Chapter 14
I awoke to the unpleasant sound of Sedgwick screeching. I bolted upright in bed and ripped off my eye mask.
“What’s wrong?” I glanced wildly around the room, my heart pounding.
You’re going to be late for school, he said.
I looked at the clock on my bedside table. Class was due to start in ten minutes.
“What happened?” I demanded, throwing back the covers and running into the bathroom. I was almost never late. To me, punctuality was a sign of respect for the other person. “Why did I oversleep?”
I don’t know, Sedgwick said. You seemed dead to the world.
“Where’s Gareth?” He was normally eager to tick off the squandered seconds in my ear.
I haven’t seen him this morning.
It wasn’t a complete surprise. Gareth had been practicing trying to pop up in more places around town. He was probably doing his ghostly best to haunt the disco.
Not at this early hour, Sedgwick said. The disco would be midnight at the earliest.
“Stop eavesdropping on my thoughts,” I shouted, as I shoved a toothbrush in my mouth. There was no time for food, so I focused on eradicating my morning breath. Nobody deserved to inhale those fumes.
As I brushed my hair, I realized something was wrong. Very wrong.
“Sedgwick?”
I am not going to critique your hair. That’s Gareth’s job.
“Not that. Can you see me in the mirror?”
He flapped his wings behind me. Now that’s interesting.
I waved my arms but saw nothing reflected in the glass. I lifted the toothbrush again and watched the reflection as it floated in the air.
“But you can see me, right?” I asked.
Unfortunately.
What on earth was happening? “Why am I invisible?”
You have been eating less lately.
“Ha ha. What am I supposed to do? I can’t go to class if I’m invisible.”
You have to do something.
“Do you think they’ll be able to hear me even if they can’t see me?”
Only one way to find out.
I dressed quickly and hurried out of the house.
Meet you there, I told Sedgwick.
I saw a few gobsmacked looks as the seemingly driverless Volvo rolled into town. After a few more shocked faces, I began to laugh. It occurred to me that being invisible might be fun.
By the time I arrived in class, Professor Holmes was mid-lecture. He stopped when the door blew open. “Sophie, would you mind closing the door? I’m not sure where that gust of wind came from.”
I closed the door before Sophie reached it.
“Look, there’s Sedgwick,” Laurel said. “But where’s Emma?”
“I’m right here,” I said.
“That’s odd,” Sophie said. “Sedgwick wouldn’t come without her.”
“He didn’t,” I shouted.
“Sometimes he gets here first if she walks,” Begonia pointed out.
Professor Holmes rustled the papers on his desk. “Witches, let’s get back to the lesson. We’ll welcome Emma whenever she chooses to appear.”
“I choose to appear right now,” I said, but no dice.
You may as well take advantage of the situation, Sedgwick said. Go back to bed.
I can write a note, I said. I ran past the other girls to the teacher’s desk. I took a quill and began to scribble on the nearest piece of parchment.
“Professor,” Millie cried. “Your quill is moving.”
The look on the elderly wizard’s face was priceless.
What are you writing? Sedgwick asked.
“I am invisible,” Professor Holmes read aloud. “P.S. It’s Emma.” He stared at the spot where I stood. “You’re invisible?”
“Apparently.”
I continued to write and he watched in anticipation as each word formed on the page. “She doesn’t know what happened,” he told the class. “She woke up like this.”
“What fun!” Begonia said.
“Were you trying to do a spell at home?” Sophie asked.
“No,” Professor Holmes said, reading my answer. He stroked his chin. “Which means someone did this to you.”
“Why would anyone want her invisible?” Laurel asked.
“She’s been following up on leads, trying to figure out who put the spell on Stan and the town council,” Begonia said. “Maybe she got too close to the truth.”
“Good thinking, Begonia,” Professor Holmes said. “We’ll need to retrace your steps. Make a list of everyone you’ve spoken with in the last few days and we’ll start with that.”
The last few days? Between Russ and the town council, that was a ridiculously long list.
“But what if it’s not related to the youth spell?” Sophie asked. “Then we’re wasting valuable time talking to irrelevant people.”
“That happens to me all the time,” Millie said.
Begonia frowned. “You sound like Jemima.”
“I was kidding,” Millie said sheepishly, but we all knew better.
Professor Holmes placed a fresh sheet of parchment on the desk. “Here you go, Emma. Don’t spare us the details.”
I wrote down as many names as I could remember. It didn’t help that I’d been all around town the past couple of days. Anyone I passed could have done this to me.
“Tell us everywhere you ate and drank too,” Millie added. “It could have been a potion.”
Professor Holmes beamed. “My students are making me proud today.”
“Just today?” Millie pouted.
Professor Holmes swatted the air. “For nature’s sake, Millie. Stop fishing for compliments.”
Millie’s cheeks burned crimson.
My hand was beginning to cramp from all the writing. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d handwritten so much at once. I felt a pang of longing for my laptop.
“All done,” I announced, not that anyone could hear me.
Professor Holmes noticed when the quill returned to its usual place. “She must be finished.” He scanned the information before addressing the group. “I suggest we split up to save time.”
“What about today’s lesson?” Millie asked, always the eager star pupil.
