"It's okay. I'm practiced at doing this by now. Plus, these shellac manicures are tough as nails. Add a little magic to the polish, and these nails are practically indestructible."
"I didn't think of that,” I said. "I can't have mine done because of health code stuff."
"My friend that does mine just got this new magic polish in. It can appear and disappear with a safe word. I'll get you her number," Skyla said, and I saw her relax a little.
"So, tell me why you're here?" I said.
Another deep shuddering breath, and I feared she was going to lose it again.
"Bearberry ran off and I can't find him. He just darted out the door when I opened it. He hasn't done that in so long that I wasn't prepared," Skyla said, and tears began streaming down her face again. "I miss him so much and I'm so scared. It's only been an hour, but someone could steal him. He was very expensive, and I'd hate for someone to take him and try to sell him. Plus, he's so sweet. He wouldn't know to stay away from bad people."
"At least we're all stuck here." I tried to reassure her. "No one can leave with him. We'll find him before the storm is over,” I said.
"That's not all," Skyla said. "Bearberry is a familiar too. He has special puppy powers, but because he's so young, they haven't developed fully yet."
"Oh,” I said.
"So," she continued, "I'm worried he'll find his way outside. What if he sneaks outside and gets tossed around by the storm? He could get swept out to sea."
"I'm sure that won't happen. Most dogs hate storms. I doubt he'll go outside. That's probably what happened. He got freaked out and ran. We'll find him hiding somewhere in a corner, and it's so dark in the manor, no one will see him. They won't be able to steal him because they won't know he's even there, but we'll find him."
Before Skyla could say anything else, there was another knock at the door. "Skyla?" Elizabeth's frantic voice traveled through the heavy wood door. She must have been shouting very loudly. The manor wasn't a cheap hotel with thin walls and hollow core doors. It was sturdily built and provided guests with exceptional peace and privacy... when the power wasn't out and there wasn't a raging tropical storm outside in the Gulf.
Skyla shot out of her chair. "Elizabeth was in the shower when Bearberry got out. She has no idea, and I forgot to leave her a note."
"I'll let her in,” I said.
I went to the door and found a frantic-looking Elizabeth on the other side. "She's in here,” I said. "Please come in."
Elizabeth rushed to her sister's side. Skyla told her about Bearberry getting out and how she's been looking for him for an hour.
Eventually, Skyla broke down into sobs again, and her big sister just held her. I personally thought we should be out looking for Bearberry, but the sisters seemed to let themselves get paralyzed with emotion. I wasn't going to say anything about that, though. Nope. There was no way to put it that didn't sound insulting, and if I insulted them when they were having such bad days, I'd never get the job.
The best thing I could do was keep an eye out for Bearberry. Perhaps even use a little tracker magic. It wasn't my specialty at all, but I could try.
There was another knock on the door, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying: What now?
"I'll get it," Jenny Mae said.
When she opened the door, another familiar face stood on the other side. It was Becky Byrd, the staff member I'd met earlier at the bridal shower.
"Come in,” Jenny said.
"Oh, no thank you. I'm just going door to door to let everyone know that Mr. Pope is hosting a party downstairs for everyone trapped here,” she said with a huge smile. "If you'd like to come down, there will be a huge feast and an opportunity for everyone to relax and socialize."
"Thank you, Becky,” I said. "I think we'll do that."
Maybe there was more light down there, and getting out of the room for any reason was an opportunity to look for Bearberry. Not only would I be able to return the frightened pup to his distraught mother, I knew that if I found him, Elizabeth would be so happy she'd give me the job. There's no way she'd give it to Garnet after I saved her beloved sister's dog.
It was uncharitable for me to think of it in those terms, but it was the truth. I truly did want the adorable pup safe and Skyla to be happy too. Even if I didn't get the job, I would still never let harm come to an innocent puppy if I could help it.
"One more thing," Becky said before I could close the door, "I have boxes of our famous chocolate covered pralines. Would everyone like a box?"
"We got two boxes of pralines when we checked in,” I said, “but we don't have any of the chocolate covered variety. Sure. I would love some."
The others agreed, and Becky gave us all boxes.
"We should go down there now," Elizabeth said to Skyla. "We can ask everyone about Bearberry. Maybe someone has seen him, or maybe another guest has already found him and is looking for the owner. He could be down there right now."
"Yes, let's do that," Skyla said and stood up. "Thank you both."
"We'll be down in just a bit,” I said. "We'll keep our eye out for Bearberry on our way."
"Thank you so much," Elizabeth said. "You have no idea what it means to me that you would help my sister."
"You're welcome,” I said. "I just want to get the little guy home safe."
I did know what it meant to her. It meant I would get the job, but first I had to find Bearberry. I could already imagine all of the social media posts of me, Bearberry, and the Sullivan sisters smiling triumphantly at his return. It would make my business explode.
"We're going to take our time going down to that gathering,” I said to Jenny as soon as the sisters were gone. "We're going to stop at each floor and look for Bearberry."
"Oh, man,” Jenny said. "You want to find the dog so you can win, right?"
