Furever Enchanted, page 8
“Focus, Julianna. We need to get that book.” Dr. Rodriguez scowled.
“So you believe us now? That my dog is enchanted?” She shifted her weight back and forth between her right and left feet.
“I don’t understand how any of this could be real.” Dr. Rodriguez sighed.
It wasn’t an, I believe you, but it was enough for Zuri. At least she wouldn’t have to find a new vet.
“The storm seems to have passed. Let’s go to Astrid’s!” Julianna jumped up and down in anticipation.
“We should probably wait until after dark,” Zuri said. It was still early, and the sun wouldn’t set for another few hours. They shouldn’t be caught snooping around someone else’s property.
“Good idea! I’ll go get us some latex gloves.” Julianna beamed.
Zuri and Dr. Rodriguez blinked at her blankly.
“So we don’t leave fingerprints.” Julianna turned to walk off.
“See you at ten.” She waved.
Chapter 16
Three women of color breaking and entering in a very wealthy and very white neighborhood. What could possibly go wrong, Zuri wanted to say, but she sighed instead.
It wasn’t like they had any better options. They had already tried to get into Astrid’s house the legal way, but no one was home and the next of kin were nowhere to be found.
It was dark now. They had all gone home from Old Gold separately and changed into black clothing. Zuri checked on Gigi, who seemed to be feeling better, good enough to eat some steak over rice. She felt bad feeding her, knowing the painful outcome, but she couldn’t live off water forever.
A few hours later, Dr. Rodriguez picked Zuri up with Julianna already in the car. Astrid’s house backed up against a canal and green belt. Instead of parking in front of the home, Julianna had Dr. Rodriguez park at a trail entrance almost a mile away. Although Julianna still wouldn’t be specific, at least not in front of Zuri, it was obvious she was familiar with Astrid’s general neighborhood. She hadn’t been joking about the gloves either. She gave them each a pair to put in their pockets until they got to the house and led them down the trail where they could enter Astrid’s property from the backyard.
The path wasn’t lit, and signs showed the trail was closed from sundown to sunup. The storm had passed, but soft clouds remained, obscuring the moon and any visible stars. It was dark and the ominous noises from the canal and the nearby bushes weren’t helping to make things any less creepy.
“You alright?” Dr. Rodriguez whispered, breaking the near quiet and making Zuri jump. She heard Julianna snort a laugh from a few feet ahead of them.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She cleared her throat.
“Not scared of the dark, are you?” She could hear a smile in Dr. Rodriguez’s voice.
“Of course not.” Zuri felt herself smile too, despite her reservations about this entire mission.
Julianna, ever the energizer bunny, kept getting farther and farther ahead of them, unable to contain her excitement.
“Don’t worry, if anyone comes after us, I can take ’em.” Dr. Rodriguez made a fist with her right hand and Zuri heard the slap as she punched into her left palm.
“Is that right?” She laughed.
“I go to a boxing gym a few times a week.”
“Is that how you paid for vet school? Underground fight club?” Zuri surprised herself by asking.
The doctor snorted a laugh, and it was music to her ears.
“It helps me unwind.” She rolled her shoulders back. “A lot of people don’t know this, but veterinarians have high rates of depression and even suicide. Getting to punch things, and sometimes people, helps.”
“That makes sense,” Zuri said. She always thought veterinarians must be living the dream, getting to help animals every day, but now that she thought about it, it must be stressful. She wondered how much of the job was wellness checks with healthy dogs versus treating sick animals, or worse, having to euthanize them.
“So, Julianna,” Dr. Rodriguez started, slowing her steps so she was right next to Zuri. “She’s just helping you with Gigi, right? You’re not. . .” She trailed off, but Zuri had no idea where she was going with her question.
“Not what?”
Dr. Rodriguez cleared her throat. “Not dating or anything?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. What would have possibly led the doctor to think that? If anyone looked like they were dating, it was—
Oh.
