Witching You Wouldn't Go Read online

  Probably it was nothing. Little deviations from a person’s daily routine usually were. But on the other hand, he knew from plenty of minor cases—vandalism, petty theft, the sort of crime that used to be the worst that Coven Grove saw—that sometimes those deviations were the moment you caught someone in the act. Sheriff Larson always said that criminals live their lives like everyone else—right up to the moment they commit a crime. Then, something changes. The pattern breaks. That’s when you look closely.

  So when she was out of sight, he turned the ignition and pulled slowly away from his parking spot and onto the road. He followed at a good distance until he saw her make a right turn.

  Finn grunted. “That’s where Bailey lives, isn’t it? Up on the hill?”

  Seamus nodded and paused at the turn for a long moment before he followed.

  Sure enough, Piper had pulled up into the Robinsons’ driveway. She got out carrying something—a plastic container, he thought—and Seamus sighed. “She’s taking dinner to Ryan,” he said.

  “You think that’s all she’s doing?” Finn wondered. “Ryan’s name came up; he spends a lot of time at that bakery, too. Plus, you know, he’s Bailey’s dad, right? What if he’s like her?”

  “We don’t have any reason to believe that,” Seamus said. He pulled into the driveway a few yards up, and backed out into the street again to turn around. “We’re watching the wrong person. It’s the women at the bakery we need to worry about; Bailey was normal until she started spending all her time with them. Piper, too.”

  “There’s no harm in keeping an eye on all of them,” Finn said.

  “Well I gotta get the car back soon anyway; shift’s almost up.” Seamus pulled back onto Main street and took a left, making his way to the sheriff’s station.

  Finn grunted. “Yeah, okay. But just because we ain’t on duty, don’t mean we have to go home.”

  “I been on twelve hours, Finn,” Seamus sighed. “I’m tired.”

  “You know,” Finn pointed out, “I know a place we could get some coffee. Maybe ask a few harmless questions?”

  Seamus shook his head, but glanced at Finn to see his partner’s eyebrow up, urging him to agree. He licked his lips, and finally shrugged. “I guess we could drop in. But you let me do the talking.”

  “Sure thing, partner,” Finn said, grinning.

  Once Seamus filled the car up and parked it in the pool, Finn got out and stretched. “You go on,” he said. “I’m gonna take a leak. I’ll catch up. Meet you out front?”

  “Sure thing,” Seamus said. “But don’t forget to give Darla the off duty code, she’s gotta log it.”

  “Ten four,” Finn said.

  Seamus made his way in, and kept his head down as he found the locker room and started to change out of his uniform and into street clothes. There was chatter elsewhere in the room, but none of it was all that interesting. Coulson had just gotten back from a hunting trip up in Washington, and was going on about some buck he was having made into jerky; as was his way, he dominated the conversation he was having. It didn’t interest Seamus, but by the time he was walking out, Coulson spotted him.

  “Hey, Jackson,” Coulson called. “You off?”

  “Yeah,” Seamus grunted. “Just finished my last twelve for the week. Gonna grab a drink with MacMurrin and head home; long week. So...” He waved and headed for the door.

  “MacMurrin?” Coulson asked.

  “Yeah,” Seamus said, one hand on the door handle. “New partner. Couple weeks.”

  “What’s he look like?” Coulson wondered. “He works day shift?”

  “About my height,” Seamus said, irritated and ready to get off work. “Dark hair, green eyes? Kinda pale.”

  Coulson grunted, frowning. “Huh. Alright. Well, don’t be a stranger. Poker night tomorrow, you coming?”

  “Probably not. Later.” Seamus waved, and ignored whatever else Coulson was about to say in favor of pulling the locker room door open and making his way to the front entrance.

  Finn was waiting for him, leaning against the hood of Seamus’ ford pickup, dressed in street clothes. Seamus glanced at the sheriff’s department doors. “You changed out here?”

  “Nah,” Finn said, “I changed in the bathroom. I take my uniform home to clean it; no big deal. Locker rooms are weird, you know? All those dudes getting naked together?”

