“A dragon wouldn’t have left the tree in the ground,” Wanda grumbled. “They would have made off with it.”

  “Right,” Fifi said as she started toying with her napkin, twisting it between her fingers. “No one really springs to mind. Maybe we could go over the applications of those who recently moved here again and see if anyone or anything jumps out?”

  Roy patted her hand. “It’s a good plan. We’ll do that.”

  “We do need to do something.” I bit my lip, still trying to put all the pieces together.

  The problem was, a lot of dangerous and violent things had happened in Haven Hollow over the past few years. Roy was right about one thing, though; something as big and flashy and obviously weird as bushes and trees turning to gold was only going to draw the wrong kind of attention, which the town could not handle at the moment.

  “Alright,” Taliyah said, looking tired. She tossed back the rest of her drink. “It’s as good a plan as any. If anything else happens, I’ll let you all know. No point in trying to figure this out until we have a chance to get some more information.”

  So, everyone finished up and headed off with a tentative action plan. I was still hoping that Wanda was right, that it was all a fluke or a dumb prank, and things would get back to normal, and I could stop feeling vaguely guilty about something that had nothing to do with me. At least, I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with me.

  And, yes, I could have brought up the fact that my magic was off lately—that there was a chance I’d somehow unknowingly turned the bush and tree to gold by creating the Gypsy Gold potion, even if I hadn’t actually used it. But I felt that was a conversation I needed to have with Wanda first, before I announced it to everyone else. Because maybe it wasn’t such a big deal—maybe my magic taking on the feel of the coven’s—maybe that was just part and parcel of being in a coven? I wasn’t sure, but I really didn’t want to deal with more of Roy’s suspicion that would certainly ensue if I brought any of this up. So, I didn’t.

  I got home just before Marty dropped Finn off, and it did make me feel a bit better that, while Marty didn’t get out of the car, he did wave when he saw me opening the door for Finn. He also gave a little light honk of his car horn before backing out of the driveway again.

  Finn looked tired, but he was smiling when he dropped his book bag on the floor of the living room.

  “Still full of hot dogs, or are you hungry?” I teased him, smoothing his hair back off his forehead.

  Finn blinked, his grin coming just a second too late. “Yep. Me and Marty really pigged out. I’m going to head to bed. Goodnight, Mom.”

  And he was heading upstairs before I could even respond.

  “Oh, okay. Goodnight,” I told his feet before they disappeared off the stairs.

  The feeling of something not being right only got stronger. But I’d asked Finn too many times already if something was going on with him and each time he said he was fine. So I figured he’d tell me when he was ready to or he’d figure it out himself. Either way, it was clear he didn’t want to involve me so I wouldn’t force the issue.

  Just then, Andre texted me to see if I still wanted to get together but I suddenly didn’t feel like it was such a good idea. Not with Finn acting so out of sorts. And if there was a chance my son might feel like opening up to me, I wanted to make sure it was just the two of us, in case he didn’t want an audience. So, I told Andre I wasn’t feeling up to it and he responded good-naturedly just like I knew he would.

  It was a restless night, just as I’d known it would be.

  The next morning, I went into work early, and upon looking up the road as I parked in front of my store, my heart sank when I noticed the gold tree was no longer wood, but was once again gleaming gold in the sun.

  I sent off a text to the council group chat, and ten minutes after that, Roy came screeching up in his truck.

  It took him two tries, but eventually, he managed to rip the whole tree right out of the ground.

  ***

  The council group chat had been buzzing all morning, with questions and arguments and accusations flying so fast, it was hard for me to even keep up.

  No one could figure out why the tree had turned back to gold. Roy was accusing Wanda of doing the ritual incorrectly on purpose. Wanda said she was seconds away from turning Roy into a real ape, among other less savory things. Taliyah, Fifi and I were trying to determine if the tree was turned back to gold on purpose, or if it had simply changed on its own. The bigger question was: how would you even test that kind of thing?

  With the tree now stashed in the Half-Moon’s storage room for the moment, at least the issue wasn’t a pressing one. Still, it was just one more mystery on top of the pile of unsolved mysteries this town had become, and we hadn’t even started to crack the other ones.

  The only respite in the stream of angry text messages occurred when Henner popped into the chat.

  I’ve done what I can to scrub all the photos and videos from the internet of the gold tree, he typed. But I can’t do much about any images people still have on their phones, unless they connect to local WIFI. And don’t even get me started if someone had an actual film camera.

  I relaxed a little bit. That was one worry taken care of, at least. Henner might not think of his own magic as impressive compared to his grandmother Betanya’s, but the things he could do technology-wise were just incredible.

  Another message then popped up from Henner.

  And, of course, there isn’t much I can do about people who saw the tree in person. I’ll keep an eye on any message boards or social media, but gossip will probably still spread.

  He was right, of course. Word of mouth was still a thing. Hopefully, without any hard evidence, people would think it was just a stunt or a prank, and maybe even start to doubt their own memories. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, how crazy was a gold tree, really?

