Witch Hunt

by Kate Allenton

  WITCH

  HUNT

  A Hex Sister Cozy Mystery

  Book 5

  (Margo)

  Kate Allenton

  Copyright © 2019 Kate Allenton

  All rights reserved.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Coastal Escape Publishing

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Margo

  Chapter 1

  I sat in the patch of green grass in the backyard garden. Keeping my eyes closed, I concentrated on clearing my mind by focusing on the scent of pine and roses drifting on the breeze. With each deep breath and slow exhale, I was calming and falling into a deeper state.

  The meditative process didn’t always work for me, but I was running out of options. Danger was coming, and I knew the reason why. My time in town was almost up. I could feel it in every fiber of my being and smell it on the wind. If I didn’t find the journals, we were all going to be doomed.

  So today I meditated.

  Visions of the last few weeks with my sisters flittered through my mind as I tried to clear the space. Tess finding out she was a witch and showing up at the Hexford Inn. She’d found happiness, returning from her vacation an engaged woman. Theo and I returned from our book hunt empty-handed. Georgia survived a killer, helped unite a family, and was informed of a secret room beneath the antique store. A secret room that could be hiding what I sought.

  The backyard was peaceful. It was my preferred place in the inn. Not many people came out here, not anymore, since a dead body was found in the well.

  I tried my best to block all of the neighborhood sounds of the barking dog and the lawnmower engines drifting on the wind, concentrating on the whisper of music in the leaves. A smile slid onto my lips from the faint noise, and I slowly let it all drift away.

  Emptiness and darkness filled the space in my mind as the musical notes dissipated. This was my comfort zone. Alone and at peace. My breathing steadied as my senses became in tune.

  A room appeared from the mists of my mind. The shadows lightened but only somewhat. I don’t know what room this is or where it might be. For all I knew it was some place special for my father. The room reminded me of a library. Books lined the shelves all around me. There were no windows, just wood tables and chairs. Several books sat open at one end of the table. A tray with a coffee pot and two cups rested near the end where my dad and I normally sat.

  Normally when I arrived at this place, I found my dad sitting in one of the chairs waiting for me. Not today; today he paced from one end of the room to the other. The spell between us was still strong, our connection never ending.

  “Did you find the pages?” my father asked while he wore a path in the carpet. Every time we met, he wore the same outfit. His facial hair never seemed to change. He towered over me like a looming force. Tess had inherited his bright smile, although it had been ages since I’d seen it, Georgia, his dimples and impatience, and I had inherited his ocean-colored deep blue eyes. There was a little of him in each of us.

  “No. I’ve looked everywhere, except the locked Hexford room at the coven grounds.”

  His pacing stilled, and disappointment settled in the fine lines of his face. I’d seen it before. He was a caring man, although he would never be classified as father of the year. He was frustrated that he was locked away and I couldn’t find the key. “You’re running out of time, Margo. You have to find the book. Maybe it’s time to ask your sisters for help.”

  That wasn’t happening. Not that I didn’t think they were strong enough. They were, but if they knew I was hiding this secret from them, they wouldn’t trust me, and their trust was something I needed now more than anything else. It was the only way we’d save our dad. “I can do this without them.”

  My father closed the distance between us. The fine lines of his face looked more weathered today than the last time I’d seen him. His eyes held less shine. His astral projection was fading. Worry was consuming him. He rested his warm palm on my cheek. “I have faith in you, but you're running out of time. You promised to be nowhere near that town when the witch wars start. Leveraging you and your sisters is his end game. It’s the only way he’ll get me to talk.”

  I pressed my lips together and gave him a resolute nod. I would find the book, the pages, and the spell.

  Agony filled his face as my father grabbed his side and fell to his knees. In this magical place we met, my father blocked his injuries from me, only projecting his presence in a way I knew him. I knew his torture continued all because I hadn’t succeeded—yet.

  “Dad, are you okay?”

  His kept his gaze lowered to the ground, refusing to show me his pain. “Say it.”

  We’d been doing this song and dance for years. “I know what to do, Dad.”

  “Just say it,” he growled as his hand landed with a smack on the ground to keep himself sitting upright when the next wave of torture commenced.

  “Find the spell and get out of town.”

  He slowly lifted his gaze. His jaw ticked and tightened. “Find the spell and burn it.”

  “Find the spell—”

  “You’re leaving town?”

  Tess’s voice broke into my sacred space, pulling me out of my connection with our dad. I slowly opened my eyes trying to hide the disappointment on my face. Georgia and Tess were staring down at me.

  “You were talking to our dad?” Tess asked. Confusion riddled her face.

