Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer (Loon Lake Magic Book 1)

by Maaja Wentz

  “History,” was all her aunt would say.

  Aunt Helen tolerated a filthy building site for months during renovations, despite her obsession for order. Mom always said she should have been a scientist. Before, after, and somehow even during the reno, she kept her counters sterilized like a laboratory.

  As they approached, Tonya noticed the window beside the door was shattered. She stepped over a black puddle onto the stoop and pulled away yellow police tape sealing the door.

  “Hello? Aunt Helen?” It was as cold inside as out and reeked of smoke. The small foyer where they stood opened into the shop, giving them a clear view of the premises. To Tonya’s immediate left, a door marked “private” stood between her and the staircase up to her aunt’s apartment.

  Wind gusted in through the end of the shop, which was punched through, leaving a large, charred hole. The walls were streaked with soot near the floor, but the A-frame roof remained pristine. The countertop, ahead of her and to the left, remained untouched, but the glass case beneath it, and every jar and container inside, seemed to have exploded. This was no natural fire.

  Tonya opened the door to the staircase, but a female constable rushed out from the workroom behind the sales counter. “You can’t come in here.” She had mousy hair and pale eyelashes like a child.

  “I’m looking for my aunt.”

  The woman tilted her head slightly and squinted at Tonya, despite the light streaming in from outside. “You’re Helen’s niece? I didn’t recognize you.”

  Without the extra pounds and bulky sweaters. “I remember you. Didn’t you volunteer at the hospital?”

  “Not anymore. Constable Purrell.” Her hands stayed on her hips, but she nodded at Lynette and Tonya. “I’m sorry about your aunt. She’s in hospital.”

  “What? When?”

  “They sent her, after the fire.”

  “She was here?” Her parents had lied. Aunt Helen wasn’t away, being treated in Toronto.

  “What happened?” Lynette asked.

  The constable’s face gained twenty years as she snapped into authority mode. “This is an active investigation. You have to leave.” She moved forward, crowding them.

  “What about my boyfriend, Roberto Alvarez? This was where he was going last night, and now he’s disappeared.”

  “Your boyfriend must be the guy who called us. Probably saved Helen’s life.” The officer backed them to the door. They lingered in the parking lot.

  “Was my Aunt Helen living here or did she just come back last night?”

  Purrell shrugged.

  Lynette waved her hands in distress. “Is Roberto okay? Where is he?”

  Purrell pulled out her phone. “Let me check.” The woman gestured for them to stay outside as she walked back in. Through the broken window, Tonya watched her disappear into Aunt Helen’s workroom.

  “Shhh. Stay here.” Tonya slipped back in and crept upstairs. She hoped to find clues in her aunt’s apartment, something to explain why everyone lied about her whereabouts.

  At the top of the stairs was the start of the living room, narrow like the workroom below it. Tonya ran her finger across the china hutch. Dustless. A few steps in, the living room opened into the kitchen where the counters gleamed. Either her aunt had been living here recently, or she had found a cleaner as fussy as her.

  Tonya decided to check the 1940s Frigidaire which her aunt refused to replace. If it was stocked with fresh produce, it would confirm her aunt never left. She pulled the chrome handle. Inside, the light had burned out, so she swung the door wide, illuminating darkly filled preserve jars, and bowls with lids. No boxes, no store-bought condiments, not even a carton of eggs. Didn’t Aunt Helen eat anything from the grocery store?

  She moved aside to let more light in. No aluminum takeout containers. Not even a plate of leftovers.

  Tonya fished out a bottle of milk and sniffed it. She poured a bit down the sink to see if it looked sour, but it was fresh. She was replacing the milk, angry with her aunt and her whole family for lying to her, when she saw it. A glass jar filled with smoky fluid and pale, thin, pointing . . . fingers. Ugh! A hand.

  Of course her rebel aunt had a hand in a jar.

