Opal Fire

by Barbra Annino

  Cinnamon must have been thinking the same thing, because she curled around to the front of the living room so the aunts would face her and I slid the rock behind a phone book.

  “Hi aunties!” Cin said.

  “What’s happened?” Fiona asked.

  “What do you mean?” Cin asked, all wide-eyed and innocent.

  She over-played her hand because as soon as she said it, Lolly and Fiona locked arms in a stand-off between Cinnamon and me. They glared at us, narrowing their eyes. Lolly was in focus, so I guessed the wine held over from the cocktail hour was still swimming through her brainwaves.

  “Don’t play coy, Cinnamon, I know something is amiss in this cottage,” Fiona said and Lolly nodded.

  The walls were thick in their old house, practically sound proof, so chances were they didn’t hear the glass shatter. But they knew something was very broken in our little town. Fiona swung her head to the doorway.

  “Where is the sachet I gave you?” she asked.

  Oops. I forgot to hang the protective potpourri. I shrugged. “I just didn’t have time, I guess.”

  She craned her neck to view the kitchen, but Cinnamon rushed over and gave them a hug.

  “I’m sorry I missed the Imbolc. Thank you for the spell.”

  Fiona never could resist a hug and she squeezed my cousin close.

  I inched around, aiming to cover up the glass and hide the rock but my cell phone rang and broke the silence.

  “Say hi to Birdie,” Lolly said.

  My phone was in the bedroom. If I moved, they were sure to snoop. “I’ll let it go to voice mail,” I said.

  “Where is that draft coming from, dear?” Fiona asked.

  “We just let Thor in from outside,” Cin said.

  At the mention of ‘outside’, Thor jumped up and trotted to the back door, where the jagged shards lay.

  “Thor, no!” I ran to check his paws, but he must have missed it. I unlatched the back door, let the dog out, and turned to face my aunts.

  They had such an utter look of disappointment you would have thought I just had a baby out of wedlock.

  “Let’s have it,” Fiona said.

  I bowed my head as Cin tried to explain. I brushed past Fiona to get my phone and she gasped at the sight of the bruise on my neck. When she touched it, I flinched.

  “It’s okay, it’s just a bruise.” But Fiona seemed skeptical. She held my wrist, willing me to face her. Her forehead wrinkled into a question, like she had seen that mark before. She dropped my hand, kissed the bruise and shuffled towards the kitchen.

  I picked up my phone and pressed the message option. I had two texts. While Cin and the aunts tried to talk over each other, I read the messages.

  FROM: Birdie 8:49PM. Hey Sunshine, Gramps here! Not supposed to call, but grandma has her ways. This is fun! Journal writing, cozy room, talking. Dinner great. Tomorrow we share feelings in group.

  FROM: Birdie 8:57PM. If I believed in hell, this would be it. No clocks, no calendars. How will I know when the moon enters Gemini? Sleeping in a closet, eating shoe leather. Oscar won’t shut up. Wait ‘til I tell my feelings. Anastasia, danger descending. Read the book. Protection.

  I tucked the phone in my pocket and went into the kitchen where Fiona and Cin were duct taping the hole shut while Lolly was sprinkling salt all around the house. The glass was in the garbage and the rock was still on the counter. I looked at the note, without touching it, because I didn’t want to feel sick.

  “I called Chance,” Cin said to me. “He said he’d help out with whatever we need. He is free tonight, so he said he would stop by.”

  Fiona dropped the tape and looked at her. “Whatever for?”

  Cin tilted her head back and shrugged. “Ask Stacy.”

  Chance and I were high school sweethearts and when I first got back to town, it looked like we might revive our romance. He was my first love, and I have to admit that seeing him again–tanned and muscular from working construction, with bright blue eyes and Brad Pitt’s hair–I was tempted. But I’m not one to read a book backwards.

  “Actually, I need him to do something at the Opal.” I was still staring at the rock.

  What did that note mean? MORE WILL DIE? Where does the more fit in? As far as I knew, no one had died.

  “Uh-oh,” Lolly mumbled. I lifted my head. Her eyeballs were bouncing around in their sockets. It looked like she popped a fuse.

