Witch it Real Good

by Dakota Cassidy

  My jaw unhinged. “A reindeer? A real live reindeer? Really?”

  “Really,” Bel assured me. So, I’m gonna cut you some slack for forgetting about us this morning. I figure transportation spell lag and the general Christmas high were just too much for your holiday lovin’ heart.”

  I giggled and scooped him up in my palm to rub the top of his head. “It’s really something here, isn’t it, Bel?”

  “It really is, Boss. Never thought I’d say this, but the snow’s pretty cool. You know how much I hate the cold, but wait till you see the property and the outside of the house with all the decorations. You’ll lose your mind. It’ll make you forget all about the fact that it’s five degrees out there. And the cliff overlooking the ocean? It’s like you could fall off the edge of the earth. Dang pretty is what that is.”

  I snuck a peek out the windows, but decided to wait until we left to see the entire picture. “Is it wrong of me to be a little excited, even with the dire straits we’re in with Dana?”

  Bel looked up at me and shook his tiny head. “Nah, Stevie. It’s been a rough year for you. I say we enjoy this while we can. I know you and Win and Arkady’ll figure something out. But until then, let it rest for a couple of days. Live for the moment and all.”

  “Speaking of Arkady, I haven’t heard a peep from him since last night when I said good night to him. Have you heard from him this morning?”

  “We had a nice, long walk along the cliffs before everyone got up. He’s with Win right now.”

  I took another forkful of eggs and munched a bite of buttery toast before I asked, “And where is Win? I haven’t seen him this morning either.”

  “Taking a light jog. He said it would be nice to get outside and really run instead of using that fancy elliptical machine he has with the fake lady on the screen who talks him into doing just one more lap.”

  “How is he jogging in five-degree weather with only the clothes he had on his back when Hal transported us here with nothing?”

  Bel clucked his tongue. “Hal whipped him up some running clothes.”

  Nodding, I took one last sip of coffee and grabbed my empty plate to drop in the dishwasher. “Remember the good old days when I could just snap my fingers and make things appear?” I sighed and shook off my melancholy. “Okay, buddy, I’m going to get dressed and head into town with Hal. You want in on this trip? Or do you want to sit this one out?”

  “I’m outtie,” he squeaked. “I’m fried from all that fresh air. All I need is that fir tree with the twinkling lights in the corner of our bedroom and I’m down for a nap.”

  I dropped a kiss on his head. “Sweet dreams, my friend.”

  “Is that the hideous scent of wet dog I smell?” a haughty voice asked, followed by the distinct sound of wings buzzing.

  “Is that the scent of snooty queen-loving hummingbird I smell?”

  I frowned down at Belfry and shook my finger. “Bel! Hush. That’s no way to talk to our hosts.”

  Bel snorted at me. “Blah, blah, blah. All that chirpy thing does is stick that overgrown horn on the end of his face in the air and complain. How could a nice, sweet girl like Hal end up with such a stick in the mud?”

  “Malutka! Come now. We need you!”

  The sound of Arkady’s voice and the urgency in it jarred me. I immediately looked up at the ceiling. “Arkady? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s all right, old man. Don’t startle Stephania,” Win groused, but his voice sounded tired.

  My eyes flew to the front door—a large wood door with a stained-glass Santa on it and yet another pine wreath hanging down in the middle—where a gust of arctic air rushed in.

  My eyes widened in horror. “Win! Heavens, what happened?” As I ran to him, I noticed the front of his sweatshirt, one that read the NY Giants, was covered in blood, as were his track suit pants and sneakers.

  That’s when I saw his face—and the long gash across the side of his forehead—and gasped, but he instantly poo-pooed me and held up a hand as he took off his gloves and earmuffs.

  “It’s nothing, Dove. Just a scratch. We’ll butterfly it and I’ll be fresh as an English garden.”

  Grabbing his hand, I yanked him toward the kitchen and the sink, where I could get a better look at him. “You say scratch, I say possible brain surgery. What the heck happened? Did you fall? See? I knew you were pushing yourself too hard, Win. I told you that. You’re not a spy anymore. Why won’t you get that through your head?”

