Love at First Spell: A Witch Cozy Mystery (Fairy Falls Mystery Book 1) Read online

  Kyran laughed gently. “No, I’m afraid that’s purely a human-world invention. Witches and wizards dress a lot like you’d find in the human world, although the clothing here can be more magical. You’ll find clothes that change colors depending on the weather, that sort of thing. The more traditional elves will often wear robes, but many of the younger generation have taken to wearing the same clothes as other paranormals.”

  “What other paranormals are there?”

  “Witches, wizards, fairies, elves, vampires, and shifters are the main five. There are also hotaru, spirit lights, which you’ll see in the forest if you visit at night, but you can’t interact with them at all.”

  “Shifters? As in, they can change into animals?”

  “Yes,” Kyran replied. “We have lion, wolf, and dragon shifters. You’ll eventually learn to tell the difference between them when they’re in human form based on their physical attributes. Lion shifters tend to be blond, with wide shoulders. Wolf shifters have long noses and deep-set eyes, and dragon shifters just have this look about them that says ‘I can fly and you can’t.”

  I laughed. “That’s fair enough. I’d probably have that same attitude if I could fly.”

  “You can certainly learn to ride a broom if you’d like. That’s one thing the human world got right.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Wait, really?” I had never been all that good at sports growing up, but I did enjoy the adrenaline rush from a roller coaster. I wondered if a broom would give me that same sort of feeling.

  “Sure,” Kyran said. “I’ve heard your cousin Scarlett is actually a pretty good rider. She’d probably be happy to teach you.”

  My head began to whirl with possibilities. But no, I couldn’t get caught up in that. I was going back to New York after this, and maybe coming here on the occasional weekend, at most. That was it. My work was the most important thing. This new family had to come second.

  CHAPTER 5

  A few moments later Kyran stopped in front of one of the brick buildings. Large windows fronted the place, and as I peered inside I noticed about half of the tables were already taken. Not too shabby for six thirty on a Saturday morning.

  The scent of roasted coffee beans and home-baked goods wafted toward my nostrils, and I was immediately hit with the urge to step inside. After all, with there being a Starbucks at the end of the block back home, I was a bona fide coffee addict, no doubt about that. Magical or not, I was happy to give this place a try.

  I stepped inside, with Kyran following after me, and my mouth immediately dropped open. Standing behind the counter was a fairy. An actual, honest-to-goodness fairy. She had to be four and a half feet tall, tops, with curly brown hair, freckles, a cute button nose, and thick rose lips. And she had wings. They were pastel pink, which matched her lips almost perfectly, and they fluttered behind her as she moved between the cash register at the counter and the display case next to it that featured all of the baked goods for sale.

  Kyran stepped up to the counter. “What do you want?” he asked me.

  “Well, I usually just get a latte,” I replied.

  “Breakfast?”

  “It depends. Is any of the food here...weird?”

  “Are you asking if magic is used to make it? Some of it. The banana bread is made without any potions or magical additives, though.”

  “I’ll have a slice of that, then,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” Kyran said, handing over some colorful bills I didn’t recognize to the fairy. She smiled at me, and I did my best to return the smile. I wasn’t sure I managed it. My body kind of felt like it was doing its own thing right now, like I was in a trace. That was a fairy! An actual fairy. How was this real life? Was this real life? I still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced.

  “She’ll bring it out to us,” Kyran said. “Now that witch over there, that’s your grandmother.”

  He pointed to a woman sitting at a four-person table, surrounded by other older-looking witches. I saw the resemblance immediately. We had the same gray-blue eyes and plump lips, but where my hair was straight and a deep chestnut, my grandmother’s was wavy, shoulder length, and a whitish-gray with blue and purple pastel streaked throughout. It was daring, bold, and I had to say, it looked amazing. She carried herself with confidence, her shoulders back and sitting up tall. There was no arrogance to her; she just had the air of a woman who knew what she wanted and did her best to get it.

  “Hi, Eva,” Kyran said, and the four women at the table all stopped their conversation to turn and look at the elf. Eva’s eyes moved from Kyran to me and widened ever so slightly for a split second.

  “Hello, Kyran, my dear,” she replied warmly. “Please, won’t you join us? Ladies, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with Kyran and his guest privately.”

  The other three witches immediately got up. “You’ll come by later and help me with my problem then, Eva?” one of them asked, and my grandmother nodded warmly.

  “Of course, Rita,” she replied. “I’ll stop by your place early this afternoon.”

  “I really appreciate it,” Rita replied, shooting my grandmother a grateful look.

  The three witches left and I carefully sat down across from my grandmother, with Kyran taking the seat next to me. Eva didn’t take her eyes off me.

  “So who are you?” she asked.

  “I’m Carmen’s daughter,” I said.

  “Carmen? You must mean Camilla.”

  “Well, I know her as Carmen.”

  “I suppose it makes sense she changed her name when she disappeared. I had no idea I had a granddaughter. I had no idea Camilla was even still alive. Is she? Still alive, I mean.”

  I nodded.

  “And what’s your name?”

  “Mina,” I replied. “Mina Tiller.”

