“Duh, we keep it in the room of witches past. Follow me,” he said in the movie voice-over voice, but not the one they use on kids movies or comedies, no it was the one they used in horror movies.
“That’s really what the room is called?”
I would have thought the Blackwater’s would have come up with a better name than that. I mean my family could have come up with something better than that and we were the Norwood. We were pretty much known for being crazy. It was part of our charm.
“No, I mean, that’s what Cade and I call it, but the rest of our family calls it a storage room. We don’t get too fancy with things around these parts,” he said, coming to a dead stop in front of a white door.
Turning the knob, he revealed to me a room with countless glass jars with something glowing inside of them. Some were ruby red while others were sunshine yellow. Basically every color of the rainbow and then some.
The more I walked, the bigger the room got. It magically expanded with each step.
“What’s up with all the colors?” I asked, looking around the room in total awe.
“Well, every witch is different, so that means their powers are different too. The color of your powers depends on your heart, is big and loving or minuscule and sour. The reds, blacks, and all of the deep colors represent the bad side of magic. The people who use their abilities for bad instead of good. And all the lighter colors represent the witches with pure hearts and only used their abilities for good,” he said as I hung on to every word.
I was so interested because I had never seen anything like it before.
“How do you extract the powers from a witch?” I asked, continuing to through the ever growing room.
“It’s a painful process, Mal. The witch has to sit at the center of the room while my mother puts a straining spell on them. The power leaves their body drop by drop,” he said, following behind me.
That sounded horrible. I wasn’t sure why anyone would have wanted to do that. If I woke up one morning and decided that I didn’t want to be a witch I would have just hidden my powers and pretended to be normal best I could. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to sit there while a really mean witch slowly drained me of my power, but that was me. More power to anyone who wanted to experience that. You do you.
“That sounds horrible,” I said, shuttering at the thought of having my powers extracted.
“Growing up around sucked. The screams would keep Cade, Daisy, and I up all night. I have no clue how we turned out normal,” he told me, and at first, I thought he was joking.
“Must have been magic,” I told him, holding back my laughter before ever glass jar shattered sending of magic free to wreak havoc.
The Blackwater siblings were far from normal, but I was going to let him live in the fantasy world of thinking he was normal. I wasn’t going to be the one to burst his bubble.
Hearing the door creak open, I quickly turned around and saw Devin walking in. She looked like she was a kid in the candy shop with a major sweet tooth. At first, I thought she was alone, but another look proved me wrong. Earl trailed behind her.
“Why can’t we just take one of these jars of power?” Devin asked, pointing at the countless jars in the room.
“Because we need Norwood magic to do it,” he said like he was getting annoyed with her.
He needed the magic of a Norwood, but the question was why did he need the powers of a Norwood witch and what was he going to do with it.
I didn’t scare easily, but I had to say that hearing Earl say that the hairs on the back of my skin stand up.
24
We were finally on our way to Cat’s Cradle. We had to wait until Devin and Earl left, and I thought they were going to move into the room of witches past. After they had left, we had to find Cade and Abigail. That took forever, but we finally found them in the backyard having a lovers spat. It wasn’t pretty, to say the least.
“We have to tell Aunt Tilly what Earl said!” Abigail shouted at me as we were driving home.
Telling Aunt Tilly wasn’t an option because she had fallen under Earl’s spell and she wouldn’t believe us. I told Abigail, Cole and Cade to keep their mouth shut to avoid Earl knowing we were on to him.
“She won’t believe us, Abby. We have to have solid proof, not just our word. She’s in deep with Earl. She’s going to believe him if he says he didn’t do it,” I told her, trying to convince her to stay mum.
And I hoped she would because if she didn’t, I would have to put a memory blocker spell on her. It worked like a charm.
I used it on Abigail a few years earlier when I broke her charm bracelet that Bobby had given her for her birthday. She didn’t even remember her name for like three hours. It was hilarious.
Grandma Misty didn’t find it funny, but everyone else sure did. I got grounded for two weeks, but it was worth it.
“She’s right, Abigail. If you tell your Aunt Tilly, she will side with Earl, and it will ruin everything. I say we gather all the proof we can and reveal who Earl is at the wedding,” Cade said, making me think I didn’t give him enough credit.
He was a genius. The jury was still out on Cole though.
“Fine, I won’t say anything. And Cade?” she asked in a sugary sweet voice that I heard millions of times.
She was really angry about something, and she was trying to keep her cool, but I knew eventually she was going to blow. She wasn’t too good at holding back her feelings.
“Yes?” he asked, timidly.
“Don’t ever tell me what to do again, got it? I’m listening this time because you're right, but don’t get too used to it,” she said without even turning around to look at him.
“Got it,” he said, biting his tongue and sitting back. He really was smart.
Good for him.
“I’m so glad Agnes doesn’t hate me the way that Abigail hates you,” Cole said, laughing.
Agnes didn’t hate him, that was true, but she didn’t really like him either. Her feelings for him was kind of nonexistent.
“That’s because she doesn’t care about you enough to hate you,” Cade told him, punching his brother on his shoulder.
