Spell Booked

by Joyce

  Elsie stayed with Dorothy. I found a light switch in the bedroom, and Brian reclaimed his wand. There were some other missing magic tools there too, but many more were gone—including our spell book. We took everything with us to distribute back to their owners.

  Cassandra joined us a few minutes later. “Oh good. Matilda is finally dead.”

  “Glad we could help out.” I was annoyed and sarcastic, no apologies for it.

  “She was one of the old ones.” Cassandra peered into Matilda’s face. “She came here with her father from Germany more than four hundred years ago. She was very strong. Some members of the council were afraid of her.”

  “So you used us to get rid of her for you,” I accused. “She led us around, making us think Brian had killed Olivia.”

  “Not exactly.” Cassandra touched Matilda’s cheek. “Let’s give her the send-off she deserves.” At her touch, Matilda’s body shook and fell apart, eventually becoming a fine gray powder. “Bye-bye.”

  “She killed Olivia, and no telling who else.” I wished I felt better, knowing Matilda and Lisbet were dead. Instead, I just felt numb.

  “She didn’t actually,” Cassandra explained. “Her daughter did the dirty deeds for her. Matilda hasn’t been out of bed in months, but she still had plenty of magic to cloak her daughter and the tasks she sent her to do. That’s why the council couldn’t see what was going on.”

  “And you knew all this?” Elsie demanded.

  Cassandra shrugged. “We suspected she was stealing magic artifacts, but we couldn’t prove it. Now it turns out that she didn’t steal anything or kill anyone. It’s not our problem.”

  “No,” Brian said. “She got her daughter to do it for her while you looked the other way. We all know she couldn’t become a witch by stealing artifacts, but this way you and the council didn’t have to do anything.”

  “You could have told the witch and her daughter what they were doing wouldn’t work,” Elsie suggested. “You could have spared us all a lot of heartache.”

  “The important thing is that witches weren’t technically involved.” Cassandra smiled.

  “What about our spell book?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what Matilda had her daughter do with the things that were stolen.” Cassandra’s expression was sincere for once. “I’m sure it will turn up somewhere. In the meantime, you have other witches to recruit.”

  “Don’t look at me.” Brian turned away. “This isn’t the kind of witch I want to be.”

  “Well, the police will be here soon. I guess I should be going too.” Cassandra regally bowed her head. “On behalf of the Grand Council of Witches, we thank you for your service.”

  I could hear sirens coming toward us. Cassandra was gone with a puff of smoke and the scent of roses.

  “How does she do that?” Brian scratched his chin. “I thought it was impossible.”

  We walked out of the old building together. Joe was waiting by his SUV.

  “What are you going to say?” I asked him.

  “I’m going to say that Lisbet came at me when I confronted her with the facts about these deaths. She was out of her mind. I’ll be on desk duty for a while.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe she was going to kill you. What happened to her? I don’t understand.”

  The sirens were getting closer. “I’ll tell you what I know later. I love you.”

  “I love you too. Get out of here.”

  I didn’t like leaving Dorothy, but I knew Joe would see to it that she got good care. I hoped she would be all right. Elsie was already trying to conjure flowers we could take to her hospital room.

  We drove away from the house of horrors before the police arrived. I watched Brian leave before me and thought we’d never see him again.

  But he met us back at Smuggler’s Arcane. “What?” he asked when we saw him. “I needed some time to decompress before I faced anyone else. Not that anyone is gonna believe me when I tell them about this.”

  “At least we have Dorothy back again.” Elsie made chai tea that smelled heavenly.

  “That’s right.” I looked at Brian. “It was your idea to use the lightning bolt, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged. “It’s the only trick I know. I’m not sure I could’ve done it without Elsie. It only seems to work when I’m around a fire witch. Maybe someday I can do an earthquake or something. That would be good in a case like this too.”

  “I’m thankful nothing like this ever happens to us.” Elsie measured tea into cups. “We aren’t those kind of witches.”

  “Good.” Brian was checking out our books. “I’d hate to think I had to face this kind of thing every day.”

  I glanced at Elsie. Did that mean he was staying?

  There was a pounding on the shop door. Brian jumped. We muttered a protection spell together.

  The door burst open anyway. Olivia’s staff appeared on the counter as the door slammed closed again.

  “What now?” Elsie’s eyes roamed the shop.

  “Oh, girls!” Olivia appeared with a rapturous expression on her ghostly face. “You aren’t going to believe what happened. The Bone Man had some interesting ideas about things he and I could do. That was all he wanted from me.”

  “Huh!” Elsie shook her head as she put the tea and cups on the table.

  “That’s right. Even dead, I’ve still got it.” Olivia laughed as she circled the room. “And that old Bone Man has it going on too.”

  “That’s amazing.” I sat at the table with Isabelle. “We have plenty to tell you too. It’s nice to have you back.”

  “It’s nice to be back,” Olivia said. “Did you find Dorothy?”

  We called that night to check on Dorothy. She was sleeping. The nurse said to call back in the morning. We called back in the morning, and Dorothy was gone. The doctor had released her.

