Waterside Witchery (Lainswich Witches Book 12)

by Raven Snow

  The bottom of the lake was mostly slick rocks and mud. She could feel her feet sinking into the stuff as she walked. It felt squishy and cold and gross. At the same time, it also felt a little nice. It was soft and the way it sucked on her feet when she lifted them was so weird. The water was dark with the mud which meant she couldn’t see very far at all into the water. Even so, she trusted Eric to guide her. “See?” he said. “It’s not so bad.”

  Rowen was inclined to agree with him. By the time she was to her waist in the water, she was feeling almost safe, like she could go in up to her neck and still be fine. Of course, she wasn’t going to do that. She wasn’t one to push her luck.

  “Did you ever learn to swim?” asked Eric.

  “Not officially,” said Rowen. She wasn’t even sure she could properly float if it came down to that.

  “You know, that might be part of the problem. Are you sure it’s a curse?”

  Rowen swatted her husband on the arm and took a couple steps away from him. That was when the curse struck. Rowen suddenly lost her footing. Her foot slipped down a rock and through a slope of mud. All at once, she was going down a sharp incline into much deeper water. It was deeper than she was tall, she realized as she went under. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see a whole lot besides clouds of mud. She did hear the muffled sound of Eric shouting for her and saw his arm break the surface of the water. He didn’t reach her. An undertow swept through and pulled Rowen down, down, down. She felt herself being pulled further and further down, tumbled this way and that by currents, until she wasn’t even sure which way was up anymore.

  Rowen hadn’t taken a full breath before going under. Already, her lungs were aching. Was this really how she went? She waved her arms, trying to pick a direction and swim in that. It didn’t do her much good. If anything, struggling was making her run out of air faster.

  The undertow slammed Rowen against the bottom of the lake, knocking the last of her breath out of her. At least she knew which way was up now. She was trying to situate herself in such a way that she could kick off and maybe go up to the surface when she felt a chill run down her spine. Considering her situation, now really wasn’t the time for distractions. She looked anyway. She couldn’t help it. To her right she saw a car. It was completely submerged in water. She couldn’t make out much more than its shape.

  Rowen felt a pull toward that car. It wasn’t another current tugging her along. No, this was something else. The pull this car was giving her was something very different. Rowen was still staring at it when arms hooked around her waist. Someone kicked off of the bottom of the lake holding fast to her torso. It had to be Rose. There wasn’t enough power behind the kick for it to have been Eric. Still, it nearly got Rowen to the surface. Another pair of hands grabbed Rowen, hoisting her head above water.

  Rowen sucked in air and choked on it. She coughed, black spots dancing in front of her eyes. “Are you all right?” Eric asked, terror in his voice. Rowen couldn’t find the breath to answer him immediately. She just breathed.

  “Are you all right?” Aunt Lydia asked. All of the Greensmiths (And Benji) had gone to one side of the pier. They were all looking down at Rowen, wide-eyed.

  Eric and Rose both struggled to get Rowen back to the beach. There they sat her down on the rocks. Eric fussed over her as the rest of Rowen’s family rushed into a semicircle around her. “Are you all right?” Lydia asked again.

  “You terrified us,” said Nadine.

  “Give her some air.” Rose waved the family back a bit. Rowen was thankful for it. She just wanted some space while she tried to gather herself after her near miss.

  “Are you okay?” Eric took Rowen’s face in his hands. His brow was creased with concern. Rowen was sure he felt guilty. Going into the water had been his idea after all.

  “I told you there was a curse,” Rowen managed, shooting him a dirty look.

  Eric cringed. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d be fine if we didn’t go too deep. I’m still getting used to all this witch stuff. I didn’t know curses could be that… hardcore.”

  Rowen forced a smile, trying to reassure him. “I’m partly to blame too. I really should have known better.”

  “I told the both of you not to go in there,” Aunt Lydia pointed out.

  “Mom,” Rose hissed. “This really isn’t the time for that.”

  “Well, then what’s a good time to tell them I told you so?” Lydia huffed. “Because I told them so.”

