Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau) (6 page)

“Focus, Annabelle, focus.”

She nodded.
“Right.”

“You have to get rid of them right away,” I said in a stern voice.

Frowns were immediately displayed on the witches’ faces. I could tell that I wasn’t their favorite person at the moment. I’d totally spoiled their fun.

“What harm can it do if they just stay around for a little while?” Kimberly asked as she stuffed a handful of potato chips into her mouth.

Annabelle looked at me.

“She has a fast metabolism,” I said.

“She’s always hungry,” Annabelle said.

“Do the men even speak?” I asked the women.

“Well, I don’t know, you haven’t given me a chance to talk with them,” Rebecca said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

I shook my head. “No way, you can’t talk to them. They have to go right now. Now get over there and do your little spell and make them go away. I don’t even think I want to know where they came from.”

“I’d kind of like to know where they came from,” Annabelle said.

Barbara snickered at Annabelle’s response. This was no laughing matter. What would I do with a house full of men? Heck, I didn’t even know if they were really human. After all, my mother had turned a garden gnome into my senior prom date. I reached over and poked one of the men. His muscles were hard and he was definitely flesh and bone. But the fact that he didn’t react to my touch was a little unnerving. Annabelle reached out and
rubbed one guy’s arm too. Her eyes widened as she felt his biceps. I waved my arms to capture her attention and break the trance these good-looking specimens had put her under.

“I guess you’ve figured out that I cast another spell last night,” I said, looking at Annabelle.

Annabelle’s eyes widened even more. “You didn’t. Not again. Why? Is that why they are here?”

“Yes, that’s why they’re here.” I gestured with a tilt of my head.

“Who are they and where did they come from?” she asked.

The coven members were too busy running their hands through the handsome men’s hair to pay any attention to what we were saying.

“They’re from Enchantment Pointe, actually. They were the coven members back in 1785. Interestingly, they were hanged for being witches,” I said casually.

Annabelle nodded. “Of course,
isn’t that how all witches died in the 1700s?”

Surprisingly, Annabelle hadn’t immediately started freaking out when I’d given her the news. That would probably come soon though.

“They think they’re here to help me,” I added.

“
Hallie, can I speak to you in private for just a moment?” Annabelle smiled widely at the women and nodded. “It was nice to meet you all by the way.” The forced smile remained plastered on her face as she gave a little wave.

“I’ll be right back, ladies. In the meantime, please get rid of the men,” I warned with a wave of my finger.

I followed Annabelle from the kitchen into the parlor.

Annabelle crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at me. “Hallie, after what has happened, I’m not so sure you should trust these women. You haven’t exactly had good luck with reanimated spirits in the past. You should get them out of the house right away.”

“I know, but I can’t send them back without making sure first,” I whispered as I looked back into the kitchen.

The men were still standing by the cauldron with the coven members in a circle around them. If they didn’t get rid of the men soon, I’d have a huge problem on my hands.

Annabelle frowned. “That’s not a good idea.”

“What if the book really was trying to help me figure this out by sending these women?” I said.

Annabelle released a deep breath. “I don’t know, but this makes me nervous. I just want you to be okay.”

I hugged her. “I know, and I promise I’ll make sure to get rid of them at the first sign of trouble. Well, trouble other than conjured hunks in my kitchen.”

She stared for a moment,
then nodded. “Okay, if you promise.”

“I promise.” I crossed my index finger over my heart. I paused,
then said, “That isn’t all of it.”

“Should I sit down for the rest?” she asked, motioning toward the chair.

“I doubt it. This couldn’t be any worse than what I’ve already told you,” I said.

“So what is it?” she asked.

“Liam called and said there is a reanimated spirit at the plantation,” I said in a hurry.

“
My gosh, Hallie, they’re popping up everywhere. Who is this person?” she asked with a worried frown on her face.

“Liam said it was another coven member,” I said.

“So one of them was just lost and went there instead?” Annabelle asked. “I guess that’s an understandable mistake.”

I shook my head. “No, that’s not it at all. She’s from 198
5, not 1785.”

Annabelle’s eyes widened. “What? That’s crazy. What did he say about her?”

“Not much else, but he’s bringing her here so that I can meet her,” I said.

“Well, this should be interesting. I can’t wait to see what happens,” Annabelle said with a cluck of her tongue.

Now I was a novelty act for everyone. “I guess they’ll be here later.”

“Have you told your mother yet?” she asked.

