Charms & Clouds

by Emilia Spring

  I made it past her office door before the wind flickered around my ears, tickling the lightning bangles. “Cut it out,” I hissed, no real harshness to my voice.

  “I didn't do anything?” Riley said from behind me.

  I froze, then turned and smiled at her. “I was practicing.”

  “For what?” Riley asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Something.” Then I turned and scuttled out of the Police Department as fast as I could. That was my most graceful exit, yes it was. Riley was sure to be impressed by how suave I was.

  I sort of sighed at myself as I got in Ruth. I felt the wind slide off somewhere else. It felt very strange not having it around, almost like it had become a constant friend. I missed having it around my neck, keeping me company, even though it had only been a few minutes.

  But I had work to do.

  There was still an hour before I had to get Gianna from school, and that may or may not work for getting Marguerite to talk. Taking a chance, I headed back to the main house. If Oscar really had taken Clara’s jewelry off her body, like Riley suspected, I wanted to see what Marguerite remembered about Clara wearing jewelry that day.

  I parked at the main house and opened the door with my key. It was quiet. Unusually so, compared to when I was often there. Then again, theoretically they did have things to do during the day.

  “I'm in here,” I heard Marguerite call.

  I jumped. Was it really that surprising, though? It would have been easy enough for the wind to tell her that I was there.

  I headed down to the living room, where I could hear the TV on. Marguerite was sitting on the armchair, and Aspen was sprawled out on the couch, conked out.

  I looked at her, and struggled not to grin.

  “She enjoys taking naps,” Marguerite said with a shrug.

  I shrugged. “Wasn't going to judge.”

  Marguerite rolled her eyes. “What questions do you have for me?”

  I didn't even try and look innocent. “Did you remember seeing Clara with jewelry when you found her body?”

  “Why are you so invested in this?” Marguerite asked, dodging the question.

  “Why are you dodging the question?” I wasn’t entirely certain of the answer myself. Even though I wasn’t a social worker any more, I still believed in the justice system. I wanted to make sure that bad people were punished and that good people went free. Was it really that simple?

  Marguerite rolled her eyes. “There was no jewelry on her body when I found her.” Marguerite paused, something flashing across her face that I couldn’t read. “I do remember her wearing something earlier.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. It lent potential credit to Oscar finding her and taking the jewelry, but I liked to think he was smarter than killing someone when there were only four suspects. Was he being framed? Or was he trying to frame someone else?

  “Have you been using that breeze again?” Marguerite asked, her eyes calm.

  I winced. Was it that obvious?” “Yeah,” I said. “It came to me when I was at the police station.”

  Marguerite looked thoughtful, and it was something that shook me. “Is something wrong with that?” The way Marguerite was acting made me think it wasn't normal. But as she had said, magic was individual for every witch. Maybe it was a normal variation. Maybe hers was different.

  “No, nothing.” Marguerite said, waving at me. “Go back to doing whatever you were doing.”

  I mean, I had been questioning her. But apparently she was done with that. I couldn’t think of anything that I could gain. Except…

  “Did Oscar like Clara?” I asked as casually as I could.

  That got Marguerite’s attention. “Why do you ask?”

  I shrugged, as if the answer wasn’t that important. “Riley hasn’t come up with a motive.”

  Marguerite’s eyes were narrowed for a few seconds before she turned back to the television.

  Yeah, that was a dismissal. I wasn’t really soothed by her answer, but I knew I wouldn't get anything more from her if I stayed there. Instead, I headed back to the shop. We wanted to open in the next week or so, once we got the tanks set up, and they were progressing nicely.

  We had a shipment of fish coming in two days, and I was both nervous and excited. I figured I could do some of the tests, prep for the fish coming, and then go get Gianna from school. Later, if there was time, I wanted to see about taking one of the birds out of their cages, with Gianna as the leader in that. The birds liked her better.

  Theoretically, I could use the wind to contain them if they tried to get away. That was actually a good idea.

