The Burning Bush (26 page)

“I’m at a dead end.” I slung my feet onto my desk, let my head fall back, and closed my eyes. “I have to talk to Jacobi. Maybe Onyx’s alleged pimp, Kilo, too.”

“Did Vee find anything with the spell?” Cassie asked.

“I don’t know.” I pulled my phone out and dialed the Witch’s number.

Not trusting Cassie, Angel, and me as babysitters, Vee had taken all of her little Witchlings down to the habitat police station. If I hadn’t needed to run by MeShack’s fraternity house, I would have swung by to witness the dismay on all of those habbies’ faces as they dealt with Vee’s kids.

“You owe me an extra twenty bucks,” Vee said without saying hi. “The habbies were so grimy and oily-smelling I had to take a shower as soon as I got home, and I made all my kids sit in their baths for at least twenty minutes.”

“Fine, I’ll give you twenty bucks.”

“The habbies reek of three-day-old fried chicken.”

I sighed. “Okay, Vee. Forty bucks. Did you find anything out that could be helpful to the Burning Bush case?”

“The spell on the bush is not a fire spell. It’s a carrier spell. Any Elemental Witch can cast it.”

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo! Any Witch is a suspect. That’s just great.

“Even Water Witches?” I crossed my fingers.

“Hmm.” Vee paused for a minute. “It might be difficult for a Water Witch, but Air, Fire, and Earth, no problem.”

“This isn’t fair. I don’t get how the other Witches can do stuff with fire.”

“A carrier spell is just the Witch using his or her element to stick to an object. Once an element gets hold of an object, the Witch can do whatever he wants with it. They could move the objects around. They could stick other things on the objects.”

“Like when you threaten your children with plants?”

“Exactly. I do use a type of carrier spell for raising the plants and grabbing my kids with the leaves—although it’s not threatening. It’s discipline,” Vee insisted. “I basically attach air to the plants, and that’s how I’m able to move them around. An Earth Witch would just control the plant.”

“So how would a Fire Witch cast a spell to create the burning bush?”

“The Witch would attach their fire to the bush and then have the bush hold the girl in place like magical glue.”

Something banged and then crashed on her end of the line.

“Fox Jr.! I am on the phone!” Vee yelled and then cleared her throat. “Take your sister out of the toilet right now! Patricia, get her out!”

I waited for a few seconds.

“For an Earth Witch, she would just use the bush to attach the fire to the girl and keep them in place,” Vee repeated, as if she had never stopped talking. “What’s interesting is that the sicko didn’t use an actual bush.”

“What?” I slapped my forehead.
Of course he didn’t.

“The bush is an illusion. This Witch used a sort of preservation spell and made it look like a bush.”

“Why would someone use a preservation spell?” I asked.

“Obviously, anything that touches the spell is preserved.”

“So this guy didn’t want the bodies to rot or decay.”

“Even crazier is why the Witch used the illusion of a bush in the first place,” Vee said. “The preservation spell could be made to look like anything—a chair, a box, a table, even a person. Yet the Witch chose a bush.”

“So the fact that it’s a bush could be important?”

“Or not.”

Motherpounder!
I chewed the side of my cheek, considering all of this information. “So let’s say I know who the killer might be. How could I connect Jacobi to these spells?”

“Lucky for you, the preservation spell takes a lot of time and energy to create. It’s not difficult, but you do need an altar area to grind the garnet and bloodstone. You can’t just buy the powder—No! I said no, Patricia, and that’s final!” she yelled.

I kept the phone away from my ear until she stopped screaming at her Witchlings.

“Kids still out of school in Shango?” I asked.

“Yes,” Vee hissed. “And if they are still out of school next week, you’ll have a new case to investigate called the Witchling Murders.”

I laughed.

“So if this Jacobi did the spell,” Vee said, “then he has an altar table or workroom somewhere. The preservation spell requires silence as you prepare it, lots of meditation with the gods. You’d need some specific ingredients too. Do you have something to write this down? I’m only going to say this once.”

“Hold on.” I grabbed a sheet of paper. “Okay, shoot. I already got the garnet and bloodstone you mentioned.”

Cassie, who had been listening to the whole conversation, took out her recorder, and repeated the names of the stones. She could easily hear Vee on the other line with her Shifter ears.

“The preservation spell uses cedar, cinnamon, rosemary, marjoram, and bags of eucalyptus leaves. The leaves make the bush illusion. Obviously, the Witch’s blood was used. A lot of it.” Vee whistled. “I’m talking this person drained himself for several weeks. He would need buckets of his own blood.”

“What if he used someone else’s blood?” I interrupted.

“Can’t happen. Only the spell-caster’s blood can be used. The only alternative is he paid someone else—”

“This isn’t fair. Then there can be two people,” I whined.

“Could be, but I doubt it,” Vee added. “There are Witches for hire but none that would provide their own blood for spells involving murder because any basic Witch could connect the spell to the suspect’s blood.”

“So if I brought you Jacobi’s or anybody else’s blood, you could test the blood to determine if they cast the spell or not?” I asked.

Vee cursed on the other line.

“Come on, Vee. I’ll make sure you’re compensated,” I said. “And I’ll keep guards around your place.”

“I’ll do it this time, but let’s not make this a habit. I can’t get involved in your messes all the time,” Vee said. “And there’s more stuff for the preservation spell, but those ingredients are the ones that would be lying around the area.”

“But wouldn’t that stuff be at most Witch’s work areas?” I complained.

