Putting on the Witch

by Joyce

  “If you need anything, please ask. We have clothes, shoes, toiletries, anything you might need.”

  “Thank you, Oscar,” I said.

  He nodded and was gone with no doubt thousands of things to attend to.

  The room was gorgeous, as everything in the castle seemed to be.

  “The dungeon or wherever it was Antonio took me wasn’t so nice,” I told Elsie as we examined the burgundy silk comforter on the oversized bed with a matching canopy. “I never expected to see the Bone Man there. I thought he was done with me.”

  She was delighting over the large bay window nook that overlooked a wonderful garden far below us. “I don’t think he’s ever going to be finished with you as long as you wear that amulet.”

  “You might be right. I could have gotten away without him.” I stood next to a marble fireplace that was taller than me. “I didn’t need him.”

  “Really, Molly,” Elsie chided as she studied the crystal chandelier above us from the comfort of a red velvet chair. “I don’t think the witchfinder would have let you go except that the Bone Man was there and he was afraid of him. You may as well give credit where credit is due.”

  “I know you think I should give up the amulet.”

  “I do,” she agreed. “It hasn’t brought you a moment’s peace since you put it on, and I don’t think it ever will.”

  “It makes my magic stronger.”

  She tsked. “I’m sure Dorian Gray used a similar argument about his portrait being evil.”

  “I’m not Dorian Gray!”

  Olivia’s ghost came through the magnificent wallpaper that portrayed a complete scene from the Middle Ages as it progressed around the room. “Yoo-hoo. Girls? Are you decent?”

  “Since when did that matter?” Elsie demanded. “I don’t know how many times you’ve seen me in the altogether since we were young. Sometimes, I thought you did it on purpose.”

  “Don’t be absurd,” Olivia denied. “I was just curious, and you are older than me. I had questions about the female body.”

  “That was a long time ago,” I said. “I thought you’d be chaperoning Dorothy and Brian.”

  “They don’t need me.” Olivia flitted around the room, looking at everything much the same way Elsie and I had. “In fact, I think they were glad to be rid of me. And I was longing for a bit of intelligent conversation that didn’t have anything to do with giggling or the cat. Did you two notice anything strange about that cat? I wasn’t with Dorothy when she bought it.”

  “That’s what I was saying to Molly.” Elsie glanced at herself in the full-length mirror and adjusted her dress. “I don’t know what it is, but something’s not right.”

  “I think we should focus on helping Antonio find Makaleigh’s killer,” I said. “I need to call Joe first, and the cell phone doesn’t work here. Elsie, let’s give it a try before I ask Brian and Dorothy for help.”

  “I’m so sorry I let you down by being murdered,” Olivia said. “I still can’t believe it happened to me. I know I’ll be a lot happier once I can use my ghostly abilities.”

  “One of those ghostly abilities wouldn’t include talking to other ghosts, would it?” I wondered. “If so, maybe you could contact Makaleigh and this would be all over. We’d know who killed her, and we could go home.”

  “Good idea.” Elsie backed me up. “What about it, Olivia?”

  “I can certainly give it a try,” she said. “I’ll start down there in the pink sitting room where she was killed. We’re both witches who were murdered. We should have something to say to each other. I’ll be right back.”

  “While she’s gone, why don’t we try to get in touch with Joe?” Elsie said. “I don’t like to hurt her feelings by doing magic around her if I can help it. I can’t imagine what it’s like for her to feel so powerless.”

  “That’s what I was saying about the amulet.” I tackled the ongoing argument again. “It makes me stronger. Larry makes you stronger, you know. I can tell a difference in you.”

  “Oh for goodness’ sake! He does no such thing!”

  “And you say I won’t admit things! Your relationship with him has made a huge difference. When was the last time you messed up a spell?”

  “I don’t know,” she hedged. “Not recently, I suppose.”

  “You were unhappy and lonely,” I said. “Larry came into your life and changed that.”

  “Along with other activities we’ve undertaken recently,” she replied. “But that’s different than you relying on that amulet anyway. Larry isn’t the Bone Man. I don’t see how anything good can come of a relationship with him. And you can see by him showing up that you do have a relationship, Molly.”

  “I know what you’re saying, Elsie. But this still belonged to my mother and going back several generations in my family. I don’t see it as being bad.”

  “Then we’ll have to agree to disagree.”

  “All right.” I nodded, not liking being at odds with her. “Let’s see if we can make that call to Joe, huh?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We held hands and used a simple communication spell. There was no need to use the enchanted bubble, since Joe wasn’t here with us. The bubble protected communication from the council—or other witches. I wasn’t worried about anyone else overhearing us.

  “Joe?” I could faintly see him.

  “Molly?” He was in his office at the police department, looking around for me. “Is that you?”

  “Yes.” I tried to concentrate harder. “I’m not going to be home for a while but I’m okay. I just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t worry.”

  “Okay. Is this a witch telephone? You sound like you’re on a bad cell,” he joked. “Can you get a clearer signal?”

  The link between us went completely dead. I couldn’t see Joe at all.

