How to Hang a Witch (23 page)

“You need to get off the street,” Elijah says. “That officer had a notepad full of comments about you.”

“Wait, why?”

“I did not stay to find out. We need to get you to Mrs. Meriwether's.”

“What!” I stare at him in horror. “No.”

“Can you think of a better location to do a spell?”

“I
will unlock the door,” Elijah says as I crouch behind a bush in Mrs. Meriwether's front yard. I grip the spell book to my chest and scan my house. Vivian's car is in the driveway and the lights are on. Elijah opens Mrs. Meriwether's front door.

I bolt across the lawn in the fading light, my heart pushing against my rib cage. I take the two entrance steps in one jump, clumsily barreling through the doorway. I close it behind me with a bang.

“Hello?” says Jaxon from the living room. I want to run at the thought of facing his hurt look. Within a few seconds he's standing in front of me.

“Hey,” I say, looking at my feet.

“Did you just break into my house?”

“I didn't want anyone to see me. But I didn't mean to break in.” It's the truth.

“Why do you care if someone sees you come into my house?”

Elijah frowns. “Time is passing quickly.”

I'm silent for a few seconds, unsure how to answer either of them. “Well, I…” I run through the various explanations, but they all suck.

There is only one thing I can say. “I should never have believed Lizzie's lie. I know I made you uncomfortable with all the spell stuff and the auditorium. And then again in the street today. I'm really sorry. I so want to tell you something that will explain it all…and convince you that I never meant to hurt you, that I care. I just haven't sorted it out myself yet.”

“You care?” I've never seen Jaxon vulnerable before. It makes me feel so much worse.

“Samantha,” Elijah warns. I give Elijah a please-give-me-a-minute look. I know he's afraid that I'll get lost in this conversation, but I don't want to hurt Jaxon any more than I already have.

I nod. “Yes.”

Jaxon's face relaxes slightly. “As long as I know that, I can deal with the rest of it. Even the ghost.” He says the last part unhappily.

Elijah scowls. Guilt overwhelms me as I look from one to the other.
How did I get myself into this mess?

“Samantha?” Mrs. Meriwether enters the front hall. “I was worried.”

I tense. “I'm sorry I ran off.”

“When I saw that feather, I…Well, to be perfectly upfront, the idea that your grandmother was correct about the crow woman has been haunting me all day.”

I take a deep breath. “I need to track her down…the crow woman.” Mrs. Meriwether nods as though she expected this. “And I could really use your help.”

Jaxon's upset expression returns. “So you came here to apologize, huh?”

I've really botched this up. At this point, all I can do is hope he doesn't hate me.

“Jaxon, I'm gonna tell you the truth. No lies, no omissions. But I can't explain everything. There just isn't time. You're gonna have to believe me for now. Can you do that?”

His eyebrows push together, and he looks at his mother before answering. Maybe she talked to him? “Only if you promise not to shut me out like that again. I felt ridiculous.”

I release my breath. “I promise.” He's way more forgiving than I might be. “So…the reason I've been acting so crazy lately is 'cause I'm positive John's death was part of a larger pattern. Susannah is next. And I'm betting my dad and I are close behind.”

Mrs. Meriwether and Jaxon exchange looks again. What did they talk about today?

“If you really think this, you need to go to the police,” Jaxon says.

The mention of the police tenses me even more. Could Lizzie somehow be behind them coming after me? Susannah did say her family was well connected.

“This is one of those things you just need to trust me on,” I say, and I can tell that Jaxon wants to argue.

“Dear, let's go to the kitchen and discuss what you need,” Mrs. Meriwether says.

“Clever woman,” says Elijah.

I nod, grateful for Mrs. Meriwether's support, and follow her down the hallway toward the kitchen. To my surprise, Jaxon comes as well.

“I swear I'm not on something,” I say under my breath to Jaxon as we walk.

The beginning of a smile tugs at his lips. “Debatable.”

“Are you sure you want to know all of this? It'll sound wacky.”

“I saw you float in midair. If I can handle that, I don't think a spell is gonna make me faint.” His voice is moving back toward its usual playfulness.

“Fine, but this is difficult enough for me to accept. If you laugh, I will knock you out.”

