She searched a drawer for a pen. “Sure thing.”
“Can Curecrafters heal broken hearts?”
Her gaze drifted over my wings and settled on, I assumed, her son. “Unfortunately, no. Only true medical ailments.”
I wanted to argue her point, because there was nothing more painful than heartache, but I knew it was useless. The Curecrafters had to abide by their own laws, and if it said no healing broken hearts, then there would be no healing of broken hearts.
“Whose? Yours?” Cherise asked, an empathetic warmth in her eyes.
Though my heart was still bruised, it was nothing like what my aunt was going through. “Ve.”
Her forehead dipped into a deep frown. “This business with Sylar?”
I nodded. “He was arraigned this afternoon.”
Letting out a breath, she said, “It’s terrible. Just terrible.”
“For me, too,” Dennis said.
I turned to face him as Cherise said, “Not everything is about you.”
He scowled at her, too. Glad his bad attitude wasn’t reserved just for me.
“A good portion of my clients are Alexandra Shively victims,” he said. “My practice is going to see a loss of profit now that she’s gone.”
Victims. Such a strong word. It reminded me of Griffin Huntley, the car salesman who lost his hair. How many others were there? And had any of them sought revenge?
I heard footsteps on the stairs as Cherise said to her son, “Only you would turn a woman’s death into a tragedy for yourself. You didn’t even know her.”
Dennis stood. “It would be a tragedy if my practice failed. How would I pay for this house, this mug, her?” He pointed at me.
Hmm. Seemed to me, Cherise had paid for As You Wish’s services.
“Please,” Cherise countered. “You have a waiting list three months long for new patients. Your profits won’t wane in the least. You’re missing the bigger point. Life is not about money, Dennis. It’s about family. It’s about love.”
He was scoffing as Amanda came into the kitchen. She’d obviously heard what he said. The naked hurt on her face made my chest tight.
“Is that so?” Amanda asked him, her voice cracking.
Dennis pulled his shoulders back. “I don’t see you cutting up your credit cards.”
Tears filled her eyes.
Cherise said, “That’s enough. You’re never going to learn what love is until it’s gone.” She faced me. “I wish Dennis would learn exactly what it’s like not to have Amanda and Laurel Grace in his life for a while.”
My heart pounded. I looked between the three of them and winced as I said, “I wish I might, I wish I may, grant this wish without delay.” I blinked twice.
Amanda vanished. I spun around, looking for her. “Where’d she go?” My hands started to shake.
“You don’t know?” Dennis demanded.
I shook my head. She’d been standing there within arm’s reach; then she was gone. Just. Like. That.
Panic seeped in. Where had she gone?
Cherise, I noticed, was smiling. How could she be smiling?
Dennis ran for the stairs, took them up two at a time. A second later he was back, out of breath. He got right in my face. “Laurel Grace is gone, too.”
My stomach cramped.
“Bring them back, right now.” Fury shone in his eyes.
“I c-can’t.” How could I? I didn’t know where they went.
He closed his eyes tightly; then they popped open. “I wish they’d come back. Right this minute,” he said through tightly clenched teeth.
Absolutely, this was the last fairy job ever. How did I get myself into this position?
Quickly, I said, “Wish I might, wish I may, grant this wish without delay.”
Nothing happened.
Dennis took a step back, looked around. “Where are they?”
I shrugged. I had no earthly idea.
“Why didn’t the wish work?” he demanded to know.
My guess was because it wasn’t pure of heart. I glanced at Cherise. I had a feeling she knew it, too.
And I wasn’t surprised to see her still smiling, not the least bit worried.
I, on the other hand, was scared to death. Because I had no idea if I could ever wish the mother and daughter back.
Chapter Ten
White twinkle lights lit the front porch as I pulled into As You Wish’s driveway and cut the engine.
It was a little past ten, the village green was quiet, and I was still shaken. Dennis had stormed out of the Goodwin house when his wish hadn’t worked, and Cherise had simply handed me a check and bidden me a good night.
