Christmas Witch List--A Westwick Witches Cozy Mystery Read online

  “Nobody kicked you out,” Aunt Pearl said. “That wasn’t the arrangement at all.”

  “Well, what exactly was the arrangement?” Grandma Vi demanded. “Whatever it was, it’s nothing like this. I want restitution. And I want my old room back.”

  We all ignored her.

  “Why would Merlinda start a business on Vanuatu? I thought she wanted to run away from all that.” I was frustrated with the ever-changing story. I was also hurt that Grandma Vi disliked being my roommate.

  Aunt Amber interrupted. “It’s true that Merlinda wanted to leave Vanuatu for good, but Pearl talked her out of it. Pearl wanted Merlinda to capitalize on her talents and profit from it.”

  Aunt Pearl threw her hands up in the air. “There goes another secret. You sing like a canary, Amber. Such a big mouth.”

  “So it’s true then?” I already knew the answer.

  Aunt Amber nodded. “The two of them planned to open a Pearl’s Charm School branch on Vanuatu.”

  That made no sense. The one and only operating branch of Pearl’s Charm School was barely solvent with one student. Replicating that business model on some far-away island seemed financially disastrous. On the other hand, Merlinda was something of a supernatural workhorse, at least according to the cargo cult magic stories. Maybe Aunt Pearl planned to take advantage of her too.

  “Stop butting in, Amber,” Aunt Pearl said. “I can speak for myself.”

  “Well then, why don’t you?” Aunt Amber asked sweetly. She was clearly pleased at getting her sister all riled up.

  Aunt Pearl was wide awake by now. “Nice try, but I won’t be tricked into revealing my business secrets. I’ll lose my competitive edge.”

  Aunt Amber shrugged. “I guess it’s up to me then. Pearl planned to join Merlinda in Vanuatu after Christmas to set up shop. She would get everything rolling in exchange for a percentage of the fees. Merlinda was her protégé.”

  “Don’t talk about me like I’m not even here,” Aunt Pearl protested. “Half of what you’re saying isn’t even true.”

  “Which parts exactly?” Tyler asked.

  Aunt Pearl shrugged. “What does it matter?”

  Aunt Amber shook her head in disappointment. “This is really serious, Pearl. I waited for you to say something, to own up to it. But you never did.”

  “Never will, either. I want a lawyer.” Aunt Pearl fidgeted on the sofa, restless. The spell was completely worn off now.

  I frowned. “If Merlinda was worried about her father trying to take advantage of her supernatural talents, wouldn’t the new business just antagonize him?”

  “That’s where Pearl comes in,” Aunt Amber said. “Two witches are better than one, and her father would be powerless to stop them. They would operate as Pearl’s Charm School together at first, with Merlinda taking over in time. The islanders would see that Merlinda held the magic of the cargo cult, not her father or anyone else. That’s the one thing that would free her from his grip. Pearl would be her backup in case she got backlash from her father.”

  Aunt Pearl could be very persuasive. Maybe Merlinda had felt pressured to go along with her plan. “I don’t get it. Merlinda wanted to stop the John Frum cargo cult charade. This just perpetuates it.”

  Aunt Amber shrugged. “Pearl convinced Merlinda that she could showcase her talents, and maybe even encourage some of the locals to develop their own supernatural talents. Pearl can make a witch out of pretty much anyone. As long as they apply themselves.”

  Aunt Pearl beamed at the compliment. “Told you, Cen.”

  I rolled my eyes at the dig. I was sick and tired of being called a lousy witch.

  Aunt Amber patted my shoulder. “Don’t take it too personally, Cen. Pearl saw both Merlinda’s potential and a huge market opportunity. She figured that if all of the believers in the cargo cult applied themselves, they wouldn’t be taken advantage either. With a few simple spells, she felt she could entice them into enrolling in her school.”

  “You mean, bewitch them into enrolling. That’s cheating.” It sounded like more trouble than it was worth, not to mention against WICCA rules. But if Aunt Pearl was anything, she was an opportunist.

