If he hit me, I was dead.
I was trapped. Zipping through the trees, I tried to increase the distance between me and Tim, finally hiding behind a large fir with a thick trunk.
“You can’t hide,” Tim called out in warning. His voice sounded like it was about fifty feet away. “I will get you.”
My heart pounded in my chest. What on earth could I do? I had no wand, no way to use magic to get out of here. Tim was at a significant advantage. I dared to peek back to see where he was. Tim was, sure enough, about forty feet away now, sneaking through the trees, trying to catch sight of me.
Suddenly, an acrid smell reached my nostrils, a smell I knew all too well. Smoke. Something was on fire. My eyes darted around until they landed on a small bush, maybe fifteen feet from me. One of the lightning strikes must have hit it, and it was now starting to catch fire.
“Come on out. You’re only delaying the inevitable. If you make this easy for me, I swear I’ll make it a quick death.”
“Well, isn’t that nice of you?” a voice replied from further back. It was Andrea. I looked around the tree just in time to see Tim spin around to my sister while she cast a disarming spell. Tim’s wand flew from his hands while I darted to the flaming bush. Being from a fire coven, being around fire always made me more powerful, and I stepped straight into the flames, allowing them to power me. I didn’t have my wand, but my coven’s element was enough. I wouldn’t be able to cast a powerful spell without my wand, but a little bit of magic was better than nothing.
Andrea and I both cast a spell at Tim, who screamed as flames shot toward him from both sides. He was quickly enveloped, crying out as the fire took over his body. Unfortunately, there was a bit of collateral damage as well; the miniature forest we were standing in was now starting to catch on fire. Andrea quickly cast a water spell that doused the flames, including the ones I’d been standing in. I was now completely soaked, but I followed after Andrea as she then doused Tim, who had by now collapsed onto the ground. He was shaking, his body was burned, and he cowered as Andrea made her way over to him.
“Please don’t kill me,” he begged, covering up his face.
“I’m not going to kill you, I’m going to arrest you,” Andrea replied. “Mars, bringer of fire, tie up this wizard.”
Ropes flew from the tip of Andrea’s wand and wrapped themselves around Tim, who cried out in pain.
“We’ll make sure you get medical attention, but first Meg has to call Alex and tell him we’ve found the killer,” Andrea said, looking at me. I nodded and made the call. As shocked as he was, Alex told us he’d be there momentarily, and sure enough, less than five minutes later he arrived on a broom, coming to a stop in front of Tim, who was still tied up and struggling.
“You’re both in trouble, you know that, right?” he asked, and I threw up my hands in protest.
“Hey, he attacked me,” I said. “I was just going to ask a few questions, and he decided that he was going to kill me anyway.”
“And I only came here to help save Meg,” Andrea replied. “I wasn’t even involved in this. Although frankly, I kind of wish I was. Getting to set a murderer on fire was the most interesting thing I’ve done, well, ever.”
“You should arrest her,” Tim shouted at Alex. “I feel like I’ve burned to death.”
Alex inspected Tim’s wounds. “None of these are worse than second degree—you’re going to be fine. The Healers at the hospital will patch you up easily with a potion, and then we can get you over to Spellcatraz where you belong. Let me call someone to come and take you over there.”
A couple of minutes later, one of Alex’s coworkers came by, and Tim was levitated magically toward the hospital so as to prevent his burns from having to touch anything else.
When he was gone, Alex turned to us, his hands on his hips.
“Alright, so who wants to tell me exactly what happened here, why I shouldn’t arrest both of you for intruding on an investigation, and who the people in the blurry pictures Megan sent me this morning are?”
Oh boy. I had a sneaking suspicion this was going to be harder than I thought to get out of. I flashed Alex my best smile. “It’s a long story, but on the bright side, those are pictures of some of the gang members you’re investigating, and they don’t even know I was there.”
“Ok, this is going to take longer than I thought. I’m still on European time, so why don’t the three of us get some coffee, which I feel like I’m going to need after this conversation, and you can tell me everything that’s happened.”
As soon as I finished telling the story, the waitress at the diner brought our food over, and I immediately dug into the giant stack of pancakes even before the fairy had fluttered back off toward the kitchen.
“So you’re telling me Las Brujas is using the portal in your parents’ factory to transport contraband and store it?” Alex asked, and I nodded.
“That’s right. We think that’s why they had our parents framed for embezzlement, so they could use the portal after our parents refused them access.”
“Why did they have to do it when you were keeping watch?” Andrea complained. “Nothing interesting happened when I was there.”
“That’s the reality of stakeouts,” Alex said. “Sometimes, Enforcer work is a lot more boring than the media makes it out to be.”