Was Dr. Rodriguez interested in Julianna? Or had they already dated, and she wanted to get back together? Julianna was pretty. She was also confident and read people like they were books. Although she was a few inches shorter than Zuri, her confidence always made her seem taller.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” She waved her hands in emphasis.
Dr. Rodriguez said nothing in response, and Zuri was too nervous to look over at her to see her facial expression.
“Did you and Julianna date?” Zuri asked.
Dr. Rodriguez stopped in her tracks.
“No! Never.” She shuddered in disgust before beginning to walk again, easily catching up to Zuri. “Why would you think that?”
“You just seemed close. Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked or assumed you were even interested in women.” She bit her cheek and wished she had something to do with her hands. Why did she have to make things awkward?
“She used to date my younger sister. It was a while ago. It lasted about a year but was nothing serious for either of them, apparently. We also run into each other a lot with my work and her volunteering.” Dr. Rodriguez scrunched up her face again, as if just the thought of dating Julianna made her sick.
Zuri felt a weight lift off her chest.
“For the record, you’re not my type either, Claudia,” Julianna chimed in.
They both startled in surprise. Neither of them had noticed that she had come back to them. It was so dark they hadn’t seen her.
“I can see why you might think I was dating Zuri, though. She’s kind of a catch. She has a good job, she owns her townhome, and you have to admit, she’s pretty cute.” Julianna said as she walked backward and winked at Zuri. Actually winked. First of all, who did that anymore? Second, it was unfair that Julianna could pull it off.
Zuri felt her cheeks flush. Now Dr. Rodriguez was going to think Julianna thought that she was interested in her, which wasn’t possible. She needed to have a talk with Julianna. This was not the place or time to be trying to be her wing woman. For now, she would have to change the subject.
“When are you going to tell me why you can volunteer all the time instead of working? And which one of these rich people’s houses is yours?” Zuri changed the subject.
“Who said I don’t work?” Julianna grinned as she walked away, not answering the question. Zuri and Dr. Rodriguez followed behind her.
“Why are you so vague? Can’t you just be straight with me?” Zuri sighed.
“I’ve never been straight so, don’t think so,” Julianna threw over her shoulder.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Zuri groaned.
“We’re here.” Julianna turned and walked off the path, into the canal. It was mostly empty except for a few puddles from the earlier rain. She walked down it and used the rocks and small shrubs as hand and footholds to climb up the other side.
Dr. Rodriguez and Zuri followed her lead. Zuri was not happy about how dirty her hands and clothes were getting, but it was for Gigi.
On the other side of the canal, there was a six-foot brick wall that had to be scaled. Julianna put on her gloves and clasped her hands together, making a foothold. Dr. Rodriguez stepped into her hands without hesitation and reached for the edge of the wall as Julianna boosted her up. She pulled herself up and straddled the wall.
“You next,” Julianna commanded.
Zuri stepped into Julianna’s hands, and like Dr. Rodriguez, pulled herself on top of the wall, just barely. The effort caused her heart to pound, and it took her a solid minute to catch her breath. She really needed to start working out.
Julianna took a couple steps back from the wall, and with a running start, jumped up and grabbed the edge, easily pulling herself up. It almost seemed practiced, like she’d done this sort of thing before. Maybe she had. Her secret job could be anything, a spy or even a secret agent.
“Put on your gloves!” Julianna whispered sharply.
Zuri and Dr. Rodriguez did as instructed, and the three of them jumped down.
Zuri looked around. The yard was full of weeds and the tall grass had turned yellow. The large white house ahead was pitch black, with no signs of life. Although the neighboring houses weren’t right next to each other, someone might still see them walking through the yard if they happened to look out from their second-story window, even with the cover of night. So, they stayed along the wall, crouched low.
They made their way to the back of the house and found the patio’s sliding door. Julianna tugged on the handle, and it easily slid open. With the owner and sole occupant deceased and no next of kin to care for the property, no one had bothered to make sure it was locked up.
