Chapter Sixteen #3
Blair exhaled. ‘Okay, how about you stop interfering with my private life. Change the subject – what did you learn in the archives? And how did you figure out that the mayor isn’t a witch?’
Bianca looked up from her computer. ‘There’s this old Irish myth that blackthorn twigs can expose witches, but it’s hard to make it work.
I’d heard that crossing it with a specific Asian plum variety makes it more reliable.
My hybrid shrub was finally big enough to make an extract, so I brought some to the mayor’s house today. And she was fine.’
Blair had never heard of anything that could identify a witch. ‘How does it work? What happens to the stuff if it’s near a witch?’
Bianca shook her head. ‘It’s not what happens to the extract, it’s what happens to the witch.
Here, this is blackthorn extract.’ Bianca handed Blair a mason jar that contained a brown liquid.
Blair unscrewed the lid and was almost immediately bombarded with the most vile scent she’d ever smelled.
Like poop mixed with vomit. Kass hissed at the jar.
‘Close it!’ Belinda stood to light a scented candle on the fireplace mantel. ‘Can you not bring that thing in the house, Bianca?’
Bianca waved her hand. ‘It’s fine. The smell will dissipate.’
‘I’m still confused. It smells bad to witches?’ Blair asked.
Bianca nodded. ‘Only witches. The mayor, or the dentist for that matter, didn’t flinch when I opened it in their house.
Mayor Hazel’s memory is still gone. She knew who I was, even remembered when she hired me as a kid to water her garden, but didn’t know a thing about the festival, or the existence of Moonbeam Hollow. It’s very weird.’
Blair’s nose wrinkled. The smell was still lingering in the air. ‘That seems like a dangerous thing to exist. What if it gets in the wrong hands? Witch hunters could use it to—’
‘Relax,’ Belinda said. ‘The shrub is under a locked glass case in my greenhouse. And I don’t think the potency will last long. But this tells us that the mayor isn’t a witch, and the little chant she does to open the festival isn’t a spell.’
‘Wait, how did you know about the opening ceremony?’ Blair asked. ‘Agatha only told me about it at the festival grounds today.’
‘I read about it in the town charter,’ Belinda said. ‘Gladys told me it’s been done the same way since the festival started.’
‘Why were you at the festival grounds today?’ Bianca asked. ‘I thought you were hooking up with Luke?’
‘We went to the festival grounds first.’ Blair rubbed her temples.
There was too much stuff to keep track of.
‘Agatha told me that signs, tablecloths and tents were damaged, so we went to see them. Did you know Earl from the festival committee had to drop out because he has a rash on his arms? I gave him some of Mom’s rash-curing power shot. ’
‘Seriously?’ Belinda asked. When no one said anything for a while, Belinda sighed. ‘Figuring all this out would be a lot easier if we actually talked to each other.’
Blair tensed. She had a good reason for not wanting her sisters to get involved. ‘We’re talking now, aren’t we? Who were the witches that lived here?’
‘Don’t know,’ Belinda said. ‘I found evidence of a village or something in this spot before Moonbeam Hollow was incorporated. I can’t find the name, but it’s referred to as the settlement in the archives of the area.’
‘And why do you think the settlement was filled with witches?’
‘Because of what the town charter says.’ Belinda took some printed pages and passed them to Blair.
‘It was a pain to get a complete copy. The one in the town hall and in the library are missing a few clauses. I asked the town council for the full version, but they kept giving me the run-around, telling me only the mayor has it, and she’s on leave right now.
And of course, when Bianca went over to the mayor’s today, she had no idea what a town charter even was.
I finally found it in the archives of another town. ’
Blair took the printed pages. ‘Why were you looking for the charter?’
‘After the tree got hit, I wondered if the charter might have some information, since I know the tree was planted after the charter was signed. You know the town motto, right?’
‘Yeah, Where Nature is Our Strength. It’s said at the festival opening ceremony, too.’
‘It seems that it doesn’t mean that trees and rivers are Moonbeam Hollow’s strength,’ Belinda said.
Blair frowned. ‘Okay, then what did they mean by Nature?’
‘Think about it, Blair,’ Bianca said. ‘The opposite of natural is unnatural. And what did they think was unnatural in 1926?’
Blair’s eyes widened, a chill going down her spine. ‘Witches,’ she said softly.
Belinda nodded. ‘Exactly. Moonbeam Hollow was incorporated after all the witches in the area were murdered. It was literally founded as a no witches allowed town. It’s in the charter. And I suspect that there is a vengeful witch trying to destroy the festival because of it.’
Blair’s eyes widened. This was much, much bigger than she had thought.