“So what comes next? Have you identified the people in the photo?”
Alex shook his head. “Not yet. You said they’re storing contraband at the factory?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “I saw them drop stuff off there this morning.”
“Then that’s where we’re headed after you finish that stack of pancakes bigger than your head,” he added with a smile. I blushed, but then buried my face back into the giant stack of flapjacks.
Less than an hour later, we were back in Pacific Cove and heading straight to the factory.
“I should warn you, the Chief Enforcer here has threatened to throw us in jail if he ever finds us on this property,” I told Alex, who raised an eyebrow at me.
“Wow, you coming into conflict with a law enforcement official? Color me surprised,” he joked, and Andrea laughed.
“Oh, shut up, you,” I told her.
“I’m actually torn between going back home so the two of you can keep flirting in peace, and coming along to see what’s at the factory because I’m actually curious.”
I rolled my eyes at Andrea. “Yeah, you’re staying.”
“Don’t worry about your local Chief Enforcer,” Alex said, ignoring the conversation between Andrea and me. “As long as you’re with me, there won’t be any problems.”
The three of us entered the factory, and I motioned toward the back. “That was where they dropped off the stuff.” We headed back there, but to my surprise, the boxes that the gang members had dropped off early that morning were gone.
“Weird. They must have come back for them after you left,” Andrea said, and I nodded.
“They must have. I’m one hundred percent sure they dropped the stuff off here,” I replied.
“Alright,” Alex said. “That’s enough for now. I want the two of you to stay out of this. I’m going to find out who these people are, and I’m going to have them arrested once I prove they’re smuggling, which shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“You’re going to come and stake this place out yourself?” I asked, and Alex nodded.
“That’s right, so the two of you had better not do the same yourselves. Got it?”
Andrea and I nodded, and Alex’s face softened as he turned to me. “I’m glad you’re ok. You have no idea. But you were almost killed today by a random wizard. The gang is more dangerous than that. I know you want your parents to be saved, and I’m going to do my best to get to the bottom of all of this, but you can’t get involved. You’re only going to put yourself in harm’s way.”
I nodded. “Got it.”
“Do you, though?” Alex sighed. “Anyway, if you ever find yourself in troubl
e, call me. I’d much rather berate you for doing something stupid while you’re still alive.”
“I will,” I promised as Andrea and I headed off.
“You have absolutely no intention of staying out of this, do you?” Andrea asked as soon as we were out of earshot.
“Are you kidding? We’re this close to finding out who framed Mom and Dad.”
Andrea grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading my book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
If you did enjoy Pride and Premeditation I’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment and leave a review for the book on Amazon, to help other readers find the book as well.
Want more of Megan’s adventures? The thrilling finale to this series is scheduled to be released on March 5th, 2020.
Other Pacific Cove Mysteries
Dark Chocolate and Death (Pacific Cove Mystery #1)
White Chocolate and Wands (Pacific Cove Mystery #2)
Western Woods Mysteries
Back to Spell One (Western Woods Mystery #1)
Two Peas in a Potion (Western Woods Mystery #2)
Three’s a Coven (Western Woods Mystery #3)
Four Leaf Clovers (Western Woods Mystery #4)
Five Charm Fire (Western Woods Mystery #5)
Seven Year Witch (Western Woods Mystery #7)
Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
Murder on the Oregon Express (Magical Bookshop Mystery #2)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
Death Quixote (Magical Bookshop Mystery #4)
Pride and Premeditation (Magical Bookshop Mystery #5)
Wuthering Homicides (Magical Bookshop Mystery #6)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
Busy as a Beaver (Willow Bay Witches #8)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Poison in Paddington (Cassie Coburn Mystery #1)
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
Strangled in Soho (Cassie Coburn Mystery #4)
Stabbed in Shoreditch (Cassie Coburn Mystery #5)
Killed in King’s Cross (Cassie Coburn Mystery #6)
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Death Down Under (Ruby Bay Mystery #1)
Arson in Australia (Ruby Bay Mystery #2)
The Killer Kangaroo (Ruby Bay Mystery #3)
Moonlight Cove Mysteries
Witching Aint’s Easy (Moonlight Cove Mystery #1)
Witching for the Best (Moonlight Cove Mystery #2)
Thank your Lucky Spells (Moonlight Cove Mystery #3)
A Perfect Spell (Moonlight Cove Mystery #4)
Beat Around the Broom (Moonlight Cove Mystery #5)
California Witching Mysteries
Witches and Wine (California Witching Mystery #1)
Poison and Pinot (California Witching Mystery #2)
Merlot and Murder (California Witching Mystery #3)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries.
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