“School. Her and her group gave me a hard time, but I’m okay now. I did used to be fat, and I know I still need to lose some weight, but—”
“No, you don’t!” Beren scowled. “You’re perfect the way you are. You’re an amazing woman, Liv, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” Beren caressed her cheek. “I never want to hear you put yourself down again. I love you, and I have impeccable taste.” He winked.
“Ditto,” I said. “Liv, that chick and her friends—what they did to you says more about them than you. I think you’re awesome. You’re gorgeous, stylish, and you’re not fat at all. Even if you were, I wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t love you any less, and if I ever put on lots of weight, I expect your full support too.” I grinned and looked at my almost-finished double-chocolate muffin. Yep, not giving those up. “Please just put all that out of your mind. High school’s behind you now. If she ever says anything to you again, I’m going to put a fat spell on her—not because I think being fat is awful, but it’s her worst nightmare. Let her get a dose of reality.”
Liv’s frown quirked up into a small smile. “I would never ask you to do that to someone, but in this case, I wouldn’t dream of stopping you. You know, for educational purposes only.”
I snorted. “Yep, educational purposes.”
We finished our food, although I noticed Olivia left half her toasted sandwich on her plate. Beren, not even wondering why, checked if she was done with it, then ate it—typical man. Liv hardly ever left food on her plate. I was pretty sure I knew why she’d done it this time though. Hopefully, she’d forget all about that stupid girl in the next few days and go back to her normal self.
As we left Costa, I crossed my fingers—not exactly the best way to ensure things went how you wanted, but it was the best I had.
Outside it may have been freezing, but there were pretty lights, smiling faces, and the scent of Christmas in the air. We strode along the high street, then turned right towards Angelica’s place. Beren’s phone rang. “Hi, Auntie…. Mmm hmm. Yes…. Okay. We’ll be there in five. Bye.”
Will whispered the bubble-of-silence spell. “What is it, B?”
“Angelica needs us at a crime scene. A non-witch shot himself in his barn. There was a trace of magic at the scene, but the signature isn’t on file. Kent police are handing it over to us. Angelica hasn’t got anyone else available right now. She’s also asked if you can attend, Lily, and take some photos.”
“Oh, okay. Can I wait till everything is cleaned up and the body removed? I don’t think I need to see… well, you know.” I wasn’t an agent, and all that gruesome stuff made my stomach turn and gave me nightmares. I was happy to help with my special talent, but I didn’t want to have to see everything. There was a reason I hadn’t taken up Angelica’s offer to become an agent—well, that was one of a few reasons, but it was still an important one.
“I suppose so,” said Beren. “I’ll get Will to come get you when we’re ready. It’ll probably be sometime after midnight though. Are you okay with that?”
I shrugged. “Meh. I haven’t got anything on tomorrow, so I can sleep in.”
“Okay, great.”
We reached home, and as soon as we went inside, Will kissed me goodbye; then he and Beren left. Liv and I watched some TV before she went to bed, and I waited up. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 2
The next day, I woke to an empty bed at eleven. Will had finally taken me to the crime scene at one in the morning. He’d had to wake me after I’d fallen asleep on the couch watching The Day of the Triffids. Probably not a great movie choice late at night. After I returned from work, I had nightmares of plants trying to eat me during some weird, green-tinged twilight. Yeah, nah. Not my smartest decision. Will had come home with me at 2:00 a.m., but now he was gone, probably back at work. The PIB had a punishing work schedule.
After dressing, I wandered downstairs. It was late to be having my first cup of coffee. If I didn’t imbibe some of the good stuff soon, I’d get a migraine. I found Liv in the kitchen, her hand resting on the lid of the blender, which was whizzing almost loud enough to shake the house. I put my hands over my ears and yelled, “Good morning.”
Liv turned and smiled. She switched the blender off. “Good morning!”
I lowered my hands and magicked a cappuccino into existence. I wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but I knew my magic collated all the ingredients from my kitchen and, voila: one hot, gorgeously fragrant coffee sat in my hands. “What are you making?” I asked as I sat at the table.
