Lucky Charm (Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 4)

by Annabel Chase

  “Were you angry?”

  Her hands moved to her hips. “Of course I was angry. I’m an herbologist who’s restricted from keeping important plants in my garden. It’s an outrage. No one tells the mixologist not to keep certain cocktails in her bar. Does anyone tell you that you can’t keep certain law books in your office?”

  “To be fair, my law books can’t kill anyone.”

  “Hit ‘em hard enough in the head with one and we’ll see about that.”

  I swallowed hard. Note to self: never invite Janis to my office.

  “What did you do when you found out your request was denied?” I asked.

  Janis looked thoughtful. “I dropped by to see the Minors. They’re always willing to lend a sympathetic ear when it comes to council matters.”

  Or eat one.

  “Did they offer any advice?” I asked. Like seek revenge with a magic spell.

  “No,” she replied. “Just a cup of tea and delicious sandwiches. I’m still angry about it, to be honest. I’m a member of her own coven and she failed to support me.”

  Time to trot out the truth for Janis. “Actually, it says in the council minutes that she voted in favor of you.”

  “She what?” Janis hesitated and the color rushed to her cheeks. “Oh.”

  “She wasn’t the only one either, although the majority did rule against you.” But together they put up a united front. The town council could give lessons on good parenting.

  “I…That’s good to know.” She stared blankly at the berries in her basket. “I just assumed…”

  “Do you know anything about the youth spell?”

  “Is that why you’re here?” she asked, her voice rising. “You think I was seeking revenge?”

  “We’re working our way through all the recent requests that came before the council and were denied,” I said diplomatically. “You were on the list.”

  Janis laughed. “Trust me, darling. If I were going to get revenge, the last thing I would do is cast a spell that let’s them relive their glory days. I don’t know who did it, but I can tell you that the responsible party wasn’t trying to punish them.”

  “You don’t think?” I said. “Not even to make fools of them?”

  She slapped her knee. “Are you kidding? They’re having the time of their lives. The culprit did them all a favor with this spell. They’re an uptight bunch of bureaucrats, especially that Mayor Knightsbridge, but they’re running around town with lollipops and singing songs. Every new day is pure joy.”

  Janis made a good point. Every time I saw them, they were having fun, which didn’t seem like punishment at all. Food for thought.

  “Thank you, Janis. You’ve been really helpful.”

  “If you decide you’d like to know more about herbology,” she said, “feel free to come and see me. You and your friends. There’s a lot I can teach you, with or without my deadly garden.”

  Let’s go, Sedgwick urged. Her cat is giving me serious side eye.

  I glanced to my right to see a tuxedo cat staring up at him.

  “That’s Bella,” Janis said. “She doesn’t like owls. Whenever a message arrives, the owls know to drop it at the end of the driveway before Bella catches wind of them.”

  “I guess you don’t keep a messenger owl then.”

  “Heavens no. I use Elf Express. Very reliable and convenient. No mess to clean up.”

  I’m a grown owl. No one cleans up after me, Sedgwick objected.

  It’s nothing personal, I told him. Not everyone likes owls the same way not everyone likes cats.

  Well, I can understand not liking cats. They’re horrid creatures.

  I smiled to myself. Grumpy or not, the owl was definitely my familiar. With a final wave, Sedgwick and I left the garden and headed home.

  Chapter 12

  “Stars and stones, he was on the toilet!”

  I laughed at Begonia’s reaction when the T-Rex ate the lawyer. My recent visit with Wilhelm prompted me to introduce the other witches to Jurassic Park in the remedial witch hideout, our secret place away from the watchful eyes of the coven. Professor Holmes had cancelled class, so we were able to enjoy an afternoon movie for a change.

  “Shit happens,” Millie said, and laughed at her own joke.

  Sophie cast a sidelong glance at me. “Are you even watching?”

  “I’ve seen it more times than I can remember,” I said.

