Crash!
I jumped to my feet, abandoning my relaxed position as my fight or flight instinct kicked in.
“Leo!”
Oops.
The ceramic bowl I used to hold my car keys was no longer. The mixture of beautiful swirls made up of burgundies and greys were now in shattered pieces all over the hardwood floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked, curbing my suspicion that Leo had knocked the bowl to the floor on purpose. “Don’t move. The last thing we need is for you to slice open your paw.”
I’ll stay right here.
Here was the windowsill where Leo could monitor the outdoor activity. He’d been staring outside at the colorful string of Christmas lights Ted had strung around the wrought iron fence. We were quite a ways from town, but I’d still wanted a festive appearance even if the outside of the house made it seem like we were stringing decorations for a funeral.
“What happened?” Heidi called out, suddenly appearing over the wooden banister.
“Leo bumped into one of my favorite ceramic bowls,” I replied, crossing the distance to the kitchen. There was a small closet off to the left where I kept a dustpan and a foxtail. “I’ve got it.”
“Still no Ted?”
“Still no Ted.”
Heidi and I had driven Ted home after breakfast, though he’d been very quiet. And I mean more than his usual three-word sentences. I was getting a tad bit worried about him, but he seemed to perk right back up when I mentioned I’d be needing ingredients for my spell.
Neither one of us had seen him since.
“Your grandmother didn’t save the envelopes.” Heidi was still leaning over the banister when I came back into view. “You can always try to look up your Aunt Rowena online.”
Another crash resounded through the cottage.
“Leo!”
Both Heidi and I had called out Leo’s name in unison. My voice contained a lot more frustration than it should have.
That one might have been my fault.
“I get it, Leo. You don’t want me contacting Aunt Rowena. Stop breaking things,” I grumbled, tiptoeing through the shards of glass. “You could have just said you didn’t think it was a good idea. These were really nice pieces.”
“And expensive!” Heidi called out, no longer visible as I began to sweep up the jagged slivers of glass. She must have gone back to the box of family papers. “Don’t forget that small detail.”
Would you have listened to me either way?
“You’ll never know now, will you?” I admonished, almost falling over when a loud knock came from the front door. “Darn it.”
“Did you cut yourself? I swear you’d break a leg going down a single step.”
“Yes,” I yelled back at Heidi, holding my cut finger up so that I didn’t get blood everywhere. “Don’t you dare say another word.”
Who…me? I’m the very incarnation of restraint.
“No, not you,” I said, attempting to stand without hurting myself further. “Heidi.”
“I heard that, you know!” There was a slight pause from my best friend before she asked the same question she usually did in this situation. “Do you need to go to the ER?”
Oh, Mother Nature, yes! It’s my heart. I can’t believe Heidi isn’t spending New Year’s Eve with me. It’s got to be my legs, right? I mean, they’re repulsive! They’re much too stubby for my build. I’m disproportionate.
“No, just a Band-Aid,” I answered Heidi, who thankfully couldn’t hear Leo. “Leo, Heidi loves you just as you are, and that includes your stubby legs. No human could make her go all gooey inside the way you do when you purr and slobber all over her.”
Leo’s green eyes narrowed as he contemplated my opinion, which I thought was rather intuitive and kind given that I was bleeding in the middle of the living room due to his lack of finesse.
I had a tendency to be accident prone myself, but more so in the city where there were more people to observe. Maybe it was because there were more people around to bump into, thus usually resulting in a coffee stain on every outfit hanging in my closet. My dry cleaning bill had almost been higher than my rent on a few occasions.
You know, you’re right. Jack Swanson doesn’t hold a candle to my enchanting charisma.
I might have just created a monster.
No, I take that back. This was all Nan’s fault, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Another knock came at the door.
“Come in!”
I wasn’t overly surprised to see Ted, considering he’d disappeared nearly ten hours ago in search of my material components.
“Was that the vase?” Ted asked, taking in the scene before him. A wicker basket hung over his arm, similar to the way a waiter carried a folded napkin in a posh restaurant. I could barely contain my excitement at the thought of completing the locater spell. “I can clean that up for you.”
“It wasn’t me this time,” I protested, giving Leo a sideways look in accusation. “It was Leo’s way of telling me not to reach out to Aunt Rowena.”
How was I to know that you’d listen to me without an exclamation point for once?
“Miss Rowena is not a very nice person.”
Ted’s declaration caught me by surprise. I recalled Leo saying that Ted had only been around for ten years. If Nan hadn’t spoken to Aunt Rowena in fifty-three years, outside of an occasional birthday card, how would Ted know anything about her unpleasant demeanor?
“Hey, did you know that your great-grandmother’s name was Rowena?” Heidi had taken her mission to search through the boxes seriously. “Your aunt must have been named after her.”
There are only so many female R names, you know. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
At the rate Heidi was going, she was guaranteed to be an expert in the Marigold family lineage by the end of the year. And to let you know what Leo was referring to, every Marigold female’s name begins with an R. I couldn’t tell you where it started, though I’m sure Heidi was working her way toward a reasonable explanation at some point.
