Hexes & Hot Chocolate (A Stella Storm Cozy Witch Mystery Book 3)

by Amy Casey

  He looked back at me blankly, like the answer was obvious. “Well, I’d like you to solve it, for a start.”

  “But you were killed in Nightthistle, weren’t you?”

  “Well, yes. But that’s beyond the point.”

  “It’s not beyond the point,” I said. “You were killed in Nightthistle. Nightthistle isn’t my home. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

  I walked over to the door to the stairs and held it open, then realised Curtis could just hover his way through the door if he wanted to, anyway.

  “Look,” Curtis said, floating over to me. He looked like he was still getting to grips with this whole weightlessness thing. “I won’t pretend I don’t understand why there’s animosity from you towards Nightthistle.”

  “Animosity?” I said. “There’s no animosity. There’s just logistics. And logistically, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

  “You can try,” Curtis said.

  I realised then that there was desperation in his voice. Not only that, but his glow. It looked like it was receding. It reminded me of Krissy Palmer. Only Krissy Palmer had latched on to me, returned to focus a few times.

  Curtis… it looked like crossing the bridge between Nightthistle and the rest of the world had taken it out of him. I wasn’t sure he had long left.

  He lowered his head. “I’m sorry. For what Thomas told you. For… for the secret being revealed.”

  “The secret being revealed?” I said, feeling like everything was bubbling over now. “Your brother told me my mum was alive. My mum who I watched die.”

  “It’s not as simple as her being ‘alive’ as such…”

  “Well is she? Isn’t she?”

  Curtis looked into my eyes. I could tell from that look alone that there was a secret and he was hiding it.

  “I’m sorry, Stella,” he said. “But… but I’m not at liberty to share the answer to that question.”

  I laughed, turned around. “Not at liberty. Okay. Okay. Well I’m ‘not at liberty’ to help you, either.”

  “If you don’t find out who killed me, I fear more will die.”

  I heard the desperation in Curtis’ voice again. I turned back to face him. And this time, I realised why he was so desperate.

  He was fading. Drifting away.

  Tears filled his ghostly eyes.

  “I… I like you, Stella. And I wish I’d got to know you more. I wish we’d all got to know you a whole lot better. But the fact is… the fact is I’m weak and time is running out for me. And while I’m still here… the last thing I can do is ask you—no, beg you—to help me. And not for me. But for my family. For Nightthistle. For everybody there.”

  I saw his throat wobble as he swallowed a lump in it. And I started to feel guilty. Like I’d been too hard on him. Because he did seem alright. And maybe he and that family did have their reasons for keeping whatever the situation with Mum was a secret. I hadn’t even thought about mentioning what Thomas said to Dad. He’d always believed Mum might be alive. But taunting him with that theory… it was too cruel for him to lose her all over again.

  But I had to get to that. I had to build to that.

  Because right now I had a choice.

  “Help us, Stella,” Curtis said, as his glow began to fade more and more. “I believe in you. We all believe in you. Just…”

  I looked at the floor. I looked at Rocky, and at Beatrice. I looked at my imperfect little world. And I knew right then that things were going to spin upside down all over again.

  I looked back at Curtis. “I’ll—I’ll help.”

  Then something happened.

  A smile.

  A smile on Curtis’ fading face.

  A smile to light up the tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “Thank you,” he said, sincerity cracking through his words.

  His body faded even more, almost completely gone.

  “Tell my family I love them,” he said.

  I felt my own throat beginning to wobble. “I will,” I said.

  Curtis nodded. He closed his eyes and sighed. “Well. Here goes. Wish me luck on the other side.”

  I wiped the corners of my eyes, unable to contain the emotion. “Good…”

  But before I could finish, the glow had completely faded from Curtis.

  And by the time my eyes blinked, my cousin was gone.

  Chapter 6

  I sat in my lounge, Mary, Annabelle and my pets around me, and I knew what I had to do.

