Brewing Trouble

by Christine Gael

  “Try to reach out with your mind,” I suggested, staring down at an old painting on one of the work tables. “You have to be open to it, Mee-maw!”

  “I am being open to it,” she snapped. “You can’t blame me for--” but then she stopped and frowned, looking from the compass to one of the shelves on the wall a few yards away, where a three-foot by three-foot velvet box lay, collecting dust. “It’s there,” she whispered.

  “Are you sure?” asked Zoe, her tone tense. “What does the compass say?”

  “It went crazy,” Mee-maw replied. “The needle started bouncing around like it was possessed, and then it just locked onto that over there.” She pointed to a shelf marked 1600-1700.

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Patrick. “Let’s grab the box while their backs are turned.”

  I moved toward it but then stopped short in horror as I caught something flickering in the corner of my eye.

  Mee-maw.

  The noncorporeal air about her was lessening, and I could see with rising panic that her body was beginning to take form again, flickering from translucent to solid, like a developing polaroid.

  This was not good.

  “Abort, abort!” I hissed.

  “What?” she demanded, turning around. “I have to—oh my lord, Cricket, you’re turning solid!” She glanced down at herself. “And so am I!”

  Trudy whirled around at that, her face pale as her gaze flicked around our general area; clearly our voices were starting to return to this plane, as well. Her gaze locked with mine, and I gave a quick shake of my head, hoping she saw it before I disappeared again.

  “Ethan! I think I saw one run behind that trashcan,” she shrieked.

  Trudy the librarian was clutch.

  “Go, go, go,” I hissed at the others as Trudy urged Ethan onto all fours in search of a non-existent mouse and we made a dash for the door.

  “What about the box?” Zoe asked, in hot pursuit.

  “No time,” I replied in an agitated whisper. “We’ll text Trudy to nab it.”

  I turned to see how far behind Mee-maw was, and skidded to a stop, my heart skipping a beat when I realized she wasn’t behind me at all. She’d made her way toward the shelf, her eyes locked on the box like she was in a trance.

  “I don’t see anything,” Ethan said, standing up and turning around, hands on his hips, his gaze moving steadily in our direction.

  But a split second later, Trudy grabbed his arm, dragging him back around to face her.

  “Sorry,” she said with a shrill chuckle. “You’ve got a little smudge of something on your jaw. Your, ah…very…handsome…jaw.” She licked her finger and began rubbing at the imaginary spot, jerking her head sharply towards the door as she did.

  Zoe lunged toward Mee-maw, snatching her wrist and pulling her out the door.

  “You know,” Trudy was saying, “maybe it would be better to just call an exterminator. I think the little buggers are going to hide until the lights go out again anyway.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Ethan acknowledged. “I’m sorry you had to deal with this. We’re not exactly making the best first impression, here.”

  Their voices faded as we made a mad dash for the main entrance, our physical forms returning more every second. By the time we reached the doors, getting them open was no problem. Ten seconds later, we were bolting back down the walkway. Zoe had her arm linked with Mee-maw, and I realized with surprise that I had taken hold of Patrick’s hand without even being aware of it. We shared a glance and he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze as we rounded a corner into the parking lot. The copse of trees where we’d been hiding earlier wasn’t far, and by the time we were under the shelter of their branches, we were more or less visible again.

  “Crap,” I muttered, leaning forward and putting my hands on my knees. I was breathing hard, and my nerves were shot. One glance up at Zoe and Patrick told me the same. “We were so frigging close.”

  “Why didn’t you just let me grab it?” Mee-maw demanded.

  “It’s a big box and we have no clue what’s inside or if we could have lifted it in our condition. If we dropped it, we’d have been busted.”

  Mee-maw nodded miserably, realizing the truth of my words.

  “So now what?” Zoe asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  “More muffins?” Patrick suggested with a hint of reluctance.

  “Too late for that,” Zoe replied, pointing, and I turned around to see Trudy and Ethan emerging from the museum, chatting amiably.

