“Mina,” a voice said from nearby. I turned to find myself looking into a pair of gorgeous green eyes. Zayne Woods, a reporter for the local paper that I’d met once before, smiled at me nicely.
“Oh, hi, Zayne.”
“I’m surprised to find you here with Katelyn.”
“Don’t worry, I was just leaving. I’m not buying what she’s selling,” I replied, picking Pawdrey up from my lap so she wouldn’t fall as I stood up.
“Of course you already know Zayne. He’s always writing lies in the local paper, propaganda to make us believe all of his crap,” Katelyn spat. “He’s gotten to you first.”
“The only thing getting to anyone lately are the worms that have infested your brain, since it’s obviously full of holes,” Zayne said.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re just upset because I know the truth about the crap you write in the paper. Namely, that there’s no truth in it at all.”
“Stay crazy, Katelyn,” Zayne said with a mock salute as I headed toward the door. When I stepped outside, I realized my legs were shaking slightly, and I made sure to start walking away from the café window so Katelyn wouldn’t notice.
CHAPTER 12
“A re you alright?” Zayne asked in a concerned voice, and I smiled at him.
“I am, thanks.”
“And who’s this looker?” Pawdrey asked. “Seriously, he’s got leading man written all over him. I’d let him rescue me from a crazy witch any day of the week.”
I was tempted to put my hand over Pawdrey’s mouth so she wouldn’t be able to keep talking, but then I’d have to explain to Zayne why I was doing that. Instead, I ignored my cat and turned to him.
“That was some good timing.”
“Well, I saw the two of you through the window. I know you just moved to town, and I figured I’d come rescue you before Katelyn got her teeth into you. Did she give you her whole spiel on how witches and wizards are superior to other paranormals?”
“She did,” I confirmed. “She tried to tell me that it’s a good thing witches and wizards are becoming Enforcers now because shifters are too dumb to be in charge of solving crimes.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. Her family owns Brooms and Brews, a coffee shop here in town that caters exclusively to the witch and wizard folk.”
“I didn’t realize that was what she meant when she said she was in the family business. She tried to get me to go in there to have a drink, but I refused. Scarlett already warned me about that place.”
“Good for you,” Zayne said, giving me an impressed look. “You’re a true New Yorker, able to stand up for yourself.”
“Ha. I do my best. I wasn’t born there, though.”
“That’s alright. The only thing I know about New York is that the people have a reputation for being fairly blunt. I’ve never been to the human world.”
“Wait, never?” I asked, my mouth dropping open. “Like, not even the places close to here?”
“Nope,” Zayne replied. “It’s never come up. You’ll find most paranormals are the same. We stand out too much in the human world.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I replied. The fairies especially wouldn’t be subtle.
“I heard you had an encounter with Renee, the murder victim,” Zayne said, changing the subject. Speaking of subtle, this segue did not qualify.
“So what if I did?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. “You’re not looking to interview me or write something in your paper about it, are you?”
“No, nothing like that,” Zayne said. “Although I am writing a story on it. If you want to give me a quote, I’ll happily take it, but I’m really just interested in finding out what happened. This story isn’t a high priority for me.”
“Oh?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “What could possibly be a higher priority for the Fairy Falls Ogopogo than a murder?”
“I have a lead on a major fraud investigation happening elsewhere in the paranormal world,” Zayne said. “I can’t get into too many details, but it’s going to be a much bigger story. Not that Renee’s death isn’t tragic. But this story I’m writing could have repercussions across the whole paranormal world.”
“So you’re an investigative journalist, then?”
“Well, it’s more of a thing I do on the side right now,” Zayne admitted. “My boss doesn’t care as long as I get the standard stories in by Tuesday at five so we can go to print that night. I’m going to make a name for myself as the biggest journalist in the paranormal world.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said.
“What about you? I heard you were a hotshot back in New York.”
“How do you know so much about me? The only time you’ve ever seen me was when we both ended up breaking into the same office.”
“I have my sources,” Zayne replied. “Journalist, remember? Anyway, I don’t really know all that much. Just your name, the fact that you lived in one of the three human-world cities I’ve heard of, and that you left your cool job to move here. I don’t even know what that job was.”
“Marketing executive,” I replied. “I had a whole team under me, fifteen employees who worked on projects for clients I managed to get.”
Zayne let out a low whistle. “Yup, that’s much more impressive than my resume. Have you got any plans to do the same sort of thing here?”
“I’m not sure, to be quite honest,” I replied. “I’m just getting used to the different pace of life here, and I think I might worry about a job in a couple of weeks when I get settled in a bit more. I don’t really know how that sort of thing works. Are there major advertising agencies here? What do you advertise? How is the psychology different to the human world?”
“Sure, of course,” Zayne replied. “I’m not sure if the psychology would be all that much different. Overall, paranormals and humans can’t be that different. We all have the same wants and needs: to be safe, to be loved, that sort of thing.”
