Wildes Witches Cozy Mysteries Box Set 2

by Mara Webb

  “Cecily, we’ll take it in the back room if that’s alright,” I said. I grabbed Brent’s hand and nodded my head towards the door that Quin had walked up to. We followed my familiar in silence. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss but I knew that he was excited, I could feel it. Once we were in the back room that was used for parties, Quin spoke.

  “Brent! What is this about an animal show?” Quin said, smiling from ear to ear.

  “You heard that huh? I’m not totally sure what it’s called, but it’s like an event with performances and they have stalls to sell food or pet stuff. They will have horses and dogs, cats too probably. They have agility courses and give out prizes,” Brent replied.

  “Nora! We have to get in on that! Can you make some calls and get us a stall there? That would be such great publicity for the cafe, and I can meet some new friends and maybe shop for a new bed and imagine the food!” Quin said so loudly that I became concerned that someone might hear. It occurred to me that unless they saw the voice coming from a cat, they wouldn’t suspect anything.

  “Just to be clear, you want me to arrange a stall at an event that is happening tomorrow. You want me to somehow contact the organizers, obtain some sort of table, take photographs of the cafe and create promotional material to hand out, arrange staff to be at the event and sort out food and drinks for our stall? And it is lunchtime, so I need to do all this in one afternoon?” I asked, looking at him with confusion as to how he could possibly think this was doable.

  “Yeah, come on Nora. A bit more of a can-do attitude from you would be great,” he rolled his eyes towards Brent, “honestly, it can’t be that hard.” With that he wandered back through the door and out into the cafe. I resisted the strong urge to run after him to flick him on the nose.

  “He’s actually serious, isn’t he?” I asked Brent. He smiled sympathetically and then nodded.

  “Hey, I can help you. We can tackle it together, right? First things first, we need to get hold of the people running the event. Actually, the first task will be for me to remember what the darn thing is called and then we can call someone after that. I’m sure I have a flyer in one of my pockets, one second.” Brent started to dig through his jacket, pulling out keys, pennies, small wrapped candies, a mini French-to-English dictionary and finally a folded piece of glossy paper.

  “Here we go! ‘The Top Dog’, it has been given an approval rating from multiple animal welfare groups apparently, it says so right here on the flyer. There is an email and phone number at the bottom. Wanna call, or should I?” Brent asked.

  “There is a name for people like you, Sir. Enabler. You and that cat are making my hair turn gray. You call, I will take my phone outside and take a few photos just in case I need to make our own flyers, I need to look for a local printer that can turn an order around in a few hours too. No big deal.” I said, flatly.

  Brent gave me a double thumbs up. I smirked and walked out of the door as he picked up his cell phone and examined the phone number at the bottom of the flyer. I pulled my own phone out of the pocket of my jeans and walked out onto the street to get a shot of the outside of the cafe. I already had enough pictures of the cats that I wouldn’t need to take any more. I crouched onto the sidewalk to get some different angles before walking back in to take a few photos of the staff and the baked goods display.

  Brent came out of the backroom in a hurry with a wide grin. He put his hands on my shoulders and bent his knees a little to meet my eye level.

  “Okay, so they had a last minute drop out and we can run a stall there tomorrow. How crazy is that? The dropouts had already paid up, so we get it for free! We better get moving!” he said, searching for Quin and giving him a wide-eyed nod. Oh boy.

  I had a busy afternoon ahead. I called the organizers myself a few times to get more details that Brent had neglected to obtain. What equipment would be there? Would there be outlets near our stall? Could we serve hot food? How much space did we have? Are there restrictions on the promotional decorations we could use? Any hidden fees attached to our attendance?

  Once I had all of the answers I needed, I quickly drew a few designs onto a piece of paper and asked that Brent use them as guides to create flyers, a poster, and a pop-up banner. I trusted he could do it, but also, I would have time to make adjustments if I didn’t like it. I called a printer and after skirting the subject for a few minutes, I managed to establish that the shop was run by witches and that it would only take them a few minutes to get everything made.

  I spoke with the staff and they took turns to run the register and serve customers while another stayed in the back using their magic to create themed cupcakes, pastries and confectionery sculptures. I ran back to the house from the cafe to get my car and drove it back to pick up a couple of tables from the party room. Brent got my approval to send the designs over to the printers and before I had even had a chance to finish my congratulatory Frappuccino, I had a text message to say that our printing was ready for collection.

  We had done it. Somehow.

  It was approaching closing time and the few remaining customers, thankfully all magical, began to shuffle out. They smiled at us as Quin babbled with nervous energy about what tomorrow might bring.

  “Guys! We could become the most famous cat cafe in the world! We might get our own show, or like, maybe a book deal? At the very least a podcast,” he ranted.

  “Let’s just take a step back for a minute here Quin,” I said. “I think that it should just be me and you there tomorrow. The cafe will still be open, and we have bookings, so we can’t all go.”

  Delphi and Howl let out an audible grunt of annoyance. All of the cats had clearly thought they would be able to attend the exciting event.

