Hexes and Ohs

by ReGina Welling

  A quick check of my other two friends showed me no connection of them to any object in the room. Great. Four down, a room full of raving idiots to go.

  “Good, Charli, you’re back. Nice hat.” Mason’s deep voice thundered over the noise behind me. “See, I told you I wouldn't let you get away.”

  I turned to face the detective. “Mason, concentrate. I need your help. For real. Please fight the spell you’re under and wake up.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. He turned cross-eyed, concentrating on them. With a goofy grin, he snapped his own fingers in the air.

  “Cool, new rhythm for us to dance to.” He stomped his feet and clapped his hands. “Don't you people here down South do square dancing or something?”

  Without waiting for a response, he held my hands and whipped me into the center of the room, whooping and hollering.

  A rougher hand grabbed my arm. “I think the lady would rather dance with me.” Dash pulled on me to yank me away from the detective.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” Mason grabbed my other side. “She wants to be with me.”

  “And I say different,” growled Dash.

  The two men yanked back and forth on me, and the metal mixing bowl flew off my head, landing with a loud rattle on the floor. The last thing I needed was to be a human wishbone torn apart by two delusional men.

  “Stop it, both of you.” I tried to pull my arms out of their grips. When neither would let go, I knew I needed to play the game. Faking tears, I shook my lower lip with purpose. “You're hurting me,” I lied.

  Both men dropped my arms and apologized profusely.

  “Idiots,” I muttered.

  “You hurt her, you monster,” Mason accused.

  “Who you callin’ monster?” Dashes eyes flashed gold. Not a good sign.

  “You know I can stop you where you stand, werewolf.” Mason shook out his hands and pushed up his sleeves, preparing to throw some of his warden authority power at the big man.

  “I told you before, I am a wolf shifter. There is a difference, and I'm happy to give you a lesson if you say it one more time.” The corner of Dash’s mouth curled into a snarl and fur rippled over his knuckles.

  “Were—,” Mason began.

  Never before had I been so happy for a troll to almost trample us, breaking up the fight as we fled out of his way. Trying to find anyone else who had tampered with the lemonade was pointless. We were all mere minutes away from becoming smears on the floor. I pushed my way through the crowd and hopped back over behind the counter next to Skeeter.

  “You did your best.” He patted my back.

  “My best isn't going to save the day this time,” I whined.

  “Well, now you sound just like me. What a pathetic pair we make. At least now nobody will survive to let the world know about our failures. So there is that bright side.” His wings fluttered in acceptance.

  Standing up, I placed my hands on my hips. “There's another possible bright side.”

  “What's that?” asked Skeeter.

  Taking the ladle from the punch bowl, I dipped it into the pink liquid. “You know what they say. If you can't find a unicorn, you might as well turn yourself into one.” I poured a copious amount of the drink into a red plastic cup.

  “That's a stupid saying, Charli,” warned Skeeter, waving his hands to stop me.

  “If this ship’s going down, then I might as well go crazy with the rest of them. Then, maybe, I won't have to stand by and watch my friends destroy themselves.” I lifted the cup to my lips and steadied myself for the content’s effects.

  A loud pounding from outside the building stopped me. Peering out the glass front door, I spotted a small tornado twisting outside, lightning shooting out of it. Just what we needed, a disaster on top of another disaster. With words on the wind, the tornado hit the door, blasting it open with full force. As soon as it had appeared, the tornado dissipated, and in its place stood my grandmother.

  “Nana,” I called out in relief.

  My grandmother peered at me over her glasses. “Charli Bird, why is it that whenever there's trouble, I seem to find you in the middle of it?”

  5

  To the best of her magic, Nana salvaged what chairs and tables she could. Everyone sat in a circle, looking disheveled and a bit frightened. They all held red plastic cups in their hands.

  “I said drink it all down,” insisted Nana.

  “But it's sick and tastes…disgusting,” protested Linsey, shivering after taking a hesitant sip.

