Witch Bait

by Kate Allenton

  I opened the door to find the room completely changed. Even the dolls were missing. I walked inside to the closet, opened the door, and grinned. The dolls weren’t missing. They were stacked away on shelves.

  “This is just like my room. How did you know?”

  I shut the closet doors and leaned against the wood. “The inn always accommodates.”

  “Pardon?” she asked, spinning to look at me.

  “It’s magical.” My brows dipped. “You do know we’re witches, right?”

  Her mouth parted, and she slowly shook her head. “You believe in that stuff?”

  “Welcome to Crazyville. I’ll leave you to get comfortable.” I stepped out into the hall, grinning at her lack of knowledge and the fact that I wasn’t the only one who’d been kept in the dark. I paused at the last second before shutting the door, deciding to rip the bandage all at once. “I see death omens before someone dies, and Georgia can see ghosts and is being possessed by an art thief. It’s going to be fun figuring out what exactly it is that you can do.”

  I chuckled to myself as I shut the door. Okay so maybe I wasn’t the most hospitable type, but at least I didn’t lie or try to sugarcoat things like my family had done to me by suppressing my abilities. Honesty would always come first with my newfound family.

  I stepped down the stairs to find Ryder coming up them. He stopped in front of me. Sympathy softened the lines of face. “A witch’s death has just been reported.”

  “Katrina Gold,” I said, holding his gaze. “Georgia and I found her in the antique store.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “We didn’t know she was a witch until King told us.”

  “King.” Ryder pressed his lips together, taking a deep breath. “You called King?”

  “He is a cop, and there was a death.”

  Ryder’s face softened. “You’re right.”

  “You know there is something only you can help me with,” I said, taking his arm and walking with him toward the kitchen. “My other sister, Margo, just showed up. She doesn’t know she’s a witch. Do you think you can look into her mother and see what’s going on with that?”

  “Sure,” he said, slipping out of my grasp and heading for the door.

  “Where are you going? I thought it would be just a phone call or you could look at the database on your phone.”

  He opened the front door and turned back to me. “I’m going to go do what I do best. I’m going to see if magic was used at the antique store.”

  My mouth parted before I snapped it closed. “Does this have to do with the fact I called King instead of you?”

  “Funny you should think that. A witch is dead. I need to make sure it wasn’t another witch using magic that killed her. I thought you’d be happy that I’m here to help.”

  “Oh, I am. It’s just…you and King working together and both coming out unscathed. It’s just hard to imagine.”

  “You’re worried about him?”

  “I’m worried about both of you. A witch is dead, and I’m wearing your amulet,” I said, slipping it from around my neck. I held it out to him.

  “You need it more than I do. Keep it.” Ryder walked out without a second glance back.

  I was beginning to wonder if I could buy these amulets in bulk with the way things were happening around here.

  “He likes you,” Livvy said, standing at the kitchen entrance. “But King likes you more. Did you know that two boys at my school like me too?”

  “Is that right?” I asked, heading into the kitchen.

  “Yeah. They’re both failing math, and I think they just want me to help with their homework.”

  I grinned down at her and the cookie crumbs around her mouth. “You’re one smart girl.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m glad you and your sisters are finally all here.”

  “Why is that?” I asked, walking into the kitchen and over to the coffee pot.

  “You’re going to be my mom, Georgia is going to show me how to fight, and Margo is going to show me how to do magic.”

  Nothing could have been further from the truth, maybe just wishful thinking on Livvy’s part. Georgia wasn’t kid friendly and Margo doesn’t believe in magic.

  Noah was mixing some batter in a bowl and glanced over at me with a raised brow. “You’re dreaming, kid.”

  “No, I’m not,” she said, whistling and heading to the back door with Friday in tow. “I’ve seen it. You’re going to be around too.”

  Noah stopped stirring and met my gaze. “And what about Ryder?”

  The smile that had claimed her lips faltered. “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed.”

