by Tonya Kappes
“If you don’t do it now, you might lose her.”
Oscar shrugged. “She’s been acting a little strange lately. All this talk of voodoo and crap. I think I’ve already lost her to that silly little town.”
“Cut your loss and find a new girl.” They guy slapped him on the back with an evil grin. “I’ve got a girl that will show you a good time anytime you want, if you know what I mean.”
Oscar shook his head. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Oh! No! You! Won’t. I glared at the other guy. “I wish you would just disappear,” I whispered.
Right in front of my eyes, the officer was gone.
“Don?” Oscar turned in circles looking for his friend.
Did I just do that? Shock and awe took over my soul. I really had to read the Powers of the Village President manual that Izzy had left for me. But I had been a little busy trying to stay out of jail and being the president to do any reading.
“I wish you would reappear.” Reluctantly, I pictured the officer and just as the last word left my mouth, he stood next to Oscar again.
“Dude, how did you do that?” Oscar asked with a confused look on his face.
“What?” Don’s eyebrows came together in a scowl. “Man, that girl has got you seeing things.”
Oscar rubbed his eyes. “Yea, I guess.” He shook his head like he was trying to shake out his mind what he had just seen. “I’ve gotta get out of here.”
“Give me the word and I’ve got you a date!” The officer yelled after Oscar.
Without turning around, Oscar waved his hand in the air. I gathered a little dirt and glared at the officer before I disappeared back to the shop.
Mewl, mewl. Mr. Prince Charming sat next to the cauldron.
“It’s about time you showed up.” I threw the dirt in the cauldron and dusted my hands off. “Some fairy-god cat you are. I had to go steal my bracelet and solve my own crime. Which by the way, I do believe Adeline is knee deep in.”
I really wanted to believe she was the mastermind behind the crimes, but I couldn’t rule out Petunia and Faith.
“I just wish Raven was able to talk to me.” I knew if I could talk to her about what I saw, she might be able to clear up some of my muddy intuition feelings.
Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming stretched out his paws and yawned before he curled up on the counter.
“Why do I get all the mismatched spiritual tools: A lazy fairy-god cat, a cranky crystal ball, and a big purple blob?” I tapped down the ingredient shelf to start working on my potion for the perimeter of Adeline’s house. Only one problem, the potion called for the mixture to be dripped off the plucked feather of a macaw.
So that meant I had to make a pit stop at Glorybee.
“A dash of laurel, a pinch of mint and a skosh of sage should do the trick.” I flipped on the cauldron once the fixings were in.
The moving, chunky substance was amber in color with blue oddiments. Taking a whiff, it smelled exactly like Oscar’s natural scent of pine and wood, but I knew it was going to taste just like Chinese---one of his favorites.
“Higady, digady, flong. Bring Oscar to Adeline’s and feel something is wrong.” I waved my hands over the liquid right before it shut off. The onyx bottle glowed yellow from the far left of the bottle shelf. Grabbing it, I quickly used the small ladle to drip the potion into it.
There wasn’t much more time to waste. I had to get over to Glorybee, get a feather from that macaw and get back to Adeline’s bathroom. I glanced at the clock, it seemed like I’d been gone for an hour, but in real time, it had only been ten minutes.
Gathering all my potions and putting them in my bag, I pictured Mr. Prince Charming and me underneath the tree in Glorybee without anyone else around before I thrust my fists to the side.
Squawk, squawk! The macaw flapped and flopped as Mr. Prince Charming made his way to the top of the tree.
“Yes, be sure to get a big fat feather.” I ordered Mr. Prince Charming. “A big one so we don’t screw this potion up.”
I wasn’t going to risk just any feather from that macaw.
“Hey there, hey there.” The macaw held a leg up toward a creeping Mr. Prince Charming. “Bad ostrich, bad ostrich.”
Mr. Prince Charming stopped, watching the bird dance from one clawed foot to the other.
“I really like your wings,” he chirped. “Yes, I like them.”
“I do like your wings, but I only need one feather.” I begged the macaw.
“Got the wrong bird, wrong bird.” He spread his wings out and the feathers on his back fanned around him before he jumped from the limb.
Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming batted at the air as the bird soared over top of me. I reached up and grabbed a fistful. Feathers flew all over the place.
“Wrong bird, wrong bird!” The macaw squealed.
“What is going on here?” The lights of Glorybee turned on as I thrust my fist to the side.
“Are you okay in there?”
I was back in Adeline’s bathroom and a little shaken. Am I ever going to get use to these new powers? My stomach was a little queasy when I realized I had left Mr. Prince Charming to face the music.
“I’m fine,” sniff, sniff, “I just got back from a funeral for a friend of mine in Whispering Falls and I thought that I was going to be okay.”
Dead silence.
