Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4)

by Melinda Kucsera

  On my drive to the shop that morning, my thoughts focused on something I had been too blind with anger to see the night before. Since getting married four months ago, Roman and I hadn’t had the “finances talk.” Maybe we weren’t as comfortable as I thought—both financially and relationship-wise? I had always thought we were doing well. He had a nice house in the country on five acres of land. That wasn’t cheap, but he had a good job.

  When I struggled to find work, Roman had said not to push myself and that I shouldn’t fret. That we didn’t need the money.

  But now, we were tied in tightly with the shop being connected to our home. Would we still be fine if Ettie’s Enchanted Effects went belly-up like a week-old dead fish during a southern summer?

  I gnawed on my bottom lip as hundreds of possibilities played through my mind.

  When I arrived at Ettie’s an hour before opening, to my surprise and delight, nobody was outside protesting. Maybe today would be okay. All I had to do was figure out how to reverse the fox tail spell or prove to everyone I wasn’t behind it. Actually, I had to do both. I couldn’t let Matt go around as half-a-fox for the rest of his life. I’m sure a tail above his bum wouldn’t go over well with the ladies.

  Without knowing what kind of magic caused the fluffy tail, there was nothing I could do to reverse it, but the first thing I planned to do for the day was removing the spell I cast on the charm Brittany returned to me. I hated to admit this, but there was a slim chance I could have been the cause of the tail. Every witch had messed up a spell or two on occasion, and I might have screwed up a few more than that. Completely unintentional, of course.

  The pendant was necessary to reverse the charm, but the police had taken it for evidence. Step one of my day was to coordinate a visit with the officers, admitting the fraction-of-a-percent chance I could have been behind the new appendage.

  My hands shook as I dialed the number Officer Gates had left me, listening to the phone ring and click over into voicemail.

  “Hi, this is Mrs. Ettie Sunward from Ettie’s Enchanted Effects. There might be a slim—very slim, almost non-existent—chance that the tail that Matt Fleming grew was from a wayward spell. If I could get my hands on that pendant you took as evidence, I could remove all its magic. If it was me, Matt will go back to normal…but again, I doubt I had anything to do with the curse, but I can’t take the chance.” I sat on the phone for a few seconds, trying to think of what else to say, but I hung up awkwardly instead. That was now out of my control. Time to focus on what I could control.

  For starters, my attitude. I took a deep breath and practiced my best, fake smile. Fake it until you make it, my mom always said.

  It was fifteen minutes before opening and out on my sidewalk stood Brittany. Her scowl told me she wasn’t here to apologize. Well, here went nothing. I unlocked the door and flipped the open sign around.

  Brittany turned away, and as the first customer came towards the store, she handed them a pastel yellow piece of paper. The customer looked down, hesitated at my door, and finally turned around and left.

  She was ruining my business!

  Was that slander?

  Was she allowed to do that?

  If she truly thought I brought that tail upon her son, I didn’t blame her, but I also had to protect my business as well as Roman’s investment.

  The door chimed as I stepped outside, and Brittany immediately stepped away.

  “Wait. I want to talk,” I called after her. “What’s on those flyers?”

  She kept backing up, and the few people who had parked in front of the shop were starting to get out of their cars, now seeing that the shop was open. I certainly didn’t need that audience when Brittany twisted whatever I was about to say.

  “Wait,” I called. “What are you telling my customers?”

  “It’s none of your business,” she shot back at me, standing on the front step of her church. “I’m entitled to freedom of speech, especially on my own property.”

  I ground my teeth. Something inside me had to know what I was up against. I released my magic, waving my hand in the air to pluck a flyer out of her grip and to send out a gust of wind to carry it to me. The half sheet of paper hovered in the air in front of me with its unmistakable big, bold headline.

  Witch magic is the work of the devil.

  I laughed.

  That’s been proven wrong over and over again, but the next lines as well as the image of her son were enough to make me halt.

  Don’t believe that claim?

  Take a chance at magic and you might grow a tail.

  Even worse, your children might grow tails.

  I plucked the flyer from the air and crumpled it in my hands. I spun around to see my audience of nearly a dozen downtown visitors staring at me with big eyes and gaping mouths. Had the citizens of Watersedge never seen real magic before?

  If they wanted a show, I’d give them a show.

  With a swipe of my hand, I used the wind to open the shop’s entrance door. Another wave and the soft music was turned up. I adjusted the lights to shine only the UV light spectrum, mimicking a black light that enhanced the innate magic present within each of my enchanted objects, making them glow a cool blue in the eerie darkness.

  Next, I turned to that terrible bright white letterboard Brittany had been using above her church door to spread her message. It currently read, You’re never too old to try something pointless. With a quick snap of my fingers, the last word dropped off the board. Now, it read, You’re never too old to try something.

  Perfect.

  “Come on in,” I crooned. “You want a witch? I can give you a witch.”

  I held the door and waited.

  One by one, the onlookers stepped forward, slowly entering the shop.

