A Witch Before Dying: A Wishcraft Mystery (26 page)

“You’re not going to get rid of it, are you?” Mimi cried.

“No. However, Darcy will be its caretaker until I deem you responsible enough to hold such a wealth of knowledge.”

“I’m—”

I kicked Mimi to get her to be quiet. She glanced at me, and I shook my head, warning her. She clamped her lips closed and handed me the diary.

“Good,” the Elder said. “You are fortunate that Vincent Paxton did not know the treasure he held. For now, the Craft’s secrets are safe. They must stay that way.”

Mimi’s bottom lip trembled.

“Darcy, you are here forth entrusted with the safekeeping of that journal. Do not let it fall into the wrong hands.”

My nerves jumped. I cleared my throat. “How am I supposed to ensure that?” There was, after all, a Peeper on the loose. Sure, it might be Jonathan—or someone—looking for the Anicula. But it might not.

“You know the answer,” the Elder said.

“I do?”

I thought I heard another sigh. “Search within yourself.”

“Elder?” Mimi asked.

“Yes, child.”

“Why do we have to wear the capes when we come to see you?”

I rolled my eyes. What was with Mimi and the questions today?

“When you have been summoned to see me, the capes make you invisible to mortals.”

“They do?” I’d had no idea.

“Yes,” the Elder said with more patience than I thought we deserved. “But only when you are summoned to see me. Any other time, you are perfectly visible. It is one small way to ensure the safety of my meadow and of our meetings. Now, let us discuss the incident at As You Wish.”

I winced. “Was my conversation with Archie overheard by the Peeper Creeper?”

There was another beat of silence. It was starting to unnerve me.

“The intruder did, indeed, overhear your conversation.” My heart beat wildly. “You were not intentionally reckless, but you must be more careful. Be aware of your surroundings. Know that a mortal can happen by at any moment.”

“Was the intruder a mortal?” I asked.

“No.”

“Do you know who the intruder was?” I pressed.

“Yes.”

“Who?” I asked.

“It is not for me to say.”

“How can you be so passive? The Peeper Creeper broke into our home! He could be dangerous.”

Mimi gave me a quick kick in the leg. I glanced at her and she shook her head, warning me. I snapped my lips closed.

“If you were at risk from that particular intruder, I would let you know,” the Elder said. “However, the person who overheard your conversation was not at all dangerous.”

I blinked, trying to take in what she was saying. “What
do you mean?” There was more silence. “Let me guess,” I groused. “It’s not for you to say.”

“Correct.”

I sighed. “Okay, let me ask you this. What would have happened if the person who overheard the conversation was a mortal? What then? Would I have lost my powers?”

Mimi sat quietly, enrapt with the conversation.

“It depends. There are two options for two separate scenarios. The first scenario is if a Crafter willingly tells a mortal of a Craft secret or power. The other, as in the case with your conversation with Archie, is if a mortal accidentally overhears or stumbles upon a Craft secret or power.”

“What are the options?” I asked.

“With the second scenario, when the knowledge is not purposefully revealed, a spell is cast upon the mortal and her memories of the incident are cleansed.”

“You can cast a spell for amnesia?” Mimi gasped.

“Yes.”

“Whoa,” Mimi mumbled.

“What is the other option?” I asked.

“In the case of a Crafter being willfully negligent, the punishment is severe. The Crafter would lose her powers, and the mortal would still have her memory cleansed.”

“Why would a Crafter deliberately tell a mortal about the Craft?” I asked.

“The usual reasons. Drunk. Egotistical. Trying to impress. Not wanting to keep a secret from someone you’re falling in love with. Losing powers is the punishment for being so reckless with the legacy. It is extreme, yes, but it is necessary.”

I needed some clarification on something she’d said. “I’ve always been told that I could lose my powers if a mortal accidentally heard me discussing the Craft…. Are you saying that’s not true at all?”

The Elder said, “The warning is in place to make Crafters more aware of their surroundings.”

“So basically it’s a scare tactic to keep us in line?”

“Yes.”

“Sneaky,” I said.

“Do you know everything that happens in the village?” Mimi asked.

The Elder had a tinge of humor in her voice when she said, “Not everything.”

