A Witch's Path

by N. E. Conneely

  "Thank you." I gave him a hug.

  "If I learn anything else I'll pass it along."

  Baden closed the door behind me and I headed back to my room while folding the paper and stuffing it in my pocket. Baden had given me plenty to think about.

  In my apartment, I found Tiffany asleep on the sofa and Elron studying a picture of a willow tree hanging on my wall.

  "Thank you for watching her," I said.

  "Of course."

  "Still, you didn't have to help." I wasn't used to us being friendly and helping each other.

  "Can I be of further assistance?" He tucked a stray hair behind my ear. "You should rest."

  My cheek tingled where the back of his hand had brushed against me. "I don't think so. I'm going to make us some food, get more information from her, and then we're going to the police."

  "Call for me if you are in need."

  He was gone before I had a chance to thank him again. I'd been saying a lot of thank you's lately. These situations were supposed to have gone away when the trolls were captured. Here I was, faced with a missing friend and a crazy werewolf.

  Tiffany was going to want to go charging after Amber right away, and I wouldn't agree. This was a matter for the police and shifters. I wasn't either of them, and I wasn't a match for an angry werewolf. My last brush with a confrontation had given me a clear view of my limits, and rescuing my friend from a crazy werewolf wasn't a skill I possessed.

  "Tiffany, honey, you have to wake up," I told her. She mumbled, but didn't move. "We have to find Amber."

  She shot up, "Amber? Where is she?"

  "That's what we need to talk about."

  Tiffany scrubbed her eyes. "I feel terrible."

  "I bet. It's going to be a little while before we can go back to the police. Where was the meeting?"

  "Up in Ellijay."

  "Which police department did you talk to?"

  "I talked to emergency dispatch."

  "Why didn't they believe you?" I asked. Tiffany should've spent more time with the police last night. I couldn't figure out why she hadn't been interviewed by several cops.

  "They thought I was making a prank call because I was fuzzy on the details. The other birds wanted to be left out of everything, which made telling a coherent story impossible."

  "But you told me the entire story, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. Do you know why Adder wanted Amber?"

  "No," She started crying, "but I knew she was scared. I should've done more to help her."

  "Sweetie, you did what you could. Let's go over everything again."

  We went over every detail of the night twice. I let Tiffany drift back to sleep while I found a change of clothes for her. After a brief debate over using the number Baden had given me, I pocketed it for later. I wanted to talk to the police before I did anything else.

  Elron

  The bonsai worked as I'd planned. It alerted me when Tiffany got in a scuffle with the two door guards; those were an excellent addition to Michelle's security. Since the tree didn't see any evil intent, I stayed in bed, hoping the disturbance would pass. When the discord continued I hastened to her apartment, wanting to make sure she was safe.

  I was playing a delicate game. I wanted to help, but it would be unwise to wear out my welcome. She wanted her independence and wouldn't enjoy my constant intervention. Besides, if I arrived every time something happened, she'd get suspicious.

  I looked at her door before I went down for breakfast. Thanks to the bonsai, I could tell that she wasn't home. Downstairs, only residents were up this early, making it a small group. Landa and Mander were setting out food as quickly as they could, while Baden waited next to the plates. Paxton was already seated, sipping on a large mug of blood.

  As soon as Landa set down the last dish, the four of us loaded our plates and started eating. After a moment of chewing, I asked, "Landa do you know where Michelle is this morning?"

  "No, I haven't talked to her today. Why?"

  "I thought she might have told you, considering last night's excitement."

  "What happened?" Landa demanded. She was protective of Michelle, seeing her as a daughter.

  "Her friend, Tiffany, broke into her room. From what she said, their friend, Amber, was abducted last night by a werewolf named Adder. According to Tiffany, the police weren't helpful and she thought Michelle could help."

  "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

  "I thought you knew. She asked me to watch Tiffany while she went to talk to someone. I thought she was talking to you."

