With this witch hand, this heart, this mind
Gone for good, forever,
In your absence peace I find.
Banish, banish, banish
From without, within, below, above
Gone for good, forever,
Not in hatred but with love.”
As the last of the phrase leaves my lips, I close my eyes.
I have this whooshing feeling inside of me, like a door that’s been closed inside of me is opening up.
For an instant, it feels like the whole world disappears.
When I open my eyes, I feel different.
Now, if you’ve known me for a while, you know I’ve had this different feeling before.
I’ve felt changed so many times. It’s hard to imagine that before my witchy journey began, I always felt ‘the same’. It seems that now I go through major life-changing personality shifts every few months. Ah, well. It must be a part of the journey.
I lift my gaze and look into my eyes in the mirror again.
My pupils look different.
It takes me a moment to recognize what the difference is.
That blackness inside of them—before, it seemed to be a void. Now, it looks full. The black carries a wholeness that I’ve never recognized before.
Hunh.
Imagine that.
Well—maybe I’m a better witch than I thought.
I stare at myself for a moment, until my lips curve into a smile, almost involuntarily. As soon as I smile, the flickering candle goes out.
The room is dark.
My smile grows broader.
In the past, the candle going out has been a good sign. A sign of completion. A sign of work well done—a spell well cast.
I reach for the light switch, and flip it on. Bright light fills the room. I start to hum, happily. I did it! I completed the Banishing Spell!
Now that I know it’s possible, surely I’ll be able to do it again and banish Zeke from Hillcrest.
It’s not impossible. I can do this.
Right?
Chapter Fifteen
I’m rushing; pedaling as hard as I can. I’m wearing a black dress, black leggings, and my cowboy boots. The soles of my boots keep slipping off my bike pedals when I start going too fast. I’ve almost wiped out three times already, and I’m only halfway to the inn. Despite this challenge, I refuse to slow down.
It took me a little bit longer than I expected to leave my apartment and head to the dance. First, I forgot to pack something that we could use as charcoal for our spell. When I went back to pack up ashes into a little tin, Turkey started to worry. I spent a little while trying to convince him I had everything under control, but then I just gave up and asked if he wanted to come along.
He did.
Now, he’s in my messenger bag as I ride up to the inn. It’s about six-thirty by the time I prop my bike against the picket fence. The sun is sinking behind the mountains to the west of town, and the temperature has dropped. I’m glad I threw my hooded sweatshirt over my dress at the last minute. I zip it up as I walk through the front gate.
I can hear music playing behind the Inn, where the bonfire must be set up. The hum of voices drifts out along with a guitar riff. There must be quite a crowd back there already.
A small group of townspeople is gathered on the sidewalk out front, too. Dawn and Neville have strung up little lights all along the front porch railings, and there are even little torches lining the walkway up to the front of the inn.
The inn’s front door is open, and the lobby within is lit up. I can see people mingling about inside. There's also a lit-up path that leads around the side of the building.
I step onto the path that leads around the side of the house. “Ready?” I say to Turkey, who has poked his head up so that he can take in his surroundings.
“It’s noisier than I thought it would be,” Turkey says.
“The whole town is here,” I say. “And it’s a dance. The Hillcrest Funk Collective is playing.”
“Do they have to play so loudly?” Turkey says.
“We’ll find you a spot away from the bandstand,” I say. “Remember—you’re keeping your eye out for a white wolf. Send me a telepathic message if you spot him.”
“How could I forget?” Turkey says. “Penelope, my concern is that you won’t be listening. I know how it is when you’re distracted. You can’t hear me as well.”
“I won’t get distracted,” I say.
“You won’t?” Turkey’s tone is skeptical. “I know how you are, when you’re mooning over men.”
“Not tonight,” I promise my cat. “I think I’ve really processed my feelings for Chris, once and for all. I’m a changed woman, Turkey.”
Turkey is quiet. I can’t tell if it’s because my answer has satisfied him, or because he doesn't believe me.
