Pumpkins and Potions

by Tegan Maher

  “Wait!” I headed for the nursing home myself, dodging residents and staff in pursuit of the cat. I’d have to look up the relationship between cats and Reapers later, because that box was no ordinary cursed object, but Crinkle seemed unbothered by the shadowy box he held in his mouth.

  Gladys flew into the living area, while the others surged into the room behind me. They included Tina, who wore a satisfied expression at Gladys’s shock; Hannah, who held open her box of cockroaches so that the others gave her a wide berth; and Nova, who moved to restrain her cat and pry the box from his mouth.

  “Don’t touch the box!” I warned her. “It’s responsible for keeping Gladys’s ghost anchored here in this realm and I don’t want it to harm anyone.”

  “Well, that’s no good, is it?” Tina marched over to Nova. “Let me look at it.”

  Before I could stop her, she reached for the box and gave a firm tug, yanking it out of the cat’s mouth. Crinkle swiped a claw at her in retaliation, and Gladys cackled nastily.

  “You’ll never stop me,” she crowed.

  Tina yelped in pain as the cat’s claws snagged her face, trying to shove the box closed. Yet the music continued to play, relentless.

  “Only a Reaper can close it.” I held out a hand. “Same as only a Reaper can activate it. Gladys tricked me into binding her here, but I can set her free. If you’ll let me.”

  Tina set her jaw. Then, reluctantly, she passed me the box.

  When my hands closed on the box, the ghost screamed, and a chilling breeze swept through the room. I clung onto the Reaper’s box with my fingertips, feeling my balance waver as the realm of the dead threatened to draw me into its embrace.

  “Stop that!” Hannah marched straight up to the ghost, cockroaches and all. “Stay away from this place.”

  Gladys flew up, out of range of the cockroaches, affording me the chance to slam the box shut.

  The music cut out immediately. Gladys whirled on me, then laughed. “I feel stronger than ever. I don’t need the box to keep me alive.”

  “Maybe,” I said, “but you’re still a ghost.”

  Shadows crept out from my feet, masking the room until the both of us stood alone in a sea of darkness. Then the bright outline of a door appeared behind her, looming closer. Seeing it, Gladys recoiled, but the door was already opening, the yawning abyss beckoning her in. Drawing on all the Reaper strength I could muster, I gave her a firm shove over the threshold.

  I could hear gasps from the other residents as Gladys’s ghost tumbled backwards into the oblivion beyond the door, which closed on her screams, leaving nothing behind but silence.

  Her ghost was gone, banished to the part of the afterworld which even the box wouldn’t be able to bring her back from.

  Still holding the box, I lowered my hand and let the shadows fade away until nothing remained but the living room and the stunned residents.

  “Sorry you had to see that,” I said to them. “She’s gone.”

  “Gladys just had to go out with a bang, didn’t she?” said Tina. “Oh, well. It’s the most excitement we’ve had in weeks.”

  Things got slightly confusing after that. Frankie and the others attempted to herd the residents back to their rooms, but everyone was wide awake and buzzing with gossip over Gladys’s antics. They were also incredibly interested in the box, which I kept firmly out of reach to prevent Nova’s familiar from swiping it again.

  Thankfully, soon enough the police came into the room and distracted everyone’s attention. As I took the opportunity to slip the box into my shoulder bag, I saw Drew had caught up, wearing an apologetic look on his face.

  “Maura,” he said. “Sorry, we got caught up dealing with an issue over at the other side of town. Did you handle the ghost?”

  “No worries,” I said. “I banished the ghost. The box… let’s just say it definitely wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

  He studied the box as I held it out for him to see. “That’s the cause of the trouble?”

  “The box was made by a Reaper, I think,” I said. “The good news is that it can only be used by another Reaper, but I’d rather it didn’t end up in the hands of the public again.”

  He raised a brow. “You want to give it to Harold?”

  “I doubt he’ll be tempted to use it. He hates being haunted.” Besides, I couldn’t think of anywhere else which might be a safe place to store the box. Harold might be the laziest Reaper in existence, but he wouldn’t allow the box to end up in the wrong hands again. That much I knew.

