I made my way upstairs so early that it surprised my grandmother and my cousin. I pretended to yawn and stumble upward. Neither of them looked like they believed me.
“If you’re going to sneak out in the middle of the night, you’d better take me with you,” Lowe yelled after me.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I would never do that,” I hollered back. But I lied; it was definitely not the most ridiculous thing. My stepsister Bailey’s saying that she wanted to start lifting weights was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard.
I expected to have trouble falling asleep, but instead I nodded off as soon as I was safely in bed. I woke up a couple hours later to a darkened house and no sound of anyone stirring downstairs. I stared at the ceiling for a while, willing Ethel to show up. I rolled to my left and then my right, frustration making me feel wide awake.
At last I had to admit it to myself: Ethel wasn’t going to come. I had invented whatever I had thought about her showing up that night. Trying not to feel too disappointed, I rolled over one last time and fell asleep.
Several hours later I awoke again with a start. It was still the dead of night, and here I was, wide awake again. When I collected my wits, I realized that there was a light burning through my window, as if the moon had somehow gotten much brighter. I threw off through the covers and went quietly to look outside. Sure enough, the unicorns were in the pasture as usual, but tonight they were shining brightly, like a bunch of stars in the field.
Among them I saw a shape.
I squinted. At first I thought someone might be trying to steal the unicorns away. Then I realized that it wasn’t that, and my heart soared.
She was there. I rushed out of my room and down the stairs, more excited than ever. On the way out the back door I nearly tumbled. The air was cool and I wished I had brought a sweater, but there was no time to go back and get one. I folded my arms over my chest and made my way towards my sister. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
Ethel was standing quietly, dressed all in black leather. She had shaved half of her head and thrown the longer hair over that half. Okay, maybe it was a style in some circles, and anyhow, I didn’t care. She had a half-moon’s worth of earrings on one ear, all of it set off by black lipstick.
Not wanting to discourage her from coming to visit me, I decided not to ask why she’d chosen this get-up.
“You’re here,” I grinned.
She threw her arms around me. She felt solid and real. I had thought about this moment for weeks.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“Better now. I miss the unicorns. If Bethel had been told a year ago I would feel that way now, she would have laughed. I used to complain about taking care of them, but now it’s all I really want to do,” she said.
“She misses you. She’s always telling us how good you are with them. Unlike Lowe and me,” I said.
“I wish I could come back. I will soon. I don’t care about the Vixens. Is there any update there?” she asked hopefully.
My sister looked good, but she also looked a little desperate. I wondered how she was doing on her own when she so clearly she missed her family and her home.
“Nothing yet. Quinn thinks the Vixens made a deal with the third party who was acting as a go-between for them on the black market. I assume you heard about Henry and Kyle?” I said.
For her own safety, none of us knew where my sister was, so I didn’t know how much news she was getting. She nodded her head. “I’ve definitely heard. Every day I like to steal a newspaper. I always try to steal from different places. It’s good to have a challenge.”
I raised my eyebrows and she shrugged. “I know. Well, not really. I shouldn’t say more. I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me. I can see on your face that you’re worrying about me,” she said sternly.
“I can’t help it. You’re my sister. Isn’t that what sisters are supposed to do?” I said.
Ethel frowned. “I can tell you very honestly that I have no idea what sisters are supposed to do. I hope to figure it out someday,” she said.
“Do you have any idea how the Vixens would be involved in the black market?” I asked.
“Since their specialty is potions, it’s not surprising,” she said. “I don’t think reputable sellers would want the Vixens purchasing their wares, if for no other reason than that they’re terrifying and nobody would want to have to deal with that. Besides, they’re already criminals. They don’t care at all about engaging in more criminal enterprises.”
She had a point, one that I hadn’t really thought of before. Apparently my mind didn’t work like a criminal’s, but that was probably a good thing. Then again, maybe not so much of a good thing if I wanted to keep snooping.
“What should we be doing next?” I asked her.
“I’m sure it all revolves around Kyle and the black market. Kyle needs to wake up. He needs to tell the sheriff and you what he knows. I can’t see any other way. Witches are in danger until the Vixens are dealt with. Also, I would think that whoever’s helping them is doing it for one of two reasons. The first reason would be that they want the money. They’re probably making good money acting as a go-between,” she said.
“I don’t see how that helps them if they can’t spend it,” I said. “You wouldn’t want anyone asking questions about where the money came from.”
“You’re right,” said Ethel, “but still, no one would ever really know. I’m sure they’re finding a way to use the money in an under the radar way,” she said.
“What was reason number two?” I asked.
“They want to be a Vixen,” she said.
We were interrupted by a particularly friendly unicorn, who came over and head butted my sister. She drew back her head and laughed, then wrapped her arms around the unicorn’s neck. I would never dare to do such a thing unless I was prepared to lose a hand. I watched the joyous reunion for a few moments. Some day, and I would have one too. Ethel could come home to Misdirect Lane.
Until then I would keep snooping.
When Ethel was finished greeting unicorns, she turned back to me. She had something on her mind and it was a change of topic. “Do you ever think . . . do you ever wonder?” she asked.
