Magical Mayhem: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Witches of Gales Haven Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

  Knowing my aunts would be stationed near their mother, I easily found them occupying the front pew, their red heads standing out from their neighbors. I headed directly for them even though there was no space next to them. I had to find out what was going on and make sure they knew that the leprechaun had maybe—possibly—fixed the problem with the barrier spell before they strung Delise up in front of everyone. She probably deserved it, but I at least needed to make sure they had all the facts before they doled out verdicts. I hadn’t managed to update them before I touched Dottie’s blade and was transported away.

  Reaching Aunt Jowelle, I crouched down so as not to obstruct anyone’s view of the proceedings and whispered to her. “Does Nan know—?”

  “Marla,” Nan called out, and a hush swept across the Haveners. “I’d like you and Quade to come up here please.”

  I straightened, plastered a smile on my face, and marched up front. I’d only been in town for a few days and already I’d been summoned several times. The universe had thumbed its nose at my desire for ease and grace as I rejoined this community. I’d jumped straight into the proverbial frying pan. Quade slowed as he passed his parents. Maguire offered him a sad smile as befitted a man who was obviously utterly defeated. Delise, however, didn’t deign to acknowledge her disowned son. She pointed her nose several degrees farther in the air. Given that she was already haughty, she now had to look down to see the council.

  Quade sighed sadly at my side as we drew up to Nan.

  Before she could say anything, I told her, “The barrier spell might be fixed. The Delise problem might already be solved.”

  She looked between me and Delise. When she focused on the woman in her now-dingy pink poncho, she narrowed her eyes dangerously. “No thanks to that woman.”

  “No,” I said. “Possibly thanks to a trouble-causing leprechaun.”

  I expected Nan and the rest of the council to regard me curiously at that. It wasn’t every day that people mentioned leprechauns—not even in Gales Haven.

  But the council members continued to glare at Delise—at times also at Maguire. Nan just hmmphed.

  “Bab told you, then?” I asked.

  “Yup.” She popped her P, not letting up the vicious stare she pinned on Delise.

  The effect of Delise’s returned glare was lost since her head was tilted so far back. The woman probably thought she was being regal. With her unkempt hair, sour expression, and wildly furious eyes, she succeeded only in looking deranged.

  “And did Scotty check the barrier spell?” I asked. “Did the leprechaun actually fix it?”

  “He did.”

  Relief whooshed through me. I’d broken the spell, and I’d felt the responsibility of fixing it until this very moment.

  Sure, I hadn’t actually broken the thing; my kids had. But what my kids did, I was responsible for. And though we’d repaired it and it had been broken again, this time not due to our magic, I couldn’t help but feel like it was still on me to fix it. If not for me, Delise wouldn’t have been standing there at the barrier, hooking her magic into it.

  Now, it was finally over. I could move on to other things. Hopefully tasks that didn’t involve Spanx or tiny bubble-butted leprechauns.

  Nan spoke so that only the council, Quade, and I could hear: “I fully trust Bab. No one can make Enchanted Hearts and Twisted Turtles that taste as good as hers and be untrustworthy. But since I represent a whole lot of people, I need to go through the processes and all that rigamaroo to show that I’m fair and impartial and all that. The rest of the council too.”

  I nodded, unsure what she was getting at.

  “Bab told us that a leprechaun snuck into town when the barrier was down and then started stealing stuff. She says he took all of Jadine Lolly’s Spanx so he could wear them as shirts because he was all nekked underneath. She says he kidnapped the talking hedgehog too.”

  Her eyebrows raised in question.

  “Close enough,” I said, registering how crazy it all sounded, how crazy my life had become. And even so, it was better than my life in the city with Devin. What did that say about Devin? And even more pointedly, what did that say about me?

  “Bab also says that when she caught the leprechaun passed out in her sugar store, she yanked him out, gave his privates a bad case of the burn, and hung him upside down till he let slip he could grant three wishes.”

  I nodded, inappropriate giggles bubbling up inside me, which I struggled to contain. It was all so ludicrous! But thousands of curious eyes watched me, reminding me how serious the matter was, and what was at stake.

  “You told her to wish the barrier spell fixed—”

  “That was a very fine idea, Marla,” Darnell interjected.

  “Fine indeed,” Nan said. “You saved our putuckuses, because Delise here is so spiteful I don’t think she ever would’ve fixed it.”

  “I’m so glad it worked,” I said, totally earnest. If it hadn’t, I didn’t know how we would have gotten it fixed. Delise’s stance was about as cooperative as a stubborn mule’s.

  “Us too,” Stella chimed in.

  Nan nodded. “Bab was pissed the leprechaun slipped her before she could get her last two wishes. Said she could’ve gotten a whole new kitchen. The scoundrels are notoriously hard to catch.”

  “All but impossible,” Stella said. “If you hadn’t found him passed out in Bab’s sugar, there’s no way you would’ve managed it.”

  “Makes sense,” I said. “He was a fast little bugger, and sly too. I still need to find him.”

  Nan waved her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll figure out where he is soon.”

