Collards & Cauldrons

by Bella Falls

  Mason ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it up. “My guess is the wardens will question everyone here and take statements. That could take a couple of hours at least.” He reached out and brushed his hand against my arm. “Your grandmother’s another story.”

  Not wanting Abigail to get too embroiled in things concerning my grandmother, I stepped away to speak to him for a tiny bit more privacy. “What do you mean?” I asked in a lower tone.

  “I was busy trying to handle the situation when she appeared from the second floor behind us. Whatever happened up there, your grandmother was in the area.” Mason attempted to convey some level of apology in his gaze, but I brushed it off.

  “She wasn’t the only one. Peyton followed her up there first.” Tucker’s words about the daughter and mother’s relationship in years past came back to me, but he hadn’t been a student at the college here for a while. Perhaps the personal dynamic of Peyton and Priscilla had changed, and I was barking up any possible tree that didn’t point to Nana being involved.

  “I’m sorry, Charli, but if the wardens do their job, Ms. Vivi should end up a pretty decent suspect. You need to prepare yourself for that very real possibility.” His hand reached out to mine, but he pulled back at the last second. “I should go check with some of the wardens coming in and see if I can find out more before the chief shuts me down again.”

  My gang closed ranks around me, demanding to know everything Mason said. Before I revealed anything, I grilled each of them on what they saw. When I got to Abigail, I realized my blunder of jumping into the fray without her understanding why. I paused to formerly introduce her to my closest friends.

  “How are you enjoying Charleston so far?” Blythe joked, indicating with her hands at the chaos around us.

  Abigail blushed and shuffled her feet. “The trip into town showed me the area is full of a lot of beautiful things. I wasn’t prepared for anything major to happen tonight though. Other than meeting Charli,” she added quickly.

  Alison Kate tore her attention away from Lee to help ask questions. “And where are you from?”

  Abigail bit her lip. “Mainly up North, but I’ve lived here and there. I’m kind of a nomad of sorts. It’s nice to visit new places though, so I don’t mind.”

  Lavender pretended she needed to speak to her cousin, maneuvering around Abigail’s back, her eyes narrowed on the space above the new girl’s head.

  Lily whispered something in Ben’s ear, and he frowned. Shoving both hands in his pockets, he rocked back and forth on his heels. “When did your family become aware of Charli’s existence?”

  Abigail’s breathing sped up, and she sputtered for a second. When she recovered, she wrung her hands and glanced up to her right. “There had been rumors getting back to us of a person with tracking talents in a small Southern town, but we only found out she was related to us very recently.”

  Lavender’s brows knitted together. She shook her head and mouthed, “Lie.”

  Sensing the presence behind her, Abigail jerked away from my friend and hugged her arms around her body. A part of me wanted to protect her from the interrogation. But if Lavender was right, we needed to figure out what truths she was hiding.

  Abigail focused on some activity on the second floor and she gasped for a brief second. Realizing her noise garnered her attention, she waved her hand in front of her face.

  “I know you want to know more about me, just like I want to learn about you. But it’s getting kind of stuffy in here. Do you think they’d find some chairs and let us sit down or bring us some drinks?” she suggested.

  Agreeing with her ideas, I searched for a nearby warden. I found one making notes while she asked a couple I didn’t recognize questions.

  “Excuse me, sir,” I interrupted with my best effort at politeness.

  The young lady snorted. “Wait your turn. Someone will get with you soon enough.”

  “Actually,” I challenged, “some of us were wondering if we might have chairs to sit in and some food and drink. It seems it’s going to be a long night, and it will go better if we’re not exhausted.”

  The warden curled her top lip at me. “Are you kidding me? A very prominent witch from our city has dropped dead, and you demand to have a place to sit down and eat a meal?”

  The husband of the couple spoke up. “I think she might be right. Let us all eat a little something and you might maintain better control of the situation.”

  “And these heels are killing my feet. A place to sit would be wonderful,” his wife agreed.

  The young lady stared at the couple she was interrogating. “Let’s finish going through my questions and I’ll see what I can do, Mr. and Mrs. Tradd.”

  “Thank you, Deputy Howard. Your efforts will be duly noted.” The man straightened his tailored suit jacket and smoothed out his tie.

  When the couple finished their interview, the young warden hurried off. I thanked them for helping me out.

  “Your ideas had merit, and it seemed she needed a little push. Thank you.” The husband dismissed me with his cold ending to our conversation. I’d bet all the money sitting in my wallet he was a local and used three names as well.

  It took more than a half an hour for our situation to change. Eventually, someone organized the wardens to bring out chairs and allow the catering staff to circulate the food they had already made. It ran out before we got any, but at least someone had found a huge stash of water bottles so we all had something to drink other than alcohol.

  Since there weren’t enough chairs for everybody, my friends and I took turns sitting while we waited. When a warden no older than Zeke back at home approached us, we all stood up and waited our turns.

  He wrote down all of our names and asked us questions about what we’d seen. None of our stories varied, and the warden’s lack of reaction suggested we recalled the same thing everyone else did.

  The young man flipped through his small pad of notes. “And can any of you confirm that an elderly lady showed up on the second floor after Ms. Ravenel Legare collapsed?”

