“I didn’t realize you spoke, Greek, is it?”
“Yeah,” Kyran smiled. “I picked it up after spending some time in this area a while back.”
“What did you order?”
“I told him to bring us a bit of everything. I hope that’s alright.”
“That sounds great.”
About five minutes later the waiter returned, bearing a plate full of amazing appetizers. Kyran and I spent the next little while stuffing ourselves full of pita bread with the most delicious hummus I had ever tasted in my life, stuffed grape leaves, olives, calamari, and more.
“This is amazing,” I said through a mouthful of food. I didn’t ever want to leave this place. The sound of the sea lapping against the sand made the perfect backdrop to this delicious meal served in a warm, cozy environment.
“It is, isn’t it?” Kyran grinned. “And there’s still the main course.”
For the next hour Kyran and I stuffed ourselves full of the freshest seafood I had ever eaten in my life.
“You’re going to have to roll me back to the portal,” I joked.
“At least it’s downhill,” Kyran replied, and I laughed so hard some of the other patrons started to look our way. By the time we finished our meal, it wasn’t just my stomach that was full—my heart was as well.
“I hope Ellie is ok,” I said as we made our way back toward the portal.
“I’m sure she’ll forgive you for not being there. After all, I’m sure you know as much as I do about paranormal law.”
“Oh, please. You know way more about it than I do.”
“That’s true. But compared to my father, we’re both awful at it.”
I laughed. It was nice to know that the best lawyer in the paranormal world was on the case.
“Thanks for today,” I told Kyran when we reached town again. “It was nice.”
“We should do it again sometime,” he told me with a wink, and I felt that all-too-familiar blush crawl up my face once more.
“We should,” I managed to stammer out, hopefully sounding less awkward than I felt.
“I’ll get that DVD for you by tomorrow,” he added with a wave before heading off to do, well, whatever it was Kyran normally did when he wasn’t helping me out.
I had definitely picked up on the fact that he didn’t answer me when I asked how old he was.
Kyran was a great friend, and a great elf, but he certainly played some cards close to the vest.
Chapter 15
It was kind of funny, being back in Western Woods in the early afternoon when it had definitely been night by the time we had left Isisopolis. I had never experienced the time shift that came from international travel before. Luckily, the portal travel meant that the jet lag people in the human world always complained about wasn’t an issue, either. It had never sounded fun.
Is Ellie home yet? I texted Sara, wondering if it was worth heading back right now.
Not yet. Everything ok? she replied a moment later.
It should be. Kyran got an awesome lawyer. I’m going to go to City Hall and see what’s happening.
Good plan. Keep me in the loop.
Will do.
I closed my phone and made my way toward the large whitewashed brick building with its cute orange roof that was the Western Woods City Hall.
As soon as I entered, however, I realized I had no idea where I was going. I knew where Chief Enforcer King’s office was, of course. But that was it. Where would interrogations be? And how would I get there?
The wolf shifter guarding the front door probably wasn’t going to let me just go exploring, either.
“Good afternoon. What is your business at City Hall?” he asked, looking me up and down like he was sizing me up.
“Um, I’m looking for my friend Ellie. She should be here being questioned by Chief Enforcer King.”
I could have sworn the shifter rolled his eyes at me. Not very professional, really. “Another one to see this Ellie. I don’t know if Chief Enforcer King will allow you to see her, but they’re down the stairs to the right.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking a couple of steps forward, and then stopped. “Sorry, one question: where exactly are the stairs?”
The wolf raised his eyebrows. “You’re that new witch, aren’t you?”
“How can you tell?” I asked with a self-deprecating smile.
“Go to the far left wall, and when you reach the black door, go through it. It leads right to the staircase.”
“Thanks,” I said with a wave as I did exactly as the wolf shifter told me to do. I found the black door pretty easily, and when I stepped through it, I found myself looking down at yet another spiral staircase leading into a basement. At least this one wasn’t as long as the staircase in coven headquarters; I could see the bottom of this one as I peered down it. It looked to be about the length of a normal staircase. And to my relief as I began climbing down it, the steps in this one didn’t squeak, either.
When I got to the bottom, I was looking at a damp, stone basement that was absolutely not inviting in any way. A long hallway led to thick stone doors with metal accents, with one about twenty feet away being open. I figured that was where I was headed.
Sure enough, the inside of that room looked like, well, it looked like the interrogation room from virtually any human-world TV show, to be honest. I was surprised. Normally even simple things in the human world and the paranormal world were still different. And yet here was one-way glass leading into a dark room with a metal table and chairs, where Chief Enforcer King was trying to talk to Ellie. Kyran’s father was sitting next to her. To Ellie’s credit, she didn’t look like she was answering any of Chief Enforcer King’s questions, and the lion shifter definitely looked frustrated.
“For the last time, Chief Enforcer, please direct your questions to me, and not to my client,” Kilmordir said as I made my way toward the glass.
“I can’t believe you got Kilmordir to come here,” Amy said, making me jump about three feet in the air. She had been in the corner furthest from the door, and I hadn’t seen her at all until she spoke.
