Cornbread & Crossroads

by Bella Falls

  “No reason,” I lied, refocusing the conversation back on him. “Although if you want to make Lily happy, you really should consider moving up your plans for your future together.”

  He scoffed. “Did Lil put you up to this? Ever since Alison Kate and Lee’s wedding, I’ve definitely felt a bit of pressure.”

  Shifting my weight on my feet, I challenged him. “What are you waiting for?”

  Ben leaned against a nearby filing cabinet. “I don’t know. I guess to feel like my roots run deep into the ground here. To make sure everybody stops second-guessing my return. And for me to be more established and stable in the practice.”

  “That’s a long list of requirements. Are you sure you need all that to happen just to pop the question?” I asked.

  “I’m sure that you’re stalling in the task at hand,” the advocate countered. “Let’s figure out whether or not Jed was right about some of the town papers being taken.”

  Since our mission far outweighed whether or not Ben would ask my friend to marry him anytime soon, I let him off the hook, rubbing my hands together. “Right. Let’s see what I can find.”

  My powers usually worked better if I was holding onto someone or something belonging to a person who wanted the item. However, no one wanted to make sure my aunt didn’t succeed in another bid for full power over Honeysuckle more than me.

  Using my own desires to focus my search, I called on my magic. “The contract of our town we seek to stop a future much too bleak. Find the words writ when founded and the powers of protection grounded.”

  As soon as the familiar energy surged through me, I knew the papers weren’t in the office. No golden thread. No pull of connection. Shuffling through all of the town papers, I hoped to feel something, but nothing came.

  Letting go of my magic, I stepped back with my hands on my hips. “They’re not here.”

  “Should we check Jed’s old desk?” Ben asked. “Or could the papers be hidden in another cabinet?”

  I shook my head. “My spell found absolutely no link in this entire space.”

  Ben opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. After I pushed him to spit it out, he said, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure your magic is working right?”

  I couldn’t deny my friend’s point since he had supported me when I lost my powers after Rita Ryder. However, much like Mason’s memories, my magic had returned to full strength and yet things were also different. Stronger than before. For many reasons, I kept that change to myself, only sharing it with Nana and the detective for the time being.

  “I’m positive.” Sighing, I resigned myself to where we had to go next. “We should head over to my house. Hopefully, I didn’t throw something so valuable away.”

  Ben followed me out, locking the door to his office behind him. He pointed in the direction of where he’d parked his car, and we strode with purpose. Passing by other businesses, we commented on the people populating Sweet Tooths and the cafe, no doubt congregated together to speculate about the meeting and what went down.

  When we crossed in front of Lucky’s Bar, I ran smack dab into a tall, solid figure exiting The End. “Oops, sorry.”

  Dash’s fingers grabbed onto my arm, keeping me upright. “No problem, Trouble. Where are you two scurrying off to?” He greeted Ben with a quick hello.

  “Were you at the town hall meeting?” I asked, trying to remember if I’d seen him there.

  The shifter scratched his chin. “Figured since I don’t live here all the time that I didn’t need to go. Although there’s been a buzz in the bar ever since Lucky got back. He’s been banging around in there, complaining about people minding their own business.”

  I shuddered at the sound of shattered glass. “Is he in there throwing things?”

  “No, it’s probably one of them pixies he’s making work off their debt. Except those three are probably racking up a bigger tab with all the things they drop,” Dash explained. “But I don’t think that’s the only thing that’s got Lucky upset, is it?”

  “He stood up to my aunt tonight,” I bragged, giving the shifter the highlights of the meeting.

  Dash snorted. “Guess it makes sense now why only the ‘permanent’ residents were requested. That aunt of yours, she’s…special.”

  “I’ve got other words to describe her that aren’t as generous,” I grumbled. Another crash from inside the bar raised my suspicions. “Those pixies…you wouldn’t happen to have caught their names by chance?”

  The shifter thought about it. “I’m not sure of all of them, but Lucky yelled at one of them just before I walked out. Name of…Mud?”

