The Artist's Alchemy

by Amorette Anderson

  She drew a square in the air with her wand. “Locatus!” she said. The air inside the box she’d drawn instantly started swirling with colors, and shapes began to form.

  Penny and I oh’d and ahh’d as the image became clearer.

  “It’s like a television!” Penny said. “Azure, you’re a witch-genius!”

  “This is really cool,” I told Azure.

  She waved off our compliments. “It’s nothing,” she said. “This is basic magic. You two will be doing stuff like this in no time.”

  “Maybe I can locate the overdue Sherlock Holmes DVD that I owe the library!” Penny exclaimed.

  “I’m sure you could,” Azure said, as the colors continued to shift, swirl, and come into focus. I noted the red and black checkers of Margie’s house dress. She seemed to be inside somewhere, but the image was still too blurry for me to tell where.

  Azure went on. “All you have to do is think about the object or person that you want to locate, draw a container for the visual information to appear in, and then say the magic word—Locatus. Then you will ‘see’ the object or being, as if you were looking at them through a window. You use the visual data that’s represented to pinpoint where they are.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Penny said.

  “Easy and very accurate,” Azure said. “I actually caught a boyfriend cheating on me once this way. He said he was going on a business trip to the Krycaur Peak District in the Fire Realm, and when I Located him I saw he was on the lavender-sand beaches of Aqua Bay in the Water Realm—with a woman at his side.”

  “Yikes,” Penny said.

  I peered at the screen. Now I could see some details of Margie’s surroundings. She was flying about a foot above thick, green grass, with something that looked like a metal spatula in her hand. Behind her, I noticed a distinctly shaped window as well as the back wall of the center.

  “She’s out in the back yard!” I said.

  “Doing some kind of yard work by the looks of it,” Penny said.

  Azure spoke up. “Why would she throw a knife at Penny, and then go back into the center and start doing groundskeeping?”

  I thought this over. “Maybe she’s trying to act normal,” I said. “To throw us off of her scent a little bit.”

  “Oh yeah,” Penny said. “Villains do that all the time. They commit a crime and then go right back to mundane life, kind of like, ‘Hey, nothing to see here! I’m just doing some regular old daily chores, not getting up to trouble at all!’ One time, I was trying to figure out who was stealing the Payday candy bars from the market, and—”

  Azure interjected. “But Marley, didn’t you say you saw someone out in the woods?”

  I nodded. “I thought so... but maybe Marge flew out to the woods, hid for a little while, and then made her way to the back yard.”

  “Why do you think she's the one that stabbed Penny?” Azure asked.

  “Because,” I pointed to the knife in Azure’s hands, “the knife says Klahan Thai Boxing Gym on it, and Margie just told me this morning that she studied there when she was younger.”

  “Why would she try to kill Penny with a knife that can so easily be traced back to her?” Azure asked.

  Penny frowned, and turned to Azure. “You ask really hard questions, you know that Azure?” she said. “What are you trying to do, give Marley third degree burns?”

  “What?” Azure said.

  “I think Penny is just saying... you’re asking me a lot of questions, and I don't know the answers,” I said.

  “Yep,” Penny said. “But we can get answers if we go talk to Margie. You know—shake her up a little bit.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so,” I said. “Azure’s right. Something’s not adding up.”

  I paused to think for a moment, and then I said, “First, Robert Elgin is thrown from the roof. He was trying to ruin the weekend for us, by casting some kind of anti-art sabotage spell. Someone stopped him before he cast the spell. I admit, Margie might have motive to stop Robert from completing that spell. She seems very intent on protecting me, and that means also protecting the center. But you’re my friend, Penny. What motive would she have for trying to murder you? It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “But it’s her knife,” Penny said. “So she probably threw it.”

  “I don’t know...” I said slowly. I paused, trying hard to think. Then I said, “At least it’s a clue. We’d better go talk to her.”

  “You guys go,” Azure said. “I think I’m going to go take a walk out in the woods and see if I can spot any prints. If it wasn’t Margie, maybe the perp left some marks on the ground that we could track to their hiding place.”

