A Hex a Day (Which Village Book 1)

by L. C. Mortimer

  "You don't know anything about witches," she said. It wasn't mean or accusatory. It was just said as a statement, and it was, in fact, completely true.

  "Nothing at all."

  "Have a seat." She gestured vaguely at the living room. Aside from the sofa and coffee table, there was no other furniture, but I wasn't about to give up a chance to learn more about my mom, so I sat down on the floor, crossed my legs, and looked up at her.

  "You and my mother weren't just business associates, were you?"

  "You mean was she just my client?"

  "Yes."

  "No."

  "Were you friends?"

  She stared at me.

  "Lovers?"

  She nodded, slightly.

  "So you knew her better than anyone else," I pointed out.

  "That's it?" She asked. Now it was her turn to be surprised.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You aren't going to ask me if your mom always liked women, or why she hadn't told you she had a partner?"

  "My mother's life was her own," I said carefully. "She had secrets, and I'm certain they were for a good reason."

  Eliza looked at me carefully.

  "You know, I underestimated you, Jaden. Your mother always told me you were smart, and I always thought she was just saying that because you were her child. Apparently, I was wrong. I apologize."

  "Apology accepted. Now, can you fill me in on this?" I motioned to the cat. He was glaring at us.

  "Don't worry about him. He can't shift back while he's in the bubble."

  "He can't?"

  "It's soundproof, too, so there's no way for him to overhear us."

  "Interesting."

  "Your mother was a witch. She came here because Which Village is a town for paranormals. There are shifters here, and there are a few werewolves. There are witches and wizards and even a couple of ghosts."

  "Back up," I said, shaking my head. "What's the difference between shifters and werewolves? Aren't those the same thing?"

  "Not remotely. Shifters are born and werewolves are bitten. The other difference is that shifters, like our friend Jasper here, can change back and forth between forms as often as they want."

  "But werewolves can't?"

  "Werewolves can't control their shifting, no. Not without a special potion, anyway."

  I thought about my mother's fridge.

  "Was my mom working on a potion for that?"

  Eliza nodded.

  "Your mother loved being a part of the paranormal community, but werewolves have never really been accepted. She wanted to be part of a world where they were more able to control their abilities."

  Something was bothering me. There was something else that Eliza wasn't saying. She and my mother had been lovers. I didn't know how long they'd been together, and I didn't ask. That seemed like private, personal information that was really none of my business. I didn't need to know any of that. What I did need to know was how she had died.

  Eliza hadn't mentioned that.

  "Eliza, how did she pass?" I asked.

  The question hung in the air between us. I watched as Eliza's face seemed to be overcome with emotion. She didn't cry, though. She seemed stoic. While my mom had been very free-spirited and carefree, I got the feeling that Eliza was the opposite. She had been more grounded and put-together. She was an attorney, after all. She was good at keeping her act together.

  "She was killed."

  The feeling that overcame me then was a mixture between horror, disgust, and understanding. I thought I was going to puke, and I closed my eyes as I tried to calm myself. I gripped my knees, squeezing them.

  "What happened?" I asked.

  I had to know.

  Maybe it was morbid. Maybe it was strange that I wanted to know how my mom had died, but I did. I felt a need to know that was far beyond anything I could really explain.

  "Please tell me," I said.

  I didn't like putting Eliza on the spot. The truth was that we didn't know each other, but I needed to know what had happened. Why had my mom been killed? And had Jasper done it?

  "At least tell me if it was the cat," I said, pointing at him. Jasper might not have been able to hear me, but he could see me, and his ears flattened when I pointed at him.

  "It wasn't the cat," she said.

  I lowered my hand, and Jasper seemed to relax.

  "You're safe...for now," I hissed at him angrily. He might not have been the one who killed my mom, but I didn't like his involvement. Regardless of what he was after, it wasn't anything good. Who the hell sneaked into a dead woman's house, anyway?

  "Your mother was a lovable person," Eliza said. "But she had some enemies."

  "Who?"

  "People who don't believe werewolves have a place in our society."

  "I'm guessing there are a lot of people who believe that."

  "More than a few," she said.

  "So what happened? I know it probably isn't what you wanted to talk about today," I said. "But what happened to my mom?"

  "Jaden, first off, come sit on the couch. You aren't a child."

  I looked down at how I was sitting. Okay, I could understand how she might think I looked childish. Trying not to be offended, I scurried up and moved to the couch. Eliza looked over at me.

  "When I met your mother, it was right after she arrived. She was brand new to town and she wanted my legal advice on a few issues."

  "Like buying the house?" I asked, remembering the papers I'd signed.

  "Like buying the house. She wanted to make sure it could be in both of your names, and since she'd never purchased a home before, she wanted to make sure everything was done correctly."

  "That was nice of you to help her."

  "It was my job," she corrected me. "The attraction was instant, and before either one of us realized what was happening, your mother and I were dating."

  "Did you live together?"

  "No," she shook her head. "Neither one of us wanted that. We loved each other, but we wanted our space."

