All of her talking was giving me a headache. But no, that was probably just all of my power slowly leaving my body. I couldn’t do anything. It was like I was frozen in place.
"I was done being overruled by a tyrant — my so-called best friend. Always trying to tell me how to run my business, as if she even had a clue. So I got a little angry. I may have slipped her contacts into one of the stolen vials of Botox I had. I keep it on hand not just for me, but for a few of my spells, too. Sometimes you need a little poison to get the job done right."
I felt like I was going to lose my lunch.
"Did I think it would kill her? Well," she said casually, twisting her hand back and forth. "I wasn't sure; I thought maybe she would have just ended up in the hospital for a few days, or maybe even weeks if I was lucky. But it did the trick."
"I'd rather have the power and learn how to control it peacefully, instead of ending up like you. Killing people for money, like some kind of monster," I croaked, my throat completely dry. “Why did you kill her, anyway? You were partners. You needed her.”
I kept my eyes on her as I worked to pull the spell book for my back pocket, hoping she wouldn’t notice. All I needed was her to be distracted just for a few moments. I just hoped I had enough power left in me to do even a simple spell.
"I just did what I had to do. It wasn't anything personal, I mean she was my friend and all. But she was just getting a little too big for her britches. She had all of these ideas about expanding the business, in ways that made no sense to someone like me who had already built businesses from the ground up. I knew what was involved. No. I didn't want to waste my money doing anything like that. But Lisa was adamant — it was her way or the highway," she chuckled to herself. "It’s not as though I couldn’t just hire another designer for the glasses; there are people who make entire careers out of the art. Now I just have to figure out what to do with you. I could send a message to the others to watch their backs. Killing you might do the trick, but the question is how."
I knew I couldn’t worry about the words Kayla was saying, even though they scared the crap out of me. If I thought about what she was going to do, I’d start to panic, and that wasn’t going to help anyone, least of all me. Instead, I focused my energies on maneuvering the book behind me so that I could turn and look at it while she wasn't watching.
Luckily for me, Kayla was pacing the floor, no longer really paying attention to me. She seemed to think that I was completely helpless. And I wasn’t sure she was wrong, yet.
I groaned softly, trying to scoot my body around to see the spell book behind my head. I laid there, panting, my energy wilting fast. The leather book was opened flat, and I nudged the pages with my head, trying to get to the middle of the book. A picture of a funny looking bubble in the corner of one page caught my eye, and I tried to flip back to it.
"For a witch who came here so confidently, you sure are quiet," Kayla called out over her shoulder without looking. I didn't know what she was doing at her kitchen table, and part of me knew I didn't want to find out.
I frantically searched the pages, looking for what I needed. I knew the pronunciation would be a little rough, but it was my only hope.
"Protego confuto admoenio paries motusroa," I chanted softly, coughing from the strain against my chest. Kayla looked sharply over at me, livid.
"No!"
"Protego confuto admoenio paries motusroa, Protego confuto admoenio paries motusroa., Protego confuto admoenio paries motusroa!" I shouted to the best of my capabilities, trying to direct the spell through, just like Karen had done. I really, really hoped I had enough magic left for it to work.
Kayla rushed at me, snarling, her eyes wild like some sort of rabid dog.
She stopped short barely a foot away from my crumpled form, unable to take another step. "What is this?" she screamed. She tried again. Still nothing.
I grinned as I realized my spell had worked! She had hit my invisible wall, blocking her from moving any further. She shrieked in rage, banging her fists against the air in front of her, but it was no use. The bubble I'd thrown up around her was impenetrable, and with the way she kept moving closer to the ground, crouching down as if being forced to, I knew it was working even better than I could've imagined.
Kayla curled into a ball on the floor, still screaming at the top of her lungs at me. "I will break through this. And when I do, you're dead! I won't make it look like an accident, either — I'll make it slow and painful!" The bubble continued to press down on her, keeping her squished down so that she could no longer move at all.
Kayla grunted with effort, but even though I could see the tension in her muscles as she tried to get out of it, then tried to mutter a counter spell to break it, nothing was going to work. I had sealed the spell properly just like I had always wanted to do.
I blinked, taking a few steps backwards, nearly tripping over my own two feet as I realized what I just did. I had just trapped the killer.
I had caught Lisa Lim’s murderer.
And with the confession on my phone now, there was nothing Kayla could do to get out of it. She had confessed. And now she was going to pay for what she had done to Lisa.
I licked my lips, surprised at how fast everything happened. One minute I was knocking on the door, the next minute Kayla had me knocked out on the floor, her magic doing its worst against my powers.
I kept having to swallow hard, trying to get my mind to catch up with everything. But I couldn't shake the weirdness. And I knew something was wrong when my healing powers hadn't completely kicked in to take care of the massive draining Kayla had done of them.
"I knew it. Look at you, now! Feeling tired? A little dizzy?" Kayla grunted from the floor. "Oh, it's only just getting started, honey."
