A Witch on Mintwood Mountain (Witch of Mintwood Book 4) Read online

  We’d barely parked the car when lights flared in my rearview mirror and Charlie drove up in her Subaru.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, tumbling out of the vehicle. “Thanks for waiting.”

  “We’ve been here for almost half an hour,” Greer admonished her, looking annoyed.

  “I’m sorry! Lena wouldn’t stop talking, then Hansen showed up, and it was such a mess,” said Charlie.

  “That’s no excuse for leaving us hanging here for so very long,” Greer continued.

  Charlie looked between us and then her eyes settled on the stunned expression of the ghosts.

  “You just got here, didn’t you?” she said to Greer.

  “Yup,” said Greer.

  “You stink,” said Charlie.

  “I just showered an hour ago,” said Greer.

  “Can we get on with it?” said Kevin, sounding testy.

  “Hey, watch it. This is the Witch of Mintwood you’re talking to. She can do things to you that you can’t possibly imagine,” my aunt said in a stern warning tone.

  I gave her an appreciative smile and she winked at me.

  “Let’s get moving,” said Charlie, leading the way to the main trail. Then she thought better of it and stopped to look at the ghosts. “Where are we going?”

  At that the ghosts moved to the front of the line, with Charlie following close behind and the rest of us trailing behind her.

  The mountain at night would have been creepy if I’d been there alone, but with so many people I didn’t feel so bad.

  “Are we sure this isn’t some sort of trap?” Greer whispered.

  “Set up by Ellie?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” said Greer.

  “They aren’t dark ghosts. I’m sure Aunt Harriet would know if they were, so I think we’re okay,” I whispered.

  Now that Greer had said it, I had to admit that nerves were crawling up my spine as we wandered out into the night. At the same time, I felt we didn’t have a choice. We had to find Kevin and Kay’s bodies for them and bring them home, and if their ghosts were going to help us, we had to do it at night. At least the faint sparkle of the three ghosts kept the darkness from overwhelming us.

  The main trail was wide and well cleared. There were no overhanging branches, but the forest on either side of us was deep and black. The trees were tall and scraggily, with long shadows that merged into one enveloping darkness at night. Scrapings and shufflings and the occasional rustling reminded us that we were surrounded by life we couldn’t see.

  My aunt fell into step next to me, with Paws at our feet and Greer bringing up the rear. I was reminded that I was definitely not a born hiker, nor an experienced one.

  “Don’t let them talk over you,” she warned me quietly. “You’re in charge, and don’t you forget it.”

  “Okay, I’m in charge,” I said, nodding.

  “Because that’s not going to be a disaster,” Paws murmured.

  “Oh, go run a trail,” I ordered him.

  “I think I’ll stay here,” said Paws after a long pause.

  “He’s afraid of the mountain animals,” said my aunt knowingly. “I see it a lot with domestic animals. They know their place in the animal chain.”

  “There could be wildcats out here, or minks, or worse,” Paws burst out. “Whoever thought we’d have to do an investigation on a stupid mountain?”

  “You’d have to figure it would happen eventually,” said Charlie.

  None of us in the group were hikers, and our path was slowed by the fact that Kevin and Kay had led us off the main trail soon after we entered the woods.

  “Whoever thought Charlie would be excited to go on a hike, at night no less?” Greer wondered after about half an hour of climbing.

  “Anything for the story,” Charlie called out.

  “This is a lot of work,” said Aunt Harriet, using her hands to push off on her knees. “I might need to stay here.”

  We’d gone about an hour and still hadn’t reached the cliff that Kevin and Kay had fallen from. My aunt was looking winded, and Paws was complaining about his feet. Coming to a halt, I was grateful for the break and started chugging from my water bottle.

  “One thing I didn’t expect was to have to work out when I came home,” said my aunt, who was visibly exhausted, so much so that she finally stopped and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll forage for plants and head back to the Beetle.”

  “Do you want to take Paws with you?” I offered. “For protection?”