  That was when the real worry started. We called everywhere and went to her apartment and Olivia’s house. We couldn’t find her. She wasn’t at the library. She wasn’t answering her cell phone. Even Hemlock had no idea where she could be.

  “Do you think this is part of the spell the witch had her under?” Olivia fretted. “How could she just disappear?”

  “What about a lost spell?” Brian suggested. He’d surprised us by showing up at the shop that morning. “Or a finder’s spell?”

  We were about to head down to the cave when the door chimed as it opened.

  “Dorothy!” Elsie and I got to our feet.

  She smiled. “Hello. I’m here to collect those old books for the library that you wanted to donate.”

  Elsie squinted. “Is that all you have to say to us? What happened to you, child?”

  She looked fine. Not a hair was out of place. Her clothes weren’t even wrinkled.

  But her brown eyes were blank. She stared at us and at the shop as though she’d never seen us before.

  “The witch took her memory,” Brian said. “She doesn’t know us.”

  “If it’s not too much trouble,” Dorothy said pleasantly, “could you get those books for me? I have to get back to the library.”

  “I’m not sure what books you’re talking about,” Elsie said. “Where is your stone?”

  “Yes!” Olivia clapped her hands soundlessly. “If she has her magic tool, she might regain her memory.”

  “You called about some books.” Dorothy was beginning to sound suspicious. “If you don’t have the books, or you’ve changed your mind, that’s fine. I’ll come back later.”

  “Wait.” I thought of an old spell that was supposed to restore lost things. I wasn’t sure if Dorothy’s memories would qualify as lost things, but it was worth a try. “We were about to have tea. Elsie will look for those books. It should only take a few minutes. Won’t you join us?”

  I could tell she was uncomfortable w
ith the idea, but being Dorothy, she didn’t want to be rude.

  “I guess that would be okay.” Her eyes roamed the shop again. “You know I’ve seen this place lots of times on the way to Two Sisters Book Store. I’ve thought about stopping in but never did.”

  “Please, take a look around,” I invited. “I’ll make your tea.”

  Olivia couldn’t wait. “Dorothy! Don’t you recognize me? I’m your mother.”

  Dorothy took off her jacket and put down her purple bag. She walked to the bookshelves and thumbed through our old volumes.

  “I don’t think she even hears me anymore,” Olivia mourned. “This is worse than death.”

  I put on the kettle and crouched next to the bottom of the cabinet. “I think I know a spell to find missing items that might work.”

  “Restore lost things!” Brian joined me. “I know that one.”

  “That’s not for people’s brains,” Olivia complained. “You’ll mess with her head. She might be a zombie or something.”

  Elsie came behind the counter too. “What kind of books do you want me to look for?”

  “We’re not really donating books,” I whispered. “It’s a ruse until we can think of some way to restore her memory.”

  “Really?” She looked pleased. “That’s a wonderful idea. I’ll pretend to find books.”

  “You can’t do it, Molly,” Olivia continued. “There could be consequences.”

  “There will be consequences if she can’t remember anything,” Brian said.

  The kettle started whistling, and I took out the cups. I left Olivia’s star-shaped cup behind the counter.

  “That’s my cup, Molly!” Olivia pouted. “I want some tea.”

  “You can’t drink tea anymore,” I reminded her. “It’s okay to pretend when we’re alone. But if I put out a cup for you too, that might send Dorothy screaming into the street. She’s already not sure about us.”

  “Oh, all right. I’ll hang around like an old tapestry until she remembers. You’d think ghosts would have more abilities than this. I miss my magic.”

  I didn’t comment on her loss. I was sure there were other things ghosts could do. I’d never known a ghost, but I’d read and heard the stories. No doubt Olivia was still acclimating to her new existence. We’d have to deal with what she could do as a ghost later.

  I put the tea, cups, honey and milk on a pretty flowered tray. “The tea is ready. I hope you’re thirsty.”

  Dorothy stopped exploring long enough to join Brian and me at the table.

  Elsie placed three books next to the tray. “Here are those books we promised you.”

  Dorothy seemed surprised. “I thought you had boxes of them. That’s why the library sent me over to collect them.”

  “Have some tea.” I shook my head at Elsie. Couldn’t she find more than that?

  “Oh I love chai tea.” Dorothy sat down. “Do you have any sugar? I’m allergic to honey.”

  “Yes.” It was the perfect opportunity for me to work on the spell while she was waiting. I stepped behind the counter and acted as though I were looking for the sugar as I murmured the restore-lost-things spell under my breath.

  The door chime sounded again. I hoped it wasn’t a customer. This was a bad time to bag up herbs or hunt for a specific book.

  Instead it was Mike—which was much worse.

  “Hey, Mom,” he greeted me. “What’s up? I thought you might want to do lunch.”

  Mike’s gaze found Dorothy’s, and the rest of us were forgotten. “Hi, Dorothy. I was hoping I’d find you here.”

