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

by Melinda Kucsera

  “It’s okay. We can play another night.” I turned to my father-in-law. “Do you mind if I let these dry here and pick them up in the morning?”

  “No problem.”

  With that, we said our goodbyes and headed downstairs. As we walked out of the shop past the empty shelves, Roman stopped, turning back towards the cash register. “Do you have any cash to deposit? The banks are open until noon tomorrow.”

  I shook my head. “No, I haven’t made much the past few weeks due to my inventory problem.”

  “Hmm. Well, hopefully our stones will sell well tomorrow, since the rent is due on this building next week.”

  “Are we short?”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  “Roman?” I added some motherly firmness to my voice. “Do we or don’t we have rent?”

  “Well, Dad paid his rent, which covers almost half of what the building costs us. We can cover rent for the building, but that doesn’t leave us anything to pay back the business loan to the owners of Watersedge Architectural Group…I mean, we’ll be fine. I can always dip into my 401K.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. We’re that short? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You’re doing great. It’s just when we bought the new car, it put us a bit tight. It was really the down payment that sucked our reserves away, but we didn’t have a choice.”

  He was right. We needed a vehicle to use to get around and go to work. You couldn’t rely on witchy magic, as this was a perfect example. Both of us were completely spent, and if we had snapped our fingers to get here, we’d be walking the eight miles home. It’s not like Watersedge was big enough for public transportation or even Ubers.

  “So how much do we need by next week?” I asked.

  “About a thousand dollars.”

  I nodded. That was doable. I had days when I brought in twenty-five hundred dollars or more. And now with the inventory upstairs, we’d be fine. If I could sell all one hundred stones for ten dollars each, that’d cover our bills this month. Plus, when my magic restored, I’d have to enchant some additional objects and not get behind like I had. “Piece of cake,” I said with a smile I hoped covered up the way my stomach twisted and my heart fluttered just thinking about the weight on my shoulders.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning with my magic stores refilled, all it took was a snap of my fingers and all our enchanted stones rose into the air and marched themselves down the steps into Ettie’s Enchanted Effects. I pointed my fingers for them to line up on the empty red clay earth charm display right in the middle of the store. The stones filled the round table in a circle and looked good on the boxes I had set up to add a multi-dimensional display.

  “What a difference a few rocks make.”

  I jumped and spun around to Roman standing in the back corner in the teen section. My hand flew up to my chest. “You scared me.” I had been concentrating so hard, I didn’t see him there.

  “Oh, sorry. I thought I’d come down to help today. I have the day off of work and with your new stones, Ettie’s should be busy.”

  I looked around the store, calming my rapid heart. “Yeah, we have one display filled, but look how empty this place still is.”

  “As long as you have what people need to solve their problems, you should be fine.” Roman crossed the room and kissed me.

  “I’m always grateful for the help, but what a way to spend your day off from work. Before we open, I need to call Enchanted Gifts back. They finally returned my call about my missing shipment.”

  Roman went about the shelves, spreading items around to make it look fuller, but I didn’t know how much help that was. Ettie’s was still empty.

  “Enchanted Gifts. This is Mary. How may I help you?”

  “Hi, this is Ettie Sunward from Ettie’s Enchanted Effects calling you back. I’m following up on a missing shipment. I called a few days ago to confirm the shipping address, which you have correct, but when I checked the online portal, the delivery was marked delayed, but now it says it’s on hold. Can you help me?”

  “One moment please.” I was switched over to some classical music, but the woman came back on the phone quickly. “Yes. We have a hold on your order because you have an overdue bill. We only ship to accounts that are current.”

  “Overdue? That’s impossible. I pay bills as soon as I receive them. Are you sure?” Although, that was the second overdue bill I had been informed of in the past few days.

  “Yes. This is from two months ago for some enchanted pendants and stones as well as a collection of books about the history of magic.”

