Witch Oracle in Westerham
Paranormal Investigation Bureau #8
Dionne Lister
Copyright © 2019 by Dionne Lister
ISBN 978-0-9946025-3-4
Cover art by Robert Baird
Content edit by Becky at Hot Tree Editing
Line edit by Chryse Wymer
Proofreading Mandy at Hot Tree Editing
All rights reserved.
Smashwords edition.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or school assignment.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
To Izzy and Lily, you’ll never read this book because you’re cats, but thanks for keeping my lap warm and for being soft and cuddly. Okay, yes, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel with dedications now. Seriously, writing eight books in thirteen months, I’m running out of people I even know at this point.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
About the Author
Also by Dionne Lister
Chapter 1
Oh. My. God. I stood and stared, mouth agape. Excitement made me squee a little. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” I squeed again. Amongst the twinkling lights, tinsel, and trees adorned with all manner of bright baubles stood the Christmas tree of my dreams. The tree I never knew I needed. There was only one thing that could elicit such a loss of blabber control towards a Christmas tree, and that was… squirrels!
Peering from the green branches were squirrels of every description: furry brown ones with a dusting of snow on their noses, golden ones, ones with red and white scarves and Santa hats, squirrels holding tiny presents in their little paws, a squirrel holding teeny pine cones, and my favourite, one with adorable, minuscule red deer antlers on its head.
My grin hurt my cheeks. Will shook his head. “You’re a nutter. No wonder you feel such an affinity towards tree rats.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Insult my spirit animal again, and there’ll be no Christmas present for you in two weeks.”
He smiled, flashing his dimples, and pulled me to him. “That’s okay. I already got what I wanted.” Gah, how could I argue with that? Beren and Liv exchanged an “oh, how sweet” look. I sighed, defeated. I was torn between being disappointed I wasn’t going to win and delighted he loved me. Who was I kidding? Will loved me. It didn’t get any better than that.
“I wonder if Angelica would let me make a squirrel tree for the lounge room?”
Liv tilted her head, eyeballing the tree. “Hmm, maybe not. I’m sure she’d be okay with a couple of squirrels, though.” Liv turned to a golden-coloured tree with golden baubles and gold-coloured tinsel. “I love this one. So pretty.”
“It’s rather… gold.” They’d gone overboard with their theme, but in this display, anything went. We were in St Mary’s Church Westerham for their annual Christmas Tree Festival. Anyone could display their tree, and tonight, there were over one hundred, according to one enthusiastic woman we’d overheard earlier. They twinkled and sparkled in the muted light, surrounded by stained-glass windows darkened by night. Loud murmuring rose over a background of Christmas carols piped in through speakers.
“Mine’s better!”
“No, mine is, you mouldy crumpet-eating goat’s teat.” Wow, that was imaginative.
We all turned towards the commotion. Two men faced off in front of two trees, trees that looked fairly similar. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I shivered. It was almost the feeling of magic but was extremely subtle. It was probably just a gust of cold air—old churches were draughty, especially in winter.
“Who you calling a goat’s teat?” The taller man shoved the shorter man, sending him flying into one of the trees—I had no idea whose tree was whose. He crashed into it, sending red and blue glass baubles smashing to the stone church floor. So much for the Christmas spirit. Despite the tree’s sturdy base, it toppled backwards.
“Watch out!” a lady yelled.
Someone else screamed.
The tree fell with a whoosh, thud, and tinkle—a combination of sounds I never thought I’d hear. The man who’d pushed the other stood glaring at his adversary who was disentangling himself from the mess and trying to stand.
A woman called out, “There’s an old lady trapped under the tree!”
Will and Beren raced over, pushing past the crowd that was uselessly standing there staring, unsure what to do. Beren helped the man get up, then helped Will lift the tree off the woman and to the side. The frame supporting it had broken—that tree wasn’t going back up. The shorter man ran at the taller one and shoulder-charged him, knocking him to the ground. Liv and I looked at each other, eyes wide.
“Are you going to do anything?” she asked.
“Nope. That tall guy’s a pig. He ruined the other man’s tree. Did you see the look on the shorter guy’s face? I think he deserves some kind of revenge.”
She nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Makes sense.”
The priest and another woman in a red outfit who had a name tag on, so probably worked at the church in some capacity, hurried past to help Will and Beren. Oh. I frowned. Will breathed into the woman’s mouth while Beren performed chest compressions. The warmth of magic flowed from him. Was he healing her or just trying to see what was wrong?
The woman in the red outfit pulled a phone out of her bag and called an ambulance. Someone started sobbing loud enough that it echoed in the now-silent church. Even the two idiots who’d been fighting over their Christmas trees had stopped pummelling each other, probably realising what had happened.
