Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau) (16 page)

“Is there anything else you remember about her?” I asked.

She paused,
then said, “I heard she was some important person in the witch world. I don’t remember what you call it.”

“The Underworld?”
I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, I guess that was it. Look
, I have to go now.”

When I looked at Nicolas, I knew he had the same thought. “I’m sorry that we bothered you.”

Her expression eased. “That’s okay. Sorry I couldn’t help more.”

“Thanks anyway,” I said.

As we walked back to his car, I said, “We have to find out who Kelley really is.”

We pulled out onto the street
and I looked at the abandoned house as we drove by. I wondered what was in the book that made Kelley want it.

“
Now where do we go from here?” Nicolas asked.

I peered out the window and watched the passing scenery, contemplating what I should say. Where did we go from here?

I tapped my fingers against the seat. “I guess we have to go back to the manor.”

Nicolas made a U
-turn and headed back in the direction of the festival. “We have to go back to the festival and ask the woman more questions. I’m not leaving until that woman tells us,” he said as he steered the wheel.

By the time we made it back to the festival, t
he crowd had thinned. We jumped out of the car and rushed toward the booth. When we neared the area where the woman had been, my stomach sank. The table was gone and so was the woman.

The next morning, I had to do something to help figure out who Giovanni and Kelley were and what they wanted. Unfortunately that something involved another trip down into that creepy basement of the library.

I parked on the street in front of the library and marched inside as soon as they opened. After making my way through the main section, I inched down the dimly lit stairs and sprinted for the door that led to the little private room. If anyone saw me they’d think I was nuts. The faster I got in there, the faster I could get out. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for, but I didn’t know what else to do. I scanned the row for the book on the coven members. Since I’d seen the symbol again on what was supposedly Giovanni’s item, I had to look for more information.

I placed the book on the table and aimlessly flipped through the pages. Nothing looked remotely interesting. It was mostly talk about the coven’s spells and cooking. There was no mention about how bad they were at witchcraft. I never thought I’d meet any witches who were worse at casting spells than me, but I’d finally met my match.

I flipped the old pages and my hand froze when I reached a page at the back of the book. How had I missed this information earlier? Apparently the symbol that the witches used in 1785 was also used by the coven in 1885 and 1985. Was it a coincidence that Kelley knew about the symbol and she came back from the 1980s? What did the coven members know about this? How would I find out if Kelley was being truthful? I’d been fooled by reanimated spirits before, but now it was just getting ridiculous. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me three times and it was time to kick some butt.

Making my way over to the section marked 1985, I pulled the book from the shelf and carried it over to the table. After searching through the book, there was no mention of Giovanni’s
mother. As a matter of fact, the pages had been ripped from the book. I knew that was no coincidence.

I had to find out what the symbol meant and where it came from.
Was it the key to Giovanni’s ability to cast a spell and add it to the book? Had he used that symbol to his advantage and it had allowed him to add spells to the book? But the coven members used this symbol and their spells were dreadful at times, so I wasn’t sure what the symbol would do for him.

Did the coven members know more information about what the symbol stood for and why they’d had it in the
first place? According to the book, each coven had a symbol that held some special meaning. Now that I thought about it, Enchantment Pointe had a symbol. It had been the same for many years. And to be honest, I’d always thought it held no special powers other than being a symbol to distinguish our coven from the others.

With the information in hand, I made it back up those creepy stairs, almost tripping at the top I moved so quickly. I had to get back to the manor. What was I going to say to the coven? Maybe I needed to cast a spell that would make them more likely to be honest with me.

It seemed to take forever to get back to the manor. My stomach was in knots knowing that I had to confront the coven and Kelley. I released a deep breath and hurried up the front steps. I should have probably waited for Nicolas before confronting them, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to wait.

When I raced through the door, I stormed through and made my way to the parlor. The coven members stopped in midair. They were literally floating off the floor.

“Get down from there,” I yelled. “What the hell are you doing now?”

“We were just working on our spells,” Barbara said.

“No more! You’re not going to practice magic here. You all are terrible, worse than I ever imagined. I want to know what you know about the symbol. I found out that it’s used for the years 1785, 1885, and 1985.” I held up the pouch. “You all need to be honest with me. I thought we were friends?”

The women floated to the floor.

“Yes, that is our symbol, but we don’t know anything about it being used for other years or covens. And that’s the truth,” Rebecca said with a glare.

The women nodded and stared at me with frowns on their faces. Apparently they were upset with me, but I didn’t care at the moment. I’d been tricked one too many times.

“You say you don’t have any information about Giovanni? I don’t believe you,” I said.

Rebecca looked shocked that I would say such a thing. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and waited for them to tell me the truth. One by one they walked out of the room and headed upstairs. I supposed they were going to their rooms like sulking eight
-year-olds. They could pout if they wanted, but I didn’t believe that it was a coincidence that the symbol had been mentioned in the book about their coven.

Since I couldn’t get hold of Nicolas or Liam, I decided to go to Bewitching Potions and talk to my mother about what was happening. I hopped in the car again and made my
way downtown.