  “Mug?” I clarified, smacking my forehead. “Give me one second,” I said to Ben.

  I dragged myself inside to find my three pixie roommates currently zipping around the edges of the ceiling over the bar. One of them tossed a bottle of beer to another, giggling as the three of them played Keep Away from the owner.

  “Hey, you three!” I shouted, not caring that I’d interrupted everyone’s conversations. “Mug, put down that beer. You, Bug, and Nug! Come over here, please.”

  Lucky wobbled underneath the misbehaving pixie, barely catching the dropped bottle before it would have exploded into shards of glass and sticky liquid. The three diminutive beings beat their wings and zinged over to hover in front of me.

  My heart beat fast, but I maintained a stern face with them. “Listen, now more than ever, it’s important that you stop playing around and start taking things more seriously.”

  Bug placed her hands on her hips and wiggled her head back and forth, countering my statement in her rapid high-pitched voice. I didn’t have to understand her every word to recognize her attitude with me.

  “Now, now, there’ll be none of that sassin’ to the kind lady who’s providing a roof over your heads,” Lucky chastised. “You show her some respect.”

  Nug pushed Bug and got in her face, yelling at an even faster speed. When he finished, he dipped in the air in some form of bow to me.

  “Uh, so, as I was saying. It’s really, really important that you try your best not to cause trouble,” I implored.

  Dash snorted, having come in to watch. “Hello, Pot. Meet Kettle.”

  I pointed a finger at him. “You shut it.”

  Mug put his thumb in his ears, wiggled his hands and fingers, and stuck his tongue out at the shifter.

  The wolf’s eyes glowed bright yellow, and he bellowed, “Boo!”

  All three pixies screeched and darted to hide behind me. I groaned and glared at Dash. “Not helpful.”

  Adjusting my body so I faced the three shaking pixies, I spoke in a gentler tone. “Listen, don’t pay attention to the scary wolf. I promise he won’t do anything to you.”

  “They’re hardly more than an appetizer for me,” Dash threatened, grinning wide and showing off a little fang.

  Frustrated with him, I left the pixies and confronted the shifter. “You are being completely unreasonable,” I said, poking my finger into his chest.

  “That’s good,” Dash whispered. “Threaten me loud enough for them to hear you.”

  “What?” I asked in confusion.

  He nodded at the pixies. “This is how you get them to listen to you. Earn their loyalty by keeping them safe from me,” he finished in his whisper. Standing taller so he towered over my shorter frame, the shifter took a step forward as if to intimidate me and bellowed, “Like I said, there’s nothing a little witch like you could do to stop me from eating them all like a snack.”

  The licking of his lips was overkill, and I rolled my eyes with extra drama just for him before I spoke loud and clear, “If you try to harm any of these three who are my guests, then I will bless your heart and hex your hiney so bad that you’ll get worn slap out from not being able to sit down for a year.”

  Dash smirked as he judged my threat, but he played his part in the pantomime. “Like you could hurt me.” He raised one eyebrow in challenge.r />
  Calling on my magic, I let a little power flow and crackle over my fingertips. “Wanna try me, wolf boy?”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I won’t bother you or them.”

  The second he turned to walk out the door, I spellcast a stinging hex, hitting him square on his butt. Dash yelped and jumped, and I fought hard to hold in my giggles.

  Mug, Nug, and Bug buzzed around my head until I called them to order. “Please do your best to keep your shenanigans down to a minimum,” I begged.

  Mug threw back his minuscule shoulders and saluted me. He elbowed Nug who followed suit. With a tiny “Hmph,” Bug did the same.

  Knowing a little about fae courtesy, I performed an awkward salutation that came across as half a bow and a poor curtsy. “Thank you.”

  The three pixies returned to their duties with a better attitude and less glass breaking. Lucky caught me at the door before I left.

  “Normally, I wouldn’t encourage trying to keep any of them in line with a wee lie. But if it keeps those roguish buggers from destroying all my things, then I owe you a debt of gratitude,” the leprechaun gushed.