Moonlight guided me up the walkway toward the back of the house, through the small picket gate, and up the steps and into the mudroom. I hung my wings on a hook by the back door, and greeted a sleepy Missy, who gave two halfhearted barks when I came in.
Tilda sat on the kitchen counter, eyeing me warily. I cupped her face and scratched behind her ears. She pushed her head into my palm and a purr vibrated against my hand. I couldn’t help but smile.
Hearing steps on the back staircase, I turned and found Harper coming down. She wore long loose lounge pants and a T-shirt as pajamas—with her short stature and delicate features, she looked about fifteen years old, not twenty-three, a fact I knew she detested. In her hand was the forensics book, which had been copiously dog-eared.
“Whoa,” she said when she saw me. “You look like someone stole your magic wand.”
I pulled the tiara off my head and picked out a few long dark strands of my hair stuck in its combs. “Worse.”
“What happened?”
Ve’s snores drifted down the stairs. I motioned upward. “Has she been out this whole time?”
Harper lifted herself onto a counter stool. “Completely. I don’t think she’s even rolled over.”
It had been a long twenty-four hours for Ve. Rest could only be good for her.
“I can’t imagine what she’s going through,” I murmured. I went to Ve’s liquor cabinet and looked inside. I didn’t see anything that looked the least bit good.
Harper hopped off the stool, went to the freezer, and pulled out a York Peppermint Patty and handed it to me. I set my elbows on the counter and leaned on them as I peeled the wrapper and nibbled on frozen chocolate.
“Are you going to tell me?” Harper asked.
My eyes drifted shut and I groaned. “It’s bad.”
“How bad?”
“Bad bad.”
There was lightness in her tone as she said, “Did the little girl get tangled in your tulle?”
“You’re making fun, but this isn’t amusing. I think…I, well—”
“What?”
“I made Amanda and Laurel Grace Goodwin disappear.”
Her dark eyebrows dipped as she frowned. “Disappear?”
“Vanish.”
“No one just vanishes.”
“Into thin air. Right before my very eyes. Well, Amanda at least.” Tilda came over and sniffed around the peppermint patty. I explained about Cherise’s wish.
Harper’s eyes grew wide. “Where did they go?”
“I don’t have a clue. I need to talk to Ve.”
Tilda rreowed, and nudged my chin with the top of her head. I scratched under her chin, wondering if she was lulling me into a false sense of security. Again.
“I don’t think Ve’s going to be coherent until morning.”
My stomach churned. I was afraid of that. “I don’t know what else to do. Who else to talk to. I suppose the Elder would know.…”
“Do you know how to reach the Elder?”
“No.”
“Marcus Debrowski came back after you left for the Goodwins’. He’s a Lawcrafter, so he might know something, right?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Why’d he stop by?”
“He wanted to make sure Ve was okay. And he dropped off some papers for her.”
“What kind of papers?”
She shrugged. “They’re in a sealed envelope. He stayed for coffee.” She rubbed the countertop. “He seems nice.”
I studied her carefully. “How nice?”
“He asked me out for coffee.”
I smiled. “And you said?”
“I’d think about it. I’m not sure he’s my type.”
“Only one way to find out.”
She shrugged. “I suppose.”
I couldn’t help but get the feeling she was disappointed that Vince hadn’t been the one to ask her out.
“What are you going to do about the Goodwins?”
I shook my head, feeling fairly useless. Taking a deep breath, I said, “Cherise didn’t seem the least bit worried. Maybe I should take that as a consolation. If something bad was happening, she’d be worried, right?”
“You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t know the first thing about all this witch stuff. Honestly, I don’t think I want to know and be the cause of people disappearing.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Sorry,” she said, shrugging.
Missy let out a little yap. She sat in the doorway of the mudroom. I’d closed off her doggy door for the time being, until I could figure out how she kept escaping.
“I can take her,” Harper said.
“No, no. I’ll go. The fresh air will help clear my head.”