  “Oh! Footprints!” Penny said. “That’s right, Azure! Footprints can be so helpful. I’m pretty good at finding footprints in dirt and mud. I’d better go with you.”

  Azure held up her wand and waved it at the image of Margie in the backyard that was still hanging in the air. It faded, and then she tucked her wand back up her sleeve. “I guess it could help to have two of us looking,” she said. “Marley, are you going to be okay confronting Margie on your own?”

  She held out the knife. I took it from her by the hilt, and held it down at my side with the blade down.

  “I won’t be alone,” I said. I looked up and spotted Skili circling in the air above us. “Skili will come with me. She’s about Margie’s size. The two of us should be able to handle her. If she’s guilty, we’ll bind her up and we can get all of this sorted out tonight—in time to prove to Robert who his killer was, so that he doesn’t attack Asti at the concert tomorrow.”

  “That would be nice,” Penny said. She rubbed her right butt cheek. “I’d hate for anyone else to turn into a walking, talking pin-cushion.”

  “You got the talking part right,” Azure teased.

  “Can I help it if I’m chatty?” Penny said. Then, “No. The answer is, no I can not. I was born this way. It’s one of those character traits that...”

  Her voice faded as she turned and started walking toward the woods. Soon I could just barely hear her prattling on. “... and sometimes even in my sleep. My mom used to tell me about it. I’ll try to be quiet while we look for prints though. We should both probably tip toe, and maybe even use this nifty camo spell that I just invented.” She paused long enough to turn and wave at me over her shoulder. “Good luck with Margie!” she called out to me.

  “Thanks,” I said. I split off from my friends, and headed west toward the center’s side yard. Skili flew a few feet above me. It didn’t take us long to circle around the center and reach the back yard.

  It was a lovely open area, which I’d only actually stepped foot on once or twice. Usually when I was outside of the center, I was either around my van, or on one of my favorite paths that wound through the woods. I also loved the sunny deck on the side of the center, and I was starting to love the greenhouse. The backyard was often cast in the shadow of the center, which was probably one reason why I avoided it.

  I spotted Margie. She was on her hands and knees, with the metal spatula looking thing still in her grip. I noticed some gloppy gray stuff on the spatula. Around her there was a beautiful array of slate. The flat stones had various tones, like rosy pink, blue-gray, and smokey lavender.

  The stones formed a circular maze pattern. Margie wasn’t doing yardwork, exactly—she was doing stonework. The metal spatula was a trowel, and the gray stuff was mortar.

  I thought I recognized what she was making. “Is this a labyrinth?” I asked, as I approached her.

  I’d heard of labyrinths before. They were circular mazes that represented wholeness along with the idea that one’s journey through life could be quite meandering. I’d heard that walking one could be meditative, and could help a person contemplate the journey inward along with the re-emergence back into the outer world. I’d never actually walked on one, but I had always wanted to. I’d just never had the opportunity.

  At the sound of my voice, she looke
d up abruptly from the stone she’d just placed down. “Marley!” she practically shouted. She fluttered up a few feet, and then with a burst of speed, she flew toward me.

  My nervous system went into overdrive. A shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I felt every muscle in my body tense up. My mind went blank, which isn’t helpful if you’re a witch trying to come up with a defensive spell. I raised the hand that was holding the knife, and stuck it out in Margie’s direction. “Stop right there!” I shouted back at her.

  She stopped.

  She hovered in the air.

  “What in the world...?” she said softly.

  “If you're thinking of attacking me, don’t you dare,” I said. “Because I will defend myself, and Skili’s prepared to help.” Skili, circling above us, gave a warning hoot.

  “I’m not going to attack you,” she said. “I just wanted to lead you away from our project. You shouldn’t be here.” She eyed my defensive stance. “What’s gotten into you, Marley?”

  A pause filled the space between us, and then she added, “Is that my knife?”

  “Yes, yes it is,” I said.

  There was a crash in the woods, just behind her.

