A Drop in the Potion Read online

  A Drop in the Potion

  A Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Book 8

  Annabel Chase

  Red Palm Press LLC

  A Drop in the Potion

  A Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Book 8

  By Annabel Chase

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  Copyright © 2017 Red Palm Press LLC

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Alchemy

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Thank you for reading

  Chapter 1

  “Excellent,” Begonia said as we entered the academy classroom. “Substitute today.”

  Ginger stood at the front of the classroom, one eye trained on the clock. “Have a seat, witches, and we’ll get started. Lady Weatherby and Professor Holmes are running late in a coven meeting, so they’ve asked me to cover your class today.”

  “Do we need to stick to the normal lesson plan?” Laurel asked.

  Ginger flipped her red hair over her shoulder. “Just because I’m a substitute doesn’t mean we can ditch the curriculum.”

  “Can we at least modify it today?” Sophie asked. “Combine something useful with something fun?”

  Ginger seemed prepared to consider the idea. “What do you have in mind?”

  “We want to learn to fight like the Amazons in Wonder Woman,” Sophie said.

  Ginger squinted at her. “What’s Wonder Woman?”

  Sophie’s cheeks turned pink. “Nothing. Did I say Wonder Woman?” She didn’t want to reveal that the magic mirror in the secret lair provided endless hours of cinematic entertainment from the human world. “I meant an Amazon like Juliet Montlake.”

  “The only thing I’ve seen Juliet Montlake fight over is a parking spot near the Wish Market,” Ginger replied. She tapped her wand in the palm of her hand. “So you want to learn some fighting moves, huh? Is that the bottom line?”

  Five heads bobbed up and down.

  “I suppose I could deviate a smidge from the lesson plan.” Ginger cocked her red head, thinking. “You never know when you’re going to need good attack moves.”

  “It’s Spellbound,” Millie said. “It can happen at any moment.”

  “Oh, come on,” Ginger objected. “It’s not that dangerous here.”

  “We have murders, magical crimes, theft, abuse of power.” Millie ticked them off on her fingers. “We’re practically an evil enclave.”

  Ginger laughed. “Don’t you think you might be exaggerating just a little bit?”

  “Teach us something cool,” Laurel said. “Something I can use to threaten my brothers when they’re annoying.”

  Ginger held up an index finger. “That I can assist with.” She pointed her wand at the adjacent wall and said, “A bone to its marrow/shoot me an arrow.”

  An arrow shot from the tip of her wand just as Sedgwick decided to fly in through the open door and join the class. He swooped out of the way in the nick of time. The arrow whizzed past him, the point stuck firmly in the wall.

  I whistled. “You’d give Robin Hood a run for his money.” I paused. “Or a run for the rich people’s money he stole.”

  Gee, don’t be concerned on my account, Sedgwick said from his perch on a nearby shelf. My feathers are practically a suit of armor.

  She missed, didn’t she? I glared at him. And if you’d been on time that would never have happened.

  And if you didn’t take so long in the bathroom, I’d have been on time, Sedgwick argued.

  You’re ridiculous, I replied. You’re an owl. You don’t need the bathroom.

  “What else can you do?” Begonia asked the teacher, her blue eyes shining.

  “Emma, why don’t you stand beneath the shelf where Sedgwick is?” Ginger said.

  I hesitated. “Is this going to be a William Tell situation? Do I need an apple?” I was fairly certain my sorcery skills could manifest an apple.

  “I don’t know who William Tell is,” Ginger said, and readied her wand for another spell.

  I stood underneath the shelf and waited. To my surprise, she took aim at Sedgwick rather than me.

  “River wide, ocean deep/this dart will make you fall asleep.”

  A tranquilizer dart shot from the end of her wand and landed directly in Sedgwick’s belly. I knew where it hit without looking because I felt a shadow of my familiar’s pain. There was no time to react, though, because Sedgwick teetered off the edge of the shelf and plummeted toward the floor. I reached out and caught him before he was a pile of flattened feathers.

  “He could’ve been hurt,” I said, glaring at Ginger. I didn’t care that she was in charge of today’s class. The only one allowed to abuse my cranky owl was me.

  “No, he couldn’t have been,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Why do you think I asked you to stand there?”

  I glanced at the unconscious owl in my arms. “How long will he be out for?”

  “A while,” Ginger replied. “I would think it’s less distracting for you to have him sleeping.”

  “Not if I’m worrying about him,” I said. “Can you wake him up?”

  Ginger pointed her wand at Sedgwick. “No more sleep to take/make this owl awake.”

  Sedgwick’s large owl eyes popped open, startling me. I jumped back and he flew out my arms, indignant.

  Why did I bother showing up for your class? he grumbled, and flew back to the safety of the shelf.

  “What else can shoot out of a wand?” Laurel asked. Despite my owl’s trauma, she clearly was enjoying every moment of today’s lesson.

