Magical Midway Paranormal Cozy Series Books 1-3

by Leanne Leeds

  “What do you mean?” Gunther asked.

  “There are two things that Mina demanded of us. One is that we hand over Mark and Fortuna, and she made it clear they would be killed once we did. The second is that we take the barrier down and subject ourselves to their rules. Basically, we have to unblock any protection that enables us to escape their punishment, enforcement, or judgment.” Gunther considered what I said.

  “You think the Witches’ Council engineered this kidnapping? Like some kind of plot on top of their demand? But why? What do they get out of it?”

  “I doubt Deo here had any knowledge of that,” Bubba said. “Honestly, ma’am, the boy is not that bright.”

  “Neither is Leo, I’m sure. He struck me as arrogant, but not particularly brilliant,” I agreed. “Alexa Atwater, though, is another story. She struck me as smart and conniving.”

  “She is that, ma’am,” Bubba nodded.

  “I still don’t see what she gets out of it, though. Speak,” I told Deo. He gasped and gulped air as his mouth fell open.

  “I’m not telling you anything,” Deo snapped. “I’m not gonna sit here and listen to you call my brother and me stupid. He’s a pride leader. We don’t have to take this from you. You’ll be replaced soon, anyway. You, and this half-breed. Alexa promised—”

  If you get them angry enough, they can’t help running their mouths.

  I looked at my watch and jumped. “I can’t stay here anymore. I have to get back.”

  “What do you want us to do with him, lawgiver?” Gunther smiled and winked at me.

  “When your father… um, wakes up from his nap?” I said. “Let him know what’s gone on. Deo is yours, so I’ll leave it to your father to decide what to do with them. Until then, Deo?” I leaned down and stared into Deo’s eyes. “You may not leave the Makepeace Circus grounds. You may not communicate with your brother. In fact, you may not speak to anyone until you tell Gunther and Roland the full story of what you have done and why.”

  Deo opened his mouth to shout at me, but no sound came out.

  “I like this lawgiver thing,” I smiled. “Gunther, I’ll be back tomorrow, as soon as I sort out this kidnapping thing. Your Dad and I still have to discuss how we’re going to deal with the Witches’ Council. Make sure, if you can, that he’s awake?”

  “Will do, Charlotte. And be careful.”

  “She’s a ringmaster and a lawgiver. What could hurt her?” Bubba asked.

  As I asked to be rubber-banded back to the Magical Midway, I knew something could, and I would discover what that is at some point if history was any indication.

  11

  You cut it close. We were getting concerned, Samson beamed into my brain the moment I materialized. Did you find out anything helpful?

  Leo helped push Mark off the grounds, and then a lion shifter from Makepeace held him. They would bring Mark back on the day the Council was due to arrive back here. Alexa may have had something to do with it, I told him as I walked toward my yurt. The sun was nearly below the horizon, and the sky was bathed in a deep orange. Samson was right, I came back with only minutes to spare. I think I want to talk to Leo first. Oh, and by the way…

  Yes?

  A seat on the Witches’ Council? Really?

  Your young man has a big mouth, Samson grumbled.

  But is what his big mouth said correct?

  Let’s deal with one thing at a time, shall we?

  I nodded at a passing goblin that waved and sighed. I was getting used to the fact that information was not eagerly given by my loyal familiar, but I had a creeping suspicion there was more to it than his attitude. Samson knew things I didn’t and had resolved that for some reason, I had to earn information even if he had it. Thinking back on it, I never asked him why.

  Everyone’s paranormal in this world. I thought they always talked like a cheap fortune teller on a boardwalk just because they could. It was a cultural thing. As these plots and plans unfolded all around me, it seemed like it was time to ask why. Something deeper, something more profound could be going on. Something Samson was keeping from me for a reason.

  Or, you know, everyone in this world was just a certifiable drama queen that enjoyed performing in their own version of “As the Fun House Barrel Turns.”

  It could be that, too.

  As I entered my yurt, Alexa Atwater stood up from my couch and confronted me.

