Sleaze on the Beach

by Sara Bourgeois

  “Well, he hasn’t come back yet, so we can assume he was spooked pretty good.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Blossom said and started for the door.

  “Wait, Blossom, no. We can’t use magic to wipe his memory.”

  “Starla, we don’t have any other choice. I’ll use as little as possible, but we cannot let him remember this. It would cause chaos.”

  “Alright,” Starla said. “Just a little.”

  When Blossom left the room, Kane turned to Starla. “Thank you, really. I’m grateful enough that I won’t even pry that much into why you were here,” Kane said calmly. “Now, what’s this stuff about not using magic? I didn’t know.”

  “Well, we didn’t think you’d try, so we figured we’d have time to talk to you,” Starla said. “We’re having a witch meeting tonight. What you need to know is that there is a darkness on or around the island that gets stronger as we get stronger. That means we need to use magic as little as possible.”

  “We just got our powers back, and now we can’t use them?”

  “I know it’s not fair, but the universe isn’t always fair. We’ll figure this out.”

  “So, is it witches everywhere who can’t use magic? Or is it just here on the island.”

  “I assume it’s just here, and I know that doesn’t make much sense. I’ll figure it out. We just need to be careful until I do.”

  “We’ll figure it out together.”

  “Hey, as a way to repay me for saving your butt, you could tell me what you found in here.” Starla winked.

  “Starla,” Kane groused. “Are you looking for trouble again?”

  “Apparently, not as hard as you were,” she said with a laugh.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “I think the deceased wasn’t staying here alone. I’ve found a few things that indicate a woman might have been sharing the room with him.”

  “Really,” Starla said. “Now that’s surprising, given everything I’ve heard about him.”

  “Starla.”

  “What? I live on this island too. I happen to have a house on the beach not far from where he was found. I was just having a friendly chat with some of my neighbors. And some tourists. No big deal.”

  “Starla.”

  “Well, I guess I won’t share what I learned with your grumpy behind.”

  “Spill it,” Kane said, but he couldn’t resist the smile that played at the corners of his mouth.

  After Starla filled Kane in on what she’d learned that morning, she and Blossom went back to her house to find Damek. When they walked in the door, they found him squared off with Presto. Starla wondered how long they’d been in a standoff.

  “Get this fool out of here,” Presto said as soon as he saw Starla. “I don’t want him anywhere near me ever again.”

  It was then that Starla realized Presto was sitting on her closed laptop. “Presto, it’s not like he’s going to possess you again.”

  “I don’t care. I had to live with this fool for a really, really long time. I don’t want him anywhere near me.”

  “I would watch your tongue, cat,” Damek warned.

  “Hey,” Starla said more forcefully than she’d expected. “Don’t even imply that you are threatening my familiar.”

  Both Damek and Presto turned their heads toward her. They had a look of surprise plastered all over their faces.

  “I’m sorry,” Damek said. “I just want to use the computer. I’ll take it in the other room and give you your space.”

  “I just want all of the years you stole from me back,” Presto said sarcastically.

  “Done,” Damek said with a wave of his hand.

  “Noooooo!” Starla and Blossom shouted as a slight earthquake trembled below their feet.

  “Oh crap,” Damek said. “I forgot.”

  “What was that?” Blossom asked.

  Before Damek could respond, Presto practically burst with happiness. “Oh wow. I feel like a kitten again. Thank you!”

  “You’re most welcome,” Damek said. “Are we square?”

  “I’ll think about it,” Presto said, but he jumped down off the computer.

  While Damek researched things, Starla and Blossom ran to the store to pick some things up for the meeting. They figured the meeting would be a lot more pleasant with appetizers.

  Thomas, the store owner, was busy with another customer when they walked in, but he gave the witches a little wave as they made their way to the refrigerated section.

  They gathered up what they needed to make sliders, mini pigs in a blanket, and empanadas. “Should we just use refrigerated dough?” Blossom asked, but she’d already started to take a couple of tubes of the dough out of the case.

  “Sure. I mean, unless you want to make fresh dough,” Starla answered.

  “I think the premade stuff tastes fine. Is it too much like cheating?”

  “I doubt the guys will notice. Get the name brand stuff so it doesn’t have that chemical taste from the container,” Starla said.

  They took their purchases up to the counter to check out. Thomas was still talking to the young woman who he’d been conversing with when they came in. Starla took a closer look and realized the woman was Thomas’s daughter. They must have been having issues because their discussion had grown heated since Blossom and Starla had come into the store.

  Fortunately, the second register was open. Natalie, Thomas’s part-time helper, smiled at the witches. “Hey, ladies. It looks like someone is going to have a party.”

  “Just a small double-date type thing,” Starla said with a pleasant smile. She liked Natalie, but the teen had a predilection for gossip. “Oh, you and that hunky sheriff sure have been getting along well lately.” Natalie flashed a smile. “What about you, Blossom? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

  Blossom narrowed her eyes, and Starla could tell she was about to unleash on the high schooler.

  “She’s dating someone new in town,” Starla said quickly before Blossom could lay into Natalie. “It’s no one you would know.”

