by Zoe Arden
"We need to check for food-borne curses before anyone touches anything else. If there is something else here that's been tampered with, the hex might be even worse. You don't want to turn into a hammerhead shark, do you?"
"All right, all right," I said, holding up a hand. "You don't have to keep trying to convince me. You're right. I know that. I'm just tired. This day hasn't exactly turned out how I thought it would."
Colt set Snowball on the floor and stood up. He walked behind my chair and began massaging my shoulders. His strong hands made swift work of the knots that had developed there, and I moaned softly as he moved his fingers along my spine.
"Can you do me next?" Trixie asked, joking. Melbourne, who had only recently begun dating Trixie, had gone home. He'd wanted to stay but Trixie had insisted he get out of here before people started accusing vampires of killing Trevor.
Polly and Calista sat at opposite corners from each other. For some reason, Calista's family was glaring at Polly and Wilma, as if this was all their fault. Maybe they really thought it was.
The front doors opened and Myron Banks, the warden of Swords and Bones, strolled into the bakery, flanked by two guards who looked vaguely familiar. I thought I'd seen their pictures in the paper during the whole prison work release debate.
Polly jumped out of her seat. "Warden Banks," she shouted, surprise etched on her face. She looked at Sheriff Knoxx. "What's he doing here?" She said it like it was an accusation.
"I called him," Colt said, going to greet the warden. "Along with Dean Lampton. I had to."
I groaned inwardly. I knew that Colt's situation on the island was a tricky one—it was a thin line he had to walk, between staying in the good graces of Sweetland's residents and those of the people he worked for—but sometimes it was also an irritating one. Especially when he felt the need to work strictly by the book. I both admired and criticized him for it.
COMHA kept Colt on Heavenly Haven to keep an eye on the interaction between humans and paranormals. He'd been given the choice between Mistmoor and Sweetland and had selected Sweetland because more stuff seemed to go wrong here than in Mistmoor. Now that he was Polly's parole officer—and Calista's, he'd confirmed that for me while we were waiting for the warden—he had to report to Warden Banks as well as Dean Lampton.
"Where's Dean?" Colt asked.
"Couldn't get away just now," Warden Banks said. "I have what you asked for, though."
He handed Colt something that looked like a tiny lightsaber. It was no more than four inches long and made of some sort of plastic. "Thanks," Colt said. He paused and looked at the warden. "You guys got here faster than I'd have thought."
"We were nearby. I knew it wouldn't be long before Ms. Peacock got herself into trouble. We would have been here even sooner but I had to get the hexometer. I didn't have one on me when you called."
Polly grunted but said nothing. Wilma's cheeks turned bright pink.
Colt took the device the warden had brought and moved immediately to the cake. He pushed a button and a soft blue light emanated from it. He held it to within an inch of my cake, moving it slowly up and down, walking around the cake in a circle. When he seemed satisfied with things, he pushed the button again and the light went out.
"So far, so good," he muttered to himself. There was a second button that I hadn't noticed. It was the size of an aspirin. He pushed it and a needle popped out of the top. It was as thin as a toothpick and three inches long. He started poking the cake with it, checking each layer.
"What is that thing?" Lucy asked.
"It's a food hexometer," he said. "COMHA's latest invention. It detects poisons, curses, hexes, all the good stuff. It's specifically made for checking food and drinks." He pushed the button and the needle retreated back into the hexometer's body. "Looks good. No curses or hexes that I can find."
He looked around the base of the cake.
"Where's the knife?" he asked. No one knew. His face darkened.
Warden Banks walked to the center of the room. "Are you telling me that a man was stabbed to death here this evening, and the cake knife is missing?" No one said anything. "Did none of you bother to look for the murder weapon?" he asked.
"Of course, we did," Sheriff Knoxx said, his face turning red. "We didn't find anything."
"In a bakery, which must be full of knives, you couldn't find one knife that might have been used to kill Trevor Bailey?"
