Haven Witches

by Emma Watts

  She chuckled. “That’s what your mother said not long before she left Haven.”

  “Perhaps she was right.”

  “She was wrong, misguided, I don’t know how to explain it to you any other way than to say that this is your destiny, Kelly. You were born to do this. You are going to interfere in the police work. You are going to stir up things in this town and you are going to push back the darkness.”

  “And what if I don’t wish to do any of that?”

  “Then that is your choice, just as it was your mother’s. But before you make that decision, let me show you something.”

  She turned towards the screen and requested footage of the Haven cemetery. She had the screen zoom in on the grave of someone by the name of Sophia Fern. Going by the years on the grave it appeared she had been only eleven years old when she died.

  “Sophia Fern. An innocent child was murdered here in Haven by her stepfather after she witnessed the murder of her mother.”

  She then went to another person. This time a boy who was seven years old. Thomas Holloway. Murdered on Christmas Day by his neighbor because he was in love with his mother and she turned down his advances. He wanted to get back at her.

  She continued going through another nine people. Some were young, others old, all of them shouldn’t have been murdered, and in al cases, the killer had got away with murder.

  “That’s enough.”

  “But there are so many more and we haven’t even tackled the supernatural kind.”

  “Stop!” I said, my tone even stronger. “How did these people get away with it? And who are all these dead people?”

  “Residents of Haven. All the people that your mother chose to turn her back on when she walked away. Had she been here, these murdered people would have found peace. Now they belong to the darkness. And believe me there is no way to release them from that. No magic in the world can turn that around.”

  “Why didn’t you stop them?”

  “It’s not my calling. I’m not a Winters.”

  “Why not Barb then?”

  “She has a different job, as the keeper of knowledge. She keeps watch over you, and the archives of all the cases that are solved, and all the acts performed by those that have been before you.”

  My mind was churning at a million miles an hour. “Then what about the police? You cannot tell me that they couldn’t solve all these cases. They are trained for this.”

  “Oh my dear Kelly. You are still looking at this with a very linear thinking. Our war is not against flesh and blood. It is against a dark force that wishes to collect as many souls as possible. And just as you are guided to do good, there are those in this town that are guided to do the opposite.”

  I frowned trying to grasp what she meant. “I’m not sure I follow. Are you suggesting the police aren’t solving these murders?”

  “Oh believe me, some of these were solved. Just the wrong person is sitting in jail. Others weren’t solved. Think of all the murders in the world, Kelly. Some are solved, some are unsolved and some were pinned on innocent individuals. The police in this town, God bless their souls, are doing the best they can but they don’t know what forces are at work here. Well, at least not all of them do. There are those inside the police department that know about the darkness.”

  “Who?”

  “It’s not as easy as that. Today it might be Scott Hunter, tomorrow it might be Hazel Roberts, the next day, someone else. They won’t even know when they are being guided. That’s why you need to do this. Only you can turn back the tide, stop the darkness from having a root and prevent Kilara from rising again.”

  I walked over to a chair and slumped down.

  “Those are big shoes to fill.”

  “That they are. But you’re not alone. You have me. You have Barb and there are others that will assist you in time.”

  I rested my head against my hand, overwhelmed by the burden she was laying on my shoulders. I’d imagined I would be working some mundane little job in a small town, and saving for a home, but here I was faced with one of the greatest guilt trips that anyone could have placed on them. Walk away and know that souls wouldn’t rest in peace, or help.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in. It’s a great responsibility to take on, but it’s what every single woman on that wall has done before you and I know if your mother was alive now, she would tell you to not run from this.”

  I sighed. “Where do we begin?”

  Ivy turned back to the screen and called up the faces of different people associated with the death or life of Daniel Moon. Each face appeared with their name, occupation, place of work and home address. There was Gloria Moon, Matthew Rider, Rick Moon, Sylvia Moon, Tobias Saborn, Nina Lopez, Gary Lopez and Liam Vaughn.

  “All of these?”

  “Yep. Remember, you can use your magic. No one is going to stop you. We don’t have anyone lurking over our shoulder; however, you cannot change your appearance. It’s down to you to use your magic wisely.”

  “Magic?”

  “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. The ability has always been there, you just haven’t been shown how to use it. Allow me to show you.”

  She put out her hand, and I stared at it for a second or two. I placed my hand in hers and then my training began.

  Chapter 12

  I stared down at the tiny book of spells Ivy had given me. It was encased in a leather cover. At first when she showed it to me all the pages were blank. Then she told me to look closely. That’s when I saw it change. Words began to form on the pages and in a matter of seconds every page was filled with a spell. You name it, from the smallest thing to the largest. The ability to make flames appear, freeze objects or make them move, the list went on and on. She’d told me that only a witch could see them. That way if I ever dropped the book and someone else picked it up, they would see only blank pages. In time she said I wouldn’t need it and that I would just remember all the spells. Yeah right! There were hundreds inside that little book. It was as if some tiny little person had taken a tiny little pencil and scribbled into a tiny little book. Why was it so small? She said I should have seen the original; it took two people to open the book.

