by Unknown
“See?”
“Of course, I was using a butter knife, so that could’ve contributed to it.”
Amir looked as though he wanted to say something more, but seemed to think better of it when he shook his head.
He set the cutting board he’d been using in front of Broo and showed her how he wanted her to remove the skin and the pumpkin meat.
We all watched as she slowly followed all his instructions. It didn’t take long before she had the whole pumpkin reduced to cubes and the body reduced to seeds, skin, and strings.
“That’s excellent work,” Amir praised. He kissed the top of Broo’s hair.
One kiss that led to another and another until Amir had Broo settled close against his body and me looking awkwardly anywhere but at them. Even the Staff busied itself directing spice traffic toward the island.
Ginger. Cinnamon. All Spice. Nutmeg. Cloves.
Alone, their scents were incredible. But together, their scents were the stuff of dreams.
One by one, I opened the jars and tilted them over a small bowl I had used to mix spices since the first day I worked in the bakery for Broo’s mother.
As soon as the appropriate amount poured into the bowl, it retreated, and the next spice followed suit until all spices were accounted for. I added a dash of salt and a hint of white pepper for a little twist.
“You really do know what you’re doing, don’t you?”
“You watched me make the cheesecakes last year.”
“I know, but this year I don’t have the Wicked Shitz trying to steal my magic or the Staff, so I can pay closer attention.”
I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Baking is like breathing to me.”
“I’ve never had anything in my life like that. Nothing that I was ever really good or exceptional at.”
“You broke a spell that had kept me bound as a frog. I’d say that was incredibly exceptional.”
“It was a small kiss, Amir. That doesn’t count.”
Chapter Four
“What are we going to do with all this?” Broo asked, eyeing the glaze for the last cheesecake. Hunger was written plainly on her face, followed by a blush when she caught me watching. She shrugged. “I can’t help it. I just want to eat everything now since I know I won’t gain weight. I mean, I hadn’t gained any since my witchiness showed up, but now I know why, and I can’t seem to control myself around all the food.”
“I guess that is a perk,” I said, the pumpkin face taking shape on top of the perfectly baked and cooled dessert. “I’d never really thought about it.”
Something was wrong. I couldn’t shake that something was very wrong. Over the past few hours of baking different sweets and confections, I’d felt a shift that I couldn’t explain.
My usually perky personality that Broo often complained about had dimmed. I couldn’t find the feelings inside. I was still smiling. I was still baking. I was still talking to them, but it was different. At least to me.
“Kandy?” Broo nudged me and the touch felt as though it was from the other side of the room rather than right next to me. I turned my head toward her and the alarm in her eyes scared me. “What’s wrong, Kandy?”
She sounded far away. “I... I don’t know.”
“Amir!”
I didn’t even hear her. I saw her lips moving and I could make out the word, but I couldn’t hear her. She called for him again and he came running from the front room.
I should be in a panic, shouldn’t I?
I should be freaking out. At least, I thought I should. But I wasn’t. Why wasn’t I? Why was I calm?
Broo did the panicking for me, though. She was having a small fit and I could see sparks wildly flying from the tips of her fingers.
Amir glanced at me with a less than calm expression on his face.
The next thing I saw was the Staff in front of me, it’s brilliant, multi-color cape, muted.
What was happening to me?
The seconds ticked by and the world around me faded to shades of black and white and gray.
A plume of smoke, at least that’s what I thought it was, and then Baba Yaga appeared, annoyance and anger pinching her face, but was quickly replaced with confusion. She was talking, fast, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
She pointed at me, waved her arm around, slammed her hands on her hips. I tried mustering up a laugh because it was pretty funny to see her lose her shit like that, but the situation wasn’t funny at all.
Fear settled in the pit of my stomach, making me nauseous. If I threw up, would it would be gray? That would be gross, even by throw up standards.
I turned and slid down to the floor and settled against the cabinets. My striped stockings weren’t the bright white and orange they had been when I’d gotten dressed this morning. My dress wasn’t the bright orange it had been, either.
The immediate world around me had been drained of color.
A tear slipped down my cheek. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried. Rain fell outside the door, turning quickly to sleet and snow.
Broo. My fear and sadness were influencing her magic and I couldn’t do anything to contain what was going on inside me. I couldn’t do anything at all.
I could see, but couldn’t hear.
I couldn’t even hear my breathing.
Baba Yaga stepped in front of me and sank to eye level. Up close like this I could make out a bit of color around her eyes. Of course, she wore more make-up than a drag queen and all that shimmery eye shadow. Broo said B.Y. was stuck in the 80’s and I believed it. Glam rock and Rocky Horror... B.Y. would fit right in.
She touched my cheek with her hand and some of the numbness left me.
She took my hand in hers and when she lifted away, I could see my skin again and it was the normal color it always was.
“What’s wrong with me?”
I felt my lips move but I didn’t know if any sound had come out. At first, I figured it hadn’t, but B.Y. shook her head and said very slowly, slow enough that I could read her lips, “I don’t know.”
