Make Some Magic

by Morgana Best

  Make Some Magic

  Cozy Mystery with Magical Elements

  Morgana Best

  Make Some Magic

  Cozy Mystery with Magical Elements

  (His Ghoul Friday, Book 4)

  Copyright © 2019 by Morgana Best

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN 9781922420541

  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.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The personal names have been invented by the author, and any likeness to the name of any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book may contain references to specific commercial products, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, specific brand-name products and/or trade names of products, which are trademarks or registered trademarks and/or trade names, and these are property of their respective owners. Morgana Best or her associates, have no association with any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, specific brand-name products and / or trade names of products.

  Contents

  Glossary

  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

  Connect with Morgana

  Next Book In This Series

  Also by Morgana Best

  About Morgana Best

  Glossary

  Some Australian spellings and expressions are entirely different from US spellings and expressions. Below are just a few examples. It would take an entire book to list all the differences.

  The author has used Australian spelling in this series. Here are a few examples: Mum instead of the US spelling Mom, neighbour instead of the US spelling neighbor, realise instead of the US spelling realize. It is Ms, Mr and Mrs in Australia, not Ms., Mr. and Mrs.; defence not defense; judgement not judgment; cosy and not cozy; 1930s not 1930’s; offence not offense; centre not center; towards not toward; jewellery not jewelry; favour not favor; mould not mold; two storey house not two story house; practise (verb) not practice (verb); odour not odor; smelt not smelled; travelling not traveling; liquorice not licorice; cheque not check; leant not leaned; have concussion not have a concussion; anti clockwise not counterclockwise; go to hospital not go to the hospital; sceptic not skeptic; aluminium not aluminum; learnt not learned. We have fancy dress parties not costume parties. We don’t say gotten. We say car crash (or accident) not car wreck. We say a herb not an herb as we produce the ‘h.’

  The above are just a few examples.

  It’s not just different words; Aussies sometimes use different expressions in sentence structure. We might eat a curry not eat curry. We might say in the main street not on the main street. Someone might be going well instead of doing well. We might say without drawing breath not without drawing a breath.

  These are just some of the differences.

  Please note that these are not mistakes or typos, but correct, normal Aussie spelling, terms, and syntax.

  * * *

  AUSTRALIAN SLANG AND TERMS

  Benchtops - counter tops (kitchen)

  Big Smoke - a city

  Blighter - infuriating or good-for-nothing person

  Blimey! - an expression of surprise

  Bloke - a man (usually used in nice sense, “a good bloke”)

  Blue (noun) - an argument (“to have a blue”)

  Bluestone - copper sulphate (copper sulfate in US spelling)

  Bluo - a blue laundry additive, an optical brightener

  Boot (car) - trunk (car)

  Bonnet (car) - hood (car)

  Bore - a drilled water well

  Budgie smugglers (variant: budgy smugglers) - named after the Aussie native bird, the budgerigar. A slang term for brief and tight-fitting men’s swimwear

  Bugger! - as an expression of surprise, not a swear word

  Bugger - as in “the poor bugger” - refers to an unfortunate person (not a swear word)

  Bunging it on - faking something, pretending

  Bush telegraph - the grapevine, the way news spreads by word of mouth in the country

  Car park - parking lot

  Cark it - die

  Chooks - chickens

  Come good - turn out okay

  Copper, cop - police officer

  Coot - silly or annoying person

  Cream bun - a sweet bread roll with copious amounts of cream, plus jam (= jelly in US) in the centre

  Crook - 1. “Go crook (on someone)” - to berate them. 2. (someone is) crook - (someone is) ill. 3. Crook (noun) - a criminal

  Demister (in car) - defroster

  Drongo - an idiot

  Dunny - an outhouse, a toilet, often ramshackle

  Fair crack of the whip - a request to be fair, reasonable, just

  Flannelette (fabric) - cotton, wool, or synthetic fabric, one side of which has a soft finish.

  Flat out like a lizard drinking water - very busy

  Galah - an idiot

  Garbage - trash

  G’day - Hello

  Give a lift (to someone) - give a ride (to someone)

  Goosebumps - goose pimples

  Gumboots - rubber boots, wellingtons

  Knickers - women’s underwear

  Laundry (referring to the room) - laundry room

  Lamingtons - iconic Aussie cakes, square, sponge, chocolate-dipped, and coated with desiccated coconut. Some have a layer of cream and strawberry jam (= jelly in US) between the two halves.

  Lift - elevator

  Like a stunned mullet - very surprised

  Mad as a cut snake - either insane or very angry

  Mallee bull (as fit as, as mad as) - angry and/or fit, robust, super strong.

  Miles - while Australians have kilometres these days, it is common to use expressions such as, “The road stretched for miles,” “It was miles away.”

