“Yeah, you know we’ll find out sooner or later, so out with it.”
“I did label the bottles,” Ursa confesses, “but I didn’t double-check the contents. I was in a hurry because I was late to my podcast.”
Shaking her head, Helga pinches the bridge of her nose, “Ursa, you know how reckless that was?”
Ursa worries her bottom lip and then admits, “I do now.”
“But it does not explain how this crumpled label got shoved under the register—” Helga begins.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Agnes interrupts, “Who cares about who did what, right?”
Helga grumps, “I do,” pointing to her anklet.
Agnes rushes to the kitchen and reappears, “Brownies, anyone?”
The front door jingles as the mail person walks in and hands Ursa a few envelopes. Ursa thanks the lady as she leaves. She rifles through the stack and pulls two colored envelopes out waving them at her sisters.
“Your test results are in!” she cheers.
Helga snatches the envelope out of Ursa’s hand, barking, “GIMME!”
Agnes trades a brownie with Ursa for her envelope and then sits down at the table with Mabel. Helga sits down at the table with them and opens her envelope. She slowly slides the letter out and reads the words written down on the page.
Her eyes continue to scan the page when Agnes asks, “Well, did you pass?”
Helga reads the extra slip of paper that was included in with her test results and clears her throat. “Um, yeah . . . surprisingly . . . yeah.” She turns her head to Agnes and asks, “How about you?”
“Yep,” she grins and takes another bite of her brownie.
Agnes notices the extra slip of paper in Helga’s hand and asks, “What’s that piece of paper? I didn’t get one.”
“Remember Uncle Cornelius?”
“Yeah,” Agnes replies scratching her head.
“Well Mr. Higgins has found a lead.” Helga says with a smirk.
Mabel tired of being left out asks, “What does that mean? What does passing whatever mean?”
Helga turns a sarcastic looks at Mabel, “It means that we can do potions again, duh!”
Agnes adds, “We’re certified witches of the 2nd Order, which means we’re allowed to make potions of any variety and cast really high-level spells.”
Helga corrects her sister, “We were allowed to make potions as witches of the 3rd Order, but we could not sell them to anyone, not without a valid permit. However, with us passing the test we are now witches of the 2nd Order and are allowed to sell our potions without a permit to other witches and wizards.”
Ursa hugs both of her sisters, stating, “Congratulations! I knew you could do it!”
Mabel smiles, offering, “That’s good news for me then . . .”
“Why?” Ursa asks.
Helga ribs Ursa, “Because now we can make her the love potion that she desperately needs tonight.”
They all laugh when a shadow suddenly flies across their window, making the lights go out. The empty potion bottle rattles, rolling off the counter and shattering on the ground. Evil laughter echoes throughout the shop as the lights come back on.
Mabel rubs her shoulders, remarking, “I don’t know what that’s all about, but I don’t want to stick around to find out.”
Helga, not wanting to dwell on the possibilities, jumps up and hurries to the kitchen nearly tripping over herself, yelling, “One love potion coming up!”
They all laugh again as Ursa, Agnes, and Mabel continue eating brownies in the front of the shop while Helga cooks up the order in the kitchen.
Things are partially back to normal. Helga doesn’t know what the heck the shadow thing is about, but she doesn’t care, for she can now make potions without the thousand stings of her probation. This was one of the judgments from the court: Helga could create potions with no more probation stings once she passes the 2nd Order certification exams.
But she has to wait three more months before she can cast any other spells again without the stings. Originally it was to be two weeks after she passed her certification, but due to the incident at the exam more time was added to her probation. She did try casting a spell with a wand but that acted like a lightning rod causing even more pain, so she decided to hold off on casting any more spells until her probation ends.
Helga reaches for the next ingredient and then stops. A mischievous grin grows across her face. Mabel’s date is certainly not going to be a dud this time. Instead, Helga dashes a few spoonful’s of another ingredient into the mix.
Epilogue
Ruby is lying back on her bed reading the recent book chapters assigned by her English teacher. She drops the book on her face and sighs, wishing she didn’t have to read such dry content.
