I nodded slowly. “That makes a lot of sense, actually.”
“What if that was the whole point of getting Mom and Dad put in prison?” Andrea asked. “What if it wasn’t just about sending a message that you can’t mess with the gang? They probably figured that with the two company owners in jail, the company would shut down. They didn’t expect Megan to come back from Spellford to run it, but then got lucky when Chief Enforcer Lupo shut it down anyway. Maybe now that the portal is still there, unguarded, they’re using it to move their stuff?”
“Then that means we’re living just a few feet away from where a bunch of contraband is being moved,” Ashley said, her eyes widening. “I know we hate him, but we have to tell Chief Enforcer Lupo.”
“No,” I replied firmly. “I don’t trust him. We tell Alex.”
“Oooh,” Andrea said, wiggling her eyebrows at me while I rolled my eyes in response.
“Alex is not only more trustworthy than Chief Enforcer Lupo, but he’s also better at his job. He’s going after this gang. I think it’s smarter to let him take them on.”
“Agreed,” Ashley chimed in. “But I don’t want to tell him when we don’t have any evidence.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Andrea asked with a grin. “Don’t tell me you think we need to start scoping out the factory.”
“I think that’s the best way to tell if they’re using the portal,” Ashley replied.
“I think you’re right,” I nodded. “I know we’re not allowed in the factory, but if it’s the middle of the night, no one will know. Besides, I’m pretty sure Chief Enforcer Lupo has given up on trying to catch us going in there, since none of us have done it in months.”
“Ok,” Andrea said. “We do this in shifts. I’ll take the first one, since the two of you have been busy working all day. I had a pretty easy day comparatively, and a nap this afternoon. I’ll watch the portal until, say, one in the morning?”
“And I can take over after that,” I said. “My schedule is more flexible than Ashley’s; I can sleep during the day if I need to.”
“I have some energy potions in the fridge,” Ashley said. “Take some with you. And be careful. I don’t have to tell you what will happen if Las Brujas finds out we’re watching them and have found out their secret method of travel.”
We finished off the pizza, and Andrea looked outside. “It’s getting dark. I’m going to go now.”
“Let me go first,” Ashley said. “I want to check for wards. You never know what Chief Enforcer Lupo put up, and I’m the best of the three of us at checking for those.”
I couldn’t argue with her there; as a magical Fixer, Ashley had to get through wards on a regular basis, and she was definitely an expert in detecting and dismantling them. She put her shoes on and went out toward the factory, which was maybe a couple hundred yards from the front door. My heart wouldn’t stop beating at a hundred beats a minute until she came back five minutes later.
“It’s clean,” Ashley replied. “The front door was locked, so I cast an unlocking spell and made sure it didn’t trigger anything. I’d recommend locking the door behind you when you get in.”
Andrea nodded, packing a small vial filled with potion into her pocket. “I’ll text you when I get into position, just so you know I’m safe. Meg, I’ll text you around five to one. If I don’t message you, it means I’m in trouble.”
“Got it,” I nodded. “If you do see any gang members, try to take pictures of them. Or their names. Anything you overhear.”
“Please, I’ve been watching spy TV shows and movies since I was a kid; I know what I’m doing.”
I had to admit, of the three of us, Andrea probably would be the best at a stakeout, although she wasn’t exactly subtle. Ashley and I were like scalpels, whereas Andrea was more like a hammer. A sledgehammer.
As soon as darkness truly set in, Andrea went and changed into a set of dark clothes, blew us all a kiss, announced that her new code name was “Flaming Eagle,” flipped me the bird when I asked if “Flaming Penguin” wouldn’t be more accurate, and went out into the night to spy on the factory’s portal.
I had initially planned on trying to have a bit of a nap until it was my turn to take watch about six hours later, but with all the adrenaline coursing through my body—partly from the day’s adventures, partly from nerves knowing that Andrea was out there spying on Las Brujas, partly from the hope that we might finally be getting somewhere—I quickly came to realize I was out of luck on that count.
Ashley and I sat on the couch watching TV for a while, until finally Ashley said she was going to try and get some sleep. I offered her a little bit of relaxing potion left over from some chocolates I had made for an order, and she took it before heading off into the bedroom.
“Good luck tonight,” Ashley told me. “Be careful.”
I nodded and kept watching TV, checking my phone every thirty seconds or so to see if I’d missed a text from Andrea—she had sent one about five minutes after leaving the house telling me she was in place and safe—and then telling myself that it was probably a good sign if she didn’t text. After all, texting might mean she was in trouble.
Eventually, the clock rolled over to twelve fifty-five, Andrea texted it was fine for me to come, and I got ready to go. I changed into a pair of black sweats and a black sweater, what with it still being fairly cold at night, made sure my phone was charged, and headed out. As I closed the front door behind me, I double-checked to make sure I had my wand in my pocket. After all, tonight was definitely not a night when I wanted to leave without it.
I made my way the few yards over to the factory and found that my heart was pounding in my chest. When I got there, I paused before opening the door. If some gang members had come in through the portal, they would see me as soon as I entered.
