“Must be nice,” I said, rubbing the back of my head.
“It has its ups and downs. Literally,” said Cookie wickedly.
“I think it came from Down Below,” said Grant. “The floor shook.”
The three of us made for the mailroom. Everyone else was on the way as well. We ran into Lizzie on the stairs; she glared at me when she saw that I was with Cookie.
My mom and Aunt Meg were already in the mailroom when we arrived, and Kip and Corey weren’t far behind. There was no sign of Cam, Lark, or Pep, but I figured that since they’d likely been further away, it would take them longer to get there.
Smoke was coming out from the cracks around the door.
“What do you think that was?” my mom asked.
“You mean the explosion?” Cookie asked.
My mother gave her an exasperated look. “What exploded?”
Of course, no one knew what had exploded. For a split second nobody said or did anything. Then, when the rest of the family showed up looking shocked, it spurred my mother into action.
“We’ll just have to open the door,” she said.
“No way. You are agreeing to interact with Down Below? What has gotten into you?” Cookie asked.
My mother sighed in frustration as more smoke billowed around the door. “They might be in trouble down there. The setup would be against any real fire code in existence if anyone bothered to inspect the place.”
“Good thing no fireman has ever come here then. And that’s not something I’d say lightly,” said Meg with a wink. Some of us nodded absently in agreement. It was in fact a very good thing.
“I keep meaning to get a key for this door so it can’t just be opened without my permission. I still haven’t done it, but this is another reminder of why I should,” said my mother, muttering mostly to herself. She strode forward and started undoing the locks, glancing at Grant when she noticed he was shifting uncomfortably. “What’s your question?”
“Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never seen this door opened before,” he said.
“What must be done must be done,” said my mother, shrugging. She finished the last lock, and without waiting another second, pulled the door open.
She had to spring away as smoke poured into the mailroom. We all moved back and started to cough.
There were no windows, but I quickly waved my hand and called the basic fan enchantment. The room was filling with smoke so quickly I couldn’t see anyone except Pep, and that was only because she was standing right next to me.
“I think you need a bigger fan,” said Pep.
She was right. I called a slightly more complicated enchantment.
With my back to the door, I now had the wind blowing in my face. Every part of me was telling me to turn and run, but I couldn’t. Mom had unlocked the door to Down Below. If we all left there’d be nobody to guard it. The smoke could be an elaborate ruse, and then we’d be in far worse trouble if we fled the scene.
Aunt Meg, Kip, Corey, and Cam brushed past me.
“We’re going to guard the door,” said my brother. His eyes were watering, and I had a feeling he couldn’t see very well. At least if he was in the other room he’d be out of harm’s way.
“So are we going down there?” Cookie asked.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” said my mom.
The smoke was thinning enough so that I could see everyone again, sort of. They were all tinted just a tiny bit gray.
“It might be necessary,” said Grant, who was standing right next to the door to Down Below. He looked ready to strike if any monster came rushing through.
We all waited.
All was quiet. The only thing coming through that door was smoke.
“Whatever they burned, it better not have been chicken,” said Rose, trotting in. She was low enough to the ground that the smoke wasn’t bothering her. Grant gave her a petrified look before schooling his features into blandness.
I tried to hide my amusement behind my palm. Grant hated cats.
“We don’t know what happened. That’s why we have to go down there,” said Cookie. “Stop being so obstinate.” She was looking at my mother.
My mom shifted. It was then that I realized there was more to this than she was admitting. “Can you not go Down Below?”
She glared at the floor.
“They banned you, didn’t they.” came Cookie’s smug voice. It was a statement, not a question.
My mom’s head shot up. She looked defiant. “They had no right to! They put an enchantment on the door. I can’t get through.”
“Couldn’t you break the enchantment?” Pep asked.
