A Cold Case in Spell

by J L Collins

  It was hard to reason with myself in a situation like this. I did like Fatima so far, and I didn’t want to be the person known for arguing. But where my loyalties lie sounded as if I had to make a choice, and I wasn’t planning on sticking around to find out the consequences of such a choice.

  “Probably with whatever gets me out of here.”

  Ash made some sort of noise across the room, but I ignored him.

  Fatima nodded gravely and I felt compelled to know more about her. Why was she so far away from everyone else? And what did she know that I didn’t? Should she be trusted?

  “I suppose that’s the way to do it. Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to you choosing sides in Charming Springs. Don’t let the name fool you. There are some less savory characters in each of the elemental factions.”

  “And those are just the witches and wizards,” Ash added.

  “The people in the rest of the town. Are they the reason why you live over here away from everyone? I mean, I don’t want to pry or anything…” I cut myself off. If I was going to get help from Fatima then I needed to do less talking and more listening.

  Her gaze dropped to something in her lap. “They see me differently. I don’t depend on them for anything, or at least that’s how it was before the freeze. Ever since, I’ve had to make more trips in town than usual to stock up on food and supplies as needed. It made them uncomfortable to see me in town like that.”

  So a social pariah then. I could somewhat relate.

  “I stay mostly in the woods here, in my home. I am not a fan of the cold or the snow, so time outside doesn’t go past the coverage of the woods for very long.” She poured the orange tea into my teacup, the steam swirling up in a twist before fading into thin air. Man, even the way she poured tea was magical. Just another reason to doubt this silly notion that I was a witch.

  “Hm. I wouldn’t mind living this far from civilization. I could do with the peace and quiet,” I said, carefully lifting the cup to sip from.

  Fatima smiled. “Exactly. Calling me an introvert would be putting it mildly. It’s a small price to pay to work with other magics.”

  My eyebrows knitted together. “Other magics? So you have the fire power and can control other elements? What are you, some kind of super witch?” I was only half-joking, but she laughed anyway. It was the kind of laugh that made you feel at ease.

  “No, no. Nothing of the sort. All witches and wizards are born with an element ruling their power. On one hand, I am a fire magic witch. On the other hand, I’m what you would call a Sau Practitioner—I work with magic first recorded in Ancient Egypt. Mainly potions, charms, certain spells. Things the elemental witches in town don’t really focus on. There are certain other magics possible but Charming Springs doesn’t really recognize them like the elementals. Most of them are not trained in the other mystical sciences. For example,” she said, nodding to the pattern of symbols I’d noticed on the wooden tabletop. “A collection of ancient runes. The Egyptians mainly used hieroglyphics as most know, but they also used even older runes for their sacred magic. This collection of runes is for protection, which is why it’s placed in the very center of the space.”

  “What do you need protecting from?”

  Ash sighed across the room. “Twenty questions over here…”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sorry if I find this interesting.”

  “All sorts of things, really. Mainly it’s just against ill-wishes and to keep the house safe during any more weather issues. Sometimes I’ve had folks from town come by, pretending to sell something when all they want is a peek inside the ‘creepy woman’s house.’” She shrugged, stirring her tea. “Runes are one of the many things my family taught me before I made the decision to move here.”

  “Why did you decide to move? If you have no family here…?”

  This was touchy subject for her, judging by the way she slowly folded her fingers around her teacup.

  “Fatima, we should really get a move on with the test. I expect that the they’ll only be able to keep Beatrice on her leash for a short time. She’s frothing at the mouth, trying to convince everyone that Indie has to go through the inspection,” Ash said as he walked back over.

  Fatima didn’t look away from me. “No worries, my anxious friend. It gives you wrinkles.” There was a twinkle in her eyes.

  The tea in my cup started to bubble as if I’d set the fragile cup on a burner to boil. But the cup did not shatter, and more steam billowed over the lip of it and spread out across the sauce and out on the table. It was sort of like dry ice in that way, slowly rolling through.

  My eyebrows met my hairline as the steam off of the tea started changing shape, twisting into what looked like horns, a fireball, wings, and other less visible things.

  “Wow.”

  Fatima stirred up the last remnants of the tea and pulled my saucer back toward her. The dregs of tea still swirled around inside.

  Was this supposed to be the test? If so then it should’ve been a piece of cake. Unless the Special Council had a special way of testing for me.

  There was the hint of a frown on her face, but it was so subtle I wasn’t sure if I was mistaken or not.

  I leaned back. “So… no witchy mojo, huh? I’m not surprised. It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that I know myself pretty well. I would’ve felt the change after I got here, right?” Well, there went the idea of my secret magical identity. I could’ve sure used a beacon of light to go with all this chaos.

  Fatima pulled the cup closer and examined the saucer, the cup itself, including the content. “Hm.”

  Ash looked over her shoulder. “Can you tell what it says?”

  She shook her head slowly. “It’s… indeterminable as far as I can tell.”

  “Well, it was worth a try anyway,” I said, standing up. “I appreciate the tea, Fatima. But I don’t really see the point in learning my power. It’s just something that I’ll never be able to use once I’m back out in the real world.”

