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  “So let’s find Dorothy’s mother, shall we?” Elsie chuckled. “Then we can find Olivia’s killer.”

  “We’ll do a spell to find a missing loved one,” I said. “That will probably work.”

  I hoped it would work anyway.

  We set up the cauldron on the stones I’d culled from the river twenty years ago. Elsie danced around the fire with her sword, chanting and laughing. It made me think of happier times when Olivia and I had watched her gyrating movements.

  Elsie’s steps weren’t as graceful as they once were, but she was still light on her feet. She loved to dance, and the fire came up hot, ready to do her bidding.

  “Whew!” She fanned herself with her hand. “That took a lot out of me, but at least I can still make a fire.”

  “Now for the ingredients we need for the spell.” I sent Dorothy up to lock the shop door (the non-magic way) and find what we needed among the bottles and tins of herbs and tinctures.

  “Good idea to familiarize her with what we have in stock,” Elsie commended. “I think she’s going to make a great witch. I wish Olivia hadn’t died. I was supposed to be the first one to retire.”

  “I know. We’ll find another witch soon, don’t worry.”

  “And not an evil witch like Brian.”

  “He’s probably not really evil—just misguided.”

  “Rubbish!”

  Dorothy eagerly found everything we needed and traipsed down the stairs. “I never realized how much stuff is up there. Am I going to have to learn what all of it does?”

  “Absolutely.” Elsie adjusted my red beret on her head. “No witch worth her salt would do anything less. Do you want to root around in front of a customer like someone who just walked in through the door?”

  “I suppose not.” Dorothy put the supplies on the stone table. “What now?”

  “Now you brew up a potion that we’ll use for the spell.” I swept the area around the fire, muttering a cleansing spell as I went.

  “Okay. What’s first?”

  “You need a hair from your head,” Elsie told her. “Mind you keep the root on it.”

  Dorothy did as she was told and threw the hair into the cauldron.

  Next came the herbs.

  “Ground allspice berries for luck.” Elsie added the berries. “And bloodroot to strengthen family ties.”

  “Fennel seeds for courage to face whatever you find out about your mother.” I threw the seeds into the cauldron. “And goldenseal threads for wisdom.

  “Now spit into the pot and stir it all together.” I handed the large wood paddle to Dorothy.

  “Are you sure?” She peered into the cauldron. “That seems a little unsanitary. I don’t have to drink it, do I?”

  Elsie giggled. “We didn’t ask you to put any real bodily fluids into it. I remember that time with the love potion Olivia brewed. Now that took some bodily fluids.”

  “Shh,” I cautioned. “Concentrate. We need to find Dorothy’s mother.”

  We joined hands around the steaming cauldron, the smell of smoke and the river dominating the cave. Elsie and I began the chant. Dorothy joined in.

  I could feel our strength together. We were going to make a great team. I almost felt guilty thinking that with Olivia gone. We’d made a great threesome. I missed her and the energy she’d brought to us.

  We all heard a clunk upstairs.

  “Is that the door opening again?” Dorothy opened one eye.

  Isabelle alerted me that something was wrong. “Something fell—probably from Dorothy moving things around upstairs,” I translated. “We’re a little strapped for space here.”

  “Would you two please concentrate?” Elsie hissed.

  There was a louder clunk from upstairs. Isabelle, Harper and Barnabas ran down into the cave.

  “What’s wrong?” Elsie asked Barnabas.

  Before she had her answer, Olivia’s staff came flying down the stairs at us.

  CHAPTER 16

  Spirits of the dead, depart.

  Find thy everlasting light.

  Your place is here, inside my heart.

  Spirits of the dead, depart.

  The three of us—and the cats—stared at the staff without moving.

  “Well!” Elsie glanced up the stairs. “That’s a fine how-do-you-do.”

  Dorothy whispered, “What does that mean?”

  “I hope it doesn’t mean what I think it means.” I picked up the staff. “This belonged to our dead friend, Olivia Dunst.”

