The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3

by Addison Creek

“Would you like to dance with me?” he asked suddenly. I looked up from my nearly finished chocolate cake in surprise. We were still the only ones on the deck, but even so, there wasn’t a lot of room for dancing.

  “Here? Now?” I asked.

  “Yes, now. Yes, nearby,” he said, a twinkle sparking in his eye. I suddenly felt self-conscious and befuddled. I wasn’t sure if a man had ever asked me to dance before. Yet here he was, this broad-shouldered half-mermaid who was literally the man in my dream.

  “Yes, I would like to dance,” I said.

  His smile stretched wide. The sun had just set, painting the sky a blazing dark blue. Lights had come on around the patio; the candles had somehow grown bigger. We were all alone in this beautiful natural spot on the river.

  Quinn stood up and offered me his hand. Tentatively, I took it. His palm was warm and inviting. He led me gently around the table. Just as my hand touched his, music started up somewhere in the background, gentle and soaring. I didn’t recognize it, but it was perfect to dance to.

  “I’m afraid I’m not a very good dancer,” I told him. My words came out as a whisper despite the fact that we were already alone.

  He smiled at me. “I’m afraid I’m not either. I hope you won’t mind.”

  “I suppose I can forgive you this one time,” I said with a smile.

  To my utter surprise, he led me down the back steps toward the bubbling and churning river. The sounds that surrounded us were a perfect accompaniment to the music. They melted together as if that had been the plan all along.

  I expected him to let go of my hand as we walked, but he didn’t. I let my hand lay in his.

  I felt more relieved than I had in a long time. We had had an honest discussion about his first wife, and we had not had a fight about my sister. This felt a lot like progress. We had also laughed. I had told him about my family and learned something about his as well.

  When he stopped us about ten feet from the water, I looked up and felt dizzy. The dark blue sky behind him seemed wavy, like water, making it difficult for me to balance. He clasped me tightly and I knew I wouldn’t fall. “Are you ready to dance?”

  “Yes, I am,” I said.

  He spun me outward and then back into his arms. He caught me there as we both started to move. I lost track of where we were as we danced back and forth. He was right; he wasn’t a very good dancer either. But he was better than I was, and I was having such a good time being led around the forest floor that I didn’t care. I felt light on my feet. Any worries I had about tripping disappeared. It was as if there was nothing under my feet. We were dancing on air.

  I threw my head back and laughed. I had never had so much fun. Everything else fell away except for his arms around me and the cool, crisp air surrounding us.

  “I’m surprised one of us hasn’t tripped over our own feet or a log,” I told him breathlessly.

  He raised his eyebrows. “It would be difficult to trip over a log out here,” he said into my ear.

  For a dizzying moment I looked around, then I realized exactly where we were. Shock made me almost stumble, but he caught me.

  “Did you not realize where we were?” he asked.

  I shook my head. I had been so busy enjoying the dance that I hadn’t seen where we had gotten to. I glanced down at my feet, which were gliding over the water of the river, as were Quinn’s. We weren’t exactly floating, but we certainly weren’t sinking. Quinn was a half mermaid, and apparently this was one of the things that meant.

  My date tonight had ended with us dancing on water.

  After a lot more dancing, Quinn walked me home in the moonlight. As we danced, we had been told off by a gathering of angry beavers. They were pretty possessive about the water, but they calmed down a bit when they realized who Quinn was. Even sharks didn’t want to tangle with mermaids. Quinn had laughed it all off. He said the river was big enough for all of us.

  On our way home he kept one arm over my shoulders. “Thanks for coming out tonight. I really wanted to talk to you, and I think we both needed a break,” he said.

  “I can’t remember ever having such a good time,” I told him. He nodded his head as if he felt the same. By this time we were almost home, and I could see lights on in my house.

  “There was one other thing I wanted to discuss,” Quinn said. He turned to face me and I instantly felt the cold on my shoulder.