The guards that Warden Banks had brought with him both snickered. The female guard was pretty but there was a severe look in her eyes that worried me. She looked like a scary version of Snow White. The cynical smile she wore did nothing to ease the hard lines around her eyes. She had a small crystal pendant necklace around her neck that looked fancy, and I thought she must come from a wealthy family.
The man who was standing beside her kept glancing over at her when she wasn't looking, his expression similar to the one Trevor used to make when he looked at me. I couldn't help but wonder if she knew he had a crush on her.
"That's Sean Usher and Lizzie Rambler," Lucy whispered to me. "I've seen them on TV."
Warden Banks shot us a look and Lucy immediately ceased her talking.
Eleanor was standing next to Sheriff Knoxx, trying to keep him from taking a swing at Warden Banks. It looked like she wanted to say something—I knew her well enough to recognize that look—but whatever it was, she kept her mouth shut.
"The knives in the bakery were free of blood," Sheriff Knoxx said. "And, according to Dr. Dunne, the knife that was used on Trevor must have been extremely large. We found no such knives."
Eleanor shot Trixie a look. Trixie shrugged and shook her head, the sentiment clear. Not now.
"That's right," Dr. Dunne said, nodding his agreement. His mouth was set in a hard line.
"Let's just cut to the chase," Warden Banks said, walking over to Polly. Wilma jumped up beside her, her fists clenched.
"What did you do with it?" Warden Banks asked Polly.
"With what?" she asked.
"The knife."
"Nothing," Polly said, her eyes narrowing. "I didn't kill Trevor."
"Ha!" Lizzie Rambler shouted. She blushed lightly as everyone looked at her.
Warden Banks sighed and shook his head. "I told Dean Lampton from the start this would never work." He shot a look at Lizzie and Sean, who both stepped forward. "Take her in," he told them, and they moved simultaneously toward Polly.
"Wait," Polly shrieked. "I didn't do anything." She backed away from them but there was nowhere for her to go, not unless she wanted to try escaping out the back room again. That hadn't worked out so well for her the first time, though.
"I don't care what you say you did or didn't do," Warden Banks said through gritted teeth. "You're going back to Swords and Bones. Tonight. Dead or alive, it doesn't matter to me as long as you're back behind bars."
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CHAPTER
TWELVE
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Polly looked around her at the small group still assembled in the bakery. Her eyes were wild, begging someone to help her.
"I won't go back there," she cried. "I can't. Swords and Bones was the most awful, soulless place I've ever been." She licked her lips. "Every day there is like an eternity." Her eyes were watering.
Lucy bit her lip, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was—it wasn't fun feeling bad for someone you were supposed to hate. Maybe hate was a strong word but Polly had tried to kill me, after all. Still, the fear in her eyes was hard to ignore. Swords and Bones had always had a reputation for being tough. That was part of the reason why it was not considered a part of either Sweetland Cove or Mistmoor Point. No side wanted to claim such a place as its own. So, instead, it, along with Witch Hill and Wormwood Work Camp, were considered unincorporated parts of Heavenly Haven.
"Maybe, er, you should wait," I said, my throat dry.
C
olt shot me a look.
Warden Banks rounded on me.
"Ava Fortune," he said, yelling my name as though he'd caught me in the middle of stealing from the cookie jar. His voice was so loud I jumped. I wasn't sure if he'd meant to say my name as a question, seeking to clarify who I was, or if he just liked to yell.
We'd never met before but everyone knew who Warden Banks was. He ran the toughest wizards' prison in the world. His face was red and pinched and a little scary. I didn't like being under his gaze.
"I don't know what you're doing taking Polly Peacock's side," the warden said.
"I'm not taking—"
"I can only assume your mind has been compromised by the macaroons you ate. You're not thinking clearly. That much is obvious."
"I'm thinking just fine, thanks," I said, my own temper flaring now.
"Ava..." Lucy whispered beside me. Her voice was a warning that I should shut up and sit back down.
