“Why has it taken you so long to visit us?” Great-Aunt Olivia asked.
“Because they are afraid of her,” said a third sister who overpowered the others in both size and beauty. “My name is Rue and I am the oldest of my sisters.”
Constance found herself shivering again as they walked further into the room.
“Are you cold child?” asked Great-Aunt Lavandar. And with a snap of her fingers a warm fire appeared within their grand fireplace.
“Thank you,” Constance whispered.
“Would you like some tea?” asked Great-Aunt Rue. Her eyes were such an intense blue that Harmony found it hard to look away.”Oh, we don’t want to trouble you.”
“No trouble,” responded Great-Aunt Rue. As she snapped her fingers the room filled with the overpowering scent of cinnamon. The source of that smell, a beautiful porcelain rose colored porcelain tea pot appeared along with several small tea cups. Masterfully decorated cookies spilled onto an oval porcelain platter and made Constance’s mouth water as she remembered she’d missed lunch today.
“Stop showing off, Rue,” snapped her sister, Olivia. “Are you hungry?” she asked as she picked up a hand painted tea cup and began to fill it with the delicious smelling brew.
“Well, since it’s here, yes, thank you I’d love a cup of tea,” answered Harmony as Constance bobbed her head in agreement and reached for a cookie.
Silence fell over the room as Constance remembered that her Great-Aunt had asked her a question; a question that she was at a loss to answer.
Not knowing where to start Harmony stood up, taking her tea cup with her. “I guess that we weren’t sure we were welcome,” she started off.
“Nonsense!” replied Great-Aunt Rue. “You girls never came to your mother’s families’ house because you are afraid of your Great-Grandmother. Isn’t that right?” she asked with eyes that seemed to bore through both Harmony and Constance.
“Is that so?” came a voice at the top of an unseen stairway.
Chapter Fifteen
The building on the cottages is in full swing and we are all so excited. It has taken longer than any of us had expected, but at least it has begun. The City made numerous demands before we even broke ground and it was clear that both Larry and Jonathan were both getting pretty frustrated.
There are trucks parked all over the site. Electrical lines are being strung over temporary poles and orange lines of paint spray clearly identify walking trails, the stable and the actual location of each of the cottages. Plumbing pipes are being unloaded by Jeremy Craig; one of our local plumbers who I guess is now working on our project. Man there is a lot of stuff going on.
I heard an engine roar and was surprised to see Harmony racing up the hill in an old white city truck. I have to admit that she looked quite powerful behind the wheel and happy too.
“Hey Olivia,” yelled Harmony as she waved at me. “I’m delivering the city truck Jonathan picked out. Cool, huh?” As she turned the truck ignition off Larry, Jonathan and Matt all spilled out of the command central trailer surrounding the vehicle like a group of excited little boys.
“Hi Harmony,” Jonathan shouted. “Is this her? Is this my new baby?” he asked laughing.
“It is indeed. All she needs is a good wash and some TLC. I filled the tank for you on my way up, courtesy of the City of New Moon Beach of course,” she said turning the ignition switch off.
Before she could reach for the doors handle Matt was there sweeping it open and reaching for Harmony’s hand. Well, the seat was pretty high on that truck so I guess she might have needed some help to get down. It’s just that it was so unusual for Harmony to need anything from anyone; especially a man. There was definitely a change in their behavior towards each other. I had to wonder if the tides had completely changed between Harmony and Matt. Hmm?
“I love it Harmony. And I especially love the fact that we could afford to buy it without selling my car. Thanks for all of your help,” said Jonathan.
Apparently Jonathan and Harmony had worked it all out between them and he was the proud owner of a new, used truck; funny that I never heard anything about them meeting.
“I want to paint it bright red and put our logo on the side ASAP,” said Jonathan with a smile.
“We have a logo?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. I think I forgot to tell you. Matt and I came up with it. I’ll have to show you later,” said Harmony.
“You and Matt just made it? No input from Constance or me?” I asked. I knew that I was being a brat, but I did feel left out.
Without thinking Harmony said, “Oh, Constance has seen it. We looked at it together when we had dinner with Ante and her the other night,” she said, heading off towards the trailer.
“You and Matt and Constance and Ante had dinner and talked about the logo, but never thought to include me?” I asked. Now I know I was sounding like a baby; but she had hurt my feelings. They all had.
“It’s wasn’t any big deal,” Harmony answered, heading off towards the orchards with Matt; mindless of the fact that she had just stuck a knife in my already insecure heart.
Feeling like I didn’t quite belong here at the moment I quietly slipped into my VW and headed down the hill; passing Blitz on my way. It’s okay. I should be happy for them all. Apparently Harmony and Matt are a thing now. And man, I have to admit that I’m surprised to hear that Constance and Ante had joined them for a night out. And Blitz’s trip up the hill sealed it all. Wow, I guess the gods had decided to just slap me across the face with all of this info. I think I just remembered my dad saying to me one time, Be careful what you wish for. I guess he was right; I shouldn’t have wished for help from the gods.
Stopping at McDonalds I grabbed a quarter pounder, extra large fries and a chocolate shake. I was ravenous remembering that all I had eaten today was a granola bar and multiple cups of coffee. There is nothing to soothe the soul like a quarter pounder.
