by Tonya Kappes
Her negative energy had to be why the weather was off. There was no other explanation. Unless…it was my customer.
“Be at Wicked Good at eight o’clock tonight.” I reached out and patted Petunia on the arm. I turned to Arabella. My voice was cold and crisp, “You can deliver your little petals yourself to Raven at Wicked Good.”
Arabella drew back like I had just offended her. “Are you feeling okay June?”
“You better watch yourself,” I warned in a whisper when I passed her on my way back to my shop.
A few minutes later I was standing on the stoop of A Charming Cure feeling a little bit better.
“Everything has been great,” Faith assured me when I walked back to the counter where she was just finishing up with a customer. The shop was filled.
“Something terrible has happened.” Madame Torres glowed from the bottom of the bag.
“Do you mind?” I pointed around the store as I excused myself to the back room of the shop.
“Of course I don’t.” Faith shrugged. Her blue eyes widened. “I love working here.”
“Great.” I dismissed myself.
I reached in my bag and pulled out Madame Torres setting her on the table. “Go on,” I encouraged her, though her eyes told me I wasn’t going to like what I saw.
Like a movie, Madame Torres showed me what she was talking about.
Gerald and Petunia were having a little spat in the back of The Gathering Grove where moments earlier I had seen him embracing Arabella. They were still arguing about when they should get married. Petunia claimed they had to do it ASAP while Gerald protested they had to wait a while longer. Petunia grew more mad with each word he was saying. She stomped her foot on the ground, Clyde flew off her shoulder, more dried leaves fell out along with a bird. A dead bird. Petunia looked down and then back at Gerald. Her face was no longer ashen, it was a deep grey like she was dead…she fell to the ground.
Chapter Sixteen
I rushed back to The Gathering Grove as quick as I could without a word between us. There was thick tension in the air. Something was wrong and I didn’t need to see the black cloud that hung over Whispering Falls to tell me because my intuition hit my gut like someone had thrown a bowling ball at my stomach.
I pushed my way past some of the employees to find Colton Lance was already there.
“What happened?” I asked Colton.
“Not sure.” He was knelt down next to her. “She’s still breathing.” Sirens blared causing it hard for me to hear him. “Back away!” he yelled, motioning the crowd to make way for the Karima sisters.
I stepped back and peered around the crowd that had huddled in the shop for Gerald. He was there when Madame Torres showed us what was going on, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen now. He had to be here somewhere. I twirled around to see if I could find the top hat that stuck out like a sore thumb. He would never leave Petunia. Would he?
“Where is Gerald?” I whispered to Chandra who was standing in the front of the crowd with a hanky over her mouth.
“Oh June,” she wept. “Isn’t this terrible?”
“Yes. Awful. Where is Gerald?” There was something not right with this entire situation. One minute Gerald and Petunia were talking, the next minute she’s on the ground and her fiancé was nowhere to be seen? That definitely struck me as odd.
“I have no idea. All I know was he was demanding they keep the wedding at a later date and she refused.” Chandra pointed to A Cleansing Spirit Spa. “They were so loud, I could hear them all the way down to my shop. I was working on a customer’s bunions when I heard Petunia scream. Next thing I know here we are.”
“Did you see Gerald?” I asked Ophelia.
“No. I heard nothing.” She shrugged. “A customer came in and said there was a woman on the ground in the tea shop. That’s when I called Colton.”
“I said move it!” Constance Karima screeched, wheeling the gurney through the crowd, taking no prisoners if she took someone out. “Trying to save a life here people!”
Everyone parted, letting the Karimas do their thing. The crowd followed them to the street where the hearse-slash-ambulance waited.
The Karimas were good at their job—they worked like a well-oiled machine. In one swoop, they had Petunia on the gurney, strapped in, and back in the ambulance, which was really a hearse with a light, before the blink of a bat’s eye.
