For Witch's Sake (Bless Your Witch Book Five) Read online

  I smirked. Well, we knew she was capable of murdering one person. Could she have really murdered Roman's mother and sisters on that fatal night twenty years ago?

  We reached a section of wall marked 1124. The guard stopped. He pulled the club from his waistband and tapped the concrete. The wall faded away, revealing a small, hunched woman in a cell.

  I blinked, realizing that each number represented a different cell. The level of hopelessness in this place floored me. These prisoners were truly trapped, unable to even see out of their rooms.

  Of course, these were murderers we were talking about. I should save my pity, I suppose.

  LaRue wore a black dress that covered her from neck to foot. Shredded tendrils of ebony extended from the gown, sweeping the floor. It looked like a ball gown gone terribly, terribly wrong. Long gray hair hung in clumps around her face. There was no telling this woman's age—she was old but not ancient, though she appeared fragile to the point of cracking if you even looked at her wrong.

  The guard nodded to Roman. "When you're ready to leave, just say so. One of us will appear."

  "Thank you," I said.

  The guard walked off. His footfalls echoed down the empty corridor.

  Roman clenched his fists. I had no idea what he was feeling. Anger? Rage? I placed a hand on his arm as Wanda LaRue slowly spun around.

  Dark, piercing eyes shot right through me. She cackled. When she spoke, her voice grated like a body being dragged over gravel. "Milly, you old biddy. Trying to become a cougar at your age?"

  My eyes flipped wide. Holy crap. She knew my grandmother.

  Roman stepped forward.

  Wanda's gaze flickered to him. Her jaw fell open, and she shuffled toward us. I couldn't see a barrier, but was there one between us? My question was answered when Roman pressed his hands to the glass.

  "You know who I am," he said in a sour, bitter voice. I'd never heard a sound like it come from Roman before. It was a fissure of hurt so deep I didn't know if there was a rope that could pull him out.

  Wanda clasped her hands in front of her. "You look so much like her. So much." She lifted her finger and traced the lines of his face.

  Roman fisted his hands. He dug them into the glass. "You were there the night they were murdered."

  Wanda stiffened. The look of curiosity vanished, replaced with a frown. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "My father saw you."

  "Your father disappeared the night your mother was murdered," she snapped.

  "He returned, and he remembers everything."

  A bit of a stretch, but I knew Roman had to bluff his way through this. He needed Wanda to admit to anything and everything that she could. There wasn't time to ask nicely and wait. Besides, from the look of her, one good fall and she'd break into a thousand pieces.

  "You know nothing," she hissed.

  "I know that you were there. I know someone stole the Crystal of Power and used it on my family. I know my father identified you as a killer."

  The Crystal of Power. I'd almost forgotten about it. Basically it was a stone that magnified magic. It could be used in a wand—which, in fact, was its purpose. The witch housed the stone in her wand and then wielded unbelievable power.

  And it had been used to kill his mother.

  Roman swayed his hips. "And I bet if I poked around back at the home you used to share with your daughter, I'd find a wand that you tucked that stone into."

  Wanda's eyes flared wide. Her lower lip trembled. "You don't know what you're talking about."

  Roman quirked a brow. "You sure about that? ’Cause I'm damn sure about it."

  Her eyes slewed from me to Roman and back. "I'm not telling you anything."

  Roman shrugged. "Suit yourself." He glanced at me. "Come on. Let's go rip her house to shreds."

  "No. Wait," she screeched. "I'll tell you everything you want to know."

  Roman's lips flattened to a thin line. "Now. Tell me now."

  She shook her head. "It wasn't me who killed them. It may have looked that way to your father in all the confusion. I didn't wield that wand. But I know who did, and I know how to prove it."

  "Start talking."

  She twitched her head. "You have to do something for me first."

  Roman pressed his palms to the glass and leaned down so his nose was an inch from the pane. "Why would I do anything for you?"

  "Because if you don't, you'll never know what happened. I guarantee it. When I die, so do all the secrets. I was there, but I wasn't the only one. There was another. She was cloaked, and she was the one who did it."

