The new witch in town, a snarky pain in the keister who enjoyed playing mind games, beamed at the incoming couple. “Well, isn’t this a surprise,” she drawled, delight evident. “I love it when you guys pay a visit. It always puts the boss in a foul mood.”
“I’m confused why you would like that,” Hannah hedged. “I mean ... don’t you want a happy boss?”
Stormy snorted. “You’re cute.”
“And we’re here on a mission,” Cooper volunteered. “We’re looking for Astra.”
“She’s not accepting visitors today. I’m sorry. You’ll have to call back at a later time and request an appointment.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Is she out on her patio?”
“She is otherwise engaged.”
“Right.” Cooper was in no mood for games. He put his hand to the small of Hannah’s back and urged her toward the patio. “We’ll take it from here. We don’t need a guide. Thank you for your time, though.”
Stormy’s expression darkened. “I just said she was otherwise engaged.”
“Well, she’s going to have to suck it up. We have some things to discuss with her.” Cooper braced himself for a snark attack as he followed Hannah onto the patio. There, in the center of things, Astra sat at her metal bistro table and compared crystals. She seemed lost in her own little world.
“We’re not intruding, are we?” Hannah asked as she moved closer to the table. Despite herself, she was intrigued by the crystals and had a million questions. Now wasn’t the time for a Witch 101 lesson, though.
“You’re always intruding,” Astra replied with a sneer as she regarded her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend with overt disdain. “Since I know you don’t care about that, though, what do you say we cut to the chase?”
“That’s probably best for everybody,” Cooper agreed. “We have a situation.”
“You always have a situation. Have you ever considered that you’re the cause of these situations? I know you like to blame everything on others but, at a certain point, you have to be honest with yourselves and realize you’re the root of all the trouble in this area.”
“And what happens if we acknowledge that?” Hannah challenged. “Oh, wait, I bet I know. You’re willing to take over Casper Creek under those circumstances, aren’t you?”
Astra’s smile was blinding. “Yes, and out of the goodness of my heart.”
“Well, I’ll take the offer under advisement.” Hannah took the chair across from Astra and pinned her with a serious look. “What do you know about magical domes?”
Cooper threw his hands into the air, frustration rippling through him. “I thought we agreed that I was going to ask the questions,” he groused.
Hannah ignored him. She was still new in town, but she’d grown to understand Astra and no longer needed a road map to communicate with the woman. “We have a missing teenager who disappeared in the middle of a dust storm and a newly-erected dome that doesn’t seem to suck magic or prohibit us from crossing the barrier.”
“I see.” Astra’s features lit with intrigue. “When did this dome appear?”
“Recently.”
“I’m going to need more than that.”
“Within the last twenty-four hours.”
She pursed her lips, her mind clearly busy. “Could you see the magic? The color I mean.”
Hannah had no idea what that was supposed to mean. “I didn’t see any color.”
“All magic has color. You’re strong enough to see it. I need you to describe it.”
Hannah hesitated and then searched her memory. “Pink. It had a weird pink undertone.”
“Hmm.” Astra rolled her neck, her eyes darting to the left at the sound of footsteps. She didn’t look surprised when Stormy floated into view. “A pink dome has landed in Casper Creek. You don’t know anything about it, do you?”
“A pink dome?” Stormy let loose a hollow laugh. “That’s not really my style.”
“I wouldn’t think so either, but you’re wholly unpredictable these days.”
“I like to keep people on their toes,” Stormy explained for Hannah’s benefit. She was solely focused on the blond witch. Cooper was barely an afterthought. “It’s a game I take great joy in playing.”
“How great for you,” Cooper drawled, impatiently tapping his fingers on the table. “We really need to figure out what’s going on here, Astra. The missing girl is already suffering a trauma. We can’t just abandon the search for her.”
“And what sort of trauma is she facing?” Astra queried. “Did she break a nail? Did a boyfriend not ask her to a school dance? I know. Her cheerleading skirt didn’t fit properly. Am I right?”
Cooper shook his head. “Not even close. She was one of the victims in the multi-car accident last night. Her parents are still in the hospital. When they wake up, we have to be able to tell them their daughter is safe. That means we have to find her ... and soon.”
“She was in the accident?” Genuine bafflement took over Astra’s refined features. “That is ... weird.”
“How is that weird?” Stormy challenged. “People get in accidents all the time.”
“This accident was magical in origin,” Hannah volunteered. “We know because we were there. We saw the whole thing go down.”
“You were at the scene of the accident?” Astra went back to studying her crystals. “Did you cause the accident?”
“No.” Hannah was horrified at the question. “Why would I possibly cause an unnecessary accident that resulted in the deaths of innocent people?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“And you have a certain quality,” Stormy volunteered. “It’s a selfish quality that people of entitlement can’t shake, no matter where they come from. You have that quality in spades.”
