Alba wagged a finger in the air. “Okay, so let’s just say that Stella was the one behind this. So her mother adds all of these people with motives to the Council so the finger isn’t pointed at her. Except one of the members doesn’t have a motive, Daphne. Now, Stella has to come up with a motive for her.”
“But how would she know Daphne’s secret?” asked Holly, confused.
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure how she’d have figured that out either. “I don’t know, but we need to find out if Gemma was the one that told Sorceress Stone Daphne’s secret. Because if she wasn’t, I think we need to find out who did.”
Alba nodded. “I think you’re right. We need to talk to the Council.”
I looked over at Jax. Her head was on Reign’s shoulder as she sobbed. He was doing his best to comfort her. “Jax, we have to go. We need to talk to the Council. We’re going to get to the bottom of this, I promise!”
Reign smoothed back Jax’s hair. “It’s okay. You guys go on ahead, I’ll carry Jax. She’s not in any condition to walk right now.”
I nodded and the group of us took off towards campus.
“Hobbs, we need to see the Council. ASAP,” said Alba as we rushed into Brittany’s office, where we found her seated at her desk in a very formal pale pink suit. Alba wrinkled her nose. “Why are you dressed like that?”
Brittany looked down at her outfit. “I like to dress up for graduation.” Then she glanced over at us. “Tell me you girls are sprucing up a little. You look like you’ve been through the grinder.”
“Graduation!” gasped Libby. “But graduation is on Sunday.”
Brittany nodded. “Yes. Today’s Sunday. I hope you’ve all remembered to call your mothers and wish them a happy Mother’s Day.”
All eyes widened in shock. “Mother’s Day? It’s Sunday?” I gasped.
“Yes, and let me tell you girls, the Council is so upset with all of you. After everything you’ve put them through, they’ve all agreed that if you don’t end this investigation by the time the graduation ceremony is complete, they’re informing Detective Whitman about Sorceress Stone’s death, and then they’re all going back to where they came from.”
“But they can’t do that!” said Jax as she and Reign came around the corner.
Brittany’s face fell. “Oh! Jax!” She rushed around the desk and threw her arms around the girl. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I really liked your mom. She was a misunderstood woman, but deep down, she wanted what was best for this school and all of the students.”
Tears sprang loose from Jax’s eyes. “I know she did,” she squealed before breaking into a full-out sob again.
“It’s still raw,” I said to Brittany.
She nodded and squeezed Jax one more time. “And I know it’s your birthday, sweetheart. Happy birthday. Your mom would have loved to be here for your big day.”
“Happy birthday?” whispered Jax. “It’s Sunday? I thought it was Saturday.”
Brittany looked at us with confusion. “You’re all a day behind?”
Alba waved a hand dismissively at the school’s secretary. “We just need to get in touch with the Council. Are they in their rooms?”
Brittany pointed. “No, they’re in the teachers’ lounge, preparing for graduation.”
“Thanks, Hobbs,” said Alba as she took off for the door.
Brittany looked down at her watch. “Graduation is in two hours!” she hollered as we all ran out of the room. “You should be getting ready!”
40
“Now we will never graduate,” Cinder muttered under her breath as we waited in front of the teachers’ lounge for someone on the Council to open the door.
Reign had decided that Jax wasn’t ready to face the Council and her mother’s killer yet, so they stayed behind in the dorm lobby.
“We will graduate, Cinder,” Libby assured her. “We will do Alba’s suggestion of the bonfire. Everything will turn out alright.”
Alba nodded. “See? My idea came in handy after all. You’re welcome.”
“Your idea did not come in handy. Your idea wouldn’t get us graduated from junior kindergarten, let alone from a witch’s institute of higher learning.”
“You don’t know that,” grumbled Alba as Gemma Overbrook opened the door.
The woman’s green eyes narrowed on us. “There you are! Finally! After all this time you’ve returned.” She opened the door, allowing us in, and turned to stare at the rest of the Council. “Look! They’ve finally returned.”
Elodie shook her head. “Gemma’s right. You girls have been gone for far too long. We should have notified the local authorities by now.”
“We already agreed. We’re notifying them the minute the ceremony is complete,” snapped Gemma.
Alba nodded. “We know, we know. We heard. Listen, we’re making some serious headway into the case.”
Gemma’s eyes widened. “And how are you doing that if you’re not even on campus? You’ve been MIA for days now!”
“We have spent the week doing research on each of you,” explained Cinder. “We have deduced that each of you had a motive to kill Sorceress Stone.”
Stella’s eyes widened as she gasped. “I certainly didn’t have a motive to kill her! I didn’t even know her!”
Daphne nodded in agreement. “I didn’t have a motive either!”
“Oh, but you both did,” said Alba. “Just like the other three did.”
“And you all withheld information or flat out lied to us,” said Holly.
“I did no such thing,” said Poppy.
“Oh, but you did, Poppy. You neglected to tell us that you’d been the front-runner to purchase the Institute before Sorceress Stone slid in at the last moment and bought it out from underneath you,” said Alba.
“That was years ago. I’ve gotten over that.”
