Bark Side of the Moon: A Paranormal Animal Cozy Mystery (Spellbound Hound Magic and Mystery Book 3) by Jeannie Wycherley

Author:Jeannie Wycherley [Wycherley, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bark at the Moon Books
Published: 2020-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

“The Ministry of Witches spent months and months planning this operation. All the while Miranda was building her networks across East Devon and searching for the tree, our side was planning a template that I would work to. They’d predicted that there would be a coup of some sort at Temperance House, and quite quickly that began to take shape. People I had trusted for decades began to accuse me of wrongdoing. At meetings I would be shouted down.”

“I met Jacqueline Naseby. She told me that you became a difficult man.”

“Ah, Lady Jacqueline. Yes. Lies and misinformation. Miranda’s supporters spread fake news throughout the coven so that many good and kind witches began to lose faith in me. If you throw enough mud, some of it will stick.”

“You must have found that heart-breaking?” Clarissa commiserated.

“It certainly wasn’t easy,” Old Joe acknowledged. “But it had been anticipated and we let it happen. I was voted out and retreated here to my little house to await the next stage.”

“That must have been before I came along to cheer you up,” Toby wagged his tail.

“Not very long before,” Old Joe agreed. “But again, we’re jumping ahead.” He stared into the distance a while, as though gauging where he was in the story. “The Ministry of Witches knew that Miranda was getting close, so the next part of my mission was to set up the trap.”

“You took the stones out of the tree!” Toby’s eyes glowed. “And hid them!”

“I did. I went up to Bucklebeare Wood in the Blackdown Hills to meet with Grappletwigs and her sons and we discussed the plan in detail. While I can’t say Grappletwigs was best pleased at the idea of setting the stones free into the world, she understood the logic of what we were doing. Magic and witchcraft are wholly subjective and therefore difficult to police and make laws for. What one witch might back away from, another will embrace wholeheartedly. Miranda Dervish can only be found guilty under the terms of the Ministry of Witches’ laws if she is discovered to be in breach of the Ethics Code that prevents witches and wizards from making a grab for dark power that in turn will exploit masses of mundane people.”

“So she has to be caught red-handed, you mean?” Clarissa asked.

“Yes, seeking to unleash the power that Jebediah’s tree has invested inside it.”

“Then—”

Old Joe sensed Clarissa’s next question and he held his hand up to stop her. “I feel it’s important that you know all the facts before we look at what you might do next,” he explained.

Clarissa sighed in frustration, altering her sitting position. “Of course,” she acquiesced.

“Grappletwigs was reluctant to see the back of any of the stones—”

“I’ll bet that’s what’s known as an understatement,” Toby quipped, well able to imagine Grappletwigs’ obstinate and furious disapproval.

“So, we negotiated that I would take half. I took the three from the top. The Four Stone, The Five Stone and The Six Stone. I gave them to people I would trust with my life.

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