Careful What You Witch For

by K. J. Emrick

  She breathed a sigh of relief when they drove past the sign for the trail. The thought of seeing another dead body out there didn’t sit well in the pit of her stomach.

  Actually, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing a dead body anywhere.

  In the life of a witch, some things were unavoidable.

  “Do you suppose he’s lost?” Willow asked, watching Herman’s taillights. “Do you think he even knows where he’s going?”

  “I’m sure he does,” Addie said.

  “Really? Because I’m not sure he could find his way out of a wet paper bag.”

  Addie was about to comment on that, but picturing Herman’s skinny frame and doe-eyed face, it was hard to argue.

  A few more miles down the road, still technically within the town limits of Shadow Lake, Herman put on his signal light and turned off Old Lutherfud and onto a narrow dirt access road. The sign on the side of the road said this was private property.

  “What’s out here?” Willow asked, leaning forward from the back seat.

  Kiera held her hand out toward the windshield. “Cabins. Hunting Lodges. Playgrounds for rich people and poor people alike. There are seasonal residences here that get rented out in the wintertime. No one should be here at this time of year.”

  “I thought everything out here was state land,” Willow said. “People have cabins out here? Like, cabins that they live in?”

  Addie could hear the disdain in her sister’s voice. Staying in a place that didn’t have endless hot running water and wifi would never be Willow’s idea of a good time.

  “It’s mostly state land,” Kiera said, “but there are some wealthy people who have seasonal homes on private land. Now, shush please.”

  She was threading some of her life force, her Essence, outward from her fingertips in a wide pattern. She was searching ahead to see what they were walking into. Or rather, what they were driving into.

  “There are people in one of the lodges ahead.” She moved her hand in a circle, fingers outstretched, plucking at the strings of the world around them. “Four of them? No, wait. Five.”

  “Five, plus a dead man,” Willow reminded her.

  “Well, sure,” Addie agreed, “but we can’t exactly sense dead people.”

  “Of course not,” Kiera agreed. “When someone is dead, their life force is gone. On the other hand, the life force of one of the people here is very strong. I believe it is someone we know.”

  Kiera turned to give Addie a meaningful glance.

  “Ooooh,” Willow cooed. “Plot twist.”

  Addie rolled her eyes. She knew who this person at the lodge was just from the expression on Kiera’s face. It would appear the police had already been called in from Birch Hollow, and Detective Lucian Knight was on the scene.

  She had some very mixed feelings about that.

  Lucian was an amazing man, with both a good heart and a pretty face. Not that his looks were what Addie thought about all the time. Mostly. Um. The point was that she found herself being attracted to what was in this man’s heart. Usually she avoided getting involved with Typics because she knew how complicated that could get. Willow’s relationship with Gary not withstanding, most intimate relationships between magic users and normal people failed miserably, for a variety of reasons. So, yes. There was a strong connection between her and Lucian, without a doubt, but what to do about it?

  That was the question.

  There had been several long conversations between them in the last week about what the Kilorian sisters really were, and what they did. She had explained the basics to him. He knew there were spells involved and that Doyle was a talking cat, even if that cat didn’t always have anything important to say. He knew that they were the protectors of Shadow Lake and that there were things they did that were beyond what he could understand. At least for now.

  The conversations between them had been mostly over the phone, however, squeezed in between the long hours she and Kiera and Willow had spent searching for Kiera’s son. There had been very little face to face time between her and Lucian. For example, she hadn’t been able to see his expression when she told him that no, witches weren’t in league with the Devil. As a result, she had no idea how he really felt about her.

  Most men ran as soon as they heard the word ‘witch.’ Those who didn’t were usually weirdo losers or die-hard Goths. Lucian wasn’t running, and she didn’t think he was going to try burning her at the stake, but where did that leave the two of them?

  She really didn’t know.

  Curse her Irish eyes. Why did men have to be so hard to understand?

  The access road got narrower, until both vehicles were crawling along as the tips of branches scraped at the doors.

  Addie swore under her breath. “This is going to be murder on my paint job.”

  “Poor choice of words, Sister Addie,” Kiera admonished her.

  “Uh, yeah. I guess so.” Addie grimaced. “But those pinstripes are hard to touch up. My detail guy charges an arm and a leg.”

  Ahead of them was a two-story lodge made of intersecting logs. Someone had taken out a good chunk of forest to construct this place. The forest around the acre lot towered, just barely, over the shingled root. It was as if the trees didn’t want to get too close because they were afraid that if they did, they’d end up getting cut down and stripped bare and used to build an addition.

  Over the front door was the name of the place, arranged in pieces of driftwood. Pendulum Lodge.

  It was a rich man’s plaything. The lodge was built in an L shape, one wing shorter than the other, and heavy wooden beams supported a porch that wrapped around the front. A stone path led up to the front doors. Everything was illuminated by the vehicles’ headlights and by floodlamps on the outer walls. The place barely deserved to be called a lodge. More like a mansion.