“Boys, stop it. We’re all adults here,” I said, looking at the passengers in the car and realizing that I had spoken too quickly. “Well, some of us are. Where am I dropping you two?” I asked the twins, looking them in my rearview mirror.
“The hotel,” they said in unison.
That never failed to creep me out. “What are you two going to do with the rest of your night?” Cole asked.
I was going to try to dig deeper into who Earl really was. I planned on getting to know Andrew better. I wanted to know so much about him, kind of like the way best friends know everything about each other.
“I’m going cast spells on boys who broke my heart,” Abigail said, turning around in her seat to smile at Cade.
“Well, that’s, um, nice. Not scary at all, right bro? How about you Mal?” Cole asked.
“What do you think?” I replied.
“Right. You’re going to continue trying to crack this case. I’m not going to call you Mal anymore, no, I’m going to start calling you Nancy Drew,” he said with so much pride in his voice.
He got super proud of himself when he thought he had said something clever. It didn’t happen a lot.
“You know me so well,” I told him, pulling into the parking lot of the hotel. “What are you boys doing tonight?”
“I’m going try to get the smell of Devin’s awful perfume out of my clothes and then go to bed and forget tonight ever happened,” he said, hopping out of the car and entering the hotel.
“I’m going to play pranks on the hotel staff. Goodnight, girls. See you tomorrow,” Cole said, getting out of the car and sprinting to the door to catch up with his brother.
“Worst night ever,” Abigail said, before putting her headphone on and cranking them all the way up.
That girl was moodier than a mood ring.
&
nbsp; All of the peace and quiet gave me time to think about the case. What if Bobby’ murder was just collateral damage? What if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Earl wasn’t in Cat’s Cradle to murder Bobby he just wanted my Aunt Tilly’s power for something.
Something that I needed to figure out. What I couldn’t understand was why he needed a Norwood witches powers specifically. That part just didn’t make much sense to me.
After what felt like forever we arrived at our house to find Grandma Misty and Mara Blackwater sitting on the front porch sipping on some of Grandma Misty’s awful tea.
The smell of it was so strong I could smell it in the car.
“What is that smell?” Abigail asked, pulling her headphones off.
I was shocked she didn’t recognize it. “It’s Grandma Misty’s famous tea,” I told her, using the word ‘famous’ lightly. Very lightly.
“Great, now I’m going to have a headache,” she said, getting out of the car.
“Because of the tea? It’s never giving you a headache before,” I pointed out as we made our way closer to the porch.
“Not because of the tea. It’s because that witch is here,” she said, pointing at Mara.
“Where are my sons?” Mara asked, her eyes friendly and her tone welcoming. That was new and odd. Very odd.
“We dropped them off at the hotel,” I told her sitting down on the step below Grandma Misty’s feet.
“Where have you four been all night?” she asked without one ounce of anger.
“We just went on a road trip. You know just driving around town,” I said, hoping my lies were believable.
“For five hours? If you drove around the whole town one hundred times, I would only take like thirty minutes,” Grandma Misty said, giving me that look that said I know you are lying.
“Fine, we went to Cold Creek,” I fessed up, looking up at Abigail who was staring at Mara.
It looked she was just as taken back by her friendly behavior as I was.
“Girls, she knows about Earl and Devin. She is playing along to try to bust them. She knows where Devin and Earl were tonight and she knows that you and the twins were here too. They're after you Aunt Tilly’s powers, but we have no clue why,” Grandma Misty said, blowing my mind.
Abigail sat down beside me as she tried to make sense of what she had just been told.
“So, if you know what kind of person Devin is why would you let your son get engaged to her?” Abigail asked.
Mara let out a soft laugh. “He’s not really engaged to her, dear. Although he thinks he is. If he knew that he wasn’t really engaged and it was all an act he would never stay away from you. Devin has been living with us for almost a year. I had to make it look like we were really close and that I wasn’t on to her, so I offered up an engagement to Cade to make it look like I wanted her to be part of the family,” Mara said, getting up from her chair and sitting down beside Abigail.
“So, he isn’t engaged?” Abigail asked.
“Well, he kind of is,” Mara said, smiling at Grandma Misty.
“To who?” Abigail asked, looking like her heart was getting broken again.
“Do you want to tell her or should I?” Mara asked Grandma Misty.
“You tell her,” Grandma Misty replied, winking at Mara.
“When two sets of twins are born to neighboring covens, they are meant to be. They are each other’s destiny if you will. Cade is meant for you and Cole is meant for Agnes. The only problem to the two of you living happily ever after is that Agnes won’t admit she feels the same way about Cole as he does for her,” Mara told her, offering her a small smile.
“What does that mean for Cade and me?” she asked.
“It means if Agnes and Cole don’t fall in love- if they don’t allow themselves to fall in love- then Cade and you will never be able to be happy,” Mara said, taking away all the hope she had just handed Abigail on a silver platter.
“Are you okay?” I asked Abby, rubbing her back.
“What? Yeah, I’m fine. This is just a small bump in the road. I’m going to make Agnes fall in love with Cole you just watch me,” she said, smiling at Mara.
