The Complete Spellbinder Bay Cozy Mystery Boxset

by Sam Short

  Thorns cut her skin and grabbed at her clothes, but she felt no resistance from the wall of rock she should have slammed into face first.

  Instead, she landed with a gentle thump in soft sand and found herself bathed in white light, which flooded from a semi-circle of dimension gates standing in the centre of the high cave.

  Scrambling out of the cave again and into the brambles, Millie screamed at Reuben. “This way! There’s a cave! The entrance is too small for it to fit through. Come on!”

  Turning his eyes in Millie’s direction, Reuben gave a cry of pain as one of his attacker’s powerful limbs grazed his arm. Struggling to remain on his feet, he limped towards the bramble bushes, dark blood trickling from his wound.

  “Hurry!” warned Millie, as the creature aimed a bite at Reuben, its long teeth closing with a vicious snap in the place Reuben’s head had been just a second before.

  Grunting in pain, and with his blood flowing faster, Reuben struggled towards the brambles, and just as Millie was beginning to think her familiar wasn’t going to make it, he threw himself at the thorny stalks.

  With brambles grasping at his arms and legs, Reuben lumbered through the dead plants, and then, with a final push, he was through. “You found the gates,” he said staring around the cavern. “You found them.”

  “Get further inside the cave!” Millie yelled as Reuben stood hunched over in the low entrance, his back towards the leg which Millie spotted approaching at speed, scything through brambles, and aimed with the intent of mortally injuring or killing its target.

  As Reuben took another step towards safety, a sickening crack rose above the snapping of bramble stalks, and Reuben stumbled forward, the brightness in his wide eyes fading and his mouth contorted as he cried with pain.

  Thrusting the stone of integrity into her pocket, Millie grabbed her familiar’s clawed hand as he fell to the ground, and pulled hard. Reuben was far too heavy for her to be able to drag, though, and as the creature slammed another leg into the brambles, its heavy foot landing a short distance away from Reuben, Millie called on her magic.

  Sending a surge of energy along her arm, she closed her hand tight on Reuben’s clawed hand. As another leg sped through the cave entrance, this time its trajectory suggesting it would find Reuben’s exposed back, Millie pulled hard.

  Her magic worked, and as if he weighed no more than a feather blowing on a breeze, Reuben rose gracefully into the air, his blood a steady stream as it fell to the sandy floor. As a leg thudded into the ground where the shape of Reuben’s body made a large indentation in the sand, and a pool of blood darkened the floor, Millie dragged him to safety.

  Unable to reach far enough into the cavern to hurt its prey, the creature bellowed its anger as it slammed feet into the sand, as if attempting to dig its way in.

  Dropping Reuben gently to the floor, his wounds illuminated by the white glow of the dimension gates, Millie put a hand on his face, his skin thick and rubbery beneath her fingers. “Reuben,” she said softly. “Reuben, can you hear me?”

  A soft groan was the only response Reuben gave, and Millie became more aware that the red of his eyes was fading. As the demon at the cave entrance made another attempt to break through the small opening, Millie gathered herself internally and focused on using magic to heal her familiar. As competent as she might have been at making healing potions, she knew she was not accomplished enough to heal wounds with only her magic — especially wounds as severe as the gash that laid one side of Reuben’s torso wide open, and the smaller incision which had parted the flesh of his arm.

  Ignoring the thick legs which probed the cave entrance, and the snorting huffs of frustration the creature gave as it attempted to reach its prey, Millie gathered her magic. Concentrating as hard as she could on what she considered to be healing intentions, she allowed energy to trickle from her fingertips as she ran a hand over the ragged edges of Reuben’s severest injury. Not responding to the treatment, the wound oozed more blood, and her familiar gave another soft groan, his voice weak.

  She tried again, forcing more energy from her fingertips, and concentrating hard on knitting flesh and muscle. Encouraged, as the very edges of the wound appeared to move inward, growing healthy tissue as they attempted to close the gash in Reuben’s body, Millie forced more magic into her hands.

