Every Witch Way But Wicked (A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery) (16 page)

Landon rubbed his head ruefully. “I guess so. It’s not like you guys didn’t warn me.”

“What are you doing out here?” I repeated the question. I was suddenly suspicious of Landon’s unplanned arrival.

“Your Aunt Tillie said you were down here looking for clues,” Landon said. “Although, I can’t figure out why. She sent me down here.”

“And you listened?”

“She doesn’t seem like she understands the word no.”

Good point.

“So, what are you looking for?”

Thistle and Clove were suddenly fascinated with their boots. Great. What the hell am I going to tell him? Oh, screw it. “There’s an old town rumor that Myron stole gold from Iraq when he was in Desert Storm. He spent a lot of time down here over the years, so we thought it was worth a look.”

What? The explanation made us sound stupid, not like witches.

Landon narrowed his eyes. “Why haven’t I heard about this before?”

“I just told you,” I countered.

Landon sighed, shaking his head irritably. “Have you found anything?”

“No.”

I glanced over to Thistle, but she was staring up at the sky darkly. “It’s about to storm,” she said.

“How can you possibly know that?” Landon asked as he glanced skyward.

We didn’t answer. It wasn’t necessary. The rumble of thunder that followed did it for us.

“It’s going to be a bad one,” Clove said nervously.

“We won’t be able to make it back to the car,” I said. “We have to find shelter.”

Landon looked at us all like we had each sprouted a second head. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re weird?”

Just everyone we’d ever met.

Thistle and I quickly started feeling our way along the thick trees. Hopefully we would be able to find somewhere in the underbrush to take shelter. “Hey,” Thistle said suddenly. “I found a cave.”

Great. If only we would have found it before Landon arrived. Landon made his way to our side, helping us clear the tree branches from the narrow opening. “You want me to go in there?” I couldn’t help but notice the quiver of fear that shook his voice.

“Are you scared of the dark?” Thistle asked dubiously.

“No,” he scoffed. “I just don’t like enclosed spaces.”

“You’re claustrophobic?”

“No,” Landon said, squaring his shoulders as the skies opened up and a downpour began. “I’m fine.”

We all stepped into the cave. The opening was so narrow we had to go single file. I grimaced when I realized I was at the front of the line. When we all were under the protective cover of the rock, I turned to Thistle. “Do you have a lighter?”

“Yeah,” I heard her digging through her pockets.

I used the lighter to continue into the cave, silently using my power to sustain the small flicker so it wouldn’t blow out. I could only hope Landon wouldn’t notice.

“Why are we going into the cave?” Landon asked.

“We might as well look around,” I pointed out. “There’s nothing else to do.”

Thankfully, the narrow passageway widened a few feet in. After walking a few more feet, we stepped into a much wider cavern. Unfortunately, the small light from Thistle’s lighter wasn’t letting us get a very good glimpse of our surroundings. “We should have thought to bring a lantern,” I said finally.

“Next time,” Thistle agreed.

I could sense her moving to my left. The joining spell was still working. “Ow!”

“What is it?” Clove asked in a panic.

“I ran into the wall.”

“Don’t do that. You’ll give me a heart attack,” Clove grumbled.

“Why are you touching the wall?” Landon asked. “There could be snakes or something.”

“Are you scared of snakes, too?” I couldn’t be quite sure where he was in the darkness, but I shifted in the direction I thought his voice was emanating from. To my surprise, I felt something brush my ass. “Really? You’re going to grab my ass now?”

“That’s not me,” Landon said. He was right; his voice was too far away.

“Very funny, Thistle,” I chided her. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“It’s not me,” she said. Her voice was a few feet away, too.

“Clove?” I asked hopefully.

“Uh-uh,” she said. I’m over by Landon.

“Then . . . whose hand is on my ass?” My voice had risen almost three octaves.

“Maybe you just ran into something?” Landon suggested.

That was possible, but I didn’t think so. My hands were shaking as I turned slowly and flicked the lighter on. I almost passed out when the empty sockets of a human skull were suddenly illuminated in the small light.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “We found One-Eyed Willie.”

I didn’t get a chance to hear their responses, because suddenly all the blood was rushing to my brain and darkness was overtaking me as a sustained clanging noise started echoing in my mind. The last thing I remembered was Thistle and Clove rushing forward to catch me so I wouldn’t hit the floor of the cave.

The joining spell had enabled them to overcome the dark and find me. I let my own personal darkness overtake me. I just needed a nap, I reassured myself. It would all be fine when I woke up. Being felt up by a skeleton was just going to be a hazy memory.

It was just a dream, I realized as consciousness started washing over me again. How could it be anything but? If it had been real, I would have been waking up on the cold floor of the cave. Instead, I was waking up on a soft surface and I had a warm blanket placed over me. It had all been a dream. Just a really bad dream.

“Get up! You’ve slept half the day away! This is not how Winchester women approach life.”

Welcome to my nightmare. What the hell was Aunt Tillie doing in my bedroom? I opened my eyes slowly, the sudden light causing brief blurriness. When Aunt Tillie’s angry face swam into view, I suddenly wished for a case of hysterical blindness. “What happened?” I croaked.

“You fainted, again, and made an ass out of yourself,” Aunt Tillie replied. “Again.”

“I wasn’t asking you,” I grumbled.

“You fainted when you saw the skull,” Clove said sympathetically. “Landon carried you out of the cave, through the storm and then drove you here. He wanted to take you to the hospital, but we told him Aunt Tillie would be able to take care of you.”

