by Tonya Kappes
“It just seems a little odd.” She rapped her fingers on the counter. “Don’t you think?”
“I think everyone is creating all this bad energy.” I reached back on the shelf and grabbed some Argentum Nitricum, good for fear and nervousness. It would be a good little additive for the smudge. Oh! The sweet grass caught my eye. It was a wonderful herb to encourage kindness.
“Colton is ready for anything. He even called back to the village in Ohio to see if they were having the same weather.” Ophelia and Colton came from a village in Ohio.
“Speaking of Colton,” I had to change the subject, “did you tell him about the sleeping aide?”
The lavender stalks would be another great ingredient for the village. I plucked a few stalks from the lavender bundle and tied it to the sage before I sprinkled some dry salt and Argentums Nitricum on it.
“No,” Ophelia stressed. “I thought I would just slip it into his chamomile tea tonight.”
I laughed. She was a sneaky one. Then my gut tangled with my intuition. There was a sudden fear and the game of “what if”. What if something bad happened and we needed our sheriff?
Slowly I eased back to the ingredients so I wouldn’t alarm Ophelia and grabbed a couple stalks of juniper to add to the bundle. Juniper was a great herb to use because it will help us help ourselves and with everyone going a little coo-coo, it wasn’t going to hurt to cover all the bases.
“Let me know how it works. We don’t want him to be flat out cold. We want him to just sleep deeply enough not to snore.” I picked up dry salt and added a few more dashes, just for precaution.
“Are you ready?” I asked and grabbed my box of matches that were stored under the counter along with my feather from Clyde, Petunia’s bird. It was a long full, thick tail feather that was perfect to sweep the smudge smoke into the crowd so they could receive the full effect of the powers of the ceremony.
“I am.” She grabbed her coat and swung it around her shoulders. She quickly buttoned it up. “You probably need to grab your coat.”
“Good thinking.” I went to the back of the shop and grabbed it before we left.
On our way around the shop and up the hill, I decided to use the time to ask her about Arabella.
“Have you gone by Magical Moments?” That was my way of getting some gossip from her.
“I did.” Ophelia was tight lipped.
“And?” This was proving to be harder than I thought. Ophelia Biblio was fairly new to the community and I wasn’t sure how much she did gossip, but what young girl didn’t? I needed someone on my side and it might as well be her.
“She has some great style.” There was a spark in her eye. So…young women like style and Arabella had plenty of that. “She has some great ideas for Petunia’s shower.”
There was no sense in trying to dig for more dirt on Arabella. She might not be all evil, but she wasn’t pulling the wool over my eyes. Someone sent those flowers and it wasn’t me.
“Like what?” Haphazardly I asked, bringing the bundle closer to my body as the night air whipped around.
“She said she has some really cool edible flowers that will float in a punch bowl that she’s making. And…” Ophelia went on and on about Arabella and her great ideas. Her voice drifted as my eyes caught sight of the Gathering Rock.
The dusk light was much darker than normal. It looked like someone had started a fire in the middle of the gathering space.
The Gathering Rock was where we held all of our village meetings. It was a safe and sacred place for all spiritualists to gather. The focal point was a big rock that stood at the front of the gathering space, which was a wide open space for us to have chairs, benches, or stand if we wanted to.
Most meetings weren’t attended by all, but tonight there seemed to be a crowd. Their voices immediately dampened to a hushed whisper when they saw me and Ophelia walk up.
“Good evening.” I looked everyone in the eye as I approached and smiled.
There was a desolate feeling lingering around the space, making it difficult for my head to clear for the ceremony. Everyone was feeling the heavy blanket that had covered Whispering Falls.
The council, which included Izzy, Gerald, Petunia, and Chandra, was already seated at the front of the Gathering Rock.
I was particularly interested in Gerald and Petunia. Petunia had her back to Gerald who was begging her to look at him. Leaves were falling out of her hair by the second.