“Fruit smoothie, with strawberry, banana, melon, blueberries, and low-fat milk.” She poured it into a large cup and sat next to me.
“Hmm, looks… healthy.” I eyed it while sipping my coffee. Banana and milk were okay, but melon and milk? I did my best not to pull a face.
“Why are you making a funny face.”
Whoops, failed. I really should take Angelica’s poker-face class. “Don’t mind me. I just woke up. You know I’m useless until I’ve at least finished one cup of coffee.”
“How did last night go?”
“I got nothing, which is to say, the guy killed himself without any help. They can’t work out when or why magic was lingering, but there’s nothing to say it had anything to do with what happened. Neutral, Angelica called it, whatever that means.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I think they can tell if it had bad intentions, so if it was magic created to hurt someone.”
“How come you know, and I don’t?” It wasn’t the first time Angelica had failed to explain something important. “I’ve never heard it mentioned.”
She shrugged and sipped her smoothie, her face carefully blank. Ha! I’d bet she thought it tasted yuck, and she was pretending it was okay. But after last night, I wasn’t going to make her feel bad. She was obviously on a health kick. Hopefully it wouldn’t last too long—I needed someone to be decadent with me at Costa. It was never as much fun being the only person eating the unhealthy stuff. It was a bonding experience, eating cake with your bestie, something that’s been a thing for generations, or at least the last thirty years, surely. My mum used to have high tea with her friends. She did that at least a couple of times a year. After all, celebrations were only a “celeb” unless you also had the “rations”: it might look good, but you were going to leave hungry. Not my idea of fun times.
“You probably never needed to know. Every time they’ve found magic signatures, it meant a crime was committed, so they probably didn’t bother saying there was even something else to look out for.”
I shrugged. Whatever. There was always so much to learn, but since I wasn’t in law enforcement, I didn’t need to know. I’d let the PIB figure that stuff out. I had enough problems. Liv’s phone rang. She answered it. “Hello, Ma’am. Yes?” After a moment, she handed the phone to me. “It’s for you.”
“Oh, okay.” I took it. “Hello?”
“Hello, dear. Where’s your phone?”
“Upstairs in my room.”
“Try to remember to keep it with you. I could contact you mind to mind, but it takes a ridiculous amount of energy, and it might surprise you at the wrong moment. I could just see you falling down the stairs and breaking your neck.” She laughed. I opened my eyes wide. What the hell? “Anyway, enough of the jokes. We need your services again. I’m going to send you some coordinates. And don’t worry; there isn’t anything gory. You’ll be landing in one of our vans, which is in the car park of the Sevenoaks Community Centre. You’ll be going inside to a dance recital competition thing. Anyway, dear, stand by for the coordinates. Will is there. He’ll explain what you’re looking for.”
Large golden numbers appeared in my mind. I magicked my coffee cup clean and away. “Gotta go, Liv. I’ll be back later. Are you going to be around?”
“Yep, except I’m going to the gym. If I’m not here, that’s where I am. Stay safe, Lil.”
I smiled and magicked my camera to my hand. “I will. Bye.”
I made my doorway, imprinted the coordinates on the front, then stepped through. On the other side, I pushed the black curtain out of the way, revealing a van fitted out in a similar fashion to the one we’d worked from on the nursing-home case. I shuddered. Beren and Ma’am had both pretty much died on that assignment. Will’s gran had died. I shook my head quickly, dispelling the downward slide of my thoughts before it began. I was here to help solve a case.
The van door slid open, and my favourite person stuck his head in. He smiled, showing off his adorable dimples. “It’s my favourite woman.”
I checked my mind shield—it was up. “You stole my thought. I was just thinking you were my favourite person.” I smiled.
He gave me a quick hug and kiss on the lips. “Thanks for coming.”
“I do what I can. It’s not easy being this awesome.”