Jaxon smiles. “I'm counting on it.”

We walk into the kitchen, and Mrs. Meriwether clears some counter space. “Tell us your plan, Samantha.”

Elijah paces, deep in thought.

I sit down at the island, and Jaxon sits next to me. “The only way I think I can stop the deaths is to find this crow woman and expose what she's doing. I'm pretty sure she's setting me up to take the fall for all the weird things that happened recently, and if I'm not careful, the deaths will get pinned on me, too.” Lizzie's no help, either.

I put down the spell book and can tell Jaxon's impressed by it. It
is
kinda beautiful. I flip through the pages, looking for a location spell. When I land on one, Elijah reads over my shoulder. He grabs a basket from the counter and blinks out.

“So what's the reason this crow woman's out to get you?” At least Jaxon isn't making fun of me, even if his tone is doubtful.

“There's a lot of bad blood between her and the Mathers. I think she's enjoying branding me as a witch, and will try to hang me for it. Metaphorically, or whatever.”

“Sam, you're in my kitchen with a
spell book
doing
spells
with my mother. Is there a different definition of a witch I don't know about?”

I open my mouth and close it again.

Mrs. Meriwether looks at the location spell. Her face is serious. “Your grandmother was searching for information about the curse before she died. She talked to me about it constantly. I even helped her do research.”

I knew Mrs. Meriwether helped her. I figured it was one of the reasons she wasn't pressing me for details.

“One of the things she was most interested in was the location of the hangings, which Jaxon tells me you've already sorted out,” Mrs. Meriwether continues.

So this is what they were discussing today. In my grandmother's last journal entry it said she found the address to the house in the woods and planned to go visit it. But since she didn't write any more, I figured she never did. “We actually got the idea from her journal.”

“Yes, well. One evening, Charlotte came to my house ranting. She always had some odd ideas, but I never saw her this worked up. She kept calling your father, insisting she saw the crow woman, and that your family was in danger. She was so frantic that I could barely understand her. I thought she was unwell. I desperately tried to calm her.”

“She went to the house in the woods, didn't she?” The hairs on my neck stand up.

“She died that night, Samantha.” Mrs. Meriwether pauses. “I was fearful when you started asking me about the curse. You sounded so much like Charlotte. I had no idea you and Jaxon had found her research and went to that house. Even I couldn't find it. I wish…” She's too full of emotion to continue.

Of course Mrs. Meriwether couldn't find my grandmother's notes. They were in the secret study. What happened to my grandmother when she went to that house?

“I remember that night. My dad left me with Vivian while he came here to make arrangements. He never told me what happened.” I remember my dad's face when he came home, distant and sad.

“I blame myself,” Mrs. Meriwether says, shaking her head. “I helped her, but I didn't always believe Charlotte. I thought because your grandmother dreamed of the crow woman so often, she was confusing dreams with reality. And when I saw that feather today, all I could think was that I was dreadfully wrong all these years. If I could go back, I—”

“It's not your fault,” Jaxon says. “You can't even be sure what happened.”

“I cannot change the past, I suppose.” She pats her eyes. “But I can help you, Samantha. I won't doubt this story a second time. If there's a way to find her, it must be done.”

Mrs. Meriwether's comments about believing in people all make sense now. “Jaxon's right. It's better that you didn't go to that house.”

She stops patting her eyes. “Which ingredients will you need?”

Elijah blinks in with a full basket of plants and places it on the counter. Jaxon jumps when he sees it appear. Mrs. Meriwether's face brightens with the novelty of it.

“Well, there is the location spell, which Elijah already got ingredients for.” I blush a little, not sure how to explain him. “But I think I need to do another one, too.”

Jaxon can't hide his annoyance. “The ghost I told you about, Mom.”

“How very curious!” Mrs. Meriwether says, examining her newly full basket and clasping her hands together. “He's here now?”

“Yeah,” I say, making eye contact with him.
He's always here when I need him.

“What other spell were you thinking of?” Mrs. Meriwether asks, looking around her kitchen for signs of Elijah. I can't help but enjoy her interest in him.

“Well…” If I were Cotton, I would have to expose the crow woman as a fraud. “I don't know much about her plans. Maybe something about clarity or truth?”

