Broomstick Blend

by Kennedy Layne

  Diversion tactic number one. Don’t fall for it, Raven.

  “I might not have been the perfect mother, but I did try my best to shield you from the same mistakes I made when I was younger.”

  My mother and I both arched our brows toward Leo as a warning not to comment or add in his two cents. His head whipped up from the catnip he was munching on, a few of the green particles stuck to his upper lip in between his whiskers.

  “I was telling the truth about that research project your grandmother wanted me to write when I was fourteen as part of my witchcraft learning.” Mom released my hands and stood before beginning to walk around the tea shop to rid herself of the apprehensive energy I could sense in the room. She no longer looked at me directly as she recalled the past. “I made it a point to always strive for bigger and better, and I didn’t want to research some well-known artifact that we’d heard about a thousand times over. So, I went looking for something unique, which meant speaking with those in the coven. Long story short, one of the Barnes’ ancestors had passed away from a heart attack. Soon after that, the same son who had inherited her belongings had fallen off a ladder to his death. Rumors began to circulate, and somehow the broomstick was mentioned in passing due to it belonging to Lucille Rebecca Barnes at the time of her death. One thing led to another, and I had somehow convinced myself that the broomstick had been hexed and was the perfect subject for my project.”

  I remained silent, not wanting to interrupt my mother while she was finally sharing a piece of her childhood with me. It was most likely foolish, but I was still holding out hope that this had all been a big mistake.

  “How amazing would it be if I could devise a spell to reverse the hex?”

  My mother’s question was hypothetical, of course, but I could see where this was going a mile away.

  I wish I was a mile away. Oops. That slipped out. Carry on.

  “I wrote a list of material components that I’d need, stole the object in question from a house up in Windsor, and proceeded to search for the rare material components I needed for close to a month. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to get everything I thought I’d need for the counter-enchantment. I was also keeping detailed notes so that I could show your grandmother how I not only successfully found a cursed item, but that I’d actually reversed the hex.”

  “Leo, where were you during this time?” I asked in disbelief, completely flabbergasted that a fourteen-year-old girl could have gotten away with something so dangerous. Technically, Mom hadn’t come away unscathed, but I still couldn’t fathom how Nan and Leo had allowed something like this to unfold. “Or Nan?”

  “Oh, Leo isn’t to blame for my wayward ways back in the day,” my mother said with a soft laugh and what sounded a lot like endearment. “His role was to aid and advise your grandmother. Not me. I could have easily called forth my own familiar if I’d wanted one, but I’d had no desire to deal with any of that at the time. You have to understand, it was different then. In the summer, we were sent out to play as long as we were back for dinner or when the sun set. Plus, I had the ability to defend myself. I wasn’t nearly as awkward as you were at that age, darling.”

  I’m not so sure that I should have mixed catnip with that horse pill, Raven. I must be hallucinating, because I’m pretty sure I heard a compliment come out of your mother’s mouth. Not one for you, though. Sorry, not sorry.

  “Long story short, it turned out that the broomstick wasn’t cursed at all, but I had somehow attached a hex to it myself. An utter and complete failure.” My mom was now standing near the display window, watching vehicles drive by now and then. She had her arms crossed and those red lips of hers curled up in what appeared to be a somewhat sad smile. “I realized what was happening halfway through the incantation, but I wasn’t sure what would happen if I stopped midway through. Of course, I ran straight to your grandmother once I grasped the severity of the situation. She handled it well, explaining that testing one’s boundaries was a good thing as long as we had fail-safes in place. She simply tucked the piece of paper I’d written the components on inside the birch twigs, drove me out to the woods around thirty miles from here, and she told me to bury it handle up where it could never be found.”

  “Why wouldn’t Nan have tried to erase the hex you somehow crafted by mistake?” I asked, at a loss as to why this situation had to be made so complicated back then. “It wasn’t technically a true curse, was it?”

