Practical Potions and Premeditated Murder (Practical Potions Mysteries Book 1), page 20
She squeezed Aadel’s hand once more and then let go.
Gray morning light was still glowing from the large circle window in the loft above the shop. Koukie was finishing her breakfast happily by the dying fire while Beejee stared at her food bowl with envy.
“My mom came to check up on me? I’m a grown woman!” But Lohrna sounded like an annoyed teen again.
“Well.” Sella shrugged. “There's a serial poisoner on the loose, and Hazen’s place has been burglarized. I think she’s within her rights to check up on you if you don’t come home.”
Lohrna crossed her arms and pursed her lips. She sat up a little straighter in Sella’s bed, and then her eyes suddenly focused, as if she had only now, in that moment, woken up. “Wait, Hazen was robbed? Of what?”
“Your mom said there were papers all over the place. His office, I think, is what was hit the hardest.” Sella poured a large cup of coffee and motioned for Lohrna to get up and grab it. “It has to be someone who knows the handwriting won’t match. The killer is trying to cover their tracks.”
Lohrna rolled her neck from side to side and rose from the bed. She shuffled to the coffee and took a long sip. “What’s the daily brew?” she asked.
“Clarity.”
“Good work.”
“We have to go to the hotel!” Cali’s voice boomed so loudly from the corner of the room that even Lohrna turned.
“Did you hear that?” she asked Sella with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s Cali,” Sella explained. “She says we need to go to the hotel…” She turned to the ghost in the corner. “Why?”
Cali strode across the room triumphantly with her head held high. “Someone knew that I had a– Let’s put it generously and say ‘less than ideal’ ex at home. Someone knew how to brew the potion, which requires ingredients from my homelands, and they knew Hazen! It has to be Nicte!”
“Nicte?” Sella asked, more for Lohrna’s benefit than her own. It made sense; that man gave her a certain… off vibe from the moment she met him. “You’re coming around to my line of thinking?”
“Nicte seems so nice, though,” Lohrna said. “Are you sure it’s not the big boss, Dimas?”
Cali waved her finger, though Lohrna could not see. “No, when we last spoke, it was Nicte who was more upset that I had left. Nicte felt betrayed that I had left their business. It was Nicte and I who never could understand one another. But, he wouldn’t know the quirks of my handwriting. He was hardly ever nose in the books, he’s more of a wyvern high-view. Plus, he wouldn’t be as meticulous as Dimas…” Cali looked at Sella with a ferocity in her gaze. “And, the most compelling part. Get this–”
Sella turned to Lohrna with a gentle hand gesture to wait while Cali continued.
“I was doing some snooping on my own this morning. I went to the market, and figured I’d hear what I could hear if they thought no one was listening. And, the whole town is bustling about Hazen’s robbery. There’s rumors going around about a letter and handwriting being off! No one here can keep a secret. Someone had to have gotten word to Nicte!”
Sella nodded. To Lohrna, she explained, “She thinks someone must’ve told Nicte about the letter being suspicious.”
“Would Hazen tell anyone that?” Lohrna looked surprised. She took a small sip of her coffee, clearly trying to find an explanation.
“It’s possible someone overheard you two talking about it,” Beejee cut in. “You two weren’t exactly spies, and the shop was unusually crowded. Aadel was there.” His eyes flicked to Lohrna for a moment. He went ahead anyway with, “You know she’s a gossip.”
“That’s not wrong.” Lohrna gestured with her mug.
Cali came in close, she stood tall to catch Sella’s gaze. “Tell her to trust me on this one. I’m certain it wasn’t Dimas. It’s got to be Nicte. We have to go break into their hotel and find some evidence. Some ingredients of the potion or something!”
“How are we going to break into the hotel?” Sella asked.
Lohrna looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Sella,” her tone uncharacteristically arrogant, “we have a literal ghost here. She can go see if there’s anything and let us know. Then, we can go to Benka. Publicly, if we have to.”
“Great idea!” Cali agreed.
