Lucky Witch: A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries Book 5)

by Danielle Garrett

  “She never told me anything about her magic. I had no idea how she did what she did. I never even dared to ask. She was always secretive. Everything was locked away.”

  I frowned. “Like what?”

  “Notes, paperwork. She had a lot of books and she kept journals. I was never allowed to see any of it, but I’d been to her house.”

  I looked to Agent Bramble. “Was anything recovered when her house was searched after her arrest?”

  “I’ll double check what is logged. There was an extensive library, but I don’t know about the journals.”

  “Could someone have taken them before the SPA got there?”

  “It’s possible, I suppose. But who would have known about the arrest in time to get there and clean up?”

  I shifted my glance to Ben. “Did she have a partner? Someone had to know what she was doing.”

  Ben shook his head and the entire orb moved. “I’m sorry, Holly. I wish I could help. I don’t even know what her end goal was. She wanted to get her mother released from prison, but beyond that, I don’t know.”

  “She made an entire pack of wolves,” I said. “That couldn’t have been for no reason. What was she going to do? Storm the prison?”

  I stopped cold.

  “It was a backup plan. If her plan to manipulate and glamour the council didn’t work, she’d take it by force.”

  Ben stared, unblinking. “Maybe? I don’t know what she wanted.”

  “Then why were you going along with it?” Nick snapped, entering the conversation.

  He hung his head again. “At first, I wanted her to like me. Maybe even love me. Now I can see just how ridiculous that idea was.” He looked up, a bitter twist to his lips. “You can’t love someone if you don’t have a heart.”

  “Tell us about this Grady fellow. Did you really send him to check on Nick before the change?”

  He nodded. “The night I scratched you, Nick, it haunts me every night. It was the wolf. I couldn’t fight Sasha’s will and the wolf’s impulses. Not at the same time. I failed and you got hurt. Knowing that you’ll suffer your whole life because I wasn’t strong enough …”

  “Ben—”

  “I wanted someone to be there, to make sure you’d be okay. The first change is always the worst.” He shuddered, as though reliving his own. “Grady was the only one I trusted. I told him to follow you around before the change, to see what you were planning on doing. If needed, he would have revealed himself and offered to help. Of course, Holly already had a plan in place.” He smiled sadly. “On his last visit, just a few days before the full moon, he assured me that you weren’t going to be alone and that you’d be safe.”

  “A few days before the change? But can’t you only get visitors once a month?”

  Ben stared for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t get a lot of visitors, but as far as I know, there’s no real limit.”

  I frowned and looked at Agent Bramble. “He’s not in a high-security prison. He’s allowed any visitors who wish to see him.”

  Why had Marco lied to me? He’d made it clear that he wouldn’t be able to see Ben until after the next full moon. It didn’t make sense. Why lie about such an easily disprovable thing like that? Was he hoping to prevent me from seeing him? Or had there simply been a miscommunication somewhere along the line?

  “I didn’t tell Grady to follow you on the night of the change. When he told me you’d be with Holly and Adam, I knew you’d be safe. But I guess he wanted to double check that everything was all right. He must have broken from the pack and gone to see. The woods behind the Beechwood manor aren’t on the usual route. They were miles off the paths we usually took together.” Ben shook his head, still looking slightly dazed. “If he hadn’t gone after Nick, he wouldn’t have been there when that hunter—” The rest of his words dissolved into a bubble of a sob.

  Agent Bramble shifted in her seat. I got the sense that she wasn’t exactly comfortable with emotion.

  I leaned forward, placing my fingertips at the edge of the desk. “Ben, look at me.”

  He raised his tear-filled eyes.

  “It’s not your fault. What happened to Nick. Or Grady. You have to let yourself off the hook.”

  Now, as to his role in Harvey’s death, I wasn’t so willing to let bygones be bygones. But it wasn’t an issue to drag up when he was already tearing himself to bits.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this and whoever is responsible will be brought to justice. I promise.”