  I grabbed some paper towel and wet it to press against the gash, but Arkady’s next words chilled me to the bone.

  “No-no, my malutka. Zero was not pushing anything. He was hit by car. On purpose.”

  Chapter 6

  “What?” I almost screeched but managed to catch myself in the interest of not alarming Hal and Atticus. “You were hit by a car?”

  “Dah, my rose petal. He is running alongside of road. We are talking, talking, talking about what to do with Dana and wham! Car hits him and knocks him in snowbank.”

  Win rolled his eyes as blood gushed from his forehead and I tried to staunch the flow with the wet paper towel.

  “Good man, that’s all very dramatic, but it was simply an accident. That’s all. Nothing else. Stop frightening Stephania.” He leaned back against the counter, his clothes wet from falling in the snow, now dripping on the slice carpet and all over the porcelain white farmer’s sink.

  I tentatively touched his forehead around the area where the gash was and winced. “Win, we have to get you to a hospital and get you some stitches. That doesn’t look good.”

  Belfry agreed with me the way all good familiars should. “That looks pretty bad, Winterbutt. I’d listen to Stevie if I were you. You need medical attention.”

  But he grabbed my wrist and stilled all movement. “Stephania, stop. Please, Dove. It’s fine. Firstly, I can’t go to a hospital because I have no insurance and no identification to speak of. How would that look for Hal, who’s hosting us in her small town where everyone knows her? I can handle a butterfly, or even a few stitches all on my own. Please believe that. All I need is a needle, some thread and some boiling water.”

  “Dah, Zero speaks truth. He once cut leg open in the Andes when he was chasing me in tall office building. I see him staple wound shut with office stapler. Incredible,” Arkady whispered in hushed reverence.

  “Hah!” Win barked with a fond grin. “Do you remember that, chap? Left quite the scar along my thigh.”

  Now I rolled my eyes and pressed Win’s fingers against the paper towel for pressure. “Okay, you two, I’m not up to spy-capades today. Honestly, the two of you laugh in fond memory about your war wounds far more than anyone without a mental instability should. No stories from the old days. We have more immediate issues. Like, who hit you, Win?”

  He looked at me with his crystal-clear blue eyes and shook his head. “I never saw a thing, Dove. One minute I was hearing that woman on the elliptical’s computer screen in my head, encouraging me to do just one more mile. The next, I was down in a pile of snow, which, by the way, is quite cold and hard here in lovely Maine,” he said on an wry chuckle.

  I narrowed my gaze at him, tightening the belt of my bathrobe. “Win, this isn’t a joke. You have a two-inch gash in your forehead, bleeding like its in a contest for who can bleed the most. Someone hit you, Spy Guy and they didn’t stop to see if you were okay. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you and your spy-dy senses?”

  He cupped my chin and smiled warmly, the smile that was meant to shut me up while appeasing me.

  “No, of course it isn’t a joke, Dove. Of course it isn’t, and certainly I take your concerns quiet seriously, but no, my spy-dy senses don’t feel a thing. It was a mere accident. That they didn’t stop doesn’t surprise me in this day and age. It isn’t a surprise at all. But I’d say likely the driver simply slipped on a patch of ice and swerved into me. No harm, no foul.”

  “So where did this happen?”

  “Before the
unfortunate incident? I was exploring this lovely town and all its quaint charm, and if I know you, Dove, I know how full your heart will be once you see it. It’s brilliant. Everything is blanketed in snow and the enchanting shops will make your Christmas heart sing.”

  I couldn’t think about how brilliant anything was when he was bleeding out. “Stop trying to deflect from your injury and the fact that someone left you on the side of the road to bleed to death by telling me how awesome Marshmallow Hollow is.”

  Win leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose. “As you wish. Now, I’m off to find a needle and some thread. Shall we meet back here after I’ve finished?”

  I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I was willing to help if I could. “Do you want me to help sew you up?”

  “No, Dove, but thank you. It isn’t as painful as you’d think and I promise you, this looks worse than it is. The head always bleeds so dramatically. However, the process of stitching it up isn’t pretty.”

