by Bella Falls
“Where I’m staying right now, everybody keeps to themselves. There’s not a whole lot of mixing amongst the magical community except at a meeting of all the big leaders once a month. At least that’s what Ethan tells me.” Resentment filled her last sentence.
“Who’s Ethan?” I asked. “Your brother?”
Her nose wrinkled a bit. “No, he’s a…he’s part of the family.”
The things I didn’t know about my bloodline could fill an ocean. I didn’t have time for pleasantries before I got down to business. “Listen, Abigail, since you’re here trying to connect with me, then I’m going to extend the benefit of the doubt to you and get straight to the point. What kind of magical talents do you possess?”
“Oh, uh,” she stammered, caught off guard. “I guess I have normal magic like any other witch.”
“No, that’s not what she means,” corrected Mason.
I touched his arm to let me do the talking. “Listen, I’ve always had talents different from everyone else. They’ve been called bird-doggin’ skills, hunting, or tracking. Whatever you call them, it means I could find things when I used them. Since I’ve found very few throughout the country with the same magic, I assume it has to be hereditary. What I’m asking is, can you track things down?”
Abigail looked down at the floor and back up at me. “Yes, our family has those abilities. Some are stronger than others. My powers are not as well developed.”
I grabbed her hands, unable to contain my desperation. “As long as you’ve got some, that’ll have to do. We need your help to prove my grandmother’s innocence.”
She frowned at me. “I don’t understand. If you’ve got your own powers, then why do you need mine? I’m sure you’re better at it than I am.”
In life, we earned trust over time. Just because Abigail and I shared some DNA didn’t afford her all of my secrets. “I think the more help we can get, the chances of clearing Nana’s name will be better. Now, what are the limits to your talents? For me, it used to be I had to touch someone in order to find what they were looking for. Then I got strong enough I didn’t need them to do more than think about it. What about you?”
Her fingers twitched in my hands. “Holding something from the person associated with what I’m supposed to find makes things go much faster. But I can be given an assignment and find something based on the description from the person who desires it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And you think you’re not strong? That’s incredible. If we were to ask you to find the murder weapon, you could use your magic to locate it?” Hope rose in my chest.
“I don’t think so.” Her short reply poured cold water all over my expectations.
I let go of her. “But you said you could find things that were desired.”
“If I have a full description because they know exactly what they want down to the finest detail,” Abigail clarified. “What you’re asking me to do is to search for something intangible unless you know what killed her, like a knife or a gun or something. Even then, the person who would be most connected to it is, well, dead.”
Mason stepped forward. “If it could be arranged and you could be around the body, say, close enough to touch it, would you be able to determine what killed her? Or who did?”
Abigail scrunched up her face. “Who would want to touch a dead body?”
“Answer the question, please,” I pressed, clinging on to the last of my patience.
My insistence annoyed her. “No, for most hunters, we work off of the connection to live people. There was a story that was told about an ancestor of ours who had the ability to find things connected to a dead body, but by using his powers, it drained him of his life.”
“So, it’s possible but comes at a cost?” I winced at the callousness of my question. “Sorry, I’m not suggesting you sacrifice your life.”
Abigail picked at a scab on the side of her arm. “I don’t think it’s a true story anyway. It was something passed down more to warn us to be cautious with our powers than anything. My guess is whoever the ancestor was, he was lying and got killed for trying to grave rob or something.”
I backed up and collapsed onto the edge of her bed. “So, that’s it. We won’t be able to figure out what caused Priscilla’s death and Nana’s innocence can’t be proven.”
“Well,” started Abigail. “I would think her daughter would want to figure out who the killer is. She would possess the most desire to find out the truth. Maybe if you can get her to talk to you, you could use your own tracking magic to find the object.”
My stomach sank. I glanced up at Mason, wondering if I should let this young woman I barely knew in on the truth of my life or not. But holding back information could only stand in our way or even become an unintended obstacle to our goal. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, allowing me to make my choice in what to reveal.
I took a deep breath and made my decision. “We have a problem if we’re going to count on me. The quick and dirty of it all is that I don’t have my powers.”
“What?” Abigail exclaimed.
I winced. “It’s a much longer story, but the basics are that I had them, then through a spell, I lost them temporarily. When I was starting to get them back, another spell forced what I had into another witch.” I couldn’t say the next part without crying if I looked at Mason. “It was for a very good reason, and I would do it again.”
The detective’s breath quickened, and he stared at me with a mixture of awe and disbelief.
“I would do it again,” I whispered, making sure he saw and heard my sincerity.
“Charli. I…” He cleared his throat, remembering that another person stood in the same room with us. “I think your suggestion is a good one, Abigail. I’ll see what I can do to get Peyton to return to the hotel since we can’t leave.” Without hesitation, he bolted out the door.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” my cousin said. “Are you two together?”