  I assured him I really did want to protect my guests and keep them out of trouble. “Oh, and thank you for helping to keep Aunt Nora in line.”

  The leprechaun’s smile disappeared. “That woman is a foul wind ready to blow destruction through here.” He shivered once, then clasped my hands in his. “You make sure you take good care of your grandmother. We need her back as soon as possible.”

  Dash scowled at me when I made it outside. “You didn’t have to actually hex me, did you?”

  “Hey, it was your idea to put on the show. Thanks for the help.” As I collected Ben to go to my house, a terrible idea struck me. “Any chance you want to put your conniving ways to good use one more time today?”

  Dash rubbed his behind like it still hurt, but his smile gave away his enthusiasm. “Depends. Will the results of said mission result in causing some trouble?”

  “Oh, yeah. Especially for a very special someone.” I wiggled my eyebrows in play. “Are you in or are you out, Channing?”

  “We’re calling each other by our last names now, huh?” Rolling his neck from side to side, he cracked his bones and leveled me with an amused gaze. “Okay, Goodwin. I’m in.”

  Dash rode his motorcycle behind Ben’s car to my house. We didn’t need any conjured light orbs to make our way to the porch since every single light blazed into the night sky. I wondered what method I’d need to use to teach the pixies to keep my electricity bill from rocketing out of control.

  “I’m still unclear as to what it is you’re looking for,” the shifter commented as we walked onto my front porch.

  “Honestly, so are we,” Ben replied. He gave the breakdown of Lady Eveline’s claims that Tipper had stolen and then hidden the important town documents. “Allegedly,” he added at the end.

  “Nice clarification, advocate,” I teased. Taking in the enormity of the property, I ignored the doubt permeating my hope.

  As if sensing my needs, Peaches bounded up the stairs with a little purry chirp and weaved herself in and around my ankles. I crouched down and scratched her little head.

  Dash leaned against the post at the top of the stairs. “Why don’t you just do your thing to find whatever it is?” He glared at my kitty when she leaped onto the nearby railing and demanded attention from him. Giving in, he stroked her fur with his fingers.

  “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to stop stalling. Don’t forget that once we’ve found the covenant, I still have to interpret it to the best of my abilities,” Ben explained. “I’d like to sleep at some point tonight.”

  “You know, this could be completely pointless. Tipper wasn’t exactly the most reliable source, especially as he got older.” Memories of my great-uncle flooded my head, and I waded through them with fondness and regret. “He could have been exaggerating with Lady Eveline.”

  Ben thought about my assertion but disagreed. “Sure, Tip was full of malarkey at the best of times. But he was pretty wily from what I remember, especially when it came to town politics and his rivalry with Hollis.”

  I scoffed. “He would have absolutely hated what Aunt Nora’s tried to do too many times. Maybe it’s time for Honeysuckle to consider letting all the council positions be elected ones.”

  “Don’t be scared that you might have to step up one day,” Dash said. “You’ll make an incredible leader.”

  His confidence in me took me by surprise. “That’s never been one of my life goals.”

  “Sometimes the better leaders are the ones who didn’t want to lead in the first place.” The wolf shifter looked out over the darkened field in front of my house, no doubt thinking about his own position with his pack.

  I shook off my melancholy and clapped my hands together. “Let’s do this.” Opening the front door, I led our small group inside to the foyer. “I truly hope I didn’t manage to trash anything important when I first moved in.”

  “Where do you want to start?” Ben asked.

  “Let me try something.” I closed my eyes and repeated the same spell I’d used at the advocate office. Casting my magic out, I waited for any of the signs that we were in the right place.

  A thin golden thread stretched away from me, wavering in and out of focus. I walked with tentative steps, stopping whenever it disappeared. The heavy steps of my two companions followed behind me, and I attempted to grab onto the thread and tether it to me.

  At the bottom of the steps, the thread divided into two. “That’s never happened before,” I muttered under my breath.

