Pawsitively Swindled

by Melissa Erin Jackson

  Penhallows could hide in plain sight, and if they didn’t let you in on their secret, you were left none the wiser until it was too late.

  Like now.

  Amber’s stomach churned.

  “I’ll tell you!” Aunt G cried out. “Just don’t hurt my girls!”

  Amber and Willow whirled to face their aunt, Amber almost positive Willow’s expression would match her own: shocked disbelief. Then, even more shocking, Aunt Gretchen began to weep and carry on. She let loose low keening wails like she was being torn in two. Her knees nearly gave way and Devra instinctively grabbed Aunt G under the arms to keep her upright.

  “I worship the ground my girls walk on!” Aunt G wailed. “They’re all I have!”

  One moment Amber was so bewildered by the dramatic show of emotion she had never seen from her aunt in all her years, and then she registered what her aunt had said. “The ground my girls walk on.”

  Literally.

  Amber dropped to her hands and knees, placed her hands on the ground, and felt the magic veins beneath her pulse like a heartbeat. Ba-boom.

  Damien had just uttered a, “What are you do—”

  Amber felt the magic from the ground flow into her with all the force of a tide. Willow cast an air spell that knocked Damien off his feet as if she’d just yanked a rug out from under him. He hit the ground hard, and, clearly disoriented, struggled to get back up. With one hand on the ground, Amber reached forward and clamped a hand around Damien’s forearm. With the aid of the magic veins below her, Amber cast the same blowback spell she’d used as one of the layers on the grimoires’ hiding places.

  The spell hurled Damien so far down the street that the impact knocked him out cold. He rolled down the dirt road several feet before coming to a stop in a heap, his limbs splayed.

  Devra’s cry of alarm was cut off abruptly and then something thudded to the ground. Amber and Willow turned in unison to find Devra on the ground, also out cold. Aunt G had her hands on her knees and was breathing hard.

  A screech sounded from above and Amber looked up to see a flock of small back birds take off at once, heading in the direction of Korat Road.

  “Aunt G?” Amber asked cautiously when her aunt hadn’t said a word in nearly a minute.

  All three Blackwood women seemed too scared to move from their current locations, as if even a hint of movement would wake the Penhallows. Amber needed to think, but her hands were shaking and her heart was racing, and what was she supposed to do?

  “I’m okay,” Aunt G finally said, panting. “That was one doozy of a sleep spell though. She wouldn’t go down; it was like tranquilizing a horse.”

  “What do we do now?” Willow asked, echoing the question that bounced endlessly in Amber’s head. “We can’t leave them here but we also can’t exactly let them go either.”

  They needed the spell in the Henbane grimoire that Amber had used on Kieran. The spell that had severed him from his desire for magic and had thereby cured his curse. It also meant he was magic-free now, but he’d admitted he’d never felt freer. Yet, in order to rid Damien and Devra of their curses, Amber would need to open that book again. Which was three hours away.

  No, they needed to do something with these two now.

  The ground beneath them suddenly rumbled. It startled Willow and Aunt G, as it would have startled anyone, but it struck fear in Amber’s heart. It was the same rumble from Zelda’s memory when the magic veins erupted.

  “Run!” was on the tip of Amber’s tongue when the ground undulated beneath her and knocked her over. When she hit the ground, the magic in the veins surged up and flooded Amber’s system. There was so much power here, it made Amber dizzy, almost nauseous.

  Because of that, she couldn’t have been sure that what she felt next made any sense—perhaps she was delirious now … magic sick—but the magic here wanted her to know it was angry. Furious, even.

  She just didn’t know if it was angry with her. And given how much power was in the ground here, she sincerely hoped it wasn’t aimed at her. Amber remembered what Zelda had told her, that there were two main schools of thought on why the ley lines splintered. One was that the surge of magic turning back on after the council had short-circuited the magic-grid had caused pockets of magic to erupt, the ley lines unable to contain the energy. The other was that magic itself was livid with the council, and the splintering had been caused by something akin to a magical temper tantrum. Based on what Amber felt now, she believed the latter theory. If it was true, Amber wondered if magic was also angry with the Penhallows for forcing the council to take such drastic measures to begin with. The ground thrummed beneath her. It was like Kim when she desperately wanted to say something to a person of authority but held her tongue. Kim practically vibrated with the desire to voice her opinion until she spoke her piece.

