by Bella Falls
“The wardens are going to do what they are going to do. You can’t control their actions, only how we react to them. I’ve been prepared for them to march through that door and arrest me without a stitch of evidence.”
The sound of something metal clinking against glass interrupted us again. I dropped the piece of clothing I was folding and stepped over a strewn pillow on the floor. Nana paced in front the dresser, her head cocked to the side to listen. She held her finger up to her mouth to indicate for me to remain quiet. A strained silence followed except for the pounding of my racing heart in my ears.
My grandmother gazed at her reflection in the mirror for long seconds. I wanted to ask her why her appearance mattered at a time like this, but kept my mouth shut, obeying her request.
“Could it be as simple as that?” she wondered out loud. Holding her hands in front of her, she moved them over the surface of the mirror, not touching it, but skimming as close as she could. “Yes, I think they did.”
“Did what?” I asked.
Nana closed her eyes and dropped one hand, moving her dominant one over the surface in a meticulous side-to-side pattern until she stopped in the left-hand corner. “There. That’s where someone has hidden the ring.”
The mirror reflected her pointed finger back at her but showed no sign of the jewelry. “I don’t understand.”
My grandmother stood back and scoffed. “It’s old magic. Something not taught anymore because it can be incredibly unreliable. Mirrors and mirrored surfaces used to be used in all manners. Witches would use them to scry, to communicate with each other long before we had telephones, and as a place to hide very valuable things.”
“And you think someone has used the mirror to hide the ring? Who would have done that?” I closed the distance between us to inspect the mirror for myself. The only thing it revealed to me was the wrinkle creased between my eyebrows.
She pushed me to the side and flourished her hands in front of the mirror a couple of times. When nothing appeared, I doubted my grandmother’s guess.
“I think it’s spellcast to reveal the hidden object when the right word or words are spoken.” Nana raised her hand to the side of her mouth and spoke in a clear, loud voice. “The wardens are coming to arrest me.”
The same tinkling noise from before rattled louder and louder, and my grandmother indicated the same spot in the lower left-hand corner of the mirror. “See? It’s in there, but whoever cast the spell either didn’t do it right or my protection spell I performed on the room after Mason cleared it of any bugs has corrupted it. Let me see if I can get it out of there.”
Before she could perform any of her strong magic, I tugged on her sleeve. “Maybe you should leave it in there. I mean, if we can’t get it out, then the ring may never be found. And then whoever was trying to use it to make sure the wardens arrested you for Priscilla’s murder, might come back to try and retrieve it.”
The ring jangled and clinked inside the looking glass, still unable to extract itself despite me repeating the key words that called the piece of jewelry forth.
“If we had more time, then your idea might be the better one so we could find out who’s a part of my framing,” Nana acquiesced. “But I’ll bet the chief makes his move tomorrow morning. I’d rather take possession of the ring and get ahead of the problem rather than trying to ignore it and hope it didn’t break itself free at the wrong time, making me look guiltier than ever.”
I opened my mouth to argue with her but thought better of it. In all my years trusting Nana, I couldn’t come up with a good reason to stop doing so now. With great interest, I watched her address the mirror.
Raising her hand in front of the spot, she spoke out loud, “Magus Revelo.”
If I hadn’t been looking at the right spot, I would have missed the minuscule thin lines that crackled over the area with a faint glow like a spider web.
“It’s being stubborn. Either my protection spell was too good or whoever placed the ring in my mirror knew the words but not how to fully pull the trick off. Let me try something else.” She rolled her shoulders and held up both hands in front of the mirror. “Manifesto Speculus Arcanus.”
The web of cracks radiated brighter until the reflective surface broke and shards of the mirror scattered on the dresser. A dark hole stretched beyond the room behind it. With great care, Nana reached her hand inside until her arm disappeared up to her armpit.
“Yeah, whoever attempted this wasn’t an expert. I think there’s something here, if I can just reach…got it!” She withdrew her arm, being extra careful not to cut herself on the rough edges of glass.
Uncurling her fingers, she displayed the object in the middle of her palm. The green of the large emerald between two diamonds sparkled despite not having any special light on it.
“That’s what Peyton described,” I exclaimed, a little taken back at the beauty of the piece of jewelry.
My grandmother picked it up and held it between her fingers. “There’s an inscription inside it. It says, “Pence pour moi.” My French is rusty, but I think that means, ‘Think of me.’ It makes sense that it belongs to the Ravenel family since their ancestors who established the city came from France.” She turned the ring around, inspecting it.
“Now that we’ve found it, we have to get rid of it or hide it.” I reached out to take it from her, but she snatched it away.
“We are not going to obstruct justice,” Nana scolded. “The only reason we know that the ring is in anyway connected to Priscilla is because Ben took illegal pictures of the case file. Otherwise, it’s considered a lost item and it should be turned in.”
I held out my hand, palm up. “No, Peyton told me about it, so Ben’s off the hook. Give it to me and let me claim I found it somewhere else. If the wardens hear you had anything to do with it, they’ll arrest you faster than you can say unicorn manure.”