“Geez, you just about gave me a heart attack!” I said with an awkward laugh. “And you can thank Kyran for this, not me.”
“Kyran did this? For Ellie?” Amy said, her eyebrows rising, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I told him what was going on, and we went to Isisopolis. We saw Kilmordir and he agreed to help.”
“Kyran going to his father is a pretty big thing.”
“Oh, so you know Kilmordir is Kyran’s father?”
A small smile played on Amy’s lips. “I do, yes. It’s common knowledge here.”
“Of course it would be,” I muttered, embarrassed. Kyran had said his father lived here until a hundred years or so ago. There were enough paranormals in this town that could remember that far back that the fact Kyran was his son wouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the timelines here soon enough,” Amy said reassuringly, as if she could tell exactly why I was a bit bothered.
“How is it going, anyway?” I asked, motioning to the room behind the one-way glass. At least, I assumed it was one-way glass. No one inside seemed to be looking toward us at all, at any rate.
“Well, Ellie is definitely the main suspect. No doubt about it. I went to the library initially, but I didn’t find much, so I came down here to see what was happening in the hopes that you would find a good lawyer. Chief Enforcer King kept asking Ellie about her relationship with Luna, if they had any arguments recently, things like that. I tried to go in and do what I could, but Chief Enforcer King said that because I wasn’t a lawyer, I wasn’t entitled to be in the room with Ellie, and made me watch from here. Luckily, Kilmordir showed up pretty quickly. I told him what I knew, and he went in, and Chief Enforcer King couldn’t kick him out, since he is a lawyer.”
I nodded. “And since?”
“Well, since then, Kilmordir has shut down almost
all of Chief Enforcer King’s questions,” Amy said with a smile. “And for her part, Ellie is doing an excellent job of obeying her lawyer exactly.”
“Fine,” we heard Chief Enforcer King say. “That’s all for now. Thank you for your co-operation. I may need to speak with you again in the future.”
“Do keep in mind that should you attempt to speak to my client without me being present, anything she tells you is completely inadmissible in an evidentiary judgment.”
“I do know basic law, thank you, Kilmordir,” Chief Enforcer King replied frostily. She looked exhausted, to be honest. Her hair was stringy and plastered to her head, and dark circles that hadn’t been there before had now formed under her eyes. She must have thought that her interrogation of Ellie was going to be easy, and that Ellie wouldn’t have any sort of legal representation.
Unfortunately for Chief Enforcer King, we weren’t about to let her interrogate our friend just like that. Ellie wasn’t a murderer, and we weren’t going to let her be treated like one.
Ellie and Kilmordir came out from the room and spotted Amy and I. The elf nodded at both of us while Ellie rushed over and hugged us both.
“I’m so happy to see you guys,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
“Not here,” Kilmordir said with a quick shake of his head, motioning for us to leave. We made our way back out into town, and as soon as we were out of City Hall and away from any prying ears, Ellie immediately began to talk.
“I can’t believe it! She actually believes that I might have killed Luna.”
“We know. Amy figured it out. Kyran and I went to get Kilmordir, and he kindly agreed to come and represent you.”
“Thank you so much,” Ellie said to the elf.
“Of course,” Kilmordir said with a curt nod. “I am just glad that you said nothing to the Chief Enforcer before I arrived.”
“That was all thanks to Amy,” Ellie said, giving a grateful smile to my friend. “She came in and tried to act as my legal representative, but Chief Enforcer King kicked her out because she’s not actually a lawyer. But before she left, Amy insisted that I not say anything until an actual lawyer did arrive.”
“That is good advice,” Kilmordir said to Amy, giving her an approving nod. “However, as good as the advice was, an amateur should never attempt to give legal advice.”
“Oh, I know,” Amy said. “I’ve done some light reading on the subject, and I’m well aware of how bad legal advice can result in somebody being unfairly convicted of something they didn’t do, or have a judgment ruled against them. There was the case of Leon Inver, the shifter who was found guilty of a murder he didn’t commit and whose lawyer should have filed for suppression of the murder weapon after his property was searched illegally. Then there was the vampire Petra Klampova who lost when she sued a witch from the coven of Neptune due to her lawyer’s improper filing of papers. I was never planning on giving Ellie any sort of real legal advice; I simply wanted to make sure she didn’t say anything until Tina got a real lawyer there.”
“You do know a lot about the law for a witch,” Kilmordir said, looking at Amy with a little bit of an impressed look.
Amy shrugged. “I’ve taken an interest in it over the last couple of months. I don’t really know a lot, and of course I could never become a lawyer, but I find it interesting.”
Kilmordir smiled. “It’s rare to find a witch with an interest in the law.”
“So what happens now?” Ellie interrupted, changing the subject.
“Now, you go back to your daily life, and you hope that Chief Enforcer King has realized that you did not kill the fairy. You may be called in again for another interrogation, in which case you are not to say anything until I get there. If you are called in again, you need to insist that I be informed as soon as possible.”
“Okay, got it,” Ellie said with a nod. “Thank you again.”
