Broomstick Blend

by Kennedy Layne

What I really wanted to be doing more than anything in the world was reciprocating Liam’s declaration of love. Well, falling in love. I guess there was a difference, but it was still a step in the right direction.

  I’m pretty sure you just took two huge steps backward. And by two, I mean at least two miles’ worth. Maybe more.

  “Heidi knows about my family’s proclivities, too,” I offered up, hoping that Liam would realize he had another human to talk to about all the things he was currently questioning. “She’s the only one, because it’s against coven rules to spill our secrets to the human realm. Not that my family belongs to a coven anymore, but I don’t have time to get into that right now. What I’m trying to say is that I’m risking everything by telling you the truth, and I never would have done so if I wasn’t falling in love with you, too.”

  I’m pretty sure I’m sensing the beginnings of a hairball. Please don’t make me hack up a hairball in the sheriff’s office. It would be considered bad taste.

  My unexpected declaration had definitely caught Liam by surprise, and to the point that he finally dragged his gaze away from Leo to look at me. I mean, really look at me. It was easy to decipher the disbelief, but I could also make out his internal struggle to accept every word I was saying as the truth.

  “You…” Liam let his sentence fade, clearly deciding to choose his words a bit more carefully. I braced myself for his rejection while holding out hope that he would accept me for…well, me. “I don’t think there is any other woman in the world who can continue to surprise me on every level like you do almost every time we see one another.”

  He has no idea…

  “Is that a good thing?” I asked, though I could barely hear the words myself.

  I’m putting this out there just for general information, but I really don’t like being a third wheel.

  “Do it again,” Liam directed unexpectedly, motioning with his hand that he wanted Leo to disappear. “Vanish and come back.”

  What am I? A dog who performs those idiotic tricks? You tell that—

  “Leo,” I prodded affectionately, observing Liam very closely to try and understand what he was truly looking for. “Please.”

  Do I get my own bag of ice after we go to the gas station?

  “Yes.”

  Fine. This will cost you, though. The minute we have electricity, I’m using your laptop to order that new Kiwi hydroponic catnip…it comes from New Zealand.

  “Done.”

  I was willing to agree to just about anything to grant Liam his request. Relief washed through me when Leo did his vanishing act, reappearing in record time.

  I just realized I’m no better than a dog jumping through hoops. They perform for treats. I perform for mental health necessities. There’s something wrong with this equation.

  “That’s…” Liam once again let his sentence trail off as he searched for the right words. “Incredible.”

  That’s the best he can do? The good ol’ sheriff just witnessed a cat vanish into thin air. The best he can do is incredible? Raven, I’m beginning to suspect he’s not the brightest bulb in the box.

  I was completely shocked when Liam pulled me into his arms, embracing me like I’d always imagined he would upon sharing our love for another. Granted, I’d put a hitch in that fantasy, but he was still following through with my best hopes for how this might turn out.

  “I just needed to be sure that I wasn’t losing my mind,” Liam murmured against my ear, holding me even tighter against him.

  We stayed that way until the temperature rose another degree and Leo had gone through his reasoning of why the New Zealand catnip might be more beneficial to his memory issue than the premium catnip from Honduras. I was now armed with more information about the minty herb than I’d ever wanted to be, but there were actually spells that utilized the tasty kitty treat.

  “You didn’t kick me out of the police station or call the looney bin,” I said with hope, finally pulling away enough to give my body heat a chance to escape. “Does this mean you’re willing to hear me out?”

  Liam gently placed his palms on both sides of my cheeks, cradling my face tenderly.

  “I’m not that easy to scare off, although for a brief moment I thought I was hallucinating.” Liam pressed his forehead to mine. “I meant what I said, Raven. I fall more in love with you every single day, and something as small as discovering that witchcraft is real isn’t going to change my mind about us.”

  Wait until he hears that the local librarian is a werewolf with two mini-mes.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, not knowing how else to show my gratitude that Liam was willing to have an open mind. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close one more time despite the heat. “Thank you for believing in me.”

