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  Standing with her back against Abby’s chest, Maggie could feel that the vampire was practically hyperventilating. Abby was panicking which meant that Maggie needed to stay calm. The situation would get out of hand if she allowed herself to panic too.

  Hoping she wasn’t making the wrong decision, Maggie shut her eyes and took a deep inhale in through her nose. She could feel Abby’s fingernails digging deep into her biceps as the vampire’s arms wrapped tightly around her chest, squeezing as hard as she could to trap Maggie.

  Perhaps if Maggie could relax enough, she could use her magic to get out of this sinister bear hug. She wasn’t exactly sure what spell to cast, but if she had learned anything from the last time she caught a killer, she could simply make up her own and it would work just as well. But what could she do to a vampire that would dissuade the vampire from sucking out her very essence?

  “Abby, listen to me,” Esmeralda said.

  Maggie’s eyes popped open. Her mother and Ned were both inching closer to where Abby was holding Maggie prisoner. They were trying to get close enough to help without getting reeled into a bad situation themselves. Maggie mostly wished her mother would get out of danger. She tried to flick her eyes toward the door to tell her mother to leave, but Esmeralda shook her head and went back to addressing Abby.

  “I believe you when you say you didn’t kill her,” Esmeralda said. “I believe Linda was murdered, but I don’t believe the actual killer was you. I think you’ve unfortunately gotten yourself in a bad situation through no fault of your own. If you let Maggie go, I can try to help you.”

  Abby started to loosen a grip, not enough that Maggie could escape, but enough that she felt like she could breathe a little better. Maggie tried to keep relaxing. If she made any move at that moment, Abby would tense up again and she might just decide to sink her fangs into Maggie’s neck.

  “Why would you believe me?” Abby asked. “What I’m saying is so unbelievable that I wouldn’t believe it if it didn’t happen to me. It was like magic transferred my anger to the bottle.”

  “I’m not sure how that would happen,” Esmeralda said. “But I believe you when you say it. The world is changing and I’m struggling to keep up with things. I don’t know how that happened so I can’t actually explain it, but I’m putting my faith and trust in you to say that I believe you.”

  Abby’s hold loosened even more. She moved her arms so that they weren’t across Maggie’s chest anymore, but holding her loosely by the upper arms instead. Maggie slowly turned her head to look at Abby’s face. The vampire had tears sliding down her cheeks. The anger seemed to be sliding away, revealing the insecure, scared girl underneath. Through all of this, Maggie had sort of forgotten that Abby was barely an adult, just trying to make it in the world.

  Suddenly, Officer Chris and Officer Wes jumped out from behind a stack of cauldrons. They were wearing their ridiculous, tall police hats that doubled their height and they were pointing pistols that were so small, they looked like miniature water guns. As they jumped out, Officer Chris’s hat fell down over his eyes and he fumbled to push it back up.

  “Hold it right there,” Officer Wes said.

  Abby’s arms snaked around Maggie’s torso again, holding her tighter than before. The vampire started hissing. Maggie didn’t have to turn her head to know that she was baring her fangs at the intruders right now. She could see that her mother’s face was red with rage. They had just gotten to a point where Abby trusted them and was about to let Maggie go when the bozo patrol showed up. Every time Maggie wondered if maybe they just caught the short end of the gossip stick, they did something dumb to prove just how incompetent they really were.

  “You hold it,” Abby said. “Both of you back up and drop your weapons or I’ll sink my fangs into Maggie here.”

  The officers looked at each other, neither one wanting to make the decision. Maggie looked desperately to her mother, whose face was lined with fear and anger. Esmeralda hated working with the police officers and now they might end up making a huge mistake.

  All at once, everyone was talking. The officers were arguing with each other about what they should do, Esmeralda was alternating between yelling at the officers and telling Abby that she believed her, and Ned was simply shouting out things about the potion and poison. Even Abby was muttering threats at everyone as the din of the room grew louder and louder.