  "Why should I believe you?"

  "What have I got to lose?" she countered. "I'm to be executed in one week for a murder I committed years ago."

  Roman's eyes widened. "One week?"

  LaRue's lips twitched. "What? They didn't tell you that?"

  He raked his fingers through his sun-streaked hair. "No."

  "You've got that much time to discover the truth. Save the one thing that's important to me, and I'll tell you everything."

  "What's the thing?" he asked.

  "My daughter." Wanda wrung her boney hands. "She's in a coma. Magically induced for the past month."

  I frowned. "Why would someone do that to your daughter?"

  She smirked. "You can't guess? So that I wouldn't talk to anyone about the murder of a queen, of course. But what they don't know is that I'm counting on you to save my daughter—Chasity—before they realize I've said one word to you. You save her, I tell you what you want, then I die and my daughter lives."

  Okay. Well, that was a bit of a whirlwind of information.

  Wanda rubbed a hand down her arm. "I need you to bring Chasity out of it. Before I'm executed. Those are the terms." Her eyes widened. They held a crazed look. "Heal her and I'll tell you everything."

  "How are we supposed to do that?" I said. "Get her out of the coma?"

  "Milly," Wanda hissed. "You disappoint me. I thought for sure you'd know the answer to that. Why, I remember a time when you knew the answers to everything. Do you recall that? When I was young and you used to watch over me, teach me what you knew. We used to be so close when I was a girl. I dreamed of being like you, of walking in your footsteps. You went on to be queen," she whimpered. "And I went another direction. My path was so close to yours." She threaded her fingers together. "They were so entwined, our lives. Until they weren't."

  Her gaze swept me from head to feet. She giggled. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

  I stepped back, shaken by her words. Could she see that I wasn't Milly?

  Her lips coiled into a sinister smile. "No. No, you wouldn't know anything about that." She clasped her hands almost gleefully. My stomach soured, twisting into a pit of angst. "Since you wouldn't know how to save her, I'll tell you. There is one animal known to cure anything. Can you guess what it is?"

  I bit the inside of my cheek. I really, I mean really, did not want to look like a total idiot in front of this cold-blooded killer. Because that's what she seemed like, folks, someone who would kill you as quick as look at you.

  Roman shifted his weight. "A unicorn," he murmured. "Unicorns heal."

  Wanda's eyes sparkled with delight. "Exactly right. A unicorn can heal my daughter. All you have to do is convince one to help you." She turned back from the glass, heading toward the rear of the cell as if the conversation was finished. "Do that and you'll have your answers. Do that and I'll tell you anything you want to know about that night. But be quick. Her sickness isn't stable. The coma could take her. If she dies, the deal is off."

  Now I knew one unicorn—Titus, who was king. Whenever our paths crossed, he was always kind, but I'd never gone to him specifically to ask a favor. Part of me thought that Titus might consider that rude. However, if he was my only chance of getting this information, I would of course get over myself and reach out to him.

  Wanda flashed us a devilish smile, lifted her hand and snapped her
fingers. The concrete wall shot up in front of us. Her cell had vanished.

  Roman and I were left all alone in the cold, dark corridor.

  I stroked his arm. "You okay?"

  He nodded. "Fine. I knew it wouldn't be easy."

  "Getting her to tell us?"

  His gaze swept past me and down the hall, as if he hadn't seen me. "Why are there always games?" he growled.

  I leaned back. "She's only one witch."

  He shook his head. "It's never just one witch giving me one piece of information. It's always a tease. Even if I go and save this woman, how do I know Wanda will keep her promise?"

  I scratched a spot behind my ear. "We don't. But there's one way to find out."

  His green eyes sharpened on me. "And that is?"

  I quirked a brow. "We call Titus."

  FOUR

  "We need to reach out to Titus," I said. We were back at the house. Milly's spell to bring us back worked great, which was awesome considering I didn't have magic.

  Not that it would matter because I wasn't that advanced at craft anyway. I'd be lucky to whisk us to the nearest gas station, and that was only if I could see the gas station.

