Her mother gave her death stare.
Lark ignored it.
“Yes, but we have rather a lot to do. We don’t worry about insignificant witches,” said Gertrude.
Lark rocked back on her heels. Meg’s stare intensified.
“I would always hate to cause distress. I guess that’s up to more important supernaturals,” said Lark.
“They really must be on their way,” said my mother, ushering the Hamm sisters toward the door.
“Now, please remember what we discussed. We don’t want to see any more of this. We will be checking on you again very soon. This is a serious matter, I hope you understand,” said Greta.
“Believe me, we understand plenty,” said Meg.
“I don’t. Understanding is probably for significant witches,” Lark muttered under her breath.
She really wasn’t going to let that go.
“It was a pleasure to meet all of you,” said Gertrude graciously.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Pep muttered.
“Why did they say it’s a pleasure to meet you when they really mean it’s a pleasure to get away from you?” Lark wondered.
Meg turned around, her face furious, and marched back to the five of us. Corey and Kip shifted uncomfortably, having no idea what was going on. Before she even reached us, Meg started waggling her perfectly manicured finger at her daughter, a sure sign Lark was in big trouble.
“What’s the matter with you? Were you listening in as well? Couldn’t you just smile and nod?” she seethed, taking the stress of the interaction she’d just had with the Hamms out on Lark.
“Definitely not, Mom. I am nothing if not my mother’s daughter,” said Lark with a sheepish grin.
“Don’t try to pin this on me,” said Meg, throwing up her hands in frustration.
“I’m confused,” said Corey. “It’s not like that’s anything new around here, but I just wanted to say it. For a scientist, I’m confused.”
His older brother slung a comforting arm over his shoulder. “Just try to keep your head above water. Smile and nod. They don’t want anything from us anyway.”
There was a tiny inkling in my mind that they were talking about us as women. I tried not to laugh at them about it, because I didn’t think laughter would go over all that well at the moment. My mom and Meg were still angry, and now Lark was too.
“Why didn’t you tell us that someone like that was here? We could have gone somewhere else while Greta and Gertrude ordered you two around,” said Lark.
“So you admit to spying?” said my mom.
“To be fair, we’ve been doing it for years,” I said.
My mom snorted. “If we had told you they were coming you would have eavesdropped anyway. We thought we might be able to get them to say their piece and get out of here before you found out about it. We were mistaken. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have tried,” said Mom.
“What do you mean they were ordering them to stop?” Kip asked, suddenly interested. As the warlock who ran the haunt hunt, he shouldered a high level of responsibility. He stayed in his own lane for the most part, respectful to everyone and grateful to my mom and Cookie for taking him and Corey in when they had nowhere else to go. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to ask a question from time to time.
My mother grimaced; she hadn’t counted on having to field so many questions. “We are handling this. They aren’t happy about what the Spooky Times has been writing about us. It’s very nice of the Hamms to be concerned, but they don’t have to be. This is all under control.”
“If it’s under control, why are you so angry?” Pep asked Meg.
“I’m not angry. I’m just busy. We are all busy. Let’s try and get back to work,” said Meg.
Before anyone could move, my mom fixed me with a look. “We still need to talk. Perhaps tomorrow? Cookie tells me you’re going out,” she said.
I didn’t even want to know how Cookie knew it. I was just grateful that she hadn’t said where I was going. “Yeah, I am. Tomorrow it is.”
I glanced at the grandfather clock and nearly gasped when I saw that it was almost time for me to meet Grant. I hadn’t even eaten yet. Sure, he was taking me someplace to eat, but I still had to pre-eat. Otherwise I’d be grumpy. I was a grumpy hungry person.
Oh well.
Usually I wouldn’t go to the trouble before going out to eat with friends, but this was different. Grant wasn’t a friend. This was a date, and I wanted to be on my best behavior. It was impossible for me to be on my best behavior if my stomach was growling.
