Adventure Magic
by
Constance Barker
&
Corrine Winters
Copyright © 2020 Constance Barker
All rights reserved.
Similarities to real people, places or events are purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Thanks for Reading
Catalog of Books
Chapter 1
“Impressive!” Jesse Woodman crowed happily as the stack of painter’s palettes slowly moved through the air and settled on the proper shelf.
“That is impressive,” Sybil, who was curled up among the festive yarn skeins, said. The small orange kitten nearly blended in with the pumpkin-colored wool she rested her head on. “You’ve been working hard.”
Thea Beal grinned and bowed, deep and low, as soon as the palettes were safely where they belonged. Jesse burst into applause.
At the moment, these were the only three occupants of A Stitch in Time, the premier locally-owned arts and crafts shop in Ardensville, Illinois. The shop had appreciated a swell of customers late in the afternoon, but now as evening rose Thea, the owner, had decided to take advantage of the brief moment of quiet to restock a few shelves.
“Thank you, thank you,” Thea said happily. “I’ve trained with my aunt nearly every evening this week—which is no mean feat, because it’s tough to find a window in her schedule. Let me tell you, that witch is relentless.”
“Surely not every evening,” Jesse suggested with a teasing waggle of his eyebrows. He was stacking bead organizers on a nearby display. “Haven’t you also been spending some evenings with a certain manly bear-shifter police detective?”
Thea reddened and giggled, waving her hand and turning back to the supply box she was unpacking. “I mean....” she began, planning to deflect.
“She means,” Sybil cut in eagerly, “yes of course she’s been seeing Blaine. Almost five times this week. Dinner, movies, lunch, nature walks, coffee. It’s like a relationship montage from a sappy movie.”
Thea wrinkled her nose playfully at her fluffy familiar. Sybil smugly began to lick her paw.
Luckily, Jesse didn’t needle Thea any further about Blaine. He just smiled brightly at her. “I’m glad you’re happy, that’s all. That is... you are happy, aren’t you?”
Thea nodded immediately. “Absolutely. I just wish I had even more time to spend with him, to be honest. I feel like there’s so much going on in my life right now... you know, between making time to see Blaine and practicing magic with Aunt Tiegen and all these murders lately.”
“Not to mention looking into the mystery of your vanished parents,” Sybil added.
Jesse’s face grew taut with worry. “Have you made any progress?”
Thea shrugged. “I’ve decided the best way of moving forward is to try to figure out what my father was up to after high school,” she said. “There’s a lot of mystery around that, and I have to imagine it would help me to know more about it.”
“That,” Sybil said, “and continue to learn more about your magic.”
“Well, you’re definitely making progress on that front,” Jesse offered. “Before long you’ll be able to stock all the shelves in a blink of an eye!”
Thea didn’t object to the encouraging words, but she didn’t agree with them either. Truth be told, even after such a small expenditure of magical energy she felt tired. Her training sessions with Aunt Tiegen were often short and frustrating due to Thea’s lack of stamina.
Still, she knew that, with time and hard work, she would become more proficient and capable. But it still felt like she was never quite able to do what she wanted.
Just at that moment, the bell above the door rang.
A little too eagerly, Thea handed her supplies box off to Jesse to take over, then made her way through the shop toward the front door.
There were two young men, dark-haired and dark-eyed. One of them was tall, fit, and handsome, and the other was lanky. They had to be related, Thea thought. Brothers, she’d guess.
“Good evening,” she greeted them warmly. “Anything I can help you with?”
The older, fitter one turned to the other. “What was it you wanted again, Max? Something about a float?”
The skinny one—Max—gave the other a shove. “Don’t act like you don’t know, Tony,” he said. Then, to Thea, he smiled sheepishly and added, “We’re putting together a float for the homecoming parade. Honestly, I don’t even know where we’d start with all this.” He swept a hand around to take in the contents of Thea’s shop.
Thea beamed. “Sure, I can help you out. Right over here.”
She showed them over to the correct corner of her shop, where the vinyl sheeting and fringe and festooning garlands were kept. Since the parade wasn’t far off, the display had already been picked clean of some of the more popular colors. Tony and Max took a while deliberating their options and consulting with Thea about what she thought would make for the best float decorations.
Thea was glad for the opportunity to get her mind off the question of her parents, which had been nagging at her ever since Sybil brought it up earlier.
Thinking of Sybil... Thea glanced across the shop to see whether her familiar was still settled amongst the yarns.
Jesse was still in that part of the shop, restocking, but the kitten was nowhere to be seen.
Curious.
Eventually, Tony and Max seemed to have everything they needed. Thea rang them up at the till, then bagged up their purchase for them and walked them to the door.
Only when the door had firmly shut behind them did Sybil reappear, looking cagey.
“What was that about?” Thea asked.