  It was still the early hours. Five a.m., to be exact. Mary was quick to respond to my call, the insomniac that she was, but Annabelle definitely wasn’t so keen. She wondered what it was that required such urgency. Because as far as she was concerned, sleep was sacred and should never be disturbed under any circumstances. Even small fires weren’t good enough reasons for her to be awoken.

  But as far as I saw it, this was urgent business. Because I’d made a promise to Curtis, as I’d watched him fading over to the other side.

  I’d made a promise that I knew I was going to have to stick to.

  Even if I was totally reluctant to involve myself with my extended witchy family, especially with what involving myself ultimately meant.

  Involving myself meant opening up to the possibility that I might actually run into my mum—in whatever form she currently held. I didn’t know. Honestly, I couldn’t be sure. Curtis hadn’t been keen to tell me, and Thomas hadn’t exactly divulged too much in the way of information either.

  “So come on,” Annabelle said, her hair tufted up in funny bunches. “Are you just going to make us sit here and wonder what’s going on? Or are you actually going to tell us why you’ve dragged us up at this time of morning?”

  I sighed. I folded my fingers together. I looked at Rocky and at Beatrice, and I felt a lump swelling in my throat. The knowledge of what I was doing. That I was going to be leaving them behind all over again.

  I remembered what Thomas told me about the integration program, where I could apply for people like Mary and Annabelle, as well as my pets, to join me.

  But this was too short notice. And besides, I wasn’t planning on my visit being permanent in any way. It was temporary. Totally temporary.

  I had to keep telling myself that.

  “Stella?” Mary said, nudging me. She had a cup of coffee in hand and a pair of bags under her eyes. “I don’t mean to be awkward, but even I wouldn’t mind getting back home sometime soon.”

  I sighed. Looked at the floor. “What I’m about to tell you… it isn’t an easy decision to have made, you know?”

  “We don’t know,” Annabelle said. “All we know is that we’d really, really like to sleep right now.”

  “I’m leaving Goosridge,” I said.

  I spat the words out without any real concern for what I was saying, without any real concern for their implications. Because I knew if I didn’t, I was never going to say what I had to say, and I’d be dancing around the truth forever.

  Mary narrowed her eyes, glared at me. “What?”

  I took a deep breath. “It’s not easy. It’s not a decision I wanted to make. But—”

  “Well it’s nice of you to at least tell us you’re going away this time,” Annabelle said. “Makes a pleasant change from your impromptu trip last time.”

  I thought back to the time Annabelle was referring to. My “weekend” trip to Nightthistle that had fast expanded into something much longer.

  I thought about how I’d just disappeared without telling anybody. About how guilty I’d felt for leaving my friends, my dad, and my dog.

  And this time I was going to prepare them properly. Because I had to be honest and I had to be frank.

  “I don’t know when I’ll be coming back.”

  More silence followed. More hesitation. Annabelle tried to stifle a yawn. Mary just looked concerned and curious at the same time.

  It was Mary who broke the silence in the end. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  I thoug
ht about her question. Because of course everything wasn’t okay. But where did I start? Where did I even begin?

  I thought about explaining everything to them. I thought about telling them about what’d happened to Curtis, and the promise I’d made to him—or rather to his family—that I would solve his murder once and for all.

  But I didn’t know where to start. Truly, I didn’t know where to begin.

  “I’d be lying if I said everything was okay,” I said. “But all you need to know is… I’m okay. I’m not in danger. There’s just somewhere I need to go and something I need to do. And I need… I need you two to make sure you look after this place and Rocky and Beatrice for a while.”

  I expected pushback. I expected Annabelle to push further for a better explanation. I expected all kinds of resistance.

  But in the end, it was Mary who broke this impasse.

  She nodded. “I mean, we don’t want you to go anywhere. But if it’s what you have to do… Right, Annabelle?”

  Annabelle shrugged. She wasn’t making eye contact with me. “What about Witchy Delights?”

