Witch of Christmas Past (10 page)

It was nearly dark by the time we made it to Highgate Cemetery. I was glad Granny seemed to know where she was going because I would have been completely lost. The cemetery was as large as some towns I’d visited.

“The LaRose tomb is in the oldest part of the cemetery,” Granny informed me.

“Hmm … well, they should provide taxi service in this place.”

Not only was the cemetery big, it was probably one of the creepiest places I’d ever had the displeasure of visiting. It was beautiful, but in a creepy kind of way.

The architecture of the tombs was magnificent; although they did give spooks a place to hide. There were also plenty of trees and brush that would make good hiding places. I now understood why Zane wanted to scout the place out.

After a half hour of walking through the cemetery we finally came to the LaRose tomb, which was not only ancient, but also looked like it was ready to crumble at any minute.

Zane was sitting on the steps in front of the tomb’s entrance. “It’s about time,” he grumbled.

“Walking through this cemetery isn’t like a little jaunt in the park,” I replied.

“Oh never mind you two,” Granny said in a voice that actually sounded ornery. “This place isn’t safe at night. If you want to get home, we need to get a move on.”

She was right about that. Highgate was eerie in the day, so I imagined there were all sorts of whatnots lurking about at night.

“So how do we do this?” I asked.

“The spell Delia did will still be working. We just have to locate the portal inside,” Granny explained.

Grabbing Zane’s hand for moral support, or just so I wouldn’t feel so wussy, I stepped through the tomb’s opening. It was dark, dusty and full of cobwebs. I hated to imagine what the LaRose family looked like these days, so I kept my eyes averted from the crypts where they rested.

“There’s nothing in here but cobwebs and old LaRoses.” I pointed out the obvious.

“You are not just going to walk in here and see a black hole. If that were the case, we’d be having time travelers arriving every few days,” Granny said, handing me the three books she’d brought along with her.

“Now, could you please hold these for me?”

I took the books, trying not to let my teeth chatter too much. “It sure is cold in here.”

“It is December,” Granny reminded me as she was raising her hand in the air.

“
Esta la voe
,” she muttered while moving her hand in a circular motion, as if she were washing a window.

First the air in front of Granny began to shimmer and then suddenly a black hole looking doorway appeared.

“See, wasn’t that easy.” Granny smiled.

Although she didn’t have the spell to create a portal, she did know how to make it visible.

She started to step through the doorway, but I stopped her. “You better let me go first.”

“I’m going first,” Zane put in. “We can’t be sure where exactly this is going to lead us. Suppose the door opens up on the other side to the Jurassic era?”

He had a point, but I wasn’t about to give in so easily. “In that case, it is still a good idea if I go first.”

Granny placed a hand on my arm. “Dear, let him go first. Men like to show their ladies how manly they are.”

Zane scrunched his brows together and gave Granny a funny look, but thankfully he said nothing.

That’s the moment I realized that no matter how dear a Granny was, they could still be embarrassing at times. Hopefully, she never decided to get into stories of my childhood. I didn’t think Zane would understand my old habit of making myself invisible so I could spy on people.

I had actually been kind of a bad kid. No wonder the devil was so interested in my soul.

“Okay, let’s not stand here and yap. I would like to get home sometime before the
Star Trek Federation
is actually formed in the real world.”

Zane led the way with Granny following. I thought I’d better take up the rear, just in case someone or something came at us from behind.

Our return trip was much like our excursion through time to the late 1800s. There was darkness, light, and a rainbow of color, but thankfully we didn’t fall out of the sky like we fell out of the ceiling.

This time, we just stepped out of a wall, but I wasn’t prepared for that wall being located in the restroom of the Mystique County Sheriff’s Department. Obviously it was the men’s restroom, as Deputy Baker was in the process of relieving himself at one of the urinals when we emerged from the white tile wall.

“Merry Christmas, Hank!” Granny sang out.

It is possible the elderly deputy didn’t hear a word Granny said. He was too busy standing there with his mouth hanging open.

Finally, he snapped out of it and rushed to put his equipment away.

“Hey! What are you ladies doing in the men’s restroom? That has got to be against the law. I should lock you up for lewdness,” he grumbled.

“You were the one exposing yourself, “I pointed out.”

“Now see here …”

Zane interrupted, “But deputy, the ladies didn’t realize you were in here.”

Turning to us, Zane said, “Wait for me in the lobby. I’ll take care of this.”

I wasn’t so sure about leaving a vampire with an irate deputy. “Zane.”

“Don’t worry … I’ll take care of the problem, humanely.”

“Let’s go,” Granny prompted.

We were only in the lobby a few minutes when Zane emerged from the men’s restroom. “All taken care of.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Compelled him to forget we were here. We can’t have the general public knowing there are time travel portals on the island. That could lead to a huge mess, and I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to return to the past.”

I totally agreed with his reasoning.

“Well my car is at the lighthouse, so I have no idea how we are getting home,” I informed Granny and Zane.

“I have an idea,” Granny spoke up.

As soon as Deputy Baker came out of the restroom, she put her idea into action. “Deputy … we have been out walking and didn’t realize how late it was getting or how far we’d walked. Would you mind being a good civil servant and giving us a ride home?”

“Wow! Stella … I didn’t even know you were back, but sure enough. I’ll lock up shop for a few minutes. Meet me out by my patrol car.”

