by Kelly Ethan
“Like the killer garden ornaments, something isn’t right in Point Muse.” Xandie patted Lila on her food-coated head.
“The brownie quit before the fight.”
Lila and Xandie turned and stared at the moody dragon teenager on work experience.
Lila frowned “No way. Hannah’s been with me since I opened. She’s always worked for the Harrow family.”
Es shrugged. “Just telling you what happened. She told me all the bad luck floating in town was looking for victims and she wasn’t giving it a warm body to work with.”
“Bad luck is a thing here?” Go figure. Point Muse never failed to surprise Xandie. She righted a couple of chairs before collapsing into one.
“The fishermen at the harbor have an ancient lantern blessed by the Greek god, Poseidon, to bring light and luck to seafarers and the town they come from. Went missing yesterday.” Es dropped her verbal bombshell and kept picking chairs up.
“It’s bad luck?” Lila jumped up and used Xandie’s head as a set of drums. “I knew it wasn’t me.”
“Elspeth had her cursed garden gnome stolen and then it’s a ceramic apocalypse. The town’s luck charm is stolen, and you get spoiled food and cranky customers. This is about a thief stealing magic stuff from the town’s residents?” At least it wasn’t a murder this time. Finding a thief had to be easier than a murderer.
“No. Absolutely not. I know what you’re thinking.” Lila crossed her arms. “Last time almost ended up with you skewered by a psychotic killer knight. Leave it to law enforcement.”
“Police Chief Braun’s away in Portland on a course with the paranormal investigator branch. The twins are in charge. Why not help them?” Wouldn’t hurt to shore up good feelings from the town as she was still on probation as librarian. And it would prove to the dragons once and for all she was the librarian.
“You mean, their mom, Agatha, is in charge.” Lila snickered, her previous devastation over her subpar cooking skills all but forgotten.
Xandie stood and paced to the big picture window. From here she had a bird's-eye view of Main Street. People gathered in small groups, hunkered together. Others rushed along the street, single-minded about their destination in an effort to outpace the rotten luck floating in the air.
“There was a fender bender when I came in this morning,” Es offered and then shuddered. “The garbage truck collided with the latest catch from the harbor. Garbage and fish are not my most inspiring scent of the day.”
A customer from Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, the local hairdressing salon, ran out screeching, pawing at his smoking, neon-green beehive hair. A group of customers surged out of the local grocery store, swatting at a swarm of flies trailing behind them.
“It’s the magical apocalypse, isn’t it?” Lila joined them at the window. All three girls peered out, wondering what the next calamity would be.
“No offense, if it rains amphibians, I’m outta here. Work experience or not.” The teenager flicked at her white-streaked black hair and glowered.
“I forgot you’re on work experience.” Xandie snapped her fingers. “Hey, I met the academy’s newest teacher this morning. She even came with her own sword.” Priss had rushed to her rescue and seemed lovely, until the dragon had entered the picture. Then she’d turned weird.
“Ms. Makepeace.” Es rolled her kohl-rimmed eyes. “She’s okay, doesn’t like me much. And she has way too much of an unhealthy attachment to her sword. Dragons don’t have the best relationships with sharp and pointy, unless it’s their own teeth.” She bared her pearly whites and with a sharkish smile, sauntered off to right more chairs.
“No offense, but dragon teenagers are worse than hormonal humans.”
Lila nodded. “No argument there. What’s the next step, Nancy Drew?”
Xandie opened the door and scanned the street. “I risk life and limb to visit the police. See what Aggie knows about missing artifacts.”
“Don’t forget to check on your furry sidekick, and the library might have an idea about what’s going on.” Lila grabbed a broom and swept the food-covered floor.
Waving goodbye, Xandie stepped out onto the street and headed for the police station run by the bear-shifting Braun family. Taking a side street, she passed the Point Muse gallery and antique store. Iris Malone, the owner, had a mix of paintings, photos, sculptures and all other manner of antiques and decorative arts. At least, that’s what the promotional flyer shoved in her mailbox stated.
