Deadly Morsel: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 5)

by Juliann Whicker

  “For you,” I said and smiled at her as bright as I possibly could.

  She took it slowly. “Are you okay?”

  “So good. You should unwrap it.”

  She gave me a slight smile before unwrapping the crackly cellophane. I’d embedded little black licorice strands inside with the words, ‘Ask me to come to your room’ in it.

  She glanced at me where I sat, bouncing on the end of the couch, sucking on my lollipop. She looked around at the other humans who weren’t paying any attention to us then leaned forward. “Do you want to come to my room? I have a new, um, lipstick I’m thinking about using, but it might not look good.”

  I grabbed her hand, the one missing three fingers. “I’d love to! I haven’t got reliable taste, just to warn you.”

  She smiled slightly while she shook her head then went into her room. She put her palm against the reader and the door clicked open. Once we were inside, I leaned against the door and stared at her.

  “So, the lipstick?” I pulled out a notebook and started scribbling notes.

  “It’s kind of stupid for me to wear lipstick, I mean, I’m not ever going to be pretty,” she said and walked over to a simple wooden dresser with a mirror above it and a tray where she kept her toiletries.

  “You have beauty questions for real? Oh. Cool. No, you’re really pretty without makeup, but makeup is important when you want a little more oomph, like going on a date or something. Missy, you looked super nice at church.”

  She’d kind of hid between me and the bartender with her hair over her face through the whole sermon, but she’d done it, gone out around normal humans and hadn’t shattered or anything.

  She wrinkled her nose and picked up the hot pink lipstick. “When I was growing up, cosmetics weren’t quite so bright.”

  “Um, yeah, hot pink isn’t really going to do anyone any favors. Let me put together a really, really nice makeup set taking in account your coloring and complexion. I may not have magic, but I know cosmetics. I can’t help it: grandmama’s livelihood was built on pretty.” I put the paper in front of her so she had to read it.

  How can I get in touch with Narcollo? I need a finder.

  She picked up the pen, adjusting it like she wasn’t accustomed to it before she wrote, What do you need to find?

  So she wasn’t just going to go along with my plan without explanation. She was smart.

  I wrote, My grandfather in Darkside. He has a contract about my parent’s marriage that I need to see.

  She nodded and frowned in concentration as she wrote. Her handwriting was so beautiful, elegant. And she was like eighty years old. She didn’t look older than eighteen. You should ask the mage.

  Hmph. She might have great handwriting and wisdom of age and all that, but she knew nothing about what I should do. “That’s not an option. Drake is doing his own thing and if I tell him what I want, he’ll only try to stop me.”

  She frowned at me and tapped the paper. Right.

  I wrote, If I can’t trust Narcollo to deliver, I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry. I’ll figure out something else.

  Teddy went to Darkside. He was diabolical. I shivered as I remembered his touch of sweet death. No, not the best choice. I’d ask Signore, but I already owed him for saving me from Teddy. At least according to Zach. I scowled while I thought through my options.

  She put her hand on my arm and pushed the notebook over so I could read her latest message.

  He can get what you need, but you’ll have to give him something he wants. I’ll write the message for you. It has to be very, very precise. Do you have someone who can take a message to Darkside?

  I nodded.

  She gave me a slight smile with her head tilted that make her look a little bit edgy in spite of her adorable eyelessness.

  She sat down on the bed and wrote out a message on a clean sheet of paper until she shook her head and started on a new page. It took her six drafts to have the perfect missive. She ripped it out cleanly and handed it to me.

  I looked down and stared at the Darkside letters I couldn’t read. I stared at her. “You write Darksider?”

  She smiled slightly. “A few languages. It’s Darkside, not Darksider. You don’t know it?” She said something in a strangely sweet gutteral accent.

  I stared at her before I gripped her shoulders. “Missy, you’re so smart! You can help me write my mage contract!”

  She laughed and patted my head. “Not complicated contracts, just gettings.”