  By the time I got back to the inn, accompanied by Drew, I found a sleepy-looking Carey waiting for me in the lobby. Maybe Mart had woken her up, though she couldn’t see or hear him, so he’d have had to make a serious noise to attract her attention.

  “Oh, hey,” I said to her. “What’re you doing up?”

  She indicated the fluffy cat sitting at her feet. “Casper woke me up. I thought something urgent was happening.”

  “It was, but we got it sorted.” Maybe Casper really was more tuned into the ghostly world than I’d assumed. “Another ghost decided to cause trouble at the nursing home. You wouldn’t have got much good footage from it, though.”

  Especially with the Reaper’s box involved. Thankfully, Harold had proven amenable to taking it in, while the nursing home’s residents would have enough colourful stories to last for weeks.

  “I’m beginning to think you wander into these situations on purpose, Maura,” said Drew.

  “Hey!” I said. “Not my fault every spirit in town wants a piece of the Reaper.”

  This case, luckily, had ended as well as it possibly could have done. Harold would ensure the box stayed out of the wrong hands, and as a bonus, I had some new ideas of what we might do with our new haunted hotel feature. Creepy disembodied music was much more atmospheric than a ghost disco.

  On the other hand, there definitely wouldn’t be any cockroaches involved.

  For more of Maura and Mart’s adventures, you can start her series from the beginning with A Wild Ghost Chase. Find out more here: https://books2read.com/u/meeA1Z

  About Elle Adams

  Elle Adams lives in the middle of England, where she spends most of her time reading an ever-growing mountain of books, planning her next adventure, or writing. Elle's books are humorous mysteries with a paranormal twist, packed with magical mayhem.

  Find Elle on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pg/ElleAdamsAuthor/

  Or sign up to her newsletter at: smarturl.it/ElleAdamsNewsletter

  Secrets, Soul Cakes, and Murder

  Jenna St. James

  When witch, Serena Spellburn, finds a dead body in her garden, the new non-supernatural detective to Enchanted Island, Grant Wolfe, is sure Serena or her best friend, Tamara, are involved. Hoping to clear their name, Serena does some sleuthing of her own at the Samhain Celebration and slowly narrows down suspects. When the killer is finally pinned down, will Grant open his eyes and heart to the supernatural island around him and take Serena up on her offer to help? Or will his close-mindedness leave him powerless against the supernatural forces seeking to kill him and Serena?

  1

  “May I have one of your Samhain Soul Cakes, Serena?”

  I looked up from the display case and smiled at Gertrude Anise, one of the oldest yet kindest witches on Enchanted Island. Her jaundice skin, large hawk-like nose, and hairy warts also made her one of the scariest-looking witches on the island. She smiled, and I barely suppressed a grimace. The absentminded witch had forgotten her dentures again.

  “You sure can,” I said. “And you’re in luck. Since I’m closing the shop in a few minutes, how about I throw in the last two for free?”

  Gertrude banged her wooden staff on the ground and cackled. “Oh, Serena Spellburn, aren’t you just the sweetest thing.”

  I owned Enchanted Bakery & Brew with my best friend and roommate Tamara Gardener. We’d both grown up on the island, left to attend culinary school on the mainland, and af
ter earning dual baking and pastry degrees, decided to come back and open our own shop. Of course, it took us a while to find a suitable building downtown, scrape up enough money for a down payment and buying supplies, but we finally did it. The bakery and coffee shop had been open for three years now.

  “Will I see you tomorrow night at the Samhain Celebration?” Gertrude asked.

  “You bet. Tamara and I are baking the pies for the pie eating contest.”

  Gertrude cackled. “I still remember what happened last year.”

  I winced. “Doesn’t everyone?”

  I rang her up, handed her the bag, and followed her to the door. With one last wave goodbye, I locked the door and turned the sign to CLOSED.

