brimstone witch 07 - end of the yeti

by April Fernsby

  Gran tutted. “Now you’re being sarcastic. There is no need for that at all. You are always welcome here. We only want you to keep your distance from Luca and you know the reasons why.”

  “I don’t want to talk about Luca. Can I use magic in the human world or not?”

  Gran manoeuvred me towards the sofa and forced me to sit down. “We’re not going to continue this conversation until you’ve calmed down.” She clicked her fingers and a cup of tea appeared in one of my hands and a chocolate biscuit in the other. Gran sat at my side and said, “Drink your tea, eat your biscuit and tell us about your investigation so far.” She patted the cushion at her side and said, “Stanley, get yourself over here so I can have a cuddle.”

  Stanley nodded and scrambled onto the cushion.

  I was still angry with Blythe and Gran as I dunked the chocolate biscuit into my tea and put a huge amount of it in my mouth. As soon as the soggy concoction landed in my mouth, all my anger vanished. I narrowed my eyes at Gran, and with a mouthful of biscuit, I said, “Have you just used magic on me? What’s in this biscuit?”

  Gran chuckled. “That’s not for you to know. Eat the rest of it and you’ll start to feel more like yourself. We’ll wait.” She stroked Stanley’s head. “Your new fur is wonderful and a joy to touch. When this investigation is over, you can keep it if you like?”

  Stanley replied, “I’m not sure. I’m not comfortable with all the admiring glances I’m getting. It’s making me feel like a piece of meat.” He shuddered. “And I don’t want to be feeling like a piece of meat when there are vampire polar bears walking about. That little one has been eyeing my tail up with his hungry eyes.”

  Blythe spoke, “Vampire polar bears? In Brimstone Mountains? Do you mean Ravette and Boris? They shouldn’t be after the taste of meat. What’s happening over there?”

  I finished the rest of the biscuit and a feeling of patience came over me. I knew I shouldn’t be angry with Blythe and Gran; they thought they were doing the right thing. I knew they were wrong, but they thought they were right. That was a matter to discuss later.

  I told Blythe and Gran about our investigation so far and showed them the ice sculpture image on my phone. They were both shocked and saddened.

  Blythe said, “Eliza Morgan is right about the black magic causing a doorway to open. I suspect many more have appeared and it’s going to be a while before we locate them all.”

  I said, “I have to return to Scotland. I want to visit that town near the cave. I’ve got a strong feeling that Leonard’s death is connected to that town. If the murderer is there, can I use magic to defend myself and Stanley against them? If I need to use my broomstick, is there a spell I can cast to make it invisible?”

  Blythe said, “Yes to both questions. I’ll let you know the words for the broomstick spell before you leave. You’ll have to use the invisibility spell on yourself and Stanley too. You don’t want to be seen flying through the air. The only problem with using your magic in the human world is that it interferes with electrical equipment and mechanical items. If that starts happening, you’ll have to cease your magic immediately otherwise things could explode.”

  “Explode?” Stanley said. “Do you mean we could explode? I don’t want to explode!”

  Blythe smiled at him. “No, it would just be the items around you that would explode. But you could get hurt in the process, so be wary. When are you going there?”

  “As soon as I’ve finished my tea,” I said. “What’s on those papers on your knee? Are you dealing with an investigation too? Don’t tell me there’s been a murder here as well.”

  Blythe shook her head. “No, nothing like that. At least, not yet. Your gran and I have had a good chat with the residents here and this is a list of everyone we’ve spoken to. The majority of the residents seem normal, but we’ve noticed that some are making nasty remarks about their neighbours which they’ve never done before. We’ve also noticed there’s an air of suspicion about and people don’t seem quite as friendly as they used to be. We’ve made a note against those residents we need to keep an eye on.”

  Gran patted my arm and said, “It’s nothing for you to be concerned about. Blythe and I are going to organise some town events to bring people together again. We’re hoping to disperse any effects of the black magic before any more damage is done. We’ll let you know how we get on with that. We’ve all got a lot of work to do, including you, Cassia.” She looked over at Blythe and raised her eyebrows. “Shall I say it or not?”

