That’s where Grant was taking me on our second date. I didn’t know what to make of it at all.
“Do you have something to pick up at Edmund’s?” I asked. Maybe there was a logical explanation and I was just missing it.
My voice sounded a little scratchy to my ears. I was surprised to be going to Edmund’s, and I couldn’t imagine why Grant might be taking me there. It was as if he was dangling what I wanted most in the world in my face and then snatching it away. Grant was the official investigator of Timothy’s murder. So far today I had managed not to mention the investigation, but my silence had cost me some effort. Grant surely knew more about the case than I did, and while that made me want desperately to pick his brain, there was also the matter of my pride. I wasn’t going to go begging.
“No, nothing to pick up,” Grant said, “but I know he hired you to investigate privately. To go where we couldn’t. I figured your thoughts were still on the case since you were taking time out of your day to go on a date with me. I wanted to make it clear that you don’t have to choose,” he said.
“Choose what?” I asked.
“Choose between work and me. I want to be a part of your life. I want to be a part of all of it. If you can’t work because you’re dating me, that’s going to end up being an unfair choice,” he said, looking straight ahead as he drove into the gathering darkness.
I hadn’t thought about any of these issues as systematically as Grant apparently had. All I knew was that I had wanted to see him this afternoon, and he had invited me, and we had enjoyed ourselves. Apparently both of us.
Maybe Grant was right. I needed to think about it more, but one part of what he’d said was nagging at me.
“You want to be a part of all of my life? Even Cookie?” I said. That might definitely be too good to be true.
Grant chuckled. “I like your grandmother. She’s terrifying in a good sort of way. She’s funny and she’s an incredible witch.”
“She’s also crazy,” I added.
“Now you’re just being picky,” he said.
We pulled up in front of Edmund’s house, and the front door opened as we got out of the car. Something in the forest shifted, and my head snapped around to see what it was. But when I looked, there was nothing in the darkness but shadows.
Maybe that was enough.
Feeling uneasy, I caught up with Grant and we walked to the porch together
“Evening! Dinner is almost ready! What an unusual date this must be. Cookie must be delighted!” Edmund winked at me and I blushed.
Edmund was wearing black slacks and a rich, almost robe-like jacket the color of deep red rose, with a black shirt underneath it. A red jewel was clasped around his neck.
I felt underdressed.
Too late now.
There was no sign of the vampires as Edmund led us to the breakfast room with the glass ceiling, where a small table was set with three places. The bigger table we had used for brunch a while back had disappeared.
“It’s so good to have company for dinner tonight,” Edmund said. “Sometimes it can get lonely out here.” When I glanced briefly at Grant, Edmund went on: “Don’t misunderstand me, I have many speaking engagements throughout the year, so it’s not that I never socialize. But the company of friends is different.”
“You must have liked it when the Vice Chancellor was here,” I suggested.
“Certainly. He hadn’t visited in a long time. I believe he’s afraid of your grandmother, as any warlock with any sense should be,” he said with a smile.
When we were seated, Edmund poured us all goblets of a red liquid.
“It’s a special kind of juice,” he said, noticing me eyeing it. “Now, let’s not waste time. How is the investigation going for the two of you? I take it that’s why you wanted to have dinner?”
I was at sea, since this hadn’t been my idea, to say the very least. Luckily Grant wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
“It is,” he said. “You were busy today, so I knew it would be important to discuss our findings with you as quickly as possible.”
“Anything His Majesty of Magic wants, he gets,” said Edmund with a simple shrug.
“I appreciate that. The bottom line is that we still don’t have any leads on who might have murdered Timothy. I’m wondering if you’ve reached his family,” said Grant.
“I tried,” Edmund grimaced. “They didn’t want to speak with me. They wouldn’t tell me why, but sadly they did not sound surprised by his demise. I was troubled. When he was here, Timothy was always kind-hearted and well-behaved. He never caused problems or made trouble. The idea that his family didn’t feel the same way about him was upsetting, to say the least. I can give you their information if you wish. But they assured me that they didn’t know anything that would help the investigation.”
“I’ll take their information all the same,” said Grant.
Edmund turned to me, the picture of refined polish. I felt like my hands were awkward and too big in comparison. “How did your investigation fare this morning? Did you find the information you were looking for when you interviewed my employees?”
Grant glanced at me, but he didn’t looked too surprised. Edmund cut into his salad with a smile on his face.
“Our conversations were interesting. I won’t repeat exactly what they said, but I’ve been wondering if you yourself have a theory about who killed Timothy,” I said.
Edmund glanced sharply at me. So did Grant.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, Timothy had gotten a bit strange, but I didn’t think he had any enemies,” Edmund said carefully.
“And yet he was murdered, with all of the protective enchantments around this house remaining intact. Whatever happened, it seems likely that it came from within the grounds. Do you have any theory as to what it could have been?” I said.
“I do not,” said Edmund. He glanced at me and held my eyes. “It is a complete mystery to me.”
