The Witch and the Huntsman (11 page)

After our lips finally unlocked, I said breathlessly, “So about those other times—how many were there? And why were the cops called in before?”

He laughed at me. “That’s my girl—one track mind,” he said. His hand brushed my butt suggestively. “How about we go back to your room and discuss it?”

“
Look who’s talking about one-track minds! And yeah, I’d love to—but I can’t. I need to be on the desk in less than ten minutes, and I’m still not dressed. Hey,
your
desk,
your
rules.” Hand in hand, we started walking back toward the lodge. “Meanwhile, answer the questions, dude!”

Chapter Fifteen

But by the time I made it to the reception lobby, the circus had already started without me.

I spotted a very familiar silhouette at the front desk in a little shipwreck of suitcases and shopping bags. It was Ivy Tanner, the third “witch sister” in our triad, tapping her nails loudly against the polished surface while she checked her messages. That $60 gel manicure she got once a week was so worth it, I thought. And the peacock blue color was nothing short of fabulous with the outfit she was wearing and her matching Alexander Wang heels. I felt totally bargain basement with my cheap hand-me-down clothes from Ivanka, and work-roughened hands with their chipped polish. Sigh.

Before I had a chance to say hello, she turned to the young moussed guy in the Hugo Boss suit beside her and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll call you!” she said, and he left, dragging a yappy purse-dog on a leash.

“
I can’t keep the dog—I’m allergic!” she hissed at me in a stage whisper. “The agency tried to dump him on me, the Yorkie, I mean, not the guy, and I had to put my foot down. It’s so exciting, though—it’s the first time my agent’s ever sent one of his flunkies to schlep me around. They even hired a charter just to fly me here from Cabo! And a limo to meet me.”

She air-kissed me on each cheek and then went on without missing a beat. “It’s because they signed me to do an
Apatow
next week. Didn’t you get any of my messages? Crap, what’s the matter with you, Allison? You look
different
...”

“
Shhhhh
!” I protested. “We’re not supposed to know each other, remember? We’re both here undercover.”

“
Right, like spies.” Ivy looked contrite.

I couldn’t get over the change in her. Normally, she was the most down-to-earth, unpretentious chick in Hollywood, as well as one of the most naturally gorgeous. But now she looked like a major movie star and for some weird reason was playing the part to the hilt. Of course, she
was
an actress—but I was getting the distinct feeling that this new Ivy wasn’t all an act. Maybe the fame she was rapidly acquiring was starting to affect her. I sure hoped not.

And I sure as hell hoped Eric never saw us side by side. Aside from being about twice as brainy and beautiful as Hilary Duff, Ivy also looked ridiculously glamorous in her fringed suede jacket framing her ‘JUST SAY OK’ T-shirt—she was the face of the “SAY OK: Save Australia's Young Orphaned Koalas” campaign—and even her designer jeans had a Gucci label. So she was also a famous philanthropist. Plus she was taller than me. Life is just so not fair sometimes. She’d better have some Chanel sneakers in one of those bags, though, I thought, or she was going to find our great outdoors pretty hard to navigate.

With any luck, Eric would never set eyes on her.

“
I know what it is,” Ivy said suddenly. “You’re in
love
!” She made it sound like an accusation.

I groaned. “Not you, too. Jeez, gimme a break, huh? Millicent just spent half the morning giving me hell about it.”

“
Seriously?” she said, taking off her sunglasses and stared at me in shock. “You mean—it’s the real thing?” She lowered her voice to an urgent whisper. “OMG, Allison. Will you lose your...
powers
because of it?”

“
Of course not!” I snapped. “That’s just a myth.” But was it? I honestly had no idea.

However, Ivy continued to look shocked. That was another unexpected aspect to her personality. In addition to the simple, earthy young woman who loved to cook and could be super-practical, and the glamorous film siren who seemed to be slowly taking over her public personality, there was also this wide-eyed, kind of prudish little girl in her. Ivy toyed with guys to get her way, and I’d seen her torchy glances melt them into puddles of helpless flesh, but I’d never known her to have a single serious relationship. She totally fit the profile of the witch Millicent wanted me to be.