  And there was also no way for Henner to know how many people had seen the pictures and videos before he’d taken care of them on the net. We needed everything in Haven Hollow to be nice and calm for a while in order to allow things to blow over. At least before the next crisis hit.

  I bit my lip and slid my phone back into my pocket. There wasn’t anything I could do about that situation, and I still had customers in the store that needed attention.

  I spent a few hours bustling about, tidying the shelves and making notes about which potions needed restocking. It was busy enough for me not to have time to dwell on things too much, as I helped people pick out exactly what they were looking for: whether that was a potion for a peaceful night’s sleep, or something to put a little more pep in their step, or something to help their memory, or a love potion.

  I’d just carefully wrapped up a purchase from the last customer when the bell clanging over the door alerted me to the fact that two more women had just entered the shop. Judging from their appearance, I would have imagined they were in their late forties, probably. They were both dressed in sweatshirts and jeans under light jackets, clearly out for a day of shopping. But with the way they were shaking their heads and speaking in low tones to one another, I couldn’t help but wonder if something was up. I couldn’t hear what they were saying until they made their way a little further into the shop.

  “I’d heard this was a safe little town,” the first woman, the one wearing chunky bracelets to match her necklace, said. “But now I’m not so sure.”

  “I know what you mean. It’s scary.” Her friend, the one with sunglasses on top of her head, pursed her lips. “Honestly, I’m wondering if we should just head home a bit early. I just don’t feel good about this anymore. It was so close to the hotel.”

  Well, that didn’t sound good. I spoke up when they were a bit closer to the counter. “Hello, ladies. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation, but is everything okay? Do either of you need help?”

  I never wanted anyone to feel unsafe in Haven Hollow, not the people who made their homes here, and not the people who visited.

  Chunky bracelets turned to me. “Oh, we’re just fine. We were just talking about what happened at the antique store a few roads over. It’s just awful.”

  I knew the store they were talking about—Timeless Treasures. In fact, I’d been in there a few times myself. They always had fun things. I’d even picked up a few of my brass display candle holders there. The man who ran the place, Mr. Wells, was human, and very nice.

  “No, why, did something happen? Is the owner okay?”

  “You didn’t hear about what happened?” Chunky bracelets asked.

  “The owner looked alright, just a bit upset, and I can’t really blame him.” Sunglasses shook her head.

  “The place was robbed in the night. It’s crawling with police right now,” Bracelets responded.

  “Oh, that’s awful.” And, of course, it brought to mind the robbery of the jewelry store that Taliyah had mentioned. “Do you know if the thieves made off with much?”

  Losing any stock would be terrible, or course, but there were some pieces that were truly irreplicable. Mr. Wells hunted down his inventory all on his own, going to estate sales and auctions. He had so many stories about his ‘treasure hunts’, as he called them.

  “Well.” Chunky bracelet’s eyes darted from one side of the store to the other. “We weren’t listening in on purpose, of course. But from what the police were saying, whoever broke in left some of the more expensive or rare pieces behind, and only took the gold.”

  I wasn’t surprised to hear that.

  Sunglasses snorted, rolling her eyes. “Can you imagine? They’re not just thieves, they’re snobs. Grabbing up any scrap of gold, but leaving the glassware and the hundred-year-old platinum engagement ring behind.”

  Chunky bracelets leaned forward, like she was telling a scandalous secret. “They even took an old gold tooth. A tooth! Who would want something like that?”

  “That’s so weird,” I said, my voice thin. I hoped they couldn’t see the way my hands were twisting into fists behind the counter.

  Gold stolen from the antique store? Right after the jewelry store, and the tree up the road turning to gold? Twice now? And the bush. This couldn’t be a coincidence, and it didn’t mean anything good for the town. The chances of this being a prank or something random were fading rapidly by the second.

  My lips were bloodless, and a little numb, but I forced them into a customer service smile. “That is awful. I promise you; Haven Hollow really is a safe place. That kind of thing usually never happens here, but it must have been very shocking for you. I hope it doesn’t damage your opinion of the town.”

  “Well.” Chunky bracelets darted a look between her friend and me. “It has been very nice so far.”

  Sunglasses nodded grudgingly.

  “Feel free to look around. If you need any help, please let me know.” Just smile, be polite, and wait for them to move on, I told myself.

  When they were busy looking through the shelves towards the back of the store, I got my phone out again.

  I had a sinking suspicion about all the missing gold. I couldn’t be sure I was right, since I didn’t know much about magic other than potion making, but it was worth mentioning.

  So, I shot a text to the council group chat, asking if everyone could meet at the Half-Moon for lunch.

  Wanda couldn’t leave the house, but there were work arounds for that.

  In the meantime, I just had to sit back, smile, and pretend like everything was just fine.

  I was getting uncomfortably good at that.

  Chapter Ten

  The work around was that Fifi called Wanda and Wanda was able to FaceTime into the meeting.

  By the time I managed to get to the bar, the rest of the council was already there. Or, as there as they physically could be, at least. Roy had set us up in one of the more private areas, one that was usually reserved for birthday parties and private dinners. It meant we could spread out and paw through some of the applications the council had received over the last year without having to worry about someone at the next table seeing or hearing too much. We already had enough problems on our hands, we didn’t need to add to them by being careless.

