The Witches Three Cozy Mysteries 4-6

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Mr. Trevor's special Valentine's Day dinner was waiting for us when we came in the door and made a welcome distraction to our lack of progress on the investigation. He had done far more than just made lava cakes. There was baked chicken with creamy rice and asparagus drizzled in a buttery lemon sauce that was so filling I feared I'd have no room for dessert.

But when he brought out homemade whipped cream and fresh raspberries, I decided I could make the room. I slid my fork into the side of my lava cake and watched the chocolate ooze over the raspberries.

"This is perfection, Mr. Trevor," Sophie said with her mouth full.

"Really?" Mr. Trevor said with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't think I could top a surprise visit from an old friend bearing beignets."

"Those were good too," I said.

"It's going to be salads for a week after this," Sophie said glumly, then took another bite. "So worth it, though."

"We'll handle the dishes, Mr. Trevor," I said. "We have some things to go over; it will help to keep our hands busy."

"If you're sure," he said, and when we all insisted he said good night and headed up the back stairs.

"Antoine would have liked this," Sophie said, pushing a raspberry through the last streak of chocolate on her plate. "He has a weakness for rich foods."

"You could've asked him to stay," Brianna said.

"No," Sophie said. "Not until I understand why I feel like I can't, anyway."

Brianna looked confused.

"Sophie has a compulsion," I said. "It might be part of the spell we haven't figured out yet or something else. But she feels like he has to stay away."

"It feels magical?" Brianna asked.

Sophie shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sensing anything, but it's just such a strong feeling."

"Maybe if we figure out more about the spell that smothered our memories, we'll figure out that too," I said.

"Maybe," Sophie said, still pushing that same raspberry around her plate. Then she set down her fork without eating it. "I'm sorry I was teasing you before. I shouldn't do that."

"I know you're not trying to be mean or anything," I said.

"I do it a lot," Sophie said. "And I think it has something to do with being here without Antoine, and that's really messed up. It's not like it even makes me feel better or anything. I promise I won't do it again."

"I appreciate that," I said. "Things with Edward are complicated enough, you know? It's not like I can explain to him why I disappeared for months and why I just ran away from him. And even if we take care of this situation with Evanora and her coven, I don't see any way to have a real relationship across time."

"Cynthia did it," Brianna said. "Her entire life, she kept that up."

"She didn't have kids though," I said. "Can you imagine how impossible it would be to have kids in that situation?"

"Do you want kids?" Sophie asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to rule it out, though."

"Our duty is to guard the time portal, but that doesn't mean you have to guard it from this end," Sophie said.

"I think it would be weird to try to live there, in that version of the school where all the students are not quite there," I said. "I think it would drive me crazy."

"There might be other options," Sophie said.

"We should really focus on the Evanora situation first," I said.

"Of course," Sophie said. "I'm just saying, at some point, we're going to have to figure out a work/life balance, or we'll all go crazy."

"I have a balance," Brianna said as she got up and started gathering plates to carry into the kitchen.

"You think you do?" Sophie asked. "From the outside, it looks like you're all piled on the work side."

"Maybe what I think of as my life looks like work to you because it's not the sort of thing you enjoy, but I assure you I feel perfectly balanced," Brianna said.

I wanted to argue, but then I had to admit to myself that Brianna always seemed content. I don't know when she ever slept, but it never seemed to bother her.

"But don't you get lonely?" Sophie asked.

Brianna shrugged. "I was never really a dating person. It always felt like such a contrived activity. Most people don't enjoy the things I enjoy, and it's hard to discuss the really interesting things with them. I do love my cats, though."

"Not enough to give them names," Sophie teased.

"They don't need names to tell me who they are," Brianna said, taking her stack of plates into the kitchen. Sophie and I followed, she with the last of the chicken and rice and I with the other serving dishes.

"Well, names are helpful to the rest of us," Sophie said.

"Then it's a good thing you two named them," Brianna said. Then she turned on the sink, and the running water quieted our conversation as we put the leftovers into storage containers and cleaned up the dishes, table, counters, and stovetop before finally shutting off the water and drying our hands.

"What now?" Sophie asked, and we all knew she wasn't talking about more chores.

"Research," Brianna said. "The glow the school had in 1928 looked homogeneous, but I don't think it was. I think a lot of spells are layered there. I need to look some things up to get a better understanding, though. What are you thinking?"

"I think I'll search the whole house from top to bottom," Sophie said. "There are a lot of magical objects tucked away everywhere. I don't know what I'm looking for exactly, but I think I'll know it when I touch it. Or I'll come up empty," she said with a shrug.

"Are you hoping to find the trigger?" I asked.

"The spell would have long since dissipated," Brianna said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Sophie said. "Maybe there are other triggers for other spells. This is maddening, you know? That they can just keep laying traps in 1928 and we can just keep blundering into them 91 years later. I don't like it."

"Me neither," Brianna said. "Be careful. If you get any sort of sense of danger, wait until we're all together."

"Of course," Sophie said.

"What about you?" Brianna asked me.

"I'm not much use with your sort of research," I said to her.

"You could help me with the sweep of the house," Sophie said.

"I could, but I'm thinking I'll start with some research I can do," I said. "I want to head to the public library. I want to look up our mothers and the history of the area in 1966. Maybe I'll find some clues as to what happened here."

"What sort of clues?" Brianna asked.

"I don't know. Maybe nothing. But you've been all over this library. Is there any hint here as to what happened, why that was the last class when Miss Zenobia went on to live for another fifty years?"

"No," Brianna admitted. "I've always just assumed she got tired of teaching and retired. She was old."

"She was centuries old," Sophie said. "I agree with Amanda, something must have provoked that change. Something she didn't want to talk about after."

Brianna still looked skeptical.

"Look," I said. "Evanora and her group went to an awful lot of trouble to cloud our memories of our own mothers. Now we have them back, but none of us know a single thing that seems like a reason to take those memories away."

"Yes, what are they afraid we know?" Sophie agreed.

"Or are afraid we might find out," I said. "Sophie and I both came here in part with the hopes of digging up the past and finding answers. Clouding our memories stopped us from doing that."

"All right, I agree," Brianna said. "I'm just not sure the public library is going to help."

"Unless there are books here you haven't already paged through, I don't know where else to start," I said.

"Fair enough," she said.

"The library won't be open until morning, and I'm starting to feel a sugar crash coming on myself," Sophie said with a yawn. "I'll start the search in the morning after we finish the dawn ritual."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"I'm going to check a few things before I go to bed," Brianna said. "What time does the library close tomorrow?"

I looked it up on my phone. "Five," I said.

"Then as soon as you're home, we'll meet in our library and compare notes," Brianna said. "Oh, and remember what I said before about paying attention to your dreams. Memories could surface there that won't occur to our conscious minds. Keep a notebook by your bed and write down what you remember while it's still fresh."

"Great," Sophie said to me as we walked up the stairs to our bedrooms. "Tomorrow Brianna can comb through my usual anxiety dreams for hints of past events. That will be fun."

"No, the real fun will come when we get to my dreams," I said. "My dreams never make any sense. It'll probably be penguins ice skating to Rick Astley on an endless loop."

"Thanks for the earworm," Sophie said. "Like my anxiety dreams needed a soundtrack."

But when we gathered in the backyard at dawn and exchanged glances, we each just shook our heads. No dreams. No hints as to what we might remember that would be worth all of the effort Evanora and her witches had gone through to take it from us.