Page 41 of All My Witches
“And I’m ticked about it.” Landon gripped my hand tighter. “We need to figure out exactly what we’re supposed to be learning here. Stay together as couples but spread out. She won’t let us leave until we figure out whatever it is we’re supposed to discover while in thislocation.”
“While I agree that she wants us here for a reason, I’m not sure it’s to learn something as much as play out a leg of her story,” Thistle cautioned. “It’s not like the fairy tale world. There aren’t little life lessons knit into the seams of the narrative. This world is about her having fun. She doesn’t necessarily want to teach us a lesson as much as she wants to tortureus.”
I hadn’t really given it much thought until Thistle laid it out, but what she said made a lot of sense. “She doesn’t always want to teach us. Thistle is right on that. Sometimes she simply wants to entertainherself.”
“And you think that’s what this is?” Landonasked.
I shrugged. I really wasn’t sure. “I don’t know. We need to be careful and look around. Even if she isn’t teaching us something, we’ll have to jump through the appropriate hoop to moveon.”
“Okay, let’s do it.” Landon tugged me close. “Be careful. We have no idea what kind of crazy person is hiding here. Given what happened in the last scene, this one could be downrightdeadly.”
“WOULDYOU LIKE SOMEtea andcookies?”
The woman Landon and I found when we entered the kitchen was a blast from thepast.
“Edith?”
She turned, her smile pleasant and welcoming. “Did you say something,dear?”
“That might not be her name here,” Landonwhispered.
I nodded, understanding. I hadn’t seen Edith in months. When I last saw her, she’d been a ghost. Technically, I never knew her as anything other than a ghost. She was a former classmate of Aunt Tillie’s who died young. Her ghost haunted The Whistler for years, but I finally sent her on her way after the truth regarding her death came tolight.
I thought when I said my goodbyes that I wouldn’t miss her, and that was true. I was angry toward the end. Some of the things Edith did in life – the things that led up to her murder – were downright despicable. I was ready to wash my hands of her at the time, yet … I couldn’t deny it was good to seeher.
“Do you live here?” I sat at the homey kitchen table and accepted the ornate teacup fromEdith.
“It’s my home,” Edith replied. “I own the building and rent rooms to a variety of young men and women who are just starting out in life.” She winked at Landon. “Like Jericho here. Did you know he’s an undercover police officer working to take down a mobkingpin?”
Landon opened his mouth, I’m sure to say something derogatory about Jericho’s undercover skills, but I shook my head to silencehim.
“I heard something like that.” I sipped the tea. It was good, warm and soothing going down. Whatever could be said about Aunt Tillie’s worlds, I could never deny there was a certain authenticity behind them that deserved admiration. “How long have you owned thisbuilding?”
“Forever. At least I think that’s how long.” Edith’s smile was bemused. “What are you doing here, Jericho? I thought you had a full shift at the mobster’s mansiontoday.”
“See, there’s no way an undercover officer would tell his landlady that,” Landoncomplained.
I patted his hand. “I guess it’s good that you’re not an undercover officer on a soap opera then,huh?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Landon rolled his neck until it cracked. “I came down with a bout of amnesia so I got the dayoff.”
“Oh, that’s terrible.” Edith wrinkled her nose. “I think I have a bottle of Amnesia Bismol around here. That should cure you. Do you want me to look forit?”
“Um … .” Landon was caught off guard by the question. “Sure. Whynot?”
Edith’s faux smile never faded as she shuffled from the room. I waited until I was certain she was out of earshot to speak. “It’s weird to seeher.”
Landon’s hand moved to the back of my neck, his fingers working tirelessly to ease the tension there. “Does it upset you to seeher?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel. The last time I sawher… .”
“You haven’t talked a lot about that,” Landon noted. “I didn’t want to push because I figured it was hard on you. If you want to talk about it, though, I’mhere.”
“You’re always here.” I sent him a warm smile. “I don’t know how I feel about it. It seems somehow pointed that Aunt Tillie used her for this world, though, doesn’t it? Do you think it’s a dig atme?”
“Actually, I think it’s theopposite.”
“Youdo?”