The world felt like it was tilting ever so slightly to the left. I grabbed onto the back of the chair, but my hands didn't find purchase and I crumpled to the floor in one big heap. Somewhere in the distance, I was trying to make sense of things in my mind.
What sounded like a door creaking made me wonder why I had thought this was a good idea. Why did I always end up in situations like this?
It wasn't lost on me just how ironic this whole thing was. I'd done a complicated, advanced spell on my own just in time to curl up and die on the floor of some killer's house. It figured.
Brown leather shoes skidded across the ground in front of me and I became vaguely aware of someone trying to pull me to my feet. My vision swam before me, no matter how much I tried to focus, but I could just make out the edges of faces full of concern. I licked my lips, surprised by how dry my mouth was, and trying to form words just wasn't an option. "I – I…"
It was like I had a major case of brain fog. Every time I blinked it felt like everything around me slowed down. I tried to take in a deep breath but my chest was too tight. I wasn't sure whether that was from Kayla’s spell or not, but my body slumped against Ken's. I couldn't hold myself up any longer.
"We're going to get you… get you... Don't worry, Taylor… Taylor…" His voice faded in and out of my ears, echoing inside my head.
And that's when everything went dark.
Chapter 21
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"
I groaned, my head throbbing like crazy. I couldn't remember the last time I had a headache, but if this is what people felt like when they were dealing with them, it was no wonder everybody hated life so much.
I opened my eyes, the bright light flooding them too quickly and I shut them again, wishing I could just go back to sleep.
"How is she feeling?" another voice — a deeper one, asked.
I tried my best to open my eyes up again, and even pull myself up until I was sitting, my sweaty back up against the back of the hospital bed.
"What's going on? What happened?”
"We thought you could use a rest, dear," Barbara's voice said from somewhere to my right. I looked over and saw her sitting at my bedside, her hands neatly folded in her lap and
a small, concerned smile on her face.
Sitting by my feet on the bed itself was Karen. She was a far cry from smiling at me. In fact, if I had to describe her expression I'd say she was angry.
"What day is it?" I groaned, my head feeling like it was caught in a vice grip.
"The day you need to promise me you never do something stupid like that again," Karen replied, folding her arms across her chest. "Seriously, Taylor. What on earth were you thinking? Going after Kayla like that? You're lucky she didn't hurt you more than she did."
Ken, who was standing off to the side leaning up against the wall, pulled away from it.
"I found you just in time. When you didn't answer your phone after you mentioned something about going to visit Kayla and doing some investigating, I didn't know what had happened. So I decided to stop by her house and check things out just in case. I saw your bike outside, and thought maybe I could help somehow, but then when I knocked on the door and no one came to answer, well," he trailed off.
"Basically, he busted in to save you. And you’re lucky he did," Karen added, still glaring at me.
Ken's cheeks turned a light pink, but he came closer, taking my hand in his and squeezing it. "I'm just glad you’re okay. The doctors think she may have poisoned you somehow. The jury's still out on that, though. Have they said anything else, Barbara?" he asked, turning toward her.
Barbara shook her head, not saying a word.
Someone's phone started playing the Harry Potter theme song, and both Barbara and Karen looked at me, then looked at Ken, who pulled out his phone looking rather embarrassed.
"I better go take that out in the hall," he muttered, holding his hand up to his ear as he walked away. "Hello?"
The door shut loudly behind him, and both women turned to face me again.
"I'm disappointed in you, Taylor," Barbra said softly. "I would have thought that you’d just wait to discuss going after Kayla with one of us. I would have told you that I suspected her to be a witch, if you would have said something." She shook her head, sighing. "I'm just glad you're okay. She put one nasty spell on you, I will say."
I closed my eyes, trying to picture everything that happened, but all of it seemed so blurry, as if I had just only dreamt it.
"She did some kind of… sponge spell, she called it. I was so tired, I could barely move. It was sucking all of my magic out, I think."
Karen got up off the bed. "We had to do a memory wipe on him, too," she said, jutting her thumb out toward the door. "Because when he got there, he found you with your spell book, and Kayla unable to move or be moved, for that matter. He had the sense to call Mom first before the police, and she got there just in the nick of time. We had to take you to the hospital so that it didn't seem weird when you woke up and were suddenly all healed again."
I struggled to get comfortable in the bed, the pull of the IV at my arm stinging. "But that's just it. I'm not all healed up. What's going on with me and why can’t I use my powers? This shouldn't even be an issue."
Barbara patted my foot. "And it won't be for much longer. Your body just needs some time to recharge your magic, that's all. Without it, you don't have your usual healing powers, so you have to heal the old-fashioned way."
Karen placed her hand on her hip, staring me down. "Welcome to being a human."
My shoulders slumped. "Are you really going to be mad at me this whole time? I'm lying in a hospital bed, for God's sake."
Some of the tension faded from Karen's face as she sat back down, this time in a chair beside me. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm not trying to be mean. Well, I'm not trying to be that mean. You just scared the crap out of me, Taylor."
