A Charming Cure (4 page)

It
was a tall order. But how difficult could it be to sell the items that were
already on the shelf. I wasn’t asking him to make any potions. If there was an
emergency, he could ask Izzy. After all, what could happen in four days?

“What?”
The sip of coffee he took sprayed out and down, all over Mr. Prince Charming.

Hiss,
hiss.
Mr. Prince Charming ran out the cat door that Oscar had installed in the front
door of the shop.

“It’s
not like you can’t do both jobs. Whispering Falls is not a crime-ridden city,”
I reminded him; unless he wanted to count the fact that he had just solved the
murder of one of the village members. But that was water under the bridge. .
.or so I hoped.

“I
can’t mix a cocktail, much less a potion.” Oscar laughed, his eyes dancing. His
smile faded when he realized I wasn’t kidding. “Oh, you aren’t kidding.”

“No
I’m not.” Silence loomed like a heavy mist.

“You’re
not what?” Belle Vanlow questioned as she held the door for the last customer
of the evening.

She
was the closest to my and Oscar’s age that lived in the community. Standing at
five foot two, her blonde hair braided in two pigtails dangling below her round
cheeks, made her look more like twelve years old instead of thirty.

“I
asked Oscar to watch the shop while I’m gone to Hidden Hall.” My eyes darted
back and forth between the two.

She
didn’t question me, so I knew she had already heard the news of Helena and
going to school.

“Yes,
I heard about that.” She flipped the open sign to closed, knowing it was time
to shut down for the night, and then held up a pair of needle-nosed pliers. “I
came by to put your new owl charm on your bracelet.”

“That’s
my cue to leave.” Oscar nodded toward the jewelry stuff. “June, I’ll talk to
you before you leave.”

“Okay.”
I waved knowing, he would make good on his promise. He always did. That was one
great personality trait about Oscar; he always kept his word.

Belle
and I watched him leave.

“Yep,
you seem to have a little something for him.” She grabbed my arm and unclasped
my charm bracelet. “And it doesn’t take an astrologer to figure that out.”

Belle
was the astrologer in the community. Her jewelry shop, Belle’s Baubles, was a
great place for her to have all earthy elements and be able to read people’s
stones. When a customer comes into the store, they think they want a certain stone,
but Belle knows the stone or piece of jewelry that they really need and somehow
talks them into it. They always come back for more.

“Oscar
and I are just good friends.”
Hmm. . .
I admit there did seem to be a
little more interest but it was going to have to wait. There would be no future
if I didn’t get Hidden Hall out of the way and figure out what Petunia heard
from Gerald about my ever-so-endearing Aunt.

“Besides,
there are a lot of things I still need to learn about Whispering Falls and my
abilities before I can bring anyone else into my crazy life.” I pulled a roll
of paper towels out from underneath the counter. I needed to finish cleaning up
for the night and have everything ready to go for Oscar.

As
Belle worked on putting the charm on my bracelet, I rubbed the inside of the
cauldron. As many times as I have done this, there didn’t seem to be a really
good way to clean it.

“Those
darn things never get good and clean do they?” She stopped to watch. Her
pigtails swung in the pot. She grabbed them. Her fingernails were painted light
blue with a tiny star in the middle.

“No
matter what cleaning concoction I put together, I can never seem to get it all
cleaned out.” I gave up and put the tiny bottles of herbs back on the shelf.
Belle followed my lead and helped. After we had them placed back in alphabetic
order, I went down the shelves to make sure they were replenished.

I
had no idea how it was done, but the bottles in A Charming Cure filled up as
you put them in their rightful spot. I didn’t care how the magic happened, I
was just glad it did.

“Let’s
get back to Oscar and this information about him running the store.” Belle put
the bracelet back on my wrist.

I
tucked the ends of my black bob behind my ears, and rubbed my hands down my
apron before reaching around and untying the strings. “Let’s not and say we
did.” I hung the apron on the hook on the wall next to the counter.