"There's no proof that Polly did anything wrong here tonight," I continued. Colt hurried to my side, taking my arm and trying to lead me to the back room. Like Lucy, he thought I ought to hush. "It's true," I told Colt in a harsh whisper.
"You're gonna make things worse," Colt said in a low voice. "Let him take Polly back and we'll sort it all out later."
I yanked my arm away from him, annoyed at his comment. Sorting it all out later hardly seemed like the best option. I wanted to sort it out now.
Calista stepped forward, despite her mother's and grandmother's attempts to hold her back. "Witch Hill was just a reform school, and I would never want to go back there. It was a terrible place." Her voice shuddered. "If it was that bad for me there, I can't even imagine what it must have been like for Polly at Swords and Bones."
Polly had just enough time to shoot Calista a grateful smile before Wilma pushed her behind her back. "You're not taking my niece anywhere," she yelled.
Warden Banks let out a breath. His shoulders shook. Is he laughing? He looked at Lizzie. "They actually think they can stop us." With a nod of his head, Lizzie and Sean bolted toward Polly. She shrieked and jumped back.
Wilma's fist flew through the air, connecting loudly with Sean's chin. He shook his head, a dazed look in his eyes. He was clearly surprised that Wilma could pack such a punch. Wilma looked surprised herself. Lizzie reached for her and Wilma jumped to the side, colliding with Lincoln. I was suddenly jealous that he'd insisted Felicity go home when everyone else left. She was probably neck deep in a bubble bath by now.
"For witch's sake!" Warden Banks shouted. "Get her!"
Polly jumped onto one of the counters and ran along it, trying to stay out of Sean and Lizzie's reach while Warden Banks just stood there watching. His face was a mask of anger. A batch of cupcakes sitting on a tray flew across the room as Polly's foot collided with it. My dad ducked just in time to avoid getting hit with it. The cupcakes fell to the floor and Snowball, Tootsie, and Rocky ran over to them and began licking the frosting.
Lizzie managed to grab hold of Polly's ankle and yank her off the counter but not before her foot flew out and kicked Lizzie's chin. Lizzie let out a loud yelp. The chain around her neck broke, sending her crystal pendant flying through the air. She screeched and hurried after it, catching it just before it could roll into a floor vent.
Sean's face turned purple when he saw it. He bent at the waist like a linebacker about to tackle the quarterback and ran toward Polly, who was on the floor struggling against Lizzie's grip. He grunted as he crashed into her.
Polly let out a loud wail and Wilma jumped on Sean’s back, swatting him with a rubber spatula she'd found.
"Do something, Sheriff," Warden Banks commanded.
Sheriff Knoxx looked at the chaos around him. He wasn't the type of person to become easily overwhelmed. He walked quickly but purposefully over to Sean and picked Wilma off his back, much to Sean's relief. He set her down and tried to separate Sean from Polly. Lizzie took the distraction to sneak up behind Polly and snap one handcuff over her wrist.
"This isn't fair!" Calista cried suddenly. "You can't arrest people without proof they did something." Calista ran over to Lizzie and stomped on her foot, much to everyone's surprise.
Lizzie shoved Calista backward. She stumbled over Rocky, who let out a loud bark. Rocky turned to run and accidentally ran right into my father, knocking him into the pastry table. His hand smashed into a plate of cocoa nibblers, making the table shake. He let out a yelp as the punch splashed over the side of the bowl, wetting his pants.
Snowball and Tootsie, possibly the two smartest creatures in the room, jumped behind the counter and hid. Colt and Lincoln were running in circles, trying to get everyone to come to their senses.
"Hey! That's my daughter!" Blossom shouted and threw a cookie at Lizzie, who was attempting to cuff Polly's other hand. The cookie smashed into her face, the crumbles momentarily blinding her. Edith helped Blossom continue chucking cookies at both Lizzie and Sean, alternating between sugar cookies and chocolate chip.
"Arrest the girl, too," Warden Banks yelled, and Sean made a beeline for Calista, momentarily forgetting Polly.
