Potion Problem: A Halloween Helper's Cozy Mystery

by Linnea West

  She turned to face Diggy and Thistle again, pushing that information to the back of her mind for now. Vinnie needed to focus her attention back to the murder case again. She felt like she was starting over from scratch, but until they figured out who murdered Plant, they couldn’t do much else.

  Vinnie had a feeling that it would be a gigantic mistake to make a witch the leader of a coven just to find out she had murdered the old leader. So Vinnie would need to get her ducks in a row before she did something she might regret.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I have an idea, but you both will have to let me know if it is one of those things that doesn’t actually make sense if you know how to do magic,” Vinnie said.

  She had no idea if her plan would work or if it would even provide them with any clues, but Diggy and Thistle were both staring at her expectantly now, so she plowed ahead, trying not to stumble over her words as she nervously twisted the end of her blonde ponytail.

  “Each coven and family only gets one spell book, right?” she said. The two witches nodded. “Are they all the same? If we found Lavender’s family spell book, would it contain the same information?”

  Thistle bit her lip while she thought and for a moment, Vinnie figured she had come up with a stupid idea, but it had been worth a shot. Then the young witch nodded, a smile spreading across her face and her eyes lighting up.

  “All spell books should be fundamentally the same,” Thistle said. “Obviously they would have different notes added throughout the decades and they may have additional pages added by the group, but the basic spells should be the same. Hopefully that means that the potion that was made would be a part of Lavender’s spell book also.”

  “What exactly are you hoping to find?” Diggy asked. She was nervously pushing the sleeves of her sweater up but every time they would get to her elbows, they would fall back down her thin arms.

  “I am hoping that maybe the potion is super complicated or needs super special ingredients,” Vinnie said. “If it was different in some way, that may be a clue as to who made the potion.”

  Diggy’s face lit up as she nodded excitedly. Thistle also looked excited, but as the potion keeper of the coven, Vinnie had to admit that there was still a sliver of doubt when it came to her innocence. Maybe she really had been the one to kill Plant, but was just about to cover it up really well. Vinnie was sure it helped whoever actually had killed Plant that the Halloween Helpers were turning out to be a bit like bumbling buffoons.

  But Vinnie had made the decision to trust Thistle. She needed someone fully magical and in the coven to help her and Thistle was the only one who seemed willing. But for now, they would have to leave her behind to find Lavender’s spell book.

  With a promise to return soon with the spell book, the aunt and niece duo left Thistle in her jail while they once again took the travel orb back to their home. Diggy landed with a soft thud but Vinnie landed with a loud crash. Magic just did not like her and this time it spit her out sideways with no hope of a soft landing.

  Standing up from the wooden floor, Vinnie rubbed her hip. She was at the age now that these falls meant large bruises and not being able to sleep well. She was starting to understand the complaints of old people because she was becoming one even if she aged much, much slower than mortals.

  Diggy was already making her way down the stairs to the basement by the time Vinnie managed to stand back up. Just this once, she could forgive her niece for not helping her up. They were working on something much more important, after all.

  Once again, the two women made their way to the potion corner of the basement. The spell book was sitting on the little table. For just a moment, they stared at it before looking at each other.

  “I feel like this could hold the key to the murder,” Diggy said breathlessly, getting that gleam in her eye that she got when she was writing a book in her head.

  “Or it could get us nowhere,” Vinnie pointed out. “I prefer to think that it will hold no useful information and then hopefully I’ll be surprised.”

  “You’ve always been a bit of a fun sucker,” Diggy said before cracking into a joking smile.

  Vinnie rolled her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the book. Tucking it carefully into a sack that Lavender had hanging from a nail on the wall, they climbed back up the stairs to the entryway where the travel orb was waiting for them.

  Putting her hand on the orb, Vinnie took a breath to calm herself. She didn’t really understand the people who did things for an adrenaline rush because every time she had to travel this way, she was terrified. Any sort of adrenaline rush happiness must have been masked by the subsequent crash and the bruises that resulted from it.

  Rushing the book into Thistle’s room, Vinnie had a hard time getting it out of the bag. She was so excited and she felt like maybe, hopefully this would hold the key. Finally, Diggy reached over and helped her extract the book from the bag and Vinnie almost fell onto Thistle’s lap as she plopped next to her on the bed.

  Opening the book, she was disheartened right away to see there was no table of contents in the front. Vinnie tried the back, but there was no index either. Darn all of these free-spirited witches and their lack of organization. It did not come in handy in a time like this.

  Vinnie started at the front of the book and started to flip the pages one by one, reading the titles on each page and trying to determine if it was what she was looking for. It felt like trying to sound out another language. The spells were all titled with things like “Fair Maiden’s Kiss” and “Flowers for Your Enemy.” None of the titles made any sense to her and finally, she got too frustrated to keep going.

  “Here,” Vinnie said. “Do you know where to look for it?”

  She unceremoniously dumped the book into Thistle’s lap. Thistle and Diggy both winced, Thistle because of the weight of the gigantic book and Diggy because technically the book was an ancient family heirloom that Vinnie was tossing around like a very heavy baseball.

