A Charming Spell (Magical Cures Mystery Series) (4 page)

I shrugged, playing coy and kept my hands busy. “There is nothing going on. Just a new business.”

Chandra owned A Cleansing Spirit Spa right next door. She was the palm reader in our little magical village and I wanted to make sure she couldn’t get a glimpse of my hands. Even though the Number One Rule in the spiritual handbook was that you cannot read another spiritualist without their permission, Chandra was known (a time or two) to read another villager without their permission.

We were all guilty of it…even me.

Chandra leaned up against the counter and watched as I continued to work on the special mixture for Mandy.

“Don’t tell me that you are going to change now that you have been named the new Village President!” Chandra didn’t seem to think the situation was so funny now.

“No, but I don’t know anything about her or her business.” The mixture was turning out nice and thick. “Ophelia seems to be nice.”

Her heavy lashes flew up. “Ophelia? She just got into town and you already know her?”

“Ahhh…” I muttered. Being Village President and staying neutral was definitely going to be a challenge for me. “She came into the shop this morning and introduced herself, but I had a roomful of customers. I didn’t get to ask her anything about the bookstore.” I rubbed my hand on the cauldron that Ophelia had mysteriously put back together.

“Speaking of customers, I’ve got to go.” Chandra tapped her watch and rushed through the shop, almost knocking that same table over…again.

“Mandy,” I walked over and touched her on the forearm. “I’ll be right back.”

Mandy nodded. Her lips pursed in a simple, grateful smile.

The cauldron bubbled. I took a pinch of Indian hemp and threw it in. Using the ladle, slowly I stirred the white potion until it turned amber in color. The smell of flowers, grass, and mulch swirled above the cauldron, filling the air with the sweet smells of spring.

The murky substance glowed green. I took the Mojo Wish Bean bottle out of my apron pocket and uncorked the top. Tapping the bottle on my palm, one small teal bean popped out of the tiny hole. I threw the bean in and put the cork back on the bottle.

I put the bottle back where I found it and made sure to cover it up, out of sight.

The cauldron stopped boiling.

I held my hands over the liquid that had turned blue. With my eyes closed, I visualized Mandy working in the garden, and whispered, “Quiet mind, quiet soul, bring on the good memories the garden holds. Keep hands clean, keep them safe, and bring back the good memories in this place.”

The liquid suddenly hardened. Slowly I stirred it to create a creamy lotion-like substance.

A bottle glowed from the shelf of empty potion bottles that was underneath the potion shelf. The bottles spoke to me by glowing when they wanted to be used. They were just as important to the cure as the cure itself.

I took the red heart-shaped bottle off the shelf. It was perfect for the wonderful memories that were going to be stored there. I held the bottle close to the cauldron and watched the magical substance fill the glass. I have never questioned how the magic worked.

A few minutes later, I had all the instructions on how to use the cream written on a piece of paper for Mandy to take home.

“It only takes a dab.” I opened up the special bottle and put a dab on my finger. “No more than this.” I took Mandy’s hand and gently rubbed in the cream.

“It’s like…” she gasped, “magic.”

The one little dab was enough to cover both hands and more. She continued to rub her hands together. Her eyes twinkled with delight.

“Here are the instructions and how your hands will feel.” I placed the instructions in the bag along with the bottle. I took her money. “When you need a refill, don’t throw away the bottle. Bring it back and I’ll be more than happy to fill it back up.”

“Thank you so much.” Mandy held the bag close to her and waved as she went out the door.

I walked over to the window to watch her leave, but there was some sort of commotion going on over at Ever After Books.

“Oh, no.” I shook my head when I saw Alexelrod Primrose pacing back in forth in front of the bookshop with a picket sign.

Chapter Six

No sooner did I clear out the store, than Oscar Park walked in.

“What’s going on?” He pointed to the sign I was flipping around and the customers that were walking out. “Aren’t you open?”

“Oscar.” My heart melted when I saw him. This was bad timing for a visit, but good timing for him to watch the shop. “You can do this.” I grabbed him and pulled him into the shop. “Ladies,” I called after the customers I had just kicked out. “My help is here, so we are staying open. Please come back in and take fifty-percent off any product of your choice.”