  My body tensed again. More adrenaline washed through my system.“What was that?” I said.

  Skili answered my question telepathically. “I’ll go check it out,” she said. “Can you handle Margie?”

  I eyed the little fairy. She was hovering in place, watching me with concern.

  “Yeah, I think I’ve got this,” I told Skili. I was feeling jittery, and nervous about the sound in the woods. Did Margie have an accomplice? “You’d better go see what that sound was,” I told Skili.

  She flew off in the direction of the sound.

  “Calm down,” Margie said. “You seem to be in a real tizzy. What’s gotten into you?”

  “Why don’t you tell me about what’s gotten into you?” I said. “Why did you try to hurt Penny? And who is out in the woods?”

  “That’s probably just Geoffrey,” Margie said. “He went out to the slate pile to get a pale piece for this section of the path we’re working on.”

  “What slate pile?” I asked.

  “The slate pile Geoffrey’s been hiding in the woods. He didn’t want you to find out about it. I only just found out a few hours ago. After I talked to you in the greenhouse, I decided to confront Geoffrey about his strange behavior. He told me about this little project, and... well, we meant for it to be a surprise! I shouldn’t have shouted so when you appeared, but you surprised me, that’s all. We wanted so badly to reveal this labyrinth to you when it was completed, as a gift.”

  “A gift? I said, confused. “Margie, you’d better explain yourself.”

  “It was Geoff’s idea,” Margie said, motioning to the stone work below her. “He was working on it in secret for a while—that was why he kept missing our meet-ups. I finally figured out what he was up to... and of course I volunteered to help! Now what’s this about hurting Penny? And why do you have my knife?”

  I eyed her skeptically. Was she telling the truth, or was she just trying to get me to let my guard down?

  I felt the sensation in my brain of an incoming message from Skili. I tuned in. “Geoffrey’s out here,” she transmitted. “He’s heading your way with a bunch of flat stones in his arms. He’s whistling.”

  I blew out an exasperated sigh. It really seemed that my two employees were working on the labyrinth together—and I had to admit it was a kind and thoughtful gesture. They were putting effort into improving the center, in such an unexpected and wonderful way. Having a labyrinth for guests to walk along and pray or meditate seemed to be just what we needed.

  My witchy cells were humming with gratitude, and it was replacing the defensive fear that I’d felt only minutes earlier.

  I lowered the knife.

  I was starting to think that Margie was innocent.

  “Margie, how long have you been here, working on this with Geoffrey this evening?” I asked her.

  “For at least the last few hours,” she said. “Since four, I’d say. Why? What’s going on?”

  I frowned. “There was another violent attack on the center grounds,” I said. “This time it was against Penny. She was crossing the front lot, and someone threw a knife at her—your knife.”

  I heard the cheerful whistle of Geoff approaching, and then he emerged from the woods. His mud-arms were laden with a stack of at least a dozen pieces of slate.

  “Oomph!” he said, as he laid the stones down in a grassy clearing off to the side of the work-zone. Then he looked up and caught sight of me. “Miss Marley! Shoot! What the heck! You shouldn’t be here!” He plopped down on the pile of stones. “Nothing to see here! This is firewood!”

  It clearly wasn’t fire wood.

  He went on. “And all this—uh... don’t look down! Don’t look down at the ground! Nothin’ to see here, Miss Marley!”

  Before I could speak, Margie intervened. “Geoff, it’s too late,” she said, “She knows. She knows about the labyrinth, but we have bigger fish to fry. There’s been another attack.”

  Geoff sprang up, and barreled toward me. “An attack on you, Miss Marley? Someone tried to hurt you? Who? Where?”

  I held up a hand to slow him down. “Whoa, Geoffrey, it’s okay,” I said. “It wasn’t an attack on me. Someone stabbed Penny, but she’s all better now. They used Margie’s knife.”

