Acting Up

by A. A. Albright

  I wasn’t sure about that. The figure in the mask had been in Christine’s and Cassandra’s latest vision. It had something to do with the murders. I knew it did. I knew it in the same way that, right now, despite the fact that it was not a good idea, I wanted to kiss Will Berry more than anything in the world.

  ‘But it’s going to be okay,’ he went on, stroking my hair and looking deeply into my eyes. ‘I’ve almost found a way to protect you completely, and to make sure he never hurts anyone again.’ He let out a husky laugh. ‘And before you ask, it doesn’t involve me killing anyone. It’s taken me a lot of time, but I’m finally becoming the person I want to be, and I’m not going to let him ruin it. I’ve been working on … a spell. Of sorts. I can’t tell you the details yet, but once I’m finished, I’ll be able to break the link from my dad’s life force to yours and my mam’s. You’ll both be safe.’ He swallowed. ‘And maybe then … maybe then we can finally have a proper date. Or something.’

  It felt like he was already looking as deeply into my eyes as possible, but somehow, he managed to look even deeper. I could feel that stare all the way through me. The last time I’d been alone with Will, when I caught him putting protection spells around my desk at work, it had felt as if we were in a vacuum. As if there was no one in the world but us. Now, with his spirals of blue light keeping us hidden, that was almost true. It was just me and him. Alone.

  ‘Or something,’ I replied hoarsely, unable to believe how beautiful his dimples were. And good goddess, those sea-green eyes. All this time, I hadn’t been crazy. Will really had been there for me, helping me out. Protecting me. For the first time in over a year, the world made sense.

  Somehow, while his hands were moving through my hair, my own sweaty mitts had taken on a life of their own, winding their way to the back of his neck and pulling him towards me.

  I could feel his breath, warm and sweet against my skin. I could hear his heartbeat, and mine, beating fast, furious, and in rhythm.

  His lips came closer, and closer …

  ‘Wanda!’ Finn’s voice bellowed, harsh and loud, breaking the silence. A second later, his hand banged against the thick magical metal of the interrogation room door. ‘Are you two done in there yet? I think I’ve left you alone with the murder suspect for long enough, don’t you?’

  Will sprung away from me, a slight groan in the back of his throat.

  I looked away from him as Finn pushed open the door. ‘Hey boss,’ I said, forcing a smile on my face. ‘As usual, your timing is perfect.’

  16. Cyril

  When I got home, the house was quiet. Max was drooling away on the sofa, and I could hear Emily’s soft snores from upstairs. Melissa had texted hours earlier to let me know she’d be spending the night at Mack’s cabin in the woods. It was almost dawn now, so no doubt she’d be on her way to yoga class soon.

  At the thought of physical exercise, I yawned. Melissa would just have to go to yoga without me. Again. Maybe when I started college in the autumn I’d have time to take care of myself. Right now, all I could think of doing was grabbing some food and going to bed.

  As I opened the fridge, I saw a plate piled with black bean tofu and rice, and a note in Max’s writing placed in front:

  Heard about the second murder and knew you’d be starving when you got home, so I made your favourite. Two minutes in the microwave, or one of those nifty warm-up spells I’ve seen you do, and it’s good to go. Eat it all up and get some rest.

  Max.

  P.S. I bought you a slice of chocolate fudge cake for dessert.

  ‘Oh, you wonderful, wonderful man,’ I murmured, pulling the food from the fridge. I hadn’t got the energy left for a spell, so while I waited for the microwave to ping, I peered through the open living room door at Max. He wasn’t alone. Wolfie was sprawled across his chest, and Kitty was curled into the crook of his arm.

  It was the sweetest sight in the world – or it would have been, were it not for the fact that I arrived home to sights just as sweet on a regular basis.

  Part of me wanted to wake him up and ask him if Emily had told him about the Eau de Wolf. A bigger part of me just wanted to look at him. Most people looked so sweet and innocent while they slept, and Max did too. But the remarkable thing about Max was that, even when he was wide awake, his face held no guile.

  I left him there, reluctantly, and took my food up to my room. I was just climbing onto the bed when I heard an almighty yowl.

