Dead Over Heels

by Lily Webb

  “So, do you think he’s back to his old ways, then?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t put it past him. I mean, what else is a guy like that supposed to do after several years behind bars?”

  “Good point, but isn’t that a little, well, shortsighted on his part? If I were in his robes, I don’t think I’d be in a hurry to go back to prison, so assuming Marcus is smuggling again, he must have a pretty sound reason to do it.”

  Zoe shrugged. “I dunno about that. He probably has no money, and his old trade is likely the easiest and most lucrative method he’s got to make any. That’s probably more than enough motivation for someone in his situation.”

  “Maybe, but who would hire him to smuggle things when he’s gotten caught for it once already?”

  “Probably someone who needs to move merchandise that no one else is desperate enough to touch — someone who’d associate with an organization like the Black Brotherhood.”

  “Do you really think they’re behind all this?” I asked, finding it hard to believe that some cult of warlocks could have such far-reaching power and influence, especially after Zoe allegedly destroyed the organization. However, that was years ago, which was probably more than enough time for a cult to regroup and recruit new members, but it all still seemed so farfetched to me.

  “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but don’t underestimate them. There’s a lot about the Brotherhood that no one but me and a few members of Moon Grove’s leadership know. Believe me when I say there are truly no lengths they wouldn’t go to.”

  “Okay, but what if it isn’t them? What if it’s some copycat group or, more likely, just a personal crime? It sounds like Rory had plenty of people who’d want to hurt her, and there are probably dozens more that we don’t know about given her line of work.”

  Zoe shook her head. “No, there are way too many red flags for this all to be coincidental. I’m willing to consider that these Brotherhood connections could be intentional misdirects, but even if they are, that doesn’t make me feel any better because that means whoever’s behind this is really dangerous.”

  “What on Earth could Rory have found out that got her killed?” I wondered aloud, bewildered.

  “Or what had she seen?” Zoe asked. “Don’t forget: one of Blackwood’s security guards found her body on the edges of his property. I don’t know exactly where, but you saw the mountains surrounding his mansion. Rory could’ve been staking the place out when whoever killed her caught up with her.”

  I sighed. “Too bad Blackwood will never talk to us or let us anywhere near his property again to find out.”

  Zoe waved me away. “There are other ways to get information. Lots of them, in fact. Anyway, how are you holding up? I feel like I’m running you ragged all over town today.”

  I laughed as I realized that this was the first time all day I’d slowed down long enough to feel how exhausted I really was. I’d barely slept the night before, and the energy from the cappuccino I’d scarfed from Kindred Spirits — that I hadn’t even gotten to finish drinking — had long since worn off. The heat definitely wasn’t helping, either.

  “Your silence speaks volumes,” Zoe said and laughed as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Why don’t we go back to the inn and rest up for a bit? Lilith knows we’ve got plenty to chew on.”

  “Good idea. Besides, I’m sure Jadis is dying to know where we are and what we’ve been doing,” I said as I reached into my robes for my phone. Sure enough, when I powered up the screen, I found a dozen texts from Jadis screaming at me. Without reading it, I tapped out a reply to the most recent message: “Hey, sorry for going incognito. Zoe and I are heading back to KS now.” I pressed send and tucked my phone away, even as it vibrated with Jadis’ instant reply.

  “True, and you’ve got a gift to bring back to someone special, remember?” she asked, bringing to mind the fountain pen Marcus had given me. Until then, I’d completely forgotten about it. “All right, hold on tight. We’re getting out of here,” Zoe continued, but I shrugged out from her grip when I heard shouting coming from somewhere in the direction of the town square.

  “Wait, did you hear that?” I asked, straining my ears to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. When I heard a fresh round of shouts, somehow I knew we couldn’t afford to ignore it. A fresh surge of adrenaline coursed through me, blasting away the fog of exhaustion that’d settled over me just a few moments prior. “It’s gotta be coming from the town square. Come on, let’s go check it out,” I said and hurried back up Stardust Street toward the source.

