by K E O'Connor
“It was nothing bad,” Lila said quietly. “But our combined ability came to the attention of the Magic Council. They called upon our services.”
I looked at the book. “They gave you these magic items and spells to test?”
“Exactly,” Auntie Queenie said. “Here’s the tricky bit. We were sworn to secrecy by the Magic Council. We can’t talk about what we did.”
“You can tell me anything,” I said. “I won’t say a word.”
“You misunderstand. We literally cannot talk about it. If I try to discuss the magic in that book with anyone outside of the group, I won’t be able to. My voice vanishes.”
I blinked at her rapidly. “The Magic Council put a spell on all of you?”
“That’s right,” Lila said. “We were handling dark magic. They decided it was too much of a risk if we could talk freely. We can talk to each other about it, but that’s it. If anyone else is in the room, we go mute.”
“However, the Magic Council aren’t as smart as they think,” Auntie Queenie said. “They didn’t say we were forbidden from writing our results down. I kept a record. It was partly so it was easier to report back to the Council and tell them what we’d discovered, but I was also curious. We tested so much magic over the years that I couldn’t remember it all.”
“So, what’s the problem? Is the Magic Council not happy that you have this book?”
“We worked with them for almost a decade,” Auntie Queenie said. “There was no problem until their requests changed and we became uneasy with their demands.”
Lila ducked her head. “They asked us to use the magic on specific people.”
I jerked back in my seat. “They wanted you to be magic using assassins?”
“Nothing that sophisticated,” Auntie Queenie said. “We were happy to test the magic and use it within a protective circle when together, but we never used it on our own. There’s power within those pages. For a single witch to use such power, it would kill her.”
“We didn’t turn the Council down to begin with,” Lila said. “We targeted the magic on a few people, as they requested.”
“At first, it wasn’t an issue.” Auntie Queenie lowered her head. “It wasn’t until someone died from the magic we used that we stopped helping the Magic Council.”
“They got you to kill someone?”
“They claimed it was an accident. The magic should never have killed the target.” Lila frowned. “The individual had been weakened by other magic they were unaware of.”
“After that, we said no more to using magic on others,” Auntie Queenie said. “We were prepared to continue testing magic, and the Council agreed we could do that. Everything was fine for a few months. We still got magic sent our way and reported our findings.”
“Until an item backfired,” Lila said. “We were sent a corrupted potion. When we activated it, it attacked us.”
My eyes widened. “How did it affect you?”
“It made everyone sick, some more than others,” Lila said.
“I’ve always suspected the Magic Council used that potion to try to get rid of us,” Auntie Queenie said. “We knew too much and had stopped following their orders. And we’d used magic under their instruction against others. If we decided to reveal what we’d done, the Magic Council would have been in trouble.”
Lila tilted her head. “We have no proof. The potion could have gone wrong. Magic distorts over time or when it’s not handled correctly.”
“We know how to handle magic,” Auntie Queenie said. “This wasn’t a problem of our making. Everyone who was there when that potion activated got sick. Basically, the whole of the Dead Tree Witch gang.”
“Did this potion make Bastille sick?” I asked.
“Yes, she was closest to the potion when it activated,” Auntie Queenie said.
“And I heard from Tilly that Caprice didn’t seem well on the night of Bastille’s murder.” I glanced at Lila. “You also don’t look too good.”
Lila sighed. “I’ve felt better.”
I grabbed Auntie Queenie’s hand. “What about you? Did this potion get on you?”
She patted my hand. “I was the lucky one. I wasn’t there when the gang used the potion. I returned to find them weak and sick. It took them months to recover. By then, the gang was on its knees. That’s when we were driven out of Willow Tree Falls by a rival gang. We disbanded not long after.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Auntie Queenie was safe from whatever this potion was doing to the others. “Did the witches you commemorated at the dinner also get affected by the potion?”
“They were there.” Auntie Queenie’s eyes widened. Her worried gaze went to Lila. “You don’t think...”
“They died because that potion weakened them?” Lila’s eyes filled with tears. “That can’t be true.”
“When you told me about their deaths, I thought it was odd,” I said. “Four healthy witches dying within two years of each other.”
“When they returned from their travels, they were sick, so we assumed it had to be related to something they came into contact with when they were away, not the potion,” Lila said.
Auntie Queenie dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “They thought their trip would help them recover. They wanted to have some fun and forget about their worries.”
“Maybe the Magic Council found a way to kill them without making it look like murder,” I said.
“As they tried to do with Caprice.” Auntie Queenie’s chin lifted a slight wobble in her jaw. “I’ve never thought about it until now. What if that potion weakened them over time? Then they activated something dark when they were on their travels. The Magic Council realized they were vulnerable, so they took the opportunity to take them out.”
“It can’t be the Magic Council doing this,” Lila said. “They’re not perfect, but they aren’t assassins.”
I sat back in my seat. “If this is the reason behind the murders, it means nobody in your group is the killer. Someone else is after you because of what you know or what you did to them.”
“We’re being picked off one by one by someone who knows what we did for the Magic Council,” Lila whispered.
