Chocolate Truffles and Trouble

by Samantha Silver

  I smiled to myself; I knew exactly which professor Kevin was talking about, and I’d had the exact same complaining conversation with classmates in the past. When you had to chop up ingredients for potions, it made no difference if you did it manually with a knife or used magic. But Professor Rockway was very old-school. She believed that using magic to chop up potion ingredients resulted in an inferior product and would deduct marks from any student she caught doing things that way.

  It might not sound like a huge issue, but when you have a potion to instantly heal third-degree burns that requires eighteen aloe stems to be cut into exactly twenty-two pieces each, being able to do it with magic saves a lot of time. And math.

  “You don’t know of any reason Alex Gill might have had to be mad at Olivia?” I asked the group, looking from face to face, but everyone shook their heads.

  “Nah,” Kevin replied. “I also know she spoke with Janice Deerson. I’m not sure what about. I only saw them from afar, but they were together for a bit. They’re friends, on and off sometimes, but generally on.”

  “Ok,” I nodded. I made a mental note to chat with Janice. If they were on-and-off friends, maybe they had recently been “off” for a good reason.

  “That’s everyone I can think of,” Kevin said. “I know a little bit later Olivia went to lie down, and then the night got away from me, and the next thing I knew she didn’t wake up again.” He looked sadly down at the floor.

  “Ryan said to the paramedics that she didn’t want to do it, that they made her do it,” I said, repeating the words Esme had told me earlier. “Do you know what that might have been about?”

  All three men shook their heads.

  “No idea,” Tim replied. “And I was his best friend. If he told anyone, it would have been me. Sorry.”

  “He just lost it after Olivia died,” Omar replied. “It was really sad to see.”

  “They were together literally all the time lately,” Tim said. “It must have been a huge shock to him for her to die like that.”

  “Hopefully he’ll be alright now that he’s at the hospital,” Kevin added quietly. “It’s going to take a long time for him to get over this, I think.”

  “He’s tough,” Tim replied. “He’ll get there. I know he will.”

  I didn’t really have much more to ask the group of friends, so I thanked them for their time and murmured my condolences before taking my leave.

  As I left the house, I sent Akari a quick text letting her know I was done. She told me to meet her at a little restaurant nearby, where she was having lunch with Charlene, and I headed in that direction.

  Chapter 7

  The restaurant where Akari and Charlene were having lunch was a fairly popular spot for students. It featured a somewhat cafeteria-like atmosphere, with counter service rather than table, but the live-edge wood tables were actually quite nice. The food served was all Italian: you chose a pasta, a sauce, and whether you wanted any cheese on top. And the price was right for the student budget, so all of that combined made it a rather popular stop.

  Charlene and Akari were sitting at a two-person table, but before I had a chance to grab an extra chair for myself, Charlene stood up.

  “Here, take my spot,” she said. “I have to get back, anyway. Midterm exams for the whole department are next week, so I’ve been busier than a beaver trying to get everything organized. Akari, it was lovely to see you. Please let me know if I can do anything else.”

  With a wave, Charlene bussed her plate and left the restaurant, and I slipped into her empty seat. My stomach growled as soon as the smell of melted parmesan cheese reached my nostrils from Akari’s plate.

  “You can go get some food if you want,” Akari laughed. “Better than having you drool over my carbonara.”

  I grinned and went to the counter, ordering myself some penne with an arrabbiata sauce, and slipped back into the seat across from her.

  “So, how was your lunch?”

  “Really nice,” Akari replied with a smile. “But probably not nearly as interesting as what you discovered.”

  I relayed all the information I had gotten from the memorial between bites of pasta. Akari looked thoughtful when I had finished. “Alright, well, that narrows it down quite a bit, then. So you don’t think it was anyone from Las Brujas after all?”

  “It doesn’t sound like they had the opportunity,” I shrugged. “Still, I want to go back there and have a look in Olivia’s room at some point. Maybe she left some information in there on how to get in touch with them, or something.”

