by J L Collins
5
A Hangover Cure
“I don’t really see how this is supposed to make me feel better.”
The steam quickly rose up from my cup of Aunt Bee’s mood-enhancing tea, this one a new flavor I’d never tried before. I held up the warm teacup closer to my face, taking in the subtle hint of bergamot and something spicier. “What’s this one supposed to do, anyway?”
“Time will tell,” she said with a sad smile, clearing off space at the small table for us. “Although for the time being, I’m just hoping for a simple motivation kick,” she added as she gestured to the crowded back-end of the Apothecarium. “Inventory is never fun when you have to handle it by yourself. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been stung by stray stinging nettles, or worse, pinched by one of those.”
I looked over my shoulder at where she was pointing. A handful of ugly gray creatures were skittering over one another inside a small glass tank. They slightly resembled hermit crabs, but with bigger pincers and slimy, gray shells.
I winced. “What are those things?”
Aunt Bee just shrugged and took a sip from her own cup of tea. “Biggle crabs. They emit a disgustingly noxious smell from their shells that happens to be very beneficial in clearing warts. I use them for some of my skin treatments for ogres and trolls. They’re usually the only ones who can stand the smell.”
“Ugh. I hope you charge them extra for all the pinching.”
She chuckled before sitting down across from me. “Believe me, my work doesn’t come cheap. Speaking of . . . I don’t suppose you’ve given more thought to what I said before?”
“About what?” I said innocently, giving in after I saw the look on her face. “I don’t know. I can’t help wanting to do something more—to make sure that Rourke’s killer is caught.” Not to mention the missing ancient text that could be deadly in the wrong hands…
“I know, Gwennie-Bee. It must be very difficult to hold back from something like this when it’s what you were trained to do, but dear, Gardner has everyone on his team to help him with this investigation. You have your own life now, and with that comes your own set of worries. You can’t be expected to hold the weight of two worlds on your shoulders.”
The steam rising from my cup was now twirling in on itself until it spread out into what was unmistakably the word ‘frustration.’ I rolled my eyes.
“See? That’s exactly what I mean,” she said, pointing to the frothy white word before it vanished. “You’re supposed to be enjoying your first vacation in how many years again?”
“This is my first real vacation,” I mumbled, pushing the cup and saucer away from me. “It’s not like I asked for any of this to happen. It’s my duty to make sure that everyone here is safe, Aunt Bee. And with Rourke dead that leaves the entire realm in danger. You know that, right?”
An indignant sound came out of her mouth before she narrowed her eyes at me from behind her glasses. “Of course, I know that, Gwendolyn! I may not be privy to all there is to know about how Rourke’s magic worked or how the Athenaeum truly works, but I know a thing or two about magic and its traces. And it felt like the death of all magic inside that place. I’ve never felt anything like it in all my years.”
A warm breeze let in from the front, swooped across the planked hardwood floors. I looked around her to see my Aunt Ginevra striding into the shop. She unclasped her dark green cloak, hanging it over her arm with a grim expression on her face.
“Bedelia? Are you in here, darling?”
“Back here, Ginny. Gwendolyn’s here, too.”
Aunt Ginevra flashed me a warm smile as I stood up to hug her. “So nice to see you—I hadn’t realized it was already time for you to visit us again.”
“She’s on vacation,” Aunt Bee said before I could get a word in. “And she’s spending it here.”
“Not . . . exactly,” I cautioned her, still looking at Aunt Ginevra. It killed me how much my cousin Erie looked just like her mother. “I did intend on spending some time here before . . . well, I’m assuming Uncle Gardner told you what happened this morning?”
She nodded. “He did. I just don’t know what to do with myself, quite honestly. Rourke was a truly good man. Our whole realm was a better place because of him. Between hearing that and dealing with Tristan—oh. And dealing with matters at the manor house, I could use my own kind of pick-me-up,” she added nervously, glancing behind me at Aunt Bee.