“Well, thanks for that ... I guess,” Hannah said dryly, rubbing her forehead. She could feel an incoming headache and it was the last thing she needed to further derail her day.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Astra volunteered. “I’ve never heard of a pink dome, and what’s the point of erecting one if you can’t trap someone beneath it?”
“I’ve never seen any dome so I can’t answer that.”
Astra snickered. “Yes, I forget you’re still a novice at this. Well, just for the record, the only reason to build a dome is for protection or prison. Neither scenario seems likely now. As for the accident, I can’t say what happened. I wasn’t there. All I heard were the news reports, and it sounded like a regular accident.”
“It was far from regular,” Cooper countered. “There was magic out there.” He explained the odd lightning, and the fact that Angel described seeing a shadow to Boone. They’d come this far. There was no reason to withhold information this late in the game.
When he was finished, Astra seemed even more confused than before. “That’s interesting, huh?”
“There’s more,” Hannah added, opting to go for it. “I had a dream last night about battling witches. One had a light aura, the other dark. One was willing to die to kill the other. I chalked it up to exhaustion, but the dream seems more important now that Angel has disappeared. It feels as if it plays into things ... although for the life of me I can’t figure out how.”
“A dream, huh?” Astra gripped a purple crystal in her hand and frowned. “I don’t think the dream was random either. Did it feel as if you were trapped in a real situation even though you inherently knew it was a dream?”
Hannah thought about the way she’d woken up screaming. “Yeah. How did you know that?”
“Because it sounds like a memory fragment.”
Hannah swallowed hard. “Does that mean it really happened at some point?”
“It means it likely happened,” Astra replied. “As for those witches, all I can tell you is to use Abigail’s books to research the origins of Casper Creek. You’ll find answers there.”
“Can’t you just tell us?” Cooper prodded. “We don’t really have time for a
research expedition.”
“I haven’t read the books, only skimmed them. Abigail caught me looking at them and said I wasn’t ready.” Astra’s bitterness was palpable as she recounted the memory. “I never got a second chance to look at them. I know the information is there, though. I think you’ll find at least some of your answers there.”
It wasn’t the response Hannah was expecting. “In the past?”
“Time isn’t a straight line. What you think of the past is the present for others.”
That sounded complicated, but Hannah was grateful for a direction to look all the same. “Thank you.” She pushed herself to her feet, Cooper following suit. “If you hear anything about Angel, we would appreciate a phone call.”
Astra’s smile was benign. “I doubt I will be the one to find her, but in that unlikely case, I promise to return her to you. I have no interest in some random child.”
“Keep your ears to the ground,” Cooper said as he moved to shadow Hannah back through the store. “If there’s about to be a magical flare up, you’ll likely be the first to know.”
Astra beamed at him. She loved playing games with her ex. “You’re finally playing my song.”
“I’m just trying to find a missing girl. Whatever you do is up to you.”
8
Eight
Hannah headed straight for her apartment the second they returned to Casper Creek, not even stopping long enough to greet Boone, who was miffed at the slight.
“What’s her deal?”
Cooper let loose a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead, the day threatening to catch up with him. “She’s stressed.”
“Well, join the club. I’m stressed, too.”
“No sign of Angel?”
“None. It’s as if she disappeared into thin air. The dogs pick up her scent in the barn and then ... there’s nothing.”
Cooper was baffled how that was possible. “Could it be the storm? I mean ... if she left voluntarily in the middle of the storm — maybe to look for us — and somehow got confused, could the wind and sand mask her scent?”
“Anything is possible, but I don’t think it’s likely.” Boone, who had been trying to be brave for his daughter’s benefit, let the weariness wash over him. “I think she was taken. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Cooper’s heart sank. “And if she was taken, it was by a monster of some sort.”
“We all know that ‘monster’ is an easy term to toss around. It’s not always accurate, though. Maybe there’s something else going on.”
“Like what?”
“Like maybe Angel’s parents were aligned with some paranormal force and that’s why the accident happened when it did. They were in one of the initial vehicles. No matter what, the accident will go down in the books without fault applied to anyone because it was mechanical failure due to the light, but maybe they were the target.”
It was an interesting theory, Cooper mused. It wasn’t what he would’ve normally jumped to, but he couldn’t completely discount it. “We need background on the parents.”
“I’m working on it. Once I get a copy of the file, I’ll email it to you.”
“I appreciate it.” Cooper flicked his eyes to the second-floor window that belonged to Hannah’s living room.
“What happened with Astra?” Boone queried. “I’m guessing she wasn’t helpful.”
“Actually, she was more helpful than I anticipated. She wasn’t exactly gracious about it. She wasn’t psychotic either. Although ... that new witch she has working for her, that Stormy woman, is another story. I don’t trust her.”
“Are you saying you trust Astra?”
Cooper hesitated and then shook his head. “No. I would have to be an idiot to trust her after everything she’s done.”
“I don’t know that I would use the word idiot.”
“She betrayed Abigail. I made the mistake of trusting her way back when and look how that turned out.”
