by Tonya Kappes
The first stop I had to make was Black Magic Café. There were only a couple of students ahead of me. The fresh smell of scones and coffee drifted through the café.
“What can I get ya?” Gus asked and wiped down the counter.
“I’ll have a fresh blueberry scone and large coffee.” I smiled when he looked up with a shocked look on his face.
He ran his hands through his ash blond hair. It was a lot less shaggy than normal. Gus Chatham had on his regular cargo shorts and surfer style look. He stood about six foot tall and was thin. His brown eyes sparkled when he smiled.
“I had no idea.” He tapped his temple. Gus’s spiritual talent was Clairvoyant Medium. He generally had a good idea when I was coming to visit at the university.
“I guess I threw you off.” I winked. “I guess you haven’t heard about my little trouble.”
“No,” he gasped and poured the large cup of coffee. “And by the sound of it, you need this.” He pushed the cup toward me before he took the tongs and grabbed a fresh baked blueberry scone.
“Yum.” My stomach growled. The blueberries were plump and a little soft and had the just out of the oven look. The top was lightly toasted brown and the edges had a nice crispness to them. “Looks delicious.”
“They are.” He slowly nodded his head. “I’ll be right over.”
I took a seat at one of the picnic tables. I had a choice of them all since the students coming and going were doing just that, going to class. Gus had walked over to another Black Magic Café employee and said something in her ear. He untied the apron from around his neck and took it off, putting it behind the counter.
“Trouble in paradise?” he asked as though Madame Torres had gotten to him.
“What makes you think that?” I asked, giving him the stink eye. I pinched off the edge of the scone and popped it in my mouth.
“Good, huh?” Gus smiled. “Anyway, you are here way too early for a newlywed.” His brow cocked in a curious way.
“I have to come back to school.” It was like eye rolling and the word school went together. Every time I said school, my eyes automatically rolled.
“Why?” His head pulled back.
“The Marys told me to.” I pinched off a bigger piece this time and put it in my mouth. “There is a traveling carnival in Whispering Falls for the bazaar. One of them came into my shop. My intuition went off and I did what we do. I took care of him and sent him on his way.”
“And?” Gus encouraged me to go on.
“I went on with my day. I did tell Constance Karima I would go see her sister. which I did, but not without telling Petunia I would babysit Orin.” I smiled. Every time I said his name, his little man mustache popped into my memory.
“At least you are smiling.” Gus returned the turned up mouth.
“Oh no.” I shook my head and curled my hands around the hot cup of coffee. “I took Orin with me to see Patience Karima.” I didn’t bother telling him why I had gone to see Patience. It had nothing to do with why I was at the university. “Orin got a little restless, so I hurried to The Gathering Rock where there was an impromptu meeting Petunia was holding since she is the village president.”
“I’m getting older every second you talk.” Gus’s head dipped, he stared at me with a pained expression. “Can you get to the reason you are here?”
“I am,” I whined. “Anyway, the guy from my shop, Paul Levy.” His name was forever engrained on my brain. “He was at the meeting. He saw me and took off. I followed him into the woods.”
“You mean you ran after him to see why he didn’t tell you he was a spiritualist too.” He sucked in a deep breath and leaned back on the picnic table bench.
“Wait,” I put my hand out in front of me and laid it on the table. “He was dead when I got there.”
“Dead?” Gus’s face contorted. Nervously he ran his hand through his hair. “Heart attack?” he asked with a quiver in his voice.
“No.” I shook my head. “Well, maybe.” I hadn’t thought about that. “He had my potion bottle in his grip and there was evidence of it on his lips.”
“Making you look like an immediate suspect?” His jaw jutted out, his eyes narrowed. “Unbelievable.” He puffed through his nose. “And they just suspected you as the murderer?”
“The fact that he was fine and dandy moments before I found him looked bad. The potion was open in his hands and on his lips. Not to mention I completely broke rule number one of the by-laws.” It just didn’t look good. Hearing myself say it out loud made it sound even worse.
