I pursed my lips and marched back to the steps. I lifted my foot and set it down, only to be blasted back again, this time with more of a punch.
Adam reeled back. “What in the world?”
Apparently this was a new party trick in Posy’s collection.
“Just go get her,” I barked. I planted my hands on my hips and waited. As I stared at the steps, I ran through a series of spells that might work. But fighting unruly houses wasn’t something that I’d encountered before. I opened my hand and pooled some magic in the center of my palm. A stunning spell. Wondering if I could stun the porch long enough to get up the stairs. Of course, who knew what would happen at the front door. If the steps weren’t willing to be walked on, I couldn’t imagine the front door would feel any friendlier if I tried to twist the doorknob.
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered to myself. I threw the stunning spell at the steps and tried to climb them again, but this time, the house pushed me all the way across the yard and I landed against the perimeter of bushes, like a boxer hitting the ropes that surrounded the ring.
“Posy!”
A flicker at the front door caught my eye. Posy appeared on the porch, her eyes narrowed, and her mouth set into a firm line.
This wasn’t going well.
“You bellowed?” she sneered.
I pushed myself off the line of bushes and brushed off my backside. “Yes. The house won’t let me inside. Adam told me that you’re…upset.”
“Of course I am, Holly!” She sniffed. “We can’t have a ghost hunter coming around. That’s a hop, skip, and a shimmy away from having an exorcist brought in and then I’ll be gone! To the Otherworld! Or…worse…” She shuddered, glimmering back into her transparent form for a split second before solidifying again. She gave me a pointed stare. “And what happens to you and all the others then? If I’m gone? The SPA agents will come and run this house? Do you want that?”
I shook my head. I would rather live in a house run by angry bears, than live under the constant eye of the SPA.
I held up my hands. “Posy, please, let’s not jump to rash conclusions.” I started toward the front porch, taking short, careful steps as though approaching a spooked horse. “First of all, Nick isn’t going to come back here. I won’t let him.” I winced, remembering that I technically told him he could have one tour. I forced a smile. I’d figure that out later. “I can put some wards around the house if that would make you feel better.”
She considered my offer before beginning the ghost equivalent of pacing. She floated, skimming the wooden planks, up and down the narrow porch. Back and forth. When she stopped, she turned to face me again. “What kind of wards?”
Great question. I licked my lips. I needed specifics and a whole lot of confidence if I was going to talk Posy off the ledge. “I know a ward that will make uninvited guests feel nauseated. That usually keeps them from sniffing around for too long.”
Posy folded her arms. “I hardly think a sick mess all over my prized roses is going to accomplish anything…”
“Okay, okay. You’re right. Um…what about—”
“Can you make them fall through a trap door? We could keep them in the root cellar.”
She sounded far too giddy over this suggestion.
“Of course not, Posy! We’re trying to keep SPA out of our hair, remember?”
She shrugged, unconcerned. “They would only find out if one got loose…”
I closed my mouth and gave her a pointed stare.
“Okay, fine. Next idea,” she said, sighing.
“I’ll figure something out, okay? You have to trust me. In the meantime…I’d really like to come inside.” I pointed at the bottom step. “Do you think I could do that?”
Posy nodded and she swept back inside. Right before she disappeared, she called back, “You better fix this Holly Boldt. And no more secrets!”
“Right,” I muttered to myself, gingerly raising my foot to the step. “Cause it makes so much more sense to volunteer information. It’s not like you’re prone to freaking out or anything…”
I squeezed my eyes shut, wondering where the porch would shoot me this time if Posy was wrong. Each blow had been progressively more powerful. If the fourth attempt to climb the steps didn’t work, I’d likely propel back like I’d been shot from a cannon and find myself halfway out to sea.
I set my foot on the step and blew out a relieved breath when the wood remained solid under my shoe.
I hurried up the rest and went inside before the house could change its mind.
Adam was propped against the banister at the bottom of the stairs when I walked inside. He grinned as I turned around after shutting the door. “Ya know, if this potion business of yours doesn’t work out, you might have a career in ghost therapy.”
