A Drop of Witch (A Cozy Mystery Book): Sweetland Witch

by Zoe Arden

  “Margaret, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to call you. Forget about meeting me at Melbourne’s.”

  “Are you sure? I got stuck at Whisper Crossing—there was a stubborn Wildebeest blocking the road. It took me forever to get him to move—but I’m free of it now.”

  “No, it’s fine.” I filled her in on everything that had happened, including the part about me being related to Sara Sweetland. I saw Colt shoot me a look when I told her that, even though I left out the part about the curse. I wasn’t sure I wanted to share that with anyone just yet. Melbourne had been right when he’d said I might want to hear that information alone. I was glad now that he’d made Colt wait outside. I didn’t know why it mattered. Maybe it was just that I didn’t want Colt to look at me differently, the way Damon did.

  When had life gotten so complicated?

  Colt dropped me off outside my house. “I’m going to make a quick call to headquarters and then I’ll be in.”

  “Okay. I’m going to bed.”

  He nodded.

  “Don’t worry, Ava. You sleep tonight. I’ll be up.” He popped some of his peppy extract. I felt bad knowing that he’d be up all night, but I knew his point had not been to make me feel guilty. It had been to make me feel safe.

  “Thanks,” I said before going to the door.

  My foot crunched on something as I inserted my key into the knob. I stooped down to see what it was and gasped. Under my foot lay a smooth, green stone with red veins running through it. Etched on its side was the symbol for death.

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SEVEN

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  I knew I was dead. There was one day left until the Wolf Moon began. We had no idea where Slater was. No idea where Polly was. And no idea who was helping her.

  I texted Damon. Even though he didn’t want to speak to me right now, I still needed to know he was okay.

  U ALRITE? I hit send.

  A minute later, my phone flashed at me.

  YES

  That was it. He didn’t ask how I was or even if there was any news on Polly and Slater. Maybe Sheriff Knoxx was keeping him in the loop. I didn’t know, but it would have been nice if he could have at least—

  “Stop it,” I yelled at myself. “Just stop.”

  If Damon wanted to talk to me, he would. If not, then it wasn’t meant to be. I’d already decided that, so why was this so difficult for me? In my heart of hearts, did I really think that Damon and I had a future together? Plus, as I had learned in this last week, he was kind of a mama’s boy.

  My door opened and a wet, pink nose poked its way in. I smiled as Snowball’s head appeared.

  “Hi, fuzzball,” I said.

  Snowball ran and jumped onto my bed.

  “Snowball does not like fuzzball.”

  “I know, Snowy likes Snowy or Snowball,” I said, stroking her white fur. “Mama’s sorry. I’ll try to do better.”

  She accepted my apology with a lick of her tongue and a nudge of her head.

  “Aunties said to give you message,” Snowball said when she’d decided that I’d scratched her chin sufficiently.

  “What’s the message?” I asked.

  “Go to bakery. Do not spy on people.”

  My mouth dropped open. “I haven’t been spying on anyone! If anything, people are spying on me.”

  “Does Mama mean detective man? He spies on many.”

  “Colt. And yes, that’s exactly who I mean. But it’s sort of his job to spy.”

  “Snowball likes detective man.”

  “You do?” I asked, surprised. I had no idea that he and Snowball had even spoken.

  “He gives Snowball tuna. Snowball likes tuna.”

  “When did he give you tuna?” I asked, completely taken aback by Snowball’s remark. I couldn’t remember seeing Colt scratch her head, let alone feed her tuna.

  “At night. Snowball keeps him company while he works. Snowball and detective man are good friends since Snowball tricked him.”

  “You mean, he wasn’t mad that you helped me that time?”

  “No. Detective man says Snowball is a very good familiar and also a good spy, like him.”

  “Really? Does he give you tuna every night?”

  “Only when Snowball completes her project.”

  “What project?”

  “Snowball patrols the neighborhood. Snowball goes to places people cannot because they are too big to fit.”

