Adventure Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Book 3)

by Constance Barker

  “We’re still looking over the scene to see if we can find any more clues to point us in the right direction, but right now, Mira is all we got,” Blaine explained as he wiped his hands on his napkin. “It’s not the best situation, I know, but it’s only for the time being. We don’t plan to arrest her or anything. We’re just trying to get some more information right now.”

  Even though she stayed silent, Thea agreed with him on that point. This was horrible for everyone involved. She didn’t like how distraught Pippa was when she came running into her shop and explained everything going on. Seeing her friend like that didn’t sit right in her heart.

  “Do you think you can help us out a bit, Thea?”

  Thea blinked, reemerging from her thoughts. When she tilted her head at him in confusion, he continued. He waited until there were no passing customers or servers before he asked.

  “Do you think you can... you know... talk to Mira a little bit? You already mentioned how you’ve known her for a long time. Maybe you can get her to open up, since you’re a more familiar and sympathetic face.”

  Thea shrugged. “I mean, I can try. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t want to talk to me.”

  “If you can get anything out of her, that would be helpful,” Blaine responded honestly. “We don’t have much right now and she’s our best hope at trying to figure out what happened.”

  At that, she nodded. After their lunch, she decided that she was going to go and talk to Mira. Thea desperately hoped that the girl wasn’t involved in a murder. She knew that would crush Pippa.

  Although she didn’t know the specific issues the fox shifters and wolf shifters had with one another, she hoped that their bad blood wasn’t a reason why a young man had lost his life.

  Chapter 4

  After leaving Witt’s End Diner, Thea hurried over to A Novel Idea to ask Pippa where she could find Mira. If anybody was going to know her whereabouts, it would be her.

  Fortunately enough for her, when she made it through the door, she realized that both the Paulson sisters were together behind the counter of the shop. One of Pippa’s arms was wrapped around her younger sister, comforting her quietly. Looking up to see Thea, Pippa let out a small sigh of relief.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Pippa said gently, rubbing her sister’s shoulders. “It’s been really tough.”

  “I just wanted to drop by and see how Mira was doing,” Thea replied, turning towards the younger girl.

  Her eyes were downcast as she fiddled with her thumbs. As she drew closer, Thea noticed that Mira’s perfume carried a distinctive scent. She somewhat recognized it, considering Granny sometimes lit candles throughout their home with the same fragrance. Jasmine.

  Observing her up and down, Thea didn’t find it plausible that she would be capable of killing Tony. Regardless, she wanted to fulfill her promise to Blaine.

  “Did you know Tony?” Thea asked quietly, but loud enough for Mira to hear.

  Mira slowly picked her gaze up from the floor. “Sort of.”

  Raising a brow, Thea exchanged a look with Pippa. She patted her younger sister on the back, encouraging Thea to continue asking questions with a nod.

  “Do you know why the police were interrogating you about Tony’s death?” she prompted carefully, hoping that she wasn’t pushing it. “They must have found something that pointed to you, right?”

  Mira balled her fists and clenched her jaw. She stared hard at her shoes, unable to muster enough courage to face Thea directly.

  “I... I have a bracelet. It has a little fox charm and an M on it,” Mira explained, swallowing thickly before continuing. “And apparently... Tony had it in his pocket. They found it and now they think I had something to do with his murder.”

  Thea furrowed her eyebrows. “How did he get that bracelet? Did you give it to him?”

  Mira opened her mouth to respond, but decided against it. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, looking away to hide the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

  After seeing that reaction, Thea knew that she wasn’t going to get anything else out of her. She shifted her attention towards Pippa, who was doing her best to console her younger sister. Thea beckoned her over, wanting to speak with her alone.

  “Why is there so much secrecy between Mira and Tony?” Thea whispered, once they were a good distance away from Mira. “I think there was something going on between those two. Why else would Mira be acting like this?”

  Pippa glanced quickly over her shoulder, gazing at her little sister. “I was thinking the same thing. She won’t even tell me anything. I tried to ask her about it earlier but she just doesn’t say anything when I get that far.”

  “Do you think that she and Tony...?” Thea trailed off, staring at Mira.

  “Were dating?” Pippa concluded her thought. She brought her knuckles to her mouth in thought. “You know what? I think so. I mean, why else would he have her bracelet in his pocket? She doesn’t give out random gifts to strangers. At least, not to my knowledge.”

  “But what about this tension between the fox shifters and wolf shifters?” Thea pointed out. “Wouldn’t a romance between their members cause problems?”

  Pippa scratched at her cheek, wincing. “It’s not illegal for a fox shifter and a wolf shifter to start dating, but it’s definitely not encouraged. Neither side would be happy to find out about that.”

  Hearing this information, Thea decided to make her way back to Mira, who had been sulking near a bookshelf while they talked. Pippa hurried along after her.

  “Mira, I know this may sound like a crazy idea, but I think you should talk to Blaine Coburn. He’s one of the main detectives on this case,” Thea said bluntly, which caught the young girl by surprise.

