Hex at a House Party

by Gretchen Galway

  I made a rude noise under my breath as I parked the car. It was early afternoon, and the sun had broken through the clouds, sending a cheerful yellow beam onto the garden where the gnome sat cross-legged in a birdbath, drinking from an acorn teacup. She toasted me with the cup, grinning the grin of the inebriated fae. If she was like Willy, she’d make the bottle I’d given her last six months to a year.

  Before I pulled the parking brake, Zoe pushed open the back seat door and climbed out. She’d seemed to fall asleep in the car, but was acting agitated again, clutching her purse to her chest like a floatation cushion. Darius’s sedation spell was wearing off.

  “Birdie! Tierra!” I called, using a spell to amplify my words. With the shock of the demon death scene, I was already drained, and even doing simple magic drove a stabbing pain through my temple.

  Tierra came out, saw Zoe’s face, looked at me, looked at Zoe again.

  “Phil’s dead,” I said.

  Zoe threw back her head and began to howl. She flung her purse away, then dug her fingers into her hair and began pulling and scratching at her skin.

  Tierra was faster than I was with a sedating spell and had Zoe wrapped in a bubble of calm before I could finish composing my own magic tranquilizer. It wasn’t a trick I’d used very often, mostly because I didn’t like the idea of messing with people’s heads. Perhaps, as a performer, Tierra had perfected the art of persuasion years ago.

  I picked up Zoe’s purse and hooked it over my shoulder. When she began to sway, I rushed over and took one arm while Tierra took her other side.

  “Let’s get her upstairs,” she said.

  “Good idea,” I said. “The cottage is about to be torn apart by Protectorate agents.”

  Nathan appeared at the farmhouse door. “What happened?”

  “Later,” Tierra said. “Get the door, will you?”

  Nathan, although visibly irritated to be bossed around without explanation, turned back to the house and held the door while we guided Zoe inside. Warren and Birdie were huddled around the telescope, aimed at the cliff, but only Birdie looked up as we helped Zoe, dragging her feet between us through the room.

  “What—” Birdie began.

  “In a minute,” I said. “She needs to lie down. We’re bringing her upstairs.”

  Eventually Tierra and I managed to get Zoe up the first flight to the empty guest room across the hall from mine. Zoe let us take off her shoes without protesting, and soon she was under an antique quilt on the four-poster bed, her eyes closed, sleeping the blank dreams of magical, blissful nothingness.

  Tierra looked at me across her sleeping body. “One of us should stay with her.”

  “I’ll do it,” I said, sitting in a ladder-back chair with a wicker bottom next to the bed. Anything too comfortable came with a risk of falling asleep. I hung Zoe’s purse on the back.

  We watched Zoe’s motionless face in silence for a few moments.

  “How did Phil—” Tierra began.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t talk about it.” Darius wouldn’t want me to say anything at all, and I had to—at least outwardly—respect his authority in the investigation. “Darius should be here soon.”

  “But—”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Tierra nodded, but her lips were pressed together in a tight, flat line. After a while, she sighed. “Nathan will want to know about his car. Is it totaled?”

  “Oh. No. It’s fine. It’s parked at the brewery with my Jeep.”

  Tierra’s eyebrows flew up on her forehead. “He died at his brewery?”

  I nodded, hoping Darius didn’t get annoyed I’d let on that much. “It’s in the parking lot, but you might need to wait.” The stealth spell was probably still enveloping it, hiding it from everyone. I remembered Zoe’s purse and lifted it into my lap to look for the key to the Hyundai. I found it and held it out to Tierra.

  “We’ll wait.” Tierra took the key and moved to the door. “Thanks. It’s our only ride home.”

  “I’ll need my Jeep too,” I said. “I’m sorry I can’t say more.”

  She nodded slowly, looking as troubled as I felt, then finally left the room.

  I turned back to Zoe. The demon’s widow. Had she really not known? She’d certainly seemed shocked.

  Now, though, she was as still as one of Warren’s statues. I put a finger on her neck to confirm her heart was still beating. With this crowd, you never knew.