Some things about my life she hadn’t earned the right to know yet. “No, he’s just a good friend. I’m sorry to have bothered you. Nothing has gone like I’d planned, and I don’t have the time to properly sit down and get to know you like we wanted.” I reached out to touch her, and she flinched away. Whatever or whoever put that in her, I’d like to take them on. “I’m sorry, Abs.”
My cousin gasped. “What did you call me?”
I realized my mistake and cringed. “Oops, I tend to do that. I call my friend Blythe, B. And Alison Kate is Ali Kat. I guess Abs just rolled off my tongue out of pure instinct. I won’t use it again if it offends you.”
Her eyes returned to the floor and her lips trembled. “Nobody calls me anything but Abigail. I was lying when I signed your note Abby. I wanted to sound friendly.”
“Would you like me to call you Abby? I can do that,” I offered.
She grinned and flushed a shade of pink that made her look healthier and more robust. “Okay, I’d like that. Or even Abs. It would be something that would be just between us.”
“Because we’re friends.” I finished what I figured her thought was.
“Friends. I like that.” She stuck out her hand and giggled. “Hi, my name is Abby.”
I gripped her skin. “Hey, Abs. I’m Charli.” We held onto each other for a long moment before I squeezed her once and let her go.
Feeling a bit more at ease, she piped up, “You know, it might not be all bad if you don’t have your powers anymore. On the bright side, nobody will bug you or demand that you use them.”
A piece of my heart hurt for her. “That sounds ominous. In Honeysuckle, I actually have my own business called Lost & Found where people can hire me to find things.”
“You have a business? And people pay you?” Her draw dropped.
So many things we didn’t know about each other, so little time. “Listen, Abs, when this whole thing is over, let’s make a plan to really take the time to learn about each other. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She had no idea how much her pledge meant to me. Needing to leave before more tears spilled, I nodded. “Thanks.”
When the door closed leaving me on the other side in the hallway, I sank down to the floor, curled my knees up, and hugged them. Sadness and despair threatened to drag me down, but Abigail offered me a lifeline of hope at the last second with her promise. Instead of tears, tiny giggles gushed out of me, and I covered my mouth with both hands to contain them until I lost my breath.
With no tracking powers of my own, I had only my ideas and determination. Not so promising, but luckily, I had access to smarter people. Pushing myself off the floor, I found the staircase and ran up to the next floor in search of their help.
Chapter Nine
“I’ve got sandwiches,” Lily called out as she held the door to our room open with her foot. I rushed over to hold it so she could enter.
Her cousin Lavender followed behind. “And I brought drinks. No sweet tea to be found, but I did find a stash of soda cans in a closet.”
Blythe helped bring in the armful of drinks. “Frosted fairy wings, you stole something, Lav?”
“Not stole, exactly. Let’s call it liberated. They were trapped in a closet downstairs and needed help getting out to fulfill their purpose,” Lavender joked. “Actually, I followed some of the staff and found them hoarding away supplies. Maybe they’re stuck in here like we are?”
Lily passed around the food, and we took whatever sandwich she gave us. “I heard some of the other guests saying that the hotel isn’t happy about the lockdown and won’t be catering to us for much longer to encourage the wardens to wrap things up sooner.”
“Well, they can’t starve us,” I managed while munching on my bite. “But they could give us cheese and crackers and call it food. It sounds like our deadline to solve things may be faster than we’d hoped if the hotel becomes uncooperative.”
Mason wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Then let’s share everything we’ve been able to figure out so far. In terms of the wardens, I think Chief Huxley has no intention to do more investigating. I ran into a couple of deputies talking to a few people, but they haven’t assigned a detective to the case at all. If he could get away with it, I think the chief would arrest Ms. Vivi immediately, but thanks to Ben being an amazing advocate, he’s having to deal with the legalities of cutting corners.”
Lily sighed. “My boyfriend really is the best. He said he’d report back the second he returned. If we could access our spell phones, he could text me sooner.”
Lee stopped inhaling his sandwich. “I know, I’m sorry things aren’t going faster, but part of what makes the phones work is utilizing the magic from the area. There’s something off about powers here that I can’t quite figure out.”
“You’ll get there, sweetums.” Alison Kate rubbed her husband’s back. “I went down to the kitchens because when I get stressed, all I want to do is bake. I offered them my services, but they turned me down. I overheard a lot of what Lavender already said. The hotel management is considering ways to cut off as much comfort to those of us locked inside in order to end things quicker.”
Lavender raised her hand, and I teased her for acting like we were in school. “There’s a lot of gossip going around. One person said they saw your grandmother stab Priscilla from behind and another thought that there must have been poison in her drink.”
“Which my grandmother had to have put in there, right?” I complained.
“People like to act like they know something or to share any tidbit that’s dripping with juice,” admitted Lavender.
