The Curse of Fibbersnap Inn

Chapter 1

Chapter One

CASSIAN

The first sign of trouble came when my desk caught on fire. Believe it or not, it wasn’t the fire.

I tried to stifle the flames with my cloak, but magical flames are stubborn.

“Cassian!” my cousin shouted through the office door. “We’ve got a problem at checkout!”

The bigger problem would have been if I had let the inn burn down. “Be right there!” I yelled back while my cloak crumbled in my hands.

I hovered my hands over the flame and shot as many spells as I could remember at it. I don’t know which one did the trick, but my grandfather’s old oak desk finally sat smoking from my attempt to teleport a book from one end to the other. Thank the gods I hadn’t tried to teleport myself.

Satisfied that the inn and its occupants were safe from the fire, I emerged into the lobby, spilling out right behind the U-shaped front counter where my cousin Jasmine waited, wringing her hands. “Sorry to bother you, Cass, but Mr. Mimster lost his key and says he can’t pay for a replacement.”

Jasmine didn’t even like asking people to pay for their room half the time, so she called me up front a lot when issues arose. I didn’t mind.

“Hey, Mr. Mimster! Good to see you again. You misplaced your key?” I asked.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Fibbersnap. I don’t mean to inconvenience you, but I only had enough to make the final stretch of my journey. I don’t have the money to replace it.”

“Let’s see…” I said, swinging around the counter to examine the lobby.

I scanned the seating area to the left, where two sofas faced each other in front of the large fireplace.

I was pretty sure I saw him eat his dinner there last night.

He had also spent a good amount of time at the pub, which was through a door beneath the staircase.

I peeked beneath each sofa and the table between them before shooting up and running to the pub.

The barkeeper, Griffin, hadn’t arrived for the day yet, so I was safe from his attitude as I searched the room.

The pub was not a big room, but it held a lot of tables and chairs for its size.

I didn’t feel like searching under every single one, and why should I if I had magic?

I threw a glance over my shoulder before uttering, “Oca key.”

My eyes darted to a glimmer of brass beneath a stool with the same automatic instinct as if it had moved. Sure enough, it was a key. I snatched it off the floor and returned to the lobby, eyeing the engraved number as I approached the counter. “What was your room number, Mims?”

Mr. Mimster gave a small chuckle at his cute new nickname before answering. “Fourteen.”

“You’re good to go. Thank you for staying at Fibbersnap Inn,” I said.

“Oh, bless you, Mr. Fibbersnap. You certainly take after your grandfather. He was always so kind.”

The compliment was bittersweet. Grandpa Fibbersnap had passed away two months before and left Fibbersnap Inn to me, which was a surprise to everyone.

The staff had made it clear they didn’t share the same sentiments as Mr. Mimster, but I was grateful for the remark.

I had always admired my grandfather. “I’m very flattered, Mr. Mimster. I hope to see you here again soon.”

“You will. Take care, now,” he said.

It made me sad to think of Mr. Mimster seeing my grandfather for the last time, and the dark, grieving part of me wondered when would be the last time I saw Mr. Mimster. He was around my grandfather’s age.

Growing up in my parents’ inns, that was the worst part: meeting people from all over knowing I’d never see them again. It was like saying goodbye forever to new friends every day.

I couldn’t escape it, though. Not even moving away to learn witchcraft got me out of the innkeeping life.

Jasmine turned to me, still wearing that fretful look. “Business has been tough lately, Cass. Do you really think it’s wise not to charge fees?”

“It was a lost key fee, Jaz. I found the key, so it’s not lost anymore,” I said, wagging the key in her face.

She looked away. “You’re right. It just worries me how slow it’s been.”

“Yeah…” I rubbed the back of my neck and eyed the empty lobby. Usually, there would be at least two groups eating breakfast by this time of day. Griffin and Olive hadn’t even been showing up in the mornings lately because it was so slow.

We didn’t get any customers for the rest of the day, which was strange. Fibbersnap Inn was one of the more prominent inns for travelers in the area, considering its position at a major crossroads where five roads met, each coming from at least a half day’s journey from the next nearest inn.

I wondered if there was something larger going on in the world preventing people from traveling.

