“Mac and cheese is a good choice,” Tink said. “I make mine with vanilla coffee creamer and honey.”
“Eew, why?” Zinnia made a face.
“Sweet tooth,” Tink held up her hands. “I’m Fae, I can’t help it. Hey, we can get some gas station hot dogs. Those are cheap. It’s on me.”
“I’m so hungry, even that sounds good. Nann?”
Nann stared at the two of them from the back seat. I can’t always eat what I want, Zinnia said. There was something there.
“Why are you looking at us like that?” Zinnia bunched her brows.
Nann smiled. “I may not know who the Piper is, but I think I know how to find out.”
SHE COULD STILL FEEL the gas station hotdogs in her stomach as Nann climbed to the third floor of Cemetery Center. The door opened as she climbed the last few steps. Dark red lips smiled in a blue-pale face. “It is but the last quarter moon, Druid.”
“Sorry, I kinda need a favor.”
“This is fine. I am burned out on ‘Les Revenants.’ Come.” They walked past the coffin in the VHS meeting hall and into Marquise Charlotte’s apartment. “What can I do for you, Druid?”
“My internet hasn’t been set up yet. I need to order something online, but I don’t want to do it on Tom’s account.”
“You do not wish for Tom to know of this?”
“I don’t want anybody to know. This is a tight community.”
Charlotte handed over the laptop. “This is a bored and listless community that has nothing better than to pry into each other’s affairs. I understand.” She smiled with those pointy teeth.
As Nann suspected, Charlotte’s browser contained bookmarks that shortened what might have been a long search. She scrolled down a page until she found what she wanted. As she clicked on it, Nann felt chilled to the bone. To her surprise, Charlotte had moved from the chaise lounge to behind Nann’s chair apparently in an instant.
“Oo,” Charlotte frowned, looking over Nann’s shoulder. “Don’t get that mixed up with my order.”
Nann opened her conjure bag for her credit card. “Holy cow! The shipping is outrageous.”
“It needs to be shipped immediately to keep it frais—fresh,” Charlotte said.
Wincing, Nann put in her debit card information. “I gotta admit, the internet sure makes it easier to get the more outré ingredients for ceremonies.”
“Outré? It would seem that an ingredient such as this would be explosif, non?”
Nann faced the vampire, but did not expect the look of concern. “I think it’ll be fine.”
“You must take care with such things, if you are planning what I think you are. Over my decades of imprisonment here, only two mortals have entered freely and of their own free will.”
She understood. The vampire was lonely. All the internet and cable TV in the world couldn’t take the place of human—or, okay, inhuman—contact. “I know what I’m doing,” Nann lied. “I promise, I’ll be back on the new moon for tea. I’m marking it on my lunar calendar.”
IN THE MEANWHILE, NANN had a lot to do. The next morning, she went to work on the children’s books section. She shelved the books according to age and subject, feeling nostalgic at the Dr. Seuss classics and Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar; smiling at a new favorite, the somewhat controversial I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. By the time she got to the young adult fiction, FedEx had arrived.
The two packages warranted immediate action. Nann closed the store and headed home. Cricket pulled into a roadside vegetable stand on her own, reminding Nann that Pokey needed more veggies. She wanted to plant her own garden in the future, but it was too late this season. Besides, she had a bookstore to re-open.
At home, she left one package in the car, put one package in the fridge and opened a bag from the roadside stand.
“What the hell is this?” Pokey asked as Nann pushed chopped up vegetables into his bowl.
“Rutabagas, turnips, carrots and parsnips. They’re good for you.”
Pokey eyed her. “You must really like a gassy pig, Nann.”
“Oh, like you aren’t going to walk around cutting the cheese if I feed you Little Debbies.”
“Did you say cheese?”
She filled his water bowl. “Listen, I have to work late the next few nights. I don’t want you to worry.”
“Could you put the TV on the Investigation Discovery channel? There’s a Paula Zahn marathon I want to catch.” Pokey sat on his haunches and raised his front hooves. “I can’t work the remote.”
