4 Witching On A Star Read online

  “That’s the boat.”

  I narrowed my eyes to focus, breathing in evenly and trying to calm my nerves. I could do this.

  “Open it to me, let me see, let me see,” I whispered quietly, letting the refrain wander through my mind. I could feel the magic building and expanding and suddenly things came into sharper focus.

  We weren’t in a cave, which was a relief. I didn’t think there was a cave on the lakeside of Hemlock Cove that could have fit a boat – especially a large barge like I was looking at now – inside comfortably. What we had entered was a weird cove that was actually sheltered from the outside by three walls of rock. In other words, you would only see a boat if you knew it was already there.

  The barge itself was large – and old. It looked like an industrial trawler, one that was regularly on the lake moving equipment from the west side of Michigan and the east side of Wisconsin to areas north of us. There was nothing about it that was distinctive. It looked like a regular workboat – which was probably why the increased patrols hadn’t picked it up. Well, that and the fact that it was hidden in a cove.

  “I bet this is why they built the Dandridge here,” I said finally. “This cove.”

  “They built the lighthouse here because of the cove?” Erika asked curiously.

  “It was a way to hide boats,” I said. “A natural way. One that wasn’t obvious.”

  “Is this where my boat was?”

  “Probably,” I said grimly. “They probably took shelter from the weather here – and from other patrol boats. I would bet they had scouts out on the channel to tell them when it was safe to leave.”

  “Do you think I died here?”

  I glanced over at Erika. I could see her features now, but I wasn’t sure that was a help or a hindrance. “Probably,” I replied finally.

  “So, what do we do now?”

  I considered the question. “I’m going to try and get on that boat.”

  “Alone?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I want you to go find Clove and Thistle and get them over here. Tell them to call the police. Thistle has a phone and I didn’t bring mine – which seems like a terrifically stupid idea, at this point. I’m going to need help.”

  “Gracie can do that,” Erika said. “I want to stay with you.”

  “We don’t have time to look for Gracie,” I said. “Just go get me help. Make sure you tell Thistle to call the police before she comes. I’ll be fine.” I was hopeful that I was telling the truth.

  Erika looked dubious, but she winked out – leaving me alone to gather my courage. “Just do it,” I prodded myself. The longer I sat here and thought about it the harder it was going to be to motivate myself to infiltrate the boat.

  So I moved.

  I kept to the shadows and started circling the barge. There had to be a way to board it – and I was hoping it wouldn’t involve me having to swim. When I got to the far side, I found that another dock had been erected – one that looked a heck of a lot newer than the one at the Dandridge. I inspected it for a second, but I didn’t linger. I followed the walkway of the dock until it ended at the metal wall of the trawler, scanning the side of the barge for a ladder. I saw it, about a foot back from where I was standing. I took a deep breath and started to ascend.

  I tried to climb as quietly as possible. I had no idea what I would find on the deck of the boat, but I’d made up my mind and I was doing this either way. If I was lucky, the boat would be empty and I would be able to explore it – find the cargo I was looking for – and escape from the boat just in time to meet up with the cavalry and save the day.

  Wait. Did that sound narcissistic?

  When I made it to the top of the boat I ceased my forward momentum and waited. I couldn’t hear anything. The only sound was the lapping of the water beneath me. I swung myself over the lip of the boat, dropped to the other side, and remained crouching while I waited again. Still nothing.

  Finally, I straightened up and looked around. The top of the barge was cluttered with the usual stuff you would expect to find on an industrial boat. It was obvious no one was being kept up here. I saw a set of stairs to my right and moved towards them. I stopped at the top of the stairs and debated switching the flashlight back on. Ultimately, though, I decided against it.

  I held on to the railing to my right and took it one step at a time, listening as I dropped, and hoping that I wouldn’t find anything horrific at the bottom of the steps. Once I was safely in the bowels of the boat I practically choked on the smell that overwhelmed me. It was a mixture of urine, body odor and . . . something else. There was a musty, rotting smell that accompanied the other unwelcome odors I first detected. Oh, God, I realized, it smelled like a rotting body.

  “Gracie,” I practically choked on the solitary word.

  “I’m over here.”

  I heard her voice before I saw her floating in the corner. “I . . .”

  “My body, it’s over here.” Gracie pointed to a tarp in the corner. It was clear there was something underneath it – and I knew what that something was. I didn’t want to see it up close.

  “We’ll take it . . . you . . . off here soon,” I said calmly, fighting the sudden urge I had to throw up where I was standing.

  “You can’t fix me?”

  “No,” I shook my head.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” I promised her.

  “I know,” Gracie shrugged. “They can’t hurt me anymore.”

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “Over here,” Grace moved, beckoning for me to follow her. She led me down a dark hall, one that had three different doors – those ones that had wheels to open them instead of handles – and paused outside of the farthest one. “They’re in here and they’re scared.”

  I moved to the door, tugging on the handle. It didn’t budge. I gripped it harder and pulled again, this time the handle swung around – squeaking loudly as it cranked over. Once I got it to the point where it wouldn’t turn anymore, I pushed on the door and held my breath as it swung open several feet.

