe we shouldn't do this."
Grandma finished buckling the helmet and came over to me. She smacked my arm. "Nonsense. What's the point in living if you haven't lived? Why, I remember a time I was deep in the Amazon. The jungle jaguar was missing, supposedly being held hostage by a gang of fairies."
"That sounds wonderful, Grandma. I want to hear this story, really I do, but can we focus on the anklet?"
She shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Reid and Sera entered the living room.
"What's going on in here?" Reid asked.
"Dylan's about to see if Adonis will break her out of that darned anklet."
Sera's eyes widened. "Seriously? Do you think he could take it off all of us?"
I hadn't considered the can of worms I might be stirring up with this.
"Let's see if it works on Dylan first," Grandma said. She glanced around. "Now, where is Adonis?"
"He's in the kitchen eating pumpkin seeds," Reid said. "I'll go get him."
Thirty seconds later, Adonis stood in the center of the room. He stared up at me, unblinking.
"Adonis, I don't know if you can do this. I don't even know if you understand me, but I need your help." I touched the tip of his horn and then pointed to my anklet. "I need you to use your power and break the cuff."
"Oh jeez," Reid said. "We're counting on this working? I might as well take a fork to mine. I'd have better luck."
I scowled. "You have to stay positive. That will help."
"Yeah, and cherry blossoms will blow out of my butt."
I ignored her. "Okay, Adonis. Can you do it? Can you use your unicorn power and touch my anklet?"
The unicorn stared at me.
Sera yawned. "Call me when he's done it. Meanwhile, I'll be asleep." She left the room.
"Use your power," I said.
"Oh for goodness’ sake. If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself." Grandma grabbed Adonis gently by the face and said, "Woolie, twillie, fergan."
My grandmother released the unicorn. The baby took a step toward me, leaned down and tapped his horn to my cuff.
The anklet broke in two, falling to the floor. I stared at it for half a beat and then jumped for joy. "You did it! You did it!" I wrapped the unicorn in a hug. "Oh my gosh. I'm going to love you forever! Thank you!"
I turned to Grandma. "Where'd you learn to speak unicorn?"
She shrugged. "I know a few things, Dylan."
"Uh-oh, I don't think we're out of the woods yet," Reid said.
"What do you mean?"
Roman scooped up the cuff. "It's beeping."
The red light on it was flashing like mad. A low hum emanated from the thing. As I watched, the hum loudened to the point where it blared like foghorn.
Roman dropped it to the floor. Adonis shrieked, bucking and kicking. The rest of us covered our ears.
I froze, not knowing what to do, and at the same time knowing the witch police would crash through my front door at any second and arrest me. They'd throw me into Wanda LaRue's same cell, probably, and seal me away forever.
The front door crashed open. I glanced up, expecting to see Pearbottom. Instead, a woman I'd never seen before in my entire life filled the frame.
She had long iron-gray hair, high cheekbones and dark eyes. She was hauntingly beautiful.
The woman raised a finger and pointed it at the cuff. It immediately stopped. I exhaled. I pulled my hands from my ears and met her gaze.
"Thank you," I said.
She nodded to me. "So this is Dylan Apel. It's funny, our first time meeting and I see you're getting yourselves into trouble."
Now why did people always feel the need to bring that up? I couldn't help it if trouble followed me.
I took a step forward. "And you are?"
The woman's gaze swept the room until it landed on Roman. "He can tell you."
I shot him a curious glance. "Roman?"
"Everyone," he said, "I'd like to introduce you to my aunt, Eliza Cooper."
"Nice to meet you," she said, shutting the door. She stepped into th
e room as if she owned the place.
Sera rushed in. "What's going on? What was that noise?"
Eliza sized up all of us and said, "Good. Everyone's here. Hurry. There's no time to waste. He'll be here in a moment."
"Who?" I asked.
She cast a hard glance over the room. "Jonathan Pearbottom."
TEN
Eliza pointed to the cuff. It snapped back onto my ankle.
"Hey," I shouted.
A cloud of smoke poofed into existence. Reid and Sera coughed, waving the stuff out of their faces. It cleared, revealing exactly who Eliza had said was on his way—Pearbottom.
"What's going on here?" he snarled. "Who's not wearing their house-arrest anklet?"