  That was the order I placed when I set the store up. I paid that, right? “Let me confirm that I paid.” I dropped the phone to my shoulder and headed into my storeroom, pulling out the ledger I recorded everything in. Paging through all the wholesalers I ordered from. Magic Express, Spell Solutions, but I didn’t see Enchanted Gifts listed at all. My stomach dropped. I truly hadn’t paid them. I lifted the phone to my ear. “How much do I owe you?”

  “Five-hundred and ninety-nine dollars. Would you like to pay by credit card now or for us to email you the bill?”

  Ugh. With how tight money was, I wasn’t going to add to our credit card bills, as I knew I charged a big purchase earlier this month. “Please email the invoice. Is there any way you can ship my new items and add the costs to my outstanding bill?”

  “No. Our policy is very strict.”

  That meant I couldn’t pay their bill without making some money by selling inventory…which I didn’t have. A huge cycle.

  Maybe Brittany had been right and my store was really going out of business.

  “One more thing,” I said. “I swear I never received the bill. Could you confirm how you sent it to me?”

  “We always mail out the bills separately from the merchandise,” the woman said.

  My mouth dried, with another issue that happened regarding my mailing address. “What address did you send the bill to?” Sure, I had confirmed the shipping address last week, but I hadn’t thought about confirming the billing address.

  “4839 Segway Street.”

  My heart hammered. There it was again. The same wrong address, but now the second of my wholesalers had it. First, Spell Solutions, now Enchanted Gifts. It couldn’t be a coincidence that two completely different companies had Segway Street as where my shop was located. “Who gave you that address?”

  “What do you mean?” the woman asked.

  “The address is wrong. Who gave it to you?”

  “Well, you must have. We don’t track updates.”

  I sighed. “Could you please update the address to 783 Main Street? I’ll get you your payment as soon as possible.”

  By the time I ended the call, Roman stood behind me, massaging my tense shoulders. “Did you catch all that?” I asked.

  “I did. Sounds like someone is out to get Ettie’s shut down again.”

  I shook my head. “No. I think that someone never stopped. This is it, though. It’s time to put an end to it. I know you wanted to spend the day here with me, but could you do a favor first? Find out who or what is at 4839 Segway Street. Both Spell Solutions and Enchanted Gifts had that address. Maybe that’s our connection to whoever is out to get Ettie’s Enchanted Effects.”

  He kissed my cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Thank you. I turned around to see the line of people outside my store. I glanced at the time. I was ten minutes late for opening. I painted on the best fake-smile I could and took a deep breath. No matter what distractions were going on, I had a mission. I had to make enough money to not only pay rent, pay our loan with Roman’s bosses, but now, I had back merchandise to cover, too.

  And even if I sold all my new enchanted stones, and enchanted a few more during any free time I had today, I didn’t think that that would be enough.

  Chapter Six

  “How was work?” Gabby asked with a tall glass of beer in her hand. She wore a white t-shirt that had
been underneath her navy-blue police uniform and still had the dark pants on. I had no idea where she stashed her gun, but liked that Gabby understood having to work weekends.

  Gabby, Irene, Alma, Penelope, and I all squeezed around a high-top table at BB’s for the trivia challenge. Alma and Penelope had already registered us, and we had a blank piece of paper sitting on our table, waiting for whatever answers to be scrawled across its surface.

  “Busy,” I said with an awkward smile. “But even with new inventory, I just don’t have enough to keep the customers happy.”

  “They’re probably all waiting for your going-out-of-business sale,” Alma teased, scratching off a white patch of either puppy slobber from her class this morning or baby spit up off her shoulder. Both would fit her lifestyle.

  I laughed. “I have new enchanted stones, but they’re not what my customers want. They want stones set in keyrings or to wear around their necks, not a river rock to slip into their pockets. There’s no difference, but it appears everyone has a preconceived notion. I searched Pinterest today on how to doll up the merchandise, but I’m far from crafty. My stone pendant necklace would probably look more like a ceiling fan pull.”

