Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Misfits! Deploy!
Gideon
I’d intended to be at Elwood’s before the misfits arrived.
Declan was new to magic, but the others wouldn’t know that, and since he was Elwood’s grandson, they’d assume he was used to seeing women with spider legs, mischievous sprites with pointy ears, and shadow imps who lived under the refrigerator.
He wasn’t, though—it was all new to him—and while he’d taken the news pretty well so far, that crew could push anyone over the edge.
Unfortunately, I’d gone a little overboard on the whole food thing, so by the time Alvin had everything prepared, most of the group was already there. Declan seemed to be managing well. He kept taking wary glances at Hazel’s legs, but other than that, he seemed fine.
I watched as he dished himself up a small portion of the shepherd’s pie and a little of the salad.
It wasn’t much, but he was a witch, not a wolf, so what did I know about how much they needed to eat to maintain good health?
Maybe that was enough. Although it seemed to me that Elwood ate much more than that.
“Here, Gideon.” Sandy pushed a piece of cake my way. “Try a piece of this cake. It’s magically delicious.” He giggled. “Literally, I mean—you can taste the magic.”
“You really can,” Tulip added. “I was really sad when I came in, but as soon as I ate the cake, I felt much better.”
Sandy nodded. “Yep, same here. I hide it well, but I was feeling stressed from working so many shifts at so many different shops this week, and one bite and poof, all that went away. I feel fabulous. Like I said, magic.”
“Where did this come from?” I eyed the cake suspiciously. Rue was a fabulous baker, but she’d promised no enchantments in her food. No one wanted to accidentally find themselves in a binding contract with the Fae for simply eating at her café.
“Declan made it!” Sandy exclaimed. “And it’s fabulous.”
I glanced over at Declan, who looked pleased by the praise.
“You made this?” I asked.
“I did. I tend to stress-bake. It’s a thing.”
I nodded and picked up the plate. I ran it under my nose, inhaling the amazing scent. Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace… no, not mace… nutmeg, and yes, magic. The most delicious magic I had ever smelled.
Declan watched me as I took a bite and let out a little moan. “This may be the best cake I’ve ever eaten, Declan. Are you a baker by trade?”
He let out a wry chuckle. “I wish. I’m in advertising… social media, remember? Like we talked about at the meeting last night.”
“Well, you missed your calling.”
“Yeah, well, tell my dad that. He’s the one who insisted I study business, not baking.” He shook his head as if he was clearing his thoughts. “But that’s not why you’re all here, is it? You came for your misfits’ meeting.”
“And to figure out who killed my Winston.” Tulip crossed her arms over her chest.
“Well, it wasn’t my grandfather. I know that.”
“None of us believes it was Elwood.” Az reached for a piece of the cake. “But he’ll be thrilled to know you’re using your magic.”
Declan tilted his head to one side and studied Azar. “Hold on. If everyone here is… not human, what are you?”
Hazel smiled gently at him before saying, “You really shouldn’t ask people things like that, dear. Some people might find that offensive.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was rude to ask.”
“It’s okay, little witch, I wasn’t offended. Truth be told, we usually all drop our glamor in these meetings, but I didn’t want to scare you.”
“I’m not a witch.”
Az merely lifted one eyebrow and bit into the cake without comment.
“And why would seeing you scare me?” Declan glanced over at Hazel and then back at Az. “I’m pretty sure I’m past that at this point.”
“Are you now?” Az asked.
“Azar. Don’t.” I growled. I knew what he was planning, and I wasn’t going to let him scare Declan.
Declan looked between me and Az and said, “Don’t what?”
“Azar is a demon.”
“A… a demon?” Declan squeaked. “Like from hell?”
Az shrugged. “I suppose hell is as good a name for it as any. But not in the way humans think of it. I’m from another dimension.”
Declan took a deep breath, and I didn’t miss the fact that he was gripping the table with both hands. “So you don’t really look like this?”
