A Cold Case Spoiled (Ice Witch Mysteries Book 3) Read online

  But I shook my head and stood up, splaying my hands across the desktop. “I’m sorry, Amortencia, but no. I’d like to be able to pick the right candidate for the job the old-fashioned way this time. Without any favors being asked. I’m sure you can understand.”

  “While I do understand that, he would make a great addition to your team. He’s a hard worker and very honest. I can personally vouch for him. If you hired him I’d be in your debt, naturally,” she said quickly, her grass-green eyes wide.

  “No.” Drusilla’s tone was even more final than mine.

  “He really could help you out with—”

  I raised a brow. “No, Amortencia. I get it, the guy needs help. But we can’t take a chance like that again. I won’t take that chance again.”

  Color flooded the fairy’s delicate skin. Her features seemed sharper somehow, as if being rejected turned her into something less friendly. “You are rather abrupt for someone with such power.”

  I froze. My multiple powers were not something I wanted anyone to casually refer to. None of my friends knew what would happen if the Special Council found out about them, and being that I wanted to break out of the cursed town as soon as possible, I didn’t want to know. Now that Amortencia knew I was capable of wielding all the elements, she had the potential to hold it over my head as long as she didn’t tell my secret.

  Drusilla was not having it. “We have some articles to type up, so we should probably get back to work.”

  Amortencia ignored her. “I think it would greatly benefit you to think about it,” she said, looking right at me. It was a thinly veiled threat and while I knew fairies could be manipulative at times, I didn’t expect this from her.

  I drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know why this job in particular keeps piquing your interest, but I can assure you that the person who will ultimately choose our next photographer will be me. Without any coercion this time.”

  Amortencia drew herself up tall and looked down at me with a politely neutral expression. “Of course. I only thought I might be of assistance in finding a good person for the job, but I see you have it covered. I hope you’re not too put out with me. I didn’t mean to offend.”

  “It’s okay. But Drusilla is right—we should get to work. The paper won’t type itself, you know,” I said, desperate for her to leave. The words I really wanted to say wouldn’t stay buried for much longer.

  “It’s always a pleasure. Thank you, ladies.” She exited with less flair than how she’d entered.

  Goldie, whom I had completely forgot about, clicked her beak. “Sorry, I was trying to get here as fast as I could to head her off. I overheard her talking about springing a visit and thought I better let you know ahead of time.”

  I patted her shoulder. “It’s no big deal. She would’ve shown up either way. Though why, I don’t know.”

  “I hope she doesn’t think this place is open for the public. Because we can’t just have people coming in whenever they wish,” Drusilla said, arms still folded. I didn’t bring up the fact that literally everyone else comes and goes when they wanted.

  Sighing, I sat back down. “We’ve got work to do and I, for one, do not want to sit around discussing getting blackmailed by supernatural royalty. Now…where’s my notepad?”

  2

  Edge Of Frostbite

  “Seriously. Where does she even get off?” I stabbed at my salad a little too passionately, sending my nerves into shock with the scrape of the metal fork across the bowl.

  Ash swept his dark hair from his eyes, obviously lost in thought. I was half-tempted to see if he would notice me stealing one of the glazed carrots from his plate.

  “She gets these grandiose ideas in her head sometimes. It’s like it soothes her to think she has dominion over people,” Goldie said with a soft hoot. “Must be a princess-y thing.”

  “Pfft. Princess or not, she needs to mind her own business.” I refrained from taking my frustrations out on the food this time.

  Dinner was usually a laid-back affair now that it was becoming a regular thing here at the library. My camper consisted of the tiniest kitchen space and zero places to really cook, so Ash started inviting me over to the library to eat dinner with him.

  Instead of eating in the library’s kitchen, Ash lifted his weird moratorium on eating on the main floor of the library. He said the change of heart was due to the kitchen being overcrowded, but I had a feeling it had more to do with the fact that he liked to debate a number of things with me over dinner and then pop over to a related bookshelf just to try and prove himself right.

