Banishment and Broomsticks (Emberdale Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Kali Harper

  “But Lance already called it by its name,” I told her, stooping in front of the books before opening them to the topmost page.

  “Then he must’ve guessed wrong,” Kat said, joining me on the floor. “You’d think he’d know what a Canundrum is.”

  Yeah, you’d think. “So if Morpheus isn’t in here, then who is?” And why had Lance left so abruptly last night once he told me it was Morpheus? He must’ve known the truth, so why leave?

  “Morpheus? As in the troll?” She gasped, then took my hands and squeezed so hard, I expected my fingers to turn blue. “You went to your first trial and you didn’t tell me?”

  Wincing, I withdrew my hands and rubbed them until the tingling sensation went away. “Jeez, Kat. Remind me to never go against you in an arm-wrestling match.”

  “No avoiding my question. How did it go?”

  “It didn’t. Once we got there, Morpheus was gone.” I couldn’t tell her he was banished. To start, we weren’t even sure if that’s what happened, not to mention the Canundrum clearly not being who it said it was.

  “Gone? Did he vanish? Oh! Was there a body?”

  “What is it with everyone linking me to dead bodies?” It wasn’t like I was in the habit of running my own investigations.

  “Well, then where is he?” Looking at the books again, Kat spoke right to them. “Are you Morpheus?”

  “Yes,” I said after reading the Canundrum’s reply.

  “It’s lying.” Kat crossed her arms over her chest and immediately closed the cover to the top book. “If you speak the right name, the Canundrum should lift.”

  “It isn’t a curse, Kat.”

  “No, but it is an illusion. Kind of. That thing isn’t Morpheus.”

  “Lance said I had to ask the right questions.”

  “Maybe because he knew it wasn’t telling the truth.”

  “Then why not tell me?”

  She shrugged, then retreated behind the register again. When she met my gaze, she wrote on a piece of paper.

  Because he didn’t want whoever’s really in there to overhear.

  “But how—”

  She stopped me from saying anything else by stabbing a finger on the paper, handing over the pen a moment later.

  With the books down at my feet, I wrote back.

  He could’ve warned me.

  “Are you and Lance getting serious?” She asked, adding a small note on the page that read, Keep to normal topics.

  “No,” I scoffed, shoving the paper aside as I wasn’t in the mood to have two conversations at once. “But he knows my number.” He’d texted me more than enough last night to have his number forever engraved in the back of my mind.

  And would you have freaked if he told you the truth last night? Kat wrote.

  Ripping the paper from her again, I said, I have a set of demonic books at my feet. What do you think?

  Which is why he didn’t tell you. Whoever’s inside those books could be one of two things, your suspect or a witness. She threw the paper in the trash once I’d finished reading it, then turned to her small coffeemaker a moment later to put on a fresh pot.

  “Everyone in town knows,” she said, filling the silence. “You might not see it, but I’ve caught you staring at him.”

  “You did not.”

  “Did so, and Sammy has as well. Right, Sam?” She glanced out her front window at the tabby who sat in the same spot he always did. He’d come into Kat’s shop with me in the past, but he preferred to sit out on the sidewalk. He claimed it was so he could see what was coming, but today I knew it was because of the books. He didn’t trust him, and now I knew why. “Taking his job as serious as ever.”

  “I wouldn’t expect any less,” I said, taking a cup of coffee from her when she offered it to me. “Back when you first told me I was a witch, you mentioned what was or wasn’t forbidden. Problem is, those forbidden things keep happening.”

  “You’ll have to be more direct than that. It’s too early for riddles.”

  “Time. You said messing with it was against the rules.” Along with reversing death and changing the weather.

  “It is. Why? Who changed time?”

  “They slowed it down. Back in Morpheus’ shop, everything was frozen. There were books on the ceiling, the floor, and the chair I tried to sit in. Thing is, the hands on the clock still moved, but very, very slowly.”

  “You tried to sit down?”

  “The Canundrum appeared as I was getting ready to.”

