The Most Wanted Witch: Tales of Xest

by Donna Augustine

  “So you know them both?” I asked, moving closer in case she tried to make a run for it. Most of the people I tried to question did. Hawk had already let it all out of the bag anyway. I might as well get the pertinent questions answered.

  She stopped her pacing. “Of course I know them. What kind of demon loser do you think I am? One of the grubs who only did the dirty work? I might’ve quit, but I had some pull in my day.”

  “Any idea why they’re both here?” Hawk asked.

  “Yeah, because you guys really screwed this place up, obviously.” She started shaking her head again, taking long drags from her cigarette. “I don’t care what they say. I’ll go to that hellhole Rest before I take orders from any of them again.” She pointed at all of us, creating a stream of smoke as she did. “You people better fix this. I’m not paying for your sins.”

  Mertie’s hands flew up. “No, no more questions. I don’t want any part of whatever craziness you have going on. You guys made this mess, and you guys need to clean it up.”

  She nearly ran to the door before she stopped short. “And don’t newsflash me again. I won’t come.” She slammed the door shut and took off.

  Why they’re both here. That was what Hawk had said. Didn’t we already know why one of them was here? Or did we?

  11

  There was a stack of slips sitting on my desk but a lean list of clients willing to do the work. Considering the traffic coming in and out of here lately, I wouldn’t come either. I dropped the slips back on my desk and walked past Musso, Bibbi, and Zab, who were playing a card game at Zab’s desk.

  “Tippi, you sure you don’t want to play?” Zab asked.

  “No, thanks. I’m good.” There was no way I’d be able to learn anything new with the way my thoughts were scattered these days. The only thing that might get me through the day was lots of tea and cocoa.

  I was making tea in the back when the sounds from the other room faded, signaling that someone had muted the room.

  Hawk walked over and leaned on the counter beside me. “I know what you did.”

  Hawk didn’t bluff. If he said he knew, he knew. Only problem I was having was which thing did he know? I was accumulating quite a pile of secrets lately. It was hardly a good idea to dump out my entire treasure chest of information at his feet. Odds were he was talking about immigration, but just in case…

  “I didn’t have a choice.” I shrugged, hoping that the conversation to follow might lead me to a few breadcrumbs of what knowledge he possessed.

  “You didn’t?”

  I made a show of stirring my tea. “No.”

  He crossed his arms, leaning back further. “What am I talking about?”

  I took a step away, drinking my tea. “The thing. You know, the thing I did that you’re upset about.”

  “You reached out to immigration.”

  Dammit. How’d he find out so fast? I didn’t know if the mailbox trick would work, and he already knew about it?

  “Are you going to talk?”

  “You tell me how you know and I’ll talk.” I hadn’t planned on letting him in, but if anyone would help keep me here, it was Hawk. More than anything else, Hawk was a survivor. Sometimes I was afraid to know what ends he might go to in the process of surviving. Right now, it worked to my benefit, because he thought I was a key to his and Xest’s survival.

  “I have an agreement with the mailman,” he said nonchalantly, as if that were nothing.

  “You know him?” In Xest, that was like saying you knew the Rolling Stones. How was that even possible?

  “Yes. Now, why did you reach out and not fill me in?”

  He was watching me intently. Every time he looked at me this way, it made me a little tingly inside where I shouldn’t tingle. I walked over to the couch, a safer distance away.

  “Did you stop my letter?” I asked, the thought suddenly occurring to me.

  “Answer my question first. That was the deal. An answer for an answer.” He closed the distance, sitting on the other couch, eroding my buffer.

  “At my immigration appointment, you alluded to them having been around for thousands of years. They’re immigration; they must have some record of my mother. I’m tracing back my origins, trying to find a thread back to Dread so we can figure out how to get rid of it, once and for all. And I didn’t tell you because we’re not speaking.”

  I sipped my tea, acting as cool as he did.