Running upstairs, I peeked at Ve as I passed her room. Sure enough, she hadn’t moved. I shimmied out of my tutu and into a pair of jeans.
I hadn’t found Missy’s collar yet, so I rigged a temporary slipknot with her leash, making sure I left enough slack so she wouldn’t choke. Tomorrow I’d go to the pet shop, the Furry Toadstool, and buy her a new collar.
It was a gorgeous night, warm and breezy, and I wished I could enjoy it. My chest was tight, and I could feel anxiety thrumming below the surface. I hadn’t felt this way since Troy had walked out. No, scratch that. Not since I found out he had remarried and his new bride was pregnant.
I took deep, even breaths, and tried to tell myself everything would be okay. If I could get through my divorce, I could survive just about anything.
I hoped.
Missy trotted along. She stopped to sniff anything that interested her—plants, park benches, trees, a stray piece of litter. She hadn’t seemed the least bit affected by her adventure this afternoon.
I tried not to worry about the Goodwins. Once Ve woke up, I’d find out what I could do to bring the pair home. I thought about calling Cherise to see if she knew how to contact the Elder, but my gut instinct told me that she wouldn’t tell me. Cherise was happy about this turn of events. And apparently her wish had been pure of heart. I thought about that for a moment.
Do no harm.
If the wish had been granted—and it had—that meant there had been no harm done.
Immediately, I felt better. Amanda and Laurel Grace would not be harmed. I was still left to wonder if they’d be returned.
Ve would know.
She had to know.
I recalled what she’d said earlier. You need to use extra caution. You’re still new to your powers. You have no idea of what you’re capable.
Her words had obviously been proven true. There was so much I still had to learn.
A dog started barking, a loud vibrating woof, woof, and I turned around to find Gayle Chastain being walked by a Saint Bernard.
“Shush, Higgins,” she was saying. “You’ll wake everyone within three blocks.”
I slowed and let her catch up. Missy started sniffing the bigger dog as if she had no clue that one of his paws was bigger than her.
“Who’s walking who?” I joked with Gayle.
She smiled. “Do you have to ask?”
“He’s huge.”
“I know. Practically breaks my arm every night on these long walks. Russy used to do the leash holding.”
Russ—her husband who had passed away.
“Just one of the many reasons I still miss him,” she said, her heartache plain.
“Losing someone you love never gets easier.”
She glanced at me. “That’s right. Both your parents have passed?”
Had to love small towns and how fast gossip spread. “My mom from a car accident when I was seven; my dad four months ago from a heart attack.”
I was grateful the green was well lit at night as we walked along.
“That’s what Russ died from, too. A heart attack. So young. So preventable.” She shook her head, sadness emanating from her every pore.
“How old was he?”
“Just fifty-three.”
My dad had been almost sixty, and the heart failure hadn’t been a surprise. He’d purposely avoided the surgery that could have cured him. He’d wanted to die. He’d wanted to for twenty-three years.
Gayle sighed. “He knew he had heart problems, but they weren’t anything major, which was good, because he hated doctors. But then last December he caught the flu, and it was just too much for his heart to bear. If only he’d seen a doctor early on…”
The flu had been particularly nasty last year. “How are you coping?”
Higgins barked again, and she shushed him. “Some days are good; some bad. The bookshop helps. Keeps me busy. Harper’s been a great addition.”
We passed in front of the bookshop and Higgins pulled hard left, taking Gayle with him.
Missy tried to follow, but she was a little easier to control.
Gayle laughed. “I guess he’s ready to go home.” She lived in the apartment above the bookshop. “See you later, Darcy!”
I glanced down at Missy. “I’m glad Harper didn’t shoplift a Saint Bernard.”
She barked, as if in agreement. We’d done two more laps around the green when I suddenly stopped, having spotted something unusual. A light flashing up and down.
It was coming from inside Lotions and Potions.
As if pulled by an unknown force, I walked toward the shop, not sure what to do. Someone was inside, searching around with a flashlight. Every once in a while, the thin beam of light would stop, focused on something in particular.