  “Look at me,” I muttered to myself. “I have smart ideas occasionally.” I laughed, then texted Riley. I wanted to see if she could send me photos of the jewelry that had been found. I wanted to see if anybody recognized it, if maybe Clara had been seen wearing it at other times. After all, I had spent a decent amount of time in front of the Council in the past month. Maybe I had seen it before.

  Riley texted me back less than a minute later. I ignored the giddy warmth that hit me. No time for emotions. It took my phone a few seconds to download them, thanks to the great Wi-Fi I’d installed at the pet shop.

  That had been at Gianna's insistence, not mine. If she was going to be stuck there, “doing boring things,” as she put it, she at least wanted to be able to play Candy Crush.

  Teenagers.

  I ignored the fact that I, too, had Candy Crush installed on my phone.

  “Where's my lunch?” Theodore asked, apparently having realized I was there.

  I sighed. “Give me a second.” I glanced at the photos, and saw that the jewelry was all fancy, intricately made, almost like lace. There were a couple discs that could have been Marguerite’s, but I didn’t recognize them. I didn’t recognize the jewelry at all, either.

  Well that was pointless. Frustrated, I grabbed the testing kits, placing the saltwater on top of one of the saltwater aquariums, and the fresh water on top of the freshwater. It was easy to accidentally mix them up, especially when my brain was already scattered by the events of the day.

  “You look distracted.” Theodore apparently had decided it was commentary time.

  I grunted. I wasn't really sure I wanted to rehash my whole day with a fish.

  As if he could read my mind, he sighed. “Amphibian.”

  I turned to look at him. “You do realize I’m going to start calling you a fish just because I can?”

  He sighed. “Humans.”

  “Fish,” I said, mocking him.

  He rolled his eyes at me, as much as an axolotl could, and went back to sulking in his tank.

  I paused. “How many witches have you met?”

  Theodore came closer to the front of his tank. “I've met a few,” he said, curiosity in his voice. “Why?”

  “Were any of them weather witches?” I looked up from where I was sampling some of the saltwater in order to run the tests to see if the aquarium had cycled and was ready for fish.

  “What happened?” There was something too smart in his tone. Too knowing.

  “I don't know,” I admitted. “Something went weird today, but I don't know what it was.”

  “Then how do you know something went weird?” He sounded too logical for my liking.

  “Because even Marguerite looked at me funny,” I said. I paused. “And not in the way she looks at you funny when she's not pleased about something. The way she would look if someone showed up naked or with two heads.”

  “Have you tried checking the library?” Theodore suggested.

  I hesitated. That was probably a good idea. As a reward, once I was done with the tests, I gave him a double helping of lunch. “Just this one time.” I tried to sound strict.

  He ignored me, too busy consuming his lunch. It was weird, feeding a talking animal little blood worm cube things. But, he did keep me company when I was there by myself. And he did amuse me, even if he was annoying.

  “Food
,” Craig squawked from the far side of the shop.

  “I’ll get to you in a second,” I called, cleaning up Theodore’s part of the small fridge behind the counter.

  “Food, human.” Craig was more insistent now.

  I shot him a look. Theodore snickered.

  I turned to look at Theodore. “Do they talk like you do?”

  He did the axolotl version of a shrug. “I don't know.”

  I didn't believe him one whit. Apparently he just wanted to make my life more difficult.

  “Thank you for your insights,” I said dryly.

  He looked smug. I gave each of the birds their feed, with Apple coming and sticking his head near the bars. I’d done a lot of reading on the internet. Apple was an African gray, a, nice, generally friendly bird. The macaws were a bit bigger, and a lot more dangerous. Those I would have to handle with care until they got to know me.

  Apple made a soft noise and tucked his head close to the bars, offering his neck for scritches. I took a deep breath, and then reached out to gently put my finger on top of the soft down in Apple’s neck. The bird’s eyes rolled back, he clucked with his beak, and shifted so that I could reach his neck better. He seemed very friendly, or maybe just missing human attention.

