Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition (Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Belinda White

  “I know, right?” Trust Arc to know exactly what I was thinking even without me having to explain my reasons. We might have been raised apart, but that blood bond between us was proving to be a strong one.

  “That lady in the blue hat would be my bet. For one thing, she threw that first punch, but for another, well, her eyes were a very dark brown.” He swallowed. “Almost too dark. That’s a bad sign, right?”

  My head whirled to face him. Good thing I hadn’t pulled from the curb yet, huh? I didn’t think I’d win any brownie points with Stephanie if I took out a community mailbox or two. And yes, Arc had offered to drive, but I was the one who had known where we were going. Besides, let's just say I'd learned the hard way that Arc's driving ability was pretty comparable to Archie's.

  My being the one behind the wheel was just safer.

  “You were looking at their eyes? That was great thinking.” Really great thinking. Thinking I wished I’d thought of myself.

  “Well, yeah. I mean, if the person doing this has a relationship with Kalfu, it would stand to reason there would be some kind of sign of that, wouldn’t it?”

  I chewed my lip, thinking. “It’s possible. A question we should ask the Shaman for sure.” I looked at him. “Anyone else that you noticed?”

  “Nope. Just her. And the clencher to thinking maybe she’s the one is the fact that she was also the one to throw that first punch. Definitely someone not afraid to use violence, huh?”

  “Maybe. But there’s a huge difference between trying to deck someone and summoning a Voodoo god to put a woman into an unnatural coma.”

  “Granted.” Arc frowned, then took a deep breath. “Where to now? Please let’s go somewhere else. Anywhere else but the facility. It’s so depressing there that it’s affecting my state of mind.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him. “Any suggestions?”

  “Maybe check out one of Martha’s other stressors? Like maybe the fundraising or something?”

  Oh yeah. I’d forgotten all about that one. “Where would we go to do that? I haven’t had the chance to check out their family website yet. Have you? Is the charity something that would create deep feelings on two different sides of things?”

  I mean, if it was a save the children kind of thing, there wouldn’t be anything to investigate, right? Who wouldn’t want to save kids?

  “Yes, I checked, and shoot yes, there are deep feelings all right.” He paused. “It revolves around the nature reserve about twenty miles from here. A high-powered business executive has been taking steps to buy the land and pretty much destroy it from its original purpose. There’s some kind of bird, or owl, or some other creature with wings that lives there and is on the endangered list.”

  I swallowed. “Martha is on the side trying to stop him from doing that, right?” It would be awful to think that the woman would be on the side of business against nature, but what with the whole dog park issue, I had to wonder if that might not be the case.

  He smiled at me. “She is trying to save the reserve. Martha likes animals well enough if there isn’t any danger of them pooping on her lawn. But fighting big business and progress takes a lot of money. That’s why she chose this cause for her annual fund drive.” Arc shrugged. “Martha has a little problem with sticking with one thing for too long at a time.”

  “Unless that one thing is getting her family to positions of extreme power.”

  “Well, yeah, except for that. Maybe that’s why she needs so much diversity in other areas of her life.”

  Okay, so it was a possibility. But to my mind, not all that good of a one. “Is the businessman in charge of the drive local?”

  “Michigan local, yes. Area local, no. He’s from Traverse City. This would be a new location for him. On paper, it looks like a good fit. That’s why he’s gotten as far as he has. But when you dig deeper, his true aim starts to shine through.”

  That happened a lot. “Other than Martha, who else is actively against the takeover of the reserve?”

  “Lots of people. Lawyers, activists, community members, you name it.”

  I shook my head. “Then unless there has been an issue with another one of them, my feeling is that the fund-raising thing is a dead end. Seems to me like they’d go after someone who was in the fight for more than just a simple fund-raiser.”

  Arc’s shoulders dropped. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

  He was quiet for a minute. I could tell he was thinking hard. He must really not want to go back. Unfortunately for him, I kind of did. I thought that’s where I could do the most good. And besides, I wasn’t feeling all that comfortable right now about leaving Mom and the Shaman there unprotected.

  Yes. Both of them were very powerful witches in their own right, but still. They were also a bit distracted by the creation of the circle. In fact, the more I thought about that, the more I thought I’d made a mistake by leaving them.

  Especially as I’d brought Arc with me.

  To put it another way, Arc didn’t get his wish to go someplace else. And just maybe I broke a few speed limits getting back to Mom.

  ALL THAT SPEED WAS for nothing. Good thing there wasn’t a cop around, huh?

  The only thing that had changed from when we had left was the progress on the circle. It was coming along, but very slowly.

  As I watched, I thought maybe I saw one reason for that slowness. Yes. What the Shaman was crafting was a thing of extreme beauty. And yes. Beauty took time. Lots of time.

  But the thing is, I really thought all of us wanted this thing done sooner rather than later. At this pace, it most likely wouldn’t be done by moon rise. Not as early as that happened this time of year.

  With Kalfu being the Voodoo god of moon and night, I thought that would most likely be the time he was the strongest. And now he knew that we were on to him. Even now, the god was likely thinking up ways to devour our very souls.