I darted a glance around, my heart hammering in my chest.
Adam laughed. “She’s already in the attic.”
Relief flooded me once again and I sighed. “Not funny,” I said to Adam. Between meeting Phillip Tanner and being assaulted by my own house, I wasn’t in the mood for his particular brand of humor.
He shrugged and pushed away from the stairs. “You okay?” He was still smiling but it was softer. He reached out a hand and set it on my shoulder. The warmth of his touch enveloped me and I met his dark eyes. “That last punch was pretty vicious.”
I nodded and stepped away from him. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
Boots came trotting down the hall and wrapped around my legs, twisting his body to weave around my feet and push his head into my legs. I leaned down and scratched his head. “You were just coming to save me, huh?”
Adam snorted. “More likely to see what the holdup is for breakfast. He’s been yowling at his bowl since you left.”
I laughed and scratched Boots’ chin. “He’s got you pegged, Bootsie.”
He meowed and then started for the kitchen where his food was stored away in one of the cupboards. I sighed and followed after him. Adam’s steps sounded behind me. I entered the kitchen, letting Boots in first, and then stepped around him as he started yowling and pawing at the cupboard. I pulled out a bag of overpriced cat food, unzipped the seal at the top, and rolled my eyes as the howls got louder. When he had his food and was happily noshing, I stashed the bag away and turned to face Adam.
“Where’s Lacey? I want to wring her pretty little neck for bringing up Nick in front of Posy.”
Adam grimaced. “Trust me, I already voiced my displeasure.”
I laughed. “I’ll bet you did.”
“She was up this morning, but now she’s barricaded in her room. Same thing with Gary.”
My eyebrows lifted. “He was down here when it happened?”
Adam shook his head. “No. I just know he’s up there. I heard him talking to someone. Or maybe it was the TV. I don’t know. I think maybe you and Lacey were right. He’s starting to give me the creeps.”
I nodded slightly. I wanted to ask Adam what he knew about gargoyles, but it wasn’t the right place. “Well, I have to go find some kind of protective ward to set on the house to appease Posy before we have flooding or some other disaster.”
Adam nodded and glanced down to where Boots was rooting around in his food dish, spilling kibble over the sides. “I’ll clean up after his royal highness is done in here.”
I smiled down at Boots and then glanced back up at Adam. “Thanks.”
He flashed me a smile and I headed out of the kitchen. My stomach was still growling but I needed some time alone to think, and if I stayed in the kitchen to make myself something, then Adam would expect me to keep up my end of the conversation. So, instead, I slipped into my room and pulled out a box from under my bed. It was packed full of different magical treats. In the haven, there were shops all over that sold magical confections. Now, I was reduced to ordering them on the Witches Web. We’d come a long way from ordering things via owl or raven. Now, most things the havens have to offer is available via a simple ordering web
page that takes haven currency. Most small items, like food and books, magically appear on the front steps as soon as the order is received.
Without it, my banishment would sting a lot more. And would certainly be a lot less delicious.
I selected a Lemon Cloud, a cream filled cake that was wrapped in delicate tissue paper. The lemon filled pastry had been crafted to have the health benefits of a good solid meal but in an airy, fresh, zingy little treat. A heck of a lot better than those chalky pills humans take in the morning. I took a bite and then replaced the box under my bed.
Once I got myself situated, propped up against a pile of pillows at the head of the bed, I waved my free hand and summoned my spell book from the bookshelf underneath my TV cabinet. The book was thick, bound with burgundy leather, and clasped together with a gold lock. It floated over to me and dropped onto the bed. I muttered the password around a mouthful of Lemon Cloud and the lock sprang free.
I cleared my throat. “Property wards,” I said, making sure the words were strong and clear.
The pages flipped on their own accord and stilled on a section of spells. I scanned my finger down the list, reading the short description, and when I landed on Vermin Removal, I smiled. “Perfect.”
Nick Rivers might not technically be considered vermin, but figured it was close enough.