  I still had her purse in my lap, and I held it for a minute before giving in to temptation and searching through it. It was a butter-soft leather tote in dark green, simple but luxurious. There was a wallet in matching green, makeup bag, a few receipts, and a phone. The lack of any tissues, gum wrappers, pens, mail, hair ties, medicine bottle, or even metal or stone amulets made me think it was a new or temporary bag. Even organized witches collected more crap than this.

  I glanced at the unconscious Zoe, then flipped through the receipts, hating myself but not really. Maybe I wasn’t a killer, but I’d been born and raised a sneak.

  There was one from a gas pump, dated just that morning. She’d either filled up Nathan’s car as a courtesy or a necessity. There was a brochure for the botanical gardens just down the highway and a receipt for a facial at the nearby Stanford Inn. Tucked between those was a tiny, crumpled receipt, difficult to read because the ink was wearing out on the register, for…

  Gail’s Goodies. I held it up, squinting to read the details, then took my phone out of my jacket pocket and searched the address.

  Huh. Gail’s bakery was less than a block from Phil’s brewery. That might mean nothing—Fort Bragg was a small town, and most of its business was centered around Main Street, but it was interesting. Zoe had spent six dollars on gluten-free pastry, three on coffee, just after nine. I didn’t know if it meant anything. I put it all back into her bag, silently apologizing to her for violating her privacy.

  Could you really not know if you were married to a demon? If you couldn’t see fairies, like most human beings, you wouldn’t know if they were missing. And if you weren’t a hunter, you wouldn’t have any demon-sensing tools, only your own innate instincts for self-preservation. And Phil had seemed like a nice guy. Titan of industry, loving husband. Dead demon.

  Had my own ancestor been ignorant as well? It certainly complicated things.

  The spells I’d cast at the brewery and at the house had drained me, and in spite of my desire to stay vigilant on the uncomfortable chair, I dozed off.

  The sound of gravel popping under car tires woke me. I jolted out of the chair, wiped my mouth, and glanced at Zoe, who hadn’t moved. Then I hurried to the window and watched Darius arrive with one of the motorcycle agents.

  Shot awake with adrenaline, I paced the room, waiting for him to come looking for Zoe. And me.

  Could I trust him?

  He could’ve killed Phil because the demon had killed Crystal. Or maybe Darius was the one who had killed Crystal—at Raynor’s orders. Darius had then blamed Crystal’s death on a demon who they’d been tracking for years (but had left alone until now because of his enormous wealth and influence).

  Darius appeared in the doorway, the other agent behind him. “You can go now,” he told me.

  I met Darius’s gaze and held it as I gripped my knees with both hands. Nothing in his expression seemed uneasy or dishonest—but then again, he had an excellent poker face. It had been hard to be his partner, never knowing what he was thinking.

  “Polite greeting to you too,” I said. Over his shoulder, a Flint agent smiled, then quickly suppressed it. I remembered Rochelle, his sister.

  “Rochelle will take over from here,” Darius said.

  Rochelle walked into the room, casting me an uncertain glance, and stood next to Zoe in a rigid, ready posture, a hum of magic warming around her silver-studded jacket. I wondered if she was preparing to fight for Zoe or against her. From the glowing look she gave Darius, I assumed she’d do whatever he asked her to do.

/>   I walked out to the hallway, Darius on my heels.

  “What spell is Zoe under?” he asked me.

  “I don’t know. Tierra cast it.” I looked up and down the empty hallway. “She was downstairs when I got here.”

  “I’ll go find her,” he said, striding away.

  Not wanting to miss anything, I began to follow, but Birdie’s door popped open and she called out to me.

  “Alma!” she whispered.

  I hesitated, curious to hear what Darius said to the others but knowing I owed her an explanation. Reluctantly I let Darius go.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I joined Birdie in her room and locked the door behind me. She’d improved on her own spells, and I added one of mine, this one aimed at silence, similar to the bell jar one Darius had set up over us the other day.

