Pumpkins and Potions

by Tegan Maher

  “That’s the goddess Hecate,” Nikki said when she saw that I was eying the statue. “My mother Edna had her by the door in her shop. She said Hecate would look over the chocolates and protect the business. Ha! That’s hardly been the case for me.”

  She averted her gaze from Hecate, as if the statue was painful to look at. I got the feeling that it reminded her of her mother, and of better times from the chocolate business.

  With her focus on the broken window, Nikki went on. “My mamma was into all kinds of crazy stuff like that. She was very superstitious. She used to write weird symbols over our door on certain days of the year, and meet with a group of ladies in town so that they could all recite poetry together.” She shrugged. “I don’t know... I was never that interested in all that weird stuff. But when Ma died and I moved out of Hillcrest to Melrose, to open up shop here, I just took all of her stuff with me. It felt disrespectful to just give it away or throw it out.”

  “How long ago was it that you moved here?” I asked.

  “Thirty years… Gosh, that sounds like a long time. It was right after Ma died. I was twenty-five, and dating Earl. We decided to buy a place out here in Melrose because the properties were so much cheaper. “

  “Did you inherit the chocolate business from your mom?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Sure did. It was like a dream come true. All that Earl and I changed was the name and the logo. But even though we used the exact same cocoa butter, cocoa, sugar, milk, and whatnot, the chocolates just never tasted as good. For a while, I even used her crazy recipe book.”

  “Crazy recipe book?” I repeated

  “Yeah, you should have seen this thing,” Nikki said. “It had all kinds of symbols on it, and Ma hand-wrote notes along with all of her recipes. She even had little rhymes that she liked to say when she made certain chocolates. I think it entertained her -- made the work fun or something. I always skipped that part. I have the ingredients memorized, so I don’t have to use the recipe book anymore. Good thing, because a woman named Celia who used to work with Ma walked off with it one day, a few years after I took over the business.” She shrugged. “It didn’t matter because it wasn’t doing me much good, anyways.”

  Penny gave up her examination of the door and joined us. “Woah!” she said, eying the brass sculpture. “What’s that?”

  “Hecate,” I said.

  Penny grinned. “Neat! I like it.”

  Turkey was eying the sculpture with interest. Penny got a faraway look in her eyes, and I could tell she was listening to a telepathic message from her familiar. Then she said, “Of course. Hecate. The goddess of the underworld. Sometimes people misidentify her as having to do with demons and whatnot, but she used to be known as a goddess who could protect people from demons and evil spirits. She carries torches to light the way on people’s journeys, especially into the afterlife.”

  Nikki looked impressed. “You sure know your goddesses,” she said to Penny.

  “Oh, my cat reads a ton of books about mythology.”

  Nikki gave Penny a strange look.

  Penny corrected herself. “Did I say my cat reads? Haha... I meant that I read a ton of books... with my cat on my lap. Snuggle sessions. They’re the best.”

  I stifled a laugh.

  Nikki went on. “Anyways, like I was saying, I moved here with all of Ma’s weird decorations and just haven’t had the heart to get rid of them. But I guess now it’s time, since we’re going to be downsizing. All of this is going to have to go.” She eyed the factory, and I could tell she was immediately overwhelmed.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I told her. “Just take this one step at a time. Everything will work out.”

  “Thanks,” she sighed. “And thanks for being interested in the break-in. I know nothing was stolen, but it still feels like such an invasion, and I’d love to know who’s responsible. I appreciate the help. Look around for as long as you like. I’d better get back to packing.”

  She turned and headed back to the gift shop.

  I eyed Penny and raised my brows. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked.

  “That it’s time for a chocolate lollipop?” Penny said, lifting up the white gift bag in her hands. “Yes ma’am!”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I mean, sure, I’d love one. But that’s not what I was thinking.”

  “What were you thinking?” she asked.

  “Nikki’s mother, Edna Eden, was a practicing witch,” I said.

