Even though things seemed bad right now, Belladonna felt blessed that she had people in her life who could make her smile in spite of it all. She also believed Ben when he told her everything would be okay. So it was time to stop worrying and get to work.
She walked back into the house and found her aunt and Murielle in the parlor. They had the box’s contents spread out on the floor, and Sterling was gingerly walking in and out between the objects.
Belladonna felt as if the cat was trying to tell her something, but the familiar bond between them wasn’t strong enough yet for her to interpret the animal’s actions. The cat extended her paw and knocked the little stone dragon over.
Belladonna took it as further confirmation of her suspicions. Sterling was no ordinary kitty, and her extraordinary nature extended far beyond being a perfect familiar.
“Sterling. It’s almost time,” Bella said and leaned over to scratch the cat under the chin.
“What are you talking about, Bells? It’s almost time for what?” Murielle asked
“I’ll see what I can do to get your Granny back here,” Aunt Sumac said and rubbed her hands together with anticipation. “We haven’t had a war in a long time.”
“Oh my god, you two. What are you talking about?” Murielle couldn’t hide the anxiety growing inside her belly.
“No time, Murielle. You’ll know soon enough. Just go around town and gather as many of the other witches as you can. We need to meet in the cemetery at Elsbeth’s grave. Bring your wands and… Oh heck, just bring everything,” Belladonna said and started for her cellar. She needed to get the book of the old ways she kept down there in a secret safe.
“Belladonna Nightshade. I’m not going anywhere and doing anything until you tell me what’s going on!” Murielle said and stomped her foot.
Bella cringed. There was no time for lengthy explanations, but it wasn’t fair to bark orders at her best friend—no, her sister—without any kind of justification. Murielle was anxious, and Belladonna needed her thinking clearly.
“We’re dealing with a dark coven. One that’s hidden right here among us. We need all wands on deck to combat what they’re trying to do. Please, Murielle, go get the other witches,” Belladonna pleaded.
The look of horror that threatened to overwhelm Murielle was just a flash in her eyes. She quickly straightened her back, took a deep breath, and nodded her head yes at Belladonna.
Belladonna went down to her cellar as her best friend went out the door. For a moment, she worried about sending Murielle out alone when there was dark coven readying itself for battle, but it was for that exact reason that Bella was confident that Murielle would be safe for now.
Now that Belladonna had put the pieces together of what Lexi and her Ladies Brigade had in store for her and Sterling, she knew the dark witches would be too busy with their preparations to bother with Murielle. As long as she moved quickly, Muri was in no real danger.
Yet.
The truth was they were all in danger. The entire town was about to be the site of a black magic ritual that would release long dormant evil back into the world.
The reclusive Elsbeth Tory and Sterling were the only things keeping them in check. The cat and her owner were guardians, and when Elsbeth passed, that mantle transferred to Belladonna.
What bothered Belladonna was the knowledge that Sterling hadn’t warned her about what was coming. She guessed in her current form, the cat couldn’t really tell her anything, though.
“Oh my,” Belladonna whispered and brought her fingers up to her lips.
She grabbed the book from the warded safe and headed back up the stairs. Belladonna had never used the information it contained before. There had never been a reason. This book contained the spells and incantations a white witch needed to combat black magic. Up until very recently, there had been no use for such spells.
It had been so long since anyone had practiced the dark arts that this book almost seemed like fairy tales to Belladonna, but her mother had insisted that she keep it locked away.
“The other side could use it to blunt our powers if they were to ever rise again,” Belladonna remembered her mother telling her this when she was a young girl and had grown curious about the book’s contents.
It wasn’t until the night someone killed Elsbeth Tory and stole the dragon’s eye gem from her home that dark magic was threatening to enter the world. That meant that Elsbeth was a Dragon Keeper, but that made Sterling a…
That was it. Sterling was trapped in this form. Once that realization hit her, Sterling started to purr loudly and rub her face roughly against Belladonna’s leg.
“That’s it, huh?” She bent down and rubbed between the kitty’s ears. “I guess I need something to let you out. I need the stone that was in that box.”
Sterling sat back and meowed loudly.
“Aunt Sumac,” Belladonna called out. “I need an unbreakable invisibility spell. Is that something you can do?”
“I don’t know if she can, but I can,” Granny Pepper said and took a puff of her pipe.
“Granny Pepper! You’re back!” Belladonna exclaimed and almost dropped the book on Sterling.
The cat hurried into the parlor to see what Sumac was up to, and Belladonna placed the book on the kitchen island. She opened it up to the page with a cloaking spell without trying.
“The ancestors are guiding us,” Granny Pepper said. “That’s good.”
Aunt Sumac and Belladonna made themselves busy gathering the ingredients they needed for the spell while Granny reread the spell she hadn’t had to use for decades.
Bella handled going out to the garden to get the leaves of one of the giant flytraps. She was gentle with the giant carnivorous plant, and it only snapped at her a little. Belladonna had never been more glad that she’d showed her ancestral garden so much love and devotion.
Hopefully, they could stop the return of black magic, and it would go back to being a hobby and curiosity and not become a necessity. The return of the darkness would mean that, at best, she’d always have to watch over her shoulder, and at worst it meant devoting her life to a war with black magic. It made her shiver to think of it. All she wanted was a quiet life.
