VooDoo Vexation: A Halloween Helper's Cozy Mystery, page 1
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter One
It had been fifteen days since Lavender was taken and most of the time, Vinnie and Diggy Daggerwood didn’t feel any closer to having her back. They had no idea how she was actually doing and they had no idea how long it would be until they had her back.
But Vinnie had to do something to bolster their spirits which was why they were putting up their Halloween tree today. Usually, the witches put it up on October first, but their new job as Halloween Helpers had delayed that and then when their boss Norhand appeared and took Lavender, decorating for their favorite holiday hadn’t even crossed their minds.
It didn’t feel right to be decorating it with strands of white lights and orange and black ornaments. On top was a little figurine of a witch stirring a cauldron that magically lit up and would even emit smoke, if they wanted it to. Looking at the tree always filled Vinnie with warmth and love the way a Christmas tree did for mortals.
Last year, Vinnie had bought a few boxes of vintage Halloween Decorations from the New to You Boutique after Halloween was over. She had been so excited to have new things for their tree and while she didn’t care much about them right now, her niece was having a great time unwrapping them all.
“Look at this one!” Diggy squealed. “It kind of looks like me, don’t you think?”
She was holding up an old calendar page with a picture of a cartoon witch flying a broomstick past the moon. The wavy brown hair did make it look like Diggy, who enjoyed dressing like a stereotypical witch. Today she was wearing a long black dress that was cinched in the middle with a big black belt. A very skinny orange scarf was wrapped around her neck, more as an accessory than to provide any warmth. All she was missing was a pointy hat. That was probably still upstairs in her bedroom.
Vinnie was trying her hardest to have a good time, but usually the decorating fun was headed up by Lavender. It was the one domestic chore that Lavender took full control of each and every year. She had been doing it since they were kids. Vinnie had a sense that she took control of it because she felt it was a bit harsh to make the non-magical twin witch decorate for the biggest paranormal holiday of the year. It was a thoughtful gesture and thinking of it made Vinnie miss her sister even more.
“I almost forgot something,” Diggy said. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
The teenage witch jumped up and ran out of the library and Vinnie took the chance to sit down and relax for a minute. Her favorite chair was right next to the fireplace and it had the perfect view out of the gigantic window at the other end of the room. Outside, the leaves were magnificent shades of red, orange, and yellow. As colorful as outside seemed, Vinnie’s life felt drab.
While Lavender had been around, Vinnie always felt like she was caring for two teenagers. Her sister was so spacey with her head in the clouds. If it weren’t for Vinnie, Lavender would spend her life in dirty clothes and going hungry most of the time. Vinnie provided the stability that Lavender needed.
But recently, Vinnie had been figuring out just how brilliant her sister actually was. Lavender didn’t just spend her time down in her workshop messing around. She had been inventing magical objects that had so far proved invaluable for their work as Halloween Helpers.
Vinnie closed her eyes and thought about their new job. After Aunt Jemima had passed over to the Magical Universe, they had been the only family left on the mortal side to take over. They had no choice but to take the job. Vinnie had been reluctant, but Lavender convinced her that she needed to work on having a sense of adventure.
So far, that sense of adventure had ended up having Lavender taken away and they had somehow stumbled their way through solving murders in a coven and a houseful of vampires. Vinnie took her wins where she could, but she had been under the impression that this job would be a lot easier. Aunt Jemima had talked about helping find the perfect cat to be someone’s familiar and helping a family of mummies build a new set of pyramids. It seemed like a lot of odd jobs had involved interior design when Aunt Jemima talked about them.
They had gotten no calls like that. The only two calls they had gotten had turned out to have dead bodies involved. And while they had ended up solving the mysteries, Vinnie did not feel prepared to solve another one. Hopefully the next time the Halloween Helper phone rang, it would be an easy case.
“Surprise,” Diggy said.
Vinnie opened her eyes to see Diggy holding up a pumpkin shaped cake that was decorated like a jack-o-lantern. The orange frosting was glooped on top and the face was a bit uneven, but still lovable. Diggy’s proud face told Vinnie that Diggy had been trying her hand at mortal baking again instead of just zapping it into existence.
“Oh Diggy, that looks delicious!” Vinnie cried. “Did you make it by hand?”
Diggy nodded as she set it on the coffee table. A tray carrying plates, forks and a knife floated up behind her. Cutting a piece, Diggy handed it to her aunt. Vinnie normally had very strict rules against eating in the library. It was her favorite room in the house and the one room that she didn’t want to have to spend time doing extra vacuuming or catching mice that came in to find a few crumbs. But that had been before Lavender had been taken. It seemed like most of their rules had changed after October first.
“Wow, I am impressed,” Vinnie said. “This is so good.”
The chocolate cake was really good. Diggy did not like having to do things the mortal way, but perhaps if she was able to keep making things as delicious as this cake, it would motivate her to do more mortal baking. Even the orange buttercream frosting was homemade.
