Mahogany and Tony sat together on a bench in Pandemonium's park. The air was so thick with butterflies that it appeared like a field of flowers had taken flight. Their tiny winged bodies bumped and glided on beams of the setting sun scented with the blush of jasmine blossoms.
Tony turned to her, his hazel eyes sparkling in the fading summer light. He placed a golden hand on Mahogany's umber cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. As their lips touched, a thrill ran through Mahogany, making her toes curl. Her breath caught in her throat, and she pressed herself into his warm frame. Tony took his free hand, grabbed Mahogany's waist, and pulled her into him until she couldn't tell where he ended and she began.
Mahogany repositioned herself, so she wrapped her legs around Tony's middle. His mouth moved from her lips to her neck, kissing and love-biting, causing Mahogany to gasp in pain and excitement. How long had it been since another being had touched her like this, touched her at all?
Tony pulled away and began undoing Mahogany's shirt with the deftness of someone well practiced at undressing others. The evening breeze caught Mahogany's neck and chilled the area where Tony had left his mark. She closed her eyes, relishing in the glow of the moment.
The blare of Mahogany's alarm startled her awake at 6 a.m. She slammed the alarm with her hand, quieting its insentient beeping. Next to her sleep-tousled pink hair, Bazgul was curled up, snoring, but instead of a fuzzy spider, he'd remained in slimy toad form. A puddle smelling of ripe pond water dampened the pillow case beneath him, wetting Mahogany's neck.
"Good morning, sunshine," Guy said as he materialized through her bedroom door. His radiant smile froze on his face when his gaze fell upon Mahogany's bedraggled form. "Good gods! You look awful," he said. "And, by the way, what's up with Bazgul?"
"Guy," Mahogany said, scrubbing sleep from her eyes with the heel of her hand, "what's the rule?"
"Never float through a closed door without permission." Guy's gaze fell to the floor. "Apologies."
Mahogany threw back the covers. "Well?"
"I'll just go then." Guy pointed over his shoulder at the bedroom door.
"Great."
Guy floated back into the hallway. "There's coffee when you're ready," he called, the Mahogany's bedroom wall muffling his voice.
Mahogany sighed but didn't respond. She opened the closet and shuffled through her clothes, irritated by everything she saw. With another heavy breath, she settled on a pair of dark leggings, a sweater tank-top, and a loose belt. She then headed to the bathroom to wrangle her kinky hair into submission.
With an appraising look in the mirror, Mahogany straightened her pentagram charm on its chain and headed downstairs. The loving scent of coffee greeted her as she entered the kitchen. She beelined to the steaming carafe and filled the waiting mug on the counter.
"So," Guy said, startling Mahogany, who gave a small yelp. "I thought we could go check out the wishing well by the old beach road."
"Did you?" Mahogany said, delivering enough milk into her coffee to bleach it a light tan color.
"Since my brief stay in Pandemonium as a living person didn't allow me to see the sights, I thought you could be my guide," Guy said, his tone chipper. "After all, where you go, I go."
A small pit of resentment formed in Mahogany's chest as she heaped enough sugar into her mug to make a diabetic fall into a coma.
Guy studied Mahogany's expression as she stirred the light, sweet substance in her mug.
"If you don't like the wishing well, we could check out the stone circle or the cemetery? Maybe there are other ghosts there?" Guy smiled, but Mahogany didn't see any warmth in it.
Mahogany sipped her coffee and remained silent.
"If I could go alone, I would, but there's that pesky thing about me being your ghost and all." Guy's smile raised his cheeks a little further.
"Oh, I'm well aware of the proximity issue." Mahogany thought about all the times she'd tried to ditch Guy. Each time he'd been snapped back to her like a bungee jumper.
"So, what do you say? Wishing well, cemetery, ancient stone circle? I'm open to suggestions."
"I have a better idea." Mahogany threw her head back and gulped her coffee. The copious amount of milk had lowered the temperature, so it didn't burn.
"What's that?" Guy asked. A mocking frown creased his pale forehead.