  Elsie’s green eyes narrowed as she considered the possibilities. “You don’t think?”

  “What else could it be?”

  “Stop talking like that,” Dorothy protested. “What does it mean?”

  “We’ll have to do some tests,” Elsie answered. “We can’t speculate on something so important.”

  “There’s only one perfect test to show us what’s going on.”

  “Olivia was an air witch,” Elsie reminded me.

  I shrugged. “It shouldn’t matter.”

  Dorothy stamped her foot. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  “I’m not going to explain,” I told her. “Instead, we’ll let nature take its course.”

  “I’m telling you, Molly, it won’t work.” Elsie sighed as she sat in a chair.

  “We’ll see.” I stared at Dorothy. “Take the staff.”

  She took a step back. “Why?”

  “Just take it, and we’ll see what happens. It may not mean anything.”

  Elsie laughed. “And the sun isn’t going to rise.”

  Dorothy was clearly frightened by the idea of holding the staff. “I really don’t want to do this. Do I have to? Is it some kind of witch hazing?”

  “Just take the staff.” I held it out to her.

  She started to reach for it and then drew back. “It’s not going to kill me or turn me into a toad or something, right?”

  “Goodness gracious!” Elsie shook her head. “A toad? Of course not. I can’t even remember the last time I turned someone into a toad—although there was that witch from New Jersey who settled here that—”

  “Elsie!”

  “Okay.” Dorothy wiped her trembling hands on her jeans. “I hope this isn’t a bad idea.”

  In a fit of pique, I removed my hand from the staff and used magic to propel it at her. Lucky for me, it worked. You should never use magic when you’re angry or impatient.

  She put up her hands defensively to protect herself and caught Olivia’s staff. It was in her grasp for only a moment before the runes on it began to glow.

  “Molly? What should I do?” Dorothy shrieked.

  “I’d say you’re doing it.” I smiled, tears starting to my eyes.

  When all the runes were glowing, another change came over the staff. A white mist formed around it until it had enveloped the wood. The mist began to change and became a shape—the rough outline of a woman.

  Elsie shot to her feet, her hand on the red beret. “Oh my stars! I can’t believe it.”

  The figure continued to swirl and form into a definite, and recognizable, shape.

  “Olivia!” I could hardly believe my eyes.

  “Of course. Who else did you expect?” Olivia focused on Dorothy.

  Most witches die at times they’ve expected their entire lives. Because of that, they die in peace and would never consider coming back to this plane.

  I could only speculate that because Olivia had been murdered in such a brutal and untimely way, her spirit had returned to finish what needed to be done.

  “Cassandra isn’t going to like this.” Elsie’s voice made a little song out of her words, and then she giggled. “Welcome back, Olivia! I’d hug you, but there’s nothing there. I suppose I could hug the staff.”

 
Olivia patted her blond hair and peeked down at the red dress she was wearing. “Do I look all right? I’m not all grotesque and disgusting, am I?”

  “No.” I wiped tears from my eyes. “Not at all. That’s your favorite dress.”

  “And thank goodness, my favorite shoes. If I have to spend a hundred years in them, at least they’re comfortable. Stylish too.”

  Dorothy still held the staff, her mouth hanging open a little, her eyes glued on Olivia. Suddenly she dropped the staff and ran upstairs, slamming the trapdoor behind her.

  “Could you please lock the shop door?” Olivia asked. “I didn’t come all this way for her to run away from me.”

  Elsie and I exchanged uncertain glances.

  “That might not be the best idea,” I told her. “We had a little trouble with a protection spell earlier. She’ll be fine.”

  I sat down in my usual chair, completely amazed to see her. “Why in the world didn’t you tell us that you had a daughter?”

  Olivia hovered over her chair in the cave, her pretty features distressed. “Oh girls, you don’t know how many times I wanted to tell you. I had to keep it secret because her father is an ancient—slightly evil—witch.”

