“I just received a text from some of my Enforcers searching her home. Apparently they found some exploding puff in her room. So it looks like we have corroborating evidence. Thank you.”
“For what, for stopping you from prosecuting the wrong person?”
“Yes,” Chief Enforcer King replied. “I know you think I was persecuting Ellie for no reason, but I simply went where the evidence pointed. My goal is always to find the true perpetrator of a crime and to see actual justice done—not simply to pad my numbers and see as many people as possible thrown in jail—and I came very close to failing this time. Failing an entire community. So yes, I do have you to thank for solving this crime and stopping me from making a terrible mistake.”
The animosity I’d been feeling toward Chief Enforcer King dissipated immediately. This entire time I had felt like she was unjustly targeting Ellie, that she just wanted to throw someone in jail for the murder, regardless of whether or not she was guilty. It hadn’t seemed like something Chief Enforcer King would do, but that was the impression I’d had. I realized now that no, she hadn’t been targeting Ellie for the sake of throwing someone behind bars, but because she genuinely believed the evidence showed Ellie was guilty. And the fact that she was apologizing, and thanking me for finding the real killer, showed that was her true ambition the entire time.
It was big of her to do that, I thought.
“I’m just glad the real killer is being brought to justice.”
“So am I,” Chief Enforcer King said, standing, and I followed her lead. “Thank you again.”
I nodded and made my way out into the hall and back up the steps to the main part of City Hall, where I found Ellie, Amy, and Kilmordir standing together, talking about something. Ellie was rubbing her wrists, a huge look of relief on her face.
As soon as she saw me, she rushed over and took me in a huge bear hug.
“Thank you, Tina. Thank you so much.”
“No problem,” I replied. “I knew you didn’t do it.”
“Still. Amy told me how you almost died. Bella did some fairy magic on you?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it was strange. She blew something at me, and then it was like I was under her control.”
“Hypnoweed,” Ellie nodded. “It’s very potent, and it grows in the fairy garden. You blow it at someone, and the person who blew it can control that person’s actions. It’s illegal to use for that purpose, obviously.”
I shuddered involuntarily as Ellie continued. “How did you get away from it, though?”
“The pond,” I replied. “I saw some water, and my brain told me to get to it. Bella ordered me to find malfeasance mushrooms, so I started looking on the other side of the pond, and my feet took me there. I fell in, and as soon as I hit the water, the spell broke.”
Ellie nodded. “Interesting. That must be linked to your coven, which is why Bella would never have thought of it, what with almost everyone here coming from a coven of thunder. Besides, it’s not like you’ve made the fact that you’re actually from a water coven common knowledge.”
I had to smile. That was definitely true. I already felt like enough of an outsider with my limited set of spell knowledge; I didn’t want to advertise the fact that I came from a whole different type of coven.
“Well, anyway, thanks to the pond, I’m not dead, and the real killer is in jail,” I said with a small smile as I turned toward Kilmordir and Amy, who were still talking to each other.
“Your skills as a lawyer are greater than many actual, trained lawyers I have met,” Kilmordir was telling Amy, who blushed with that self-satisfied smile she always gave when someone complimented her intelligence. “The way you thought to have yourself appointed a legal representative despite not having legal training, and the way you were able to invoke the exact section of the act, shows a mind that is not only good at memorizing the law, but is also flexible enough to apply it creatively, and that is a rare skill among lawyers, one that only the best possess.”
“Thank you,” Amy said quietly, and I could tell she was pleased by the compliment.
“I never in my life believed I would say this to a witch, but have you ever considered a career in the law?”
This time, Amy’s mouth dropped open. “But…I can’t. You know that. I’m not an elf.”
“No, but I am certain a clever witch such as yourself could make an argument in favor of it.”
“But…it’s never been done. Ever. It’s not a witch’s place to be a lawyer,” Amy argued.
