by Tonya Kappes
“You are a spiritualist that has the gift of intuition. You should have known by your gift. Unless you didn’t fulfill your schooling.” She turned her head toward Mac and lifted her brows.
“You can answer that.” Mac nodded again.
“I finished a year and became village president.” It was true. I had only gone to Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University for one year and completed just enough to get by. But like she said, I used my intuition to work my magic.
“That is what most spiritualists do, Celia.” Mac had decided to finally take up for me.
“Most spiritualists?” The edges of her lips turned up. “And you are saying June Heal is like most spiritualists?”
“We are all spiritualists.” Mac shrugged. He used his thick finger and pushed his classes up on his nose.
The friendly banter between them apparently amused her. She threw her head back and laughed in a scornful tone.
“The June Heal. The Chosen One?” she asked, lowering her eyes.
“I. . .” I opened my mouth and nothing came out.
It was true but I had no idea what it truly meant. A while ago I had been named as the Chosen One between the Good-Siders and Dark-Siders. Something about me being able to move the spiritual world forward. I thought merging both worlds together and combining our laws, I had done what I was chosen to do.
Chapter Ten
It took a lot of fast-talking for Oscar to even get through to Colton about setting me free under the law. The Marys refused to let Celia have me jailed and I was grateful for that, but not without them scolding me first.
You know better. You didn’t listen to your intuition. You need to go back to University to a new intuition class.
Collectively, we all walked across the street to A Charming Cure where Colton and Oscar wanted to make sure there was no stone unturned.
“That is a splendid idea.” Mary Lynn was the sweetest of the three. She looked like the little granny with her silver curls tousled around her head. She always wore a black suit and her fox stole. Her voice even dripped with sugar. She eased around A Charming Cure picking up bottles, opening them, testing the cures on her skin, before smelling them and sticking them back on the shelf. “We really all should take those continuing education classes like all the mortals do with their skills.”
“Oh please,” Mary Sue rolled her eyes before dipping her finger into my cauldron and giving it a good swipe. She lifted her fingertip to her nose and took a nice long whiff before she stuck the tip in her mouth. She smacked her lips together. “Tasty.”
Oscar and Colton were busy scouring the shop for any clues Paul Levy had left behind and decided to do multiple tests on the cauldron, the Bushmaster snake, Thuja occidentalis, and the Calendula officinalis to see if there were some poison or other things besides what was supposed to be in there.
“June has wonderful intuition.” Mary Sue couldn’t help herself. She took another swipe of the inside of the cauldron tasting the potion. “And I’m telling you she didn’t kill this guy.” She drew her finger up and pointed toward Oscar and Colton who were waving their wands over the stress-free potion side of the shop for clues. “They are looking in the wrong place.”
“You know as well as I do there are formalities among the worlds. This is a formality.” Mary Ellen continued to pick up bottles and put them back, only she never put them back in the right place, which meant more work for me after they all left.
“I still think you need to go to more school.” Mary Sue wasn’t as forgiving as the others. She’d always been the brashest of the three and never let me off the hook for anything.
I wanted to protest everything they were saying, but I knew better. Any amount of bantering coming from me would only hinder their process more.
“I just can’t ignore the facts.” Colton held out his notebook and read from it. “Victim did come to your shop and didn’t reveal self. Suspect used spiritual gift to read victim, breaking the village law. Suspect did not listen to own spiritual gift to realize victim was indeed a fellow spiritualist from another village, thus breaking the universal law.” He paused to catch his breath and continued, “Victim was clearly upset when he saw suspect come to The Gathering Rock village meeting. Victim ran into the woods. Victim was found dead in the woods with the suspect standing over victim. Victim had suspect’s potion in his grip and the potion smeared on his lips.”
The entire shop fell completely silent.
“When you put it that way,” I blurted out.
“It’s just the facts, which is why I have to put you under village arrest.” As soon as those words left Colton’s mouth, the shop door flew open and Petunia Shrubwood rushed in with a scroll rolled up under her arm.
She handed Colton the scroll and left, never once looking me in the face.
“Well,” Colton walked over. “I hate to do it, June, but I just can’t let you leave until this gets figured out.”
“I understand the rules.” I tried to give him an understanding smile. “And I have no other place to go.”
I stood silent as Colton read the ruling from the village president, only I wasn’t listening. I was too busy remembering the fight between Gerald and Petunia outside of The Gathering Grove earlier this morning.
According to Gerald, Petunia was going to bat for the carnival to come to town. Why? What was her connection to Paul Levy?
Petunia Shrubwood, our very own president, knew something. And it was up to me to figure out what it was.
“What about the shop? You know you can’t run the shop while the investigation is going on.” Colton’s words stung me to the core. The shop was all I had and it would be the only thing to occupy my time.
“I’m sure I can get Faith to come and help out.” I couldn’t believe this was happening. I loved this time of the year and here I was feeling the hatred in my soul.
“And stay here while you go to school?” Oscar’s voice broke away.
“School?” My jaw dropped. Who was he to ask about school when he never finished his wizard classes?
Colton stepped up to talk but Oscar put his hand out for Colton to stop.