Sella considered their options. If Cali was certain, after all her previous hesitancy, that Nicte was the one who did this, it made sense to try to catch him soon. It was unlikely that they would stay in town much longer, despite Benka’s warnings. And he'd already shown himself to be capable of hurting more people to keep his cover. Sella looked at Cali with gravity in her eyes. “Cali, are you sure?”
“Of course!” Cali said. “I can get in and out undetected… Oooo! I’ve always wanted to go back to the hotel after I first stayed there. It’s so cozy!”
“‘Cozy’ is a word for it.” Sella laughed. “She thinks the hotel is cozy,” she told Lohrna.
Lohrna, too, laughed, and began to recount the many, many issues the townsfolk had with this particular establishment. Notably, a pixie problem. The owner never did seem to see them coming even though they wreaked havoc reliably every new moon.
The hotel was host to all kinds of characters that sailed in from their small port on their way to bigger and better things. It was narrow, several stories higher than any other building in the town, and displayed a quality about the craftsmanship that made it look utterly foreign.
Statues of two sirens outside sang haunting melodies in a low, primal song whenever storms from the sea blew in. They were universally disliked by everyone in town. The proprietor of the hotel, Penya, once told them when they were children that the sirens were made by an actual siren sculptor deep in the sea. She said they held magic in the stone’s inner workings that echoed the siren songs when the wind blew through openings in their stone gills. The song was a warning that storms were approaching from the sea.
“That’s true,” Sella interjected. “But when I asked my mom about them, she said to not believe everything Penya says. That sometimes things had mundane answers, if you had the right knowledge.”
“We never did figure it out though,” Lohrna said. “I like the idea of a magic sculptor.” Lohrna went on, turning to the corner where Cali stood. She continued ranting about the statues.
“Alright,” Sella said at last, interrupting part of Lohrna’s tale about the time she and Sella had tried another fateful and unsuccessful spell on the stone sirens. “I think this could work. We just need to figure out how to do it.”
“Let’s do it right now!” Cali said with a clap.
“We have to be careful,” Sella cautioned.
This time, Beejee chimed in, he leaped atop the table to get a better view. “Let’s say we do find some evidence… we need to be prepared to get it into Benka’s hands immediately. We don’t know what they’re capable of and putting our necks on the line is dangerous. We’re already on Benka’s shortlist.”
Sella nodded. She was grateful he included her too in the warning even though, if the town rumors were right, it was mostly Lohrna he was after. “Beejee’s got a point.”
“So, we wait for tonight.” Lohrna cupped her coffee close to her chest. “We can figure out the details in the meantime. For now, I think it’s worth paying Hazen a visit. If nothing else, we should at least check in on how he’s doing after the Garawock poisoning.”
“At least?” Beejee scoffed. “We carried him home, put him in bed, gave him a headache cure, and all we caught was criticism for it. He owes us.”
Sella side-eyed him. She could always count on Beejee to advocate for them, even if he was a little unnecessarily harsh about it. “You can stay,” She gave behind his ear a little scratch. “But his place was torn up. We should go help him. He’s probably having an awful morning.”
“I’ll keep the shop open on my own then?” Beejee asked sarcastically.
Sella shrugged. “Well, you can talk now.”
Beejee hissed. “Just close it today. It’s not like business will be booming since everyone thinks we’re murderers and thieves.”
“No one thinks that.” Though Lohrna’s tone was less than convincing. “Well, at least no one I’ve talked to thinks that.”
The familiar let out a little huff and trotted away to clean off the bowl that Koukie left behind.
Sella relit the fire so they would be warm and gathered her cloak from the hook by the door. “Ready?” She turned to Lohrna and Cali.
Both nodded.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Clean Up Crew
Sella helped herself to unlock the door with a simple snap of her fingers – a move that, as soon as she did it, immediately filled her with regret. She helped herself into Hazen’s tavern on a few occasions when Hazen was away and she watched over his various plants upstairs, but now, she knew it was presumptuous to let herself in… and suspicious. Her eyes darted around the street, but no one seemed to have noticed her small action.
Except for Lohrna, who looked at her with a raised brow. “Really?”