  “In us, Raven,” Liam corrected, tucking me in close.

  He didn’t seem to mind holding onto me a little while longer.

  Not to break up this romantic moment where we’re likely to boil to death and melt into a pile of goo onto the floor, but we have more pressing issues. Not to say that you outing us to another human being isn’t an important issue, because I’m pretty sure I can feel warts popping up on my skin underneath my fur. Regardless, I must now drop a huge bomb on your lovefest.

  “Leo, what are you talking about?” I asked, ever so slowly pulling away from Liam’s embrace.

  “This is going to take some getting used to,” Liam muttered, setting his wary gaze on Leo. “What’s he saying?”

  Tell the good ol’ sheriff that if he starts to ask that question every ten seconds, we’ll all be old and decrepit toads before I get the story out.

  “I sent Leo up to Windsor to find out more about the broomstick. Anyone in possession of the hexed broomstick dies within a specific timeframe. Unfortunately, we’re not quite sure how long that is,” I quickly explained, knowing that it wouldn’t nearly be enough for my lawman. “Long story short, Mom buried it for safekeeping when she was a teenager after researching the object in question for a research paper. Mom is the reason we are currently in another blackout, because she used magic to discover who dug up the broomstick, which just so happened to be Sheriff O’Leary’s deputy. So, I sent Leo up to Windsor to find out more about the curse so that we would be better prepared on how to dispose of the broomstick.”

  That’s the problem.

  “Leo, what do you mean that’s the problem?” I asked, bracing myself for his answer. Sometimes, I think he enjoyed these moments a little too much. “What did Aunt Rowena say about the curse?

  Rowena has never heard of this so-called cursed broomstick nor anything other similar object being in the Barnes family’s possession. Not a word, a peep, or a squeak. That can only mean one thing—we have no case and can now resume our regular, everyday lives! Hallelujah!

  Chapter Ten

  “You’ve been involved in almost every case I’ve handled since you arrived in town, and that includes the investigations I’ve handed off to the state police.” Liam held my hand as we both made our way across the scalding hot cobblestones of the crosswalk. I’d taken the additional time it took for the thunderstorm to pass, explaining what little I knew about the broomstick. We now had a plan in place, with the promise that we’d sit down when this murder mystery was solved to talk about us, in light of our circumstances as they were. That particular discussion would take longer than the thirty-three minutes we’d hunkered down in his office at the station. “Don’t confirm that just yet.”

  Liam used to endearingly say that I ended up in the most precarious situations. I’d have been more stressed about the fallout of my confession if he hadn’t been holding onto my hand so desperately.

  Honestly, I didn’t want to let go of him right now, either.

  You’re causing me to perpetually choke on my tongue down here. Can you give it a break? This is no way for me to continue to live…with a witch who can’t keep her sappy thoughts to herself. I’ll have to double up on my intake of catnip. They say i
t helps with nausea, you know.

  “Leo, please go tell Mom to fix this power outage right now,” I muttered as we stepped onto the sidewalk. I didn’t miss the way Liam darted his gaze around us to see if he could locate Leo. “It looks as if another storm is coming in off the bay, and it would be nice to have the power back on before it hits.”

  What power outage? Boy, it’s hot today, isn’t it?

  “Leo, now is not the time for one of your short-term memory blips.”

  What I’ve forgotten can’t be that bad. You’re holding hands with the good ol’ sheriff. Are you two going to the malt shop for ice cream? That’s a good idea, but I think I’ll stick with whatever catnip treat Beetle brought into the shop today. I need to be on the top of my game if I’m going to locate Skippy and his band of ninja squirrels. They need to be dealt with.

  “Short-term memory blip?” Liam asked about ten feet from the antique shop’s door. There was a chance that Kathleen had closed up the store, either due to her brother-in-law’s murder or the fact that Paramour Bay still had no power. “Do I want to know?”