“I want to be involved so I have to tell her.” There was tension between the two of them.
“Fine.” Colton took a step back.
“June, you have to go back to school and take a class to continue the education. Levy’s lawyer is requesting it and if we keep her at bay and happy, it gives us time to figure all this out.” He waved his hand over the shop.
I stood there like a good wife and let Oscar tell me how it was going to go down. Only I didn’t see it that way. It was going to go down exactly how my intuition told me it was. This was not the solution. I didn’t know the solution, but I knew this was not it. And I knew I had to see Petunia.
“And what if I could get the village council to grant you a mini-honeymoon? Together.” Colton had a painful look in his face like he hated to keep me in Whispering Falls under village arrest.
“There is no way I could leave.” I looked over at the Marys who were gathered in a little circle testing out Black As Night lotion.
“Just think about it.” Colton turned and went back to what he does best, policing.
My eyes narrowed. First Colton tells me I am under village arrest and then he turns around and offers Oscar and me a mini-honeymoon? A honeymoon was the last thing I needed. I needed to understand what was happening around me, starting with figuring out why Paul Levy was in my shop and how Petunia knew him. Where had he come from? Why me? Why did Paul and Petunia want the carnival here?
The thought rolled around in my gut. I let out a little laugh when my intuition told me if I could answer those questions, I would be on the path to freedom. But where?
Chapter Eleven
The fog circled around me. In the distance the familiar sound of Eloise’s incense chain clinked in a rhythmic tempo. Clink, clink, clink.
The fog was so thick, I lifted my hands and parted it. The path ahea
d of me was clear, the glow of the carriage lights guided the way.
“June!” Raven called out. I jerked to the right. The fog danced around her as she gripped the ball of dough. The fog coiled around her neck and in a single tug, Raven fell to the ground.
“No!” I screamed reaching out into the fog, only it was a barrier. A barrier I couldn’t reach through. “Raven!”
“It’s not a good idea.” Gerald’s voice came from the left. I jumped around. He and Petunia were in the fog.
“I have to!” Petunia screamed. Her jaw locked.
“Do not let him in our life.” Gerald warned and tried to grab Orin out of Petunia’s arms.
Chooo, choooo. The lights of the train pierced the fog in front of Petunia and Gerald. The roaring train headed straight toward them. Chooo, choooo. The train’s horn roared louder and louder, getting closer and closer to Gerald.
“Move, move, move,” I whispered knowing they couldn’t hear me. I closed my eyes right before the train barreled through the family of three. “No,” I groaned.
Clink, clink, clink. The sound of Eloise’s incense sang in the distance. The path in front of me was clear. The fog hung like a shield on each side of me.
“One, two, three, you are just like me,” the sweet voice called me. It was like candy to my ear and hard to ignore. I took a couple of steps toward the laughter of children. The fog parted to the right and a juggler entertained a group of children standing on the sidewalk in front of Magical Moments. The juggler wore a green body suit with a face painted half white and the other half was painted the same green as the body suit. The juggler had on a joker hat that was white with green jingle bells hanging off the pointy edges. The juggler’s shoes were identical to the hat with one big jingle bell on the pointy tip of the toe.
The children oohed and awed as the juggling pins climbed higher and higher into the sky. Out of nowhere the sound of the train echoed in the distance.
Chooo, chooooo. The roar got louder and louder.
“Oh no,” I groaned, looking into the distance behind the children. “Move out of the way!” I screamed. “Move out of the. . .” I gulped and turned my head when the train came barreling down Main Street.
The screams of children and adults took up the deafening space in my head.
“I told you June is a Good-Sider!” Aunt Helena caused me to look up.
“She is marrying a Park! He’s a Dark-Sider!” Eloise screamed back at her. Her hand lifted into the air. A big hot air balloon painted with the Blood Mercury flower. The hot air balloon popped. An explosion of water rushed down the main street like a tidal wave, sweeping the children up. The train disappeared.
“One, two, three, you are one of me.” The voice swirled around Oscar. The tidal wave was going to swallow him up.
“No!” I thrashed back and forth trying to get the fog to break. “No!”
Something grabbed me from behind and twirled me around. It was Oscar, only his skin was sliding down, exposing a skeletal face.
“June! Wake up!” The voice called me. Oscar’s voice. “June! It’s just a dream!”
“It’s just a dream,” I whispered to the skeleton that had a grip on me. “You are not real,” I cried. My eyes burned with hot tears. “Go away!” I jerked away from the skeletal fingers and opened my eyes.
“June,” Oscar brushed my bangs back from my forehead. His eyes were searching mine. “There you are. Come back to me.”
I blinked. My mouth was dry. My body convulsed.
“June, baby.” Oscar pulled me up out of the bed and held my limp, exhausted body to him. He slowly rocked me back and forth. “It’s okay,” he whispered, sending me back to sleep.
Chapter Twelve
“Are you okay?” Oscar asked, shuffling down the hall and rubbing his eyes.
“I’m fine,” I lied in a much too chipper voice that sent an alarm to Oscar. The fact of the matter was, I was not okay.
