Dances With Witches (A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book 5)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Don’t worry about the magic stuff,” Boone said blandly as he absently patted Lindsey’s shoulder. “Why don’t you head over and have a sarsaparilla in the saloon, huh?”

  Annoyance galloped into Lindsey’s eyes. “I’m not a kid. I don’t need sarsaparilla to soothe me.”

  “Then get some sarsaparilla for me.”

  “But—”

  “Just go.” Boone didn’t mean to snap at her, but his temper was frayed. He corrected his tone the moment he saw the tears spring into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell like that. I’m just upset. I need to focus on Angel, though. That means you have to get out from underfoot.”

  Lindsey wasn’t ready to cede defeat. “I can help look for her.”

  “No, you can’t.” Boone was grim. “You have to go into the saloon and let the rest of us work.” His eyes slid to the parking lot as a steady stream of vehicles started pulling in. “Angel has to be our priority, Lindsey. I’m sorry but that’s just the way it is.”

  HANNAH MARCHED ALONG THE PATH THAT led to the creek, grim determination fueling her. Jackie and Danielle trailed several feet behind, worry cascading over them.

  “I don’t understand how she just disappeared,” Danielle said. “I mean ... you don’t think she voluntarily wandered off into the storm, do you?”

  That was one of the scenarios Hannah had been playing with. The other was that something evil had entered the barn during the storm and taken Angel ... perhaps the very same something that caused the accident the previous evening.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Hannah skimmed the ground looking for fresh footprints. Even though she would’ve enjoyed the dog’s comforting presence, she opted to lock Jinx in the apartment so she wouldn’t have to worry about him. She had no doubt he would seek retribution in her absence. In fact, she was resigned to it.

  “I don’t see why anyone would leave in the middle of a dust storm,” Jackie volunteered. “The sand hurts when it pelts your skin. She wouldn’t have made it five feet without having to turn back.”

  “Maybe that’s what she tried to do,” Danielle noted. “She likely couldn’t open her eyes because of the sand and could’ve gotten lost. Maybe she didn’t mean to wander away.”

  “Or maybe she was taken,” Hannah growled, planting her hands on her hips and looking around. She was frustrated beyond words, her blood pressure threatening to cause a meltdown, and her stomach threatening a revolt.

  “Taken?” Jackie licked her lips, uncertain. “I don’t think I understand. Why would anyone take a random teenager?”

  “I don’t know, but maybe it wasn’t random.” Hannah had been mentally sorting through the mess since they discovered Angel was missing. “Just hear me out.” She explained about the accident, what happened to Angel’s parents, and how she ended up staying at Boone’s house. Since Jackie and Danielle had been off the entire day, they’d missed out on the gossip.

  “Boone said she mentioned seeing a shadow before the accident,” Hannah explained. “I didn’t think much of it because she’d been through a terrible ordeal, but what if there really was a monster of some sort out there?”

  “You didn’t see it, though,” Jackie pointed out. “You were right there.”

  “I was also focused on the sky. There was weird lightning. Cooper saw it, too. It wasn’t just a storm.”

  Realization dawned on Jackie. “You’re thinking the dust storm wasn’t just a storm either.”

  “It makes sense.”

  “Except I saw on the news that the forecaster said dust storms were possible up here today,” Danielle countered. “He was saying it this morning. Angel wasn’t even out here at that point.”

  Hannah hadn’t considered that. “No, but the storm was more intense than others we’ve had like it since I’ve been here. There was zero notice. One second it was sunny and the next second it was on top of us. It was so fast we couldn’t even get to Angel.”

  “That does sound weird,” Jackie conceded. “Did Angel say what the shadow she saw looked like?”

  Hannah shook her head. “I was going to ask her, but we had all day. She was upset because her parents hadn’t woken up. I didn’t want to push her before she was ready. I thought, if she was more comfortable with me, she would be more likely to open up about what she’d witnessed. I never got the chance to test my theory, though.”

