Leanne nodded. “Ok, that’s totally cool. If you’re not comfortable with it that’s fine, I’ll text Aunt Lucy. She’ll help us. I don’t want to push you into something you’re uncomfortable with.”
“Thanks,” I replied, a wave of gratefulness washing over me. Tina had been right when she had told me to trust the people around me. I wasn’t comfortable with using magic in public yet, and rather than pressure me to do it, Leanne had completely understood.
I really did need to learn to trust more. Leanne had already saved my life. And she had just proven that she was completely comfortable going at my pace when it came to learning magic. I had grown up with just Dad and myself, and I still found it so difficult to trust others. But Tina had told me to rely on the people I was close to now, and time and time again, they came through for me.
“No problem,” Leanne said, pulling out her phone and typing away. To be completely honest, I wasn’t totally sold on the idea of inviting Aunt Lucy. Leanne seemed completely fine with her brand of chaos, but one person had already been taken away in an ambulance because of her today. Even if she did seem completely fine.
Maybe Kaillie had a point about the fact that we needed to be better witches to be invited back into the paranormal world. On the other hand, there were no guarantees that would ever happen even if we were good, and surely solving an attempted murder would be more important than casting a few erratic spells that negatively affected Aunt Lucy’s worst enemy.
“She’s coming, she’ll meet us there,” Leanne told me, leading me away from the school. I had yet to visit the Enchanted Enclave recreation center, and it turned out to be on one of the side streets off Main Street, not far from the center of town. The building featured a pool, a gym, some squash courts and a basketball court as well as a few diverse community rooms. It was nice that even a small place like Enchanted Enclave could have somewhere like this for kids – and adults for that matter – to get some exercise in, especially when the weather turned ugly.
When we walked in, Aunt Lucy was sitting at a plastic table near the small concession stand, eating fries from a cardboard container. She waved us over when she saw us, and the two of us made our way over, sitting in the plastic chairs across from her. Leanne grabbed a fry from the container and munched down on it.
“We need you to cast a spell for us,” Leanne explained to our aunt.
“Is that all I am to you? A vessel through which to perform magic?”
“You also take my side whenever I’m arguing with dad,” Leanne replied. “Most of the time, anyway.”
“That is true. What spell do you need?”
“We want to eavesdrop on Andrew,” Leanne said. “Have you seen him?”
“He walked to his office about five minutes ago,” Aunt Lucy said.
“Perfect,” I replied.
Aunt Lucy pulled her wand from her purse and pointed it towards a door to our left, making sure to keep it under the table so that no one nearby could see it. Leanne put a hand on Aunt Lucy’s arm and motioned for me to do the same, which I did.
“Saturn, god of plenty, enhance Andrew’s voice and make it loud as a banshee,” Aunt Lucy muttered. A second later I gasped. I could hear a man’s voice inside my head; it was like he was standing right there next to me.
“No, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s all taken care of,” the man said.
“That’s Andrew,” Leanne mouthed at me from the other end of the table, and I nodded.
There was a pause, and the man spoke again. “Look, I know you think she’s going to tell everyone what she knows, but I’m telling you, it’s not a problem anymore. Karen has way more important things to deal with now. We’re a low priority. You don’t need to do anything. But I’m telling you, I’m out. I can’t do it anymore.”
This time, the three of us exchanged glances. I had suspected Andrew was talking about Karen, but now there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt.
“Look, she’s in the hospital. Goodness knows how long she’s going to be there. She’s supposed to pull through, but you never know with medical stuff. I had an aunt with pneumonia a few years back. The doctors told us she was going to pull through, that she was going to make it, then bam. One day, her heart just gave out. You never know. So no, I’m not going to do anything about it right now. I’m going to let it play its course. We’re not in any trouble right now. I’m telling you.”
There was another pause. “Fine. Do that. But if anyone comes to you asking questions, you clam up, ok? I’ve already got those meddling women from that coffee company coming around asking me about Karen. Like they’ve got any right. But they don’t know squat, don’t worry. They’re just snooping. They’re nothing we need to bother with.”
My veins turned to ice as I heard those words. Sure, we might have been ‘nothing to bother with’ right now, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bit worried. Who was Andrew on the phone with? What if that person decided that we were trouble and decided they were going to do something about it?
“Right,” Andrew continued after another pause. “We need to just keep acting like nothing’s happening. Besides, I’m telling you, the cops up here are idiots. They’re not going to catch on. It’s been a year, and they still don’t have a clue that we’re doing it. Leave the Karen situation to me. She’s not going to be a problem, I’m telling you. But I can’t keep doing this. It’s too much pressure. There’s going to be an investigation, and I can’t get caught, you got me?”
There was silence for a couple of minutes, and then Andrew started muttering to himself. “I swear, I should never have done it. Why I thought I could get out of things this easily…” His voice trailed off, and a minute later the door Aunt Lucy had pointed the wand at opened up, and a short, stout man with a thick black beard walked out, looking at the ground, obviously wrapped up in his own thoughts.