  Her resolute comment made me pause. I tilted my head. “Why aren’t you allowed?”

  “She told me I couldn’t, and I can’t disobey her. I can never disobey her. She’s my friend.”

  Noah dropped the stirring spoon and crossed the room. “Who is she?”

  “The doll that Mrs. Hexford gave me. She’s just like the ones in the room. She knows everything. Well, almost everything. It’s why I leave the notes on your door. She didn’t tell me about my mom.”

  I dropped to my knees in front of her. “Livvy, does the doll tell you what to write in those notes?”

  She nodded. “I have to write it exactly as she tells me or she’ll stop talking to me, but she’s the one that delivers them. I’m not allowed to go out after dark.”

  I glanced at Noah. His face was hardened with worry, as was mine. “Can I borrow your doll?”

  She grinned and nodded before walking out the door.

  “Grab the salt and have it ready.”

  “Tess, that girl is listening to a creepy doll.”

  “A doll my grandmother gave her. She loved that little girl. She wouldn’t put her in harm’s way.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Noah asked, resting his hand on my arm. “What if this is some elaborate plot that Mildred cooked up and Ryder is right? What if that woman didn’t bring you here out of the goodness of her heart but for some other devious plan you haven’t even thought of?”

  “Maybe I’ll just ask the doll,” I said, jogging out the back door.

  Chapter 6

  The doll sat on the kitchen table inside of a salt circle. I’d seen it in movies, and I knew how it worked. Well, at least I hoped I was right and had my suspicions confirmed when Georgia arrived back at home. I filled her in on what Livvy had said about the doll as Georgia started grinding together ingredients in a bowl. Noah had mastered the art of not bumping elbows in a kitchen, but I was kind of surprised that he and Georgia worked like a well-oiled machine ducking and dodging as though they’d been cooking together their entire life.

  Margo hadn’t come out of her room. She was probably still trying to figure out the level of crazy she’d stepped into.

  The short-sleeved blue satin dress the doll was wearing matched her crystal eyes, which seemed to always be looking at me when I moved across the room. The porcelain face was smooth with painted-on freckles. She’d be a normal doll if it wasn’t for the raised design on the inside of the little wrist. It was a design I knew well. The Hexford witchy family crest.

  Ryder arrived back with news that the store reeked of magic, probably from Mildred and her clients. He wasn’t able to pinpoint a specific source since Georgia and I had been there too. We’d contaminated the scene in ways King would never complain about.

  “Look who I found on the front porch,” Franklin said, walking into the kitchen and going straight to the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water as King appeared. His gaze was assessing as he glanced around the room before settling his look on the doll.

  “Why do you have Livvy’s doll?” he asked, gesturing with his thumb.

  I didn’t know how to answer that question in a way King would understand. He’d been one of the people trying to catch the person leaving notes on Mildred’s door to unmask the author.

  “She’s hexed,”
Noah said.

  “She isn’t hexed,” Georgia corrected. “A ghost is using her so the kid can understand when she communicates with her.”

  King met my gaze, still not understanding.

  “The ghost is telling her what to write in the notes that get attached to the door. Livvy writes the message, and the ghost delivers them.”

  He slowly shook his head. “That’s not possible. She can’t hear ghosts.”

  “Oh yes she can,” Ryder said, walking into the room with Livvy next to him. “She’s been spelled.”

  My brows dipped. “How?”

  He shrugged. “I haven’t figured that out yet, but I have an idea after talking to her about her relationship with Mildred.” He lowered to his knees.

  “You talked to her without permission from me?” King asked, taking Livvy by the shoulders and moving her to stand in front of him.

  “Relax, King. I didn’t cross any boundaries. She approached me, and I asked about the doll. When she sat down on the swing, I could smell the magic on her.”

  “Mildred couldn’t have done it if you can still smell the magic, right?” I asked, looking at Ryder.

  “I thought the sweet smell of magic was just from being in this house with witches, but I smelled it on her outside too.”

