Page 15 of Fresh Old Bounties

He ended the call faster than my brain organized the data he’d thrown at me into a semblance of order. The numbers and letters matched what Brimstone and Destruction had sent me. Same account, then.

Now I had to figure out which service the evil spawn had used. Asking Hutton wouldn’t do any good, so I messaged the fire mage again and settled in to wait.

Bagley was mercifully quiet as soft background music filled the shop, interrupted by the occasional honk and tire screech coming from the outside. To fill in the time, I got started on the Halloween decorations. Brimstone’s answer came as I’d finished taping a mean-looking pumpkin silhouette to a windowpane.

As I accessed the payments site on the laptop, I wondered what the mage thought of all my questions. Had he guessed I hadn’t inherited the money account along with the shop? Or did he want to be in my good graces since I was close to the local bounty hunter, who also happened to be employing his niece?

Someone trying to help me instead of blackmailing me into helping them? That would be a first.

The payment service locked me up after three tries. Unsurprisingly, the “Forgot your password?” option sent an email to none of the accounts I owned. I tapped my fingers on the side of my favorite mug, the one my sister had given me as a birthday present a few years ago. It was shaped like a cauldron and had “Witch Vitamins” printed on the side.

My family might not know about the hidden world of paranormals, or be aware that I was part of it, but my witchy flair had been obvious from the start.

“Oh, no, my dear,” came Bagley’s concerned voice from the other side of the counter. “You forgot my password?”

I jolted straight. “You can see?”

She simply chuckled. “I can see many things, child.”

Now she was going to dangle this password thing in front of me until the end of time. That’s what I got for assuming she only saw what was in direct line of sight from whatever object she haunted. I considered taking the laptop to the back to continue my research, but it’d be a pain to set it back up if a customer entered the shop.

No, I decided with some pride. Not only would I not hide my actions from her, but I’d show her I didn’t need her help to achieve my goal. I hadn’t for Hutton’s potion, and I wouldn’t to find her secret stash of ill-gotten money.

“Now, dear,” Bagley continued, “what do you say we come to a small understanding?”

“Let me guess,” I said with no little sarcasm, “the password for a new body?”

She chuckled again. “No, dear. Nothing so radical.”

“That’d be a new one,” I muttered.

“We must start small. Make sure your power is up to it.”

Great, even the evil mastermind was worried my power was too crappy to bring her back to life. “You’re right, Ms. Bagley. There is obviously no way I can bring your plans of world domination to fruition, so you might as well resign yourself to a life of haunting random chairs in my shop.”

“Oh, silly. I’m sure your power is more than enough. Why, a little blood and you’d be surprised at what you can achieve!”

“Maybe in another life.”

“Don’t say it so flippantly,” she said, suddenly serious. “Or you might end up like me.”

Since I had no intention of killing people to use their blood to try to extend my life beyond death, I doubted that very much. “I’m pretty sure you ended up like you because of karma, Ms. Bagley.”

“You mean I got a second chance at life as a reward for all the people I helped? Why, you might be right!”

“You just told me not to wish for another life,” I pointed out.

“Tsk, tsk. Young people these days never listen. I told you not to leave the wish so open-ended. Precision is key where intention is concerned. Did your mentor teach you nothing?”

Oh-call-me-Tammy had, indeed, taught me nothing. Not that I was about to admit that to Bagley—I’d never hear the end of her offers to teach me everything. For a price.

“I know enough, Ms. Bagley.”

“But you don’t know my password,” she replied, sly as a snake.

I cracked my knuckles. “I don’t need it.”

If I couldn’t access her payment service account, then I’d figure out her actual bank account. Someone like Bagley wouldn’t put all her money in one site, given all her dark magic clients knew the username email. More than one would try to hack it, so why leave her savings at risk?

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