  He let me scratch his neck for a while, the downy nests of his feathers warm against my fingers. I wasn't sure if I was brave enough to try that on the macaws, or if the macaws would even appreciate it. But for a moment, I felt a small sense of triumph.

  “He’s easy,” Lemon said, her voice disdainful.

  Okay, I didn't know if they could speak well, but I knew they were speaking to me.

  “Rude,” Apple muttered with a click.

  These ones, at least, were speaking out loud. I wasn't sure why that was reassuring, but it was.

  “Midget,” Craig muttered.

  Apple fluffed himself up, glaring in the big bird's direction. “Barbarian.”

  I paused. “Are we going to have a brawl here?”

  Lemon shot me a look, shuffling down her branch, further towards the front of her cage. “No.”

  I waited there, waiting to see if she had anything else to offer. She didn't. Instead she went back to eating her lunch, as if nothing had happened.

  I stood there for a while longer, staring at them. I looked from one to the other, and then clapped my hands together. Apple had gone back to his food. Craig was perched there, staring at me. “Great talk,” I said.

  They ignored me now, which I was sort of grateful for. I turned to the fish tanks and finished the tests. One of the saltwater tanks was ready for fish, and both of the freshwater tanks were. I put a little bit more ammonia into the tanks to ensure they kept the bacteria that converted the waste to harmless stuff fed. It helped to make up for the fact there wouldn’t be any fish in there for a couple more days. That's what the internet said to do, and surely the internet was right about some things.

  I took a look at all of the tanks, nerves and exhilaration running through me. If I could pull it off, it was going to be really cool. Glass Oceans. I could see it in my mind’s eye. However, there was a lot riding on it. I couldn’t live on savings forever, especially with pizza and takeout. Even having a paid-off cottage only helped so much.

  I let out a sigh, then grabbed my keys and went to get Gianna from school.

  Chapter Twenty

  I knocked on Oscar’s front door, my heart racing. I hadn’t exactly told Riley I wanted to talk to Oscar’s wife Tiernan. In fact I’d sort of told her that I wasn’t going to. But Tiernan had just screamed sketchy with the way she’d shoved me out the door. Maybe she would talk more with Oscar not around.

  The gate had been open this time, which I probably should have been concerned about. But I wasn’t. The door swung open, its movements almost irritated. Tiernan stood there, her eyes narrowed at me. “You're the human social worker, aren't you?”

  I blinked. “Technically I’m not human.”

  “You are the one who took that girl in?” Tiernan seemed to be looking for something in my face. It was like taking a test where I didn’t know the questions or the answers.

  “I have guardianship of Emmaline’s granddaughter.” I said the words slowly, cautiously. I didn’t want to give anything away when I didn’t know what she was looking for.

  “Got a thing for lost causes, do you?” The way she said it wasn’t very nice. There was amusement there, but it was amusement at my expense.

  Okay, this conversation was not going the way I wanted it to.

  “I wanted to ask a few questions about your husband.” Okay, that wasn’t really the right thing to say.

  She smirked. I felt like I was in some sort of twilight zone, where nothing made sense. “Would you like some water?” She gestured towards the kitchen, leading me there.

  “Sure,” I said politely. “Thank you.” I had drunk the water Oscar gave me last time. But Tiernan was acting a bit odd. Would she try and drug me?

  “What sort of questions do you have?” Tiernan leaned against the counter, staring intently at me. It was like a hawk eyeing its prey.

  “Did Oscar ever buy you jewelry before?” Tiernan placed a glass of water in front of me and I took a nervous drink, savoring it against my tongue. It tasted normal.

  Tiernan seemed more amused than anything at the question. She straightened up and leaned against the part of the counter behind her, a mug of tea suddenly appearing in her hands.

