A Witching Well of Magic: A Cozy Mystery (Witchy Women of Coven Grove Book 2) (9 page)

Bailey nodded.

Avery groaned, and then sighed, and finally grunted irritation; but he did put the car into reverse to pull out of the parking space. “One of these days, Bailey Robinson, you are going to get me into serious trouble.”

They had to wait a bit for the cover of darkness. It seemed, to both of them, like a bad idea to go back to the Tour Office so soon after it had been broken into. Still, there was no sign of Aiden’s car out front, and the Sheriff’s department had cleared out—dismissed, no doubt, by the owner when he let them know that nothing was missing. Plywood boards covered the doors where the glass had been.

“
How will we get in?” Aiden asked.

Bailey frowned at him, and held up her keys. “We don’t need to break in, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“
Well…” Avery shrugged. “I was just asking.”

Despite the fact that Bailey had the means and, presumably, even the right—more or less-to be in the place when it was closed, she still felt a little like a burglar herself. They parked on the street, down a block from the office, and stumbled down into the bushes off the side walk to make their way toward the place instead of just walking down the street like anyone else would have. Avery was wary of being spotted by any patrolling Sheriff.

“
They always return to the scene of the crime,” he insisted. By ‘they’ he presumably meant the burglars, or just criminals in general.

Bailey did feel as though they ought to be quiet, so she didn’t engage him in an argument about the many reasons why, as she saw it, different types of criminals would not return to the scenes of their crimes. Instead, she just elbowed him a little in the side, and put a finger on her lips. Shhh.

When it seemed that no one was likely watching them from the street, they scurried up to the office building and Bailey quickly unlocked the door for them. The two slipped in, and she locked it back. Easy peasy.

That was, until someone inside the office shifted something around.

Bailey and Avery dropped into crouches at the same time. Bailey waved at a stand of tee-shirts that had been on display for longer than she’d been giving tours without selling a single one. They hung almost to the ground, and they were a blind spot in the security system, where the cameras didn’t cover. Though, of course, their transit to the hiding spot was on film, if they cameras were back up and running.

Whether they were or not, Aiden emerged from the office, possibly drawn by the sound, however quiet, of the door opening. When he was perhaps satisfied it was nothing, and that the door was still locked, he stood a moment in the middle of the room, looking at something he was holding in his hands, before wandering slowly toward the back of the building.

The two of them held their breath until they heard a door shut.

“
He’s going down to the caves,” Bailey breathed.

“
Why?” Avery whispered.

“
I don’t know, maybe—” Bailey cleared her throat—no one else was here anymore, there was no sense in trying to be quiet; or in crouching down and hiding. She stood, and Avery followed. “I don’t know,” she said at normal voice, “but he had something in his hands. I want to check the exhibit.”

She led Avery to it, and when they went through the door, he seemed surprised. “You know… I remember being here but I kind of forgot this place existed.”

“
I think it’s magic,” Bailey said. “Almost no one ever comes in here.”

“
Well it isn’t well marked, that’s for sure,” Avery muttered. He looked around the place. “This is where the stone was?”

Bailey nodded, and pointed to a second empty case. “Yes,” she said, “and now there’s another one missing. That was what Aiden was looking at. What do you say now?” She put her hands on her hips and looked pointedly at Avery, who considered for a moment, and then shook his head.

“
Sorry, Bails,” he said. “I’m still not feeling it. Maybe if I had something of his?”

Bailey raised both eyebrows slowly, and began to smile.

“
Shut up, you,” Avery groaned. “I mean that I sometimes kind of… vibe better if I can touch something a person has held. Or, even better, something important to them.”

“
You can do that?” Bailey wondered just how advanced Avery’s ability was.

He shrugged, though. “Honestly, I never know. It’s happened a few times, though. Sometimes I get vibes off of books. Just little ones.”

She left the question about what the difference between a ‘big’ vibe and a ‘little’ vibe was for later. For now, Aiden was headed to the cave, maybe with one of the stones, and she wanted to go after him and see what he was up to.

“
Come on,” she said. Avery followed her out.