“Ted, how do you know Aunt Rowena?” I asked after managing to step over the remaining small pieces of glass. The end of my index finger was beginning to burn. “I thought she and Nan hadn’t spoken to one another in decades.”
“I answered Miss Rosemary’s phone once.”
That was Ted’s first mistake.
I’d made it around the kitchen cabinet, fishing out the box of bandages from underneath the sink. Ted didn’t continue talking, and it wasn’t long after that I realized that’s all he had to say on the subject.
“So, Aunt Rowena tried to call Nan?” I prodded as I ran my finger underneath the faucet of running water. “What did she say?”
“Miss Rowena or Miss Rosemary?” Ted asked, wanting clarification. He was using the small brush to expertly sweep the remaining glass into the dustpan without incident. I curbed my jealousy at his pain-free example. “Miss Rosemary’s response was not what most polite people would consider appropriate.”
Nan might not have been from New York, but no one could say that she hadn’t spoken her mind.
“What about good old Aunt Rowena?” I dried my finger and chose a small bandage. “What did she say when she was on the phone?”
“Miss Rowena simply demanded to speak to Miss Rosemary.”
Once again, Ted stopped talking as he finished sweeping up the glass. He straightened his tall frame and began walking very carefully toward my spot in the kitchen. I pressed the Band-Aid tight against my finger to stop my exasperation from showing.
Try spending ten years with him as your partner in crime.
“And you said?”
“I informed her that Miss Rosemary wasn’t available to speak with her.”
Ted opened one of the bottom cabinets and let the glass slide down from the dustpan into the garbage can.
By this time, Leo had slowly sauntered on his short legs into the kitchen. He wasn’t quite that graceful as he leapt onto on
e of the stools and then onto the kitchen counter, nearly missing it entirely.
I remember that phone call.
“You do?” I didn’t want to act too shocked at that notion, so I cautiously closed the lid on the first aid kit and put it back where I’d found it. “Anything interesting?”
Not in the least.
“Ted, what was Aunt Rowena’s response?”
“She left a message about bread,” Ted replied as he walked over to the closet and hung the dustpan and broom back onto the small hook. “Do you need anything else this evening, Miss Raven?”
“Bread? Really?” I often found myself repeating words over and over, but neither Ted nor Leo ever seemed inclined to clarify their answers. “Why in the world would Aunt Rowena call Nan after years of not speaking to one another over something like bread?”
“I don’t know the answer to that question,” Ted responded with a slight bow. “Good night, Miss Raven.”
Leo and I both watched Ted as he took very deliberate steps toward the front door.
“Don’t say anything nasty,” I warned Leo before resting my elbows on the counter. “Ted tries his best. Do you know if Nan ever tried returning a call to Aunt Rowena?”
Do you mean by phone or something else, like sticking a needle in a voodoo doll?
“Voodoo?” I straightened quickly as Leo’s words sunk in. “As in New Orleans voodoo? Are you—”
Leo made a torturous hacking sound that I’d only heard once before, mistakenly believing that he was about to throw up a hairball. He was laughing at my naiveté, and I quickly came to the realization that he’d pulled one over on me.
You’re so gullible. It’s like catching fish in a barrel…a very small barrel.
Chapter Eight
“You’re making me nervous.”
Can a cat have asthma? I mean, I think I have it. Geez, if only Rosemary had succeeded in casting her spell properly, I’d be a Persian leopard right now. I wouldn’t be having these ailments if I was a great big Persian leopard.
I was currently sitting on my favorite oversized pillow in front of the coffee table where all the ingredients Ted had brought me had been separated into several small grey bowls made of hand-quarried and shaped granite. These containers were older than the coven my grandmother escaped so long ago and contained a magic all their own…at least, according to Leo.
The matching pestle and mortar positioned in front of Nan’s open spell book remained empty for the time being. Everything was set in order to cast the locater spell for Norman Palmer’s wallet.
Maybe it’s a panic attack. Yeah, that’s what it is. I’ve had one or two of those before, you know.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t concentrate with Heidi staring at me as if I were some lab rat in a maze, watching my every movement. In her defense, she’d only known about the Marigold lineage for a couple of weeks. This whole witchcraft thing does take some getting used to.
“I’m not doing anything to distract you, am I?” Heidi questioned from her spot on the couch. She’d covered herself with a blanket, propped her elbows on her knees, and rested her chin in both hands as if she were waiting for the feature presentation to begin. “And I gave you my word that I wouldn’t try to record you doing a spell. See? My phone is all the way over on the kitchen counter.”
Leo made a very strange sound that came from the back of his throat.
For a brief second, I wondered if he’d misdiagnosed his asthma slash panic attack for something more serious—like a kitty heart attack. A quick glance revealed that his left eye was bulging more than usual, meaning that Heidi’s request to catch me on a video casting a spell was definitely causing him some stress.
