Page 29 of Hexes and Hiccups
“Very well,” Iskra replied as she stood back up. “I will report back to the Council. Thank you both again for…for…” She pressed her lips together, looking rather embarrassed again. “For your patience and help. I will make sure the rest of the Council knows.”
The Elder witch gathered herself quickly and retreated to her car, gathering up the dripping buckets. Daisy and Tessa watchedher go, both inherently reaching for the other as she drove away. Daisy gripped onto the empath’s hand tightly.
“You okay?” she asked.
Tessa pressed her lips together. “I will be, once we find out who’s behind this.”
“Right.”
Daisy began to lead the way back through Main Street and towards Town Hall. The building sat within the plaza behind Main Street, a tall clock tower in the very middle of it. It was the oldest structure that was not directly on Main Street, with impressive colonial architecture still standing. Daisy used to go to Town Hall often with her grandmother, Lotta. The older woman always insisted on attending City Council meetings, making sure she knew every single thing that was going on within Willowbrook. While Daisy fell out of attending them, she missed the time she once had with her grandmother, and the lovely walk home they always had afterwards.
“Do you think the passageways are really what the culprit’s using?” Tessa asked as they neared the front doors.
Daisy shrugged. “I’d take any lead at this point. I hadn’t considered them before, but if we can map out a real route, it might prove to be the most reliable evidence we’ve found yet.”
“Right,” Tessa mused thoughtfully. “If the passageways manage to open up around every place we’ve found the torn pieces, we could predict the next one, couldn’t we?”
Daisy’s eyes widened as she held the door to Town Hall open. “Well,” she murmured, “I didn’t really think of it like that, but I guess you’d be right. Way to go, Tess!”
As a sheepish blush crawled across Tessa’s nose, she shrugged and crept into Town Hall.
What was normally a quiet building, almost with the same air as a library, was full of echoing shouts as the pair entered Town Hall. Local police and government officials had officeswithin Town Hall, which meant the rooms were normally full of quiet and polite chatter. Shouting, however, was not what Daisy expected to find as they approached the front receptionist counter.
“Don’t you have any respect for our town?”
Standing in front of the counter with a hunched back was Wesley Sharp. He had quite a long face, with large ears with hanging earlobes. Wrinkles wrapped around his lips and forehead, creating a series of ridges across his face. His eyes had an angry air about them, judgemental and pointed. Wesley had his attention focused on the young woman behind the counter, who shrunk against her chair with every shout he launched her way.
Wesley waggled a shaking finger in the woman’s direction. “Those hooligans have been swimmin’ and stealin’ from Lake Silverpine forweeks! That deserves to be protected, don’t it?Don’t it?”
“Mr. Sharp,” the woman said, her voice calm and impressively leveled. “I understand your concerns, but local officials have made it clear that, if the kids aren’t endangeringthemselvesor the lake itself, we don’t see the need to –”
“I pay good money to this town every year!” Wesley didn’t let up for a single second. Despite the woman’s calming voice, he raged on without even pausing for a breath. “If I say they’re hurtin’ the lake, then darn it all, they’re hurtin’ the lake!”
She breathed in deeply. “Mr. Sharp, we –”
“You say the officials have made their decision already,” he spat, “but I’ve been here every day, and not a single one has made an effort to speak to me! That don’t sound right to you, don’t it? Now, I’mtellin’you, those kids have been makin’ a mess out there! You can’t even imagine the things they’re pullin’ out of the lake!”
Daisy pressed her lips together. The receptionist had an enormous amount of patience for him. If Daisy was in her shoes, she couldn’t imagine how she’d be able to handle that sort of an outburst. She shook her head. The girl hardly deserved to be berated for such a silly reason. Gathering herself, Daisy held her chin up and marched forward, feeling Tessa’s presence close at her heels.
“Mr. Sharp,” Daisy called out as she neared the counter. “I’m sorry, but I happened to overhear your issue, and I can’t help but say that those boys are hardly doing anything wrong at Lake Silverpine.”
Wesley blinked and jumped, turning around to stare at her with wide eyes. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out. He looked completely surprised.
“If anything,” she continued, taking his silence eagerly, “they’re doing the town a favor by cleaning the lake floor of whatever junk lies down there, don’t you think?”
Wesley mumbled under his breath a few times, already gathering his fraying hat and coat. “Well,” he finally said, loud enough for them all to hear, “I think I’ll take my leave now.” He gave them all a placid half-smile. “Good day.”
Daisy watched as the old man wobbled out of Town Hall, not bothering to say another word. If she hadn’t already been burdened with so much to do, she would’ve wondered why Wesley was so caught up with keeping the kids out of the lake, but she assumed it was for their own safety. Wesley Sharp was an old man – perhaps he knew the lake to be more dangerous than it seemed.
Turning back towards the receptionist, Daisy leaned forward. “Good evening, dear,” she greeted. “Is there any chance my friend and I could take a look at some of the maps of town? Ones that show those historic passageways beneath Main Street?”
The receptionist beamed from ear to ear, obviously relieved to have been saved from hearing more of Wesley’s insistent complaining. “Of course,” she replied, already pushing herself off her spinning chair. “Give me one moment, and I’ll get copies for you.”
As she went around the corner, a key in hand, Tessa leaned her back against the desk. “Well, that was easy.”
“Sure,” Daisy replied with a shrug. “They’re public property, after all. It’s actuallylookingat them that’ll be hard.”
“Oh, I thought you were a master map reader?”
