by Lily Webb
“Well, I don’t know about that! Before you came along, only witches and warlocks ran the town, and now look at your Council! It has the most diverse leadership group in all the magical world. Things there certainly look better than they do here,” Kiki said. “I mean, I like Mayor Nash well enough, but I’m not thrilled his only challenger in our election is a wealthy young warlock,” she continued until I shot her a warning look.
Kiki cleared her throat and swished her hand through the air. “Oh, but dear Lilith, here I am talking your ear off about politics, which after everything you’ve been through is the last thing you want to hear about — especially since you’re not even in office anymore. Forgive me; I’m just star-struck so I can’t help the nervous chatter!”
Thankfully, Aunt Blair swished back into the kitchen, carrying a tray with a large iced tea pitcher and several glasses. “I brought some for everyone. I thought it might be nice to sit and chat since we haven’t gotten the chance yet.”
“That sounds great, but I need to check on Luna first, if you don’t mind,” Zoe said, pointing over her shoulder toward the stairs.
“Oh, she’s doing just fine. She’s made herself at home in your suite with some room service,” Jadis said with a wide smile.
Zoe raised her brows. “Room service? How in Lilith’s name did she get that?”
Aunt Kiki shrugged. “Simple. She knocked the phone off the table and dialed. So, how could we say no to that purrfect little voice?”
Zoe sighed and shook her head. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, but I’m gonna mute that cat someday,” she said, and we all laughed.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a spell for that,” Jadis said, then glanced at Kiki. “It’s Confuto, right?” she asked.
“Exactly,” Kiki said, beaming.
“Been doing some research while we were gone, huh?” I asked Jadis, and she winked at me.
“Actually, Kiki’s been giving me some private lessons. We haven’t tried that spell yet, but I remember seeing it in a grimoire or something,” Jadis answered.
“Oh, good for you. You’ll have to show me what you can do sometime. Lilith knows I could use some extra study.”
Aunt Blair set the tray down in the middle of everyone just as a noise somewhere between a mix of screeching and cackling echoed into the room from the foyer. A moment later, Lox and Keez came barrelling into the dining room in a ball of chaos with Luna hot on their tails — literally, because the imps were dangling their knotted tails above the cat’s head, taunting her. Despite her best jumping efforts, Luna couldn’t seem to connect her paws to the imps’ tails, and every time she tried, the devious demons burst into another round of screeching, hysterical laughter.
They hurtled over the dining room table, and Luna didn’t miss a beat. She leaped onto the surface and darted across it, sending our tray of tea and mugs scattering as she launched into the air — only for Zoe to snatch her right out of it.
“Luna! What in Lilith’s name is wrong with you?” Zoe snapped as she held the cat above her head and glared at her.
“It’s not a big deal, Zoe, really,” Blair said. She pulled out her wand and waved it over the mess, which instantly righted itself. “See? Everything’s fine. Luna’s just having a bit of fun.”
“Uh, yeah, what she said,” Luna squeaked, with her paws dangling helplessly.
“I’m not buying it. What were you really up to?” Zoe asked, staring at Luna right in her neon-blue eyes.
“Nothing. Not a thing.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Okay, okay, fine. Those two balls of terror broke into our room and stole my fork!” Luna shouted, and the imps devolved into another terrifying round of laughter as they tumbled through the air.
“Sneak and steal! Sneak and steal! Sneak and steal!” Keez squealed through her laughter, and I glanced up to find her clutching a shiny three-pronged fork.
I caught Zoe’s eye and pointed at Keez. “Looks like Luna’s not lying. I told you the imps will steal anything shiny they can get their greedy little claws on.”
Zoe’s eyes shot from Luna to the imps and back. “What the heck were you doing with a fork, anyway? It’s not like your little pitter paws can use it.”
“Lucky for those imps,” Luna said, and I snorted.
“Lox, Keez, give Luna back her fork,” Aunt Blair, who seemed to be the only person in all of Kindred Spirits the imps would listen to, ordered.
