Саманта Сильвер: Busy As A Beaver

Chuck laughed, but this time it had none of the warmth he had shown when we’d had coffee with him the other day.

“So you figured it out, did you? Outsmarted both the Portland Police and the FBI on that one. They spent years trying to figure out who was in on it with me. They offered me everything to try and get me to spill. But I figured the other two may as well have enjoyed their money. It doesn’t look like they ever did, though. Mike at least spent a bit inside his house. I guess they were scared they were going to get found out if they started living like one of those tech entrepreneurs instead of teachers.”

“Why did you kill them, though?” I asked. “I mean, if you didn’t harbor any ill-will towards them, what was the point?”

“It was obvious right from the start that I was going to get caught. As soon as the cops came to question me the first time, I gave them my share of the cash. I told them to hide it, along with theirs. I told them I’d be back when I got out.”

“But in that time, Francis died.”

“And his stupid wife didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about. She just gaped at me.”

“I don’t think Francis told her about the money,” I said.

“That would be right. He seemed like the kind to hide it. Great. If only he’d died of cancer, something that would have given him enough time to let his wife know.”

“Did Michael tell you where he had hidden his share?”

Chuck shook his head. “No, I didn’t manage to get it out of him, either. The guy charged me with a knife, cut my arm a little. So I had no choice but to shoot him.”

“So you assaulted an old woman and killed a man all for nothing,” Sophie said, crossing her arms. “Great job.”

“Hey, if they’d just told me where my money was, there never would have been an issue,” Charles said.

There it was, the admission. That was all we needed. As long as Sophie had this all on tape, we could give it to Chief Gary, and Chuck would go to prison.

“Well, this certainly has been a nice chat,” Sophie said, obviously thinking exactly the same thing I was. “Now, if it’s all equal to you, I think we’re going to be heading on our way.”

“Did you honestly think I was going to admit all this to you and then just let you walk away?” Chuck laughed. “Please. In a few seconds, the two of you are going to forget this conversation even happened. Oblivascuturoa !”

Luckily, a childhood spent casting spells at Sophie meant that she had the reflexes of a cat when it came to avoiding them, and her instincts kicked in perfectly. Chuck had pointed his finger at her to try and do the memory-erasing spell, but she darted out of the way and behind a tree.

For a split second I didn’t understand what was happening, but then, like any good vet, I sprang into action. There was time to figure things out later.

“ Nebularoa, ” I called out, pointing at the ground between Sophie and me and Chuck. A mysterious fog enveloped all of us, and I made my way towards Sophie, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her away.

Chapter 18

“What the…you’re witches too?” Chuck called out. Great. This would have been a lot easier if Chuck hadn’t had magical powers.

“He’s a wizard too?” Sophie gasped as we ran along, darting into an alley between two buildings.

“I guess so,” I said, the two of us ducking behind an empty dumpster. “I had no idea.”

“Aren’t you supposed to have some sort of sixth sense about this sort of thing?”

“What? No, that’s just in the movies.”

“Well, it would have come in pretty handy right about now.”

I shushed her as Chuck began making his way towards us. The fact that he had his finger held out in front of him wasn’t good; I imagined he was using a honing spell to try and find us.

“I’m going to attack him with a spell, and I need you to run. Get out of here,” I said to Sophie.

“Not a chance. I’m not leaving you to take on this psycho on your own.”

“You’re at a huge disadvantage. I can’t fight him and keep you safe,” I hissed. Sophie looked like she wanted to argue, then nodded as she thought it through and realized the words I was saying made sense.

“Fine. I’ll go,” she said, just as Chuck turned and made his way down the alley towards us.

“Now,” I whispered to her as I stepped out from behind the dumpster. “ Sopioroa ,” I shouted as I pointed at Chuck, but my spell simply bounced off of him. Apparently, he had put up a protective spell. Shoot. I should have thought of that.

He laughed. “I didn’t realize you two were witches. It’s been quite a while since I met someone else with magical powers. Of course, it’s not been so long that I don’t remember the spell to protect myself from magic.”

I gritted my teeth as I tried to figure out what to do. Even if he was protected from my magic, that didn’t mean I couldn’t still stop him; it just meant I was going to have to be a bit more creative about it.

“ Aquaroa, ” I said, spinning a circle with my finger towards Chuck. Sure enough, a second later a moat formed itself around him, marooning him on a newly formed island.

“Do you really think that’s going to stop me?”

No, I knew it wasn’t. The water was deep, but it wasn’t very wide, and I knew with a simple spell Chuck could make the whole thing disappear. But at least it gave me a few seconds to think, because right now, I had absolutely no idea what to do.

“ Ad conteram incantatores, ” I tried, pointing straight at Chuck, who just laughed, pointed at the water, and with a quick spell of his own made it disappear as he stepped towards me. I wondered if my spell to break his protection spell had worked.

“ Ignisoroa ,” I yelled, pointing at him once more. It was an aggressive spell to use, but to be honest, I was scared, and panicking just a little bit. A stream of flames burst forth from my fingers and encompassed Chuck completely, but when they dissipated a moment later, he was still standing there.

“That spell to break mine didn’t work too well for you, did it?” he asked, raising a finger and pointing it towards me.

He called out a spell, but I didn’t hear what it was; I was too busy casting one of my own. “ Protectoroa!” Six large knives appeared out of nowhere and began careening towards me, but as soon as they got about two feet away they all stopped and began vibrating, like they’d gotten caught in an invisible board.

At least my protection spell had worked as well. It didn’t take me long to realize that running was probably my best bet here, too. If I could just get back to the coffee shop, there would be people around, and then neither one of us would be allowed to use our magic, since it was forbidden to cast spells where humans could see. I imagined Chuck wasn’t going to risk the wrath of the magical council to stop me.

I just hoped Sophie had gotten far enough away. I cast a quick spell that sent sparks shooting towards Chuck and took the couple of seconds that earned me to run down the alley as fast as I could. I figured if I could make it out of the alley and back onto the street, that would get me a little bit more time.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to make my way out, it felt like something grabbed me by the ankle, and I was yanked upside down. I squirmed to see Chuck making his way towards me, then looked upwards. An invisible force had grabbed me and was holding me in place. I tried another spell, but again, it just bounced off Chuck like it was nothing.

As he got closer and closer to me, I knew the end was coming. I wasn’t going to be able to get away, and my magic wasn’t powerful enough to stop him. I only hoped that Sophie had gotten far enough away that she’d be able to get help and have him arrested before he was able to get to her.