“Yes, smartass, but if you bring the items to me, there should be essence residue on them. Like the blood, I can match the Witch’s essence with the spelled bush.”

I perked up. “You would do that for me?”

“Yes . . . for more tutoring, the guards, and to get this bastard locked up.”

“Thanks, Vee.”

“Thanks for letting me see a young dead girl tied to a fire bush. I had nothing but nightmares last night.”

“Sorry.” I hung up feeling a little hopeful. I had a small lead, more than what I’d had before. “Did you all see an altar table in Jacobi’s class?”

Cassie shook her head.

“No, and I didn’t smell any of those ingredients that Vee said.” MeShack returned to jotting stuff down.

“Maybe the altar is at his house.” I wrote that down in the notebook. Wallace had Jacobi’s address in the folder. Jacobi still lived at home with his dad. I would have to sneak in when both of them were out. I checked the time. It was almost nine at night. Most people were home at this time. Maybe I’d question Kilo, Onyx’s alleged pimp, instead and see if this Kilo could tell me anything about Onyx.

“Vee really gave us some stuff to work with,” I admitted.

“Awesome. Now we’re getting somewhere,” Cassie said into her microphone.

MeShack closed his notebook. “The Mystery Cage Team may crack this case yet.”

“Shut up,” I mumbled, as Zulu knocked on my door and walked in with a solid purple Pixie sitting on his shoulders. Her violet wings moved a little as she looked around the room and clung to his shirt collar. I gazed at the plum-colored Pixie on his shoulder as she hid her face. “She’s beautiful.”

Zulu wore a dark, blue suit with a white shirt. The material stretched over his biceps. He’d pulled his blond dreadlocks into a ponytail. He had been meeting with the Shango school board all day to discuss how MFE could help get the kids back in school next week.

“Where did you get her?” I asked Zulu as I gazed at the Pixie.

“From the pet shop on Thunder Alley road. She’s all yours.” Zulu held his hand out to the Pixie. Like a royal princess, she slowly stepped onto his palm. Zulu settled her down on my shoulder. The whole time her hands shook with fear. This must have been the first time she’d left the pet store.

“I’m sorry about your Pixies.” Zulu kissed me.

“It wasn’t your fault.” I glanced at the Pixie, wanting to pet her velvety wings, but knowing she was too nervous right now for anything more than sitting on my shoulder.

“You’re awesome, Zulu,” I said in a low voice.

“I helped pick her out,” Cassie declared.

“You’re also awesome, Cassie.”

“She was two thousand dollars,” Cassie boasted. “Has papers and everything.”

“That’s enough, Cass,” Zulu insisted.

MeShack snorted. “You still dragged her into your Were-bullshit.”

“Stop it,” I muttered.

“No. The cat has a point.” Zulu sat on the edge of my desk. “I thought about our conversation this morning, MeShack.”

“Conversation?” I perked up. “You mean the both of you talked, with words and not fists and blood?”

“Well, we disagreed about the bombing, but I’ve been thinking about last night at Liquid. Dante’s killing that Vamp-owned Mixie was a clear threat.” Zulu focused his eyes on me and then Cassie. “I’m not going to risk his going after the people I love.”

“Meaning?” MeShack crossed his arms.

“I sent a message to Dante. I’m going to go ahead and rebuild the factory.” Zulu brushed his hand over my fingers. “Dante won’t get a lump sum, but I have Nona delivering a small amount to show him good faith. I hired two construction teams. They’ll be meeting with Dante as soon as he replies to my message.”

I stared at him, unsure of what to say. It was all so sudden, so unexpected.

“I’m impressed.” MeShack uncrossed his arms and faced me. “Do you think that will end this war between the Vamps and us?”

“I don’t know.” I chewed the side of my cheek. “Maybe it will pacify him.”

Hopefully Dante wouldn’t see Zulu’s gesture as a weakness and try to bully him for more money later.

“Have you told the Rebels what you did?” I asked.

His face darkened. “Nona knows. She’s delivering the message now.”

“And Mother Earth?” I asked.

Mother Earth was an unofficial leader of the Rebels, a sort of coleader to Nona. I didn’t know what their true relationship was or what Mother Earth shifted into, but Nona consulted with Mother Earth often when it came to Rebel business. Nona claimed she was loyal to Zulu and usually followed all of his instructions, but any time Mother Earth stepped in, Nona would immediately jump to Mother Earth’s side.

“I haven’t talked to Mother Earth yet, but she’ll have to yield to my wishes, or MFE will have to end its alliance with the Rebels,” Zulu declared. “MFE is done with bombs.”

“I agree.” I tapped my fingers on the desk and glanced at everybody. “I think Zulu’s actions may be the best solution we have so far.”

“I don’t see any other way right now,” Zulu said. “We could try to kill the bastard, but finding a rich Vamp’s day home is as easy as finding an exit out of the habitat.”

“It’s nearly impossible.” I nodded. “We know the location of his office, but it has high-tech security. We may be able to catch him by surprise and kill some of the people around him, but there is no way we’ll get Dante that way. He’s just too quick.”

“Regardless, if we attack him again, he’ll try to kill you or Cassie,” Zulu said. “And I won’t risk that.”

“Good.” MeShack nodded his head.

“Well, I like your idea, even though I can protect myself.” Cassie tiptoed over and waved her pinky at my new Pixie. “What will you name her?”

A name immediately popped into my head. I considered the corniness for a minute, shrugged my shoulders, and blurted it out. “Her name is Hope.”

Later that night, Angel and I jumped off the tram in front of Club X. I accidentally splashed water onto Angel’s suede boots.