Southern Conjuring (Sweet Tea Witch Mysteries Book 13)

by Amy Boyles

  I’d ripped apart my room searching for the original spell but hadn’t been able to find out. Worry ate at me, and I spent the better part of the sunrise in the bathroom, dealing with an upset stomach.

  By the time I was able to leave, I found Amelia and Cordelia sitting on my bed, impatience etched on their faces.

  “I can’t find it,” I said. “Do you think a finding spell would help?”

  “Let me focus,” Cordelia said.

  She closed her eyes. The room warmed with magic. The pressure continued until it popped.

  “Something’s blocking my attempt,” Cordelia replied. She tossed herself on my covers and moaned. “How could we have lost it?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t feel bad. How were we supposed to know we’d need it to figure out who’s behind this.”

  “There’s no point in feeling sorry for ourselves,” Amelia said tensely. “We need to go to Snow’s.” She hiked a shoulder. “Besides, maybe we’ll find a clue there—something that will tell us exactly who did this.”

  I slipped into my shoes and pulled my hair into a ponytail. “Y’all ready?”

  My cousins nodded. I snapped my fingers, and Hugo rose from his coiled position on the floor. “Come on, Hugo. Let’s go.”

  We rode our cast-iron skillets to Snow’s house. The place looked exactly as we had left it, door hanging from the frame. Dried leaves had blown inside the house, but Snow’s body was gone, removed by the authorities.

  Even with the sun shining brightly outside, only a fraction of that filtered inside. Dust motes floated on the few slices of sunlight that burst through the windows, but the house was still dark.

  Amelia shivered. “This place gives me the creeps.”

  “Tell me about it.” I brushed past her and headed toward the area where Snow had first offered me the paper. “We found the original spell beside Snow’s body—the one I had given back to her. When she handed me the paper, I was standing here, beside this buffet.”

  Cordelia eyed the area. “Who else was nearby?”

  I considered her question. “Satlz Swift and Sylvia were somewhat, but not right beside me. I think Forbes was on the other side of the room and CJ was milling about.”

  “Anyone else?” Amelia asked.

  I thought about it, trying to remember who had been close at the time. “I spoke to Snow. She really grabbed my attention, telling me that I could clean up the same as Mint and Licky had. Then I handed the spell back to her and we left. It was that simple. There wasn’t anyone else around. No one who could’ve known what we were talking about.”

  Then I remembered a strange bit of information, something that jarred my mind.

  “What is it?” Cordelia said.

  I grimaced. “Nothing. Just some silly notion I had.”

  “Nothing is too silly not to mention,” Amelia prodded.

  Hugo huffed in agreement.

  I dragged my gaze to each of their faces and pointed to a silver box sitting atop a surface. “Snow told me that she’d trapped a mischievous spirit in that box. I wasn’t sure if I believed her at the time, but what if… It’s so stupid.”

  I raked my fingers down my face and exhaled a shot of air. “What if the creature in the box switched them?”

  “But they’re trapped,” Amelia said. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “You’re right. It was silly.”

  Cordelia clapped her hands. “Come on. Let’s go find Snow’s magic room. Pretty much every witch has one, and in it we might find clues as to what really happened.”

  It only took a few minutes to find said magic room. The room was white as, well, snow, and was in pristine condition—every vial dusted and every surface wiped of grime.

  “Snow was definitely tidy,” Amelia said.

  While my cousins searched the room, I took the opportunity to peek at Snow’s shelves. At least twenty leather-bound books, all with years printed on the spines, occupied an entire shelf by themselves.

  “What are these?” I murmured. My fingers brushed the top of one dated 1999. I slipped it out and peeled back the cover.

  What have we done? The blight has taken over Magnolia Cove. What we thought was the right thing to do has backfired.

  That was the first line, and it was handwritten.

  “Snow’s journal,” I whispered.

  I turned the page and kept reading. Turned out Snow was an excellent record keeper. She wrote about how the three witches and three wizards had worked to help the town but unleashed the blight, and then she wrote about how they had been able to stop the blight.

