by Lily Webb
Derwin’s brows furrowed. “Aye, I do. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. What with the way she passed, I can’t imagine how her family and friends must feel.” He took another sip of his tea but remained silent while he twisted his beard with his free hand. “Now hold on a second, you aren’t here because you suspect I’m involved in Ms. Norwood’s death, are you?”
“I’m not here to accuse you, no. I’m just gathering information. Like you said, the circumstances around Rowena’s death are, well, weird.”
“Aye, it’s not every day a healthy young witch dies seemingly without cause. I know the things I said about the negotiations between Ms. Norwood and Madame Astra probably came across poorly considering what happened to Ms. Norwood, but well, you’ve seen my shop and the business it isn’t attracting now. Can you blame me?”
I sat quietly and sipped my tea instead of answering. Derwin seemed like the type to talk to fill the silence, and in my prior experience as a reporter I’d learned that those types often said much more than they should if given the chance.
Thankfully, Derwin took the bait. He pushed himself forward out of the chair to lean toward me. “Look at me, Ms. Clarke. I can barely walk, and I spent all day at the Business Fair. As a matter of fact, I fell asleep, so the gargoyles had to wake and escort me home. I couldn’t have gotten myself to Ms. Norwood’s office, much less hurt her.”
That didn’t mean he couldn’t have hired someone to do it for him, but based on the shabby state of his business and his shop — which it seemed like he was also now calling his home — I doubted he had the money necessary to pay for something like that. I could’ve peeked into his thoughts to make sure he was telling the truth, but I didn’t want to risk it after what’d happened the last time I’d tried doing it with Madame Astra. My stomach seemed much stronger today, and I didn’t want to jeopardize that.
“Do you have any ideas about who might have wanted to? Have you, erm, seen anything?”
Derwin smiled, though it was barely visible through the tea-stained jungle that was his beard. “Aye. I’m not the only one in town who wasn’t happy with the business talks going on between Ms. Norwood and Madame Astra.”
That wasn’t surprising. A few people always responded negatively to outsiders, it was inevitable, and in a relatively small town like Moon Grove, it was a given. “Who else?”
Derwin shifted uncomfortably in his recliner. “I’m breaking the Code of Conduct by telling you this, but you’re the Head Witch, so I suppose it’s just,” he said and hesitated like he hadn’t yet fully convinced himself of that.
I waited silently until he let out a long breath and folded in on himself. “Ms. Norwood’s own brother, Carter, told me on multiple occasions that he thought it was a bad business move to get tangled up with someone like Madame Astra.”
“Wait, when would he have told you that?” It made no sense, especially not after the way I’d seen and heard Carter and Derwin speak about each other. There clearly wasn’t any love between them, so what reason would they have to speak to each other?
“Carter has been seeing me over the last several weeks in secret for consultations,” Derwin said and I almost dropped my mug. As far as I knew, Carter thought Divination — or at least Madame Astra’s version of it — wasn’t a legit form of magic, so why would he be getting readings from Derwin?
“Really? Why?”
Derwin shrugged. “He claimed he wanted to learn more about Divination from a ‘true master’ for business given his sister’s new interest in the art, but I suspect he’s more of a believer than he lets on.”
“What sort of things did he ask you about?” Derwin squirmed again, wrestling with whether he should tell me. “Mr. Moriarty, I promise you, whatever you tell me will stay with me. If it can help me figure out what happened to Rowena, I need to know.”
He sighed and nodded. “Aye, you’re right. He wanted to know what I saw in the stars about his sister’s investment in Madame Astra. He seemed convinced that it was a bad move and would lead to financial ruin for them. He wanted proof of that to bring back to his sister.”
“And what did you see?”
“Aye, ruin, but not financial.”
“What does that mean?”
“A split between the siblings, and an ugly one. Had she lived, she would have ousted Carter from Norwood Creative in short order.”