The women happily agreed, but Oscar wasn’t so thrilled about it.

“I…” He shook his head. “I don’t know anything about these crazy homeopathic cures Darla taught you how to do. It wasn’t so long ago that you set fire to your shed in Locust Grove.”

Oscar reminded me of the unfortunate situation that happened before we moved to Whispering Falls; only he didn’t remember the “we” part of it. I was working on a cure using the Magical Cures Book Darla had left me, only I didn’t know it was an actual potion book and I blew up the shed. All of Locust Grove thought I was crazy. Shortly after that incident, I was happy to discover that I was a spiritualist and did belong to a community.

“You always worked with me at the flea market.” I reminded him. “And Mr. Prince Charming is here.”

I rushed over to the counter and grabbed Mr. Prince Charming. Neither of them had a great fondness for the other.

Grrrowl
. Mr. Prince Charming wiggled out of my arms and batted at Oscar before he ran underneath one of the display tables.

“Yeah, sure, he wants me here.” Oscar eyed the table.

“Yes he does!” I yelled over my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t bother looking behind me because I wasn’t going to go back. Some tourists had already gathered around Alexelrod as he pumped the sign in the air and screamed, “Ever After Books will be the ever after of Whispering Falls!”

“I think he’s lost his mind.” Raven Mortimer nudged me when I walked up next to her. Her long black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and swayed like a horse’s tail when she shook her head. “He had to know the shop was coming to town. He
is
the only realtor after all.”

She had a point. Why would Alexelrod suddenly protest Ever After Books, since he had to have sold the property to Ophelia?

His protest didn’t stop the customers. They filed in one-by-one. I was sure they were there to see what all the fuss was about.

“Don’t go in there,” Alexelrod told the customers.

“Stop this.” I tugged on the sleeve of his trench coat.

“No!” He glared at me. “If you aren’t going to stop this, I will!” He pointed to himself.

I turned back around. The crowd had gotten larger. Izzy stood inches above the crowd in the back. She owned Mystic Lights, which disguised her gift of reading crystal balls.

Darting and dodging like a rat in a maze, I found my way to the back where she was standing.

She wore an A-framed skirt with light bulbs printed all over it and it hung past her knees right about where her boots started to lace down. Her hands were planted firmly on her hips with a scowl on her face.

“What am I supposed to do about this?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” She didn’t bother taking her eyes off Alexelrod. “I do know that he has never acted this way before, which makes me believe he does have an issue with the store.” She gathered her long blond hair in one hand and laid it over her shoulder.

“He showed up at my door very early this morning wanting to discuss the opening, but I told him it wasn’t the time or the place and to leave it for the meeting tonight.” Suddenly, I was regretting my decision not to listen to him. “What do I do about those situations and not let them lead to this?”

“You handle each situation as it arises. And this one
has
risen.” She warned me right before Alexelrod’s voice was heard screaming over the crowd.

“Whispering Falls will not have an ever after if this shop stays!”

“Great,” I groaned and headed back to Alexelrod. There had to be something done to stop him. Ophelia seemed nice enough, although her powers excelled past mine and I didn’t have a clue what her gift was, but I would find out soon enough.

“Head on over to The Gathering Grove and put on a strong pot of black coffee.” I patted Gerald Regiula on the back when I made my way through the crowd. He caught his top hat that tumbled off when I startled him.

“Of course.” His mustache bounced up and down as he agreed. He put the top hat back on and adjusted his yellow ascot. Gerald was always dressed to impress.

Petunia Shrubwood, Gerald’s long-time “friend”, stood next to him fiddling with a twig sticking out of her makeshift updo and had a chipmunk perched on top of her shoulder, which was a common sight with her since she was the owner of Glorybee Pet Store and animal physic.

“What can I do, June?” The corner of her hazel eyes dipped down in sadness. The chipmunk scurried away as she lost her footing and almost fell due to someone knocking into her to get a good look at the ranting Alexelrod.

“Oh, sorry!” Faith Mortimer pushed her newspaper-boy hat back up on her head, her long blond hair flowed from underneath it and her blue eyes lit up like the fireworks at our Halloween festival. “I’m getting the scoop!”