“She could,” said Cookie. “It would just cause more trouble than it’s worth. Supernaturals pay for enchantments and keep them in stock, and this is a good one. Not surprised Old Fudge plumped for the good stuff.” Turning to my mom she added, “I always thought you didn’t have the backbone to go Down Below. Turns out you had too much backbone. Now that I’ve heard it, I guess that doesn’t surprise me either.”
“Just because you can’t go down there doesn’t mean somebody shouldn’t,” said Grant. “I’ll go.”
“Oh, no you won’t,” said Cookie. She usually sounded bossy, but this time her voice had a note of real authority that I wasn’t familiar with.
Grant noticed the change as well and said, “Why not? There has been a murder on this estate. It is my duty to go where the investigation leads.”
“No, if you get stuck down there then you can’t do your investigation. Also, no one is saying that the investigation leads Down Below,” said Cookie.
Grant glanced at the door, at war with himself. He wanted to go Down Below. It was a mythical, legendary place. It was known around the world as the stronghold of a criminal mastermind. The fact that none of the crimes, including murder, that had recently taken place at the mansion had been at the mastermind’s command defied imagination. But it was the truth.
“Why is it, exactly, that I can’t go down there?” Grant asked.
“I would tell you that they are not very fond of warlocks, but that’s the least of it. You’re an official investigator; they don’t want anything to do with you. Bad memories of when they were alive, I suppose. Until it’s proven that the explosion Down Below had something to do with the murder, I think it’s best that you stay up here,” Cookie explained.
“That’s all well and good, but you can’t go down there by yourself,” said my mom.
“I would never attempt anything of the kind. Jane is going with me,” said Cookie.
I sighed. I’d known that was coming.
“Definitely not,” said my mother.
“You don’t have a choice in the matter,” said Cookie.
“She’s my daughter. If I say she’s not going, then she’s not going,” said my mom.
“But I’m her grandmother, and I say she’s going,” insisted Cookie, as calm as I’d ever seen her.
“I think she has to go,” said Grant.
My mother gave him a look that clearly wondered why he wasn’t on her side.
He shrugged once, but didn’t explain or defend himself.
Meanwhile, warmth was spreading through me. I hadn’t expected Grant to come to my rescue, and certainly not my defense. So far all I had heard from my mom and Grant was that they didn’t think I could do anything, yet here he was, stating the opposite. He was sending me Down Below. He knew I’d gone down there before. He knew I could handle it.
“Very well,” said Cookie. “Let’s get going. The smoke has died down enough to make me think that the fire is dying down, or it’s too late to save whatever’s burning anyhow.”
For once my grandmother wasn’t smug. She was focused on the task at hand.
“Jane? Be careful,” said Mom. It was clear that she wanted to come forward and hug me, but she held back. As witches, this is what we did. Filled with magic and wonder, we were also familiar with danger. We all accepted it. Given the losses our family had suffer
ed, we all knew the risks.
“Give an old lady your arm,” Cookie said. I offered her my arm and we disappeared Down Below.
Smoke was still coming at us as we made our way down the stairs. We used fan enchantments to push it away, and I also kept waving my free hand in front of my nose to clear a pocket of air. That kind of worked.
It was slow going, partly because Cookie’s aging legs were slow, but also because it was hard to see the stairs. If the supernaturals had laid a trap on one of the steps, I probably wouldn’t have seen it.
Luckily, they hadn’t.
I wasn’t expecting anyone to be around when we got to the bottom of the stairs, but much to my chagrin there was a woman standing there with Peter at her side.
The woman was a tall and very solidly built vampire. If she ever decided to tangle with Kip, I figured he’d have some trouble. As for me, I’d have no chance.
“Jane! Cookie! This is my boss, Sharon,” said Peter, reaching up and fixing his top hat.
Sharon looked beyond annoyed, while Peter looked resigned and slightly embarrassed by our presence. Taken aback, I didn’t know what to do.
It was left to Cookie to break the ice. “I suspected a ruse when I agreed to come down here. What can you tell us about what’s going on?”
