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

by M. Z. Andrews

“Eee,” I squealed. “Now I need to interview Elena!”

  Hugh and I linked arms and headed back towards the diner. “What will interviewing Elena tell you?”

  “I don’t know, but isn’t it interesting that Vaughn is staying with Elena?”

  Hugh shook his head. “You’ve lost me. No, it’s really not that interesting, he was her sister’s boyfriend. Why is it interesting to you?”

  I shrugged. “If my sister were just killed, I don’t know that I’d be inviting her possible killer boyfriend into my apartment to stay with me. That makes me wonder if perhaps they have their own relationship and if perhaps they were in on this together.”

  Hugh gave me a half grin as we re-entered the diner. “I think you’re reaching, Mercy Mae.”

  “Maybe, but I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to get my brother in the clear.”

  “What you’ve got to do is Google that brother of yours. Put those detective skills of yours to good use.”

  I patted his chest lightly and smiled at him. “Don’t worry Hugh, I’ll do my research and I’ll prove to you that my brother’s not as bad as everyone thinks he is.”

  I’ve got to…for my mother’s sake!

  { Chapter Ten}

  Dinner had done little to relax me, but it had given me new hope that I could prove someone else had committed Harper’s murder. Hugh used his powers to draw us a beautiful sunset for the ride home. Orangey pinks lit up the horizon while he said goodbye to me at the quad doors to Winston Hall. Since Jax had interrupted us at my dorm room the night before, we’d decided to say goodnight away from that distraction.

  “I had another really great time,” Hugh said, pausing to stare into my eyes. “Your eyes look so bright tonight.”

  “I’ve got renewed hope that I’ll be able to save my brother!” I told him.

  He looked disappointed. “Oh, shucks, I thought maybe it was me that put that twinkle in your eye.”

  My pulse thrummed a steady beat in my ears as I smiled at him. I wanted to reach out and pull his adorable face to mine and plant a big kiss on those pale pink lips of his, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. It wasn’t that I was shy. I wasn’t a shy person, exactly. I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

  “You do put a twinkle in my eye, Hugh,” I said simply.

  “And you put one in mine,” he whispered as his head lowered to mine.

  “You’re back!” Sweets hollered excitedly as she came through the quad doors with an ice cream cone in her hand.

  Jax and Holly came stumbling behind her. “Hi Hughey,” Jax exclaimed cheerfully. “You want some ice cream? They’re having an ice cream social in the lobby tonight!”

  Hugh groaned as he pulled his head back. We were interrupted once again. “Next time I’m kissing you in the truck on the way home!” he whispered in my ear.

  I smiled broadly at him but felt a faint sense of relief. Kissing and all of that jazz was just foreign to me and I was thankful to be able to put that on the backburner for now. “Want some ice cream?” I asked him.

  “They have sprinkles and hot fudge chocolate!” Sweets said encouragingly to Hugh.

  Hugh laughed. “No thank you ladies,” he dipped his head at us all. “I best be gittin’ back to my room. I’ve got a bit of work I need to get done.”

  “Bye Hugh,” Holly said with a wave.

  “See ya, Hughey,” Jax called.

  Sweets’ mouth was too full of ice cream to say goodbye so she waved instead.

  “G’night Mercy Mae, sweet dreams,” he said as he turned around and walked away.

  “Good night Hugh,” I called after him. “Thanks for dinner.”

  “Oooh, date number two,” Holly cooed at me as I followed them to the marble tables in the courtyard.

  “It wasn’t really a date,” I explained. “I just needed to get some fresh air. I was stressed out.”

  Jax took a big lick of her ice cream cone. “Sounds like a date to me,” she remarked without taking her eyes off of her ice cream.

  Sweets nodded as she smacked her lips. “Mmmhmm. If he bought you dinner, that’s definitely a date.”

  I looked around. “Where’s Alba?”

  Holly groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, she’s in our room. She’s upset about something, but she won’t tell me what it is.”

  “Maybe it’s just her personality, maybe she’s really not upset about anything in particular,” Jax suggested. Then she whispered, “I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but she’s just kind of a grouchy person.”