  Because I was in a hurry to clean up, I did something I don’t normally do…I used a little magic to make tidying up faster. Usually I enjoyed opening and closing the store. Tamara and I both did. We arrived around four or four-thirty to start prepping for the day, and then we closed the store at three. One of us cleans while the other counts the till and does office work or ordering. It was a system that had worked well for us.

  But today I had to be at city hall by four o’clock for a last-minute meeting. Mayor Stone wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page for the Samhain Celebration starting at sundown tomorrow.

  Once the till had been counted, I grabbed two cold coffees from the refrigerator, dumped in some ice, and headed out the back of the store to my car. Normally I’d just walk the two blocks to city hall, but since I didn’t want to waste time by coming back after the meeting to get my car, I decided to drive over.

  Enchanted Island had a population around ten thousand, with the downtown being the heart and soul of the whole island. You could pretty much find any store you needed—mainly because no one really ever wanted to leave the island to shop on the mainland. We felt safe here. And by “we,” I mean the nearly ten thousand supernaturals that called Enchanted Island home.

  Not everyone who lived here was a supernatural. Sometimes there was a generational gene skip in families or as was the case with the new detective in town, Grant Wolfe, his dad had been adopted and raised on the island before moving away years ago. Now Grant was back as the new departmental detective. Even though we didn’t have a lot of crime on Enchanted Island, there was some.

  I parked in the city hall parking lot and lifted my coffee in greeting when I saw Tamara standing near her boyfriend’s car. I didn’t particularly like Jack Luckett, but I loved my best friend, so I tried as hard as I could to support the relationship. Thankfully they were coming up on their one-month anniversary…pretty much the kiss of death. I’d known Jack Luckett my entire life, and he’d never had a relationship that lasted longer than a month. All that was left was the breakup.

  I was about to veer over to them, when I noticed the narrowed eyes and pinched lips on Tamara’s face. If that wasn’t a telling sign of her anger, the finger pounding to Jack’s chest was a dead giveaway.

  “That doesn’t look good.”

  I glanced over at Martin Wulfton. I hadn’t heard him sidle up to me. “Sure doesn’t. But I can’t say it’s a surprise.”

  A couple cars driving by slowed down to watch Tamara and Jack fight. I had no doubt the gossip mill would be hot tonight and by six o’clock everyone on the island would know about the argument in the middle of the city hall parking lot.

  “At least it’s over,” I said. “I wouldn’t say that to her, but I’m glad she’s finally seeing his true colors.”

  “I’m just sorry for Tamara.” He held the door open for me. “She doesn’t deserve that.”

  “He doesn’t deserve to live,” Daisy Woods said from behind the welcome desk. “He’s a thief that needs to be stopped.”

  Daisy had been Jack’s last girlfriend—or maybe the girlfriend before that…it was hard to remember. But she was newly dumped and obviously still bitter. Usually the petite blonde with short, curly hair, big green eyes, and infectious laugh was bubbly and cheerful. It was unnerving to hear her speak so harshly.

  “The mayor is waiting for you.” Daisy had been the mayor’s secretary now for about five years. She was a couple years older than me, but we traveled in the same circles. “Don’t worry. I’ll send in Tamara when she finishes raking that no-good loser over the coals.”

  I blinked in surprise at her language. “Do you know what the fight is about?”

  Daisy bit her lip and looked away. “I don’t really want to say. I’m sure she’ll want to tell you herself.”

  “Oh please,” a female voice said behind me, “like we don’t all know what that’s about.”

  Rose Winterbourne was every inch her name. Pale, alabaster skin, white-blonde hair that hung straight down her back, and ice-blue eyes. She had a penchant for wearing all white clothes. The only color she ever wore was her signature blood-red lipstick.

  “Jack is once again being Jack,” Rose said. “But really, who here is surprised? Jack is a user and a taker. He enjoys taking things that don’t belong to him. It’s in his nature to be a deceiver.”

  Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure at one time Rose had dated Jack too. I was also pretty sure I was the only person on the island under forty and older than twenty who hadn’t succumbed to his charm.

