by Raven Snow
“That’s adorable.”
“I know, right?”
“Well, I hope those two crazy kids hit it off.” Rowen pointed to the living room. “You can put your stuff down in there. “I’ve got an air mattress, and the sofa pulls out. I figure we can all kick it in the den tonight.”
“Sounds good. I’m gonna go ahead and change into my pajamas.”
“Go for it. Make yourself at home.”
Not long after Rose, Willow and Peony both arrived. They were sisters. Once they had been more difficult to tell apart, but in recent years they had developed a bit more individuality.
Peony had dyed her hair blue. She looked cute in an oversized sweater and pleated skirt. Willow’s blond hair was pulled back away from her face. Since moving in with Benji, her wardrobe had grown more casual. She had her hands shoved into the pockets of a teal hoodie. She stomped her feet in the entryway, doing a little dance like it would ward off the cold.
“Chilly out there?” asked Rowen.
“It’s not too bad,” said Peony.
“It’s freezing,” said Willow at the same time.
It looked like they were sharing a sleepover bag. Rowen wasn’t sure what kind of sense that made, especially since they no longer lived together. Despite their new differences, they were both still weird.
Rowen directed them into the den. “You guys want to pick a movie to watch for when the pizza gets here?”
Rowen could hear the sisters quietly bickering as they headed for the den. They shouldered past each other, both trying to get there first. Rowen wasn’t sure why it mattered. With the crowd they had assembled, there was a decent chance they would just talk through the movie anyway. It had been a while since they had all gotten together for something other than work.
Rowen moved to the window next to the front door and peered out. It was a little foggy out. She could see some frost clinging to the grass. There was no sign of Margo, though. She glanced over her shoulder to the clock on the wall. It was past time for her to be here. Maybe she should give her a call.
“Hey, Rowen!” Willow called from the den.
“What?!” Rowen shouted back.
“Your phone is in here and it’s beeping!”
Probably a text. Rowen felt her heart sink and hoped it wasn’t what she suspected it was. She headed into the den.
“I bet it’s Margo,” said Peony, already sprawled against the sofa.
That was Rowen’s suspicion as well. “Maybe she’s just running late,” suggested Rose charitably.
“She’s running late because she’s ditching us,” Peony added.
“Hush,” Rowen told the both of them, reaching for her phone. They would know in a second. There was no point in arguing about it
Sure enough there was one unread text and it was from Margo. Rowen sighed loudly as she opened it.
“See?” Peony said, sounding pleased with herself for her correct prediction.
‘Sorry. Can’t make it tonight,’ said the text. It was succinct and just vague enough that Margo had to know she was about to get a phone call. Of course, Rowen wasn’t sure there was any combination of words Margo could have texted that wouldn’t have warranted a phone call. Not with her trying to ditch.
Rowen pressed call and brought the phone to her ear. It took five rings for Margo to pick up, which was annoying. She had just texted. She was next to her phone.
“Hey,” said Margo.
“Get your skinny butt down here.” Rowen didn’t waste any time in getting to the point.
“Yeah!” Willow chimed in.
“I told you,” Margo said, coolly. “I have things to do tonight.”
“Like what?”
“Things! I’m a busy woman.”
“We’ve had this scheduled forever! Are you really going to—”
“I can’t help it if I have other obligations.”
“What other obligations? You scheduled this in first. We all synced up our schedules to make this happen. Unless there’s some sort of emergency going on, you could have given us a heads up before now.”
“What can I say? Things come up.”
Rowen sincerely doubted that there was any sort of emergency going on. “Is this about the Sutton thing?”
“What Sutton thing?” asked Willow.
That got a reaction out of Margo that wasn’t as cool and composed as before. “Don’t tell them about my personal business, Rowen. Don’t you dare.”
“So it is about that then?”
“What about Sutton?” asked Willow, not lowering her voice but directing the question at everyone else in the room instead.