  “Gettings? Right. Findings. Can you translate this for me?” I asked, waving the note she’d written that I couldn’t read.

  She thought about it for a long time before she blushed and bent over the notebook.

  Direct translation loses some of its clarity. The basic message is a request for one finding in exchange for one hour of my untouched time. Human world. Human time. There are a lot of explications.

  “No way! You can’t…” She put her hand over my mouth and stared at me with her serious frown.

  She let go and then wrote again. I want to see him. I want to see him here in this world after the Darkside has worn off. I need to think of him as my past if I’m ever going to go forward, but I’m having a hard time. I will do this for you and for me.

  I covered her hand with mine while my bottom lip trembled. “Thanks, Missy,” I whispered.

  She snipped off a strand of hair to enclose in the envelope. That should be enough to find Narcollo, because he was part of that hair. Because he’d eaten parts of her. So wrong but kind of sweet. I wanted Drake to be part of me. I’d eat his toes. I’d give up my eyes to keep him. Really? If I could touch him for the rest of my life, it would be okay if it were dark. But I’d rather be able to look at him my whole life.

  We walked into the main room and I gave Missy a quick hug before straightening.

  She cleared her throat. “We should go to the movie tomorrow. I mean, if you want.”

  “A movie?”

  She stared at me with that one big gray eye and I nodded. A movie. We’d maybe meet Narcollo there. I owned exactly one mage that didn’t own me in return and wasn’t hiding from a second skinning. I took a deep breath as I headed out of the hospital, my hands shaking as I unwrapped a lollipop. I couldn’t put Missy at risk, but what were my options? Any way I looked at it, things could get messy. What if Creagh attacked while we were in the theater?

  I pulled out my phone once I got to the parking lot and there was Zach leaning against his little red hotrod. I put my phone away and walked up to him, swishing my skirt and holding out a lollipop.

  “How did you know I needed a ride?”

  He rolled his eyes but only smiled and opened the door for me. The nice friend gig was killing him. I really liked it. I kissed his cheek as I passed him, butterfly kisses so my eyelashes tickled his cheek before I scrambled into the teeny backseat.

  “How long until Rosy’s ready?” I asked as soon as Zach got in.

  “Sooner if you stopped skipping working on it to go hang out with your hospital friends.”

  “I guess it will have to wait.”

  “I heard you’re going to the movie with Missy tomorrow?”

  Yep, the common room was totally bugged. But would Missy’s room be recorded as well? “I’m a little bit nervous about it. I’m really glad Missy’s coming out of her shell, but will it be safe? What do you think?”

  He glanced over his shoulder at me before facing forward. “You’re asking me?”

  “Of course. Do you have any good gadgets I can use to keep Missy safe in case of a Creagh attack, or a Scratcher thing?”

  “I do.” He smiled sharply. “But that kind of object is going to cost you.”

  “Never mind.” I kicked the back of his chair because it was so tight and he was so annoying.

  He moved his seat back further, pinning me until his head was right next to mine.

  “If I throw up on you, that’s on you.”

  “Literally.” He laughed and ad
justed his seat so it wasn’t quite on top of me. “Penny, what I had in mind for payment was a date. To the movie. Tomorrow night.”

  I frowned at the back of his head. That was probably a good idea. Dating Zach? If I was going to give him a marriage contract, I had to move in that direction. I scratched the back of my neck.

  “If you don’t think that would be weird, okay.”

  “Has to be a horror movie.”

  “I’m an idiot in those.”

  “An adorable idiot.”

  “You want me to sit in your lap the whole time?”

  “Basically.”

  “Why?”

  “Can’t you smell my desire?”

  I leaned closer and sniffed, but he only smelled like motor oil, which was kind of appetizing. “No.”

  He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. “Huh. Maybe I don’t find the threat of Penny Lane vomit irresistible. Weird.”

