The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3

by Addison Creek

  I scrunched down further into the corner and waited for the footsteps to pass. Then I waited some more, but I heard no one else walk by. I just sat there wishing for Quinn to leave so I could speak with Henry myself.

  After what felt like forever, I heard Lowe calling me. I sprang to my feet and raced for the door. “What are you doing?”

  Lowe looked relaxed and happier than I had seen her since we had found out about Glory. “Quinn went down the back stairwell. He said he was going to get a bite to eat. You have a few minutes to talk to Henry now. We have to hurry!”

  We both headed quickly toward Henry’s room. “Did he say anything helpful?” I asked. I could barely contain my excitement.

  “I couldn’t ask him anything with Quinn there. I had to pretend I was visiting for his well-being,” said Lowe with a wry smile.

  “Okay. We can ask now,” I said.

  Lowe led the way into Henry’s room with me following quickly behind her. The room was big for a hospital room, bright and airy and mostly white, with a few cherry accents thrown in. There was a large window that overlooked the front entrance.

  On the bed lay a guy who looked about eighteen. He was pale, but even lying down he looked like he was very tall. He gave me a goofy smile as I entered. “I didn’t realize I’d have so many pretty girls visiting me this morning. If I had known, I would have been knocked unconscious in the woods a lot sooner.”

  Lowe rolled her eyes and smothered a giggle. “Don’t be ridiculous. This is my friend Jade.”

  “You mean your cousin? The one who saved the Rhinestones and all of the rest of us? That’s awesome,” said Henry.

  “Don’t pretend you pay any attention to town politics,” said Lowe with a grin.

  Henry shook his head. “Not usually. But that bit of town politics penetrated even my brain. Everybody was really worried that the Rhinestones would be thrown out. If that happened, there would be no one to check the other witches’ power. A Rhinestone resurgence is what a lot of us want.”

  He apparently paid more attention to Twinkleford coven dynamics than Lowe gave him credit for.

  “Glad I could save the day, then,” I said.

  “It’s always nice when that happens,” Henry agreed.

  “Can I ask you a few questions about what happened in the woods? Kelly’s been wondering,” I explained.

  At this Henry became more serious. His eyes went from bright to dull. “Yeah, I figured she’d be worried. Unfortunately, Kyle has been worrying his family for years. I always tell him not to do it, but he can’t seem to help himself. He wasn’t meant for school or anything like that, you know?”

  I didn’t know what it was like not to have a family that worried about me. Even my dad worried about me. All the same, Kyle had officially caused an awful lot of trouble.

  “The sheriff doesn’t seem that worried,” Henry went on. “Apparently he’s been under the impression that Kyle will turn up soon. It was only this morning, when I woke up and told him I wasn’t so sure of that, that he seemed to get a little more serious about all of it. At least that’s what my family says.”

  “What did you tell him that made him think it might be serious after all?” I said. We might as well start somewhere, and that seemed to be as good a place as any.

  Henry shrugged and then winced. “I told him we had gone out to the woods to make a trade. We had gotten a message about supplying some pearls and feathers, not usually something we’d respond to. Most of the time we’re very careful about who we meet up with. Let’s just say this was an offer we couldn’t refuse, so we didn’t. It’s only now that I’ve realized that whoever took Kyle made the offer because they knew we wouldn’t be able to refuse.”

  Lowe looked worried. I knew my cousin well enough to know that she was trying not to yell at Henry for his foolishness. “You’re trading in pearls?” was all she said.

  Henry rolled his eyes. “A lot of us do a little of that. Not serious trading, obviously. We’ve only been able to get our hands on a few of them so far. Someone has a lock on the market, and it isn’t us.”

  “And what exactly did this message offer you in return for the pearls?” I asked.

  Henry was looking down at the bed, twisting the sheet in his hands, not wanting to say any more. “I can’t tell you. If Kyle comes back that might be different. At the moment I just can’t.”

