Witch School Dropout: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #7

by M. Z. Andrews

  “Mr. Bailey?” I asked again.

  Regis’ head nodded sadly. “Still here, Mercy, dear.”

  My heart dropped. “We can still fix this, Mr. Bailey. This weekend, there’s a full moon. We can set you free then.”

  He nodded. He knew that. We didn’t have to tell him. He could keep up. Setting him free only meant that he’d still be an undefined spirit and his Char would still have to live without him. One option wasn’t much better than another. Jax scooped Mr. Bailey back up into her arms. His head fell back down onto Jax’s shoulder, and he closed his eyes. He was done for the day.

  Holly, Alba, and I quietly gathered our book and our candles. Just as we were about to parade back to the kitchen, my brother’s car came tearing around the corner and slid into his parking place like a hand into a glove.

  He got out of the car. His usual grisly, bearded face was freshly shaven, his jet-black hair was perfectly coiffed with just the right amount of hair product, and he’d pulled his black leather jacket out of wherever it had been hiding. He looked like Reign Alexander, the mysterious stranger, as he’d appeared when he arrived in Aspen Falls all those months ago. Not like Reign Habernackle, my boring brother that runs a b&b and restaurant in Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania.

  Despite my somber mood, I whistled at him. “Lookin’ good bro. What’s the occasion?”

  He threw an arm over my shoulder. His rustic scented cologne intermixed with his aftershave, and when a cool breeze fluttered past, I caught the distinct scent of a woman’s perfume on his collar. “I had a date,” he announced with a slight shrug as if that wasn’t the mind-blowing nugget of information that it was.

  My eyes widened, and my head snapped back on my neck. “Get out,” I gasped with more gusto than I had intended.

  He squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t look so surprised. I dated a lot before I came to this shrinky-dink town. I used to have what some would call, game.”

  “I-I’m not surprised,” I stammered. “I just didn’t realize you were dating anyone.”

  I glanced over at Holly. She was absorbed in her task of peeling the little balls of melted wax off the sides of the candles and pretending she wasn’t listening to our conversation at all.

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t dating anyone. It just came up. Something new, ya know. No big deal.”

  Jax smiled at her cousin. “No big deal? You shaved off your beard. I’d say that’s a pretty big deal.”

  “I didn’t want to scare the poor woman off,” he said shooting Jax a wink. He rubbed his chin with his free hand. “The beard gave me a certain Unabomber look that was scaring off the ladies.”

  “’Bout time you realized that,” I said with a smile.

  Holly looked up at him. Her face was long, and the usual twinkle in her eye had disappeared. “I liked the beard,” she said quietly. It was the most reserved I’d ever heard Holly around my brother. Even ‘the girls’ inside her low-cut tank top seemed less pert than usual. She was disappointed to hear that he’d just been on a date with another girl.

  As we paraded back into the kitchen, Reign reached out with the arm that wasn’t draped over my shoulder and tousled Holly’s hair. “Thanks, kid,” he said, giving her the prize of his award-winning smile. “I did too.”

  Holly’s confliction was written all over her face. Reign had touched her! Practically flirted with her! But in the same breath, he’d called her kid. Kid. Even I felt bad for her, and I didn’t want her dating my brother.

  My empathy for Holly all but washed away the minute Sweets took one look at our long faces and winced. “It didn’t work?”

  “We’ll try again this weekend,” I promised both her and Mr. Bailey. “We’ll make it work.”

  Mr. Bailey didn’t move a whisker. Jax put him down on Chesney’s little dog bed in the back corner of the kitchen so he could sleep. “What now?” she asked as she stood up.

  “There’s nothing else we can do about the reversal spell,” I said. “Now we need to go look through that other spellbook and see what we can find out about the spell that uses pit viper venom.”

  “What’s going on?” asked Reign, looking confused.

  “We think that Jax’s grandmother might have provided Louis Albertson with the potion used to kill Mr. Bailey.”

  Reign’s jaw dropped. “What?! Jax’s grandmother? Which grandmother?”