  I had tried to play nice. Be the sweet entrepreneur, I thought, but apparently that wasn’t what worked in Watersedge. I needed to fight fire with (magical) fire.

  Chapter Eight

  Perhaps my little display of magic was over the top and purely driven by my emotions, but it worked. Townsfolk dismissed the flyer and came into the shop, purchasing all sorts of items that would both help them and help pay off whatever loan Roman took.

  When the door chimed and the reporter from the Watersedge Daily News stepped in again, my muscles tensed. How on Earth would Natalia Young spin this new story?

  If she wanted the angle of an out-of-control witch in town, I’d give it to her. Maybe it was best to stop avoiding what everyone else wanted.

  “Here to report about the fox tail on the neighboring kid?” I asked, giving a chin nod towards the church.

  She pulled her notebook out of her designer bag. “I saw the police report last night.”

  “I can’t wait to see how you spin this tale. Get it…tail?” I laughed. The day was getting to me and sure, I felt bad for Matt, but I wasn’t behind it to the best of my knowledge. Who knew? Maybe his own mother purchased a spell online to hex him. What a perfect way to put me out of business.

  Well, it was going to backfire on her.

  As I told my side of the story to the reporter—wondering why I bothered because she’d just twist it around whichever way she liked—I glanced up to see the navy-blue uniform of Officer Gates stepping towards to my front entrance.

  Sucky timing.

  As Officer Gates entered with the pendant dangling in her hand, I decided that I had told the reporter enough.

  “That’s all you’re going to get from me,” I said, turning my back to her and greeting my new guest without even a proper goodbye to Natalia. She didn’t seem to care, hurrying away to the opposite side of the store without even shoving her notebook back into her bag. Maybe I gave her the creeps?

  One could only hope.

  “You know, this isn’t protocol,” Officer Gates said, bringing my attention back to where it belonged. She was doing me a favor. “We’re supposed to keep this as evidence, but if you can reverse the fox tail, I’m sure everyone will be relie
ved.”

  I smiled, catching the reporter’s eye since she hadn’t left yet. I’m certain she was getting every last bit of the juicy details about an officer not following protocol. Maybe I had a hex on him. Oh. My. What would the paper say?

  But I wasn’t going to be caught up in townspeople’s drama. Instead, I thanked the officer and cupped the talisman in my hand, mumbling the charm breaking spell: “In hoc magicae removere leporem.” The charm warmed in my hand, and I passed it back to Officer Gates. “There. Go check. If he doesn’t have a tail anymore, it was my fault, and I owe everyone an apology.”

  Officer Gates dropped the charm into a manila envelope and headed out the door with Natalia following nearly in her footsteps. As soon as they were outside, I saw another familiar face. This town couldn’t be that big; I was already getting repeat customers. The man walking in had been the tall, older gentleman from my first day.

  “You made it back,” I said, greeting him with a smile. “You said you’d come when it was less busy. Not too many customers today, but, still, it’s probably not the best day to visit.”

  He nodded. “I saw the article in the paper. You really are stirring things up here in Watersedge.”

  “And they’re going to get stirred up more.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I might…or might not have caused a child to grow a tail.” I laughed. “I didn’t. I really don’t think I did, but after the news hits tomorrow…” I dismissed my thoughts with my hand. Why was I vomiting all this to a perfect stranger? I couldn’t help it. There was something about his soulful brown eyes that made me want to confess my troubles to him. “You didn’t come here to hear my problems. What can I help you with? A charm? An enchanted suitcase? They’re my specialty.”

  “I’m having problems connecting with my son. Do you have anything to help rekindle a relationship?”

  “I do. What happened with you and your son? There are three stones that can help, but it depends on the circumstances of the relationship.”

  “A differing of opinions,” the man said.

  “Jade it is.” I led him across the shop and pulled off two little jade stones set on a keyring. “Give one of these to your son and keep the other. Jade will open the line of communication, but it’s up to you to do the work. Many times, these kinds of differences can be rectified with just some plain, ol’ communication.”

  Looking troubled, the stranger elaborated, “He thinks my ways are old-fashioned.”

  “Why?”

  The man’s face went blank.

  “Exactly,” I said. “Communication is the key. Hear him out. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between. Or, at least a version of the truth you both can live with.”

  He thanked me, paying for the double jade keychain, and despite all the drama, it felt good to help someone. Not only with my enchanted objects, but with a dose of good ol’-fashioned social work, too.

  Chapter Nine

  The rest of the week slowly ticked by like clockwork. Brittany Fleming continued to hand out her flyers every single day and tell of her son’s condition, which the removal of my charm didn’t cure. (Thank the enchanted cat!) Half of the people who passed by her, listened. The other half came into the shop, anyway. I made some money, but better than that, I genuinely helped some people with their issues by combining my magic with some non-magical activities. It was the beginning foundation of the charity I ran in my free time, Witch Way. Roman had known me so well, giving me this little outlet to blend my two passions together.

  Ettie’s was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I spent those two days working on the bookkeeping for the charity and searching online for new enchanted objects to fill the shelves after I had sold quite a few during the week. I didn’t really have a day off, but it was my own business. I didn’t need one.