I nodded.
She held up a finger as though telling me to wait a minute, then she stood, disappeared, only to reappear, but this time with someone else in tow. Someone in skin tight pants and spiked heels. Zelda.
It was she who knelt on the floor this time. It was she with the confused and uncertain expression on her face.
I glanced at my hand and I could still see my flesh, but it was beginning to fade.
Zelda said something. Something about being unsure how to fix me...? Heal me...? I didn’t know, but she appeared dubious about it and I couldn’t blame her. She could heal animals and shifters, but me? I was different. Bigger, at least.
Though, she had healed her mate before, so maybe.
She took my fingers in hers and settled on her knees.
It was her warmth that I felt first.
Then tingling sensations along my fingertips.
The rain and snow began to slow their descent to the ground. Broo’s magic was beginning to ease its grip.
Feeling and color seeped into me once more and my hearing returned little by little.
Zelda swayed unsteadily, and soon Baba Yaga disappeared with her, only to quickly return. I had no idea what she was doing because I sure couldn’t zip around like that. Zelda didn’t even live near Blue Balls Falls.
I pushed it aside, not caring about that as much as what was wrong with me. Amir helped me up and I wobbled a bit on my feet, so he guided me to a barstool at the island and Broo shoved a glass of water at me.
“Where happened? What did you do?” Baba Yaga asked, accusation lacing her words.
“I didn’t do anything.” My voice was hoarse and scratchy and not wholly my own.
“What were you doing?”
“Glazing a cheesecake.”
She paced in front of me, then stopped in front of the shelf I kept family heirlooms on. “Where is it? Where’s your jar of magic?
“In front of you,” I said offhandedly.
“It’s not in front of me.”
“What? That’s not possible.”
“It clearly is if it’s not where it’s supposed to be. Who’s been in your house other than me and these three?”
“My sisters. And the demon. But he left with you and he didn’t have my jar with him.”
I drank the water Broo had given me and it was immediately refilled. “The magic in that jar isn’t destructive without manipulation. It can only be used to twist what it’s made to do.”
“And where is your familiar?”
I glanced around, suddenly wondering the same thing. Where was Larry the Cat? Wasn’t he supposed to be around to protect me and look out for me? Why wasn’t he here?
“He left,” Amir said from the other end of the island.
“Where was he going?”
“I don’t know. I heard the front door open earlier and went to check. He was walking out and around the edge of the fence.”
“Sneaky bastard.”
“You don’t think he had anything to do with all this, do you?”
“Larry?” I waved the question and her suspicious tone away. “He’s a pain in the patootie, but no.”
“Are you sure?”
I opened my mouth to deny it once again, but stopped and closed my lips around my tongue. Larry wouldn’t do something like that, would he? “We had a tiff earlier, but we have tiffs all the time.” He wouldn’t betray me. He just wouldn’t.
“Maybe he’s not Larry.”
“Really?” I looked at Amir with skepticism clear on my face. “And who else would he be if not Larry?”
“An imposter.”
“No. There’s no way that could’ve happened.”
“It could have when you started working at the bakery again. You were out, away. He could’ve gone out too or let someone in.”
“He’s a cat.”
“With magical powers.”
“Still, though...” I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I’d raised him from a kitten. He was discarded. The runt of a litter. I saved his life. He wouldn’t betray me.
“Someone needs to find him.”
I couldn’t feel him. I could always feel him when he was near. In the house or in the yard proper. “I’ll go outside and call for him. Maybe there were just too many people here for his delicate sensibilities.” He’d hiss at me if he’d heard me say that, to which I’d normally laugh.
Amir helped me stand and made sure I was steady on my feet before letting me walk outside the kitchen door and down the steps.
A light breeze blew through the trees. It was definitely Autumn. The leaves were almost at the height of color, bursting with golds and reds and oranges. It was my favorite time of year. Winter was fun, too. I really didn’t care for Summer. Spring wasn’t too bad. But Autumn? The crispness in the air. The scent of cinnamon and pumpkins... And the busiest season for Witchin’ Spice Bakery.
I walked the perimeter of the house and saw no sign of my cat. “Larry,” I called. “Larry.”
I snapped my fingers, even though I knew he hated when I did that, summoning him like a common house cat, to which, he’d inform me, he was no such thing.
“Larry,” I said through gritted teeth.
I stood at the front gate which was open just wide enough for a cat to fit through. I pulled it all the way open and walked through, calling for him over and over. Up and down the quiet, tree lined street, there was no movement, no activity, no irritating black cat taking his time coming home.
“What if someone took him,” I said when I got back to the kitchen.
“He left on his own and I didn’t see anyone on the other side of it.”
“Maybe a spell of invisibility?”
“I don’t know. I’m really worried now. This isn’t like Larry to leave and not come when called, no matter how it might irk him.”
“Maybe your sister can scry for him.”
“Maybe.”
In my head, I tapped into that bond my sisters and I shared. They would both come, but only one could scry.
