The Witching Flavor (A Cozy Mystery Book): Sweetland Witch

by Zoe Arden

  "I'd appreciate that," Sheriff Knoxx replied. He thumbed the button on his radio again. "Otis, hang tight. We've got someone from Mistmoor coming to join you. Over."

  "Will do, Sheriff. Over."

  Sheriff Maxwell stepped out into the hallway to call his deputy, and the rest of us looked at each other wondering what this all meant.

  I finally asked the question most on my mind.

  "Do vampires live in graves?"

  Eleanor looked at Trixie before answering. "Some do. But that's mainly considered very old-fashioned these days. Most vampires live in houses or apartments, like anyone."

  "Who thinks vampires are involved?" Trixie asked.

  "Margaret Binford," Dr. Wallace said.

  "Oh. That explains everything," Trixie said, sitting next to Lucy. "How are you holding up? Eleanor and I brought you some goodies." She handed Lucy a box of cupcakes.

  "Thanks."

  "I'm going to refill these coffees," Vincent said.

  "I'll go with you," Brenda said, rising from her seat. "I could use some air."

  They passed Amanda Hollyberry, who was just stepping back into the room.

  "I've got it!" she said gleefully. "I just forgot to add the moon root juice. This should work now."

  "Moon root juice?" Eleanor asked. "That's awfully bitter."

  "But potent," Amanda reassured her. "Drink it down." She handed Lucy a new, bigger vial than the first one.

  Lucy sniffed it and made a face.

  "Ugh. I can't drink that."

  "You can and you will," Amanda insisted. "Unless you want to be without your memories forever."

  Lucy held her nose and swallowed it. She made a horrible gagging sound.

  "Here, quickly. Chase it down with one of these," Eleanor said and handed her a butterscotch streusel cake from the box they'd brought with. Lucy ate it quickly.

  We watched and waited.

  "Anything?" I asked her after a few minutes.

  "Not yet."

  We looked at Amanda. "Well, it's not an exact science. This will work, but it might take a few days. Not all her memories are going to come flooding back at once, you know."

  "As long as they come back," Lucy said.

  I could only imagine how infuriating it must be to have a whole week of your life wiped away. I just hoped that when her memories finally resurfaced, she wouldn't regret getting them back. After all, what if it turned out she remembered something that she would have rather stayed forgotten?

  Sheriff Knoxx's radio crackled again.

  "Sheriff, it's Otis. Otis Winken."

  Sheriff Knoxx sighed. "Go ahead, Otis."

  "Well, I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want first, over?"

  Sheriff Knoxx considered. "The good."

  "I found Megan Lockwood. She's alive and well. Her boyfriend is up here with her, too. He's also alive and well."

  Lucy's face lit up. "Thank the witches! Where are my parents?"

  "I'll get them," I told her, heading for the door.

  "What's the bad news?" Sheriff Knoxx asked.

  "Well, I found Pennyweather Kelso, too. She's not in as good of shape as Megan and her boyfriend."

  "What do you mean? Over."

  "Well, Sheriff. She's dead."

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-FIVE

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  Lucy's room was quiet. Too quiet. Sheriff Knoxx had gone off with Sheriff Maxwell to talk to Megan and Conner. Lucy's parents had gone with them. Felicity left to get some food, and the doctors, including Amanda, had all gone to examine Pennyweather's body. No one had quite believed she was dead when Otis Winken's call came in.

  "Do you think he could have been mistaken?" Lucy asked me as we sat together.

  I shook my head. "Otis is a little daffy sometimes, but he's not stupid. He knows how to tell the difference between a living person and a dead one."

  Lucy nodded silently. Eventually, people began to filter back in.

  Megan stepped into the room first, her eyes red. Lucy's parents weren't with her.

  "Where's Mom and Dad?" Lucy asked.

  "Talking to Sheriff Knoxx and Lincoln. I told them I just want to go home. I feel gross."

  "What were you doing at Whisper Crossing?" I asked her. This was probably the only time I'd be able to get her alone for a while. Her parents weren't going to let her out of their sight after this.

