Almost Charmed Read online

  “Yes, like magic,” I said. “I need to find out who this man is.” I dashed over to the window. “Maybe he’s out here.”

  I looked all around the yard. Still no sign of the ghost.

  Liam checked the other window on the front. “He’s not out front either.”

  Thomas ran to the foyer. “Not out here either.”

  “I should hope not. I’m standing out here,” Monica said.

  “I don’t think he’s going to do anything bad, so don’t worry,” I said.

  Of course, I told her that even though on the inside I was scared too.

  “I’m starting to get a message from him,” Monica said.

  “What’s that?” I asked. “A message from the ghost?”

  “Yes, I think the ghost is giving me a message.”

  “Now we’re talking,” Thomas said, rubbing his hands together.

  “Can you tell me who he is?” I asked.

  “Well, I can’t force him to tell me anything,” Monica said.

  “What is he telling you now?” Liam asked.

  “He’s here because he needs to be reanimated.”

  She looked shocked that she had just relayed that message.

  “Oh, no,” I said, waving my hand. “That’s impossible. Not going to happen.”

  “I agree that’s probably a bad idea,” Liam said.

  “Where did he come from?” Thomas asked.

  “Why would he think that I would reanimate him?” I looked around the room as if I was actually talking to the ghost. “It’s an absolute no. It’s dangerous and will lead to nothing but bad. I’ve tried it before and it never works out.”

  I should’ve known that was why he was here. But where he’d come from was still a mystery. How had he found me? I wanted to know his identity.

  “Wait. I’m getting another message,” Monica said, waving her hands.

  Liam, Thomas, and I stood around with bated breath waiting for her next sentence.

  “He wants to take you somewhere.”

  I scoffed. “He can’t be serious. I’m not going anywhere with a strange ghost.”

  “This could be dangerous,” Liam said.

  He wasn’t helping ease my fears by telling me that. Though I supposed he was just being honest. Ignoring the situation as if it would go away certainly wouldn’t help matters. Pretending as if everything was just peachy would only lead to something bad happening, no doubt. I’d done that in the past and it always had bad consequences.

  “Is there anything else he wants to say?” Thomas asked. “I’m getting a bad vibe, like maybe we should get out of here.”

  “I can’t leave. This is my manor. I’m not going anywhere. The ghost is the one leaving,” I said.

  “Right,” Thomas said.

  He didn’t sound that convinced.

  “What should we do now?” Thomas asked. “How do we make the ghost go away?”

  “That’s a good question,” I said. “I suppose I could do a spell.”

  “What about the spell you already cast? It was supposed to stop anything bad from coming. I’m not sure it worked.”

  I placed my hands on my hips. “Are you questioning my spellcasting abilities?”

  “Of course not, you’re a fantastic witch. The best ever,” he said.

  “Oh, now you’re just being sarcastic. I told you that spell was meant to keep people out. If the evil was already in the manor then the spell was pointless. Now I need to cast one that will take the evil away.”

  “You should’ve done that in the first place,” Thomas said under his breath.

  “You’re being a pain. I should get rid of all the tuna in the house.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Thomas said.

  “Oh, wouldn’t I,” I said.

  “Okay, this is no time for arguing,” Liam said, waving his arms.

  Monica just looked confused and as if she really wanted to leave. “Does the ghost have any other messages?” I asked.

  It was doubtful, but it was worth a shot to ask.

  “Nothing is coming to me right now,” she said. “I’ll let you know as soon as it does. but perhaps I should go now.”

  It seemed as if she’d been in a hurry to get here and now she was in a hurry to get away.

  “Well, thank you for the messages,” I said.

  Chapter 25

  “Okay, I should be going now.” She hurried for the door.

  Liam looked at me as if to say Are you going to let her go? I had no choice. She headed out the door and I raced out onto the porch after her.

  “Can I give you a ride?” I asked.

  “Oh, no, I’ll be fine,” she said.

  “It’s a long way to walk,” I said.

  “Really, I’ll be okay.”

  “Well, at least give me your number in case I need to contact you.”

  Honestly, she was probably wondering why I would want to contact her. We all knew it was for more information. She rattled off her number quickly. How was I supposed to remember that?

  Thomas stood beside me with his phone in his hand. “Don’t worry, I got it.”

  Thank goodness for my familiar. I didn’t say that often. Even with Thomas’ hijinks, he helped when it seemed I needed it the most. I supposed that was what he was here for.

  Liam, Thomas, and I stood on the porch, watching as Monica hurried down the driveway. I couldn’t believe she was going to walk all the way back to her car at the Bubbling Cauldron.

  “Should we let her do that?” I asked.

  “Probably not, but it would be creepy to kidnap her and put her in the car,” Thomas said.

  “Yes, that would be creepy,” I said. “We can follow behind her and make sure nothing happens. I suppose we could do that. Yes, that’s probably for the best. Maybe we can convince her to let us give her a ride.”

  “I’ll drive,” Liam said.

  “All right, let’s go.” I grabbed the keys from inside and locked door behind me.