“Why would you tell him that? She’s not exactly known for her bedside manner.”

Clove ignored the question.

“Where is Landon now?”

“He went back to the cave with Chief Terry and a crime scene team,” Thistle said.

“So, it really was a skull?”

“Yeah,” Thistle said. “It really was a skull. You didn’t imagine that.”

“Next time I fancy myself a Goonie, remind me of this,” I said, struggling to sit up. I looked around the room and realized I was in the living quarters of the inn.

“What’s a Goonie?” Aunt Tillie asked.

“Never mind,” I grumbled.

“Is that some sex thing you think goes right over my head because I’m old?” She asked obnoxiously. “I’m on to you.”

“You caught us,” Thistle said sarcastically. “Goonie is a code word for sex. You’re smarter than all of us combined.”

“No one needs your tone,” Aunt Tillie admonished Thistle.

After Aunt Tillie force fed me two bowls of her homemade chicken noodle soup, she finally agreed to let the three of us leave – but only if we promised we were only going back to the guesthouse and not going to get into another round of trouble. “It’s time for my nap,” she sniffed.

“Where is my mom?” I asked in surprise. I was relieved not to have her hovering, but I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t here vetoing my outfit choice of the day.

“I sent her down to Hypnotic with Marnie and Twila,” Aunt Tillie explained. “She was bugging me.”

“She let you run the inn by yourself?”

“It was only for a couple of hours and all the guests were out at the hay ride,” Aunt Tillie answered.

Well, that explained it.

“Besides, Thistle and Marnie were trying to move that big display case in the store and they needed help,” she said.

Thistle visibly blanched. “I’m going to kill them.”

“Let it go,” Clove sighed. “We’ll move it back this weekend. Bay shouldn’t be lifting heavy objects right now, anyway.”

“How did I get roped into moving furniture with you guys?” I protested.

“It was your idea to go investigating Hollow Creek,” Clove pointed out.

“I didn’t make you come!”

“What would have happened if we hadn’t been there?”

Whatever.

Once we got back to the guesthouse, Clove situated me on the couch. She was acting like a mother hen – and it was annoying. “I didn’t hit my head,” I pointed out. “You guys caught me.”

“You should still rest,” Clove said. “This fainting thing is starting to become a regular occurrence with you.”

“You just need an outlet for all your nervous energy,” I said. “And I’ve only fainted twice in my life – and both times were under extremely stressful circumstances.” Like being shot at by a murderer and being groped by a dead body.

Despite the surreal adventures of the afternoon, the three of us settled in to watch a marathon of
The Walking Dead
. Sure, it was macabre, but it was also a reminder that things could always get worse.

After several hours that consisted of a prison riot, a bloody C-section and eyeball impalement, we were all jolted to reality by a rapid knock on our front door.

“If that’s my mom, tell her I’m already in bed,” I ordered Clove as she answered the door.

“It’s not your mom,” she said, opening the door to let Landon in. He looked exhausted.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine.”

Landon glanced at the television. “You’re watching
The Walking Dead
after the afternoon you had?”

“It’s a great show,” I shrugged.

Landon shook his head tiredly. “You guys are unbelievable.”

“What did you find?”

Landon slid onto the sofa next to me. I couldn’t help but notice that he situated himself so our thighs were touching. “Not much. We have no idea who the body belongs to, or how long it has been there. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

“How did he die?”

“We’re not sure it’s a he. Whoever it was, though, was stabbed,” Landon said wearily.

I raised my eyebrows. “With the same knife that killed Myron?”

“That’s possibility,” Landon admitted. “It will take a while to prove, though. Forensics isn’t like it is on television. It takes a long time.”

“You mean
Bones
isn’t real? Any other illusions you want to shatter for me?” I teased.

“You make me tired,” Landon grumbled. He looked around the guesthouse curiously. “And hungry. Do you guys have anything to eat?”

“We’re feeding you now?”

“We could order pizza?” Clove offered.

“That sounds good,” Landon said. “I like anything – except anchovies.”

“No one likes anchovies,” I muttered.

“I’ll call Marcus and have him pick it up,” Thistle said.

“Marcus?” I raised my eyebrow suggestively.

“He was going to come over anyway,” Thistle avoided meeting my gaze. “I’ll have him pick up a case of beer, too.”

Landon groaned. “None for me. I’m still recovering from Aunt Tillie’s brew. Does she have a license to make that stuff, by the way?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“That’s alright,” Landon said blithely. “I like my balls where they are.”

Marcus arrived at the guesthouse about an hour later. After introducing him to Landon, we all dug into the pizza enthusiastically. The conversation was stilted at first – mostly because we were all stuffing our faces – but when the chewing slowed down the conversation picked up.

“I can’t believe you guys found a body,” Marcus said. “What were you doing out there anyway?”

I saw Landon lean forward slightly in anticipation of our answer. “We heard a rumor that Myron had hidden money he stole from Iraq out there. We were trying to find it.”

“You mean the rumor that he stole money from Desert Storm?” Marcus asked innocently.

“You heard it, too?” Thistle looked surprised.

“It’s a small town,” he shrugged. “I never believed it.”

“We watched
The Goonies
last night and it seemed like a good idea,” Thistle lied. “Bay loves
The Goonies
.”

“That’s a great movie,” Marcus agreed. “You should have asked me to go with you. We could have made a day out of it.”

“We didn’t plan on spending so much time out there,” Thistle explained. “The day just kind of got away from us.” In more ways than one.

“Yeah, I wondered where you were when I went into the store and found your moms redecorating.”