  “What was that?” I asked. Our faces weren’t very far apart. I felt warm, happy, and relaxed.

  “I wanted to talk to you about this snooping thing you’re doing,” he said.

  The mood came crashing down on my head. I had hoped that we could separate business from pleasure, but that was probably foolish. Quinn was the sheriff through and through. He would never be able to separate the two. At least not in relation to my snooping around.

  I blinked several times. I had been wrapped up in the evening, but now he had brought me back down to earth. Kyle was lying in a hospital bed. Kelly was probably still worried sick about her brother. The case had yet to be solved.

  “I tend to be the sort who doesn’t like to make the same mistake twice,” Quinn began. “In this case I feel as though I have been making the same mistake repeatedly. In short, you are not going to stop snooping. I have to understand and accept that. Before I thought it was simply to save your sister. Now I know better. You’re just going to snoop, and I’ve got to accept that. I believe it’s the trademark of a good sheriff. I’m not going to keep banging my head against the wall trying to get you to stop. We just don’t have that kind of time.”

  I blinked up at him. “What are you saying?” I asked.

  He sighed. “From this moment until we find out what happens to Kyle, I’m not going to let you out of my sight. It’s the only way.”

  “Wait a minute! You think you can just tell me what to do and I’ll do it?” I demanded.

  “It’s for your own safety. We can’t let anything happen to another Rhinestone. Everyone in town agrees,” he said.

  “Not everyone. If something happens to me, Ethel can come back,” I informed him.

  He sighed. “You know that isn’t possible right now.”

  “I’ll tell you all the things that aren’t possible,” I muttered.

  “See you tomorrow,” he replied cheerfully.

  What Quinn really meant by that was that he would let me stay home by myself, but if I left the property, he was going to be with me. From now on, any snooping I did would be done in his presence. His demands irked me, but I didn’t see how I could avoid him.

  Reacting to his declaration, my mind immediately went to two things. First, we would be spending more time together than we ever had before. Second, how was I going to get out of it? I had a lot to do. Was he going to come with me to the professor’s lab? She needed a report on the ingredients. Without those we weren’t going to get anywhere. She had told me to come back any time, but surely I couldn’t do that with the sheriff in tow.

  My cousin was going to be shocked when she heard an evening full of news, in twists and turns.

  I made my way inside and fell into bed. On my way upstairs I grabbed the present off the front table, wishing I had my sister to talk to. I didn’t even know her, but in this moment she was the only person I could think of who might be able to offer good guy advice.

  Even so, none of this felt complicated.

  For the first time in my life, all guy-related topics felt remarkably simple.

  I opened the small gift. Inside was a trinket, the kind that would go on a bracelet. The trinket was a tiny wave.

  I fell asleep remembering us dancing across the water.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The next morning my nosy family wanted to know everything that had happened during my dinner with Quinn. Instead of trying to pick and choose what to tell them, I told them everything. The grand finale of the story was the picture of Quinn and me dancing across the river. Bethel and Lowe thought that was a nice touch.

&nb
sp; “Are you going to see him again?” Lowe asked.

  “I think I am,” I said.

  Bethel looked at me sharply. She had heard a note in my voice. “Did he make a plan for another date?”

  “Not exactly, no,” I said.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense. Tell me what’s going on,” Lowe encouraged me.

  “He doesn’t trust us to stop snooping into the Kyle case. He decided that if I leave the property I have to be with him. Like a chaperone or something,” I said bitterly.

  My cousin nearly choked on her porridge. Her bright eyes lit up and her whole body started shaking with laughter. “That’s the lamest excuse to be around you I’ve ever heard in my life. He just likes spending time with you. Like we need chaperones,” she scoffed.

  “I’m pretty sure I would rest easier if you had some,” said Bethel dryly. “Don’t make his work any harder than you’re already making it. When you go out today, be sure to go to the hospital. Do you have another Young Witches meeting?”