“Or by the Magic Council themselves. They’ve realized we know too much,” Auntie Queenie said. “They consider us a liability. Our relationship with the Magic Council isn’t great.”
“I still can’t believe it’s the Magic Council coming after us,” Lila said. “They’re a bunch of officials sitting in their fancy offices, and we can’t talk about any of the magic we tested. We’re no threat.”
I nodded. It also seemed unlikely to me that the Magic Council would take out Auntie Queenie and her friends. “Could it be somebody you used the magic on?”
“It’s most likely somebody who’s magic was taken for us to experiment with,” Lila said. “Those powerful spells and magic-filled items came from other magic using creatures.”
Auntie Queenie nodded. “The Magic Council had a push two decades ago and cracked down on lethal spells, forcibly removing them from magic users.”
“And one of those magic users now wants revenge against you.” This was the worst possible news. Somebody was targeting every member of the Dead Tree Witch gang, including Auntie Queenie.
She took hold of my hand and squeezed it. “This killer isn’t messing around. Don’t put yourself at risk to help a bunch of middle-aged women who played with fire when they were younger. We can sort this ourselves.”
There was no way I’d leave them to figure this out on their own. “I’m going nowhere.”
“What are we going to do?” Lila looked at me as she spoke.
I reached for her hand and linked us together. “Find out who it is before they strike again and stop them.”
Chapter 18
After learning about Auntie Queenie’s association with the Magic Council, I decided to assemble the remaining gang members at Mom’s house. Together, they should be able to figure out who most wanted them dead.<
br />
We’d arranged for Esmeralda and Samantha to come by at lunchtime, but every other member of the family had been excluded. The fewer people who knew what was going on, the better. I didn’t want anyone else added to this killer’s hit list.
Aurora was working at the store, so she wouldn’t be a problem. Granny Dottie and Mom were taking a shift at the cemetery, so they couldn’t be involved.
I gently shooed Uncle Kenny and Grandpa Lucius out the front door just before noon. “We’re having a girls’ afternoon. No men allowed.”
Grandpa Lucius looked at me with suspicion in his eyes. “Since when do you organize girls’ afternoons?”
“Starting today,” I said.
“What about your sister? She’s a girl, and I don’t see her here.”
“She’s busy.” I smiled at him. “Don’t come back for several hours, unless you want your nails painted and a clay mask applied.”
Uncle Kenny chuckled as he backed away. “Don’t worry. We’ve got a couple of seats waiting in the Ancient Imp.”
Grandpa Lucius kissed my cheek, his narrowed gaze suggesting he didn’t entirely believe me. “Have fun.”
They strolled out of the gate and along the lane. I didn’t like keeping secrets, but it was better for them if they didn’t know what we were involved in. Safer for them.
I raised a hand as I saw Samantha hurrying toward me. She looked flustered, and her cheeks were flushed. I briefly wondered if she’d made a detour to see Toby, but I couldn’t worry about her tangled love life now. We had a killer to find.
“The message from Queenie was most mysterious.” Samantha stopped beside me. “What’s going on?”
“We’ve got an idea about who killed Bastille and Caprice,” I said. “We have to be discreet. The fewer people who know, the better.”
“Oh, goodness.” Samantha took a step back. “Fair enough. I’ve just finished talking to the angels again. They’re grilling Esmeralda at the moment, so she’s going to be late.”
“Do you know how long they’ll be with her?”
“They talked to me for a good half an hour,” Samantha said. “I tried to get her to come with me, but the angels said they couldn’t postpone their questioning and shut the door in my face.”
“We’ll start without her,” I said. “Everybody else is inside.” I led Samantha into the kitchen. She greeted Lila and Auntie Queenie before sitting at the table.
I’d also collected Wiggles from my apartment, and he sat next to Auntie Queenie, begging for treats.
I settled in a seat, and Auntie Queenie nodded at me to begin. I looked around the table at the anxious faces. “We have a new theory about why members of the gang are dying.”
“What is it?” Samantha asked as she accepted a cup of tea from Auntie Queenie.
“Give Tempest a minute, and she’ll tell you,” Auntie Queenie said.
“We think it’s somebody from your past. Someone whose magic was given to you to test on behalf of the Magic Council. Whoever it is, they’ve come back for revenge.”
Auntie Queenie, Samantha, and Lila all talked at once, disputing, throwing out names, suggesting spells used. I gave them a minute before gesturing for silence.
“I know it’s been a long time since you’ve had anything to do with testing magic for the Council, but I think it’s relevant.”
“How do you even know about that?” Samantha asked.
“Because she’s nosy.” Auntie Queenie winked at me. “And it’s a good thing she is. Tempest found the record book I keep.”
“I only found it because you left it on the kitchen table,” I said. “You can’t deal with this on your own. Two of you have already been killed, and Lila is sick. You need help.”
Samantha nodded. “You know we can’t talk about specifics of the magic we tested.”
“I’ve had an idea about how to get around that,” Auntie Queenie said. “We use replacement words for the spells. I know, for example, if I talk about this particular spell,” she tapped a page on the book before passing it around the table, “I won’t be able to utter a word. What if I called it the Spell of Orange?”