  “I guess that explains it,” Margie said. “My knife has been missing since about noon. It’s one of my most precious belongings, and I took it out of my keepsake box so that I could show you, Marley. I wanted you to see an artifact from the gym where I trained. I thought maybe I could interest you in learning Muay Thai if I could just tell you a few stories about my master, Klahan, who gave me this knife. I brought it with me to the lobby and set it down while I was making a cup of tea. When I looked for it, it was gone.”

  Geoffrey’s gaping hole of a mouth formed a perfect donut-sized “O.” “Murder, theft, and knife attacks... What’s next?” he asked woefully. He reached up and wiped one mud-hand against his mud-brow. Brown splatters rained down around Margie and I.

  I wiped a glob from my cheek. “We have to try to stay calm,” I said. “We can handle this... I hope. I have to admit, I didn’t think knife attacks would be on the agenda this weekend, but ...” My voice trailed off. I was trying to be the calm one, and a good leader, but inside I was feeling pretty uncertain. I wanted to tell my employees that everything was going to work out. But was it?

  My healing center was turning into a sort of nightmare factory, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

  I let my thoughts dissipate into the night air. Instead of continuing with my false bravado, I decided it would be better to say something genuine, and from the heart. I looked down at the labyrinth. “This is really amazing, you guys,” I said. “I truly love it. I can see it’s taken a lot of work. Thank you.”

  I admired their stonework for a little while, and listened as Geoff told me about all sorts of geological facts about slate. Then I walked on the curved path that was already laid in the ground. I sensed that it could be a meditative, spiritual experience if my mind and heart were in the right space, but they were not.

  I was distracted and scared.

  Someone had pushed Robert from the roof.

  Someone had chucked a knife at my friend.

  Who?

  I knew that it wasn’t Asti, Geoff, or Margie—and that was my entire list of suspects.

  I had no idea what to do next, and that made me feel trapped. I wanted to take the next step forward, but suddenly I felt as though there were no steps left.

  Even the thought of attending the dance that night didn’t cheer me up.

  I said goodnight to Margie and Geoff, and then Skili and I headed for the woods. It didn’t take us long to find Azure and Penny, seeing as Penny was still talking a mile a minute. They’d not had any luck spotting prints. I asked them if t
hey could handle overseeing the Saturday night dance. I was feeling too stressed and overwhelmed for socializing. Penny said she could fill in for Justin and supply a playlist for beings to dance to. Azure promised to do what she could to make sure guests had a good time. I thanked them for their help, and then headed to my van.

  I needed to be alone.

  I needed to think.

  Skili picked up on my desire for quiet and soared high above, giving me plenty of space, which I was grateful for. I was looking forward to sitting in one of my camp chairs in the dark, maybe with a cup of tea to sip. But as I approached my peaceful tiny home on wheels, a strange sensation came over me.

  There was a presence lingering in the vicinity—I could feel it. I relaxed my vision, and saw a little shimmer of light dance across the van’s surface.

  I knew that a vision was waiting for me.

  Though I was tired and not in the mood for socializing, I figured that I’d better see what kind of apparition was paying me a visit.

  I lowered myself down to the cool ground, in a cross-legged position. I placed my palms down on my knees.

  I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, and tried to find a sense of stillness. Then I opened my eyes and looked again to the place where I’d seen the shimmering light.

  I waited for a form to appear.

  I listened for sounds.

  After a moment, a figure began to emerge from the dark shadows that my van cast on the gravel lot.

  Robert Elgin was sitting in my camp chair, clearly waiting for me. I was hoping that he wasn’t about to demand answers, because I didn’t have any to give him. He lifted his hand and waved, and a shiver of dread ran down my spine.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Hello, Robert,” I said to him glumly.

  He was the last person I felt like dealing with at that moment, and I was hesitant to engage in conversation with him. I just wanted to be alone. But what else could I do? The guy was in my camp chair, for goodness sake. He clearly wanted to talk.

  “Marley,” he said coolly.

  “What can I do for you?” I asked. I wanted to stop there, but I was so frazzled that I allowed myself to go on—against my better judgement. “Did you swing by to cast another sabotage spell? What are you going to sabotage this time—my home?”