  “Which is why I was reaching out to them as well. Now that we both did it, we look scattered,” he said.

  He had too? I should’ve guessed. “Why didn’t you tell me? It’s okay for you to do it and keep it to yourself but not me?”

  “I was going to tell you, but as you mentioned, we’re not speaking.”

  We both fell silent, the new problem obvious. Neither of us knew who would hear back first. What if they contacted him? I wanted to be told immediately. There was only one thing to do: broker a deal with the enemy.

  “Speaking or not, whoever hears first tells the other.”

  He made me sweat it out for a couple of minutes before he finally said, “Deal.”

  12

  I grabbed my jacket, heading to the door as Zab yelled from the table, “Hey! Where are you going?”

  I stopped walking as I pulled my jacket on. “Was going to get some air.”

  “Want company?”

  Zab was good at keeping things light when he needed to, and considering my brain was weighed down with two tons of worry, I was ready to bribe him to come along.

  “Yeah, definitely. We can get a cocoa while we’re out—my treat.” If there was one thing that got Zab moving, it was Sweet Shop cocoa. Gilli had a way with chocolate that couldn’t be touched. Even Bertha seemed to avoid making anything chocolate based, and I’d bet coin it was because she didn’t want to tarnish her reputation, coming in second with anything edible involved.

  “All you had to do was ask. You didn’t need to bribe me.” He grabbed his jacket, moving a little faster.

  “Does that mean you don’t want cocoa?” I asked. “I’ll drink them both if you want.”

  He held the door open. “Oh no, you offered and I’m getting a cocoa.”

  The streets were quiet as we made our way over, as they always seemed to be these days, especially after nightfall.

  Zab looked both ways before walking far from the building, just as I did. Couldn’t even cross the street without getting ready to defend yourself.

  “Can’t wait until this place is back to normal,” Zab said as he continued to look in every direction.

  “I know,” I said, looking both ways myself, but for a different reason. There was one predator that liked to come out at night, and that was me. One of these times, I was going to manage to catch some grouslies.

  The shop was empty when we walked in, one of Gilli’s workers wiping down the shelving for lack of anything else to do. They were close enough to the broker office that I saw a lot of the foot traffic that passed us by. This place used to always be packed. If they got a couple of people an hour now, that was a lot.

  She handed us two cocoas, knowing our order by heart, plus a bag of fudge on the house.

  “Why do I never order these?” Zab asked, popping fudge into his mouth as we walked out.

  “I’m wondering the same,” I said after my first bite. They were like little pieces of heaven in your mouth.

  A muffled scream came from around the corner. I took off at a run in that direction, my cocoa splattering on the ground.

  Gilli was standing behind the Sweet Shop with a herd of grouslies attacking her legs, her employee standing in the back door with a broom in her hand, looking for an opening she seemed too fearful to take even if she could.

  “Stay close to me,” I yelled to Zab, not wanting them to switch attacks and go for him after I scared them away from Gilli.

  I didn’t wait for him to agree as I ran toward her, the ground already covered in blood. The alley lit up, as if Zab ha
d shined a spotlight on the grouslies.

  They scattered well before I got within a few feet of them, running as if I were the devil himself and had come to collect them for hell.

  Gilli was on the ground, her pants in shreds, her hands torn apart as she continued bleeding, a pitiful moaning coming from her. She turned on her side, balling up in a fetal position.

  I dropped to the ground beside her, knowing we had to get her back to the broker building fast before the poison could spread.

  “What should I do?” Her employee ran toward us but then stopped short, looking at me as if I were as scary as the grouslies.

  “Go back in so you don’t get attacked after we leave. We’ll take care of her. Hawk knows how to treat this. She’ll be fine.” I turned my full attention back to Gilli. “I’m going to wrap your arm around my shoulders so we can get you help.”

  The only response I got was a moan.

  Zab was already grabbing her other arm as we hoisted her up. “Should we bring Hawk here?”