“B-but Blair, fork so shiny! Imps keep!” Keez protested.
“Give it back,” Blair snapped, and Lox and Keez exchanged looks.
“If four legs want fork, four legs come get it!” Keez shouted and buzzed out the dining room door, dragging Lox along with her by their interlocked tails. With wild eyes, Luna squirmed out of Zoe’s grasp and darted out of the room after the imps, leaving Zoe’s arms slashed.
“Luna! Get back here!” Zoe called as she dashed after the cat.
“So much for rest and conversation,” Blair sighed as she massaged her forehead.
“We’d probably better help Zoe track Luna down and get Lox and Keez under control,” Kiki said.
Blair shook her wand in her hand. “Oh, I’m one step ahead of you,” she said and hurried out of the room after Zoe.
Without another choice, I joined everyone in the search for Luna and the imps. Despite the constant cackling from Lox and Keez and Luna’s hissing, none of us could track them down. After making a few laps around the foyer and down the wings that branched off it, I gave up and waited at the front desk for everyone else to return.
One by one, they did, but Blair appeared last — with Lox and Keez dangling stunned by their tails in her hand, but they seemed to have lost the fork that had started everything. Blair winked at everyone as she approached. “I told you I’d take care of them,” she said, then pointed her wand at the imps’ limp little bodies again. “Evanesco!” With a pop, the imps vanished, and Blair tucked her wand away before clapping her hands together. “They’re back in the basement where they belong. Where’s Zoe?”
“Right here,” Zoe called from somewhere above, and we all looked up to find her leaning over the sixth-floor railing with Luna in one arm and the fork in her free hand. She held it up to us and rolled her eyes. “All that over this. Give me a few minutes; Luna and I are going to have a little chat.”
“Someone please call Kitty Protective Services!” Luna squeaked as Zoe hoisted her away. A moment later, Zoe’s door slammed shut, and everyone burst out laughing.
“Well, I think that’s enough excitement for one evening,” Blair said as we all tried to gather ourselves. “So, I suppose Kiki and I will leave you to yourselves.”
“Should we go have some tea while we wait for Zoe to come back?” Thorn asked.
“Sounds good to me,” I said and headed toward the kitchen, but froze when the front desk phone started ringing.
“I’ll get it,” Blair said, and though I didn’t know why, something told me I should stay put, so I stopped and turned to watch Blair step around the front desk and lift the rotary phone’s headset to her ear. “Thank you for calling Kindred Spirits. This is Blair speaking. How may I help you?” she answered, and though I couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the line, I didn’t need to. Moment by moment, the color drained from Blair’s face and her grip on the headset loosened until it dangled from her hand.
“What is it?” I asked as I dashed to the front desk. “Is everything okay?”
“I-it’s Officer Aimes. She wants to speak with you,” Blair said, and I felt like I’d swallowed a mouthful of ice as dread flooded my stomach. Officer Aimes never called unless she had bad news.
Despite wanting to run away, I snatched the phone from Blair’s hand and slammed it up against my ear. “Officer Aimes? It’s Selena.”
Aimes sighed into the phone, making the line crackle. “Selena, I’m sorry to bother you, and I’m not even sure I should do this, but I don’t really have a choice. I
need help from you and Zoe.”
“With what? What’s wrong?” I asked, as panic twisted in my gut. Aimes hesitated, spiking my anxiety. “Just tell me, Aimes, please.”
Aimes tried to speak, but her voice cracked, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “It’s Officer Dunham, Selena. She’s dead, and I think Marcus killed her,” she whispered through tears, and though I dropped the phone, I still heard Aimes’ voice as if it were coming from the opposite end of a long tunnel: “I have him in custody, but he’s babbling nonsense. Do you think you or Zoe could get through to him? Selena? Selena, are you there?”
Chapter 9
It took Aunt Blair shaking me by the shoulders to jar me out of the thought spiral I’d fallen down. “Selena? Selena! What is it? What’s wrong?” she demanded, and I snapped back into my body as if some magic spell had projected my spirit out of it.
