“It’s a simple spell, really. We’re going to be using Sybil’s scrying magic to check in on our little friends.”
Sybil puffed up her tail. “I’m not interested in getting into any trouble. Who knows what those sorority girls will do to a sweet puss like me.”
“That’s the beauty of this spell,” Granny explained. “With a quick modification of the spell you two have already worked out, we’ll be able to see through Sybil’s eyes in the reflection in the water, but Sybil won’t have to be there physically.”
“I like the sound of that,” Thea said. “There’s less chance to get caught.” She remembered picking up the murder weapon and shuddered.
Thea and Granny finished gathering the spell components. Thea sat next to Granny on the couch, anxiously staring at the water.
“Now close your eyes,” Granny said, closing her eyes as well. Thea and Sybil followed suit. “Say the magic words, Thea, and let the magic take you to Nichole.”
Thea concentrated on her magic. She felt herself connect to Sybil and she felt Sybil reach out in the direction of the university.
Thea opened her eyes, knowing that the spell worked. Even though she knew how the spell worked, she was still surprised to see Sybil sitting in the same place.
Sybil’s eyes were glazed over. Her pupils were thin slits. She stared unblinkingly towards nothing.
“Did it work?” Sybil asked. “Are you seeing what I see?”
Thea and Granny peered into the water. Instead of seeing their own reflection, they saw Nichole sitting at a vanity, brushing her hair. Two younger blonde women sat on the bed behind her.
Granny clapped her hands together. “It was a success. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Tiegen.”
“We can celebrate later,” Thea said. “Let’s see what she has to say now.”
Granny quieted down. They heard Nichole begin to speak. It was as if the sound was coming from an invisible radio.
“I mean, she wasn’t even that pretty,” Nichole said. “I don’t know why everyone was always falling all over themselves for her. I thought, at best, she was just okay looking.”
The two sorority sisters sitting behind her nodded obediently.
“I didn’t even want her in the sorority, honestly. I voted against her. I didn’t want that kind of girl hanging around the house, you know? She always had guys around, and you know how girls like that can be. We Kappa Xis have a reputation to protect. Now our reputation is just the sorority that dead girl was in. Ugh.”
Thea winced at the vitriol Nichole was spewing. She knew sorority girls weren’t always considered to be the nicest, but Nichole seemed to really hate Rhianna, who was supposed to be her sister.
“And like, even if she didn’t die or whatever, I mean, just look at that fight that she totally started. Like, that’s bringing down my reputation too. And now everyone’s looking at me like I’m some sort of pariah or something.”
Nichole slammed the brush down on the vanity. “I just can’t believe that, even from beyond the grave, she is managing to ruin everything. Like, how is she still ruining my life?”
“We totally know you’re innocent,” one of the pledges chimed in. “I mean, you don’t even seem like a murderer or anything. I’m taking a criminal justice class as one of my gen eds and you totally don’t fit the description.”
Nichole rolled her eyes. “Of course I don’t. I’m not some weirdo like Shawn Morgan. I mean, did everyone forget that he was stalking her? I mean seriously.”
The other pledge nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, he’s so creepy. I mean, you can just tell he’s a creeper, right? So creepy.”
“Yes, we heard you the first time,” Nichole said sarcastically, sneering at the pledge. The pledge immediately shrank into herself.
Nichole turned back to the mirror and tossed her hair over her shoulders. “Whatever. If it wasn’t him, it was probably Gage. It’s always the ex. Maybe I’ll tell that to my stupid lawyer so something can be done and I can stop hiding out like some weirdo.”
Thea took note of everything Nichole was saying. At least to the pledges in the room with her, she was professing her innocence.
“There’s not much time left on this spell,” Granny warned Thea and Sybil. “Is there anything else you want to see?”
“Sybil, will you take us to the wood shop lab at the college? Gage should be working on set pieces there.”
The reflection in the water changed rapidly. It was as if they were flying around the campus. The vision went into a building and paused at a doorway. They could see Gage cutting wood at a table saw.
Thea leaned in to take a closer look. The reflection began to transform. It had static over the image as if it was an old television set with an antenna not in the right position.
“Wait, what’s happening?” Sybil said, her eyes darting around.
The static overtook the vision, and soon, the only thing Thea and Granny could see in the water was their own reflections.
Sybil blinked a few times. “What happened?”
Granny sighed. “I should have foreseen this. Quartz. I’m sure the tools he was using had some quartz in them. It’s in a lot of things and it’s terrible for scrying spells.”
Thea let out a yawn. “That’s too bad,” she said sleepily. “But, in any case, I think we got quite a bit from Nichole. That’s more than any of us have gotten from her so far.”
Sybil puffed out her chest, looking proud. “And we didn’t even need to leave the comfort of our home to do it.”
Chapter 13
Taking a long sip from her coffee as she sat in her parked car, Thea felt a mix of emotions as she stared towards Ardensville college. It was mainly curiosity, for the most part. She couldn’t help but wonder how that professor knew her mother and if he was close to her in any way. A small flurry of excitement settled in her chest at the possibility of learning more information about her.