  “I think I can figure it out,” Thistle said. “Just give me a minute to figure out how it is organized. Do you know how the recipes are laid out?”

  “No, Mom just always has it open to the one we are working on,” Diggy said. “But if you can figure it out, please let me know.”

  Vinnie jumped up from the bed and guided Diggy over to the spot where she had been sitting. Her nervous energy was making her pace the small room, back and forth from the bed to the door, crossing in front of the fireplace. Her mind was muddled. There were strands of thought about the murder, picking the coven leader, finding Lavender. But every time she would let her mind wander down one, it was like they were all intertwined and she couldn’t hold onto it long enough to do anything.

  Then she spotted something on the floor, underneath where she had thrown the bag once they had ripped it off of the book. She walked over and picked up the bag first, putting it up on the table. A small rectangle lay on the floor. Picking it up and turning it over, it was an older picture of a large group of people. They were all lined up for a formal picture and judging by the trees in the background, they were outside.

  Vinnie searched the picture, spotting her sister Lavender’s face immediately in the crowd. But she didn’t see herself next to her sister. This must be something to do with magic if only her sister was there. Glancing at the back again confirmed that. It read “Ravenwood Camp for Ancestrally Magical Children.”

  Ah yes, the summer camp that Lavender hated and Vinnie had not been allowed to attend. It had been a sore spot for both of them as before camp, they had spent all of their time together, always. Even when Lavender was studying magic, Vinnie had usually not been too far away reading or studying a book on knitting.

  But the summer that they had been twelve, their parents insisted that Lavender attend Ravenwood. They said it was a tradition in the family and that they understood why we were both upset, but that it was expected that Lavender mingle with the other children of ancestral families. That is
how relationships and bonds between the families were made and strengthened. Deep down, Vinnie thought they were hoping Lavender would find someone that would eventually become her spouse. Instead, Lavender had attended for five summers and came home each time sulking more than the summer before. Finally when she was sixteen, they had agreed with her that it would be the last summer.

  Whenever Vinnie had asked her about Ravenwood, Lavender would say that it was mostly boring. Magic came naturally to her, but she was still forced to attend the classes that were beneath her skill set. While the other students would struggle to just use a travel orb, Lavender could make her own and zap herself anywhere in the Mortal Universe. While the other students struggled to use their magic to levitate a chair, Lavender could use her magic to rearrange all of the furniture in the room.

  Ravenwood was supposed to help teach a witch magical skills along with forming relationships, but Lavender’s natural abilities meant she appeared to be a showoff. It definitely did not help her to win friends. Instead, she would spend the month away at camp sequestering herself in her room and practicing magical skills that she actually wanted to practice.

  Vinnie flipped the picture back over and studied it again. Lavender was in the back row, her face plastered with an unhappy frown. Vinnie looked up and down the rows of magical children, figuring there was no way she would recognize anyone else. As the non-magical witch twin, Vinnie had been kept well away from these types of friends. For a long time, Vinnie had thought her parents had been ashamed of her lack of abilities, but looking back now, she knew that they were simply trying to protect her from the cruel nature of the world.

  There was something else about this picture that was familiar, but Vinnie couldn’t quite tell what it was. It didn’t help that this had been taken decades ago and everyone in this picture was now well past their awkward stage. Vinnie glanced one more time at the dozens of children who had taken such a strong dislike to Lavender and decided to put it away for now. She would show it to Diggy later. Maybe her niece would be able to see something that she couldn’t.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Ah ha!” Diggy squealed. She jabbed at a page in the book with her pointer finger. “This is it! We found it!”

  Vinnie folded the picture up and shoved it deep in the pocket of her skirt. She would have to take it out and look at it again soon. She didn’t want to distress Diggy right now with pictures and memories of her mother. Plus they needed to focus on the murder investigation so that they could finally, actually solve it.

  “Take a look,” Thistle said, shifting the book towards Vinnie.

  Vinnie picked it up and started to read. It was called Stone Cold and was something she definitely would have flipped right past. She scanned the recipe, but besides knowing what some of the ingredients were, she had no idea if it was difficult to make.

  “Tell me about it,” Vinnie said, giving the book back to Thistle. “What does this tell you? Is it hard to make?”

  Thistle scanned the recipe again before she looked up at Vinnie. Diggy was so excited, she was sitting on her hands, practically bouncing up and down on the bed.

  “Unfortunately, it looks like a pretty easy potion,” Thistle said. “I don’t think it needs any sort of special skill or anything and all of the ingredients would be easily found in the potion room.”

  Vinnie’s heart sunk a little and Diggy stopped bouncing, her beret slipping down over one of her eyes. That was not what she had wanted to hear because once again, it was almost like they were back at square one.

  “There is one interesting thing, however,” Thistle said. “Let me read this to myself a few times to make sure I understand.”

  Thistle scanned the page, her lips moving and her head nodding slightly as she read through the instructions. Vinnie started to pace again, not able to contain her nervous energy. It seemed like it took forever for Thistle to read it before she looked up again.

  “So, this recipe isn’t actually supposed to turn someone to stone,” Thistle said.