  “Nuts.” Elsie opened her eyes. “We’re going to need the children. I was hoping we could do it ourselves. I hate when they get all over us because their magic is better.”

  “Me too, but this call might have been worse than Joe not knowing anything. I have to get through to him again.”

  “All right. But next time, make up something short and sweet before you talk to him.”

  We knocked on the adjoining door between our rooms. There was no response.

  “Sounds like they could be dead in there,” Elsie said, pressing her ear to the door.

  “That heavy breathing sounds like they’re alive,” I whispered.

  “Which one?” Elsie asked. “I don’t want to know what’s going on in there.”

  I grinned and nudged her with my elbow. “It hasn’t been that long! I think you know what’s probably going on.”

  We both heard Dorothy giggling.

  “I guess I haven’t forgotten after all.” Elsie smiled. “Too bad Olivia isn’t here. She’d really like this.”

  We knocked again, but there was no answer.

  “We know you’re in there,” Elsie called out. “It’s only me and Molly. You’re adults. It doesn’t matter what you do anymore.”

  I tried the door, pushing it open when it stuck.

  There was still no sign of Dorothy and Brian, but a young, dark-haired beauty was holding Brian’s shirt to her face as though she were smelling it.

  “Who are you?” Elsie asked.

  “Look at her eyes,” I said. “It’s Kalyna.”

  CHAPTER 15

  “The cat?” Elsie’s cinnamon-colored brows shot up above her amazed green eyes.

  “I think that’s why we all felt something odd about her. She’s a shifter.”

  “Don’t tell Brian,” the girl asked of us. “He doesn’t need to know.”

  Dorothy and Brian came up behind us. We all stared at one another like owls caught out during the day.

  “Hello.” Dorothy smiled.
“Did you need something?”

  “We actually came because I need your help contacting Joe. I don’t want him to worry about me.”

  “And then we found something more interesting,” Elsie said with a nod toward the bed.

  But the clever young woman who was also a pretty black cat had changed form and was sitting on Brian’s shirt on the bed. She looked at us from behind those violet eyes with total calm.

  “The cat?” Brian asked. “You’re right. That black hair will be all over my shirt. Scoot.” He moved her to the other side of the bed.

  “No. She’s not just a cat,” I told him. “Kalyna is a shape-shifter. She’s also a very pretty young woman.”

  Dorothy and Brian exchanged questioning looks.

  “She’s not a shifter,” Dorothy said. “I would’ve noticed when I got her, wouldn’t I? Isn’t shifting magic? She’s just a cat with a bad attitude. I think she’s jealous of me. She scratched me twice a few minutes ago. That’s why we went to get bandages from Oscar.”

  “We both saw it,” Elsie insisted as though that made it gospel. “She was a girl when we walked in, and just now she became a cat again.”

  “Okay.” Brian smiled. “Kalyna, change shape. Become a woman. No one is going to hurt you. If you’re a shifter, we’re good with that. Go ahead and change.”

  The cat didn’t move, purring softly from the bed.

  “I don’t think she’s a shifter,” he decided. “But I’ll be glad to help you contact Joe.”

  “We know what we saw,” I disagreed. “She asked us not to tell you.”

  “Can we do a spell or something to turn her into a woman?” Dorothy glanced at the cat uncomfortably.

  “We could,” Brian agreed. “But how would we know if she was a woman before we used magic on her? That could be a disaster.”

  “Any other ideas?” Elsie requested.

  “Why don’t we contact Joe first?” Brian suggested. “Then we can worry about the cat.”

  I wanted to get in touch with Joe, so I agreed. Elsie and I could always make our point about Kalyna once that was done. There were spells to reveal shifters and other magical creatures. It didn’t have to be the way Brian had explained it. I didn’t know why the cat shifter had decided to trick Dorothy, but we were going to find out.

  We went back into our room and held hands, closing our eyes. I envisioned my husband—black hair with silver strands, kind face and dark eyes. “Joe. Hear me.”

  He was standing next to his locker at the police station when we could see him again. “Molly? Is that you, honey?”

  The next moment, he was slammed hard against his locker and pinned there. “Molly!”

  “Oh. I’m so sorry, Joe.” I smiled at him. “It’s really difficult getting past these blocks to our magic, so we had to team up. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It took a lot more power to get through.”

  He was suddenly released from the tight hold against him. “I thought you were going to Brian’s birthday party. Why are there blocks on your magic?”

  “They do it to keep witches from using all their magic. Kind of a safety thing, I guess,” I told him. “And there was a murder. I’m trapped here for twenty-four hours while they hunt for the killer. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “A murder? Are you okay? Can I do anything?”

  “I wish you could, but we’ll have to take care of this ourselves. I love you.”

  “I love you too! Be careful!”

  Brian, Elsie, Dorothy and I finished with a spell for cleansing and released our hands.

  “That went refreshingly well,” Elsie said. “Now we can address the issue of the shape-shifting cat.”

  But when we went back next door and looked around the room, Kalyna was gone.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find her,” Brian told us. “But I really think you’re wrong about her.”

  “We aren’t,” I said. “She’s hiding something. Be careful.”

  “I’ve never liked shape-shifters,” Elsie said. “They’re all sneaky.”