“It’s not—” Margo cut herself off “There isn’t anything going on with me and Sutton. Look, I just can’t make it. Not that I feel particularly welcome anyway. You’re all real jerks, you know that?” With that, she hung up.
Rowen groaned and lowered the phone from her ear. She tried to take a quick mental inventory of what had just happened. Was she being a jerk? No, she decided. Margo was just being a pain in the butt. “She’s not coming,” Rowen announced to the room.
Rose sighed and leaned back across the sofa. “I guess we should have seen this coming.”
“I don’t get it.” Willow was still hung up on the details. “What’s going on with Sutton?”
Rose looked past Willow and to Rowen. She opened and closed her mouth a few times like she wasn’t sure what to say. It looked like she was deferring to Rowen. Should they say anything about what was going on in Margo’s personal life? It wasn’t like they knew anything for sure. Even though Rowen felt confident enough to guess at what was going on.
“Is Margo cheating on Jasper with Sutton?” asked Peony.
Rowen tried to find the right words to answer that question but tripped on them as they left her mouth. “That isn’t— I don’t know for— She’s—”
That was all Peony and Willow needed. “Oh my God,” said Willow.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Rose added quickly.
“I can’t believe she’s cheating on him.” Willow flopped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling in wonder.
“Seriously?” Peony sounded considerably less shocked by it all. “You can’t? Wasn’t she cheating with Jasper, like, just last year?”
“Well…” Willow inclined her head. “I guess that’s true. Okay, maybe I can believe it.”
“Rose is right.” Rowen wasn’t sure Margo deserved anyone taking up for her, but she felt obligated to make a small effort anyway. “We don’t know that’s what’s going on for sure.”
“But it probably is,” said Peony.
Rowen didn’t have an answer for that. “I don’t think that’s exactly what’s happening,” posited Rose. “I think it’s far more likely that she’s thinking about starting a relationship with Sutton. They’ve been flirting and maybe sparks are starting to fly. Maybe she’s trying to do things right this time around. She’s trying to break up with Jasper so that she can start up a relationship with… Detective Sutton.”
“Detective Sutton,” Peony repeated, wrinkling her nose. “Why Detective Sutton?”
“I’m pretty indifferent about Jasper,” said Willow. “But I still think that he’s the lesser of two evils. Sutton sucks.”
“Yeah,” Rowen agreed. She’d already given the matter some thought. “I definitely prefer Jasper too.”
Jasper was a member of the Stonewall family. They were the other big witching family in the area. They lived in Tarricville, but they had helped found Lainswich. To the Greensmith family, they were sometimes rivals and occasionally allies. Things had been leaning a lot more towards the latter ever since Margo had started dating Jasper.
Not that keeping strong relations between two families was a good reason for Margo to stay in a relationship. This wasn’t the middle ages. Still, it had been a perk.
“I don’t want to be related to Sutton,” Willow declared.
“You wouldn’t be related to him,” Rowen s
aid, wishing they would drop the subject and move on. This had thrown a wrench in things, but she still wanted to have a nice night.
“What if they get married, though?” Willow insisted. “What if he becomes, like, my brother-in-law or something.”
“Would that be a brother-in-law?” Peony wondered aloud. “Cousin-in-law? Is that a thing?”
The doorbell rang. “That’s probably the pizza.” Rowen was thankful for the distraction. The promise of some hot comfort food at the door certainly got the attention of the rest of the room.
The night went rather well after that small hiccup, all things considered. The pizza was good. Rowen was thankful she had bought a couple of larges. None of the Greensmith girls were particularly large women. Rowen herself was rather petite. That didn’t mean they couldn’t put away some tasty food. All of them had a tendency to put more on their plate than they would actually eat as well. It probably came from living in a large family and grabbing your own share as fast as possible before everyone else could descend on it.
