Page 11 of Bewitched By the Wicked Witch
She nodded as she walked across the dark hardwood I'd laid myself years prior when I'd secretly built this part of my house. A villainous witch needed a hidden lair, right? "Paige," I called out before she stepped into the elevator. Her pale blue eyes—Blackstone blue, they called them, met my own blue eyes as I held her gaze. So much was conveyed in a look as I held her stare.
I understand. We will fix this. I will keep you safe. We will help your friends.
She nodded in understanding.
When she turned to step fully into the elevator and the door began to close, I sent a message to Cosmo through our bond as he followed her.Follow her and keep her safe.I may have given him a voice, but our special telepathic bond that only witches and familiars shared still had its uses. In this case, Paige wouldn't protest or worry more if she didn't know.
I let Cosmo know to follow her to school and make sure she made it safely. He grumbled at me and complained it was too cold for his pretty paws, yet I remained unmoved when his long tail disappeared into the elevator as it opened again at his approach.
"Thank you, Sage," Paige called out as the elevator door began to close. "I know you want everyone to think you're bad and black-hearted, but I know the truth. But—." Her voice cut off as the elevator closed fully on her and Cosmo as the emptiness of my underground lair pressed in on me.
The hunt was on. The only question was whether I'd be the hunter or the prey.
I sighed, turned to my computer, and began my work of magically breaking down other people's networks. First, I connected to my brilliantly made and magically enhanced satellite that sidestepped the town wards that kept it cut off from the rest of the world. Next, I began mining the magical cryptocurrency I'd created, Hex Coin, which was only available to supernatural creatures. Uber exclusive. A supernatural cryptocurrency that took magic to find and mine. It had made me wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.
The cryptocurrency work was more than just about money, though. It gave me access to supernatural networks worldwide, information that might prove crucial in finding these missing girls. If someone was targeting mixed-blood witches, they might be doing it elsewhere too. The money I made allowed me to donate heavily to the town, keeping the council and residents from looking too closely at my activities.
But as I worked, pulling up databases and following digital trails, my mind kept returning to that memory of my father's papers. The symbols. The fear in his eyes.
Maybe it was time to visit Gran and ask some hard questions about what really happened to my parents. Because if their deaths were connected to these disappearances, then this went deeper than just some bigot targeting shifter-blood witches.
This might be about something my family had discovered long ago. Something worth killing for.
Four
Sage
Afew hours later, I was still hunched over my computer in the underground lair, cross-referencing missing persons reports across three states, when the elevator dinged and Cosmo sauntered out.
"How's Paige?" I asked without looking up from my screen.
"She arrived at school safely," he replied, jumping onto my desk and immediately knocking over my coffee mug. "Though I must say, trudging through that arctic wasteland you call 'outside' has left my delicate paws practically frostbitten. I'm basically a cat-sicle."
"Good. Everything go smoothly?"
"I followed her exactly as instructed. Despite the fact that my magnificent coat is now damp and my paws are frozen solid. I may never recover from this trauma."
Something in his tone made me glance up. "That's not what I asked."
Cosmo began grooming his paw with deliberate focus. "You asked if everything went smoothly. Following her went quite smoothly. Much smoother than your hair looks right now, actually."
"Cosmo." My voice carried a warning.
"What? I'm simply making an observation. When's the last time you looked in a mirror? Or brushed that mane?"
"Did anything happen to Paige on the way to school?"
"Ah, now that's a better question." His star-flecked eyes met mine with smug satisfaction. "Three boys cornered her outside the main building. Called her some rather unpleasant names about mixed-bloods. She told them off quite fiercely. Quite impressive vocabulary for someone so young."
"And you didn't think to mention this?" My voice rose.
Cosmo tilted his head with infuriating innocence. "You asked how Paige was and if everything went smoothly. She's fine—apparently tougher than you give her credit for—and my following her went smoothly. You didn't ask what happened to her. Perhaps if you spent less time staring at computer screens and more time learning proper interrogation techniques..."
I rubbed my temples. "Next time?—"
"Next time, ask the right questions," he interrupted with a dramatic swish of his tail. "It's really quite simple. I'm a highly intelligent, sophisticated superior being, not a mind reader. Well, technically I am a mind reader, but only for you, and frankly, most of your thoughts aren't worth reading." He paused to clean his other paw. "Speaking of things worth reading, I saw something quite interesting at the newsstand..."
His mouth gripped a rolled-up magazine. Cosmo spat it out and gasped, rolling onto his hind legs and pawing at the glossy pages. "I saw this at the newsstand and thought of those nights you and Callum decided to drive me up a wall with your... enthusiastic reunions," he panted, shaking his head. "Maybe if you studied some techniques, it would be over faster and I could get some sleep. You really need to invest in some cat-size earplugs." He lifted a paw to clean it as if the magazine had disturbed him, then proceeded to hack as if dislodging a hairball. "I wonder if I can find them on Amazon."