“Good evening.” I laid the bundle on the table and grabbed the gavel so I could hit it on the rock and bring the meeting to order.
“You are going to talk about the unfortunate weather we are having, right?” Izzy asked.
In other words she was telling me to make sure I was positive and didn’t alarm anyone.
“Of course I am.” I turned and banged the gavel on the rock. The crowd took a seat. Even the ones who normally stood the entire meeting took a seat on the ground or found a vacant chair. “The monthly village meeting of the Whispering Falls community is now coming to order!” I shouted and banged the rock several times.
The echo of the gavel bit the silence of the air. I hit it another time for good measure…or stalling for time.
“Good evening.” I laid the gavel back on the table. “As you can see we are having some sort of weather pattern coming through the valley and settling in a bit.” I turned and picked up the smudge and feather.
“Weather pattern?” someone from the crowd asked in a sarcastic tone.
I swallowed, trying to ignore them, but who was I trying to kid? I was amongst a group of spiritualists who knew something wasn’t right. Try as I might, it was still my duty to keep everyone calm and at peace so we could continue to have a solid village.
“I’d like to start the meeting off by doing a little cleansing smudge.” I chose to ignore the heckler and light the bundle. Slowly I walked up and down the space, swerving in and out of the spiritualists with the smoldering herbs while fanning the smoke with the feather.
I chanted a few words of encouragement. Nothing special. Just something that came to my mind as I walked around smelling the fumes and trying to cleanse the earth. Arabella sat in the back corner on the ground with her eyes closed.
I turned the bundle to where I had put the sweet grass. If anyone needed to be kinder and have a better attitude, it was her.
Cough, cough. Arabella glanced up at me. Her eyes were barely visible through all the smoke I had swept over her and around her. There was enough smoke around her to look like she was smoking a pipe.
“I never,” she gasped and stood up. “I never have seen someone screw up a smudging ceremony.”
There was an audible gasp over the crowd. Everyone’s mouth was open and all their eyes were on Arabella Paxton, though we could only see the whites of her socks, as she stomped back down the hill.
With a little check in the score box for me, I smiled and made my way back up to the front of the Gathering Rock to start the meeting.
“First I would like to congratulate Petunia Shrubwood and Gerald Regiula on their engagement.” I clapped my hands together encouraging the other spiritualists to do the same. “And I would like to invite you all to an open engagement party tomorrow on Main Street.”
“Engagement party?” Petunia’s eyes lit up. It was the only thing not looking a little peaked on her entire person. She clasped her hands together and turned her body toward Gerald. “That’s so much better than a bridal shower.”
“Whatever makes you happy.” Gerald nodded. The happiness was obviously not shared by the scowl on his face. “When did you say this was going to happen?”
“Tomorrow.” Before the word left my mouth, a clap of thunder cracked over the village followed up by a few streaks of lightning. “And we better get this meeting started.”
The sky was getting darker and scarier by the second. We made a couple of amendments to the rules, which included Rule Number Three. That was the rule where only one shop owner per couple
or household. Whichever way you looked at it, it was dumb.
“All in favor say ‘yea’.” I smacked the gavel. The crowd roared. Just for legality’s sake and to cover all the bases, I asked, “All not in favor say ‘nay’.”
There was silence.
“This meeting is now adjourned.” I banged the gavel several times.
It didn’t take long for the crowd to scatter. With the sounds in the sky, I was about to scat myself. That was before Petunia and Gerald started arguing…again.
“This is ridiculous.” Petunia stomped out from behind her chair. “We have been waiting years for this.”
“Exactly.” Gerald threw his hands in the air. “That is what I’m saying! What is the hurry? Why don’t we make sure we do this right?”
“Right?” Petunia questioned him. She looked at me.
“I’m Switzerland,” I joked and put my hands in the air. There was no way I was going to get in the middle of the argument. I pretended to get all my items gathered up and not pay any attention, but I was all ears.
“And, and…,” Petunia stumbled for the right words, “what do you mean by the right time? It is right. Right now!”
