Once Upon a Charmed Time Page 8

  “Was it the one who was just here? Niwde? Was he angry?”

  “I don’t know who it is,” she said. “I don’t know if he did this or if it was someone else.”

  Her expression had changed. She looked positively terrified. I really had no idea what to make of this whole event.

  “I think it’s time that we end the session,” she said.

  The spirit had ended it for us, but I didn’t tell her that. She said a few words to close out our séance and then stood from the chair. She straightened her hair and clothing after the incident had left her disheveled a bit.

  “I’ll see you to the door,” she said.

  I stood from the chair. Nicolas and Liam followed me out of the room. She was right behind us, as if making sure that we got out of there.

  Before I walked out the door, I said, “How much do I owe you?”

  “There’s no charge. Just do me a favor and don’t come back.”

  This was a strange turn of events.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “I’m positive,” she said, closing the door in my face.

  “I guess this is our hint that we should leave,” I said.

  “Looks that way,” Liam said.

  She’d already locked the door, making it final. I heard her from the other side. She was letting me know she didn’t have anything else to say.

  We stepped off the porch and headed across the path to the car. I glanced back and noticed she was watching us from the window.

  When we got into the car, I said, “What was that all about?”

  Liam started the car. She was still watching us as we pulled away.

  “I don’t know. She was probably just making up stuff,” Liam said.

  At least he was trying to make me feel better about this, but I knew the truth. They were questioning the whole experience just as much as I was. There was no telling what else would have happened if she had continued.

  I was disappointed that Dalton hadn’t shown up, but at least no one else had come there looking for us.

  “You ever heard of that name? Niwde?” I asked.

  Liam and Nicholas shook their heads “No, never.”

  “What do you think about what she said?” I asked.

  “I suppose we have to take it somewhat seriously,” Nicolas said.

  Chapter 17

  Victoria picked up my call on the first ring. “I’ve been worried about you all. Anything new?”

  “Do you know a man named Dalton Andrews?” I asked.

  She paused at me for a moment. “No, the name doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “He said he was a witch,” I said. “He’s actually missing now.”

  “That’s strange. I can definitely look it up and see if there’s anyone in our coven by that name, but I would think that I’d recognize the name. Although I suppose I don’t know all of the witches. I try to keep up on that, but it’s a lot.”

  Right now I wouldn’t share the part about finding him in the basement. I felt it was important to keep some things about the investigation private.

  “That’s completely understandable,” I said.

  “Is there anything else I can do?” Victoria asked.

  “Is there a place where the witches meet up and I could observe what’s going on with their spells? Is there like a coven meeting coming up soon?” I asked.

  “No, we don’t have a meeting for another couple weeks, but there is a club where everyone goes. A lot of people will be there so maybe you could talk to some of them there if you’d like to check that out.”

  “Well, I’m not exactly in the mood for dancing, but that doesn’t mean I have to go there for that reason.”

  Obviously I would go and talk to the people, maybe get some clues as to what was going on around here.

  “So when should we go?” Liam asked.

  I knew he was excited about going to any club. Liam was a party animal. I relayed the message to Victoria.

  “We could go tonight,” she said. “It probably won’t be crowded until about eleven or so. If that’s okay with you.”

  It was okay, but why did it have be eleven o’clock? I should be in bed at that time with a good book, cup of tea, warm blanket, and the cat curled up at my feet. Only that was back at LaVeau Manor. The manor… I wondered what was going on there now.

  Anyway, I was getting too old for this. Okay, I was still in my thirties, but nonetheless, I was getting too old for the club scene. I’d known I’d packed my little black dress and heels for a reason. Sadly, I’d thought I’d wear the dress on a romantic evening out with Nicolas. Had I forgotten this trip was strictly business?

  After going back to the hotel, I slipped into the dress and put on a little bit of makeup. After putting on some lip gloss and a spritz of perfume, I headed for the door. Nicolas and Liam were waiting at the door when Victoria arrived. It was about ten thirty. I was already yawning even though I had taken a quick nap for about an hour earlier in the evening. Liam and Nicolas looked hot as usual, wearing black pants with a white shirt and blue shirt respectively.

  Victoria was driving her car, so we had much more room on the ride over. We pulled up to the valet parking at the club. The place looked much bigger than the Bubbling Cauldron back in Enchantment Pointe, but we were in a huge city so that made sense. We got out and left the car with the valet then headed for the door. There was a line to get in of course, but when they saw Victoria they waved us on through. I wasn’t sure anyone even was aware that I was the leader of the Underworld. We followed Victoria through the dark hallway. I sure hoped she knew where she was headed. Though I could hear the pulsating music in the distance.

  Soon we reached the double doors. Two guys were standing next to them like soldiers. They opened the doors wide for us so that we could walk right through. The dance floor was straight ahead, and it was packed full of bodies. There wasn’t room for one more. There was no way I would go out there. Wasn’t this a fire hazard? I’d never seen this many people on a dance floor.

