Witch Degrees of Separation: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #3 Read online

  {Witch Degrees of Separation}

  A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery: Book #3

  by

  M.Z. Andrews

  Copyright © M.Z. Andrews 2016

  All characters herein are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the brief quotations in a book review.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  {Chapter One}

  {Chapter Two}

  {Chapter Three}

  {Chapter Four}

  {Chapter Five}

  {Chapter Six}

  {Chapter Seven}

  {Chapter Eight}

  {Chapter Nine}

  {Chapter Ten}

  {Chapter Eleven}

  {Chapter Twelve}

  {Chapter Thirteen}

  {Chapter Fourteen}

  {Chapter Fifteen}

  {Chapter Sixteen}

  {Chapter Seventeen}

  {Chapter Eighteen}

  {Chapter Nineteen}

  {Chapter Twenty}

  {Chapter Twenty-One}

  {Chapter Twenty-Two}

  {Chapter Twenty-Three}

  {Chapter Twenty-Four}

  {About the Author}

  {Sign up For Newsletter from The Author}

  { Chapter One}

  It was an unseasonably warm day in late October, up in the high elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. Of course, I knew why it was such a lovely day. My boyfriend was a wizard who could control the weather. Maybe that was supposed to be a secret, I really wasn’t sure, but I certainly hadn’t told anyone. If Houston Brooks wanted to share with his friends that he was controlling the temperature, that was his choice. I wasn’t about to complain. Autumn was my favorite season and Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania had to be the most splendid of places in the world to get to enjoy it. The colors of the leaves were such gorgeous shades of reds, yellows, and oranges that it sort of made me wish it would just stay autumn, year-round.

  I pulled the sleeves of my ratty old hoodie down over my hands and held one hand up over my eyes to shade them from the sun while I glanced up at the crowd forming around me. My friends, Sweets, Alba, and Holly were to my left and Jax Stone, my roommate, was to my right. The four of us had let Jax convince us that it would be fun to take a broomstick riding class together and after the weeks of murder investigations we’d just managed to put behind us, I actually looked forward to doing something fun for a change. Maybe Jax’s idea was exactly what The Witch Squad needed to shake things up a bit and finally get to enjoy our time at the Paranormal Institute for Witches.

  “Is this everyone?” I asked Jax unenthusiastically while leaning on my broomstick.

  Jax looked around. “I don’t know who else signed up, but the boys aren’t here yet.”

  I nodded. She was right. It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get Hugh to agree to take the class with us. He was a cowboy type wizard, not a Harry Potter type wizard, he’d mentioned to me on several occasions. Cowboy wizards supposedly didn’t ride around on broomsticks, they rode around in pick-up trucks or on horses. Brooms were for sweepin’, not ridin’. I’d had to laugh. It wasn’t that I disagreed; I just wanted to do something that didn’t require toxicology reports or ghost sightings.

  “Hugh’s bringing friends?” Alba asked me curiously. I looked up at her, she was a couple inches taller than me and considerably thicker, her short brown hair flipped up under her ears as she looked down the hill towards Warner Hall, the boy’s dormitory.

  “Yeah, he’s bringing his roommate, Juan. I think Juan might be bringing a few buddies, too.”

  Holly clapped her hands excitedly. “Oooh, more boys!” she cooed as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Her curly blonde hair and partially exposed heavy bosom bounced excitedly as well.

  Alba rolled her eyes at Holly. “If you paid as much attention to your classes as you do to boys, you might actually have a shot at being a good witch someday.”

  Holly furrowed her eyebrows at her roommate and stuck her hands on her hips. “What do you mean, I might have a shot at being a good witch. I am a good witch, thank you very much.”

  Alba shrugged and turned her back to Holly. “Could’ve fooled me.”

  Sweets looked back and forth between the two girls. “Can’t we all just get along? For once?” Sweets, the lovable, pudgy, baking witch of the group, had found her niche as our peacemaker. She didn’t like conflict and she didn’t like when we picked on each other.