  I’m still thinking about that compliment. Did you hear it, Raven? Or was I hallucinating? Maybe I’m still asleep in the truck. Hey, tell the good ol’ sheriff to hit a pothole so I can stop dreaming. Maybe that will be enough to wake me up and this will have been nothing but a nightmare.

  “Think of witchcraft like baking.” My mother finally turned to face me, leaving Leo to ponder about the side effects of his catnip and antihistamine. “One can throw in a lot of ingredients and pull out either a delicious creation or something atrocious from the oven. Apply that to witchcraft. What does a cook do when something they create can’t be eaten? Throw it away, of course. Your grandmother understood that the best course of action in response to my mistake was to bury the item in question.”

  Rosemary was such a wise witch. I do miss her so.

  “Let me understand this correctly,” I said, wanting to pause the discussion for just a moment while I verified the timeline. “You basically sought out an object that wasn’t exactly cursed—thinking it was—and then caused it to be semi-hexed by casting a spell on said item. What do you think the ramifications would be to anyone in possession of the broomstick?”

  “I don’t know, and that was the problem,” my mother confessed with a sigh of resignation. “My darling Raven, that was the first time I realized what kind of power I held in my hands. Knowing that I could be responsible for someone’s death with a few material components and some words was overwhelming, and it took your grandmother months to convince me to resume my home studies.”

  Teenagers…so dramatic.

  Both my mother and I once again turned toward Leo in exasperation.

  Oh, did I think that aloud? That’s turning into a very bad habit.

  I’d never fully understood how my mother could walk away from something so important as our history. The amount of good that we were able to do in this world was insurmountable, and I now somehow felt responsible to the residents of Paramour Bay to help them in any way I could. Would I have felt the same at the age of fourteen? Realizing the consequences of such mistakes might have been enough for me to turn my back on witchcraft forever, just like my mother.

  This is your destiny, Raven.

  “And you went through overwhelming odds to be here, and I’ll be forever be grateful,” I responded genuinely. “Do you remember when I thought my love enchantment had somehow begun setting fires around town? Do you recall how worried I was that my actions had caused that kind of damage? I’m an adult and had a hard time accepting such responsibility. I can only imagine what was going through Mom’s young mind at the time.”

  “Young mind at the time?” my mother reiterated with that arched brow of hers. “Age is just a number, my dear. I’m still quite young at heart.”

  Don’t you dare start talking about my BFF, or I’ll have to hack up this delicious catnip that I’ve just finished. Images like that sear my brain, and I don’t have many more brain cells left to lose wastefully.

  “If the broomstick was never properly cursed and you buried it with whatever spell you managed to attach to it at the time, then how did it end up on some website about hexed items?” I asked, not wanting to leave any loose ends when I walked down to the antique store to join Liam. He was going to be very happy to hear that the broomstick wasn’t the cause of any deaths. “Ted also told me the broomstick had a dreadful curse attached to it.”

  It does have a spell attached to it. Ted must have thought you were talking about the one your mother cast upon it, because I now recall discussing with him all about your mother’s g
lory years. What can I say? I must have been having a senior moment.

  “Glory years?” Mom practically snorted her disbelief before shaking her head in sadness. “Raven, you need to understand that was my very first time I truly comprehended the responsibility of our family’s practice. By the time I was pregnant with you, I couldn’t continue with that life. I wanted the normality of an eight to five job, raising my daughter, and not having to worry that I could hurt someone if I made a mistake.”

  “You say that, but you did continue to utilize magic,” I pointed out, having looked back at the odd times something had worked out for me that had been against the odds. “I hadn’t known it then, but I do now.”

