by Amy Boyles
I nodded. "It is."
Roman took another bite and rose. He walked over to a side table and opened a drawer. His fingers disappeared. When they reappeared, he was holding a red box.
"Merry Christmas," he said.
My heart froze. "Is that for me?"
He smirked. "I certainly hope so."
I eyed the tiny box. "It's not lingerie, is it? We're not there in our relationship yet."
He chuckled. "I don't think so." Roman handed me the box.
I nibbled the fingernails of my left hand. "Don't you want to wait until we get back to Silver Springs?"
He shook his head. "No."
"I don't have your present with me," I said.
He shrugged. "I'll live."
I slid my thumb under the edge of the paper and ripped it off. I opened the lid of the white box. Cushioned inside lay a gold heart charm with a single diamond set in the base of the V. It was strung through a delicate golden chain.
"It's beautiful," I said.
Roman clasped it behind my neck and kissed my cheek. "Merry Christmas," he murmured.
I slid my hand down his arm and bolted up.
"What is it?" he said.
"We've got to go. Merry Christmas and all is awesome, but we've got to go. There's a killer to catch."
TWENTY-SIX
Roman and I raced back inside the castle. "We need to get into the evidence room."
"Why?" he asked.
"I'll explain after we have what we need."
He rolled his eyes. "Why not now?"
I twisted the heart pendant around my finger. "Because you might not believe me. You might think I'm crazy."
He smirked. "I already think that."
"Just trust me."
He led me to the closet and unlocked the door. I debated taking both key pieces of evidence but changed my mind. I only needed one for what we were about to do.
I kept my voice low as we threaded our way back to the main hall of the castle.
"It took me a little while to figure it out, but once Reid got the wand opened, it all came to me pretty quick."
"The wand opens?"
I nodded. "You wouldn't know it to look at it. And it wasn't something I ever would've figured out if Reid hadn't been reading the book on past queens. There were two things that led me to know who the killer is. The first was the wand and the other was the residue on the package. Separately I'm not sure if I would've seen it, but together it all made sense."
"Care to clue me in? Or are you going to keep making vague reference points?" Roman said.
I laughed nervously. "I guess I'm afraid you'll shoot my theory down."
He raised his hands in surrender. "I won't do any shooting."
"Okay, then." I took a deep breath. Here went nothing. "Gertrude owned that wand because she wanted it to house something that would make her more powerful—something that would help her take over Fairyland."
"Roman Bane," came a shout from across the hall.
I glanced over and saw what must have been the entire council heading right for us. My sisters were nowhere in sight. Some watchdogs they were.
A tall man with a crooked nose led the way. "Roman Bane, bring the prisoner."
Jonathan Pearbottom appeared. "I'll have him momentarily."
"Don't get Brock," I said. "We're about to go catch the real killer."
The entire council paused.
I folded my arms and tapped my toe. "If y'all want to come with us, you can. But we need to be snappy. After all, we've got Christmas to celebrate."
They looked at me like I was spewing crazy talk.
"Well?" I said. I noticed that Roman hadn't said one word this entire time. I guess he was learning to let me take the lead sometimes, even if it made me look like an idiot. "Come on. Let's go catch the real killer."
I kept walking. Eventually, I heard the shuffle of feet as the herd of council members followed.
We reached the door I was looking for.
Roman quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this?"
I gave him a warm smile. "More sure than I've ever been about a murderer before."
He raked his fingers through his hair. "You don't have good instincts when it comes to figuring out killers."
I lifted a finger. "Correction. I didn't used to. But I've got this."
I opened the door and found the museum curator, Bertie, stirring the Everlasting Cauldron.
"Well, I don't know what I've done to receive such a friendly welcome on Christmas morning," she said cheerfully.
"I'm sorry, Bertie, but no one’s here to wish you a warm Christmas. They're here to arrest you for murder," I said.
"Dylan, you're not allowed to say that," Roman whispered.
"Oh. Well, I take that back then."
Bertie tittered. "What do you mean, dear?"
I crossed to the Crystal of Power. "This stone holds extremely strong magic, wouldn't you say?"
Bertie's gaze bounced around the room. "I suppose, yes."
"In the wrong hands it would be detrimental, right? Like, say, put it in a wand and the witch who owned it could do just about anything. Couldn't they? Even take over Fairyland."
"What a wild imagination you have, dear," Bertie said.
"Gertrude came to you about the stone, didn't she? She told you she had the Wand of Transition and confessed to you what she was going to do once she became queen. She would take the crystal, put it in that wand and then have the sort of power that's only dreamed about in books. You knew that, and you couldn't let it happen. Not to Fairyland."
Bertie said nothing.
"You created the bubble gum and postmarked the package. But while you were sealing it up, somehow some of the magic reversal spell spilled onto it. You tried to wipe if away, but you couldn't quite get it all off."
"She wanted to destroy the peace, destroy our world," Bertie mumbled.
"Gertrude was a bad person, but you didn't have to murder her," I said.
She glared at me as if that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. "Of course I had to murder her. The woman was as destructive as it gets."
I clicked my tongue at Roman.