  “I’m fine,” Rowen assured everyone. She was still quite shaken. She would probably be having nightmares about that for a while. Physically, she was fine. Even her vision had become clearer. “Thanks for saving me.” She managed another smile aimed at both Eric and Rose.

  “Is there anything you need?” asked Eric. “Do you need something to drink? You’re shivering. Do you need a towel? Someone get her a towel.”

  Benji rushed back to the pier to retrieve just that. “I’m fine,” said Rowen. That said, there was something she did need. “But if one of you wouldn’t mind, could someone call the cops? I think I just found something they’re going to want to see.”

  Chapter Two

  Instead of dialing 911 or the police station directly, Rose gave her boyfriend a call. As the Chief of Police, he would undoubtedly be the most help. Besides, he knew it was serious when the Greensmiths had gut feelings. Rowen wasn’t sure how she would convince any other policeman that there was something they would want to see in the car at the bottom of the lake. The lake itself was man made. It had flooded the abandoned remains of a residential area. There were some wrecked houses down there, broken picket fences, and even the occasional junker car. Sometimes people went diving down there to try and salvage something valuable. Over the years the number of people doing that sort of thing had dwindled. It was all garbage by now.

  “What did you see down there?” Rowen’s family kept asking.

  “I don’t know,” she kept saying. “I didn’t really see much. It was more of a feeling.”

  They all waited together, putting clothes back on over their swimsuits if they had them. Rowen felt kind of guilty about that. There was no denying that she had sort of ruined their outing. Oh, well. There was no helping it.

  It didn’t take long before Ben showed up. He had come by himself. “You know you’re not supposed to be swimming out here. If this turns out to be private property, that goes double.” He looked more than a little out of place standing there in a casual suit and tie befitting of a police chief. His shiny black shoes kept getting sucked at by the mud as he walked toward them.

  “Sorry, Dear,” said Rose. “I didn’t think we’d be calling you here.”

  “You didn’t think you’d get caught, you mean.” Ben sighed and shook his head. He pushed his light hair back away from his face. “All right. What’s going on?”

  They hadn’t given Ben very many details on the phone. Even now, Rowen was fumbling for an explanation. She had hoped she would come up with one by the time he got here. That hadn’t exactly worked out. “I sensed something in the lake,” she said.

  Ben nodded. “I heard that much. What else. What did you sense?”

  “It’s a car.”

  “You sensed a car?”

  “No, I saw a car and sensed something in it.” Rowen was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t called the police prematurely. Maybe she should have let Rose or Eric go down and inspect that thing, see if there was something about it truly worth calling the police over.

  “What sort of something?”

  Rowen chewed on the inside of her mouth. She hated to say it out loud. She certainly hoped she was wrong. “I think I sensed a dead body.”

  Eric looked at the lake. Its surface was still and serene. It looked so relaxing it was hard to believe there was anything sinister down in its depths. Eric swore. “Well, this is going to be a pain to look into.”

  “Sorry.” Rowen often wished she could be the bearer of more positive news, but it was par for th
e course. Dead bodies were drawn to her like flies. “What do you need us to do?”

  “Point out where the car is to me.” Ben took out his phone. “I’ll see if I can’t find someone to wench it out.”

  “You’re not calling in more police?” asked Rowen.

  “I’ll call and let them know what I’m up to, but I’ll only call them out here if I have something more solid.”

  ***

  It took a long time for things to get accomplished. There was no one who could get the car out of the water in Lainswich. Ben had to call the neighboring city of Tarricville. There he found some self-acclaimed treasure divers. The Greensmith family was gathered on the pier finishing a dinner of fast food when they arrived.

  The “treasure divers” looked an awful lot like opportunistic rednecks. They looked like the sort of people who would have been diving into this lake years ago looking for valuables to clean up and sell. That said, they were certified divers and had a pretty big truck with a rig that looked like it could be attached to the car and pull it up no problem.

  Ben showed the two men the spot Rowen had showed him. “It should be right around there. It’s a four door.”

