Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2

by Nikki Haverstock

  Wednesday morning I padded quietly to the coffee maker, careful not to wake up Vanessa, who was snoring on my couch. We hadn’t returned from the bachelorette party until three a.m. I had been stone cold sober. After my dinner with Thomas, I had too much to think about to do any drinking, but Vanessa, as always, figured if one drink was good then half a dozen would be a better way to start the evening. If it wasn’t for her mage metabolism, she would definitely have ended up with alcohol poisoning. If nothing else, she had snored like a train all night and was going to have a rough morning.

  I played with my charm bracelet while thick black coffee poured into the carafe. Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt more awake just smelling the rich dark brew. I poured myself a cup and poured quite a bit of sugar and cream into it. I wanted as decadent a drink as I could. I took a quick sip and shivered as the fat, sugar, and caffeine hit me.

  Patagonia jumped onto the counter and meowed loudly for her share. I held out the mug to her, and she delicately lapped up some. I had no idea why she decided she needed some of my coffee, but who was I to argue with a cat? Once she was satisfied, she sauntered off, leaving me with my thoughts as I pulled food out of the refrigerator.

  Bear and Colleen were coming over. I would give them an update on the investigation at the strip mall, and I could tell Bear all about the progress Dr. Trout was making with Legacy. While I had no hard answers, we had discovered a lot in twenty-four hours. Surely that would impress Colleen enough for her to shake her chilly persona and embrace me as the protégé of her dreams?

  I chuckled to myself at the image and grabbed a doughnut from the top of the stack and microwaved it for just a few seconds. The glaze was slick from the heat as I bit into it, moaning loud enough to disturb Vanessa on the couch.

  She grunted and thrashed but didn’t seem to wake up, so I returned to my doughnut. Mages were suckers for sugar, and Rambler seemed to have almost as many bakeries as bars, which was impressive. I had never had so many tasty confections in my life as I did in an average week since I started working magic. The recovery from the paranormal burden of spell casting required sleep, protein, but more than anything, a mage needed sugar.

  Despite all the confections I had eaten, sometimes I wanted a plain glazed doughnut. It was as soft and light as a cloud, and I licked my lips to get every last bit of glaze. The bracelet at my wrist jingled like little bells, and overall, I felt at peace for the moment. I didn’t want to think about my situation with Thomas too much. We had a truce, and I didn’t need to think about it more than that.

  Though worry gnawed at me at the idea that someone might be trying to kill him. I wanted to dismiss it as nothing involving Thomas or Emily, just a weird coincidence, but it seemed unlikely.

  I dashed off a text to Thomas, thanking him for the dinner and reminding him to be careful. Before I put down my phone, I checked my email, planning to delete the dozen advertisements that landed in my inbox every morning, but this time there was an email of interest.

  I barely scanned it before I raced over to the couch to share it with Vanessa. She was sprawled out, sweat shining on her face. One leg and arm dangled off the couch, and her blankets were in a pile on the floor. Her pj’s were pulled up to expose her belly, and she thrashed her head back and forth with labored breaths, her skin red. She looked like she was about to die of a heat stroke, and the reason was apparent to me.

  Patagonia was sprawled across Vanessa’s neck, like a personal scarf. The corners of her mouth pulled up in a smile when she caught sight of me, her purring so loud it sounded like a jackhammer. She jumped down before I could swat her off. Vanessa sat up with a gasp and ran a forearm across her red forehead.

  “I was having the worst dream. I was being lowered into a volcano, and it was so hot. Do you have anything cold to drink?”

  I grabbed a bottle of water from the countertop and tossed it to her, though I misjudged the distance, and it slammed into her chest when her hands closed too slowly.

  “Sorry. I guess you are not your most athletic right when you wake up.”

  She grunted and sucked down the bottle in one long gulp.

  “Listen to this. I got an email from Sapphire.”

