by Morgana Best
“You interfering fool,” Diane screamed, lunging at me with the Taser. “They didn’t find out anything much by themselves. They wouldn’t have figured it out if you hadn’t told them!”
As she lunged at me, Willow appeared from nowhere and ran between her legs. Dianne collapsed in a heap on the floor, the Taser flying from her hands into the fire grate.
I ran for the Taser, but Dianne caught my leg as I went past, and held onto it. I struggled not to fall. I twisted and turned, pulling myself from Dianne’s grasp and teetering forward. “Help me!” I yelled at the house.
“You’re crazy,” Dianne said. “Why would I help you?” She grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it hard.
I fell backward, right on top of Dianne. She wrapped her arms around me and flipped me over. I could barely move, let alone breathe, with the heavier woman on top of me. I was relieved that she hadn’t managed to retrieve the Taser.
I pinched Dianne’s neck hard. She yelled and rolled over. I wriggled out from under her and tried to stand up, but she again grabbed my leg and held it hard in a vice-like grip.
There was a vase on the mantelpiece, or to be precise, a blue and white ginger jar, most likely an antique, which had belonged to my aunt. I reached up over my head, and could just wrap my fingers around it. I pulled, but nothing happened. That was weird. I knew it wasn’t glued there; I’d removed it to dust it only the other day.
Dianne pulled herself to her feet, using me to support herself. If only I could get the vase free and smash it over her head, yet it wouldn’t budge. After a moment or two, it dawned on me that the house didn’t want me to break the vase. “Let go!” I yelled at the house. “Let go!”
“I won’t let go!” Dianne said. She shoved me backward and then bit my leg.
“Ouch!” I screamed, and pulled her hair hard. It came right off in my hands. I screamed again. Thankfully, it was a wig.
In one motion, I threw the wig in Dianne’s face and threw myself at the coffee table. By some miracle, it still had the vase of dead wildflowers Craig had given me on it. I landed too hard on the coffee table, which then broke apart. The vase fell and shattered, spraying me with water and dead wildflowers.
I picked up the top of the coffee table and shoved it forward. It slammed into Dianne’s shins, and she shrieked and fell sideways, throwing her hands in the air.
It was then that the house laughed. It sounded like thunder, but was a deep belly laugh, rolling and rumbling with mirth. It was followed by a clapping sound.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I yelled at the house. “This is not a Mixed Martial Arts tournament! This is real life! I could get hurt!”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” Dianne said.
I looked up to see that she had scrambled to her feet, and was pulling a syringe from her purse. Her eyes glittered. “Insulin,” she said menacingly.
I summed up the situation. She was between the front door and me. I looked at the Taser lying in the fireplace. Before I could decide whether to try to reach it, there was a loud banging on the front door.
“Police! Open up!”
“No!” Dianne yelled. “Go away! Get back in your car, or I’ll kill this woman!”
“Who is that?” the voice called.
I saw another cop at the front window, peering in. He turned away. “The suspect has a hostage!” he shouted.
“I want you to leave!” Dianne yelled at the window. “I won’t go down for this! I didn’t do anything—Amelia did it. She’s framing me!”
“Step away from Ms. Spelled,” the cop at the window said calmly.
“I want out of this!” Dianne screamed. “Go away or she gets it!”
The cop vanished from sight.
“Get away from the Taser,” Dianne said to me. “Go over there, into the corner.”
I did as she asked.
Dianne, keeping her eyes on me, stepped over to the fireplace and then reached in for the Taser. As she did, her arm passed through the grate. “What the?” she screamed.
Dianne kept disappearing, until just her head was showing above the grate.
I was shocked beyond measure. I knew the house could make other people see things, but now I was seeing things too?
“No! Help me!” Dianne screamed. “It’s got me! Help!” Her face was pale and white, and her expression showed nothing but abject horror.
I wondered what to do next, but the house decided for me. Both the Taser and the syringe of insulin suddenly appeared in front of the fireplace. I picked them up and hurried to the front door.
