A Charming Hex (Magical Cures Mystery Series Book 9) (2 page)

Mr. Prince Charming had shown up on my porch in Locust Grove on my tenth birthday. I knew he wasn’t a present from Darla. We didn’t do birthday presents. We barely did cake. It was the only time Darla would let me eat sweets.

That particular year, the cake Darla had gotten me had
Happy Retirement Stu
written on it along with the manager’s special sticker on it. Darla hadn’t even bothered scrapping off Stu’s name.

Mr. Prince Charming showed up with a dingy collar and a turtle charm that was missing an eye. Oscar gave me his mom’s old bracelet for the charm. It was the best birthday I’d ever had.

I ran my hand over my wrist and felt my charm bracelet, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“See,” I said out loud. “If I really were in danger, Mr. Prince Charming would’ve given me another charm.”

I took a close look at all the charms he’d given me for protection. I was fine. I was safe. But I was still stressed and needed a June’s Gem.

Just thinking about the chocolaty treat made my mouth water and I knew I had to make a pit stop at Wicked Good Bakery before I went to my shop. Without much more thought, I let my stomach and stress guide me and before I knew it, I was standing on the sidewalk right in front of Wicked Good Bakery.

Raven Mortimer was inside her bakery working away behind the counter and getting ready for the morning rush when Wicked Good opened. The green and pink awning above the shop windows flapped in the morning breeze.

Lightly I tapped on the door and got her attention. Raven’s long black hair was pulled up in a ponytail; the Wicked Good apron was almost white from all the flour doused on it. She was rolling out dough, kneading it and shaping it when she looked up. A big grin scrolled up to her eyes. She rubbed her hands across the front of the apron before she walked over and unlocked the door.

“Get in here.” She pushed the door open and hurried back behind the counter. “If I don’t get these in the oven, I won’t have a dang thing for my customers to purchase.”

“Thank you for letting me borrow Faith. I know she does all your deliveries and works around here.” Faith Mortimer was Raven’s sister. She worked for Raven part-time at the bakery, full-time as the editor-in-chief of the
Whispering Falls Gazette
, and part-time for me at A Charming Cure. Faith was going to work at the shop the entire time I was gone. “I’m so glad I don’t have to close the shop for the honeymoon.”

I gestured to one of the June’s Gems she took out of the oven. It was her take on the Ding Dong and was named after me. She nodded.

“Are you getting excited?” she asked just as I took a bite of the savory cake.

“Mmm.” I tilted my head side-to-side, my ears to my shoulders in a “meh” kind of way. After I swallowed, I said, “I had one of my nightmares last night.”

“Really?” she asked and then scanned her eyes down her pastry counter. “I don’t see anything here.” She referred to her spiritual gift of Aleuromancy. She was able to see signs in her work, the dough. She made the most wonderful fortune cookies. She had a gift of putting in just the exact right fortune the customer needed. 

“Good.” I wiped across my mouth with the back of my hand. “That’s a good thing.”

“It sure is.” Raven smiled and went back to kneading the ball of dough in front of her. “Faith is so excited to be in charge of the shop. She said she’s going to redo the display window with a fun summer theme.”

“That’s what I love about her. She does whatever she wants.” I pointed to another June’s Gem. She nodded again.

“It’s not like you to eat two, you must be stressed,” she noted. “If I see anything before you leave, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“Great.” I grabbed one of the Wicked Good to-go bags and put the June’s Gem in it. “This will make a great snack for before the meeting.”

It was true. Ding Dongs were and are my stress-relieving treat. Raven invented the June’s Gems and right now I was stressed out to the max.

“That’s right!” She smacked the dough down on to the counter, flatting it out before she took the rolling pin doused in flour and flatted the dough more. “You find out from the village council where you get to go on your honeymoon.”

“You know.” I wagged my finger in the air and walked backward to the door. “Growing up as a mortal I had always envisioned my wedding. It was nothing like I had planned. Then I also had this idea in my head about my honeymoon.” I shook my head. “I never imagined I’d be letting a group full of witches figure out where I was going to go.” I referred to the council meeting today.