  Anyway, after being given a crash course in how to cast spells, and I truly mean it was a crash course, as objects smashed on the ground and I found myself floating in the air in one breath and hitting the ground in the next. Yeah, it was a rough way to learn magic. I assumed I’d be able to learn spells instantly, but that wasn’t the case. Ivy said it would take some time. How much time? Days, weeks, months, years? She said it varied from person to person. Some caught on to it pretty quick, others learned the hard way. She said just be prepared to make mistakes and get a few mixed up but that was all part of the learning process.

  After spending the better part of the morning on spells, she shoved the book into my hand and pushed me out of the library. “Go on now, be creative, start investigating.”

  “Hold on a minute, Ivy, what about the police?”

  “What about them?”

  “I don’t want to get into trouble.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have come to Haven. This place is trouble. I don’t need to remind you that everyone is relying on you.”

  “Oh so no pressure then.”

  She laughed and the wall which was shimmering vanished, along with Ivy too. Literally, one second she was there and the next she was gone. I flipped through the book. Oh, I have got to learn that one. For years I’d wanted to do a disappearing act. Can you imagine that? Being able to vanish. Oh the peace and freedom. However, knowing my luck I would perform the spell and my head would disappear but the rest of my body wouldn’t. I would then spend the next month walking around without a head.

  As I ventured out into the bright morning sun, I looked down at the list of suspects. I was really going to do this. To say I was nervous would have been an understatement. It was one thing to have Ivy tell me to stick my nose into other people’s business,
ruffle a few feathers and bang on a few doors, another to actually do it. What would Detective Hunter say if he found me interrogating a suspect? How would the suspect act? As I strolled back to the black Porsche, I had mixed feelings. On one hand I felt like a fish out of water and on the other, I felt empowered and strong. I had powers. Magical powers? Who wouldn’t want them? Get a grip on yourself, Kelly. First try out a couple of spells from the safety of the car. At least no one will see you behind the tinted windows, I thought. I hopped into the car and fired it up. I drove through the sleepy streets of Haven until I made it to the town square. I pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine. In the square there were several people. A jogger doing laps, Miles and Violet with their fiddle, Adele feeding the birds outside her store, Logan taking out the trash and… Logan taking out the trash. I flipped open the book and searched inside for a spell that would allow me to move objects. “C’mon, I know it’s in here,” I muttered under my breath. I glanced up and saw him toss the trash into a large dumpster down the side of his store. A few more seconds and he would be gone. There you are! I yelled stabbing the page with my finger. I muttered the spell and did exactly what Ivy told me to do, then sat back and watched as Logan began walking away. Darn. Nothing happened. I tried again. This time the dumpster started shaking. I squinted, unsure if it was even me or perhaps it was just an earthquake. No, I wasn’t moving. I would feel it.

  Then, just like that, the bag he’d tossed in burst out of the top of the dumpster and landed on the ground. Logan had just gone around the corner when he stopped.

  “That’s it. Go back. Go take a look,” I said, smiling gleefully.

  He took a few steps back and poked his head around the corner. I laughed as he placed his hands on his hips and then shook his head. He went back to the dumpster and grabbed up the bag and tossed it back inside. I muttered the spell and this time he’d only taken a few steps when it burst out of the industrial-sized bin and landed on the ground. Logan stared at the black bag, gave it a kick as if checking to see if something was alive inside of it, then tossed it back in. The third time it flew out of the bin, I couldn’t contain my laughter. However, now he turned around and scanned the square. I ducked down in my seat crying with laughter. Okay, I could get used to this magic stuff.

  Over the course of the next ten minutes I tried a series of spells on the good folks of Haven. I made the fiddle of Miles and Violet play by itself, I made all the breadcrumbs hover in the air and go back into the small paper bag that Adele was tossing them out of, and I made the jogger freeze in one spot. I mean, she wasn’t totally frozen. Her legs were moving, but she wasn’t going anywhere. It was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. All of them were looking around wondering what on earth was going on. With a click of my fingers it instantly stopped.

  Satisfied that I had at least got the hang of a few of the basics, I set off to track down Tobias Saborn. Fortunately I didn’t have to travel far to find him. As I circled around the harbor heading for his home, I noticed him working away down by the water. I pulled up and hopped out and made my way down, casting a glance around. If I was honest, I was still nervous about doing all of this without the approval of the police. Ivy had been adamant and told me that if I waited to get their approval, it wouldn’t come. They didn’t like civilians meddling in their cases, and the dark forces that were at work in the town would do everything within their power to prevent me from solving it, so it was down to me. Break the rules. Go against the grain. Do whatever you need to in order to bring justice to this man’s soul. I’d asked her, what if someone is murdered and they weren’t innocent? Her reply: Those aren’t the cases we’ll handle. Ivy seemed so sure of herself. Like this was all just a walk in the park for her. It might have been for her but it wasn’t for me.

  I strolled down the wooden boardwalk and up one of the slips which had large white boats bobbing in the water. A few locals and tourists smiled as I walked, putting my mind at ease. Tobias was cleaning one of the boats. He was down on his hands and knees, sweat dripping off his brow. He was scrubbing the deck and cursing under his breath. As I got closer, he lifted his head.