Everyone stood staring at me, so I glanced down to find the desk phone lying in pieces on the floor where I’d apparently dropped it — though I had no recollection of it hitting the floor, much less breaking.
I found Zoe among the crowd, who must’ve rejoined us when she heard all the commotion downstairs, and locked my gaze on her. “It’s Officer Dunham. Aimes said she’s dead, and that Marcus killed her.”
“What?!” Zoe asked, as incredulous as I was at the news. “She’s sure of that?”
“I don’t know, but I think we need to get to the SVPD.”
“Clearly,” Jadis said as she kneeled down to pick up the pieces of the phone, but Aunt Kiki stopped her.
“Don’t worry about it, Jadis. I’ll take care of it,” Kiki said, and pulled out her wand to wave it at the mess. The phone and its pieces lifted off the ground and rearranged themselves like a puzzle in mid-air until everything was back in its right place, and the headset drifted over to the desk and plopped onto its holder.
Thorn pulled me into his chest. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just shocked. How and why would Marcus have killed Officer Dunham?” I asked, more to wonder aloud than because I thought Thorn might have any answers — in fact, he still had little clue what was going on.
“Well, Dunham said that she and Aimes were watching Marcus. Maybe they had some sort of conflict?” Zoe asked.
I jolted as a realization struck me. “Like if Marcus kept selling his goods in the town square and Dunham tried to run him off?”
“Exactly. Evidently, he’s not as reformed as he wanted us to believe he was,” Zoe said, and as much as I wanted to believe she was wrong, I couldn’t help thinking back to the way we’d seen and heard Marcus screaming at Officer Aimes in the town square — nor how I’d wondered at the time if there might be more to his temper.
“Who is this Marcus guy?” Thorn asked. “He sounds like a real piece of work.”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that he got busted smuggling illegal magical supplies into Moon Grove and spent some time in jail there. He just got out, and now he’s selling weird trinkets from other magical communities in Starfall,” Zoe said.
“And killing police, apparently,” Thorn said before turning back to me. “Selena, I’m worried about you. Are you sure this is a case you want to keep chasing? I mean, I know you’ve been through some crazy things, but I’d never be able to live with myself if you got hurt.”
Normally, I would’ve jumped to assuage Thorn, but this time, I couldn’t find the confidence. The situations I’d gotten myself involved with before were definitely dangerous, but none of them had involved the murder of police, and that frightened me. Then again, what choice did I have? Officer Aimes hadn’t said it explicitly, but she’d all but admitted to needing my powers, which made me wonder just how complicated things were.
“I think I have to keep going,” I said, and Thorn frowned. “I appreciate and understand you being worried — really, I do — but Officer Aimes needs me. There’s literally no one else in Starfall who can help the way Zoe and I can.”
Zoe shrugged. “She’s right, Thorn. We’re pretty obligated, and besides that, I have a personal stake in this. I hired Rory, so this is partly my fault. I won’t rest until I find out what happened to her.”
“I don’t like it, but I know better than to stop you, Selena,” Thorn said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Or me? Don’t forget about me,” Jadis chimed in.
“Or any of us,” Blair added. “We’ve all got your back, Selena. I’m sure you already know that, but it’s worth repeating.”
I looked to Zoe for help. “Well?” I asked her, but she threw her hands in the air.
“You know them and their strengths better than me, girlie.”
“Why don’t I do some digging on Marcus?” Jadis asked. “Kiki, you can help me with that, can’t you?”
“Absolutely,” Kiki said with a nod.
“Perfect. If he’s already got a criminal record, there’s probably no shortage of information out there about him. What’s his last name?”
“Drach. Marcus Drach,” Zoe answered. “If I were you, I’d start by checking out old issues of the Moon Grove Messenger. I didn’t write them personally, but I know we ran several stories about Marcus when he got arrested.”
“Then I know what we’re doing for the rest of the evening. Ready, Kiki?” Jadis asked, and with another nod, the two of them headed into the small office behind the front desk to start their research. Between their private magic lessons and the time they spent next to each other glued to their computers, I was glad that Jadis and Kiki were bonding so well.