  I hated to leave things undone at the manor. I still wanted to do the spell that would get rid of the ghost, but I supposed he had been there since earlier and he wasn’t going anywhere soon, so it could wait until we got back.

  By the time we got in the car and down the driveway Monica had already vanished from sight.

  “She must’ve started running,” I said as I buckled my seatbelt.

  Liam was behind the wheel and Thomas was in the backseat of the car. He was leaning forward in the middle.

  “You can’t wear your seatbelt if you lean forward like that,” I said.

  He sighed and leaned back in the seat. “I’ll buckle up just for you.”

  “You’ll thank me if we have an accident. And don’t roll your eyes at me,” I said.

  When we turned out onto that road I didn’t see her.

  “Is she walking in the other direction?” I asked.

  Thomas looked over his shoulder. “I don’t see her.”

  “I don’t see her either.” I peered into the side mirror.

  Of course, it was dark so that might make it harder to see her. How could she have gotten so far? We’d already driven past the neighbor’s driveway. It didn’t take long for the uneasiness to settle in.

  “I’m getting a bad feeling,” I said. “What if something happened to her?”

  “I know! I’ll call her,” Thomas said.

  “Good thinking, Thomas,” I said.

  He touched the phone’s screen and held it up to his ear. “It’s ringing.”

  “I’ll just drive a little bit further down the road,” Liam said. “If she’s not there we’ll turn around.”

  “All right,” I said with hesitation.

  After a few seconds, Thomas ended the call.

  “She didn’t answer?” I asked.

  “Oh, she didn’t answer all right. That’s because she gave the number for the Bubbling Cauldron,” Thomas said.

  “What? She gave us the wrong number? I feel so foolish,” I said.

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nbsp; “Don’t worry, Hallie, it happens to the best of us,” Thomas said. “Haven’t you ever been given the wrong number before?”

  “No, I guess this is the first, but I don’t get many people’s phone numbers unless I know they really want to give the number to me,” I said.

  “Why would she do that?” Liam asked.

  “I don’t know, but for someone who isn’t from Enchantment Pointe and has never been to the Bubbling Cauldron before, how did she have the number memorized so that she could rattle it off that quickly?” I asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Liam said.

  “Something doesn’t add up. We need to find out who she really is and what she’s doing here,” I said.

  “I don’t think she came with a friend,” Thomas said.

  “You’re probably right,” I said.

  He turned the car around and headed back toward the manor. “Should we go back to the Bubbling Cauldron and look for her?” Liam pulled into the driveway.

  “I don’t know. Let me think.” I tapped my fingers against the seat. “I’m not sure what to do. I need to cast the spell to get rid of the ghost here, but I think maybe it’s more important that I find Monica. I’m torn on what I should do. What do you all think?”

  Neither man said a word. Either they didn’t want to answer, or they weren’t sure either.

  After a few seconds, Thomas said, “I think we should go to the Bubbling Cauldron.”

  At the same time, Liam said, “I think we should do the spell here.”

  “Well, you guys aren’t much help,” I said.

  “It’s your decision,” Liam said.

  “All right. Since I won’t do a coin toss to make the decision, I’ll say that we should go back to the Bubbling Cauldron.”

  Liam backed out of the driveway without hesitation and headed toward the Bubbling Cauldron.

  “I don’t know if I feel like going back in there though. I mean, that big guy’s at the door,” I said.

  “Maybe Paul knows Monica and isn’t telling us the whole story,” Thomas said.

  “Why would she give that number if she was trying to hide her connection to the place?” I asked.

  “I’m not so sure she is connected to the place,” Liam said.

  “It does seem odd that she would give the number,” Thomas said. “Maybe she’d just called the Bubbling Cauldron and it was fresh in her mind.”

  “That would be a logical explanation,” I said.

  The more we drove and the more I thought about it, the more I realized maybe there was no reason to go back to the club. But that didn’t explain what had happened to Monica. How had she gotten away so fast? Unless her friend really came to pick her up. I wished I had a way to find her right away. I wanted to ask her all of these questions.

  We arrived back in town. It was now midnight. The witching hour. I should be home tucked in bed at this time of night. Although most people would think that the leader of the Underworld would probably be casting a big spell under the full moon at the witching hour. Not me. I was usually in my jammies after watching an episode of Murder, She Wrote.

  Liam rolled past the club. There were still no parking spaces. The same man was at the door with a line of people stretched along the sidewalk waiting to get in.

  “I can’t believe people are still trying to get in,” I said. “Why don’t they want to go home and get in their warm, cozy, snuggly beds?”

  “Just because you want to be asleep at ten o’clock doesn’t mean everyone else isn’t out having fun,” Thomas said.

  “I have plenty of fun,” I said. “But I have to get up at four AM to get my leader work started so I have an excuse.”

  “What was your excuse before you became the leader of the Underworld?” Thomas asked.

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “I have my ways,” he said with a Cheshire Cat smile.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what those ways were, so I refrained from asking. What else did he know about me?

  “I’ll drive around again and see if I can find a parking space,” Liam said.

  I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.

