“And you need to know how many darks are there now? Aren’t ghosts your area of expertise?” Kingfisher asked. He glanced at Josephine and Scarlett to include them in his judgment.
“We’re doing our best,” said Scarlett, biting her lip. “Ellie Is a formidable opponent.”
Josephine stayed quiet, but her mouth had formed a thin line. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she did not look pleased. She was studying the map as if her life depended on it.
If Kingfisher was to be believed, it very well might.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Time to stop dithering,” Kingfisher said, heading into the woods without even bothering to see if we were following.
We followed the babbling noise of the stream until we found Paws found a good spot for us to wade into the water itself. I felt the press of the gentle current against my rain boots and my feet felt colder.
“I was expecting some dire warnings about avoiding the dark ghosts,” Scarlett whispered.
I shook my head. “Maybe he’s giving us the credit of assuming we know what we’re doing. He might actually think we’re prepared!”
“He thinks nothing of the kind. He just doesn’t care if we live or die,” said Josephine darkly.
“What’s bothering you, anyhow?” Scarlett asked.
Josephine shook her head. “Just that we’re walking into danger with very little preparation and no idea what we’re about to encounter,” she muttered. After a pause she added, “Just that the dark witches can’t leave well enough alone.”
She had a point. From my own point of view, solving a murder was difficult enough, but doing it on top of confronting Ellie was more than I had bargained for. Now we were left to rely on two ghosts who, no offense, did not appear to be the most reliable allies in the world. Yet we were counting on them to protect us in the most dangerous situation I had ever put myself in, not to mention my two friends.
All in all, I couldn’t really blame Josephine for her nerves. We were walking single file down the stream bed in the dead of night. It was slow going. Having offered to bring up the rear, I found myself keeping an eye on everyone else. Josephine’s head kept turning from side to side as she checked for the source of every tiny forest noise, but nothing came to disturb our progress.
We had put on our rain boots to wade through the water, and that at least was going well. The rocks under our feet were silken and smooth, so my feet were neither catching nor slipping. If one of us had fallen, we would have had to call off the mission. As it was, I could see Kingfisher and Paws up ahead, chatting about the good old days.
Apparently they had once entertained themselves by robbing trash cans together. I wasn’t sure it was technically stealing, since Paws was a cat and Kingfisher was . . . whatever he was . . . but I didn’t think it was the wisest comment to make, so I didn’t.
Whatever you could call what they’d done, they were certainly proud of themselves for doing it.
I let them go on for a long time, figuring that to draw their attention would only slow us down. Jumping from one story to the next, Kingfisher apparently had trouble focusing on one thing at a time.
Eventually, when I thought we should surely be getting near enough to Puddlewood to start paying attention, I whisper-yelled to our ghost escorts. “Shouldn’t we be trying to be quiet?”
Paws looked over his shoulder and said, “Then why are you talking?”
I had walked right into that one, but I was prepared, “Because you two are.”
“She gets grumpy when her life is in danger,” said Paws to Kingfisher, as if I weren’t even there.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said. “You two might view this casually because you’re already ghosts, but my friends and I would like to return home alive tonight. Please try to behave yourselves. If you need to relive the old days, you can do it once we’re safely away from Puddlewood,” I steamed.
“Bossy,” said Kingfisher, his eyes going slightly glassy. “I like it.”
As we moved along down the stream, the forest got quieter. Soon I realized that I had no idea where we were, but the Kingfisher seemed to know exactly where we were going. He muttered something about the map making him feel a design on his back and telling him which way to turn.
Scarlett, who also knew these woods well, stayed alert but quiet for the entire trek. She didn’t appear to be as nervous as Josephine, but her face was still grim.
All three of us had our wands out. If we happened to run into a lost hiker, we’d certainly have some explaining to do.
At a point where the stream curved, we suddenly saw dark flashes blossom in the distance. Kingfisher slowed down and we all strained to see ahead. We couldn’t be anywhere near Puddlewood yet, but perhaps the lights signaled the approach of a patrol. Kingfisher became deadly serious as he turned and motioned for us to duck down.
I wasn’t entirely sure what he expected us to do. I wasn’t about to get my cape soaked, so I slung it over my arm and crouched as low as I could.
Kingfisher and Paws moved ahead, Paws climbing a tree to stay out of sight while he guarded Kingfisher’s back. Josephine glanced back at us to make sure we were all right. I gave her a nod and she nodded back. As the moving lights came toward us, we could see that they were made by two dark ghosts.
I made sure my wand was at the ready; this is what I had spent the day preparing for. If we couldn’t handle two of them, how would we ever handle hundreds?
I soon became so preoccupied with what the ghosts were doing that I lost track of the Kingfisher. One moment he’d been standing there in the water, the next he had faded into nothing. Where on earth had that ghost gotten to? Wasn’t he supposed to be helping us, or had he deserted us already?
The dark ghosts hadn’t noticed us yet. Hidden deep in shadow as we were, they very well might pass us by, or so I hoped. Their dark shimmer made me sad. This was not supposed to be the fate of ghosts.