We all shrugged. "All of us are," Sera said.
Pearbottom scrunched up his face like he'd just sucked on a lemon. He walked the line of us as if trying to smell out a lie. He reached me, bent over and yanked on the cuff. It held strong.
Great. Looks like I was chained to my house again.
He tested the other two anklets and harrumphed.
"They're all secure," Eliza said.
Pearbottom's gaze cut to her. His expression remained cold. "I see."
Eliza stared at him. She had a quizzical, uncertain look on her face. I wondered what that was all about, so I made a mental note.
"Everything's in line here, Jonathan," Roman said. "Do you think I'd let them shirk their duties to the police?"
Pearbottom dragged his eyes to Roman. "Do you want an honest answer?"
"I'm an officer, too," Roman reminded him.
"You're not witch police anymore. Your loyalty may have died when you left."
"You mean when you arrested me."
Years ago Roman was arrested for murdering his girlfriend. He was sentenced to die but escaped. Up until a few months ago, when he'd been cleared of all charges, Roman had been on the run from the likes of Pearbottom.
"You need to be out there figuring out who killed Wanda LaRue rather than in here concerned about us," I said. "We're not bothering people. We're easy. We haven't killed anyone."
Pearbottom's lips curled into a devilish grin. "How do I know that? She was found on your property. You could've killed her." He slowly walked over to me. "After all, you, Dylan Apel…you're very capable with clothes, are you not?"
I fisted my hands on my hips. "You're the one who took my power away, remember? I can't work magic!"
He stopped, considered that. "Yes, I guess that's true."
"Is there anything else, Jonathan?" Grandma said. "I have thirteen hours of beauty sleep that I need to get, and you're interrupting it."
Pearbottom raised a finger. "If I get one more alarm on these anklets, I'm hauling all of you in—and I won't bother to ask any questions."
He vanished in another toxic cloud of smoke.
Eliza snapped her fingers. The cuff around my ankle cracked open and fell to the floor with a clank.
"Well, that's better." She flashed us all a wide smile. "I don't know about you, but I'd like a cup of coffee. Any takers?"
We all stood staring at her. Then Grandma swept past me, taking Eliza by the hands. "Dearest Eliza, it's so good to see you. Thank goodness you showed up when you did or Dylan would have been in a heap of trouble."
"Me?" I said. "You're the one who told the unicorn what to do."
Grandma sniffed. "I know, dear. But it was your anklet he was working on. Pearbottom would've taken you in. He wouldn't have concerned himself with the likes of me."
Eliza greeted Grandma and then strode over to Roman and hugged him. "I've been trying to reach you."
He scratched his eyebrow sheepishly. "I know. I've been trying to find time to call."
"This murder's been keeping you busy."
"I've had to keep everyone safe, too."
She nodded and looked at Reid. "You must be Reid," she said, gliding over to my youngest sister. Eliza's iron hair hung long and straight to the middle of her back. Her features were angular yet not sallow, her hands were strong and she wore lots and lots of leather and metal jewelry.
She was fabulous.
Eliza squeezed Reid's shoulders. "I hear you just got your powers. What a wonderful time in your life. And you must be Sera—I hear your cupcakes are divine. I'll have to try one while I'm here." She pinned her gaze on me and smiled deeply. "And Dylan. Roman's told me so much about you. Such wonderful things. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Likewise," I said.
Eliza wrapped me up in a welcome hug. She smelled like cookies and coconut. It was a mouthwatering combination.
She released her hold and said, "I look forward to getting to know you better."
"Same here," I said quietly. My cheeks flushed. I was suddenly super embarrassed about all the attention. I hadn't expected to meet Roman's aunt until we'd been dating longer than the seven months we'd been at it. I was glad too, of course, but I hadn't thought it would happen for a year. Or a decade, maybe.
The room settled into an eerie quiet. Roman hadn't made a move toward his aunt, and I'm pretty sure my family could sense that something was very, very off about the whole reason why Eliza was here.
Eliza turned and studied us. "We have much to discuss, Roman. So much."
"Let me go put on some coffee," Grandma said.
"I'll fix something for you to eat," Sera said. "You must be starved."
"And I'll go help," Reid added.
They left in a whirlwind, taking Adonis with them.