  I groaned. It had been right there. A few more seconds and it would’ve been ours.

  I fired off a quick message to Trudy.

  We’re in the trees on the west side of the parking lot. Come meet us when Ethan is gone.

  We waited in defeated silence until the librarian arrived a few minutes later. “Sorry, he wanted to get in touch with the exterminator ASAP, and I wasn’t sure whether you already got the item or not, so I didn’t want to keep stalling like an idiot.”

  We were all silent as she eyed us questioningly. “Well?”

  Patrick shook his head with a frown. “Nope. It was in a velvet box on a shelf with artifacts from the 17th century, but we didn’t have time to nab it.”

  Trudy’s face fell. “Really? I wasn’t sure…I saw a flicker of Cricket and Mee-maw, but I didn’t know what to do.”

  “It’s fine,” Zoe assured her. “You did great. And hey, at least we know it’s here. We can break in later tonight or something…”

  I sighed and shook my head.

  “Not being able to use our full strength is a major roadblock on that front. One we don’t have time for right now.” I wheeled around and kicked a nearby stone with a growl. “Why does everything have to be so hard?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure glad I implemented Plan B,” Trudy said, a hopeful smile spreading across her face.

  We’d barely taken the time to concoct a Plan A.

  “What’s Plan B?”

  “We actually have an exhibition. I’ve already set it up with Ethan. He asked me to send him a list of everything I want on loan from the museum. And what I want on display is everything he’s got from the 17th century, when Rocky Knoll was first established.”

  Clutch.

  Chapter 19

  Waiting for the exhibition had been interminable, but at least we knew we were heading in the right direction. The compass had started to move as soon as Ethan brought his stuff to the library, which meant this part of our nightmare was almost over.

  In theory, anyway—given my luck, I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high, especially when every time we hit a break, something always seemed to fall apart at the last second.

  It had been two days since our failed attempt at locating Mee-maw’s item. Two days, which had felt like an eternity as we were sidelined while Trudy scrambled to help Ethan get ready for the exhibition.

  The librarian had been a pleasant surprise amidst everything else, and the fact that she was solely responsible for giving us a second shot at our search wasn’t lost on me. She’d been an integral part of the team, and it made me feel a little more settled at having heeded Maude’s words about opening our circle of trust and including her. I made a mental note to do something to thank her for all her help when all this was over—if it was ever over.

  Despite the delay, the four of us were finally sitting in the two rows of back seats in an Uber that we had called to pick us up from the alleyway behind the bakery to take us to the exhibition that afternoon; it wouldn’t pay to get sloppy, even with a police officer keeping an eye on the place at night.

  “Everybody feeling all right? No bad joo-joo or anything?” Patrick asked, turning around in his middle row seat to look back at me, casting a wary glance at the Uber driver who was in the midst of a heated conversation in Russian on his headset.

  He certainly wasn’t paying us any mind, which was good. I let out a long sigh, shaking my head. “My gut is as silent as Maud
e is on the topic. I think we’re on the right path, or she would’ve warned me, but who can say for sure?”

  “It’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna get my item, and then we’re getting the hell out of Dodge,” Mee-maw added, crossing her arms. “I’ve heard Cabo is nice this time of year.”

  “For the last time, Mee-maw, we’re not going to Cabo,” Zoe replied, sounding exasperated.

  “Why not? I’ve never been.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to just pick a direction and go?” I suggested. “The less predictable we can be, the easier it will be to shake the Organization. I hope.”

  Truth be told, the idea of just up and leaving wasn’t my favorite, but I liked the idea of sticking around like sitting ducks before we had all truly gotten a handle on our powers even less. So we had spent the last day making plans to leave town for a while. As soon as we had Mee-maw’s item, we would be in the wind, on a long cross-country road trip, away from the prying eyes of the Organization, to give us some time to get Mee-maw up to speed. It wasn’t exactly an easy prospect, and Zoe was already planning on tapping into the cash she kept at the bakery. Patrick had also offered up a good chunk of cash—enough to hold us over for a while if we stretched it—which meant we would have ample time to find someplace remote where we could all practice our magic until the coven was at its full power.