“Do you know who the Peeper Creeper is?” Mimi asked, and for once I was glad for her nosiness.

“My governing,” the Elder said, “is limited to Crafters, Halfcrafters, and Cross-Crafters who use, misuse, or abuse their power.”

“So,” I tried to understand, “either the Peeper is mortal, or it’s a Crafter who is not abusing her powers to commit the crime.”

“Yes.”

“And, as another example,” I said, “if Dorothy Hansel tried to burn down As You Wish but didn’t use her Broomcrafting power to do it, you have no jurisdiction in punishing her?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“That’s disappointing,” Mimi said, slumping.

“Yes,” the Elder said. “That is when I must trust the local authorities to do their job.”

Mimi brightened. “My dad is police chief.”

“I know, my child.”

“You can trust him,” Mimi said.

There was a beat of silence again. “I hope so, Mimi. Now, it is time for the two of you to go.”

“One more question?” I asked. Something the Elder had said had been bothering me.

“One,” she said.

“A few minutes ago, when we were talking about the Peeper overhearing my conversation with Archie…you
said the
intruder
overheard.” I tipped my head. “Are the Peeper and the person who broke into my house yesterday two separate people?”

There was definitely humor in her voice when she said, “It is not for me to say, Darcy.”

I wished I knew what she found so amusing. “Just how many people have been sneaking around As You Wish?”

The Elder said firmly, “It is not for me to say. You two are dismissed.”

The tree went dark, and as we stood up, the tree stumps beneath us burst into colorful particles that rained onto the ground. Wildflowers immediately bloomed.

“Wow,” Mimi said, bending to sniff a blossom.

As we walked away, Mimi took my hand again. “She wasn’t as scary as I thought she’d be. I kind of liked her, except for the part about the diary.”

I held up the diary and it slipped from my fingers and fell onto the path. Mimi gasped. “It’s okay,” I said, crouching down to pick it up.

The book lay face-up and had opened to a page that apparently had been well read. There was even a bookmark holding its place.

Mimi grabbed for it before I could reach it and said, “I’ve got it. Here.” She handed it back to me.

But not before I’d seen the heading on the page.

Spells.

I glanced at Mimi, and again she wore a guilty flush as she suddenly felt the need to study a leaf.

But what, exactly, was she guilty of?

A
fter I made sure Mimi made it home safely, I headed back to As You Wish. Missy and Tilda were both sitting on the back step, on opposite sides like gargoyles protecting a castle.

But who were they protecting it from?

Was there more than one Peeper?

The Elder’s elusive answer told me yes, but it left me with more questions:
Who? Why?

Missy raced down the steps to greet me, while Tilda turned and went back into the house via the dog door. “She has a bad attitude,” I said to Missy.

Missy yapped.

I petted her head and went through the mudroom door. “Ve?”

No answer. I checked the whole house, but it was empty. It had been over an hour since Mimi and I had left to see the Elder.

My stomach twisted into a big knot, and I tried to tell myself not to worry. Ve had assured me she could handle her visit to Dorothy alone. An hour passed. Two. Ve wasn’t answering her cell phone, either; I’d left over a dozen messages.

Taking a deep breath, I knew what I had to do.

I had to go see Dorothy.

I made sure Missy was settled and headed out the back door. On the other side of the fence, Archie was inside his cage in Terry Goodwin’s yard, and I went over to him. “I can’t find Ve. She went out a couple of hours ago to see Dorothy, and I’m afraid something might have happened to her.”

He fluffed his feathers and glanced around nervously. “Perhaps give Ve a few more minutes? I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

Resolutely, I shook my head. “I’ve got to go look. I’m afraid that crazy Dorothy did something to her.”

“I’m sure she didn’t,” he said. “She is not so stupid.”

“Archie, she tried to burn down the house.”

“You do not know that for certain.”

I glared at him.

He gave in. “I will help you search for Ve. We will find her in no time. I am sure of it.”

Archie unlatched his cage door with his wing and took to the skies while I checked to make sure the agate ball was in my tote bag before I set off. I also carried Melina Sawyer’s diary—I didn’t know what to do with it, despite the Elder telling me to “search within.” I’d searched. I still didn’t have a clue.