  “No. Quicker to get her there.”

  We stood, walking her back as fast as we could, leaving a trail of blood in our wake.

  We walked into the office, each of us with one of Gilli’s arms slung over our shoulders. She continued to moan, tears streaming down her face. I wasn’t sure if she was even cognizant at this point.

  “Get Hawk,” I yelled to a frozen Bibbi.

  Hawk was already there, walking in from the back room. He backed out of the door and pointed to the couch. “I’ve got to go get supplies. Keep her seated with her feet on the ground to limit circulation.”

  “What about the blood loss?” I yelled to him as he walked out.

  “More concerned about the poison,” he replied before he was gone.

  Musso rushed over. “Damned grouslies again. Fifth attack in the last few weeks.”

  Bertha sat beside Gilli, draping a throw over her shoulders. “It’ll be all right. Hawk will fix you up.”

  Hawk was back downstairs seconds later, covering her legs in the same tincture he’d used on me. I nodded to Zab, motioning over to the side of the room and out of earshot.

  “Does she have family?” I asked as he joined me.

  “No. Just her. I’ll run over and tell her employees that she’s okay. They’ll figure out something to cover the shop tomorrow. They’ve been with her a while.”

  I put out my arm, blocking him from going. “I’ll go. The grouslies won’t bother me, and they might still be nearby.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I’ll shoot over—”

  “Zab, let Tippi do it. We know they’re close, and they won’t touch her,” Hawk said from where he was bent over working on Gilli.

  I gave Zab an I-told-you-so look, knowing he wouldn’t go against Hawk, not that he should. It was common sense.

  “Before you go, what was that weird light-up thing you did when you were running at them?” he asked.

  My stomach clenched and my mouth was suddenly dry. “What are you talking about? I thought that was you.”

  “That was definitely not me. Your skin was nearly glowing.”

  “I don’t know. I guess I just got excited or something.” And now I knew why Gilli’s employee was looking at me weird, afraid to get close. I probably should’ve offered to escort Zab over there, but I couldn’t walk it back now. The girl would have to get over it.

  By the time I got back, Gilli and Hawk were no longer in the back room but everyone else was hanging around, having tea and basically sharing their nerves with each other. Oscar had gotten back and Bibbi was there too, petting something on her lap, which could only be Dusty, unless she’d developed a weird nervous tic.

  “Where’s Gilli? Is she okay?” I asked.

  “Hawk put her in a room upstairs,” Zab said, looking at the cocoa in my hand.

  “She was rattled enough. I didn’t even want her to give me this one. I couldn’t very well ask her for another.” She probably would’ve given me ten to get rid of me. The only reason the employee had made it was that she’d been looking for an excuse to keep her distance.

  “Aren’t you going to share?” Bibbi asked, as if she’d missed out as well.

  “Sure. I guess. Who wants some?”

  “Me,” said everyone. I managed not to groan as my cocoa, the only bright spot of the evening, was decimated.

  “What room is she in?” I asked.

  “In his wing somewhere, I suppose,” Bibbi said, in a slightly less cheerful way than normal. That was understandable, considering what Gilli had just gone through.

  She was ripped up and attacked. Only a sicko would want to trade places with her, so what did that make me? Obviously a sicko.

  I glanced down at the small drop of cocoa I had. This night was not going well.

  13

  “Did anyone see Gil yet?” Zab asked as I made my way into the back room for breakfast.

  “I didn’t,” Bibbi answered, chewing on a pastry, the likes of which I’d never seen before.

  When strange food started appearing, it meant only one thing: Bertha was on edge. Musso had admitted recently that as much as he hated when his wife was upset, there were a few perks to it. Looking at the spread on the table, he might be right. It looked like a wedding brunch spread.

  “No, but I’m sure they’ll be down soon.” Bertha stopped moving for all of two seconds before turning to reach for another bowl. “We need more biscuits.”