  I punched him through the seat which did pretty much nothing. “Super weird, but that’s my awesome friend Zach, always wanting weird things like Penny Lane in a horror movie or the back of his car instead of letting her ride a bus on her own. Never mind. I don’t want you in the movie with me. I’m taking Ian. And Lester. Maybe Viney. Would Viney work? Yeah, she could take Oscar. Maybe Lars. We could make it a big party where everyone sits in different parts of the theater so Missy doesn’t feel freaked out by all the Daysiders.”

  He grunted and then spun the wheel to the side so the car spun around, tires squealing. Strangely, I did not throw up.

  “You okay?” Zach said once we came to a stop before he shifted down and started back the way we’d come, down the hill towards Fairfield. I looked out the back window at the men on motorcycles who were apparently chasing us.

  “Zach, why are motorcyclists pursuing us?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Um, how can I not…” I started screaming then because the car shot into the air above the road, veered to the side and almost into some trees. The motorcyclists took off after us. So this was a flying car chase. That’s when I threw up.

  The rest of the flight/ride was a blur of too much magic and even more motion-sickness. Finally, the car came down with a thump on the road outside the Rosewood gates, tore through, and then a couple of silver cars pulled up after us, blocking entry to the motorcyclists. I watched out the back window, clinging limply to the rim of the back seat while Viney and Witley got out of the cars and stood half-crouched like they were ready to throw curses or hurters or something at the motorcyclists.

  Finally, Zach jerked to a stop and got out, before I could knee him in the stomach. I crawled out after him and pressed my cheek to the cool pavement. It would be so nice if someone ran over me with a car before I threw up again.

  “Take her to her room. Make her some tea or something,” Zach ordered before I watched his boots pound over the pavement towards the motorcycle mages.

  Ian picked me up. No one else smelled like that. I gripped his shirt and tried not to throw up. Victory! Until I reached my room, anyway.

  He sat next to me on the edge of the clawfoot tub while I vomited in the toilet. When I curled up in a ball on the floor, he said, “Do you want me to heal you?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not a healing thing. It’s a curse thing. Ian.” I sat up and gripped his hand over the message. I carved a mage oath into his skin. “You’ll deliver this and say nothing to Drake or any other witch or mage. Swear you will.”

  He frowned at me, eyes sort of glinting with amusement. “If you’d like. This smells like trouble.”

  I smiled brightly. “I hope so. Go now before anyone comes back. Go on.”

  His scowl darkened before he stood and stepped Throughside, away from me. Ian was on his errand and out of my bathroom. That’s what you call multi-tasking.

  What would Drake do when he found out I’d been messing with his humans? He’d told me enough times that whatever he owned belonged to me. I ran my fingers over the initials in my shoulder.

  Chapter 9

  Mage

  “What are you going to do about the TMD?”

  I didn’t look up from my end of the table, scratching my pen over lines that went on and on eternally. “That’s a job for the premier families of Dayside.”

  My father laughed and for a moment put down his pen. I hesitated before I put down mine and looked up at him. His eyes were dark, amused. “I’ve been considering your words. I could remarry.”

  It was my turn to laugh, or snort anyway. “Oh, do. That sounds like it wouldn’t end in complete disaster.”

  He tilted his head. “But in the meanwhile, there would be a great infusion of money and power to Huntsman.”

  “Which neither of us particularly cares about. But by all means, if one of us must marry, it had better be you.”

  “You have more recent experience with marriage contracts.”

  “True. I know exactly how to break them.” I showed him my teeth and bent back to my paper, but it was too late. I got up and stepped Throughside, then back to Penny’s house.

  Revere was sitting on the porch steps, almost as though he were waiting for me.

  “Is there something I should be doing about the TMD? They’ve attacked Penny again.”

  “Huntsman should probably join Stoneburrow in their suit against them. You should get your contract mage involved in it.”

  “Jasper’s been compromised. He’s the one who woke up Sooth.”

  “That’s doubtful. The sleeping Sooth has been resting for a very long time and our current deception sorcerer is quite active.”