  "If I may," said Paxton. "I was her first stop. She knew I would be awake and thought I might know something. Unfortunately, I didn't have any useful information for her, so I sent her to Baden. I'd heard him come in not long before and thought it wouldn't be too much of an imposition, considering the circumstances. My apologies if I was mistaken, Baden."

  "No, I was still awake, and happy to help. I've never heard anything good about Adder, and the news only gets worse."

  "Since Michelle isn't here, could the three of you fill me in?" Landa asked.

  The three of us explained the events of last night, filling in the sections of the evening we'd experienced. By the end of the story Landa was glaring at all of us.

  "Michelle and Tiffany are gone, and none of you have any idea where they went?"

  We shook our heads.

  "But you think they're at the police station."

  We nodded.

  "Elron, keep an eye on her."

  Michelle

  "Michelle, what's wrong?" Rodriguez answered the phone. "I'm supposed to be calling you early in the morning, not the other way around."

  If I'd been less stressed, I would've laughed. "True. I had a quick question. Crimes have to be reported where they happen, right?" I pushed Tiffany down the hall, steering her around a side table she swerved towards.

  "Yes, why?"

  "My friend witnessed a crime and didn't get a lot of help from the operator so she came to my house. Before we drove to the sheriff's office in Gilmer County, I wanted to check on the procedure."

  "You'll have to drive up there to make the report."

  "Anyone who might be able to help us with a matter including shifters?"

  "I'd talk to Randy Wells. He's a shifter, and a detective. I haven't talked to him much, but he stays out of most of the politics and focuses on being a cop."

  "Thank you."

  "Let me know if there's anything else I can do."

  "I will." I hung up the phone and grabbed Tiffany as she toppled into a wall. Sleep deprivation and stress were getting the better of her.

  "Wrong way sweetie, we need to go down the hall to the car." I repositioned us, draping her arm over my shoulder and wrapping my arm around her waist. We teetered down the hall like a drunken moose.

  "Have to . . . to help Amber." Tiffany muttered.

  "I know, Tiffany. We're headed that way." I dropped her in the passenger seat, shoving arms and legs into the appropriate locations so I could get the seatbelt buckled. A sleeping charm had her out cold. She hadn't rested well last night, and I needed her coherent when we talked to the detective.

  Pulling out of the driveway, I turned on classical music rather than my usual pop station. Hopefully, the soothing music would help Tiffany recover.

  Amber's been abducted. The words kept echoing through my head. Not gentle Amber, the softest and kindest of the three of us.

  Amber's been abducted. But why?

  My phone rang, knocking me out of the haze. Of course it was ringing. My phone rang at every hour of the day and night.

  "Oaks Consulting, this is Michelle."

  "Michelle, this is Mark. Amber told me to call you if I ever needed to find her."

  "Oh, hello." I'd been dreading this call. Amber used me as her emergency contact because she didn't have any family in the area. She'd considered using Tiffany, but half the time Tiffany had her phone off to avoid attracting at
tention while she was at work. I was first on Mark's list to call if he was looking for Amber.

  He sounded hesitant; as if he wasn't sure he should ask. "Look, I know Amber's been keeping something from me, and I want to know she's okay. If she doesn't want to see me anymore I can live with that, but this is very sudden. Last night we were fine, and now she missed breakfast and isn't returning my calls."

  Now I had to tell the confused boyfriend his girl had been taken. This was not a conversation I knew how to begin. "Mark, Amber really likes you. She isn't breaking up with you."

  "That's a relief. What's going on? Is her phone dead? Did she have a family emergency?"

  "Mark, where are you?"

  "At home, about to go to work. Why does that matter?"

  "Amber was abducted last night. I'm driving Tiffany to the police station to make a formal statement, and try to report her missing."

  "What happened?"

  "I'm not sure. Some guy grabbed her when she was walking to the car. Tiffany tried to help, and attempted to report it last night, but the police wouldn't listen."

  "Wait, someone took my girlfriend and the police don't care?" Mark growled.

