Alice in Murderland

by Samantha Silver

  Alice in Murderland

  Samantha Silver

  Blueberry Books Press

  Contents

  1. Chapter One

  2. Chapter Two

  3. Chapter Three

  4. Chapter Four

  5. Chapter Five

  6. Chapter Six

  7. Chapter Seven

  8. Chapter Eight

  9. Chapter Nine

  10. Chapter Ten

  11. Chapter Eleven

  12. Chapter Twelve

  13. Chapter Thirteen

  14. Chapter Fourteen

  15. Chapter Fifteen

  16. Chapter Sixteen

  17. Chapter Seventeen

  18. Chapter Eighteen

  19. Chapter Nineteen

  20. Chapter Twenty

  21. Chapter Twenty-One

  22. Chapter Twenty-two

  Also by Samantha Silver

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  The weather as I stepped off the plane at Portland International Airport matched my mood exactly: miserable and low, with dark clouds that threatened to open up and drench the world.

  I didn’t want to be here. I was a Miami girl, born and bred. When the weather dipped under seventy degrees, I was cold.

  It was fifty-two in Oregon right now. In the middle of April. I shivered as I made my way through the airport to collect my luggage. The cute, sleeveless sundress I was wearing made me look adorable, but it also made me feel freezing cold. I regretted not having bought a cardigan or something to put on top of it.

  I’d never wanted to move to Oregon, anyway. I liked Miami. I had a life there. I had family, I had friends. Sure, they were more the type that you called up to go party with than the kinds that would sit with you with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s when you broke up with your boyfriend, but still. I had a job, too. Ok, so the job kind of sucked, but nobody has an awesome job they absolutely love when they’re twenty-six. And there were worse ways to spend a day than perfecting latte art, right?

  My mom had called me out of the blue a week ago with a phone call that changed my life completely. I’d known I was adopted my whole life–my mom and my birth mother had been best friends, until my birth mother died in a car accident and mom and dad adopted me. They’d raised me as their own, unable to have children themselves.

  What I didn’t know was that my birth mother’s family still kept in touch with mom from time to time. One of my biological aunts had died, and she had left me the old bookshop she ran in a small mountain town in Oregon. I didn’t want it. I mean sure, I enjoyed reading. But running a stuffy old bookshop in a town of six thousand people where the water took the form of snow for half the year? No, thank you. I was definitely more the relax-on-the-beach type than the throwing-myself-down-a-mountain-on-skis type.

  Of course, when I told my mom that, she wasn’t happy. “You’re not doing anything with your life, Alice. You’re stuck in a dead-end job, your friends still take you out to party like you’re nineteen, and you’re obviously miserable. Go to Oregon. Take over the bookshop. If you hate it, you can always come back. But for goodness’ sake, I hate seeing my daughter like this. I promise I’ll come visit you as often as I can. But you need to do this. Please.”

  I sighed, knowing my mom was right. As always. I eventually agreed to go to Oregon, but only for a year. And if I absolutely hated it, I was coming back sooner. There was something weird in my mom’s voice when I told her that, though. It was almost… relief. I wondered if my mom wasn’t trying to get me away from her, and that only made my mood worse.

  That was how I ended up sitting in front of the luggage claim rack at Portland airport, near tears as I watched the empty carousel turning in circles. Everyone else on my flight had left, luggage in hand, and the pretty flowered suitcase I’d bought for this trip a week ago was nowhere to be seen.

  My eyes stung as I made my way to the lost luggage counter and made my claim. I had never felt so alone in my life. My mother had exiled me to this strange place. My friends were in Florida. My family was in Florida. Even my suitcase had abandoned me.

  I left my information with the clerk, who assured me my luggage was most likely going to be on the next flight and would be delivered to my address as soon as it arrived, and went to sit down on a bench while I waited for my ride. Apparently one of my cousins, Catherine, was on her way to pick me up. I took out my phone and opened up Instagram while I waited. My friend Betsy was spending the day on the beach, going by the picture of her legs that looked like hot dogs, and the warm, hot sun beating down on the sand beneath her beach towel.