  “Are you saying she’s a witch?” I asked.

  “She’s not a witch,” King growled. “I would know. I’m her damn uncle.”

  Ryder rose. “Livvy, what do you always do when you come inside this house?”

  She shrugged. “I talk to Tess.”

  King’s gaze shot to mine, and I held up the pendant. “It’s not me.”

  “What else do you do?” Ryder asked.

  “She eats the cookies from the magical cookie jar,” Noah said, pointing the canister where the cookies were stored.

  Ryder crossed the room and picked up the jar.

  “Those are mine,” Livvy shrieked. “Mrs. Mildred made cookies in the jar appear just for me.”

  Ryder lifted the lid and stuck his nose in the jar before quickly pulling back and recapping the jar. “It’s definitely the cookies.”

  “Mildred is dead. Shouldn’t her magic have died with her?” I asked, confused.

  “You of all people know how this works, Tess. Think about Vinette and what that did to you.”

  “Yeah, but I’m a witch, which is the only reason why I got her abilities. Livvy isn’t.”

  “She’s something much more,” Ryder said, looking at Livvy with new eyes. “Mildred chose her and somehow opened up her senses and made her acceptable.”

  “She knows things. I assumed they were premonitions,” I said, meeting King’s gaze. “She’s told me things.”

  “What things?” he asked.

  “Uncle King, you’re going to marry Tess. She’s going to raise me like her own daughter.”

  Ryder’s brows dipped as he met my gaze.

  “She’s just a kid. How the hell do we fix this?” King asked.

  “I don’t want to fix this,” Livvy said, pulling out of King’s hold. “I can see my daddy when I go to the tree. If you change things, he’ll go away.” Livvy ran from the room. The sound of the front door slamming followed her departure.

  King started to go after her, and I stopped him. “I’ve got this. You need to stay and figure this out with Ryder.”

  I jogged out the front door and over to Livvy’s house. I found her on her bed crying into her pillow.

  “Livvy,” I said, plopping down on the bed and running my hand on her back, “what Mildred did was wrong.”

  “How is it wrong?” Livvy asked, rolling over and swiping at her tear-stained face. “She let me see my dad.”

  “Oh, honey,” I said, understanding her need. The first time I’d seen my mother after she died was precious, and I cherished it to this day. “You’re so loved. They all loved you, even my grandmother. I can’t begin to understand how she gifted you with abilities through the doll or why, but I get the reason you want to keep the ability. I can see my mom too.”

  “You can?” she asked, sitting up.

  I nodded. “I can, and if anyone knows what you’re going through, it's me.” I lifted the pendant from around my neck and showed her. “I’ve got someone’s abilities, which I don’t know how to control. It’s scary not knowing how to handle it, especially when it’s dangerous. Luckily you can only hear and see you father’s ghost so far, but what if it turns dangerous?”

  She moved to sit Indian style. “Did someone teach you? You can teach me.”

  “It’s not that simple. I’m still learning myself,” I said, wishing I had the answers. When Vinette Halliwell had died on the Island and her abilities had been transferred to me, the witch had offered to teach me how to wield the new powers in my dreams, but at the time, I wasn’t ready to learn. I was too wrapped up in the web of lies I’d been living in to even think about it.

  “Mildred talks to me in my dreams.” Livvy lowered her gaze and ran the comforter through her fingers. “She told me you and your sisters were coming and that you’d help me.” She lifted her gaze to mine. “Did she lie?”

  I pulled Livvy into my arms and hugged her tight, the way my mother had all those years ago when I was a confused kid. “I’ll help you any way I can, but you need to be honest with me and start telling me things.”

  “Like the doll?” she asked.

  “Especially stuff like with the doll. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Chapter 7

  I opened the door to my house to the sound of Ryder and King shouting at each other and the sight of Margo gliding down the stairs. She was the spitting image of the ghost that haunted the stairs from the day I’d arrived. One mystery at a time.