  "Nothing," Megan snapped.

  "I'm only asking because I want to figure out what's happening before anyone else gets hurt."

  Megan sighed. "I was just up there... making up with Conner," she said, blushing.

  "Making up or making out?" Lucy sneered.

  Megan smacked Lucy's hand and knocked the IV needle that was poking out of it.

  "Ow!" Lucy yelled.

  "Oh! Sorry," Megan said, attempting to set the needle straight again. Lucy pushed her hand away.

  "So you mean that you remember where you've been?" I asked.

  "Of course," Megan replied.

  "How could you make Mom and Dad worry like that?" Lucy asked. "You've been gone for over twenty-four hours."

  Megan shrugged. "Honestly, I didn't think they'd notice. They were so busy with trying to find you. I had no idea that you were in here until Otis told me. If I'd known, I never would have gone off with Conner like that."

  "Was it his idea to go to Whisper Crossing or yours?" I asked.

  "His," Megan said. "But I agreed. It's not like he tricked me into it or anything. We just wanted to go someplace quiet. With some privacy."

  The blush in her cheeks deepened.

  "I thought you said Conner was a jerk. That he was more into Lucy than you."

  Lucy's eyes widened. She looked at her sister, shock registering on her face.

  "What?! Is that true?"

  "No," Megan said. "At least, not anymore."

  "Why didn't Conner's parents report him missing?" Lucy asked.

  "Well, this isn't the first time Conner's stayed out all night." I wondered whether that meant he and Megan had snuck out together before, and this was the first time Megan had gotten caught, or if Conner had stepped out on Megan with some other girl.

  "Did you see anything strange while you were up there?" I asked.

  She shot me an annoyed look. "You mean other than Pennyweather's dead body?"

  "Oh. Uh, yeah. Other than that."

  "Actually, there was something. Some of the headstones were ripped out of the ground. One grave looked like it had been dug up from the inside out."

  "The inside out?" I asked, frowning.

  Her body shook as she nodded. "Yeah. As if whoever was buried there escaped."

  "That's ridiculous," Lucy said.

  "Whose grave was it?" I asked.

  Sheriff Knoxx came strutting into the room just then. His face was pale and his eyes bulged slightly in their sockets. Amanda and Melbourne were right behind him. Amanda had one hand on Melbourne's arm, guiding him like a blind person. His eyes were red and puffy. I wasn't sure when he'd gotten here.

  "Why won't they let me see her?" he moaned.

  "Ssh, Melbourne," Amanda said. "There's nothing you can do for her now. Let Dr. Dunne and Dr. Wallace examine her. They'll tell us what they find."

  She got him into a seat and took his hand. I could tell she was using the calmnetico charm on him to keep him calm. I wasn't sure how long it would last, though. Melbourne seemed beyond relief just now.

  "Megan, I need to know exactly what happened up there," Sheriff Knoxx said.

  "I've already told you everything," Megan said. "Where are my parents?"

  "Going over a few details with Conner and Sheriff Maxwell."

  "Oh. Is Conner in trouble?"

  "You're both eighteen," Sheriff Knoxx said, shrugging. "I have no authority over you if you stay out all night and worry your parents half to death. Bu
t then, I'm not your parents. Or his. I imagine they may have a different reaction to your... youthful indiscretion."

  Lucy squeezed Megan's hand. It was times like this I wished I had a sister. Eleanor and Trixie wandered into the room but said nothing. Their faces were gray. Whatever had happened to Pennyweather, it must have been bad.

  Megan looked down at her hand. Lucy was still holding it, and she tried to pull away. "Luce, you're hurting me," she said. She had to use her other hand to pry Lucy's fingers off hers.

  "Lucy?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

  Her eyes were wide as saucers, and she was staring straight ahead of her, not blinking.

  "Lucy?" Megan asked this time.

  Eleanor and Trixie crowded around her.

  "I see a wall," Lucy began to murmur. "The wall... long... white... going down. The stairs are too steep. I can't see my feet."

