Looking for Mr. Good Witch (12 page)

Words of anger, words of hate,

Words of tomorrow, seal your fate.

From your heart, from your soul,

Let these words make you whole.

“There was once a beautiful young maiden with hair of auburn fire and eyes of blue crystal. She had fire inside her as well. Her favorite place to get away from the strict rules of her family and village was the ocean.” Georgia kept painting as she spoke.

“If I'd known there were going to be fairy tales, I'd have brought my teddy bear,” Elsie quipped.

“
Shh!
” I gave her a hard look. She knew how easy it was to distract the Selkie.

Georgia glared at us but kept going. “This young maiden gained favor with the Irish god of the sea—a lesser god, to be sure. As he passed her playing in the waves, the sun on her hair, he instantly fell in love with her. She felt the same for him when they met, and they spent many golden hours together in the water. One can only imagine the wonders he was able to show her.”

Several toots from a loud boat horn interrupted the story for a moment. Georgia used her finger to remove some of the brown paint she'd added to the base of the river in her painting.

When she didn't resume the tale, I urged, “Is there more?”

“Of course there's more,” she snapped. “What sort of tale would end that way?”

Elsie chuckled. “You'd be surprised.”

Georgia wiped the paint from her finger into her hair. “Well, it's not the end of this tale. Tell your witch friend to be quiet.”

I raised my brows at Elsie. She shrugged and settled back against the bench.

“As all good things do, the romance ended. It was winter, and the girl couldn't visit the sea god in the cold. She yearned for him and stood for hours looking out over the water, growing thinner and less able to handle her real life. She held a token he'd given her, never letting it out of her sight. Until one day.”

“Why does she keep stopping?” Elsie whispered.

“
Shh!
”

Georgia took a deep breath and focused on the water. “Another young man from the village loved this girl. But when she spurned his attentions for the sea god, hate began to grow in him. He had seen her with the man from the sea. He wanted revenge for the girl not loving him. A common enough story.”

I waited patiently. I could feel there was knowledge in this tale. I wondered if it related to the dream I'd had. It sounded similar.

“The man from the village struck. He stole the girl's amulet and accused her of witchcraft before the village elders. She was tried and convicted of using magic and cavorting with demons. The sentence was death by fire. They dragged her to the stake and tied her to it as she called out for the sea god to save her.”

I noticed that Elsie had sat forward and was listening intently.

“But the sea god was far away. He heard her cries for help and rushed to her side. Alas, the fire had already consumed her. All that remained was his revenge on the folks who had
killed her. He drowned everyone in the village, his wrath coming as a wall of water that wiped the sand clean.”

My heart was beating fast with the story. I touched my amulet; it was warm. I could almost feel it pulsing with the magic in her words. Was my amulet the one in the story? Was that even possible?

“What happened next?” Elsie asked.

Georgia shrugged her rounded shoulders. “As you can imagine, the sea god did not want the girl to die. Some say he gave her new life in the water. Some say she turned to coral and is still wearing the amulet with seaweed and conch shells woven into her long tresses as she sits on a throne many hundreds of feet beneath the waves.”

“So you're saying this girl is the Bone Man's wife?” I asked.

“I'm telling you a tale I heard from my mother. It may be true. It may not. Take from it what you will. Now, go away, both of you.”

I thanked her for the story. Georgia didn't speak or look my way again.

Elsie and I went back to the car and got inside.

“Whew!” Elsie was shaking after hearing the story. “I've never heard a fairy tale that seemed so real.”

“I think she was talking about my amulet—the gift the sea god gave the girl. I can't explain why, except for the dream I had. I saw the auburn-haired girl at the stake and the tall, black-haired man came on shore and drowned the village. It was so real in my dream—but even more real hearing Georgia tell it.”

“Well, she
is
a magical sea creature,” Elsie reminded me. “She has a way with a yarn. She should be doing that instead of painting those terrible pictures.”

“You know she doesn't do it for money. She doesn't care what they look like.”

Elsie stared at me. “I'm not sure I understand. How would your great-great-whatever come to have that amulet?”

“My mother told me it was a gift from a lesser sea god
to one of our ancestors. I suppose that would fit with the story. But if the girl in the story is the Bone Man's wife—does that make the Bone Man a sea god?”

“We've always said we thought he had different magic that didn't come from being a witch. Didn't you just experience the same thing, with the ocean rising at his command?”

“So the Bone Man's wife is already dead. He wants me to find a dead woman and bring her to him.”

