Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau) (15 page)

A couple days had passed and there had been no sign of Giovanni or Kelley. My mother had wanted to hold a witches’ festival for the longest time.
Normally no one could ever get the licenses needed from the Enchantment Pointe Coven, but after I’d found Misty with Giovanni, she owed me.

My mother had wasted little time getting this festival together. I thought she would at least wait a month or two in order to get everything organized. But she just used her magic to whip it all up in two days. There would be crafts, food, games, and presentations on new spells and potions. Many vendors had set up booths with everything from amulets to magic-laced cupcakes.

Since fall was in full swing it was the perfect time for a festival. Winter would be here soon and my mother would be busy filling orders for the holidays. Enchantment Pointe and the shops in the historic section of town were a big holiday shopping destination for many towns away. My mother made special scents for the holidays that smelled of baked goods. But today was all about the witch festival and I was going to enjoy my time with Nicolas. There was nothing I could do about Giovanni at the moment, so I might as well try to enjoy myself.

Nicolas and I were checking out the different attractions, walking by the tables set up around town. I wanted to stop off for one of the new red velvet funnel cakes. Annabelle and Jon were walking around somewhere and I needed to meet up with them soon.

Nicolas picked up a silver bracelet and held it around my wrist. “This would look great on you.”

I looked down at the silver bracelet with red stones. “It’s beautiful.”

Nicolas motioned for the woman behind the table. He handed her the cash, then fastened the bracelet around my wrist. He leaned down and kissed me.

“Thank you. It’s lovely.”

We stepped away from the table and continued to the sidewalk. I was enjoying the leisurely pace. It was hard to push the thoughts to the back of my mind, but I was trying my best not to think about all that was happening.

When I looked out in front of me over the crowd, I spotted Kelley up ahead. She was speaking with a woman at a table. I really wanted to know what she was saying. “Hey. There’s Kelley. I want to confront her.”

Nicolas frowned. “You’re supposed to enjoy yourself today and not be stressed.”

I looked at him for a second. “I won’t let her stress me, I promise.”

He nodded. “Yeah, right.”

I grabbed his hand and we headed out across the crowd at a brisk pace. We weaved
through the crowd and around the funnel cake stand. I tried to keep my eye on Kelley, but it was hard with all the people walking in front of us.

When I finally got around a group of witches wearing costumes with big black hats—for a moment I thought it was the coven—I looked at the table w
here I’d spotted Kelley. “She’s gone,” I said.

Nicolas and I looked around the crowd, but I didn’t spot her anywhere. She could have easily blended in with the crowd and I’d never notice her again. Nevertheless, I wanted to talk with the woman she’d been talking to. Maybe she could tell me where Kelley had gone.

We hurried over to the table. A couple of people were speaking with the woman about some of her items. I made eye contact and I think she sensed right away that I was in a hurry. I pretended to look at some of her items as I moved anxiously beside the table. Finally the people walked away and the woman approached.

“May I help you?”
Bright red lipstick covered her full lips and she offered a half-hearted smile. .

I nodded. “There was a woman talking with you just a few minutes ago. Do you know where she went?”

She shook her head. Her dark hair swung from side to side with the motion.

“You don’t even know who I’m talking about yet. How can you shake your head that you don’t know?”

She stared at me for a moment, then said in a curt tone, “Who is this woman?”

Why such hostility?
“She’s about twenty-five with pretty long dark hair. She was wearing a white blouse and jeans. She was just standing here a couple minutes ago,” I said.

The woman frowned as if she didn’t know what I was talking about.

“Come on, Hallie. Let’s get out of here,” Nicolas said, grabbing my arm.

A strange look crossed the woman’s face. “Are you Halloween
LaVeau?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, I’m
Hallie LaVeau.”

“You’re the new leader of the Underworld?”

I nodded. “Yes, and who are you?”

“
I’m Eva David. I’m from the next town over.” She kept busy moving items around her table, mostly avoiding my stare.

I asked again, “Do you know where the woman went?”

“Well, there was a woman here. I didn’t want to share this information with a stranger, you know. You can never be too careful,” she said with a faint smile.

I smiled briefly. “I understand. What was she looking at?”

The woman looked down and grabbed a book. “She purchased a copy of this spellbook.”

“Do you know this woman?” I asked.

She shook her head no, but I couldn’t read her expression to know if she was telling the truth.

I took the book from her outstretched hand. The book had a black cover with gold letters on the front. I flipped it open. At first glance the spell book looked innocent enough, but at the back there were spells that could be used for black magic. Of course there was a disclaimer not to perform the spells, but what were they doing in the book if they didn’t want anyone to perform them?

The woman must have noticed which spells I was looking at because she said, “Those spells are for entertainment only.”

Yeah
, right. I handed the book back to her. “Thank you for the help,” I said.

She nodded with a little smile
. “Sorry I couldn’t help more. Please come back any time.”

I started to turn around, but stopped. “How much is the book?” I asked.

“It’s fifty dollars,” she said.

“I’ll take one,” I said, grabbing my purse.

She waved her hands through the air. “Oh no, it’s no charge for you. Think of it as a gift from me.”

I shook my head. “That is very nice of you, but I’d rather just pay for it.”

She frowned. “Really, I’d like for you to have it.”