An empty alley ran between the gallery and an old diner. Residents used it as a shortcut to the other side of town. As Xandie turned into the alley, voices caught her attention. For some reason the raised timbre in the voices had her heart thumping. Fight or flight reflex engaged, as did her self-preservation. One thing finding dead bodies had taught her was everyone had secrets. Sometimes it was just better in the long run if one kept a safe distance and eavesdropped like heck. Ducking behind a low brick wall, she strained to hear.
“I’m out. Do you understand me?” A male voice rumbled over a fainter female one.
“You’re out when I say you are. You approached me with this plan. Remember?”
“I don’t need you anymore. I have a new contact. So, I’m out.” The man stomped away from the cursing woman.
Xandie ducked lower behind the low brick wall as Archibald Penne stormed past. Es Penne’s older cousin, scribe to the keeper of the family history.
“I’m not done with you, Penne. Do you hear me?” Iris Malone screeched at Archibald, all pretense of secrecy gone in the face of her anger. “I’ll make you pay if you cross me. Permanently. You hear me?” With a primal howl, she ran into the gallery, letting the exit door slam shut with a decisive bang.
Straightening, Xandie hoofed it to the police station. “Now, wasn’t that an interesting chat?” she mumbled, trying to puzzle out the fight she’d witnessed. Iris and Archibald were involved in something underhanded, otherwise why meet in secret? But was it the stolen magical artifacts or something else?
“If you’re after Aggie, I wouldn’t go inside yet.” Melody Braun sat on the steps, painting her nails.
“Why? What’s up?” Xandie slipped down next to the chief of police’s younger sister.
“The esteemed residents of our freakish town aren’t happy with the current trend of missing magical artifacts.”
“Who is? Lila’s baked goods turned nasty and evil gnomes nibbled my ankles. I’m not happy either.”
“What’s the library say?”
“That’s my next stop.” Xandie shuffled her bottom on the hard step. Summer had only registered a blip on Point Muse’s weather radar. A few weeks of short sleeves and now the town was back to jeans and long sleeves. “Do the twins have any ideas about the thefts?”
Melody snorted. Her wide shifter shoulders shook as she suppressed her snickers. “Ah, Zach’s away and the twins have no clue. Mom isn’t happy either, our great—however many—great-grandfather’s pelt from the Black Forest has disappeared.”
Xandie grimaced. “Why have a family member hanging on the wall?”
Melody waved a hand, drying her polish. “He was the first bear shifter in the family. Since he died, the family keeps the pelt to remind us.”
“Of?”
“Never trust Goldilocks.” Melody stood and capped her polish bottle. “Mom got a tip not too long ago. Told us to look at the dragons.”
“Seriously? You want to tangle with dragons?”
“Hell no, not me. Who knows about my idiot brothers though? I think we need more evidence before we look in their direction. But I thought you might be interested.” Melody winked and strode inside.
A cacophony of noise, multiple voices arguing over each other, assaulted Xandie’s ears. “Maybe not going in is a good idea.” Getting an answer from the library might be.
Xandie headed to Lila’s for a ride home. Standing on the side of the road, she looked up and down. Who knew what crazies lurked? All quiet, Xandie crossed the street. Almos
t at Lila’s door, she spotted the new mysterious resident, talking animatedly to Archibald Penne.
“What is it about Archibald today?” She watched Priss shove a wad of papers at Archibald’s chest and storm off. The dragon waited for a moment before shuffling away. “Curious and curiouser, as my late great-aunt Sera would say.” It seemed little Priss Makepeace was a tad more involved in the town’s goings-on than she’d let on. “Time for the library,” Xandie murmured.
“Look what the imp dragged in.” Theophilus, a.k.a. ancient Greek turned cat guardian, fluffed his fur. Raising his whiskered face into the air, he stalked past, only pausing as Horatio, his pet imp, jumped down from Xandie’s shoulder and settled into the saddle on his back.
Xandie slammed her solid wood front door closed and peered around the entranceway. Polished floors and a sweeping staircase met her gaze, but no killer garden gnomes. She walked into the lounge, collapsed onto a couch and crossed her arms. “Don’t push me. I’ve taken down killer ceramics, I can handle a mouthy feline.”
