by Zoe Arden
"I'm not doing anything!" she yelled.
"Zane!" Eleanor cried. "Let her go."
Rocky barked. Snowy and Tootsie both hissed.
"You have no business being here," Sheriff Knoxx roared. His voice was so rough and deep it made the room shake.
"I-I-I," Polly stammered.
Eleanor put one hand on the sheriff's shoulder. He gently shrugged her off but he let Polly go. She took a quick step away from him.
"I don't want to see you anywhere near this bakery," he growled. As protective as Snowball and Tootsie were of me, Sheriff Knoxx was ten times more protective of Eleanor.
Polly nodded. "I only came in to—"
"I'll be watching you every second that you're here," he said, cutting her off. "The moment you mess up." He took one finger and made a slicing motion across his neck. Eleanor gasped. My father's face turned pink then white. I couldn't believe that the sheriff meant what he'd just indicated. His goblin was getting the better of him.
"Are you threatening me?" Polly seemed to regain some of her strength. Her voice stopped shaking. Her face grew red as anger replaced fear.
"I'm just telling you how things are," he said.
"If you touch me," she said, a sly grin spreading across her face, "I'll sic Dean Lampton on you. He told me to let him know if anyone gives me trouble."
"Dean's a powerful wizard," Sheriff Knoxx said, leaning in close to her, "but I'm more powerful. And I don't have a whole council to answer to."
Polly gulped.
"Get out of here." Sheriff Knoxx’s voice cut through the air like a razor. "Now. And don't come back."
Polly didn't need another invitation to leave. She ran through the door without looking back.
"You didn't mean what you said to her," Eleanor asked, her face paler than usual. "Did you? You know, about the..." She made the same slicing motion across her neck as the sheriff had before placing her hand back on the sheriff's shoulder. This time, he took it and kissed it tenderly.
"I meant every word. I won't let her hurt you or your family. I'll do anything to make sure that doesn't happen. Anything."
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CHAPTER
THREE
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I took one last look in the mirror.
"You look hot," Lucy said. "I told you that dress was perfect for you."
I turned to look at my best friend, who was sitting on the edge of my bed in a silky red dress that showed off her creamy skin.
"You think?" I studied my reflection. The turquoise blue dress I wore brought out the blue in my eyes. Lucy had helped do my hair, piling it high up on my head so that it cascaded down over my neck in loose curls of alternating lengths.
"Wait till Colt sees you," Lucy said, grinning. "I bet his eyes pop right out of his head."
I giggled and applied one last layer of lipstick.
"Hold still a sec," Lucy said, spinning me around. She wiggled her nose and I felt my lips tighten, then relax. A pleasant buzzing sensation rolled over them.
"What did you just do?" I asked her.
"I made you kissable."
I cocked my head to the side, giggling. "You mean I wasn't already? I thought you said this dress looked good on me."
Lucy laughed. "No. I mean, yes, it does. So good, in fact, that I'm pretty sure Colt won't be able to keep his lips off you. So, I used a little spell my mom taught me to kiss-proof your lips. Now your lipstick won't rub off."
My hands automatically moved to my lips, my fingertips brushing gently over them. When they came back clean, I rubbed harder against them. My fingers remained spotless.
"Neat," I said. "You should figure out how to bottle that or something. You could make your own line of makeup and sell it to human women."
Lucy smiled but waved me off. "It would only freak them out. Those women in MAPP would think I was trying to poison them or something."
Lucy had a point. Mothers Against Paranormal Predators had really amped up their game lately. They were desperate to get proof of paranormal existence for the greater human world. Since no one took them seriously, they couldn't get any help outside of their own circle until they could prove they weren't just a bunch of crazies.
"I should get out of here," Lucy said, grabbing her purse. "Colt will be here soon and I want to stake out my place by the cake table early. You know how witches and warlocks get when cake is involved."