  I rubbed my hands together. “That’s kind of what I wanted to ask you here for. Annabelle, would you mind running the place while I’m gone?”

  I saw the way she looked at me. I saw the pride in her eyes. The pride of being asked to actually run the place. Not look after it, not anything like that, but actually run the place.

  “Well, do you think I’m, like, good enough?”

  I leaned over. Put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re more than good enough.”

  She smiled. Then she leaned in and hugged me. And at that moment, I felt something unfamiliar. I felt myself welling up.

  She pulled away. Then I moved over to Mary. “Thank you,” I said. “Really.”

  Mary put a hand on my arm. “At least stay for breakfast.”

  I smiled back at her. I wanted to. But at the same time, I wanted to get started as soon as possible.

  “I’ll be back in no time,” I said. “Honestly, you’ll be wishing I’d taken an extra week by the time I get back.”

  Mary shook her head, sniffed. “That’s not likely.”

  I gave her a hug. Then I moved over to Beatrice and Rocky and I prepared for the hardest goodbyes of all. Because although I was in no doubt that this was only temporary, that it was a situation that I was going to come back from… I still couldn’t shake that guilt for leaving them at all—or that feeling that somehow, something would go wrong, and I’d never see them again.

  I tickled Beatrice behind the ears. She gave me an uncharacteristic purr and rubbed up against my arm like she knew something was amiss.

  “Bye, Beat. Keep an eye on this mad dog.”

  I looked at Rocky, then. And I could see the sadness in his eyes. If he weren’t a talking dog, it’d be heart-breaking enough.

  But he was a talking dog. And that just made things all the more unbearable.

  “Walkies?” he said.

  I tried to fight back the tears and gave him a cuddle. “Mary and Annabelle will take you on lots of walkies.”

  “But what about you? What about walkies with you?”

  I looked down, and with that, I couldn’t stop the flow of the tears. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll be back to give you plenty of walkies. Don’t you worry.”

  I cuddled with him then. And I didn’t want to believe I was hearing what I was hearing. But in all truth, there was no dressing it up in any other way. There was no denying it.

  I heard Rocky crying.

  I held him a little longer. Started to get second thoughts about this whole event.

  Then I heard a knock at the door.

  I stood up. Wasn’t sure who it could possibly be, especially at this time.

  “Can you get that?” I asked Mary.

  She disappeared downstairs to check on it.

  I pulled away from Rocky and Beatrice then. Petted them both. “You’re going to look after each other, aren’t you?”

  I swore I saw Rocky roll his eyes. “You know what I’m like. Tough dog. I protect this place.”

  I smirked. Spent a precious few moments with my pets. Then I stepped away and prepared myself to leave.

  I’d almost forgotten there was somebody at the door.

  And now they weren’t just at my door; they were in my lounge, too.

  I looked around and I saw a very tired looking Steve standing there, flowers in hand.

  “Hi,” he said. And then he looked down at my case. “Are you… are you going somewhere?”

  Chapter 7

  “So,” Steve said.

  “So,” I said.

  “Well.”

  “Yep. Well indeed.”

  I’d love to say the nature of our conversation didn’t go on like this for a while longer in this manner. But to be honest, that would be an outright lie. The awkwardness that had prevailed when we’d had our not-date last night was still very much there today. I didn’t know what to do to break through it, to break past it. To be honest, I figured the best thing to do was just to admit defeat and accept that shit was going to be awkward from now on.

  It was going to be especially awkward considering I was telling Steve I was leaving just hours after we’d been out for a meal—a meal which I’d stormed out of in… well, rather dramatic fashion, let’s say.

  And he’d brought roses, too. Bloody roses. Just to add to the awkwardness of this whole situation.

  “Where you off to, then?” Steve asked.

  It was a commendable attempt to small talk, to break through the awkwardness between us. But it was also in vain. Because I knew I couldn’t be honest with Steve. I knew I couldn’t be straight with Steve.