  Ash folded his arms across his chest. “You keep saying that, but we have been trying to tell you! There is no getting out of here that anyone knows about. Believe me. I’ve tried for years and I never found anything to help. And with the Special Council on your case, I’d say the quicker we figure out your power and get you practicing with it, the better.”

  Fatima thought on this, tapping her long nails along the tabletop. “The test may not have proven much but there are other ways. And you are right Ash. The sooner we get her power unleashed, the better chance she has of handling the Special Counsel when the time comes.”

  Looking vindicated, Ash nodded. “I agree. Which is why I’d like to give her lessons myself.”

  But Fatima stood to put her hand on Ash’s shoulder. “No offense to you my friend, but she needs to learn these things from a witch. And I happen to be an excellent teacher if I do say so myself.”

  He looked between the two of us, obviously mulling it over. His eyes lingered on me a second longer before he nodded. “Right. That makes the most sense. Besides, I have to get back to my—”

  “Research,” Fatima finished with a grin. “Even though eleven years have passed you are still the same dutiful researcher as always.”

  Ash’s cheeks had a slight rosy cast to them. “Someone had to continue the search for the curse-breaker.”

  “The curse-breaker?” I repeated. “I thought you were looking to break the time spell?”

  “It’s the same, really,” he said, brushing it off. “And we should probably get going. It’s a full moon tonight.”

  Uh, that’s not the kind of answer I was looking for. In fact, that was the very last thing I wanted to hear. A full moon in a town full of magical and supernatural people? Was I going to need to bust out the garlic and silver bullets?

  If so, that would be rather unfortunate for me as I was fresh of out garlic and didn’t even own a gun to load silver bullets into.

  Fatima nodded. “Yes, I do have a ritual
to prepare for shortly. Moonrise is at 10:45 tonight and I’m in need of plenty of moon water.”

  “Just be careful,” I said with a sudden shudder.

  There was some recognition in her face and a moment later both she and Ash were openly laughing at me. I pursed my lips.

  “Sorry,” he said though not at all true. “The full moon doesn’t mean man-beasts running rampant through Charming Springs. The dogs are kept in their all-silver kennels, and really that’s the only thing you’d need to be concerned with.”

  “Uh, what now? Dogs in silver kennels?”

  “You sound as though you’re concerned about werewolves. But true werewolves are more pet than anything. They are dogs that turn into wolves. It’s harder for them to be around humans during the few days of full moon. So like I said, nothing to worry about.”

  This town was getting weirder by the minute. “Okay, okay. I think I need to take a nap. There’s a lot to… think about.”

  Understatement of the year.

  Fatima kindly walked us out and pulled me in for a quick hug. “It was very nice to meet you. I promise we will continue to work on what makes your magic tick when we meet next.”

  Everything about Fatima and her home was warm and inviting so none of the hugging seemed awkward for me. I could see why Ash liked her.

  “Thank you for that. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need all of the help I can get,” I said with a smile.

  “Until next time,” Ash said, giving her a wave and grabbing my hand to teleport away, back to the library.

  6

  Avalanche

  The image of the super sleek Occulus X virtual reality headset sailing out of the bedroom window was always satisfying. The look of horror on Gavin’s face, the high-pitched screech he made, the way the mail clerk had scrambled for her work clothes piled up on the floor…

  Pure justice, plain and simple. I wasn’t an idiot, and despite the primal urge to get violent, I didn’t actually want to run Gavin over with his brand-new Audi. Nor did I actually want to drag his skanky co-worker around by her long pretty hair. Those things went through my mind, sure, but the two of them weren’t worth even an ounce of the effort.

  So property damage it was. Technically I did buy him the VR set, and still had the receipt to prove it, tucked into a kitchen drawer where I keep all the warranties and instructions for things. And to be fair, I did quickly scan underneath the window where my tiny back patio was, just to make sure no one was about to get clocked in the head.

  I had no idea how many times I’ve had the dream. I broke off the engagement almost two months ago and I still wasn’t sure whether I was coming or going. That was the point of the road trip—to figure it out.

  And ending up in this place was definitely throwing a wrench into that plan.

  I was thankful for Nan’s smart thinking with the a/c units she had installed in the camper, and right now I was even more grateful for the heat pump she put in the bedroom. It warmed up the rest of the camper just enough to be tolerable, but in the bedroom I was sweating. Pretty ironic, honestly.

  I was in a tangle of sheets, tossing and turning and fighting to get comfortable.

  Even the mattress felt lumpier as I tried to fluff up my pillow. I sighed and did my best to calm my mind. It was something Nan had taught me growing up, to help battle what we used to call the mind monsters. Now I just call it my insomnia.

  Everything about my situation was aggravating to me. I’d gone from disbelief, to panic, to anger all in one day. Just one day! It was no wonder I could barely sleep.

  The scene of the crime played in my head again, except this time I felt the shattering of the VR set on the ground below as if it were an anchor I’d dropped instead. It sent me flying backwards in the suddenly empty bedroom like an earthquake. Everything tilted, and I bolted up, staring into the darkness of the tiny bedroom in the camper. The only light came from a nightlight I had plugged in by the kitchenette.

