Putting on the Witch (16 page)

“It's curious why you wouldn't want your only son to take your place on the Grand Council.” I put in my two cents' worth. “Why would you pass him over to take Brian? How does he feel about it?”

Abdon's blunt features twisted his mouth into a snarl. “There is no question of what is going to happen. I only asked for your help because I thought you were Brian's friends. I suppose I was mistaken. But make no mistake—with or without your support, my grandson will be on the Council of Witches at my side by the time the doors open to the castle.”

With a last sneer, he left us. We were glad to see him go—Brian was relieved.

“He really wants to see you on the council, doesn't he?” Dorothy said. “I don't know if he's going to take no for an answer. Are you sure you want to go against him?”

For a moment there was a sneer on Brian's face that resembled his grandfather's. “He's going to have to live with my answer. I'm not interested in being part of the council. I have never been interested. Come on. Let's see if we can find Makaleigh's killer before the doors open. Because I'm ready to go home. Aren't you?”

I was hot on the trail of Rhianna's fingerprints. She flitted around the castle like a moth, going from group to group, drinking and eating. Each time I thought I had her, I was wrong.

Hedyle was in several of those groups. I avoided her, though I felt her gaze on me. Should I tell her that I knew the last three words Makaleigh had spoken?

But what if Hedyle was the killer?

None of the other council members had approached me about trying to decipher what Makaleigh had said. I carefully watched Hedyle. She looked so innocent. It was difficult to imagine her plunging a large knife into a woman she'd known for hundreds of years.

Yet I couldn't imagine who else could have been strong enough to kill Makaleigh. There was also the part about her half threatening to force me to tell her the words she wanted to know. That didn't make me feel gracious toward her at all.

I kept the words to myself. They swam through my head as I tried to decipher them and learn their meaning. I agreed
with Hedyle that Makaleigh wouldn't have wasted her last breath telling me those three words unless they had some meaning. It was maddening knowing that our release could be immediate if we could just figure out what Makaleigh was talking about.

The Bone Man might have known what they meant. It was just as likely that he didn't. As he was so fond of reminding me, his magic was different than ours. He saw things we couldn't see, but I was convinced he felt the same way about us, despite his words to the contrary.

Rhianna was leaving the scene of another quick snack stop—this time caviar and smoked salmon. No knife or fork, but I was sure her fingertips had touched the silver plate she ate from. All I had to do was get there before the fleet-footed servants came to take it away.

“I think you've got her now.” Elsie was standing beside me.

“Sorry. I was lost in thought.” I was startled when she spoke to me. “Maybe you could distract the servant while I grab the plate.”

“I believe I could do that.” She nodded. “Molly, I know I've been hard on you about the amulet. With it connected to the Bone Man, it makes me nervous. I know we're all looking for something that will keep us going. I guess this is it for you. I don't want you to think that I love you any less for it. It just scares me sometimes.”

“I feel the same way about you and Larry.” I kept my eyes on Rhianna. “Since you got together with him, you've been like a different person.”

A thin red brow arched. “I hope you mean that in a good way.”

“I do. He's given you back your old spark. I like it.”

“Thanks. You know I never loved Bill. Back then, it was a good thing to marry someone without magic, remember? The council thought it was good then. Not like now when
they want all the witches to only marry witches. I always wondered what changed.” She shrugged. “Anyway, my mother pushed hard for me to marry him. I was just a dumb kid. What did I know?”

“I don't remember a lot about your mother, but I remember she was really strong-willed. When she said you were going to eat cheese toast, you were going to eat cheese toast.”

Elsie laughed. “You're still talking about that time you spent the night when Abby was born, aren't you? You didn't have to eat the cheese toast.”

“I was afraid not to eat it.”

“I understand what you're saying. I guess that's what I mean. She was strong-willed.” She sighed. “It still hurt when Bill cheated on me, but not as much as if I had loved him. With Larry, it's different. I love him to pieces. If he cheated on me, someone would be sorry. I'm not a fire witch for nothing!”

“I know.” I hugged her yet continued watching Rhianna wolf down salmon. “And I think it's that happiness that has given you that extra sparkle—and magic.”

She blushed. “I think so too. And I want you to be the first to know that I accepted his marriage proposal. I don't want this one to get away.”

“You're going to marry Larry?” Tears spilled from my eyes. “That's so wonderful. When?”

“I don't know yet. We're supposed to talk about it when he gets back this month. I don't have a ring yet.” She showed me her bare finger. “But I'm already the happiest woman in the world.”