  She gave a panicked cry of frustration as the wound ceased to respond to her magic, the rift between healthy flesh widening again as the torn edges retreated. “No!” she said, trying again.

  As she bent over Reuben, urging him to stay awake as she worked, she paused as she heard something. Was it a voice? She gazed around the cavern. The creature at the entrance seemed to be giving up, its legs no longer inside the cave and its snorts and grunts becoming less frequent. The dimension gates hummed quietly as they glowed, but there was nobody else there. She shook her head. Of course she was imagining voices. She was in a high-stress situation — her familiar, no — her friend, was dying and she could do nothing to stop it.

  She shouted in angry exasperation, forcing more magic into Reuben’s wound, terrified when there was no response from the flesh. Then she heard it again. This time a little clearer. “Millie,” came the garbled voice, as if its owner was calling to her from beneath a sheet of water. “Millie! Come to me!”

  Flicking her head left and right, Millie stared around the cave. It was empty. The lights from the gates illuminated every crevice, and as far as she could see, there was nowhere else to hide. Then she studied the gates. Eight of them. In a semi-circle, and each one on a stone slab, just like the gate in Spellbinder Hall.

  Each gate glowed softly, but each gate looked as normal as an entrance to another dimension could look. And then she saw it. A brief movement from the gate closest to her, a shadow passing across the light, a shadow in the shape of a hand. A shadow which stopped moving and spread its long fingers, pressing them against the gate like a hand pushing on a glass pane in a window.

  The voice came again, this time recognisable as a female, but no less distant. “Bring Reuben through the gate, Millie, we can save him.”

  Staring into the light, Millie approached the gate, beyond the hand she could make out the form of a slim female, the shape suggesting she wore a long floor scraping dress. She stepped onto the stone slab, squinting her eyes. It was like trying to see through a snowstorm. The shadowy figure refused to come into focus, moving slowly as Millie watched it. Then it spoke again, its voice still far away. “Bring him through, Millie.”

  Now only inches from the gate, Millie reached for the glowing circle of sparkling light and touched it gently with a single finger.

  As if her finger was a pebble being dropped into a pond, ripples of light spread across the surface of the gate in response to her touch, and it was in the gap between two of those ripples that she saw into the other dimension. She stared at the woman, who smiled back at her, her brown hair long and the slight bend in her nose as pretty as ever. Through a sob which exploded from her mouth, Millie spoke quietly, as if speaking too loudly would break the spell she felt as if she were under. “Mum,” she said, tears burning her eyes. “Mum. Is it really you?”

  Chapter 38

  The woman on the other side of the gate nodded, her voice muffled as it reached Millie. “Yes, darling. It’s me. Bring Reuben through, quickly. We can help him.”

  “Yes, of course!” said Millie, stepping backwards off the stone slab, confusion and emotion crowding her thoughts. Her mother had said we. Who was the person or people with her mother, and why was she standing on the other side of a dimension gate?

  Assuming from the lack of screeches and legs floundering in the entrance of the cavern, that the creature had given up and left, Millie charged her arm and hand with magic and grasped Reuben’s hand in hers.

  Her familiar made no sound, and his body was still, but Millie could feel the soft thump of his heart in his hand as she sent magic coursing through his body and lifted him, weightless, into the air.
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  Guiding him onto the stone slab, Millie moved quickly. The initial shock of seeing her mother, replaced by urgent concern for Reuben’s health, she stepped quickly through the gate, closing her eyes as she tumbled through wind and noise, holding Reuben’s hand tightly in hers.

  When she felt firm ground beneath the soles of her trainers, she opened her eyes and blinked. She was standing in a lush green forest. If the delicate bluebells which carpeted the forest floor, and the ancient oak trees were anything to go by, she suspected she was in an English forest.

  The chirping song of familiar birds cemented that notion in her mind, as did the quaint architecture of the numerous thatched roof cottages which rose from clearings in the trees.

