Pawsitively Betrayed

by Melissa Erin Jackson

  “It goes straight to voicemail, little mouse,” Aunt G said.

  Amber pursed her lips. None of this sounded like Willow. “What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked Edgar.

  “Uhh … we went to go meet … oh!” he said, his memory clearly returning in pieces. “John Huntley. You know, that famous guy? He and Willow hit it off or something and we came over here so I could meet him. I binged all of Vamp World recently, and meeting the star of the show sounded like a cool thing to cross off my bucket list before the lunatic Penhallow in my brain mur—”

  “Don’t be so morbid,” Amber interrupted him. “So you went over there to meet John. Did Willow tell you to wait in the car while she went to go see him? Did you fall asleep while you were waiting?”

  “No,” he said. “Shut up, Neil, I’m trying to think! I don’t care that my family has ruined your night. Mine’s not going so great either.” He grumbled. “Sorry, Amber, I’m trying to remember but it’s really hard to focus when someone is basically scream-singing ‘It’s A Small World’ in your head. Willow and I … uhh … Neil! Shut. Up.”

  A sick feeling was washing over Amber. “Edgar,” she said slowly, “do you think Neil is being extra annoying to keep you from thinking straight? Is he trying to make it harder for you to remember what happened?”

  Edgar huffed out a breath. “Dang it. Maybe. I … okay, give me a second. I started using the noise-cancelling spell in my head. It’s like shutting a door in my brain. I can still hear him behind it, but it’s not as loud. He’s just good about knocking it back down.”

  Amber paced in a tight line while she waited for him to get his mind in order, at least temporarily.

  “Oh. Oh, crap. Yeah, now I remember. I went with her,” Edgar said. “John told her to meet him behind the Manx Hotel since that’s where his tour bus is. He said he was going to take us into Portland for a nice dinner or something. He’d been at the parade and when all hell broke loose, he got into a fight with his manager, who wanted to pull him off the concert roster.”

  Amber let him ramble.

  “Anyway,” he said, taking a deep breath, “Willow knocked her glamour loose so we wouldn’t freak the guy out, but we left mine on. We met him back there, but it wasn’t really him. His glamour came off pretty quick. It was that black-haired lady … Patrice, right? She hit me with the strongest dang sleep spell I’d ever felt. It was like being hit in the chest with a boulder. It knocked me clear on my butt. I swear I passed out before I hit the ground. Then I woke up in the back of this car, with Willow gone.” He groaned. “Does the tincture not work? Why couldn’t we see her glamour?”

  “Aunt G handed you the wrong ones on accident,” Amber said.

  “What’s happened, little mouse?” Aunt G asked, her voice rising an octave. “Where’s Willow?” Amber held up a hand to quiet her.

  “I’m really sorry, Amber,” Edgar said. “I should have just stayed locked up in my house. I made everything worse.”

  “Stop it,” she said. “I’m coming to get you. Don’t move. We’ll figure this out, okay? The ritual isn’t until tomorrow night. We have some time.”

  “I don’t think they ever wanted me,” he said after a moment. “Neil is … laughing now. He’s saying that part of their success is because of how predictable we all are.”

  Oh, she was so sick of these Penhallows! “Stay put.” Then she disconnected the call.

  She turned to find Aunt G just behind her, her eyes wide and her hands clenched in front of her. “Patrice took Willow.”

  Aunt G’s bottom lip shook. “Let’s go find her, then.”

  “No,” Amber said. “I need you all here with the books. And I need you to start scrying and using locator spells to pinpoint where Willow is. They couldn’t have taken her far. Call me when you find her. I’m going to pick up Edgar. He’s not doing great, and I don’t trust him to drive right now.”

  Aunt G grabbed Amber’s hands. “I will be so angry with you if you don’t come back.”

  Amber planted a kiss on her forehead. “We’ll both be back, okay?”

  With a nod, Aunt G went into practical mode, and started instructing the others on what do now that the plan had shifted to locating Willow.

  Why the heck was this happening to Willow now? Did this ritual require twenty-four hours of prep?