“Right,” I said, nodding. “But I imagine it must differ somewhat between species. What would make a vampire tick might not be the same as a witch or wizard. But I’m sure I’ll figure it out, if someone is willing to hire me.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something,” Zayne replied. “The bigger paranormal towns are home to the large agencies, if you want to go back to something similar to what you did in New York. With the portals doing instantaneous transportation, it’s very easy to commute to one of them. You should check them out.”
“Yeah, I will,” I said. “Thanks.”
“No worries. Anyway, I have to head back to work. Thanks for the chat.”
“You too,” I replied as Zayne walked off. I couldn’t help but admire the view as he walked away, and Pawdrey tutted at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“Seriously? You didn’t once ask that wizard if he was single. What a waste of a conversation.”
“Believe it or not, my goal in life is not to find a man and get married,” I replied. “Why can’t a witch and a wizard have an ordinary conversation without there being romantic overtones?”
“Because when a wizard looks like that, you need to add as many romantic overtones as possible,” Pawdrey replied. “Did you see those eyes? Like emeralds.”
“I did see them, and they do look nice, but I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now.”
“Suit yourself, but if you don’t snap him up, someone else will,” Pawdrey warned.
“That’s fine with me,” I said with a light laugh. “Seriously, I’ve had enough changes in my life right now. I don’t need to add a boyfriend to that list. Plus, it looks like I’ve angered yet someone else in town.”
“Crazy Katelyn?” Pawdrey asked.
“Yeah, her,” I replied, hiding a smile. Crazy Katelyn sounded like the perfect way to refer to her.
“I heard her threatening you at the end of your conversation,” Pawdrey said. “If you’d like, I can scratch her face up so badly no potion will ever be able to fix it.”
&nbs
p; “Thanks for the offer, but I’m good,” I replied, holding back a smile. It was nice that Pawdrey, as dramatic as she could be, was willing to fight for me that way. “I’ll just avoid her from now on. Anyway, what do you say we head on home? I think that’s enough adventures for one day.”
“Agreed,” Pawdrey replied.
T he two of us walked back to Scarlett’s house and let ourselves in, where I promptly fell asleep on the couch. I woke up when Scarlett came back inside and immediately jumped up to see her.
“How did your interview go?” I asked, and she grinned.
“Great, thanks! At least, I think it went really well. But I guess you never really can know, can you? The manager told me he’d let me know tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed for me.”
“Will do,” I replied. “Good to know. What was it like? Did you have to do magic?”
“I did, yeah,” Scarlett replied. “Basically, the manager took me to the kitchen at the back, and he did a normal interview asking me things like why I wanted the job while getting me to bake a cake that had a bit of magic added to it. I think it was designed to see how I handled the pressure of answering his questions while baking and using magic at the same time. But in the end, the cake came out perfectly, and when he ate a slice, his left pinkie finger turned pink, which was exactly what it was supposed to do.”
“Awesome,” I said with a grin. “That’s got to be kind of risky though, right? I mean, what if the pressure had gotten to you and you’d messed up the spell?”
Scarlett laughed. “I actually asked the manager the exact same thing. He said it had happened before and that he almost had to reschedule the interview with me because the person earlier had done the same thing and turned his hair pink instead.”
I burst out laughing. “That must have been fun for him.”
“No kidding. Luckily, he was able to reverse the magic on his own without going to the Healers for help, so my interview was right on time. And I’m pretty sure I’m ahead of the person who turned his hair pink when it comes to getting the job.”
“Great,” I smiled. “As a reward, let me cook some dinner. What do you think about BLTs?”
“Love them,” Scarlett replied. “Especially when the bacon is extra crispy. How was your afternoon?”
I told Scarlett about meeting Katelyn, and her face darkened.
“Katelyn Cross is part of the Sade family that runs Brooms and Brews. You were right to be on high alert; they’re the family that thinks witches and wizards are better than all paranormals.”
“I didn’t realize they acted so… crazily,” I added. “When Zayne came by to make sure I was ok, Katelyn practically accused him of spreading propaganda.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, you can’t really think all paranormals who aren’t witches and wizards are inferior without having a little bit of crazy to go along with it.”
That was a good point.
“Anyway, I learned my lesson. I’ll be avoiding her from now on.”
“Good choice,” Scarlett said. “She’s bad news, and so is the rest of her family. I recommend staying as far away from them as possible.”
If only I knew then just how difficult that was going to end up being.
CHAPTER 13
T he following morning I woke up as a ray of sunlight streamed through the window onto my face just after six. I yawned, got dressed, and wandered into the kitchen to find Scarlett already seated at the breakfast bar and eating a bowl of cereal.
“You know, for someone who doesn’t have a job just yet, you sure do get up early,” I told her as I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard.
“I could say the same thing to you,” she replied.
“Touché.”
“What do you say we go check out Oliver Farwood after breakfast?”
“Sounds like a plan to me. He lives in another paranormal town, right?”
“That’s right,” Scarlett said, nodding. “Mt. Rheanier. It’s also in Washington, not far from here.”
“And going by his last name, I’m guessing Oliver is from an earth coven?”