  They pulled up into the circular driveway and stopped behind Herman’s hatchback. When they got out, Addie took a moment to close her eyes, and inhale a breath. Magic, especially magic that was powerful enough to kill someone, always left behind a noticeable smell. It faded with time, and after a day there was nothing left for even the most sensitive of noses to pick up. She wasn’t sure how long it had been before Herman found his way out to Stonecrest to inform them of the murder—seriously, had the man never heard of using a phone?—but she knew it hadn’t been more than a few hours at the most.

  She turned to Kiera, who nodded in response to the unspoken question. “I don’t smell anything either, Sister Addie. This was not magic related.”

  “Great!” Willow beamed. “So there’s no need for us to even be here. Why don’t we all just drive back to the house. I’ll call Gary along the way and maybe me and him can still find a party somewhere to go to.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Kiera told her. “Even if there was no magic used directly, that does not mean a creature of the paranormal wasn’t involved. We must be sure.”

  “You mean like a troll or a pixie?”

  “Exactly. Or something worse.”

  Willow folded her arms under her breasts and shifted her weight to her other foot. “Do we really care if some pixie was having a bad day and took it out on some unsuspecting Typic?”

  “Yes,” both Addie and Kiera answered her at the same time.

  “Fine,” Willow relented. “Let’s go find out who killed the dead guy. Oh look, there’s Detective Hotcakes now. Why don’t we just ask him?”

  Addie looked up. At the front door of the lodge they saw Lucian. He smiled at them, and waved, but neither of those gestures lasted very long. Addie took that as a very bad sign.

  Whatever was happening here, it must be really serious.

  Chapter 3

  “Hi.”

  Lucian greeted them with a simple word and a nod as they came over to the steps, but his eyes were locked with Addie’s.

  She loved his eyes.

  Willow calling him Detective Hotcakes wasn’t far from the truth. He was tall, and broad shoulde
red, with a strong jaw and cool blue eyes. His blonde hair was short and swept to the side. His strong body filled out the cheap blue suit he was wearing very nicely.

  Looking at him now, Addie felt a tingle crawl along the back of her neck. It was more than the feeling of simple attraction between a man and a woman—although God knew there was plenty of that going on. Lucian had an effect on her magic. He resonated across her senses like a shadow on a hot day. It was a foreshadow, a sort of magic that connected this moment in time with the future. Somehow, in a way she did not understand, this man was going to affect her future.

  She was kind of looking forward to finding out how.

  “Hi,” she said back to him. “I haven’t seen you around much.”

  It was more of an accusation than she meant it to be. He regarded her for a moment with that cop expression that he did so well, analyzing her words and her expression to wring out every drop of meaning from both. “I wanted to stop by. I wanted to see you but every time we talked on the phone you seemed so busy.”

  Willow snorted at him. “You sure you weren’t just scared of us? You know, since we’re witches and all?”

  He rolled his head to the side, and met her stare directly. “You haven’t tried to turn me into a flying monkey yet. I figure that’s a good sign.”

  “Whatever, Mister Police Man.” Willow regarded him now with something very close to respect. She liked it when she pushed someone, and they pushed back.

  “Well,” Addie said to Lucian. “I suppose if nothing else we’ll always have murder to bring us together.”

  He rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Let’s hope we have more than that.”

  The sisters all stood there, staring at him.

  “Uh,” he corrected himself. “I mean, I hope there aren’t any more murders. Two in as many weeks. That’s got to be some kind of record for this area. Not a good one, either.”

  Kiera raised an eyebrow. “Quite.”

  Herman came rushing up to them, finally out of his car and ready to join in. He held his hand out to Lucian. “Hey there. I’m Herman Bledsoe. You’re Detective Knight, right? We spoke on the phone.”

  Lucian took the offered hand a bit reluctantly, it seemed, stiffly pumping it twice before letting it go. “Thanks for the call, Herman. I’m going to take over the investigation from here. Frankly our agency has resources that you don’t.”

  “I’m the constable.”

  Lucian seemed to be just as impressed by that song as Addie and her sisters had been back at Stonecrest. “I know who you are, Herman. Thanks again for your help. I’ve got it from here.”

  Herman yanked his hat off his head, crumpling it up in his hand, pointing around it at the three sisters standing and watching. “You’re letting them stay?”

  Lucian shrugged. “They’re cuter.”

  Herman dropped that hand, and then lifted it, and then dropped it again. “But… I’m the constable. Shouldn’t I be here?”

  Lucian waved dismissively toward the driveway and Herman’s car. “Thank you for your help, Constable.” He made sure to emphasize that title, rather than call him officer. “We won’t be long. I’ll give you a call when we know more. How’s that sound?”

  Herman’s scrawny face turned red in the light from the lodge’s windows. “Sounds like I just have to live with it. Like everything else in this town.”

  He looked at the sisters when he said it, leaving no doubt what he meant.

  “I think we bruised his ego,” Willow said once Herman was driving away. “Poor little man.”

  “He will get over it,” Kiera decided. “We have more important things to think about now. We’re just lucky it was Lucian who was assigned to investigate this and not some other officer who would ask all the wrong questions about who we are. We must remind Herman again that he is to call us before he calls the police.”