Arabella stood next to the hearse. A tear glistened on her pale heart-shaped face. I held the image in my mind while I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Cough, cough. The feelings I got from the image made me nearly pass out.
“June?” Chandra’s hand was heavy on my back. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” I smiled and shook my head. I looked back over at Arabella. She was gone.
The lights rotated on the ambulance before the blare of the sirens could be heard, echoing off the mountains as the sisters threw the car in gear and took off toward Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University Hospital. It was the closest spiritual hospital around here.
It wasn’t like we could send our people to a regular hospital because sometimes we didn’t have what non-spiritualists could get.
My great-aunt Helena was the dean at the University, which meant she oversaw all the hospital activities. I would definitely be getting in touch with her, especially to see if Petunia had any visitors…like Gerald.
I took one more look around to see if I saw him, but he wasn’t there. Finding him and trying to figure out why Arabella was so emotional was going at the top of my list of things to check out after I talked to Colton.
“Well?” I interrupted Colton as he was writing something down in his cop notebook. His shiny nametag read “Colton Lance” in bold black letters.
He took off his hat and stuck it under his armpit. He ran his big hands through his messy blond hair. “Got me.” He shrugged. “No visible signs of trauma.” He hesitated like his words tentatively tested the idea of something else. “I wonder if she was poisoned.”
“Poisoned?” A warning whispered in my head followed up by affirmation from my intuition. Poisoned? Petunia was poisoned.
Chapter Seventeen
“Something is not adding up.” I paced back and forth in my family room.
Madame Torres sat on the coffee table while Mr. Prince Charming sat on my couch with his leg straight up in the air, cleaning his nether region.
“What do you mean?” Bella sat on the edge of the couch. She dangled my bracelet from her fingertips.
I walked over and let her clasp it on my wrist, feeling completely better once it was fastened and back on my body. A sense of relief crept through my bones.
Mewlll. Mr. Prince Charming turned his attention to what we were doing. He jumped up and ran to the edge of the couch next to Bella. He batted the dangling charms.
“Yes. I need all the protection I can get.” I felt the charms and found the new one with the dove and circle. “But what does this mean?”
“We need to figure out what is going on around here.” Bella stood up and walked over to the sink. She leaned on it, peering out the window. “The darkness has engulfed the entire town. I’m glad you canceled the party. I don’t think anyone should be out in this.”
Unfortunately, this was the result of evil lurking in the town and Eloise had to do a cleansing ceremony to get rid of it. Maybe two or three cleansing ceremonies.
“Gerald looks awfully suspicious,” I noted.
“He does. I’m having a hard time trying to reason with the poisoning thing.” Bella shook her head and turned back toward me. “I really have to get home. I don’t want to be anywhere near the cleansing.” She pointed out the window.
I looked.
There was a faint light going down the hill toward Whispering Falls. Eloise had her lantern on full blast as she made her way to Main Street where she would begin the lengthy process of ridding the evil from the air.
We said our goodbyes and she disappeared int
o the dark night.
“I have the answers you shall seek.” A hazy purple glowed from Madame Torres. The closer I got, the brighter the tint.
I knelt down next to the coffee table and placed a hand on each side of her, slightly cupping the ball.
“Magic spirit of the ball show me the past. Oh magic one, show me the past I seek of Petunia Shrubwood and Gerald Regiula.” Slowly I raised my hands, hovered them over the ball for a moment before I waved them in a back and forth motion.
The ball clouded with a dark red hue, almost the color of deep blood. Small bubbles burst inside the globe, making a picture of the inside of Glorybee and Petunia rushing around showing everyone her ring. The customer I had helped with her daughter’s potion stood to the side watching every single move Petunia made. The look in her eyes was of disgust—almost hatred. Petunia walked over to the counter and picked up a cup of tea, “He owns The Gathering Grove. You should go and grab a cup of tea. It’s the best in the south.” Petunia took a sip and put the tea back. My customer walked over and looked at the tea. She glanced around before putting something in Petunia’s cup.
