The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3

by Addison Creek

Just then we heard voices. Lowe met us in the hallway and the three of us went to the front door and peered through the windows along the side panel.

  The sheriff was across the street talking to Lucky, who was smiling brightly and shoving her masses of red curls out of her face as they chatted.

  She waved dismissively at our house. On the wind I was pretty sure I caught the words “No one’s home.”

  As we kept watch, I noticed a strange phenomenon. The garden was starting to fill. Pixies, fairies, and cats were all slowly creeping in amongst the vegetables to watch. Pixies and fairies kept throwing each other off the tallest tomato plant. On the fence was perched Lucy the bird. I glanced at my grandmother. She was shaking her head.

  “He’s going to come here! Lucky is trying, but it isn’t going to work. Go to your room!” she commanded.

  I sighed and agreed. There was no point in arguing with her. Besides, if the sheriff had the power to kick me out of town, I didn’t want him to find me any more than she did.

  Alone in my room, I paced. I knew the sheriff hadn’t arrived yet because I hadn’t heard his knock.

  The day had turned overcast, much like my mood. Not only did I have to start deportment classes in the morning, but now the sheriff had finally come looking for me. If he hadn’t recognized Bethel, at least that explained why he hadn’t come sooner.

  I was just about to go crazy when I heard a knock at the front door. I stopped moving. A hum of voices quickly followed the knock, so I stayed as still as I could and tried to listen.

  Unfortunately for me, the voices weren’t loud enough to begin with, and then they faded even more. I was certain that my grandmother had taken the visitor into the kitchen.

  I resumed my pacing for a few minutes, then decided I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had know exactly what was going on.

  After losing the chance to meet my mother, there was just no way I was going to risk losing my sister in real life. The only way to ensure that was to protect Ethel from the likes of the sheriff. With that decision resolved, I quietly opened the bedroom door.

  The house was old and the floors were creaky. My grandmother had said that she’d lived in the house her whole life, so it was at least as old as she was, built long before the neighborhood became a borough, and the worst of the boroughs at that.

  The voices got clearer when I opened the door, but I still couldn’t hear what was being said. On the other hand, moving down the hall with speed and silence was impossible. The floor kept creaking and I was sure I’d be discovered if I kept going.

  I wondered if my grandmother was rolling her eyes as she heard the noise I was making.

  I reached the landing and quickly made my way down the stairs. The voices had stopped, and as I rounded the corner I ran straight into Lowe. She frantically tried to push me back up the stairs, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to be deterred any longer.

  Lowe glared at me and braced her hands on her hips. My heart was pounding, but I knew this was the right thing to do, and I intended to do it.

  I stepped around her and walked into the kitchen. Two pairs of eyes turned to look at me. Actually, more like several pairs if you counted the ones belonging to the cats who were surrounding the sheriff and keeping an eye on him.

  He was here alone. Whoever his assistant was, she hadn’t come.

  Smoldering was sitting in a relaxed manner at the kitchen table, his large hands wrapped around a mug. My grandmother started both difficult and simple conversations with tea, and it made no difference whether she was talking with her long-lost granddaughter or a law enforcement officer.

  In a split second that seemed to last an eternity, I noticed a scar on the back of one of Smoldering’s hands and wondered if he had also gotten that injury from the explosion.

  Up close he was just as good-looking as he had been in my dream. In fact, maybe even better, to judge from the tingling in my toes and fingers. My grandmother sighed as I came in, but I ignored her and straightened my shoulders. I did not like the sheriff. He could be good-looking until the unicorns came home for all I cared. That was irrelevant. To cover up any soft feelings I had for him, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared.

  “You ruined my stepsister’s wedding,” I pointed out.

  He stood up and reached out his hand. “Quinn Merchant. Nice to finally meet you. I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

  “If you knew who I was, why didn’t you come here several days ago?” I asked him.