  I laughed. “Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious.”

  Jax scrunched her nose up at me. “Sorry, I didn’t know if everyone realized that.”

  “Yeah, she’s just been extra grouchy lately. Something’s up. She just won’t tell me,” Holly whined. “You should talk to her, Mercy. She likes you.”

  I chuckled. “Alba doesn’t like me. She just tolerates me. You three get on her nerves.”

  Jax sucked in her breath and put a hand over her heart. “How do I get on her nerves?”

  She was offended. I felt bad and knew I needed to count to ten and take a few deep breaths before I opened my mouth again. Sometimes my mouth seemed to get me into trouble. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, slowly releasing it. When I was done I looked up at the girls. “Sorry girls, you don’t get on her nerves, you’re right, she’s just a grouchy person. It’s not you, it’s her. I’m sorry I said that.”

  Jax threw an arm over my shoulder and squeezed. “Thanks Mercy.”

  “I need more hot fudge,” said Holly standing up. “Mercy, you want me to get you some ice cream?”

  “Umm, sure? Thanks.”

  “What kind do you want?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, surprise me,” I said with a smile.

  Holly took her cup of ice cream and went back inside.

  Jax took that as her opportunity to pounce on me and Sweets. “Sweets, I need a favor. But you cannot tell Holly. Neither can you, Mercy, promise?”

  Sweets widened her eyes and swung them towards me as she licked her ice cream. “I don’t want to keep secrets from Holly. She’s one of my best friends.”

  “Well, I’m your other best friend and you can’t tell her. Ok?”

  I could tell by Sweets’ expression it was killing her to not know what the big secret was and knowing might trump keeping a secret from Holly.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “What?”

  “Mercy?” Jax asked me.

  “Why would I tell Holly anything?”

  “Ok, eee,” Jax squealed. “Sweets, I need you to do a matchmaking spell on me!”

  I looked at Jax in surprise. “You’re only 17. Why would you want to have Sweets do a matchmaking spell on you right now? You haven’t even finished witch school yet!”

  Sweets nodded vigorously. “Yeah, that doesn’t seem like a very good idea. You’re so young. I usually do spells on like women at least in their mid to late twenties or older!”

  Jax didn’t care. She clasped her hands together and slid closer to Sweets on the bench. “Oh, puh-leeeeese, Sweets. I’m in love!”

  This was the first that I was hearing of Jax being in love. Something seemed fishy. She’d never mentioned a boyfriend before today. “Who are you in love with Jax?”

  “Yeah, you’ve never told me you were in love before,” Sweets agreed as she began to nibble around the edges of her cone.

  Jax trained her eyes on me nervously. “I’m in love with Reign!”

  Sweets blanched. “Reign?” she asked. I could hear disappointment thick in her voice. I was sure she was just as disappointed in Jax as I was.

  “Jax!” I scolded. “Reign is 24 years old. You’re only 17. That’s crazy talk.”

  “Nooo,” she begged. “I love him!”

  “You don’t love him,” I argued, dismissing her with a wave of my hand.

  She crossed her arms angrily across her chest. “Yes I do! He’s so dreamy and he’s charming and he
’s funny. He’s perfect!”

  “And he’s under investigation for murdering a girl!” I added. I hated to do it. I didn’t want Reign to be guilty, but I also wanted my roommate to be smarter than that.

  “He didn’t do it! Mercy, you know that. You know your brother didn’t kill that girl,” she argued.

  “I hope that he didn’t do it, but we don’t know that yet.”

  Jax turned her attention back to Sweets. “Please Sweets. You’ve just got to do this for me. Please say you’ll do a matchmaking spell on me and Reign. Pretty please?”

  Sweets winced and wouldn’t make eye contact with Jax. “I don’t know Jax.”

  “I’ll be forever grateful!” Jax begged. “Oh no, Holly’s coming back. Please Sweets,” she whispered. “Just say yes.”

  Sweets and I looked up. Holly was just coming through the courtyard doors. “Fine,” Sweets growled grudgingly.

