Dottie smiled, a small, secret smile, and she leaned forward like she was going to impart some important secret to us. “I’m very good at not being noticed. And when I work at it, I can make it so that people don’t notice other things, either. I’ve been standing here, hiding the fountain ever since I found it. No one else has seen it. I promise.”

  Taliyah nodded, looking impressed and a little relieved. “Thank you, Dottie. That was good work.”

  Dottie beamed.

  Pulling out her phone, Taliyah started typing. “Can you keep hiding the fountain for a bit longer, Dottie?”

  Dottie’s head tilted to one side, like she was really thinking about it. Then she nodded. “For a while longer. Not too much, though. I’m very tired.”

  “Okay, thank you.” Taliyah finished her message, and slipped the phone away again. “I’ve told the others what’s going on, and I asked Wanda to hurry up and get here. We need the coven to handle this as soon as possible.”

  The sun was still high in the sky, resting in the cloudless blue stretch like an accusation. “Wanda won’t be able to come for hours, yet. It’s daylight still.”

  Dottie cupped her cheeks. “Well, the sun won’t set for a couple more hours.” Then she worried her lower lip. “Oh, dear, that’s quite a while for me to continue.”

  “Wanda’s going to have to risk it.” Taliyah turned to glare at the fountain like it had personally offended her. “Dottie can’t hold the area until sunset. And once Wanda gets here, Dottie, you can return home.” Then she took a breath as something else occurred to her. “Dottie, could you manage to hide the fountain and a witch?”

  “Yes, I could.”

  It wasn’t a great solution, but I had to admit it was the only one we had at the moment. I just hoped that Wanda’s nocturnal restrictions didn’t cause problems for her down the line. Thinking about it, I checked the vicinity for any sign of a nosy, old vampire woman but didn’t see anyone.

  Wanda must have realized that Taliyah was rapidly reaching the end of her rope about the whole gold situation, because she didn’t even put up much of an argument when Taliyah phoned her. Maverick arrived shortly after Taliyah sent out the call, with Imani, Betanya, and Olga arriving in Imani’s car.

  I was just starting to wonder how Wanda was going to get herself to the park, when a big black hearse drove down the road.

  Lorcan was an older vampire, and he’d had a few near misses in his youth, to hear him talk about it. When someone is unconscious and unable to do much of anything to defend themselves while the sun was in the sky, they learned to get creative about their resting place. That meant Lorcan had multiple properties, and no real schedule for where he slept and where, but his other option was the hearse. It came complete with a coffin in the back, and he could doze away the daytime hours while being constantly moved around town.

  It was Marty that he’d hired to be the hearse’s driver. When he was out and about running errands, he’d just drive the big car around with a sleeping vampire in the back. And I could see him through the windshield, lifting his hand for a cheerful wave as he carefully brought the hearse up over the curb and trundled over the grass towards us.

  “Does he have to do that?” Taliyah asked, motioning to the grass. “I’m sure I’m going to hear about it later.”

  “Bigger fish to fry, Taliyah,” I reminded her, and she begrudgingly agreed.

  When he came to a stop, he leapt out of the car and hurried around to the back to help Wanda out of the coffin. No one was particularly surprised to see the witch emerging from a vampire’s coffin, except for maybe Dottie, who’d picked up Reginald again, hugging the little dog to her chest.

  Wanda, a bit ruffled from her ride in the coffin, ran a hand through her hair and glared at the fountain like she was thinking of hexing it out of existence and calling it a day.

  “A fountain,” she finally snapped, gesturing angrily. “Who the spell turns a fountain to gold? What’s the point?”

  I shrugged and wrapped my arms around my uneasy stomach. My magic was roiling again, pressing against my ribs like it was testing the give. “Maybe they wanted to see if they could turn liquid into gold?” I offered weakly.

  Wanda glared at me and then turned back to glare at the fountain. “Let’s get this over with,” she muttered as she stalked up the slight hill to reach the bottom basin.