“And I'm so happy for you.”

“Don't tell anyone else. I'm afraid it will jinx it.” She pointed toward the group. “I think she's finally done eating. How does she stay so thin eating like that? You get the plate. I've got the servant.”

Elsie “accidentally” tipped over several glasses of champagne that had already been poured. Rhianna set down her
plate to see what was going on, and I snatched it. I hoped she didn't want to use it again.

At the moment I laid my hand on the plate, the spell from Madam Tunis was over. Those of us who'd purchased magic one-night clothes for the party from her saw them disappear and become the clothes we'd worn to her shop. I was surprised how many witches had taken advantage of that opportunity. Probably half the witches in the room were now dressed in plain jeans and sweat suits instead of glitter and lace.

“Oh well.” One pretty young witch laughed. “I guess you can see what I wore shopping.”

She was beautiful and completely naked. Evidently she hadn't worn any clothes before the spell.

If I'd been worried about the transition for me, I didn't need to be. She drew all the attention to herself from everyone around the room. I carefully hid the silver plate behind my back as I hurried away. Elsie came quickly behind me.

“Stop!” The servant who should've been engaged by the naked witch shouted and pointed. “Stop! Thief! That woman is stealing a silver plate. Security!”

It suddenly occurred to me that he was yelling about me. I faltered, thinking I should explain myself, but Elsie pushed me forward, urging me toward the kitchen, before she stopped to confront the servant.

“Oh, all right,” she confessed loudly. “I wasn't stealing them, just taking a look at the style.” She took a handful of silverware from her bag and put it on the buffet table. I'm sure we can discuss this like rational adults.”

I kept going. Elsie was right—there was no point in both of us being called thieves. I realized she'd put one fork in my pocket. It had to be the important one, Arleigh Burke's fork.

Two security guards had her arms. Someone was walking rapidly toward them. I didn't stop to see who it was.

Brian and Dorothy were absent from the kitchen, but a large group of staff was there preparing more food and drink. I went into our tiny corner area where the box and superglue still waited. With Arleigh's and Rhianna's prints, that left only three council members uninvestigated. I hoped one of them was the killer—I really didn't want to face Hedyle again.

But I was disappointed to find that those prints didn't match the ones on the knife either. Dorothy brought Bairne's, and Brian got Joshua's. None of them matched.

“That only leaves Hedyle,” Brian said. “We've still got about twelve hours until the spell is gone. We have to get her prints.”

“Or we could just assume she's guilty, since the rest of the council is clear,” Dorothy suggested. “I mean, let's face it—only other council members had a reason to kill her, right?”

“That's assuming someone couldn't figure out how to stop her from trying to change the rules,” I added. “It could be about something else.”

“Like someone who thought he or she would be nominated for the council after Makaleigh's death,” Brian said. “I'm the front-runner, mostly because my grandfather wants a Fuller on the council.”

“But not your father?” Dorothy shook her head. “Why not? Pardon me, but he seems the type, if you know what I mean? No offense. Your family has a political bent to it.”

I knew what she meant. “Who else would like to be on the council?”

Brian grinned. “It would be easier to ask who
didn't
want to be on the council. I could be the only one on that list.”

“Not the only one,” I disagreed. “None of us want to be on the council either.”

“Yep. Good thing they won't ask us,” Dorothy said.

“I should go check on Elsie.” I tried to see through the
crowd that had formed around Elsie and the servant. “I'm sure she can talk herself out of this whole theft thing, but just in case.”

“Let me take care of it,” Brian offered. “Elsie and I will meet you upstairs. The five of us need to think this through.”

Dorothy giggled. “That's one reason I love you. You always include my mother, even if she is a ghost.”

Brian kissed her. “Of course I do. But we have to take this seriously. There's still a killer in the castle for at least another twelve hours. It seems like we might need a miracle to find him.”

Dorothy and I went upstairs, leaving Brian to sort through the mess we'd created. Dorothy was right—he was a very congenial person. I hoped it wouldn't be long before we heard wedding bell news from them too.

Olivia was glad to see us. She was never good at being alone. “Thank goodness you're back! I was beginning to wonder what was going on!”

We explained everything that had happened, and then Dorothy made a decision.

“I'm going to sneak up on that cat,” she whispered. “It's crazy for us to be afraid of her. I'm sure she's just frightened and needs someone to talk to.” She slowly began opening the door between our rooms.

