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

by Amy Casey

  Perhaps it would be easier for the insiders of Nightthistle to believe that an outsider had been pulling the strings; the strings that tugged at all their preconceptions about just how peaceful and secure their home really was.

  I thought about Aunt Hilda. Her sadness over losing Thomas to imprisonment. I wondered what she felt now I’d been arrested, too? We’d never really bonded especially well. Only recently had we begun to see proper eye to eye.

  But still. It must hurt her to think that everyone close to her had betrayed her in some way or other.

  I sighed, leaned back against the wall. And I found myself drifting to thoughts about Harold the vamp again. I’d seen him smirking, then walking off. Which meant he must’ve known what I was going to find in there.

  But the Syt, Hegathi. Why had she come to me? Did she really have news for me?

  And how had she died so quickly after she’d reached me?

  I shook my head. No matter how much I beat myself up, I had to face the simple truth that I wasn’t finding out what had happened, no matter how much the itch of discovery that I just needed to scratch kept on niggling me.

  I thought about something else, then. A topic that always came to me when I was alone in the dark. And that was Mum.

  Although I didn’t think of the day she’d gone now, as I’d believed at the time. I thought about the secrecy around her. I still didn’t know whether Thomas was lying about her just to draw me here. From what I’d gathered, he wasn’t as clean cut a guy as he liked to make out.

  So perhaps…

  I got a sickly feeling in my gut, right at that second.

  Remembered something Thomas had once said to me.

  The vampires. He didn’t like vampires. Never had.

  And he’d killed someone in the past, according to Sheriff Butcher.

  So what if Thomas wasn’t as innocent as he was letting on after all?

  What if he was just as involved in this case as everyone else?

  What if he had killed Bernard as revenge for a vamp-were alliance to kill Curtis—for whatever reason—and the vampires had just reacted in the only way they saw possible.

  With revenge against my family.

  My heart started to race. I wanted to pitch it to Sheriff Butcher, to tell him what I believed.

  But when I shouted out his name, tried to call for him, my voice just bounced off the walls.

  No matter how loud I called out, I got the sense that nobody was hearing me.

  And I got the awful feeling that nobody was ever going to hear me again.

  I gave up. Leaned back. Welled up when I thought about Rocky and Beatrice and our movie nights. When I thought about Dad and his strange love for contemporary girl bands. When I thought about Witchy Delights, about Mary, about Annabelle, about Steve, and even about the regulars in there like Joan and Laptop Bobby.

  I missed them. I missed that life.

  And Dad was right.

  I missed the normality of that existence.

  And I started to realise that that was what I wanted after all. Not this. Because I was in too deep. I wasn’t a detective. I might’ve been able to crack a few cases back home, where I’d had the advantage of magic.

  But here, I was different. I was a small fish in a very big pond.

  And I’d been caught.

  I closed my eyes and I did the only thing I could do in a situation like this.

  I tried to sleep.

  I wasn’t sure whether I drifted off. My mouth felt a little dry, so I could only assume I had. But when I woke up, I saw something in front of me.

  First, a light.

  Then…

  No.

  It wasn’t just a light.

  “Hegathi?” I said.

  Hegathi the Syt was standing right before me. Only she wasn’t exactly as I’d remembered her.

  She was glowing…

  And it was then that I realised that she was a ghost.

  “I told you I had something to show you,” she said.

  And then she held out a hand.

  I looked at her hand. Frowned. “Nice try,” I said. “But in case you hadn’t noticed, my hands are kind of tied behind my back. Bit of a problem.”

  She kept on staring on at me, non-judgementally. “Just try,” she said.

  Annoyance built in the pit of my stomach. “I can try. But I don’t think I’ll…”

  That was when something remarkable happened.

  I lifted my hand and, somehow, independent of the form of my body, it moved.

  I pushed and pushed, feeling my grip on this form falling. I had to keep it steady, keep it focused. Because this was what I needed. I had to believe I was strong enough. I had to believe I could do this.

  I stretched this formless hand closer and closer to Hegathi, taking steadying breaths, believing, really believing.

  But then when I was just inches from her fingers, I felt a rival force push me back and I knew it was over.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just… I can’t do this. I can’t.”

  A pause.

  Then Hegathi spoke.

  “Don’t despair,” she said. “You already have.”

  I opened my eyes and frowned.

  When I looked, I saw that my formless hand had made contact with Hegathi’s.

  She looked into my eyes. A small smile tugged at her cheeks. “Now,” she said. “You have done your bit. You have proven you have the strength. It’s time.”

  I felt my body shaking, felt goosebumps sprouting all over. “Time—time for what?”

  “It’s time for you to learn what really happened to me. And how it links to everything.”

  Chapter 33

  I’d seen a lot of batshit things over the last year or so.

  I’d seen ghosts. I’d seen people shifting between bodies. I’d seen faceless people. I’d seen rabbits with collars… no, wait, that was in my imagination.

  And, yeah. I’d seen a whole town of magical species where my long lost family resided.

  But this…

  What I was experiencing now…

  This went beyond anything else I’d witnessed in the weirdness stakes.