  “We already know how to use our wands to create light and water,” Millie said, ever the Hermione of our little group.

  “Sometimes I use mine as a laser pointer,” Begonia said. “My familiar loves to chase the light around the floor. We should get Chairman Meow down here to experiment with it.”

  “A laser pointer isn’t very handy as a means of attack, though, is it?” Millie said snidely. “Unless you’re planning to bore someone to death with a presentation.”

  A slow smile spread across Ginger’s pretty face. “I’ve got one.” She aimed her wand at the blinds first, dropping them down. Then she dimmed the fey lanterns in the classroom so that it was pitch dark.

  “I can’t see,” Millie complained. “How can I take notes on the spell?”

  I can see fine, Sedgwick gloated.

  Save your superiority. Millie can’t hear you, I said.

  Sedgwick ruffled his feathers in annoyance. Ooh, I like what she’s about to…

  Before he could finish, light exploded in the room, blinding all of us.

  “My eyes,” Millie cried, covering her face.

  “I bet that’s not the kind of light you meant,” Sophie whispered to Millie.

  By the time my eyes adjusted to the sudden change, Ginger managed to restore normal light to the classroom.

  “I didn’t hear the spell because I was too busy protecting myself from blindness,” Millie complained. “Can you repeat it so I can write it down?”

  Ginger suppressed a smile. “I said it quietly. I’m not sure I should share that one yet. It’s very powerful and I’ve already shown you more than I should have.”

  “Please, Ginger,” Laurel said. “What if we’re trapped in a cave and it’s the only way to frighten the spiders away?”

  “Spiders?” Begonia queried with a shiver. “Why would we be trapped in a cave with spiders?”

  Ginger’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay, fine. But do not share this with anyone or use it inappropriately. Got it?”

  We all nodded.

  “Wand reload/light explode.” Ginger shrugged. “That’s it. Of course, you need to focus your will very carefully. Otherwise, you could end up exploding the wand. Then you’d be defenseless against the spiders.”

  “Ugh. Spiders,” Begonia repeated and hugged herself.

  “You do realize there are no actual spiders,” Millie snapped. “This is all hypothetical.”

  Laurel raised her hand. “Can we try now?”

  Ginger chewed her lip. “I don’t know, Laurel. It was one thing to show you…”

  “At least let Emma try,” Sophie said. “She’s supposed to do more advanced work now anyway.”

  That was true. I’d been training with Lady Weatherby and Agnes privately on top of the remedial witch classes. They wanted to make sure my sorceress powers didn’t run amok and destroy everything in their path.

  “Emma, are you inte rested?” Ginger asked.

  I glanced at my friends, who nodded encouragingly. “I guess I am.”

  Ginger waved me forward. “Then let’s go.”

  I stepped up to the front of the classroom clutching my light blue wand, Tiffany. “Arrow first?”

  Ginger shrugged. “Whatever flies your broomstick.”

  “Nothing,” Millie snickered. “She’s terrible on a broomstick.”

  “You’re in quite a mood today, Millie,” Ginger said, pinning Millie with a hard stare. “Is there anything you need to discuss with me after class?”

  Millie’s gaze dropped to the table in front of her. “No, miss,” she mumbled.

  I pointed my wand at the adjacent wall and repeated Ginger’s spell. An arrow shot from the end of the wand and narrowly missed one of the fey light sconces.

  “Oops,” I said. “I need better aim.”

  “It takes time and patience,” Ginger said. “Like everything to do with magic. How about the dart?”

  Try the far wall this time, Sedgwick urged, unwilling to participate again.

  I focused my will and pointed my wand well over the girls’ heads. “From the wand of Emma Hart/shoot me a dart.”

  “Cute,” Ginger said.

  The wand released a tranquilizer dart on command. Unfortunately, Lady Weatherby chose that particular moment to check on the status of our lesson. She stepped through the open doorway, her black cloak billowing around her.

  I opened my mouth to stop the spell, but it was too late. The dart landed squarely in her chest. She glanced down briefly to see the red tassels of the dart dangling from her dress before she slumped to the floor.

  My wand shook in my hand as I lowered it. Slowly, I turned my head to look at Ginger. “Did she see it was me?”

  Ginger heaved a sigh. “I don’t think so.”

  “Let’s never tell her, okay?” I pleaded.

  The other girls crowded around the head of the coven.

  “Should we wake her?” Millie asked, giving the witch’s leg a hesitant nudge with her toe.

  Begonia balled her fists in a nervous gesture. “I think Ginger should do it once we’ve gone.”

  “Good idea,” Sophie added. “Class is over now anyway, right?”

  We all looked expectantly at Ginger.

  “Oh, fine,” Ginger said. “I suppose this is my fault anyway. I should have stuck to the original plan.”

  Sedgwick swooped over our heads and flew out the door. I’m not getting caught up in any of this mess. See you at home, loser.