He snorted. “Yes, well, Miss Awesome, I need you to take a few photos. See if anyone cast any spells here in the last few weeks.”
“What happened? Is it horrible?”
“It’s not nice, but I wouldn’t say horrible, at least, not in the way you mean. There was a dancing competition. Participants were from five to eleven years old—they ran age categories for tap, ballet, and modern dance. During the competition for the eight-year-olds, one girl was coming fourth, and the three girls who normally beat her all mysteriously injured themselves during their performances. One girl broke her foot, the other sprained her ankle, and the last one broke her arm when she slipped and fell. Imani happened to be here watching her niece dance and picked up on the faint feel of magic just before each of the girls was injured.”
“Well, that’s weird. And she couldn’t see if there were any witches in the audience?”
“There were two, but we’ve questioned them and let them go—the magic signatures don’t match. Come on. I’ll show you where it happened.”
I hopped out of the van and surveyed the car park. I might as well see if the person had been out here when the injuries happened. I turned my Nikon on and held it up. “Show me anyone who has performed magic here today.” Nothing changed. The same five cars sat in the same spots. No people popped out of nowhere. I lowered the camera and shook my head. Will shrugged and started towards the community centre—a single-storey brick building that was built in the 1970s, by the looks of things. Nothing exciting—just a boring but functional municipal building.
Inside, the large hall was filled with rows of plastic chairs, all facing a stage. Glitter and bits and pieces of rubbish littered the floor. I shook my head. Two garbage bins sat next to the entry—why couldn’t people just use them?
Imani stood on the stage with two agents, but other than that, there was only one other woman. She stood in front of the stage, looking up nervously. One hand was at her neck, rolling a pearl-looking necklace between her fingers. I used my other-sight to determine she was a non-witch. What excuse had the agents given her for their presence?
I raised my camera. “Show me someone using magic here in the last two weeks.” Light disappeared. The rows of chairs remained, but now they contained dark figures watching the stage, which was lit by spotlights. A child, maybe ten or eleven years old, sat at a baby grand piano. The child was dressed in a tuxedo—how cute. I snapped a couple of photos, but my attention was drawn to the front row, where a faint golden glow surrounded someone.
I carefully walked down the middle aisle between the chairs, not wanting to lower my camera in case I lost the image. The woman in the front row had dark straight hair, gently curled and falling to her shoulders. She wore a sly smile, and a baby-pink coat over dark pants. I snapped a few shots, then turned and snapped shots of the child on the stage.
“Hey, Lily.”
Damn. I lowered the camera and looked up at Imani. She was standing by herself—the two agents had disappeared, although they probably walked off, as that woman was standing there, and we didn’t want any heart attacks. “Hey. How’s it going?” I smiled. I was happy to see her, but I hated being disturbed when I was in the middle of things.
“Good, love.” She walked down the stairs and stood next to me. “Can I have a look?”
“Yeah, sure.” I handed her the camera. I would’ve liked to have taken a closer shot of the boy on the stage to see if there were any similarities between him and the woman performing magic. At this stage, I had no idea if the magic was to help or hinder him. Maybe she’d flung him off his piano stool trying to break his wrist? “What do you think’s going on there?”
“I don’t remember seeing her here today, and this would’ve been from another night. They have things here all the time. Hang on.” She handed my camera back and approached the woman who was worriedly looking on. While Imani spoke to the lady, I got up on stage and stood near where the boy had been. “Show me the boy playing piano.” Phew, he was still there. I focussed on his face and clicked. The emotion on his face as his fingers pressed the keys made it obvious he was enjoying himself and totally into the piece.
I turned back and snapped one more shot of the woman. Maybe she’d been trying to make him play better? Now that I’d seen both of them close up, there was a resemblance. Was that his mother?
Raising the camera one more time, I said, “Show me the last person to perform magic here.” The same woman sat there, faintly glowing. Right. I turned the camera off and joined Imani in front of the stage. The other lady had started sweeping the mess up.