  “Lolly, you okay?” I asked.

  Fiona said, “She’s fine, dear. We’ll just be off now. Looks like you girls have everything under control here.” Fiona was ushering Lolly to the door and I saw a spider dance across the carpet. That was a sign I knew all too well. An uninvited guest.

  “Stop!” I yelled. My aunts halted and slowly circled to face me. “What did you do?” I asked, hands on hips.

  “Whatever do you mean?” Fiona asked in her sultry, ‘you’ll believe me because I’m gorgeous and charming’ voice. But that didn’t work on me.

  I tapped my foot and Lolly suddenly became fascinated by her split ends.

  Fiona sighed. “Well, dear, we felt something was wrong here, so we called your friend Leo.”

  “Wait a minute. You called Leo?”

  “Eek,” Cin whispered behind me.

  The only thing Chance and Leo have in common is me and neither of them is thrilled about that. But what I was going to ask Chance to do, Leo couldn’t know about.

  He would think it too dangerous, or he’d want to follow the rule book, or he might try to convince me that it was illegal.

  Which it might be.

  “Cin, call Chance back. Tell him to meet us at the Opal ASAP. And you two,” I pointed to my aunts. “Stall Leo and—” The doorbell cut me off.

  Son of a bitch.

  CHAPTER 10

  Through clenched teeth, I barked a few orders so everyone knew what to do before I opened the door. I wasn’t sure if Chance or Leo had arrived first, but I had a plan in place for either scenario. If it was Chance, Cin was to head to the bar with him in his truck and wait for me. I would wait for Leo, tell him there was no emergency here, but would he like to stay for a beer. I would make up with him and Cin was to phone and say she needed something or other and could I bring it to her?

  If Leo was standing behind the door, Fiona was to fake some kind of emergency at the inn. He would follow the aunts there and they would stall him in their own way for at least an hour (which I was sure to hear about later). That way I could still leave and he wouldn’t know where I was headed.

  With everyone manning her station, I straightened my hair and tugged my top down, threw on a smile and twisted the handle.

  Chance and Leo both stood on my front porch.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t see this one coming and I had no plan C.

  I slammed the door shut and turned to my family.

  “Okay, new plan,” I said.

  “Uh, I can hear you,” Leo said.

  “Me too,” said Chance.

  What the hell good is magic if it can’t foresee these kinds of scenarios? And what the hell was a family full of witches for if they can’t predict disaster?

  I swung the door back open and beamed. I heard movement behind me, probably all three of them planning an escape.

  “Sorry. Wind gust. Must have yanked the door from my hand. So what are you doing here?” I asked.

  Chance and Leo spoke at the same time.

  “Cinnamon called me,” Chance said.

  “Fiona called me,” Leo said.

  “Oh.” I smiled stupidly, blocking the entryway.

  “Stacy?” Leo said.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you going to let us in?”

  I laughed. “Of course, I’m so sorry.” I stood back and watched my ex-boyfriend and my new boyfriend walk into my house.

  Fiona went to work, gushing forth with hugs and welcomes.

  Get the book, I managed to mouth to Cinnamon.

  She shook her head.

&n
bsp; I gave her a livid look. Get the book!

  Again, she declined.

  “How about some tea, boys?” Fiona said.

  I didn’t know what Cin’s problem was, but the Blessed Book was still in my bedroom so I went in and scooped it up so that I could put it in Cin’s car before we left. I figured at this point I could use all the help I could get. Funny, it seemed even heavier.

  “Dear, come out here and have some tea,” Fiona called.

  “I’m just going to put this in Cin’s car. Be right back,” I said. Chance leapt up to open the door and Leo rushed to unburden my arms. Cinnamon dropped her head in her hands.

  “I’ll get that for you,” Leo said and reached for the book

  “Its okay,” I said and pulled back.

  “Stacy, that looks heavy, I’ll take it,” Leo said. I knew this little performance was for Chance’s benefit so I retreated as Leo pulled forward. We both lost our grip.

  The realization hit me before the binding hit the floor.