  “You wouldn’t have asked if you didn’t,” I replied with a smile, because I could hear the curiosity in his tone. However, it wasn’t the bad kind. It was sincere interest in me and nearly everything that had to do with me. “You really have no idea what a relief it is to have you know everything.”

  What did you say? Sweet angel of mercy, no wonder I didn’t want to remember anything from the past hour, day, or week! My lord, what day is it? Holy moly, Batgirl! I feel an asthma attack coming on. It’s not due to this horrendous heat, either. You still have Dr. Jameson on speed dial, right? I can’t feel my paws.

  On the bright side, Leo’s brain was reconnecting the dots. On the bad side, there was a closed sign hanging inside the door that brought Liam and I up short.

  “Are you up for a road trip?”

  Depends. Does his truck have air conditioning that works better than the wish air you’ve got in your car? You know, like “I wish our air conditioning worked at full blast”.

  Liam’s question came out of nowhere, but it was also the best thing Liam could have asked me right now. It was a sign of blind trust.

  I think you’re stretching his intent a bit, but the good ol’ sheriff seems to be handling this well. You’re not in cuffs. Hey, did you know that there is a spell to prevent someone from spilling secrets? You should learn the verbal component. Hey, just in case that doesn’t work out, I’ll see if I can find the right size hammer. One can never be too careful when a coven’s council is one spell away from turning us into amphibians. Back to this air conditioning issue…

  “You mean, a road trip to talk to Kathleen and her sister?”

  Wrong question. First, air conditioning. Then your silly case. Do you need me to spell that out for you?

  “Yes,” Liam replied, already turning on his boots and using his free hand to pull out the keys to his truck. “Jack gives me leeway on the cases that I hand over to him. We’ve always worked well together, and we already know that Lydia was the one to tell Jack about the curse. I assume Kathleen is aware of it, too. We can say that your grandmother knew the Barnes family, and that nothing of the kind was ever said in passing. It will give us an excuse to ask a few more questions about why Sheriff O’Leary had a list of herbal poisons in his hand when he died.”

  “Wouldn’t Jack have already asked Kathleen or Lydia about the list?”

  Again, wrong question. My fur is beginning to knot in places it shouldn’t due to the humidity factor. It’s spelled like this—A- I- R- C…

  “Jack did inquire about the note, but Lydia stated she didn’t know anything about it.” Liam pressed a button on his key fob, bringing the engine to life as Leo continued to spell out his fantasy. Liam opened up the passenger side door and saw to it that I was settled comfortably in the seat. He did a double take when Leo materialized right on top of the middle console. “I’ll be right back. I just need to forward the phone lines to my cell.”

  Point those two middle vents right toward me. That’s right. A little to the left on that one and…ahhhhh. Perfect. A bit warm, but this newer model will no doubt spit cool air out faster than your death trap’s tired old compressor.

  “That went better than I expected, Leo,” I murmured, watching Liam jog back into the station.

  My admiration for the man spiked considerably, given that he was the type of male who liked cold, hard facts. You know, things that fit into an established mold. Granted, Leo had been able to provide proof, but I had an intuition that Liam would have put his faith in me, regardless. The t-shirt that he was wearing instead of his usual button down khaki dress shirt framed his biceps just right. As the door closed behind him, I couldn’t help but admire the way his denim jeans—

  Raven Lattice Marigold! Get your mind out of the gutter right this minute. I swear, listening to your twisted thoughts might be worse than enduring this horrendous heat wave. Speaking of which, can you adjust that other vent half a degree more toward me? You’re not the one wearing a fur coat here.

  Liam quickly returned, settling in behind the steering wheel. He didn’t say a word about the fact that Leo had all but claimed both the vents on the middle console and had his crooked whiskers tilted toward the roof of the cab so that the cool air hit him directly in the neck. Instead, Liam just shifted the gear into drive and made a U-turn to head toward the highway.

  He’s got promise, but I still don’t think the good ol’ sheriff was worth being turned into a French side dish…frog legs a la crispy. Hey, ask where he bought this truck, will ya? You need to get rid of that death trap, and his air conditioning is top notch. I’m might actually be getting frostbite.