I searched her face. Her expression had gone serious. I tried to interpret what she was leaving unsaid, and in the end I couldn’t tell you how I figured it out, I just did. I knew what it was going to be before she said it.
“If you get really good at snooping, maybe you can find out what happened to Mom,” she said.
My mouth went dry. “I’ll tell you what happened to her. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s totally believable, isn’t it?”
My heart had wanted to believe that it wasn’t. The story sounded so unrealistic. Something like that couldn’t happen to my mother. Now my sister had said the same, and she had actually known her.
Maybe I wasn’t crazy after all. But my apparent lack of enthusiasm for what she was saying deflated my sister. Her shoulders sank and her chin lowered. “It was just an idea. I’m sure it won’t be necessary to pursue it any time soon. But someday I need to find out what happened.”
I hugged her tightly around the shoulders. She looked so tough; black leather will do that. But when she was with me, her vulnerable side was allowed to peak through.
“I’ll be right there with you every step of the way. I promise,” I said.
She brightened. “I believe you. I know you will. Okay, I should get going. I’m sure the Vixens know that I like to visit my family from time to time. They might be nearby.”
“I also hope they know they can shove it,” I muttered.
My sister threw back her head and laughed, and the unicorns sent appreciative looks her way. They loved her. A lifetime of dedication will do that.
“Until next time. Good luck with the snooping,” she said, and she started to walk away.
It was only then that I realized what I had most wan
ted to talk to her about. I almost laughed as I called out to her.
She spun around.
“I went on a date with Quinn, and it was glorious,” I told her.
She beamed at me. “If he hurts you, I’ll throw him to the fishes . . . on second thought, he’s too good a swimmer.”
I chuckled. “True. I appreciate having you looking out for me.”
She grinned. “That’s what sisters are for.”
Then she disappeared into the night at last. We both wanted to keep talking about Quinn, but there was no time. Her safety was at risk.
I made my way back into the house. There was a chance I was just imagining it, but I thought I saw a shape moving across the road. When I looked again, it was gone.
Chapter Thirty
Lowe was utterly manic the next day. Having made a to-do list of everything that had to happen in order for us to solve the case, she had promptly decided that we couldn’t possibly do that much snooping, and that Kyle was doomed.
Kyle’s parents were still sure their son was going to wake up. On the other hand, the hospital had realized that their spells weren’t likely to awaken Kyle for several weeks. Everyone was frustrated.
On top of that, Bethel banned us from leaving the property.
“I think you’ve done enough for one week. Jade, you may go to the Young Witches meeting, but after that you must come straight home. I don’t care if the sheriff himself is willing to supervise you, I want you here. There are plenty of chores to do, and we can play games later.” She glared at me as if that would strengthen her point.
“Okay, I’ll only go to the Young Witches gathering,” I agreed. Bethel nodded sharply.
Lowe started to rise as if she intended to come with me, but Bethel glared at her and my cousin quickly sank back down. “You’re staying here,” said our grandmother.
“All right. I have gardening to do anyway,” Lowe murmured. She headed outside to get started.
Bethel and I didn’t talk much until I was about to leave. I had a hunch that it was important to wear some of my witch’s garb, so I’d gone upstairs to change. I put the shoes on my feet and placed the pointy hat on my head and I was ready to go.
“Let me know if you hear anything about Kyle,” I said to Bethel when I was back downstairs.
“I will. I’m sure that the real police have this all under control. Don’t go chasing after Vixens, understand? They’re much more powerful than you can imagine. Leave them to the professionals,” she said.
I agreed, but only for as long as it took to walk out the door. The professionals were taking an awfully long time to solve this mystery, and it felt as if I still had to wait a lifetime before I could meet my sister. At some point I wanted to actually spend time with her, and there was no way that was going to happen while Kyle and Henry’s case was still unsolved.
Quinn didn’t show up to escort me to the dance hall, but that didn’t bother me. In fact, I probably would have been annoyed if he had, since I knew the way perfectly well.
The trip to the dance hall for the Young Witches meeting was quick and pleasant. I saw several locals, including Mikey and Mindie Carthright. Mikey was dancing a jig, not even the tiniest bit sober.
I waved to them as I went by and they waved back.
An ominous cloud hung in the air of downtown Twinkleford. There weren’t many townsfolk out, and I found the deserted streets a little creepy. Hannah never had to care whether the streets were creepy or not, because she was driven to these meetings in a Rolls-Royce.
Jackie was waiting for me outside the dance hall, smoking a long pipe with pink smoke coming out of it. I had never seen her smoking before. When I raised my eyebrows she said, “New invention. You can smoke candy. Sugar in vapor form. I love it.” With a slight grin, she took another drag on the pipe.
“I bet your mom loves to see you doing that,” I said.
“She was so mad, I bought five more. That’s how our relationship goes,” Jackie shrugged.
“Nice clothes,” she said, glancing at my shoes and then up to my hat. She herself was wearing normal clothes.
“Thanks. Figured I’d take them for a spin,” I told her. “Anyone else here yet?”