“Be careful,” I warned. “She already doesn't like you, and she has claws.”

“So do I when I need to,” she assured me as she smoothed back her dark cap of hair. “I'm not afraid of some shape-shifting cat. And I don't want her in there sleeping on Brian's
bed like she owns it. She's got some explaining to do, sneaking in here without letting us know that she was more than just a cat.”

“Be careful, Dorothy,” Olivia warned. “Some of those shape-shifters can be vicious and nasty.”

“We don't know that about her,” I reminded them both. “She might be in hiding or didn't know that we didn't understand what she was.”

“Oh, she knew!” Olivia disagreed.

“Do you want my help?” I asked.

“No,” Dorothy whispered. “I've got this.”

Two minutes and a few howls and hisses later, Dorothy ran back through the doorway and slammed the door behind her, locking it for good measure. “That cat thing is insane. I think she was trying to kill me. Look what she did to my arm.”

I didn't repeat myself that the shifter could be scared and react accordingly. I examined the deep, long gouges where the cat had scratched her. “Let's see if we can heal those. They look angry.”

As I uttered a spell for healing and held my amulet, I had Dorothy sit down and relax. “I'm not going in there again. Brian is going to have to handle her. But he can't keep that cat.”

“
Shh
. If you want to heal, you have to think healing thoughts. Let go of what happened. Let yourself heal quietly.”

She closed her eyes and complied, relaxing on the bed. I could feel her energies aligning with mine to make the magic stronger.

As the scratches began to heal, I agreed with her assessment of the cat situation. “Funny how she was so docile and quiet when you first gave her to Brian. Maybe it's something here at the castle that's bothering her.”

“That wouldn't be surprising,” Olivia added. “None of us should have come to this terrible place.”

“Where did you get her anyway?” I asked.

“There was a man by the library with a box of kittens he needed to give away. He said he couldn't keep them because he had to move. That's how I got Hemlock too. I thought getting a rescue cat would be great. I didn't know she was an evil shape-shifter.”

Listening to her tell the story made me suspicious. “Let me look at you,” I suggested. “I'm just wondering if that was a witch who gave you Kalyna. You could have been spelled not to notice the cat was a shape-shifter. Normally witches recognize werewolves, shape-shifters and the like.”

Dorothy held very still, and I gazed deeply into her confused brown eyes. Because she was new at using her magic, it was still possible to take advantage of her. But if she'd been spelled, there was no sign of it in her.

“Am I okay?” she asked as I moved back from her.

“You're fine. It was just a thought.” I smiled at her and stroked her hair. “You're still in training. Anything could happen that you wouldn't recognize yet. We should have thought about that in the first place.”

“It won't be long though, sweetie,” Olivia said, “and no one will be able to take advantage of you—not with your daddy's magic.”

I sighed, wishing Olivia wouldn't glorify Drago's dark magic in one breath and disparage it in the next. I supposed it reflected her own feelings of uncertainty about him in her life. Not that anyone was ever truly all good or all evil. We were all a mixture of both.

Brian and Elsie knocked and then quickly entered the room as though demons were chasing them. When the door was shut tight and spelled, we all joined hands, glad that we were together.

“What happened?” Dorothy asked. “Is everything okay? They didn't arrest you did they, Elsie?”

“She was fine,” Brian said with a grin. “I felt sorrier for
the servant and the security guard who tried to detain her until Oscar could get there.”

“It was stupid for them to think I was stealing something,” Elsie huffed. “I would've told Oscar or Abdon the same if it came down to it.”

“Well, it's over now.” I hugged her. “I'm glad you're okay.”

“And I'm afraid it was for nothing. The fingerprints we got didn't match.” Brian broke the circle and put his arms around Dorothy.

“So only Hedyle is left.” Elsie sat in a corner chair. “I know you don't want to talk to her again, Molly. I'll get her prints. She doesn't want anything in my head.”

“We have another problem too, Brian.” Dorothy held out her arm for him to see. “You have to get her into the carrier. Once we can leave the castle, I'll take her right back to the man I got her from. She's a little devil.”

“I'm sorry.” He winced when he saw the scratches, which were now mostly healed. “Let me see what I can do. Stay here, honey. I don't want her to hurt you again.”

They kissed again, and Brian disappeared into his room, closing the door behind him.

“I think we need to take some time here and figure out the meaning of those three words that Molly heard Makaleigh say as she was dying,” Olivia said in a stern voice. “We've been running around, trying to figure this out the way the police would. That's not working. We need some magic—I'm willing to bet that those words are magic.”