  “Her name is Augusta Stone,” said Alba.

  Reign made a face as he turned to stare at me. “Stone. So, you’re talking about my grandmother, too? And you’re just now telling me all of this?”

  I blanched. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me for a second. Merrick was my brother’s father. Therefore, Augusta Stone was my brother’s grandmother, too. Not just Jax’s grandmother. I truly was an idiot. “I’m sorry, Reign. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Jax slipped her arm through Reign’s. “Don’t worry, we have no concrete proof of any of that,” said Jax in a bit of a snit. She didn’t like the idea of her family being tied to the murder, especially without any hard evidence. And I didn’t blame her, accessory to murder was a hefty charge.

  “No, we don’t,” I agreed. “But that’s why we need to get into the dining room and get the spellbook. There’s got to be something in there that can prove our hypothesis.”

  “Ooh, hypothesis, that’s a big word for such a little girl,” said my brother with only a half-grin.

  “Little girl,” I half laughed. “Speaking of little girls. Who did you go out with tonight?” I asked him.

  He rocked back on the heel of his boots. “Her name was Nunya,” he said with a mischievous smile. “Nunya Business.”

  “Ha ha,” I said with a straight face. “Fine, if your date wasn’t my business, then you don’t need to be in on our business. Let’s go girls.”

  We left Sweets and my brother behind in the kitchen and headed straight for the spellbook we’d left in the dining room. When we got in there, I was surprised to see Gran looking at the spellbook.

  Reign followed us into the dining room. “You girls aren’t getting rid of me that easily!” he began, but stopped when he saw Gran in the middle of the room.

  Her mouth hung open in shock. “Where did you get this?” she asked.

  “At the Great Witch’s Library in Hallowed Hall,” said Jax.

  “This is the spell I was talking about,” she said. The book was open as she pointed to a specific page. “This is the potion that uses pit viper venom.”

  I nodded. “I know. We checked the book out after you told us about it. We haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. That’s what we were coming in here to do.”

  “This is a very dangerous spell,” she said. “For a lot of reasons. I only know of one other person that’s ever used this potion, and it created disastrous consequences.”

  Alba looked at her. “We think it’s possible that this spell was used in the murder of Mr. Bailey.”

  “Because they both use pit viper venom?” she asked.

  I nodded. “That, and this book was checked out right before Mr. Bailey was murdered. There’s got to be a connection.”

  Her eyes were wide as she scanned our faces. “Do you know who checked the book out?”

  The four of us girls exchanged nervous glances and then Reign’s voice beat us to the punchline. “They think it was Augusta Stone.”

  Gran sucked in her breath. “Auggie Stone checked this book out before Vic was killed?”

  Auggie? I looked at my friends. “Mom said you knew her,” I said casually.

  A strangled chortle escaped my grandmother’s mouth. “Knew her! Ha! I guess you could say I knew her.”

  Reign narrowed his eyes as he stared harshly at my grandmother. “How did you know her?”

  Gran shook her head resolutely. “I’m not here to talk about that right now. I’m here to help you figure out what happened to Vic.”

  “You never want to talk about it. When are we ever going to talk about it?” asked Reign. His nostrils flared as he
pointed at our grandmother.

  “Simmer down, Sonny. You’ve got your father’s temper, you know that?”

  “No, I really don’t know that because I didn’t grow up with my father. Thanks to you.”

  Gran’s eyes widened. She slammed the spellbook shut, threw her hands in the air, and walked towards the door. “Oh, fine. I come all the way over here to help, and all I’m gonna get is attitude. Well, then you can figure it out on your own. I’m leaving.”

  “Gran!” I hollered after her. “Don’t go. Come on!”

  “Goodbye Mercy,” she snapped. “I’ll see you at the funeral tomorrow.”

  The door slammed before I could get out another objection. We all stared at Reign.

  “What?!” he asked, his face flaming red. He held his arms out. “She gets away with everything, Mercy!”

