by Evie Hart
“A spell,” I said. “We’re working on getting the peach trees to ripen early this year.” The lie fell off my tongue with ease, and I couldn’t even feel bad. I didn’t need him worrying about everything—he had my uncle’s heart, and that meant he was the person who panicked about everything.
“A spell for peach trees makes me need to pee?” He frowned.
“Magic is weird,” Nicole said. “Hey, I updated that assassin game you like. It’s on the PlayStation ready for you.”
Just like that, TJ’s eyes lit up and he turned to Aunt Rose. “Can I play? Can I?”
“Did you do your homework at Joel’s?” she asked.
“Yes. You can send Honey to ask. My backpack is in the hall.”
She nodded. “You go through and play. I’ll check it, but if you’re wrong, I’m going to make you tap dance for twenty minutes.”
He grinned, running through to the living room.
When he was gone, Aunt Shelly turned to me. “Talk to me about this elf.”
“He has a crush on Avery.” Nic slid a sly glance my way. “He’s buying his niece a pet just to get close to her.”
“Shut up,” I replied. “We all know Orion is an incorrigible flirt and womanizer thanks to Grandma. He probably sees me as a potential conquest.”
“Orion?” Aunt Rose’s eyebrows shot up. “Isn’t he the leader’s son?”
I nodded.
“Oh, well that settles it,” Aunt Bella said. “He has to marry an elf.”
Aunt Shelly shook her head. “No, the firstborn male has to marry an elf. He’s the third son. He can marry who he likes.”
“Are you sure?” Aunt Rose asked. “I think all the leader’s children have to keep the bloodline pure.”
They all frowned at the same time. “Maybe it’s in a book,” Aunt Shelly muse. “I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
“How did we go from a blood spell to this?” I looked at all my aunts. “Seriously. My life is in danger and you’re worried about who Orion has to marry?”
They all walked to various bookshelves in the library. “Well,” Aunt Bella began, “If we’re going to welcome an elf to the family, we need to be prepared. And, to be honest, Avery, you kind of got yourself into danger.”
“We aren’t welcoming an elf to the family!” I protested. “I’ve met the guy twice! And you were all for us investigating!”
“And Nicole is the only who hasn’t almost gotten herself killed.” Aunt Rose looked at us pointedly.
“Ah, the day is still young,” Nicole said, scratching Snow’s head as she sat down. “Who knows what will happen now?”
“Don’t.” Aunt Bella turned on her heel and pointed at her. “Don’t ask for it. You don’t know what you’ll get.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“I THINK WE need to break into the police station.”
I blinked at my cousin as she perched on the end of Dotty’s bed. “Nic, Dotty is unconscious, and even she thinks that’s a terrible idea.”
Smoky meowed his agreement without pausing from licking his paws.
“Come on. We need to know what information they have. Dax stopped sharing it with you the minute Betty Lou died.”
I held up a finger. “He never really shared a whole lot of info with me. He stopped me wasting time on useless leads, like Amelie’s ex, but that was it. He didn’t actually help me at all.”
She sighed, slumping. Her gaze slid slowly up to Dotty and lingered there. “Wake up, Dots. We need your brain. We’re not as smart as you.”
I snorted. “I’ve been saying that on a daily basis. She’s probably laughing wherever she is.”
Dotty’s eyelids fluttered as if her eyeballs were moving beneath the lids.
We shared a glance.
“That’s a yes,” I muttered.
She’d been doing that a lot. Unconsciously reacting to what was being said around her—at least, it seemed that way. We didn’t know where her mind was. For all we knew, she was here with us, just waiting until she could wake up.
Maybe she flitted back and forth.
We’d find out when she woke up. I refused to entertain ‘if’ any longer.
“What if she knows who did it?” Nicole asked me. “Do we wait some more? I mean, she’s getting better. She’s starting to respond to us. Last week, she didn’t even twitch. Is it worth us getting in danger if she can help us?”