“It should work,” Lila said. “I’m not sure how useful it will be, though.”
“If it helps you all to talk it out, then try that. You need to come up with a shortlist of the most powerful magic from that book,” I said. “Whoever’s power you took is after you.”
“Do you really think they’d wait this long to get back at us?” Samantha looked doubtful.
“There must be a reason they’ve waited this long. Maybe they’ve only just learned about your involvement with the Magic Council. But whatever the reason, they’re here, and they want you all dead.”
“I’ve marked the spells with that traffic light signal you saw in the book, Tempest. The green, amber, and red marks. We’ll focus on the red ones. They were lethal, dark, and dangerous. That sort of magic should never be allowed to manifest. There were only twenty or so of those in the whole time we assisted the Magic Council.”
I nodded. “Great, you go through those spells, and I’ll sort out some food.”
“Cake,” Wiggles said. “It’s essential in times of crisis.”
“Your mom made a lovely buttercream sponge,” Auntie Queenie said. “It’s in the pantry.”
I collected the cake and plates as Auntie Queenie, Samantha, and Lila huddled around the book, muttering to themselves and flicking through the pages as they read through the spells.
I busied myself with making more tea and cutting the cake as I tried not to worry. This was serious and deadly. We had to find out who was after them before the killer made their next move.
I’d never say it to them, but they were all vulnerable. Auntie Queenie had power, especially when it came to containing demons, but if what she said was true, and I had no reason to doubt it wasn’t, the magic in that book was even stronger.
I set the fresh pot of tea and the sliced cake on the table before breaking off a few pieces and feeding them to Wiggles. “What have you got?”
“There are only three detailed in here that cause us concern,” Auntie Queenie said. “There’s the St...” her voice cut off, and she blinked rapidly.
“Give the magic another name,” Lila said. “How about the Shoe of Banana? Yes! Listen, I can say Shoe of Banana, Shoe of Banana, Shoe of Banana as much as I like, and the restriction magic doesn’t kick in.”
I scratched my head. “The Shoe of Banana is meaningless to me.”
“I’ll show you the information in the book, but I used initials and shorthand for each item, so they couldn’t be used or found if the book fell into the wrong hands,” Auntie Queenie said. “Let’s call this magic the Shoe of Banana for now, and you study my scribblings as I tell you about it.”
She passed me the book and pointed at a line. The initials were S and B.
“Let’s see how much we can reveal.” Auntie Queenie cracked her knuckles. “The side effects of using this piece of magic were madness and death. It had the ability to turn an individual into stone.”
“The Shoe of Banana must have belonged to a High Witch,” I said.
Auntie Queenie nodded. “Owning the Banana wasn’t a problem, providing you never used its full power.”
“That’s right,” Lila said. “The Shoe of Banana had different levels of influence. For example, it could freeze someone to the spot for a moment before releasing them. That was considered permissible use.”
“But the witch who had the Banana,” Samantha said, “Agat...” her words faded.
“We can’t say her name,” Lila said.
“That’s no good,” I said. “How can I look out for a killer if you can’t tell me who she is?”
“We’ll have to make up a name for her,” Samantha said.
“Grumpy Old Bird Face.” Auntie Queenie grinned at the others. “She had a sharp nose and an even sharper tongue. She was always complaining about something.”
Lila shrugged. “Mean
but true. She did look like an old eagle whose favorite nesting site had been squashed.”
“So, Grumpy Old Bird Face broke the rules,” Auntie Queenie said. “She used the Banana’s full power and killed people. A dozen people died before the Magic Council figured out what she was up to. They imprisoned her, took the Shoe of Banana away, and gave it to us.”
“What did you do with it?” I asked.
“Drained it of its power,” Samantha said. “It wasn’t easy, and it was dangerous magic to tinker with. There was every possibility the Banana would explode and turn us all to stone.”
“It was a close call. When we finally figured out how to deal with the magic, it was unstable. Banana splattered everywhere,” Auntie Queenie said.
I wasn’t sure what the banana was in this context, but I got the idea. The magic had been messy, and they’d almost died.
“It took three weeks to drain the Shoe of Banana’s power,” Samantha said. “After that, it was easy enough to destroy. Grumpy Old Bird Face wasn’t happy when she learned what we’d done. I hear she still spits curses whenever anyone mentions us.”
“If she’s in prison, she’s no danger to you,” I said.
“That’s just it. She’s not,” Auntie Queenie said. “Grumpy Old Bird Face vanished from prison almost a year ago. I remember thinking I needed to watch my back when I heard about her escape. After a while, when she didn’t come looking for me, I figured she was too jaded and worn out to chase us after such a long time.”
“And Grumpy Old Bird Face never focused her magic around fire. She always used stones and precious gems as a source of power. I’d be surprised if she’s turned to fire,” Lila said.
“She could have learned new skills while inside,” Samantha said.
“Or she used fire as a diversion,” Auntie Queenie said. “No one would think of Grumpy Old Bird Face using fire to kill.”
I studied the scribbles and shorthand that referred to the Shoe of Banana. It was possible that this magic user had come back for revenge after losing something with so much power.