  “Oh, a sprinkle of magic here and there is nothing like what you’ve been doing these past ten months,” my mother said with a wave of her hand. She seemed rather sincere in the pride that laced her tone. “Honey, why do you think I’ve been so vigilant in watching over you? I don’t want you doing something where the guilt is insurmountable. I don’t believe I’ve ever told you this, but you are so much like your grandmother—vibrant, determined, and practically unstoppable when it comes to your incessant need to help others. Your sense of self-preservation is almost nonexistent, whereas mine has always been in the forefront. I’m not a bad person, Raven. I just know my limitations. The day I had you was the exact moment my heart was given arms and legs, and I realized that my powers were given to me in order to protect you as best I could.”

  My mother had never been the helicopter-type mom who hovered over every single detail of my life, nor had she ever been one of the touchy-feely variety. To know what she’d experienced on the day of my birth stole any reprimand that might have been on the tip of my tongue for the way she’d handled leaving town at the age of twenty-four, raising me unaware of our lineage, and meddling in the new life that I’d been handed by my grandmother after she passed.

  I also recognized that it hadn’t been easy for my mother to confess her mistakes and reveal the vulnerabilities she’d faced in the aftermath. There was no doubt that she would do something within five minutes that had me clenching my fists and gritting my teeth, but I wasn’t going to pass up this heart-warming moment.

  “Oh, Mom,” I said, walking around the counter so that I could hold her tight. “I wish you would have told me this years ago or even ten months ago. It would have made a world of difference.”

  What is happening? Why are you two…hugging? Sweet angel of mercy, did the squirrel apocalypse finally happen while I was napping? It’s just like I’ve been predicting all these years!

  As I’d mentioned, my mother wasn’t fond of public displays of affection. She laughed awkwardly and patted my back, giving me what I needed in the moment. Leo’s short-term memory would no doubt return any second. Now that we’d solved the broomstick mystery, it was time to crack Sheriff O’Leary’s murder case.

  You just had to remind me, didn’t you? One day of normalcy isn’t too much to ask for, is it? That reminds me, I do need to take a mental health day soon.

  “Well, now that you know just how burdensome the responsibility of witchcraft can be…is there any chance I can convince you to finally come back to the city?” my mother asked, having already pulled away and was picking off a mysteriously absent piece of lint from her white blouse.

  That moment where I’d be clenching my fists and gritting my teeth came faster than I’d expected, but I counted to ten so as not to spoil our moment, however brief.

  Try twenty. I’ve found that ten doesn’t quite do it for me.

  “Not a chance, Mom. Besides, Beetle is waiting for you over at the diner,” I reminded her as I ushered her toward the door. “I’m meeting Liam at the antique shop to speak with Lydia. Now that we know the broomstick wasn’t involved, we can tailor our questions to be more specific.”

  Or we can let the good ol’ sheriff do his own job for once. I vote we drive back to the cottage, be thankful for air conditioning, and recover from these last couple of horrible days by vegging on the couch and watching old reruns of “Bewitched” on Hulu.

  “I’m in agreement with Leo,” my mother advised, causing Leo to choke on some of the catnip morsels he was trying not to waste. It was rare my mother and Leo agreed on anything. “Let Liam handle his investigation. Come join Beetle and me for a bite to eat. Leo can veg all on his own.”

  Mom had no idea that I’d spilled the witchcraft beans to Liam, and that’s how it was going to stay. We’d already exited the tea shop, but I’d made sure to switch over the closed sign and lock up to secure the store. Now, I needed to hurry up and see to it that my mother quickly made her way to the diner. The last thing I needed was for Leo to materialize and blurt out the fact that I’d told Liam we were witches. If that should happen, my mother might actually try to hire someone to kidnap me and take me back to the city.

  “I already promised Liam that I’d join him for dinner, Mom.” I pasted a smile on my face, but this time I couldn’t pull off the lie. She saw right through me. This was the best time to cut and run. “Gotta go. Love you! Text me if you’re staying in town overnight. I’ll make sure the couch is made up for you.”

