The chill, autumn air burned my lungs as I sprinted uphill. I didn’t look back to see if the thing had started following me—I didn’t need to. Its quiet footfalls echoed my own. I knew from its pace that it would overtake me within seconds.
The scrying spell we had attempted had drained my magic to the point where I could not even work up enough power to cast a simple acceleration spell. I heard my pursuer draw closer, heard their ragged breath echoing within the jack-o-lantern mask. My leg muscles cramped and burned, resisting the pace.
My grandmother’s hedges came into view as I ran into my driveway. The thing continued to gain on me—I saw its black robes whipping behind me as I turned onto the gravel. A grasping, gloved hand reached out to seize me. I ducked sideways and it snatched at the air. Just a few more feet...
I practically threw myself over the hedge, landing in a heap on the other side. I heard a loud, stomach-churning snap and felt hot pain begin to shoot up my arm. I scrambled to my feet.
The jack-o-lantern-headed figure stood just feet away, on the other side of the hedge, staring at me. I pulled my cell phone from my coat pocket.
The thing turned abruptly and began walking away. I hurriedly dialed Ada’s cell.
“Hello? Sam?” Ada answered sleepily.
“Someone—something—followed me home,” I said quickly. “They’re here now.”
“Are you safe?” The exhaustion in Ada’s voice had vanished, replaced by an unexpected hardness.
“Yes. I’m fine,” I watched the thing disappear into the darkness. “They’re getting away. Hurry!”
“We’ll be right there,” Ada said. “Stay where it’s safe and don’t hang up.”
The police cruiser pulled up just minutes later, its headlights off. Ada and Ethan Gallagher jumped out, quick and silent as shadows, brandishing their sidearms.
“They went that way,” I pointed into the trees where the thing had disappeared. “You’ll need lights—”
“—We’ll be fine.” Ada said brusquely, motioning for Ethan to follow her. They, too, disappeared into the trees.
I waited on the other side of the hedge, feeling foolish and useless, cradling my injured arm. I jumped at every sound and did a double-take at every shadow. The wind picked up again, this time bringing with it a light, freezing rain. My wrist throbbed and my legs ached from the chase.
I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel and saw the Gallaghers making their way up my driveway.
“They’re gone, aren’t they?” I said. Ethan nodded.
“We searched the hill,” he said, “There was no one there.”
“But they were just here!” I protested. “I saw them.”
“Oh, they were here all right,” Ada said wearily. “They left their calling card.”
“Calling card?”
“At the bottom of the hill,” she sighed.
“It’s a jack-o-lantern,” Ethan said, “carved upside-down. Smashed to pieces in the middle of the road.”
Chapter 20
I awoke to the smell of coffee and the sound of soft rain mingled with big-band music coming from downstairs. The pale light streaming in through my bedroom windows told me it was still early. I hoisted myself out of bed, careful not to bump or strain my splinted arm, and made my way downstairs.
“Good morning!” Ada greeted me at the bottom of the stairs with a mug of steaming coffee. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” I said, taking the coffee gratefully, “but probably not as tired as you are.”
Ada was looking even paler than usual and there were deep, bluish circles under her eyes. She had spent the night at my house for safety, in case the thing returned. Ethan had gone back to the bottom of the hill to collect the jack-o-lantern pieces for evidence.
“I’m fine,” Ada waved me off. “How’s the arm?”
She had helped me splint my broken wrist the night before. I had resisted going to the town clinic, knowing that a simple healing spell would fix it right up...I just hadn’t had the magic to cast it at the time.
“Achey,” I said. “But watch this.”
I took a sip of coffee, handed the mug back to Ada, and pointed at my injured arm with my other hand.
“Shoulder to elbow, elbow to hand,
Blood and bone I now command.
Right yourselves, rejoin, and knit,
Mend the split and find the fit.”
A jolt of cool, soothing magic replaced the pain in my arm. I unwrapped the splint and showed the freshly-mended wrist to Ada, bending and rotating it.
“This magic stuff still blows my mind,” she said, shaking her head. I chuckled and took my coffee back.
“Is this one of Granny Greene’s albums?” I asked, peering at the record player.
“Sure is. You’ve got an incredible collection of music here. I hope it’s okay that I put it on...”
“It’s lovely,” I said. “It feels safe. Thank you.”
“Ethan’s on his way with donuts,” Ada said. “It’s going to be a long day for all of us—he and I figured we’d best start it off on the right foot.”
“Have there been any developments?”
Ada shook her head.
“The rain washed out any footprints we could have hoped to find. We’re going to see if we can get some DNA off the jack-o-lantern pieces, but I’m not too hopeful there either. You said they were wearing gloves, which tells me that they’re careful.”
We spent a few minutes recounting the events of the previous night. Ada took notes on a tablet while I gulped down the rest of my coffee and helped myself to another cup from the french press.
Ethan arrived shortly before I had to leave to open the shop and the three of us enjoyed a quick breakfast of homemade donuts. I caught a ride into town in the police cruiser, which Ethan pulled into the back alley behind Happy Blendings.