  It only served to make my mood worse, and I closed the app before I made my way over to departures and booked the next flight back home.

  Before I had too much of a chance to dwell on how much I didn’t want to be here, however, a voice that was way, way too perky for my mood right now interrupted me.

  “Well, you must be Alice!”

  I looked up, and my mouth dropped open. Standing in front of me was a girl with wavy, pastel purple hair that reached down to her shoulders. She was about five feet eight inches tall–an inch or so taller than me–and wearing cat-print leggings with Converse sneakers and an oversized sweatshirt of a cat vomiting up a rainbow on a space background.

  “I’m Catherine,” she said. “But everyone calls me Cat.”

  “Gee, I wonder why,” I said, standing up. As soon as I did, Cat took me in a giant hug. I froze in place for a second before awkwardly returning the hug.

  “Sorry,” she said as she pulled away. “We’ve just all been so looking forward to see you. I can’t wait until you’ve met everyone. But oh! You’re freezing. Where’s your suitcase?”

  “Lost in the vortex that is Miami-Dale International Airport,” I replied, managing a smile. “It’s ok, it should be here in a little bit.”

  “Nonsense,” Cat replied, immediately taking off her sweatshirt and handing it to me. Underneath she had on a long-sleeved shirt with a picture of a cartoon cat riding a bicycle, but the bike’s wheels were made of yarn.

  “Oh no, it’s ok, I’m fine,” I replied quickly. It wasn’t that I was a fashion snob or anything. As far as I was concerned, people could wear whatever they wanted. I was totally fine with that. It was just that I, personally, didn’t want to be seen in public wearing the rainbow puking cat sweatshirt.

  “Come on,” Cat replied. “It’s fine. I’m wearing a long-sleeved shirt and you look ridiculous wearing a sleeveless sundress in this weather.

  I was too polite to point out to Cat that I was going to look even more ridiculous wearing her sweater, so I simply accepted my fate and slipped it over my head.

  “Great,” my cousin said. “Now, let’s go to the car. The family sent me down to be the one to meet you, since I’m the one who spends the most time in Sapphire Village. I blend in best with the humans, and I’m the most skilled at driving a car.”

  “Wait, what do you mean you blend in best with the humans?” I asked, but Cat was already striding off. I struggled to catch up to her, and a few minutes later she led me to a sky-blue Mazda 3. I slipped into the front seat, thankful that I was now away from any prying eyes that might see me wearing the sweatshirt that made me look like a crazy cat lady.

  “I’m so glad you’ve come to take over Magical Books,” Cat told me as she slipped into the driver’s seat. “I hope you’re fun. It’ll be nice to have someone else feel the wrath of Grandma Cee. Peaches is so prim and proper, she never gets in any trouble and it’s annoying.”

  “Wait, so we have a Grandma named Cee who’s a terror? And someone else named Peaches? Is she another cousin of mine?”

  Cat looked at me side-on. “Wait, your mom didn’t tell you anyth
ing about us?”

  “No,” I replied, shaking my head. “All I know is that one of my biological aunts died and left me the bookshop. That’s all she told me.”

  Suddenly, Cat put the car into gear and the tires squealed as she sped out of the parking lot like the cops were after us. If she kept this up, I was pretty sure the cops were going to be after us.

  “Woah!” I shouted, grabbing the frame of the door, as if that could possibly save me in the fiery wreck I was about to die in. “Slow down!”

  “Relax,” Cat said. “I know how to drive. I got my license, and everything.”

  “Where did you get it from, a box of Cheerios?” I replied as we took a corner so sharply I was sure I felt the two wheels on my side of the car actually leave the ground. “Please!” I begged. “I don’t want to die in Oregon!”

  “Fine, you’re no fun after all,” Cat said, slowing the car down to only ten miles over the limit as we pulled onto the highway that headed toward the mountains.