The next afternoon, I hiked the short distance up the footpath to the crossroads and found the road as busy as always.

The Fibbersnap Inn sign stood tall at the end of the footpath, stained violet just like the log building itself, which was definitely visible from here, even with the forest guarding the property.

I stood by the sign and called out to travelers to let them know the inn was there, but none were interested. I returned defeated to another empty night at the inn.

Something was fishy.

“Cassian, you better figure this out soon, son,” Griffin said from the hearth sofa as I returned from a chilly evening of street-side solicitation.

Griffin was a big guy with a bald head and scruffy black beard who looked more suited for mercenary work than bartending.

Frankly, I didn’t know why he worked there, because he seemed to hate it.

“I’m trying, Griffin. I don’t know what’s going on,” I said.

“I know what’s goin’ on. You got your head stuck in the clouds all the time thinking about your life back in Ladiall. Do you even want to be here?” Griffin asked.

The accusation twisted my insides. “My grandfather left me this inn for a reason. I will not let it fail,” I said.

“That didn’t answer my question,” Griffin said.

“Leave him alone, Griffin. Cassian’s trying his hardest,” Olive, the cook, said as she leaned against the kitchen doorway and swept a loose strand of brown hair away.

Her kindness almost hurt worse that Griffin’s harsh words, because she needed the income more than anyone here to support her three children.

I shot her a grateful smile. “It’s just the season. People avoid traveling in the winter.”

“It is not the season. There’s still plenty of traffic, and you know what travelers don’t like to do this time of year?

Camp outside,” Griffin said. “Y’know, I never once questioned ol’ Fibbersnap’s judgment until you two arrived.

” He pointed first at me, and then at Jasmine at the counter behind me.

Jasmine and I exchanged a frown, and I wondered if the remark made her feel as sick as it did me.

“I have work to do,” I said, turning to head for the office door.

“What work? There’s no one here!” Griffin shouted after me just as I shut the door.

I collapsed into the big cushioned seat behind the oak desk, trying not to look at the dark scorch mark along the edge. I wished Grandpa could give me advice, but if he were there, I would not be.

The door creaked open, and Jasmine stepped through with an uncertain smile, shutting it gently behind her. “Hey, Cass. Are you all right?” she asked.

“I don’t know what to do, Jaz. Griffin’s right. I’m running this place into the ground.”

“No you’re not. Whatever’s happening here is unusual.”

“It is,” I said with a heavy sigh. “It almost stinks of magic. Why else would people not stop here? Not even a nasty rumor would be enough to stop business.”

“You think it could be magic?” Jasmine asked.

“Maybe!” I said with a heavy shrug. “At this point, I’d be relieved. Magic, I can deal with. My incompetence, I cannot.”

Jasmine laughed. “That would be a relief. Magic is at least something we can fix.”

I rubbed my chin. “Hm… It’s getting late, can you send Griffin and Olive home for me, please?”

“Sure, Cass,” she said, standing up. “See you later.”

“See you,” I said, already digging in the lower desk drawer for supplies.

The testing ring didn’t take long to set up.

Testing for magic is a relatively simple thing to do, especially on an entire building.

It just needed to be within the vicinity of the affected area.

I drew a circle on the ground in chalk, sketching the markings of each type of magic within the circle, such as spells, hexes, or curses.

I excluded potions because I was pretty sure buildings couldn’t drink potions.

I retraced the chalk outline with my forefinger while chanting the spell. The chalk line glowed bright white and then dimmed back to chalky gray. There was a disappointing moment where I thought nothing would happen until a marking lit up.

Despite the bad news glowing at my feet, I smiled. My incompetence wasn’t the only thing to blame. Fibbersnap Inn was cursed.

The bigger problem was that someone had cursed my inn. But who was it?

And why?

STERLING

“Help me, officer!”

A teary-eyed girl ran up to me on the busy cobblestone street, chin trembling, with her finger pointed behind her down the road. I crouched to her level and asked, “What’s the matter? Are you hurt?”

“Yeah!” she cried. “Liam stole my kitty cat!”

I pulled a leather notebook from my trouser pocket and flipped it open to take notes. “What’s your kitty cat’s name?”

“Her name is Beef Stew. She’s brown with spots, like beef stew,” the little girl explained carefully.