  Choosing the stronger of the two flickering connections, I crept up the stairs. The low pulse of the thread still pulled at me, and I blocked everything else out to grab ahold of it. By the time the world came back into focus for me, all three of us stood in front of Tipper’s old room.

  “Are you going to stand there or go inside?” Dash whispered.

  “It’s not my room,” I hissed back at him.

  When I’d inherited the house, I didn’t feel comfortable taking over Tipper’s space, so I’d offered it to Beau. And even though he stayed with me rent-free, it didn’t feel right to barge into his personal space.

  Not wanting to lose the effects of my spell, I knocked on the door and waited. When no one answered, I placed my hand on the knob and threw the door open into the one room with no lights on.

  “Beau? You in here?” I checked. With no response, I stepped inside.

  Ben flicked on the light, and I navigated around the piles of clothes my roommate had pulled out before.

  The strength of my spell wavered again, and I hurried to follow the thread before it extinguished like a blown-out candle. Concentrating hard not to lose the link, I closed my eyes and trusted my friends not to let me fall.

  “Um, Charli,” Ben interrupted. “I think something might be a little off.”

  When I opened my eyes, I stood in front of the toilet of my roommate’s bathroom.

  The last of the golden bond winked out of existence. Closing the lid on the toilet, I collapsed on top of it. “Sweet honeysuckle iced tea, I thought for sure my magic wasn’t broken anymore.”

  “Charli?” a deep muffled voice called out.

  I looked at the two men with me in confusion. “Did you say something?”

  “Wasn’t me,” claimed Ben.

  Dash pointed at my pocket. “I think it’s coming from your pants.”

  “Oh!” I pulled out the small compact mirror I’d carried with me and opened it. “Mason,” I gushed in relief.

  The face of the detective tilted. “Where are you?”

  “In Tipper’s bathroom. Well, Beau’s now. Ben and Dash are trying to help me find something my great-uncle might have hidden.” Turning the compact around, I showed him my companions.

  Dash held up two fingers in a slight wave. “Hey. Charli’s doin’ all the heavy lifting here.”

  Ben waved,
and I redirected the mirror at me. “Except it didn’t work. I’m currently sitting on top of the toilet with nothing to show for my efforts.”

  “In my experience, the bathroom is a great place to hide things,” Mason said. “Check all the cabinets and underneath things. There was one guy who even sewed drugs into the seams of the shower curtain.”

  Dash and Ben crammed themselves into the small space, following the detective’s advice but turning up nothing. The wolf shifter knocked over a bottle of cologne in his search, and the stench of bay rum filled the room.

  “Well, that’s it for my ability to sniff something out.” He waved his hand in front of his face and left to get some air.

  I stared at Mason’s face to find some solace in my failure. “Before we pass out from the scent of bay rum, let’s go downstairs and let me try again.”

  Standing, my fingers pressed on the lever and flushed the toilet out of pure habit. As the sound of the water drained out, Mason spoke up. “Have you checked the inside of the tank? That’s a classic hiding space.”

  Removing the few knickknacks off the back of the toilet and setting them aside, I lifted the porcelain lid and peered inside.

  “I don’t believe it.” Reaching a hand inside, I gripped the clear plastic wrapped around something and freed it from the tape attaching it to the upper portion of the tank. I held it up for Ben and Dash to see, then showed it to Mason through the tiny mirror.

  “You’re lucky there wasn’t some sort of wonky spell trap on it,” the detective admonished.

  I shook my head, rotating the contents in my hand. “I don’t think he would have cursed this. It has my name written on it.”

  “That’s way too small to be anything official,” Ben commented, leaning over me to get a closer look.

  Placing the compact on the edge of the sink and adjusting the mirror so Mason could still see, I unwrapped the plastic and held tightly to the item Tipper had meant for me, my heart racing.

  A string was carefully tied around a roll of parchment. With nervous fingers, I fumbled until I loosened the twine and unwound the paper. A small key clattered to the floor, but I focused on the words scrawled in Tipper’s handwriting: