Then I dug into the witness statements, where I found mention after mention that the truck had suddenly started driving erratically. The truck driver claimed it had to be a mechanical problem because he lost control of the steering. As far as Ethel’s supposed escape, no one but that one bystander ever saw her leave the car. One person mentioned a sand-colored SUV had stopped for a few minutes but left before the police arrived. And that was it. Everything.
I went back through the witness statements again, checking names and races. Not a witch in the group.
So, who had cast the spell that impaired the truck? The only witches the police had record of being there were those on Ethel’s team. Even if one of them wanted her dead, there were easier ways.
That thought had me switch over to the medical examiner’s report. Ethel’s body had been burned so badly they’d had to cut into bone to get a good DNA sample. Oddly, the most readable sample came from the outside of the bone, not the inside. The medical examiner noted this was unusual, that typically in these cases, the inside of the bone yielded the best sample. I added that tidbit to the pile of odd things in this case.
The pile of papers seemed to stare up at me, almost taunting me in inconstancies. I really needed the name of the witch who cast the spells at the accident. That person either knew where Elron was or knew who took him. Given the lack of communication with his abductors, I couldn’t help but wonder what they had in store for him. Or if they knew about my connection to him and how our lives were linked.
“Fascinating reading, isn’t it?” Rodriguez leaned against the desk.
“Something like that.”
He studied me, his dark eyes boring into me. “You didn’t tell me about Elron.”
“I didn’t want to talk about it.” I closed the file and moved out of his chair.
“Not to the locals, or to me.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you want the police involved? You lobbied for witches to be more open to interacting with law enforcement.”
“Are you asking as a friend or as a cop?”
Rodriguez settled into his chair and leaned back so he could look me in the eye without tilting his head. “Right now, a friend.”
“This time it isn’t politics. Nothing going on there you can’t figure out.” I moved a chair from in front of his desk to beside it. I took a deep breath. “They could have Elron because our lives are linked. Mine to his. Kill him, and I die too. That can’t go in a file. I can’t have people taking aim at the man I love when I’m the one they want.” I left out the part that I was all but immortal until Elron died. Besides, it would serve me right to brag about my invulnerability only to find a loophole large enough to die through.
“That’s a good reason to keep your mouth shut.” Rodriguez leaned forward. “Do you think you can keep that a secret for the rest of his life? What, another fifteen hundred years or more?”
“I haven’t been thinking that far ahead.”
“Clearly.” He tapped his fingers on the desk. “You’re going to need a reason you live extra long.”
Of all the ways for this conversation to go, this wasn’t what I’d expected. “I figured I had a solid two hundred years to come up with an answer. Besides, as unhappy as people are with me becoming premier now, I think they’d be a lot less happy to hand over a lifetime appointment to a woman who’ll live five normal lifespans.”
“Fair point.” He pondered for a moment. “Do the kidnappers know?”
I shrugged. “All I know is they have him, and I’m waiting for a phone call. Or to fall over dead.”
“Hmm.” He leaned back. “Makes sense you wouldn’t talk to Jerry or Gordon.”
“They’re good men.”
“Beside the point and you know it.”
I didn’t bother to argue. It didn’t matter if they were good men or not. Any reason I gave them for the abduction had to go in a report, which was why I mentioned being in line to be premier and not the life link. “Either they’ll call or kill him. It makes the situation rather simple. It’s also not why I’m here.”
Rodriguez shook his head. “Fine. You were looking at Ethel’s case. Any connection?”
“Maybe. The tracking spell I tried for Elron fizzled out the same way the one did for Ethel.”
“So potentially the same person.”
I nodded. “And the more I look at it, the less right the accident looks. That magic… I’d never seen a spell shatter like that before, but a high speed collision and a fire could account for most of the oddities.”
Rodriguez flipped through the report, opening it to Ethel’s autopsy. “This bothered me.”
“Add it to the list.”
“Trouble is, we don’t have enough. It’s suspicious, but that doesn’t make it criminal.” Rodriguez flipped through the photos of the accident.
“If I could find the evidence—”
“The evidence half a dozen of this department’s personnel, as well as four GBI agents and one Highway Patrol officer missed? If you could find something we missed, we’d have to verify it before acting.” Rodriguez closed the file. “Friend to friend, you’re better off trying to figure out who took Elron.”
“The best lead I have is the tracking spell I tried on Ethel.”
“Damn.”
“That sums it up nicely.”
I closed my eyes for a moment. The thoughts swirling were as clear as mud. Nothing fit, and I was too deep in the grief and anger to put it together. “Do you have any work for me? If I can’t fix this, I’d at least like to feel useful.”
He glanced back at his workroom. “I’ve gotten as much evidence as I can from our recent magical items. Could you dispose of them?”
“Gladly.” At least this was simple enough. The entire lot could go to Regional Disposal, and they wouldn’t be terrorizing the town again.
