by Tonya Kappes
“And the ring.”
“Petunia’s ring?”
“Yea. Supposedly it was the ring June had picked out to get for her own engagement,” Colton told Oscar all the truth about me, but it wasn’t like I would ever do anything to hurt Petunia.
“Who is telling you all this?” Oscar was on to his detective work.
“Arabella Paxton.”
Arabella. My eyes lowered. Arabella was framing me. But why? And what did she have to do with Gerald?
In that instant, I knew I had to go to Azarcabam to seek the answers before I could ever come back to Whispering Falls.
Chapter Nineteen
“How on earth did I become a suspect?” I stomped back up the hill. Mr. Prince Charming making strides next to me had to bear the brunt of my tyrant. “They can’t possibly think I had anything to do with it.”
Grrr, Mr. Prince Charming let me know his displeasure.
“Okay. Fine.” I glanced back to make sure no one had seen me slip out of the back of Glorybee and followed me. Petunia was on my list to see next. Well, really I wanted to see my great-aunt Helena. They had a terrific forensic lab run by the best spiritual wizards. They would be able to figure out if the customer had accidentally put my potion in Petunia’s cup or if there was an intention behind it. Maybe she didn’t use the potion at all. Maybe my customer had nothing to do with this and the potion got spilled by one of the animals living in the pet shop. How did Arabella play into all of this? I had a sneaky suspicion she had a key role in Gerald skipping town.
There were a lot of maybes and I had to get to the bottom of it. The more time away from Whispering Falls, the more time Arabella could hatch her evil plan to get Oscar or worse…do more harm on Whispering Falls.
The crackling of leaves made me move a little quicker. Mr. Prince Charming’s tail made it much easier for me to see even though the fog had gotten thicker the closer we got to the wooded area behind my cottage. Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University Hospital wasn’t the easiest of places to get to on foot. But that was how everyone but the Teletransporters got there. Often times I wished I had a really cool spiritual gift like teletransporting and this was one of those times.
“We have to hurry.” A creeping uneasiness tugged at the bottom of my heart.
Without looking back, Mr. Prince Charming and I hurried to the wheat field beyond the wooded area. Like always, the wheat parted giving us a little path that would lead us to the wooden sign that had several long wooden arms, each with a finger pointing in a different direction.
“Eye of Newt Crystal Ball School, Tickle Palm School, Intuition School,” I read the down the arms until I saw exactly what I needed. “There it is, Hospital.”
I reached up and tapped the finger pointing to the hospital. Like magic, a pathway appeared across the wheat field.
My eyes followed as the path gained momentum and ended at a Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University Hospital sign. Mr. Prince Charming darted ahead. I wasn’t too far behind. If my intuition was right and I was pretty sure it was, Oscar was trying to get in touch with me to question me about Petunia.
Uh, I groaned. Colton was such a pansy that he had to put Oscar up to questioning me when it wasn’t even Oscar’s jurisdiction. Even if they did try to pin Petunia’s poisoning on me, if that was what she had, then by Rule Number Five I couldn’t be arrested until all the facts were in. The only thing I couldn’t do was what I was doing now. Leave.
Yep. The rule states that I can’t be arrested and I can’t leave until it’s solved. That could be years in the spiritual world.
The sliding glass doors of the hospital opened when the sensory detected me coming. The receptionist sat at the desk with her body hunched over her computer. Her tight curls sat on her head like a brill-o pad and her small red-framed glasses made her eyes magnified, slightly scaring me a little bit.
“State your business.” She was serious.
“Petunia Shrubwood,” I stated my business. Mr. Prince Charming sat down next to my feet.
“Dang!” She smacked her desk. “This computer candy game is killing me. Did you say Petun—” She lifted her head away from her computer screen. She eyed me over the top of the red frames.
“Yes.” There was a little tension between her question and my answer. Something told me that she was on alert for anyone who was trying to get in to see Petunia.
“Name?” She grabbed a folder from the front drawer of her desk.
“June Heal.” I rubbed my wrist where my charm bracelet dangled, please let Petunia be okay.
She flipped the folder open and slid her finger down the first piece of paper in it. “June. June,” she repeated as her eyes descended down the paper. She tapped it. “June Heal.” She looked back up at me. “June Heal,” she confirmed. She stood up and looked over the counter to my feet. “You must be Mr. Prince Charming.”