Sybil twitched her whiskers. “They were shifters,” she said warily. “Wolves.”
“Were they?” Thea looked through the front window at where the forms of Max and Tony were climbing into a pickup truck. She hadn’t picked up anything magical about them at all, but now that Sybil mentioned it, they did seem a little canine in their mannerisms.
“Is that why you took off?” Jesse came over, smirking at Sybil. “Because of some cats-versus-dogs squabble?”
“I did not take off,” Sybil objected archly. “I put a safe amount of distance between myself and a perceived threat. It’s a perfectly reasonable response.”
Thea scooped Sybil up from the ground and gave her a loving
nuzzle. “Let’s hope it’s a cats and dogs thing,” she said as Sybil purred in her arms. “I mean, it would really be a problem if you had trouble with bears.”
Chapter 2
Thea didn’t think about the two wolf shifters again until the next day, when Pippa Paulson came rushing into A Stitch in Time.
Her nose was bright red, and her eyes were pink-rimmed. She held a crumpled-up tissue distractedly in one hand. And as soon as she saw Thea, she threw her arms around her best friend.
Never mind that Thea was dealing with a customer right at that moment.
“I’m so sorry,” Thea said to the customer, who looked on, bemused. “Just one second.”
She hugged Pippa, then steered her through the shop and into the back room.
Jesse was sitting back there, paging through a supplies catalog and compiling the store’s restocking order. As soon as he saw Pippa, he sprang to his feet, striking an almost comical at your service pose.
Thea nudged Pippa toward the chair Jesse had just vacated. As Pippa settled down, Thea filled a cup of water from the sink and handed it to Pippa.
“Drink this,” she said kindly, stroking Pippa’s pale hair. “I’ll be right back.”
Pippa sniffled and nodded, bringing the cup up to her lips and gulping from it greedily. Jesse went off to grab the other folding chairs and set them up at the table.
“Is your friend going to be alright?” the customer asked when Thea rejoined her.
“Oh, yes, of course she will,” Thea answered brightly. “Now, what were you asking about watercolors?”
Of course, she didn’t know what was going on with Pippa. Normally she was a very put-together person, so for something to have her this upset, it must have been pretty serious.
Thea finished with the customer as quickly as she could, then flipped the OPEN sign to BE BACK IN FIVE MINUTES and locked the door. As she hustled through the shop toward the back room again, Sybil joined her, trotting at her heels.
“What’s wrong with Pippa?” Sybil asked.
“I have no idea,” Thea said. “Let’s find out.”
In the back room, Jesse had set up all the chairs and was pouring boiling water from the electric kettle into a tea mug.
Pippa had managed to compose herself a little further, though she still looked distraught. She smiled distractedly at Jesse as he set her steeping tea in front of her. “Thank you. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm any of you.”
“It’s okay,” Jesse said, hesitating a second before settling his hand onto Pippa’s shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. “Why don’t you just tell us what’s going on?”
Pippa nodded, curling her hands around the warm mug. She took a deep, bracing breath.
“Last night... a member of the wolf shifter clan was killed.”
Thea’s eyebrows rose. She met eyes with Sybil, who looked shocked, as well.
“Killed? They know it was murder?” Thea prompted.
Pippa shook her head. “I don’t know what they know. There’s not a lot of transparency. But I guess the wolves believe it wasn’t an accident or anything like that.”
“How do you know that?” Thea asked. “Is this... like, a shifter thing?”
Pippa was a fox shifter, and so was most of her family. But despite the fact that Thea had grown up close to Pippa, she didn’t know much about how the shifter community operated.
Pippa wrinkled her nose and shook her head more adamantly. “Oh no. There’s no love lost between the wolf and fox clans. That’s kind of the problem. The wolves seem to be certain that the foxes have something to do with whatever happened last night.”
“They think one of you killed someone?” Jesse asked, startled. “Why in the world would they think that?”
“I don’t know,” Pippa said. “Again, I haven’t heard many specifics. But it gets worse. The police are involved, and they’ve been taking a lot of time questioning my sister.”
“Mira?” Thea’s jaw dropped open. “Adorable, tiny Mira?”
Pippa laughed wryly. “I mean, she’s not so tiny anymore, Thea. She is sixteen now. She can drive a car and everything.”
“Wow,” Thea said with a whistle. “Time flies.”
“But why would the police think your kid sister had anything to do with some wolf shifter’s death?” Sybil prompted.
Pippa shrugged. “I overheard one of the officers mention something about a piece of evidence they’d found at the crime scene. But I didn’t know what, and Mira wouldn’t tell me, either. She was really upset.” Pippa sniffled pointedly. “She’s too young to be getting this prime-suspect treatment from the police, I’ll tell you that. I’m frightened for her.”