It took us four trips to stow everything in my car. I thanked Rodriguez and promised to call when it was done. He went back inside, and I sat there, looking at my keys. One little run to Regional Disposal wasn’t enough to get my mind off things or distract me for long. Thirty minutes and I’d be back to watching my phone and hoping they didn’t kill Elron.
Someone knocked on the window.
I screeched as I twisted around, my wand settling into my hand. Rodriguez stood outside the car, a sheepish look on his face. I shoved the door open. “Other than scaring ten years off my life, what do you want?”
“Change of plan. We have a case.”
“What kind of a case?”
“Magical mayhem, what else?”
What else, indeed. I grabbed my purse and a bag of supplies before trotting over to his car. He flipped the siren on, and we were off. Finally, a good distraction.
The radio buzzed with reports of out of control magic at the high school science fair. Each bit of information that came over the radio sounded less believable than the last. More of the tainted magic was on the loose. Though that didn’t explain the reports of a bear prowling the gym, but I figured that part would sort itself out when we got there.
We slowly drove through a panicked herd of parents, teachers, and students to reach the door. After a quick debate, I left my gear in the car. I might need to be light on my feet, and a duffel made that difficult.
People swarmed Rodriguez, all of them shouting their own version of what happened. Since I wasn’t in uniform, they left me alone. I caught Rodriguez’s eyes long enough to tip my head toward the gym. He nodded and went back to trying to escape from the mob.
I summoned my wand as I approached the door.
The square woman guarding it moved directly in front of the door. “You can’t go in there.” A sooty smudge obscured her name tag.
“I’m with the police, here to fix the incident.” I held up my wand.
Her eyes swept over me from head to toe and back again. “Badge?”
I’d left it in the car. One of these days I’d get used to carrying it. “Witch and consultant. If you’d like your g
ym to go back to normal, let me in.” I bared my teeth in a smile.
One brow arched, but she stepped aside and held open the door. “Be careful, it’s a different world in there.”
Rodriguez came up behind me. “Hurry, before they follow.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the gym.
The door closed behind us with a thud that wasn’t at all ominous.
I’d wanted to know what the teacher meant by a different world, but I wasn’t going back out to ask. Not when a miniature helicopter crafted from wooden sticks swooped down at me.
I ducked. It zoomed past me and angled up. The double-height entry had plenty of room for the helicopter to go up, though it would do well to avoid the banners listing every championship the basketball, volleyball, and wrestling teams had won in the past fifty years.
A quick look didn’t reveal any other threats, unless trophy cases or the pedestal of the school mascot counted. On the floor, navy blue letters proudly proclaimed Home of the Grizzly Bears. I had a sinking feeling about the reports of the bear. Especially since the jumbo paw prints walked a curved path past the empty pedestal.
“I think the magic feels the same as what we’ve encountered before.” Rodriguez waited for a reply. “Michelle?”
“Remember those reports of a bear?” I pointed at the pedestal.
Rodriguez looked at the empty space and the words on the floor. “Oh. I’d forgotten.”
“Forgot what?” I spotted the helicopter making another pass. “Sowil.”
A containment spell snapped into place around the helicopter. It slowed before hitting the side and hovered in the center of the spell.
“I went to a different local high school, but I should’ve remembered. Creekview’s mascot is the grizzly bear.” Rodriguez eyed the doors leading out of the atrium.
“You know, I thought my life couldn’t get worse. Dead—maybe murdered—premier, clans plotting against me, abducted fiancé, but this is worse.” Animated grizzly worse.
He looked ill. “Just check the magic.”
It went against every instinct to look away from the doors. Trusting Rodriguez to warn me if a grizzly turned up, I spun out a thread of magic and probed the helicopter. It was tainted with the same twisted magic that had been the cause of all of our emergencies lately. “Same stuff.”
“Then we neutralize the worst of it, clear and close off the building, and tell the school to hire a specialist.”
“I like that plan.” Mostly because it was likely to leave me with enough of my magic for the next emergency.
Rodriguez nodded. “Which doors are less likely to have a grizzly behind them?”
To my right, two sets of double doors led to the gym floor, which was all I could tell past the giant posters obscuring their windows. On the left, a sign indicating the bathrooms dangled above a single set of double doors. From what I could remember of gyms, that door likely led to locker rooms and weight rooms too. “Bathroom door.” If I was a bear awakened by magic, I’d go toward the interesting stuff on the gym floor.
“Left it is.”
Before leaving, I set a containment spell across the doors to the gym. Last thing I wanted was to have stuff follow us and have to go through the building multiple times.
On the other side of the single set of doors were several other doors. We split up, each taking a bathroom. Wand leading the way, I nudged open the door to the ladies room. A pair of hooves filled my vision, and I jerked back. The hooves landed against the door with a solid thud, shoving it closed.
I waited, trying to decide if a student had been defending themselves or if this was another problem caused by tainted magic.
“Did you get it?” A high pitched voice drifted through the door.
“Don’t know.” The reply was more thoughtful. “Didn’t get a good look at it.”
I leaned forward and rapped on the door. “I’m with the police and can help you out of the building.”
Silence followed my announcement.