As I drove home, I planned out my evening. I had a great new book by author, Rebecca Forster. And I was going to dive into it once I finished my dinner or at least that had been my plan. I think I was into book two of her The Witness Series and I had been wondering what would happen to Josie Bates for far too long.
Walking in my front door, I found Miss Cassandra sitting waiting for me. Without hesitating for her to say anything I grabbed a can of chunky chicken style cat food and filled her bowl. Adding fresh water and dry food to her other bowls, I wandered off to devour my dinner in front of the nightly news. It wasn’t until the news was ending that I noticed that my cat had not joined me on my couch. Even when she is mad at me, she has always joined me, even if it is just to complain.
I called out for Miss Cassandra and wandered back into the kitchen to throw my trash away. And there she sat. She had not moved and her food remained untouched.
“She’s been like that for a while now, since before you got home from work,” I heard Meghan say. “We’ve tried to wake her, but nothing seems to work,” added Marv. “We didn’t want to worry you. We just figured she was being her normal difficult self,” said Meghan.
I sat down on the floor in front of Miss Cassandra and just looked at her. Her eyes were fixed but I could see something reflected in them. I slowly reached out and began to pet her fur. “Miss Cassandra,” I started. “Are you okay? Wake up. Wake up Miss Cassandra.”
A Low growl followed by hissing escaped from my cat. But it did not appear to be directed at me and I was starting to get worried. What was happening to my cat? As my familiar she had never done anything like this before. I wondered if what had been happening to me of late was happening to her now. Was she night flying? Is this what it looked like?
Just as I was going to reach out to collect Miss Cassandra on my lap, she came out of her daze taking a swipe at me with her claws fully extended. I jumped back as her paw connected with my wrist.
“Ouch, what the heck is wrong with you?” I yelled at Miss Cassandra, who was staring back at me w
ith a blank look.
“What?” she asked.
“What indeed. You hurt me. Where were you for the last hour or so?” I asked, wrapping my fingers around one nasty cat scratch.
“I’m not sure,” she responded slowly. “I’m really not sure. This is quite extraordinary and has never happened to me before.”
“Were you night flying?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. I really don’t know. Maybe,” she responded. “But I was somewhere far from here and I was with a large group of witches. That’s all that I can remember,” she said slowly. “Except one more thing,” she offered as her copper eyes rested on me. “They were all talking about you, Olivia.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Me? They were talking about me?” I asked rather alarmed.
“Yes. But don’t ask me what they were saying because I have no idea. I just knew they were talking about you,” said Miss Cassandra stretching out her body as if she’d been trapped in the same position for far too long, which of course, she had been.
“Please get out of my way, I am absolutely starving and need to eat - now,” she said as she raced for her food bowls. Emptying them faster than I had ever seen her do before, I cautioned her to slow down.
“Don’t tell me to slow down. I’m starved!” she hissed at me.
“Well, if you’re going to be that way I’ll leave you alone,” I said moving back towards my couch and novel. Snuggling down into the couch, I opened the front cover of Silent Witness only to find Miss Cassandra’s face peering over page one.
“May I please have something else to eat? I mean it. I’m starving. Whatever I did or wherever I went it must have required an enormous amount of energy because I am bone tired and starving.”
I opened a second can of cat food and poured it in her bowl only to see her instantly gobble it down. And then, just as quickly, she raced to the foot of my bed, crawled up and went immediately to sleep. What the heck was going on?
I could hear both Meghan and Marv discussing what they thought had happened to Miss Cassandra. Meghan reminded Marv that my cat had never glowed, nor had she disappeared. She had simply remained frozen in the same spot for too long. Neither of them seemed to have the correct answer for what had happened to Miss C. But both agreed that they didn’t think that she’d had any control over the situation, followed by an argument over whether cats could actually night fly at all.
I know that I should be worried, wondering what had just happened to my cat. But I really couldn’t handle one more thing in my tiny brain. I preferred to get lost in the life of Forster’s character, Josie Bates. Maybe her life was going a little better than mine was these days. I could hope anyway.
Before I got fully lost in the story, I went in search of a bowl of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. If there was ever a day when I needed to be indulged, it was today. So I scooped up three round mounds of the chocolaty treat before returning to the couch.
It wasn’t until I’d finished reading chapter twelve and devoured the last of my dessert that I began to feel a little sleepy. But the story was so good I hated to put it away for the night; just one more chapter.
Sometime much later I woke up feeling warm and snuggly and recognizing a familiar scent of aftershave. Jonathan, I thought as I snuggled further down into the covers. “This is so nice,” I said without thinking. There was nowhere else that I wanted to be and I felt total happiness, briefly.
Slowly at first, reality started to creep in. Then, like a bolt of lightning I sat up in what had to be Jonathan’s bed in Larry’s house. I saw Jonathan’s wallet and keys, his jacket with the MaxDon Land Development logo on it thrown next to his dusty jeans. Luckily for me he was nowhere to be seen. Unluckily for me, I could hear him singing to himself in the adjacent shower.