  Amber rounded on her friends and Jack. He and Bobby were awake again and on their feet. Jack closed the distance between them.

  “Please stay here,” she begged him. “I’m going to get Edgar and come right back. You’re safer surrounded by witches here than you would be with me.”

  “Yeah, but who is going to protect you?” Jack asked.

  She leaned in quickly to kiss him.

  Kim and Betty stood side by side in front of the window, their hands clasped. Kim looked like she might cry.

  “Keep it together, Kim,” Amber said gently. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Famous last words,” Kim and Bianca said in unison.

  Amber grumbled. “Worst time for you two to be on the same page.”

  Then, before anyone could stop her, she grabbed her purse, keys, and phone, and hurried down the steps, across her shop, and into the darkening evening.

  Chapter 27

  Amber was just about to pull out onto Russian Blue Avenue when someone stepped in front of her car, a hand out like a crossing guard. Amber slammed on the brakes. “Penhallow!” her mind screamed, but Simon’s tincture didn’t reveal a second face.

  It took a moment for it to register who the person was. When she rounded the side of Amber’s car to stand at the driver’s side door, Amber was more confused than terrified when she rolled down her window.

  “Hi. My name is Tammy,” the teen girl said. “You know John Huntley, right?”

  Know was a stretch, but Amber nodded. “I do.”

  “Well, okay, so I’ve been tracking him around town the last couple days and I saw him with a lady the other day … a lady who I’ve seen come out of your shop a few times,” Tammy said. “You two look pretty similar, so I’m guessing she’s your sister?”

  “Yeah,” Amber said slowly, her heart thumping. “Willow.”

  Tammy nodded. “Thought so. My parents got a room in the Manx Hotel to increase my chances of running into him accidentally on purpose, but it hasn’t been working. I knew he hadn’t gone to the parade because he was doing phone interviews scheduled during the same time. Then a bunch of people went nuts on Scuttle saying he was at the parade, which I knew wasn’t true since all his bodyguards were still at the hotel waiting on him. I got kicked out of his hallway for loitering, so I was in the bushes outside waiting for him to come out. He likes to check out his concert space the night before he performs, so I knew he was gonna have to leave eventually. While I was out there, I saw Willow walk behind the hotel with some old guy. I was trying to get up the nerve to follow them and then I heard all this noise like people were in a fight, you know? I almost ran over there to make sure John was okay, but like if a six-foot-tall guy was getting his butt handed to him, what good was a teenage girl gonna do? So I just waited and then this redheaded lady walked out from behind the hotel with Willow thrown over her shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes or something, put her in the back of a black SUV, and drove off with her.”

  Amber blinked rapidly at her, shocked more than anything. Someone had taken Willow? It was almost too much for Amber’s mind to handle, so she focused on something smaller. “Red hair and not black?”

  “Yeah,” Tammy said. “It looked a lot like that lady who helped John escape the bathroom at the grocery store. I don’t think you were there. She was Irish or Scottish or something? Her hair was in two braids.”

  Had Patrice donned a second glamour after she’d knocked out Willow and Edgar?

  “I’m sorry I didn’t stop her,” Tammy said quickly, wringing her hands. “But I got the license plate. The plate was from Washington, though, not Oregon. Maybe you could tell the cops? I fi
gured they wouldn’t listen to a kid if I told them any of this.”

  “Holy crap,” Amber finally said. “I could hug you. You absolutely did the right thing.”

  Tammy beamed.

  “Where are your parents, by the way?”

  Tammy shrugged. “Probably getting drunk somewhere.”

  “I’m heading back to the hotel right now,” Amber said. “I need to pick up my cousin. Can I give you a ride?”

  “Sure!” Tammy said. “It was kind of a long walk.”

  It was a very long walk. While Tammy ran around the car to get in the passenger seat, Amber called Chief Brown, putting him on speaker.

  “Hi, Amber, I can’t really—”

  “Hi, Owen,” Amber said quickly. “Willow was kidnapped and I have a teenage girl with me who saw it happen. Apparently it was Sienna Tate who took her.”