Did she even dare to dream of things going back to the way they were before?
“Belladonna, where the heck are you?” she heard Aunt Sumac call from the back porch.
There would be time enough for contemplation later. Belladonna gathered the rest of what she needed and hurried back to the house. Bella hoped that she was right and that Lexi had the Dragon’s Eye stone. If she could get it back, Sterling wouldn’t be trapped in her cat form any longer.
With Sterling free, they could stop the Ladies Brigade from bringing black magic back into the world. Detective Benjamin could arrest Lexi for killing Elsbeth, and probably Jeremy too, and life could go back to the way it was before all of this madness started.
Except that, it couldn’t. No matter what happened today, nothing was ever going to be the same again. As long as they defeated the dark coven, all of the changes would be good, but it was scary none the less.
Having Sterling in her care meant more than just adopting a new familiar. It meant that Belladonna was more than a witch. She just hoped it didn’t mean she had to be a recluse like Elsbeth.
But Elsbeth Tory’s life hadn’t always been secluded. She had a husband who loved her very much, and the stories of her grand garden parties on the estate grounds were legendary. It was only after her husband passed that she began pushing everyone away.
Knowing that she could still have her family in her life made the idea of being the Dragon Keeper a little less frightening for Belladonna. Elsbeth had chosen her for a reason, and now it was time for Bella to take action.
She gathered the last two ingredients from the garden, a lightening toad that would be unharmed and a few drops of dew from the leaves of her prized moonflowers, and headed back into the house. Belladonna could almost feel the eyes of the hooded
figure watching her through the fence as she walked to the house, but she paid them no mind.
It had to be one of the Ladies Brigade. Whoever it was could watch her all they wanted until she slipped into the house. After that, they’d be stuck watching the house, completely unaware that Belladonna had become invisible and walked right past them on her way to the mayor’s mansion.
Fifteen
Forensics Lab
Detective Benjamin watched the young lab technician examine the hairs. Normally there wouldn’t be anyone at the lab this late, but there was a backlog of cases from a crime spree in the city. Even this smaller, downstate lab was running two shifts trying to help them catch up.
Fortunately, one of the techs was easily lured off his current case with the promise of a gift card from his favorite coffee shop.
“A hundred dollar Coffee Hut gift card. You swear,” the young technician, Neil, said while looking closely at the gray cat hairs in the bag.
“Yes. I know there’s not much you can do on such short notice, but if you could just have a look at these hairs and compare them to the one’s taken from Jeremy Whiteside’s body.”
“Sure. Let me go grab that file,” Neil said and left his station to grab the evidence file he needed to make the comparison.
He returned with a box and a file folder. Ben waited patiently as Neil read some of the file and then pulled out a small evidence bag from the box.
“I can’t tell you anything definitive, but if you asked for my expert opinion, I’d say the hairs found on Jeremy Whiteside’s body could have been planted,” Neil said as he put the file and baggie down.
“What do you mean?” But Detective Benjamin already had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
“They also could have been on the pants, and Mr. Whiteside just hadn’t washed them for a while, but that’s unlikely as the hairs are probably years old. That many hairs sticking to his pants for so many years. It’s doubtful. I don’t think they were transferred from the killer as much as they were planted to throw you off track. The hairs found on Jeremy Whiteside were old and decayed, but we’ll still run a DNA match on them. We can compare them to the ones you just gave me. Even if it is a match, it’s still not conclusive evidence.”
“But the old hairs could have been on the killer too, right? I mean, maybe the suspect hadn’t washed her clothes either?” Detective Ben asked.
“I guess that’s true. Do you think your suspect wears clothes that haven’t been washed in years?”
“No. I don’t,” Detective Ben said sternly. He realized he needed to get back to Belladonna right away. Something was wrong. He could feel it like icy fingers creeping up his spine.
“What about my gift card?” Neil asked and then instantly looked like he regretted it.
“Here you go.” Detective Ben said after pulling out his wallet and removing a few twenty-dollar bills. “Forget the gift card, cash will have to do.”
“Thanks, Detective,” the young man said and smiled.
“Now, get back to work. I don’t want other people suffering because you took time away from their case to help me,” Detective Ben said, and he did feel sorry for stealing the technician’s attention away from whatever case he was working on.
“Don’t worry about it. It was time for my lunch break anyway. I’ll just grab a quick sandwich and get back to work. Most profitable lunch break I’ve ever had,” Neil said.
“Clever kid. Thank you for your help.”
“You’re most welcome,” Neil said and tucked the money into his lab coat.
Detective Benjamin left the forensics lab in a hurry. There was no time to waste. If someone was trying to frame Belladonna for both crimes, she was probably in danger.
When Ben got out to his car, he reached into his pocket, and his car keys weren’t there. Detective Ben whirled around and started back towards the lab. He could see through the giant glass windows into the lobby of the lab, and to his relief, his keys were sitting on the reception desk. The night guard picked them up and waggled them in the air. Ben picked up his pace as he hurried back into the building.
