by Zoe Arden
"Why? What is it?" I asked, shaking my head, trying to get the glass away from me.
"Iced tea."
"Iced tea and what?"
"And ice cubes," Hadley said.
"What kind of poison did you put in there?"
She sighed. "There's no poison in it, Ava. I just thought you might be thirsty. You were running really fast out there."
When I still shook the glass off, she let out an exasperated laugh and took a sip herself. "See? Would I drink it if it was poisoned?"
My throat was more than parched but I wasn't about to drink anything Hadley offered me, even if she did drink it herself. For all I knew, it was poisoned to the hilt and she'd already taken an antidote. She said she didn't like mess. Getting me to drink poison without putting up a struggle would be as mess-free as you could get.
I struggled against the ropes around my wrists, which she'd also tied to the chair, and found the knot in them completely unbreakable. There was no give in the ropes whatsoever. She must have enchanted them or something to make them extra strong. She clearly had no intention of letting me go. What was she doing, anyway? Stalling? Toying with me?
"What are you waiting for?" I asked her. "Why don't you just kill me already?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I questioned the intelligence of saying them. I didn't need to egg her on.
Hadley set the iced tea on a coaster on her coffee table. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill you. That you might listen to me, hear me out."
"Hear you out?" I laughed. "You mean, you want me to tell you that it's okay you killed Thaddeus? It's okay you hired assassins? You tried to kill my aunt!"
"No, I told Greg not to kill Eleanor, only to scare her, but would he listen? No. He tried to hurt her, and that was unacceptable. That's just one of many reasons I had to take care of him. I was doing your family a favor by killing him."
I was still trying to wrap my head around everything. "So, you're saying that the only person you actually wanted dead was Thaddeus Black?"
"Thaddeus was no good. He acted like a curse remover, had all the right equipment, but he'd never removed even a half-curse in his life."
Karla Louis’ words came back to me. She'd said the exact same thing when we were sitting in Sweetland Jail.
"So, why not just rat him out? Expose him? Why'd you have to kill him?"
"Because I needed people to be scared. That's the only way that our two towns and the councils would agree to have one mayor. They had to be absolutely petrified. Otherwise, it would never work."
"What if you hadn't won? What if it had been someone else?"
Hadley bit her lip. "I knew I would win. I made sure of it, just like Thaddeus made sure he'd beat Tazzie. She should have won, you know."
"Are you saying you rigged the election? That those rumors about Thaddeus rigging his were true, too?"
"Yes." It was a clear, simple answer that sent a chill up my spine.
"How?" I asked.
"One of the assassins I hired knew some people who could fix the election for me."
"How many assassins did you hire?" It sounded like she had a whole army.
Hadley opened her mouth but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from the kitchen. She turned toward them. "Hello?" she called out.
"Help!" I screamed, not waiting to see who it was. Hadley shot me an irritated look.
A man appeared, dressed all in black. Everything about him was dark, from his hair to his aura. He smiled when he saw us. "Well," he said.
Hadley's face turned white.
"Robert, this isn't a good time."
"I heard you two talking. I'm interested in the last question myself. Exactly how many assassins did you hire?"
"Now, Robert, I was just covering my tracks."
"Wait a second," I said, staring at him open-mouthed. "Are you an assassin, too?"
Robert, if that was his real name, nodded. "And Mayor Miner here forgot to pay me. In fact, from what I've learned, she hasn't paid anyone. How many of us were there? Four? Five? Are there any more of us lurking in the shadows?"
"No," Hadley said, "you're the last one. No more assassins anywhere, I promise."
Robert looked at me. "She seemed to think it would be more cost effective to kill everyone involved. What she didn't count on, however, is the fact that I'm better than those other guys she hired. I've been onto her for some time now. And if she doesn't give me my money right now..."
He pulled something from his belt. I had no idea what it was, it looked like a cross between a knife and a wand. The serrated blade gleamed in the lamplight, the tip of it was all white, almost too white to look at without being blinded.
