Pumpkins and Potions

by Tegan Maher

  She pulled out the binder of pictures taken from her drone. Donning her cracked eyeglasses, she dashed off. “Later!”

  “That’s not really proof of anything,” Eve said, raising a manicured brow. “I mean, without the part about the pumpkin shaking her like a rag doll, the story doesn’t pack much punch.”

  “Oh, let her have it,” Maggie said. “She doesn’t have much else going on.” Taking the coloring book from her bag, she opened to Luna’s carriage pumpkin. Flipping through the subsequent drawings – the ones made by the sisters – Maggie chuckled as the pumpkin got smaller, retracted its vines, released Dora, and dropped Ruth Anne on her head. The scene ended with the pumpkin imploding on itself.

  “Did we really have to drop Ruth Anne?” Merry

  asked.

  Maggie shrugged. “It seemed funny at the time.” She looked lovingly across the field at her sister, rounding up people for her tour. “Guess I owe her a pair of glasses.”

  “We still don’t know what happened to the real animals,” Eve said, lowering her voice.

  “They look real to me,” Merry batted her lashes innocently. “Don’t they look real to you?”

  “As real as my boobs.”

  The sisters walked over to the pen, inspecting two fluffy bunnies and a shiny-eyed raccoon. looked resided. Their fur was silky soft, with no visible injuries.

  Maggie turned to the final page of the coloring book, grimacing at the cartoonish animals Merry added. Well, it could’ve turned out worse.

  “Nice job, Miss Lettie,” she said, raising her eyes skyward as she closed the cover. “But it’s time for this to retire.” As soon as she found a safe place, and considered all the possible consequences, she’d get rid of the three books once and for all.

  Shane texted: What do you say I take the kids and you take that bath you’ve been wanting?

  Hmm, she thought. Some wishes come true, even without magickal coloring books.

  “Over here, Aunt Dora!” Merry waved to her aunt, wading across the field with a small pumpkin under each arm.

  “On days like this, I miss Sasha and the others so much.” Dora handed Merry one of the pumpkins. “Forty years ago, we thought we were gonna save the world.” She sighed. “But we couldn’t e’en save ourselves.”

  “Aunt Dora, the world is still here,” Merry said. “And we’re still here. You must have done something right.”

  The matriarch smiled, considering. “Maybe we did.” She brightened, her cheeks rosy and round. “What do ya think we go make that Spiced Pumpkin Punch I told you about? We’ll toast to the ol’ days, an’ those still ta come.”

  “Sounds like a night,” Maggie said, scanning the plot for her kids. They were huddled up with June Bug, who was showing them her prize-winning pumpkin. Luna seemed to sense she was being watched and popped her head up. She turned towards her mother with her diamond eyes, smiling, giving her a case of unexpected shivers.

  Their magick is so much stronger than ours was at that age.

  “It’s just the coloring book,” Maggie whispered to herself. But there was something different in the way Luna looked at her, perhaps with a sense of defiance and independence she’d never exhibited before.

  “I hope this punch is as good as you remember,” Maggie said. “I’m going to need enough to get me through their adolescence.”

  Epilogue

  Luna sat at the round table in her bedroom, picking out the perfect pink crayon from her assortment of pink crayons. This one had gold sparkles in it. She stuck out her tongue as she rolled it across the sheet of loose paper. After only a few minutes, she was done.

  She carefully put each crayon back inside the box, according to hue, and straightened her stack of colorings--one of which was her mother relaxing in a bathtub. After placing the stack neatly in her bottom dresser drawer, she covered it with her pajamas and closed the drawer.

  Then, Luna took her latest artwork and crept out of her room. She tiptoed down the hallway, tiptoed down the stairs, and tiptoed right outside through the kitchen door. Morning was just breaking and the rest of the house was still asleep.

  She darted to the tool shed, joining up with a shallow trail running behind it. Eventually, she emerged in a grass glen, where two bandaged bunnies and a small raccoon slept inside their cardboard pens.

