by Susan Harper
Monica smiled. “I’m ready,” she said, snagging her purse off the nearby table and following him out to his truck. As soon as they were on the main road, Brian reached over and took her hand as they drove, causing her to swoon ever-so-slightly. It was a forty-five-minute drive to Cuisine Des Amants, but it was well worth the wait just to see the large, elegant building come into view. It sat on a lakeshore, and there were beautiful walking paths around the building. The building itself looked quite French, and everything about it screamed of elegance.
When they walked in, Brian hooked his arm with hers to escort her like a proper gentleman. Once inside, Monica was taken away by the enormous, glimmering chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceilings. They didn’t have to wait long, since Brian had made the reservation weeks ago. Their table was out on the balcony, and though it was a little chilly, Monica was grateful for the view. The balcony overlooked the lake that reflected the light of the moon in their direction.
“This is just beautiful,” Monica said, and she heard music. Looking across the large balcony and past some of the other couples currently dining nearby, she saw the string quartet that Holly had told her about. “Oh, wow!”
Brian smiled. “I mean, it’s our first Valentine’s Day. Thought I’d go all out,” he said, reaching across the table to hold her hand.
Halfway through dinner, and the two of them were laughing and chatting about local town gossip. They talked about Brian’s boss, Chief Tollr—who Monica, unbeknownst to Brian, had recently learned was part-troll—and the trouble the man was always giving him. Monica talked about the shop, and she reached a point in the conversation where she wanted to tell him about a childhood story involving her Uncle Drac but didn’t know how to tell it without revealing he was a vampire, and she found herself frozen for a moment. She realized how badly she wanted to tell Brian everything, but she knew she couldn’t. Not until after the court hearing and only if the court hearing went well, and this thought made her rather sad.
When dessert was brought out, a fervor was ignited in Monica to work even harder at presenting her case to the Sorcerer’s Council. As she was nibbling on her chocolate mousse, she realized Brian was staring at her. He was smiling, and he reached across the table to take her hand again. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time,” he said, and she set her fork down as he seemed like he had something serious to say. “I don’t know if you feel the same way or not, but the truth is I am falling in love with you, Monica.”
Monica felt as though her heart would burst. “Wait, really?” she asked, her cheeks warming.
“Yes, really,” he said, laughing. “And I’m okay if you don’t feel the same way. I know we haven’t been seeing each other too long and this might seem rather soon, but that’s the truth. I love you, Monica.”
“Brian, I love you too,” she said with no hesitation, and she felt her stomach fluttering.
After dinner, they walked around the lake on some of the restaurant’s private walking trails, and they held hands and laughed over every silly thing that crossed their minds. When he finally brought her home, he lingered by her doorway for some time offering her a few soft kisses before finally bidding her good night and promising to be by the bookshop first thing in the morning for his ritualistic cup of joe.
When he left and Monica slipped inside her cottage, she closed the door and leaned back into it, giggling to herself. “Well, you look…happy…” Abigail said as she slid out from behind the sitting room sofa.
“He told me he loved me,” she said and reached down, scooping Abigail up off the floor and giving her a big hug. “And I said it back, and it was just wonderful.”
“Believe it or not, Monica, I’m happy for you,” Abigail said. “He’s a good guy, even for a mortal.”
Monica plopped herself down on the couch with Abigail, and she was just about to unwind and start a long spiel about her date when she received a text message from Holly, requesting a video chat. Monica wasn’t particularly good with technology, so it took her a moment to figure out how to do it, but after a moment, Holly’s face appeared on the screen of her phone. Abigail sat in Monica’s lap so that she too could see their bubbly mortal-raised companion.
“How did your date with Isaac go?” Monica asked, knowing that this was likely why Holly had needed a late-night chat.
“It went really well, actually,” Holly said, blushing. “We went out to dinner—nothing too fancy. We’re kind of easing into this thing. But… I don’t know… It was kind of weird but really awesome at the same time. It was fun seeing this side of him, to be honest. We’ve been friends since we were kids, you know?”
“We know,” Abigail said. “Was it as awkward as you were afraid it was going to be?”
“Not really,” she said. “It was nice. I mean, we had a big laugh when Isaac pulled my chair out for me. It was just a little too weird starting out, but then it started to feel more natural by the end of it. I think this might actually become a thing…”
“I’m so excited for you!” Monica yelped.
“How about you?” Holly asked. “How was your date?”
Monica was glad Holly asked. “He told me he loved me!” she practically screamed into the phone, which was followed by excited exclamations from Holly as well.
“Honestly,” Abigail grumbled. The shrieking had surprised her, so she hopped out of Monica’s lap and left the two of them to their excited chattering. Monica told Holly the whole story from start to finish, and Abigail sat quietly on the coffee table listening in, evidently interested herself in how Monica’s date had gone.
“So, how do you think that hearing will go?” Holly asked. “Do you think you will be able to tell him the truth?”
“I think so,” Monica said. “I have a good legal history, and Abigail has been helping me go through that law book on presenting licensing cases.”
“If you need any help, let me know,” Holly said.
