‘Spit it out, Mazza,’ I said tiredly, ‘or I’ll get Winter here to turn you into a toadstool.’
His eyes went even wider. ‘You can do that?’
‘Oh,’ Winter purred, ‘I can do that and more. I’m a highly trained Order witch, Mazza. There are no limits to my magic.’
At those words I opened my mouth but Winter nudged me in the ribs. Yeah, okay. This wasn’t the time to point out that the limits to his magic included finding out who was raising the dead or getting Mazza to tell the truth.
Mazza’s entire body seemed to droop. ‘It’s not what you think,’ he said.
It never was. ‘Go on.’
‘It’s not human blood.’
I glanced at Brutus. He didn’t twitch so I reckoned Mazza wasn’t lying on that part. I tilted up my chin and stared at him. ‘Sheep blood?’
Mazza shrunk even further into himself. ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘I thought I’d washed it all off.’
He hadn’t been counting on Brutus. What most people don’t realise is that cats have a better sense of smell than bloodhounds. Yet again, our investigation seemed to involve white fluffy animals with less sense than lemmings. A deep unease filtered through me.
‘Where did the sheep come from? How did you kill it?’ The second question was particularly pertinent. If Mazza had used magic to rip life from the animal, that magic could have been used in turn to feed necromancy. As the Ipsissimus suggested, the truth of the matter lay in blood.
Mazza looked horrified. ‘It wasn’t my fault!’
I gazed at him in disgust while Winter inched forward, his eyes the colour of glacier ice. ‘Oh, I see,’ he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘You accidentally killed it.’
‘No!’ he burst out. ‘I just found it! It was already dying. I didn’t do anything to it apart from…’ He halted abruptly.
‘Apart from what, Mazza? What did you do?’
He flapped his arms and began to babble. ‘Nothing! I didn’t mean to! I mean, I did mean to but only because he’s such a prick! No one would listen to me and I wanted to scare him off and make him stop, and when the herbs didn’t work I had to do something. I couldn’t just let him get away with that kind of thing!’
Winter shot me a glance and, interpreting the look, I nodded and put a hand on Mazza’s shoulder. He was visibly trembling. ‘Slow down,’ I told him. ‘And tell us from the start.’
He sucked in a ragged breath. ‘He wouldn’t leave her alone. He was using his position to get exactly what he wanted.’
There could only be one woman he was referring to. ‘You mean Amy.’
He nodded vigorously. ‘She told him no but he wouldn’t listen. I had to do something.’
‘Who are we talking about?’
He looked at me as if I were dense. ‘Trevor Bellows, of course. He goes after all the woman. Barry told me he was always the same but no one did anything about it because Belinda wanted to keep him around.’ He shrugged helplessly. ‘He’s been on Enchantment since the beginning. He’s got power and money and status and any time anything happened, it just got hushed up.’
My mouth was dry. ‘I need you to be explicit, Mazza. What was he doing? What did he do to Amy?’ She’d never given any indication that anything was wrong. But then, if she were scared of him she probably wouldn’t have. I cursed myself. She’d been my room-mate, even if only for a couple of nights. How could I not have noticed that something was up?
‘He wanted her to sleep with him. He said that if she didn’t he’d get her fired.’
I sensed Winter’s rage. His fists clenched and his body went rigid. I was right there with him but I had to stay in control. I had to find out what Mazza had done and if he was the person we were looking for.
‘So what did you do?’ I asked. I spoke softly because if I tried anything above a whisper I had the feeling it would sound like a strangled scream of fury.
‘I wanted to protect her. If I could stop him, I thought maybe I could find something that would keep her safe. This is my second series with Enchantment. Last time one of the contestants sprinkled some herbs around their beds to keep them safe at night. I thought I could do the same.’
I frowned. ‘I don’t remember that.’
‘Nothing happened. He sprinkled the herbs and then slept like a baby. It didn’t make the cut.’
I sighed. ‘So you thought it was an effective protection spell?’
‘Yes. I copied exactly what he did except in larger quantities.’