They watched a movie while they ate. It was cheesy and romantic and fun. They put on another afterward, but no one really paid attention to it. It was mostly background noise as they talked about this and that. Conversation centered mostly around their relationships.
All the girls were in one. Rowen and Rose were both married. Willow and Benji, and Peony had a nice thing going with Tina. “We think she’s going to get a promotion at the library,” Peony explained.
“Awesome,” said Rowen. “Doing what?”
Peony shrugged. “I dunno exactly. Boring archival stuff, I think. I’m not sure she totally gets it either. It pays more, though!”
“Well… I’m happy for you.” Rowen wasn’t sure how well that would work out if Tina didn’t know what the heck her job even was, but she was rooting for her anyway.
“Yeah, me too,” Peony said with a nod. “I’m thinking maybe we can move into a bigger apartment.”
“It’s not big enough?” Willow frowned. “It’s as big as mine, and mine is fine. There’s only two of you.”
“Yeah, but what if I want an office or something?”
“You wouldn’t use it,” Willow pointed out.
“I could do work for the Inquirer in it.”
“You wouldn’t use it,” Willow reiterated.
They talked about kids some, which was an awkward conversation. Rowen was thankful that her aunts weren’t the sort of folks to bother her about that sort of thing. She knew that was a problem a lot of people faced.
“Ben’s mother wants us to have kids,” Rose complained, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl between them as another mindless romance flick played in the background. “I never know what to say to her.”
“Tell her to get off your back about it,” Willow said, tossing a piece of popcorn towards her mouth and missing. “That’s what I do.”
“That’s more or less what Ben does too.” Rose sighed. “He tells me to do the same thing, but she’s already all wary about me as-is. I hate to give her another reason to dislike me.”
“It’s her own fault if she dislikes you,” said Peony, and Rowen nodded in agreement.
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind kids. I just don’t see how I’d have time for them.” Rose bit her bottom lip as if considering before she continued. “Ben is so busy with the police, and I have the paper to think of.”
“You could step down if you need to,” Rowen said quickly. “I don’t want you to feel pressured. I mean, it’s a family owned thing. I don’t think it would be a problem to—”
“No,” Rose interrupted. “I love my job. That’s the thing. Theoretically, I’m sure I’d love a kid too, but… I dunno. Work is where my heart is.”
“That’s fair,” said Peony.
“I never want kids.” Willow gave a little shiver. “That’s way too much of a commitment for me. I mean, can you imagine?”
Rowen laughed. “Yeah, Benji would have his hands full, that’s for sure. There’d be two kids in the house then.”
“Huh?”
“I think she’s calling you immature,” said Peony, driving an elbow into her sister’s ribs. “Tina and I have talked about adopting.”
That got a smile from Rose. “That sounds nice. There are lots of kids out there that need good homes. It worked out great for me.”
“It’d be a ways down the road.” Peony’s face turned a little red and she tried to change the subject. “What about you, Rowen?”
Rowen didn’t like being under the spotlight. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m kind of with Rose, I guess. I’d love a kid if I had one, but I don’t, and… I’m not sure I want one. Tough call, honestly. Maybe in the future. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
“Well, you’re not getting any younger,” Rose said in a high nasal voice. “That’s what my mother-in-law says.”
Willow wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. Suddenly, she smiled and sat up straight. “Oh, I know what we can do!”
All eyes were on her. “What?” asked Rowen.
“We should put a curse on her.”
Peony raised an eyebrow at her sister. “As, like, a fun sleepover activity?”
“Yeah.”
“Cursing people is not a fun sleepover activity!” Rowen couldn’t believe those were actual words that had to come out of her mouth. “No one is cursing anyone tonight. We’re watching movies and eating junk food.”
“Just a little curse.”
“No curses!”
Willow opened her mouth, perhaps to argue her case a little more. She was cut off by the phone ringing. Rowen frowned and turned to her cell phone. It was after midnight. She wasn’t sure who would be calling her at this hour.
“Who is it?” asked Peony.
