Witch School Dropout: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #7

by M. Z. Andrews

  “Oh, why yes, yes it has!” said Clara moving towards the book. But Alba beat her to it.

  She pulled the book off the shelf and without wasting any time, she opened it and pulled out the card in the front cover.

  I didn’t even have time to look over her shoulder before I heard a gasp escape her. “Oh my god,” she breathed after reading the name of the person who had last checked out the book.

  “Who had it?” asked Holly.

  Alba’s face went ashen as she snapped the book shut. She stared at Clara. “We’ll take this book. I’ll sign for it.”

  Clara nodded curiously. “Okay. Sign right here.”

  Alba refused to speak until we were safely outside. The day was cool, and the second we were outside a gust of spring air whipped between our bodies.

  “Okay. Tell us,” I said, brushing my hair out of my face.

  “You girls aren’t going to believe this,” she said, her hands slid through her brown hair anxiously. “I can’t believe it myself.”

  “Who?!” demanded Jax. “Who signed for the book?”

  Alba shook her head. “I – I can’t even say it.”

  “Spit it out, Alba. We all deserve to know!” said Sweets wringing her hands.

  Alba took a breath and then looked down at Jax. “The person who signed for it was Augusta Stone.”

  Jax blinked. “Stone?” she asked in a small voice.

  Alba nodded. “Yes. Augusta.”

  We all stared at Jax. I’d never heard Jax mention an Augusta Stone before. I asked what everyone else was thinking. “Do you know who that is, Jax?”

  Jax swallowed hard as her head began to bob up and down slowly, her eyes the size of cucumber slices. “Yes.”

  “I assume you’re related? Who is she?” I asked.

  Jax’s head continued to bob as if she were in a daze. Then it stopped, and her eyes swung up to meet mine. “Augusta Stone is my grandmother.”

  Our eyes widened, and our mouths gaped.

  “Your grandmother?” I questioned. “I thought your grandmother didn’t live around here!”

  Jax’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

  Alba’s forehead crinkled. “Well, she’s here now, apparently.”

  Jax looked at Alba. “You’re sure it said Augusta Stone?”

  “I’d stake my life on it.”

  “I – I don’t understand. Why would my grandmother be in town? And why would I not know that?”

  “Because our parents and our grandparents enjoy keeping us in the dark,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was also sick of being left out of the loop. “I know how you feel Jax.”

  “If your grandmother is in town Shorty, you gotta know where’s she staying, right?”

  Jax shook her head and looked up at Alba with big eyes. “No, where?”

  “Duh, there.” Alba drew her arm back and pointed a finger towards the Stone family castle in the distance.

  “At my mom’s house?”

  “Your Uncle Merrick and the Black Witch live there too, right?” asked Alba.

  “Yeah, but my grandmother doesn’t.”

  “Well, she checked out that spellbook four days ago. Obviously, she’s in town. Your family owns a huge castle and what’s she gonna do? Stay in a hotel?” asked Alba dryly.

  Jax frowned. “I just can’t believe that my mom didn’t even mention that my grandmother was in town. I’ve always wanted to meet her.”

  “Maybe Sorceress Stone doesn’t know,” suggested Holly.

  Alba made a face. “That’s doubtful. The woman came back for a reason. That reason obviously wasn’t to see her granddaughter. One would assume that at the very least, she came to see her kids. And if she’s here to see her kids, then she’s in that castle.”

  “But what if she didn’t come to see her kids? We all know the Stone’s aren’t maternal people. Jax’s mom didn’t say anything to Jax. Maybe it’s because she really doesn’t know her mother’s in town. If that’s the case, then she’s obviously not staying at the castle,” I said.

  Alba nodded. “You’re right. It’s possible she’s not staying there. But it’s also possible that she is.” She looked at Jax. “Only one way to find out.”

  “Really?” asked Jax looking behind her towards Winston Hall where Sorceress Stone’s offices were located. “You want me to ask my mother?”

  “It’s the only way to know for sure.”

  Jax sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’m not going in there. I’ll call her.”

  “Fine,” agreed Alba. “All we need to know is if she knows your grandmother is in town.”