  Heavy boots stormed up the stairs. Tonya grabbed the jar and shoved it deep into the pocket of her coat, hoping nobody would notice the bulge.

  “Hey! What are you doing up here?”

  Tonya slammed the fridge door shut and scooted out of the kitchen. She recognized Constable Cram, a fleshy local man with a buzz cut. He swaggered across the living room, forcing Tonya to take a step back into the kitchen.

  Tonya didn’t know what to do. She needed to dispose of the hand without getting caught, but Cram wasn’t letting her pass. He towered over her, so close she recoiled from his coffee breath.

  “Well? What are you doing here?”

  “This is my aunt’s place. I’m worried about her.”

  “She’s in Loon Lake Hospital, as you probably know. This is a crime scene. I should arrest you for interfering with a police investigation.” He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

  At times like this, Tonya wished she had her aunt’s gift of persuasion. She’d love to magically send this lunk butterfly hunting.

  “Oh my God. You’re that kid.”

  He didn’t say “that fat kid,” but Tonya could tell he was thinking it.

  Cram stepped back to look her up and down. His eyes rested on her newfound waist and then uncomfortably long on her chest. This was a new sensation for Tonya. She used to feel self-conscious about her chubby belly, but men staring at her chest was worse. She zipped up her coat.

  “Can I go?” She stared him down.

  He stepped aside to let her take the stairs. Tonya imagined his eyes following her.

  Downstairs, she told Constable Purrell. “Your partner’s a creep. He was staring at my chest.”

  “How did you get upstairs?” Purrell backed Tonya into the wall.

  “This is my aunt’s home.”

  “You’re interfering with a crime scene!”

  “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “You ignored the sign and the police tape.”

  “My aunt and I are really close. She’d want me to check on her apartment.”

  Purrell took a step back and pulled out her notepad. “Do you know anything about what happened here?”

  “No.”

  Purrell handed Tonya her card. “Call and set up an interview. You need to answer some questions.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  “Not unless you’re hiding something.”

  Tonya heard Constable Cram’s heavy steps overhead. He was poking around but at least she’d gotten the hand out of the fridge. They’d better not find anything else.

  “Aunt Helen is sick. She’s supposed to be in the hospital in Toronto but yesterday you’re telling me she was here. Looks like you know more about it than me.” She wrote her phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it to Purrell. “I can’t contact my parents. They sold our house and moved and now they won’t answer their cell phone. Can you help me? They’re missing.”

  Tears sprang up in Tonya’s eyes. This fire and their disappearance couldn’t be a coincidence. She massaged her throbbing temples.

  As Tonya described the last time she’d seen them, Purrell jotted details in her notebook.

  “They told you they were moving?”

  “My aunt did.”

  “So, it isn’t a surprise they left?”

  “I moved into residence in September and then, without saying goodbye, just before Halloween, they were gone.”

  “What’s your relationship like with your parents?”

  “I love my parents. They would never leave without a goodbye.”

  Purrell rubbed a creased brow. “So, why didn’t you report them missing sooner?”

  “Their emails said they moved to Toronto, to look after Aunt Helen. I’m worried because I can’t contact them anymore.”
>
  “Hmm.” Purrell snapped the notebook shut. “We’ll be in touch.”

  A horn honked outside.

  “Your friend is waiting for you.”

  CACTUS LADY

  As Tonya got into the car, her roommate was running the engine. “What took you so long?” Lynette pulled onto the road and headed for town.

  “The cops wanted to speak to me.”

  “About Roberto?”

  “My parents. I’m worried they might be mixed up in something bad. I need you to drive me by their house, so I can check something.” She didn’t say, to make sure they aren’t still in the house, dead.

  “And Roberto?”

  “For all we know they’re together. They were the first ones to start acting strange, but I think this is some kind of epidemic.” Tonya didn’t say a curse that spreads like a disease. Showing magic to Priya had been hard enough. She couldn’t imagine showing it to Lynette, who didn’t respect her.