Once they were almost upon us, my breath hitched and I gripped my wand tighter. In another moment we’d be discovered, and I would have to use either the defensive spell or the bright spell I’d been practicing against the ghosts. But just when I thought it was time to fight, something wide and shimmering appeared behind them. It looked like nothing so much as a moving tree trunk, or something equally unlikely, but I had no idea what it actually was.
The next instant it was floating over the heads of the two dark ghosts, who, in the confidence of their reign in Puddlewood, were paying no attention to their surroundings. Despite the fact that they were clearly on patrol, they hadn’t expected to find anything, including trouble.
Well, trouble had found them. They certainly hadn’t been expecting Kingfisher and his blanket, which was what I thought the shimmery thing was at first. When I looked more closely, I saw that it was not a blanket but a net, floating above the dark ghosts’ heads and slowly moving downward. The dark ghosts were getting closer and closer to where Scarlett, Josephine, and I were hiding, but they still hadn’t noticed that anything was amiss in their domain.
Kingfisher slid around from behind the ghosts. When our eyes locked for a moment, his were dancing. Then the net settled on the ghosts.
They yelled in surprise, but it was too late. Soon even their yells were cut off as they started thrashing around, trying to get away. But the net was closing in on them, and I knew they wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon.
Silence rang all around us. For a few moments nobody moved. Then Kingfisher appeared by my side.
The mischief had seeped from his eyes to his mouth; by now he was openly grinning. “That sure was fun. Didn’t expect that, did you? Of course I would save you,” he said, rolling his eyes.
Josephine stood up and dusted off her skirt in a businesslike motion. “I’ll have you know that I do not need saving. I don’t think these two do either.”
“Of course, most wondrous one. What can I have been thinking? Let’s just say I helped,” said the Kingfisher indulgently.
“I suppose it was only a matter of time before Paws found somebody else who talks like him,” I muttered.
“Is Charlie here? I don’t think there’s anyone to call wondrous,” Paws muttered.
I coughed. Of course he’d say that.
To be fair, he gave me a sort of sheepish look back. “Apparently reconnaissance is stressful. I apologize for my rudeness.” He bowed his head.
Scarlett still hadn’t said a word. Instead, she had wandered over to the dark ghosts, who were thrashing uselessly in their net.
The net had somehow scooped under them, so they were now floating off the ground. The net looked more like a magical ball inside which they were trapped.
“This is the cleverest thing I have ever seen,” said Scarlett, examining the net closely.
Kingfisher bowed. “Why thank you, my dear. I have always thought that myself. I’m rather impressed with my own ingenuity.”
“That’s because there’s no one else around to be impressed,” Paws muttered.
“It would be best if we kept moving,” I said. “We don’t have all night. Who knows how many more patrols we’re going to run into.”
“Let’s go,” said Kingfisher.
As we resumed our march down the stream, I glanced back several times to see the ball of light still bobbing. The ghosts hadn’t moved, and no sound came from them. Suddenly I had a feeling that Kingfisher had done this many times before, and a newfound respect started to dawn, both for him and for Paws. We witches might have been able to handle this on our own, but it was much easier with a guide and a defender.
Two more ghost patrols passed us as we made our way downstream, but they were far enough away that the Kingfisher didn’t feel the need to defend us by capturing them. Those patrols, like the first one, weren’t paying any attention to what might be going on around them. They had become complacent, and I couldn’t wait to change that.
But my heart ached every time I saw them. Ghosts were not supposed to turn dark, and the sight of them made me feel as though I had failed in my witch duties. Dark ghosts were supposed to be a rare anomaly. There certainly weren’t supposed to be hundreds of them in one place.
The forest grew darker the further we traveled. I found myself mostly concentrating on my feet, hoping our own ghosts were keeping an eye out for attacks and patrols. I was mostly worried about stumbling and falling into the freezing water, and my fears were not unjustified.
We had been traveling for a long time in silence again when, with a quiet cry, Josephine went down. Scarlett grabbed her just in time to keep her from going under completely, but Josephine still had to perform a drying spell on her skirt. Her face was pale in the dim air. She had been the least happy of us about this excursion from the start, and nothing that had happened had changed that.
After Josephine was settled, we resumed our course, going even more slowly than before.
Soon a cold wind started to blow into my face, making me squeeze my eyes shut against it. When I open them I saw a ball of light at my feet, then two more near Scarlett and Josephine. Scarlett had created a way for us to see without being detected.
Josephine looked back at Scarlett and gave her a grateful smile. I sniffed the wind again, trying to place what I was smelling. “What is it?” I whispered to Scarlett.
“It’s mud. Lots of mud,” she said. Maine had its very own season for mud; people in other parts of the country knew it as spring. We were in the middle of it, so the smell shouldn’t have been surprising, but I did wonder why it was so strong.
Kingfisher called a halt a short while later, and Paws came back to talk to us. “Stay behind that tree,” he said, pointing. “We’re going to scout ahead. If we’re not back in five minutes, run.”
The tree he was referring to was gigantic. Old and sprawling, its roots reached down to the river as if it always wanted a drink.
“We’re the witches here! We’re supposed to do the reconnaissance,” Josephine sputtered, her voice low and her eyes serious. Scarlett glanced at her nervously.
