Looking for Mr. Good Witch

by Joyce

  “At least you don’t have anyone without magic in there with you.” Cassandra studied her fingernails. “That’s what most witches do with it. They think we can’t hear them talking to a spouse or child about magic in the bubble. But we notice—especially if you make a bubble the size of a house.”

  “Leave now, Joe.” I squeezed his hand. “I don’t think she can see you.”

  Was it the Bone Man’s magic? Had he completely taken Joe and Mike off the council’s radar?

  He nodded, his eyes still on Cassandra—I’d mentioned the herald’s name a few times. He understood that part. He slipped out the door without her so much as blinking. I was so astonished and relieved that I had to sit down. I didn’t know a witch who could do this, though many had tried.

  Elsie watched him go. I hoped she wouldn’t say anything. She looked at me and turned the key in the imaginary lock on her mouth before throwing it away.

  “So, what brings you here, Cassandra?” I asked with wobbly confidence after Joe had left the shop.

  “You had the big bubble, Molly. We check out these things.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and leveled my gaze at her. If Joe was safe, I was prepared to take on the council. “You didn’t come because of a magic bubble. I don’t care what size it was.”

  Cassandra produced a small mirror, in which she studied her reflection for a moment. “You’re right. I would’ve sent someone else. The truth is, Brian Fuller is missing. His grandfather and parents are extremely worried. I was able to track him to his apartment before his trail disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to him?”

  CHAPTER 25

  Looking for a good witch,

  A true witch, a sweet witch.

  Looking for a good witch,

  Going to make him mine.

  Elsie narrowed her gaze as she glanced toward Brian’s stiff form in the window. “I haven’t seen him for a while. Have you, Molly?”

  Dorothy had covered him with one of the long robes that I’d put in the shop for the full moon festival. She’d also wound a scarf around his head. He appeared to be a paper doll in the window.

  “No.” I made myself look away from Brian. “Does his family check on him all the time? We were under the impression that they weren’t very close.”

  Cassandra shrugged elegantly. “It’s true. They aren’t very close, but they keep tabs on him. When he vanished, they got concerned. Abdon Fuller’s concern is my concern. So if any of you know what happened to him, now’s the time to speak. Dorothy?”

  Dorothy jumped when the herald addressed her. She looked blank for a moment but finally rallied her thoughts and forced her eyes away from Brian. “This is what I was trying to tell you earlier. Something has happened to Brian. He wasn’t himself. You acted like it was nothing.”

  “You mean until you did that cute little banishment spell on me.” Cassandra giggled, but her black eyes held daggers. “Which, by the way, don’t ever try again. I’m willing to allow for the fact that you’re a newbie witch—for now. But don’t ever turn your magic on me again, little girl. I thought Elsie and Molly were doing a better job training you.”

  Dorothy stepped forward with her mouth open. Olivia inserted herself between her and Cassandra.

  “This is just a terrible pickle, isn’t it?” Olivia laughed. “We’ve been looking for Brian too. Can’t find him anywhere. Looks like he disappeared.”

  Cassandra turned her head. “I don’t speak with ghosts.”

  But it didn’t matter. Olivia’s timely interruption had given Dorothy a chance to step back. She wrapped her arms across her chest and pursed her lips.

  “What Olivia said is true,” I told her. “We think someone may have taken him.”

  “Oh, you mean like the witch who’s killing other witches, as Dorothy tried to explain to Cassandra?” Elsie asked.

  “I’ll check into it.” Cassandra said the words through her teeth. “Be sure to let me know if you hear from him.”

  She disappeared in a puff of deep purple smoke that exactly matched the slinky dress she’d been wearing. As usual, it smelled like roses.

  “I want to know what that costs,” Elsie said. “I’d like to disappear one time before I die.”

  Our conversation spilled out into the room again when we were alone.

  “She didn’t even see Joe,” Elsie said. “How is that possible?”

  “If he’s being protected by a sea god, I guess anything is possible.” Dorothy looked at me.

  “I know. But she didn’t know he was here. That must be what the Bone Man meant when he said he could protect Joe and Mike from the council.” I was still stunned too.

  “Does Mike know that you’re a witch too?” Olivia asked. “Molly, that was very careless of you. You didn’t know the Bone Man was going to take care of the situation. You could have lost Joe and Mike.”

  “Mike doesn’t know. I only told Joe to save his life. I had to make it clear why he can’t go after witches for murder.” I bit my tongue, getting tired of defending my actions to my friends.

  “What about the murders Joe is investigating?” Dorothy asked.

  “Right now, let’s not worry about what’s going on with Joe.” I wanted to put an end to that conversation. “It seems the Bone Man is holding up his end of the bargain. We need to figure out what’s going on. Dorothy, you and Olivia stay here and work on reversing the spell you put on Brian.”

  “Maybe he’ll be better off as life-sized cardboard for now, since we think this killer witch is hunting him,” Olivia said. “At least he’s safe here.”

  “But don’t think everyone will ignore Brian standing there dressed like a male model. I really expected Cassandra to see through it. Abdon certainly would. Let’s try to reverse the spell and get Brian back to normal before that happens.”

