by Susan Harper
Aunt Wilma stiffened. It was difficult to explain to people that travel was so easy considering that Wysteria was just a step over a magical threshold from Bankstown. They had a story made up that the whole Montoya family was from Chicago, but it was difficult to explain how a retired bookstore owner was able to afford quick flights to and from Bankstown and Chicago. Wilma often seemed to forget that she was supposed to be living far away now.
They stood and chatted with Wilma for a bit, and the woman made several friendly comments about Brian—her not-so-subtle way of telling Monica she loved the idea of the two of them dating—before the older woman made an excuse to leave them so that they could continue their date. Brian smiled as Wilma trotted off. “She’s quite a character, your aunt,” Brian said.
“Runs in the family,” Monica joked.
“Yo! It’s Monica and Brian!” a familiar voice called. Looking up, they spotted Isaac and Holly headed in their direction along with a woman that Monica was unfamiliar with.
“Hey, guys,” Brian said, and Monica suddenly felt Brian’s fingers touch hers. She chose not to pull away, so he grabbed her hand and held it.
The odd-woman-out in the group smiled brightly at Monica. “You must be Monica. I saw Isaac’s story he did in the paper about your shop!” she said perkily.
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Isaac said quickly. “Monica, this is my co-worker, Tiff. She’s covering the Turkey Trot tonight.”
Tiff raised a camera and without warning, she snapped a picture of Brian and Monica holding hands. “Cute couple,” she said. “Never know what angle I’m going to take for a story, so I always snap plenty of pictures.”
“Tiff is kind of a rookie,” Isaac joked.
“Oh, shut up,” Tiff said with a slight snort. “I suppose he’s somewhat right. I haven’t been in the journalism game as long as Isaac has. He’s always got tips for me.”
“Like always keeping pen and paper on you,” Isaac said. “Even when you’re not working. We’re writers, and you never know when a story of inspiration may strike.”
“You’re such a loser,” Holly teased. “I bet you don’t even take your own advice and you just get a little bit of a power trip over telling people how to do their job.”
“Gee, thanks,” Isaac said, then promptly produced a pen. “Always carry pen and paper,” he repeated, swaying his large, red pen about. “I always keep this one in my jacket pocket. It’s my lucky pen.”
Monica laughed. “What’s so lucky about it?”
“I used this pen when I wrote the first draft of my very first front-page article,” he said. “It’s practically out of ink, but it’s still my lucky pen.”
“The race is about to start,” Tiff said. “I have to make sure I get some shots of the runners. I’ll catch you guys around.” Tiff hurried off, an extra bit of pep in her step.
“That woman has more energy than anyone else I know,” Holly said. “She’s cute, too. You ever consider asking her out?”
Isaac shifted nervously and shot a glance Monica’s way. Monica kept her mouth shut and pretended not to notice Isaac’s nervous glance. He had recently shared with Monica that he had a long-term crush on Holly but was worried about ruining their friendship if he told her. Isaac shrugged. “She’s okay,” he said plainly.
“Okay? She’s gorgeous,” Holly insisted. “You’re so lame.”
“I know,” he said, looking down. “Hold up, Ronnie!” he called, waving to someone in the crowd.
A goofy man with large teeth grinned their way and hurried over. “Do you know everyone in Bankstown, Isaac?” Monica asked.
“He really does,” Holly said. “Life of a journalist.”
The man approached, putting his hand out and shaking Isaac’s. “Long time no see!” he said excitedly, as though Isaac was some sort of superstar.
“Guys, this is Ronnie. He’s another blogger like me,” Isaac said.
“Oh, no, don’t tell me you are another conspiracy theorist?” Holly asked.
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” Isaac groaned. “Aliens are real, and they’re out there. If you would read my blog more often, you would know that.”
“His blogs are awesome,” Ronnie said. “I do some similar stuff, but it’s nothing like what Isaac covers. You can tell the difference between an amateur like myself and a real investigative journalist like Isaac. Man, your latest blog on the flier you spotted was some pretty awesome stuff.”