  Sapphire was a singer I had met at the cauldron festival who claimed that she knew me and my mother when I was younger. She said we lived with her until one day we disappeared. This brought up many issues such as the fact that I had no memories from the time before my dad had picked me up after my mother disappeared. I didn’t even remember my mother. And I didn’t have any emotions about the missing memories, which was probably the most curious. Obviously something was wrong, but none of us had a clue how to identify it, let alone fix it.

  I hadn’t told Sapphire any of this. Instead I had told her I was a Monza, and since they were known to cut their family ties, I had allowed Sapphire to assume that I was just choosing not to discuss my past. But we had exchanged contact information. If I could find out more about her and her early childhood, I would hopefully be able to use that information to investigate my own early life.

  I followed her, reading as she got up to grab some food in the kitchen. “‘Hey, Ella! Sorry I didn’t write sooner, but I dropped my phone in the Czech and didn’t get a replacement for a while, then when I did, I had like ninety bajillion emails, and I had all this press to do, plus, we spent a wild month partying, but whatever. I swear I didn’t forget you.’” She certainly loved a run-on sentence.

  Vanessa stuffed an entire doughnut in her mouth, smearing pink frosting all around her lips like she was an insane clown, then she poured herself a cup of coffee. “Did you put all this out for me?” She gestured to the plates of food on the counter with her cup, sloshing coffee onto the floor.

  I grabbed a towel to mop it up. “Bear and Colleen are coming over any minute. You can go get ready, but let me finish reading you this. ‘But I didn’t forget you, and I’m so excited to catch up when I’m back in town. I talked to Mom and explained that you can’t talk about stuff because you’re a Monza and all, but don’t be surprised if she grills you anyway. I attached her contact info and her address. She’s still at the old house, but I wasn’t sure if you would remember the address or not. She’s out of the country until after the New Year, but you should talk to her when she gets back. Lots of love, Sapphire.’ Isn’t that great?”

  Vanessa had finished her coffee, or rather her sugar-cream mixture with a hint of caffeine, and was pouring herself a second. “I don’t get it. Why are you so wound up?”

  “’Cause now I have an address! With a place to narrow my search, I can do research and maybe come across some information about my childhood, about me, about my mom. It looks like I grew up in Arizona. Huh, that might be familiar. I just… don’t know.” Whenever I reached for a memory, there was nothing there, like trying to remember the ending to a movie when I fell asleep five minutes after it started.

  The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it while Vanessa scampered off with a pile of clothing. By the time I had escorted Bear and Colleen into the kitchen, I heard the pipes rattle briefly, which meant that Vanessa was hopping into the shower.

  I fretted and fidgeted as they picked out food and poured coffee. I wanted everything to be perfect, sure that this time I could impress Colleen. Every time she turned around, I was right there with a saucer or napkin or inane suggestion. I could tell that I was going overboard, but I couldn’t stop myself. It was like a compulsion, and I felt relieved when we finally sat on my couch and chairs and I could focus on eating and drinking. I bit into the éclair, and the custard squirted all over my lap. I really needed to stop buying éclairs.

  Colleen bit into her doughnut and made a happy little noise. After chewing thoroughly and dabbing the corners of her mouth with a napkin, she commented, “A good old-fashioned doughnut sure hits the spot. Tell me about your investigation so far.”

  I ran through each step we had taken so far, lots of little details but no big reveals. The injured seer at the
martial arts studio, the various stores with their own unique items that only they sold, the fact that so far there didn’t seem to be any connections between the various suppliers or buyers other than each store had several months of back supplies when whatever market had existed dried up. I tried to hit every single point that could be relevant without babbling.

  She was very focused on what I was saying, actively listening. Occasionally she asked for clarification, but mostly she listened while she drank her coffee and finished her doughnut.

  I resisted the urge to preen from her attention. It was ridiculous how much I already looked up to her and wanted her approval. It felt just right, talking with her. It was almost like a schoolgirl crush mixed with idol worship. Probably not healthy for me to fall under her spell so easily, but it didn’t feel wrong. I had often trusted my gut even long before I discovered how magic made my gut far more effective than I had ever guessed.