In a blink, Madame Torres shut off.
“Shit.” I bit my lip. “There is only one thing to do.” I reached over to a curled-up Mr. Prince Charming, nestled on the couch pillows. “We have to go break into Glorybee to see if we can find something.”
Though it was a long shot because I was sure Colton had combed the place after he locked Glorybee’s door with a sign reading: Closed Until Further Notice.
Carefully I picked up Madame Torres and placed her back in my bag. I stood up and like he knew what I was doing, Mr. Prince Charming got up and stretched.
Meow, meow. He rubbed the side of his head on my wrist, directly on the dangling charms. If this was any other cat, I would believe it was looking for a good place to scratch. Not Mr. Prince Charming. He was warning me not to take off the bracelet.
“Don’t worry.” This type of caution from him meant there was imminent danger in my future and to watch my back. “You are going to be right by my side.”
I stood up, put my coat on and threw the bag over my shoulder.
“Let’s go.” I took a deep breath along with a deep gulp before opening the door and disappearing into the abyss of darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
The chill hung over me like a thick blanket sending goose bumps all over my body. It was the first time I could recall Whispering Falls’ weather being so cold. I guessed that was what evil did…bring misery to everyone in its path.
Still, the question hung around me. Why would anyone hurt Petunia? If it was my customer, who was she? Where did she come from?
“Could it be any colder?” I flipped up the collar up on my red coat to protect my face from the whipping wind that tore into me like I had pissed it off.
Even Mr. Prince Charming looked cold and he had enough fur on him to make two sweaters. He shot out ahead of me, making it difficult for me to see. In the distance I could see the slow swing of light, to and fro, taking comfort in knowing that I was headed in the right direction—not to mention I wouldn’t be alone in the village. Eloise’s incense filled the evil night air.
I made my way to the back of Glorybee where Petunia used the back door to get into her apartment situated behind the shop. Mr. Prince Charming waited for me just inside the frame.
“You have to make sure the animals stay calm while I snoop around.” It was very clear why he had to come with me. He had spent so much time there, the animals knew him better than me. Plus I couldn’t risk them going nuts when I intruded on their territory, sending them into a flurry of frenzy, which could be heard outside of the pet store.
Many times something would go wrong and I could hear the displeasure of Clyde while I was in A Charming Cure.
I pulled out a pen from deep within my bag and unscrewed the barrel to get the small thin plastic ink tube out. This was a trick I had learned from Oscar when we were kids. He could break into anywhere, any lock by veraciously rubbing the plastic between the palms of his hands to heat up the ink, then breaking the plastic in half letting the hot ink ooze into the hole of the lock. This allowed the lock to heat up enough that anything you stuck in there would easily open it.
And it still worked like a charm. I ran my hand up the dark wall before I shut the door behind me. The light switch was on the right side and I flipped it on. Clyde’s cage was to the right, but it was empty. The small kitchenette was as clean as a whistle, which surprised me since she was always surrounded by animals. There didn’t seem to be any drink glasses out, let alone the one Madame Torres had shown me in the crystal ball. That was the one I was on a mission to get.
The first place to look would be the counter in the shop. Madame Torres was good about leading me to exactly where I needed to go, even if I was a few hours too late to save Petunia.
I took my cell phone out of my bag so I could use the flashlight feature. If Colton or even Eloise saw a light on in the shop, they would surely be there to investigate.
Slowly I opened the door between Petunia’s living space and the shop, just enough to get an eyeball full of shop. It was dark and quiet like I expected. The large front windows showed a perfect view of Main Street. The carriage lights, though the light was somewhat dismal from the evil fog that had seemed to set in, did illuminate enough to see Eloise was walking away from the shop and toward the other end of Main Street near Two Sisters and a Funeral.
The small cell phone flashlight was perfect for what I needed. Mr. Prince Charming did his thing keeping the animals quiet while I nosed around.