“I don’t know if I want you watching crime shows,” Nann said. But Pokey’s fluttering hooves and tilted head worked on her. She sighed. “Okay, fine. We’re not gonna make a habit of this.”
Unable to help herself, she scratched the pig behind his ears.
PARKED OUTSIDE BARB Buford’s office, Nann felt a pang of guilt about breaking in. She opened the second overnight package with her Athame. This one came from her mother. Nann flipped through the thick sheaf of documents. Immediately, she felt another pang. While the receipts recorded that the school tax was paid in full, Nann had no idea if she could come up with that kind of money come tax time.
Armed with documents, she marched in.
Barb sat in her office, head darting up as Nann walked in.
“You can tell the town supervisors they can update their records. The school tax is paid in full.”
The real estate agent sat still, only her eyes moving. They went from the documents Nann slapped on her desk up to meet Nann’s. “Well, that’s just super that we can sort this out.”
“Is it? You and your cronies won’t be able to pick up Founder’s House at auction.”
Barb’s mouth turned down at the corners. “I’m not sure what you’re accusing me of, Nancy.”
“Nann. It’s Nannnnn.”
“Forgive me, Nannnn. As I’ve said, there is a sizeable offer on the table for Founder’s House.” Barb folded her arms. “Your accusation is groundless. In fact, I find it a bit insulting.”
Nann decided to call her bluff. “Okay, let’s see it. I’d like to close in thirty days.”
“You—well, at this price point, it may take longer than a month to close escrow.”
“Uh-huh. Who’s the buyer?”
Barb went still again. “The buyer wishes to remain anonymous until you accept the offer, or make a counter-offer.”
“That is my counter-offer. I want to know who the buyer is, and I want to close in thirty days or less.” Nann put her hands on the desk, leaning closer. “Can you make that happen?”
Lips pressed together, Barb glowered at her.
“You can’t do either, because you and your company are the buyer, no matter how much you’re trying to hide it, and you and your company are flat broke.”
Barb remained silent.
“I can compel you to tell the truth,” Nann said, standing upright and raising her hands. She couldn’t, of course. She was a Druid, not Wonder Woman.
Apparently, Barb didn’t know that. “Yes. My redevelopment firm is making an offer on your house. It would take a reshuffling of our current financial situation to do that, but it could be done.”
“And the mill, you’re trying to buy that property. You want to extend this little vacation town all the way to Oswego. You want a picture postcard, gentrified place full of chain restaurants and cheesy resorts.”
The real estate agent’s face went dark. “Speculate all you want. What nonsense.”
“Whatever,” Nann waved her hands. Barb scooted back in her chair. “What really gets my goat is that you employed two guys to capture my pig and take him away. That’s not any kind of business deal. That sounds personal to me. What have you got against my pig?”
“That pig.” Barb showed her teeth. “And your aunt’s pig, and your aunt’s weirdo hippy friends. All the work we’ve done to make Port Argent the premier family vacation spot in Upstate New York. She ruined it. Who wants to bring their family to a place where old lad
ies dance around naked and burn effigies? Who wants to visit a beach to see a woman walking a pig? I’ve spent my whole career making Port Argent upscale, exclusive. I wouldn’t let Nancy bring it down, and I sure as hell won’t let you, either.”
“So it was you who kidnapped Aunt Nancy’s pig.”
Barb smirked. “You witches. You think people don’t know what you’re about, what you’re up to. But I know more than a thing or two about you Druids.”
“I don’t think a thing or two is enough, Barb. Otherwise a boy wouldn’t be dead, two others wouldn’t be missing. I know a thing or two about you non-witches. You think reciting some incantation and performing a ceremony is all there is to magic. But if you don’t understand the consequences, the widespread effects, you shouldn’t be trying to work spells in the first place. Rule number one with magic: what comes around goes around.”
Barb stood, pointing at the door. “I want you out of my office.” Despite the clenched jaw, the fiery eyes, Nann heard a distinct edge of fear in the woman’s voice.
“I’m outtie. I just wanted you to know that the time is coming soon for you to pay the Piper. In the meantime, stay away from my house and my pig.”