  Everything in me knew that I was supposed to train under Colleen, that I was meant to be a Monza. After almost a year of worry and wonder, I was shocked by the certainty of my feelings. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I stopped midsentence.

  Colleen and Bear exchanged a look before Colleen delicately quirked one eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head, trying to dislodge the thought that had grabbed hold of me so suddenly and switch gears to something related to the investigation. “I just thought of something… though I don’t think it’s related.” I was winging it on the spot. “Patagonia ruined one of the rent checks for a tenant in the building behind the strip mall, so I got a new copy. The daughter said that Ned Carlson, the dead man, was a bad man. The mother tried to dismiss it as a kid being a kid.”

  Colleen nodded. “It’s good to pay attention to that kind of thing. It might mean something. Is that all you learned?”

  My cheeks heated a little, and I became defensive. “We wanted to go back today, and we did as much as we could before Dr. Trout called—” I cut myself off when she lifted a hand.

  “I just wanted to know if there were any additional facts before I asked a follow-up question.” She tipped her head to the side slightly as she picked her words carefully. “Do you think his death was accidental or a murder?”

  I had really wanted it to be accidental. I had pushed the idea pretty hard to Bear. If it was accidental, then I could stop investigating and focus instead on Colleen and showing her that I was a worthy protégé, but more important than my Monza aspirations was justice. Was it a murder? I had to go with my gut, and without any doubt, I knew it was no accident. “I don’t want it to be a murder, but I think it is.”

  “Why?” The question wasn’t accusing though the single word could be. She was encouraging me to talk it out, explain probably both parts of my statement.

  “It’s a busy week. I would prefer to wrap things up and focus elsewhere. And the death vision I saw didn’t seem to show anything that would lead me to believe it was murder. Most times I can sense the building of magic or see a violent death but not this time. It was almost peaceful, like a heart attack, which could easily occur with the wrong mix of magic and a bad heart. He could have done it himself, depending on what off-market potions he was buying or mixing up.”

  I sighed. “But my gut is saying there is more to it. All these weird items for sale. The seer saying weird stuff even if she didn’t give us details. The kid saying he was a bad man and the mom trying to hide it. It just feels like a murder, and until I can prove otherwise, I need to keep going.”

  Vanessa slid back onto the couch with wet hair and a doughnut with nuts sprinkled across the top in her hand. She nodded with my last statement as she broke off a corner to feed to Patagonia.

  Colleen turned to her. “You agree?”

  She swallowed down her mouthful of food, a visible lump going down her throat like a snake swallowing an egg. Tears sprang into the corners of her eyes from the effort, but at least she didn’t speak with her mouth full again. “Sure,” she croaked then cleared her throat. “I mean, I’m not convinced or anything, but I don’t disagree, and if Ella thinks it’s a murder, then I wouldn’t bet against her.”

  “It is good that she has a friend like you.”

  Vanessa beamed, and I tried to tamp down my own jealousy. I hadn’t received a compliment like that.

  Colleen put her cup down and faced me. “Is it the death vision that bothers you? That is what didn’t feel like murder.”

  “I’m… not sure. Something is weird, and I think that’s it, but I can’t be a hundred percent sure.” I hadn’t even realized that I felt that way until she asked, but once I thought about the question, I realized that something felt off. Even with my limited experience, the vision felt different.

  “But it isn’t weird in the same way that Edward’s vision was weird?”

  I blinked at her while my brain tried to process who Edward was in relation to the case. The change in subject had been too quick, but after a few seconds, I remembered that I had told Colleen about the problems I had with the vision of Olivia’s father’s death.

  “No headache or passing out with Ned’s vision, but…” I closed my eyes and relaxed, replaying the vision in my mind of Ned’s passing. This time I tried to pay attention to things I hadn’t paid attention to before. Was the vision distorted? Were the sensations as crisp? Did my head hurt?

  And there was something, but it was slick, like a film of oil on the surface of water. When I tried to focus on it, it slid away. The edges of the vision seemed to have flickers of black, like shadows, but when I turned my head, they raced away. I couldn’t nail down what was going on before the vision ended.