  I glanced up and down the hallway one last time – blowing out a sigh of relief when I realized that it was still only Gracie and I – and then slipped inside of the room.

  I don’t know what I expected, but the horror I walked into was beyond all reasonable thought. Five different heads all jerked up when I entered. I glanced between them all briefly, counting three girls and two boys, and then moving towards the closest child.

  Up close, he was filthy. He looked to be about seven years old and he had blond hair and green eyes. His ski-slope nose was dusted with freckles and his eyes were empty of both warmth and light.

  “Who are you?” He asked dully.

  “My name is Bay,” I said. “I’m here to get you out of here. All of you.”

  “Really?” The boy didn’t look like he believed me. He had probably forgotten what hope really was.

  “Really,” I nodded, frowning as I saw that he was bolted to the floor with a metal chain. “Crap.”

  “You can’t get it off?” The boy asked.

  “I’ll get it off,” I said grimly. I searched the room with my eyes but kept my body still so as not to frighten him. “Are there keys anywhere?”

  “They keep them with them,” Gracie said helpfully.

  I wrinkled my nose tiredly. I knew Chief Terry would be coming – and I could only hope he would be here soon – but I wasn’t going to keep these kids chained to the floor one second longer than I had to.

  “We’ll just have to do it another way,” I said grimly.

  “What other way?” The boy whispered.

  “Magic,” I widened my eyes in mock play. I was trying to relax the kids, but I was telling the truth. I ran my hand over the padlock securing the chain to the floor, whispered a quick spell and pulled on the end of the padlock. It sprang open and I yanked it off.

  The little boy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow.”
r />   “Yeah, wow,” I agreed.

  “I’m going to go get everyone else and then we’re going to leave,” I said.

  “Where are we going?” The boy asked.

  “Away from here,” I said. “After that? We’ll figure it out. I just need to get you away from here for right now. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I moved to the next child, the other boy, and muttered the same spell. All of the children looked terrified, but I didn’t have time to cajole them all into trusting me. I had to get them out of here. The trust would come later.

  Once they were all free, I watched as they all huddled together and watched me through a bevy of untrusting and sad eyes. I had to do something to prod them out of this room. “I bet you guys are hungry.”

  They looked interested now – each and every one of them. “I promise you as much food as you can eat if you follow me out of here.” I moved towards the door, casting a glance back over my shoulder. “Whatever you want. Ice cream. Pot roast. Hamburgers.”

  That did it. The kids all moved towards me. Once they were at my back, I turned around one more time. “Just do me a favor. Try to be really quiet.”

  “Are the bad people here?” One of the little girls asked, her lip quivering.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “They weren’t here a few minutes ago but they may be back.”

  The kids looked scared again. “The police are on their way,” I said. “My cousins are out there – and my cousin Thistle is badass. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise you that.”

  I swung back around and pulled the door open wider so we could leave this hell and step out into the light. When the door swung open, I stepped back inadvertently as two figures stood in the doorway.

  “It’s the bad people,” Gracie murmured at my side. “They found us.”

  Apparently they had – and I was surprised at the two faces that were currently frowning at me with open distaste.

  “Well, I have to say, I wasn’t expecting either of you.”

  “I think we’re the ones that weren’t expecting you,” Dean said, stepping through the door menacingly.

  Karen followed him, her features cold and angry. “What are you doing here, Bay?”

  Now what?

  Thirty-Six

  “How did you get them loose?” Dean asked angrily, taking a step towards me.

  I could feel the children shrinking in terror behind me, so I projected a warming spell around them in an effort to still their fear. “Magic.”

  “Magic?” Dean looked nonplussed. “Really? You have a skeleton key or something? You can pick a lock for some reason?”

  “No,” I shook my head.

  “How did you find this boat?” Karen asked. She was pacing closer to the door – and she didn’t look happy.

  “I was out for a walk and just stumbled upon it,” I lied. “When I saw the boat, I just wanted to check it out. I thought it was abandoned.”

  “Where are your cousins?” Dean asked. He didn’t look like he believed me, and he was searching the room curiously – like Thistle and Clove were hiding in a corner or something.

  “Home.”

  “Really? You came out for a walk at the Dandridge alone? At night?”

  A thought occurred to me. “I wasn’t alone. Landon was with me.”

  Dean’s face crusted over with anger. “Where is he?”

  “She’s lying,” Karen said. “If she was out here with him he would be here now. Do you really think a FBI agent would be running around in the dark with this idiot? She’s just trying to stall.”

  “I guess we should kill her now then,” Dean said. “We’ll dump her with that other brat when we get a couple hundred miles north.”

  “Her name was Gracie,” I said angrily clamping my mouth shut when I realized that I had shared too much information.

  “How do you know that?” Karen asked suspiciously, taking a step forward. “How could you possibly know that?”

  I heard one of the children behind me whimper. I had to stall until help arrived. “I know a lot of things,” I said boldly. “We’ve been looking for this boat for awhile.”

  “This particular boat?” Dean asked worriedly. “I knew it.”

