The soft sound of the door opening was followed by soft words. “Michelle? The lodge said you were home.”
I push myself up. “Hey, you.”
Elron leaned against the doorway, his silver hair pulled back in a braid, leaving his pointed ears bare. “You look tired.” He stepped inside my apartment.
Covering a yawn, I nodded. “I may not be good company tonight.”
He smiled as he crossed the room. “I planned for that.” He leaned over the back of the couch and pressed a kiss against my forehead.
“Mind reader,” I teased.
Elron shook his head. “You showed me your itinerary. I’m afraid to ask how many awake charms you’ve used in the past few days.”
I winced.
“I suspected as much.” He circled on the couch and offered me his hand. “I have dinner ready in my apartment. I brewed an herbal tea just for you, and if you do not want to think about the convention, we can talk about anything or nothing.”
I let him tug me to my feet and followed him to his apartment. “Tomorrow is going to be brutal. I don’t know why I thought I could do the convention and then go back to work the next day.” Especially now that I was out of magic. A good night’s sleep would help restore me, but it would be a few days until I was fully recharged.
“I presume that is a rhetorical statement.” He held open the door for me.
“You presume correctly.” I stepped in his apartment.
The lights were dimmed, though it wasn’t so dark as to encourage sleep. Two blue candles graced the table, the cheerful flames brightening the room. Elron motioned toward a chair. “Your tea is already there,” he said.
The thick ceramic mug was delightfully warm in my hands, and the barley tea inside was the perfect drinking temperature. By the time Elron brought over the food, I could feel the day’s tension slipping away. The salad was refreshing after days of convention food.
“How many departments have signed a new contract?” Elron asked.
“Six, actually five. Union County never canceled their contract.” I refilled my cup of tea. “I’m hoping that given a few weeks of solid performance, I can sign a few more departments. Plus, now that I’ve made my first public appearances as premier in training, I should start to receive a stipend for those duties.”
“Do you have any work lined up, or will you be waiting for a phone call?”
“Both. I have plenty of disenchanting to do, and if there’s a call for help, I’ll be there.” I sighed. “Rodriguez and I worked together fine. I haven’t been on a job with my other clients. It’s been a while since I worked with them, and I’m a little different. I don’t know if they’ll trust me like they did before.”
Elron leaned forward. “They rehired you because they trust you. They know how much you helped their departments in the past, and they have confidence you will do so now. You worked hard to regain your abilities. Have confidence in yourself and in them.”
I slid my hands under his. “I know, but it’s not easy. I spent hours coming up with answers to their questions. The truth is, I don’t want to talk about what happened. I don’t want to think about what I could’ve done better or what I did wrong. I just want to move forward.”
“Then tell them it’s not pertinent to the case. Be polite, but firm. They don’t have a right to know everything about you. Ultimately, you’re a consultant, not an employee. As long as you do the job ethically, you’ve fulfilled your part of the contract. The officers who were truly your friends have come to visit you. They know what happened, and they understand. They’re on your side.”
“Thank you. Hearing that helps.” A knot of worry eased. “How have you been? We didn’t get a chance to talk while I was at the convention.”
“I acquired a new plant for the university.” A smile slowly spread across his face as he talked about the plant and how his students were managing with the collection of magical flora.
I stopped thinking about tomorrow and today and simply enjoyed the rest of the evening. Little by little, the worries faded, but even Elron’s company couldn’t erase the challenge and how I’d failed Ethel and myself.
“Would you like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?” Elron smiled tentatively. “I already made reservations at Italian Flair.”
“I’d like a date night.” I reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I haven’t spent nearly enough time with you lately. Too many lessons.”
“Dinner it is.” His shoulders relaxed.
As evening slid by, I enjoyed the most relaxing night I’d had in the past month, all thanks to Elron.
That night before I went to bed, I visited the altar behind the lodge. I gave thanks for the many gifts I’d received, the return of my powers, the love of a man like Elron, and the incredible family I discovered over the past year. I lit a candle for the officers I hadn’t been able to save, my friends who had died, and the strangers who I had learned more about in death than in life.
With the earth beneath me, and the moon bright in the sky, I prayed for me. I prayed my failures wouldn’t harm those around me. I prayed for the ability to save the people I loved from harm and heartache.
I prayed I was witch enough.
Dawn broke while I sat outside, sipping a warm cup of tea. Neither the earth nor the moon had held answers for my prayers. Prayers where I asked to be enough for me, even if I couldn’t be enough to be the premier. Losing the challenge with Isadora felt like losing my position, my past sacrifices coming back to shape my future.
For a moment, the clouds shifted, one taking on the shape of a paw print, backlit by the yellow-orange of the morning sun.
Even if the witches found fault in me, the police didn’t. Diminished as I was, I could still do my job with them. Oaks Consulting would always be there for me, and through it, I could save lives and do my small part to bridge the gap between the witches and the rest of the world. But, having seen how much more I could do as premier, would that satisfy me?
The sun broke through the clouds, and my phone rang.
“Oaks Consulting, this is Michelle,” I answered as the sun began burning away the fog that drifted around trees and hung over the garden.