  “I might not be any fun, but at least I’m alive and not having fun,” I grumbled. “What were you saying about the family? I don’t know anything about anyone.”

  “Well, you’re going to be in for a bit of a shock then. One of your aunts did die, but she didn’t leave you the bookshop. She didn’t have a will at all. We all just decided you should have it, especially since I’m the only one who really lives in Sapphire Village full-time, and I already have a cupcake shop to run. Cat’s Cupcakes. It’s cute, right?” She continued talking without giving me a chance to answer. “But really we just needed you to come closer to the family. You were safe with the humans up until now, but dark times are coming and you need the protection of the family. At least, that’s what Grandma Cee says. I personally think the old lady is crazy, but she convinced mom that you had to come back. That was why Corrine sent you to live with us. We can help to protect you.”

  “Why do you keep mentioning ‘humans’?” I asked. “And what’s all this stuff about protection? I live in Miami, not Baghdad. It’s perfectly safe there.”

  Cat looked at me again, with a slightly strange expression on her face. “Oh. You don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?” I was starting to get frustrated. It was like Cat was speaking in a completely different language.

  “You’re a witch,” she replied, completely seriously.

  Chapter Two

  Great. I had gotten into a car with a crazy person. Maybe this wasn’t my cousin Catherine at all, but just someone at the airport who had seen me as an easy mark and was now kidnapping me.

  “I’m a what?” I asked. Maybe I’d misheard. Maybe it was a crazy misunderstanding and she’d called me a bitch. On the other hand, I wasn’t sure calling me a bitch was any better.

  “You’re a witch. We’re all witches. Well, the boys prefer wizard. But everyone in the family has magical powers. You included.”

  Nope, it wasn’t that I’d misheard. I was in a car with a crazy person. How did I even know this was really my cousin? How did I know we were on the right road? Oh God, I’d been kidnapped. This crazy woman pretending to be my cousin was going to take me to her underground lair and do ‘magic’ on me forever, wasn’t she? And I was wearing her weird cat sweatshirt.”

  “Stop the car!” I said, starting to sweat.

  “What? Why?” Cat asked.

  “I’m going to puke!” I shouted. “Stop the car or I’ll puke all over everything in it.”

  Cat slammed the brakes down so fast my face flew forward and the seatbelt stopped me about an inch away from slamming straight into the dashboard. Still, the car was stopped, and that was the important thing.

  I jumped out of the car and began to run down the highway. Unfortunately, it appeared that it wasn’t exactly rush hour. There were no other cars coming.

  “Help!” I cried all the same, running down the road.

  “Alice! What are you doing?” Cat called, coming after me. I looked and saw her running toward me, and I knew I had to get away from her. She was taller than me, and looked fairly athletic. My only shot was to lose her in the woods. I ran into the forest, desperate to get away from this crazy woman.

  I made it about fifty feet in before my feet got caught on a giant tree root I hadn’t seen and I fell to the ground, letting out a squeal. Cat was on top of me in minutes. Rather than grab me, though, she full-on sat down on my back while I writhed beneath her.

  “Let me go! You’re insane!” I shouted at her.

  “You know, in hindsight, I can see why you would think that,” Cat replied calmly. “You genuinely had no idea that you’re a witch, did you?”

  “I’m not a witch! You’re not a witch! There’s no such thing as magic! Let me g—“

  I stopped midsentence as the tree in front of me suddenly turned bright pink.

  “No such thing as magic, did you say?” Cat asked. I looked at her; she was pointing at the tree in question. Then, she snapped her fingers and the tree went back to normal. I stared up at her in awe.

  “That had to be a trick. You planned this, somehow.”

  “Yes, I totally planned for this to happen right here, in this forest you ran into, in a tree next to the root you happened to stumble over.”

  She had a point. “Are you going to struggle if I get off you?” Cat asked, and I shook my head. She stood up and I sat upright, looking at her in awe.

  “Do something else,” I said. “Prove it. Prove it’s magic.”