  “Phil’s dead?” she asked. “Is anyone else dead too? Did you kill him? Was that Darius? Where did he go? Are we in danger?”

  “Yes. No. No. Yes. Downstairs.” I picked up a package of cookies from the guest basket, gave it a quick scan, and tore it open. I paused a moment, just to make sure it didn’t turn into a blackmail note, then shoved the gluten-free, coconut-hemp biscuit into my mouth. I power-chewed and swallowed. “And yes. We’re always in danger.” Which reminded me—I had to make sure she removed all the biological material magic she was wearing, like the hair chain.

  Birdie frowned, concentrating on my answer. “OK. Who killed Phil?”

  “I don’t know. Why did you think it was me?”

  “You were looking for him, and now he’s dead,” she said. “Did he kill Crystal?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Birdie nodded. “OK. Lots of known unknowns.”

  “Are you all right? What happened while I was gone?”

  She reached out and took one of the cookies from the package. “Not much. I was in my room most of the time. I went down to breakfast, saw Tierra and Zoe, went back to my room.” She sniffed the cookie, wrinkled her nose, shoved it back in the package. “Warren came by a little before eleven and asked me if I knew how smart I was. He meant crows, like my name. I felt bad for him, his wife dying and everything, so I went downstairs to keep him company. He showed me some of the birds he watches outside. He’s named some of them. It’s really cute. We were still there when you came by.”

  “I went to the brewery right after that. Phil was already dead. He… he was the demon, Birdie. He had a silver stake through his heart. He— His body was already falling apart the way they do. When… when a demon has been killed.” Even though my spell should’ve kept our voices hidden, I lowered my voice. “Darius was there too.”

  “Oh! So he—”

  “He says he didn’t.”

  Birdie nodded, frowning. “Zoe?”

  “She arrived after I did and seemed totally shocked.” I glanced toward her room. “It was horrible. Especially for her. I don’t think she had any idea what she would find.”

  Then I gave her a quick summary of my visit to Silverpool, how it had led me to Phil, and assured her Random, Willy, and Seth were in fine health. I left out the details about my own possible demon heritage, not ready to share anything about that yet. As a newcomer to the magic world, it would be even more confusing for her than it was for me.

  “I need to follow Darius around and find out what’s going on.” I dropped the cookie wrapper in the wastebasket. “And maybe grab a sandwich in the kitchen. Those didn’t do it. First I have to make sure you’re safe from this magic I put on you.”

  I reached up to her neck and removed the necklace made with her own hair, using a scan to confirm it was the only object she wore that used her own biomatter. I’d have to thank Willy again when we got home for the tip.

  “Gail was here this morning as usual,” Birdie said. “Tierra talked to her about food for the rest of the week. Tierra seems to be taking over. I guess that’s good, so there’s less for Warren to worry about.”

  “The rest of the week,” I repeated under my breath. How many of us would be left by then?

  Birdie agreed to stay in her room a little longer, and I went into my room. I took a few minutes to restring her beads on a harmless jute string, disarm the spell I’d put on her hair, then return it all to her.

  She held up the strand of old hair. “What do I do with this?”

  “It’s completely harmless now,” I said. “If somebody wants to hurt you with your hair, they’ll have to get a fresh sample.”

  “Will they?”

  I shrugged. “It’s always a risk. Keep your boundaries up, and don’t clean out your hairbrush in the living room.”

  “Got it,” she said. “Now I want to shave my head.”

  “Shadow is always around us,” I said. “Don’t let it control you.”

  I went downstairs and found Tierra and Nathan sitting together at a dining room table with plates of unfinished sandwiches between them. Instead of eating, each held a wellspring cocktail—I could sense the magic from ten feet away, although they’d mixed it with vodka.

  They each turned to me as I walked in.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Darius told us,” Tierra said. “I can’t believe it. He seemed like such a nice guy.”

  “Of course he did,” Nathan said. “That’s their power. That’s how they get you.”

  I didn’t say anything. Tierra asked, “How’s Zoe?”

  “The other agent is with her,” I said. “Where’s Darius?”