  "Mark, that's not what happened. From what Tiffany said, there was a mix-up with the operator. We can talk again after the police talk to you. Right now you need to take some time and let this sink in. Go in to work late, or call in sick and meet us at the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office. I'm sure the police will want to ask you some questions."

  "You're going to find her, right?" He asked.

  I blinked away tears. I had to be able to see the road. "Mark, I'm a witch, not a cop."

  "You work with the police, right?"

  "Sometimes."

  "Work with them now. Find her!" Mark demanded.

  I swallowed hard. "It doesn't work that way. I can only work on the case if they hire me, and I doubt they will."

  "Why wait for them to hire you?"

  "Because I'm not a cop. As a consultant, and expert in my field, I can't touch a case without an invitation. They won't invite me because she's my friend. I know this will be hard to hear, but last time I did the lone hero-thing I almost died. I'm not in the dying hero business. I will do what I can, she's my best friend." Part of my heart cracked. It didn't matter if I was telling him the honest, bare-bones truth, it hurt. It hurt him, Tiffany, Amber, and me.

  "Alright, I get it. I need to think about stuff. I'll talk to you later."

  I sighed, with equal parts relief and exasperation. It felt good to have that conversation behind me, but it was frustrating for everyone to think I could fix it all with a quick spell. I couldn't work miracles, just spells. Wanting something to be a certain way didn't make it so.

  I tried to shake off the mood when we arrived in Ellijay, but it stuck with me. Rather than fight what I couldn't change I focused on what needed to be done.

  After I deactivated the sleeping charm, I gently shook Tiffany's shoulder. "Tiffany, wake up. We're here."

  "Umm-hurph."

  "Tiffany, I need you to wake up so you can tell us what happened to Amber." I waved the tea under her nose.

  Tiffany blinked, stretched, and focused on me. "Where are we?"

  Score, she was coherent and lucid. "Outside the Gilmer County Sheriff's Office. They are going to take your statement about Amber."

  "Right. How's that going to work? They didn't want to listen to me last night." She yawned and stretched again.

  "To start with, you're going to drink this tea and wake up a bit. Then we are going to walk in there and request to speak with Detective Wells. A friend of mine recommended him. When he talks to us, you are going to tell him the truth." I glared her. "No lying to protect anyone."

  She squirmed a bit. "But he'll want to talk to the shifters, and they won't back up my story."

  "You'd be surprised, but if you don't tell him the truth you're preventing him from doing his job. Would you take a job if you couldn't get any information about the clients and what they needed?"

  She scraped the toe of her shoe along the floor mat. "No." A gulp of coffee later she continued. "I'll tell him the truth, but if it comes back on me because no one will back me up, I'm going to blame you."

  "You sure are full of hot air. You'll blame yourself, the shifters, the police, Detective Wells, the guy who took her, and then me." I ticked them off on my fingers. "We both know you'll never forgive yourself if you can't find Amber." I said softly.

  "Michelle, I'm scared."

  "I know. I am too," I said softly. "Now, let's go."

  Tiffany trailed behind me like a lost puppy. Considering her usual spunky attitude, it was disheartening to see her so lost. I hoped she would bounce back after the police began their investigation, but I had a feeling she wouldn't feel right until the three of us were laughing over pizza again.

  With that thought, my stomach knotted. If the police didn't rescue Amber, I stood to lose two friends. I quickly brushed the moisture away from my eyes, blinking to focus on the building in front of me.

  The sheriff's office was a large brick building with white trim and glass doors. Once we were inside, I made a beeline for the receptionist; a heavy woman with glasses and short curly hair.

  "Good morning," she smiled. "How can I help you?"

  "We need to speak with Detective Wells. Is he in?"

  "Your names?"

  "Michelle Oaks and Tiffany Long."

  "Please sit down. I'll see if he's available."

  "Thank you." I steered Tiffany away as the receptionist picked up the phone.