“Even worse, Molly. She was at the celebration, according to the rune on your hand. Wait!” Elsie put her hand to her mouth. “Didn't Olivia say the rune was Irish and had something to do with the sea? Maybe the Bone Man
is
a lesser Irish sea god.”

I searched my brain for information about Irish mythology. “In the
Mabinogion
, they mention a sea god by the name of Manannan MacLir. But why would an Irish sea god live in the cemetery on Oak Island?”

“They did say he was a
lesser
sea god,” Elsie quipped with a smile. “Maybe that was the best gig he could get.”

A water witch I was born to be,

A water witch I shall always be

I dropped Elsie off at her home. It had been a very exciting day.

Joe's SUV was in the drive when I got to my house. I couldn't wait to tell him about my amulet—even though it was still only a theory. What Georgia had said hit close enough to home to make me feel it was real.

First I'd have to explain about Selkies, and the Bone Man. I hoped Joe was ready for that conversation.

But it didn't matter. Suzanne was there with him. They were going over aspects of the serial murder case they were working on as they finished a late lunch.

I was disappointed. I'd looked forward to sharing these things with Joe, since he knew I was a witch. I couldn't make an enchanted bubble with Suzanne there. Maybe it was safe without it, but I wasn't secure with that yet.

“Molly!” He called out as he got to his feet. “I'm glad you got home before I have to leave again. We have some new evidence on the killer. We're hoping to follow up while the leads are still fresh.”

“Good news,” I agreed with a smile that hid my disappointment at not finding him alone. “I have a meeting tonight. I guess I'll see you in the morning.”

I didn't do as good a job hiding the way I felt as I'd thought. Joe followed me into the bedroom and closed the door behind us. “Let's do this. You've got something to say, right?”

“What about Suzanne?” I asked.

“Is that what's bothering you?” He put his arms around me. “It's okay, Molly. Really. You don't have to worry. This will be over soon and she'll be gone.”

“I'm not worried about Suzanne and you.” I searched my heart and realized it was true. She'd been gone a long time. I knew Joe didn't have any feelings for her. Seeing her had produced a crazy jealous reaction on my part, but common sense had prevailed.

“What, then?” he asked. “Is it that other thing?”

“Yes.” I smiled and kissed him. “We can't talk about it now. I'll be fine. We'll talk later. What about this new lead?”

“Someone saw our suspect when the victim was killed in Southport. We've convinced him to come forward. He's looking through mug shots right now. I think this is going to be our big break.”

I hated to disappoint him. “The chances are good the killer isn't in one of your mug books. He or she is a member of my
club
.” I emphasized the word “club” with my eyebrows. “You understand?”

“I know, but even members of your
club
could be picked up from time to time by the police, right? We could get lucky.”

“Maybe,” I finally agreed. This was what he knew. It was what he'd done for more than thirty years. I couldn't expect him to understand right away. I hoped for the sake of the witness that the killer didn't find out that he or she had been observed. It could mean another death, if that was the case. “Be careful with your witness. Members of my
club
can be dangerous.”

“We'll keep that in mind.” He kissed me. “I love you, Molly. I'll see you later.”

When Joe and Suzanne were gone, I took a quick shower, cleansing my body for the ritual to come. I dressed carefully in a blue gown that I liked to wear for spell casting. It was the color of the sea on a sunny day. The amulet around my neck seemed to like the color too. A thousand lights danced inside it.

My hair was damp from the shower. I piled it on my head and secured it with a silver comb that had been a gift from my father. He hadn't been a witch either, like Joe. I wondered if he'd understood what was going on. My mother had never told me that she'd taken my father into her confidence about being a witch, but it was possible.

When I was done dressing, I looked around for as many pieces of my history as I could find. There was Great-Aunt Mary's shell bracelet. She had several spells in the book. I had a beautiful coral necklace that had belonged to my great-grandmother. I brought my mother's wedding band, which had a dolphin carved into the gold. I also found a blue scarf that had belonged to my Aunt Sylvia. I added my grandmother's wristwatch to the blue velvet jewelry bag, and I was ready to go.

I slipped my feet into sandals in case accomplishing the spell required taking my shoes off or getting my feet wet some other way. I looked at myself in the mirror and wondered again about Georgia's story.

If it hadn't mimicked the dream I'd had, I might have ignored it. But I could feel its truth in my soul. I believed the first person to wear this amulet had been the auburn-haired woman who'd been the sea god's lover. He must have passed the amulet to my early ancestor, whose name had been lost in time.

