The Wrong Witch: Twistchapel Cozy Mystery Book 6

by Alexandria Westbay

  “I know who did it,” I said, pulling out my teleportation stone.

  “You do?” asked my mom and Bart at the same time.

  “Yes, and I need to get back as soon as I can,” I said. “That means using the stone. You’ll have to drive my car back, and meet us afterward… assuming there is an afterward.”

  “Let’s talk this through,” said my mom. “This sounds like it might be dangerous. I’m a stronger witch than you. I should come with.”

  “There’s no time,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll explain it all later. Bart, you can teleport with me, right?”

  The cat nodded, looking unsure of what was going on. He curled up at my feet and materialized. Figuring that was all he needed to do, I smiled nervously at my mom and held the stone up.

  “Teleport!” I shouted.

  Everything went black.

  Chapter 10

  I stumbled, trying to catch myself, as Bart and I appeared in the ballroom back in Crestwood.

  “Woah, woah, easy there,” said Bart, becoming immaterial again. “Teleporting is always hard the first couple of times you do it.”

  “Thanks for letting me know ahead of time,” I said, taking a second to get my balance again. I didn’t exactly enjoy that, but it got me back quickly. “We’ve got to go help Samantha.”

  The two of us jogged out of the ballroom and down the hall, back to the room that doubled as the conference head’s office. I pushed the doors open, prepared to let accusations fly. Instead, I found Eleanor sitting at her desk, alone, reading a book.

  “Why, hello Miss Foster,” said Eleanor, looking up from her book. “Have you come across some evidence that we weren’t privy to? It’s not midnight yet.”

  I glanced around the room to if Allen or Darius were sitting in a corner somewhere. I was out of luck. Eleanor and I were alone.

  “I believe I have,” I said, trying to stall. I thought of Allen in my mind and started shouting at him over in over in my head. I hoped this worked.

  “I’m waiting,” she said, glancing at a clock that held on the wall. “You’ve still got a few hours left if you need them, not that I think it’ll matter much.”

  My eyes fell on a red stone that was the centerpiece of her desk. Its gave off a dim light, its colors changing ever so slightly.

  “Are you admiring my Alchymist stone?” asked Eleanor, smiling down at it. “They are so lovely looking, aren’t they?”

  “That’s the murder weapon, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” asked Eleanor suspiciously. She didn’t deny the accusation.

  “Margot’s body turned blue,” I said. “It was the strangest thing. Like Judy, I originally thought it was a side effect from a potion, or maybe a spell. I started getting suspicious of the stone when my mom mentioned that she snuck out of class to go borrow yours. She said she couldn’t find it. Odd that it was right on your desk, but she couldn’t see it, don’t you think?”

  Eleanor stared at me silently, waiting for me to continue.

  “The downfall for you, of all things, was actually my regular, human boyfriend,” I smiled. “He mentioned that people who have silver in their system can turn slightly blue. That got me thinking… what if someone used the stone not to turn a substance into gold… but silver?”

  “Look at you. It appears you know more than I ever expected you to,” she said quietly.

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with a murderer,” I said. “Feel like filling me in, since we both know you did it?”

  “I don’t know where to start, to be honest. After you went to the potions class and Melina went off to the transmutation one, I was told by the Witch’s Board that the conference would be canceled if I couldn’t get attendance up by next year,” she said. “Attendance had been dropping ever since we banned sparring with and killing other witches. I initially thought that was the best thing to do, agreeing with the Board… but over the past few years, I was starting to second guess that.”

  “So you decided to kill Margot?” I asked. “You thought killing an attendee would boost people coming next year?”

  “That wasn’t entirely how it went down, but there are elements of truth to what you say,” she nodded. “I had just been given the news, and was walking by the bathroom. Margot came around the corner, complaining to me about how horrible the conference was this year. She said she would do everything in her power to take me and the conference down once it was over. Her family is fairly wealthy, and she claimed she had connections. Without thinking, I snapped. I shot a stun spell at her. At first it was just to shut her up, but I could see the fury in her eyes. I knew that if I let her loose, she would tear me and the conference apart. At a minimum, I would lose my job for attacking an attendee. That’s one of the rules of the conference, after all.”

  “At least, nowadays,” I said.

  “Exactly,” she smiled. “I thought about how this wouldn’t have been a problem two decades ago. That’s when I realized what I had to do. I had to kill her. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to do it in a way that would let me get away with it scot-free. If she went missing, then the Witch’s Board would have to launch an investigation. I knew they would be able to figure out it was me. Instead, I would have it look like someone else did it.”

  “Samantha,” I whispered. “You planned to pin it on her from the start?”

  “No one cares about potions anymore,” she said, shaking her head. No one ever attends those potion break out sessions, and no self respecting witch cares to spend any time learning them when she could just learn how to get the same result through a spell! I knew Samantha had a sleeping problem, and always carried around some sleeping potions with her. I couldn’t remember the particular one, but I remembered that it would turn the victim’s skin blue if she drank too much of it. I was cycling through potential spells to use, when I saw Melina sneak back into the transmutation class. I remembered I told her she could borrow my Alchymist stone, but she didn’t appear to have it with her. I glanced in my bag and saw I still had it. That’s when I realized… I could turn Margot’s insides into silver!”

