Bewitching Boots (22 page)

“A woman did this to you?”

“She used a baseball bat or something. She was strong. I didn’t get a good look at her, but it was a woman.”

Gus was at the gate to the castle. “Ladies.”

“Try it, and lose a hand.” Rita didn’t mince words with him about his habit of pinching butts. “I’m in no mood for your nonsense.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Gus asked me.

I ignored him, and didn’t follow Rita inside. One of the kitchen helpers was there to meet her. She took her bag and helped her into the castle.

Was Rita telling the truth? What she’d done was bad, but not murder. If Sir Dwayne could account for his time when Isabelle was killed and Rita didn’t kill her—who did? Was it the same woman who’d attacked Rita?

***

Bill surprised me by being up and dressed by the time I’d reached his house. “I’m moving into my own place today,” he said. “I feel like I have a new lease on life.”

Fred said he felt the same and then fell back on the sofa, snoring.

“I won’t miss that guy,” Bill said. “I think life in the Village is going to suit me just fine. Let’s go get some coffee. Do you have some people lined up to help me move today?”

I didn’t have anyone lined up, but I knew I could find a dozen people to take Bill’s things from the museum and Fred’s house to his new shop and apartment. “I think it’s going to be a great last day of the exhibit. I can’t wait for everyone to see your artistry.”

Bill threw open the front door and went down like a sack of old laundry on the cobblestones at my feet.

“What’s wrong?” I dropped to his side. “Bill? Are you hurt?”

All I could think was that Wanda had done something—hit him in the head, knocked the breath out of him—something to ruin his last day. She was good at that. I hadn’t seen her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there.

Bill was curled up on the cobblestones in the fetal position. His eyes, when I locked gazes with him, were desperate. “I can’t go out there. What was I
thinking
? I can’t face all those people. There are too many of them. I can’t make boots like I used to. I don’t know what to do.”

“I know what to do.” I tried to help him to his feet. “We have to get you down to Madame Lucinda’s and get your magic back. You can’t keep going this way. The Village has invested in you because of me. We’re not going down because you need your elf magic. Come on.”

I thought I could get him up, but his legs kept buckling under him. “Stay right here. I’ll think of something.”

“Maybe she could come here, Jessie.” He threw one arm across his face. “I don’t think I can go anywhere.”

Residents were waking up and going about their morning tasks to get ready for the Main Gate to open. Fairies giggled as they skipped by, and the walking tree we called the Green Man was careful as he practiced on his stilts.

I cut across the King’s Highway, running until I’d reached the small stand where visitors could hire a peasant-drawn cart to convey them around the Village. Justin, the peasant who ran the service, was just getting out of bed and pulling on his costume as I ran into his small house. “I need you,” I told him. “I need you right now.”

It took some bargaining—and the forty dollars I had in my pocket—to get Justin up and moving. I let him pull me to Fred’s house—seemed like a fair trade—and found Bill still on the ground.

“Help me get him in the cart.” I got down from the colorful one-person cart.

“That will cost you extra.” Justin grinned.

“Have I mentioned that my husband is the Bailiff? Don’t make me call him.”

Justin dropped the attitude and helped me try to move Bill to the cart. It was difficult since Bill’s body had become like a large piece of Jell-O. I grabbed his feet and legs. Justin grabbed his arms and shoulders. But Bill was not only dead weight but floppy dead weight at that.

“Just kill me, Jessie,” Bill cried out. “My life is over anyway.”

I was about to really lose it when Bart came walking by. “Greetings, my lady. Need you a hand or two?”

“Thank you, sir.” I curtsied. “It’s either that or we’re going to chop him into little pieces and let the dogs have at him.”

Bill moaned pitifully but still couldn’t move.

Bart grabbed him with one arm and tossed him into the cart. “There you are, lady. Where are you taking him?”

“To get his elf magic back.”

“Do you believe it’s real after all?” Bart whispered with a smile.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But he can’t function without it. We have to go to Madame Lucinda and get it back. I don’t want to lose my job because of him.”

“Allow me to assist you,” Bart offered gallantly.

Justin grinned. “Then you don’t need me, right?”

“We still need your cart, and I already paid you to pull it,” I reminded him.

