Chapter Six

Hell on Earth

MILA

After another impossibly humiliating fifteen minutes where Mila had had her fingerprints and mugshot taken, the juridical clerk dropped her off on a row of plastic chairs lining the police station reception area.

Mila sat forlorn for all of a second, and then her jaw dropped as she spotted her sister slumped on the row of chairs opposite hers.

Juniper’s head was hanging low on her chest, and Mila couldn’t tell if her sister was sleeping or stunned or just resting her eyes. Juniper looked as miserable as Mila felt, and she was also handcuffed in iron shackles, but at least she was wearing clothes.

“ Juniper ,” Mila called, using their mental bond—to share a telepathic link was a fairly frequent occurrence between magical siblings.

Her sister’s head snapped up, and their eyes met. Juniper underwent a quick-fire change as her expression switched from surprised to relieved to murderous.

“What the hell are we doing in a police station?” Mila asked. “Did you kill someone?”

Juniper glared at her, ignoring the question and going on the offensive instead. “What did you put into those cupcakes?”

“Cupcakes? What cupcakes?”

“The one I found cooling on your kitchen counter.”

Mila raised her eyebrows. “You were at my house?”

“Yes”

“When?”

“Earlier tonight.”

“Why?”

“I had—”

Mila broke out of the bond the moment the chief inquisitor stepped into the corridor in all his tall arrogance, but she was a fraction of a second too late because the darn cocky officer stopped in his stride and studied her intensely—her and then Juniper.

“Officer Malatesta,” Riley called in a voice of sheer authority that had Mila’s toes curl a little in her flamingo slippers. “Put mental holders on these two. I suspect they share a telepathic bond.”

Mila quietly seethed in her corner, hissing a mental I hate you, you pompous ogre at Riley. His mouth curled at the corners. Careful, Miss Bennet, I can hear you.

Mila’s mouth gaped open as the words landed in her mind as clear as if he’d spoken them. It was impossible. Telepathic bonds took years to form. It was unheard of for two magicians to share one within an hour of meeting each other.

King must’ve been thinking along the same lines because the smirk died on his lips, and his jaw set in a tense lock.

How did you— Mila began to ask in her head, but the question got cut off by an officer placing a thin iron halo on her head, effectively cutting off all mind-to-mind communications.

Juniper suffered the same destiny next. Still, the haloes didn’t prevent the two sisters from sharing loaded stares that conveyed unspoken messages of reciprocal sisterly rage and blame-shifting.

“Come, you two,” Riley said, inviting— ordering —them to stand up. “The judge is ready to see you.”

Mila and her sister were escorted to a separate wing of the Department of Magical Justice that hosted the courthouse. Riley ushered them into a small courtroom whose décor was stripped to the bare minimum: the judge’s bench and two desks in front of the podium, one for the prosecution and one for the defense, Mila assumed, since this was her first time being arrested.

No space for a jury, Mila noted. So, this must be a preliminary hearing where law enforcement requested permission to hold dangerous suspects in custody before formally charging them officially. Again, a supposition born of the occasional magical police procedural Mila enjoyed reading.

As she and her sister took their seats at the defense desk, Mila couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread and uncertainty consume her.

“All rise, for Her Honor Judge Templeton,” a voice boomed seemingly out of nowhere.

Mila’s unease worsened as the judge entered the room and the woman’s piercing gaze settled on Mila and her sister. Her Honor was an older woman with white hair and wrinkles etched deeply into her face, but her eyes were sharp and commanding. Mila felt like she was being scrutinized under a microscope, every thought and action being dissected and analyzed.

“Ms. Bennet and Ms. Bennet,” the judge said, her voice firm and unyielding. “Against the state of Massachusetts.” The judge nodded toward a very smug-looking Riley, whom Mila could now peacefully insult in her head under the protection of the iron halo. “Chief Inquisitor King has already informed me of the events of tonight—”

Mila couldn’t help but scoff.

“Is something the matter, Miss Bennet?”

“I’m sorry, Your Honor, but I still don’t have the faintest idea what I’m doing here.”

The judge, for all her severity, looked like she was struggling hard not to roll her eyes. “Is that the case?”

Mila nodded, still quite intimidated.

Judge Templeton sighed. “Chief King, would you mind recapping the events of the night for the sake of all parties present?”

That’s when the courtroom doors banged open, and Abel strutted inside, silent on his black paws.

This time, the judge did roll her eyes. “What now?”

“Your Honor,” Abel started. “I apologize for the tardiness but I’ve been otherwise detained .” The cat shot daggers at the chief of magical police.

“And who might you be?”

“Abel Pawington the third.”

The judge stared down at him, unimpressed.

“I’m the Bennet’s family lawyer.”

“He’s her familiar,” Riley injected, pointing a finger at Mila.

“I’m a certified member of the board of animagical solicitors and therefore entitled to represent my clients in a court of law.”