Well, I didn’t care! If I could still hang on to Eric after he clapped eyes on my friend, then, damn it, I was going to, and I didn’t care what anybody else said. Even if no man could resist the sight of Ivy. Even if they were pretty much the same age. Crap, Ivy was even
younger
than he was...my heart sank even farther at that realization.

“
Okay, well, I want to hear all about it!” she said. “So when can you get off?”

Typical of Ivy; she thought that every job was a fake one like in the movies, and you could just chill and kick back between takes. I’d thought I’d feel nothing but relief if and when she showed up to back me up—but now I was discovering that it brought a ton of emotional complications with it. And not only that, but a lot of prying eyes. I guess all movie stars get that—but I was suddenly sensitive to it because I could spot Regina Jaeger’s eyes boring down on us from the top of the stairs like twin laser beams.

“
Not now,” I said to Ivy under my breath; then loudly, “You’ll be in the Roosevelt Room, Miss Tanner—I think you’ll find it’s one of our very best with a log fireplace and its own view of Mt. Jefferson. I’ll just call one of our
chasseurs
to carry your bags up.” And I dinged the desk bell.

“
One of your
what
?”

“
That’s what we call bellhops here, Miss Tanner—chasseurs. I guess because the name of the lodge is La Chasse.”

Long before I got a chance to have a heart to heart with Ivy, though, I snuck out during my first break and phoned Smithy back. I’d asked both him and Samantha Moon—who was a former federal agent (and never let you forget about it)—to work their contacts at the FBI and Homeland Security to find out what they had on their computers for Regina Jaeger. Or Schreich.

“
Nothing on Schreich,” Smithy said in my ear. “Nobody’s ever heard of anybody under that name. But I did get a few hits on Regina Jaeger, nee Bose. She’s got an A and H out on her in Switzerland for fraud, but it’s non-extraditable. Also a string of priors in Austria and Hungary for Black Widow cases back in the 1950s and ‘60s, but I guess she’s way too young for that to be the same Regina Bose, right?”

“
Black Widow cases?”

“
You know, marrying decrepit old geezers and then murdering them for the insurance or inheritance.” That sure as heck sounded like Regina’s style. But just how old
was
she, anyway? The only way I knew of prolonging life and youthful beauty was through vampirism, like Samantha Moon, or else being a werewolf, like Sam’s boyfriend, Kingsley Fulcrum. And I could spot either type of supernatural entity right away. Which meant Regina wasn’t one or the other.

“
We had better luck with your receptionist friend Ivana Draganova,” Smithy was saying. “Twenty-four, Bulgarian national, several visa violations, failure to file with the IRS. I’d say she has plenty of reason to just pull up stakes and vanish in the middle of the night.”

“
Not without packing a suitcase,” I said.

“
Yeah, there’s that. So when are you coming back, lady? I’ve got a bunch of ghostbuster cases piling up on Sunset Boulevard that need your special attention.”

“
Don’t try to be funny, Smithy, it’s just not you. Oh, I better go—Doberman’s just pulled up.”

Now that I’d called the state trooper in, it suddenly struck me just how feeble my so-called evidence was. I went over to his car and described exactly where I’d found the bloodstains, then told him about Smithy’s ID-ing Ivanka. “He says it’s too soon to file a Missing Persons report on her, but he finally did for Marisa.”

He nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll put a BOLO out on the Bulgarian girl. Young woman, I mean,” he said. “Actually, I was sort of wondering, I mean...” The dude suddenly turned bright red and sounded like he was strangling. Or maybe choking to death on his regulation necktie.

“
Are you okay?”

“
Sure...I was just going to, um, ask you out to eat. You know, dinner. If you’re not busy or anything...”

I was so startled, I actually couldn’t think of anything to say for a few seconds. “Aw,” I finally managed. “That’s so sweet, except I have to work. And...well, the thing is, I’m sort of seeing someone, so...”

It never rains, but it pours, right? Take away the red face and the stuttering, and Sergeant Doberman really wasn’t so bad-looking. He just wasn’t in Eric’s league.

But then, who was?