NANN MOVED BOOK STACKS toward the far end of the store with the dolly. The bright, happy children’s section with its Jan Brett, Richard Scary and Ladybug Girl posters stood in stark contrast to the mysterious occult section, with its spinning racks of hoodoo supplies and tarot cards, the black shelves and fixtures looming against the purple wall. Eventually, the polar opposites of the store would be muted by bookshelves in between. Hopefully.
“I’m starting to see it.” Zinnia popped in. “I really like the library ladder.”
“Tink installed the rails for me. I just wish I had taller shelves.”
“Boy, you look exhausted, Nann.”
“Working late on a project.” She cleared a path through the store. “I bought some curved bookshelves on Craigslist. They’ll look really lit over near the check-out counter.”
“Good news. Well, sort of good news for you, anyway. I have a friend at one of those franchise tutoring places in Hannibal. The place is going out of business. You can pick up a bunch of bookshelves cheap. Except, you’d have to take all the furnishings, desks, tables, the computers, everything. They need to be out of the building by the end of the month.”
“What am I gonna do with a bunch of desks and tables and computers?”
Zinnia thrust her face closer and gave her a look. “I don’t know, look a gift horse in the mouth, maybe?”
“Sorry, hon. I’m tired and stressed and I need some chocolate.”
“Gotcha covered. I gotta make a run to the corner store. Tink’s in the middle of an engine rebuild and she needs a couple jugs of coffee creamer.”
Nann rolled more books out of the way. “Funny, I don’t think of Tink as a coffee drinker.”
“She’s not. She just likes the creamer. Drinks it like water.” Zinnia shuddered.
Outside, a big pickup truck pulled up, loaded down with two fixtures. “You sure you wanna go now?” Nann asked as Jim and Branden got out of the cab.
Zinnia caught sight of Branden. “Oh, I guess it could wait a minute or two.”
Nann propped open the door as the two men struggled with the heavy shelves.
“Where do you want ’em?” Jim gasped as he carried the front.
Nann pointed. “On each side of the check-out counter. Thanks, guys.”
“No problem,” Branden smiled. “We haven’t had a call from the Agency in a while. Oh, hey, Zinnia.”
“Hi.” Zinnia clutched her hands together. “Hi.”
They set the first case down, sliding it here and there. “I talked to my brother, Ken, and he has a few things to add to your business plan,” Branden told Zinnia.
“Your business plan?” Nann nudged Zinnia. “Well, hello Miss High Finance.”
Zinnia gazed at the floor. “Just some ideas I wrote down.”
“Oh, heck no, Ken thinks it’s great. He’s an investment banker in the city. He thinks it’s really good.”
“Can we save the flirting until after we move that second shelf?” Jim walked out to the truck.
Nann jumped in. “Maybe you two could discuss it over dinner.”
Branden blinked a few times, stunned. “Yeah, we could do that. I mean, if you—”
“Yes!”
Branden nodded a few times. “I have your number—”
“Branden!” Jim shouted from the truck.
“Right. One second.”
Nann smirked at Zinnia. “Playing hard to get, I see.”
“It’s a business dinner.”
“That could be fun, depending on what kind of business you two get up to.”
“Stop.”
“Oh, you stop. The two of you make a cute couple.” Nann tried to suppress a yawn. “Sorry. It’s not your love life, I promise.”
Jim and Branden came back with the matching shelf, grunting and gasping through the store.
“So what is it? What’s this project you’re working on?” Zinnia didn’t take her eyes off Branden.
“Top secret. It should be done by tonight. It’s new moon.”
Zinnia tore her eyes from Branden. “Top secret? What are you up to, Nancy Druid?”
“Okay, knock it off with that. If everything works out the way I think, you’ll know tomorrow. Everyone will know tomorrow.”
THE SUN SET AS NANN fussed with the new shelves. She wanted them for new arrivals, for impulse buys. But she hadn’t ordered books in more than a month, and her supply of fancy bookmarks, booklights and literary-themed T-shirts and market bags looked forlorn on the otherwise empty shelves.
