Pickups and Pirates (Southern Relics Cozy Mysteries Book 3) Read online

  “I don’t think that’s a great idea—”

  Rex the guard rooster rounded the corner and clucked his intentions to attack Odie’s ankles at that moment. The giant guy curled up his lip and growled, stopping Rex in his feathered tracks. For the first time since the little jerk came to live on our property, he ran away on his tiny little feet, squawking and clucking in fear.

  “Fine. You win,” the shifter grunted. “But maybe you could call me and give a blow-by-blow account. Or at least video it all.”

  I smiled, ready to give him the consolation prize. “We’ve already thought of that. Charli and Mason have the latest updates on their spell phones since they’re best friends with the guy who pretty much invented them. We’ll use hers to video call while we’re out there, and you guys can watch up at the big house. Trust me, you are not the only one who is spittin’ mad about not going. Auggie cussed up a storm when we told her she needed to stay behind and rest.”

  Odie relaxed his stance and nodded. “That’s not a horrible compromise. Y’all be careful out there. You know, there could be traps and such set up.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be like The Goonies. That’s a fictional take on pirates. This is real life, and I doubt ‘Bonny’ Ann had time to do anything that elaborate,” I said.

  “Uh, didn’t you say she was a witch? There could be some spells protecting whatever there is to find,” Charli stated as she joined us. “I don’t exactly relish getting hexed and I’ve already been cursed once. It’s no picnic.” Mason reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze, a meaningful look passing between them.

  “Ooh, I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll grab a couple of neutralizing cloths to take with us before we go,” I exclaimed, jogging up to the house again.

  I caught Luke halfway up the staircase when I burst through the front door. “Where are you going? I figured you’d come find me to insist on going with us or tell me to be careful. Instead, you look like you’re heading up to take a nap or something.”

  “You never listen when I give you advice anyway, so no point. And the professor’s already been grumbling about not being able to go even though she doesn’t take up much room, so you wouldn’t be able to fit me anyway.” He moseyed down the bottom steps, cradled my cheeks in his hand, and tilted my head forward. His lips rested on the top of my head. “I know you’ll handle things just fine, and if you get in trouble, you’ll let us know.”

  After the chaste smooch, I backed away and eyed him with growing suspicions. “That was way too easy. What are you up to, mister?”

  “I asked your great-grandmother whether or not other secret rooms might show themselves now after you told me about the pre-existing room showing up.” Luke chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

  I cringed to think of all the meddlesome things Granny Jo might have replied. “And? Did she think it was possible?”

  He took a step up onto the next landing. “She might have said it would be easier if you and I were hitched so I could be considered a real part of the family first.”

  Grits and ghosts, why couldn’t that woman keep her dearly-departed nose out of my business? Scraping a hand down my face, I tried my best to recover. “Sorry,” I squeaked. “I hope you find the room.”

  Luke winked and flashed me that expression that always made me melt and got him out of a heap of trouble too many times. “It’s fine. May we both be successful in our hunts.”

  Crystal slowed the speed of her small boat down as she aimed us left into the mouth of the Bellfort Inlet. The closer we got to land, the more careful we would need to be to avoid any floating debris. The hurricane had left its mark on the area, and Cate pointed out how a lot of the trees were bent or broken by the forceful winds.

  “Is it odd that most of the damage we’ve seen has increased the closer we’re getting to Bellfort?” Rissa yelled loud enough to be heard over the motor.

  Shaking my head no, I leaned closer to her. “I don’t think that hurricane was a random weather occurrence. Just like this whole thing with Ann Bonnet.”

  We angled into the channel separating the mainland of Bellfort and the strip of island where we needed to get to. While Crystal studied the shoreline to find a good place for us to pull up or anchor, I surveyed the area between us and the mainland and spotted a small yellow vessel not too far off our stern. With very little marine traffic, it stood out as odd that it would be going in the same direction as us. As Crystal slowed down again, the little craft matched our reduced speed.

  “I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I think we’re being followed,” I stated, pointing behind us.

  The other girls rushed to my side to get a better look, rocking the boat off balance. “If you tip us over, I’ll bet he catches up,” fussed Crystal, waving her hands for us to stay on our respective sides.

  Rissa pulled out binoculars from her bag of tools cradled between her feet. “You won’t believe this. It’s Nigel Lansing,” she confirmed, her upper lip curling in disgust. “I’ll bet he’s hounding anybody getting close to the area where he claims the Neptune’s Rose is.”

  Crystal risked taking a look behind her. “He’s using a dinghy, which isn’t meant for big trips. Dollars to donuts it belongs to the ship he filmed on.”

  Rissa put the binoculars away and zipped up her bag. “If he gets an inkling of what we’re doing, he’s gonna turn into a bigger problem than he already is.”

  “Look.” Cate pointed over my shoulder. “He’s gaining on us. At this rate, he’s going to catch us, and then how will we be able to hunt with the clue?”

  “If he gets close enough, we could just hex his boat,” suggested Charli, checking around with all of us. “That’s what I would do in Honeysuckle, but since this is your territory…”

  “No, it’s a good idea,” I admitted. “Crystal, can you use your water magic to do something from here?”

