Adventure Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Book 3)

by Constance Barker

  The woman laughed inwardly to herself as Thea turned away gradually to head back to her car. Once she heard the front door close, she let out a deep sigh from her open mouth.

  Something kept nagging at her the more she thought about this case. On one hand, Thea wanted to believe that whatever happened that night was an accident. Maybe it was true that a wild animal had ambushed him and caused his death.

  Proving that to both the wolf shifters and the fox shifters would be a difficult task, however.

  On the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder if Tony’s death was part of a scheme of some kind. By the looks of things, his death seemed to have served as a catalyst to reignite the tensions between the two communities. What if this was all part of someone’s plan?

  What if somebody wanted this to happen in order to give them a valid reason to justify violence against the other side? The mere thought of that was enough to send chills down the course of her spine.

  Even though the idea lingered on her mind, she contemplated which side would benefit more from a conflict between the two sides. From her conversations with both Gregory and Ada, the both of them seemed adamant that the two communities stayed separate. However, their communities were obviously inflamed by the situation.

  Thea needed to figure out if Tony’s death was just a cog in someone’s conspiracy to get the foxes and the wolves to destroy themselves. For now, she simply twisted the key in her engine and started up her car again.

  She needed to get going.

  Chapter 22

  Tossing and turning in her bed sheets, Thea had barely been able to get some sleep. Her thoughts were too restless for her liking, leaving her wide awake during the night to contemplate them instead of giving herself some much-needed rest.

  Suddenly, she was jolted out of her slumber by a small, but recognizable noise. On one hand, she was irritated. It took so long to fall asleep and now all of that hard work was thrown out the window.

  On the other hand, however... her senses were brought into high alert. This wasn’t some random phone notification or car alarm going off. That ping came from her ward around the house. Something or someone was trying to get in.

  “Sybil?” Thea whispered.

  “I hear it,” Sybil confirmed.

  Mind racing, Thea leaped out of bed and dashed straight for Granny’s room, nearly tripping over Sybil who was headed in the same general direction. The two of them burst into Granny’s room.

  Granny was already bustling around, clearing her desk as she got ready to focus.

  “Thea,” she said, letting out a huff as she tossed a heavy book on top of her bed. “That was your ward, wasn’t it?”

  “It was. Something is trying to get in,” Thea replied frantically, leaving the bedroom door somewhat ajar. “Sybil and I are going to do remote viewing so we can see what’s going on.”

  “Be careful,” Granny replied solemnly, shaking her head. “I didn’t like the sound of that.”

  With her adrenaline coursing through her veins, Thea nodded briskly. Just like they practiced, Thea proceeded to complete the spell that would give her access to the world through Sybil’s eyes. Since she was tiny, she wouldn’t be able to be seen easily by an intruder. Not to mention, she was agile enough to evade capture if anyone tried to grab her.

  After completing the spell successfully, Sybil dashed out of Granny’s bedroom and circled around the ground level of their home. At first glance, nothing seemed out of place. When she entered the kitchen and took a quick peek around, she was expecting to see someone. However, nobody showed up. Sybil’s tail wagged in confusion.

  Meanwhile, Granny was focusing on her own magic while in the room with Thea. Just as Sybil rounded the corner into the foyer of the house, Granny projected a loud roaring sound at the same instant.

  Sybil paused abruptly, staring blankly at the front door. The hinges of the door were hanging by a nail while the wood holding it all together was close to snapping entirely. The kitten cautiously neared closer, back arching and tail growing enlarged as she trekked towards the ruins.

  Leaping onto one of the door’s loose planks, Sybil was able to find a peculiar piece of paper taped onto the front. It was folded up, so she couldn’t read its contents immediately. Instead, she took the note between her teeth and brought it along with her as she returned to Granny’s room.

  After Thea took a few moments to recollect herself after returning to her body, Granny took the folded up note from Sybil’s mouth and opened it up to read. Her face turned to stone as her eyes traveled down the paper, reading each word carefully.