  Ben bobbed his head, swallowing hard, but couldn’t manage another word.

  After a moment, the image faded and the orb disappeared with what sounded like a splash, but left no trace of water behind.

  Agent Bramble was smiling slightly at me when I slumped back against the chair. “You know, you’d make one heck of an SPA agent, Holly Boldt.”

  I laughed, startled by the notion.

  Agent Bramble smiled and then shifted her attention to her paperwork.

  Chapter 20

  “None of it makes any sense.”

  I nodded, agreeing with Nick’s frustrated assessment of our situation as we wandered through the streets of the Seattle Haven. We’d left Agent Bramble’s office shortly after the communication with Ben ended. She told us she would look into things on her side and Nick had even gone as far as passing along the fake ID information, figuring they could check if it was logged with the SPA. I’d questioned the decision, but he’d countered, pointing out it was really no different than when the police shared information with the FBI or CIA in certain cases.

  “I keep going back and trying to figure out why Marco approached me,” I told him. “I mean, he made it seem like it was just a friendly warning, but now it seems there’s more going on. Why would he have lied about Ben’s visitation hours? It’s like he didn’t want us following up and corroborating his story. But why? Seems like someone would only do that if they were hiding something. So, what’s he hiding?”

  “There’s also the briefcase. It was in Grady’s motel room but had his initials. What if Grady stole it from Marco?”

  I shrugged. “Or, maybe Marco didn’t use it and gifted it to his brother. There’s at least half a dozen plausible explanations. Besides that, it was empty. If there was anything important inside, we have no way of knowing what it was, or where it is now.”

  Nick raked his fingers through his hair and nodded. “We’re grasping at straws.”

  “Come on, let’s stop at the bakery. That always makes me feel better.”

  Nick grinned. “What is it that you’re obsessed with? Lemon something.”

  I returned his smile and then checked for traffic. “Lemon clouds.”

  “Right. I guess I’d better give it a try.”

  We crossed the street and Nick opened the door of the bakery. He let me order and then we took over a corner table, savoring each bite.

  “Are we sure that Ben isn’t playing us?” Nick asked after a few moments of sugar-induced delirium.

  “Playing us, how?”

  “What if he wasn’t the unwilling participant he’s claiming to be?”

  I tilted my head. “You don’t think he was sincere with his whole apology?”

  “I don’t know. But from what you said, Marco told you that it was Ben who was attacking people and helping Sasha grow her pack. Not only that, but didn’t he say Ben was left in charge of the pack? If he’d really wanted to get away from her, why didn’t he just leave?”

  “What was he supposed to do, though? Mutiny? She had the power to turn on their wolf with a snap of her fingers, Nick. If Ben stepped out of line, she could have flipped the switch. Could you live with that over your head?” I realized a moment too late what I’d asked. “Of course you can,” I added softly, considering my nails as they tapped on the table.

  “It all goes in circles, I guess.”

  The lemon cloud that had started out looking so appealing suddenly tasted dry in my mouth. I pushed the rest of the c
ake aside and wiped the traces of frosting from my fingertips with a paper napkin. When I glanced up, Nick’s face was white and covered in a sheen of sweat.

  “Nick?”

  His eyes went from cobalt blue to black and then back again, like a flickering TV channel. “We have to get out of here. Now!”

  Forgetting everything on the table, I jumped from my seat, raced around the round table, and hauled Nick to his feet. He was shaky and unsteady and then he gripped my hand, I realized his fingernails were turning to sharp points.

  “Go. Go, go!” I hissed.

  We hurried from the bakery and while I didn’t slow down long enough to see if people were watching us, I could feel prying eyes on our backs as we stumbled toward the exit. Out in the street, we broke into a run. Nick’s cadence was odd and unsteady. “My feet … they’re changing,” he told me through clenched teeth. He was tense and sweaty, as though holding back a howl of pain. I recalled Adam’s account of the noises he’d heard in the woods under the full moon and I spurred us on faster.