I hurried to the kitchen, knowing that my cousins would follow me. Corey and Kip stayed to talk to Meg; they had been looking for her and my mother in the first place, and been sidetracked by the Hamm drama. Lark, Pep, and I were just happy for the excuse to get away.
Luckily, Audrey wasn’t in the kitchen when we rushed in. I hurried over to the fridge and grabbed some sandwich fixings, while Lark and Pep got out utensils and plates.
“What did you think about all that?” Pep asked.
“I think the Spooky Times is suddenly causing a lot of trouble for our family. It’s not surprising that we just got a liaison down there. It’s almost as if that person isn’t doing a very good job,” Lark said.
I brought sandwich supplies over to the island and we set about making our lunch. “Very funny,” I said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me. I just don’t know what it does have anything to do with it.”
“Someone Down Below is definitely trying to cause trouble. We can just add it to all the other mysteries, I guess,” said Lark.
“While I’m gone this afternoon, can you two try to find some information about spindles?” I asked.
“Gone where?” Pep asked with a smile. They knew perfectly well what I was doing.
I blushed and looked down at my turkey sandwich. “I feel a bit guilty not working on my cases, but at least I was at Edmund’s today. That’s something. And boy do I have a story to tell you.”
I gave them a quick summary of the vampires’ theories about who had killed Timothy, pointing out that the three vampires had all implicated each other.
“That’s crazy,” said Lark in shock.
“It’s definitely hard to believe,” said Pep.
“Yeah,” I said. “You’d think there might be at least a tiny weight of evidence and guesses pointing in a particular direction. But no. Anyhow, I’m going back tomorrow to talk to Edmund again. In the meantime, I’ve been going back and forth about whether to ask Grant about it.”
“At least then your date would also be investigating,” Pep pointed out, shrewdly recognizing that I’d felt guilty about not working this afternoon ever since I had accepted Grant’s invitation.
I had justified taking the time out by telling myself that I worked a lot otherwise. Also, I couldn’t help it. Grant’s idea for this date and his way of inviting me were too romantic to pass up.
Now that it came right down to it, though, I did find myself wanting to know what he thought about the Edmund case. Did he have any leads on the dead vampire? What did he think of the three suspects? Had they told him the same things they’d told me? These were all things I would love to ask him, I just wasn’t confident that I could. I also wanted to get to know Grant as a person, beyond the investigative side of his life—and mine.
Grant had never said what happened to his family, for example. He had just said that whatever it was had been life-changing for him. So far I had resisted looking up the Hastings family in the histories, but it was getting harder to resist as time went on. I knew I’d eventually turn to Cookie’s notes if Grant didn’t tell me himself.
I had just finished my sandwich when I heard Grant’s voice on the other side of the kitchen door. My mouth was completely full of bread and turkey, so I turned toward the sink and pretended to be washing dishes. I heard the kitchen door swing open and Grant say, “Afternoon. Hey Pep. Lark.”
My cousins said hi back, a
nd Pep was astute and kind enough to give me a moment to collect myself. She asked Grant about work.
“I suppose you’ve heard about the case over at Edmund’s. We’ve been investigating that. I can’t tell you much, other than we don’t think there’s any more of a danger to the public than there was before,” he said.
“How much danger was there to the public before?” Lark asked.
“Enough, considering that the Root of All Evil is around,” Grant sighed. “If we could catch them, there would be less. If we caught up with them now, that encounter would result in quite the enchantment battle.”
“Thinking of you fighting the Root of All Evil gives me the shivers,” said Pep.
“Me as well,” Grant agreed with a laugh. “Jane? Are you all right?”
I had just finished washing a couple of dishes and chewing my food, so I was safe. I turned around with a bright smile and said, “I’m fine, thanks. Sorry. Just wanted to clean up a bit before I left.”
“I can wait a few minutes if you aren’t ready,” he offered.
