Chapter 10
“Hey Kitty, you ready?” Lizzy called up the stairs.
“Coming!” I yelled back, fixing my hair once more in the mirror before grabbing a jacket. Since Lydia needed the car for a hot date tonight, Lizzy had offered to drop me off at the bonfire bash even though she wasn’t going herself.
Halloween was one of the biggest nights of the year in Austen Heights.
For the kids, it meant a wild rampage up and down Main Street to collect as much candy as they could.
For those my age, it meant the big bonfire bash at the cliffs.
And for those Mom’s age, it meant the announcement of whoever won the Spooktacular Showdown.
Plus, the witches in the nearby covens held extra séances and cast more spells tonight while magic was stronger and the veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest.
Not that it mattered to us as much since Mom had been kicked out of her coven when she married a fae. We’d never been invited.
Mom’s shrill voice reached me before I was halfway down the stairs. “How could you do this to us, Lizzy? Go tell Mr. Collins that you’ll marry him at once!”
“I won’t!” Lizzy said, her voice loud but not as screeching as Mom’s.
“If you don’t apologize to Mr. Collins for turning him down, I’ll never speak to you again!”
“That isn’t the punishment you think it is.”
“What do you think, honey?” Mom must’ve been talking to Dad, which meant they were probably in Dad’s room on the main floor.
“My Lizzy marry Mr. Collins?” Dad laughed. “I’ve never heard a more ridiculous idea.”
“I’m ready, Lizzy,” I called from the living room.
She escaped from Dad’s room, giving me a relieved look. “Great. Let’s go.”
We hurried outside, where Lizzy’s Honda was parked behind the house.
The crisp scent of autumn air and apple brew drifted toward me from a neighboring shop.
More and more were now decorated for the Spooktacular Showdown, and jack-o’-lanterns leered at me with their flickering grins from front porches.
The song “This is Halloween” drifted from a house down the street, and a few children squealed as they bobbed for apples in someone’s yard.
A kid and her parents manned a stand selling apple cider and donuts.
My phone buzzed with a message from Riley as I slipped into the car.
I looked into Eve’s story, and it seems like she was telling the truth. I can’t find any connections between her and Graham.
I’ll let you know what I find out from Jaxon tonight.
Try to stay out of trouble, at least until I get there. I’m getting pretty attached to you.
I shook my head at his message and put my phone away. Riley had wanted to come with me tonight, but his boss had called him in to cover a different story, which meant I was on my own for a while.
“Thanks for the ride.” I turned the vents to blast me with warmth and folded my arms across my sweater.
A little girl with a ghost costume darted in front of us as we waited to pull onto Main Street, waving her pumpkin-shaped candy bucket and cackling gleefully.
A little boy dressed like an old librarian trailed after her, pushing his spectacles up his nose and trying to untangle the strap of his ghost-shaped bucket that was caught on one of his suspenders.
“No problem.” Lizzy drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and pulled onto the street, heading east through town.
Her chocolate brown hair sat in a messy bun on top of her head, and she wore a dark blue sweater that said Columbia on it from her school days.
Surprisingly, she didn’t say a word about what happened last night.
I hesitated, unsure if I should ask since that might prompt Lizzy to ask me questions as well. In the end, my curiosity prevailed. “Is everything okay?”
“Why do you think something’s not okay?”
“Well, normally you would’ve bombarded me with questions about last night or said something.”
“Fair point.” Lizzy glanced at me, then focused on the road again, blowing out a breath. “I wouldn’t say things are okay exactly.”
“Is this because of what Mom was saying last night?”
“No.” She snorted. “I’m used to Mom’s silliness.”
“Then what happened?” With all the craziness going on in my life the last few days, I hadn’t even thought about what might be going on with my sisters.
“Charles Bingley happened.” Lizzy scowled at the next light as it turned yellow and slowed the car down with a huff.
We idled next to a few businesses with overly decorated displays.
One had gone completely overboard with corn stalks and gourds, and there were at least fifty filling the front of the store.
Another had enchanted skeletons to climb across the walls and roof of their shop.