‘Let me guess,’ Winter said through gritted teeth. ‘Mandrake, cinquefoil and prickly ash bark.’
Mazza blinked. ‘How did you know?’
‘We found it all around the first set.’
‘Oh.’ Mazza deflated even further. ‘It didn’t work anyway.’
‘Funny that,’ Winter muttered.
‘I’m not a witch. I don’t have any magic at all.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘But I thought that if I did what he had done, then it might be okay.’ He threw Winter an accusing look. ‘At least I tried!’
I offered a soothing nod. ‘You did.’ I gave him a moment’s pause to gather himself together then my voice hardened. ‘But this still doesn’t explain the scent of blood.’
‘Bellows wouldn’t stop what he was doing. I had to take action. I thought if I could scare him I could make him stop. I was going to saw through his staff so that it snapped when he put his weight on it but I knew that wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t have a clue what to do. Until I found the sheep.’
‘Where was it?’
Mazza obviously didn’t want to answer. He scuffed the ground with his toe and demurred. ‘It doesn’t really matter.’
I leaned forward until I was almost nose to nose with him. ‘We’ll decide what matters. Where did you find the sheep?’
‘By the cemetery,’ he mumbled. He pulled away from me.
I didn’t move. He could only mean the one at the bottom of Dead Man’s Hill. ‘Before or after Benjamin Alberts was killed?’
‘After,’ he whispered. ‘Armstrong wanted me to go and scout out the area. He wanted to do a challenge amongst the graves. You know, to make it spooky or something. He didn’t want anyone to know because he thought they might be annoyed that he was still thinking about using that place after what happened. I found the sheep there. I don’t know what had happened to it. It was lying on its side and there was a wound in its stomach. Maybe a wild animal had got to it. I was going to get a vet but my phone kept cutting out. Bad reception or something. I knew that by the time I got to town and found someone it would probably be too late. With all that blood all over the place I just…’ His voice dropped and he hung his head. ‘I collected as much of the blood as I could and then I hit the sheep over the head and put it out of its misery.’
I felt a bit ill – and it wasn’t just because I was still recovering from being hit by a zombie-targeted spell.
‘You used the blood to paint Bellows’ trailer.’
He nodded. ‘When he went to make-up, I snuck in through the back window. After what happened to Benjamin, I didn’t want anyone to think someone else had died so I put some sheep wool onto the fence so they’d know it wasn’t human blood. I was going to leave more wool inside but there wasn’t time. I was only going to draw the pentagram but I panicked when the door opened. I thought that Bellows had returned. When I looked at him, I knew I was staring at the face of pure evil. His eyes turned bright green, like some kind of crazed monster. He had horns growing out of his head.’
Mazza’s voice dropped to a horrified whisper. ‘Horns.’ He shook himself. ‘As soon as he saw me, he attacked. The blood went everywhere. I hit him over the head and ran. The next thing I knew, Marcus was coming out of the trailer and screaming.’ Mazza looked confused. ‘I don’t know where he came from or what happened to Bellows. He looked normal the next time I saw him.’ His eyes were wide. ‘But he’s the devil.’
Mazza obviously meant that last part literally. Okaa
aay. Winter opened his mouth to ask another question but I already had everything I needed and I forestalled him. ‘You do realise what you did was wrong?’
Mazza looked away. ‘Yes,’ he mumbled unconvincingly.
‘Mazza, you killed a defenceless animal instead of getting help for it.’
‘It was dying anyway.’
‘Unless you’re a trained veterinarian, you don’t know that. You tried to use magical herbs, which could have had any number of dire consequences on any or all of the crew members. And that’s without even getting into what you did in Bellows’ trailer.’
‘He attacked me! He turned into a monster! Besides, it worked. He stopped going after Amy. He stopped harassing all the female crew members. I stopped him from doing all that because I scared him when no one else was going to do anything!’
Brutus let out what could only be described as a loud snort. I’d almost forgotten he was there. I raised an eyebrow in his direction and he pouted.