  “His name is Damek Dred,” Blossom blurted. “He just moved here.”

  “Well, that’s quite a name,” Natalie said.

  “It is. He’s old money,” Blossom once again blurted.

  Starla shot her a look, but she could understand why Blossom felt the need to defend Damek. She herself didn’t like her old friend being scrutinized by a teenage checkout girl. Besides, money seemed to be the only thing that the regular, sublunary people understood. In a way, magic was like money for witches. Some were born with it and others had to earn it. The amount of magic a witch had could be used to put them in a class system. Starla didn’t see her fellow witches that way, but many other magicals did.

  “We should get going,” Starla said and tapped her fingers impatiently on the checkout counter. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

  They finished checking out, and Starla cast one last look over her shoulder at Thomas and his daughter. She regretted not getting to say thank you again for keeping the store open so that she and Kane could buy Presto tuna.

  Blossom and Starla went back to the house. Damek was sitting on the sofa reading something intently while Presto slept next to him. Starla wondered if it was actually hard for them to be apart after being so close for so long.

  The two witches went to the kitchen to prepare the food and left Damek to his research. It made Starla smile to see Blossom and Damek sneaking glances at each other when they thought the other one wasn’t looking.

  Just as they finished putting the food on trays, Kane walked through the front door looking worn out. Starla wished she could put off the meeting until later, but it was important. She and Blossom put the three trays of food, along with plates and napkins, in the living room on the table.

  They all grabbed a beer from the fridge and gathered around the coffee table. The delicious finger foods made the discussion easier, as appetizers are known to do. The discussion was brief. Everyone already knew they couldn’t
use magic. What they didn’t know was why.

  “I don’t see how this makes any sense,” Blossom said. “Witches use magic all the time and all over the universe. Heck, they are probably using it in other universes too. The darkness doesn’t build up any more than the light does.”

  “What does that mean anyway?” Kane asked as he took an empanada. “The darkness is building into what? Is it a monster? Is it some kind of smothering kill shot?”

  That thought sent a shiver through Starla. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. I’ve tried calling Juniper, and I’ve tried emailing her too. I can’t get through. Whatever it is, it’s cut us off from her and the Elders. Unless I can get through to her in the dreamscape again, we’re on our own.”

  The four witches drank their beer and munched on the delicious appetizers in silence after that. When they were done eating, Damek took Blossom out for ice cream. Kane offered to take Starla too, but she could tell he was exhausted.

  “Nah, let’s just stay in.”

  Kane still wasn’t comfortable leaving Starla alone, so he settled in for another night on her sofa. Unfortunately, around three in the morning, his phone began to ring. He was on call, so he had to respond to an issue at a local tourist bar. Some college kids had gotten rowdy when the bar tried to close for the night.

  Starla wandered out of her bedroom sleepily. Kane was lacing up his boots.

  “Go back to bed,” he said softly. “Well, first lock the door behind me. I’ll be back as fast as I can.” He looked worried.

  “The wards are still fine,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Kane wasn’t happy about it, but he had to go. As much as he wanted to protect Starla, she could take care of herself. He also had a job to do. He had to protect and serve the island. The residents and tourists of Clownfish Cay had been his responsibility for years.

  When Kane was gone, Starla went back to bed. Her eyes were closed, and she felt sleep slipping over her like a heavy, comforting blanket. She smelled Juniper’s perfume oil and thought she heard a tapping on her closet door. Juniper had found her way back through the dream veil to help. That’s when she heard someone walking around outside her bedroom window.

  It sounded as if the person stumbled and they cursed under their breath. Starla’s heart rate had elevated when she heard what could have been a prowler, but it began to slow. She assumed the person was a drunk neighbor or tourist who’d wandered too far away from their hotel. She just hoped it wasn’t too late to connect with Juniper.

  Starla closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Presto jumped up on the bed, and Starla waited for him to walk in a few circles and then settle next to her legs. But he didn’t.

  Her eyes opened again, and Presto was sitting on the bed, staring at the bedroom window. His hair stuck up, and his eyes were wide.

  “Shhh,” Presto hissed.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I said shhhhh.”

  “I know what you said, but why don’t you tell me what’s going on anyway,” Starla said.

  “You are impossible, woman. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on.”

  “So you heard someone outside too?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Well, I heard them, but I assumed it was someone drunk and stumbling through the yard to the beach.”

  “I don’t think so,” Presto said and moved across the bed to a spot closer to the window. “I think they stopped moving.”

  Starla had assumed that the person had walked off. She didn’t even consider that they were just standing there outside the bedroom window. It gave her the creeps to think that they were there, right in that moment, looking at her window. She knew it was impossible, but all of a sudden, she felt like they could see her.

  “I’m going to look out the window,” Starla said, and why not? She already felt like the person was looking at her through the blinds, so she might as well look outside and see what was up.

  “No, don’t,” Presto whispered.

  “What? Are you afraid?”

  “No. I’m not a scaredy-cat. I just have a bad feeling.”

  “I’m going to look,” Starla said resolutely. “I have to know.”

