How to Stone a Crow (Witch Like a Boss Book 2) by Willow Mason (great novels txt) 📕

has been fooling around there,” I said after a minute had passed in silence. “Would you have any idea who?”

She shook her head. “It’s public property. The groundskeeper would have a better idea if someone had been in there who shouldn’t.”

Jared pointed to one of the photos. “No, look at the grass. The upkeep on the cemetery isn’t happening regularly enough for him to see anything. It’s a good found inches long on the paths, let alone around the gate and headstones.”

Pru just stared blankly at him. “Well, I don’t know who else to ask.” She turned to me. “It’s on your property, Desdemona. Surely, you have some idea of who comes to visit.”

“So you never visit Andrew’s grave, is that what you’re saying?” I put my hands on my hips, annoyed. “You don’t leave flowers there. You don’t weep over his gravestone.”

Her expression appeared bewildered. “Why would I visit his grave when I see him every morning? If I wanted to give Andrew flowers, I’d leave them sitting right over there.” She pointed to his seat at the head of the small dining table.

Carson took one hand off his baby’s head long enough to give a limp shake of Pru’s hand. “We haven’t met before, but I’m Carson and this is Sara. Her mother is one of the witches who vanished into thin air.”

Pru stared at him, her eyes widening in confusion. “I’m sorry to hear about your wife, but what’s that got to do with me?”

“You used to teach Violet, do you remember?”

“Sure. She was a lovely girl.” Pru frowned, rubbing the side of her face. “You were in Mr Albertson’s class, weren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

Jared rolled his eyes at me and I gestured for him to quit it. Even if Carson was just making small talk, I wanted to hear.

“Your sister and Violet used to be close, didn’t they? Them and that other one. What’s his name?” She snapped her fingers. “It’s on the tip of my tongue.”

“You must be thinking of someone else,” Carson said. “Violet and Evie always butted heads.”

I stepped forward, staring into his face as he repeated the claim he’d and his sister had made before. Wishing Aunt Florentine was on hand to guide me, I drew some magic into a ball in my hand, then sent it flowing across his face.

“Ask him again,” I whispered from the side of my mouth to Pru.

“Jac!” she blurted out instead. “That was his name. Jac. I must’ve broken up their note passing and behind-hand whispering a thousand times in class, and I only had them for one year. We discussed their friendship in a teachers’ meeting, that’s how bad it got. The head wanted to separate them, so they’d learn something for a change, but the idea got mooted.”

“Do you know why they fell out?”

Pru’s eyes turned glassy. “I don’t know. That was just before Andrew…” She waved a hand in the air. “Anyway, I wasn’t in any shape to continue teaching and never went back, except to discuss my leaving with the head. Did they fall out?”

“I…” Carson stepped back, hitting up against the edge of the sofa and dropping into it as his legs wobbled. “Yes, that’s right. My parents got called in for a discussion. They thought it was nonsense. Said that children can be friends with whoever they like, and it wasn’t like they were affecting anyone else.”

“You remember now?”

He tilted his head forward. “It’s the strangest thing. Until right now, I could’ve sworn…”

“Either your sister or Violet had you under a spell.” I swung my gaze to Patrick, hoping he would have some fabulous idea of how it was all connected. “Can you think of a reason why?”

Patrick stared at his notepad, flipping through the pages. “When did Andrew first appear? Was it straight after the funeral?”

Pru pressed a hand to her chest. “Goodness, no. It was months later.” She tilted her head to one side, a slight smile playing across her lips. “Gave me such a fright at first. I thought I was hallucinating. Then he came the following morning and the next. It was… nice. Like a part of him had never left at all.”

“Did you ever visit his grave before then?”

The woman nodded, her eyes still lost in the past. “Every day at first. For a while, I continued to do that even after he appeared. I was scared if I didn’t, he might go away again.”

Fifteen years. I couldn’t imagine having a lost loved one show up every day like clockwork. How sweet it would be.

How bitter.

How hard it would be to move on with your life with the constant reminder of everything you’d lost.

“Why did the head want to separate them?” Jared leant over and took Pru’s hand. “That wouldn’t happen just because of chattering in class or passing notes. Every kid does that.”

She stared at his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckle before gently drawing hers away. “It wasn’t anything to do with our classes. This was when they were fifteen or sixteen and Mr Mallory was the one to raise concerns. They got it into their heads to hunt down the lost Kelburn treasure.”

Patrick and I exchanged a glance and my chest tightened.

When she spoke again, Pru’s voice dropped so low I could barely hear it. “When I went to hand in my final resignation, he told me they’d got worse. They’d started fooling around with a Ouija board and summoning spells.” She uttered a shaky laugh. “If that hadn’t been just after Andrew appeared, I might’ve been tempted to ask them for help.”

“No one ever reported them?” Although I asked the question, the coven records had already given me the answer. Even among the sanctions and reprimands handed out to teenagers, there’d been nothing on the trio.

“We were all very aware the three were going through tough times.” Pru turned to Carson for confirmation.

“Dad had an accident at the meatworks,” he said, nodding. “My parents got benefits and things sorted out eventually,