by Maher Tegan
“No way,” Jake said, shaking his head. “That’s a bad idea. We’ll figure something out.”
“Excuse me,” Sybil said, “but would you care to share your idea? It seems we have a lack of consensus on whether or not it’s a good idea, and if you’re bringing somebody else in, I think I have a right to know who it is.”
“It’s her ex,” Jake said, and from the way he said it, you’d have thought he was licking a frog.
“The one who ditched her after almost a year because she’s a witch,” Eli added, contempt scrawled across his features. “He’s a putrid creature who doesn’t deserve to ever see her again, let alone be able to gloat that she called him first.”
Again, he wasn’t wrong, though that was mostly wounded pride speaking. I’d dated James shortly after we’d both graduated from college. His dad was the sheriff and he’d followed in his footsteps and joined the Marauders Bay PD. Things had gone swimmingly for almost a year until he’d come to surprise me at the beach and caught Eli and me playing magical skeet. It was my turn to “shoot,” and James had come around the corner of the cove just as Eli had slung the rock. Not only had I shocked the pants off James, I’d missed the tie-breaking shot, which meant I’d had to pay for a week’s worth of coffee.
I’d chased James down to try to explain, but it’s fair to say he hadn’t taken it well. Even six months later when I’d tried to talk to him, he’d given me the hand. To his credit, he hadn’t told anybody, but then again, who would have believed him?
That had been almost five years ago, and even though we ran across each other at least once a month or so—life in a fishbowl—he never did much more than give me a tight-lipped smile and nod.
“Did you tell him you were a witch, or did he find out accidentally?” Luther asked, meeting my gaze in the mirror.
“Accidentally,” I muttered. Deep down, I knew there was something wrong with that. I’d felt guilty, but also a little relieved. I’d wanted to tell him in the beginning but hadn’t known how. Then time passed, and more time, until it was this big thing in my head.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you hadn’t told him after dating him for that long, your gut was probably on to something,” he replied. “We don’t need his help,” Luther said. “We’ll figure it out just like we always do.”
“That’s what I said about the situation,” Eli said with a pointed look. “He was a nice guy, but I don’t think he was for her. And I agree. We can do it on our own.”
“Or maybe I was just a chicken and lost out on a good thing,” I said, mostly just to be contrary.
Sybil shrugged while examining her long purple nail. “Water under the bridge now, I’m afraid. I do think he could help, but will he?”
“One way to find out,” I replied, then stabbed the call button.
Chapter 13
H e answered on the first ring, his tone clipped. “Sergeant Skidmore.”
“Hey, James,” I said. “This is Sage.”
“I’m aware,” he replied. “What can I do for you?”
Okay, that wasn’t the warmest reception, but he’d answered even knowing it was me, so that was a start. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought much past just working up the nerve to call him, so I wasn’t sure how to frame the question. He obviously wasn’t receptive to anything magic, but I wasn’t sure how to get what I wanted without mentioning it.
“Uh, this is a little awkward, and I’m sorry,” I said.
“More awkward than me catching you blowing things up with your mind?” he asked, and I would have sworn I picked up just a trace of hurt and disbelief mixed in with the sarcasm.
I cleared my throat. “No, I’d say they’re about equal. But if it helps any, it’ll give you answers to questions I’m sure you’re going to have about a case today.”
“Let me guess,” he said, his voice tired. “The Hennessey case?”
Wow, word traveled fast. “Yeah, that. How did you know?”
He sighed. “Well, let me see. We respond to a 911 call expecting a domestic abuse situation. Instead, we find a house in shambles, a confused wife bleeding out on the ground outside a broken window, and a husband who has no memory of what had happened. We also have one witness who claims to have seen a woman with hot-pink hair steal a necklace from the woman, and the three pics we have of the license plate are clear except for the numbers. Oh, and the woman is ranting about mind control. You might have played me for a fool, but I’m really not one.”
Ouch. I deserved that, though, I supposed. “Is the woman okay?” I asked. “I did put my belt on as a tourniquet. I hope I did the right thing.”
He paused. “She didn’t have a tourniquet on her leg, Sage. She almost bled to death. I know I’m going to regret this, but my curiosity is overriding my common sense. What really happened?”
Sybil held up a finger when I started to speak.
I covered the speaker. “What?”
“Put him on speaker, please. And what are you going to tell him?” she asked.
“She’s going to tell him the truth,” Jake replied. “He knows about her, and he knows this mess has weird written all over it. Like he said, he’s not an idiot. And she’s right—he knows a lot of people and now he has the names of the witnesses, too.”
“Okay, so you didn’t ever give me a chance to explain about me—”
“I beg to differ,” he said. “I gave you a year before I saw you at the beach, but go on.”
Ouch, again. That was fine, though. I pulled up my big girl britches and muscled on.
“Fine. The girl was possessed by the spirit of a Colonial-era woman via a necklace that was among a bunch of items Eli and I found in a sea chest on a dive. The spirit was pissed and made a mess. When we went to the house to fix it, the exorcism went sideways, the spirit jumped out the window before she fled the body. We think she jumped into one of the witnesses.”