Rodriguez had gotten into his bathroom without any trouble, though for all I knew he was wrestling the grizzly in there.
The door opened enough for a young girl with brown eyes and black hair to peer out. “Can you get us out?”
“I can.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Right now, if you come out.”
She looked back into the room before nodding and tugging open the door. Her coat matched the black of her hair, and those were definitely her hooves that had nearly gotten me. She side-stepped, using a hand to hold open the door. “It was the only safe place we could find.”
A younger centaur with equally black hair held back by a bright pink flower headband peered into the hall before walking out. A slender fey with her green skin tinting gray followed her out. One human-looking girl left the bathroom, and another took the door from the centaur so she could join her sister. The last human left the bathroom, the door closing softly this time.
“Is that all of you?”
They nodded.
“Okay, we’re going to head for the main door.” I pointed down the hall to the double doors. “My partner, an officer in uniform, is checking the men’s room. He won’t hurt you. He’s here to help.” I waited until they nodded again before ushering them forward. The path between here and the door was clear, so I took up the rear guard position.
Rodriguez came out of the bathroom, and the group hesitated, but he went and held open the door for them. That was all the encouragement they needed to bolt for freedom. He ushered them the rest of the way out and got on his radio to ask for another officer to organize the mob and try to get a list of the missing.
While he relayed information, I checked the third bathroom and actually walked through the ladies room. Both were empty. I checked my phone while I waited by the door at the end of the hall.
Still no calls. Given how long it had been since Elron’s abduction, I didn’t know if that was good or bad news. I tucked it back in my pocket. That was a problem for after this mess.
“Officers will work on getting a list of the missing. I’ve been told all the exits but the one we came in through have been locked and are guarded by teachers.” He sighed. “However, given the type of problems in here, it’s you and me.”
“No backup? Not even with a grizzly in the mix?”
“Too much unpredictable magic.”
“Well that’s just great.” We’d be at this for ages. Gyms weren’t small and easy to clear under the best conditions, never mind now.
“I’m sorry.”
I sighed. “No, the distraction is good.” I motioned at the door. “Shall we?”
He shoved open the door, which led to another empty hallway with doors sprouting off. In the weight room, we found more students hiding. I escorted them out while Rodriguez finished checking that area. On my way back through, I noticed he’d placed a line of magic across the door that would turn from yellow to red if someone crossed it.
From there, we checked the surprisingly empty girls’ locker room and put another line across that door. It wasn’t as good as a containment spell, but it took less power. The boys’ locker room was next. Rodriquez shoved open the door and stopped squarely in the way.
I peered around him. A bubbling river of green slime had busted through the wall of the gym and into the locker room, where it slowly oozed between the lockers and showers. That would’ve been enough, but a section of it had diverted to the lockers, and three boys held a terrified satyr’s arms as the slime burbled around his waist. On the other side of the slime, a full-sized grizzly stood on its hind legs in a shower stall, the tile lip barely holding back the slimy river.
Since the bear looked terrified of the slime, that made the boys the priority. I shoved Rodriguez into the room and edged around the slime as I probed it. The magic had twisted it, amplifying the stickiness and feeding it to increase the size. Neither were good news for the satyr.
One of the boys spotted us. “It’s taking Biko!”
�
��And we’re going to get him out of there.” Only I wasn’t sure how. Spelling the slime was out of the question. I didn’t need to give it any more capabilities than what it already had. That left spelling Biko. Risky, since the slime could twist other spells on contact.
Rodriguez pillaged a few lockers and used three pairs of pants to make a loop of rope. Rather than argue with the boys, he tied it under Biko’s arms and tethered the other end to a bench leg that was bolted to the floor. That should give us a safety rope if the rescue went wrong.
On the other side of the room, the bear stretched out its neck and sniffed the slime. Its lip curled back, and it sneezed before hunching in the back corner of the shower.
“Do you have a plan?” Rodriguez asked.
I nodded.
“Then do it.” He turned back to the boy. “Look at me, only me. No matter what happens, we are getting you out of here.”
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my wand and pointed it at Biko. “Nazid.”
The spell spread through him, and he lifted off the floor. His friends yanked on him, and he slid halfway out of the slime. A victory rendered somewhat hollow by the complete lack of satyr fur on his lower half and the red, blistered skin. I averted my eyes.
A growl had me turning toward the bear. Slime spilled over the edge of the shower stall. The grizzly growled again as it peered at the tile wall next to him. Apparently it looked like a good exit to the bear, because before I could blink, the bear had its paws on top of the wall.
The magic shifted. Deciding the bear was the lesser threat, I looked back at the wrestling match between the boys and the slime. Biko had risen a good five feet in the air. Thankfully, he wasn’t drifting any higher because of Rodriguez’s quick thinking with the makeshift rope.
One last tentacle of slime held tight to Biko’s hoof. He kicked, and it released him, taking the levitation spell with it. Biko screamed as he fell but managed to twist and land on his hooves. It had to be the part-goat that gave him that ability.
A Witch's Magic Page 17