  She crept off the bed as quietly as possible and padded across the floor to the window. The rug under the bed kept her footsteps silent.

  Starla reached up to the wand that opened the blinds, and just as she was about to turn it, they heard a tapping on the back patio door.

  Both jumped half out of their skin. Starla spun around. Presto jumped off the bed and ran into the hallway.

  “Lock the bedroom door,” he said. “I can protect you from out here.”

  “That’s very noble of you, Presto, but I’m not leaving you alone to fight whoever is harassing us.”

  “I should put a shield around us,” Presto said.

  “No, that’s a terrible idea. We have to use as little magic as possible,” Starla said. “We can’t use any to defend ourselves unless we absolutely have too.”

  “Starla…” Presto was cut off by the sound of a tap tap tapping on the patio door. For a moment, it sounded as if someone was trying to pull on the door. “Starla, whoever that is, they aren’t here to sell us candy bars.”

  “Let me go first. If we need to use magic, I’ll defend us,” Starla said as she brushed past Presto and charged into the living area.

  She saw the flash of a jacket as the person who’d been at the patio door fled around the side of the house. Starla froze, and Presto joined her in the living room.

  “Are they gone?” he asked and jumped onto the back of the sofa.

  “I don’t know,” Starla said. “They left the patio door, but they might have just gone around to the other side of the house.”

  “You should call Kane,” Presto said. “If we can’t use magic, then we need to call him.”

  “He’s at work.”

  “He’s the police, Starla. This is his work.”

  Someone knocked on the front door.

  tap tap tap

  “I know you’re in there,” a gravelly voice singsonged through the door. “Come out, little witch. Come out and play.”

  Starla went to the kitchen and got her biggest knife from the block. She ran her hand over it and charged the blade with just a touch of defensive magic.

  “I kinda wish I had a gun,” Starla said.

  “I kinda wish I had thumbs,” Presto retorted.

  tap tap tap

  “What’s it going to be?” the voice called from the other side of the door. “Are you coming out, or am I coming in?”

  “Hey, get away from that door!” Starla heard the voice from the street. It was Damek. She had no idea why he was out there, but she was relieved that he was there.

  The would-be intruder took off around the house. Damek gave chase and Starla ran to the patio door. She had no intention of going outside, but she wanted to keep an eye on the creep.

  She watched for a few seconds and never saw the stranger. Damek ran around the house to the beach, but he stopped. Starla watched him look up and down the beach and around the yard. Eventually, he just shrugged and made his way to the patio.

  Starla let him in and locked the door behind him. “Thank goodness you came along.”

  “Hey, I could have handled it,” Presto protested.

  “I know,” Starla said, “but it’s good that while you were protecting me, Damek scared the creeper off.”

  Damek stayed with Starla until Kane returned. They filled Orion in on what had happened. Kane’s pained expression told Starla that he felt guilty for leaving her, but she had to find a way to convince him that it wasn’t his fault. She didn’t need a babysitter, and Kane needed to be able to do his job without feeling guilty about having to leave her alone.

  Chapter Six

  Starla had a hard time falling asleep even after Kane showed up and took his place on the sofa. It was closer to dawn than midnight when sh
e finally drifted off, with Presto asleep at her feet.

  She slept in the next day, and there was nothing to wake her up since Kane went to work early. At some point, she needed to get her candle-selling thing figured out, but the Elders had sent her some extra money after the storm. Starla knew it was out of guilt because they’d sent her to the island to start a colony and she had to stay even if that would never actually happen.

  Her phone ringing was what brought Starla out of her peaceful slumber. It was Blossom, so she answered it.

  “Hey, witch, I’m at the shop. Come visit me right away. Bring coffee and sausage biscuits.”

  Starla chuckled. “Sure, why not.”

  “Over and out.”

  Starla started to say that wasn’t what people really said, but Blossom had already hung up. “I’m going out to see Blossom at the gift shop,” she said to Presto instead.

  After showering and putting on a bright yellow sundress, something she never would have worn before coming to Clownfish Cay, Starla fed Presto and headed out to pick up the coffee and sausage biscuits.

  There were several places on the island to acquire such goods, but Starla knew the place Blossom wanted her breakfast from was the fast-food chain near the docks.

  Why Blossom hadn’t just picked up her own coffee and breakfast sandwich on the way into work, Starla didn’t know. Well, she suspected. Starla didn’t mind paying, though. She could sense that Blossom had some sort of financial difficulty, despite working full-time, but she didn’t ask. It was most likely that Blossom was buying the gift shop from the owner. The storm had made things more difficult for business owners on the island who depended on tourism. Starla knew that Blossom would pay her back in spades once she was back on her feet.

  There wasn’t much of a line at the counter when Starla walked into Chuckey’s. It was getting to be late morning, and the breakfast rush was over. The little fast-food joint would be overrun when the next cruise ship docked, but that was still a couple of hours away.

  She decided to order two sausage biscuits and two orders of hash browns. Chuckey’s had regular coffee and fancy blended coffee drinks. Starla decided on the maple blended frozen coffees. Of course, maple coffee got her thinking that a couple of orders of the dippable waffle sticks would be good too.