  Anyway, I digress.

  My family stared at me, wide-eyed and unblinking. They were sitting around the dinner table, eating a meal of country-fried steak, turnip greens, and cornbread. It smelled like heaven.

  Milly-in-my-body scratched her cheek. "We need Titus? What the heck for?"

  Roman leaned against the door frame and explained the situation. My grandmothers shot each other looks over the table.

  Grandma Hazel yanked at the cream-colored scarf around her neck. "Far be it for me to disturb his royal highness."

  I scoffed. "That's not true. You love bothering him. Just a few months ago you had him on display at the town Valentine's dance, taking romantic pictures with couples."

  She wiggled her fingers at me. "Yes, but I've never asked him to heal anyone. You want him to help some girl none of us know. Her mother's a murderer." Grandma clutched her face. "What if she's worse? What if the girl wants to harm us?"

  "I'll ask him," Roman said. "Just bring him here."

  Grandma clanked her silverware together. "If that's what you want."

  I raised my hand. "Wait. Can I get my body back?"

  Milly grinned at me. "I like this young body. May keep it awhile."

  I glared at her. "Not part of the deal."

  Sera laughed. "You play with the devil, you get the horns."

  "Don't remind me," I said.

  Dinner ended quickly. Milly switched our bodies; this time I didn't faint. I guess I was getting used to the whole thing. We reconvened in the living room, waiting for my grandma to summon Titus.

  "What was it like switching bodies with Milly?" Sera asked.

  "Weird," I replied. "I don't think I'd do it again."

  "Well, I'd do it a thousand times if it got me out of here," Reid said loudly. "Being cooped up stinks."

  "I'll remember that," Milly said. "You need out to go smooch your boyfriend and you can have my body."

  Reid gagged. "Thanks, but I don't have a boyfriend. Besides," she murmured, "pretty sure showing up as you would kill any romance."

  "What was that?" Milly said.

  "Nothing," Reid said loudly. She turned to Grandma. "So how do you call Titus?"

  Grandma looked at each of us in turn. "That is a secret that I am sworn to keep as a human member of the unicorn guild."

  Sera threaded her fingers through her glossy bob. "The unicorn guild?"

  Grandma nodded. "I saved many a unicorn from harm during my time with the witch police. I helped them out so much Titus made me an honorary unicorn."

  Reid giggled. "Do you have a horn?"

  "Right. She wears it to bed," Sera said.

  I snorted. "No. Even better. She wears it around the house when we're not here."

  The three of us cackled like hens until Grandma said—

  "I do, in fact, have one."

  The air was sucked from the room.

  Roman sat beside me on the couch. He leaned over and whispered, "One day you won't make fun of your grandmother."

  "Why's that?"

  "Because she'll turn you into a hippopotamus."

  "Very funny."

  He shrugged.

  Grandma held open one palm and waved her other hand over it. The air contracted and shimmered. Light like a thousand diamonds sparkled above her palm. The outline of a shape burned through the light, and when the glare receded, I gasped.

  Sera gasped.

  Reid yelped.

  In my grandmother's hand lay an ivory unicorn horn. The bone twisted and curved into a perfect cylinder. It was a thing of beauty.

  "Holy crap," I said.

  "Tell me about it, toots," Milly said.

  "It's almost as beautiful as my fighting spear," Nan said wistfully.

  "How have we not seen this before?" I said.

  "Oh, you have," Grandma said. "But I always wipe your memories afterward."

  "You do what?" I shrieked.

  Grandma shrugged. "No one's supposed to know I have it. Nothing personal." She raised a hand. "Now. Let's call Titus."

  Grandma sliced the horn through the air in some sort of pattern that I would never remember. "Stand back," she said.

  "We're sitting," I countered.

  "Sit back," she corrected.

  An orb of light appeared in the room. It grew, buoying outward. It pulsed, covering us in an electric wave of light. I shielded my eyes. When the beam receded, I blinked them open.

  There stood Titus, King of the Unicorns, in all his majesty. He was snow-white from head to tail, save for the silver-plated necklace that donned his neck. An opal rested in the metal center. The stone seemed to glow in the amber lamplight.

