Son of a Witch: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #2

by M. Z. Andrews

  The click of my heels on the cobblestone and the sound of the door slamming behind me caused him to turn around. And there he was again. Houston Brooks. That strong chiseled jaw, those hazel eyes underneath that wide brimmed hat – he was such a good looking man. His tall, lean, muscular body rocked forward from the heel of his boots and launched him towards me.

  I immediately noticed the appreciation in his eyes when he saw me. I exhaled a sigh of relief and quietly thanked Holly for forcing me to look like I did. Being a girly girl didn’t come naturally to me and for this tiny moment in time I was thankful I had a friend who knew how to be a girly girl for me.

  “Mercy me, don’t you look prettier than a peach!” he said as I approached him.

  I felt warmth fill my cheeks but tried to maintain my confidence. “Thank you, you look pretty handsome yourself, Houston.”

  “Hugh, really, only my mother calls me Houston and my Great Aunt Betty and I’d prefer not to think about those lovely ladies on a night such as tonight,” he said with a mischievous smile and that adorable little southern drawl I picked up on every time he spoke.

  “All right, Hugh, where are we going tonight? You said to dress nice, I assume this will do?” I asked, taking a step back so he could see me clearly. The gentle breeze rustled up long strands of my auburn hair and tossed it smoothly about my shoulders.

  Hugh took his hat off of his head and held it to his heart. His sandy blonde curls encircled the tips of his ears. “Oh, darlin’, you could set a block of ice on fire in that dress. I’m a little bit worried one of these other yay-hoos might swoop in and snatch you up if we don’t get out of here soon. Shall we?” he asked and extended an elbow to me.

  His funny little compliment caused an involuntary laugh to bubble out of my mouth, putting me slightly more at ease. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  I took his arm and let him lead me through the lobby of the men’s dorm. We passed by a tall man with a scar above his right eye. His hands were buried in the sleeves of his black robe.

  “Sorcerer,” Houston said, greeting him with a little nod as well.

  “Houston,” the man replied, looking down his thin nose at us as we passed by him.

  When we were out of earshot, I whispered to Houston, “That’s Grandmaster Flash.”

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “That guy back there. I call him Grandmaster Flash.”

  “That’s the Headmaster of the men’s school,” Hugh explained. “We just call him Sorcerer.”

  “I see. Well, I call him Grandmaster Flash and don’t tell him I said this, but dude freaks me out!”

  “Yeah, he’s dark as the devil’s ridin’ boots,” Hugh agreed.

  “Ok?” I said confusedly.

  “It’s just an expression,” Hugh explained.

  “You seem to be full of those,” I told him with a little laugh.

  He squeezed my arm a little tighter as we exited Warner Hall and veered down the path to the men’s parking lot on the other side of campus. Since being a student at the Institute, I hadn’t ventured that far in the other direction. I enjoyed checking out the scenery on their side of the courtyard. It was a nice evening, a perfect 77 degree temperature with only a light breeze blowing. The fresh air scent filled my lungs and for the first time in forever, I could actually say I felt like smiling for real. I surmised that was what happy felt like.

  Hugh led us to a big black pickup with a bit of rust above the back driver’s side tire. “She’s not real pretty but she’s an amazing beast of a truck. I’ve had her for years.” He opened the door and helped me up into the cab, when I was seated comfortably he shut the door behind me and went around to get in on the other side.

  When he was seated next to me I asked him bluntly, “How old are you anyway?” Manners weren’t always my strong suit.

  “Twenty-three. I know. I’m a bit old to be starting wizard school, but as my daddy always says, better late than pregnant, right?”

  “Sure,” I laughed, “what made you decide you wanted to go to school finally?”

  Hugh pushed the keys into the ignition and with a mighty rumble the truck roared to life. “Well, I don’t come from a paranormal family. My mother was a school teacher and my daddy owns a ranch just outside of Odessa. Mom’s been retired for the last three or four years, but dad’s still working on the ranch. I worked for him straight out of high school. The plan had been to go on to college after a year of working for him, but then I just wasn’t feeling it. I started feeling like maybe I had a greater purpose in life.”