  Blythe said, “Yes, I think it’s the right time to do so.”

  Gran pushed back a strand of my hair before saying, “We think we may have been too harsh with you earlier about Luca. He could be useful during your investigation and if you’d like his help, we won’t stand in your way. We trust you won’t get involved in a romantic relationship with him. Not that we can stop you doing that, but we still think it would be wise if you didn’t.”

  I thought about the possibility of Luca helping me and I was tempted to say yes. Then an image of the evil snow-spirit’s face came into my mind. The snow-spirit was still on the loose. What if she came across Luca when he was on his own? I had enough to worry about without adding Luca to the mix.

  I said, “No, I don’t need his help. Stanley and I can manage on our own.”

  Gran gave me a long look. “Are you sure about that? Luca could be very useful. He’s very thorough once he gets involved in an investigation.”

  “I’m sure.” I put the empty cup on the table. “We’d better be getting on with our work.”

  Gran said, “Before you go back to Brimstone Mountains, can you call on Oliver? He sent a butterfly message just before you arrived saying he has some information for you. He said he’d been making some online enquiries and had come up with some interesting information.” She folded her arms tightly. “That cat is becoming addicted to the internet. I’ll have to start restricting his time online.”

  “We’ll pay a visit to him now.” I stood up. “Thanks for the tea.”

  Gran gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead before we left. She said, “Let me know if you change your mind about needing Luca’s help.”

  “I will do. See you later.”

  We walked away from Blythe’s house and headed towards Gran’s cellar door.

  Stanley said, “There’s a funny atmosphere between you and Blythe and Esther. I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t like it either, but we can’t worry about that now. I’ll have a good chat with them when this is over. Let’s just concentrate on one thing at a time. I wonder what Oliver’s found out?”

  Oliver was in his cat basket with the laptop open in front of him. He was in the middle of a big yawn when we approached him.

  Stanley went over to his side and said, “Oliver, you look exhausted. How long have you been on the computer?”

  Oliver blinked and focused on his brother’s face. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll have a nap later. I had to find out who uploaded that yeti video and it took me a while.”

  I walked over to Oliver and sat at his side. I said, “You do look tired. I’ve just spoken to Gran, and she’s concerned about you spending too much time online. She thinks you’re becoming an addict.”

  Oliver’s voice was gruff as he said, “I don’t need anyone’s concern. I’ll decide how much time I have online. I can limit myself. I can logoff anytime I want to. I’m not an addict at all.”

  Stanley placed his paw on top of Oliver’s. “That’s exactly what an addict would say.”

  Oliver shook Stanley’s paw away. He snapped, “Do you want to know what I found out?”

  “Yes, please,” I told him. “And don’t talk to us like that. We don’t appreciate it.”

  Oliver let out a little growl before looking at the laptop screen. He said, “The video was uploaded by the founder of The Kirkbury Moor Yeti Appreciation Society.” He gave me a direct look. “Yes, I know from Dr Morgan that the poison which killed Leonard was sent
to a post office box in the very same town. You need to get over to that town as soon as possible and look into this. Luckily for you, The Appreciation Society is having a meeting tonight. I’ve got the address for you.” He turned his attention back to the laptop and brought up an address. I made a note of it on my phone.

  Oliver yawned again before saying, “I’ll keep digging into this. I want to see what else this society is involved in.” He yawned again and then widened his eyes as if trying to keep them open.

  I quickly reached my hand out and placed it on Oliver’s back. “I know you don’t like me stroking you, but I just have to do this as my way of saying thank you.”

  Oliver looked as if he were about to reply, but then a yawn took over him again. It gave me the perfect opportunity to cast a sleeping spell on him. It worked immediately and as soon as Oliver finished yawning, his head came down to rest on his paws.

  I said to Stanley, “I’ve put a sleeping spell on him which will work for the next few hours. He really needs to have a rest.”