  Akari nodded. “Good plan. I assume you’re going to talk to Jasmine Sky as well?”

  “Absolutely. We were in a class together, so I know she’ll be leaving it around two this afternoon. I figured I might have a chat with her then.”

  “I think you’ve got it all under control,” Akari said. “If you don’t mind, I might head back to Pacific Cove after this. I don’t really like leaving Yoshi alone for that long.”

  “Sure,” I nodded. “Thanks for coming with me. It was nice having you here.”

  “It was nice to experience real warmth again,” Akari laughed. “I know spring is coming, but the winter was long, and even if it’s sunny back home, it’s still too cold for my liking.”

  Akari and I moved on to other subjects while I ate my pasta, and when we finally separated after leaving the restaurant, I found myself glad that the campus was still a bit of a walk away. After all, pasta isn’t exactly a light meal, and considering how much chocolate I was eating nowadays as well, I figured a bit more exercise probably wouldn’t go unappreciated by my body.

  Jasmine was going to be in a class that took place at the Hospital, so I headed right back there. Because it was a teaching hospital, there were classrooms in the basement, and I waited outside the large wooden door I knew she was behind. When it finally opened with a creak and thirty students began pouring out, a few of them saying a quick hello, I scanned the crowd until finally my gaze landed on the right witch.

  Brown hair in ringlets that framed her face, big doe eyes, and a round mouth that broke into a laugh as she spoke to her friend: Jasmine was gorgeous, there was no denying that. I slipped next to her.

  “Hi,” I said, and she looked at me strangely.

  “Hi. You’re that girl that left the program, right? Megan something?”

  “That’s right,” I nodded. “Listen, can we talk?”

  “About what?”

  “Olivia Stone’s murder.”

  Jasmine stopped short. “What in the name of Oberon? Olivia wasn’t murdered. It was an accident.”

  “It wasn’t,” I replied, lowering my voice to barely more than a whisper so only Jasmine could hear me. “They’re saying it was an accident to keep the college’s reputation untarnished, but it wasn’t, was it? Olivia was murdered, and you’re the one who did it.”

  Jasmine’s face paled and she turned to her friend. “I’ll catch up with you, ok?”

  The other witch nodded and kept moving while Jasmine grabbed me by the arm and dragged me in the other direction. When we were finally away from the crowd, she stopped, her eyes looking even bigger than before. “What do you mean? Who thinks I killed her?”

  “Well, a lot of people. And judging by the evidence, they’re probably right.”

  “No. No, I didn’t kill her. Not a chance. I was pissed at her, sure. And I might have said a few things I regret when I was a bit drunk at that party. But I didn’t kill her.”

  “It’s not a good look when you threaten someone and they show up dead a few hours later,” I said, crossing my arms. “Prove it. What can you tell me that might prove you didn’t kill her?”

  Jasmine looked around, as if she were looking for an answer to pop up right in front of her. “Um,” she started, biting her lip. “I don’t know, really. How do you prove a negative? But I swear, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have any poison on me, for one thing. Where would I even get some?”

  I gave her a look.
“Come on. You’re in a Healer studies class. It wouldn’t be that hard.”

  “Fine, yeah, you’re right. But I’ve never even thought about it. I mean, yeah, Olivia copied my essay. And I was mad about it. But you don’t kill someone over something like that.”

  “Then who else at that party would have done it?” I asked. Jasmine blew air from her mouth as she thought.

  “I don’t know. There was that boyfriend of hers; they were practically joined at the hip. He was going to propose to her, I’m pretty sure. I saw him in a jewelry store about three days ago. Plus I heard he went insane when she died. I don’t think he did it, but he was around her when she had that test tube out.”

  “Did you see him put anything in it?”