  “Want a drink, oh powerful ringmaster? I made this one for you.” Alexa held up a cup of murky water and thrust it in my direction. As I stared at the container, the water rose from within and snaked toward me across the room, and I felt waves of triumph coming off of the naiad.

  “Freeze!” I screeched, and Alexa froze with her cup extended.

  The water, however, did not.

  Well, fuzzbuckets, this is a problem. I sent the images as hard as I could to Samson as I ran to the other side of the room. Like a missile headed toward a laser-painted target, the snake line of water turned and slithered steadily toward me in a dogged march. “Retreat!” I yelled, gawking at the water.

  Samson? I thought anxiously as the water continued its slow creep.

  Get out of there, Samson replied. Don’t get pinned down in that corner, and whatever you do, don’t let that water reach your nose.

  Ugh. What a way to die. Getting water shoved up my nose.

  I hated getting water up my nose.

  Dancing around the yurt, I confused the water’s beeline for my nostrils by heading all the way into a back corner away from it. As I waited, observing it drift toward the back of the yurt, I made my move when it was only a foot from my face. Diving behind a chair to my right to impede its attack, I scurried toward the entryway and out the door.

  Fire! Go toward the fire pit!

  Without waiting to see if it followed me, I took off running across the path to the fire pit. “Everyone move out of the way!” I shouted at the people roaming around. “Don’t let the water touch you! Stay away from it.”

  Like something out of a horror movie, the line of water peeked out of my yurt. After moving right, left as if it was hunting for me, the liquid slithered again in midair toward my nostrils. It seemed unable to curve itself, expanding out of my yurt in a straight line. I looked around for anything I could use to contain it.

  “Charlotte, what’s going on?” Uncle Phil asked as he ran up.

  “Alexa tried to give me that water,” I told my uncle while glaring at the three-foot cloudy liquid line. “I don’t think she was concerned for my hydration levels.”

  “Just tell it to disappear!”

  “I tried!”

  Evaporate it in the fire! Samson said as he ran up. Naiads use ordinary water as a base. Just get it in the fire, it should dissipate.

  I focused and made the fire bigger, reassured when my ringmaster power could still do that. As the snake water made its way toward me, it hit the flames I hid behind and hissed. Then it pulled back and paused.

  “Oh dear unicorns, can that thing actually think?” I cried out. “Are you kidding me?” The intensity of the fire has only sheered about six inches off of the weaponized water.

  It has to go straight, and it can’t go any faster than this, just stay alert, Samson said. Phillip, find an Atwater sister. Any of them other than Alexa.

  “Got it,” Uncle Phil said, and he thundered toward the boat ride. As I listened to his feet clomp away, I stared at the water through the flames as it stared at me. I could see gawking crowds gathering in my peripheral vision. Great. The people I am supposed to protect are watching me get cornered by a stick of determined water.

  Better that than watching you get killed by one. Stay focused, Samson said.

  Oh, believe me, cat, I’m super focused.

  “What the heck are you doing, Charlotte?” Anya asked as she wandered through the crowd with Fortuna.

  “The water! It’s attacking her!” A voice called from the crowd.

  “You naiads and your murderous water attacks!�
�

  “It’s always you water nymphs causing all the trouble!”

  “Hey!” Anya roared as she whirled on the crowd and lifted her fists. “Back the heck off before I drown every one of you!” With a flick of her wrist, the water snake fell to the ground and splashed to its demise. I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the fire pit with a clang. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to sounding like the Tin Man.

  Anya’s rescue of me had done nothing to calm the crowd’s resentment.

  “We know it’s you nymphs that called the Witches’ Council!”

  “You’re always creating trouble!”

  “Why can’t you go back to some river where you belong!”

  “Enough!” I shouted, and the crowd silenced instantly. I didn’t know whether it was out of respect or some ringmaster power, but either way, I was grateful. “With everything going on right now, the last thing we need to do is turn on one another. The Witches’ Council wants to see us torn apart. Let’s not help them by doing it for them.”