  “And you’re thinking about the youth spell,” Millie said. “I’m starting to recognize your expressions. This one is frustration mixed with determination.”

  “I think you have an untapped talent,” I told Millie. Now that I’d dismissed every suspect on the list, I needed a new theory.

  “You’re out of leads?” Begonia asked, her gaze still pinned to the magic mirror that doubled as a screen.

  “Janis was right,” I said. “This spell isn’t about revenge. And Wilhelm doesn’t think it’s purely to cause chaos, and it isn’t a coup because no one has tried to take over the leadership role.”

  “So what does that leave?” Sophie asked.

  “Well, the person who performed the spell has to be somewhat experienced,” Millie said. “There’s no way someone could put a spell on the Great Hall without a strong magical background.”

  “And the registrar’s office,” Sophie added. “Poor Stan. Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time. You can relate to that, Emma.”

  I sat silently for a moment, an idea beginning to flicker. “Maybe we’ve been coming at this from the wrong angle. What if he wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if it was the council in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Excitement grew within me. “What if the person wasn’t as experienced as we think and they accidentally put a spell on the council when they only meant to use it on the registrar?” If the town council wasn’t the intended target, then that would explain why our leads were all dead ends.

  Begonia wrinkled her nose. “Why would someone want the registrar to have the mental state of a child?”

  I snapped my fingers. “A distraction. They didn’t want to hurt the registrar, only make sure that he couldn’t interfere in whatever the spell caster was trying to achieve.”

  Millie perked up. “And the registrar controls all of the town’s important documents. Licenses, leases, deeds, wills.”

  “Let’s go to the registrar’s office and see what paperwork was handled on the day the spell was cast,” I said.

  “But he’s still a child,” Begonia said. “Who’s running the office?”

  “Astrid, most of the time,” I said. “She won’t object to letting us snoop around.”

  Sophie glanced at the clock. “We should go now or the office will be closed.”

  Begonia looked longingly at the magic mirror. “Tell me now. Does the T-Rex die?”

  “No spoilers,” I said. “We’ll watch the rest later.”

  Reluctantly, she followed us out the hidden door of the hideout.

  Astrid was in the middle of locking up the office when we arrived.

  “Wait,” I called.

  She stopped mid-turn and glanced over her shoulder. “What’s up, witches? Wanna head over to the Horned Owl after my shift? They’re hosting a new band tonight.”

  “Actually, we need to get into the office,” I said. “Would you mind staying open a few extra minutes?”

  She gave me a curious look. “A lead?”

  “Maybe.”

  Hurriedly, she removed the key and stepped aside. “Have at it, ladies. Anything to end this nightmare.”

  We entered the office and went behind the counter to the room where all of the documents were stored. File cabinets and shelves were everywhere I looked.

  “This is going to take hours,” I said. “We need to find all the documents signed by the registrar the date the spell was cast.” I didn’t even know where to begin. Nothing appeared to be marked with dates.

  “We don’t need to look through the paperwork, silly,” Be
gonia said. “We can do a spell.”

  “A spell?” I echoed. “To find paperwork?”

  “Of course,” Millie said, and produced her wand. “Allow me.” She pointed her wand toward the file cabinets and said, “Let’s not leave this up to fate/show us documents with the relevant date.”

  Drawers slid open and papers floated through the air, landing on the table in front of us in neat piles.

  “Holy Order and Efficiency,” I whispered. “Every office in America could use a spell like that.”

  “I’ll start with this stack,” Sophie said, and began rifling through the documents in front of her. “These are all licenses.”

  “Mine are wills,” Begonia said.

  The first one in my pile was a property deed. “I guess this is my chance to dabble in real estate.” My grandmother had tried to get me interested in real estate when I was younger. She loved watching the various property shows on television. Buying, selling, renovating—if it involved a house, then she was going to watch it.

  Millie read out her first document, a lease renewal for Glow, the salon in the town square. “I don’t see anything odd about it.”

  “At least there aren’t too many with the right date,” Sophie remarked. “We should be able to narrow down the suspects with this.”