  I gave him a skeptical glance, but he was right about the hospital. People would ask questions, and while I prayed he wouldn’t blow smoke up my backside, I had to trust he was telling the truth when he said he could handle stitching his wound.

  So I dropped a kiss on his cheek, inhaling the scent of the outdoors still clinging to his clothes and sent him on his way.

  “Okay, but keep pressure on that and if you need me, say the word. I’m going into town with Hal to pick up some clothes for our stay. Do you want us to wait for you so you can come, too?”

  He took over holding the paper towel and shook his head. “I think I shall take the opportunity to shower and rest up while you and your newfound relative have some time to enjoy one another’s company.”

  “Do you want me to grab you some clothes while I’m there? I hear there’s overalls…”

  “Certainly, I’ll die if you don’t buy me a pair of overalls, Stephania. Of course I want overalls and flannel shirts by the dozen. Spare no expense,” he said as he headed down the long hallway to his bedroom with a chuckle.

  Bel buzzed in front of my face and said, “I’ll go with him just to be sure he’s okay.”

  I blew him a kiss. “You’re a treasure, Bel. I love you.”

  As Bel took off down the hall, I listened for a moment until I was sure Win was gone then I planted my hands on my hips and looked skyward. “Okay, my Russian, spill. What happened?”

  There was a long, thick pause before he spoke, but when he answered, my stomach sank. “I do not believe it was accident, malutka. I do not.”

  I blinked and inhaled sharply. “Why?”

  “Zero was far enough on side of road for car driver to see him, my petal. I was facing front of car when it come at Winterbottom—who was on opposite side of road. Zero was running against traffic, as one should when one jogs on main roads. It did not look like car slip on patch of ice. It look like car swerve on purpose,” he said with conviction. “I know what I see.”

  My mouth went dry. “Please tell me you got a good look at the driver?”

  He rasped a sigh that grated in my ears. “Nyet. I do not see driver. Windows are tinted and car has no license plate. But I get make and model, if you are interested, because I say again, this was not accident…”

  I grinned up at the ceiling. That was Arkady, my partner in protecting my spy who couldn’t spy as well as he used to but behaved as though he could.

  “Do you think this is something we need to worry about, Arkady? I mean, of course, I’ll try and find out who the owner of the vehicle is, for all the good it will do me. I don’t have my laptop, and I definitely don’t have the kind of connections Win does. He seems to rely on Mandrake a lot and some other guy whose name he never says out loud. But if I could get him to give me that Mandrake’s number…”

  I, of course, knew Arkady had Mandrake’s number memorized, but I had a feeling he wasn’t going to give it up.

  “Malutka…” he warned.

  “Yeah, yeah. I know. It goes against your spy code, blah, blah, blah. Still, if this was someone purposely trying to hit Win, it would help to know who it was, wouldn’t it?” I asked with a coy smile.

  “If ever a time come when we need Mandrake, I will give you number, Stevie. That time has not come. Not yet.”

  Those words sounded so ominous, they made me shiver. It made me think contacting Mandrake would have to mean we were on the brink of some kind of disaster, and I didn’t want to think about that.

  “Do you think this alleged accident was meant for Balthazar?” I asked.

  “I do not know, malutka. I am as unsure as you.”

  “Doesn’t it make you wonder, if someone was really trying to hit Win, thinking he’s Balthazar? The question is, who would do such a thing, and why? I mean, Balthazar’s bad deeds were done halfway across the country. Why would someone follow him to Maine, Arkady? Balthazar was a bad guy, but he wasn’t the kind of bad guy who inspires a hit. He was a small-time thug.”

  “Or was he? We must look deeper into Zero’s brother, malutka. I have uneasy feeling about today I cannot shake. I know what I see, and I see car try to hit Zero on purpose.”

  “So what kind of car was it?”

  “A black Lincoln Continental. I know this car because it is often used by spies. It does not stand out but handles well.”

  I leaned back against the sink and folded my arms across my chest. “And where were you guys when he hit Win?”

  “On the main road that leads to town. It is small stretch of highway with no sidewalks. He hit Zero just before the Marshmallow Hollow sign. Hal lives on outskirts of town.”

