I patted down some of her hair that was still sticking up at a funny angle after her last spell.
Granner dropped her purse on the ground. “You have to get him scraped off my cheese!”
Vin nodded for Raymond to go make the call then turned to his great-great-grandmother. “What do you mean?”
“The marshal will take my cheese! It’s the world’s biggest wedge of cheese. I spent all year making and spelling it.”
He blew out a long sigh, exasperated. “Of course they’ll take the cheese. There’s a dead man stuck to the bottom of it. It’s… it’s not pretty under there. We’ll have to move your booth afterward.”
She put her bony fists at her sides. “If they scrape him off the bottom, I could sell the rest.”
Vin looked a little green at the thought. “Granner, you can’t do that. And you are going to need to give refunds to the people that already bought a piece.”
“I’m going to go speak to your mother.” She turned and stomped off, weaving through the growing crowd of vendors that were gathered to watch. As she walked away, I could hear her muttering. “Refunds? I didn’t think he was such a fool. You’d have better luck getting the Baptists to open a disco than getting me to give refunds for perfectly good cheese.”
Vin shook his head. “Vanessa, will you go with her and tell Mom the whole story? Ella, beat it. I don’t want you around when the marshal and his goons show up.”
I bristled at his command. My chin jutted forward. “Beat it? I know you didn’t just give me an order.”
He caught my eye, and I saw something there. Concern? My jaw dropped.
He pressed a finger to my chin, snapping my mouth shut, then yanked his hand back as though burned by the touch. “Yeah, get out of here.”
Vanessa and I wandered away from the booth and aimlessly walked the convention floor toward the exit.
She dragged her feet. “I’m not getting into it with Granner and Mom. They can get into it like cats and dogs.”
“You said she was in her eighties?”
“One hundred eighty-three, to be exact. Doesn’t she look great?”
I stopped dead. “Are you messing with me?”
“Ella, mages have long lives. Surely we’ve told you that before. Let’s keep walking. I don’t want anyone to start a conversation with me.” She urged me along, keeping her voice low enough not to invite comment.
“When you said that mages live a long time, I assumed you meant like ninety or a hundred. You need to be more specific.”
“How am I supposed to know what you know and don’t know? Haven’t you been reading the books Mom gave you?”
I shrugged. My evenings were spent training with Bear and Badger, and every spare second beyond that, I’d been sleeping or eating. “I’ve been busy.”
She slid her eyes to me in suspicion but didn’t grill me on the line of thought. Though given her absent-minded behavior, she might have still been daydreaming about Raymond or planning lunch. “Did you see Raymond? He’s so hot. He’s been working in another casino, but now that he’s back, I must move quickly. I’ve been thinking… we should go on a double date.”
“What? With who?” I knew exactly who I wanted her to suggest.
She smirked. “You know who. You and Vin have been circling each other for months, and now that he’s ditched that hideous girlfriend, you can plan your attack. Unless you’re dating someone and just keeping it a secret? Maybe that’s why you aren’t doing your home studying?”
I shook my head. Her non sequitur made more sense now. “No, I’m not dating anyone. Now or ever.” I tried to say it casually as if it was no big deal instead of being a secret embarrassment.
“What are you talking about? I bet you have guys—Oh!” She drew out the last word to give it great meaning. It started high in surprise then lowered and lengthen to indicate her understanding.
“What?” We turned a corner, and I checked behind me to see if Patagonia was still following. She wasn’t. She was probably holed up somewhere for a nap or to wash behind her ears. She would pop back to me when she was ready. A benefit of her being magical and my familiar was that she was always safe and could find me whenever she wanted.
“You didn’t know you were a mage until recently, so it’s no wonder you never dated. Girl, you need to make up for lost time.”
“What’s the connection to being a mage?”
“Well, you weren’t using your powers, so you were invisible to mages, but you could never be attracted to just a normal human. Ew, it’d be like trying to date a mannequin.” She shuddered at the thought.