If that had all happened on Oak Island—which would explain the abrupt loss of the early colony there four hundred years ago—that would mean the Bone Man had stayed there
after the loss of his wife. I didn't understand what would have kept him there, but it felt true to me.

I had a few minutes to look up Manannan MacLir in my Welsh book of mythology. The book said he was the son of Lir and rode in a chariot that surfed the waves. He was always accompanied by dozens of white horses that swam through the water behind him.

I looked up and tried to imagine the Bone Man being this sea god. What had happened to him? Maybe it was involved with him being trapped or for some other reason stuck on the island instead of returning to his native Ireland. Maybe it was some kind of karma for wiping out the colony.

Looking closely at the amulet, I wondered if he'd loved my ancestor who'd first owned the amulet. It seemed a little secondhand to give it to someone else after she was dead. I decided to find that missing ancestor no one could recall.

I put the book away and loaded everything into the car. It was still early, so I baked some brownies and got them ready to go. Elsie called and said that she was too excited to wait to go to Smuggler's Arcane and was wondering if I was ready to go.

I had a text from my son, who had run out of money—again. I added some to his bank account. Normally we would have had a discussion about it. I didn't like him to use up everything he had before the end of the month. I understood that this was different—he'd had car problems. A car could break down out of the blue but it wasn't a completely unexpected expense.

The calendar was circled for his next visit home. I sighed, missing him like always, and then went on to Elsie's house.

“I wasn't sure how much to bring,” she said as we hauled two boxes of her personal possessions out to the car. “I'm assuming we'll need part of each thing to do the attraction spell. I didn't want to bring anything that might be destroyed by the spell. I hope I have enough.”

“I'm sure you do.” I closed the trunk and we got in the car.
“Joe says he has a witness in the death that happened in Southport.”

“I hope you told him to be careful. A witness like that could end up dead.”

“Exactly what I told him. The witch is getting careless if she let herself be seen killing someone. Not that I'd wish this on anyone, but I wish she'd move on to the next town. Hopefully it will be one with a larger police force.”

“Not that the size of the police force matters. They won't catch a witch no matter what.”

“I'm afraid you're right.” We passed the empty docks. I thought about Georgia, back in her sealskin and swimming free in the river. The transformation from woman to seal had been amazing.

“You're thinking about the seal woman and her story again, aren't you?” Elsie asked. “Me too. I've hardly thought of anything else since we heard it. Do you still think it really happened, Molly?”

“Yes. I can feel it. You must too. I'm sure it's part of the amulet. It's been very active since we heard the story.”

“It's affected you, the amulet. Your magic is better. You hardly ever make a mistake anymore. I'm worried that it really came from the Bone Man. No wonder he offered to help you use it. His magic probably created it. Does that bother you?”

I steered the car down the empty street. “Not really. I didn't bargain for it. It was a gift freely given, I assume. But no wonder the council wanted it. We may not understand the magic, but it's powerful.”

Elsie giggled when she saw Dorothy's brown Beetle in the parking lot at Smuggler's Arcane. “I guess we weren't the only ones excited about tonight.”

I parked next to the car and smiled. “I'm glad she's been able to get into the excitement of creating a new spell book and looking for the old one. At least it's something to take her mind off Brian.”

Elsie and I grappled with our accumulated ancestors' wares. When they were out of the trunk, I decided to test my amulet's magic by moving everything into the shop. It was a good time to do it, since it was dark and all the other shops in the Cotton Exchange were closed.

“Do you think you should?” she asked with a worried expression. “What if you try to move them with magic and they fly out all over town?”

“Let's hope that doesn't happen.” I closed my eyes and muttered the spell Dorothy had used yesterday to bring the books into the shop. I could feel the magic pumping through the amulet and into my spell.

“It's working!” Elsie clapped her hands. “Good show, Molly.”

As if on cue, Dorothy opened the door to the shop. Elsie's boxes flew in through the doorway, barely missing her head. I brought my jewelry bag in with me, very pleased that the spell had worked.

“I hope we're ready to get this spell going and find our book,” Elsie said as she strolled past Dorothy.

“About that,” Dorothy said, twitching nervously. “I'm afraid something bad has happened, and I'm not sure what to do about it. I hope you can help.”

I took her hand as I met her in the doorway. “What's wrong?” I glanced at the empty space around her. She was holding Olivia's staff. “Where's Olivia?”

“That's it.” Tears were sliding down her cheeks. “Remember when we talked about putting her into Harper's body? Well, I kind of did that. But now I can't get her out.”