“You can’t use love spells on them, sweetheart. It doesn’t work that way,” Mara told her. “Besides, it’s not like the feelings aren’t there. They just need to admit it to themselves.”
“Oh, well, then I will just have to play matchmaker than. So, just to be clear, I still have to pretend to hate you and Cade. And you’re still going to pretend to hate me and think that I’m not good enough for your son right?” she asked, getting up and dusting the pants of black jeans off.
“Right, but Abigail just so you know I don’t think there’s nobody better for Cade than you,” Mara told her, making my heart melt a little bit.
After Abigail gave Mara and smile and walked inside, I intended to get straight to business. “So, why do you think they need Aunt Tilly’s power instead of some other witches powers?” I asked.
“Because the Norwood’s are the most powerful witches in the United States of America. Our power is different,” Grandma Misty said before she and Mara got up and walked inside of the house.
The most powerful witches in the country? I didn’t see that one coming.
25
Enjoying breakfast at your desk in your own office wasn’t supposed to be hard, but when you worked in the same place as Daniel Price, it was impossible.
“What do you want?” I asked, wrapping my bagel up and placing it back in the bag.
“Well, aren’t we sweet this morning, Suzie Q?” he asked, taking a seat across from me.
“You bring out the best in me, what can I say?” I asked. “Can I help you with something?”
“Helen is here to see us, and before you ask why, let me tell you I have absolutely no idea,” he said, getting and holding the door open for me.
Getting up out of my seat, I walked into the waiting room where Helen Matthews was sitting, and she had on the same sweatpants she did the last time we talked to her.
“Helen, how can we help you?” I asked.
“How can you help me?” she asked, her eyes as wild as her hair and let me tell you that messy bun wasn’t cute. It looked like a wild animal. “You can help me by having Andrew Reeks arrested and charged for my brother’s death.”
I felt something strange coming off of her, the same thing I felt coming from her brother the night he died. Was this entire family cursed by some sort of magic?
“We can’t do that just yet,” Daniel said, his tone gently trying to calm her down.
“And why not?” she asked, her voice bouncing off the walls.
“Because we don’t have any proof that he killed your brother. We can’t have someone arrested on circumstantial evidence or speculation. We know that your brother and Mr. Reeks have a past, a bad one, but we can’t have him arrested until we know for sure that he murdered him,” I told her, thinking that I was making perfect sense. Apparently, I wasn’t because she told me that he needed arresting and then stormed out of the office.
“Anger must be on today’s menu, and it looks like you ordered the same thing as Helen, Suzie Q,” Daniel said, laughing way too hard at his own joke.
“You don’t seriously think you’re funny, do you?” I asked, wincing at his really bad joke.
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to because his face said it all. He actually thought he was funny.
“Oh, you did? Bless your heart,” I told him, walking back in my office and slamming the door.
Daniel walked by the glass wall of my office and stuck his tongue out at me because he was mature like that. Shaking my head, I went on my computer and checked my email. I saw that I had an email from Oliva. Her email said the same exact thing that Helen said only minutes before. It read that she demanded to know why Andrew hadn’t been arrested.
I send her email that read the same thing that I had told Helen Matthews only moments before.
I th
ought that Earl killed Bobby, no, wait I knew that Earl killed Bobby, but what was I supposed to tell the police? I had nothing to tell them except that Earl Reeks was really Andrew Reeks who was a power hungry warlock with a con man past and a super evil daughter?
No one would have believed me, so I needed actual, unquestionable proof.
After a very slow day at the law firm, it was finally time to go home. All I wanted to do was go home and get in bed, but when I got home, I saw that was going to be near impossible because my house was filled with all of my family and the Blackwaters. I had forgotten all about the wedding being the very next day, but I was quickly reminded when I saw tulle and flowers everywhere.
The wedding was the next day, and I had nothing to prove to Aunt Tilly what kind of person her fiancé was or at least that’s what I thought.
“Hey, Mal, can I talk to you?” Cade asked as he descended the staircase. “Sure, you want to go on the porch? It’s a little loud in here.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” he told me, making his way to the door and holding it open.
Once we were on the porch, he pulled a necklace just like the one he gave to Devin out of the pocket of his jeans. “Are you giving me a necklace?” I asked very confused about what was going on.
“What? No, Abigail would burn me at the stake Salem style,” he said, turning the necklace over and revealing a small button.
“This is the enchanted necklace I gave Devin on our date, and it recorded a whole conversation about Earl planning on taking your Aunt Tilly’s powers once they were syphoned and that the only reason he was marrying her was because of her powers. He even says that he doesn’t love her,” Cade said, handing it over to me. “The only problem is that he never admits to killing Bobby. Mal, what if he didn’t do it?”
“It had to have been him, Cade. We don’t have any other suspects,” I said, starting to freak out inside. If I wasn’t right about this, then the person actually responsible might get away.
I was in full panic attack mode. “Hey, calm down. If we show your Aunt Tilly what kind of man he is and when he realizes that the sham is up, he will admit to killing Bobby as well. It will all work out, you’ll see,” he said, giving me a quick hug before starting for the door.
Cursed on the Second Date Page 12
