The older will, the one that had been in place for over two thousand years – geez, elves led crazy lives – had left everything to Elawa, Lorondir’s sister. A note on the front of the new will said that a copy had been left at the post office to take to Elawa on Monday. Since Lorondir had been killed on Wednesday, that meant Elawa knew that she was no longer in the will. A note also mentioned that the same notice was given to Farawir; he would have known that he inherited his father’s estate when Lorondir was killed.
This confirmed Farawir’s financial motive: if he needed the money, and was desperate enough for it, he would have known that he could have killed his father for it.
“Hello? Who’s there?” a voice suddenly called out from the hallway. I froze, my eyes widening. It definitely wasn’t Ellie or Sara’s voice, this was a man.
“I know you’re out there,” the man said. “Come on out.”
I dropped my wand in surprise, and the light immediately went out. That was definitely a good thing; someone knew we were here and as long as I stayed quiet, maybe there was a chance that they would go away.
Making my way to the doorway, I went to have a look at the person who had come in. How did they know we were here? Had we messed up one of the spells on the wards? Or maybe we had triggered one without realizing it.
At the far end of the hallway, carrying a flashlight, was a vampire. His pale face, dark hair, and fangs gave it away. And on top of all that, he had that creepy vampire look about him that made a chill run up my spine. This guy just looked like bad news.
He made his way towards where I was, sweeping his flashlight back and forth. He flared his nostrils and sniffed, as though he could smell us. Could he smell us? From what I knew in the human world about vampires I didn’t think they had that ability, but I had learned a lot about just how wrong I could be when it came to those sorts of things.
He came closer and closer to the doorway where I stood, and I knew that if he did have the ability to sniff me out, I was definitely caught. Great. I didn’t know what jail time was for breaking and entering here, but I figured it probably wasn’t super lenient.
On top of that, I really didn’t want to get arrested in my first couple of weeks here in the paranormal world. I figured it probably wouldn’t be a great first impression. I was just starting to regret deciding to come along on this trip, when all of a sudden I heard another familiar voice.
“Hey, Anton, you in here?”
“Kyran?” the vampire called out, and I inhaled sharply as I realized from the proximity of his voice that he was just outside the door.
“Yeah, man, what are you doing?”
“Someone triggered one of the wards in here, so I had to come check it out. Was it you?”
“Probably. I always forget where they all are. Sorry.”
“What are you doing in here this late anyway?”
“I got a new lead on one of the people Manarwa wanted me to find. Can’t tell you more than that, sorry. But anyway, I figured I’d come here and get the documents I need in case I catch him.”
“Right. Well, at least that killed ten minutes. Try and be more careful about the wards, hey?”
“Will do, sorry man. My bad. Take care.”
“Yeah, you too.” I heard the vampire retreating, and a few minutes later, a door closed. The vampire was gone.
“So, do you witches want to come out and tell me what you’re actually doing here?” Kyran called out.
“Sure,” I replied. I stepped out into the hallway. “But unfortunately, you’re not really going to see a lot of us.”
Kyran burst out laughing. “Invisibility potion, huh?”
“How did you know that?” Sara asked.
“If you had done it with a spell, you could simply reverse it. Potions you need to wait until the effects wear off.”
“How do you know that? You’re an elf,” Ellie said.
Kyran shrugged. “In my line of work, the more you know about all different types of paranormals, the less danger you’re in. Anyway, what are you three doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question,” Ellie said.
“Sure, but you already overheard the answer. On the other hand, if you don’t tell me, you’re going to have to tell Anton instead. And Anton is pretty fang-happy.”
I figured that was the vampire version of trigger-happy. “We’re looking for a copy of Lorondir’s will,” I admitted. “We want to know if it’s true that Farawir inherits everything, since with his recent fall back into gambling we thought that if he really does inherit, he had good reason to have his father killed.”
“So you know about the gambling addiction then,” Kyran said, with an impressed nod. “That’s some pretty good detective work.”
“His father didn’t know, though, did he?” I asked.
“No, he didn’t. Not as far as I know, anyway. If he had, he would have changed the will back immediately.”
“Do you know where the will is?” I heard Ellie’s voice say. “I haven’t found it.”
“I did,” I said, running through a summary of everything I had discovered.
“So our theory was correct,” Sara said. “Farawir inherits, and he would have known since the owls would have sent notice.”
“Owls? Your post office is run by owls?” I asked, always pleased when I discovered another similarity between Harry Potter and my new real life. “Can I send a howler to someone?”
“What on earth is a howler?” Ellie asked.
“Never mind,” I mumbled. “You should read some of those books that I brought over from the human world, though.”
“Anyway, yeah, the post office here uses owls to send letters and documents between people. It’s more efficient than sending witches, and cheaper too, since owls don’t have labor laws that apply to them.”
I dreamed of going up to the post office, which I was from here on in going to refer to as the owlery, no matter what. But before I could finish my daydream, Kyran interrupted.
“So can I take it the three of you are leaving now?”