Will and Beren kept up the CPR as sirens wailed closer, but the warmth of Beren’s magic cut off, leaving me cold. She obviously wasn’t going to make it. I turned to Liv and shook my head. Her face registered shock, and her eyes glistened with tears. “I know,” I whispered, my voice almost breaking. That poor woman’s family—to lose her in such a stupid way, and just before Christmas. There wouldn’t be any celebrating for them.
That thought led to painful ones about my parents and all the years I’d missed celebrating with them. James, my brother, had done his best to make sure all our Christmases were special, but there was no way he could bring our parents back, so as much as we acknowledged the holiday and exchanged presents, we always did so with heavy hearts. I sighed.
Two paramedics ran through the door. After a quick chat to Will, they took over, and the boys joined Liv and me. Two police officers weren’t far behind the ambos, and they started off their investigation by talking to the priest.
I looked up at Will. “Will the tall guy get charged with manslaughter?”
“Maybe. But it’s nothing to do with us now.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “None of them are like us, so it’ll go through the normal channels.”
By us, he meant witches. The PIB handled witch-related crimes—whether a witch was the victim or the perpetrator or both. The PIB was always busy, unfortunately, so it was good the normal
police were going to deal with this. The ambulance officers had assessed the patient and were performing CPR, but I knew it wasn’t going to help—if Beren’s magic couldn’t help, nothing could. It was time to go. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not really in the mood to look at any more trees.”
“Agreed,” said Will, while Liv and Beren nodded. Will grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.” My stomach still did little flips whenever he touched me, and I couldn’t deny the comfort the warmth of his touch gave me now. As we walked past the sad scene, I couldn’t help looking at the old lady. The parts of her face I could see were whiter than a new piece of paper—the ambos had a plastic mask on her face and were pumping it to make her breathe. I had a new appreciation for the job they had. It must be so fulfilling to save lives, but many times, they lost their patient. What a burden to bear. How did you watch a patient die, then go home and be happy in front of your kids? I whispered, “Thank you” as I passed.
When we made it outside, the frigid air slapped all sadness away—I couldn’t concentrate on anything but how cold my nose and cheeks were. I shoved my free hand in my jacket pocket. “It’s bloody freezing. Did the temp drop a few degrees while we were in there?”
Will laughed. “You’re such a wimp. Are all Aussies as delicate as you?”
“I’m not delicate. I just happen to have nerves in my skin, unlike you. Do they remove yours at birth over here?”
Beren shook his head. “Nope. We’re just born tougher.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please. You guys strip down to your underwear in public when it’s twenty-three degrees.”
Liv laughed. “Okay, you have us there.”
“Too right, I do.” I looked Will up and down, wishing it was actually twenty-three degrees. He caught me and smirked. I grinned. After living together for the past few weeks, care of Angelica insisting he’d be safer under her roof, I was beyond the blushing stage. He knew how I felt, and I’d seen him in less than his underwear, finally. It had been well worth the wait, let me tell you. Anyway….
“Ooh, we have thirty minutes before Costa shuts. Let’s grab a hot chocolate.”
I shivered. “Liv, you’re a genius. That sounds like a great idea.”
It wasn’t a long walk from the church to Costa, and because I was keen to get out of the cold, we did it in record time. I practically dragged Will the whole way, Liv and Beren almost jogging to keep up. Even though I was determined to get there quickly, I still took note of my surroundings. After Will, Angelica, and James almost got killed less than a month ago, I was not taking any chances, plus the snake group was still after me too. None of us could afford to be anything but vigilant.
As usual, it was a haven of warmth, divinely delicious smells, and animated chatter. We got our orders and managed to snag a table at a window. The reflections meant the view outside wasn’t super clear, but the Christmas lights strung up on the buildings shone through. It was so pretty. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been snow, but as cold as it was, snow was still rare around here. At least it wasn’t as rare as in Cronulla, Sydney, where it was as likely as me passing on a cappuccino and chocolate muffin. If things weren’t so dangerous, we could pop away to Switzerland. Now that would be awesome.
I cradled my hot chocolate between slowly thawing hands and breathed in the sweet hot-chocolate vapours. Mmm… chocolate.
“You enjoying yourself there?” Will smirked. “Sometimes I think you love coffee and chocolate more than me.”
I looked at him. “And?” Liv and I laughed while Will feigned shock and despair.
“Oh,” said Liv, regarding me shyly. This wasn’t normal Liv behaviour. “I was wondering if you lot would like to come to my parents’ for dinner on Friday night. Um, it’s my birthday. But you don’t have to if you don’t want.”
I sat up straight. “What?! Of course I’d love to come, and where I go, Will goes.”
“Of course we’ll be there, Livvy.” Beren grabbed her hand and smiled. “There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for you, and besides, that sounds like fun.”
She blushed. “Thanks. But only if you’re sure.”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s gotten into you, Liv? We’re your best friends. There’s nothing that would stop us from going… as long as there’s cake.” I waggled my eyebrows. I vaguely remembered us telling each other when our birthdays were, but my memory was terrible. I’d put it in my phone to give me a reminder the day before so I wouldn’t forget, but I probably should have set it for a week or two before, to make sure we organised in time to celebrate. Lucky her mum had it under control.