  “Oh, darling,” my mother said rather coyly. I held up a hand to stop her from sharing too much, which she had an overabundant need to do at times like this, but it was too late. “If I’m going to stay in town, I certainly won’t be using your couch. I’ll touch base with you in the morning. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble. Ta-ta!”

  My ears are burning! My ears are burning!

  “We knew it was going to happen eventually,” I muttered, observing my mother walk across the street as if she owned the town. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with, which was why it was still hard to comprehend the vulnerability she’d displayed just a few moments ago. “You don’t think…”

  That your mother just played you like a world class violinist? Considering those horrid memories that she dredged up for me, that research project of hers was definitely the beginning of the end of her fascination with magic and the birth of her desire to leave town. On the other hand, I wouldn’t put it past Regina to somehow plant false recollections in my head. Once again, I find myself in need of a recuperation day. This job should really come with hazard pay.

  “It does,” I said with a laugh. We continued to walk on the sidewalk, passing the malt shop and Mindy’s boutique. I was always careful talking to Leo in public. Technically, he could read my thoughts, but you’d be surprised at how difficult it was to carry on a conversation in that manner. “Catnip. Very expensive catnip that somehow keeps showing up on our front doorstep.”

  Speaking of doorsteps, we’d finally arrived at the entrance of the antique shop. Liam was inside, probably already having questioned Lydia about the broomstick and the list of herbal components. My arrival would signal that death by a hexed broomstick was definitely out of the equation.

  I wouldn’t say that. Did you notice that your mother evaded the question about where she buried said hexed broomstick? So help me if she buried it underneath my window at the cottage. I wouldn’t put it past her, you know. I’d have to make it my mission to haunt her until the end of all time.

  “We have enough problems than to add on worrying about a broomstick that we don’t even know what it could do, given the right circumstances,” I reminded Leo, wrapping my fingers around the handle of the glass door in front of me. “Let’s help Liam, and then we can finally talk about that mental health day.”

  Speaking of recovery, that horse pill might have been the best sleeping anecdote ever created. Is there a liquid form? I’m once again asking for a friend.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “…anyone else in the shop when Sheriff O’Leary stopped in?” Liam was still questioning Lydia as I came to stand next to him in front of the white oak bar height table that served as the shop’s payment counter. It was the only piece of furniture in the shop that appeared to be from the current century. I absolutely adored
the charming twist instead of the usual laminate counters used in most of the shops in town. “Was there a chance he could have spoken to someone on the way out? Maybe as someone was passing by?”

  Jack had already questioned Lydia, so we were already aware that there had been no customers at the time of Sheriff O’Leary’s visit. Kathleen had been at an estate auction, and she didn’t employ anyone other than Lydia. Why, then, had the palm of my hand begun to tingle?

  Uh, Raven?

  Leo’s distant voice told me that he wasn’t close by, but instead probably on the other side of the shop. I don’t believe that he was talking about the sensation of piercing needles in my palm, but he was still under the effects of the antihistamine. For all I knew, he thought he was standing right next to me and had just wandered underneath the table.

  We have a serious issue, and you want to pretend that I’m still loopy from that horse pill you gave me? Seriously, you need to see these genuine witchcraft items. And I do mean genuine.

  “I don’t believe Sheriff O’Leary spoke to anyone on his way out of the shop,” Lydia said, twirling a ring on her right hand in a rather uneasy manner. She definitely knew more than she was saying. Had Jack caught on to that fact when he’d taken her statement yesterday? Had something happened in between the time Jack had spoken to her and now? What had she remembered that could help solve this murder? “He came inside and asked me about the broomstick. I gave him what information I could find, and then he left.”

  Raven, I really think you need to come over here. The problem I mentioned? It just became bigger than anticipated.

  The bell above the door chimed, causing all three of us to see who had come into the shop. Surprisingly, it was Kathleen. She seemed a bit out of breath, and I’m pretty sure she lost a bit of color at the sight of us. The audible sigh of relief coming from Lydia was unmistakable.