  “Why do you think you kept running into us up here?” I continued, avoiding Dean’s question. “We were looking for the boat. We were looking for the kids.”

  “You didn’t do a very good job of looking,” Dean scoffed. “We were right here the whole time.”

  “I didn’t know about the cove,” I admitted. “It’s kind of frustrating to think that we could have ended this days ago.”

  “We can end it now,” Karen suggested. “I’m all for that.”

  “Why did you guys stay here so long?” I asked hurriedly, trying to distract both of them. “You could have escaped and no one would have been the wiser.”

  “We couldn’t leave,” Karen said bitterly. “The Coast Guard has been all over this area for days. We were stuck.”

  Whoops. I decided to change to a different tactic. “So, opening the Dandridge was just a big fat lie?”

  “Actually, no,” Dean said. “I have every intention of refurbishing the Dandridge. It’s going to be our home base. It will be a nice little business for the town and a great way to hide what we’re really doing.”

  “Your home base for what?”

  “For this,” Dean gestured at the small faces behind me.

  “I don’t know what this is,” I admitted. “All I know is that you have five children shackled on a boat and another dead child out in the hallway.”

  “Gracie,” one of the kids behind me whispered. “She didn’t find a new home?”

  I frowned. “Is that what you told them? That Gracie found a new home?”

  “You would prefer that we tell them the truth?” Karen’s voice was icy. “I don’t think that would go over well.”

  “Where are you taking them?”

  “North,” Dean said evasively. “We have people waiting for them there.”

  “To what end?” I pressed. I just needed to keep stalling.

  “We’re finding them new homes,” Karen replied. “They’re all orphans. We’re part of a rescue group.”

  “Really? What kind of rescue group chains kids in the belly of a barge?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think you would buy that one,” Karen laughed. “I had to try, though. I guess that’s not going to sway you from your Scooby-Doo moment, huh?”

  “Not really,” I replied dryly. “If I’m going to die, I want to know why.”

  “You mean you haven’t figured it out?” Dean looked surprised. “If you haven’t figured it out, why are you here?”

  “I told you, I was out for a walk and stumbled on the boat.”

  “I think we’re beyond that,” Dean prodded me. “Why don’t we lay all of our cards on the table and see where we stand?”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “We’ve been looking for the boat for days,” I said honestly. “We didn’t find it until tonight.”

  “Who is we?” Karen asked.

  “What?” I internally cringed.

  “You said we found it tonight. I want to know who the we is.”

  “I told you, Landon was with me.”

  “And why isn’t he with you now?”

  “We got separated,” I said. “When he can’t find me, he’ll be calling the police out here to conduct an extensive search.”

  Dean and Karen exchanged worried glances. “I think you’re lying,” Karen said finally. “I think you’re out here with Thistle and Clove.”

  Crap on toast.

  “Speaking of Clove,” I said. “What’s the deal with you and Uncle Warren? Is he in on this, too?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Karen said innocently. “We’re in love.”

  “I think you’re with him to make sure that people aren’t suspicious about why you’re in town,” I countered. “I don’t know much about him, but I can’t believe he
’d be involved in this.

  “I’m in town to decorate the Dragonfly, and when I’m done, I’ll be decorating the Dandridge,” Karen said. “That’s the truth. And, no, Warren doesn’t know anything about this. Are you kidding me? He’s as naïve as the rest of you. I am telling the truth, though, when I say that I originally came out here to decorate the Dragonfly.”

  “And, what, you just stumbled on a human trafficking ring?” I probed. “That’s seems . . . unlikely.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Karen mused. “It only seems unlikely to you, though, since you’ve discovered the truth. Once you’re gone, though, no one will suspect me.”

  “And you’ll be able to help Warren while he’s trying to console Clove,” I replied sagely.

  “Oh, I don’t see Clove surviving the night,” Karen laughed hollowly. “If you know what’s going on, so do your annoying little cousins.”

  “They don’t know that it’s you,” I said hurriedly. “They only know about the boat.”

  “Then they know too much,” Karen said simply.

  “They’re not the only ones that know about the boat,” I said quickly.

  “Who else?” Dean asked dangerously.

  “Landon. Chief Terry. A few other people.”

  “That’s why there’s increased patrols, isn’t it?” Dean asked. “It’s all because of you.”

  “It could be,” I agreed.

  “Well, the question is, how did you find out about our little . . . operation?” Karen asked.

  “Operation? Is that what you call kidnapping children away from their families and shipping them off God knows where to do God knows what?”

  “If it’s any consolation,” Karen said matter-of-factly. “We are taking them to new families.”

  “Really? Somehow I have my doubts.”

  “No, we really are taking them to new families,” Karen said earnestly. “Families that have peculiar interests, but families all the same.”

  I felt sick to my stomach. “You mean sexual deviants, don’t you?”

  “Among other things,” Dean said. “We don’t really ask questions of the buyers. We don’t care why they want the merchandise – we just procure the merchandise.”

  “This is an awful big operation for two people,” I said. “I mean, you have to kidnap the kids, transport them to the boat, pilot the boat and deliver the kids. I don’t think only two people could handle it.”