Enchanted, A Paranormal Romance / Fantasy (Forever Charmed) (24 page)

“I will. Maybe he’s a mixed up maniac. You know, he could have the wrong person…” Mandy tried to laugh the situation off.

“Mandy that’s the second time you’ve found flowers in your locker. I kind of doubt they’ve got the wrong person.”

“Hey, aren’t you the guy always telling me not to worry so much? Take your own advice,” Mandy said giving Steve’s hand a squeeze. She slammed her locker shut behind her and they walked away, never noticing Ally lurking a few lockers down, taking everything in silently.

* * *

Chapter 25

As hard as Mandy was working to control her reactions to situations that were completely out of her control, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t deny the fact that things were different. She could deny her normal tendency to worry and rethink things too much and to obsessively analyze every little fact, but she could not deny the fact that things had changed recently and were very different, for better or worse.

The biggest difference of late was Mandy’s increasing power over her abilities. She seemed to really have grasped a sense of who she was and what she was capable of. She didn’t have to struggle to read people, she didn’t have to search through pages of notes in her head to find the correct remedies anymore. It was almost as if the customers coming into Nana’s shop revealed themselves to Mandy and just as simply the correct combinations of flowers and herbs found their way into Mandy’s hands. Even though it had only been a few weeks since Mandy had figured out how to harness her abilities, it was becoming very apparent to Mandy as well as Nana, that Mandy was capable of more than either of them had even dared to hope for. Already Nana felt Mandy to be her equal in her craft. She did not feel the need to look over Mandy’s shoulder as she put together magical bouquets or question her in any way.

The old Mandy would have worried about this sudden onset of freedom. It would have added to her stress to know that Nana was not double checking her readings and concoctions. The old Mandy would have “what-iffed” herself to death. The new Mandy however only felt more confidence in herself as Nana let go of her leash on Mandy’s magical abilities. She felt secure and powerful and for the first time in a long time, really good about herself. She found the less she thought about her abilities and what she was doing, the more that her magic unveiled itself to her.

Another thing that was different was that since the release of Nana’s name in the article, there was a new and genuine interest in Mandy at school from people that probably wouldn’t have given her the time of day before. To some people this may have gone to their heads and they would have had a huge ego trip. To Mandy though, it was unwanted attention. She had had a feeling that it would come to this, although she hadn’t known whether to expect negative or positive attention. For the most part, it had been positive, curiousness even. She found a lot of people sneaking peeks at her when they thought she wasn’t looking and she got a lot of introductions from people wanting to make her acquaintance or perhaps even befriend her. She got a few weird looks, a bunch of questions, and even a few party invitations (which she politely declined). The two big negative consequences of her sudden popularity were the tangible tension between Ally and Mandy, and then the seemingly endless rose escapade.

Mandy chalked up Ally’s cold shoulder towards her as jealousy. Ally had been the popular one her whole life, and it was like suddenly her spotlight had been turned off. Mandy couldn’t ignore the fact that Ally had fallen to the bottom of her “to-do” list as well. Mandy felt bad, but she made herself believe she didn’t have time for friends, a boyfriend, school, her job, and magic. When it all slowed down she promised herself she would make it up to Ally.

The whole thing with the roses in her locker Mandy just couldn’t make sense of yet. It had happened only the two times, but even one incident like that seemed one too much to Mandy. She tried to push it out of her head, but in actuality the second incident had really alarmed her. Mandy had tried to brush it off to Steve because she didn’t want to unnecessarily worry him, but inside her stomach secretly twisted up with fear when she thought about dead rose with the note attached to its stem.