The village council had called a special meeting to decide where Oscar and I could go on our honeymoon. We were able to send in a list of destinations. Of course I wrote down Hawaii and Oscar wrote down Jamaica. Both of us wanted to go to a beach, that was for sure.

We were excited to find out which one they picked. Really either was good with me. Toes in the sand and a drink in my hand was how I was going to spend my much-needed week-long vacation.

“You’re lucky.” She wagged her brows up and down. She and everyone else in the village had been raised by their spiritual parents, unlike me and Oscar.

I gave a quick wave and out the door I went.

“June! Whoo hoo!” the voice called from down the sidewalk. It was Isadora Solstice. She stood at the steps of Mystic Lights. Her lighting shop was a cover up for her crystal ball reading spiritual gift. It was where I had found Madame Torres. Or rather Madame Torres finally found me.

Something else I’d had no idea about. The spiritualist didn’t have a say in their crystal ball, the crystal ball picked the spiritualist. Madame Torres had sat on the shelf in Mystic Lights for centuries like a big round snow globe until I walked in. That was when she came to life and only I could see her.

“We moved the meeting time up so be there in an hour.” She pushed her long blond wavy hair behind her shoulder before wiping her hands down her black A-frame skirt with the red hearts all over it. Her black pointy-toed boots were laced up tight. “I picked my skirt for you.” She winked her big blue eyes and smiled. “For love.” She clasped her hands as a delightful sigh escaped her.

“I’ll see you soon!” I hurried across the street where A Charming Cure was located. I only had an hour to talk to Faith before the meeting and I wanted to make sure she was prepared, plus get my Mr. Sandman Sprinkles.

I stopped just shy of the gate that opened in front of the shop and looked down the street. Whispering Falls was so magical. The village was carved in the side of the mountain. The moss covered cottage shops were nestled into the woods and each had the most beautiful entrances. All the shops had colorful awnings with the shop’s name on it.

The sidewalks on both sides were dotted with carriage lights with gas flames. Each shop had a special gate that led up to the shop steps, making the special village even cozier than it already was. There was already a line out the door of The Gathering Grove, the tea shop in the village. Tourists knew that they could go there for a nice breakfast before the rest of the shops opened.

A calmness came over me. I was being silly about going away. I was sure everything was going to be fine and Oscar was right. I was just stressed about my first time being on a plane and first time at the beach.

I opened the gate to A Charming Cure and a big whiff of the purple wisteria vine tunneled around me before I walked up the steps to the shop.

I reached up and ran my hand over the wooden sign that hung off the front of my cottage shop. The words
A Charming Cure
had replaced the
A Dose of Darla
sign after I moved here and accepted my spiritual gifts.

There were two shop windows and Faith was working in the right one. She was hanging beach balls from the ceiling. The ladder she was standing on teetered when I walked in.

“How on Earth did you get that?” I pointed to the four-foot tall sand castle made of real sand and reached to steady her.

“A little bit of magic.” Faith’s blue eyes sparkled. The teetering ladder didn’t phase her. “Your honeymoon has inspired me. And I saw the new line of sunscreen you left in the back. Mortals love going on summer vacations and if they can get something from here, we need to jump on it.”

“You are so smart.” I took a moment to look at the shop. Tiered display tables dotted the shop’s floor. Each table had a long red tablecloth that grazed the floor. Different sized and colored ornamental bottles sat displayed on each table.

When I had taken over the shop, I categorized the different potions for different ailments. I kept the big chalkboards that Darla had put on the wall with the daily specials. In fact, the chalkboard closest to the counter still had
A Dose of Darla
written on it in Darla’s handwriting, something I couldn’t erase.

Another thing I moved was the inventory. Darla had kept her inventory and ingredients in the back room. I had made a couple of open shelves behind the counter to display them. It was neat to see the different bottles and ingredients and made the shop feel more organic. I had turned the back room into a little sitting room and while I did put extra inventory in there, I mainly used it for a place to eat lunch or relax while working late.

Keeping the ingredients behind the counter was perfect for when a customer came in for something to help with what they thought ailed them, I would talk to them and immediately get a sense of what was really going on. My best seller was by far the antacids. Customers thought they had acid reflux or some other stomach ailment, when in fact the root of their issue was stress over money or heartache. It was then that I took the homeopathic bottle they had chosen from the sales floor and gave it a special touch to address what really ailed them. All of my customers returned because my homeopathic cures worked.

