02 Ghouls Night Out - Larue Donavan Read online

  When I drove by Mindy’s, her car wasn’t in the drive and she didn’t answer the door. She still wasn’t answering her phone. I was beginning to worry. I decided to open Book Nook and talk with Callahan. If I didn’t find Mindy by then, I’d panic.

  After a few minutes’ drive, the ghosts and I pulled up in front of Book Nook. On top of my priorities list: talk with Callahan. There was no reason for him to be upset with me, especially now that Anthony was gone. With any luck, anything that Cooper had done to him was gone too.

  No lights shone from his shop, which was odd considering the bulk of his business was at this hour. He was always open during this time of day. A tinge of worry formed in the pit of my stomach. Nothing could be wrong, I reminded myself. But what if…what if he was in an accident. No, no. I had to calm down. Nothing was wrong.

  No sooner had the thought entered my mind than I realized that he, in fact, wasn't in an accident. Callahan stood on the sidewalk across the street with Mindy and Becky. The three of them were sipping coffee, as if the best of friends, laughing and having a great time. From the looks of things, Mindy was still under a spell. And Callahan, too. Becky gestured with her hand and Mindy moved forward, her motions like a robot. She looked my way. I knew she noticed me, but her eyes were black. The same color as Callahan’s. They were under a trance—a zombie-like state. What I saw in their eyes sent a chill through my body. The lights were on, but no one was home. Becky smiled as she watched them; she hadn’t noticed me…yet.

  What should I do? I needed Karyn. But since no one even knew what was wrong with her, that wasn’t happening. It seemed odd that she’d fallen ill so suddenly.

  “Hey, guys. Look at them. Callahan and Mindy are under a trance and I’d bet my last blueberry doughnut that Becky is involved. What if she’s in cahoots with Cooper?” Another terrible thought hit me. “You don't think Cooper or Becky could have had anything to do with Karyn's sudden illness, do you?”

  “It's possible. Anything’s possible,” a familiar male voice said.

  Anthony popped up in the backseat beside Mae.

  “You like that little trick?” He smiled brightly.

  “So much for you being a great medium,” Mae quipped.

  “Dang it all, why are you back, you dirty rotten scoundrel?” Seth asked Anthony.

  “Calm down, Seth.” I looked at Anthony through the rearview mirror. “You went into the light. Why are you here?”

  “It’s a neat little trick. I decided I wasn’t ready after all. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Oh, for the love of ghost hunting, I am fine. Move on, ghost, move on.” I gestured with my hands. If only I could really push him over to the other side.

  I let out a deep breath. “Looks as if I’m stuck with you, huh?”

  “Looks that way.” He smiled.

  I felt a headache coming on.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “Fine. I can’t worry about you right now. Back to what I was saying about Karyn, before I was so rudely interrupted.” I glared at Anthony. “What will we do if Karyn has had a spell cast on her, too? If we couldn't break the spell on Mindy, I know we can't break one on the leader of the coven. This is serious.”

  “Who's above Karyn? There has to be a leader above her,” Anthony said.

  “I have no idea, but I intend to find out, and right away. There’s no time to waste.”

  “I could use the smell of coffee before we get started on a mystery hunt.” Mae wiggled her eyebrows.

  “Well, the coffee shop is closed. That's part of the mystery,” I said.

  “You need to save him and your friend.” Mae leaned forward from the backseat.

  “I need to save him yet again.” I sighed. “I thought the last time would be it.”

  “Is the guy really worth all this trouble?” Anthony asked as he shot Seth a look.

  “He's alive,” Mae said. “Of course he's worth the trouble. Even if she never spoke to him again.”

  “He's my grandson, and he's worth the trouble. And she’ll speak to him again. Things will work out.” Seth gave Mae a worried look.

  “Sorry,” Mae said, while giving Seth a pat on the leg. He beamed with her touch. Lovebirds.

  I hopped out from behind the wheel, almost tripping over the curb as I watched the scene across the street. I had half a mind to go over there and tell them what I thought was going on but, at this point, I had no idea what Becky might do to me. She could turn me into a stone statue or something, for all I knew. I had to call Dixie and ask her what the next step might be.

  After fumbling with the front door, I ran in and tossed my purse down on the counter. I dumped the contents, looking for my cell phone. No time to be neat and orderly. I grabbed it and scrolled through the numbers until I found Dixie’s.

  “I said I’m not interested in a magazine subscription,” she said after answering on the first ring. A baby cried in the background.

  “Um, I'm sorry for bothering you this early, Dixie, but we have a huge problem. The spell didn't work. I think Becky’s involved.”

  “I was afraid of that.” She let out a deep breath, audible through the phone. “I’ve had suspicions about Becky, that’s why I didn’t invite her to the woods with us, but I didn’t want to accuse her of anything. What makes you think she’s involved?”

  “Mindy and Callahan have the look in their eyes. After seeing Callahan before, I know that look. Becky knows that look, too. She seems happy that they’re that way.”

  “Becky's powerful. Her power rivals Karyn's.”

  “But Karyn didn’t think Becky was a strong enough witch to be leader. How could her power rival Karyn’s?”

