Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Asoft murmur filled my head. “It’s both the journey and the destination that count.”
Perplexed, I gazed at Cosmo. He crunched his artisanal kibble, so he couldn’t have spoken to me, apart from the fact that I knew his voice.
Yet I’d clearly heard the words. Even now, a faint echo remained. I stared at the doll in my hands. An odd sensation spread from my fingertips through my body. A faint glow filled the air.
Cosmo stopped munching and watched me with growing intensity. “Follow it, Bex,” he urged me.
“Follow what?”
“The trail. Either you just triggered the spell or something else did. Anyway, this doll is deeply connected to its creator and the intention behind it. If we establish where he went, we might find out where he hid the stolen objects, and how to put an end to his scheme.”
“We don’t have the ingredients.” I’d only used the kind of spell that let me retrace past steps once, and it had taken Achillea millefolium, or common yarrow, which I’d picked by the light of the moon with my coven, and their support.
“You can do it,” Cosmo insisted. “I’ll help you.”
I gave him the once-over. We’d both used up so much occult energy, trying to slow down Shawn and protecting the mayor, that I doubted we had any gas left in our metaphorical tanks.
Cosmo’s fur lacked its usual brilliance, and his whiskers drooped a little.
What a pity he didn’t bounce back at the same speed ghost Adriana had shown once she was back in her hotel room.
I pushed that thought aside and took up the most comfortable position on the ottoman. Cosmo ambled up to me and jumped up. He snuggled with me.
I visualized the doll standing up and walking to the door. A glowing thread appeared in the air, but instead of leading straight across the room, it circled the rosemary sprig, before continuing.
Cosmo pointed to his harness. “Hurry.”
I fumbled when I fastened it, so intent was I on not losing the glowing thread that my familiar and me saw before us.
It went out onto the road and up to the main road. Cosmo and I followed as close behind as possible. I didn’t dare step onto the thread or cross the line, in case that interrupted the magic.
“What on earth is happening?” I whispered as we passed the auction house, only to realize that we were now going in the direction of the town hall, where the dog had picked up the creepy doll.
The glow hovered in the air, circled, and took off again, after almost being cut off from my view by Leila and Fay. The silk turban was unmistakable.
The air changed. The rosemary scent intensified, only to wane again after a few yards.
Cosmo and I ambled on. I was concentrating so hard on the magical trail that our destination took me by surprise. The spell had taken us to the Crystal Springs Fontainebleau.