Charmed Ever After (The Halloween LaVeau Series Book 6) (15 page)

“Good question. He meant, did the man in the painting have a wife.” I laughed.

The employee finally eased out from behind the counter, inching closer to us. She stared at Ben. “I just can’t get over how much you look like him. You’re his twin. Well, I suppose there could be some differences. After all, I never saw him in person.” She chuckled nervously and stepped closer to the portrait.

“What can you tell us about him?” I asked.

“Like I said, he founded this hotel. He was married, but his wife died tragically.”

Ben was silent when I glanced over at him. I couldn’t handle the sad look on his face. I had hoped for happy news, not a tragic ending. I’d thought maybe she’d say he’d died of old age with his wife after they’d lived a happy, long life. I was really growing quite fond of Ben, even though I hardly knew him. He was like the sweet dad type of guy. I knew my mother was smitten with Ben.

“How did she die?” my mother asked.

The woman cast a quick glance at us and then finally said, “She was murdered. Another woman murdered her…” She tapped her finger against her lip. “I can’t quite remember the name. You know how some things get changed as the story gets told over the years.”

When I saw the expression on Ben’s face, I figured it was time for me to get him out of there. I could research more now that I knew who he was.

“Thank you for the information,” I said.

“Was there something else you needed? To check into a room?” she asked.

I’d totally forgotten about that. “Oh, no, we were just looking around at the beautiful building.”

She gave us an odd look, but then smiled. “Okay, well, I guess I should get back to work. It was nice meeting you.” She gave another long look at Ben.

“Nice meeting you too,” I said.

We headed for the door and she went back to her desk.

“Do you think he has relatives that we can find out more from?” my mother asked as we walked toward the car.

I wasn’t quite sure how much information Ben would want to know. We all climbed into the car, then there was silence. Ben was making me nervous. I wished he would say something.

I buckled the seatbelt and asked Ben, “How are you doing?”

“It’s all just a lot to take in,” he said. “I want to know who my wife was.”

“Don’t worry, I intend on finding out for you, Ben,” I said.

***

We made it back to Enchantment Pointe. Of course I was at my mother’s house. I had to come up with a plan for figuring out more about Ben and he was still trying to remember things. Maybe if I tried a spell it would help him to remember. After all, I had brought him here with the spell. Never mind that it was a messed-up spell. Yeah, okay, maybe a spell wasn’t such a good idea after all. But I did have the book now and I felt like my magic was improving. Was that even possible? Just because of one blank book?

I had been writing down all the spells that I could remember and surprisingly a lot of them were coming back to me. I was working on the book right now. Ben and my mother had gone out for dinner, but I had to stay up. I had to figure this out. The days were passing by with no Nicolas and Liam and everything seemed bleak. The other Underworld detectives refused to help. No one seemed to care that they had just vanished. At least I had my mother, Annabelle, and now Ben. Life felt empty without Liam and Nicolas.

A loud knock came at the front door and the pen flew out of my hand. Who would be here at this time of the night? Could it be Nicolas or Liam? Or it could be bad news. I hurried out into the corridor and jumped when I spotted my mother and Ben. My mother jumped at the same time.

I clutched my chest. “I had no idea you all were here.”

“We came back a half hour ago. Someone’s at the front door,” she said.

“Are you expecting someone?” I asked.

“Yeah, right,” she said sarcastically.

“Well, you never know,” I said. I went over to the door and peeked out the window. “There’s a man standing out there,” I whispered.

“Let me answer the door.” Ben stepped around me.

“I can’t do that if Monique is looking for you. I don’t want her to know that you’re here. This could be someone she sent here,” I said. “Let me answer the door.”

“It’s too dangerous,” my mother said. “Just ignore it.”

“Open the door or I’ll knock it down,” the man said. “I know you’re in there.”

So much for ignoring it. Possibly we could hide, but I had a feeling he’d come looking for us. It was probably better to just go ahead and answer the door. I unlocked the door and opened it. He pushed it open the rest of the way and barged in.

“Excuse me, but who the hell do you think you are? You can’t just come barging in here like that.” I stepped in front of him.

An evil smile slid across his face. “I can and I did.”

My mother had made Ben hide, but I knew he would jump out soon if this guy kept talking like that.

“Who are you and what do you want?” my mother demanded.

The man peered around the room, as if he was looking for something… or someone. I was sure I knew what that was. There was no way he was getting the dress or Ben.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Where is what?” I responded innocently.

“You know what I mean. Where is the trunk?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.

I was going to stick to this as long as possible. The guy started looking around the house, knocking over things, pulling up furniture and making a mess.

My mother ran over and pulled on his arm. “You can’t do this. Stop it right now. I’m calling the police.”

The guy spun around and glared at her with fury in his eyes. He’d better not touch her. He paused, as if he sensed something.