  "What's happening to her?" Megan cried, panicking. "Get Dr. Dunne!"

  "It's okay," Amanda said, letting go of Melbourne. The instant she released his arm, his face began to twitch. "She's starting to remember. Lucy, what else do you see?"

  "A door."

  "Like the door to a house?" I asked.

  "Metal... locks and chains. It's cold inside the room. I don't like it here." She shivered, and Megan took a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  "The penguin is green. He looks sick."

  "Penguin?" Sheriff Knoxx asked.

  "Ssh!" Megan hissed. "You go on, Lucy. What about the penguin? You said it was green?"

  My mind began to race. You found penguins in the North and South Pole, didn't you? Or was it just the North Pole? And zoos, I reminded myself. Zoos had penguins. Sometimes. I wasn't aware of any zoos on Heavenly Haven, but as I'd discovered just recently, there was still a lot about this island I didn't know. And I'd never heard of a green penguin.

  "Lucy?" Megan asked.

  She was staring ahead. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out.

  "What's happening?" I asked Amanda.

  "I-I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. Lucy!" Amanda shook Lucy hard, trying to snap her out of her trance. Seeing Amanda start to panic made us panic, too. She was supposed to be the expert, so what did it mean that she had never seen this kind of thing before?

  "Step back," Sheriff Knoxx said. Amanda immediately stepped away.

  Sheriff Knoxx got within an inch of Lucy's face as her mouth continued to move without sound. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

  "Luuucyyy!" Sheriff Knoxx screamed at the top of his lungs. His voice was deep and it resonated through the room, making the pictures on the walls quake.

  A moment later, Lucy blinked. She looked taken aback to see Sheriff Knoxx standing so close to her.

  "What?" she asked.

  Megan and I sighed with relief. Even Amanda seemed grateful that Lucy had come out of it.

  "Do you know where you are?" Amanda asked her.

  "Sweetland Hospital. Why?"

  Lucy's eyes narrowed as she took in our worried faces.

  "Don't tell me I disappeared again!"

  "No, no," Megan and I said at once.

  "You just... were kind of out of it for a minute," I told her.

  "It's just your memories returning," Amanda said. Now that the situation had passed, she seemed much calmer.

  "Do you remember what you said?" Sheriff Knoxx asked. "About the green penguin?"

  I knew what he was thinking. That was a very specific clue. If we could find out what it meant, we might be able to figure out who had taken her. And who had killed Pennyweather.

  "I have no idea what you're talking about," Lucy said.

  Sheriff Knoxx shook his head. I heard him mutter, "Impossible," just before the door to the room opened and Drs. Dunne and Wallace came in.

  "Megan, your parents are waiting for you in another room," Dr. Dunne said. It almost seemed like he felt bad for her. "With Conner and his parents."

  "Oh no," Megan muttered. She rose and went to go join them, but I registered the audible gulp she gave before leaving the room.

  "What's the verdict?" Sheriff Knoxx asked Dr. Dunne. "Can you tell what killed her?"

  "Oh, yes," Dr. Dunne said, exchanging a look with Dr. Wallace. "It wasn't hard to figure out."

  We all waited.

  "Well?" Sheriff Knoxx finally asked.

  Dr. Dunne cleared his throat. "Pennyweather Kelso died from exsanguination. She was completely drained of blood."

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SIX

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  I tried to stop myself from looking at Melbourne, but it was impossible. My head moved on its own and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Everyone else seemed to be having the same problem as me.

  Completely drained of blood.

  That's what Dr. Dunne had said. How did something like that happen? Unless...

  "I didn't do it," Melbourne shouted, panic setting in his eyes. He knew what we were thinking.

  "Of course not," Eleanor said, but she didn't sound so sure.

  "I don't drink human blood anymore. I haven't in centuries. I've learned to go without."

  "Melbourne, we believe you," Lucy said. She looked around the room, frowning. "Or at least I believe you."

  "All right, so I may have had a slight relapse a half century or so ago, but it only lasted a night." Melbourne stumbled through his words. He was rambling now.