Bart stared at Justin and shook one of his large fingers at him. “I can’t believe you asked this wonderful lady to pay you for your help, sir. In the Village, we have a code of helping each other. Taking money from a person in need is not part of that code.”

“I just thought it would be okay.” Justin tried to smile as he glanced at me and then looked contrite when he faced Bart who was at least double his size.

“Not
okay
at all,” Bart said. “Perhaps this will clarify my position.”

Bart picked Bill up again, and holding him in his arms like a child, he climbed on the cart and sat down. The sturdy wood creaked and groaned, but it held together. “You may proceed, sir.”

Justin stared at me. “You’re joking, right? You don’t think I can pull both these dudes all the way to the Main Gate, do you? I’m not a pack mule.”

Before I could say anything, Bart said, “I’m waiting. Don’t keep me waiting
too
long.”

“Okay. Okay.” Justin handed me back my forty dollars. “There. All better now.”

Bart drummed his fingers on the side of the cart. An audience of residents was watching by then. Justin swallowed hard, took up the brightly painted yoke, and started slowly pulling Bart and Bill down the cobblestones.

Everyone came out to watch the spectacle. They cheered as though it was a parade. I didn’t know if Justin could make it all the way to Madame Lucinda’s tent, but he managed. He collapsed on the ground, breathing hard when he got there. Bart stepped down from the cart, smiled at him, and then took Bill inside.

I followed them quickly, pushing aside the tent flap. “Madame Lucinda!”

“No need to shout, Lady Jessie. I heard the commotion long before you got here.”

Bart gently laid Bill on a black velvet sofa that I could swear had never been there before. It was always amazing watching a man as big as Bart with his butterfly-gentle touch.

“Madame Lucinda.” He bowed to her and smiled. “I hope you can help this man. I must go to the castle, but it is always a pleasure seeing you and Buttercup.”

Wait! Could he see the dragon too? I never thought to ask him.

“It is always a pleasure to see you as well, my friend.” Madame Lucinda inclined her head elegantly.

Buttercup actually jumped from the shelf where she usually perched to the table. She gazed up at Bart with something approaching a smile on her face too.

“Good morning, Buttercup.” Bart scratched under her neck that she held out for him.

“You can
see
her!” I was very pleased not to be completely crazy.

Bart and Madame Lucinda’s heads swiveled toward me. “Of course,” he said. “Can’t everyone?”

Buttercup growled at me and leapt back to her perch.

“She’s not quite used to you, Lady Jessie,” Madame Lucinda explained.

I wanted to launch into a diatribe about everything that was weird with Buttercup and her mistress, but it would have to wait. Bart took his leave of us, and Bill rolled on the floor.

“I was afraid something like this would happen. Help me get him back on the sofa, Jessie.”

Madame Lucinda and I finally managed to get Bill back on the sofa. He was crying, almost not able to hold up his head. “Maybe I should call an ambulance,” I said.

“No need,” she told me. “I’ll return his elf magic, and he’ll be fine.”

She brought out a dark blue bottle, waiting to open it until she was standing beside Bill. Once she’d taken off the stopper, a bright light flashed from its deep blue depths. The light illuminated Bill for a moment and then disappeared.

“Was that it?” I asked, a little skeptical. “Was that the elf magic?”

“Indeed it was.” She sighed. “Foolish man for thinking he could live without it. If given such a blessing, what man would turn it aside?”

Bill had stopped groaning and slowly sat up. He stared at his hands and feet for a long time. “I’m alive.”

“Of course you’re alive,” Madame Lucinda said with a touch of irritation. “Lucky for you that I never take magic without saving it. Learn to use it. I shouldn’t have to tell you this. Don’t ever give it up again.”

He hopped to his feet and did a little impromptu jig. “You don’t have to worry about me, ma’am. I learned my lesson.” He made his ears wiggle and then ran out of the tent.

I felt like falling back on the sofa. There was too much drama and too little sleep. I smiled at Madame Lucinda and bowed my head. “Thank you for your help.”

“And how will you use
your
gift, Jessie?”

“I hope you’re not telling me that seeing dead people is my gift. If so, get a bottle and put it inside. I’ll be glad to give it up.”

