Pawsitively Betrayed

by Melissa Erin Jackson

  Amber swayed from the surge of magic that slammed into her as the ley lines granted her request. As the world around her was enveloped in white light, Amber could make out the sound of rapid footfalls as Devra barreled back toward them, realizing what was about to happen.

  “You can’t leave us here!” Devra cried out. “You call us monsters, but what does this make you?”

  When the light faded, Amber, Aunt G, Edgar, and Simon were back in the ruined abandoned neighborhood. Their cars waited nearby. There was no Penhallow lying unconscious on the street. Amber shakily got to her feet and stared in the direction of where Devra had been a moment before—where she likely still was in a different, simultaneous moment.

  “This is the kind of thing the WBI does,” Damien had said. “Large-scale memory wipes. Imprisoning witches in creative new ways. This—trapping someone in a time loop—sounds like something right up their alley. What did they offer you to get you to do some of their dirty work for them?”

  It couldn’t be true, could it? Did the WBI somehow operate in a moral area even grayer than the nefarious Penhallows?

  Devra’s words echoed in Amber’s head. You call us monsters, but what does this make you?

  Amber didn’t know.

  Chapter 15

  Simon and Aunt G conferred on the types of recipes they were considering for the Penhallow-specific tinctures. Amber had given up on her tincture-making skills a while ago—she was just bad at it. She had never been the greatest cook or baker, and that seemed to have spilled over into tincture concoctions, too. At least with her tea blends, she had a very precise recipe to work from and never needed to stray from that. Tinctures needed too much nuance.

  A kitchen witch she was not.

  She turned to Edgar. “What’s happening with Neil now?”

  His arms were crossed and his thick black brows were smashed together. To an outsider, he would look livid—either at his present company or at the world at large. Amber knew he was being introspective and didn’t like what he found there. “He stopped cackling. But … something is different. It’s been different since this morning, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. He’s more … animated? Excited, hopeful … I don’t know. If it’s true that they got him out, maybe he’s just happy to be in the world again.”

  The murderer of her parents loose in society. It wasn’t a thought that set well with Amber. “Do you know where he is?”

  “No,” Edgar said. “I don’t know where the institution is either. I’ve tried tracking him down a bunch of times, but patient information isn’t easy to find. It’s that way by design.”

  Maybe she should put Willow on the case, since she’d been able to find Uncle Raph when not even the WBI could.

  “And as much as he’s able to pick up on things about my surroundings,” Edgar added, “I don’t know if it works going the other way. Until now, he’s always been in the same place, so I haven’t had to try.”

  As much as Amber feared coming face-to-face with Neil Penhallow, she figured what Devra had said held some truth. If they’d been able to get him out all this time and hadn’t, it meant they had a use for him now. When Neil had taken her father’s watch out of the burned rubble of 523 Ocicat Lane, had he taken something of her mother’s, too? Is that what Neil would use to find the book? Neil’s supposed connection to her mother would likely be tested now, using him like a metal detector to find the grimoire.

  “Any idea what this network is they were talking about?” Amber asked.

  Edgar frowned. “I can poke around online. I’d guess they’re using the back channels of the internet to keep in touch. The Penhallows are all over the globe.”

  The dark web sounded even scarier when she thought of Penhallows using it to discuss plans to alter time and history.

  Amber chewed on her bottom lip. The WBI agents had asked her to alert them if Kieran showed up. Did that also extend to his older brother? Neil being released was potentially even more alarming. She supposed they’d already know, since, like the non-witch FBI, the WBI likely knew things about yourself before you did.

  Her mind told her to trust the WBI, but her gut told her maybe the Penhallow siblings had reason to be leery of the organization.

  “Do you think we need to tell the WBI about this?” Edgar asked, echoing her thoughts. “I think we’re in over our heads already. If Neil finds the books, or if Kieran comes here, or if someone finds out that you banished two of their own in a memory …” He shook his head. “I think we need help. Legendary or not, you can’t take on a dozen or more cursed witches, cousin. You’ve got me, Simon, Willow, Gretchen, and maybe even that Zelda lady. But we need more than that.”