“Habit,” Sella tried to explain. She knocked on the door now, harder than she needed to, making a show of it.
Beside her, Cali shook her head. She stepped through the closed door confidently.
“Cali’s in,” Sella whispered as the ghost’s head came back through the door.
“I’m practicing.” Cali smiled. “Surprisingly, it’s actually challenging to move through stuff. I think it’s a mind game, mostly.” The door opened through her and she shivered all over. “Ugh, hate that feeling!”
Hazen’s broad shoulders took up most of the door frame. “Oh, it’s you two,” he said. Sella couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or relief.
“My mom told us what happened,” Lohrna said. “I’m so sorry!”
Hazen rubbed his beard and pressed into his eyes gently. “It’s been a bit of a morning. I guess news travels fast here.” He stepped aside with a welcoming gesture. “Come on in.” Behind him, Cali darted out of the way to make room for them.
“It’s a mess in here,” she whispered to Sella as the two entered.
And it was. The large hall was torn apart. Papers were strewn about, torn up into tiny pieces on the floor. Chairs, even a few tables, were knocked over. It all seemed a little… unnecessary. Robbing his office would have been one thing, but as Sella’s eyes scanned the hall, she was taken aback by the pure chaos of it all. The meanspiritedness of it.
“Any idea who might have done this… or why?” Lohrna asked after she finally lowered her hands from her mouth. She turned to Hazen with a worried expression, but Hazen was difficult to read. He stood among the wreckage so still, Sella wasn’t sure he heard her at all.
He finally turned to them, a half smile on his face that shocked Sella. “I heard I was poisoned, too. But Aadel and Cirian said you two got me out of that bind.”
Sella’s shoulders relaxed.
“It was no problem, Hazen.” Lohrna moved through the debris carefully, avoiding stepping on any remaining intact paper.
“No idea who’d be after me, though.” Hazen shrugged. He turned to survey the damage again. “They were after something, though, beside the usual. No Coin missing.”
“Hmm.” Sella stepped forward slowly. “Has Benka been in to investigate yet?”
“Took him long enough if you ask me,” Hazen said. “He meandered in here like he had all the time in the world.”
“Oh, Benka’s alright.” Lohrna picked up a few bits of shredded paper from a nearby table. She turned them over in her hand. “But he does mosey about.”
Sella knew that Benka was busy hunting Rorin, but she kept her mouth shut. No need to complicate the morning more than it already was.
Hazen leaned down and began picking up strips of paper. “Anyway,” he said with a grunt, like his back couldn't quite take the position. “He was almost no help. Whatever he’s thinking, he’s keeping it close to his chest.”
Sella and Lohrna exchanged glances. Cali spoke their thoughts, “That doesn’t sound good for us.” She stepped closer to Hazen and bent her body as if to catch his eye. She put a hand on his shoulder and he shivered. “I’m sorry, my friend,” she whispered so faintly Sella almost missed it. “You shouldn't have to go through any of this for me.”
Sella wished she could stop time, pull Cali aside for just that moment, and remind her that the actions of others, no matter how wicked they might be, were theirs alone. That she didn’t cause any of this. But instead, Sella simply started picking up papers as well, sorting through the ones that were less damaged.
The three of them cleaned up for a while. Cali sat on the bar and watched with glazed eyes. Her hair tangled up in a small wind that only existed around her, a sign of her turbulence within. Sella remembered this phenomenon from ghosts she worked to banish in the past. She saw it in Cali a few times now, but this seemed new, stronger. She caught Cali’s eye and the ghost flickered for a moment. A small chill blew through Sella and she shuddered.
“Cirian thinks it’s the new fellas in town,” Hazen said at last. “That they think Cali was in the old business with me discreetly and they were looking for documentation.” He chuckled. “But then why not take any Coin if they’re after riches?”