  Jax dialed her phone and waited until we heard a voice on the other end. “Hi Brittany. This is Jax, is my mom in?”

  Jax covered up the phone with her hand. “She’s transferring me,” she whispered.

  “Hey mom, sorry to bother you, but is my grandmother in Aspen Falls right now?”

  There was a long pause. Jax’s eyeballs swung from side to side in their sockets.

  One side of Alba’s mouth lifted. “Well she doesn’t beat around the bush,” she whispered.

  Holly puffed air out her nose. “Sounds like you’re rubbing off on her.”

  I laughed just as Jax finally spoke into the phone. “Hello? Mom?”

  We could hear Sorceress Stone’s voice on the other end, but couldn’t hear what she was saying.

  Jax nodded, her mouth formed a circle. “Okay, thanks, Mom,” she said and then hung up.

  We all stared at her then.

  Jax let out a deep breath. “Well, mom said my grandmother is not in town. But I’m not sure I believe her. She didn’t ask me why I was asking or anything. If she didn’t think mom was in town for real, I think she would have acted differently.”

  Alba nodded. “I agree. That pause is what did it for me. She was debating on whether or not to lie to you.”

  “And she decided to lie. That tells me that something is up,” I said. “I think we need to find your grandmother and figure out what she’s up to.”

  Jax’s mouth fell open. “You want to find my grandmother? I wouldn’t even know where to look!”

  Alba put a hand on both of Jax’s shoulders and stared down at her. “Jax. We all know your mother was lying to you. Your grandmother is there. She’s at your house, I’m sure of it.”

  Jax’s eyes shot open wide. “You want to go to my house?!”

  “We have no choice, Shorty. This spellbook was checked out by your grandmother the day that Mr. Bailey was killed.”

  “B-but, mom would be so angry with me if I showed up at the castle with all of you,” muttered Jax.

  “Well, we won’t just show up at the front door,” I said. “Besides. You just called the school. She’s not even home right now.”

  “I don’t know…,” Jax’s eyes swung heavily to the floor while she gnawed on the side of her bottom lip.

  “Listen Jax. I know you’re scared to get caught, but this is super important to our investigation. Don’t you find it more than a little coincidental that my grandmother knew that Annabelle Abrahams wrote a spell that used pit viper venom and your grandmother just so happened to check out that exact spellbook the day that Mr. Bailey died?” I asked. “And he died by ingesting a potion that contained pit viper venom? Come on! She’s gotta be involved in some way.”

  “But why would my grandmother come all the way to Pennsylvania from California to kill one of the Bailey’s? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  I shrugged and clapped Jax on the back. “We don’t know Jax. That’s what we need to find out. How these things are all connected. But if anyone else wants to start placing bets – my money’s on Jax’s grandma being Louis Albertson’s potion supplier.”

  Alba frowned. “I’m not ready to place a bet just yet. We’re missing too many important details.”

  Holly shrugged. “I’ll put my money on Louis, too. He’s so strange.”

  We all looked at Jax. She was still not sure she wanted to l
et us into the castle to look for her grandmother.

  “Please Jax?” begged Sweets. “I need to find out what happened. My name still hasn’t been totally cleared yet.”

  Jax sighed. “Fine. But we are not going in through the front door. I have a better way. Come on.”

  Tip-toeing past Brittany’s open doorway, we made our way to the basement of the Winston Hall dormitory. Once down there, we headed straight for the mouth of the underground tunnel system. Now that the snow had melted and the days were warming, most everyone on campus was back to walking outside with the exception of the people who had night classes. Some of them still took the tunnels just to have to avoid walking to class alone in the dark.

  We spoke not a word on the first leg of the journey. We all felt the gravity of the situation. We were headed to Sorceress Stone’s house. If we were caught, there would be consequences. But no one wanted to talk about the consequences. Instead, we numbly followed the familiar twists and turns of the tunnel until we came to a gated portion secured by a padlock.

  “This is the tunnel to the castle,” said Jax.

  Holly pulled on the padlock. “It’s locked!”