“Who is here?” he asked.

“We’re the only people here,” I said, hoping that I sounded convincing. Please don’t let him find Ben hiding in the hall closet.

The man walked around the room, growing dangerously close to the closet. As he stood directly in front of it, I figured he would open the door, but he moved back toward the front door. A teensy bit of relief washed over me, but I was still on edge. I just wanted to get him out of the house. Adrenaline rushed through my body.

“What would happen if I searched this entire house?” he asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t let you do that because you have no right,” my mother said. “Again, I ask you leave one last time.”

I knew this guy wouldn’t be afraid of anything we said. I wouldn’t continue to let them bully us though. I opened the door and motioned for him to go out, like shooing away a stray animal. He glared at us for a moment, as if in a showdown. I hoped we didn’t have a big fight. How good was his magic?

“Remember, we’re watching you,” he said.

Another long look and then he turned and walked out the door. I released a deep breath, relief coming over me. How long would it last? I knew they would be back, searching for that trunk. We watched from the window as he got in the black car and drove away.

“Thank goodness he’s gone, but I can’t believe that he didn’t look for Ben,” my mother said.

“I’m a little surprised at that myself. I had no idea what excuse I would’ve given for that,” I said.

Maybe he wasn’t so good at magic after all. Plus, he hadn’t searched for the trunk.

A knocking noise came from behind us. We exchanged a look.

“Where’s it coming from?” my mother asked.

“Ladies, can I come out now?” Ben said.

We rushed over to the door and pulled on the door. “It’s stuck. Hold on,” I said as I pulled.

My mother ushered me out of the way. “I’ll handle this.” She gave the door a big yank. She stumbled backward when it opened, but managed to remain upright. Ben rushed out the door like a racehorse released from the starting gate.

He paused and looked around the room. “Where is he?”

“He left already,” I said.

Ben pumped his fist in the air. “I wanted to come out and take care of him, but the door was stuck.”

“Well, he’s gone now, so there’s no need to worry.” My mother gently touched Ben’s arm.

“There is a need to worry. I have to get Monique to leave you alone.” Ben rushed toward the door.

I ran over and grabbed his arm to stop him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I don’t want to cause any more trouble for you all, so I should just leave.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

His eyebrows pinched together in a frown. “What’s so funny?”

“You don’t know me very well. I attract trouble. There’s no way for me to stay away from it. Furthermore, you’re not causing any trouble. Remember, I accidentally brought you here in the first place.”

“It is her fault, Ben.” My mother nodded.

“Thanks again, Mom,” I said.

“Not a problem,” she said, ignoring my sarcasm.

“Besides, we need your help,” I said.

Ben looked at my mother. She smiled. “It’s true, we do.”

“Why do you need my help?” Ben asked.

“Because you obviously know more about Monique than anyone.”

“I know nothing about her,” he said.

“That’s where you’re wrong. You do know. You just have to remember.”

“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” he said.

“It will, trust me,” I said. “So it’s settled. You’re not going anywhere.”

He released a deep breath and then said, “Okay, I’ll stay if it will help you. I didn’t want to leave your mother anyway.”

They made lovey-dovey eyes at each other.

“Okay, enough of that mushy stuff. Back to the topic. I know one thing for sure—they know we have the trunk.”

“How does Monique know?” my mother asked.

I hated to say this in front of Ben, but I guessed he would know eventually. “When she attacked Ben, he lost the phone. I’m sure she went through it and saw the text from Nicolas telling me to get the trunk.”

“Oh, yeah,” my mother said.

“That’s even more reason to leave.” Ben headed for the door again and I grabbed him.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk like that anymore?” I asked.

Ben sighed. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Okay, now that we have that settled, we can’t stay here with the trunk. We have to get it out of here,” I said.

“Where will we take it?” my mother asked.

I tapped my index finger against my chin. “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here. We’ll just take it over to Annabelle’s for right now until we think of something better.”

“It’s like being on the run with stolen treasures or something,” my mother said.

“Yeah, kind of like that.” I moved toward the bedroom to get the trunk and motioned for them to follow. “This thing is heavy so we have to be careful. I don’t want to drop it.”

“I’m sure I can lift it,” Ben said.

“Let’s hurry up and get this thing out of here,” I said. “Before someone else shows up.”

Ben tried to pick up the trunk on his own, but he promptly dropped it. “Sorry.”

“Grab that end and I’ll take this side.” I pointed.

Ben and I lifted the trunk and carried it toward the door. My mother opened the door and Ben and I carried it out. She popped the trunk and we sat it down inside. Scanning our surroundings, I tried to make sure no one was watching us, but I really couldn’t be sure.

“I can drive,” Ben said.

“You don’t have a driver’s license,” my mother informed him.