I gave Lizzy a moment to see if she’d elaborate about Charles, but when she didn’t, I said, “I don’t understand.”
Lizzy blew out a breath and waved a hand in the air. “Jane got a text from Charles today saying he had to move back to New York for a bit and he wasn’t sure when, or if, he’d be able to see her again.”
“Wait, he’s gone? I just saw them at the party yesterday.”
“He left this morning.”
“Just like that?” My mouth fell open. They’d seemed so happy together. “So are they doing the long-distance thing then?”
“No, because they aren’t even dating yet even though we all thought it was heading that way.”
Lizzy frowned, and my stomach twisted as I remembered Mom bragging about how Jane would marry Charles. That couldn’t have anything to do with why he’d left, right?
“Is Jane okay?”
“Not really. She’s convinced that she read into everything and Charles never really liked her.”
“I’m sorry. That really sucks.”
Lizzy sighed but gave me a small smile. “It does, but thanks for being easy to talk to. Being around you always makes me feel a little better. I don’t know if it’s your magic or if it’s just you, but I’ve always appreciated it. So thanks for being you, Kitty.”
My eyes widened. Was that another effect of my power—the magic I’d been so quick to cast aside my whole life? I’d had no idea it could balance other people’s emotions. “Thanks. That means more than you know.” And since Lizzy had been open with me, maybe it was my turn. “Hey, Lizzy?”
“Yeah?” she said, still distracted, but her frustrated grip on the wheel had eased.
“Were you and Riley ever a thing?” I asked before I could second-guess myself.
“Riley and me?” She laughed. “No, why?”
“Because I thought he liked you.”
“He’s flirty with everyone, so he often gives off that impression, but we’ve only ever been friends.”
A knot inside me loosened. If Riley didn’t like Lizzy, maybe I had a chance. After this mess of a potion was behind us, maybe he and I could start fresh.
Lizzy glanced at me before returning her attention to the road. “In fact, the only person I’ve seen Riley act differently around is you.”
I snorted. “No way. He flirts with me all the time.”
“He does,” she said, “but when he looks at you, it’s not just flirty. It’s like he’s seeing something he doesn’t want to mess up. There’s this… softness in him I don’t see anywhere else.”
The words hit me like warm light breaking through a cloudy day.
I didn’t know what Riley felt, not with that stupid potion muddying everything, but hearing Lizzy say that gave me hope.
Was it possible for genuine feelings to form even under the influence of a love potion, or was I letting myself believe it because I wanted to?
“Really?” I whispered.
She pulled into the parking lot by the shore, then her phone buzzed in her lap. She glanced at it, then put it down and focused on me, her blue eyes earnest. “Really.”
Her phone buzzed again, and I caught Jane’s name on the screen.
I shouldn’t distract her when she was already so worried about Jane.
So instead of hashing out the same conversation about the love potion that I’d already had with myself a million times, I opened the door.
“Thanks for the ride, Lizzy, and the talk.” A tiny smile tugged at my lips.
Maybe there was more to hope for than I’d let myself believe.
“Will you need a ride home?”
“I’ll figure something out. Thanks.” I shut the door and turned toward the ocean, a new resolve settling in my chest. Beneath the pulsing Halloween music, the waves crashed against the shore like a promise, wild and full of possibility.
The lighthouse’s beam swept across the crowd, briefly illuminating a cluster of my classmates and other AHCC students roasting marshmallows by the fire.
A moment later, they were just silhouettes again, the beam flashing out to sea.
A group of people danced to “The Monster Mash,” and the rest hung around chatting and drinking.
The surf pounded against the sand, then ebbed away, filling the air with a briny scent.
Instead of braving the crowds and gossip, I pulled out my phone and texted Jaxon, then I followed the trail up to the base of the lighthouse on the cliff. At the top, I tugged my jacket tighter and sat with my back against its salt-crusted walls. The wind flattened the tall grasses nearby.
Up here, the sea’s salty tang filled my nose, and I smiled.