Elijah nods and comes to my side. I flip through the pages with all three of them leaning in. I move past all the good-fortune and beauty spells without reading the titles.

“Maybe something to fight her with?” Jaxon says as I flip past the healing section.

Elijah shoots Jaxon an icy glare. “I chose this book specifically because I did not want Samantha using spells that were intended to harm.”

He picked this book for
me
? “She's three hundred years ahead of me in learning magic,” I say to Jaxon. “If I try to battle her, I'll lose for sure.”

Jaxon flinches at “three hundred years” but refrains from commenting. I keep flipping.

“A justice spell?” Mrs. Meriwether suggests.

“Hmmm.” I flip the next couple of pages with excitement. “ ‘Inside Out'—it says it brings a person's inward self to the surface. Like a truth serum?”

“That sounds like a strong contender,” says Mrs. Meriwether.

“She relies on manipulation,” Elijah agrees. “Take that away, and you would succeed in disorienting her.”

Both Jaxon and Mrs. Meriwether read the description. “Just pulling out what she knows and what she's planning would be great,” I say.

“I should have some of that to use on you when this is all over,” Jaxon jokes.

Elijah frowns.

“Samantha, don't you think you should do something for protection?” Mrs. Meriwether now flips through the pages herself.

“Yes,” Elijah chimes in.

“I thought about that. I just don't know how much time I have.” I don't bother to say that at any moment the crow woman could hunt me down. Ugh. Now that I've thought it, I feel guilty not warning Jaxon and Mrs. Meriwether. “There is…I need to be honest with you. I'm worried she might be looking for me, now that I revealed her spell.” I glance at Elijah. He seems to know my intentions.

To my surprise, it's Jaxon who answers. “Didn't you just say she's trying to frame you?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So why would she storm my house to get you? Wouldn't that blow her whole plan?”

Holy crap.
Jaxon's making some serious sense.

Mrs. Meriwether nods. “You're like family. There's no way we'd leave you to do this alone.”

“Not too much like family,” Jaxon says, which earns him another hard look from Elijah. Mrs. Meriwether points to a protection spell she found.

It's called “Shield and Protect.” There's a drawing of a familiar knot next to the title.
I've seen it before. Where? Oh, right. It's the same as the pendant on Vivian's necklace.
She lent it to me for the party. What the…?

My hands are suddenly cold, and my mouth is dry. Is that what kept me from getting that rash? Elijah takes a protective step toward me.

“Samantha? Are you okay?” Mrs. Meriwether asks.

“Do you know what this is?” I say, pointing to the drawing of the knot.

“Yes, dear. It's a witch's knot. It protects people and objects. Charlotte always wore one,” Mrs. Meriwether answers easily. “Why?”

“I just…I was wearing one the night everyone got the rash except me. It looked like an antique. Could it have been my grandmother's?” I stare at the book, trying to make sense of it.

“Your grandmother lost hers the night she died. But with the state she was in, it doesn't surprise me that it's in the house. Did you find it in her bedroom?” Mrs. Meriwether asks.

“Vivian lent it to me. She has my grandmother's old room. Do you think that's what stopped me from getting the rash?” Vivian could have said something about finding it. I was mostly in my own head at the time.

Elijah stiffens. “It may also be that my fiancée was at that party without my knowing it.”

I shudder at the idea that I may have already met her.

“Can you get it? We could use it in this spell,” asks Mrs. Meriwether.

I hesitate. Going into Vivian's bedroom does not sound awesome. I glance at Elijah.

“Happy to oblige,” he replies to my unspoken request.

“Elijah will,” I say to Mrs. Meriwether.

She nods, and picks up a large wooden bowl. “Now I'm going to get those additional things from the garden. Jaxon, offer Samantha some food.” Mrs. Meriwether turns and heads for the back door. Elijah blinks out.

“I'm not hungry,” I say to Jaxon.

He looks down for a moment. When he looks back up, his expression is kind. “Sam, I…I honestly had no idea what you were going through. I mean, your father, people dying in front of you, and even though I'm having trouble believing it, this crow-woman thing. I shouldn't have come down on you for not including me. I seriously don't know how you're dealing with all of this.”