That was big news, and a major motive for Carter to hurt his sister if he knew about it, but something else had caught my attention. “But in all these consultations you didn’t foresee Rowena’s death?”
Derwin shook his head. “Nay, not once, which makes it even more suspicious.”
I agreed, especially when I compared his story against Madame Astra’s. Either one of them was lying — and I had no way to know which — or both of them had faulty third eyes. Before now, I would’ve put my money on Madame Astra’s abilities and accuracy over Derwin’s, but I couldn’t be sure anymore.
But back to Carter. “Did you ever tell Carter about his sister’s plans?”
“Nay, I swear it. There was something about the energy coming from the young man that told me I couldn’t trust what he’d do with the information. But it looks like he might’ve learned about it, anyway.”
“Are you still seeing Carter as a client?”
Derwin shook his head. “No. I suspect he was the last client I’ll ever have. His sessions alone were keeping me afloat.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. When did you last see him for a consultation?”
“The night before the Business Fair. He told me he knew his father had made a mistake when he retired and appointed Rowena to take over the family business, and that was the last thing he said to me.”
My stomach dropped; it wasn’t likely a coincidence that Carter’s sister died mysteriously the next day. It was all I needed to hear. I didn’t know how I’d get to him while he dealt with the death of his sister and struggled to manage Norwood Creative in her absence, but Carter had just become the most interesting person in town.
I stood up and dumped the rest of my tea in the sink before washing the mug. Derwin had broken his Code for me, so it was the least I could do. “Thank you again, Mr. Moriarty. This has been helpful.”
He leaned further forward in his chair but couldn’t summon the strength to leave it. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to talk to Mr. Norwood.”
Chapter Nine
Derwin’s words roared in my ears along with the wind, each fighting for my attention as Umrea and I sailed through the air toward Norwood Creative. True to her nature, Umrea thought going to speak to Carter right now was a terrible idea — and true to mine, I disagreed.
I feared I might forget the things Derwin told me, and I didn’t want to risk losing even the slightest detail before I had the chance to talk to Carter. Learning that he’d been seeing Derwin in secret for weeks was a shocking enough revelation on its own, but the things Carter had shared with the elder Seer during their times together were explosive.
Had Carter found out his sister wanted to force him out of the family company? I didn’t know him well enough to speculate, but based on my limited interaction with the COO, I doubted he’d take well to the news. But why would Rowena want him out? Surely there must’ve been some formal chain of command, and I didn’t think Rowena had complete control over decisions like that, but anything was possible.
Still, why? Maybe Carter wasn’t the only one sneaking around and getting dirt on a sibling. A lightbulb went off in my head as we neared the Town Hall at the center of Crescent and Luna Streets: Maybe Madame Astra had told Rowena more than she’d initially let on! It never made sense to me that the only reason Rowena wanted a reading from Madame Astra was to “verify” her skills — after all, she was already in an allegedly competitive bidding war for the Seer and her app.
The more I thought about it, the less unlikely it seemed. But what had Madame Astra told her, and now that Rowena was dead, h
ow could I find out from anyone other than the Seer herself? The only thing that was clear was that Madame Astra knew more than she’d said.
“Councilwoman!” Umrea bellowed over the wind, jolting me out of my head. She thrust a clawed hand through the air toward the Town Hall, and I squinted to see what she was pointing at. A thin, faint trail of smoke curled up into the sky, though it didn’t look like it was coming from the Council chambers, thank Lilith.
“What is it?!” I shouted back, knowing her supercharged gargoyle eyes could see much more than mine from this distance.
“Madame Astra’s shop!”
I almost fell off my broom. “What?! Are you sure?”
Umrea stared at me like I’d hurled the most vicious insult at her. “Positive. It looks like someone attacked it.”