  “Then that can’t be the right recipe,” Vinnie said. “Obviously we are looking for one that turns people to stone.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Thistle said. “As it’s written, the potion is supposed to turn a person’s heart to stone. That would make the person feel disconnected and sad. If I’m reading it correctly, it would only turn someone fully to stone if it is brewed improperly, probably for way longer than it calls for.”

  “How long would they have had to brew it for it to turn someone fully to stone?” Vinnie asked.

  Thistle scanned the page again. Vinnie found herself twisting her ponytail out of pure nerves again. She was going to end up breaking all her hair off if she kept that up, so she dropped it and started pacing again.

  “It doesn’t actually say,” she said. “But if I had to make an educated guess, I would guess two hours or more. The potion as written needed only to brew for thirty minutes.”

  “Are you thinking this is an accident or that someone intentionally brewed the potion that way?” Vinnie asked.

  “Now I’m not sure, but I think it was an accident,” Thistle said. “To understand that, you really have to read between the lines and I’m the only one who uses this potion book enough to get that, I think.”

  The murder may have been an accident. Vinnie’s pacing back and forth got faster and faster as she thought. She thought through what Thistle had told her again until her thoughts were interrupted by Diggy.

  “Think out loud please,” she said. “I’d like to know what you’re coming up with.”

  “This wasn’t a murder, but an accident,” Vinnie said. “Whoever did it was hoping to turn Plant’s heart to stone, not her whole body.”

  “Wasn’t it already stone?” Diggy asked, putting on that sarcastic tone that Vinnie hated. “Everyone talks about how awful she is…or was I guess.”

  “It wasn’t already stone because she did love something: power and control,” Vinnie said. “She loved it so much that she wouldn’t name a successor or reveal the true rankings of the coven. I think maybe whoever did this hoped to turn her heart to stone and make her not care so much about the power anymore. Then that person could slip in and convince her to name a successor.”

  Thistle’s jaw dropped open as she considered that possibility. Even Diggy looked confused, but nodded like all of the pieces were being put together in her mind. It seemed a bit tenuous, but Vinnie was sure that was what happened.

  “Are there times where you are always gone from the coven?” Vinnie asked Thistle. “Times that everyone would know you are unavailable?”

  “Not really,” Thistle said. “I’m a freelance marketer, so I work whenever I want.”

  Diggy’s face screwed up in confusion and Vinnie understood. As an ancestral witch, it was odd to hear another witch say they had some incredibly mortal job. Ancestral witches had one job: being a witch. Coven witches had to also survive in the mortal world.

  “But the day of the murder, you were not in the potion room, right?” Vinnie asked. “Everyone would have known that you were a server that day and that you would be too busy setting up to be in the potion room.”

  A look of shock registered on Thistle’s face. Whoever had made that potion had made it the day of the murder because in order have to brew for at least two hours, Thistle would’ve had to be occupied during that entire time. She would have noticed if one day she went into the potion making room and a potion she hadn’t made was bubbling over the fire.

  But once again, it was a clue that didn’t really point to anyone. Everyone knew Thistle was going to be a server. They needed to find a different, better clue. They needed something more specific. They needed to investigate the body again.

  Leaving Lavender’s spell book in the safe hands of Thistle, Diggy a bit more reluctantly than Vinnie, the two witches made their way back to the dining room where Plant’s body was still hanging suspended in mid-air. Before they could go in, they were stoppe
d by a small group of witches who seemed ready to pounce.

  “When are you going to be done with the investigation?” Willow asked.

  “Yeah, we would like our dining room back at some point,” another witch said.

  “You need to name a new leader soon,” Ivy said.

  Vinnie put her hands up in front of her, hoping to keep the crowd back. A crowd of upset witches was not what her non-magical self needed. Not now, not ever.

  “I will be naming a new leader as soon as I am able to solve Plant’s murder,” she said.

  “But you’re already holding Thistle,” Ivy said. “She did it, right?”

  Vinnie wasn’t sure if she should admit that she was having doubts or not. This was her first case as a Halloween Helper, but she certainly didn’t want every case to go like this.

  “I just want to be absolutely certain that Thistle is the one who did it before she is banished to Paranormal Prison in the Magical Universe,” Vinnie said. “I think that’s only fair.”

  Most of the witches nodded and shrugged, murmuring in agreement. Only Ivy continued to look grumpy about the situation.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I have a bit more investigating to do in the dining room,” Vinnie said.

  The witches slowly cleared away and Vinnie was able to slip into the dining room. But as she walked into the dining room, a piece of paper materialized in front of her, hitting her directly in the face. Grabbing it out of the air, Vinnie read it.

  While I’m pleased you figured out my little rhyming puzzle, the point of the exercise was for you to provide the base potion, showing that you actually know how to make it. Try again. Norhand.

  Darn, the answer hadn’t been enough. Diggy would have to brew a batch of base potion so that they could prove their abilities to Norhand. Taking one last look at Plant’s body, Vinnie hustled back to Thistle’s room and shoved the paper at Diggy.

  “But this has to brew on the day of the full moon,” Diggy squealed once she had read it. “That’s today! I have to brew the entire thing today or else we won’t have another chance before Halloween.”