"This is called a death wand," Robert said to a terrified-looking Hadley. "It will kill you, and I assure you it will hurt."
"I have the money," Hadley breathed. "I have it upstairs. I'll just go get it."
"Thank you, I appreciate that. Do you have the money that you owed Greg and the others as well?"
"Yes."
"Good, then I'll take that, too. Call it a bonus."
"Er, um, when I said I have it, I meant I could get it. It's not here, but I do have what I owe you. And I can get the rest when the bank opens."
Robert rolled his eyes. "Just get me my money."
"It's in my bedroom."
"You have thirty seconds. Any longer than that and I will come up after you, and I won't pause to ask questions. I'll simply kill you. Got it?"
"Got it," Hadley said. She hurried up the stairs and Robert set a timer on his watch. He held his wand out in front of him, ready for action.
"What if she's lying and she doesn't have the money?" I asked him.
"I'm going to kill her anyway. If she pays me what she owes me, I'll do it quickly. If not, I'll make sure she suffers."
I looked at the stairs and waited. Hadley had twenty seconds left.
* * *
3 8
* * *
"Two seconds!" Robert called out. Hadley came running back down the stairs so fast she tripped at the bottom stair and fell flat on her face.
"I've got it!" she cried, thrusting an envelope into the air. "I've got it! Don't shoot." She was breathing heavily.
Robert walked toward her, hand outstretched, reaching for the money. I turned my head away, afraid he was about to pulverize her with his wand. I didn't want to watch whatever was about to happen. More than that, I didn't want to think about what Robert planned to do with me after Hadley was gone. Would he let me go? Would he kill me next? I was afraid to ask. I might not like the answer.
I looked out the living room window instead of at the scene in front of me, focusing on a tree in the distance. The tree was moving. I squinted and realized the tree itself wasn't moving, the landscape around it was. I watched, fascinated, until the things I was seeing started to make sense. Several figures darted back and forth across the lawn. Behind trees, behind bushes, flat on the grass. They were heading quickly toward the house.
I made out the figures of Colt and Sheriff Knoxx, but there were others as well. Lincoln... Eleanor. They were all here. I had no idea how they'd found me so quickly but I thanked Sara Sweetland and all the witching world that they had.
Robert was pointing his death wand at Hadley. I had to make a split-second decision. Should I let him kill her or try and stop this before it went any further? I wasn't sure she deserved any help after everything she'd done, not just to me but to Sweetland Cove and Mistmoor Point. Everyone on the island had been affected by her actions. In the end, I decided that only meant that she should have to answer to the people of Heavenly Haven. Letting Robert dispose of her would be the easy way out. She should have to stand trial in front of the Council on Magic and Human Affairs as well as the Witch's Council.
"Robert!" I said suddenly.
He paused and shot me half a glance.
"Yes?"
Hadley was trembling on the floor. Robert had her money in his other hand. He'd already counted it and
was placing it into his pocket as we spoke. The death wand never faltered from its position. It stayed stuck on Hadley as if it had a homing device tuned specifically to Hadley's head.
"What are you going to do after this?" I asked him. It was just vague enough that I hoped it might get him talking.
"You mean with you?" he asked. "Don't worry. I have no reason to kill you. I'm a professional. I wasn't paid to take care of you and I rarely do freebies." He paused, cocking his head to one side. "Then again, you have seen my face. I'll have to take that into consideration. But first thing's first."
He turned back to Hadley and started to mutter some sort of incantation that I didn't recognize. Hadley must have though. Her eyes widened to saucers and her hands shot up protectively in front of her face.
"Please," she begged. If I hadn't known the truth about everything she'd done, I would have felt bad for her. I chanced a glance out the window and saw Sheriff Knoxx right outside. He was looking in at us, his eyes wide. I didn't see the others anymore; they had disappeared.
"Please," Hadley said again and grabbed the assassin's feet, lowering her head to them like she was kissing his shoes.
"Get off me," he said, trying to shake her away. "You're pathetic, begging like—"
Suddenly, he stopped talking. Hadley looked up, smiling at him. Something was sticking out of his shoe. It looked like a needle.