After that we had a leisurely dinner and a pleasant evening. Edmund knew a great deal about a great deal, and we eventually got lost historical topics; mostly our host did the talking. At the end of the night we had learned nothing that seemed remotely relevant to the investigation.
Still, just the fact that Grant had thought to bring me here made me happy. Not only had he not told me to stay out of investigations he was working on, this had almost felt like he thought of me as a partner of sorts.
By the end of the evening I had a lot to think about, and my stomach was full. After good chocolate and a delicious dinner I wasn’t sure I’d eat again for at least a day. Audrey would not be happy, and who was I kidding, anyhow? I never missed breakfast.
We left with a waved goodbye to Edmund. Grant didn’t say much as we got into the car; he seemed as lost in thought as I felt. We hadn’t discussed our own perspectives on the investigation at all, so I was still wondering what he thought and what information he might have that he wasn’t sharing. It was one thing for us to talk to Edmund, but another for us to trade our own information. If we took that step, we would be like partners indeed.
We were just driving away from the secluded house when I saw shadows behind us. I glanced several times in the side mirror to see what they were, or if I was imagining things. But no, instead of disappearing, the shadows lengthened. At first I thought I was just seeing shifting beams of light as the moon winked through the trees. Even the stars were bright for a moonlit night. And of course the car created some illumination ahead of us.
Then there was a sharp black flash and a flicker.
My eyes went to the side mirror again, and this time the movements were unmistakable. We were definitely being followed through the trees by something dark and foul. Its movements were scary and aggressive, but I still couldn’t make out what it was.
Grant, meanwhile, was utterly calm.
Something had shifted, though.
We weren’t going to make it out of the dark woods without a fight.
&nbs
p; Chapter Nineteen
The sky was clear, but we were in such a thick part of the forest that after a couple of minutes of trying, I lost track of the stars and the moon entirely.
Suddenly, deep dark surrounded us. My chest tightened and I had to force my hands to unclench.
“I think we’re fixing for a skirmish,” I said, my eyes locked in the mirror.
Grant’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look behind us. “I was hoping we’d be left alone while we did this. Looks like not.”
“Do you have any idea what’s in these woods?” I asked.
“All kinds of unpleasant things. There are some rogue gargoyles we’ve been keeping an eye on down the coast. I don’t think it’s them, though,” he said.
“Probably not the spiders, either,” I said.
“Definitely not,” he agreed.
Grant kept the car going at a snail’s pace, deliberately allowing whatever was hunting us to catch up. The headlights on low beam barely illuminated our surroundings. A trickle of fear ran down my spine.
“Are we going to fight it out?” I asked.
“Might as well. There’s a chance that whatever is tracking us is also what killed Timothy. He was outside in the garden when he died, and if the enchantments were all intact, maybe the culprit was something that comes onto and off of Edmund’s property all the time,” said Grant.
As he glanced in the rearview mirror at last, I gripped the seat of the car with clenched hands.
Grant was going to stop the vehicle at any moment.
What an end to a good second date! Apparently we weren’t going to burden ourselves—or each other—with those boring discussions of how it had all gone and such.
Inwardly, I started reciting all the enchantments I knew that might help in this situation.
Luckily, since I had spent my youth fighting with my cousins, I knew a few. Like most kids we had chased each other around the yard and the neighborhood. Unlike the average-seven-year-old, though, we’d had enchantments to add to the mix of battle tactics.
. . . bubble, baubles, attack that nubbly noble . . . that was a good one . . . door, door, on the second floor, sail free and attack with glee . . . also an old favorite . . . jumping jacks over wax fall down . . . that was fun but wouldn’t work . . .
My mind raced. What other spells had I used as a child? What other spells had I heard?
There was no way I could be as useless as I felt in this moment. Was there?
Shadows played over Grant’s chiseled face. The fact that even he was nervous was hardly comforting.
“Are you ready?” Grant asked, his voice steady.
The shadows in front of us got thicker. The road was still appearing in front of us, but even that was starting to slow, as if a murky sluggishness was taking over the area.
My skin crawled. “Yes,” I breathed.
Grant left the lights on as the car slowed. At last the shadows in front of us stopped moving.
Without a word, Grant reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, keeping the motion steady and smooth while his eyes remained on the mirrors. He was looking behind us.
Unbuckling my own seatbelt without looking was harder than I wanted it to be; I could only hope Grant didn’t notice my clumsiness. At least I was careful to cast the belt off without any sudden movements. And without any noise.
“Stay in the car,” he said, without moving his lips.
I froze.
No way! Who did this guy think he was? We were about to have a fight with a potential murderer! He better believe I was going to be there!
He must have seen me frown. “I mean it,” he said.
I shook my head slightly, trying to deny what he was saying.