  “You have to tell us. How are we supposed to find out what happened to him if we don’t know where to start looking?” Lowe demanded.

  “Look, it will get us in big trouble. If he still hasn’t come back tomorrow, then I’ll tell you,” Henry said.

  “You’ve only been awake for a few hours and you’re already being difficult,” said Lowe, shaking her head. “Fine. I accept your terms. I don’t agree with them.”

  “You don’t have any choice but to accept them, so I suppose that’s a good thing,” said Henry with a smile.

  Just then my hand twitched with the kind of crackle of magic in my fingertips that I had felt at the coven gathering. I couldn’t believe the renewed sense of magic power that still stuck with me in the aftermath of all of us getting together. My grandmother had been right: we derived power from each other. I might have become a witch just recently, but I felt more powerful than I ever had before. I was very careful how I moved my fingers, not wanting to create any unintended or counterproductive magic.

  Just then there was a rumbling outside the room. At first we all ignored it, but it sounded like a particularly heavy object was being rolled down the hall. Since this was a hospital, so it could have been a bed, or a wheel chair, or a cart of some kind. But the rumbling didn’t stop. Instead it got worse. Finally it was so loud that the three of us gave up trying to talk over it.

  “What is that?” I asked Henry, as if he would know.

  The young man shook his head. “I’ve never heard it before.”

  Beads of sweat had broken out on his brow, and I knew we had been there long enough. Even aside from Henry’s condition, I knew that Quinn would return soon, because he always had the worst timing. But I wanted to squeeze in one more question.

  Time was now vital!

  “Do you remember anything strange about that night?” I asked quickly.

  “I remember fog,” said Henry, shaking his head as if to clear it. His eyes were distant. I was learning that he was not one to hurry. “I know it’s often foggy around here, but this was different. It was thick. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it felt like it was alive, and it had a prickling quality to it. It was terrifying. I tried to convince Kyle to turn back, but he was having none of it.”

  “Nobody said anything about fog. It had probably dissipated by the time anyone went out to look for you,” I mused. Maybe it was the fog that had left the orange residue.

  Henry nodded.

  “Okay, thanks. We’ll keep all of that in mind,” said Lowe.

  I stepped out into the hall first, but I was so preoccupied with processing our conversation that at first I didn’t notice the strangeness all around me. Then I woke up and realized that the hall was empty, and a sort of metallic smell hung in the air. I took a few steps with Lowe behind me, then turned and asked her, “Does something feel off to you?”

  “Yes, it’s felt strange for a while. There’s also weird smell. Maybe I should go find Quinn? Or I could stay with Henry until he comes back,” said Lowe.

  We had made it all the way to the end of the hall by then. I don’t know what possessed me, but at that moment something told me to turn around, so I did.

  What met my eyes made me turn and stumble backwards. We were in big trouble.

  Chapter Six

  Once long ago, on a day when my dad took me to the ocean, a storm appeared out of nowhere. We ended up on the beach alone, since anyone else who might have thought to go had checked the forecast ahead of time. My dad hadn’t taken that precaution; for once he had decided to do something adventurous and fun on the spur of the moment. Not long afte
r that, he would work up the courage to tell me that he was engaged to Blossom, but on that day at the beach I had felt free and happy. I went dashing over the hard-packed sand, sending brown particles flying up behind my feet. I shrieked with delight as the wind twisted and seagulls moved in and out of the water with ease.

  Then the waves had grown taller, building slowly but consistently, growing as I’d been planning to make my sand castle grow. At last, and all of a sudden, they had become too tall. The wind blew far too hard, and the storm crashed down on us.

  That moment appeared vividly in my mind in the hospital as Lowe and I tried to flee.

  Coming down the hall was a dark, rolling wall of fog. Now I recognized the signs of danger. It looked just like the fog bank that Henry had described seeing in the woods the night Kyle disappeared. Coming through the fog were three figures, all dressed in hoods, their skin almost greenish, their arms covered in tattoos.

  “What are the Vixens doing here?” I cried.