  The magic here wanted to speak. Maybe it just wanted the Penhallows out of this neighborhood. Or maybe the cursed magic in their veins was slowly leaking out of their bodies and into the ground, trying to poison the ley lines, too.

  Amber wanted this magic to know that she’d heard it. That she knew it was angry, but that she didn’t know how to help it. She didn’t know how to help anyone.

  I don’t know what to do, she thought, pushing her magic into the words as if this plea was a spell. I think we’re close to solving the Penhallow problem again, but we’re not ready yet. I … I can’t kill Damien and Devra. Willow and Aunt Gretchen can’t either. But we can’t let them go. They know where I live. They’ll tell others. We need more time. Amber’s desperation to keep her family, her town, and, somehow, history safe was so overwhelming, she thought she would drown under the weight of it. Can you help me? Can you show me what to do?

  Both her own magic and the energy below her thrummed again.

  And suddenly the neighborhood around her changed. She was back in the 1970s, she guessed, but it was just as desolately quiet as it was in the present. The neighborhood was deserted. Slowly, she got to her feet and turned in a circle. There wasn’t a soul in sight, including Willow and Aunt G. Doors to houses stood open. A forgotten suitcase lay overturned on someone’s lawn. The woman’s laundry across the street still hung from the line, flapping slightly in the light breeze.

  A moment later, twin thuds sounded behind her and she whirled to see the unconscious bodies of Damien and Devra lying side by side. Amber froze, waiting for them to wake, but they didn’t stir.

  The ground rumbled and undulated again, and Amber fell to her knees. The magic hummed, then violently slammed back into her and everything went black.

  When she came to, she was flat on her back, and she was staring up at a canopy of trees. The sky beyond them was a bright blue. A cloud lazily scudded by. Willow’s concerned face swam into view on the right, and then Aunt G’s on the left.

  “Amber!” Willow yelped, then collapsed on Amber in her best attempt at a hug while Amber was currently too numb and woozy to move.

  It took a minute for Amber to feel like she could get up without collapsing, and when she started to shift, her aunt and sister helped her to her feet.

  “Where did the creepy twins go?” Willow asked. “Where did you go?”

  Before she could reply, Aunt G reached up to gently pat Amber’s cheek. “What on earth happened, little mouse?” Her skin was sallow and sweat beaded her forehead. “You scared us both half to death. We called Edgar and he said this kind of thing is normal here, though you’d never disappeared before. What a horrible place!”

  Amber managed a weak chuckle, rubbing her hip where a rock had been digging into her. “This is going to sound weird, but the magic here took us back in time and then … kept the Penhallows.”

  “You’re right,” Willow said, “that is weird.”

  “I asked for help, and it … listened,” Amber said, bewildered.

  Willow blinked at Amber, opened her mouth, shut it again.

  Aunt Gretchen cocked her head and stared at Amber a beat. “I guess you ju
st might be a legendary witch after all, little mouse.”

  Chapter 27

  Amber’s ankle had been reinjured after her trip through time, but she wasn’t entirely sure how. All she knew was that she needed a hot bath and for her brain to stop repeating what Aunt Gretchen had said: I guess you just might be a legendary witch after all, little mouse.

  It was the most ludicrous thing Amber had ever heard.

  Yet the hollow feeling in her gut told her it might be true. The idea that so many people, witch and non-witch alike, might rely on her was almost enough for her to flee Edgehill and never look back. She could hardly take care of herself—how was she supposed to take on responsibilities this big?

  As she settled into the passenger seat, ankle throbbing, she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket. Somehow it had survived both the time travel and her fall.

  She had a text from Connor. Hey, Amber! Did you text me on accident? I should be back in town by tomorrow. I’ve been in Arizona working on a story. Molly isn’t with me, but the story I’m working on is one she and I are collaborating on. Why did you ask if she was with me? Is she okay?

