“You mean you don’t want him found. I don’t understand it, though. He only hunts evil witches. I know his order used to hunt all witches, but it’s not that way anymore,” I said.
“How do you know that?” Athan asked. “Because that’s what he told you?”
“I know him. I’ve been in a relationship with him for a while,” I said.
“Do you?” Athan asked. “Know him, I mean.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Rowan was a killer and you didn’t see it coming,” Athan said. “Why do you trust Alex so implicitly? Because of a handsome face? Because he’s shown you kindness? He could have been trying to lure you in.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said.
“Then where is he?” Athan asked.
“You know I don’t know that,” I said. “You seem to know an awful lot about us. How?”
“Just because most of the witches in this town haven’t shown in any interest in you doesn’t mean that none of us were interested. I’ve been observing you for the council.”
“Then you know that Alex was fighting evil,” I said.
“Yes. I do know he took you out on some little adventures to kill some bad things. Given the skill he had doing just that, why do you believe that he’s in danger?”
“You’re trying to trick me,” I said. “Why?”
“I’m not trying to trick you, Allegra. I’m looking out for you.”
“I guess that means you didn’t bring me in here to kill me,” I said.
Athan laughed. “No, I brought you in here so that the other elders wouldn’t hurt you. They don’t take kindly to insolence, and they tend to deal with problems the old ways.”
“So, why are you different?”
“I’m not, but I see something worth saving in you. I think you need to stop looking for Alex. It’s better that he’s gone. You should bring the grimoire to me. I can help you figure out where it came from. I can stop its effects on you.”
“So, that’s it. You want the book, and you’re pretending to be on my side to get it. Can you stop its effects on me because it’s yours?”
“Allegra, that’s not what’s going on here.”
“I don’t know you,” I said. “I don’t know you at all. I have no reason to believe you. So, if you’re not going to kill me, I’m leaving.”
He looked like he was about to say something else, but I went to the door. Athan didn’t stop me when I opened it either.
Trixie and Voodoo were both waiting for me. They looked shocked as I went rushing toward them.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I looked back, and Athan was just standing in the doorway to the annex room watching me. His hair was black, and he looked normal.
Well, I wasn’t sure if normal was the right word, but he wasn’t wearing a ton of makeup and the blue hair was gone. He was devastatingly gorgeous, and the way he was looking at me was making my heart pound even harder.
I took a deep breath and forced the feeling down. At the time, I still believed it was some sort of spell Athan was using on me to draw me to him. What I hadn’t considered was why. Why would such a powerful witch want me to be attracted to him? Even if he was just messing with me, why?
At that moment, I didn’t care. I just knew I had to get away from Athan before I went running back to him. I had Alex. I had to find him and not let the likes of Athan Thornheart distract me.
That’s what it had to be. He wanted the black grimoire and he wanted Alex gone.
As we ran out of the house and down the driveway, I was more determined than ever. I didn’t care if the elders had turned us away, I would find Alex and save him without them.
Chapter Five
Trixie, Voodoo, and I were back at home trying to figure out what to do next to find Alex when my doorbell rang. I hoped that it was Athan coming to tell me that the elders had decided to help after all. Or perhaps, I was just hoping it was Athan.
Stop it, I told myself. If I could bring myself to admit how I was feeling about Athan, I would need to ask Trixie to help me with some magic to protect me from his spell. I didn’t figure I could take on an elder enchantment on my own, but perhaps together she could help me fight off his charms.
When I opened the door, it was not Athan. It was Bethany.
“I heard you were at the garage earlier,” she said.
“Oh, right,” I said. “Please come inside.”
I’d almost completely forgotten the incident at the garage that morning or that I’d even been there. My meeting with the council had distracted me from the fact that I was interested in helping solve Rosaline’s murder.
“Would you like some coffee?” I asked.
“That would be great, thank you,” Bethany answered.
“I’ll make it,” Trixie said.
She and Voodoo disappeared into the kitchen while Bethany and I sat down in the living room.
“What can you tell me about what happened at the garage today?” Bethany asked. “Wait, before you do that, I figure I can share with you that we got a cause of death.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, at first, the medical examiner thought that she might have been poisoned. Well, she was poisoned, but apparently whatever poison she was given didn’t kill her fast enough. Rosaline was strangled too. That’s what killed her before the poison could.”
“That’s horrific,” I said. “It sounds like someone was furious with her.”
“I heard there was a lot of yelling and screaming at the garage today. Anyone you think might have been mad enough to kill Rosaline?”
“It was Jasmine Morgan doing most of the yelling, but that was directed at Gareth. She believes that he killed Rosaline and was furious. Scarlet came by, and she and Gareth went inside to talk for a bit, and while they were gone, I calmed Jasmine down. She did tell me that she thought Gareth was having an affair and showed me a picture that made it look like Gareth might have been kissing another woman. I’m not a hundred percent sure that’s what she actually captured, though,” I said.
“You don’t think Gareth was cheating on the victim?”
“I can’t know for sure,” I said. “But I don’t know that Jasmine’s picture was the evidence she purported it to be. I talked with Gareth this morning, and he seemed like a decent guy.”