  “I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you. Brent will be here to keep an eye on things so if you need help, or someone to complain to, he’s your man.” I patted Brent on the back in an apologetic way as I knew exactly how long talking cats could complain. “You guys should get home now and rest. Brent can take you back in his car, Quin and I will head over to the venue and do as much set up as we can tonight.”

  After some further disgruntled sounds from the six familiars that were heading home, Quin and I piled into my car and I turned on the engine. I put the address of the venue into my GPS and pulled away from the back of the cafe. I could feel the energy coming off Quin, he was wildly excited, and I could tell that he had high hopes for the possibilities that this could bring. He started to chatter away, and I could feel my own excitement build, he was creating such huge hype around the event that I was starting to believe that we might have our own podcast by next Friday.

  We pulled up to a huge building and saw that there were only a handful of cars left in the lot outside. The guy on the phone said that we were free to start set up from three this afternoon, that was probably what everyone else had done. Only a few stragglers would be left at this time. I opened the car door and climbed out. Quin bounced across the driver’s seat and jumped up onto my shoulder.

  As I approached the front door, I thought I could hear raised voices. It sounded like shouting. Quin and I exchanged looks and I carefully pulled the door open to take a look. The two people inside were so wrapped up in their argument that they didn’t hear the delicate creak of the door hinges. I could just about make out the back of one man’s head, shouting at another man that looked vaguely familiar. I couldn’t quite place him though.

  Quin was struggling to see the drama inside so pulled the door open wider with his paw, this time the hinges squeaked loudly and caught the attention of the men inside. They both looked towards us before walking away in separate directions. It wouldn’t be the last time I saw either of them.

  3

  I woke up suddenly. Quin had launched his body at me from the ground and landed on my chest, jolting me out of my dreams. After a few panicked breaths during which I established that I wasn’t under attack by an intruder, I shot Quin a stern look.

  “What on earth a
re you doing? What time is it?” I asked, my eyes squinting to look at the digital clock on my nightstand.

  “It’s go time! That’s what time it is. We have to get to the cafe to pick up the food, get to the venue, finish setting up, establish what we are eating, what time we are eating, and what type of bed you are planning to buy for me!” Quin blurted out all at once.

  I had almost forgotten about the event entirely. We had set up the stall in silence. It had been a slow start but once the last few humans had left the area; Quin and I used a little magic to make our display really pop. Without bragging, our stall was easily the best, it wasn’t even up for debate.

  The staff at the cafe had sent me a text shortly before I’d left the venue with pictures of everything they had prepared. I was going to use magic to transport some of the sculptures, so they didn’t get damaged in the car. I would have them appear in the trunk, after making sure no one was around, and then carry them the rest of the way through the event hall. The doors opened to the public at ten, so we wanted to be there by nine at the latest.

  “Come on, come on!” Quin shouted as he bounced up and down on top of the bed sheets. “Let’s get started, time waits for no witch, let’s go!”

  I grunted at him and swung my legs round until my feet could reach the carpet. My body bent upwards like a mummy rising from a tomb and I slowly stood up. I could already feel that my hair had become a frizzy tangle in the night. Some days I would wake up and my magic had styled my hair beautifully, exfoliated my skin, and moisturized it too. These are things I rarely remember to do for myself. For some reason however, my magic had abandoned me in my hour of need, and I would need to shower.

  “Quin go downstairs and just...just stretch or something. I need to wash this horror down the drain and come out of the bathroom looking like a professional. You can be in charge of breakfast for everyone, okay? Whatever you like, just take care of it without me so that I can get ready. Please?” I pleaded. I wouldn’t need a huge amount of time alone, but the more I could get the better.

  “Are you saying we can eat all the meat in the fridge?” he replied through purrs.

  “Don’t you always?” I answered. I shuffled towards my desk as Quin darted out of the room and started yelling for the other cats to join him in the kitchen. I flipped open my laptop and slumped down into the chair. I had been expecting an email from O.W.L., the Online Witch Learning school regarding upcoming exams.

  Before my aunt Edith had died, she had enrolled me into O.W.L. as a means to train me in how to use my newly acquired powers. She had been fearful that she could be murdered at any moment, a paranoia put upon her by an awful curse. In the end she had been killed, but she had taken care of every other aspect of her life to make things easier for me, I was incredibly grateful.

  O.W.L. was a distance learning organization that sent me endless lists of books to read and periodically required the completion of assignments to assess my progress. I was nearing the end of my first full academic year with them and they had been sending cryptic poems via email for weeks, vaguely alluding to an exam that would take place either this month or next, but not really much guidance as to the topic.

  Their most recent one had read:

  Show off your powers, give it a try

  In either May, June or July.

  Are we testing potions? A potent fluid?

  Or your ability to read runes like a druid?

  It could be flying, or how to fight?

  Or a spell to make your jeans less tight?

  Now please enjoy an ice-cold ale

  And wait for more informative mail.

  All I could do was carry on working through the books I had been assigned. I kept suffering from crippling episodes of imposter syndrome though, I worried that my successes with the previous assignments had all been a fluke. Had I learned enough? The silver lining to feeling this way was that I had been reading more to combat my fear, and that meant that I had actually started to understand some of the concepts and spells that I had been struggling with.