Sella paused, she looked over the paper at the top of her pile. It was an invoice for lavender honey from Practical Potions and Honey. One corner of her mouth upturned slightly before she glanced up at them. “Honestly, whoever did this isn’t too bright. Stealing things that have monetary value would at least make it look disconnected from the paperwork they were clearly after…” Her eyes glanced at Cali who was now sitting up straighter, the wind around her still. Sella continued, “Did Benka tell you the side effects of poison?”
“Memory loss is one of them,” he said simply. “I guess I’m glad to have lost some of it. Saves me some embarrassment.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” Lohrna said. “People understand that you were poisoned.”
Sella set her stack of papers on a free table. She picked up the chairs beside it and righted them. “Whoever did this, their ship is stuck on a sandbar. They’re getting desperate because all the knots they tied are coming loose.”
“I have faith we’ll catch ‘em yet.” Hazen looked around at the mostly clean tavern. “For now, it’s opening time. The good people need strong drinks if they’re going to make it through another day in this town.”
Cali chuckled. “Always at service.”
Sella smiled and Lohrna spoke up, “We’ll help man the bar today. You can rest.”
“No, no,” Hazen said. “Plenty of rest in the grave. It’ll do me good to work. You both have helped me plenty. Come sit, I’ll pour you a drink.”
Sella laughed. “It’s a bit early.”
“No such thing.” Hazen was already behind the bar. “First one’s on me. Come on, what’ll it be?”
Lohrna hopped onto a stool excitedly. “A half glass of red wine, for me.” She turned back and patted the stool beside her.
Sella rolled her eyes but shuffled forward with her stack of papers. “I’ll take the other half.”
“Got it.” Hazen nodded and poured them each a full glass of blood-red wine.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ghost Heist
It was late afternoon when Sella and Lohrna stood at the entrance to the hotel, letting the light rain gather in their hair instead of walking in. Around them, a few people passed and gave them a wide gap, eyeing them suspiciously in a way that made Sella’s nerves bristle. Her heart began to accelerate by the time a third woman crossed the street instead of walking by them. She wanted to shout that they were trying to save everyone, thank you very much, but she knew it was useless. She bit her bottom lip instead.
“This place has always given me the unnerve.” Lohrna squeezed Sella’s hand quickly. “But, come on, let’s wait inside. I’m getting cold and uncomfortable with everyone thinking we’ve become statues too.”
Sella’s jaw unclenched and she stepped forward with her unease clear on her face. She did not give the siren statues a second glance as she passed them. Lohrna followed close behind. The hotel doors shut behind them as the sirens began to sing.
Lohrna shook off her cloak. “Spooky.” She laughed, still shaking herself like she was trying to get their song off her body. She handed Sella her cloak and the witch put both of theirs on a coat rack by the double doors.
The inside of the hotel was warm and bright. The lobby felt expansive, yet homey, with two stories of space in the small area. A great fire filled most of the left wall, contained by a faded red brick fireplace and a high iron guard. On the wall opposite, a small desk hosted the old woman, Penya, who looked to be asleep in her chair.
A few of the patrons were scattered about the length of the fireplace, chatting and sipping from mugs. Sella found an empty velvet couch on the far wall and motioned for Lohrna to follow.
They sat still for a moment, taking it all in. From the high ceiling, rich green vines wove their way down, wrapping around the white beams and descending as if they were reaching for the warmth of the fire. Stacks of old books collected a fine layer of dust in every corner. Little signs hung from each pile with careful lettering reading ‘free to good home.’
“You know, now that I look at it again, I think if I wasn’t from here,” Lohrna whispered, eyes scanning the lobby, “I’d find this all to be very cozy.”
Sella’s brows rose. She tried looking around again with fresh eyes. It had been years since she’d been in the hotel. It all looked the same to her. But as she looked at the visiting people’s faces, she noticed that, actually, everyone looked quite content. The room was warm and comfortably lit. The rain outside could not be heard through the windows or doors. It did all seemed quaint and comfortable. She shrugged. “Yeah, maybe so. I guess it's charming, if you’re not used to it.”
“You think Cali’s alright in there?”
Sella glanced up through all the vines above. She wondered if there was a spell to see through walls, or maybe talk to the plants. She wanted to ask them if they could check in on Cali. She felt utterly unprepared. “She should be back soon.”