  She shook her head, concentrating on the shoreline. “Listen, the tide’s on its way out, which means we’re gonna be shorter on time than we’d planned. If we’re going to do something, we need to do it fast.”

  Panic set in, and I barked out the only thing I could come up with. “Circle back and take us close enough so I can do something to his engine.”

  All of us called on our magic to have it at the ready while Crystal turned the boat around. Nigel’s eyes widened when he recognized us. With a smug smirk, he took out his phone and held it up to record.

  Waiting until we circled behind the small dinghy, I narrowed my eyes, held out my tongue in concentration, and aimed a sparking spell at his engine. A little billow of smoke rose from it, and the adventurer stopped taking video and turned his attention to the potential fire. Before he could examine what had happened, he straightened up and grabbed his behind, shrieking out incomprehensible words. His body jerked around while his arms flailed and smacked at his body. The boat tipped around with all of his movement, and he lost his balance, splashing into the water.

  I high-fived the other girls as Crystal kicked our boat into higher gear and got us close enough to the shore to be able to walk onto the beach. If we didn’t hustle to figure out the first clue, the boat would get stuck.

  Rissa dug through her bag and took out the old parchment from a small protective tube. “I really wish we didn’t have to bring the real thing.”

  “I think it’s the best way for me to try and make a connection,” Charli said. “I promise to be careful with it.”

  Although I prepared to follow my friend wherever she took us, the image of Nigel losing all composure and falling into the water cracked me up. “I know why the engine smoked. That was me. But what made him thrash around like he did?”

  Charli raised her hand. “I might have hexed his hiney just a little.”

  “And I might have summoned a swarm of mosquitoes his way since we were so close to land,” Cate said, raising her arm high in the air. I lightly spanked her behind instead, and she squealed and swatted my hand away.

  Ch
arli retrieved her phone and called Mason. Looking over her shoulder, I chuckled at the crowd of faces staring back at us. “We’re about to start,” I informed them.

  “It’s about time,” Auggie complained, pushing Odie’s head out of the way. “Now, do you know what you’re looking for?”

  Rissa read out the parts of the clue she thought were most important. “I think the words stronghold and guard means the actual fort of the small settlement that was here.” With a reluctant sigh, she handed the precious paper to Charli.

  My friend asked for us to stay quiet while she concentrated. She uttered a few words that I swore rhymed and drew in a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, she asked, “Would the remains of the fort be in that direction?”

  “Yes,” Rissa confirmed.

  Charli’s shoulders relaxed a little and the wrinkle between her eyebrows disappeared. “Good. Let’s head that way.”

  Damage from the hurricane hindered our progress at several different points. We navigated over pine tree trunks and downed branches and cleared away some pointy palm fronds. Keeping the phone upright so those at my family’s house could watch and ensuring Charli’s safety while she acted as our witchy compass split my efforts.

  Pesky mosquitoes, born out of the puddles left by the heavy rains, attacked us until we had to pause and cast a layer of protection to save our skins. “Now I can see how you were able to summon so many,” I complained to Cate, wanting to scratch but worrying about ruining the spell. Hitting the button to flip the video, I let them see my annoyance. “Bloodsuckers can be the absolute worst.”

  “I heard that,” Luke called out, moving into view.

  “Meant you to,” I replied, sticking out my tongue.

  Auggie’s craggy face filled the entire screen. “You two flirt on your own time. Turn the view back around so we can see what’s going on. Get your hustle on, missy.”

  It didn’t take long for us to reach the inner area of the thin sea island. Charli stopped walking and held up her hand to hold us back. “The connection is definitely pulling me into that area through that thicket.”

  “Let’s spread out a bit and keep an eye out for anything on the ground that looks like it was set in a pattern. There would have been logs set up as a fence to keep the settlers safe inside,” Rissa explained, her gaze trained downward.

  “Good girl,” Auggie approved from the phone.

  We didn’t make it more than a few feet farther when a chill ran over my whole body. All of us shivered at the same time, and we halted again.

  “Did you feel that?” Crystal asked, rubbing her arms.

  Cate glanced around at all of us. “It felt like someone just walked over my grave.”

  With all of us agreeing, a debate exploded between those of us on the island and the group watching at home about what it could be. Auggie scolded us to keep moving while Uncle Jo warned us about the potential dangers from angry spirits.

  Rissa waved her hands to stop all the talking. “Listen,” she insisted.

  I panned the phone around me, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Hoping to catch whatever sound she had, I held my breath until my lungs burst. Letting out the air, I whispered, “I don’t hear anything.”

  “That’s the point,” Rissa said, holding a hand to her ear. “There’s no sound at all. We should be hearing the crash of the surf or the rustling of the leaves in the trees around us or the bugs buzzing. It’s dead silent.”

  The word dead hung in the air, and even the folks back at the house remained speechless. Charli broke the tension first. “I can’t keep this connection forever. We need to figure out what’s going on and do something.”

  Without talking, the five of us moved forward with caution. Our feet crunched over pine needles and sand. The faces on the phone stared back with enraptured curiosity.