There were some advantages to living in a small town. If it were the middle of the night, the cops could actually close down for a few minutes. Of course if there was a 911 call, there might be a problem, although with new technology, he probably could have all calls forwarded to his mobile.

Outside, we stood by the patrol car and waited for Deputy Baker to lock up.

“Don’t you go getting started on looking for our time traveler without me,” Zane said.

“Of course. I’ll wait so you can ride-along.”

Now, if I actually did wait or not was another story, but I would try to wait.

Instead of taking us home, Deputy Baker dropped Zane and me at the lighthouse so we could pick up our vehicles. I was beyond tired of not having transportation.

If there was such a thing as heaven on earth, it definitely involved getting a hot shower and jumping into my own bed.

For the next several hours, I slept like a rock. It was s very possible that I could have slept through an earthquake and never had a clue. Getting up early wasn’t an option, but eventually I did get up.

After a bowl of some good old-fashioned cold cereal, I dressed in something far more comfortable than boots and a skirt. Finally, I felt human again.

Picking up my phone, I was relieved to see that it still had a charge. I called the ACMU office. It rang several times, but no one answered.

Glancing at the clock, I saw it was after 9:00. If they weren’t in the office, they must be out on a call.

With no luck reaching someone at the office, I called Ayden’s mobile, but he didn’t answer that either. Giving up, I tried Tim. Again, there was no answer.

What the hell was going on?

I could nearly always reach one of them by phone.

Sighing, I ended the call. That’s when I saw the date on my phone display. It was Saturday. Time really did fly when one was time traveling.

Seeing how it was Saturday, that explained why no one was in the office, but not why I couldn’t reach Ayden or Tim by phone.

I figured it probably wouldn’t hurt to go into the office anyway, especially since I’d been gone for a couple days. If nothing else, I could leave a note for Ayden to let him know I was back.

Yes, leaving a note was a good idea, but I wasn’t going to last much longer without some coffee, so a detour to the Quick Stop was definitely in order.

The streets were eerily deserted; much like they were early on a Sunday morning, except it wasn’t Sunday morning, it was late Saturday morning. In fact, the streets were even
more
deserted than they were on Sundays. I didn’t see a single soul all the way to the Quick Stop.

As soon as I pulled into the little convenience store, AKA, my coffee supply outlet, I could sense that something was wrong. The parking lot was completely empty and there was no
open
sign flashing in the window.

I knew that wasn’t right. The Quick Stop opened at 5:00 in the morning. They liked to get business from fishermen, on their way out for the day.

Just in case, I got out and tried the door. Sure enough, it was locked.

Well, that just totally sucked!

What was I going to do without my morning dose of coffee?

My next best option was the office. It would mean actually having to use the old coffee maker that Ayden kept there, but maybe I could manage to get it working, without electrocuting myself.

I wasn’t surprised to see that the lighthouse parking lot was empty, but I was fairly sure the gift shop should have been open, especially since it was a Saturday. Dorothy always had the shop open on the weekends.

After letting myself into the office, I went straight for the coffee maker. While the coffee was brewing, I tried Tim and Ayden again, but still got no answer.

As soon as the coffee was done, I poured some in one of Ayden’s disposable cups and sat down to write him a note.

Instead of leaving right away, I nosed around the files the boss had on his desk, hoping there would be an update on our current case. There was, but it wasn’t much. While I was traipsing around Victorian London, the island lost power again, and it lasted for nearly the whole time I was gone. It hadn’t been restored until late last night.

Another transformer was blown, with no apparent cause.

Frustrated with the lack of information, I locked up the office and headed into town. By the time I made it to Pier Alley, I knew something was seriously wrong. There was still no one around.

The town was completely deserted. Even the fishing boats were still docked, which was crazy. Some of the fishermen might stay in on a Saturday, but most didn’t. Getting out of my car, I walked around, trying the doors to various businesses. There were a few that weren’t locked, but the business was empty. Even Ripper Pies was deserted.

It seemed there wasn’t a single living soul in Storm Cove, but there was a ghost. Old Captain Marsh was at his usual spot on the bench in Founder’s Park.

Taking a seat beside him, I asked, “Are you going to talk today and tell me what the heck is going on?”

When Marsh didn’t answer, I turned away and stared out at the bay. It was a beautiful morning, and even a little warm.

My obvious next move was to go see Granny and Zane. If we’d been sent to some strange dimension, they would be in the same dimension with me.

But there was one thing that didn’t make sense on that front. Everything had seemed normal enough the night before. We had even had a run-in with Deputy Baker.

I turned back to Captain Marsh, ready to tell him goodbye. Instead, I got one heck of a surprise.

Captain Marsh was gone and Mr. Grim had taken his place. He was giving me one of his skull-like smiles.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice laced with fear and suspicion. Although I knew that technically, Mr. Grim was an angel, I still didn’t trust him.

“You seemed lost. I just thought I’d stop by and help you out.”

“How do you plan to help me?” I asked, giving him one of my, I trust you about as much as I trust a hungry shark, looks.

“You are here, but at the same time … you are not here,” he said with a defining sweep of his hand.

“So, do you think you could be a little more specific?”

“You have a ball to attend tonight.”

“You mean the Christmas Ball?” I asked.

Mr. Grim nodded. “You have unfinished business to deal with.”

“And this unfinished business has to do with the ball?”

He nodded. “You took the easy way out last time. That has to be remedied.”

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he turned himself into a wisp of smoke and floated away.

I hated it when that happened, but I did want to learn how to do that trick.