5 A Charming Magic (12 page)

“Tell him Arabella. Tell him that it’s not too much to have my flowers for a wedding, say
tomorrow
.” Petunia didn’t even notice the glances and glares Arabella and Gerald were giving each other, but I sure did.

“Tomorrow?” Arabella’s perfectly manicured brows rose. She shot Gerald a look. She crossed her arms in front of her. “Why don’t we sleep on this? I’m sure you will feel better in the morning. Isn’t that right,
Madame President
?” She beamed at me. The moonbeam darkened. A clap of thunder rose.

“I say we see what the weather does.” I shrugged.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing what Oscar would be doing.” There was a glint in her eye and I darn well knew why.

“I’m out of here.” There was no need for me to stay around and listen to her badger me. I had better things to do like call Oscar and get in touch with KJ.

“Toodles.” Arabella drummed her fingers in the air with a big smile planted on her face.

Did she not feel the tension around us? The evil? Was it because she put it there? The question of her being a Dark-Sider nagged at me. I figured she was a Good-Sider since her grandmother was Mary Lynn.

“Toodles,” I bit back, narrowing my eyes.

Petunia and Gerald didn’t even seem to notice. They were halfway down the hill heading for home so they didn’t even see Arabella taunt me.

“Brush it off,” Madame Torres quipped when I flung my bag over my shoulder.

Brushing it off was easier said than done. I cursed Arabella the entire way home, but quickly forgot about her when I got on my comfy glow-in-the-dark bat pajamas and eased into bed.

Mewlll, meow.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped on the bed and batted at my bracelet.

“I almost forgot.” I peeled the covers back and planted my feet on the ground. I had limited time when I could put the call out into the night wind for KJ and I had to have some answers.

I grabbed my coat, slipped on my shoes and with Mr. Prince Charming closely behind me, we headed outside.

The brisk air wasn’t a refreshing nip on my nose, it was a bleak bit that stole my breath every time I sucked in air. I licked my finger and stuck my arm way high above my head trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing. A few tries and I felt a shift when I pointed northwest of the village.

“KJ if you can hear me, please come visit me now. This is of the upmost importance to Whispering Falls.” The nagging thought of the spiders he had left bothered me and I needed some answers.

Before I turned around to walk back to the house, a blast of air followed up by flurry of heat swept my hair away from my face, leaving me with a warm wisp of air.

KJ stood before me.

“Hey June.” His black eyes pierced through the night. His teeth were much whiter in the dark. He laughed and pointed at my legs where you could see the bottoms of my pajamas. “Yep. Glow-in-the-dark, cool.”

“Right.” I looked down. “Listen, about those spiders.”

“Spiders?” An inquisitive look crossed his face.

“Yea, the jar of spiders you left for me.”

“I didn’t leave you any spiders. Did you order spiders?” He looked up as if he was trying to recall my last order.

“No, but you left a note.” I reminded him.

He shook his head. His long dark hair swung from side to side. “Nope. I didn’t leave you any spiders.”

“But there was a note.” Panic made my heart race.

“I never leave notes either.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest. The serious look on his face told me he was not joking around.

“Ok. Thanks. That is all I wanted.” Shaken I slowly walked back to my house. When Mr. Prince Charming and I got back on the porch, I turned around to tell KJ goodbye, but he was already gone.

“What is going on?” I asked Mr. Prince Charming. “The flowers, the spiders, things dying.” I shook my head hoping I was going to get some sleep tonight.

Chapter Thirteen

All night long I twisted and turned. I wasn’t sure what disturbed me most: Petunia and Gerald fighting, Gerald being so secretive on why he didn’t want to hurry up and have the wedding, the secret that was obvious between Gerald and Arabella, or the fact Arabella was trying to get her hands on Oscar or get my goat.

The more I tried to theorize it in my head, the more and more confused I had gotten.

The only person I could go to for advice that wouldn’t be busy with a shop was Eloise Sandlewood. Not only would she give me sound, solid advice, she would be able to help me with my confusion.

Eloise had become my surrogate mom in the spiritual world and had been Darla’s best friend when my parents lived in Whispering Falls for a brief time. Once I discovered my lineage of being a spiritualist, I found out that Eloise was also Oscar’s aunt.