Gray morning light was still glowing from the large circle window in the loft above the shop. Koukie was finishing her breakfast happily by the dying fire while Beejee stared at her food bowl with envy.
“My mom came to check up on me? I’m a grown woman!” But Lohrna sounded like an annoyed teen again.
“Well.” Sella shrugged. “There's a serial poisoner on the loose, and Hazen’s place has been burglarized. I think she’s within her rights to check up on you if you don’t come home.”
Lohrna crossed her arms and pursed her lips. She sat up a little straighter in Sella’s bed, and then her eyes suddenly focused, as if she had only now, in that moment, woken up. “Wait, Hazen was robbed? Of what?”
“Your mom said there were papers all over the place. His office, I think, is what was hit the hardest.” Sella poured a large cup of coffee and motioned for Lohrna to get up and grab it. “It has to be someone who knows the handwriting won’t match. The killer is trying to cover their tracks.”
Lohrna rolled her neck from side to side and rose from the bed. She shuffled to the coffee and took a long sip. “What’s the daily brew?” she asked.
“Clarity.”
“Good work.”
“We have to go to the hotel!” Cali’s voice boomed so loudly from the corner of the room that even Lohrna turned.
“Did you hear that?” she asked Sella with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s Cali,” Sella explained. “She says we need to go to the hotel…” She turned to the ghost in the corner. “Why?”
Cali strode across the room triumphantly with her head held high. “Someone knew that I had a– Let’s put it generously and say ‘less than ideal’ ex at home. Someone knew how to brew the potion, which requires ingredients from my homelands, and they knew Hazen! It has to be Nicte!”
“Nicte?” Sella asked, more for Lohrna’s benefit than her own. It made sense; that man gave her a certain… off vibe from the moment she met him. “You’re coming around to my line of thinking?”
“Nicte seems so nice, though,” Lohrna said. “Are you sure it’s not the big boss, Dimas?”
Cali waved her finger, though Lohrna could not see. “No, when we last spoke, it was Nicte who was more upset that I had left. Nicte felt betrayed that I had left their business. It was Nicte and I who never could understand one another. But, he wouldn’t know the quirks of my handwriting. He was hardly ever nose in the books, he’s more of a wyvern high-view. Plus, he wouldn’t be as meticulous as Dimas…” Cali looked at Sella with a ferocity in her gaze. “And, the most compelling part. Get this–”
Sella turned to Lohrna with a gentle hand gesture to wait while Cali continued.
“I was doing some snooping on my own this morning. I went to the market, and figured I’d hear what I could hear if they thought no one was listening. And, the whole town is bustling about Hazen’s robbery. There’s rumors going around about a letter and handwriting being off! No one here can keep a secret. Someone had to have gotten word to Nicte!”
Sella nodded. To Lohrna, she explained, “She thinks someone must’ve told Nicte about the letter being suspicious.”
“Would Hazen tell anyone that?” Lohrna looked surprised. She took a small sip of her coffee, clearly trying to find an explanation.
“It’s possible someone overheard you two talking about it,” Beejee cut in. “You two weren’t exactly spies, and the shop was unusually crowded. Aadel was there.” His eyes flicked to Lohrna for a moment. He went ahead anyway with, “You know she’s a gossip.”
“That’s not wrong.” Lohrna gestured with her mug.
Cali came in close, she stood tall to catch Sella’s gaze. “Tell her to trust me on this one. I’m certain it wasn’t Dimas. It’s got to be Nicte. We have to go break into their hotel and find some evidence. Some ingredients of the potion or something!”
“How are we going to break into the hotel?” Sella asked.
Lohrna looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Sella,” her tone uncharacteristically arrogant, “we have a literal ghost here. She can go see if there’s anything and let us know. Then, we can go to Benka. Publicly, if we have to.”
“Great idea!” Cali agreed.