  “Granny, what does it say?” Thea asked weakly as she sat at the foot of her bed. She blinked hard a few times, readjusting to the sudden change that came from viewing the world from Sybil’s body back to her own. “Is it... bad?”

  “Read it for yourself,” Granny replied, passing over the note.

  Thea scrunched up her face in confusion, taking the paper in her hands and reading.

  We know what you have been doing around Ardensville. You’ve been sticking your nose in business that isn’t yours. There comes a time where you need to pick and choose your battles. We advise that you let go of this one, or else. Consider tonight as a warning. We are capable of doing much more if you don’t comply.

  Gradually, her gaze rose to meet Granny’s. Her face was ridden with concern as she crossed her arms over her chest.

  “They’re threatening you over that case, huh?” she asked, motioning towards the front of the house where the broken door was. “One of those shifters is responsible for this, aren’t they?”

  “I-I’m not sure,” Thea stammered, crumpling up the paper in a fist. “Maybe it’s just an empty threat. I doubt they’d be capable of doing anything.”

  “Really?” Sybil pressed, one of her whiskers twitching. “They almost broke down the door and entered the house. They’re trying to intimidate you, of course, but they’re obviously serious if they’re going to these lengths.”

  “Sybil is right, Thea,” Granny added on. “A door can be replaced with ease, but what about you? Your life and safety are on the line! I don’t want those shifters getting any more funny ideas on what they can do to try and push your buttons.”

  After contemplating their words, Thea slowly rose from her seat and tossed the wrinkled paper ball into the nearest trash can. She knew that she needed to heed their warnings, but she also knew that she couldn’t abandon the case. They still needed to find out who killed Tony.

  Considering they were starting to act desperate enough to threaten Thea, she figured that they were getting closer to solving this case. They couldn’t stop now.

  Throwing a look over her shoulder towards Granny and Sybil, Thea motioned towards the outside. “I’m going to put more effort into the wards. Next time, I don’t just want to be alerted that someone is trying to get in. I want to stop them from coming in completely.”

  “At least you’re taking something out of this experience,” Granny mumbled, waving her off. “Good. Go on. But remember what Sybil and I mentioned.”

  “Of course,” Thea responded, closing the bedroom door quietly.

  Once she was alone in the hallway, she let out a shaky breath as she pressed the bridge of her nose tightly. One of the fox shifters or wolf shifters was responsible for this. The only trouble now was figuring out who.

  Chapter 23

  Thea was lucky to have gotten the little bit of sleep that she did, given the events of the previous evening. Her restless night had transformed into an exhausted morning practically right before her eyes, but in that moment Thea had greater worries than a good night’s sleep.

  Thea had to call Blaine. She didn’t want to; he was already so worried about her safety. But Thea needed his help and couldn’t avoid the truth. She dialed and waited anxiously for Blaine to answer.

  “Hey you,” Blaine greeted her cheerfully. “What’s up?”

  “I’ve, uh...” Thea began, then stalled. Sh
e started over. “I’ve got something to tell you, but I need you to promise me you won’t get too upset. I’ll feel much better if you just keep your cool.”

  Thea was met with silence. She was asking for something Blaine wasn’t sure he could promise, but he decided to try.

  Blaine replied soberly, “I’ll do my best.”

  “We had a bit of a break-in here last night. Everyone’s okay, of course,” Thea added quickly.

  Blaine didn’t speak right away, but Thea could hear him breathing heavily, taking in what she had said. Finally, Blaine asked quietly, “What happened?”

  Thea explained everything, from the broken door to the mysterious and threatening note. She could practically feel Blaine reaching through the phone to wrap her in his protective arms, but he did well enough keeping his composure.

  When Thea finished the story, Blaine said, “First of all, I’m glad you’re safe. I agree that you should learn more warding magic to keep stuff like this from happening, especially if you plan on continuing to stick your nose in other people’s business.”