  “No, she knew how powerful Becky is, but she knew she couldn’t be the leader. Karyn was getting ready to ask Becky to leave the coven.”

  “I didn’t know. But it makes sense now. I wish someone had told me this. So what do we do? Do you have any idea where we go from here?”

  “We can try to contact the coven leader for this entire region.”

  “Is this like government? How many areas and leaders are there?”

  “A bunch. Each area in the state has one, and then one for the entire state. One for the region, and so on.”

  “Is there like a president?”

  “Yes, but I can't contact her without first going through the chain of command.”

  “How soon can we do this?” I peered out the window at Becky and her two new companions.

  “I'll call right away, then call you back,” she said.

  I hung up, unsure about what she'd told me, and if it would really do any good. I had to trust her; she was all I had at this point. I walked back to the door and looked out just as Callahan made his way across the street. He didn't even look my way. Just like old times. I wanted so badly to talk to him. I needed to. But if he was under a spell, I knew it would be pointless. I had learned that the hard way last time.

  After about thirty minutes of pacing, my phone rang. I hurried and retrieved it from my pants pocket. Dixie's number showed across the screen.

  “I made the call. She'll be on her way as soon as possible,” Dixie said as soon as I answered.

  “How long will it take her to get here? What will she do?” I continued pacing between the bookshelves.

  “You’re going to make a hole in the floor,” Mae said.

  I ignored her comment and continued my trek.

  “I’m not sure how long it’ll take her, Larue. But trust that she knows what she's doing. She'll probably be here right after lunchtime. Try not to worry until then. I don't think Becky will do any more harm before the leader gets here.”

  “That's the thing. She has Callahan now, too. Who knows what she’ll do next.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Yes, exactly. And another thing, did you ever think that maybe Karyn's illness has anything to do with Becky?”

  “Just stay put. I'll come over as soon as I can. You shouldn’t be alone. Sounds as if she's
ramping up her plan, and we don't know what that plan involves.”

  “Thanks for everything, Dixie. I'll be here waiting.”

  My gang of ghosts stood beside me when I hung up the phone.

  “Do you want us to go spy on them? See what they’re talking about?”

  Anthony stepped closer. “Does a bear sh—.”

  “Okay. Okay.” I waved off Anthony’s words. “I know the rest of that saying. I knew I could count on you guys.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “So you’ll just poof in on Becky. Listen in, and poof right back. Easy as pie,” I said.

  “Says the woman who isn’t a ghost,” Mae quipped.

  “Quick guys, here comes a customer. I don't want them to see me talking to y'all.”

  They nodded and poof…they were gone.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” I greeted the middle-aged woman who’d just entered the store.

  Instead of tending to my customer, my thoughts wandered to what was happening next door. I didn’t want to help the woman with a book—I wanted to watch the goings-on at Full Cup and across the street. Bad bookstore owner but, under the current conditions, I couldn’t help myself. Maybe the customer wouldn't take long. I’d recommend a couple books and she could scram. Under normal circumstances, I loved chatting with customers, but not now. Although now that I thought of it, how often did I ever experience normal circumstances?

  “Can I help you find something?” My words were rushed, as I eyed the front door, longing to be near it and watching the action. What would Seth and Mae hear or see? I wouldn't put it past Mae to really let Becky have it if she saw her. What exactly it was, I didn’t know.

  “Oh, dear. I’m in the mood for a really good read.”

  This lady had no idea what she wanted.

  “I'm just browsing, I guess.” She shrugged.

  Ugh. I almost wanted to tell her we were closing soon and that she'd have to make it snappy. But I needed the business, so I didn't. Leaving her alone to browse, I moved back to the counter and tried to busy myself while I waited. Paperwork needed to be finished, but my heart wasn’t in it.

  I perused through a catalog. The woman had planted herself in front of the toasty fireplace with a book. Did she think this was her living room, for heaven's sake? She leafed through the pages and I guess she felt my eyes on her, because she glanced up and caught me staring at her. I gave a half-hearted smile.

  “Is it okay if I sit here?” she asked.

  “Oh, of course, by all means,” I said through a gritted smile. Okay, I needed to behave. Nobody likes a rude business owner. It wasn’t her fault I was in a paranormal pickle.

  She continued reading and picked up a cookie from the table beside her. I always had cookies and coffee available for customers to make them feel at home. It was my fault she was acting as if she was in her own living room. I needed to reconsider my hospitality offerings.

  After about twenty minutes, Mae and Seth returned. Smiles spread across their faces from ear to ear, so I knew they'd been naughty little ghouls. When I finally thought I couldn’t handle it any longer, the woman set the book down and made her way toward the door.

  “Thanks,” I called after her.

  “You're welcome,” she said flatly, as she walked out the door.

  She didn't even buy anything. After all that, she left empty-handed. And she didn't even thank me for the cookies.

  As soon as the bell tinkled and the door shut, I blurted out. “So what happened?”

  They laughed. “We really freaked Becky out. Mindy was there, and they were making plans to take a vacation to Las Vegas.”

  Damn it. I wanted to go to Las Vegas. Mindy and I had discussed it.

  “So what else?”