“But you have had no time to plan the wedding that you deserve.” Gerald was trying to pull out all the cards he could, which made my gut wonder why he was doing this.
To my understanding, I had thought men didn’t really care too much about the planning of the wedding. That most of that was girly details and they just showed up for pictures and the “I do’s”. In this case, there was something not right with Gerald working so hard on getting Petunia to delay the big event.
“What do we need?” Petunia shook her head. She looked Gerald over with a critical eye. “All of our friends are here. We have a great florist who will do whatever it is we want. The law is now on our side and we have houses to live in. You. You are the delay.” She poked him in the chest. Even in the glooming night-time grey, my ring glistened with each jab she made.
A clump of Petunia’s hair fell to the ground.
Gerald watched with sheer fright on his face. He looked at Petunia and then over to me.
Petunia looked down. Her mouth opened, and then she snapped it closed.
“I…,” Gerald seemed to struggle for the words, “I’m sorry dear. We can do whatever you want.”
“Hello you two.” Out of nowhere Arabella appeared out of the dark shadows. Suddenly a moonbeam darted out of the black sky like a spotlight. A spotlight on her. My eyes widened. A smile curled up on the corner of her mouth.
Gerald shifted between his feet. He was a little too fidgety for me. I watched out of the corner of my eye.
“Tell him Arabella. Tell him that it’s not too much to have my flowers for a wedding, say tomorrow.” Petunia didn’t even notice the glances and glares Arabella and Gerald were giving each other, but I sure did.
“Tomorrow?” Arabella’s perfectly manicured brows rose. She shot Gerald a look. She crossed her arms in front of her. “Why don’t we sleep on this? I’m sure you will feel better in the morning. Isn’t that right, Madame President?” She beamed at me. The moonbeam darkened. A clap of thunder rose.
“I say we see what the weather does.” I shrugged.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing what Oscar would be doing.” There was a glint in her eye and I darn well knew why.
“I’m out of here.” There was no need for me to stay around and listen to her badger me. I had better things to do like call Oscar and get in touch with KJ.
“Toodles.” Arabella drummed her fingers in the air with a big smile planted on her face.
Did she not feel the tension around us? The evil? Was it because she put it there? The question of her being a Dark-Sider nagged at me. I figured she was a Good-Sider since her grandmother was Mary Lynn.
“Toodles,” I bit back, narrowing my eyes.
Petunia and Gerald didn’t even seem to notice. They were halfway down the hill heading for home so they didn’t even see Arabella taunt me.
“Brush it off,” Madame Torres quipped when I flung my bag over my shoulder.
Brushing it off was easier said than done. I cursed Arabella the entire way home, but quickly forgot about her when I got on my comfy glow-in-the-dark bat pajamas and eased into bed.
Mewlll, meow. Mr. Prince Charming jumped on the bed and batted at my bracelet.
“I almost forgot.” I peeled the covers back and planted my feet on the ground. I had limited time when I could put the call out into the night wind for KJ and I had to have some answers.
I grabbed my coat, slipped on my shoes and with Mr. Prince Charming closely behind me, we headed outside.
The brisk air wasn’t a refreshing nip on my nose, it was a bleak bit that stole my breath every time I sucked in air. I licked my finger and stuck my arm way high above my head trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing. A few tries and I felt a shift when I pointed northwest of the village.
“KJ if you can hear me, please come visit me now. This is of the upmost importance to Whispering Falls.” The nagging thought of the spiders he had left bothered me and I needed some answers.
Before I turned around to walk back to the house, a blast of air followed up by flurry of heat swept my hair away from my face, leaving me with a warm wisp of air.
KJ stood before me.
“Hey June.” His black eyes pierced through the night. His teeth were much whiter in the dark. He laughed and pointed at my legs where you could see the bottoms of my pajamas. “Yep. Glow-in-the-dark, cool.”
“Right.” I looked down. “Listen, about those spiders.”
“Spiders?” An inquisitive look crossed his face.