  That was where 1999 ended. I was just about to pick up 2000 when Cordelia called me over.

  Real solid information filled these books. One of these could hold the key to the answer we sought.

  “Look at this, Pepper,” she said.

  I dragged myself away from the shelf and crossed to them. “What’s up?”

  Amelia stared in wonder at a silvery-looking solution in a mortar. She picked it up, and the substance remained congealed and unmoving.

  I nodded toward it. “What’s that?”

  “Unless I’m wrong,” Cordelia replied smartly, “that’s Sticky Stuff.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly, not understanding the importance. “You’ve got me. What’s Sticky Stuff?”

  “It’s sticky,” Amelia said.

  Cordelia rolled her eyes. “We’ve already gone over that. Pepper wants to know what’s important about it.”

  “Oh.” Amelia clapped her hands. “Let’s just show you. Cordelia, would you do the honors?”

  Cordelia found a slip of paper sitting on a desk. She held it in front of her face while Amelia pinched off a bit of the Sticky Stuff.

  “You ready?” Amelia said.

  Cordelia nodded. “Just don’t hit me in the eye.”

  “Well, don’t put your eye where the paper is,” Amelia retorted.

  “I’m not trying to,” Cordelia snapped. “But sometimes you have crappy aim.”

  “I do not have crappy aim!”

  If these two continued to bicker, I’d never find out what the Sticky Stuff was. “Would you two stop and just show me? People’s lives are on the line.”

  Amelia threw Cordelia a look full of contempt. “Hold the paper and don’t move.”

  “Just go,” Cordelia snapped.

  Then in a flash, Amelia flicked the Sticky Stuff straight at Cordelia. A thin line of shimmery goo flew through the air and landed squarely in the center of the paper.

  Amelia lightly flicked her wrist again, and the next thing I knew, the paper was sitting in Amelia’s hand.

  My cousin grinned proudly. “See? Isn’t that cool?”

  I rubbed away a worry line that had started forming between my eyes. “I guess so, but I don’t see how it’s relevant to us.”

  “It works backward too,” Cordelia pointed out. “You can pull something toward you, or you can throw something at someone and make it stick, so to speak.”

  My cousins both eyed me victoriously, and it wasn’t until that moment that I figured out what was going on. “Wow. You’re saying that Snow made this and used it on me to give me the paper.”

  “Possibly,” Amelia said. “But we found—”

  A sound of bottles falling caught our attention. Amelia threw her hands into the air in fright, knocking over a beaker filled with a golden substance. She reached for it and, in the process, managed to knock over a vial filled with red powder.

  “Oh no,” she yelled. “Run!”

  I didn’t understand why I was supposed to run until glass shattered and the powders mixed.

  A wall of flame shot up into the room, blocking me off from the bookcase.

  Hugo howled at the fire. The dragon rose into the air, flapping his wings and screeching. I got the feeling he was trying to tell us we needed to leave.

  “No,” I screamed. “The journals!”

  The one journal I wanted, the one that might tell us exactly who h
ad tricked us into summoning the magic eater, now lay barricaded behind a wall of flame.

  I reached for it, but Cordelia tugged my arm. “Don’t, Pepper.”

  I flung out my arm. “Can’t we put it out?”

  Amelia shook her head. “It’s powder flame. We can try, but it might make it worse.”

  “Try,” I demanded.

  Then the three of us sweet tea witches focused our magic. I wanted the flames to die. I picked up the nearest thing I could find—a paperweight—and coaxed it into becoming water.

  I threw the rock onto the fire. At the last second it transformed into a rod of water, splashing onto the flames. The fire hissed and sizzled, but it didn’t sputter out.

  “We have to call someone,” I yelled. “Before the whole house goes up.”

  Cordelia’s and Amelia’s attempts to put the flames out didn’t work. The heat increased.

  “We have to go,” Amelia shrieked.