  "I was emotionally despondent. My sister had just been slaughtered by a vampire hunter and I may have... inadvertently... punctured his throat. With my teeth." He cleared his throat as my hand automatically rose to cover my exposed neck.

  "I loved Pennyweather." Melbourne had risen from his seat. He was walking in a tight circle at the foot of Lucy's bed. "You don't understand," he said, pleading with us to believe him. "I-I was going to ask her to marry me!"

  My aunts and I looked at each other. I could tell Lucy believed him. No questions asked. The rest of us, though... I wasn't so sure. I wobbled back and forth on the teeter totter, uncertain how I was supposed to land on one side or the other.

  A strangled cry erupted from Melbourne's lips. It rose from deep in his gut, spewing out of his throat like a wounded animal. In that instant, I knew he was telling the truth. No one could make a sound like that and be lying.

  "Melbourne," I said, pulling him into a hug. He didn't hug back, just stood there with his hands dangling at his sides. Slowly, his arms wrapped around my waist. I felt him sob against my shoulder, and my heart broke for him.

  "You were really going to propose?" I asked him.

  He nodded against me.

  "She would have said yes," Lucy told him. "She loved you, too."

  "Melbourne," Trixie said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked at her with weepy eyes. "Let's go back to the bakery. I'll make you some of my special strawberry freedom frosting."

  "Thanks, Trixie, but I don't think I can eat a thing."

  "I'll put pistachios in it," she said, winking at him.

  His face lightened slightly.

  "And gumdrops?"

  "Of course."

  He started toward the door.

  "I'm not sure I'd go anywhere just yet if I were you," Amanda said. She was standing near the window and the expression on her face was a mixture of alarm and fascination. "I don't know what they're doing out there, but it doesn't look good. For any of us."

  We all looked out the window. The number of protestors had grown. There were at least two or even three hundred people out there now.

  "They were out there when I came in," Melbourne told us. "A few of them tried to grab me."

  "Grab you?" Sheriff Knoxx asked, stepping forward.

  I saw the goblin in him fighting to come out. It suited him, in a way. Goblins were tough. They weren't afraid of anything. Sheriff Knoxx looked like he was
ready to step outside and take care of business.

  "Who grabbed you?" he demanded.

  "I don't know, precisely. There were so many people out there. And they were all yelling and shouting things at me."

  "Like what?" I asked.

  If Melbourne had been human, his face would have been flushing. As it was, his snow-white cheeks remained colorless. Probably because there was no blood in him to run anywhere.

  "Troll," he muttered. "And vamp... vamp-ice."

  Eleanor and Trixie exploded in a wave of upset. "Vamp-ice! Are you serious?"

  "What's vamp-ice?" I asked.

  Melbourne's voice was soft and low. I had to strain to hear him. "It's a really nasty name for one of my kind."

  "I don't believe this," Lucy said. "As if you could hurt anyone. I've worked at Coffee Cove for three years. Remember that time I cut my finger opening a package of cinnamon sticks? I was bleeding like a faucet but you never once turned on me. Not once!"

  She shrugged her shoulders and heaved a sigh.

  "I don't even know what your fangs look like, for witch's sake. How can anyone say that you drank Pennyweather to death?"

  "I don't know," Eleanor said, "but that's exactly the sentiment I believe they're expressing. Look!"

  Below Lucy's hospital room, which was on the fifth floor, the group of protestors being led by Margaret opened a long, white banner that was obviously homemade. They spread it out across the lawn so everyone could see it.

  VAMP-ICE GO HOME

  "I don't know what that even means," Melbourne said miserably. "I was born in Sweetland. Okay, maybe I left for a while after I was turned and came back a century later, but Sara never held that against me. Neither did Patrick."

  "Wait. What?" I asked. "Did you just say that you knew Sara Sweetland and Patrick Mistmoor?" He nodded. "You're twelve hundred years old?"

  "Something like that. Really though, Ava. With more than ten centuries under my belt, you can hardly expect me to own up to my age." He pulled his shirt straight and looked at me as if daring me to ask again.