Judge Templeton waved them off. “The cat can stay. Chief King, please proceed with your summary of the events.”

Mila soured as Mr. Arrogant stood up and started his account. “Your Honor, earlier this evening, one of our officers received a distress warning for an unusual amount of magically induced infatuations taking place at Swift River Elementary School. The Salem MPD agents who arrived on the premises initially assumed the case to be a standard violation of the magical conduct code and could trace the source of the infatuation to a set of cupcakes containing an illegal love potion.”

Mila felt the gaze of her sister burn a hole into her left cheek, but she kept her gaze pointedly trained ahead. If Juniper had stolen her cupcakes and brought them to school without asking for permission, it wasn’t Mila’s fault. Her older sister was a thief and had no right to stare down at her from a high horse.

“The officers were already working at damage containment, when a teacher, after ingesting one of the aforementioned cupcakes, suddenly fell ill and was brought away in an ambulance. The initial toxicology report showed the cupcake had been poisoned. Upon learning this, my agents arrested Miss Bennet Senior as she was the one who’d brought the drugged cupcakes to school and later arrested her sister, Miss Mila Bennet, as the baker and brewer of the illegal potion.”

“So, what are your requests?” the judge asked.

“We request to keep both Bennet sisters in custody until formal charges can be filed.”

This time, Mila did her best to contain the scoff ready to bubble out of her mouth. She had a feeling the judge wouldn’t let it slide a second time.

In fact, the judge turned to her now, “Miss Bennet, did you bake the cupcakes?”

“Yes.”

“And did you also imbue them with an illegal love potion?”

“Yes, but—”

The judge raised her hand. “A simple yes or no question.” She turned to Mila’s sister next. “And you brought the cupcakes to school?”

“Yes, but I had no idea—”

“Also a yes or no question. So, you’ve admitted to illegal baking and contraband of Class B magical substances,” the judge stated, looking back at Mila. “How do you plead to the accusation of attempted murder?”

“Innocent,” both Mila and her sister said at the same time.

“I see.” The judge sagged back in her chair. “I don’t know why, but I tend to believe you.”

“Your Honor—” Chief King started to protest, but it was his turn to be silenced.

“Let’s hear what the witches have to say in their defense first, Chief King.”

“Miss Bennet, why did you bake a batch of illegal love cupcakes?”

“Your Honor, if I may,” Abel interjected before Mila could reply.

“You may.” The judge sighed.

“My client’s baking license is merely expired. She wasn’t baking illegally and is liable to an administrative fee at most. No criminal charges should be brought forward on the grounds of illegal baking.”

“Thank you, Mr. Pawington, but I’m the judge. I’ll decide what punishment I see fit. Now, Miss Bennet, what’s got you brewing a love potion on Christmas Eve of all nights?”

Mila squirmed under the inquisitive stare of the judge, suddenly hyper-aware of Tall, Dark, and Trollery presence on the other side of the room.

“Come on, dear,” the judge encouraged, “you’re standing before me in a fluffy pink robe and feathery slippers… it can’t get much worse.”

Oh, but it could get worse because what Mila had to say was the low point of all the humiliations she’d already suffered that night. “I was feeling lonely,” she said in a mortified tone, sure, even without looking, that Riley’s startling dark eyes were fixed on her. “The holidays are especially difficult for, you know…”

“I don’t know.”

“For single witches,” Mila admitted, her mortification complete. “And so, I…”

“You thought you’d give yourself a little leg-up with a bit of a love potion. But why bake two trays of them?”

“I poured too much flour in the mix and had to keep adding ingredients to compensate. But the potion effect was going to expire at midnight, so I thought I’d just bring the rest of the cupcakes over for Christmas at my family’s tomorrow once the magic had seeped out. I never meant for anyone to get intoxicated on my love potion.”

“This brings us to how the cupcakes arrived at school.” The judge turned her stare on Juniper now. “This is where you come in.”

Mila stared at her sister as Juniper, nervously wringing her fingers, gave her account of events.

“I was supposed to bake cookies for my daughter’s Christmas recital and forgot. And I could’ve gone to the store and bought some, but the Stepford wives at my daughter’s school are very judgmental. They would’ve sniffed store-bought baked goods from a mile away. And my sister is an exceptional baker. She always has something in the oven—so to speak.”

“So, you went to her house and just took the incriminated cupcakes?”

Juniper nodded.

“Why didn’t you ask me first?” Mila asked.

“You were nowhere to be found, and I never imagined you’d brew a batch of love cupcakes.”

“I was taking a bath, and I never would’ve imagined you’d just steal my cupcakes without saying a word.”

The judge ignored the sisters’ bickering and turned her attention to Abel instead. “And where were you in all this?”

“Probably licking his butt somewhere,” Riley snickered, low enough for the judge not to hear him.

“I believe I was chasing mice,” Abel replied with an air of extreme feline composure.

