A Magical Reckoning: Magic and Mischief Book 1

by N. R. Hairston

  I’d hung out with her not too long ago. I may have had valuable information, but no one had asked. A few well-placed questions and maybe she would have been home by now.

  Liberty View housed over sixty, one level buildings, each holding ten two-floor apartments. Twist lived at 212 East Street apartment, six. We walked through the back door, which opened to a small kitchen.

  Dishes flowed out of the sink and onto a nearby counter. The trash ran over with empty food containers and crushed beer cans.

  I put my hand over my mouth as the smell of rotted food and weeks old garbage made me gag. A small pantry was set off to the right and I didn’t even want to know what was in there.

  Twist led us into the living room, which was right beside the kitchen. It was a little better in here, the smell was still there, but it was evident that he spent little to no time in here as everything seemed to be in its proper place.

  The stairs to the left probably led to a bathroom and a couple of bedrooms. At least that’s how most of the apartments were set up.

  We took a seat on the couch, which was the only place to sit. No pictures hung on the walls and the only other thing in the room was a small flat screen TV.

  Twist stood in front of us, hands shaking at his side. “I got the stuff in my room.” He took the steps two at a time and I looked to Xavier to get his reaction.

  His eyes were narrowed as he followed Twist’s progression up the steps. “What?”

  He shook his head, his eyes still on the stairs. “Well, something just doesn’t feel right, darlin’. The air around him is shifty. I don’t believe a word he says.”

  I was irritated, and my voice showed it. “I think I’ve known him a little longer than you, unless you’re saying my judgment is off...” I said it like a challenge because that’s what it was.

  He didn’t bite. His eyes took me in briefly, the seriousness in them giving me pause. “I didn’t mean it that way, and I think you know that.”

  “Yeah, well, this isn’t exactly the night I’d envisioned, so give me a break.”

  He chuckled softly, his eyes still focused on the staircase. I couldn’t believe he was serious. He acted as if Twist was ready to launch a full-scale assault at any moment.

  Twist launched a full-scale assault that next moment. A powerful wind unleashed from upstairs and flew straight toward us.

  I dashed to the floor, while Xavier simply turned in his seat. The storm of air missed us at first but then regrouped. This time, it lifted us in the air and kept us suspended there.

  To his credit, Xavier never said ‘I told you so.’ Instead, he kept his focus on the stairwell, which was surely where the next attack would come from.

  Twist floated down the stairs, the force of the wind propelling him. Jaw tight, eyes wild and shining, he sneered at me. “Where’s my sister, Leah? You were the last to see her alive.”

  Last to see her alive? Had Twist gone upstairs and puffed on something? Had he actually done drugs while we sat here?

  His sister had still been partying when I’d left her a couple of weeks ago. Plus, I thought he said she’d been kidnapped. “Twist, put us down. What the fuck are you talking about?”

  He used the wind to pick up a glass figurine and sling it toward my head. I used my TK to aim it toward the wall. The sound of it shattering was enough to distract him and make him loosen his grip on us.

  We dropped to the floor, and he whipped around, hand raised, ready to hit us again.

  I stood, set to defend myself if need be. “You’re acting like a nut case, Twist. I thought you said your sister had been kidnapped.”

  His face turned to rage, and his whole body shook with it. “She wasn’t kidnapped. You killed her. You fucking cunt. Killed her and took all her money.”

  Oh boy. He really was delusional. What made him think I’d killed his sister and robbed her? Was he serious or just nuts?

  Xavier blinked twice, and Twist went from a foaming angry man to a tiny turtle. Transmutation man. I did want to get to know him better. He floated the turtle over and landed him gently on the coffee table in front of us.

  He only let him stay that way a few seconds before turning him back.

  Returned to his natural form, Twist sat up, eyes wild, nostrils flaring.

  He raised his hand as if to strike and Xavier flung him so hard that he put a dent in the wall behind him. “I’ve just about run out of patience with you, boy. Now tell us what the hell’s going on.”