  The SPA building was only two blocks from the bakery. I grabbed Nick tighter as we barreled toward the sleek glass doors. Nick let loose a muffled howl and I looked down to see one clawed toe bursting from the tip of his loafer. Ouch. He stumbled on his changing feet and hit the sidewalk. His back arched like a Halloween cat and another horrible sound ripped from him.

  The change was happening too fast. We wouldn’t be able to make it back to Beechwood Harbor in time. The portal worked quickly, but getting him the two miles up to the manor without being seen? There was no way. Someone would spot us and if Nick went full wolf, I doubted I would be able to hold him back.

  If he attacked someone— I stopped, pushing the chilling thought away.

  I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Not today. Not ever.

  “Holly? Nick?”

  At the sound of Agent Bramble’s voice, my heart vaulted out of my chest and skittered down the sidewalk without the rest of my body.

  I whipped around and barely got the word help out of my lips before Agent Bramble took over. Her hand whipped to her waist, retrieved a phone, and called someone. She spoke in a harsh voice, her commands clipped and decisive. I could barely focus on what she said as I watched Nick and frantically scanned the street. A few passerby were looking our way. It was only a matter of moments before a crowd formed. Luckily, most supernaturals don’t use things like smart phones, so there weren’t likely to be a hundred cameras in our faces. But the word-of-mouth accounts would no doubt spin out of control like a game of telephone gone wrong.

  I was already the subject of whispers and hushed conversations as soon as someone recognized me. That strange Boldt girl. The whole family was odd. I heard she’s a dark sorceress.

  None of it was true, well, except maybe the part about my family. We’d all sprung from Grandmother Honeysuckle and there was no arguing she was a little off. Talented with moments of sheer brilliance. But … off.

  Being someone of notoriety was second nature to me now, but that didn’t make it any less painful at times. I didn’t want that for Nick. He was new to the supernatural world. To the havens. If word got out he was seen having some kind of episode outside the SPA building and carted away howling by a pack of agents, it would be a nightmare.

  “Agent Bramble, there’s something we didn’t tell you,” I said, as quietly as I could over Nick’s continued groaning.

  She shot me a dark look. “Yes. I’d figured that part out, Ms. Boldt.”

  I cringed. Ms. Boldt? That wasn’t a good sign.

  The woman who’d conjured Ben for us appeared on the sidewalk. She looked to Agent Bramble and without a word, she whipped a wand in a circle over her head, as though preparing to lasso some cattle. Or, in this case, a wild half-wolf.

  Magic crackled through the air and I blinked. When my eyes opened, we were no longer on the sidewalk. In fact, I had no idea where we were. The room was small, maybe ten by twelve feet, and all white. There weren’t any windows, and the space was void of any art or even furniture.

  “Is this a jail cell?” I asked, looking for a door and not finding one.

  Agent Bramble nodded as she released Nick. The petite woman with the short, spiky black hair had her wand pointed at him. He held up his hands as he slunk to the corner. “Please—I wasn’t—argh!” His words drowned in another agonizing yell.

  “Don’t hurt him!” I screamed at the witch. “He’s not going to hurt us!”

  Agent Bramble whipped around, hands fisted on her hips. She glared down her hawkish nose. “Start explaining.”

  “Nick’s change didn’t go according to plan.” I licked my lips, and dared a peek past her, to where Nick cowering in the corner. His jeans were torn at the sides as his haunches and hind legs returned. His shoes were destroyed, the shiny—and probably expensive—loafers reduced to strips of leather. “He never went full werewolf. He was some kind of … halfling. He’s not violent!”

  The witch didn’t pay attention, her wand still trained on him. I didn’t want to think about what kind of spell she was readying in case she needed it.

  “He passed out. We got him back to the manor and the next day, we used a retraxis spell to get him back to normal. Or, at least, what we figured was normal.”

  “Oh, Holly. You should have called me!” Agent Bramble’s tone still held a heavy dose of anger, but the edges softened a little bit. She turned to look at Nick. He had his clawed hands covering his face. “Jeanie, it’s all right.”