  Nana had mixed up an emergency batch of her special sludge for everyone. I hoped that one day she would let me in on its magical ingredients, but for now, I was satisfied that everyone tasted the awful concoction that had helped save my life before.

  Doc checked over each person for any lingering effects. My brother, Matt, who Beau failed at keeping away, kept the group secure in the building with his own warden protection.

  “How did this happen?” whispered Alison Kate. Stray tears streamed out of her eyes as she looked around her place of employment. “Twinkle and Sprinkle will be so mad at me.”

  Matt walked to the edge of the circle. “That's a good question. What did happen? Charli, as the one person seemingly not affected, I hope you have some answers.”

  “Me, too. My memory’s a little fuzzy.” Ben rubbed his forehead.

  Murmurs of agreement and requests for me to explain things echoed around the room. I caught Mason’s eyes, but he glanced away from me, scowling. Normally, this was his job. To present the theories and facts and suss out the suspects. No doubt his ego had taken a beating. I'd feel bad for him later.

  Pacing in the center of the room, I worked through my string of thoughts. “I first suspected something was wrong after I returned from picking up the cherry pies at the diner. Even that early into the event, my gut was doing a number on me.”

  My brother’s eyebrows furrowed. “What was your first clue?”

  I glanced at my four friends, now sitting in the right pairings, Lee holding Alison Kate's hand and Ben checking to make sure Lily drank her thick medicine. “Everyone's typical behavior was altered. We can all make subtle changes in ourselves from time to time, but we don't shift into a completely different person all of a sudden.”

  “I do,” growled Dash. He gave me a short nod and the vaguest hint of a smile, sipping on his drink. I appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood.

  “So then, who cast the spell?” asked my grandmother.

  “That's the question I tried to answer before you got here. The cause of all the problems started with the lemonade.” I pointed at the punch bowl of pink liquid still on the counter behind everybody.

  “But didn’t you make it?” Alison Kate stared at me wide-eyed.

  I nodded. “I was trying to help Skeeter with his last-minute tasks.”

  Linsey locked onto me like a vulture. “So you’re the culprit?” I could see her composing another article in her head that would become my headache in the morning.

  My friends jumped to my defense, and I attempted to calm them down. Nana punished Linsey by pouring more sludge into her cup, daring her not to drink it with her famous stare.

  Watching her face screw up in disgust bolstered me. “Like I said, I was sent to pick up pies, so at some point, the lemonade was not in my control. I'm guessing that in the time I was gone, the lemonade was spiked with something.”

  “With what?” Alison Kate asked. Lee slouched in his chair.

  Nana groaned with recognition, and I nodded at her. “A love potion.” Gasps of shock filled the room.

  “And why would a simple love potion have affected us as poorly as it did?” Mason sat up straighter in his chair, unable to deny his natural detecting instincts.

  I held up my finger. “One love potion, no, it shouldn't have affected everyone. But…multiple love potions mixing together could cause some serious reactions.”

  Murmurs of surprise and looks of guilt were shared. I paced in the middle of the c
ircle. “Lee, you admitted to me that you spiked the lemonade with moonshine.”

  My brother clenched his fists. “Are you serious?”

  Lee leaned forward in his seat. “Yeah, it’s true. I’m guiltier than a horn dog in springtime. I had Dash bring me a special batch. But I only meant it for good, I swear.”

  He mouthed an apology at me and continued. “You see, my great-grandpappy told us the story of how he earned Great-Granny’s love way back in the day. He passed that special recipe down in our family as a way to secure our own true loves.”

  “And what's involved in that recipe?” I pushed my friend.

  Unable to deny his guilt, Lee gave up his information. “I put a stash of rose quartz in with the mash. Supposedly, soaking the grain with the stones encourages love when given to another person to drink.”

  Nana clicked her tongue. “Boy, you know that your great-grandpappy was telling tall tales, don't you? Lorinda Mae had her eyes set on Eustis from the first time she laid eyes on him. He didn’t need any help. And you don't go messin’ around with crystals or stones if you don't respect their properties. How many did you use?”