  Twist got to his feet, hands fumbling in his pocket. “I got this.” He pulled out a small jewelry box and threw it across the room, barely missing my face.

  I picked it up and turned it over in my hand. What the hell was in here that had Twist convinced I’d killed his sister? With shaky fingers, I lifted the top and then gasped.

  I put a hand over my mouth, trying to stifle the scream starting at the back of my throat. This was awful and now I understood Twist’s anger a whole lot better. A small tear escaped from my eye, and I wiped it away, still not believing what I’d seen.

  Inside lay three long, slim, female fingers, red polish on the nails. I slammed it closed and placed it back on the table. Twist watched me carefully, eyes popping, body trembling. “I didn’t do this,” I said gently. I was too stunned to say anything else. “Twist, I didn’t do this.”

  I could see the veins popping in his neck and knew he was ready to lose it again. He screamed and spit flew out of his mouth, landing on his face and chin. “They told me it was you!”

  “Who?”

  He reached into his pocket and threw a sandwich bag full of photos my way. I didn’t even have to pull them out of the plastic to see the image of Laurel’s lifeless eyes staring up at me.

  Bloody black hair flowed around her face, a large wound on the side of her head. I inhaled sharply, I couldn’t help it. This was so far beyond what I’d expected to see.

  Xavier gently removed the photos from my hands. He shifted through them and then stopped when he came to the last couple. He squinted then raised a brow. “Darlin’, I’m sorry, but you need to see this.” He handed the pictures back to me.

  I bit my bottom lip and tried to prepare myself as I accepted them. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for what I was ready to see.

  I put a hand over my mouth as I flipped through them. It was me, Laurel, and a few others the night we’d hung out together.

  Dozens of photographs, capturing our every move. We’d gone the whole night without realizing we were being stalked. In fact, I hadn’t had a clue, and I’m guessing the others hadn’t either. But who, and why?

  Chills went up my arms and I stood, ready to look out the window. I sat back down, though, not wanting to seem too paranoid. Something hot and heavy settled in the pit of my stomach. How long had they been following me? Were they out there now?

  Twist stood stock still, waiting for my reaction. “I don’t know what to say, Twist. I really don’t. But there are two other girls here.” I pointed to the photos. “Why signal me out?”

  “Look at the last one.”

  I stared at him briefly, partly to collect myself, not sure of what I was ready to see, and to make sure he had his emotions in check. Not that I would blame him if he didn’t. This was his sister, and these photos were terrible.

  I flipped through to the end. It was a picture of me with a red circle around it. This. This was his evidence? Really? “This makes me a murderer. This could mean anything. Come on, Twist, you know better than that.”

  “They pointed you out. Wanted me to know the truth. Know what you did.”

  I huffed out a breath, unsure of how to get through to him. “I didn’t do this, Twist, but I’ll help you find out who did.”

  That barely contained rage was back full force. “You did it!”

  Something wasn’t adding up. “I believed you when you said she’d been kidnapped. Why tell me that if you thought I’d killed her?”

  He looked at me with disdain, liked I’d di
sappointed him greatly and he was finally able to bring me to task. “I gave you a chance! But no, no remorse from you. No guilt.” He shook his head as if I was the most disgusting person he’d ever met.

  I tried to reason with him. “That’s because I’m not guilty of anything. Thank about it. If I’d killed your sister I wouldn’t be here now. Think about it, Twist.”

  “Wanted to see what I knew. Thought you could pick me for information. Thought you could get away with it.”

  I looked at Xavier, at a loss for what else I could say to get through to him. Twist really thought me capable of this. It was both frustrating and disheartening. The worst part was, I didn’t know how to prove to him that I wasn’t.

  Xavier took us both in. He looked half sympathetic and half like a man who’d thought he was ready to celebrate a big win only to now be caught in a murder mystery that had nothing to do with him. “Let me help you, Twist.”

  Xavier laced his fingers together. His voice came out warm and persuasive, almost like a lullaby. “I don’t know sunshine from rain on this, but I’ll do whatever I can to help you bring your sister’s killer to justice. I’m offering here. All you have to do is say yes.”

