Chapter 24
That night, the four of us were sitting in the living room, enjoying a desert made up of brownies leftover from the café that Ellie had brought back home. They looked like ordinary brownies, except for the colorful rock-like substances that dotted the tops of them. When you bit into them, the rocks exploded, a little bit like pop rocks, giving the brownies a nice little extra oomph.
“That elf who works for The Magic Word – that’s the local paper,” Sara explained to me, “came by today. He wanted to interview me for a story.” Her face blushed red with excitement. “He told me it’s going to be in next week’s edition. I can’t wait to show my mom. She’s finally going to see that just being good at the broom came in handy for once.”
“That’s great news,” Ellie said, taking a big bite. “I can’t believe I missed all of the excitement, but I’m glad everyone’s ok!”
Mr. Meowgi was currently recuperating in my bedroom, having decided that being the hero for the day meant he had earned the right to take up the entire bed.
“Me too,” I said. “Thank you so much to all of you.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” Amy asked. “Although I do wish you had found us before you confronted Caranthir.”
“So do I,” I laughed.
“Don’t worry about Amy, she’s just a bit salty because someone else solved a puzzle before she did,” Ellie told me with a wink, earning a scowl from Amy.
“That’s just not true. Besides, we didn’t overhear the conversation that allowed Tina to put the puzzle pieces together.”
“There it is, there’s always an excuse when Amy’s not the smartest person in a room,” Sara laughed, and Amy stuck her tongue out at her.
“I’m quite happy that Caranthir is in prison, no matter who is responsible.”
“Did he admit to everything?” I asked, and she nodded.
“Yes, when Chief Enforcer King got there he broke down completely, and admitted to everything. Chief Enforcer King says he’s going to spend the rest of his life at the magical prison, Alakazam. He looked absolutely horrible, too. What did you do to him?”
As all eyes turned onto me, I gulped. I hadn’t thought about the mystery spell in a few hours. “To be honest, I’m not sure.” I explained to my new friends how I had dived into the pool, and how, when Mr. Meowgi hit the tree, that spell just… happened.
“Wow,” Sara breathed when I finished. “That’s crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before.”
“It’s very interesting,” Amy nodded, looking at me closely. “I believe we can narrow down your coven to one guided by a celestial being of water.”
“Are there a lot of those?”
“Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, the moon, Ceres, and Titan, just to name a few,” Amy rattled off on her fingers. I sighed. Great. It felt like we’d barely narrowed it down at all. “Sorry, but water-influenced covens are among the most common,” she continued. “But it’s a start.”
“So how come I knew a spell, just like that?” I asked.
“Well, it’s interesting. The thing is, there have very rarely been any examples of witches who have come to the paranormal world as adults, so very few examples of witches who have gotten into a situation like yours who didn’t know the spells. I can’t think of anything I’ve read ever happening in a similar manner.”
“That’s Amy-code for she has no freaking clue,” Ellie laughed. “I think it’s instinct. I think somewhere in your witch brain, a spell from your coven came to you when you were both stressed, and surrounded by your ruling power’s element.”
“But… I’ve never known anything about my coven. I didn’t even know which element my coven was linked to.”
“Well, that’s the instinct part. Maybe somewhere, deep down, you actually already know the spells, and all we’re doing when learning them is bringing them back. Knowing Mr. Meowgi was in trouble, and surrounded by water, yours came to the fore.”
I nodded. That made sense, actually, in a way. Maybe I really did know all this magic deep down, and in desperation, my brain managed to dig up a spell to help me that it didn’t even know it knew.
We were suddenly interrupted by a knock at the front door.
“I’ll get it,” I said, jumping up. It was now getting late in the evening, and as I made my way towards the door, I realized how silly it was that I was the one getting it. No one that I knew was going to come by this late.
Sure enough, as I opened the door, I found myself staring at a man with short, blue-black hair, light brown eyes, and skin so pale it was almost white. He looked to be about my age, leaning casually against the side wall of the building.
“Hello,” I said, wondering which of my roommates this guy was after.