  “I know, Reign, but we needed her help,” I whined, slinking down into a chair.

  Alba frowned at him. “Good going, Slick.”

  Jax and Holly mashed their lips together. They were both willing to forgive Reign for just about anything and were certainly not going to make him feel worse.

  I sighed and picked up the book that my grandmother had just slammed shut. “Now we’re stuck with a …” I looked closely at the book for the first time since I’d borrowed it. “A love spellbook?”

  Alba looked at me with surprise. “What are you talking about? That’s a love spellbook?”

  I nodded. In big gold lettering, it read Annabelle Abrahams across the front and then in scrawling script, it said Love Spells and Potions.

  “How does a love spell create disastrous consequences?” asked Alba looking at the book curiously.

  I stared up at my brother. “I guess we’ll never know, since my brother chased away the one person who could answer that question.”

  Alba frowned at my brother once again. “Good going, Slick.”

  33

  We got up early the next morning and dressed for the funeral. Jax and Sweets had gotten up before any of us and had gone downstairs to put the final touches on the food for the reception and Char had called early and requested that Sweets bring Regis over so he could go to the funeral with them. With the room to myself, I took my time getting ready. The thought of having to bury Mr. Bailey’s body before we were able to extract his spirit from Regis’ body and put it into his old body, haunted me. I didn’t like the idea of Char being alone and failing to solve his murder also weighed heavily on me. The sky outside my window was a hazy grey as if mother nature also felt the heavy burden of the day.

  Once I finished dressing, I walked across the hall to my mother’s room and knocked on the door.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s me, Mom.”

  “Come on in Mercy Bear. I’m almost ready,” I heard her say through the door.

  I pushed open the door and found Mom seated in front of her vanity attaching a pair of pearl earrings to her lobes. “Hi, sweetheart.”

  “Hey Mom,” I said before falling backwards onto her bed with a heavy sigh. I didn’t care that I was wrinkling the simple black sheath dress I’d borrowed from my mother.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, turning around to look at me.

  “I’m just sad I guess.” On my back and with one eye pinched shut, I traced the lines of the tiled ceiling with my outstretched arm.

  “About Mr. Bailey?”

  I nodded. “I really wanted to help Char get some closure. I can’t believe we couldn’t solve this one.”

  “You’re giving up?” There was genuine surprise in her voice. Like for the first time in my life she was actually surprised that I was giving up on something.

  I pulled my arm back, flipped over onto my stomach, and rested my head on my hands. “Well, probably not giving up. We’re so close to figuring it out. But it would have been nice to know who did this before the funeral. I hate burying Mr. Bailey’s body without knowing the truth.”

  My mom narrowed her eyes at me. She could see that there was something I wasn’t telling her. How could moms do that? I wondered. “That’s not all of it. What else is going on?”

  I pressed my lips together.

  “Mercy. I know you. There’s more to this. What is it?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Mercy,” her voice was lower now.

  I winced. “You’re gonna be mad.”

  “I’m going to be mad if you don’t tell me the truth. That’s all I want from you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you.”

  “The girls and I messed up,” I admitted with a big sigh.

  She nodded as if she’d seen that one coming from a mile away. “How did you mess up?”

  “We did a spell, and it went horribly wrong.”

  My mom sighed. “Oh, Mercy. Magic isn’t to be taken lightly. How did your spell go wrong?”

  “We used a substitution for one of the ingredients we didn’t have.”

  She leaned back on her stool and let out a deep sigh. “Mercy! You know you shouldn’t do that. I’ve been telling you that your whole life.”

  I covered my face with my hands. “I know, I know. It’s just that, we used almost the same thing.”

  “Almost doesn’t cut it with magic.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re telling me.”

  “What were you trying to do?”

  I paused for a moment and debated if I could really tell my mom what we’d done. My eyes flicked up to meet hers. Her expression was stern but loving. She only wanted what was best for me. I knew that. She’d been telling me for years. I just had to trust her. “We were trying to put Mr. Bailey’s spirit back into his body,” I said it as fast as I could and then pinched my eyes shut.

