Her voice held no room for discussion, “Mr. Primrose, kindly step away from my store, or you will meet your demise.”
The crowd gasped as they saw the fury conveyed deep within her eyes.
It wasn’t so much the anger she had deep within her that caught me off guard, which was probably acceptable to me since the protest was not substantiated, but it was her entire appearance.
Ophelia was not dressed in the jeans and shirt she had on earlier. The black button-up blouse was neatly tucked into a long black skirt, the hem hitting right at her ankles and black boots. But the hat; the hat was a dead giveaway. It had a wide brim with a pointy cone on top.
“Witch?” I whispered, hoping no one would hear me, bringing my hand up to my mouth.
Ophelia Biblio’s lips turned up in a grin; her eyes lowered and her lashes cast a shadow on her fiery red cheeks. “Yes, I’m a witch.”
Chapter Seven
A few minutes later, I had wrangled Alexelrod next door and into The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe before Ophelia could turn him into a toad. Faith Mortimer was more than willing to help out for the low price of the scoop.
“As soon as you let me go, I’m going to march right back over there and protest.” Alexelrod jerked away and flung himself in a chair at the café table nearest the window. He didn’t take his eyes off the street. “If I’d have known who she was, I would have never let her move the bookshop into this village!” He banged his fist on the table.
“Calm down.” I signaled Gerald to bring the coffee right away…for me.
Gerald set two different cups on the table, one filled with coffee and the other filled with tea and leaves. Suspiciously, I eyed Gerald, knowing exactly what he was up to with the leaves. He was trying to be sneaky. I ignored his tactics because I liked it.
Gerald’s shop was his cover for his spiritual gift of tealeaf reading. After someone drank a cup of his specialty tea, the leaves left on the bottom and sides of the cup formed pictures, images that told the future of the recipient.
I picked a plastic stir stick out of the container in the middle of the table that was among the sugar and spices, and slowly stirred the coffee in my cup. I didn’t want to have any unused coffee grounds for Gerald to read, not that I thought coffee grounds could be read, but I wasn’t willing to risk the chance.
I had enough problems that needed to be kept to myself and not shared with the entire community.
I scooted the old smooth white Dalton cup toward Alexelrod. A long time ago, Gerald had told me how he used that particular teacup because it was smooth on the inside, without any lips or curves, making it the best choice for readings.
Gerald picked up the plain teapot with the open spout. He said that it created the perfect flow for the leaves to be poured out into the cup.
“Here you go...” Gerald poured the tea in the cup that I had scooted in front of Alexelrod. “a bit of tea to calm your nerves.”
Alexelrod didn’t even look at the cup before he picked it up to take his first sip.
Shoo. Relief settled in my gut as I watched Alexelrod drink the tea without question. Most spiritualists knew when they were getting read by other spiritualists, but Alexelrod’s mind was definitely consumed with Ophelia Biblio and Ever After Books.
“I understand you are very upset about the bookshop opening today.” Alexelrod needed a little empathy and I was just the one to give it to him. I pushed the small cream pitcher toward him. I wanted to make sure Gerald got a good reading, even if I knew it was illegal to read Alexelrod’s leaves. The cream would make the leaves stick to the cup better. “Whatever the issues are, we will discuss them at the council meeting tonight. Isn’t that right Gerald?”
He winked, going along with my plan. “Let me get more tea.” Gerald rushed to the back of the shop and behind the counter. There was a lot of clinking going on back there as he worked diligently to get all the reading material that we needed together for a good reading.
“It might be too late.” Alexelrod picked up the teacup and continued to stare out the window as he took small sips.
“She just moved in.” Gerald walked back. He poured the steaming liquid into the cup when Alexelrod sat it back in the saucer. Several leaves poured out, disappearing to the bottom. Alexelrod haphazardly stirred as Gerald poured. “It’s not going to be too late.”