  “Run!” Lowe yelled.

  But I didn’t want to run now. Not yet. The crackle of spells was making my fingers ache. I quickly performed the hand motion I was itching to do: All five fingers together. Twist the wrist, then open the fingers. A cascade of shining magic shot out.

  “Defend,” I whispered.

  I planted my feet, then raised my arm to shoulder level and pointed it forward. The spellcasting shot through me.

  Never before had I performed such a powerful spell. Never had I felt stronger. Never had I fired at three Vixens all at once. Sooner or later the Vixens were bound to go after all of us Rhinestones, not just Ethel. Sooner or later had apparently come today.

  Just as suddenly as I had sent the spell forward, it disappeared, swallowed up by the black fog. Lowe tugged at my back. I was so stunned that for a moment I didn’t move.

  The next instant I turned around and tripped away. We ran desperately for the stairs. Click, click, click followed us. Now it made sense. Whoever had walked past the sitting room before had been a vixen. They had been casing the joint and now they had invaded it.

  Lowe and I shot into the stairwell and raced down a floor. Finding the door to the second floor locked, Lowe swore underneath her breath. “Should we go up or down?” she asked.

  We both knew they might have locked the other doors already. “If we go down, at least we’ll be on the ground floor. It’s just that if that door is locked, we won’t be able to get out.” The big spells were easier than the little spells. Unlocking the door was a little spell. I would sooner be able to blow up the building than open a door. “Let’s try to get out.”

  I didn’t have to tell my cousin twice. She shot up the stairs. She knew as well as I did that our only hope was to get past the third floor before the Vixens reached that door.

  I’m not sure I’d ever run so fast in my life. My leg muscles were screaming. I felt heavy, as if I couldn’t move as fast as I wanted to. We shot past the third floor just as the door popped open. The hissing noise preceded the Vixens.

  The opaque clouds nipped at my ankles as they came wafting toward us. I didn’t dare look behind me, because I knew what I would see. More clouds, more danger, and a vixen amidst it all.

  “Keep going. Don’t stop. If we stop now we’re done for,” said Lowe. Then she trailed off, and all I could hear was her ragged breathing. She was terrified.

  The concrete and metal around us felt suffocating, but we raced onward. As we ran, Lowe tried to open every door we passed. Every one was locked. Whenever I glanced over my shoulder, I saw the dark cloud of fog rolling toward us. Each time, the vision forced me to run faster. “There can’t be that many floors in this place,” I gasped.

  “One more,” said Lowe. She was sucking in air, even less accustomed to running than I was.

  We finally reached the top of the hospital, with only one more door left. Behind us I could see nothing but the acrid cloud of Vixen potion. I tried the door.

  It too was locked.

  “What now?” Lowe asked.

  “Now we fight,” I said, crackling my fingers again. All five fingers together, twist the wrist, and open. A cloud of light burst out of my hand, flickered and wobbled, then flickered and wobbled again. I could feel the heat of it on my face. Then I sent it forward, a cloud of power about twice the size of my head. Like I said, no small spellcasting. The heat made me flush as the cloud went barreling into the opaque fog.

  Behind me I heard Lowe gasp. She knew how much trouble we were in. She knew that this was probably our only hope.

  The magical ball disappeared into the opaque wall in front of us. To my surprise, it sucked some of the wall along with it, giving us a bit more breathing room.

  “Do it again,” Lowe cried. She pumped her small fist and glared.

  Again I made the motion with my hand. This time I had a better idea of what I was doing. I was creating a large crystal ball of energy. This time the ball was about three times the size of my head. The second it was ready I sent it flying toward the wall once again.

  Dark and light fought as the light pulled the fog away from us. This time it took longer to surge forward. My hand was getting tired and the tingling was getting worse, signaling that I couldn’t keep it up forever. Fingers together, twist the wrist, open. Right before my eyes, more magic. But the ball was smaller this time. I was losing my grip. I concentrated. Nothing else mattered.

