Witch Spells Touble (Nightshade Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Lori Woods

  “We’re not discussing your grandmother. To be perfectly honest, with your lack of skills in established spells, I see no future for you as a witch.”

  “But I have been working very hard. I think I’m getting better,” I say.

  “Nevertheless, I have made the decision to expel you. Need I mention Ms. Brewer’s class one more time?” he asks with a stern smile.

  “Did you hear what happened in Mr. Ebonich’s class?” I ask.

  “You trapped a demon.”

  “I did…which certainly proves my ability to create spells. In fact, the demon begged to be sent back to hell…which apparently is cooler than my ring of fire.”

  “Still, you have been unable to master the simplest of established spells.”

  “Is there nothing I can do—”

  “To remain in school?” he finished for me.

  I feel as if I’m begging, and I hate myself for it. But not only do I want to finish school, but just as important to me right now is that I want to find out who murdered Polly and why.

  “Yes, of course.” I don’t want to beg, but I will if I have to. I can’t possibly do an effective investigation of Polly’s murder if I’m not at the school to look around more in the basement. “Maybe I can do something for extra credit?”

  “Maybe you can,” he says. “I’m not an unreasonable man.”

  “What would you like me to do?” I ask.

  “Simply find a flower and bring it to me.”

  “What flower?” Snowball asks.

  “You want me to bring you a flower,” I say.

  “Indeed. A very rare flower. A golden edelweiss. Bring it and I’ll give you passing grades in all your classes.”

  “I thought they were only white.”

  “Your mistake…but for that I can’t blame you. Most people would assume the same.”

  Is he softening just a little? I wonder.

  “I’ll even tell you where it grows?”

  “Where?” Snowball blurts out.

  Again, the headmaster laughs. “I like your cat. She gets to the point.”

  “You were going to tell me where I can find the flower?”

  “Oh, no, I did not say that.”

  “But I heard you—”

  “What I said, Miss Maycomber, is that I’d tell you where it grows.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “The difference is that it grows on Thunder Mountain, and you have to find where that is, which could prove to be extremely difficult. In fact, I’ve never heard of any other student sent on such a quest having any success. All, I am told, have failed. But perhaps you will find it. That is…if you can somehow persuade the rock monsters to let you live.”

  “Let me live?”

  “They are very vicious. Don’t like anyone intruding on their space. I wish you luck… if there is nothing else?”

  I just stare at him.

  “All right then, you are dismissed.”

  I turn quickly and hurry into the hallway.

  “What a jerk,” Snowball says as I let her down to walk beside me.

  “Maybe he’s just having a bad day. Got up on the wrong side of the bed or something.”

  “Yeah, sure!”

  I wouldn’t have believed a cat could be so sarcastic. I glance down at her. “But he did give me a chance.”

  “Some chance; eaten by a stone giant,” she answers.

  “Well, at least he didn’t just pick me up and throw me out the front door.”

  “Don’t be such a Pollyanna.”

  “Now how would you even know about Pollyanna?”

  “Think I’m dumb, do you?” I can tell she’s kidding.

  There’s no point in going to the brewing class since it’s almost over. I decide to go see if Red Sumac is free. I know she doesn’t have a class first period, but I don’t know if she’s in school at all yet. I hurry to the stairs and on up to her room. Snowball tells me she has to find a litter box. I tell her I’ll meet her out front.

  Red is sitting at her desk, looking over student papers.

  “Good morning, Red,” I say.

  She looks up and smiles. I tell her about what just happened.

  “I wonder why he’s doing this to me, Red.”

  Red just shrugs.

  “He did tell me I could get extra credits that would keep me in school. All I have to do is bring him a golden edelweiss.”

  “So I assume you’re going to look for the golden edelweiss.”

  “Of course. And I’d like you to come along with me. I can certainly use your help.”

  Red Sumac looks at me for a moment without saying anything. “I’m sorry, but that’s impossible.”

  “What!” This is certainly not the response I expected. “Why is it impossible?”