  Before she could formulate a reply, the chief called.

  “Chief!” Amber answered. “Are you okay? Did you—”

  “We’ve got Daniels,” he said. “The FBI found several things in his storage unit that tie back to other cases they’d been building against him. Once he realized he’d been had, he threw the rest of the group under the bus. Reyes and a few guys are going after Sable, and a few of mine just rounded up Tillman.”

  “And Victoria?” Amber asked.

  “Belhaven police are on their way to her house now,” the chief said. “According to Daniels, the gun belongs to her. That’s enough to bring her in for questioning. Carl called me and said Tillman won’t shut up about how corrupt Daniels is. I worried we’d have a hard time getting any of them to roll over on each other because they’re all friends but, man, they’re all going to implicate themselves without much questioning from us. Sounds like they all hate each other.”

  Amber wasn’t terribly fond of any of them herself.

  “What about Simon’s court date?” Amber asked.

  “Reyes is doing what he can to get in touch with his lawyer or Judge Harper tonight, if not tomorrow,” he said. “Between what was in the storage unit and all their confessions?” He chuckled. “Simon will be cleared of the charges before we know it.”

  “Thanks, chief,” Amber said, her eyes welling a little. “I know this wasn’t something you had—”

  “None of that. You didn’t have to do any of this either, Blackwood,” he said. “We take care of each other around here. Town lines don’t matter. Now, go call Bianca and give her the good news. Just tell her to act surprised when she gets an official call from Reyes or Simon’s lawyer.”

  She hung up and immediately dialed Bianca. When Amber broke the news, Bianca burst into tears.

  And then Amber did too.

  Connor returned from Arizona the next day. Amber didn’t know how much of what the Penhallow had said in Connor’s voice had been pulled from reality. Was Connor truly working on a story about her family? Based on the movements Amber had watched, Molly had been all over Edgehill for over a week. Why? Most of what Connor and Molly needed to investigate about the Simon case would have been tied to Marbleglen, not Edgehill. So what had Molly been doing here while Connor was out of town?

  All this had made Amber a little reluctant to accept his invite to dinner the night he returned, but he’d invited several others, too. While Amber, Connor, Bianca, Molly, and Misty—Wilma had been stuck at work—shared an exceedingly large plate of cheese fries at Feral’s Diner, Connor explained that he’d been in Arizona to talk to locals about Hugh Woodbury, his Wild West theme park, his mysterious death, and how the park had since been turned into a thriving concert location, despite Hugh’s wishes. The general consensus in town was that Tillman had slipped Rohypnol into Hugh’s food or drink and had gotten him to agree to sign over his beloved park when he wasn’t of sound mind, just as Tillman, Sable, and Daniels had planned to force Jameson into signing a resignation letter.

  How Hugh ultimately died later still remained a mystery, but hopefully the circumstances were strange enough that the case would be reopened and Hugh Woodbury would one day get justice.

  Over dinner, Amber finally broke the news that Molly’s anonymous source hadn’t been Simon after all, but the late Chief Jameson. Molly was floored, but Amber suspected if Simon hadn’t spelled Molly into believing he was her source, Molly would have figured it out a long time ago.

  Between Connor’s interviews, Molly’s research, and Misty’s insider information into Victoria Sullivan’s shady business dealings, Amber was sure Molly and Connor had one heck of an article on their hands. Even if Amber wasn’t sure what the two were up to in terms of Amber herself, she was hopeful the story they published about Eric Jameson’s murder, Simon Ricinus’s framing, and the corruption of the leadership in Marbleglen would help put both their careers on the map.

  After their talk was winding down, and Molly, Connor, and Misty were working out the best time to sit down for a more formal interview, Amber said her goodbyes and left with Bianca close behind.

  “Night, Bianca,” Amber said, sure this was one of the last times she would see Bianca aside from festival obligations. Kim had said she and Bianca had to be in contact with each other on a nearly daily basis lately, and that if Kim got through the next week without strangling Bianca with one of her fancy neckerchiefs, she’d consider it a win.