At the same time, she knew that she needed to ask about Rhianna and her murder case. She attended this college, so there was a fair chance Professor Potter knew who she was.
Exiting from her car with her coffee in hand, Thea made her way into the college. Fortunately for her, she was able to find a map of the school that directed her in the right direction. In just a few minutes, she managed to find the professor’s office and knocked on his door.
“I hope I’m not interrupting you at a bad time,” Thea said, leaning on the doorway as she watched him bustle around his office.
His desk was messy, overflowing with books and papers. Kendrick glanced up briefly as he organized his briefcase with his various belongings. Shaking his head, he beckoned her inside with a hand.
“You’re just fine,” he reassured her, fitting a few thin paperback books into the compartments of his suitcase. “I’m heading off on a sabbatical soon. Should be nice to finally get some time off, y’know? I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’ll be leaving Ardensville?” Thea asked, raising a brow as she took the seat in front of his desk.
“Just before Halloween, if my plans aren’t changed,” Kendrick said, letting out a deep breath as he looked around the disheveled office. “It’ll take me awhile to get everything sorted out, but I’m getting there. Baby steps.”
“It’s a shame you’ll be going away so quickly. I wanted to ask you a little more about my mother.”
Kendrick smiled. “About Selena? Go ahead and ask me anything. I’ll do my best to answer.”
Leaning back into her seat, she took him up on his offer. “How did you know her? Were you two classmates or something?”
“Kinda. Sorta. I was the teacher’s assistant in one of her classes and I remembered that she struggled a bit with the material, so I was the one who helped her out with most of her questions,” he explained, eyes glazing away as his mind drifted back towards the memories. “We spent a lot of time together, now that I think about it. I always knew that she was a smart girl.”
“She didn’t study at
Ardensville for long, though. She came here after spending most of her undergraduate years in Chicago. Do you know why she left? Did she tell you?”
“Originally, I figured that she must have gotten homesick or something,” Kendrick replied with a modest shrug of the shoulders. However, he pressed his lips into a thin line as information came back to him. “But... I think she was going through some drama in Chicago. Something involving an ex of hers. I don’t know too many details about it, but she was fleeing someone she was afraid of.”
Thea blinked. “Someone she was afraid of?”
“Yeah. A stalker, I believe. Whoever it was must have been very intimidating if they were able to chase away your mother. She was always a powerful witch.”
Furrowing her eyebrows, Thea felt an odd knot forming in the back of her throat. Of all the things to hear about her mother, she wasn’t expecting that. Kendrick seemed to have noticed the look on her face, as he quickly shifted the conversation to a lighter note.
“Selena was always very nice to me. And funny. Her sense of humor was golden and I think a lot of boys were very fond of her,” he remarked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned on the wall. “It was pretty surprising to hear that she got engaged to your father so quickly. Made some people a little jealous, but I don’t think she cared.”
Words were resting on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t find the courage within herself to force them out. She swallowed them down and decided to change the topic. If they kept talking about her mother, she knew she was going to continue to freeze up and get lost in her own thoughts.
“Did you know anything about Rhianna Stewart?” she asked suddenly, catching Kendrick by surprise.
“She wasn’t in any of my classes,” he said. “I didn’t know much about that girl, other than the fact that she was a siren. Her reputation often preceded her, as you may know by now.”
Thea nodded slowly, meeting his gaze. “Some people were suggesting that she was...” she stopped herself, wondering how she should word this. Kendrick’s eyes narrowed. “You know. Taking some underhanded methods to get through college.”
“That’s a bit ridiculous to me,” he replied, nostrils flaring. “People tend to get envious towards others who are doing better than them. The most common argument is that they must be cheating, but there is never any evidence to support their claims.”
“So you don’t believe those rumors?”
“Not at all. If anything, it was probably because of her siren nature why people treated her that badly,” Kendrick reasoned, shaking his head. “I’m sure it wasn’t her fault. The mundanes were just itching to explain something that they couldn’t understand. For all of our sakes, let’s hope they continue to stay in the dark about such matters.”
At that, Thea agreed. Taking a look at the time, she realized that she needed to get going. Thanking him for his time, she soon departed from his office with a blank expression on her face. Her mind felt like static. As she exited the building, she almost tripped on the wrinkled doormat underneath her feet.
Sucking in a breath, Thea acknowledged that the new found information about her mother was getting to her. This always seemed to happen. Only this time, her thoughts kept lingering around the idea that her parents were complete strangers to her.
That didn’t sit right with her, but what could she do? Her jaw was clenched as she made her way across the parking lot towards her car.
Chapter 14
“Guess what?”
Thea hummed, taking a quick glance around her shop as she continued to hold the phone against her ear. “You ordered a new batch of acrylic paints for me?”
“Wha–” Jesse replied, which made her laugh aloud. “That’s not what I was expecting, but okay.”
“Well, did you? They run out fast.”