  One of the men put on his diving gear and headed into the water. The other fellow handled things up top. Rowen was beginning to get worried about the diver when he finally resurfaced and gave his partner a thumbs up.

  The car that was pulled from the water was in the sort of shape you would expect. Parts of it were badly rusted. The red paint was dull. The front hood was missing altogether.

  Ben circled around the car. He looked in all the windows, like he was searching for some sort of clue. There were none. “You said something is in the trunk?” he asked Rowen. She nodded.

  The trunk itself had been tied shut Which made Rowen more confident than ever that something was in there. She watched as Ben untied the rope. The trunk popped open as soon as it was free. Ben opened it the rest of the way and, immediately, the rednecks turned their heads away, swearing.

  Rowen moved closer. She wanted a look for herself. She regretted doing so almost immediately. Inside the trunk, there was a body. Rowen had seen a lot of bodies in her life but none like this. You could hardly even call it human any more. Being in the water had done it no favors, but aside from that, it was burnt to a crisp. The whole body was charred black. Rowen couldn’t believe it. She stumbled back a few steps, gagging. Fortunately, Eric was there to steady her.

  Ben looked down at the body with a passive expression. He sighed heavily and stepped back, pulling out his phone to call for reinforcements. It wasn’t long before cops were parked all over the empty lot behind the pier. Flashing lights swarmed the place. Rowen and her family were asked a bunch of questions. Not that there was a whole lot they could tell the cops. How do you explain, ‘I just had a feeling’? At least most of the police seemed to take that as explanation enough. They knew what kind of people the Greensmiths were. Rowen just hoped they weren’t made suspects this time.

  “Go home,” Ben told them when evening had completely set in. “We’ll give you a call tomorrow if we need you.”

  Rowen didn’t need to be told that twice. This had been a lot more than the peaceful family gathering they’d planned for. Family in tow, she headed back to where they had parked. On the way there, they happened upon the Channel 2 news van. Reporter and co-news director Julia Martinez was standing with a microphone, her face scrunched up as she glared at the police line. She had no way of knowing what was going on aside from the fact that it was a big deal. Her eyes widened when she saw the Greensmith family being escorted past the yellow tape.

  Julia put on her most winning smile and rushed to Rowen’s side. “Hey there. Journalist to journalist, I don’t suppose you know what’s going on?” she asked sweetly.

  Rowen knew better than to answer her. She didn’t totally hate Julia, but she could still count on one hand the nice things she had done for her. The bad things numbered in the dozens. “We can’t talk about that,” Rowen said, curtly. She walked right past Julia and toward the parking lot.

  “Hey, come on!” Julia called after her. “Us girls have to help each other out. We ladies have to stick together.”

  “She’s no lady,” Rose muttered, walking alongside Rowen.

  Rowen looked over at her cousin with a smirk. She could be opinionated sometimes. “You’re writing something on this tonight, I take it.”

  Rose nodded. “Someone has to report the news, don’t they?” The Lainswich Inquirer didn’t deal much in serious pieces like this, but Rose did enjoy getting a scoop on Julia when she could. Rowen just hoped that she didn’t need her help. “I can do it by myself,” Rose added, as if she could tell what her cousin was thinking.

  Rowen was thankful for that. She was ready to go home and try to relax. Something told her there wouldn’t be much time for that after more details about this murder emerged.

  Chapter Three

  It was nice to step through the front door of her house. Rowen was immediately greeted by her black lab Chester. She knelt down and gave him a big hug. “What a day,” she groaned.

  “It didn’t go quite how I had imagined it,” Eric agreed. “I guess I really wasn’t prepared for how potent that curse was. Sorry I twisted your arm into swimming with me.”

  Rowen shook her head and stood, scratching Chester between the ears. “Don’t be. It’s probably for the best that I found that body. I mean, if you were murdered and hidden away in an underwater trunk, wouldn’t you want to be found?”

  “I’ll be honest, I’ve never given that much thought.” Eric headed for the living room and plopped down on the sofa. Rowen and Chester followed him.

  “Well, I’d want to be found,” Rowen muttered as she walked. “How do you think he got killed?”