  “Well, Mina, it’s lovely to meet you,” Eva said, and I could tell she was fighting back tears. “I wish it could have been sooner. Where did Camilla move to?”

  “Seattle,” I said. “I grew up in Seattle.”

  “The human world? I suppose that makes sense. And how is your magic coming along? She must have had her work cut out for her, trying to stop a young witch from using magic in front of humans.”

  I shook my head. “I never knew. She never told me about it. When Kyran told me who — or what — I was, I called her and asked, and she denied it.”

  Eva sighed. “Camilla was always so troubled. This must all be so new for you, then.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

  “Well, welcome home, my dear.”

  “Umm,” I started. “I’m not actually going to move here. I’m sorry. It’s just in the human world I have a good job, and I’m going to make partner, and that’s where I’ve been focusing my energy.”

  “It doesn’t matter what kind of job you have. Home is so much more than where you plonk your butt and work for a salary forty hours a week. Home is where the people who are closest to you are. And that might not be here, but it’s also not necessarily where your office is.”

  I smiled politely, not wanting to disagree.

  “Anyway, you’re always welcome here, for as long or as short a time as you’d like. I really can’t believe I have a second granddaughter. Now, tell me about your life.”

  “Well, I grew up in Seattle, and I went to Harvard for my undergrad degree.”

  “Is that a good school?” my grandmother asked, and I was tempted to laugh for a second, until I realized she was serious.

  “Yes, it’s one of the best,” I replied. “It’s one of what they call the Ivy League schools in the, um, in the human world.”

  “That’s lovely,” Eva said. “I’m really proud of you. You must have worked really hard to get there.”

  My heart swelled with that same feeling I got when a professor praised my assignments. I wasn’t used to getting this sort of praise from family, and a small blush crawled up my face.

  “Thanks,” I stammered. “So, um, I got
my undergrad degree there, and then I went to Princeton for my MBA — that’s another Ivy League school — and now I work at an advertising agency in New York. I’m trying to get a promotion to partner.”

  “Wow, that’s very impressive,” Eva said, nodding approvingly. “Good for you. I’m glad you have a great job right now.”

  “Thanks,” I replied, nervously biting my lip. Was she about to tell me about how her business was better than mine? Or ask me for money? But maybe Eva wasn’t like my mother. Maybe she was like the parent I always wished I’d had. I found myself warming to her, especially as she looked at me with a fondness I had never experienced before.

  “As much as I’m interested in your life — and I would like to learn more, if you’d let me — I imagine you must have quite a few questions for me yourself, if this is your first introduction to magic.”

  “Um, yeah,” I said. “First, what do I call you? Grandma?”

  “Whatever you would like to call me is fine with me. Eva, Grandma, Nona...whatever is the most comfortable for you would make me happy.”

  “Ok, thanks, Grandma Eva,” I said, trying out the word. I had always wanted to know my grandparents. I had wanted that stereotypical grandparent experience, where they took you out for ice cream and let you get away with stuff your mom didn’t want you to do. The word felt nice on my tongue, I had to say. It helped that Grandma Eva seemed to be a genuinely nice and warm-hearted person. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, getting to know her. “So, um, Kyran says you started your own business?”

  “That’s right. It’s been twenty-five years now. Your aunt, my other daughter, does a lot of the day-to-day management now. You’ll have to meet her as well, of course. Caroline is very nice, and I’m sure she would love to meet you. And you have a cousin, as well, about your age. Scarlett is quite the character, although it sounds like you’re quite a bit more diligent than she is.”

  My head spun as Grandma Eva listed off all these family members I had no idea existed. This was a lot to take in all at once.

  “Of course, there’s no need for Mina to meet them all straightaway if she doesn’t want to, is there?” Kyran asked, as if he could read my mind, and Grandma Eva nodded.

  “Oh no, not at all. All in your own time, dear,” she said to me. “I have a tendency to get ahead of myself sometimes. I’m always full steam ahead. Whenever you’re comfortable meeting everyone, that’s fine with me.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. It’s just a lot to take in all at once, you know? Not only the fact that magic exists, but also that I have a family. I’ve spent almost thirty years of my life thinking there was no one in the world I was related to except for my mother.”

  “Very understandable. The last thing I want to do is scare you off with our crazy family,” she said with a wink.

  “Was Mom...did you know that Mom was a narcissist before she left?” I finally blurted out. I needed to know. I resented Mom for the mental anguish she had caused me. My therapist had gotten me to accept that. I really did. And I wanted to have normal relationships, but I just found it so difficult.

  Grandma Eva sighed. “I can’t say that was a diagnosis she was given, no. I always knew there was something a little bit strange about that girl. I thought I had spoiled her growing up. I thought I gave her too much praise, and that it went to her head. She always thought of herself as being too good for Fairy Falls. She always needed praise, and she always thought she knew better than everyone. Initially, when she was young, I thought she would grow out of it. I thought when she became an adult she would realize that she wasn’t the best at everything, but she never did. She always had to be the best. She always had to have the best. She was caught stealing once — someone at her work had bought a designer purse and Camilla wanted a more expensive one — and it took everything in my power to stop her from being sent to Spellcatraz. It was soon after that when she disappeared. She just left one night and was never seen again. There was no sign of her.”