Luckily Mandy had not really had a lot of time to worry about that or anything else for that matter. Business at Nana’s little flower shop had picked up like wildfire in dead brush since the release of the third article last week. Apparently Nana’s interview, as well as Lucas’s dad’s, was the talk of the town, and consequently people seemed to be flocking to the shop in droves. Locals who had frequented Nana’s shop since its opening many years ago continued to frequent it, but also boasted that they knew Dolly personally. The one shop among all the kitschy souvenir shops that had previously been the normal, boring, unassuming flower shop, and not your typical beach fare, had now turned into something of a tourist trap. People started to trickle in from surrounding towns and even some of the closer New England states.

Some of the customers came in simply to take in the atmosphere and to acquire a bouquet from the “healer’s flower shop”. However, the majority of the new clients came in actively seeking magical help. Now that it was out in the open that Nana was a healer and that she was talented in the field, people were pursuing her abilities with a persistent hunger. It suddenly seemed that everyone had some sort of affliction they needed cured, and it suddenly seemed that there was a new appreciation and acceptance for magic in the community. As Nana offered what help she could, word spread of what she was accomplishing. Even those who before would have said they were non-believers in such nonsense were now proclaiming that healing was real and they were proof of it to boot.

It had gotten to the point that the onslaught of customers was too much for Nana to handle. She felt horribly guilty about it, but she asked Mandy if she’d be able to come in to the store more often than she typically scheduled her to work to help out. Nana didn’t want to cause Mandy to fall behind in her academic studies, but Mandy assured her that it wasn’t a big deal. She started going in daily after school and Saturdays and Sundays and worked alongside Nana in reading people and putting together the healing bouquets. It wasn’t long before Mandy’s name became known about the town and soon carried as much allure as Nana’s. Even with Mandy and Nana working overtime, and with Ally and Mandy’s mom assisting the best they could, the trickle of customers soon turned into a deluge and it simply wasn’t possible to continue on in such a fashion. People were lined up before the store even opened in the morning, waiting their turn to get a chance to talk with Nana and Mandy. There were no more lulls in business during the day, it was one customer after the other until closing time, and the little store seemed ready to burst at its seams.

Nana figured the best way to handle the sudden increase in business was to operate by appointment only, at least until the fascination died down. They put signs up in the store advertising their new operation for a week and handed out business cards with the shop’s phone number printed on them in shiny, purple ink. As they thanked their customers and passed them their flowers, they made sure to tell them to call for future appointments. They continued to take clients on a first come first serve basis until the end of the week and during that week the phone began to ring off the hook with people wanting to schedule appointments. Mandy’s mom took over as secretary and scheduled appointments until they were booked up for a full three months’ time.

The shop was busier than ever, but it was a relief to work on an appointments only basis because they knew what was ahead of them each day and they were able to work out a less taxing schedule, especially for Mandy. Mandy insisted she didn’t mind working daily, but it put Nana’s conscience at ease to be able to ease up on Mandy’s schedule, and inside Mandy was happy for the freed up time because she could see Steve a little bit more.

The onslaught of business at the flower seemed to spread to the surrounding shops as well. The once sleepy beach town seemed as awake, alive and thriving as ever. Crowds spilled out of Enchanted Dew Drops and onto the streets. The souvenir shops that were usually closed in the off-season now opened their doors to the curious people lingering about town. Along with flowers they took home souvenir shells from the “magic beach”, soaps scented with fresh sea breeze, and pictures of Mandy and Nana, the healers of York. The even went so far as to visit Mary Nasson’s once lonely grave. Now the stone stood amid a practical garden of cut flowers, trinkets, and notes to Mary.

Good business and good feelings seemed to be blessing everyone in York. Everyone that is, except for Lucas’s dad. At first the Goldenrod restaurant that was owned and run by Lucas’s family had seen an increase in business as well. A sort of morbid curiosity seemed to beckon the tourists in to see just who Lucas’s family was, to see what kind of people would be so ruthless to an innocent victim such as Mary Nasson. The fact that it was not actually Lucas’s family who had committed the atrocious crimes seemed to be lost on the visitors. Somewhere in the muddled minds who were just awakening to things once believed to be the makings of fairy tales was the fact that Lucas’s dad was a only a descendent of the doctor involved in the heinous events, but it was buried deep enough that they seemed to forget. People were eating at the Goldenrod to see who such a bastard was, and then they began to not eat at the Goldenrod because of the principal of the situation.