  “Looks like a lot of work.”

  “It is. Though I can’t complain, it’s a job, I guess.”

  “You’re Tobias, right?”

  He stopped scrubbing and wiped his brow. “That’s right, and you are?”

  “Kelly. I help out at Afterlife Bookstore.”

  “Oh Ivy’s helper.”

  “Is that what she’s calling me.”

  “Believe me, it’s better than what they call me down here.”

  “Really? That bad?”

  He looked off towards the offices of Liam Vaughn. “Let’s just say they are always looking for a scapegoat down here. Someone who can handle the dirty work.”

  “Did you have to do this when you worked for Daniel?”

  “No, that was a much better job. Pity. It was going well.”

  “It was?”

  He smirked. “Yeah, I know, you and probably everyone in the town have heard about the day I was fired. News travels fast, gums flap even faster.”

  “That was a terrible thing, what happened to him. What I find strange is the police pulled you in for questioning when you weren’t even there on the day of his death.”

  “His murder you mean.”

  “Murder?” I asked.

  He looked around a few times as if to make sure no one was watching and then he leaned across the boat. “I shouldn’t be telling you this but the cops are saying that they no longer believe that he drowned from intoxication. They told me the tank he was wearing had been tampered with.”

  “So there was air in it?”

  “Yes, but according to the cops someone had swapped it out for one that had less air inside of it, and then tampered with his dive computer.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It measures the time and depth of a dive so a diver can avoid getting decompression sickness.”

  “And that’s dangerous, right?”

  “Oh yeah, the most severe types can lead to paralysis, sensory dysfunction or death.” He paused for a second. “There was a diver in Greece that died from it after diving to a shipwreck. It’s quite common. Basically if divers surface too quickly after a deep dive they can get rashes, joint pain, headaches or paralysis. Some divers get it after they are out of the water. Anyway, they pulled me in because the day I was fired, Daniel chewed me out over one of the tanks not being full. I know I checked all those tanks so I don’t know how that one ended up on there.”

  “Also makes you wonder how he realized it before you went out but didn’t realize it when he was out there diving.”

  “Well that’s where the dive computer comes into it. According to what Gloria and Matt said, Daniel came up to the surface because his dive computer was beeping. If the battery is not installed correctly, it will do that. Now he would have taken off his gear at that point while he fixed it.”

  “And you fix it by doing what?”

  “Putting in a new battery. Checking that the one installed is around the right way or replacing the whole thing. My guess is someone swapped it out then while he wasn’t paying attention.”

  “But wouldn’t he have noticed?”

  “Not if it had air inside of it. He may have just turned it on and dived back in. What you have to understand is Daniel was very thorough in checking equipment when we boarded the boat but once he was out there and he’d had a drink or two, I noticed he didn’t check the equipment as often. I told him a couple of times and he chewed me out. That’s why he fired me, I think. He didn’t like the fact that I called him out over things.”

  “Okay but the other divers would have been down below.”

  “That’s what they say. Who knows if they are telling the truth. And then again someone might have put a tank on just before they left. There is no way to know without being on the boat at the time. Police say that his tank was empty though, and he died from t
he bends. Coming up too quickly. No doubt he didn’t know he was out of air until the last minute and then he hurried for the surface but passed out before he reached it.”

  “Or someone held him down?”

  “That’s another possibility.” He bit down on his lower lip. “Look, I have to get back to work.”

  “One last question. Was Daniel against you seeing Sylvia?”

  “He didn’t like it but what could he do?”

  “Fire you?”

  “Yeah, he did that, but that didn’t stop us.”

  “So Liam has now hired you?”

  He dropped the scrub brush and wiped his face with the back of his hand. “Yeah, it was kind of odd really because I went and saw him after I was fired by Daniel and he didn’t want to speak to me. He also said there were no jobs available. I guess he changed his mind.”

  I thought back to the conversation that Sylvia had with Liam. I guess he did, I thought.

  “Besides, it’s not like he was a saint when it came to relationships. At least the woman I’m seeing isn’t seeing someone else. According to folks in this town Daniel broke up Nina’s marriage.”

  “How?”

  “How do you think? Telling her about the shipwreck.”

  “You knew about that?”

  “Of course. He wasn’t very good at keeping his mouth shut.”

  “Do you recall him having a map showing the location of the site?”

  “I don’t remember a map.”

  “Tobias, who else would have had access to the diving equipment?”

  “Um. Gloria, Matt, Liam, Rick and perhaps Nina.” He looked past me and frowned. “Anyway I need to get back to work. We are under the watchful eye.” He nodded towards the offices where Liam was standing outside with a hand cupped over his eyes looking our way.

  I gave a nod and walked away but up the dock heading for my vehicle. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to make it there without being blindsided by him. I could see Liam moving at a fast pace towards me.

  “It’s Kelly, isn’t it?”

  I just had my keys out of my bag and was about to hit the key fob when he cut me off. He stood between the Porsche and me.