My grandmother hesitated. “I don’t think that’s a wise idea. I mean, it’s kind of cheating.”
“They’re cheating, Nana!” My raised voice alarmed her, and I did my best to stay as calm as possible. “If things were fair, then they would have launched a full-on investigation, finding out all the information we’ve worked our behinds off to gather. If they’re not going to play by the rules, then we have to change them. And you were the one who told me to blow out the wall behind me if I got stuck.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t use my words against me.”
“Give me the ring.”
Excessive pounding on the door interrupted our discussion. Nana called out, “Hold on one moment, please.”
A man’s voice spoke through the closed entrance. “Ms. Goodwin, this is Deputy Warden Jones. Please open your door.”
“Pixie poop,” I whispered.
Nana held up the ring in front of her. “I’ll bet there was a warning hex on the ring. As soon as we activated it, even though it was stuck in the mirror, it somehow summoned the wardens here.”
“Put it back in the mirror,” I insisted, pointing at the broken surface.
She shook her head. “No, that’s tampering with the evidence. Maybe they’ll believe our story.”
“And maybe pigs will fly right by the window right…about…now. See? No pigs. Hide the ring,” I pleaded.
The deputy banged on the door. “Ms. Goodwin, I can lawfully open this by force if necessary.”
My grandmother instructed me to answer him while she stood by the mirror in order not to disturb the scene any more than she needed to. As soon as he gained entrance, the deputy surveyed the mess.
Without asking one question, he held up his hand in front of him, allowing a little power to spark to life. “Both of you, put your hands in the air.”
Disgusted and angry, I kept my eyes on the deputy but spoke to my grandmother. “Hey, Nana?”
“Yeah, Birdy?” she replied, not moving a muscle.
I hated with all of my heart that the young warden had proven me right. “Unicorn manure.”
Chapter Eighteen
Chief Huxley appeared in the doorway with another warden in tow. He entered the room, a smug smile plastered on his face. “Looks like y’all have done a real number in here. It could make our job harder unless you cooperate.”
With my hands still raised in the air, I tried to block his view of Nana. He warned me off and gestured with his hand for me to back away. Instead of obeying right away, I turned to check with my grandmother first.
“It’s all right, Birdy. Trust me.” My faith had been tested a lot this evening, and the presence of the wardens didn’t help. In utter reluctance, I took a step back to give the chief a clear path to address my grandmother.
“Now, Ms. Goodwin, are we going to have a problem?” He stood a good four inches taller than Nana and used his height to attempt to intimidate her. When she didn’t give him the reaction of fear he sought, his smile dropped. “Show me what’s in your hand.”
“Don’t,” I cried out.
“You keep quiet.” The chief waved two fingers at me. “That’s your second warning. If I have to address you a third time, I will have Deputy Jones remove you from the room.”
My hands shook, and I clenched them into fists to steady myself and keep him from seeing the fear racing through me. My brain raced through any possible way to get us out of the situation, considering Nana’s thoughts about blowing out the wall behind us when we’re cornered. Other than actually spellcasting an exploding bomb hex, I couldn’t find a way out except to cooperate.
“I’m going to ask you again to show me what you have clenched in that hand of yours,” Chief Huxley demanded.
Nana lowered her right arm, and the two younger wardens got a little twitchy. They rushed closer and held up their hands, ready to blast her with their powers. Their boss backed them off with a few words.
Turning her hand, my grandmother unclenched her fist and revealed the ring laying in the palm of her hand. The emerald flashed green in the light, and if it didn’t have a connection to Priscilla, I might think it truly beautiful.
“That’s what I thought you might be trying to conceal,” the chief said.
“I wasn’t the one hiding anything. I found it in my room,” Nana replied with a calmness that only I understood reflected how much she held back her anger.
The chief didn’t know he stood in the eye of a storm, and if he took a step out of line, he’d find out fast how much power and fury my grandmother could rain down on him if she so chose.
Chief Huxley lowered his chin so he could look down his nose at her. “Lady, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s rainin’! First, when you spoke to us at the station, you claimed you had been in the bathroom upstairs and had not approached or threatened Ms. Priscilla nor been the cause of her untimely death. You just happened to show up immediately after she collapsed in the hall.”
“That’s correct,” Nana replied.
“Yet you don’t deny some of the reports from other witnesses that earlier in the day after some panel, you were overheard saying in the hotel lobby that you wanted to fight her until only one of you was standing.” The chief played a tighter game than I’d expected.
I opened my mouth to explain what she’d meant at the time, but Nana flashed me a look to keep me quiet. “As I said at the station, you can’t take the comment out of context. It was said in frustration after Priscilla verbally attacked our town as retribution for her brother’s failed attempt to take over Honeysuckle Hollow.”
The chief scratched his balding head. “It seems to me if your town produces criminals, then maybe it needs overseeing by a better organization.”
A snort burst out of me, and the chief shot me a side glance of death. Pretending I sneezed, I wiped my finger under my nose and waited for him to finish.
“Now I find you in possession of a ring the daughter claims her mother would never take off. Why would you have the object if you hadn’t been involved in the murder?” asked the chief.
