Book of Dark Magic Read online

  I was lost in these thoughts when the bell over the door startled me out of them. A witch named Lina walked in, carrying something wrapped in a blue cloth. Judging by the shape, it was the giant crystal ball she’d purchased from me a while back.

  “Hello, Lina. How are you?” I asked as she approached the counter.

  “Oh, I’m okay, Kinsley. I hope you’re not mad at me, but I was wondering if I could return this crystal ball. I don’t need my money back. I’d be happy with store credit, but I just… I don’t think I can use it,” she said and then bit her bottom lip.

  Lina wasn’t a member of the Skeenbauer Coven, and she seemed afraid to ask me for a refund. Some, but not all, of the non-Skeenbauer witches in town were a little afraid of us. I couldn’t blame them.

  “Sure,” I said and watched her relax. “Is there something wrong with it, or you just decided it’s not your thing?”

  “I don’t know if there is something wrong with it or if it’s something wrong with me, but either way, I can’t use it anymore.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said as I got her a store credit receipt ready.

  “Well, every time I look into it to see the future, I see… bad things. I see death and destruction. I don’t know, Kinsley, but it’s not going to be a good year for me and my loved ones if even half of that stuff comes true,” she said with a shudder.

  “Maybe it’s cursed. And even if it is true things you saw, you know that’s only one possible outcome. The future can change. You can change it,” I said as I slid the receipt for the credit across the counter to her.

  “You’re right. I can’t let it become self-fulfilling prophesy just because it scared me,” Lina said with a smile. “Thank you, Kinsley. I’ll be back later this week to use this for some supplies.”

  “We’ll see you then,” I said and gave Lina a wave as she left the store.

  I hadn’t paid much attention to the crystal ball when I put it up for sale. It came from an estate sale, and I’d cleansed it with salt and sage smoke before putting it out in the shop.

  Now, I felt drawn to it. I hadn’t used a crystal ball to see the future since I was a kid. Most of the time, I didn’t want to know the future for the exact reason I told Lina. It was too changeable, and worse yet, you could talk yourself into a future that had never been real.

  But what about the past?

  Sometimes, you could use a crystal ball as a window into the past. It didn’t always work, but if I did it just right, I thought that perhaps I could see a clue about who killed Richard. If I concentrated all of my focus on that, maybe the ball would show me a glimpse of his death.

  Admittedly, in hindsight, it was a dumb idea. Lina had just told me the thing didn’t work right. Who knew what kind of person had used it before? I’d purchased it from an estate sale, but the seller could have lied about who owned it previously. Sometimes even I forgot that everything on the internet had a tint of lie to it.

  Still, if it let me solve the murder and move on with my life, I decided it was worth trying. “I’m going to use this crystal ball to see if I can figure out who killed Richard,” I said to Reggie. “I’ll be in my office.”

  “How long is that going to take?” Reggie asked. “Just these creepers skulking around makes me nervous.”

  “Like five minutes, I swear,” I said. “It’s nothing like the book. I promise. In fact, the next tour doesn’t get out for fifteen minutes, so you can lock the front door if you want. I’ll be right back.”

  As I was heading to my office, Reggie headed to the front door to lock it. She’d grabbed the “be right back” sign from the front counter and hung it in the window.

  In my office, I put the ball on the stand and sat down. I’d turned off the lights, so I grabbed a candle and lighter from my desk drawer. Yes, witches kept candles and lighters in their drawers like regular people kept pens and sticky notes.

  I lit the candle and looked into the ball. Seconds later, I found myself in a graveyard looking down at a small, pink granite headstone. I couldn’t read the name or date on the tombstone, but there was a teddy bear and a pair of wings carved on each side of the name. It was a baby’s grave. Tears streamed down my face, and though I couldn’t see Thorn, I could feel his hand on my shoulder. I felt pain in my back, arm, and legs. I looked at the arm and leg that throbbed with torment, and they were both in a cast. My chest constricted with a deep, shuddering sob.

