Southern Karma Read online

  “How?” Garrick said, his voice full of frustration.

  “Give to me,” Betty said. “I’ll figure it out.”

  “You’re the one who’s supposed to keep Rufus from getting in,” Garrick said.

  “I’m working with Pepper to come up with a new spell.”

  My head snapped up. “You are? We are?”

  “She’s a head witch, you know,” she said proudly to Garrick.

  Amelia stepped up. “I’ll go to the haunted house. Try to keep the ghosts in check. Cordelia, you with me?”

  Cordelia dragged her gaze from Garrick. “Yes. I’m with you.”

  Axel stepped up. “I’ll see what I can find out about how to detect a gorgon.”

  Garrick looked at him with relief. “You think that’s possible?”

  Axel’s lips curved into a handsome smile. “Has to be. There are certain traits about me that tip other werewolves off to what I am.”

  Garrick knelt in front of Paige. “Do you know if anyone wanted to hurt Mythica?”

  Paige shook her head emphatically.

  “Well, someone wanted her dead,” Garrick said. He rose, tapped his fingers to his hips. “This whole Halloween thing has screwed with the town borders.”

  “What do you mean?” Amelia said, wide-eyed.

  “I mean we’re stuck. No one can get in and no one can get out.”

  “So the time watch has messed with more than just the day,” I said.

  Garrick slid his fingers along the brim of his hat. “Right. We’re cut off from society. From the world, and unless we get this fixed, we’ll be cut off forever.”

  NINE

  While Garrick was discussing the doom and gloom that had hit Magnolia Cove, I peeked around the station. It only took a few seconds to locate Rufus.

  He was watching me.

  How I hated him. It just irked that he was already looking at me when I was trying to search him out. He’d seen me first.

  Jerk.

  I slipped from the group and walked to his cell.

  He pressed his face to the bars. “Miss me already?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “I flatter myself however I can.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Listen, when you and me and Mythica were touching, did you notice anything?”

  His eyebrow quirked. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. Like a something. A ripple of energy.”

  “Gorgon energy.”

  “Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. Ever since then I’ve been feeling nauseous.”

  “Maybe you’re pregnant.”

  “I’m not pregnant. Never mind. I thought you might know something. Be able to help.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You generally lie,” I said.

  Rufus chuckled. “Only when I have to.”

  “That’s not helpful.” I rubbed my arms, trying to get rid of the uneasy feeling I was getting from Rufus’s lack of assistance. “Forget it. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  Rufus pressed his face closer to the bars. “What if I told you it was something?”

  I scowled. “Like what?”

  “Pepper!”

  I turned to see Betty stamping her foot. “Come on, kid. We’ve got to get a move on.”

  I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I needed to help Betty—or at least try as best I could.

  “I’ll be back,” I said.

  “I look forward to it,” he answered.

  I fisted my hands as frustration compounded in me. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say. You’re supposed to be nervous about that.”

  “Ah, but remember, I love your power. Nothing about you makes me nervous.”

  The way he said it, the words sounded like a snake slithering up my spine.

  I took off and joined Betty and Paige, but Rufus’s words echoed in my brain. There was something to the whole nausea thing, I just knew it. But what?

  Paige and I followed Betty through the dark streets to Charming Conical Caps, Sylvia Spirits’s store.

  Last night the darkness had been fun. But as of now, it was beginning to freak me out.

  “I wish Hugo was here,” I muttered.

  A second later a cold wet nose was butting up against my palm. “Hugo? How’d you get here?”

  Hugo glanced at Paige.

  My jaw dropped. “You brought him?”

  She grinned.

  “Um. Thanks.”

  “What did I tell you?” Betty said so proudly you’d have thought she’d unraveled the mystery of the century. “Head witch. What else can you do, kid?” My grandmother pulled Paige into a hug.

  Paige didn’t reply; she just smiled at my grandmother widely.

  It turned out Hugo was a smart choice. Though people did approach us and ask how we got our dog into that dragon costume, the ghosts and whatnot steered clear.