“Maybe you're right.” I sat at the desk and took out a sheet of plain white paper before I wrote the three words at the top. “All right. There they are. I have to assume the spelling, since I only heard them. If we can find something close to that, maybe we can figure it out.”

“Let me take a look,” Dorothy said. “I learned the entire Dewey Decimal System in three days. People were amazed. If I can do that, I can figure out anything.”

We were about to get started when there was a knock at the door. Elsie answered it. One of the many servants in the castle said that our presence was required in the ballroom. “All witches are required.” The servant nodded and left us.

“I probably should just wait up here anyway, and you can tell me what they said,” Dorothy suggested. “This is likely much more important than whatever they're going to say. And I don't want to leave Brian alone with that she-devil.”

“What about Brian?” Olivia asked. “That man is still knocking on his door, but he's not answering.”

“Let's go through the communicating door and find out,” I said.

The servant had given up, moving to the next door down the hall. I walked into Brian's room and abruptly stopped when I saw him.

“What's wrong?” Elsie almost bumped into me. “Oh, Brian.”

“Let me see.” Olivia swooped around us and went toward the bed where Brian was sitting.

“Why are we—?” Dorothy quickly followed us.

Brian was sitting on the bed, staring blankly as he stroked the black cat that was perched on his lap. His eyes were fixed and glazed. His movements, slow and sluggish.

“What has she done to him?” Dorothy ran toward him.

The small black cat became a much larger, person-sized black cat with six-inch-long claws that extended as Dorothy got closer. The cat had to be a few hundred pounds of lean muscle covered by shiny black fur. Her yellow green eyes focused on Dorothy with angry intent.

“He is mine now, witch. Stay away.”

“The kitty talks now.” Elsie frowned. “I don't think that's a good thing.”

“I'm not afraid of you.” Dorothy continued to advance.

One of the cat's long claws grazed Brian's throat. “Before you move, I shall rip the flesh from his vein and he will
bleed to death. There is nothing you can do. Leave him to me.”

She stopped and glared at the cat. “I don't believe you. You didn't go to all this trouble to enchant him only to rip his throat out. What do you really want?”

“And don't say you want Brian,” Olivia challenged. “That's not happening.”

“Go away. I will kill him if I must. It would not be my choice, but your actions could force my hand.”

“Or paw, as the case may be.” Elsie was ready to fight for Brian. “You want him? You'll have to get through us.”

All of the claws on the paw came out on Brian's neck. The cat hissed at us and seemed ready to fulfill her promise.

“Let's take a step back on this,” I suggested.

Dorothy, Olivia, Elsie and I went back into the other room.

“What do we do?” Dorothy whispered. “We can't leave Brian with her.”

Elsie shook her head. “The ladies certainly have a thing for him, don't they? I thought the sea witch was bad, but now it's the evil cat. How does he do it?”

“Actually he didn't do this.” Olivia defended him. “Dorothy got the cat for him.”

“Mother!” Dorothy was on the verge of tears. “I didn't know the cat was an evil shape-shifter. She seemed like a pretty black cat. Nothing else. I would never have taken her if I'd known.”

“Of course you wouldn't,” I agreed. “No one here thinks you're responsible. Brian doesn't blame you either.”

“That's nice, but it doesn't matter,” she said. “Is there a spell or something we can use to get rid of her? Maybe we can shrink her down again? We can't just leave him in there with her.”

“I'm sure there's something we can do.” Olivia looked at
me hopefully. “Well, maybe not me personally, but the three of you.”

“A spell to make her reveal her true form?” Elsie considered. “Then when she turns back into a woman, we can hit her with something.”

“But what if her true form is the cat?” Dorothy asked. “That could make it worse.”

“I don't see how it could be much worse.” Olivia fretted. “Oh, I wish we were home. I wish we wouldn't have come to this ball at all.”

“What about a sleeping spell?” Dorothy suggested. “It wouldn't matter what form she was in if we put her to sleep, right?”

“That's a good idea,” I agreed. “Between the three of us, we can probably manage a pretty potent sleeping spell. She doesn't have to be out for long.”

Elsie clapped her hands. “I can even remember one. How's that for serendipity?”

“Let's do it,” Dorothy said. “Let's get her out of there. I want Brian back in one piece.”

We agreed on a sleeping spell—the one Elsie could remember—and practiced it a few times before we moved back into the bedroom where Brian was on the bed with the cat.