"What have you done? What is that?" he asked.
"Nothing. Just a little poison." She stood slowly up. The smile never left her lips. She looked as though she was enjoying herself, like this was some sort of game. "I like to keep a healthy supply in my dresser upstairs. If you want the antidote, then I think I'll take back that money I gave you. Call it a donation, if you prefer. You donate it back to me, and I will give you the potion to save your life."
Robert's wand dropped to his side. He studied her face a minute. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow move in the doorway leading from the living room to the kitchen.
"I don't respond well to blackmail," Robert said. "Most assassins don't."
"Most assassins don't have a needle full of poison sticking out of their shoe. I assure you that it has penetrated your foot and that it will kill you if you don't do as I say."
"I believe you," Robert said. "But I also believe that I can find the antidote myself. If there really is one, then it's here in the house. Probably not too far from where you keep the poison, which you've already told me is in your dresser drawer upstairs."
"I, uh..." Hadley stammered. Her eyes darted back and forth. Suddenly, she turned and made a mad dash for the stairs. Robert shot his death wand at her. The ray of light just missed hitting her ankle. She tripped running up the stairs. Robert rounded on her.
"Freeze!" a voice called from the hallway. Sheriff Knoxx, Colt, and Lincoln came bursting into the living room. "Don't move," Sheriff Knoxx said.
Robert smiled as if the game had just gotten more interesting. It made me shiver.
* * *
3 9
* * *
"Look out!" I yelled. "He has a death wand!"
Sheriff Knoxx ducked as Robert aimed his wand at him.
I still wasn't sure what, precisely, a death wand was. I mean, I understood that it could kill you, but I wasn't sure whether that was all it did. Was it called a death wand because it only had one job—to cause death? Based on the way the others reacted when I said "death wand," I thought that might be the case.
"Ava! Are you okay?" Colt shouted from a distance.
"Yeah, but get me out of here."
I was still stuck in the chair. Colt had his supercharged wand out now, aiming it at Robert. Hadley was trying to sneak back up the stairs. Robert reached down and pulled the needle out of his foot. It was several inches long and looked like it was made of glass rather than plastic. Not just glass, crystal maybe? It was hard to tell for sure. There was something magical about it though. It wasn't the type of needle that Dr. Dunne would have used at Sweetland Hospital.
The tip of the needle was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It wasn't just sharp; it was a jagged piece of metal with a point that gleamed almost as brightly as the tip of Robert's death wand. A pure white, like first snow. It was thick, too. At least, thicker than most needles. It was the width of a nail head. No wonder the needle had penetrated so easily through his shoe. With a point like that, it could have cut through cement.
Sheriff Knoxx and Lincoln ran toward Robert. Colt ran toward me. Robert reached out and yanked hard on Hadley's foot, dragging her back down the stairs. He turned just before Sheriff Knoxx and Lincoln got to him and fired three shots in rapid succession with his death wand.
One of the shots missed Lincoln by an inch. Another one breezed past my ear. I smelled something burning and looked at my shoulder. My hair had gotten singed and the wand's ray hadn't even touched me, just come close.
I was freaking out. The ropes still wouldn't budge and if I sat here much longer, I was afraid I'd get shot for sure. "Colt! Hurry!" I cried.
Sheriff Knoxx didn't bother with a wand. He lifted his hand over his head and made a circle, muttering something I couldn't hear as he did it. A sort of mist formed above his head. It was almost like he'd cut a hole in the air and the mist was leaking out of it.
"What is he doing?" I asked Colt.
Colt shot him a glance and shrugged.
"Not sure. Some sort of happiness spell, I think." The mist floated through the air, surrounding everyone in the room. When it reached me, I breathed it in and felt suddenly safe. It felt like everything was going to be all right and all I wanted to do was sit here.
"Come on," Colt said. "Sheriff Knoxx is trying to buy us some time."
When the mist reached Robert, he screamed and tried to bat it away with his hands.
"What are you doing?" he cried. His frown turned into a smile. His eyes lit up with delight and he started to laugh.