  I stared at the journals as they burned up, and I wanted to kick myself for not grabbing the one I needed. But I couldn’t cry about it. I had to move on.

  As we ran from the room toward the front of the house, I noticed something scurrying. I peered closer.

  “Flower!”

  The little possum scampered toward the front door. When she heard my voice, Flower turned.

  “What happened to you?” I said. “We were worried.”

  Flower ran up to me. “Oh my gosh, Pepper. It was so dark that night I got lost and couldn’t remember how to get back to the house.”

  “But you’re a possum; you can see in the dark,” I argued.

  She patted her whiskers. “It had been a long time since I’d been in the forest.”

  “Come on,” Amelia shouted. “The place is going to burn down.”

  I picked up Flower and tucked her under my arm. “Flower, we need your help. You might remember something from that day or know something about Snow that could help us find out who summoned the magic eater.”

  I rushed outside as Cordelia pulled out her phone to call the fire department. I realized I was sweating, so I settled Flower on the ground, pulled a tissue from my pocket and dabbed my skin.

  “I’ll help any way I can,” Flower said. “But first there’s something I have to tell you.”

  “Yeah, what is it?”

  “When I got lost in the forest, I returned to that man’s house.”

  “Forbes?”

  “That’s the one. I went back to his house and found something that might interest you.”

  “What’s that?”

  Flower's dark eyes looked glassy, as if she was about to cry. I felt that something really bothered her, almost frightened the creature.

  I knelt and took her paws in my hands. “What is it, Flower? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

  “I found something that makes me think the old man is the one who called the creature.”

  I had to admit with as much as Forbes had helped us lately, I didn’t necessarily think he was guilty anymore. But if Flower had proof of Forbes being nefarious, I had to at least take a look at it.

  “What did you find?” I asked.

  “I found a list of names—the same names as the one the magic eater is going after. He’s been marking them off, Pepper. Marking them off as if he’s counting them one by one. But that’s not the worst part. The worst thing was that his name wasn’t on the list—not at all.”

  I nibbled my bottom lip. “Which means Forbes doesn’t plan on dying.”

  Flower nodded. “That’s what I think, too. He wants everyone else dead but not himself.” She yanked my shirtsleeve. “If you don’t believe it, come and see for yourself.”

  I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. I believe it.”

  I ground my teeth. Now all I had to do was prove it.

  SIXTEEN

  We waited until the fire department arrived before leaving. With this new information that Flower had given me, I knew we had to get to the house and tell Betty.

  She’d have an idea of how to get the truth out of Forbes.

  We sailed through the sky on our cast-iron skillets. The sun was already high in the clouds. This day was burning away faster than I liked.

  My stomach seized, and the panic of seeing the magic eater gnawed at me. I’d probably have an ulcer the size of Canada by the time this was over.

  I glanced at Cordelia, who I knew was really taking the brunt of this. Her mouth was set in a determined line. I had the feeling that not only was Cordelia berating herself, she was still convinced she needed to hand herself over to Garrick when this was all over.

  I think all three of us did. We were negligent with magic and should never have worked a spell that we didn’t know one hundred percent came from a decent source. Yes, we’d seen Licky and Mint work it, but the words had been wrong.

  Wrong. All of them.

  “Do any of y’all remember the spell?” I yelled above the wind screaming in my ears.

  “A little,” Amelia said.

  “Not much,” Cordelia admitted.

  “Since we can’t find it, we need to try to put the words back together, see if we can come up with the original. Otherwise we’ll never be able to get rid of Erebus.”

  Cordelia nodded. “As soon as we land.”

  As we flew over Bubbling Cauldron, I noticed a huge gathering in the park.

  I pointed. “What’s that?”

  Amelia peered down. “I see Betty surrounded by a whole bunch of folks.”

  Cordelia shook her head. “Who wants to guess Betty has a plan?”

  I would’ve laughed if the situation hadn’t been so serious. “I say we go down and find out what it is.”