  She frowned, staring at Thea as if she had lost it. “Why would I talk to him? I didn’t do anything.”

  “He’s a bear shifter,” Thea responded. Mira’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t judge you for falling in love with someone who isn’t your kind.”

  “I-I...” she stammered, taking shallow breaths as her eyes flickered from Thea to Pippa. Her cheeks began to turn a bright red.

  Pippa offered an encouraging smile. “Listen to her advice, Mira. Blaine is a great guy. He’s really trustworthy, too. He’s not going to make you feel bad, I promise.”

  Even though she wasn’t too keen on the idea, Mira figured that she would think about doing so. If it was going to get the police to leave her alone sooner, then by all means. She responded with a small shrug, which was more than enough for Thea and Pippa.

  With a quick look at the grandfather clock situated near the back of the shop, Thea decided that it was her time to leave. She needed to get back to A Stitch in Time. Jesse and Sybil were manning the shop by themselves.

  “I’ll talk to you later, Pippa,” Thea said, waving at the two of them. Only Pippa reciprocated, which was understandable.

  As she made her way back to her store, Thea contemplated the relationship between the fox shifters and the wolf shifters in Ardensville. She had lived in this town all her life, and yet, she had no clue what the deal was between those two communities. Why did they hate each other so much?

  She accepted the fact that she was going to have to conduct some impromptu research of her own to understand the complexities of this case. Not to mention, it would be nice to find out some history surrounding her best friend’s life.

  The shifter community was always an enigma to her. But Thea wanted to change that soon.

  Chapter 5

  “Oops! Sorry, Sybil!” Jesse said with a sheepish laugh, almost walking into the familiar as he made his way to the counter with a box full of supplies. “Didn’t see you there. You’re just so small.”

  “I’m not that small,” Sybil countered, hopping onto the counter and stretching her tiny body out. Jesse let out an amused snort. “Hey, stop laughing. I’m serious.”

  “Whatever you say,” he replied with a smile as he beg
an to restock supplies on the shelf.

  Before they knew it, Thea walked through the front door of the shop with her face flushed. She had hurried over as quickly as she could, her curiosity fueling her.

  “Do you two know anything about the shifters in this town?” Thea asked suddenly, catching Jesse and Sybil by surprise.

  Jesse responded first, with a confused slant to his words. “Isn’t... isn’t Blaine a shifter?”

  “Thea doesn’t know anything about her own boyfriend,” Sybil teased, prancing around on the counter playfully.

  Thea chuckled at Sybil, but then shook her head. “No, I’m not talking about bear shifters. They’re not the ones with a beef in this town. I’m talking about the fox shifters and the wolf shifters.”

  While Sybil recoiled at the mention of the wolf shifters, Jesse’s eyes lit up. He knew a fair amount about their history.

  “Oh, the fox shifters were some of the original founders of Ardensville. They helped build this town from the ground up,” he explained.

  Thea let out an impressed hum. “Really? I can’t believe I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, they were pretty important. The wolf shifters came along later and they tried to take over the town, but the fox shifters didn’t let them. That’s where their bad blood started. As revenge, the fox shifter community started to oppress the wolf shifters. They kept them out of housing and out of jobs as a way to keep them under control.”

  “Geez, that sounds horrible,” Sybil commented, curling up beside Thea’s arm. “I will never understand the point of perpetrating these centuries-old feuds.”

  “Tell me about it,” Thea responded, remembering their little blood feud incident that happened not too long ago.

  Jesse continued. “Eventually, the wolf shifters decided to start their own community on the outskirts of town. They mainly live in campers and trailers.”

  “Is that why we don’t hear much about them at all?” Thea asked.

  He nodded. “Based on what I know, the wolf shifters mainly keep to themselves. They don’t like to mingle with other communities all that much. I think they spend most of their time in their wolf forms anyway so that they can hunt in the woods freely. They prefer that over living normal human lives.”

  “They sound so different from the fox shifters,” Thea pointed out.

  “I know,” Jesse agreed as he leaned on the counter. “I was surprised to learn about all this. It’s pretty interesting. The fox shifters live in one or two neighborhoods in this town and they’re doing pretty well for themselves. They own nice homes and have their own businesses. Most of them are doing good.”

  “Jesse, how do you know so much about this?” Thea asked curiously, realizing that he must have conducted a lot of research in order to find out all this. “It sounds like you have some sort of degree in shifter feuds.”

  Sybil giggled while Jesse’s ears went pink.

  “Well...” he started, scratching at his neck awkwardly. “I wanted to understand Pippa a little more, you know? About her background as a fox shifter. I figured that I was going to need to know more about her if we were to ever....”

  “I get it,” Thea said with a smile. “That’s really nice of you, though. It shows that you care.”

  “So romantic!” Sybil piped up, her tail batting from side to side.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Jesse responded, waving off their comments before he became even more red in the face. “I also learned that romances between fox shifters and wolf shifters are not encouraged because of their bad history. Both of the communities wouldn’t like that to happen so they discourage it whenever they can.”