  As she drew nearer, she tiptoed, careful not to wake them. They needed their rest. Luna smiled, seeing their conditions had already improved. She reached into her pocket and dropped offerings of dried cereal.

  Taking her new drawing, she set it gently on the grass, weighing it down with a stone. “Bye!” she whispered, kissing the picture of the pink kitty before zipping away.

  When she arrived back home, she went to the front door, knowing it would be unlocked.

  “Luna!” Her father met her in the open doorway and scooped her into his arms. “You had us worried. You’re not supposed to go outside without telling someone.”

  “Sor-ry,” she said, nuzzling his neck.

  “We have a surprise for you.” He carried her into the kitchen, where a pearly-white kitten purred over a saucer of milk.

  “Don’t get too attached,” Her mother warned, scratching the kitten under the chin. “We’re just keeping her until we figure out who she belongs to.”

  Luna nodded, sliding out of Shane’s arms to pet the kitten.

  “She’s so perfect and clean,” Shane said, “She must belong to someone.”

  “Mine,” Luna said. She waited until the kitten was done drinking, then pulled it into her lap, smiling at the subtle specks of pink and gold in the kitten’s fur. “Mine.”

  For more magick, mystery, mayhem and Maggie, embark on your adventure with The Witches of Dark Root, the first book in the best-selling Daughters of Dark Root series.

  April Aasheim is the best-selling author of The Daughters of Dark Root series and The Children of Dark Root series. Her books center around sisterhood, secrets, magick, and family sagas.

  April lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family and familiar: Boots the Cat. When she isn’t writing, April reads Tarot cards, shops for crystals, and studies everything she can on the supernatural and the metaphysical.

  Follow Author Name online at:

  www.aprilaasheimwriter.com

  www.facebook.com/aprilaasheimwriter

  www.amazon.com/April-Aasheim/e/B008RBFPNQ

  All’s Fairy on Halloween

  A Fairy Godmother Mystery Prequel

  K.M. Waller

  Fairies don’t celebrate Halloween. Or do they? Meet Juniper. She’s a fairy godmother obsessed with human traditions. Add in a little Halloween magic and a witch or two and Juniper is about to learn that some obsessions can lead to scary consequences.

  1

  “Ugh, Juniper. You are forever predictable.” My best friend and fellow fairy godparent, Iris, fluttered next to me as I gazed into the castle’s courtyard fountain. Her silvery wings shimmered in the light and contrasted prettily against her maroon gown. “I knew I’d find you here.”

  I’d sprinkled fairy dust in the fountain’s water to observe the human children and their Halloween celebrations. They were less than a twenty minute’s flutter away in Ocala, Florida, one of my favorite places to view. Dusk was upon them, and a few of the kids didn’t want to wait until dark to start their roaming from house to house. I couldn’t believe they limited themselves to this holiday only once a year. If I lived in the human world, I’d want to dress up and receive treats at least once a month. “Aren’t they adorable?”

  Iris snickered and shook her head, her violet gaze following a group of children as they walked through a neighborhood. “No. They’re loud and they pick their noses. It’s gross. I hope to never encounter one in person. Dealing with the adults is bad enough.”

  I waved a hand to shush her as one little human girl held out her jack-o-lantern bucket and shouted the words “trick-or-treat.” An adult opened the door and dropped a handful of tooth decaying treats into th
e pail.

  “Why do so many of them dress as witches? Don’t they know fairies are better?” Iris sniffed. “After all we do for the humans and they think so little of us. What have witches ever done for them other than curse them or poison them or dance naked in the moonlight?”

  “It’s not their fault we aren’t allowed to reveal ourselves to the humans,” I reminded her. “And real witches don’t dance naked in the moonlight. That’s a myth.”

  “How do you know?” she countered.