"Thank you for stopping the alarm on that anklet," I said.
Eliza nodded. "You're very welcome. I couldn't have Pearbottom arresting any of you. I'd only just gotten here. Besides, he has plenty of other things he should be concerned with—like finding a killer."
"You went to see LaRue," Roman said sourly.
Eliza's jaw dropped. She shot Roman a glance that should've barbed his heart to his spine. She lifted her chin defiantly and lowered herself onto a chair.
"I wanted to know why you'd been to see the likes of that woman. I'd been calling you, and you hadn't called me back. There are rumors, Roman. Rumors that your father has returned."
"He has," he said.
Eliza bit her lip. "You didn't tell me."
"We've wanted to keep it quiet. Besides, with your history—"
"That was a long time ago," she snapped. "I'd proven my intentions and my goodness, even before you came to live with me and your uncle—may he rest in peace."
Roman sighed. "There are still too many questions around Dad's disappearance. If Pearbottom knew about him, he'd be yanking him into the station for questioning. Truth is, my father doesn't remember much."
"Is that so?" Eliza said.
Roman nodded. "It's coming back to him in pieces. That's why we went to see LaRue. She was there the night Mom was murdered. Dad remembered her being one of the killers."
Eliza's eyes flared wide. "What did she say? Did she do it?"
Roman shook his head. "She denied killing them but said she was there. Said she would tell us everything if I did one thing."
Eliza leaned forward. "What was that?"
"Save her daughter from the magically induced coma she's in. Then LaRue wound up dead, so it doesn't matter."
"Do you have the cure?" Eliza asked.
Roman hesitated. "We got it."
She leaned forward. "LaRue's daughter used to visit her in prison. I don't know if they were close, but Chasity would see her. If anyone might know what happened that night—besides who else was there, of course—it would be her. Her daughter may be a font of intelligence."
Roman leaned back onto the couch. He didn't say anything.
"No matter what, Roman. That was my sister who was killed—my sister and nieces. I want to know what happened just as much as you do." She hesitated. "I know I dabbled in some things when I was young, but I don't have any connections to that world now. Not one." She took his hand. "You can trust me."
Roman nodded.
"Okay. We'll go in the morning to LaRue's house and cure Chasity—see if she gives us any information, but my guess is she won't. Once she finds out her mother's dead, I doubt she'll be interested in helping us."
"It never hurts to ask," Eliza said. She rose, towering above us. "I'll be here in the morning."
"You don't have to come," Roman said.
"I just transported five hundred miles to be here. I'm not going home without some answers."
I stood. "It was so nice meeting you."
Eliza took my hand. "The pleasure was all mine. I'll see you soon."
Roman gave his aunt a stiff hug. She snapped her fingers and vanished. When she was gone, I turned to him.
"I'm surprised you're not happier to see her."
He shrugged. "It's not that I'm not happy. Of course, I'm happy to see her; she did a lot for me when I was young. She raised me, Dylan. Took me into her home when my life was a mess—when I was a mess. I owe her my life. She gave me love and support when I know all she wanted to do was crumble to the floor and not go on. I didn't want to go on, either. But she didn't fall into a million pieces; instead she got up and shielded me from everything evil being said about my father, and from all the reporters who wanted to interview me, the only survivor of the massacre. She was there in a way I can't describe, and I owe her more than I've ever owed anyone anything.
"No, I didn't tell her about my father because she blamed him. She never said it, but when someone mentioned his name, the look on her face became cold, hard. If I told her Boo had resurfaced, she would have wanted him hauled in and questioned. I'm surprised she didn't bring it up tonight. Maybe she's let go of some of her anger. I don't know." He pressed his thumbs into his eyes. "But she knew that I always believed he was innocent, and maybe that's why she didn't press me about it." He paused. "There's something else, though."
"What's that?"
Roman scrubbed both palms down his face. He smiled at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Do we have to talk about serious things? Can't we snuggle for a minute?"
"No," I said, pushing him back. "We have to discuss serious things."
He sighed. "When my aunt was young—this was before I was born—she'd dabbled in dark magic. She wasn't ever part of any sort of magic-stealing ring, but the entire family knew she'd done some things. Because of that, she was left on the outskirts of the family."