  The seats in the small waiting area were hard plastic. I would've criticized the decor, but I had a feeling the chairs lived a rough life. Scattered between the chairs were side tables with stacks of National Geographic magazines. I picked up one with a rare black unicorn on the cover, and began reading about secluded tribes of unicorns living in Wyoming. The article featured a herd looking for a way to continue living a semi-nomadic life style, and have the advantages of modern life. The unicorns had partnered with local ranchers to assume many of the duties they would typically need a person to accomplish. The unicorns would patrol the fences, look after the livestock, and report any problems requiring opposable thumbs to the ranchers. In return, the unicorns had shelter, food, people aware of their location in case of trouble, and a small stipend.

  "Ladies?" A deep voice asked. "I'm Detective Wells. What can I do for you?"

  I looked up to see a very average looking man. He was just shy of six feet, neither thin, nor broad. His two most distinguishing features were his dirty blond hair and definition in his muscles.

  "Hi," I said as I stood up, and reached out to shake his hand. "I'm Michelle Oaks. Thank you for seeing us." He hesitated, but reached forward to shake my hand. I revised my earlier assessment. The most notable aspect of the detective would be the six fingers on both his hands.

  "Nice to meet you." He said, clearly relieved that I wasn't bothered by his extra fingers.

  Tiffany reached around me to introduce herself. "Tiffany Long."

  After shaking her hand, Detective Wells stuffed his hands in his pockets. "If you ladies will follow me, we can talk at my desk."

  We followed him down a short hall and into a room with ten desks. Four of them had uniformed men and women at work. He motioned for us to sit across from a well-organized desk at the back of the room.

  "What can I do for you?" Detective Wells asked.

  Beside me, Tiffany froze. Shifting in my seat, I stomped on her toe while I answered the question. "Tiffany would like to report a crime."

  He shifted his gaze to her. With a squeak, she started talking "Last night, our friend, Amber, was kidnapped."

  "Ms. Long—"

  "Please call me Tiffany."

  "Tiffany, did you witness the abduction?"

  "Yes."

  "Please describe the events." He slid a legal pad to the center of the desk and pulled a pen out of a drawer.

  Tiffany looked a
t me, and I waved my hand at her. She needed to get on with it; Amber was counting on her. Tiffany dropped her eyes before turning back to the detective. "Yesterday Amber asked me to accompany her to a meeting that bird shifters have. She was worried, and I don't know why. She never said."

  I listened to Tiffany tell the story again. This time the story made sense because she told it in order. She went through the entire sequence of events, from arriving at the house, Amber's kidnapping, checking on the other shifters, and her attempts to talk to the police.

  "The shifters wouldn't tell me much. Amber had been at the front door when they were attacked. She must have run out hoping to escape." Tiffany was speaking in a flat voice, devoid of emotion. Her eyes weren't focused on the detective, but on some distant point only she could see. If I hadn't known better I would've said she was hypnotized.

  "One of them told me Adder, a werewolf, might have taken her. The most the rest would say was that their attackers had smelled like werewolves. They wouldn't let me use their phone to report her abduction because they didn't want to be involved. I went back to my car and found my phone. I called nine-one-one, but the operator told me anyone could've taken Amber. He told me to call back if she didn't show up in the morning. I drove to Michelle's house, hoping she would help. This morning she told me we were coming up here to make a report, so here I am. I just want to find Amber. She trusted me to keep her safe and I failed." With that Tiffany broke down, softly sobbing.

  Detective Wells handed me a box of tissues. I pushed one into Tiffany's hand. She blew her nose and dried her eyes.

  While Tiffany cried, I told my side of the story starting from the time we entered my apartment, through the phone call with Mark, to dragging her in here. The detective asked me a few questions to clarify points, and turned his attention to the now sniffling Tiffany.

  Detective Wells said, "Tiffany, I need to ask you a few more questions. It would help me, and Amber, if you could answer them." She choked on a sob, and nodded. "What kind of meeting was Amber at? Was there anything special about her? Where does she work?"