“What would you do, then?”
“Make it a public reward,” the second witch said to Lily. “If you announce to the entire town that there is a one million abra reward for any information that leads to the conviction of Rosa’s killer, anybody who knows anything will come forward and tell you what they know. That way, you’re getting as much information from the public as possible, and you’re doing it completely legally.”
My mind spun with possibilities. If Lily Lynn did go through with this, it also gave us the perfect reason to investigate this murder. It would mean that we were no longer simply doing it to try and clear our names and save Ellie’s business; we could do it under the pretext that the sister of the murdered witch wanted us to do it. That would mean Chief Enforcer King couldn’t get mad if she found us investigating.
Well, not as mad, anyway.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way,” Lily huffed. “Make sure the lawyers get the information by this afternoon. I don’t want any delay on this; I want my sister’s killer found.”
“And whoever did it will be found,” the second witch said softly. “You have to believe that. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Rosa. She was a good witch, even though she rubbed some people the wrong way. I’ll do whatever I can to help you bring her killer to justice.”
The two witches shuffled off then, and I went over the conversation in my head. Those were two good suspects. The shifter who had been fired from her security team, who I suspected was a lion shifter given his name, and a magical fixer who thought Rosa stole her boyfriend.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to get a lead on the shifter. After all, with paranormals of different types not interacting with each other too much, I didn’t really know where to go to find out that information. Well, I supposed I could ask Kyran. He was my boyfriend, an elf who was kind of an outcast himself in town.
I sent him a quick text and frowned at my phone when I realized Amy still hadn’t answered. Well, if she was helping Sara, she would probably be too busy to check her phone. There was almost certainly nothing wrong, I told myself as I slipped the phone back into my pocket.
While I waited for Kyran to answer, I decided to head over to The Magic Mule and see if they could find out who the magical fixer who might have wanted Rosa dead was. Magical fixers were basically the paranormal-world equivalent of handymen, but only if being a handyman or handywoman was about eight thousand times more prestigious than in the human world. In the paranormal world, helicopter witches and wizards who wanted their children to have the best possible jobs either pushed them to be Healers or magical fixers. That’s how prestigious the job was.
I made my way down to the bar, knowing that it was going to be closed for service. After all, it was still barely even eight in the morning. There were quite a few hours to go before they would be serving drinks, and sure enough, as soon as I opened the front door, a witch called out from behind the bar.
“Sorry, closed!”
“I know, sorry for interrupting. I’m just hoping you can help me with something,” I said, and the witch stopped and turned toward me. She was tall, with black hair and black lipstick, dressed head to toe in—you guessed it—black. In the human world, she would have definitely been considered goth. Still, she wasn’t unfriendly as she looked at me.
“Oh yeah? What do you need? You’re that new witch, aren’t you? The one from the human world?”
I had lived in Western Woods for almost a year now, but people still considered me the new witch. I supposed by paranormal-world standards, where most people lived their entire lives in the same town where they were born, I was.
“That’s me,” I nodded. “I was hoping you could help me find a witch. I know she works as a magical fixer, and I know she’d be pretty mad at Rosa Lynn. She thinks that Rosa stole her boyfriend.”
The witch behind the counter raised an eyebrow at me. “You do realize Rosa was killed yesterday, right?”
“I know,” I replied. I decided honesty was probably the best policy here. “I work with Ellie, who just opened the first permanent location of The Witching Flour yesterday. It was her first day open, and whoever poisoned Rosa poisoned the cinnamon bun that she bought at the bakery. So now nobody is coming to get baked goods because they’re worried they’ll also get murdered, so I’m trying to figure out who killed Rosa to save my friend’s business.”
To my surprise, the witch burst into laughter. “That does sound like the idiots around here,” she said. “Honestly, who could seriously believe they’re going to get murdered by eating one of Ellie’s cinnamon buns?”
“A lot of people, judging by the fact that we’ve had barely any customers all morning,” I replied bitterly. The witch shook her head.
“Ridiculous. I’m sorry to hear about that. Anyway, the witch you’re looking for is Ophelia. Ophelia Storm. She’ll be here tonight. She always comes in for a beer after work. If you show up around six, you’ll catch her.”
“Perfect, thanks,” I said to the witch, who nodded and went back to wiping down the bar. Now at least I had a lead on the witch I wanted to talk to.
Chapter 7
When I got outside, I checked my phone again and found that I now had replies from both Amy and Kyran.
Amy was fine; she had just decided she needed to catch up on some sleep and spent the morning in bed. That didn’t sound like her, but if I knew anybody who worked themselves to the bone and could use a random sleep in, it was definitely Amy.
Kyran told me he was currently in the human world, but that he could meet me in the Coven Gardens in about an hour. I made my way slowly over there, automatically heading toward the large lake where I knew Kyran would meet me. I had always liked the lake, and while I didn’t know why initially, now that I knew I came from a water coven, it all made a lot more sense. I was drawn to water because I was a water witch, and as I made my way closer to the edge, I spotted a figure on a broom who looked familiar.