  “But if the other islanders aren’t witches, how can they practice witchcraft?” Grandma Vi asked. “How is that even possible?”

  Aunt Pearl grinned. “It’s all in the secret sauce. Anything’s possible when you believe in yourself.”

  This was just wrong, and I had to say so. “Oh, I get it. You’re going to prey on these poor souls and promise the impossible. You think that since they believe in the cargo cult and John Frum, you can just take their tuition money and convince them that they can actually become witches.”

  “Geez, Cen. You make it sound so callous.”

  “Well, it is. You’ll do anything for a buck.”

  “Pretty much,” Aunt Pearl smiled. “Or a vatu. That’s the currency in Vanuatu.”

  27

  It was painfully obvious by now that no one was going to help me get Brayden and Gail back. It was small consolation to know that Aunt Amber and Grandma Vi weren’t much better at witchcraft than I was. Now, I had no one to look up to. Well, almost no one.

  Mom was much more accomplished than I was, but she limited herself to only a dozen or so spells. I had probably inherited my lack of commitment from her. The only real possibility was Aunt Pearl, but she had made it clear that I had to do it myself. Brayden and Gail’s future, or lack thereof, rested solely in my hands.

  My spell book was back at my treehouse, but walking through the snowdrifts to retrieve it would take too long. Anything could go wrong while Brayden and Gail were stuck in limbo, and I couldn’t risk that.

  Suddenly, I remembered that Mom’s spell book was in the house. I raced into the kitchen and rummaged through the messy bottom drawer of the desk where Mom kept her WICCA spell book. I pulled it out. It was dusty, probably because Mom rarely referred to it these days. She focused mostly on herbal remedies that she knew by heart.

  The worn leather cover felt reassuring against my palm as I opened the book. I thumbed through the thin vellum pages and soon found the Transport spell and its reversal spell. The familiar words came back to me as I read the first line.

  As I read more, I stumbled. The wording in Mom’s older edition was slightly different than what I had read in my own spell book. Not by much, but enough to make me wonder. Were the text changes made just to modernize, or was there a problem with the older version?

  I always followed my spells to the letter and still had trouble pulling them off. What if the wording differences in the older version meant they no longer worked? Or worse, what if they were harmful? One small mistake could have very serious consequences for Brayden and Gail.

  In the end, it was a chance I had to take. I had no other options. I held the book open and ran back outside to the front porch. I had to be completely focused on the task at hand without distraction from my aunts or anyone else. I also couldn’t risk their interference. That gave me only a minute or so before somebody came outside to see what I was doing, and I needed the solitude to concentrate.

  I reread the page, focusing my sights on Brayden and Gail in the snow globe on the lawn. They no longer banged on the glass. Instead, they barely moved as they huddled together for warmth.

  I had to make this work.

  I read the words several times until I had them committed to memory. Then I channeled all my energies to the glass globe on the lawn and recited the words:

  * * *

  Come back, come back,

  Return to me,

  From whence you came,

  And you will be free,

  * * *

  Tap-a-tap-tap

  On the glass

  Take the steps

  And bring yourself back.

  * * *

  The spell was short and sweet, much simpler than I had assumed it would be. It was the opposite of the original transport spell. All I had to do was speak clearly a
nd visualize Brayden and Gail.

  But nothing happened.

  I repeated the spell a half-dozen times.

  Nothing.

  Was it different because they were inside a glass globe? Were there other kinds of globes? I hadn’t the foggiest idea. I flashed back to my own glass snow globe imprisonment. I couldn’t remember exactly how I had escaped, but I had somehow made it back. So would Brayden and Gail. I could do this.

  According to Aunt Amber, Aunt Pearl had forgotten the last sentence of the spell she had used on me. I looked down at my book and reread the last line. That line at least was identical to the one I remembered from my own spell book. It hadn’t seemed to matter that Aunt Amber had interrupted and spoken the last line of Aunt Pearl’s spell. It seemed that anyone could voice the words…whether it was one witch or two. There had to be another reason why my spell wasn’t working and why I couldn’t bring them back.