  “Well, it definitely could be supernatural.” Jackie exhaled hard enough to lift up her bangs. “We’re searching blind out here, though.”

  “We’re not giving up.” Hannah couldn’t bear the thought of ending the search. At least this way she was doing something. If she stopped, she would have nothing to do but think about the myriad ways she’d failed Angel. “We have to at least go down to the creek. That’s the boundary.”

  Jackie looked as if she wanted to argue but ultimately nodded. “Okay. We’ll head to the creek.”

  Hannah marched the rest of the way up the hill and then pulled up short, a sharp buzzing sound tickling her inner ear.

  “What the heck is that?” She stuck her pinkie in her right ear and jiggled it around.

  “What’s what?” Danielle asked with a blank face.

  “That!” Hannah continued trying to clean out her ear. “That ... ringing sound.”

  Danielle shifted her gaze to Jackie, concern etching across her face. “I don’t hear a ringing sound. Do you?”

  “No.” Jackie tilted her head and concentrated. “I ... well, that’s not entirely true. I hear a very low buzzing, like maybe a bee is around somewhere.”

  “It’s not a bee.” The noise was enough to have Hannah’s agitation flaring. “It’s really loud, like maybe a power line fell or something.” She scanned the ground. “You don’t see a power line out here, do you?”

  Jackie was incredulous. “I hate to break it to you but there are no power lines out here. There’s only one at the top of the mountain.”

  “Oh, right.” Hannah rocked back on her heels. “Then what is that noise?”

  Jackie worked her jaw for an extended beat and then raised her hands. “Conmostro,” she muttered under her breath.

  “What’s that?” Hannah asked, intrigued.

  “Latin,” Danielle replied. “She’s using her magic to see if there’s other magic close by.”

  “I didn’t know that you could do that.”

  “I believe that’s because you keep finding trouble rather than taking the classes I’ve so generously offered,” Jackie intoned.

  “Good point.” Hannah forced a smile as her eyes drifted to a spot about five feet in front of her. Either it was a trick of the sun or there was legitimately a shimmer there. “Try it again.”

  Jackie repeated the words, and this time the shimmering became more apparent.

  “Is that ....?” Danielle shuffled closer, her eyes going wide. “It is.”

  “What is it?” Hannah was alarmed at the woman’s sudden change in demeanor.

  “It’s a wall of sorts,” Jackie replied, her eyes narrowed as she studied the shimmer. After a beat, she extended her hands and allowed them to move over the area. “It’s more like a dome.”

  “A dome?” Hannah had trouble wrapping her head around what the other witch was saying. “What does that mean?”

  “I’m not sure.” Jackie allowed her hand to cross the barrier. “It’s not keeping us inside. I mean … we’re not stuck or anything.”

  “It’s there for a reason,” Hannah was adamant. “It has to be a way to trap us inside.”

  “Except it doesn’t trap us inside.”

  “Then it does something else.”

  “I would agree. I have no idea what that something else is, though. We need to test it.”

  Hannah was all for that, although her heart still ached at the thought of Angel being taken. “Do we think this has something to do with Angel going missing?”

  “I don’t see how, but it seems like too much of a coincidence to be a separate phenomenon. I guarant
ee this wasn’t here two days ago. I walked down to the creek then. I would’ve noticed it.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  Jackie shrugged. “We run some tests. That’s all we can do.”

  That wasn’t what Hannah wanted to hear. “There must be something more than that.”

  “Not that I’m aware of. If you have any ideas, though, now would be the time to spring them on us.”

  “I need to think.”

  “That sounds like a terrifying prospect.”

  7

  Seven

  “We’ve been over this town from top to bottom,” Boone announced when he tracked down Cooper in front of the saloon. “We’ve gone through every room ... and closet ... and storage shed. Angel isn’t here.”

  Cooper worked his jaw. He understood why Boone was upset, but he didn’t feel a lecture was in order. “Then we’ll have to expand the search.”

  “I have search dogs on the way.” Boone planted his hands on his hips. “I’m hopeful we’ll find her but ... what if we don’t?”