  “While you are allowed out on fairy errands, I’ve been watching the other beings allowed to roam freely amongst humans.” I grabbed her forearm to draw her attention to a little boy dressed up like a vampire. “Did you know there are real vampires out there? They drink human blood.”

  “Ew. Gross.” She pulled away from me and put her hands over her ears. “I don’t want to hear any more about them.”

  I shrugged and gave her my best twisted smile. “Fine.”

  She lowered her hands. “I hear the naughty nymphs who are visiting have been known to partake in blood rituals too. That’s how they get their floriculture powers.”

  “That’s not true!” The voice of a girl came from behind a grouping of gardenias not too far away. She stepped out of her hideaway and a fierce scowl sat heavy on her delicate features.

  “She’s teasing, Princess Leaf.” I gave Iris a look that meant she needed to follow my lead as well as apologize.

  “Yeah. I knew you were over there spying the entire time,” Iris lied with ease. “That’s why I said it. I was just teasing you.”

  Normally, I wouldn’t approve of her lying but since our kingdom hosted the North American wood nymphs for the first time in a decade, I didn’t need an incident over trifle gossip. My parents and Leaf’s were outside Juniper Springs’ protective dome for the evening, and I’d been left in charge. Well, mostly. Amaranth, captain of the king’s guard, had been told to help as needed—which he took to mean he had final say over every decision I made.

  Leaf’s expression relaxed and she pushed her curly red hair away from her face. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re watching the human Halloween traditions.” I motioned for her to join us. “Do you know what Halloween is?”

  “Of course I do.” She peered into the fountain and excitement danced in her eyes. “I’ve never seen it though. We don’t have a fountain like this at my castle.”

  “I’m bored.” Iris flicked the ends of her wings and fluttered off the ground. “I’m going to see what the more interesting nymphs are up to. See you at dinner, Juniper. Goodbye, Princess Spy.”

  “Ignore her,” I said and patted the spot beside me.

  “What were you saying about witches?” She furled her much smaller moth-like wings as she sat beside me. Her simple pale blue dress came down to her ankles, showing off her bare feet. Like fairies, nymphs flew from place to place and didn’t need shoes. The only real differences between us were our wing size and that the nymphs didn’t use wands or fairy dust.

  “They have magical powers like us but have to connect to different sources within the earth to be able to use them. And there are many, many more living with the humans than there are fairies and nymphs left in the entire world.”

  A sad truth. That was why my father had called upon the king of the nymphs for a truce. The nymphs were the closest in kind to the fairies with their wings and ability to use magic. While we used ours to give humans drops of good luck, the wood nymphs preferred to use their magic to heal mother earth. Dad planned to convince their king and queen to get over their disapproval of fairy godparents helping the humans. If so, he’d allow them use of the fairy dust. In exchange, the nymphs could help with fairy errands.

  “I don’t understand why my father keeps us hidden from humans.” Leaf’s hazel gaze lifted to mine. “At least you have a purpose other than to just hide and make flowers bloom on time.”

  I kept my smile tight. It wasn’t for me to tell a twelve-year-old that my parents didn’t allow me into the human world either. All fairy godparents trained for fairy errands, or FEs as we called them. We harvested fairy dust and used our wands to give humans small doses of good luck while they slept. Everyone except for me. As the sole heir to the throne, my parents announced on my twenty-fifth birthday that I would not be allowed to leave the protection of our dome.

  “Come on. Let’s see what the others are up to.” I stood and shook out my pale yellow dress that Iris insisted I wear to offset the deep rich brown of my hair.

  Leaf stood and scratched behind her ear. “If you could be anything for Halloween, what costume would you wear?”

  I led her through the long hallways of the castle toward the main dining area. “Hm. Definitely a witch with a green face and a wart on the end of my nose. How about you?”

  Her nose scrunched. “I’m not sure. Something fun and mischievous.”