Things had been so crazy that I hadn’t made it to the lighthouse in a while even though it was one of my favorite places in town.
Watching the ocean always calmed me down, and the night seemed filled with promise.
Maybe I’d find more than just answers tonight.
Jaxon appeared a few minutes later and sat next to me, close enough that he partially blocked the breeze. “Hey Kitty.”
“Hey. Thanks for meeting me,” I said. “It sounds like things have been crazy for you. How are you holding up?”
He hesitated and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Okay.”
I chewed on my lower lip, debating how to start. But I wasn’t good at subtlety or finding the right way to question people, so in the end I just said, “I heard from the girl that Graham met with the night he died that you two had a roommate dinner planned and that you’d been fighting a lot.”
His brow furrowed. “Graham said that we had plans?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Didn’t you?”
“Well, we did originally, but I canceled dinner after my basketball game got moved.” He pulled out his phone and opened an email, showing me a message about the game’s updated schedule.
“I even have a few photos from the game.” He fiddled with his cell for a moment, then showed me some shots of him and his team.
The time stamp at the top confirmed his story.
If Jaxon hadn't met Graham for dinner, he wouldn’t have had time to poison anything.
“Why would Graham lie about that?”
“I don’t know,” he said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Maybe it was just an excuse to get out of there.”
“Or maybe he was meeting someone else.” My thoughts flashed to that extra cup of tea Graham had ordered. Since his planner had been empty the rest of the night, there was no way to figure out who he’d met. Could it have been the mystery girl again?
Jaxon leaned his head back against the lighthouse and gazed up at the stars.
I studied them too, tracing the shape of the Big Dipper with my gaze before asking, “Was he also lying about the fact that you guys have been fighting?”
Jaxon sighed. “No, that wasn’t a lie. I didn’t want to tell the police because I knew it would look bad if I admitted that I’d been fighting with my roommate and then he shows up dead, but the truth is I was hoping to find a new place to live for next year.”
“What happened? I thought you guys got along.”
“We used to, but lately we’ve had a hard time seeing eye to eye.”
“About what?” It wasn’t my business, but I couldn’t back down now after asking Jaxon to meet me specifically to gain answers.
“All sorts of things.” He sighed. “They seem sort of silly now, and it was nothing serious enough to want to hurt him. I just wanted to move out.”
We sat for a minute in silence, and I plucked a piece of dead grass and shredded it. The clouds skittered across the sky, revealing the moon hanging low.
“Had Graham said anything lately that stood out to you? Or do you know if he was seeing someone in the last month or two?”
“He seemed a little stressed recently, and I’m pretty sure I heard him arguing with someone on the phone last week, but I don’t know who it was.”
Jaxon’s phone rang, and he looked down at it, then back at me. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to take this. Do you mind?”
“No, go ahead.” I waved him off.
He started to walk away, then came back and passed me a small bag. “I meant to give this to you earlier, but I forgot. I found this jewelry while doing laundry and figured it was yours.”
“Oh, thanks.” I put the bag in my pocket, not really in the mood to reminisce about my time with Graham, and paced to the edge of the cliff.
My gaze snagged on a familiar profile with a strong jaw and a flashing smile on the beach, and I cursed myself.
How could I recognize Riley from this far away?
But I was glad he’d finished his other assignment and come.
Since things with Jaxon hadn’t panned out, we needed to go over the details again.
I yanked my attention from him and focused on the water as it crashed against the cliff a hundred feet below, trying to piece together everything I’d learned.
The tall grasses behind me rustled in the breeze, and I pulled my coat tighter.
According to Riley, the police confirmed Graham was killed by poison in something he ate or drank, but it couldn’t have been Eve.
She hardly even knew Graham and had no reason to want him dead.
Even if she’d tried to poison his drink, the anti-malady spell on the dishes at the Tea and Tarot would’ve negated it.
And Jaxon had confirmed that it wasn’t him, which just left—
Someone shoved me from behind.
The ground disappeared from beneath me, and for a heartbeat, I was weightless, suspended against the night sky. Then I was tumbling toward the jagged rocks below.