No, that was dumb. Andrea would have texted me if there was anyone in there, and she said everything was fine. I pushed the door open and went inside. Everything was silent.
I made my way up to the second floor, thinking it would offer a better vantage point to watch for gang members, and would also allow me to stay hidden.
“Meg?” I heard a voice hiss. It was Andrea.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I replied quietly. The voice came from up ahead; it appeared Andrea had had the same idea I did. “How’s it going?” I asked when I made it to the top of the steps, where Andrea was sitting, cross-legged, looking over the factory floor through the railing.
“Pretty boring, to be honest. Nothing has happened yet.”
“Well, we also don’t know that they use it every night,” I said. “It could be we’ll have to do this a few nights in a row.”
“Ugh, I hope not. This sounded exciting in the house, but the reality is far less so. Anyway, I’m going to head back; even with these potions, I feel like I’m about to fall asleep.”
“Sounds good,” I replied. I had just been hit with another surge of adrenaline, so I figured I was good to go for a while, energy-wise, and I had some energy-boosting potions that Ashley had made, as well. Completely legal ones, of course.
Andrea got up, wished me luck, and left, while I sat down in the spot she had been watching from and settled in.
I had expected the adrenaline rush to keep me going for quite a while, but it turned out stakeouts were about ten thousand times more boring than I could have ever imagined. It only took fifteen minutes before my adrenaline rush wore off and I found myself yawning as I stared into the dark, waiting for something—anything—to happen.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 21
After an hour had passed, I had already taken all of the energy potions that I’d brought. It was just so boring. I sat in the dark, with only my thoughts, and eventually I must have nodded off, because I woke up with a start.
It wasn’t a decent night’s sleep that woke me from my reverie; it was noise. Noise coming from down below. There were people here!
Mental
ly chiding myself for dozing off, I looked towards the sound. Whoever was there was using their wands to generate some light as they carried a couple of giant boxes through the portal. There were two wizards and one witch. The witch had frizzy black hair, a face so pale I thought she might have been a vampire for a second, and the reddest lipstick I had ever seen. One of the wizards was tall and dark, with a receding hairline and slumping shoulders, while the other was of medium build, with deep-set eyes and a hard mouth. I quickly took out the camera and tried to snap a few pictures, but it was so dark in the factory that I had to wait for the wand light to illuminate their faces, which meant I was kind of guessing most of the time.
“Where are we taking these, anyway?” the witch asked.
“Just into the back of this factory,” the tall wizard replied. “Someone’s coming by later to move the stuff where it needs to go.”
“This bag is heavy,” the witch complained. “Why can’t they let us move something light?”
“Hey, at least we can use a portal now. Remember when we used to have to go through the human world to hide our tracks?”
“Don’t remind me,” the witch replied. “There was that one time when we went through a bad part of Los Angeles, and I just about got pricked with a needle with some sort of human-world drugs. All just to get to a different portal so we couldn’t be tracked.”
My eyes widened as the witch mentioned the needle. Something had just clicked in my brain, and I realized all of a sudden that I knew who had killed Olivia Stone.
But I was still stuck in here with three Las Brujas smugglers.
I continued to click away as the three of them moved the contraband into the back of the factory and then went back through the portal the way they came. I was definitely awake now. My heart was pounding in my chest as I sat, motionless, on the second floor. What if they came back? Had they moved everything they had planned on? I could try and leave now, but what if they made a second trip and spotted me?
Instead, I sat motionless for what felt like ages, my heart pounding in my chest. I didn’t know how much time had passed since the gang members had left, but it felt like an eternity, and they hadn’t returned. Eventually, I decided it was probably safe to get out of here and tell my sisters what I’d discovered. The gang members probably weren’t coming back.
After all, night had passed, and as I made my way to the front door of the factory, I could see the first rays of light coming through. But then, that wasn’t all I could see. There was a shape moving; someone was coming to the factory from the outside.
I panicked. Whoever it was, it wasn’t my sisters. The figure wasn’t moving like them at all. What if it was another member of the gang? I couldn’t risk being caught here.
Turning, I looked back up at the stairs, but I knew I wouldn’t manage to run up the stairs and get out of sight before whoever that was reached the door. So I did the only thing I could think of. I ran to the portal and whispered “Spellford” as I jumped into it and was instantly transported out of the factory and into a different town.
It was a gorgeous morning in California. The sun was out, birds chirped in the trees, and I stepped off the portal, breathing heavily, trying to get the latest surge of adrenaline I’d just gone through to calm down. Who had been at the door to the factory? Why were they there? Another member of the gang?
The gang members! I texted the pictures—at least, the ones that had turned out ok—to Alex, Ashley, and Andrea. Andrea texted back immediately asking if I was ok.
I am. Someone came to the factory door, and I had to take the portal to hide. I’m in Spellford. I know who killed Olivia Stone, so I might take care of that while I’m here.
Andrea replied a minute later. What, really? Who was it?
I don’t know, but don’t go out there, I replied.
No, who’s the killer?