“No, I haven’t been by the shop yet, but we should go there soon.” My mother owned a shop in town. She concocted the best beauty potions for miles around. “I should also ask the other coven members about these women. The current coven has some history books and should be able to tell me more about these witches. Maybe then I’ll know if the women really are being honest.” Annabelle nodded. “Where’s Jon, by the way?” I asked.

“Oh, he’s outside.” She motioned over her shoulder. “There was some man out there when we pulled up and he was talking with him.”

I frowned. “A man? Are you sure it wasn’t Nicolas? He said he was going for a walk.”

“Don’t you think I’d recognize Nicolas if I saw him?” she asked with a frown.

“Yes, I do, but I thought maybe you saw him from a distance,” I said.

She shook her head. “No, I saw him up close.”

“I don’t know who he could be talking to. I don’t like the sound of this though.” I walked over to the tall windows lining the wall across from us.

Sure enough, Jon was outside speaking with a man. They stood beside Jon’s car.

“Come on. We should go see what they’re talking about,” I said, motioning over my shoulder.

Annabelle followed me. After we’d made it halfway across the room, Rebecca called out, “Is everything okay?”

When I turned around, I saw the women standing at the threshold of the kitchen door. I knew without asking that they had been eavesdropping.

I plastered on a fake smile.
“Off course. We’re just stepping outside for a moment. We’ll be right back. Why don’t you all get rid of the men, then enjoy the rest of the cupcakes.”

What was left of the cupcakes—all I saw was empty wrappers and crumbs, even the icing had been licked from the plate.

Their eyes lit up. “That’s a good idea,” Kimberly said.

The women hurried out of the foyer toward the kitchen. Their skirts made
rustling sound as they rushed toward the back of the manor. The lace-up boots echoed against the hardwood floor; it sounded like a stampede.

“Remind me to tell you about their dining habits,” I said as Annabelle and I walked out the front door.

When we approached Jon, he had an odd look on his face, as if he’d been caught in a criminal act and I was the police getting ready to arrest him. He looked around as if he was trying to find a location to hide the evidence, only I didn’t see any evidence—other than the strange man beside him. The man wore jeans and a sweater the same shade of black as his hair. Again, I was probably just being paranoid, but with everything that had happened, it was no surprise that I was on guard. I had to be.

I looked at the man and smiled. “Hello.”

He nodded and looked me up and down. Without saying a word, he turned and climbed behind the wheel of his car and turned the ignition. He looked over at us again, but then wheeled the car around and pulled down the driveway.

“Who was that?” Annabelle asked.

“He’s just a friend of mine,” Jon said casually.

I scowled. I wasn’t buying that story. What was his friend doing at
LaVeau Manor? According to Annabelle, the man had been there when they pulled up.

“Why was he here?” I motioned toward the driveway with a tilt of my head.
I wasn’t going to let him get away without answering that question.

Jon shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh, he was looking for me. I told him to meet me here since he was in the area.”

Okay, I guess that could have been a truthful explanation. But why hadn’t he mentioned it to Annabelle?

I’d left Annabelle and Jon on the veranda so that they could talk. I hoped that Annabelle
would push Jon for more information about the man. Thank goodness when I stepped into the kitchen the men were gone. Just as I hadn’t wanted to know exactly where they’d come from, I didn’t want to know where they’d gone either.

“We got rid of them,” Sarah said as she licked icing off her face.

Where had she found the icing? Had she found the extra I’d stashed in the refrigerator?

Again the other coven members
frowned. They weren’t happy with me and the feeling was mutual. I’d taken away their playthings. Luckily, the smoke had settled, but there was still a high magical charge in the air, and I knew exactly what was causing the feeling.

The men m
ight have been gone, but the bad thing now was the women were at the magic again. Rebecca was trying to hide the spell by standing in front of the cauldron. I stepped closer and she attempted to block me. Guilt was all over their faces.

“
Hallie, is everything okay in there?” Annabelle called out from the parlor.

I turned around to answer her. “I’ll be there in a second.”

When I turned back around to face the women, I realized that their current spell was just as ridiculous as the first. I stared in shock at the women, but it was like peering into the mirror. Well, almost… they were all dressed exactly like me—the same jeans, the same sweater, and even the same shoes in the same color. In the split second that I’d turned my back, their spell had taken effect and now I was seeing the results of their handiwork.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

They stared at me as if they had no clue what I was talking about.

