Alba rolled her eyes and leaned the desk chair she was sitting on backwards on two feet. “You’re like Sherlock Holmes, ya know that, Shorty?”
Holly plopped down on the bed behind Jax and Sweets. Her blonde hair was wrapped up in hot pink curlers and she was swathed in a pale pink terry cloth bathrobe. “Is this going to take long? Because I really wanted to do my nails and there’s a new episode of Grey’s on tonight,” she looked down at her fingernails, examining them out in front of her. “You know, if I had the power, I’d totally bring Patrick Dempsey back.”
“He’d have to come back as a ghost,” Sweets said, looking over her shoulder at Holly.
“They’ve done stranger things before. Remember when Izzy was seeing Denny as a ghost?” Holly pointed out.
“Omigosh, I miss Izzy and Denny! But as much as I miss Derrick, I’m kind of feeling like Mer and Karev should get together,” Sweets said, looking over her shoulder at Holly. “And I am a matchmaker. I know my stuff.”
I clapped my hands as I stood before the girls. “Oh my god, you guys have the attention span of a gnat! Can you pay attention to me for literally like five seconds?” I asked, annoyed.
“Sorry,” Sweets said with a broad smile. She stuck a dimpled hand into the bowl and scooped a fistful of popcorn out, popping several kernels into her mouth. “You may proceed.”
“Ok,” I sucked in a deep breath and looked around at the four faces trained on me. “I know who Reign’s father is!”
Jax squealed excitedly as she bounced up and down again. “Eee! I knew it! Who is it? Anyone we know? Oh, my gosh, wouldn’t it be amazing if it were Detective Whitman? I just know your mom and him would have been amazing together back in the day!”
“It can’t be Detective Whitman because Mercy’s grandmother bound Linda and Reign’s dad from ever seeing each other again, remember?” Sweets asked patiently. “Linda and Detective Whitman have met already, so it can’t be him. Although I do agree, they’d make a terrific couple.”
“Sweets is right,” I agreed. “It’s not Detective Whitman.”
“Who else could it be?” Holly wondered aloud.
“Officer Vargas?” Jax suggested.
“Eww, with those eyebrows?” Holly scoffed. “Linda could do so much better.”
“It’s not Officer Vargas,” I assured them.
“Well do we know him?” Sweets asked.
“Yes. You do, as a matter of fact. Brace yourselves. Reign’s father is…. Merrick. Stone.” I exhaled the breath I was holding as I released that nugget of information.
Jax’s eyes opened wider than I’d ever seen them do before. “SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR.” She hollered as she slowly got to her feet. “You’re kidding me right now!”
“No. I’m not. I’m serious as a heart attack,” I said with a completely straight face.
Jax took her black witch’s hat off of her head and threw it onto the floor so she could put both hands on top of her head. “I’m freaking out right now.”
“We can tell,” Alba said with a snort.
Holly looked around, confused. “I don’t get it. Why is this such a stunner?”
Alba palmed her forehead. “Oh my god, Holly. You seriously are as dumb as I give you credit for.”
“Alba!” Sweets hollered, shooting her a disapproving glance. “It’s a big deal because obviously Merrick Stone is related to Jax. They’re both Stone’s.”
Holly’s eyes widened as the light bulb finally turned on. “Wait, how are you related to Sorcerer Stone?”
Jax’s tiny frame jumped up and sat on her desk. She curled her legs up underneath herself and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. “He’s my uncle.”
“Ha! Knew it!” I hollered, clapping my hands together.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us your uncle worked here too,” Sweets said with a mouthful of popcorn.
Jax shrugged. “He doesn’t exactly work here. He sort of owns the place.”
“He owns the school?” I asked.
“Yeah. Him and my mom, really.”
“What about The Black Witch?” Sweets asked.
“She’s my aunt. They just let her stay in the housing on the property, but she doesn’t teach.”
“So Merrick Stone is your uncle?” Holly repeated.
“We moving too fast for you, Cosmo?” Alba asked.
In a flash, Holly was up on her feet and lunging towards Alba. “I’m so tired of your mouth, Alba!”