OMG, OMG, OMG what am I going to do? Why had I flown here of all places? Pulling the blankets off I was relieved to see that I was still wearing the clothes I had on when I fell asleep at home; the same clothes I had worn all day yesterday. I had to get out of this room and quickly. Listening to the hallway door, I detected no noise and silently let myself out of Jonathan’s room.
As I had never been upstairs in Larry’s house I was uncertain which way to go. I silently set up a quick spell asking the gods to direct my steps. To my delight the hallway glowed giving me the directions that I needed. I followed the glow down the stairs and out the front door thinking that no one was the wiser.
What I could not have known was that Matt was sitting in a chair in the kitchen with a clear view of the front door. Without ever saying a thing he had witnessed my escape. Smiling to himself, Matt went back to finishing his early morning paper and breakfast.
Larry lived about a ten minute walk from my house so I quickly hoofed it home only to find myself locked out. Damn. Could things get any worse?
“Good morning,” shouted Mr. Schwartz. “You’re up early.”
Knowing that I was stuck for the moment I walked over and engaged in a brief conversation with my neighbor. Yes, business was great. And we loved having Mrs. Schwartz work with us. As he reached for his morning paper I knew that the conversation was finally ending and I could head back to my house to face my dilemma.
To my surprise, I found my front door wide open. “Don’t panic,” said Marv softly. “This is something that I only recently learned I could do.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, heading straight for my bathroom and a morning shower. I didn’t want to think about where I had been or how I had gotten there. I wanted to wash it all away.
“I’m sorry Olivia,” I jumped as I heard Meghan explain. “We never saw you leave last night.”
“It’s okay,” I said to Meghan. “I just need some alone time, please.” I had been holding back tears for so long that I could no longer stop them. I felt so terribly out of sorts, like I didn’t know who I was anymore. What would have happened if Jonathan had woken up and found me in his bed or what if he came out of the shower to find me? How would I ever explain myself? Although Jonathan and I were close and I knew that I was in love with him, we had never been intimate. The whole night flying event had left me feeling embarrassed and strained.
I stayed in the shower as long as I could -allowing the warm water to wash away my anxiousness. Jumping out of the shower, I dried my body before wrapping my hair in a towel and went in search of Miss Cassandra. I found her on my bed, stretching like Rip Van Winkle.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s like I fell into a deep black hole and just crawled out,” she responded. “I need to eat!”
“Hang on a moment while I throw on a robe and get you some food,” I said moving towards my kitchen. “We need to talk,” I said. “I need to get a better understanding of what happened to you.”
“Good luck,” she responded. “I don’t really know what happened to me. I just hope that it doesn’t happen again. It really messed with my psyche.”
“It’s getting late and I need to get to work. Would you please come with me today so that we can talk later?”
“I’ll come, but I’m not sure how much good I’ll be, “she said, curling back up in the sun drenched living room carpet. In a wink, Miss Cassandra was once again fast asleep, leaving me with even more questions.
I finished dressing and headed off to the shop, alone. Once there I silently wandered around the shop marking off the current inventory in preparation for my next big order. I was deep into my job before I looked up to see Matt in the shop doorway.
“I don’t want to bother you. You look so focused on what you’re doing,” he said with a smile. “Just wanted to stop by and tell you that your secret is safe with me,” he said winking as he closed the shop door.
My secret, huh? Which secret? I could only wonder at this point. There were so many secrets that I was attempting to balance right now.
Chapter Seventeen
After my morning run by the beach, I stopped by Gino’s on my way t
o my shop. The smell of bear claws was so enticing that I just couldn’t pass them up. Angelica greeted me with a warm smile and asked if there was anything else that she could get me.
“My life back,” I said under my breath.
“Sorry, I missed that. What is it I can get you?”
“How about two café mochas? I think I need a little chocolate this morning,” I answered. In a matter of moments with my hands full of sweets and coffee, I entered the shop to find it in a shamble.
“What the heck?” I said out loud, just as Gail followed me through our front door saying something a bit more colorful.
“Who did this Gail?” I shouted.
“I wish I knew. I just got here too.”
Bolts of fabric were tossed on the floor and ribbon was unrolled everywhere. Cans of spray adhesive were lined up all over the couches and bags of foam had been opened with white frothy material looking like it was ready to explode out. Nothing was where it should have been. Patterns were scattered across the cutting tables and rolls of thread peaked out from under our couches.
“This does not look like regular vandalism,” I said. “Nothing is broken.”
“Olivia, there is a taste of magic in the air; bad magic,” said Gail. “Whoever did this has very strong magical powers that leave a trace.”
“But why? Who is out to get me now?”
“I don’t know, but we have our work cut out for us. Lock the front door and I’ll get started. We have classes in an hour.”
Although I knew that Marv and Meghan would gladly help I couldn’t risk the chance of patrons looking through the windows only to see bolts of fabric levitating back to their shelves. I also wanted to call Mrs. Schwartz but before doing that I had to ask Gail for a little different type of help.
“Gail, you are much better at seeking out truths than I. Will you please cast a spell to find out who or what is responsible for this and to protect us from any future evil escapades? Do you think we might have somehow invited a poltergeist into our shop?”
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