  ‘What the–’ I sprang up, doing my best to stop my meal from spilling everywhere. That yowl had come from beneath the covers of my bed. And Dizzy never slept in my bed. He chose the light fitting, or the curtain rail if the room was dark enough.

  The covers began to move, and an angry, dark grey feline head appeared. ‘What time do you call this?’ said the cat. ‘I’ve been waiting for you for hours. You need to solve my witch’s murder.’

  ≈

  After some tofu and a bowl of almond milk, the cat calmed down. Not only did he have magnificent dark grey hair, but he had blue eyes to boot. He was incredibly attractive, as cats went. Sure, he was carrying a few (dozen) extra pounds. But I was hardly one to judge.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m not usually so cranky. It’s just that the second I felt Yvonne die, I knew I had to get to you. But when I got here, you weren’t home.’ He lapped up some more almond milk and burped. ‘I saw the thespian downstairs snoring his little squirrel brains out and decided I’d be best off waiting in your room.’

  ‘First off, I have never seen a cat eat tofu. But I’m glad you enjoyed my dinner so much, I guess. And at least I still have the rice and veg for myself.’ My stomach growled. ‘Second off, we need to talk things out. What’s your name, for starters?’

  ‘Cyril Kelly,’ he said, pouncing on a pepper. ‘You know, I can eat the rice and veg too, if you don’t want it.’

  I pulled the plate away from him. ‘I want it. No, I need it. Food is basically my battery. I don’t work without it. Wait, did you say your name is Cyril?’ I thought back to Melissa’s and Princess’s opinion that the squirrel ought to have a name like Sid or Cyril instead of Kitty. I wondered how they’d react to this.

  ‘Yes, it’s Cyril – but are you sure you can manage all that rice by yourself?’ he said, edging closer to my plate again. I must have given him the kind of look a dragon gives to anyone trying to steal its hoard, because he backed right away. ‘I’m sorry! You’re not the only one who loves food. I’m a stress eater, okay? And what could be more stressful than having your witch murdered? I sensed it the moment it happened. I was lying on top of Yvonne’s favourite slippers, waiting for her to come home. She said she wouldn’t be long because Mandy was going to be there and, let’s face it, everyone hates Mandy. But then I started to feel cold, even though the slippers were on top of the radiator.’

  ‘Wait, you had a radiator turned on? We’re in the middle of a heatwave, Cyril.’

  ‘Are we?’ He shivered for effect. ‘You wouldn’t think it. Oh, I should probably mention that I’m very sensitive to changes in temperature. A drop of one degree and I’m reaching for the mittens. Yvonne is – was – the same. Just yesterday she made us both a nice lentil stew to heat us through.’

  ‘Lentil stew? So you’re vegan then?’

  ‘Are you kidding? I’m not vegan. I’m a carnivore, through and through. Just … one who eats a bit of whatever happens to be going. Yvonne was a vegetarian. She ate a lot of lentils and tofu. She also ate a lot of cheese, which happens to be one of my many favourite foods. Anyway, like I was telling you, I was sleeping on the slippers when I felt cold, right through me, like something had been yanked out of me. And I knew. I just knew. I turned on the TV and saw the news. Then I came over here. The funny thing was, I just knew where you lived, like some sort of intuition.’

  I managed to finish off a few spoonfuls of the rice and pushed the plate away, ignoring the way the cat was eyeing my unopened chocolate fudge cake. Cats didn’t eat chocolat
e fudge cake, did they? Not even enormous greedy moggies like Cyril.

  He began to salivate.

  ‘Yeah, familiars always seem to find their way to me,’ I said, reluctantly breaking off some cake and throwing it his way. ‘But Cyril, I’m really exhausted. So just tell me as much as you can, and I’ll sleep on it for a couple of hours. When I’m recharged, you can tell me anything else you might have missed out.’

  He licked his lips, burping. ‘Well, the most important thing you need to know is that no one wanted to kill Yvonne. It was that wicked witch, Mandy Parker, who was the real target. Or that’s my theory, anyway.’

  ‘Seems to be everyone’s theory,’ I said with a yawn, snapping up some of the cake before he ate it all. ‘But that’s the problem. If everyone hated Mandy – even though they all pretended to love her – then how am I going to narrow it down? Did Yvonne mention anyone clumsy or careless on the set? Because whoever is carrying out these killings is both of those things. They have no regard for who else might get hurt. They’re not being careful. If they were, Mandy would be dead instead of Yvonne and Felix.’