  I pushed myself off the ground and wiped the grass from my butt. “I always talk to Dad when I meditate. Focusing on one person helps to clear my head.”

  “What spell are you trying to find so you can leave town?” Georgia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

  The last thing I needed was to give Georgia a reason to be suspicious. She’d turn her laser focus on me with her hard-headed determination. She’d attack like a squirrel trying to climb up a greased-up bird feeder pole. She’d find a way to get the answers she needed.

  “It’s nothing,” I answered, walking into the kitchen through the opened French doors. “You guys know I came to find a painting and the spell.”

  “And we destroyed it,” Tess said.

  “So what aren’t you telling us?” Georgia asked, moving to block my exit to the rest of the house. She was always on the off
ensive and two steps ahead. She was going to be the hardest one to predict.

  The answer to her question would have required more time than any of us had. My mouth parted, and then I snapped it closed, withholding my answer.

  “And why would you want to leave us?” Tess asked.

  “I have a home to go back to. I never intended to stay forever.” I answered with the truth. The fewer lies I used, the easier it would be to keep everything straight. “Are you guys ready to go to the antique store and find the secret room?”

  “You’re avoiding my question,” Georgia bemoaned.

  “What I’m not telling you is that I plan to stop this killer that’s coming any way I can, even if it includes using Mildred’s grimoire or painting another death omen.”

  Georgia and Tess shared a concerned look, and I refused to back down. Appeasing my sisters was low on my totem pole of worries.

  “Tell you what. You guys can stay here and debate if I have an ulterior motive, and I’ll go look for the secret room myself.” I grabbed a cookie out of the magical cookie jar and took a bite as I headed down the hallway.

  Okay, so maybe this wasn’t my brightest idea. If they didn’t follow me, I’d have to break into the antique store, seeing how Georgia owned it and I didn’t. Regardless, I’d find a way. Grabbing my keys from the foyer, I headed out of the house to my car.

  My sisters followed behind. They were opening their doors and climbing inside when I stilled.

  The familiar scent of his cologne washed over me and blanketed me like a ghost from the past. I froze with my fingers on the door handle. Oh…no. Not now. Not when I was this close. I shook off the familiar feeling and yanked my door open.

  Get ready. I’m coming for you. The faint whisper of words settled in my mind. This was one ghost from my past that could ruin everything—if he didn’t stay dead.

  Chapter 2

  Our latest mission was a treasure hunt. Only what we were hunting probably didn’t contain treasure, more like booby traps waiting to deploy. Auntie B insisted a hidden room lay beneath the antique store, so we were searching for one like a kid looking for backyard treasures, only we all knew that our Grandmother Mildred’s hidden treasures came with strings. And ours were being pulled again.

  “Judging by the plans, it looks like there should be a door right here,” Georgia said, gesturing to a wall in the back room.

  A bookcase sat in front of it with tons of knickknacks and books, on everything from magic to learning love spells. As if that was something I’d ever need. Nope. Not for me, and neither was the baby that Mildred was insisting I’d have. Stupid woman.

  Georgia had been uncharacteristically quiet on the ride over. I could almost see the wheels turning as she ran different scenarios in her head. Georgia had been gifted with a suspicious curiosity. I was on the verge of losing her trust. Tess, on the other hand, had been droning on and on about potential wedding ideas. We were all in different spaces, but not when it came to Mildred’s antics.

  I glanced down at the building plans and sighed. The door should have been there, but nothing was ever easy with Mildred. Was it too much to ask for explicit instructions?

  “Maybe it got sealed up?” I offered.

  “Maybe,” Tess said as she started moving things off the bookshelf to get a better view. “Maybe not.”

  Georgia and I helped to clear the entire shelf, removing knickknacks until only one music box remained. I tried to pull it free, and it wouldn’t budge.

  “That sucker seems to be glued on,” I said.

  “Maybe that’s the point.” Georgia lifted the lid, and we all stared in silent confusion as three witch figurines popped up and started turning in place while chanting a spell, much like a ballerina would dance.

  “Get ready to run. We may have released the Kraken.” I grabbed both Georgia’s and Tess’s arms and pulled them back and out of harm's way just as the bricks in the wall began to creak and shift open.

  “It’s just a secret passage,” Georgia said.

  “I’m sure any monsters she had down there have died of starvation.” Tess chuckled.

  “You say that now, but there’s no telling what she’s got chained up down there in the dark,” I whispered, pulling out my cell phone and turning on the flashlight app. I slowly stepped into the opening. My light shined on a set of stairs leading farther down into the pitch-black abyss.