  “I saw that,” he said, watching me from the corner of his warm hazel eyes.

  I slowly withdrew my hand. “So you are still here.”

  “I was just thinking about her motivations. Amortencia’s, I mean,” he said, spearing a carrot with his fork. “I figured she would enjoy her own little power trip but to test you this way…”

  “You think she’s testing Indie?” Goldie said.

  He shrugged but there was an uneasiness to the way he sat back in his seat. “It’s possible. Amortencia’s very smart and she must be at last a little curious about her. But as far as I know, she hasn’t said anything to the Special Council, which is both good and bad.”

  We’d had this discussion a few times since the last incident and I already knew Ash’s thoughts on the matter. If the fairy princess really felt it was her duty to tell the Special Council then she would’ve done it already. She wasn’t a bad person but both Goldie and Ash seemed to believe she would use the knowledge to her advantage somehow.

  I nodded. “Okay, so she’s testing me. Maybe she’s even calling my bluff with her little request. How will I know whether I passed it or not?”

  “You might never know. Fairies are great and all, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I’ve known some who have held grudges that spanned human generations. They don’t like to drop things,” Goldie said as she shrugged her white shoulders.

  I hadn’t known of fairies for very long but that was definitely a recurring theme with them.

  The sharpness of Ash’s jawline tensed. “I’ve never known Amortencia to be exploitative, but this is a thin thread line.” The tendons in his arm flexed as he balled his hand into a fist. It was a habit of his I noticed whenever he was restraining himself from letting his anger out.

  “I didn’t get this sense that she’s being vindictive exactly, but it was still weird. I know you may feel you have reason not to trust me…” I said, recalling her earlier words. “Well, I mean I thought I could. I was hoping I could, but now that she mentions it I don’t feel like I can.” And the last thing I wanted was to be on the bad side of the head of the fairies.

  “Yeah, well, Amortencia might have her ways of keeping up with what everyone’s doing but so do we. And by that I mean me. And you’re also welcome in advance,” Goldie said with her beaky grin.

  “We owe you much,” I said, gravely bowing my head.

  Ash was apparently not in the joking mood. “Whether she’s playing a game here or not, I don’t like it. I’m going to go speak with her about what her intentions are with—”

  “No. No, I don’t want you going and fighting my battles for me,” I said, quickly shaking my head. “Not only am I totally capable of doing that myself, I don’t want her getting this idea that I’m some weak thing to be pushed around. She already seems to have that bias as it is. And if she does end up snitching to the Special Council then we’ll deal with it then, but I can’t have them thinking I’m someone they can order around, either.”

  Ash studied me for a moment, lingering on my eyes as I sipped my cup of soup. “I understand.”

  Goldie nearly spit out the water from her bowl. “You what?”

  He gave her that deadpan look of his. “I’m saying that I understand. If Indie doesn’t want me to interfere on her behalf then I won’t.”

  A small smile tugged at my mouth. “Oh yeah? And you’re actually listening?” Goldie and
I snickered.

  He leaned back again, sighing a bit more dramatically than usual. “Laugh all you want. But I’m trying to be respectful here.”

  I stopped, feeling a little sheepish. “You are. Sorry, I think I’m just a little surprised at the lack of argument.”

  “I’m not always an insufferable know-it-all, believe it or not.” For others it might be difficult to tell when Ash was being sarcastic, but I had a good handle on it.

  I smiled sweetly. “Well that’s a relief.”

  Cleaning up after dinner, I stacked the dishes and filled up the kitchen sink with water. Ash was having a hard time getting his pipes to stay unfrozen without having one of the only two plumbers in town come fix them. I shivered as I plunged my hands into cold water.

  “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” he said, already on my case.

  I rolled my eyes and reached for the sponge. “I don’t see what the problem is. You cook, I clean. It sounds pretty simple to me. It’s not like Goldie can come in here and do it. Unless you want little wet feathers all over your clean dishes.”