Who, who. The owl sat at the top of the tree with one eye opened. He was definitely keeping that one eye on me. A couple of birds soared through the air and did a couple of dive bombs in my direction to see what I was doing. There was sadness in the air, making it hard to breathe or maybe it was my nerves making me heave in and out. I was hoping there was something, anything to clue me in on what had happened to Petunia and why Gerald hadn’t been seen since. And if I could find the cup, I could tell if my customer had messed with it.
Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming was a little more quiet than normal. I could see his long white tail sticking up in another aisle, like a white flag waving in the night. I rushed over to see what he was doing and shined the flashlight in his direction before he darted off.
The potion bottle I had given the customer for her daughter’s fertility was lying on its side on one of the shelves with the lid off. Carefully I picked it up and looked in it. The potion was gone.
Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming was across the room at the counter. I slipped the potion bottle in my bag and went over to see what else he had found for me.
“The cup,” I whispered and gave him a little scratch behind his ears. “Good boy.”
I shined the flashlight in the tea cup that’d had Gerald’s tea that Petunia had boasted about. It was empty too, but there was a little ring of dried, leftover tea on the bottom. Enough to get a sample.
Mewl.
I slipped the cup in my bag and went to the front of the store where Mr. Prince Charming hunkered down in front of the window.
“Good idea.” I got on my knees and began to crawl toward him. The risk of someone watching the window at Glorybee was highly likely and I didn’t want to be seen.
Madame Torres glowed causing the fabric of my bag to light up. Quickly I crawled behind one of the shelves before taking her out.
“Gerald’s fortune is written in the stars. His past is in the galaxy trying to get out on the full moon…” Madame Torres drifted off. The glass ball showed Gerald sitting on a bed with his head in his lap, visibly crying. Madame Torres’s cold grey eyes appeared. They matched the evil fog that was still blanketing all of Whispering Falls. “The past is near. The answers you seek are far, far away in the Village of Azarcabam. Fear. June Heal, fear.”
Madame Torres went black.
“Hold on,” I whispered, shaking her back and forth tryi
ng to get her to come back. “Fear? Fear what?”
Mewl.
This time Mr. Prince Charming was a bit more urgent.
“Uh.” I put Madame Torres back in the bag and continued back on my journey on my hands and knees to find Mr. Prince Charming. “I’m going to have to look up this Azarwhatchamacallit.”
I couldn’t say the name, much less remember it.
“What did she mean his past? Gerald has a past?” As far as I knew, Gerald had always lived in Whispering Falls. I hadn’t been here long. Whispering Falls was like every other city in Kentucky and it wasn’t exempt from idle gossip. I would have heard something about a shady past if he had one.
“I don’t know. That is why I called you.” Colton was right outside of the shop door standing on Main Street talking to someone. “I wouldn’t say June had anything to do with it, but she has been awfully strange since they got engaged this morning.”
“I saw her a couple of times and she seemed fine,” Oscar’s voice was resigned.
My mouth flew open. Mr. Prince Charming put his paw on my hand, since I was still in a crawling position. He knew I was about to lose it. I eased myself down and sat cross-legged with my ear to the door. Why on earth did Colton call Oscar about me? And what was he worried about?
“Several members of the community said she fainted when she saw Gerald propose to Petunia. Arabella said she was there when they were trying to wake June. Petunia was telling them how June was jealous that she wasn’t getting married to you.”
“Me?” Oscar sounded shocked.
I let out a small sigh and lowered my head.
“Yea and that she had been running all around the town doing who knows what,” Colton paused.
“What about the fiancé? Gerald?” Oscar asked some great questions. That should be the number one suspect on everyone’s mind, not me.
“He checks out fine. He went to be with Petunia at the hospital.” Colton thought he knew everything. But he didn’t have a Madame Torres. Gerald was far from the hospital and I was going to find out why.