by Kali Harper
When Kat passed by Thomas’ antiques, one of the wind chimes caught my eye. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it was attached to a large dreamcatcher.
“I should thank him,” I said, staring at my reflection in the passenger side window.
“Let’s get you home first,” Kat said, placing a hand on mine until I met her gaze. “The town will still be here tomorrow, but Lance is right. For the next few days, you need to rest.
“Kind of funny when both you and Maggie were all about playing detective.”
“Not at the cost of your health,” she said, pulling into Maggie’s driveway.
The impromptu garden sat untouched, but what really made my heart ache was seeing my house next to hers. The white tent from the fumigation was long gone, and while I could’ve moved back into my house, it no longer felt familiar. The yellow tape might not have been wrapped around the trees, but over the last handful of days, Maggie’s place had become my own, the cats included.
“I don’t think I could ever sell this place,” I said, getting out of the car once Kat did the same.
She came around to my side and helped me up the driveway even though I could easily make it to the front door on my own. “Then don’t.”
“I can’t keep both.” Not unless I wanted to rent one out, anyway.
As if she could read my mind, Kat said, “Your place used to be an Inn, so you could always revert it back to its former glory.”
“And be responsible for the residents? Pass. No, what I need now is less work on my plate, not more.”
“Don’t worry about it right now,” she said, taking the keys from me when my hands shook too much. She opened the front door, then handed them back. “We’re going to go in the kitchen so I can make you some tea.”
“Coffee,” I corrected her, closing the door behind me before following after her. “I need coff—what in the world happened here?”
Glancing around the room, the table was shoved to one side, the empty nutmeg bottle was on the floor, and like before, the chairs had toppled over. I didn’t expect the cats to come out of hiding with someone else in the house, so I raised my voice enough for them to hear in case they were anything like Sammy.
“What did you guys do?”
“The cats did this?” Kat asked, leaving me to stand in the doorway as she put everything back where it belonged.
“They’ve done it before. They get into one of those fits where they chase each other and knock everything over. You remember the blue lamp Maggie had in the living room? The cats broke it.” She was so mad after it happened, too. Not enough to get rid of them, but she didn’t speak to them for days.
“It wasn’t them, dear,” Maggie said, appearing in front of the kitchen window.
“Then who did?” I asked, looking to Kat when she frowned. “Maggie said it wasn’t the cats.”
“Who else would make such a mess?” Kat asked.
“Thomas,” Maggie answered, smiling when I relayed the message. “The big oaf. One of these days, that tail of his is going to kill someone.”
“My Mom’s old lab had a tail like that,” Kat cut in, filling Maggie’s tea kettle with water before putting it on the stove.
“Coffee,” I reminded her, sitting in one of the chairs.
“And the doctors said no caffeine until after your awakening.”
I groaned. “I don’t think a caffeine headache is going to help.”
“Tea has some in it,” Kat said, grabbing a box of teabags from one of the cabinets. “You want green, black, or peppermint?”
Neither one sounded appealing. “Peppermint I guess.” It was what Maggie gave me a while back when I was sick.
Kat nodded, and after plopping a bag into each of our mugs, she filled them with water and turned back to join me. She’d made it two steps before Sammy skidded across the floor, knocking her over. A splash of water hit the floor, and as it did, everything else stopped. Kat leaned against the counter beside the sink, one mug in her hand while the other floated in the air, frozen in place. It wasn’t until she spoke when I realized I was standing, my hands stretched out in her direction.
“Are you doing this?” she asked, glancing from me to the mug hovering in front of her.
I collapsed in my chair, lowering my hands as I did. The mug continued its descent and spilled all over the kitchen floor. “What was that?”
Kat didn’t answer, leaning over to pick my mug off the ground before getting a fresh one out of the cupboard. “Do it again.” She glanced over her shoulder at me, then let go of the mug. This time it hit the floor without stopping. “Why didn’t you stop it?”
“How am I supposed to know/” I wasn’t even sure what I did the first time.
“Maybe it’s because you knew it was going to happen,” Kat suggested.
“So what? I can only cast magic when my stomach dips like I’m on a roller coaster?”
“Is that how it felt?” she asked, picking the second mug off the floor before filling it with a fresh bag of tea and some water.
“I didn’t want it to break,” I said, the knot in my stomach getting tighter once I realized what she was doing. “Kat, don’t. You told me to take it easy, remember?”
“It’s for science, though.”
“Magic and science?” I shook my head, but when she frowned, I decided to humor her. “Can we use something else?” The thought of every coffee mug in the house shattering on the floor was enough to send a shiver up my spine. “Think of the coffee.”
She shook her head at me, but couldn’t hide the grin on her face. “Sure.” She set the tea aside, then dug into one of Maggie’s silverware drawers. “How about a spoon?”
“Much better.” There was no way a spoon could cause any damage. “What do you need me to do?”
“Catch it, but without your hands.”