  Moleskins - woven heavy cotton fabric with suede-like finish, commonly used as working wear, or as town clothes

  Mow (grass / lawn) - cut (grass / lawn)

  Neenish tarts - Aussie tart. Pastry base. Filling is based on sweetened condensed milk mixture or mock cream. Some have layer of raspberry jam (jam = jelly in US). Topping is in two equal halves: icing (= frosting in US), usually chocolate on one side, and either lemon or pink or the other.

  Pub - The pub at the south of a small town is often referred to as the ‘bottom pub’ and the pub at the north end of town, the ‘top pub.’ The size of a small town is often judged by the number of pubs - i.e. “It’s a three pub town.”

  Red cattle dog - (variant: blue cattle dog usually known as a ‘blue dog’) - referring to the breed of Australian Cattle Dog. However, a ‘red dog’ is usually a red kelpie (another breed of dog)

  Shoot through - leave

  Shout (a drink) - to buy a drink for someone

  Skull (a drink) - drink a whole drink without stopping

  Stone the crows! - an expression of surprise

  Takeaway (food) - Take Out (food)

  Toilet - also refers to the room if it is separate from the
bathroom

  Torch - flashlight

  Tuck in (to food) - to eat food hungrily

  Ute /Utility - pickup truck

  Vegemite - Australian food spread, thick, dark brown

  Wardrobe - closet

  Windscreen - windshield

  * * *

  Indigenous References

  Bush tucker - food that occurs in the Australian bush

  Koori - the original inhabitants/traditional custodians of the land of Australia in the part of NSW in which this book is set. Murri are the people just to the north. White European culture often uses the term, Aboriginal people.

  Chapter 1

  It all started when Cordelia called to give me the bad news about my job.

  “I found out how Game of Thrones ended. I can’t tell you any spoilers, though.” Cordelia’s voice broke on the end of the phone and I could hear snuffling sounds.

  Game of Thrones ended ages ago, but Cordelia was always behind with TV shows. She hadn’t even started watching Killing Eve yet. “Cordelia, are you crying? It’s only a TV show, after all.”

  “No, of course not.” Cordelia’s tone was decidedly snappy. “Anyway, you cried when Amy and Rory left. We’re not all Doctor Who fans, you know.”

  She had me there. At any rate, Cordelia was typically months, if not years, behind the times.

  “Misty! Are you still there?”

  “Sorry, Cordelia. I was thinking.” I gently pushed my cat, Merlin, away with my toe. Merlin didn’t like me speaking on the phone given she was an attention junkie.

  “Are you alone?”

  I groaned out loud. I knew that Cordelia was asking if John Smith was still around. He had turned up unexpectedly the other week and then had left again just as suddenly. He worked for some secret government organisation. I always thought of him as someone like Mulder of The X-Files. Of course, Cordelia didn’t know that, with it being a secret organisation and all, so she thought he was a less than satisfactory boyfriend. Truth be told, he wasn’t my boyfriend at all. I’m sure he didn’t think of me in that way. “Yes.” My reply was a little curt.

  “Misty…”

  I cut her off. “Please don’t start on that again, Cordelia. I know you don’t like him, but …”

  Cordelia in turn interrupted me. “No, no. It’s just that I have some bad news. I’ve only just got home from Keith’s house, and he confirmed that Skinny is cutting your hours back as of next week.”

  I had known this was coming. Cordelia had all the inside gossip, courtesy of her dating Keith, our boss, Editor In Chief of Ghoulzette, the paranormal magazine for which I was an underpaid journalist. I sighed. “Just as well you’d already warned me.”

  “I know, but I’m sure it doesn’t make it any easier. Skinny is, well, not a nice person.”

  I agreed. I wasn’t quite as upset as I would have been under normal circumstances, because I had recently received a job offer from John’s secret organisation. There were three little problems with that. One, just before the men made the offer, I had received a mysterious text that said ‘Job offer could prove fatal.’ Two, the men had left after they had made the offer and I hadn’t heard a word since. Three, I had no idea how much it paid, or even if it did. Surely they couldn’t expect it to be voluntary. The greater good is all very well, but I had a mortgage to consider.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Look around for another job, I suppose.” I would have to find another job if I didn’t hear about the secret organisation job offer soon.

  “Full time or part time? I’d miss you if you left the magazine.”

  I sighed again. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

  Cordelia let out a shriek. I wondered for a moment if she’d misheard me. “I forgot to tell you. Just after you left work today, a man came to the office and asked for you.”

  I was intrigued. “Who was he?”

  “He wouldn’t give his name. He was very cute.”

  I thought about the two men who worked with John. They were okay looking, but I wouldn’t call them very cute. “Describe him.”

  “He had a slight accent, English perhaps. Tall, dark, and handsome, the usual cliché.”

