Bad to the Crone Read online

  “I wasn’t going to do anything stupid.” I felt defensive. “I was just ... he was there and he has a nice smile ... I ... why am I explaining myself to you anyway? You’re a cat.”

  The kitten rubbed his head against my chest.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I muttered, double-checking the lock before hitting the lights. “I don’t need the judgment, pal. I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

  The cat, of course, merely stared at me.

  “I hate it when you look at me that way,” I groused, striding into the bedroom. “We’re going to talk about your attitude later. You’ve been warned.”

  The kitten didn’t look remotely worried.

  I WAS UP AND DRESSED WITH the sun the next morning. I didn’t sleep well, my dreams muddled by a bevy of visuals I didn’t want to lay claim to. Gunner featured in all of them, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of seeing him first thing, but my heart gave a jolt at the sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside the cabin and I couldn’t stop my stomach from doing a lone somersault.

  I managed to pull myself together by the time he knocked, and when I opened the door I had every intention of taking the motorcycle by the handlebars ... so to speak. I wanted to talk about what was happening between us, get it out in the open and at least see where he stood on the issue. Pretending nothing was happening wasn’t working, and I didn’t want to be the sort of person who ignored an issue until it came back to bite me in the worst possible way.

  When I opened the door, though, it wasn’t Gunner I found waiting for me. It was Bonnie ... and I was dumbfounded.

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted out before I thought better of it.

  “Good morning to you, too,” she said dryly, shaking her head. “I take it you’re not a morning person.”

  I didn’t believe anyone was really a morning person. I was convinced it was all an act upbeat people insisted on putting on so they could pretend to be something they weren’t. No, truly. There’s no way being a morning person is a real thing.

  “I’m sorry,” I offered, rubbing my hands over the front of my jeans as I tried to gain control of my emotions. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”

  “No?” Bonnie looked amused. “How did you mean it?”

  “I just ... expected someone else.” I forced myself to voice the obvious. “I thought I was working with Gunner. That was the impression I got yesterday, anyway.”

  “That was my assumption, too,” she said, blasé. “I only know that Gunner had something come up — I guess it’s top secret or something because they didn’t tell me what it was — and he was called away. Rooster doesn’t want you working on your own because of the way the body was found, so he sent me to be your backup.”

  That was great. I simply had no idea what she was supposed to back me up on. “He had something come up?” I was instantly suspicious. “What?”

  “I already said I don’t know.”

  “Yeah, but ... you must have heard. Did some paranormal creature decide to build a nest in his backyard? I’m confused about when this emergency could’ve possibly come up.”

  Bonnie was taken aback. “I don’t know. He doesn’t run his schedule by me. You’ll have to ask him.”

  The expression on her face told me I was overstepping ... and in a big way.

  “I’m sorry,” I said hurriedly, fighting to control my agitation. “I wasn’t trying to be a pain. It’s just ... I was confused. Gunner said he was going to brainstorm about what we should do today. I was going to do the same. I came up with nothing, so ... .”

  “So, you don’t know where to start looking.” Bonnie relaxed and chuckled. “That makes sense. I hate it when I don’t know where to start looking. I don’t know what to tell you. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got and we’ll go from there?”

  “Sure. That sounds like a good idea.”

  I invited her in for coffee because it seemed the neighborly thing to do, introduced her to the cat and then launched into the story. I left out certain things — mostly Mama Moon’s reaction to me and what happened when she put her hands on me for a reading, because that seemed private … and kind of an overshare. When I was done, Bonnie was agape.

  “Wow! Sounds like you’ve had a busy two days.” She rubbed the back of her neck as she sipped her coffee and shot the occasional smile toward the cat. “I didn’t know Mama Moon and Hal were dating. That seems an odd pairing.”

  “After meeting Mama Moon, I would guess that’s something that can be said of every pairing she’s been involved in.”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Bonnie pursed her lips. “Mama Moon is only going to share as much information as she feels comfortable with. She’s not a giver.”

  “You know her?”

  Bonnie shrugged. “Everyone knows her. I mean ... she’s a fixture in this community. I didn’t grow up in Hawthorne Hollow. I grew up a few towns over. I was familiar with Hawthorne Hollow, but only hung out here if something specific was going on ... which was rare.

  “Essentially I’m saying that I didn’t know the old Mama Moon, the one who was in charge of the group,” she continued. “I’ve only ever known the kook. Rooster has glowing things to say about her and seems sad when anyone mentions how weird she’s become. Gunner also has memories of her being more than she is now.”

  “Do you think she’s capable of killing Hal?” I asked.

  “Capable? Yes. Is it likely that she carried it off? I’m not so sure. I mean ... why? If she wanted to break up, all she had to do was dump him. Hal’s face was missing. That seems like overkill for a simple breakup. I don’t even know how that happens.”

  “Magic,” I muttered, picturing the body in my mind’s eye. “There’s no way that was done with a weapon of any sort. I don’t know any doctor who could’ve made lines that steady. That means that someone either cast a spell or used a form of magic we’re not familiar with.”

  “Okay. How do we track that magic?”