  My friends regarded me with care. It wouldn’t do any of us any good to lie. In fact, it could do more harm to the goodwill our little group from Honeysuckle still had.

  “Yes, the older lady, not elderly,” I corrected, “was my grandmother. She had gone upstairs to talk too Prissy, I mean, Ms. Legare. Since she sits in the high seat of our town council, she’d be a good person to have around in a crisis.”

  “Ma’am, her presence is something to be questioned, not praised. I’ll have to put this on the official list to investigate.” He scratched the side of his head with the eraser of his pencil. “That’s all for now. You’ll be informed soon of the next steps.”

  Soon in his world of time did not match my expectations. Another couple of hours passed, and every attendee wilted around the room. People like Abigail and me shared seats while others like Blythe threatened to sit on top of us.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention,” the first warden on the scene called out. “I’m Chief Huxley, and I will be in charge of this investigation. At this point, all of you should have been interviewed as you all have been witnesses to the untimely death of Priscilla Ravenel Legare.”

  “Do they have to repeat her full name every time they speak about her?” I asked under my breath.

  The chief warden continued. “We will be lifting the ward from the Hyperion Hall here shortly. I understand that we have many people attending the conference from out of town staying at the hotel. Please file out quickly and quietly and return to your rooms.

  “I understand that there may be a large amount of confusion, and at this time, we are not prepared to make a statement. Until we are, everyone should expect to remain here until our medical examiner gets a shot at the bod—er, Ms. Ravenel Legare.”

  Someone from the back of the room and another witch community spoke up. “Are we all under arrest?”

  “Certainly not,” clarified Chief Huxley. “
However, until we have more details, I need all of you to stay where we can find you.”

  The husband of the couple I’d met earlier stepped forward. “What if we’re not staying at the hotel?”

  The chief gave a curt nod of respect to the speaker. “I will make an exception for those of you, like Mr. William Aiken Tradd, who are from the area. Please return to your homes, but do not leave the immediate vicinity until otherwise notified.”

  I watched some silent exchange of agreement pass between the two of them. Why did the chief have to ask the other man’s permission? A pit opened in my stomach, and I wished I could go back in time and stop us from coming to the conference.

  Instead of exiting through the two large doors of the front of the hall, wardens and hotel staff escorted us through a side entrance that led directly into the building where are rooms were. While some of our group who had rooms on the second floor walked up the stairs, my girls and I waited to ride the elevators to the upper floor.

  “I can’t wait to see what happens next,” proclaimed Abigail. “I hope your grandmother is okay.”

  The chief held Nana back while insisting everybody leave. No matter what they could throw at her, I knew the old broad could handle herself. That didn’t stop my need to stand as a shield in front of her.

  “Me, too,” I admitted.

  Abigail got off one floor below my room. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Despite what’s happened tonight, I’m glad we’re finally meeting.”

  Remembering Lavender’s discovery, I hesitated to reply, and the elevator doors shut. While we trekked to our room, none of us made a peep. We waited until we were within the privacy of our room before anyone spoke.

  “Well, I know I said sometime today that Ms. Prissy Pants should be brought down a rung or too off her ladder of control, but I didn’t anticipate what happened,” Blythe said, taking off her earrings.

  “Did Mason tell you anything that might give us a bigger clue as to what went on?” Lily asked as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

  My brain worked too hard to try and solve our predicament for me to hear my friend’s question, asking her to repeat it again before answering. “No, he said he would ask the other wardens questions until he was told to stop. And he disappeared for the rest of the night.”

  Lavender huffed and placed a hand on her hip. “Now that we’re alone, I just have to say that I’m not sure I like Abigail. She was definitely lying while we talked to her.”

  “Interrogated her, you mean. Anyone being peppered with questions as hard as you guys were asking might get a little flustered.” I didn’t understand why I defended someone I’d just met other than a weak sense of familial solidarity.

  “Oh, you wanted to know as much as we did. Besides, since my powers have been trained up, I can tell she’s using a lot of energy to hide something. You should proceed with caution, my friend,” warned Lily.

  I chewed on my thumbnail. “Maybe. Or maybe she was nervous. I don’t know.” With a loud groan, I lifted the hotel quilt and crumpled onto the bed face first, pulling the cover over me. If I ignored everything and stayed underneath, maybe all my troubles would disappear.

  Blythe peeled back the heavy fabric. “Come on. Let’s get you changed out of your dress, wash your makeup off, and put you to bed. I think we could all use some rest.”

  While my friends managed to fall asleep fast, I stared into the darkness of the room. Turning onto my right side, I listened to Blythe’s rhythmic light snore to ignore the what if’s and worry over what happened to Nana. At some point, my eyes shut and my mind drifted off.

  A loud repeated pounding startled me back awake, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest. In my hurry to get to the door, I stubbed my toe and swore out loud.

  Blythe clicked on her bedside lamp. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted, checking the peephole. “It’s Mason.”

  He rushed inside and closed the door behind him. “The chief is declaring that Priscilla was murdered. The entire place, including the Hyperion Hall and all of us guests, are under warden house arrest. They’ve warded everything. We can’t get out.”