“Are you sure? Because I feel like you’re still salty about it.”
“I’m completely sure.”
“And, Elodie, you told us that your daughter went to the Institute. You neglected to tell us that your daughter was Tori Decker and that she’d been reprimanded harshly by Sorceress Stone and finally expelled from the Institute.”
Poppy’s head snapped sideways to look at Elodie in surprise. “SaraLynn expelled Victoria? I had no idea. Why didn’t you mention it when we were in executive session and speaking about—”
“I didn’t want my business made public. We had enough other claims. We didn’t need mine.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that you’d wanted to purchase the Institute when we were discussing everything?”
Poppy raised an eyebrow. “That was in the past.”
Gemma shook her head. “So there are two pieces of information you dug up. Is that all?”
“Hardly,” said Cinder.
Alba waved a finger in the air. “Nah. We’re just gettin’ started.” She pointed at Gemma. “Why didn’t you mention the truth about your relationship with Stone when you were in school together?”
Gemma’s face flushed. “I told you we were old schoolmates.”
“Yes, but you didn’t mention that you not only fought over a boy, but you also fought over your class standing.”
“I wouldn’t say that we fought—”
Alba crossed her arms over her chest. “There was definitely contention between the two of you.”
Gemma narrowed her eyes. “Where are you getting all this information?”
“We have our ways,” I said.
“And then there’s Stella,” said Alba. “Stella Blackwood. Or should I say, Stella Crandall-Smith.”
“Crandall-Smith?” said Gemma, shaking her head in confusion. “What does that mean?”
I glanced over at Stella. Her face was white as a sheet.
“Oh, didn’t Stella tell you who her family was?” asked Libby.
“No, we’ve never gotten that personal. I’m not sure that her family matters,” said Gemma.
“No, it doesn’t matter much—u
nless it means that you’re related to the victim,” said Alba.
All eyes turned to Stella. Her mouth opened and then immediately snapped shut as color began to flood her face.
“Related to the victim? How?” asked Gemma.
“Stella is Sorceress Stone’s sister, as a matter of fact.”
“Her parents are Samson and Harlow Smith,” I explained.
Daphne looked around, confused. “But I thought Auggie Stone was SaraLynn’s mother.”
“She is, but Samson Smith is her father, just as he’s Stella’s father. Isn’t that right, Stella?”
Stella looked at me then, daggers nearly shooting out of her eyes. “Well, yes, of course Samson Smith is my father. And yes, it’s true, SaraLynn was indeed my half-sister.”
“Your half-sister?! Stella, you don’t think you should have shared that piece of information with us?” asked Elodie.
“Let me finish,” breathed Stella. “She was my half-sister, but in all honesty, she and I had never met! She was estranged from our father. I never even knew her.”
Alba wagged a finger in the air. “Oh yeah, you’re right. But we also found it interesting that Harlow Smith was your mother. Does anyone here recognize that name?”
Stella mashed her lips between her teeth as she stared hatefully at Alba.
Elodie tipped her head sideways. “Wait a second. Harlow Smith was the one that nominated me to the Council.”
Gemma’s head bobbed up and down. “She nominated me as well.”
Poppy grimaced. “I was surprised when she’d nominated me, too. It didn’t make any sense at the time. But now I’m wondering if this wasn’t all one big conspiracy.”
Stella shook her head. “You’re all reading way too much into this. I have no idea why my mother nominated all of you. She never said a word to me about it.” Then she pointed at Daphne. “Did my mother nominate you too?”
Daphne shook her head. “No, actually Dixie Carlton did.”
“See!” shouted Stella. “This isn’t a conspiracy. None of this makes any sense.”
“You know, I’m glad you brought up Daphne,” said Alba. “We have a few questions about her motive.”
“From the very beginning when we did our interviews, we discovered that Sorceress Fletcher’s motive was never very strong,” I explained.
Poppy shook her head. “What was her motive?”
I glanced over at Daphne.
She gave a slight nod and then began to speak. “About a year ago I got influenza, followed by a horrible case of pneumonia. While I was sick, I discovered that my powers had begun to wane.”
Elodie’s eyes widened. “That’s only what happens when a witch gets sick!”
Daphne nodded at her. “Yes, I know that. And because of my age and my illness, my magic was very weak. I took a few classes at Gemma’s online school. I was using it as a way to regain lost strength. Anyway, somehow SaraLynn found out and threatened to tell the people who I provide contractual services to.”
“She was threatening you?” gasped Stella.
Daphne lifted a shoulder. “To be truthful, it wasn’t that much of a threat. I’m old. I knew I was getting to retirement age sooner or later. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. My powers have gradually started to return, but I don’t think they’ll ever be what they were.”
I leaned back against the table that sat in the middle of the teachers’ lounge. “One of our burning questions is how Sorceress Stone found out your secret.” I looked at Gemma. “One would think that was classified information.”
Gemma’s eyes widened as she touched her fingers to her chest. “You think I told SaraLynn?”
“Someone told her,” shrugged Alba. “We’re curious who it was.”