Julianna turned and grinned at Dr. Rodriguez and Zuri. Dr. Rodriguez’s lips pressed together and she rolled her eyes, but Zuri saw a slight uptick in the corners of her mouth. Zuri looked around the door but didn’t see any obvious motion detectors. No alarms sounded, and no lights turned on. Julianna took a careful step inside and turned on her cell phone’s flashlight.
The light swept the room, illuminating furniture and generic wall art, the kind you might see in a model unit. The layout was open and from the back door, they could see a dining room, large living room, and a large kitchen. Everything was spotless and a little sterile looking. There wasn’t much personality or any sign that someone actually lived there. No sweater hung off the back of a couch. No books left out. Not even a single dish rested in the sink.
Walking farther into the house, near the front door, the trio glanced at the stairs. There was a door underneath the stairs, just a closet probably, but Zuri felt her hand reach for the knob, instinctively. Something was calling for her attention. It was like that nagging feeling she sometimes got in the back of her mind when she was leaving the house, knowing that she had forgotten something, and then realized she didn’t have her wallet. Or when she thought about needing to call someone and moments later, her phone rang. She needed to open the door, so she did.
Julianna shined her light through the open doorway, revealing a set of stairs that led down beneath the house. Not a closet. A basement. Weird.
Zuri knew from her home search a few years ago that it was rare for a house in Arizona to have a basement.The ground was too hard, making the cost of adding one unpredictable and unappealing. You could occasionally find a house with one, but it wasn’t common.
“Why don’t you two look for the Grimoire down there, and I’ll look for more clues upstairs,” Julianna suggested.
“Why do we have to go down in the creepy basement while you get to stay up here?” Zuri argued.
“We can’t split up.” Dr. Rodriguez huffed. “We’re not white people in a horror movie.”
Zuri snorted a laugh.
“We’re not in a horror movie, so it’ll be fine.” Julianna shrugged before trotting up the stairs, refusing to debate it any further. The light faded as she reached the top of the stairs, leaving Dr. Rodriguez and Zuri in the dark.
Dr. Rodriguez pulled up her phone’s flashlight and Zuri followed suit. Once they were downstairs, there was no chance of someone seeing the lights through the windows, anyway.
Zuri took a step toward the door, but she stopped and nearly jumped when she felt a hand grab hers. Maybe she was more scared than she cared to admit. She turned to look back. It was just Dr. Rodriguez.
“Are you scared?” Zuri whispered as she tried to ignore the warm heat of Dr. Rodriguez’s hand in hers. Her hand was probably clammy and cold in comparison, but if the doctor minded, she didn’t mind enough to let go.
“No, but we’re about to walk into a witch’s basement. Julianna might be dumb enough to go off on her own, but I’m not taking any chances on us getting separated down there.” Dr. Rodriguez gripped Zuri’s hand a little tighter.
Zuri nodded and stepped through the door and onto the staircase, the doctor right behind her. She couldn’t hold her phone, Dr. Rodriguez’s hand, and grab the stair railing, so she took each step carefully, one at a time. A few steps down, they heard a low screech and a click as the door closed on its own.
“Nope.” She heard Dr. Rodriguez whisper. Despite the creepiness of the situation, a laugh escaped her. She felt Dr. Rodriguez squeeze her hand again before loosening her grip a little.
At the bottom of the stairs, they both flashed their lights around the room.
The walls were jagged and made of some kind of crystal or sparkling rock that seamlessly went from wall to ceiling. A large black cauldron filled the center of the room, drawing their eyes. A long desk stood close to the wall to their left, with enough space to walk around it. The top of the desk was covered with all kinds of vials, note pages, flowers, and bottles. The floor was littered with crumpled up paper, dirty dishes, and rotting food. It was hard to breathe, the odor of decay making her want to vomit.
Zuri’s jaw dropped when her eyes landed on a pile of animal bones to their right.
