Witch out of Luck

by Elle Adams

  “I’m aware of that, Blair, because your mother told me before she died.”

  His words hung there in the air, weighted, as a long moment passed, seconds stretching out.

  “What did you just say?” My voice was a hoarse whisper. “My mum—”

  “Told me before she died,” he said, his tone dispassionate. “It’s more common than you’d expect for criminals like her to turn themselves in. They grow tired of the chase and give into the inevitable. When we found her hideout, she hardly had breath left to tell us that we were to leave you alone, that you weren’t part of the paranormal world. Then she passed.”

  A shard of glass lodged in my throat. I wondered if I was about to cry or shout out, but I felt nothing but cold. Except for my lie-sensing power, telling me unnecessarily that every word he said was true.

  “You saw her,” I said, my mouth moving on autopilot. “How… how did she die?”

  “No doubt one of the enemies she made caught up with her,” he said, his tone casual. “Very common among criminal elements. Their friends are as likely to stab them in the back as their enemies are. That’s why it’s best not to get involved with them.”

  “I’m not involved with any criminals.” My mouth kept moving, though my body was still numb, and the world tilted under my feet as though I stood on the deck of a rocking ship. “My mother—she died? Why did nobody tell me?”

  “You weren’t supposed to be part of this world, Blair,” he said. “She said so herself.”

  Ice slid down my spine. I'd wondered why they'd caught my dad and nobody else, and why he'd come to the forest alone. The odds were never good, no matter how I looked at the situation. But to hear definitive proof from him… no. It can’t be real.

  But he didn’t lie.

  Which meant one thing: Nathan himself must have known, or at least suspected. Unless his father had never mentioned it, but he'd been there when the hunters had brought my dad into the jail…

  Mr Harker stepped away from me. “I have other business here, Blair, so I’ll take my leave. But I hope you’ll consider my words.”

  I couldn’t say a word. My mum is dead. She’s dead.

  If I admitted it, some deep part of me had known from the moment I’d learned she hadn’t been seen in town since before my birth. Not even when her own mother—my grandmother—had died. When my dad hadn’t responded when I’d asked him if any of my other relatives had survived. If she was alive, he’d have found a way to tell me.

  You weren’t supposed to be part of this world, Blair.

  Maybe he was right. My mother hadn’t wanted me to be part of the paranormal world. Even my dad wanted me to leave town. To protect my life. Not because he thinks I don’t belong here.

  It didn’t matter what Mr Harker said. He was just another hunter, nothing more.

  No… more like another Inquisitor. And while Mr Harker hadn’t terrified me as much as Inquisitor Hare had, he’d shattered my world like a crystal ball. I’d bet if I’d seen anything in the glass, it sure wouldn’t have shown me that.

  I sank down onto the grass at the lake’s edge, tears streaming down my face. What was I supposed to do with myself now? I shook with sobs, pressing my clenched fists to my eyes as though to shut out the world.

  “Miaow,” said Sky, nudging my leg.

  “What?” I scrubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. “It’s not like anyone will miss me if I just stay here all day.”

  “Miaow!”

  “Yes, I know I came here to look for Bracken, but he’s probably gone. What does it matter anyway?”

  Sky growled. I jumped to my feet as a pair of huge mismatched eyes gleamed from a face of shaggy fur. Sky had put on his monster glamour, his teeth gleaming, his body suddenly the size of a lion.

  “There’s no need for that, Sky.”

  “Miaow,” he rumbled.

  “If anything, you should be chasing off Nathan’s dad, not me.”

  Monster-Sky turned into normal-Sky and licked my hand. I blinked at his abrupt change, twisting around to look over my shoulder. Mr Harker was long gone, but now I thought about it…

  “Mr Harker is still here,” I told Sky. “Can you tail him, chase him away if necessary? I’ll be fine.”

  I wouldn’t, not for a while, but I had a job to do: find the elf. Who knew, maybe he’d found a new place to live that would accept a fairy witch with a criminal family.