  Cooper felt sick to his stomach at the prospect. “We’ll find her.”

  “And what if she’s dead when we find her?”

  The uneasy sensation in his stomach continued to eat Cooper from the inside. “She’s not dead.”

  “How can you be certain of that?”

  “I’m not certain. I just ... there’s no reason for her to be dead.”

  “Oh, well ... there’s no reason.” Boone threw his hands in the air, fury positively rolling off him in waves. “Do you have any idea how bad this is going to be if we can’t find that girl?”

  “I’m not particularly worried about how bad it’s going to be for us. I’m more worried about Angel.”

  “Oh, don’t even.” Boone rarely lost his temper with Cooper, but he was a man on the edge and couldn’t seem to control his emotions. “I am listed as that girl’s temporary guardian right now. She’s my ward. That means I could be arrested if we can’t find her ... or if something worse has happened to her.”

  “We’ll find her.” Cooper was insistent. “She couldn’t have gone far.”

  “If she wandered off on her own, perhaps that’s true. What if she was taken, though?”

  Cooper had been entertaining that thought himself, although he didn’t want to acknowledge it. “Why would somebody take her?”

  “How should I know? Why would somebody cause that accident last night? She’s at the center of two mysteries. Maybe there’s something different about the girl.”

  Cooper’s heart sank. He honestly didn’t want to acknowledge it as a possibility. It made a sick sort of sense, though. “You think some paranormal creature caused that accident last night because of her.”

  “I wouldn’t have said that last night. Now, though ... I don’t know. It’s too much of a coincidence to think these two incidents aren’t related.”

  “I know.” Cooper heaved out a sigh and dragged a hand through his hair. “We need to figure it out.”

  Boone practically lost it. “What do you think I’m trying to do?”

  “I’m not suggesting that you’re doing nothing. You’re not the only one with something to lose here, though. On top of Angel, who is a vulnerable teenager, Hannah is also at risk. Do you think Casper Creek is going to survive if there’s yet another unexplained death up here so close to the others?”

  Boone was taken aback. “I didn’t think about that.”

  “Well, I guarantee it’s all Hannah can think about. She’s also the one who invited Angel up here. She will drown in guilt if we can’t figure out where that girl is and get her back safely.”

  All of the anger Boone had been hoarding like gold eked out of him. “I didn’t consider any of that.” He was rueful. “I couldn’t see beyond myself. I just don’t want anybody coming into my house and accusing me of anything. I could lose Lindsey if that happens.”

  “What?” Cooper’s mouth dropped open. “How do you figure that?”

  “If I get arrested because of Angel, who is going to take care of Lindsey? I have no family in the area. At best they’ll send her to my sister’s place in Nebraska. At worst—” He broke off and swallowed hard.

  “At worst they’ll put her in the system,” Cooper surmised, nauseated. “I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry.”

  “She’s been through enough. Between the loss of her mother and having to navigate all those teenage hormones without a woman’s influence ... it’s too much.”

  Cooper read between the lines to what he wasn’t saying. “You think the loss of Angel is going to traumatize her further.”

  “They barely know each other, but it doesn’t matter. Lindsey is a strong girl. She’s also dramatic and prone to hysterical fits. We need to find Angel.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. I think to do that, we have to track down Hannah. It’s going to take all of us working together to figure this out.”

  For the first time since arriving on the scene an hour before, Boone cracked a smile. “I think you’re just worried about Hannah and want a reason to chase her.”

  “I would be lying if I said that wasn’t my primary motivation.” Cooper was sheepish. “You didn’t see her. She was really upset. I need to make sure she’s okay.”

  “Well, I think you’re going to have a chance ... and I don’t think you’re going to have to do any wandering to find her.” The sheriff inclined his head toward the far end of town, to where Hannah, Jackie, and Danielle were emerging. “Apparently they didn’t have any luck.”

