“No way,” Grant said. “Science tells us the point at which metal can freeze is—”
“This isn’t science, it’s magic! There’s a difference, Detective. You need to learn that simple fact before it kills you. Why do you think I told you to have the sheriff bring the Binder? Simply handcuffing her isn’t going to work.”
“Fine,” he said between gritted teeth. “What do you suggest?”
“I’m going to let you out here. Rose’s car is up ahead. Your job is to stay hidden behind a tombstone or whatever and either draw Tamara away or somehow get her attention so she knows to come to you.”
“I can do that,” Grant said. “In fact, that was going to be my suggestion, only you were going to be in the car. Now that you aren’t, what will you be doing?”
“I’m simply going to keep Rose distracted until Sheriff Hawkins shows up with the Binder. From there, you guys can take over.”
“But how will you distract her in a way that won’t get you killed? You said yourself she’s a powerful witch.”
“I said she’s a Winter Witch.” I sighed. “Okay, just so it doesn’t freak you out, I might as well show you now. Whereas Rose can call up snow and ice and things like that, well, I haven’t exactly told you everything about me.”
His eyes widened. “What can you do?”
“Both my parents were witches, but my dad’s side also had dragon in their lineage.”
“Dragon?” Grant mused. “As in those mythical creatures that blew fire and kidnapped princesses?”
I snorted. “Something like that. My element is fire. It’s within me at all times, and I can call it up whenever I need.”
“Show me,” he whispered.
I turned my hand over, palm up, and a few seconds later a small fireball hovered about two inches above my palm. Grant’s mouth fell open.
“What the—it’s hot. I mean, of course it’s hot.” He laughed self-consciously. “I mean, it’s literally fire.”
“It is.”
He shook his head. “This will probably take me a while to wrap my head around. But Sheriff Hawkins said I could trust you, so I am.”
“I’m only going to keep her busy with a silly little fire versus ice fight until the Sheriff can contain her.”
“With this Binder thing?”
“Yes. It’s sort of like a force field. Nothing can penetrate it. Which means everything inside the bubble can’t get out.”
“Unbelievable.”
“This is where you get out,” I said.
“You know this is highly irregular, right?” Grant said. “Most civilians don’t just insert themselves into an investigation and volunteer to bring down the bad guy.”
I smiled wickedly as he opened his door. “I’m not a civilian…I’m a witch. You should remember that.”
Chapter 13
“That’s close enough,” Rose said as she held the pointed end of an icicle to Tamara’s throat.
I had no doubt that icicle was as sharp as any knife would be—probably more so. Because the cold from the icicle would also burn Tamara’s skin.
“Do you have it?” Rose demanded.
“I do,” I lied.
Grant still had the diamond, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“Give it to me!” In her anger, Rose’s hand slipped and she made a small slice in Tamara’s neck. Tamara whimpered as a slow trickle of blood oozed out from the cut.
Movement caught my eye, and I saw Grant crouch down behind a tombstone almost directly behind Rose. Everyone was in place, it was time to get the show started.
“Not until you let Tamara go,” I said.
“Let Tamara go?” Rose cackled. “How about I let her go…in pieces? Which piece do you want first? Her ear?”
As Rose lifted the icicle toward Tamara’s face, I struck. I called up the fire that always simmers inside me and threw my first fireball. I didn’t want to chance it hitting Tamara, so I aimed low, hoping to catch Rose off balance enough she’d let go of Tamara and Grant could nab Tamara.
And that’s exactly what Rose did. She pushed Tamara to the ground and barely had enough time to react with her own ball of ice before my fireball struck her. I watched in relief as Grant grabbed hold of Tamara’s shoulders and dragged her behind a nearby headstone.
“So you want to play, Serena?” Rose taunted. “That’s fine. I don’t mind making you bleed before I take back what is mine!”
Before I could even blink, Rose let loose with both hands, sending razor-sharp ice shards my way. I conjured up the largest fireball I could and sent it flying, then did a half spin until I was hiding behind a tall, white crumbling old tombstone. The two ice shards I didn’t get with my fireball made a tinkling sound as they shattered against the headstone.
“You knew Jack was at our house alone because you heard Tamara mention it when she came into the bakery,” I said. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yes. I drove past your house and saw his car. My plan was to go inside, kill him, and place the blame on Tamara. But he saw me outside sitting in the driveway and took off out of the house for the garden, making me chase him down and kill him.”
“So it was just a coincidence he fell between the daisies and the roses?” I mused.
“Apropos though, right?” she scoffed.
Grant must have circled wide, because suddenly he and Tamara were now crouched three monuments down from where I stood. He put his fingertip to his lips.
“Rose!” he hollered. “You need to give this up. We have you surrounded. You aren’t going anywhere. We know you killed Jack to try and get the diamond.”
“The diamond that belonged to me!” she screamed. “He thought he could charm his way into my life, steal from me, and not suffer the consequences. Well, no one takes what’s mine. No one!”
She started throwing ice shards again, both hands a blur as she let them loose one right on top of the other. She moved slowly toward where Grant and Tamara were hidden, and I saw that as my opportunity.