  The witch lowered her wand and my lungs released a whoosh of air.

  “He’s not violent,” I said, reinforcing the decision.

  Almost on cue, Nick slumped to the side. He slid down the wall and ended up in a heap on the floor.

  Agent Bramble gasped and I raced forward and checked for his pulse. His heart was racing along but starting to slow. Once I knew he was all right, I brushed a hand over his brow. He was sweat-soaked and far too warm, but he was breathing normally.

  “We figured it had to do with the fact that he wasn’t cursed on the full moon. Something is wrong with the curse.”

  “That’s why you wanted to see Sasha Pringle.”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the whole truth before. I was afraid of…” I paused and looked around the white cell. A cold shiver ran down my spine. “This!”

  I shoved to my feel. “You can’t keep him here! I won’t let you!”

  Agent Bramble held up a hand, stopping my ranting and raving with a calm, though perturbed, look. “I don’t have any intention of letting the SPA turn him into a pin cushion, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

  My stomach churned. “You don’t?”

  “No. But we have to figure out what’s causing this change before he can return to Beechwood Harbor. It’s not safe. For anyone. Most of all, Nick himself.”

  “I’ve looked through every textbook I own. I can’t find another case like it.” A bubble of panic welled up. I’d promised Nick that I wouldn’t let the SPA keep him captive. Even if they weren’t keeping him to run tests and experiments, he was still confined to a cell until they could figure out was wrong with him.

  “I’ve never heard of something like this either, but as you’ve already deduced, we both know someone who likely has.” Agent Bramble squared her broad shoulders. “We’re going to bump up that visit to speak with Ms. Pringle.”

  Chapter 21

  Sasha Pringle was locked up in an SPA prison that allowed no magic whatsoever. The walls of the prison itself were cursed, sucking away all magic energy inside. Any witch, wizard, or other magically gifted entrant would feel their power sucked away as soon as they set foot through the large iron gates. Shifters would be stuck with their human forms. The only prisoners who were sent there were the worst of the worst. The most dangerous and deadly. If any one of them got even a drop of magic, the results could be catastrophic. As no one was entirely sure just how powerful Sasha is, she’d been ass
igned there just in case.

  Agent Bramble pulled in some favors and got us a transport portal to the prison within an hour of Nick’s breakdown. I hated leaving him, but she assured me he would be safe. No one but her assistant even knew he was in the building and she promised it would remain that way. So, I followed her to a huge room in the underbelly of the SPA that contained six different doors. She explained that each one led to a different part of the world and that they were charmed prior to use to get to the pinpoint location. A wizard friend of hers had arranged one for us.

  The door we approached was silver, with etched markings on every inch of it. Agent Bramble opened the door and a green light poured out across the floor at our feet. “After you,” she said in a firm voice, leaving no room for negotiation.

  I held my breath and stepped through the arched doorway and she followed right behind. On the other side, we found ourselves in a bright room. I’d halfway been expecting the same medieval-torture-chamber vibe that I’d picked up during my appearance before the Haven Council several weeks earlier, so the scrubbed-clean dentist-office vibe threw me off entirely.

  When I took my first full step into the room, a pinch seized me, as though all of my muscles contracted at once. “Bat wings!” I pitched forward when the wave released me and stumbled my next couple of steps. “You weren’t kidding. That was unpleasant!”

  Agent Bramble breezed past me and went right to the desk. Her frustration with me poured from her and I decided to do as little talking as possible for the remainder of our unpleasant errand. She spoke with the man at the desk and then indicated we were to follow him.

  The man, likely a wizard, led us through a series of hallways. Doors lined both sides, but there were no windows or bars to allow me to see exactly what was inside. Which, I decided, was probably for the best. After a few minutes, we took a left turn down another bright corridor and the man retrieved a set of skeleton keys from a ring at his belt. He opened the room, instinctually knowing the right key, and ushered us inside without a word. He closed and locked the door behind us and another chill wandered up my back.