Jax shot off the desk and got between them before Holly could touch Alba. “Alba, leave Holly alone.”
Alba held both hands up in a surrendering fashion while chuckling. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry Cosm - Holly. I won’t say anything else.”
Suddenly Jax slapped two hands on either cheek. “Oh no!” she hollered.
“What?!” I asked excitedly.
“That means I’m related to Reign!”
“You’d be cousins,” Sweets said with a smile.
“Oh my gosh!” Jax cried again with panic clearly visible in her eyes. “I kissed him! I kissed Reign.” She crinkled up her nose and stuck out her tongue.
Alba burst out laughing. “Kissing cousins. And here I thought that was only legal in Alabama.”
“Shut up Alba,” Jax hollered as her face burned red.
“So, you gave him a peck. It’s not like you’re having his baby or anything like that,” I rationalized uncomfortably.
“True,” Sweets said. “I think you’re safe.”
Suddenly another thought hit Jax. “Ahh!” she screamed as she launched herself off the desk and at me. “That means we’re cousins!” She threw her tiny little arms around my middle and squeezed while letting out an excited shriek.
I looked down at the little elf attached to my midsection and rolled my eyes.
“Gosh, talk about your six degrees of separation. You’re related to her, she’s related to you, you’re both related to them…it’s like a family affair,” Sweets said excitedly.
“Sweets, Jax and I aren’t really related,” I said.
Jax pulled herself off of me, alarmed. “What? Yes we are! If Reign’s my first cousin then we’re totally cousins.”
“No we aren’t. I don’t have the same dad as he does.”
Jax stuck out her bottom lip. “But your brother is my cousin. That has to make us related somehow.”
I shook my head. “No, not really.”
“Probably like second cousins.” Jax nodded knowingly.
“Nope. Not second cousins.”
“Ohhh, I know what it is. It’s like we’re second cousins once removed.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, pretty sure that’s not what that means.”
“Then what does once removed mean?” Holly asked.
“It means your cousins don’t have to have the same dads,” Jax made up quickly.
I laughed out loud. “No it doesn’t, Jax. You’re just making stuff up now.”
She stomped a foot down on the carpet like a belligerent three-year-old. “But I want to be related to you!”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Ugh, Jax! Fine. You can be my honorary cousin. Ok?”
“Honorary?”
“Yeah.”
“So we’re, like, cousins now?”
I nodded grudgingly. “Yup.”
“Yay!” she screamed and threw her arms around my neck.
“Ok, so…is that all the news you wanted to share?” Alba asked standing up.
“Oh! No. I need to…” I trailed off as I bent over to duck my head out of Jax’s vice like grip around my neck. I stood up and straightened my hair. “I need to ask you girls a big favor.”
“Anything for you, Cuz,” Jax said excitedly.
I ignored her and looked at the other girls. “Mom and Reign are going to do a big grand re-opening at the bar on Halloween. They are going to do like a haunted house and give some of the proceeds to a charity in town. They want to know if we’ll help.”
“Count me in!”
Jax said, shooting her hand up into the air. “Family helps family.”
“What do we have to do?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know exactly. Help set up the haunted house. Mom suggested we fly in on our broomsticks now that we know how to ride.”
Sweets looked anxiously at my stick standing in the corner. “I’m not a very good broomstick rider.”
“Yeah, I’m not either,” I admitted. “I skinned up my knee pretty good today.”
“At least you guys can ride,” Jax said, pouting her bottom lip out. “It’s not fair. That sounds like so much fun.”
“There will be lots of other things you can do at the haunted house, Jax. You can dress up like a witch at least.”
She shrugged sadly. “I do that every day.”
“Don’t you have a special witches outfit that you can wear?”
“Oooh! Yeah, I have a sparkly one.”
I winced. “I was thinking like something scary.”
“Oooh, scary. Hmm. I’ll have to look through my stuff. I can be scary!”
“Alright then, you work on that while we go practice riding.”
“I’m not going,” Holly said, standing up.