“I hoped you would like it,” Diggy said with a smile.
She had waited to take a bite, wanting to see what her aunt would say about it. Scooting herself back in her chair and drawing her legs up under her, Diggy took a bite. She shut her eyes and savored it. Vinnie did the same. One of the ways she had been dealing with Lavender being gone was by trying to be mindful and present. It made Diggy laugh when she mentioned it because Diggy said that was a mortal thing to do, but sometimes Vinnie felt more like a mortal than a witch. It didn’t bother her.
“We are almost done decorating our tree,” Vinnie said. “I think we are only missing one thing.”
“What are we missing?” Diggy asked. “How about some sparkles?”
Vinnie produced one more box of ornaments from where she had hidden them under her chair. They were supposed to be a gift for Diggy on Halloween night, but they could use all of the cheering up they could get. Handing the wrapped package to Diggy, Vinnie waited for her niece to open it up.
Diggy wasted no time in ripping off the wrapping paper. It made Vinnie cringe a little. She was the type of person who carefully opened packages, undoing each little piece of tape even though she had no plans to save the paper. Diggy, on the other hand, had always ripped joyously into her presents.
“Homemade customized ornaments!?” Diggy cried. “I can’t believe it.”
Vinnie had spent quite a few nights hiding from her niece and making her special ornaments to hang on the tree. They were sparkly black and orange with silver writing. Most of them had Diggy’s name on them but a few were also the titles of the books she had written and the main characters. Vinnie knew the characters that Diggy enjoyed writing the most and she made sure to work the hardest on those ornaments.
The winter holidays may be the biggest gift giving holidays for a lot of mortals, but Halloween was the biggest for the witches. They usually tried to focus on homemade, thoughtful gifts. In the past, Vinnie had made personalized sweaters, mood quilts, and even mobiles one year. She prided herself on coming up with ideas that were personalized and unique.
She tried not to think about the box of ornaments that she had made and wrapped up for Lavender. They were sitting in her closet. She had used purple and black with silver writing for Lavender. They were personalized with some of the more hippie things that Lavender talked about, one said “peace on earth” and the other said “love” with a big silver heart.
Vinnie just hoped that Lavender would be able to open them up someday soon. If they could solve the last two clues, they would be able to get her back. That was what Norhand said, but Vinnie had been learning that Norhand wasn’t to be trusted.
The big, black telephone in the entryway started to ring, ripping Vinnie out of her thoughts. Before she could get up to answer it, Diggy jumped out of her chair.
“I’ll get it,” Diggy said as she ran out the door. “You just finish your cake.”
Vinnie ate the last two bites of cake, trying to savor them. Whatever this next case was, she just hoped that it was easy.
Chapter Two
By the time Vinnie came out to the entryway, Diggy was already hanging up the telephone. She was sitting in the big rolling chair behind the gigantic desk that had come with the job. It was so over-sized that it would only fit in the entryway, but the witches didn’t have many guests, so their entryway could also serve as an office for the time being. The desk and chair were both so big that they almost swallowed up the fifteen year old, making her look more like a child than usual.
“Louisiana,” Diggy said, swinging the chair to face her aunt.
“What?”
“Louisiana,” Diggy repeated. “That is where we are going. Something about we need to settle a turf war between some zombies and werewolves.”
“What do you mean ‘something about?’” Vinnie asked. “Did you not listen to what the caller said?”
Diggy stood up out of the chair and pushed it back in. She crossed her arms over her chest and faced her aunt, adding an extra sort of flourish to show that she wasn’t happy.
“I couldn’t really understand the guy,” she said. “In my defense, he had a super thick accent. But he definitely said Louisiana.”
Vinnie closed her eyes because if they stayed open, they might just roll out of her head. Hopefully this time the piece of parchment with instructions would be sent along to tell them exactly what they were walking into. At least a turf war sounded easier than the murders they had been dealing with on their last two cases. Vinnie tapped her knuckles lightly on the wooden desk. Being raised in a magical family meant taking superstitious precautions.
“I’m going to go pack the bag,” Diggy said. “Do we need anything different from last time?”
“I don’t know yet,” Vinnie said. “We haven’t gotten the instructions.”
Diggy rolled her eyes and stomped off down the stairs to Lavender’s workshop. Vinnie started to tidy up the desk which had just become a dumping ground for anything having to do with being a Halloween Helper when she heard a small pop behind her. Turning around, a piece of parchment was floating in the air. Vinnie grabbed it and started to read. This time it was only a list of bullet points.
-Louisiana
-Zombies have owned land for centuries as part of the voodoo culture.
-A pack of werewolves that were driven out of Texas are attempting to take over.
-The two groups need help settling on a treaty where both groups can live in peace.