I gave her a quick hug and told her I'd see her there. Trixie and my dad were already gone. They'd left early to make sure everything was perfect before my arrival. I really thought they were going to too much trouble. I'd have been happy with a movie and dinner at home but my family wouldn't hear of that.
I went downstairs and waited for Colt.
"Happy birthday, Mama," Snowball said, running up to me. She practically jumped into my arms, licking my face. Rocky and Tootsie followed closely behind her. "Snowball has surprise for Mama." She turned her fluffy white head toward the other familiars, and suddenly they began to belt out a chorus of “Happy Birthday.” It was the strangest, most gargled, and sweetest version of the song I'd ever heard. When they were done, they took turns butting their heads against me.
Snowy gave my face one final lick then took off for the kitchen.
"Treats for Snowball!" she shouted. I laughed and gave each of the familiars a small pile of their favorite treats just as Colt pulled up to the house. I could hear his car rumbling gently in the driveway. I locked the door behind me and ran to his car just as he was getting out.
"Wow," he said when he saw me. His eyes drifted over my dress, landing back on my face. "You look amazing."
"Thanks. You look pretty good yourself." And he did. Colt was dressed to the nines, as usual. Even before we'd started dating, I'd always thought he was a good dresser. He was wearing a shiny gray suit that matched his gray eyes. Even under the suit, I could tell he worked out. His chest was broad and his arms were big. Not too big. Just big enough for me to giggle every time I squeezed his muscles.
Colt drew me into his arms. I could feel his warm breath blow against my cheek as he pulled me close and kissed me. My body melted against him. My toes tingled. When he pulled away, my mouth cried out for more of him. I was glad Lucy had kiss-proofed me.
"Happy birthday," he said. I grinned and nodded. Colt's kisses always left me dizzy, even after months of dating. He opened the car door for me and I slid inside. I sat on something hard and jumped up, almost smacking my head on the roof of his car.
"Oops," Colt said. "Sorry." He snatched his gun off the seat and stuck it in the glove compartment. I could see a dozen other weapons inside before he shut it. Everything from a super wand—it was sort of like a machine gun, a blow torch, and a wand all rolled into one—to poison quills to silver bullets. He must have expanded his glove compartment to twenty times its normal size to fit everything inside it. I sighed. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get used to dating a COMHA agent.
"By the way," I said as he shut his door and pulled out of the driveway. "I'm mad at you."
Colt raised an eyebrow. "I have a present for you," he said quickly. "Don't think I forgot." He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a jewelry box.
"I wasn't mad about that," I said, grabbing the box from him with a grin, "but since you've already got this out, I might as well open it."
"Who am I to say no to the birthday girl?" he chuckled.
The box was black velvet, about five inches long. I opened the lid and gasped. A gold bracelet lay shining up at me. Half a dozen gold witch hat charms dangled all around it.
"This will match my necklace," I said excitedly, fingering the witch's hat pendant dangling around my neck. The necklace had belonged my mother. My father had given it to me when I turned twenty-one. It was hard to believe that was only a year ago. So much had happened since then. I still couldn't believe I'd spent twenty-one years of my lif
e thinking I was human, no idea that witches and other paranormals even existed. I laughed at the thought.
"Still mad at me?" Colt asked, his mouth turning up at the corners.
"No. You're off the hook."
"Good. Now that I'm off the hook, can you tell me what I did to get on it in the first place?"
I giggled. "You didn't tell me that Polly Peacock was back in Sweetland Cove."
"Oh. That." Colt's face reddened. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. "I didn't find out until late this morning. I was gonna text you but I didn't think that was the sort of thing you'd want to hear in a text."
"It's okay. I was just surprised is all." I licked my lips. "There is one other thing you might be able to answer for me. Just one little question that's been bugging me."
He cocked an eyebrow, his eyes still on the road. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to break a dozen COMHA rules to answer your one little question?"
I shrugged. "It's not my fault if COMHA is too strict. Besides, I'm the birthday girl. You have to answer me."
