I grinned. “I do enjoy a good roller coaster ride here and there. But I like being strapped in with there being no chance of me falling off.”
“Don’t worry,” Scarlett said, waving off my concerns. “It’s actually pretty hard to fall off a broom. They’re very easy to control, and they’re designed for you to stay on them. Just don’t drink and fly.”
“I would never dream of it.”
“Anyway, that’s something for a later day. I really hope the fact that you’re stuck here won’t put you off the paranormal world forever. We’re a lot of fun, I promise.”
I smiled. Even though I wasn’t a small-town person at all, I found I was actually starting to enjoy my time with Scarlett here in Fairy Falls. It couldn’t last, though. I knew that.
“I’ll come by when I can,” I said. “I’d like to learn how to fly a broom.”
“Perfect,” Scarlett grinned. “I’ve always wanted to teach someone how to fly, and this way I don’t have to wait until I have a little witch of my own to do it.”
It took about ten minutes for the two of us to walk to the outskirts of town. Eye of the Wolf was located in a large field dotted with trees. A small, somewhat ramshackle building out the front, with old tires piled up near the door and a faded wooden sign with the company name written on it, told me we were at the right place.
“Great,” I said. “The most serious gyms always look like they’re where a main fight scene with gangsters is going to go down in a movie. I like the flashy, modern-looking ones, because you know the people inside don’t actually care if you really work out or not.”
Scarlett laughed. “That’s actually a pretty accurate assessment, I think. I guess we’re both about to get our butts kicked.”
I had no idea how right she was.
Walking through the front door, I was surprised to find that the building itself was almost entirely just an empty reception area, a place for parents to leave their small children while they worked out — supervised by a shifter who was currently telling four young kids that if they didn’t learn to share she was going to turn into a dragon and burn all their toys — and a couple of large changing rooms.
“Where’s…the actual gym?” I asked, confused, and Scarlett pointed to a sign above the large French doors at the back with an arrow pointing down and the words “Workouts Start Here”.
“I guess we go outside,” she said.
We walked out into the large field behind the building, and sure enough, about a half dozen paranormals were gathered in a small circle, most of them chatting idly to each other.
Scarlett and I joined the circle, and one of the paranormals, a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties, with brown hair and a friendly face, smiled at us.
“Hello. I’ve never seen the two of you here before. Is this your first time?”
“Sure is,” Scarlett replied enthusiastically. “We heard this was a great place to work out, but we don’t know anything about it.”
“Oh, you’re in for a treat, then,” the woman replied. “I’m Patricia.”
“I’m Scarlett, and this is Mina,” my cousin replied.
“Who was it who recommended you?” Patricia asked.
“Linda did,” I said. “Although I’m not sure this is the class she comes to normally.”
“Oh, it is,” Patricia said, the smile falling off her face. “But as I’m sure you’ve heard, she’s suffered a personal tragedy today. I would never expect her to come and work out after that.”
“No, of course not,” I said quickly, while the other witches all murmured sympathetic noises. “It’s really awful what happened to Thomas.”
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard it, frankly,” Patricia said. “Linda never had a bad word to say about him. She was trying to get him to come work out here as well, but because of his erratic schedule at the hospital, he could never really commit to a specific time.”
“Well, if you ask me, it’s because he was so outspoken at work,” one of the other paranormals said. I had a feeling they were all witches, but I couldn’t quite tell for sure.
“Why do you say that, Jess?” Patricia asked, turning to the woman. She was young, with a black pixie cut and a cute face.
“Well, the hospital has been trying to hide it for a while, but with Thomas being murdered, I’m pretty sure it’s all going to come out into the open now. There have been reports of discriminatory hiring practices by the elf in charge, and Thomas was the one who made the initial complaint.”
“Yamordir?” I asked, and Jess shrugged.
“I’m not sure if it goes as high as him. He’s in charge of all of human resources. He doesn’t do all of the hiring himself, though. But Thomas realized there were far fewer female paranormals being hired at the hospital here compared to other paranormal towns. He went to Kirmordir, the elf who runs day-to-day operations at the hospital, and there was an investigation being done.”
“How did he find out about the discrepancy?” I asked.
“He went to a conference a while ago, about the difference in treatment between male and female paranormals. He came back and explained to everyone what he had learned about how female paranormals often don’t have their pain taken as seriously by Healers, except in the case of shifters, where a female shifter’s pain was often treated exactly the same as a male shifter’s pain. There was also information about the demographics of the workers in hospitals in the paranormal world. I guess that triggered Thomas to look at the last hires, and he realized it skewed far too male. He was a good wizard. He could have very easily just sat down and not said anything, since after all he was male himself. But he didn’t. Borbordir ordered an internal investigation, but it was all very quiet. He didn’t want a scandal to hit the news.”
“Do you work at the hospital?” I asked Jess, and she nodded.
“Yes, I’ve been an Assistant Healer for six years. I knew Thomas pretty well, since we worked very closely together.”
“Well, surely no one at the hospital would kill him over an investigation?” Patricia said. “That’s unbelievable.”