They opened the back door slowly, quietly, and Bailey peeked out before they emerged. Aiden was already nearly at the end of the trail. It felt almost wrong to tail him like this, but if they did catch him up to something, well… then he deserved it. Retroactively.

They skirted the bushes that lined the trail down to the caves, creeping slowly until they found a big enough section to duck down behind. Aiden was some distance away still, and they would lose him if he went very far in.

He didn’t, however. Just inside the entrance to the first cave, Aiden stopped, and looked down at the stone in his hands. He seemed to be looking for something inside the cave, and took a few more steps in before he turned and looked up at one of the walls.

And then a very strange thing happened. Bailey was certain he’d had nothing in his pockets, and nothing else in his hands, but suddenly Aiden held in one of his hands a long, slender object. It was too far away to see clearly, but it was dark, maybe brown or black. He studied the stone carefully, and then waved the rod around it a few times in a complicated series of swirls and jabs, his movements at times smooth and at others jerky and sharp. His lips moved.

Avery sucked in a breath, and grabbed Bailey’s arm. She had almost done the same thing—a glowing network of lines began to appear before Aiden, between him and the cave wall. They only lasted a few moments, and he peered carefully at them before he slashed the rod through them and turned away. He rubbed his forehead, and looked as though he might hurl the stone away.

He recovered himself, however, rather than throwing a tantrum, and started the process over again, this time working more slowly.

“
I knew it,” Bailey whispered.

“
What is he doing?” Avery asked.

“
Magic,” Bailey said.

“
Is he a witch, too?” Avery was craning his neck to get a better view. Bailey tugged him back down.

“
I haven’t seen the ladies do anything like that,” she said. “And it looks… I don’t know, different. Our magic is symbolic, organic… this is almost geometric. It looks like he’s testing something. I don’t know. But I need to go see the Coven. Like, now.”

It took some doing to pull Avery away from the scene, but Bailey did, and they crouched low as they made their way back up the trail until they were around the slight bend and out of sight of the caves.

Back inside the tour office, Avery was unusually quiet. That was fine. Bailey wasn’t sure what else she could have said, anyway. Her heart was pounding all the way through the building. At the office window, she peeked inside before she walked passed, and then stopped.

She backed up a step, and took a closer look at Aiden’s desk. It was littered with white sheets of paper that had vaguely familiar patterns drawn on them, along with notations of some kind.

“
Hang on a sec,” she told Avery, and checked the lock on the door. It was still the same as before, the same type as the front door, and her key still worked. She slipped in, arranged the papers over the desk, and drew her phone out. Aiden may be back any moment if what he was trying didn’t work, but these diagrams looked familiar for a reason—they reminded her of some that she’d seen in the spell book.

She snapped pictures of each sheet of paper before she re-arranged them back to where she thought they were when she started.

It wasn’t until they were out of the building and back at Avery’s car that they spoke again.

“
What did I just see?” Avery asked, full of awe.

Bailey felt it too, but then she’d known magic existed for months now, and she’d seen the cave walls come alive with the story of the covens. Then, she’d been shocked and mystified as well. “Aiden has some kind of magic,” Bailey muttered, flicking through the pictures she’d taken. She turned them one way and the other, hoping that one of them would make sense. They didn’t, however. Whatever magic Aiden was versed in, it was very different than what she’d seen so far. “I have no idea what kind.”

“
Was that a wand he had?” The car still wasn’t on.

“
We should get out of here,” Bailey said. “I need to speak with the Coven and I should probably do that alone. Mind dropping me off at the Bakery?”

Avery nodded, and started the car. Once he had, she spoke to his question. “It must have been,” she said. “I’ve never seen the coven ladies use wands before. And our magic isn’t so flashy.” She zoomed in on some of the symbols on the picture, but hadn’t taken a high enough resolution picture to make them out. If you couldn’t see the small print symbols clearly, though, it almost looked like math.

“
Do they use brooms, or something?” Avery wondered; not entirely earnestly. He was reacquiring some of his sardonic humor.