Sella considered their options. If Cali was certain, after all her previous hesitancy, that Nicte was the one who did this, it made sense to try to catch him soon. It was unlikely that they would stay in town much longer, despite Benka’s warnings. And he'd already shown himself to be capable of hurting more people to keep his cover. Sella looked at Cali with gravity in her eyes. “Cali, are you sure?”
“Of course!” Cali said. “I can get in and out undetected… Oooo! I’ve always wanted to go back to the hotel after I first stayed there. It’s so cozy!”
“‘Cozy’ is a word for it.” Sella laughed. “She thinks the hotel is cozy,” she told Lohrna.
Lohrna, too, laughed, and began to recount the many, many issues the townsfolk had with this particular establishment. Notably, a pixie problem. The owner never did seem to see them coming even though they wreaked havoc reliably every new moon.
The hotel was host to all kinds of characters that sailed in from their small port on their way to bigger and better things. It was narrow, several stories higher than any other building in the town, and displayed a quality about the craftsmanship that made it look utterly foreign.
Statues of two sirens outside sang haunting melodies in a low, primal song whenever storms from the sea blew in. They were universally disliked by everyone in town. The proprietor of the hotel, Penya, once told them when they were children that the sirens were made by an actual siren sculptor deep in the sea. She said they held magic in the stone’s inner workings that echoed the siren songs when the wind blew through openings in their stone gills. The song was a warning that storms were approaching from the sea.
“That’s true,” Sella interjected. “But when I asked my mom about them, she said to not believe everything Penya says. That sometimes things had mundane answers, if you had the right knowledge.”
“We never did figure it out though,” Lohrna said. “I like the idea of a magic sculptor.” Lohrna went on, turning to the corner where Cali stood. She continued ranting about the statues.
“Alright,” Sella said at last, interrupting part of Lohrna’s tale about the time she and Sella had tried another fateful and unsuccessful spell on the stone sirens. “I think this could work. We just need to figure out how to do it.”
“Let’s do it right now!” Cali said with a clap.
“We have to be careful,” Sella cautioned.
This time, Beejee chimed in, he leaped atop the table to get a better view. “Let’s say we do find some evidence… we need to be prepared to get it into Benka’s hands immediately. We don’t know what they’re capable of and putting our necks on the line is dangerous. We’re already on Benka’s shortlist.”
Sella nodded. She was grateful he included her too in the warning even though, if the town rumors were right, it was mostly Lohrna he was after. “Beejee’s got a point.”
“So, we wait for tonight.” Lohrna cupped her coffee close to her chest. “We can figure out the details in the meantime. For now, I think it’s worth paying Hazen a visit. If nothing else, we should at least check in on how he’s doing after the Garawock poisoning.”
“At least?” Beejee scoffed. “We carried him home, put him in bed, gave him a headache cure, and all we caught was criticism for it. He owes us.”
Sella side-eyed him. She could always count on Beejee to advocate for them, even if he was a little unnecessarily harsh about it. “You can stay,” She gave behind his ear a little scratch. “But his place was torn up. We should go help him. He’s probably having an awful morning.”
“I’ll keep the shop open on my own then?” Beejee asked sarcastically.
Sella shrugged. “Well, you can talk now.”
Beejee hissed. “Just close it today. It’s not like business will be booming since everyone thinks we’re murderers and thieves.”
“No one thinks that.” Though Lohrna’s tone was less than convincing. “Well, at least no one I’ve talked to thinks that.”
The familiar let out a little huff and trotted away to clean off the bowl that Koukie left behind.
Sella relit the fire so they would be warm and gathered her cloak from the hook by the door. “Ready?” She turned to Lohrna and Cali.
Both nodded.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Clean Up Crew
Sella helped herself to unlock the door with a simple snap of her fingers – a move that, as soon as she did it, immediately filled her with regret. She helped herself into Hazen’s tavern on a few occasions when Hazen was away and she watched over his various plants upstairs, but now, she knew it was presumptuous to let herself in… and suspicious. Her eyes darted around the street, but no one seemed to have noticed her small action.
Except for Lohrna, who looked at her with a raised brow. “Really?”