  My blood ran cold. Douglas. A member of the Black Lodge, a man who had not prevented a nasty old woman from arranging my murder. Surely Douglas wouldn’t be in Australia, seeking me out. It made no sense. And if, on the other hand, the mysterious man was a member of John’s organisation, he would not be likely to contact me at my work. They knew where I lived.

  “Anyway, in some good news,” Cordelia continued, “Skinny is sending me to a little town called Hillgrove this weekend to write up a big feature on ghosts. The magazine’s paying for me to stay in a motel overnight.”

  I knew Hillgrove, a tiny town just north of Armidale, where I had gone to university. “Hillgrove doesn’t have any motels, Cordelia. There should be a lot of ghosts there though. There were several massacres in the area back in the day.”

  Cordelia groaned. “The motel’s in the city of Armidale, silly. It’s only a fifty minute or so drive away from Hillgrove. Anyway, come with me.”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know, Cordelia.”

  “Look, it’s free accommodation, and I don’t want to go alone. Anyway, it’s not as if I’ve ever asked you to do any favours for me.”

  “Oh no? How about the time you made me drive to Perth with you to steal your ex’s dog? It took five days to drive there, and five days to drive back, and the very minute we got back, you found out that your ex was so distraught that we had to drive the dog straight back to him.”

  Cordelia shrugged. “She was my dog too.”

  “Yes, but that horrible favour I did for you back then lasted about three weeks.”

  Cordelia laughed. “You have a point, but please come, Misty, please, please.”

  Chapter 2

  And that is how I found myself driving to the little town of Hillgrove with Cordelia the following weekend. We were in Cordelia’s car, a large Lexus, because I doubted mine would have made the distance. It needed new tyres, plus the mechanic had advised me to sell it as the repairs would cost more than the car was worth.

  We drove through miles and miles of bushland. This section of the Grafton Road was boring, but at least the road was good.

  “I need botox.”

  “What?” I said. We had left Armidale well behind us and were closer to Hillgrove now, driving along a road thickly flanked by old eucalyptus trees. Cordelia’s botox statement had come out of the blue. “Oh no.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I just spilled some of the coffee on my jeans.” We had been to the Armidale McDonald’s on our way. Hillgrove didn’t have a McDonald’s. It didn’t even have a single store, not even a café. “Anyway, Cordelia, you don’t need botox. Why would you think you’d need botox?”

  Cordelia sighed. “The other day, Skinny asked me if I’d been crying, and I said I hadn’t been, but she said she thought I’d been crying because of all the lines around my eyes.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “Oh Cordelia, you know she always says things like that. You can’t take her seriously. If anything, she’s just jealous because you have such good skin. You don’t have any lines around your eyes.”

  Cordelia peered in the rear vision mirror and the car swerved erratically. “I do have lines on my forehead. Can you please do me a favour? Google ‘botox clinics’ on your iPhone.”

  I waved the phone at her. “Out of range.”

  I felt more and more uneasy as we approached Hillgrove. I’d been there with friends when I was a student, but back then I hadn’t inherited the Keeper’s ability to see or sense ghosts.

  I was looking out for the turn-off when we came to a sign that said, ‘Bakers Creek Falls (Old Hillgrove Road).’ “Don’t turn here, Cordelia, but…,” and then I gasped as Cordelia turned hard off the road. “No, I said not to turn here.”

  Cordelia swung the car back hard onto the main
road. Her driving left a lot to be desired. I spilled the last of my coffee down my jeans, and almost missed the actual Hillgrove turn-off, because I was so busy wiping my jeans with tissues. “Here it is, Cordelia.” I pointed to the sign that said, ‘Hillgrove, 5.’

  “Are you sure this time?”

  “Yes, and look, there’s a sign to the Hillgrove Museum.” I pointed to a large sign that said, ‘Visit the fascinating Hillgrove Museum.’

  Cordelia swung the car to the right and drove down the middle of the road. It was a narrow, unmarked road, and I was worried that we’d meet a car coming the other way.

  “Cordelia, we’re in luck. If that sign is right, the museum’s open this afternoon. I’m going to ask them about the massacres.”

  Cordelia swerved to miss an oncoming car. “What reason are you going to give them?”

  When I’d sufficiently recovered from the fright of seeing a car heading straight for us, I said, “Reason? What do you mean? Do I need to give them a reason for asking?”

  “Well, massacres, hardly a subject for casual conversation, is it? And don’t say you’re a journalist. They might clam up.”

  We were driving up a slight hill, approaching the town itself, and I silently said to myself, We’re not wanted here. Something doesn’t want new people coming to the area. I felt as if I couldn’t breathe, as if there were a heavy weight pressing down on me. Cordelia knew nothing about the Society or of course about me being the Keeper, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

  Just then, there was large thump under the car, as if we’d driven over a sizable branch.