I opened the front door, and three police officers practically fell in. Two ran past me, while the third stayed.
“Are you okay?” the cop asked. “Are you hurt?’
“No,” I said. “I think I’m fine.” The roots of my hair hurt, and so did the bite on my leg and the scratch marks. The house had a lot to answer for.
When I returned to the living room, one cop was handcuffing Dianne, who to my great relief was out of the fireplace and huddled in the corner.
“There’s no door! Just walls! Help me! Where am I?” she whimpered pathetically. When she saw me, her demeanor changed at once. “You!” she snarled. “I should’ve killed you, just like I killed Thomas!” She then let out a string of words that should not be repeated in polite company.
As they dragged her out, something occurred to me. “Who called you?” I asked the third cop.
“Alder Vervain, the private detective, called to say he saw an armed woman approach your house,” the police officer said.
I followed them to my front gate and looked up and down the street. Sure enough, there was a familiar car, Alder’s car. I thought I could see him, sitting behind the wheel, nothing but a black shadow.
Chapter 24
As soon as I returned to the house, I poured myself a glass of wine and ran a hot bath. When I was soaking in the lavender scented bubbles, I called Thyme to fill her in. I wanted to get in first. The news would be all over town within minutes.
“Would you like to stay with me tonight?” Thyme asked, when I had finished my rundown of the evening’s events.
“I’ll be fine here, thanks. Is there a safer house in the world?” I went to take another sip, but realized my glass was empty. I had downed the entire glass before I realized that I hadn’t eaten for hours. No wonder I felt dizzy.
There was silence for a moment. “Well, you have a point there,” Thyme said. “Why don’t you take tomorrow off?”
“Are you kidding me?” I said. “If there’s anything I need right now, it’s cupcakes.”
Thyme laughed. “See you tomorrow then, boss.”
“See you tomorrow,” I said with a laugh. I carefully set down my empty wine glass, hopped out of the bath, and toweled myself dry.
I went into my bedroom, intending to put on pajamas and then lie on the sofa and stuff my face with chocolate. At that point, it dawned on me that Camino was likely to come over.
I had not yet worn her gift, a gift that was as thoughtful as it was bizarre. I figured that Camino would come over at some point that night to see how I was doing, once the bush telegraph about the evening’s events had reached her, so I carefully pulled on the koala onesie. It was awfully hard to get on, but I finally managed after a struggle. Next, I put on the giant koala slippers.
I looked in the mirror and had a fit of giggles. I looked like an evil monster rather than a nice, fluffy koala. I peered more closely in the mirror. I had deep circles under my eyes and looked haggard. “Well, who wouldn’t look tired after the day that I’ve had?” I asked the bathroom mirror. Thankfully, it didn’t answer.
My eyes fell on the expensive facemask that I’d bought the other day. I read the label. It promised to ‘refresh, revitalize, and give the skin a rejuvenated appearance’. That was just what I needed. The ingredients were listed as seaweed, hyaluronic acid, green tea extract, and royal jelly. Sounded good!
I opened the packet and sm
eared some on my face, carefully avoiding the edges of the koala head-hat. To my dismay, the substance was bright green, lumpy and awfully sticky. Oh well, it felt soothing, and who would see me but Camino? Even she probably wouldn’t see me, as the mask was to stay on for only ten minutes.
I wobbled into the kitchen—gee, it was hard to walk in the koala onesie—got a box of chocolates, and went back into the living room.
I picked up the remote and lay on the sofa. Willow and Hawthorn ran into the room, took one look at me, hissed, and ran out, all their fur standing on end.
I laughed, and selected a channel—no, not Mixed Martial Arts. I popped a chocolate in my mouth and flipped the channel to Love It or List It, when there was a knock on the door.
“Camino,” I said with my mouth full of a chocolate truffle. I stood up, and then bend down to retrieve a green glob of facemask that had fallen to the floor. I stuck it back on my face and waddled to the door.