  It was understandable, I thought. A lot of couples rushed to live together, but being apart had its merits. There was something nice about being able to have your own space, and your own room, and your own area where you could just relax without worrying about another person.

  "Did you get married?"

  "Again, no," she said. "But we were very close, and we enjoyed our time together very much."

  The way Eliza spoke about my mother was charming to me. I liked knowing that my mom had found someone who could make her happy. The truth was that I missed my mother so much that it hurt. Knowing she had someone to keep her company when we'd been estranged meant everything.

  I thought about Stanley and how much time we'd spent just hanging out, just loving each other. Our time together, while too short, had been perfect. My mom deserved to be happy. I was glad she'd found someone.

  "So what happened?"

  "She started doing research into hexes and potions. She wanted to find a way to either completely dismiss the curse of the werewolf bite so that victims could return to their own human form permanently, or she wanted to find a way where those cursed could learn to control the bite."

  "Who wouldn't want that?" I said. "It sounds really nice. I like that she did that."

  "A lot of people. There are people here who think things should be the way they've always been."

  "What way is that?"

  "Traditional," she said.

  Then she snapped her fingers, and the bubble around Jasper evaporated. He was standing on the floor in his cat form. He was sprawled on his belly. Obviously, he hadn't expected to be dropped out of the bubble.

  "Change, cat," she said. She reached for a little blanket that was resting on the back of the couch, and she tossed it to him as he changed back into his man form. He wrapped the blanket around himself, growling. "Don't think about running," she said. "You know I'm faster than you."

  "I know nothing of the sort," he hissed.<
br />
  He still kind of sounded like a little cat.

  I didn't say anything at first. I was too enthralled by what was happening. What exactly was happening?

  Eliza was being kind of a total badass, and Jasper just looked totally irritated with both of us.

  "You know," he said, looking at me. "If this wasn't for you being so nosy, I would have been fine."

  "Don't insult the girl," Eliza said.

  It had been a long time since someone called me a girl. The truth was that sometimes I felt much older than I actually was. Losing my husband had taken a lot out of me, but I didn't really want to admit that to anyone, much less Jasper and Eliza. Sometimes I felt like I was all out of life to live. I knew that wasn't true, but...

  Well, I missed Stanley.

  And I missed my mom.

  "Tell me why you're here," Eliza said.

  "I need the potion."

  "Why?"

  "You know why."

  "Humor me," Eliza shrugged. "Pretend that I have no idea what you're talking about, cat."

  "I have a name, you know."

  "You can use your name once you start being truthful," she said. "Bad boys get to be called by their animal names. You're acting like a petulant little kitten, so that's what I'll call you. Kitty."

  He glared at her. Jasper seemed to be considering his options. To be honest, I was surprised I'd managed to lock him in the bathroom. It had been truly surprising to me that the little trick I'd played had actually worked.

  Now he had fewer options. I wasn't a witch yet. Eliza was, and judging by her skills, she was pretty powerful. Had my mom been that powerful? Obviously, she had. That was how she'd managed to get herself killed. She'd probably finished the potion she'd been working on. Either she'd finished it or someone thought she had. Either way, her work had been dangerous to people who wanted to keep the status quo.

  "I'm the kind of person who knows when to take advantage of a good opportunity," Jasper said. "And I received an offer that I didn't feel like turning down."

  "Someone wants the potion."

  "Someone wants the recipe," Jasper corrected.

  "And you think it's here?"

  He nodded carefully, slowly.

  "Who hired you?" Eliza asked, not backing down.

  Jasper only shook his head.

  "Oh, witch," he said. "You think you're so clever. So smart. You don't even know who's actually behind the death of your beloved. If you can't solve that, how will you be able to figure out who wants the potion?"

  To Eliza's credit, she didn't let Jasper's words get under her skin. Instead, she just shrugged and looked at him. I wondered if it was tearing her up inside, having him be such a dick. She was totally focused, though, and that was probably part of what made her such an incredible lawyer. She wasn't allowing his words to bother her.

  She wasn't going to be bullied by him.

  Eliza opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, there was the sound of glass shattering. A rock came flying through the front window, completely breaking it. I dropped to the ground and so did Eliza. Glass shards went everywhere, including in my hair.

  When we both sat up, looking around, Jasper was gone.

  "What the hell was that?" I asked. I reached for the rock. There wasn't a piece of paper around it with a threat written. There wasn't anything on the rock at all. Then I realized it wasn't actually a rock. It was part of a brick.

  Eliza reached for it, examined the thing, and then looked at me.

  "Well, shit."

  Chapter 5

  "What is it?" I stared at the little piece of brick that Eliza was holding.

  "A message."

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's a warning."

  "Look, I'm not trying to be either rude or abrupt, but can you clear a few things up for me? Please try to remember that I'm not from your world," I said.

  I was starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed. I wasn't a witch. Not yet. If Eliza's earlier words were true, then I didn't have a lot of time before my magical abilities came into play, but as of right now, I was just a normal, everyday girl.