Off to her right her phone starts ringing. She takes a peek and notices that it’s Jay. Her finger hesitates over the ignore button, but she swipes to answer.
“Hello Jay,” she mumbles.
“Ruby, I didn’t see you in class today. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re taking your serum as instructed, right?”
Ruby huffs into the phone, “Of course, Jay, jeez.”
“I’m just making sure,” he says, “You’re not the only one that has to deal with this y’know.”
“Ugh, get off my back, alright?” Ruby grumbles.
“I’m just concerned, y’know.” He pauses and then says, “You’ve been kind of distant lately.”
Ruby scowls, “I’ve been busy. What’s with the hundred questions?”
“Sheesh, Ruby, I’m only checking in on you,” he fumes through the phone, “That’s what friends do.”
She gets up from her bed and heads over to the mirror. “Look, I gotta go, homework, tons of it . . .”
“Okay, good nigh—” Jay begins but is cut off by Ruby hanging up.
She puts her phone down on her dresser and picks up the serum. She stares at herself in the mirror as she brings the dropper to her mouth but stops when she hears someone barely whisper, “You don’t need that . . . What do those bumbling sisters know?”
Ruby looks around her room, asking, “Who’s there? Hello?”
She tries to bring the dropper to her mouth again when she hears, “You can skip a dose.” It hisses in her ear.
Placing the dropper back in the bottle, she looks around the room and then stares back in the mirror, stating, “Yeah, I can skip a dose, I got this . . .”
A shadow crosses the room followed by demonic laughter. Ruby continues to stare at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes gleam gold.
CRAVING FOR MORE?
Want to know what happened at the magical exams?
Why were the special forces called in?
Join Helga and Agnes on their next adventure in . . .
Making the Mark
When a ginormous ink monster threatens to consume the whole examination hall Helga, teams up with her sister, Agnes, to take the monster down. But can they do it before the Order of Magic's Special forces unleashes their ultimate magic hazard containment tactic, trapping everyone into a black void, forever?
Grab your copy from . . .
http://www.charmed-embers-publications.com/mystical-mishaps/making-the-mark
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Thank you for purchasing my book! I appreciate all of your feedback, and I love hearing what you have to say.
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Thank you!!
~Alicia
Acknowledgments
Jennifer, thank you for letting me know the expectations of a two-year-old child and what they may or may not say.
Nancy, thank you for helping me make this story even better. Your knowledge and eye to detail is greatly appreciated. I sincerely am grateful for all of your time and hard work that you have put into t
his book.
Karen Morris, thank you for keeping me honest and pushing me to go beyond.
Ramy, thank you for your excellent wisdom and advice.
My family for wanting to hear more of my ‘little’ stories.
My fellow co-workers, thank you for asking me about how my book was going and spurring me on to finish it.
Many thanks to SPS and their members for the occasional sanity checks and much needed encouragement.
About the Author
As a child, Alicia Scarborough’s family would often find her acting out stories that she had envisioned for her toy ponies. Her mom and sisters admit that they would carefully sneak by her room to hear the conclusion of her riveting tales. Stories have always held a special place in Alicia’s heart, and as she grew up, she continued to hone her craft. Alicia makes it a personal goal of hers to up the stakes with her characters every chance that she gets.
In her tween years Alicia grew up in the beautiful Sierra Mountains in the small town of Tehachapi, California. Because houses were far apart, a bike or car was necessary for visiting friends. So instead Alicia would use her imagination to come up with interesting stories to bide her time. By the time she was 13, her family moved and settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives today.
With a Masters of Fine Arts in Interactive Media and Game Design, Alicia is able to take those skills and apply them to creating more engaging creative stories. A good game always has a story to it, and she makes it a priority to ensure that the story is present in the games she helps design.
Working fulltime as a Senior Product Engineer, Alicia’s job involves using both technical and creative skills. On her off-hours she can be found drawing with charcoals, painting with watercolors, reading stories, writing, or learning new and interesting things.
If you would like to find out more about Alicia, then please visit https://www.charmed-embers-publications.com
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