Gemma shook her head. “I admit that I knew what was going on, but do you really think I’d ruin my school’s reputation by releasing information like that? Never. I didn’t tell her.”
“Well, someone told her.” I looked around the room.
All heads shook. No one wanted to take responsibility for having told Sorceress Stone Daphne’s secret.
Alba bounced forward then. “That’s what we figured. Well, alright, then. We have a way to find out the truth. It’s the same way that we’ve found out all these little secrets you’ve all kept from us.”
Gemma put a hand on her hip. “If you have a way to get to the truth, then let’s hear it! I’d love to have my name crossed off your short list of suspects, because I wasn’t the one that told SaraLynn.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Alba strode to the door and opened it. With a sweeping gesture, she invited everyone to leave the room. “Right this way, ladies. I think you’ll want to see what we have to show you.”
“What in the world is this?!” bellowed Gemma Overbrook as we all stood proudly in front of the time machine, which continued to steam over the small river that ran across the back lawn of our campus.
“It’s a time machine,” said Alba proudly. “We made it.”
“You made a time machine?” said Elodie. The shock in her voice told us how impressive that statement was.
Cinder nodded. “We did.”
“Does it work?”
“Of course it works,” snapped Alba. “We used it to go back in time so we could find out the type of relationship all of you had with Sorceress Stone.”
Poppy Ellabee shook her head. “I don’t understand. If you made a time machine, then why didn’t you just go back in time and stop the murder from happening?”
“We tried,” I said sadly. “We went back to Tuesday morning. We saw all of you gathered in the teachers’ lounge. We saw Sorceress Stone pacing the floor in front of you. But then, it was as if we blinked, and we missed it. She was dead on the table.”
Holly nodded. “It’s hard to stop what you can’t see happening.”
Poppy lifted her brows. “You’re absolutely correct. So if you couldn’t save SaraLynn with your time machine, then why did you bring us here? We’ve got a graduation to get to in a couple hours.”
“Because we have to solve her murder!” said Alba. “Before you all go back to where you came from! The girls and I are convinced that whoever told Sorceress Stone about Daphne Fletcher’s secret was trying to make it look like Daphne had a reason to want Stone dead.”
“Maybe she did want her dead! Did anyone think of that? Maybe Daphne is the murderer!” barked Stella.
Daphne eyed Stella angrily. “I did no such thing, and I certainly didn’t want SaraLynn dead.” She looked at us. “So how is this contraption going to help us find out the truth?”
“Easy,” said Alba. “Girls, get everyone inside. Let’s show them what we’ve got!”
The steam sauna was packed, but we managed to get the five Council members, Libby and Cinder, and Alba, Sweets, Holly, and myself into the ring.
“It’s hot in here!” said Elodie, tugging at the collar of her shirt.
“Well, it’s a steam sauna,” agreed Sweets, wiping the perspiration from her own brow. “It’s bound to be hot.”
“Are we all ready?” asked Alba.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” said Poppy. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Alba nodded and began to chant.
Spirits, spirits, hear us now.
A witch has spilled the beans.
Daphne’s secret was revealed.
Was it an accident or just them being mean?
So take us to the day, the month, and hour,
Someone told about Daphne’s waning powers.
We heard the familiar whirling of the wormhole.
All of the members of the Great Witches Council looked around curiously.
“What’s that sound?” Elodie asked, her eyes wide.
“It’s just the wormhole shifting directions,” said Alba, holding open the nearly invisible slit in time. “After you.”
One by one, we all crawled through the slit and made our way down the tunnel. I knew we didn’t have mu
ch time, so I pushed my way to the front of the line and rushed everyone along. At the end of the tunnel, I climbed out into the waiting steam sauna, and then into the light of day. What I saw next took my breath away.
41
When Holly, the last to emerge, stepped out of the tunnel, she immediately hollered, “Dixie’s place? Why are we back at Dixie’s place?”
Sure enough, we’d landed squarely in the middle of Dixie Carlton’s sprawling, well-manicured lawn, next to her lazy river once again. I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“Dixie spilled the beans?” said Sweets, her brows lifted in surprise. “Did she even know about Daphne’s secret?”
Daphne slowly raised her hand. “I think I can answer that. When Dixie called me to let me know that she’d decided she wanted to appoint me to the Council, I felt that I needed to be completely honest about my situation. I told her the truth, that my powers weren’t what they had once been. She told me that was even more of a reason for me to be on the Council. She thought it would help me get my groove back.”
“So Dixie knew,” I whispered to myself, trying to piece it all together. “She had to have told Sorceress Stone, then, right?”
“Why would Dixie have told Sorceress Stone? It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly.
All of a sudden Daphne made a noise. I turned to see her palming her forehead. “Oh my goodness. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. I know exactly what happened.”
We all stared at her.
“I told Dixie because I thought it was important that she know the truth. Even though Dixie thought it was no big deal, she did tell me that she’d need to run it past the Council before they voted to approve my appointment. She told me it would be strictly confidential, and though no one ever mentioned it to me, I’m fairly confident the whole sitting Council knew.”
“Which means that Harlow knew,” said Alba, her brown eyes brightening.
The Witch Within Page 30