“Most of the time I do. It’s just easier to keep my glamor on around town. I own the bookstore across the way, and unfortunately, many humans shop in my store. They wouldn’t react well to seeing their local bookseller with horns on, wings out.”
“Those humans are what keep your store operating in the black, Az,” I said, reminding him. Az and I have had many conversations about the usefulness of humans.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“Hold on. You have wings?” Declan asked.
“I do. Would you like to see?”
I rolled my eyes. Az was nothing if not a show-off. With good reason. He was stunning without his glamor, and he knew it. Terrifying, yes, but also stunning.
“Yes, please,” Declan said. “And the horns as well.”
Az shot me a self-satisfied grin and then dropped his glamor.
In the blink of an eye, his face appeared a little sharper, his ears more pointed, and his skin had taken on a slight grayish tone, but he still looked mostly like Az, just with two shiny black horns curling back over the top of his head.
I suspected that none of us had ever actually seen what Azar looked like in his true form.
He gave Declan a minute to take him in before taking a step back to give himself room and let his massive black wings unfurl. He normally kept them tucked in tight when he was inside because of their size.
Declan gasped and reached up to cover his mouth in surprise. He didn’t look frightened at all. Instead, he looked amazed.
“Wow, that’s unbelievable. You actually have wings. Can you fly with them?” He rolled his eyes. “Stupid question. Of course you can. Why else would you have wings except to fly? What do they feel like? They look like leather.”
The idea of Declan fawning all over Azar while he felt his soft wings made me irrationally angry for reasons I didn’t want to examine right then.
“You can feel Azar’s wings later,” I growled. “We have other things to deal with right now.”
His face fell, and then I felt like an ass. He was learning that everything he thought he knew to be true about the world wasn’t accurate—that magic existed, and many of the creatures he’d believed were pure fantasy were in fact real—so of course he was excited.
“You’re right, of course. Right now, we need to save my grandfather.”
“Save me from what?” a familiar voice asked from behind us.
We turned to see Elwood standing in the doorway of the meeting room. With my shifter hearing, it was rare for anyone to sneak up on me, but I’d been so distracted by Declan that I hadn’t even heard Elwood come in. Something that could not happen again.
“They let you go?” Declan asked, rushing to his grandfather and dragging him to a chair so he could sit.
“Of course they did, boy. Grady knew I didn’t kill anyone. He was simply following protocol. I told you it would be okay.” He looked at me. “Didn’t you tell him it would be alright?”
“I did, but he’s your grandson. He was worried about you.”
Elwood nodded, then looked at everyone sitting around the table. “What’s everyone doing here?”
“We’re having our meeting so we can figure out who killed my Winston,” Tulip said.
“And we’re having cake,” Sandy added. “Magic cake. It’s amazing.”
“Magic cake?” Elwood looked at Declan.
“They seem to think so.” Declan shrugged.
“You’re using magic? Have you done that before?”
“Maybe? I don’t really know, I guess.” Declan rubbed his forehead. “Maybe I just didn’t know that’s what I was doing. Maybe I should have. People always said my hot chocolate was the most soothing drink ever, and when my friends were upset, they’d practically beg for it. Could that be why?”
Elwood looked giddy. “Definitely.”
Tulip let out an exaggerated sigh. “Can we get back to why we’re here? Someone killed Winston, and I want to know who it was so I know who I need to drown in my pond.”
“We’ll talk more about this later, Declan,” Elwood said, then he reached over and patted Tulip’s webbed hand. “And no drowning people, dear.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “No, not even if they killed Winston.”
She huffed out a breath and slumped back in her chair, but with my superior hearing, I heard her mumble, “We’ll see.”
“Tulip’s right, though.” I looked around at our ragtag group of misfits. “We do need to figure out who did this. We can’t have a murderer running around loose in Ravenstone. So what do we know?”
“I think Leon is shifty,” Declan said. “He was really quick to point the finger at Elwood.”