  While the witches got set up, discussing who should stand where and what the plan was, Marty sidled up to Taliyah and me. My heart gave a bruised little beat that there wasn’t any hesitation, no flinching around the edges of his smile when he looked at me. I’d been clinging to my hope that we could get back to where we’d been, that we could be friends again, and I didn’t want to do anything to ruin it.

  “Hey, Tally,” Marty said, getting away with the nickname only because he was Taliyah’s cousin. “I was going to call you, actually. The other day, when you mentioned people having gold stuff go missing. Was any of it weird food statues?”

  Taliyah paused, her brow wrinkling above the line of her sunglasses. “Food statues? No. Why do you ask?”

  He turned back towards the hearse, and waved for us to follow. “So, I had to make a run to the dump. A piece of equipment that we were using on our haunt busts, it…” he coughed, turning a bit pink. “Well, anyway, it broke. So, I took what was left of it down to throw away, and while I was there, I found these under some bags.”

  He opened the passenger side of the hearse, and sitting in the footwell, was a pile of solid gold... well, food. I gaped. There had to be thousands of dollars in gold there, and someone had just thrown it into the trash?

  Taliyah took her pen out of her pocket, poking at the pieces and rolling them around so she could see each piece better. “No, none of these are the pieces missing. It was all jewelry from the jewelry store and antiques from Timeless Treasures.”

  Marty’s shoulders drooped. “Well, dang. I guess you should take these, though, in case whoever got rid of them wants them back.”

  “Hold on a second.” I crouched, looking at the pieces more carefully.

  Now, people do some weird things when it comes to home decorating. If the bits had been all artful fruit pieces, or even, I don’t know, an oyster shell, that would have made more sense. But a handful of gold french fries? And a gold burger, with what looked like a partial bite taken out of it? A gold Coke? That was a little out there, even for kitsch.

  My stomach went cold as the realization started to sink in, and I clasped a hand over my mouth in horror. “Oh, no.”

  Taliyah was instantly alert. “Poppy?”

  Marty put a hand on my shoulder. “You okay, Pops?”

  Even the little thrill of relief I got from hearing my old nickname again couldn’t fight back the feeling of dread snaking along my spine. “The food, well... it’s food, don’t you get it?”

  From the looks they gave me, they didn’t.

  “We thought that whoever it is was turning things to gold to draw attention or pull a prank.” My words were coming out so fast, they were tripping over each other. I waved at the pile of glittering metal. “It’s not a prank. We’re dealing with a King Midas type curse, I think. Everything this person touches turns to gold. And that means—well, that they can’t eat, Taliyah, or their food turns to gold when they pick it up.”

  I looked at the fountain in horror, new understanding showing me a very different picture. “They picked the fountain because they were trying to get the water. They needed to drink it.”

  Taliyah looked grim, her mouth pressed into a tight line. “It’s been a few days now; if that’s true, that means they’ve got to be in rough shape.”

  “We need to find them. We need to find them before…” I shook my head. I couldn’t even finish the sentence.

  “Let me talk to Wanda.” Taliyah stalked off up the hill, leaving behind a little patch of frost that quickly melted even in the weak sunlight.

  All I could do was shake my head. We’d been so annoyed, so put out, and all the while, a person was suffering. I felt terrible. When the tree was turned back to wood, the person must have thought the curse was gone, only to touch it again and have it turn to gold a second time. That must have been devastating.

  “It’s okay, Pops.” Marty laid a big hand on my shoulder, and gave me a little comforting squeeze. “You’ll figure it out. I know you will.”

  It was hard not to cry, but I was just so darn grateful to have Marty in my life again. I was so happy that maybe, just maybe, we might find our way back to each other again. Some day?

  “Thanks, Marty.” I gave him a smile I hoped wasn’t too watery around the edges. “And thanks again for doing hot dog night with Finn the other day. He really loves hanging out with you.”

  Marty’s forehead creased, his brows almost touching together in puzzlement. “I mean, of course I’m always happy to have Finn over. We like the same video games, and he’s really good at them. But he hasn’t been over in a few weeks now.”