“When you lay it out like that, you’re right. It doesn’t look good.” His eyes glanced over my shoulder. His chin jumped in the air. “I’ve got to go help out. It’s getting busy.”
He stood up and took a step toward the front of the café.
He stopped.
“But that doesn’t tell me why you are here.” His hand was planted on the picnic table.
“The lawyer for the traveling carnival insisted that I go to school to hone my craft while I’m on village arrest because I obviously broke the rules.” I wanted to protest to him, but the fact was that I had broken the rules. Regardless my intuition told me to so maybe Celia Buviea was right. Maybe my intuition wasn’t exactly right on target and I’ve just been lucky these past couple of years.
“June?” The familiar voice of Aunt Helena circled my head and into my ears.
I turned to see where she was. She stood on the sidewalk in front of Black Magic Café. She wore a long red cloak to match her pointy red boots. She waved. Her long red fingernails flashed up and down before she scurried over.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked.
I got up and hugged her. Tight. It felt like I was safe, comfortable, home.
“What is wrong?” she asked, squeezing me tighter to her. “I can feel the sorrow.”
Without warning, tears sat on my eyelids and trickled down my face. She pushed me gently away and held me out at arms length. Fear rested in her eyes. She reached up and brushed the tears away from my cheek.
We sat down and I used the opportunity to ask the questions that had been swirling in my head.
“Aunt Helena, I have to ask you a very important question and I need a serious answer.” I knew it was a long shot about her being behind any of my misfortunes lately, but the little tickle about the conversation I had with Bella in Bella’s Baubles needed to be scratched.
“What is it dear?” she asked, rubbing her hand down my arm.
“I know that you were having an issue with my wedding to Oscar because of everyone wanting everyone to perform certain rituals.” I didn’t spell it out because she and I both knew what I was talking about. “Mr. Prince Charming brought me this charm and I can’t help but think that with all the drama from the wedding, this could have something to do with it.”
She stiffened. She drew her shoulders back. Her eyes pierced the distance between us.
“I mean the whole Good-Sider and Dark-Sider having a baby and not knowing what spiritual gift they might possess.” I was going to go on about the possibility that she might have been the root cause of the charm, even though I knew deep down it was the whole Paul Levy murder.
But I had to exhaust all possible reasons for this.
“I love Oscar. I do. But I did tell you that you needed the ancestral dance at midnight to get the Good-Sider blessing.” It was the I told you so moment Aunt Helena had been dying to give me since I said I do and had not given in to her and Eloise’s ritual demands.
“It’s not my marriage.” I brushed the back of my hand along the bottom of my nose. “I . . .I’m a suspect in a murder.”
“What? That is what you are accusing me of? You think I would murder someone and make it look like my own flesh and blood did it just so you wouldn’t have a baby with a Dark-Sider?” Aunt Helena jerked back and drew her cloak up and over her shoulders. “That is a low blow.”
“What, no! I don’t think you murdered anyone!
I’m just asking questions to figure out what in the heck is going on in my world. I’m just asking…” I held my hands out in front of me to try to defuse the electric energy between the two of us.
She glanced around before grabbing me by the arm. “Come with me.”
I did what she was told me to do. I had nothing better to do and if she could shed some light, I was in no position to not listen.
She dragged me through the café and out into the street. She hurried me down the sidewalk, across a pathway that led to the small yellow cottage that had window boxes under each window overflowing with geraniums, morning glories, petunias, moon flowers, and trailing ivy leaving a rainbow of colorful explosion. The awning flapping in the chilly breeze read Intuition School in lime green calligraphy.
The small schoolhouse brought back fond memories of when I first learned of my spiritual gift and how to use it. I tried to bottle that feeling and hold deep inside the pain I was feeling.
Aunt Helena flipped on the lights, illuminating the interior filled with a few rows of tables and a couple stools per table. I ran my hand over the front table where I used to sit. It was here that I had met Faith and Raven Mortimer.