“Habit,” Sella tried to explain. She knocked on the door now, harder than she needed to, making a show of it.
Beside her, Cali shook her head. She stepped through the closed door confidently.
“Cali’s in,” Sella whispered as the ghost’s head came back through the door.
“I’m practicing.” Cali smiled. “Surprisingly, it’s actually challenging to move through stuff. I think it’s a mind game, mostly.” The door opened through her and she shivered all over. “Ugh, hate that feeling!”
Hazen’s broad shoulders took up most of the door frame. “Oh, it’s you two,” he said. Sella couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or relief.
“My mom told us what happened,” Lohrna said. “I’m so sorry!”
Hazen rubbed his beard and pressed into his eyes gently. “It’s been a bit of a morning. I guess news travels fast here.” He stepped aside with a welcoming gesture. “Come on in.” Behind him, Cali darted out of the way to make room for them.
“It’s a mess in here,” she whispered to Sella as the two entered.
And it was. The large hall was torn apart. Papers were strewn about, torn up into tiny pieces on the floor. Chairs, even a few tables, were knocked over. It all seemed a little… unnecessary. Robbing his office would have been one thing, but as Sella’s eyes scanned the hall, she was taken aback by the pure chaos of it all. The meanspiritedness of it.
“Any idea who might have done this… or why?” Lohrna asked after she finally lowered her hands from her mouth. She turned to Hazen with a worried expression, but Hazen was difficult to read. He stood among the wreckage so still, Sella wasn’t sure he heard her at all.
He finally turned to them, a half smile on his face that shocked Sella. “I heard I was poisoned, too. But Aadel and Cirian said you two got me out of that bind.”
Sella’s shoulders relaxed.
“It was no problem, Hazen.” Lohrna moved through the debris carefully, avoiding stepping on any remaining intact paper.
“No idea who’d be after me, though.” Hazen shrugged. He turned to survey the damage again. “They were after something, though, beside the usual. No Coin missing.”
“Hmm.” Sella stepped forward slowly. “Has Benka been in to investigate yet?”
“Took him long enough if you ask me,” Hazen said. “He meandered in here like he had all the time in the world.”
“Oh, Benka’s alright.” Lohrna picked up a few bits of shredded paper from a nearby table. She turned them over in her hand. “But he does mosey about.”
Sella knew that Benka was busy hunting Rorin, but she kept her mouth shut. No need to complicate the morning more than it already was.
Hazen leaned down and began picking up strips of paper. “Anyway,” he said with a grunt, like his back couldn't quite take the position. “He was almost no help. Whatever he’s thinking, he’s keeping it close to his chest.”
Sella and Lohrna exchanged glances. Cali spoke their thoughts, “That doesn’t sound good for us.” She stepped closer to Hazen and bent her body as if to catch his eye. She put a hand on his shoulder and he shivered. “I’m sorry, my friend,” she whispered so faintly Sella almost missed it. “You shouldn't have to go through any of this for me.”
Sella wished she could stop time, pull Cali aside for just that moment, and remind her that the actions of others, no matter how wicked they might be, were theirs alone. That she didn’t cause any of this. But instead, Sella simply started picking up papers as well, sorting through the ones that were less damaged.
The three of them cleaned up for a while. Cali sat on the bar and watched with glazed eyes. Her hair tangled up in a small wind that only existed around her, a sign of her turbulence within. Sella remembered this phenomenon from ghosts she worked to banish in the past. She saw it in Cali a few times now, but this seemed new, stronger. She caught Cali’s eye and the ghost flickered for a moment. A small chill blew through Sella and she shuddered.
“Cirian thinks it’s the new fellas in town,” Hazen said at last. “That they think Cali was in the old business with me discreetly and they were looking for documentation.” He chuckled. “But then why not take any Coin if they’re after riches?”
Sella paused, she looked over the paper at the top of her pile. It was an invoice for lavender honey from Practical Potions and Honey. One corner of her mouth upturned slightly before she glanced up at them. “Honestly, whoever did this isn’t too bright. Stealing things that have monetary value would at least make it look disconnected from the paperwork they were clearly after…” Her eyes glanced at Cali who was now sitting up straighter, the wind around her still. Sella continued, “Did Benka tell you the side effects of poison?”