  The music pulsated while people danced. Around the edges of the club were tables and booths and at each one was a cauldron. As far as I could tell there wasn’t a huge cauldron in the middle of the dance floor like at the Bubbling Cauldron. The smaller versions by each table were kind of cool. At Enchantment Pointe we had a no-spells policy for the club. If everybody was doing magic that could turn bad quickly. Maybe that was what happened here. Too many people doing magic all at once. They needed to slow that stuff down.

  “I’ll go get us some drinks,” Victoria said, leaving us standing on the outer edge of the dance floor.

  Drinks weren’t needed, but if she wanted to go, then I wouldn’t stop her. I was a little bit overwhelmed and lost in the sea of witches. There were no available seats, so we would just have to stand. I was pretty sure that no one there recognized me, but that was just the way I liked it.

  “I would ask you to dance, but…” Nicolas said, motioning toward the floor.

  “Yeah, well, it’s just as well,” I said. “Maybe we can work our way around and start talking to some people.”

  Though the music was so loud I didn’t know how anyone would ever hear us. I was screaming in Nicolas’ ear and he still couldn’t hear me. As soon as Victoria returned with our drinks then we would make some kind of plan about who to speak with first.

  A couple of seconds passed before I saw Dalton out of the corner of my eye. When I looked in that direction I saw his back. He was heading toward what I assumed was another room.

  “Is that a door?”

  “I’m not sure,” Nicolas said.

  It could have been an exit for all I knew. Just then Victoria walked up with the drinks.

  “We can’t have those yet. We need to find Dalton.”

  I took off running in the direction where he had gone. I didn’t even wait for the others to follow me so I hoped they were back there. I just couldn’t risk letting him get away. I was running now to catch up. He’d gone
out that door, but I wasn’t sure still where it led. Nonetheless, when I reached it I opened the door and took off through it just the same. Now I was standing in another hallway like the other one. This one was kind of dark too, but I could still see that there was no one out there. Where had he gone this time? The only other door was at the end of the hall and that was marked exit.

  That was when Victoria, Liam, and Nicolas came out the door.

  “Where did you go?” Nicolas asked.

  “I’m guessing he went out that door, but I don’t see how he got away so quickly.”

  Liam and Nicolas ran for the door and then opened it. It did in fact lead outside. They took a look, but couldn’t find him so they came back over to me.

  “I can’t believe he got away again,” I said. “I’m not sure how he keeps doing that.”

  “Well, nevertheless, we can still go back in and talk to some people,” Victoria said.

  “Yes, I suppose that’s true. It’s the reason we came in the first place.”

  We headed back toward the door leading to the dance hall, but as soon as we opened the door a little we noticed the strangest thing. The music was still going, but everyone had stopped dancing. They weren’t moving at all. They were just frozen, as if statues. Some of the positions they were in were quite funny, actually, considering they had been dancing.

  “It looks as if someone has been using magic in here,” I said.

  “Yeah, you could say that, but what and why?” Liam asked.

  “We can’t go out there right now, not until we know what’s going on with them. We don’t want to be frozen like that too. When we step into that room we might be in the same condition as they are.”

  We stared in silence as we watched the people remain completely still. How long would they stay this way? And who had done this? I caught movement to the right of the room. Someone was moving in there and I assumed it was whoever had cast the spell against the people. This wasn’t a harmless prank. This was something sinister.

  Before I could get a good look at the person everyone started moving again. At first it was slowly and then they were back at full speed, as if nothing had happened.

  “Here’s our chance to go after this person,” I yelled.

  We raced forward like horses out of the starting gate. Luckily, the spell had faded and we weren’t affected by anything. I took off toward the doors that led to the main entrance. We burst through the doors into the night air. We looked in each direction to find out where this person had taken off. With this many people outside I figured someone would have seen him. There was no way to find him in the crowd now. It was useless again. And I wasn’t sure if we should go back in and talk to anyone since the spell had happened. Maybe they would do it again. I didn’t want to take that risk. I didn’t think it was safe for us to be there right now. We needed to distance ourselves and try to figure this out without getting harmed.

  “It was a nice idea to come to the club, but I think that we should abandon this plan,” I said.

  “I think you’re right,” Nicolas said.

  The others agreed.

  “Maybe we can get in the car and drive around a little bit and find the person,” Victoria said.

  I supposed we could, but I had a feeling it would be pointless. I eyed the man working at the door. Had he seen anything? Probably not or he would have stopped someone running out of there, thinking that they had done something wrong.

  “Let’s talk to the guy at the door, okay?”

  As I started to walk toward the big guy he began glaring at me.

  “Excuse me, but did you see anyone run out just a second ago?”

  “Nope,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Thanks for all the help,” I said wryly.

  Just as we started to walk away a woman stopped us.

  “Someone did run out,” she said. “That guy was too busy flirting with a couple women to notice.”

  “Really?” That guy should be fired. Nevertheless, it was the least of my concerns right now. “Which direction did they go?” I asked.

  She pointed. “Down the street and then he jumped into a car.”

  “What did he look like?” Liam asked.