I didn’t see the point in explaining that we’d wiped Pete’s memory. I didn’t think that would inspire much trust. He was dead silent for a full thirty seconds, and I pulled my phone back to see if he’d hung up. He hadn’t. I put it on speakerphone. Whatever he said from then on out would likely be fit for public consumption.
“I see,” he said after a few more seconds. “Is there anything else?”
“We think maybe she was a serial killer back in Colonial times,” Eli said, leaning over so James could hear him. I elbowed him and scowled.
“What? He’s a cop. Maybe that will light a fire under him to help us,” he said, then pinched me. I glared at him but decided maybe then wasn’t the time to act like we were twelve.
“A serial killer,” James said, his voice flat. “You realize how crazy this all sounds, right?”
I suppose from his perspective, it probably did. “I imagine it does.”
“What do you need from me?” he asked, and I was a little surprised he was giving in so easily.
“Just like that?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Just like that,” he replied. “Look, I don’t have an answer for what happened over there. None of us do. Honestly, I kind of wish I still didn’t, but I figured when they mentioned you, it had something to do with, well, your weirdness. It wasn’t normal, that’s for sure.”
I bristled at his choice of words and was a little surprised when Luther’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s enough,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at me. “Tell him what you need and be done with him.”
I don’t know if James heard him or if he realized what he said and felt bad for it. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. May I ask what the necklace you stole has to do with anything?”
“That’s what the soul was trapped in,” I replied. In for a penny, in for a pound.
“Silly me. Of course it is.”
“Are you going to help us or not?” I asked. “We can get the information for ourselves, but I’m gonna be honest. There are a lot of these objects on the loose, so you’re probably gon
na have to get used to weird. It’s in all of our best interests to work together.”
Luther glowered at me in the mirror, but I just shrugged. It was the truth. And he wasn’t the one having to work with his ex, so he could suck it up.
“Who else is involved in this?” he asked.
“Me, Jake, Eli, and two other professionals,” I said, unwilling to out Sybil or Luther without their consent.
“And Sybil Blackmore,” Sybil added, and I thought it was curious she didn’t add Luther, but when he spoke up and added his name to the hat, Sybil’s eyebrows about shot off the top of her head. She didn’t say anything though. Curious.
“And you’re all ... you know?” James asked.
“Magical beings with untold skills and near-limitless power?” Luther asked loud enough to be heard. “Yes, we are.”
That was a little aggressive, and apparently Sybil thought so too because she cast him a questioning look and leaned toward the phone. “Yes, we’re all witches. We have the skills we need to deal with this, but we don’t have the ease of access that you do to deal with it as efficiently as we need to.”
Another pause, but this time it was short. “Then I’ll text you the information you need. My hands are tied because—just like with the beach thing—it’s not like anybody will believe me, and this case is dead in the water on my end. I’ll do what I can to put the kibosh on it. You find that spirit or whatever before she hurts anybody else.”
“Thank you, James.”
“You’re welcome, but Sage?”
“Yes?”
“I think I’m ready for that explanation now. If this isn’t a one-off thing, we may as well find a happy medium.”
“She’s not a medium,” Eli said, grinning.
“Uh, okay,” James replied, either not getting it or not appreciating it. “Get with me Sage. We need to talk.”
With that, he hung up.
“That went better than I thought it would,” I said.
“Yeah, I’m surprised he took your call at all,” Jake replied. “Every time I’ve seen him, he’s looked the other way.”
“I’d think you’d be used to that from your experience with women,” Eli said with a sassy grin.
“Really? When was the last time you went on a date, Big Shot?” Jake fired back.
Sybil rubbed her temples. “Are you people always like this? You’re exhausting.”
“I don’t know,” Luther said, smiling as he turned into her driveway. “I think they’re refreshing. Maybe it’s time to shake things up a little.”
It could have been my imagination since all I could see were his eyes in the rearview mirror, but I would have sworn there was a warmth in their green depths when he said it, and it had felt like he’d been speaking directly to me.
Chapter 14
A s James had promised , my phone dinged a few minutes later with text that listed the women’s names, addresses, and a brief description.
“You may not have to look them up individually, though. They’re all members of the Marauders Bay Pirate Festival committee, and there’s a meeting tomorrow morning.”
“Can we afford to wait ’til morning?” I asked as we went inside. “I mean, if she really is a serial killer, do we want her parading around alone?”
“Let me see the messages,” Sybil said once we were in the parlor. I handed her my phone. “It says here that they all live alone. I’ll put eyes on them for the night. The three of you go get some rest, but first, I want to teach you a binding spell.”
“We know a few binding spells,” Eli said, reaching over and taking a cookie off the plate that Luther had set on the coffee table earlier. “What are you trying to bind?”
She glanced at him over the top of her readers as she pulled a piece of stationary from a side table drawer, her expression wry. “A soul to a body. Know any of those?”
“Oh,” he said with an incorrigible grin. “Nope. Fresh out of those. Proceed.”
“Thanks,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “All I was waiting on was your permission.”
I got the feeling we were on the verge of wearing out our welcome. “Thank you for all your help. I know it’s not your mess, and you obviously value your privacy.”