  “See you later, fair feather friend,” I called with a sarcastic wave.

  “Secret lair at eight?” Sophie asked, stepping over a section of Lady Weatherby’s cloak.

  “I’ll be there,” Millie said.

  “I’m meeting Demetrius for dinner, but I’ll come after,” Begonia said.

  “Demetrius again?” Sophie queried. “You two had dinner earlier this week.”

  “I think you’ll find they have dinner every night,” Laurel said. “Just not necessarily with each other.”

  Ginger placed her hands on her hips. “Witches, if you don’t want Lady Weatherby to wake up and see you all staring down at her, I highly suggest you get a move on.”

  She didn’t need to say it twice. We filed out through the doorway, careful not to trip over Lady Weatherby’s crumpled body.

  “Good luck,” I called over my shoulder, and ran out of the building as fast as I could.

  Chapter 2

  "I think I'm going to call my tattoo business Spelled Ink,” Begonia announced.

  We’d gathered in the secret lair that evening. It was a good thing we’d already made plans to do so because rumor had it that Lady Weatherby had awoken from her unexpected nap in a very foul mood.

  “I don’t get it,” Millie said.

  “It’s a play on words,” Laurel explained. “There’s spilled ink but also inc. like incorporated and spelled instead of spilled because of magic.”

  Millie seemed unimpressed.

  “Personally, I love the name," Sophie said. “The business is going to be a lot of work, though. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

  "Demetrius said he would help me set it up," Begonia replied.

  Millie glowered. "Is that how it's going to be now? Same as with Claude. A boyfriend comes along and your coven sisters are stale bread?"

  Begonia looked genuinely hurt. "How can you say that? You girls will always be more important to me. It's just that Demetrius has a lot of experience in business and he offered to help. I would be silly to turn it down."

  “Whatever,” Millie grumbled.

  Begonia fingered the ideal beauty necklace wrapped around the neck of one of the voodoo dolls. “So should this doll look like the most beautiful doll in the world to me now?"

  Millie snatched the doll out of her hand. "I'm still perfecting the spell. Genius can’t be rushed.”

  “It seemed to work well enough on us,” Laurel said. “Not so sure what the point would be for inanimate objects.”

  Millie removed the necklace from the doll and handed it to Begonia. “Here. You can mess around with it if you want. I’m working on another project right now anyway. I’m like a shark. If I stagnate, I die.”

  I stifled a laugh. Millie was like a shark, but not for the reasons she seemed to think.

  “It’s getting late. Are we going to watch a movie?" I asked. “Because I promised Daniel I’d be home early."

  Millie rolled her eyes. "Oh, look. Here's another one forfeiting her sisters for a guy.”

  "It isn't because I prefer Daniel's company over yours," I said, though to some degree it was. "It's because Gareth and Magpie are stretched to the limit with Daniel's appearances. I'm afraid they're going to stage a coup if I'm not there to intervene."

  "I can understand it from Gareth's point of view," Sophie said. "And Magpie’s for that matter. It was one thing for you to move in and take over. Daniel is an angel. He can't help but rattle a vampire and his demon cat."

  “Magpie isn’t a demon cat,” I said. Most of the time. "You've been awfully quiet, Laurel. What are you doing over there?"

  Laurel sat at the small table, with a pile of open books in front of her. In the stack, I noticed the old grimoire that she’d discovered in the coven library.

  "I've been working on a reveal spell so I can read my sister's journal,” Laurel explained. “She's been taunting me with its contents for months. I’m determined to figure out a way to read it.”

  Millie's eyes lit up. "I can help you with that. I used one on my sister's journal last year. I knew she borrowed my other sister’s broomstick and damaged it, but she refused to own up to it. She tried to play me. I knew she'd boast about it in her journal."

  "And did she?" Begonia asked.

  Millie folded her arms smugly. "Of course she did. I know my sister well. I did the reveal spell and was able to show my parents the evidence that it wasn't me. My sister was punished for a fortnight.” She sighed. “Sweet justice."

  Laurel held up the parchment for inspection. "Then I would love it if you’d take a look at my spell and tell me if this seems accurate to you."

  Millie plucked the paper from Laurel's fingers and examined the contents. She paced the lair, muttering the words under her breath. "I think you're missing a line here." She tapped a spot on the page. "Other than that, it looks good."

  "What do you think I should add?" Laurel asked.

  Millie glanced around the room. “Where's a quill?" Before anyone could answer, she spotted one on the coffee table. She kneeled on the floor and scribbled in the missing line. Then she returned the sheet to Laurel. "Try this."

  Laurel reviewed the new addition. "Oh, of course. Good thinking."

  "Do you actually have her journal?" I asked.

  Laurel shook her head. "She has a protective spell around it. I'm able to read it where it is, but if I try to move it, an alarm will go off."

  "Can't you do it when she's not home?" Sophie asked. "That way it doesn't matter if an alarm goes off."