Once again I brought forth a fireball that was double the size of my hand. I had no idea I could even do that, but in my rage and terrified state, I guess anything was possible. I waited until I knew she was totally focused on getting to Grant and then stepped out and threw my fireball directly at the side of her face. I hit my mark, and Rose screamed in pain.
Unfortunately, only her right hand went to her face, the left hand was still throwing little ice spears. Grant chose that moment to stand up from behind the headstone, and two of the ice shards caught him…one slicing through his outer arm, and the other impaling him in his side.
I screamed his name and then let my rage take over. I have no idea how many fireballs I hurled Rose’s way, but it was enough that she couldn’t counter my attack. It wasn’t until Sheriff Hawkins called my name and touched my arm that I realized Rose was down and had stopped fighting back.
I heard myself crying when I came back from wherever my mind had taken me during the fight. I turned my head and saw Grant on the ground, Tamara kneeling by his side, her hands hovering above his injured side.
I ran over and dropped down next to her as Sheriff Hawkins engaged the Binder over Rose. “How bad?”
“His arm will be fine,” Tamara said. “It’s his side I’m worried about. I don’t think it pierced anything vital, but he’s bleeding a lot. Mom and I can heal him though.”
“Freakin’ hurts,” Grant mumbled. “Burns.”
“I know,” Tamara said. “The burning sensation is actually the cold burning your skin. The cut on your shoulder will heal fine in a day or two, but I’m going to need to do a little extra to your side. The ice sliced you open pretty deep. ”
Grant winced. “No offense. But shouldn’t I see a doctor?”
Tamara ran her hand lightly over Grant’s brow. “My mom is a healer. She’s taught me everything she knows. But your side is pretty bad, and it needs to be handled right now. Are you okay with me helping you?”
Grant’s pa
infilled eyes locked on mine. “It’s okay?”
I sniffed and nodded. “Yes. Tamara’s mom and her grandma are both healers. I can’t tell you how many times Tamara has doctored me over the years. She knows what she’s doing.”
“I’m just going to give you a little something for right now,” Tamara said. “Then we’re going to transport you over to my mom’s house not far from here. Her garden is four times what mine is, and she’ll have everything you need to heal quickly. I’m going to do both a numbing and soothing spell.”
I saw an immediate change to Grant’s face. “Thanks. You’re right, it does feel better.”
“Just close your eyes and rest now,” Tamara said. “We’ll take care of everything else on our end.”
Hawkins clamped down on my shoulder. “How is he?”
“Okay,” I said. “Tamara wants to take him to her mom’s house.”
“Heck of a way to be introduced to the people on this island,” the sheriff said. “I tried to talk with him about it a couple times, but he just refused to believe.”
“I know.” I said. “Can we hold off on making any statements about what happened out here until we get him settled?”
Sheriff Hawkins glanced back at Rose, bound in the bubble but still raging, and nodded. “She ain’t going anywhere for a while. There is a silver lining…I finally get to see that cousin of yours when she comes to haul Rose away. It’s rare she visits anymore.”
Chapter 14
“So that’s it?” Grant said, sitting up in Tamara’s old bed. “This secret supernatural agency that your cousin is a part of comes and takes away the bad guy? No paperwork to fill out and file? No statements to attorneys? No court trials? Nothing?”
I smiled at his confusion. “That’s it on your end, yes. We don’t—we can’t deal with bad guys like they do in the human world. It wouldn’t work.”
“So what happens from here?” Grant asked.
I knew he wasn’t ready for that answer.
I shrugged. “My cousin will travel to the island and take Rose with her, and we’ll go on with the rest of our lives.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You aren’t telling me something.”
“How’s the arm and side?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “It’s good. I can’t believe how good it feels, to be honest. I also can’t help but think you and Tamara are in the wrong fields. You should be in law enforcement, and Tamara should be in medicine.”
I laughed. “Now you sound like our parents. Nope, baking has always been our dream.”
“Sure has.” Tamara walked in the room and handed Grant a cup. “Now drink up.”
Grant looked down at the cup and grimaced. “Can’t I have coffee? Surely coffee has healing powers of some kind?”
Tamara laughed. “Drink the tea. Trust me, it’s going to heal you faster than the coffee.”
“You look cute in that pout, Detective Wolfe,” I teased.
“Don’t push your luck, Spellburn,” he growled then took a sip of the liquid. “What is this?”
“Invisibility tea,” Tamara said.
“Yeah, right.” Grant took another long drink. “It’s actually pretty good.
Tamara walked over, wrapped an arm around my waist, and leaned her head against my shoulder. “Mom says he should be healed enough to go back to his place tomorrow.”
“I bet he’ll be happy about that,” I said.
“I’m right here,” Grant said. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not in the room.”
I chuckled. “Something tells me Detective Wolfe wasn’t the best patient your mom has ever had.”
Playing along, Tamara nodded. “Yeah, he was kind of a pain in the butt sometimes.”
“I can hear you.” He finished the tea and set the cup on the nightstand. “You know that right?”