“Memory loss is one of them,” he said simply. “I guess I’m glad to have lost some of it. Saves me some embarrassment.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” Lohrna said. “People understand that you were poisoned.”
Sella set her stack of papers on a free table. She picked up the chairs beside it and righted them. “Whoever did this, their ship is stuck on a sandbar. They’re getting desperate because all the knots they tied are coming loose.”
“I have faith we’ll catch ‘em yet.” Hazen looked around at the mostly clean tavern. “For now, it’s opening time. The good people need strong drinks if they’re going to make it through another day in this town.”
Cali chuckled. “Always at service.”
Sella smiled and Lohrna spoke up, “We’ll help man the bar today. You can rest.”
“No, no,” Hazen said. “Plenty of rest in the grave. It’ll do me good to work. You both have helped me plenty. Come sit, I’ll pour you a drink.”
Sella laughed. “It’s a bit early.”
“No such thing.” Hazen was already behind the bar. “First one’s on me. Come on, what’ll it be?”
Lohrna hopped onto a stool excitedly. “A half glass of red wine, for me.” She turned back and patted the stool beside her.
Sella rolled her eyes but shuffled forward with her stack of papers. “I’ll take the other half.”
“Got it.” Hazen nodded and poured them each a full glass of blood-red wine.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ghost Heist
It was late afternoon when Sella and Lohrna stood at the entrance to the hotel, letting the light rain gather in their hair instead of walking in. Around them, a few people passed and gave them a wide gap, eyeing them suspiciously in a way that made Sella’s nerves bristle. Her heart began to accelerate by the time a third woman crossed the street instead of walking by them. She wanted to shout that they were trying to save everyone, thank you very much, but she knew it was useless. She bit her bottom lip instead.
“This place has always given me the unnerve.” Lohrna squeezed Sella’s hand quickly. “But, come on, let’s wait inside. I’m getting cold and uncomfortable with everyone thinking we’ve become statues too.”
Sella’s jaw unclenched and she stepped forward with her unease clear on her face. She did not give the siren statues a second glance as she passed them. Lohrna followed close behind. The hotel doors shut behind them as the sirens began to sing.
Lohrna shook off her cloak. “Spooky.” She laughed, still shaking herself like she was trying to get their song off her body. She handed Sella her cloak and the witch put both of theirs on a coat rack by the double doors.
The inside of the hotel was warm and bright. The lobby felt expansive, yet homey, with two stories of space in the small area. A great fire filled most of the left wall, contained by a faded red brick fireplace and a high iron guard. On the wall opposite, a small desk hosted the old woman, Penya, who looked to be asleep in her chair.
A few of the patrons were scattered about the length of the fireplace, chatting and sipping from mugs. Sella found an empty velvet couch on the far wall and motioned for Lohrna to follow.
They sat still for a moment, taking it all in. From the high ceiling, rich green vines wove their way down, wrapping around the white beams and descending as if they were reaching for the warmth of the fire. Stacks of old books collected a fine layer of dust in every corner. Little signs hung from each pile with careful lettering reading ‘free to good home.’
“You know, now that I look at it again, I think if I wasn’t from here,” Lohrna whispered, eyes scanning the lobby, “I’d find this all to be very cozy.”
Sella’s brows rose. She tried looking around again with fresh eyes. It had been years since she’d been in the hotel. It all looked the same to her. But as she looked at the visiting people’s faces, she noticed that, actually, everyone looked quite content. The room was warm and comfortably lit. The rain outside could not be heard through the windows or doors. It did all seemed quaint and comfortable. She shrugged. “Yeah, maybe so. I guess it's charming, if you’re not used to it.”
“You think Cali’s alright in there?”
Sella glanced up through all the vines above. She wondered if there was a spell to see through walls, or maybe talk to the plants. She wanted to ask them if they could check in on Cali. She felt utterly unprepared. “She should be back soon.”