“Yes, good job, you’re getting the hang of things,” Scarlett replied. “Their coven is that of Rhea.”
“Do you know anyone there?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Scarlett replied. “It’s a small town, not unlike Fairy Falls. But whereas we have a cool waterfall that cascades behind the town, they have a giant mountain, the biggest mountain in Washington.”
“Cool.”
I poured myself a bowl of cereal and started eating. When I was finished, Scarlett pulled out her wand and pointed it at the dishes.
“Actually, why don’t you get your wand and you can try this spell?” she asked with a grin. I looked at the dishes warily.
“Are you sure? These look far too breakable for a first attempt at a spell.”
Scarlett waved away my concerns. “Whatever. Dishes can be fixed. Don’t worry about it. Come on, where’s your wand?”
I ran upstairs to grab it, and found that Pawdrey had taken the spot on the bed that I’d left a few minutes earlier, and went back downstairs, waving my wand around.
“Alright, I’m ready,” I said.
“Good. Point your wand at the dishes and cast the following spell: Venus, goddess of love, clean these dishes and send them to the cupboard above. Remember to point your wand at the cupboards properly or they won’t open right. Got it?”
I repeated the words to myself in my head. “Ok, got it.”
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the magical energy inside of me as I pointed my wand at the dishes. “Venus, goddess of love, clean these dishes and send them to the cupboard above.”
Energy flowed through me and out from the wand, and the crumbs and drops of leftover milk in the dishes immediately disappeared, the ceramic turning shiny and clean as though it had just come out of the dishwasher. I moved the wand to the cupboards, and the dishes flew towards them, the cupboard doors swinging open to accept their new additions.
However, the dishes didn’t quite make it up high enough, and instead of landing nicely in the cupboard, they hit the backsplash below and shattered, dropping to the counter in a thousand pieces.
“Oh no,” I cried out. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Scarlett replied, casually pointing her wand at the dishes and muttering another spell. A moment later they were whole again, sitting on the counter.
“Do it again, but this time point your wand higher. Really point it toward the cupboard.”
“Ok,” I said. I repeated the spell, and this time, the dishes flew into the cupboard where they were supposed to go.
“See?” Scarlett said. “Perfect.”
“Well, apart from the bit where I smashed a couple bowls and plates into the wall.”
“Hey, we all have to start somewhere. Frankly, I was impressed that the dishes actually made it that far. Usually new witches don’t use enough energy.”
“What would have happened then?”
“They would have dropped onto the floor on their way toward the cupboard and smashed then,” Scarlett replied simply.
“So either way you were expecting to have to fix some broken dishes,” I said, and Scarlett nodded.
“Pretty much. I was just impressed you made it as close as you did on your first try. Now, come on. Mt. Rheanier awaits.”
I left some food out for Pawdrey, wondering if she was going to pretend to have starved to death again by the time we got back, and Scarlett and I headed into town.
“So we’re going to take the portal again?” I asked, and Scarlett nodded.
“That’s right. Portals are fun.”
“I’m not sure that’s the word I’d use to describe them,” I muttered. It was strange, living life the way science fiction authors had imagined it.
Scarlett and I walked through town until we reached the other side of Aphrodite Way. We continued until
I spotted a familiar open field with a large tree in the center. To the left of the tree was a shifter, a wolf by the looks of things, leaning up against a rock and playing with his phone. I supposed Fairy Falls wasn’t a high-traffic portal to guard.
“Hey, Scarlett,” he said with a nod as he spotted us. “And you’re Mina, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I just moved here.”
“I heard. I’m Kris. I guard the portal most days. Seven to three, Monday to Friday, I’m here. So you’ll get to know me over time.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too. Where are you witches headed this morning?”
“Mt. Rheanier,” Scarlett said.
“Alright, have fun,” Kris replied, his gaze moving back to the screen in front of him.
“Remember how to do this?” Scarlett asked. “Touch the tree and say Mt. Rheanier. You go first.”
“Ok,” I said, taking a deep breath. I followed Scarlett’s instructions, squeezing my eyes shut as I said “Mt. Rheanier” to the tree, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I was hit with the feeling of my stomach dropping, as though I were on a roller coaster. I had to have gone through portals around ten times in my life now, and I still wasn’t used to it. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of an adorable little town.
The streets were cobbled and the architecture was very German. I briefly began to wonder if maybe I’d done something wrong and ended up on the wrong side of the world, but a friendly looking woman with long blonde hair and a round face – definitely a lion shifter – smiled at me.
“Welcome to Mt. Rheanier,” she said.
“Thank you,” I replied, stepping aside. A second later, Scarlett appeared next to me, and the shifter welcomed her as well.
“Thanks,” Scarlett said. “We’re actually looking for someone. Would you be able to tell me where we could find Oliver Farwood?”
“Oh, sure,” the shifter replied. “He’s doing work for the town down by the lake. Follow Lakeside path until you see the group getting rid of some shrubbery along the edge of the lake. He’ll be there.”
Hex Over Heels: A Witch Cozy Mystery (Fairy Falls Mystery Book 2) Page 7