“This is another example of something you could have told me. Seriously, Vanessa, this is the kind of information I need in my life right now, not spells on how to stuff tote bags with flyers.” My tone was a bit too aggressive, and I debated taking it all back, but it was true, and I was frustrated.
“Don’t yell at me. I’m not your teacher. Maybe if you read the books Mom gave you. I think one of them was called Your Changing Witch Body. It goes over most of this stuff. Besides, this is our first week away from the classroom since you started training,” she grumbled.
I might have only been training for six months versus her lifetime, but I was older, and Vin was right. I should have been the more mature one. “It pains me to say it, but you’re right.”
We had circled the entire convention and were returning to Granner’s booth.
A group of men approached, led by an older man. His face was a series of angles: a nose that was long and narrow like a knife, cheekbones that jutted out on the sides, and a chin that almost came to a point. His skin was so pale it had a blue undertone and seemed to glow next to his jet-black hair. His height was even more impressive in comparison to how thin he was.
He was flanked on all sides by tall, blocky men in dark suits. None of them spoke or interacted, like a herd of dogs descending on a target.
A shiver went down my spine. Vin stepped out to greet them, and for once, he didn’t seem like the most dangerous man in the room.
I paused. “Who is that?”
“Who?” She followed my line of sight, spun around while grabbing my arm, and started dragging me away. “Stay away. He’s the marshal for this whole area. You want to stay out of his way. He must have already been in the building to get here so quickly.”
A prickly sensation ran up my spine, and I shot a glance over my shoulder. He was staring at us, and his yellow eyes seared into me before I could pull away. It was only a millisecond, but it felt like forever. “What’s a marshal?”
We turned a corner, and Vanessa dropped my arm. “He’s like the humans’ police, judge and jury all wrapped up in one.”
“So he’s the good guy?”
She shook her head. “He’s not really good but rather someone to be avoided. Everyone tries to handle their own disputes, and he prefers it that way. This is how mages have always handled things, but I don’t like it.” We ducked around a corner, and she scrubbed at her face with her hands. “Let’s sit for a minute. I need to catch my breath.”
We grabbed a couple of chairs next to a small table near a wall. Vendors still tidied up their booths, but even more so they clustered together in little knots, whispering.
“They didn’t call him out last time,” I remarked.
“Because no one knew that there had been murders, and when we figured it out, the murderer was taken care of. I’m sure Vin reported it afterward to the marshal. Better him than me. But they had to report it this time. It was obviously murder, and Michael Peteman is a big-time player, though I have no idea why he was here. He quit a few months ago.”
“Tell me about him.” Maybe more information would help me make sense of the vision.
“Michael was the president of the American Paranormal Cheese Council, and this event was his baby.” She gestured toward the convention center. “At least it was until he suddenly stepped down a few months ago. That was why we all got roped into helping ru
n the event. They got a new president, Sheila Something-or-other, but it was so last minute that she needed a lot of assistance. They had already reserved the convention hall here, so we got sucked into helping.”
“Why did he step down?”
“His wife, who’s way out of his league, was from one of the ‘old families’ in Europe and got him some fancy new job. I’ve always hated that phrase.”
I stretched out my legs and bumped into a small furry body. Peeking downward, I spotted Patagonia licking a paw and rubbing behind her ear. “What phrase? ‘Old families’?”
“Yes, all families are old families. I mean, it’s not like anyone just burst forth with no parents, but for some reason, if your family never moves, then they’re a big deal. Who cares if your family’s too lazy to move for centuries?” She crossed her arms and slouched in her seat.
I chuckled. “Was he coming to finish up old business?”
“No idea. I heard he was practically all moved and wouldn’t be coming this week. Do you think we’ll investigate like last time?” She sat up in excitement at the idea, blurting it out far more loudly than we had previously been talking.
A small group of people who had been chatting nearby turned to watch us.
