Wonder Wand Way (Witch of Mintwood Book 10) Read online

“Anything else?” Greer asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “I’ll have to agree with the rest of them and say he came by because he missed you. He didn’t seem happy at the gala last night. I mean, kind of, but not really. We didn’t have a chance to talk, just the two of us, but given how mad I was at Deacon I wouldn’t have been able to say much anyway. And Deacon would have been annoyed,” said Greer.

  I could see that. Deacon didn’t know what was going on any more than I did. He had told Greer as much, and I believed him.

  Still, I wanted answers. I wanted them very badly. But answers would have to wait, because Mrs. Cook had arrived.

  “Evening all,” she said, coming in cheerily, carrying a tin that proved to contain several kinds of cookies. She sat down in the comfy armchair we had left for her, and we all gazed for a moment at the food.

  Greer had done a spread of snacks—dips and vegetables mostly—as well. “You have to have healthy stuff. So you can eat a carrot, and then eat six cookies. That how it works, isn’t it?” she said.

  “It is in my world,” said Liam.

  “Sounds like the correct ratio,” agreed Charlie.

  “I’m so excited about all of the progress you’ve made at Bright Lights,” said Mrs. Cook, bringing us down to business. “I’m also delighted that Liam is helping.”

  We spent the rest of the evening chatting about the cinema. Mrs. Cook was very invested in turning the space into something usable and wonderful, but, she said, “The problem is that we don’t have a lot of money to work with.”

  “I’m sure you don’t want to see anything happen to it, though,” said Liam. This was his deepest concern.

  “Of course we don’t, dear,” said Mrs. Cook. “That’s why I have these three nice ladies working on it. They’re all very responsible. Lemmi takes care of other peoples’ pets, a job that requires a great deal of attention and an ability to see problems and head them off before they become serious. She’s had nothing but wonderful reviews from every pet owner I’ve talked to.”

  When it came time for Mrs. Cook and Liam to leave, she offered to drive him home. Gerry had dropped him off, and he had been planning to call his mother when he wanted to be picked up. He was glad not to have to bother her.

  Once we had waved them on their way, I filled my friends in on what had happened with Jasper.

  Charlie and Greer had known something was wrong because of the stricken look on my face when I’d come in. But they were shocked when I told them what had upset me the most.

  “He was confirming that he could see ghosts,” said Paws.

  Charlie gasped. “He was not.”

  “I’m pretty sure he was,” I said. I still felt a little off balance, not to mention surprised that something could have unsettled me even more than just Jasper showing up on my doorstep in the first place.

  “How do you know?” Charlie asked.

  I told her about the exchange as best I could, but in the end, Greer didn’t think much of it.

  “The most shocking thing about that is that he didn’t see Paws and just run away,” she said.

  “Don’t be mean. Cats are adorable,” said Charlie.

  “Says the girl who is allergic to them,” said Greer. Charger was at her feet, and she gave the dog an affectionate pat.

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t love them,” Charlie said.

  “That’s true. You also don’t actually have to own one,” said Greer.

  I brought us back to the topic at hand. “He said he came to return the cookbook. I think he also came to see Paws. He had always been hearing voices when he was around the farmhouse, at least recently. He could sense the ghosts even if he couldn’t outright see them.

  “Now I think he can see them. I have no idea why. I think he came here to confirm that. He was probably seeing ghosts around town and wondered if that was the voices he always heard here,” I said, stumbling a bit at the thought of a time when it was unremarkable for Jasper to visit.

  The explanation wasn’t that far-fetched; it had happened before, but Jasper had just never directly acknowledged Paws in the past. That part was new. And I didn’t like it, at least now that everything between us was so strange and strained.

  “You need to find out what’s going on,” said Greer.

  My friend’s words shook something loose inside me. I was sick of not knowing and I was sick of waiting. I was a human being. I had a mouth and ears I was capable of using. It was time to get some answers!

  “I think so too. Right now,” I said and pushed myself up.

  Charlie and Greer looked at me in surprise.

  I marched toward the door.

  Then I stopped and turned back around.

  Then I marched toward the door again.

  “What is she doing?” Paws asked. “Is that a new kind of human exercise?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s a new mark of confusion,” said Charlie.

  “And embarrassment,” said the cat.

  “I’m going over there right now and I’m going to demand to know what’s going on,” I insisted.

  “Isn’t it late to be doing that tonight?” Charlie said.

  “It’s never too late to get to the truth. Jasper’s the one who showed up here. He’s the one who left without any explanation. I want to know why,” I said.

  “You go, girl,” said Greer. “Don’t let anyone stuffy talk you out of it.”

  “Are you calling me stuffy?” Charlie demanded.

  “What makes you think I was talking about you?” she asked.

  “Of course you were talking about me,” Charlie sputtered.

  “Sure was,” said Greer.

  “I, for one, think she should go. She can’t have just anybody knowing she’s a witch,” said the cat.

  “People know. These two know. He’s a Witch Hunter, anyway, so surely he’d know,” I said. “It’s that he came here and just acted like it was some sort of lighthearted joke or something. How dare he treat me that way!”