  I looked to my left where Roman was squeezed into a spare seat, finally back from the bar getting us both virgin Bloody Marys. Gosh, I loved spicy tomato juice, and it looked like BB’s did it right, with a whole salad bar on sticks inside the drink. I thanked Roman and turned to my group.

  “I hope you don’t mind that Roman joined us.” I put my hand over my mouth to pretend to shield my words from my husband and spoke in a loud whisper, easily heard over the seventies-rock music. “I think he’s lonely. He’s been hanging around me a lot lately.” And it was true. My little warlock had become a bit clingy. I didn’t mind that much, but at some point, he’d need to figure out what to do with himself when I was busy.

  Roman laughed. “I just want to spend as much time with you as possible.”

  “I think it’s sweet.” Irene pulled her long, dirty blond braid over her shoulder, letting it drop well past her bust. “If my husband had done that, we might still be married.”

  “I don’t know,” Gabby said. “I think if Norm hung around this much, he’d drive me nuts.”

  We laughed.

  All of us except Roman. I patted his knee. “Oh, don’t worry, honey.” I innocently batted my eyes. “You could never drive me nuts.”

  Finally, he smiled and revealed his double dimples. “I get the hint, but you’re stuck with me for now.”

  “I’m not stuck with you…but you’re still not on our team,” I clarified. “This is a girls-only event.”

  “Speaking of girls only.” Penelope gave a nod towards the front entrance. “Here comes our competition.”

  Into the bar walked Natalia Young with her team including Brittany Fleming, Mayor Matilda Raab, and another woman I had only seen in passing.

  “Can you believe they’re calling their trivia team the Witch Hunters?”

  I almost spat out a mouthful of tomato juice, but their intentions were no secret in Watersedge.

  “Well, we’re no better,” Gabby said. “This is Our Alibi is just screaming that we’re guilty of something.”

  “But we’re not,” I said.

  “At least not yet,” Roman added. “But with the Witch Hunters here, I might not be able to control myself.” He lifted his fingers and gave them a snap…that caused nothing to happen.

  “Empty threat,” I teased.

  The group laughed again. Maybe having Roman along wasn’t such a bad thing.

  “Speaking of needing an alibi,” I said to Roman. “Let the girls know the outcome of your little investigation to the mysterious 4839 Segway Street address. I already told them all about my missing shipments from Enchanted Gifts and Spell Solutions.”

  “It’s nothing but a storage unit complex down near the harbor.”

  “Dockside storage?” Gabby took a sip of her beer.

  Roman nodded. “Do you know the place?”

  “I investigate break-ins from time to time. We have this little low crime-rate city, but our criminals love storage units.”

  Roman continued. “I called the rental number to see who all rents there, and the manager told me he has eighty tenants.”

  “That’s disappointing.” Irene took a sip of her chocolate martini.

  “Not really.” Roman pulled a little pickle off the end of the bloody Mary’s stir stick. “I threw out some names…like those women in the Witch Hunters and the owner said he rented to both Natalia and Brittany.”

  “But not Mayor Raab?” Penelope asked.

  “Not that he admitted to.”

  “Well, I can help with that.” Gabby set her beer on a stained coaster and pulled out her phone. “What’s that address again? I can get the precinct on it, since we still have an open, unsolved case as to who has been sabotaging Ettie’s. First the fox tails, then the hamster outbreak. Now the missing inventory. This might just be the break we need.”

  “Or another dead end.” I took a long pull out of my straw and almost coughed from the spiciness.

  “Nonsense,” Gabby said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my twenty years’ experience on the police force, it’s that the truth eventually is revealed—especially in these long-standing cases.”

  “I hope so.” I rattled off the address to Gabby who sent a text to someone down at the station.

  While Gabby was texting, Alma, Irene, and Penelope looked over my shoulder and their eyes widened.