  Amber was halfway to her car when Bianca called her name. The moment Amber turned to face the woman, Amber was enveloped in a hug. It was a stiff, awkward hug, and Amber was so startled by it, she just stood there with her arms glued to her sides. It ended almost as soon as it began.

  Bianca, for the first time since Amber had met her, was blushing. “My dad’s getting his life back and it couldn’t have happened without you. I’m just so grateful you kept at it even when I’m sure you didn’t want to,” she said in a rush. “I know I can be … hard to get along with. And I know I didn’t make anything easy, and I’m sorry for that. Truly. I blame a lot of things on growing up magic-less in a hybrid town with a witch cop for a mom. I learned to harden myself to everyone and everything because letting your guard down around the wrong people can get you killed. Guess I haven’t broken myself of the habit.” She sighed, then seemed to have an internal debate with herself before she said, “I’m frankly jealous of your relationship with Kim. You two would do a lot for each other, clearly. And when I needed someone in my own town to do anything for me, I got nothing. Well, not nothing. I got you two. Even now, hardly any of the people on my own committee will talk to me unless it’s about the festival.

  “But all that doesn’t matter. I’m working really hard to be better, not bitter.” She groaned as if the words themselves turned her stomach. “Isn’t that the corniest thing you’ve ever heard? But it’s something our marriage counselor said, and I’m trying to embody it or whatever.”

  “Marriage counselor?” Amber asked. “So does that mean you and Peter …?”

  The smile that came over Bianca’s face was contagious. “I told him. About the possibility that our kids might have … abilities, I mean. He said if he gets a kid who can fly, he’d be, and I quote, stoked.”

  Amber grinned. “That’s great. I mean, we can’t fly—honestly, that’s not a thing; I don’t know why I keep needing to remind people of that—but I’m so glad you told him.”

  Bianca nodded sheepishly. “And … I mean, I know I’ll probably still be … difficult for a while. Maybe always. But … if you and Kim ever want to, I don’t know, have a spa day or something, I’d really like that. We can celebrate after the festivals next week. My treat!”

  “That sounds great.”

  Heaving out a breath like she had just run a marathon, Bianca wished Amber a good night, and walked away. Amber felt stran
gely proud of Bianca. She couldn’t say that she and Bianca would ever grow as close as Amber and Kim, but Amber was proud of Bianca for trying to be better. Sometimes that was the hardest part.

  Over the next two days, thanks to reports from Chief Brown, Amber learned that all four people involved in Jameson’s murder had been formally arrested. Their arraignments were scheduled over the next month, and Bianca planned to go to all of them. Amber had a standing invitation to join her, but was fairly certain one arraignment was more than enough for her.

  Willow and Aunt Gretchen both helped Amber make a dent in all her pending toy orders. Edgar came by to hang out, too, but spent most of his time playing one of his games, his curses their background noise as they shaped plastic pieces, painted, and cast spells on hundreds of discs. It proved to be a relaxing task after the last few stress-filled weeks. Aunt G had even helped Amber perfect the movement spell needed for the graduation-cap-wearing giraffe, allowing the creature to toss its hat off its head, both without using its hooves and without its neck snapping in half.

  The night of the giraffe success, while Aunt G and Willow went out to dinner with a few of Willow’s high school friends—really, Willow forcing Aunt G to tag along so Amber could have some time alone—Jack came over for another attempt at watching Vamp World. Jack brought over Chinese food, and they gorged themselves silly before settling in. The opening credits rolled.

  “John Huntley better be worth all this trouble,” Jack said.

  Sunlight cascaded over Amber’s face and she woke with a jolt to find herself once again draped nearly on top of Jack. Squinting, she looked over the arm of the couch to find her aunt and sister asleep on her bed, Alley and Tom curled up with them. Amber knew that with the Here and Meow on the horizon, the threat level as far as the Penhallows were concerned would only increase. She knew now that they had to be more careful. The cursed witches could hide in plain sight, could change their appearance at will, and would have the upper hand in the paranoia department once the opening ceremony of the festival began and the town flooded with unfamiliar faces.