She laughed. “Of course there’ll be cake. I don’t know…. It’s just that this is the first year I won’t be spending it with my old friends, and, well, you know…. I just wanted to be sure we were good.” By “you know,” she meant her now-dead ex-fiancé who my brother, James, had killed to save me. She’d had so much upheaval through that. No wonder a bit of insecurity was creeping in.
I reached across the table and grabbed her other hand. “We’re besties, Liv. Don’t ever forget that. I know we haven’t known each other for years and years, but you’re my people, and I’m yours.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
Beren cleared his throat. “And I’m your man. Part of my duties include attending birthdays, Christmases, weddings of relatives you hate, christenings, looking after you when you’re sick, and providing an unlimited supply of hugs and chocolate when you’re sad.” Liv gave him the most love-filled gaze. It was beyond sweet. I couldn’t help smiling as my heart filled with gooey warmth. Rare moments when we were all happy had to be cherished. If it wasn’t so creepy, I would have recorded the moment with my phone, although, with my luck, I’d see that someone was about to die.
Hmm, won’t be doing that, then.
A woman’s voice came from across the restaurant, near the cash register. “Oh, my goodness. Is that Roly-Poly?”
Olivia stiffened and put her hot chocolate down. She stared at me, eyes wide. It was as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. My forehead tightened as I wrinkled it. The woman who’d called out was making her way over. She was about my age and height, super slim with huge boobs, and had really short, bleached-white hair. Her fake lashes reached our table about five minutes before she did. She stood at the end of the table where she could get a good look at Olivia. “It is you! How long has it been? Three years? Are you on your break? And look at you! You’re not nearly as fat as you used to be.”
What the hell? I couldn’t work out if she was joking or not. Surely someone wouldn’t say those things to someone else and mean them. Except Liv’s face told a different story. She glanced at Beren, panic streaking her face. She took a deep breath before turning to look at the short-haired woman. Beren met my gaze over the table. The tightness around his eyes meant he was just as unhappy as I was. If this woman was being cruel to the lady we loved, she’d better watch out because we weren’t going to just let it go.
Liv put on her fake smile, the one that showed a little too much teeth. “Hi, Kate. I don’t actually work here anymore, but I still like to visit. How have you been?”
“I’ve had cancer. Didn’t your mum tell you?”
Liv shook her head. “Ah, no. Was she supposed to know?”
“Well, my mum ran into her a few months back. Anyway, I’ve been through two rounds of chemo, which finished a few weeks ago, and now I’m waiting for the all-clear. You know I’d never cut my hair to look like this.” She rolled her eyes and pointed to her short do.
“Well, it looks great. Lucky short hair suits you.” Full points to Olivia for being as nice as possible, but it was true—Kate would probably look good bald. How annoying.
Kate giggled. “I know, but thanks. So, are you going to introduce me to your friends?” Her lips slid into a sultry smile as she tilted her head and gazed at Beren, then Will. If I didn’t hate her before, I sure hated her now. I looked at Liv and raised a brow.
Instead of laughing, like she would have normally done, her eyes were wide—gah, she was still panicking. Did she think Beren and Will were that easily swayed?
I looked up at Kate and smiled. I was aiming for happy with a bit of shark mixed in for good measure. Her sexy smile faltered. Job. Done. “Hi, Kate. I’m Lily, and this is Will and Beren. Any friend of Olivia’s is a friend of ours.” She wasn’t even looking at me—she was busy biting her lip while she gazed down at Beren. And was she actually batting her eyelashes? “And any enemy of Olivia’s is an enemy of ours.” I narrowed my eyes as she finally looked my way. She paused mid lip bite. “And anyone flirting with Olivia’s boyfriend gets enemy status. I’m pretty sure Liv has nothing left to say to you. Congratulations on beating cancer. Goodbye.” My heart pounded. I’d never been so rude to anyone who wasn’t trying to kill me, and I couldn’t help but think I was overreacting—maybe she hadn’t been flirting, and I was making a huge fool of myself.
Her mouth dropped open. She closed it and opened it a couple of times like a suffocating fish. Her composure returned with narrowed eyes, which she levelled at Olivia. “I’d never be friends with someone as big as you anyway, and who wants a guy with a fat-woman fetish.” She smirked at Beren, tossed her head—which lacked the desired effect, as her hair was too short—and walked away.
I breathed out, hating my heart for racing. I was so crap at confrontation. “Good riddance. I love it when the garbage takes itself out. Are you okay, Liv? She was horrible.” I shook my head.
Olivia quickly wiped one eye. “I’ll be okay.” Her voice was soft, meek. Wow, that evil woman must have really done a number on her.
Beren put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Where do you know her from?”
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