Prelude to a Witch Read online

  “Oh, I definitely won’t.” Tillie was firm. “Willa will be my enemy until the end. Eventually, I will take her down ... and I’m going to throw a party when it happens.”

  “Good to know.”

  “There will be wine.”

  “I’m sure there will.”

  “And dancing on the bluff.”

  “Keep looking forward to that.”

  “Oh, I will.” Tillie bowed low in front of her mother, offering a bit of theatrical flair to the conversation. “I’m the queen and Willa is the jester. It’s always going to be that way. Just you wait.”

  1

  One

  Present Day

  “There’s only one way to do this if we want to survive.” Aunt Tillie was grave as her gaze bounced between my face and those of my cousins Thistle and Clove. “We must be quick. We must be precise. We must be bold.”

  Thistle, her hair a bright shade of red that reminded me of autumn leaves, rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “We must be lazy,” she said. “That’s what you’re getting at.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being lazy,” Aunt Tillie snapped as she straightened. “In fact, I wholeheartedly support laziness. Do you want to know why? I’ll tell you why. We’re witches. We need to save our strength for the big battles, the ones that save lives. We don’t need to be wasting our energy on crap like this.” She gestured toward the old campground we’d frequented as children. “Goddess help us, this place is a hole.”

  I shot her a dirty look and moved closer to one of the old cabins. It was empty now, the most recent overnight guest taking off after we stripped her of power. The building was dilapidated, collapsing and surrounded by trash. I, Bay Winchester, was trying to be responsible ... at least mostly.

  “It’s not a hole,” I argued, pinning her with a dark look. “It’s a great piece of property. It just needs a little work.”

  “It is a great property,” Clove said as she moved to the shade and sank into one of the canvas camping chairs we’d brought along, her needs pressing on all of us. She was largely pregnant. Like ... close. She could go into labor now and the baby would survive. She still had a few weeks left before she was ready to pop, but we’d started watching her with the careful eyes of expectant aunts who were both excited by the imminent arrival and terrified about what it would mean for us going forward.

  “It’s a hole,” Aunt Tillie insisted. “There’s garbage everywhere.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” I reminded her, grabbing the rake. “In exactly one week, construction workers are coming to demolish the old buildings. I promised Landon I would get as much of the trash out of here as possible before they come.”

  “I thought you guys couldn’t afford to build a house for at least a year,” Thistle argued as she begrudgingly used a stick to spear garbage and bag it. “Why are you tearing the buildings down now if you can’t even start building?”

  “They’re dangerous,” I replied. “They could go at any moment, and if there are teenagers hanging out — and the beer cans we keep finding seem to signify that there are — we could be sued if the buildings fall on top of them when they’re doing the dirty.”

  Thistle snorted as she shook her head. “Doing the dirty? That’s something Landon would say.”

  She wasn’t wrong. My fiancé had a way with words, which made me laugh every day. That was only one of the reasons I’d fallen in love with him. The others included the fact that he was ridiculously handsome and had a heart of gold. Just thinking about him made me smile. When caught by Thistle, that made her frown.

  “Stop being schmaltzy,” Thistle snapped. “You’re bugging the crap out of me.”

  “Maybe you’re bugging the crap out of me,” I shot back. She was my cousin and I loved her, but she knew what buttons to push to drive me crazy. “I can be schmaltzy if I want to. I’m getting married in a few weeks.”

  “Yeah, I still don’t understand why you’re pushing that so fast,” Thistle complained. “You guys just got engaged. Why not drag it out a year or so? Then you can plan the wedding of your dreams and not have all this pressure.”

  “We want to get married now.” Landon and I had talked long and hard about what we wanted. “I want an outdoor wedding, which means we have to do it before the weather turns. He’s fine with whatever I want as long as there are scallops wrapped in bacon as hors d’oeuvres and we go somewhere tropical for our honeymoon.”