  “Great idea, Bertha. Couldn’t agree more.” Oscar grabbed two more off a towering heap.

  I followed Bertha over to the side, where she was cracking black eggs into a bowl. “Bertha, are you okay? I didn’t know you were so close to Gilli.”

  She put the bowl down and began wringing her hands. “I’m not. I have to tell you something horrible. I used to get annoyed with her and her chocolate, always carrying on about how hers was the best and no one could make chocolate or fudge like her.” She looked about the room, making sure no one was listening before she leaned in closer. “Sometimes I wished she wouldn’t be able to make chocolate for a while just so she’d shut up.”

  “You didn’t do this to her, though, and you have nothing to do with the grouslies.”

  “I don’t know. Thoughts can be a tricky thing. You don’t know how they might manifest. The least I can do is give her the best breakfast when she gets up, just in case my thoughts somehow contributed to this. It will make me feel better.”

  “Getting annoyed with her and grouslies attacking her are very different, but I understand. And I’m sure she’s fine.”

  She nodded as Hawk walked in, Gilli cocooned in his arms, her one arm wrapped around his neck. Her fingers were getting very familiar with his shoulder, rubbing back and forth, as if she were petting him. Her cheeks were a healthy, glowing pink. Her smile nearly split her face in half as he carried her to the couch.

  Bibbi came and stood beside me, nudging me with her boot. When I glanced her way, she wasn’t looking at me but at Gilli’s hand on Hawk’s shoulder.

  Bibbi had a point. Did Gilli really need to be carried?

  Don’t be petty. She’d been attacked, and even though I was able to get past the stiffness in a day without too much trouble, everyone was different. She might be struggling. He couldn’t very well let her crawl downstairs.

  Well…

  No. He couldn’t.

  But…

  No.

  Bibbi kicked me again, as if once wasn’t enough for the spectacle before us. She stood without a glance my way and a smile plastered on her face as she walked over and said, “Gilli, how are you feeling? Can I get you tea or cocoa? It won’t be as good as yours, of course, but maybe you’d like something?”

  Gilli glanced up from where she was sitting on the couch, the look on her face slightly off. “I prefer Gillian, if you don’t mind? And a tea would be wonderful.” She searched the area. “Is that okay, Hawk? Can I have tea?”

  Hawk was already halfway across the room. “What?�
�

  “Is it okay for me to have some tea?” Gillian asked, clutching the throw around her.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. You can eat and drink whatever you want,” he said, before walking out.

  “Then a tea, please, Bibbi.”

  “Here, I made you a nice plate of everything you might want.” Bertha dragged a small table over in front of Gillian and piled up plates. Oscar managed to get a biscuit before everything was rearranged, but just barely.

  “Thanks. This looks wonderful,” Gillian said, as she lifted her hands so that Bertha could put a napkin on her lap.

  It should. Bertha had made a smorgasbord like I’d never seen, and that meant a lot when you were talking about Bertha and cooking.

  Gillian was already eating when I made my way over and sat on the other end of the couch. “I talked to your employee Verrey last night. She said she’d work the schedule out and they’d handle the shop for you for a few days.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. Especially since after I get on my feet I might need a day or two to get my stuff over here. Although I’m sure Hawk will help me and have his employees pitch in as well.”

  There were too many things wrong with that to swallow all at once. Over here? What was she talking about? There were too many people here already. And his employees would move her? I sat silently, afraid to speak until my thoughts were under control.

  Gillian nibbled at a scone-like pastry. “Bertha, this is amazing. But you know what would really hit the spot? If we added some of my chocolate chips to it. What do you think?”

  “Yes. I’m sure that would be good.” Bertha looked like she could use a minute to sit silently beside me and get her words organized. She was white-knuckling the kitchen towel.

  “Here’s your tea,” Bibbi said, and then squeezed onto the couch beside me. “So does that mean you’re moving in?”