Holly rolled her eyes. “Huh. Meeting Sorceress Stone. Hashtag life-goal,” she muttered sarcastically.
“Sorceress Blackwood, what’s your version of events before Sorceress Stone was found on the table?” I asked.
“I’m sure the same as everyone else’s version of events. It happened very fast. We were all just having a conversation. And then the next thing we knew, we blinked and there she was. On the table. Dead.”
“Did you notice anyone acting strangely at that time? See anything odd?”
“Aside from the fact that she was dead? I didn’t notice anything else. I was too shocked.”
“Sorceress Blackwood, do you know any of the other witches on the Council?” asked Alba.
“Like personally?”
Alba nodded.
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
“So you really don’t know what might have been the killer’s motive?”
“I wouldn’t have a clue! I’m shocked over what happened. It’s devastating, really, and to be honest, it’s a little uncomfortable in there, knowing that one of the other four women is a murderer. I really hope we get this resolved quickly, so I don’t have to be sequestered in that room with a killer for long.”
“Yes, that would be uncomfortable,” agreed Holly. “We’ll do our best to hurry this up.”
Stella nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” She pulled herself to her feet and began to limp heavily on her cane towards the lounge.
“Did you hurt yourself?” I knew it was probably rude to ask, but I my curiosity had gotten the better of me.
Stella stopped walking and looked back at us. “Oh. No, no, dears. I was born this way. It was a birth defect. My father, who was a very powerful wizard, was quite upset about my condition when I was born and attempted to magically manipulate my condition. For the first few years of my life, it worked. But then, when I got a little older, my symptoms returned and one of my legs stopped growing before the other did. As a result I’ve got this permanent limp, I’m afraid. It’s also why I never grew very tall like the rest of my siblings.”
I felt awkward now. I’d expected her to say she just had bad knees or had been in a car accident or something. “Oh, I’m sorry for asking.”
She smiled kindly. “It’s quite alright, dear. Let me know if you have any other questions, I’d be happy to answer them.”
Next to come out was Elodie Goodwitch. Of all the witches that had come out to see us thus far, Elodie appeared to either be the most shaken, or the most nervous. The small woman’s hands trembled as they rolled over each other, clinging to the hollow space under her rib cage.
“Hello, Sorceress Goodwitch,” said Holly with a hint of a smile. “Would you like to take a seat?”
She nodded at us but couldn’t seem to take her eyes off Holly. “You look so much better, sweetheart.”
Holly furrowed her brows. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, it’s just that the last time I saw you, you weren’t feeling very well. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
We all stared at Holly. She’d met Elodie before?
But Holly shook her head. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
Elodie looked at the rest of us with curious eyes. “You don’t remember me?”
We all shook our heads.
She touched the tips of her fingers to her chest. “I’m Elodie Goodwitch. I own the magical apothecary in Norwalk.”
I lifted the corner of my mouth. Was that supposed to ring a bell with us? I mean, I remembered Sorceress Stone saying that during Elodie’s introductions, but that’s all I’d ever heard of Elodie Goodwitch.
“I don’t know about them, but I’ve never heard of you,” said Alba.
All of our heads bobbed in agreement.
She furrowed her brow. “But you’re the Witch Squad, right?”
Holly, Alba, and I all exchanged curious glances.
Alba’s head tilted slightly to the side. “Yeah?”
Elodie nodded. “I thought so.” Then she lowered her voice. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to say anything. I found out the truth, and I understand completely now.”
“The truth?”
Elodie looked up at me expectantly. “So, you have questions for me?”
Well, now I had a lot of questions. Like what was she talking about? And how did she know us? And were we supposed to know her? I shook my head. I didn’t even know where to start!
Thankfully, Alba took hold of the situation, asking her about her time at the Institute and about her life. Elodie reminded us that she’d been a potions major during her time at the Institute and then she’d met just a regular man from Iowa and moved there to be with him and to start a family. There she’d opened her magical apothecary. Eventually, she’d divorced, but because she had her business and her family, she’d decided to stay there. She swore up and down she’d never gone to school with Sorceress Stone, nor had she gone to school with any of the other witches on the Council.
“I know that you didn’t go to school with Sorceress Stone, but had you met her before joining the Council?” asked Alba.
Elodie held her breath. The girls and I exchanged looks when we noticed her tensing up. Did she have something to hide? Slowly, her head began to bob. “I knew of her, but had not met her personally. My daughter attended school here,” she explained.
That was interesting. I was suddenly curious if perhaps her daughter disliked Sorceress Stone as much as we did. “Did you have any issues with her as your daughter’s teacher?” I asked.
“Issues?” Elodie looked up at me sharply.
“Yeah. You know, did Stone do anything to your daughter?” said Alba bluntly. “Punish her too severely, lock her in a tower, shoot her with electricity—you know, stuff like that?”
Elodie cleared her throat and shook her head. “I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
Maybe it was just my friends and me that were punished because we were friends of Sorceress Stone’s daughter or something. I really wasn’t sure. But Elodie not knowing what we were talking about meant that her daughter hadn’t experienced the wicked witch the way that we had. I sighed. “Sorceress Goodwitch, do you have any idea who might have wanted to harm Sorceress Stone?”