  He glanced at my grandmother. “Even sheriffs have a healthy dose of fear sometimes.”

  My grandmother inclined her head. She appeared to be taking his words as a compliment.

  Of course she would.

  “Now you found me. Tell me what you want so you can be on your way. We have a lot to do here,” I told him.

  “I’m well aware that the Rhinestone clan works hard. You are one of the most famous witch families, after all,” he said.

  I wondered what he knew about it, but I wasn’t going to ask. “Thanks. I think. Now, tell me what you want,” I said.

  Lowe had followed me into the kitchen and returned to washing dishes. I could tell that she wanted to be around without actually being part of the conversation, and I didn’t blame her. If I could have been a butterfly on the wall instead of myself at that moment, I would have been.

  “I’ll cut to the chase. As I’m sure you’ve heard, your sister is a murder suspect. As far as your family claims, you’ve never met her. I’m not sure why anybody thinks I’m so stupid as to believe such a thing, but they do. I want to know where she is. We have some questions for her,” he said.

  I thought about sitting down at the table, but he was so tall that we were nearly the same height with me standing. I stayed that way to keep a little bit of an advantage. This conversation was going to be tough enough as it was.

  “My family is telling the truth. They wouldn’t lie about that. I’ve never met my sister. Until a few days ago I didn’t even know I had a sister. Until the day of the wedding, in fact,” I said.

  Quinn raised his eyebrows at me. “You really expect me to believe that? One of the most famous witch families, and the whole family let one sister go live with humans and didn’t tell her that she was a witch and had a witch sister who continued to live in a magical town?” he repeated.

  Famous in a down on their luck kind of way, I thought to myself.

  “When he says it like that it, it doesn’t sound believable,” muttered my grandmother.

  Not wanting to say anything about what my dad had done, I kept my mouth shut. With my eyes, I tried to convey to Smoldering that I was telling the truth. Whether I conveyed honesty or a deep desire for a chocolate chip cookie I had no idea.

  As our staring contest went on, there came a moment when I started at the feeling of Tiger winding his way around my legs. His girth barely fit between my feet, so I spread them further apart for him.

  Quinn noticed the movement but didn’t comment. Instead he let out a big sigh. “We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to find you. All I wanted was to talk. I can see that you have no interest in being cooperative. I was hoping that this could be a more amicable conversation, but I see that your family is determined to lie to me,” he said.

  “If I were in touch with my sister, why would I lie? When did I ever come here to see her? When did she ever go to my dad’s place to see me?” I demanded. “Besides, there’s this whole deportment thing. It’s pretty clear I just got here and didn’t know about any of this.”

  “Yeah, what kind of sheriff are you to not realize any of that?” Now my grandmother wanted in on the action.

  The sheriff was clearly not used to being spoken to like this. He looked back and forth between us in shock, then shook his head.

  “Even if all of that is true, you still must know something. How can you not?” he asked.

  “The Rhinestone clan is a complicated bunch. I would like to think that’s why we’ve survived for so long. If
you’re simple, other witches can take you out. If you’re complicated, you can bond and conquer. They’ll never know where you’re going to end up,” Bethel explained.

  He looked like he was having a hard time hearing such language come out of such a distinguished looking woman.

  My grandmother merely shrugged, but she had a slight smile on her face.

  “Look. I don’t know where my sister is. I didn’t come back to find her; I was brought here with no prior knowledge of the situation. But I promise you that when I do find her I won’t be telling you anything about it. There’s just no point in asking any questions. Two weeks ago I didn’t even know I was a witch. I thought the only witches around were my stepfamily. Turns out they have a lot of competition,” I said.

  Over by the sink, Lowe laughed. She looked over her shoulder at me and said, “That was funny. Good one.”

  I grinned at her in response. “Thanks. I try. Also, it was true.” I met Quinn’s eyes as I said that last bit.

  “You think your sister is innocent even though you’ve never met her?” he asked.