Colt laughed. "What is it you want to know?"
"Polly said she's got a parole officer she needs to answer to every day. I thought you might know who it is."
His grin turned into a frown. "Why do you want to know?"
"I thought maybe I could talk to them. Tell them about the stuff Polly's done. Make them understand that she's dangerous."
"So, you don't think she deserves a second chance?" Colt asked, surprising me.
"Do you?"
He held his breath a moment before shrugging. "I don't know."
I let my fingers brush over the gold bracelet, trying to focus on that rather than my growing irritation with my boyfriend.
"So, do you know who her parole officer is or not?" I finally asked.
Colt sighed. "I do." I turned toward him, waiting impatiently. "It's me. I'm Polly's parole officer."
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CHAPTER
FOUR
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I stood with a punch cup in one hand and a plate of coconut macaroons in the other. Felicity hovered near us. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Lincoln Maxwell, was off in a corner talking to Colt. I watched as they laughed at something one of them had said. My cheeks reddened. I was still furious with Colt. I'd forced myself to drop the matter as we'd pulled up to the bakery but I couldn't let it go.
"What's with you tonight?" Lucy asked. "It's your party and you look as though there was mud in that macaroon you’re eating." She paused and tilted her head to one side, scrunching up her nose. "There isn't, is there?" She grabbed a macaroon from my plate and popped it into her mouth. "Nope. No mud there. Maybe I should have another, just to make sure."
She reached for my plate and I pulled it away. Coconut macaroons were one of my favorite things. I'd already had a chocolate hazelnut cupcake—okay, two cupcakes—and figured a few macaroons wouldn't hurt. Besides, the cupcakes were dwindling fast. Eleanor had been right. A huge chunk of Sweetland Cove's population had come to my party, coupled with a bigger handful of Mistmoor residents than I would have thought. Tazzie Singer was in attendance, just as my father had predicted, and there were more people arriving by the minute.
"You do seem a little preoccupied tonight," Felicity Redfern said. She had long red hair that she'd pulled into a ponytail. It hung down her back, made that much redder against the backdrop of her black dress. Nearby, I could hear Amelia Redfern, Felicity's mother, arguing with Trixie.
"I assure you indoor clouds are not that difficult to conjure," Amelia said.
"Then go ahead. Show me," Trixie dared her.
There was a long pause, a puff of smoke, and then part of the ceiling began to rain. Eleanor and Sheriff Knoxx hurried over to put an end to the fight before one of them blew the bakery up trying to conjure a lightning spell.
"My mother..." Felicity sighed and shrugged.
I laughed and finished the rest of my punch. The plate of macaroons disappeared almost as quickly as my drink, and my head began to lighten. "Sorry if I've been acting weird," I told them, taking a breath. "Right before we got here, Colt told me he's Polly's parole officer."
Lucy's and Felicity's eyes widened. "You're kidding," they both said in sync.
"He doesn't want to be," I told them, feeling suddenly defensive. "It's just that he's the only COMHA agent permanently stationed on Heavenly Haven. It just makes sense that he'd be in charge of her."
"Does that mean he's in charge of Calista Woodruff, too?" Felicity asked.
I shrugged. "I guess so. I didn't think to ask. I've never met Calista, just heard about her."
"Well, your birthday wishes have been answered then." Felicity nodded toward the front door, which echoed a loud chime as more people arrived. A girl of about fourteen with dark hair pulled into pigtails and a frightened look in her eyes stepped into the room. She was flanked on either side by one woman in her mid-thirties and another about twenty years older than that. I was pretty sure I recognized them but couldn't place their names.
"Is that..." I began.
"Calista Woodruff," Lucy said, answering my question. "And that's her mother, Blossom, and her grandmother, Edith."
"They look familiar," I said.