  The last thing I remembered about my snow globe prison was a low rumbling sound, the reindeer pawing at the ground, and then the glass shattering just as I was finally freed.

  Sheer force could be another way to break the spell. If I couldn’t conjure it, maybe I could come up with something similar. I just needed enough power to break the glass without harming Brayden and Gail, and if I kept it concentrated under the globe, I could break them out.

  I leaned against the house as I flipped through Mom’s spell book with half-frozen fingers. There were several spells that could work in a pinch: an earthquake spell, and an apocalypse spell. Workable, but a little drastic. The widespread catastrophic destruction would no doubt annihilate us all. Aside from that, even more could go wrong, especially in my hands.

  That brought me back to the transport reversal spell. I recited the spell again, careful to speak slowly and clearly.

  Nothing.

  Like Einstein said, repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result was insanity.

  I did it out of sheer desperation because I didn’t know what else to do.

  I had just turned to go back inside when the force of the blast knocked me off my feet. I fell backward and slipped on the edge of the ice-covered front porch. Then everything went dark.

  28

  I opened my eyes and stared into the worried gaze of Tyler. He squeezed my hand. “Cen, what happened? Brayden found you on the front porch. You were knocked out cold.”

  Brayden? If he was out of the globe, then my spell had worked! Maybe the magnetic pull of Merlinda’s globe had waned. Or, perhaps I had found my witch calling after all. Whatever it was, I was both relieved and proud.

  “I can’t remember…” I was propped up with pillows on the living room sofa and couldn’t remember how I got there. My last memory was standing outside on the porch reciting the spell. Everything after that was a blank. I sat up straight and scanned the room.

  Mom, Aunt Pearl, and Aunt Amber stood in the hall doorway.

  Brayden sat in the overstuffed chair by the hearth. He smiled, a look of relief on his face. “How ya doing, Cen? You gave me quite a scare.”

  From the looks of it, Brayden had no memory of the snow globe.

  Aunt Pearl smiled. “Cendrine West! You put on quite a show when you apply yourself. See what you can do with a little effort?”

  I nodded. I massaged my forehead and recalled the spell. All I recalled was reciting the last line from Mom’s spell book. Mom’s book! I glanced around me but didn’t see it anywhere. I must have left it out on the porch. No doubt it was wet and damaged by now. I bolted upright and scrambled to my feet. “I have to get the book.”

  “Relax, Cen.” Mom tapped her fingers on her spell book. “I’ve got it right here. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Where’s everybody else?” I really meant Gail, but I didn’t want to single her out.

  “If you’re looking for little ‘ol me, I’m right here,” Grandma Vi called out from above my head. “Whew! That was a close call. You almost got me too. Did you miss me?”

  I tilted my head slightly, just enough for her to notice.

  She flitted down beside me and hovered just above the armrest. “Did I ever tell you that you’re my favorite granddaughter?”

  I’m your only granddaughter.

  Tyler smiled. “You really don’t remember anything, Cen? You found Brayden and Gail almost frozen to death outside. A few more minutes and they would have both been frostbitten.”

  Grandma Vi gave an exaggerated shiver. “Oh my! You really saved the day, Cendrine.”

  Gail suddenly reappeared at the mention of her name. She had changed out of her wet clothes and showered, a towel wrapped around her head. She also wore Mom’s bathrobe. “Got anything I can wear?”

  Everybody turned to me.

  I shook my head. “Sorry, but all my stuff is back at my treehouse. I guess you’ll just have to wait for your stuff to dry.” I was secretly relieved and almost gleeful that her sequined miniskirt and leather jacket couldn’t just be tossed in the dryer.

  She couldn’t exactly go on the run in Mom’s housecoat either. Which was good because I had a lot of unanswered questions.

  Aunt Amber had one too.

  “Did you know that pomegranate in French is grenade?” Aunt Amber asked.

  I wasn’t sure if she was referring to me blowing apart Merlinda’s globe or something else, but we were in danger of getting sidetracked. “What does that have to be with anything, Aunt Amber?”

