Using flashlights and a map made following the trail much easier, although still dangerous. We had to step over logs and brush and the going was slow.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Charlie asked.
“I had a thought that maybe Chloe tried to get down after Kevin and Kay fell into the ravine, just like Kay said she did,” I explained. “I looked on the map to see where there might be a cliff that Chloe could have fallen from. I didn’t see one, but then I remembered that there was one anyway.”
“How did you remember that?” Greer asked.
“I came up here once when I was young, to go mushroom hunting with my grandmother,” I said.
“Sounds like it runs in the family,” said Greer dryly.
“So we’re heading for that cliff,” I explained. “It’s in a very dense patch of woods, so I can see how rescuers wouldn’t have found it even with a lot of searching. I’m thinking Chloe might be around there.”
We had made it about two thirds of the way to the spot I had in mind when there was a growling.
“Oh, no. Is that the coyotes again?” Charlie whispered.
I glanced down at my feet to see Paws standing stock still, his hair on end, his tail as upright as the trees around us.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“No, not even a little bit. This whole me being helpful thing is stupid. I never wanted to come here. You’re ridiculous for liking that rabbit. Just ridiculous,” he ranted.
“Calm down,” I ordered.
“No, I will not. That’s a bear making that sound.”
Charlie, Greer, and I exchanged terrified looks. Just as Paws had said that, I saw a shimmer of light coming toward us.
Trundling through the woods at a steady but slow pace was a massive bear, glowing brown. The light bounced off him and played off the surrounding trees, making a kind of forest light show. He was a gorgeous animal, tall and sleek. Just when we saw him, he saw us and halted in surprise.
Clearing my throat, I stepped forward nervously. “I’m Lemmi. I’m the Witch of Mintwood.”
The bear stared at me for a few moments, then turned his eyes to Paws. The cat looked so petrified I wasn’t sure he’d ever recover.
“What brings you here?” the bear rumbled.
“We’re searching for a ghost named Chloe. She died on the mountain last summer,” I said.
“Will finding her get rid of all those police officers tramping around my mountain?” the bear boomed.
“Should do it. After they gather the body,” I said.
“Then I’m all for it,” he said.
For a split second I thought he was going to step aside, but then he paused. His eyes traveled down to my ankles and I realized that he was looking at the cat.
“I didn’t think you’d have the guts to come back here in my lifetime,” said the bear.
I might just have been imagining things, but I was pretty sure Paws gulped. “Apologies,” said the cat, sounding strangled. “If I had known you were here I would have stayed away.”
“And where exactly do you think I would have gotten to?” the bear asked.
I saw Paws flinch again. In response to the bear’s challenge he said something that sounded like, “You’re a sought-after figure. Maybe you would have been out visiting.”
“That’s a sorry excuse for an excuse,” said the bear.
“I’m not sure what the cat did, although I’m sure it was annoying, but I really need him in order to find Chloe and get the police off your mountain,” I said, coming to Paws’ defense.
The bear heaved a heavy sigh, but then he did start to step aside. “Far be it from me to get in the way of your adventure.”
I had never seen Paws run so fast as when we moved to walk past the bear.
“That scared, are you?” Charlie asked.
“I’m not afraid, I’m just efficient. We need to get up the mountain and find Chloe so we can get back down,” Paws explained.
“Sure we do,” said Greer.
“What exactly did you do to him?” I said.
Paws made a sort of shuffling and scuffling noise and seemed disgruntled. “Nothing. I did nothing. He just thinks I did,” he explained.
“Okay, what does he think you did?” I asked. If he thought I was going to be deterred, he had another thing coming.
“We used to have this gambling ring,” said Paws.
“You what?!” Greer demanded.
“The best stories start that way,” said Charlie dreamily.
“I should have known there was ghost gambling in Mintwood,” I drawled. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Really, any witch worth her salt at this point would stop being surprised,” Paws muttered.
“Hey, watch it, you’re the one in trouble with an actual bear,” I said.
“He thinks I stepped out on a bet,” said Paws.
“Did you?” I said.
“We disagreed on the terms,” said Paws.
“Do you think he thought the terms were that you should pay him, and he thought the result was that you didn’t?” I asked.
“It was complicated,” said Paws.
“Of course it was,” I said.
We kept walking, me mulling over the fact that there was a gambling ring in town and Paws continually checking over his shoulder to make sure the bear wasn’t coming after us. The cat had a whole lot of secrets, and I wondered when we’d get to the end of them. I had a feeling that would be never.
“There it is,” I pointed. I could see a slight overhang up ahead and nothing but trees beyond it. I knew, though, that between the trees and the overhang was an abyss. That’s where I thought Chloe might be.
“I’ll help,” said Paws, trotting forward.
“Be careful,” I called out. Then I realized how stupid that sounded as a caution to a ghost.
The three of us made our way to the edge of the ravine and watched the sparkling little light scramble and fall down the cliff face.
“Ouch, gosh, ouch, ouch, wow, I’m slipping, I’m falling!” The intermittent shouts punctuated a series of hisses and grumbles.
“You should have listened to me about being careful,” I called out.