She waved a delicate hand. “I do bear some responsibility for what’s going on. I should have made sure those cackling fools dealt with this three-and-a-half centuries ago. I didn’t, so here we are. You likely won’t need my help with all of them, but when you do, I’ll be here.”
After scribbling out three different notes, she handed one to each of us. The spell was in Latin, and her handwriting was neat and flowing, reminiscent of my grandmother’s. People just didn’t have penmanship like that anymore.
“Can you read it, and do you understand it?” she asked, and all three of us nodded.
My father had been a stickler for languages and had made sure all of us had at least a passing knowledge of Latin. Each of us had also followed it up with courses in college. It was hard to study much history without knowing the language, and knowing it had made other languages easy.
“If you find her, use that spell first, then call me immediately. We’ll do it right the next time.”
“You said you were going to put eyes on them,” Jake said, reading the spell before stuffing it in his pocket. “What does that mean?”
Sybil’s lips turned up in an enigmatic smile. “A girl can’t tell all her secrets, now can she?”
I shook my head. At least she was interesting.
“C’mon, kids,” I said when my stomach rumbled for the third time. “It’s almost dark, and I’m starving.”
Jake and Eli rose from the couch at the same time I did. Luther had disappeared into the back of the house as soon as we’d arrived, and I was a little disappointed when he didn’t come to see us off.
Exhaustion slammed into me as soon as I settled in the driver’s seat of my car and I yawned.
“Knock it off,” Eli said, covering his mouth as he yawned, too. “We still have work to do, so there’s no need even thinking about going to sleep yet.”
“Before we do anything,” Jake replied, trying to get comfortable in my miniscule backseat, “We’re going to get something to eat. My belly thinks my throat’s been cut.”
I engaged the clutch and pushed the start button, and the same little thrill as always rushed through me when my car roared to life. This time, though, I was thankful for a fast car mainly because it would haul me to the Jolly Roger—the nearest food source—a hundred times faster than I could walk.
“To the Jolly Roger, then,” I said, curving around the circular drive and toward the main road. I was happy to see the driveway was still clear and smooth and didn’t waste any time putting Sybil’s house behind us.
“Do you think the Jolly Roger is the best place to go?” Eli asked. “I say we grab a pizza and go back to the manor. We need to go through this book tonight, so we need quiet. Plus, it probably wouldn’t hurt to talk to the fam.”
“As much as I’d kill for a basket of wings and fries right now, I think he’s right,” Jake said. “We don’t have any time to waste. We don’t even know what we’re looking for yet, let alone whether we have the power and the resources to do it. We need to study that book.”
I groaned, but they were right. Even with a muffling spell, we’d never get anything done at the Jolly Roger. I sighed and flicked my blinker on, taking a left toward the estate rather than a right toward town. “Call Rowdy’s and order pizza, then. We’ll grab it on the way.”
Just in case we weren’t the only ones who hadn’t eaten, we ordered an extra pie. My family liked to eat, and Jules, a wonderful witch who’d worked for us for way longer than I could remember, always took Wednesdays and Saturdays off. That meant we were on our own, and it was almost a guarantee that nobody had cooked. Mom liked to organize dinners, but she didn’t know the first thing about cooking them.
Eli made the call, and it wasn’t five minutes later that th
e subject I was hoping to avoid came up.
“So what do you think’s up with Luther?” Jake asked, leaning up between our seats. “Do you think he’s like her paramour or something?”
I snorted. “Paramour? Really? Is that even a word anymore?” Though I certainly wouldn’t blame her. He was a fine form, at least when he wasn’t playing Grandpa Munster.
“Absolutely,” Eli exclaimed, turning as sideways as he could in my bucket seats. “But I think he’s a shapeshifter she’s enchanted with her witchy wiles.”
“Enchanted with her witchy wiles?” I asked, smiling. “Really, you read way too many shifter romances. Isn’t it usually the other way around? Isn’t it the woman who gets entranced and falls in love with the shifter?”
He cocked a brow and huffed a breath out his nose. “I don’t know what you’ve been reading, but they’re definitely not the same ones on my reader.”
“Though I do have to say, he seemed to be making googly eyes at you, Sage,” Jake said, nudging my shoulder. “When James got huffy and called you weird, it seemed to me he took it personally.”
My cheeks warmed. “He did not. He was just irritated that we were dealing with a non-magical skeptic. He’s obviously been around much longer than we have, so he’s had that many more years to get tired of intolerance.”
“Nah,” Eli said, enjoying my discomfort. “He thinks you’re hawt.”
“He does not.” My mind drifted back to the way he and Sybil had interacted at the Hennessey’s house. “They obviously have some sort of close relationship, and I don’t think it’s just a companion situation. They’re familiar with each other in a way that friends aren’t.”
“You and Eli are familiar like that,” Jake reminded me.
“Yeah, but that’s different. Eli’s like my extremely irritating brother.”
“I resent that,” Eli said drawing his brows down. “If anybody in this relationship is irritating, it’s you. You’re lucky to have me.”
I raised my brow at him. “You pinched me in front of them.”
“So, you elbowed me.”