  I blinked and slowly came to, not even sure I was awake. Just another stupid dream. I collapsed back to the bed and buried my face back into the pillow.

  Thump-thump-thump-thump.

  My head pounded against my skull after terrible sleep. The sun was just starting to peek through the slats of the blinds, crossing over the blankets. Everything seemed fine. But reality settled in and I jolted up and out of bed, eyes darting around.

  This was not a dream.

  Thump-thump-thump-thump!

  And that was not my headache.

  Quick to throw on my clothes, I ran my hand through the blue tangle of my hair and nixed the toothbrush for now.

  The knocking on the door became louder and I took a step out of the bedroom off-kilter, and nearly slammed my head into the bathroom door. I needed coffee, stat.

  “Indie! Are you in there?” The voice was just barely familiar.

  I peeked through the blinds and threw the door open, puzzled. “Fatima?”

  Her warm skin and dark blue clothing was a stark contrast to the bright white of the snow outside. Her brows knitted together. “You need to come out here. Now.”

  I liked the woman and all, but I wasn’t a fan of being told what to do. Especially first thing in the morning. “Sorry, what?”

  “You need to see this before anyone else. Did you not feel it?”

  I was already shoving my feet into the huge boots that Ash had provided, grumbling to myself about needing sugar and creamer. “I have no idea what you’re talking about but I’m coming. Give me just a sec.”

  I stepped down to the last step and slipped, luckily catching myself before I fell all the way off of it. “What the—?”

  The step was covered in fresh snow and iced over. In fact, there was a ton of snow that looked as though it had spilled out from underneath the camper. And I realized it wasn’t my poor coordination that was throwing me off. The camper was just slightly tilted forward.

  “Around this way,” Fatima said, circling to the other side.

  As I made my way around I was shocked to see that there was even more snow pressed against it, and I looked up past the trees that I’d parked the camper beside. I brought my hand to my face.

  “Was this…? Was this an avalanche?”

  The snow had clearly come from up the side of one of the huge hills dotted around town in the shadow of the mountain I’d driven up yesterday. It sent a wave of snow cascading down, leaving lumpy mounds of snow slurry down into the trees and finally petered out right before my camper, leaving the very bottom of it flowing underneath and around it.

  I trudged through the deeper pits of snow, holding on tightly to the side of the camper just in case.

  There was a flicker of recognition. “Oh my god, this must have been what I felt last night!”

  “You must be a very sound sleeper,” Fatima said solemnly.

  “Hardly.” I inspected this side of the camper and frowned, looking back at her. “I can’t believe the snow didn’t topple me over. This is… well, a miracle?” I wasn’t a believer in those kinds of things but at the very least I was alarmingly lucky.

  Then something else hit me. “Why are you here? Did the avalanche hit you?” I sucked in a quick breath. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry if it did. If you need—”

  She held up her hand. “No, I am fine and so is my house. Thankfully. I did feel the shake last night, but I wasn’t sure what it was. And when I woke up this morning I figured I should probably figure it out. Something told me to come check on you and here I am.”

  “Thank you for checking up on me. That’s very kind of you.” I glanced around, still shocked. “I’m going to have one heck of a time trying to dig the camper out, though.”

  Fatima shook her head. “Now is not the time. We need to figure out a way to explain this… This will not look good on you at all.”

  I raised a brow. “What’s to explain? Would anyone really believe that I caused an avalanche?”

  She made an impatient noise. “You’d be surprised
.” She made to walk towards me, but something caught her eye and she leaned over to look at whatever it was in the snow. “Oh no. No, no, no!”

  My chest tightened. I didn’t like the sound of that.

  I picked my way across the snow carefully, doing my best to keep steady. But it was a lost cause when I shrieked and stumbled up against the side of the camper.

  There, not twenty feet away from the camper, was an elbow jutting out of the snow. An elbow and then a forearm length away, a blue-tinged hand with long nude-colored nails, sporting a huge blue sapphire ring.

  Beatrice Wimberly. The coldest witch I’d met so far, and the head of the Special Council.

  The air deflated from my lungs and I thumped my chest, trying to help suck in more and prevent myself from heaving into the snow at the same time.

  Fatima was already working on trying to dig her out from the snow, but she groaned as soon as she tried pulling on her.

  “She’s like an ice block. I think it might be rigor mortis.” Rigor mortis. The Latin tickled something familiar in a late 19th century gothic tale I’d assigned earlier in the semester. Stiffness of death.

  Death?

  She shook her head, feeling for a pulse. “It’s too late. She’s gone,” her voice shook with grimness.

  It took me a moment to string together a coherent sentence. “What? What is she doing out here? How did this happen?”

  “I have no idea. But here comes more trouble.” She nodded past me to where a couple of what looked to be snow skis were zig-zagging their way over to us from around the bend in the trees.

  I swallowed hard.

  Trouble indeed.

  7

  Ten Minutes

  The digging was the worst part. Half of the Special Council and the one coroner in town who showed up awfully quickly, set to work digging Beatrice out of the snow. I asked if we could help but was ignored. My heaving stomach thanked the silence.