“Flier?” Brian asked.
“You know—UFO,” he said. “Unidentified flying object. The picture quality is insane.”
“Thanks, Ronnie. Uh… You know the runners have started?” Isaac asked, pointing to the number pinned to Ronnie’s chest.
“Crud!” Ronnie yelped and abruptly darted across the lawn.
Holly and Isaac both laughed. “We’re going to go watch the race,” Holly said. “We’ll catch you two later.” The two hurried off in the direction Ronnie had bolted only seconds ago.
“Interesting guy,” Brian said.
Monica giggled. “Who? Ronnie or Isaac?”
Brian laughed. “Poor Isaac. We sure do give him a hard time, don’t we?”
“I mean… He kind of brings it on himself, doesn’t he?” Monica said with a slight laugh. “But you’re right. We can be a little mean, can’t we?”
“Just a little,” he said, and they continued walking down the path looking at some of the different vendors. One booth was cooking turkey sandwiches for people to enjoy—a very fitting cuisine for the Turkey Trot.
The two of them sat at one of the picnic tables to enjoy their sandwiches, but only a few minutes into their meal, they heard shouting coming from the starting line. Brian and Monica both jumped up in time to see Isaac lying flat on the ground and Holly screaming her head off at a couple of guys laughing at whatever situation had just unfolded. “Hey!” Brian shouted, putting a hand on one of the men’s shoulders.
The man spun around. “Want me to lay you out too?” he threatened, and Brian showed him his badge.
The man held his hand up defensively. “Whoa, my bad, man!”
Holly was helping Isaac up, and Monica could already tell that whatever had just taken place was going to cause a black eye. Brian shouted at the two men. “What happened?!”
Isaac was helped to his feet and grunted in their direction. “Just a couple of jerks. Brian, don’t worry about it, all right?”
“Did these two assault you?” Brian asked.
The men didn’t say anything. “Just don’t worry about it, all right, Brian?” Isaac insisted, his hand over his swollen eye.
Brian crossed his arms and glared at the two men. “Beat it, then, before I slap cuffs on both of you!”
The two hurried off, and it seemed that Isaac didn’t want to talk to either of them about what had just happened, because he stormed off. Holly hurried after him without much of an explanation. “What was that about?” Monica asked.
Brian gritted his teeth. “I don’t know, but I’m about to find out.”
3
Brian and Monica tracked down the two men who had shoved Isaac around, neither of them content with just letting it go as Isaac had requested. When they found the men, the pair had found their way to a taco truck. Monica recognized the taco truck from the first case she had ever worked with Brian. The truck was evidently a big hit at Bankstown public events.
When the two men saw Brian and Monica coming, they, much to Monica’s surprise, scooted over on the bench they were sharing to make room for them. “Want to sit?” the smaller of the two men asked.
“No,” Brian snapped.
“I’ll sit,” Monica said, plopping down at the corner of the bench and glaring at them both. “You two want to explain what we just saw? Who are you two anyway?”
The larger man huffed, but he put on a kind face. “Look, we didn’t mean for things to escalate like that. My name’s Jehu, and that there is Luke. We went to high school with Isaac. Hadn’t seen him in years—not
that we were friends or anything.”
“Is that how you greet old classmates?” Brian snarled.
“I told you, it wasn’t like that. It just sort of escalated,” Jehu insisted.
Luke rolled his eyes. “Jehu, quit giving them crap,” Luke insisted, then looked up at Brian. “We were kind of jerks in high school.”
“I see that’s changed,” Brian said.
“Don’t be like that,” Luke said. “You don’t know us. We saw Isaac and went over to talk to him, which was apparently a big mistake. I actually wanted to apologize, believe it or not. We were pretty cruel to him back in the day. He was a nerdy, little guy always talking about space aliens or weird stuff like that. I talked Jehu into going over to him and talking to the guy. I really didn’t want to go over there to pick on him or anything like that. We’re grown men now, you know? We’re not the same jerks we were in high school. I really was honestly going over there to apologize for the way we acted. He was pretty cool with us at first too.”