Being the number one murder suspect in any murder case was not high on my list of okay situations. Plus the nightmare only solidified my fears that some evil was lurking in the foothills of our village.
Oscar kissed me gently on my forehead before reaching for his mug sitting on the counter next to the coffee pot.
“You’re mad.” Oscar leaned against the kitchen counter with his steaming coffee in one hand. He had to work in Locust Grove for the next twenty-four hours, giving me a little time to figure out my next move without him becoming suspicious. “I can tell by your attitude and tone of voice.”
“I’m not mad.” I insisted. Ok, another lie—I was roaring mad with my situation. After the nightmare I had had, I knew that I needed to figure out who killed Paul Levy and what grave danger Whispering Falls was facing.
“You came home last night and went to bed, only giving me a sweet kiss on the lips.” He glanced over at Mr. Prince Charming. “Then the nightmare. When you are mad, you keep things from me.”
Mr. Prince Charming was waving his tail in the air and dancing around my feet. Happy as could be.
But Oscar was right. He knew me all too well.
“If you were under house arrest for a murder you didn’t commit, or had to go back to the university, you wouldn’t be happy either.” I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and filled my cup up. It was much easier to blame my bad attitude on being forced to go back to Hidden Halls instead of recalling all the images and feelings from my nightmare.
Meow. Mr. Prince Charming was in awfully good spirits for a fairy–god cat that needed to get me out of trouble.
“You and I both know that when you have a nightmare, it means only one thing.” He set his mug down and propped himself up on the counter with his hand. “Your nightmares have a way of connecting the past events with future events.”
“It’s strange.” I had to give him something. “I don’t remember everything.” The truth was, I was trying to forget most of the nightmare. It was one of the scariest I had ever had. Thinking about all my friends dying at the hand of something evil made me nauseous. “I just remember bits and pieces of me walking through town and hearing the chains on Eloise’s incense.”
“Really?” Oscar questioned.
I could tell he wasn’t buying all of it.
“Yes, really.” I threw it back at him. It was hard for me not to be a little upset that I wasn’t able to go to my shop and do what I loved. Instead I had to go to school.
“I’m going to be late.” I grabbed my bag and threw it over my body. “We are going to have to discuss this later. I can’t be late for class because God knows what the Marys would do to me then.” I reached for the door with Mr. Prince Charming by my side.
“Let me fix you a coffee,” Oscar tried to stop me.
“I can get a coffee at Black Magic Café,” I said referring to the coffee shop at Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University. I ran out the door before he could stop me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell Oscar everything; I just wanted to make sure I was right before I sent him off into the world to fight my battles based on what could be accusations with no merit. My nightmares had had some accuracy before, but not exactly on target. I had to figure this out for myself.
“June! Come on!” He ran after me when I walked out the door. I tried to slam it behind me, but he caught it. “I’m on your side!” he yelled after me as I darted around the cottage and into the woods.
Mr. Prince Charming ran ahead of me to the wheat field.
“Trouble in paradise with what’s his name?” Madame Torres asked from the bottom of my bag.
I dug my hand around the bottom and continued to walk to the wheat field, my portal out of Whispering Falls, and grabbed Madame Torres. She was covered in crumbs from being at the bottom of my bag.
“Gross.” Madame Torres appeared in the glass globe. Her purple eye shadow was thick from her eyelashes to her eyebrows. The purple turban perched on top of her head had a lime green yellow gem in the center. She looked like she needed to be part
of the traveling carnival here for the bazaar with her colorful display. “Do you need to keep me in the bottom of your bag?”
“His name is Oscar.” I ran my hand over her globe to get off all the crumbs and particles of God knew what else that had collected in the bottom of my bag. “And if you were a little nicer, maybe I wouldn’t just throw you in the bottom.”
“Fine.” Her voice dripped like a slow water drip, her eyes rolled back into her head. “How on earth are we going to get you out of this mess?”
“Aren’t you my crystal ball? Look into the future? Tell me what to do?” I asked and shook my head.
Behind me the village was still at yawning peace. Ahead of me the tall wheat waved in the light morning wind. The chill in the air nipped at my neck. I pulled the edges of my cloak up around my neck and over the edges of my hair. Maybe it was good I wasn’t able to make my appointment with Chandra. Unfortunately it was for awful reasons, but the longer hair was keeping some of the wind off my neck.
Mr. Prince Charming trotted ahead of me. I could only see the tips of his ears and the tip of his tail as it swayed along with the wheat as if he were dancing in the morning dawn. There was a distant line where the dark stopped and the light had begun. Soon all of Whispering Falls would be up and milling about in the warm sunshine of the chilly day. And without me.
“My plan is to play nice in the daylight and figure out who really killed Paul Levy,” I said to Madame Torres just before the wooden sign popped out of the ground and several wooden arms shot out in all sorts of directions.
The wooded arrows pointed in different directions. Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University had several different signs. Classes didn’t start for a while and I wanted to get out of my cottage. Aunt Helena was probably up having her tea, so I touched the arm that showed me the way to the university.
Like magic, the wheat field parted and made the perfect path. At the end of the path, in the distance, the main street that ran through the university was just waking up with a few students walking around.