  She shrugged. “Oh, nothing. Or, maybe everything. I get the feeling that things are about to blow up.”

  I had no idea what Aunt Amber was getting at, but I knew something else. I had busted Brayden and Gail out of their prison, and I wanted something in return. Granted, I had trapped them in the glass globe in the first place. Still, things could have been much worse if I hadn’t ended up rescuing them.

  Gail looked up from towel-drying her hair. “Damn right things aren’t what they seem. Take Merlinda for instance. Why was everyone in such awe of her? She was no angel.”

  The kitchen door slammed followed by heavy footsteps. Dominic appeared in the dining room doorway. He was wet and disheveled like he had been outside. “Hey—watch what you’re saying about Merlinda, Have some respect. She’s the victim here.”

  “Hardly,” Gail scoffed. “Just a poor little rich girl who cried when she didn’t get what she wanted.”

  I looked him up and down and wondered if Aunt Pearl had something to do with his messy appearance. “What happened to you?”

  Dominic ignored me. He scowled at Gail. “You wouldn’t know. You never even gave Merlinda a chance.”

  Tyler and I exchanged glances. What on earth were they talking about? The angry undercurrent between Gail and Dominic struck me as odd for two people who had just met.

  Gail opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it.

  “That right there is the bomb.” Aunt Amber smiled. “Touché.”

  29

  “You two know each other, don’t you?” I looked first at Gail and then Dominic.

  Gail looked away and towel-dried her hair with increased frenzy.

  Her enraged reaction told me I had hit a nerve. Dominic and Gail knew each other all right, and we had just unmasked them. Yet another secret exposed.

  “Yeah, we know each other,’ Dominic said softly. “I wish now that we didn’t.”

  Brayden’s eyes widened in shock. “How could you guys know each other? Dominic just flew in from Vanuatu, and you live in Shady Creek…”

  Gail shrugged, a smug expression on her face.

  Brayden searched Gail’s face for an answer. “You lied to me.”

  Gail sniffed. “I didn’t lie. I didn’t say anything because I thought you’d get mad.”

  “Why would I be mad?” Brayden looked confused as he glanced back and forth between Gail and Dominic. Realization slowly dawned that their relationship had probably been romantic, not platonic.

  Gail grabbed Brayden’s hand and pulled h
im close. “I can explain, Bray. Dominic and I used to see each other a long, long time ago before he moved to Vanuatu. But you’re the one I’m with now, and that’s all that matters.”

  Brayden’s mouth dropped open. “But why hide that from me? What’s going on, Gail?”

  “I didn’t hide anything from you. You just never asked,” Gail replied sweetly.

  Brayden looked confused. “B-but why would I ask in the first place? You both acted like you just met for the first time.”

  Gail dismissed Brayden with a wave of her hand. “You don’t need to know every single detail of my life, Brayden. But since I’ve got nothing to hide…Dominic and I dated for a few months. I never mentioned it because I knew you’d get jealous. Just like you are right now.”

  Brayden had many faults but jealousy wasn’t one of them. As an ignored ex-girlfriend, I knew that firsthand. He focused on himself too much to notice things like that. Like, not even at all. I really felt sorry for him, though. He didn’t deserve the treatment Gail was dishing out.

  “Uh, yeah, that’s right.” Dominic looked visibly relieved. He turned to Brayden. “It was such a long time ago. You got a problem with that?”

  Brayden swallowed hard as a flicker of doubt flashed across his face. “Uh…I guess not. Just friends now, right?”

  “Yeah,” Dominic said. “No big deal.”

  I flashed back to dinner and Gail’s enraged expression over Merlinda. People got jealous all the time, but there was something more going on with her. Something beyond envy. Something sinister, in fact. Even wrapped in Mom’s fluffy housecoat she looked scary. Something told me not to turn my back on her.

  “I’ll talk to any man I want, Brayden,” Gail said. “You don’t own me, so stop acting so controlling.” She spoke to Brayden but focused her angry glare on Dominic.