Page 56 of Bright Dark Curses

“Because I cleaned it up!”

“And you got another potion to use on the lighting equipment?” Shane asked mercilessly.

“No, that's what I’m trying to tell you.” Ethan rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I didn’t use any other potion. Didn’t talk to the witch or anything. I thought the lights thing was normal stuff going haywire. There’s always something malfunctioning. But then when I heard that crew member got sick… I think my spells cursed the production. I need to uncurse it.”

I leaned forward, patient but stern. “What about the potion on the trunk?”

Ethan blinked in confusion. “What trunk?”

“Audio equipment trunk in one of the trucks,” Key said. “There was potion on the latches.”

Ethan reeled back. “That wasn’t me.” When none of us appeared convinced, he added with pure desperation, “You have to believe me.”

I kind of did, and from the glances I exchanged with the others, they did too.

Which meant…

“There are two saboteurs,” Key said.

SEVENTEEN

“Saboteurs?” Ethan asked. “No, I’m not trying to sabotage anything.”

We all stared silently at him, and he had the grace to blush.

“Just wanted Daniel gone,” he murmured under his breath. “It doesn’t count.”

“Two saboteurs, and two witches at work,” I mused aloud.

“The one who gave him the potions, and the one who messed with the lights and the trunk?” Key asked.

“And they also poisoned your friend,” Dru added.

We all glanced at Ethan again.

“Seriously, it wasn’t me.”

“It would’ve been dumb to poison someone, then ask a witch to help,” Dru conceded.

Ethan nodded vigorously. “Exactly. I didn’t poison anyone, I swear.”

Fluffy ambled over and put her paws on my knee. I obliged and moved her onto my lap. “Do we think the two things are connected?”

“What do you mean?” Key asked.

“Do we have two people who want the filming to fail, or is someone using Ethan’s actions to further some kind of agenda and put the blame on him?”

Ethan’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“Maybe someone discovered what you were doing and decided to continue your plan when you stopped.”

“I was very careful. Nobody saw me.”

“It’s too much coincidence,” I said. “Who else would want to harm the production?”

Ethan made a face. “We all need the paycheck. But, honestly, it’s a miracle the thing is happening at all.”

We all leaned in, sensing tea was about to be spilled. “Oh?”

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