“No, you should probably stay far away from the case,” Abigail said suddenly. “Not to be rude, but I’m worried someone will bring up Holly during the hearing. You did accidentally reveal to her the mystic world, and that’s not going to look good if they start talking about that.”
“But Holly is part-mystic,” Monica argued.
“You didn’t know that then,” Abigail said. “It’s a long shot that they would even care about that considering all the facts, but I’ve dove pretty deep into research on past cases that were turned down for licensing and accidental reveals are taken into account. So, if all goes well, no one will bring up what happened to Holly at all that day. If she’s there or if she provides any sort of testimonial for you, it might jog everyone’s memory a bit. It worked out since Holly turned out to be part-mystic, but it’s still probably best to not remind the Sorcerer’s Council of the whole incident.”
“I would just die if Monica was denied a license because of me!” Holly cried.
“I doubt it,” Abigail said. “But just in case, let’s not rock the boat there. But, speaking of you being a mystic…been looking at that snow globe anymore lately?”
The snow globe had been a Christmas gift from St. Nick to Holly, and it allowed her to spy in on her biological father whom she had never met. She had recently tracked the man down but had not yet reached out to him. “I have, actually,” Holly said. “And I’ve decided it’s time. I want to meet my dad—my birth dad, that is. My adopted parents, they still don’t know I’m mystic obviously, but they’ve been really supportive when I told them over the Christmas holiday that I was thinking about reaching out to him now that I know who he is. I’m a little nervous.”
“That’s understandable,” Monica said.
“He has a new family,” Holly said. “I guess I just feel really conflicted about the whole thing. Why did he give me up, you know? He obviously didn’t have an aversion to raising kids. Maybe he was young or something. I don’t know. But he might also be able to give me some answers about my
birth mom. Either way, I’ve decided it’s time to meet him…and I was hoping you would come with me, Monica?”
“Me?” Monica asked.
“Yes,” Holly said. “I’m nervous, and I could use a friend.”
“When were you wanting to go?” Monica asked.
“The sooner the better. I don’t want to chicken out again,” Holly said.
“Tell you what,” Monica said. “I don’t feel like I can jump up and leave right now because of what’s going on with Deimus’s Romp-A-Roo team. It’s got Mona really upset, and I need to be there for her until this thing is settled. Maybe once we find out what happened to Leopold, we can start making arrangements to go visit your dad?”
Holly beamed. “That sounds like a perfect plan.” Holly seemed to contemplate something for a minute before saying, “Have you considered going to speak to the Remembrance kid who was arrested that night? What was his name… Noah? Maybe he could tell you something.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Monica said. “I doubt it’s a coincidence that he was there and that Leonardo sent a Remembrance member there to give his brother a love potion. Noah either is the one who gave Leopold the love potion or he was there with whoever did. I think he might be able to point us in the right direction.”
“Then it looks like tomorrow, you’re going to be headed back to the wizards’ prison,” Holly said.
“He’s still in holding at the jail downtown,” Monica said. “But I agree, my next step is definitely to go talk to that creep.”
11
Monica, Holly, and Abigail flew through the skies on Monica’s broom, currently transformed into a purple and black motorcycle with a matching sidecar. “I see the jail up ahead,” Monica said, landing her motorcycle just outside the building and muttering, “Broom,” without warning Holly, causing her to fall flat on her rear as the sidecar disappeared around her. “Sorry!” Monica exclaimed, helping her friend stand. She looked at her broom. “Fly around and wait for us out here,” she said, and it jerked out of her hand and disappeared in the shadows of the grounds that had yet to have been greeted by the rising sun.
The three of them walked through the front door where there were two wizards speaking casually, each sipping on a morning drink that was releasing an orange smoke. “Morning, miss,” one of the wizards said to Monica and repeated the expression to Holly. “What can I do for you ladies?”
“We want to speak to Noah, the vandal from the evening of the Romp-A-Roo party,” Monica said.
“Just Noah?” the officer asked.
“What do you mean by just Noah?” Monica asked.
“There were two other arrests made that night,” the man explained. “Noah wound up outing two accomplices who were with him.”
“Have council authorities spoken to them about what happened to Leopold?” Monica asked, shocked to have only just heard the news.
“Of course,” the man said. “But they’ve been cleared of murdering him already. Leopold was still alive when the arrests were made, so they were already in booking by the time the man was killed.”
“Well!” Monica exclaimed, bothered she hadn’t learned this already. “Tell me this: have they interviewed these people since we found out that Leopold had been given a love potion?”
The two men exchanged glances, and Monica realized immediately that an error in judgement had clearly been made by the investigators. “What’s your name?” Monica asked the wizard who had been speaking to them.
“Tony Busby,” he said.
“Mr. Busby, would you please allow us to speak to these mystics who were arrested?” Monica asked.
“Not until I contact someone at the Sorcerer’s Council,” he said. “Clearly someone has missed something. They’re going to want one of our investigators to speak to them first.”
“Your investigators already spoke to them,” Holly huffed, “and apparently missed a pretty serious detail.”
Tony again looked at his companion, and the other wizard shrugged. “You got five minutes,” Tony said at last. “That’s about how long it’s going to take for the Sorcerer’s Council to respond to the letter I’m sending them.”