  “Yeah, but ... everything is so rushed,” Thistle said. “Our mothers are absolutely melting down over this. You must’ve noticed.”

  “I know they wanted more time, but Landon and I don’t want to wait.” I avoided making eye contact as I turned back to picking up garbage. “Just in case.”

  “Just in case what?” Thistle demanded as she skirted around Aunt Tillie. Our elderly great-aunt appeared to be using her magic to clean … or bring the trees to life. It was always hard to tell with her. “Be careful with whatever spell you’re using,” she barked. “If this goes Fantasia, we’re going to have a heckuva time explaining it ... especially given who lives on the other side of the lake now.” She pointed at the expansive house across the water.

  “I don’t care what they think,” Aunt Tillie said darkly as she glared at the house. Nobody was outside — something I considered a genuine relief — but I couldn’t help but wonder if the occupants were inside watching us.

  “Has anybody seen them?” Thistle asked. She looked just as unhappy as Aunt Tillie.

  “I haven’t, but I know they’re still hanging around,” I replied. “I was talking to Mrs. Gunderson the other day. They had those bacon maple doughnuts Landon likes, so I picked him up a box. She said that they’ve been having coffee and doughnuts in her shop almost every day.”

  “I guess that means they’re still here.” Thistle’s expression was sour. “I don’t trust them.”

  That was the understatement of the year. Ever since Aunt Tillie’s half-sister Willa had returned to Hemlock Cove, our touristy witch town in northern Lower Michigan, we’d done nothing but watch and wait. We were all suspicious of Willa’s motives. The fact that her granddaughter Rosemary was with her and was engaged to my former boss only added to the heightened sense of worry washing over our family.

  “Nobody trusts them,” Aunt Tillie barked, waving her hands so the wind served as an invisible garbage collector and started moving all the trash into a pile near the fire pit. I had to admit — even though I would never say it out loud in her presence — it was an impressive spell. “They’re bad people.”

  I sighed. “I don’t know if it’s fair to call them bad people,” I hedged.

  “Oh, no?” Aunt Tillie was having none of it. “What have they ever done that’s good for humanity?”

  “Nothing.” I couldn’t argue that point. “They also haven’t gone out of their way to mess with us for the most part. Brian, however, is another story.” I looked at the house. It was big, bold and impressive ... and I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brian had purchased the house because he knew it would bother me. Thanks to Landon and Hemlock Cove Police Chief Terry Davenport, a man who had helped raised me, I was now the proud owner of The Whistler, the town newspaper. Brian inherited the newspaper from his grandfather William Kelly almost two years ago, but he ran it into the ground while threatening me in the process. Landon had stepped in, helping me buy the newspaper and essentially stealing it out from under Brian. The man was still bitter about it, which had to be why he was back in town ... and haunting the property Landon and I planned to build a house on eventually.

  “This is obviously on purpose,” Clove said from her spot in the shade. When inviting her to help, I knew she wouldn’t. She was too big. But she whined when left out of things, so I figured it was best to let her act in a supervisory position. So far that had included snacking, drinking caffeine-free soda, and barking orders at the rest of us.

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Thi
stle said. Clove’s laziness — a word she used and I never would — had turned Thistle into a beast of late. We all were looking forward to the birth so that Clove would return to normal. Sure, she was a whining kvetch a lot of the time and I expected her to be a neurotic mother, but that was still better than … this. What she was right now — an uncomfortable woman about to spew forth life — was even worse.

  “What’s stupid?” Clove demanded, annoyance obvious. “Brian only bought that house because he wants to torture Bay. Why else would he come back? He knows everybody here hates him. This is all payback.”

  “I stole his newspaper,” I said. “He wants to make me pay.”

  “I think he’s more interested in making Landon pay,” Thistle countered. “Landon threatened him. That’s the only reason Brian agreed to sell to you.”

  I’d spent a great deal of time thinking about that. “I’m afraid he’s going to do something to cause Landon to lose his job,” I admitted. “An FBI agent isn’t supposed to threaten someone so his girlfriend can buy a newspaper.”