  Ash winced. “Fine. But you really don’t have to do the cleaning. You’re supposed to be a guest here, remember?”

  “You and your old-fashioned nonsense. It’s just as bad as Nan.” I paused to get the chance to recover from talking about her. “I’m here almost every day. I would hardly call me a guest at this point.”

  A familiar smile played at Ash’s lips, and I immediately knew where he was going with it. “It wouldn’t be a debatable point if you would just move into the library.”

  Yep. That was exactly what I thought he would say.

  “Ash…”

  He’d been kind enough to let me stay in the library’s spare room when I first got stuck in Charming Springs, and okay, it was a nice cozy space. But as much as I appreciated the offer, I felt like I couldn’t just abandon the camper.

  “It just makes sense to me. Your camper doesn’t seem like it has the ability to keep warm for much longer. I believe I’ve heard you use the phrase ‘it’s ancient.’ So before you turn it down again, why not?”

  He was lucky I didn’t splash the ice-cold water at him. “I’ve already told you why. I need my space. I can’t exactly waltz around the library in just my T-shirt and a messy bun. I-I mean, well, you know. I need to be able to decompress by myself.” I felt the quiet between us even over the running water and my cheeks burned.

  “You’d have your own room, though. And bathroom. It’s not as if I’d be bothering you.” He turned and leaned his back against the counter. “The invitation is open, anyway.”

  It was hard not to smile to myself. “And I thank you for that. If I change my mind—which I doubt—you’ll be the first to know.”

  With all this talk of brazen fairies, I completely forgot to give you the scoop from today,” Goldie said excitedly, her tail feathers flipping up as she nestled into a comfortable position. “This hot spring has really turned out the wild and crazies! Maverick and I were just enjoying a fresh-caught lemming nearby the spring this morning and overheard some of the things people have ended up getting caught doing.”

  I held up my hand. “Let me just stop you right there. I don’t need to know who’s getting busy and where. If people want to be getting wild and living their lives on the edge of frostbite, that’s their own prerogative.”

  Even Ash chuckled.

  “No, dummy, that’s not what I mean. I mean yes, that might have gotten mixed into the gossip, but I was referring to the strange things people are doing. Weird graffiti on the cave nearby. Father Copper coming to bless the water, only he ended up skinny-dipping in it instead. This one guy apparently wanted to introduce his wife to his girlfriend right there in the spring! And the wife nearly drowned him she was so furious. Luckily the shop guy was able to pull her off of the husband, but it was apparently really bizarre.”

  I raised a brow. “Drusilla told me about the fairy that jumped from high up, but I didn’t hear about the rest.”

  “That’s not all. A woman claimed her mother was following her around, giving her unwanted relationship advice.”

  Ash leaned in. “So?”

  “Her mother’s been dead for years,” Goldie said with a shrug.

  “Okay, yeah, that’s more than bizarre. We saw it before, right? That night by the cave?” I asked Ash. I knew he remembered because he was still irritated over the loss of his favorite LARPer cloak.

  “Yeah, I’ve seen it. Do you think these things might be related to the hot spring?”

  “No idea. That would have to be something we look into because I know zero about geology and magic. I’m hardly there with my own mediocre work.”

  “Ooh! This is the perfect opportunity for some detective work!” Goldie’s bright eyes widened as she hopped back down to the table from her perch on the bookshelf.

  “No,” Ash said.

  “Uh-uh,” I said.

  She frowned. “Okay, fine. But you know, there are rumors also going around that the place is cursed.”

  I exchanged a look with Ash. “Cursed? Why do they think that? Because people most likely getting drunk and partying around the spring are making fools of themselves?”

  She shook her head. “The appearance of something like this hot spring out of nowhere has people scratching their heads, I think. But also that place has a funny…vibration or energy to it.”