I sighed. “Well, okay, that is very nice of you. Thank you.”

“Would you like me to put it in a bag for you?” she asked.

I waved my hand. “No, thank you. I’ll just carry it like this.”

She reached out and touched my arm. “I think it would be better if you put it in a bag.”

I studied her face. Apparently she was completely serious about this. I nodded. “Okay, if you say so.”

She reached down and grabbed a brown gift bag and placed the book inside with some white tissue paper. She handed the book back to me. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you again,” I said, holding the bag up.

“That was an odd exchange,” Nicolas said as we walked away.

“Yeah, she didn’t want me to carry the book without the bag, I wonder why.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s another strange thing to add to the list of many strange things going on lately.”

Nicolas and I walked away from the table. When I looked back, the woman was staring at me. She was probably lying for Kelley, but I had no way to pro
ve it, right? I could try a spell to get her to tell the truth, but if I was going to all that trouble, then I should just try a spell that would lead me to Kelley. Which, now that I thought about it, was exactly what I was going to do. Why did it take me forever to think of these things? I’d save myself a whole lot of trouble if I could just get my act together.

But if I was going to do this, I needed a place away from all the witches to
cast the spell. If I tried it with all of them around, not only would they sense my magic, but if it went like most of my spells, it would have negative effects on all other witches for miles around.

“I need to
cast a spell to find Kelley,” I said, as we walked along the sidewalk.

“Here?” Nicolas looked around. Even he knew what that would cause.

I shook my head. “No, we need to go somewhere quiet.”

He concentrated for a moment,
then said, “How about the park? Everyone is probably here at the festival and it should be almost empty.”

“Sounds good.
Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand.

“What about the book?” Nicolas asked when we reached the park.

A squirrel skipped across the green lawn and stopped by a nearby tree to nibble on his found treasure. A stone fountain bubbled in middle of the space. It had a paved pathway around it with benches and picnic tables just beyond the area.

“What about it?” I asked,
putting the bag down on the picnic table.

“Is there a spell that you can cast from the book?”

I looked at him. “I hadn’t thought about that, but maybe there is a good spell.”

Since the book contained black magic, I had to be careful. One wrong move and it could be catastrophic.  

I pulled the book from the bag and checked the index. “There’s a spell to find something that you’ve lost.”

“Well, you’ve lost Kelley, so I think that would work,” he said.

I nodded. “Yeah, let’s give it a try.”

I flipped to the page listed in the table of contents. Luckily, it was a pretty straightforward spell and would only require words and our energy.

“Let’s hold hands,” I said.

Nicolas reached for my hands. His touch was warm and comforting. I looked into his eyes and began reciting the spell’s words.

There was something different about this spell and I didn’t know quite what to expect. There was no wind or feel of magic. I didn’t even know if it was actually working. There were no flashes of light to let me know there was magic in action. Nicolas’ grasp on my hands was strong and if I felt anything at all it was energy coming from him. I added extra words to the spell. It was the way that I performed spells—right or wrong, it was my way and I couldn’t stop it.

Just when I thought it wasn’t working, a light began to flash. It blinked off and on as if a television was trying to come into focus.

“Are you seeing that too?” Nicolas whispered.

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s strange.”

We continued to recite the words and the lights continued to flash. When the light grew so blindingly intense, it faded and that was when we saw her. A vision of Kelley appeared before us, like watching a movie. It showed her in a kitchen.

I looked at Nicolas and he shrugged. “Is that where she is?” I asked.

“It looked that way, yes,” Nicolas said.

Kelley was in the kitchen with a small child and they were baking cookies. She didn’t seem like the domestic type.

“It doesn’t make sense. We just saw her here at the festival,” I said.

The front of the house came into view with the number on the mailbox,
then the street sign gave us a view of the street name. Nicolas and I exchanged a look.

“Are you ready to go there?” he asked.

“It’s now or never,” I said.

I picked up the book and we headed out of the park toward his car. Once in the car, I punched in the address on the GPS and we took off. Luckily, the street wasn’t far away so we
were there within a few minutes. There was a problem with the address though—the house was abandoned.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“How about checking with the neighbor?” He pointed at the house next door.

“It’s worth a shot,” I said.

Nicolas and I walked up to the door, but I was sure that we were way off track. He rang the doorbell and we waited a few seconds until the door opened. A woman who I didn’t recognize stood in front of us. It looked like the spell had been off track after all. I looked over at the address and looked back at the woman. Nicolas stood beside me.

The woman looked at us with a blank stare.
She quirked an eyebrow and finally asked, “May I help you?”

By the scowl on her face, I knew she was angry that we were there. Had the spell le
d me here on purpose? That wouldn’t surprise me. Kelley was all about playing games.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you know about the house over there?” I asked. Nicolas stared at her with his arms crossed in front of his chest waiting for her to answer.

She scowled. “No one lives there if that’s what you’re asking.”

I looked her up and down. “I kind of figured that. Do you know who used to live there?”

She shrugged. I knew she was completely bored with this conversation. “A witch used to live there a long time ago.”

“Do you know her name?” Nicolas asked.

She waved her hand. “Like I said, it’s been a long time ago. I might have heard her name was Kelley.”

The spell had been somewhat accurate, just off in the time period.