Lemon Pies and Little White Lies (22 page)

“Please.” Ella Mae indicated the empty space beside her. “Join me.”

Alfonso closed the distance in four giant strides. “I will put my fingers here.” He showed her on his own neck. “Above your voice box. You might feel a little tingle.”

Ella Mae nodded and raised her chin, exposing the length of her neck.

Alfonso placed three fingers on her skin and closed his eyes. He swept his free hand from left to right and the air shimmered like a heat wave, and then the shimmer rushed over the meadow. The whole thing had taken less than five seconds. Alfonso grinned. “You’re ready now.” After another gallant bow, he returned to his place.

Ella Mae felt a strange sensation in her throat, but when she said, “Welcome,” in her everyday voice, she could tell by the crowd’s attentive expressions that Alfonso’s gift had worked.

“Thank you for coming to Havenwood,” she continued. “I don’t have a long speech prepared. I have a simple message to share with you. When I’m done, you’ll all be faced with a decision.”

She glanced around and couldn’t help but grin when Alfonso gave her a thumbs-up.

“I never expected to be standing here, addressing a large crowd. I didn’t expect to be marked with a clover or meet the criteria of the Clover Queen legend. I don’t even know what it means to be a queen. What I
do
know is that we have been plagued by a curse for centuries, and I believe it’s time to break that curse.”

This statement was followed by several shouts of approval.

“But how?” someone cried.

“By uniting the descendants of Morgan le Fay and Guinevere, Queen of Camelot,” Ella Mae said plainly. “Our enmity has kept us from rising to our full strength. We’ve never joined forces. We’ve never pooled our resources or our talents. We’ve spent centuries feuding when we should have united to improve our lives and those of future generations.”

A woman standing near a lilac tree shook her fist, and
shouted, “I could never trust a LeFaye. How do we know you haven’t gathered us here just so you could feed us a pack of lies?”

There was a murmur of agreement followed by several more rude outbursts.

Ella Mae was unfazed by the dissent. She’d expected it. “Opal, would you come forward and speak to the members of your family?”

Opal, who’d been standing in a cluster with the rest of the Havenwood Elders, was clearly startled by the request. But she smoothed her silk blouse and did as Ella Mae asked.

Alfonso used his gift again, and then Opal spread out her arms and said, “Look around you. This grove is pulsing with magic. A never-ending supply. There are objects of power, like the one used to transform this grove, hidden throughout the world. If we retrieve them, we can create permanent groves. There will be no more need of a Lady of the Ash. No more sacrifices. Your magic will never fade.” Her eyes fell on the woman by the lilac tree. “Ms. LeFaye won my respect through her courage, for I was the guardian of the object she brought to this grove. I had to fail in my task to recognize that it had been a fruitless labor all along. My cousins, we’ve been taught since birth to undermine the LeFayes while elevating our own family, but we’re getting weaker as a species because of this division. Our kind is dying. We cannot deny this awful truth.”

A young woman near Alfonso burst into tears. “I’m afraid to marry the man I love! He wants to start a family, and though I’m willing to risk my life to have a child, I’m not willing to risk his.”

“Nor should you have to,” Ella Mae said fervently. “What if our private libraries contain the clues to break this curse? We’ll never know until we work together. And we’ll never trust one another until we have to stand together to defend our way of life. For those of you who are bold enough, brave enough,
and open-minded enough, the time to make a change is now.” Her gaze drifted across the crowd. She saw an array of expressions from fear to fury to conviction and knew she had a long way to go before convincing the majority to stand with her.

“I have an English aunt who is following the lead of a woman named Nimue. I like Nimue’s idea of using our gifts out in the open! Are you for or against that?” Ella Mae couldn’t tell who’d spoken until Leslie, the manager at Canine to Five, pushed her way to the front. “Many of us have been waiting for someone like her to come along,” Leslie boldly continued. “Why should we hide when we could rule? What’s the point of magic if you can’t use it?”