“I said I couldn’t stop you from helping Officer Aimes, but that doesn’t mean I have to let you go alone,” Thorn said. I opened my mouth to object, but he held up a hand to quiet me. “It’s not because I don’t think you can handle yourself — with Zoe at your side, I’m sure you two could handle anything — it’s because I want to help.”
I turned to Zoe. “What do you think?”
“The more, the merrier,” Zoe said with a shrug. “Three wands are always better than two.”
“Yeah, especially when one of them is barely more useful than a tree branch in my hands,” I joked, but Zoe shot me a skeptical look.
“I’m sure you’re better with it than you think,” she said. “Anyway, should we get going? I’m sure Officer Aimes would appreciate it.”
“No time like the present,” Thorn agreed, and slipped his hand into mine.
“Then I guess I’ll hold the fort,” Blair said with a smile. “But please, Selena, keep us posted with what’s going on as much as you can, even if it’s just a quick text.”
“I will, I promise,” I said as Zoe held out a hand for me to hold.
“Do you think you can watch Luna for me?” Zoe asked Blair, who nodded.
“Of course.”
“Thanks. Then away we go. Evanesco!” Zoe called with a wave of her wand. Once more, my vision twisted as my body moved through time and space. But when my feet touched solid ground again in front of the sad office that was the SVPD, this time I didn’t feel as nauseous as usual.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said as I stared through the windows of the building at the desk that used to be Officer Dunham’s.
“See? You get used to it eventually,” Zoe said, then paused with her face scrunched up for a moment. “Apparently, Thorn doesn’t agree,” she continued, and Thorn’s face flushed.
“I have a weak stomach,” he mumbled, and I snickered.
“Well, at least I’m not alone. Anyway, should we get this over with already?” I asked and headed for the door with Thorn’s hand still gripped in mine — because for as much as I tried to project confidence, I didn’t have a clue what we were about to walk into, and I was glad to have both Thorn and Zoe at my side to face it.
The three of us strode into the building together, but it seemed to be empty. Of course, no one occupied Dunham’s desk, nor Aimes’. “Officer Aimes? It’s Selena! Are you here?” I called into the building, but the
only answer was the sound of my voice echoing back at me off the tile floor and undecorated cinder block walls. I’d just opened my mouth to call out again when Aimes’ voice carried from somewhere deep in the building.
“One minute! I’m back in the cells.”
“Cells?” I asked Zoe, puzzled. The building was barely wide enough to contain two desks side by side for the officers. So where did they have the room for cells?
“Looks can deceive,” Thorn said. “Think about all the ways Kindred Spirits can magically expand and rearrange itself to accommodate guests.”
“Yeah, true,” I said, imagining an underground maze of rooms behind bars beneath the station, but the sound of Aimes’ shoes clicking against the tile broke the image. Eventually, her short figure emerged from a door disguised in the wall behind the desks, and I glimpsed what looked disappointingly like a normal police station’s holding area. However, judging from the lack of color in Aimes’ face, this was anything but a normal case.
“Oh, thank Lilith you’re here, Selena! And it’s probably good that you brought reinforcements,” Aimes said as she ran a hand over her buzzed head and eyed Thorn. “I was worried something had happened to you, too.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, the line died, so I didn’t know what else to think.”
“I’m fine, just shocked. What on Earth happened?”
“After I ran into you in the town square while running Marcus off, Dunham and I were sitting here working on a report when she got a call from someone reporting that Marcus was back in the square, so she volunteered to go take care of it, but she was gone forever,” Aimes said, her voice cracking. “I tried to radio her to check in, but she wasn’t responding, so I got worried and hurried over there. I-I found her…”
“It’s okay, Officer Aimes, we don’t need all the details,” Zoe said as Aimes trailed.
“Thank you. Anyway, I think I got there shortly after the incident because I tracked Marcus down close to the scene, and something wasn’t right with him.”