  “Uhh …” he said.

  “Yeah, I don’t know either,” Amber said. “Tammy got the license plate on the car. I’ve got several … um … people working to find her right now, but some old-fashioned police work could help, too.”

  “Good grief,” he said, but immediately went into his by-the-book cop mode. “Okay, young lady, start at the beginning and tell me what you saw.”

  As Amber drove, Tammy told the story again, this time including the license plate number and a detailed description of the vehicle.

  “I don’t say this lightly, Tammy,” the chief said. “But I’m very impressed right now.”

  Tammy beamed at the praise again.

  “It’s true,” Amber said. “He’s never impressed.”

  “It must be really cool to date a cop,” Tammy said. “Do you guys have kids?”

  Amber and Chief Brown let out twin shudders of disgust.

  “We’re just friends,” Amber said.

  “I’ll get started on this on my end,” the chief said. “Things are a bit chaotic here and our resources are stretched thin without Garcia, but I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thanks,” Amber said, then disconnected the call.

  The drive to the hotel was like being in the car with Kim, but Tammy could somehow talk even faster and switched topics with a frequency that nearly gave Amber whiplash. But it helped distract Amber from how worried she was about Willow.

  Amber pulled up outside the hotel and thanked Tammy again for all her help.

  Tammy got out but poked her head back inside. “This might be nothing, but I think someone else might have seen Willow get taken, too.”

  Amber cocked her head. “What do you mean? Who?”

  Tammy shrugged. “It’s this lady I saw outside your shop a few times and around the hotel. I figured she was another Hunter like me, but I tried talking to her once and she was really mean and called me a child.” Tammy wrinkled her nose. “Anyway, I’m like eighty percent sure I saw that same lady creeping around out front tonight. When Willow was taken, another car drove off like a minute after the SUV left. There was a guy driving. The windows were pretty dark, but I think it was her in the passenger seat ’cause she had really blonde hair—like almost white?—so it kinda glowed.”

  Amber pursed her lips. “Was she about five feet tall and her hair was really long? Blue eyes?”

  “Yeah!” Tammy said. “Do you know her?”

  “I think I do …” It sounded suspiciously like Molly Hargrove. “You’re a real gem, Tammy. Truly.”

  Amber would never underestimate how resourceful and observant teenagers could be ever again.

  The girl grinned. “Happy I could help. I really hope your sister is okay.”

  “Me too,” Amber said, her chest aching. She watched as Tammy ran up the steps of the Manx Hotel before Amber made a U-turn and headed for In Gravy.

  Sure enough, Willow’s car was still parked behind the diner near the back of the oval-shaped lot. The cabin and rear taillights of Willow’s car were dark. Evening was encroaching quickly. The second Amber stepped out of her own car beside Willow’s, the back door flew open and Edgar poked his head out. His eyes were wild and red-rimmed, his hair was unruly, and his skin had paled. He looked terrible.

  “Is Neil getting worse?” she asked softly.

  He nodded. Voice cracking on the last word, he asked, “Any word about Willow?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “Hey, did you see Molly Hargrove tonight?”

  “That Marbleglen reporter lady?” Edgar asked. “No, why?”

  “I’m guessing you won’t go back to my place?” she asked.

  He vigorously shook his head. “No. I’m doing what I can to block Neil out, but I’m losing the battle. If I break while I’m near the others, I’m going to give up valuable information to Neil by accident. I already got Willow kidnapped. I don’t need any more screwups on my record tonight.”

  Amber mulled over their options. How had Patrice managed to lure Willow and Edgar to the hotel? “We need to go check on John,” she said.

  They hopped in Amber’s car and drove the few blocks back to the hotel. They sat at the curb, staring at the currently open gate that secured the back parking lot. From this vantage point, Amber could see a sliver of the tour bus’s front. If something had happened to John, wouldn’t there be more commotion? Wouldn’t someone have called the National Guard?