Hazel looked up from her legs, where she’d been weaving a sweater out of her silk webbing. “He’s a nasty little man, but I don’t think he’s a murderer.”
“How can you tell?” Tulip asked. “I mean, what does a murderer even look like? And he’s like a vulture, preying on the dead.”
“He what?” Declan asked, looking horrified.
I shot Tulip an exasperated look and turned back to Declan. “He’s an antique dealer. He shops at estate sales and often buys merchandise from people after their loved ones have passed. He isn’t a vulture.”
She rolled her eyes. “Tomato, toomatoe.”
“We’ll leave him on the list,” Declan insisted. “I don’t like him.”
Sandy looked up from what had to be his third piece of cake. “We have a list?”
“We do,” Declan replied. “I started it earlier.”
“Okay, well, add Jim,” Az said. “I like the guy fine. He did some work on my shop for me—built me some quality bookshelves—but we all heard how angry he was with Winston last night.”
“We did.” I nodded. “And Alvin did say that Jim hadn’t been able to pay his workers because Winston hadn’t paid him yet.”
“But is that reason enough to kill someone?” Elwood asked.
“Maybe not, but he was mad. He goes on the list.” Declan scribbled on the paper in front of him. “Who else?”
“Winston was quite the philanderer.” Hazel looked back up from her weaving at Tulip. “Sorry, dear, but it’s true. So that should also be considered.”
Tulip’s eyes watered, and she drew in a breath. “He was, but I loved him anyway.”
“Do we know who he, umm, philandered with?” Declan asked, pen poised to add to his list.
“The women in my knitting group love to gossip. I’ll see what I can find out,” Hazel offered.
“You’re part of a knitting club?” Declan asked. “Are all the members—” he paused “—like you?”
“Oh no, dear. Most are human. I have to use regular yarn when I’m there. Not that they would notice what I’m doing. Like I said, they spend way more time gossiping than knitting.”
“I did hear that someone else bid on the building and that they were quite angry that Winston got it. I don’t know who, though,” Az added.
“I heard that, as well. Maybe I can find out who. Anyone else?” I asked, and everyone shook their heads.
Declan looked down at his list. “Okay, so what we have is Leon, Jim, Madam X, and an unknown bidder. Not a great start, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”
“I should probably be on the list. It was my crystal point that was the murder weapon,” Elwood pointed out. “They showed it to me at the police station. It was definitely one from my store. And I remember seeing it on the shelf yesterday afternoon.”
“But you didn’t do it,” Declan insisted.
“Of course not, but if we’re making a list of suspects, I should be there.”
“And me,” Tulip sniffled, “since he broke my heart.”
Declan sighed and picked up his pen. “Fine.” He scribbled both their names on the list. “I’ll add them so we can mark them off if that makes you happy.”
“It does.” Tulip gave him a sharp-toothed smile that made it all too easy to believe she could have done it. “I always wanted to make a murderer list.” Her smile fell. “I just wish it hadn’t been because someone killed Winston.”
“I’m not sure what to say to that.” Declan looked a mix of horrified and determined.
“But this is our list, so we need to find ways to identify the two unknown people and to either confirm or cross off the others. I’ll go talk to Jim.
He doesn’t know me, so maybe he’ll be caught off guard and let something slip. ”
I stared at him. Like I was going to let him go running around town asking potential murderers if they killed anyone yesterday.
“You stick with Elwood and bake something. I’ll go question Jim.”
I realized the mistake I made the second it left my mouth. Declan’s spine straightened, and he glared at me. “You may think you’re the boss, Alpha, or whatever around here, but you are not in charge of me.”
Elwood bit back a chuckle, but not before I heard it, and I let out a resigned sigh and held up my hands in defeat. “I’m no one’s alpha, but you’re right… I’m not in charge of you. But whoever this person is, killed once, so for safety’s sake, why don’t we go together?”
Declan nodded, and I turned to face the others. “Okay, Declan and I will question Jim. You three see if you can get us names of the others.”