Kilmordir nodded and then swept away elegantly like elves always did, leaving Ellie, Amy, and me on the sidewalk.
“I can’t believe you guys got Kilmordir,” Ellie said in a hushed voice as he left. “The guy is legendary. How did that even happen?”
“Tina went to Kyran, and they went and asked him,” Amy explained, and I nodded to confirm.
“I didn’t think Kyran would go and see his father, let alone ask him a favor,” Ellie said with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah, well, I have a sneaking suspicion the fact that it was Tina who asked him had something to do with it,” Amy said as my face did its best impression of a tomato.
“Oooooh,” Ellie teased. “It looks like Tina might be finding love in the paranormal world faster than we expected.”
“Oh, be quiet, you guys,” I shushed them. “It’s not like that at all.”
Except I really wanted it to be like that.
“No, you’re right, the guy just went to see his estranged father to ask a huge favor for you for absolutely no reason,” Ellie replied. “We’re not stupid. We can definitely see what’s going on. Let me guess: after you saw his father, who still lives on the island in the middle of the Mediterranean, you didn’t come straight back here.”
“We might have had time to walk along the beach for a little bit,” I muttered, my face going so hot I was pretty sure I was about to catch on fire.
“Nothing like a romantic walk on the beach,” Ellie said in a singsong voice, placing her hands dramatically over her heart, and I stuck my tongue out at her.
“I’m starting to regret working to get you out of jail.”
That comment made Ellie turn serious again. “I’m actually worried, you guys. I know that Chief Enforcer King is a good enforcer, and I know she wants to find the real killer, but I think she actually believes that I killed Luna. She kept asking me about my knowledge of plants and botany, and she knew that I was way better with plants and potions than with spells.”
“And with Luna having been murdered by exploding puff, that would definitely make you look more suspicious.”
“On top of that, she kept mentioning the fact that I worked in close proximity with Luna, and that unlike everybody else, I could have poisoned her brownie before it even went out into the dining area. No one would have seen me put the poison in the brownie if I had done it in the kitchen, since no one was back there with me.”
Ellie was putting on a brave face, but I couldn’t help but notice her eyes beginning to water; not only had one of her friends been killed, but now she was the main suspect. This could not have been an easy time for her.
“Let’s go home for now,” Amy said softly, putting a comforting arm around Ellie. “We’ll order food, we’ll eat on the couch, and then you can go to sleep while Tina, Sara, and I figure out what actually happened to Luna.”
Ellie nodded mutely and the three of us began to make our way back home.
“I have to work tomorrow, too,” Ellie said. “After all, life has to go on at the coffee shop, even without Luna there.”
I hoped that getting back into her normal routine would help Ellie feel better. Little did I know at the time it definitely wasn’t to be.
Chapter 16
Two hours later, after we got back home, explained to Sara everything that had happened so far, and ordered takeout from Two Wizards—including lots of extra fries—the four of us were sitting in the living room when Ellie got a text. As soon as she read it, her face went white.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been fired,” Ellie said.
“What?” Sara practically screeched, sitting up from where she was lying on the couch.
“Okay, not exactly fired. Not yet, anyway. But the manager of Hexpresso Bean just sent me a text telling me that until this whole thing with Luna being killed is sorted out, it wouldn’t be a good look if I showed up to work.”
“That’s outrageous,” I said, anger building up inside of me on behalf of my friend. “How on earth can he do that?”
“He can’t,” Amy said. “
That goes against the paranormal labor law. You need to get Kilmordir involved.”
Ellie shook her head. “No, I don’t want to get him involved in this. I’m just going to take it, and hopefully the real killer will be found soon, and I’ll be able to go back to work. Besides, my manager is right. If I go back to work now, people are going to think I’m a killer, and they’re not going to want to come in or eat anything that I bake. I don’t want everybody in town staring at me like I’m a killer and refusing to eat my food.”
My heart went out for Ellie. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling right now, but it couldn’t have been good.
“Do you want to help me with my movie screening for tomorrow?” I asked. “I need to get the word out about the date change, and it might help get your mind off of things.”
Ellie nodded. “Yeah, I’ll come to that with you. After all, no one’s going to think that I’m about to murder them if I don’t have any food to offer.”
“If you change your mind, let me know,” Amy said. “I might not be a lawyer, but I definitely know the basics of labor law here in town.”
“You really have been reading up on that stuff,” I said, impressed.
Amy shrugged. “I have, but just for fun.”
“Have you considered going into law?" I asked, but Amy immediately shook her head vehemently.
“Of course not. The law is for elves and only elves.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I know all of you disagree with me on this point, but if you love the law so much, I don’t see why you couldn’t be a lawyer.”
“For one thing, there are rules against it,” Amy said. “Only an elf can take the exam to become a lawyer.”
“Can you challenge the law?” I asked.
“I suppose I could, but I would almost certainly lose, and what would be the point? I’m a witch, which means that my role is to take a job that is appropriate for a witch. I’ll probably end up in academia for my whole life, teaching the next generation of witches everything they need to know.”
Four-Leaf Clovers Page 8
