Nice Day for a Mage Wedding: Casino Witch Mysteries 4

by Nikki Haverstock

  Did that mean that Bear’s client, the property owner, was involved? That would be nice since Bear would be able to give me information on that except… the second set of books. If Ned wasn’t embezzling, and he wasn’t unless the second set of books were faked as well, but if he was giving discounts to make sure that the correct businesses could afford to be there… that made the most sense. He was charging a lower rate to the renters, including Linda since her rent was also lower, then likely he was making up the difference himself. But if he was working with the property owner’s permission, there would be no need for all the subterfuge.

  “Ella, are you still there?”

  I had been lost in thought. “Oh, sorry. I’m trying to think. Did you learn any more about the signature of the makers of Legacy?”

  “Not really. For the main spell, we have the signature. The secondary spell, nothing. But I haven’t really looked into it more. Even if we learned more, there isn’t a lot I could do with the information.”

  “Couldn’t you, like, replicate it then match it up with someone?” Previously I had been able to match up a killer with the aura of magic I had experienced in a death vision, but that required the person to work magic around me. And I hadn’t been able to pick up a clear aura from my death vision, at least not well enough to use it to match up with a mage. Most likely, they had a way to hide their aura. Even when the potion had removed the rest of the fake vision, the aura had still remained hidden. That was a skill I needed to use.

  “Perhaps. The research I have been able to find is pretty sparse. There just isn’t a lot of use for it anymore. First you need the signature, which we have. It isn’t great, but it is good enough. Then you can reverse a detecting spell, but that is where the whole thing falls apart. It’s like building a flashlight to show something in the dark, but in this example, no one can see. So even if you reveal something with light, no one can sense it. You can build a spell to give people the ability to sense the spectral imprint of a mage user, but it can take a lifetime to develop.”

  I hesitated only briefly. I trusted Dr. Trout with enough already to know if I were at risk of her betrayal, so what harm was it to give her more information, especially if she could help me. “And what if someone could sense auras?”

  She gasped lightly in the phone but spoke in her typical controlled tone. Excitement threatened to break through. “What do you mean by aura?”

  “Oh, it’s a term I read in a book. What if someone—okay, I’m being stupid and confusing things by being vague. I can sense auras. In my head it is like a smell or sometimes a taste. When someone works magic, I can sense the flavor of their magic. I’ve been able to match up a spell with a user when—” I cut myself off from mentioning the death visions. One secret at a time.

  Dr. Trout didn’t demand to know why I had held this information back from her. Mages were secretive about their skills, both learned and innate. She seemed to be carefully picking her words, balancing her excitement with her natural caution. “I think I could get a spell to work. I…”

  Muffled noises came over the line. She had a hand over her phone as she babbled to someone. After a long time, her voice faded back in as she returned to the phone. “…make a basic tracking spell… no, I’ll explain in a minute. Ella? Did I lose you?”

  “Still here.” Lexine came to the door and gestured me inside. “Oh, but I need to go. I have to get my hair cut.”

  “Smart, yes, you’ll want something…” She turned away from the phone, her voice tinny as she spoke before returning. “Can you come over afterward? I think I can have some things set up. Great, see you then.” She clicked off before waiting for my reply.

  I slipped the phone into my pocket, chuckling at her obvious enthusiasm. She had an idea, and knowing her brilliance, it would work. But first I needed to trust in Lexine’s brilliance to turn my hair into something livable.

  It was probably no coincidence that I was getting my first new hairstyle in decades. My hair had been long ever since my dad picked me up after my mother disappeared. In fact, long hair was all I had ever known. It was fitting that I was about to go in for a big change on the same day I decided that I needed to take control of my life and future.

  I smiled at Lexine.

  “I have some ideas, but they are pretty out there.”

  “That’s okay. I think it’s time for a big change.” If only she knew the half of it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  I waited patiently for Dr. Trout to open her lab door. I knocked again then looked around, startling when I caught Vanessa’s and my reflections in a window across the hall. It was going to take some time for both of us to get used to our new looks.