  Penny gasped. “You think?” she said.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I do. Nikki was just telling me how her mom had a special recipe book with handwritten notes in it, and that she liked to say ‘little rhymes’ while she was cooking up chocolates. I don’t think they were just rhymes, Penny. I think they were spells. And the recipe book wasn’t just a recipe book -- it was a grimoire!”

  “What happened to the book?” Penny asked.

  I thought back over my conversation with Nikki. “I guess a woman named Celia took it,” I said.

  “Celia?” Penny said. “Wow, Annie was just telling us about Celia’s Chocolates, wasn’t she?”

  I nodded.

  Penny’s eyes grew wide. “Now I know we’re thinking the same thing!” she said.

  “That it’s time to pay Celia’s Chocolates a visit?” I asked.

  Penny nodded.

  Turkey meowed in agreement.

  As we headed for the factory’s exit, I took a bite of the chocolate lollipop, but the thing looked much better than it tasted. I stuck the lollipop back into its cellophane wrapper and then tossed it back into the white bag that Penny was carrying.

  Penny did the same with hers.

  Annie was right. The chocolate really did taste like sugar-coated mud. Yuck.

  I popped into the gift shop and told Nikki that Penny and I were going to take a trip to Celia’s to have a chat with her, and that we’d return shortly.

  “You think Celia has something to do with the break-ins?” Nikki asked with a frown as she finished taping up an especially large cardboard box.

  I shrugged. “It’s just a place to start,” I said. “We don't really know anything, yet.”

  “Well, good luck,” Nikki said. “Celia’s not the most pleasant woman to talk to.”

  3

  The drive over to Celia’s was uneventful, unless you count belting out some of my favorite Reggae tunes as an event.

  Just as “Three Little Birds” wrapped up to a satisfying conclusion, I put the van into park. Skili, who had flown across town on her own, landed in a nearby tree.

  Celia’s Chocolate Factory was on the south side of Melrose, and had a totally different vibe to it than Nikki and Earl’s. It was located on the far end of a strip mall, squeezed between a pot shop and a seedy-looking lawyer’s office that announced: “Get Fast Crash Cash! Quick money for your auto accident!”

  I pulled open the glass door to Celia’s and stepped inside. Penny and Turkey followed me. A few customers were browsing the retail area, which displayed oodles of chocolates of all shapes and sizes.

  A woman who looked as though she was in her sixties was behind the counter, wrapping a box of chocolates for the gentleman who stood across from her. She had long, silvery-blonde hair, angular features, and a lean figure. She wore a denim dress with a white apron over the top of it.

  “There you go, Eduardo!” she said, in a syrupy sweet voice. “Your second box of raspberry truffles this week! I hope your wife enjoys them.”

  “She always does!” the man said as he accepted the bag and then hurried out of the shop.

  “Celia?” I said, as Penny and I approached the counter.

  “Yes?” the woman responded with a polite smile. “I’m Celia. Can I help you?”

  Penny spoke up. “I’m Penny. I’m a private investigator. This is my friend Marley and my cat, Turkey. We’d like to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Nikki and Earl Umbridge, if you don’t mind.”

  Immed
iately, Celia’s demeanor changed. She was no longer the helpful, customer-is-always-right business owner. A defensive shield came over her, and she lifted her chin. “Actually, I do mind,” she said. “I’m very busy at the moment, as you can see.”

  Penny dove right into a question anyway. “This won’t take long,” she promised. “Are you aware that there was a burglary at Nikki and Earl’s Chocolate Factory last night?”

  “I may have seen that in the paper,” Celia said.

  “Is it true that you used to work with Edna Eden?” Penny asked.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with the break-in,” Celia said.

  “I’ll get to that,” Penny promised.

  I was glad Penny was taking the reins. The conversation took up so much of Celia’s focus, she was ignoring me entirely. I felt like I could take in her expressions and mannerisms as an observer, which was helpful. I backed up slightly, so that I was even more out of the picture than before.