Bailey snorted. “Not as far as I know. I also haven’t laid eyes on a cauldron, all the ladies have two eyes of their own instead of one to share between them, the bakery doesn’t have chicken feet—that I’ve seen, anyway—and no one has offered me a wide-brimmed pointy hat.”

“
Well, maybe your Coven isn’t all that fashionable,” Avery said, a grin plucking at the corner of his mouth.

“
Hush, you,” Bailey said. She’d have laughed, but she couldn’t find it in her. There was something serious happening. But some things didn’t add up. Aiden hadn’t been aware of the stones originally; or at least, he’d made a show of not having known they were there. He definitely did now, though. What had changed?

She stored these questions up for the coven ladies. The list was getting quite long, and she wasn’t going to take their dodging and weaving to get out of them this time. She had enough to dig up her own answers if she had to.

Avery pulled up alongside Grovey Goodies, and they exchanged hugs before Bailey assured Avery she would call him later with the skinny on all this. “I know I don’t have to tell you,” she started.

“
No,” Avery said, a little smartly, “you don’t. I’ll keep your secret, Bails. Come on. It’s me.”

“
I know. Thank you, Ave. You don’t know what it means to be able to talk to you about all this.”

He chuckled ruefully. “Believe me, hon; I do. Call me later.”

He left, and Bailey steeled herself for what came next. The bakery would close shortly, and then she was going to have answers.

Bailey waited until the last customer had left, and it was time to close the place down. When that time came, Aria, Francis, and Chloe exchanged meaningful looks and then locked the door.

“
Something’s on your mind,” Chloe said.

Bailey nodded. “We should probably talk upstairs.”

So the four of them went up to the attic. They took seats in the four chairs there while Bailey gathered her nerve.

“
Is this about the spell?” Francis asked.

“
No,” Bailey said. “That… well it’s done with for now. Or at least…” she sighed, “…well, the worst is hopefully over.”

“
I trust you’ve learned your lesson?” Francis’ scowl was a little more scowly than usual.

Bailey only nodded. “But this is about something else. It’s about Aiden.”

Three sets of eyebrows rose slightly.

“
Go on,” Chloe said.

“
Well, a lot has happened, actually. First, there’s the stones in the Tour exhibit. Three of them, they’re all carved—”

“
We know about the stones,” Aria said gently.

“
What about them?” Francis asked.

“
One of them was stolen.”

The three women were silent for a moment. They looked at one another, and then back at Bailey. Chloe spoke up. “You think it had to do with Aiden?”

“
I don’t know for sure,” Bailey said. “He didn’t seem to be aware of them at first. The tour office was burglarized, or seemed to be, but nothing was apparently missing. That is, until I told Aiden we should check the exhibit. Is there some magic in the stones? Something that keeps them hidden?”

Aria nodded. “From anyone that might do the Coven harm, yes. Aiden wasn’t aware of them, you say?”

“
Not at first,” Bailey said. “But then he was. What does that mean?”

“
Could mean lots of things,” Francis huffed. “Go on, girl.”

“
Right,” Bailey sighed. More riddles. “Well after that, tonight in fact, I went back there”—Chloe narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say anything—“and saw Aiden… well, he’d taken one of the other stones and—”

“
Taken a stone?” Aria interrupted. “He picked it up?”

Bailey nodded. “Yes. And, presumably whoever stole the other one did as well. Should he not have been able to?”

“
What else did you see?” Chloe urged.

Frustrated, but determined, Bailey related the scene from the cave.

“
Oh, dear,” Chloe said quietly. Aria looked nervous; Francis looked like she might storm out and have words with Aiden right then and there.

“
What does it mean?” Bailey asked.

“
Nothing you need to worry about,” Francis said.

Bailey stood from her chair. Not this time. “No. I’m not asking for spells, or for you to explain the deeper mysteries of our tradition that I’m not ready for, or something; this is about the Caves, and the Coven, and the man that I’m working for, and I need answers. I need to know what decisions to make and how to act around him, and I need to know what’s coming and why someone would want to steal one of these stones in the first place; and how they would, if they aren’t supposed to be able to. Tell me what I need to know. I’m a part of this Coven, aren’t I? It’s not fair for you all to keep secrets, and anyway none of you even knew the stone was gone, did you?”