  “Gross,” said Bart.

  “It was just for a minute,” shrugged Eleanor. “I had the Alchymist stone with me, and used it on her. After I was sure she was dead, I reversed it. That way, no silver would show up in her body when the vampires inevitably checked it.”

  “Smart,” I muttered.

  “You don’t get to the head of the conference by being an idiot,” she smiled. “I was planning on just discrediting you after you and Allen started investigating together, but Judy fell for my trap so easily. She figured out that the Sleeping Spruce turned a victim’s skin blue, and then came up with the mind control potion idea all on her own. That was a happy little surprise for me.”

  “I can’t believe you’d do this,” I said. “You were supposed to be the leader here, keeping everyone safe, making this conference better than it ever was.”

  “Ah, but it will be! Now that Samantha is being accused of being the killer, we can get rid of the potions lecturer. That frees up more interesting courses, by bringing in more powerful witches, such as your mom. Then, if that isn’t enough, I will use this death as a way to overturn the ban on sparring. I’ll argue that witches should learn how to defend themselves, in case something like this were to ever occur again. Surely, all of these things will help boost attendance next year and all of the years following after. Everyone wins,” she said, holding her hands out and smiling.

  “What about Samantha and Margot?” I asked quietly. “They don’t win at all.”

  For a split second, it almost looked like shadows behind Eleanor moved. When I focused on them again, nothing happened.

  Eleanor shrugged, waving off the complaint. “It’s for the better of all witches. I’m sure they’d understand.”

  “Just like you will understand when I notify the vampires and other witches of what’s going on?” I asked. “Or are y
ou an exception?”

  “Actually, I am an exception,” she nodded, turning her chair and standing up. “Unfortunately for you, you’re not.”

  Faster than I expected, her hand shot up at me. The air shimmered white as a spell flew at me. I was too slow. It was going to hit me.

  “Zoey!” shouted Bart, jumping up in front of me with lightning speed and materializing.

  The spell hit him straight on, flipping him out of the way and into the wall. I risked looking over at him, fearing he was dead. To my relief, his body moved ever so slightly as he breathed.

  “Stupid familiars,” grumbled Eleanor. “Always getting in the way. No matter.”

  Eleanor’s hand pointed at me again. I had already quickly calmed my thoughts and was repeating evanescere in my head. Eleanor looked down at her hand, her lip curling up slightly. She brought up her other hand just as fast, but still nothing came out.

  “So… you’ve learned a thing or two about being a witch after all,” she said. “It takes a quick mind to be able to stop multiple spells. It’s a pity you’ll never get the chance to grow into a more powerful witch.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” I said.

  Eleanor tried again as I finished talking, but I was prepared for it. Again, she shot finger pistols at me to no avail.

  “This is just a waste of time,” said Eleanor, moving around her desk and drawing closer to me. “You won’t be able to stop every single spell I try to shoot at you, no matter how good you are. Even if it takes an hour, I’ll eventually get through and hit you with one.”

  “Guess it’ll be a long hour for you, then,” I said stoically. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the witch in case she tried to strike at me again, but I could’ve sworn I saw three shadows move behind her. Was I seeing things now?

  Eleanor’s eyes narrowed as she stopped moving forward, just a few feet away now. “Listen. I can make your death quick and as painless as possible, or I can drag it out, causing you an immense amount of suffering. Just give up now, and I promise a fast death.”

  One of the shadows closed in behind her, growing in size until I could recognize what it was.

  “What will it be?” asked Eleanor, oblivious to what was behind her.

  Confident with what was going on now, I knew my answer and shared it with her.

  I stuck my tongue out.

  Eleanor’s eyes twitched as her face contorted into a rage. Both of her arms reached up at the same time, as she screamed, “Why you little b-”

  Before she could finish her unsavory comment, the shadow that became Allen reached around her, grabbing both of her wrists and dragging them down.

  “That’ll be enough of that,” he said.

  “What is the meaning of this, Eleanor?” demanded Darius, walking out of another shadow. “Have you really betrayed your own kind?”

  Chloe appeared as the final shadow, hurrying over to check on Bart. After looking him over for a moment, she glanced back at me and gave a thumbs up.

  “W-What are you all doing here?” asked Eleanor, struggling to break out of Allen’s grasp. While she may have had powerful spells, she didn’t have much for physical strength.

  “Zoey called me with her bacon spell.”

  “Beacon spell,” I clarified. “What took you so long? We’re literally inside of your own town.”

  “We’ve been listening for a while,” he said. “I knew you’d be okay.”

  “Unhand me!” demanded Eleanor.

  “Not until we’ve heard what Miss Foster has to say,” said Darius. “From the bit that we caught at the end, it sounds like Allen might have Margot’s murderer in his hands.”

  “The Witch’s Board will not be pleased with you all!” she threatened.

  “I’m confident the Witch’s Board would rather the truly guilty witch is the one that gets taken away, not an innocent one,” said Darius.

  “Tell us what happened, Zoey,” said Allen, looking comfortable as Eleanor fought for her life to get out of his grip. “Start from the beginning, and take your time.”