“We need to run up to the station,” he said, “and we’ll be doing security for the parade right after that, but don’t hesitate to call us if you feel at all unsafe.”
“You should be fine as long as you’re around people,” Ada continued. “This guy’s MO is going after lone targets after dark. As soon as the parade’s over, we’ll start watching the shop in shifts. We don’t know if you’re still a target, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I’ll be fine, y’all,” I assured them, trying to keep my tone casual. “I’m a witch, remember? Double, double toil and trouble and all that. I’m supposed to be the scary one here.”
The Gallagher twins exchanged a skeptical look.
“Look,” I pressed, “last night was a fluke. If I was at full power, things would have gone differently. As it was, we’d already used up all our magic on the scrying spell...”
“Scrying spell?” Ethan asked. “What’s that do?”
“Well it’s supposed to help you find something you’re looking for...but it’s not an exact science. You need a lot of power to make it work and even then you’re usually left with more questions than answers. We were using it to try and figure out who the water-witch is.”
“Is this something that could potentially tell us who the murderer is?”
“We thought of that, actually,” I said. “We asked the scrying basin to reveal the killer and it just showed us Main Street.”
“Main Street?”
“Yeah. It was stuck on Main Street. That’s what it showed every time we asked about the water-witch, too.”
“Too bad,” Ada sighed. “A magical shortcut would have been nice.”
“Wouldn’t it?” I laughed, opening the door of the police cruiser. “I’ll see y’all later. Good luck with the parade.”
Chapter 21
I joined David, who was already hard at work, at the prep station.
“Don’t wear yourself out,” I told him. “You need to save your strength for the parade. Did you get enough practice yesterday?”
“Too much,” he yawned. “The guys wanted everything to be perfect. We spent
hours on our figure-eight formation.”
“I’m sure it will all pay off,” I laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “I can’t wait to see what y’all do this—”
“Sam?”
The front door swung open and Tessa strode in, looking worried. Wearing a stained apron and wielding a pair of tongs, she looked as if she had just left the grill.
“Hi Tess!” I said brightly. “Want to join us for a round of matcha smoothies?”
“Are you alright?” she asked, frowning. “I just saw the Gallaghers leaving the alley behind your shop...”
“The cops were here?” David asked, looking concerned.
“Oh, yeah,” I said lightly, turning away from their quizzical looks to slice up some pineapple. “They gave me a ride into town this morning...because, um...someone sort of tried to kill me last night.”
David gasped, but Tessa was silent. I turned around slowly.
Tessa’s eyes were glowing like embers and the air around her had started to crackle and spark with fire magic.
“Who was it?”
“We don’t know,” I said hurriedly, looking between her and David and hoping that the latter hadn’t noticed the sudden change in temperature. “But it’s probably the same person who killed Chadwick Crane.”
“You don’t know?” David asked. “Does that mean...they’re still out there?”
“Not for long,” Tessa growled.
“Cool it, Tess,” I warned. “The police are going over the evidence as we speak.”
“Okay, but what happened?” David burst out.
I told them my story of the terrifying chase which, under the bright lights of the smoothie shop and with two of my closest friends, didn’t seem nearly as scary. David and Tessa felt differently.
“I should have insisted on giving you a ride home,” Tessa muttered, shaking her head. “I hate that you ride that silly bike in the dark all the time.”
“I’m going to call up some of The Good Guys,” David said gruffly. “We’ll get you a 24-hour security detail.”
“As safe as I’d feel with my own personal biker guard,” I laughed, “I’m not worried and y’all shouldn’t be either. The Gallaghers are on the case and I’m just going to play it safe until they catch whoever it is.”
“They had better pray the Gallaghers get to them first,” Tessa muttered. “Pumpkin-headed piece of—”
“—Why you?” David said suddenly. “Why would the killer target you?”
“Haven’t a clue,” I said honestly.
The three of us stood silent, lost in our thoughts, until a sudden, strange scuffling sound from the storeroom made us start.
Tessa lunged for the storeroom door and pulled it open. There was a small shriek and Allie and her friend Genevieve tumbled out onto the floor in front of us.
“Almandine Smith,” Tessa cried, “were you eavesdropping?”
“No!” Allie protested, scrambling to her feet. “David let us in early.”
“That I did,” David nodded.
“We went in the storeroom to grab some more melons, Miss Smith,” Genevieve said in a rush, her face turning red, “we just needed to put some finishing touches on our float...”
“How much of that did you hear?” Tessa asked, frowning down at the two teens.
“Just bits and pieces,” Allie said, shrugging.
“Something about the Capless Cavalier trying to kill Miss Greene,” Genevieve babbled. “And, um, them disappearing without a trace into the night and leaving behind only a creepy jack-o-lantern. And no one knowing why they did it so none of us are safe—”
“—Slow down, Genevieve,” I said, putting my hands on her shoulders. “Only some of that is accurate. And the Capless Cavalier is definitely not the one behind this.”
Genevieve, who was close to hyperventilating at that point, nodded.
“It’s just,” she whispered, eyes wide, “if it isn’t a ghost, how are they getting all these jack-o-lanterns?”
