Chapter 9
NINE
“ Stay here,” I told Fluffy . She gave me one lick and returned to her food.
I went downstairs and retrieved Bagley from the backyard locker. As usual, she gave me a lecture about abandoning “dear old ladies” in a rust bucket and taking too long to bring her out for her nightly kitchen window watch.
“ I have a question for you,” I said as I opened the plastic container and put the locket on the downstairs kitchen windowsill.
“ Only one?” She tsked. “ Child , I have told you before, I have plenty of knowledge to share.”
“ For a new body, I know, I know. What did we say about trying to practice more dark magic?”
“ That you’re no fun and need to broaden your horizons?”
“ That we spend extra days in the locker.”
“ Bah ! It was only a joke.”
“ However , I’m willing to overlook it this one time if you help me out.”
“ I’m all ears. Wait , no— I have no ears because someone is too mean to help me get new ones.”
That did it. I grabbed the locket and tossed it into the sink.
“ Hey !” she exclaimed in outrage. “ I’m an antique, for Pete’s sake! Have a care!” Tiny Kraken popped its head out of the faucet, then extended a tentacle toward Bagley . “ Oh . Oh , no, you beast. Don’t you dare!”
Tiny Kraken began rolling the locket around the sink.
“ Like I was saying,” I continued, “ I have a question for you, and I’m willing to negotiate an excursion outside the house.”
“ First , stop this infernal squid from mauling me!”
“ So dramatic. Tiny Kraken’s just having a little bit of fun. Plus , it’s your fault it’s around.” If Bagley hadn’t killed someone in the upstairs bathroom for their blood, leaving their ghost behind, I would’ve never done the spell to talk to the ghost, which in turn had awakened Tiny Kraken and Bagley’s ghost.
“ Just stop it!”
As much fun as it was watching Bagley be bothered by Tiny Kraken playing with the locket, I needed her to focus. “ Fine .” I put the locket back on the windowsill.
Tiny Kraken made sad gurgling noises, then fell quiet, still watching us from the faucet with its tiny blinking eyes.
“ So , my question?—”
“ I want to go to a cat café,” Bagley said.
I blanked for a second. “ A cat café?”
“ I like cats. There are too many dogs and squids and shedding humans around here. Let’s act like proper witches for once, yes?”
“ Uhm . Sure , fine.”
“ Maybe adopt one or two.”
“ I’m not putting you in a cat’s body.”
She cackled. “ That’s my offer. Cat café visit for my vast knowledge.”
I figured it couldn’t hurt. Plus , cats were cute. Grandma had been allergic, but I remember playing with the neighbor’s when I was a kid. “ We have a deal.”
“ Does your question have to do with Brimstone’s visit and the young wolf’s misadventure while delivering your ugly new couch?”
“ Of course not,” I lied, knowing I wasn’t fooling anyone but having to try.
Bagley snorted. “ I totally believe you. What do you want to know?”
“ Have there been any incidents in the past where paranormals’ magic got screwed up?”
“ I don’t know. Have there?”
“ Do you want to go to a cat café?”
She cackled again. “ Can’t take a joke still. Such a pity. Yes , child, I do remember a story about something similar happening. It was before my time, though, so I don’t have all the details.”
“ I heard two versions of it. One says a paranormal in Montel was affected, the other had to do with the old dark coven in Olmeda . Which is it?”
“ Oh , definitely the old Olmeda coven,” she said with relish. “ Such an impressive group of witches. I studied them in detail, you know?”
A bunch of evil witches using unwilling blood to create spells? Of course she did. “ I’m unsurprised.”
“ You should always study those with power,” she chided. “ Plenty of lessons to be learned from them.”
“ And did you learn anything?”
“ I’ll let you decide for yourself,” she answered in a downright evil tone.
“ You didn’t start a coven, though,” I pointed out. Or had she, and I was unaware? I fought to hide the sting of anxiety the thought produced. But no, Bagley had had one evil assistant and that was that.
“ I decided against using their tactics,” Bagley said as if she were shrugging.
“ How come?” I asked, curious in spite of myself.
“ They got caught, didn’t they?”
“ Good point. Do you know about the magical issue then?”
“ Only saw mentions of it.”
Bagley was being strangely helpful, but I’d worry about that later. “ Do you know who might?”