  There was only one way I could think of. “We have to go back to where the body was found,” I said finally, making up my mind. “I can try casting a tracking spell from that position to follow the individual who killed Hal. It’s not a given it will work — especially after so much time has passed — but we don’t have many options.”

  “I’m good with that.” Bonnie flashed a tight smile. I didn’t know her well enough to read her emotions, but I was almost positive she didn’t like the idea of tracking Hal’s murderer. Still, she didn’t put up a fight. “We can park at the bar and walk in from the back,” she suggested. “It will be shorter than the initial route you took with Gunner.”

  “Sounds good to me. At least we have a place to start.”

  WE PARKED IN THE BACK of The Rusty Cauldron. It wasn’t even nine and yet there were several bikes parked in the lot, including one that I recognized as Gunner’s.

  “I guess his important business involved a visit to the bar before lunch, huh?”

  Bonnie followed my gaze and shrugged. She wasn’t nearly as agitated as I felt. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s touching base with Rooster before doing whatever needs to be done.”

  It was a feasible suggestion. I didn’t believe it for a second, though. Gunner wasn’t on an assignment that “popped up” out of nowhere. He was avoiding me. I wasn’t an idiot.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter.” I forced a smile for her benefit and turned toward the woods behind the building. It was a good quarter-mile walk, but I was looking forward to getting some of my aggression out. “Shall we?”

  Bonnie chewed her bottom lip nervously, uncertain. “Okay, but if we get attacked by a monster that can remove faces I’m totally leaving you to fight it. I just want you to be aware before we go in there. I’m not a coward or anything, but I don’t want to lose my face.”

  That was a fair warning. “Okay. I’ll handle the fight if we find a monster.”

  “Great.” Bonnie brightened considerably. “That’s a deal
.”

  It took us only ten minutes to reach the site where Hal’s body had been discarded. The police had obviously been there, because a large octagonal area was taped off, but the weather the previous two days had caused the tape to dip in places.

  “Right here?” Bonnie asked, pointing.

  I nodded as I glanced around, my gaze falling on the trees. I was looking for symbols, I realized, something that tied into what I saw at Cecily’s house. I didn’t see anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the symbols at Cecily’s house were somehow important. I made a mental note to follow up on them.

  “I’m not familiar with the town,” I said, hands on hips as I swiveled. “Who hangs out in this area?”

  Bonnie, who had hunkered down for a better look at the location where the body had been found, shrugged. “No one. I mean ... not really.”

  “There’s a path,” I reminded her, pointing toward the woods. “Someone has to hang out here.”

  “I think kids go in those woods to party sometimes,” she offered. “I don’t believe it’s often, though, because it’s so close to the road commission outpost.”

  I knit my eyebrows. “Road commission?” I didn’t remember seeing any road commission vehicles when I was back there. “Where is that?”

  She pointed east. “It’s not even a quarter of a mile that way. You can’t see the fence that surrounds it because of the big pile of sand.”

  I’d noticed the sand. It was essentially a small mountain, especially since the rest of the town was flat. I’d never considered what it was doing there. “Why do they have the big pile of sand?”

  Bonnie chuckled. “You’re not the only one to ask that question. I think it looks like a giant litterbox. I’m surprised we don’t have an out-of-control feline population. I asked about it once; supposedly it’s for filling in sinkholes and road work projects. But I’ve been here a few years and I’ve never seen it shrink or grow in size.”

  I stared at the sand pile for a long time and then shook my head. “That probably has nothing to do with what happened here.”

  “Probably,” she agreed. “It’s interesting to theorize about, though. However, that should probably be saved for a different time. We have other things to worry about.”

  “Namely a face-eating enemy that could be virtually anywhere,” I supplied.

  “Pretty much,” she agreed. “You said you were going to cast a spell? I’m curious what sort of spell you’re going to use. I’m not familiar with hedge witch spells, so I want to see what you come up with.”

  “It’s not a hedge witch spell,” I said, stretching my fingers as I prepared to unleash my magic. “This is something different.”

  “You said you were a hedge witch.”

  “I’m a hereditary witch, too,” I reminded her.

  “Yeah, but ... all that means is you inherited some magical ability from your ancestors.”

  It meant more than that, at least to me. “Well, I don’t know where this spell came from, but I’ve used it before. I simply need to focus. Give me a second.”

  I pressed my eyes shut and concentrated, the magic pulsing through me. I felt it sparking out of my fingertips, but I didn’t unleash it. Not yet.

  I sucked in a cleansing breath, focused on exactly what I wanted to happen, and then unleashed the wave of magic while uttering one word three times in rapid succession: “Vestigo.”

  The magic grew in strength as it scoured the ground, lighting up to illuminate footprints on the flattened earth. The blue haze that surrounded the prints was weak, but it was there, so I was taking it as a win.

  Bonnie’s eyes were wide when I finally turned to her. “That was ... impressive,” she said finally.

  “Thanks.” I wiped my hands on the seat of my pants and grinned. “We should start following the trail before it dies. I don’t know how much juice is in that spell.”