  Vanessa’s hair was short and reminded me of something that a flapper would have worn a century earlier. The gentle curls clung close to her face, and she couldn’t seem to keep her fingers from playing with the hair.

  My ponytail brushed my shoulders as I turned back to the door. My head felt significantly lighter with feet of hair gone, but the most shocking had been when Lexine had shaved the sides of my head, leaving only the center hair long. Given the bald spots from the fire, there really hadn’t been much choice, but I still felt like an escapee from a eighties punk-rock band, God Save the Mage.

  Dr. Trout opened the door and gave us both a once-over. “I like it. Much better than before.”

  I followed her in. “We didn’t have a lot of options, but I think I’m digging it.”

  Beth looked up from where she was organizing little glass containers of liquid on the table. “Whoa!”

  “Thanks,” Vanessa chirped, spinning around to give the full view. I realized with a start who she reminded me of: Betty Boop, the cartoon character that I had seen as a kid.

  It had taken us several hours to get over to the hospital after my call with Dr. Trout, and it was sliding into the late afternoon. But on the up side, in addition to the new haircuts, our nails were done, and makeup was now covering most of our bruises. Nothing short of a full face mask was going to hide all the damage, but no longer did it appear that we were on the run from the morgue.

  Dr. Trout gestured to two seats and went to the other side of the table with the vials. Once she was settled in, she launched into her speech, as excited as I had ever seen her.

  “I have a test sample made up, a proof of concept, if you will, but first…oh, this is a bit awkward.” The steam suddenly went out of her, and she seemed like a balloon that popped. She looked to Beth.

  Beth rolled her eyes. “She wants a trade. She—we both love helping you guys, and it’s only fair that you help us a little.” Beth’s role at the lab had been temporary last I heard. A way for her to stay busy and help Dr. Trout while she finished up her rehab, but it looked like that had fallen into a more long-term arrangement. That would be good for Beth. A purpose and direction would keep her focused on staying clean.

  I nodded along. “Totally. That seems fair. What do you want from me?” I mentally added up my money. I had some in savings, and rent from Bear and Badger would come in at the end of the month. Plus, Bear would pay me out from his security contract, probably including a bonus for “fixing” the property owner’s problems. But overall, things were getting tight for me financially, especially with the incoming hospital bill from nearly dying. “I can pay, but it might take a few months—”

  Once Beth had broached the topic and I had agreed to a trade, Dr. Trout had regained her confidence. She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “No. I want to study you. Specifically, this gift you have for sensing the spectral signature of magic. And I think you might have other gifts. You too, Vanessa.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Nothing special about me. I’m a pretty good learner but nothing fancy. Especially in comparison to Miss Fancy-Gifts over there.” She hooked a thumb at me before getting up to dig through the fridge in the corner.

  “I doubt that’s true. I have some suspicions. It is hard to get test subjects to be honest and allow me to
examine their abilities. It’s this darned attitude that mages have about science.” She put on a fake falsetto. “We have magic. Leave the science to the humans. Blah blah blah. I never want to learn or get better because I’m an idiot.”

  I could hear her teeth grinding in frustration and chuckled. I had definitely noticed the attitude, though it seemed to bother her a lot more than me.

  “I mean, if I could conduct research and learn more about your gifts, we might be able to figure out how they work and how to make them work better.”

  My ears perked up. I had so relied on the idea of Colleen teaching me, but maybe there was another way. “What do you think you could learn?”

  “I don’t know. That is what’s so great. The possibilities are endless. I couldn’t really test myself before, but now with Beth… we’ve been doing some research, and the results are promising.”

  Beth nodded along. “My strength has already doubled just by implementing a few changes. Can you tell, Vanessa?”