  When she was quiet for a long couple of moments, I squinted one eye open. She was staring at me. Speechless, I guessed.

  “I know, I know. It was dumb, but we felt so bad for Char. Do you remember Evan Lancaster? He tried to put Jax’s spirit into Morgan Hartford’s body, so we thought we should be able to do it too.”

  “Evan Lancaster was a monster!” my mother breathed. “You wanted to be like Evan Lancaster? Mercy! If Evan Lancaster jumped off of a bridge would you do it too?”

  “We weren’t trying to be like Evan, Mom. We just wanted to bring Mr. Bailey back! For Char.”

  “Well, obviously it didn’t work. So what happened?”

  I scratched my scalp. “We accidentally put his spirit somewhere … else…” I said uneasily.

  “Mercy!”

  “I know, I know…”

  “Where? Who? Mercy, where’s Mr. Bailey’s spirit now?”

  I sat up. My left cheek squished up into my eye. “Downstairs.”

  “Downstairs. What did you put his spirit into?”

  “Not what, but who,” I said remorsefully. “We can’t figure out how to get it back out.”

  “You’ve tried?”

  “Last night. In the alley,” I said with a nod. It had been our last shot at fixing things. And we’d failed. It was a horrible feeling.

  “Who Mercy?” she demanded.

  I covered my face with my hands again and then peered between my fingers. “Regis…”

  “Regis! You put Vic inside of Regis?! Mercy Mae Habernackle!”

  Ugh, my middle name had come out. “I’m really sorry!”

  “Char’s going to flip out!” my mother cried. Standing up, she put a hand to her heart.

  “I know! We tried to fix it. I swear. It required a full moon to get it out, and that’s not until this weekend.”

  “So there’s still a chance of putting Vic back inside his body? We could tell Char and delay the funeral…”

  “I don’t think so, Mom. He’s already been through an autopsy. He’s been embalmed. I feel like it’s too late for that.”

  “So if we get Vic’s spirit out of Regis, then what?”

  “Then he’s a ghost again. I don’t know which is worse.”

  My mother hung her head. I know she wanted to rail on m
e. Tell me what a horrible thing we’d done. Tell me I should just focus on my studies and quit messing around with all this extra-curricular stuff. I wanted her to do it. I wanted her to let me have it. I deserved it.

  Instead, she sat on the bed next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. “You did your best Mercy. And you told me the truth. That’s all I can ask for as a parent.”

  Stunned at not hearing what I expected, a huge weight felt lifted off of my shoulders suddenly. I threw both arms around her waist and cried. It wasn’t often that I cried, but I couldn’t help it. I felt horrible for Mr. Bailey and for Char. I felt bad for giving my mom such a horrible time all those years. She was always there for me when I needed her. Right then and there I decided I needed to be a better daughter. “Thanks, Mom,” I whispered after I was done crying like a baby. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Mercy.” She smoothed back my hair. “You look pretty. I wish you’d wear dresses more often.”

  I laughed as I wiped away my tears with the heels of my hands. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Okay, we should get going. I’m going to ride to the church with Reign. I assume you’re going with the girls?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

  “Okay. Love you Mercy.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  34

  The parking lot outside the church where the funeral was being held was fuller than I’d ever seen it before. I knew before even going inside that it would be standing room only. Which, of course, spoke to just how much Mr. Bailey meant to the town.

  As close friends of the family, we went in through the side door. Places up front had been reserved for us. Detective Whitman was the first person I saw when we entered. He pulled us aside almost immediately.

  “Hey, just thought I’d let you know that we checked out Vic’s viper venom supply and we dusted it for prints. No one’s been in his stash.”

  I shrugged. That only went to show that Louis didn’t use Mr. Bailey’s own ingredients to kill him. “He could have gotten it from someone else,” I muttered. Probably from Augusta Stone. I wanted to say it, but I didn’t feel like Mr. Bailey’s funeral was the right time.