Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau) (18 page)

We jumped back in the car and headed back to LaVeau Manor to see if Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley were there and to see if the coven was really going back there. Heck, for all I knew they might be headed to the Bubbling Cauldron for more dancing and drinks. If Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley were at the manor, then I had to get rid of them for good.

When we finally arrived back at the manor, the old jalopy that the coven had driven was parked in front. I still didn’t know how they’d gotten the car. After the long drive we pulled up to the manor and I was thankful to see that the coven
hadn’t destroyed the place. I was afraid to find out what they’d done to the inside though.

We’d searched the manor, but had found no sign of Giovanni and company. It had been a long evening with little results. We’d have to try again tomorrow. It felt strange to think that Liam would be staying in the manor with me again. I was back to having both of the brothers at the manor. I couldn’t seem to get away from that situation.

“Are you ready to go inside?” Nicolas chuckled.

“Not really,” I said, “but I guess it’s now or never.”

After searching through the house, I discovered the women in their rooms. This was good because it would give me a chance to cast a spell without them. I would try to call Kelley back to the manor. If the witches knew what I was doing, they’d probably try to stop me.

It would have been better if I could have used my cauldron for the spell, but in a pinch I’d just have to try the spell without it. I didn’t want them to step into the kitchen and catch me using the cauldron. Yes, it was mine to use, but it was easier to be stealthy this way. I grabbed the book and a spell appeared. I recited the words and used the various spices, sprinkling them around the room.

When the heavy energy was gone, I stepped out from the room and listened. I didn’t hear any sound. Would Kelley appear soon? She had to sense that I was looking for her
. I stepped through the house, practically holding my breath at what might happen next.

When I reached the doorway the witches were standing there staring at me.

“We know what you tried and it’s very dangerous. You shouldn’t provoke her.” Rebecca placed her hands on her hips and glared at me. “It’s a good thing you have us around.”

“Giovanni and Kelley can’t do anything,” I said.

The women’s eyes grew wide and they looked over my shoulder. I spun around and let out a gasp. The spell had worked. Kelley stood in the middle of the floor. She didn’t look as perky now… her expression said it all. She was livid. The bow in her hair drooped to the left and her mascara was smeared down her cheeks.

“You thought you could get rid of us that easily. I am not happy.” Kelley glared at me.

I threw my hands up. “Well, I am not happy either. Do you think I want you here?”

“Then why the hell don’t you just hand over the book?” she demanded.

“You had plenty of chance to get the book. Why didn’t you try to take it yourself?” I asked.

“You always had it in your hands,” she said.

I smiled. “So you’re not so tough after all.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t be so sure. This isn’t over yet. I’ve formed a new coven with Giovanni and Kevin. Or powers together will be too much for you.”

Without warning, she turned around and walked off. I looked back at the coven members and they shrugged. I chased after Kelley. Where did she think she was going? I wasn’t through with her. She had to be banished back to the other dimension.

I ran through the house after Kelley. Well, at least I thought I’d been chasing after her, but now I couldn’t find her. I looked around the empty room. Where had she gone? Maybe I’d gotten lucky and the spell had worn off and she’d already gone back to the other dimension.

I moved back to the kitchen. The coven members weren’t there either. I walked over to the back door and looked out, but didn’t see them. What was with everyone disappearing?

I
rushed down the hallway and checked the dining room, but there was no sign of Kelley there either. I knew she couldn’t have walked past me when I was at the front of the house. She had to be outside. But maybe my spell had worked and had just taken a while to take effect. I couldn’t count on that though, so I had to look for her.

I’d been correct. Kelley was standing in front of the manor. It was like she was waiting for me to come outside. She was waiting for this confrontation
. If that was what she wanted, well, then that was what I would give her. I walked over to her, fully aware that our conversation could turn ugly at any moment. I doubted she wanted to be civil at a time like this.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at me. “You won’t win this battle,” she snapped.

I stared her dead in the eyes. “Are you partners with Giovanni? Did he send you here?”

She scoffed, but since her answer was delayed, I knew she had devised this plan with him.

“Why did you do this?” I asked.

Since she hadn’t answered my other question, I was sure she wouldn’t answer this one either. Would she admit that she had been the leader? She looked around and I wondered what her next move would be. The little wheel
s moving round and round were practically visible. What was she planning?

After a couple seconds, she looked at me and said, “Fine. You want to know what is going
on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. I was looking for your precious great-aunt Madelyn.”