“I know. And I do understand why that is the case. But in thousands of years of practicing law, I have never seen a witch with as good a legal mind as yourself. I do not say it would be easy. In fact, it would likely be exceedingly difficult if you were to choose this path. One has only to look at my own son to see how taking the road less travelled has consequences. But I am also saying that if there was a witch who I believe could successfully be a lawyer, it is you. And I think you should consider it, despite the obstacles you would face, because I think you would be one of the finest minds the profession has ever seen. And believe me, I have been around a long time.”
Wow. I was pretty sure at this point even my mouth had dropped open. Kilmordir was suggesting that Amy become a lawyer? That absolutely went against all of the job rules that paranormals lived by. Rules that I thought were archaic and stupid, mind you. But rules all the same, rules that everyone who lived in the paranormal world and wasn’t me or Kyran seemed to think were written in stone. I didn’t have to be a lifelong resident here to understand that Kilmordir’s suggestion was huge.
“I…I’ll consider it,” Amy said breathlessly.
“Good. I hope that you will. I will understand if you think the challenge is too much to overcome. Should you require any advice, please do not hesitate to contact my office. I’ll give you my card and make sure my assistant knows that your calls are always to be put through,” Kilmordir said, handing Amy a small business card. She took it and tucked it carefully into her wallet, which she slipped back into her purse like it was made of glass.
He nodded to the rest of us and strode off.
“Amy!” Ellie said as soon as he had left. “I can’t believe it.”
“Neither can I,” Amy said, her eyes wide. “I never expected that.”
“I mean, in a way, I’m not surprised. After all, you definitely kept Chief Enforcer King from being as rough with me as she wanted, and you made her job a lot more difficult, which is exactly what a lawyer should do. But for Kilmordir to suggest that you consider becoming a lawyer, that’s something else entirely.”
“It really is,” Amy said. “I can’t do it, of course.”
“Do you want to do it?” I asked, and Ellie and Amy both looked at me. “After all, that’s the first step, isn’t it? Deciding if it’s something you want to do. You’re good at a lot of things, Amy. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’d want to do them forever.”
Amy nodded as she considered my words. “You know, I think I would like to do it. I really enjoyed my time in there, defending Ellie. Being a lawyer is like pitting your own wits against someone else’s using a specific set of rules. Yes, if it were up to me, then I think I would very much enjoy being a lawyer.”
“Alright, so what’s stopping you?”
“Common decency, and the fact that it just isn’t done, of course,” Amy said.
“Just because you’ve never broken a rule in your life doesn’t mean you can’t start now,” I said with a smile.
“It’s more than that, though,” Ellie said. “If Amy decides to do this, she’ll become a pariah. Look at Kyran. I know you like him, and I know you get along with him, but you’re basically the only one. Everyone else in town ignores him. That’s the future Amy is looking at if she goes through with this.”
I nodded. “Yes, that is true. I guess, Amy, you need to decide if it’s worth it.”
Amy stared at the floor. “I don’t know. I neve
r considered that this would ever even be a possibility for me. It’s something I think I would really enjoy doing, but at the same time, it’s not something I think I can do.”
Ellie put a hand on Amy’s arm. “Don’t worry about it, ok? It’s not something you have to decide now.”
Amy nodded, and the three of us made our way back out into the cold, sunny day.
“I’ll meet you guys back home, ok?” I said suddenly, realizing I was missing something from this morning. “I have to make a quick stop first.”
After all, the one casualty of that morning had been the two delicious-smelling baguettes I had bought from Aurora that morning at The Spell of Bread, and I had to make that right.
Chapter 25
The four of us spent Thursday night celebrating—Amy actually decided to skip her nightly study session to join the rest of us as we drank copious amounts of wine, ate way too much pizza, and eventually all stumbled off into our respective rooms to sleep it off before the next day.
After all, for one of us, it was going to be a pretty big one.
“You look nervous,” I said to Sara at one point as she practically chugged down her first glass of wine. She gave me a tense smile.
