Magic & Mercy

by Annabel Chase

  The door burst open and two security guards crowded the entryway.

  “Nobody move,” the first guard said.

  “Not to worry, my turtle doves,” Laura said. “We’re waiting for the sheriff to arrive. There’s nothing more attractive than a man doing his duty. Trust me on this.”

  Chapter 17

  “Remind me why we need to bring backup to a gingerbread house?” the sheriff asked. “The murder’s been solved.” We stood outside Bewitching Bites with Deputy Bolan, Linnea, and Aster.

  “I don’t think they’ll remember us,” I said. “But we need to find out what they’re hiding.” It may not have been connected to the murder, but there was something suspicious about the Gerstbergers. “Whatever you do, don’t eat anything in the shop. Not a nibble.”

  “Seems a shame,” the sheriff said, admiring the delicious-looking exterior.

  Linnea examined the outside. “I feel like I’ve been here before.”

  “You may have been,” I said. “They don’t like customers to remember.”

  “What an odd way to do business,” Aster said. “The boys have asked to come in here on occasion when we’ve passed by, but I’ve always said no.”

  “That’s because you have good instincts,” I said.

  We entered beneath the arched candy canes. Hedy and Hannah were behind the display cases, arranging a tray of chocolate unicorn horns that sparkled with gold flecks. I stiffened when they looked at me, but their smiles reflected their absent memories.

  “Welcome to Bewitching Bites,” Hedy said. “How lovely to have a large group. Won’t you try a sample of our golden apples?”

  “Not today,” I said, and nodded to my cousins. “Work your magic, witches.”

  Linnea directed her attention to Hedy, and Aster to Hannah. With the flick of an elegant finger, the Gerstbergers were immobile except for their mouths.

  “Tell us why you didn’t want the sheriff to remember his visit,” I said.

  “The sheriff was here?” Hedy asked. “When?” She seemed genuinely baffled.

  The sheriff walked over to them. “I can ask my own questions, Rose.” He chewed his lip, studying Hedy Gerstberger. “What is it you didn’t want me to remember? The minotaur made of gold? The fact that you have ledgers dating back hundreds of years? What secret are you hiding?”

  Hedy’s eyes were wild, not with anger, but fear. What was she so frightened of?

  “I can’t tell you,” she choked.

  “I think you have can’t confused with won’t,” I said. “Didn’t you learn grammar rules in school?” I clucked my tongue. “Kids today.”

  “Okay, Rose,” the sheriff said, easing me aside. “Hedy, do you always make customers forget they’ve been here?”

  Hedy remained silent.

  “No,” Hannah interjected. “Not always. It depends.”

  We turned our attention to the daughter.

  “Be quiet, Hannah,” Hedy hissed.

  “Mother, we need to tell them,” Hannah insisted. She looked awkward, her body stiff except her moving mouth.

  “It’s a family secret, Hannah,” her mother said. “We can’t break with tradition. It simply isn’t done.”

  “Now you sound like my mother,” Linnea said. “Have I mentioned how much my mother gets under my skin?”

  “I’m very uncomfortable,” Hedy complained. “Could you please undo the spell?”

  “Not until we’ve finished our conversation,” Sheriff Nash said. “We can’t trust you not to shove magical candy in our mouths and send us on our merry way.”

  “If you ate the candy, it was of your own free will,” Hedy said. “We can’t force anyone to eat.”

  “That’s why I managed to get out,” I said. “They tried to insist, but that was as far as they could get.”

  Hedy tried to shift her gaze to me. “You resisted?”

  “Wasn’t easy,” I said. “I love chocolate with the passion of a million Harry Potter fans.”

  Everyone frowned at me.

  “Human world reference,” I said. “It just means I really love chocolate.”

  “I’m going to put these handcuffs on you,” the sheriff said, nodding to Deputy Bolan. “Then the witches are going to undo the spell.”

  “We’re under arrest?” Hannah asked, panic flooding her voice.

  “First, you’re going to take us on a tour of your facility,” the sheriff said. “Show us your secrets.”

  “And if you try anything foolish,” Linnea said, holding up a finger. “Well, just don’t try anything foolish.”

  Deputy Bolan ran behind the women and cuffed them. Then my cousins undid their respective spells.

  “Let’s go,” the sheriff prodded them.

  We followed the women to the backroom where a full kitchen was in use. Two large ovens. Two long wooden tables. A caddy with rolling pins and other baking tools. A spiral staircase was visible in the back corner of the room.

  “What’s downstairs?” I asked.

  “Where we store the chocolate,” Hedy answered quickly. Too quickly.

  “Why do you store it there?” the sheriff asked. “What’s wrong with in here?”

  “Temperature’s better down there,” Hedy said.

  The sheriff guided her toward the staircase. “Show me.”

  “We’ll wait here with Hannah,” Aster said.