  Needless to say, I really didn’t want that to happen. We’d likely caught him by surprise last night. Tonight we wouldn’t have that advantage.

  It meant something.

  I noticed the Shaman wasn’t using one of my crystals. That meant that he was relying solely on his own personal power to create the circle. Yes. He was plenty powerful enough to do that. But facts were facts, and I was even more powerful than he was.

  By a lot. Not that I had ever asked for such power, mind you. I hadn’t. Personally, if there was a way to divide my power between the team, I’d happily do it. For now, however, the closest I could come to that was my little crystal room of filled magic and the ties that lead each member of the family to that room.

  Notice I say family and not team. My family knows exactly what I am. That isn’t true of all the team.

  But the great thing, for now, was that Shaman Crowe knew, too. He’d recognized my power for what it was. And the man had kept his word and not outed me yet to the council. I owed him big time for that.

  Of course, the man had been watching me like a hawk since he’d made that discovery too. If I crossed that line from good to evil, that would all change in a heartbeat.

  In a way, I owed him for that too. Having this kind of power was a tremendous responsibility. It was nice to know that someone other than my family had an eye on things.

  And yes. I really meant that. The dark side can be very tricky at times. It can sneak up on a person. If ever I crossed, someone had to be there to stop me. It meant a lot to me that Shaman Crowe stood on that border between light and dark for me.

  I pulled one of the table chairs over behind him. He was still sitting in meditation style on the hard floor. If I’d been a better person, I’d have probably been right down there with him. But there wasn’t anything I could do down there that I couldn’t do from the relative comfort of a chair.

  So I was dang well using a chair.

  Once settled, I took a deep, cleansing breath and then reached out and gently laid one finger on the Shaman’s right shoulder. It would have been more comfortable for
me to have used my whole hand, but comfort wasn’t the issue here. Control was.

  Using only a single finger helped to remind me to keep the magical flow to a trickle. A thin, thin line of power from me to him.

  At my touch, his body jerked. Not a huge thing, but in recognition of the sudden power boost. And possibly an indication that my trickle still wasn’t small enough.

  I pulled back even farther on the flow. Finally, the Shaman’s body relaxed.

  Then the miracle happened.

  The first half of that circle had taken him hours upon hours to create. The last half was done within an hour.

  And before you think that the quality of the circle had lessened because of the speed of creation, well, it didn’t. You could stare at that thing for days and not be able to locate the point where my power started to feed the Shaman’s own.

  It was a single circle, and the power of it fairly hummed. Even before we activated it.

  I thought that was odd, actually.

  Then the Shaman stood—with a lot of help from Mom and me. Hey, don’t think unkindly of the man for that. Try sitting on a cold, hard wooden floor for hours and then try to stand. Chances are you’d need help too. I knew I would have.

  Turning to me, he smiled. “Thank you, child. Your help has served more purpose than the one I believe you intended. Feeling your magic flow through me, I can recognize it more fully. The Goddess has given you a blessing, child, not the curse some would think it. Know that.”

  I swallowed and nodded. It was important to keep that in mind. I’ll admit there were days when it felt much more like that cursed thing than a blessing.

  “Why is it already humming?” I asked. It wasn’t possible to overdo the power, was it?

  “This isn’t the type of circle that you have to activate with magic. The very symbols and power in its crafting have made it what it is. A force to hold evil at bay. From within or without.” He motioned to the carving at our feet.

  At the time, I really didn’t let those words sink in properly. I should have. They proved to be very important in the end.

  Chapter 19

  We decided to take a break and wait for the others before trying anything new. Not that I had any idea of anything else to try, mind you. I didn’t.

  I rather thought that until we could figure out the person responsible for this, we were pretty much at a dead end.

  So we sent Arc to buy sandwiches and drinks for us. From the length of time it was taking him to get back, I kind of thought he was going to the furthest restaurant in town to make the order. I was learning something new about my brother. He really didn’t like the feeling of being cooped up with nothing constructive to do.

  Yet another thing we had in common.

  As we waited for his return, and our lunch, Mom glanced over at me. “How did feeding Drakken go?”

  Um. Yeah. Just how much did she really want to know? But before I could formulate my response, she continued.

  “Oh, and I should have warned you not to try and change out his background.” She shook her head. “He seems to have formed an unholy bond of some kind with that Halloween backdrop. I think it might have to be a permanent thing now.”

  Okay. That would have been very good to know information. Yesterday. Before I had gone to face the beast.

  My expression must have given me away.

  “Oh dear,” Mom said. “You tried to change it, didn’t you?”

  I nodded.

  She closed her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. She opened her eyes to see me nodding.

  “Is Drakken okay?” Those words were said very slowly, like she hated having to put them out there.

  I nodded again.

  Her shoulders dropped. “Ah. Well, a good thing. I really think that’s all I need to know, dear. All’s well that ends well, right?”

  Personally, I didn’t think having to call my knight in shining uniform to rescue me from a fierce dragon about to attack was ending well. But, what the heck, no blood had been spilled, so maybe she was right after all.

  As it turned out, when Arc finally walked in, he wasn’t alone. Trevor came in right behind him.