“And that’s why I came.” I paused to see if I could hear anything from the other side of the door. I reached over and flushed the toilet as if I had used it before I opened the door. “I thought some yoga could help me.”
Adeline’s eyes were as big as the full moon. Did I throw her off guard? Was her mind reeling, wondering if I saw her return to the city of the crimes?
“I’m so sorry.” She followed closely behind me. “I had no idea.”
I busted out crying like I was torn up. I actually was torn up thinking she was trying to get away with pinning these crimes on me.
“Was it the Indian?” She disappeared into the other room, leaving me alone with her cup of tea.
I pulled the rose potion bottle out of my bag and tapped a few drops in her tea before she returned with a couple of tissues.
“It was.” I blew my nose. “They still don’t know who killed him. Which reminds me,” I wiped my eyes with the other tissue to really play the role, “why were you at A Charming Cure that night?”
“I…” She paced back and forth, wringing her hands together. The phone rang. “I’ll be right back.”
Dang! It looked like she was going to tell me something.
“June, I have to go.” She slipped her feet into a pair of beige flip-flops, while taking a big ole drink of her tea. She grabbed her keys off the counter. “There is a mess with the deliveries at the Piggly Wiggly and I have to go straighten it out.”
She showed me to the door. I sat in my car until her car was out of view. Jumping out, I grabbed the feather and the other potion from deep within my bag. Slowly, I walked around her house, dousing the feather with the potion and flinging it on the foundation as I chanted, in a low voice, “Higady, digady, flong. Bring Oscar to Adeline’s and feel something is wrong.”
“Who are you?”
I jumped nearly out of my skin when a voice came from behind me.
“I’m a friend of Adeline’s.” Right now would probably be a good time to get out of here. My brain wasn’t working. How could it? The man standing with his hand resting on a concealed gun didn’t mind letting me know that he didn’t care if I saw it or not. It was the man I saw in Adeline’s office through the crystal ball.
“You are?” He questioned me, but there was a sneaky suspicion in his voice that in no way did he believe me.
“Yes, I am.” I couldn’t decide whether to go to the right or left of him to make my escape.
If I went to the right, I could jump in the neighbor’s bushes if he started to shoot. I didn’t know which would hurt worse, the rose bush thorns or his bullets.
If
I went left, I’d just smack into Adeline’s brick house. Which didn’t sound pleasant either.
“You can see she isn’t here, so you best be getting on your way.” He shooed me away with his hand.
Without waiting for another wave of his hand, I darted to the right. I didn’t look back to see if he had drawn his gun or even watched me go.
The wheels squealed when I put the pedal to the metal in the Green Machine.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You won’t believe what I uncovered today.” There was no way I was going to tell Eloise about the gunman. She’d never let me out of her sight then. “I went to Kenny’s funeral, and. . .”
“You what?” Eloise put the metal container on the counter. Her eyebrows dipped as she frowned. She had to have spent most of the day cleaning out her incense burners. They were lined up along the counter and on the island. This was a clear sign she had talked with Izzy about doing a full Whispering Falls cleanse, but I didn’t ask her. The less I knew about what was going on outside of my own trauma, the better.
“I had to.” I tapped my stomach. “Something told me I needed to go, and I’m glad I did.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“No, I used my new powers to turn into a fairy.” I smiled.
“A Fairy?”
“A pink Fairy.” I nodded. “And I was a pretty good Fairy.”
“What power are you talking about?”
I looked up and caught a concerned look on her face.
“The new powers with being the village president.” I reminded her of what Izzy had said during the smudging ceremony before my life was twisted up like a ball of yarn.
“I’m not sure I know what you are talking about.” She looked me over with a critical eye. “Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
No kidding. I brushed the notion that she didn’t know about the powers when she was standing right there. She did have a lot on her mind. Not to mention the loss of Oscar.
“Anyway, go on.” She picked up the long chain she used to swing her burner and took a towel to shine it.
“No one recognized me and it’s the same ole, same ole with the people here.” I sat down on the stool and planted my elbows on the kitchen island so I could rest my head.
I was actually a little tired from all of the running around and teletransporting I had been doing.
“Adeline, the customer that is always asking me about love potions,” I reminded her, “was there. Why would she be there?”
Eloise raised an eyebrow. I had her complete attention. “Go on.”
“Not only that, but I went to Locust Grove to ask her some questions. I started at the Piggly Wiggly, but she wasn’t there.” I leaned in a little. “Faith was though.”
“Faith Mortimer?”
“Yes!” I smacked my hand on the island top. “It’s not strange that she would be there delivering some bakery good for the Piggly Wiggly to sell, since Adeline also loves June’s Gems.”
Eloise backed up, using the counter for support. Her mouth was gaped open. “So Adeline ordered some June’s Gems?”