  I swiveled to look at Vanessa. She was sitting, staring at the ceiling, a smear of chocolate on one corner of her mouth. She turned to look at me. “This might be the best cake of my life. I feel exactly like I’m on vacation. The warm sun on my skin, the salty ocean breeze, the slight haze you have after drinking a Monkey Lala. Screw going to Hawaii. I’ll just buy three of these cakes and stay home.”

  Beth nodded. “Yep, a vacation in a cake. And it isn’t just the sensation; you really do feel recharged like you had an actual week-long vacation. Better than anything I made at the Golden Pyramid Casino and I did it with half the effort. Vanessa, give Ella a slice.”

  “I could definitely use a vacation. And count me in, but… I don’t want this getting out. I don’t mind if you two know stuff, but…” I wrestled with how much to share.

  Dr. Trout, perhaps guessing more than I gave her credit for, shook her head. “No one will know beyond the two of us. And we’ll be careful about when and how we meet up. There is something off in Rambler, and sometimes I think I’m… well, I’m probably just being paranoid, but we will keep the testing and the results confidential for now. In the future, we can discuss how I can share what I learn. Fair enough?”

  I nodded as I ran my fork through the dark chocolate cake and ate a bite. I braced myself for the magic but was still surprised. I had eaten many of Beth’s desserts and was familiar with her signature aura, but this was smoother, more nuanced and graceful. Instead of the magic hitting me instantly, like a splash of cold water, it was smooth as it wrapped around me. The emotions bloomed naturally and enswathed me. There was a lightness in my chest, and my shoulders relaxed. I hadn’t realized how much tension I was carrying in my body until it melted away. The aches and pains in my body lessened, not gone but no longer dragging on my consciousness. And, as always, the cake itself was wonderful.

  I let out a long sigh. “It is truly special, Beth.” I took another bite then gasped when Dr. Trout pulled it away. “I’m not done yet.”

  “You can have it afterward. First we need to deal with the matter at hand. Too much of Beth’s magic is going to sully the whole thing.”

  Beth snorted and set a vial in front of me then a row of three vials behind that then another single vial. Then she sat down, a notepad in front of her.

  I looked at the vials then at her then Dr. Trout. “Uh… what am I doing?”

  Beth looked up. “Sorry. The one in front is the detection spell. The other three are test spells. One of them matches the signature from the detection spell. And the last should turn off the spell. None of the three in the middle need to be activated. The detection spell and counterspell do.”

  Some potions needed to be activated—usually expensive, complicated, or magic-heavy spells. I took the first spell, pushing out a bit of magic as I swallowed it. I looked at the other three vials, each a different shade of pink, green, or blue. “What do these spells do? Nothing too crazy, right? I don’t want to end up with blue hair. And how do I know when the detection spell works?”

  “One of them is a tooth-brushing spell, one’s a stool softener, and one’s a baby aspirin. Nothing too crazy. And we aren’t totally sure how you will know that it’s working, so just talk me through the reaction to each. Now get on with it.” Beth seemed to be picking up Dr. Trout’s commanding tone.

  I picked up the green vial. It smelled slightly of mint, reminding me of toothpaste or gum. It took a few seconds for the spell to activate, then a slight foaming sensation filled my mouth. It was cold and fuzzy, and I had to resist the urge to gag, but once I relaxed, it was refreshing.

  Once I was sure the spell was over, I reported my findings. “Minty, foamy, and”—I ran my tongue over my teeth—“effective.”

  I grabbed the pink vial and threw it back. A little tingle spread over my body, and I noticed the small ache in my neck—a reminder of my near-death experience that had gotten aggravated during the hair washing, cutting, and styling process—disappeared.

  “My neck doesn’t hurt, and I felt a light tingle go over my body. Baby aspirin?”

  Dr. Trout looked at Beth’s notes over her shoulder. “Are you picking up anything else?”