  “I have a lot of questions running through my mind,” Liam said, and not for the first time in the last hour. I’d basically given a crash course regarding my life since coming to Paramour Bay, but the details had been vague. It was best for me to ease him into my daily existence. “I agree that O’Leary’s murder needs to be cleared up first, though. Start from the beginning on only those specific details having to do with the…cursed broomstick.”

  “Well, I didn’t know it was truly cursed until Heidi called yesterday. She knew about my visit with Mazie and Lucille, so—”

  “Lucille? As in Lucille Rebecca Barnes? Jack mentioned that the myth regarding the broomstick was from centuries ago.” Liam shot me a confused glance. “Jack pulled up her descendants in one of the databases, thinking maybe the broomstick was some sort of antique that was worth money. That alone could be a motive for murder. Jack has a few relatives to check out, but I don’t believe there was a Lucille on the list.”

  Have I mentioned my love for front row seats? I can’t wait for you to tell him about our surprise visit from the afterlife. You don’t happen to have any catnip on you, do you? This is why you need to start carrying around a purse like Heidi. She gets me. I could use my pipe right about now.

  I ran the palms of my hands down the fabric of my skirt. I’d already thrown quite a bit at him, but explaining that spirits could actually walk among us might be more than he could handle.

  “When you say visit, you’re not talking about it being in person, are you?”

  Smarter than the average bear. That’s good to know. He’s intuitive.

  “Um, do you recall when you drove my mother and I up to Windsor regarding her pet sugar gliders?”

  You’re really going to throw the good ol’ sheriff into the deep end, aren’t you? No life preserver, no easing him into the shallow end. Just drown the poor guy and be done with it.

  “That trip was hard to forget,” Liam said somewhat wryly, having already mentioned that was the moment he realized something more was going on with me than met the eye.

  Tell me about it. I still have Strifle’s fairy glitter stuck to my fur. You’d think it would have turned to goo in this heat, but noooo…it just stays stuck there in my fur, mocking me.

  “Technically, there w
ere no sugar gliders,” I admitted, thinking back to my run-in with the council. “Mazie had already passed through the veil, but her familiar had been held back from crossing over by dark magic. She came to me asking if I’d help figure out who would do such a thing, and all leads pointed toward the coven. But Mazie wasn’t alone. Lucille had escorted her back through the veil for our little tea party.”

  “The veil?” Liam reiterated, though his was more of an inquiry. His thumb drummed on the steering wheel a little harder than usual. “Spirits. They came to visit you. Real ghosts.”

  That was some shove, Raven. Swim, big boy. Swim.

  I shot Leo a sideways glance, but his eyes were closed, almost as if he was relishing this moment. It didn’t help that he had a Cheshire grin plastered underneath his crooked whiskers.

  “Maybe Aunt Rowena was right about the broomstick not being cursed. Had there been such an item, I’m sure the council members would have been tempted to retrieve such a powerful object.” It was best to gloss right over the spirit part of this equation. “Leo explained to me how hard it was to enchant a random item. Believe me, it’s harder than just throwing some material components in a pestle and reciting a few special words.”

  I’m almost certain Liam just muttered underneath his breath about finally understanding why the shop and my cottage had so many pestles and mortars. At least he wasn’t still focused on the spirit world.

  What a fuddy-duddy. You’re not making the trip enjoyable in the least bit.

  “Has Jack spoken to Sheriff O’Leary’s deputy?” I asked, wanting to know how he knew there was a broomstick to dig up in the first place. “Who told him about the broomstick?”

  “The deputy’s name is Roger Wilson.” Liam flipped his turn signal on as we reached the ramp to the highway. He was now in his element while talking about the facts of the case. “Wilson claims he was hiking on his day off. He tripped over something, realized that it wasn’t a tree root, and then decided to dig whatever it was up that was sticking out of the ground.”