  A knock at my office door brought me out of the vision.

  “Yes,” I called out and wiped the real tears that had spilled over my cheeks.

  “Kinsley, can I come in? Lincoln Raines is here. He says he needs to speak to you.”

  “Yes, come in,” I said. Reggie flipped the light switch as she came into the office, and I blew out the candle. “Did you let him into the store?” I asked.

  “I tried not to, but he pushed his way in. He’s waiting up by the front counter.”

  “Okay, I’m going to go talk to him. Call Thorn from back here,” I said.

  “Can’t you just stay back here. We’ll wait for Thorn,” Reggie said.

  “It’s okay, Reggie. I’m not afraid of him. I’ve got no reason to be. Let me get rid of him so we can open the shop,” I said.

  “Did you see anything in the ball,” she asked when I was halfway out the door.

  “Nothing of use,” I replied over my shoulder.

  Lincoln was waiting for me at the counter when I emerged from the back of the shop. “Reggie is calling Thorn,” I said. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  It wasn’t until I got up to the counter that I saw he had a few dried lavender sprigs, two smudge sticks, and three white candles. “I’m just here to say that I’m sorry. I heard this stuff works for clearing negative energy.”

  “The smudge sticks and the candles will, and the lavender will provide protection from negative energies.” I passed the shelf with dried juniper berries on my way to the counter, and I picked up a satchel of them. “These juniper berries will protect your home if you sprinkle them in the corners of your rooms. They’re on the house.”

  He smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes as I walked behind the counter and placed the satchel of dried berries next to the rest of his intended purchases.

  “I really am sorry,” he said as I rang up his items.

  He didn’t sound the least bit sincere, but I told myself that he was trying. Not that I believed he was trying for good reasons. Lincoln just didn’t want to get fired because he’d have to go to a new town and start his little quest for power all over again.

  “I hope that these help you,” I said as he handed me the cash and I handed him his bag. “Many blessings.”

  Two minutes after Lincoln was gone, Thorn pulled up in his cruiser. He rushed inside. “Where is he?”

  “He left,” I said. “Sorry to have bothered you. He bought a few things, gave me a thin apology, and then he left.”

  “No, it’s good he left,” Thorn said. “So, he didn’t do anything department related while he was here?”

  “Not at all,” I said with a shrug. “But, I did tell him as soon as I saw him that we’d called you.”

  “Good,” Thorn said. “You did the right thing.”

  “You going to be working late tonight?” I asked.

  “Probably. I assume you’ll be staying home,” he said with a hopeful smile.

  “You don’t want me out on the streets tracking down this killer for you? You guys are short-staffed, and I have grown to be somewhat of an expert,” I said and poked him playfully in the arm.

  “Kinsley.”

  “I’m kidding. Yes, I will stay at home. If I fall asleep before you get there, I’ll leave a plate of food for you. You know the drill.”

  “Thanks, babe. It might be a late one. I got a preliminary autopsy report on Richard. I’ve got work to do.”

  I just stood there looking at Thorn for a second, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t say any more, I spoke
up. “Well, are you going to tell me about the report?”

  He let out a sigh. “Okay, I’m only going to tell you anything about this because I know if I don’t you’ll break into my office or the coroner’s office.”

  “Yep,” I said.

  “But, if I tell you anything, you have to promise me that you’ll stay home. You’ll leave this to me.”

  “Okay. I promise,” I said.

  “Swear it,” he insisted.

  “I swear that I will stay home tonight, and I will stay out of it,” I said with my hand over my heart.

  “Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Okay, so the coroner said he thinks Richard was left out in the woods to die slowly.”

  I cringed. “Oh. I mean…”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t go into the details as to how he knows that. It’s pretty… unpleasant. But, he does think it took Richard hours to die. Unless they all stood there for hours waiting for him to pass, they most likely did their ritual and left. It makes sense. They thought they needed a death for the ritual, but I’d bet most of these punks are pretty young and not cold-blooded murderers.”