I raised an eyebrow and put down the book I’d been reading. “You’re the one who just suggested we break into the police station.”
“I know, but then her eyes moved.” Another glance Dotty’s way. “Why don’t we make a deal? You’re in danger, and there’s no sense us getting into any more trouble than you’re already in. If she isn’t awake this time in three days, we’ll break into the station.”
“You just want time to come up with a real plan.”
“Well, yeah, invisibility spells are hard. Plus, one of us needs to get inside and take muffins or cookies to get the lay of the land. You can’t just waltz in there like Aunt Bella did.”
“Nobody needs to waltz in anywhere like Aunt Bella and her sword,” I replied. “But that seems fair. I’ll go about my business in the next three days. The coffee shop, helping you, meditating with Aristotle. If I stop asking questions, maybe everyone will think I’ve given up.”
“Not a bad idea. That combined with the spell not letting anyone in…” She tapped her chin. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll ask Aunt Rose to bake some muffins, and I’ll take them into the police station for Dax. I’ll say you’ve stepped back from your investigation and these are an apology for getting involved, but you still don’t feel safe leaving the house. The girls in the station are notorious gossips, so it’ll soon get around town that you’ve given up.”
“I have to stay in the house for three days?”
“It’s not like it isn’t big enough. Plus, it’ll give you plenty of time to practice your magic, and I’m sure Mom and Aunt Shelly could use some help.” She shrugged. “If you want to do this, this is the only option. You have to disappear so everyone believes you’re afraid.”
“I’m not afraid!”
“You snuck out the back door of Paws!”
I paused. “All right, I was a little freaked out, but I’m not afraid now.”
“Come on, Aves. You have to see my point.”
“Do you think Dax will buy that crap? That I’ve suddenly pulled my nose out of all his business and gone underground?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll sell it that it’s all because of Lorenzo’s lackey. That’s believable.”
“Yeah, that and his jackass comment from today,” I muttered.
“What comment?”
“He basically told me that my power only matters if I know how to control it.”
“That’s it. I’m putting an acne curse in his muffin.” She sat bolt upright.
I slumped back in the chair. “Doesn’t matter. He’s right. What good is all the power if I can’t use it? I can’t even access it, Nic. I have a specialty I can’t even use.” I shrugged. “Maybe three days away from everything isn’t a bad idea. I can study Ava’s journal and practice.”
“See? Perspective. But I’m still putting a curse in his muffin for being a jerk.”
“I’m totally okay with that.”
• • •
Three days passed without any progress. I got no further in my attempts to access my silver magic, and Dotty got no closer to waking up.
All we achieved was that Dax agreed with Nicole that me staying inside for a few days was a good idea, and it had nothing to do with the itching spell she’d eventually decided on casting on his muffin.
What? Witches could be petty.
That was what happened when you gave people the power to manipulate the universe.
Some people tried to take over the world.
We cursed muffins.
Of course, all those things were why Nicole and I were both dressed head
-to-toe in black in an alleyway a few buildings down from the police station.
Head-to-toe was meant literally. Hats, long-sleeved shirts, gloves, pants, boots—the only thing missing was a damn balaclava.
And I was hot. Really hot. Just because it was midnight didn’t mean the lovely early-summer weather of Georgia was the climate for this get-up, because it wasn’t.
I wanted to throw myself into the lake.
“Okay, you’re better at this than I am, so you cast the spells,” Nicole whispered. “I know how to get to Dax’s office, so we’ll wait until someone opens the main door and sneak in. We’ll need to hold hands so we don’t get separated.”
Ugh. I hated Latin spells.
“I can only cast the spell for an hour,” I reminded her in a whisper of my own. “Otherwise, it’s too dangerous.”
She nodded. “I know. So get on with it, and we’ll run to the door.”
I closed my eyes and held my hand out, fingers pointing at her. “Invisibilia.”
Fuchsia sparked from my fingers, and in one wave of my magic, Nicole disappeared from my sight.