  “Look at all these papers, Suzy. I need to go through them as quickly as possible. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair to the students to abandon them and go off a wild goose chase.”

  “Wild goose chase!”

  I’m shocked and don’t answer.

  “Sorry,” Red says, “I could have phrased that better.”

  “I thought we were friends, Red.”

  “What can I say?”

  I’m upset. I expected her to jump at the chance to go with me. “Good luck with the papers,” I tell her.

  I meet Snowball outside. “Come on, Snowball. Let’s go.”

  Snowball senses that I’m upset. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

  “It’s Red,” I say. “She doesn’t want to go to Thunder Mountain. But even so, I’m not giving up. You and I and Alfie will look by ourselves.”

  I DON’T KNOW what to do with myself all day. I can’t attend my classes, and I can’t go either to the school library or to look for my clues in the basement. I don’t even have any books I haven’t read, and, of course, in Hemlock, there’s no such thing as radio or television. I spend the day rearranging my room, going through my clothes to see what I can give to the second-hand store and…am thoroughly bored.

  I can try to find Alfie at lunchtime. Maybe we can go to a restaurant and talk. I certainly have a lot to tell him. Just before noon, I look at what I’ve accomplished. I have three piles of clothing—those to keep, which makes a big heap on my bed, those to give away, a very small pile of almost nothing, and an equally small pile of “maybes”.

  “The heck with it!” I tell myself. I pick up all the things and put them back into the closet and dresser drawers. At least I managed to kill some time.

  “Wasting time, were you!”

  I’m startled until I see it’s Malcolm, and he’s laughing.

  “Trying to fill in time till I can talk with Alfie.”

  “There’s a difference between wasting time and filling in time?” His tone is mocking.

  I feel a flash of irritation and then laugh. “No difference, I guess.”

  “Why aren’t you in school?” Malcolm asks.

  I explain what happened.

  “I’ll haunt him, if you like!”

  “Who? The headmaster.”

  “Scare the pants off him, if you want me to.”

  “Maybe later, Malcolm. But the important thing now is to find the golden edelweiss and get back into school.”

  “I wish you the best of luck.”

  “Thank you.” I glance at the clock on the wall. I can leave now, and if I walk slowly, I should be at Alfie’s school about the time his lunch break starts.

  “Alfie,” I call, as I see him floating down the steps. Floating! What is this? Suddenly, I’m aware of a whole group of dwarfs gliding down the steps.

  “Suzy!” Alfie calls when he sees me. “We learned a new spell. Isn’t it wonderful?”

  “It is, Alfie. I can’t believe you’re learning so much.”

  “And guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Teena, the headmistress, says she may be able to help me learn to read. She has to try to figure out a spell. She says it will help me temporarily…n
ot permanently, but each time it’s really important for me to read, she can redo the spell—if she gets it figured out correctly.”

  “So how are things going with her?”

  “I was thinking about it. A hundred-year difference in age doesn’t mean that much. We’re both adults and have been for a long time.”

  “I’m glad, Alfie.”

  “Thanks, Suzy. Anyhow, Jill and I are going to go out together to celebrate her birthday. And I’m going to get her the biggest duck berry pie I can find. Don’t you think that would be more appropriate than a cake? I mean cakes are okay, but duck berry pie is so much better.”

  “If she likes it too, that’s a great idea.”

  “How could she not?” Alfie asks. “But I’ll be sure and ask her.”

  “I need to talk to you, Alfie?”

  He lands at the bottom of the steps. “What about?”

  “First, I’m in trouble.”

  “What sort of trouble?”

  “Let’s walk to the restaurant, and I’ll tell you.”

  As we start toward the corner, I tell him about being summoned to the headmaster’s office and what he said.

  “I can’t believe he’s going to expel you,” Snowball says. “That’s very, very mean.”

  Alfie stops and turns to me as Snowball and I stop too. “That’s absolutely terrible! Why would he do something like that?”

  “Because of all the mistakes I’ve made with spells, I guess,” I say. “But he will reinstate me if I bring him a golden Edelweiss.”