  "It is good to see the Apel family," he said quietly.

  Oh, did I forget to mention that this unicorn talked?

  "It is good to see you, old friend," Grandma said in greeting.

  No one said anything else. An unsettling quiet layered the space.

  "I can see by the awkwardness in the room that I'm to be asked something," Titus said.

  Roman rose. "I need a favor."

  "Then ask."

  Roman told the unicorn the story. Titus listened quietly, his dark eyes reflecting nothing but patience.

  "You need me to heal this woman," Titus said.

  Roman nodded. "I do. I would be forever in your debt."

  Titus whisked his head left and right. "I do not like for humans to owe me. Unicorns don't heal so that we can hold this over someone. That's not how the magic is supposed to be performed. It is a sharing of equals. The Apel family's lives are intertwined with ours. We are kindred in spirit, though not in blood. Because of this, I shall grant your request. I will heal this woman."

  I nearly jumped from my chair with glee. Seriously, this couldn't have been any easier if I'd rolled out of bed with a fatal case of bedhead, marched into Fairyland and asked myself.

  I nearly hooted with happiness.

  "Thank you," Roman said.

  "There's only one thing I need from the Apel family," Titus said.

  "Anything," I chirped. "We'll do anything for this favor to Roman."

  "You have proven yourselves as part of our family in spirit; now I need you to show it in the physical form."

  "Of course," I said. I suddenly felt my sisters staring at me as if I was somehow crossing a line. Which I was sure I wasn't. We all liked Titus.

  Titus lowered his head. The tip of his horn glowed. A shape shimmered into existence. It was small, like a miniature outline of Titus.

  A shot of air rushed over my lungs in surprise. "A baby unicorn."

  "Oh, it's so cute," Reid said.

  "How sweet," Sera added.

  The tiny unicorn was all Titus, just much, much smaller. It pawed the ground, its hoof scratching the wood floor.

  It was just a baby. I could forgive
it for ruining that small patch of wood.

  I reached over and scratched the little bugger under his chin. The unicorn shook out his mane. He blinked up at me with sweet, innocent black eyes.

  Titus nickered quietly. "To gain my help, you must foster my son. His name is Adonis. I'll be back. Keep him safe, keep him well, and I'll give you what you ask."

  Titus disappeared in a blip of light. Everyone in the room turned to the tiny, adorable unicorn in the room.

  "Do you think he's hungry?" Reid asked.

  "What does it eat?" Sera said.

  "Hay?" I answered.

  Grandma threw up her hands. "Welcome, Adonis, Prince of the Unicorns. We will keep you safe until your father returns."

  Adonis blinked at us several times. Then he lifted his hind legs and kicked a small round table. The Chinese vase nestled on top tipped left and right before smashing to the floor. The porcelain broke into a gazillion pieces and scattered across the room.

  What in the world?

  Milly laughed. "Girls, meet a baby unicorn. They're nothing but piss and vinegar."

  Adonis bucked his legs again before bounding off into the kitchen.

  I threw my sisters a look of fear. "Someone better follow that animal."

  Sera pointed at me. "This is all you, Dylan."

  Roman grabbed my hand and pulled me to stand. "Come on. Let's go stop that unicorn before he destroys the kitchen."

  ***

  Adonis turned out to need twenty-four-hour supervision. Like, literally the one time we could take our eyes off him was when he slept. Which wasn't often enough, if you asked me.

  "Can't you put a sleeping spell or something on him?" I asked Grandma.

  She recoiled in horror. "Dylan! How dare you suggest we drug one of the mightiest creatures on Earth."

  "I mean, can't you just do a dab of something?" I watched as Adonis chewed a swath of curtain. He stared at me with the same patient eyes that his father had, only I felt like deep down the kid was mocking me.

  "Dylan, that would go against the rules of—of, well everything. No, I cannot just knock out a unicorn!" She sniffed with distaste. "Besides, the magic wouldn't work. Humans can't affect unicorns the same way they can affect us."