  “What are you and Elsie going to do?” Olivia asked.

  “I’m going to see what I can find out about who’s doing this to Brian. Then maybe I can find the Bone Man’s wife before he changes his mind about our deal.”

  “And how are we going to do that?” Elsie asked. “Another fairy tale?”

  “I hope not. I’m going to see Muriel the mermaid.”

  “Not her.” Elsie sighed. “Can I stay here and Olivia or Dorothy can go with you?”

  “No. We’ll be back for lunch, I hope.”

  I knew Muriel was a long shot, but sometimes she came through for us. She lived in a salt marsh near No-Name Island, on the coast. She could be temperamental.

  The first stop before seeing her was always the bakery, for cream puffs. She would never talk to anyone who didn’t bring cream puffs. We bought a dozen of them and then headed toward No-Name Island.

  Elsie ate one of the cream puffs we’d bought for Muriel and then saw a message on her phone. “Molly! Larry is back. I haven’t seen him in days. Maybe you could drop me off.”

  That gave me an idea. “We need someone with a boat to take us to No-Name Island anyway. Why not Larry?”

  She giggled as she wiped the cream off her face. “Why not indeed?”

  Larry Tyler was a good friend, and a werewolf. He came to Smuggler’s Arcane for magic supplies on a regular basis—except for the days each month that he took his boat out and changed into his wolf form. He’d been a vegetarian—and a confirmed pacifist—for many years. Even the sight of blood or the mention of death could make him woozy.

  We drove slowly to the marina where his boat was tied up. He’d changed the name of the green-and-white boat to Elsie last year, when they’d started dating. Now we were harboring a ghost, Elsie was dating a werewolf and my husband knew about magic. All things strictly forbidden by the council. I didn’t know what had happened to us after years of leading such uneventful lives.

  “Hey, you two!” Larry greeted us after we’d parked the car and walked
to his boat. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until I had a chance to clean up, Elsie. But you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  Elsie and Larry hugged, and he kissed her. It was crazy, but I loved it. Elsie had been alone for too long.

  Larry was the most ordinary person to be hiding such an extraordinary secret. He was short, a little lumpy and middle-aged. He wore his brown hair long, tied back in a ponytail. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him when he wasn’t wearing some kind of beach shirt. He had plain features and blue eyes. No one would ever suspect his other self as a werewolf.

  “Larry, we were wondering if you could run us out to No-Name Island to see Muriel.” Elsie’s face was pink and her eyes were misty after their embrace.

  “Not the mermaid?” He took off his fishing hat and readjusted it on his head.

  “That’s exactly what I said. Great minds think alike!” Elsie quoted. “But Molly wasn’t moved by my protest.”

  “Why do you want to see Muriel?” he asked. “She’s a big pain in the butt.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with either of you,” I said. “But she might be able to help us find out who’s murdering witches. We think the killer might be coming after Brian. He’s safe for now, but I don’t know how long we can keep him that way.”

  Larry whistled through his teeth. “Witches killing witches? Sounds bad. Sure, I’ll help.”

  He’d done favors for us before he was dating Elsie, but I didn’t want him to think we were trying to take advantage of their relationship. “There’s money for fuel, a cream puff and lunch in it for you.”

  He grinned. “How could I pass that up? You all come aboard. I would’ve taken you anywhere just to spend time with my Elsie.”

  Larry held her hand so gently as she stepped aboard the boat. I held the railing and jumped down to the deck. Larry’s boat wasn’t very big, but it had a small cabin for sleeping, which made it ideal for him during the full moon. He made his living taking fishermen out to special places that he knew. He did very well with the werewolves who came to visit Wilmington.

  “Let me get some fuel and we’ll head out,” he said. “Don’t go below, whatever you do. It’s the worst mess when I get back.”

  While he was gone, Elsie looked around at the area under the canopy, where he piloted the boat. She took a peek belowdecks but hastily retreated. “He wasn’t kidding.”

  “What did you expect?” I sat in the sun on a chaise lounge. “How neat and clean would a werewolf be, especially during the full moon?”

  “I’d like to find out,” she said. “I have that full basement under the house. It would be a perfect place for him to change.”

  “I think he likes changing on the boat at sea. He knows he can’t hurt anyone.”

  She sighed. “I suppose that’s true.”

  “But maybe you could go with him and he could drop you off on an island or something during his change. I’m sure there are ways the two of you could work it out.”

  She sat next to me, her green eyes more alive than I’d seen them in years. “Do you really think so, Molly? I mean, everyone would give us such a hard time. The werewolves hate the witches as much as the witches hate them. And we’re not young.”

  “Yes, but so what? You don’t have to romance all the werewolves—you just want Larry. Who cares what other people think? As far as your ages, what difference does it make?”

  Elsie hugged me. “You know, all those years with Bill, when I knew he was cheating, I kept hearing my mother tell me, ‘Once you married, you married for life.’ But I know that was wrong. I should have left him and started new while I was still young. Finding Larry has been like being young again.”

  “Then don’t worry about anything but being with him.”

  “I’m not exactly ready to tie the knot yet—he hasn’t asked me. I would, though, if it came up. Just letting you know.”