I shook my head. I didn’t want him to think that I was one of those chronically late people. Mostly because I really wasn’t. Besides, I was too excited for our date to postpone it. He had said the word that was most important of all to my heart: chocolate.
“I’m ready. Let’s go,” I said.
“Have a great time on your afternoon out together hanging out,” said Pep with a wink.
Her sister gave her a look that asked what was wrong with her. Pep shrugged, as unfazed as she always was by Lark’s judgments.
“I plan on having a great time. I can’t wait to spend the afternoon with Jane,” said Grant.
As we left the kitchen, Steve the skeleton peeked out of his cupboard and I called out a hello. He was afraid of Grant, so he merely stuck his hand out and waved before disappearing again.
“I’m excited about this chocolate shop. I read reviews about it and they all say it’s amazing. Have you been before?” I asked Grant.
“No, this will be my first time,” he said with a slight smile.
He led me to the car and opened the passenger door. He had his own black vehicle, the same one he’d shown up in a few months before when we first made his acquaintance. I hadn’t known at the time that he was His Majesty of Magic. Surprisingly, knowing it really hadn’t changed anything.
I counted myself lucky to have gotten to know him before I knew that important fact. Sure, I had thought he was annoying, but I also didn’t let the fact that he was a famous warlock color my judgment or opinion of him. Now that we were having dates, that progression turned out to have been important. I did in fact like him for him.
And his gorgeous blue eyes.
We chatted all the way to the chocolate shop. Grant thought Shimmerfield was great, and he had a lot of questions about my upbringing there. I answered them as honestly as I could. Sometimes I had to mention my dad to tell a story properly, and that part was hard.
Grant always waited for me to finish when the words didn’t come easily. He didn’t push and he didn’t ask me to tell him about my dad before I was ready. I appreciated that, too. I didn’t want to cry on our second date; my mascara would run.
As I told my own story, I was aware in the back of my mind that I wanted to ask Grant about his family too, as well as what his motivation had been for becoming His Majesty of Magic. I knew he had gone to school with some friends, and that’s how it started, but what was the deeper motivation? Surely he hadn’t always imagined himself becoming the most famous warlock in the world. Had he?
Even I didn’t pay much attention to that now that I knew him as a real person. It took the presence of others to remind me: women who gave him long looks, grandparents who were impressed by his accomplishments, that sort of thing. When a wedding had taken place at the mansion, everyone had been impressed by Grant. Half the guests had come up just to shake his hand.
He never wanted to talk about any of that. I knew he was incredibly capable, I just rarely saw evidence of it in action. When you were as good as he was, you didn’t have to spend time proving it.
“Here it is,” he said, pulling into the chocolate shop. The outside was decorated with glitter and twinkle lights, the inside was painted gold. A deep maroon carpet completed the look. It was the coziest place I had ever visited. Two walls were lined with shelves of chocolate of an unimaginable range of varieties. Counters displayed more options. A third counter had coffee products.
A little bell in the shape of a mouse tinkled when we walked in. In a nook overlooking the sea was a little cushioned shelf. Perched on the shelf was the largest cat I had ever seen.
The cat was round and golden. When he turned to look at us, his green eyes blinked slowly and his tail swished lazily. Just the end of it. Not too much.
We did not interest him in the slightest. I was delighted to see that unlike at the mansion, this little shop had a normal cat.
“Good afternoon,” said a woman who came out from a back room. She placed herself behind the counter in front of us and wiped her hands on a whitish apron. Streaks of chocolate ran down both sides of her hips. She had rosy cheeks and messy hair and she gave us a big smile.
“Is it cold out there this afternoon?” she asked.
“Not really,” I said. “But I wouldn’t suggest going out without a coat.”
“Or a hat,” the woman added with a sly smile, glancing at Grant.
I suddenly realized that to humans he must look a bit funny. To us witches and warlocks he looked perfectly normal.
To humans, and maybe to the rest of us, the brimmed hat he wore made him look more like a pirate marauder than an individual walking around buying the girl he was dating chocolate.