  Cate dropped down and placed her hand on the sand floor. “I think we might be at the edge of the site. I can feel there’s something underneath the surface but in a straight line. Trees don’t grow like that.” Staying crouched, she shuffled to the side. “There’s a big space starting there where I can’t feel the same thing. Let me test out an idea.” In small increments, she moved little by little until she forced me to step out of her way.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She lifted her head, a broad grin of hope spreading on her face. “There’s a very specific space in between there and here. The settlers would have had a way to get in and out as well as a place to close off. In other words—”

  “A gate,” Rissa and Cate announced at the same time.

  Dani appeared on screen and held up a notebook in her hand. She read out a line of the clue in a clear voice. “A stronghold is the finest guard, once through the gate and cross the yard.”

  “The thread of connection I’ve got tells me to go straight that way.” Charli tilted her head in the direction in front of us.

  The stillness of the air nagged at me. “Let’s take deliberate steps and watch out for anything that’s not right,” I cautioned, being careful to have my talents at the ready but not accidentally cook the spell phone in my fingers.

  Rissa offered her own suggestion. “Maybe we should go through the rest of the lines of the clue to see—”

  What we witnessed next stopped us all cold. One second, Charli took the lead and walked forward. And the next, her entire body disappeared from view.

  Chapter Ten

  The rest of us girls stood in anxious silence while a cacophony of concern erupted over the phone.

  “What happened to Charli?” Mason asked after using an authoritative tone to get everyone to quiet down.

  “I-I don’t know,” I stammered, staring at the space where she had been. “She’s just…gone.”

  Cate spoke first, her eyes wide and staring at where our friend wasn’t. “What do we do now?”

  Several different suggestions tumbled out of the phone at the same time, making it hard to discern what anyone said. Auggie shouted to be heard, but her loud demands caused others to speak louder. Their panic did nothing to solve the problem, so I turned down the volume and muted our side, aiming the camera at my feet.

  “Anyone got any good ideas?” I asked Cate, Rissa, and Crystal. “Because either we go after Charli and something happens to us, too, or we let her stay lost while we go get help. Neither of those options work for me.”

  Crystal dug her phone out of her pocket. “Whatever we decide, let’s get some of them headed this way to meet us wherever we can dock on the mainland of Bellfort. We might need help.” She took a few paces away to speak to Odie.

  With her eyes closed, Rissa mumbled words to herself until I forced her to speak out loud. She huffed. “I think we’re missing something in the clue. We found what we think is the gate, and your friend presumably walked through it to cross the yard.”

  “Would there have been the space for a house and yard right after the entrance to the fort?” My head failed to come up with a good picture of what things might look like several centuries ago.

  “No, I think the term refers to the communal space with things that everyone would use, like a well or a storehouse. Bigger colonial settlements would build places to gather or worship, like a town square,” the educational director explained.

  Daring a glance at Charli’s phone, I knew I couldn’t keep everyone at bay for much longer. “So, she walked through the gate, into the yard. What’s the next part?”

  Rissa closed her eyes and recited, “Stay on the path and use your charm to not come into any harm, Three clear notes in perfect chime will keep you from a hole in time.”

  Working as fast as I could, I pulled out the words that stood out. “Path. Charm. Harm. That sounds like there really might be a trap set.”

  “I thought you said that only happened in the movies,” Cate uttered. “You don’t think Charli disappearing is part of one, do you?”

  Something at the edge of it all tugged at me. I asked Rissa to repeat the las
t part after harm. “Okay, the perfect chime has to be something. But I think the key word is hole.”

  “Maybe she fell into quicksand,” Cate panicked. “We should try to help her.”

  I held her fast by the arm. “But what if you cross the same distance and disappear, too. No, there’s something strange about…” I snapped my fingers and took my phone off mute. “I think I’ve got it. Charli has fallen into a booby trap. Just not a physical one. A magical one. The clue says to use your charm. I think it means to use magic. Hold on.”

  Ignoring the shrieks of warnings, I barged forward, following in the direction we lost Charli. Light tingles pressed against my skin, and the world around me turned a duller, drab color as if I’d slipped on sunglasses over my eyes. Charli stood in front of me, flapping and waving her arms like a crazy woman.

  “Why are you doing that?” I asked.

  She stopped and blew out a hard breath. “Oh good, you can see me? I seem to be stuck in some place that’s here but not here. I could sort of see and hear you, but none of you responded.”

  “Yeah, you disappeared. There are a whole lot of worried people sitting in my house right now. Well, chances are Mason’s on his way to Bellfort to come and find you.” I turned to find Rissa and Crystal yelling at each other while Cate crouched back down to place her hands on the ground again.

  “Pixie poop, I just realized you’re stuck with me, too,” Charli exclaimed. “Unless you have some brilliant idea of what the words of the clue mean.”

  “Well, I think we’re in a hole in time. A time pocket?” I closed the distance between us and asked Charli to hold up the original parchment. “See? Where it says charm, I think it means magic’s involved. Which I guess makes sense. If you’re a pirate witch, you’re going to come up with ways to thwart others. But if you want someone with powers to find the treasure someday, you have to give them a way out, too.”