Without another word, I shoved the handle of my broomstick down toward the scene. As the ground rushed up to meet me, I saw what I hoped I wouldn’t: someone or something had trashed Madame Astra’s shop. The curtains that made up her reading room were on fire, and the small trail of smoke we’d seen from the air had turned into a billowing column, fueled by the fabric of the curtains — which meant the fire must have started recently.
My feet thudded against the ground and I tossed my broom aside to look frantically for Madame Astra. It wasn’t likely she’d be outside the shop, but I didn’t see her anywhere.
“Adele! Are you here?!” I shouted over the roaring of the fire as it consumed everything. No response. “Adele!” I howled and wiped the tears from my eyes brought on by the stinging smoke.
“Zoe!” A strained, scratchy voice answered. Umrea and I tore around the remnants of the shop to the side that ran along Crescent Street and found Madame Astra sitting on the cobblestone street, her hair singed, her face covered in soot. Bright fresh blood streamed from a nasty slash on her left leg and inflamed, red skin surrounded the wound, suggesting a burn.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
She shook her head. Words seemed on the tip of her tongue, but she either couldn’t bring herself to speak or wouldn’t.
“Adele, tell me. What happened here?”
She let out a small whimper. “Someone stole my crystal. I don’t know who they are, but they came for a reading in a mask. I thought it was odd, but they assured me it was only because they didn’t want anyone to know they were seeing me. Once we were alone, they started throwing fireballs everywhere and while I ran, they disappeared with my crystal.”
“Why would they want your crystal?”
“I don’t know.”
I doubted that, but now wasn’t the time to grill her with questions. “Did you see where they went?”
“No. I fell and hurt my leg while I was running from the fire and lost track of them,” she said, pointing down at the wound. Now that I looked at it more closely, it seemed much worse than I’d realized.
“Councilwoman!” Umrea shouted, and I glanced up to follow where she’d pointed. About a block away, I spotted someone in all black running as fast as they could with a giant purple ball tucked under one gloved arm — there was no mistaking it for anything other than Madame Astra’s crystal.
“Wait here!” I shouted and flung my hand out toward my broom. It soared off the ground and into my open hand. I pulled my wand out of my robes and shoved the broom between my legs, and it took off as if it already knew what I wanted it to do.
Umrea shouted something after me, but I was already moving too quickly to hear what it was. The shops and citizens of Moon Grove streamed past me, some of them screaming as they leaped out of my way, and the thief’s back grew larger and larger as I sped toward them. They glanced over their shoulder at all the commotion behind them, revealing a ski mask with crudely cut holes for their eyes and mouth.
In a panic, the thief blindly lobbed a series of glass vials over their shoulder, but I rolled and swerved on my broom to dodge them. They burst against the cobblestone, spewing flames, and panic gripped my throat. If I didn’t stop them soon, they’d probably warp themselves away from the scene — though it made no sense why they hadn’t done that already.
I leaned forward on my broom, urging it forward, and raised my wand to aim it squarely at the center of the thief’s back. “Ligo!” I shouted, expecting a tangle of ropes to explode from the tip of my wand, but a loud pop shot from it instead. A flash of light followed, blinding me, and a surge of energy rippled through the wand’s grip, searing my fingertips. I yelped, dropped my wand, and reared back on the broom before I crashed into a wall.
I blinked away the pops and flashes in my eyes, but when the world came back into focus, the thief had escaped — and my ears still rung from the backfired spell. I stared down at my wand where it sat smoking on the sidewalk. What the heck happened?
Despite the ear-splitting sound of Umrea’s talon-like claws squealing against the cobblestone as she skidded to a halt beside me, I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I could still hear at all.
“Councilwoman! Are you okay?” Umrea growled as she spread and wrapped her massive wings around me.
“I’m fine. Or at least I think I am,” I said, still staring at my wand. It’d stopped smoking, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch it. Despite all the advanced magic I’d attempted before I had the skill, my wand had never acted this way before. Had someone tampered with it? Or had I cast the spell incorrectly? I couldn’t say.