  “Have you found anything interesting?”

  Snowball scrunched her face up.

  “Snowball does not think so, but detective man did.”

  “Oh? What did detective man find interesting?”

  “Snowball saw a man walking down street at night. He was wearing black and wanting to be secret.”

  “When was this?”

  “Last night.”

  “Do you know who it was?”

  “Snowball does not know. Snowball has not seen man before.”

  “Where did he go?” I asked.

  “Auntie Trixie’s vampire friend.”

  “He went to Melbourne’s?” I wondered if Snowball was talking about Vlaski.

  “Yes. He stayed long time with Auntie Trixie’s vampire friend. Vampire friend was mad when secret man left.”

  “You did good, Snowball. Is detective man downstairs now?”

  Snowball nodded.

  “Well, you go tell him to give you more tuna. Tell him Mama said so.”

  “More tuna?” Snowy’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Mama.” Snowball licked my face and ran downstairs, her tail wagging.

  When I joined her, she was already on her second helping. Colt grinned sheepishly at me. “I had a cat growing up,” he said, shrugging. “Mustang was all white, just like Snowball.”

  “You’re cute when you get that childlike look on your face.”

  What the—?

  Did I just say that out loud? My face turned fifty shades of pink. Colt, mercifully, pretended like he didn’t notice.

  “Um, what’s this Snowball’s been telling me?” I asked, quickly changing the subject. “Did Vlaski pay another visit to Melbourne last night?”

  Colt looked at Snowball. “Ratted me out, did you?”

  Snowball looked up from her tuna. “Snowball tells Mama everything,” she said and went back to eating.

  “I don’t understand what Vlaski’s doing here in Sweetland Cove,” Colt said. “I checked his file last night. The last time he was seen was fifty years ago in the Ukraine. No one even knew he was here.”

  “Hmm. Maybe Trixie can shed some light on things?”

  “Trixie?”

  “Yeah. She’s been hanging around Melbourne a lot lately. Maybe he said something to her.”

  “I’ll go with you to the bakery,” Colt said, taking up his coat. For the first time, I noticed the gun on his shoulder strap. I’d seen it in his hand at Damon’s the other day, but I’d never actually seen it on him like this. It kind of freaked me out.

  He caught me staring at it. “It’s just a precaution. I don’t always carry it, but given the circumstances...”

  “Do you have other weapons on you?” I asked.

  He lifted his pant leg and revealed a metallic wand with a crystal tip.

  “A wand?” I asked.

  “Not exactly. More like... a wand plus.”

  “Plus what?”

  “Imagine a machine gun, a blow torch, and a wand all rolled into one.”

  “Wow.”

  “Precisely.”

  At the bakery, I could see that Eleanor was frazzled. My father was running around helping where he could. He was really getting good at things. He put together a box of a dozen cloud cupcakes like the mile-high frosting on top was no big deal. The frosting was literally a foot high, yet the cupcakes never wavered in his arms as he boxed them up.

  “I was worried that busine
ss might slow down because of what happened with Paisley,” Eleanor said, “but if anything, we’re busier than ever.”

  I looked at the line wrapped around the corner and knew it was the old gossip mill in full swing. Everyone wanted to see where Paisley had bit the big one. It was kind of twisted.

  “Is Trixie in back?” I asked. Normally it was Eleanor who was in back, putting together her cakes while Trixie dealt with the customers.

  “Yes, we needed more lavender frosting. And Venus chocolate. And bubble gum. And we have a list of extracts for you when you think you can find the time.” She shot me a look.

  “I promise I’ll get to the list if I’m still alive after tomorrow.”

  “The safest place for you right now is in the bakery. Just look around. Who’s gonna get to you here?” I hadn’t told her or anyone about the stone I’d found on the doorstep last night. I knew that Colt would never have let me out of the house, and my aunts and father would just worry themselves to death.

  “I’ll go find Trixie,” I told Eleanor, ignoring her question, and made my way through the crowd.