As I was walking down the sidewalk, I bumped into Constance Newton. She owned the bakery next door to my mother’s shop. She’d always been nice despite the fact that I’d accidentally
almost burned down her store a couple years ago. This was the bakery where I’d taken the witches. Luckily Constance hadn’t been working that day and didn’t know that I’d been outside her shop again.

“Hello,
Hallie. It’s nice to see you again.” She gave me that familiar pitying look that I’d grown accustomed to from Enchantment Pointe residents.

“Hi, Ms. Newton.
How’s the baking?” I asked.

She smiled. “Great.”

I knew she didn’t want me to stop in her store. I normally walked the long way to my mother’s shop just to avoid walking past her bakery.

“I saw you with a young woman yesterday.
She looked just like somebody I knew a long time ago. What’s her name?” she asked.

“Her name is
Kelley Killebrew,” I said.

She frowned. “That’s right. I remember her now. She lived in Fern Creek.”

“What do you remember about her?” I asked.

She looked at my face and said, “She was the leader of the Underworld.”

My stomach dropped and for a moment I was speechless. This was definitely a twist that I hadn’t expected. So that was what the woman had meant when she said Kelley was a higher-up in the Underworld.

“She died in a car accident,”
Constance added before I had a chance to respond.

So that much had been true. No wonder her magic had been so good.

Constance continued, “But she’d been stripped of her leadership status right before she died. If I remember correctly, your great-aunt had something to do with her status being revoked.”

Slowly this was all started to make sense, but I still had to fit together all the pieces.

“Do you have any more information about her?” I asked.

“She has an aunt who still lives in Fern Creek. Maybe she could be of more help to you. I believe she lives on Emerald Street,” she said.

After jotting down the address, I said, “Thank you for the information. I have to go.” I rushed away and pulled out my cell phone.

I didn’t want to make this trip alone.

Annabelle had met me at Bewitching Potions. My mother popped up from behind the counter when we walked in the door. “Oh, am I glad to see you all. I need some help.” She looked at Annabelle.

My mother had given up on me doing the spells correctly and had turned her attention to Annabelle. I would be jealous, but I knew I couldn’t do it, so why not let Annabelle have the pleasure of doing these crazy spells with my mother?

Annabelle shook her head. “Tell me what I need to do.”

“You know what to do,” my mother said.

Without saying a word, Annabelle hurried around the room grabbing bottle
s and potions from the shelves. She had all the stuff she needed for a spell. I watched as she moved easily around the room.

She placed the stuff on the counter then blew the hair out of her eyes. “Okay, how’s that? Did I get everything?”

My mother smiled. “I can’t believe what a natural knack you have for this.”

She looked at me and I shrugged. “She’s a natural.”

Annabelle smiled. I still couldn’t believe that she was actually agreeing to this. She placed all the ingredients in the cauldron and began stirring the concoction.

“Do you want to help recite the words?” my mother asked.

I pointed at my chest. “Who, me?” I shook my head. “No way. This is all on you all. If it goes wrong, I don’t want to be held responsible.”

My mother shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

I watched as they continued. The pot bubbled at just the right moments.

“I think it’s working,” Annabelle said with wide eyes and giddiness.

I laughed. “Yeah.”

I hated to say this, but I didn’t want to be the one to test out this potion that she had just made. My mother could try it. The bubbles died down and my mother
decanted some of the potion into a brown bottle. She slapped a label on the front. “Here you go, Hallie, test it out and see how it works.”

I shook my head.
“No way.”

Annabelle placed her hands on her hips. “You don’t trust my potion
-making powers?”

I looked at her. “Would you trust mine?”

She studied my face for a moment, then chuckled. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Thank you,” I said.

My mother grabbed the bottle. “Fine, I’ll try it. I’m used to trying the stuff Hallie does, how much worse could it be?”

***

I hadn’t wanted to wait around to see if the spell actually worked. Besides, with beauty potions, sometimes it was days or weeks before it took effect. A few minutes after leaving my mother’s shop, Annabelle and I hurried along the sidewalk. “This not being able to call you thing is getting out of control. I hate it.”

“Are you ready for a short road trip?” I asked.

“Something tells me we’re not going to the beach.” Her tone was teasing, but I knew she was worried all the same.

I snorted. “I wish
. No, we’re not going to the beach. We need to talk with a woman in Fern Creek.”

“This has something to do with the paranormal, huh?” she asked.

“Doesn’t it always?” I asked as I motioned for her to follow me back to my car.

We pointed the car south and headed out on a mission. Fern Creek was the next town over from Enchantment Pointe. There really was nothing there, so I hadn’t been many times. I
’d had a friend who was dating a guy from there. They’d eventually got married and moved away. Now I never had a reason to go there. That was until today.

I was anxious
about what I would discover. Maybe Ms. Newton had no idea what she was talking about. That would be a little embarrassing to say the least if I approached Kelley’s aunt and she had no clue what I meant. I was tired of being lied to by these spirits though and I had to track down any detail I discovered. Couldn’t one of the spirits be honest for a change? I’d thought I could trust Kelley.