  Jax nodded her head emphatically, nearly knocking her black witch hat right off of her head. She grabbed at it on both sides and pulled it down firmly over her short bright orange hair. “Sweets is right, you two need to stop arguing. We’re in college, not third grade.”

  “You tell ‘em, Jax,” I said with a little laugh.

  “Can it, Red,” Alba shot back with an angry look on her face.

  We glared at each other for several long seconds. “Why do you always have that look on your face, Alba?” I finally asked her, frustrated with her never ending bad attitude. While I never minded a little angsty discourse, Alba was like a walking basket of burnt biscuits.

  “What look?” she growled.

  “Oh, I know that look all too well,” Holly agreed, nodding somberly. “Alba’s got a serious case of resting witch face.”

  “Doh!” I laughed hard, covering my mouth so my gum wouldn’t fly out onto the grass. Alba glared at both of us. I was sure I’d pay for that reaction later.

  “Holly!” Sweets admonished.

  Holly shrugged unexcitedly. “What? It’s the truth.”

  Sweets eyed Alba sadly, as if she felt bad for her for having such a dour face. “Well, you didn’t have to tell her.”

  Alba rubbed the sides of her forehead with the pads of her fingers. “Are you idiots done?”

  “Sorry Alba,” I said with a little laugh as I threw an arm around her shoulders. “You know we love you. Even if you do have a resting witch face.”

  Alba shoved my arm off of her shoulder. “I don’t even know why I came out here with you four. You all get on my nerves.”

  “You came out here because you want to learn to ride a broomstick, just like we all do,” Jax assured her excitedly. “Oh look! Here come more people!”

  The five of us were standing in a clearing at the top of a hill overlooking Warner Hall. A big group of people were slowly making their way up the hill. Through my black rimmed glasses, I could see the top of a cowboy hat amongst the group. “It’s Hugh and the guys!” I said.

  “Great,” growled Alba.

  “Hey!” I called out as soon as Hugh was within shouting distance.

  “Hey yourself,” he called back.

  “Who are those guys?” Jax whispered to me.

  I shrugged. “I’ve only met Juan. I don’t know the rest of them.”

  When Hugh got to the top of the hill he threw an arm around my waist, pulled me towards him, and hoisted my thin frame into the air and spun me around twice. Despite my usual calm and cool demeanor, I allowed a happy little giggle to escape my lips before he planted a casual kiss on my lips in front of all my friends.

  I could hear the girls awing behind me as he sat me down gingerly on my tip toes. “It’s been too long, darlin’.”

  “We had lunch together yesterday, Hugh,” I said with a smile.

  “Like I said, it’s been too long.” Side by side, he slung his arm over my shoulder, then leaned over and kissed my cheek.

  “Hey
Juan,” I said as Hugh’s roommate got to the top of the hill.

  “Hey Mercy,” he said, his dark curly hair tumbled forward as he gave me a little nod.

  “You girls all know Juan, right?” I asked my friends.

  They all nodded.

  “Hi Juan,” Jax chirped. She peeked around his shoulder, looking at the three other boys behind him. “We don’t know them, though.”

  Juan looked over his shoulder. “Oh, these are my friends. This is Ronnie Edwards, Tristan Black, and Philip Dalton.” He pointed towards each of the three guys in order as he introduced them. “Tristan and Ronnie are roommates, Philip lives down the hall. All of us live on the same floor.”

  “Well, I’m Mercy and this is my roommate Jax,” I pointed to the little pixie of a girl next to me. “And this is Holly, Sweets, and Alba.”

  “Nice to meet you, girls,” Ronnie said fondly. He was a tall, gangly fellow with shaggy brown hair in a mop on top of his head. He looked a bit like a sheepdog, as he pulled his hair away from his eyes to see us more clearly.

  Suddenly, we heard giggles coming from down the hill. The group of us turned to look and saw two more girls making their way up the hill to the clearing.

  “Hi!” Jax called out.