“Dr. Rodriguez, look,” she whispered, gesturing to the pile with her phone light. There had to be tens of skulls, rib cages, and paws piled high. Bodies of all sizes picked clean of flesh. She took a small step back, bumping into Dr. Rodriguez, who stood slightly behind her.
“You can call me Claudia.” She felt the doctor’s warm breath brush her ear.
“Okay,” she mumbled, feeling blood rush to her cheeks.
“Let’s look for the magic book,” Claudia whispered as she stepped to the left, her right hand still holding Zuri’s firmly. She tugged Zuri along behind her.
Zuri put her phone in her pocket when they reached the desk. While Claudia illuminated the desk’s contents with her phone, Zuri picked up and moved items, hoping they would know what they were looking for when they saw it.
The book had to be big, in theory, but it was also a magic book. It could probably be any size and still hold an infinite number of pages or information, like Mary Poppins’s bag, for all they knew. Nothing obvious stuck out.
Claudia slowly roamed the room with her phone light once more, this time illuminating an alcove under the stairs that they hadn’t seen when standing at the landing. From where they stood, especially in the dark, it was impossible to see what the alcove was hiding. A monster could be lurking in the shadows, and they wouldn’t be able to see it until it was too late.
“We should go look in the dark creepy alcove, shouldn’t we?” she whispered.
“Unfortunately.” Claudia nodded.
“I can go alone, and you can wait by the stairs,” Zuri offered, but she really hoped Claudia would go with her.
“We’re not splitting up.” Claudia squeezed her hand, and they began the short trek to the other side of the room.
Instead of a closet or an additional staircase, the area was open, but the wall was still made of the same crystal-like rocks. There was a small, half-circle shaped cutout shelf in the wall, with a few candles and dead flowers on either end, and a big, black book that sat in the center.
Zuri reached out with her free hand, but before she reached the book, it floated off the shelf and moved to levitate in front of her. She felt Claudia jump backward, her hand pulling Zuri along with her. The book moved forward a few inches, following.
“That’s a big book. I might need my hand back.” She looked at Claudia as she tried unsuccessfully to release it from her grip.
Claudia slowly let go and grabbed onto her shirt instead, determined they stayed together, no matter what.
Zuri reached out and picked up the book. As soon as her hands gripped it, whatever magic that had held it weightless in the air ceased and she felt its mass in her arms. This was the book. It had to be. There was nothing else there that remotely looked important enough to be a Grimoire.
Carefully, she held it up, Claudia kindly providing her with some light. Grimoire of Astrid Drach, was the single line in the center of the cover, written in gold.
“This is it. Let’s get out of here.” Zuri stepped backward into Claudia again. She really needed to watch where she was going.
“Sorry,” she whispered, stepping to the side.
“Don’t worry about it,” Claudia answered.
They slowly made their way back up the stairs. Zuri cradled the book against her chest with one hand and held onto the stair rail with the other. Claudia shined the phone’s flashlight in front of them, but still clung to the back of Zuri’s shirt with her free hand. When they reached the landing at the top of the stairs, the door was gone.
“Houston, we have a problem,” she whispered.
Claudia’s phone light traced the wall where the door should have been. It was just the same solid crystal stone as the rest of the basement now. She stepped next to Zuri, letting go of her shirt, and felt the wall.
They both jumped, nearly falling down the stairs, when Zuri’s phone rang. The name Julianna, illuminated the black screen.
“Where are you two?” Julianna hissed, her voice uncharacteristically angry sounding. Zuri heard a doorknob jangle in the background.
“We’re stuck. The door disappeared. Is it still there on your side?” Zuri asked.
“Yes, but it won’t open.” Julianna grunted. It sounded like she was fighting with the door and the door was winning.
“It’s a magic basement. Maybe we need to say the magic word?” Claudia said.
“Abracadabra,” Zuri tried. Nothing.
“Open Pocus!” Claudia cried. Nothing.
“Open Sesame.” Zuri shrugged. No door.