  Celia looked as though she was about to object to the conversation, but Penny plowed on before she had the chance. “Nikki said that you took Edna’s grimoire. Is that true?”

  Celia’s jaw dropped. Her eyes grew wide. It was two whole seconds before she could compose herself and hide her shock. “I -- what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  As she said this, she shifted positions and scooched her elbow across the countertop so that a piece of wrapping paper covered a book that had been lying nearby.

  Though the motion was too fast to allow me to see the book before it was covered up, I suddenly suspected that it was the grimoire.

  Penny continued to pester Celia with questions, but I had a feeling she wasn’t going to get any straight answers. Celia was lying through her teeth.

  I reached out to Skili with my mind. “We need some help in here,” I transmitted.

  “Ready to assist,” Skili responded.

  “Could you fly in and create a distraction?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said in her characteristic cut-to-the-chase tone. A minute later, a customer entered the shop, and Skili swooped in just behind him.

  A few customers shrieked and took cover as Skili flapped her wings and let out a few loud hoots.

  “Out!” Celia shouted. “Shoo! Shoo!” She reached for a roll of wrapping paper, and then hurried around the counter. She continued to shout as she swatted at my familiar.

  I took advantage of the commotion by reaching over the countertop and snagging the hidden book. It was definitely a spell book: thick, leather bound, with moons, stars, and all sorts of other magical symbols inscribed on the front.

  With the book safely in my arms, I motioned to Penny. “Come on! We can go now!” I whispered urgently. “I have Edna’s grimoire! Let’s get out of here.”

  We jogged toward the door. I held it open and called out to Skili with my mind. “That’s good enough, we got what we needed.”

  Skili flew in one more circle around Celia, skillfully avoiding the wrapping paper roll that Celia was batting around, and then swooped out through the open door with one last triumphant “hoot!”

  “That’s right! Get out of here!” Celia called out. I heard her speaking to her customers as the door closed behind us. “I am so sorry about that, folks. I have never seen an owl act like that. I’ll call animal control right away to report it.”

  I continued jogging until I reached the van, and then I stopped to catch my breath. As I did this, I held the book out.

  “We got it!” I said happily to Penny, Turkey, and Skili. Penny leaned over my shoulder to take a look. Skili landed on my shoulder to do the same, and Turkey jumped up into Penny’s arms and started purring loudly.

  “Yes!” Penny said. “It wasn’t fair that Celia stole this and was using the spells to her advantage. This book belongs to Nikki. She is Edna’s daughter, after all.”

  “It will feel really good to return it to Nikki,” I said. “Maybe we can talk to her about magic, and convince her to try out some of the spells. I have a strong feeling that if she does, her business could be a huge success.”

  “It was working for Celia,” Penny said with a nod. “Though it was an unjustified success. Celia should never have stolen that book.”

  “It was wrong,” I said. I glanced over my shoulder at the store front. I wondered how long it would take Celia to realize that we’d recovered the stolen grimoire. When she did, I figured she wouldn’t be too happy about it.

  “We’d better get out of here,” I said.

  We loaded up into my van. I tossed the grimoire into the back and then hit the gas, heading for Nikki’s.

  “So it looks like Celia really did steal Edna’s grimoire,” I mused aloud, as I steered us north. “And she was using it to her advantage. No wonder Celia’s Chocolates is so successful.”

  “Do you think she’s also the one who’s been breaking into Nikki and Earl’s Chocolate Factory every year before Halloween?” Penny asked.

  I nodded. “It seems that way to me,” I said. “She acted so defensive, right when you mentioned the break-in. Her body language and her energy changed -- she was emanating guilt.”

  “I don’t get it,” Penny mused. “If Celia had the grimoire in her possession, and was finding so much success with it, why would she bother breaking into Nikki and Earl’s? And why do it every year, just before Halloween?”

  “Meow!” Turkey said, from the back seat. I glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw that he was perched next to the grimoire, which he’d flipped open with his paw. He pointed at a page a few times.

  Penny spoke up. “Turkey knows!” she said. “He knows what Celia was after!”