“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right,” came a voice from a lot further away than it had a few seconds before.
I exchanged looks with my friends, and then all three of us burst out laughing.
We waited at the top and listened intently, but I still couldn’t hear anything more from Paws.
“Do you think she’s down there?” Charlie asked.
“I hope so, because I’d like to get off this mountain as soon as possible,” I said.
“Me too,” Paws yowled from down below.
We waited several more minutes, then we got bored and Greer sat down, while Charlie started wandering around the ravine. I continued to watch for the cat, but saw nothing for a while. “Everything okay?” I called. We were met by silence.
“When should we go looking for him?” said Greer.
“We can wait a bit longer. I’m sure he’s having fun,” I said with a grin.
“Leave me alone. Go away. Gosh, you crazy dark ghosts,” I heard a voice yelling.
“Paws,” Greer yelled.
Just then I saw a sparkly little body scrambling and dashing up the cliff face, moving much faster than I had ever seen him move before except when he was chasing mice.
“What’s going on?” I called.
“Some crazy ghost is down here,” Paws yelled.
Then I saw her: the ghost of a young woman, darker than Paws but not as dark as Hank Smith. She was making her way after the cat, her eyes never leaving my face. I felt chills running down my spine.
“I hope you have your wand handy,” Greer murmured.
“I do,” I said.
As usual, the wand was tucked into my back pocket. I even felt confident in the two spells I could now do. At least, I think I did. It’s not like I’d had to use the
spells while I was under attack, and they had worked properly in those circumstances, but there was a first time for everything.
“Who are you?” I called out.
“I’m Chloe, but haven’t you been looking for me?” she asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “Okay, we have. I thought you might have fallen down a ravine too.”
Chloe reached the top a second after Paws did. The cat had started to run back down the trail, then muttered something about angry bears and turned back. “I’m trapped between a bear and a ghost,” he said forlornly.
“You’ve been here this whole time?” I asked the missing ghost hiker.
“Yes, my body was here, and there was really nowhere else for me to go. I did my best to avoid Kevin and Kay, those monsters,” Chloe sniffed.
Given that she had pushed them over a cliff, I was pretty sure she had it wrong about who was the monster.
“That was probably smart,” said Greer, doing her best to keep her composure.
“Okay, so what happened after Kevin and Kay fell down the ravine?” I asked.
The woman rolled her eyes, “I was in a little over my head. After I pushed them over the cliff, the only way down was a very hard trail that wound up the cliff before it went down again. By the time I’d gotten all the way up there – my goodness it was a long slog – night had fallen. There was really no good place for me to stop, and it was getting cold. I wasn’t dressed for sleeping overnight and I got totally lost.”
“Wandering around in the dark when there are cliffs nearby is obviously not the best idea,” Greer cut in dryly.
Chloe rolled her eyes and said casually, “I know that now. Too late, though.”
Charlie looked like she was having a hard time containing herself, but with some effort she managed it.
“What happened with your friends?” I asked.
“Oh, they aren’t really my friends. I found that out a long time ago. They were the ones who didn’t realize it. I killed them,” she said, throwing her head back and laughing hysterically. “That was my plan all along. I confronted them about breaking up. Kevin and I were meant to be together, and when he didn’t agree, I realized I had to do something. He wanted us to keep hanging out as friends, like that was ever going to happen! At first I just thought I’d scare them, but then I was like ‘Let’s go hiking,’ and it unfolded from there.”
I turned to Paws, “Is she a candidate for being Poofed?”
“Oh, yeah, only I don’t think she’ll be coming back,” said Paws, glaring at Chloe.
“Did you push Kevin and Kay into the ravine and leave them for dead?” Greer asked.
“Of course I did,” Chloe smirked. “Kevin deserved it after not wanting me, and Kay was a nightmare. I decided to get rid of them, and it worked beautifully. If only I’d gotten back down the trail myself . . .”
“You picked the hardest trail and the one that led along the cliff above the ravine, so I don’t think it was a split-second decision,” I said.
Chloe’s smile got wider. “You’re smarter than you look. That’s true, I wanted them gone and so I picked a hard trail. The only thing was, I didn’t remember how to get back down. It was really stupid of me.”
“You can say that again,” said Paws.
Chloe glared at him. “I’ve suffered enough. I’ve been stuck down here for months.”
“Excellent, let’s Poof you and get this over with,” Paws said, ignoring her nonsense and getting down to business.
“Wait, I have a message for you,” she said. Once again she smirked at me, and I had a creeping feeling. She was a dark ghost now, after all, and how had that happened?
“What’s the message,” I asked tightly.
“The message is: Get ready.” She smiled as if she thought this was all a lot of fun.
But I wasn’t the only one who was sick of this conversation. Just as she finished speaking, Paws lunged at her. The smile instantly disappeared from her face.
She cried out, and then they both disappeared into the darkness. We were left alone, with nothing but the sound of the wind through the trees for company, and a bear somewhere nearby.
Chapter Eighteen
Getting down the mountain was an adventure I’d rather not repeat anytime soon. I missed Paws’ presence and hoped he was okay, but as Charlie pointed out, he probably didn’t mind having to take Chloe away. That way he didn’t have to risk going past the bear again.