“Raven,” I gasped. My body shook with the feelings I had while I was deep in my nightmare and dismissing Raven as she held the ball of dough up in her fist exactly as she had done yesterday before I ran to The Gathering Rock and this nightmare started.
“Do you remember something?” Aunt Helena swept up next to me.
“I think I need to see Raven.” My gut told me my words were right. “Before I rushed to The Gathering Rock to give baby Orin back to Petunia, Raven tried to stop me.” I ran my hand over my wrist and touched my brass bell charm.
“Back up.” Aunt Helena pulled out a stool, pointing for me to sit. She pulled up the other one and sat down, facing me. “I’m not following you.”
Quickly I filled Aunt Helena in on what had happened—all the details of Paul Levy, why I was at Hidden Halls, and I also gave her insight on my nightmare.
“Then you must see Raven. And visit everyone who was in your nightmare. They hold the answers to all the questions surrounding the death of this man.” Aunt Helena confirmed what I had felt. “She might have some insight.” Her eyes drew down to my wrist. “Brass bell?” Aunt Helena asked with a frosty tone.
“Yes,” I answered bleakly.
“And you got this before you chased after Mr. Levy?” Aunt Helena asked with a condescending inflection.
“I know. I know.” I shook my head in shame.
“You’ve got to start listening to your familiars.” Aunt Helena’s brows rose.
“Yes she does!” Madame Torres chirped from the bag.
“Starting with her!” Aunt Helena pointed to my bag.
“And that is easier said than done.” I pulled Madame Torres out of my bag and sat her on top of the desk.
“I understand that, but you have to listen to them and your nightmares. They are part of what makes you and creates your spiritual gift. These are what make you who you are. Good or bad,” she said and got up from the stool. She circled around the room gathering all sorts of items before she proceeded to the front of the room where she kept a cauldron. She flipped it on and sprayed a few spritz of the cauldron cleaner in it before wiping it out.
Intuition class was really fun. Aunt Helena put together all sorts of potions and the students used their intuition along with their senses to figure out who or why someone would need that potion.
“I have no idea who Paul Levy even is.” I shrugged. “But I do know that I need to see Raven and find out where this carnival travels from. Maybe there is something in his past that will connect me to something.”
Unfortunately I was afraid the train was the link and I knew it deep in my gut.
Madame Torres swirled and twirled, sending her face off into a tornado inside her crystal ball. The blue and purple swirled into a black cloud mixed with flecks of gold turning into a sea of silver. The storm inside her ball calmed to a slight wave.
Students filed into the cottage one-by-one, filling the stools. I didn’t bother paying attention to who sat next to me because I was too busy watching Madame Torres’s calm wavy sea turn into a roaring choo-choo train. The same roaring the train had in my nightmare.
“June.” The tone in Aunt Helena’s voice was not pleasant. Sort of unhappy, to say the least. “You have to pay attention in class.” She swept from one side of the schoolhouse to the other in a fluid motion, her red cloak swept the floor behind her. “How can you learn anything new if you keep daydreaming.”
“I wasn’t daydreaming.” The images of Madame Torres continued to play over in my head. The only choo-choo I had ever seen that looked like that one was when I had to go to Azarcabam. A place I didn’t intend to visit in this life again.
“Then what do you call this?” She stopped, put her hands under her chin and let her eyes focus off into space. “That was how you looked.”
“I was listening to my intuition like you told me to do.” I grinned and ran my hand over Madame Torres. “I think I just might know who I need to see about Paul Levy.”
“Using your familiar is the ticket to success.” She snapped her fingers.
“Ticket,” I groaned. “If you only knew how much I didn’t like that word.”
The last thing I wanted was a ticket to Azarcabam. The last time I had gone there, I had been jailed and Mr. Prince Charming helped me dig my way out. It wasn’t a place to visit for the fun of it or for vacation. It certainly wasn’t somewhere I wanted to go for a honeymoon.