  We landed. I gently lowered Flower onto the soft grass. People milled about, congregating toward Betty.

  “Get your magic eater protection right here, folks. Magic eater protection!”

  The sound of Betty’s voice made the tiny ulcer that gnawed at my stomach grow even worse. What was my grandmother doing?

  “Don’t be shy, y’all,” Betty yelled. “You need magic eater protection—I’ve got magic eater protection. Guaranteed to work.”

  Bodies jam-packed the park. Flower huddled at my feet while Hugo sailed through the air, diving and rolling playfully.

  I only wished I could’ve felt so confident that everything would be okay.

  “Step right up, folks,” Betty continued to say.

  “Should we wait in line?” Amelia said. “We need magic eater protection.”

  Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let’s see what this is about.”

  We reached Betty, who stood with CJ and Sylvia, passing out cups full of magic eater protection. Betty spotted us and smiled widely.

  “Girls, thank goodness you’re here.” She shoved a full cup in my hands. “Pass this to whoever wants it.”

  “What’s this all about?” I whispered harshly. “We know there’s no such thing as magic eater protection.”

  Betty just smiled and nodded. “Got to keep the people protected.”

  I was tempted to grab my grandmother by the collar and take her around back for a good talking-to.

  Just then CJ smiled at me. “Pepper, how about some magic eater protection?”

  I sidled up next to him and lowered my voice. “Just what’s going on here?”

  “Golly gee, Miss Dunn, what makes you think something’s going on?”

  I shot him a scorching look. “Come on, CJ.”

  “Well”— his voice dropped to a whisper—“to tell you the truth, Miss Dunn, your grandmother has made a truth serum.”

  My eyelids flared. “And she’s giving it to the entire town?”

  CJ nodded proudly. “Yep. Then she’s gonna find out who’s responsible for this mess.”

  I raked my fingers down my face. Of all the harebrained ideas—drugging the town to find out the truth wasn’t only insane, it was also probably not exactly legal.

  “What’s going on here?”<
br />
  Speaking of the devil, Garrick Young strode up, a posse of officers behind him. His dark eyes moved from the cauldron full of liquid to the growing crowd. His lips were drawn into a tight line that did not look to break into a smile anytime soon.

  “What’s this about magic eater protection?” he said.

  Without missing a beat Betty handed him a cup. “Would you like some?”

  Garrick scowled. “No, I would not. I would like you to cease and desist handing this out to folks.”

  Betty gave a cup to a witch that looked eager for the remedy and crossed to Garrick, pushing folks out of her way with her ample bosom.

  “Listen here, Garrick. This is important business.”

  “You and I both know such a potion doesn’t exist,” he argued.

  “Shhh,” she said. “You’ll tell everyone!”

  I shook my head and moved to them. “It’s a truth serum, Garrick.”

  Garrick shook his head and stared at the sky. He pointed an accusatory finger at me. “Are you responsible for letting her do this?”

  I shook my head. “No! Of course not. I just found out.”

  “It’s to find out who’s behind this,” Betty admitted. “I’ve handed out serum to half the town.”

  “And that’ll be quite enough.” Garrick crossed to the cauldron and picked it up. “No one else will be getting any more of this serum. Betty Craple and company are officially out of business.”

  The crowd crowed in exasperation. Garrick shook his head. “I’m sorry but this is it. Y’all can’t have any more.”

  “That’s okay,” Betty shouted. “Because whoever gave my daughter the spell for the magic eater can step forward now.”

  All I heard was the sound of cicadas in the trees. To me it was akin to crickets chirping.

  “Tell me now if you’re the one who gave her the spell,” Betty said again.

  Still more cicadas.

  “Well dagnabbit, I gave that potion to just about every person in this town,” Betty grumbled. “Who the heck is behind the magic eater?”

  I shot her a hard look. “I think it was Snow and Forbes.”

  Betty cocked a brow. “You got proof?”

  I nodded. “Come on. Let’s get back to the house.”