“She’d better get something to keep that paper alive.” Officer Gandolf stood with his arms crossed. The city budget was another issue we were going to have to discuss at the village meeting. Unfortunately, the Gazette would be the first thing to go since subscribers were down.

I watched Officer Gandolf take his sweet time walking up to the front of the crowd as Faith darted in and out.

Faith was in charge of the one and only newspaper in our little community,
The Whispering Falls Gazette
. She was the sister of Raven Mortimer, but they sure did have different jobs and completely different personalities. Faith was a Good-Sider and Raven was a Dark-Sider, which was rare for spiritualist families, but stranger things had happened.

The Good-Sider Spiritualist, which was what I was, had an innate spirit to always do the good thing; to never do evil or harm to others. The Dark-Siders of the spiritual world had a tendency to be the wild children and did things to get themselves ahead of the game at anyone’s expense.

Luckily, Raven was not that type of Dark-Sider. She was influenced by being raised in a Good-Sider family.

Until recently, Whispering Falls only accepted residents that were Good-Sider Spiritualists. Right before Izzy stepped down as Village President, the community voted to accept all spiritualists, including Dark-Siders. Since I was new, I was still discovering new spiritualists and their gifts. According to the Elders, I was the chosen one to lead.

“Watch where you are going next time!” Petunia scowled and before I could ask her to do anything, she stomped off in a rage toward Glorybee, the complete opposite of where I needed to be.

Faith threw her hand up in the air, which was her way of acknowledging Petunia’s snide remark, but kept going. There was a story to tell and Faith was going to tell it.

It was a wonder that Faith didn’t already know about Alexelrod. She was a Foreseer and was able to feel the community as a whole and report the news of any upcoming events, upheavals, or situations before anyone else could see or feel them. Most of the time Faith’s predictions were vague, but she knew something was about to happen. The Whispering Falls Gazette was audio, which meant that if you were a subscriber your newspaper was delivered through the air via Faith’s vocal chords in the morning. I didn’t hear it this morning, but I also was disturbed by one Alexelrod Primrose.

I glared at him. He knew better than to act this way. He pranced back and forth, jabbing the sign up and down, marching in front of the bookstore’s door so no one could go in.

“June.” He continued to protest without even stopping to talk to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked in a “what in the hell are you doing” kind of voice.

“I told you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get this bookstore out of Whispering Falls.” His gaze left me and turned to Ophelia Biblio. She stood in the bookstore display window among the display of books, glaring at him. “We don’t want you here!”

Ophelia was at her wits’ end. The bookshop door flew open. A gust of wind rushed out, leaving us with wind-blown hair. In an instant, she stood on the step near the shop gate and used the wooden broom in her hand to push the gate open.

Ever so elegantly, Ophelia stepped out of the gate and pointed the broom handle toward Alexelrod.

Her voice held no room for discussion, “Mr. Primrose, kindly step away from my store, or you will meet your demise.”

The crowd gasped as they saw the fury conveyed deep within her eyes.

It wasn’t so much the anger she had deep within her that caught me off guard, which was probably acceptable to me since the protest was not substantiated, but it was her entire appearance.

Ophelia was not dressed in the jeans and shirt she had on earlier. The black button-up blouse was neatly tucked into a long black skirt, the hem hitting right at her ankles and black boots. But the hat; the hat was a dead giveaway. It had a wide brim with a pointy cone on top.

“Witch?” I whispered, hoping no one would hear me, bringing my hand up to my mouth.

Ophelia Biblio’s lips turned up in a grin; her eyes lowered and her lashes cast a shadow on her fiery red cheeks. “Yes, I’m a witch.”

Chapter Seven

A few minutes later, I had wrangled Alexelrod next door and into The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe before Ophelia could turn him into a toad. Faith Mortimer was more than willing to help out for the low price of the scoop.

“As soon as you let me go, I’m going to march right back over there and protest.” Alexelrod jerked away and flung himself in a chair at the café table nearest the window. He didn’t take his eyes off the street. “If I’d have known who she was, I would have never let her move the bookshop into this village!” He banged his fist on the table.