  The crowd murmured to one another, some grudgingly agreeing and some complaining under their breath about the troublesome water women. No one was screaming anymore, though, so I’d take it. I had other things to deal with.

  “Go on about your business, folks. When you go gossip about what you saw—and you will gossip about what you saw because that’s what you do—make sure to let people know Anya saved me. Because that’s the only thing you witnessed here, and the only tale you have to tell.”

  The crowd nodded, and slowly drifted away.

  “I’m sorry about that,” I told Anya as I reached out for her. She glowered and shook me off.

  “I’m used to it. Why were you being attacked by water?”

  “Alexa.” Anya closed her eyes tightly and tensed as if I slapped her.

  “Please allow me to formally apologize for my idiot of a sister.”

  “Tell you what, I’ll accept your apology if you come with me to talk to your sister. I’m sure there’s more water somewhere in my yurt.”

  Anya glanced at my yurt as if she would rather do anything but what I asked her to do, but after some time, she nodded.

  As the three of us went in my yurt, Alexa’s eyeballs scanned each face.

  “To make a long story short, Deo claimed Leo helped push Mark off the grounds. His pride leader, Bubba, had a strong impression the two brothers worked at the direction of your sister, Alexa. What I can’t figure out is why.”

  “Why what?” Fortuna asked.

  “Why it would matter whether or not Mark was here. What did Mark’s kidnapping gain them? I mean, they don’t know him. He has no history in the paranormal world.”

  “Let me go grab him,” Fortuna said. “Maybe he knows why they would grab him and not me. Or maybe they wanted to grab me to, and I didn’t give them an opportunity.”

  Alexa, still frozen with an empty glass outstretched, rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, go get Mark. We’ll be here.”

  Fortuna hurried out of the yurt, leaving Anya and me alone with Alexa.

  “Do you want me to unfreeze her?” I asked the pacing Anya. My tough friend looked as troubled as I had ever seen her. Her eyes shined glassy as she stared at her sister. In silence, she walked back and forth nervously without responding.

  You know, I thought living at a circus was supposed to be fun. Rides and shows and amusement and cotton candy. This whole gig was smacking of a grim irony I didn’t find entertaining.

  “Anya! I can’t find out anything from your pacing and your sister’s angry eyeballs. I will unfreeze her unless you think there’s a reason I shouldn’t. A reason like you’re too preoccupied to keep me from getting drowned by the water in the toilet.”

  “You can’t drown,” she snarled.

  “When I first got here, many people told me I was untouchable, and that keeps turning out not to be the case. Are you focused enough for me to risk my life, or should I leave her suspended and just listen to the clock tick down? I mean, we can hope at the last moment I can pull a plan out of the air, but I would prefer to be more prepared than that.”

  “All right, all right! I’ve got it!” Anya turned and glared at me. “You know, the longer you’re here, the more annoying you get. Unfreeze her.” Anya turned back to her sister. “I can deal with anything baby sister throws at you.”

  I stared at the naiad and spoke the words to unfreeze her. My body shuddered with tension as I prepared for another attack, but she made no move to do so. Crossing her arms, she plopped back down on the couch and placed the glass on the coffee table. “Yeah, well, I didn’t think that would work, anyway. I can never get the stupid water snake to go faster than a crawl.”

  “Why did you try to kill me?”

  “I knew as soon as I saw Mark back here. When I realized you were at the Makepeace Circus, I was sure someone would spill the beans. Deo is an idiot,” she complained. “Come to think of it, Leo is an idiot, too. I'm surprised the two of them pulled the kidnapping off at all, to be honest.”

  Fortuna returned with Mark and Serena. The lioness’s golden eyes stared daggers at Alexa, and her mouth hung open with a vaguely predatory expression. Even in humanoid form, an unmistakable aura of danger flowed from her.

  “I should tear the flesh from your bones,” Serena whispered. Mark wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and tried to calm her.