  I shook my head. “That isn’t happening for a couple more days. Hannah doesn’t want to do too much at once. She thinks we need time to ourselves. Really, she just wants to give us some time to calm down. She knew perfectly well that there were killer monsters in that swamp, and that sending us out there to deal with them didn’t make any sense.”

  “Didn’t she say there was toxic muck? There always has been toxic muck. It’s a swamp. Maybe where she comes from that’s unclear, but it’s certainly well known in this neck of the woods,” said Bethel.

  Hannah’s idea of a joke had almost gotten us squashed by a giant slug. I felt certain that the only thing she would see as disappointing was that we hadn’t actually been flattened.

  “Ready to go? We should get to the hospital,” said Lowe. I resolved that if Quinn wasn’t waiting when I stepped outside, we would go without him.

  I told her I was. We packed the results of the packets we had used for cauldron brewing into a bag, assuming that the results of the experiments would be interesting to the professor when we went to see her later. At least I hoped they would be. Lowe’s notes were exceptional.

  On the way to the trolley I found myself practicing the spellcasting wrist motion. It was difficult enough to get it right even in practice, but worse under pressure. How I had once performed perfectly I really couldn’t tell.

  “If there’s another Vixen attack, we have to be ready,” said Lowe.

  I stared down at my finger tips. “That’s what I’m trying to do, to get ready.”

  Lowe was greeted by several animals along the way. None of them could speak to me, but they could all speak to her, and she smiled with delight when they did. Because I wasn’t going on a date with a handsome man, the cats hadn’t escorted us to the edge of the property. I rolled my eyes at their silliness.

  “I’m so glad you’ve had a chance to talk to Quinn and he could explain himself. I’m also glad he actually did divorce her,” said Lowe.

  “Yeah, that much is a relief,” I agreed. I had been afraid he might still be married to the woman. Come to find out they hadn’t had a relationship in a very long time. Even more, it was clear that she was not to be trusted.

  When we arrived at the hospital we weren’t even allowed to go inside until Kelly came to get us.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said.

  “How is Kyle? Is there any news?” I asked.

  My friend looked exhausted, as if she hadn’t slept all night. She shook her head. “No, there isn’t any news. He’s still unconscious. The doctors think it’s a spell. They just don’t know if it’s one he performed himself or one that was performed on him.”

  “Why would he spell himself to sleep?” Lowe asked as we made our way toward the third floor.

  “Maybe he had a secret that he didn’t want anyone else to know,” said Kelly. “If he was awake, he might have to tell it. If he spelled himself to sleep, someone trying to find out the secret would have to make a choice, either to kill him and never learn the secret or wait until he woke up. Waking up might be the most dangerous thing of all.”

  “Is anyone else staying on your floor?” I asked her.

  She shook her head again. “This is the only hospital in town, so it couldn’t just close down. But they did manage to clear the third floor. No nonessential personnel are allowed up there, and patients have been moved to other floors. My mother was relieved when that decision was made. She didn’t want anything else to go wrong.”

  We entered the stairwell. The last time I had been there it was to defend myself against vixens. I shivered.

  “How are your parents holding up?” I asked.

  Kelly rubbed her face. “They’re being philosophical about it. The farm doesn’t run itself, so my dad went home. Several friends offered to come over and help, which is good, because even if my dad is working I don’t think he’s at a hundred percent. But he couldn’t just sit here, that only made it worse. I think he’s angry. I hope he doesn’t yell at my brother when he wakes up. I’m sure he won’t. It’s just hard,” said Kelly, working her way through all her worries one at a time.

  “I’m sure it is,” I said.

  When we reached the third floor, Kelly took us into an empty lounge. She glanced at the doorway before she lowered her voice and said, “Do you have any information on the trade, or on Henry or Kyle? You are still snooping, aren’t you?”

  “Our plan for this afternoon is to go back and see Professor Burger. We’re going to take the result of our experiments with us, and Lowe took really great notes so we’re taking those too. Bethel said she’d help us with the crystal ball tonight, so maybe we’ll see something that way. We might also learn something new if Kyle wakes up,” I said.