  No. Fairy Falls is my home. And whatever Mr Harker said, I could still stop Bracken and Annabel from making a mistake they’d both regret forever.

  I drew in a breath, wiped the tears away, and walked north.

  Trailing after a drunken elf was a new low even for me. For a while, I wondered if I’d gone in the wrong direction. There was no sign of the elf, just hills and fields stretching for miles all around me. I’d forgotten just how isolated Fairy Falls was. In the last few months, I’d all but forgotten the world outside.

  I didn’t want to leave. Nor did I want to give up on Nathan and me. But his father had torn open a raw wound, and when I spotted the elf surrounded by bottles on the hillside. I was more tempted to join him than anything else. Maybe we could set up a community for drunkard elves and fairy witches with criminal relatives.

  Bracken looked up at me. “You followed me here? You look different.”

  “Pretty sure you’ve seen me as a fairy before.” I sat down, tucking my wings against my back. “What's that?” I indicated the bottles.

  “Wine.”

  “Are you willing to share a bottle?” I asked him. “I just found out my mother died.”

  “Oh, drink away,” he slurred. “Everyone dies, or leaves, or forgets.” He hiccoughed, tears leaking from his eyes.

  I took the bottle he offered. The wine smelled strong enough that I could probably get drunk on it just by inhaling. I closed my eyes, and a tear leaked free. Stay strong, Blair. I’d come here for him, not for me.

  “Bracken,” I said quietly. “I ran into two other elves on the way here. They confessed they tricked you.”

  “Hmm?” His gaze was on the bottle.

  “They tricked you,” I repeated. “Bramble and Twig felt threatened by your relationship with Annabel, do you know?”

  “Oh, Annabel!” He broke into a fresh flood of sobbing.

  “Hang on.” I blinked away my own grief. “Annabel never wanted to end it. The other elves tricked her into believing a fake illusion spell they put on her own crystal ball.”

  He hiccoughed again. “You’re a liar, too?”

  “No, I’m not,” I said. “I do tell little white lies sometimes, but I know when someone else tells the truth. It’s my special talent, because I’m half fairy.”

  “Yes, you have wings,” he said, putting the bottle down. “Magic isn’t my strong point. All I can do is pointless party tricks like this.” Bolts of lightning shot from his hands into the sky.

  “Can you show me it again?” I leaned backwards out of range.

  When he stood, throwing out more lightning bolts. I pulled the bottle of memory potion from my pocket and swiftly cast the swapping spell. In a heartbeat, the potion’s contents switched with the bottle he’d been holding.

  Bracken fired one more bolt, fell over, then stumbled back to his nest. He sat down, picked up the wine bottle, and drank heavily. “It doesn’t matter what fancy magic tricks I can do… she’s gone.”

  “Did you hear what I said?” I had maybe a few seconds before the potion started working. Alissa had said it was quick-acting but couldn’t promise he’d cooperate. The rest was up to me.

  “Hmm.” His eyes slid closed, then snapped open. “You what? Who tricked me?”

  “I’ll tell you if you answer a question,” I said. “Was it you who knocked Laurie off her broom?”

  “No.” He spoke with certainty, though his gaze was distant. “I saw her fall.”

  Truth. He hadn’t been responsible for her death. “And Terrence? Did you see what happened to him?”

&nbs
p; He stared into space a little more. “No… no, I didn’t.”

  Truth. Finally. But then, who’d killed him?

  “Weren’t you going to tell me someone tricked me?” he asked.

  “The elves used their magic on Annabel’s crystal ball to persuade her to end the relationship. She never wanted to break up with you.”

  His jaw dropped. “What?”

  “I’m telling the truth,” I said. “She doesn’t know yet, but I’m going to make those elves apologise to her if they haven’t already. And to you as well. But they won’t be able to find you out here. You’ll have to come back to the town.”

  He staggered to his feet. “That’s not true. She ended it, she wanted to.”

  “She didn’t want to,” I said. “The other elves wanted to. I even had them admit it and start grovelling at me. Don’t you want to see that?”