  “You know… I think it would be entertaining if we had our own little Halloween dinner party. We could dress up in costumes and eat chocolate for dessert.” Why shouldn’t we have a little fun while the kings of our lands dealt with more serious business? And watching the human children on their holiday gave me the perfect idea.

  She sucked in a sharp breath. “Really?” Her question came out in a squeak.

  “Absolutely. There has to be some perk to being left in charge.” I held out my hand and Leaf placed hers in mine. “It’ll be a great way to relax the tension between the families.”

  We walked hand in hand into the main receiving hall where Amaranth sat on one side of a long banquet table and Leaf’s eldest brother, Ash, on the other. A game of chess sat between them.

  Leaf’s other older brother and sister, the twins Heath and Indigo, sat at the end of the table listening to an FE adventure told by Iris in hushed tones. No doubt it was borderline risqué and therefore unsuitable for Leaf’s young ears. I cleared my throat sharply to announce our arrival.

  “Leaf and I would like to have a Halloween themed dinner tonight.”

  Amaranth didn’t even glance in my direction. “Absolutely not. We don’t celebrate human traditions.”

  A spike of irritation hit me in the chest. Amaranth and I had been friends since we were six-years-old, and it was often hinted that we were to be married at some point. We’d been known to have a romantic moment or ten. I didn’t mind him. Usually.

  “Leaf.” Ash’s sharp tone took me by surprise. Leaf pulled her hand away from mine and dropped it to her side.

  Had everyone forgotten that my father had left me in charge?

  “What’s the harm in dressing up for a dinner, Captain?” I continued, adding a little authority to my voice as I addressed him by his title. “If any of you choose not to participate, I’m sure we will survive. However, Leaf and I will be having a Halloween dinner tonight.”

  This comment grabbed Amaranth’s full attention and he swung his head in my direction.

  Iris fluttered to my side. “I think it will be fun to dress up for an evening. What a great way to welcome our guests.”

  She gave me a wink. Even though my best friend didn’t understand my interest in humans and their traditions, she had my back when it counted. Plus, she loved showing off her natural beauty at any given opportunity and dressing up would give her that.

  The twins, Heath and Indigo, moved to stand beside Iris. They didn’t comment for or against the dinner idea, but I could tell the concept had grabbed their interest by the way they raised their eyebrows and shrugged to each other.

  Amaranth gave me a once-over and finally raised a dark eyebrow. “If one thing should go wrong, the responsibility and liability will fall on your shoulders.”

  I glanced down at Leaf who blinked hard back at me. Of course I could handle one simple dinner. What could possibly go wrong?

  I shrugged off his warning. “Of course.”

  2

  An hour later, I slipped into my black witch costume. I tapped my wand against my skin three
times and said, “Green.”

  My skin turned a sparkly shade of moss. Since my hair was already a dark brown, it didn’t need enhancement. A tall pointy hat completed my costume. I hesitated on the addition of a wart to the end my nose.

  A knock sounded from my bedroom door. Outside stood Amaranth, a look of irritation twisting his usually handsome face into one of true disappointment. If he didn’t watch out, he’d look too much like my father with a constant perma-frown.

  “You’re not in a costume,” I said as I backed up, allowing him to come inside my room. He wore instead his formal dress uniform, complete with a navy blue beret. I’d hoped that he’d surprise me and at least dress up in a simple costume. A mask would have been nice.

  “This is one of the worst ideas you’ve had in some time.” He meandered over to a violet wingback chair and dropped his large frame onto it.

  “Gee, thanks.” I checked my reflection in the mirror. Maybe if I added the wart, he and his disapproval would stay far away from me during the dinner party.

  “Your obsession with the human world isn’t safe.”

  The same old argument. I unfurled my wings and tapped them with my wand. “Black.”

  A cute fairy witch stared back at me from the mirror.

  Amaranth let out a hard sigh.

  Turning to face him, I gave what I hoped to be a placating smile. “I’m simply throwing a dinner like we’ve had in our kingdom at least a hundred times. Why does the theme make a difference?”