Sara zipped around above the water at a dizzying speed. She was obviously practicing her agility; she would speed toward a certain spot, then all of a sudden turn her broom ninety degrees on a dime, or she would go from a horizontal position, flying at a steady elevation, to suddenly flying straight up into the sky, or nosediving toward the lake. At one point, I was sure she was going to fly directly into the water, but at the last second she pulled up on the broom and sped away, the tips of her feet just barely skimming the water below.
It was undoubtedly incredibly impressive to watch. Sara was one of the most skilled witches in the world on a broom, and it showed. The broom competition, one of the most popular new sports in the paranormal world, was about to finish its first season. Sara was currently tied for second place with the witch from my own coven, Karen Voda, and only ten points behind the current leader. There was one race to go, and it was coming up fast. I knew Sara wanted to win more than anything. Broom flying was her life, and it turned out that deep down, she was super competitive about it. As I watched her moving through the sky, I could tell she was completely focused on doing her best.
Suddenly, Sara pulled out her wand. She shouted something and pointed the wand at the water. Immediately, three waterspouts rose up from the lake and began spinning around like crazy. I gasped as I watched Sara darting between them like an expert; if she made one wrong move, she’d be sucked into the watery vortex. But Sara knew exactly what she was doing, and she moved between them like a gymnast. There was a real elegance to her flying, and I found myself so mesmerized watching her practice that I didn’t even notice Kyran sneaking up on me.
“She’s got a shot at winning the title,” he said, sitting down next to me, and I jumped about a foot.
“Holy Jupiter!” I muttered. “Who taught you to be a ninja?”
Kyran grinned. “Sorry. One of those elf things. Anyway, what did you want help with?”
“I need to find a shifter named Leon. I know he worked for Rosa Lynn as part of her security team, but that’s all I’ve got. I’
m assuming from the name he’s a lion shifter.”
“And here I thought my girlfriend just wanted to spend a nice morning in the Coven Gardens with me,” Kyran teased. “Yeah, I know the guy. He’s serious. Older. A former Enforcer. You said that Rosa Lynn fired him from her team?”
“That’s right,” I nodded.
“Hm, I wonder why.”
“No idea. I get the impression it was recent.”
“Leon is a good shifter. I can make the introduction. Is it safe to assume that you’re trying to figure out who killed Rosa Lynn, then?”
“That’s right,” I nodded. “It was a cinnamon bun from The Witching Flour that killed her.”
Kyran let out a low whistle. “Well, that’s not good.”
“Yeah. Not only are Ellie and I suspects, since we were the only two people who had access to the cinnamon bun at the bakery, but even worse, now no one is coming to get baked goods, since I’m pretty sure they all think Ellie’s going to poison them.”
“Really? That’s the worst part? Not the fact that you’re a suspect in a murder investigation?”
“No. I mean, neither one of us actually killed her. Besides, I’m pretty sure Ellie would probably rather go to jail than have this business fail.”
“I can understand that. So you’re trying to solve the murder. What have you got so far?”
“Well, I know that Rosa got rid of Leon, who was part of her security team. There was a witch as well, a magical fixer named Ophelia Storm. Apparently, she believes Rosa stole her boyfriend. I’ve yet to confirm whether or not that’s true. She has a drink at The Magic Mule every night after work; the witch working there told me to come in around six and I’d be able to talk to her.”
“Ok,” Kyran said. “What about the others? Are they helping, or are you just doing this on your own?”
“No, we’re all involved,” I said. “Ellie is at The Witching Flour; there weren’t enough customers to justify me hanging around as well. Sara is out here practicing, since she has the final competition coming up, and Amy is at home catching up on some sleep.”
Kyran gave me a curious look. It was only for a split second, but it was definitely there.
“What is it?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it. I know where Leon will be, if you wanted to go see him now.”
“Sure,” I nodded. “That sounds great.”
The two of us walked in comfortable silence away from the lake and out of the Coven Gardens. A small part of me was a little bit worried about leaving Sara there alone, but then again, I knew she could take care of herself. On top of that, her magical skills had gotten significantly better since she started flying competitively. It turned out all she needed was a little bit of confidence in one part of her life, and now she was making magical waterspouts in the lake no problem.
At least, I had assumed that was her intention; there was always a chance that Sara’s spell had been attempting to do something completely different. Still, there was no denying that in the last few months her magical skills had grown tremendously. I had seen it firsthand multiple times.
“Have you heard anything else from the coven of Titan?” Kyran asked after a few minutes, and I shook my head.
“Not since we sent those two back telling them to leave me alone,” I replied. A little while back, the head of the coven of Titan sent two of her children over to spy on me in order to find out if I was really from their coven, and if I was the daughter of an infamous wizard who had been prophesied to destroy him. We had captured them and, thanks to Amy, managed to question them before letting them go back to Kilokilo, where members of the coven of Titan lived.
“Are you doing alright mentally, I mean,” Kyran continued. “After all, that’s not easy news to receive.”