  “Can I say something?” Maggie asked.

  Everyone stopped and looked at her in surprise. Even Maggie was a little bit surprised to hear herself talk. She wasn’t sure what she actually wanted to say, but as everyone quieted down, she had to say something.

  “I’m still new to magic,” Maggie said. “And I don’t know much at all. But my mother does and while she says she isn’t sure what happened here, she is sure that Abby didn't intend to kill Linda. Something magical took place and my mother and I need to figure out what happened.”

  Maggie stopped. She could feel the energy of the room start to drop as everyone relaxed. Even Abby started to loosen her grip again, though Maggie wasn’t going to try and trick her into letting her go. Doing that would put everyone in danger of a rogue, angry vampire.

  “But we still need to take her in for attempted murder, or something like that,” Officer Chris said as he tried to scratch an itch under his helmet without dropping his gun or his hat. The effect would have been comedic if Maggie’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance.

  Immediately, Abby’s arms started to tighten again, but she stopped short when a clatter was heard behind them. Letting go of Maggie just enough to turn and look behind her, Abby tried to find the source of the noise. Maggie took the opportunity to slide down and out of Abby’s grasp, pushing off from the floor to spring as fast as possible toward her mother, who stepped forward to catch her body as it hurtled through space.

  Abby turned and tried to grab the back of Maggie, but before she could catch hold of anything, a large, dark object hurtled out from behind a stack of cauldrons and pounced on top of Abby, pinning her to the floor. Once Maggie was safely in Esmeralda’s arms, she realized what had happened.

  Sitting on top of the slithering vampire was Jill, proudly smiling and wagging her tail. She was panting from the effort of staying quiet to hunt Abby through the stacks of cauldrons.

  “I love these investigations, guys,” Jill said. “Don’t worry, my fur is too thick for her to bite through. But if someone could toss me some handcuffs, I’d really appreciate it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  After Jill had sprung in to both surprise and assist them along with the police, they had managed to get Abby into handcuffs. Once the vampire had calmed down a bit, they had her tell her story again. She said the same thing as she had the first time. She had been upset with Linda, she went to get the bramblewood elixir after Linda threatened her, and when she had checked the bottle, it smelled vaguely like licorice. Abby said she had no idea why it had smelled like it had poison in it, but she gave it to Linda anyway.

  Abby had been very upset, but they had no choice but to let the police take her. She wasn’t guilty of murder, but she was guilty of negligent homicide at the very least. She knew that the bottle had been poisoned, yet she still let Linda use it in her potion without warning her first.

  The bottle itself had been a puzzle to Esmeralda and Maggie. If it had been sealed shut and Abby hadn’t put the poison in there, what had happened to it? And why had it glowed with recent magic? Esmeralda and Maggie certainly hadn’t done anything to the bottle. The spell to reveal magic showed all other magic besides the spell to reveal it.

  They had cast the spell one more time before leaving Cauldron Things. Besides the heavy glow on the bottle, the entire store had an incredibly faint glow. It was like someone had come along and placed a spell on the entire store, light enough that it hadn’t affected everything.

  On their walk home in the last remnants of the fog, Esmeralda had been worried. She was walking slower than normal and relying
even more on her walking stick. Maggie shuffled along next to her, wishing she knew more about magic so that she could be more useful.

  “It was like the entire store was enchanted,” Esmeralda said. “I feel like I know what happened, but I can’t figure out how it ended up like that.”

  “What happened?” Maggie asked.

  “This is all speculation, of course,” Esmeralda said. She gave Maggie a firm look as though the younger witch was going to write a news story on it or something. “It felt like someone cast a spell on the entire store targeting Linda and using emotions as a weapon. So when it felt Abby’s anger toward Linda, it used that to poison Linda’s potion. That is why we couldn't detect it. The poison wasn’t actual poison, but an emotion combined with magic.”

