“Because at the time, I was weak,” he said solemnly. “That’s not the case anymore.”
“What does that mean, Remy? What is going on with you.”
“You said that you thought things had changed between us, but that’s not what’s happened. I’ve changed.”
“That’s obvious, but I have no idea why. We were so close for a while, but now it’s as if I know nothing about you.”
“I haven’t changed so much that you don’t know me anymore,” Remy said. “I’m still me.”
“But you look so different, Remy. And you sound different. The way you move is different.”
“Would you say that I’m unrecognizable?” he asked thoughtfully.
“No. Not at all, but you are very much changed. You won’t tell me why. I feel like when I bring it up, you just find another way to put off talking about it.”
“Well, you are here to discuss what to do about your brother.”
“We can discuss that next. Please, Remy. Please tell me what is going on with you.”
“I went too far with you. I mean that I went too far for you, and I’ve turned a corner. I’m not sure how to turn back, and I don’t know if I want to. It didn’t help that I allowed so much bitterness in my heart over Langoria,” he said. “Do you understand?”
“I think I do,” I said.
The haze I felt the night he’d told me about Thorn breaking my heart had to have something to do with it. That was the only thing I could think of. He was paying a price for using his magic to influence me, but I didn’t believe he’d meant me any harm.
“Does it change the way you feel about me?” For the first time since I’d noticed his change, I heard vulnerability in his voice.
“No, Remy. I know who you are.”
“You know who I was. I don’t know that you’ll feel the same way about who I am.”
“I know who you are,” I said again. “When you were avoiding me, I doubted you. I admit that. I was wrong, though.”
“I was wrong too. I should not have abandoned you like that. My prophesy about you choosing Thorn was self-fulfilling. I should have fought for you. I will never make that mistake again.”
“Remy, I can’t,” I said.
Even as I spoke the words, I felt conflicted. I desperately wished Remy hadn’t left me alone after we found Langoria. I wished that he hadn’t gotten so angry with me when Annika figured out his secret. I doubted I’d be standing in front of him feeling so confused. We’d come so close to being something.
“Then let’s discuss your brother,” he said and interrupted my thoughts.
“Okay.”
“If you don’t want him to know what he is, then you’ll have to send him away.” Remy said. “You can’t stop him from discovering it any more than anyone could have stopped you from living in that house. Now that he’s back in Coventry, he will come into his powers.”
“I don’t think I can do that right now. He needs to be here, and I think he needs me.”
“So tell him. Have Meri help you. The same as you did with Thorn.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Brighton, I really do try not to see. Some things I cannot block out.”
“The night that I thought someone was outside my window, was that you?”
“It was. I was wrong. I am paying for that now,” Remy said. “Do you want me to help you tell your brother?”
“Meri and I will handle it, but I will call you if I need you.”
“You’re pushing me away because of the thing about me watching you.”
“I’m not, Remy. But if I was, I’d be well within my rights. You and I both know how wrong it was. You crossed a line, but I do forgive you.”
Before he could say anything else, my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize, but I picked up in case it was Brody.
“Brighton?” a man’s voice I couldn’t quite place asked.
“This is she.”
“Oh, hello. This is Bob Mann. From Mann’s Gas & Grocery.”
“Hello, Bob. How are you? Are you all right?”
Chapter Four
Bob had called to ask me if I could come help him clean up the store after the FBI had left a huge mess behind. He said that he didn’t have many friends in town, but that he knew I’d done the cemetery job. He offered to hire me to help him and his few employees get the store open as soon as possible.
Still driving Brody’s car, I drove over to Mann’s Gas & Grocery. I figured that when no one was looking, I could use a little magic to make the job go faster.
I’d heard whispers around town that Bob hated the government, and when I saw the state of the store after the FBI had executed their search warrant, I knew he would hate them even more.
They had knocked all of the food and other goods off of the shelves. The freezers had been emptied onto the floors as had the refrigerator cases. Thousands of dollars’ worth of food laid on the floor going bad. I hoped for his sake that insurance would cover the cost.
“I can have my employees work up here,” Bob said when I went into the store. “I was hoping you could help me downstairs. There aren’t many I would trust to go down there, but you seem okay. I have a good feeling about you.”
“Show me where I can help,” I said.
He led me to a metal door in the back of the building. Bob typed a code into a little pad, and the door popped open.
We went down the stairs and entered a huge concrete space. The underground portion was far larger than the store above.
“They took all of my guns,” he said and pointed to the empty racks lining the walls. “I hope that I will get them back, but I have my doubts.”
“What about the rest of it?”
“The rest is food, medical supplies, and there is a small apartment past the shelves.”
“Where would you like me to start?”
“If you wouldn’t mind, it would be a good idea to get the food and then medical supplies done. I’ll help you,” Bob said.
For a while, all we did was pick up boxes and cans and put them back on the shelves. He’d have to leave at times to go upstairs and check on his employees. When he was gone, I’d use my magic to get things picked up much faster. That was all there was to it other than sweeping up the occasional mess from a broken box.