Tourists milled about the Roving Stones tents, and I spotted Starla snapping pictures. She saw me and waved. I waved back and pressed onward to Third Eye.

Suddenly, I felt that eerie sensation of being watched by something—or someone—malevolent again. The hair rose on my arm, and I turned around, but no one stood out.

When I turned back, I saw Zoey Wilkens waving frantically at me. “Thank goodness I ran into you,” she said as she neared. “I’ve been calling Ve all afternoon and thought I’d just run over to As You Wish to see if she was around.” Worry lines creased her forehead. “Is she? I know she’s been ill….”

“She’s finally feeling better, which is why she’s not at home.” My worries increased. Ve had mentioned going to the Stove for lunch—apparently she’d never made it there. “Actually, I don’t know where she is.”

She nodded and wrung her hands.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“It’s about the wedding menu,” she said nervously. “There’s been…an issue.”

“What kind of issue?”

The feeling of being watched faded, replaced now with a sudden panic that I was about to hear some news I wouldn’t like.

Zoey tucked a piece of her blond hair behind her ear and suddenly looked her age. Gone was the confident chef, replaced now with a nervous young woman. “Someone left the fridge and freezer open last night. All the food has spoiled. Everything we had on hand for Ve’s wedding is rotten.”

I let her news sink in. “The fridge and the freezer were left open?”

“It’s very strange. The alarm on the doors didn’t work, either. A freak accident, I suppose,” she said.

Sounded more like sabotage to me. “Will you be able to order more food in before the wedding?”

“Some, but unfortunately not all. I’m guesstimating at this point we’ll be able to do half of the original menu. Do you want to go ahead with that? Or if you’d rather switch vendors, I’d understand.”

I thought about those invitations in the trash—and all the people who hadn’t received them. Maybe Dorothy’s high jinks would end up being a wacky sort of silver lining. “Go ahead with what you’ll have on hand.”

Zoey clutched her heart. “Oh, thank goodness. I was so scared that you’d cancel on us.” Her lip quivered. “Honestly, we need the business right now to stay afloat.”

“Because of the food poisonings?”

“You heard about that?”

I nodded.

“It’s horrible, Darcy. Just horrible.” She let out a breath and said, “I need to get back. I’ll see you tonight?”

“We’re still having class?”

She nodded. “The dish we’re making has mostly dry ingredients. The rest were easily replaced.”

“Maybe in light of everything, you should just cancel the class?” I said.

“I wish. But I can’t do that. We’d never be able to refund the class fees. See you later?”

My nerves tingled, but her wish hadn’t been phrased in a way as to be granted. I wondered if she was a Crafter or if she and Jonathan were Halfcrafters. I’d assumed she was a Foodcrafter with her talents, but I didn’t know for sure. And if she were mortal, and married a Foodcrafter, I couldn’t be certain they were both now Halfcrafters. If Jonathan didn’t tell her about his powers, she would be no wiser.

“I’ll be there.” I watched her head back to the Sorcerer’s Stove. Anger simmered inside me and my jaw clenched.

First the wedding invitations. Then the fire. Then Ve’s dress. Now the reception food? Enough was enough. I stomped the rest of the way over to Third Eye to have it out with Dorothy and deflated when I saw the
CLOSED
sign hanging on the door again.

Okay. Fine. I’d just go see her at her house.

Then I let out a breath and groaned. I had no idea where Dorothy lived. I racked my brain for a quick solution and my gaze snapped to where Starla had been standing on the green.

Except now she was nowhere to be found.

Who else would know? I perked up. I knew just the
pair who could point me in the right direction. Godfrey and Pepe. Either would know.

I spun around, crossed the square, and headed for Bewitching Boutique. Godfrey was helping a customer when I came in, so I snuck into the back room to see if Pepe was around.

He wasn’t in the workroom, so I knocked on Pepe’s door in the baseboard, but he didn’t answer. I realized he was probably out on patrol with Archie. Hopefully, they had already found Ve, safe and sound.

Across the room, I saw Ve’s wedding dress hanging on a freestanding rack. I melted a little bit at the sight of it. It was truly lovely, and she was going to look amazing in it. I really hoped she was making the right decision marrying Sylar.

A moment later, Godfrey bustled in and kissed my cheeks. “To what do I owe the surprise of your company?”