“Oh, come on Holly, you have to,” I persuaded. “You, me, and Sweets are the worst.”
“I can’t go out like this,” she said, gesturing to her hair.
“Who’s gonna see us?”
“Everyone!”
I looked down at my Batman watch. “Dude. It’s a quarter after eight. No one is outside right now. And if they are, it’s pretty dark, they won’t see you.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine. Just let me go put on a pair of pants then.”
“And shoes. You might want shoes,” I added.
“Yeah, fine. I’ll meet you outside.”
“You have to come too, Alba. We need your help, you’re amazing at riding,” I said, intentionally stroking her ego.
“Duh,” she said. “I don’t have much time for this, we better get moving.”
I nodded. “Yeah, ok. Go get your broomsticks and meet me outside.” I pulled my winter coat from the closet and wrapped it around my shoulders. “We can’t stay outside long anyway, I’m freezing!”
***
Five minutes later, the Witch Squad minus Jax was standing in a small clearing just behind Winston Hall. It was almost completely dark, but the lights from the dorm room windows were enough to at least be able to see where we were going. We’d decided to make it a quick practice because Holly wanted time to watch Grey’s and Alba had homework she wanted to work on.
“The key is to visualize where you want to go,” Alba explained as she flew circles around us easily.
Sweets gripped the broomstick between her legs tightly. “I’m just scared of falling off.”
“Don’t be scared. You don’t have to go high today. Just work on controlling your speed and movements. Then when you get better you can go higher.”
Sweets nodded and pushed off. Carefully she steered herself just three feet off the ground. She moved forward at a snail’s pace. She giggled excitedly and breaking concentration, she lost altitude and soon her feet were on the ground again.
“You’ve got to concentrate, Sweets. You can’t be giggling when you’re riding a broomstick,” Alba told her impatiently.
Nervously I threw a leg back over my stick and pushed off. I got myself into the air, but found myself jerking around. “Why won’t it just go straight, Alba? It’s so jerky.”
“It’s because you’re tense,” she said. “Your broomstick can feel your negative energy. Loosen your shoulders. Don’t drive the stick, let the stick do the driving.”
I nodded and tried to heed her advice while Holly flew by me with her hot pink curlers still twisted up in her hair. “This is fun!” she squealed. She’d managed to figure it out better than I had.
Frustrated that Holly had just outdone me, I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to focus. I managed to maneuver myself up higher into the air and then tried to race ahead to catch up with Holly. “Wait for me!” I hollered back.
I soared through the air, the brisk fall air did nothing to help with my shivers, and yet the ride felt amazing. I let out a deep sigh. This was what I’d been missing. This was the yin to being a witch’s yang. There had to be some perks.
Suddenly, I caught up to Holly. She’d braked quickly, and I found myself nearly rear-ending her in midair. “Geez, Holly! I just about nailed you right in the – ”
I glanced up and caught a glimpse of Holly’s fear stricken face. She looked frozen, paralyzed. Her eyes were looking off just in front of her. I swallowed hard and followed her gaze. “What is it Holl…”
“Oh, my god!” I screamed. “Alba! Come quick!”
{ Chapter Five}
Sprawled out in a most uncomfortable looking position, was Ronnie Edwards. His neck looked broken as did both of his arms and legs. His broomstick was lying by his side and pieces of straw were broken off and scattered about. Ronnie’s ghost was kneeling over his body awkwardly. The gruesome sight of his ghost caused me to look away. His head was still on his neck, but mirroring his corpse, it was at an awkward angle, and his arms didn’t look useful anymore as they hung limply by his side. I was surprised he was even able to be up on his legs they were so mangled.
“Ronnie!” I gasped. “Oh my god!”
“You see me?” he screamed back with terror.
I nodded without turning my eyes back towards him. I just couldn’t. It was too horrendous of a scene.
“It’s horrible. I know! I don’t know what to do,” he cried.
“I wish I could help you Ronnie, but it’s too late,” I said sadly. “If I’m seeing your ghost, you’re already gone. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t have everyone seeing me like this,” he hollered frantically. And before I could stop him, his ghost rose from his body and floated quickly towards the wooded area behind the school and the Black Witch’s house.
