Chapter 24

As soon as I returned to the house, I poured myself a glass of wine and ran a hot bath. When I was soaking in the lavender scented bubbles, I called Thyme to fill her in. I wanted to get in first. The news would be all over town within minutes.

“Would you like to stay with me tonight?” Thyme asked, when I had finished my rundown of the evening’s events.

“I’ll be fine here, thanks. Is there a safer house in the world?” I went to take another sip, but realized my glass was empty. I had downed the entire glass before I realized that I hadn’t eaten for hours. No wonder I felt dizzy.

There was silence for a moment. “Well, you have a point there,” Thyme said. “Why don’t you take tomorrow off?”

“Are you kidding me?” I said. “If there’s anything I need right now, it’s cupcakes.”

Thyme laughed. “See you tomorrow then, boss.”

“See you tomorrow,” I said with a laugh. I carefully set down my empty wine glass, hopped out of the bath, and toweled myself dry.

I went into my bedroom, intending to put on pajamas and then lie on the sofa and stuff my face with chocolate. At that point, it dawned on me that Camino was likely to come over.

I had not yet worn her gift, a gift that was as thoughtful as it was bizarre. I figured that Camino would come over at some point that night to see how I was doing, once the bush telegraph about the evening’s events had reached her, so I carefully pulled on the koala onesie. It was awfully hard to get on, but I finally managed after a struggle. Next, I put on the giant koala slippers.

I looked in the mirror and had a fit of giggles. I looked like an evil monster rather than a nice, fluffy koala. I peered more closely in the mirror. I had deep circles under my eyes and looked haggard. “Well, who wouldn’t look tired after the day that I’ve had?” I asked the bathroom mirror. Thankfully, it didn’t answer.

My eyes fell on the expensive facemask that I’d bought the other day. I read the label. It promised to ‘refresh, revitalize, and give the skin a rejuvenated appearance’. That was just what I needed. The ingredients were listed as seaweed, hyaluronic acid, green tea extract, and royal jelly. Sounded good!

I opened the packet and smeared some on my face, carefully avoiding the edges of the koala head-hat. To my dismay, the substance was bright green, lumpy and awfully sticky. Oh well, it felt soothing, and who would see me but Camino? Even she probably wouldn’t see me, as the mask was to stay on for only ten minutes.

I wobbled into the kitchen—gee, it was hard to walk in the koala onesie—got a box of chocolates, and went back into the living room.

I picked up the remote and lay on the sofa. Willow and Hawthorn ran into the room, took one look at me, hissed, and ran out, all their fur standing on end.

I laughed, and selected a channel—no, not Mixed Martial Arts. I popped a chocolate in my mouth and flipped the channel to Love It or List It, when there was a knock on the door.

“Camino,” I said with my mouth full of a chocolate truffle. I stood up, and then bend down to retrieve a green glob of facemask that had fallen to the floor. I stuck it back on my face and waddled to the door.

I flung the door open to greet Camino. To my horror, it was not Camino. It was Alder Vervain.

“Argh!” he said, clutching at his throat in shock. He stepped backward.

“Sorry, it’s only me,” I said through a mouthful of chocolate. I was aghast. Clearly, Alder wasn’t doing much better.

I swallowed the rest of the chocolate whole and then had a coughing fit when it went down the wrong way. I bent over, coughing violently. Tears ran down my cheeks, no doubt making rivulets in the green slime.

When I recovered, I looked back up. To my surprise, Alder was still there. I had half expected he would run away. “I’m wearing a koala onesie and face mask,” I explained.

He nodded. I think he was trying not to laugh. “I can see that.”

I felt my face flush, but the green no doubt covered my red cheeks.

“Can I come in? I’d like to talk to you.”

“Come in? Into my house?” I said. “Are you feeling okay?”

Alder raised one eyebrow and shot me a strange look. “Err, yes thank you. And you?”

I just shrugged and stood aside. I didn’t have the energy to come up with a good reason not to invite him in. I was exhausted. What could I do? I showed him into the living room. “Please have a seat. I’ll be right back.”

He sat down, and I peered at him. Nothing was happening to him—yet.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked. “Is something wrong?”

“No reason. No. I’ll be right back.” I walked as fast as I could to the bathroom and removed the facemask with warm water. I looked in the mirror again once I’d removed the last of the green. My teeth were covered with chocolate. On a brighter note, my skin did look better, but I had no time to be pleased about that now. I waddled to my bedroom and tried to get out of the onesie. The headpiece came off easily, but the rest wouldn’t budge. I was just too tired to get it off.