  Lucian scratched at the side of his neck. “I’m not sure I agree with that sentiment, but it isn’t just luck that I’m here. I’ve left instructions with everyone at the department to call me whenever something happens in Shadow Lake. I still don’t understand everything you three do, but I understand enough to know it’s important to the town.”

  Kiera looked at Addie again, promising a conversation later about what she had, or hadn’t, told Lucian Knight about them being witches. She knew the two of them had talked on the phone, a lot, but she didn’t know what they’d been talking about. Addie had meant to tell her, but with everything going on… it just hadn’t happened. Lucian was right. They had been busy. Now it was a conversation that was going to have to wait for another day.

  “Um,” Addie said, trying to turn the conversation away from her. “Is there going to be other police officers here?”

  “No,” he assured them. “Just me. I’m keeping this quiet. At least until you three have had your look around like I know you want to.”

  “Then let’s begin,” Kiera said. “Where’s the deceased?”

  “In the backyard.” He motioned over to the corner of the lodge. “His wife found him out there, already dead. I can take you to him. The other people who were here, well they’re all inside. I left them strict instructions not to go anywhere. They’re all convinced that I’m going to arrest them if they try to leave.”

  “Would you?” Willow asked him, obviously amused at the idea.

  “Yes,” Lucian answered without hesitation.

  “Come along, sisters,” Kiera said to them. “The night isn’t getting any younger.”

  Lucian hung back with Addie, several steps behind the other two. “Can I talk to you? After we’re done here, I mean?”

  “We’re talking right now,” Addie told him, trying to be coy.

  “I mean…” He hesitated, searching for the words, and Addie thought he was just so cute when he looked all awkward like this. “I want to talk about us. Not about witches, or magic, or murder, or anything like that. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy learning that my world is infinitely more strange than I ever realized. I just would like to talk about normal things with you for a change. Just us.”

  Addie liked that idea. “Are you asking me on a date, Detective Lucian?”

  His smile was crooked as he caught her gaze with his own. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

  Stepping closer to him, she nudged her shoulder against his. “If you really want to go out with me, then ask me again when we’re not investigating a murder.”

  That made him smile for real. “It’s a deal.”

  Behind the lodge there was a wide grassy space, once again cleared of trees. Addie had her bearings now. Over that way through the woods she could hear the waters of Shadow Lake lapping at the shoreline in the dark. She could sense the power waiting underneath the gentle waves, too. Another secret, kept hidden until the day it might be needed.

  There was a circle of Adirondack chairs set around a stone fire pit back here. The fire had burned down to gray ash and charred wood a while ago. It would have been a very inviting sight, if not for the corpse.

  In one of the chairs closest to the fire pit was a dead man. He was laying back with his arms dangling over the edges of the chair, his mouth hanging open and his eyes blank and staring. The front of his shirt was stiff with dried blood. His face was pale. Even without Lucian’s police skills, Addie could tell he’d been dead for only a short time.

  “How long?” Kiera asked Lucian, echoing Addie’s own thoughts.

  The sisters kept back while Lucian knelt down right next to the bloody chair. “Herman called me forty minutes ago. From what he told me, he got the call from here just ten minutes before that. Apparently, all of these cabins and lodges have the new number for the Shadow Lake constable written down right next to my agency’s. The call went to him first, then to my office, then to me… So I figure he’s been dead somewhere between two and three hours.”

  “What about a murder weapon?” Addie asked.

  “There,” Lucian said, pointing to the ground in front of the chai
r.

  A long knife with a serrated blade lay there in the grass, glinting faintly under a layer of blood. The floodlights at the back of the lodge showed Addie a square-within-a-triangle design embossed on the wooden handle.

  “It’s part of a set,” Lucian explained. “The others are in the kitchen inside, in one of those fancy wooden chef’s blocks. That’s the biggest one there was and it’s the only one missing. I guess if you’re going to kill someone it helps to have a murder weapon conveniently waiting for you like that.”

  Kiera nodded, then looked over at Addie. She motioned toward the dead man. “Would you like to do it, Sister Addie?”

  “Sure. I don’t mind.”

  From her purse, Addie took out a folded pouch of blue felt tied with a leather cinch. It unrolled easily in her hands, revealing a row of sewn pouches, each holding a small amount of different herbs. She changed which ones were in it from time to time, depending on what she felt she might need the most, but she always kept the last pouch the same.

  Powdered verbascum had a number of uses, both magical and not, and it was a common enough plant found in lots of people’s lawns. For Addie’s purposes today, she just needed a little pinch of it, like this.

  Then she just needed to blow it into the air over the dead man, like this.

  Closing her eyes, she threaded a little bit of her Essence through the powdered green flakes.

  The air took the fine particles and swirled them around into spiraling patterns that built upon each other and began to form the image of a man. The man lying in the chair.

  The dead man’s ghost.

  He was tall, and middle aged, and completely confused. He looked around at everything until he saw his own dead body lying there. He lifted a finger, and pointed. “…me…”

  His voice was distant, buzzing and distorted, fading in and out as his ghost tried to understand what was happening.

  Addie heard Lucian swearing very softly, and very eloquently. She hadn’t heard some of those words for years. His eyes only got wider as the spirit faded in and out, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker.