✔ Secrets of the Amulet | ONC 2023 | EDITING

8. Unraveling the Truth

The door reopened with the velocity of a hurricane, revealing Angelica with her white hair standing on the ends as if she'd been struck by lightning. "What did you just say, pumpkin head?"

Everett took an unsteady step back with his wand drawn. "You heard me. Why else would you attack us so suddenly?"

"Rowena sent you?" Angelica frowned. "A vampire and young wizard? That woman was always peculiar, but this is beyond anything I could imagine. Jeez, why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"You hexed me before I could!" Everett exclaimed.

"What was I to think when you showed up with that wicked man?" She pointed a bony finger Kieran's way, locking suspicious eyes with him.

"Apologies for the scare." Kieran bowed his head. "I'm a detective," he fibbed. "Working alongside a local so I don't frighten you nice folks. I know you don't get my kind around here often."

Angelica folded her arms across her bosom. "Pray tell, what's a vampire doing, investigating her murder? This is out of your jurisdiction."

"Actually, her death is connected with her husband's, who was allegedly murdered by a vampire," Everett replied.

"Allegedly?" Angelica raised a skeptical brow.

"Well, new evidence has shown us that he was poisoned. We believe that Rowena also might've died the same way."

"Why didn't anyone rule her death as murder before?" Angelica squinted her eyes, narrowing them with suspicion. "I really don't understand why you'd need to come tell me about it. Rowena's been dead for a few years now, Gods rest her soul, so why do you need to keep digging into things?"

"Well, her ghost has been pestering me this past year to find her killer and I'm finally getting somewhere."

"Her ghost?" Angelica frowned. "Oh, right. You run the library downtown, don't you? You're Isidora Pepperheart's son."

"Could you maybe change his head back to normal?" Kieran asked, intervening. "It's just so uncanny to look at."

"Oh, of course!" Angelica retrieved her wand, shaking her head. "Silly me, I'd almost forgotten."

How the hell could she have forgotten about that?

The most agonizing headache struck him, but Everett held his resolve, clenching down on his teeth. Orange peeled away, bits of pumpkin guts spilled across the sidewalk as Everett's head emerged from the dissolving magical pumpkin. The seeds around him faded, but the painful drilling into his skull didn't abate.

Everett rubbed at his throbbing temple. "We wanted to see what you remembered the days leading up to Rowena dying. Was she feeling ill lately? Eat or drink anything that tasted weird?"

Angelica took a moment to think about it. "The last I saw her was a day before she died. We'd celebrated my granddaughter's sixth birthday at the park. Rowena seemed right as rain that day. Even played some games with the kids. She ate a lot of cake, much like the rest of us."

"She seemed perfectly fine that day?" Kieran questioned. "And that didn't make you suspicious?"

"No, it's not unheard of for wizards' magic to mimic a heart attack and actually kill them. Happened to a distant relative of ours."

Everett held up a hand. "Hold on, I thought Rowena's death was from natural causes. This makes no sense if she was healthy."

"It was. Wizards with unruly black magic inside them tend to die sooner than others. Once you've dabbled in that devilish crap, there's no going back. Even when it's contained, it can still find a way to slip through and kill them. You ought to know that, Everett. You have yours contained in an amulet just like Rowena's." She gestured to his neck.