Lily butted in, “Oh, and I heard other guests complaining to the front desk and suggesting that they be let out and to just keep the Honeysuckle group on lockdown. The longer this goes on, the more support there is for blaming your grandmother, Charli. If the guests get too frustrated, we could end up with an angry mob.”
My stomach churned and I put down the rest of my sandwich. “I talked with Abigail. I wanted to see if she had the same tracking talents I did.”
Blythe perked up. “That sounds promising. Did she say she could help?”
I swallowed down the lump in my throat and took an extra beat to ignore my rising panic. “Not really. Because we don’t have access to the body or the medical examiner’s findings or anything, we don’t have an idea what there is to be tracked. She can’t search for an abstract concept.”
My best friend sat down next to me, the bed bouncing with her presence. “I’m sorry it can’t be you and your magic. I know that must hurt.”
Others in the room uttered their apologies, too, and I realized I’d never allowed them to help me mourn the loss. I couldn’t manage to vocalize my thanks for their support without losing my thin emotional control.
Mason cleared his throat, unable to look at me. “If we discovered concrete evidence for your cousin to use in her search, would she be able to do anything?”
I sniffed once to steady myself. “Yes, she promised if we had something tangible to find that she would help.” Frustration with the entire situation overtook my fears and I pushed off the bed with a yell. “It’s like we’re trying to operate without the full picture. And we’re too focused on my grandmother to see anything anyway. What are we missing?”
“A list of viable suspects,” replied Mason.
“I can’t believe they dismissed all the locals and let them go home,” Blythe said. “Doesn’t that imply that they aren’t being considered suspects at all?”
“As a fellow warden, I’d like to have faith that they would continue to consider all possibilities until they have concrete evidence.” The detective didn’t have to finish for us to comprehend his unspoken doubt.
From somewhere in the city, bells chimed the midday hour. I gazed down at the busy sidewalk below and wondered if any of the passersby might be witches. “How strong are the wards on the hotel? Could they be breached at all?”
“I already tested them,” Mason admitted. “Using my own warden authority, I attempted at several different exits to break through their hold. Lee isn’t wrong, there’s something odd about the shared magic in the area. It’s like it runs on a different frequency than ours.”
“Frequency!” shouted Lee, bouncing to his feet. “I didn’t think about it that way. The magic required is not operating on the same wavelength as ours. If I could figure out how to sync our spell phones to their magical frequencies, then I might be able to get things to work.” He ran out the door, muttering to himself like a madman.
Ben entered the room, glancing behind him. “What’s up with Lee?”
“I think my husband finally figured out how to get our spell phones to work.” Alison Kate beamed with pride. “How did things go with the district advocates?”
Ben accepted a sandwich from Lily and sat down but didn’t eat. “It’s not looking good. We went back and forth over the current laws that dictate the wardens must do their due diligence and perform a full investigation. Trying to prove the local wardens aren’t doing their job is a problem if both the ones who enforce the law and the ones who prosecute them are in collusion.”
Sitting around with my friends discussing cases used to be thrilling and sometimes even fun. My little gang could combine their different points of view to guide me through the fog of confusion to find the clear path to solving the problem. Except this time, the problem was too close to my heart for me to see clearly.
“I’m sorry, Charli, I promise I won’t let them get out of hand.” Ben attempted a reassuring smile. “Even if they try to invoke a priori assumption, there are ways to delay it.”
Unable to process more bad news, I couldn’t hold back my annoy
ance. “Speak English, Ben,” my voice wavered.
“It means they could make an arrest based solely on what they believe rather than by solid proof,” interjected Mason. “I’ve dealt with a few who valued the ‘old ways’ over the law up North.”
Overwhelmed, I lost the battle of trying to keep it all together. Gasping to find air, I weaved my way around the beds and friends and closed myself into the bathroom. Turning on the shower and the faucet of the sink to full blast, I shut the lid on the toilet and crumpled on top of it. My desperation surrounded me, and I surrendered to it, allowing the tears to flow without fighting them.
Hot steam billowed out from behind the shower curtain, and the curls in my hair grew fuzzy from the moisture. A fine sheen of sweat covered the surface of my skin until it mingled with my salty tears.
The door opened with a creak and I turned my back on whoever had volunteered to check on me. Heavy sobs racked my body, and I wept until nothing came out of me except a woeful keening. A kind touch petted my head and pulled my hair off my neck.
My grandmother crooned a song I hadn’t heard from her in ages while her wrinkled hands worked their magic in calming me.
Way up high in the old oak tree
A tiny little bird comes and sings to me
It chirps a song with joyful glee
And tries to tempt me with its plea
‘The sun is high and the wind is free
So, come and fly away with me.’
All day long, it sings to me
‘Come and fly away with me.’
‘Oh, little bird, why can’t you see?
I don’t have wings so I can flee
I cannot come away with thee
And leave my life underneath the tree.’
By the third verse, my sobs had abated, and I joined her in the final verse like I used to do when I was little.