  Yeah, and that’s what worried me. What was he planning on stealing next? Someone’s dentures? Another set of oversized underwear? Worse, another magical artifact just waiting to zap the crap out of some unsuspecting sod, AKA me? I swallowed an eye roll and a groan at the thought of what was coming next.

  “Maybe you should check at the end of the rainbow,” Stella suggested. “I’ve heard that’s where you find them.”

  I winced at the memory of how belligerent the leprechaun got at the mention of that theory. “I don’t think that’s how it really works.”

  “Hmm. Good to know.” Stella flapped her arms a couple of times for no apparent reason and then seemed to descend into deep thought. “Won’t be doing that anymore, then,” she finally mumbled.

  A giggle almost slipped out until I turned it into what passed for a feminine burp. I brought a modest hand to my mouth. “Excuse me.”

  Nan asked, “So you confirm Bab’s story is accurate? Delise here didn’t do a thing to help fix the barrier spell? If it were up to her, her magic would still be hooked into it?”

  “What Bab said is correct,” I told them.

  “If not for you,” Irma added, “we might not have realized what Delise was doing until it was too late.”

  “True,” Stella said with a theatrical wave of a hand. “Marla’s saved our butts a few times already and she’s only just come back. Scotty says the spell is stronger than before now.”

  It was kind of them to leave out the part about all the trouble I’d unintentionally caused. And who was I to remind them of it?

  Nan looked so insistently into my eyes, I wondered what she was searching for. Eventually, she asked, “Anything else you need to tell us?”

  “Well…” I suddenly felt like this was an interrogation, like I had to come clean before I missed my chance. But about what? How many times the blasted leprechaun had given me the slip? Or how ridiculous I’d felt running all over town looking for stolen Spanx?

  “There are tons of little details I left out,” I said, “but I can’t think of anything else important there is to tell you.”

  “Okay, good,” Nan said. “Then we can move on. We’ll talk about your detective duties later.”

  Clearly dismissed, I stepped to the side, wondering whether I could sit down so everybody would stop staring at me.

  “Quade.�
� Nan beckoned him forward. He took my place, drawing the bulk of the attention to him. “Because you’re a respected member of this community, we the council would like to see if you have any input on what should happen to your parents.”

  Evidently startled, Quade snapped a glance at his parents. Only Maguire met his look. The man’s hair was greasy and stuck to his scalp. His skin was sallow and his eyes sunken. Though Irma hadn’t been gone with them long, the man was clearly broken. Of all the damage Delise had done, both to the town and her family, it pained me most to see what she’d done to her husband. She’d taken everything from him and denied him any chance at happiness. She was even trying to take away his son.

  “You mean what kind of punishment I think they should receive?” Quade asked, lowering his voice to a whisper, probably hoping his parents wouldn’t hear him discussing their fate.

  Tessa leaned forward onto her elbows, looking down the table at him. “That, and if there’s any reason to offer them leniency.”

  Tessa looked like her usual collected self. Everything must have gone well for her on her exploratory trip outside of town.

  Tessa followed up: “Is there anything you know that we don’t that will affect our decision?”

  Quade considered his parents, running a hand along his long hair, squeezing his ponytail at the nape of his neck at the end—a nervous tell of his.

  His mother grimaced, as if she couldn’t stand his long hair even now, when her fate was being determined. She might have disowned him, but she hadn’t stopped judging him.

  Quade noticed, a deep sadness clouding those bright eyes I so loved. His back bowed slightly as he moved on to consider his father. Maguire met his son’s searching gaze, his eyes shiny with tears.

  “Stand strong, Maguire,” Delise snapped, surprising me. I hadn’t thought she could even see her husband with the way her haughtiness was on display. “Crying isn’t for men.” She smirked. “Or is that the problem?”

  Her implication that her husband of decades wasn’t a man rang clear as a bell.

  Quade’s demeanor hardened and he faced the council. “I think you know what you need to. There’s nothing more I can add. And if you’ll excuse me from the burden, I’d rather not be responsible for what happens to them.”

  Nan slid a hand across the old wooden table to take his, clutching it for a few seconds before letting go. “You aren’t responsible, Quade, not for a second. You’re your own person. Whatever befalls your mother and father is thanks to their actions, not yours.”

  “May I be dismissed?” he asked, tension rolling through tight shoulders.

  “Yes. Yes, of course. Thank you, Quade.”

  Quade took my hand and led me toward the far wall, where we stood slightly away from it all, as if that physical distance could separate him from the fact that his family was being ripped apart.

  Tessa Smate stood and the hall quieted. She must have been the council foreperson that day. “We have all the information we need to determine the punishment of Delise Contonn and Maguire Contonn. Hold tight for a bit please while the council confers.”

  The townsfolk waited, but they were far from silent as gossip billowed like a wildfire, guesses were offered as to the Contonns’ final punishment, and bets were made.

  Quade noticed too. “Really, Gus? You’re gonna bet on what happens to my parents?” he called up a few rows.

  Gus nodded enthusiastically. “You want in?”

  “No I don’t want in,” Quade grumbled miserably, leaning against the wall.

  He closed his eyes. I edged closer to him.