“So, if you really went over there to apologize, how did Isaac wind up on the ground with a swollen eye?” Monica asked accusingly.
Luke glared across the picnic table at Jehu. “This moron,” Luke said, and Jehu held up his hands defensively. Luke continued, “I asked Isaac what he was up to now, said I saw his name in the paper under an article not long ago. He told us about his work at the paper, yadda-yadda. And then his little girlfriend or whatever she was…Holly…mentioned he was a blogger. I asked what he blogged about, and he got all weird and embarrassed and told us about his alien conspiracy blog. Jehu started laughing.”
“I mean, come on!” Jehu exclaimed. “He’s been on that alien garbage since we were kids. I was just surprised to hear he hadn’t grown out of that nonsense.”
“So, it sounds like you were messing with him like you did as kids, and he decided that he wasn’t going to put up with it as a grown adult and you decided to show him up,” Brian hissed.
Jehu laughed. “Basically, yeah.”
Luke kicked Jehu from under the table. “Don’t be such a tool, Jehu.”
“You really expect me to believe you were innocent in all that?” Brian asked Luke.
Luke glared up at Brian. “Guess not. He pressing charges or something?”
“No,” Brian said.
“Then beat it,” Luke snapped.
“Come on, Monica,” Brian insisted.
Monica fought the desire to whip her wand out right then and there and try a spell out on Luke and Jehu. She stood up slowly, and as she walked away with Brian, she could hear both of the men laughing. “You really think Luke wanted to apologize or do you think he was just starting something?” Monica asked.
“Probably the latter of the two,” Brian said angrily. “I hate guys like that. Bullies.”
“Did you know Isaac back then?” Monica asked.
“Not really, no,” Brian said. “I went to school in the city. Though, I had seen him around some at games and stuff. He was a little geeky, sure, but that doesn’t give those creeps the right…” Brian took a calming breath. “Whatever, it’s done now. I can’t do anything if Isaac doesn’t want to press charges.”
“Let’s forget about it for now,” Monica said. “Holly’s with Isaac, and they’re old friends. I’m sure she is taking care of him. He’s probably more embarrassed than anything, and I don’t think us bothering him right now is going to make that any better.”
“You’re probably right,” Brian said and took Monica by the hand again. “Besides, we’re on a date, right?”
“Right,” Monica said as they continued their traversing through the booths.
Holly carefully placed a bag of ice she got from the taco truck over Isaac’s face. He didn’t look even remotely amused by her playing nurse. “I can’t believe that creep just punched you!” she exclaimed for the third time.
They had made their way to the parking lot, and now they were both seated on the back of Brian’s pickup truck’s tailgate, figuring that he wouldn’t mind if they borrowed the location for a bit of first aid. “Just hold it right here, okay?” She made him promise, and he did so.
“I’m fine, Holly,” he assured her, but she wasn’t convinced.
She remembered Jehu and Luke well from their high school days. They had been major bullies. She had seen them around town a few times since graduation, and she had always felt that they were a lot friendlier than they had been when they were kids. And, frankly, they had acted friendly toward Isaac at first. Until I opened my big mouth about his stupid blog, she thought with a pain in her stomach. They had immediately reverted to their old selves, and Isaac had decided he wasn’t going to put up with it. He had snapped at them, Jehu had pushed him, and Isaac had pushed back. The two of them had tussled for a moment, and Holly and Luke had separated them only for Luke to decide to throw a surprise punch Isaac’s way the moment they thought things had settled. It had been a coward’s punch, in Holly’s opinion.
“Crud!” Isaac yelped, pulling the bag away from him. “There’s a hole in the bag, and the ice is melting!”
Holly’s stomach lurched a bit when she saw Isaac’s swollen face. Luke had gotten him good, and his left eye was now swollen shut. “Oh no! Isaac, we may need to take you to the hospital!”