“Well, that was certainly more enlightening than I was expecting,” Aunt Lucy said. “It sounds like Andrew is mixed up in something he shouldn’t be.”
“I want to know who he was on the phone with,” Leanne said. “Hopefully it was his cell phone so that would mean there’s a record of it. Although, we’d still have to get access to the phone to look at those records.”
“That’s very easily stolen,” Aunt Lucy said. “I can cause another distraction and then Eliza can cast a spell to make his phone float over here.”
“No, Eliza doesn’t want to use magic in public until she gets the hang of it a bit more,” Leanne explained. I had honestly expected Aunt Lucy to fight that a little bit, but she just shrugged.
“Alright, well, no rush in teaching her spells I guess. It’s not like it matters that she’s behind the rest of us when we’re among the only five witches in this world who can use magic at all. How are you going to get his phone, then?”
“I don’t know,” Leanne admitted. “Maybe that’s a problem for the future. If Karen is back in town, I’d like to go and see her. Although, I don’t know if she’ll see me.”
“Alright, well, I’ll leave you to it then. Carmen says Carolyn Doyle is getting her hair dyed blue, and we all want to see how it turns out, so I made an appointment at the salon at the same time, and have to get going. I’ll show you pictures tonight. A teenager showed me how to take selfies to spy on people without them noticing the other day, so I’m going to try that out.”
Aunt Lucy waved and walked off, and Leanne shook her head.
“Who’s Carolyn Doyle?” I asked.
“A woman Aunt Lucy went to school with. They didn’t get along in high school, and have had a low-key rivalry ever since. Nothing like Aunt Lucy and Ariadne though. That feud is a whole other level of crazy. It’s best to stay out of it.”
“Fair enough,” I replied. “Let’s go to the hospital and see if Karen wants to see you, or if she’s happy to pretend you never existed.”
Given the look on her face, Leanne was very worried about the second option being reality.
Chapter 17
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“Look, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said for what felt like the millionth time during the ten minute walk from the recreation center to the hospital. “She ran into the car looking for help, and you did your best to avoid her, and then you saved her life. That has to count for something.”
“It probably would have counted for more if I hadn’t hit her at all,” Leanne said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t blame her if she absolutely hated me. Come on, we have to stop at the florist first. I can’t show up empty-handed.”
The Enchanted Enclave florist was on Main Street, a small shop absolutely teeming with green life. As we walked in, a woman behind the counter smiled at us as she trimmed the leaves off some long-stemmed roses. Her long red hair flowed down to her waist, and her light brown eyes were friendly and warm. She looked exactly like what I imagined a fairy who lived in the woods among the trees and moss would look like, and here in the middle of a store surrounded by plants she looked in her element.
“Hello there,” she greeted us in a soft voice. “How can I help you?”
“Hi,” Leanne said. “I’m looking for a simple bouquet of flowers to give to someone.”
“Do you have an occasion in mind?” the woman asked. “I can definitely help you.”
“It’s kind of a sympathy thing.”
I had to smile at the idea that the florist had a whole section of “sorry I hit you with my car” flowers just sitting around.
“Alright, I can help you with that,” the florist said, nodding as she made her way to the wall on the left, which was lined with buckets with various flowers. “If this is for someone to get better, I like to go with happy, hope-inducing color combinations, like purple and yellow. Look at these daisies, for example. Don’t you think they’d go well with these peonies?”
“Yeah, I do,” Leanne said. “That’s perfect.”
“Excellent. And what price range were you looking at? I can make you a custom bouquet based on that.”
“Um, I don’t know,” Leanne said. “What do people normally spend on someone who they hope gets well soon but that they didn’t know, when it’s their fault they found themselves in that situation?”
The florist raised her eyebrows. “You’re giving these flowers to Karen, aren’t you?”
Leanne groaned. “Great. So word has gotten around town that I’m the one who hit her, hasn’t it?”
“I’m afraid so,” the florist replied with an apologetic look. “Although, if it’s any consolation, I’ve also heard that it was thanks to you that she’s still alive. And I am glad Karen is ok.”
“Did you know her well?” I asked, and the florist shrugged.
“I wouldn’t say well, but I did know her. I work as a substitute teacher sometimes when the florist shop is closed, and my brother Gary is the principal at the school. Still, I saw her as a coworker more than I did as a florist.”
“Did she ever talk to you about her husband?” Leanne asked, and the woman’s eyes widened.
“Kyle? You can’t possibly think he would have done it, do you? Well, I suppose anything is possible. You never really do know people, do you? I always thought they were a loving couple. In fact, I still do.”
“That may very well be true, we’re not really looking into it or anything,” I said hurriedly.
“Oh no, of course not,” the woman said. “I can’t say I really did hear Karen speak about her husband very much. She’d mention his work from time to time, but she really preferred to speak about her little boys. She’s very dedicated to them, you know. And they’re such little darlings. Of course, they can be a handful. But then, that’s what children are, aren’t they? And Karen was so good with them. She would work a full day at school and then still take them to soccer practice and have oranges sliced up for all the kids when they were finished. I honestly don’t know how she does it. I don’t have kids and I always end up completely wiped after I do a day of teaching.”