I didn’t have my cell phone on me, and there wasn’t a pay phone in sight. I was afraid to dash back to As You Wish, afraid that if I did, whoever was inside would get away scot-free.
Was it a scavenger? Someone who read about Alexandra’s death and came to rob the place? I’d heard about people like that, burglars who read obituaries in search of their next mark.
Was it the person who killed her? Looking for something left behind? A clue missed by the police?
I looked down at Missy. “What would you do?”
She stared back at me, then headed toward the shop, her nose to the ground.
I didn’t want to yank her back, because of the slipknot. I hurried behind her. She stopped abruptly at the edge of the green. From here I could see a shadowy figure moving about the shop. I had a clear view of the front door, but not the back. If someone headed out that way, it would be easy to escape.
Scooping up Missy, I sat on a bench, pretending to stargaze. My plan was that I’d stay put and wait for someone to happen past. It wasn’t terribly late. There was a chance I could flag down a car, or come across another dog walker. Hopefully someone would have a cell phone and could call the police.
My leg jiggled as my gaze darted back and forth down the street and then back to the shop window. I wanted to move closer, peek in. See if I recognized the intruder. But I’d seen enough horror movies to keep my distance.
“Boo!” someone whispered in my ear.
“Eeee!” I screamed, jumping up.
I clutched my heart and turned to find Nick Sawyer holding in a laugh. I punched his arm.
“Hey,” he protested. Then, when he got a good look at me, he said, “The sparkles suit you. But where are the wings?”
“Hung up for the night.” I grabbed his arm and yanked him down onto the bench. Missy immediately climbed into his lap and lavished his jaw with kisses
. I frowned at her and said, “Do you have your cell phone?”
“No, why?”
I pointed to the now dark shop. “We need to call the police.”
“Why?”
“Watch.”
After a second, the dot of light reappeared, making sweeping passes. Nick stood up. I pulled him back down. He stared at my hand on his arm. I quickly removed it.
“Stay here,” he said, moving toward the shop.
I went after him, Missy trailing after me. “You can’t go in there alone. That could be the killer in there.”
“All the more reason for you to stay here.” He stopped and I bumped into him. Reaching out, he steadied me. His hands lingered on my arms. “Stay here.”
I shook my head. “We need to call someone.”
In the moonlight, I saw him roll his eyes. “Did you forget I used to be a state trooper?”
I had, but still. “You’re not one anymore.”
“I’m not going to argue with you.” He broke into a jog, heading toward the back door of the store.
Missy followed him, and I followed her. Okay, I was more than willing to follow him, too. Abruptly, he stopped again. “I told you to stay back there.”
“I thought you weren’t going to argue with me. I’m coming along.” Partly because there was power in numbers, partly because I was dying to know who was in the shop. Was it someone I knew? Why was the person in there? What, exactly, was the intruder looking for?
The back alley was dimly lit, with a tall wooden fence separating it from the neighborhood behind the shops. Hulking Dumpsters sat every few yards. Wind whistled down the narrow lane, bringing with it foreign noises—
a scattering of leaves, rustling of branches, the movement of nighttime critters. I scooped up Missy and edged closer to Nick as he crept along the back of the building.
Suddenly there was a loud noise a few yards away, and I jumped. “What was that?” I whispered to Nick.
“Probably raccoons,” he answered, looking toward where the noise had come from. “I don’t see anything.”
His explanation didn’t settle my nerves. Bricks scraped my shoulders as we neared the back door of Lotions and Potions. The jamb was splintered where someone had taken a crowbar—which lay on the ground—to the frame.
He held up an arm and nudged the door. It swung open into a dark hallway. We stepped inside. Missy sniffed the air and wiggled, but I held her tightly. An office was to my right, a storeroom to my left. I tapped Nick’s shoulder. He turned. I could barely make out his features in the darkness, but I could feel how tense he was.
It Takes a Witch: A Wishcraft Mystery Page 9