Whispered words seemed to linger in the air around the restaurant, warning people to avoid it like the plague. No one wanted to eat at the restaurant of a man who was associated with the innocent Mary Nasson’s death. Lucas’s father really couldn’t understand it or conceive of what was happening. The feelings in town towards him, his family, and the restaurant seemed to have taken a sudden turn towards hatred and ugliness. He went from a booming, profitable restaurant to a deserted hole in the wall seemingly overnight. A few unknown stragglers made their way into the restaurant each day, but not nearly enough to keep the restaurant afloat. Soon the arms of the metal taffy machines that had always pulled the sticky concoction for as long as Mandy could remember stopped moving. There was no more smells of hot molasses hanging in the air in downtown York, and it wasn’t long before the open sign that hung on the double doors was flipped to closed indefinitely.

Mandy felt a surge of sadness as she contemplated this change. She had loved the Goldenrod for as long as she had been coming to York. It represented a piece of childhood nostalgia for her as well as many of the locals and summer vacationers. There was a certain stillness about the town now that the taffy machines no longer had anything to pull. It seemed silly to Mandy in a way, but it was almost as if the taffy machines were akin to the heartbeat of York, and she wondered what would happen now that they had been put to rest.

Mandy felt bad for Lucas and his family as well. She knew it must be turning into a financial nightmare for them. Kids stopped talking to Lucas at school. It was really almost as if they shunned him. Lucas stopped coming to the flower shop on his weekly errands. Lucas’s whole demeanor changed, which Mandy was not surprised at. She knew it must be taking a toll on Lucas. She couldn’t help feeling that he seemed not only more withdrawn and quiet, but almost menacing. As rumors swirled about Mandy and Nana, they also seemed to swirl about Lucas. As the rumors picked up stamina and almost seemed to morph into a storm in their own right, Lucas seemed to go from depressed to angry. The heat coming off of him was almost palpable to Mandy, and even though she felt bad about joining the crowd of people shunning Lucas, she found herself doing the same thing. Lucas seemed to have an icy glare painted on his eyes and when she happened to cross paths with Lucas, the once friendly, popular, outgoing kid seemed to be able to pierce Mandy’s heart with his cold expression.

* * *

Chapter 26

“Are they together now?” Mandy asked Steve, watching the backs of Lucas and Ally as they walked down the hall in near proximity to each other. They weren’t touching each other in any way or holding hands but for some reason, Mandy got the distinct impression that they wanted to. It was even stranger because for the past few weeks Lucas had seemed to turn into a loner. Any friends he had hung around with before all the recent events had been keeping their distance lately. Now it seemed everywhere Mandy looked she caught a glimpse of Lucas and Ally was always at his side. As far as Ally, she was giving Mandy the cold shoulder. Unless she had to talk to her, such as at work, she didn’t.

“Oh, are we going?” Mandy asked surprised. She had seen the posters of course. They were plastered everywhere there had been an empty space on campus, but she hadn’t really given the dance much thought, what with everything that had been going on.

“Well, I want to. If you do, that is…” Steve waited expectantly for Mandy’s answer.

“Sure. We’ll go. I think we’ve earned an evening of diversion,” Mandy agreed. “Aww man, now I’ve got to go shopping…” Mandy moaned dramatically. “You owe me for this!” she said fiercely, but gave Steve a teasing look.

“I’ll take you shopping. It’ll be fun. Want to go after school?” Steve asked good-naturedly.

“Um, you’re a guy, you’re not supposed to want to go shopping!” Mandy laughed.

“Well, it’s not so much the shopping I’m looking forward to as the time spent with the girl doing the shopping,” Steve smiled down at Mandy.