“No!” Isaac snapped. Isaac rarely raised his voice, and especially never did so at her, so this took Holly for surprise and she jumped in her seat. He was quick to relent. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just irritated. Thought we were past that sort of childishness, you know? I’m a grown man. I shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of stuff…” He stood, throwing the ice bag down and wringing out the collar of his shirt. “I’ll go get more ice.”
“No, let me,” Holly said, but Isaac held out his hand to discourage her from jumping down from the truck.
“No,” he said in a firm and slightly angry voice. “Look, Holly…just…just give me a minute to cool off, would you? I don’t mean to get snappy, but I just need a second, okay?”
Holly nodded. “Okay, I’m sorry.”
“I’ll be back in a minute after I’ve gotten a bag of ice without a stupid hole in it,” Isaac said and began walking back toward the Turkey Trot. Holly put her hands in her jacket pocket, the night air starting to become a bit crisp.
“Dang, who gave alien-boy that shiner?” a voice cooed from behind, and Holly spun to see Abigail sticking her head out the back window of Brian’s truck.
Holly frowned. “Abigail, what on earth are you doing in the back of Brian’s truck?”
“I went out with Wilma,” Abigail said. “We were enjoying the festivities for a bit, but I got tired, so she dumped me off in Brian’s truck so that I could catch a ride back with them.” Abigail yawned loudly and climbed out the back window, landing on all-fours in the back of the truck. “What happened?”
“Just some old bullies picking on Isaac,” Holly said, pulling her hands out of her pocket just so she could cross her arms to physically show her discontent with the situation. “It’s so stupid, really. I just can’t believe they would just… Isaac is such a sweetheart. I don’t get how people can be so mean!”
“It’s why I can’t stand mortals. They like to be cruel for the sake of being cruel,” Abigail said.
“Aren’t you supposed to be proving that you can play nice with mortals to try to get a reduced sentence or something?” Holly asked. “Probably shouldn’t be talking like that.”
“Old habits are hard to break,” Abigail said, lying down in the bed of the truck.
They waited around for Isaac for what felt like an eternity, but eventually, Holly realized Isaac was probably too embarrassed to come back. “Well, if he wants to hide from me to pout, I’m going to let him,” Holly said at last, jumping down from the back of the truck. “I’m going to enjoy the Turkey Trot.”
Abigail nodded. “Well, I’ve napped now… Might as well come with you.”
“You want to hang out with me?” Holly as
ked.
“Why not? We work together.”
Holly laughed. “You don’t work. You’re a cat. You sleep on the counter where I work.”
“Same thing,” Abigail said and jumped down as well.
Holly and Abigail headed back toward the festivities, and they began checking out some of the various booths and chatting whenever no one was paying them any mind. From what Holly gathered, Abigail had become quite a powerful witch during the time between the witch trials and her capture by the Sorcerer’s Council in Boston. Much to Holly’s amusement, she actually enjoyed Abigail when she opened up a bit instead of just being her usual whiny self.
“So,” Abigail asked once they had found their way to a picnic table, Holly having purchased some funnel cake for them to share. “Tell me something, Holly. What’s the real reason you haven’t contacted Daddy yet?”
Holly stiffened as she took a bite of the funnel cake. “I don’t know… It’s just…”
Before she could answer, they heard shouting and screams a short distance away. Looking up, Holly and Abigail spotted Monica and Brian rushing to the scene. They exchanged glances and decided to ditch the half-eaten funnel cake to find out what was going on. The scene they came to was an alarming one. Luke was lying out in the grass, dead, with a pen protruding from his eye, and Jehu had Isaac pinned to the ground screaming at him—“You did this! You did this! I’m going to kill you, you freak!”—while Brian attempted to wrestle the hysterical man away.
4
Holly watched in disbelief as Brian actually put cuffs on Isaac, though she highly suspected that it was for his own safety and to pacify Jehu for a moment. Jehu was pacing, hands on his head, looking completely aghast at whatever had just taken place. Holly hurried to Isaac, and she dropped Abigail beside him. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see Brian and Monica working to get everyone away from the body to clear the scene before the crime scene unit arrived. Brian had already called in the incident in, so the two of them were in full-blown detective mode.