  “Sure.” Bonnie tilted her head to the side and regarded me without moving. “Just one question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “What was that thing you whispered? The word, I mean.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Vestigo? It means ‘track’ in Latin.”

  “Did you take a class to learn Latin?”

  “No. I did read a few Latin books when I was a teenager.”

  “And you just picked it up?”

  “I ... well ... kind of.” I shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable under her scrutiny. “I’ve always been that way. I can read things and turn them to my advantage. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It’s a bigger deal than you realize, but we’ll put it behind us for now,” Bonnie said, inclining her head toward the woods. “Come on. We’ll see where the tracks lead. I’m not nearly as worried about meeting the face-eating monster as I was before.”

  Sixteen

  The trip through the woods was tense, mostly because I was on alert in case a spriggan decided to hop out and try to kill me. Now that I knew they existed I was keen to see another ... and experiment with ways to kill them.

  What? I like learning things. Sue me.

  Bonnie was quiet at the start, but I felt her need to ask questions. Finally, I did the only thing I could and brought the conversation to her.

  “If you have something you want to say ... .”

  “What makes you think I have something to say?” Bonnie turned innocent. “I’m not doing anything but minding my own business.”

  “That’s what makes me think you have something to say,” I admitted. “I would rather you let it out now.” I eyed a moving leaf suspiciously, but kept walking. I didn’t sense danger. Sure, I hadn’t sensed danger the first time a spriggan attacked, but I’d decided to blame that on the excitement of a new environment. My instincts had never let me down before.

  “Okay.” Bonnie licked her lips. “There’s a rumor going around that you’re something special, like a white witch to end all white witches. I guess I’m curious why people think that.”

  I was caught off guard. “What do you mean? Who is saying I’m something special?”

  “That’s the rumor going around.”

  “But ... who said it?” I thought of Gunner, the look on his face when Mama Moon started spouting nonsense after trying to invade my mind. Perhaps I’d been wrong from the start. It was entirely possible he didn’t want to be around me because he was afraid I was somehow going to turn into something so powerful he would have no idea how to fight me. It might not have anything to do with the moment I thought we’d shared and everything to do with the past I couldn’t remember. “It was Gunner, wasn’t it?”

  “No. Definitely not.” Her eyes went wide. “It definitely wasn’t him.”

  I didn’t believe her. The realization that Gunner was spreading stories caused my hackles to rise. “You don’t have to worry about me hurting you.” I kept my eyes forward. “In fact, there’s no reason for you to hang around. I’ve got this. I can handle it myself.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Bonnie protested. I could practically see the frustration oozing from her pores. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “I’m not upset.” I brushed the back of my hand over my forehead. “You can head back. You don’t need to stick with me. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. In fact, I prefer that. I don’t need a partner.”

  Bonnie huffed out a sigh. “Geez. I can tell you’re going to be a lot of fun. Really, I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

  “Do I look upset?”

  “Yeah.” She didn’t back down, for which I had to give her credit. “You look ... frazzled. I’m not telling you how to feel — mostly because I hate it when people tell me how I should feel about something — so I’m not trying to do that. But it’s obvious you’re worked up.”

  “I’m not worked up.” I told myself that was true. “I’m simply ... dealing with a lot. I moved. I adopted a cat. I got attacked by a creature I’ve never heard of. I found a body that was missing a face. You’re worked
up about the face thing, too. You get that.”

  “I do,” Bonnie confirmed. “I most definitely get that. The thing is, you were upset about something this morning and I didn’t really pick up on it. My question made things worse. I’m sorry. That’s the last thing I want. I was simply curious.”

  “About the extent of my powers?”

  “Yeah.” Bonnie’s smile was sheepish. “You’re extremely powerful. That’s the rumor going around. You burned a spriggan in its tracks. No one has ever done that, at least to my knowledge. Rooster said that the body was disintegrated to the point he couldn’t tell what tribe it came from.”

  “They have tribes?” I was dumbfounded. “They’re sticks with eyes.”

  She chuckled. “Not everything is as it appears. Spriggans have been around for centuries. There’s a reason for that. If they were as stupid as you seem to assume, I don’t think that would be possible.”

  She had a point, but still ... . “Certain marine species have been thought to be extinct multiple times,” I pointed out. “They were found centuries after they were assumed to have died out. They didn’t survive because they were smart as much as people were dumb and didn’t look in the right place.”

  “I guess you could look at it that way.”

  “But you don’t,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I don’t know what to make of them. We don’t have them in Detroit.”

  “I’m sure you have things down there that we’ve never heard of,” she said pragmatically. “I’m more interested in the method of death. You have fire magic, which isn’t a standard gift. It’s believed that fire magic is only bestowed on the most powerful.”

  “How do you know that?” I was honestly curious. “I don’t remember reading that in any of the textbooks leading up to the final test in order to garner Spells Angels certification.”

  “I’m something of a historian. I’ve read about witches throughout history. I’m not overly powerful. I mean … I can hold my own. But compared to you … . There are times I wish I was more powerful, I’m not going to lie. It just wasn’t meant to be.”