  Taking an entire pad of paper from behind the register, she started writing again. Time didn’t change here. What about the rest of Fairmount?

  I hadn’t noticed. “Lance found me before I could go poking around.”

  According to my readings, being able to slow time is extremely rare, especially to this extent. It would take a very strong individual to do so.

  I took the pen from her and wrote, Like summoning a Canundrum.

  Yes. The reason it’s against the rules is because of its reach. However, if the spell was limited to Morpheus’ shop, then that could explain how nothing here has changed. You have to go back. She met my gaze, but the smile I was used to seeing on her was gone.

  “What?” I yelled. “Are you nuts? I can’t—” I can’t go back.

  If time is affected, you could take the Canundrum back and leave it there, Kat suggested, her eyes full of worry. We don’t know who’s inside that thing.

  And what if they need help? I couldn’t take someone back there to get discovered by whoever banished Morpheus.

  Have you forgotten it could also be your suspect? Take. It. Back. Her last words were underlined three times and she pressed so hard, she tore through the paper.

  Couldn’t I leave it somewhere else? It wasn’t like the books would follow me home, right?

  As if she could read my thoughts, Kat wrote, Once a Canundrum bonds with someone—meaning you—you need to call it out by name or it will keep coming back. Unless you can lock it in time! The last bit was underlined much like before.

  “And because we don’t know who it is—”

  “Exactly.” She took my hand in hers, arcing her thumb over the back of mine. “Please.”

  “Lance isn’t going to like this,” I said, hugging her when she came around to my side of the counter.

  “He’s probably expecting it.”

  Of course I was the last to know. I’m not sure why I expected any different. “I’ll call you later.”

  “Text me,” she said. “I have a thing I need to go to tonight and won’t have the ringer on.” Meaning she wanted to make sure we could talk without the Canundrum overhearing.

  “Once I finish running a few errands, I will.” I wasn’t about to let the Canundrum back in my house, so if the slowing spell or whatever it was still existed back at The Magician’s Closet, then it was all the more reason for me to pay Fairmount Square another visit.

  “I need the chalk,” I told Lucy after finding her in Maggie’s garden.

  “What in the world for?” She dusted her hands off on her pants, then stood to face me. In the brief amount of time she’d been in Emberdale, she’d already done more with the garden than I ever could. I honestly didn’t have time for it. Whenever I got the chance to pull a few weeds or prune the flowers, something else happened. “Please tell me you aren’t going—”

  “Please give me the chalk.” I would’ve gotten my own, but no one used chalkboards anymore.

  Lucy sighed with resignation, then rummaged through her purse for the piece of chalk she’d used yesterday. “It’s the only one I have.”

  “Trust me, once I do this, I’m never going to use chalk ever again.”

  Pleased with my answer, Lucy hugged me tight, then went back to her work in the garden which would likely be done by the time I got back. I’d never known her to garden, but maybe she did it when she was stressed. We all have our outlets. Mine was coffee.

  “Leaving without me?” Maggie asked, having possessed Ging
er, her orange tabby. “I can help you know.” She stalked one of the robins twittering nearby, then pounced short of hitting it.

  “Taking your love of cats to a whole new level, I see.”

  “Yes, well, I need to do something to fill the time.” She never would’ve hurt the birds, of course. She adored all wildlife, but seeing her prance around the way Ginger usually did, it was almost like she was finally turning into a cat instead of simply borrowing one.

  “So what’s the plan?” Sammy purred once we were far enough from my aunt.

  “I’m taking it back,” I told them both, immediately falling on my face when the Canundrum became too heavy for me to carry. “Seriously? You’re throwing a tantrum? It isn’t my fault you’re in this mess,” I told the books.

  The top cover flew open, the pages turning so fast they were a blur. Then, on the back of the very last page, it finally spoke. Wrote. Whatever.

  NO!

  Stuck in the middle of my front lawn with two cats and a pile of books that probably weighed more than one of Felix’s statues, I stood next to the Canundrum and took out my phone. Sammy sat next to me while Maggie groomed her fur.