“Sh!” I held up a hand. I lowered my voice. “I’m supposed to keep a low profile, and no one is supposed to even know about that.”
She leaned in. “Sorry. I just get so excited. That was the most fun that I’ve had in forever. I know we could solve this crime too.” Her voice slowly rose as she got wound up.
“What’s wrong with you? Hush.”
“Oh, I have a great idea. Remember that whisper spell I was working on?”
I rolled my eyes. She had decided that we needed a way to whisper during lessons with her mom. “Do you know how good you would be if you actually studied instead of goofing off?”
“You’re just a fuddy duddy.”
“I have decades of studying to catch up on.”
She dug something out of her pocket while mumbling, “You have decades of fun to catch up on.” She pulled out a stone egg and held it in both hands. Her channeling key would help her cast the spell.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
“Hush. I don’t have a potion, so I need to rework the spell. Give me a second.” She closed her eyes and held the glowing channeling key tightly.
I adjusted my bra, and my own channeling key nestled between my breasts. It had ended up being the most convenient place to carry the stone egg, though sometimes it left bruises. Patting my thigh, I waited for Patagonia to hop up for scratches while Vanessa reworked the spell.
I had thought that learning magic meant that I could just do everything without effort, but it was far more complicated. It was more like being athletic or artistic. A mage might have a natural gift for something, like my ability to read emotions or tell what magic led to someone’s death, but they still needed to be trained to make use of it. And all the things I wasn’t naturally gifted at needed instruction, training, and worst of all, a lot of practice to get good at. It was a lot less glamourous than I had hoped.
“Okay, I think I have something worked out. I’ve created a bubble, and any sound that comes out will be muffled. Now we can discuss Michael’s murder without interruption. As president of the Cheese Council, I wonder if he had a lot of—”
I grabbed her arm, and she stopped suddenly.
The spike of emotions around me had given me a split-second warning that her spell was not working right. Instead of muffling her voice, the spell amplified it. What she’d said about Michael’s murder had been broadcast to all those people standing around. Shock, fear, curiosity, and sadness had overwhelmed me. The looks on the faces of people as they turned to face us mirrored those emotions.
Vanessa’s face went white. “Oh, raspberries!”
The magic around us released with a slight pop that made my skin tingle briefly, like a bubble popping against my skin.
“I told you it was a bad idea.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “No one likes a know-it-all. Oh crap, it’s Ellen and Keri.” She stood to face them and slapped a fake smile on her face. “Hi, guys. I didn’t realize you had a booth here.”
There was a vague family resemblance between the two girls approaching. They also wore matching aprons. A cluster of other vendors trailed behind them but didn’t come close enough to be addressed just yet.
The blond woman smiled brightly. “Yes, we’re in the local section with a few cheesecakes.”
“Hush, Ellen. Vanessa doesn’t care,” the brunette snapped. “What’s this about Michael being murdered?”
Vanessa crossed her arms. “Ella, this is Keri and Ellen. Ellen’s the good cousin, and Keri’s the evil one.”
Ellen snickered.
The growing crowd from the booths moved in closer. A twenty-something woman with an asymmetric bob, striking blue eyes, and an apron with “Big M Dairy” written across the front stepped between the cousins. “Did you say that Michael was murdered? What happened? Where?”
“Is that why the marshal is here? What was Michael doing here?” shouted a tall, wiry man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair.
Keri gasped. “I saw the marshal at Granner’s booth. Did she kill him?”
I pushed Patagonia off my lap and grabbed Vanessa’s arm to drag her away. “Sorry. We have to go.”
I dragged her halfway across the room before she yanked her arm free.
“Oh relax, Ella. They were going to find out anyway, and now I have a solid spell for amplifying my voice.”
I couldn’t hold back a giggle. Vanessa was one hot mess, but she was a lot of fun.
“Vanessa! Vanessa!” Vin called out.