“Does it really show?”
“It kind of looks like that glass is about to explode in your hand, yeah,” I said, and Sara quickly put the glass back down.
“That wouldn’t be good. I need my hands to be able to hold the broom. But by Jupiter, I also need some more wine.”
I handed her the whole bottle, and Sara started drinking right from it.
“Well, I used to drink right from boxes of wine when I was back at the Academy and couldn’t afford anything better. I guess at least now I’m drinking straight from the bottle.”
“Don’t drink too much,” I laughed. “You don’t want to be hungover tomorrow for the big presentation.”
“I want to still be drunk tomorrow for the big presentation,” Sara replied. “It’s going to be insane.”
“In a good way.”
“I hope so. I’m really nervous. It doesn’t feel real yet.”
I took Sara’s hands in mine. “It is real. And you’re going to be fine. Come on. Why don’t you try and get some rest before tomorrow? And don’t worry, I’ll be there with you the whole time, and so will Ellie. It’s going to be fine.”
Sara nodded and put down the bottle of wine. “You’re right. At least, I’m going to keep telling myself that you’re right. After all, I’m going to have to go through with it.”
I smiled as I helped Sara to her room. “You know, it is going to be fine.”
“I know. But it just doesn’t feel that way right now.”
I left Sara to her panicking, wondering if I should ask Ellie if there was any sort of potion she could give Sara for her nerves, then made my way back to the kitchen. I had been eating the baguettes from The Spell of Bread by themselves; they were so, so good. It was like carbohydrates heaven. This was definitely where all of my bread was coming from in the future.
“So what’s your plan, job-wise?” I asked Ellie when I made my way back into the living room, chomping down on a large piece of bread.
“I’ve texted the manager of Hexpresso Bean,” Ellie replied. “My bet is he’ll be begging for me to come back to work. I sent in a few witches I know to go have some food there today, and apparently the cinnamon buns were awful, and the muffins weren’t much better.”
“I’ll go in tomorrow and complain,” I said with a grin. “Though I’ll go early, since we have to be back in time to get Sara over to Desert Plains.”
“Sounds good,” Ellie said with a smile. “Thanks.”
The next morning, I sent Kyran a text.
Want to grab some coffee? I have to go complain to the manager that the food is awful.
Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no? came Kyran’s reply a moment later.
Meet at Hexpresso Bean at 9:30? I have to go around 10 to get Sara over to Desert Plains.
Sure, see you then.
I tried to ignore the fact that my heart fluttered with excitement as soon as Kyran agreed to come out with me. It wasn’t really a date—we were just two friends getting coffee, right? But it was something. At least, I couldn’t really deny that I wanted it to be something.
After spending way too much time doing my hair and trying to throw on some makeup, I made my way down to Hexpresso Bean. I was twenty minutes early, and it definitely had nothing to do with the fact that I was excited to have coffee with Kyran. No-siree, nothing like that at all.
When I got to the front counter, it was strange not to see Aurora or Luna there. Instead, it was Celeste, her green wings looking paler than usual and her chestnut-brown hair looking a little bit haggard. She had obviously been crying.
“Hi,” I said to her softly, and she looked up at me. I was really worried I was about to get punched in the face or something. After all, I had been the reason one of her friends was arrested for Luna’s murder.
“You’re the one who figured out it was Bella,” Celeste said softly, and I nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It’s such a shock. I’m not mad, in case you were wondering. Honestly, I’ve wondered about Bella for a while. She hasn’t been quite herself lately. If she really did do this to Luna, she deserves to be locked up.”
“She admitted it to me,” I explained. “Told me all about it.”
Celeste shook her head. “I would have been right there when she poisoned the brownie. I wish I’d seen something. Maybe I could have stopped it.”
“No, it’s not your fault,” I told her. “This is on Bella. She’s the one who poisoned Luna.”