“Most of the others are in there, yes,” she said.
“Should we go in?” I asked.
As I said it, a breeze blew the smell of flowers in my face, and that reminded me that I would join Lowe at the farmer’s market later, and help her sell her wares. For that we were allowed out, but even so, Bethel would be there to supervise. My grandmother was teaching us about gardening a little at a time, though she said that if I managed not to kill the plants it would be a miracle. Mostly she supervised with the critical oversight of a gathering of judgmental unicorns as the backdrop.
“We’ll go inside in a minute,” Jackie said, “but first there’s something I want to talk to you about. I did a bit of snooping on your behalf. Well, really Kelly’s, but you know, it’s the same thing. I looked up Professor Burger’s lab. Her assistant is someone who lied about a lot of her experiments back in the day. The full name she went by was Gael Hillback. She wasn’t an assistant to Burger at the time. In fact, she was in Canada. Her records were very difficult to get, but I managed it, that’s just one of the benefits of working where I do. I started looking into it in the first place because I thought something was off about her. Usually the assistant to someone so important has a bio on the website and all that, but she didn’t. Anyway, I finally found out why. She was thrown out of school for using resources to do experiments that she shouldn’t have been doing.”
“With what?” I asked breathlessly.
Jackie’s face darkened. “Owl feathers.”
I gasped. “So she knows all about that!” I paused and thought for a moment, then said, “I’m not surprised. She gave us strange looks every time we went there. But she could easily have done a deal to get more illegal owl feathers and pearls. Once she had those, she could continue doing experiments!” I was excited now.
Just then Jackie raised her eyebrows, and a split second later there was a footstep behind me. I turned around to see Damien coming up the steps and was relieved that she appeared not to have heard our conversation.
My mind was turning. Burger’s assistant had acted unfriendly every time we’d seen her, and now, in retrospect, her demeanor seemed downright sinister. If Kyle and Henry had threatened to report that she was buying feathers on the black market, she’d have had a motive to kill them. She had already gotten kicked out of school once. Twice would be unforgivable.
“Who else knows about this?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I haven’t told anyone. I figured you could tell the sheriff. He might already know, but I doubt it. The woman clearly went to a lot of trouble to keep her tracks hidden. I would too, I suppose, if I happened to want to do illegal stuff. I’m just surprised that Professor Burger gave her another chance,” said Jackie.
“Maybe she didn’t know,” I mused.
“I suppose she might not,” agreed my friend.
“We should get inside before anyone wonders where we are,” I said. The last thing we needed was for Kelly to come looking for us and get in trouble for it. She had enough on her plate.
I turned to glance over my shoulder one more time. There was a fence separating the dance hall parking lot from the next building and its parking lot, and there were several men loitering along the fence. To see men in workmen’s gear was a bit strange, because for the most part I saw only witches and the occasional man in dancing shoes around town. Then again, this was Twinkleford, where everything still seemed a bit out of the ordinary.
I hurried into the dance hall. It had taken me long enough to get inside as it was, and I was now nearly late. There was Hannah to deal with and another meeting, then I could worry about this new development in the case. Hannah was already going to be furious about the swamp incident and our failure to do anything useful; I didn’t want to give her even more ammunit
ion.
Most of the Young Witches were already seated. Hannah and Taylor had their heads bent together over a crisp white piece of paper, presumably hard at work devising more projects for the rest of us to work on while they got manicures.
I took a seat in the back and Jackie sat next to me. On my other side was Kelly, who whispered, “Hannah’s in fine form today. I don’t know what her problem is, but be ready when you tell her about the swamp. She’s going to be furious.”
I glanced at Hannah’s blond head and wondered how much hair spray was holding her curls in place. A lot, was my guess. But after what Jackie had just told me, I couldn’t bring myself to worry about it. We finally had a breakthrough in the case! And that was really all that mattered.
When Hannah started droning on, I barely listened. My shoes were itching and I was the only one wearing my witch hat. I had already gotten several odd looks.
Then, out of the blue, Kelly stood up. I hadn’t noticed how tired she looked, with her brown hair wild around her face. “Why are you going on about this nonsense?” she cried, glaring at Hannah.
Interrupted in mid-sentence, Hannah ceased all movement. Her eyes went wide as she stared at her fellow witch. “Excuse me?” she managed to choke out.
Someone was trying to pull Kelly down, but she wasn’t having it.
“I am going to stay standing, thank you very much! And you heard me. Just what do you think you’re doing? We’re in a crisis here! One young man was murdered. My brother is unconscious. And you’re talking about beaded hemlines and whether we can perform a spell to make them magically adjust!” She was crying now, and nearly yelling as she resisted the other witches’ efforts to get her to calm down.
Hannah’s eyes sharpened. To say that she did not look pleased would be a vast understatement. “You have no right to interrupt this meeting. I will have order. Like I said, I was chosen to be in charge, and . . .”
“Oh, higgle piggle! Your mom put you in charge!” Kelly cried. “Probably all to distract us from real problems.”
The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3 Page 43