"That's not really fair, is it?" Trixie asked. "She's just a child."
"Quiet down, you old warthog," Warden Banks snapped.
Trixie's jaw dropped open. She reached for the top layer of cake.
"Trixie, no!" Colt shouted but it was too late. Trixie threw the cake right at the warden's head. It smashed into him, covering his entire face with cake and frosting. He wiped it away, letting out a loud, angry grunt.
Instead of siccing Lizzie or Sean on her, the warden ran at Trixie himself, his cuffs already in his hand.
"No!" Eleanor and I cried, running to intersect him. We all collided together in one giant heap and stuttered on our feet before falling together toward the cake.
"Look out!" Lucy and Lincoln cried. Lucy ran to try and catch the cake before it could fall but it was too late. The cake landed on the floor with a loud thud. The warden picked out a chunk of it with his hands and threw it at Trixie, who ducked just in time. It hit Lucy instead. She let out a shriek and dove for the sweet, gooey, pile, where she grabbed a hunk of cake and flung it at the warden.
It was the world's largest food fight. Cake and frosting flew everywhere. No one was safe. When a glob of buttercream finally hit Sheriff Knoxx, he decided he'd had enough. He pulled Colt out of the pile of frosting he'd gotten stuck in and said something to him. Colt ran outside and returned a moment later holding his COMHA-issued superwand.
Most wizards didn't need wands. They were mostly for beginners, children, and dim-witches. But this wand was special. Colt held it over his head and yelled out something that sounded like, "King Rock Gut," but which I was fairly certain I had misheard entirely.
A minute later, a bolt of green lightning shot out of the crystal tip of his wand and the room was bathed in light. Everyone paused long enough to stop fighting and look at the light. It had a strangely calming effect, a lot like Snowball's purrs.
When the light finally faded, Warden Banks was back on his feet. "That's it!" he spat through a mouthful of buttercream. "You're all under arrest. For interfering with the arrest of a known criminal, for disorderly conduct, and for assaulting an officer of the law with cake and buttercream!"
There were a few giggles, mine among them. Warden Banks wiped a large dollop of frosting from his face and glared at me. "You won't think it's so funny when you're sitting in jail," he said and stomped out of the room.
* * *
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
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I tapped my nails against the bars. They made little clinking noises. The others looked at me with irritation. I pulled my hand back and set it by my side on the cot.
"Sorry," I muttered.
Lucy was sitting next to me, her arms crossed over her chest. A strand of hair had fallen across her eye
s and she didn't bother to push it away. Her head began to tilt to the side. Her breaths were deep and even. Her whole body began to tilt with her head. She leaned against me, her nose buried in my hair, and let out a loud snore. I pushed her away. She jumped up, righting herself and blinking rapidly.
"What happened?" she muttered, looking groggily around her.
"You fell asleep," I said, irritated. "How can you sleep in here? This cot is as hard as a frying pan."
She shrugged. "I'm tired. And it's not like we're going anywhere."
"At least we're not in Swords and Bones," Polly said.
She was sitting as far as possible away from us. Very clear lines had been drawn in the aftermath of the cake fight, each side somehow blaming the other. Calista, Polly, Wilma, Edith, and Blossom were on one side; me, Lucy, my dad, Eleanor, and Trixie were on the other. The seats we'd selected in the cell reflected that. If only the cell had been bigger, we wouldn't have had to look at each other. I wasn't exactly sure when Calista and Polly had become best buddies but I supposed it had been somewhere between the frosting and the vanilla bean cake. They sat huddled together, glaring at me and Lucy as if we were somehow responsible for getting us locked up in here.
Warden Banks had wanted us all split up into different cells, and part of me couldn't help but wonder if that would have been better. But Sweetland Cove was small. The sheriff's station only had two holding cells, and one of them was currently being used for storage.
"I still can't believe Zane put us in here." Eleanor’s face had been red since we'd arrived at the sheriff's station.