Yeah, that wasn’t exactly subtle. “What’s my brother done now?” I asked, almost cringing at the possibilities. Ever since my younger brother Tristan had supposedly been on the straight and narrow this summer, he’d been somewhat of a shut-in at Brady Manor where my Uncle Gardner and Aunt Ginevra lived. Because of the factions of Dark Market loyalists who were hell-bent on making my brother’s life miserable (or end it altogether) he had to live with them for the time being—something he very much resented.
Without a word, Aunt Ginevra turned away and walked down one of the aisles closest to the back of the shop. The top of her head bobbed along the tops of the wooden shelves until she found whatever it was she was looking for. With the clink of glass on glass, she picked it up and headed back toward us, brandishing a bright green glass bottle. On the label was what appeared to be a werewolf lying half out of a bed with a hot water bottle over his head, reading ‘Howled Over—the hangover cure that works!’
“I’ll take another bottle of this, darling,” she said with a sigh. She watched me carefully to gauge my reaction.
“Well I know that’s not for you,” I said sourly, shaking my head. “Is he still sulking up in his room, drinking all day?”
“He’s just having a . . . difficult time.”
“Difficult my rear! Ginny, you know he’s acting like a petulant child. There’s no need to sugar-coat things with her,” Aunt Bee snorted, finishing the last of her tea with a long-drawn-out sip.
I frowned. “That’s saying something coming from her.” She hardly ever let Tristan go a day without spoiling him. “So, what’s his deal now, Auntie?”
It was very clear that Aunt Ginevra was holding back, but she told me about his recent run-in with one of the Dark Market loyalists who were out for blood. “He tried to tell me and Brennrie that he just needed some fresh air, but neither of us bought it. He was going stir-crazy to the point of setting foot in the Market, can you believe it? And when the two of us went to him about it, he just pretended as if it weren’t important. As if his life hardly mattered to us,” Aunt Ginevra finished, sniffling softly into a handkerchief she pulled from inside her cloak. “As if we haven’t tried to do everything to keep him safe.”
“Brennrie’s here, too?” I asked her, surprised to see that Tristan’s pretty ex-girlfriend was hanging around again. The last time I’d checked, she was through with my brother and his wannabe-martyrdom.
“Yes, they’re trying to work through their differences I suppose. As if her being a Fairy wasn’t different enough for them. She has a good heart though, and she really does care about him, so I don’t get in the way of things between them. Whatever makes him happy enough to get him out of bed each morning is fine by me.”
I could see the concern in her eyes, but thought better of trying to pry more information from her. I was just going to have to visit my brother and see things for myself. Maybe I could get his depressed butt out of bed. It probably wouldn’t be much different than trying to wake up a lazy teenager so she can get to school on time…
Oh shoot. I remembered what I wanted to talk to my family about before the whole fiasco at the Athenaeum happened.
“I nearly forgot to mention this to you, but I figure Uncle Gardner has his hands full at the moment. Something weird has been happening to me back home.” I proceeded to tell my aunts about the strange bits of relatively strong magic I’d been able to accomplish back in the Human Realm, and about how I’d simply been thinking about the weather when an actual weather occurrence well, occurred over my kitchen table.
“That’s . . .”
“Interesting,” Aunt Bee finished for her sister-in-law, looking positively perplexed. “I didn’t think that was possible in the Human Realm. We have whole statutes and laws here in various texts that say so. Why, I can hardly even use my full telepathy there.”
I nodded. “I know. That’s kind of why I brought it up. Uncle Gardner had mentioned something about the Council voting in some new magic regulations in regards to the Human Realm. I thought maybe that might have something to do with it.”
“But that hasn’t happened yet, dear,” Aunt Bee said, sharing a troubled look with Aunt Ginevra. “They have to have a meeting and Merlin knows how long it will take for them to decide on things. It could take a whole season before we know the outcome.”
Aunt Ginevra placed the bottle of ‘Howled-Over’ on the counter next to a small crate of ‘Homemade Bloodble Gum’ in bright colored wrappers. “A rain cloud in the middle of your meal—I must say darling, that’s the first I’ve heard of that one. And you’re sure you weren’t somehow using your wand without knowing?”