“What do you...” I began to say, then trailed off, thinking. That was a very good question.
“Yeah,” Tessa said slowly, “where are they getting those pumpkins? No one in town has been able to get their hands on any since they sold out. And no one seems to know who bought them out in the first place.”
“I know,” I said. The rest of the group turned to stared at me, surprised.
“Patty Pearson, the owner of Patty’s Pies. She’s the one who cleaned out the pumpkin patch.”
“I guess we know who we’re talking to first then,” Tessa said, downing the rest of her tea and standing up.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we’re going to start playing detective again.”
Chapter 22
David and Genevieve left to take their places in the parade, but Allie hung back, asking Genevieve to stall for her.
“I want to solve the mystery, too,” she told us once Genevieve had left. “You guys only ever let me participate when there’s internet stuff to do.”
That was true.
“It’s not going to be that exciting,” Tessa said, pulling off her splattered apron and bandanna “We just need to find out who has access to Patty’s pumpkin stash and make them rue the day they threatened my best friend.”
I was about to open my mouth and tell her to calm down when a strange, high-pitched clicking noise rang out from the kitchen.
“What the...” Allie said slowly, “...is that a bat?”
A tiny, bug-eyed fruit bat hurled itself from the kitchen, hitting the ceiling of the shop and screeching its way through a series of barrel rolls before recovering into an unsteady glide.
“Wow, Sam,” Tessa said, watching the frantic creature’s progress around the shop, “you really went all out with the Harvest Festival decorations this year.”
“Ha ha. Help me get this little guy out of here.”
I stretched my hands toward the ceiling, preparing to unleash a gentle sticking spell.
The bat flew erratically around the shop, clicking and chirping, before crashing into a window and crumpling to the floor behind a table. I hurried over to see if it was hurt and was more than a little surprised to see Mara Gale lying under the table, rubbing her head.
“...Mara?”
“I heard your whispers!” she said breathlessly, stumbling to her feet. “Y’all said someone tried to kill Sam?”
“Mara, darling, why were you a bat just now?” Tessa asked.
“A bat?” Mara laughed nervously. “What are you talking about? I was just in wild form”
“Yeah...” I said, “honey, your wild form is a barn swallow. The thing that just flew in here? Definitely a bat.”
“Y’all are seeing things.”
“Here,” Allie piped up, “look—I took a picture.” She held out her phone, which showed a slightly blurred photo of what was clearly a bat.
“I guess that would explain why it was so hard to see,” Mara muttered.
Tessa caught my eye and shook her head ever so slightly.
“Mara,” I said slowly, “are you sure you were in wild form? An errant shifting spell or a potion gone wrong could have—”
“—I’m positive,” Mara frowned. “I was at home, minding my own, when I picked up a bit of your conversation. The second I realized what was going on I transformed and took off.”
“Do wild forms change?” Allie offered.
“No.” Tessa, Mara, and I said in unison. A witch’s wild form is like her second skin. To have it suddenly change...it would be like you weren’t even you anymore. I shuddered at the thought.
“No more magic for now,” I told Mara, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Not until we have this black magic infection figured out. It’s gone too far.”
To my surprise, Mara didn’t protest.
“I thought it was getting better,” she confessed. “The symptoms started to let up. But...my magic...”
“...Will be better before you know it,” I said firmly. “I
f you take care of yourself and let us and your mother help you.”
“I will,” Mara said sincerely. “But, in the meantime, what’s the plan? Are we going to go track down Sam’s stalker?”
“We’re gonna try,” Tessa nodded. “But first we have to go see a gal about a pumpkin stash.”
“Pumpkin stash?”
“We’ll fill you in on the way,” I said, moving toward the front door. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 23
The four of us emerged from Happy Blendings, blinking in the early afternoon sunlight. The crowds had gathered on the sidewalk to watch the parade, leaving Main Street almost completely clear for the first time in days.
“We only have a few minutes before the parade starts,” Mara said. “We’ll have to hurry.”
A wall of tourists stood between Happy Blendings and Main Street. I tried tapping on shoulders and asking politely, but no one seemed willing to move.
“I could just, you know...” Tessa said, pointing toward the crowd and pantomiming throwing a fireball at them.
I scowled at her and scanned the backs of the group in front of us. Perhaps it would be faster to just go around...
“Alright, make a hole!” Phineas Lichen’s gravelly voice cut through the babble of the crowd. “Scootch over, folks.”
The crowd parted, admitting Mr. Lichen and Chuckles the rooster. The latter was perched on Mr. Lichen’s shoulder, gazing imperiously at the crowd below.
“Happy Harvest, ladies,” Mr. Lichen tipped his hat to us as he passed. “Enjoy the parade.”
We seized the opportunity created by his arrival and darted through the open space in the crowd. Tessa and I, followed by Allie and Mara, stumbled out on to Main Street.
“Come on,” I waved them on, ignoring the stares of the gathered crowd.
The Patty’s Pies booth was surrounded by a sea of tourists, all of whom appeared to be shouting their orders simultaneously at an exhausted-looking Patty. When she saw me, however, her face brightened and she waved me over.
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