  The rock slipped out between the pages. It was a large rock, but rather flat, so for some stupid reason, either my cousin or an aunt decided to tuck it between the pages of the giant book.

  Cinnamon’s face told me she was the genius behind the ruse. “You couldn’t have tossed it in a drawer?”

  She shrugged. “A drawer, they might check.” She eyed the book. “I knew they wouldn’t look in there.”

  The teakettle whistled and Fiona announced, “Soup’s on.”

  Chance and Leo stared at me, then at each other.

  Leo picked up the rock and Chance leaned in to read the note that Cin must have taped back onto it.

  “What the hell is going on?” Leo asked.

  Chance’s face hardened. “I’d like to know that myself.”

  “Oh, boys? Won’t you sit in the living room and have some tea and we can all discuss this.”

  “Fiona, please, not now,” Leo said.

  Chance looked at him like they were two men standing in front of a grizzly, and he could run faster. He had been around the Geraghty Girls long enough to know that you did as they requested or you might wind up with a frog infestation in your shower.

  Leo felt the heat of Fiona’s stare and met her eyes. “I said, sit.” It was not a suggestion.

  See, when Birdie isn’t around, Fiona is first-in-command.

  Leo and Chance shared my sofa while Fiona poured the tea. She handed each of them a dainty floral cup and saucer, complete with lady fingers. I would have burst out laughing if I didn’t think one of them would have strangled me.

  There was no avoiding the subject, so I launched into an explanation. Leo looked at the rock, then at me. Chance shook his head.

  Leo sipped his tea under Fiona’s watchful stare, choosing his words carefully before he spoke. “This is serious. You could have been hurt.”

  “I agree with Dirty Harry over here,” Chance said. “Whoever did this means business, so whatever you’re involved in, stop it.”

  “Bob the Builder is right,” Leo glared at Chance. “We need to file a report.”

  “A report?” Chance said. “What good is that? You need to find this asshole, Joe Friday.”

  Leo gulped his tea and said, “Listen, Tim the Tool Man—”

  “Enough!” I shouted. Geesh, what were we, in high school? “Neither of you gets to tell me what to do. I make my own decisions. That’s the beauty of being an adult.”

  Leo was about to say something else, but stopped. I thought he was stopping because he knew he crossed a line, but when he set the tea down his head swayed a bit, then his dark eyes drooped and his body slumped. He crashed into Chance’s lap.

  Chance looked up.

  “Oh, my god,” I said, rushing over to Leo. “Is he okay?”

  Chance put his finger to Leo’s neck. “He’s fine, but my nuts took a hit.”

  I spun around. “Fiona, what was in that tea?”

  The cup was still in Chance’s hand and I heard a clink as he carefully set it back on the coffee table.

  Fiona shrugged. “Chamomile, valerian, a touch of this, a pinch of that. He’s sleeping, dear, that’s all.” She looked at Chance. “Yours was licorice root, dear.”

  Chance whistled his relief.

  I looked at Leo, also relieved. Now that I knew he was just sleeping, I figured we may as well get on with the task.

  “How long will he be out?” I asked.

  Chance helped me arrange Leo on the couch as I explained what I was hoping he could do at the Opal. I removed Leo’s shoes, tucked a pillow under his head, and covered him with a blanket. Then, Cin, Chance, and I all piled into his truck.

  “I still don’t like this,” Chance grumbled as he backed out of the driveway. Fiona and Lolly waved.

  “Well I don’t either, but we don’t have a lot of choices. Whatever is behind that wall might have something to do with the fire. If I told Leo about it, we would need permits, approvals and inspectors just to get the ball rolling. Then it might take weeks before they would even get in there to take a look. Besides, what would I tell them? My grandma says I have special powers and I should follow every hunch?”

  Chance smiled and shot me a sideways glance. “Well, what are you going to tell Captain America when he wakes up?”

  “Okay, that isn’t even a cop reference, that’s just a cheap shot and I’ve had enough study-hall antics for one night,” I said.

  “If you two are done bickering, can we get on with it, please?” Cin said.