She laughed. “You have so much to learn. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

I thanked her again, yawned, and left the tent. I could tell already that it was going to be a long day.

Chapter Twenty-one

I went back to the Dungeon to shower and get ready for the day. Chase was working. I had the apartment to myself. I had plenty of time, for once. I didn’t have to hurry.

I laid out my new violet-colored skirt and blouse. Chase had bought me a darker purple bodice to wear with it. I hummed some music I’d heard from the trio of musicians that had played at the museum opening as I got undressed. Despite everything, life at the Renaissance Faire was great, and I was the luckiest woman in the world to be there with Chase.

I went in the bathroom to shower, and when I came out, my clothes were gone.

I thought maybe I was so tired that I only
thought
I’d laid out the dress. I looked in the closet—it wasn’t there either. Then I thought Chase was back and playing games.

But a quick check of the apartment told me that I was alone. I even thought that Wanda had managed to get back inside. I called her name several times. It was just the kind of stunt she would pull.

But Wanda loved taking credit for the things she did. She didn’t answer my summons, and I had to give up on that idea too. What was going on?

I was angry that I couldn’t wear my new clothes, and determined to find out what had happened to them. I put my shorts and T-shirt back on and started slowly going through the apartment. Maybe I was so tired that I’d put the dress in another room and then missed it as I walked through.

Nope.

The whole event was really starting to bother me. My clothes didn’t magically disappear—although I thought
anything
was possible. But why my clothes, and my new clothes at that? It didn’t make sense.

I walked into the nursery that had been set up by the sorcerer who’d enlarged our apartment. Everyone seemed interested in Chase and I having a baby. The lovely sweet grass cradle that Mary Shift, the Gullah basket weaver had made, was there. There were a few other small things that friends had given us for that day in the future when we might consider having a child.

But no sign of my clothes.

I crossed the carpet to look out the window to the cobblestones below. I felt rather than heard the door to the room close behind me. I looked back, but I was alone.

Again, I saw Isabelle fall from the terrace. I could feel the rush of air on my skin. I fell to the floor with the same impression I’d seen in Isabelle’s dying eyes. A long skirt touched my arm, and then I lost consciousness.

* * *

“Jessie! Wake up!” Chase was leaning over me, shaking me and laughing. “I knew you were tired, but you can’t sleep now. The museum is open.”

My head hurt. I didn’t appreciate his humor. Why would he think I’d take a nap on the floor? “Someone was in the apartment. I think it was Isabelle. I saw her fall again, and I think she stole my new purple outfit.”

Chase had stopped laughing, but he was still smiling as he helped me up. “You mean the one you have laid out on the bed.”

I started to argue with him as we walked into the bedroom. There was my violet skirt and blouse with the dark purple bodice beside it. “What’s going on? I think Wanda was in here.”

“I don’t know. Manny opened the museum and then called to let me know that you didn’t show up. Are you okay?”

“No. I’m
not
okay. I don’t want to see Isabelle falling to her death the rest of my life. What does it mean? Why do I keep seeing it happen?”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this—why don’t you get dressed and see if you can find Wanda? Maybe she figured out a way in here and you’re driving yourself crazy for nothing.” He kissed me. “I don’t know what we’ll do if she can go in and out again.”

I made him stay there while I finished dressing. It was almost eleven before we got on the cobblestones. I looked for Wanda, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Chase walked to the museum with me.

“I have to work with the jousters,” he said. “Will you be all right?”

“I’ll be fine.” I managed a snarky smile. “If that was Wanda, I want my money back on the apartment remodel from the sorcerer.”

Manny was happy to see me. I told him what had happened. He was more upset about it than Chase. “Perhaps you should call law enforcement.”

“I told Chase. That’s as close to law enforcement as I usually need to go.”

“And why didn’t he take it seriously?”

“Because he thinks it was Wanda. He could be right. I didn’t see anyone, but I know my clothes were missing when I came out of the bathroom. Then they were back when I looked again. Maybe the spell that kept Wanda out of the apartment wore off. It’s either that or I’m going crazy. I think I’d rather it be Wanda, but I’m not sure.”