“Right. You should drive,” he said with a smile.

We hurried in the car and took off for Annabelle’s place.

“I suppose I should call and let her know we’re coming.” I pulled out my new phone.

“Probably a good idea,” my mother said.

Thank goodness Annabelle answered. I didn’t have a backup plan.

A few minutes later we had pulled up to Annabelle’s house. She was waiting with the front door open for us as we got the trunk out of the back of the car and carried it across her front yard. If the neighbors saw they would probably think we had a dead body in the thing.

“Where should we put it?” I asked when we walked through the door.

“Bury it in the backyard.”

I smirked. “Be serious.”

Though that might not be a bad idea. I’d file that away for future reference.

“How about right over there by the sofa?” She pointed.

Ben and I carried it over and placed it next to the sofa as she had instructed. Okay, now what would we do with this thing?

What did I have? An old trunk and an old book, both covered with dust and dirt. No more beautiful manor. No more magical spellbook. No more fiancé, the most important thing in my life. I didn’t care if I ever had the other stuff, but I wanted Nicolas and Liam back. At least I didn’t miss the magic too much. I was accustomed to having bad witchcraft, so that was nothing new for me. I definitely missed the good times though. What was I thinking? I could create new good times. They would be even better than before. All I had to do was find the guys.

I was sitting at Annabelle’s kitchen table looking at the old book. I’d added quite an impressive amount of spells in there already. Why, I still didn’t know, but I would keep going. I felt like it was what I had to do.

Annabelle walked into the kitchen and sat at the table across from me. “How’s it going with your new book?” she asked.

“Well, I’m not sure why I’m doing it, but I’ve been writing down spells, so I guess it’s okay.” I knew my voice didn’t sound too cheery.

“Do you mind if I take a look at it?” Annabelle asked.

“Just as long as you don’t steal it.” I laughed and handed her the book.

She turned the book over and looked at the back cover. “Did you notice this?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“There are initials in the back.” She tapped the back cover with her finger.

“I guess it’s from the previous owner,” I said.

“Except it has your initials. Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

“Yeah, I guess that is strange.”

“We need to find out where this book came for sure,” Annabelle said. “I have a plan.”

***

Annabelle and I hurried into her car. I wasn’t sure if I felt comfortable leaving my mother and Ben alone, but they insisted they would be fine. I should have insisted that they come along. I was almost sure they had a romantic evening planned. Annabelle pulled away from the curb.

“I sure hope we find something,” she said.

“You and me both.” I looked back at the house as we drove off and thought about doing a quick little spell to keep them safe. Then I thought better of it, realizing that it would only make things worse. Old habits died hard.

Nerves settled in my stomach for the entire drive.

“You have to calm down,” Annabelle said. “Things will be just fine.”

I shifted in the seat. “I don’t know. I’m even more nervous than usual, and I didn’t think that was possible. Things have to change soon. I can’t stand this level of stress. What if I never find Nicolas and Liam? It’ll be an entire life of what ifs. What if I’d done this, what if I’d done that? I should have been able to save them. Where are they?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Annabelle said.

We pulled up to the street where the occult shop was located and parked out front between a blue Ford and a black Chevy. Annabelle always had been great at parallel parking. Not so much with the speeding though. An unusual number of people had gathered in downtown Enchantment Pointe, more than I thought I’d ever seen.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked.

“Is there some kind of sale that we don’t know about?” Annabelle asked.

We entered the shop. Apparently the sale wasn’t in this place because we were the only customers there. I didn’t even see the woman who owned the place.

“Where is everyone?” Annabelle whispered.

“I guess no one needs magic supplies right now,” I said.

“That’s because the new leader won’t let anyone do magic,” the woman said, popping up from behind the counter.

I jumped and clutched my chest. “I didn’t see you back there.”

She waved her hand. “It’s okay. I’m sorry if I scared you.” She looked around. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“The new leader. Monique. She’s looking for you.”

I sighed. “I figured as much.”

The woman came out from behind the counter and walked over to the door and then locked it. Annabelle tensed next to me. This made her extremely nervous, being locked in a magic shop. She’d come a long way in overcoming her fear of the paranormal, but I didn’t think she was quite there yet.

“I locked the door so no one else can come in right now,” the shopkeeper said.

“I’m sorry if we caused problems by coming in,” I said.

“I heard Monique is looking for you. I think you should hide,” the shopkeeper said.

“Maybe I should leave town,” I said.

“Where would we go?” Annabelle asked.

“You don’t need to come with me. I don’t want you involved in this mess. Your life has been turned upside down too much because of me.”

“Listen to me, Hallie. We’ve been friends for way too long for me to abandon you now. Would you leave me if something like this happened to me?”

“Of course not,” I said.

“Exactly, then I can’t leave you.”