Since he’d lost his powers, we had slowly been telling him about his heritage and family. He was very excited to see Eloise’s very cool tree house that was deep in the woods on the outskirts of town—a little bit beyond my cottage house.

The black night sky had turned into a dull grey by morning, making my intuition alarm me that it was more than just a weather pattern. There was definite evil that lingered all throughout the village.

“Get me out of here.” Madame Torres chirped from deep in my bag as I made my way out the door. There was no way I could start my day without talking to Eloise first.

“What is your problem?” I pulled Madame Torres out of my bag right at the moment I saw Mr. Prince Charming’s tail darting above the tall grass in front of us. It looked as though he was pouncing side to side, front to back.

“Look at that stupid cat.” Madame Torres’s face appeared in the globe. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Mr. Prince Charming. “Maybe he will eat something with rabies.”

“That is not a nice thing to say,” I warned her as we made our way to the woods. I needed advice. I needed answers to my questions that seemed to be piling up. “I need both of you.”

Madame Torres and Mr. Prince Charming were always trying to see who could one-up the other in the spiritual department of keeping me safe. It was like I was a mom of two spoiled children who played the “she loves me more” game.

“Mr. Prince Charming!” I yelled over his way. His tail stopped and he darted off the other way. “Damn cat,” I grumbled watching him race as fast as he could out of sight. Thank goodness Madame Torres didn’t have legs to run from me. She was good enough at disappearing for days in her glass globe when she got mad at me.

“I need you to find out what is going on with Gerald. He’s holding a deep secret,” I told Madame Torres. If anyone could figure out what was going on, she would. The globe went dark. I put her back in my bag and continued through the thick heavy brush leading the way to Eloise’s house.

Once I made it to the clearing of the woods, I could see the back of Eloise’s tree house. It was early in the morning which was prime picking time for her garden where she grew the fresh herbs she used in her morning cleanse.

Eloise’s spiritual job was to walk down Main Street in the early morning before the crow crowed or any shops were open and cleanse Whispering Falls with her incenses. I would swear that was why Whispering Falls always had perfect weather. Never too hot, never too cold, never too rainy. Everything was perfect and exactly like it should be.

The gravel walkway around the tree house was magical. The Singing Pettles, a beautiful flower, sang with each of my steps. “Hmmm. Lalalllaaa,” they chirped one-by-one. Lanterns hung down from the overlying branches above my head that guided my path.

“Eloise?” I called when I got to the end, near the gazebo. The smell of freshly-brewed tea along with two cups sat on the table along with a tiered tray of pastries.

“There you are.” Eloise popped up from a row of Drowsy Daisy which happened to be Darla’s favorite flower. Eloise rubbed her hands together and spread her arms out over the sides of the path as she walked up to greet me. Hot pink sprinkles of fairy dust fell from the palms of her hands over the garden rows bringing every single flower and herb to life. “I’ve been expecting you.” She pointed to the gazebo. Her short red hair glistened in the colorful arrangement of flowers as she sped down the pathway to greet me. Her long black cloak floated behind her. The green in her emerald eyes sparkled with glee. “I thought I would have something prepared for our little visit this morning.”

Eloise always knew when she was going to have company. She was always prepared and a gracious hostess.

“Tell me,” she picked up the floral teapot and poured some in each cup. “What’s the pleasure that brings you by?”

Twinkly lights dripped from the ceiling of the gazebo adding to the already magical effect Eloise’s garden had on me and the fact she was able to bring any dead flower back to life. She was nothing short of amazing.

“Oh Eloise.” There went the waterworks and I buried my head in my arms that were resting on the table. The more I wanted to talk about Mr. Prince Charming, seeing her made me think of Oscar. “Will he ever love me again?”

“June, you mustn’t cry.” Eloise walked over to me and stroked my hair. “He does love you.”

“I mean really love me like Gerald and Petunia?” There it was. I had finally said it out loud. Everything I had ever wanted for all of my life and to see someone else get it was truly hard.

“You are happy for Gerald and Petunia, aren’t you?” Eloise asked a very good question.

I dragged my head off the café table and sat up.

“I…” I had to think about her question again before I answered. “I’m jealous.”