"I'm not going to... hahaha... this isn't going to... hahaha."
Apparently, Sheriff Knoxx was trying to cast a spell that would simply make everyone too happy to fight. He was hoping he could get Robert to just put his wand down and sit there. It didn't quite work out that way, though.
Robert was still laughing as he shot his wand toward Sheriff Knox. The ray caught his sleeve and burned a hole right through it. Robert didn't waste any time. He raised the wand again. "I'm going to... hahaha... make you pay for this... hahaha."
"Do you have her, Colt?" Sheriff Knoxx asked.
Colt was still struggling with my ropes though. He was smiling, but he couldn't get the knot undone any more than I had. "The rope is enchanted. I can't get it loose."
Lincoln ran over to help but had no better luck.
Hadley sat up. "I can help!" she cried. "I enchanted it. Get me out of here and I'll set her loose."
Robert swung around and shot his wand off at Hadley. Just as the beam left his wand, though, Otis jumped out of nowhere and pushed Robert. Robert stumbled, tripped, and fell to the ground. Otis jumped on top of him. Tadpole let out a massive spray directly into Robert's face. He started coughing and choking on the fumes.
Eleanor came around the corner and ran to Hadley, who got unsteadily to her feet.
"Get him off me!" Robert yelled as Tadpole sprayed Robert again. This time, Tadpole did it when Robert's mouth was open, yelling for help. His whole face turned green and he started to make gagging noises like he was about to throw up. Otis slapped the handcuffs on him before he could get away.
Eleanor helped Hadley over to me and two seconds later, my ropes were off. Lincoln cuffed her. She didn't put up a fight.
"How did you find me?" I asked Colt.
He smiled and his cheeks reddened. "There was a third tracking device I didn't tell you about. I stuck it on Al before we let him out. I didn't tell anyone though, not just you. I thought it might be better if I kept it to myself, just in case."
"I'm glad you did," I said, kissing him.
All of us st
ood around staring at Otis and Tadpole. The room smelled, but Tadpole had managed to contain the worst of it specifically to Robert. Otis was holding the death wand in his hand.
"Here you go, Sheriff Knoxx," Otis said, handing the wand to him. "Tadpole did good, didn't he?" Otis scratched Tadpole's head.
"Yes, Otis. Tadpole did real good." Sheriff Knoxx looked at the skunk like he'd never really seen him before. "Thank you, Tadpole."
Tadpole nodded and whispered something in Otis’ ear.
Otis nodded.
"Sheriff Knoxx, Sir? Tadpole says he'd like some potato chips. They're his favorite treat." Otis smiled sheepishly.
"When we get back to the station," Sheriff Knoxx said, "I will buy Tadpole the biggest bag of potato chips I can find."
* * *
4 0
* * *
I knocked on Eleanor's bedroom door.
"Come in," she called. Inside her bedroom, Eleanor's dress shimmered in the sunlight. It was the perfect day for a wedding.
"How's it going in here?" I asked her as Trixie pulled on the dress, making sure the train wasn't tangled.
"Great," Eleanor said. "Have you seen Zane?"
"I just left him. He looks good. I think you'll be impressed."
Eleanor wasn't just smiling, she was beaming. She stood looking in the mirror, her face rosy and glowing. Her eyes shined like there was a flashlight behind each of them.
"You look beautiful," I told her. "And I'm not just saying that because you're my aunt."
Eleanor's dress was long and flowing, made entirely of satin, lace, and chiffon. The bodice was form fitting and laced up in the back; the skirt was full, like an old-fashioned ball gown. The train came out about three feet behind her, so white it sparkled under the lights.
The wedding was to take place in Eleanor and Trixie's house. The whole house had been enchanted with an expansion charm to make it big enough to hold all the guests. Most of Sweetland Cove was coming out for the event, as well as a good-sized chunk of Mistmoor Point, much to everyone's surprise. Tazzie was acting mayor again and had done a wonderful job of rallying the town after the truth had come out about Hadley.