I flung the door open to greet Camino. To my horror, it was not Camino. It was Alder Vervain.
“Argh!” he said, clutching at his throat in shock. He stepped backward.
“Sorry, it’s only me,” I said through a mouthful of chocolate. I was aghast. Clearly, Alder wasn’t doing much better.
I swallowed the rest of the chocolate whole and then had a coughing fit when it went down the wrong way. I bent over, coughing violently. Tears ran down my cheeks, no doubt making rivulets in the green slime.
When I recovered, I looked back up. To my surprise, Alder was still there. I had half expected he would run away. “I’m wearing a koala onesie and face mask,” I explained.
He nodded. I think he was trying not to laugh. “I can see that.”
I felt my face flush, but the green no doubt covered my red cheeks.
“Can I come in? I’d like to talk to you.”
“Come in? Into my house?” I said. “Are you feeling okay?”
Alder raised one eyebrow and shot me a strange look. “Err, yes thank you. And you?”
I just shrugged and stood aside. I didn’t have the energy to come up with a good reason not to invite him in. I was exhausted. What could I do? I showed him into the living room. “Please have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
He sat down, and I peered at him. Nothing was happening to him—yet.
“Why are you staring at me?” he asked. “Is something wrong?”
“No reason. No. I’ll be right back.” I walked as fast as I could to the bathroom and removed the facemask with warm water. I looked in the mirror again once I’d removed the last of the green. My teeth were covered with chocolate. On a brighter note, my skin did look better, but I had no time to be pleased about that now. I waddled to my bedroom and tried to get out of the onesie. The headpiece came off easily, but the rest wouldn’t budge. I was just too tired to get it off.
I finally gave up. For all I knew, Alder might be a nervous wreck by now, seeing walls closing in on him, or he might be half way through the fireplace. I had better go and rescue him.
I shuffled into the living room, concerned with what I would see. To my surprise, Alder was as right as rain. Willow was sitting on his lap and Hawthorn was sitting beside him. Both were purring loudly. I sat opposite him, trying not to show my surprise.
“I hope you’re all right,” Alder said with obvious concern.
“Oh yes,” I said, feeling a bit tipsy. “This is the first time I’ve worn the koala onesie. It was a gift. I didn’t buy it. I bought the facemask, though.” I stifled the urge to giggle. “I didn’t know it was green.”
Alder frowned, and then looked at the open wine bottle on the floor next to the remains of the coffee table.
“I’ve only had one glass of wine,” I said defensively, “but I haven’t eaten for hours.”
“I meant, are you okay after your run in with Dianne Longley? It looks like you had quite a struggle.” He gestured to the broken vase and the dead wildflowers strewn everywhere.
“Oh, yes.” I waved my hand in dismissal. “I’m okay, though. Thanks for asking. Oh, and thanks for calling the cops.”
Alder smiled. “You’re welcome. I came tonight because I wanted to see if you were all right, but I also wanted to come clean.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Dianne was the one who hired me to follow you.”
I gasped. “She was?”
Alder nodded. “I was suspicious of her right from the beginning. It’s obvious to me that she wanted to frame you. I shared this information with the detectives, of course.”
“You didn’t tell me,” I said petulantly.
Alder shrugged. “I couldn’t. Client confidentiality and all that.”
“I suppose.” I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t care about client confidentiality when he told the police, but I suppose that was different. But why did the house like him? And why did the cats like him? Camino’s divination showed that Alder harbored no ill intent toward me, but that didn’t explain why my house and my familiars thought he was so nice. “It’s strange that my cats like you,” I said. “They’re usually not so friendly with strangers.”
Alder shrugged. “It makes a nice change. I’m not too popular with some in this town.”
“Because of your parents.” I clapped my hand over my mouth as soon as I said the words.
Alder did not appear offended, but he did not look surprised. “I’m afraid so,” he said. “My parents did alienate a lot of people in town. I myself became estranged from them, in the end.”
I thought on that for a moment. “So you don’t share your parents’ views?”