  Hugh maneuvered the big truck down the long Institute driveway and down the hill towards downtown Aspen Falls.

  “What kind of greater purpose?”

  He rolled his window down and leaned to the left casually with his left elbow out the window and his right arm on the steering wheel. “I really didn’t know. That was the thing. I just knew college was a waste of money if I didn’t know my purpose. So I kept working for dad and then when I turned twenty, I discovered I had abilities that no one else in the house had.”

  “Like what? I’ve wondered what kind of things you can do.”

  Hugh turned to me and gave me a little wink. “I’ve wondered what kind of things you can do too, darlin’.”

  “Hugh!” I said with a laugh and swatted at his arm playfully.

  “Settle down, settle down. I was talkin’ ‘bout your gift, just like you were talkin’ ‘bout mine.”

  I smiled and leaned back in my seat. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

  “Don’t tempt me darlin’,” he said with a wide smile.

  I’d lobbed that one at him. I suppose I would have been shocked if he hadn’t at least bunted. I rolled my eyes at him.

  He laughed and sat up straight in his seat, putting both hands back on the wheel. “Fine. See that road sign up ahead?” he pointed up ahead.

  I looked up and saw a green arrow pointing to the right. It read Aspen Falls Recreational Park 2.2 mi. “Yeah?”

  “Keep watchin’ it now,” he said and nodded his head at the sign as we neared it.

  Just like that the sign flipped over and pointed to the left. The words were upside down now.

  “Houston Brooks! Fix that this instant!” I said with a big laugh.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said as he nodded at the sign, reversing it once again. His eyes crinkled in the corners when he smiled at me.

  “Well that’s hardly worth going to wizard school for,” I told him, unimpressed.

  He reached over and squeezed my knee. “Your turn.”

  “Fine. Ummm. I always know when it’s going to rain.” I gave him a cheesy smile, flashing him all of my teeth while my eyes squinted shut.

  “Attractive Mercy Mae. Very attractive. My Uncle Earl always knows when it’s going to rain too, he says he can feel it in his hip,” Hugh said as the truck pulled into downtown Aspen Falls. The small kitschy shops with brightly covered awnings were mostly closed for the evening, but as we pulled onto Lemon Street, we found ourselves in the heart of the Aspen Falls nightlife.

  “How does The Whiskey Grille sound for supper?” he asked, pulling the truck off to parallel park in front of a rustic-looking restaurant with two big whiskey barrels out front. Soft country music poured out of the big speakers underneath the corrugated tin roof awning. Wood fired smoke poured into the open windows and made my stomach churn excitedly.

  “Oh, my gosh, that smells so good. The smell of a wood burning stove in the fall is my absolute favorite smell!” I said and hopped out of the truck before he had a chance to come around and open my door for me.

  “Mine too,” he said, catching up to me on the sidewalk. “Did I mention how great you look tonight? I mean, you always look great, but, wow…just wow,” he said looking at my long legs.

  “You said that, but thanks, Hugh,” I grinned.

  The inside was just as rustic as the outside, a split rail fence separated the bar area from the seating area and the walls were co
vered with raw cut cedar boards and more corrugated tin. It was date night in Aspen Falls and all of the couples in town must have come to The Whiskey Grille for supper, the place was packed. Despite the crowd gathered in front of the hostess table in the lobby, the waiter was surprisingly able to find us a table and we were seated almost instantaneously.

  After the waiter handed us our menus and promised to be back shortly I looked at Hugh excitedly. “No wait, how awesome is that?”

  “And front row parking, too – looks like someone’s got skills,” he said winking at me suspiciously.

  My jaw dropped. “Hugh Brooks! Is this one of your tricks?” I demanded.

  He peeked out at me above his menu. “You’re move darlin’,” he smiled sweetly.

  “Fine. I see and talk to ghosts,” I said nonchalantly as I peered down at my menu.

  “Nice,” he said. “I can control the weather.”

  “Really? That’s interesting, how did you learn to do that?”