  I joined Hedy and the sheriff on the spiral staircase. It seemed a long way down, much further than a basement.

  “Why did you come here?” Hedy asked on the march down.

  “Your shop was listed on a map,” the sheriff said. “The map is connected to a dead butler.”

  “A map,” she repeated. “How old?”

  “Not sure,” the sheriff said. “Why?”

  “We’ve been very careful,” Hedy said. “An older map would indicate that one of our ancestors failed to protect what’s ours. A treasure map, I presume.”

  “That’s right,” the sheriff said. “How’d you know?”

  We reached the bottom of the staircase and the answer quickly became clear. The far side of the room was laden with treasure. Chalices, coins, statues—you name it, the Gerstbergers had it stored beneath their candy shop.

  “This treasure has remained unmoved for centuries,” Hedy said. “We’ve added to the collection over the years, whenever a pirate, or someone of great wealth, entered the shop. The royals were our favorite. They always carried such valuable items.” She laughed softly. “Not on their person, of course, but their staff was always with them, carting around their expensive jewels and such.”

  I gestured to a delicate crown on a velvet cushion. “Like that?”

  “That was taken right off the head of a fae queen,” Hedy said proudly. “It’s one of our most prized possessions.”

  “You stole these items,” I said.

  “Mostly from thieves,” Hedy said. “The majority of the treasure is the ill-gotten gains of vampire pirates. Would you have us return them?”

  “Maybe to their rightful owners,” I said. “There’s this amazing thing called the internet these days. You could probably track down a lot of the rightful owners.”

  “As though you wouldn’t want to own a piece of history,” Hedy said.

  “What are you?” I asked. It had been bugging me that I couldn’t tell the type of paranormals they were.

  “They’re shifters,” the sheriff said, sniffing. “But I can’t tell beyond that.”

  “We’re raven shifters,” Hedy said. “We don’t shift in cycle with the moon, though. In fact, our kind rarely shift at all, anymore. Back when vampire pirates still roamed the seas, my family would fly out to monitor the docks for their arrival. Then we’d lure them into the shop, usually with a comely young maiden.”

  I shook my head. “Men are so easy.”

  “And you’d empty their pockets,” the sheriff said.

  “In exchange for our delicious chocolate,” Hedy said. “We considered it a fair trade.”
>
  “Is there really a missing gold minotaur?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Hedy said, with a puff of sadness. “It’s the one that got away. I don’t know what happened to it, but I consider it a great loss to our collection.”

  “I’m sure you do,” I shot back. “Why are you afraid of losing the treasure? What happens?”

  Hedy swallowed hard. “There’s magic in this treasure. Magic that has kept our family going for generations. Magic that keeps the gingerbread house standing. The shop didn’t always look this way. It’s fueled by magic.”

  “So remove the magic and the whole thing goes?” I queried.

  “Hannah and I included,” Hedy said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  Hedy closed her eyes. “Because the magic is keeping us going, too.”

  “How so?” I asked. They didn’t strike me as particularly old.

  “Because they lied, Rose,” the sheriff said. “There haven’t been generations of them. It’s been the two of them from the beginning. Some of the magic in here keeps them from aging.”

  I stared at the treasure. “Like a fountain of youth?”

  “We don’t know which item is responsible,” Hedy said. “We’ve tried to figure it out over the years but to no avail.”

  “So, you’re actually the one responsible for Bewitching Bites ending up on a map,” I said. “Not an ancestor.”

  “It was Hannah,” Hedy said sharply. “She let a handsome man out of here years ago without making him eat. He caught a glimpse of our haul and, I believe, pocketed a few gold coins on the way out, and probably the minotaur as well, but Hannah was smitten with him and made me swear not to go after him.”

  “I’m surprised he didn’t come back for more,” I said.

  “That may well have been his intention,” Hedy said. “That’s why maps were made and stashed away, so the treasure could be found later.”

  “Anytime someone asks questions, or feels like they’ve visited us before but can’t quite remember, they’re offered a sample,” Hannah said. “We don’t want anyone to remember us, not only because of the treasure, but because of us.”

  The sheriff took Hedy by the arm and directed her back to the staircase. “Thanks for telling your story, Hedy.”

  She craned her neck to look at the treasure. “What happens now?”

  “Like Ember said, we’ll try to track down the rightful owners of these pieces,” the sheriff said. “And you’ll be booked on multiple counts.”

  “We’ll never make it to prison,” Hedy said sadly. “Not if the treasure goes first.”

  “I’m sorry, Hedy,” the sheriff said. “It seems to me you’ve had more than your fair share of time.”

  “What if she tries to shift once we’re outside and flies away?” I whispered.

  “Not in these cuffs,” the sheriff said. “They’re special, remember? They cut off magic, or keep a shifter from changing shape. They’re designed for paranormals.”