“Hey. You’re Tina, the new witch.”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Look. Jackson sent me here. I’m Jormund, the dragon who knocked you off your broom this morning.”
“Oh.” I didn’t really know what else to say.
“I’m supposed to apologize to you.”
“Well, it sounds super earnest so far.”
Jormund sighed. “I seriously didn’t mean to hurt you. Look, I told Jackson everything. Caranthir came up to me the other day – I work security at the hospital part-time – and asked me if I wanted to make some extra cash. I mean, yeah, who doesn’t? So he told me I had to scare the new witch in town. When I saw you practicing on your broom, I thought I’d give you a bit of a fright. Do a fly-by, you know? I didn’t expect you to actually be so new you’d fall off your broom.”
“That was my first time ever on a broom.”
“No kidding? Well, yeah. So I got paid, but when I saw you falling, I did feel really bad. I’m glad nothing happened to you, really.”
“So you didn’t do it because you thought I had killed Philip Vulcan?”
“Are you kidding? What do I care who killed that idiot? I’m not surprised it was Caranthir. He wouldn’t tell me why he wanted you scared, just told me that if I wanted my money I’d do it, and I’d keep my mouth shut about it. But no, I didn’t think you had killed Philip. I just did it for the cash, and I really didn’t mean to knock you off your broom. I didn’t realize that was going to happen. I hope we’re cool.”
I took a second, then nodded. “Thank you for the apology.” Jormund kicked his foot into the ground, looking a bit awkward.
“Thanks. I, uh, know I screwed up. Thanks for being so nice about it. See you around, and welcome to town.”
And with that, Jormund turned and left. I had to admit, I felt a fair bit of relief at his confession. It was actually a bit better to know that he had been hired to scare me off from investigating the murder rather than having done it because he thought I had killed Philip.
Making my way back into the living room, I told the girls what had happened. “What’s going on with the new pool in our backyard, anyway?” I asked.
Ellie grinned. “We decided to keep it. After all, none of us ever really went into the backyard anyway, and this way we can relax out there with floaties.”
“I cleaned it up a little bit,” Amy added. “I made it six feet deep, and added a shallow end at one point, and tiles to make it nicer to walk along.”
“That’s amazing.”
“And we never would have thought to turn it into a pool if you hadn’t been knocked off your broom,” Ellie said.
“Or if Sara’s spell hadn’t gone wrong and made the water to begin with,” Amy added.
“It looks like Tina’s arrival has already changed things for the better,” Sara laughed. “Welcome to Western Woods!”
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading this book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
If you enjoyed Back to Spell One I’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment and leave a review for the book on Amazon, to help other readers find the book as well.
You can also sign up to my newsletter to receive an email every time I release a new book. To sign up for my newsletter, click here now.
Want to read more of Tina’s adventures? The second book in the Western Woods Mystery series is now available! Click here to read Two Peas in a Potion now.
Other Western Woods Mysteries
Two Peas in a Potion (Western Woods Mystery #2)
Three’s a Coven (Western Woods Mystery #3)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
Murder on the Oregon Express (Magical Bookshop Mystery #2)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
Death Quixote (Magical Bookshop Mystery #4)
Moonlight Cove Mysteries
Witching Aint’s Easy (Moonlight Cove Mystery #1)
Witching for the Best (Moonlight Cove Mystery #2)
Thank your Lucky Spells (Moonlight Cove Mystery #3)
California Witching Mysteries
Witches and Wine (California Witching Mystery #1)
Poison and Pinot (California Witching Mystery #2)
Merlot and Murder (California Witching Mystery #3)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Poison in Paddington (Cassie Coburn Mystery #1)
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
Strangled in Soho (Cassie Coburn Mystery #4)
Stabbed in Shoreditch (Cassie Coburn Mystery #5)
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Death Down Under (Ruby Bay Mystery #1)
Arson in Australia (Ruby Bay Mystery #2)
The Killer Kangaroo (Ruby Bay Mystery #3)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries.
You can connect with Samantha online here:
Facebook
Email
Back to Spell One Page 14