  I had to remind myself that this wasn’t me running away—it was running, sure, but we were going to come back, stronger than ever.

  Strong enough to take down the Organization and make sure that what almost happened to me never happened to anyone again.

  “Cricket’s right,” Patrick agreed. “We’re going to have to find somewhere off the grid.”

  Zoe held up a hand as she watched the passing town outside the window. “One thing at a time.”

  For her part, my cousin had been feverishly working on new potions—mostly in the form of baked goods—that might be useful to us. It was an exhaustive amount of trial and error, but considering how well her invisibility spell had worked, it looked like she was really starting to get the hang of it. Trudy had been in touch with us, mostly via the burner phones, as she worked on organizing the event with Ethan, doing a bang-up job, all things considered.

  She had initially tried to convince him to bring the display items to the library the day before, so we could get a private viewing and locate the item, easy peasy, but he had insisted on cleaning and prepping everything beforehand to make sure they would get a good showing and wasn’t going to bring the items until the day of.

  The tentative plan was for him and Trudy to set them up together today before the exhibit opened. It wasn’t perfect, but at the end of the day, Trudy had already gone above and beyond and we couldn’t complain.

  We lapsed into silence once more as the car navigated the winding streets of downtown Rocky Knoll. The autumn weather was glorious—sunny and crisp—and a lot of people seemed to be out and about. Briefly, I felt a smidge of nostalgia—actual, honest-to-goodness nostalgia—for the days when my free time wasn’t dictated by supernatural powers and shadowy organizations. When my idea of an eventful afternoon included a stroll by the pier or a happy hour gossip session with Zoe and a big, fat glass of cabernet. It was strange how quickly everything had seemed to blow up in my face, but that was partly why we were doing this. So that we could regain some semblance of a normal life instead of one spent constantly looking over our shoulders.

  Well, that, and to save future witches from having their birthright stripped from them and hung by their necks until they were dead.

  The feeling of a gentle touch on my hand was enough to draw me from my depressing but motivating reminder, and I looked up to see Patrick watching me.

  “Sure you’re okay?” he asked, his eyes meeting mine.

  Since the night he’d comforted me after my nightmare and told me about his mother, we’d been dancing around one another. During the day, it had been a dance...moving close enough to touch, exchanging gazes packed with unsaid words, before one of us invariably pulled away. At night, we started out the same way, futon mats a yard apart by tacit agreement, but somehow we always wound up drifting closer together in the middle of the night, awakening wrapped in each other’s arms.

  I managed a tight smile, aware of Mee-maw and Zoe watching me. “Just ready to have this over with,” I replied as we pulled to a stop in front of the library.

  Almost as soon as I opened the door, I realized we’d vastly underestimated the number of people who would attend the event. We had arrived fifteen minutes early, and the library was already bustling with activity. Familiar and unfamiliar faces alike were flocking into the building, the sounds of music and easy chatter drifting over to us.

  The crowd could be a good thing, on one hand—safety in numbers if the Organization saw the signs outside the library and sent someone to scout the place out. Or a bad thing, because we had more faces to scan as we searched, making them harder to spot if they did try to make a move.

  “I’ll be darned,” Mee-maw said, shaking her head in disbelief as the Uber pulled away. “Who would’ve thought an exhibit about dead people and their antiques would draw such a crowd?”

  “Beats me,” I replied with a shrug. “And the whole thing was on such short notice…”

  “Food,” Zoe replied without missing a beat, nodding to a sign on the curb advertising apple cider donuts and coffee for the taking. “Event planning rule number one: give out treats and free coffee, and the blue hairs will come out in droves.”

  It was like she had said the magic word as, moments later, a flock of elderly ladies set their sights on Mee-maw, flocking over to us as we approached the library entrance.