“Yes, but that’s not all.” I continued to tell her about Faith and her little tryst with George, Adeline’s boyfriend, who she bought the June’s Gems for to keep him from breaking up with her.
“She had to have killed Kenny and broke into Wicked Good.” Eloise rubbed her chin. “But why did she kill Kenny?”
“I’m not sure if she or her shaggy-haired hitman killed Kenny.” I played with my charm bracelet, wondering where Mr. Prince Charming was, and if he got out of Glorybee without Petunia seeing him.
“June.” A heavy sigh left her lips. “I draw the line at a hitman.”
“Regardless, I think she knows George is cheating on her with Faith.” I bit on the inside of my cheek. Dang, I wish I had a Ding Dong. “So I gave her a sleepy potion that will cloud her mind and not kill anyone until I get something figured out, or until Oscar can get some information.”
“Oscar?” Her face lit up like the stars in the sky on a clear, Whispering Falls night. “You saw Oscar?”
“I did, and he doesn’t remember anything about being sheriff of Whispering Falls.” I hated to tell her that because it meant that he didn’t remember her.
“Oh.” Eloise looked down and picked at the edge of her fingernail. “What did he say about the case?”
“I asked him to come here and ask Raven, Faith, and Petunia a few questions.”
“He can’t come here!” Eloise’s deep green cloak swished as she paced back and forth. “They don’t know he was stripped of his powers.”
“I know.” I assured her. “I told him they were going to pretend like they knew him really well because I talk about him all the time.”
Without a word, disappointment was displayed all over her face.
“So I guess I shouldn’t tell you I put a spell around Adeline’s house that will attract Oscar.”
“No you shouldn’t have.” She grabbed a couple of herbs before she stuck them in a metal incense container and lit them on fire. She started to chant. The smoke billowed out as she swung the long chain back and forth.
She looked like she had gone off into a faraway place. There was no sense in trying to talk to her, so I slipped out when I noticed there was a glow coming from my bag.
I headed out of the house and down the gravel path. I needed privacy to see who needed what. I couldn’t tell by the glow if it was Belur or Madame Torres.
“You are skating on thin ice.” Mac McGurtle stood up. His black suit was a little more wrinkled than usual.
Mac McGurtle and Mary Ellen, one of the Marys, were having a cup of tea in the gazebo.
So much for privacy. I held my bag close to my body to help shield the glow. I didn’t care if they saw Madame Torres, but I needed to keep Belur under-wraps. Having to explain him would look like I killed Kenny to keep the genie.
“Mary Ellen was good enough to inform me that you are leaving the premises.” He looked over at Mary Ellen, who wouldn’t even look at me.
Traitor. I eyed her and her fancy black one-piece jump suit and bright yellow heels. When the sun hit directly on her jeweled necklace, I had to look away or my eyes would probably have been burned.
“It’s for your own good and the future of this community.” She played with her long black ponytail that she had pulled so tight it looked like she had gotten a Botox job.
“We are lucky she didn’t tell the other Marys or you would be banned.” Mac walked over and rested his hands on the front of his suit coat. “You have to let Gandolf finish processing the evidence before we can start doing a lot of our own investigation.”
They both looked at me like I should be saying something back, but I didn’t. I didn’t have time to process all he was saying, because Mr. Prince Charming was dancing around the herb garden. His tail was pointing in the direction of the Gathering Rock.
I held my bag tighter. There was a warm spot coming from it where the glow was getting brighter.
“Fine,” I shouted as I darted out of the garden.
“June?” Mac’s voice echoed throughout the garden. “Where are you going? You’d better not leave this forest!”
Yea, yea. Taking idle threats wasn’t my strong suit. I kept my eye on a dancing Mr. Prince Charming. He ran like the wind through the forest and stopped just shy of the Gathering Rock.
Raven was sitting on the rock, staring into the woods.
“Good boy!” She clapped her hands together when Mr. Prince Charming darted to her side.
“Raven?” I kept my toes on the border of the woods and the edge of the community city limits.
“Thank you for coming.” She stood up and walked over. “I know you can’t cross the line, but I need your help. Faith needs your help.”
“Tell me.”
“I know you didn’t break into Wicked Good, but I can’t be so sure Faith didn’t do it and pin it on you.” She wrung hands together. “Ever since s
he started doing all the deliveries to other communities, she’s been acting strange.”
I let her talk, and watched as she nervously paced back and forth.
“She has never been out of a spiritual community. We went straight from our family home, to Hidden Hall, A Spiritualist University, to here.” She shook her head. “I should’ve warned her about the dangers of the outside world, the temptations.”
“What temptations?” I couldn’t tell her I saw Faith and she might be in grave danger if Adeline knows about the affair.