Chapter 33

“What are you doing?”Hutton asked, still standing a wary distance away.

“I’m digging a hole for Bagley.”

“Huh,” he said.

“What?” screeched Bagley.

Ishook the locket. “A hole for you, from where you can’t plan anything evil again.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Watch me.”

“Don’t be so blackhearted, child,” Bagley chided. “It’s not in your nature to leave people to suffer.”

Istudied the small hole. “Hmm. I don’t know.”

“You know you aren’t,” she said in her warmest tone. “You’re a silly, useless witch, but you’re not?—”

Idropped the locket into the hole.

“Wait, wait. Honesty is best, don’t you know?”

“You want honesty?”

“It always works best.”

Pickingthe locket back up, I let it dangle above the hole. “Tell me how to access your secret bank account.”

Bagleycackled. “Having trouble finding it, are you?”

“Gloating will get you nowhere but a hole in the ground,” I warned her.

“I suppose you could have the account. If you promise not to shut me away.”

“I promise.” She was right, after all. Bagley might be evil, a murderer, and who knows how many other horrible things, but leaving her to rot alone in the darkness was beyond my current level of dislike.

Giveit a few months, though.

“Very well.” She named a bank and branch. “You’ll find the log-in and password on page thirteen, line thirteen of my ledger.”

“And the secret question answer?”

“Mistress of Evil.”

“I hope that’s real or you’re going into the hole.”

“Ungrateful wretch, how dare you question me? Look at all the work I’ve put into un-haunting my own shop and at no extra cost!”

Idangled the locket over the hole.

“Bah, fine. It’s baby pink dolphins,” she grumbled.

“Thank you,” I said politely before pocketing the locket and standing up.

Iantossed his keys to Hutton. “Go get Brooks. I told her to come by the private gate.”

“I’m not one of your strays,” Hutton snapped. Then he stalked off in the direction of the gate.

Ihid my grin as I looked at Ian. He was so marvelous standing there, with his big bare feet disappearing amid the grass and his wide chest and the smattering of dark hair running down to his navel and beyond.

“Are you cold?” I asked with sudden worry. I began taking off the jacket. “Here, have this back.”

Ianstopped me. “I’ll be all right.”

“Are you sure?”

Heslid a hand around my nape. “I’m sure.” Then he kissed me again.

Immediately, the heat and inferno returned, and I melted into his arms. I was thirsty for fire, and the more he gave, the less satisfied I became. Ian and I, we were meant for more than this. So much more. I wanted all of it, and I wanted it now. To revel in this molten lava coursing through my veins all night long and possibly parts of the next day.

“Hope,” Hannah croaked, slicing through my heated thoughts like a chilled knife. “Help me escape and I’ll tell you all of Bagley’s secrets.”

“Darla,” Bagley snapped from my skirt. “I can still hear you.”

Yes, probably not the best time to make out.

Feelingsorry for myself, I stepped back from Ian’s arms and gave him a sad smile.

Hiswas slow and wicked. “Later.”

Iflushed. “Later.” I wriggled my eyebrows. “But not too later.”

“Aww, look at you two lovebirds,” Bagley said. “Are you going to pull a MaryShelley? I would’ve expected it from Cavalier here, but never from you, Avery. Good job.”

Well, this was embarrassing. “I think I better go put Bagley somewhere safe.”

“But we were getting to the good part!” Bagley complained.

Iancaressed my cheek one last time, his wicked smile still playing with his mouth. This was the longest I’d seen one there. At this rate, it might last all night.

“You better go.” He dropped his hand and scowled at Hannah. “We’ll keep your involvement a secret.”

Hisdecision made me sag in relief. I hadn’t been looking forward to facing Brooks. “What about the pentagrams? What do I tell Sonia?”

“Tell her I caught Hannah hiding Crane’s body. She confessed about everything, and I told you.”

Nodding, I allowed myself one last lingering look at his face, then walked with renewed purpose toward the main gate and the tours.

Afterdoing a slight detour to bury Crane’s finger.

Carryingsomeone’s dismembered parts in a dog walking bag longer than strictly necessary approached bad karma.

Igrabbed Fluffy from Natalia, liberating her from the group of newly adoring fans giving her all the pets and attention a dog could ever wish for, then set out toward the shop.

“I’m sorry, Fluffy, but I need some of your cleansing atmosphere. I’ve got an evil witch in my pocket.”

Bagleyharrumphed.

Beyonddealing with her, there were several things that needed to be done.

First, I called Sonia and updated her on the situation. Ideally, I’d have liked to tell her I had discovered who it was to earn myself brownie points with her and the Council, but this version was for the better. It put the spotlight on Hannah, and nobody would ask questions. Nobody would suspect about Bagley.

ThenI called Dru and told her to give a last call and stop accepting new customers.

Bythe time I got to the TeaCauldron, she was ushering the last client out of the shop.

“You’re still paying me for the planned overtime,” she warned me.

