A Witch's Path Read online

  "What happened?" Amber asked.

  Tiffany sighed, staring into her drink. "This lady came to me last week. She told me she thought her husband was cheating on her. We talked, and I outlined what I normally do and how I give her the evidence. When we started to talk price she broke down. One of her friends had recommended me, but she didn't have the money to pay my fee. I asked why this was so important to her, and why she didn't ask her husband what he was doing.

  "She slipped off her wig, showing a head with the tiniest fuzz of hair growing back. To pay for her cancer treatments they'd had to sell their house, along with almost everything else they valued. He'd been with her for years of ups and downs. The past few months were the first time she'd been cancer free in five years. With tears in her eyes she told me she couldn't even blame him for cheating. All she'd been was a burden for the past few years.

  "Since I'm not a heartless monster, and I didn't need her money, I told her I'd see what I could find. Two days later I had her come back to my office. She was shaking like a leaf. I spread out the pictures, showing her husband bussing tables at a bar. After he got off, I talked to him. He'd taken the job to save up extra money so they could have a vacation get away, just the two of them. Crying, he told me how much he wanted to provide for his wife, but with the way things had been going they didn't have the money for a trip."

  "Did you tell her about the trip?" Amber asked, wiping tears for her eyes.

  Tiffany glared at her. "Of course not! She called me yesterday to thank me. He told her what he'd been doing, and why. In a few weeks they're going to a resort in Florida for a week of pampering."

  I dabbed a few tears from my eyes. "And you complain that all you ever deal with are cheating spouses who erode your faith in humanity."

  She shrugged one shoulder. "It's nice to be surprised once in a while."

  "Michelle, you haven't told us what's new with you," Amber said.

  I paused while the waiter handed out our food. "I finished the report on the troll incident for the police."

  "How are you doing?" Tiffany said.

  "Good. I'm glad to put it behind me. It was so stressful, and things spiraled out of control. I've finally gotten a grip on my life. None of the police cases have been out of the ordinary lately, Elron has been a good neighbor, and the new family dynamic is going as well as can be expected."

  "Are you sure? Anything you want to talk about?" Amber asked.

  "I'm doing good. Things have been good. As soon as the last of the scary memories fade, I'll be my old self. Now, is there anyone new in your life, Tiffany?" I'd been over the events a hundred times. Forgetting them was the best medicine I'd found.

  "Always, it's part of being a private investigator."

  "Any love interest?" I asked.

  "Well, I've talked to this one guy a few times while getting coffee. He seems nice, but even with my new faith in love, I'm off guys."

  "Are you sure? You never know where you'll find a great guy." Amber said.

  "I might see if it goes anywhere, but I'm not going to push things."

  "As long as you keep your eyes open. We don't want you to miss out because you're a cynic," Amber finished.

  We chatted while we finished eating. As soon as Amber cleaned her plate she asked, "Now, who wants dessert?"

  "Me," I said.

  "Me too," said Tiffany.

  I flagged down the waiter so we could order. "Could I get the chocolate lava cake?"

  Amber looked up from the menu, "Can I get the Boston Cream Pie?"

  "And I'll have the chocolate mint, ice-cream cookie," Tiffany said.

  The waiter repeated our order to us and hurried off.

  "I'm off to the girl's room. Do either of you want to come?" Tiffany asked.

  Amber declined, and I shook my head. My bladder could wait; I wanted to talk to her about the stalker. As soon as Tiffany was out of earshot, I turned on Amber. "Do you still think you're being followed?"

  "Yes." She fiddled with her napkin before looking at me. "The car followed me here, but continued down the road after I turned into the parking lot."

  "And?" I prompted.

  Amber squirmed in her seat before answering. "I've started getting odd phone calls. A blocked number keeps calling me and hanging up as soon as I answer."

  "You have to talk to the police."

  "No. They won't be able to do anything. I'm sure it'll go away soon."

  "What if it doesn't go away, Amber?" I asked.