I wiggled my fingers over the book and opened to the page indicated from the search. I glanced over the basics of the spell and figured it would do the trick. The spell was created to keep poppers and dwabbles (or, I supposed, gophers and moles, if living on a non-magical plot of land) off the property, but I figured with a few adjustments to the wording, it could help me keep lurking private investigators from clomping around the flower beds too.
With one more gesture, the book closed, latched, and floated back to the bookshelf and tucked itself neatly away. I sighed and took another bite of my Lemon Cloud.
My hand went to the Larkspur locket around my neck, and I ran my fingertip over the smooth, warm metal. I absently stared into space, a hundred thoughts whizzing around my mind. I still didn’t know who Phillip Tanner was, or how he’d known Peg. There had to be some connection there but I had no idea how to go about figuring out what it was. He didn’t strike me as a chatty kind of fellow. Quite the opposite. He was still at the top of my list, but without anything other than a hunch to go on, the police weren’t likely to pay much attention to me. My involvement in the case was pretty much over.
Loud banging sounds above my head snapped me from my musings. I glanced up to the ceiling. Was Posy back on a tear? I squeezed my eyes shut. All I wanted to do was eat the rest of my lunch and get in a quick nap before going out to the garden. I didn’t want to go and deal with an emotionally unstable ghost. Again. Hadn’t I done my time already?
I started to get up from the bed and then realized it wasn’t Posy, it had to be Gary, stomping around in his room. His room was right above mine. Normally, it was silent. I couldn’t remember ever hearing him before. I inched off the bed, my eyes still trained at the ceiling as though he might come crashing through it at any moment.
I didn’t want to go upstairs and talk to him. But at the same time, having a Gary sized hole in my ceiling wasn’t going to lend itself to a peaceful nap and my eyelids were begging for a break. The coffee had long since worn off. I also knew I wouldn’t be able to get a good night sleep if I was worried that Gary had a portal right into my room, and I needed a good night’s sleep to make sure that all of my senses were sharp the following day. If I could pry information from Phillip, I would need to be in peak form.
With a heavy sigh, I pushed off of the bed, and went to go see what all the ruckus was about.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
AT THE TOP OF the stairs, I nearly ran into Lacey as she was stalking out of her room. She was dressed up in her silver pageant gown, her shiny tiara sparkling on her brow. She narrowed her eyes at me and sidestepped out of my path. “Watch out!” she hissed. She continued on to the door across from hers and knocked loudly on Gary’s closed door. “Hey, Gary! Keep it down! I’m trying to practice my question and answer session and I can’t hear myself think with all of the stomping!”
Nothing. Just more stomping.
Lacey heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. She knocked again, this time with extra oomph. “I mean it, Gary! I’ll let Holly hex you!”
“Me?”
Lacey turned her cold eyes onto me. “That’s why you’re up here, isn’t it? To shut him up?”
Okay, she had me there. “Yes, but I’m not hexing anyone.”
Lacey growled. “I remember when witches had balls.”
“Bite me, Lacey. I’m not interested in arguing with you. But if I was, it wouldn’t be about my apparent lack of balls. It would be about you running your mouth to Posy and getting her to ghost flip out!”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “That was so not my fault. Let me guess, Adam told you that?”
I crossed my arms, not answering her question.
“Whatever. Either you hex this…gargoyle, or whatever the Otherworld he is, or I’ll break down this door and really give Posy something to freak out about!”
She swirled the train of her gown around and stomped back to her room, slamming the door behind her for emphasis.
I glanced at Gary’s door and a shiver ran down my spine. After what Posy confessed about the last gargoyle that resided at the manor, I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross him. Contrary to what Lacey thought, hexing wouldn’t actually do much. At least, not without putting in some research first. Hexing on the fly was always a bad idea.
Seriously. Terrible, terrible idea.
I huffed and went over to Gary’s door. The stomping continued and as I neared, I heard his low, gravelly voice. He must be on the phone with someone. I raised my hand to knock, but then dropped it just as quickly.