  Unsurprisingly, Zoe didn’t object, so we reached the square quickly. Nothing looked out of place at first glance. My throat constricted, however, when I saw Officer Aimes on the far side of the square in what was clearly a shouting match — with Marcus Drach.

  “Well, I guess now we know who Aimes’ ‘person of interest’ was,” Zoe said as she took in the scene. She was probably right. But I had to wonder what Aimes had said or done to Marcus to make him so angry that he’d lose it like this — and what a temper like that could do if unleashed in the wrong way. “Should we step in?” Zoe asked, but I didn’t honestly know how to answer because I worried inserting ourselves into the altercation might escalate things further.

  “I dunno. I think Officer Aimes can handle herself for now,” I said, “but we should probably keep watch, just in case.”

  Zoe nodded. So we stood rooted to the spot, neither of us unable to peel our eyes away from the scene. Marcus had already zipped up his suitcase full of trinkets and looked like he was getting ready to leave, but Aimes didn’t seem like she was ready to let him go. The two of them had stopped shouting, or at least had lowered their voices enough that we couldn’t hear them from across the square anymore, but judging from how much both of their mouths were still moving, the interaction wasn’t over.

  But then, as if he’d felt our eyes on them, Marcus glanced over Aimes’ shoulder directly at Zoe and me. Probably sensing a way out of the conversation with the officer, Marcus pointed at us and waved.

  “Oh no,” I groaned. Despite Marcus continuing to wave at us, Officer Aimes never took her eyes off him — no doubt a part of her police training — making me realize that, like it or not, Zoe and I had to join the conversation now.

  “Might not be such a bad thing,” Zoe said. “I’m dying to know what got Marcus all riled up.”

  “Can’t you hear his thoughts from here?”

  “Normally, yeah, but I can’t hear anything coming from either of them. I already know the cops blocked their thoughts from me, but Marcus is new. Most of what I heard from him earlier today was nonsense that I didn’t pay attention to.”

  “So, what? Are you like, out of range of him or something?”

  Zoe laughed and shrugged. “Maybe, but that would be a first. I think it’s much more likely that Marcus here is guarding his thoughts now too — I just don’t know how or why.”

  “Oh, I can think of a million reasons someone like him might want to hide what they’re thinking.”

  “Good point. We’d better not let this opportunity pass us by then. Come on,” Zoe said and headed toward Marcus and Aimes without waiting for me to follow, but I had no intention of missing out on this conversation, whatever it ended up being, so I hurried after her.

  “Everything okay here, Officer Aimes?” Zoe asked as we reached the Aimes’ side.

  Aimes shot a quick glance at us and barely hid her smirk. “Hello again, ladies. Thanks for your concern, but everything’s fine. Or it will be once Mr. Drach here collects his things and gets moving. As he’s well aware, we don’t allow solicitation in the town square.”

  Marcus huffed as he heaved his suitcase over one shoulder. “Clearly, things have changed in Starfall Valley,” he snapped, glaring at Officer Aimes.

  “You’re right, they have. That happens when you spend a few years away,” Aimes fired back, and Marcus scowled at the thinly veiled comment targeted at his prison stay. “But I mean it, Mr.
Drach. If I catch you out here trying to hawk your junk again, there won’t be another warning. Do you understand?” Aimes asked, resting her hands on her belt to illustrate she meant business.

  “I understand perfectly. Thank you very much,” Marcus said.

  “Good, then I’ll be on my way. See you around, ladies. Stay out of trouble,” Aimes said and winked at us before she left the square like she and Marcus hadn’t just been shouting each other down. Marcus, however, stayed put, which was all the same to me because I had a lot I wanted to ask him.

  “What was that all about?” I asked as soon as Zoe and I were alone with Marcus again.

  Marcus stuck his nose in the air and stood as straight as the heavy suitcase on his shoulder would allow. “Red tape run rampant. Nothing more.”

  “It sounded like a lot more than that to me,” Zoe mumbled. Though I agreed, I knew better than to say so. We had a slim opportunity to get Marcus to open up to us, and after everything Officer Dunham had told us about him, I wanted to take advantage of it now more than ever.