  Except Roy and Douglas. Ugh. They were still in town?

  “Lookie there, Roy. Look at that there doggie dressed up like a dragon.”

  Roy and Douglas approached us with so much enthusiasm it made me want to punch one of them in the throat.

  A gorgon was dead. Dead! And all they cared about was running around a town cursed to be stuck perpetually in the exact same day. Or night. Or whatever.

  Douglas, with his shaved head and black teeth, reached out to pet Hugo. “What kind of dog is that, anyway?”

  “It’s a dragon,” I said.

  Douglas and Roy exchanged a glance and burst into laughter. “You’re kidding! That ain’t no dragon. That there’s one of them water dogs. A golden retriever,” Douglas said.

  Good old Douglas, he’d caught me in my complicated lie.

  “Sure,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got somewhere to be.”

  “That sure is a fine dog,” one of them said as we walked away.

  “Sheesh,” I said when I caught up to Betty and Paige. “Tourists.”

  “Now Paige, my granddaughter says that you can read minds?”

  Paige shook her head slightly. “Sort of. I can tell if someone’s lying, or if they’re hiding something.” Her gaze flashed in my direction. “You don’t lie well, and your dress bulged.”

  “Yeah, along with my front teeth,” I said.

  Teeth that luckily had gone back to normal. That was at least one good thing.

  Betty busted a gut with laughter. “Craple’s have a hard time lying.” She pulled a corncob pipe filled tobacco from a leather pouch, lit it with the snap of her fingers and started puffing away.

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t have a hard time lying,” I said. “I remember you lied about Amelia’s appearance so she could get a date.”

  “That was for her own good,” Betty said. “It wasn’t malicious, no matter what you smarty-pants girls think.”

  I rolled my eyes. Paige laughed.

  The conversation dimmed. Paige cleared her throat. “Mythica, she… I had parents. A long time ago. But I don’t know who they are.”

  My heart ripped in two. This poor girl, forced to work for Mythica, doing weird little mind reading things, had once been with people who loved and fed her. Or at least I hoped they loved her and didn’t sell her off or something.

  If that was the case, then I automatically hated her parents.

  Betty wrapped one arm around Paige's fragile shoulders. “We’ll help you get back to them. If that’s what you want.”

  Paige didn’t say anything, which was clearly her norm.

  “Cauldrons for sale! Get your cauldrons!”

  We nearly stumbled into Florence, the cauldron maker. “Well, if it isn’t Betty Craple,” Florence said, putting hands on her hips. “You still run this town?”

  “You know it, Florence. You still selling exploding cauldrons?”

  Florence gave an embarrassed laugh. She pressed her fingers to her red cheeks. “That was only one time, and I don’t think it was a cauldron of mine that did it
. Besides, now I’ve got all kinds of cauldrons—cleaning cauldrons to scour your spell instruments, mending cauldrons with a touch of a mystical creature’s hair, baking cauldrons—whatever you want.”

  “Seems to me a witch should be good enough at what she does to only need one cauldron,” Betty said.

  Florence poked the air with authority. “But you and I both know that some witches aren’t. They need specialized cauldrons.”

  “To clutter their houses?” Betty snorted.

  Florence rubbed her hands with greed. “I have a cauldron that cleans up messes. All you do is drop your other cauldrons in it, and it stores them for you.”

  I clicked my tongue. “She’s got you there.”

  Betty glared at me. She jutted out her boobs. “Bah. Sounds like a waste of money.”

  Florence glanced around. “Is it just me or does it seem like Halloween is lasting a very, very long time?”

  I shot Betty a look.

  Betty squinted at Florence. “So you believe it’s still Halloween.”

  “Oh yes,” Florence said. “It’s Halloween night, all right. See?” She held up her cell phone and pressed the Home button. It read October 31, 8 p.m.