Meow, meow.
I wondered what the little paper said about me and my fairy-god cat, but didn’t care when she sent me into the elevator behind her. It wasn’t a regular hospital elevator.
I stepped in. The stainless steel box didn’t have any buttons in it to push, nor did it have an escape hatch on top, which was the first thing I looked for in case I had to make a quick exit. Again…another reason I wished to have a cool teletransporting gift. No such luck.
I took my bag off my shoulder and stuck it on the other one. Madame Torres was lit up. She had some news. I hoped it was something I could use and not the cryptic stuff she handed me last time.
The elevator shot down instead of up and zigzagged right and then left, leaving me a little dizzy. I held on to my bag. The doors opened and I stepped out into a dark room. The only thing I could see was Madame Torres.
I took her out and put her up to my face.
Holding her with one hand, I waved my other hand over her.
“Magic spirit of the ball, show me Gerald past and all.”
“The past of Gerald is what you seek. Beware of gypsy for she is not meek.” Madame Torres glowed with a picture of Gerald still sitting with his head buried in his hands. A gypsy in a black veil appeared. Coins dangled from the hood on the veil covering her forehead. Madame Torres zeroed in on the gypsy eyes. The liner was thick, black and heavy just like her black eyes.
Madame Torres went black. I waved my hand again in hopes she’d give me something more, but she didn’t. All of this dark magic was draining her and me too.
“I wondered when you would be coming here.” The voice came before the purple smoke filled the space.
“Hello Aunt Helena.” Finally. Someone who could help me.
The purple smoke gave way to lights, exposing Aunt Helena. She swung around in her pointy red boots, sending her cape behind her. The cape snapped. Petunia appeared in a hospital bed behind her. It was not the usual bed you see in the hospital with the hard mattress, steel sides and million little buttons for the TV, nurse, up and down. Petunia floated on a fluff of cotton clouds, at least that was what they reminded me of. There were no tubes. She was enclosed in glass.
I dug down into my bag and pulled out the potion, along with the tea cup. I held it out for her to take. “Here is what I collected from Glorybee Pet Shop.”
“Do you want to tell me about the ingredients you have been using?” The lines around her eyes creased. Displeasure hung around her mouth.
“I guess you saw Mary Lynn.” I hung my head. There was nothing worse than getting scolded by my aunt, much less the dean of the biggest university in the spiritual world.
“Yes. I told her I would speak with you. Then this happened.” She drew her hands from under her cloak and swept one arm across, exposing her long thin hands and long red nails as she gestured toward Petunia.
“That is not my fault.”
“Let’s hope not.” She slid her arm my way and held her palm upward. Carefully I put the potion bottle and tea cup in her hand. She curled them into a ball before slipping them into the pocket of her cloak. �
�Now.” She clasped her hands back in front of her. “Tell me about this situation.”
She didn’t have to say another word. I knew exactly what she was talking about. Petunia. The potion.
“I don’t really know, but I do know Arabella Paxton is trying to frame me for it.” The nerve of her. Wild thoughts ran through my head which I kept to myself because Aunt Helena didn’t care about silly things.
“Let’s start with the Thickeris Plant. Where did it come from?” She wasn’t going to beat around the bush.
“Arabella.”
“Arabella Paxton, Mary Lynn’s granddaughter gave you Thickeris Plant?” she mocked me. Her voice held heavy sarcasm.
“Well we had just had a little tiff about following the rules. She hit on Oscar and pretty much warned me that she was going to steal him away from me,” I stated the facts. “Is it a coincidence that she just opened Magical Moments, a flower shop?”
Aunt Helena was old, but she was far from stupid. Her eyes narrowed, leaving a dark shadow down her cheeks. I didn’t know if it was the dark, scary room that put a little fright in my soul or if it was Aunt Helena, but I knew I had little time to spend there before Colton would figure out where I had gone.
“That would be a little too obvious.” Aunt Helena swept her cloak in a twirl and glided over to Petunia. “I’m assuming you want me to send the tea cup to forensics to see if someone used your potion to try to kill Petunia?”
“Madame Torres has been showing me some strange turns of events.” I walked over and looked at Petunia. She looked as if she was peacefully sleeping in her glass box. “First she showed Petunia giving everyone in her store a good look at her ring. In the background my customer—the one I gave the fertility potion to that included the Thickeris—she slipped by the crowd gathered around Petunia and had her back to Madame Torres’s perspective. It looked like she put something in Petunia’s tea cup. It was right after that Petunia went down.”