  Twist gave him a measured look, suspicion in his eyes. “Never saw you around before. Who are you?”

  Xavier answered immediately. “Just a card player. Heard Jinx had some of the best games. Thought I’d check it out.”

  Twist thought about it for a second. A skeptical look on his face, he asked, “And you won’t stand in my way if she’s guilty.”

  Xavier looked a little too nonchalant for my liking, but I understood he had to play it that way. “If she killed your sister, then she owes you a blood debt, and I ain’t about to get in the way of that.”

  I thought he was joking. He didn’t look like he was, though. Not that I’d killed Twist’s sister.

  When I’d left Laurel that night, she’d still been partying with Kaylee and Tara. Luckily, they both lived in Liberty View. Kaylee only lived two streets over, so we went there first.

  It was four in the morning, but Kaylee looked like she’d just arrived home. She was sitting on her front porch, beer by her side, cigarette in her mouth.

  She didn’t even look surprised to see us. “What’s up Twist, Leah, Dude?” She kept puffing on her smoke and pushing buttons on her phone.

  I decided to get straight to the point. “Hey, what did ya’ll do after I left that night we hung out at Jim’s?”

  She looked up from her phone. “What? I don’t know, hung out for a bit. Ask Tara, she was a lot more sober than either one of us, remember?” She laughed and ducked the ashes off her cigarette.

  My smile was tight. “Yeah, I remember.”

  She inhaled a little of her smoke. “Why you thinking about that now? Did something happen?”

  I wasn’t about to get into this with her. “Tell you about it next time.” She nodded in a way that said it didn’t really matter to her one way or the other, then went back to looking at her phone.

  Tara lived two buildings up from Kaylee.

  Twist still looked as wild and unstable as ever, so I threw out a few words in an effort to see where his head was. “Believe me now? I wasn’t the last one to see her alive.”

  His hands balled into fists as his strides became more and more exaggerated. “All I heard her say was that she was drunk and doesn’t know what happened.”

  Fair enough. It didn’t take us long to reach Tara’s. Unlike Kaylee, she wasn’t on the porch. I knocked on the door.

  The lights were out and the apartment silent. She was probably asleep, but this was too damn important for me not to wake her.

  Xavier leaned up against the porch rail, arms folded over his chest. I couldn’t get a read on him. Why was he really here? This had nothing to do with him.

  Why was he helping? Why not just take his winnings and go home? Before I could ponder it further, footsteps sounded from inside, and an irritated voice asked us what the hell we wanted.

  I cleared my throat. “Tara home?”

  “No.”

  “Where she at?”

  The voice got even more irritated. “How the fuck do I know? It’s four in the morning. Don’t come around here no damn more this time of morning or I’ma put the law on your ass.”

  I didn’t blame her. “Sorry,” I said, slowly backing away.

  Well, that sure as hell hadn’t satisfied Twist. He looked more deranged than ever. “Now what?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “She might have gotten lucky, went home with someone. We’ll check Jinx’s, Jim’s, and Top’s.” Three of our favorite liquor and gambling houses. “See if anyone’s seen her tonight.”

  I turned to Xavier. “You can leave. You don’t have to stay for this. It’s not your problem.”

  He looked cavalier as hell when he answered. “Hard to find a good spades partner. You and me, we were in sync in there. Got a big game coming up in a couple weeks. Twenty thousand to sit. Been looking for a good partner. Probably need to keep you alive until then.”

  I didn’t know whether to be insulted or flattered. Probably a little of both. “What makes you think I’ve got twenty thou? I don’t.”

  He smiled unworriedly. “I’ll front you. If we win, I walk away with sixty, you with twenty, that you didn’t have before.”

  An impatient growl from my right reminded me that this was something best saved for later. If I had a later that is. It was becoming increasingly clear to me that Twist was barely keeping it together.

  None of the after-hour spots were in Liberty view, not any I wanted to visit anyway. We went back to Jinx’s first. Tara wasn’t there and we couldn’t find anybody who’d seen her.

