Page 105 of Real Fake Hauntings

Hannah grimaced with distaste, unwilling to answer.

Time to goad her into more information. “Ah, I see. Your spell wasn’t powerful enough, was it? Or you did it wrong.”

“I didn’t do it wrong,” she snapped. “Crane wasn’t supposed to die.”

As we’d suspected. Surreptitiously, I checked our surroundings. How long until the cavalry arrived?

“Why didn’t you take the body with you, then?”

“The mage left, and the body was too heavy for me to move. The man is as annoying in death as he was in life.”

“Amen,” came Bagley’s faint voice.

“Once we took the body out of the shop for you,” I said, “you came back with the mage to get it out, but he refused to help you drag it away?”

Crane’s body had been hidden so close. Why hadn’t we searched the cemetery better? Hannah had counted on anyone seeing the bundle to assume it was stuff for the tours’ setup, and she had been right.

She shrugged. “I only needed a finger or two.”

I tut-tutted. “Except that’s not how it works, is it? Honestly, you should’ve done better research. Research is key, you know? All the power in the world won’t help you if you get your basics wrong.” Another of Grandma’s adages, even if she was referring to food rather than magic.

Hannah’s mouth curled into a snarl at my words, but before she could send another wave of pain up my arm, I planted my hand on her wrist.

Damage.

On principle, Grandma and I were against causing harm with our magic. But in this case, I think we could all agree Grandma would’ve also thought it absolutely necessary.

Hannah stumbled backward with a tiny gasp, abandoning her hold on me. I took a couple of fumbling steps backward. I still had some magic left in me, but the reservoir was fast vanishing, especially as I was forced to stay upright.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Bagley said from afar. “Don’t tell me you’re going to let the child win.”

“Shut up, Ms. Bagley,” I shouted. I put more distance from Hannah and asked, “Did you do the pentagrams, too?”

Hannah began circling around me. Her tongue slipped out to lick her lips, possibly trying to taste my fear and how much power I actually had. I had never practiced magic in front of Hannah, and although Bagley must’ve told her my power level test had come back as barely existent, no dark witch had survived this far in life without expecting other witches to have a trick in their pockets.

As I did.

“I did the pentagrams,” Hannah said.

“Why? To distract me?”

She snorted, and damn if my pride wasn’t hurt. The least she could do was be nice to me if she planned on killing me. Which she obviously did, or…

“Ms. Bagley,” I said loudly, “if you try to use my body to host your soul, I’ll come back from death and kill you.”

Bagley’s faint cackling filled the air. “As if I’d want such a weak body.”

Take note: what others perceive as your weakness is often your greatest strength. Especially against being murdered and taken over by an evil witch bent on living forever.

“The pentagrams were for charging the crystals for the spell,” Hannah said in an annoyed voice, glaring toward Bagley.

“Why the Cabinet? No paranormals there.”

Hannah became almost awestruck. “There are so many dark magic objects there. It drips with power.”

I shivered. Good to know. “Why Crane?”

“Everyone hates him. Once people noticed his disappearance, they’d have spent years going through everyone’s alibis.”

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