  “I think you should go,” said Paws. “Either you’ll get to the truth or you’ll be embarrassed. Either way my day will improve.”

  “I’m going to go. I’m just going to put on a different outfit first,” I said, darting upstairs.

  I put on some jeans that had fewer holes in them and fit me better. These two things were important in making sure I didn’t look like a wrung-out mop.

  “Do you want us to come with you?” Charlie asked.

  “We can’t go with her. This is something she has to do on her own,” said Greer.

  “Greer’s right. This is something I have to do by myself,” I said.

  With that I left the cozy farmhouse. Not even Paws was going with me this time. There was no reason to subject myself to his color commentary when I was about to do something so nerve-wracking anyway.

  Here went nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I got into the Beetle and started to drive. The old girl was still running fine, and at least that was something I could be relieved about. There was no way I could afford to buy a new car right now.

  Jasper was building his own cabin on a pond. The pond was one of several in town, the most private and exclusive of them all. When I had last shown up at his place uninvited, the structure had been only half complete. I wondered if he had made any progress in the meantime.

  As I drove, I thought about everything that had happened recently. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

  In fact, I was furious. How dare he show up on my doorstep after telling me we had to “take a break,” then just walk away from me like that with no explanation of any kind! The cookbook story was obviously nonsense.

  When I parked in the driveway next to his cabin, I saw his truck, but that was about it. I didn’t notice anything else, I was so consumed by my anger and frustration.

  I did see lights on inside. Good. He had come home. I had been a little worried that he wouldn’t have, since he did tend to work l
ate at the barn. And the barn was one place I couldn’t bring myself to go.

  I stormed out of the Beetle. If I thought too much about it I’d change my mind, so I didn’t think about it at all.

  I made a point of slamming my door so he’d have some notice that I was there. Then I stomped up to the cottage and knocked on the door.

  My mouth was set in a mulish line. If my grandmother had seen the face I was making she would have warned me to be careful, because if I didn’t make a different face soon, my expression would freeze like that. But my grandmother wasn’t around to warn me, so on I stormed.

  Jasper had hung curtains over the window, so I couldn’t see inside. Just as important, no one who was inside could see out.

  I waited.

  When at first no one answered, I knocked again.

  Harder.

  This time I heard footsteps and a murmur.

  “I know you’re in there. I saw your truck. We need to talk. It’s time,” I yelled through the door.

  In my blind rage, I had stopped caring about anything but the situation Jasper had put us in.

  It was only in the moment before the door opened that I realized that Jasper might not be alone.

  Then the door opened, and Tyler Spin stood in front of me.

  My heart stopped. My whole body went numb. There were cold winds blowing around the cabin, but they had nothing on the feeling that was washing over me as I stood at Jasper’s door and saw someone who wasn’t Jasper answering it.

  “Hi, Lemmi,” said Tyler.

  “Where’s Jasper?” I said tightly.

  Tyler was a thin guy, currently dressed in slacks and a blue shirt. He still had his tie on but he had loosened it. He looked more like someone who had just come from some financial sector job than someone you’d find in a cabin in the woods.

  Jasper appeared next to Tyler.

  “Thanks,” he said to the other guy. Tyler disappeared back into the cabin.

  I tried to tell Jasper with my eyes how much I detested his guest. I had no idea whether he got the message.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked me.

  No, I wanted to yell at him.

  I stood there for one heartbeat, then another.

  “I just . . . everything is fine. I shouldn’t have come.” I whirled around. There was no way I could have this conversation with him while Tyler Spin was in his cabin.

  I marched back to the Beetle.

  When I looked over my shoulder, Jasper was halfway to me, at which point he had stopped.

  I turned and looked away again. I didn’t want him to see the tears on my cheeks.

  I came home dejected and feeling ill. How I could have been so incredibly stupid I didn’t know. I had just gone on a pointless, joyless ride to Jasper’s.

  Of course he wasn’t alone. But the fact that it was Tyler Spin who was there made it all the worse. I decided I was going to get answers from him no matter what, but I would have to figure out a way to do it when there was no one else around.

  Paws had been right. All I had gotten was humiliation. I didn’t think I could take it anymore.

  When I stormed back into the yard, Paws looked surprised for the second time that evening. I slammed into the house and threw my things down, ignoring him.

  I wasn’t surprised that Greer and Charlie were waiting up for me. They were in the kitchen, sitting at the nook and drinking tea. From the steam I deduced that they’d gotten fresh cups.

  The tea brought a sharp regret home to me: I should never have left the coziness of my house in the first place.

  Paws asked how the adventure to Jasper’s had gone, and I continued to ignore him.

  “Did you talk to Jasper?” Charlie asked.

  “Look at her face. Of course she talked to him when she has that face! She looks like she’s about to cry,” Greer scoffed.

  Charlie scrutinized my face.

  I sat heavily in one of the chairs and told them what had happened.

  While I spoke, Charlie poured me a cup of piping hot tea. Just the sight of my tea mug lifted my spirits a fraction.

  “So he wasn’t alone. Do we think this Tyler Spin guy has put a spell on Jasper?” Greer asked.