  The voice that came from behind me made me jump, almost spilling the tall glass my drink was in.

  “Did I hear you say my name?”

  I spun around to see Mayor Raab with Natalia on her left and Brittany on her right. All three of them were holding bright green drinks with a tropical umbrella in them. One snap of my fingers and their drinks could tip and spill on their clothes.

  It’d be so easy.

  But I learned not to be so childish back in elementary school.

  “We were just talking about you,” I said with a fake smile. “We like your team’s name. The Witch Hunters. How clever.”

  “Oh…,” Brittany said, like she just got it. “It has nothing to do with you two. It was just the name of a book we all enjoyed in book club.”

  I’m sure it was.

  “Ettie and Roman were just telling us about a little investigation they did down at Dockside Storage,” Alma said.

  I jerked my knee over, giving her thigh a bump. No need to spill the inside scoop we had. Gabby would know more about the address soon, but I’m sure Alma was as curious about their reactions as I was.

  “What investigation?” Mayor Raab asked. “Was there another break in?” She looked at Gabby.

  Before Gabby could answer, Brittany shrugged. “I’m giving up my storage unit. I’m afraid it’ll get infested with hamsters.”

  Natalia laughed, but Mayor Raab looked confused.

  Before anyone said anything they might have regretted, the lights dimmed and a man wearing what looked like old-fashioned disco clothes, bell-bottoms and all, stepped out from behind the bar.

  “Are you ready for some trivia?!”

  The room clapped and the fruity drink trio left our table, but not before I resorted to my grade school days, snapping my fingers to at least make the little umbrellas in all their drinks fall to the floor. Nothing wrong with a bit of personal satisfaction.

  I might not have been ready for some trivia, but I certainly was ready for a distraction from trying to pay our bills that were due this upcoming week and from whoever would stoop so low as to put Roman and I in this predicament.

  But right now, there was one thing I could do.

  Show them up with our extensive trivia knowledge.

  I’d take the win.

  And then, soon, I’d get another win. The guilty party would be brought to justice, and I could finally focus on making Ettie’s successful.

  Chapte
r Seven

  I stirred my spoon in the colored milk from my Magic Charms. Roman sat across from me with the newspaper open, dining on his typical fruit and yogurt breakfast.

  “Since Ettie’s is closed today, I’m going to head over to Crystal Caverns.”

  “Crystal Caverns?” Roman folded his newspaper and set it aside. “That city is a four- or five-hour drive from here. Why are you heading there?”

  “I logged into my account with Magic Express this morning, and my order no longer says it’s in transit, rather that it has been returned. Live chat informed me that I notified them that I no longer wanted the merchandise.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Roman seemed to grow a fire in his irises. “That’s the third wholesaler you’ve had trouble with.”

  “I know. I thought to make sure nothing else could go wrong, I’d head right to their warehouse over in Crystal Caverns and pick up the order myself. Not the best use of my time, but I can’t open again on Wednesday with bare shelves. That shipment has twenty times the number of items I could enchant myself. I need to have products, and the talismans from Magic Express are one of my biggest sellers.”

  “Makes sense.” Roman spooned a bite of yogurt-coated blackberries into his mouth, but the fire was still in his eyes. He quickly swallowed. “I have an idea. I have some vacation time at work. I’ll let them know I won’t be in the office, then I can come with you. That way, you won’t have to be alone.”

  Roman had been joined at my hip for the past few weeks. Maybe it was because his father moved out, or maybe this was just a phase of our relationship, but it was becoming a bit overwhelming. Not only did he spend all weekend at Ettie’s with me, but he was at trivia night, too. “Roman, I appreciate your offer, but I’ll be fine. I have a good audiobook I was hoping to get caught up on.” I smiled. “The Witch Hunters.”

  Roman didn’t seem to catch the dry humor I was going for because his expression stayed serious. “No, really, it’s no trouble.” He stood. “Let me just call my boss.”