  My aunt grinned. “I’ll be fine, but thanks for the offer. Maybe I’ll find a bear to chat with. He can tell me about the sun cycle and local plant life.”

  “Your aunt is so cool,” Charlie beamed.

  “Are you trying to get rid of me?” Paws asked as we kept moving.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “How does failure feel?” Paws asked.

  I ignored him. He was clearly stressed from the threat of a real cat attacking us, meaning him.

  “Not much further,” Kevin called.

  “What was that!” Paws cried, his sparkling fur suddenly standing on end. He pressed his ghost body near my leg, and I resisted the urge to shake him off.

  “It’s just some woods creature,” said Greer.

  “Don’t try to sooth me! It’s a dark witch come to get us,” cried Paws.

  “It’s a what!” Kay and Kevin looked panicked.

  “It’s not a dark witch,” I said. “They’re not in town.” I hoped they weren’t in town.

  “Are you afraid of the dark?” Charlie asked the cat.

  “Cats love the dark,” said Paws.

  “That’s not what I asked,” said Charlie.

  “What are you, a reporter?” Paws grumbled.

  Charlie didn’t need to answer, because just then Kevin and Kay stopped and Kay said, “It was right here!”

  We all crept toward the edge of the path, which was only a few inches from the edge of the cliff. With infinite care we peered down, then down some more. I couldn’t see anything, but Greer pulled out a flashlight and pointed the beam downward.

  “That’s a powerful flashlight,” said Charlie.

  “Deacon wanted me to have it,” Greer explained.

  “Of course he did,” said Charlie, smiling.

  “Now we just have to figure out how to get down without slipping and breaking our necks,” said Greer. She turned to the two ghosts. “No offense.”

  Chapter Four

  As a teenager I had rarely done anything crazy, and I had certainly never come to Mintwood Mountain late at night.

  “How on earth are we going to get down there?” said Charlie.

  “We can show you a way,” said Kevin. “We’ve had months to look around, and I think humans can go this way.” He turned away from us, moving off to the right and almost immediately disappearing into the trees.

  I exchanged looks with my two friends. Greer shrugged and followed him, and Charlie and I made a move to do the same. We had come this far, so why stop now?

  “I don’t want to go into the woods,” Paws yowled.

  “You’re already in the woods!” I pointed out. “But you’re welcome to stay here by yourself in the dark,” I added evilly.

  “I’m coming,” said Paws.

  The three humans and the three ghosts headed further into the thick forest, where we had to move so slowly that Kevin kept having to stop to let us catch up.

  “This is ridiculous,” said Charlie.

  “Are the cracks in your love of doing anything for a story starting to show?” Greer teased.

  “What are you talking about?” Charlie demanded.

  “You said before that you’d do anything for a story, but now you’re having to climb down a cliff in the dark and it seems like a little too much for you,” said Greer.

  “Can we fight again when we’re on level ground?” I said.

  It was all I could do to concentrate on where I was setting my foot each time I took a step.

>   “The moon was helping us on the way up, but now the trees are too dense,” Charlie complained.

  “I’ll light your way,” said Kay.

  She moved toward Charlie, and her shimmering cast just enough of a glow that my reporter friend could see her feet. Kevin went to Greer and did the same thing, which left me with Paws. He was already underfoot, weaving in and out of my ankles like any good cat. If he had been a real cat, in fact, he would have tripped me. I’m sure he would have enjoyed that spectacle immensely.

  “I should have stayed with your aunt. She looked like she was about to have a good time,” said Charlie.

  “Then who would have written your story? We could’ve gone and gotten Hansen, I suppose,” Greer said slyly.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Charlie gasped.

  “Leave and watch me,” said Greer.

  We continued on our slow way, with Kay now leading the way next to Charlie. I kept grabbing onto tree trunks to steady myself.

  “When I signed on to see ghosts, I had no idea I’d get to do stuff like this,” said Greer. “It’s way more interesting than working at the bar.”