“Thanks,” Celeste said. “Now, what can I get you?”
“Two coffees, a Calmberry and Lemon muffin to go, and two brownies, please. I didn’t realize you worked here.”
“Oh, I’m new,” Celeste said. “After Aurora left, they needed someone, and I always thought it would be nice to work here. Although, to be honest, I wish Ellie was still the one doing the baking. My waistline probably prefers it being Annie doing it, but my taste buds sure don’t.”
“Well, good luck,” I said to Celeste with a smile as I pulled out some cash.
“Don’t worry about it, today is on the house,” Celeste said. “After all, you found Luna’s killer, it’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you,” I smiled.
As I went to sit down at one of the tables in the far corner—I knew Kyran well enough by now to know that he would want to sit where he was the least conspicuous—I spotted him walking through the door. He saw me and made his way over, flopping himself down in the chair across from me with a grin.
“So, how’s your plan to complain about everything?” he asked.
“Well, we haven’t got the food yet. I got a muffin to go for Sara, but we have a couple of brownies we’re not allowed to enjoy.”
“Is the plan to get Ellie her job back, then?”
“Exactly,” I nodded. “It’s for a good cause; apparently the food is now actually significantly worse than it was when Ellie was in the kitchen.”
“Well, we’re about to find out,” Kyran said as Celeste made her way over, carrying a couple of plates and a paper bag with the muffin to go. She placed them in front of us, her eyes widening slightly when she saw Kyran, and then smiled and slipped back behind the counter to help her next customer.
“Regretting inviting me out yet?” Kyran asked with a grin, and I smiled.
“Hey, you’re maybe rubbing off on people. Your dad suggested to Amy yesterday that she consider becoming a lawyer.”
Kyran’s eyebrows rose. “Did he really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’m not going to lie, that one’s a surprise. My father has mostly disowned me since I decided not to do a respectable elf job. Though he’ll still do things if I ask, like representing Ellie.”
“I don’t think she’ll do it, personall
y.”
“She shouldn’t.”
This time it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “That bad, huh?”
“You saw how that fairy looked at me when she came over,” Kyran said, taking a bite from his brownie, then frowning. “Ugh. You’re right to complain. This is really not good. They need to get Ellie back in the kitchen here as soon as possible.”
I took a bite of the brownie myself and frowned.
“Ugh, you’re right. This is barely edible. Are you sure, though? About Amy?”
“As long as attitudes about paranormals staying in their place stay the way they are, then yeah. Witches aren’t meant to be lawyers, and her life will be more difficult than she can imagine if she chooses to go that route.”
“That’s too bad,” I frowned. “I was hoping it would be an option for her.”
“Maybe in the future, if your movie nights keep taking off,” Kyran said with a smile. “I enjoyed Rush Hour 2. I’d seen it before, but not in a long time.”
“Mr. Meowgi insisted,” I explained with a grin. “I remember liking it more when I was twelve years old, but it’s still funny. Jackie Chan is a legend.”
“That he is,” Kyran agreed.
“What about you?” I asked. “What’s your favorite human world movie?”
“Well, to be honest, I haven’t seen a ton of them. But I’ve seen a good number in my time. I’m pretty partial to some of your classics. The Godfather is a very good set of films. If I had to pick, I’d say that’s the one.”
I nodded. “Good choice. I’ve never really been into those sorts of movies. I was very much about Legally Blonde and Mean Girls, those sorts of chick flicks.”
“Have you seen a lot of paranormal movies yet?”
I shook my head. “No. Honestly, most of my time I spend studying or trying to solve crimes. I’ve also been reading a little bit, at night. Though I don’t have a huge book collection anymore.”
“Did you like reading, back in the human world?”
“I did. I never made enough time for it, though. I guess I got so caught up in working and trying to make ends meet I never really made the time to sit down and read books anymore. I really did enjoy it when I was in high school, though; I was always reading everything the library had. Oh well.”
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