Lacey was right. I didn’t have any balls.
I went back down the stairs and scurried to my room. I shut the door and locked it with an extra security ward before going back to the safety of my bed. Boots was back from his mid-morning meal and sleeping soundly on my pillow. I stroked his fur and then spotted a dab of yellow frosting on his whiskers.
I darted a glance to the place I left my Lemon Cloud.
Nothing but crumbs.
“Bootsie!” He opened one eye.
“If anyone’s getting hexed it’s going to be you, you little thief!” I growled, pushing him off of my pillow. He didn’t look too concerned. He waddled over to his cat bed, situated himself, and plopped down without so much as another glance back at me.
“Argh.” I jumped off the bed, went back into my stash of snacks, and opened a new Lemon Cloud. This time I didn’t mess around. I shoved half of the pastry into my mouth before even sitting back down.
Another series of stomps shook the light fixture above my bed. With a long sigh, I dropped my gaze back to my spellbook and an idea popped into my head. I shoved the rest of the Lemon Cloud into my mouth and then took the Larkspur off my neck while I swallowed the rest of my treat.
“Great-grandmother Honeysuckle will know what to do.” I stroked the warm metal and whispered the password.
The Larkspur opened slowly—Honeysuckle always had a flare for the dramatic—and when a strange fog cleared, a silhouette appeared. After the image shifted and clarified, Great-grandmother Honeysuckle’s warm, wrinkled face was staring back at me. She looked just like my mother had. The same high cheekbones, round, green eyes, and full lips. Her once-chestnut-colored hair had long since turned white, and she kept it in an intricate braid, pulled behind her head. The women in our family line all bore a strong resemblance to one another. Among the women in our family line, I was the first witch in over five hundred years to have auburn hair. But there was no denying that I was a Boldt woman as I had the same cheekbones and green eyes. In witch family trees, it was the woman’s name that was passed down to the following branches. My father’s last name had been Sampson.
&n
bsp; “Who’s there? Who are you?” Honeysuckle demanded, her tone sharp, like the yaps of the little dog she kept as her familiar.
I wasn’t quite sure how the magic worked, but somehow, Honeysuckle had managed to fuse a piece of her life force into the Larkspur and when she passed over to the Otherworld, a fragment of her remained inside the locket. As the necklace was passed down to each new generation, the magic grew and strengthened, but Honeysuckle was the only occupant. Unfortunately, the magic was untested, and while she managed to retain her wisdom and memories, her short term memory was somewhat…splintered.
I tried to keep myself from sighing. It was hard to know how many times we’d had this conversation, but it was enough that the first five lines were committed to my memory. “Honeysuckle, it’s Holly Boldt, you’re great-granddaughter, seven lines down.”
“Holly Boldt?” she repeated wistfully. She leaned in, her eyes narrowed to see me more clearly. She backed away and I heard a small yap.
Oh great, Weeble’s there too.
Honeysuckle and her little white cream puff of a dog had been inseparable in life, and the dog had followed her into her residence inside the locket. I didn’t have anything against the little mop of a dog, but he made it hard to carry on a conversation.
The stomping upstairs got louder.
I nodded at Honeysuckle, willing her to get to the part where she recognized me. “Marabelle’s daughter,” I added.
“Oh, dear, yes! Of course! Hailey!”
“Holly.”
“Weeble, get down!” She batted at the white ball of fluff as he jumped into the frame, likely sitting on her lap. If she had a lap. As I said, the details of the magic were sketchy to me.
“Great-grandmother Honeysuckle, I need your help.”
She turned her eyes back to me. “Of course, Hailey. How can I help?”
I sighed. “It’s Holly—oh, nevermind—I need to know what kind of magic can be cast against gargoyles.”
“Gargoyles?” She spat it out like a strong curse word.
I nodded and glanced up as my light fixture went swinging again. “I think I met one recently and I need to know what I’m up against.”
Murder's a Witch: A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries Book 1) Page 12