  “I thought we’d be able to narrow down the suspects with the minutes of the town council meeting,” I said, “but look how that turned out.”

  “Good point,” Sophie replied.

  “Here’s poor Josef’s will,” Begonia said. “Wasn’t that a wonderful funeral?”

  “It was nothing like I expected,” I said. “He seemed like a fascinating man. I wish I’d had the chance to meet him.”

  Begonia giggled. “Who knows with you? Maybe you will.”

  “That’s funny,” I said. “Hey, here’s the deed to his house.” I pulled the document from the pile and began to read.

  “I’m sure he left the house to Felix,” Millie said. “That’s his only child.”

  “He did,” I said, still reading. Everything looked in order.

  “Spell’s Bells. You’ll never guess what I have here,” Sophie said.

  “Please say it’s the smoking gun,” I said.

  “I don’t know what that is, but this is a marriage license for Elsa Knightsbridge and Jasper Jansen,” Sophie said.

  “They’re married?” I queried, peering over her shoulder at the document.

  “No, this is the preliminary paperwork,” Sophie said. “You get the marriage license filed beforehand, so they must be engaged.” She frowned at me. “I’m surprised we haven’t heard about this.”

  With the rumor mill in this town running at full tilt? Me too.

  “We cleared Elsa,” I said. “She seemed pretty annoyed about the whole thing. If anything, her mother’s current state has caused her more harm than good.”

  “And her mother might know about the engagement, but they’ve decided to keep it quiet,” Begonia said. “You know Mayor Knightsbridge, always politically maneuvering.”

  I pushed thoughts of Elsa and her impending marriage aside and we continued to review every document registered on that date. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary or suspicious.

  “Well, this is another dead end,” Millie complained.

  My shoulders slumped. I was certain we’d find what we needed here. “Let’s refile these papers and tell Astrid to lock up.”

  Lucy came flying out of the entrance to the Mayor's Mansion, a frantic expression on her face. “Thank the stars that you’re here."

  "Why?” I asked. “What's going on?"

  "The mayor showed up at the office today. Apparently, she stole the babysitter’s wand and did a spell that cemented her feet to the floor. Then she marched in here and started giving orders."

  "What kind of orders?" Was she actually trying to perform her duties as mayor?

  "Come and see for yourself," Lucy said.

  I followed her sparkling pink wings into the mayor's office. There were six of her employees seated on the floor in a circle. Mayor Knightsbridge fluttered around them, pointing at each one with her wand as she went. "Duck, duck, duck."

  With each touch of her wand, the employee became the animal she named. Before long, the circle was filled with five ducks and one goose.

  "Mayor Knightsbridge," Lucy scolded. “What did I tell you about playing games in the office?"

  The mayor mimicked Lucy’s tone.

  "Mayor, do be a good girl and turn them back into…whatever they were." I wasn't sure which types of supernaturals the mayor employed.

  The mayor crossed her arms and huffed. "Make me."

  Uh oh.

  Lucy and I exchanged worried glances. "She can be very stubborn at times," Lucy said.

  "You don't say." We needed to consult with Elsa. She would have the best idea about how to handle her mother.

  "Lucy, if you can get in touch with Elsa, I bet she will have some idea as to how to keep her mother in check."

  "Elsa has been avoiding her mother as much as possible," Lucy said.

  "Well, she's going to have to step up now," I said. "If we want to keep the situation contained until we can change them back, then we need her help."

  “She's trying to issue a declaration that every Tuesday be Love a Unicorn Day," Lucy said.

  "Well, at least that's positive," I said. I could imagine worse declarations.

  "She may be a child, but she still has the mayor’s intelligence. I tried to tell her that if she did as she was told I might take her to look at puppies and she totally called my bluff." Lucy threw up her hands. "I don't know what else to do. She's out of control."

  "Lucy, you are every bit as capable of handling the town's affairs," I told her. "You know exactly how the mayor handles every situation. You've been watching her for years and assisting her. There is no one better equipped to handle this crisis than you."