Iwas a little hurt she’d think I’d walk back on our agreement. “I promised.”

“Good.” She looked me up and down, a frown forming as she noticed the grass stains and clumps of dirt on my clothes and the probably sorry state of my witch hat. “What happened?”

Itook the locket out and showed it to her. “I got Bagley back.”

Sheeyed the pendant with mistrust. “You don’t say.”

“It’s true. Oh, and the dark witch was Hannah.”

Dru’smouth opened, then closed. Then she pointed at me. “You’re too trusting!”

“Hey now, you were nice to her too.”

“BecauseI trusted your judgment.” She snorted. “I should’ve known. Was she even on your ‘everyone is a suspect’ list?”

Isniffed, offended. “Of course.” Not. ButI’m sure I’d have put her there eventually.

“I have to say,” Bagley said, “that while I’m sad my plan didn’t work out, I’m glad I didn’t miss this display of cheap entertainment.”

“Give me that,” Dru snapped, going for the locket.

Iswung it out of her reach. “No manhandling the evil witch. Gotta keep an eye on her.”

“I’ll tell you where you can keep it.”

Bagleycackled.

“Let’s find you a place, Ms. Bagley.”

Fluffybarked in agreement.

Goinginto the back, I studied my choices. I didn’t want her in the kitchen, since her evil aura might affect my lovely potions, or in the bathroom, where she could converse with anyone at will. The cleaning supplies closet? No, too close to the bead curtain—someone curious might peek inside.

Somewherein the backyard? A crow might pick her up for their collection, though. Ah! I knew just the place.

Idipped into the kitchen, put the locket into a plastic container, and took it out in the yard.

“What are you doing?” Bagley demanded, her voice muffled by the lid.

“Putting you somewhere safe. If you’re good, I might take you out for walks.”

“Child, I’m not a dog!”

Fluffybarked and wagged her tail.

“Shush, you brainless creature,” the evil hag said.

“That’s not nice,” I told Bagley. Opening the door of the rusting locker containing the few tools I owned, I set Bagley on a shelf. “I’ll check back on you later. Until then, think about what you’ve done.”

“HopeAvery,” Bagley exclaimed. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you?—”

Iclosed the door and smiled down at Fluffy.

“Don’t worry, Fluffy. I’d never let such a horrible insult stand. You’re the smartest, bestest girl.”

Shelicked my sneaker, then sneezed on my leggings.

“We better get you inside before you catch a cold. It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”

“Longest day ever,” Dru agreed from the door. “Are you sure the witch will stay there?” She gestured toward the locker.

“Pretty sure, yeah.”

Drurubbed her hands. “Awesome.”

“No making deals with the evil hag.”

Hersmile was as bland as cheese-less white bread. “Sure.” As we moved back inside, she said, “So, Hannah, huh?”

Isighed. “Yep.”

Shepatted my shoulder. “Can’t win them all.”

“I guess you turned out okay.” I studied her intently. “Right?”

“One hundred percent evil-free.”

Andthank goodness for that.

“I need to grab something upstairs,” I said.

“And then?”

“Then we’re going to celebrate.”

“I’ll finish closing.”

WhileDru got busy clearing the last of the mugs and getting everything ready for tomorrow, I left Fluffy with her and went upstairs.

Pagethirteen, line thirteen. It better not be in code.

AccessingBagley’s bank’s app from my phone, I inputted the random letters and numbers. It immediately asked me for my secret question since I was logging from a new number.

Hah!

Lickingmy lips, I typed the answer and pressed “go.” The screen changed to show a balance that was nearly heart-stopping.

Bagleyhad made bank with her dark magic business. No wonder she’d been fully committed to the life.

Wastingno time, I transferred everything to the extra bank account I’d set up for all my dark web marketplace dealings. Strangely, it didn’t ask for any sort of two-factor authentication, but I supposed Bagley was old school and didn’t want anything pointing to the bank lying around.

Oncethe transfer was confirmed, I logged out of the account and checked my own.

Finally, after all this time, there it was. Way more money than I’d have thought possible for a witch to ever have.

Noneed to daydream about how to invest it, though—I had already decided what to do with it.

Iwasn’t the only one working here who deserved her own shop.

Afterreturning the ledger to its super-secret hidden place inside a plastic bag in my closet, I retrieved Key’s grandma’s spellbook.

Keyhadn’t pressed me about it, and for the longest time I’d wondered what to do about it. Key’s grandma had practiced some forms of dark magic, and a lot of her notes in the spellbook reflected this. By all accounts, it should be destroyed.

Butit was still Key’s grandma’s.

Keywas young but not a child. I couldn’t keep pretending danger didn’t exist nor that Key couldn’t take care of herself. It was time for me to put on my big girl flying brooms pants and let Key take control of her own life. And that included this spellbook.

Reassuredby my decision, I returned downstairs. Soon enough, we had closed the shop and made our merry way through the crowds to the cemetery.