I finally gave up. For all I knew, Alder might be a nervous wreck by now, seeing walls closing in on him, or he might be half way through the fireplace. I had better go and rescue him.

I shuffled into the living room, concerned with what I would see. To my surprise, Alder was as right as rain. Willow was sitting on his lap and Hawthorn was sitting beside him. Both were purring loudly. I sat opposite him, trying not to show my surprise.

“I hope you’re all right,” Alder said with obvious concern.

“Oh yes,” I said, feeling a bit tipsy. “This is the first time I’ve worn the koala onesie. It was a gift. I didn’t buy it. I bought the facemask, though.” I stifled the urge to giggle. “I didn’t know it was green.”

Alder frowned, and then looked at the open wine bottle on the floor next to the remains of the coffee table.

“I’ve only had one glass of wine,” I said defensively, “but I haven’t eaten for hours.”

“I meant, are you okay after your run in with Dianne Longley? It looks like you had quite a struggle.” He gestured to the broken vase and the dead wildflowers strewn everywhere.

“Oh, yes.” I waved my hand in dismissal. “I’m okay, though. Thanks for asking. Oh, and thanks for calling the cops.”

Alder smiled. “You’re welcome. I came tonight because I wanted to see if you were all right, but I also wanted to come clean.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Dianne was the one who hired me to follow you.”

I gasped. “She was?”

Alder nodded. “I was suspicious of her right from the beginning. It’s obvious to me that she wanted to frame you. I shared this information with the detectives, of course.”

“You didn’t tell me,” I said petulantly.

Alder shrugged. “I couldn’t. Client confidentiality and all that.”

“I suppose.” I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t care about client confidentiality when he told the police, but I suppose that was different. But why did the house like him? And why did the cats like him? Camino’s divination showed that Alder harbored no ill intent toward me, but that didn’t explain why my house and my familiars thought he was so nice. “It’s strange that my cats like you,” I said. “They’re usually not so friendly with strangers.”

Alder shrugged. “It makes a nice change. I’m not too popular with some in this town.”

“Because of your parents.” I clapped my hand over my mouth as soon as I said the words.

Alder did not appear offended, but he did not look surprised. “I’m afraid so,” he said. “My parents did alienate a lot of people in town. I myself became estranged from them, in the end.”

I thought on that for a moment. “So you don’t share your parents’ views?”

Alder shook his head. “I don’t. Amelia, how much do you know? I mean, obviously Thyme, Camino, Mint and Ruprecht have filled you in to some degree.”

“You mean that I’m a witch?” I sure hoped that was what he meant, or this would be yet another embarrassing moment.

To my great relief, Alder nodded. “Yes, but what do you know of your paternal bloodline?”

I was puzzled. “Nothing. I only know that my father was a witch, and his sister, my aunt who left me this house, was a witch, too. Mind you, I didn’t have a clue about any of that until I heard about the will. My parents did not once mention anything of the sort. As far as I know, I never met my aunt. Although I think I might’ve come to this house when I was very young, because I do have vague memories of it.”

Alder fidgeted. “There is no such thing as black or white magic. Magic is energy, so what some call black magic, or negative spells, can be turned to good. Magic is magic. It is whether the practitioner uses it for good or bad, that determines whether it is called black or white magic.”

My head was spinning. “Why are you telling me this?” Alder looked uncomfortable, and that made me nervous.

Alder stroked Willow, who was looking up at him adoringly. “There are those who are Dark Witches by birth,” he continued. “I must explain that this doesn’t mean that they are evil. It simply means they have strong power to manifest negative events, until they learn to control it. Hereditary Dark Witches are the most powerful of all witches.”

I still wondered why he was telling me this. Although I was somewhat pleased that the magnetic and mysterious Alder Vervain was sitting in my living room, I was tired, somewhat tipsy, dressed in a koala onesie, and had been set upon by a murderer only a short time ago.

Alder looked away from me. “Your aunt learned to control it,” he said.

It took some time for the import of his words to sink in. “My aunt,” I said slowly. “My aunt was a Dark Witch? A hereditary Dark Witch?”

Alder nodded.

“My father was a Dark Witch?” I continued.

Alder kept nodding, his expression now impassive.

“And I am…” I could hardly bring myself to say the words. “Are you telling me that I’m a Dark Witch?”