“Yeah, we can leave,” I replied. “Thanks for covering for us.”
“Hey, I recognize a righteous breaking of the law when I see one,” Kyran grinned, and a blush crawled up my face. “I’ll see you later. Try not to set off any more wards on your way out.”
With that, Kyran turned and left, waving a hand behind him as he headed out the front door.
“Ok, fine, I’ll admit it was nice of him to come and rescue us,” Ellie said.
“It was,” I agreed. “We would definitely be in jail right now if it wasn’t for him.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Sara said. “Now that we have what we’re looking for, I don’t want to be in here for any longer than we have to be.”
“Where’s Mr. Meowgi?” I asked, looking around. My familiar had evidently completely disappeared.
The three of us began searching for the cat, and I finally found him in what looked like a break room towards the back door. “In here,” I called out to the others, as I made my way towards my familiar.
His face was fully inserted inside a bag of cat treats; he had managed to open one of the cupboard doors and get at the goodies which had probably been for the familiar of someone else working here.
“Come on, fatty, it’s time to stop eating and to get going,” I said to him, gently easing his face out of the bag and checking to make sure there were still treats in it.
“Hey, I need the calories for energy. It’s hard work being a martial arts expert.”
“Right, I’m sure your enemies will be terrified when you start rolling towards them,” I replied. Mr. Meowgi scowled at me in response. “Anyway,” I continued, “we have to go.”
“Did you find what you were after?” Mr. Meowgi asked.
“We did, yes,” I replied with a nod. I heard footsteps coming towards me, and then heard Ellie’s voice.
“Not a second too soon, the potion is about to wear off in ab
out five minutes.”
Yup, this was our cue to get going.
Chapter 16
“I can’t believe the three of you did that,” Amy scowled when we got home and told her what we had discovered.
“You can’t believe that we did it, or you can’t believe that we did it without you?” Ellie asked with a grin.
“I can’t believe you did that! Of course there were extra wards you can’t detect there; lawyers aren’t idiots. They might be elves, but they know security.”
“Hey, at least Kyran was there to bail us out,” I replied with a shrug.
“That’s another thing. That guy’s bad news, and you shouldn’t be hanging out with him.”
“It’s not like we knew he was there,” Sara replied. “Besides, you wouldn’t have come with us anyway.”
Amy crossed her arms. “Sure, but only because I actually understand the importance of attorney-client privilege.”
Ellie grinned. “Amy wishes she was a lawyer,” she said. “I can tell!”
“What? That’s ridiculous,” Amy replied. “I’m a witch. I can’t be a lawyer.”
“That’s the stupidest rule,” I chimed in. “Everything in this town is so segregated. Why doesn’t everyone hang out together?”
“It’s just not the done thing,” Amy said.
“Are all paranormal towns like this?” I asked.
Sara nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it makes sense in a way. You hang out with your own kind and that way things are a lot more peaceful.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t have to be like that though. I mean, there are so many things that we could learn from other paranormal species. I don’t think we should reject the idea out of hand just because that’s how it’s always been done.”
I knew I was new in town, but I also knew I was right. After all, I was sure there was a lot we could learn from vampires, or fairies, or elves. And I didn’t think that people should be pigeonholed into a certain job just because of their species of paranormal.
“Anyway, we’re getting off topic,” Ellie said. “We found the will, and Farawir had to know he inherited. The will was changed days ago and he was given notice.”
Amy nodded slowly. “Okay, so that’s that. I assume Chief Enforcer King knows this, though. After all, she’s investigating a murder.”
“I would think so,” I said. “Assuming that what Jordan Black told us was true, and for what it’s worth I think he was telling the truth, that leaves Farawir as the main suspect. Plus, he had the opportunity as well, since he had a meeting with his father that morning just before Lorondir died.”
“So basically, it’s time to leave things to Chief Enforcer King,” Amy said. “After all, this means Sara is no longer really a suspect, so we have no reason to keep investigating. Plus, Chief Enforcer King is going to know all of this, and so if Farawir really did do it, she’ll arrest him.”
I had to admit, Amy’s words made sense.
“Fine,” Sara said. “I think Chief Enforcer King will do the right thing.”
Ellie’s face fell slightly. “Can’t we just keep investigating for fun?” She asked. “After all, the last time we did this we ended up finding a murderer.”
“Yes, and Tina and Mr. Meowgi both almost died,” Amy replied, shooting Ellie a look.
“Yeah, but they didn’t, and this time we’ll be ready for them,” Ellie said, but going by the expression on Amy’s face, she definitely did not agree.
“I think until anything changes, Amy’s right,” I said. “I think we should leave this to the professionals for now.”
“Fine, you guys are no fun,” Ellie said.
“Seeing as fun almost got us thrown in jail tonight, I’m okay with that,” I replied with a smile. “But again, if anything changes, I’m willing to change my mind.”
Little did I know just how soon that was going to happen.