  As I checked through my inbox, I realized that I didn’t have an email from O.W.L., but I did seem to have multiple emails from Quin, each with the exact same link to a YouTube video of a cat playing the piano. I wasn’t sure if this was a hint that he would like a piano, but I thought I would wait until he brought it up.

  I closed my computer and walked out towards the bathroom. I waved my hand towards the shower cubicle and heard the water start running. I leaned towards a mirror to inspect my skin and smiled as the ghost of Edith appeared behind me in the glass. Witches are able to appear as ghosts within the mirrors of their own homes, so Edith could be with me in her own spooky way.

  She was unable to speak but we had been learning sign language together and it was now almost as easy as talking out loud. I told her that we had a big event to go to today and that we would be promoting the cafe. She was excited for Quin and explained how it had always been his dream to be given the ribbon for ‘best in show’, despite him having never attempted to participate in a show.

  I threw my pajamas onto the ground and stepped under the running water, sliding the glass panel over to prevent water flooding onto the tiled floor. As soon as the water hit my skin, I felt more awake. It was relaxing to methodically work my way through my shower routine. I poured a little shampoo onto my hand and rubbed it into my scalp before rinsing it out, making sure all the bubbles were gone. I lathered a lemon scented shower gel in my hands and covered myself in suds. As calming as the shower was, if I had known what today would hold, I would have taken a long bath.

  I carefully lifted the final tray of brownies out of the trunk of the car and carried them into the event hall. With all of the kiosks now set up, the atmosphere was a lot more enjoyable. Everyone there was excited, and it was great to see so many small business owners. Quin had been forced into silence by the presence of so many humans but was still able to charm passersby with his impressive ability to hand out flyers with his teeth and ‘smile’ for photographs.

  It was approaching the time that the organizers would open the doors. The first event was a canine display, it would involve dogs completing an assault course with their owners, fetching various objects and sitting still on command. According to the lady running the kiosk next to us, this would be a great thing to see if we got a chance to step away from our table. There was always at least one dog that got too excited and start running about in all directions.

  As the members of the public trickled in, the room grew louder. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were arriving and we had sold a lot of our cake supplies within the first twenty minutes.

  “I didn’t think it would be this busy, did you?” I asked Quin. He turned his head rapidly to make eye contact with me and let out an annoyed meow. I had forgotten that he couldn’t speak here. I spoke with many prospective customers and I was beginning to understand why Quin was so convinced that we would be podcast famous, the buzz about The Catmosphere Cafe was electric. This really was the perfect place to advertise it.

  I had put a spell on the coffee machine we had brought with us to ensure that it never ran out of the supplies it needed. It didn’t need refilling at all, and each cup would still taste as if it was made with freshly roasted beans. The issue we did have was our dwindling snack supply. I would need to do something otherwise we would lose business to the other food stalls; everyone always hits up a table with desserts.

  “Quin,” I whispered as I leaned closer to him, “I’m just going to go out the back somewhere and find a safe space to do a little you-know-what and replenish our cake stock.”

  He gave a gentle nod. I stood up and began to weave between people, I was aiming for any private space that would be away from prying eyes so I could do some witch stuff and get more food. I was almost immediately distracted by an animal display; it was easily the most bizarre thing I had seen in a while and I couldn’t help but wonder who came up with these ideas.

  There was a sma
ll wooden bank in the center of the performance area, it had been built and painted with the words Kitty Koinz and was big enough for the animals to get in and out of. A dog, a cat and a parakeet were approaching the bank to some of the dramatic music from the Oceans 11 soundtrack. The bird stood on top of the cat, who was standing on top of the dog and they all wore small ski masks. The animal tower separated so that they all stood on the ground and they began to creep towards the bank.

  After they entered a number of crashing sounds rang out and they ran back out of the bank with little swag bags in their mouths, the tiniest sack with a dollar sign on it in the mouth of the bird. They ran a little then dropped the bags to the ground, helped each other take off their masks then high fived each other. I was astonished. How do you even begin to train an animal to do that? I couldn’t persuade Quin to stop talking for sixty seconds if I bribed him with a million fish. As the applause roared loudly, I remembered that I was supposed to be doing something else.

  I didn’t have time to get to the cafe and back and I didn’t know how busy they would be over there, so I couldn’t ask them to make anything and magic it my way. This was on me. I took a few steps away from the performance area before turning back around towards my stall.

  “Hey, sorry to bother you Judith, could you just keep an eye on my cat and the table? I will only be a minute or two, I need to get more supplies from my car,” I asked the woman on the table next to ours.

  “Sure! No problem, I’ll have to do the same too soon. These crochet teapot covers with horses running through a field of tulips are really popular today, normally it’s the ones with horses running through a field full of poppies that gets people all fired up.” She smiled as she spoke. Sure enough, her cash box was fit to burst and only a handful of her woolen designs were left. There were really well made...but I don’t have a teapot.