The band grows louder.
I round the corner of the inn. The scene before me is truly festive. How could Rebecca ever consider a different venue for this celebration? Dawn and Neville do such a wonderful job of transforming the inn’s back yard into a dance venue.
A huge white tent is stationed in the middle of the manicured lawn. Little white lights are strung up around the edges of the tent.
On one side of the tent, a bandstand is set up. On the other, I see a folding table has been turned into a bar. It’s draped in a white tablecloth and edged in little white lights. There are bowls of punch and rows of wine bottles along the top. Around the bottom of the table are tin buckets overflowing with ice and cans of beer.
People are mingling around the bar area, and Rebecca stands behind the table, uncorking a bottle of wine. A few people are positioned in front of the band stand, dancing already. I see Annie and Marley, dancing to the Grateful Dead cover that the Funk Collective is playing.
The inn’s back yard is expansive, and in addition to the tent there’s a huge roaring bonfire, ringed with wooden benches. This is where most of the action is. The benches are already lined with people. I spot Mayor Haywater, illuminated by the flickering fire, sipping beer as he talks to a gaggle of other men.
I also spot Cora and Silas, sitting on a bench looking quite cuddly. Well, that was fast! I grin. My eyes continue to rove over the crowd.
There’s Sarah Pelletier, lingering near a group of women who are talking. She looks like she wants to be a part of the conversation, but she doesn’t quite know how to jump in. I feel sort of bad for her as I watch, but then I remember that she most likely bought up land in Hillcrest just so that she could sell it for a profit to Powder Paradise.
I’ve been so caught up in our werewolf crisis that I’ve barely given thought to her scheme. Should I warn others in the town about the fact that Sarah’s sold land to the evil resort company in the past?
Yes, I probably should. Once Zeke is taken care of, that’s going to be the top of my to-do list.
Thinking of Zeke, my eyes rove to the dark edges of the inn’s lawn. The inn’s back yard is bordered by forest. The wood beyond the yard looks dark black, even though the sky is still purple and navy blue.
Is Zeke prowling through those woods, right at this very moment?
I should gather up my coven, so that we can begin keeping watch. But first, I need to find a safe, quiet spot for Turkey. I walk away from the bandstand, towards a far corner of the tent. There’s a little pile of purses, backpacks, and some abandoned coats there, and it looks exactly like the piles of laundry in my apartment that Turkey sometimes likes to snuggle up in.
“How about this?” I ask, setting my bag down next to the others.
Turkey stays nestled inside. We both look around.
“Good view of the woods,” Turkey says with a tone of approval. “And the bonfire, and the stage. I think it will work. But Penelope, don’t you want me with you? Maybe I could help...”
“I know you could help, Turkey, but it’s more important to me that you’re safe. I would never forgive myself if you became a wolf snack becau
se of me.” I squat down so that I’m next to him as I talk.
At the mention of ‘wolf snack’ Turkey disappears into my bag. I can just barely see the tips of his little black ears, and the very tippity top of his tan-and-white head. “Very well,” he sends me, “You know I’d prefer to be with you, but if you insist...”
“I insist,” I say, sticking my hand into my bag and stroking his head. “You’ll be safe here. Just reach out to me telepathically if you need me, okay? And I’ll listen in in case you spot Zeke first.” While my hand is in my bag, I grab my handcuffs. I tuck them into my sweatshirt pocket. Who knows? They might come in handy tonight. Once they’re securely tucked in my pocket, I lean in and give the top of Turkey’s head a kiss. Then I stand up. “Now, I really need to go round up the coven.”
Turkey pokes his head up. “Be careful, Penelope,” he says, as I walk away.
“I will,” I say. I can feel him watching me as I make my way to the middle of the tent.
I’m trying to decide where to go first—the fire, to gather up Silas and Cora, or the dance floor, to gather up Annie and Marley—when Turkey gets my attention.
“Don’t freak out or anything,” he transmits. “But Chris is headed your way.”