Dozens of people shouted their opinions and Ella Mae felt her control slipping away.

“Why should we listen to you?” Leslie yelled over the din. “I heard that Nimue has the mark of the clover too. Maybe
she’s
the genuine article. Can you prove to us that you’re the real Clover Queen?”

Ella Mae was shocked by Leslie’s hostility. She’d always been so friendly, but now she was trying to undermine Ella Mae in front of everyone.

Ella Mae focused on staying calm. She sensed the magic pulsing through the grove, its heartbeat echoing in her own chest. She only needed to reach for it and it would be there. Rising to her full height, she smiled at Leslie. “If a demonstration will help prove that I am who I say I am, then I’ll give you one.”

After placing her left hand against the ash tree, Ella Mae extended her right hand, palm facing skyward. Her burn mark began to glow and a beam of light shot out from her palm. A thousand stars winked to life in the empty sky. When they slowly began to float toward the ground, several people cried out in alarm. Still smiling, Ella Mae made a beckoning gesture and the stars soared toward her. When they reached the
treetops, they suddenly changed. Their white light grew dimmer and they sprouted wings, leaving sparkles in their wake as they fluttered toward Ella Mae.

If I am the true queen, then crown me
, Ella Mae whispered in her mind.

Hundreds upon hundreds of glittering, luminescent butterflies landed on her body. They covered her arms and legs, her head and face, and every inch of her dress. Within seconds, she was completely obscured by a mass of shimmering wings. And then they flitted onto the tree branches over Ella Mae’s head.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

Ella Mae glanced down to find that she was wearing a dress made of starlight. The silver fabric pooled around her feet and glinted when she moved. The cuffs and sweetheart neckline were trimmed with tiny pearls and the bodice was embedded with small diamonds and iridescent moonstones.

In the hush, a groan came from deep within the ash tree and the butterflies scattered. Tree branches fell around Ella Mae like a leafy curtain, and the butterflies swarmed around her head. She felt a weight upon her brow and then the branches retreated and the butterflies vanished. Ella Mae didn’t need to reach up and touch the object the grove had given her. She knew it was a crown.

She looked at the faces staring up at her and waited.

One by one, people dropped to their knees, forming the clover sign with their hands. Ella Mae watched in amazement as male and female, young and old, stranger and friend, bent their knees to her.

Of course, there were those who refused to pay homage. Leslie was among them. Staring straight at Ella Mae, she produced an object from the handbag slung over her shoulder. It was one of Dee’s metal birds. Leslie tucked it under her arm and reached into the pocket of her jeans. When she drew out a
lighter and produced a flame, her mouth curving into a wicked grin, Ella Mae pointed at her and shouted, “Grab that woman!”

In a flash, Officer Wallace had Leslie pinned to the ground. She wrested the bird from Leslie’s grasp and, leaving Alfonso to stand guard, brought the sculpture to Ella Mae.

“Is this a trophy?” Wallace asked quietly. “Taken from your aunt’s barn the night of the fire?”

Stifling her rage, Ella Mae took the bird and held it out to the crowd. “My aunt was gravely injured when someone set fire to her barn. Another Havenwood resident was murdered last month. The mark of a clover was left behind at both crime scenes.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment. “Change often comes at a price. If you feel this is the time to seize our destiny, then stay. We will create a new future, and we can start by working together to apprehend a killer. If you don’t want to be a part of this, then you can leave now, knowing that you’ll always be welcome in Havenwood.”

After a brief hesitation, groups of people hurried across the meadow toward the exit. With every person that left, Ella Mae felt a growing unease. Would they all abandon her?

Touching the cool metal of Dee’s bird, Ella Mae glanced around at those who remained. More than half of the crowd stood firm. She looked to where Reba stood with Fiona and Carol Drever and then paused to meet Aunt Sissy’s proud gaze. Finally, her eyes found her mother’s. Her mother blinked back tears and nodded. It was a beginning. They stood a chance of breaking a centuries-old curse and seeking justice for Joyce, Kyran, and Dee.