"They should," Felicity said, her voice hoarse. "Edith used to run Cakes and Creations with my mom when they were younger. She was interested in dark magic though. Wanted to try strange concoctions like carrot cake with crazy extract and snickerdoodles with depression serum."
"Ew," I said. "Why would anyone want to ruin perfectly good pastries like that? Crazy cakes? That sounds awful."
"That's why their partnership ended. Now Edith runs Creams, Cakes, and Creations. My mom got Cakes and Creations, the original and better bakery, in my opinion."
"I can't believe Blossom and Edith even came," Lucy said. "And why would they bring Calista, of all people? Everyone in town knows what she did."
"Do you really think she's dangerous?" I asked. "I mean, she's a dim-witch, right?" A dim-witch was someone born to a magical family but without fully developed powers of their own.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything," Lucy said. "Her mother should never have brought her here."
I shrugged. "Calista looks pretty young, maybe her mom just wanted her to have some fun."
Lucy opened her mouth to say something but Trevor beat her to it. "Hi, Ava," he said, grinning. I was glad for the interruption. "Happy birthday. I didn't get a chance to say it before in the bakery."
"Oh, thanks, Trevor," I said, smiling.
Trevor was a nice enough guy. He was really big and had been a great football player when he was in high school. He'd broken his knee so bad his senior year that even with magic he'd never played the same again.
Now he had a little computer shop in downtown Sweetland where he mostly fixed cell phones for tourists. Human cell services rarely worked on Heavenly Haven, so tourists frequently wandered into his shop trying to make their phones work. Trevor had figured out a way to give his clients a temporary connection to Witchmobile, the only cellular provider that worked on the island. When the tourists left, their Witchmobile connection stayed behind.
Despite Heavenly Haven's residents being ninety-five percent paranormal, including the goblins, we were infiltrated on an almost daily basis with tourists. Heavenly Haven wasn't the same draw as someplace like Hawaii but we were closer and therefore cheaper to get to. Our weather was consistent all year round, with a warm breeze and bright blue skies. The sun always shined on Heavenly Haven; the Witch's Council had made sure of that.
The only problem was that you had to keep the magic from the tourists. Most of the people in Mothers Against Paranormal Predators had come by their knowledge of wizards completely by accident, usually when a careless witch or wizard performed a spell in front of them, scaring the poor human half to death. The few humans who did live on Heavenly Haven
all knew about the magic around them but they pretended not to. If the tourists found out, they would probably stop coming. And since they were the main source of income for most of Heavenly Haven's residents, that was not a welcome proposition.
"I got this for you," Trevor said, handing me a poorly wrapped gift box with a bright pink bow in the middle.
"Thanks, Trevor!" I cried, taking the present from him.
"I wrapped it myself." He smiled.
I opened it up and found a medium-sized teddy bear wearing a witch's hat stuffed inside.
"I love it," I told him, drawing him into a hug. His cheeks turned pink and he looked at the floor.
"You make the best dark chocolate peanut butter cup cookies ever," he said.
I caught sight of Russell Hudson, Colt's father, walking toward me. It looked as though he was coming over to say hi. He caught sight of Trevor and veered in the other direction. Trevor gave him a nasty look.
"What's he doing here?" Trevor asked.
"Who, Russell? He's Colt's dad. I had to invite him." I realized suddenly how that sounded. "I wanted to invite him," I said, amending my previous statement.
Trevor shook his head. "Can't trust a vampire," he muttered and hurried away. I watched him go then searched the room for Russell but he'd disappeared. Vampires were fast. I was glad Colt wasn't one himself or I'd never have been able to keep up with him. I could barely keep up with him now. COMHA agents trained hard and were able to slip in and out of places in the blink of an eye.
I tossed the box I was still holding aside and squeezed the teddy bear Trevor had given me.
"It's cute," Lucy said. "I think he likes you."
"The bear?"
Lucy laughed. "Trevor."
I blushed. "Don't say that. He knows I'm dating Colt."