  I recognized a couple of them from Mee-maw’s twice-a-week Bunko game, and a familiar competitive gleam appeared in my grandmother’s eye as she stopped to say hello.

  “There she is, in the flesh!” exclaimed one of them, sidling up next to her. “Priscilla and I were just wondering if you’d show up. See, I told you she wasn’t dead,” she added, elbowing the other woman triumphantly.

  Mee-maw chuckled. “Nope. Still alive and kicking. I’ve been busy lately.”

  “Things are so much less interesting when you’re not around! I heard you were having some problems with your ticker.”

  “Ladies, ladies,” Mee-maw said, putting her hands up. “My ticker is fine, Ann, thank you for asking,” she added, turning a menacing look on the second woman. “Don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily.”

  “Of course not!” cried the second woman. “You’re the only one who can keep me on my toes.”

  Mee-maw laughed along with her through a thin smile. “I’ll see you ladies inside, okay?”

  She saw her Bunko group off, crossing her arms. “That was awfully…civil of you,” Zoe observed. “Weren’t you telling me you didn't want to play anymore on account of those two cheating?”

  “Oh, sure,” Mee-maw replied, “but that was before. I’m a witch now and, after today, I’m never going to lose at Bunko again.”

  I wanted to warn her that I wasn’t sure it worked that way, but she looked so pleased, I didn’t have the heart. Instead, I exchanged an eyeroll with Zoe as the four of us arrived at the makeshift admissions table, paid the entrance fee, and wandered inside.

  It felt a little odd being back at the library during business hours, and even more so seeing it packed with townspeople. Zoe wasn’t kidding about the lure of a good donut, I thought as a duo of housewives brushed past us, making a beeline for a display case housing a couple of antique books.

  We were here on a mission, but I couldn’t help but admire how much effort Trudy had put into making it legit. Tables and shelves ran up and down the corridors alongside detailed explanations and histories, mannequins in full seventeenth century regalia, and video projectors, all of which had been brought over from the museum. Classical music played over the speakers, and as we navigated the hallways, we passed by bins of specially-printed
pamphlets and clusters of inquisitive townspeople. It was amazing to me how Trudy had accomplished all this in such a short amount of time—it really felt like a museum-level exhibition.

  We had made it almost as far as the children’s wing before we found the woman herself, dressed in a 1600s outfit that was a far cry from her usual ensemble. Her face lit up as soon as she saw us, and I watched as she disengaged from the cluster of children she’d been talking to before wandering over to us.

  “There you are,” she said, smiling. “I’m glad you’re here!”

  “So are we,” Patrick replied, scanning the space around us. “This place looks awesome, Trudy. Seriously.”

  I nodded. “You did a fantastic job.”

  “Thanks,” the librarian replied. “Ethan’s really happy, too.” It might have been the light, but I could have sworn I saw the faintest of blushes creep into her cheeks. “I felt a little bad, though,” Trudy hurried on. “I don’t know why, but it seems he was expecting a puppet show?”

  Mee-maw raised her eyebrows at me but I just shrugged.

  “That’s weird...but, yeah. Truly awesome work.”

  At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Ethan making his way over to us, a wide smile on his face.

  “People seem to really be enjoying it,” I said, clearing my throat.

  “They are,” Ethan confirmed, coming to a stop next to Trudy. “I can hardly believe it. I’ve never seen people so psyched about the town history. It’s going to give the reopening a huge boost, I think.” There was a proud look in his eyes, which had come to rest on me. “You know, Cricket, if you want, I could show you around. We brought a ton of stuff in—there’s even a record dating back to 1703.”

  “Well, that sounds…” I glanced from Patrick, who was watching the exchange with raised eyebrows, to Trudy, whose eyes were moving pointedly back and forth between our group and a cluster of display cases in the back corner. “That sounds great, Ethan,” I stumbled on, “but I actually promised Zoe I’d stop for a donut first.”