  “What?” I shook my head, my stomach dropping down to my toes. “He said he was going to see you the other night?”

  Marty frowned and shook his head. “He didn’t.”

  “But you dropped him off at my house—I saw you?”

  Marty, if anything, looked more confused. “He asked me to pick him up. He said he had some project he was working on with a group of other kids, and that you had to work late, and would I give him a ride home.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t any trouble. But I only saw him for the ride.”

  My stomach flipped over. Finn had lied to me? Why wouldn’t he have just told me he needed to work on a project? Unless there was no project at all, and he was covering for something else? What in the world was going on with my son?

  “Oh, okay. Thanks Marty.” I pulled out my phone, trying to keep my breathing steady. Still no response from Finn from my last text. I tried again, telling him to call me right away. I forced myself to wait a full minute, and when he still hadn’t answered me, I called his phone. It immediately sent me to voicemail, and my heart leapt from a jog into a sprint. Something was wrong. I knew it.

  My hands were shaking so hard as I jogged towards Marty’s hearse that I almost couldn’t hit the right buttons, but I managed to pull up Andre’s contact, and he, at least, answered on the second ring.

  “Poppy? What’s wrong?”

  He must have been getting echoes of my rising panic along our bond. I closed my eyes, trying to hold the tears back. They wouldn’t help. I needed to focus. “I think something’s wrong, but I’m not sure what. Finn stayed home sick today, but he isn’t answering my calls or texts. Is there any way that you can pop over to the house to check on him?” My phone case creaked as my grip tightened. “I’m sorry to bother you, I just need to know what’s going on, but you’re closer, and–”

  “Poppy,” Andre said, cutting through my shaky babbling. “Of course. I’ll go now. I’ll call you back as soon as I get there, okay?”

  “Okay.” I let out a trembling breath. “Okay. Thank you.”

  It was only after I hung up that I realized I hadn’t even thanked him for sending Taliyah my way earlier. One crisis at a time and this crisis was a way more important one because it involved my son. I shoved my phone into my purse and wrenched the car door open. “Marty, I need you to take me home as soon as possible, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Of course,” he answered.

  Taliyah beckoned me over towards the fountain, but I didn’t have time for gold curses, not when I didn’t know what was going on with my son.

  “Sorry, I have to go. Family emergency,” I called out as I all but threw myself into the hearse.

  Taliyah might be one heck of a police Chief, but she was also a mom. She might not be thrilled about me abandoning an investigation, but she’d understand that kids came first, always.

  At least focusing on Marty driving kept me from focusing on the anvil in my stomach. When my phone rang halfway back to the farmhouse, it was a darn good thing I’d hooked it up to the car’s bluetooth, or I might have driven off the road trying to fumble it out of my bag again.

  “Hello? Andre?” I was clutching the door handle so tightly that all the blood had blanched out of my fingers, leaving them stark white against the gray leather. I didn’t even realize I was now talking to my new boyfriend in front of my old one.

  I could tell the second Andre started talking that something was wrong. “Poppy, I think you need to come to the house. Finn isn’t here. I looked everywhere, including out back, but he’s gone.”

  A terrible, icy calm settled over me. The power that had been sloshing against the inside of my ribcage, went deathly still, like the calm before the sky tore open and poured its fury across the world.

  “I’m on my way,” was all I said.

  And then Marty stomped the gas pedal all the way to the floor.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Breaking several traffic laws, we managed to get home in less than five minutes.

  “Do you need me to help?” Marty asked.

  I looked at him and remembered Andre was at the farmhouse and Wanda still needed Marty to take her home. “No,” I managed with as nice a smile as I could muster. “In fact, Wanda will need you to take her home, but thank you so much.”

  He just nodded. “Please let me know when you find Finn.”

  I jumped out of the hearse and nodded to him. “I will.” Then I was pelting up the driveway and into the house. Andre met me at the front door, his expression grim. There was a tightness to the skin around his eyes, and I could tell without him saying a word that he was as worried for Finn as I was.