“I’ll get the letter written up,” the other man said. “You can take them on back, Busby.”
Tony Busby escorted Monica, Holly, and Abigail to the small, dim interrogation room and had them sit on the far side of the table before he brought in Noah and the other two young gentleman, the three of them handcuffed together and looking a bit sickly from a long-term magical suspension spell that was always cast on prisoners during their stay.
Noah huffed when he saw who had come to visit them, and Tony Busby had the three of them sit next to one another. “It’s the unnatural witch,” Noah griped, and his two friends snickered. He then looked at Holly. “And the mixed-breed.”
“Behave,” Tony warned.
“What do you even want?” Noah asked.
“We’re here to talk to you about your arrangement with Leonardo,” Monica said to feel them out, and Noah instantly looked worried.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Who are your friends here?” Holly asked.
Noah frowned, but he answered. “This is Trevor and his brother Tork.”
“And all three of you are Remembrance recruits, I’m guessing?” Monica asked.
“Not going to confirm that without a lawyer present,” Noah hissed.
“Of course,” Monica said. “Seeing as how being part of that hate group is highly illegal.”
“It’s not a hate group,” Trevor said bitterly. “They just understand the way our worlds work.”
“I’m sure,” Monica said. “So, which one of you was the little ringleader of Leonardo’s plan to drug his brother?”
“How do you even know about that?” Tork asked, and his brother nudged him.
“We know because Leonardo ratted on you,” Monica said, and the three of them now looked all the more nervous.
“We didn’t know that Leonardo knew who they sent to give him the love potion,” Noah said. “When Remembrance sent us in to that party by the hobbit holes, we were under the impression Leonardo didn’t know when or where we were going to be giving him the love potion.”
Abigail cackled from where she had been resting at the edge of the table. “He didn’t know. We were just guessing, but thanks for revealing to us that Remembrance sent you and that you knew we were talking about a love potion! I see why you three are just the group’s errand boys. Got some real geniuses here.”
Noah glared at her. “Fine,” he said. “Yeah, we gave Leonardo’s brother the love potion. Tork here spent weeks walking around the Romp-A-Roo fields during the Wysteria Werewolves’ practices trying to get a sample of that selkie’s hair.”
“So, you admit it, then?” Holly asked.
“Looks that way,” Noah hissed.
Tony Busby looked thrilled. “Nice job, ladies. I didn’t think it would be that easy to get a murder confession out of them.”
“Murder?” Noah jolted, and his two companions spun their heads around as well to stare at the Wysteria authority figure standing in the corner. “What are you talking about? We didn’t kill anybody!”
“You just admitted to drugging Leopold,” Busby said.
“Yeah? So?” Tork demanded. “All we did was paint a stupid door and try to start a fight. We didn’t kill anybody! Who’s dead?”
“Leopold is dead,” Abigail snapped. “The man you just admitted to drugging!”
“We didn’t kill him, though!” Noah exclaimed. “I am not about to go to prison for that crap! We vandalized a door and gave someone a love potion, that’s it! And it was just a few drops. We were worried about how strong it would be with selkie hair in it, so we just gave him a couple of drops. We put it in his pumpkin juice. We were careful. We gave him half of what we were told to give the guy just in case the selkie hair reacted weird with it. Haven’t ever heard of someone putting se
lkie hair in a love potion before, so we were careful!”
They were all panicked; Monica could see that clearly. She was angry. The three boys staring back at her were just that: boys. And somehow, they had managed to get into a filthy hate group. A hate group that had used them, clearly, to take the fall for a serious crime. “Don’t try backing out now, kids,” Busby said. “Got four witnesses in here that just heard the three of you confess.”
All three boys turned back to look directly at Monica. From the corner of her eye, Busby gave her an encouraging wave to keep up. Busby wasn’t an idiot. He knew the boys were telling the truth about not killing Leopold, but he wanted to keep them scared. Scared kids had loose lips.
“We didn’t!” Noah insisted. “I just told you what happened, didn’t I?”
“I don’t know,” Monica said. “Sounds like a confession to me. Pretty sure the Sorcerer’s Council will see it that way too. Someone’s got to take the fall for what happened to Leopold, after all.”
“You know what they’re doing to confessed Remembrance members?” Holly sang, clearly catching on to the game they were now playing.
“What?” Abigail asked as though she didn’t already know.
“They’ve been doing magic depletion—permanent removal of magic. I couldn’t imagine being a full-blooded wizard like yourselves and never being able to do magic again,” Holly said.
The boys, who had already gotten a taste of what life would be like without magic thanks to their time in jail, all looked like they were going to fall out of their chairs. Trevor especially looked rather green. “We didn’t do it!” Trevor exclaimed. “You charge us with his murder, and whoever really killed him is just going to get away with it, you know?”
“I think we got enough from you three,” Busby said. “Enough to hold us well in court, I’d say. I mean, they’ve already admitted to working for Remembrance. Who’s going to believe them that this was an accident of some sort?”
“It was! It was! We didn’t kill anybody!” Trevor exclaimed, now shaking in horror at the idea of a permanent cell in wizards’ prison.