  “Yeah, you could try. You’d just wind up lapping up water,” Alexa retorted.

  “How many seconds does that transition take you, naiad?”

  “Okay, I realize everybody’s angry and annoyed—”

  “Annoyed, ringmaster? I burn with the rage of a wronged mate! The betrayal of this water sprite can never be forgiven.” Mark stepped in front of Serena and placed his hands on either side of her head bending her into his chest. Caressing her neck, he whispered and soothed her to calm down.

  “Rage and vengeance will not help solve the problem.”

  “You don’t even know what the problem is,” Alexa said as she crossed her legs on the couch and bounced. “My little adjunct plan may have failed, but the Witches’ Council will take you right the heck down, ladies.”

  “Why do you hate our life so?” Anya exploded. She advanced on her sister, a combination of rage, fear, and sadness dripping through her words. “This place gave us family when our parents were killed by those same witches you now suck up to! We were given a home! How could you betray us? What happened to you, sister, that you are gleeful while ripping Alessandra and I from our home? While killing? While siding with the very same people that destroyed our family?”

  “You have the nerve to ask me that?” Alexa rose and stood toe to toe with her sister. “We are owed so much more than a yurt and a boat ride for what we went through! Traipsing across the country but always being outsiders! Living in a place where we could never have the power we are due as naiads! A place we could never lead? A home we can never conquer? Tethered to this place like slaves?”

  “You could leave anytime that you wanted to, and you did!”

  “It’s not enough. I hate this place. I hate we are the enemies of the most powerful beings in the paranormal world because we live here. And for what?”

  “For loyalty! We are enemies of our parents’ murderers! And for Poseidon's sake, what freedom do you have now?”

  “I don’t need freedom,” Alexa laughed. “I’ve got a condo.”

  “And I’m a lawgiver and have a seat on the Witches’ Council,” I interjected. “Doesn’t approval to live in Impy require a unanimous Council vote?”

  “It does at that,” Anya agreed, her face breaking into a smirk.

  “You do not! They would never let you vote!” Alexa looked alarmed. “They already voted! You can do nothing!”

  “Maybe not. But maybe they have to let me vote. Maybe as a lawgiver, I can imprison you. I'm not even sure what powers I have yet, but I'm almost sure I can do something. You know it, too, don't you?” I asked her. “
That's why you tried to kill me.”

  Alexa stared daggers at me.

  “That’s the funny thing about cleaving to laws and traditions,” I shrugged. “Sometimes, those laws and traditions can cut both ways. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  I was grateful for all those political science classes I took in college. It seemed like those would come in handy. Maybe even more usable than a magic book.

  “It won’t matter,” Alexa said, recovering her composure. “You won’t figure out the solution to keeping those two humans alive in time, anyway. And once they are dead, everyone here will know you cannot protect anyone. If you cannot protect them, the Magical Midway will collapse from within even if you don’t lower the barrier. And then you are no lawgiver. The Witches’ Council won’t even need to lift a finger to take you down.”

  The conniving naiad stared at me as she stood straight and tall. Triumphant. Arrogant. With a haughty assurance, as if there was no way she could lose despite being caught dead to rights.

  “There is a solution, then?”

  Alexis' face fell, and her shoulders slumped ever so slightly.

  “I told you once your ego would be your downfall, sister,” Anya told the younger woman wistfully.

  “And so it may have come to pass,” Serena said.

  After binding Alexa and handing her over to the Larry brothers, the group reconvened to discuss the solution. Despite Anya’s pleading with her sister, she refused to reveal to us what she knew. The restriction against my using magic to gain knowledge seemed concrete and immutable. No amount of magic words or hand waving could make her talk, and I was unwilling to engage in any form of torture to compel her (though Serena was insistent it was called for).

  Off to the Magical Midway jail, she went. After we made some watertight adjustments.

  We were joined by Fiona and Ningul, and Uncle Phil and Samson. Avalon didn’t meet us. Anya let us know she was busy trying to calm the deer herd down.