Both the supernaturals were visibly surprised by her stern tone.
“You must be the famous Cookie,” said Sharon.
“Yes, and yes,” said Cookie.
“How did you know the smoke was a ruse?” Peter asked. He lifted his head and looked slightly less dejected than he had a minute before.
“Because I know for a fact that explosions have gone off down here before, and smoke has never seeped around the door,” Cookie explained.
“You’re right. We do try to keep most problems to ourselves,” said Sharon.
“We wanted to talk to you about the case. We didn’t want to have to lie or sneak, so we thought we’d give you an excuse to come down. Truly, I wasn’t sure it would work,” said Peter.
“You both wanted to talk to us?” I asked. The last time we’d been Down Below, Peter had hidden us from Sharon.
Sharon knew what I was implying right away. “I discovered what he was up to and insisted on speaking with you,” she said. “He never tells me anything. Somehow he thinks I’m unreasonable.”
Just then she let out a loud squeal and started stomping around, kicking at one side of her heel. Around and around in circles she danced, yelling the whole time.
Cookie glared at the ankle and muttered an enchantment under her breath. Sharon immediately stopped dancing and looked at Cookie with wonder.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“It was just a little spider,” said Cookie.
“I hate spiders. I shouldn’t have to put up with them,” said Sharon.
“You’re supernatural,” I said.
Peter sucked in his breath, but Sharon chose to ignore me.
“This way,” she said sharply, turning around and heading down the corridor. Any reservations I had about following her were put on ice when Cookie immediately stumped after her.
“The good news is that she isn’t unreasonable,” Peter whispered to me. His eyes were twinkling, and I nearly laughed. Sharon looked over her shoulder and glared at us. Any amusement immediately died inside me.
“Should we be following her?” I asked Peter.
“We don’t really have a choice. She found me out earlier. She’s been angry ever since,” Peter said.
“About what?” I asked.
“She’s angry that I didn’t bring her in to our little plan earlier. She couldn’t believe I had brought you Down Below. I don’t know if you realize this, but there’s a strict code against allowing anyone from upstairs to come down here. Now that I’ve broken it twice, I’m in big trouble. At least I would be if she reported me. That was her threat. If I didn’t do what she wanted, she’d report me to the Fudge.” Peter shivered.
“Why is there a strict rule against us coming down here?” I asked.
“I have no idea. I know that Fudgy had several fallings out with your grandmother,” he said. “Your mother too,” he added after a moment’s consideration.
I hadn’t known, though I can’t say the news surprised me. But it still seemed to me that even if Fudge had had a falling out with my mother, he still couldn’t ban all contact with her given that we were all living on the same estate.
I didn’t get it, but I told myself that maybe I’d learn more on this visit, especially with Cookie along.
We hadn’t gone very far when Sharon said, “In here,” and stepped aside to wave us through a door.
The room wasn’t much bigger than a closet, but it was furnished with a small table and chairs, and a desk behind which Sharon immediately went to sit.
“Welcome to my office,” she said. “Please sit down.”
Cookie and I took the two chairs while Peter was left to linger standing.
“As Peter was probably explaining to you on the walk, I’m involved in this business now. I want Jefferson Judge found as soon as possible. No matter what,” said Sharon.
As the conversation went on it became clear that Sharon was one of the lesser “generals” of Down Below. The Fudge ran the place with a iron fist, but he didn’t like grunt work, so Sharon was in charge of a lot of the nitty-gritty, day-to-day running of Down Below’s various operations.
“What is your interest in the matter?” I asked.
For a split second I didn’t think Sharon would answer, then she said, “He kept the peace here. He was a good supernatural. Maybe you don’t believe me, but he was. I do not for a second believe that he stole the crown. He once accidentally walked off with somebody’s handkerchief and came back to return it. One time he found a pen lying around and spent all afternoon searching until he found its owner. He’s not a criminal.”