  “Golden Edelweiss?” Alfie asks.

  “Yes, the headmaster said it grows on Thunder Mountain. And that no one has ever found it.”

  “Yeah, well, we are special!” Alfie says. He glances down at Snowball. “Right?”

  “She’s leaving out the part about the stone giants?”

  “Stone giants?” Alfie asks, his eyes getting bigger as he speaks.

  “We probably will not even see them. And since they’re so big, we can see them before they see us, and hide.”

  “Yeah, I can hide almost any place,” Alfie says.

  By now we’ve reached the restaurant. Alfie holds the door as Snowball and I enter. We decide that as soon as Alfie is finished with school for the day, we’ll make the trip to Thunder Mountain. Snowball will come along to help, and I ask Alfie to be sure to bring his axe.

  “Actually,” I tell Alfie, “I’ll meet you right after school and I’ll bring your axe along.”

  “Axe me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies,” Snowball says and laughs hysterically.

  “That doesn’t even make sense,” Alfie tells her.

  “Of course, it makes sense,” Snowball answers. “Don’t be such a dumb axe.”

  “Don’t call me a dumbass or I’ll axe off your tail.”

  “Stop it, you two. Stop it right now,” I tell them just as the food arrives. I’m glad because now maybe they’ll concentrate on eating instead of bickering.

  Back home after lunch, I ask Malcolm if he knows anything about Thunder Mountain.

  “Always noisy,” he says. “Very noisy.”

  “Why is that?” I ask.

  “The thunder, of course. You can hardly hear yourself think. I’d never want to go there again.”

  “You’ve been there?” I ask.

  “Oh, yes, my wife and I made the mistake of having a picnic there once.”

  “A picnic! Weren’t you afraid of the rock monsters?”

  “You forget; I was a wizard of sorts. I wasn’t afraid. Though the woman who used to be my wife was.”

  “Who used to be your wife?”

  “Yes, not the old sourpuss who says she is now.”

  I shake my head. “I can’t believe you went where the monsters are.”

  “It can be dangerous,” Malcolm says.

  “No matter. I have to try.”

  Just to make sure I know where we’re going I look up Thunder Mountain on a map and discover it’s right next to Boggy Moor—probably not a good sign. I grab Alfie’s axe in one hand and Broom Hilda in another. Snowball walks beside me to Alfie’s school. We’re just in time to meet him.

  Alfie, Snowball, and I all jump on Broom Hilda and fly to the top of Thunder Mountain. “Since we don’t know where the golden edelweiss grows,” I tell Snowball and Alfie, “we might as well begin right here.” Once Broom Hilda lands, we jump off and start looking. In the immediate area, I see mountain laurel and not much else. We spread out a little and keep on looking. I come to a patch of fringed polygala, one of my favorite flowers. Farther down the mountain is a flat area with daisies and black-eyed Susans. Actually, I’ve never seen edelweiss—white or golden. I’ve only seen pictures.

  Malcolm was right. The sound of thunder is so loud it’s hard to hear anything else.

  I glance a little way ahead and see what certainly seems to match the pictures I’ve seen of edelweiss. I’m so caught up in exploring that I don’t notice the hideous monsters coming toward us till I hear Snowball yowl.

  “Suzy! Suzy, we have to run!” Snowball screams, though I barely hear her because of the noise.

  I look up and see three very tall giants headed directly toward us. Just then Alfie runs up. “Suzy, we have to get out of here now.”

  “What!” I can’t hear him.

  “The giants!” he shouts.

  I try to jump on Broom Hilda but stub my toe on a rock sticking up out of the ground and fall. Broom Hilda goes down with me just as Snowball and Alfie are about to hop on her. Now we’re totally helpless, and the giants, who look like they’re hewn out of the side of a cliff, come toward us. Their bodies are made of layers of rock. Their eyes look like pebbles, and their noses like pieces of flint.

  Rock giants!

  “Broom Hilda,” I yell, “get up. Let us jump on.”