“All’s well that ends well,” said Charlie. “I’m glad we got to the bottom of it, but it was such a sad set of circumstances. Kevin and Kay both seemed nice, but Chloe was just crazy.”
I yawned and agreed, “I’m glad too.”
I half expected to see Jasper waiting for us in the parking lot, angrily asking why we were out of bed after ten o’clock, but he was nowhere to be seen. I’ll admit, I was the tiniest bit disappointed.
We came home that night beat up and very tired. Except for Paws not being there, the farmhouse looked the same. At least, at first I thought it did.
“We have a ghost visitor,” Charlie pointed out. She was sitting in the front seat and not driving, so she had more opportunity to look around and point things out. Usually it was really annoying, because as the driver I didn’t have the luxury of snapping to attention every time she pointed out a cute mailbox that we were whizzing past. This time, though, I saw what she was talking about and drew in a breath.
Sitting on the front porch was a ghost woman who looked terribly familiar. She had short gray hair and my nose.
All three of us tumbled out of the car in shock and I ran up to the tilting porch.
“Hello, Grandmother,” I gasped, falling at her feet.
She was sitting next to Aunt Harriet, and the two of them appeared to be deep in conversation.
She tried to wrap her hands around mine, but she was too ephemeral. “It’s so good to see you. Where is Paws?”
I was laughing and crying at the same time as I quickly told her that he’d taken a ghost to be Poofed. “Don’t worry, she was a dark ghost,” I clarified.
My grandmother frowned with concern. “I don’t have much time here,” she whispered.
“Where did you come from?” I asked, looking around as if maybe she’d just strolled out of the nearby woods.
“I was lost,” she explained simply. “Dying really does jar a person.”
I sniffled, “Yeah, I believe that.”
“Look, I really like what you’ve done with the house,” she said, smiling up at the tottering structure.
“Oh, yeah, we’ve done a lot of work on the porch,” I said sarcastically.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help,” she said forlornly. “You all look so lovely, and dear Harriet is here with you, and so are your friends.” She smiled at Greer and Charlie, who smiled back.
“It’s good to see you,” said Charlie.
“Thank you, dear, it’s good to be seen,” said Evenlyn.
“We’ve been reminiscing while we waited for you to get back,” Aunt Harriet explained.
“Do you know what happened?” I asked. Kevin and Kay had gone completely out of my mind.
My grandmother shook her head and said, “Only a little bit. I was murdered. I just don’t know by whom.”
My mind raced and I felt my heart clench with fury. “Do you remember anything of the day you died?” I asked, trying to sound calm.
“Not much,” she admitted. “I’m hoping to remember more, but it will take time if it happens at all. I love where you put my grave.”
Tears were streaming down my face and I nodded silently. Then I brushed the tears away and tried to be brave. It was so good to see her, I almost didn’t know what to do with myself.
“You’ve been doing great at solving mysteries,” she said. “Keep up the good work. I don’t think the need is going to lessen any time soon.”
“Where will you go from where? How can we help?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but don’t worry.
I’m stronger now. You’ll always have me when you need me,” she whispered. Already my grandmother’s sparkles were fading and she was becoming harder to see.
I reached for her and tried to hang on, but my efforts were useless. She smiled at me as she faded away.
In the morning, all trace of my grandmother’s ghost was gone, as I had known it would be. I also knew she’d be watching over me, and I had a feeling she’d be back if I really needed her.
I had slept late after being up on Mintwood Mountain into the early hours of the morning. I’d have to tell Detective Cutter where Chloe’s body was, but I planned to use the anonymous tip system again, since he clearly didn’t trust me.
Charlie reminded us in her most business-like manner that we had something else important that we had to do.
“It’s voting day,” she said jubilantly. Her article had appeared in the paper that morning, saying that a reliable but anonymous source had confirmed to her that it was not ghosts that were stealing tools at the Franklin place. “I’m probably going to be hearing from Farmer Franklin soon,” said Charlie. “He’ll demand an explanation.”
“You should be able to give him one pretty soon,” I grinned.
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think I’ve waited long enough,” she muttered.
“Jimmy News didn’t have very long to win votes,” said Greer.
“That’s his own fault,” said Charlie. “He could have stepped into the race earlier. Instead he took his time and waited for a hot button ghost issue. Anyhow, there are a lot of townspeople who support him, at least publicly.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I think there are a lot of people who are advocating getting a different mayor out loud, but who are secretly going to go vote for Mayor Clabberd. Mintwood wouldn’t be the same without him, and everyone knows it.”
“That’s true. The speed limit would for sure be thirty-five,” said Greer.
“And that’s just too much to contemplate,” Charlie grinned.
“All right, let’s get going,” I said. “I have a feeling this election is going to draw a record turnout.”
The three of us piled into the Beetle and drove downtown. The town hall was the voting site, and I could see a line snaking out the door and a lot of people chatting and milling around on the lawn.
A Witch on Mintwood Mountain (Witch of Mintwood Book 4) Page 18
