If the Broom Fits (12 page)

“That's what your instincts tell you about us?” she said carefully.

“That's what experience tells me about you.”

Her chin lifted and she looked a little hurt. “You know what I think? I think those gloves and your no touching rule and your constant running away is more for you than it is about the safety of others. You're scared. You don't want to give us a chance to get to know you, just like you don't want to get to know us or that other coven or Orion.”

I grunted, but didn't deny her statements either.

“I honestly don't know why you want to break the curse so bad because once you do, you'll discover that the curse didn't hold you back nearly as much as you held yourself back, but by then it will be too late. All of us who wanted to know you will have moved on because you do nothing but reject us. We aren't the ones who don't care about you. You don't care about us. I have tried twice to tell you that Jessica and Katrina need our help, but you're only worried about yourself. Face it, Frost, the only one here who is betraying anyone is you.” She closed the door softly behind her as she left.

L
eslie finally texted us back
, saying she'd talk to Frost and they'd give us a call, which was great, but we weren't any closer to figuring out what was doing this or why. As far as we could tell from the police reports, the victims weren't missing anything. If this was a feeding of some sort there should be a sign of what was missing. Their life force while extinguished was intact. There was no suggestion that any of them looked older, had been drained of blood, or anything else that stood out amiss. “Maybe it's
not
about feeding,” I said.

“Okay, but then why only kill a few people a year. That's super bizarre.” Katrina rubbed her temples. “I think we should talk to Sy. He deals with this sort of thing for a living.”

“Call him.”

I hated to bother him, but it was time. Sy was many things to many people, but he always managed to help us when we needed it. Out of his bar, cleverly named ‘the Office,' he ran a large group of bounty hunters. I didn't know much about their profession, but I assumed his operation wasn't the only one—but I guess it could have been. Just in the relatively short time we had known him, it was already clear that he was more than just a half-elf. How or what was different about him was harder to pinpoint. He looked like the happiest, most well-adjusted half-elf on the planet, and he was maybe one of the nicest people I had ever met. However, if you tried to pin him down about any particulars, a cagey smile and misdirections came faster than you could keep track of.

However, none of that affected my trust in him. Maybe it was because he was Selene's cousin, but I tended to believe it was more than that. He genuinely seemed to care about the coven and our general welfare. He was also a major investor in opening Enchantment. We paid him back in monthly installments, though he insisted we didn't need to. Above all else, though, when we needed Sy he always came—whether or not it was convenient for him never really factored in, but there had to be times we were a nuisance.

It was too bad Katrina didn't love him the way she loved Sebastian. It would have been a different end to the story. While Sebastian was willing to walk away from her for what he felt was right—and you couldn't really argue with his logic. Elves and humans weren't a match made in heaven—Sy seemed more the type who'd tear down the world and rebuild it, if told he couldn't have something he wanted the way it currently existed. He definitely wouldn't have given up.

Moments later he appeared in the store in a faded blue T-shirt that clung to his muscular arms and upper body. His gray eyes crinkled along the edges as he smiled. “How are two of my favorite witches this beautiful day?”

“You are aware there's a blizzard outside, right?” I asked, grinning back at him. “I think you're a tad underdressed.”

He glanced out the window, then winked. “I'm hot blooded.”

“I bet you are,” Katrina said, winking back at him, which made his smile grow. “But we called for an actual reason.”

“Ah,” he said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest, making the shirt even tighter. “What would that be? And where are the other two?”

“Who knows?” I threw my hands up in the air. “Frost doesn't tell us anything. She left this morning and Leslie went with her—but that's not why we contacted you.” I launched into the investigation and everything we had managed to dig up.

Sy's brow furrowed slightly as we described the energy source to him—and his expression grew downright disapproving when we told him about Donavan.

He took a deep breath. “Okay, first, you guys are way too dependent on magic, especially you.” He looked directly at Katrina who didn't meet his gaze. “You lived in the Abyss too long and you've gotten sloppy. Just because the human world doesn't have rules, doesn't mean there aren't magical guidelines in place that have been followed by human witches for centuries. You have to stop trying to solve every issue in your life with a spell. Some problems have to be worked out the old fashioned way.”