  “Like I said, I’m getting a little tired, but my clock says it’s only eight. I’ve got lots more cauldrons to sell.” Florence’s gaze swept from Hugo to Paige, who dashed behind Betty’s voluptuous rear. Her mouth ticked up on one side. “Beautiful little girl you’ve got there.”

  “Thank you,” Betty said. “We’ve got to be going.”

  As soon as we were out of earshot, I yanked Betty’s sleeve. “We are in deep crap.”

  I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked it—eight p.m. Which made sense because that was the same hour my bedside clock had been stuck on. “How do we realize that it’s not supposed to be Halloween but Florence doesn’t?”

  Betty stroked her chin. “Might have something to do with the fact that we live here. I don’t know. You were also in the center of the occurrence. Meaning, you were standing there when the time watch was broken. I need to think. I don’t know much of the history of the time watch.”

  “I do,” Paige said.

  “You do?” I said. I wasn’t sure if this was a miracle or a curse. Maybe it could help, or maybe it would make us realize we were falling down a black hole from which there was no return.

  Please not the second one.

  “What do you know?” Betty gently prodded.

  I had to hand it to my grandmother. For as full of tinkle and vinegar as she was, the woman had a soft hand with Paige. To be honest, it was hard not to. She was such a kind, sweet girl.

  “What do you know about the time watch, kid?” Betty said, hope lighting her face. “Can it be fixed?”

  She shrugged. “I think so. Time will move on outside of us, leaving Magnolia Cove in Halloween forever.”

  “Tell us something we don’t know,” Betty said.

  “It can affect more than Magnolia Cove. Other places can stop, too. The time stop starts with Magnolia Cove.”

  An exhale of realization hit me. “But then it grows.”

  Paige nodded. “It grows. It can be more.”

  “Okay, well, if that’s not doom and gloom, I don’t know what is.”

  “Kid, this is worse doom and gloom than the time that demon we locked in the underground prison escaped and tried to mate with a witch.”

  “Please stop.”

  “You haven’t even heard the worst of it,” Betty continued, clearly ignoring me. “It fired boogers from its fingertips. Real snotty ones. The kind that makes folks vomit when they see them.”

  I stopped in my tracks and raised my hand. “Enough. Let’s get to Sylvia’s. See if she and Barnaby Battle can help us solve this thing. Not only do we need to figure out the issue with Rufus continuing to enter town, but we also need to fix the time watch. We’ve got a load of crap to do and very little time to do it in.”

  Betty paused to hike her britches to her boobs. “Agreed.”

  We walked on until we reached Charming Conical Caps. It was a sweet cottage that was normally easier to drive to, but with the never-ending Halloween crowd and mayhem on Bubbling Cauldron, walking had gotten us there fast enough.

  “I called Sylvia and Barnaby before we left the station.” Betty gave me sideward glance. “You know, when you were talking to Rufus Mayes like he was your new boyfriend.”

  “Do not make me vomit.”

  “Say it, don’t spray it,” she said.

  I shook my head. “That doesn’t even make sense. That makes no sense. What are you talking about? That’s when someone spits in your face. Not when—whatever. I don’t even know why you would mention it.”

  “I just thought it strange you were talking to him.” Betty opened the door to the store. “Sylvia! Barnaby! I’m here!”

  But I wasn’t about to let Betty change the subject so quickly. “I had something I needed to ask Rufus. It was really important.”

  “I’m sure it was,” Betty said absentmindedly. Her gaze darted around the cottage, searching madly for Sylvia and Barnaby.

  “It was,” I stammered.

  Paige glanced at me, her eyes seeming to agree that what I needed to speak to Rufus about was extremely important.

  “Unless he was explaining how to fix the time watch, I don’t see what could have drawn your attention.”

  Blood rushed in my ears as anger coursed through me. Dang it. My grandmother was going to make me tell her what was so darned important that I had to stop everything I was doing to have a thirty-second conversation with Rufus Mayes. “I’ve been feeling nauseous. Ever since Rufus, Mythica and I touched each other. It was right before the watch broke.”