“Margo.” Rowen said the name aloud as she read it for herself.
“What? Did she change her mind?” asked Willow, smirking.
“It’s too late now,” said Peony.
“No, she can still come over,” Rose added quickly. “Better late than never. I mean, it’s really late now, but still.”
Rowen answered the phone. If Margo suddenly wanted to come over, she wasn’t going to tell her no. “What’s up?”
On the other end of the line was heavy breathing. It still sounded like Margo. Her breath hitched around the beginnings of words. She sounded scared.
“Margo?” Rowen got to her feet. There must have been concern in her voice, because everyone else in the room stopped their chattering and sat up, straight and alert. “Margo, what’s wrong?”
“I— Someone—” Margo went back to gasping for air again.
“Take a deep breath,” Rowen ordered. “Are you at home?”
“Y-yes.”
“Are you in the trailer or are you at the house?” The trailer was on the land owned by Aunt Lydia and Nadine. It wasn’t a long walk between the two places. “Are they there? Can you put them on?”
“They… I… Busy,” Margo stammered out.
“They’re busy?” Rowen wasn’t sure what that could possibly mean, but she did her best to keep her cool. “Do you need us down there?”
“Y-yes.”
“Okay. We’re on our way. Sit tight, okay?” Rowen lowered her phone and ran to get her car keys.
“What’s wrong?” asked Rose, already on her feet as well.
“I don’t know, but we need to get to the house now!”
Chapter Four
No one stopped to get dressed. All four cousins piled into the car in their pajamas. Rowen didn’t even spare the matter a thought until she was on the road and realized how cold she was. She hadn’t even bothered to slip on shoes. Her bare foot was on the gas pedal and it was freezing. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was certain she was surpassing the speed limit by, at least, thirty miles an hour.
“What did she say?” Willow asked from the back seat. She had asked the same question at least ten times in different ways.
&nbs
p; “I don’t know!” Rowen said, yet again. “She sounded scared. I don’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t get an answer out of her.”
“She’s not answering the phone,” fretted Rose, placing her phone back down on her lap. She had been trying to call Margo back since Rowen had pulled out of the driveway.
“No one is answering,” said Peony with a huff. She had been on the phone as well. Rowen could only assume that she had been trying to call anyone else in the house. Obviously, it hadn’t worked. “If no one is dead over there, I’m going to be really mad.” She hesitated. “That came out wrong, but you know what I mean.”
They were within a couple of minutes from the house when Rose’s phone rang. Rose fumbled the phone as she tried to bring it to her ear. “Who is it?” demanded Willow and Peony at the same time as Rose answered. She raised a hand to silence them, though it didn’t do much good.
“Who is it?” Willow demanded again.
“Is it Margo? Is she all right?” asked Peony.
Rowen shushed them. With the way they were talking, Rose wouldn’t be able to hear anything. She strained her own ears to try and overhear the conversation on the other end of the phone. She could just make out a man’s voice. Was it Ben? That seemed likely.
“We’re almost there,” said Rose. “Yeah… Yeah, Margo called us not all that long ago, and… yeah.”
Rowen made a turn and the house came into view. Rowen’s heart dropped into her stomach. There were red and blue lights flashing on the front lawn. Rowen sped towards them. The car was jostled as she went onto the gravel drive, and she barely hit the brakes in time to keep from rear-ending a police cruiser.
Rowen heard one of the back doors pop open, and she glanced back to see Peony hopping from the car before it had come to a complete stop. Willow wasn’t far behind her. “We’re here,” said Rose into the phone before hanging up. She was vacating the car herself before Rowen could ask any questions.
With the engine off, Rowen scrambled out of the car. She heard an officer or two trying to ask her some questions, but she ignored both them and their words. She scanned the lawn desperately. There were lights on at the trailer and several officers all crowded around it. Margo almost certainly wasn’t over there right now. Something had happened, though. Something bad.