“I’m
not talking about the love thing; I’m talking about how he is going to know
what potions to make for the customer.” Her eyes studied me with curiosity.

Back
in Locust Grove where I ran A Dose of Darla out of a flea market booth after
Darla had died, Oscar was with me day and night helping me make all sorts of
cures out of the journal Darla had left me. Little did I know that it was the
Magical Cures Book. However, the cure book only worked for me, since I had the
spiritual gift of knowing what the real cure needed to be. If the book were
stolen or someone else tried to make the cures in it, like Oscar, the cures
would strictly be homeopathic with no extra umph in them.

“Oscar
has been around me long enough to know what cures a sour stomach or a tooth
ache.” That was all Belle needed to know. “But if you could check on him every
once in a while, that would be great. And, it’s only four days. What can happen
in four days?”

“You’d
be surprised,” She muttered under her breath.

Mewl,
Mewl
.
Mr. Prince Charming stood on his hind legs and batted at the dangling bracelet.

“Oh,
that reminds me,” I jogged the bracelet up and down letting him play a little
more. “What does the owl mean anyway?” It didn’t seem like much of a protection
charm like all the other ones that Mr. Prince Charming had given me.

“Umm.
. .” She looked at Mr. Prince Charming. He did figure eights around her ankles.
“It means wisdom. I think the protection behind it is to use your brains and
everything you have learned here in Whispering Falls while you are at Hidden
Hall.”

Wisdom?
If I were so wise, I wouldn’t have to go to school.

Izzy
and Helena caught my eye as they walked out of The Gathering Grove.

“Hey,
let’s go grab a cup of tea.” There wasn’t a better time to question Gerald than
now, especially since Helena just saw him.

“Oh,
I could use some Sleepy Time right now.” Belle agreed and we closed and locked
the shop up behind us.

The
streets were still filled with some visitors getting in the last bit of
shopping or spiritual advice. Even though people didn’t know that Whispering
Falls was magical, it was. And each shop owner added a little touch of advice
or magic to their customers’ purchases.

I
looked into at A Cleansing Spirit Spa, which was next door to Charming Cure,
when we walked by. Chandra Shango’s turban was falling off her head as she
worked on a customer’s fingernails. The customer was taking in everything
Chandra was telling her.

I
smiled, knowing Chandra was giving her a bit of advice since she was a palm
reader and spent more time on messaging their palm during the manicure than the
nails themselves.

Golly
Bee Pet Store was filled with customers and their animals. I could see the live
tree that was inside the store was filled with all sorts of animals. They all
got along. Petunia stood near the cash register with a squirrel on her shoulder
as she talked to a bird that sat on top of the counter.

And
then there was Izzy’s shop, Mystic Lights. The sign was turned to closed so I
was sure she was still with Helena. Izzy was a crystal ball reader and
evidently, I was too. Mystic Lights was where Madame Torres came from. She
glowed every time I went in to visit Izzy, and that was how Madame Torres
picked me. You didn’t pick your ball, or I wouldn’t have the smart-alecky
Madame Torres. Not that she wasn’t great and didn’t do her job, she did. But
she gave me a hard time while doing it.

Finally,
we made it down to The Gathering Grove, Gerald’s tea shop. Mr. Prince Charming
had already gone in.

“What’s
going in there?” I pointed to the empty shop space next to the tea shop. It was
crazy. That wasn’t there this morning. Things happen to appear and disappear in
Whispering Falls with a blink of the eye.

“It
must be a new shop.” Belle put her nose up to the glass and covered her eyes so
she could see in. “Looks like some sort of bakery.”

I
grabbed the handle of the Gathering Grove door and opened it for her to walk in.
“Maybe Gerald is expanding since he has to drive to Locust Grove to get some of
the pastries he sells.”

Belle
shrugged and walked on in.

“Good
evening, ladies.” Gerald took off his top hat and greeted us. “Seat yourself.”