  Colt took up a spot by the door. He folded his hands together and stood straight, his back to the wall where he could survey everyone who entered.

  I went into the back and found Trixie elbow deep in a five-foot bowl of yellow frosting. She was adding some sort of syrup to it.

  “Hi,” she said when she saw me.

  “Hi.” There was no point beating around the bush. I didn’t have that sort of time. “Do you know why Melbourne is hanging around with Vlaski Ambrose?”

  Trixie almost fell into the bowl she was working with.

  “What are you talking about?” she screeched.

  “Vlaski Ambrose,” I repeated. “He’s a vampire from the Ukraine. I met him at Melbourne’s house the other day.”

  “You did not!” Trixie cried.

  Her reaction was much stronger than I’d anticipated. She’d clearly heard of Vlaski before.

  “Yes, I did.”

  Trixie’s mouth drew up into a tight little bow that I’d never seen on her before.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m trying to control my anger right now,” she said, closing her eyes and taking a breath. “Melbourne is in so much trouble when I see him again.”

  “Why?”

  She let out a stream of air that hissed through her teeth. When she started stirring the frosting again, it was much more violent. Her fist pounded into the frosting over and over as she mixed it up. She was using it like a punching bag.

  “Um... Trixie?”

  “He promised me he wouldn’t see that man.” Trixie pounded into the frosting one more time and looked up at me. “After Pennyweather died, he took it hard. So hard, that he wrote to Vlaski, asking if there was any way to... bring her back.”

  “I gasped. Bring her back?”

  Trixie nodded. “I thought I’d talked him out of it, but if Vlaski’s here...”

  “But... can you turn a person who’s already dead?”

  Trixie shrugged. “Vlaski claims he can.”

  I thought it was more than just Vlaski’s presence here that was bothering her. It was the fact that Melbourne was clearly not over his deceased girlfriend. It was sad but sweet. I felt bad for Trixie. She clearly liked Melbourne more than he liked her. At least, right now. I opened my mouth to tell her that could change one day, when my dad poked his head in back.

  “Ava, Sheriff Knoxx is here. He wants to talk to you.”

  I went out front to find Sheriff Knoxx deep in conversation with Colt.

  “She should stay here,” Colt was saying.

  “She can’t lure them out if she’s not there.”

  “She’s not bait!”

  “It should be her choice!”

  I realized they were talking about me. “What should be my choice?”

  Colt sighed and waved his hands through the air.

  “I’ve got a lead on Slater and Polly. They were spotted at Whisper Crossing.”

  I suddenly understood what the argument was about.

  “I’m going,” I told Colt defiantly.

  “I know,” he said. “You always insist on being stubborn. Fine. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

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  Sheriff Knoxx blazed toward Whisper Crossing at a rabbit’s pace. Colt and I jogged along behind him in Colt’s car. Sheriff Knoxx left his sirens off, not wanting to alert Polly and Slater to our arrival if they were actually there.

  “Someone phoned in a tip,” Colt said.

  “A tip? Who?”

  “No idea.”

  Colt was going so fast he almost lost control of the car and hit a tree. He wiggled his nose at the last minute and we avoided colliding with it. We drove the rest of the way in silence.

  We pulled up beside Sheriff Knoxx. He was already out of his car and scouring the ground.

  “Stay in the open,” Sheriff Knoxx said to me. “If they see you; they might come out.”

  Colt shot him an irritated look. “Stay close,” he whispered. We inched along the ground together.

  “I’ll check the cemetery,” I said.

  “Not without me, you won’t.”

  He chased me up the hill to the graveyard, then jolted ahead of me at the top. He was faster than wind when he wanted to be. I lost sight of him behind Sara Sweetland’s tomb. The towering angel propelled up toward the sky, its arms outstretched. Its wings turned in on itself. Knowing that I was related to her gave me a new perspective. I looked at the tomb not in awe, but in admiration. Admiration for a woman who had given her life so that me and everyone before me might’ve been born.