  “Ok,” Cat said, and she pointed to a small robin sitting on a tree branch above us. Suddenly, the bird began to grow. I stared in awe as it became the size of an owl, then an eagle before finally Cat snapped her fingers again and the bird shrunk back down to its regular size.

  He sang a song at us, then flew off, as though annoyed that we had used him as a test subject.

  “That can’t be real.” Magic didn’t exist. Sure, me and all my friends spent our eleventh birthdays waiting for a letter to come from Hogwarts and were incredibly disappointed when no owl ever came, but now that I was nearing thirty, I’d long since let that dream go. And yet, I couldn’t explain what I’d just seen in front of me as anything other than magic.

  “It is real, Alice. And you can do it, too.”

  “No way. No. I can’t do magic. I’m twenty-six years old, don’t you think if I could do magic I’d know about it by now?”

  “Well, you don’t know how to do it yet,” Cat said. “I promise you, I’m not a crazy person. Come back to the car, we’ll go up to Sapphire Village and I’ll show you a world you never imagined existed. Literally.”

  “Fine,” I said. “But I swear, if you take me to some creepy looking house in the middle of the woods, I’m out of here.”

  “Deal,” Cat replied with a grin, holding out a hand and helping me to my feet. I looked down and saw my pretty sundress–and Cat’s sweatshirt–were now covered in dirt from my fall.

  “I’ll wash this before I give it back to you,” I told her.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Cat replied, pointing at me. In an instant, the stains were gone. I gaped openly as I looked down at my now pristine clothes.

  “Wow. Well, that should make laundry day less annoying,” I said, and Cat laughed as she led me back out of the woods. My head was spinning. Magic was real? It couldn’t be. The rational part of my brain said that was impossible. And yet, there was proof. It was right there. You can’t fake making a robin the size of an eagle, and then changing it back again. Maybe I was the crazy one. Maybe I was dreaming.

  We got back into the car and drove the rest of the way to Sapphire Village in silence while I thought about everything I’d learned. When we passed a sign saying we were ten miles out from the town, Cat looked at me.

  “You’re going to like Sapphire Village,” she said. “I know this is a lot to take in. Ok, I don’t really know, since I grew up knowing I was a witch. I can’t imagine how confusing it must be to discover magic for the first time now. But trust me, ever
ything will be fine. It sounds crazy, but Sapphire Village is the sort of place where nothing exciting ever happens anyway.”

  “Look out!” I cried suddenly, and Cat slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt, and not a moment too soon.

  There was something lying in the middle of the road, and it looked like a person! On the other side of the road, parked on the shoulder, was a new silver sedan with the driver’s side door open. Cat threw the hazard lights on her car and the two of us got out.

  “Wow, it’s Edith Chalmers,” Cat said quietly as we moved toward her. “Mrs. Chalmers? Are you ok?”

  There was no blood on the road, nothing to indicate that anything bad had happened to her. She was lying face-down on the road, almost like she’d passed out. I leaned down to feel for a pulse. She was still warm, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t find a heartbeat.

  “I think she might be dead,” I said to Cat, who immediately pulled out her phone.

  “Well I’d be lying if I said it was a shame, but we still can’t leave her here. I’ll call the police chief in town,” Cat said. While she was on the phone I looked down at the woman. I didn’t really know what to do. I’d never seen a dead body before. Honestly, it kind of just looked like she was sleeping. I was half tempted to take off the sweatshirt and give it to her as a pillow, but of course, that was completely pointless now.

  I realized there was nothing I could do for her. I walked toward her car and took a peek inside. There was no one else inside. The car was in pristine condition; a to-go coffee in the cup holder being the only sign that this car hadn’t been driven straight off the lot.

  “Why did you say her death isn’t a shame?” I asked Cat.

  Cat shrugged. “If you knew her, you’d understand. Edith was the head of a group in town, called the Renaissance Crew. They’ve been working on trying to get the council to expand the town through a new proposed development. Most of the town is against the idea, and Edith was pretty vocal in her hatred for all of us.”