  Seamus just shook his head, smiling. The other deputies would have a riot with that, but he didn’t see any reason to prod his partner about being shy. “If you say so.”

  Finn pushed himself away from the truck and rounded the front of it to get to the passenger side, where he got in like he normally did. “Alright, alright, alright,” he said in his best McConaughey impression, drumming on the dashboard as he did. “How about we go catch us a witch?”

  Seamus only rolled his eyes as he started the truck and backed out of the parking spot.

  “Well,” Chloe Minds said brightly as Seamus and Finn walked into the bakery just about half past eight, half an hour before the place closed, “if it isn’t Deputy Jackson. I forget what you look like out of uniform! What can I get for you?”

  “Just a coffee for me,” Seamus said. “And uh, one for my buddy.”

  “Sure,” Chloe said, and went about getting those. It didn’t take long, and she came back and handed him both white paper cups. He sat Finn’s down on the counter a little to the side.

  “I, ah... haven’t seen Bailey around lately,” he said, glancing past Chloe to the door that led to the back room. “She been around?”

  “She’s on a bit of a road trip,” Chloe said.

  “With Aiden and Avery?” Seamus asked.

  Chloe hesitated, just for half a second, but then nodded. “Yes, with the boys. I’m surprised you noticed.”

  The way that she said it made Seamus’ face heat just a little. “It’s a... small town, you know, and what with being on patrol most of the day... I just sort of wondered where she’d got off to.”

  “Well, you know,” Chloe said casually, waving a hand at his curiosity, “she doesn’t tell me everything.”

  “No reason she should I guess,” Seamus said. He sipped his coffee. “What about Piper?”

  Chloe’s eyebrow raised slowly. “What about her?”

  “Oh, I saw her in here a while ago,” Seamus said, “just before I got a call. She was here a while, seemed like. She working here now?”

  “Young man,” Chloe said softly, “I can see why you might be curious about Bailey; but you do know that Piper is a married woman...?”

  Seamus did color, thoroughly, and thought quick. “Oh, no ma’am... it’s not like that I just... uh, you know I went to school with her and Gavin, that’s all. I thought if she was working, they might be, you know... having problems.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially at the last bit.

  It wasn’t clear whether Chloe bought it or not, but she shook her head. “She’s not working here. She’s just a mother of two, and I believe she has some help with them at the moment so, she comes by to read, get out of the house. That sort of thing.”

  There was a brief, throbbing pain at Seamus’ temple, and it was all he could do not to reach up and rub it. It didn’t last long, but it must've shown on his face because Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. “My dear boy,” she said, concerned, “are you entirely alright?”

  “I’m fine,” Seamus muttered. “Just fine. How long do you expect Bailey to be gone?”

  “I really couldn’t say,” Chloe replied, and it didn’t sound like she was entirely comfortable anymore.

  Fear tickled the back of Seamus’ brain, and he became aware of Frances Cold watching him from the other end of the counter as she sprayed it down and started to clean it. This had been a mistake. He and Finn were the only people here; if they wanted to hex him, or make him forget, or turn him into something squirmy there wasn’t a damn thing he could do. He almost stumbled when he took a step back from the counter. “Okay. Well. You ladies just... you have yo
urselves a good night.” He turned, and glanced at Finn, who was frowning at him, and giving him eyes that asked what the heck he was doing cutting it short like this. Seamus shook his head, just a little, and jerked his chin at the door. “Let’s just go.”

  “Oh, Seamus,” Chloe said.

  Seamus glanced over his shoulder. “You left your other coffee?”

  He glowered once at Finn, and then marched to the counter to take it from her. “Right. Thanks.”

  With that, he left. Once he and Finn were outside, he just about had to gasp for air. “Good Lord,” he breathed, “those women scare the... here, take your damn coffee.”

  Finn waved both hands. “Oh, no. You can just keep that. I don’t want to get some kind of witch roofie and wake up a zombie.”

  “Well why the heck did you say we should get coffee?” Seamus asked, and poured both cups out onto the lawn. He stuffed the cups into the trash can on the corner, and had a moment of panic as Finn’s words sank in. “Crap... you really think they’d have put something in the coffee?”