  Grandma Eva looked down at the table, and her eyes were filled with sadness. “I searched for a while, but eventually I came to the same conclusion that everyone else had: I thought my daughter had taken her own life. But no, I never knew she had a real psychological problem. I’ve spent the last thirty-one years blaming myself for what happened to her. I thought if I had been a better mother I could have prevented what happened. I’m very happy to hear Camilla is alive, although I do wish she had told me she was fine. I would have respected her wishes to live away from all of us. I can’t believe she chose the human world, though.”

  I believed Grandma Eva, and I reached out my hand to her. She took it, smiling sadly at me. “I’m so glad we’re going to get to know each other,” she told me. “I really am.”

  Before I had a chance to answer, however, a commotion began at the other end of the coffee shop. Someone was coughing, and I turned to see a man who looked to be about my age hunched over, hacking violently into a napkin. His companion, a woman with black hair tied back into a ponytail, jumped up from her seat, hitting the table and knocking over the mug of coffee as she did so, spilling it onto the ground.

  “Thomas?” she cried, rushing to him and pounding on his back. She looked up in panic. “Someone help! He’s choking.”

  Before anyone else had a chance to do anything, however, Thomas fell over, crashing against the table and sending all of the drinks and food on it flying. The sound of ceramics breaking on the ground mingled with the sound of his coughing, and a moment later there was silence. He wasn’t coughing anymore, and he lay completely still.

  “Thomas?” the woman shrieked. “In the name of Venus, someone help him!”

  Grandma Eva immediately jumped up and went to the man. She pressed her fingers against his neck, then looked sadly at the woman next to her.

  “I’m sorry, dear. I’m afraid it’s too late for him. He’s dead.”

  CHAPTER 6

  T he witch’s wail, a mixture of surprise and horror, filled me with sadness.

  “Dead? No, he can’t be,” she said, throwing herself down onto Thomas’s lifeless body. I stared at the scene, frozen. Had that man just choked on something and died? I couldn’t believe it. I’d never actually seen a dead body before.

  “Come on, dear,” Grandma Eva said, pulling her gently off her boyfriend’s body. “Why don’t you come over here and have a seat? I’m sure the fairies can fix you up something that will make you feel better.”

  Grandma Eva looked over at the counter, making eye contact with the fairy with the pink wings. Nodding, the fairy immediately set about getting something for the distraught witch.

  “We’re going to have to call the Enforcers,” Kyran muttered.

  “The what?” I asked.

  “Enforcers are basically the police in the paranormal world,” Kyran explained. “Every paranormal town has a Chief Enforcer, a Deputy Chief Enforcer, and other Enforcers that work beneath them. Most Enforcers are shifters, although recently there have been more and more instances of other paranormals, especially witches and wizards, being hired in the roles as well. If you’ll excuse me, I need to call Chief Enforcer Tyson.”

  He took out his phone and punched in a number, then spoke for a moment to the person on the other end of the line. I took the opportunity to look around the coffee shop. It seemed everyone was in too much shock to really do all that much. The fairy working at the counter had flown over to the witch whose boyfriend had just died and handed her a mug. She was rubbing the woman’s back as she drank while the witch clutched the mug with both hands. Another woman had gone over to her as well and was obviously trying to comfort her.

  Most of the other people seemed frozen in their chairs. Two men who were obviously elves whispered to each other, while a man by himself couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the body. Grandma Eva was bustling around, taking charge of the whole situation. She pulled out a wand and pointed it at the spilled coffee on the floor. I gasped as it immediately glowed red.

  Was tha
t magic? It had to be.

  “What did you just do?” I asked, getting up from my chair and making my way to her, staring at the small brown puddle on the hardwood floor.

  Grandma Eva looked up at me, her face grim. “This was a spell used to detect poison. I’m afraid red means it was positive. Someone killed this wizard.”

  I gasped. “Really?”

  “Yes,” she said, nodding grimly.

  “Kyran is calling the Chief Enforcer, I think,” I said, motioning to the elf, and she nodded.

  “He would have also recognized the signs.”

  “I thought he had just choked on something,” I said, but Grandma Eva shook her head.

  “No, he was coughing, so air was getting through. That was what worried me. And it was quick. Did you notice if anyone left the coffee shop in the last few minutes?”

  I shook my head. “No, I didn’t notice. Wait, are you saying that someone in here killed him?”

  “I saw the wizard and his girlfriend coming in behind you. I recognized him; he was in the shop buying some stuff for her just the other day. It stands to reason that someone inside this coffee shop poisoned his coffee.”

  Bile rose in my throat as I looked around at the ten or so people still in the coffee shop. Was one of them really a killer? I couldn’t believe it.

  Before I had a chance to really absorb what Grandma Eva had just said, a new woman walked through the door. She was about six feet tall and carried herself with authority. She was thin, with long black hair tied back in a ponytail that reached halfway down her back, and her intelligent dark eyes scanned the room before settling on the body.

  “Alright,” she announced, her voice quiet but powerful, the sort of voice that made one take note and listen. “I’d like everybody to please stay where they are. Did everybody see what happened here?”