  “I checked all the rooms,” he started, matching my stride as I raced through the house. “I even poked down into the basement a bit, checked the cemetery out back, but I couldn’t find any sign of him.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Andre, I was sure he really had done a thorough search of the old house. It was more that I couldn’t stop myself from methodically going over every nook and cranny—just to make sure Finn really wasn’t here. And yes, I even checked the old, creepy, fieldstone basement that neither Finn nor I cared to spend any time in. I managed to keep it together enough to note that Finn’s pajamas from that morning were draped over his laundry hamper, and his shoes were missing from the front hall. I checked the back door and noticed his bike was gone. So that had to mean that he’d gotten dressed and headed out. But where could he have gone?

  Andre came with me as I walked out the back door to the small cemetery behind the house. But no, Andre was correct again—there was no sign of Finn. And that meant one thing: my son was missing. I had no idea where he was, or why he’d gone wherever he’d gone to, or why he wasn’t answering my many texts and phone calls. As far as I could tell, his phone was turned off, because it was now sending me directly to voicemail.

  I needed to find him.

  I grabbed one of my larger bags, the one I used when we were going out and likely to need drinks and snacks and sunscreen and the like. Then I started grabbing every potion in the house that I thought might prove useful, and stuffed them into the bag. Uncrossing Oil? In the bag. A banishment potion? In the bag. Fiery Command Oil? You’d better believe it was going in the bag.

  Once the thing was practically bulging at the seams, I hooked the strap over my chest with the bag under my arm like a holster. Then I turned back to Andre, who’d been at my heels and careful not to get in my way. As soon as he noticed the bulging bag though, he immediately reached over and pulled it off my shoulder, placing it on his. I didn’t argue.

  “Okay.” I took a breath, trying to ignore the way my hands were trembling, nerves or adrenaline, I couldn’t tell. “Can you give me a ride back to my Jeep at my shop?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’m going to search Haven Hollow for him, starting with his friends’ houses.”

  He nodded. “What can I do?”

  “Can you check any public places you can think of? Sweeter Haunts, or even Stomper’s Creamery?”

  He just nodded, carried my bag of potions to his Range Rover, opened the passenger door, and plopped them on the floor before he turned to face me, his car keys already in his hand.

  “I’ll check the arcade, too. Maybe some of the bigger parks.”

  The mention of the parks reminded me of Taliyah and Wanda who were still at the golden fountain. I hesitated for a split second, but dragged my phone out again. It wasn’t that I didn’t think the fountain and protecting Haven Hollow was important, of course it was. But the fountain was gold and couldn’t get hurt. And the more people looking for Finn, the better the odds of finding him quickly.

  I’d just unlocked my phone, ready to dial, when it started ringing in my hand.

  Finn.

  I almost dropped the phone in my hurry to answer it. “Finn? Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Mom?” The shaky, teary sound of his voice had my heart clenching painfully tight. “Mom, I messed up. I was trying to fix it, but it got way worse instead and now it’s out of control and people are in trouble.”

  I shoved away my own panic, my voice eerily calm when I spoke. “Finn, breathe for me, okay? Everything is going to be just fine, I promise. But you need to tell me where you are so I can come and get you. And then we’ll get everything sorted out, okay? Where are you?”

  I heard him taking a few breaths across the line. “I’m at school.”

  I blinked, surprised, and glanced at Andre, who was tense and ready to move. “At school?”

  Why would he pretend to be sick in order to stay home, only to end up going back to school, anyway? Granted, school was already out by this time, but the whole thing was still bizarre.

  “Yeah.” He sounded so young, and lost. It broke my heart. “Hurry, okay?”

  I was already moving, and Andre was quick behind me as he jumped into the driver’s seat while I remained on the phone with Finn. “Andre and I on our way, okay? Just make sure you’re somewhere safe and we’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

  If I’d thought Marty had bent the traffic laws into pretzels to get me here, Andre just flat out ignored them. His driving never felt unsafe or out of control, but at times I was forcibly reminded that, in London, they drove on the opposite side of the road.