  “Grovelling at a human? Bramble?” He laughed. “I’d like to see that.”

  I’d convinced him, but before I got him to speak to Annabel, I should forewarn her. And ask Bramble and Twig to apologise.

  “Can you walk back okay?” I asked, hoping Mr Harker was far away by now. At least Sky was on his tail.

  “I can walk.” He staggered along the path, his steps not quite as uncertain as before. The potion was working its magic—but it wouldn’t last forever. And I’d lost my broomstick somewhere on the way. I must have dropped it where I’d run into Nathan’s father.

  “All right,” I said to the elf. “I’ll fly behind you.”

  I flew south, keeping pace with the tottering elf. It was slow going, but better than risking him falling into the lake.

  I kept one eye on the shimmering waters, wishing I could forget my own troubles so easily. Tanith Wildflower, my mother… if she was dead, her entire coven likely was, too. Except for Blythe’s family. I already knew my maternal grandparents had died, and if my mum had had any siblings, they’d have stayed here. Unless they didn’t know I existed or didn’t want to get in touch. With Mum gone, that left one surviving member of my immediate family. I understood why Dad wouldn’t have wanted to tell me that in a letter. He’d probably been planning to tell me on the solstice when we met face to face.

  Tears trickled down my face, dripping into the lake. The water’s surface was tranquil. Deceptively calm. While I’d successfully persuaded Bracken to come back with me, I’d only added a new layer to the mystery. But if I got Bracken and Annabel to reconcile, I’d have at least achieved one good thing on what was becoming a serious contender for the worst day of my life so far.

  As I flew over the water, I spotted something glittering below the surface. Had the elf been throwing his empty bottles in there?

  I dipped down near the shallows. Large shards of broken glass lay scattered, glittering with sunlight. Not the same glass as the elf’s bottles. In fact, it looked like… enchanted glass.

  Like a crystal ball.

  My eyes followed the arrangement of the shards, and certainty slid into me. Annabel must have thrown the crystal ball into the lake in a fit of despair after her vision. I landed beside the shallows and reached out, wincing when the sharp edge of a glass piece nicked my finger.

  No wonder the merpeople were avoiding the shallows. Aside from the obvious, that is. But we were miles away from the sites of the two deaths.

  I turned over the piece of crystal and felt a familiar odd pressure behind my eyes. The sensation of having my lie-sensing power muted.

  Hang on a second. Could they counter any magic? Including other latent talents?

  “That looks like foul play to me,” I muttered to myself.

  Bracken hadn’t known about the crystal ball or his fellow elves’ sabotage, and wouldn’t truly believe it until they had a change of heart and came clean. He hadn’t until I told him—that much was clear. But that meant he couldn’t be responsible for its presence in the water.

  I slipped the shard of glass into my pocket and flew to join him on the shore. We were closer than I thought to the Fairy Falls, and the main part of the forest I knew.

  “Did you see that in the lake?” I asked him, holding up the shattered glass.

  He shook his head. “No… that’s pretty.”

  “It’s pretty dangerous,” I said. “I think I found our murder weapon. I just need to figure out who used it.”

  14

  Bracken and I continued to follow the path south through the woods.

  I was sure I’d guessed right. Violet Layne had told me the crystal ball had a weird effect on magic. Maybe that included latent magical talents for water manipulation. But in order for it to affect him, someone must have pushed him into the water to begin with.

  Laurie’s death, on the other hand, was likely an accident, but the presence of the crystal ball in the water stirred my suspicions. Now I knew for sure it wasn’t Bracken who was responsible, I needed to catch the other elves before they slipped away and took their leader with them. I didn’t think the elf king would be so easily fooled, but elves were difficult to predict at the best of times.

  Maybe one of them had thrown the crystal ball into the water. If they had, then well… I hadn’t got to that part yet. I was alone in the woods with a drunken elf while my monstrous cat had run away in pursuit of my boyfriend’s fairy-hating father who’d just told me my birth mother was dead. To say the situation wasn’t entirely within my control was an understatement.