I noted the description, fighting a smile. “And who is Liam?”

“My stupid brother.” She crossed her arms and pouted.

I looked up from my notes, wondering how her brother had stolen her cat. “Is Beef Stew a real kitty cat?” I asked.

“She’s real!” she insisted.

I assumed her indignation meant Beef Stew was a plush. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“Lilly.”

“Well, Lilly, I’m going to find Beef Stew for you. How old is she?” I asked.

“My gramma made her for me when I turned five. I’m eight now,” Lilly said, counting on her fingers. “So she’s… four?”

Definitely a plush. “Very close. She’s three,” I said. “Now, where and when did this happen?” I poised the pencil over the page and waited for her to speak, but she suddenly became very withdrawn, watching me with her chin lowered.

“Is Liam in trouble?” she asked softly.

“Of course not. I’m only here to help,” I said, smiling warmly.

It took me a few hours to track down Beef Stew, but only because Lilly was lost and couldn’t find her way home. As a Ladiall Force officer, I couldn’t let this girl wander the city streets alone. I wanted to find her kitty cat, but it was a bigger problem that she didn’t know she was lost.

Finally, we came across a panicked woman holding a spotted brown cat plush, scanning the streets. I took Lilly’s hand and approached the woman, who thanked me profusely for finding her daughter. Lilly was only concerned about her reunification with Beef Stew, but she was just as grateful.

When I returned to headquarters to give Commander Decker the daily report, she looked at me like I was a moron.

“You spent three hours reuniting an eight-year-old girl with her teddy bear?” she asked with lowered eyebrows.

“Cat plush. And no, not exactly. She was lost,” I explained.

“Why didn’t you bring her here?” Commander Decker asked.

I hesitated. “Okay, yes. Part of it was the search for Beef Stew. I was doing my duty to serve the community by recovering a young girl’s missing property.”

Decker rubbed her brow with one hand and sighed. “Sterling, sometimes I think the city is too big for you.”

“In what way?” I asked.

“There is crime all over Ladiall, but you are so eager to help everyone that you can’t prioritize what’s important.”

“Beef Stew was important to Lilly.”

Decker pursed her lips and dropped her hand to frown at me. “I’m sending you on a case in the deep country. If you can’t focus on the crime, I will have no choice but to demote you.”

“Demote me?” I hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, I had helped someone, and she wanted to punish me?

“It shouldn’t be a problem for you. It’s a simple case, and you solve cases all the time,” Decker said.

I didn’t understand why she felt the need to threaten me, but she was right. I had many cases under my belt. “Yes, Commander.”

Decker reached for a few papers and tapped them against the desktop to straighten them out. “You ever heard of Fibbersnap Inn?”

“I have not.”

“It’s a pretty popular traveler’s inn at the midlands crossroads, and the owner believes it’s cursed.” She stood up and rounded her wide desk to hand me two papers. One was a letter from someone named Cassian Fibbersnap, and the other was a small list of notes about the inn.

“Cursed with what?” I asked, scanning the pages for the answer. It all seemed very surface-level.

“That’s for you to find out, Thorndrop.” She patted me on the shoulder, and I flinched. She folded her hands behind her back, not acknowledging the reaction.

I cleared my throat. “When should I head to the country?”

“I’ll send a coach to pick you up tomorrow,” she said, returning to her seat at the desk. “Do you have any questions?”

I quickly scanned Mr. Fibbersnap’s letter, which was a long rambling run-on sentence about how he doesn’t exactly need help breaking the curse, but it would be good to know who did it, although help with breaking the curse would be nice, but he didn’t need it, but it would be nice.

“This guy seems stressed,” I said.

“He likely is. He’s twenty-four, and his grandfather left him the largest traveler’s inn on this side of the Bordorbam River. That would put anyone on edge,” Commander Decker said.

“Of course.”

“Enjoy your time at Fibbersnap Inn, but don’t come back without an answer,” Commander Decker said.

“Am I supposed to break the curse? Or catch the person who did it?” I asked.

Commander Decker looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes. “I never thought I’d say this about one of my investigators, but you ask too many damn questions.”

“How many is too many?” I asked.

“Dismissed.”