  “She’s innocent. I’ve never heard of anyone in my family killing anybody. Just because some of them sound like career criminals doesn’t mean they’re dangerous,” I said.

  My grandmother frowned, but I wasn’t sure why. I found out a moment later when Quinn took issue with what I’d said. “The Rhinestone witches are the most dangerous clan in the history of witches. You’re also the most powerful, despite which borough you currently live in. You’re all famous, and if you were to be thrown out of the coven now it would send shockwaves through society. I would be careful if I were you,” he said.

  My bravado was running out, but I said, “Careful of you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure your grandmother has told you this already. There are a lot of witches with a vested interest in getting rid of the Rhinestones. If you haven’t noticed, they are close to succeeding. If something were to happen to you now, the whole family would be in jeopardy. I would be careful if I were you,” he said.

  He stood up. Since his full height was nearly six feet five, I found myself looking up and up at his square jaw and broad shoulders. He made a perfect sheriff.

  “I’ll have more questions for you at some point. I still don’t really believe that your sister hasn’t been in touch. She’s on the run, and that’s not easy to manage in the magical world. If you see her, tell her that she’ll be best served by coming in. If she doesn’t, we’re going to find her anyway, and it won’t be pleasant at all,” he said.

  My grandmother showed him to the door. She maintained her smile, but I was sure he knew she would have booted him unceremoniously out of the house if she could have. Once he was gone she returned to the kitchen.

  “That went better than expected,” she said.

  “How do you figure?” Lowe asked.

  My grandmother shrugged. “Because everybody lived,” she said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The visit from the sheriff had given me a lot to think about. Specifically, I was thinking about motives for murder.

  Something had stuck with me from our conversation, and that was the fact that my sister was on the run from a murder charge. There were apparently a whole lot of people who thought that if something happened to my sister, the Rhinestone witches would be finished. We were already living in the most rundown borough, we had hardly any further to fall.

  So, what if she had been set up? What if what had happened was that they were trying to get rid of Ethel, and thus eliminate the Rhinestones in general? Maybe, since they hadn’t known about me, they had thought Ethel was our last hope. My grandmother had said that no one had really known about me. My mother’s status as a criminal had sort of made it easy for her to keep secrets.

  We spent the rest of the day quietly. My grandmother attended to the unicorns, which is what Lowe told me she did whenever she was stressed. Lucky came by to gossip about Quinn, though in my mind he would always be known as Smoldering.

  Before I knew it, it was bedtime. I had to be up bright and early to go to deportment classes. As my grandmother said, the last thing I wanted was bags under my eyes for that.

  My grandmother bustled into the bedroom bright and early, threw an outfit on the chair, and left again, but not before telling me I had twenty minutes before I had to leave.

  The clothes she had brought included a blue top and dark jeans. She had added plain witches’ shoes.

  Where these clothes kept appearing from I had no idea, but these were fancier than anything of mine that she’d brought from home.

  “What about the cape?” I called after her.

  “You aren’t a real witch yet. That’s what the ceremony is for,” she called back.

  Made sense, I supposed.

  After breakfast, Lowe led the way. She was going to escort me to the dance hall, where classes took place under the new instructor who had come on board after Jonathan’s murder. These were among the many classes that were meant to prepare young hopeful witches to pass deportment.

  “Jonathan used to do the classes. He was also the announcer at the main event,” Lowe said.

  “Not anymore,” I muttered, thinking of his murder. I wanted to find out more about that. My sister had had an argument with him, and then he’d been killed. I wished I knew what that argument had been about.

  “Were there any other reasons why someone would want to kill him?”

  Lowe shook her head. “He really was well-liked around town. He was pleasant and fun. He never said a harsh word about anyone. His death was shocking.”

  The trolley came and we got on. The only other witches around this early in the morning were two old ladies sitting in the back, knitting. They ignored us.

  In a low voice I said, “So my sister was implicated because no one had ever heard a harsh word out of him before?”