‘Was that you?’ I enquired. ‘Did you stop Trevor Bellows from harassing Amy?’
‘I am cat.’
I stared at him. Apparently that was all the answer I was going to get. I suppose Brutus felt he’d made his point.
‘What?’ Mazza shrieked. ‘The cat didn’t do a thing! I stopped Bellows. Alright, he tried it on again last night when he was out here before the vote. He grabbed Amy and that’s when she lost her necklace. But she said he let her go before he did anything. He was obviously scared what would happen if he continued. I made him feel like that. No one else.’ He thumped his chest. ‘Me.’
Brutus snorted again. He picked himself up and walked a few metres away, pawing at the ground. Then he dipped his head for a brief moment before looking up with a quiet purr – and a delicate gold necklace dangling from his mouth.
‘Good job, Bruty baby.’
‘It was me!’ Mazza said, continuing to protest. ‘I’m the hero! Not a bloody cat!’
Winter rolled his eyes. ‘Grow up.’
‘We need to find Trevor Bellows,’ I told him. ‘Everything seems to centre around him.’
Winter’s brow furrowed. ‘But…’
‘Let’s just see what he has to say.’
He nodded. ‘Fine.’ He walked over and hooked his arm through mine. ‘Let me help you. I’ve borrowed that bike again. We’ll be back in Tomintoul in no time.’
I smiled weakly. ‘Great.’
Brutus ran lightly over to us, springing up onto my shoulders and coiling his tail round my neck.
‘You could have told me what was going on,’ I scolded him.
‘Food.’
Yeah, yeah.
‘Hey!’ Mazza shouted. ‘What about me? I need a lift back to Tomintoul as well.’
Both Winter and I ignored him and carried on walking. I was pretty certain, however, that Brutus stuck out his tongue.
Chapter Twenty
I let Winter drive the bike while I took the opportunity to lean against his back. It was slightly uncomfortable with Brutus wedged between us but it might have been the only opportunity I was going to get to be close to Winter again.
When we reached the edge of the town, I tapped him on the shoulder to make him pull up. He flipped his visor and peered at me. His sapphire eyes were soft and concerned and, just for a beat, I doubted myself. All I really wanted to do was stay by his side.
‘I don’t feel well,’ I said.
His concern turned to alarm. ‘What is it?’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. The after-effects of that spell are still hitting me really hard. I feel woozy. I think I might pass out.’ I looked away. ‘Maybe you were right and I should have stayed in the trailer until I felt completely better.’
‘I’ll drop you back at your hotel.’
I tried a weak protest. ‘But we need to talk to Bellows and find out what he knows and what else he’s been up to. It’s vitally important.’
‘I’ll do that,’ he declared decisively. ‘You should rest.’
There was a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, even though this was exactly what I wanted. ‘Okay.’
We continued a bit further until we reached the Hook and Eye. It was dark although it was barely ten o’clock. The inn and its environs seemed remarkably quiet considering how many of the crew were staying there. I guessed none of them felt like partying after seeing Belinda Battenapple almost die at the jaws of a rotting zombie.
I slid off the bike, released my hold on Brutus, took off my helmet then gestured at Winter to do the same. ‘Thank you for doing this, Rafe,’ I said.
‘It’s my job. I’m the one who dragged you into this in the first place.’
‘I’m glad you did.’ I reached up and touched his cheek. His hand covered mine. ‘We’ve still not had that chat yet.’
He gave me a small crooked smile. ‘There will be time later when you’re feeling better.’
Mmm. ‘I want you to know,’ I said aloud, ‘that I’ve fallen for you. About as hard as it’s possible for anyone to fall. You’re still the most irritating man I know. You still spend too much time working. You need to learn the value of kicking back and relaxing.’
He grinned at me. ‘Maybe you can teach me how to do that.’
I didn’t smile back. ‘Maybe.’
‘When Bellows is brought to justice and we find out whether he’s the necromancer or not, you’ll feel the same kind of satisfaction I do at a job done well.’ He leaned into me. ‘We make a pretty good team.’