  The two new girls looked at each other and giggled before the shorter of the two girls responded. “Hi, we’re here for the broomstick riding class?”

  “You’re in the right place. I’m Jax,” Jax exclaimed as she held out a hand to the girl who had spoken.

  “I’m Sabrina, this is my friend Heather,” she said. I had seen both of the girls on campus before. They seemed to run with a popular group of witches that went to all the social events the Institute hosted on Friday nights. The girls and I had been to one social during our first week of school, but we’d been so busy solving murders since then, that we hadn’t had time to attend another one.

  “Hey Philip,” Sabrina said to the tall, handsome blonde fellow next to Juan. “Hey Ronnie.” It was obvious the four of them knew each other.

  “Hey Sabrina, I didn’t know you girls had registered for this class,” said Ronnie.

  Heather giggled into her friend’s shoulder. I rolled my eyes. They seemed like a couple of silly high school girls, not two college-aged witches.

  Just then, we heard a whooshing noise over our heads. The group of us looked up in time to see who I presumed to be our teacher, flying in on a broomstick. I was shocked to see that it was none other than Grandmaster Flash, the Paranormal Institute for Wizard’s Headmaster. He landed with a soft thud on the grassy area just behind us. He was quite the intimidating fellow. He wore a long black robe and as he pulled his shoulders back and stood to his full height, he towered above us girls, even Alba. He looked down his long thin nose at the group of us.

  Instinctively, we all fell silent. The man lifted one eyebrow at us and when he did, I noticed the scar above his right eye. I’d seen it before, but in that brief moment, I wondered who had inflicted the wound. My imagination took off on a wild ride of an epic battle between him and an arch nemesis such as Captain Hook or Lord Voldemort.

  “Hellooo,” he purred. “I am the Headmaster of the Paranormal Institute for Wizards. My name is Merrick Stone. You may call me Sorcerer Stone.”

  { Chapter Two}

  Immediately my head and the heads of Holly, Alba, and Sweets, swiveled to look at Jax. She visibly shrank before us. Only the five of us knew that Jax was a Stone, daughter of our Headmistress SaraLynn Stone and niece to the Black Witch. Suddenly the introduction of a fourth Stone threw us for a loop.

  Discreetly, Jax held one thin finger up to her lips to remind us of our promised silence. My mind reeled. Merrick Stone was related to Jax! My first thought was to wonder if this man might be Jax’s father! But the more I studied Merrick’s face, the more I realized he had the very distinct Stone nose, like Sorceress Stone and the Black Witch – whom we’d only met for a split second one fiery occasion several weeks ago. He had to be an uncle. There was no other explanation. I couldn’t believe Jax hadn’t told us! I was stunned – the secrets that girl knew how to keep! She seemed like such an open book and slowly I was coming to realize that I’d barely scraped the surface of trying to get to know my nauseatingly sweet roommate.

  I glanced around the faces of the rest of the class. None of the men seemed to think it unusual that his name was Merrick Stone, I supposed they’d known since the first day of class. I assumed they had no idea that our Headmistress was also a Stone or that the Black Witch was as well, or perhaps it was just me that was out of the loop. The interesting tidbit of information seemed to have floated right over the heads of Sabrina and Heather as they whispered silly girl talk into each other’s ears. The Witch Squad, however, had heard – and by the looks on their faces, their minds were reeling just as much as mine was.

  “This class is Novice Broomstick Riding. I assume that you’ve all brought your own broomsticks with you today,” he began as he assessed the lot of us quickly. “Girls,” he said with annoyance to Sabrina and Heather as they continued to whisper away.

  When his words did nothing to stop their idle chit chat, he sighed heavily. With a great show of rolling his eyes, he stood up straighter, holding onto the handle of his broomstick with one hand, he pointed a finger between the feet of the two girls. A steady stream of bright orange magical electricity shot out with a crackling noise, immediately separating the two of them as they avoided being hit by the stream of energy. They each screamed as they danced apart. Despite herself, Alba let out the tiniest of smiles at the sight.