  “Here we go,” Kevin said triumphantly.

  Suddenly we were on level ground, although we were still in the middle of a thick forest with no trail.

  “What now?” Charlie asked.

  “You just have to climb over that boulder,” Kevin said, pointing to a looming mass a little distance away.

  Charlie looked at him as if he’d said something funny. The only trouble was, he didn’t see any humor in it.

  “How do you expect us to climb a boulder?” Greer asked.

  “One foot in front of the other,” Paws suggested.

  “I think we can do it,” I said.

  The boulder only came up to my shoulder, and it was relatively round. I had a feeling I could get a foothold and a handhold, and maybe drive myself over.

  “Okay, you go first,” said Charlie encouragingly.

  I did as I had planned and raised my hand against the boulder, scrabbling for a foothold at the same time. After two tries, Greer came over and helped me. “Here, I’ll give you a boost,” she said, grabbing me by the arm and lifting me up.

  With my friend’s help I made it over.

  “You okay over there?” Charlie called.

  Paws had sailed along with me and was now standing at my feet, smugly watching me rub my red, raw hands together.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Paws might not be in another second if he keeps looking at me like that, though,” I called.

  “I’m coming next,” Charlie yelled. Greer had to help her over as well, which left Greer stuck on the other side. I hadn’t thought about how we were going to get back, but when I examined the boulder I saw that side I was now on was smoother and flatter. I should have no trouble climbing it without help.

  Greer, the most athletic of us, finally made it over by herself after several tries. “That was fun. We should do it again sometime,” she grinned.

  “Maybe you thought you were talking to other friends, but I don’t rock climb,” Charlie sniffed.

  “Funny, because I thought you just did,” said Greer.

  “For dear friends, you two sure fight a lot,” said Kevin, who, with Kay at his side, had drifted over to us on the far side of the boulder.

  “We aren’t fighting. We’re having a spirited conversation,” said Greer.

  “Where are your bodies?” I asked.

  “This way,” said Kay.

  “Great, more thick brush to wade through,” said Charlie.

  We had only taken about four steps when Kay and Kevin stopped us. There were indeed two sets of remains, mostly buried under the brush at this point.

  “I see your flannel,” said Charlie. Then she turned away and covered her mouth.

  I glanced up the cliff to where we had been standing just a few minutes before. “That’s a long way to fall,” I said.

  “You can say that again,” said Kevin. “All of our stuff has just lain here for nine months. It doesn’t surprise me that no one ever found us. You can’t even see us from up top.” He shook his head sadly.

  “How are you going to tell Detective Cutter about this?” Greer asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “I could say I have an anonymous source,” Charlie offered.

  “You think he’d buy that without suspecting it was me?” I said.

  “It’s not as if he knows you can talk to and see ghosts, but no, it would probably drag you into it,” Charlie said.

  When we had gone out on the Babbling Brook Lake and found a car at the bottom, tipped off by a ghost, I had just told Detective Cutter myself. Since then I had often wondered if that had been a mistake, because now he had noticed – not happily – that I was involved with every murder in town.

  “Are you still going to help us find out what happened to Chloe?” said Kevin.

  “Who cares what happened to Chloe?” Kay asked snidely.

  “She was our friend,” said Kevin.

  “She was your friend, and look where that landed us,” Kay said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Dead.”

  “Were you and Chloe dating?” I asked Kevin. If ghosts could blush, I felt certain Kevin would have been bright red right now.

  “Yeah, were you and Chloe dating?” Kay asked, an edge to her voice.

  I had obviously stepped into a hornet’s nest, and I wished I could step back out of it, but it was too late now.

  “It’s not my business if you don’t want to tell me,” I said. “To answer your original question, yes, I’m going to look for Chloe. I can’t ignore that there’s a missing ghost.”

  “Her family would want to know what happened to her,” said Greer.

  “They’re probably happy she’s gone. She was a menace,” fumed Kay.