  Eric groaned. “Do we really have to start hypothesizing now? We’re going to be looking into this for the next two weeks, at least. Aren’t we? That is, if you even involve me. I’ll be lucky if you don’t run off and endanger yourself immediately.”

  “Fine.” Rowen leaned against the back of the sofa. “Do you want to watch a movie? I can pop some popcorn.”

  “You want to watch a movie right after you have a near death experience and find a body in the trunk of a submerged car?”

  Rowen considered that question. “I guess so.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Why not? No talking about the body, though. Got it?”

  “Deal.” Rowen went and popped some popcorn. She came back to find that Eric already had an action movie pulled up. They’d been talking about watching that one for a while. “Nice,” she said, approvingly as she settled in beside him. With the popcorn situated between them, he pressed play. Rowen made it a good fifteen minutes into the movie before she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Do you think he was burned before or after he was killed?”

  Eric swore and frowned at his wife. “Seriously?” He stood. “I’m going to go work upstairs.”

  Rowen reached after him as he walked past. “C’mon, I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

  “I’m not mad. I’m just not in the mood for this right now. You keep watching. Tell me if it’s good.” Eric leaned down and gave her a kiss as if to prove there were no hard feelings. He continued on his way, going upstairs. He had a home improvement project going on on the second floor. There was a little hidden room between the guest room and the home office. He had discovered it one day while up in the attic. It looked like it had been a half bath that was walled over. Rowen didn’t really see the point in opening it up. She was pretty sure Eric just wanted to bust down some walls with a sledgehammer. She let him do what he wanted. This was his house, too. Her only stipulation was that he call a professional if he couldn’t get it done himself.

  Rowen watched him go and settled in with Chester. She turned her attention back to the television and munched on popcorn idly as the movie progressed. It was standard action movie fare, but it was fun to watch. She was about halfway through before
she heard shouting from upstairs.

  Rowen and Chester both jumped to their feet. She ran up the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her. “Eric!” she shouted. “Are you all right!” There was only more shouting. Rowen got to the second floor, rounding the corner, and nearly ran right into her husband.

  “Downstairs!” Eric shouted at her. Behind him, she could see why. A swarm of wasps was streaming from where the closed off room must have been. Rowen hurried right back down the stairs, Chester racing ahead of her. The swarm followed. Rowen screamed and waved her arms at them. She was all the way out in the front lawn before she finally stopped.

  “Oh my God.” Rowen sank down in the grass, in rather a lot of pain. She had only been stung a couple of times, but geez did it hurt. “Are you okay?” she asked her husband.

  Eric nodded. Panting, he looked back at the house. “I heard something buzzing in the wall, but I thought it was just electricity.”

  “You were going to hit the electricity with a sledgehammer?!”

  “I was being gentle!” he insisted. “Then, all of a sudden, wasps. Wasps everywhere.”

  Rowen glared at her husband and reached for Chester, checking to see if he was all right. He seemed to be fine, just rattled. “I can’t believe this.”

  “It’s not my fault. How was I supposed to know?”

  “Fine.” Rowen supposed she was being a little hard on him. It wasn’t like he had done any of this on purpose. She had told him he could try a home improvement project himself. Obviously, she hadn’t foreseen this either. “What do we do now?”

  “We call an exterminator.”

  “At this hour?” Lainswich businesses all closed early by big city standards. “We won’t get anyone until tomorrow, at least.”

  “Then we’ll have to wait until then.” Eric shrugged. “It’s not like we can go back in there and spend the night. We’ll have to stay at a hotel.”

  Rowen shook her head. “There’s only the one hotel in town and I’m not allowed at it. Remember?” The last time she had been there, it had been to save Eric from his great grandfather’s vengeful ghost. She had kind of, sort of, broken in at the time and caused a big stir. It was a long story. “We can stay with my aunts,” she suggested instead. It wasn’t like they hadn’t lived there before. Rowen could move back into the attic for the time being, and she seriously doubted anyone would complain if Eric came along with her. Heck, Aunt Lydia would be happy for the company. She hated that they had moved away at all.