  “Quick, Millie,” came a voice from her right. “Bring him here. He doesn’t have much time!”

  Her back to Millie, her mother hurried towards one of the cottages. The white dress she wore was made more vivid by the glorious colours of the flower garden that grew behind the white picket fence surrounding the small cottage.

  Her magic still keeping Reuben floating behind her, Millie hurried after her mother. “How?” she said, as her mother opened the garden gate and beckoned Millie through.

  “This is where I live now, Millie,” said her mother, rushing along the pathway towards the open door. “But there’s no time for that now. Esmeralda is waiting inside. She’s the only witch who can save Reuben.”

  Esmeralda. The dead witch who Millie had heard so much about, but never imagined she would meet. Esmeralda had been the magical occupant of Windy-dune Cottage when she’d died, and Millie had moved in only a few days after her death.

  She was also the witch who had first taken Reuben from The Chaos and placed him in the body of a cockatiel. It made sense that she might be able to save his life.

  “This way,” said her mother, entering the cottage.

  Smelling herbs and the aroma of baking, Millie followed her mother, being careful not to bang Reuben into walls or doorways as she floated his large body behind her.

  Leading Millie into a spacious kitchen, complete with an open fire that had a cauldron suspended above it, her mother pointed at the huge table with an elderly woman standing next to it. “Put him on there,” she said. “Esmeralda will help.”

  Esmeralda smiled at Millie from beneath snow white hair, her wrinkles softened by the amber glow of the fire. “Don’t worry,” she said, as Millie allowed Reuben’s body to descend gently. “He’ll be alright. I can save him.”

  As Reuben’s weight settled on the table, Millie noticed with terrible fear that he was no longer bleeding from his wounds. “The bleeding,” she said. “It’s stopped. Is he still alive?”

  Her face calm, Esmeralda kept a reassuring smile on her lips as she placed a hand on Reuben’s broad chest. She looked at Millie through electric blue eyes. “He’s fine,” she said. “He’s strong. He just needs a little help.”

  As Esmeralda began muttering under her breath, her eyes closed and a blue haze surrounding the hand which lay on Reuben, Millie felt her mother’s hand on hers. “You need to go, darling,” she said. “You have to find Henry. Your father’s memories are fading fast.”

  “You know about that?” asked Millie.

  “Of course I know,” said her mother. “I’ve been watching you from the shadows ever since I came back here after my last visit, and discovered I couldn’t get back to you.”

  Millie pulled her mother gently towards her and held her in a soft hug, the smell of her hair the same as she remembered it being when she was a little girl. “You couldn’t get back to me because I needed to cross into your dimension before the bridge between our worlds was built,” she said, hoping the information in Victoria’s letter had been accurate.

  “I know,” whispered her mother. “And here you are, Millie, you’ve crossed into the dimension in which deceased witches live. From today on, I can cross between worlds and visit you whenever I like.” She pulled away from the hug and placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. She stared into Millie’s eyes. “But now you must go. Your father needs you more than I do. You’ll find Henry by passing through one of the other gates in the cavern you just left behind. The stone in your pocket will lead you to him.”

  “Please look after Reuben,” said Millie, stepping away from her mother. “He’s very important to me.”

  “We will,” said her mother. “Now go. And be careful.”

  With a nod, Millie turned her back and ran from the cottage. She hurried along the garden path, enveloped in the sweet fragrance of flower pollen, and sprinted towards the dimension gate which was guarded by two old oak trees, one on either side.

  Bounding up the single step and onto the stone slab, Millie didn’t hesitate as she leapt into the circle of light, no longer afraid of crossing between dimensions.

  Finding herself back in the cavern, Reuben’s blood gleaming in the sand below her, Millie took the stone of integrity from her pocket and held it before her, feeling the vibrations running the length of her arm.

  She moved it towards the four gates on her left, and the vibrations decreased, when she moved it to the right, the stone danced in her palm. “This way,” she said out loud as she leapt from the slab of rock.