  The second newspaper article appeared the day after the reporter had re-visited the shop, but this one fortunately wasn’t twisted like the first. I guess a second grader growing a tail was enough to persuade people against me without having to actually skew the news. I had flipped through my book of spells and picked Roman’s brain for a way to reverse a tail, but we only came up with some weak ideas. On the one hand, they might work or, on the other, they might just make things worse. One part of me said to leave it alone, while the meddling social worker part of me—the part that always won—told me to go fix the problem.

  After my eyes grew tired and my back ached from being hunched over the spell book on both of my days off, I laughed at myself.

  It was time I took my own advice: Magic wasn’t always the answer.

  By Wednesday morning, I was refreshed and ready to go back at it. I left an hour early and instead of entering the shop, I knocked on the big wooden door of the church next door. Ridiculous, but it needed to be done.

  Nobody answered. Couldn’t they hear me? With how massive the structure was, I’m sure my pounding probably drowned a little inside. I pulled on the giant handle and the door opened, revealing a wide-open lobby area filled with ornate carved wood of various gruesome scenes that I had read about in my childhood.

  “Mrs. Fleming?” I called. “It’s Ettie from next door.”

  I stepped inside, my shoes tapping against the tile floor. Brittany wasn’t going to like this, but a church was a public place, right?

  Footsteps echoed throughout the building as my nemesis descended down a curved stairway from an upper room off to one side of the church. Her expression could curdle milk.

  “Mrs. Fleming, I’m here to help.”

  “By doing what, Mrs. Sunward? Having Matthew grow ears too? Maybe he’ll turn into a full fox under the next full moon and scamper off into the woods, never to return.”

  “Not if we reverse the spell.”

  “So, you admit it was you?”

  I shook my head. “It wasn’t me. Someone…or something else…hexed him, but I’m certain that I can reverse it, if I get the right information. We just need to know where the hex came from.”

  A movement at the top of the stairs caught my eye. Matt sat on the top step, hugging his legs to his chest and rocking himself back and forth. It broke my heart to see him so upset.

  “I already have another witch on it.”

  I stepped away. “You do?” As animate as she was about hating magic, she had sought one of us out? I seriously doubted it.

  “What was I supposed to do?” she spat. “You left me with little choice. I can’t let him go through life with a tail! He’s already missed a week of school.”

  A week of school? “Which witch are you using?” I knew most witches offering their services through my charity work. “Are they reputable?”

  “They come highly recommended, Mrs. Sunward. Please see yourself out. You’re not wanted here.” She turned her back on me, and her heels clicked as she climbed back up the steps.

  Who was she using to reverse the curse, and why wouldn’t she tell me? Perhaps she wasn’t using anyone at all. “Look for another charm. The one I gave him has been neutralized. If you can’t find a charm, the spell could have been in something he ate. I could concoct a potion to counteract that…” but it might also have him growing those ears she was afraid of.

  She didn’t turn around, just headed into the room off the top of the steps with her son in tow.

  Well, that went better than I thought.

  What did Roman say? One could accomplish anything with perseverance and determination.

  I’d get through.

  What Brittany didn’t know was that with Witch Way charities, I had connections to all of this realm’s practitioners who wielded magic. All I had to do was put a post up on the message boards and by the end of the day, I’d know who was working with her.

  I didn’t get that far. When I exited the church, another woman stood outside with the same, familiar yellow flyers Brittany had been handing out. This woman had a girl at her side, probably the same age as Matt, ordinary…but for a white-tipped tail hanging
out from beneath her skirt.

  And she wasn’t alone, either. Another man stood across the street with twins about seven or eight years old. Both of which also had a fox tail prominent, despite their clothing.

  What the heck was going on?

  The whole town was growing tails.

  Or at least the children were.

  I headed into the shop, the chime annoying me as I flipped over the open sign. I drummed my fingers against my desk, deep in thought.

  Waiting.

  For what?

  Today, the annoying yellow flyers would work…or maybe it would be the sight of half a dozen children who had grown tails. Nobody would be coming into the store at all. Of that, I was certain.

  I had to do something.

  Anything at all.

  I just didn’t know what.

  Chapter Ten

  The day went by as I predicted with absolutely zero customers. The next day, too. The only thing different now was the handful of extra protesters outside. The newspaper had reported the tail epidemic, clearly pointing their fingers right at me. It wasn’t just them though. My name and shop had made the regional TV news, reporting about three dozen, second graders who had grown a tail. The news claimed it was contagious, but magic didn’t usually work like that. Not that I could convince a bunch of mortals of anything at the moment. How was I going to get through this?

  Sometime in the afternoon, I couldn’t take the shop’s silence anymore. Despite not having any good options, I needed to do something—anything—about the kids with tails, even if it was a bit risky. I couldn’t ignore the problem if I had the power to fix it. My leather-bound spell book laid across the check-out counter, flipped to the incantation I thought was my best chance of reversing children’s tails, when Roman surprised me at the store a few hours before closing.