“You’re doing an amazing job,” Bob said when he came back from upstairs. “You work very quickly.”
“I’m glad I could help,” I said. “Do you mind if I ask why you have all of this?”
“Things aren’t what they appear to be,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean everything, Brighton. The stories we’re told about our world and how it works aren’t true.”
“You mean like aliens and the illuminati?” I said.
“You’ve heard the rumors around town,” he said with a smile. “Yes, those things. But it’s more than that too.” And then he winked at me and I wasn’t sure what to think.
“Ghosts and stuff?” I asked.
“And even more than that. You see, Brighton, I keep to myself and keep an eye on things. I try to be as unassuming as possible. I don’t want to be noticed. It usually works. People forget that I’m here and I see things.”
“What have you seen?” He’d piqued my curiosity.
“Brighton, my dear, did you think that I wouldn’t have security cameras down here?”
“Wha…” But then it hit me.
He’d seen me using magic to clean up faster. I’d been stupid enough to accidently reveal myself to a human. For the briefest moment, I had a dark thought. I could use my magic to erase his memory, but then I saw Remy. I saw him before his change and after, and I shook off the notion of using my magic for personal gain and to interfere with Bob’s will. It was my mistake, not his.
“You don’t need to worry, Brighton. I’m the last person who would tell anyone anything. You’ve been a friend to me, and even if you hadn’t, I would never he
lp the government.”
“What do my powers have to do with the government?”
“Can you imagine what they would do if they got ahold of a witch?” he asked. “They would lock you in a black facility and test you for the rest of your life.”
“I don’t know that they could,” I said. “I don’t think they could keep me locked away.”
“Don’t think for a second that they don’t have magic of their own,” he said.
“Well, then what would they need me for?”
“If I know anything, Brighton, it’s that the government always wants more,” Bob said. “Can you help me carry these boxes up to my office?”
“Sure.”
He handed me a black lock box, and I followed him upstairs to his office. Once inside, he punched the combination into a big, black fire safe and put the lock boxes inside.
“There was something about the murder today that didn’t sit right with me,” he said as he turned his computer on. “The questions they were asking me made me feel uncomfortable as well.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean that our friends at the FBI don’t think this is a regular serial killer,” he said and began typing something into the computer.
“Is that why you were watching me? You had your suspicions about…”
“You need to close your mouth about my daughter, Bob.”
The sharp voice startled me, and I let out a small squeak as I whirled around to see who had snapped at us.
Standing in the doorway of Bob’s office was a man dressed in black slacks, a blue shirt, and a doctor’s coat. His dirty blond hair was swept back and pomaded severely. He narrowed his eyes behind silver-framed glasses and looked as though he intended to burn holes in Bob’s head.
“Gregory,” Bob said. “I meant no disrespect.”
“You never do, do you?” Gregory spit. “But somehow, that’s all you ever do. I came in here to thank you for the way you handled my daughter’s murder, and I find you spouting more of your conspiracy theory garbage. My daughter is not fodder for your stupid, sick fantasies.”
“Excuse me,” I said and took a step so that I was between Bob and Gregory. “We were just having a conversation. A private conversation. Bob and I are just trying to figure out what might have happened to your daughter. We didn’t mean any harm.”
“Are you that new woman in town? That one that everyone says is a weird freak who loves to hang around in graveyards? I’ve heard there’s been nothing but death in Coventry since you showed up. Maybe the FBI should be taking a closer look at you.”
“Gregory, that’s enough,” Bob said. “I understand you’ve had a terrible loss today, but you can’t just come in here to my office and start yelling at us.”
“You understand?” Gregory said and began a hideous fake laugh. “You understand nothing, you old crackpot. But do try to understand this. If you speak about my daughter again, I’ll knock your teeth in. Oh, and when I figure out an angle, and I’m sure there is one, I’m going to sue you into the poorhouse. I’ll own this crappy little store inside of a year.”
I could feel a tidal wave of fury rising inside of me. Some of it was coming from me, but I was also absorbing it from Gregory.
“Get out,” I hissed.
Gregory looked as though he intended to say more, but something about me must have made him think twice. He huffed and then slammed the office door behind him as he left.
“Whoa,” I said and felt myself get a little woozy.
“Here, sit down,” Bob said and helped me into his office chair as the room tilted slightly. “Your hair.” Shock studded his voice.
“What now?”
“More of your hair turned red.”
“Oh, yeah. I suppose that makes sense. It’s just part of me being a witch. My hair changes as I come into my power.”
“So that’s what you officially call it?” Bob asked. “You are a witch?”
“That’s the official term,” I said. “I guess I might as well tell you. Half of the town of Coventry are witches. The other half has no idea. Some sort of spell that makes them willfully ignore any signs of magic. Except it didn’t work on you.”
