Irrelephant Omens, page 1
part #5 of Magical Midway Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series
Irrelephant Omens
Magical Midway Paranormal Cozy Series, Book #5
Leanne Leeds
Irrelephant Omens
Published by Badchen Publishing
11923 NE Sumner St., Suite 681364
Portland, OR 97220
www.leanneleeds.com
©2018 Leanne Leeds
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
For permissions contact: author@leanneleeds.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Thank you!
Also by Leanne Leeds
1
“Now, look here, young man!” Ethel Elkins screeched as she sat at one end of a large wooden table. Devana sat beside her (as always), a concerned look on her face and a comforting hand on the old lady’s shoulder. “This isn’t some negotiation to be had! This is a straight-up brawl, and Charlotte needs to—”
“With all due respect, ma’am, it is our job to share the information we have access to with Charlotte and her group,” Aidan told her calmly from the opposite end of the table. “The decision is not ours to make. We are not generals of an army. We are important consultants, but consultants only.”
“Don’t you tell me what I am!” Ethel Elkins shouted as her fleshy fist pounded the wooden table. I jumped, but Aidan remained relaxed and unconcerned even as Ethel was furious and frustrated.
We had gathered around the large table to discuss a strategy for dealing with the Witches' Council. Gunther and I, Fiona and Ningul, Aidan and Kyle, Ethel Elkins and Devana. Fortuna Delphi, the only member of our party not paired up, sat alone in the corner watching the argument between Ms. Elkins and Aidan. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.
Nine paranormals sat around a table on a Saturday night trying to pick a way forward.
“I don’t think shouting at Aidan is going to accomplish anything,” Gunther told the old woman.
“She doesn’t care if it’s going to accomplish anything,” Cama, a mysterious bat that joined us when we visited my parents in Mickwac, Texas, tittered with what sounded like a laugh. “That old woman has been screaming for at least a millennium. I doubt she even knows how to talk anymore at a level that doesn’t split mortal ears.”
This shouting match is unlikely to be productive, Samson thought as he sat in my lap. With the Witches' Council meeting next week, you are running out of time.
The only one at the table doing the shouting was Ethel Elkins and so far from what I had seen? No one could calm her down.
A year ago I was an introverted, quiet homebody.
Now I was the unelected general in some paranormal tug-of-war over the fate of the world.
Despite growing up a witch and knowing that my family owned one of the few traveling paranormal circuses, those two facts never played that large of a role in my life. I knew my parents were witches, we had specific abilities that were somewhat entertaining and useful, but beyond that, I didn’t really think about it much. The family animal shelter and the rescue of abused and abandoned pets played a more significant role in my life than the Magical Midway.
All that changed when my Uncle Phil died and passed the circus to me.
It was at that point I realized that maybe I should have paid more attention to this paranormal stuff.
“It must be Charlotte’s choice, that’s all I’m saying,” Aidan said to the assembled group. “When she inherited the power of the Magical Midway, she inherited the choice.”
“I’m not the only ringmaster in the paranormal world, Aidan,” I pointed out. “If this inherited choice is a ringmaster power, we really should have Roland Makepeace here to discuss the situation. What if I get all this information, make a decision, and then he chooses something different?”
“He doesn’t matter,” Ethel Elkins declared as she waved her hand.
“I think my father might argue that opinion, ma’am,” Gunther told the old woman.
Gunther, my boyfriend, was the heir apparent to the only other paranormal circus left on the entire planet. Currently, though, his father held the ringmaster position—and the superpowers that made Roland Makepeace one of the two most powerful witches on earth.
I was the other one.
Despite my plethora of powers, however, I couldn’t get my squabbling group to stop arguing.
“I don’t care what your father wants to argue, he still doesn’t matter,” Ms. Elkins told him.
“I keep telling you that you keep saying that people don’t matter, and everyone matters, lady,” Cama clicked and squeaked. “You are a very stubborn norn. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn as the day is long, long, long. And you wonder why you don’t get to choose. Humph.”
“I don’t wonder that!”
“Uh huh,” Cama said with as much insincerity as a squeaking bat could muster.
“Only the 13th witch matters, only those of the proper generation matter, and only those destined to make a choice and aid in the choice matter,” Devana stated quietly. “That is Ms. Elkins’ perspective. It is difficult for her to consider those that don’t have a role to play in the future. She doesn’t intend to say that they don’t matter as people, Cama. Just that they are not…consequential in what is to come.”
The huntress witch rarely smiled. She was always serious. Out of the strange beings that I had met in the year since I became ringmaster, Devana was perhaps the most frightening of them all. I just couldn’t figure her out, but I sensed how deadly she was. It radiated off of her forcefully like a warning.