  Amber knew he was right. Even if the WBI was sketchy, she had to believe siding with them was the lesser of two evils. She gave Edgar’s arm a squeeze—leaving him standing with Aunt G and Simon, who pored over their grimoires that were laid out on the bed of Edgar’s truck—and went rummaging in her purse. She found Agent Howe’s business card in her wallet.

  She answered on the first ring. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon, Miss Blackwood.”

  “Did you hear about Neil Penhallow?” Amber asked.

  The beat of silence indicated Amber had surprised her. “What about him?”

  “He was released from his facility just like Kieran was,” she said. “They’ll try to use him to find the grimoire.”

  “Tell me where it is and we’ll get it into custody,” she said.

  “I can’t do that,” Amber said without hesitation. Lesser of two evils, yes, but her gut still told her that both groups had plans for the grimoire that would do irreparable harm to magic itself. As long as the time-travel spell was stashed, no one could use it.

  It was what her parents had spent their lives doing—keeping the books out of reach. Even if Amber and Willow had been shut away from this part of their lives, Amber’s parents had been fully aware of magic and the hidden world that lay over the non-magical one. Her parents could have turned the time-travel spell over to the WBI at any time, couldn’t they? Amber knew, thanks to Zelda, that law enforcement from the witch world had looked into the case of the murders fourteen years ago. Amber had to assume that law enforcement had tried to get the spell from her parents well before their deaths.

  Her parents had chosen to shoulder the burden of keeping the book hidden. There had to be a reason for that.

  Agent Howe huffed a breath into the phone. “How did you find out about this? The news is just now coming in …”

  “Edgar has a direct line to Neil, remember?” Amber asked, deciding to keep the whole “and I have two Penhallows trapped in a memory” thing to herself for now. “He thinks Neil is going to try to use his connection to my mother. We don’t know how that would work, though.”

  Agent Howe cursed. “I have an idea. Thank you for the call, Miss Blackwood. I’ll be in touch.”

  The call disconnected.

  Edgar had just pulled up in front of The Quirky Whisker when Amber’s phone began to ring. She fished it out of her bag, hoping to see Willow’s smiling face on the screen, but saw Kim’s instead. Amber hopped out of the car and helped her aunt out of the back before she answered the phone.

  “Oh my God, Amber, hi!” Kim said in greeting, but her voice was shaking. “I slept too long! Disaster struck Kids Day while I was drooling all over my pillow. A disaster, Amber. Can you do me the biggest favor in the history of the entire world and do your toy demo?”

  Ugh. Amber really had hoped Kim had forgotten about that.

  Amber’s silence made Kim’s shaky voice get even shakier. The words came out in a rush that only had a few gulps of air in the middle. Kim was on the verge of a meltdown. If Amber said they should cancel, Kim would likely start screaming and not stop for a solid five minutes.

  “I wouldn’t ask but the entire shadow puppet troupe has food poisoning. Like, all of them. Eight people. Marcy had to be admitted to the hospital for severe dehydration. Want to know wh
ere they all ate last night? Plants N Things in Marbleglen. What a dumb name!”

  “Kim, I—”

  “The cat toys have been in a locked storage room in the community center for like two solid weeks,” Kim said, talking over Amber. Her voice seemed to go up an extra octave with every sentence. “I’m sure the toys are fine. And only the bears were sabotaged, right? There are at least twenty families planning to attend. They’re all out-of-towners since the sign-up sheet was in the tourist center, so probably most of them don’t even know about the exploding bear. Happy kids mean happy parents and happy parents spend money. We need them all happy, Amber. Ann Marie said there was a group of over fifty people waiting for the shadow puppet show when she got the news about the whole troupe vomiting and she had to cancel on their behalf. The toy demo would help make the parents less upset,” Kim said. “Please?”

  Criminy. “Fine.”

  “Yes!” Kim said.