“Why were you looking for her? There is nothing you can do to Aunt
Maddy now. She’s dead,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed at the mere mention of
Maddy’s name. Kelley’s posture tensed and her face scrunched up into an evil scowl. I stared at her, waiting for an answer. “First you need to know that I was a powerful witch in my day.”

I looked at her.
“In the Eighties, right?” I scoffed. “You could have fooled me because I heard you were nothing special. I know about you being the leader. Apparently you weren’t a very good leader. That was why my great-aunt stopped you.”

I wasn’t sure about that fact, but I knew my great-aunt, and that was something she would have done.

She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I was the leader. A better leader than you’d ever be. You’re not good at any spells. None, zero, nada.”

“What difference does that make?” I asked.

She smirked. “It means that I am more powerful than you think.”

“Are you saying that to intimidate me?”

“Yes, I am.”

She didn’t take her focus off my face and I didn’t falter either.

“Well, I’ve got news, it’s not working,” I said. “I don’t understand what any of this has to do with me. Why did you come back?”

She shook her head. “Don’t you see, when I discovered that your aunt was no longer with us, I had to come after the next best thing.” She flashed that snide look again.
“I decided that I wanted to go after Madelyn’s relatives. And I wanted to be the leader again. When I found out you were the new leader, well, even more reason to take you down.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you.”

“There is nothing you can do to me,” she said.

“We’ll see about that,” I said.

The witches appeared beside me. Where had they been and how had they known to come now? That was probably something that would never be answered. I hoped they weren’t joining forces with Kelley.

“What did Aunt
Maddy do that was so terrible?”

Kelley
shook her head. “Only the worst thing you could possibly do to a witch. She tried to strip me of my powers! She even threatened to have me burned at the stake.”

A few of the coven members let out gasps. That was no joking matter.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t believe you, and even if she did, she had a good reason. Based on what I’ve seen of your personality now, I’m guessing you did some pretty nasty things.”

“There is no reason to take away a witch’s powers.”

“If she’s bad, then there are a lot of reasons,” I said.

“Regardless, thanks to you I was able to come back and take care of business.”

Yeah, great. Kelley’s spirit had managed to gain a human form from my spell. Big shocker there, huh?

“Well, thanks to me I am going to send you packing back to where you came from.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, glaring at me. “I’ve had enough of the chitchat. I have to get Giovanni so we can get rid of you for good.”

She was bold and not mincing words. That was fine, I could take her talk. “You’re all talk and no action,” I said.

Her face twisted into a scowl.

“How did Giovanni add spells to the Book of Mystics?” I asked.

“He’s a brilliant man. He came up with a spell that made it look as if he’d added spells to the book.”

“I’d have to disagree on how brilliant he is,” I said.

“Giovanni’s mother never added a spell, yet he made you think that she had. Don’t you think that’s brilliant?”

The fact that he’d pulled that off made me furious. It had all been a lie that he’d concocted in order to get the book. How long had he been working on this plan? Giovanni had added the first spell and then added one right in front of my eyes, so of course I’d believed it to be real. I was thankful that I’d discovered the truth before it was too late. It had been Kelley and Giovanni trying to fool me all along. It had worked for some time
—I’d almost lost the book to him because of it. Thank goodness that hadn’t happened.

“You didn’t tell me what your connection to Giovanni is,” I said. “Did he come back from the grave
before you? Was he dead too?”

“Why don’t you figure that out for yourself,” she snapped.

“Because I’m demanding that you tell me now,” I said.

“You can’t demand me to tell you anything.”

“I just did.”

“Giovanni and I just met, if you must know,” she said with a smirk.

“So why are you helping him? If you think he is going to help you then you are sadly wrong,” I said.

Kelley had led me to believe that Giovanni had been the leader in 1985. That had been a
sham, all part of her plan to lure me into a false sense of security, then she would bounce when the time was just right.

“Giovanni is a nice and compassionate man and I know he will help me any way that he can. He knows I am to be the true leader.”

I chuckled. “So you’ve fallen for this guy? Wow, you’re dumber than I thought you were. You know he wants to be the leader.”

“He knows I need him to help me become the leader again, plus he’ll help me get rid of you. That is my ultimate goal. It was a no
-lose situation by helping him.”

“You’re wrong about that. You didn’t achieve anything by helping him. Oh wait, I take that back. You managed to make me very angry. Congratulations on that,” I said.

She stared a hole through me.

“Look, maybe if you stop this now I can be lenient on you.”

“Thanks, that’s so sweet of you, but I don’t need any favors. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get Giovanni and Kevin so that we can finish you off.”