Jess shrugged. “I don’t know. There were rumors that Yamordir was looking to move up in the world, and that he was trying to get a job with the Paranormal Medical Association. He had his sights set on bigger and better things than just our hospital. If he thought Thomas was getting in the way of him achieving his goals, who knows what he would have done?”
“It sounds like you don’t like him very much,” I said with a wry smile, and Jess nodded.
“You can say that again. He’s the type of elf who won’t hesitate to write you up for the slightest infraction, and who sticks to the rules like spaghetti to the wall. He wasn’t happy when Thomas went above his head to complain about the hiring practices.”
“We heard there were problems with potions being stolen,” I said.
“Yes,” Jess replied. “But Thomas wasn’t involved in that. We don’t even have access to the pharmacy, and rarely come across the people working there. That’s a completely separate issue.”
“I can’t believe it,” Patricia said, shaking her head. “I’d never heard about this at all.”
“As I said, it was an internal thing,” Jess replied. “But now that Thomas is dead, I’m sure it’s going to come out. Frankly, my money is on Yamordir.”
“Do you also know an elf called Borbordir?” I asked, and Jess nodded.
“Sure, he also works at the hospital. He’s best friends with Yamordir. The two of them have been inseparable for thousands of years, they say. He’s a little bit cold and aloof, but I mean, what elf isn’t? I don’t mind him. He seems like a professional.”
I laughed at the exaggeration. “So they must have been friends for a while, then.”
“Yeah, thousands of years,” Jess said, a confused smile flittering on her lips.
“Wait…actually thousands of years? How long do elves live for?”
“Mina only just found out yesterday that she’
s a witch,” Scarlett explained to the others. “She’s only been in our world for a few hours, so there are some things she doesn’t know yet. Like the fact that elves are immortal, and most of them are at least a thousand years old.”
“Oh, welcome to the paranormal world,” Patricia said, coming over and suddenly taking me into a big, unexpected hug. I didn’t really know how to react, so I tried to hug her back as well as I could without being super awkward about it. “It must be such a crazy time for you. How are you adjusting? Are you part of our coven, then? What a wonderful thing, to have another member of the coven of Venus in our lives. How did you find out you were a witch? You’re related to Scarlett?”
“That’s a lot of questions,” I said with a laugh as I separated from Patricia. I looked around, kind of half-expecting the other witches in the circle to look at me apprehensively, but to my surprise their faces were all filled with kindness and joy.
“Welcome to the coven,” another one told me.
“If you ever need anything at all, please let me know,” Jess said warmly. “I’m more than happy to do my part to show a new witch the ropes. And if you ever hurt yourself while doing your magic, come and see me at the hospital. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
“Do you need a wand? I have a whole box of them at home. I can make sure you have a few to get you started,” another witch said.
Warmth flooded my body as I realized these witches were immediately accepting me as one of their own. This was not only unexpected, but it was something I wasn’t used to.
“Thank you, thank you for the offers,” I said gratefully. “I am a member of the coven of Venus, although I’m not too sure what that means yet. I know that we’re a lightning coven.”
At that, the witches all grinned and nodded. “Yes, we are,” Patricia said.
“I found out I was a witch by accidentally using magic in the human world,” I explained. “Kyran found me and brought me here this morning, and Scarlett is my cousin. My mom is Carmen, but I think you know her as Camilla Tiller.”
“Oh, Camilla Sornik,” Patricia said, her eyes widening. “Does that mean…”
“No, she didn’t die,” I replied to the unasked question. “She moved to the human world, I guess without telling anyone.”
“Wow,” Patricia murmured. “I wonder why she left. Well, I’m sure she had good reason, and I’m glad she’s alive and well, and I’m so thrilled that her daughter has come here to meet the coven.”
“Agreed,” the witch who offered up her extra wands said. “No matter what the situation, if you’re a member of the coven of Venus, you’re one of us, and we’ll take care of you as our own. I promise you that.”
I was quite taken aback by their sheer willingness to accept me, and tears threatened to flood my eyes. I hadn’t exactly had a lot of supportive family members growing up, to say the least, and the fact that these women were so caring while barely even knowing me was just incredible.
But before I had a chance to say anything else, a voice barked from behind me. “Alright, witches. Line up! I hope you’re ready to WORK!”
CHAPTER 14
I jumped at the sound and turned around to find myself facing a tall man, at least six foot three, with jet black hair and gelled up frosted tips. It was like we were back in the nineties. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Vanilla Ice music video. His tank top was shredded, like someone had given a cat a bath and then let it loose on a floor this shirt was on, then wrapped the shredded pieces with strings of leather. This was paired with what seemed to be swimming shorts, blue with a white Hawaiian turtle print. It was certainly an outfit.
On the bright side, I could immediately tell he was a shifter. His dark eyes were deep-set, his nose long and pointed, and he just exuded a wolf-like energy. I had always been a pretty quick learner, and I was pleased to find that seemed to apply to paranormals as well.
This had to be Mercutio Blane.
“I see we have some new faces here,” he said, aiming a smile at Scarlett and me that I was pretty sure was supposed to be nice but still came off a little bit creepy. “Great. Some fresh blood. Let me tell you, you’re in for the time of your life.”