  As we drove around the block, I happened to glance to my right and noticed a woman walking down the sidewalk.

  “That’s her,” I yelled.

  “Who Monica?” Liam asked looking around me.

  “No, it’s the woman who was talking with Paul. She’s the one who supposedly wants the book. We’ve got to turn around,” I said.

  “Are you sure it’s her?” Thomas asked.

  “I’m not positive, but it looks like her.”

  “I can’t find anywhere to turn around,” Liam said.

  “Can you make a U-turn in the road?” I asked.

  “This is a one-way street,” he said.

  “Oh, then that’s a bad idea. Don’t do that.”

  He made the next left. “We’ll have to go around the block.”

  She could be gone by then. Everyone had a tendency to disappear around here lately. That led me to believe for sure that some kind of magic was being used. Though in Monica’s case it could’ve been that someone had picked her up.

  “I hope she’s still there,” I said anxiously.

  Liam pressed the gas when the light turned green. We were close to the intersection now. We had to go down another block because if not we would’ve had to turn on the one-way street and drive in the opposite direction of where I thought she’d been walking. That would’ve defeated the purpose of turning around. Liam rolled up to the intersection and let off the gas. Thank goodness there were no other cars behind us. It was late and most of the traffic was centered around the Bubbling Cauldron.

  “Do you see her?” Liam asked, leaning forward.

  “I don’t see anyone walking at all.”

  “Should I go ahead and turn left?” he asked.

  “Yes, I think you should, Maybe she’s in one of these buildings along the street,” I said.

  “Everything looks closed though,” Thomas said.

  “That still doesn’t mean she’s not there,” I said.

  Chapter 26

  We drove down the street all the way to the next red light and there was no sign of the woman.

  “Maybe it was just my imagination. Our wishful thinking,” I said.

  “You do have a bit of imagination,” Thomas said.

  My phone alerted me to do something at the manor. I clicked on the link right away.

  “The surveillance camera just went off,’ I said.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked, leaning forward in the backseat again.

  He’d already unbuckled his seatbelt. I scrolled through the phone and got to the screen for the security camera. The ghost walked right across the foyer again.

  “It’s the ghost,” I said.

  “What does that guy want?” Thomas asked.

  “We should just go back to the manor,” Liam said. “We’ll cast a spell and get rid of the guy.”

  I replayed the video again, watching as the man walked across the floor. I stared at his face, trying to recognize him. I couldn’t place ever having seen him before.

  I supposed the best thing to do was to go back in and cast the spell. But I almost didn’t want to get rid of the ghost because then maybe I would never know who he was or why he was there. Did it really matter as long as nothing bad happened? The thought of living with a ghost in the manor gave me the creeps. I knew the ghosts were around, but I never really saw them, so it didn’t bother me as much. Maybe the ghost would leave on his own we he realized that I wouldn’t reanimate anyone. When the light turned green Liam pushed the gas and we headed away from town.

  “Maybe we should drive by the club one more time before we go back to the manor,” I said. “I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling.”

  “It’s that imagination of yours working again,” Thomas said.

  “We’ll do whatever you want,” Liam said. “You tell us what to do.”
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  “She’s good at that too,” Thomas said.

  “You’ve really got it out for me tonight, don’t you?” I asked.

  “No more so than usual,” Thomas said with a smile.

  As we neared the club, I spotted Paul.

  “Look, it’s the new owner.” I pointed.

  “Where is he off to?” Thomas asked suspiciously.

  “Well, I suppose we’ll have to follow him and find out,” Liam sad.

  We drove slowly as Paul walked down the sidewalk. He didn’t look over his shoulder, so I was pretty sure he had no clue we were following him. Actually, we were stalking him. That was a better word for it. If he wasn’t in on this plan to take the book and saw us acting this way he would really think we were weird.

  “I think that’s his car up ahead,” I said.

  Liam pulled over to the side of the street as Paul stopped beside the car. He opened the car door and slipped behind the wheel.

  “Looks as if we might have a hot pursuit now,” I said.

  “The club isn’t even closed yet, why is he leaving early?” Thomas asked.

  “That’s a good question,” I said.

  The taillights on his car lit up and a few seconds later he pulled away from the curb. Liam pushed the gas and merged back onto the street, pulling in behind Paul’s car.

  “I doubt he’ll recognize your vehicle, so he’ll never know we’re following him.”

  “Even if he does we have a legitimate reason, don’t you think?” Liam asked.

  “I suppose so, although it will probably seem weird if he hasn’t done anything wrong. He might not want to stay at the manor,” I said.

  “We need to find out more about this guy. Did you Google his name?” Liam asked.

  “I did,” Thomas said from the backseat.

  Of course he had.

  “I didn’t find anything about him.” Thomas’ voice was full of suspicion.

  “Nothing at all?” I asked.

  “The fact that there’s nothing at all is reason for suspicion right there,” Liam said.

  Liam was starting to sound like Thomas.

  “Just because he doesn’t have a social media presence doesn’t mean he’s a criminal,” I said.

  “No, I suppose you’re right,” Liam said.

  After all Liam wasn’t online either.