  She passed the first two gates with no noticeable increase in vibrations, but as she reached the final gate, the stone throbbed as it was drawn to its owner’s magic.

  Without hesitation, she pocketed the stone and hopped onto the stone slab, stepping into the glowing circle of the gate.

  Keeping her eyes open, she gritted her teeth as wind rushed past her and bright light flooded her vision. And then she was through the gate, in yet another dimension. This one was warm and sunny, and the unmistakable sound of waves crashing on a beach came from somewhere to her right.

  With the stone vibrating in her jean’s pocket, Millie hurried towards the sound of the sea, following a narrow path, flanked on each side by thick jungle and palm trees.

  The squawk of a bird came from somewhere in the trees, and Millie thought of Reuben, promising herself that if her familiar survived and made it back to the body of the cockatiel waiting for him in Spellbinder Hall, she would never threaten him with seeds again.

  Sunlight peeped through the gap in the trees above her, warming her arms as she ran, and the sound of the sea became louder as the stone of integrity bounced against her thigh.

  Then the path widened, and Millie was greeted by a sweeping turquoise view of the sea, birthing white-topped waves which broke gracefully on a beach formed by golden sand.

  She stopped running as the stepped onto the beach, a warm breeze stirring her hair and seabirds gliding high above the ocean. Looking left and right, Millie used a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, searching the vastness of the long beach for signs of human life.

  Knowing only that Henry was in the same dimension she was in, Millie pondered her next move. Henry could be nearby, or many miles away. Reminding herself that Henry required no gate to travel across dimensions, and supposing the people he had gone there to meet, did not either, she realised that the gate was not a landmark that suggested Henry was near.

  With only the vibrations of the stone in her pocket guiding her, Millie chose left over right, and began walking. The sand soft beneath her feet, making every step harder than it should be, she walked alongside the wall of trees that marked the boundary between jungle and beach, glad of the cooling shade the trees afforded her.

  After what seemed like an hour, her clothes drenched with sweat, and the shade from the trees retreating into the jungle as the sun moved across the sky, she happened upon a stream trickling from the jungle and onto the beach.

  Kneeling beside it, thankful for the rest, she cupped her hands and splashed handfuls of the refreshing liquid over her face, closing her eyes and licking droplets from her lips.

  Ready to drink, she opened her eyes and lowered her mouth to the surface, her tongue dry and her throat sore. It was then that she
saw it, its reflection growing large in the water as it approached her from behind, a bony hand reaching for her.

  Not able to prevent it from leaving her mouth, she let out a scream and flipped herself over, her legs scrambling for purchase in the wet sand as she pushed herself backwards through water. “Get away from me!” she warned, drawing magic from her chest.

  The creature paused and gazed down at her, its pinched nose too high above its lipless mouth, and the grey skin which shaped its skeletal face stretched tight across high cheekbones.

  It stared at her with soulless black eyes, the rest of its tall, thin frame hidden beneath a black robe, the hem of which swirled in the gentle current of the stream.

  Her hand outstretched, Millie continued to push herself backwards, suddenly aware that she’d seen a face like that before, on two different occasions. Once in the fireplace of Henry Pinkerton’s study, when Edna Brockett had conjured it into existence, and the second time when she had first peered into the Chaos Gate when Henry had introduced her to it.

  Her eyes locking with horror onto the flap of dead flesh which peeled from the monster’s hairless scalp, Millie attempted to get to her feet, her hand throbbing with magical energy as she prepared to fight off the heinous monster.

  The creature shifted its head slowly from left to right, its dark eyes never leaving Millie’s face, and just as Millie was about to launch a spell in its direction, it spoke. Its clipped voice surprised Millie. It spoke confidently, in the sort of voice that Millie would have expected to hear from a student studying at Oxford University, and not emerging from the dead mouth of a denizen of hell. “Are you here for the meeting, Madam?” it said. “Because if you are, you’re late. Quite late, I’m afraid. The meeting began almost five full moons ago. It will be coming to an end shortly.”