  My chest heaved in panic. “What does that mean? They can’t keep us under lockdown without cause.” Our room changed from luxuriously large to far too cramped in an instant, and claustrophobic dizziness struck me.

  “Steady now.” Mason caught me by my arm. “Let’s sit you down somewhere.”

  He moved me out of the entrance and to the edge of the bed. All of us girls sat in alarmed silence, waiting for the standing detective to give us more information.

  “They can keep the wards up for as long as the chief deems necessary, but I don’t imagine they’ll do it for long. The hotel won’t like it, but it will also hurt the magical community of the town’s reputation if they don’t hurry up and find the killer.” The way Mason glanced at me sent frigid chills across may entire body.

  The wardens needed someone to blame for the murder. I asked the question I dreaded the answer of. “What does that mean for Nana?”

  Pity shadowed his face. “They took her to the warden station and will be holding her until the morning at least. Charli, my instincts tell me you need to prepare for the worst. This is a very tight community, and they are going to protect their own.”

  My brain exploded with a thousand things I should do at that exact second. “Where’s my spell phone? I need to call Matt. He has to know. Where did I put it? Should we hire a local advocate or get Jedidiah up here. No, wait, Ben’s here. But I really need to call Matt or he’ll be mad at me.”

  I found my phone and scrolled through my contacts. Dash’s name popped up, and I opened the last text that he’d sent while we were in the first panel. “I’m fine. U ok?”

  My fingers hovered over the keys to type back how far from okay I was and to beg him to come to Charleston. If my world was falling apart, then I needed all of my friends there. Even the wolf shifter. I slumped onto the edge of the bed.

  Blythe came over and put her arm around me. The gesture of comfort almost broke the fragile emotional dam holding back my torrent of tears. “Calm down. Let’s take this one step at a time. Go ahead and make your call.”

  “It won’t work,” Mason declared. “The wards have blocked all devices from functioning. We can’t even text each other, which is why I came to you directly.”

  Anger snuffed out my fear. “So, what? We’re supposed to sit here and let them railroad my grandmother and not be able to do anything?”

  If it took everything I had—the rest of my magic, my actual blood, or even my life—I would make sure Nana would make it home again.

  “In theory, yes.” The detective rubbed the back of his neck. “At least, that’s what they hope will happen. Thing is, they have no idea who they’re messing with.”

  Lily scooted to the edge of her seat. “I hope that means you’ve got a plan hatching in that head of yours.”

  Mason tapped his lip with his finger. “Not a plan so much as knowing what assets we have that they won’t take into account. For example, Ben used his advocate status to protect your grandmother and provide her with immediate representation.”

  “That’s my man,” Lily cheered.

  “And Lee is all over the spell phone issue, testing out ways to bypass the wards,” the detective explained.

  “But you’re a warden,” Lavender stated. “Aren’t you supposed to be against the breaking of the law?”

  “Again, in theory. But there’s something not right about how the whole situation is being handled.” Mason’s voice took on the authoritative tone of his job. “And if they’re going to corrupt the law, then I can turn a blind eye to someone trying to bend the rules.”

  I’d stayed silent, trying to listen in on everything being said despite my growing dread. “That’s it?” I croaked out. “That’s the plan? Hope Ben can keep Nana from being arrested for something she didn’t do and put our faith in Lee to get o
ur spell phones working? And for what? So, we can call home and tell them we lost the best leader the town has ever had?” My bottom lip quivered, and large tears flowed down my cheek.

  Mason crouched down in front of me. “Of course, that’s not it. I’m going to call on the biggest asset of all.” He wiped the wetness from my face with his fingers.

  I sniffed. “What’s that?”

  “You.”

  Chapter Seven

  Sleep eluded all of us until early morning. Mason had promised he would come get me as soon as Nana was released and allowed to return to the hotel. Hunger and the natural alarm clocks of our stomachs woke us after only a few hours of restless sleep.

  As I dressed for the day, I found the mojo bag underneath a pile of clothes still strewn about on the floor from getting ready for the event last night. Slipping the leather strand over my head, I vowed to keep it on for the rest of our time here.

  Unsure how the hotel would run under a wardens’ lockdown, we made our way to the same dining area we’d eaten at the day before. Guests hovered around every available table talking in low tones. The words “murder” and “Honeysuckle” were spoken more than once.

  Everybody sat in sections based on where they had come from. All of the witches from our town were in the back corner, isolated from the rest. We waded through the crowd to make it to them.

  Lily and Lavender’s grandmother, Mimsy, got up to give me her seat. I protested, but Blythe pushed me to take it. My friends treated me with kid gloves, fetching me coffee and a little toast, which was all my stomach could handle. Mason, Lee, and Ben were nowhere to be seen.

  “I took Lee a little breakfast to eat in our room. When he gets on a roll, he doesn’t like to be disturbed,” explained Alison Kate. She hugged me around my shoulders. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

  Others offered their apologies as well. Their comfort ought to make me feel better. Instead, my frustration grew. Tired of being coddled, I banged my hand on the table and stood up. The whole dining area grew quiet, and I realized my mistake.