"It's not just that,” I said. "I do want the little guy home safe."
"It's at least partially to win the wedding job,” Jenny said.
"Finding the dog benefits everyone, okay? So, let's just give it a shot."
"Traipsing around in the dark looking for a lost dog instead of going to a party... sounds great,” Jenny said.
"Something could happen to him if we don't find him,” I said. "You don't want that, do you?"
"You're right. Let's do this," Jenny responded.
We left the room, and I made the executive decision to use our phones as flashlights. The last thing we needed was to trip, fall, and get injured. It turned out we only needed one phone for both of us, so Jenny got to conserve the battery on hers. I brought up using a spell to light our way, but Jenny said that since we were looking for Bearberry to help win the wedding job, it fell under personal gain. I agreed, and we decided not to risk it.
Since the power was out, we had to use the stairs. I hoped that no one had been in the elevator when the power went out, or if they were, it was a witch. I could get myself out, but a human would have had to wait to be rescued. With no access to the manor because the road was flooded, that meant no fire department. I reassured myself that even if a regular human had been trapped in there, a kind witch surely would have helped them out. It wouldn't have been that hard, and there were a lot of witches around because of the shower.
The stairwell was all the way at the other end of the hall. There were far fewer people headed toward it than I expected, but most of them had probably gone down to the party as soon as Becky came around. It’s not like we had anything else to do.
I viewed it as a good thing. It would be easier to search for Bearberry with no one around. Already, the floor we were on was eerily silent.
“Are we going to search every floor?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah. Just a quick sweep, okay? We’ll go upstairs first and check the ballroom. It shouldn’t take too long to search the guest floors. All we can do is walk the hallway.”
“Okay,” Jenny said. “Upstairs first.”
We made our way up the flight of stairs to th
e top floor, clinging to the railing the whole time. I kept expecting someone to come out of the door upstairs and tell us we weren’t supposed to be there, but that was silly. It was a hotel and we were guests.
The police tape across the door to the ballroom where the shower occurred did tell us we couldn’t go in there. Still, I was able to pry the door open just a bit and look inside.
“Bearberry,” I called out hoping that if he was in there, he’d come running at the chance to escape.
I listened for a few moments, and there was nothing. No one was in there, and there was no sound of tiny little feet on the hardwood floor either.
There was another smaller meeting room on the top floor as well. We checked that and found nothing.
“Should we go in there?” I asked more as a rhetorical question than for permission from Jenny.
We were standing in front of the only other door on the top floor. A brass sign hung on it that said, “Staff Only”.
While we weren’t staff, I couldn’t stand the thought that poor Bearberry was in there waiting to be rescued. Who knew when the next time someone would go in there would be?
“It’s not like they can toss us out if they catch us,” Jenny said with a shrug. “We can always say we didn’t see the sign and though the party was up here.”
“That was too easy for you,” I said.
“What was?”
“Coming up with such a plausible lie. You scare me sometimes, Jenny Mae.”
“What?” she asked with an innocent smile. “I’m just logical. Besides, it’s just a lie to protect us and potentially an innocent animal. It’s not like I’m using magic for personal gain.”
“I feel like I shouldn’t be encouraging this,” I said. “But I do want to check in there. Just really quick. If it’s not locked, of course.”
“Of course,” Jenny agreed with a nod of her head.
I turned the knob and the door opened. “I guess there’s nothing too valuable in there, then,” I suggested.
I was right. The door lead to a large closet that held cleaning supplies on one side and various conference sundries, like coffee filters and large coffee packs, on the other side.
Briefly, I stepped inside and shone my light around under the shelves to make sure there wasn’t a tiny dog hiding underneath them. There wasn’t, so we left the supply room and closed the door.
As I was about to suggest to Jenny that we move down to the floor under ours, I came face to face with the grinning specter of an old woman. But she didn’t look like a grandma. Oh, no. Her skin was gray and her eyes sunken to the point they almost looked black. When she sneered at me, her line of sharp teeth glinted in the light of my phone.
“Oh, no.” I heard Jenny gasp from behind me.
“I got it,” I said and tried to keep the panic from my voice.
I’d heard stories of this particular ghost before, and she was a doozy. Malevolent spirits like her fed off of fear.
“I’m the scariest thing in the dark,” I said more to myself than to her, but hey, you fake it until you make it.
Under my blouse, tied to one of my belt loops was my protection bag, its more important contents being salt.
I inched it open with my fingertips and pinched some salt. In a show of defiance, I smiled back at the horrible ghost and threw the salt in her face.
Her mouth opened wide like she was about to scream, but she vanished before the sound released. The salt I kept in my little bag was charmed, and it worked far better than table salt. Not that table salt wouldn’t work, but to get rid of a powerful spirit like that, you needed something strong.
“Remind me when this is all over to talk to Mr. Pope about strengthening his protection around here,” I said casually. “He doesn’t need spirits like that infecting his hotel and scaring guests.”
“She’s going to come back angry,” Jenny said.
“Good thing I’m wearing my bracelet with iron beads,” I said. “Next time I’ll just punch her in that stupid face of hers.”