  “I think I need to compare it with Edward’s vision.” I closed my eyes again and took a few extra breaths. I didn’t want to relive the vision or the crippling headache, but knowing that something was off with Ned’s vision really left me no option but to plunge in.

  Edward’s vision started, but rather than focusing on the things I had before, I tried to pay attention to the same things I had in Ned’s vision. A headache was already starting, digging in behind my eyes and starting to spread across my forehead. But there it was, the wrongness that I had found in Ned’s vision. Different but the same.

  I would have missed it with the headache squeezing my head like it was in a vise, but once I was sure, I stopped the vision. Opening my eyes, I listed a bit on the couch and swallowed away a wave of nausea. It wasn’t as bad as it normally got when I watched the whole vision, but it was enough to ruin my morning.

  I placed a hand over my mouth in case I got sick, but I nodded to Colleen. In a tight voice, I spoke. “Yes, Edward’s vision had the same thing. I never noticed before. Ugh, I feel awful.”

  Vanessa hopped up and dug the rune out of her purse. “Oh, I can help.”

  The subtle working of Vanessa’s magic filled the air around me, sweet and sugary. Even the aura flipped my stomach, and I dry heaved a few times until the spell grabbed hold through the rune and the sickness slid away. She was getting better and faster at the magic.

  The headache receded behind my eyes until I felt well. Exhausted and hungry but much better physically.

  I opened my eyes. I grabbed Vanessa’s arm and squeezed twice in a physical “Thank you.” With my other hand, I snatched a doughnut from the tray and jammed it into my mouth with a sigh.

  Colleen watched the exchange then held out a hand to Vanessa. “May I see the rune?”

  Vanessa passed the rune over. “Granner made it for us. One of us is always getting hurt, and she thought this would help.”

  For the first time, I could sense Colleen’s aura as she explored the rune with her fingers and magic. It was both tough and tender, sandalwood and orchids. The aura should have been at odds with itself but instead felt perfectly balanced, as though it was stronger for being a mix of opposites. Much like her personality, I was learning.

  When she was done, she returned it to Vanessa. “It is very well made. I would expec
t no less from Granner Santini, but be careful. Runes are very powerful, and that amount of power can have strange results. Is it just for nausea?”

  “Healing in general. Either me for Ella or Ella for me.”

  Colleen nodded, and though she didn’t repeat her warning, it still hung heavy in the air.

  Before realizing it, I ran my hand over the bracelet at my wrist. What risk was I running, allowing Thomas, a man I knew so little about, to permanently attach a spell to my wrist? I had been unwilling to give it more thought, but wasn’t it basically a rune that connected us?

  I should have asked then and there, but I didn’t want to admit the risk I was taking. Plus, weren’t there more important things at hand? “If Ned’s and Edward’s visions were altered in the same way, does that mean the deaths are connected?” I took another bite and chewed more slowly this time.

  Colleen tipped her head in thought. “Or two people using the same spell or the same person but the deaths are for different reasons, but honestly… they are probably related. I spoke to a friend yesterday, and she said that she didn’t even know if a death vision could be altered, but if it could, then it would be both very costly magicwise and likely that only a select few people could do it. If a bunch of zebras suddenly ran by, we would assume they all came from the same place rather than several unconnected zebra happening to pass at the same time.”

  I chuckled at the imagery. “Who is your friend?”

  “That… is not important, but this is.” Colleen dug into her purse and pulled out a small vial. “My friend and I put this together. Death visions are primal magic, an imprint on earth of the eternal, and as such, they are difficult to corrupt. This should clear your vision.”

  I accepted the potion and felt the magic vibrating inside. “Both visions?”

  “Just one. And I’m not sure it will even work, but if it does, it should be easy. Pull up one of the visions, and as it plays, take the potion. It should strip away any magic that was used to alter the vision. Why don’t you start with the more recent vision, and if it works, then I will make you a second potion?”