  What kind of witch was she? Was that one of those things that you just didn't ask, like asking a woman her age? I wasn't familiar enough with the norms of this place to make a guess one way or another.

  “Once or twice,” she said absently. “I was his wife, after all.”

  I noted the use of the past tense. “Was?” I tried to look concerned.

  Her face didn't change. “Mm.” She shrugged. “Slip of the tongue.”

  I nodded, not sure how to respond to that. I took a deep breath, coughing politely into the crook of my elbow to buy a few seconds. She was dressed in long slacks, like a businesswoman. Complete with the black blazer. She had choker around her neck, and the pattern looked oddly familiar. I couldn’t place it. I knew it wasn’t an exact match to the jewelry Riley had shown me, but I had seen it somewhere.

  “Why do you ask?” She took another drink of the tea.

  I winced. “Well, you know your husband was arrested?” I didn't know why I was stating the obvious, but there I was.

  She looked at me like I was stupid, and to be fair, that wasn't an erroneous assumption. “Yes,” Tiernan said. “I was there when Riley picked him up.”

  Why had I thought this was a good idea? “Did Oscar ever spend time away from home that he shouldn't have?” I cringed at the awkward wording.

  She frowned, but there was something ominous underneath it. “Do you not know?”

  “No?” I said cautiously.

  “I assumed Oscar had been kidding when he said the police didn’t know.” Tiernan smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “Oscar was having an affair with Clara.”

  Okay, I couldn't stop my mouth from falling open. I thought that was something that only happened in movies, but how had she dropped a bombshell so casually? Well, she’d just given both her husband, and herself, a motive.

  “You didn't tell Riley?” I said slowly.

  Tiernan shrugged. “I assumed it was common knowledge,” she said. “Is it not?” Her eyes told me she knew it wasn’t, but it wasn’t like I could prove it.

  If it was, I hadn't heard anything about it. Although, that didn't mean much. I’d only been in the town for a few months, and while I was getting to know people, I’d gotten off on the wrong foot by taking in the child of a family pretty much everyone considered cursed. Yeah, I’d cleared her name and everything, but stigma took a long time to fade.

  “When did you find out?” My heart was racing and my palms felt sweaty. I could feel the prickle of magic teasing at the nape of my neck. I felt a few seconds away from
a lightning bolt.

  “About a month ago.” Another sip from the mug. She was way too calm.

  I took a few seconds to collect myself, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth until the prickling faded. I wished I still had the bangle Marguerite had given me to help control my magic. Once I felt under control, I nodded, jotting a couple notes on my phone. I added a couple question marks, just to emphasize the surrealness of the situation. I was fairly certain she could see, but that was part of the point. I didn't want her to take me seriously.

  “And you’re –” I wasn't sure how to finish that question.

  “Still together?” Tiernan smiled. “It's not easy to end a marriage over such a simple thing. We’ve been together a long time.”

  I did my best to keep my shock off my face. From what I could tell, Pine Lake was like the rest of the world in that cheating was generally considered bad. Why had she called it a simple thing? “How long have you been together?”

  “Since high school.” The smile on her face wasn’t happy. It was smug. It was like we were in a contest, but only one of us knew the rules.

  “Had you been doing anything to work through it?” God these were personal questions. But she didn’t seem upset.

  “We've been seeing a marriage counselor,” she said. “Although I won't give you their name.” She winked.

  Okay. I was fine with that. They were suspects, yes, but I didn’t think anything they did in therapy would be useful. Had Tiernan had framed him for Clara's death? I jotted that note down mentally.

  “Do you have any more questions?” Tiernan asked, her voice just on the frosty edge of polite.

  Realizing I’d overstayed my welcome, I shook my head. “Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today.”

  “Will you inform Riley for me?” She showed a hint of teeth when she smiled. For all it should have looked awkward, she pulled it off. Even if she wasn’t involved in Clara’s death, she was obviously up to something.

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. “She'll probably have some more questions for you,” I said weakly.