The sheriff found Garth's body propped against the haunted oak. It looked, she'd said, like a heart attack.
So.
My magic had killed a man.
I didn't feel as bad about that as I thought I should. Garth was a murderer. He would have killed me. And in the end, facing up to what he’d done had frightened him to death.
Someone banged on my front door.
The ghost calico pricked up his ears.
Connor looked up from the blue couch and set down his newspaper. The sheriff had given him the day off. “I'll get it,” he said.
“Don't bother.” I grinned. “I know who it is.”
I strode to the door and opened it to my sisters. Both of them.
“Jayce, you're back.”
“Hey witch!” Her mahogany hair in loose tumbles, Jayce pulled me into a rough hug. She pushed me away, her grip tightening on my upper arms. Her ivy-colored eyes turned serious. “You don't look possessed by an evil book.”
“She was,” Karin muttered and rubbed her expanding belly. She looked radiant in spite of her scowl.
“Karin's right.” I stepped backward in the entry hall. “I kept that book for too long. It's got an... effect.”
“What happened?” Jayce strolled inside, and Karin followed. “And what's this about a body in the haunted oak?”
I sat them in the living room, and Connor and I told them everything.
“Garth got the jump on me,” Connor said. “He chloroformed me from behind.”
“Chloroform?” Karin asked. “Where did he get that?” Her fingers twitched, and I knew she was itching to take notes for her next book.
He scowled. “You can find directions for making it online. When I woke up in that shed, I nearly had a heart attack too. And then when I broke out and found Lenore gone…”
“But how did you know Lenore would be at the winery?” Karin asked.
He reddened. “I just had a feeling.”
I twined my fingers in his. In Doyle, there are some things you don't have to explain.
Twin lines appeared between Karin's brows. “But what about that Vincent guy? Is he still out there? Because he sounds dangerous.”
“The cops picked him up this morning in Reno,” Connor said. “He's not going to bother anyone.”
“He still had the coin I found,” I said. “It links him and Sandy to the museum heist.”
“Gold coins, a heist, a haunted oak?” Jayce slumped back in her chair. “Why does all the fun happen when I'm away?”
The dead cat wound around Jayce's ankles, purring, and she shivered.
“You were away on your honeymoon,” I teased. “Now spill. How was it?”
We chatted about Paris and traveling through Europe.
Connor winked at me and rose. “I can take a hint. You three need some alone time. Lenore, I'll see you tonight.” He bent and kissed me softly. “And this time,” he rumbled, “no interruptions.”
My heart pounded more quickly.
We watched while he left the room and were silent until the front door clicked shut.
“I’d like to see the nightmare catcher,” Karin said.
“You’re in luck.” I stood. “Connor was going to burn it, but he was interrupted. It’s outside.”
I led them to the firepit. The catcher lay atop a layer of black ash and burnt chunks of wood.
Karin reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a quartz pendant. She held it over the firepit. Her gaze went foggy, her expression slackening.
The crystal swung on its chain. Its movements shifted, swinging higher and faster.
Karin’s eyes rolled back in her head. Jayce hissed, stepping forward.
I grasped her wrist. “Wait,” I said.
“Are you kidding me? Karin’s got zombie eyes. She’s never had zombie eyes before.”
“Give her time.”
The crystal swung east to west, its arcs moving ever higher in the west. The quartz darkened, shattered, and Karin jerked her hand up. The chain flew over her head and vanished into a bush.
Karin shook her hand as if she’d been stung. “What the—?”
“What happened?” Jayce asked. “Are you okay?”
“I felt someone.” Karin panted. “Someone pushed back on me.”
“But you’re okay, right?” Jayce said.
“Yes,” Karin said, “I’m fine. But don’t you get it? They felt me. They know what I was doing. They know I know.”
“What do you know?” I asked quietly.
“Whoever put this here is somewhere in the San Francisco area.” Karin shook her head. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t narrow it down any more than that, before… That happened.”
“The San Francisco area is good enough,” I said. That meant they weren’t in Doyle to bother me. But San Francisco was only a four-hour drive away. Whoever had done this—or one of his or her friends—could and would return. “Let’s go inside.”
My sisters nodded. Muttering, they followed me into the house.
“And the book?” Karin asked, when she was seated on a comfortable chair in the living room. “I've been researching haunted objects, but we've already tried everything that's recommended. Were you able to find anything upstairs?” Her gaze flicked toward the ceiling and our aunt's magical workspace in the attic.
“Not yet,” I said. “I think we're going to have to do this the hard way.”
“Which is?” Jayce asked, one brow raised.
“Talking the ghost back into sanity,” I said. “Making him want to let go of the book.”
Karin's hand stilled on her belly. “Do you know how long it takes for living people to work through issues with a psychiatrist? This ghost was murdered, his blood used for ink. I can't even imagine the trauma.”
“Yes, but... I think maybe he deserves a chance,” I said. “Don't you?”
She blew out her breath. “Yes. Of course, he does. He’s the victim.”
“Okay,” Jayce said, “I'm down with helping our ghost go to the light. But there's one flaw in your plan.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“You're the only one who can see ghosts, and you just said you kept this book too long. How are you going to manage that?”
“I did keep it too long,” I said. “The book has to go. But it's not entirely true that I'm the only one who can interact with ghosts. You can feel them, Jayce. And Karin, I believe you could connect with them through your knot magic, if you tried. I think this is something we should do together.”
Karin nodded. “There are spells for conjuring ghosts in those books upstairs. We're witches. We can figure this out.” She rose. “I'll take the black book.”