  “So this spring might actually have some kind of mystical force going on around it? Huh,” Ash said, folding his arms across his chest. “It could be something to look into.” Ash hardly needed an excuse to look into anything. I always told him his middle name, if it ever existed, should’ve been research. One of the perks of being the town’s librarian, I suppose.

  Goldie let out a hoot. “So we are talking about doing some sleuthing!”

  He shrugged.

  “Not really,” I said, grinning over at Ash as subtly as I could. We may have been somewhat aware that we were winding her up, but that didn’t stop us.

  Goldie looked downright incensed. “Well what in the heck are we talking about, then?” she shrieked, flapping around erratically as she took off into the air. “You two are hopeless!”

  She didn’t even bother with a goodbye as she flew past us, leaving me and Ash in stitches watching her.

  3

  Familiar Face

  During our lunch break—or breakfast break if you were a vampire—Drusilla and I made a run to Ye Olde General Store for supplies.

  “Are you sure we need all of this, Dru?” I hefted the plastic basket onto the counter.

  She peered down into the basket, twisting her pouty mouth to the side as she counted everything. “That’s enough. Henny said we needed to stock up on the printer ink while it was on sale.”

  “How did she know it was on sale? We haven’t even put out the paper with the sales ad this week.”

  Prince, the owner of the shop and also the water wizard representative for the Special Council, popped up from behind the counter like a whack-a-mole. “Because she called me and asked.” Pushing his mop of shaggy brown hair out of his face, he gave us his slow, laid-back smile.

  “She called you and asked? You mean she spoke to you?” I shook my head. “I didn’t even know she could do that.”

  Drusilla playfully smacked at my arm. “Oh you’re terrible! Henny’s just quiet, that’s all. She’s a woman of very few words.”

  “But many grunts,” I added, honing in on the strange metal things glinting off of Prince’s tie-dyed shirt.

  He must have noticed me staring because he pulled the weird necklace hanging around his neck away from him, his eyes wide. “It’s my new bottle-cap rope. I used to make them when I was a kid, and my spiritual advisor said I should connect to my inner child more, so I strung this together. Pretty sweet, right?”

  I blinked. “Yeah. It’s giving me very, uh, childlike vibes.”

  He nodded happily. “Yeah, man. That was exactly what
I was going for. So what are you ladies picking up today? Just the ink?”

  “There are some blood mints in there too, but those are separate,” Drusilla said with a wave of her hand. “Put the rest on the Gazette’s tab.”

  We hopped into Old Ben and took off through the snowy downtown and back to the paper.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Drusilla started, hesitating before continuing. “How are the powers coming along?”

  I laughed. “Why are you whispering? They’re doing okay, actually. Fatima’s an excellent teacher, all things considered. She’s never had to deal with anything like this. Heck, I’ve never had to deal with anything like this.”

  “You’ve got to admit, it’s kind of exciting. Like, I know it’s weird but also if I were a witch, I would totally choose to have your powers.” The easy smile on her face slid some. “I still can’t believe Amortencia tried to use them against you.”

  I shrugged, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. “That makes two of us. You know, I was thinking of having some special-made cupcakes for Goldie that she would actually eat, from the Cake Fairy. Amortencia did say she was gifing me cupcakes for life, but now I’m rethinking that idea. Anyway…I don’t want to let her audaciousness ruin any more of my time than it already has. What about you? How have things with you and Alina been going?”

  She tilted her pale hand back and forth. “Alina is a handful, of course. She’s getting what I like to call twitchy. She always gets that way when she feels like she’s stuck somewhere for too long. Before the curse she would travel a lot. I would go with her sometimes but Natalia says she’s a traveler at heart. My sister’s the one she usually needs to keep in line. I guess I’m boring.”

  I snorted. If there was one word I would use to describe Drusilla, boring would not be that word. “So this is a little weird to ask, but how does that whole thing work? I know some about your kind from reading but I’ve never really understood the relationship between Natalia and the rest of you. The shifters and the witches and wizards select their representative for the Special Council. The fairies just use their princess.”