  “Who are you calling?” she asked, paying particular attention to the end of her tail.

  “Who else?” I put the phone to my ear and started to talk as soon as Kat picked up. “I’m stuck.”

  “What do you mean stuck?” Something rustled on the other side of the line, and when I heard the chime of her register, I realized she’d closed her shop.

  “No, stay there. It knows I’m trying to take it back.”

  “I told you not to say anything with it around.” She exhaled hard. “How are you stuck?”

  “I can’t pick it up.” I kicked the books as if you prove my point, then grimaced when I almost broke my toe. “What is this thing made out of? Stone?”

  Kat was quiet for a long moment, and when she spoke, it was in a light whisper. “Felix let you borrow his truck before, right?”

  “It can’t hear you, Kat. As for Felix’s pickup truck, I’m not sure letting the whole town know about this is such a good idea.”

  “Still, it might help.”

  “Oh yeah, sure, and driving a truck through the side of Harris’ bakery is perfectly normal.” That would get someone’s attention.

  “Hmm, I see your point. So what are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. I was kind of hoping you’d have one.”

  “Sorry. Want me to call Lance?”

  I hated to ask for his help, but seeing as we were technically in the middle of an investigation… “Please, but make it quick. I’m not sure how long I can stare at this thing before I light it on fire.”

  “But you can’t burn—”

  I ended the call and glared at the Canundrum, pointing my cell at it as I spoke. “Start talking.”

  “Yes and no questions, dear,” Maggie reminded me.

  “Ugh, I don’t have time for this!”

  “Where are you going now?”

  “For a walk.” I stomped off and left the Canundrum behind. At least I didn’t have to worry about someone walking away with it. Of course, I forgot the stupid thing was bound to me, and as soon as I crossed the property line, there it was, sitting right in front of me. “What do you want?” I’d heard of dogs following you home, but this was nuts. I may have felt differently if it actually spoke to me, but unless I wanted to play a game of twenty questions (or more!) there wasn’t much I could do. “Yes and no questions?” Why on Earth would anyone ever put themselves through that?

  NO.

  “No? Then why not say something? And don’t tell me it’s because you’re being watched because I know it isn’t true.”

  NO.

  “Oh my god. Sammy, pee on it,” I ordered, gesturing at the illusioned pile of books.

  “And get zapped? Pass.” He kept a few paces behind me.

  “Maggie?”

  “That’s not very ladylike,” Maggie said.

  “You wouldn’t be doing it.”

  “Ginger’s as much a lady as I am.” She plopped at my feet, refusing to budge. “It is fascinating though, isn’t it?”

  “That’s not the word I’d use.” In fact, there were a million other things I’d called the Canundrum starting with a huge pain in my a—

  “Astrid, come quick.” It was Lucy’s voice, and the way she sounded then, whatever she had to say wasn’t good.

  Looking at both Maggie and Sammy, we ran toward Maggie’s house with the Canundrum disappearing and reappearing a few paces in front of us. I’ll worry about you later, I growled, glaring at the books once we reached Maggie’s porch. Hers was in far better shape than my own, though the paint could use another coat before the snow set in. I’d meant to get Felix on it, but I’d been so busy. Doesn’t look like that’s about to change, either.

  “Astrid, it’s Darby. She’s gone!” Lucy cried out, throwing open the front door when we didn’t run inside.

  It took me a moment to think back to what she’d said about Darby yesterday. She was a relatively new witch, a human working with Dark Magic no less, and Mark’s niece.

  “The poor child,” Maggie said before I had a chance to do the same.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, shaking my head once I realized it wasn’t the best thing to ask. “I mean, she’s a teenager, right?”

  “She’s hardly a teenager. She’s seventeen,” Lucy said, still holding a phone in her hands. “It isn’t like her to run away.”

  “Seventeen means she is a teenager,” I pointed out, cut off by Lance running up the front lawn before I could say anything else.