“Whoa,” Nicole said. “This is cool.”
“Okay, you might be invisible, but your voice is not,” I hissed.
“Sorry. You go now. We’re wasting time.”
I rolled my eyes and turned the spell on myself. I shivered as it washed over me. Looking down, I saw that was I was totally invisible.
I hated this spell.
“Did it work?” I asked Nicole.
Silence.
“If you’re nodding, I can’t see you.”
“Spells bells! Yes, you’re invisible. Here, take my hand.”
I waved my arm around in front of me until I came into contact with her. We linked our fingers and held tightly to each other. “Okay,” I whispered as we walked toward the station. “If nobody comes soon, we’ll have to abort. We have probably thirty minutes before we have to give up.”
“How will we know what time it is?”
“We can see the town clock from the station. If we assume that we’re already ten minutes in, we probably have a few minutes of leeway.” I paused. “We’re not weightless or totally ghost-like, so we have to be really careful. Has Dax definitely left?”
“Yes. I stayed late at the store and saw his car drive down Main Street around six.”
“Okay. How do we get into his office?”
“It’s quite far down the hall,” she whispered as we stopped at the side of the stairs. “It’s past the interview rooms and right at the end. Nobody should notice us if we’re careful enough.”
“How do we get back out?”
“Big windows. We’ll climb out and push them shut.”
“Won’t he notice they’re unlocked?” I squeezed her hand as the doors opened.
Sheriff Bones stepped out, pausing with one hand on the door. He used the other to loosen his tie, and right before he released the door, Nicole dragged me toward the top of the steps and through the door, just behind the sheriff before the door could shut.
I swear to Goddess, I felt it hit my butt on the way in.
I did everything I could to swallow my sigh as Nicole’s grip on my hand became iron-tight. People were still here, walking around the station, answering phones, talking to one another.
It was so casual. Like the Head of the Witch Council hadn’t been murdered and they weren’t supposed to be finding out who did it.
No wonder her murderer was still running around town.
Nicole dragged me through the station. Both of us stepped and weaved through the people who were walking through the halls and finally made it to the door that had a little sign with Dax’s name on.
Nicole didn’t move for a second, then the door to Dax’s office slowly slid open.
I jerked my head around, looking for anyone nearby. There was nobody, so I let her drag me into his office and quickly push the door shut, stopping right before it clicked and doing it slowly.
I let out a breath. “Now what do we do?”
“Okay,” Nic said. “The files are in the drawer, and the keys are in his top drawer. The cabinet is locked, but I don’t know about the drawer. We could just use magic on the drawer.”
I shook my head. “No, he’ll have it guarded. It’s either locked or not at all.” I let go of her hand and walked to his desk. I tried all the drawers. They all opened except the last one. “Spells bells. This must be the one.”
“Dang it. How do we get into it? He’s spelled it for sure.”
I tugged on it. It opened half an inch then stopped. I closed it, then opened it again. It stopped in the exact same place where I could barely glance into the drawer.
“What are you doing?” Nicole hissed. “People can hear you!”
“It stops,” I whispered, looking in the direction I hoped she was. “The others all opened except this one.” I bent down and used my fingers to feel my way around the edge of the drawer. Sure enough, on the left side, my fingers came into contact with something plastic.
I switched hands and used my pointer finger to feel it out. It moved, pushing inward, and my eyebrows shot up.
“You’re too quiet. What is it?” Nicole whispered.
“It’s a dang child lock,” I muttered, pushing in the plastic bit and unclasping it. Sure enough, the drawer slid open easily. “I’d think he was a genius if this wasn’t so lame.”
“It is pretty smart,” she said quietly, coming to join me. “Stands to reason that everyone would assume it’s guarded by magic. Is the key there?”
I nodded and pulled it out. “Here. You check the cabinet, and I’ll check the desk.”
We parted, and I focused all my attention on the desk. It was tidy. Obnoxiously so, actually. Everything had a place. He even had a pen laid perfectly above an open brown envelope.