Elodie shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m really not sure. All the ladies in the room seem friendly enough. I can’t imagine any of them doing it.”
“And yet you’re all sure it was someone in that room?” asked Alba.
Elodie nodded. “Quite sure. The door was locked. No one else even knew we were in there as far as I knew.”
With one more person to interview and all of our stomachs rumbling for lunch, we asked Elodie to alert us to any new developments or clues she could think of and then dismissed her.
“One more to go,” I said, rubbing my stomach. “And then lunch. I’m starving.”
“Me too,” agreed Holly. “I can’t believe we’re going to have to go sit at lunch and not tell anyone that Sorceress Stone is dead. It’s going to be so hard.”
“Yeah, and we’re going to have to figure out what to tell Shorty. There’s no way she’s gonna go the whole day without hearing that classes got canceled for the rest of the week.”
I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand. Telling Jax was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever done. I loathed the thought.
Poppy Ellabee, the last to be interviewed, entered the hallway. “Where do you want me?” she asked, looking from face to face.
Alba pointed at the chair and Poppy took a seat quietly.
“Sorceress Ellabee, Sorceress Stone mentioned in your introduction yesterday that you were a former teacher at the Institute,” I began. “There’s a scholarship named after you, is that correct?”
Sorceress Ellabee nodded. “Yes, an animal spirits scholarship.”
“When you taught here at the Institute, d
id you work with Sorceress Stone?” asked Alba.
“Yes, in fact, I did. Years and years ago, Sorceress Stone and I were colleagues here at the Institute,” she said sweetly. “That was before she ran the place, though.”
“Did the two of you get along?” I asked.
“Oh, you know, for the most part,” said Poppy. “I get along with just about everybody.”
“But there were times that you didn’t get along?” asked Alba.
Poppy considered that for a second. “I wouldn’t say there were times that we didn’t get along. There were just times that we didn’t see eye to eye.”
“Did you ever get into any fights or anything?” I asked.
Poppy sucked in her breath, covering her mouth with a hand. “Oh, heavens no!”
“Do you know any of the other witches on the Council?”
“Not particularly well. The only one I’ve ever heard of is Gemma Overbrook. I believe we’ve attended some educators’ conferences together over the years. Perhaps we’ve spoken on an occasion or two, but I really wouldn’t go so far as to say that I know her personally.”
“And do you think Gemma could have had anything to do with this?” asked Holly.
Poppy shook her head. “Listen, ladies. I wish that I could point you in the right direction, but I can’t. I don’t know who did this any more than you do, but I can assure you I’ll do whatever it takes to help you figure it out.”
“You’ll keep an ear out for anything while you’re in there?”
Poppy nodded. “Of course! I’ve already been keeping my ear to the ground.”
“But you haven’t heard anything yet?”
“Not yet,” she said, hanging her head. “But it just happened. Things are sure to get riled up the longer we sit in there waiting. Do you have a plan for solving this horrendous crime?”
Alba and I exchanged looks. I wished we had a plan. But for now, the only plan was to eat something and have a good long discussion. We could only hope that the answer would come to us.
13
The outdoor quad was mostly empty by the time the five of us sat down together with our lunch trays. It was a warm afternoon in mid-May. The sun shone brightly overhead as if it had no knowledge of the dark fingers of evil that had just grabbed hold of the Paranormal Institute for Witches.
Adjusting my black-rimmed glasses on my nose, I flipped my long braid over my shoulder, pulled my silverware packet off my tray and unrolled my napkin. While the cold burger and fries in front of me didn’t look even remotely appealing after what we’d just been through, I couldn’t help the fact that my stomach growled uncontrollably due to a lack of breakfast.
“Well, what did you girls find out?” I asked, looking up at Libby and Cinder.
Cinder sighed. “Nothing yet, but we’ll keep looking after lunch.”
“We’ll all look after lunch,” said Alba. Her somber face mirrored my own and the rest of the girls’ faces.
I poked at my food. “Guys, I don’t even know what to do next.”
Holly shook her head sadly. “Me either. I think I’m still in shock, to be honest. I mean, Sorceress Stone is dead? What is that?”
“Yes, this is horrible,” agreed Libby.
I shook my head. It all felt surreal. Like we were going to wake up in the morning and find out that this was all one big joke. And knowing Sorceress Stone, I had a sneaking suspicion the joke was on us. “What if she’s really not dead? What if this is all part of some weird graduation project?”
Cinder winced. “I don’t think so. I watched my friends go through graduation last year. Nothing like this happened.”
“It could be new.”
“It could be,” agreed Cinder.
“But Sorceress Stone didn’t know that Jax wasn’t going to be at school today,” said Holly. “If this was all a test, she had to assume her daughter would see her dead. Would she really do that to Jax?”
“Are you kidding? Stone doesn’t care about her daughter. I hate to say it, because, I mean that really sucks, but it’s the truth.” Alba shook her head. “But I don’t think it’s a hoax. I think something really happened to her.”
“Then why didn’t I see her ghost?” I shoved three fries in my mouth as I thought about everything.