  “Exactly,” she whispered back. “There are a few people around here who are breaking the law or doing something nefarious. There are more that are just annoying. He was a good vampire from a good vampire family. They’re desperately sad. His death just doesn’t make sense.”

  Maybe she was right about that, but it was hard to tell. If Ethel hadn’t done it, who had it out for the golden boy of Twinkleford?

  I pondered the question as I watched the town fly by the trolley window. Somewhere out there was a killer. But I was the new kid in town, and I had nothing to go on in trying to imagine what had happened.

  Lowe led me through the empty streets. Only the grocer was out sweeping his steps before the day started. He glanced at us and nodded, a more friendly gesture than I’d gotten from anyone when we’d been in town before.

  “The grocer is a good sort,” said Lowe as she smiled back. “He does his thing. Doesn’t let public opinion sway him too much. He knows that no matter whether people agree with what he thinks or not, they still need to buy groceries.”

  She did have a point.

  The Flying Steps Dance Hall was up a steep hill in a part of town we hadn’t come to the other day. To get there we had to go down several side streets and zigzag around various buildings. By the time we arrived, I was utterly lost.

  There was only one thing I was sure of, and that was that we were getting into a ritzy part of town. I was already starting to feel out of place. I was relieved that my grandmother had given me a new outfit to wear for the occasion.

  Now if only I had a crystal ball and could see how this all turned out.

  Lowe left me at the dance hall steps, and I went in alone. Given that I was a few minutes early, I started to wander around getting acquainted with the place.

  There were no other witches in sight, but the space was packed with stuff to look at. When I saw what was on display, my heart started to sing. On my right was a room filled with globes, more crystal balls than I could possibly count. All that separated us was a wall of glass. I made no move to go inside, I just stared at the limitless colors.

&nbs
p; “Beautiful, aren’t they?” a girl’s voice asked me.

  I whirled around to see who had spoken, and found a girl with bright blue hair and three nose piercings standing behind me. She had come in so quietly, and I had been so absorbed in the crystal balls, that I had been totally unaware of her approach.

  She smiled. “I’m Jackie Goldfield, of the Goldfield clan.”

  “Jade Rhinestone.” I shook her outstretched hand.

  She raised her eyebrows, which were dyed a bright pink.

  Or painted pink.

  I didn’t have a clue.

  “Are you, now? I didn’t think we’d be getting any Rhinestones this year. You weren’t here before. Your . . . sister was, though.”

  I couldn’t tell what she thought of Ethel or how well she knew her.

  A twinkle entered Jackie’s eyes and she leaned toward me.

  “Give ‘em what for,” she whispered with a grin.

  I had no idea what she meant by that, but instead of explaining herself she strolled away toward a set of red double doors, above which was a sign in gold that ordered everyone to dance.

  Knowing that it was almost time for class to start, I followed right behind her.

  Jackie held the door for me and we found ourselves in a big room with a beautiful, deep brown floor that bore the signs of the many dances that had taken place in that space. In front of us was a stage, and a row of chairs was lined up along one wall.

  Three other girls were already waiting in the chairs. They glanced at us as we entered, and Jackie walked over to them and sat down. The girl next to her smiled and said something quietly. I followed Jackie and sat down as well.

  That left one empty chair next to me.

  The three girls, none of whom I had seen before, made no move to introduce themselves.

  Then the doors flew open, and one of the girls jumped.

  In strolled one of the Carlisle witches I had seen shopping a few days before, as made up as she had been that day. Her blond hair was in big ringlets. She was wearing bright red lipstick and heavy, dark eyeshadow.

  As she walked over to us Jackie said quietly, as if continuing our conversation from before, “My mom thinks I’m a disappointment. She had four sons and then me. She had high hopes for me, but alas. I was in class with Ethel because this is my third year of trying to pass deportment. Oh, and I don’t think she killed anyone,” she whispered.