“No, I’m sure of it. It was in my pocket. And magic doesn’t exactly work like that here, much less there in my house. I thought that maybe if the laws were being changed that some of Spell Haven’s magic was leaking into the Human Realm. And any good magical amplifier like my wand might make that magic even stronger. It just . . . worries me.” Magic doesn’t belong there, as much as I wish it could just for my own convenience. So, what could be causing it?
Neither of them had much to say on the subject, other than agreeing that I should take it up with Uncle G after all.
“He’ll want to know, believe me,” Aunt Ginevra said, closing her eyes for a moment and tapping the simple-looking cash register on the counter with her fingers. “All done. I’ve made sure it’s come from Tristan’s money, mind you.”
Aunt Bee simply smiled and winked at her. “Thank you, Ginny. And yes, Gwennie-Bee, you should talk to Gardner about it. My brother may be busy but he always has time for his family.”
I didn’t doubt it. I would make sure to get his take on the situation, plus it wouldn’t hurt to check in with him and see how the investigation was going, either. But that would have to wait until later. The last thing I wanted was to irritate him not even twenty-four hours into a murder investigation.
6
Girls Having Fun
By the time I made it back home after helping Aunt Bedelia with some of her inventory, Fiona-Leigh was home too. Tagging along with her through the front door, was Marina.
“And how was your day?” I asked, not-so-subtlety slipping in through the kitchen as if I’d been there the whole time.
Fiona-Leigh snorted. “Right. It was okay, I guess.” Plopping down on the sofa, she kicked off her shoes and closed her eyes. “We wanted to stop by here first before heading over to Sully’s and catching a ride to Marina’s place. I have to grab some stuff from my room. Plus, Marina nearly pounded some guy’s face in.”
“Seriously, Fi?” Marina hissed, tossing her backpack down by the recliner.
I raised a brow, settling in on the arm of the sofa next to Fiona-Leigh. “What happened now?”
Fiona-Leigh sat up a little, drawing her socked feet up under herself. “Grayson from our 8th grade class is in our homeroom this year too. And he kept yanking Marina’s beanie out of her backpack, tossing it around with some other guys before the teacher came in. They were being total jerks. She got sick of it.”
Marina mumbled something else under her breath before adding, “served him right . . .”
“And?”
“And . . . she may have taken her backpack and hit him with it.”
I groaned, suddenly remembering how Marina liked to keep her skateboard strapped to her backpack. “Please tell me your board was at least in your locker.”
Marina slid her beanie from her head, releasing the white-blonde pixie cut underneath. “It was. But my next class after homeroom is Biology. And Biology has two huge books along with it. Let’s just say the results weren’t pretty.”
“Oh, honey, what in the world were you thinking?” I asked, unable to stop myself from wondering what her parents knew, if anything. Marina’s parents weren’t exactly the most aware people on the planet. They pretty much let her do what she wanted, but luckily Marina had a pretty good head on her shoulders. If that weren’t the case then I wasn’t so sure I’d be letting Fiona-Leigh hang out with her so much.
“I’m tired of him always getting away with it! Every year this happens. Grayson somehow ends up in my class and then I have to put up with him mocking me, annoying me, being a jerk—all year. I didn’t really get into too much trouble . . .”
“Well, I mean yeah, you didn’t get expelled or anything,” Fiona-Leigh added.
“—right. That’s what I mean. I just got . . . you know, suspended. Which is totally unfair, if I might add!”
The two of them kept going back and forth, garnering the attention of Jax who had been snoozing soundly in his dog bed in the corner of the room. He opened a sleepy eye, assessing the situation was in dire need of his cuteness, and tottered on over wagging his little tail at Marina before she scooped him up and hugged him close to her chest.
“Hi, bud,” she whispered against his wiry white fur.
“Honey, would you mind helping me really quickly? In the kitchen?” I turned to ask Fi, suddenly remembering that I had my own rather crazy day of information to unload on someone, too.
