Life's a Witch (24 page)

Mom frowned. “I know Landon said it was impossible, but are you three high from that pot field they burned yesterday?”

Landon snickered, swallowing his smile when I shot him a dark look. “There’s been a … development.”

“Do I even want to know?” Mom asked wearily.

“It seems they all woke up with the inability to say what they really feel,” Landon explained. “Instead, they can only say nice things.”

Mom’s eyes widened. “Oh. This is Aunt Tillie’s retribution, huh? As far as curses go, this one has potential.”

I glared at her. “It doesn’t have the right vibe for what I’m trying to accomplish today,” I said, hating how fake and happy I sounded. “I need to talk to a few people, and I can’t do it when I’d much rather be spreading joy to the world.”

“Huh.” Mom ran her tongue over her teeth. “Tell me what a great mother I am.”

“If there was a queen of all mothers, you would be her,” I replied, internally rolling my eyes.

“This is fun,” Mom said. “Tell me all the horrible things you did as a child and how sorry you are for them.”

I jutted out my lower lip into a pout and bit my tongue. I had no intention of playing that game.

Landon rubbed my back to soothe me. “Listen, I thought this would be fun, too,” he said. “We have a problem keeping them this way, though. I at least need the curse lifted from Bay. Thistle and Clove can probably muddle through the day, but Bay can’t.”

“And why is that?” Aunt Tillie asked, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. “I think she’s the one who led yesterday’s mutiny. She needs to be punished.”

Thistle launched herself at Aunt Tillie, her hands formed into claws as she reached for her neck. Marcus caught her before she could land on our ecstatic great-aunt.

“That’s not going to help,” Marcus chided. “If you kill her you might be stuck like this forever.”

Thistle hung her head. Marcus’s words made sense even as her inner nature bucked going along with the program.

“Can’t you think of a different punishment for Bay?” Landon asked. “Bacon would be good for me … but she hates it. Do that one.”

I slammed my elbow into his stomach.

“Oomph! I’m trying to help you, sweetie,” Landon gasped, rubbing his ribs. “I’m not going to be your champion if you keep hurting me.”

“I don’t think Bay has learned her lesson about turning on me yet,” Aunt Tillie said. “I think the curse needs to stay.”

“It can’t,” Landon said, his pragmatic side taking over. “We need her to try to speak with Nathaniel’s ghost. I know you don’t want to admit it, but Bay was doing the right thing when she asked you to stay out of your field last night. No matter what you say, you wouldn’t want any of your nieces going to jail because of that field. I know it.”

Aunt Tillie opened her mouth to argue, but Landon shushed her with a look.

“Now, I find the curse hijinks in this family entertaining … some of the time,” he continued. “I need Bay in control of her faculties today. The bacon curse would let her keep her wits while still driving her crazy.”

“If I make her smell like food, it’s going to be one you hate,” Aunt Tillie countered. “How would you feel about curling up next to Brussels sprouts tonight?”

“It wouldn’t be my first choice,” Landon admitted. “That doesn’t change the fact that I need her, though. Someone needs to talk with Nathaniel. If he really is turning into a poltergeist like Floyd … .”

Aunt Tillie narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean he’s turning into a poltergeist like Floyd?”

Landon related my story from the previous day while I stood next to him, arms crossed over my chest, and imagined eighty different ways to kill Aunt Tillie. When he was done, Aunt Tillie was intrigued.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that before,” Aunt Tillie mused. “He could be dangerous. He could be more dangerous than Floyd, because he’s being pulled in two different directions.”

“The kids who planted that field could be dangerous, too,” Landon pointed out. “We burned thousands of dollars of profit yesterday, and someone will want payment for that product. Bay was at the field with us. Three of those boys saw her there, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know she’s involved in all of this. If they try to go after someone for payment … I need Bay to be able to protect herself. She can’t like this.”

Aunt Tillie sighed, still unconvinced. “They all piled on top of me and made an Aunt Tillie sandwich yesterday. Someone has to pay for that.”

Landon pursed his lips to keep from laughing at the unintended visual. “You can keep the curse on Clove and Thistle for the day,” he offered, earning a hard cuff from Thistle before stepping far enough away that she couldn’t reach him. “They’ll have a rough day having to be nice to everyone at the store. They won’t be in danger, though.”