This was definitely not what Vinnie would describe as an easy assignment. This made it sound like there was the equivalent to a paranormal war being waged in the state of Louisiana and it was up to non-magical Vinnie and her teenage niece to get everyone to play nice?
Vinnie groaned and pulled out the chair, sinking down and putting her head in her hands. She had been trying to read up on other paranormal species so she could be prepared and while she had learned a little about werewolves, she had not found anything about zombies. In fact, she didn’t even really realize that zombies were actually real.
“Oh good, you got the instructions,” Diggy said.
She was carrying the backpack full of magical objects over one shoulder. Her foray into the basement had somehow brightened her mood. Vinnie was afraid of making it crash back down again, so she handed the parchment to Diggy and let her read the instructions herself.
“This sounds super cool,” Diggy said, which was not what Vinnie had been expecting. “Zombies and werewolves? Two paranormal species at once? Wow, wow, wow it is going to be an intense time.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Vinnie said. “I’m just trying to figure out how we can stop this before it becomes an all out war.”
Diggy read through the parchment again before she shoved it back at her aunt. She lowered the backpack to the floor and hopped up to sit on the corner of the desk, scattering all of the papers that Vinnie had been previously tidying. Vinnie tried to hide her exasperation.
“Nowhere does it say how bad this land dispute is,” Diggy pointed out. “It just says that the werewolves are trying to take over. For all we know, they could just be like marking the zombies territory as their own.”
Vinnie might not know much about werewolves, but she was pretty sure that sounded offensive. Before she could call her niece on it, Diggy jumped down off of the desk and slung the backpack over her shoulder again.
“Where’s the travel orb?” she asked, spinning slowly to look around the entryway.
Diggy was right. The travel orb that was normally sent after each call was not there. How were they supposed to get to Louisiana if they didn’t have the travel orb? Maybe they had to talk to Norhand? Last time they had been missing instructions and this time they didn’t have a travel orb.
Vinnie added it to her list of things Norhand seemed to be doing to sabotage them. So far he had taken Lavender, refused to give them their clues in a timely manner, didn’t give them instructions or travel orbs, and generally did everything he could to stop them. But Vinnie couldn’t prove any of it. Norhand was too much of a sneaky rat for that and Vinnie was afraid that if she pushed him too much, they wouldn’t get Lavender back. She was probably being held in the Magical Universe and neither Vinnie nor Diggy could actually travel there.
“What do we do if we don’t get a travel orb?” Diggy asked.
“I’m not sure,” Vinnie said. “That wasn’t really in the instructions. But I’m beginning to think that all of the mistakes like this are not really mistakes.”
“Do you really think Norhand is trying to sabotage us?” Diggy asked.
Her eyes were wide and Vinnie admired her immaturity. Diggy’s life this far had been pretty sheltered. Lavender and Vinnie had raised the girl in the same house they still lived in. It was a ramshackle house that looked like it was haunted, but it wasn’t. It was neat and tidy on the inside. It was in the middle of the forest, the nearest town over ten miles away. Danner only had a population of about 3,000 people and they were both accepting of the three strange women who lived in the middle of nowhere, but also good at keeping their distance.
Vinnie had tried to expand Diggy’s world with books and teaching her about as much as she possibly could, but Lavender had insisted they stay mostly hidden. At the time, Vinnie figured it was just an eccentric part of Lavender’s personality and she had gone along with it, but now she was wondering how far back the future flashes had started.
One of the most helpful magical traits that Lavender had were the future flashes she got. When witch twins are born in an ancestral magic family, one was non-magical and the other would be extra magical. It was totally unfair, but Vinnie had accepted it a while ago and tried to look on the positive side which was that Lavender did have some extra-cool abilities. Her future flashes gave her tiny glimpses of the future. It wasn’t enough to change things drastically, but it was enough to help.
Judging by how many magical objects Lavender had invented that were exactly what they needed for their Halloween Helper work, she had been getting a lot of flashes about this period in their life. Vinnie wondered if hiding Diggy had something to do with Norhand and how obsessed he seemed to be with Lavender.
After Vinnie, Diggy, and their coven witch friend Thistle had used the family wand to look into Norhand’s mind, they had found evidence of some sort of nefarious plot he had been cooking up most of his life and judging by his teenage memory, it had always involved Lavender.
But that was all they knew. So far, Vinnie felt like she was putting together a puzzle. She had most of the outside edges and she had finished some of the inside chunks that were really obvious, but she still didn’t have enough to tell what the picture was.
Hopefully a few more pieces would help the picture become more clear. Vinnie had a terrible feeling that Norhand wasn’t planning on letting Lavender come back even if they did solve all four puzzles. That meant that they might have to come up with a different plan. But that would have to wait. Right now, they needed to figure out how to get to Louisiana.
The green glowing orb suddenly popped up in the middle of the entryway. No explanation, no apology, not that Vinnie expected either of those. It would have been nice though.