“This store is too dang big,” she told the empty shelves. They didn’t reply, unlike other inanimate objects in her life.
There was still so much to do. Nann sat at the computer in her office, still stealing Tom’s internet. She followed the link Zinnia had sent. The website showed her pictures of furniture and equipment the private tutoring center was desperate to dump. Some of the bookshelves looked good, nearly matching the double-sided ones she had in the children’s section. There was a big rolling display table with shelves on every side. Nice. But there were also a dozen long tables, a dozen computers, a dozen desks, a dozen chairs...
Well, it wasn’t like she didn’t have space. Nann could store all that stuff until she figured out how to get rid the stuff she didn’t need. At the very least, it gave her some hope, a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Footsteps clacked across the floor. Nann whirled from her desk and hurried out into the retail area. “I’m sorry, we’re not open. Hello?”
She studied the shadowed boxes, the shelves, the too-broad spaces between, but saw nothing. But there was no doubt she’d heard footsteps, a woman’s footsteps, the sound of heels. “Charlotte? Zinnia?”
But Charlotte wouldn’t rise until astronomical twilight, when the sun was far below the horizon. Zinnia was having her business dinner with Branden. Tink? Nann couldn’t imagine the shop goblin in heels. She was over six feet tall anyway.
“That better not be you, Barb,” she said. “I told you to stay away.” Even as she said it, she couldn’t imagine Barb Buford coming to un-upscale, non-exclusive Calamity Corners.
Maybe Nann had only imagined the footsteps. She was really tired. The past week had been way too busy, and she hadn’t had nearly enough sleep.
Brilliant light, as fast and bright as a camera flash, made her stumble back against her new bookshelves. Nann held her arm in front of her, shadowing her eyes. All around the store, a multi-colored aurora danced and blazed. But it couldn’t be. Nann remembered her conjure bag was on a desk in the office.
A skeletal figure appeared. Nann could barely get a glimpse with the lights blinding her. The emaciated woman held up a bony finger. “I won’t let you stop me, Druid!”
The Pied Piper had come for her. “Back off, Gert!”
For a few heartbeats, the lightshow dimmed. Nann could see her adversary. Magic unicorn hair hung from a skull wrapped in pale leather, mad eyes staring out. Clothing hung from her body, a collapsed tent of red shirt and black pants hanging on a skinny pole. It looked like Gert had lost two hundred pounds in just a few days. Even her skin hung loose from the bones of her face.
“What have you done to me?”
“I’m starving you, Gert.”
“This isn’t possible!”
“Why, because you stole the banishing page from Aunt Nancy’s book?”
Gert’s flapping face revealed the wide eyes of shock.
“I should’ve known it was you from the footprints in the Lady Lair. You’ve got really big feet, Gert. I almost had it when you propped your dogs on the counter at the hardware store.”
Shock faded. Gert’s eyes narrowed, a smile curling her lips. “You might think you have destroyed me, Druid. But I will take you with me.”
Once again, the aurora filled the store with blinding light. There was no shelter from the onslaught. Music rose, the same as Nann had heard atop the waste mountain. Drums, flutes, bells, the volume increasing. Even though she covered her ears, squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn’t stop the Piper’s magic from seeping into her brain.
Chapter 11
Light and sound faded, but not entirely. Nann opened her eyes to see the stars above. Struggling, she sat up. Nearby, the pink camouflage Hummer parked at an upward angle. She was on top of the sludge-waste mountain.
Nann wasn’t up there alone.
“What is this?” Gert appeared from the trees, dragging her clothes and loose skin behind her. In her twig-like fingers was a small vial. “It makes me hungry.”
Even though she felt sick, weak from the Piper’s influence, Nann found her voice. “You’re still under the summoning spell. Even if you do have the page with the banishing instructions, it doesn’t matter.”
“This is blood,” Gert said.
“Rare animal blood. You can order it online. It’s from vervet monkeys, also called green monkeys. The nearest primate research center is in New Jersey, and the animals are caged.”
Calm Before the Witch Storm Page 9