  “But Olivia—”

  “I know.” She wrung her opaque hands together. “Please hear me out.”

  “You’ve got our attention,” I said.

  “It turned out that he wasn’t the nice witch that I thought he was to begin with. I found out I was pregnant after our tryst in Venice. It was such a wonderful affair! We had champagne and strawberries every day!”

  “Coming to the part about Dorothy soon?” Elsie broke in.

  “I’m getting there! I was afraid he might take her away from me and raise her to be like him. I couldn’t have stopped him. So I gave her up for adoption. I hoped he’d never know she was born.”

  “Wow!” Elsie rocked back in her chair. The fire under the cauldron spit up into the air again. “I didn’t see that coming.”

  “I know.” Olivia wiped invisible tears from her eyes. “Maybe it was a bad decision. I knew she had magic when she was born. You wouldn’t believe the trouble I had to go through to hide her birth. When I saw her at the library, I knew she had to be the one to take my place. I’d always planned to tell you all when I could. I’m so sorry.”

  “When did you have her?” I knew the answer to that, obviously. “I mean, where were you? Why didn’t we even know you were pregnant?”

  “Remember that year I took the sabbatical in Paris?” Olivia smiled and batted her long eyelashes. “I was really hiding in smelly catacombs under Paris where an ancient group of witches sheltered me. They didn’t tell me where they took her. I couldn’t ask. That was the deal. Imagine how I felt when I saw that she was right here in Wilmington!”

  “That was an excellent plan,” Elsie commended. “It had to be hard to give her up.”

  “Oh, you’ll never know, and I’m glad you won’t. There were nights I just ached to hold her in my arms. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I would see her again someday and that she was safe. The witches had promised me that.”

  It was hard to take it all in. I would never have believed my old friend could keep such a big secret from me. Even knowing she’d done it to save Dorothy’s life—it was still hard to believe.

  “And now what?” I asked her. “I think I understand why you came back.”

  “And why she called my name when she was dying.” Dorothy had crept back down the stairs as we were talking. She was crying, wiping real tears from her face. “You’re my mother?”

  “That’s right, baby.” Olivia held out her arms. “Believe me, I never wanted to hurt you with any of this. We should’ve had plenty of time to get to know each other before you had to learn the truth.”

  Dorothy ran to hug her mother before Elsie and I could warn her. She ran right through Olivia, tripped in the sand behind her and fell flat on her face.

  “Oh dear.” Olivia frowned. “I’m so sorry. This ghost business is a nuisance, but I’m glad I transferred some of my magic to the staff. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”

  “Just no hugging.” Elsie groaned as she got out of the chair. “I need some tea. Also one of those little chocolate cream cakes we keep upstairs for emergencies.”

  I agreed as I helped Dorothy off the ground.

  Olivia’s ghost followed us upstairs. The cats followed her. Harper was ecstatic to see his mistress back again.

  “Have they caught my killer yet?” she asked as we made tea.

  “No. Olivia, Brian is too strong. He stole our spell book after he killed you. He’s been stealing magic tools from all across the area.” I filled her in on what had happened since her death.

  She laughed. “Don’t be absurd. Brian would never hurt me. Yes, he’s very capable—in more ways than one! But he didn’t kill me.”

  Elsie covered her ears with her hands. “That’s all I need to hear, thanks.”

  “Well, if Brian didn’t kill you and steal the spell book, who did?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know, but I am mad as a hornet about it. And I wish I could eat one of those chocolate cream cakes. Wouldn’t you know I’m finally at a place that I don’t have to worry about my figure, and I can’t eat anything?”

  “How can you not know who killed you?” Dorothy was skeptical.

  “Whoever did it came up behind me. Imagine the indignity of having your throat cut in a dirty old alley.”

  As we sat at the table to drink the tea, Elsie passed out the chocolate cream cakes.