  Yes, I remembered now. I’d seen them in action before. “Maybe I should get a pair of my own. Seems like they’d come in handy.”

  The sheriff glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Not a chance, Rose.”

  “Is that yours?” Marley asked.

  We were returning from a practice session with Firefly and I was still riding high from Marley’s excellent progress. I was starting to suspect she had more Rose blood pumping through her veins than I did.

  “Is what mine?” I followed her gaze to the cottage. Leaning against the front door was a deep green broomstick with a brown leather strap. A red ribbon was tied in a bow around the neck.

  Marley ran ahead to investigate. “There’s no tag.”

  No, there wouldn’t be. One good look at the elegant broomstick and I knew exactly who’d left it. I couldn’t resist a smile.

  “It’s from Alec, isn’t it?” Marley asked.

  I opened the front door and carried the broomstick inside. “What makes you say that?”

  “Sheriff Nash would have given it to you himself. Alec’s the only one who wouldn’t want to take credit for the gift.”

  I ruffled her hair. “You’re so smart that it scares me sometimes.”

  Marley beamed. “Maybe this means you still have a chance.”

  My expression soured. “Let’s not worry about that, Marley. I’d rather focus on the fact I have my own broomstick.”

  “I get a unicorn and you get a broomstick,” she said. “Seems fair.” Her eyes grew round and solemn. “You’re not going to make me fly everywhere with you now, are you? Because I still don’t like heights.”

  “I won’t make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with,” I said.

  Marley paused thoughtfully. “Maybe you should.”

  Huh? I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly. “What?”

  “I don’t want to end up like Alec,” she explained. “If he’s uncomfortable, he bails.”

  That much was true. “Sweetheart, you and Alec are very different. For starters, you’re a child.”

  “Alec was a child once,” Marley said. “Maybe his parents never pushed him out of his comfort zone. Maybe he was allowed to retreat and never fully experience discomfort, so he never learned to work through it.”

  I heaved a sigh. “I love how your brain works, I really do. But Alec is a grown vampire. Whatever his past experiences, he chooses fear over opportunity every day. No one can change that except him.”

  Marley smiled. “Maybe you’re helping him to change it. Little by little.” She tapped the end of the broomstick.

  It was too much to hope for. Besides, I was focused on Granger now. It wasn’t fair to the sheriff to secretly pine for my emotionally stifled vampire boss.

  “I think I’m going to take this for a quick practice session,” I said. “I assume you don’t want to join me.”

  Marley recoiled. “I’ll take PP3 for a walk and watch from the ground.” She grabbed his leash and hooked it to his collar.

  I dropped my handbag onto the coffee table and tucked the broomstick under my arm. “It’s so funny. I actually feel like a witch today when I’m on a broomstick. It’s the only time I really feel that way.”

  We stepped back outside, into the bright sunshine.

  “All you need is a black cat for the tip of your broomstick,” Marley called after me.

  Will I do? Raoul appeared between the hedges.

  “Hey, look. My friendly neighborhood stalker. Want to go for a ride?” I asked.

  I’m your familiar, he said. Comes with the territory.

  I straddled the broomstick. “Hop on. There’s plenty of room.”

  I commanded the broomstick into the air, with my trusty raccoon holding on for dear life.

  Regrets, I have a few, he said, hanging upside down.

  “Pretend it’s a tree branch and you’ll be fine.”

  I waved to Marley and PP3 on the front lawn of the cottage. In the woods behind the cottage, a flash of color caught my eye as my vampire boss moved stealthily along the path that led to the main road. I assumed he’d taken the back path so that no one from Thornhold would register his visit. When he glanced skyward, I pretended not to notice him. That was what he wanted, and the part of me that cared for him wanted to give him whatever he desired, even at my own expense. Never mind that intense feelings like ours had been Higgins’ and Laura’s undoing. Alec and I had declared an emotional detente and I had to learn to live with it. I knew I’d never go near Alec with a corkscrew, just like he’d never come near me with his fangs. If Holly was his choice, then I would support his decision because that’s what you do when you care about someone.

  With a final glance at Alec, I turned my broomstick back toward my beloved family and headed for home.

  Thank you for reading Magic & Mercy! If you enjoyed it, please help other readers find this book so they can enjoy the world of Starry Hollow, too ~

  1. Write a review and post it on Amazon.

  2. Sign up for my new r
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  3. Look out for Magic & Madness, the next book in the series!

  4. Other books by Annabel Chase include the Spellbound paranormal cozy mystery series.

  Curse the Day, Book 1

  Doom and Broom, Book 2

  Spell’s Bells, Book 3

  Lucky Charm, Book 4

  Better Than Hex, Book 5

  Cast Away, Book 6

  A Touch of Magic, Book 7

  A Drop in the Potion, Book 8

  Hemlocked and Loaded, Book 9

  All Spell Breaks Loose, Book 10