“I’m ok,” I replied. “Honestly, I have to admit I think it’s a whole lot of bunk. I can’t be prophesized to destroy my biological father when I don’t even know who he is. I barely even know how to be a witch. And it’s not like he’s wandering around here in plain sight. No one has heard from him in years and years. He’s probably dead, and the Oracle of Titan probably just made up that prophecy for whatever reason. I’m not going to lie, though, I am curious to know what happened to my biological mother. Did she die as well? Or is she also out there, hiding somewhere?”
Kyran was quiet in reply, and I gave him a hard look. “You don’t agree with me, do you?”
“I don’t, no,” Kyran replied slowly. “I don’t think the prophecy is false, and I think you probably do need to prepare yourself, because one day, things are going to come to a head. Burying your head in the sand and pretending it’s just paranormal-world craziness isn’t going to help anybody.”
A wave of anger flared up inside of me. This whole situation kept coming with brand-new emotions I wasn’t used to, and sometimes I even found myself wishing I had never passed through that portal into the paranormal world. I could’ve been living an easy, quiet life in Seattle, tending bar and fending off advances from drunk frat boys before going home to my small apartment.
Deep down I knew that wasn’t the case, of course. I loved the paranormal world. I was so thankful for all the friends I had here, and for Kyran, and no matter what happened, I knew I never wanted to leave Western Woods. But at the same time, the more I found out about my past, and now potentially my future, the more a part of me wanted to hide away.
“What on earth am I supposed to do, then? It’s not like there’s a spell out there designed to smite your father. How would I even know who he is? I’m not going to go hunting him down just because some prophecy says I should. This whole thing is stupid; why can’t I just live here in peace like everybody else?”
“Because you’re not just anybody else,” Kyran replied. “I know it’s difficult to hear. And I know it’s going to take you some time to get used to the idea. But you’re not normal. You’re the daughter of one of the most dangerous wizards to ever live, and by all accounts you were supposed to have been killed just after being born. But you weren’t. You’re here, and that means something. But it also means that until you fulfill the prophecy, you’re going to have it hanging over your head. It’s going to be difficult, but it’s what you have to do.”
“So what’s going to happen, one day some random wizard is going to come up to me and I’m automatically going to know that it’s my father, and I will automatically learn a spell that will kill him, and then everyone will celebrate me as the great witch who defeated the bad wizard Titan?” I rolled my eyes. “That’s just not realistic.”
“No one knows what form your father is going to take when he returns. No one knows where he even is. I think you should consider telling Lita what you know. I know you’re trying to keep your identity a secret for as long as possible, but I think it will come out eventually, and when it does, you’re going to want the head of this coven on your side. If Lita knows, she can put feelers out to the leaders of other covens to see if they have heard anything.”
I shook my head firmly. “No, absolutely not. Right now, the only people who know I exist and that I’m from the coven of Titan are you, Amy, Ellie, and Sara. A few others probably suspect but don’t know. I don’t want that to change. As long as it’s just that small group, there is no reason for Titan to come out of hiding. There is no way he can know that I exist, so he has no reason to come after me.”
“Fine,” Kyran said. “There is logic to that idea, at least. I still think you should consider telling Lita at some point, though.”
“I’ll consider it,” I replied, but I knew I wasn’t going to do it. The safest thing for me was to keep my identity quiet, so that nobody would know who I was.
After all, I wasn’t worried only for myself. If my biological father was as dangerous as everyone said he was, then everyone who knew me was in danger. And I absolutely wasn’t going to let anybody else get hurt simply by existing.
Chapter 8
Kyran and
I ended up at the local gym about fifteen minutes later. I had to admit, I wasn’t as familiar with this place as I probably should have been. But hey, hunting down murderers counted as exercise, right?
The gym was right downtown. It was one of those fancy modern places with huge windows that lined the street, showing a snazzy reception area inside, and probably had a thousand cardio machines and rules about dropping weights, whose membership probably cost an arm and a leg. Kyran and I made our way through the front door, where the fittest fairy I had ever seen sat behind the reception counter. Seriously, her arms were more ripped than Madonna’s. Even her wings looked bigger than the average fairy’s.
“Hello, welcome to WW Fitness. Are the two of you members, or would you like to sign up for a membership?”
“We are actually just here to see Leon,” Kyran explained. “Would you mind getting him for us?”
“Of course,” the fairy replied. “What names should I give?”
“Just tell him Kyran is here to see him,” Kyran replied, and the fairy nodded and fluttered off through a set of swinging doors into the main gym area. She came back about two minutes later, followed by a man who was definitely a lion shifter. His blond hair was darker than Chief Enforcer King’s, but still definitely blond, and even though he was starting to get on in years, with a few wrinkles lining his face, his shoulders were broad and it made total sense that he spent his time here in the gym.
As soon as he saw Kyran, Leon moved forward and shook his hand.
“Kyran the elf,” he said, his deep voice matching his body perfectly. He reminded me a little bit of Bruce Willis. If Bruce Willis had a thick mane of hair, anyway. “I haven’t seen you in quite some time. How goes the life of the local vigilante? And who is this you have with you?” He looked over at me, smiling and holding out a hand to shake. I took it, returning the smile. I wasn’t surprised to find that Leon’s handshake was firm, and solid.
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