“I’m not sure that’s how this—”
She threw the spoon at me, and as I lifted my hands to defend myself, the stupid thing stopped in midair. My heart pounded in my chest and my stomach rolled over itself, but the spoon didn’t move.
“Now, put your hands down.”
“But won’t it—”
“Trust me.”
Closing my hands, I set them in my lap, never taking my eyes off the piece of flatware between us.
“Try turning it. Imagine it.”
I did as she asked, but the silly thing wouldn’t move. “No dice.”
Whatever Kat was thinking, my inability to change the spoon’s direction didn’t matter. She plucked the silverware from the air and placed it back in the drawer.
When she didn’t say anything, I spoke. “Say something, please. Does this mean I have magic now?”
“The beginnings of it, yes.”
“Care to fill me in?”
“Out of all the kinds of magic, this could be one of two things.”
“Which are?”
“Conjuration or telekinesis.”
“I thought conjuration spells had to do with pulling things out of thin air.”
“They can be, but it has a side where you can actually shield something. Put an invisible platform around it.”
“Which explains what happened with the mug and spoon.”
“On second thought, it probably isn’t telekinesis. You would’ve been able to turn it around if that were the case.”
“Unless I’m not strong enough yet.” Glancing at Sammy who had since calmed down, I said, “Any chance you can tell us which one it is?”
“Sorry, though this does explain why you don’t need a book,” he said, licking one of his paws.
“I don’t need a book for this?”
“No,” Kat answered for him. “Conjuration spells and telekinesis are instinctual. There aren’t any incantations or anything like what Maggie had to do with her charms.”
“Then why did the book bind to me at all?”
“Probably to help you control it.” She shrugged, then handed me my tea. “But enough of that. Dr
ink this, then get some rest. I’ll stay here tonight if you don’t mind.”
“It’s fine,” I said, sipping at the hot liquid and thinking back to the last time I drank it.
My chest tightened with guilt, not because Maggie was gone, but because everyone else in town wouldn’t get to see her the way I did. I made a mental note to work on her blue dress as soon as I was well enough to do so.
Rest first. I had a few more days before Maggie’s service, one of which Lance and Max had probably been planning ever since this all started.
Chapter Fourteen
After laying in bed for close to ten hours, I’d had enough. There were only so many crossword puzzles I could fill in for Maggie along with the many stories she told in a number of different forms. I had to get out of the house, and when I mentioned it to Sammy, he insisted he come along. Not that that would ever change. I might not have needed a book of spells, but clearly I needed a familiar. At least according to him I did.
Still, I was happy for the company, especially once I realized Kat was busy hosting a special reading at her shop on the basics of magic. She swore it was a refresher course for Emberdale’s youth group, but I had a feeling she’d intended it for me. While learning about the many classes of magic sounded appealing, there was someone I had to thank first, not to mention the dress for Maggie I had to finish mending.
“You could send him a card,” Sammy said as we headed for Seeton’s Antiques.
“It’s always nicer to thank someone in person,” I told him, stepping off the sidewalk and onto the front lawn where Thomas had scattered a collection of porcelain statues. “Besides, you always get to see something new in his shop.” Though the statues were new and far from his usual picks. “I wonder where all of the lawn ornaments went.”
“Hopefully back to where they belong.”
“He can’t help it. It’s his dragon.”
“Or so he says. Even if it is his dragon doing it, what about Kat?”
He had a point, of course, but I couldn’t be bothered with an answer as I walked through the front door, waiting for Sammy to do the same before closing it behind us.
“Mr. Seeton? Are you in? I wanted to thank you for what you did the other night.”
“Back here.”
I took a handful of steps, stopping short of knocking over a very heavy bronze statue. “Is this one of Felix’s?” It matched his style perfectly. It had the same woven look as the ones he had on display and reminded me of the filigree he’d used on the gryphons’ manes.
“Ahh, I’ve been meaning to return it to him. Woke up to find it in here the other day. In fact, a lot of the stuff you see in front of you is new. Needless to say, you’ll have to excuse the mess,” he said, peering at me from behind an old standing lamp without its shade. “It seems my dragon has had quite the heyday since Maggie’s passing.”
I’ll say. His shop was almost as bad as Kat’s, and he usually had the entire place organized. Lamps, chairs, tables, and even a silver platter lay just inside the door, and the deeper in I went, the more bizarre the items became. “A mounted deer trophy?”
“His taste seems to have changed as well,” Thomas admitted, joining me moments later.
“I might not understand how shifters work, but if you could thank him, I’d appreciate it.”
“We aren’t really on speaking terms, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Then what Kat had said was right. There were shifters who had no control over their other self. That probably explained the werewolves I’d read about as a kid. Maybe Thomas was the same way.
“So you don’t have a connection with your dragon? You can’t control him?” Kat had no problem at all handling her fox-self, but then she did say she let it out on a daily basis.