  She bit her lip. "I'm sure it's nothing."

  "It sounds like you're being stalked and should talk to the police." Amber shook her head. "What if I go with you?"

  Amber hissed," Let it go. Tiffany is coming back. Not a word, Michelle, I mean it."

  "Did I miss anything?" Tiffany asked as she sat down.

  I forced a smile, "Nope. We were just debating how many ice storms we'd get this winter."

  Before Tiffany could ask any more questions dessert arrived and we moved on to other topics.

  After we finished eating and talking, I headed home. Amber was worrying me. She needed to go to the police, but I couldn't make her. For once, I'd like to be wrong and have it turn out to be nothing, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be that simple.

  At home, I settled into a relaxing bath. It had been a long day, and lounging in a bath was sure to relax the tight muscles in my back. Sliding into bed, I hoped my annoying neighbor wouldn't haunt my dreams. Sure, Elron was easy on the eyes, with silver hair, and the pointed elven ears, but he was also rude and annoying. These days I dreamt of him more often than not. I wanted to know why he was in my dreams. For a witch dreams were never as simple as the musings of the subconscious come to life. They could be a glimpse of the future, warnings of events to come, or even meetings between spirits.

  I was tired enough that even Amber's stalker couldn't keep me awake. Morning arrived quickly, with the sun peaking though my windows. The night had been refreshing, and without any dreams of Elron. Walking to the bathroom something caught my eye. There was a strange glint coming from my window.

  "It's not over," was written in what looked like blood, oozing down the outside of my window.

  *******

  I screamed, scrambling backwards. Something had found me; something related to the last case. Footsteps sounded on the floor — it was coming for me. The door to my apartment opened, but I didn't hear it close. Frantically, I looked around, trying to find a good place to hide.

  "Michelle? Are you ok? Let me past these guards." It was the Narzel blessed elf, coming to my rescue after hearing my screams.

  After an unfortunate incident with a lusty satyr, I'd acquired two stone lions to guard my bedroom door. They were under orders to detain anyone who tried entering without permission. Elron had been allowed in before, but he didn't have a lasting permission.

  "Let him in," I yelled.

  Elron, all silver hair and muscles, rushed into my room. He wasn't wearing a shirt, leaving his six-pack in clear view. It was a shame I couldn't properly appreciate the muscles right now. Halting, he looked around, trying to find the danger. When he spied the window, his lips pursed and he scooped me off the floor, carrying me to the living room.

  I peered over his shoulder at the red letters scrawled across my window.

  "You don't need to look at the writing right now."

  "What?" I sputtered. "It's on my window. As soon as I calm down I need to examine it and figure out who left it there."

  "Since whatever left it there managed to bend Landa's wards enough to write on the lodge, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

  "As soon as I calm down I can look at it." He glared at me and I dropped my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him. I didn't want to admit that I needed to wait for the shaking to stop. Knowing a mysterious entity wanted to harm you wasn't the same as having it scribbled on your window. I'd thought the wards I'd placed on my rooms, coupled with the ones Landa had on the lodge, would prevent anything from harming
me while I was on these grounds.

  "Landa will be here in a moment." A pulse of elven magic flowed across the wooden floor, rippling through the building. "I'd have you tell me what happened, but I can guess, and Landa will want to know when she arrives."

  With that, he strode over to my kitchen, muttering as he rifled through the cabinets. Once, when he didn't think I was looking, he glared at me, clearly dissatisfied with the contents of my kitchen. The quiet clatter was comforting. If the big, bad mystery monster came for me I wouldn't be alone. A few minutes passed before my front door opened as Landa and Mander arrived.

  Elron returned with a cup in his hand. "Here," he handed it to me. "This is the best calming tea I could make considering your limited selection."

  "The selection isn't limited; it leans in the energy building direction."

  "It's limited."

  "Children," Landa scolded. "As fun as this is, I want to know why Elron called me to your room, and why you look white as fresh snow."