Jenny laughed.
“What?” I asked.
“Just you acting all tough when I know that ghost scared the pee out of you,” she said and chuckled again. “That’s okay. She scared me too.”
“Let’s just get downstairs,” I said. “We’ve got a couple more floors to walk before we go down to the party.”
The good news was that the nasty old woman didn’t show up again. The bad news is that we didn’t find Bearberry. Each floor of the manor, aside from the top, had a parlor. I’d hoped to find the little dog there hiding underneath a chair or huddled in the corner behind a fern, but I did not.
Chapter Eight
We weren’t the last people to arrive downstairs in the banquet hall but were close. A few people trickled in around the same time as us, but most everyone else was already there and the party was in full swing.
In addition to the buffet tables, there were a few places where boxes of the chocolate-covered pralines were stacked up like pyramids for guests to take.
“I apologize for the lack of lights, everyone. I wish there was more that I could do about it,” Mr. Pope said as the last of the guests came into the hall.
While the power was completely out, Mr. Pope had had his staff pull out all of the manor’s old candelabras. The short ones lined the tables and were interspersed between the food on the serving buffets. There were five- and six-foot-tall versions on the floors scattered all around the room. All in all, there were hundreds of candles lighting the enormous banquet hall. They cast a warm glow around the space, but Mr. Pope was lucky that he was in the company of so many witches because all those candles were definitely a fire hazard.
“The candles are a beautiful touch,” I mentioned since I was close enough for him to hear me.
“Thank you,” he said appreciatively before turning back to address the party again. “I may not be able to provide power, but I can provide food and a comfortable place to ride out the storm. All of our ovens and grills run on gas, so my kitchen staff was able to prepare a grand feast for all of you. Each buffet has an assortment of the manor’s best dishes.”
“That’s generous of you,” I said. “It all looks delicious.”
“Honestly, it was all going to go to waste,” he said with a hint of embarrassment. “It was better this than to waste it all.”
“You’re making people happy,” Jenny said. “That’s all that matters.”
“Well, ladies, why don’t you grab something to eat while it’s all still piping hot?”
“Thank you, again,” I said. “Your kindness through this situation, especially to those of us who aren’t paying to stay here, is incredible.”
“You’re a guest of Praline Manor, my dear. Those of you who are here because of the storm are my personal guests, and I only allow the best for my friends.”
“Wow, he’s good,” Jenny said once Mr. Pope had walked off to greet some other guests.
“He is, but I’m guessing that’s why Praline Manor is one of the premier destinations in Louisiana. Heck, in the South.”
“We should follow his advice and get some of that food while it’s fresh. I spot some crawfish etouffee, and I’ve heard the way the manor prepares it is legendary.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “And oooh, man, look at those biscuits.”
“You make the best biscuits,” Jenny said. “But I’ll give them a try.”
“Sugar,” I said, ratcheting my accent up as thick as molasses, “the best biscuits are the ones you don’t have to make.”
“Or clean up the kitchen,” Jenny added.
“Got that right!”
We grabbed plates and waited in line for the food we wanted. It all smelled divine. By the time we got to the mountain of spicy fried chicken, I was practically drooling. My stomach growled at the smell.
Good fried chicken is a religious experience. When it’s just right, the heavens open up and the angels sing right in your ears.
I piled my
plate high with drumsticks, crawfish etouffee, biscuits and fresh honey. I loved to drizzle honey on my biscuits and the spicy fried chicken too. If it was just the right about of spicy, a little honey would make fireworks go off in your mouth.
We sat down and I dug into the chicken while it was hot. I almost moaned with pleasure. It was the right amount of spicy. Just enough heat to remind you that you were alive, but not so much that it numbed your mouth to the flavor.
The crunch was perfect too. I wanted to go into the kitchen and hug the person who made that glorious chicken. It made it one hundred percent worth being trapped in a horrible storm in the dark.
“Are you okay?” Jenny asked with a giggle.
“Have you tried the chicken yet?” I asked.
“No.”
“Jenny, try the chicken,” I insisted.
She did, and she had the exact same reaction I did. “We need to come here for dinner more often,” she said before plowing back into her drumstick.
After we cleaned our plates, we went back for another round. I got more chicken plus boudin balls, and a huge pile of jambalaya. When we finished eating again, I thought I was going to burst.
“You think their beignets are any good?” Jenny asked. “Or are you too full?”
“I am never too full for beignets,” I said. “We’ll find out if they’re any good, and if they’re not as good as mine, we’ll just silently judge them.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jenny said and rubbed her hands together.
One of the perks of being a witch was that we could eat. We could stuff ourselves to the gills at every meal, and our magic metabolisms would burn it all off.
Jenny and I took advantage of it more often then we probably should, but what could I say. I loved food.
Loved it.
One of the “hazards” of being a kitchen witch. I’d given up the fight against it long ago.
Between the ballroom upstairs and checking in, a staff member had taken what was left of the bridal shower cake and stored it away in the manor’s cooler for me. When Jenny and I had finally had our fill, I started looking around the room to see what other people were up to.
Cauldrons & Cake Page 5