“Well? I’m waiting for an explanation.” I tapped my foot.

“We don’t know what you mean,” Barb
ara said, avoiding my stare.

“I mean, why are you all dressed like me?”

“Rebecca liked your outfit and thought it would be a good idea to conjure up a mirror image of it for all of us. I mean, we weren’t exactly wearing the appropriate clothing for this time period.” Barbara pulled at her jeans; clearly she’d gotten a size too big.

“It wasn’t my idea alone,” Rebecca huffed.

“Did you ever think about wearing something different from me?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Before they had time to answer, Annabelle walked up behind me. When she reached the kitchen’s entrance and saw the women, she gasped,
then started snickering.

I
n a small way, this situation was humorous. I bit back laughter because I didn’t want the women to think their behavior was acceptable. They couldn’t just go around doing any spell they wanted without consequences. The fact that they liked my outfit was sweet, and I wasn’t exactly a fashion plate or anything, but couldn’t they have at least picked out different colors? It was like looking in a funhouse mirror. I was just glad that they hadn’t taken on my physical appearance, because that would have been totally creepy. But that would probably be next.

“
Hallie, I have to say this is hilarious.” Annabelle snickered again.

I rolled my eyes. She might not find it so funny if the coven members were doing crazy spells in
her
house. It wasn’t that they’d dressed like me—it was the fact that they wouldn’t stop the witchcraft. They were out of control. Like a bunch of teenagers whose parents had left them alone for the weekend and now they were having one hell of a party.

Barbara was inspecting her shoes and Rebecca was straightening her sweater. Annabelle chuckled again. “You can’t walk around like that,” I said
, looking at each woman.

“But it’s the latest style, isn’t it?” Sarah touched her arm, rubbing the sweater.

Annabelle nodded and pointed at my sweater. “Yes, as a matter of fact, Hallie just bought that sweater at the mall a few weeks ago.”

“You should have gotten it in a more neutral color,” Rebecca said.

Annabelle laughed again.

“Well, you could have chosen a different color on your own,” I said sarcastically.

“I don’t understand. If you like the outfit well enough to wear it, then why can’t we have an outfit just like it?” Rebecca asked.

“Oh, you can wear the outfit all you want, just not when I’m wearing the same thing
. Got it?” I asked with my arms folded in front of my chest.

“Don’t we look good?” Barb
ara asked as she spun around.

“You all look fantastic, but as a group, we look ridiculous.” I motioned around the room.

They scoffed.

“Listen, ladies, it’s not the outfit.” I pointed at their clothing.

“It sure sounds like it’s the outfit,” Rebecca said under her breath.

I glared,
then said, “It’s the fact that your magic is out of control. First it’s the men, and now you’re doing crazy things like this.” I pointed at them.

“I happen to think that the men should have stayed,” Barbara said.

Annabelle nodded. “They were nice to look at. Easy on the eyes.”

“You’re not helping.” I frowned.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“You just don’t want us to have any fun,” Rebecca’s voice went up a level.

“Have all the fun you want, just don’t do any magic,” I warned with a wave of my hand.

“No magic!”
they said in unison.

“What do you expect us to do if we don’t do magic?” Rebecca glared at me.

“There’s plenty to do.” I gestured around the room.

“You can read a book, or watch TV, or go shopping,” Annabelle said enthusiastically.

“They don’t have any money,” I whispered.

“Oh, bad idea,” she said. “Don’t go shopping.”

“Just whatever you do, don’t do any more magic. Okay?” I stared, waiting for an answer.

They stared blankly at me, as if they couldn’t believe that I would dare ask such a thing.

“This is where you agree with me.” I nodded so that they would mimic my movement.

Finally, they nodded, and said, “Fine. We won’t do any more magic in here.”

They were probably just telling me what I wanted to hear, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at the moment. “Thank you very much,” I said, turning around and walking out of the kitchen.

The women looked a little disappointed when I’d left them
. Their spell casting was out of control. Annabelle was still laughing as we made our way out to the parlor.

We’d just settled onto the sofa when Jon and Nicolas emerged through the door. Nicolas looked as handsome as ever. Jon ran his hand through his blond hair. He looked out of sorts, as if his mind was on something else. I couldn’t help but suspect that it had something to do with the strange man.

Annabelle pushed to her feet. “We’d better go. I’ll call you.”

Jon looked at me on his way out. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he followed Annabelle out the door without a word. I just knew there was more to the situation with the stranger. Who was that man?