  She stared at him with the same blankness. “Hi. Do I know you?”

  Mike’s smile went away. “We had coffee, remember?”

  “No. I’m afraid not. You must have me confused with someone else.”

  I needed more time to work on the spell. I couldn’t be distracted or lose my concentration if it was going to be effective. I ignored Elsie’s and Olivia’s beseeching looks. I put my hand on my amulet as I focused on the spell to find Dorothy’s lost memory.

  Brian joined me behind the counter and covered my hand with his. “Let’s see if we can speed things up, huh?”

  Elsie finally picked up on what was going on. “Mike, have some tea. We have some wonderful chai, and I love the mint.”

  Mike put his hands in his pants pockets and hunkered down in his jacket. “I’m not thirsty, Elsie. Thanks anyway.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t recognize you,” Dorothy said to him. “I’m sure I’d remember if we had coffee.”

  “Is this some weird way of telling me you don’t want to see me again?”

  “No. Really. I don’t know if I want to see you at all since I don’t know you.”

  Elsie made a hurry-up gesture with her hands. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the drama. Brian did the same. I could feel his strength joining mine.

  We’d gone through the repetitions of the spell twice. It didn’t seem to have any effect on Dorothy. We repeated it once more. I put one hand on the amulet and one on the cauldron around my neck. Brian tightly held his wand with both hands.

  There was a popping sound that was followed by a rattling noise. I didn’t look to see what it was, still trying hard to make the spell work. Come on. I need this. Work for me.

  “Oh my stars!” Elsie said with a laugh. “So it was here all the time.”

  “What’s this?” Dorothy bent over and picked up the old emerald cull she’d found by the river.

  Hemlock howled loudly and ran to her.

  “Oh.” Dorothy blinked a few times and peered around herself. “What happened? The last thing I remember was the witch grabbing me.”

  “Witch?” Mike jumped. “You saw a witch?”

  We managed to laugh off the part about a witch grabbing Dorothy. Mike seemed fine with it. I sent him off on an errand, with a promise that we’d all have lunch with him later.

  When he was gone, Elsie, Dorothy and I hugged and exchanged stories about what had happened. Brian stood off to the side alone until Elsie noticed what he was doing and hugged him too.

  “Honestly, it was like I was here one minute and went to sleep.” Dorothy shrugged. “I woke up when I picked up the emerald, and Scooter was howling.”

  Her cat meowed loudly in protest.

  “Oh, sorry. Hemlock. That’s going to take some getting used to.” She rubbed his back and he purred, twisting around her ankles.

  When our jaws were tired of telling our stories and speculating on where our spell book could be, we decided to call it a day.

  Elsie emailed Larry the werewolf to let him know it was safe to come home. Dorothy took the staff and her mother, and they went to explore their new house.

  I went to my house, hoping Joe could fill me in about what happened after we’d left the witch’s apartment. I hoped he wasn’t wrong about trying to protect me from the police proceedings that would come with him killing Lisbet.

  When I got back, Mike was searching for detergent so he could wash a load of clothes. “I’m going back to school, Mom. I’ve thought about it, and Cindy isn’t worth giving up my life for after all.”

  I found the detergent and started the washing machine. “Cindy? You were leaving school because of a girl? You never even mentioned her.”

  He shook his head. “Not just any girl. I thought she was the love of my life—until I met Dorothy. There’s something about her, right?”

  I started putting his clothes into the washer. “Absolutely.”

  “I don’t think she’ll care about our age difference, but I know she wants me to finish school. We talked about it. She even offered to come up and visit sometimes.”

  I stared at my son. I loved him, but I hoped he would grow up soon. “I’m sure you’re right.”

  “You mind if we have something besides pizza to
night?” He grabbed an apple from the counter. “I know you and Dad love pizza. I’m a little tired of it. How about some Chinese instead? My treat.”

  “That sounds good.” I hid my smile behind the laundry room door. There were some things a witch just had to live with.

  Joe was home early thanks to what had happened that day. His boss, Captain Phillips, had sent him home after the cursory questions into Lisbet’s death. He hadn’t been suspended, but he would be on desk duty for two weeks during the investigation.

  His face was pale and troubled when we went to bed that night. I created an enchanted bubble so we could tell each other everything we knew about what had happened. If nothing else, it would give him a place to start to understand Lisbet and what she’d done.

  After we departed the bubble to talk of more normal things, he put his arms around me. “I was more scared today than I’ve ever been. The idea of losing you almost stopped my heart. Let’s not ever do that again.”

  I kissed him, and put my hand on his worried face. “Never again. But I’m glad you were there.”

  “Me too. I’m exhausted. Let’s go to sleep.”

  When we were snuggled up close together, I was so grateful for my family and my life. The spell book was important, but not as important as being with the ones I loved. Maybe my life had changed forever, but it was still good.

  I kissed Joe’s cheek with my arm around him. “Are you asleep already?”

  “Mmm-hmm. Feels good. You should try it.”

  I smiled. “Good night, Joe.”

  “Good night, my little witch.”