  He walked towards my radiator, seemingly looking for a way to switch it on.

  ‘The central heating is controlled from downstairs,’ I said. ‘And I am not turning it on. I’ll melt away if I do.’ I padded to my wardrobe and pulled out a woolly jumper. ‘Here,’ I said, throwing it to him. ‘You can have this.’

  He let out a happy little sigh, pulling the garment around himself. ‘Very nice. And as for who was careless and selfish enough to kill anyone willy-nilly in their quest to kill Mandy? Well, it’s a television set, Wanda. Haven’t you met any actors before? They’re all a little self-involved. Well, except Gillian White. Yvonne liked Gillian. She bought Yvonne some perfume for her last birthday, and she always has some snacks for me, too. But as for everyone else?’

  He started to dig his claws into the wool of the jumper. ‘Well, Bruno once sat on Yvonne’s most expensive wand and didn’t offer to replace it or have it repaired. He just shrugged his shoulders and carried on burying himself up Mandy’s behind. And Aidan Flynn was pretty much the same. He threw a chair at Yvonne once because he didn’t like the way she’d done his eyebrows. And Dashell Berry, well he goes around breaking hearts wherever he goes – or at least he used to. Oh! Now there’s a thing! Has anyone told you about Dashell Berry and the dating incident?’ He started to lick his lips. ‘Actually, before I tell you, I’m feeling a little bit snackish. How about some cheese and crackers?’

  ‘We only have vegan cheese.’

  ‘That’ll do just fine.’

  ≈

  Two rounds of cheese and crackers later, Cyril finally told me about Dashell Berry and the dating incident. It was a long and disturbing story, one which Dashell had definitely not told me about. And neither had anyone else on set.

  Before Mandy got together with Will, she had been dating Dashell Berry. He’d been after her for months, according to Cyril. ‘Worshipped the ground the wicked witch pounded upon,’ said the cat. ‘Bought her everything her ugly little heart desired – his father runs the Berry coven’s wineries, and they’re not exactly poor. According to everyone on set, he was about to propose to her. But then she dumped him out of the blue and started going out with Will Berry instead.’

  I pulled my duvet over myself, trying not to fall asleep. This was important, and I wanted to know more, but I was so tired. ‘So what happened?’ I prompted. ‘And quick, before I start to snore.’

  He licked the last of the cracker crumbs and pounced on my belly. ‘Dashell confronted Mandy in front of everyone. And she …’ He looked me in the eyes, his own blue peepers filled with dread. ‘She hexed him, Wanda. First she cackled, and told him she could do what she wanted. She said he should be happy that she went out with him in the first place. Then she said that, seeing as he didn’t seem to know his place, she’d make sure none of his dates ended well, ever again. Ever since then, no one has ever gone out on a second date with Dashell. He’s tried to break the hex, but no luck. Mandy said that the hex wouldn’t die until she did.’

  I gasped. And then I blushed a little, as I realised Mandy’s hex might be the very reason that Dashell had purchased the Up. ‘Why in Hecate’s name has no one told me about this before now? That’s a pretty big reason to want to kill someone, I’d say.’

  The cat yawned. ‘Maybe. But you can’t blame the others for forgetting to tell you. There are so many reasons to want to kill Mandy, after all.’

  17. Too Many Familiars Spoil the Breakfast

  Somehow I managed to get some sleep. When I finally woke up, it was to the aroma of veggie bacon frying, and the sound of Max humming in the kitchen downstairs.

  The cat had left the bed sometime before I woke, so I rushed to shower and get dressed, and bounded down the stairs. Knowing my luck, Cyril would have eaten every scrap of food by the time I got there.

  Max was no longer at the cooker when I got to the kitchen, but the back door was open, so I went through to the garden. And then I paused at the door, and broke into a wide grin.

  The Coy fish were gone to giggle somewhere else. Our old paddling pool was back, as was our rickety shed and our ugly plastic furniture. Wolfie was frolicking in the paddling pool, and Cyril and Kitty sat atop the table while Max served them food. Kitty was being given a plate filled with fruit and nuts, while Cyril was being given a plate filled with, well, everything.