  Becky was telling Mindy that she thought Callahan liked her. She said that he deserved better than the likes of you. We didn't do anything until Mindy left because we didn't want her to realize ghosts were around. She would have ratted you out and told Becky you sent us.”

  “Well, I did, but that was good thinking. But I’m not sure Mindy would have realized. She’s not herself right now.”

  “After Mindy left, Becky got in her car and pulled out this big old book. It had the word ‘Spells’ written across the front. She was at the love spells section.” Seth propped his elbow on the counter.

  “Could she be working a love spell? What am I saying? Obviously she is. Why else would she be looking at love spells?”

  “She had another book, too, darlin’. A dark leather one. It looked older than me. And that’s pretty darn old. The pages were yellowed and the binding was wrinkled. She flipped to the section on illness or, more specifically, bringing illness to enemies.”

  “What! I knew she was behind the illness with Karyn.”

  “This is a very ugly thing, Larue. I think she is very evil Why she’s doing this, I have no idea,” Seth said

  “I don’t know why either, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Karyn wanted me as the coven leader. I can't wait to tell Dixie what you guys saw. This explains a lot. But now we need to fix it.”

  “Is it fixable?” Seth asked.

  “I don't know,” I said with a worried frown.

  Seth returned my expression. “I don’t want Callahan to go through that again. I wish I had more energy to stop her. I wish I were still alive.”

  “Isn't there something you can do right now to prevent what these people are doing?” Mae asked.

  “Not without the coven leader. I'm not a witch, in spite of what Karyn thinks. I don't possess their powers. She may want me to be the leader, but I’m still clueless. I’m just a paranormal investigator who happens to talk to a few ghosts. Okay, a lot of ghosts, but whatever. My point is that without the power, my spells are useless, as evidenced from the last time I tried to perform a spell without Karyn’s help. It went horribly wrong, don’t you think?”

  “That’s not what Karyn told you before. Don’t think we weren’t paying attention. We’re dead, not deaf. She said you have natural talent,” Anthony said.

  I bit my lower lip and considered his words, but didn’t answer.

  “At least you tried, and I know Callahan is grateful for that. My grandson is a lot like me, he can be stubborn and not levelheaded at times. He should have asked you about the situation before he just assumed.”

  “Well, in his defense, he did ask the first time. I tried to smooth away the things going on, but I guess I didn't do a good job of convincing him. I should have told him the truth, no matter the circumstances and outcome.”

  “You may be surprised at his willingness to understand. After all, he agreed to go with you on one of your paranormal ghost things. That’s what you call it, right?”

  I grinned. “Yeah, that’s close enough.”

  “You need to give him more credit.” He patted my hand, but I didn’t feel his touch like I felt Anthony’s.

  “You're right. I do, and I will tell him. The truth. All of it. As soon as the situation with Becky and Cooper is over. If it’s ever over. I have this ominous feeling that things are going to get really bad. I fear for Karyn. I don't know what Becky and Cooper will do next.”

  “Will she murder Karyn?” Mae’s big eyes grew wider.

  “I can't stand the thought that we're not able to stop her from doing that.”

  “You know you have our support, anything we can do to help,” Seth said.

  The offer was sweet, but they couldn't help much, other than spy for me. Which was a huge help, mind you. Look what they'd found out about Karyn. At least now, I had answers. I knew what was going on. Although, I'd suspected it, they’d confirmed it for me.

  “Thanks for everything, guys. You all have been wonderful friends. I haven’t helped y’all enough. Mae, you were going to tell me why you're hanging around, but with my problems, I never listened. I know why Seth is still in this dimension, he wants to help his grandson, but what about you? And I want the real answer.”


  “Well, I wanted to help Anthony. He really was in bad shape. But I was never able to do what you did for him. Now, I just want to see what happens with you, and I kind of like talking to Seth here.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

  “So you guys are leaving when this is over?” I asked.

  “It’s our time.” Seth smiled.

  “I’ll miss you.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  An anxious three hours passed. The flood of customers helped me pass the time. I’d advertised a coupon in the paper. It had worked just when I needed it most. Having the distraction helped until the regional coven leader could show up. Between customers, I'd peered out the window looking for any sign of the coven leader, Mindy, Callahan, Cooper, or Becky. One time, I noticed Cooper at the window of his innocent-looking boutique, staring in my general direction. Tiny shivers climbed up my back. Such a deceiving little shop with its fashionable mannequins posed in the window and chic sign above the door. A store that looked so innocent really housed something incredibly mean.

  Had I seen evil in his eyes? Why had such darkness descended on Magnolia? I couldn’t help but think I was somehow responsible. Had all my ghost hunting unleashed an evil presence that had attracted malevolence to the town? Becky had blamed a demon. Maybe somehow she was right. I prayed that wasn't the case.

  A blue sedan came to a screeching halt in front of the store. The wheels had barely stopped spinning when a woman jumped out. I noticed her black heels first. I followed them up her long legs to her long dark hair and elegant face. She wore a long flowing dress, something I wasn't sure if I could pull off with my height.

  She yanked Book Nook’s door open and hurried over to the counter.

  “Larue?” she asked.