  “And we know this, how?”

  He shrugged. “I checked. Would you like to accompany me on an outing? It will be less business, more blood than the last one.”

  “I would absolutely adore a blood-soaked outing. Let me get changed.”

  He waited while I spelled my suit closer to its actual beautiful state, the coat woven through with as many protection spells I could lay on it without interfering with its own magic. I didn’t want any damage done to that coat.

  “She did good work,” he said once I was finished.

  I fingered the front fabric and the fabric moved beneath my hand, caressing me back like it was her. She loved me. I inhaled deeply then straightened up. “Shall we?”

  We actually worked on spellcraft for days, months, years, until I was exhausted mentally and then we went to Darkside and collected more bills. Those we took by force. They were small, but apparently we were collecting every one of the Deception Sorcerer’s bills, particularly the ones he’d paid off with my family fortune.

  I stepped back into Dayside, inside my bedroom with a splitting headache. Zach was waiting for me.

  “What are you going to do about the TMD?”

  I summoned a cup of orange bergamot tea and sat down on the couch to drink it. “That’s for Dayside’s premier families to worry about. Why? Didn’t you enjoy fighting them off?”

  Zach showed me his teeth. “No. I had to use Ian to keep her safe.”

  “I offer my personal services against the TMD as a contract mage of a humble Dayside family, if you’d like.”

  He flung himself on the couch beside me. “I would. If you wanted to call in favors, you could still make a mess of things. You have something on every family.”

  “Thank you. You make us sound so wicked. How are things coming with Penny?” Penny. My chest throbbed at the mention of her name, even if I was the one who said it, especially then.

  “She’s going to a movie with Missy tonight. That’s why I’m here. She’s inviting all of her special friends to sit around the movie theater not too close to her and Missy. She doesn’t want Missy to get freaked out.”

  “A movie? That’s great!”

  “Is it? I’m worried. Penny’s been smiling a lot lately.”

  My chest ached. Maybe she found it so easy to love she would quickly forget about me as she involved herself with her pets. “Good. She
probably has a plan for her next husband. You won’t let her marry anyone else. You’ve told her that, haven’t you?”

  He shrugged, scowling at me. “I’m trying to be nice. That’s what she thinks she wants, which is why the movie theater is going to be full of the wickedest mages in school along with her Chem girls and Viney.”

  I nodded. “What time?” Not that I wanted to sit in a theater and stare at the back of her head, but I did. Also, it was in case of emergencies. Something bewildering could happen possibly involving popcorn. Like a popcorn monster could try and eat everyone. No one was eating Penny except for me. My mouth watered at the thought of her skin.

  He laughed. “It’s a horror movie. She’ll be next to me.”

  So I’d have to watch her cling to him like he was her teddy bear. I growled but nodded. “It would be. There’s a popcorn monster.”

  “What?”

  I shook my head and made shooing motions. “I have about two hours of sleep before the movie. I’m going to use them as thoroughly as possible.”

  After taking my much needed nap, I sat inside the darkened theater wearing the glamour of a nice human girl. Other than that, Zach had bought out the theater, so the only occupants would be people from Rosewood.

  Penny came in with Missy and Zach. I could hear her clearly.

  “Are you going to be okay with horror? I’m a complete mess during this kind of movie. You might want to cover your ears in case I scream a lot. Shut up Zach.”

  He didn’t say anything, just rolled his eyes and followed her into the middle row in the center of the theater. She turned and pointed at him.

  “Get popcorn.”

  “So you can throw it all over the theater when the psycho killer comes out from behind the tree? Good idea.”

  He stood and looked at me, nodding slightly before he headed back out to the lobby. Lester came in and took his seat, back left. Penny’s Chem girls took a few rows towards the front, jaggedly spaced out. Where was Ian? I hadn’t been able to get hold of him, but I’d left messages. He was probably in Darkside seducing a Creagh or sixteen.