Witches vs. Aliens Read online

  “Yeah, well, I’ve never really been able to see what the rest of you see.” Rose looked up from her computer screen as she spoke. “I can’t imagine Lainswich does either. If everyone is seeing these lights, I doubt it’s faeries.”

  “I think Nadine would still vote otherwise.”

  “Probably,” Rose agreed. “Mom will probably swear that it’s aliens.”

  It was Rowen’s turn to laugh. That definitely sounded like Lydia. “Yeah, probably.” She walked around the desk to take a look at Rose’s work. The video was attached to the article. The mouse hovered over the button that would publish the whole thing. “But, I mean, maybe it is.”

  Rose looked up from the screen, one of her sparse dark eyebrows arched. “Don’t tell me you actually believe in all that nonsense.”

  Rowen shrugged. “People tend not to believe in us, and obviously we’re real,” she pointed out. “Besides, space aliens aren’t exactly outside the realm of possibility. I mean, it would be pretty arrogant to think we’re the only life in the entire universe.”

  “True,” Rose conceded. “But it’s a big universe. It’s unlikely we would even meet each other during the combined lifetimes of our species. I’d sooner believe it was faeries. Maybe they decide who can see them. From what I’ve heard, they’re jerks.”

  “You’ve seen it for yourself.” Rowen’s thoughts drifted back to Nadine trying to teach all the children how to work with faeries. It had started in optimistic fascination and ended with their toy box on fire. Any faerie business had been relegated to the outdoors after that. The whole family still did their regular backyard rituals to thank nature spirits and the like, but that was it. Nadine was still the only family member working directly with the fae.

  “Then maybe they’re messing with Lainswich.” Rose clicked her mouse, publishing the article and video. “I still think it’s the military, though.”

  “I hope not. That they know enough about Lainswich to see the benefits of testing here would have some nasty implications.”

  “Noted… Well, either way, this is going to get us a lot of traffic. I don’t think Channel 2 has video as good as this one. Not that they’re really covering the story… Benji didn’t sell them this video too, did he?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure it’s all ours.”

  “An exclusive.” Rose smiled. “Nice.”

  “It’ll be big.”

  “I almost hope it isn’t. Ben won’t thank me for it if it blows up.”

  “Why?” Rowen asked before she could give much thought to the matter. “He doesn’t believe it’s aliens either I take it.”

  “People have been calling the police station nonstop about the lights. They want to know if he knows—which, of course, he does. Then they want to know what he plans to do about it. And, I mean, it’s not like there’s really anything he can do about it. He’s looked into the matter, but he hasn’t found much in the way of answers.”

  “So, it’s not the military then?”

  “They haven’t told him if it is. Of course, I’m not sure they would. If they’re testing some kind of top secret equipment, they’re probably not going to answer the casual inquiries of a police chief who’s married to a woman that runs the town’s local paper.”

  “Fair enough.” Rowen was reminded of something Jasper had said. “Are they building a military base in Tarricville?”

  “Hmm?” Rose looked up from her computer screen. She was scrolling down, likely checking the page to make sure there were no mistakes. She did that obsessively from time to time. “I haven’t heard anything about that. Tarricville is kind of out of my realm of expertise.” She motioned to the computer screen. Their paper was a local one. It only really covered news from Lainswich.

  “It could be related, don’t you think? I mean, if there are military aircraft coming through here… You should ask Ben.”

  “Who should ask me what?” Ben pushed the door open to the office. His arrival was more than a little unexpected. Even his wife seemed surprised to see him.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Rose, standing in order to give her husband a hug and a kiss in greeting.

  Rowen’s eyes strayed to the door. It wasn’t just Ben who had arrived unannounced. Detective Sutton had come with him. He closed the door and stood in front of it, his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a tan trench coat. His brown hair was pushed back and his beard was unshaven. The set of his jaw suggested either his disapproval for the husband and wife’s greeting or just that he didn’t want to be there. It was probably a bit of both. He didn’t much care for the Greensmiths. Despite all the evidence that should have had him believing otherwise, he still didn’t believe in magic or witches. He thought the Greensmiths were a bunch of con artists.