  Amber jumped when a car honked three times in rapid succession. She took a few steps back to glance down the street. Kim was parked at the curb. Her friend, with her phone still pressed to her ear, waved enthusiastically.

  “Give me your grimoire, little mouse,” Aunt G said, “and go take care of whatever you need to.”

  Flustered, Amber disconnected the call with Kim, and then handed her spell book to her aunt. When Aunt G grabbed it, Amber didn’t immediately let go, causing her aunt to hike a brow. “Be nice to Thea.”

  Her aunt scoffed. “I don’t want to harm her. We just needed her out of the way.”

  Edgar, who was still in the driver’s seat of his truck, laughed. “Spoken like a woman on a quick slide into the Dark Side.”

  “Pah,” Aunt G said, successfully taking the grimoire from Amber. “Everyone is so dramatic lately.” With the grimoire under her arm, Aunt G ducked back into the truck to take Thea’s cage off the back seat. “Come now, little hamster. I’ll get you some nice lettuce to munch on.”

  Thea squeaked.

  Amber watched her aunt let herself into The Quirky Whisker, then turned back to her cousin. “Will you be okay?” The question had many layers to it and she knew he couldn’t answer it fully in the time they had.

  Amber flinched when a car honked three more times.

  “I think I should be asking you that,” Edgar said.

  “Want to come with us?” Amber asked. “Maybe your presence will calm Kim down.”

  Edgar went beet red. “Nothing doing. I have a horde of undead to shoot at home.”

  Sighing, Amber nodded. “Fine. Bye, nerd.”

  “Bye, noob.”

  She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him, shut the door, and then headed for Kim’s waiting car. Kim waved frantically when she saw Amber walking her way, as if Amber didn’t already know she was there.

  Edgar drove away just as Amber climbed into the passenger seat of Kim’s car. The back seat was piled with all manner of things Here and Meow related. Kim’s brown hair was up in a messy chic bun that was on the wrong side of messy, her eyeliner was a bit smudgy, and when she smiled, Amber noted the red lipstick on her front teeth.

  “What?” Kim asked. “What happened? Is something on my face?” She flipped down her sun visor and shrieked. She slapped it closed again. “Oh my God, Amber! You have to drive. I need to do damage control on my face, stat.”

  Amber happily obliged, as Kim driving in her current state couldn’t be good for anyone—namely every pedestrian within the town limits. Kim was so worked up, talking a million miles an hour about the “absolute calamity” Kids Day had been so far, that Amber figured it would be better not to discuss the evolving Penhallow situation until later.

  When they arrived at Balinese Park, Kim insisted that she carry the box of Amber’s demonstration materials. While they walked, Amber marveled at the transformation that had taken place in the park so far.

  The 5K race would end here, and the setup was already well underway. White canopy pop tents had been erected to the right of the picnic area. The makeshift booths would feature local businesses offering discounts and excusive offers to the racers. There would be prizes, raffles, and free samples galore.

  Off in the distance, on the other end of the park, Amber could see workers tending to the rose garden. The revamped garden was going to be named after Melanie Cole. The official memorial unveiling was scheduled for Sunday morning.

  Though it was still four days until Saturday’s race, there were already several banners hung from tables in the pop tents, and from the large gazebo that stood over the picnic area. Ben’s design looked especially beautiful on such a large scale.

  For Kids Day, the park also had a large bouncy house shaped like an oversized cat. The thing was slightly horrifying, if Amber was honest. Its giant head bobbed erratically as children screamed in glee, bouncing around in its innards. A few of the pop tents had been set up there as well, where various artists and entertainers were working booths. Face painting, caricature drawings, and a clown who rapidly made cat balloon animals were the attractions with the most activity, but even Amber could tell that the group as a whole—parents and kids alike—were restless. A few food trucks were parked near the pond and long lines of tired parents stood outside. Children were chasing each other all over the area, while others harassed the ducks, and another pair on the other side of the pond were trying unsuccessfully to scale a tree. The whole scene was chaotic enough that Amber wanted to run back in the direction from which they’d come.