“I don’t even see how that’s possible,” I told the terrifying huntress witch. “The meeting with the Witches' Council is next week, and Roland Makepeace is the other ringmaster this week.”
“Things change,” Ms. Elkins snapped. Devana placed a hand on her shoulder again.
“Not that much, it seems,” I told her, and she rolled her eyes.
“I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” I told Gunther as we hid in my studio off the main great room in what used to be my yurt.
Now it was like a sleep away camp cabin for squabbling supernatural beings.
“At least your uncle is able to take care of the Magical Midway issues while we focus on this,” Gunther told me as he sat down on the futon. “Just think of how worn out you would feel if you had to manage all the operational stuff for the Magical Midway as well as this group of plotting paranormals.”
“I wonder if Uncle Phil and I can trade jobs for a couple of days?”
“I don’t think it works that way, unfortunately,” Gunther smiled.
“I’m starting to think nobody knows how it works,” I told my boyfriend as I plopped down on the futon next to him. “This is the most disorganized, argumentative group of people I have ever had to deal with. They think I’m predestined to make some major decision, but they don’t know what it is. Ms. Elkins thinks I should just do what she tells me, and Aidan’s contribution to the discussion is for me to not do what Ms. Elkins tells me.”
“That actually does sum it up quite well,” Gunther smiled again.
“With all of this fighting over a decision they won’t tell me about, though, I don’t feel like I’m getting any useful information.”
“Remember, they’re not infallible… but they probably like to think they are,” Gunther pointed out as he tapped his hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to turn around. I felt my hair gently moved off my shoulders, and gentle fingers pressed against my tense muscles.
“Oh, wow, that feels incredible.”
While Gunther rubbed the knots out of my neck, he continued. “My guess is they’re not telling you about the decision you’re going to be presented with because they don’t know what that decision is.”
“A fat lot of good they’re doing me, then,” I mumbled into the hair that had fallen across my face. Gunther’s ministrations slowly melted the stress from my neck and shoulders. My head flopped forward and bounced on my chest.
“Feeling any better?”
“My neck and shoulders? Absolutely. About our ragtag coven? Not so much.”
“Can you read anything from them beyond what they’re saying?”
“From Aidan, absolutely,” I told Gunther as I turned back to face him. “Aidan feels the same as he always did. He just is who he is with a lot more knowledge than he used to have, you know? Ms. Elkins, on the other hand, I just can’t figure out.”
“I wish my mother were here,” Gunther sighed. “My dad always had her deal with Ms. Elkins because… actually, I have no idea why she was always the one dealing with her. But Mom always handled anything about Ms. Elkins’ concerns or problems. My mother would know what to do.”
Gunther winced.
It was a subtle, tiny flicker of tension I recognized. Each time Gunther brought up his mother, a momentary flash of grief seemed to cut through him like a knife. He took the flash like a body blow, and then the moment passed.
Even though she had been killed twenty years before, Gunther still felt it.
Months ago, I learned that the Witches' C
Once we became closer?
Admittedly, I probably should have told him then.
I justified keeping the secret by telling myself I had no proof it was true. It was just an allegation. With no evidence and without his mother’s murder directly affecting what we were doing… well, there didn’t seem any point in saying anything.
I would accomplish nothing by telling Gunther—other than hurting him and opening old wounds.
“Maybe we should talk to your dad? Perhaps he has some insight he remembers from back then? Because if we don’t figure out a way to bring her combat level down to a two from a ten, we are never going to get anything accomplished. We’re just going to continue to be the audience that witnesses a daily throwdown between the past and the future.”
“My dad’s been doing really well lately,” Gunther said as he shifted uncomfortably on the futon. “Bringing up my mom? That has a tendency to make him… not do… very well.”
“What do you mean ‘not well’?”
“You met him when you first became ringmaster,” he told me. I nodded. “The more pain he’s in, the meaner he gets. I’m not trying to say he’s a bad person or anything, but… He’s been a powerful ringmaster for a long time, Charlotte. Powerful people that have had tragedies in their lives? Tragedies that deeply wounded them? They can become ruthless. He has a tendency to be ruthless. Right now he’s not. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“I get it. I take it he’s not drinking anymore, either?”
“No, not at all,” Gunther smiled proudly. “I think you turning me into a full witch and ensuring that he can pass on the ringmaster power to me was a big deal for him. It helped him resolve a lot of his anger.”
“Well, he and I both turned you into a full witch,” I disagreed. “I could not have done it on my own. Both of us had to join forces, or we never could have done it.”
You know, you both know all this stuff, Samson, my sarcastic guardian, pointed out. You have a week before the Witches' Council meeting. I would suggest the two of you stop meandering down memory lane and going over things done. Concentrate on the things you must do.
I passed on Samson’s observation, and Gunther nodded.