  “Chloe and I were just friends,” said Kevin, inserting an answer to the earlier question as if trying to defuse the conversation.

  Kay rolled her eyes but didn’t comment. There was more to the story, but I wasn’t going to learn it here tonight. I wanted to get out of the dark woods and go home.

  “They had a hotline when you two went missing,” I said to the ghosts. “I’ll call that and leave an anonymous tip, then Cutter won’t know I was involved.”

  “Thanks for all your help,” said Kay, sounding warmer than she had when she was talking about Chloe.

  “You want to come back to the house with us?” I offered.

  “No, we’re used to being here,” said Kay, “and if they’re going to move our bodies I’d like to be around for that. We’ll just stay here tonight. Will you be okay finding your way back off the mountain on your own?”

  “Paws can lead us,” I said. The cat was sitting at my feet, more well-behaved than I had ever seen him.

  “Sure, course I can,” he said.

  We waved goodbye to the two ghosts and started making our slow way out of the ravine. With only Paws’ shimmer to see by, we had to go even more slowly than we had before, but with care we made slow progress. Climbing over the boulder was an ordeal, and climbing back up the hill was just as bad. I found myself hugging trees as I tried to remain on my feet and propel myself forward, but it was very difficult.

  When we finally made it up to the top of the ravine, I glanced down to see if the bodies were visible from the cliff edge. They most certainly were not.

  “Let’s go find Aunt Harriet,” I said.

  “What do you think happened to Chloe?” Charlie asked.

  “It’s really a fascinating question,” said Greer.

  “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like she ever made it home either,” I said.

  “Should we look for her, too?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes, but not tonight. I need some sleep, and then I need to think about this whole situation,” I said.

  “Do you believe they just accidentally fell down the ravine?” Greer asked.

  “There’s defini
tely something they aren’t telling us. And I’m sure it has to do with Chloe,” mused Charlie.

  We found Aunt Harriet without much trouble. She was gathering mushrooms, a pastime that she said was very dangerous unless you knew what you were doing. Of course she knew what she was doing, but Charlie was still freaked out.

  “They aren’t going to hurt you. I left all the poisonous ones here,” said my aunt.

  “Did you find the bears?” I asked.

  Paws immediately started squirming, which was why I had asked.

  “No,” said my aunt, “they’re being shy tonight. They don’t know me, so I’ll have to come back and gain their trust. Once they’re comfortable with my presence, I’m sure they’ll come and introduce themselves,” she added cheerily.

  Charlie headed for her car, and Greer, my aunt, and I got into the Beetle, with Paws tagging along.

  Once we were settled, my aunt asked, almost as an afterthought, “Did you find the bodies, by the way?”

  “Yes,” I said, starting the car for the drive back to the farmhouse.

  “Sad business. They probably died around the same time as Mom, so she wasn’t able to go look for them,” said Aunt Harriet, sounding gloomy.

  “That makes sense,” I said.

  “The ghosts are so lucky to have you,” she said, a little more cheerfully.

  “Tell it to Paws,” I said.

  “No need. I’m not listening,” said the cat.

  Chapter Five

  Oblivious to the lateness of the hour, Charlie had sat down as soon as we got home from the mountain to work on one article about the missing hikers and another about the situation at Farmer Franklin’s place. But there was a complication: she had to wait until Detective Cutter let Lena know they’d been found to actually publish the article about the hikers. When that finally happened she would fire off the article to Lena so it could go out in the next day’s paper.

  “But this way, yours and Hansen’s articles will appear in the paper at the same time,” said Greer.

  “Yes, but journalists aren’t going to be allowed up on the mountain for a few days, so my article is going to be way better than his, because I was up there already,” said Charlie smugly.

  The four of us were sitting around the breakfast nook, finishing up our porridge and coffee. My aunt was reading the first section of the Mintwood Gazette, while Greer had taken the entertainment section. All that was left was sports, and I didn’t care about sports.