Sunscreen was going to be a big one this year along with all the weight loss potions. I had made one that helped with hunger, changed bad thoughts about body image, and boosted confidence. Faith was right. The quicker we sold it, the word would get out and we wouldn’t be able to keep them in stock.

After Oscar and I had planned to go on a honeymoon and set the date, I knew I was going to need to make up potions for Faith to have on hand. I had stored them in the back room, leaving her with plenty of stock while I was gone.

“I have to go to the village council within the hour.” On my way back to the counter, I tugged and smoothed my hands over the display tables’ covers. It was very important to me to have a beautiful shop.

I stopped shy of the counter and looked at the framed photo of my parents, Darla and Otto Heal, hanging on the wall. They would’ve loved this shop. I knew they already loved Oscar because they showed up in Madame Torres while Mr. Prince Charming was walking me down the aisle. It was amazing.

My image reflected from the framed glass. My short black bobbed hair grazed my bare shoulders. My blunt bangs crossed my forehead in a perfect line. The white and blue striped bandeau top was new. I’d bought it from a shop in Locust Grove and paired it with white shorts and gladiator sandals. I was definitely ready for the beach.

“Are you okay?” Faith called out over her shoulder. A sand pail dangled from her long finger.

“I’m fine,” I said and picked up the chalk for the chalkboard. “I need to write the daily specials.” Quickly and in fancy cursive, I wrote the sunscreen specials on the board. “Tomorrow we can keep the same special, but change it to the weight loss special in a couple of days.”

I took a step back and looked at the board. The smells of cinnamon, sage, dill and thyme swirled around my head. I smiled and took another look around.

I walked behind the counter to get a good look at the ingredients on the shelf, and nearly jumped of my skin when Mr. Prince Charming leaped up on the counter next to me.

Rowl.
He barely opened his mouth. He dropped something and nudged it with his nose. I gulped after seeing the spiral-shaped charm he’d pushed toward me. Fear, stark and sheer ripped through me when the memory of the orange spiral from my nightmare jolted my insides.

“You don’t look fine. In fact,” Faith glided toward me, “you look worse than when I asked you.”

I put my hand on the counter over the charm, hoping she didn’t see it. I raked it into my palm and put it in my front pocket. There was no way I wasn’t going on this honeymoon and there was no need to alarm anyone that Mr. Prince Charming had given me another charm.

“I’m fine.” A nervous laugh escaped me. “I think I’m just nervous about leaving the shop and home.”

“It’s all good. I’ve got this.” She pointed to herself, then at me. “You need to go enjoy that hunk of yours.”

My mind wasn’t wrapped around that hunk of mine; my mind was wrapped around the spiral charm. Mr. Prince Charming had been giving me protection charms since he showed up on my tenth birthday. The first one was a small turtle and anytime he felt I was in danger or going to be in danger, a new charm showed up.

I ran my hand over my wrist and curled my fingers around my charm bracelet. What if Mr. Prince Charming was trying to tell me something about my nightmares? Or what if Madame Torres was right about me having to take him with us?

I looked back at the shelf of ingredients and contemplated my options. I could make my Mr. Sandman Sprinkles and take them on my honeymoon just in case I needed it or just take my chances. My thought processes lasted all of a second, at the most, and I reached for the Aconite, the first ingredient for my potion.

I flipped on my cauldron and measured out 30 c of the Aconite, dumping it into the cauldron. I mixed in 6c Kali phos, 6c Nat suph, 3x passiflora and stirred it slowly. The liquid curled and bubbled, nearly flowing over the top of the hot cauldron. The frothy mix puffed a couple of smoke signals in the air. The smoke bubbles popped, sending the smell of fresh ocean salt air into the open space.

My cures took on the favorite smells of the person it was intended for making it even more appealing for the recipient. In this case, I was the patient of my own cure.

“You better get going,” Faith called out and nodded to the clock on the wall. “You have to get up to The Gathering Rock.”