Thea didn’t think it was wise to point out that people younger than sixteen had been murderers before. Anyway, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that little, sweet Mira had murdered anyone... let alone a wolf shifter.
Jesse settled into the seat next to Pippa and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She didn’t resist at all, only sank her head onto his shoulder and sighed, long and low, closing her eyes. Jesse looked simultaneously mortified and delighted by this development.
“Well?” Sybil asked. When Thea turned to look at her familiar, she was surprised to see that the kitten was beaming straight at her.
“Well what?” she returned.
However, both Pippa and Jesse were watching her now, too. She had to admit that she had an idea what they were getting at.
“Listen, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do anything,” Thea said, holding both hands in the air. “I don’t even really know anything about wolf shifters. I doubt I’ll be any help.”
“You know who I bet does know about wolf shifters,” Sybil prompted. “Your bear shifter boyfriend.”
Thea flushed faintly, but she had to concede the point. “I’ll talk to Blaine,” she agreed. “I’m sure he’ll have all the details. I’ll see if I can’t figure out what happened.”
She wanted to hedge again, to explain that she wasn’t sure she could guarantee any help at all. But the hopeful, excited look on Pippa’s face took the words right out of her mouth.
Chapter 3
“Thank you,” Thea said to the server who poured her some fresh orange juice.
She was waiting for Blaine at Witt’s End Diner to discuss the case. He didn’t take long to arrive, making his way through the front and eventually finding her in a booth near the back. Thea had already ordered some food, hoping that he would like it.
When he took the seat across from her, she let out an amused laugh.
“Sheesh, you look like you just fell out of bed,” she said, referring to his bedhead and groggy eyes. “Is it about the case?”
Blaine sighed, running a hand through his hair in a halfhearted attempt to fix it. “Yep. They called me up early this morning, saying that it was an emergency that I needed to go check out. Turns out, some kid named Tony Lopez was found dead in the woods.”
Her eyes widened. “Tony?”
That was the name of the boy who entered her shop with his little brother, Max. Sybil mentioned how he was a wolf shifter. This had to be the same guy. After all, Pippa was crying while she talked about a wolf shifter being found dead and her little sister being implicated in some way. This was all connected.
“Do you know anything about him?” Blaine asked, noticing her stunned expression. “You went quiet.”
“He visited A Stitch in Time recently with his brother. They were buying supplies for the homecoming parade.”
Blaine winced, shaking his head. “That’s a shame. He was pretty young, too.”
“Were you guys interrogating Mira about it?” Thea asked. “Pippa told Jesse and me about that. She was pretty worried, as she should be.”
“Listen, I...” Blaine sighed, taking a cautious peek around his shoulder. He leaned in closer across the table, dropping his voice a bit lower. “I can’t tell you everything just yet since the case is only in its beginning stages. All we kno
w is that when Tony died, he had something of Mira’s in his possession. That’s it.”
“And now you think she’s capable of murder?” Thea questioned incredulously, which made Blaine press his lips into a thin line. “C’mon, I’ve known her since she was a little girl. I know how she is. She would never do that!”
“I believe you, Thea. I do. But apparently, she’s the last person who saw Tony alive before his body was found so we have to look into her some more and find out what type of relationship she had with him.”
Thea pinched the bridge of her nose, realizing how much of a mess this was. She couldn’t believe that Mira was involved in all of this. She was only sixteen!
“We already talked to her,” Blaine continued. “She wasn’t too helpful and didn’t give us much information to work on, but we’re still going to ask her some more questions moving forward.”
“She’s probably scared,” Thea mumbled. “She’s just a kid. If it were me, I wouldn’t talk so openly to a bunch of police officers either.”
Blaine let out a deep exhale through his nostrils. He then reached over the table and took Thea’s hand in his own. Her gaze flicked upwards to meet his.
“Mira is our best lead right now, Thea. I promise I won’t let the other detectives and police officers scare her too badly, but we need to interrogate her for the case.”
Although hesitant, she eventually responded with a small nod. Blaine smiled, trailing his fingertips across her knuckles before pulling away. He began to dig into his lunch. Because of the news, Thea had hardly touched hers due to the lack of appetite, but seeing as he was eating, she decided to do the same.
“And how was the crime scene?” she questioned gently, taking a bite into her sandwich. She covered her mouth with a hand as she chewed. “Was there a murder weapon or something?”
Blaine shook his head, a solemn look taking him over as he recalled the details in his mind. “He was found at the bottom of a ravine. By the looks of it, someone attacked him or ambushed him. We’re guessing that’s how he managed to fall.”
A small part of her wanted to speak up in Mira’s defense again, but she bit down on her tongue. It wasn’t worth it. Besides, she knew that Blaine wasn’t going to budge on this no matter how hard she tried to argue against it.
Adventure Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Book 3) Page 1