We drove around town for twenty minutes looking for the street, but it was like it didn’t exist. Finally, I pulled up in front of the diner. “We should go in and ask if anyone knows this woman. People in small
-town diners always know where to find people.”

“You’ve been watching too many movies,” she said.

“Actually, we haven’t watched nearly enough lately. I miss our movie nights,” I said as we neared the diner.

“
Ever since you moved into the manor,” she said with a sigh.

When we stepped inside the place it went silent. Forks and coffee mugs were frozen in midair. Apparently they didn’t see strangers often.
The smell of French fries and burnt meat lingered in the air. We sat at the counter and waited for the waitress to finally come over.

She wiped a glitter of sweat from her forehead with a towel and then blew her red bangs out of her eyes.
“What can I get you for ladies?”

She handed us the menu and I said, “Oh, we don’t need a menu. We’re actually looking for someone.”

“You didn’t come here to eat anything?” she asked with a frown.

“Well, actually…” I said.

“We would love to order something,” Annabelle said, grabbing the menu and winking at me.

***

If it hadn’t been for Annabelle complimenting the waitress on her great hair, I doubt we would have gotten the right address. Annabelle always had a way with people.

With the correct address in hand, we made our way according to the directions.

“It will be a miracle if this actually takes us there,” I said.

We made a couple right turns and then a left. Annabelle counted down until we reached the correctly numbered mailbox. It was a gravel driveway that was overgrown with brush.

“I don’t like the looks of this place,” Annabelle gripped the side of the seat as if holding on for life.

I knew as soon as I saw how creepy it looked that Annabelle would want to end this trip. We pulled down the long driveway and the old farmhouse came in to view.

There were more overgrown trees surrounding the house. The house looked like it had needed painting about ten years ago. The porch squeaked under our feet.

“I hope this thing doesn’t collapse with us standing on it,” Annabelle said, looking down at the rickety floorboard
s.

I knocked on the door and immediately heard shuffling from the other side. Annabelle looked at me with a horrified expression.

The door inched open. “What do you want?” the old woman asked, glaring at us with her deep green eyes. Her gray hair had come undone from its bun and her beige floral dress was incorrectly buttoned down the front. The wrinkles on her face deepened with her frown.

“Um, we’re sorry for bothering you. We’re looking for someone by the name of Kelley
Killebrew.”

A deathly pallor fell across her face
. There was something odd about this woman. Magical energy surrounded her. It wasn’t coming from me, and I knew it wasn’t coming from Annabelle, so it had to be her or someone else was in the house. I looked over her shoulder into the dimly lit space. With sparse furnishings and untidiness, it almost looked as if the house was abandoned.

“Are you a witch?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “What business is that of yours?”

“I’m the leader of the Underworld,” I said.

As soon as I mentioned that I was the leader, she opened the door wide. “I’m sorry, my hearing isn’t what it used to be. Did you ask if I was a witch?” She held her hand up to her ear.

I nodded. “Yes, that’s what I asked.”

“Why yes, dear, I am. What can I do for you?” Her voice now dripped with honey and her demeanor had changed completely.

“My name is
Hallie LaVeau and this is Annabelle Preston.” I looked at her expectantly and she finally followed my lead.

“I’m Patricia
Killebrew. Would you like to come inside?”

“This is creepy,” Annabelle whispered.

I expected Annabelle to retreat to the car at any moment. We stepped inside the house.

“Won’t you please have a seat?” She motioned around the room. The sofa and chairs were covered with stacks of newspapers. “Oh, let me move that for you,” she said as she scooped up the papers.

Annabelle and I eased down on the edge of the sofa cushions. Annabelle’s eyes were wide as she looked around the room.

I leaned forward and fixed my gaze on the woman. “Like I said, we hate to bother you, but do you know Kelley Killebrew?”

Patricia
lowered her head, then looked up at us. “She was my niece.”

“
Was she the leader of the Underworld?” I asked.

She hesitated, but finally nodded.
“Yes, she was until…”

“Until she passed away?”
I asked.

Patricia
nodded, but didn’t speak. She stood up from the chair and shuffled over to a cabinet across the room.

“Would
she have any reason to come back in spirit?” I asked.

Patricia
looked at me with a scowl. “No,” she said sharply. “What’s done is done.”

“Was she stripped of her leadership status before she died?” I pressed.

“Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean I have to tell you anything,” she said.

I nodded. “No, you don’t have to, but it would be a great help if you did.”

Patricia paused, then said. “She was misunderstood, that’s all. She wanted some witches removed, but they were bad witches.”

“Who were the witches?” I asked.

“I don’t have to tell you anything else,” she said.

Patricia
pulled out a silver picture frame and moved back over to us. She held out the frame and we looked down at the picture.

Annabelle released a little gasp and I squeezed her hand. It was exactly what I had expected. Constance had been telling the truth. The woman in the picture had the same brown eyes and dark shiny hair
—the same bright smile. It was Kelley and apparently she had been the leader of the Underworld.