“I still need to cast a curse on Bay.”

“I don’t care if you make her smell like Brussels sprouts,” Landon said. “She did take on Rosemary and Brian last night, though, and you hate both of them. She’s had a rough couple of days. Can’t you just … let this one slide until the case is solved, and Willa and Rosemary are gone?”

Aunt Tillie sighed, the sound long and dragged out. “And what do I get if I do?”

“What do you want?”

“I want a Polaris Ranger,” Aunt Tillie replied, not missing a beat. “It should be red, and tricked out with all the bells and whistles.”

Landon glanced at me, conflicted. “I don’t think I have the money to pay for that right now.”

“I don’t expect you to pay for it,” Aunt Tillie countered. “I’m not heartless and greedy. Well, I’m not greedy enough for you to go broke buying something for me. I want to be able to buy it myself and not hear one word from any of you about it being dangerous.”

“Fine,” Landon said, giving in. “Go nuts. It’s your money.”

“I also want to leave the curse on Thistle and Clove until sunset.”

“I can live with that,” Landon said.

“I can’t live with … the idea that I’m thrilled with the suggestion,” Thistle said, groaning and kicking the cabinets.

Aunt Tillie beamed. “We have a deal.”

Great. I would be free and clear in moments. I risked a look in Thistle and Clove’s direction and found them scorching me with duplicate scowls. Whoops! I guess I had one little problem left to deal with.

Twenty-Four

After an uncomfortable breakfast that included Thistle and Clove saying some truly sweet things to Aunt Willa and Rosemary (which made them unnecessarily suspicious and paranoid), I fled The Overlook before my cousins could get me alone. Landon knew what he was doing when he arranged for Aunt Tillie to spare me, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether that was part of her retribution. She wanted Clove and Thistle to be angry with me. It played into her game.

Landon was worried. He didn’t say it, but I could read it in the set of his shoulders and the furtive looks he cast in my direction during breakfast. He wanted me to stay home and keep my nose out of this case, yet he knew it was impossible given where we were with the investigation. I was the only one who could talk to Nathaniel. That made me important.

After waiting two hours for Nathaniel to show at Hollow Creek, I gave up and headed back into town. Landon and Chief Terry were brainstorming at the police station, and I figured three minds were better than two. Plus, I kind of wanted to mess with Landon after he messed with me over this morning’s curse. He had it coming.

I parked in front of The Whistler, figuring I could stop in and check my email and the page count for this week’s edition before heading to the station, when movement caught my eye across the way. Three figures – two I’d seen enough of in recent days to recognize outright – headed behind the high school. It was Charlie and Dakota. I had a feeling the third figure belonged to Stephen Brooks, but I hadn’t gotten a good enough look to be sure.

I decided to follow them, stopping long enough to text Landon what was going on and then pocketing my phone. He would be angry, but I felt I performed due diligence by texting him my location. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way he teased me about the curse. Well, to be fair, I was actually more worried about Clove and Thistle jumping me when I wasn’t looking. It was easier to blame him, though.

I kept close to the high school as I approached, attempting to hide my shadow and listen before confronting them. They were animated as they talked.

“This is a nightmare,” Dakota said.

“What are we going to do?” Charlie asked.

“We’re not going to do anything,” Stephen replied. “It’s out of our hands.”

“I don’t think they’re going to agree that it’s out of our hands,” Dakota countered. “They’re going to blame us for losing everything.”

I waited for them to continue, but when they didn’t I realized it was time. I rounded the corner, taking the three boys by surprise. “Who is this ‘they’ who is going to blame you?”

Dakota frowned. “Are you following us?”

I considered lying, but it felt a waste of time. “I saw you when I was parking at The Whistler,” I replied. “I texted Landon to tell him where I was going, and then … yes … I followed you.” I put the Landon tidbit out there right away in case they had any ideas.

“Were you listening?” Charlie asked, fidgeting nervously.

Dakota roughly cuffed him. “That’s why she wants to know who ‘they’ are, stupid!”

“Oh, right,” Charlie said, lowering his eyes.