  Her eyebrows shot to peaks. “You all joined hands?”

  I recoiled. “Ew. No. It wasn’t like that. We just were all trying to get the watch and ended up being in contact for a few seconds. It was no big deal.”

  Paige shot me a look as if to counter what I’d just said, but there was no time to focus on it.

  We wove our way through racks of hats until we reached the main showroom. Pointy witch caps spun on pegs. The ones that didn’t spin rose and lowered as if riding an invisible elevator.

  “Sylvia,” Betty shouted again.

  I stopped. Gasped. I reached out and clasped my hand around Betty’s arm.

  “What is it?” Her gaze slowly drifted to the corner I was staring at.

  “Holy honeysuckle marshmallows,” Betty said.

  Standing in front of a Louis XV couch were Sylvia Spirits and Barnaby Battle. They stood with arms outstretched. Sylvia’s mouth was coiled into an almost grotesque smile, and Barnaby had his arms open as if welcoming the prodigal son back from the desert. They were motionless, their skin a pale gray color.

  “Well,” I said quietly, all my spit and fire gone. “I guess we know why they didn’t answer when you called.”

  Betty’s voice quavered. “Yes. I guess we do. Looks like the gorgon beat us here.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. Betty sniffled, and then she rolled up her sleeves. “This gorgon is about to meet their match in Betty Craple.”

  TEN

  I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do anything I could to jet out of Magnolia. Problem was, half of the situation was my fault.

  Yep, little old me. I just had to talk my cousin into stealing a powerful magical instrument from work.

  I felt like a royal jerk.

  Let’s not forget, two more people were dead—or at least turned to stone. Who am I kidding? No. They were dead.

  “People, we’ve got a gorgon on the loose. If you see anything suspicious, report it to the police. Do you understand?”

  Garrick stood in front of the courthouse. Yes, it was still pitch-black even though it was early afternoon—I think. Or at least it was supposed to be.

  Ghosts zoomed overhead, and regular people were still milling about with boundless energy. Heck, they’d been walking around sin
ce last night and didn’t even look like they were about to fall asleep.

  Whatever they were on, I could use some too, because the stress level of events was beginning to take its toll. My joints ached, my head hurt, and fatigue was coursing through my veins like someone had injected me with a syringe full of sleep.

  Right. I know that’s not a thing. I’m only saying.

  Garrick glanced behind him, presumably at the nonmagical people. I did not envy his job. Not at all. He had more folks to keep safe than he probably knew what to do with—and now there was a gorgon randomly killing people.

  “How’re you holding up?”

  A strong arm wrapped over my shoulders. The musky scent of Axel drifted up my nose. I leaned into the cup of his shoulder.

  “What a mess.”

  “So Sylvia and Barnaby were turned to stone?”

  I glanced up. The concern in his eyes made my heart flutter at my throat. “Yes. They’d been turned.”

  He entwined his fingers with mine and squeezed. “I want you to be careful.”

  “Why do you think they were killed?”

  “Wasn’t Betty about to work on the spell that keeps Rufus out? Could’ve been someone wants to keep him in.”

  Cold dread washed down my arms. “I wish that was the extent of our problems. It seems breaking the time watch has really screwed things up. All the clocks are wrong, and Paige said that for right now the problem is contained in Magnolia Cove. But it could grow beyond us.”

  Axel’s jaw twitched. “Then we need to get it fixed.”

  “Do you have any ideas how to do that?”

  He nodded. “A few. I could use your help. And Paige's.”

  “Do you have the time watch?” I said.

  He winked at me. “Sure do.” He walked over to Paige, who stood with Betty and Hugo. I clapped a hand to my thigh. Hugo padded over, followed by Paige and Axel.

  We hopped into Axel’s truck and arrived at his house a few minutes later. It was a cool little place tucked under the side of a hill. Trees surrounded it, and you had to climb a tall staircase to reach the front door, which made the view from inside seem as if you were high in the trees.