  “He was thin with dark hair, beady eyes, and was wearing a hat.”

  “That sounds like Carter Cobbs,” Victoria said.

  “Or Bart House, as Detective Manning called him,” I said.

  “What kind of car?” Nicolas asked.

  “It was a black sedan with tinted windows,” the woman said. “I didn’t get a look at the driver. Sorry.”

  “No, you’ve been a lot of help.”

  “I heard someone cast a spell in the club,” another woman said.

  The crowd was getting louder. Word must have spread about what had happened.

  “No one cast a spell.” Nicolas usually became defense when my leadership skills were called into question.

  My motioned for Nicolas, Liam, and Victoria to come closer. “We should look around the club for any signs of a spell.”

  “Okay, everyone, stay calm. Let’s not panic.” I waved my arms to grab the crowd’s attention.

  “That means there was a witch doing something in there,” the lady wearing head to toe black leather said.

  I shouldn’t have said calm down. I should have worded it differently, but anyway, it was too late now. People were panicking. At that moment the club doors opened and people from inside spilled outside. Complete chaos ensued as people screamed and yelled. Everyone was now looking at me for answers. No one would remain calm long enough to even talk to me and tell me what the problem was. Other than the fact that there had been a magic spell cast just a short time earlier. How did they even know? How did they find out?

  “Do you know what’s going on?” I asked Victoria.

  “No, I’m not sure.” She looked just as confused as the rest of us.

  “Hey, are you the leader of the Underworld?” A guy with long dark hair asked.

  I studied his face for a few seconds and then said, “I am, yes.”

  “Well, then why aren’t you doing something?” he asked.

  Wow, I hadn’t expected that kind of backlash.

  Nicolas and Liam stepped forward. This guy didn’t seem to care or even notice them.

  “What am I supposed to do?” I asked.

  “Something,” he said.

  Victoria leaned closer and whispered, “They know about the witches losing the magic.”

  I suppose they did, and now they were blaming me. It wasn’t like I was the one that came here and cast bad magic about. It was going on before I arrived. I was the leader though, and I was supposed to make this right. So far I’d done nothing to fix this. I suppose I understood why they would be mad at me. Now I just needed to make this right before it was too late. What if they never got the magic back?

  I turned and left the crowd. Most everyone had cleared out of the club by now and all that was remaining were the people who worked there. That was when I saw a dark-haired man wearing a gray suit walking my way.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “That’s the owner of this club,” Victoria said.

  “Oh, perfect. He probably wants to know what happened.”

  Of course I wouldn’t have an answer for him. No doubt he would blame me for lack of business at his place.

  Once standing in front of me, the man asked, “You’re Halloween LaVeau, leader of the Underworld, right?”

  “The one and only. What can I do for you?” I asked.

  As if I didn’t know. My tone was breezy and relaxed, but on the inside I was far from it.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Apparently there was a spell unleashed on my club tonight, and now no one can do magic.”

  I quirked an eyebrow. “Everyone?”

  That was disturbing.

  “Yes, everyone. No one has no magic, including me. Were you just in the club?” he asked.

  I studied his face for a moment, but kne
w I had to answer soon. “Yes, I was there.”

  He frowned. “Can you do magic?”

  “Well… actually, I wasn’t directly in the club when it happened, so I’m not sure if I can do a magic now.”

  The club owner looked to Victoria. “Can you do magic?”

  She moved her arms in front of her body while reciting a few words. Her dress changed from black to red. So yes, her magic worked. Apparently since we weren’t in the room when the spell was cast we had been spared for the moment. I didn’t know if the person had randomly picked the club or if he had followed us there. I had a feeling everyone would be targeted sooner or later, and the fact that they had a bunch of witches in one location just made it a lot easier for them. We needed to find out who was doing this and put a stop to it, but I suppose finding out why might lead us to them.

  “I think this is going to continue to happen more and more,” I said.

  “This is really hurting my business and I can’t have that, so can you go ahead and get this fixed right away?” the club owner asked in a snarky tone.

  “Buddy, she’s doing all she can. She can only work with so much,” Nicholas said.

  “Yeah, if you’re club doesn’t have business then you might want to reevaluate that music selection,” Liam said.

  Oh dear, this was going to cause a fight.

  I stepped in front of the brothers. “Okay, everyone calm down.” This was the second time in five minutes I had uttered that phrase. “I’m sure I’ll have all of this taken care of soon. In the meantime though we might not want to have your club even open for business.”

  “What are you talking about? That will be the end of me. I have bills to pay. I have to have the money.”

  “If the witches lose their spells they might not want to come back to your club”

  “What? My club has the little cauldrons. Everyone loves it here.” His tone had now started to sound like a pouty four-year-old.

  “They won’t care if they can’t do magic. As a matter of fact, they won’t want to see them, so I suggest you do as I say, understand?” I glared at him.

  I didn’t think I’d ever been that forceful before in my whole life, but finally I was getting a voice and speaking up. I didn’t like being rough on people, but sometimes I had to in order to get them to hear me.