Theo coughed a hairball next to Xandie’s feet as Horatio adjusted his saddle. “Please, don’t make me throw up on your pillow again. All I’m saying is you left this morning to help that nightmare of a grandmother and it’s almost lunch. Horatio and I could have starved waiting for you to come home.”
“You’re an ancient Greek teenager turned into a feline guardian. How hard can it be to get your own food?” She glared at Theo with a fixed stare. She’d fought off ankle savages and he wanted feeding? The cat needed priorities.
“Hard with no hands.” He flashed claws and took a swipe at her ankles. He paused mid swing when he noticed the already red scratches decorating the skin. “What gives? You got another starving cat that’s taken a swing at you?”
“That would be a negative, feline. A garden gnome’s fishing pole, and countless tiny teeth using me as a chew toy, caused those marks.” Xandie rubbed the cuts and heaved a sigh. Pushing herself off the couch, she limped to the kitchen and cat chow. Best to feed the hangry complainer or she’d never hear the end of it. Theo followed behind, peppering her with questions.
She dumped cat biscuits into two bowls for Theo and his pet imp. After tracking down the rampaging killer Sanguis Knight, who’d murdered her great-aunt Sera among other victims, her cat had adopted Horatio. As far as she could tell the tiny Hell resident ate anything but loved tacos and salmon-flavored biscuits.
“Details, Meyers. What gives with the slash marks? Are you feeling emo, or have you taken up with another furry supernatural entity?”
“I can barely deal with the cat I’ve got, let alone another.” But the library might have answers on the spate of magical robberies.
“Come on, Meyers. I’ll clean up that hairball in your shoe closet if you give me deets.”
Xandie shuddered. Slang from a feline was just wrong, plain wrong. “Someone’s stealing magical artifacts in town. They stole Elspeth’s cursed demon and bad luck is stalking the town. At least, at the moment. I need to talk to the library about it.”
“Wow, killer gnomes. How Point Muse.” Theo trotted into the library and jumped on the desk with the appointment book. Horatio squealed and held a hand high like a rodeo rider.
Xandie had cleared all her requests before she visited Lila and nothing else was pending. She grabbed hold of her necklace shaped like a triangle with an eye and focused her question. “Who’s stealing from Point Muse?”
“You don’t need to hold the necklace; the library knows what you want. Besides, if it ain’t supernatural, it can’t help.”
“What are the odds the theft of magical artifacts is a run-of-the-mill normal human crime?” Xandie raised an eyebrow.
The library eased a book out of one of the shelves until it fell to the floor. Xandie smiled victoriously at Theo and snatched it up. “Treaties on draconic movement. How does that help us?”
“Well…” He dragged out the word. “We have a dragon family in Point Muse. Maybe it concerns them?”
She scanned the contents and skipped to the Penne chapter. “The Pendrakons are European dragons who settled in the eighteen hundreds in Point Muse, Maine. A magical, supernatural community settled on ley lines. The clan is matriarchal, and the current head is Marjorie Penne, her heir is Adelind Penne. Previous heir, Melinda Penne, disappeared without trace, along with her mate, a dragon slayer.”
Xandie turned the problem over in her mind. “Priss froze and left the bakery when she spotted Es Penne. Plus, she told me her father always said a good dragon was a dead one.” Was Priss related to them? “Or is the matriarch thieving magical objects to build up her horde?” Xandie snickered. “I can’t see uptight, snooty Marjorie Penne stealing artifacts, can you?”
“They’re dragons who hoard treasure. Who knows?” He started to groom the imp, much to Horatio’s dismay. Shrill squeaking from the imp and the shaking of tiny fists drove Xandie from her reading chair. She pushed the book back into place on the shelf. She might need it for later.
Sometimes the library worked in obscure ways; it was up to the librarian to decipher the message and how it related to her question.
She hoped she was up to the job.
Three
“A few days of peace. That’s all I wanted. Instead I’ve had five days of pain and suffering.” Xandie let her head sag into her hands, exhaustion in every line of her body.
“Never mind. Maybe a nice murder will pop up soon. Take your mind off the rampaging mob storming the library if you don’t find the missing artifacts.” Holly snickered to herself.