  “I don’t know what to think. I’m starting to wonder if Jasper is afraid of him. Tyler didn’t say or do anything. He let us talk, although we basically said nothing. It’s hard for me to imagine that he would have tried to prevent us from doing what we wanted,” I explained. “It’s just that apparently we didn’t want to do anything. I certainly didn’t, with him in the background.”

  “Maybe Tyler is manipulating Jasper somehow, but he wants to maintain the façade of being the good guy. I can see how he’d want to do that. That’s kind of like Hansen,” said Charlie.

  “No. That’s nothing like Hansen. Hansen is actually a good guy,” said Greer through gritted teeth.

  Charlie flipped her hair as if she wasn’t sure if she agreed or not. Greer rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, Hansen has been pretty good to us. It’s probably best not to compare the two,” I said.

  Charlie just shrugged.

  “Okay, tomorrow we’re going to focus on Bright Lights,” I said, trying to get myself together. “Mr. Curtain had a fight with someone before he died. We may never be able to prove that he was murdered, but we’re going to get to the bottom of what happened even if we can’t prove it. Until then, nothing else matters.”

  “You did just kick out a couple of dark witches out of Mintwood,” said Charlie, grinning. “That’s pretty cool.”

  “Yeah, at least that’s cool,” I said.

  One thing to feel good about before I fell asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The sound of pattering woke me up. For a second I thought I had mistakenly stumbled into a tap dancing class. My biggest worry was that I didn’t have the right shoes.

  Also, I couldn’t dance.

  The next instant my eyes sprang open.

  It was raining!

  Somehow I would have preferred a tap-dancing class. If only I could boogie.

  Anywho.

  I got out of bed and threw on the same sweater I’d worn the night before, and the same jeans. They weren’t very dirty. All I had done in them was run away from Jasper.

  This morning definitely called for breakfast and coffee at the Daily Brew. Making something at home was altogether not going to happen, since I didn’t have any croissants in the house to assist with the part of the morning where I ate my feelings.

  The Daily Brew was surprisingly empty when I arrived. Sometimes attendance ebbed, and sometimes it flowed. This morning was apparently an example of the former.

  That was fine with me. I was looking forward to some coffee and reading time before the day really got started. I grabbed copies of both the Caedmon Chronicle and the Mintwood Gazette as I walked in.

  As had happened a number of times recently, it was Bridget behind the counter instead of her aunt.

  “Hi, how are you?” I asked.

  “Hi, Lemmi.” She smiled, but she didn’t look that thrilled to see me.

  I took a shot in the dark. Since she’d come back I’d seen her around town a lot, once at Liam’s coveting everything he sold, and another time with that guy Simon.

  I hadn’t really liked the look of Simon, but that seemed to be my pattern lately.

  “Everything okay?” I asked her.

  She sighed. “I mean, yeah, everything is fine. I just . . . do you ever wish you had a different life? That you could do what you really dreamed of?”

  I frowned. Part of me wished I wasn’t the Witch of Mintwood. But that was really only when either Paws or the Dark Witch of Puddlewood was being a particular pain.

  “I used to think that, and sometimes it still might be true. For the most part I’m where I should be,” I told her.

  She nodded. “I work at my aunt’s coffee shop. It’s nice, but I want more . . . I want to do . . . something else.”

  “Do
you know what?” I asked her.

  She looked down ruefully. “I have pipe dreams. They’re all expensive. My family says they’d loan me a little money to get started, but they aren’t rich. It’s just not enough. I’m working here for now while I figure everything out. On top of that . . . boy problems. You know?”

  What me, know anything about boy problems?

  No way.

  And by that I mean YES.

  “I can relate to that,” I said.

  She smiled. “Yeah, so there’s just a lot going on. I’m sure it’ll all work out. Enjoy your coffee. I’ll bring your croissant over when it’s warm.”

  She placed my coffee in front of me and I took it gratefully, knowing that I was clutching temporary salvation. I went to sit down and read the papers, while Bridget busied herself behind the counter.

  I got so lost in the newspapers that I barely noticed when Bridget set my croissant down in front of me. Hansen had written another article on witches that was going to make Charlie predictably furious. In this article, Hansen cited more instances of strange occurrences that people had told him about. He mentioned people seeing flashes of light and feeling air brush past them. He mentioned people feeling strange presences. None of these were based on Ms. Newburyport’s account, and all of them could have been chalked up to any number of ordinary causes.

  In short, he still didn’t have any definitive proof. At the end of the article, he issued a call that surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t have.

  Hansen Gregory invited any witch in the county to come and speak with him at the Chronicle. The interview would be entirely confidential.

  I wondered what Jasper thought of these articles. Now that we weren’t speaking, would he turn me in to a dedicated reporter?

  I hoped not, but my heart hammered a little harder in my chest at the thought.

  I turned my attention to the Gazette, but there wasn’t much in the way of interesting news. At some point Charlie would be doing an article about Bright Lights, but not yet.

  The next time I glanced up, something interesting was happening in the café.

  Simon was lounging at one of the counters, smiling at Bridget while she worked. Tom was sitting hunched over in a corner and giving dark looks to anyone who came near.