  “Ava!” Colt called. I looked in the direction of his voice. “Run!” He came into view, his supercharged wand drawn. Slater and Polly were just behind him.

  I turned and ran.

  “Sheriff Knoxx!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Polly saw me and started toward me. I ran down the hill, knowing that Colt could take care of himself, especially with that “wand plus” he was carrying. “Sheriff Knoxx!”

  The sheriff materialized from the bushes just as Polly made a grab for me. I felt her fingers pull at the ends of my hair, but they went right through.

  She saw the sheriff running toward me. He was almost as fast as Colt. Polly stopped and did an about face, running as fast as she could away from him.

  “Ava,” Sheriff Knoxx panted, “get to my car and lock yourself in.” I started running toward it. He chased Polly into the surrounding woods. I was almost to the police cruiser when I heard Colt’s gun go off.

  I turned and scanned the graveyard where I’d left him. I didn’t see him or Slater. Anywhere. It made me uneasy. I started back up the hill. I knew that was the last thing Colt would want me to do, but the last thing I wanted was for him to die.

  “Colt!” I yelled when I didn’t see him.

  Slater’s head popped out from behind Sara Sweetland’s tombstone. He ran straight for me, tearing into me like a fullback as he hit my midsection and sent me flying backward. We tumbled down the hill together, tangled in each other’s grip.

  “Aaahh!” I screamed.

  We landed with a thud. Slater was human but he was still bigger and stronger than me. He was pressing my face into the grass. I could taste dirt on my tongue and my head ached badly. I tried to roll over and get him off my back, but it was no use. I wondered if anyone had ever drowned in dirt before.

  Suddenly, I was free. As quickly as my headache appeared, it vanished. Colt had tackled Slater and was rolling on the ground with him. They were locked together in one endlessly long loop.

  “Colt!”

  I ran after them, almost losing my balance and falling as my head began to spin. I guess Slater had hit me harder than I’d thought. Slater got up and started back up the hill. Colt grabbed
him and they fell back to the bottom together. Colt punched Slater hard across the face. The back of Slater’s head hit the ground and he stopped moving.

  “Is he dead?” I asked, breathless.

  “No, just unconscious.” Colt looked around. “Where’s the sheriff?”

  “He chased Polly into the woods.”

  Colt picked Slater up, hoisted him over one shoulder, and carried him to his car. Inside, he cuffed both of Slater’s wrists to the door handle. His head lolled as Colt left him there and headed toward the forest. I started after him.

  “Stay here,” he barked at me, sharper than I think he meant to. He paused when he saw the look on my face. “Here. Take this.” He gave me his super wand. “If Slater does anything, aim that between his eyes and say ‘iganzio fiero.’ Got it?” “

  “Ignazio fiero,” I said and gave the wand a wave. Colt ducked and grabbed the wand.

  “Never say that unless you intend to use it,” he said and ran toward the forest. I’d have to remember to ask him what that meant when this was all over. Holding it, I felt invincible. There was something about the feel of it in my hand that made me think that with this wand, I could do anything.

  Five minutes passed and Colt and the sheriff still hadn’t reemerged. My heart started beating like a bird’s wings lost in flight. I took a tentative step toward the woods. Then another... and another... until finally I was a yard from the edge. The forest was thick, and I could barely see through the first layer of trees.

  “Colt? Sheriff Knoxx?”

  There was a rustling of trees, and Colt suddenly appeared, one arm wrapped around Sheriff Knoxx’s waist, the other supporting his head. Sheriff Knoxx was walking—barely.

  “Oh, my roses! Is he okay?”

  I ran to the sheriff, whose eyes were bloodshot. His face was turning green.

  “Hurry, get the car.” Colt quickly reached into his pocket and tossed me his keys.

  “What happened to him?” I asked.

  “Polly stabbed with some kind of knife.”

  “A knife?” I asked. “I don’t see any blood.”