  Finn only shrugged. “You look okay to me.” He smiled, and clapped Seamus on the shoulder. “Just in case, we better get you home, partner. I’ll keep an eye on you, make sure you don’t turn into a toad or something.”

  Seamus shivered at the thought, and they walked the half a block to his truck to get in. “Don’t say things like that,” he grunted. “I’m scared enough as it is.”

  “Ah,” Finn said, “you’ll be okay. But I tell you what—maybe we should take a little trip of our own.”

  “Where to?” Seamus asked.

  Finn glanced at him, his smile slight, mysterious. “What you wanna bet,” he said, “that if there’s witches in this wide world—there’re witch hunters, too?”

  Chapter 13

  Piper knocked on the door to Ryan’s house, and wondered whether or not she should have called before hand. She had his number, somewhere, she was pretty certain. Still, if he was already asleep it wasn't like the drive was very far.

  She needn’t have worried, though. Shortly, the door unlocked and then opened, and Ryan peered out at her with momentary concern before he realized who was visiting, and smiled as he opened the door. “Ah! Piper, dear; how unexpectedly delightful. I hope—is anything the matter?”

  “No, no,” Piper said, smiling. She held up the plastic container of spaghetti. “I had extra, and thought I’d bring some to you for dinner.”

  He eyed the container, and then gave her a patient smile. “I deduce that you’ve been speaking with my daughter.”

  Piper chuckled, and nodded. “You caught me. She wanted me to check up on you.”

  “She often forgets that I took care of myself for some time before she was around, and before Wendy... well, come in.” His smiled faltered briefly, but returned just as friendly as before. “I’d be delighted for the company.”

  As Piper stepped through the door, Ryan put his fist to his mouth and coughed rather violently for a long moment, making his way to the kitchen as he did. He cast her an apologetic look when it passed. “I’m terribly sorry,” he said.

  “Don’t be,” Piper told him and followed him to the kitchen where she put his dinner on the counter. She frowned at him. “Have you... seen a doctor yet? That cough sounds pretty bad. Seems like it’s been hanging around for awhile, too.”

  “Oh,” he waved a hand, “at my age, a cold is more than just the affair of a week. I had the flu a couple of years back for close to four months. I dare say you’ll understand one day.” He smiled, and picked up the spaghetti to transfer it to a pot that he put over the stove.

  “Still,” Piper said, “is there anything you need? I could run to the store, get you some—”

  “I do appreciate your concern, my dear,” Ryan said, patiently, as he raised a hand. “I am well stocked in all the traditional medicines of my people.”

  Piper raised an eyebrow.

  “Mucinex, aspirin, NyQuil,” he listed off, his eyes glinting with humor. “The ancient traditions of the modern middle class. Powerful magic.”

  They shared a chuckle, but Ryan’s ended with another coughing fit. Still, if he said he was alright, then it wasn’t Piper’s place to drag him to a doctor. Certainly not at this time of night, in any case.

  “So,” Ryan asked as he adjusted the heat on the stove and wiped his mouth with a paper towel, “you’ve heard from Bailey, then. It’s good you two are speaking again.”

  “Oh, we weren’t... not... speaking,” Piper said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ears self consciously. “We just...”

  Ryan rested his gaze on her, and her planned excuses all seemed to be suddenly out of reach. “It was temporary,” she said, admitting the truth of the matter at the same time. “I just needed time.”

  “Don’t imagine that I’m judging you, Piper,” he said softly, patting her hand with one of his; the one he hadn’t coughed into. “It must all be quite a shock.”

  “You have no idea,” she sighed, slumping forward onto the counter.

  “I assume you’ve been in the care of the Coven?” He asked.

  She nodded. “Not that it’s done me much good. I still don’t have any control over my ability—in large part because it’s something apparently brand new that no one has a clue about, least of all me. It’s frustrating to know there’s all this new... magic inside me but I still feel just as useless as before. I mean, Bailey and Aiden took Avery with them to England, and they didn’t even ask me if I was up to going with them.”

  “Would you have gone?” He asked, his tone suggesting that he already knew the answer.