  Sighing, I told the story. "I woke up, got out of bed, thought I saw something funny, and looked around. That's when I saw the writing on my window. It said, 'It's not over.' Elron must have heard me scream, because he ran over, looked at the window, and helped me to the living room. You can look at the writing."

  Without saying a word Landa and Mander walked into my bedroom. My door guardians knew the brownies were allowed, and let them pass without incident. I sipped the tea, trying to stop my shaking so I didn't spill. After studying me for a moment, Elron followed the brownies. If they said anything I couldn't hear it, but it was a solid five minutes before they returned. By the time they returned the tea had started to kick in, my pulse was normal, and the shaking was almost gone.

  "Well, what do you think?" It was annoying that they got to examine the creepy writing on my window before me.

  "I think I'll be getting some of the other fey to help boost my wards. That said, I don't think whoever did the graffiti wanted to break into the lodge or hurt you. The wards should've prevented someone with those intentions," Landa said through clenched teeth.

  "What bothers me the most is their knowledge of this place. They didn't write on any window, or on any window in your apartment, but on your bedroom window. I didn't feel any magic about the writing, which makes me think someone watched the lodge, and physically wrote the words. From the look of them, shortly before you awakened," Mander growled.

  Elron shrugged. "My magic isn't the type to read the words or glass, but the forest was very unhappy with the visitor. Later, I will communicate with it. Perhaps I can determine if this was a one time visitor and persuade the forest to protect the lodge."

  "Wait. . . What you're telling me is that you can't tell who, or what, wrote on my window? I'm going to look at it." I marched into my bedroom and over to the window. The oozing red letters were as scary as they'd been the first time I saw them.

  It wasn't the phrase. 'It's not over' could mean lots of things. It was the way the letters oozed down the window. I had pictures of the jail cell where the sorceress who'd helped the trolls was murdered, and it had this phrase written in blood on the wall. Whatever had killed the sorceress was after me.

  I carefully touched my magic to the glass. When nothing happened, I focused on the letters. They didn't pull at my magic, activate a spell, or anything. There was nothing for my magic to find because there was nothing magical about the words; it was paint.

  With a sigh, I gave up and headed back to the kitchen. Looking at the three worried faces I knew this wasn't a job for us, but for the police. "I'm calling Rodriguez. I want the police to fingerprint and document the warning."

  "Make the call, dear, perhaps they can find something our magic can't. We will be downstairs if you need us." Landa and Mander gave me hugs as they left, and Elron tugged on a lock of my hair.

  Before he closed the door he added, "There's more tea in the pot."

  I picked my phone up off the nightstand, wanting to put this mess behind me as quickly as possible.

  "Rodriguez."

  "It's Michelle. Someone crept up to my window last night and left a nasty message. Could you come out with a crime scene tech? I'd like it dusted for fingerprints, and photographed. It looks like it might be related to the troll case."

  "Are you ok?"

  "Yup, I'm great," I said sarcastically. "I love knowing someone peeked through my window while I was asleep."

  "I'll be over in thirty minutes."

  "Thank you." I hung up the phone, retrieved clothes, and hustled to the bathroom. I wanted to take a quick shower and grab some food before they arrived. Fifteen minutes later, I was out of the shower, dressed, and headed down to the dining room.

  The side bar was mostly bare, but there were baskets of muffins and fruit. I stuck two blueberry muffins, and several strawberries on a plate before setting it next to my tea. From a rack on the wall, I selected a gardening magazine. I flipped through the pages, looking at pictures of gardens in full bloom, while I ate. Two police cars parked in front of the lodge as I popped the last strawberry in my mouth.

  I walked out to greet them. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

  "Not a problem. We take care of our own," Rodriguez answered. "Let me introduce Burke, and Links." Burke was a tall blond woman, and Links was shorter, with spiky red hair.

  "Thank you, Rodriguez, and thank you, ladies."

  "Ha, you're doing us a favor. The other option this morning was a house that looked like it had been vandalized by a group of teens," Burke answered.