  Kelly’s hair was frizzy, and as she paced back and forth she kept trying to run her fingers through it. That only made it worse.

  “What about Michael?” Kelly asked, turning back toward us. As the most prominent feather seller in Twinkleford, Michael would be a good man to talk to again. Plus, we had done an experiment with one of his feathers, and not only had it come out the best of any of the potions, it was the right color to match the traces found at the crime scene.

  Not that I was going to tell Michael any of that.

  “We do need to talk to him,” I said, “but I don’t think he’s involved in this. Michael is too powerful to go around dealing with people like your brother, to be honest.”

  Michael had been entirely devoted to owls for years, and I didn’t see where there was any benefit for him in this black market business. It also seemed unlikely that he’d bother working with the Vixens. If he didn’t even like visitors to his shop, he wasn’t going to get partners in crime.

  As if reading my thoughts, Lowe said, “I get the impression he likes to commit crimes by himself, if he commits any at all. Which I doubt. Please don’t tell him I said anything.” Her face had suddenly gone a stark white at the prospect of being confronted by Michael.

  Kelly chuckled. “He’d probably like to have a reputation as a dangerous individual. I’m fine with that as long as he leaves my brother alone.”

  “Is Joy still watching Kyle?” I asked.

  Kelly nodded. “The sheriff came back and spelled her throughout the night. She slept here, but at least she slept. Now it’s her turn again. She’s taking it very seriously, which my family appreciates. Come on.”

  We left the lounge and made our way down the hallway. It was strange to see the place so deserted. But then, sure enough, we found Joy stationed outside one room. Through the window we could see Kyle and his mother, who looked upset. Kyle himself looked like he was sleeping peacefully. Joy eyed Lowe and me. “I suppose I know you two. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “They’re friends of mine. They thought they’d come by and see how we were doing,” said Kelly.

  “Mighty nice of them. Surely it isn’t so that they could sniff around on their own,” said Joy, raising an eyebrow. I felt a blush comi
ng on. Even she knew I was snooping around.

  “There you are. I was wondering when you’d get here,” said a voice from behind me.

  When I turned and saw Quinn strolling down the hall, my chest tightened. He looked good in his uniform. He had also looked good dancing with me the night before.

  “We got here right after breakfast,” said Lowe loudly. “How is he doing?”

  Quinn stopped in front of us and crossed his arms. “There isn’t any news or any change. The doctors don’t know what to do. They said any experiments they try will have to be carefully conducted, because the spell Kyle is under could be any of a countless list of things. Our best bet is a spell cast performed by one of his family, but none of them are up for doing that today.”

  Kelly’s shoulders drooped. “I want to help. Honest. I just need a good night’s sleep first. I know Kyle wouldn’t want me to get something wrong.”

  “Nobody is blaming you,” said Joy. “We completely understand. He’s probably safest in that state anyway, at least until we can figure out what’s going on.”

  “Can you take care of this for now?” Quinn asked his deputy.

  She nodded. “Of course I can. Don’t ever doubt me.”

  He smiled. “I never have.”

  He turned to me. “Where are you headed next? I’ll come along. I need some fresh air.”

  I glanced at my cousin. I had already said that we were not going to see Michael just yet, and now I was more determined than ever not to see him until I could figure out how to do it without Quinn’s involvement. If nothing else, the fact that Quinn was the sheriff was bound to scare him off.

  “We were headed for the university to see professor Burger,” I said. “We had some things to discuss with her. You can come if you insist, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be boring.”

  “I don’t think anything is boring when you’re around,” he said.

  As I walked away Kelly grabbed my arm. “That man could make marble swoon.”

  I raise my eyebrows, then giggled. Quinn wasn’t conventionally attractive, but maybe that made him all the more enticing. He had broad shoulders and a limp. His expression was hard to read and he tended to be serious. All of these characteristics drew me toward him.