  There wasn’t much I could do to help now, but I could offer him my silent support. Unwavering at his side, I waited with him until Tessa stood once more to announce the verdict.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The hush that followed Tessa Smate’s pronouncement drew out. Never in the history of Gales Haven had any of its residents been permanently banished, but exile was precisely the verdict the council had just handed down.

  “You can’t do that,” Delise Contonn protested, hands on hips, making her poncho flare out in an ugly pink rhomboid. “As residents of Gales Haven, we’re guaranteed its protection. That’s the whole point of living here. You think I would have stayed here all this time if not? Living with the likes of you, so ready to believe the worst of me?”

  Maguire didn’t say a word, his head tilted downward in evident regret. I assumed he was lamenting ever meeting the woman who stood at his side in the physical sense only.

  Nan jumped to her feet faster than I thought possible, leaning her weight on her hands on the tabletop as she leaned forward to glare. Righteous anger was obviously fueling her actions now. “Of course we can exile you,” she snapped, power riding her words as if she were decades younger. “By living within its borders, every resident of Gales Haven agrees to be ruled by the council. We do our best not to be invasive and to let Haveners live their lives as they please. I think you’d all agree we do a good job of not sticking our noses in your business.”

  She paused, looking out over the crowd. Nods and murmurs of assent rolled across the townsfolk.

  “See?” Nan told Delise. “You endangered our very way of life. You threatened the security of three-thousand and sixty-nine people just because of your greedy ambition. You are being exiled because of your actions, your bad choices. No one else’s. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

  “I blame all of you,” Delise said right away, vehemence on full display. “You didn’t see what was right in front of your faces.”

  “Clearly,” Irma Lamont sneered.

  Delise ignored her, a single twitch of the eye the only evidence that she’d heard Irma.

  “The power of the barrier was waning. I told you that. I’m as powerful as any of you. You need me to bolster the barrier. That’s what I was trying to show you. I was only trying to help.”

  “Help?” Stella repeated, incredulous. Like Nan, she rose to her feet, where her arms began to gesture theatrically as was her way. “You really expect us to believe you were only trying to help?” The more worked up she got, the more her arms moved, the loose flesh of her triceps wobbling visibly beneath her shirt. “You tagged the barrier spell, the oldest and most important spell of our entire town, with your own magic. Magic that was interfering with the barrier spell and causing harm. You didn’t even know how to remove your magic! What kind of idiots do you think we are? You had no intention of removing your magic. You were going to coerce us into doing your will. And that is not the kind of behavior that will be tolerated from any of our residents. Luckily, no one else is so full of themselves as to put their megalomaniacal desires above the well-being of everyone else in our great town.”

  Stella, who had a taste for party wear even when it was gaudy, loud, and out of place, was wearing all black for the first time possibly ever to mark the severity of the situation. The muted black sequins of her knee-length dress dully reflected the vivid colors of sunset outside the large windows.

  “Like Bessie said,” Stella continued, “you have no one to blame but yourself. Poor Maguire just got caught in the web of your schemes, as usual. He’s going to pay the price of your actions. But you … you’re paying for what you did. So be a woman about it. Own up to it and stop pointing fingers.”

  I’d never seen Stella like this. She had a slight wattle and it shook slightly with her fury.

  Delise glared at Stella. The councilwoman plopped her hands onto the tabletop and leaned so far over it to do her own glaring that I worried her hands would slip out from under her.

  Tension crackled in the air.

  Softly, Maguire asked, “Where are we to go?”

  Nan shook her head at him in commiseration. A few strands of her crimson hair tumbled from her chignon. “I’m sorry, Maguire, I really am, but that’s on you. Once you step foot outside of the barrier, you won’t be able to count on any of our aid.”

  “I understand.” He didn’t meet Nan’s waitin
g stare, though her eyes welled with compassion for his predicament.

  “I’m gonna give you some advice though you didn’t ask for it. If I were you, I’d distance myself from your wife. Permanently. She doesn’t look out for you. She’s only going to lead you astray like she did here.”

  “I can’t be free of her,” he mumbled.

  “Excuse me? Repeat that.” Nan cupped a hand to her ear like she was hard of hearing. Only I knew that was far from the case. She wanted people in the back to hear him.

  “I can’t be free of her,” he repeated, more loudly.

  “And why is that?”

  Nan had to know already. Surely Irma Lamont had told her.

  “Because she has a spell in place that links me to her. That’s why I ended up with her and Irma when Irma took her.”

  “Her?” Delise growled. “You’re talking about me like I’m not standing right next to you. Bessie’s playing you like you’re some circus clown. Do you want to be a circus clown, Maguire? Huh, do you?”

  If the choice were between being a circus clown or being her husband, I knew what I’d choose.

  Maguire stared ahead only at Nan and the rest of the council, for once ignoring his wife. “Where she goes, I go. Whatever she wants me to do, she eventually gets.”

  Nan sighed somberly. “Yes, and that’s why we are forced to banish you along with her. However…” Nan narrowed her eyes at Delise. “We might be able to break the spell that links you to her. My great-granddaughter Macy’s magic could possibly do it. Then we might”—Nan looked to the other council members, who nodded their agreement—“allow you to stay on a probationary basis.”