  Maggie trudged on through the fog, slipping her arm through her mother’s free arm. Magic had always seemed like something in a fairy tale, something she would never have. It had also seemed like something that despite a few slip-ups here or there, it was something that would make a person’s life easier. Maggie didn’t think any of that was true. So far, magic had only made her life more complicated. It had thrust her into a position that she didn’t want to be in.

  Finding out she was a witch felt a lot like how she was trudging through the fog right now. It was scary and lonesome and she had no idea where she was going. Esmeralda was there, but she only provided minimal help. She knew that at some point, she would come out the other side, but until then she just had to keep plodding on.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Maggie said.

  “Magic isn’t supposed to make sense,” Esmeralda said. “I think that’s why I like it so much.”

  The next morning dawned bright and sunny, which startled Maggie. It was so dark during the fog that it seemed like it would never clear up. Maggie had only been through two paranormal fogs so far, but both times when the daylight dawned the morning after, it came as a surprise.

  After Maggie pulled on a wrinkled flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, planning to get to the laundry the next day, she went downstairs to see her mother with a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Usually, Esmeralda had breakfast ready, but not today.

  “Ready?” Esmeralda asked.

  Her hazel eyes twinkled at Maggie. It was like the stress of the fog and it’s accompanying death problem had been lifted, at least temporarily.

  “Ready for what?” Maggie asked as she grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard to pour herself some sugary cereal.

  “Are you ready to go for breakfast at the diner?” Esmeralda asked. “That is our tradition after the fog, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure I’d call it a tradition seeing as we’ve only done it one time,” Maggie said. “But sure, I’d love a nice warm breakfast.”

  Esmeralda laughed and as she did, the little bells sewn to her shawl jingled. It was such a happy mixture of sounds that Maggie had to laugh along with her. As the two witches laughed together, it felt like the stress of the death problem and the mysterious magic melted away. Maggie knew it would come back, but for now, she could focus on something a bit lighter.

  The two witches ended up at the Syrup Pot, tucked into a back corner of the old diner where they could hopefully discuss Linda’s death and the previous fog with a little bit of privacy. Jill had helped them secure the little table, pulling some strings as the head and only waitress in the place.

  Maggie smiled as her best friend bustled around the diner, taking orders and making small talk with all of the customers. Jill had really been the key to getting out of the ordeal the night before and it was a shame that she wouldn’t remember it until the next fog. Maggie wanted to thank her again, but that would’ve been hard to do when Jill didn’t remember tackling a vampire, especially not when she was also a werewolf.

  Once Jill took their order for pancakes and brought them their own carafe of coffee, the witches had some time to debrief while their pancakes cooked. Maggie peeked through the window to the kitchen to watch Dan, the head chef, cook them up. He had been a suspect the last month in a murder and had been found innocent. As he poured the batter and flipped pancakes, he looked stressed. He kept grimacing at the griddle as he cooked, as though it was about to come alive. Something was bothering him. Unfortunately, that would have to wait.

  “We need to figure out where that extra magic came from,” Esmeralda said. “I don’t like it at all. Something is not right in Grimwood Valley.”

  She scowled at her coffee cup before taking a long drink from it. Maggie did the same, wishing she had some sort of an answer for her mother. If Esmeralda was stumped, Maggie certainly was too.

  “I know that we are here to protect Grimwood Valley, but are there other witches in the world?” Maggie asked. It felt like a very obvious question, but she had to ask it. “Could a witch from somewhere else come here to mess with things?”

  “Yes, it’s possible,” Esmeralda said. “There are others like us out there, but they are all in control of their towns also. They deal with the same paranormal fog problem that we do. I’ve never met another witch, but they are out there.”

  “Are there witches who exist without having to protect a town?” Maggie asked.

  Esmeralda sighed and took another long drink of coffee. She seemed to be stalling, which sort of gave Maggie an answer anyway.