“Just let me know if there’s I anything I can help you with,” she said. “I’ll be in the back.” And she disappeared again.
“What kind of chocolate do you like?” Grant asked as we started to wander around.
I bit my lip. This was always an important part of getting to know somebody: discussing the chocolate logistics. You can still be friends with someone if you like different kinds of chocolate, it’s just that you can never fully trust them.
I took the leap. “I’m a big fan of milk.”
He beamed at me. “You know dark chocolate is the healthiest.”
“If I were trying to be healthy I wouldn’t eat chocolate,” I pointed out.
“That’s exactly how I feel about it,” he said. “Should we buy lots of milk chocolate?”
From the room next door I heard a voice call, “You can try.”
Grant and I smiled at each other and proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes picking out all kinds of milk chocolate to try: caramel milk chocolate and vanilla milk chocolate, jelly milk chocolate and milk chocolate with nuts. We tried milk chocolate-covered blueberries. We tried all sorts of things.
The nice lady, whose name was Bethesda, was patient, and when we had finally finished choosing, she happily put our chocolate into bags and boxes for Grant to carry out. Once we had our haul we headed back to the car.
“To the beach?” he asked.
I was a bit surprised. It was cold outside, after all. But still, it was a beautiful day. I had been a bit worried that Grant would grow tired of hanging out with me and want to go home, but that didn’t seem to have happened, at least not yet.
In short, I agreed to go to the beach.
Chapter Eighteen
We spent the next couple of hours there and I had the best time. Grant had the idea of blind taste testing the chocolates, and we tried every kind we’d purchased. We talked about all manner of things, so many that later on I couldn’t even remember everything we said. I just remembered being happy.
Despite all that, I was feeling uneasy in a vague sort of way. We were both detectives, but we came to cases very differently. With Grant now living on the grounds of Haunted Bluff, I wasn’t sure how we were going to get along. If he was forever investigating c
ases and telling me to stay away from them, we were bound to butt heads.
“Are you ready to head back? I have one more surprise for you,” he said. He had long since flung his cape around my shoulders to keep me warm. It was infinitely warmer than the coat I was wearing, mostly because it blocked the wind. It didn’t matter how long I lived in Maine, I would always be cold.
“One more surprise? Does it involve dinner?” I said.
“Yes, it does involve dinner. Unfortunately, I couldn’t work out a way to spend the afternoon out and cook at the same time. But I think the person who is cooking dinner for us is better at it than I am anyhow. Do you mind?” he said.
Someone cooking dinner for us was awfully mysterious.
I shook my head. I wasn’t tired. I could go on for several more hours at this rate.
Grant held out his hand and pulled me to my feet. We stood mere inches apart and gazed into each other’s eyes, holding hands. His hands were warm and lovely, and I didn’t want to let his fingers go.
He smiled. “Come on. I got us a separate bit of chocolate to take where we’re going,” he said.
“It’s bring your own chocolate day?” I said.
Grand laughed. Apparently he liked my sense of humor, maybe because he wasn’t actually listening to what I said. “I guess you could describe it that way. Aren’t all of the best places bring your own chocolate places?”
We got in the car and headed back toward Shimmerfield. At first I wasn’t sure where we were going, except that we clearly weren’t heading back to the mansion. As we drove through the center of town, I couldn’t help but look out the window at the deserted Old Bucket House.
There was no sign of the vampires at the moment. If the Root of All Evil really was there, they were doing a good job of hiding.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked.
“I will if you don’t like surprises,” he said.
“They aren’t my favorite thing, but I don’t hate them, either. Carry on,” I said.
It soon became clear where we were going. To my total shock, we were headed for Edmund’s. As soon as we turned down the secret road and the path started appearing in front of us, I grew uneasy. It wasn’t yet dark outside, but the trees clustered around us as we headed back to the scene of a murder.
Spooky Spindle Page 12