  “Thank you. He looks exhausted.”

  I stood up and reached for the laptop. I closed it down and then placed it on a high shelf. “I hope Oliver doesn’t get too mad when he realises what I’ve done. Stanley, we have to leave now. The Yeti Appreciation meeting is in an hour. We can either go back to Brimstone Mountains and go through Leonard’s cave or we can use the invisibility spell on ourselves and fly straight there from here.”

  Stanley jumped from side to side and called out excitedly, “The invisibility spell! I want you to use that on us! Let’s do it right now!”

  I flapped my hands at him. “Shh. You’ll wake Oliver. Let’s do the spell outside.”

  Stanley was already running to the door before I finished my sentence.

  Chapter 23

  I had to perform three spells before we were ready to set off on our journey. The first one was putting the address into the broomstick which Oliver had given us. Then I performed the spell which would make the broomstick travel quickly as I wanted to get to our destination as quickly as possible.

  The last spell was the invisibility one and, at Stanley’s request, I tried it on him first. He instantly vanished and I could hear him chuckling away to himself in front of me. I kept a firm grip of the broomstick before making myself and the broomstick invisible. As I did so, I had a sudden horrible thought that I wouldn’t be able to see the broomstick or Stanley, but that didn’t happen and I was able to see both.

  We climbed onto my broomstick and ascended. As soon as we were high enough, the broomstick shot forward and I realised too late that I’d made it go too fast. My little adrenaline-junkie friend loved it and hollered and whooped as we sped along. I tried not to think about how queasy my stomach felt as we sped over the countryside beneath us.

  Stanley leaned his head over the broomstick and yelled, “It’s like looking at Google Earth! It looks amazing from up here. It looks like a massive patchwork quilt made of green fields.”

  I didn’t look over the side as that would make me feel even worse. I concentrated my attention on the view in front of me and willed our destination to appear.

  It was thirty minutes later when the patchwork quilt countryside beneath us changed to craggy moorland with mountains in the distance. After another twenty minutes, we landed outside a small village hall. The address on the noticeboard told us we were in the right place.

  I slowly got off the broomstick and took a moment to get my land legs back. Stanley leapt off and ran around in circles proclaiming that was the best broomstick ride he’d ever had. When Stanley came to a stop, I used a spell to make us and my broomstick visible again.

  I looked closer at the noticeboard and saw the village hall had meetings every night for one thing and another. The Yeti Appreciation meeting was still on tonight and was about to start. We had made good time.

  I took my phone from my pocket and looked again at the image of the ice sculpture. I said to Stanley, “This man is quite normal looking. If he’s inside, I don’t know how we’ll identify him. It would have helped if he’d had an extra large nose, a wonky eye or a scar down his cheek.”

  Stanley tutted and said, “Some people are so inconsiderate.”

  I put my phone away and then hid my broomstick in the bushes at the side of the hall. I said to Stanley, “You’ll have to remember not to talk when we’re inside. We’re not in Brimstone anymore.”

  Stanley gave me a nod and then tightly closed his mouth.

  We went through the door and towards a man who was sitting behind a table just inside. He looked shocked to see me and said, “Excuse me, love, I think you’ve turned up on the wrong evening. The slimming club is tomorrow night.”

  My smile froze on my face and I said, “I’m not here for the slimming club. I’m here for The Yeti Appreciation Society meeting. Which way is it? Do I need to pay an entrance fee?”

  The man scratched his chin. “We’ve never had a female person at the yeti club before. Are you sure that’s what you’re here for? The Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is next Monday. Have you got your days mixed up?” He made a drinking motion with his hand. “Have you fallen off the wagon and had a drink or two? Has it played havoc with your memory?”

  My smile was slipping off my face now. I said firmly, “I’m not here for the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting nor am I here for the slimming group. I’m here to learn about yetis. Are you going to allow me to enter or not?”

  The man continued to scratch his chin. “I suppose I’d better let you in. I don’t want to be accused of being sexist or any such rubbish. It’s free to go inside. You can leave at any time if it gets too complicated for you.”