Guilt swept over me in an instant. She was right, of course. It had been a stupid decision to go investigate on my own, even before I knew Kayla was secretly a witch. And what was I going to do if I found out the truth? Surely, someone who was psycho enough to kill their friend would have no qualms killing me, too. Which, as it turned out, had been exactly the case.
"I know. It was dumb, and I should have thought it through more. I think part of me wanted to find the killer for you. Because I knew how angry you were, and how upset you were about Lisa's death. I hated seeing that, and I sort of felt helpless. I guess I thought by getting her to confess she was the killer, I would have made things easier." I looked down at my lap, my head hanging. "God, that does sound really stupid."
Karen sighed. "When you put it that way, I guess I can see where you're coming from. But seriously, don’t do it again."
"I think it would be wise for the both of you to come to an agreement that you do not go off chasing down suspects in a murder case. At least on your own, hmm?" Barbara said, getting to her feet. "I'm going to go check in with the nurses outside. You can fill her in on everything else," she said to Karen, giving my hand a quick squeeze before walking out to the nurse’s station.
"Who do I have to beg for some pain medication around here?" I groaned, my head hitting the pillow. "Remind me never to land myself in the hospital again. This sucks."
Karen chuckled, looking a little too smug about it. "When you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes," she said in a singsong voice. "But you'll never guess what I found out earlier about Portia. She explained everything!"
I rubbed my temples. "Portia? What about her?"
"I guess she was feeling super guilty about being evasive that night at Mercutio's? Anyway, when I went to work yesterday morning, she broke down and told me the truth about her and James Lim. She was telling me all about how James used to live across from her when they were growing up, and he was always super creepy and hitting on her and whatnot, even though he’s like seven years older than her. She had to deal with it all of her life, basically. So when he got married to Lisa, she thought she'd seen the last of him flirting with her, but she was wrong. She said he kept doing it up until the day Lisa died. She never wanted to have anything to do with him, but she was so worried after Lisa confronted her, and she thought that Portia and James were having an affair behind her back, that she thought the only way she could make sure Gilly Mills would stay funded was by sleeping with him. I know, I know. Terrible decision," she said, catching the look of disgust on my face.
"Ugh. Was she really that worried about the shelter?"
"Definitely. She's been working really hard already to find new suppliers and everything to try and get our costs down even lower. We've already started an outreach program to hopefully work with several of the local communities and clubs to get the animals adopted. At least that way we're not having to feed so many all at once. She's been trying to find ways to cut back as much is possible. So yeah, I'd say she was pretty worried."
I shook my head. "And she thought sleeping with James Lim would help?"
"I think she thought if she finally gave him what he wanted, he would keep the donations going. I don't know. But she said she ended things with him and explained to him she wasn't interested, and that she hoped it didn't deter from him continuing to help fund the shelter. I guess we'll have to see how that goes."
Karen was quiet for a moment, and just as I was getting ready to fall back asleep, she spoke back up. "Also, I thought you'd be happy to know that Buttons, that cute little black kitten you brought to the shelter that day we found Lisa? He's already been adopted — can you believe it?"
I smiled. "That's wonderful news. Who adopted him?"
The smile spread across Karen's face in an instant, but before she got a chance to answer the door opened again, and in came Ken with a small bouquet of flowers. I could still see the gift shop tag stuck on the bottom of it.
"Hey, look what I happened to find downstairs," he said with a grin, placing the bouquet on the tray table next to me. "Here's to wishing you a speedy recovery."
I bit my lip, unable to help myself as I grinned back at him. "That's really sweet of you. And hopefully it will take much longer for me to get out of here."
The three of us laughed and I sat back, listening
to the tale of Ken rescuing me and dealing with the police at the same time, going along with whatever memory alteration Barbara had created to go along with his story.
He took off later, claiming he had to help his parents with some kind of outdoor project. "Maybe, when you're feeling better that is, we could go catch up at Stephanie's or something. You can tell me all about why on earth you thought it was a good idea to approach a possible murderer."
"And you can tell me all about the legal ramifications for breaking and entering, right?" I finished with a grin.
It felt good to finally be home, lying in my bed, relaxing while watching an old episode of Friends. I flipped through to the last page of in my spell book, jotting down notes from practicing with Barbara earlier at work again.
“Meow!”
Buttons jumped up from the back of the couch and onto my lap, curling into his favorite spot—by the spellbook. I laughed, scratching him behind his furry black ears.
“You are seriously the cutest thing, ever,” I murmured affectionately as he pawed at my book. “But no messing with magic. Believe me, it’s not as easy as it looks.”
In an effort to make the apartment downstairs in Barbara’s house feel more like home, Karen adopted the little scrawny thing for the both of us. In between napping and chasing around the random bits of light that would flood into the room from the window, Buttons kept us laughing.
Barbara, who was allergic, stayed upstairs more often, but was secretly in love with him, too. She even mentioned something about every witch needing a familiar in their long lives.
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