“Close your eyes, Heidi,” I demanded, needing a bit of privacy for what I was about to do. “And keep them closed until I tell you to open them.”
“Fine,” Heidi muttered, settling back in the couch cushion and bringing the covers up over her shoulders. “You two are worse than my Grandma Ruth.”
I’d met Heidi’s Grandma Ruth, and Leo and I had just been insulted.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand the evolving technological world and its immediate importance. We’re surrounded by twenty-four-seven availability of anything or anyone. I’d done my homework on witchcraft. While there were many different sites out there to uncover and investigate, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of them were completely bogus.
The other point-one percent?
Yep, you guessed it—witches who’d been ousted by their covens for going public.
“Leo, do I have a—”
Don’t ask about things you don’t want to know.
“But if there’s a—
The Marigolds have always tended to work better on their own.
There was a story there, of that I was certain. Whenever Leo didn’t want to talk about something, he always cut me off or pulled the memory gaffe.
I also don’t want you to cast this spell and dig around in a world that is best left buried, but you don’t see me complaining about my lot in life, now do you?
“Technically, you’re—”
“Oh, would the two of you stop bickering back and forth?” Heidi was now in a bad mood, but that had everything to do with Leo and me taking away her fun for the evening. “How sure are we that this spell is going to produce what we want?”
“I’m not sure of anything,” I replied with a frown, briefly considering that the reason the first spell didn’t work was because of Norman Palmer’s death being linked to the possibility of witchcraft. Now, after talking to Otis, I wasn’t so sure about any of this. “Okay. Let’s get this done.”
I double checked that the grimoire was still open to the locater spell before closing my eyes and breathing deeply, attempting to utilize the meditation skills I’d learned from my mother’s brief tutelage. Who would have known how invaluable those few words had turned out to be? It made me wonder what I’d be capable of had my mother or Nan taken the time to teach me properly.
Anyway, the incantations took a lot of concentration and energy.
Would you stop explaining this ritual to the reader? They’ll get to witness it firsthand if you just demonstrate it. Stop narrating everything.
I took another deep breath, and then another.
There were times that the initial energy needed for me to cast an enchantment just couldn’t be summoned. Fortunately, I began to sense tingling in the tips of my fingers as the beckoning of my spirit drew kindred fuel from the environment around me.
I could only picture the aura as my own vision narrowed with the casting. The material components were all present, though the verbal and somatic elements were yet to be performed. But first, my focus was required.
Take the energy from the earth. Breathe it in, Raven.
Leo had technically been left behind to do exactly this—be my guide into the supernatural world. I might give him grief about the inconvenience of his memory loss, which was the cost paid for by the dark magic, but he was very good at leading me forward.
Let it travel up your arms, into your shoulders, and become one with your own energy. Accept the warmth of nature’s power into your…
Leo’s voice gradually faded into oblivion as my craft began to take hold. Only then did I open my eyes and focus on the scrolled text on the weathered page in front of me.
Not far from sight or mind,
do not be left behind.
I called out the first two lines of the spell, allowing my instincts to guide my hand to the rosemary Ted had brought along with various other herbs for binding, the delicacy of a flower petal’s power, and the strength of the roots needed to complete the incantation.
With each stanza on the page, there was an ingredient written in Nan’s handwriting. She’d discovered a method of her own to combine each component, and one that was very easy for me to adapt to as I carried on our lineage.
Once I’d read through the spell and all the ingredients were added to the pestle, I began
to use the mortar to slowly macerate the ingredients with specific gestures in tempo. I continued to recite the enchantment until finally everything before me began to disappear leaving nothing but…blackness.
I’d come this far, though.
I wasn’t going to stop when I knew without a doubt that the incantation was working and allowing me to get a glimpse of the past.
…channel the energy…
…focus on the item in question and…
…it will be revealed…
Leo’s instructions intermittently broke through the veil, giving me the support my Nan couldn’t be here to provide.
I opened myself up even further, drawing on the energy that was radiating throughout my body as it was provided from a bottomless pool. With as much conviction as I could muster, I chanted the entirety of the spell once again.
The blackness abruptly came into focus. But it hadn’t been darkness I’d been seeing, but instead black leather. I held onto the power a while longer to get as many details as I could until the magic I’d created slowly seeped away, revealing a disbelieving Heidi riding on the edge of the couch with her mouth hanging open.
“That. Was. Incredible.”
No, it wasn’t. Tell her.
“But it was incredible,” I corrected Leo, elation replacing the currents of energy slowly leaving my body. I sat back on my pillow, grateful for the warmth of the fire behind me. The disappearance of radiating power always left me chilled to the bone. “Even better, I know exactly where Norman Palmer’s wallet is right this moment.”
Well, you might want to explain to Heidi where good ol’ Norman’s wallet is currently at, because you’re about to put all of us on another collision course with darkness.
Enchanting Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 3) Page 7