  Jax removed the school ID lanyard from her neck. “I’ve got the key,” she said and quickly unlocked it while looking both directions. “Whatever we do, we cannot get caught. My mother will literally kill me.”

  “What’s the big deal? You’d think she’d welcome your friends. I mean it’s your house too, right?” I asked. “My mom used to tell me all the time that my friends were welcome to come over to our house. Of course, I didn’t have any friends, so that really was a moot point.”

  Holly snorted into her hand.

  Jax shook her head sadly as she pulled the gate open. “My mom is definitely no Linda Habernackle. Follow me.”

  The tunnel seemed to go on indefinitely. It was dark, creepy, and littered with cobwebs, which made the walk that much less enjoyable. Jax, petrified of spiders, made Alba lead the way.

  “How much longer?” asked Holly.

  “The castle is quite a ways away,” said Jax. “It looks closer than it is because it’s so big. Maybe another half mile?”

  “Ugh,” groaned the busty blonde.

  A chime and a dim glow lit up the dark recesses of the tunnel. “What was that?” asked Jax, clinging to my side.

  “That was me,” said Sweets, pulling a phone from her pocket.

  “Who is it?” asked Holly.

  Sweets swiped the screen, read the message, and then shoved the phone back in her pocket with a little sigh. “It was just Corey.”

  Holly stopped walking. “Just Corey? Since when is the boy you have a crush on just Corey?” she demanded.

  Walking behind her, Sweets crashed into her and forced her forward. “I didn’t mean it like that,” said Sweets. “He’s waiting for me to give him an answer about fishing. I just haven’t had time to get back to him.”

  Holly threw her arms out on either side of her. “No time like the present. Are you kidding me? We’ve got a half a mile to walk still. Text him back. Tell him you’ll go with him.”

  Sweets pondered Holly’s suggestion. Finally, she shrugged. “I don’t know. I have so much on my mind.”

  “Which is exactly why you say yes to Corey. He’ll take your mind off your problems.”

  Sweets frowned. “It’s not just problems,” she said sadly. “I’m still sad about Mr. Bailey. How am I supposed to go out and have fun knowing that Mr. Bailey is dead?”

  “Life moves on,” Alba said quietly. “We can’t all stop moving because one person died.”

  “Yeah,” said Sweets with a little nod. She swallowed hard. “I’m nervous, too.”

  I patted her on the shoulder. “Do it Sweets. Be brave.”

  “Yeah Sweets. Corey’s a nice guy. He’ll cheer you up. You should go out with him,” agreed Jax.

  “Oh, fine, maybe it won’t be so bad,” Sweets grumbled with a barely visible smile. She pulled her phone back out of her pocket. “What should I say?”

  Holly’s eyes widened excitedly. “Tell him to take you somewhere else on a real date. Somewhere you have to wear a dress and look pretty. I’ll do your makeup.”

  Sweets hesitated. “I don’t know. He really wants to take me to this pond that he likes to fish.”

  “Well do you want to go fishing, Sweets?” asked Jax.

  “I don’t know, I guess?”

  “Just tell him ya wanna go then. ‘Nuff said,” said Alba gruffly.

  Holly laughed. “She can’t just say ‘I wanna go.’”

  “Of course she can.”

  I shook my head. “Well, what did his message say?”

  Sweets looked down at her phone and read Corey’s message aloud. “We cool for Saturday?”

  Holly giggled. “Corey’s a man of few words, huh?”

  Sweets stared at her phone. “I’m so not good at this. I have no idea what to say.”

  “Just say, ‘yeah, we cool,’” said Alba, tipping her nose towards the ceiling of the tunnel.

  “Oh my god, do not say that, Sweets! Alba, she cannot say that,” pled Holly. “Say something cute, like ‘yeah totes, can’t wait!’ with lots of emojis.”

  “Yeah, totes?” I nearly choked on my spit. “What is she, in junior high?” I looked at Sweets. “Sweets, just say, ‘Yes, Saturday sounds fun. Can’t wait.’”

  Sweets sighed, placed her thumbs on the screen of her phone, tapped out a message, and then put the phone back in her pocket.

  We all stared at her. Waiting to hear her response. When she didn’t say anything, Jax asked her anxiously, “Well, what did you say?”