Judge Templeton massaged her temples. “Chief King, after hearing all this, do you still wish to charge the Bennet sisters with attempted murder?”

“Your Honor, at the moment, we can’t exclude anything.”

“You’re a preposterous—” Mila started.

“Miss Bennet, please don’t make your situation worse. Mr. Pawington, do you have anything to add?”

“Yes, I would like to ask Chief King a few questions if it pleases the court.”

“I can’t say it will please me.” Judge Templeton looked more resigned than ever. “But go ahead.” She waved at him.

“Chief Inquisitor King, to the best of your knowledge, were all the cupcakes poisoned, or just one?”

“Only one person was taken ill after eating a cupcake, but we’re still examining the remaining ones for traces of poison.”

Abel strutted confidently up and down the defense desk. “And was the poison in question human poison or a magical concoction?”

“The first toxicology report indicates regular human poison,” His Arrogance confirmed between gritted teeth.

“What kind of poison?”

“Ricin.”

“Is the teacher who took ill still alive?”

“She is, barely.”

Able let the words hang in a moment of dramatic suspense before he asked, “Well, shouldn’t she be dead?”

The room fell silent as all eyes turned to Chief King. Riley cleared his throat—finally not looking so smug anymore—and continued, “Fortunately for her, Mrs. Blackwell was rushed to the hospital in time and managed to stay alive.”

Abel didn’t miss a beat. “Do victims of ricin poisoning often survive?”

Chief King paused for a moment before continuing. “No. Not to my knowledge, no.”

“Didn’t you wonder why the victim didn’t fall dead from respiratory and organ failure before she even made it to the hospital?”

Riley ground his teeth, and Mila secretly enjoyed his squirming. Or not so secretly, given the glare the Chief Inquisitor sent her way.

“No, I haven’t had time to wonder . It’s been a pretty busy night.”

“Thank you for your service, Chief Inquisitor King. Your input has been invaluable.” Abel gave Riley a sarcastic nod and then turned to face the judge. “Your Honor, it seems obvious to me that my clients should be praised for having saved a life instead of standing accused of wanting to take one.”

“How do you mean?” the judge inquired.

“Ricin is a deadly poison, a human poison. It seems logic to conclude that the only reason the teacher in question is still breathing is my client. The love potion contained in the cupcake must’ve counterbalanced the deadly effects of the poison, posing as an antidote of sorts. After all, love is the greater magical force on this planet, capable of defeating even death. So my question is, why would my client poison someone while providing also an antidote at the same time?”

The judge sat pensively for a second. “Sound question. Chief Riley, do you have a counter argument?”

“The older sister didn’t know about the love potion. She could’ve still brought the cupcake to school and poisoned it.”

“Except I didn’t,” Juniper sputtered. “I had no motive. And the cupcakes were on display all night. Anyone could’ve poisoned one of them.”

“Including you,” Riley rebuked.

“Your Honor.” Juniper turned to the judge. “I’d like to take a solemn oath that I didn’t poison anyone.”

Solemn oaths were the ultimate line of defense for innocent witches on trial. Lie while under the effects of the oath, and the oath-breaker would die.

“No need, Miss Bennet, the fact that you offered to take the oath is enough for me to believe you. Now, I imagine you have a daughter waiting to be put to bed?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Then I suggest you go home and remember to bake your own cookies next time. You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

Mila started to also thank the judge when the woman cut her short. “Not so fast, the other Miss Bennet. While I also don’t suppose you were involved in the attempted murder, you’re still responsible for brewing an unsanctioned potion and then leaving the crucibles of such potent magic unattended. Chief King?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“How hard is it going to be for your team to interrogate and disremember all the humans present at the recital tonight?”

“Extremely, Your Honor, not to mention we’re short-staffed for the holidays.”

That snake, he was trying to make her punishment harsher on purpose. Mila should turn him into a dung beetle. Being a toad would be too light a destiny.

“You’ve wreaked quite the havoc, Miss Bennet,” the judge continued undeterred, shuffling some papers on her bench. “I see from your file that besides an expired baking license, you also have an equally expired private investigator one, not to mention an expired spell-weaver permit, and a magical advisor habilitation— also expired. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Mila cringed at her lack of a clear career path being so publicly displayed.

“Well, consider your PI license renewed effective immediately. Your sentencing for the baking of a love potion with an expired license and without proper care of the resulting goods will be community service.” Mila was tempted to sigh in relief, but then the judge paused for effect, her gaze swinging to Chief Riley first and Mila afterward. And Mila could’ve sworn she’d detected a hint of mischief in the old woman’s eyes. “As part of your service, you will aid Chief Riley in clearing tonight’s mess and assist him in the investigation of the attempted murder of Mrs. Josephine Blackwell until the case is solved.” The judge brought down her gavel, effectively sentencing Mila to hell on earth.