  “Now that I have your attention. I will appreciate no talking in my class.” He aimed his growl directly at the two girls. “As I was saying. This class is Novice Broomstick Riding. We shall begin by charming your broomsticks. To do this, you will each need to assign your broomstick a name. Having a name for your broomstick will allow you to call it from afar. In addition, you will also use the name to call your broomstick to action. Please take a moment and decide on a name. It needn’t be a difficult name, nor a creative name. It should only be something that you will remember at all times.” He pulled back the sleeve of his robe and looked down at his watch. “You have precisely two minutes to decide.”

  Everyone’s eyes rolled back in their heads as they tried to think of a name. Hugh looked at me with a funny little grin.

  “I’d like to name mine Mercy Mae, but then I’d be afraid that you’d both come runnin’ when I called.”

  “I’d like to think you were more creative than that anyway,” I said with a chuckle.

  “I’m naming mine Norman,” Jax said excitedly. “I always wanted a fish named Norman, but mom said fish and witches don’t mix.”

  I looked at her confusedly. “I don’t get it. Why don’t fish and witches mix?”

  She shrugged. “I suppose because of the cats. I guess I never asked her.”

  “What are you naming yours Sweets?”

  Without blinking, Sweets, our resident sugary treats aficionado, fired off, “Truffles. Definitely Truffles.”

  “Of course you are,” I agreed, stifling my laugh. “Holly?”

  “Mmm, I’m not sure. How does Sexy sound?”

  “Ridiculous.”

  “Yeah, I was afraid of that,” she said nodding. “How about Handsome? Then I can call out ‘Hey Handsome’,” she sang with a big smile.

  Alba rolled her eyes. “You can’t be serious right now.”

  I sighed. “Handsome is better. I’d go with that.”

  She nodded agreeably.

  “Alba?” I asked.

  “I’m just going to name mine Uber,” she said decidedly. “That should be easy to remember, I can just call for my Uber.”

  I chuckled.

  “What are you going to name yours darlin’?” Hugh asked as he sidled up next to me.

  “This is really hard,” I admitted. I literally couldn’t think of a name. I glanced around the sky, looked at the trees, at the building down t
he hill, I looked down at my feet. I was wearing my black Converse Chuck Taylor high tops as usual. “Chuck?” I mused. Then I looked down at the Batman watch on my wrist. “Oh! Batman!” I said excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to call for Batman!”

  “I like it,” Hugh said with a laugh. “I’m gonna name mine after my favorite horse, Sonny, back home. Then maybe I won’t feel like such a clod riding around on a broomstick.”

  “Have we all come up with a name we won’t forget?” Sorcerer Stone asked.

  A hush fell over the crowd again as everyone nodded silently.

  “Very good. Of course, as they are right now, your broomsticks are good for nothing more than sweeping your dormitory rooms. Therefore, next, we shall have to charm them.” He stuck his right hand into the left sleeve of his robe and pulled out a handful of brightly colored feathers. “These are Phoenix feathers.” He handed half of the feathers to Philip and the other half to Heather. “Take one and pass the rest around. With the aid of these feathers and a simple spell, we will enchant your broomsticks. So when you have your feather, go ahead and tuck it into the binding like this,” he said and held up the end of his stick to show us how he had done it.

  When the feathers got to me, I pulled one out and handed the rest to Jax. Carefully I wove the tip of my feather into the twine binding the straw.

  “You may want to take the time later tonight to either sew your feather in tighter or perhaps use a piece of twine or string to tie it on tighter. Without your Phoenix feather, your broomstick becomes worthless and only good for sweeping once again.”

  We all nodded as we listened for further instructions.

  “Next, I want you to spread out a bit. Give yourselves some room. Place your broomstick on the ground in front of you, stand with your feet, shoulder width apart,” he began and demonstrated how he wanted us to stand while we all spread into a circle around him.

  I put my broomstick down like he had, so that it was parallel to me on the ground. Hugh and Sweets, on either side of me, did the same.