  The bright ball of magic expanded. I even stopped hearing what my cousin was saying behind me as I encouraged the balls to grow larger. I wanted to throw an entire room’s worth of color at the attacking fog. Just when I knew I couldn’t hang on any longer, I released the spell and it went flying toward the fog. As it reached out, the fog itself evaporated.

  Shocked, I stumbled. The next instant the ball of magic I had created went bouncing down the stairs, almost as if I had dropped a flashlight several floors.

  I fell to my knees on the cold concrete, shocked and exhausted. Behind me I felt Lowe move.

  Who knew being a witch involved so much falling down?

  “What happened? That magic really worked?” said Lowe.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said dryly.

  My cousin helped me to my feet. “You know what I meant. Come on. Let’s get down before whatever that was comes back.”

  I was in no way sure she had the right idea. Personally, I felt that if the fog was going to leave us alone, I had half a mind to stay at the top of the building for as long as possible. Giving the Vixens plenty of time to leave seemed like a much better idea than chasing after them. But in the end, I followed Lowe.

  When we made it back down to the third floor I almost expected that door to be locked as well. But of course it wasn’t. Instead, it swung open at Lowe’s touch.

  There was still no one in the hallway. I hoped that the Vixens hadn’t murdered all the staff. Even with the vixens that would be hard for me to believe.

  “Shall we check on Henry?” Lowe asked. “He might be afraid after what just happened.”

  “Good idea. If Quinn is there we can just tell him to be quiet,” I said.

  Lowe gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me. True enough, telling the sheriff to shut up was probably a terrible idea. Given what we had just been through, though, the only thing in my head was a supply of terrible ideas.

  We made our way down the quiet hallways. It didn’t take long to get Henry’s room, and when we got there we found his door was still open and the light still shining in.

  The amusing Henry was still lying on his bed.

  He was dead.

  Chapter Seven

  Just a few minutes ago Henry had been clear-eyed and communicative. We had left his side for only a few moments, and everything had crumbled.

  I blinked. Not only was I not crying, but my eyes felt dry to the bone.

  “I suppose you’re going to tell me you had nothing to do with this?” asked a familiar voice from behind me. I froze. Of all the . . .
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br />   My fingers twitched. I snapped out of my shock as my blood started humming through my ears. My chest hurt, fear and adrenaline mixing together to stop me cold. Henry was someone’s friend and someone’s family member. He had been alive and joking only moments before. Then the Vixen Steam had swept through the hospital in a matter of moments. How could I have been so foolish as to leave him?

  “You know very well the Vixens did this,” I countered, my throat tight. “Or is it like last time, where you were sure my sister did it?”

  Quinn stood in the doorway. His face was unreadable, but his eyes looked troubled. I suppose since we’d just discovered someone dead, that was to be expected.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice going a notch quieter.

  He took a step forward and I had the distinct impression that he wanted to rest his hand on my shoulder, but thought better of it. Good for him. If he did reach out, I imagined my shoulder as a slingshot and his arm flying backwards, rebounding from the touch.

  “I think so,” I said.

  Was I? I’d need time to think that through later. No, no one could ever be okay after what had just happened.

  Quinn didn’t look like he believed me, but he didn’t argue. Instead he looked back and forth between Lowe and me, still holding the steaming mug of coffee he’d brought back from his break. “I should have known you weren’t here just to check on someone,” he said to Lowe.

  “Oh, if you know her well enough to be disappointed in her, then fine. But we have a dead body here,” I indicated heavily. I could feel tears pricking behind my eyes and I was using anger to keep them at bay. I couldn’t cry in front of Quinn. I had barely known the kid, but the fact that he was now dead . . . was just awful.

  “Did you see the Vixens?” Quinn asked, stepping into the room.

  Lowe and I stepped out of his way as he made his way over to look at Henry. The young man looked as if the very life had been sucked out of him, and maybe it had. The Vixens were ruthless. Given that we had no idea who they were, they could get away with anything.