“Today’s lesson is how to help a friend in need,” Professor Holmes said. “I trust you are interested to learn more about that.”
“Of course,” Millie said, straightening her shoulders. “Just tell me where to start.”
“What about you?” Professor Holmes asked me. “What will you do?” He gave me a dismissive wave. “On second thought, don’t tell me. It might be best if you slink around town and eavesdrop. Perhaps you’ll learn something useful.”
Not a bad idea.
Or maybe it is, Sedgwick said. Sometimes you learn things you’d rather not know.
True, but what choice do I have? I’ll meet you outside Brew-Ha-Ha. If there’s gossip happening, that’s a good place to start.
You just want to steal a sip of someone’s latte, Sedgwick said.
I laughed. My familiar knew me too well.
Brew-Ha-Ha was packed at this hour. The morning rush seemed to last until lunchtime. I slipped in behind two fairies and moved clockwise around the room.
People always talk about wanting to be a fly on the wall, but I never really understood the desire until now. Even though it was wrong to eavesdrop on private conversations, I found myself enjoying the experience. No one saw me. No one paid attention to me. Sadly, it was likely a glimpse into my future—when I became a woman of a certain age.
Most of the conversations I overheard were banal. Complaints about family members. Job interview. Fears about money. These were conversations I could have heard in my local Starbucks. The only difference was that some of the patrons sported wings or pointy ears.
Across the room, I spotted the three youngest harpies. Darcy, Calliope, and Freya Minor were chowing down on scones and sipping tea. Darcy had a hand i
n every philanthropic pot in town. She probably came a close second to Myra, the church administrator, in terms of access to gossip. A good place to start then.
“She accused me of not cleaning the sink thoroughly enough,” Darcy grumbled. “Again. Like I don’t have enough on my plate.”
“I wish Grandmother would relent and let us hire a fairy cleaning service,” Calliope said. “It would alleviate so many of these arguments.”
“Not all of them,” Freya said. “If she tells me one more time to pluck my eyebrows, I’m going to pluck her eyes out with my talons.”
Calliope smiled. “Your eyebrows are perfect just the way they are.”
“Thanks, sis.” Freya relaxed and bit into her scone.
“I have something to confess,” Calliope said, and my ears perked up. “I’m thinking about trying Pandora’s matchmaking service.”
“What?” her sisters cried in unison.
Calliope hid behind her enormous teacup. “We keep talking about how we don’t meet any men, but we don’t do anything about it.”
“I meet men all the time,” Darcy said primly. “They simply can’t handle a strong woman.”
“You’re not strong. You’re a relentless taskmaster,” Freya said. “There’s a difference.”
Calliope placed a hand on her younger sister’s arm. “Okay, let’s not go there right now. Save the arguments for the privacy of our own home.”
So Calliope’s confession was that she wanted to use a matchmaker. Interesting, but not the kind of information I was seeking.
I turned and caught a glimpse of Myra placing an order at the counter. Jackpot! As the church administrator, the gnome had taken to hearing confessions in the Spellbound church. If anyone had confessed to the youth spell, she’d be the one to have heard it.
I hovered behind her, listening intently to her conversation with Henrik, the barista who’d been the object of Russ’s wrath.
“I heard he threw a sledgehammer at you, and it crushed the side of Edgar’s face,” Myra said.
Henrik chuckled. “It was a beer bottle and Edgar is recovering nicely.”
Ah, the inevitable outcome of whisper down the lane.
“I passed Mayor Knightsbridge and Juliet Montlake on my way here, jumping rope at the playground,” Myra said, paying for her drink. “Any word on that disaster?”
Hmm. If Myra was hitting up the barista for gossip, that meant she didn’t know anything.
Henrik shook his Mohawk. “I just wish Sheriff Hugo would sort it out. The town is a mess. I caught two elves trying to vandalize the windows last night with fairy paint. They ran when they saw me come outside with my spear.”
I didn’t think he needed a spear to make anyone run. The berserker looked intimidating enough without a weapon.
“It feels like no one’s in charge,” Myra said, shuddering. “I don’t care for it.”
Me neither. I left Myra and Henrik and was about to give up when I heard a reference to Josef, the recently deceased wizard.
"Did you go to the wake?" an unfamiliar elf asked. I moved closer to their table to listen.
"I went on the second day,” the dwarf replied. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Deacon, the owner of the jewelry store. His store had been robbed by a goblin called Mumford, the defendant in my very first case in Spellbound.
"I always try to attend on the first day before the smell sets in," the elf said.
"That's smart," Deacon said. "I had to work on the first day. Were there a lot of mourners?"
"I don't know about mourners, but there were certainly a lot of nosy residents walking around. His house is massive, isn't it?"
"Some of those rooms reminded me of a museum," Deacon said. "Did you check out the library on the second floor? He seemed to be hoarding old grimoires. I wonder if the coven knows about that."
The elf sipped his tea. "If they didn't before, they do now. I saw a dozen people up there, flipping through the books. There were some crazy spells in there. Did you read any of them?”