Alder shook his head. “I don’t. Amelia, how much do you know? I mean, obviously Thyme, Camino, Mint and Ruprecht have filled you in to some degree.”
“You mean that I’m a witch?” I sure hoped that was what he meant, or this would be yet another embarrassing moment.
To my great relief, Alder nodded. “Yes, but what do you know of your paternal bloodline?”
I was puzzled. “Nothing. I only know that my father was a witch, and his sister, my aunt who left me this house, was a witch, too. Mind you, I didn’t have a clue about any of that until I heard about the will. My parents did not once mention anything of the sort. As far as I know, I never met my aunt. Although I think I might’ve come to this house when I was very young, because I do have vague memories of it.”
Alder fidgeted. “There is no such thing as black or white magic. Magic is energy, so what some call black magic, or negative spells, can be turned to good. Magic is magic. It is whether the practitioner uses it for good or bad, that determines whether it is called black or white magic.”
My head was spinning. “Why are you telling me this?” Alder looked uncomfortable, and that made me nervous.
Alder stroked Willow, who was looking up at him adoringly. “There are those who are Dark Witches by birth,” he continued. “I must explain that this doesn’t mean that they are evil. It simply means they have strong power to manifest negative events, until they learn to control it. Hereditary Dark Witches are the most powerful of all witches.”
I still wondered why he was telling me this. Although I was somewhat pleased that the magnetic and mysterious Alder Vervain was sitting in my living room, I was tired, somewhat tipsy, dressed in a koala onesie, and had been set upon by a murderer only a short time ago.
Alder looked away from me. “Your aunt learned to control it,” he said.
It took some time for the import of his words to sink in. “My aunt,” I said slowly. “My aunt was a Dark Witch? A hereditary Dark Witch?”
Alder nodded.
“My father was a Dark Witch?” I continued.
Alder kept nodding, his expression now impassive.
“And I am…” I could hardly bring myself to say the words. “Are you telling me that I’m a Dark Witch?”
Chapter 25
Before he could answer, there was a knock at the door.
“I should be going,” Alder said, as he sto
od up. “I hope I haven’t upset you, telling you that. It just means that you’re very powerful, and explains why you keep setting things on fire. It’s nothing to worry about.”
Yet I knew it was something to worry about, by the way he said it. Why hadn’t the others told me this? They kept telling me I was powerful, but they had never once come straight out and said, “Hey, Amelia, you’re a Dark Witch.”
I opened the door to see Camino, Thyme, Mint, and Ruprecht standing there. The latter three gasped when they saw me in the onesie, and then all four of them gasped when they saw Alder appear beside me.
“Goodnight, Amelia. Hello, all.” He swept passed them with a flourish of his long, black coat.
I ushered them inside. They all rounded on me as soon as I shut the door.
“What was he doing here?” Thyme asked.
They were all talking at once. Ruprecht and Mint were both asking me what Alder wanted, while Camino was complimenting me on how much the onesie suited me.
“Into the living room,” I said. I hurried ahead of them and then threw myself backward on the sofa and stretched out. “I’m exhausted. I could sleep for a week.” I yawned loudly.
“You need to relax and unwind,” Ruprecht said.
“What was Alder doing here?” Thyme asked again.
“He told me that he was working for Dianne—she was the one who’d hired him to watch me. He was pretty sure she was doing it to lay the blame on me, to frame me. He said he told the cops.”
“That was nice of him,” Thyme said dryly.
I looked up and caught Ruprecht’s gaze. At that moment I was fairly sure he knew there was more, but thankfully he didn’t say anything.
Mint opened a bag and pulled out some wrapped sandwiches. “We knew you wouldn’t get yourself anything to eat, and we were all worried about you.”
I was touched.
Soon I was munching on a huge salad sandwich. Willow and Hawthorn were pouncing on my koala slippers. I think Hawthorn was trying to kill them.
“It reminds me of life, in a way,” Ruprecht said.