  I could only swallow a lump in my throat and do my best attempt at steering this conversation to a premature end—because the urgency was growing every second that passed. “Just… just away for a while. What’re you doing up so early anyway?”

  Steve jumped on my attempt to divert the conversation right away. “I couldn’t sleep. Came for a walk and saw Annabelle and Mary through the window. Figured you were up.”

  “That’s kind of…”

  “Creepy?” Steve said.

  “Yeah. Yeah, it is kind of creepy.”

  Steve smiled. “Well. That’s just me now, I guess. Creepy Steve. Looking through windows. Making women jump up in restaurants and run away. Quite the catch, aren’t I?”

  I sighed. “Steve, I’m sorry for last night.”

  “No, you shouldn’t be. You were right. It was… it was foolish of me to think… to think I could just ask you around like that. But honestly, all I wanted was a coffee. There wasn’t anything… untoward, in my suggestion.”

  The more he spoke, the more it seemed like he was digging himself a deeper and deeper hole.

  “I’ll stop now,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I said, smiling. “Probably for the best.”

  The silence between us returned. And I wasn’t sure how to break through it, where to take things next.

  But it was Steve who did the talking for me, taking the decision out of my hands.

  “Just tell me one thing,” he said. “You leaving. It’s not to do with anything that happened last night, is it?”

  I tilted my head to one side. I felt for Steve that he believed that could be the case. “Steve, it’s not related. Not in any way.”

  He puffed out his lips, nodded. “Good,” he said. “That’s a relief. It’s just, you know. Goosridge News are running low on stories, and ‘Creepy Police Officer Chases Local Businesswoman Out of Town’ isn’t exactly a good look.”

  I laughed. And as I laughed, I found myself feeling even more comfortable in Steve’s company. I found myself feeling even more certain about the next step I was going to take; the next thing I was going to say.

  “I mean I hope you don’t disappear too long because—”

  “Steve, I’m a witch.”

  Steve stopped speaking. He narrowed his eyes. Frowned at
me. “What?”

  “I’m a witch. I don’t mean in a bad way. I don’t mean in a ‘she’s a bloody witch’ kind of way. I’m being serious. I’m a witch. I have abilities. And that’s… that’s why I’ve got to go. There’s something I need to look into. Something I need to understand and figure out. But I just needed to tell you. I just needed you to know. So you know what’s different about me.”

  Steve paused. He didn’t say anything. Not for a while. I couldn’t imagine being told I was a witch was an easy thing to digest.

  “What… what do you mean you have ‘abilities’?”

  “Like the power of invisibility. The power to move things with my mind. The power to read thoughts.”

  He looked even more confused than before. “So, like… you’re being locked away in a secure unit somewhere?”

  “No!” I said. “No. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but—”

  “Of course there’s not. I mean, there’s no stigma attached anymore. I hear a lot of people who get locked up in there have such a blast they don’t even want to come out.”

  “Steve, I’m not going to a secure unit. So can we just drop that whole line of conversation, okay?”

  He nodded. “Okay. Okay.”

  A pause. More awkwardness.

  “But all that stuff about how you’re a…”

  He trailed off, then. Stopped speaking completely.

  I knew why it was.

  “Wait,” he said, his eyes darting around the room. “Where’d you go?”

  I sat there, right where I’d been, invisibility surrounding me.

  “Stella?” he said, standing up. “Did I just, like, doze off or something? I passed out. Oh God I passed out and—”

  “You didn’t pass out,” I said.

  Steve looked right in my direction. He narrowed his eyes. “Stella?”

  “You aren't losing your mind. You didn’t pass out. You’re just going to have to believe what I just told you. I’m a witch, Steve. I have powers.”

  I clicked my fingers and reappeared right in front of Steve.

  He jumped back, then. He looked like he was on the verge of falling out of his seat—which I had to admit was quite amusing.