“Her death, the fact that she apparently made plans to go to some dunes party last night when she should have been explaining!” Effie was waving her arms about to emphasize her frustration. I didn’t understand what was happening.
“Well Greta died, so her schedule being interrupted isn’t her fault,” I interrupted.
“I forget how much you don’t know. Let me put this bluntly, just for now, and I will soften the blow retrospectively, okay?” Effie suggested. She seemed to look over at Oliver as if seeking his approval of the plan. He nodded. “You’re a witch, did Greta get that far?”
I cupped my face on either side with my hands, my fingertips resting against my closed eyelids as I tried to think of a calm response.
“Is this part of some role play murder mystery game? Fine, I’ll play along,” I smiled. “Yes, the person playing ‘Greta’s ghost’ did tell me that I was a witch. I didn’t realize the budget people put aside for these events, the special effects you had on her were really good. It looked like she walked through a table at one point, that was honestly pretty scary,” I laughed.
Oliver and Effie exchanged looks once again. The smile on my face died down and I was left with a solemn look.
“I know what it all sounds like, but it’s true. Your face is on this family tree because you are the next in line for the role. Once Greta died it became important that you were located and brought back here to restore normality. Obviously, you have been oblivious to our world because you have been living in Virginia all this time.
“Surely you have heard about the existence of witches over there though, I didn’t think they had been erased from Virginian history,” she said.
“I heard about the witch trials; I know the first accusation of witchcraft was actually made in colonial Virginia before Salem. But it’s all crazy, right? Like, the witch hunting and the executions, wasn’t that just a way for people to murder folk they didn’t like in their village?” I said, nervously smiling as I recalled some of the bizarre history of my home state.
“Yeah, the people that weren’t liked were the witches,” Oliver replied.
“Look, the first thing we need to address is that you are a witch and you always have been. With the loss of your cousin Greta, the responsibility of your family blood line falls to you. You aren’t the last one left, just the next in line that’s all,” Effie added, as if that provided any comfort.
“Next in line for what?” I asked.
“That’s a talk for another time, just get on board with the witch stuff first. Yeah, the witch trials were a hot mess, and they were mostly false accusations thrown at people that had annoyed someone in the town, but it all got started because one witch exposed their magic and the whole thing unraveled. That isn’t the point, you’re a witch, got it?”
I nodded at Effie and began to grow more curious as to what else was about to be said. I just had to play along until one of them started laughing and confessed that it was all a joke.
“Oliver was just trying to get a few statements for our newspaper, but obviously got over excited and made some bad decisions. I’m sure he was more curious as to whether Greta had any clues about who murdered her,” Effie said.
The bright colors in her hair seemed duller today, duller than they had been even half an hour ago. It was almost like her head was adorned with strands of mood-ring stones that were changing depending on the tone of the conversation.
“Well the word is that the body they found had been shot through the chest, and I highly doubt she crashed her car, walked a few dozen miles then shot and buried herself in the cemetery,” Effie scoffed. I remembered the ghost of Greta showing me her bullet wound, had that all been real? I was losing my mind.
“She... she told me that I needed to help her,” I stuttered. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, but apparently, I was agreeing to buy in to this fantasy.
“She must think it’s related to magic,” Oliver said. Effie nodded in agreement.
“Look, Greta was sort of the diplomacy queen around here, that’s part of why we needed you to take her place. Without Greta there is a chance that all of the treaties that have been signed over the years will go ignored, unenforced or willfully broken. Kate already said there was graffiti on the island, we can’t pretend that it hasn’t already started,” Effie explained.
“So you want me to figure out what happened to Greta, catch the bad guy and make sure that everyone on this island, and all the neighboring islands, agrees to uphold whatever they’ve already agreed to?” I laughed.
“Basically, yeah,” Kate said, shrugging in a ‘sucks to be you’ sort of way.
“The magic community sort of govern themselves, we have our own laws and are held to those by our resident peacekeeper,” Oliver explained. “As of, like, a week or two ago, the peacekeeper is you. You’ll be able to team up with Miller and work on this case together, he already knows the deal.”
“Miller knows about magic? Will he think I’m a witch too?”
“It’s not a dirty word, Sadie. Being a witch is great, it’s usually fun and the whole island lives in harmony, but it’s because of people like Greta. You have a lot of weight on your shoulders and there is so much you don’t know yet. One step at a time,” Effie grinned.
Effie reached into the pocket of her black jeans and was rummaging around for a few seconds before she found what she was looking for.
“Here, you’ll need this,” she said, passing me a ring with a huge piece of amber held securely