“Yes, dear, you are.” She proceeded back to the other side of the table and in one swoosh, her cloak was displayed around her as she sat in the chair. “Are you feeling a little…” She searched for a word as she waved her hand in the air. “Cloudy? Yes, cloudy is a good word to describe how you might be feeling.”

“Yes!” I snapped my fingers. I knew Eloise was going to help me. Feeling much better, I took one of the croissants and ate it in one bite. “But I have to say I’m blaming it on Arabella Paxton.”

“The flower girl.” Eloise nodded. “She’s a little feisty one, but harmless.”

“Harmless?” Shock covered my face. “She’s far from harmless. She sent me flowers making me believe they were from Oscar. She sent Petunia orchids with my name on it which I did not send. And she and Gerald were all secretive in a little conversation they were having.”

I left out the part about how she had talked Oscar into a lunch discussing security when Arabella knew perfectly well that Oscar was not a spiritualist anymore and he couldn’t put a security system in any shop with a ten-foot pole. That had to be approved by the council and the work had to be done by another spiritualist. She was just trying to get her claws into him.

“She is trying to defy all the rules.” I smacked my hand on the table.

“And what about you? Are you keeping up with the rules?” she asked.

“No! No she is not.” Mary Lynn floated above the Peking China Rosebed. She released her crossed legs and descended to the ground. Her pointy, black-heeled, laced-up black boots clicked when her feet touched the ground. “If I’m not mistaken, you have been using ingredients banned and from the ‘do not use’ list while creating an illegal potion.”

“I’m not creating an illegal potion.” I jumped up. Mary Lynn was going to take her granddaughter’s side no matter what.

“Oh?” Mary Lynn reached out and grabbed my hand. She held it up in the air. “What is this? These burns? Burns like these only happen when you are using ingredients from the ‘do not use’ list.”

“June?” Disappointment lingered in Eloise’s emerald eyes, just like it would have in Darla’s. “Is this true?”

“I…” I gulped and straightened my shoulders. “I am not making an illegal potion. Oscar is no longer a spiritualist.”

“He might not be a practicing spiritualist, but we could never erase his blood.” Eloise shook her head like the news of my potion blew her away. “June, you are going to get yourself into hot water if you don’t follow the rules of
your
village.” She let me know without saying how I was the example because I was the President.

“I told you about little Miss Flowerpants.” I rolled my eyes. “She is evil! Pure evil!”

Mary Lynn opened her mouth to protest, but Eloise put her hand out to stop her.

“Does your intuition tell you that?” Eloise asked.

“No.” I looked away. “But what about all the stuff she has done? All the flowers and stuff?”

“What about you distributing mojo bags all over the village?” Mary Lynn had a point.

“How is your intuition?” Eloise tried hard to bring the conversation away from Arabella.

“I guess it’s fine.” I shrugged. I hadn’t thought about it. “I haven’t made anything special but for a daughter of a customer.”

“Daughter of a customer?” Eloise didn’t seem to be buying the story I was selling.

“Yeah, she came in. I couldn’t read her needs to see if she had an underlying issue for me to make a cure for and she told me about her daughter.” I could still see the look of sadness in the woman’s eyes. “That’s when I had the flower delivery I thought was from Oscar.” My mind wandered into his deep blue eyes that I longed to have stare back at me like they had a few months ago.

“I bet you blamed them on Arabella?” Mary Lynn crossed her arms.

Eloise hushed her again.

“What about the delivery had to do with the woman?” Eloise brought me back from my thoughts.

“Oh. I had a weird vision instead of a smell that normally comes to me when I’m making a potion.” I stopped for a second to recall exactly what had happened. “I was making her daughter’s fertility cure and got the delivery. After the delivery I was finishing the cure when a weird vision of this greenery stem with small pink berries on it. It was needed to finish out the potion.”

“Thickeris Plant?” The words left my mouth putting panic in my throat like I had never known.

“Thickeris plant?” Mary Lynn’s lip pursed. “Do not use!”

“Please don’t tell me it was a Thickeris Plant.” Eloise words frightened me more than Mary Lynn’s. “It’s a banned spiritualist herb. It will cause grave harm to whoever it is intended for.”