  More than that, I was a normal, everyday girl who just wanted to be able to close up my mom's affairs and move on with my life. I wanted normalcy. I wanted simplicity. From the looks of things, my mom's life had been that way. It definitely looked like things had been simple.

  Eliza's eyes softened, and she nodded.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "This can't be easy for you."

  "It's really not."

  "Your mom was a good person."

  "I think so, too."

  "She didn't deserve what happened to her."

  "Eliza," I asked. "What did happen? You honestly still haven't told me."

  "She was hexed," Eliza said. "She was supposed to come over and meet me for coffee one morning."

  "When?"

  "Three days ago."

  "So it's only been three days since she died?"

  Eliza nodded.

  "It took me a little while, but I finally pulled my head out of my ass and got a move on things. I called you, and I started asking questions around town. No one knows anything. Well, either that or nobody's speaking."

  "What did you do when you realized something was wrong?"

  "Like I said, we had coffee almost every day. She was supposed to come to my place and she didn't show. I called her, but she didn't pick up."

  "So you came over."

  "Yeah."

  "She wasn't here, though."

  "She was in the garden," Eliza whispered. "She'd only been dead an hour or so, according to the doctors." She shook her head, and for the first time, Eliza seemed to be overcome with emotion. "If I'd been faster to realize there was a problem, then I could have saved her."

  "That's not true," I said. I knew perfectly well that guilt could destroy a person. If left unchecked, most people would be more than happy to accept the blame for all of the bad things that happened in the world. I couldn't let Eliza take the fall for this one.

  "Thanks," she said. "But it's true."

  "It's not, and we aren't going to argue. Did the police come?"

  "Yes," she said. "Even though it's a paranormal town, we still have a police force, albeit a magical one. They couldn't find anything."

  "Nothing?"

  "Not at all," she said. "There was nothing left behind. There were no clues. There were no potions or weapons or anything. She was just dead, and there was nothing we could do."

  I wondered, for a very brief moment, if Eliza could have been the one who killed my mom. The truth was that I didn't know her at all. I didn't even know if she and my mom had actually been a couple. For all I knew, she could have been someone who was after my mom's potions and charms, and she could have been the one who murdered her.

  Looking at Eliza's face, though, I knew that it wasn't her. She had the same look on her face that I had on mine when I found out that Stanley was dead.

  It was a look of total horror: of complete sadness.

  "I miss her," Eliza whispered.

  "We'll find out who did this," I swore.

  She looked over at me and nodded.

  "Thanks," she said. "I appreciate that."

  "She was my mom," I reminded Eliza.

  "I know the two of you didn't talk, but she loved you very much."

  "I know she did," I said.

  Sometimes it hadn't felt that way. Our lives had gone in very different directions. My mom had needed space from everything. There was a part of me that had felt for a very long time that she didn't want me. Now I wondered if my mother's absence from my life had been because she wanted me to move on and do my own thing.

  Did she worry about me?

  Maybe she'd thought that if I knew she was a witch, I wouldn't do my own thing. Perhaps she thought that I would be stuck with her. Maybe she just didn't want me to know. Did she feel like a freak? There were so many things that could have caused our estrangement.

&n
bsp; "She wanted to figure things out," Eliza said.

  "I get it."

  "She missed your dad a lot," she said softly.

  "I know."

  "She felt like leaving you was the wrong choice," she explained again. "But she was worried that if you knew what she was, you'd be in danger."

  "In danger? Why?"

  "Your mom never wanted you to feel like you couldn't travel and explore the world."

  "What does that have to do with powers?"

  "When you come into your powers on your birthday, it'll take you awhile to learn how to control them," Eliza explained. "Your mom planned on telling you next week about who you really are. She figured she could convince you to come here and train before re-releasing you back into the world, so to speak."

  "That's kind of messed up."

  "There’s not a part of this isn't messed up," she said.

  "So ignoring all the stuff about me and my mom's relationship," I said, not really wanting to talk about it anymore. "What's the deal with the brick?"

  "It's from a famous building in town."

  "Which building?"

  "The library."

  "So?"

  "So, legend has it that there's magic in the basement of the library."

  "And is this a true legend?"

  "Your mom thought so. She spent a lot of time there before she died."

  "What was she doing there?"

  "Research, mostly. There were some archives down there that library patrons could use. She seemed to think she was going to find more information on werewolves there."

  "What was with her sudden interest in werewolves?" I asked.

  "I have no idea," she told me. I felt like Eliza was telling me the truth. I couldn't really pinpoint why, but it seemed like she was being honest.

  "So, what next? Do we go...I don't know, look for clues?"

  "Not tonight," she said. "It's late."

  "Uh," I looked around. "Do you want to sleep over?"

  "Yes," Eliza said easily. "I was planning to invite you to my place, but seeing as how there's been a break-in, I think it's important that we both stay. Two witches are better than one, and we need to guard your mother's research and belongings."

  "I'm not a witch."

  "You are in your heart," she pointed out. "I'll take the master bedroom."