  “I can’t believe you want me to look for them now. Why did you wait until my boyfriend disappeared?”

  “Trust me, this will only take a minute. Either the new owners of the house will come to the door or I’ll figure something out.”

  “I’m not helping you break in.”

  “Fine, I’ll ring the doorbell.” She would only break in if she really had to.

  Lynette sighed and goosed the accelerator.

  Tonya wanted to reveal more, but she had no idea what anything meant. The jar Tonya had taken from the fridge didn’t square with the helpful aunt she worked for as a teenager. Her aunt was caring and kind, and swore she made her cures from plants and minerals without drawing on dark sources of power. Only a necromancer would use human body parts. Could it really have been her aunt who put it there, or was it planted by someone to get her in trouble with City Council? Mundane law could put you in jail, but the Old Families could erase your memories and strip your powers.

  The fiery explosion suggested Aunt Helen was in magical trouble. Was she hiding more skeletons in the closet to go with the pickled hand? Did her parents know?

  In minutes, Lynette raced over the bridge and entered the subdivisions north of town, arriving almost too fast for Tonya. She had to know what happened, but she was afraid of knowing. As long as she didn’t find them, she could pretend her parents were alive and well, living in Toronto to visit her sick aunt. Except since that was a lie, Tonya wondered what else they were hiding.

  Strange cars sat in the driveway. Lynette pulled up to the curb.

  “I’ll wait here while you ring the bell. If you go around the back to break in, I’m going.”

  “You can’t leave me here!”

  “You’ve been twitchy since you talked to the cops. What are you planning?”

  “Nothing, I have a key.” Tonya conveniently failed to mention the locks had been changed.

  “Alright, hurry up!”

  Tonya got out of the car, curiosity pushing her forward, even as dread slowed her steps.

  She tried the door. Locked. She rang the bell and waited.

  After four evenly spaced rings, Tonya was ready to give up when a rumple-faced man answered the door. He had a comb-over and a stained undershirt.

  “Sorry to bother you. I was wondering if you’ve seen my parents?”

  He stared at her, blinked a couple of times before clearing his throat. “We just moved in. We don’t know anybody here.”

  “We used to live here. Jim and Barbara?”

  He smiled and put his palms together, releasing a cloud of stale cologne. “Such a cute couple. They sold us the house, really wanted us to have it. I haven’t seen them since.” He shrugged his hairy shoulders.

  “Did they leave a number? Some way to contact them?”

  “No. They were in a hurry to get out of the country, but when you see them, tell them Phil says hi.”

  Out of the country. Her parents had left the country? Mom was strict, but she would step in front of a charging rhino for Tonya. Her parents avoided magic—and with it, Old Family politics—but abandoning Tonya to face danger alone wasn’t like them. Something made them leave, against their will.

  While Lynette drove to the hospital, Tonya called the local police and reported her parents missing, again. Purrell wasn’t from an Old Family so she wouldn’t know how to help. Only an officer briefed by City Hall would.

  “Before we check the hospital, I have to visit City Hall,” she told Lynette.

  “You must be joking. This is no time to pay your parking tickets!”

  “In Loon Lake we do everything through City Hall. It acts as our law court and local police.” She didn’t say magic police.

  “What about Roberto?”

  “I’ll be fast. You can stay in the car and call the hospital while you’re waiting for me. I’m sure they just kept Roberto for observation. Purrell would have told you if he got hurt.”

  “I can’t wait for you.”

  “Come on, Lynette. I came with you, so now do something for me. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

  “Be fast.”

  As they drove through city streets, Tonya wondered who might help a Pure from a disgraced family. Trads and Mods alike called Pures ignorant for denying their magical heritage. It had scandalized both groups when Mom refused to shun Aunt Helen for selling charms to Mundanes. Between her Mom’s Pure, anti-magic upbringing, and Helen’s maverick attitude, all three factions had reasons to reject Tonya.