  Sweets smiled back at her. “I said, ‘Yes.’”

  27

  Finally, after what seemed like a half hour of walking, we came to another gated tunnel. “We’re here,” said Jax in a reverent hush. She pulled her key off of her neck once again. “Stand back,” she ordered while removing the padlock.

  The four of us moved back to give her room to slide the gate open.

  “I better go first, just in case.”

  We followed her through the tunnel and around the corner and found ourselves in a basement of sorts. A musty smell permeated the wooden framed walls and made our blood run cold.

  “It’s creepy down here,” said Holly, her eyes sweeping the darkened room as if she were too afraid to turn her head.

  “Shh,” hissed Jax.

  Wordlessly, Holly clung to Sweets’ arm, and the two of them hid behind me. I glanced back at them with a smirk, wondering what they thought I’d be able to do to protect them if an axe murderer popped out of a shadow – or worse, if Sorceress Stone popped out of a shadow.

  Jax led us through the basement, up a rickety flight of stairs to a wooden, six-paneled door. She turned the handle and slowly pushed it open. The hinges let out a low, rumbling creak.

  It was Alba’s turn to hiss, “Shhh.”

  “I’m trying,” Jax spat back in a whisper. Inch by inch, she stuck her head through the opening and looked from side to side.

  My pulse throbbed in my ears. I would never admit it to the girls, but I was petrified of what Stone would do to us if we got caught breaking into her house.

  “Coast is clear,” whispered Jax. She waved us forward.

  We emerged from the basement and into the kitchen. It was an immaculate kitchen with modern white cabinetry, long granite counters, and gleaming stainless-steel appliances. Everything was pristine, and nothing looked out of place. It was a far cry from the cozy, cottage kitchen that I grew up with. My mother had an obsessive collection of cookbooks and vintage teapots and took pride in displaying them, making my childhood kitchen both eclectic and over-crowded.

  “Does anyone cook in your house?” I hissed as we tiptoed across the polished tile floor.

  “The cook,” whispered Jax with a shrug. “It must be her day off.”

  My roommate led us to the back of the kitchen and through a long narrow hallway lined with glass
-front china cabinets. Jax referred to the hallway as the butler’s pantry. It opened into a grand dining room where paintings of the Stone family adorned the walls. One particularly large painting centered at the head of the table featured Sorceress Stone and BethAnn as young girls standing on either side of a woman that had to be their mother, with Merrick as an awkward looking teen standing behind the three of them. No one in the picture smiled. SaraLynn had the angry face of a schoolyard bully, while BethAnn simply looked glum. Merrick in the back only looked uncomfortable, like his mother had forced him to wear the button up shirt and comb his hair with a part instead of whatever other way he preferred. The woman in the middle, seated on a white, iron-backed chair, had impeccable posture and a wistful look on her face.

  “That picture belongs on awkward family photos dot com,” I whispered as we passed it. Something about the picture made me almost unable to pull my eyes off of it as I walked. “I feel like the eyes are following me!”

  Jax nodded. “I always feel like that, too.”

  “That’s your grandmother, Jax?” asked Holly, pointing at the somber woman.

  “Yes, Augusta Stone,” said Jax with a nod. She tugged on Holly’s arm. “Come on. We have to keep moving. We don’t have much time.”

  We didn’t go out the main doors of the dining room but instead slipped through a door hidden in the pattern of the dining room’s wallpaper. Behind it, a narrow staircase with shallow wooden treads took us to the second floor. “This is the staff’s staircase,” whispered Jax as she led us up the stairs. The old wooden treads creaked under our feet, making us each freeze in turn as we each hit the creaky spots. At the top of the stairs we turned left and no sooner had we started down the hallway than Jax turned us into a room and shut the door behind us. She let out a heavy breath of air and looked visibly relieved.

  “Where are we?” I asked before having a chance to look around, but the minute I did, I knew where we were. Posters of Disney channel style witches covered the walls beside pictures of Justin Bieber, the members of the band, One Direction, and Selena Gomez. “Seriously Jax? Justin Bieber and One Direction?” asked Alba.