“I’ve already told you, I found the ring in my room. I had nothing to do with it being here. My granddaughter can corroborate that.” Nana continued standing with her open hand in front of him, the key piece of evidence still in her palm.
“It’s true,” I interjected. “Someone used a spell to hide the ring within the mirror.” With one finger, I pointed at the corner that was broken to retrieve the piece of jewelry.
The chief shuffled over to inspect the broken shards. “Looks like a regular broken mirror. Bad luck for you. It’s been a while since I’ve heard of anyone using that old trick. Takes some know how they don’t teach anymore.”
“Well, I’m no spring chicken,” Nana replied, a little of her normal snark sneaking back into her tone.
“Therefore, you could have been the one to hide it in the first place,” the chief accused.
“Could doesn’t mean I did, sir. And if I had hidden it in a place you say nobody would think to look, why would I break it out of said hiding spot for you to find me with it?” Nana turned the chief’s game back on him with her logic.
He stroked his mustache, considering her words. Having been on the other side of my grandmother’s debating skills, I hoped he’d give up his attack, take the ring, and leave her alone.
“Furthermore,” my grandmother continued. “You’ve got some trackers stuck here at the hotel with you. If you engaged them, they might be able to use the ring to figure out who took it in the first place.”
He frowned. “How do you know there are trackers here?”
Nana tipped her head in my direction. “My granddaughter is one.”
Clearly, my grandmother had more faith in my magic returning than I did. Yes, I made it work once, but I had no guarantees it would happen again. Assuming the role as one of Nana’s pieces in her game, I nodded in affirmation.
The chief chortled. “Like I would believe your granddaughter wouldn’t lie for you.”
“There is another witch with tracking abilities here you could use,” Nana suggested, leaving out the part about Abigail’s loose connection to me.
I had no desire to engage my cousin in using her talents again. Not until I got to the bottom of what she knew and why things had suddenly gone all pear-shaped with her.
Chief Huxley dismissed my grandmother. “Forget using trackers. The evidence was found in your possession. Add that to the previous statements about your hostile comments and your lack of evidence to prove where you were prior to the death, then—”
“Wait, Chief,” I interrupted. “There is someone who is willing to testify that Nana was where she said she was. In the bathroom. Two someone’s, actually.”
Nana raised her eyebrows while the head warden frowned in consternation. “That sounds too convenient to me, miss. Exactly who are these witnesses you say are willing to give a statement?”
I lowered my hands for the first time, allowing the blood to rush back into them. “Fleet and Flit. I think they work in the laundry for the hotel.”
The chief sneered. “Fleet and Flit? Those don’t sound like proper names.”
“They’re pixies,” I explained. “And before you make a mistake, I suggest you find them and hear what they have to say. In fact, it would be a good idea if you interviewed several of the hotel staff. You might find there’s more than just one person who could have had issues with your grand dame.”
One of the wardens stepped up. “Chief, I could go take statements.”
“Quiet, Hollins,” his boss barked. “I’m the one in charge here.”
One of the wardens’ radios carried crackled to life, and a muffled voice called out an intelligible message. The warden answered but couldn’t understand what was being said through all the static.
“Give it here,” demanded the chief. “This is Huxley. We can’t understand you. Repeat the message.”
More static garbled the voice on the other side. One clear word made it through. “Emergency.”
“Jones, Hollins, you two go down and—”
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br /> Another warden arrived breathless from exertion. “Chief, we’ve got a situation down in the basement.”
Chief Huxley swore under his breath. “Then take these two with you and get it under control.”
The young woman shook her head. “You don’t understand. There are two dead bodies down there, and all of the fae hotel staff are ready to stage a revolt. We’re stretched to the max to keep things from getting out of hand.”
The chief growled his displeasure and regarded Nana and me. “Fine. Bring these two down with us.”
“Are they under arrest, sir?” the new warden asked.
The chief’s face changed from frustration to revelation. “Not yet. In fact, this may work out better. After we deal with the help, then we can arrest her in front of the others. That will show everybody here how we keep order in our city.”
Nana rolled her eyes. “Chief?”
“What?” he bellowed.
She waved her hand holding the ring in front of him. Snatching it away from her, he pocketed it and stomped out of the room. Nana followed behind him escorted by the warden who’d volunteered to take statements about the two new deaths.
“Everyone will be happy when the ward is lifted,” stated Deputy Jones, waving his hand for me to walk in front of him.
“I will be happiest when justice is served,” I retorted. The tiny shove in my back to get me moving conveyed the warden’s displeasure.
Tense silence filled the elevator all the way down to the basement floor. As soon as the doors slid open, we entered into bedlam. Multiple voices rose in anger, and a line of wardens kept their hands in front of them, using their power to hold back the crowd.
In between the two groups lay two small bodies, crumpled in a disjointed pile. My heart dropped at the sight of Flit and Fleet’s lifeless forms. The brother and sister deserved much better than having their lives taken.
The chief stared at the chaos, uncertain how to handle it. “I don’t understand. They shouldn’t be able to fight our warden power like that.”