“The hell you will,” Jayce said. “You're pregnant. What if the book does something to little...?” She motioned toward Karin’s belly. “Have you and Nick chosen a name yet?”
“No,” she said snappishly. “And I can put the book in a safe deposit box.”
“We'd have to ward the entire bank,” Jayce said. “And I'm all out of naturally broken crystals.”
Karin blew out her breath. “Me too. Maybe Mrs. Steinberg has a supplier?”
Jayce and I looked at each other.
“I do not want Mrs. Steinberg to know what we're up to,” Jayce said.
“Um, she might already.” I told them about our conversation.
“Watcher at the Threshold?” Jayce asked.
“The Dweller on the Threshold,” I said.
“I’ve heard of this,” Karin said. “The Theosophists believe you have to confront your shadow—the dweller. Once you do, you can pass on to receive higher knowledge.”
“And did you?” Jayce asked. “Encounter it, I mean?”
“Yes,” I said. “And I failed.” I told them about the thing in the door in my confrontation with Garth. “I’d had Cthulu on the brain. That’s why my shadow side—the side I didn’t want to admit existed—manifested as a Lovecraftian monster.”
“But you can try again,” Jayce said.
“No,” I said. “You only get one chance.”
“I’m not so sure you did fail,” Karin said slowly. “You made a conscious choice to sacrifice your future magical… whatever to save Connor, to stop a killer in the here and now. You didn’t crumble. You didn’t run. You chose, and you’re back to normal.”
“Exactly. Everything’s back to the way it used to be. I haven’t taken any magical leaps forward. I’ve stagnated.” And the sound of that colossal door closing had been… final.
“Maybe now, you just need to find the right teacher?” Karin said.
“We are not asking Mrs. Steinberg for magic lessons,” Jayce said.
“Right,” I continued. “If we tell her anything, she’ll figure out we have the book. Then she’ll have to tell her White Lodge. And—”
“They’ll try to take the book, and someone will use it,” Jayce said grimly. “Black Lodge, White Lodge… I don’t trust any of them.”
“That does it,” Karin said. “I'm getting a she shed so I can keep my magic out of the house - including the book.”
Jayce laughed. “A she shed?”
“Well what am I supposed to call it? My ritual temple? My magic shack? What will the neighbors think?”
One corner of Jayce’s mouth tipped upward. “Much better to go covert,” she agreed. Jayce clapped her hands on the thighs of her jeans. “Then it's settled. I'll take the book.”
“I don't think we settled that,” Karin said.
“No,” Jayce said, “but you don't have your she shed yet.”
“It won't take that long.” Karin’s gaze turned calculating.
“We'll rotate,” I said quickly. “But Karin, I think you should have the shortest rotations. Jayce is right. That book... It thinks.”
“Thinks?” Karin asked, her voice rising.
“It knew just how to attack me,” I said. “It corrupted my vision.”
Karin angled her head. “Corrupted? Past tense?”
“Past tense. I really am back to normal, magically speaking.” In a weird way, the book had done me a favor, forcing me to face myself, to push past my boundaries.
“Maybe you are the best person to keep the book,” Jayce said. She glanced around. “The house's wards look good.”
“Yes,” Karin said. “But it's still working on you, isn't it Lenore?”
“The book hasn’t let up.” I could feel its darkness, probing at my protective aura. The spell book hadn't broken through, but if I didn’t give myself a break, one day, it would.
“Then I take the book.” Jayce stood. “Where is it?”
“In the stove.”
“Weird place to keep a book.” Jayce shrugged. “I like it.” She strode from the room.
“How are you, really?” Karin asked in a low voice.
I smiled. “I'm not psychotically confident anymore. I'm... myself.”
“But why did you get so confident? What changed?”
“My guess is that was the Dweller’s test. The confidence—or over confidence—felt great, but it only distracted me from what was real.”
“I wouldn’t mind a bit of distraction,” she grumbled.
“We know now why the book is so strong. Even if we don't exactly know how to fix it, the three of us will figure it out.” Somehow, I knew we would. And this confidence wasn’t tainted or false. It wasn’t even really confidence. It was just… hope.
I looked out the bay window.
Sandy stood outside. She cast no shadow on the gravel drive. A beam of sunlight broke through the clouds and shone like a spotlight behind her. She smiled, turned, and vanished into the sunbeam.
<<<<>>>>
Note from Kirsten
Lenore caught her vineyard killer, and in record time. Now all she and her sisters need to do is de-haunt that spell book.
But Jayce is taking the book, and in the next novella, Stone, she’ll be wrestling with the ghost and another murder… in a haunted stone house during Halloween’s spooky season. She’ll also be wrestling with her new role as a married woman, living in the house Brayden and his deceased wife used to live in. And it won’t be easy…
A murder. A haunted house. A possessed spell book…
What could go wrong?
Since childhood, Doyle Witch Jayce figured the old stone house was haunted. Turns out, she may have been right.
A string of odd deaths in the house has culminated in murder, and newlywed Jayce is on the case. She is a witch after all. So what if it’s Samhain season, when the veil between the worlds is thin?
Right?
But when Jayce finds creepy connections between the old house and the spell book she’s sworn to destroy, she’s plunged into a conspiracy darker than anything mysterious Doyle has thrown at her before. Are supernatural forces at work? Or is Jayce facing a mortal foe?
If you’re a fan of Charlaine Harris, Heather Blake, or Amanda M. Lee, don’t miss Stone, book 8 in The Witches of Doyle cozy mysteries.
This Halloween novella is a witch cozy mystery featuring true-to-life spells in the back of the book, a trio of witchy sisters, and a dash of romance. Stone can be read as a standalone.