“You’ll have the chance to do plenty of reconnaissance,” Paws reassured her. “I merely don’t want you in harm’s way just yet. The Kingfisher and I will make sure we’re not walking right into the town itself. Right now he can’t see far enough ahead, so he’s just going to make sure we’re safe. Once we find Puddlewood, you three can do your thing. I’m gonna go in search of mice anyway. This is a forest. It’s teeming with them. Something good has to come out of this night, after all.” He licked his lips and Scarlett shuddered.
“I’m a cat. Don’t judge my nature,” he said.
“We won’t. We’ll just judge you,” I told him.
“Let’s go. I thought you didn’t want this to take all night. If you talk all night it will take all night. See how that works?” Kingfisher demanded.
The two ghosts disappeared, arguing the whole way. As we watched them move out of sight, Josephine turned to me and said, “Do you think they were that difficult when they were alive, or did becoming ghosts do it?”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “It’s hard to tell with Paws. I’m pretty sure he’s always been that way.”
The air was getting warmer; I was no longer shivering. Why it was warming up I had no idea, but I was worried that it couldn’t be a good sign.
Josephine looked more frustrated than Scarlett, who appeared content to hide and wait. She did make sure to check the Tupperware container of herbs she’d brought with her, just in case.
It had been awhile since we’d seen any dark ghosts.
Minutes passed and there was no sign of Paws or the Kingfisher. My nerves started to fizz and whizz. Why hadn’t there been any more dark ghosts? Shouldn’t there have been? What sense did it make not to protect your town more carefully in the areas right around it than in areas further away?
Neither of my companions seemed to have noticed. They were quietly whispering about what we’d do if we came across Ellie, Betty, and Possy. Josephine said we should stand and fight, while Scarlett insisted that this was merely a fact-finding mission.
“Puddlewood is this way!” The Kingfisher had appeared from beyond the large tree, yelling for all the world as if we weren’t trying to sneak through the forest.
“What do you think you’re doing!” Josephine gasped, turning furious eyes on the ghost. “Don’t yell!”
“Why ever not?” Kingfisher looked honestly bewildered. “The whole town is empty.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“No way!” I gasped. The odd feeling I’d been ignoring only grew. Something inexplicable was happening. I looked around for Paws, who appeared next to his ghost friend. “He speaks the truth. For once. There’s nothing there.”
“What about the ghosts we just saw?” I demanded.
“Decoys, clearly,” he said. “The rest of them are gone. Cleared out and cleared away.”
My mind worked to process the news, but it was difficult. I couldn’t quite believe what they were saying.
“Where’d they go?” I asked.
“Don’t know. We could get Geraldine out here to do a reconstruction spell and see, but I have a feeling that won’t work very well with Ellie covering their tracks.”
I swallowed hard. “I have to see.”
Closely followed by Scarlett and Josephine, I climbed out of the stream. If there wasn’t even anyone around to catch us, I felt mighty foolish having spent all that time wading through the water.
Kingfisher led the way, the rest of us trailing a short distance behind him. Sure enough, when we got to Puddlewood we found mud everywhere; the smell was now overwhelming. There were a few trees, some with collapsed buildings next to them, but there was no sign of the witches or dark ghosts we had expected to spy on. The whole place had been destroyed.
My mouth worked, but nothing came out. I glanced at my companions to see if they had anything to offer, but they were staring at the mess around us with faces as shocked as mine.
“I can’t
believe this,” Josephine whispered. “They just up and left.”
“It looks like they destroyed the town themselves so as to cover their tracks,” Paws confirmed. “Definitely scared away the mice as well.” His armor rattled a bit as he looked around with displeasure.
“We have to find them! We have to get out of here and warn the other coven members,” I muttered.
“All in good time, lass,” said Kingfisher.
We looked around the destroyed village for a long time. We looked until my eyes started to close with exhaustion. Scarlett, Josephine, and I wanted to find any clues we could, but after searching for what felt like hours I reached two conclusions: we weren’t going to find anything, and they had known we were coming.
All my spell practice had been pointless. At least for tonight, no shield would be needed and no bright spell.
“Let’s get out of here. Rosalie will want a report. We need some sleep. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here tonight,” said Scarlett.
The rest of us agreed. Paws and Kingfisher had given up long ago and sat down to play cards.
“Let’s go,” I sighed.
The walk back felt quicker. When we reached the car, we said goodbye to Kingfisher.
“I don’t like feelings and drama. I’m more a fade into the night sort of ghost,” he explained, already backing away.
We didn’t keep him there to say goodbye. Scarlett looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but was too tired.
He faded back into the woods.
On the way back to Mintwood, Paws was the only one who was happy to talk. Since what he wanted to discuss was the finer points of bird stalking, none of the rest of us said much.
Lights were winking in the living room when we got to the farmhouse. Jasper’s truck wasn’t there, but I figured he had probably left it at the house across the street.
As we parked, Josephine said, “Why do you think they left Puddlewood?”
“They left because they knew we’d come,” I said tiredly.
“I don’t get it,” said Scarlett, scrubbing her eyes. “They went to all that trouble only to destroy the place.”
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