  I closed my eyes and scanned my senses. If I strained, I thought I might be able to sense something, but nothing I could put my finger on. “I don’t think so. Not even a signature. Is that normal?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I pulled these exact spells because they are mass-produced for the hospital. Because of that, they don’t end up having much of a signature that I can see. It’s possible the spell isn’t even working. I’m not sure which vial is which. Beth set them up.”

  Beth smirked. “And I’m not telling until the test is over. Obviously.”

  I grabbed the last spell and threw it back. The magic settled in my gut, and I heard my stomach gurgle, probably the stool softener, then a new sensation started. I twitched my nose then gave it a rub. It felt exactly like a feather shoved up my nose.

  I sniffed and snorted, rubbing my nose harder despite the pain that started to flare from my manhandling. Then I sneezed and sneezed again, big, uncontrollable, and difficult to contain. I held my breath for a few seconds.

  “That was—” The tickle returned, causing me to jump in my seat then sneeze again. “Oh man.”

  It was quite violent, and suddenly, I needed a few more seconds to gather myself. “That’s not supposed to happen, is—” I sneezed again, caught so off guard that I managed to bang my forehead on the table then fall over backward out of my chair.

  From the ground, I heard Beth say, “At least we know the detection spell works.”

  I crawled onto my knees and swiped the antidote off the table and chugged it down as quickly as I could with my spinning head.

  I breathed in deeply, preparing for the next round of sneezes, when the urge disappeared. “Holy snot rockets. That was intense.”

  Dr. Trout came around to check the back of my head for a lump, but I shooed her away.

  “I didn’t hit the ground, and my forehead sounded worse than it was.” I rubbed the spot that was only slightly sore and probably only because I already had a bruise there. Frankly, I had bruises everywhere, and pain was being graded on a curve.

  Dr. Trout pulled out a much larger vial from the fridge, more like a pint glass full of amber liquid, and brought it over along with the remainder of the cake.

  I eyed the liquid. “Any chance that we can change the… uh… signaling method? Going to be hard to be sneaky around the killer if I’m sneezing my head off.”

  “I didn’t realize that was how it was going to work. I guess I could tinker with it. But frankly… I didn’t mention this earlier, but in order to build this spell, I had to use some of the activating liquid from the last Legacy tablet. The successful test means we have a tiny bit left, and I might be able to make one more potion, but—”

  “No! I mean, I’ll figure it out. A sneeze is a sneeze. They can assume I have allergies or a cold. I don’t want to waste anything
. How long will the spell stay active?”

  Dr. Trout hesitated, so Beth took over. “We aren’t sure, but based on the formula, we think several weeks. That’s why I made up the antidote for the test batch. Otherwise you couldn’t eat any of my baked goods without signaling. But if I had known you would sneeze, I would have waited. I can’t imagine how dramatic it would have been with a mouthful of chocolate cake.”

  I groaned and pushed the cake over to Vanessa. It looked good, but my stomach wasn’t feeling all that steady.

  Dr. Trout passed me a smaller vial. “This is the antidote. You probably want to keep it on you, given how strong your reaction is. Do you have a plan? Since the activation length is unknown, you will want to plan on getting the second batch within two weeks of now, maybe sooner. The activation spell is going to degrade pretty quickly but should still be fully effective if you want to wait until next Monday or Tuesday. After that I can’t promise anything.” All this guessing was going to give her a rash.

  “It’s okay. A week will hopefully be enough time. I plan to start tonight. We know that the ingredients for Legacy are somehow connected with Ned and likely with his death, so I will start there. I might need to poke around a lot, but if I can find the wasps’ nest and hit it with a stick, then hopefully the Legacy creator will be revealed, and this spell will help me identify them.” I grabbed the potion, chugged down the whole glass, then activated it. The taste wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible. I had had some that were so bad that they would curl my toes. Which was probably why witch boots had upturned toes: a risk of the lifestyle.

  After I was done, I wiped the back of my hand across my face. “We can poke around starting tonight. I have a few ideas. Maybe one of the store owners is actually—”

  Vanessa interrupted. “We can’t tonight.”