  “I don’t understand why it’s fine for you to sell your stuff on any other street corner but this one,” I said sympathetically, and Marcus’ expression softened into the beginnings of a smile.

  “My sentiments exactly,” he said. “However, I feel this has less to do with my business than my reputation.”

  Playing dumb, I raised an eyebrow at him. “What reputation? Sorry, I’m relatively new to town.”

  Marcus considered me for a moment before glancing at Zoe. “I didn’t think you two looked familiar, but as the officer so kindly pointed out, I’ve been gone for a few years.”

  “Did you move?” I asked, keeping the dumb act going. Amazingly, Marcus seemed to buy it.

  “It’s almost shocking to come across someone who doesn’t know about my past life,” he said. “I don’t like to talk about it — I’m a reformed man, after — but I spent some time in prison.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you’re turning things around,” I said, and offered him the most sincere smile I could muster, as if I didn’t already know all this. It wasn’t likely that Marcus would tell us anything new, but if I buttered him up enough, he might let something slip.

  “If only everyone were so willing to extend a warlock a second chance,” Marcus said, and returned my smile.

  “How long have you been back in town?”

  “Only a few weeks,” Marcus said, surprising me. I didn’t realize the police in Moon Grove had released him so recently. “It hasn’t been long, but it’s been enough time to collect a few enchanting items, as you’ve already seen. Are you enjoying the pen I gave you?”

  “I actually haven’t gotten the chance to use it yet, but I’m sure it’s great. So anyway, what happened with the officer? We heard shouting from down the street.”

  “She attempted to disparage my character,” Marcus said, and his upper lip curled. “I was only defending myself, however loudly. I may once have been a criminal, a fact of which I’m plenty ashamed, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be one for the rest of my life. She didn’t want to hear it.”

  “What did she say?”

  Marcus hesitated. “She implicated me in the death of poor Rory Hallewell. Preposterous!”

  Zoe and I swapped shocked expressions. Did Aimes really have dirt on Marcus, or was she just saying she did to upset him and chase him out of the square? Thanks to the block on Aimes’ thoughts, we might never know — unless Marcus felt like sharing, verbally or otherwise. Having read my thoughts, Zoe shook her head so gently that only I would’ve noticed, dashing my hopes and convincing me I had to keep Marcus talking if we were going to learn anything.

  “What? Really? But I heard they found that witch’s body on Mr. Blackwood’s property, and it’s not like you’d be selling anything there,” I said.

  “Exactly! Thank you. While Rory and I certainly have a complicated history, if it weren’t for her, I might still be living an unsavory lifestyle. I have her to thank for this new chapter,” Marcus said, which seemed like one heck of a stretch to me.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, desperate to hear more.

  “Rory Hallewell was a paranormal investigator. She caught me in a smuggling scheme and put me in prison. Like I said, I’m not proud of it, but it gave me a new perspective, and for that I’ll always be thankful.”

  In all his unexpected honesty, Marcus sure didn’t sound angry enough at Rory to have hurt her. Still, and maybe it was prejudicial of me to think that way, I couldn’t divorce what he was saying from what I’d learned about his history, nor Zoe’s theory that he might be up to his old tricks.

  “Then what do you think happened to her?” I asked innocently.

  Marcus looked around the square nervously, confirming that no one else was around to hear. He leaned closer to me. “Consider where the authorities found Rory’s body and ask yourself that question,” he muttered, then snapped up as if he’d never said it. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must go before that onerous officer returns. I don’t want to find myself on the wrong side of the law again,” he continued, and walked off to find a more friendly place to sell his goods, leaving Zoe and me as bewildered as the first time we’d talked to him.

  Rather than try to make sense of, well, anything I’d learned throughout the day, I massaged my forehead. “My head hurts. Let’s go home,” I said to Zoe, who chuckled and pulled me into her.

  “Sure thing, but I’ve gotta say that was an Oscar-worthy performance of stupidity. And here I thought I had acting skills,” she said as she fished out her wand and muttered the teleportation spell.

  All I could do was smile as the world twisted and turned around me.