  “Thanks. I love you, Elsie.”

  “I love you too, Molly.”

  We heard Larry whistling as he came back from buying fuel. “It’s paid for. I just have to pull over to the tank and pump it. We’ll head out after that. Where’s that cream puff? Just thinking about Muriel makes me crave sweets.”

  Elsie handed him a pastry out of the white baker’s box. “Thanks for doing this, Larry.”

  “Anytime for you, sweet cheeks.”

  It only took a few minutes to get the boat ready to go out. Larry cleaned a little belowdecks—enough so we could go down if it started raining. But the sun was shining and it looked like a good day to visit Muriel. She liked the sunny days best.

  “You know, someone got a video of her and stuck it on YouTube,” Larry said once we were underway. “It caused a sensation until a few million people saw it and said it was a fake. Can you imagine? I guess mermaids don’t have rules against being seen in public.”

  Werewolves strictly enforced their rules about changing in public. It didn’t happen often, but it usually ended with the werewolf being killed by other werewolves. They were worse than the witches about protecting their secrets. At least the council didn’t kill witches when people found out about magic.

  “I’m sure Muriel enjoyed that,” Elsie remarked. “She likes seeing her own face. I hope she got to see it on the Internet.”

  Larry chuckled. “Maybe, but there’s not much cell phone service or broadband in the salt marshes.”

  The trip to No-Name Island was beautiful. The ocean was calm and blue, reflecting the sky above it. Elsie and Larry pointed out cranes, egrets and other birds as we passed them. We even got to see a dolphin and a school of sunfish swim by. Larry was careful to mark that location for his charter business.

  We finally reached the swamp area around the island. There were some trees and coarse bushes, but mostly there were only plants that grew in the salt marsh. The seclusion of the spot, accessible only by water, made it a perfect home for Muriel.

  There were tales of how she’d come to be here. A few people said that she’d been kicked out of the merfolk kingdom. Some said she was lamenting a lost human love. Either way, she never ventured out into the Atlantic. She hid in the tall grasses of the island and watched humans. She’d learned to emulate them fairly well.

  “You have to call her.” Larry pointed out as Elsie and I looked over the side of the boat. “She won’t just come on her own.”

  “It’s always best to hold open the box of cream puffs,” Elsie told him. “She’s got a nose for them.”

  We waited patiently in the salt marsh as more birds and other small animals flew by and scampered across what little sand and rock they could find. The boat rocked gently in the water. In the distance, I saw two canoers making their way around the estuary.

  “She may not come with other people around,” Elsie whispered. “I swear this area gets more crowded every year. It seems an odd way to protect the marshes, by inviting groups of people to visit them.”

  Larry laughed. I shushed them both when I heard the sound of a mermaid’s tail hitting the water.

  An instant later, Muriel appeared at the side of the boat where Elsie held the cream puffs. She wasn’t a pretty mermaid—not in the classic-myth sense of beautiful, long-haired, half-naked sea creatures.

  She was older. Her white hair was green with bracken. It looked like steel wool on her head. Her eyes were narrow slits, and it was hard to tell what color they were.

  Her breasts were bare, just like in the stories, but the scales from her waist down were the same color as her hair. There were no bright colors or sequinlike shiny flakes to her.

  “Hello, Molly. I haven’t seen you in ages. Elsie—nice to see you too, girlfriend. What are you doing with the wolf? I’ll bet the council doesn’t know about that. Am I right?”

  “For not having Internet or TV,” Elsie observed, “you talk just like someone from a late-night talk show.”

 
Muriel laughed. Her teeth were small but sharp. She probably needed them for her main diet, which was crabs and raw fish. No wonder she liked cream puffs so much.

  “I listen. I learn,” Muriel said. “Just like now. I can guess what brings you out this way. It’s the sea witch who’s been killing your kind up and down the coast, right? Muriel knows.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Listen—they cannot be heard.

  Look—they cannot be seen.

  Fear them, my child,

  The ogres of the mind.

  Elsie handed Muriel a cream puff. “What can you tell us about her?”

  Muriel ate one of the puffs in a single bite, her strange eyes rolling back in her head with pleasure. “I know she’s old—maybe older than me. I know she’s looking for a man. That’s why she only kills the male of your species—not that I have anything against two girls finding love together. But this is different.”

  “How is it different?” Careful not to let her fingers get too close to Muriel’s sharp teeth, Elsie handed her another cream puff.

  “She has to have him, you see. The others die until she finds the right one.” She licked her lips with her peculiar green tongue. “It happens every hundred years or so. She eventually finds the right one and goes away.”

  “Goes where?” I asked as Elsie took out another cream puff.

  “Who knows? Who cares? Just keep your loved ones away from the sea until she’s done.”

  “What does she look like?” Elsie gave her another puff. “How would we know her?”

  Muriel laughed, showing all her wicked white teeth. They looked like sharpened pearls in her mouth. “You won’t. She’s powerful, that one. She never looks the same way twice, and the way she looks isn’t the way she is.”

  She gobbled another cream puff. Elsie and I tried to figure out what we could ask her that would help. That was always the trick with Muriel.

  Larry filled in the silence. “Why does she kill the men?”