“You have to get here. They’re making me leave, and I don’t know what to do.”
I checked the number, which I didn’t recognize. “Susanna, what happened? Why aren’t you calling from your phone?” Dread coiled in my gut. “Can I speak to Ethel?”
The piercing shriek of a siren filtered over the line. “The car… so much fire.” Susanna’s voice cracked. “They say I have to get in the ambulance. Michelle, you need to be here.”
“Where? Where are you? Where’s Ethel?”
The line went dead.
I swore and redialed the number. It went directly to voice mail. I swore again as I scooped up my mug and darted to the lodge. The path had to be twice as long as it had been when I walked out this morning. The door swung open before I reached it, as did my apartment door.
“Thank you, lodge.” My heart thundered as I dumped out the tea. What had happened to cause a fire? Where was Ethel? Who could I call to get better information? And why couldn’t I find my left shoe? I’d had a left shoe last night. It had to be here.
I got down on my hands and knees to peer under the bed. The Narzel-blasted thing had managed to slide nearly two feet back. My fingers had just brushed the shoe when my phone rang.
I snagged the loop on the back and lunged for my phone. “Hello?”
“Michelle, it’s Rodriguez.” He sounded grim.
With the phone wedged between my ear and my shoulder, I yanked on my shoes. “If this is a case, I can’t. There’s been an emergency—”
“Michelle, if—”
“Have you heard any reports about something happening to the premier? Or about a large fire?” I finished lacing my shoes. All I needed now were my purse and keys.
“The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department would like to inform you that an
incident involving the premier has been reported, and you are listed as an emergency contact.” Rodriguez finished in a rush.
I froze. “What kind of incident? Susanna wasn’t coherent on the phone.”
Rodriguez hesitated. “A car accident. So far, we have not been able to locate the premier.”
“Tell me where you are. I’ll be right there.” I snagged a piece of paper and pen.
“That’s not a good idea.”
“I can help you find her. I need to help.” I bit my lip to force the tears back. “Please.”
He sighed. “Don’t do this to yourself.”
“I have to.” Because if anything happened to her, I was next in line, and I wasn’t ready to be the premier, not after losing a challenge, not when so few witches believed in me.
“It’s in the northbound lanes on I-575, right before Exit 7.” He sighed. “It’s a fresh scene. I was called in when they identified the premier’s vehicle and haven’t done an evaluation, but it doesn’t look like magic was the cause. I’m not sure what you can do.”
That sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. “I have to try. If nothing else, I can help you locate Ethel. You’re always telling me it’s surprising how far people can wander away from a crash.” I couldn’t think about the other reasons they would have trouble locating Ethel.
“Michelle, listen—”
“I’ll be there soon.” I hung up. He could fuss at me when I got there.
The drive couldn’t go fast enough. Especially since the best way to the accident was south on the highway, only to exit, get back on, and head back north. Between one moment and the next, the drive crawled by, even though my car assured me I was going the speed limit, until I reached the accident. From my spot in the right lane, I could see a tractor-trailer jackknifed across the north-bound lanes and the plumes of smoke.
I focused on the road.
Two miles later, a sign proclaiming EXIT AHEAD sped by. I bit my lip to hold back tears as I got off the highway.
The wait at the lights to get back on, this time heading north, lasted at least a year. The image of the smoke and the tractor-trailer hung in my mind. As bad as it had looked from across the highway, it was going to be worse up close. Ethel’s car was in there. Cars and big trucks didn’t mix well.
Ethel had to be okay. I wasn’t ready to be minister. The clans weren’t ready for the transition. She had to be okay.
The light turned green. Seconds later, I realized the longest part of the drive wasn’t coming south but back north in all the traffic trying to get around the accident. Twice I had to slam on the brakes, narrowly avoiding rear ending the car in front of me.
Distantly, I knew I shouldn’t be driving, but it was too late to stay home now.
The only small blessing in this part of the drive was how little I could see past the wall of cars. Not that it stopped my visions of how the jack-knifed truck and car had collided.
Time crawled by as slowly as the traffic. Inch by inch, I crept closer.
Half an hour later, police cars with flashing lights blocked off the exit ramp and the far right lane. My eyes locked on the crash for a fraction of a second before I focused on the road ahead of me. When I wasn’t driving, I could look.
The remaining traffic slowly edged around the back of the tractor trailer. I stopped behind a police car and held up the ID Cherokee County had given me last week. The officer frowned at it before waving me around. I thanked him and drove onto a wide shoulder, careful to keep my eyes on the grass in front of me. Only a few car lengths later, I parked behind a highway patrol car.
Keys in hand, I got out, and this time I had to look.
The truck stretched from the right lane of the highway, across a sizable gap to the exit lane, to where its nose was planted firmly against the side of a car. It was hard to tell how bad the initial impact had been, as the car’s previous bright blue paint had peeled off from the heat of the fire. That same fire had shattered the windows and consumed the interior. Both the truck and car smoldered, even with the fire department dumping water on them. Another sedan with its front driver’s side crumpled had gone off the shoulder before hitting a tree.