  “Nah,” Jasmine said. “To be honest, I really don’t think he would have done it. He seemed to genuinely love her. Then there were Ryan’s friends. I don’t really know them, since most of them are studying other stuff. They were around. And I saw her with Janice, but that’s it.”

  “Do you know how Olivia and Janice were getting along?”

  “Oberon, how would I know? Listen, I was kind of plastered that whole night. I don’t remember a lot of it. I just know that the next day I woke up with a headache and someone telling me Olivia Stone had died at that party, that she’d overdosed or something. But I do know one thing: I didn’t kill her.”

  “Are you sure? You wouldn’t have drunkenly decided to do something stupid?”

  “With what?” Jasmine spread her arms wide. “I didn’t bring any poison to that party. Even if I got completely plastered and decided it was a good idea, I had nothing to do it with.”

  That was a good point. This was definitely premeditated, which made it less likely that Jasmine had made a bad decision while under the influence. I frowned. “Can you think of anything that might help?” I asked.

  Jasmine bit her lip. “Sorry. I’m telling you everything I know. I didn’t know Olivia well. Only that she was a cheating, conniving witch. I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but it was true. She copied my paper, and I resented her for it. But that doesn’t mean she deserved to die. I actually do hope you find whoever did this. I don’t like knowing that there might be someone going around poisoning students.”

  I nodded. “Thanks for the help.”

  As I walked away from Jasmine, I left with the impression that she wasn’t the killer I was after. Still, I knew I could have been wrong. She might have planned to kill Olivia and pretended to be drunker than she was to throw off suspicion.

  The problem was, no one else seemed to really have any motive to kill Olivia. Jasmine was definitely still my best suspect. Either Jasmine killed her or someone else had a motive I simply hadn’t thought of yet.

  I decided to come back to the house later and see what I could find in Olivia’s room.

  Chapter 8

  Before I went back to Pacific Cove, I made my way downtown and worked my sales pitch. I never traveled without business cards and price lists anymore—I had made a small version that fit on an index card and always kept a handful of them in my purse—and figured this was a good opportunity to try and get a few more customers. After all, a place like Spellford had a bunch of starving students, sure, but it was also a magnet for the children of the richest paranormals in the world. There were luxury stores here that absolutely catered to those people, and they were my target.

  Three hours later, I made my way back toward the portal to go home with a spring in my step. Three of the shops I had been to—a fancy bakery-café hybrid in the lobby of one of the most expensive hotels in town, a gift shop, and a high-end grocery store—had all agreed to place a small order and see how the chocolates sold. I was going to have my work cut out for me tomorrow as I got all the orders finished, but I was definitely starting to gain a reputation.

  After all, the owner of the café told me he had already heard about my company and was planning on contacting me soon.

  Who knew that my little home business was going to see growth like this?

  I happily headed back to Pacific Cove—which really did seem quite cool now that I’d spent the whole day in California—and took Sherlock for a walk before returning home and starting dinner. When Andrea and Ashley came in together a few minutes later, Andrea sniffed the air appreciatively.

  “Let me guess…it’s taco night,” she said, and I grinned.

  “Your nose is too good.”

  “My nose likes to know what’s for dinner straightaway.”

  “Well, you’re not wrong.”

  “Good. Let me get changed and then I’ll be eating for sure. Did you find out anything about the murder?”

  “I did,” I nodded.

  “Seriously?” Ashley said, crossing her arms. “You barely knew the witch, and besides, it took place in Spellford. Can’t you let them handle it?”

  “I think it might have something to do with what happened to Mom and Dad,” I replied. “And besides, the Enforcers in Spellford are trying to pretend it was just an overdose. They don’t want to ruin the school’s reputation by admitting one of the students was murdered.”

  “Still, it’s not your place to go around hunting a killer. Especially if there’s a gang involved. Las Brujas is the worst gang in the entire paranormal world. There are whole paranormal cities in southern California that are under their control.”

  “And Mom and Dad are in jail for something they didn’t do,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m not going to let them rot away forever. Not when I can do something.”

