I sniffled, trying to get the smell of so many mingled candles out of my nostrils. “I’m amazed you and your sisters aren’t nursing migraines because of all this. Talk later, Helga. Business calls.”
Helga dutifully stood guard outside the door, which was perhaps unnecessary, but more than appreciated. Never hurts to have a valkyrie have your back. The room they held the witch of the woods in was mostly bare, apart from a plain wooden table, a few chairs, and a pitcher of water. Don’t ever say that the Twilight Tavern ever mistreated its guests. Tabitha clinked her fingernails along the outside of her glass, her chin planted in her hand, looking more bored than anything.
Asher slipped into the chair closest to Tabitha, and Bastion took the seat opposite. Gil and I chose to remain standing. I nodded at the witch, noting that she looked a little different.
“Change of clothes, I see. I guess that means you have more than one hideout?”
The corner of Tabitha’s mouth lifted in a wry grin. “I wouldn’t be a very wily witch if I restricted myself to just the cabin in the woods, you know?”
She fiddled with her chandelier earrings, flipping her braids back across her bare shoulder. Between the smoke bomb and the Twilight Tavern, Tabitha had found the time to change into a yellow tank top, olive green harem pants, and bejeweled sandals. Whatever else she was, the woman definitely had style.
“It was a motel,” Bastion said, his lips pressed together in a tight line. “Don’t get too self-congratulatory about your talents at stealth.”
Tabitha waggled her fingers at Bastion, chuckling softly. “Ninja witch.”
“Okay,” I said. “This is driving me crazy. You’re not actually a trained ninja, are you? That’s just something you like to say.”
She tapped the tip of her nose. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you. But fine. No. Smoke is my specialty. Smoke witch in the house.”
Asher snapped his fingers, looking around at us, beaming proudly. “I knew it. I totally called it. Smoke witch.”
Bastion cleared his throat. “We need to get down to business. You don’t seem to be very upset about being held here, Tabitha. I trust you understand how very serious the situation is.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Big deal, you know? I’ve done the people of Silveropolis no harm. My conscience is clean. Of course, the longer you hold me here, the greater the risk of more people dying.”
“How do you mean?” I asked, folding my arms, standing legs astride at the head of the table. “Do you know what’s attacking the people of the town? The thing that’s been eating faces?”
“And no chance of drifting away on the wind this time,” Gil added, lowering his head and the tone of his voice.
Tabitha shook her head, laughing. “You guys still don’t get it. My family has been keeping watch over these woods for years. You want to know why I’m so young? Because the job passes down through the women in my bloodline. My grandmother guarded the forest for a while. The line skipped my mama. She declined the position, because we should be able to choose, too. And now that you boys have taken me away from my territory, there’s a very good chance that my stick men will stop working.”
Bastion cocked an eyebrow. “Your stick men?”
“You’ve seen them around, don’t pretend. Bundles of twigs wrapped together with twine. They look like little stick men. They’re my sentries, extra eyes and ears to watch over the forest. It’s a Bridges family specialty.”
“Bridges,” I said.
“Tabitha Bridges, not at your service. Smoke witch, witch of the woods, professional ninja.”
“Here she goes again with the ninja stuff,” I muttered. “Okay, Tabitha. Say we believe you about the stick men being planted for protection. Then why was the reanimated corpse of the sixth victim screaming at the sight of a bundle of twigs? Why was he so afraid?”
Bastion held up his hand. “Hold the phone. Reanimated corpse? What did I miss?”
Asher twiddled his thumbs. “We found the sixth victim, and I, um, I did some necromantic stuff to dig for some information.”
Bastion leaned closer, frowning. “How did my people miss you?”
Asher shrugged. “It wasn’t like a high-powered spell or anything, just a quick reanimation to give the dead his voice back. Maybe they didn’t notice because it was just a tiny blip. Or maybe everybody knows I’m a good boy and your Eyes just passed me over.”
Gil and I snorted. Bastion glared. Asher placed his hands behind his head, smiling.
“Very cool trick, kid,” Tabitha said, pursing her lips and nodding at Asher in approval. Asher blushed. “But to answer your question, those victims were hardly victims. They were bad people, out to take down the protections of the forest.”
“So your fetishes,” Bastion said. “They killed those seven people. I don’t see how this absolves you of anything.”
Tabitha’s smile dropped. She leaned across the table. “My fetishes don’t kill. They can’t. At worst, they can induce terror in those who bear ill intent in their hearts. That’s why your sixth man was screaming. Those people were in service of a darker power. If they took out the protections built by the Bridges witches over the decades, by our many fetishes, then the true bad gets to creep into Silveropolis. Truly evil and sinister forces can come out and play.”
“But that doesn’t answer anything,” Asher said. “Why are these people dying, if it isn’t your doing?”