  Lee shrugged. “I don't know. A handful? I wanted to make sure it worked.” He shot a sideways glance at Alison Kate.

  Nana poured more sludge into his cup as well. Lee dutifully took a long sip and screwed up his face. “You could have at least made it taste like sweet tea.”

  “Then how would you learn your lesson?” She tousled his hair despite her annoyance.

  I filed away my friend’s question to ask my grandmother later. If there were a way to make the evil brew taste better, then I had been royally screwed growing up.

  Dash cleared his throat. “So he added moonshine to the lemonade. That doesn't sound so bad, and maybe we should have been a little drunk. Not off our rockers.”

  “Like I said, one added potion shouldn't have harmed everyone. But we’re not talking one.” Taking a chance and hoping to shorten the night, I asked the big question. “Raise your hand if you added something to the lemonade tonight.”

  More than half of those in the circle raised a sheepish hand. They listed off what they had added when I pointed at them.

  “A special brew of chamomile tea.”

  “A dash of rosewater.”

  “Ground dry lavender.”

  The list grew longer of ingredients and potions known to be used in different love spells.

  “We learned the dangers of love potions long ago, Will and I,” said Horatio, his eloquent turn of phrase back. “It did not turn out well for the fairy queen, Titania. But mortals will be fools.”

  “What in tarnation were you all thinking?” asked Nana. “I thought you learned better at school than to mess with love potions. They are extraordinary things and easy to get wrong. Or if they mixed with the wrong ingredients—”

  “—they can create a disaster?” I finished. “I think they know that, Nana.”

  Flustered, my grandmother refilled everyone's cup again. The more they drank down, the more they recovered.

  “I have a confession.” Alison Kate stood up, large tears slipping down her face. “I added a love spell to my cake pops.”

  “I know, Ali Kat.” I wanted to hug my fragile friend, but I couldn't show favoritism in the position I stood in. I'd shower her with hugs and kisses afterward. “I found the recipe card on the floor in the kitchen. Actually, it's because of that recipe that I put the pieces together. That we had multiple spells miscast and misfiring. So in a way, you helped.”

  “But that doesn't let you off the hook, young lady,” warned my Nana.

  I rolled my eyes at my grandmother’s impatience. “But there's one more ingredient to this mess. The most important, very potent ingredient. Skeeter, get your behind on out here, or I will hex your hiney seven ways to Sunday.”

  The cupid’s unruly head of hair appeared above the countertop. Moving with slow deliberation, Skeeter wavered in the air until he bobbed in front of Nana and me.

  “Now you tell them what you did,” I insisted.

  “I gave them all a chance to find a companion,” he sulked.

  “What else?” I pushed.

  He looked down at the ground. “Encouraged them to let their inhibitions and fears go so that they would find more confidence to approach each other.”

  “Frosted fairy wings, Skeeter, tell them why the lemonade turned pink,” I ordered.

  The cupid’s wings flapped hard to keep him in the air. Unable to look me in the eyes, he muttered the answer. “I stirred the lemonade with one of my arrows.”

  Nana gasped. “The tip of a cupid's arrow touched the drink? You might as well have lit a cask of gunpowder in the place, you crazy cupid.”

  “So exactly how am I supposed to handle this?” asked my brother. “As a warden, there are a lot of guilty members in this room. That's gonna make for a lot of work down at the station.”

  Mason got up from his chair, taking his place by Matt’s side. “Seems to me this one time we should break the rules.”

  My jaw dropped. “Really?”

  The recovering detective shrugged. “Almost everyone in here is guilty, but of what? They wanted to find someone and to stop being lonely. I don't think that's a crime.”

  “Yeah, but they all did something that when added together created trouble,” I countered, not thinking. I cringed when I caught my friends staring at me in disbelief and wondering whose side I was on. “But I guess you're in charge.”