  “Well, I didn’t really have to learn to do it, it just sorta came to me. It started out by me praying for rain with my family. And then it would rain. I always thought it was God answering my family’s prayers. And then I prayed for rain a few times on my own and it rained. Then one day I was supposed to take this girl from town out on a picnic and it was raining! I just wished it would stop raining and it did. Then I began to notice a pattern. If I got really upset about something, it would thunderstorm. If I were down or depressed it would be a rainy day. If I were in a good mood, the sun would be shining.”

  “You don’t think it’s the other way around. Maybe the weather was influencing your moods,” I suggested.

  Hugh smiled at me as he folded up his menu and sat it in front of him. “Sweetheart, I can control the weather. Did you not notice the perfect temperature outside?”

  I nodded as I looked out the window next to our table.

  “You’re welcome,” he said lightly. “I can control it now. I don’t let my emotions control the weather anymore. I’d be out on the ranch and I’d bust my hand on something and I’d curse and a streak of lightning would shoot across the sky. Damn near burnt my momma’s chicken coop to the ground one day when I was out doing chores. It didn’t take long before I realized I needed to get that under control. So I sort of taught myself how to breathe and control it. Now, the weather is at my disposal! At least the local weather anyway, I can’t, like, make it rain in South Dakota or anything spectacular like that.”

  “Well, that’s a pretty cool party trick to have,” I said. “I definitely don’t do anything that awesome. I can talk to animals, er, animal,” I corrected.

  “Can you? That would have come in handy on the ranch. Who have you talked to lately?”

  “My mom. Well, my cat Sneaks. Ok, I guess my mom is my cat Sneaks.”

  Hugh nearly spit out the water he was taking a sip of. “Your mom is a cat?”

  “No, my mom is a witch. She lives in Illinois. She did some kind of a spell and is now able to see and talk to me with the help of this stray black cat that likes to climb into my dorm room window. She calls it Skitches.”

  “Skitches? I thought you said the cat’s name was Sneaks?”

  I laughed. “She calls the spell Skitches, you know, Skype for Witches – Skitches? Because we can see and talk to each other like you can on Skype…no computer necessary! Yeah, so I can talk to Sneaks, but I’ve never tried talking to any other animals. This is a new thing though.”

  “Well, that’s kind of handy.”

  The waiter came and took our order. After he left I decided to share my biggest new news with Hugh. “I actually talked to my mom earlier. She told me a big secret. Wanna hear?”

  “Sure darlin’. I’d love to hear anything you’ve got to say!”

  “I’ve got a brother that I’ve never met before. I didn’t even know he existed until a couple hours ago.”

  “You’re kidding me?”

  “No. Long story, but when my mom was a teenager she had a boyfriend that my grandmother didn’t approve of. She got pregnant and my granny actually took the baby and gave it away for adoption without my mother’s permission.”

  Hugh’s jaw dropped. “That’s got to be illegal or something!”

  I shrugged and took a sip of my water. “She was only sixteen. Even if it was illegal, I’m sure my mother wouldn’t have known how to get her baby back legally.”

  “That’s so sad,” said Hugh. He reached his tanned arms across the table and grabbed my hands off the table. “You’ve had a rough day then. Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quickly. I didn’t really feel like admitting to Hugh that I was not looking forward to meeting this ‘brother’.

  “You sure? That’s kind of a big deal. You weren’t your mother’s first born. She’s probably been thinking about him all these years and she never shared that with you? You could have nieces or nephews out there that you’ve never met before!”

  I pouted out my bottom lip. “Thanks a lot, Hugh, none of that had occurred to me yet. I guess I do have a reason to not be ok.”

  “Are you going to meet this brother?” Hugh asked.

  “Yeah, mom said he’s coming to find me,” I admitted.

  “He is? When?”

  I shrugged and looked outside. “I don’t know. Tomorrow or something? He’s on his way to Aspen Falls to find me.”

  Hugh’s head jerked back. “That’s a bit odd, don’t you think?”

  “Odd? In what way?”

  “A brother that you’ve never met is coming all the way to see you? Why wouldn’t he call first? Or send a letter? Or just friend you on Facebook or something. Do you even know what he looks like? Or what his name is?”