I closed my eyes tightly. ‘We do.’ I put my arms round his neck and kissed him. He groaned slightly, pulling me further against him. I could have stayed like that forever.
Winter’s arms tightened round me, his mouth left mine and he trailed kisses along my jawline. ‘You were embarrassed,’ he said. ‘In fact, you were more than embarrassed. You were horrified.’
I frowned at him, not sure what he meant.
‘The morning after, when we woke up together,’ he explained. ‘I wanted to give you a way out so I said we should forget it ever happened. But I’ll never be able to forget it.’
‘Me neither.’ I took a deep breath. ‘And I wasn’t horrified. I was a bit shocked to start off with but when I woke up properly I knew it was one of the best nights of my life.’ I was lying. It was the best night of my life. I touched Winter’s cheek.
‘You’re the laziest person I’ve ever met, Ivy Wilde,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘You’re also the smartest, most beautiful and most wonderful person I’ve ever met. I don’t think I’m in love with you, I know I’m in love with you. We have nothing in common but I don’t think that matters. You’re always there in my thoughts. Always.’
Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. I was being selfish. I should be telling him that we weren’t meant to be together, that it would never work. At least that way he’d find it easier to move on if this went down the way the Ipsissimus thought it would. But I couldn’t do that. I genuinely didn’t think I was capable of it. I wanted him to know the truth about how I felt, if nothing else.
‘I better go and get some sleep,’ I said softly. ‘You don’t need to see me up. I need to maintain some sense of decorum.’
He smiled. ‘I’d never associate you with decorum, Ivy.’
‘It’s virtually my middle name.’
He tucked a loose curl behind my ear. ‘I’ll come and check on you first thing in the morning,’ he promised. ‘If there’s anything you need in the meantime, don’t hesitate to call me. Trevor Bellows can wait. He’s not going anywhere.’
Unable to trust my voice, I simply nodded. Then I turned on my heel and went inside the main door, aware that Winter was watching me go. I held my breath until I heard the bike’s engine rev and tear off again down the road. Only when I was sure he’d gone did I get to work.
I strode through the narrow corridor to reach the hotel bar. Fortunately, it wasn’t entirely deserted. Making a beeline for the group at the back, who were all nursing their drink
s and looking glum, I did my best to smile and appear happy. This wasn’t the time to exude anything other than brilliant confidence.
‘Ivy!’ Barry got to his feet as I approached. ‘I’m so glad you’re alright!’
I stretched out my arms expansively. ‘You can’t keep a good witch down.’ It was probably just as well I wasn’t a good witch.
‘Come and join us.’
‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I’m pretty busy. I just need a few favours.’ I glanced at Amy. ‘Have you lost anything recently?’ I enquired.
Her fingers briefly touched her collarbone. ‘My necklace. I lost it, er…’
‘When Trevor Bellows tried to assault you?’
She blinked rapidly, her cheeks colouring and her eyes filling with dismay. Well, now I knew that Mazza definitely hadn’t been lying.
‘That should not have been allowed to happen,’ I admonished Barry.
‘I … I … didn’t know.’
Amy shot him a look. Obviously he had known. He’d probably been as scared for his job as she had been but that didn’t make his silence right – but it did make it more understandable. Slightly.
I forced my anger to a simmer to avoid it spilling over. ‘We’re going to make this right for you, Amy,’ I told her. Something in my expression must have convinced her I was telling the truth because she bit her lip and nodded.
I flicked my attention to Moonbeam. ‘How’s your mother?’
His nose wrinkled. ‘Furious. That vial was about the only thing keeping her sane. Now that it’s gone and she looks her age…’ His voice trailed off.
‘Just how old is she?’ My question had no bearing on anything important; I was simply curious.
He shook his head. ‘If you want to avoid being knocked unconscious again, you wouldn’t ask.’ He sighed. ‘Tarquin has told me that even if he could, he’s been forbidden from giving her another spell. I don’t know what we’re going to do.’
‘Is Enchantment going to continue?’