“You’ll only get in the way,” he insisted.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
But he was gone before I had even finished my question. He shoved the car door open and darted out just as the car was inundated with dark, swaying figures. They weren’t entirely solid, and I scrunched my eyes tightly shut, then opened them again to see if I could make them out more clearly. All I saw when I opened my eyes was that there were even more of the creatures than there’d been a moment ago, crowding right up against the car.
Then there came a whirl of movement, an array of light instead of dark, and Grant came into view, throwing enchantments like some people throw confetti.
The dark, attacking shapes shifted and moved away. Grant was forcing them in the direction where he wanted them to go.
It only took me a moment to realize that he was pushing all of them toward the front of the car.
As he kept throwing enchantments, my eyes darted to the ignition.
The keys were there.
I quickly hauled myself into the driver’s seat, then held my breath and watched the action.
The remaining attackers were getting closer to the headlights . . .
Grant made one last push . . .
I gasped.
His eyes turned wildly to me.
I threw myself to the side and floored the car. Grant tumbled out of the way just as the car shot forward.
Without meaning to, I squeezed my eyes shut.
That wasn’t the smartest move.
The next instant the car was free and clear. I took my foot off the accelerator and the car rolled to a stop.
I didn’t move. The passenger door opened and Grant hopped in.
We started rolling again.
He was breathing hard, but after a few minutes he said, “How’s that for helping?”
I thought about it.
“It’ll do.”
When we got back to the house I was hot and tired and so sweaty that I wanted to run to the shower immediately.
Grant must have felt the same way. “Let’s get cleaned up,” he said. “Shall I come back to the mansion in an hour?”
I thought about telling him no. After all, there was nothing wrong with telling him that sometimes it just made more sense to go to bed.
I decided against it if for no other reason than that I wanted to keep spending time with him. That was to say nothing of the need to process what had just happened, or to talk about the investigation.
I had mixed feelings about what had happened in the woods. I had been kept out of the action in my own family for a long time, and Grant had flirted with doing the same thing. All I could say—just to myself for the moment—was that he had better not make a habit of it.
Meanwhile, given what had attacked us, I was just happy to be alive.
Grant had been calmer about it than I had been, or still was. By no means was I in hysterics, but I could see myself getting there. Just give me a minute or let me catch a look at myself in a mirror with what I knew must be a crazy head of hair.
Saying none of this, I simply agreed that I’d see Grant in an hour, then traipsed up to the shower. For once I didn’t run into anyone in my family, not even Rose, who usually was usually lurking around the attic but tonight had made herself scarce. I had no idea why, but I was grateful.
The hot water was a welcome relief. I had managed not to look in the mirror until I could emerge clean.
It wasn’t until I’d finished getting dressed and gone down to the kitchen to make tea that I remembered something else I had meant to do. I checked the clock, uncertainty fighting a battle inside me. There might just be time. Before I could speak with Grant or get some sleep, I had one more agenda item on the day’s list.
When the tea water was hot, I set the tea bag to steep. I hoped the chamomile would calm me, but after tonight I wasn’t holding my breath.
That done, I headed for Audrey’s herb storage room, a tiny space off the kitchen. Because it was always so close to Audrey’s cooking, it was always too hot in there.
It was also seriously off limits. Audrey could keep an eye on it most of the time, because she was usually in the kitchen, and her presence blocked the only entrance to the herbs. She had made it clear that anyone who wen
t in there without her permission was going to be in big trouble.
Audrey woke up before the rest of us every morning so that she could get started on breakfast for the household, so she tended to be the earliest to bed as well. My hope was that she had already gone to sleep for the night, leaving the herbs undefended.
Still, I was careful as I stole toward the door. In the end, I had no trouble getting into the storage room.
The space smelled hot and grassy and the floor-to-ceiling shelves of herbs were dizzying. Most of the herbs I didn’t recognize, but there were hand-written labels on all of them. Audrey went to unbelievable lengths to find the herbs she required. The aftermath of her quest was often yet another weird dish for the rest of us to try.
I had no idea what ingredients were required in a love potion, but I knew a way to find out. Hidden behind one of the shelves was a “cookbook” of potions. Audrey had hidden it after she realized that as teenagers we were trying to use it to cast all sorts of enchantments. Some time after that, Cookie had drunkenly let slip where Audrey had hidden it. Cookie knew because she had stopped at nothing until she discovered it.
I drew out the book with a sigh of relief when I saw that it was still where Cookie had said it would be.
Just like Audrey, the potion recipes were neat and orderly. It only took me a matter of minutes to find the one on love potions.
Turned out that the basis of the potion had to be mint and basil root. These were common in any potion about feelings. Mint cleansed and basil root . . . I had no idea what basil root did, but I started gathering the ingredients. Hopefully I could spirit them away before my aunt noticed.
With my arms full of small glass bottles filled with weird-colored powders, vines, needles, and such, I was nearly finished and starting to worry about my tea getting cold. I was so preoccupied that when I was interrupted, I didn’t realize anyone was coming until I heard a male voice behind me.
“Aren’t those the ingredients for a love potion?”
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