“Anything?” Nicole whispered.
“Yeah, he’s freaky tidy. You?”
“Nope. I can’t even find the file.” A drawer opened and closed. “I bet he took it home.”
“Just our luck.” I sighed. “I’m afraid to touch anything on the desk. It’s so tidy he’d probably know.”
“It’s not here.” Nicole brushed against me. “What’s in the envelope?”
“I didn’t look.” I slid it toward me. “It’s definitely open.”
“Let’s look then.” She nudged me.
I picked it up and pulled out the papers inside. Scanning it, I froze.
“What is it?” Nicole whispered.
I turned to look at her. At least, where her invisible head was. “It’s an arrest warrant.”
“For who?”
“Lorenzo Martinez.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“NOW WHAT HAPPENS?” Nicole stabbed a hunk of melon with her fork and waved it in the air. “Do you really think it was Lorenzo?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed, slumping forward while hugging my coffee mug. “It would be easy to say yes, but I can’t decide if I really do, or if it’s just the fact I really, really don’t like him.”
She slowly nodded. “Makes sense. Didn’t you say you got along with his son?”
“After I made his coffee cold, sure.” My lips twitched. “Why?”
“Well, he’ll be the alpha one day. Why don’t you go over there and see if he’ll tell you what’s going on?”
“That’s not a bad idea. Except… Lorenzo’s lackey. What if he’s still following me?”
“Avery, you heard that your friend’s dad has been arrested for murder. You’re checking up on him and taking him a basket of muffins.”
Dear Goddess. “Well, for one, we don’t actually know if he’s been arrested yet. And what is your obsession with muffins lately?”
“They’re a nice thing to take someone who’s upset or who you need to apologize to.”
Aunt Rose walked in and side-eyed her. “Is that where all my muffins are going? On your hare-brained schemes?”
“They’re not hare-brained.�
�� Nicole waved her fork at her, watermelon speared on the end. “They’re nice plans. It’s called being a good person.”
“Good people don’t break into police stations,” Aunt Rose said, dropping a teabag into a mug. “And yes, I know about that. I heard your conversation the other day, and Honey saw you disappear in the middle of the night last night. I’m no fool.”
“You broke into the police station?” Grandma Cherry popped into the kitchen, almost making Aunt Rose drop the tea kettle.
“Goddess, Cherry! Announce yourself!” she scolded her.
Grandma blinked at her. “Would you like me to do a drum roll before I make myself appear? Become strong enough to hold a bell to ring it?”
“Why would you need to become strong enough?” I asked. “You change your clothes every day. Can’t you just ghost yourself up a necklace with a bell on it?”
She paused. “I suppose I could, but it’s more fun to scare you.”
Nicole rolled her eyes.
“Now, what’s this about you breaking into a police station?”
“We broke into Dax’s office to see if we could get any info. Since Betty Lou died, we’ve been shut out,” I admitted. “Not that he ever really told me anything anyway, but still. We wanted to know.”
Aunt Rose frowned at us. “If you’d been caught, you’d have been arrested.”
“Yeah,” Nicole said, “But we weren’t.”
Grandma chuckled.
Aunt Rose shot her a dark look. “Why are you laughing? You should be scolding them.”
“Pish.” Grandma waved a hand through the air. “They’re Thorn witches. Like they’d pay any attention to it, just like TJ is out in the peach orchard tryna get himself a peach for his breakfast.”
“He’s in bed!”
“No.” Honey flew in through the open window and perched on top of the fridge. “He’s trying to get a peach. He’s on his third unripe one and he’s sitting on a branch.”
“He climbed the tree?” Nicole grinned.
Honey tilted her head in her direction and blinked her beady eyes. “Two. He climbed two.”
Aunt Rose groaned and headed for the back door. “That dang child. If I’ve told him once, I’ve told him a thousand times…” Her grumbling trailed off as she stalked out of earshot.