To my surprise Cookie said, “We believe you. And we’re doing everything we can to find him.”
Sharon looked relieved, but not satisfied. “Why did you choose to come down here?”
“We’re here to help,” said Cookie, spreading her old hands wide. “Why did you want us to come down here?”
Sharon shuffled some papers on her desk. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s not as if we can go search for him up there.” She still looked deeply skeptical.
Cookie nodded sagely. “If you don’t have a choice but to accept our help, let’s stop wasting time. We have a group of gobsmacked witches and warlocks upstairs. It would be best if we didn’t keep them waiting long.”
Sharon didn’t look thrilled, but she was no idiot. She finally understood that she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“Any leads?” Peter asked, hoping to break the ice.
“Unfortunately, no. We do believe that he’s still nearby, though,” said Cookie.
“What makes you think that?” Sharon asked. She looked hopeful at the news.
“Jane found a pearl. We’re pretty sure it was part of the setting on the crown that went missing. I believe that what happened is that Jefferson Judge tracked whoever took it, and if so, they can’t have gone far. You can’t very well take that crown off the estate,” said my grandmother.
We all stared at her slack-jawed. This was news to me.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
Cookie rolled her eyes. “Leave it to the Fudge not to tell anybody. He didn’t just leave the crown lying around. I don’t care what appearances said. He had to have had some strong enchantments on them. Oh, yes, the supernaturals can buy enchantments off a witch. That crown were as well protected as anything in the world.”
“What makes you so sure he bought enchantments from a witch? Or, what if she wasn’t a very good witch?” Sharon pressed.
“Because I’m the witch who did it,” she said.
Chapter Eighteen
“Why didn’t you explain all this earlier?” I asked Cookie into the stunned silence.
>
I couldn’t believe she was revealing all this stuff in front of Sharon, nor did I have any guess as to why she was doing it. I also couldn’t believe it was happening when Pep and Lark weren’t around to hear it. Never mind the fact that if Cookie had told me sooner, I might have solved the mystery of Judge’s disappearance by now.
“I wasn’t sure what would happen,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I believed the crown was really missing. I needed to do a bit of my own research first. Now that I’ve done it and I’m sure, I can say definitively. I checked the enchantments I put on the crown and they haven’t been broken. The crown is still on the estate,” she finished firmly.
Vaguely I wondered if Grant had the crown. If it was still hidden somewhere on the property, that was as likely a possibility as any.
Maybe this also related to the note saying that the old woman knew where he was. If Cookie knew more than she’d been letting on about the crown, she might know more about other aspects of the case as well. It was starting to seem like I should be treating Cookie as my prime challenge for getting information!
Then I started thinking about how we had tried to find a magical sword on the estate not all that long ago, and failed. The property was just too big to be manageable.
I further wondered, since Grant lived at Haunted Bluff now, if I would always implicate him in the context surrounding any crimes discovered at the mansion. I was a little amused at the idea.
Then butterflies started flying in my tummy as I was reminded of our upcoming, if as-yet-unscheduled, first real date. Luckily nobody noticed my suddenly far-off expression.
“For someone who says she doesn’t know anything,” said Sharon, “you sure have a lot of information. This might be the only time we can talk about it, since it’s unrealistic to ask you to keep us abreast of your investigation. We are stuck down here. You are not. This is your home, and you have all the power. I would only like to tell you that if you need anything at all from us, don’t hesitate to ask. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how long Down Below can survive without Jefferson Judge.”
“That’s awfully grim,” said Cookie.
She looked very unhappy, and I thought I knew why. Even if we tried to ignore Down Below’s existence, we lived directly above them. If they failed, it was likely we’d fail in the end too. If the peace was broken Down Below, then it would start seeping into the upstairs supernaturals’ lives and create more trouble, both for us and eventually for the witches and warlocks beyond Shimmerfield.
Spooky Spider Page 12