  I gave him a nod of thanks and then went through a door to the hall. There were rows of chairs in front of me with a large screen at the far end of the hall. Men dressed in thick coats, hats and scarves were congregated around a large coffee pot to the right of the hall. As if they were one creature, they all stopped talking, turned around and stared at me.

  One of the men shouted out, “The slimming club is on tomorrow night! Close the door on your way out.”

  I lifted my chin and took a few steps forward. “I’m not here for the slimming club because I don’t need to slim, obviously. I’m here to learn about yetis and to appreciate them more. Where should I sit?”

  The men turned away from me and mumbled amongst themselves. I heard someone mutter they had to let me in because it was equal opportunities nowadays.

  The man who’d told me about the slimming club turned my way and said, “Take a seat over at that side. If you want a hot drink, make it yourself. We’re not here to wait on you.”

  I held my head high as I walked along the nearest row of chairs and took a seat at the end.

  Stanley jumped onto my knee and whispered, “They’re very rude. Why are they all dressed like that? Why don’t they take their coats off? We’ve no chance of spotting our mystery man when they’re all bundled up like that. We can barely see their faces.”

  I noticed the radiator at my side and reached out to touch it. It was cold. I whispered to Stanley, “Either they can’t afford to put the heating on or it’s not working. It’s hard to tell if any of those men are the ones who came into Brimstone because their coats are all the same. Perhaps if I fix the radiator and get them to take their coats and scarves off, we might get a better look at their faces.” I wiggled my fingers at the radiator and a sudden clunking noise shot out followed by a whirring sound.

  A few of the men swore and stared at me. A man jabbed a finger my way and shouted, “What have you done to the heating? Have you tinkered with it? It’s not your place to come in here and start tinkering with things.”

  “I haven’t done anything to it,” I said as innocently as I could. “It just came on.” I fanned my face and continued, “Phew! It’s getting warm in here. I think I’ll take my jumper off. Don’t worry; I’ve got a T-shirt on underneath.”

  Stanley hissed, “Don’t take your
coat off. They’re giving you funny looks. Boris gave me the same funny look earlier.”

  Stanley was right. I didn’t like the interested looks the men were suddenly giving me. I said, “Perhaps I’ll keep my jumper on for now. Feel free to take your coats off.”

  A man wrapped in warm clothes suddenly rushed into the hall and yelled, “Has someone done something to the internet? It just went off. Who’s been messing about with it?” His attention went to me and he added, “What’s she doing in here? The slimming club is tomorrow night.”

  The other men said something to him which I couldn’t hear, but I’m certain they weren’t giving me compliments.

  Stanley whispered, “The magic on the heating must have caused the internet to stop working.”

  I gave him a brief nod, aimed my fingers discreetly at the heating and returned it to its broken state. The whirring noise instantly ceased.

  “Typical! I knew that radiator wouldn’t last long. I was just about to take my scarf off,” one of the men declared.

  “I’m taking mine off,” the man who had rushed into the hall said. He placed his scarf on a nearby chair. “Time to start the meeting. Everyone take a seat. I’ve got some good stuff to show you tonight.”

  The remaining men gave me suspicious looks as they moved towards the chairs. They sat as far away from me as they could. Did they think I had some sort of infectious disease? The cheek of them.

  The man who’d just spoken looked at me and explained, “I’m Neil Tavistock, and I’m the founder of this branch of The Yeti Appreciation Society. Perhaps you can introduce yourself later and let us know why you have an interest in yetis.”

  I gave him a nod and a smile. There was only one reason I was interested in yetis and I wasn’t going to share that information anytime soon - if at all.

  Neil pointed a remote control at the blank screen behind him and an image of something grey and long appeared on the screen. It looked to me like a piece of old rope.

  Neil said, “I’ve had some tests done on those hairs I found nearby. I’m pleased to say that I finally got the results back.” He smiled at his audience proudly.