She turned around to leave and I called out to her, “Kelley, stop right there!”

I knew I was going to have to use magic to get her to stop. But just how powerful was she really? I was about to find out. I looked around at the coven members and they nodded. At least I knew I had their help.

We followed Kelley outside. I stopped at the bottom of the steps when I saw Kelley, Giovanni, Kevin and the woman from the Witches’ Festival
, Eva David.

“
Hallie, I’d like you to meet my coven.” Kelley waved her arms through the air, gesturing toward the others.

Now I knew that they hadn’t been gone after all. I didn’t want to have another battle with them, but it looked like they wouldn’t give me any other options. I had to figure out how to get rid of them once and for all. There was only one thing I could do. I had to confront them.

“You’re the woman from the festival. Why are you here? Why did you give me that spellbook?” I asked.

“You were supposed to do the black magic in the book and it would have backfired on you. Can’t you do anything right?”

“So you set me up? If I’d done the black magic spells they would have hurt me?”

Eva
smirked. “That was the plan.”

“Well, it wasn’t a very smart one. You shouldn’t have left any good magic spells in the book if you’d wanted something bad to happen to me,” I said.

“I didn’t know you were going to show up at my booth. I had to think quickly and cast a spell on the spot. It’s hard to do the silent spells with a victim standing right there. The longer you held the book in the bag, the worse the spells would have been for you.”

No wonder she wanted me carry the book in a bag.

“I don’t even know you why are you coming after me?” I asked.

“Kelley was my best friend. If she doesn’t like you, then I don’t like you,” she said.

Would the
1785 coven members help me this time? No matter, I had to do this on my own. I was the leader and I could handle this.

“I’ll be right back,” I said as I ran past the
1785 coven members and back inside.

“Look at the little witch run,” Kelley cackled.

I rushed up to my bedroom and dug the spellbook out of the locked trunk. I grabbed the heavy tome, tugged it under my arm and raced down the stairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to take the book outside with me.

I flipped open the cover and said, “Show me the spell to get rid of them.”

As if following my command, the pages flipped. The wind blew and when it settled I peered down at the page. I could understand the words and they weren’t in the weird language this time. I never knew from one time to the next if the book would work for me. Why I hadn’t thought to ask the book this in the first place was beyond me, but that was beside the point now. The only bad part was that I had to remember the words. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, and I knew if I got it wrong then it could end in disaster.

With no time to hide
the book again, I reluctantly left it by the door and ran outside. Besides, I felt confident that they wouldn’t be able to slip past me and inside to take the book. I looked around for my enemies, but they weren’t there. Where had they gone this time? I looked back at the door and saw Giovanni walking into the manor. I’d left the book on the table by the door and now he was going to get his dirty hands on it. How could I be so stupid? I’d practically allowed it to fall right in to his trap.

I took off in a sprint. My side hurt from running so fast, but I couldn’t stop now. I recited a spell in my mind to allow me move faster, and the next thing I knew, I was standing on the veranda. I stormed into the manor. I had no idea where the coven members were.

Giovanni was standing in the foyer when I entered, and sure enough, he had the book clutched in his arms.

He cackled when he looked at me. “You are too late. I have the book now. There is nothing you can do about it.”

Panic surged through my body, but I couldn’t let him win. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. “You can’t do anything with the book. You won’t even be able to get it out of the house.”

Giovanni rushed toward me and I wondered if he was going to attack me. Instead he pushed me to the side and forged toward the door. I knew he wanted to get the book to Kelley. I lifted my arms and pointed it at him. I tried my best to remember the words from the spell. How did that second sentence go? There was no time to debate it. I had to go with what I thought it was.

He was already on the front porch when I stormed out the front door. I continued to recite the words as I remembered them from the book and hoped that I got it right. Now more than ever I needed this to work. Where was everyone else? I didn’t have a chance to even look around for them.

The first time I repeated the spell, he slowed down. His movements were in slow motion, so either I had it right or I was close. I had to recite the words again. This time he fell to his knees and the book landed next to him on the ground.

I rushed over and kicked it away from him so that I would have more time to grab it. He reached for me, but I’d moved just in time. I reached down and grabbed the book and clutched it tightly to my chest.

Giovanni stumbled to his feet.
A vein near his left eye bulged as his face grew red. I started reciting the spell again and Kelley, Kevin, and the other woman appeared. That was when I spotted the coven members. They stood in a circle holding hands with a wispy white cloud floating above their heads like a vortex. The newly formed coven struggled to lift their arms and cast a spell my way, but they were powerless against the other coven.