  4

  I waited while Penny listened to the telepathic message that Turkey was transmitting.

  After a moment, she relayed it to me aloud. “He says that there’s a magical chocolate recipe in the grimoire called Hecate's Honor. The notes say that all of the ingredients for the chocolates will glow bright green during the week before Halloween, which is when the spell should be prepared.”

  I wasn’t sure what his point was.

  Apparently, Penny didn’t get it either, because when I looked over at her she appeared quite confused. I waited while she listened to her wise kitty for a few more minutes.

  “Ooooh...” she said after a while. “Yes, that makes sense. Turkey says that he thinks Celia’s been after a few missing ingredients. The notes say that there are thirteen ingredients that must be gathered, but they’re not listed. It just says to collect the glowing items. There’s a handwritten note off to the side that says, ‘Found eleven. What about the last two?’ The handwriting is different than that in the rest of the book, so Turkey thinks it must be Celia’s writing.”

  “If Celia was missing two ingredients, she couldn't complete the recipe,” I said.

  “Right,” Penny said. “That would motivate Celia to try to break into Nikki and Earl’s and try to find the missing ingredients so that she could finally complete the spell.”

  “What would happen when it’s complete?” I asked.

  I waited while Penny listened for Turkey’s answer. Then she said, “Turkey says the magical chocolates are supposed to bring wild prosperity to whoever eats them. He says that in addition to protection, Hecate is also connected to prosperity. Honoring her with this magic is very powerful.”

  “Interesting,” I said. “Nikki said she moved all of her mother’s belongings down here to Melrose, including kitchen items. If Celia’s been looking for glowing ingredients each year, I wonder why she’s never found them?”

  “They must be hidden,” Penny said.

  We thought this over as I navigated through a construction zone and then turned onto Pine Ridge Avenue.

  When we pulled up to Nikki’s place again, we’d made up our minds: we were going to search for the two missing ingredients.

  It seemed fitting that the magical chocolates promised prosperity, which seemed to be just what Nikki needed.

&nb
sp; “Nikki?” I called out, as we entered the gift shop.

  Her reply was muffled. “Just a minute!” A rustling sound ensued, and then she stepped out of a closet, carrying a milk crate filled with Christmas decorations. “How did it go?” she asked, while placing the milk crate down on a counter.

  “We recovered your mother’s grimoire,” I said, as I placed the spell book up on the counter next to the Christmas decorations. “You were right -- Celia stole it.”

  “Ma’s recipe book!” Nikki said happily as she looked at the leather-bound pages. “Thank you for getting it back! What did you call it? A grim-what?”

  “Grimoire,” I repeated. “That’s a name for a book of spells.”

  “Spells?” Nikki laughed nervously. “Don’t be ridiculous. My mother didn’t cast spells. That’s the stuff of movies. My mother was eccentric, to be sure, but she wasn’t a witch.”

  Penny arched a brow. “Are you sure about that?” she asked. “Nikki, plenty of people who look ordinary actually practice magic. Actually, Marley and I have been studying witchcraft ourselves. And magic isn’t about turning princes into frogs. It can be very practical -- like making chocolates taste good, or spreading joy. Or even attracting prosperity. That’s a form of magic, too.”

  Nikki fidgeted with a string of Christmas lights that spilled over the edge of the milk crate. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “That’s all nonsense. Chocolate tastes the way it does because of the quality of ingredients used, and the skill of the chocolatier who’s combining them. It must be mixed a certain way, heated and cooled at the right temperatures, and stored correctly. Spreading joy just comes down to being nice and cheerful yourself. And as for prosperity -- that comes to those who are lucky.” She looked down and her face fell, and I could tell just what she was thinking -- that she wasn’t one of the “lucky ones” that she’d just mentioned.

  I spoke in a gentle tone. “Nikki, if chocolate is all about the practical steps used to prepare it, and you do all those steps exactly like your mother used to, then why is it that your chocolate is so different from hers?”