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  They ran down the driveway, through the open gate, and around the hedge-lined cement toward the tour bus tucked in the back. Amber heard no voices and saw no one. When she and Edgar reached the massive beige and maroon bus, they stood before the door and shared a wide-eyed look. Swallowing, Amber knocked.

  Nothing.

  She tried the door, and found it unlocked. Opening it a crack, she called out, “Hello?”

  Oh, if Patrice had murdered America’s heartthrob …

  Slowly opening the door the rest of the way, she crept up the four steps and peered inside. There were men collapsed on the floor, flopped over chairs, and one had face-planted in his salad at a small table. Thankfully, at least two of them were snoring, confirming they were asleep and not dead.

  John was slumped on the floor in the narrow hallway in the back, flanked by bunk beds. Amber crept over sleeping bodies, careful not to step on hands or feet as she went. Edgar was playing lookout at the door.

  Crouching beside John, she checked his pulse to make sure he was in fact still alive. Magic was the only way to wake someone from a sleep spell prematurely, so she called on her power and braced herself. When Amber had woken a drunken Bianca Pace from a sleep spell, Bianca had jolted back into consciousness … while screaming.

  Casting the spell, she touched John’s hand, then hurled her magic at him.

  He sat straight up. “AHH!”

  Amber fell backward.

  On his feet in a second, he put up his fists. “Who the hell are you and what are—Amber?”

  “Hi, John,” she said, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. “Look, I can explain. Actually, no I can’t. Did you call Willow earlier?”

  “Willow!” he said, scanning the area behind him. “Yeah, she was going to meet me here and I was going to take her and her friend to dinner in Portland, but then some really terrifying woman broke into the bus and then—bam! Lights out.”

  Amber swallowed. “That scary lady kidnapped Willow.”

  “Wait, what?” he said. “Okay, I can send the three Ts out to find her. They’re ex-military. They can track anyone. Give me ten minutes and I can mobilize a huge unit of—”

  “Dang it,” Amber said, realizing that this was all getting too messy. “You’re so sweet and I love that you care this much about her. But you can’t do any of that.”

  He cocked his head. “What do you mean? Don’t you—”

  “John Huntley,” she said, “sleep.”

  His eyes rolled back in his head and he tipped back onto the floor.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she said as she spun on her heel and gingerly made her way back across the bus. “I’ll buy all your album
s after this is over!”

  Amber and Edgar bolted for her car again. She sent a text to Chief Brown letting him know that John Huntley and his staff had been put under a sleep spell and were currently unconscious in his tour bus.

  My God. I’ll see what I can do. We’re swamped. One of the float cats is still on the loose. It tried to eat someone’s dog.

  You’ll be more swamped if the Hunters catch wind of John’s current unconscious condition. They’ll run off with him.

  I don’t know how much more I can take tonight.

  It’ll be a national scandal if he goes missing, chief!

  Sorry. I can’t hear you. The reception is terrible. *Insert crackle noises.*

  Of all the nights for him to develop a sense of humor!

  When she dropped her phone in a cup holder, Edgar asked, “Why did you ask if I saw Molly tonight?”

  Amber’s magic flared along with her anger. That Molly Hargrove! Without replying, Amber snatched up her phone again and called Connor Declan. He didn’t answer. Amber hung up when the call went to voicemail, then dialed again. Voicemail. She called Molly, which went to voicemail after one ring. Then she called Connor again.

  “What can I do for you, Amber?” he asked, then shushed someone. It sounded like he was on the move.

  “Look, Connor, I know Molly is with you.”

  A brief pause. “Hello, Amber,” Molly said, voice tight. “What do you want?”

  Blowing out a breath, Amber steeled herself. “I know you know I’m a witch.”

  Connor cursed. Edgar cocked his head at her.

  Molly said, “Are you both Cassie Westbottom and Sienna Tate? You can … change your face?”

  Amber sighed. “Yes.”

  Now Molly cursed. “So it was you in the car that day I drove Sienna to Ma and Paw’s. Ugh. I’m such an idiot. I spilled everything to you. Did you use a truth spell on me again like you did outside the float barn?”