4 Witching On A Star (23 page)

“Two days? Well, crap,” Landon climbed up and started packing up the picnic.

“What are you doing?”

“We have to get moving on this,” Landon said.

“You believe me?”

“Are you lying?” Landon asked, but he didn’t stop packing the picnic back up to wait for my response.

“No,” I said. “You’re taking a lot on faith, though.”

“That’s what a relationship is, Bay,” Landon said. “I believe in you. So, let’s help these kids.”

“You’re right,” Erika giggled. “He does have a different kind of magic.”

After packing up our picnic, we returned to the guesthouse – but found it empty. I realized that Thistle and Clove were probably up at the inn having dinner.

“You want to tell them, don’t you?” Landon asked.

“It can wait until morning,” I said.

“Are you sure?”

“We’re not joined at the hip,” I pointed out.

“Really? I wasn’t sure,” Landon teased, although the mirth in his voice didn’t encapsulate his entire face.

“You’re worried,” I observed.

“Worried? I don’t know if that’s the right word,” Landon said. “I think concerned would be more like it.”

“So, what do we do?”

“I called Chief Terry on our way back here and he said he would get out some extra patrols as soon as possible,” Landon said. “Until tomorrow morning, though, we’re stuck.”

“What happens tomorrow morning?”

“Tomorrow morning I drive over to Traverse City and find a way to get my boss to put the full weight of the FBI behind this.”

I felt my heart rate ratchet up a notch. “Do you think you can do that?”

Landon shrugged noncommittally. “I have no idea. What I do know is that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.”

“What will you tell him?”

Landon shook his head. “I don’t know yet. I guess I’ll figure that out on the drive over there tomorrow morning.”

“Can’t you just call him?”

“I think I’ll be more convincing in person,” Landon replied honestly.

I bit my lower lip. “Will you stay over there tomorrow night?” I was reluctant to admit that I wanted him close to me. I felt a little pathetic even thinking it.

Landon smirked. “Missing me already?”

“No,” I shot back. “I don’t care if you stay over there.”

“Well, that’s good,” Landon replied dryly. “But I care. I’ll be back tomorrow night, one way or another.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked curiously.

“Because, either way, the boat is over here. If we’re really working on a timetable, then I have to be over here where I can do some actual good.”

“So you’ll be back tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be back tomorrow night,” Landon agreed. “And while I’m gone, I expect you and your cousins to stay out of trouble.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I protested.

“You know what it means,” Landon cast me a dark look.

“No, I don’t,” I pushed out my bottom lip obstinately.

“That means I don’t want the three of you concocting some crazy plan about how you’re going to solve this without the help of law enforcement.”

“We would never do that,” I protested.

“You’ve done nothing but do that since I met you,” Landon pointed out.

“That’s not true,” I hedged, but my memory was suddenly agreeing with him and arguing with me. “Well, it’s not totally true.”

“You three are going to stay out of trouble, right?” Landon pressed.

“I said we would.”

“And you’re not going to tip off your Aunt Tillie to do something as a way around that promise?”

Crap, he was catching on to our tricks.

“I promise.”

“Good,” Landon said, pulling me towards him and dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “I wouldn’t be happy to lose you.”

“That’s a nice thing to say.”

“And if you do something stupid,” Landon continued. “I’m going to make you wish you’d never met me.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“You want me to be nice?” Landon cocked an eyebrow and looked down at me suggestively.

I blew out a sigh. “Okay,” I said. “But you’re going to have to do all the work because I’m really tired.”

“I’m up for that,” Landon laughed moving towards the bedroom. He stopped abruptly at the door. “There’s no bacon in the house, right?”

I frowned. His cuteness factor was diminishing rapidly.

“SO, I HAVE
an idea.”

“This can’t be good,” Thistle intoned, watching me from her spot behind the counter of Hypnotic as I paced around the store like a caged animal. I had spent the last thirty minutes catching my cousins up on everything I had learned in the past twenty-four hours.

“I don’t want any part of it,” Clove announced primly.

“You don’t even know what it is,” I pointed out.

“That doesn’t matter,” Clove replied. “I’ve learned my lesson about doing what you guys want me to do. I’m not codependent anymore.”

“Really?” Thistle arched an eyebrow doubtfully. “You cured your own codependence by sheer force of will in two days?”

“I did,” Clove agreed.

“Huh,” Thistle mused. “You should run a seminar on how to do that. People would pay big bucks to let you cure their codependence.”

“Do you really think so?” Clove’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“Absolutely,” Thistle nodded enthusiastically and then rolled her eyes in my direction when Clove looked away.

“You guys want to help me?” Clove asked.

I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. “Wouldn’t that be the opposite of breaking the codependent streak?”

Clove considered the question seriously for a second and then scowled at me. “You’re just trying to confuse me.”

“Big shocker there,” Thistle mumbled.

“What?” Clove asked suspiciously.

“I was asking Bay what her idea was,” Thistle changed the subject.

“I told you that I don’t want to know,” Clove said angrily.

“I wasn’t asking for you, I was asking for me,” Thistle argued. “Not everything is about you.”

“No, apparently it’s about you,” Clove shot back.

“You’re bugging me,” Thistle sniped.

“You’re both bugging me,” I interjected impatiently.

“Oh, yeah,” Thistle turned back to me. “What’s your idea again?”

“I think we should do a summoning spell,” I announced boldly.

Thistle didn’t look impressed. “Why?”

“To call the boat.”

“Huh,” Thistle rolled the idea around her in mind. “Do you think we can do that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I think it’s worth a try, though.”