  “They are now,” I said.

  “Yeah, they are now but leaving the scene meant they didn’t have to see him die. It allowed them to put psychological distance between themselves and the hardest part. At least, that’s my working theory.”

  “So, they’re just callous jerkwads,” I said. “Not all psychopaths.”

  “Pretty much,” Thorn agreed. “Oh, and I had the blood on the dagger tested. It’s not Richard’s, so that wasn’t the murder weapon. I’m having them run the DNA against all of the databases because I still believe they used it in the ritual. If we can find one of these punks, maybe I can make him sing. We can get him to turn everyone in to us in exchange for immunity. Maybe figure out who’s the ringleader. I feel like one actual psychopath had to put these people up to this.”

  When Thorn left, Reggie joined me at the counter. She stood on the customer side while I stayed behind the register.

  “Huh,” she said and bent over.

  “What is it?”

  “There are rose petals on the floor here. Dried rose petals.”

  I felt my stomach clench. “How long have they been there?”

  “I don’t know,” Reggie said. “They could have been here for hours. I don’t look at this spot on the floor much. Do you?”

  “I think the killer was in here,” I said. “Or maybe…”

  “Maybe what?” Reggie asked. Her eyes darted around the store like a murderer could be hiding behind one of the shelves, but I was sure if they had been there, then they were gone.

  “The rose petals can be used to signify unfolding wisdom. Because of the way the flowers bloom,” I said.

  “Oh, okay. So, Lina might have had rose petals on that cloth she wrapped the crystal ball in.” Reggie’s shoulders relaxed, and the color returned to her face.

  “If she’d just wrapped the ball up in whatever she was using for her setup, yeah. It’s kind of a stretch, though. That would be a huge coincidence.”

  “Maybe not,” Reggie offered. “And I heard you tell Thorn you would stay out of this. He’s got leads. He seemed determined. Besides, it would be more likely that it was Esadora and Al. That’s where my money is.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Think about it. Maybe when Richard stumbled into the street and Al almost hit him it wasn’t an accident. Maybe Esadora and Al set that all up. When they didn’t manage to kill him that way, they made it look like these weirdos did it. It was, like, an opportunity for them.”

  “But why?”

  “Well, duh, obviously they were having an affair,” Reggie said and rolled her eyes.

  “But Esadora and Richard weren’t married. They didn’t need to kill Richard. She could just stay broken up with him and move on to Al.”

  “I don’t know,” Reggie protested with a shrug. “People are weird. Maybe that’s not what happened, but either way, you promised Thorn you’d stay out of it. I should go see my grandma tonight, but I can cancel it and come babysit you.”

  “No,” I said. “Go see your grandma. I will stay out of it.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I stayed home like I promised. I’d just begun to think about going to bed when there was a frantic knocking at my door.

  “Again,” I said to Meri, who was already on his way to the door. He jumped back when the person outside shouted through the door.

  “Ma’am, this is Wayne Fontaine. I need to speak to you right away! It’s about Thorn!” he called out.

  All of the blood drained from my head, and ice gripped my spine. If a deputy was coming to tell me about Thorn…

  I ran to the door and flung it open. Wayne stood there with his hat in his hands. He bit his bottom lip so hard that I couldn’t believe it wasn’t bleeding.

  “What is it? What happened to Thorn?” I demanded.

  “He’s been arrested,” Wayne said.

  I blurted out a nervous laugh. It wasn’t good, but finding out he wasn’t dead was such a huge relief I couldn’t contain myself. “I’m sorry. I thought you were going to tell me he was dead. Okay, what has he been arrested for? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Lincoln arrested him for murder,” Wayne said. “He’s in the holding cell down at the station. Lincoln said that since Thorn is under arrest and will go to prison, he’s the sheriff now.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said and squeezed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “Thorn was supposed to fire him.”