  Jax leapt off of her seat and threw her tiny little arms around Sweets’ neck. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I’m going to go plan out my outfit for our first date!”

  Jax rushed past Holly. “Eeee,” she squealed at her.

  “What’s she so excited about?” Holly asked us as she handed me a banana split and a spoon.

  Sweets rolled her eyes with obvious annoyance. “Oh, nothing. She just thinks she’s ‘in love’.”

  “Jax is in love? With who?” Holly asked.

  “With herself,” I insisted and shot Sweets an angry look.

  Holly shrugged but then her face lit up. “Listen, I’m glad I’ve got the two of you to myself for a moment anyway. I need a really big favor from the two of you.”

  Oh no.

  “Mercy, I was wondering if you could set up me and your brother.”

  “No,” I said expressionlessly.

  “Stop,” she said with a little laugh as she playfully slapped my hand. “And maybe Sweets, you could do one of your matchmaking spells on me and Reign,” Holly continued as if I hadn’t just said no.

  “Sure,” Sweets said without a second thought.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem,” Sweets said and went back to finishing her ice cream.

  “Sweets, you’re the best!” Holly gushed and then fired me an evil glare. “I’m going to go make plans for our first date. Thanks Sweets! I knew I could count on you.”

  Holly took off, taking her sundae with her. I slid my banana split aside and leaned over the table so Sweets and I were closer together. “What gives? Why would you promise both of them that you’d do spells on them? My brother can’t marry both of them and honestly, I don’t want him to marry either!”

  Sweets’ chocolate covered lips curled into a mischievous grin. “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug.

  “You do too know. What’s going on?”

  “Fine, but you’ve got to promise not to tell Jax or Holly!”

  I pulled an imaginary zipper across my lips.

  “I have a huge crush on your brother too. I’m not going to match them with him! That’d be insane. And I can’t do a spell on myself, that doesn’t work.” She giggled incessantly.

  “What is going on around here? Are you all mad? My brother is good looking, sure, but why are you all losing your marbles over him? He’s the prime suspect in a murder investigation. And he’s my brother. Isn’t there some kind of rule against dating your friends’ brothers?” I asked. It was appalling to me how swiftly my friends had decided to treat my brother like a piece of meat!

  Sweets stopped laughing and nodded up and down with a serious expression on her face. “Uh-huh. You mean like girl code?”

  “Yeah, like girl code!”

  “Uh-huh, yeah, girl code doesn’t apply here. The girls and I talked about it.”

  “You talked about whether or not girl code applies to my friends dating Reign?”

  She nodded emphatically. “Yes.”

  “Why not?!”

  She fidgeted in her seat a bit. “Well, here’s the thing. You didn’t grow up with Reign. So technically, he wasn’t your brother until like two days ago.”

  “No. No. No,” I said, shaking my head in disagreement. “He’s been my brother since I was born. I just didn’t know about him.”

  She squinted her eyes and turned her head sideways. “Well, Jax, Holly and I already ruled on the situation,” she said as if that, were that. “Sorry.”

  “That’s not how girl code works! You can’t make up new rules.”

  “Mmm, yeah, we decided we can.”

  “Ugh!” I groaned. “Well, then I call witch code!”

  “You can’t call witch code.”

  “Why doesn’t it apply?”

  Sweets shrugged. “Because witch code isn’t a real thing.”

  “That’s so not fair!”

  “Ok, well, I better get back to my room. I’ve got a lot of homework to do. Bye Mercy.”

  Alone in the quad I let my head fall down to the table. Why were my friends so nuts? Were all witches this crazy? “Ugh!” I groaned again.

  “Mercy?”

  I looked up. Libby and Cinder were standing beside me, each holding a book.

  “Are you alright?” Libby asked me gently.

  I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. I’m just frustrated.”

  “Ok,” Libby said with a smile. “Hey, we’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

  Cinder glanced nervously at her sister. “We met your brother today. He’s really cute.”

  Libby’s eyes opened wide as she nodded in agreement with what her sister had just said. “Really cute.”