“Did the assailant hurt you?”
“No, I did that all by myself.” I kicked my wand with the tip of my shoe and winced, half expecting it to blast me again, but nothing happened.
Umrea must’ve noticed my apprehension because she picked up my wand and held it out to me in her open paw. It was so small by comparison that it looked like she held a toothpick instead. “What happened?”
Though I still wasn’t sure it was safe to touch, I picked my wand up out of her hand. “Good question. I tried to cast a spell to keep the thief from getting away, but it must’ve backfired or something. It shocked me.”
“Hm. It seems the thief got away as a result,” she said as she stomped out one of the lingering fires and stared down the street where I’d last seen the thief and Madame Astra’s crystal ball.
“I was afraid of that,” I groaned. “Did you see any identifiable details?”
Umrea shook her head. “No. I was too concerned with your wellbeing.”
For better or worse, I thought, but I kept it to myself. As much as having a gargoyle guard accompany me everywhere I went cramped my style, I didn’t regret having Umrea with me in this situation just in case things had gone sideways. Still, I didn’t doubt the papers would have a field day with my latest public exploit in tomorrow’s edition.
“I’m okay, I swear. Where’s Madame Astra?”
Umrea thrust a thumb over her shoulder. “Right where we left her.”
I shoved my wand back into the pocket of my robes. “Come on, I need to talk to her.”
“What about the thief?”
“Like you said, they got away. We won’t find them by standing out here on the street,” I said and flew back toward where Madame Astra still sat on the curb. Her eyes widened at the sight of us.
“Did you catch them?”
“No, but not for lack of trying,” I said. It still blew me away that someone stole a giant, conspicuous crystal ball and escaped with it. But who would want to steal it, anyway? As far as I knew, there wasn’t any real magic in the crystal — or at least not any valuable magic.
I rested my broom against the wall of the nearest shop and sat down on the curb beside Madame Astra. “Do you have any idea who it might’ve been?” She frowned and looked down at the cobblestone, suddenly fixated on its intricacies. “Adele?”
When she turned back to me, she wore a grim expression. “There’s one person I suspect, but I don’t want to believe it.”
“Who? Tell me if you want any chance of getting your crystal back.”
She searched my face. “We sh
ouldn’t do this here in public.”
“Where else are we supposed to go? I dunno if you’ve noticed, but your shop is in ashes.”
She sighed. “I’m painfully aware, child. It’s just that this is, well, sensitive information. I’m sure you understand.”
That could only mean one of two things: Either the person who’d attacked her was a client, past or present, or she knew something about the attacker from someone else’s reading. Regardless, I needed to know.
“Umrea, can you carry her back to my office?”
Though the gargoyle looked less than enthused about it, she grunted and nodded. “Easily.”
“Good, then let’s go. We can get you patched up there too,” I said and stood to pick up my broom. To her credit, Madame Astra didn’t object as Umrea lifted her carefully off the ground and held her close to her chest.
We arrived at the Town Hall just a few minutes later, and unsurprisingly Heath was at the door waiting to meet us. “I heard what happened. Please, come in.”
“My office,” I said as I stepped past him, trailed by Umrea and Madame Astra. Heath followed in a hurry, and once we were all safe in my office, I finally let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
Umrea set Madame Astra down on the top of my desk, and Heath immediately started examining her leg. She hissed in pain as his fingers grazed the wound, and he frowned up at her. “It’s burnt badly.”
“Sounds about right,” she said through the tears in the corners of her eyes. “I must’ve brushed a piece of the burning curtains. I’m not sure.”
“This should help. Consuo,” he mumbled and held the tip of his wand against her wound. A translucent film slithered out and covered the wound, and the inflamed red skin around it instantly soothed back to her pale complexion.
Madame Astra sighed, long and low. “Much better. Thank you.”
“Of course. It’s probably still going to hurt to walk on for a while, so be careful. Now, what happened?”