  “No, I have no idea what he looks like or what his name is. Mom said that when he was a baby he looked just like his father and that’s what caused my granny to take him away. She didn’t want my mom seeing her ex every day when she looked at the baby. My grandmother bound my mother from ever seeing or talking to this guy again.”

  “Why would she do that?” he asked.

  “I guess because he was older. And he was a wizard, a very powerful wizard. I don’t know all the details. My mom was pretty cryptic. She told me to watch out for my brother though. She called him special.”

  “Your mother called your brother special? Is that the word she used?”

  I nodded as I thought back on the exact conversation we’d had. “Yeah, pretty sure she said special. Why?”

  “Like special as in special needs?”

  “Mmm, I didn’t take it that way. I took special as in – precious to her.”

  “Maybe he’s got special abilities or something,” Hugh suggested. “Is he a wizard?”

  “I have no idea. I would have to guess that he is. I mean his father was a wizard and his mother is a witch. But then again my roommate’s mother is a witch and she’s not a…” I stopped short of finishing my statement. That had come out accidentally.

  “You’re roommate’s not a what?” he asked, quickly catching my blunder.

  “Nothing, nevermind,” I said and looked up at the waiter bringing us our food.

  Hugh looked up at him too. “Thank ya kindly,” he said to the waiter as his big steak and baked potato landed in front of him.

  “Now what were you saying about your roommate?” Hugh asked, looking at me carefully.

  I moved my plate around in front of me, adjusted my silverware and put my napkin in my lap carefully. “I shouldn’t have said anything about Jax. It’s a secret actually,” I whispered across the table to him.

  “Who am I going to tell?” he shrugged.

  “I don’t know, your roommate?” I suggested as I cut off a small piece of chicken.

  “Why would I tell Juan? He doesn’t even know Jax.”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I promised Jax I wouldn’t tell her secret, and I can’t.”

  “I’ll let you have a bite of my steak if you tel
l me,” he offered with an adorably cute smile.

  I laughed. “You promise you won’t tell anyone?”

  He crossed his fingers over his heart. “You can bet the farm on it.”

  “Jax isn’t a witch,” I whispered. “Her mother is Sorceress Stone. That’s why she’s going to school with us, but she’s not a witch. She has no powers.” I omitted the fact that The Black Witch who lived in the castle on the hill was her aunt. I didn’t think that all needed to be thrown out in the open this early in the relationship.

  “Well, she has no powers, yet,” he added, passing me a bite of his steak.

  “Thanks,” I said and took the bite. “Mmm, that’s good. What do you mean – yet?”

  “Jax is the tiny little thing, right?” he asked. “Dresses like a witch with the tights and pointy shoes.”

  “And the big black witch’s hat, yeah, that’s Jax,” I said with embarrassment.

  “She can’t be very old.”

  “She’s seventeen,” I told him.

  “Golly, only seventeen? She is young. Makes me feel a bit like a granddad. How old are you? I reckon I’ve never asked.”

  “You reckon?” I said with a little laugh.

  “Are you makin’ fun of my talk, Mercy Mae Habernackle?” he squinted at me from the side of his eyes.

  I laughed again. “No, sir. Your drawl is pretty darn cute.”

  “Well thank ya kindly,” he said in an extra drawn out drawl. “Now, how old?”

  “I’m nineteen,” I said honestly.

  “I guessed as much. Now, back to your roommate. She’s only seventeen years old. I didn’t learn about my powers until I’d turned 20. Makes sense to think that she just hasn’t come into her own yet.”

  “Interesting, I hope you’re right,” I said. I was sure Jax hoped the same thing. That someday she’d get her powers and she’d be just like the rest of the women in her family. For now, she felt she had to overcompensate by dressing up as much like the clichéd witch as possible to make people not notice that she actually wasn’t a witch.

  Despite the fact that I wasn’t sure what we’d actually talk about on a date, as I hadn’t ever actually been on a real date before, or had a real boyfriend before for that matter, we seemed to find plenty of topics for conversation. When dinner was over and Hugh suggested we just take a little drive before we go back to our dorm rooms, I was happy to agree.