Ella Mae smiled warmly at her people, overwhelmed by the trust they were placing in her.

She then fixed her attention on Leslie Conrad, and her features hardened in anger.
Before I can make any plans, I need to deal with this traitor.

Chapter 12

Ella Mae signaled for Officer Wallace to approach.

“Will you take Leslie Conrad to the station for immediate questioning? If she’s in an interrogation room, I can worry about one less suspect. Maybe she’ll admit that she murdered Joyce Mercer and tried to kill two people by setting fire to Dee’s barn. If she doesn’t, you won’t be able to hold her for more than twenty-four hours, right?”

Officer Wallace tugged on her braid. “That’s right, but—”

“My aunt Verena is in Atlanta,” Ella Mae continued. “Until she returns, we won’t know how much of what Leslie tells you is a lie. Can you keep her as long as possible?”

“Don’t you think I should be here with you?” Wallace asked. “I haven’t been a cop long, but I’m useful in a fight, and I’m concerned about your safety.”

Seeing the plaintive look in the younger woman’s round, dark eyes, Ella Mae said, “Of your usefulness, I have no
doubt. But knowing whether or not Leslie is a murderer is even more important.”

Mollified, Officer Wallace set off to deal with Leslie.

Ella Mae waited until the two women had disappeared into the orchard before calling for a volunteer to record the magical ability of every person in the meadow.

“Even if we pool our resources,” a man called out, “how will that help break the curse? We’re all so different.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Give me a minute and I’ll show you,” Ella Mae told the man. Her voice still carried across the space, cutting through dozens of animated discussions. Ella Mae was pleased to see the locals making an effort to introduce themselves and strike up conversations with the visitors. She hoped the friendly overtures would develop a tenuous bond between families who’d feuded for centuries.

Smiling, she beckoned to her mother, Aunt Sissy, and Reba. “Join me.”

Alfonso bounded up the hill. When Sissy neared the top, he offered her his hand. “Miss Cecilia LeFaye. I have heard of your musical talent.” He stroked his thick beard, admiring Sissy from head to toe. “If I should die in the coming days, it will be with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, for I have made the acquaintance and held the hand of a true muse.” He gazed at Sissy with such overt adoration that she was rendered utterly speechless for the first time in her life.

“Oh!” she squeaked, unable to form a lucid word, and beamed at the opera singer.

“You are even more dazzling when you blush, madam,” Alfonso said. “I will now release your hand, only to dream of the moment when I might hold it again.”

While Sissy twittered and fanned herself with the end of her batik scarf, the people Ella Mae had called forward settled down on the grass. Ella Mae then asked all the Elders
to join them. When everyone was assembled, she turned to her mother.

“I’m sorry to put you on the spot, but you’re the only person to have merged with the ash tree. You know what it is to be human, but you also know what it is to be connected to the natural world like a thread in a complex tapestry.”

“It’s Adelaide LeFaye,” someone murmured in awe. “The only Lady of the Ash to survive a separation from the tree.”

Her mother leaned in close and whispered, “I told you that I don’t remember specifics. Just feelings. Sensations.”

“And a song,” Ella Mae said softly. “You’ve hummed it every day since your return. Sometimes, I hear it in my dreams, but I can never repeat the melody. It’s too elusive. I can’t say why, but I believe it is a very old song—one that belongs to an age before we were cursed, when we were as numerous as the stars.”

Her mother nodded. “Yes, it is a wordless reminder of what we once were.”

“And can be again.” Ella Mae couldn’t contain her excitement. “Would you hum it now?”

“Of course.” Closing her eyes and pressing both palms against the trunk of the ash tree, her mother grew very still. In her pale green dress, with her silver hair falling over her shoulders, she looked like a dryad. Beautiful and otherworldly.