“She has sisters?” Broo asked.
“Two. The three of them... Triplets.”
“I had no idea.”
“Kandy, Kyla, and Kaydence.”
“You’re kidding?”
Amir shook his head. “I’m not.”
A plume of sugar later and my sisters stood in the hallway behind me. “Kandy... Oh you poor thing.” Their arms were around me, squeezing me in their sweetness.
I chanced a look in Broo’s direction to find her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. I can’t deny that we made a striking trio. All of us had long blonde hair, but Kyla had brilliant blue eyes, and Kaydence had deep brown eyes.
They released me and offered up smiles to Amir, Broo, and Baba Yaga. “Hi,” they said in unison.
“Hi,” Broo said. She was still gazing at us with a bit of shock in her gaze.
“Now that your sisters are here and involved, I’ll leave you to it,” Baba Yaga said.
“You’re leaving?”
“I don’t have to be here for this,” she told Broo. “I’ll step in again if need be, but I’m not needed now.”
“But what about the scry?”
“That’ll work.”
“So, I need to try to find Larry?” Kaydence asked when the purple smoke from B.Y.’s exit cleared.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She walked out of the room, her heels clicking on the hardwood floors.
“Where’s she going?”
“She requires silence. She’ll wall herself into the front room and get to work.”
“Wall herself in?”
“Yes. It’s like a soundproofing thing she does. It smells like, well, cookies.” Broo looked at me with one brow lifted in doubt. “Go smell. You’ll see.”
A few minutes later, she returned to the kitchen. “Oh my Goddess.... You’ve got a strange family.”
I smiled. “If you’re used to us, we’re not strange, but I know you came from the human world where it’s different.”
“True. Everything is still so new to me.”
“So, I have an idea,” I said. I had to put Larry out of my mind. Kaydence would find his trail and then we’d be able to go get him, but until then... “What about a pop-up bakery?”
“A what?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Broo exclaimed. “I love that. They have pop-ups all the time in New York.”
“What, pray tell, is a pop-up?”
“It’s a portable store or shop. It’s there for a limited time and then gone.”
“It sounds like fun,” Kyla added. “I wonder if I could have one.”
“I don’t see why not. You can sell anything from a pop up.”
“We’d have to have one big enough for all the cheesecakes, but I don’t see why we can’t do it until we figure out a bakery layout.”
“Oh, that sounds like so much fun. You could even have a few tables and chairs around and offer pie by the slice.”
Broo moaned. “By the slice...”
“You like that idea?”
“Don’t mind her,” Amir said with a roll of his eyes. “She’s dreaming of pizza again.”
“I’ve never had pizza.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“And apparently I’m supposed to learn how to make it.”
“Yes. I’ll find you some recipes online and we’ll be able to share it with everyone in town.”
“Great.”
I wanted to join in the conversation. I wanted to have something to contribute, but I couldn’t concentrate. I paced from one end of the kitchen to the other, my heels clicking on the wooden floor, my skirt swishing around my legs.
I was nervous about what Kaydence may find from her scrying and I had no doubt she’d find something. Hopefully, Larry the Cat, but maybe something more. Like maybe my jar. How he’d have gotte
n it out of the house, I didn’t know.
Still, I had a hard time wrapping my head around Larry betraying me. We weren’t always the best of friends. We didn’t always get along. But to betray me?
“What if Larry isn’t Larry like Amir said earlier?” Three heads swiveled toward me.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... I suppose possible, isn’t it? Someone could’ve spelled him or assumed his identity and the real Larry is locked away somewhere scared and alone.” My chin wobbled at the thought. What if none of this was his doing? What if the Larry living with me wasn’t my Larry at all?
“I suppose it’s possible,” Amir said. “Danica only drained others’ powers, but if she could’ve stolen someone’s magical identity, I’m sure she would have. Who would steal Larry’s identity and take his place?”
“I don’t know. I...”
“I found him,” Kaydence said, appearing out of thin air in another plume of sugar. “Or at least I think it’s him.”
“You think?”
“I found his collar in the front room and used it to scry for him. I...”
“That can’t be. He never takes it off.”
“He was wearing his collar when he left,” Amir offered.
“This one?” Kaydence held up the black leather strap with the skull charm dangling from the center.
“Yes.” I took a step toward her and took the collar. “Only this isn’t Larry’s.” I smiled but on the heels of it, my heart stuttered in my chest. “Larry’s skull has emerald eyes. These are green but they’re not the right shade of green. I never even realized it. Where did you find him?”
“Leon’s.”
“Leon’s in on it?”
“That I don’t know, but that’s where I sensed Larry. Or who was pretending to be Larry.”
“Okay. Let’s go. Let’s go get him.”
“We can’t just barge in. We need a plan,” Kyla said.
“You don’t have to come. I don’t want anything to happen to you or Kaydence.”
“We’re not sitting this one out. We missed the show down in the bakery, but we’re not missing this.”
“I don’t even know what this is.”
“Then we’ll all find out together.”