Bertie raised her arms in the air. "Gertrude was an evil, no-good person. I'm glad she's gone and the rest of you should be, too."
I'm pretty sure I heard the entire council gasp behind me. "Well, Pearbottom, glad you didn't have us hear the wrong case," someone snarled.
Yeah, Pearbottom. Glad you're on top of all this.
"It was the right case at the time," Pearbottom snapped.
Gladiolas chimed in. "It looks like everything's turned out in the end. Well done, everyone."
Roman crossed to Bertie. "You need to come with me, Bert. Is that okay with you?"
Her head rolled back to her neck as she glanced up at him. "Come with you. Of course, dear boy. I killed someone. That needs to be paid for."
Roman hooked his hand around her arm and led her toward the door. The council shuffled out, a few mumbling that now they could return to their Christmases. They weren't the only ones. Now my family and I could leave, too.
I just had one more thing to do.
As I stood inside the empty museum, staring at all the gizmos and gadgets, I put the last piece of the puzzle together. There was one more thing I needed. I crossed to the reversal spell.
I was about to need every ounce of power it could give me. I uncorked the bottle and focused on believing I could do it, believing I could master the spell, instead of it mastering me.
"Interesting morning," a voice said behind me.
I placed the bottle down, took a deep breath and turned.
"It certainly has been, Bannock."
He clasped his hands behind his back and stood in that comfortable butler stance. "I suppose you and your family will be off," he said.
"I'm sure, once I show them these." From my jean pocket I pulled the two votes I'd retrieved from the bowl.
He raised his eyebrows.
"What would those be?"
"I'm sure you know, Bannock. After all, you're the one who was in charge of the basin. You made these last two votes for Em vanish so that no one could see them."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
I took an even deeper inhale. What if I was wrong? What if everything I'd sewn together in my mind was way off? Like outer space way off? Roman would kill me. Well, perhaps I'd just be mortally embarrassed and would never show my face again in the castle.
I could live with that.
I crossed my arms. It was time to get all Legally Blonde on this guy. "You controlled the bowl, Bannock. I saw you. Everyone saw you. You left these two ballots hidden so that no one would know that Em really won the election."
He scoffed. "How could I possibly do that?"
I knew a little sparkle twinkled in my eye. This was my moment. "Because you used magic, Bannock. Just like you've been doing all along. Ever since Roman was a little boy.
"You used to be really sick. Like all the time. Then one day you weren't anymore. I've even seen the pictures in that queens book. You made a miraculous recovery. In my eyes, the only way that could be done was with magic."
Bannock's face reddened. "That doesn't mean anything. I could have been healed by someone. Anyone."
"I agree, you could have been. But you weren't. In fact, you looked bad the other night, the night we were attacked by those roses. But the next day, you looked fine. I've heard someone talk about magic stealing before. The more you steal, the more you need. And I think that's what's happened to you. A little magic stealing made you better, but it wasn't enough. You had to keep stealing it, keep taking it in order to remain healthy. That's why you still go through sick periods."
"Preposterous," he said.
"But it's not. You owe whoever's been giving you the magic. You owe them bad. So when they told you to make sure the election went in Gertrude's favor, you did just that by rigging the bowl. And when you saw me looking into it, you killed Polly Parrot."
"I would never do such a thing," he snapped.
"You would and you did. You killed my bird because I was getting too close to figuring it all out. If Polly hadn't shown me the vessel, I never would've put it all together. You needed Gertrude to win so that she could help the magic-stealing ring have a free-for-all in Fairyland, gorging on unicorns and winged monkeys." I walked right up to him, not caring what he did to me, and said, "Disgusting."
Bannock's reddened face opened in an explosion. "That's ridiculous!"
"Give anyone enough magic and it'll seep into their pores and give them power. You're a witch, Bannock. Created by bad people, but nonetheless, a witch."
He said nothing.
"Everything was going well, right? Gertrude had won and you'd done your job. But then someone murdered her. That put a kink in your plan. Did you get in trouble for that, Bannock? Did your boss threaten to kill you? Did they say they'd out you, let everyone know you'd been stealing magic?"
He stormed across the room. "You little witch. I tried to get you to leave. Tried to get you out of here. Gave you every opportunity."
I skirted through the displays, trying to keep him a good distance away. "You should have called your roses off and let me go home. Then maybe you could've gotten away with it."
"I had been getting away with it. I still would be, if it weren't for your meddling."
Was he really going to start quoting Scooby-Doo?
"I had the utmost respect for you." He marched straight for me. "Like I said, I envied you. But you had to go and ruin everything. Now I have to kill you, clean up that mess and figure out who to blame it on."
"Maybe pick Cornelius," I suggested. "He could use some entertainment. Being stuck in that mail room all day has got to be so boring."
Bannock's face twisted into snarl.
"Okay, maybe don't pick him."
He only snarled again.
"What happened to you, Bannock?"
He stopped and his face lightened. "I was dying from cancer. It raged in my body. Someone came to me with an offer to live. An offer that gave me the magic I had hungered for my whole life. It's exactly as I told you. Those of you born with magic are usually too stupid to use it correctly. It's not appreciated. Well, I'd spent my life watching others waste what I'd always wanted. So when I was given the choice to have power, I took it."