“Ronnie! You don’t have to go. I don’t have to look at you! Ronnie!” I hollered. “The other girls can’t see you!”
Silently, he disappeared into the darkness as Alba and Sweets approached.
“You’re not gonna wanna see this, girls,” I said, holding my arms out on either side of me to stop them from going any further.
Holly sobbed on her broomstick. “Poor Ronnie! He was so cute, too. He had really amazing hair. But he needed a haircut. Maybe if I’d offered to cut his hair he wouldn’t have fallen off his broomstick,” she cried.
I patted her back. “It’s not your fault, Holl. You should go back to your room. Ok?”
Her sobbing intensified.
Alba shoved my left arm down and flew in next to me to get a closer look. “Oh man!” she sighed as her eyes immediately swiveled away from the body. “Sweets, don’t look, ok?”
“What is it? What happened to Ronnie?” she asked, trying to look over my shoulders.
“Sweets, Ronnie is dead. And his body is a mess. It looks like he fell off his broomstick or something,” I said, looking over at Alba. “Don’t you think?”
She nodded and then looked up at the roof of the school. “Yeah, but to break yourself that badly? I wonder if he tried to jump off the roof with his broomstick and it didn’t take off or something.”
Sweets covered her mouth. “Oh, that’s horrible!”
“Sweets, can you take Holly back to my room? She’s in shock. Tell Jax what happened, but the three of you should stay inside, Jax doesn’t need to see this either. Alba and I will figure out what to do.”
Sweets nodded sadly. “Come on Holl, let’s go inside.”
Holly didn’t make a move, she just hovered on her broomstick feet away from Ronnie’s gruesome corpse.
I snapped my fingers in front of her face. “Holly. Alba and I will call someone. You go inside with Sweets. Holly!”
When she didn’t move, I spun her broomstick around in the air and shoved her towards Sweets. “You might have
to pull her along, Sweets.” I looked at Alba frantically. “What are we going to do?”
Alba shook her head despondently. “Nothing we can do.”
“We’ve got to tell someone, we can’t just leave him out here!”
“Yeah, I suppose. Who do we tell? Ronnie was a student of the wizard school. Do we call Sorcerer Stone? But he’s dead on our side of campus, maybe we should call Sorceress Stone. I suppose if we call her, she’ll take care of calling Detective Whitman,” Alba rationalized aloud.
I pulled at my long red side braid nervously and gnawed on my bottom lip. “If we don’t tell our Stone first, she’ll have a conniption. We’ve got no choice. We tell her first and she can tell Whitman and her brother.”
***
In less than 20 minutes the crime scene was crawling with police officers. As we had suspected, Sorceress Stone called Detective Whitman and her brother, Merrick, almost immediately after we reported the discovery. Detective Whitman had lights brought in and had his officers cordon off a large section of the back lawn behind Winston Hall with police tape. A large group of students were standing behind the tape, watching the activity. Since Alba and I had discovered the body, we were allowed to be inside the tape.
“What did you see, girls?” Detective Whitman asked me and Alba.
“Not much,” Alba admitted.
“Yeah, he was dead when we got here. It looks like he fell off the roof, doesn’t it?” I asked.
Detective Whitman ignored my hypothesis. “He was just dead when you got here. Did you hear anything? Or see anybody?”
We both shook our heads. “No, but I saw Ronnie’s ghost.”
Detective Whitman grabbed my arm and gently pulled me to the side. “You saw Ronnie?” he whispered.
“Yeah, he was kneeling over his body.” I felt a lump forming in my throat. It was hard to stomach the gruesome image I had just witnessed and the thought of it was making me slightly nauseous. “He was a mess.”
“What do you mean, a mess?”
“He was all bent out of shape, you know, his neck and his arms and legs…it was pretty gruesome.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
I shrugged, trying to recall what he had said. “He didn’t say anything important. He just said he didn’t want everyone to see him like that and he took off.”
Witch Degrees of Separation: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #3 Page 4