  “What about Larry?” Dorothy asked as she searched under the side of the bed.

  “He’s a werewolf,” Elsie replied. “Two different breeds.”

  “What now?” Dorothy sat in an upholstered chair. “What do we do next? I don’t want to be trapped here with someone strong enough to kill Makaleigh Veazy.”

  “We have to help the witchfinder,” I said. “That’s our best way out of here. We have the fingerprints from the knife. All we have to do is match them to the killer. Case solved.”

  “That might be easier said than done,” Elsie said. “Witches are a stubborn lot.”

  Olivia returned to check on them and went back into Dorothy’s bracelet, though she groaned and complained the whole time. “I don’t see why I should be stuffed in here,” she said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You did, Olivia,” Brian told her. “You knew you couldn’t be out in the open here at the castle. We’re just continuing what you started.”

  “Et tu, Brian?” Her eyes blinked at us from the bracelet.

  We went downstairs together past dozens of disgruntled witches who were very unhappy about being trapped at the castle. Despite every luxury, there was always something to be said about leaving when the party was over. For all of us, the party had been over when Makaleigh was found dead.

  Oscar was unhappy too. He was finding that most of the witches didn’t want to share their fingerprints. “Unless we can get Abdon to proclaim a general command that everyone must submit, I’m not sure what to do.”

  “We can collect all the glasses and check the prints against the prints on the knife,” Elsie suggested. “I saw it on TV. That seems possible.”

  “There are more than two hundred people here,” Brian added. “It might be hard to get fingerprints from their glasses and then keep them all straight.”

  “Well, we know Abdon isn’t going to work with us on this,” Dorothy said. “We have to find another way.”

  “But there aren’t two hundred members of the council,” I said. “And they’re our best suspects. I can’t think of any witches outside the council who wanted their husbands or children without magic subjugated by the rules we have now. Everyone would have been behind her. I’m sure that’s what Abdon and the other council members were afraid of.”

  “And why Makaleigh was killed,” Dorothy said.

  “Besides, most witches would have been afraid to try to kill a council member,” Elsie said. “It has to be someone with more magic than your ordinary witch, and a lot more brass!”

  “There were plenty of council members who didn’t want anything to change,” Oscar agreed. “I don’t know how we can collect the council’s fingerprints, but if you’re going to investigate, they’re probably your best bet. The emphasis is on the word ‘careful’ on this. If the council got wind of any of it, we’d all find ourselves in trouble.”

  Elsie laughed. “And by trouble, he means abandoned without magic on a remote island, locked away in a deep dungeon, or flying in a plane over an endless ocean.”

  Brian blinked. “Really? Are those real things? I’ve never heard of them.”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Those were right off the top of my head.”

  “Are those the worst things you can think of?” Oscar asked. “Because I’m sure I’ve heard of punishments that were much worse.”

  “Like being imprisoned still alive in a wall for hundreds of years,” Dorothy added with a shiver. “That is awful.”

  Brian put his arm around her. “That’s not going to happen to us for trying to help find Makaleigh’s killer,” he promised.

  “I hope you’re right.” She looked up at him with worried eyes.

  “There are eleven members of the council left,” I said, trying to get us back on track. “Let’
s split them up between us. Brian, you take Zuleyma Castanada and your grandfather, since he’s less likely to do anything to you if he finds out you’re trying to get his fingerprints. Elsie, you take Owen Graybeard, Arleigh Burke and Sarif Patel. Dorothy, you take Joshua Bartleson, Larissa Lonescue and Bairne Caelius. I’ll take Rhianna Black, Hedyle and Erinna Coptus.”

  “How are we supposed to do it? I don’t watch those TV shows that Elsie loves so much. Can we use our magic?” Dorothy asked. “Do we hand each of them a glass and then whisk it away to check for fingerprints when they aren’t looking?”

  “You should get as close as you can without getting caught,” I agreed. “Just remember that getting caught is a bad thing. Be sneaky. Don’t let them know what we’re doing.”

  Elsie took a deep breath and cracked her neck. “Okay. I’m ready. I know what to do. You can come with me, Dorothy, if you want to see it done.”

  “Okay.” Dorothy smiled at Brian. “Maybe you should come too.”

  “I’m not worried about it,” he said. “Not to mention that one of my assignments is my grandfather. You go on with Elsie if you’re scared. I think I can figure it out.”

  We set off around the castle to get the prints from the council members who were still alive. It was a big castle, and the witches, including the council, were spread everywhere inside it. I kept an eye open for the witchfinder in case he had found some answers, but I was afraid that he might be out of his depths without a torture device in his hand. I thought he meant well in trying scientific methods, but he’d been out of circulation for a long time.

  It seemed for an hour or so that the only council members I saw were the ones I wasn’t looking for. But there were Brian, Elsie and Dorothy, lurking around behind their designated council members, trying to think of creative ways to steal their fingerprints without getting caught.

  It was interesting watching the guests talking and drinking champagne. A fountain had been set in the middle of the great hall where the party had originally taken place. I supposed it was easier to conjure than to have servants going from glass to glass refilling drinks.