“I’m glad to have a friend like you,” I said. “I came here to ask you about a book that was recently given to me.” I pulled the book from my bag and handed it to the shopkeeper.

“It’s big,” the shopkeeper said as she took it in her arms. “Do you mind if I set it over here on the counter?”

“Go right ahead,” I said.

She placed the large tome on the counter. She traced the intricate details of gold around cover with her index finger. “It’s beautiful and old.”

“I’m hoping to find out exactly how old,” I said. “And any other information you might have.”

“Where did you get this book?” she asked.

“It’s kind of an interesting story,” I said. “This man gave it to me. He said that a woman years ago gave it to him and said that he would know the right time to give the book to someone else. We stumbled upon his house when we were being chased by Monique. I guess he figured it was the right time.”

“What had you told him?” the shopkeeper asked.

“I told him that I used to be the leader and that I needed to work on my spells. So he suggested I write them out on the blank pages of this book.”

“That’s quite an interesting story,” she said.

“Definitely crazy,” I said.

She turned to the back of the book. “What about these initials?”

“Well, that’s another thing that I wanted to mention. They weren’t there before when I first got the book.”

“That’s most fascinating,” she said.

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that they would show up now and they happen to be my initials?” I asked.

She traced the gold-embossed letters with her finger. “No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” She seemed as if she was in a trance as she ran her fingers across the front leather cover. Finally, she looked at me, and said, “I’ve seen this style before.”

“So have I,” I said. “The spellbook that made me the leader is just like this one.”

“Fascinating,” she said.

“Where have you seen the book?” I asked.

“That I can’t exactly remember, but I’m going to try to find out. I know the information is in one of these books.” She waved her hand, gesturing across the room.

The walls were lined with shelves as far as I could see with stacks of books one right after the other.

“I hope you have them indexed,” I said.

“Well, I do, but I don’t remember which book has the information about this one.”

“Oh, dear, this could take a long time.”

“Don’t worry, I think I know where to start looking.”

“I’m not sure how much time we have,” I said.

“Just give me a couple minutes. I’ll look right now.” She ran across the room.

“Do you think she knows what she’s doing?” Annabelle asked.

“For my sake, I sure hope so,” I said.

“Maybe we should help her look for it,” I said.

Annabelle shrugged. “I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

Just then we heard a rattle at the door. I spun around and saw the man who had been with Monique standing there trying to open it. It didn’t seem as if he’d seen us, but when he moved over to the window I was sure he would spot us if he peered in.

I hid behind a rack of books and yelled out to her. “Have you found the book? They’re trying to get in the shop to find me.”

The shop owner dropped a bunch of books onto the floor. “I’m so close. I think I’ll find it soon. If you can give me just a minute more, I’ll find it.”

Annabelle and I ran back to where she stood. “Okay, but we have to hurry. He’s going to want inside soon. He’ll be suspicious.”

“If you tell us what kind of book you’re looking for maybe we can help you find it,” Annabelle said.

“It’s leather and has the word ‘spells’ in the title.”

I looked at the books on the shelf in front of us. “That pretty much sums up every single book on the shelf.”

“You’re going to make her nervous and then she’ll never find it,” Annabelle said.

The shopkeeper was dropping books or just tossing them on the floor in her haste to find the correct title. The guy was peering in the window, but I still didn’t think he could see all the way back to where we stood. He ran back over to the door and pounded on the glass. If he kept that up he would break the door. He was so persistent that he must know we were there. Did they have some sort of GPS tracking device on me? I’d gotten the new phone, but could Monique still somehow trace me?

“Found it,” the shop owner yelled, waving the book through the air. She climbed down from the wooden ladder and then shoved it into my arms. “Now you have to go. Hide it and I’ll get rid of him.”

“Where do we hide?” Annabelle asked.

“In the back, in my office. I’ll get rid of him. Just go.”

We did as we were told and ran to the back. I was nervous that he would search for us even if she told him we weren’t there. I could hear the conversation when he walked in.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” the woman said.

“I know she’s here, so you can quit the act.”

“Well, if anyone came in then they’re not here now. It’s just me.”

“We have to get out of here,” I whispered to Annabelle. “If we run right now we can probably get away from him.”

“I think it’s probably better than staying here and getting caught,” Annabelle said.

We ran out the back door. I hated to leave the woman in there to deal with him, but he would come looking for us and probably leave her alone. We ran down the back alley.

I didn’t see him yet, but I knew he was coming for us. At least I had the book now. I hoped she had found the right one.

“Do you see him?” Annabelle asked breathlessly.

“No, but we should cut down the street right here,” I said, pointing to the right.

“Do you want me to carry one of those books?” she asked.

I hoped she didn’t take offense that I wouldn’t trust anyone with these books. Sure, I had control issues. I had a lot of issues other than that too.