The chill that went down my spine at the sound of Nick’s voice had nothing to do with the frigid temperatures. What was he doing here? More importantly, how did he know I was here?
Had the spell on the glasses worn off, like Katrina said it might? I didn’t think I’d been wearing them that long. But it was difficult to tell myself that he was talking to anyone else. Could he be on the phone?
Maybe if I didn’t respond…
“It’s nice to see you again, Aly. Well, ‘see’ isn’t accurate, I suppose. Nice disguise.”
My eyes darted around, trying to find any way out. When I’d gone in the house, it had still been pretty early. Now that darkness had descended, holiday lights made the street almost as bright as day, and the locals had come out in full force to appreciate the spectacle.
As if reading my thoughts, Nick said, “It’s not worth trying to run. There are too many people cramming into the sidewalks. You’ll knock someone over, probably lose those fancy glasses, and then there will be so many questions to answer. The OME wouldn’t like that all. Might even lock you up for exposing the community to magic unnecessarily. I hear they’re nearby.”
The gig was up. It wasn’t worth pretending, so I turned to face him. He wore a full Santa suit, complete with beard and wire-rimmed glasses. But his expression did not fill me with holiday cheer.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“I saw you through the window before you put the glasses on. The door opened and no one was there. After that, I just had to keep a keen eye on the snow. Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it really is. Makes everything feel like Christmas,” I said. “So I’ll be seeing you…”
“Oh, I don’t think you’re leaving just yet. It’s time you and I had a little chat.” He pulled a small tin out from the pocket of his giant red coat and held it out to me. “Here. Have a cookie.”
What was with this dude and cookies?
“No, thanks. Actually, I was just on my way home.”
He held my gaze firmly. “I said, have a cookie.”
“No, thank you.”
Suddenly, it hit me. Nick was trying to hypnotize me, the same way he did Josh. There was something in the cookies to make people more susceptible. But the way he looked at me, he definitely thought his powers were working. Was I immune because I had my own magic?
Part of me wanted to play along, but playing along would mean eating a cookie so—nope. It wasn’t worth testing my immunity hypothesis at the moment.
“Fine. I wanted to do this the easy way, but if you’re determined to make things difficult, so be it.” He nudged his coat aside. The unmistakable butt of a gun stuck out of his thick black belt. This was not the Santa Claus parents told their kids about.
I couldn’t breathe.
Sodium. Plutonium. Barium. Helium.
That wasn’t reciting the periodic table, that was random elements.
Taking a deep breath, I managed to squeak out, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Not here.” He shook his head impatiently. “You think I want everyone to see me talking to myself? No, let’s go someplace we can be alone. Josh’s house should work just fine. You seem to like poking around in there.”
My instincts screamed at me to stay put. Never leave the scene with a kidnapper. If I walked away with him, I was dead.
Noting my hesitation, Nick said, “And if you don’t come with me, I will shoot the people walking up and down the street, wipe your memory, and stick the gun in your hand. The Christmas Lights Massacre. No one wants that. Your family will be devastated.”
I couldn’t let Nick murder innocent people. I needed to call Lilia back and show her I’d been right about this guy. She was supposed to get the Council to go talk to him—what brought him over here? How had they finished their conversation so quickly, anyway?
Did he see them coming and run?
My mind moved in a thousand directions at once. Then Nick said, “You coming or do I start shooting?”
He had me. “Fine. Lead the way.”
“Oh, no. Ladies first. I insist.”
Inside the living room, I removed the glasses. If Nick thought I was slipping them into my pocket, I could get to the magic coin.
“Stop.” Nick’s voice was firm. “I’ll take those. You never know when a bit of invisibility might come in handy.”
With shaking hands, I passed them over. Katrina had said the spell wore off after a while, and they weren’t worth my life. She could make me another pair.
It took every ounce of effort I could muster to act normal. “So, Nick, what are you doing here?”
“I was playing Santa Claus, spreading Christmas cheer and generally making the world a better place. People love a good light display.”
Stall, Aly. Stall.
“You’re right. All the decorations on the street out there are stunning. I can’t imagine how much time and effort it must have taken to get them all set up. What’s your electric bill like?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re not here to talk about the cost of utilities.”
“Well, no. I came to view the lights and congratulate you for doing such an amazing job with the lights.”
Why did I keep saying lights? The word was stuck in my brain on repeat. Lights. Lights. I couldn’t stop myself.
“Yeah, right. You came to sic the magic police on me. I saw them.”
“You know Lilia?” It probably wasn’t in my best interests to mention that she didn’t seem to know him, but I was curious.