  Before Thea could voice a rebuttal, Blaine hastily added, “Of course, who knows what would happen around Ardensville without your sleuthing. We should all be happy to have your help”

  Thea softened and grinned. “Thanks,” she responded.

  “So,” Blaine went on, “what do you plan on doing next?”

  “That’s actually the real reason I called. I think you should bring in Mira. I want to talk to her.”

  “How do you propose I do that?” Blaine asked. “I can’t just go around arresting people for no reason.”

  “I’m not asking you to do that. I was thinking you could say it’s for protective custody? It’s not that far-fetched to be concerned for her safety in all of this.”

  “Hmm,” Blaine mumbled, “that could work. I’m just concerned about the police.”

  “But you are the police?” Thea asked, confused.

  She heard Blaine chuckle on the other end of the line. “No, I mean the mundane police. I’ll have to think of something good to get them on board, but I think it’s a good idea. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thank you so much, Blaine,” Thea replied.

  “How could I say no to you?”

  Thea giggled, unsure how to respond otherwise.

  “I’ll call you back once I figure more of this out,” said Blaine. “Hopefully, it’ll be soon.”

  The two hung up and Thea made her way downstairs and into the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee. When she got downstairs, she found Granny and Sybil already awake and mid-conversation.

  Granny sipped her coffee as Sybil asked, “How exactly did you make that sound last night?”

  Granny smiled to herself and gently set the steaming mug down in front of her. “Pssh, you think Tiegen is the only one with tricks up her sleeve? I’ve been doing this a lot longer, and I’m more than capable of whipping out some of the stronger stuff when need be.”

  “Do you think you could teach me some of that ‘stronger stuff,’ Granny?” Thea asked. She gave Granny a quick side hug and peck on the head before making a beeline for the half-full coffee pot.

  Granny chuckled softly and took another sip of her coffee. When she finished, she responded, “Maybe someday I will, but you’ve got a lot to learn before you get to my level.”

  Thea grinned as she sat down opposite Granny at the small table. Her smile faded, though. “What should we do about that?” She asked and pointed toward the mess that used to be the front door.

  Granny quickly waved away Thea’s concern. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I can take care of it myself.”

  Thea smiled again, this time a bit confused. She wasn’t exactly sure what Granny meant, but she was certain Granny would get the door fixed one way or another.

  Thea picked up her mug for her first sip of caffeinated delight, the steam warming her cheeks, when her phone rang. She dejectedly set the mug back on the table and checked her phone. It was Blaine, probably calling back about Mira.

  Thea answered. “That was fast. I hope that’s a good thing.”

  “Yeah, I’d say so. Mira’s on her way into the station right now.”

  “Now?”

  “Yeah, now. No idea how long she’s going to stay though. You should probably hurry down here if you want to talk with her.”

  “Wow, okay,” said Thea. “I’ll head out right now.”

  “See you soon,” Blaine responded before he hung up.

  “What is it?” Sybil asked Thea.

  “I have to head down to the police station now. Mira is coming in and I have some questions for her.”

  “Oh, but you didn’t even get to have your coffee yet,” Granny said.

  “You don’t have to remind me,” Thea lamented. “But I don’t have time to waste.” With that, Thea ran upstairs and quickly got dressed. When she returned downstairs to say a quick goodbye to Granny and Sybil, Granny was standing with a ceramic travel mug in her hands.

  “We wouldn’t want you to be too tired, now would we?”

  Thea gratefully took the cup of coffee and gave Granny a hug.

  “Thanks, Granny. You’re the best.”

  She downed the coffee as she went, figuring she would need all the help she could get. Mira had been a tough nut to crack so far. But Thea needed to hear the truth from her in order to have any chance of getting to the bottom of what had happened to Tony.

  Chapter 24

  Not wanting to waste any time, Thea headed to the police station as quickly as she could.