“You don’t always see the person’s ghost,” said Holly.
“And knowing how much Stone hates us, we’re the last people you’d think she’d want to appear to,” said Alba, taking a bite of her hamburger. “And what extra sucks is that we don’t even know which one of those witches in there is guilty!”
“Yeah, so if we can actually figure out how to bring Sorceress Stone back to life, the killer’s probably just going to kill her all over again,” said Holly.
I glanced across the table at Libby. “Do you really think we’ll be able to bring her back to life after you’ve frozen her?”
“It’s not about freezing her, Mercy. Freezing her is merely going to keep her body safe from decomposition, losing further brain function, and such. This is about whether or not we can figure out how to bring her back to life. If we can figure that out, unfreezing her is a snap and will not result in any long-term damage.”
“But we have to figure out how to bring her back to life.” I looked at Alba and Holly who sat across from one another. “We haven’t had a lot of luck with that in the past.”
“No, we haven’t,” agreed Alba. “But we’ve learned a lot of lessons. And isn’t that the point? Sorceress Stone is a witch. She’s not a mortal. We know there’s a way to bring a paranormal being back to life. We just have to figure out how. I think we could have done it right with Vic if it had occurred to us to have preserved the body. I mean, he’d been embalmed by the time we got to him. I think that was our problem.”
“Maybe,” I said with a nod. “But we also have to figure out who did it, and we have to stop them from doing it again. Plus we have to reverse the curse on Jax. We have so much to do and hardly any time to do it.”
Holly looked around. “So where do we start?”
Libby groaned. “The answer is buried somewhere in the Great Witch’s Library. We just have to find it.”
We made quick work of our lunch and then headed straight to the Great Witch’s Library to get back to work. With so much to be done, we agreed to split up. Alba and I were going to concentrate our energies on figuring out how to bring Sorceress Stone back to life, and Holly, Libby, and Cinder were going to work on figuring out how to get the curse lifted from Jax’s family.
By late in the day, my neck and back hurt from poring over books all day. An unintentional groan escaped my lips as I leaned back in my seat and rubbed my neck.
Alba looked up at me. “Yeah, my neck hurts too.”
“It’s literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I think I’m ready to go home and call it a day.”
Alba’s brows sprang up. “Go home? Red! Stone’s dead on the table in the teachers’ lounge, and there are five witches in there waiting for us to figure out what to do. There is no going home!”
“Alba, you can’t be serious. We can’t sit here all night! This is ridiculous. We need to go. I think better when I’m comfortable. This place is dusty and cold, and these chairs are so hard that my butt’s numb. Plus if we go home, I can talk to Mom. Maybe she’ll know what to do about Sorceress Stone.”
Alba stared at me. “You can’t tell Linda what happened, Red.”
“Can’t tell Mom? Why not? She won’t tell Jax. I’ll make her promise.”
“Duh. Use your brain, smarty. Because she’s dating Detective Whitman. You know if she finds out what happened, she’ll feel compelled to tell him exactly what’s up. Then, not only do we have a curse to undo, a murder to solve, and a body to bring back to life, but we also have a nosy detective in the way.”
“He won’t—”
“He will, Red. I guarantee it. He’ll make us unfreeze Stone, which makes the chances of her coming back to life slim to none. He’ll p
robably have to throw all those old witches in a holding cell back at his station. Can you imagine? The scandal! The entire Great Witches Council in the slammer?” Alba shook her head. “No. We can’t tell Whitman, and you can’t tell your mom because that’s exactly what she’s gonna do.”
“Alba, what are we supposed to do without Detective Whitman’s help? Without him, we have no forensic evidence! We have no cause of death. We’ve got nothing!”
“We’re witches. We’ll figure it out on our own. I’m telling you, for this particular case, he’s just gonna be in our way!”
“You girls figure something out?” asked Cinder, strolling over to us, book in hand.
“Hardly,” I spat. “I’m exhausted. It’s been a very long day, and I think I’m ready to go home.”
Alba glared at me. “You find anything about reversing the curse?”
Cinder grimaced. “No. Like Libby said this morning, the fact that this happened so long ago and that there are so many people involved really makes this difficult to remove.”
Alba slammed her hand on the table. She looked at me. “The fact of the matter is, there would’ve never been a curse in the first place if it hadn’t been for Auggie Stone poisoning your grandfather. As much as I don’t wanna do this, maybe what we need to do is talk to Auggie about helping us reverse the curse. She’s pretty powerful. She might even be able to help us bring her daughter back to life.”
Suddenly, a lightbulb turned on in my mind. My eyes widened and I sat up straighter in my chair. “Wait. What did you just say?”
“Maybe we need to talk to Auggie about helping us reverse the curse?”
I shook my head and waved my hand backwards excitedly. “No, before that.”
Alba looked confused. “None of this would have ever happened if it hadn’t been for Auggie Stone poisoning your grandfather?”
“Bingo,” I said, pointing at her.
“Bingo? What are you talking about, Red?”
Libby and Cinder looked just as confused as Alba.
“Don’t you get it? None of this would have happened if Auggie Stone hadn’t poisoned my granddad.”
The Witch Within Page 9