“I tried to stop you on your way out, but you blew right past me,” the guard said as he handed Detective Ben his keys.
“Thank you, sir,” he said, took the keys, and rushed back out the door without further comment.
Detective Ben dropped them three times on the way to the car. He was starting to get the feeling that something was trying to keep him from getting back to Belladonna. When Detective Benjamin finally got into the black Cadillac, he was afraid it wouldn’t start. Much to his relief, it roared to life when he turned the key in the ignition.
Backing out of the parking space also proved to be easy, but his progress was going to be a short-lived victory. Ben only made it a few miles before the car refused to accelerate and then rolled to a stop. Detective Ben guided the car onto the shoulder and popped the hood. He didn’t know much about cars, especially not the new ones with their fancy computers, but looking under the hood felt like the right thing to do.
He realized fast that the inner workings of his vehicle were beyond his capabilities. Detective Ben tried to call Officer Terry, and then Chief Frost, but both of their cellphones went to voicemail. Next, Ben called the county dispatcher who usually routed calls for Winterfield since they weren’t big enough to have their own dispatcher in the evenings. Martha, the dispatcher, apologized for having to put him on hold.
“We’re getting all kinds of crazy calls tonight, Detective. It’s like the whole county has gone insane,” she said before pushing the button that started the easy listening hold music intended to keep callers calm.
It wasn’t long before the line just disconnected. He thought briefly about calling back, but Ben knew it wouldn’t do him any good. He needed to get back to Winterfield and Belladonna, but it seemed like everything was conspiring against him. If he had to walk back, it would be hours. Ben started walking anyway. Moving was better than sitting around feeling hopeless.
He’d only walked about a mile when Ben heard the rumble of a big truck off in the distance. It was approaching him from behind, so he moved off to the side of the road a little more. Ben turned around and started walking backward once the truck got closer. He waved his arms in the air but tried not to let his hopes get too high.
His heart started to race with anticipation when he heard the driver applying the brakes. Something caught his eye off in the woods just west of the highway. For one moment, he thought this might be another trick intended to keep him from reaching Winterfield, but what he saw in the trees was none other than the ghost of Elsbeth.
She smiled at him, and Detective Ben realized that even though something was conspiring against him, he still had friends to help him through the worst of it. The truck ground to a halt next to him and as the driver opened the passenger door, Elsbeth vanished.
“Where ya headin?” the cheerful, plump driver asked.
“I need to get to Winterfield,” Detective Ben said hopefully.
“Well hop on in, partner. I’m driving through there. My name’s Jim.”
“Hello, Jim, and thank you. I’m Ben,” Detective Ben said as he pulled himself into the cab of the truck.
The drive to Winterfield was relatively short, and Jim the truck driver spent the entire trip entertaining Detective Ben with tales of his seven grandchildren. There was nothing more Ben could do until he got back to town, so he just sat back, tried to relax, and enjoyed the old man’s stories.
He was nearly asleep when they pulled off the highway at the Winterfield exit. The sound of wailing sirens and the ominous glow of an inferno jolted him back to consciousness. He closed his eyes and rubbed them with the backs of his fists. Detective Ben almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Was the police station on fire?
777 Cornland Lane
“Eye of newt and toys that bubble. Spiders are gross, and boys are trouble,” Aunt Sumac chanted in her most seriou
s spell casting voice.
“Aunt Sumac,” Belladonna chastised, but it was hard for her to conceal her smile.
“Cheese and rice,” Granny Pepper said and snatched the spell book from Aunt Sumac’s hands. “I’ll handle this,” she said and huffed, but both Sumac and Belladonna could tell she was hiding a smile as well.
“No, we’ll handle this.”
All of them turned quickly to see Petunia standing in the entryway to the parlor. She did a little curtsy and then walked into the room.
“Mom!” Belladonna exclaimed and ran to embrace her.
All of the women piled on for a hug. They took a minute to just be close to one another before beginning the fight. Then, Belladonna led them to the center of the room where they joined hands.
Their chants went up to the elders. They rose higher and higher filling the night with their power if not with their sound. Even the dark coven could feel the power of the Winterfield Clan that evening.
At the governor’s mansion, the Ladies Brigade stole themselves against the white magic they felt pricking the darkness they were trying to manifest, but most of them knew their grasp was slipping. Still, they feared Lexi enough to keep preparing.
When they were done, they filed out of the house into the dark street and made their way silently to the graveyard to begin the ritual. That left the mansion unguarded. They never thought to ward the doors or leave someone behind to keep out intruders. In their complete arrogance, they assumed that no one would come.
They were wrong. Back at Belladonna’s house, the spell was working exactly as planned, thanks to the assistance of the guardian elders. Bella faded to invisibility as if her form was evaporating into the waning moonlight.
Once she could no longer be seen, Belladonna went outside and quietly made her way to the Mayor’s mansion. The rest of her family went outside behind her and saw Murielle making her way towards them with many of the rest of Winterfield’s witches. They came together with just nods and no words before turning the opposite direction and heading towards the cemetery together. Murielle and Belladonna’s family would not confront the dark coven until Bella returned, but they wanted to be close and ready.
Magic & Mystery Page 17