Imani said, “Let’s go outside. We’re done here. We’ll join Will in the van and discuss our findings.”
I followed her outside to the van. Once we were sitting inside with the door closed, Will asked. “What do you have for me?”
“Here.” I handed him the camera. “Not much, at least not from today.”
As he flicked through the photos, Imani said, “That’s from a week ago. There was a school music night. Nothing happened, and, in fact, that boy’s performance went off splendidly, so if anything, she was probably helping him.”
I rolled my eyes. Some parents would do anything to make their kids seem perfect. And did the kid realise what his mum had done? Unless she could be with him all the time to make everything he did look good, he would learn the hard way one day that he wasn’t as awesome as he thought. That was going to be a hell of a difficult day for that kid.
“So all we’ve got from today are three injured kids and a magic signature?” I asked.
“Looks like it.” Imani pursed her lips. “There was definitely no one doing the magic while we were there, unless they’d done it from outside.”
“Nope. I checked when I got here. The only person to perform magic here in the last week was that woman at the music night.”
Imani folded her arms and blew an errant dark curl off her forehead. “I hate unanswered questions. Well, I guess there’s nothing else we can do right now. One of the kids that got hurt is my niece’s friend. I’ll call my sister shortly and see if she can find anything else out with some subtle questioning.”
“Was your sister one of the other two witches here today?” I asked.
“No. She had to work. I was the family representative. I’m an awesome aunt.” She grinned.
“You definitely are, but where’s your niece now?” I wasn’t sure if she’d noticed, but there were no kids around.
She laughed. “She had a friend’s birthday party after this, so that friend’s mother picked her up on the way through.”
“Ah, cool. I was a bit worried about your auntieing skills for a minute there.” Also, that kid had a much better social life than I did. Sad, really. I remember wanting to reach eighteen so I could go out whenever and to wherever I wanted, but at twenty-four, I was lucky if I went out clubbing once every six months. When did I get so old? Hmm, now I remember. It was when I came to England. A pang booped me in the chest—I missed my Sydney friends. It had been at least a month since I’d contacted any of them. I was a slack friend, but they were probably busy and hardly knew I was gone anymore. I sighed.<
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“Are you okay, Lily?” Will stared at me, a little divot between his brows.
“Sorry, just thinking. So, what now?”
“Well, I’ve got to get back to headquarters and write up the report on today. Imani, you’re not actually supposed to be working, so you can get on with your day.”
I turned to her. “Why don’t you come hang out with me and Liv. Maybe we’ll go into London or something.”
She shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
We bade Will goodbye—me with a kiss, Imani with a wave. The afternoon was shaping up to be a pleasant one, but I couldn’t help thinking there was more to this than any of us thought. And I didn’t want to brag, but I was right more often than not, especially when I didn’t want to be. Thanks, Universe, thanks a lot.
Chapter 3
Will, Imani, Liv and I stood on Liv’s parents’ front porch. This was the second time I’d been back since Liv’s engagement—the day Will had almost died trying to read her fiancé’s mind. Hmm, my friends and I did a lot more almost-dying than the average group of people. The two-storey character home was just as grand as I remembered it, albeit it was dark now, and I couldn’t see as clearly as last time.
Liv paused before putting her key in the lock. “What’s wrong, birthday girl?” I asked.
She looked at me. “I don’t know. I’ve just got a weird feeling. It’s not usually this quiet. Normally Oscar is barking at the door by now and Mum has hurried to come answer it. She always gets there before I manage to get it open.”
I shrugged. “She’s probably just getting dinner organised. Come on. It’s too cold to stand out here.” I smiled.
“Aren’t we going to wait for B?” She frowned. Ah, that’s what she was worried about. I gently elbowed Will. He didn’t notice. I rolled my eyes, then elbowed him harder.
“Oh, oh, yes. He’s just had a big day at work. Angelica had him attending a crime scene at four. He’ll be here soon. Don’t worry.”
Witch Oracle in Westerham Page 2