  In high school, Tonya had tried to make Mod friends, but they scorned her lack of magical training. Tonya hated that her father was a Mundane and her mother was a Pure. She wound up with Mundane acquaintances and Mod enemies, but yearned for a best friend she could share her secrets with. The closest she came to real friendship were the summers she worked for Aunt Helen.

  They parked in front of City Hall, a pink granite building surrounded by fallow gardens. She hoped to find an ally who could see her issues in shades of gray but in this emergency, she’d take anyone from an Old Family. Tonya pushed through the glass door, her eyes adjusting to filtered light from a skylight in the cupola. The round atrium of City Hall echoed as she crossed the marble floor. By habit, she looked up. A mosaic depicted the top of the Three-Century Ash Tree, encircling the skylight centered in its leaves. A beam of sunlight cast a pretty glow on the stone below her feet.

  Behind the reception counter, a lady with long, ash-blonde hair appeared to be scolding a cactus. She was willowy and smiling, wearing a crocheted vest over a long floral dress. It wasn’t until Tonya got close that Tonya noticed her hair was streaked with gray. The lady’s crow’s feet crinkled but her gaze remained on the cactus, even when she began to speak.

  “Some of us were wondering how long it would take you to come.” Her voice was clear and passionless, a cold breath blowing from a snow-capped mountain.

  “Who?”

  “You’re going to have to be brave.”

  “Are my parents okay?”

  “Helen predicted you would come.”

  “How did you . . .”

  The lady picked up the plant pot and held it between them, her eyes never leaving the spiny green succulent. “She says your parents are alive and well, but they can’t come back to Loon Lake right now. They can’t even come back to the country.”

  “But I need them. Aunt Helen does too.”

  The lady smiled and shook her head. “An Entity is rising, and the Trads are losing control. Anyone who can’t use magic will be caught in between.”

  “Tell me where they are.” Tonya’s voice cracked, and she struggled to compose herself. She shouldn’t show weakness when she didn’t know if this lady was friend or foe. Delivering a message for someone, she appeared to be in a trance.

  “Aunt Helen, is that you?”

  “Your parents are well.”

  “Give me a phone number, an address . . . I need to talk to them.”

  “She warned me you would insist but they must be protected, even from you. If you
find them, you will put them in danger.”

  Tonya considered the lady behind the counter. Could she be speaking for the enemy? Was this a tactic to put Tonya off the scent?

  “Why would Aunt Helen leave me here if it isn’t safe enough for my parents?”

  “She predicted that question.”

  “And?”

  “Helen is working to make sure you never have to know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  With a cough, the lady’s eyes came back into focus. Her voice turned raspy. “Why am I talking to a plant?” She frowned down her nose at Tonya. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need help from the Old Families. There’s some kind of eating disease on campus.”

  “Campus? Well, if it’s just at the university . . .” The aging woman smiled, looking less like a fading flower child now than a shark with her bleached teeth.

  “My aunt seems to be affected, and my parents have left town.” When she caught the pleased look on the woman’s face, Tonya decided not to mention her own cravings.

  “If the disease only affects outsiders, I don’t think the Families need to intervene, do you?” The lady’s eyes sparkled.

  Tonya shivered. “Mundanes are getting sick.”

  “Good riddance.”

  “What?”

  “Look at the time!” The lady grabbed her purse. “Be careful.” She swung open a door in the counter, forcing Tonya to hop out of the way. “We don’t want Family secrets blabbed to outsiders, do we?”

  Before Tonya could reply, the lady strode off with a strength that belied her previously gentle demeanor.

  HAIRS AND HOMEWORK

  Tonya got back to the car and Lynette sped to the hospital. They didn’t speak again until they reached Reception in the front foyer. It was a relief when Tonya recognized Donna Ashton, seated behind the glassed-in desk. The middle-aged brunette from a prominent Mod family was a member of her Mom’s choir. She was also Marta’s mother, but Old Family was Old Family. In an emergency, Tonya couldn’t be choosy.