Despite the fact that I knew they had been up to illegal activities – and one or more of them might be involved in Nathaniel’s death – I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic regarding Charlie’s plight. His biggest problem was that he had no backbone and was desperate to fit in. I remember being desperate to fit in when I was his age. Of course, as a Winchester, I didn’t lack a backbone. It was genetically impossible.

“So, are you guys in trouble now that the pot field has literally gone up in smoke?” I asked.

Stephen narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sure you think that’s going to fly, but it’s not,” I said. “We know you guys are involved. What we want to know is whether you’re involved alone or you have someone else working for you.”

“You don’t know jack shit, lady,” Stephen snapped. Up close and personal I recognized him from the night of the party. He was one of the only kids who didn’t try to run. He stood back and watched everyone else panic while Dakota and Charlie mucked things up for the entire group. He puffed out his chest in an attempt to scare me. I refused to take a step back. “You’re crazy if you think we had anything to do with that field.”

“I might be crazy,” I conceded. “I often think my family is going to drive me there eventually. I’m not wrong about this, though. I think you guys planted that field. I also think you’re in over your heads with whoever ‘they’ are. Are ‘they’ the ones who killed Nathaniel?”

Charlie shouted, “We don’t know anything about that.”

“I know that’s not true, Charlie,” I argued. “I know you guys were at Hollow Creek the night Nathaniel was murdered. I don’t know whether you were directly involved, but I’m pretty sure Nathaniel’s death is tied to the pot field, too.”

“And what makes you say that?” Stephen challenged.

“Nathaniel was a known drug dealer who was seen flashing money all around town,” I replied. “He was also reportedly in financial trouble. Is that because you guys tried to cut him out of the business? Did he go out there that night to steal product? Is that why he’s dead?”

“We had nothing to do with Nathaniel’s death,” Dakota said. “We’re not killers. How can you even think that?”

“Because you three are calling attention to yourselves right now,” I said. “You’re the ones the police are looking at.”

“Oh, my mom is going to be so mad at me,” Charlie whimpered. “This is going to be worse than your dad going nuclear about having to go out and get your truck after the other night, Stephen.”

“Shut up,” Dakota said, smacking the back of Charlie’s head hard enough to whip it forward. “You’re being a baby.”

“Don’t hit him,” I warned.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Dakota shot back.

“I think our nosy friend here needs a lesson in what’s acceptable, don’t you?” Stephen asked, taking a step forward.

Uh-oh. I didn’t like this one bit. “Did you miss the part of the conversation where I told you that I texted Landon where I am? Just for the record, I told him who I’m following, too.”

Stephen slowed his pace, but only marginally. “I think you’re bluffing.”

“Go ahead and touch me and find out,” I challenged, my voice stronger than my courage. I didn’t like the vibe Stephen gave. Charlie was a definite follower, and Dakota fancied himself a big man in a small pond. Stephen was something else. There was true menace clouding his soul.

“Oh, I’m going to touch you,” Stephen hissed.

“If you touch her, I’ll break your hand.”

The sound of Landon’s voice caused my heart to flip, and not in the ridiculous romantic way it usually did. I forced my gaze to remain on Stephen, refusing to back down as Landon approached.

“We weren’t doing anything,” Charlie offered, his voice quaking. “Please don’t shoot my thing off.”

“Shut up, Charlie,” Landon snapped, his eyes flat as they fixed on Stephen. “I’m not kidding. If you touch her, you’ll regret it.”

“She’s the one who came here hassling us, man,” Stephen said, taking a step back and allowing me to release a pent-up breath. “We were minding our own business … .”

“I don’t care if you were helping old people cross the street,” Landon said, cutting him off. “Don’t even look at her.”

“Why would we want to look at her, man?” Dakota asked, rolling his eyes. “She’s … old.”

Oh, well, great. That was just what my ego needed today.

“Get moving,” Landon ordered, stepping behind me and resting his hand on my shoulder.

“This is a free country,” Stephen argued. “We can hang out here if we want to.”

“Get moving or I’ll arrest you,” Landon countered.

“For what?”

“Whatever I can make stick,” Landon replied. “I’ll start with threatening Ms. Winchester and then hold you until I have the evidence to charge you for the pot field. That’s going to be a felony. You’ll do big time for that one.”