  By the time she arrived, Blaine was already waiting for her out in the main office. He looked distractedly handsome, leaning up against a nearby desk with his arms crossed, a taut expression on his face.

  “She’s here,” he said, in lieu of a greeting. “I’ve got some bad news for you, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I offered her protective custody, like you recommended.” He ran a hand through his hair anxiously. “I even managed to get it signed off by the powers that be here, which was no mean feat, I tell you what. But she turned it down.”

  Thea groaned. “But she’s still here, you said?”

  Blaine shrugged. “I doubt she’ll stick around any longer than she feels like. She’s a tough one to crack, as you well know.”

  “Why do you think she’s so reluctant?”

  Blaine cut a look around the room. For the most part, all of the other people in the building appeared to be busy with their own work. Even so, Blaine stepped closer and dropped his voice so as not to be overheard.

  “If I had to hazard a guess—and I’m saying this as a shifter, too, of course—I have to say I understand what’s going on with her. She believes that, if it comes right down to it, her clan is likely to be able to take more action than the police. If it’s violence the wolves are looking for, she might not want to depend on the people in this room, more than half of whom have no idea what shifters even are.”

  Thea took this in a moment, then nodded. She had to agree it did make sense, even if she didn’t want to miss out on her chance to hear Mira’s side of the story.

  “Do you think it will?” she asked. “Come down to violence, I mean?”

  Blaine only flashed a grim frown and shrugged. “Let’s just hope not and work toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”

  BLAINE SHOWED THEA through to the room where Mira was being held.

  Mira’s stare was distrustful, but she greeted Thea faintly as she entered. The faint scent of Mira’s jasmine perfume lingered in the air, making the dismal, claustrophobic room smell jarringly like a fresh breeze through a temple.

  “Hi, Mira,” Thea responded, pulling out the chair across from her and sitting down.

  She didn’t love the optics of questioning Mira in this room, which seemed built for intimidation and power-plays. At the moment, Thea only wanted to come across as caring and supportive.

  Still, it was the best she had.
She dragged the chair around so she was sitting, not across from Mira, but diagonally from her. It gave the position something more of a ‘friends at lunch’ feel to it, which Thea figured would have to do, under the circumstances.

  “I guess you want to know about Tony?” Mira asked warily. “Like you were asking Max, right?”

  “It could help you to let me know what was going on,” Thea agreed. “If there was something between you and Tony....”

  “There wasn’t,” Mira insisted quickly. “Not like that, anyway. I got along with Tony because of Max. Tony was great. He was... actually, he was really supportive of my relationship with Max. All he’d wanted that night was to tell me that it was all right with him.”

  She gave a distinct sniffle and rubbed her eyes with the end of her sleeve.

  “He knew you two were having problems?” Thea suggested.

  Mira nodded. “It was all my fault. I wanted to announce the relationship, and Max was afraid to.”

  “You wanted to tell people?” Thea asked, shocked.

  Mira laughed humorlessly. “You think I like living like this? All cooped up, holding out on everyone? It’s really not my way. When Max told me you knew about us, I honestly felt relieved. Like I could finally talk to someone about it. Yes, I wanted to tell. I still want to, to be honest.”

  Thea turned all of this new information over in her mind. “So you and Max argued about going public.”

  “Not argued, really. I mean, sure, we disagreed. But I couldn’t understand why he was so freaked out. I thought it must have meant that he was ashamed to be with me. Or worse... that it wasn’t as serious for him as it was for me.”

  Thea reached across the table and took Mira’s hands in her own, then squeezed them. “I hope you know by now that that’s absolutely not true.”

  Mira smiled faintly. “Yeah, I do. And Tony knew, too. That’s what he told me, that night. That just because Max was afraid didn’t mean he didn’t want to be with me. Something about wolves... about how the instinct toward pack is strong, and disappointing them is, like, this whole huge thing....”