Toil and Trouble: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Short Story) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries Book 0) by Sarah Biglow

 
    CHAPTER ONE
     
    A gust of October wind picked up as Kalina Greystone pulled into a free parking spot behind the Olde Main Street Pub in Salem, MA. The gust rattled the windows of the car as she cut the engine and glanced sideways at her teenage nephew, AJ. By all accounts she should be the one who was barely awake—having driven out to the coast to her hometown of Ellesworth to pick him up that afternoon—but he’d passed out as soon as he’d buckled in for the short trip to Salem.
    “Hey, wake up. We’re here.” She nudged him in the shoulder before unbuckling her seatbelt.
    He let out a moan. “What?”
    “AJ, come on. You’re the one who wanted to come to the festival. Wake up.”
    She would never understand teenage boys and their desire to be unconscious for most of the day. She and her sister Jillian had certainly never been like that when they were his age. He yawned and straightened in his seat. The streetlights around the edge of the lot flickered to life around them as the sun sunk lower on the horizon.
    “Sorry, I’m up. Let’s go.”
    The pair climbed from the car and headed past the entrance to the pub to the main thoroughfare of the iconic town. Given the town’s rich history with the occult, it was no surprise the townspeople had embraced the time of year and banked on tourists coming to enjoy the corn mazes and walking tours. Having grown up not far from there, Kalina wasn’t as enamored as AJ but she indulged him because she knew his mother wouldn’t.
    “So what do you want to do first?” she asked and draped an arm around his shoulders.
    He looked around at the throng of people and his mouth dropped open in awe. Town festivals weren’t a new thing as a general concept but the costumed people leading tours and selling trinkets could be a little overwhelming.
    “I don’t know. There’s so much.”
    “We could go on a ghost tour. Or the Witch’s Maze is pretty creepy.”
    “I’m not a little kid, Aunt K., so don’t try to scare me.”
    “I’m only pointing out the things that the teenage boys liked when I was your age.”
    “That makes you sound so old.”
    She swatted him. “I am not old. Now, let’s find something fun to do.”
    “Not a ghost tour,” he said.
    She gave him a side eye and he smiled back at her. “I’m not scared. I just think it would be cooler if we did it later at night. Like when it’s dark out.”
    “Okay. Fine. Witch’s Maze it is.” They started down the street again, this time arm-in-arm.
    “Stupid question but why do they call it that? I mean from what I know about the Witch Trials, they weren’t exactly sending suspected witches into mazes to see if they were supernatural beings.”
    They dodged a group of Girl Scouts clustered around a woman in period dress. “It’s just a name. If I remember right they’ve got a mannequin dressed as a witch at the start and finish of the maze. It’s got all kinds of dead ends that make you think they’re messing with your head.”
    “Cool. Has anyone ever gotten lost in it?”
    “I don’t think so. They’ve got people throughout it to make sure if people do get too turned around there’s someone there to guide them to the exit.”
    “Thanks again for bringing me. Mom thinks it’s silly and a waste of money.”
    “That’s just how your mom is, kiddo. She doesn’t like to believe in the fantastical. She was always more grounded in real life.” Despite her business degree, Kalina considered herself something of a dreamer. She’d love spending her afternoons growing up sequestered in the back room of the family comic book shop reading the latest issues. Her father still owned the place and from what she’d heard it was still going strong, especially with the resurgence in popularity of Marvel and DC. She couldn’t turn a corner without some new show or movie popping up, drawing the masses to it.
    The maze loomed ahead of them, framed beautifully by the twilight skyline. Actual torches lined