  There they are. I stopped at the sight of a pair of short figures standing on the path, not far from where I’d left them before.

  “Running away?” I asked the elves.

  “Looking for you,” Bramble growled. “I heard voices in the woods.”

  “The werewolf chief’s wandering around. You might’ve forgotten, but this isn’t elf territory. Anyway, here’s your friend.”

  Bracken staggered a little behind me, falling against a tree. The effects of the potion must be wearing off. Lucky we’d made it back in time, because carrying him on a broomstick would have been beyond my newly acquired skills.

  “How did he get here in this state?” asked Twig.

  “Got lucky,” I said. “You can have your talk in a minute, but I need to know something first. There’s a crystal ball in the water. Did you know about it?”

  A moment’s pause. “You already questioned us about the crystal ball,” said Twig.

  “Yes,” I said, “but that was before I knew about this.” I pulled the shard from my pocket. “Recognise this? It’s not just glass. It cancels other magic. Like the ability to breathe underwater or fly on a bewitched broomstick, for instance.”

  The elves didn’t answer.

  “Come on,” I said. “Did you put this in the water?”

  “No,” he said.

  Lie.

  “You know I can sense the truth,” I told him. “Tell me. Did you throw this into the water? Or did she?”

  “It was not broken before,” he growled. “She threw it out of her house, and we saw fit to dispose of it for her. We did her a favour.”

  I could hardly believe what I was hearing. “It’s still cursed with a mixture of enchantments and elf magic, and you went and threw it in a magical lake. What were you thinking?”

  “Nobody should have flown that far away from the shore.” He fidgeted in an agitated manner. “It was not our intention.”

  “But two people are still dead,” I told him. “Just because you didn’t mean for them to die doesn’t erase your responsibility.”

  Bracken got to his feet, looking blearily at the others. “You… you sent Annabel away?”

  “They did,” I told him. “But I need to ask. Did you intentionally put that crystal ball in the water to cause harm to anyone?”

  “No,” said Bramble. “Neither of us did, and the first death happened miles from where it was buried.”

  He was right. Unless both victims had flown directly above the crystal shards, then there was no way to prove the pieces of glass had been responsible. It wasn’t
an elf who’d committed the murder—but time was still running out.

  “Tell him the truth,” I told the two elves. “I should add that he’s under a spell for clarity and memory, but it’s on a time limit. So you might have to tell him twice.”

  I turned my back on the elves and moved further down the path, now on familiar territory. In no time at all, I reached Annabel’s small cottage. Crossing my fingers that she’d be receptive to hearing me out, I knocked on her door.

  “Hey,” I said, when she answered. “I have good news.”

  “What?” She scowled, her eyes red-rimmed. “He’s leaving town. That’s not good news.”

  “He’s not,” I said. “I caught him up and explained the situation. Bramble admitted that he and another elf faked the vision you saw in the crystal ball so you’d break up with Bracken. They broke into your house and used an illusion spell on the enchanted glass.”

  Her face flushed. “You’re lying. That’s not just nosy, that’s cruel.”

  “They’re telling Bracken the truth now, and they’ll be here soon,” I said. “He admitted it, Annabel. He said he knew you two planned to get married.”

  Her eyes closed. “Please, stop.”

  “Just imagine I’m right. Is it true? He loves you, Annabel.”

  She swallowed hard. “Elves don’t have the same customs as we do, so I asked him how much he knew about their marriage traditions. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page before I asked him for real. That was… that was a week before we ended things.”

  Long enough for the elves to break into her house and cast their spell on the crystal. It was an inventive plan, I’d give them that. I doubted they’d expected someone to drown in the lake right after they threw away the evidence.

  “Annabel, why did you immediately assume you’d developed the gift? When you saw the vision?” I asked. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me, but I wondered.”

  “Because I already had it,” she said quietly. “I lied to my grandmother. When I was younger, I was excited to learn magic. I was impatient, so I borrowed her crystal ball behind her back, and saw—”