“I just can’t imagine who would have done this to her,” Leanne said, shaking her head.
“Neither can I,” the woman replied. “She was just so nice to everyone. The last person you’d ever think would be murdered. Anyway, to answer your question, I think thirty dollars would be a fine budget for someone in your situation.”
“Alright, well, let’s round it up and make it forty then,” Leanne said. “I really do feel bad for not getting out of the way in time.”
The florist gave Leanne a sympathetic look. “I’m sure Karen will understand. The universe obviously willed for everything to happen as it did, and as a result Karen is still with us and alive. I was thrilled to hear she’s coming back to recuperate here. You know, I know a lot of people consider it to be pseudo-science, but I really believe there is something to the notion that you recover better in the place you call home.”
“I can believe that,” Leanne said. “After all, when you’re really, truly home there’s a sense of belonging, a relaxation that you don’t get when you’re elsewhere. Even Seattle is close to here, but it’s not Enchanted Enclave. It’s not home for Karen. I imagine she will have an easier time being able to relax and recover when she knows she’s here.”
“I do hope so,” I chimed in. “Her parents will be there too, at least. They’re helping with the boys, I assume.”
“Yes, it can’t have been easy for Karen, taking care of her home and of her children,” the florist said. “She handled her responsibilities so well, but there is a saying that just because someone bears a weight well doesn’t mean it’s heavy. I admire Karen for how she carried the weight she bore. She did not deserve this.”
As she spoke, the florist put together a small bouquet of flowers, which she then handed to Leanne. “I’m sure she will speak with you.”
“Thanks,” Leanne replied. “I hope so.”
We left the florist and made our way to the small hospital. Leanne clutched the flowers to her chest, and the color drained from her face as we approached.
“It’s going to be fine,” I told her, but my cousin just nodded in reply.
The few times I had been to a hospital in my life, it had been fairly chaotic. The emergency room had been full of people with various ailments, from a little boy yelling that his ear hurt, to a teenager curled up into a ball on the chair and rocking herself back and forth, and an old woman yelling at the nurses that she’d been waiting two hours and needed to be seen now.
Enchanted Enclave’s hospital was a different situation entirely. The waiting room consisted of about five chairs lined up against the wall near the reception desk, where a nurse was comfortably tapping away at a computer. Only one of the chairs was occupied, by an older man casually drinking a coffee who I suspected was simply visiting someone and not actually waiting to be seen.
Standing to one side, near a rack of brochures offering information about a number of common diseases was Detective Ross Andrews. He was flipping through his notebook, but as soon as he glanced up and saw us he strode over to where Leanne and I were standing as we waited for the nurse at the reception area.
“Hello, Eliza. Leanne.”
“Hi, Detective,” I said. “So it’s true that Karen is here again?”
“That’s her father there,” he replied, motioning his head towards the man with the cup of coffee. “They moved her over here an hour ago and the rest of the family has just gone home to get some rest. Her father insisted that someone should stay here at the hospital just in case.”
Just then Detective Andrews’ phone rang, and he motioned for us to hold on as he took a few steps away from us to answer it. His face immediately went dark; the family must have gotten home and found out about the break in.
“Alright, I’ll be right there,” he said, hanging up the phone, and turned to us. “I wanted to speak with the two of you, but it’s going to have to wait. Excuse me.” With that, he strode out of the hospital.
“I guess we can’t tell him we know it was Andrew who broke in,” I muttered to Leanne, who shook her h
ead.
“Nope. Far too many questions we don’t want to answer if we do. That one’s going to be up to him to solve. On the bright side, Detective Andrews isn’t a total idiot like our chief of police, so there’s a chance he might actually find the culprit on his own.”
We could always hope, especially since I was fairly certain Andrew was the killer.
Chapter 18
The nurse at the reception counter was initially a little bit frosty with her reception, until she learned that Leanne was the one who had found Karen and that she wanted to make sure she was alright. Eventually, the nurse relented, and told us that as long as she came with us and asked Karen if she wanted to speak with us first, it would be fine for us to see her.
Leanne didn’t say a word as we followed the nurse down the hallway. She eventually stopped in front of a private room and motioned for us to wait outside, which we did. A moment later, the nurse came back out, smiling. “She’s more than happy to have you come in and see her,” the nurse replied. “However, I will ask that you not spend more than five minutes in the room with Karen, as the most important thing for her to do right now is to rest.”
“Got it,” Leanne said, nodding. “Thank you so much.”
The nurse nodded and made her way back down towards reception while Leanne and I opened the door and stepped into the room. As soon as she saw us, Karen’s face broke into a huge smile. She looked almost nothing like the half-dead creature I had held in the middle of the road. Her brown hair, rather than being plastered across her face, now draped gracefully over her shoulders. Her face, which had been pale and bloodless when I saw her last, was now warm and inviting, her cheeks red. She had dimples when she smiled, and her eyes twinkled as she took us in.
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