“I think so too,” Bethany said. “But I can’t rule him out. I’ll have to talk to Jasmine about why she was so riled up and see if she has any other information. Anything else?”
I had to decide if I wanted to cast suspicion on Felix McCoy. On one hand, it didn’t seem right if he was just some guy who felt like Rosaline had screwed him over, but on the other hand, he had a pretty solid motive. If he was innocent, then Bethany would figure it out. If Felix was guilty, I couldn’t just let him get away with it by staying silent.
“Gareth was telling me that another man was hanging around outside the garage earlier in the day. His name was Felix McCoy. Apparently, he lost a lot of money by listening to advice Rosaline gave him. He was one of her online psychic clients. Apparently, it was so bad, his wife left him over it. Gareth said the guy was really broken up, and he thought it was because Felix cared about Rosaline. Turned out he was just upset because Rosaline wouldn’t be able to help him earn his money back. He was mad at her for being dead.”
“That is weird,” Bethany said. “And if her advice wrecked his life that badly, he had motive.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“I will add him to my list of people to interview,” Bethany said.
Trixie showed up a minute later with a tray of coffee, cream, and sugar. “It’s half caf,” she said as she set it down. “Don’t want us all to be up all night.”
“I should go,” Bethany said. “I don’t want to interrupt your evening any further.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “I offered you coffee. You can stay for it. You’re not going to go interview suspects tonight, are you?”
&
nbsp; “No, I’m not,” she said. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. Please stay and have coffee with us,” I said.
“We were actually trying to figure out how to find Alex,” Trixie said.
I shot her a look. Why had she brought up Alex around Bethany?
“Trying to find him?” Bethany looked perplexed. “I thought he’d just taken off with another woman or something.” Trixie and I both looked at her a little shocked. “Oh, I’m sorry. That was really insensitive.”
“Nope, he’s missing,” Trixie said without missing a beat.
“Missing? No one has reported him missing,” Bethany said.
“We don’t know that he’s missing,” I said. “He left me a message that he had some information on… an antique book. He said he was going to go follow up on the book and he never came back.” I turned to Trixie. “I actually think I want the hazelnut creamer for my coffee. I’m going to go to the kitchen to grab it. Trixie, can you come with me and get Voodoo to come inside while I do that?” I turned back to Bethany. “I’ll be right back with that hazelnut creamer.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Bethany said. “I love hazelnut.”
“We’ll be right back.”
Trixie and I walked into the kitchen. Voodoo was sitting there eating kibble from his bowl.
"I thought you said you needed me to bring Voodoo in."
"He can get the door open himself,” I said, "when he wants to. Anyway, what are you doing?"
"I don't know what you mean,” Trixie said and batted her eyelashes. She knew exactly what I meant.
"Why are you telling the town sheriff that Alex is missing? It's witch business,” I said.
"He's not a witch,” Trixie said. "And I think your new friend Athan made it clear that it's not witch business. At least as far as the council is concerned. They're not going to help you and neither are any of the other witches in town."
"What about you?" I asked.
"Of course, I'm going to help you. I couldn't give two figs about the council. Bunch of stuffy old has-beens that think way too highly of themselves. Except, that Athan Thornheart. He didn't kill you or turn you into a goat, so he's probably okay. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's not going to help you, but he's not going to get in our way either. That's the best we can hope for."
"You don't think the council is going to get upset if we involve the human authorities in this?" I asked.
"Again, Alex isn't a witch. He's a hunter. They don't care as long as we don't bother them."
"Uh, ladies..,” Voodoo said.
"What is it?" I asked
Voodoo pointed toward the door. "And I, oops. I guess I shouldn't have started talking. My bad. I'm just going to go upstairs."
I turned to see Bethany standing in the doorway. She had her coffee cup in her hand, and her face was as white as a sheet.
"Bethany,” I said.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop,” she said.
Bethany started to shake, and any color left in her face drained. She started to swoon, and Trixie dove across the room to grab her and her coffee cup.
"I'm fine,” Bethany said and recovered. "I just felt a little off balance there for a moment."
"Uh..." I wasn't sure what to say.
"You guys were talking about witches, and for a bit, I thought you were maybe just talking about a movie or something. Or perhaps you're both profoundly mentally ill and I just didn't know. I was going to... I'm actually not sure how I was going to handle it. I was just coming in here to tell you that Trixie grabbed salt and not sugar. Who keeps salt in a little pot like this anyway? Most people keep it in a shaker."
"Yeah, Allegra. Who keeps salt in a little pot that looks like a sugar container?" Trixie said. "This is not my fault."
"Witches,” I said with a sigh. "Witches keep salt in little containers like that. It's ceremonial. I probably shouldn't have kept it in the kitchen."
"Again, I would think you were completely insane, but I saw the dog talking. Voodoo was talking,” Bethany said. "Did you guys dose me with something? Am I on an acid trip?"
"You haven't even started your coffee yet, so we couldn't have dosed you,” I said.
"Right. So, what is going on?" Her voice started to go up in pitch.