  ‘Oh, I’ve never tried mangoes before,’ said the cat, eyeing a bowl in the centre of the table. ‘They look very nice and juicy.’

  At the mention of mangoes, Dizzy appeared from behind the shed. He waved a wing in front of his face and said, ‘Wouldn’t go back there for a while if I were you.’ He flew over to the table, and staked his place by his bowl, spreading his wings wide to protect his food. ‘And the mangoes are mine, kitty cat.’

  ‘I’m Kitty,’ said the squirrel. ‘He’s Cyril.’

  While Dizzy looked like he might be about to explode, I kissed the top of his head. ‘I’ll magic your brekkie upstairs for you, my love,’ I said, clicking my fingers and making the bowl disappear. He gave me a quick kiss on the nose, and flew away.

  With the mango emergency averted, Max placed a plate of sandwiches and a cup of tea in front of me. ‘You look surprisingly pretty for someone who only had three hours sleep,’ he said. ‘I was going to bring you breakfast in bed. You want to do something this morning, or have you got work?’

  Oh, how I wished I could tell him I had the morning free. I loved breakfast in bed with Max. I loved it even more than apple tart. But I also loved not sharing my bed with a ravenous cat. And if I wanted that situation to end anytime soon, then I was going to have to find the killer. ‘I have work,’ I said. ‘But I’ll buy you dinner tonight if you’re up for it. Unless you have plans with Emily.’ I nodded to the paddling pool, where Wolfie was drinking half of the water. ‘I see things have gone back to normal.’

  Max gave me a soft smile. ‘Yeah. Thanks to you it seems. Emily told me about the conversation the two of you had. About how Jasper’s been giving her all the wrong ideas about what a guy wants. Also how he gave her a bottle of Eau de Wolf. We talked the whole night long. I think … I think we might finally be getting somewhere real, Wanda. She told me the whole reason she’s been so controlling is because she’s afraid she’s going to lose me. I mean, how ridiculous is that? I told her she has nothing to worry about, and I think she’s finally starting to believe me.’

  I gave Max the best smile I could muster, but it felt somewhat hollow. It was good news, though, wasn’t it? If Emily started behaving like the same sweet girl I’d known before she started seeing Max, then everyone would be happy. I wanted that for Max, really I did. I was about to turn my attention to my sandwich so I could finally take the painful smile off my face. But as I looked down, I realised that Cyril had already started on the corner.

  ‘Good veggie bacon,’ he said. ‘Nicer than the stuff Yvonne used to get.
’

  I snatched the sandwich away. ‘There’s stress eating, and then there’s the sort of eating that’s going to give you something to stress about,’ I said, jealously guarding my food. ‘Learn some boundaries, Cyril – or else I’ll purposely not discover Yvonne’s murderer. Then you’ll have to live with me forever, and I’ll feed you nothing but cat food from a tin.’

  ‘You wouldn’t!’ His chins wobbled in disgust.

  ‘Alack, Cyril,’ said the squirrel. ‘I think the wily wench may just do that fiendish thing. Come. Share my bounty of nuts and fruit. For I have a full plate and a generous heart.’

  Max broke out into laughter. As he wiped his eyes, he said, ‘I love living with you, Wanda. I never know what I’m going to wake up to.’ A soft look fell over his face. ‘Hey Wanda, promise me something?’

  ‘Anything, Max,’ I said. There was a bit of a catch in my voice as I spoke. What was that about?

  ‘No matter what happens …’ he trailed off partway through, tilting his head to the side. In the paddling pool, Wolfie stood to attention, tilting his head in the same manner.

  ‘I don’t like him,’ said Wolfie. ‘Tell him to go away.’

  ‘Who?’ I looked from Wolfie to Max. ‘I don’t hear …’ I was just about to finish that sentence with ‘anything’ when I did hear it. There was a yapping bark, coming from the front of the house. Some thumping and scratching, too. The yapping made me want to hack my ears off. It sounded like the most annoying dog in the world ever. It also sounded depressingly familiar.

  ‘That’s her dog,’ said Wolfie. ‘The horrible woman who plays kissy face with Will Berry. I met her dog at Bryce’s wedding.’