I expect my stomach to constrict into a tight knot. I prepare sweaty palms and pounding heart.
But nothing happens.
I feel calm, cool and collected. Really. I’m not just saying that. I truly feel as cool as a cucumber.
I turn slowly and spot Chris, who is indeed headed in my direction. Surprising myself, I wave.
He hesitates, and then waves back.
“Hi Penny,” he says, as he nears.
“Hey,” I say. My tone is neutral. If anything, it veers towards friendliness rather than anger. Wow! Something really has changed inside of me. I’ve matured.
“Are you doing okay?” he asks. He looks like he truly cares. There’s concern in his blue-grey eyes.
Maybe it’s because I went off the deep end the last time we broke up. I find that I think it’s sweet of him to ask.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say. “Thanks for asking.”
He nods.
We stand in silence for a moment, each surveying the scene.
“What do you think?” I say, as we look over all of the people. “Are we going to see some action tonight?”
Chris is dressed in his police uniform. His gun is in its holster, at his hip. He touches it once as he answers. “I don’t know,” he says. “We found one of the guys that was in Raul’s room that night. Actually—he found us. He came into the station, just this afternoon. He said he knew you. Silas Switchback.”
“Right. I just met him,” I say. “He seems like a good guy. He’s here tonight, with Cora.”
I am not going to bring up the fact that Silas is a werewolf. We all know how Chris reacts to that statement. I let it slide for now, and Chris continues. “He said that he was traveling with Raul, and that was why he was in Raul’s room that night. He let us fingerprint him... his prints weren’t a match.”
“So that leaves the other guy,” I say. “The one with the white hair, pulled back in a ponytail. Everyone else has been eliminated because their fingerprints don’t match.”
Chris nods.
“Right. It’s just the man with the long white hair that is left. But I have a feeling he left Hillcrest.”
“You think so?” I say. My eyes travel once again to the dark woods that border the yard. I’m looking for flashes of white.
“Absolutely,” Chris says. “Why would he hang around? He came to our town because he had some unfinished business with Raul Rivera. Maybe we’ll never know what. Now that it’s done, the white-haired man would want to get as far away as possible. We’ve put out search warrants across the country.”
“Brilliant,” I say flatly, thinking of police departments all over the U.S. looking for a man who, most likely, is lurking in the woods just fifty feet from us as we speak.
“We released Marty,” Chris says.
“You did?” I ask. “Why? He broke into the inn.” As I say this, I feel the tickling sensation of curiosity flutter in my gut. Why did Marty break into the inn, on the night of Raul’s death?
Chris nods. “It turned out, he had permission from the Fish and Game department to investigate the inn. Marty used to be a special agent—”
“A special agent with the Fish and Game department?” I say. “No way!”
“Way,” Chris says. “He would conduct undercover raids and whatnot—exposing criminals who were harboring endangered species.”
“Wow,” I say. “That sounds serious. I’d never guess Marty did something like that in a past life.”
Chris nods. “When Dawn and Neville told him about the wolf sighting, he contacted his old head of department. They gave him special permission to investigate the case by breaking into the inn. He wasn’t sure if Dawn and Neville were involved, so breaking and entering was necessary.”
“He was only in the inn for a few minutes,” I say. “What happened in there?”
Chris furrows his brow. He looks puzzled. “Marty reported that when he went into the inn, he quickly checked for the wolf that Neville had spotted. He used some kind of thermal imaging camera to check for bodies in Raul’s room. He only saw one body—Raul’s—so he knew that the wolf wasn’t present. Once he saw that the wolf wasn’t in Raul’s room, he left the inn. Just in time, too.”
“Because the other two men came in right after him,” I say. “Hunh. So, what was he going to do if the wolf was in there?”
“Arrest Raul for harboring an endangered species,” says Chris. “It’s illegal to keep a wolf as a pet in Colorado. If the wolf was present, Marty said he was going to remove it from the premises and take it to a wolf sanctuary.”
“How?” I say, thinking about this new information. “I mean, wolves can be dangerous, right? Especially if they feel threatened. He couldn’t just waltz in there and scoop a large wolf up and carry it out of the room.”
“No,” says Chris. “He was probably going to taze it or something. Maybe shoot it with a sedative dart. I’m not sure”
“Hm,” I say. “There’s more to Marty than I thought. How long was he doing his work for the feds? This special services thing?”
Chris shrugs. “I didn’t ask. I figure a long time. He went on for a while about how stressful it all was. He got out of the business, and moved to Hillcrest so that he could live a simpler, more peaceful life.”
“That’s one good thing about Hillcrest,” I say. “It is peaceful. Well... maybe I should take that back. Hillcrest used to be peaceful.”
“Our town is changing, isn’t it?” Chris says, rocking back on his heels.
“Yep.” I say. “And it might change even more in the future.” I’m thinking about the portal to other magical realms. I’m also thinking about how Sarah could sell land to Powder Paradise. I keep my lips sealed on both of these fronts. Now’s not the time to get into either of those topics. I need to wrap this up with Chris, and get my coven together, pronto.
After a beat of silence Chris says, “I guess we need to just be thankful for how it is now. There’s no use resisting change, I suppose.”
“It’s inevitable,” I say.
Just like that, it feels to me that we’re talking about us. Things did change between us. We couldn’t fight that. We just had to accept it.
“Hey,” I say. “If things get crazy tonight, I just want you to know that I’m here for you,” I say. “I know we haven’t exactly seen eye to eye on this investigation, but I still want us to be on the same team.”
Chris looks at me. He nods.
I nod back. We lock eyes for a moment, and then both look back out to the fire.
More people have arrived. I spot a silhouette that I recognize. “Speaking of Marty Stevens...” I say, pointing.
“Oh yeah,” Chris says, looking in the direction I point. Marty is sipping a beer. He’s joined the group
of men gathered around Mayor Haywater.
Seeing the Mayor gives me a thought.
“Chris,” I say. “You know how Mayor Haywater usually gives his speech about the birthday of the town?”
“Every year,” says Chris.
“Do you know what time he’ll give it?”
Chris nods. “Rebecca gave the department a schedule of events. The speech is supposed to start at seven-fifteen.” He glances down at a hefty watch on his wrist. “That’s fifteen minutes,” he says.
Fifteen minutes! Shoot. I really need to gather up my coven.
“I gotta go,” I say to Chris, as I back away from him. “I think Marley needs me.”
I look over at Marley, who’s still dancing away happily with Annie.
“She looks fine to me,” Chris says.
“She’s not,” I say. “She wants to talk to me. I can sense it.”
Chris still looks confused so I add, “It’s a girl thing. Don’t worry about it.” I take a few more steps backwards. “Hey, I’m glad we got to talk. That was... nice. Thanks for filling me in on the Marty front,” I say.
“Any time,” Chris says. “I’m... I’m glad too. That we talked. Like you said—we’re on the same team.”
“Team Hillcrest!” I say awkwardly, then I lift my fist into the air.
Chris gives an embarrassed laugh.
Well. I’ve grown up, over the course of this day, but I guess I’m still as awkward as ever.
Maybe someday, I’ll banish that part of me.
Or, on second thought, maybe I won’t.
I smile to myself as I turn and begin booking it towards Marley and Annie.
As I approach them, I start dancing a little bit, just to fit in. I dance right up to them and then say, “Ladies! There’s only fifteen minutes until Mayor Haywater’s going to take center stage. We’ve gotta be ready to defend against an attack!”
“I’m ready!” Annie says, shimmying her hips side to side. She waves her arms in a kind of hula girl, luau dance move. She has a bright scarf wrapped around her bald head, and she’s finished off the bold look with big, golden chandelier earrings. They sparkle as she moves. “I’m in the zone!” she adds.
A Hillcrest Witch Mystery Collection Page 33