  “If you ask me, that’s the best thing your boy wonder has ever done,” Aunt Tillie offered. “He made me proud to say he was a Winchester that day.” She puffed out her chest. “He was a badass.”

  “You should tell him that,” I said with a laugh.

  “No way.” Her expression darkened again. “That will only puff his ego and we all know what he’s like when his ego is out of control.”

  “I happen to like his ego.”

  “That’s because you’re blind to his faults.”

  “He doesn’t have any faults.” That was mostly true. “Well, other than the fact that he’s a little bossy.”

  “A little bossy?” Aunt Tillie screeched. “He’s a lot bossy. He needs to learn that he’s becoming a member of our family. I’m the only one who can be bossy from here on out.”

  That was such an Aunt Tillie thing to say. “I’m pretty sure my mother has reason to argue with that,” I pointed out. The only person I knew bossier than Aunt Tillie was my mother. In fact, she was the only person who could rein in Aunt Tillie. It was fairly impressive ... and altogether terrifying when she got in a mood.

  “I’m the boss of your mother, no matter what she says,” Aunt Tillie groused, her attention back on the house. “We need a storm.”

  “Excuse me? Why would we want a storm? The weather is beautiful.”

  “Yes, it’s a lovely day in the neighborhood,” Aunt Tillie drawled. “It’s absolutely delightful. We still need a storm.”

  “I think you need to expand on that,” Thistle said. “What would we do with a storm?”

  “We could turn it into a tornado that just happens to hit that house.” Aunt Tillie pointed across the lake. “A storm could level it, and then we would go on our merry way.”

  “I’m guessing if a storm leveled exactly one house in Hemlock Cove before disappearing, it would be considered suspicious,” I offered.

  “I think you’re doing what you always do – overthinking,” Aunt Tillie shot back. “If you think two decimated houses would help, I know another one we could take out.”

  I shot her a dirty look. “Yes, because Mrs. Little’s house being flattened along with Brian’s — which are miles apart — wouldn’t be at all suspicious.”

  “Who cares if it’s suspicious? They’d have to prove we did it, and we all know that won’t happen.”

  “Just leave the house alone.” Even as I said the words, a pang rocketed through me. I’d done my best the last two weeks to pretend Brian’s return hadn’t bothered me. I didn’t want to be seen as paranoid — that was Aunt Tillie’s job, after all — but I couldn’t shake the notion that something terrible was about to happen.

  “Who raised you?” Aunt Tillie demanded with a scowl. “Only an idiot would think we shouldn’t do something about that house. If Brian Kelly has his way, he’ll be spying on you and Landon the rest of your lives. You’ll be neighbors with Rosemary. Is that what you want?”

  It was the last thing I wanted, but that didn’t change my reality. “So far he’s done nothing to warrant payback.”

  “Oh, puh-leez.” Aunt Tillie’s eye roll was so pronounced I was surprised she didn’t fall over. “Who says there has to be a reason to pay somebody back?”

  “I believe that’s part of the standard rules,” Thistle said dryly.

  “Well, it’s a stupid rule.” Aunt Tillie was determined when she turned to me. “We need to get rid of him. Like ... right now. We can’t sit around and wait for him to move on us. We need to move on him and get him out of our town.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that? We can’t attack him out of the blue. We could get in trouble.”

  “You’re not worried about us getting in trouble.” Aunt Tillie made a face. “You’re worried about your love muffin getting in trouble. That won’t happen either. Do you think Brian is going to drive to the FBI field office in Traverse City and report your boyfriend for dating a witch?”

  That’ exactly what worried me. “I don’t want Brian creating trouble for Landon. Things are good for us right now.”

  “That won’t change,” Aunt Tillie insisted. “I’ve met the fed’s boss. He’s easily manipulated. We can bend his will and turn him into a slave if we need to.”