  He sniffed the bags that Arc was carrying. “And here I waited to eat so I could have lunch with you all. Don’t suppose you thought to get me anything, did you?”

  I grinned at him. He should have known I’d have his back.

  “We decided on subs, so I ordered you one of your triple meat specials,” I said. “With a bag of chips chaser, of course.”

  Trevor pulled me in for a quick hug. “I knew I picked the right woman.”

  Karen motioned for Arc and Trevor to follow her, and when they returned a few minutes later, they were carrying fold-up chairs.

  She looked over at me with a smile. “I know we could go to the lounge, but I also know within reason that you all don’t want to leave Martha alone right now.” Karen gave a small shiver. “Something I strongly agree with, by the way. So I thought we’d set up here.” She frowned at the tiny table. “Not sure I could fit another table in here, though.”

  Mom grinned at her. “That’s one of the reasons we went with sandwiches. You don’t need a table for those.”

  About halfway through my bacon, lettuce, and tomato sub, I turned to Trevor. I’d felt it important to fortify myself first.

  “What did you learn from Melissa Moore?”

  He shook his head. “I know that Mrs. Moore looks like a likely candidate for this, but I just don’t feel it.”

  “Sheriff’s intuition?” I asked.

  Trevor shrugged. “Something like that. We had a polite little conversation about her expensive and highly inappropriate gift to a recovering alcoholic.” He took a quick sip of his soda. “I really don’t think she had a clue just how serious the man’s problem with drinking was. When I explained things to her, she burst out in tears.”

  I just looked at him. It was altogether possible that I’d sent the wrong person to talk with Mrs. Moore. My man didn’t handle a woman’s tears very well. At all. His feeling about her being in the clear might have far less to do with his sheriff’s intuition and far more to do with his knight in shining armor syndrome.

  He was looking at me oddly. “Give me a break. It wasn’t just the crying, okay?” He paused. “I just don’t think that the Moore household would be a very comfortable one for a god of Voodoo.”

  “Why is that, dear?” Mom asked.

  Trevor shrugged. “Well, for starters, they have some pieces that probably belong in a Roman Catholic Museum of some kind. Lots of crosses and other very Christian memorabilia.”

  Shaman Crow blew out a long breath. “If that is the case, then I side with your sheriff’s intuition. This woman is not the one we seek. Kalfu would not stand for that.”

  “Yup. That was my thinking too,” Trevor said. But he sat just a little straighter after the Shaman’s words. He, like me, had a very healthy respect for the Shaman.

  We spent a few more minutes going over what everybody knew, which wasn’t much. Hence it only taking a few minutes of our time. After that, we went to work on a plan.

  “Well, if the CEO contenders and their families aren’t the ones behind this, then that leaves what, the HOA and the saving the bird habitat things?” I asked. “For what it’s worth, my money is on the HOA dog park. The meeting today got a bit wild. Punches were thrown and everything.”

  Mom looked at the bed and then back to me with a question in her eyes. “Is that what your gut is telling you, dear?”

  It was a serious question, and it deserved a serious answer. The problem was, my gut was being rather silent on this issue thus far. Yes, I thought that the people at that dog park meeting were taking this very, very personally. That would lead into the Shaman’s theory well.

  But truthfully? No. That wasn’t where my instinct was telling me the answer rested. Not that I wouldn’t be checking out that lady in the blue hat.

  I would be. I was only waiting
a respectable amount of time to let things die down a bit before calling Stephanie for the woman’s name. That would most likely be my first stop in the morning.

  But my heart wasn’t really in it anymore. That said something.

  Mom was still waiting for an answer, and by now the whole room had joined her in the waiting. “I’m afraid my gut is being pretty quiet on this one.”

  She nodded slowly. “Your’s isn’t the only one, dear.” Her eyes traveled back to the bed and Martha. “Everything we are looking at seems so very trivial compared to that. What kind of person would stoop to such a level over a trivial matter?”

  “An evil one,” Shaman Crowe answered. “Or perhaps a once innocent one who opened a crack in the door to evil. Sometimes that is all it takes to be overcome by it.”

  Arc wasn’t willing to give up on the blue hat lady so easily. “Didn’t you say the eyes of someone possessed by Kalfu would be dark? Does that mean we could rule out those with lighter colored eyes?”

  “If only that were so,” Shaman Crowe said. “Unfortunately, I am not sure we are dealing with a possessed person. It could simply be a Voodoo practitioner that hasn’t taken that ultimate step yet. In fact, I would rather bet that is the case.”

  “There goes that idea,” Arc said sadly. “Old blue hat might just be a lady that really, really loves her dog.”

  I nodded. “That doesn’t mean she doesn’t get checked out, though.”

  By that time, we were finished with our sandwiches, so we started on the cleanup. We were doing our part by cleaning the room ourselves, and up to the facility standards too. The fewer people we allowed into the room, the better. Limiting our risks was a very good thing.

  If we could keep the evil at bay from Martha’s body, then surely eventually the vortex would die of starvation, right? Only, so far we had limited the people around her to just us and Karen, and there hadn’t been a single sign of improvement.