"It's okay. I'll explain everything. Let me get the hazelnut creamer and we'll all go sit down,” I said.
"Is hazelnut creamer code for some sort of drugs or poison?" Bethany asked.
"No, it's just hazelnut creamer. It's from the grocery store." I took the bottle out of the refrigerator and showed her. "See, it's even all natural, but that doesn't mean poison."
It was just Natural Bliss coffee creamer from the store. It probably wasn't even all natural. Whatever that meant. Everyone knew that was just a marketing ploy, but Bethany relaxed a little and shook her head yes.
We all went into the living room and I fixed a cup of coffee for myself and Bethany. She told me when to stop as I poured the creamer and then sugar into her cup. I held back from adding any magic to the brew, but it probably would have helped. Maybe just a little something to make her more openminded, but that would have been against her free will. I didn't want to do that.
"There are a lot of witches in this town,” I said. "But you can't talk about it. It's not exactly an out in the open kind of thing."
"Plus, no one is going to believe you anyway," Trixie added. "There's a spell over the town that keeps the normal folks like you from noticing any magical stuff that goes on around you. Normally, that's all it takes to keep the secret."
"Unless you're in a witch's house and you see her familiar talking," I added.
"So, there are more like you?" Bethany asked. "Wait, what does like you even mean? I saw the dog talking, but what else does this entail?"
"We can cast spells, make potions, and we have some influence over the material world even without those things. It's minor stuff like picking locks. I can't manifest a castle in the middle of the town square or anything like that,” I said.
"You could wipe my memory of ever knowing about this?" Bethany asked.
"If you wanted us to do that, we could,” Trixie said. "If you didn't, we could still do it, but it would come back to harm us. We're not supposed to interfere in other people's free will. If we do, the universe will balance that out. We try to avoid that whenever possible."
"Oh, and we can see and communicate with the dead,” I said.
"So, why don't you just call up Rosaline and ask her who killed her?" Bethany asked.
"It's not like that,” I said. "If she's already passed through the veil, then we have to bring her back here to talk to us. That means thinning the veil. There is a lot of really bad stuff, malevolent spirits and demons, waiting on the other side for witches to thin the veil. It takes a ton of protection magic to keep them from crossing over. It's dangerous."
"It can be done safely, but it's a lot of work,” Trixie said. "Plus, you run the risk of angering the spirit you pull over. Maybe Rosaline doesn't care who killed her? We could really upset her by pulling her through the veil to our side. Even good people can become dangerously angry spirits when you do stuff like that to them."
"That's too bad,” Bethany said.
"I agree." I answered. "But magic, like everything else in nature, has its limits."
"You're taking this really well considering you almost passed out a few minutes ago,” Trixie said to Bethany.
"At first, I was really freaked out. More because I thought you guys drugged me than because I believe a dog was talking,” Bethany said with a chuckle. "But I don't know. Something just clicked. It's like I've had these suspicions all my life, and what I've seen and what you've told me isn't that big of a stretch."
"I can imagine given that you were involved with Rowan,” Trixie said.
"Wait, he's a witch too?" Bethany asked. "Of course he is. It's like a family thing, right?"
"More or less,” I said. "But there are lots of families full of witches."
"Ghosts are real too, right?" Bethany asked.
"Of course. As are a lot of paranormal things,” I said.
"I knew it. I knew I had seen and felt things when I was in the cemetery thinking. Sometimes it was like someone was right there next to me... And I'd see people walking in the graves or off in the trees, but the next second they'd be gone. I always convinced myself I was seeing things or there was a rational explanation, but deep down, I knew."
"You can't tell anyone,” Trixie said.
"I know. They'll just think I'm crazy,” Bethany said and nodded her head. "So this has something to do with Alex disappearing, then?"
"He's a hunter,” I said. "But not like deer and squirrels or whatever. He hunted evil paranormals."
"So, he went off to hunt something and never came back?" Bethany asked.
"Sort of. A while back, he found a black grimoire, a witch's personal spell book, in a barn nearby. It belonged to an evil witch, but we don't know who. He wanted to find out who it belonged to and take care of them,” I said.
"There's an evil witch living in Knox Hills?"
"We don't know for sure,” Trixie said. "We haven't seen any evidence of it other than the book."
"And the book seems to have a mind of its own," I added.
"Can I see it?" Bethany asked curiously.
"I don't know where it is,” I said with a shrug.
"Wait, you don't know where the evil book with a mind of its own is?" Bethany seemed disturbed.
"I know where it is,” Trixie said. "Allegra doesn't because it's hidden from her."
"Why is it hidden from her? Are you an evil witch?" Bethany asked seriously.
"No, I'm not."
"But the book is drawn to her or she's drawn to it. Maybe both. Plus it affects her,” Trixie said.
"Affects her how?" Bethany asked.
"It makes me sleepwalk. Mostly out of the house and into dangerous places,” I said. "So it has to be kept away from me, and I can't know where it is."
"So, tell me how this ties in with Alex?" she asked.
"He was trying to find the owner. I got a message one night a while back that he'd found something. That was the last we've heard from him,” I said.
Sprinkles, Spelled, and Slayed Page 5