  Epilogue

  “You don’t have any wine, do you?” asked my mom, going through my cabinets. We left the conference shortly after Eleanor was arrested, deciding to sleep at my place and skip the rest of the conference.

  “It’s 9 in the morning, Mom,” I sighed, looking down into my bowl of cereal. It had been an exhausting past few days, and all I wanted was some peace and quiet. “And no, I don’t have any wine.”

  “You’ve always been boring, you know that?” she said, frowning and grabbing a bottle of water instead. “Its good to have something to take the edge of every now and then, regardless of the time of day.”

  “If you say so,” I said.

  “I bet Judy could be using a couple bottles of wine right now,” she smirked. “The little brat.”

  “Hey now, be nice,” I said. Judy had burst into tears when she was told that she had wrongly accused Samantha. She begged the potions lecturer and me for forgiveness, and we granted it. It must have been hard to lose a close friend, and she was just doing what she thought was right. “She’s had a rough two day.”

  I glanced over at Bart, sitting on the table next to me. He had gotten most of his movement back, except for his tail. He was currently focusing hard on moving it, and wasn’t having much success. If it wasn’t for him sacrificing himself when I failed on the counterspell, I would definitely be dead right now. Maybe not all the familiars were good, but I knew mine would do anything for me.

  “How’s the tail?” I asked.

  “Could be better, could be worse,” he said, batting at it in order to encourage movement.

  “I hate to say it, but I feel that I must,” sighed my mom as she watched Bart. “Thank you for saving my daughter’s life.”

  “You hate to say it because she’s alive, or because I’m a familiar?” he asked with the hint of a smirk.

  “I’d put a muzzle on you if I didn’t think Zoey would stop me, you know.”

  “I know. But I also know she’d stop you,” he laughed.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked. I felt guilty that he had to take a shot for me, even if it was only a temporary thing.

  “Even if I wasn’t, I don’t think you’d be able to take me to the vet to make me better.”

  “Good point,” I nodded.

  My mom pulled out her phone and read through something. She got up and straightened her top. “It appears I’m needed elsewhere, so I’ll have to take my leave.”

  “Elsewhere?” I pried.

  “That’s what I said. Maybe clean out your ears more often, if you’re having problems hearing,” she said, making her way to the door. I guess I wasn’t going to be given an answer for where she was going.

  “Will you be coming back in the next decade?” I asked.

  “Oh, I assume I will,” she said, turning back and smirking at me. “Maybe it won’t be so long a delay this next time. I rather enjoyed myself… aside from the death.”

  “And your friend getting taken away,” I added, getting to my feet.

  “I was never much of a fan of Eleanor’s, to be honest,” she shrugged. “I was mostly just close with her to get a lecturer’s position at the conference. Now that she’s gone, it doesn’t really bother me. Besides, Samantha is being instated as the new head of the conference. My daughter saved her, so I’ve already got a good in.”

  “You think she’ll help you become a lecturer,” I asked, walking over to say goodbye.

  “I don’t need her help,” smiled my mom.

  “You don’t want to be a lecturer anymore?” asked Bart, walking over and joining us by the door.

  “Quite the opposite. The conference notified me this morning that I have been selected to be a keynote speaker for next year’s conference.”

  “Congratulations, Mom!” I said, giving her a hug. She froze up, probably not used to human contact and definitely not used to contact from me. After a few seconds, she gently returne
d the hug. It was the first time that I could remember us sharing a hug and being genuinely happy.

  “Thank you, sweetie,” she said, patting me on the back. “And for the record… I was sad when your father left, too. I know I haven’t been perfect, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it.”

  “It’s okay, Mo-”

  With her free hand, she suddenly reached behind her and opened the door.

  “Wha… oh! H-Hi, Melina,” said Drake, hand reached out in a fist towards the door. My mom had somehow known he was there, and opened it perfectly in time as he went to knock in order to throw him off. How did she do that?

  “Detective Drake, what a pleasant surprise,” smiled my mom, winking at me. “I was just heading out and was wondering if I’d get to see you again.”

  “Hi, Drake,” I smiled, giving him a wave from behind my mom. He waved back, unsure of what to do.

  “It was really so nice getting to finally meet you yesterday,” said my mom, walking up to him and giving him a quick hug. I wondered if I had awoken a hug monster.

  “Y-You too,” he stuttered.

  “Now wait just a minute,” she said, pulling herself away quickly and keeping Drake at arm’s length. “What are you doing over here so early? What are your intentions with my daughter?”

  “Hmm? Oh! N-No,” said a clearly flustered Drake, his face quickly turning red. “I-I was just coming by to see… Remember yesterday she said to come over… I wasn’t planning on doing anything-”

  “Ha! I’m just playing with you,” said my mom, slapping him on the shoulder. “You seem nice enough, Detective.”

  “Thanks,” said Drake, chest sticking out a little more.

  “A bit boring, sure, but nice.”

  “Oh…” he said, deflating as quickly as he inflated.

  “Either way, I’m happy that my daughter is choosing to spend her time with you,” smiled my mom. “Enough of that, I really must get going. I will see you two around before you know it.”