The three of us sat in silence and watched Alexelrod polish off the tea. Faith sat at a distant table writing away in her reporter’s journal, taking it all in.
This would definitely be front-page news in tomorrow’s paper. By morning, I hoped there would be an explanation for his behavior.
“That was good tea,” Alexelrod said and wiped his lips with the sleeve of his overcoat.
“Old chap, do you mind flipping the cup over in the saucer. I’m the only one working today and trying to keep things cleaned up.” What Gerald had asked Alexelrod to do didn’t make any sense. “If you flip over the cup for me, I can carry it back to the kitchen easier.”
Alexelrod flipped over the cup without question, scooted back his chair, and stood up. Gerald and I eagerly watched him, waiting to hear what he was going to say, but more importantly what his tea leaves revealed. Faith put her pencil down.
None of us said a word. The air was thick with anticipation.
“I’m going to go take a nap.” Alexelrod tapped the top of his cup three times. Gerald smiled, his mustache curling up on the edges, because Alexelrod was making his tealeaf reading more clear by tapping the upside down china. He placed his round-brimmed hat on his head, and facing forward he walked to the door. He held it open for a group of customers coming in before he walked out.
“Sit anywhere,” Gerald said, but didn’t pay any real attention to them.
We planted our faces up against the shop window to watch Alexelrod walk down the street. I had to make sure he wasn’t going to go back to the picket line, but he didn’t. He walked in completely the opposite direction.
Good thing he did. Ophelia must have called Officer Gandolf. He was standing in front of Ever After Books as if he were keeping guard. Something else I was positive I was going to get an ear full about.
“Well?” I turned around and looked at Gerald. What was he waiting for? We had tea leaves to read.
Gerald, Faith, and I nearly knocked each other over as we scattered to the café table to see the cup.
Ahem. Gerald cleared his throat. “Hold on.” Gerald inhaled deeply with his eyes closed. A bit of relief settled in my tummy. There had to be a reasonable explanation for Alexelrod’s behavior and the cup would tell the tale. “I had to make sure he was calm and didn’t go back into the bookstore before I could read his leaves. If he had gone back into protest mode, the tea didn’t have the calming effect, but as you see, it did.”
“And?” Faith nodded toward the cup, suggesting Gerald stop explaining and do a little reading. Her pen was pressed up against her pad of paper ready to write down his reading.
Gerald flipped the cup back over to rest on the saucer. “The only thing he didn’t do was turn the saucer around for us, which is how we call on the spirit of the cup to aid in the reading.” He shook his head. “I really don’t think that will be an issue though.”
The tips of Gerald’s fingers gingerly picked the cup up from the lip. Faith and I didn’t move as Gerald went into explaining what he was doing.
“We will read from the handle down.” He held the cup toward us. It looked like a bunch of mushy tobacco in the bottom and all over the sides. Nothing that I’d consider life-telling. “The handle represents his circle, which could be friends, home, and family.” He ran his finger clockwise along the top of the teacup away from the handle. “These leaves will tell us what has happened in his life and things that are currently going away from him at this point.”
Gerald stopped for a moment, dipping his head down closer to the cup. His eyes clouded over as sheer black fright crept across his face.
“Here,” he pointed
to the opposite side of the handle, “represents people that are not close family or friends, and he may not even know them.”
For a moment, I zeroed in on the cup, taking a good look at the opposite end of the handle. My gut told me there was something that I should be seeing. I squinted trying to find a picture like one of those 3-D puzzles where you have to squint and stare for a period, taking your eyes out of focus until the picture was visible.
Nothing.
“This side of the cup,” Gerald rounded his finger from the bottom lip of the cup to the other side of the handle, “is his future or things coming toward him.” He shivered. His voice was bold, harsh. “I see nothing. Time to go, I have customers to serve.”
“But there has to be something.” I watched him gather the cup and saucer before he stood up. His hands were shaking. I pointed. “You see something and you aren’t telling us.”