  Piper groaned. “No. Of course not. Bailey is a witch and a tour guide, Avery is a wizard and a librarian at a library hardly anyone visits. Aiden is independently wealthy, I think? Me? I’m barely a witch and my other job is ‘mom’—my trips are to the pediatrician, or to Disney with my kids. I can’t just run off across the world looking for... whatever it is they’re after, which they won’t even tell me about!”

  Ryan nodded sagely, and spread his hands. “There may be a good reason for that,” he said. “If I’ve learned one thing in all my years, it’s that you can’t always tell even the people closest to you everything all of the time. Sometimes, you have to wait for the right moment.”

  “I just feel like no matter what this magic means,” Piper said, “it's not going make me... a part of their group, you know? We’ve been drifting farther apart since this all started and... whenever we try to get close again...” her eyes stung, and Ryan came around the corner of the kitchen island to put an arm around her shoulders.

  “Believe me,” he said, “I understand more than you can know. It terrifies me what Bailey and even you and Avery have had to face. More, it scares me that I’m in no real position to protect any of you. I imagine you’ll sympathize with that one day as well. It is the lot of every parent to one day realize their children live beyond the confines of the protection we once offered.” He cleared his throat, squeezed her a final time and then let her go as he continued to work something out of his chest.

  Piper was quiet while he did, contemplating what the future held. If there was at least one good reason for her to work hard now to learn how to use her magic, it was so that she never felt that helpless about Riley as he grew up. And who knew what the future held for William. She had used to think that she knew the sort of future that was ahead of her family but now... well, anything could happen, couldn’t it.

  “I must sound like such a child,” Piper chuckled, wiping her eyes. “We’re all growing up, I guess. This is the sort of thing that happens. Well... not exactly the thing that happens to most childhood friends, I guess, but, you know what I...” She frowned, Ryan had both hands on the edge of the stove, and appeared to be bowing his head to look at the pot of spaghetti. It was an odd posture to take.

  She almost didn’t catch him when he fell. The pot flew as one of Ryan’s hands grasped for purchase and came down on the handle of the metal pot i
nstead, throwing it and the spaghetti inside across the kitchen in a violent explosion of sauce and noodles as he slumped sideways.

  Piper shouted for him, and then sent her counter stool flying as she dove to get her arms between Ryan’s head and shoulders, and the hardwood floor of the kitchen. His lips worked, but no sound came out, and he lifted one hand to claw at his chest, his breath coming in ragged, laborious heaves.

  She lowered him carefully to the floor, and dug her phone out of her pocket, almost dropping it in her panic as she dialed nine one one and demanded an ambulance as quickly as possible. Then she called the bakery, and told Aria to meet them at the hospital as soon as she could, taking no questions before she dropped the phone and knelt by Ryan’s prone form.

  “Ryan?” She asked, touching his face. “Ryan? Stay with me!”

  But he was already unconscious, and all that Piper knew to do was wait, and cry, and pray.

  Chapter 14

  “Bailey?” Avery asked, prodding her gently as they waited for Gideon to procure a room.

  She snapped out of her momentary trance, left with a lingering dread that gave her exhaustion a special flavor of anxiety ridden bitterness. “Huh?”

  His eyebrow pinched together as he peered at her. “Are you okay?”

  “No,” she admitted, and glanced toward the opulent doors of the hotel Gideon had chosen on the basis that the upper rooms were optimally shaped for proper warding. “I’m worried about what he has to say.”

  “Worrying won’t make a difference,” Aiden said. He looked at her from the front passenger seat, sympathetic but resigned. “We may as well simply hear him out.”

  “You don’t know anything about what he’s hiding?” She asked. It was more acidic than she had intended, and the burn of it showed instantly in Aiden’s face.

  “Of course not,” he said. “Bailey... I’m done hiding things from you. You know that.”

  She knew that he’d said it, and that they’d agreed to it, at least. She didn’t push that issue just now, though. If Gideon really did intend to air out the rest of his secrets—or at least the ones relevant to their endeavor now—she supposed that was what mattered. Whether Aiden knew of them or not was a different issue entirely and one that wouldn’t change the course of events now anyway.