  When I took hold of Hegathi the Syt’s hand—with some weird, translucent hand of my own that I didn’t even remotely understand—I felt a strange sensation take over my body. And although I was in the grips of fear, at the same time, I found myself going along with this feeling, choosing consciously not to resist.

  Because I felt like I was about to come face to face with something important. Something big.

  And as reluctant to trust Hegathi as I was, this was her ghost, and she was promising to show me how she’d died.

  So I felt myself drifting and drifting.

  And then suddenly I heard a pop.

  I closed my eyes, instinctively more than anything.

  When I opened them, I saw something remarkable.

  I was in a totally bright, white area. There was nothing but white light, Hegathi right in front of me. It was a bit like that scene in the Matrix where Keanu starts having a wander around some light room when he first takes the pill. Red pill or blue pill? I couldn’t remember which. I was probably looking into the bottom of a bag of popcorn at the time.

  But anyway. This whole Matrix vibe felt pretty cool in all truth, ’cause Neo always was coolness-goals.

  I looked around. And as I squinted, I started to see that parts of the light were falling away. And that in the clouds, I was seeing forms—the streets of Nightthistle. People bustling through.

  And as I stood there, I began to realise something remarkable, as I used all my strength and energy to hold onto Hegathi’s hand.

  She was sharing her power as a Syt to revisit the past, and I was seeing for myself what had happened.

  All of a sudden, colour surrounded me. The town of Nightthistle spread around me, like it had been thrown against the white walls like a paint.

  I realised then that I was following Hegathi thro
ugh the street as she escaped the area the Syts stayed in, looking over her shoulder, like she was fearful of something.

  “What were you running from?” I asked.

  But then I realised the Hegathi beside me was gone, although I could still just about feel the grip of her hand. So I kept my focus on that hand, kept my focus on her, and I chased after her past form.

  I followed her. And then the further I followed, I realised I was following her to the Mudthorpe family home. I watched her knock on the door. Watched myself answer—which was a pretty weird thing to witness to say the least.

  Then I watched as she turned and began to race her way back through Nightthistle.

  I decided to get a head start on her. I went over to that bathroom where I’d found her. Stood there. I looked around, heart racing, for a sign of Harold or any of that family—but he was nowhere to be seen.

  And as I stood there, waiting for Hegathi’s arrival, I looked at all the people around me. I looked for more vamps. I looked for Weres. I looked for other Syts. I even looked for Thomas.

  But everyone just seemed… normal. There didn’t seem to be anyone about. Anyone at all.

  I heard footsteps up ahead and I saw Hegathi coming towards me.

  I wasn’t sure what it was. But it felt like she was looking right at me. Like she was staring through the rift in time and laying her eyes on me.

  And the next thing I knew I saw her reach for her neck.

  She winced. Staggered to the bathroom. Pulled the hand away to reveal bloodstained fingers.

  And as she stumbled into the bathroom, I found myself looking around everywhere. Because somebody must’ve shot her. Somebody must’ve shot her from her left.

  That was when I saw Harold approaching from my left, which would’ve been Hegathi’s right.

  He was reading a paper as he walked. He certainly didn’t look like he’d just shot someone.

  Which meant one thing.

  As confusing as it was, as much of a coincidence as it was, Harold wasn’t Hegathi’s killer. He couldn’t be.

  I saw myself arriving, then. Saw myself stepping into the bathroom. Heard my shriek as I found Hegathi’s body.

  And then I saw the police emerging, almost immediately.

  I still found myself squinting in the direction from which Hegathi had been shot.

  And for a split second, I thought I saw movement. A dark figure on one of the buildings, staring right down, watching the scene.

  But as soon as I laid eyes on it… the whole scene collapsed and I was back in my cell.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said, Hegathi’s ghost glowing brighter than ever now. “That can’t be it. I—I saw what happened. I need to go back. I need to see who shot you.”

  Hegathi smiled reluctantly. “I was hoping you’d realised who shot me on that one visit.”

  “Well I didn’t. I’m not quite Poirot, okay?”

  “Poi—who?”

  “It… it doesn’t matter. I had the same reaction a bit ago. But anyway. I need to go back there. I can find your killer. You just have to trust me.”

  She looked down at me with a reluctant sadness on her face. And I realised her glow—the glow that meant she was transferring to the other side—was rapidly growing by the second. “I transferred my sight to you for a while. It took a lot of strength to do that. All my strength. My role is done here. I wish you luck, Stella Storm.”

  “No, Hegathi—”

  “You are a good person. I see that. I hope you find what you are looking for.”

  “Hegathi, please!”

  But my cries were in vain.

  Hegathi closed her eyes.

  The glow surrounded her.

  And in the blink of an eye, she vanished to the other side.

  I sat there, totally still, totally baffled by what’d just happened.

  But even though I still felt cornered now, and even though I didn’t understand, I knew one thing for sure. One thing that Hegathi’s visit had made me realise.

  I couldn’t give up.

  I had to find the strength to get out of here.

  And I damned well would.