Ahem. Gerald cleared his throat again, rushed behind the counter and disappeared into the back.
My cell vibrated in my back pocket, signaling me that I had a text.
Oscar: when r u coming back
Me: soon
Oscar: hurry I do not know what I am doing
“That was a waste of time when I could have interviewed him.” Faith flipped her pad shut and stuffed her things into her messenger bag before she dashed out the door.
I waited a few minutes to see if Gerald was going to resurface, but he didn’t so I left. I didn’t have time to wait around any longer. I slipped out of the teashop and noticed the crowd that was once gathered to watch Alexelrod had dissipated. The bookstore was packed, confirming that Alexelrod had brought even more attention to the shop, and everyone wanted to go in to see what all the fuss was about.
“Hmm…” Briefly, I stopped and looked in. Ophelia was helping a customer in the aisle marked “Travel” and they chatted away. “She can’t be all that bad,” I murmured and hurried on my way.
I had never come across a true witch before and wasn’t sure what to think of it. I had to get back to the shop to make sure Oscar was okay, but more importantly, what Madame Torres had found out about our new spiritualist.
Chapter Eight
“Eloise.” I was surprised to see A Charming Cure filled with customers and Eloise Sandlewood helping Oscar out behind the counter. “What are you doing here?”
I tried not to let on that it was not a good idea for her to be helping Oscar. She was his aunt from his father’s side of the family and the cleansing spiritualist of the community.
Eloise’s emerald eyes were glittering with delight as she spoke, “I came to see you and found this nice young man in your place.” She stood behind Oscar and put each of her hands on his biceps. She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.” Oscar stepped away causing Eloise to drop her hands. “It’s my day off, so I have to get back home and cut the grass.”
“Oh, okay.” I forced a smile, even though sadness filled my soul.
I wanted so badly to tell him about the new shop and how Ophelia was a witch, not to mention Alexelrod’s strange behavior. Oscar would have loved to figure that mystery out…if only he were still a spiritualist.
“Hey,” He touched my forearm. “Are you okay?”
I waved my hand in the air, brushing him off. “Yea, I’m just super busy that’s all.” I nodded toward all the customers that had formed a line to check out.
“Why don’t I bring by some Chinese tonight?”
“Great!” There wasn’t a moment I didn’t want to spend with him, and Chinese was our favorite.
“No.” Eloise scowled. She lifted her brows. “You are busy. Remember?”
“Oh! Yea, right.” I had completely forgotten about the council meeting. It was definitely one I couldn’t reschedule. There was a bit of regret in my heart that I had accepted the role of Village President. “I have…”
There really wasn’t a good excuse that I could think of.
“Girl’s night.” Eloise tugged at the ends of her short red hair, and then pulled her long black cloak around her. Even though she put a smile on her face, I could tell she wanted to hug Oscar and tell him that she was his aunt and he was a spiritualist at heart.
I snapped my fingers. “Yes. I planned a girl’s night. What about tomorrow night?”
“I don’t get off work until seven.”
“Then eight will do.” I smiled.
“I’ll be at your new house at eight with a couple sacks of food.” He walked over to the door and kept his hand on the handle. “I’ll get something for you too, Mr. Prince Charming.” He winked and rushed out.
Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming was good at showing his distaste for all things Oscar.
Eloise and I worked side-by-side until all the waiting customers were taken care of. Thankfully, I didn’t have to make any special potions for any of them.
“I’m glad you are here, but you can’t be talking to Oscar about anything magical.” I warned her as I replenished the shelves.
“He still doesn’t remember anything from the past year. Not even me,” Eloise said with sadness.
I shook my head slowly. “I wish.” I recalled the last time he did remember he was a spiritualist.
We had spent some time together under the stars near my cottage. The fireflies were out playing tag. It was almost like our very own fireworks show. He told me he loved me and sealed it with a kiss. I felt like I had floated to the moon and back on a comfy cloud. I couldn’t wait until the next day to see him, but by then it was too late. He had gone to the Order of Elders without telling me, denouncing his spiritualist heritage in order to help me.