"We're going to solve your murder." Mahogany slammed the empty mug onto the counter.
Guy gave a wide grin and clapped his hands. "Yeah!"
Mahogany strode over to where her trusty turquoise boots waited and shoved her feet into them with renewed purpose. She was going to send Guy off to wherever he was supposed to go in the afterlife. Someplace far from her where he could bore other undead wizards with his inane conversations.
From the corner of her eye, Mahogany caught a glimpse of Neema in the living room at the writing desk. She placed a crumpled envelope into one of the desk's small draws before locking it with a skeleton key.
"Good morning," Mahogany said.
Neema jumped and shoved the key deep into her jeans pocket. "Oh, Mahogany, I didn't hear you." A blush spread up Neema's neck.
"Sorry." Mahogany stared at Neema, trying to work out the last time she'd seen her blush, and came up empty.
Neema looked at her bare wrist. "Is that the time? Gods! I have so much to do before I open the store." She rushed through the kitchen and into the Haughty Hemlock.
"Well, that was weird," Mahogany said, eying the writing desk.
"What's she have locked in there?" Guy folded his ghostly arms over his chest.
"I know one way to find out." Mahogany copied Guy's stance and glanced from him to the desk.
"How's that?" Guy frowned with confusion.
Mahogany nodded from Guy to the desk. When Guy still didn't pick up on what Mahogany was putting down, she threw her hands into the air.
"You're impossible." She left Guy standing in the kitchen, his puzzled frown growing more profound, and tiptoed into the living room and examined the drawer.
In her haste, Neema hadn't entirely deposited the envelope into the drawer. One white corner poked from the gap where the drawer fitted into the desk.
Mahogany peered over her shoulder at the doorway leading from the living room to the kitchen. She could hear Neema humming from the apothecary. Mahogany grabbed the envelope's corner and shifted it from side to side, maneuvering it out between the gap.
"Oh, I see what you mean," Guy said, joining Mahogany at the desk. "You wanted me to look inside the drawer."
Mahogany had eased the envelope halfway out. A pink rose stamp adored the top right corner. The postmark was from Pandemonium's own post office. The address was written in unfamiliar block lettering.
A loud creak in the kitchen floor froze Mahogany. The envelope gripped tight in her perspiring hands.
Neema's heels clicked across the kitchen tile. One of the cabinets creaked as she opened it. A ceramic mug gave a clink as she set it on the granite counter and began to fill it with coffee. Mahogany held her breath as Neema's heels returned to the store.
"That was close," Guy said. "You better hurry."
"Thanks for the pro tip." Mahogany yanked the letter hard, praying to the gods that it wouldn't rip. The deities on high must have been interested in this little game because the envelope slipped free a second later.
Mahogany glanced at the foreign handwriting. Guy peered over her shoulder.
"That's the brownstone's address," Guy said. "Why in the world would Neema have this?"
"I have no idea," Mahogany said. "She must have taken it from the murder scene when we collected the relics. Do you recognize who it's from?"
Guy read the return address. "Thaddeus Spike? Never heard of him."
"There's a reason Neema took this. We just need to figure out why. But first, we have another task."
"What's that?"
"Do you like libraries?" Mahogany said. She tip-toed back into the kitchen and grabbed her backpack, slipping the envelope into one of the pockets. "Pandemonium has one of Oregon's premier libraries."
"Oh, I love libraries!" Guy said.
"Then you're in for a treat." She headed for the door and gave Bazgul's cat tree a cursory look for the giant spider, but he was nowhere to be found. With a frown, Mahogany exited the house before Neema could put her to work.
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A/N: Now that was one steamy dream! I wonder if Mahogany's dream will come true...
I have dedicated this chapter to my writing pal, @suewrite She has an amazing book called Lizzy and the Land Beyond is some of the best fantasy writing I've read in a long time. Sue has graciously placed the first chapter of her magnum opus here on Wattpad. If you like it, I highly suggest heading over to Amazon to buy the ebook.