  “Fine,” Ashley said. “But if you find yourself in trouble, you need to get help. What about that cute French Enforcer?”

  “Ok,” I said, a blush crawling unwillingly up my face. “I haven’t really kept in touch with him, but I have his card. If I get in too deep, I’ll call him.”

  “I can come help you tomorrow,” Andrea said. “I have the day off.”

  “You really do need to get a better job,” Ashley said, loading a taco up with meat and cheese.

  “I know,” Andrea sighed. “But I just don’t really know what I want to do with my life, you know? I keep hoping that if I move around from job to job, eventually I’ll find something that calls to me. Besides, I’m limited by my less-than-stellar score on the witch’s exam.”

  Every witch and wizard had to take an exam after they finished their initial studies that determined what kind of jobs they would be suitable for. Someone like Ashley, who ended up being a magical Fixer, had to get an excellent score to be accepted into that career path. I had also done very well to become a Healer, having fallen just short of qualifying for the third examination. That was normal; only the top two percent or so of witches and wizards even managed to get to the third examination.

  Andrea’s score really had been middle-of-the-road. She was never going to get one of the most prestigious jobs out there for a witch, but I knew there had to be something she would enjoy and be qualified for. We just had to find out what it was.

  “Well, by all means, come with me tomorrow,” I invited. “I could definitely use another set of eyes on this.”

  “Thanks,” Andrea said. I still couldn’t help but notice she seemed a little bit down after Ashley’s comment, though. Andrea was a good witch. The problem was, she hadn’t exactly tried as hard as she could back when we were at the Academy, hence the less-than-ideal exam score. I hoped that one day Andrea would find something she enjoyed doing.

  The next morning, I had to get the chocolates for my orders in Spellford ready to go. First up was an order for chocolate truffles—three different types. I needed to make plain dark chocolate, I needed to make dark chocolate with a relaxing potion included to help calm down anyone who ate one, and finally I needed to make dark chocolate with a potion that helped mental focus.

  These were some of the most popular chocolates I offered, and I could practically do them in my sleep by now.

  After pulling out two cauldrons, I started off by m
aking the potions I needed. The relaxing potion, when I finished it, was a gorgeous lavender color, with a light floral scent emanating from the bubbling liquid. The mental focus potion was more difficult to make. Rather fittingly, it required a lot more focus while I worked on it. However, after about forty minutes, I had finished adding all of the ingredients in a specific order and chanted the incantation that turned the pale white mixture into a beautiful liquid that reminded me of molten silver. It was absolutely gorgeous. Plus, I knew customers loved the light glimmer the silver gave the finished truffles.

  Next, it was time to make my ganache. I carefully pulled out a block of dark chocolate that I had bought from the market in Bruxspells a few days earlier—I was getting used to these international supply trips–and placed even amounts in three more cauldrons. Into two of the cauldrons, I poured the potions I’d just made up. The third was left plain.

  I then moved to the stove, measured out an enormous amount of heavy cream, and heated it to just under boiling. As soon as that was done, I poured one third into the first cauldron and whisked the mixture together until it was smooth and silky. I never got tired of pulling the whisk from a fresh ganache and seeing the droplets of thick liquid falling back into the cauldron. It was chocolate perfection.

  Repeating the process with the rest of the hot cream and the other two cauldrons, I found myself with three cauldrons full of hot ganache. I moved them to the fridge to allow the ganache to cool and harden so I could shape it into balls, and then I began working on my next order.

  The café-slash-bakery wanted bars only. That was fine; I very much enjoyed making them, and I was getting quite adept at tempering the chocolate. They had ordered bars that were made of milk chocolate on one side and white chocolate on the other. The milk chocolate side was to have whole pretzels inserted into the chocolate, and the white chocolate side was to be topped with raisins. It was a good combination; the saltiness of the pretzel complemented the sweetness of the dried raisins.