“I came in to ask you about the new bookshop.” Eloise brought me back from my thoughts.
“Not you too.” I turned all the bottles on the antacid homeopathic cures shelf so the labels were facing out. “I don’t think I can take much more of this.”
“What?” She drew back. “I think it’s a great shop. I want to start a book club. How much fun would that be?”
“A book club?” The idea did sound like a lot of fun. Now that I was single, I could probably carve out an extra night in the month to go and hang out with my friends. “I love the idea.”
“Good.” Eloise slipped off the apron and hung it back on the hook on the wall. “I’m going to go and get ready for the meeting. I’m sure you need to prepare. And I’ll let you know about the book club.”
Eloise hugged me exactly the way Darla would have. I was lucky to have Eloise in my life. Not only was she special because she was part of Oscar, but she and Darla had been best friends.
Darla wasn’t a spiritualist and I was too young to know if I had any spiritual gifts, so Darla and I moved to Locust Grove, right next door to Oscar.
“I can’t wait to hear about it.” I squeezed her back, missing Darla with each passing second. “Now,” I pushed away, “I have to get ready for the meeting.”
The clock on the wall let me know it was closing time. I had no idea what I needed to do for the meeting except show up.
Chapter Nine
Closed. I flipped the sign on the door. It started out as a long day with Alexelrod showing up first thing and it was going to be a long night with the meeting. I was sure the hinges on the door at A Charming Cure were going to fall off with all the customers coming in and out. There was no way I was complaining about the business. It was much welcomed, and I was happy that Alexelrod’s little stunt didn’t hurt business.
Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming jumped off one of the tables and circled my ankles in his signature figure-eight style.
“Thanks.” I bent down and cradled him in my arms. Loving on him always calmed my nerves. His intuition was just as spot on as mine. He knew when I was nervous and tried to help me through it. That was one of the many things I loved about Mr. Prince Charming being my fairy god-cat.
“I’d be nervous too.” Madame Torres, my snarky crystal ball, glowed from the counte
r. Her flaming, curly red hair tumbled all over, framing her bright red lips and painted blue eyes. “It isn’t every day you get to hold your first village council meeting as the new president. I can’t wait to see Patience Karima’s face when you put her in the slammer!”
“Now stop it,” I said as I opened the Magical Cures Book. I was nervous. It was my first meeting and Patience’s theft of the ostrich was first on the agenda. Only I wasn’t convinced it was theft.
Recently, there had been an unusual amount of animals showing up in our small village of Whispering Falls. Everyone assumed Petunia Shrubwood would take care of them since she was the owner of Glorybee Pet Store and the local animal spiritualist. She could speak to animals, so we naturally assumed she’d take care of the new animals in town.
When an ostrich was reported missing, I dug around through a little investigating on my own. I found the darn bird in the embalming room right next to Patience as she hummed away while working on a body at Two Sisters and A Funeral Home. It was the one and only funeral home in the village, and Patience and her sister Constance owned and lived there.
The beady-eyed bird was just as odd as Patience herself, making them a good match for each other.
“I guess we will see what the council says.” I fiddled around the tables to make sure everything was restocked and ready for tomorrow morning. There was nothing worse than coming to work and having to rush around to get things ready for customers – which I’ve had to do on a handful of times, because I had been too lazy to do it the night before.
Not tonight. I had to use my time wisely and that meant spending time around the cauldron.
“I have a few more leads on Make-Me-A-Match.” Madame Torres caught my attention.
“Interesting.” I scratched my chin. “Ophelia is pretty and she does seem to be nice like her profile says. I wonder why she needs Make-Me-A-Match.”
Madame Torres glowed hot pink and small red hearts floated in her globe as if someone had picked her up and shook her.
A Charming Spell (Magical Cures Mystery Series) Page 4