  We hit Jim’s and they said she’d just left going to Joy’s place. I hadn’t thought about Joy’s, and by now my feet were starting to ache. Joy lived a few blocks up from Jim’s.

  Unlike the others, Joy didn’t really care if the games spilled out onto her front lawn. A loud dice game went on in one corner of the yard, dominoes in another.

  The porch had two card tables on it. One for spades, and one for poker. Tyler, a friend I played with from time to time, pointed at me when I walked up. “You want next?”

  I shook my head. “Nah, just looking for Tara. She here?”

  He slammed a card down. “Boom!” He looked back at me. “Which Tara?”

  “Liberty View Tara.”

  “She in there.” He aimed his head toward the door.

  We found her in the back. The smoke was as heavy here as it was in the rest of the house. The smell, not that different than Jinx’s place.

  All around us was the sound of card games, and other gambling, like dice, and pool. Tara sat on an old yellow couch, a shot of vodka in her hand, a plate of spaghetti in her lap.

  I got straight to the point. “When’s the last time you seen Laurel? Was it that night we all hung out at Jim’s?”

  She twirled some noodles around her fork then stuffed them in her mouth. I waited for her to swallow. “You mean when she abandoned me and went off with that dry ass Jeff? Nah, I ain’t seen her ass since. Why? She looking for me?” She slurped more spaghetti.

  Jeff was Laurel’s on again off again boyfriend. Great. Now we had to find his ass too.

  We caught up with him in an alleyway two blocks from his house. He had some girl’s legs wrapped around his waist, and they were both grunting and moaning.

  Oh, boy. This was not good. I could practically feel the rage radiating off Twist. I tried to stop it before it started. “If you kill him, we won’t get shit, so.…”

  His eyes bore holes into Jeff, but he kept his hands at his sides.

  I took a step forth. “Yo, Romeo. When’s the last time you seen Laurel?”

  “What?” Jeff’s hips kept moving, brows furrowed, he looked at us as if we’d lost our minds. “I don’t know, a couple of weeks. Why?” He picked up the pace and the girl moaned even louder, scraping her nails down his back
.

  Twist lunged. I grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back, not sure how long he’d let me hold him. “Look, I’m doing everything I can to restrain him, but if you don’t start talking soon…”

  Jeff’s breathing became labored, and he gave a few extra fast pumps, before grunting loudly and letting go. He stuffed himself back in his pants and the woman picked up her purse and took off in the opposite direction. I didn’t blame her.

  Jeff wiped a sweat-soaked hand across his face. He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. Hell, knowing him, he probably wasn’t. “What you asking me about Laurel for? Go ask that dude she left me for.”

  Twist narrowed his eyes, and I wasn’t sure if he believed Jeff or not. “Some dude caught up to her as we were walking home. Took her back through Almaegrow.” Almaegrow was close to Liberty view, only separated by a rail yard.

  I shook my head. “And you just let her go?”

  “The fuck was I supposed to do? She’s a grown ass woman.”

  “Where in Almaegrow?” I asked before Twist could bring a windstorm down on our heads.

  “I don’t know. Saw them head over by Pear Town. No way in fuck was I going down there. Fuck it. Fuck her too.”

  Twist lunged, and I used my TK to hold him in place. I looked back to Jeff urgently. “Run.” I didn’t have to tell him twice. He took off down the street, skirted around the corner, and disappeared.

  I let Twist go. “Believe me now? I didn’t hurt your sister.”

  The look he gave me didn’t fill me with much confidence. “Do I believe you could have followed her, waited until she was alone, and then ambushed her? Yeah, I believe that just fine.”

  Of course. Good grief. Was he never letting this go? I kicked a rock across the street. I couldn’t really fault him. This was his sister. She’d been murdered, and the only clue he had was me. Of course, he’d hold on to that for dear life.

  I thought back to what Jeff had said. Pear Town. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to go down there. I didn’t particular want to go down there either.