“Of course I do. You don’t live your whole life as a witch without knowing who the people in charge are.” Before I could question that further, he caught my gaze and held it. “Tell me the truth, Aly. Just between us magical folk.”
I blinked at him several times. “What are you doing?”
“Just having a conversation with a meddlesome girl. As soon as you showed up at Josh’s house yesterday, I knew something was wrong. It was too convenient that a total stranger happened to be here in time to find his body. Everyone knows everyone around here, and you stick out.”
“Some people have terrible luck.” I wanted to glance at the door but didn’t dare take my eyes off the gun. Nick was about three feet away. Much too close to hope that he’d miss if he fired. I could throw myself behind the sofa to gain a few seconds? There had to be another way.
Where was the OME when I needed them? Or the actual police? They were all too happy to jump in and throw shade when I was trying to help, but now a murderer had his gun pointed at me and apparently I was on my own.
See if I helped them again. You know, if I lived through this.
“There was no reason in the world for a stranger to be poking around down here.”
“I’m a student,” I said desperately. “Josh was a professor.”
“He was but not yours,” Nick said. “I found you online. Interesting what results come up when you know where to look. Psychic visions?”
Raising my hands slowly, I tried to keep my voice even. “I think there’s some kind of mistake here. My brother lives nearby. I’m visiting for the holidays, and I’m a fan of Christmas lights. Yes, I found Josh’s body by a complete coincidence. I came back to ask Yolanda how she felt after fainting, and I stopped to appreciate the lights. That’s it.”
“That would have been it, if you hadn’t been poking around. Sixty years of living under the radar, and the Witches’ Council sniffed me out a couple of days after your arrival. That’s not a coincidence.”
Time to drop the act.
“How did you do it? Doesn’t the Council track everyone?”
“They think they do.” He rolled his eyes. “My mom never trusted them, my grandmother never trusted them, and I don’t, either. We keep to ourselves.”
“You’re saying that all this time, no one ever figured out who you are or what you can do?”
“Nope. I use my magic for good. No one questions all wonderful the Christmas joy they’re experiencing. They’re just happy. It’s a magical time of year. When they can’t explain something, they think it’s proof Santa is real.”
“What about the people who don’t want to spread the joy? People like Josh.”
Nick shrugged. “Those people sometimes need a little convincing. But since my power lies in hypnosis and memory magic, they tend to not remember our conversations. A handy skill.”
“Wow, yeah. Very useful,” I said. “That’s great! You don’t have to kill me, then! You can wipe my memory, and we’ll forget this conversation ever happened. Well, I will. You probably won’t.”
“That would be a great plan, but since the Queen Witch is already poking around my house, that ship has sailed. She’s not alone, and they’ll have made a record before going over there. I can’t wipe the entire Council’s memory at once. It’s easy enough to ensure that individually, none of them notice me, but they’re too powerful to take on as a whole. I’ll have to let them go on thinking this is all your fault.”
Desperately, I grasped at something he said. “You left Lilia alone in your house?”
“Of course not. I was out on the street, playing Santa. Spotted her coming and took a break. She’s trying to find me. Might be a while. I’m pretty good at what I do. Usually. For some reason, it doesn’t work on you. That was an important piece of information, you know. I never met anyone immune to me before. Even other witches are open to suggestion. You had to have some kind of specialized magic I’ve never encountered. Too bad we don’t have time to figure out what it is.”
Involuntarily, my eyes flickered to the ring on my hand. Katrina put the protection spell on it before I ran into Nick on the porch. “My brother would say I’m too thick-headed for you to get in.”
He snorted. “You’ve got magical powers, and you used them to find out I killed Josh. There’s no point in denying it.”
“I don’t need to deny it. I’ve already told Lilia everything. You said it yourself—she’s looking for you now. You’ve got one chance, Nick. If you come clean, maybe they’ll take it easy on you,” I said desperately.
“Good idea. I’ll do you one better. I can prove that you killed Josh and you felt so terrible about it, you took your own life. The Council already suspects you, and they’re the ones I’m worried about. The local police are perfectly happy to go on believing Josh died of a heart attack. Once you stop pushing them, I’m sure the investigation will be closed. All it will take is a simple suggestion to the brother and maybe Detective DeRusso.” He lifted his empty hands. “I’ll need to knock you out first. That way, I can put the gun exactly where I want it.”
“Wait! You can’t kill me.” I didn’t have a reason, but felt the need to interject.
Before I could say anything else, Nick thrust his hands toward me, speaking in a language I didn’t recognize. A flash of light burst out of him. I squeezed my eyes shut.