“Used to, but once you came around, I had to limit his appearances.” The last bit came out in a growl, and I could’ve sworn I saw a shimmer of gold behind his eyes. His dragon, I realized, noticing a long serpentine tail behind him. It lashed from one side to the other, displacing clutter as it did. “And now he’s throwing another tantrum. Excuse me for one minute.” Before I could reply, Thomas retreated to the back of the store to collect himself.
“Limit his appearances?” I asked, glancing at Sammy.
“Maggie had the entire town enchanted as well. He had to hide his drake as much as possible, including at night when he’s usually active.”
“Hence the sleepshifting,” I said with a nod. That also explained the dreamcatcher I saw hanging outside, not that it helped.
“Yes. It appears as though his dragon half is fighting tooth and claw to get out.”
“But if he was so unhappy with how things were here, why not move?” It wasn’t like he’d have to pay for a plane ticket.
“Because this is one of the only shifter-friendly areas in the country,” Thomas said, fixing his shirt as he stood beside me. His blond curls were damp with sweat, his face red, but at least now he didn’t have a tail thrashing behind him or the golden shine to his eyes. “You witches have it easy. There’s a friendly town in every state, but those open to shifters are limited, especially if you happen to be of the dragon variety.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Thomas rubbed the back of his neck and offered me a warm smile. “It’s not you, Astrid. My drake has a terrible temper on even his best days. It’s why I keep to myself. This is my cave and his odd collection of treasures. So long as I keep him in here, he tends to relax.”
“Then how do you explain his temper?”
“His fuse is rather short, I admit.”
Stopping in front of a large wicker basket, I couldn’t help noticing an assortment of items from around town that had gone missing the same time as Maggie’s death. “You found my butterfly?”
I took the glass box out of the basket, smiling at the butterfly’s vibrant blue wings. No wonder Maggie couldn’t find it, it was here the entire time! There was also a set of keys which probably belonged to Mr. Clark and a pair of spell books, one of which was the same title Kat had misplaced.
Gathering the items in my arms, I said, “You wouldn’t happen to know when your dragon steals things, do you?”
“At night, usually.”
“No, I mean, do you keep a record or anything on what he steals and on which day?”
He shook his head, then gestured around the store. “Some nights he can bring in fifty items or more, many of them being from outside of Emberdale. Those I recognize, I try to return. As for the smaller things, I keep them here until someone picks them up.”
If so, why hadn’t Kat searched Thomas’ shop? “Hard to see your lost and found in all this clutter,” I told him, setting the items in my arms aside so I could read over Kat’s book.
“It’s usually up front, but you can see how well that’s worked out for me.”
I was about to ask him why he hadn’t tried to get a charm from someone else but thought better of it when the door to his shop opened.
“Be right with you,” Thomas said before looking back at me. “Can we continue this conversation later?” There was a golden glow to his eyes again, which was reason enough for me to get as far away from his shop as possible before his dragon could lash out again.
I gathered the lost items I recognized, then followed him to the front of the store which was empty. “I thought someone walked in?” Was I hearing things?
“Perhaps they left,” Sammy suggested.
“Have everything you need?” Thomas asked, dismissing our comments altogether.
“I do. Thank you again for what you—what your dragon did for me the other night.”
“I’ll let him know you dropped by. You’ll be sure to get those items back to where they belong.” He inclined his head to the items I had in my hands.
“I’m on my way now.” Once Sammy and I were outside, I said, “Was that strange to you?”
“He’s a shifter. They’re always strange,” Sammy said, leading me
back toward the sidewalk.
“Let’s go home first.”
“I thought we were going to return—”
“We will, but I want to read over these books, first.”
“Astrid… Lance said—”
“I know, but finding all of this in the same place can’t be a coincidence. It’s a shame he doesn’t keep a record of what he finds and when, otherwise we would know how long ago the thefts occurred.”
“You’re hoping they fit in with Maggie’s murder, aren’t you?”
“A good detective looks at the mystery from every angle.”
“Which you’re not,” he reminded me as we headed for home.
“Who begged me to find the killer, hmm?”
“Only because she was possessing me. I don’t mind it so much now.” He lowered his head and there was a slight twinge to his voice.
“You miss her.”
“Of course I do,” he said, glancing back at me. “I also… I don’t want to lose her.”
“Neither do I, but I don’t think it’s fair to anyone to let this go on longer than necessary. It’ll only make it harder to let go.” There was no telling what would happen once we found Maggie’s real killer, but keeping her in limbo or whatever this was didn’t seem fair. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”
Reading through the spell books left me with more questions than answers. The book Kat had lost covered enchantments and other small tricks whereas the mystery book—the one without a title page or anything on the spine—was far more advanced and mentioned things such as altering time and banishment.
“What’s this one do?” I asked as Maggie peered over my shoulder. She’d been reading the books as I searched through their pages for anything that might link the two together. Kat’s missing book was easy enough to decipher, but the other one was in a different language, one of which I couldn’t find in any of my research.