She sighed and heaved herself off the couch, gesturing for me to go first. “Be right back,” she said over her shoulder to Marina. Marina was too wrapped up in baby-talking to Jax to even notice we were leaving the room.
Making sure that unknowing ears weren’t listening, I pulled Fi over to the table and leaned up against it. “So. Today has been a pretty long day for me, too. I went to Spell Haven—”
“Mmhmm. I knew it.”
“And not long after I got there, something happened.” Without getting into too much detail, I explained to her who Rourke was. “Aunt Bee and I went to this magical library where Rourke worked—”
“The Athenaeum of the Unseen,” Fi repeated.
“Right. And it was true. Rourke was gone before we got there.” I shook my head, still reeling from the image of Rourke’s lifeless body lying on the black and gold marbled floor. “They’re trying to figure out what happened, of course.”
Fiona-Leigh slumped against the table next to me, her eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry about all of that, Mama. It sounds like he was a really good guy.”
“He was. He was and it’s honestly a little unnerving that he’s not there holding down the fort. That was what his job was, you know. To keep all of the Athenaeum’s important information and relics out of the wrong hands.” I hesitated for a moment. “The Keeper of the Pages is the last defense against the kind of evil that threatens lives in Danann. I’m worried because without one, it leaves Spell Haven and the rest of the realm in danger. And I don’t like not knowing what happened and why. Then on top of it, the An Leabhar na Ciallmhar is possibly missing, and Merlin knows what someone could do with it. If I could just—” I cut myself off, realizing too late that I’d said too much. Mention any kind of powerful-sounding magical item in front of my daughter and you’re guaranteed to have her undivided attention.
Fiona-Leigh straightened up. “Wait. You’re involved in this, aren’t you? You’re going to work with Uncle Gardner on this case . . . on this investigation? Right? Mom, c’mon, I know you!”
“Well, I mean I do want to keep tabs on everything and I’ll already be there in Spell Haven during the day anyway.”
“Let me come with you! I could help look for whatever that thing was you just said. Something about ‘leaving her and killing her?’ What the heck is that, by the way?” she asked, her voice doing the thing where she’s really excited and starts talking a hundred miles an hour.
I held up my hand. “Uh-uh.
No way. You’re not coming to look for the Book of the Wise. We don’t even know if it’s necessarily missing. It might just be, um, misplaced.”
She gave me a look like I’d lost my mind. “Something called the ‘Book of the Wise’ just happens to conveniently get misplaced after the very same guy that’s supposed to be watching over it is found dead? Yeah. I’m sure it’s fine. C’mon Mom.”
“Okay, okay. So, it’s probably stolen—even more of a reason for you to stay out of the way! I’m not even supposed to really be looking into it if I’m being honest.”
Fiona-Leigh groaned, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “How is this fair, then? You can go be nosy, but I can’t? Just let me go with you! I promise I won’t get in the way!”
“Who’s going where?” Marina asked, suddenly standing in the doorway, holding a squirming Jax.
“I, uh . . .” I started, fumbling.
“My um, mom . . . she’s got this new job assignment that um, I wanted to go with her to.”
“Yeah, a freelance assignment. Outside of the Gazette. Far away, in fact,” I quickly added, grabbing hold of the story. “And I’m trying to explain to your friend here, that she can’t go with me.”
Marina glanced between us, apparently pretty amused. “Okay. Well, Fi, since you can’t go wherever your mom’s going, why don’t you come and stay with me at Sully’s? I forgot to tell you guys that my parents just told me this morning that they are going out of town for the next couple of weeks, so I have to stay with him anyway. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you stayed too. I mean, if you want to.” She stared at Fi who looked absolutely torn between the prospect of staying through the week with her best friend and arguing more about coming along with me.
“Maybe . . .” Fi agreed. “I mean, we already have to work on our Biology projects anyway. Might as well work together—okay, I’m sold! Please, Mom? We’d get to school and everything with no problem.”