  “I’d heard that rumor, but nothing official had happened yet. I mean, officially Lincoln was just taking a couple of vacation days,” Wayne said. “Should I let Thorn out? I came here right away because I know your family has… some sway in this town.”

  “It’s good that you came to me,” I said. “But no, you shouldn’t let him out. I don’t want you to get yourself into the middle of this. Are you the only deputy on duty tonight?”

  “I am,” he said.

  “So, where are you going to patrol right now?” I asked.

  It took a moment, but I saw the lightbulb go off in his head. “Oh, I’ve got some things to check way over on the outer edge of the new section of town. That will take me a while. Guess Thorn will just have to sit there,” he said and winked at me.

  “I guess he will. Thank you for letting me know.” I winked back.

  As soon as Wayne was gone, I snatched up Meri and got into my car. I didn’t see Lincoln’s car on the way, and he wasn’t parked outside the station. Just to be sure, I went all the way around the building and parked my car in the alley.

  It took a little magic to unlock the back door to the station and disable the alarm, but it wasn’t difficult. Once inside, I closed the door behind me and re-engaged the security system.

  I found the door to the holding area and once again used my power to get in. Breaking Thorn out of jail would be surprisingly easy.

  Thorn shot up off the concrete bench he sat on when I walked in. “What are you doing here? You said you’d stay home.”

  Again, I had to laugh. “Well, I would have if you’d kept yourself out of trouble.”

  “I can handle this, Kinsley.”

  “It looks like it,” I said. “So, was the arrest lawful?”

  “Of course not,” Thorn said and came closer to the bars.

  “Then, oops,” I said and waved my hand over the cell’s lock mechanism.

  The door opened.

  Thorn thought about it for a second and stepped out. “He’s lost his mind, Kinsley. He was raving about a book, and he smelled like roses. I swear I saw at least a couple of rose petals fall out of his pockets.”

  “They keep the demons away.” Lincoln’s voice made us both whirl around. “The lesser ones anyway. Demons hate roses, but the more powerful one we… I was trying to work with could brush them off as just an annoyance. Some of the lesser demons don’t care or don’t
understand their hierarchy. So, we all took precautions to keep them from possessing the wrong person or causing havoc where none was needed.” He had his service weapon in his hand, and Lincoln leveled it at my head.

  “You can’t hurt her.” There was a slight crack in Thorn’s voice, but when I looked at him he quivered with rage.

  “I can, and I will,” he said and casually pulled the trigger.

  But I’d already disabled the gun. Lincoln looked at the weapon in horror.

  “Did you really think that was going to work?”

  “I thought that if I sacrificed you…” Lincoln trailed off.

  “Well, you’re terrible at catching someone by surprise. Maybe if you’d shot me as soon as you came in here, but you just had to try and get the last word. Your ritual is canceled. Your demon is canceled,” I said.

  “And you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison,” Thorn said as I moved out of the way.

  Meri had taken a seat at Lincoln’s feet and cast a spell on him so he couldn’t move anything but his head. Thorn dragged him into the cell he’d just emerged from, locked the door, and then Meri released the spell.

  “I’ll tell everyone. I’ll tell them everything. I’ll spread the word far and wide not only about the immense power people can summon using those books but also what you are,” he said, looking at me. “I’ll tell everyone.” He clung to the bars pressing his face between two of them as if he could somehow slide out.

  “And then you’ll spend the rest of your life in a mental hospital for the criminally insane,” Thorn said matter-of-factly. “Either way, prison or a mental hospital, is fine with us.”

  “Books,” I said. “He said books.”

  “Yes,” Lincoln said with a huge smile. “There’s a whole library of those infernal volumes. Some of them are out in the world. Some are still at the Order’s library. Others are protected by people… on your side.”

  “The Order?” I asked.

  Lincoln began to laugh. “They’re going to come for that book. You may think that you and your little ghost friends have saved this town, but the Order will come.”