  “Long time no see,” said Rowen, cracking a forced smile in Sutton’s direction.

  Sutton just grunted in response. God, did Rowen hate that man. Ben swore he was good at his job. That was why he had specially chosen him as his second in command. Rowen had her doubts about him. He was just too negative. Surely there had been a better choice.

  Ben released his wife from their hug and went to sit in front of her desk. He had managed to ditch the cane from back when he’d been shot. He still had some difficulty getting around though. Not that he would complain about it, especially not to his wife, but it was obvious either way. He had to sit down quite a lot. The cane probably would have been handy for a couple more months while he went to rehab for his leg. Rowen imagined Rose bothered him about it enough. It certainly wasn’t her place to say anything. “So, what was it you were going to ask me?”

  Rose sat back down. “Oh, right. Well, Rowen wanted to know if they built a military base in Tarricville. Apparently, Jasper said there was a lot of construction there.”

  “I haven’t heard anything about it.” Ben looked back to Sutton. “What about you?”

  Sutton had lived and worked in Tarricville before taking a job in Lainswich. He undoubtedly still had some contacts back in those parts. He tilted his head slightly, as if considering the question. “Dunno. Haven’t heard about a military base. I think I heard something about them building a big warehouse for some dot com company.”

  Ben turned back to Rose. “Well, there you go.”

  “I still think it’s military,” Rose insisted.

  “Could be,” Ben replied with a nod. “If it is, they’re not telling me—and that’s the problem.” He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes were closed and his expression was pained, like he had a headache coming on. “I was wondering if I could take a look at that footage from yesterday.”

  “Really?” Rose raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t seem interested in it last night.”

  “Yes, well, that was before I realized I had another full day of concerned citizens calling ahead of me. I’m not sure if they’re scared or excited. It’s like each one thinks they’re the first person to call in about it.”

  “You didn’t have to come in. You should have called. I put it up on the blog just now.” Rose smiled. “Not that I’m ever upset about it when you decide to visit.”

  “Of course they put in on the blog already,” Sutton grumbled.

  Ben looked back at Sutton. Rowen didn’t catch his expression, but it must have been stern. Sutton looked away and didn’t say anything else. Rose watched with a frown, but finally she stood and motioned for her husband to come around the desk again. She patted the back of her empty chair. “Come sit over here. I’ll show it to you.”

  “I can stand, you know,” Ben complained. Though, when Rose didn’t take her seat back, he sat down anyway. He hit play and watched it on loop a few times. Rowen winced, hearing everyone squabbling over and over.

  “You should have dubbed over the video with music or something.” Rowen was ashamed she hadn’t thought of that before now. “Is it too late to dub over the whole thing with music?”

  “Yes, it is.” Rose answered her immedia
tely. “Besides, the footage is much better untouched.”

  “The footage would be more useful if you hadn’t put it up on the internet for everyone to see,” said Sutton.

  At this point, even Rose was starting to look a little annoyed with the man. “It’s not like the entire town isn’t aware of this already. Besides, Channel 2 will have footage soon enough. When that happens, it’ll be broadcasting on the television and their website. It’s not like ignoring the story will make all of this go away. It’s just a hot topic right now. What harm are we doing?”

  “You could cause a panic,” said Sutton.

  Rowen couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you kidding? Folks are camped outside at night oohing and ahhing at this stuff. They’re not afraid. They’re just fascinated.”

  “Well, their fascination is eating up a lot of police resources.”

  “They’ll chill out in a few days. I’m sorry it’s such a burden for you to do your job.” Rowen might have gone a little too far with that one. She turned to Ben. “Sorry, Ben. I know you’re doing your part already.”

  Ben opened his mouth to respond, but the door swung open before he could. Sutton was still standing near the doorway, so the opening door didn’t get far before it punched him in the back with the knob. He hissed in pain and stepped aside. Willow came rushing through the door. She only spared Sutton a brief glance, like she couldn’t quite determine why he was wincing. She didn’t spend long musing, instead looking to Ben and her cousins. “Margo told me you guys just got here. What’s up? Is it about the alien stuff? Have they made first contact?”