Deacon laughed, a rumbling sound that came straight from his stomach. "I saw one about how to obtain anything you want from the universe. Talk about vague and broad." He shook his head. “Sometimes I don't know what these witches and wizards are thinking."
"No kidding," the elf said. “I saw one spell about how to get a beach body in five minutes. Not much use around here."
"Well, there's always Swan Lake. We get a partial shoreline."
I'd heard enough. I hadn't attended the wake, but now I felt that I should go investigate the books in the wizard's library, assuming the books were still there. I’d have to drive Sigmund. From what I remembered, the house was too far to walk.
Sedgwick was perched on the roof of the car when I arrived.
Where are you going? Sedgwick asked.
"I'm taking a ride to a dead wizard's house," I said. "Do you want to come?"
Sedgwick tilted his head, debating. What's in it for me?
"What kind of question is that? You’re my familiar. You’re supposed to be more like me."
"Says who? Just because we can communicate doesn't mean we share a personality.”
That seemed to be one way in which he was different from the witches’ cat familiars. We really didn’t share a similar personality.
"The house will be empty,” I said. “There are sure to be mice running around."
Good enough for me, Sedgwick said.
I drove further away from downtown to where the houses were bigger and further apart. A long, dirt road led me to the wizard's estate. There was no sign of life, not that I expected there to be. This was not the time to discover I could see another ghost. Then again, maybe the wizard would have helpful information.
The front door was unlocked so I let myself in. Sedgwick flew in after me, immediately disappearing down a dark hallway. The house was bursting with interesting artifacts. He was clearly a collector, although I didn't know of what. There were crystals of various colors, shapes, and sizes. Each had its own pedestal. He clearly took care of them. There wasn’t a speck of dust on any of the pieces and, with all of their jagged edges, these were prime dust magnets.
I headed upstairs to the second floor to find the library that Deacon and the elf had mentioned. It wasn't hard to find. There was a large bookcase to my right crammed with leather-bound books. In the middle of the room stood a table with a raised stand. Although the space was empty now, it looked like it had once supported a book. It was surprising that no one in the coven noticed the number of spell books in the house. Many witches and wizards had attended the wake. I’d need to ask Professor Holmes why they were unconcerned. It seemed unwise to leave such potent books out for public consumption. If witches weren’t even permitted to have a grimoire until graduation from the academy, it seemed risky to leave books like these out for anyone to view or steal. I studied the empty space. What if there had been a grimoire here during the wake and someone had stolen it? Perhaps the missing grimoire contained the youth spell. If we found the book, then we would find the spell caster.
I looked around the room and sighed. Trying to find a missing book of spells in Spellbound was worse than a needle in a haystack. I didn't even know the title of the missing book or what it looked like, assuming I was right in the first place. I wondered if anyone had catalogued his estate after his death. Based on the state of the house, my guess was not yet.
Find anything good? Sedgwick flew in and perched on the stand.
"Do you think the wizard kept records of his belongings?” I asked. “Maybe his own personal card catalog for this library?”
What are you looking for?
"A missing grimoire, I think. It may have rested right where you are now. It's just a hunch, but I'd like to pursue it."
I didn't see any evidence of a catalogue or list of inventory in the library. I did a quick tour of the rest of the house but saw no evidence of the grimoire.
“Let’s go,” I told Sedgwick.
“You can go home,” I said. “I’m going to the office to write a note for Althea. I need to tell her what’s going on with me. I can’t defend Russ if I’m invisible.”
Suit yourself.
I left the contents of the house exactly as I found them and returned to my car. For a fleeting moment, I thought being invisible would be a welcome break from responsibility, but it seemed to translate into more work.
Just another lucky day for Emma Hart.
Chapter 15
I was shocked to enter my office and see Gareth floating around the room.
“Here you are,” I said. “Where have you been all morning? I’m having a crisis.”
“Your hair can hardly be considered a crisis,” he replied. “All you need to do is run a brush through it every now and again and ta da—the beast is tamed.”
I groaned. “I am not talking about my hair.”
“That’s part of the problem,” Gareth said, clucking his tongue. “Denial.”
I slapped my forehead in frustration as the connecting door opened and Althea breezed in with the watering can.
“Tell her she’s not giving the plant enough water,” Gareth said.
“I can’t,” I said.
Althea strolled right past me and tipped the water into the plant.
Gareth whistled. “Talk about the cold shoulder. What did you do to annoy her? You insulted her snakes, didn’t you? They’re very sensitive reptiles.”
Althea stopped and looked around the room. “Are you in here, Gareth? I feel a feminine presence, so I know it isn’t Emma.”
Gareth howled with laughter. “Excellent. She’s really gunning for you today.”
“She’s not,” I said. “She can’t see me.”
“Nice try,” he said.
I jumped in front of Althea and waved my hands in front of her face. She barely blinked. Instead, she returned to her office and closed the door.
I faced Gareth, hands on hips. “Believe me now?”
His jaw dropped. “What happened to you? Great damnation, are you dead?” His pale face drained of any remaining color. “Oh no. Poor Magpie.”
“You think I’m dead and your cat is the one you feel sorry for?” I asked in disbelief. “Thankfully, I’m not dead. Just invisible.”
Lucky Charm (Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 12