  And when I did, I was going to find her killer, and I was going to end this mess—once and for all.

  Chapter 34

  I might be chained up in a magical cell with all kinds of bullshit put in place to keep me in here.

  But I knew one thing for sure.

  I wasn’t sitting in here and rotting away.

  I was getting out of here.

  Even if I didn’t know how in the name of hell I was going to do it, I was going to do it.

  The light from Hegathi’s glow still burned in my eyes. And when I’d looked at her, I’d seen hope. She’d given me the hope that I could get out of here. She’d reminded me of my own strength. Because I’d lost faith. I’d lost belief in myself, just like I’d lost belief in those around me.

  She’d reminded me that I was far, far more powerful than I would ever realise.

  And there was something calming about the way she’d told me I’d find a way out of here. I didn’t know if Syts could see the future. They were a mysterious race, and nobody quite understood the limits or extents of their abilities.

  But she’d said those words with such confidence that I couldn’t help believing in her. I couldn’t help trusting her.

  I closed my eyes, steadied my focus. Because sure, there might be blocks against magic in here. Sure, all odds said I wasn’t going anywhere.

  But I believed in myself.

  I believed in my ability to break out of this place.

  And that had to count for something.

  I brought my mum to mind. Brought to mind the confusion surrounding her whereabouts, the pain I’d felt at losing her as a child.

  And as I felt that pain building, that confusion mounting, I felt my energy rising, too.

  “I can do this,” I said.

  I felt the weight of my magic growing as I tried and tried to break free of my shackles. But in turn, I felt something pushing back. The force of resistance. It was stronger than me. I wasn’t going to break through it. I wasn’t going to…

  “No!” I said. “I can bloody well do this.”

  I kept on pushing even when a crushing pain split through my chest. My head started to spin. I tasted blood at the back of my throat. I knew that I could do myself real damage here.

  But I ignored that voice in my head; the voice that was telling me I was weak, that I couldn’t do this.

  I ignored all the negative screams echoing in my ears.

  I ignored the whole lot.

  And then I sank away, further and further into my abilities, further and further into my rage.

  I remembered what I’d seen in Hegathi’s vision. The object hitting her neck from her left. The blood on her neck. The sight of an ominous figure in the distance.

  I wanted to lean into that memory again. I wanted to face up to them. I wanted to see.

  But the pain grew more splitting. I felt like my head was going to burst (sorry for the graphic detail but I feel you should be as in on this as I am). I felt like all the teeth in my mouth were going to be dragged away by these opposing currents of energy (yeah, apologies again).

  But still I kept my focus.

  Still I kept my composure.

  Still, madwoman that I was, I kept on going.

  And then I reached a point where I lost sense of where I was feeling pain at all. I lost sense of the boundaries of my body. The resistance against me was so intense that it felt like it had totally taken over me, and taken over my wider surroundings, and that if I pushed just a little further, it would crush me completely.

  I felt a tear roll down my cheeks. I thought about Rocky.

  “I’ll be back for you,” I said. “When I solve this, I’ll be back for you.”

  Then I pushed a little further.

  At that moment, I screamed. I wasn’t sure whether it was a conscious decision to scream or something that
just happened, but I let out this shriek that would make a damned opera singer proud.

  I kept on going as the pain ripped through me, as my body felt like it was crumbling into pieces, one by one.

  There was no going back now.

  No matter whether I wanted to, there was no going back.

  I tried to open my eyes but I was trapped in this self-created energy.

  I tried to move but I was stuck in this progression.

  I tried to stop myself screaming, but I just couldn’t.

  And then…

  I felt everything in my body go numb.

  I hit the floor. My hands were free. But the rest of my body was limp and weak.

  To be honest, I thought I was dead.

  Then I opened my eyes and realised dead people didn’t open their eyes. Idiot.

  When I looked around, my body froze.

  I wasn’t in the cell anymore. I wasn’t even in the prison.

  By the looks of things… I was outside.

  In the woods.

  And…

  I staggered to my feet. My throat was dry. My body was weak. But I felt like if I let my focus loose, I’d be shot right back into that cell in an instant.

  So I had to stay strong.

  I had to keep my focus.

  And I had to go see Sheriff Butcher.

  Because no matter what he might believe, I knew the truth.

  I could see it, as clear as day, in the place I’d been teleported to.

  The woods right near where I’d had my standoff with Bertie the Were.

  There was something buried in the ground by the tree in front of me; the tree where I’d found Bertie’s fur.

  As I dug, I soon realised exactly what it was, and at that moment, everything changed.

  I needed to see the Sheriff.

  Because at that moment, with my discovery in hand, I understood.

  Chapter 35

  I headed to Sheriff Butcher’s, my head spinning with all the possibilities after the discovery I’d made in the woods.

  It was late at night and it was raining heavily. I still felt weird after my breakout, like I’d been touched by a sort of magic I didn’t even know I was capable of invoking. The streets were quiet. There were no sirens, nobody chasing after me, so I could only assume that nobody knew I’d broken out. I found it pretty hard to believe, especially in a town where security was surely next-level compared to that back in Goosridge.