“No, I guess it didn’t. But I’ve never been the type to willfully ignore anything. It’s not my nature.”
“I can see that now. So that man was the victim, Brittany’s father?”
“Yes. Gregory Hargrave. He’s a surgeon at the hospital in the city and only lives in Coventry half of the time. He has an apartment there where he stays when he’s working. His wife and other children live here. Brittany was away at school, but you knew that.”
“I would not have expected for someone to be so nasty after the death of a child,” I said. “But I guess grief does strange things to people.”
“That wasn’t grief, Brighton. He’s always been like that. Gregory has a horrible temper, and he rules his family with an iron thumb.”
“How bad is horrible?” I asked.
“Are you asking if I think he could have killed his own daughter in a fit of rage?”
“I guess I am.”
“I don’t think I can answer that for sure. So perhaps,” Bob said thoughtfully, “the bigger question is, if he did, why?”
Chapter Five
It didn’t take me long to finish cleaning Bob’s bunker once I didn’t have to hide that I was using magic to do it anymore.
“Where did you go?” Meri asked when I walked into the kitchen to put away the groceries I’d finally been able to buy.
“Keep it down,” I whispered and pointed toward the living room where Brody was still sawing logs on the sofa.
“He’s not going to wake up until I take the sleep spell off of him,” Meri said.
“You put him under a sleep spell?”
“Just a little one. I mean, who the heck is he? What is going on around here?”
“It’s my brother, Brody. Did you get the bacon?”
“I did,” Meri said. “Thanks for leaving it, but it would have been nice if you’d told me what was going on before you split and left a strange man asleep on the sofa.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “Let me fill you in.”
I spent a few minutes telling Meri about the murder and how Brody was connected. I told him about visiting Remy for advice on telling Brody about his powers. Finally, I told him about going back to Mann’s Gas & Grocery to help clean up and the scene with Brittany’s father.
“Well, you’ve had quite the day,” Meri said.
“You’ve asked me where I was, but what about you? Where were you when I was here earlier? You didn’t come running for your bacon as soon as I walked in.”
“I was in the walls. There was a ghost.”
“Another one?” I asked. “Any idea who this one is?”
“It was a young woman. She was sad.”
“A young woman? I wonder if it was the girl I found in the parking lot? You said she was sad and not angry?”
“She was sad. That I am sure of. I don’t know if it was the girl you found. She didn’t speak.”
“Did she have blonde hair?” A shiver ran down my spine as I thought of Brittany’s platinum blonde hair plastered to the concrete parking lot.
“She had strawberry blonde hair. It was redder than just blonde.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Brittany’s hair was platinum blonde. Not a hint of red.”
“Maybe it was her natural color,” Meri offered.
“Perhaps. Or maybe it was someone else. I guess we won’t know unless she comes back. I saw that Grey was gone. What time did he leave for the day?”
“I’d say he’s been gone for a couple of hours. I guess he starts early and leaves early.”
“It’s better that he’s gone when Thorn gets here. I think Brody is enough for today,” I said.
“I suppose,” Meri said. “Now onto more important things. What’s for dinner?”
“I’m making fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and g
rilled corn,” I said.
“You don’t know how to make fried chicken,” Meri countered.
“I’m going to use magic to help me,” I said. “I figure it’s not for personal gain since I’m doing it for Thorn and Brody. It’s Brody’s favorite. He was always asking for it when he was little, but my mother had no idea how to make it. We’d get take-out fried chicken for his birthday every year, but it’s just not the same.”
“I suppose that wouldn’t be for personal gain.” Meri swished his tail. “At least you better hope not or you might burn the kitchen down.”
“You can send demonic entities screaming into the night, but you can’t deal with a little kitchen fire?” I teased.
“Of course, I can,” Meri huffed.
“Well then, I have nothing to worry about.”
With that, I set to work making the chicken. Even though I was using magic to make the process run more smoothly, I still had to use a recipe. I’d thought about looking it up on the internet, but when I got into the cabinet to get the flour for the coating, I found my Aunt Maude’s recipe box.
Friend Chicken
That was the recipe card I pulled from the box. Despite the name, it was a recipe for fried chicken. The name seemed a little creepy at first, but there was a note at the bottom under the instructions.
“For bringing together new friends and old. Additionally, serve to anyone, and they will be your best friend from that day forward,” I read the note to Meri.
“That sounds like black magic. You can’t interfere with people’s will,” Meri said.
“I think it would be gray magic at best. Not entirely black, but besides that point, I believe it’s because the chicken is so good. It’s not a spell.”
“Whatever,” Meri said. “I’ll wait here to put the fire out.”
“Thanks.”
Making the chicken wasn’t as difficult as I’d expected, and I didn’t need to use nearly as much magic as I’d anticipated. Though being able to use magic to mash the potatoes did come in handy while I ensured the chicken didn’t burn.
Wicked Witches of Coventry- The Collection Page 26