  We had just pulled up to Angelica’s Bakery where Chance would park the truck. We’d walk from there.

  He grabbed his toolbox and we hoofed it the block to the Black Opal in silence.

  Chance let out a low whistle when we got to the basement. It still reeked of stale booze and charred wood. “Wow, Cin. Tough break.” He squeezed her shoulder and she sighed.

  “Okay, which wall is it?” Chance said.

  “Over here, behind the stairwell.” It wasn’t until I got down there that I recalled the necklace. I made a mental note to show it to Cinnamon later. I pointed to where Derek shot the photos of the wall with the three bricks missing.

  Only now, there were no bricks missing.

  I thought I was losing my mind before Cinnamon said, “What the hell?”

  “Cin, you saw that photo, right? There were three bricks missing from that wall,” I said.

  Cinnamon nodded. Chance turned from us and examined the wall. He brushed his hand lightly over the soot until he found a spot where the black ash flicked away with ease.

  “It’s been patched. This one is newer,” Chance said, tapping the brick.

  Patched? Who would do that? And more importantly, why? I had to find out what was behind that brick.

  “Well, can you still try to chisel away at the wall?” I had hoped we could wedge a crowbar between the empty spaces, pop out a few more bricks to see inside.

  Chance ran a hand through his hair and flicked on a flashlight. “It could take a while. I might have to drill.”

  I checked the time on my phone. It was nearly 10pm on Friday. The town was busy already, but it was sure to get louder, with clubs and restaurants packed and music spilling onto the streets.

  I ducked down to show Chance where I thought I had seen something sparkle in the photograph and ran my hands along the wall. As I did so, I felt heat, and a wrenching cough choked me.

  The flashlight shone on my face and Cinnamon said in a hushed tone, “Oh, Stacy that bruise is getting worse.”

  Chance took a step forward. “Jesus, Stace, maybe we should get you looked at.”

  I had to admit I was feeling pretty funky. As if a nerve in my throat was pinched. I stood up, about to agree that maybe this wasn’t the greatest idea, when next to me, a nail flew from the mortar, taking a crumbling chunk of the wall with it.

  We all stared at the mound of rubble.

  “No. We need to do this,” I said.

  An hour later, Chance had punched a
12-inch hole in the wall. Cinnamon stepped forward and flashed the light into the black space. We all inched forward. As I looked in, I saw the face of the girl in the mirror, just for an instant.

  Cinnamon and Chance saw something completely different.

  Leo was still groggy and none too happy about taking a catnap. In fact, he woke up with my cat draped across his head, completely disoriented. I couldn’t offer much in the way of an explanation, so I avoided the subject entirely by telling him what we had found. That made him lose all interest in the possibility that someone slipped him a mickey.

  Now, the four of us were standing in front of the wall, staring at the face of a girl. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old.

  Leo’s hand slowly washed over his own face. “You were never here,” he said to me.

  “Actually, I was,” I said.

  He looked to Cinnamon for support.

  “Yep, I can vouch for her.”

  Leo turned to Chance. He was getting desperate. “You helped them. What the hell were you thinking?”

  “Hey, man, if I didn’t they would have tried it themselves and who knows what sort of a mess they would have made. They could have gotten hurt.”

  Leo knew Chance made sense, but I was offended by the sexist comment. Even if it was on the near side of the truth.

  “I cannot let this go, Leo. I have to report on it. Besides, we all know this is the reason the Opal was set on fire.”

  “Stacy, that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Let Tommy do his job first and then we’ll know for sure,” Leo said.

  “What about the person who filled in the missing bricks?”

  “You can’t be sure that there really were bricks missing.”

  “I know what I saw. I have...” I stopped short before I said proof. He would kill me if he had known I withheld that information.

  “Stacy, it was dark down here. You can’t be certain.” Leo grabbed my hands and searched my eyes for a hint of reason. “All I am asking is that you hold off until we get the body out. I’ll call the coroner tonight, get a crew out here and when that’s taken care of, I will tell the Mayor. Then it can be made public. I just don’t want it known that you were here when the body was discovered. Agreed?”