  "We did one last week, and aren't in any hurry to see another." Links shuddered. "It smelled like an outhouse, and was equally unsanitary."

  "Could you show us to the outside of the window? While they collect evidence, you can walk me though what happened," Rodriguez said.

  "Sure, it will be easier to walk through the lodge." They followed me through the building, out the back door to the garden, and around to my bedroom window.

  "I'm impressed, most criminals don't remember that they need to write backwards for the person on the other side of the window to read it," Links said.

  I cocked my head to the side. "The lettering is rather tidy for writing backwards. I don't know if I could have done as well." Sure, a few of the letters were lopsided, but none of them were backwards or indistinguishable.

  Rodriguez shook his head, and tried to suppress a smile. "I'll add that to my report."

  "Enough lollygagging," Burke said. "This was a nasty morning surprise, but it shouldn't take us long to collect the evidence."

  "Thank you," I said.

  "No problem. Now, off with the two of you. You don't need to stand here and watch us." Burke waved Rodriguez and me away.

  Back in my living room, I talked Rodriguez through the events, telling him exactly what I'd told Landa, Mander, and Elron.

  "Can you add times? I know you called me at six fifty-five."

  "Well, I got up around six thirty, and Elron was here immediately. Landa and Mander arrived a few minutes later. The three of them examined the room for a sold five minutes, I looked at it, and we talked until shortly before I called you. After that, I took a shower and grabbed breakfast downstairs."

  "You said you didn't feel any magical residue. Do you mind if I check?"

  "Go for it." I watched as he focused and brushed power over the window.

  Rodriguez opened his eyes, "Nothing. Could you track the person who did the writing?"

  "I haven't done a thorough examination yet, but I didn't feel anything but the paint. Unless Links and Burke find something with a stronger connection to the perpetrator, I'm useless."

  Rodriguez nodded, "I'll let you know if they find anything we can use. Do you mind if I talk to the others and hear their side of the story?"

  "No, not at all." I led Rodriguez out of my apartment, where we met Links and Burke.

  "How'd it go?" Rodriguez asked.

  "Not great. We found partial fingerprints and we'll run
them, but I don't expect much. We also found shoe impressions, but nothing unique enough to identify the person from the shoes. Back at the lab, we'll be able to find size and make, but I'm guessing it's a guy from the size. If you don't needs us, we'll head back and send this stuff off for processing," Burke said.

  Rodriguez answered, "We should be fine. Thank you."

  I shook their hands, "Thank you, really."

  "Part of the job. We'll let you know if we get any results." With a wave, the two of them hurried back to their car.

  "It looks like we're relying on forensics for this one," Rodriguez grumbled.

  I shrugged. "Hopefully they can match the fingerprints to someone."

  "I'm sorry about this, Michelle."

  "It's not your fault, unless you painted my window." I said.

  "Nope, sorry. I was snuggled against a nice catholic girl this morning."

  "Figures, at least you had a good night, and a pretty sight in the morning."

  "Yup, If I'm lucky I'll see her again tonight," Rodriguez grinned.

  "What does your mom think about this?" I asked.

  "What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, she'll be thrilled I'm dating a catholic, even if we're living in sin," he chuckled.

  "Be nice to that mom of yours. She's in good with God."

  "Yes, she is. You know, you never told me. What do witches believe?"

  "We're a bit like humans, believing in different things. Generally, we honor the moon, as the source of female power, the earth as the mother, and the sun as the father. We recognize and respect other's belief systems, and some witches practice more than one. To some people, it's less of a religion and more of an acknowledgment of energy and spiritual connections."

  "Do witches have a religion?" Rodriguez asked.

  "Everyone has their own beliefs. I don't think I'm the best witch to ask since I don't have a clan and haven't spent much time around other witches." I looked in the dining room, but didn't see anyone. "Let's try the parlor."

  "Thank you," Rodriguez said. "I've been curious about that for a while."

  "No problem. Here they are." We found Landa, Mander, and Elron having tea and muffins in the parlor.