“I wish Samson weren’t so defensive about telepathic communication with anyone besides me,” I told Gunther as I scratched the black cat behind his ears. “I mean, I get why he is, but it sure would make it easier since you’re here all the time if the two of you could talk to each other. I mean, since you have telepathic power, too.”
Gunther’s face dropped as he looked down in his lap. My eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, I’ve meant to talk to you about that,” he said slowly as his eyes rose and met mine. “There’s something about my telepathic power that I don’t think you quite picked up on.”
“Oh? what’s that?”
Gunther stared at me and said nothing for the longest time. I could feel the emotions churning within him. He was worried about my reaction. I tried to pluck what he was trying to tell me out of his head, but he hid it beneath a mist of fear that obfuscated what he really thought.
“Gunther?”
Finally, he spoke.
“I don’t have telepathic power,” he said with a sigh. “I only have telepathic power with you.”
Fortuna concentrated so hard that her hands shook. Exhaling loudly, her limbs relaxed. Opening her eyes, she looked at me and shook her head no.
“Powers don’t work like this!” I exclaimed in frustration. “You either have the power, or you don’t have the power! You can’t have power with just one person. That’s ridiculous! He must just be more comfortable with me, and so that’s why it’s stronger with me! Is he blocking it?”
You and I have powers only with each other, Samson pointed out.
But you’re a guardian! You’re a unique supernatural being or something!
So are you, Ringmaster. So is he as a ringmaster heir and lawgiver.
“I am so tired of these groundbreaking new things happening with no explanation,” I said out loud.
Perhaps you chose the wrong line of work, then, Samson said.
“I didn’t choose this line of work, cat! I got teleported by your glowing butt to a clearing where I was told my ancestors along with my uncle chose me to run the Magical Midway! I was chosen, not the other way around.”
If I recall, you agreed. That is a choice.
“Charlotte, maybe we should ask Aidan if this has happened in the past. Perhaps there’s a reason for it,” Fortuna pointed out. “Could lawgivers have the ability to telepathically speak only to one another?”
“I don’t think his power works like that,” I disagreed. “Besides, Aidan’s been around Gunther since they met back in Mickwac. He hasn’t said anything at all about Gunther’s power being weird. Maybe he just needs to try harder.”
“It’s possible that it’s not weird,” Fortuna said.
“How is this not weird?”
“I am going to ask Aidan if he would be willing to join us,” Fortuna said as she shot Gunther, who sat silently on the futon, a supportive look. With a quick smile at me, she ran out the door.
“How could you not tell me this beforehand?” I whirled on Gunther.
“It took me quite a bit of time to realize that your thoughts were the only thoughts I heard,” Gunther told me a bit defensively. “I wasn’t trying to keep something from you, Charlotte. I was just—”
“Enjoying the fact that more magic indicated we were bonded in some special way?”
Gunther winced like I’d slapped him. Sure, maybe what I said was a little bit unfair, but it’s not like Gunther hadn’t acted like some lovesick puppy dog before.
You can be very unfair when you are feeling defensive, Samson told me.
Be quiet. This doesn’t concern you.
“That’s not fair,” Gunther replied as if he had heard Samson’s thought. “You’re assigning motivations to me because you are uncomfortable with the fact that someone believes we are destined to be together. Don’t question my motivations or honesty with you simply because you have trouble being comfortable with the pro—”
“I’m not! That’s not what I’m doing it all!”
“Isn’t it, though?” Gunther said as he sat back down. “If you want me to believe that you’re not questioning me because of your own discomfort with the situation, I respectfully suggest you stop cutting off my words while I am speaking. Especially when you are doing it to tell me what my motivations are.”
I groped through my angry and defensive brain looking for a snappy comeback, but I couldn’t find one.
“Am I interrupting?” Aidan asked from the door.
“Why can’t he read anyone’s mind but mine?” I raged at Aidan.
“Because you’re both lawgivers,” Aidan answered calmly. “Were you both unaware that you are the only two lawgivers left?”
My jaw dropped, and Gunther shook his head no sadly.
“We knew there weren’t many, but we didn’t know we were the only two. Or maybe we did, but… I don’t know that we stopped to think about it.”
“The Witches' Council made sure that there were no lawgivers,” Aidan told us as he made his way over to a chair in the sitting area. “If there were more lawgivers, they would be sitting on the Witches' Council as well. Clearly, they are not.”
“What are lawgivers?” Kyle asked as he poked his head in.
“The paranormal world’s version of a police officer, I suppose,” Aidan told his centaur ex-police officer boyfriend. “Charlotte and Gunther put on the lawgiver rings, and so they now operate as officers of justice after a fashion in our world.”
“The two of them?” Kyle laughed as he pointed. “These two are literally the only two cops you have to keep law and order? In the entire paranormal world?”