  Sutton’s grumbling turned to laughter. He muttered something under his breath while shaking his head. He was no doubt laughing at the Greensmiths and the improbable things they sometimes believed.

  “Did I say something funny?” Willow fixed Sutton with narrowed eyes and arms folded in front of herself. “First contact has to happen sometime. Maybe it already happened. Either way, if it was going to happen somewhere, Lainswich is a more likely place than most.” She did have a point with that. It wasn’t like there was any shortage of strange occurrences in Lainswich.

  The door swung open a second time and Margo stepped in. Her hair looked different than when Rowen had last seen her less than half an hour ago. Her lips were a little redder too. She smiled at Sutton. “I know. They can be ridiculous sometimes. Me, I think it’s just ball lightning.”

  It was a real effort not to groan. Margo was being flirty with Sutton. Rowen could tell. She wanted to say as much, but it really wasn’t her place. “It’s not ball lightning,” snapped Willow.

  “I have to agree,” said Ben with a nod, getting everyone’s attention. “It certainly doesn’t look like any kind of lightning.” He motioned Sutton over.

  Sutton took a deep breath and did as he was told. It was hard to tell how he felt about his boss. Rowen couldn’t help but be a little worried that he hoped to take his job from him. Have faith in Ben, she always told herself when she started to get anxious about it. He was an intelligent guy. He had hired Sutton for a reason. Despite his relationship with the Greensmiths, Lainswich still, more or less, liked Ben.

  Sutton didn’t say anything as he watched the video. His expression remained impassive. Eventually, Willow joined everyone behind the desk. She pointed a finger at the monitor. “See there? Lightning doesn’t move like that. It’s not faeries either.”

  Sutton looked up and at Willow. “Are you being serious right now?”

  “About it not being lightning or faeries? Yeah.”

  “Her mom would say it was faeries,” Rowen clarified, not that that made anything easier to swallow for Sutton. His dismayed expression just turned on her instead of Willow. Rowen wasn’t embarrassed by her families’ beliefs. She certainly didn’t care what Sutton thought. “Aunt Nadine isn’t really into being out in the woods and stuff. Faeries are kind of her thing.”

  “Right,” Sutton said slowly, rolling his eyes.

  “Why would she think it was faeries?” asked Ben, not a hint of incredulousness on his face as he looked to Rowen.

  “She hasn’t actually said faeries yet. As far as I know, she hasn’t seen the lights in the sky. We haven’t talked with her about them either.”

  Ben nodded. “It might be worth getting her opinions on the footage.”

  “You’re kidding.” Sutton stared at Ben now.

  “I don’t think it’s faeries either,” said Rose, as if Sutton hadn’t said anything at all. “I can’t really see faeries. I don’t have any of the Greensmith blood in me. The same goes for the rest of this town, I would imagine. I don’t know how everyone would see these lights if they were faeries, much less catch it all on film. I mean, there’s a reason why there isn’t any reliable footage of a fairy out there.”

  “Possibly because they don’t exist?” Sutton ventured. “It’s neat that only you Greensmiths can see them, by the way. That’s convenient.”

  “Enough,” Ben said, raising his voice for the first time. He pointed to the door. “Go wait outside.”

  “Chief-” began Sutton. He didn’t get more than that out as Ben cut him off.

  “Outside,” Ben repeated, pointing more emphatically to the door. “We’ll talk in the car.”

  Sutton sighed heavily. Rowen could see his fists clench at his sides. He went without arguing anymore. Margo opened the door for him and followed him on his way out.

  “She has a crush on him. I have no idea why,” Rowen said once they were both gone.

  “Seriously?” Willow wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like Jasper much, but he’s a heck of a lot better than Sutton.”

  Rowen turned on her cousin. “Why don’t you like Jasper? He’s a nice guy.”

  “None of this is really my business,” Ben said quickly. He was clearly trying to defuse the situation. Rowen couldn’t blame him for that. He was on the clock. This wasn’t exactly appropriate work talk. “Think you can put a copy of this footage on a flash drive for me?”