  Mason shook his head. “Not in this situation. But perhaps, the council member who sits in the high seat can make a declaration that would absolve everyone this one time.”

  Nana tapped her lip with her fingertip. “I don't think absolution without some form of punishment would work. I need everyone here to remember not to mettle with magic.”

  “What are you thinking?” asked my brother. He and I both recognized our grandmother’s look, having been on the receiving end of it many times.

  “I’m thinking that with Honeysuckle Hollow opening itself up to more of the magical community, we're going to need volunteers to help with things like the new weekend farmers’ market. Or cleaning up the park when it's needed. Or patrolling our borders. Lots of volunteering opportunities, and as far as I'm concerned, they can volunteer in pairs if they want.”

  A murmur of satisfaction rose amongst the group, but Skeeter raised his hand. “That works for everybody else. But what about me?”

  “You can do community service as well,” Nana said.

  “But that won't stop the story from getting out.” He eyed Linsey. “One word of this gets around, and I'm finished.”

  My stomach dropped. Skeeter had a valid point. Linsey's pen wielded as a sword had impaled me in the past. She could skewer Skeeter with a report on the event.

  Lily's younger sister sighed. “I suppose I could not write up anything about tonight other than that it was a great opportunity to meet new people.” She watched my grandmother carefully. “And, maybe, that could earn me a few hours less of community service?”

  “How about we consider that payback for the trouble you have caused me and mine.” Nana glanced at me, and I nodded in agreement.

  “But I'm still a failure.” Skeeter’s wings drooped with his expression.

  “No, you're not.” Alison Kate summoned up her courage and spoke up. “Because of tonight, I now know exactly who I want to be with.”

  “And I'm not letting her go.” Lee took Alison Kate's hand in his.

  Ben and Lily also clasped hands. My heart soared, thankful that the night’s mismatches hadn't destroyed what I had most wanted.

  “Anyone else in here thinks they might have made a connection?” I asked.

  A few other hands were raised. Linsey poked a finger in the air. “I don't think I made a love connection,” she said, “but I may have made a new friend.” She smiled shyly at the troll.

  Horatio patted her knee. “My dear, ‘I would not wish any companion
in the world but you.’” He bowed his head.

  I patted Skeeter’s arm. “Then tonight is not a complete disaster. You may not want to put it on your resume or mention it when you reapply for a new cupid’s position. But you shouldn't get so discouraged.”

  “And for sweet tea's sake, watch how you use your arrow next time,” Nana warned.

  We did our best to salvage what we could in the bakery. Some of tonight's victims would start their community service by helping Sprinkle and Twinkle recover. No doubt our small town would rally to help clean up a beloved business.

  Mason stopped me outside the bakery. “I want to apologize for my behavior. If I said or did anything to offend you, I am truly sorry.”

  I touched his arm. “There's nothing to be sorry for.” Maybe a little white lie was okay.

  I hoped the effects of tonight had altered his memory. Then, maybe, we didn't have to talk about things that would make us uncomfortable around each other. At least, maybe, we could pretend nothing happened. For now. “I’ll see you around, Detective Clairmont.

  He nodded at me, and I regretted his pained look. Hopefully, in the light of day, things would heal and we could get back to normal.

  Matt offered to take me home and Nana offered my old room at her place. But I wanted my own bed, in my own house, with my own peace.

  “Beau will go with me.” I looked around for my vampire roommate.

  He stood on the sidewalk of Main Street, chatting up the twins. He received a peck on each of his cheeks, and his fangs protruded from his grin. With a wave goodbye, he joined me.

  I threw an arm around his caped shoulders. “You're a hero tonight, Beauregard.”

  “No kidding. And it's got me not one, but two, dates. Flossy and Mossy were mighty impressed with my efforts.”

  “Without you, we might have been lost.” I shuddered to think what might have happened had I actually drunk any of the lemonade.

  He leaned against me. “Does this mean you're not kicking me out?”

  “No way. You've just tacked on a few more months to your year lease.” I bumped him with my hip.