  And that’s really what Jack had…in spades.

  Jack’s parents were both leprechauns. Not like the kind you see on TV. Jack doesn’t wear all green, or talk with an Irish accent, and he’s actually quite tall. Leprechauns were gifted, lucky, charming, but also cunning. And that was exactly Jack. He had a prosperous business, he was naturally charismatic and friendly…but he could also be devious. Jack’s deceitful nature wasn’t in his business dealings, though, it was in his relationships. Hence his tendency to attract women and then cheat on them.

  “Are we ready to get started?” Mayor Stone’s voice boomed out from his office.

  “Just about, sir,” Daisy said. “We are waiting for one more.”

  Mayor Stone appeared in the doorway of his office. He was a large man standing over six feet tall, wide, linebacker shoulders and chest, and was a solid two hundred fifty pounds. His black hair was threaded with silver, especially around the temples, and he was movie star handsome with dark blue eyes and a sharply chiseled face. “Show that person in when they get here. I’m ready to go.”

  The front door burst open, and a red-faced and red-eyed Tamara blew in. “Sorry I’m late, Mayor.”

  “Not late at all,” he said smoothly. “Come inside and we’ll get started.”

  2

  “You okay?” I handed Tamara the other iced coffee and sat next to her at the long oak table in the mayor’s office.

  “No,” she whispered. “But we can talk about it later.”

  Mayor Stone brought us to order, and soon we were discussing events like the three-legged zombie race, pumpkin carving contest, bobbing for poisonous apples, and other fun amusements for the kids and adults.

  “Serena and Tamara, you are down for six pies,” Mayor Stone said. “Is that right?”

  “That’s right,” I said. “We’ll bring them with us.”

  “Sounds great,” he said. “The contest starts at eight, so as long as I have them by seven-thirty that’s fine.”

  I smiled. “We’ll be at the festival by six, so plenty of time.”

  Mayor Stone nodded. “Very good.”

  The mayor spoke a little longer about where certain booths would be set up, what time workers needed to be at the park, and then finally adjourned the meeting. Tamara and I stood to leave, but the mayor called us over. Everyone else gave us knowing smiles and quickly exited the room.

  Mayor Stone was a gargoyle…which meant he was fiercely protective and watched over the town with the same loyal passion. He’d been our mayor for as long as I could remember, as had his father before him.

  “I was wondering what kind of pies you were making this year?” he mused.

  I hid my smile behind my coffee cup.
I knew what he was politely hinting at. Last year, Tamara and I had made the mistake of baking cherry pies. Perfectly normal for a human pie eating contest. But not for a supernatural contest.

  When the elderly vampire, Stewart Bloodworth, had looked up and grinned a very fangy grin after he finished his pie—his very red cherry pie—the crowd of onlookers had forever been traumatized. Red pie filling covered his mouth and chin and globs had even plopped onto the table as he preened with excitement. Little kids screamed and called out for their parents, and a couple old ladies even fainted.

  It didn’t matter that vampires on Enchanted Island didn’t feed like regular vampires…the damage had been done. Poor Stewart had been devastated when he realized what had happened. Even his own family had stood by looking on in horror at their dad and grandpa.

  “We were thinking apple pies this year,” Tamara said. “We went over different scenarios and didn’t see anything bad happening with apple pie filling.”

  I snorted. I couldn’t help it. Mainly because Tamara was telling the truth. We thought of every supernatural that might enter the contest and figured we were safe with apple filling.

  Mayor Stone cleared his throat, but I could see he was trying not to smile. “Well, I think apple pies are a wonderful choice this year. We don’t want a repeat of last year.”

  And then we all burst out laughing.

  “Thank you for understanding,” he said when we’d settled back down. “See you girls tomorrow.”

  I locked arms with Tamara, and together we walked out into the front entrance. Daisy waved goodbye from behind the welcome desk as we stepped outside into the cool dusk air. It wasn’t quite five o’clock, but the sun was about to set. The street lights in the parking lot were on, helping to illuminate the four cars.