  My hand slid around the drywall until I found the light switch, and I flicked it on, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

  “This must lead to a basement,” Georgia announced.

  I wasn’t as fast to follow my sisters into the unknown. Mildred was a master manipulator. There was no telling what she had in store for us.

  We reached the bottom to find an empty, dusty basement. Four brick walls with dirt on the floor. Spider webs the size of a European-sized car hung in one of the corners, making me shiver. I ran my fingers through my hair in the event I’d come into contact with the creator.

  “Maybe it’s spelled too?” I suggested. No way did Mildred believe in anything easy.

  “Or booby-trapped,” Tess said, gingerly walking to the middle of the room with her fingers wrapped around the pendant resting on her chest. The pendant stifled magic, and she might actually need to use some to defend herself. With each step, she waited as if expecting her footsteps might trigger a nefarious trap that would kill all of us, like had been tried with Indiana Jones.

  She reached the middle and turned in place. The fine lines on her face eased. “It’s just an empty room.”

  “Maybe it’s nothing but the center of town,” I said, wiping the dusty floor with my foot. Something was written in the concrete. I jogged back upstairs into the office and grabbed a broom. Returning, I swept the dirt and grime away, revealing a single sentence on the floor. I whispered the words to myself, and the room around us changed. It started to appear before our eyes, flickering like a loose light bulb before vanishing from sight.

  “What did you do?” Tess asked as she and Georgia moved closer to me.

  I grabbed their hands and nodded toward the spell book. This time we chanted it together, not breaking our handhold until the entire room appeared.

  In the center of the room was a stand with a book similar, if not identical to, our family grimoire, only much bigger and older. Lavish furnishings filled the space from tapestries hanging on the wall with the intricate Hexford family crest to another wall that contained bookshelves spanning from the ceiling to the floor. Their leather bindings were old and cracked and missing book names on the binding. My breath caught, and my heart raced. One of those books could contain the spell I needed.

  On the third wall was a shelf containing jars filled with a variety of what looked to be herbs and other strange things. A list of names was etched into that wall. The fourth was a carving in the stone of twisted and turning lines.

  I moved closer to the herbs, ignoring some of the strange names on the labels, and came to stand before the names. I ran my finger down the list until I found what I was looking for. I tapped the wall. “Our names are listed.”

  “Either Mildred or maybe even our dad, must have worked their witchcraft down here,” Tess said.

  “Why would they need a special room to work their magic if the inn was probably loaded with it?” I moved to the bookshelf and pulled a book down. I blew off a thick coat of dust that covered the leather and pages before flipping it open to the first page.

  My mouth parted as I read the first page. “Angelica Hexford’s Grimoire.” I glanced over at my sisters. “Anyone heard of her?”

  They both shook their heads as they continued exploring just like I was doing.

  I flipped the pages to find spells and pictures of things that I’d only seen in scary movies. I put the book back on the shelf and went to the last book listed. Hoping the books might be in some type of chronological order; I slipped it free and opened the cover. My heart sank. It wasn’t my father’s. It wasn’t even a family n
ame I knew.

  “Auntie B said that the center of town was magical. Maybe that’s why they worked their magic from here,” Georgia suggested, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Whatever magic she thought this place had, I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t see a reason why these things couldn’t be recreated at the inn. Granted, it would take forever just to transfer the squiggly lines and names burned into one of the walls.

  I snapped the book closed and returned it to the shelf.

  “Come read this,” Tess said, gesturing us to where she stood in front of the podium. The grimoire that looked similar to ours was opened. She’d flipped the book back to the front page, where a single spell was written.

  To see what can’t be seen. Did we really want to read a spell and know what else was in this room with us? We hadn’t come this far to turn back and run.

  We said the words together, and the concrete beneath our feet glowed to life.

  We backed up as the floor began glowing in the same color blue we’ve only seen when magic transfers from one witch to another upon their death. Our family crest glowed the same color.

  “It is magical.”

  Heat claimed my body as the color moved like a living thing and wrapped around us, climbing and twisting around our bodies like a vine. It stopped at our throats before the fog-like substance vanished from sight. We all dropped to our knees.

  “What the hell was that?” Georgia asked.

  “That was similar to what happens when a witch dies and transfers her powers,” Tess answered.

  She would know. She had another witch’s powers hovering beneath the surface of her skin. Did that mean that now we all did?

  “That’s exactly what happened,” Auntie B said from the top of the stairs. “These walls, and all of the contents within it, contain centuries of spells and abilities from the women and men that have come before you.” Auntie B stepped off the last stair. “And you just absorbed them.”