  “Sure.” Rose opened a drawer and pulled out a flash drive. She plugged the thing in then leaned across her husband to copy the file. “It could be heat lightning,” she offered.

  Willow groaned noisily. “It’s not heat lightning! It’s not even hot out!”

  “Heat lighting isn’t caused by heat. It’s just lightning that’s far away, like in the upper atmosphere or something.”

  “Well, it’s not that either.”

  “I’ll send the footage to some expert and have them take a look,” Ben promised, again defusing the conversation. He took the flash drive when Rose offered it to him. “Thanks for this. I’d appreciate it if you had a word with Nadine.”

  Willow sighed heavily, like she was tired of trying to get the truth of things across. “We’ll do that,” Rose promised. There was a smile on her face. Rowen was happy for her, happy she had a husband who didn’t think she was completely insane for believing in the things she believed in. Ben had seen enough proof not to doubt them by now. Unlike Sutton, he didn’t dream up unlikely explanations to explain it away.

  With one last kiss, Ben headed to the door. “We’ll look at this from every angle,” he assured Willow as he passed her by. Willow gave a little huff, like she knew he was just trying to humor her.

  “I’ll walk you out.” Rowen moved quickly and opened the door for him.

  “That’s not necessary. I can get around just fine on my own now, you know.”

  “I’m sure you can,” Rowen lied. She still had her doubts about how much he had healed up. “I’m just tagging along to make sure Margo isn’t doing… anything Margo usually does.”

  “Ah.” No further explanation seemed to be necessary.

  ***

  Margo and Sutton were to the left of the Inquirer’s front door. The police car was parked only a few feet away. Sutton had been told to wait there, but instead he was smoking a cigarette with Margo. The latter was giggling at something he had just said. It was fake. Rowen could tell. Margo did
n’t giggle.

  “All done,” Rowen said, speaking from the diaphragm so that her voice carried.

  Sutton looked up. He dropped his cigarette and ground it out beneath his heel. “Ready to go?” He looked past Rowen and to his boss.

  “We are as soon as you pick up that cigarette butt.” Ben nodded to the litter on the ground. Sutton’s face immediately flushed. Rowen would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the sight a little. It was very difficult not to smile.

  “It’s fine,” Margo said quickly. “This is our part of the sidewalk to look after. We sweep it up every day. It’s really not a problem.”

  Rowen hoped Margo meant to clean it up as soon as Ben and Sutton had gone. She certainly wouldn’t be cleaning up Sutton’s trash. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. Sutton picked up his smoldering cigarette butt and took it to the nearest combination ash tray and trashcan. “Sorry about him,” Ben said, quietly.

  Sutton returned. “Thanks for the cigarette,” he said to Margo before getting into the police car.

  “Anytime,” Margo assured him with a smile.

  Soon, the car was pulling away. Rowen watched it turn onto the main road before she put her hands on her hips and faced Margo. “Are you kidding me with this?”

  Margo’s eyebrows knitted together. A hand fluttered to her chest like she was both flabbergasted and prematurely offended by any accusations that might be forthcoming. “What?” she asked, her voice an octave higher than normal, innocent.

  “Don’t do that.” Rowen was sure Margo knew exactly what it was she was doing. “You’re flirting with Sutton.”

  “I am not!”

  “Oh, come on. You’re flirting with Sutton and you know it.” Rowen didn’t like it when Margo played dumb. She could be so manipulative when she wanted to be. It was second nature for her. Pushing her will onto men had always been one of her special talents. Rowen had never really approved of it, especially when she tried to do the same sort of thing with family. They were all wise to her. She had to know that, and yet she kept on trying to pull the wool over their eyes whenever there was an opportunity. “If you’re going to flirt, don’t you think you should at least break up with Jasper first? It’s really unfair to him, and the last thing we need is to start a new feud with the Stonewalls.” There was enough tension between the two magical families as it was. They had reached an unsteady sort of truce only recently. The last thing Rowen wanted was to get the antagonistic relationship between them all started up again.