  Tierra pointed out the window. “Talking to Warren. They went for a walk.” She took a long drink from her glass. “I was hoping you and I could get out hiking today, but guess not. Darius says we have to stay in the house until they get Zoe out of here.”

  “When—?” I began to ask.

  “As soon as my spell wears off a little.” Tierra smirked. “It’s strong. They want her to wake up so they can give her the official summons before they drive her to San Francisco for questioning.”

  Nathan drained his glass. “They’re covering their butts. Phil Thornton may have been a demon, but he was richer than God. They’re going to do everything by the book.”

  The wellspring water had given both their faces a shiny glow, and their eyes were heavily lidded. A good time to ask questions.

  “Did you have any trouble on your run this morning?” I asked Nathan, looking out at the ocean as if I didn’t really care. “Birdie was a little worried about you. She’ll be glad to hear you’re OK.”

  “Man, everyone’s paranoid,” Nathan said. “I took a slightly longer run than usual, and everyone panics.”

  I shrugged. “Birdie’s new to our world,” I said. “Crystal drowning freaked her out. And now Phil. It’s a lot to take in.”

  “I’m not talking about Birdie,” he grumbled.

  Tierra leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes. “Forgive me for caring about my business manager and boyfriend enough to go looking for him after he disappears for three hours on a treacherous coastline where somebody already died just a few days ago.” She picked up a sandwich, frowned at it, flung it down on the plate. “Forgive me for being so worried I went out looking for you and almost died because I got trapped and had to climb up the cliff.”

  I tried to keep my expression disinterested, but I was actually hanging on every word, calculating the times and distances to Fort Bragg, and trying to subtly screen both of them with truth spells.

  “It’s not my fault you got trapped on the beach,” he said. “You’re a witch. You should know when the tides are coming in.”

  Tierra shot to her feet and flung down her napkin. “I’m going to see if Warren needs help. Darius should be done with him by now.”

  Nathan stood too. “But you’re never done with him, are you? Decades go by, but you’re never done. You’ll never be done.”

  A hot charge of angry magic sizzled around Tierra’s head. A diamond stud in her eyebrow flashed and the magic went quiet. Without a word to either of us, she stormed off.
A moment later we heard her footsteps pounding up the stairs.

  Nathan, looking oddly satisfied, sat down again, picked up a sandwich, and began to eat.

  I stood there, wondering if he or Tierra could’ve gotten to Fort Bragg and killed Phil without being seen. As each second went by, Nathan disappeared more deeply behind a protective shield. I’d get nothing more from him right now. Deciding I was still hungry, I left Nathan there to get my own food.

  In the kitchen, I found several prepared sandwiches in a Gail’s Goodies box in the fridge. The receipt was dated at ten that morning, which meant somebody from the bakery had rung them up in Fort Bragg after they served breakfast here. Had Zoe requested they be sent when she got her pastries? Tierra? Or was it just a coincidence?

  I took out a cheese-and-avocado sandwich and devoured it in the kitchen, having no interest in joining Nathan again. I was just washing my hands, debating having another one, when I heard the roar of a vehicle outside.

  I hurried out the door and saw a black SUV back up to the farmhouse. Two young men climbed out wearing the simple charcoal-gray sweatshirts and athletic pants of Flint agents sent into the field on a limited, specific task. Obedient pawns of Protectorate authority. Dumb muscle.

  Darius appeared at the front door and waved at the men to follow him inside. The Flints both wore stainless steel bracelets adorned with stone charms. They were like my wood beads, amplifying or focusing power, but these were connected to a master amulet. A more powerful witch, likely an Emerald, would be nearby, possibly in the SUV, controlling the spells.

  Berating myself for wasting time on eating, I ran around the house to Darius as the men disappeared inside.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, jogging up the steps to the front porch. “What’s going on?”

  Frowning past me, he tapped the chain at his throat. “She needs to be questioned at Diamond Street.”

  “Aren’t you going to wait until she wakes up?” I asked.

  “No,” he said.

  Two more Flints, one man and one woman, got out of the SUV and looked at Darius.