  “What about human and shifter relationships?” Sybil asked. “There shouldn’t be too much of a problem with that, right?”

  “I’m not sure. I have to continue researching and see if it’s happened in the past,” Jesse admitted.

  The smile was wiped clean off his face at the possibility of society looking down on his relationship with Pippa. He hoped that wouldn’t be the case. He already knew that a situation like that would gut him.

  “Is that all you managed to find out between fox shifter and wolf shifter relationships?” Thea asked, not finding enough satisfaction with his original answer. She figured that there had to be more between the two groups.

  Jesse nodded. “I spent a few days at the library reading everything I could about it. This is all that they mentioned.”

  Pressing her lips into a line, Thea decided that things must have been more complicated than that. She sensed a vehement dislike between the two communities. Thea knew that there was more history to be uncovered and she wanted to find out what it was.

  Taking her keys out of her pocket, she headed towards the door. “Jesse, do you mind closing up shop for today? I’m going to head home to talk to Granny.”

  “Already?” Jesse asked, perplexed. “I mean... sure! Does that mean I get the day off?”

  “Do whatever you want in your free time, the day is yours.” Thea responded as she exited the shop.

  She knew that Granny would have more information about the tensions between the groups. It was likely that there was a more pressing, underlying reason why the two groups did not like each other. To shun potential romances between wolf and fox shifters meant that the two communities held some deep rage for the other.

  She wanted to find out more. Granny, who was her own walking encyclopedia at this point, was going to have all the answers. Thea was sure of it.

  Chapter 6

  Thea watched as Granny poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, the vapor simmering off the liquid. Sybil was curled up next to her on the table, licking one of her paws silently.

  “So do you know anything about them, Granny?” Thea asked once more as Granny carried the steaming cup over to the dining table. “I want to understand more about this case.”

  “You’ve always been so curious,” Granny replied gently, following that up with a small smile. “Of course I know about the wolf shifter community. They’re an interesting bunch, I’ll tell you that. They’re probably the most mysterious group of residents this town has.”

  “They live on the outskirts of town, don’t they?”

  “Yes, they do,” Granny said, taking a small sip from her coffee. She suddenly rested her head on her hand as she thought back on what she knew. “Matter of fact, I think I remember how your father actually lived with the wolf shifters for a time. This was after your mother, Selena, went off to college in Chicago.”

  “He lived with them?” Thea repeated, balking at the idea. “But why would he want to do that? He was a human, wasn’t he? Why did the wolf shifters accept him into their community?”

  “Your father had his reasons for running off with the wolves. I assume he needed something to take his mind off the distance between himself and your mother,” Granny reasoned. “But most of all, he wanted to see if a human magic user could learn to become a shifter. The topic fascinated him.”

  Thea furrowed her eyebrows. The notion of her own father living with the wolf shifters seemed strange to her. She would have never guessed it possible.

  Granny hummed as she sipped her coffee. “He came back with all kinds of stories about that group of wolves. Because people didn’t know much about them, they just assumed the worst about the wolf shifters. Your father helped dispel a lot of myths and rumors about them.”

  “I heard that the fox shifters and the wolf shifters never got on very well,” Thea pointed out.

  Granny sat straighter in her chair. “Their history is long and complicated, that’s for sure. However, your father kept mentioning how the wolves always wanted to establish peace with the foxes. They were trying to maintain a calm coexistence with them, but the foxes never gave them the chance. They were always met with intimidation, manipulation, and aggression in return.”

  “And I assume that the wolf shifters still carry some sort of grudge against the fox shifters as a result?” Thea guessed.

  Af
ter hearing the differing perspectives of both sides, she wondered just how much of their stories were true and how much of them were an exaggeration to make the other side look bad. The main overlap was that the two groups did not like each other at all, but getting into the details was where things became a bit fuzzy.

  All in all, it seemed that the fox shifters viewed the wolf shifters as villains and vice versa. Her heart sank in her chest as she thought about Mira, realizing that the wolf shifters may want their vengeance for what happened to Tony if they believed she had something to do with his death.

  “You know, I think I remember a specific incident that happened between those groups. I doubt you’d remember. It happened a decade ago,” Granny said, which piqued Thea’s interest.

  She certainly didn’t remember anything. Otherwise, she would have used it to help progress the case along by now.

  “It happened so quickly and it really ruffled the feathers of everyone on both sides,” Granny explained. “Apparently, some young wolves got together and decided to attack a member of the fox shifters while they were out in the woods by themselves. They injured the fox and managed to get away in time. I don’t think that they were ever caught, now that I think about it. Or at least, it’s not openly known who was responsible for the attack.”

  It was as if a light bulb turned on in Thea’s head. That explanation made a lot more sense. She figured that something recent must have transpired between the two groups so that their members carried such heavy disdain for one another in the present day.

  What Granny told her was the missing link. The event was beginning to tie these things together.

  “Young wolves,” Thea mumbled out, as she absentmindedly picked at her bracelet. “Did everyone survive the attack?”