The three women looked a mix of affronted and troubled. Whether they were mortified, Bailey couldn’t really tell, but she held her ground anyway.

At length, Chloe sighed. “She isn’t entirely wrong.”

“
And it is true she might be able to help,” Aria reasoned. “If this is about them; probably they don’t know Bailey is one of us yet.”

“
If they find out,” Francis said grimly, “she could be in danger. And she’s got a track record for breaking the rules already.”

Chloe met Bailey’s eyes. She knew. Their bond, their mutual ability, gave her a direct line if not to Bailey’s thoughts, then at least her feelings; and she could tell there was a weight missing that had been there before. Chloe knew that Bailey had told someone her secret. She didn’t say anything about it just now, at least. But there was a promise in her eyes that they would talk about it later, privately.

Why she should keep it to herself now, Bailey didn’t know but she was grateful, and she hoped Chloe could feel that, too.

Bailey was patient while the witches talked about her like she wasn’t in the room, but she could only take so much. “Who is ‘they’,” she asked, “and what does all of this mean?”

“
You do it,” Francis said to Chloe. “She listens to you.” Then she folded her arms and sat back to watch, her lips pursed in a sour face.

Chloe nodded once, and then sighed as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “Sit down, Bailey,” she said softly. Bailey did. Chloe took a breath. “We—witches, that is—aren’t the only people with magic. Once upon a time, there were many, many people who could use it, and like anything else they had a lot of different ideas about the how and the why.”

“
Our magic is tied to the Earth, and to natural forces, and to the living essence of things,” she went on. “But that’s not the only way magic works. There are enchantresses who work magic by dealing with the beings of Faerie; warlocks who deal with infernal beings; sorcerers whose magic is elemental; shamans, who walk the dream worlds and do their magic from the other side of the veil; and wizards, who manipulate magical forces with calculations and geometry.”

“
Witches and wizards are the most common these days,” Aria said. “Although, there aren’t that many of either of us anymore. You almost never encounter an enchantress; Faerie has been closed to our world for a long time now. There are shamans, still, we think; but they live in isolation, mostly.”

“
Warlocks and sorcerers tend to have short lives,” Francis grunted. “Natural selection pretty much took care of them ages ago.”

“
So,” Bailey said, “Aiden is probably one of those?”

“
It is incredibly rare for a man to become a witch,” Chloe said. “It hasn’t happened in memory, but it’s not impossible.”

“
You’ve got to be particularly receptive to be a witch,” Francis said. “Being a witch is all about listening. Wizards are different—their magic is all about telling.” She shook her head in disapproval.

“
If you saw Aiden using a wand,” Chloe said, patient about the interruptions, “then he is most likely a wizard.”

Bailey frowned, and then drew her phone from her pocket to show them the pictures she’d taken. “They almost look like equations,” she told them. “But the lines look like some of the spell diagrams from the book.”

Chloe examined them, and then passed them to Aria, who peered at them carefully. Francis didn’t show an interest in seeing them.

“
This is definitely wizard’s magic,” Aria muttered. “Can’t see the variables clearly, but based on the pattern… I’d say he was trying to reverse engineer the cryptographic magic in the cave spells.” She whistled as she swiped through them. “It’s good work. I don’t think he’s on the right track, exactly, but he seems to have an idea of the principles.”

“
He’s just trying to decipher the spells on the cave wall?” Bailey asked, in case she didn’t understand. She glanced at each of the witches to gauge their reactions. They weren’t taking it lightly, so she didn’t either. “Alright… so, what has that got to do with the stones.”

“
The stones are like keys,” Chloe said. “Each one has one third of the necessary formula for awakening a place of power.”

“
They’re more than that, though,” Francis said sharply. “They also represent the Coven’s contract with the Genius Loci.”

Bailey waited.

“
If someone had the means and the inclination,” Aria said. “They could use the stones to make their own contract. Or break ours. It would be difficult, especially for someone not versed in witch’s magic.”

Bailey shook her head in bewilderment. “Why were these just laying around?” She asked.