“Way to bring her down, death girl.” Lila shoved a block of dark chocolate at Xandie. “Quick, consume it before the damn thing turns to a salt block or before Aunt Winifred sees it.”
Grabbing a chunk of chocolate, Xandie munched down. Most of the Harrow women had a sweet tooth. They were sitting in Harrow House; odds were the block wouldn’t last long. “Thanks,” she mumbled around another mouthful of chocolate.
“Eh,” Lila shrugged. “Not my house, not my chocolate. I stole it from Holly’s stash.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “That’s not my real stash, this is the cheap stuff to fool those who filch my stash.”
“Still good.” Xandie swallowed her sugary goodness down and leaned against the burgundy velvet couch. Harrow House was an old Victorian; it had held the family of witches since the town settled. Now only Elspeth, Winifred and Holly lived here. Old photos decorated the walls and fought for space with childish drawings from years ago. The furniture had a lived-in and loved-hard look, but it suited the house and her family. The crazy, eclectic Harrows, her mother’s family. Happy, warm, earth witches, all except Elspeth. The matriarch of the clan. Who refused to discuss her past or her powers except for the odd shocking tidbit she dropped. Speak of the witch...
“Aha, look what the witch found.” Elspeth sashayed in, beaming from ear to ear. She shoved her prize up in the air like a trophy. A squat, horned, wrinkled ceramic trophy.
“Geez, please don’t tell me you’re collecting gnomes again?” Xandie pushed herself back into the couch and covered her ankles. The great garden ornament slaughter may have been a week ago, but her ankles still ached. She was a gnome no-go zone.
Elspeth coughed. “Please, this is my one and only cursed Sumerian demon. Found her on the doorstep when I came home from the hairdressers.” She cradled her ceramic gnome and rubbed the horns. “Who’s my sweet evil goddess? You are,” she cackled as the lights flickered off and on.
“Gran, you’re giving off the evil witch vibe again. Besides, when did the hairdressing salon open? I thought the shop closed because of the flammable hair product incident?”
Elspeth twitched her lilac bobbed wig into place with one hand. “They aren’t taking on clients yet, but they are offering deals on wigs. This baby was a steel.”
Xandie raised her morose face. “Bad luck still hanging around town and you buy a wig?” She yawned and fought the urge to lean back in the couch and
catch a snooze. Every waking moment at home was spent puzzling the mystery of the magical artifacts, sleep had become optional. She was too worried someone would petition the library for her removal because of her inability to solve a puzzle. That and the fact Horatio the imp snored like an elephant roaring. Who’d have thought someone so little could churn out a foghorn?
“You make your fun where you can, sweet Alexandra. Besides, the electric tension is fantastic for my complexion.” Elspeth cackled again and danced with her Sumerian garden gnome underarm.
“Watch out, Mother, you’re flashing your inner evil. Best cover up.” Winifred sailed into Harrow House with an arm full of thick creamy candles. She placed them around the room and dusted off her hands.
“Ah, Mom? Don’t you think we have enough candles already? You haven’t worn through the first hundred in the house yet?” Holly glared at her plump and way-too-cheerful mother.
“One can never have enough candles if you’re a witch.” Winifred clapped her hands and every candle lit. “Now Xandie, this is for you. To offer clarity of mind and soul to help you fix the problem Point Muse is having.”
“No offense, Aunt Win. But how do candles help me?”
“Candle magic gathers the powers of fire and initiates change. Fire transforms and purifies the mind and the body in the spirit.” Winifred frowned at the group of Harrow women arranged on the couch. “I used the last of my dragon resin to make these virgin candles, so pay attention.”
“Long time since virgin anything lived in this house.” Lila winked.
Xandie and Holly fought the giggles while Elspeth gave into grating hyena brays of laughter.
“You knew using virgin would screw with them. How can they take you seriously?” Lila’s mother, Amelia, lounged against the wall to the kitchen.
Xandie’s Aunt Amelia was the polar opposite to her younger sister. Tall and skinny with an athletic build, but with the same amber Harrow eyes all the women, including Xandie, had.
“Well, maybe grown women should be mature, well-adjusted adults, instead of giggling ninnies.”