It
was crowded. It was the only place in Whispering Falls to get any type of food.
It was a popular destination for dessert and tea.

We
scored a little table for three in the corner next to the window.

Gerald
came over with a notepad in hand. “Some Sleepy Time for you ladies?”

“Not
for me. I’ll have a decaf and one of the red-velvet cupcakes.” I couldn’t get
enough of those cupcakes. They had become really popular lately and it was
showing on my thighs.

“I’ll
have some Sleepy Time and a red-velvet cupcake as well.” Belle nodded.

“Coming
right up.” Gerald tapped the pad and went back to the counter to retrieve our
order.

“You
love sleepy time.” Belle’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes,
but I leave early for school and I don’t want to miss my alarm.” I grabbed a
napkin from the center of the table and put it in my lap when I saw Gerald
coming with our food. He set the cupcakes and tea on the table.

“Sleepy
Time for you. And a decaf for you.” Gerald twirled his mustache when he was
done. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

I
really didn’t want to do this in front of Belle, but I did anyway.

“Yes,
can you sit down?” I pushed the chair out and patted it for him to sit. “I have
a couple questions about Helena.”

His
eyes bulged from his head. I tried not to stare so I looked into my cup and
noticed the floating tea leaves. I should’ve ordered it strained, because from
what Petunia said, I knew he was reading spiritualist’s leaves without them
knowing. This was rule number one in the village rule book.

You
aren’t allowed to read spiritualists unless they give you permission. Gerald
was a sly one.

“I.
. .um. . .I don’t know what you are talking about.” Gerald cleared his throat.
A sure sign he was lying.

“Gerald,
you know and I know that you read Izzy’s leaves and knew Helena was coming to
town.” I said, and then looked over at Belle when a squeak came out of her
mouth. “Personally I don’t care, but I do care when it has something to do with
me. Helena has everything to do with me.”

He
leaned in and whispered, “Does this mean you are going to tell the village
council since I’m already on trial for my relationship with Petunia?”

Belle
smacked the table. The tea in the small china cups swayed back and forth to the
rim, but never spilled over. “I knew it! I knew there was something going on
between you two.”

I
planted my hand over her mouth. People were starting to stare at us.

“Shh.
I’m not talking about that right now. I’m talking about Helena and Izzy.” I
took my hand away, and turned back to Gerald. “I’ll make a deal with you. You
tell me about the reading that only pertains to me and I will put in a good
word about you and Petunia. Plus, I’ll keep my mouth shut about you reading
Izzy’s leaves.”

Without
hesitation, Gerald stuck his hand over the table. “Deal.”

We
shook on it.

“Normally
I don’t read leaves, but for some strange reason I looked at Izzy’s cup.” He
cleared his throat…again…
liar!
He talked while I looked down at the
leaves in my tea. “There was a leaf in the shape of Hidden Hall and a letter
‘H’ next to it. But, there was a cluster of letters that I didn’t understand. A
‘U’ and ‘S.’” His eyes glowed as he told the reading. He was in the zone. “I
got chills when I saw the cauldron with a cross bones and skull.”

Something
cautioned me not to interrupt him while he was remembering, but the words flew
from my mouth, “Cauldron? I’m the only one who uses a cauldron.”

“It’s
not the cauldron that scares me.” His lashes drew down, darkening his eyes. His
tone had become chilly. He pointed to my bracelet. “Plus, there was an owl
symbol just like the one dangling from your wrist.”

I
wrapped my hand around the charm. There was something in my gut that told me I
was going to Hidden Hall for more than just honing my psychic skills and an
intuition class.

“At
least you have Mr. Prince Charming and Madame Torres to keep you company.”
Belle gulped. She stared out the Gathering Grove window, unable to look at me.

“Yeah,
thanks for your support.” Sarcasm dripped from my lips. I too looked out the
window and down the street at what I considered my home.