“I will when I get back to the shop. Sheesh...” he said, letting out an amused noise before bringing up what he truly wanted to discuss. “The administration at Ardensville High School is thinking about creating a mural in Rhianna’s honor. I think we should go and check it out.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I can use this as an excuse to talk to the custodian and get some more information out of him if I can,” she said, using her left hand to remove the stained apron from her body. “I’ll meet you there?”
“You got it. I’ll be there in 10.”
AS SHE AND JESSE ENTERED the main building of Ardensville High, they couldn’t help but notice the burst in excitement throughout the hallways. People bustled in and out of the offices, carrying large art materials underneath their arms. That, or they were shuffling along with papers and folders for administrative purposes. Jesse clicked his tongue.
“Yep. They’re definitely up to something around here,” he said, opening the door for Thea to enter the principal’s office first.
They approached the counter, speaking to the intern working behind the desk. Jesse offered his assistance in the creation of the mural, which evoked a positive reaction from the lady. She quickly ushered him to talk to the principal, an excited jump to her step as she went.
“Do you think I can speak with the custodian of the school?” Thea asked her as the intern returned to her desk. “Leroy Bird? Is he working today?”
“He is. I’ll call him up for you right now,” she replied, reaching over to press the button on the intercom and hovering close enough for her voice to be heard clearly throughout the high school. “Leroy Bird, your presence is needed in the principal’s office.”
Within a few minutes, the custodian appeared through the door with a scowl on his face. He wiped his hands with a rag that he then shoved into one of his pockets. His movements were gruff and impatient, which made Thea feel somewhat unnerved to talk to him. However, she swallowed down her doubts and turned to face him all the same.
“Hello, I’m Thea. Have you heard?” she began, jutting her thumb in the direction of the principal. “They’re making a mural for Rhianna.”
Leroy let out a noise, but didn’t say anything. Thea pressed on.
“Are you going to help with that? Did you know her?”
With half-lidded eyes, Leroy stared at Thea with unamusement plastered all over his expression. He was getting more fed up by the second.
“Look,” he started, cracking the knuckles on his hands. “If you want to accuse me of something, just do it. I don’t have time for this. I have work I could be doing instead.”
Thea frowned. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I just wanted to talk to you about Rhianna since I heard something happened between you two.”
“Are you kidding me?” Leroy whispered out in disbelief, eyes narrowing at Thea. “Do you really think that’s your business to poke your nose into?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but he wasn’t having that. He interjected before she even got the chance.
“Whatever happened or whatever didn’t happen is none of your concern. Get that through your head, okay?” he said, pointing a finger at her. “Of all the people in this town, you think I had the most issues with her? C’mon. Just take a look at that Shawn kid. Or maybe even start paying attention to the people in her close circle. I mean, I would find it hard to stay best friends with someone who’s better than you at everything and anything.”
“...Are you talking about Kim Clark?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course I am. Imagine being in your supposed best friend’s shadow for years. Don’t you think you’d build up some resentment over time? Especially if they don’t even treat you well.”
Every word he uttered was lined with malice towards Rhianna. The lines on his face seemed to deepen as the conversation continued, which made Thea realize that there was much more to this situation than she originally anticipated.
“Did Rhianna treat you badly? Is that why you’re speaking so badly about her?”
“What do you think?” Leroy retorted, tilting his head to the side. He let out a dry laugh. “Of course she treated me badly. Anyon
e who she considered beneath her was treated badly. She brought a lot of humiliation and drama to the people she didn’t like, that’s for sure. If you were around a person like that for so long, I’m sure you wouldn’t say nice things about them either.”
Shaking his head, he waved off the conversation.
“I’m out of here. I don’t want to waste anymore of my time talking about that girl.”
Just like that, Leroy excused himself and exited the principal’s office without another word. With a stunned expression, Thea turned around to glance at the intern who overheard their conversation. Her eyes were wide.
“Do you know anything about all that?” Thea asked, nodding towards the door that Leroy left from.
The intern shook her head sheepishly. “I mean... I know that there was a write-up once involving Leroy and another student, but that was when I first started working here. Other than that, I don’t know much. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, you’re fine,” Thea reassured her, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone.
She wasn’t expecting to get much information out of Leroy anyway. However, the blatant contempt he held for the girl got her thinking. She figured that if something happened between the two of them, something grave, it would have been documented.
“Blaine?” Thea said once he answered her call. “Can you check if there are any criminal records against Leroy Bird? I’m starting to think that something happened between him and Rhianna Stewart, but I’m not sure what.”
Chapter 15
“Leroy Bird...” Blaine asked, running his tongue over his teeth as he tried to remember where he heard that name before. “That custodian from the high school?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” Thea replied.
Her voice was soft as she spoke to him over the phone. She wasn’t acting like her normal self ever since she spoke with that professor. It made Blaine want to drop everything he was doing and go to her. Although he couldn’t do that, he figured that speaking to her and getting her to open up to him about it would be enough.
Spooky Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Book 4) Page 5