  When I walked up to the table, everyone was elbow deep in papers already, with a few glasses of water scattered between them.

  Taliyah held one sheet up, squinting at it. “What about this guy, Leif Olagson? He’s a smith, and a… svartalflar? Am I even saying that right?” Then she shook her head, her expression one of ‘how did that sentence even come out of my mouth?’

  “Yes,” Roy grumbled, distracted by his own pile. “They’re dark elves, from Scandinavia. But they just work gold, they don’t make it, or even mine it.”

  “Ugh.” Taliyah sighed and dropped the application back to the table. “I remember the days where all I had to worry about were normal crimes committed by normal people. I never thought I’d actually miss a straight up assault charge, but here we are.”

  “Oh!” Fifi sat up, excited. “What about this one? Francesco Almirante, he’s an alchemist! And don’t alchemists turn things into gold?”

  On the screen of Fifi’s phone, Wanda waved a dismissive hand. “No, sorry. I’ve met Francesco and it can’t be him.”

  “Why not?” Roy growled.

  “Well, for one, he’s retired, and the only thing he ever managed to change was gold into lead. Not many people were interested in that, as you can imagine. There’s a reason he’s looking to live in a Hollow.”

  Fifi sagged back into the booth’s soft bench. “Darn.”

  “Maybe you should come up with some suggestions, Wanda,” Roy said tightly. The paper in his hands crinkled with the force of his grip.

  Wanda took an obnoxious slurp of her coffee, loud enough that it could literally be heard across town and through the speakers on Fifi’s phone. “Buddy, this is the middle of the night for me. You’re lucky I’m participating at all.”

  A muscle ticked in Roy’s jaw, and I saw him pulling in a deep breath, probably to say something that would make the situation even worse, so I tried to jump in.

  “Um, hi everyone. Hi, Wanda,” I waved to her, and she muttered something into her cup. “I didn’t mean to drag everyone away from your busy lives.” I scooted down the bench, a little closer to where Taliyah was sitting, so I could see Wanda easier. “Taliyah, I heard about the antique store robbery. Are there any suspects?” I had a hunch, but whether or not that hunch panned out would depend on her answer.

  Taliyah clenched her jaw, looking irritated. “No one. No one saw anything, no alarms were tripped. The owner even had security cameras in the place, but did they pick up anything? Of course not, because that would have been just too damned easy. One second the gold items were there, the next, gone.”

  A little fission of nervous excitement rolled through my belly like bubbles in soda. This information made my theory even more likely.

  “The cameras didn’t get anything?” Fifi shook her head, stunned.

  “Not a damn thing.” Taliyah tossed back the rest of her water like she wished it was something stronger. “Not even a shadow. The cameras must have been tampered with, but I can’t tell how. That or we’re dealing with an invisible species.”

  Roy frowned, tapping his finger against the table. “Maybe ask Henner to look into it? He might be able to spot what they did, if they did, in fact, tamper with the cameras.”

  “Or,” I said, a flush rising up into my cheeks. I just hoped I wasn’t about to say something really stupid. “What if no one took it?”

  Taliyah looked at me, her expression too tired and fed-up to be angry. “You think it was an inside job?”

  “What? No! Mr. Wells would never. No, sorry. Let me start over.” I took a deep breath. “I think you’re right, Taliyah, about all the cases being connected.”

  Everyone was now paying attention. Even Wanda looked interested, as far as I could tell, with half of her face hidden by her coffee cup.

  “Explain,” Roy said.

  “Okay, hear me out.” I took a deep breath and nodded. “What if someone is turning things in town into gold, but in doing so, is draining gold from nearby stores?” I glanced around, but no one was scowling or telling me that was a dumb idea, so I continued. “That was why no one was seen stealing the gold from the jewelry store the night the tree turned to gold. Or the antique store, on the night the tree turned back into gold. And remember all those items going missing before either break-in? I think you said something about household jewelry and dishes going missing?”

  Taliyah nodded. “Right.”

  “Maybe those all either were gold or had gold in them,” I continued. “The point I’m trying to make is that whatever power or spell we’re dealing with... well, what if it just kind of absorbed whatever gold was in the vicinity?”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at each other. No one was pointing or laughing at me, either, so it couldn’t have been too bad an idea.

  Wanda actually put her coffee down. “That’s actually entirely possible,” she said, slowly. “But I’ve never heard of a spell that could do such a thing. It would explain why the change of objects to gold is permanent, though.”

  Roy rubbed his eyes and then scraped his hand over his face. His stubble was coming in thick, and I could hear the rasp of it against his palm even across the table. “But then we’re back to the same question; who would be capable of magic like that?”

  No one had an answer for that one.

  My phone beeped then, followed by everyone else’s at the table, including Wanda’s from the sound of it. My stomach sank. That wasn’t a good sign.

  I opened up the council chat to find a message from Henner that read; You’re not going to like this. And then a video clip beneath it.

  It was Roy who ended up hitting play on the clip, his face in grim lines. We all crowded a little closer to watch.