I don’t want to say until I’ve confirmed it. I’m going to go to the house and see Kelly. I’ll talk to you later.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and walked over to Kelly’s house, since I didn’t have a broom. I knocked at the door, and Kelly answered a minute later. Her eyes were rimmed red; she’d obviously been crying.
“Hey,” she said softly. “Have you figured out who Olivia’s killer is yet?”
“I think so,” I said. “Is Tim here?”
“No, he left for class just a couple minutes ago. He likes to walk; if you head off in the direction of Spellford, you’ll find him.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Did Tim kill Liv?” Kelly asked, her voice tinged with despair.
“I don’t know yet,” I replied. “I’ll come back and tell you soon.”
I headed back down to the street and took a left, heading toward Spellford. It was only about a ten-minute walk to campus, so I figured if I hustled a little bit I’d probably be able to catch up to him pretty quickly. I just didn’t know how quickly.
Around the corner from the house where Olivia had lived, when I reached the forest where Andrea and I had hidden after flying from the roof, I suddenly heard a voice.
“Hey, Megan.”
I whirled around and found myself face-to-face with Tim. He had his wand out, a creepy smile on his face.
“Oh, hi Tim, I was just looking for you,” I said, plastering on a fake smile. “I was hoping we could chat about Olivia’s death. As you know, I’m trying to find the person who killed her.”
“I know exactly what you’re doing,” Tim replied. “You’ve already dragged an IPIU investigator into this. And they’ve arrested someone; it was all over the news yesterday. But the fact that you’re here now means you don’t think it was him. You’re still snooping around.”
“How did you know to look for me?”
“I saw you heading toward the house when I was coming around the corner. So I waited. With the woods here, there’s no one around to see what’s going to happen next.”
“Which is what?”
“I’m going to kill you and hide your body so no one ever finds it.”
I gulped hard. “So I was right. You killed Olivia.”
“You’re damn right I did.”
“It was when you said hi to her, wasn’t it? She had the potion in her hand, and it was still sealed, but you hid the poison in a syringe. Since you have type 1 diabetes, you would both know how to use one and have lots of syringes around. No one would be the wiser.”
Tim grinned at me. “Nice. I didn’t think anyone was going to figure it out.”
“What I don’t understand is why. Why did you do it? You were Ryan’s best friend. Didn’t you want him to be happy?”
Tim scowled. “Of course I did. And he’d be happier with me, not with that crazy potion addict. He went to shop for an engagement ring last week. That was when I knew he was going to be with her forever. And once they got engaged, things would change. I knew they’d change. Ryan wouldn’t have time for me anymore, his best friend. I had to stop it from happening.”
“So you killed Olivia. You poisoned her potion.”
“That’s right. And I almost got away with it, too. The death had even been labeled an accident. Until you managed to drag that IPIU Enforcer into this.”
“I didn’t do that,” I said, shaking my head. “He figured it all out on his own.”
“Yeah, well, regardless, your sniffing around hasn’t exactly been helpful. I can’t risk this coming back onto me. You have to be gotten rid of.”
He raised his wand and I gulped. There was no way I’d be able to reach mine and cast a spell before he disarmed me, or worse.
Chapter 22
I had to keep Tim talking. “You’ll never get away with this, you know,” I said. “You could just let me go now. I promise not to tell anybody what happened. I’ll let it go.”
He let out a cackle in reply. “Yeah, right. Like I believe that. You just don’t want me to kill you. Well, it’s too late for that. You should have thought about that before you started digging into Oliv
ia’s death.”
“I didn’t know it was you,” I lied, trying to subtly inch my arm toward my pocket where I had my wand stored. “I could keep on pretending. After all, the case is still listed as being an accidental death. And that Enforcer has arrested one of the gang. They’ll probably charge him with the murder after all.”
“Stop it,” Tim shouted. His hand was shaking now. “You’re going to die. Accept it.”
He started incanting a spell, and I took my chance. I grabbed my wand and shouted one of my own.
“Mars, bringer of fire, protect me from this wizard,” I shouted. A blast of flames immediately shot forth from my wand and warped into a shield. A split second later, the thunder that burst forth from Tim’s wand was absorbed into my heat shield and he let out a shout of surprise.
I rushed over to the left and broke the shield spell, attacking with one of my own. “Mars, god of war, trap this wizard.”
A tornado of fire erupted from my wand and rushed toward Tim, surrounding him, but a second later it blew backward, fended off by a defensive spell he cast. To my surprise, however, rather than simply dissipating, the fire came back and enveloped me, trapping me with my own spell.
What on earth kind of spell had he cast?
The flames were hot, and a quick water spell doused them away but left me vulnerable. I didn’t have time to defend myself when Tim cast another spell, which incinerated my wand, turning it into ashes in my hand. Uh oh.
I had absolutely no way to use any magic now; I had no choice but to run. I sprinted for the trees as I heard Tim cast a spell behind me. Darting from side to side, I narrowly avoided being hit by bolts of lightning, one of which struck a tree so close to me the hairs on my arms rose from the static of it.
Chocolate Truffles and Trouble Page 11