  “How long has she been gone? Lucy, how long has she been missing?”

  “She doesn’t live in Emberdale, so why should it matter to you?” Lucy snapped, then averted her gaze and apologized.

  Lance shook his head and took out his pen and paper. “She’s a witch and that’s all that matters. Did she know about your appointment with Morpheus?”

  “I… I don’t see why she would. I spoke with her uncle, but she lives with her parents.”

  “So she’s keeping to her human life?” Lance asked, his tone harder than I liked given the circumstances.

  “What are you getting at exactly?” Lucy stepped off the porch and walked right up to him, jutting out her chin.

  “Nothing, I just think it’s risky is all. There are ways we could make her parents forget—”

  “You wipe minds?” I asked, looking between them. “You’d make a family forget about their own daughter just so she could be in our community?” Lucy was allowed to stay outside of places like Emberdale and no one ever knew.

  “It keeps everyone safe,” Lance explained. “Besides, very few humans are strong enough to become a witch.”

  “Which isn’t what happened,” Lucy told him. “How do you know all of this anyway?”

  “We live in a small town,” was Lance’s reply.

  “Meaning he overheard.” I joined Lucy at the bottom of the front steps and watched as Lance jotted down a few more notes. “What are you thinking?”

  “Hmm?” He lifted his gaze in my direction, brows pinched above his eyes.

  “You obviously have an idea, so why not share it with the rest of the class?”

  “When did she first go missing?”

  Lucy considered his question a moment. “Night after last. Her parents tried calling around to see if she was staying with anyone, but no one’s seen her. Turns out she isn’t the only one missing.”

  “There’s another one?” Lance’s brows rose above his eyes, and while he didn’t say it, I knew his biggest concern was someone getting into Emberdale who had no right being here.

  “Yes, her best friend.”

  “Then they’d be together.”

  “But where in the world would they go?” I asked. Having to find a missing witch was one thing, but having to find her and a human companion? They could be anywhere.

  Beside me, the Canundr
um hummed and glowed, making quite a scene as Lance and Lucy started to compare notes. Lucy had a photo of Darby in her phone, which would’ve helped if we knew where to look. As for her friend, I zoned out as the Canundrum slowly moved away from Maggie’s porch, stopping every once and a while to make sure I followed after it.

  “What’s it doing?” Sammy asked, joining me as we went back over to my house, Lucy’s panicked cries still audible as Lance did his best to calm her down.

  “I’m not sure.” But it clearly wanted me to follow it. Then, once we were at the end of the cul-de-sac, it stopped teleporting and instead, opened to the very front page. “I think it’s ready to talk to us now. Isn’t that right?”

  YES.

  “But you don’t want Lance to overhear.”

  NO.

  “Lucy?”

  YES.

  Now I knew what was going on. “Because she’ll tell your uncle.”

  YES.

  Glancing over my shoulder at Lucy, I considered calling her over but thought better of it when the Canundrum opened and closed its front cover. “Okay, okay. I won’t say anything, but you can’t stay in there forever. Your parents are worried sick.” The Canundrum—Darby I realized—glowed a response. “You’re Darby, aren’t you?”

  YES. Get me inside before they see me!

  I picked the stack of books off the ground and ran inside, placing them in the middle of my living room as the Canundrum glowed and spun out of control. It rose above the floor and went as high as the ceiling before finally giving off a bright flash of light. A moment later, the Canundrum fell to the ground along with Darby who’d been hiding inside of it.

  Once I checked her for injuries, of which there were none, I joined her. She matched the photo Lucy had shown us on her cell phone, so the petite blonde in my living room was definitely her, but then why wouldn’t she look at me?

  “I promise not to say anything,” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder when she pulled her knees up to her chest. Her hair cascaded to the middle of her back, the long sleeve shirt she wore a few sizes too big as the bottom of it covered the top of her jeans. “You’re new to magic too, huh?” When she nodded but didn’t say anything, I decided talking magic wasn’t the best idea. “So how’d you get stuck in there anyway?”