  Lucy's shoulder straightened and her wings stiffened. "You’re absolutely right. Why am I doubting myself? I've been training for this moment since my first day on the job."

  I clapped her on the shoulders. "Go get ‘em, tiger."

  She looked at me askance. "Emma, I'm a fairy, not a weretiger."

  "Right." There wasn't time to explain every idiom in the human world.

  I left Lucy in charge and decided to see how the other council members were faring. Outside of the mansion, I ran into Sophie and Begonia.

  "Sedgwick told us you were here," Sophie said.

  "He told you?" I looked up and saw him hovering overhead. "Oh, I see. Is there a problem?" What a ridiculous question. There seemed to be nothing but problems in Spellbound right now. I was racing from one fire to another and none of them was subsiding.

  "It’s Lady Weatherby," Begonia said. "She’s demanding to see her mother."

  That was an interesting development. "She wants to see Agnes?”

  Begonia nodded. "The care home won't let her in, though. They said she's got to be accompanied by an adult."

  I smacked my forehead. "Okay, I'll head

  "I wouldn't want to miss the chance to see Lady Weatherby and Agnes together," Begonia said.

  "Probably best if you don’t. Agnes loves an audience. Who knows what she’ll do?” I’d need to leave my wand in the car. The Spellbound Care Home had a strict policy on magical paraphernalia. I'd made the mistake of bringing my wand the first time I visited Agnes and chaos ensued. I’d never make that mistake again.

  I stowed away my wand and headed over to the care home on foot since it wasn't far from the Mayor's Mansion.

  I spotted Lady Weatherby in the lobby, sitting cross-legged in front of a coffee table with crayons and paper.

  "That's a pretty picture," I said, crossing the room to peer over her shoulder. It was more than pretty—it was amazing. She may have had the mental state of a child, but she had the skills of a seasoned artist.

  "It's my cat, Chairman Meow. Isn't he beautiful?"

 
The cat in the picture looked nothing like the tornado of midnight fluff. The drawing was much more elegant and mesmerizing. She even managed to do shading with the grey crayon.

  "You should hang this on your refrigerator," I told her. "It's very good."

  She flashed a proud smile. “I want to show my mom, but they won't let me in without a grown-up. Will you come in with me?"

  "Yes, of course. Agnes and I are old friends."

  Lady Weatherby rose to her feet and placed her hand in mine. It felt odd to have the head of the coven holding my hand, especially when her physical form still belonged to the adult version of J.R. Weatherby.

  We approached the pixie at the reception desk.

  "Miss Hart," she said brightly. "It’s so good to see you again. It seems like only yesterday."

  "That's because it was only a few days ago," I pointed out.

  "I understand this young lady would like to visit with her mother," the pixie said. "As long as you stay with her, she's welcome to go inside."

  Lady Weatherby jumped up and down with excitement. "I'm going to see my mommy."

  I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Lady Weatherby seemed so vulnerable. It was a striking contrast to her usual standoffish manner.

  "Your mother may have company," I warned her. "Let me go in first and make sure that she's…" I almost said decent, but I didn't want to put any thoughts in Lady Weatherby's head. “I’ll make sure she's not in the bath."

  "My mother detests baths," Lady Weatherby said.

  I couldn't even get a white lie past the child form of Lady Weatherby. Ugh. She was too sharp for me even as a seven-year-old.

  We made our way down the corridor and I exchanged greetings with a few residents who recognized me from my volunteer work with Daniel.

  Lady Weatherby gave me a quizzical look. “Everyone knows you here, Emma. That’s so weird.”

  It was weird for me to hear Lady Weatherby call me Emma when the adult version only referred to me as Miss Hart.

  Agnes was in the doorway when we arrived, chatting with a healer. Her eyes popped when she saw me approach with her daughter. Although I didn’t know the particulars, I knew their relationship was a difficult one.