I frowned at him. “We didn't call you for a lecture.”

“No, you called me to help clean up your mess. The lecture is free. You guys know I adore your entire coven, but I also want you to live up to your potential. Don't fall to the allure of magic. It will not get you where you need to be. One day you'll look back and realize the life you have wasn't the one you intended—and that will be because you stopped trying and started taking.”

“Fine, less magic. Check,” Katrina said.

“Okay, next. I don't know what your energy source is. It's hard to identify something I haven't seen for myself. It could be any number of things, but I do agree it probably isn't feeding. If I had to guess, I'd say it sounds more like it's looking for something given the sporadic pattern of movement. But without knowing more about the humans it has taken, I couldn't say what that is.”

“So basically, you're no help,” I said.

He laughed. “That is often the case. Really if we are talking about good and evil or light and dark, that's more Olivia and Holden's thing than mine. And if they're involved, then the coven needs to back away quickly because it's way out of your wheelhouse.”

We both nodded. The coven had been through enough in the last few years. We certainly weren't going to look for trouble.

“So we should just let this go?” Katrina asked. “Let whatever it is kill people and what, pretend like we don't see it or can't stop it? I can't do that. I mean I'm not on a mission to save the world or anything, but New Haven is sort of our turf now and whatever it was chose to come here. It feels like a direct challenge.”

“It may not even know you guys are around,” he said.

I pulled out our mailing list and handed it to him. “The first two names on this month's mailing list are the first two victims. I don't know if he'll go after the third name next, or maybe all the names. . . . All I know is he definitely seems to know we are here.”

Sy ran a hand over his jaw. “You're right. That's too much of a coincidence to overlook.” He read over the paper again. “Have you checked on the person next on the list?”

“No. What are we supposed to say? ‘Hi, you signed up for our mailing list. Just wanted to make sure you aren't dead?' Not exactly the business plan we were going for,” Kat said.

“Call Selene. Get her back here. We'll split up and check out the rest of the list to make sure everyone is okay, and then—even though I know I just told you no more magic—a spell to protect or at least mask these people from danger might not be out of bounds.”

While Katrina made the call, I dove into the Book of Shadows looking for any sort of spell that we could cast on these people without actually being with them. There wasn't much to speak of.

“What about a charm?” I asked when Kat got off the phone. “We could make protection charms for each of them and leave them in their house when we go to check on them.”

She nodded. “That would work if they all stay home.”

“Where are they going to go in this sort of weather? Plus, the other two were attacked in their homes.”

We set to work putting together the charm bags while Sy looked around the store. When Selene arrived we had everything ready to go for blessing and imbuing the bags with magic. It would have been stronger with all of us there, but nothing could be done about that. We did the spell as fast as possible and then split the list. Selene made me invisible to humans again and Sy did the same to Katrina.

“Make sure you get eyes on each person on the list. Once you confirm they're okay, drop the charm somewhere out of the way and get out. If you run into trouble,” his eyes met Selene's and she nodded. I had no idea what they were talking about, but that was hardly surprising. Selene and Sy no doubt had some sort of contingency plan. “Otherwise we meet back here.”

And just like that Sy was gone with Katrina. I gripped the plastic bag of charm bags tighter in my hands and let Selene take me away.

The first house we appeared in belonged to the third name on the list, Pam Garwood. Everything was quiet and all the lights were off. The sun was close to setting, giving the inside a pinkish glow. I couldn't help but think the silence and lack of light were bad things. If she was home, alive, wouldn't her light be on? Selene and I crept through the house looking for any sign of Pam. As we rounded the kitchen we came across a hallway. One room toward the end revealed a bright yellow strip of light beneath the door. Selene took hold of my sleeve and transported us to the other side of it. Pam was lying in bed, her nose stuck in a book. The dog beside her looked at us and gave a warning bark. She put her hand on his head soothingly as she glanced up.

“No one's here, silly dog.”

Pam went back to reading. My lungs burned from holding my breath. Being there and not seen was such a strange sensation. Then the feeling hit me. It was the same one the energy on the purse had. The hair on my arms stood up straight. I looked to Selene, but she didn't seem to notice. She had taken a charm out of the bag and knelt down, pushing it beneath the bed. The dog growled, no longer looking at us, staring at the door instead.