“I didn’t say idiot was the wrong word.” Boone’s expression was kind. “I have something to ask you, and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”
Cooper was instantly alert. “I’ll try to refrain from losing my temper. Is this about Lindsey? I swear, no matter what she said, I didn’t take my shirt off. She just won’t let that go.”
Boone’s chuckle was hollow. “Don’t worry. She’s doing that for my benefit. She thinks distracting me will help with the Angel situation. She doesn’t understand that nothing is going to make me feel better on that front until we find the girl.
“This is something else,” he continued, hesitating. When he pushed forward, it was with resignation. “Is it possible you want to believe Astra because you still have lingering feelings for her?”
Cooper felt as if he’d been run over with a truck ... or at the very least smacked in the head with a baseball bat. The anger he’d promised to contain bubbled up and grabbed him by the throat. “Are you kidding me?”
Boone held up his hands in a placating manner. “I’m not insinuating anything. I’m just asking. You cared about Astra at one point.”
“I did. I would never deny that. I didn’t love her, though.”
“I know you didn’t. She was still a lifeline after you got back from serving overseas. You needed the anchor she provided.”
Cooper immediately started shaking his head. “You’re wrong. Abigail was the lifeline. She was the one I needed. Astra was simply an extension of Abigail, and our relationship was never ... deep. Everything we had was on the surface.
“Don’t get me wrong, I cared about her,” he continued. “I never loved her, though. I was incapable of loving her because we weren’t right for each other. Deep down, I knew she was keeping secrets. Because I loved Abigail, I was willing to put up with Astra’s crap. I thought Abigail needed her.”
Boone nodded in understanding. “I get it. I just wanted to be sure. We can’t afford to lose time because Astra is playing games.”
“I agree.”
“I was just checking.”
Even though Cooper recognized they should end the conversation, he felt the need to add to it. “I love Hannah.”
Boone chuckled. “I know you love Hannah. That’s never been in doubt. From the moment you laid eyes on her, she’s been it for you. Just because you love Hannah, though, that doesn’t mean you can’t have lingering feelings for Astra. They don’t even have to be romantic feelings. It would be natural if you wanted to believe there was some good in her.”
“Because then I wouldn’t have to blame myself for being completely bamboozled by her.”
Boone hesitated and then nodded. “She was convincing. She fooled us all.”
“You weren’t dating her.”
“No, but you couldn’t have known. She was good at hiding her true self.”
“That she was.” Cooper was silent for a beat and then shook himself out of his reverie. “How is Lindsey holding up? She was upset during the storm. She put on a brave face for you, but she was shaken. She said she wanted you.”
Boone looked momentarily pained. “She’s a daddy’s girl at heart.”
“She is.”
“She’s okay, though. She’s obviously worried about Angel, but she’s holding it together, if only for me.”
“What’s the next step?”
“We’re going to keep search parties out there overnight, but I’m not hopeful. I just don’t know.”
“What about her parents?”
“They’re still not awake.”
“That’s not normal, right? I thought the doctor said they would wake up this morning.”
“He did and they seem baffled.”
“Which just brings us back to the notion that this is somehow paranormal.” Cooper rubbed his chin and looked at the window above them again. “Hannah had a terrible dream last night. I didn’t think much of it at the time — other than I hated how cold her skin was and the way she shook — but now I’m starting to wonder if it wa
s somehow prophetic.”
Boone’s eyebrows hopped. “I’m all ears.”
Cooper told him as much as he could remember from what Hannah said on the ride back. She hadn’t gone into much detail, but he had a feeling that was because she couldn’t remember everything she’d seen. “She’s upstairs right now tearing through Abigail’s books looking for information on these witches.”
“Because Astra said to look at the history of Casper Creek.”
“Yeah.”
“What if Astra is misleading her?”
“It’s possible, but Astra seemed legitimately confused. She asked what color the dome was, and when Hannah said pink, I could practically see the gears of her mind working. She’s not responsible, but she is interested.”
“Which simply creates another wrinkle.”
“Pretty much.” Cooper was quiet, then started for the swinging doors. “If you see Danielle and Jackie, could you send them up? I need to see if I can help Hannah find the information she’s looking for.”
“Do you really think some old story about witches is going to tell us where Angel is?”
“I really think that we need somewhere to look. We have nothing right now. If Hannah can find answers, then at least we’ll have something to move on.”
“Fair enough.” Boone bobbed his head. “By the way, Jinx was doing his tinkle dance and barking so I sent him over with Tyler. I didn’t see any reason to keep him cooped up inside and suffering.”
“I’ll tell Hannah. Thanks for everything.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“I haven’t either.”
“We have to do better.”
Cooper was grim. “We definitely do.”
THE FIRST THING COOPER SAW WHEN HE OPENED the door to Hannah’s apartment was a book whizzing past him. On instinct, he reached out and caught it.
“Herbal Remedies of Witches Past,” he read out loud.
Dances With Witches (A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book 5) Page 8