I stood next to my car, knees locked, tears silently dripping down my face. How could Ethel have survived that? How had anyone survived? Was Ethel missing because they couldn’t identify her body?
Could I identify her body?
“Michelle, I told you not to come.” Rodriguez stepped between me and the accident.
I brushed the tears away and did my best to pretend I hadn’t been crying. “I thought you might need a witch.”
He sighed and rubbed his temple. “You had to see it, didn’t you?”
Not sure I trusted my voice, I nodded.
Rodriguez studied me. “Fine. You can stay, but you have to be here officially. I’ve found traces of magic but can’t identify what they’re for. Walk the scene with me and tell me what you can about the magic.”
“Deal.” I rubbed at my eyes again. It was one thing for Rodriguez to see me crying. He was a friend. Not everyone here would be, and they needed to see me as a professional. If only I felt professional.
He turned and pointed at the truck. “The reconstruction people are still working on what happened. So far, it looks like a car, whose owner hasn’t been identified, cut off the truck. It swerved to avoid the car. It seems like the truck driver lost control and swerved several times, eventually going sideways and impacting the premier’s car as it tried to exit the highway. Susanna said her car clipped the back of the premier’s car before going off the road.”
“Got it.” From where the cars were, that made sense, though it was hard to see why the truck had swerved enough to lose control.
“Susanna and the rest of the people in her car have a few broken bones between them, but nothing more serious. She says they got out and raced to the premier’s car. Before they could reach it, it burst into flames. By the time first responders got here, Susanna was the only coherent one. Two were in shock, and another passed out.” Rodriguez glanced over at me. “She claims no one left the premier’s car.”
My throat tightened. She couldn’t be dead. We had a plan, and her dying today didn’t fit that plan. “But you told me Ethel is missing.”
He nodded. “We found the bodies of a driver and a person in the backseat. Susanna said three people were in that car. The medical examiner wasn’t willing to say anything officially, but from an unofficial first look, they aren’t the premier.”
Two dead. Two witches I knew and had worked with for months. Two more funerals for people who should’ve had more life to live. This time I couldn’t blame a demon, just really horrible luck. “So, unofficially, where’s the premier?”
“We don’t know. A bystander claims they saw a woman matching Ethel’s description go into the woods.” He started walking toward the car wedged against a tree. “Maybe she got out and wandered off. It’s been known to happen. Maybe fire reacts oddly with old witch bones. Maybe she wasn’t in the car.”
I clenched my jaw against more tears. Neither of us had time for that. “What do you think?”
“Don’t know.” He tucked his hands in his pockets. “Susanna says the premier was in the car and didn’t get out. We’re working under the theory that Susanna may have missed her and Ethel wandered off. Unless you have a reason we should refocus our efforts.”
That question forced me to think through the options in gruesome detail. My mind couldn’t resist creating images of Ethel trapped in a flaming car. “Fire and magic can react unpredictably, but bone is bone. If you haven’t found her body, I doubt she was in the car. Susanna doesn’t have a reason to lie, but she could be confused from the accident. I have the number for their hotel. Someone there might be able to verify that Ethel left in that car.”
“We got a name from Susanna, and an officer is following up. We have officers searching the surrounding areas. So far, no sign of her. That’s all we can do for now.”
<
br /> “Thank you.” It hurt to push the words out. “Even if… even if the outcome isn’t… just—thank you.”
“We’ll find her, Michelle. One way or another, we’ll get an answer.”
“I know.” That didn’t stop me from being afraid of the answer. With the sun morning-bright, the earth dew-covered, and the trees quiet without a breeze, I prayed. Please, please, aid and guide Ethel. See her safely back to me.
Please, don’t make me premier just yet.
Chapter Eight
“I can tell there’s magic, but haven’t the faintest idea what it was intended to do,” Rodriguez continued in a business tone. “Can you look around?”
I wanted to say no, so I didn’t have to see which spells had failed to save Ethel’s life. Instead, I said, “Yes.”
“Can we link so I can see what you see?” He held out a hand.
Even if I hadn’t been connected to the victim, linking would’ve been prudent. As it was, letting him peer through my eyes was the only thing that would give my observations weight if they were needed for legal reasons. I clasped hands and switched my vision so we could see magic.
Rodriguez hissed.
Magic decorated the accident like a macabre painting. On Susanna’s car, the remains of shattered protection spells lay splintered across the front. Inside, spells repelling dirt and other minor works were still functioning. At least this part of the crash appeared simple enough, magically speaking.
The same couldn’t be said for the road. Fractured parts of spells were scattered across the highway leading up to the trailer and along the length of it. After that, the magic vanished. Not because that area hadn’t been touched by spells. I was sure Ethel’s car had carried more than its share of magic. But magic didn’t mix well with fire or water, and that area had seen both. What the fire hadn’t destroyed, the water had washed away.
“Can we get a closer look at the traces on the road?” Rodriguez asked.
“Sure.” Still linked, we approached a slick of magic near the police cars holding back traffic.
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