“It's here,” I mouthed, pointing.

Selene blinked and stood up, squaring off against the door, but nothing happened. “Where?” she mouthed back.

I shrugged.

She transported us back to the living room and we walked through the house again. We saw no trace of anything or anyone, but I couldn't shake the feeling all around me. We waited for several moments until the feeling was gone. Begrudgingly I let Selene take me to the next house.

It was dark by the time we finished all the houses on our half of the list and made it back to the shop.

“I know it was there,” I said as soon as I could speak freely again.

“I'm not saying it wasn't,” Selene said patiently, though she had that poor-Jessica-is-scared-because-she-doesn't-have-magic look on her face. “Maybe we frightened it off. Maybe it only wants easy targets. I don't know. I couldn't feel it.”

“But I could.”

“What happened?” Sy asked.

“Jessica said she felt the energy in the first house, but I couldn't feel it. We stayed there a while, but nothing happened.”

Katrina suddenly wore the same expression as Selene. They didn't believe me. And why would they? I didn't have magic like they did. I wasn't even a tenth as strong as them anymore. If the great and mighty witches couldn't sense it, then it must not have been there.

I crossed my arms, jaw tight.

“She might have sensed it better than you because it was a subtle energy,” Sy said.

Selene's head whipped around. “What's that supposed to mean? I can sense subtle energies. I'm an elf.”

He laughed. “You're a bulldozer. She's a pickax. There's a difference. Think of it like white noise. You have so much power and energy surrounding you that in order to notice something small you either have to look for it or it has to rival your own noise. Everything is quieter around her, making her more sensitive to it.”

Selene looked at me thoughtfully. “I'm sorry, Jess. I should have listened.”

I smiled a little. Selene hated apologies. “For what it's worth, I think you were right about it having left. I don't know if it was because of us or if the charm worked how we wanted it to. Either way, I think we saved her and that's always a good day in my book.”

Selene returned my smile. “Mine too. Any word from Leslie or Frost? I'm starting to worry about them.”

“Leslie texted a while ago, but I would've thought she'd call by now,” Katrina said, checking her phone.

“What if whatever this is goes after them?” I could hardly believe I hadn't thought of it sooner. We had been worried about the customers, and rightfully so, but what about us? Frost and Leslie were just as tied to the store as Katrina and I.

“Between the two of them, I pity anything that goes up against them,” Selene said gently.

Sy didn't look so certain. “You really have no idea where they are?”

“Leslie said they were in a house in the country. That's all. She said her phone was in the car most of the day.” Katrina pushed her hand through her hair. “I don't know why they're there. Frost was moody—moodier, that is—than normal this Christmas. Maybe it's the holiday or something. But she has been really withdrawn. I thought all of us spending Christmas together would help, but she's still locked in her own little world.”

Sy stayed carefully blank. He definitely knew something. Right as I had that thought, he looked up, met my eyes, and winked.

See, it was stuff like that—how he practically read our minds—that acted like a flashing light, saying he was much more than what the world knew him to be. I doubted Selene even knew the full truth about him. I wondered how many people were actually close enough to him that he'd allow them to see the deep dark recesses of his life.

“You have a visitor,” he said, still looking at me.

I sighed and went to the front door. Donavan stood on the other side, his hands cupped against the glass, his face pressed into the center. Obviously Katrina's spell hadn't been strong enough. I unlocked the door. “Can I help you?” I said.

He took a couple steps back, flashing me a charming grin. “I saw the light was on over here. I think we're the only two people in the whole town who made it to work today.”

I smiled. Or her charm had worked perfectly. “Looks that way.”

“I am Donavan Cassidy.” He offered me his hand. “I own and operate the New Haven Chronicle across the street.”

“I'm a loyal subscriber,” I said with a hit of irony I couldn't quite keep out of my voice. “Was there something you needed?”

He shook his head. “This is going to sound really strange, but I pulled an all-nighter last night and fell asleep in my office, but I had the strangest dreams about you. When I woke up, you were the first person I wanted to talk to.”