  “It doesn’t look like it.” Cooper tamped down his leaping heart and waited for Hannah to stop in front of him. He wanted to pull her in his arms and soothe her, but the wild look in her eyes had him taking a step back. “Did you find anything?”

  “There aren’t any footprints out there that we can find,” Jackie replied. She seemed to be the calmest member of the group. “We did find something else, though.”

  Cooper’s forehead wrinkled. “Do I want to know what?”

  “Probably not, but it’s a problem for all of us so we have no choice.” She hesitated, sparing a glance for Hannah and then barreling forward. “Somebody erected what looks to be a magical forcefield around Casper Creek.”

  Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that. Cooper glanced between Jackie and Hannah, his mind busy, and then shook his head. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “We’re going to need more information,” Boone prodded.

  “We don’t have a lot of information,” Jackie countered. “We don’t know what it is. We found it over the hill and followed it around for a bit. We’re pretty sure it covers the entire town, although we didn’t track it the entire way because it would’ve taken the rest of the day.”

  “And what does it do?”

  “We’re not sure. We tested it. We can walk through it. It doesn’t stop us from leaving or empty any magical reserves. It’s just there right now ... doing something.”

  “That sounds like a pretty vague answer,” Cooper noted.

  “It is,” Jackie agreed. “It’s all we’ve got, though. All I can say with any degree of certainty is that it popped up in the past twenty-four hours. Who put it there and why it’s there are questions that I can’t answer.”

  “Well, great.” Boone rubbed his cheek. “How do we figure out what’s going on?”

  “You know how,” Hannah said, her voice low. “There’s only one person who might be able to help us.”

  Cooper immediately started shaking his head. “Absolutely not. We can’t go to Astra.”

  “We don’t have a choice.” Hannah was matter-of-fact. “She’s the most powerful witch in these parts and she’s uniquely familiar with Casper Creek. We need her expertise.”

  “And what if she’s behind this?”

  “Then we’ll be able to gauge her reaction.” She softened her voice. “You know I’m right. Astra is the only one we can go to right now who might be able to provide answers.”

/>   Because he agreed — however reluctantly — Cooper offered up a stiff nod. “Okay, but I’m going to do the talking.”

  “Not this time. It has to be me. You didn’t even see the dome.”

  “That doesn’t matter. I know Astra better than anyone. I can tell when she’s lying.”

  “She’s always lying, at least on some level. It honestly doesn’t matter who questions her. She’s not going to openly provide answers. We need to look between the layers of lies and find a tiny gem of truth. That’s all we’re going to get.”

  “Fine. We’ll both question her. It’s something we have to do together, though.”

  Hannah managed a smile, although it was wan. “I’m looking forward to another adventure.”

  Her sloping shoulders told Cooper that was the exact opposite of the truth, but he didn’t push her. The day was already long and it was nowhere near over. Hannah was right. Astra was their best bet to find answers.

  That didn’t mean he had to like it.

  ASTRA’S MAGIC SHOP LOOKED THE SAME as always. The stained-glass accents hanging from the windows created a kitschy feel and the wind chimes scattered across the front of the building provided an otherworldly atmosphere.

  “It seems quiet,” Cooper noted as he hopped out of his truck. There were only two other vehicles in the lot. He recognized one as belonging to Astra, the white-haired witch who had betrayed him and everyone at Casper Creek, and decided the other likely belonged to an employee.

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Hannah noted as she joined him in front of the truck. “It’s not as if she’s going to stand in front of the store and do a little dance of victory because she thinks she got one over on us.”

  “I guess that’s true.” Cooper exhaled heavily and moved his hand to her back. “Try not to fly off the handle. Astra thrives on stuff like that. She’ll consider it a win if she manages to throw you off your game.”

  “I have no intention of letting her win,” Hannah reassured him. “We can’t let Angel lose either, though. She’s just a girl.”

  “We’ll find her.” Cooper pressed a reassuring kiss to her forehead and then started for the door. He held it open so Hannah could slip underneath his arm and enter first. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim interior and he grimaced when the figure behind the counter took shape. “Hello, Stormy.”