“A summoning spell only works to call energy,” Clove countered. “A boat is an object, not energy.”

“We don’t know that it only works on energy,” Thistle shot back. “We just know we’ve only used them to summon energy. That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“It’s not going to work,” Clove said.

Thistle ignored her. “People are made of energy,” Thistle said, her eyes flashing with intrigue as she watched me. “What if we actually combined a summoning spell with a command spell?”

“What’s a command spell?” Clove narrowed her eyes.

“She means a hypnosis spell,” I said.

“A hypnosis spell?” Clove looked flummoxed. “We haven’t used one of those since high school. Don’t you remember? We used it on Coach Bailey to convince her we were always on our periods so we wouldn’t have to participate in gym and it backfired and she had some sort of meltdown because she thought she was hemorrhaging?”

“We’re older now,” Thistle replied, although she smirked evilly at the memory. She had always hated Coach Bailey.

“We’re smarter now,” I added.

“We’re not any smarter now,” Clove scoffed. “If anything, we’re dumber.”

“We could ask Aunt Tillie,” Thistle said after a moment, although she didn’t look thrilled at the prospect.

“No way,” I shook my head. “I don’t want her involved in this.”

“I’m not going to be involved in this either,” Clove said angrily.

“Good for you, Sparky,” Thistle said and then turned back to me. “Can we do a hypnosis spell if we have no idea who we’re trying to hypnotize?”

“It’s not going to be a hodgepodge spell,” I reminded her. “It’s going to be something we create. And, if it doesn’t work, then there’s no harm done.”

“What if it does work?” Clove asked.

“Then we’ll save a boatload of kids,” Thistle reminded her.

Clove sighed. “I want to save the kids, too,” she said quietly. “Say the spell works and we pull them into the dock,” she plowed on. “What happens then? Are we going to take on a boatload of human traffickers by ourselves?”

“We’ll be able to see if the spell is working in plenty of time to call Chief Terry and Landon,” I pointed out pragmatically. “They can be waiting with cops on the docks when the boat arrives. We won’t technically have to do anything or be in any danger.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Clove bit her lower lip. “Why don’t we tell them now what we have planned?”

“What if it doesn’t work,
Doofus,” Thistle smacked Clove up the backside of her head. “Then we’ll just look like idiots wasting the time of the police when they’re trying to track down this boat. We can’t pull them off what they’re doing until we know it is working.”

“And how are Landon and Chief Terry going to explain how we managed to call a boat to shore?” Clove challenged us.

“We’ll call anonymously,” Thistle said simply.

I pointed in her direction in agreement. “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”

“I don’t know,” Clove whined.

I ignored her indecision and took the opportunity to answer my cell phone when it rang in my pocket. I recognized Landon’s number. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Landon greeted me. “Where are you?”

“Having lunch with Thistle and Clove at Hypnotic,” I lied.

“It’s ten in the morning,” Landon said after a beat.

“So? I’m bored. I’d rather spend the two hours before lunch with them instead of dodging Sam,” I said. “It’s just a really long lunch.”

“You’re not up to something, right?” Landon sounded worried.

“We’re not up to something,” I snapped, manufacturing some fake ire to sell my point. Thistle flashed me a thumbs up from across the room.

“I’m in Traverse City,” Landon started.

“I know.”

“I talked to my boss.”

“Is he going to help?”

“He’s going to try to get increased patrols on the lake,” Landon said, although is voice was oddly flat.

“Why don’t you sound happier about that?”

“He gave me a lecture about believing anonymous sources.”

“Oh,” I murmured. “So, if this doesn’t work out, it’s going to blow back on you?”

“Probably,” Landon said tiredly over the phone. “Anyway,” he continued. “I don’t want you to worry about that.”

“Then why are you calling? Did you miss me that much?”

“If I say yes will you roll in bacon grease for me?”

“No,” I frowned, all hints of amusement fleeing my features. The bacon thing was getting old really quickly.

“Ah, well, I had to try,” Landon lamented. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be late tonight.”

“You’re not coming back?” Disappointment bubbled up.

“No, I’m coming back,” Landon said hurriedly. “I’ve just decided to have dinner with my brother before I come back over. He has something to tell me and, truth be told, I haven’t seen him as much as I used to and I think he’s feeling a little bit neglected.”

Guilt roiled in my stomach. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Landon seemed surprised by my sudden apology.

“Well, you’re not seeing him because you’re constantly over here.”

“I like being over there.”

“Still,” I said, realization dawning in my mind. “I think you should stay over there and spend a few hours with him.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

“Why are you changing your tune all of a sudden?” Landon asked suspiciously.

“Because I feel guilty about keeping you away from your family,” I lied smoothly. “I don’t want to be the reason you’re not spending time with them.”

“And this has nothing to do with some idiotic idea you’re scheming up with Clove and Thistle?”

“None whatsoever,” I replied succinctly.

Landon was quiet on the other end of the phone for a second. “You’re not lying to me, right?”

“I’m not lying,” I was starting to get legitimately frustrated with him now. Sure, I was technically lying, but he didn’t know that and it was annoying to have him constantly accuse me of things I hadn’t even done yet.

“Okay,” Landon said softly. “I’m sorry I’m being so . . .”

“Mean?” I suggested.

“I was going for the word suspicious.”

“Mean works, too,” I said.

“Okay,” Landon relented. “I don’t want to fight. I’m going to keep in touch with the Coast Guard via cell phone tonight, so if I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“And you’re going to stick close to Thistle and Clove, right?”

“I thought you didn’t want me running around with them?”