  “Don’t even think about it,” I warned. “Just ... stay out of it.” It would turn to war if Aunt Tillie pushed too hard. “We can’t do anything until Brian does something. All he’s done since returning that might be considered dastardly is hang out with some teenagers.”

  “I still want to know what that was about,” Thistle muttered, her eyebrows drawing together as she stared at the house. “Hanging around with teenagers — some of whom turned out to be evil witches — is not the mark of a standup man.”

  “He knows we saw him with the girls,” I pointed out. “He knows we’re suspicious. He’ll be doubly careful now.”

  “What about those girls?” Clove asked, her hand busy rubbing her huge stomach. “Have you talked to them since you wiped their memories?”

  I shook my head. Talking about the girls who had decided to use magic as a means to escape Hemlock Cove — not caring in the least who they hurt in the process — gave me a sour stomach. “Believe it or not, I would rather talk about Brian than them.”

  “They’re still blank canvases?” Thistle asked. “They don’t remember what they did?”

  “No, and more importantly, they don’t remember what we did to stop them. They seem to be normal teenagers again.”

  “That doesn’t mean they’re not evil,” Aunt Tillie pointed out. “Teenagers are freaking sociopaths.”

  “And now you know why we loved you as much as we did as teenagers,” Thistle drawled.

  “Shut it!” Aunt Tillie jabbed a finger in Thistle’s direction. “Nobody needs your mouth.”

  Quite frankly, I didn’t need any of their mouths. “What’s the deal with the garbage?” I asked, changing the subject. “Why are you moving it into the fire pit? We still have to bag it.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith.” Aunt Tillie snapped her fingers, causing the pile of garbage to go up in flames.

  I opened my mouth to tell her that conjuring fire was a bad idea and then realized that the campground was completely clean and the garbage would be gone within five minutes. “Nice work.” I clapped her shoulder. “You’re more than just a pretty face.”

  Aunt Tillie scowled. “Keep it up and I’ll arrange to have all that garbage replaced.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” I reached into my pocket when I felt my phone vibrate, smiling when Landon’s name appeared on the screen. “Maybe he misses me,” I said, beaming at Aunt Tillie in a way that I knew would drive her crazy. “Who is your favorite witch in the world?” I asked by way of greeting.

  “That’s not even a competition,” Landon replied. “You’re my favorite everything.”

  Right away I knew something was wrong. He wasn’t his normal playful self. “
What is it?”

  “It’s ... um ... I need you to come out to the Dragonfly.”

  My heart practically beat out of my chest. “Did something happen to my dad?” I flicked my eyes to Thistle and Clove in turn. “Any of our dads?”

  “No, sweetie, I’m sorry.” Landon was instantly contrite. “I didn’t mean to make you think that. We did find a body, though. Behind the Dragonfly. I need you to come out here and ... well, I just need you.”

  I knew what he was saying. The party spot behind the Dragonfly had been cause for concern for weeks. There was something he didn’t want to say over the phone.

  “I’m on my way,” I said.

  “Thank you. And Bay, don’t drive like a maniac. Take your time. I’ll be here when you get here.”

  “I’ll be careful. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  That earned a short laugh. “Oh, if only that were true.”

  2

  Two

  I didn’t have time to drop off my cousins and aunt so the whole crew was with me when I parked in the lot at the Dragonfly. Landon stood with my father, their heads bent together in conversation.

  “This looks bad,” I said as I got out of my car.

  Landon slid me an unreadable look. “It’s not good,” he said. “I’m sorry I had to call you out here.”

  “We’re a team, right?” I attempted a smile. “If you need me, I’m always here.”

  “I always need you.” He pulled me in for a hug. “I really am sorry. I know you were spending quality time with your family.”

  That at least nudged a grin out of me. “We were picking up garbage at the campground.”

  “We’re done,” Aunt Tillie added as she joined us. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Landon flicked his eyes to her. “You’re done already? I thought that would take days. I had plans to take Bay out there this weekend to finish up.”