  “She can see her father. I won’t let you take that away from her. You can take all the other witchy stuff but that,” King yelled.

  “She’s a kid. And if Mildred Hexford somehow gave her all of her abilities, Livvy is more powerful than all of us combined,” Ryder growled. “She can’t handle it.”

  I stood at the entry to the kitchen listening to them argue back and forth, so caught up with their own reasons why they were right that neither even noticed I was there.

  “I’ll help her,” I said. My statement went ignored until I slipped my fingers between my teeth and whistled.

  Georgia grinned.

  “I said that I’ll help her,” I repeated to the now captive listeners.

  “You don’t even know how to handle yours,” Ryder said.

  “I’ll help too,” Georgia said, coming to stand beside me.

  “I’m with them, although I have no idea what all I’m agreeing to. I think you’re all crazy,” Margo said as she stood in the doorway next to us.

  Georgia and I turned to look at her at the same time.

  “What? We’re sister’s, right? I’m supposed to be on your side.”

  “I have to call this into the council,” Ryder said, stepping around us, his look anything but amused.

  Georgia grabbed his arm to stop him. “Ryder, you don’t have to do this. Can’t you let it slide like you did with me?”

  “And risk Livvy ending up the same way?” Ryder’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so, Georgia.”

  Ryder had told me he knew Georgia and considered her dangerous, but what in the world was Georgia talking about? There was more going on than either of them was telling me.

  Ryder kept walking, and Georgia followed. “What’s wrong with the way I ended up? You used to tell me it made me unique.”

  “This is more drama than a daytime soap opera. I guess I’ll go start getting ready for the party,” Margo announced and left me, Noah, and King in the kitchen.

  Noah pressed his lips into a thin line. “Three’s a crowd. I think I’ll go get showered and changed too.”

  “And then there were two,” I said, plopping down into one of the kitchen chairs.”

  “Can you help her, Tess?” King asked, squatti
ng in front of me.

  “I can try, but Ryder is right. I’m new to all of this, and it doesn’t come with a manual.”

  “I trust you,” he said, kissing my lips before he rose to stand. “I’m going to go check on Livvy.”

  He’d turned to leave when I took hold of his hand, stopping him. “Did you find out anything at the antique store?”

  “Nothing you and Georgia hadn’t already figured out. I’m waiting on the ME to confirm how she died so we can proceed.”

  “Thanks,” I said, and he kissed me again before leaving.

  I was left alone with the creepy doll on the table. I stared at it, lost in the porcelain face, trying to figure out what in the heck Mildred had been thinking.

  “Mildred always prepared for everything. What had the old bat been up to?”

  “Why not just ask her?” Franklin said as he re-entered the kitchen. “You know, I was here when those dolls arrived at the house.”

  “Did she ever explain what they were?”

  “Many parents see childhood as a time of innocence to be protected. Dolls throughout time have served many purposes, some as simple as to provide companionship and expand the imagination for kids that needed it. Think about classic tea parties where children would often sit with dolls or stuffed animals. Where a parent might not be around or too busy to play. Remind you of any kids you know?”

  Livvy didn’t have friends until recently, and her mom was always gone based on everything I’d been told. But even still, this doll was creepy with the way her glass eyes followed people around the room. Her dress was from the 1950s, way before our time. “She’s still creepy.”

  “Not to a lonely little girl who may or may not be dealing with the loss of people she loves and newfound abilities like seeing and talking to ghosts. Dolls make sense if you think about it. They’re tangible, explainable.”

  “I don’t care how you explain it. The creep factor outweighs any rational thought.”

  Chapter 8

  I’d gotten ready for the party, and I’d found Georgia and Ryder in the library. Georgia had her hair styled to perfection, her makeup flawless, and she was wearing a little black dress that lengthened and showcased her long tanned legs. Ryder was wearing a suit and tie. It was the first time I’d ever seen him dressed in anything other than jeans. The tension between Georgia and Ryder was thick and choking.