She sighed heavily. “ Don’t they teach any kind of critical thinking at schools these days? The Council , child. They were the ones who dismantled the coven.”
“ And if there is any information, it’ll be in the Council’s records in Montel ,” I finished. Just as I had guessed.
“ Ding ding ding.”
“ Thank you, Ms . Bagley , you’ve been very helpful.”
“ Don’t forget to take me to the cats,” she exclaimed as I returned upstairs.
It appeared a visit to Montel was in order.
Ian arrived with Rufus as I finished my call with Brimstone to cover shifts tomorrow, then he helped me move the sofa fully into the living room.
“ You could’ve done this while I was passed out,” I said, grunting as we moved it into position. “ It would’ve been the gentlemanly thing to do.”
Fluffy barked in agreement from her spot on top of the cushions. Apparently , sitting on a moving surface was a lot of fun.
“ And miss seeing you all sweaty?” Ian said with a playful grin. “ I don’t think so.”
I put down my side of the sofa and held my hands to my chest. “ So romantic. My heart.”
Laughing silently, he came around to press a kiss on my mouth, then went to grab us a couple of drinks.
I told him of my plans to go to Montel the next day while we tested the sofa out with Fluffy by my side and Rufus by his (the sofa was beyond perfect), and asked him if I could borrow the SUV .
He said I could, but only if I took him along.
I was more than happy to agree to that.
As soon as Natalia and Brimstone arrived for the morning shift, along with Norman for his morning usual, I left the Tea Cauldron in their capable hands. We dropped the dogs at the cemetery and loaded up with some snacks and water, then made the three-hour trip to Montel .
It was the first time we’d driven such a long distance together, and I was happy to learn that he was a great road trip companion. Even if he refused to sing along with me to the radio songs.
One day I’d get him to sing with me. After all, his hobby was karaoke at the Crawler . Surely he’d eventually share that side of his life with me, right?
We found parking near the witches’ headquarters and made our way to the brick building. Montel was the same age as Olmeda , but where Olmeda was full of creepy Victorian houses crowding each other, Montel had a much lighter atmosphere. The streets were wider, the buildings taller and spacious, and the traffic lacking the familiar sounds of people yelling and honking. Not one horse-drawn tour carriage to be seen.
“ They might not let you in,” I warned Ian for the sixth time that morning.
“ Don’t worry about it,” he answered also for the sixth time that morning.
I bit my lip but chose to trust him. Again .
As it turned out, he was a hundred percent correct. I presented my Council ID to the security guard, who was the same I’d met every time I’d come to give my shop reports to Ms . Doyle , and he pointed us to a small office on the side, where Ian showed his hunter guild ID and was promptly issued a visitor pass.
“ Amazing ,” I said.
“ It’s good to be a bounty hunter sometimes,” he agreed.
We went down into the archives occupying the basement level and found the Council’s librarian, Dave , who was more than happy to see us. The vast rooms looked exactly the same as the last time, but he had accessorized with a tiny Christmas tree on the counter. It even had tiny blinking lights. Absolutely precious.
I should get a real tree for my upstairs living room, now that I had a sofa to sit on and admire it.
“ My assistant for today,” I said when Dave eyed Ian with awe mixed with wariness.
Ian helpfully lifted the visitor badge hanging around his neck.
Dave gave it a cursory glance, then smiled warmly. Good thing the badge didn’t have Ian’s name on it, as it wasn’t that long ago that Dave was warning me about the scary bounty hunter rumored to have killed his partner. “ Welcome . What are you looking for today?”
I planted my forearms on the counter and leaned in. “ I need all you have about an old dark magic coven in Olmeda .”
A gleam of interest appeared in Dave’s eyes. “ An old dark magic coven?”
“ They operated maybe a hundred years or more ago? The Council dismantled it.”
“ Then there should be some records about it here somewhere,” he said enthusiastically.
“ Exactly ,” I exclaimed with the same enthusiasm.
Next to me, Ian let out a low chuckle.
Dave paid him no attention, his excitement palpable. “ Do you know the exact year they were disbanded?”
“ Not the exact one, no.” I tried to remember the knowledge I had gathered here and there about the coven, mostly from Vicky . “ They operated maybe at end of the nineteenth century.”
“ It shouldn’t be too hard to find,” he said happily. “ Anything else?”
“ Oh , can I also get whatever you’ve got on magical sicknesses?”