We spun around. Vin was charging down an aisle, his face unreadable. I pressed hard to get a feel for his emotions but got nothing.
He stepped between us and pressed a hand to my back to guide me toward the exit. “Vanessa, you need to go find Mom and Granner. Ella, I have a few minutes before the marshal needs me again. Can we talk some more about your vision?”
A chill went down my spine as his touch grazed my lower back. “Sure.” I looked up at him and smiled. This murder couldn’t have come at a better time.
CHAPTER FOUR
I moved smoothly into warrior pose, my left leg extended behind me, my right leg at ninety degrees, and my hand pointed straight up to the ceiling. I exhaled and focused on lighting the candle across the room while holding the pose.
The rest of the afternoon had flown by as I talked privately with Vin. While we normally terrorized each other, he seemed to have a great deal of respect for my abilities. He attempted to tease out every detail, and I did my best to share everything I could.
We had hidden from the marshal in a supply closet. We had sat with our legs pressed up against each other in the small pine-scented room.
The candle was engulfed in flames then disappeared, leaving a pool of molten candle wax.
Badger pulled out another candle and placed it in the center of the tray. “Ella, I don’t want to know what you are thinking about. Cut it out and focus,” the compact man barked at me.
“Sorry, Badger.” My embarrassment heated my whole face. I shook slightly as my fatigued muscles threatened to give out. I wanted to collapse on the hand-woven rug on my loft living room floor, but I pushed on. A small tendril of smoke started to rise from the replacement candle, and I doubled my efforts.
I had only a moment to gasp before a cup full of water splashed across my face and I fell over. Sputtering, I wiped my face and turned to Bear. “What was that about?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You caught on fire again. You haven’t done that in months. What’s going on?” He towered over me, hairy all over and long limbed like the bears he was nicknamed after. His gentle eyes and calm demeanor, more teddy bear than grizzly, had been a nice complement to Badger’s tightly wound determination. With others, he would be terrifying, but
not with me. Like Vin, Bear owned his own security firm, though his exact jobs were unknown to me.
I wiped off my eyes and scrubbed my face. Patagonia meowed and licked some water off my shoulder. The tank top was singed all across the front. “Dang it, I loved this top.”
Badger sat on the couch. “Is your distraction related to your thoughts earlier? You’re worse than normal.” He avoided my eyes and, for the first time that I had ever seen, looked uncomfortable. “Is it about a man?”
I gasped and looked away. “No!” I got up off the floor and threw on a sweatshirt. “Why can’t I practice my magic while doing something cool like karate or capoeira?”
“What is capoeira?”
“Sexy Brazilian dance fighting.” I stretched out the charley horse in my thigh.
“First off, never mention that to me again. We are never doing that. Secondly, why do you need to learn to physically fight? You are learning magic for a reason.”
I shifted my position and stretched out the other side. “Then why do anything? I could go so much faster if I wasn’t bent into a pretzel. Besides, lighting a candle is hardly a skill that will protect me in a fight.”
“Lighting the candle is a metaphor, Ella.” Badger’s phone went off with a chirp. He pulled it from his pocket and gave it a quick glance before dropping it on the coffee table. “Anyone can do magic when it’s easy. That’s why so many mages have cushy office jobs, performing the same type of magic over and over. You need to do something that distracts you, pushes you, gets your blood pumping and your focus fuzzy. You need to learn how to do magic when it’s hard. Otherwise you’ll end up dead. Until then, there is no point in teaching you defensive or proactive magic. You couldn’t perform it anyway.”
Bear sat up. “Ease up a bit, Badger. You’ll scare the girl.”
“We don’t know why Bull hid her, but he had his reasons. And neither one of us is doing her a favor pretending that the mage world isn’t a dangerous place, even with us looking out for her.”
If I didn’t interrupt them soon, they would argue about my safety until the familiars came home. “But wouldn’t a martial art be more fun?”
Which Mage Moved the Cheese? Page 3