“Yea, the jar of spiders you left for me.”
“I didn’t leave you any spiders. Did you order spiders?” He looked up as if he was trying to recall my last order.
“No, but you left a note.” I reminded him.
He shook his head. His long dark hair swung from side to side. “Nope. I didn’t leave you any spiders.”
“But there was a note.” Panic made my heart race.
“I never leave notes either.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest. The serious look on his face told me he was not joking around.
“Ok. Thanks. That is all I wanted.” Shaken I slowly walked back to my house. When Mr. Prince Charming and I got back on the porch, I turned around to tell KJ goodbye, but he was already gone.
“What is going on?” I asked Mr. Prince Charming. “The flowers, the spiders, things dying.” I shook my head hoping I was going to get some sleep tonight.
Chapter Thirteen
All night long I twisted and turned. I wasn’t sure what disturbed me most: Petunia and Gerald fighting, Gerald being so secretive on why he didn’t want to hurry up and have the wedding, the secret that was obvious between Gerald and Arabella, or the fact Arabella was trying to get her hands on Oscar or get my goat.
The more I tried to theorize it in my head, the more and more confused I had gotten.
The only person I could go to for advice that wouldn’t be busy with a shop was Eloise Sandlewood. Not only would she give me sound, solid advice, she would be able to help me with my confusion.
Eloise had become my surrogate mom in the spiritual world and had been Darla’s best friend when my parents lived in Whispering Falls for a brief time. Once I discovered my lineage of being a spiritualist, I found out that Eloise was also Oscar’s aunt.
Since he’d lost his powers, we had slowly been telling him about his heritage and family. He was very excited to see Eloise’s very cool tree house that was deep in the woods on the outskirts of town—a little bit beyond my cottage house.
The black night sky had turned into a dull grey by morning, making my intuition alarm me that it was more than just a weather pattern. There was definite evil that lingered all throughout the village.
“Get me out of here.” Madame Torres chirped from deep in my bag as I made my way out the door. There was
no way I could start my day without talking to Eloise first.
“What is your problem?” I pulled Madame Torres out of my bag right at the moment I saw Mr. Prince Charming’s tail darting above the tall grass in front of us. It looked as though he was pouncing side to side, front to back.
“Look at that stupid cat.” Madame Torres’s face appeared in the globe. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Mr. Prince Charming. “Maybe he will eat something with rabies.”
“That is not a nice thing to say,” I warned her as we made our way to the woods. I needed advice. I needed answers to my questions that seemed to be piling up. “I need both of you.”
Madame Torres and Mr. Prince Charming were always trying to see who could one-up the other in the spiritual department of keeping me safe. It was like I was a mom of two spoiled children who played the “she loves me more” game.
“Mr. Prince Charming!” I yelled over his way. His tail stopped and he darted off the other way. “Damn cat,” I grumbled watching him race as fast as he could out of sight. Thank goodness Madame Torres didn’t have legs to run from me. She was good enough at disappearing for days in her glass globe when she got mad at me.
“I need you to find out what is going on with Gerald. He’s holding a deep secret,” I told Madame Torres. If anyone could figure out what was going on, she would. The globe went dark. I put her back in my bag and continued through the thick heavy brush leading the way to Eloise’s house.
Once I made it to the clearing of the woods, I could see the back of Eloise’s tree house. It was early in the morning which was prime picking time for her garden where she grew the fresh herbs she used in her morning cleanse.
Eloise’s spiritual job was to walk down Main Street in the early morning before the crow crowed or any shops were open and cleanse Whispering Falls with her incenses. I would swear that was why Whispering Falls always had perfect weather. Never too hot, never too cold, never too rainy. Everything was perfect and exactly like it should be.
The gravel walkway around the tree house was magical. The Singing Pettles, a beautiful flower, sang with each of my steps. “Hmmm. Lalalllaaa,” they chirped one-by-one. Lanterns hung down from the overlying branches above my head that guided my path.