“How long will he be like that?” I asked.
“Like what?” Grant demanded.
Tamara shrugged. “I’ve never given someone that kind of tea before. He was my guinea pig.”
Grant lifted his arm, stared at it, then glanced over at us. “Tell me you’re joking? You can see me right? You can hear me?”
“Well, it works.” I glanced around the room. “Do you suppose he’s still in the room or gone out exploring?”
“I’m right here!” Grant screamed.
“You know,” Tamara mused, “we could make a killing on this tea. Say wives want to just get away for a minute, no interruption, no hounding questions from husbands or kids. Drink the tea, and poof they’ve got alone time.”
Turning, I reached over and shut off the light. “Yeah, we can make a mint off this. Now we just need to see how long it lasts.”
As I closed the door behind me, I could still hear Grant inside sputtering. “I’m still here! I’m not invisible! I know you can see me!” Pause. “Right? You can see me, right? Serena!”
Soul Cake Recipe
This is not an overly-sweet dessert. The soul cake was given out to the children and adults who went door to door singing and saying prayers for the dead on Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day.
Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
1 TSP Baking Powder
1 TBSP Cinnamon
1 TBSP Pumpkin Spice
1 TBSP Nutmeg
½ Tsp Salt
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
½ Stick Butter (softened)
½ Cup Milk
½ Cup Dried Cranberries*
½ Cup Dried Blueberries*
½ Cup Walnuts (or Almonds)
*You can really use any dried fruit like apricots or currants. Just don’t use those candied fruits.
Assemble:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl combine the six dry ingredients and whisk to blend. In a mixer, combine the sugar, egg, and butter. Mix. Next add the dry ingredients. Slowly add in the milk. The mixture will be “tacky but loose.”
Add in the fruits and nuts. Mix well with hand.
Prepare your cookie sheet (I use a non-stick, so I don’t need to add oil, spray, or butter…but you may need to). Since the mixture is loose, you can’t really roll the cookies, you just need to spoon them out onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will have a fluffy, cake-like feel.
Yule Time Murder
Chapter 1
“I know it’s last minute,” Daisy Woods said as she gently snagged the Peppermint Mocha from my hand, “but I just came up with the idea this morning. Basically, I’m asking a few shops in town to donate from their store. I’ll set up a raffle table tomorrow in the park during Christmas Kickoff, and then Mayor Stone will draw the winner of the basket tomorrow night after the Yule Parade of Lights & Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony.”
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” my best friend, Tamara, said.
Tamara and I co-owned Enchanted Bakery & Brew. We’d both grown up on Enchanted Island, left to attend culinary school on the mainland, and after earning dual baking and pastry degrees, decided to come back and open our own shop.
Daisy let out a little squeal. “Yay! I just came from Tinker’s Antiques, and Mr. Tinker said he’d be glad to supply the basket and a little something extra from his shop. My sister, Iris, is donating fresh flowers which I’ll collect from her tonight before she closes.”
I glanced down at our display case. “Then we will donate Enchanted Bakery & Brew gift certificates, and a couple goodies from the case.”
“Perfect!” Daisy bit her lip. “I know how busy you are right now during the holiday season, but do you think we could meet around five at Tinker’s Antiques?”
During the month of December, Tamara and I doubled our output. We still officially closed everything down at three, but from three-thirty to five, we opened the shop for the pick-up and carry-out holiday orders we took all month long. We were so busy, Tamara’s older sister, Piper, always gave u
s a hand during this time. Otherwise, we’d never be able to fill all the extra orders.
“Yes, she can,” Tamara said. “I can hold down the fort for ten minutes alone. I’ll be fine.”
Daisy grinned. “Thanks! I better run. It’s three o’clock now, and I still need to talk to Beatrice Warton over at The Craft & Candle. She’s running the store now that her mom has retired.”
“I didn’t know Liza Warton retired,” I said. “When did that happen?”
“About eight or ten months ago,” Daisy said. “She decided to focus solely on her beauty line, leaving Beatrice to run the store.” She leaned in close. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m glad Beatrice is now in charge. It’s…lighter. Airier. You know what I mean?”
I nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.”
The Wartons were known to dabble in black magic when it suited them. Beatrice had long come out against what her family practiced, but the stigma was still attached to her. Of course, that didn’t stop citizens from frequenting The Craft & Candle to snatch up Liza’s popular homemade facial and body creams.
I followed Daisy to the door and flipped the sign to CLOSED, giving us that half hour to set out the pre-arranged orders. Once that was done, I counted the till while Tamara swept the floor. Usually if we were in a hurry, we’d use a cleaning spell to help us along, but we weren’t going anywhere for another two hours.
By four, we had a steady flow of customers rushing in to pick up their pre-ordered holiday treats of pies, cakes, cupcakes, and even specialty breads. At a quarter till five, I hung up my apron and called it a night.
“You’re sure you can finish up here while I run over to Tinker’s Antiques?” I asked.
“Shoo,” Tamara said. “I’ll warm us up some soup and bread when I get home.”
Enchanted Island Mysteries : Serena & Grant Page 5