  I thought about everything that had happened. “Are you sure, Olivia? If you didn’t see the killer, how do you know it wasn’t Brian?”

  “I would’ve known the feeling of him against me.” She smiled dreamily. “I would definitely have known that!”

  “But that was Brian on the riverboat. He threw us overboard. He warned me to stay away from him.”

  “It was absolutely not Brian who killed me, Molly. I don’t know why you think it was.”

  Elsie unwrapped the cake. “Maybe because we saw him leave the shop with you before you died?”

  “You’re just mistaken,” Olivia said. “Trust me, Brian is going to be very angry when he finds out I was killed.”

  “He already knows.” I bit into the cake. “I accused him.”

  “Although I think Cassandra agrees with Olivia about Brian,” Elsie reminded me between bites of cake.

  “So my mother is a witch who has been around me all of my life.” Dorothy took a bite of chocolate cake.

  “Was a witch,” Elsie corrected.

  “And my father is an evil witch, so she had to hide me.” Dorothy wasn’t deterred by Elsie’s assessment. “That is amazing! Does that mean I’ll be evil one day?”

  “That kind of ability isn’t inherited,” I told her. “It’s your mind-set. No doubt your father has been alive for centuries. Some people continue to develop their powers as they grow older, and they become jaded.”

  “Actually,” Olivia explained, “he’s been alive for thousands of years. You are his only offspring, Dorothy. You are heir to his magic abilities.”

  “Unlike Molly and me, whose magic is fading.” Elsie dusted cake crumbs from her hands. “This is a depressing conversation, even with the chocolate cake.”

  “You have a little chocolate mustache just there.” Olivia started to touch the spot under Elsie’s nose.

  “Don’t touch me!” Elsie leaned back in her chair. “It’s unlucky to be touched by a spirit.”

  “What?” Olivia asked. “That’s crazy. One of my favorite lovers of all time was a ghost. He was so special. The things he could do! It was a pity that they exorcised him from that bed-and-breakfast over on Fifth Street.”

  “If a ghost can touch someone,” Dorothy asked, “why did I run
right through you?”

  “Because you have to know how to adjust your magic frequency so you can touch a spiritual being.” Olivia smiled at her. “We have so much to teach you. I’m glad you decided to join us.”

  “Not us.” Elsie snorted. “Me and Molly.”

  “You don’t have to be so mean about it,” Olivia charged. “Can’t you see I’m cut up about the whole thing?”

  Elsie chuckled. “No. I won’t go there. It would be wrong to remind you that you are indeed cut up.”

  “Elsie!” Olivia said sharply. “That was uncalled for.”

  “Like you wouldn’t have said it if our positions were reversed.”

  “Ladies.” I pulled the conversation back from the pit it was falling into. “Let’s not forget what’s important. We have to find Olivia’s killer and then our spell book. Now that we aren’t sure if Brian killed her, we have to ask ourselves who else could have done it.”

  “I don’t know,” Elsie replied sullenly. “I had all my money on Brian.”

  “Elsie’s right,” Dorothy said. “We’ve been so sure it was him. How are we going to figure out who it is?”

  “What about the rogue witch Cassandra was talking about?” I suggested. “I thought maybe that was Brian, but what if it wasn’t?”

  “I need another chocolate cake,” Elsie complained.

  “I think we should start by going along with Joe’s wishes and visiting Olivia’s house to see if we can determine anything else that might have been stolen.” I shrugged and glanced at Elsie to see what she thought of the plan.

  “We were already there,” she reminded me. “It was such a mess, we couldn’t tell anything—except that our spell book was definitely gone.”

  “A mess?” Olivia’s form fluctuated in her distress. “What happened?”

  “Let’s talk about it on the way over there. Dorothy—bring the staff.”

  “What about the man who heard the scream?” Elsie asked with a significant glance at Olivia.

  “We’ll get to him too.”

  Olivia flew out to the car like a red comet.