  Chapter 8

  In the short time it took us to warp magically from Starfall’s town square to Kindred Spirits’ front steps, exhaustion gripped me. Unluckily for me, Jadis came pouring out of the inn less than thirty seconds after we’d arrived, and the scowl on her face told me she wasn’t happy with me.

  “How could you leave without me this morning?” she demanded with her hands on her hips. “And why haven’t you been answering my texts? You had me worried sick!”

  “I’m sorry. Things just moved quickly. Anyway, let’s go inside. It’s hot as Hades out here, and I need to sit down. Besides, we’ve got plenty to fill you in on,” I said and pushed past her. But Jadis wasn’t having it; she peppered us with questions about everything, so we told her everything we knew as we made our way to the dining room in the west wing.

  “Wait, so you’re telling me that Rory has a twin brother who got caught up in a smuggling scheme with a warlock who’s now selling trinkets on the streets of Starfall after getting out of prison?”

  “Yeah, that’s the long and short of what we’ve learned today,” Zoe laughed as she took a seat at the dining table. I collapsed into the chair next to hers and resisted the urge to rest my head on the table — because if I did, I’d probably fall asleep.

  “I take it the heat got to you?” Jadis asked as she rubbed my back.

  “That and a general lack of sleep, yeah.”

  “Ah, you’re back!” Aunt Blair shouted from behind us as she entered the kitchen with Aunt Kiki. “I thought I heard some commotion. How was your day?”

  “Exhausting,” I answered without looking at them, but when an arm wrapped around me, I glanced up and found Thorn smiling at me.

  “Hey,” he said, and squeezed my shoulder.

  Unable to help myself, I returned the smile and pulled him into a hug. “Hey,” I mumbled into his shoulder. “Oh, that reminds me! I brought something back for you.” It took more time than I would’ve liked to find the fountain pen wound up in my sweaty robes, but eventually my fingers grazed it. I held it out to Thorn, who stared down at it quizzically. “Allegedly, this pen once belonged to Angus Moon,” I said like I had any clue who that was.

  Thorn’s blue eyes shot open. “What? Seriously? The Angus Moon?” he asked as he
snatched the pen from my hand to hold it up to the light and examine it. “Where did you get this?”

  “From a super weird street vendor.”

  “Selena… This must have cost an arm and a wand!”

  “It was free, actually.”

  “Oh,” Thorn said, and his expression fell. “Well, then it’s probably not authentic. But I, uh, still appreciate it a lot,” he said and tucked the pen away to smile at Zoe. “Anyway, I’m Thorn, Selena’s boyfriend and Kindred Spirits’ PR person. I was too busy yesterday to introduce myself, but it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Clarke. You’re an inspiration.”

  Zoe waved him away. “It’s nice to meet you too, Thorn, but I’m nothing special. Just a nosy witch.”

  “Then it’s no wonder you and Selena have taken so well to each other,” Aunt Blair taunted as she stood across from us with Kiki, who looked like she’d just met one of her biggest heroes.

  “To be fair, I don’t think either of us is nosy by choice,” I said. “Zoe can’t really control the thoughts she hears, and I definitely can’t control my visions.”

  “I know, love. I’m only teasing. Anyway, can we get you anything, Zoe? Maybe some iced tea to cool off?”

  “That would be great, thank you.”

  “Coming right up,” Blair said, and whisked away to the kitchen, leaving Kiki staring excitedly at Zoe like a puppy dog. Unable to help herself, Kiki dashed around the table in a blur of blue curls to Zoe.

  “It’s such an honor to meet you, Zoe. I don’t think you understand how big of a fan Blair and I are,” she said, speaking so quickly that I barely understood her. “I mean, Moon Grove has you to thank for so much. You know, when I was a young witch, I lived there for a while and though I thought the town was lovely, the society seemed a tad old-fashioned for my liking—”

  “Aunt Kiki!” I interrupted her anxious babble. “I don’t think that’s very nice of you.”

  Zoe, however, burst out laughing. “Oh, I’m not offended by that at all. I thought the same thing when I first got to town. A lot of things have changed for the better since then, but I don’t think Moon Grove will ever be able to give up all its traditional ways.”