“I always say Mercutio’s workouts leave me so spent I can’t walk the next day, but my husband isn’t the biggest fan of that,” Patricia said, and the other witches roared with laughter, Mercutio joining in.
“Now, Patricia, don’t drive the new witches off with your twisted sense of humor. Who’s ready to get going?”
The witches all cheered, and Mercutio grinned. “Patricia, would you like to do the honors?”
Patricia stepped forward and pulled out a wand — a piece of wood about a foot long, covered in pink glitter with tassels on the end that made it look like the devil sticks I used to play with as a kid.
Pointing it at the field, she called out, “Venus, goddess of love, reveal our gym so we can treat our bodies with exercise.”
I gasped and took a step back as the empty field in front of us suddenly transformed into what I could only describe as the world’s craziest American Ninja Warrior course. A large pool had opened up and covered an area about the size of a football field. Above it was obviously an obstacle course, starting with a cargo net on about a seventy degree angle that had to be climbed to reach the next step.
My head spun just looking at it.
“Who wants to go first?” Mercutio asked, and Scarlett immediately jumped up, her hand in the air.
“Me, I do!” she called out, and Mercutio grinned.
“Great! Off you go.”
I watched in horror, knowing I was about to go through this as well, as Scarlett scampered up the cargo net with ease. It was like she was born with monkey genes, or something. She reached the top and stood on the platform that led to the next obstacle: fifteen plates, each a foot or so in diameter, set about four feet apart. Scarlett jumped lithely from one to the next before grabbing onto a rope that swung her across a gap. As she swung, a giant shark jumped up from the water below, its jaws snapping at my cousin’s ankles, and I let out a small shriek of terror.
“Alright, why don’t you go next?” Mercutio asked, and it wasn’t until about ten seconds later when no one had moved that I realized he’d been speaking to me.
“I, uh, think I might have made a mistake,” I said, and Jess stepped over to me and gave my arm a reassuring pat.
“Don’t worry, you won’t get hurt. It’s not nearly as bad as it seems. You can do this, Mina.”
“We’re here for you,” Patricia said to me with a kind smile. “Go for it. We’ll be right behind you.”
This was so far outside of my comfort zone it wasn’t even in the same zip code, but I had never been one to balk from a challenge. And the kind words from these witches, who I’d only met a few minutes earlier, spurred me on as well. I took a deep breath and walked to the bottom of the cargo net.
“Ok, Mina,” I whispered to myself. “You walked through three feet of snow during a freak storm once to get to an exam that ended up being cancelled. This should be a walk in the park compared to almost freezing to death.”
“You can do this!” one of the witches called out from where they still stood. I nodded, her words firming up my resolution. I steeled myself and jumped forward onto the cargo net.
After all, Scarlett had managed it no problem. Piece of cake, right?
Wrong.
I reached forward to grab the cargo net and missed, my hand flying through the netting and hitting only air. My momentum kept my body going forward, and my face hit the cargo net straight on, squishing my cheek into the textured rope.
This was not the most elegant start to the obstacle course. Reaching my hand back, I got a firm grip on the net and began to climb. It was about forty feet long, and I made it about ten feet before I started breathing heavily. Was I really that badly out of shape? My biceps were on fire by the time I reached the platform at the top, and I rolled onto it inelegantly, doing my be
st impression of a seal trying to roll over on the beach mid-nap.
My ears were met with shouts and cheering from down below, and I looked over to see I had a whole cheering section. Scarlett had joined them, apparently having finished the entire course already.
I waved awkwardly as I looked over at the next obstacle: the little round plates hovering in the air. Not only were they about four feet apart, but they were at different heights, too. This was going to be a challenge. I took a deep breath and jumped toward the first one, but I overshot it slightly. I was losing my balance, so I quickly jumped forward to the second one, which I undershot. I landed on it chest-first, knocking the wind out of me, but I clutched at the plate with all my might, my legs dangling toward the water thirty feet below. I scrambled back up onto the platform.
The witches were cheering for me again, and I focused hard on the next disc.
“You’re almost halfway there!” Scarlett shouted. “You can do it!”
I nodded, and then jumped. This time, my aim was better, and I landed square in the middle of the next round platform. I took a second, got my bearings, and repeated the process. Eventually, I was on the last one, and staring at the rope that would swing me across to the next platform, and my next chance to rest.
My eyes immediately dropped down to the water thirty feet below and landed on the shark. That couldn’t be a real shark, could it? No way. Mercutio would lose business pretty quickly if anyone who slipped up was eaten. Right?
I gulped hard and told myself it wasn’t real, but that didn’t especially help much. That shark looked real.
“Let’s go, Mina!” Patricia called out from below, cupping her hands to her mouth to make her voice carry. They were all so enthusiastic, how could I give up now? Besides, I was a good thirty feet off the ground. There was no way to get back down apart from going back the way I came, or going forward.
I could have tried curling up into a little ball and sobbing until someone felt enough sympathy for me that they used magic to get me down, I supposed, but I wasn’t going to resort to that.
Love at First Spell: A Witch Cozy Mystery (Fairy Falls Mystery Book 1) Page 8