  “We were wondering if maybe you could set us up with him or something?”

  I looked from one to the other. “Ugh!” I hollered at them and then took off, leaving my banana split on the table.

  ***

  Jax and Holly were in my room when I got back. All I wanted to do was find Sneaks and talk to my mom. It had been far too long since I’d talked to her last and I had so much to tell her.

  “Have you seen Sneaks?” I asked Jax dejectedly.

  “No. It’s been awhile,” Jax said.

  I grunted and shut the door. I couldn’t hang out with Jax, Holly or Sweets right now. They were just riding my last nerve. I paced down the hallway to Alba’s room and knocked on the door.

  She opened it and gave me a once over before grunting at me, “What do you want, Red?”

  “The kids are getting on my nerves,” I complained.

  I must have said the magic words. She opened the door wider and allowed me in.

  “What are you doing in here?” I asked her, sniffing around. It smelled like lemon and garlic.

  “Working on a project for potions class,” she grumbled.

  “Well it smells good, whatever it is.”

  “So what are they doing that’s annoying you, besides everything?”

  I threw myself down into a saucer chair in the middle of the room. “They all want my brother. I get that he’s nice looking and all, but is that all they want in a guy?”

  “Your brother doesn’t have other good attributes?” Alba asked absentmindedly as she flipped through the pages of her spell book.

  That was a good question. I hadn’t even considered what my brother’s good attributes were. I’m sure he had them. But I’d been so obsessed with the murder that I really hadn’t had time to think about what was good about Reign. I had only been worrying about what was bad about him.

  “I honestly have no idea. I haven’t gotten to know him. And that’s the other thing, Sweets is claiming that they said the girl code that says your friends can’t date your brother doesn’t apply to me because I don’t even know him yet. They say technically he wasn’t my brother until two days ago and that means girl code doesn’t apply.”

  Alba chortled. “That’s three brains not equaling a whole for ya,” she said grimacing.

  I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my face. “I’m just so stressed out! Why does there have to be this much dram
a?”

  Alba looked around. “You live in a dorm full of female witches. It’s like the drama capital of the world.”

  “You don’t have drama.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, so?” she said flatly.

  I peered at her more closely. “Wait. Why don’t you have drama? Are you in love with my brother too?”

  “I’m so not in love with your brother that I don’t even know if I like your brother,” she muttered.

  My spine stiffened and the tiny hairs on my arms prickled. “What’s wrong with my brother?”

  “Red, I’m going to start lumping you in with the half-wits if you don’t plug your hole.”

  “Why are you so cranky lately?” I asked her bluntly.

  “I’m not cranky,” she countered.

  “Is it hormones?”

  She shot me an annoyed glare. “Red,” she said warningly.

  “Fine. Be cranky. We can be cranky together.”

  We sat together quietly for a few minutes. I twiddled my fingers as my mind jumped around. First I wondered if the reason that Alba didn’t like my brother was because perhaps she didn’t like boys at all. I wanted to ask her, I mean it wouldn’t have bothered me if she didn’t like boys, but I thought it would at least be nice to know. Maybe that was the big mystery of Alba that we were all missing.

  I picked at the tiny cat hairs on my sweater. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Sneaks since earlier in the morning. Of course, when I didn’t want my mother nosing around, Sneaks was constantly underfoot. And when I actually needed my mother she was nowhere to be found. Go figure.

  “Have you seen Sneaks today?” I finally asked Alba.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Suddenly an idea came to me. “Alba do you have any idea how my mother commandeered Sneaks?”

  Alba looked up at me. “Like how she did the enchantment spell?”

  “Yeah, I mean if I wanted to be able to enchant an animal or something. Do you know how to do it?”

  “No, but I could do some research on it tomorrow.”

  “Could you? I mean, would you mind? I’d do it myself, but I’ve got so much going on right now,” I lamented.

  Alba nodded. “That’s why I’m here, to learn new stuff. I can ask Stone tomorrow. I’m sure she knows the spell or at least where I can find the spell.”