  “Yes, there are,” Esmeralda said. “There are witch families who have forfeited their sacred duties. Some decided it was too hard or that they preferred the paranormal town. They let their towns be overrun by the fog, choosing instead to use their magic to keep it paranormal. It also means that they are in charge.”

  “Do you think someone is trying to do that here?” Maggie asked. “Maybe someone is magical and we just don’t know it. They are trying to get rid of us so that they can rule the town.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder if that is true,” Esmeralda said. “I don’t like the timing one bit. Here I am, an old lady losing her powers. We’ve got a rogue, magical being on the loose and I’m having trouble teaching you magic. You have so much power that I’m beginning to think it’s my fault that you can’t harness it. I don't know how to teach you.”

  Maggie’s heart sank and she lowered her coffee cup to the table. Esmeralda had always been a confident woman, never afraid of being called a witch by the children of Grimwood Valley, not caring if people made fun of the ramshackle house they lived in, and dressing and acting however she wanted. People respected her more because she was so self-confident.

  But right now, her mother seemed old and sad, back to being a shell of herself. After waking up and being in such a good mood, the thought of the death problem in Grimwood Valley had sucked the life right out of Esmeralda again.

  “Maybe the team you were thinking of putting together is a good idea then,” Maggie said. “If I can’t defeat them by myself and you are losing your powers, we need as many people on our side as we can get. They won’t be magical, but they can find some way to help. I’m just not sure how to get people to join.”

  “It’ll be easy enough in the paranormal world,” Esmeralda said. “We will simply ask people who have already been a part of our investigations. Ned is the first one that springs to mind. Not only does he have some useful knowledge, but he played a pretty big part in discovering what happened to Linda.”

  Maggie spotted Ned across the diner. He was back to his shy, bookish, normal self. He was neatly dressed in a sweater vest and bow tie. He was clean-shaven and the long white hair he sported as a warlock was now a close cut, neatly styled haircut. The only thing that seemed to be the same was the half-moon shaped glasses that were currently slipping down his nose.

  Ned was reading a book and when Maggie waved at him, he scowled and waved one finger before lifting his book up to shield himself from her gaze. He wouldn’t remember the last three days, so her familiar greeting would seem odd.

  Two plates clinked hard down on the table, startling Maggie out of her thoughts. Usually Jill announced herself b
efore setting their plates down. Her job as the waitress seemed to necessitate a near-constant stream of conversation that kept up with whoever she was helping at the time. It was the perfect job for the chatterbox.

  But instead of the perky blonde serving their pancakes, Dan had walked them over himself. He stood towering over their table, a huge mountain of a man who looked out of place everywhere. Right now, his large meaty hands were folded over his apron as he glanced around nervously.

  “Thank you, Dan,” Esmeralda said.

  Her eyes flicked over to Maggie, who was just as confused as she was. Dan was the cook at the diner for a reason. He was not a people person and his gruff manner tended to scare people off. That was the reason that he hired Jill to be the waitress. He cooked the food and she handled the people.

  Maggie could smell the pancakes that Dan had set down in front of her, but she was too uncomfortable to dig in. Dan stood next to their table, twitching nervously as he shifted his weight back and forth, from one foot to the other.

  “Is everything alright?” Esmeralda asked.

  Dan grabbed a chair from the next table and pulled it up alongside the tiny table. He settled himself down onto the chair, which groaned from his enormous weight. He fidgeted with the salt and pepper shakers, adjusting all of the things on the table before he finally spoke.

  “I have a very odd question, but for some reason, I think the two of you can help me with it,” Dan said. “See, it seems like a dream, but I never woke up from it. It was super foggy and I still came here to work and it was a food place, but it was different. And Jill was here, but she was covered in fur. And then this morning, it was all gone. But the two of you were exactly the same.”

  Maggie tried to decipher his ramblings. From what she could tell, it was like he remembered the fog, which was impossible. That was why Maggie and Esmeralda were there. They were the only ones who remembered and they had to make sure everything flowed smoothly.