Francis barked a derisive laugh. “That’s an excellent question. Chloe?”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “When I was a girl, I stumbled upon one of the stones inside the caves. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and I brought it out. Poppy’s father thought it was interesting… a big deal was made about it, and he put it in the exhibit room and it was forgotten about. I was excited for the attention, but because of the magic of the stones it was short lived. So I went looking for others. I looked for a fourth stone for years before my magic blossomed and I was initiated. By that point, what with all the foot traffic in the caves, everyone began to think that maybe having the stones kept safe somewhere else wasn’t a bad idea.”

“
Clearly, our foremothers were mistaken,” Francis said. “Just like I said.”

“
But once they were there, we couldn’t exactly just take them back,” Aria said, leveling a look at Francis that suggested she might mend her tone. “Not without anyone noticing. So we left them. The thing is… unless the caves wanted it, no one should have been able to take them.”

“
But they did,” Bailey said. “So, what’s changed?”

“
Could be Aiden’s own magic interfering,” Aria suggested.

“
It could be the Caves are shopping around for new caretakers,” Francis said.

Chloe’s eyebrows knit together, and she shook her head. “No. I think it makes more sense that it has to do with Martha. That has to have been disruptive, and think about it—she died carrying the intention to expose the caves.”

“
You think she might have inadvertently altered the resonance in the Caves’ magic?” Aria asked. She pondered this.

Francis nodded slowly as she sat forward. “Yes. That makes sense. It has to be that. We should have considered it before now and taken it to the Mothers.”

“
The Mothers?” Bailey asked. “Resonance?” All three witches gave her a familiar look, so Bailey sighed and put her hands up. “I know, I know. Later. Fine, but… look how do we get the missing stone back, and what do we do about Aiden?”

“
Aiden Rivers owns the tour business as well as the land the caves are on,” Chloe said. “We can’t simply oust him. But, he can’t know about us, or he wouldn’t dare go messing with the caves. Not if he’s had proper training.”

“
You need to get close to him,” Francis said. “And keep an eye on him. That’s your job.”

“
And do what?” Bailey asked.

“
Report back,” Francis snapped. “What else? No spells, either. Any wizard worth his salt keeps himself well defended against magic. Wizards are always offing one another; it’s a wonder there are any left.”

“
And the missing stone?” Bailey asked.

“
We’ll look into it,” Francis told her sharply. “You just keep your eye on the wizard boy.”

“
Alright,” Bailey sighed. There was a certain atmosphere of dismissal in the room then, as the three women began to chat back and forth about the possibilities. Bailey swallowed her consternation, but left them to it.

Guard duty. The most boring possible way she could help. She’d been half hoping they would have some spell to do, and want her help with it. Then again, the last spells she’d attempted had been more trouble than it was worth. Maybe the ladies did know best. Now, the only question was how to get closer to Aiden and stay there.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long for an in road. Her phone rang when she was nearly home; Aiden calling. For a heartbeat she panicked. Had he seen her there? Or had he noticed his papers had been moved slightly? She’d been careful to put them back in order…

On the third ring, she answered it, smoothing over her voice as though nothing at all was wrong. “This is Bailey,” she said, professionally.

“
Hi, Bailey,” Aiden’s voice gave no hint of suspicion. “I’m wrapping up here; kind of a whirl wind day. I realized I was a little sad I didn’t get to see more of you.”

“
Uh… oh,” Bailey said. Was that so?

Aiden sounded somewhat embarrassed; it was unusual for him. “Yes, well… I don’t know many people here, so… I was wondering—I think I may go out for dinner again. And last time, well, I was a bit lonely and… well I wondered if you might like to… I don’t know… uh, join me?”

Bailey took the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Really? After keeping that kind of a secret, he was asking her out? Or, was he?

“
You mean, to talk about the business?” She asked, putting the phone back to her ear.

“
Well, yes, if you like,” Aiden said. “But to be perhaps just a bit clearer… well there is a personal, social aspect to the invitation as well. Though, there certainly doesn’t have to be. If you don’t want there to be, I mean.”