  Broom Hilda tries, but obviously she’s stunned and can barely move. Is it possible for a broom to be knocked senseless? I don’t know, but now’s not a good time to find this out!

  The stone giants encircle us and begin to bellow and shout. It’s worse than the loudest house alarm I’ve ever heard. Add that to the thunder, and I think my eardrums are about to burst.

  “Your axe, Alfie!” I scream.

  The stone giants are tightening their circle. What are we going to do?

  Broom Hilda shakes her brush and levitates, but she’s still very wobbly. I try to hop on, but she sinks back to the ground. This is it! I think. There’s no escape. The giants are right next to us. They bend over us and scream even louder.

  Alfie lifts his axe above his shoulder and swings. The blade hits one of the rock monsters on his big toe!

  “Ow!” he bellows. “Double ow.” Then he sits down and starts to cry. “Why did you hurt me?” he asks. He’s terribly upset and accusatory, both at the same time.

  “Because the three of you were trying to hurt us. Probably kill us,” I say.

  “No such thing!” He sounds shocked.

  “What!” I ask. “You were coming closer and closer, threatening us.”

  “We would never hurt anyone,” another of the monsters says.

  “Oh no,” the third one says. “We just like to scare people. It’s fun. Everyone’s afraid of us, and that makes us laugh.”

  “Are you implying you’ve never killed anyone?” I ask.

  By this time, Broom Hilda seems to have shaken away her dizziness or whatever it is. She rises into the air beside me, motioning with her brush as if she wants us to climb on.

  “My goodness sakes, no,” the first giant says. “That would be a terribly bad thing to do.”

  “I don’t like this one bit!” Snowball says.

  “What a pretty kitty,” the second monster says. “What’s your name?”

  Snowball’s nose goes up into the air. “I’m glad someone recognizes that fact,” she says. “And my name is Snowball.”

  The giants start to laugh and can’t seem to stop.

  “Snowball! What a funny name fo
r a black cat.”

  They all start laughing again.

  When they stop, the first monster says, “My name is Rocky. And I’d like you to meet my two friends, Rocky and Rocky.”

  “You’re all named Rocky!” Alfie says.

  “What else would you expect, for heaven’s sake? I’m Rocky two thousand, three hundred and two.”

  The third giant pipes up. “And actually, I’m Rocky four thousand and thirty-six.”

  “And I’m the youngest,” the second monster tells us. “My name is Rocky five thousand and five.”

  “May we pet you?” the first giant asks Snowball.

  “Just be gentle,” Snowball says.

  “We’re always gentle,” one of the monsters says. Since they’re moving around, I can no longer keep track of which of them is which.

  They all bend down and run their hands over Snowball’s head and rub behind her ears.

  “How perfectly wonderful,” she tells them. “Just heavenly.”

  “So what are you doing here?” one of the Rocky’s asks. “We don’t get many visitors.”

  “The headmaster of the witches’ school said that in order for me not to be expelled I have to bring him a golden edelweiss flower.”

  “That’s pretty easy,” one of the Rocky’s says. “Come, we’ll show you where they grow. There are millions of them.”

  “Well, maybe not millions…” another Rocky says. “But a whole bunch. Come on, we’ll show you. That is, if your broom’s okay.”

  “We’re sorry she got hurt,” a Rocky says.

  “We’re terribly sorry,” another says.

  They start walking back up the mountain, heading a little to the right. “Just a little ways,” Rocky says. Which Rocky? Who knows? In about two hundred feet or so we come to a wooded area with open spaces. In these spaces grow the most beautiful golden flowers. No, not yellow; actually gold-colored.

  “Pick as many as you want,” a Rocky says. “But we want to ask a favor in return.”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “Please don’t tell anyone we’re not really scary.”

  “I promise,” I say solemnly.

  “Rocky,” Alfie says.

  All three of the monsters look at him.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you with my axe.”

  “It’s okay, Alfie. You got mostly my big toenail. I needed to trim it anyway.”