Meanwhile, Doberman was nodding and getting that sulky, just-slapped-in-the-face look around his jowls. “Right, right, I should have guessed. Well, I’ll just get out of your hair, then. I’ll probably swing by sometime tomorrow—just to make sure nobody else goes missing.”

Like
me
, I guess he meant. But he roared off in his police cruiser before I could tell him about the night hunts.

Chapter Sixteen

“
And
this
is where they make you sleep?” Ivy stood in the doorway of my little room, staring incredulously.

“
Shhhh—
you’re not even supposed to be here!” I said, wrestling her inside and shutting the door behind us. Honestly, I wasn’t even that crazy about her insisting on seeing the room, either; I still had hopes Eric might show up later. “Keep your voice down so nobody can hear us.” We’d almost gotten caught sneaking into the staff building by Conrad the Stick Man.

“
My dressing room in Cabo was three times as big as this. And they don’t even give you a dorm fridge?” She stuck her head into the bathroom. “
EEEEK
!
”

So much for keeping her voice down.

“
You can see her, too?” I said. Up to that point, I hadn’t been sure if anyone else could.

“
Sure I can see her, too. What the hell’s a naked girl doing in your bathroom?”

You really wouldn’t expect a Hollywood actress to be such a priss, would you? I mean, Millicent totally wasn’t naked—she was wearing a pair of my panties and a T-shirt, but I told her to put on some sweatpants, too.

“
This is Millicent, Ivy. Millicent, meet Ivy.”

“
Wow,” said Ivy as Millicent, beaming and smiling, came into the bedroom and took her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you—I just never thought...Oh crap, you’re even prettier than I am.” I couldn’t believe it; tears had sprung to Ivy’s eyes. “It’s just that you can speak inside Allison’s mind and not mine, so I just thought you and I could never meet or be joined together.”

“
Oh,
dearest
Ivy. Dearest, dearest Allison,” said Millicent. “Here, take my other hand. Now take Ivy’s. From now on, the three of us will be able to share our thoughts, to conjoin our powers when needed. I’m so happy we’re together at last, sweetest sisters in magic.”

Okay, I totally know what you’re thinking. But it wasn’t like a group hug on a TV show at all. A radiant revolving glow seemed to bathe all three of us at once, like an aurora borealis rising up from where our hands touched. But way more beautiful and joyous than any light show our auras could put on, was the amazing
feeling
that flowed through the three of us like electricity, uniting us in a love of almost infinite compassion and healing. It was as if we were triplets in the same womb together, if that makes any sense; in those moments—which seemed to last a lifetime—we each knew we would never be
alone
ever again.
Could
never be alone. No matter what happened, we would always have each other...

Know what else is really weird? How those moments that seem to last a lifetime, usually get interrupted like almost immediately. This one was no different. I heard a light tapping on the door.

Oh, shit
, was my first thought,
somebody’s heard us
.

“
Language, dear
”. Millicent’s voice tingled reproachfully in my mind. Slowly, reluctantly, the three of us broke contact, and I went to answer the door.

It was Eric.

“
I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he asked, peering past me into the little room. Then his mouth dropped open as he caught sight of Ivy and Millicent.

Great. Just what I was afraid of. One look at those two, and I was probably history. And I couldn’t even totally blame him! I’d never felt so close to either of them as I did right how.

“
You better come in. These are my good friends Ivy—Ivy Tanner—and Millicent.”

I couldn’t for the life of me remember Millicent’s last name. It had to be the same as her son’s though, right? Yet even his name had momentarily dropped out of my head due to the stress of the situation. In fact, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Neither could Eric. We just stood there like dummies.

Ivy, the professional actress, got her act together first.

“
It’s Millicent Laurie,” Ivy said, digging up the name from somewhere deep in our group consciousness, and Eric said hi, still looking thunderstruck. “I’m here visiting Allison on my vacation. Mill’s my, uh, PA. She’s bunking in with me in the Roosevelt Room.”

“
What’s a PA
?” Millicent asked in my mind.

“
You know, like a private secretary
,” I replied. I got the distinct feeling Millicent didn’t like
that
idea a bit.