  “Anything else I should know? I mean, maybe we might get lucky and see the car around town, right?”

  “You do not think someone who try to hit Zero is going to drive around and take chance to get caught by pants, do you?”

  “With their pants down,” I corrected with a small chuckle. “You’re probably right, but it never hurts to look. So I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  “Oh! One more thing I remember,” Arkady shouted, his tone excited. “Car have sticker on back window of stick figures.”

  I frowned and scratched my head. “Stick figures?”

  “Yes. A family of stick figures. A mother, father, and two children and a dog.”

  “So we’re looking for a hit-and-run driver who has a wife and kids and a dog?”

  That sounded almost preposterous.

  “I do not know, malutka. I can only report what I see. Whoever it was used a car that does not stand out. I repeat, I do not think this was accident.”

  “Do you think it might be another spy? I mean, that’s totally possible, right? It’s not like Win was the invisible man. Plenty of people saw him when he was winging across continents. Granted, they likely don’t live in a town like Marshmallow Hollow, but who’s to say they didn’t follow him here?”

  “This could also be true, but I still do not have answer.”

  Running a hand over my temples, I bit the inside of my cheek in thought. “Maybe I should cancel going into town with Hal and ask to borrow her laptop.”

  “No, malutka. You must go experience the beauty that is Marshmallow Hollow. Spend time with your sister. This is most important thing. Family is important. Tonight, when everyone is asleep, you can look up bad twin. I will look after Zero, if this is what worries you.”

  I battled with the idea that I should be looking deeper into this, but I couldn’t do it with Win hanging around, and believe me, he’d sit right on my shoulder if he knew I was looking for information on his brother.

  “Okay, it’s a deal. But tonight we scour the Internet. You in?”

  “With you, my candy cane, I am always in.”

  After a conversation with Hal about whether she knew anyone with a Lincoln Continental—to which she laughed and reminded me we were in a place where it snowed like the dickens and most everyone drove trucks and SUVs, not fancy luxury cars—we drove to the center of Marshmallow Hollow.

  “O
h, Hal.” I breathed a dreamy sigh as I stood in the middle of her beautiful town and the snow fell all around us in swirling clusters of glistening white. “I almost can’t breathe from the beauty of it all.”

  In fact, I gripped her arm almost as if to steady myself. We’d parked in the center of town so we could walk the sidewalks and see all the shops, but I was rooted to the spot, smack in the middle of everything.

  It was as though we were on the inside of a snow globe, looking out.

  The day was dark and gloomy, clouds hung so low and so fat with snow, it was almost as if I could reach up and grab fistfuls of them to tuck away in my pockets, but that only added to the brilliance of it all. Seagulls flew overhead, their squawks pealing through the air as they circled the parking lot.

  Behind us stood the ocean, where angry, choppy waves crashed against the craggy rocks of the shoreline. Out behind Hal’s house, a lighthouse stood tall amidst the backdrop of the gray and purple sky.

  But in front of us? Oh, in front of us was what can only be described as a replica of Santa’s village. Store after store lined the sidewalks, each one decorated with candy canes and holly, wreaths and mechanical Santas and life-size snowmen. Pine garland hung atop every store sign.

  By each store’s entry, there were wooden buckets with candy, painted in all the colors of Christmas, held by ceramic elves.

  Lights glowed, lining each store window and surrounding the doors; decorated Christmas trees sat at the edge of the sidewalk, lining the pavement with a long row of greenery.

  “Are those teddy bears?” I squeaked as I pointed to a string of fluffy, light brown bears holding candy canes. Each stuffed animal was attached to the shuttered windows of the Tudor-style structures sitting on top of each building.

  Hal laughed. “Uh-huh. Some of the store owners live above their shops, and those are their apartments. I hear the decorations were inspired by a village in Strasbourg, France, that does it up right for Christmas. My mother told me Josette Labeaux, who once owned the pastry store, now retired, vacationed there and brought back pictures. Because Marshmallow Hollow has similar architecture, they decided to borrow from the people of Strasbourg. Isn’t it beautiful?”