“Have things always been like this?” I asked Mr. Meowgi as we hung out in our room later that night. It was late, and with Ellie and Sara having to work in the morning, the three of us quickly went to bed after our discussion. Still, I couldn’t get the idea of the segregation here in Western Woods out of my head. “You know, with all of the paranormals refusing to spend time with different species?”
“Yes, at least, so far as I know.”
“Does it make sense to you?”
“Of course it does,” Mr. Meowgi replied. “You don’t see me hanging out with the dogs, or the owl familiars. They’re just too different from me. They’re a completely different species. What would we have in common?”
“How do you know, if you haven’t spent any time with any of them?”
That got Mr. Meowgi thinking. “I suppose it’s like in the movie Rush Hour. Initially, Carter and Lee didn’t get along at all, because neither one of them thought they were anything like the other, but despite their differences they ended up becoming very good friends and partners.”
“Yes, exactly like that,” I said. I had forgotten that Mr. Meowgi had actually spent a decent amount of time in the human world before he was called to be my familiar, and that he had seen a number of human-world martial arts movies.
An idea began to form in my head. It might have been a really stupid idea, but it was an idea all the same. I wanted to see the people in Western Woods working together, I wanted to see them getting along regardless of species, and I had a sneaking suspicion that this might start getting us there.
“Do you know if there’s anywhere in Western Woods where I could get movies from the human world?” I asked Mr. Meowgi.
“Not that I know of,” he replied. “You might be able to go to one of the bigger paranormal towns, and they might have one of those niche stores that sell novelty items that come from the human world, but that would be it. Other than that, your best bet is to go back to the human world yourself and get them.”
I frowned. For what it was worth, I actually had no desire to go back to Seattle. This was my home now, and I wanted to treat it that way.
“Why do you ask? Do you miss Jackie Chan movies?”
“No, I was thinking it might be a good way to get everybody together. Maybe I could organize some sort of human movie night, where I invite all of the paranormals in to the coven gardens to watch a movie. After all, movies bring people together. Maybe if everyone sees them, they’ll come to realize that they’re not all so different and maybe this rift between all the different types of paranormals here can be slowly eradicated.”
“You’re a weird witch, you know that?” Mr. Meowgi said. “Why can’t you just stick with the status quo?”
“Because the status quo limits people. And I think that’s wrong.”
“Fair enough,” Mr. Meowgi said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. I’m not 100% sure if this is going to work, or how it’s going to work, but if I think of anything for you to do, I’ll let you know.”
As I lay down in bed, turning off the light, I sat there awake. It really bothered me the way all the paranormals here in Western Woods treated each other, and I swore I was going to do my best to bring them all together just a little bit.
Chapter 17
The next morning, I sat at the table eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast, wondering if I should sprinkle on some golden flakes labelled ‘energy’ that were in the pantry. After all, I had only slept for about five hours, my head was pounding, and my brain felt like it was in a permanent fog. I was definitely going to have to make it to Hexpresso Bean later on to get a coffee.
Eventually, I decided against the flakes - after all, I had absolutely no idea how many to put on, or even if they would do what I thought they would do, and I figured playing around with magical food that I didn’t understand was probably not the greatest idea ever.
Just as I was finishing up and putting my empty dishes in the sink, Amy made her way into the kitchen.
“What’s up?” I asked her as she we
nt to the fridge and grabbed a pile of grapes.
“I have the day off today, so I was thinking I would go to the library and do a little bit of extra studying,” Amy said. “Then, I realized that I could spend the day teaching you a new spell, and I really wanted to explore the effect of water on your magic skills, so I think we’ll do that instead. Sound good?”
“Sure,” I nodded. I was always happy to learn more magic, especially since I knew just how much I still had to catch up on.
“Let me have a quick breakfast, and then we’ll get started.”
As soon as I opened the front door, Mr. Meowgi ran out, evidently happy to go on whatever adventures cats came up with.
“Don’t go too far, and don’t eat any wildlife,” I yelled after my cat.
“Sure thing, boss,” he replied as he darted away, and I smiled. Mr. Meowgi had a lot of energy, which was nice. Amy and I walked around the side of the house, which still had a few bushes along it before we reached the back of the house, which was now a giant pool, with just a couple of feet of tile between the water and the house.
“Great,” Amy said as we made our way towards the edge of the water. “Are there any spells that you would like me to teach you?”
I shook my head. “Honestly, not really. I mean, I see everything that you manage to do with magic, and it seems a little bit overwhelming at times. Plus, I don’t know what the easiest spells to do are, and you do.”
Amy nodded. “Okay, I want to teach you two spells today. One of them will be calling on water, and the other will not be water related, but I want to see whether there is any change to how you perform the spell when you are in the water.”
“Sounds good,” I said, pulling out my wand. I was definitely getting used to carrying it around, and my wand was finally starting to feel like a part of me.
“Now, the first spell I want to teach you is one to call on water. This is of course, a Jupiter based spell, but I suspect you will be better at performing it then you would be a non-water related spell. Repeat after me, and remember to really feel the energy passing through your wand. Jupiter, God of thunder, use my wand and bring forth water.”
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