  Kim must have recognized the look on Amber’s face for what it was, because she’d nudged Amber with the box of cat toys. “Don’t you dare abandon me in my time of need, Blackwood.”

  Maybe Aunt G was right about everyone being dramatic. Wrinkling her nose, Amber jutted her chin toward the picnic area. “I can set up over there and maybe you can try to round up the demons?”

  Kim nodded vigorously, her wild eyes taking in the scene. Even though she’d fixed her makeup, the hair was still … a mess. If nothing else, Kim’s crazed energy likely would scare the children, and a good number of parents, into submission.

  After depositing the box on a table, Kim marched off again, leaving Amber alone. Inside the box was a sampling of the most popular toy cats she sold at The Quirky Whisker. Housecats, lions, cheetahs, pumas. Back before she’d needed to shutter her doors, Amber’s plan for this demonstration had been to use only one or two toys to show what they could do, and to have the others laid out in hopes of enticing parents to buy them.

  Now Amber wasn’t sure encouraging purchases was a good idea. Though Kim swore these particular toys had been kept in a locked storage room for weeks, that didn’t mean a Penhallow couldn’t still have sabotaged them. Normally she would have discounted an idea like that as paranoid, that the cursed-magic-addled minds of the Penhallows weren’t capable of devising something that needed that much planning. But now Amber knew better. The Penhallows were in it for the long haul.

  She had just taken out the last of the cats and had set the box on the bench beside her when someone said, “Fancy meeting you here.”

  Recognizing the voice instantly, she turned and grinned at Jack. “Hi!” she said and flung her arms around him. Amber was not a flingy type of person, but given the madness of the day, she couldn’t have been happier to see a friendly face.

  Then she froze. At least she hoped it was friendly. She and Jack didn’t have a code word yet.

  Jack wrapped his arms around her, laughing. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

  She pulled back just enough to be able to look in his eyes without breaking the embrace. “What season of Vamp World are we on?”

  He cocked his head at her, then straightened a moment later. “Oh, you’re testing me to make sure I’m me, aren’t you? We’re still on season three, episode two because we’re old and can’t stay awake through more than five minutes before we pass out.”

  Grinning again, she kissed him lightly. “Good work. You passed. I need a code word.”

&nbs
p; “Merry Pawpins,” he said.

  She smiled. It was what he’d ordered from Mews and Brews on their last official date a few months ago. “Got it,” she said, pulling away. “So, what are you doing here?”

  “I got roped into Kids Day by your lovely high-strung friend over there,” he said.

  They both glanced toward the food trucks, and Amber spotted Kim in a very heated argument with a nine-year-old. The child appeared to be winning.

  “I tried to tell her that scones weren’t the most kid-friendly,” Jack said, redirecting Amber’s attention. “She said she would have preferred Betty’s cupcakes, but Betty was too swamped. I promise I’m not bitter that I didn’t win Best of Edgehill at the Hair Ball, but Kim could have at least made it less obvious that I was her second—possibly third—choice for Kids Day.”

  Amber laughed. “She’s slipping into Galazilla mode again.”

  “Would it be Festizilla now?” Jack asked. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

  Amber wrinkled her nose in agreement.

  “Anyway,” he said, eyeing her toys laid out in two neat rows. “I decided not to fight the Festizilla and made a boatload of cat-shaped sugar cookies as a compromise. I set up a cookie-decorating booth and made Larry and Sabrina work it with me. They left a little bit ago; I told them I would clean up.” A pair of children screamed at the top of their lungs and then went racing across the park. “It may be my fault that they’re all out of their minds now.”

  “Out of control sugar highs seems to be the annual tradition for Kids Day,” Amber said, sighing. “Maybe I’ll make it a quick demo …”

  “Everyone, we’re about to begin! Make your way to Miss Amber for a demonstration of her renowned animated toys!” Kim called out from her spot near the food trucks. No one immediately moved toward Amber, even after she raised an arm and waved. “NOW!” Kim bellowed.

  A gaggle of children slowly meandered in Amber’s direction.