Chapter Thirteen
How could I not have thought about this before? I questioned myself on my way back from my class.
Aunt Helena and I had said our goodbyes with a promise from her that she would help me in any way she could. Aunt Helena had powers beyond I could ever imagine. I’d put money on it that she was busying herself right now with trying to figure out who Paul Levy was.
When she accused me of daydreaming, there was no way I was going to tell her about what had actually popped into my head. Eloise Sandlewood.
The clinking sounds of the chains from the incense burner Eloise was swinging back and forth gonged in my head along with images of her lips as she cleansed Magical Moments.
I stopped at the wheat field before I reached the sign pointing the direction back to Whispering Falls.
Mr. Prince Charming turned and looked at me before he sat down facing the way home. I reached in my bag and took out Madame Torres. I held her up to my face.
With my other hand, I slowly rolled my hand over her. It was time to get some much needed answers away from the other people in my life. And my intuition took over as I let my hand float without thinking.
“I see the waves of water. I see enlightenment that is going to provide me answers that I need. I see a gifted person with keen logic and natural intuition, giving me insight my intuition will not allow,” the words flowed out of my mouth as Madame Torres took over my voice. “This person will have a great influence on your present situation. To get to the heart of the matter, the person is the key to the answers you seek. The poisoned one was going to help you. He had a message for you. He was stopped. The evil has taken over.” The words continued to come out. The waves disappeared and the train appeared. “Have a wonderful day, blessed be.”
Just like that, Madame Torres’s ball went black.
A jolt to my core caused me to step back. I gripped Madame Torres and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air, filling my lungs as much as I could and slowly releasing through my mouth.
Meow. Mr. Prince Charming sat down at my feet and looked up.
“I’m fine.” I shook my head and put Madame Torres back in my bag. “That was a new one.”
Over the past couple of years Madame Torres showed me things, but nothing where her words took over my voice and I had no control over it. When I had come to Whispering Falls and found out I was a witch, Izzy told me that
over time my gifts would sharpen. It was definitely time to stop by and see her. But the first person on my list was Eloise.
I touched the wooden arm that read Whispering Falls. Stalk by stalk, the wheat began to disappear. Vibrant pink Iceland poppy jumped out of the earth followed by complimentary fuchsia ground cover erica. With each step I took closer to home, a new fall and winter flower or ground cover paved my way. Yellow English primrose, yellow winter jasmine, snap dragons, and purple ornamental kale to name a few. All the colors created a beautiful picture around me and Mr. Prince Charming. The aromas helped clear my soul and add just enough positive intuition that I began to feel better about my situation.
If I listened to Madame Torres, there was someone out there who wanted to help me besides Paul Levy since Paul wasn’t going to tell me anything now. Who was that? The poisoned one Madame Torres talked about was Paul. What did Paul try to save me from? Who was he saving me from?
All of these questions rolled around my head. Mr. Prince Charming was probably already halfway down the hill to Whispering Falls by the time I made it to the wooden sign at the end of the path. The sign read: Welcome to Whispering Falls, a magical village.
When I passed the sign, I turned around and all the colorful flowers were gone. It was just the wheat field. I took a sharp right and walked deeper into the woods on my way to Eloise’s house.
Whispering Falls was originally a Good-Sider community, which meant any Dark-Sider had to live on the village outskirts. When I was village president, I merged both worlds and now Dark-Siders could come and go as they pleased. But Eloise continued to live in her home in the woods. And I didn’t blame her.
Not only did she have plenty of land for her herb garden, she was surrounded by beautiful nature and peace that no village, no matter how small, could give her.
Most days I found Eloise’s house a nice getaway, but today I needed answers.
The mid-afternoon sun shone between the two trees, exposing the two-story house built on a platform high off the ground. A set of wooden stairs led up to her cozy wrap around porch where Oscar and I loved to enjoy our after dinner tea when she had us over for dinner.