"No matter what the cost," I said. "And you sold out Roman's mother, didn't you? Made it easy for them to come in and kill her."
His lower lip trembled. "There was a price to pay." He clutched his face. "I had to do it. Had to. I would die."
I clenched my jaw. "So you let them destroy her and her children."
"She was too powerful. The children were casualties. Not meant to be killed."
"What about her husband?" I mean, while I was at it, I might as well find out as much as I could. "Was he in on it?"
Bannock shook his head. "No. It was only me."
"Who convinced you? Who's at the top of the magic-stealing ring?"
His face darkened. His eyes speared me. "That, you'll never know. I've kept that secret for a long time, and I'm not about to tell it now." Bannock slicked back his hair. "This conversation is over. We've talked long enough. Now it's time for you to say good-bye."
Power surged in the butler's fists. It was pink, which almost made me laugh.
I raised my hands and started forming a bubble, but the power whirling around Bannock made my heart knock against my chest. He was powerful.
A blast of pink magic charged right for me.
I thought the word shield, trying to form a protective layer as fast as I could. A bubble shimmered into life as Bannock's power exploded through it.
I closed my eyes, waiting to die. Yes, basically. But nothing happened. To me, at least. I blinked, looking for the magic that had attacked me.
I saw it.
A pink tornado surrounded Bannock. He screamed, trying to get it off. The thing tangled itself around him and started squeezing. It was like watching an anaconda before it feasted on its prey. It tightened more and more. I closed my eyes and heard Bannock scream.
I opened them. The magic shivered and quaked. A couple of seconds later it vanished.
Bannock fell to the floor, the life literally sucked out of him.
If that wasn't obvious enough, the butler was dead.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Roman wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. "This isn't exactly how you wanted to spend your Christmas, was it?"
I sighed into him, resting my head on his chest. "What would ever make you say that?"
He chuckled and drew me close. I watched as a series of witch medics and witch police ran in and out of the museum, cleaning up the scene of Bannock's death. I shivered against Roman. I felt his lips brush the top of my head.
"So you drank the reversal spell?" he said.
I nodded. "I knew I'd need it against him, if it came to that. And I figured it would."
"Have you ever considered a job with the witch police?" he asked.
I poked his rib cage. He jerked back. Roman didn't laugh, but I knew I'd tickled him. Or at least come as close as any human could to tickling the ex-assassin.
"There's no way I'd ever work for the witch police, thank you very much." I tipped my head back to look into those gorgeous sea-green eyes of his. "So has Brock been released?"
Roman nodded. "He has been. He and Sera are cozying up somewhere, I think."
"It's been a wild ride here," I said.
"Come on. Let's go get your family packed up so you can get of here."
I hugged him again and said, "That's the sexiest thing you've said all week."
He smiled. "Is it?"
"It sure is."
***
Roman left me at the door to gather my things. When I opened it, I found Grandma in the room, digging around in the trunk. "Aha! Found it." She pulled out that huge photo album. The one of my parents. "Want to take this back
to Silver Springs?"
"For sure," I said.
The book lifted from her hands and sailed into an open bag that sat on the bed. I jumped with victory. "Grandma! You've got your power back!"
She wiggled her fingers and tilted her head back and forth. "Oh yes, got my power back."
Milly snickered from across the room. "Yep. You could say that."
Reid finished tying her sneakers and said, "What does that mean?"
Grandma fluffed her hair. "Well, I may not have lost it to begin with."
I slapped a hand against my chest. "What?"
She shrugged, fluffed the ends of her hair. "I may have just misplaced it."
"Misplaced your magic?" I said, crossing my arms. "What are you talking about? How can magic be misplaced?"
"It can't be," Milly snorted. "Not unless you want it to be."
My jaw unhinged. "But what about that whole thing with Celeste's magic? What about when Nan ran over to save you?"
Grandma adjusted the gauzy scarf around her neck. "Oh well, I may have worked a little magic there without telling anyone. You know, to make sure no one really got hurt. I didn't want that to happen."
Reid and I exchanged glances that said, are you kidding me?
"But why?" Reid said. "Why would you do that?"
The door burst open. In waddled Nan, looking fresh and ready to go. "All packed up?" she asked. "I think I've got everything. Got my nunchakus, my broadsword, even managed to squeeze in a breakable staff." She gave me and Reid wide smiles. "Can never be too prepared, girls. Preparation is key. If you have it, you'll go far."
Grandma shrugged on a coat and looked around the room. "I'm all set to leave."
Nan clasped her hands together. "Great. Then let's get home." She looked at us, a sparkle twinkling in her eye. "Girls, you ready?"
"But Nan, I thought the protectorship or whatever weren't going to let you come back with us?" I said.
Nan placed a fist on her hip. "That was before those nincompoops realized that Hazel's magic was fragile. Any witch who could lose her powers without warning must have a protector. That's the rule. And seeing how I was her guardian when she was in that coma for so long, I was the likely person to take the arrangement back up. So looks like we're all going home, girls. Who's ready for some Chef Boyardee, courtesy of me?"