“Hmm.” Aunt Helena was engaged in what I had to say. “Go on.”
“That is all about my customer. Then I saw Gerald and Arabella secretly talking to each other. Neither of them looked happy with the other.” I walked around the glass box to Petunia’s head. The leaves still looked like they were dying, which made me worry she wasn’t getting better with the oxygen they were pumping into her. “Before any of this, Petunia noticed things around her were dying.” I pointed to her head. “She knew something was wrong. So much so that she would have married Gerald right on Main Street after he proposed if he would have agreed to it.”
“He didn’t want to?”
“No. He refused to rush it.” I placed my hands on my stomach. With my eyes closed I took a deep breath. It was time for me to go.
“That is strange since they have been together all this time.” Aunt Helena drummed her fingers together. She looked into the distance, hopefully taking in everything I was telling her and weighing the facts.
“Plus Gerald skipped town right after Petunia passed out.” That was an important part not to leave out. I rushed my words, “Madame Torres showed Gerald extremely upset in the Village of Azarcabam.”
Aunt Helena drew in a lengthy gasp. Slowly her eyes slid up to mine. They were deep, dark and scared. It wasn’t a look I had ever seen in her eyes. Chills covered my entire body. I was scared to the core.
“You will not go to the Village of Azarcabam. That is final!” The ground shook when Aunt Helena stomped her foot on the ground, making it crystal clear that she didn’t approve.
“I don’t have a choice.” My voice was fragile and shaky. My entire body shook. There had never been a time I had gone against Aunt Helena. “I’m going to be arrested for this.” I tried to steady my trembling finger when I pointed it directly at Petunia.
“Tell me,” Aunt Helena swept across the floor and stood next to me. She took my hands in hers. My hands were freezing. She gently rubbed them. “You will not be safe there. The Village of Azarcabam is not a spiritualist community. It’s full of heathens that are looking for people like us.”
“Gerald is there. He is not evil or bad, but he is there because he knows something. Something that is going to save me.”
Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming darted around the room.
“I have to go.” I watched Mr. Prince Charming. He was telling me it was time to go. They were getting closer to finding me to bring me in for questioning. I rubbed my charm bracelet. “Mr. Prince Charming will keep me safe. Madame Torres will keep me posted of anything evil coming my way.”
My eyes clung to Aunt Helena as I tried to analyze what she was thinking.
I continued, “Colton will be here soon. If I’m here, he will take me in for questioning and I won’t be able to leave Whispering Falls.” I squeezed her hands before I pulled mine away. “Please trust me. After all, I did learn my gift from the best.” My trembling lips created a shaky smile.
After living in Whispering Falls for a few months, I had gone to Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University to help hone my magical skills. She was not only the dean and my great-aunt, she was my teacher.
“Go! Now!” She twisted her cape around her followed by a puff of purple smoke and she was gone.
Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming ran over to the elevator and jumped in. Without hesitating I followed and let the elevator descend to the first floor.
The receptionist was not there.
Mewl. Mr. Prince Charming stopped at the hospital sliding doors when he saw I was not following him. Mewwwl.
“I know I have limited time, but I have to check the guest registry.” I pulled open the desk drawer where the receptionist had pulled Petunia’s file from.
Confidential was written big and bold in red on the front of it. I opened it up. The first page was a list of approved visitors along with their photos. Then there was me.
“June Heal. Village President of Whispering Falls. Niece of Dean Helena Heal. She can visit with detailed security. If she visits, do not stop her. Call Colton Lance, sheriff of Whispering Falls immediately. Order of Colton Lance.” Baffled, I looked up at Mr. Prince Charming.
How could they possibly think I was so jealous that I would hurt Petunia? How could they believe Arabella over me? Not that she had lied. I did do all those things. But they were never done out of hatred or out of malice.
Rowwwl. He darted out of the hospital, telling me I better get going.
Quickly I put the file back in the drawer where I found it. I made sure no one was around before I headed out the door.
Uh! The wind got knocked out of me like I’d been socked. Trying to catch my breath, I took a deep inhale. The stillness of the night hit my gut. I darted behind the shrubbery outside of the hospital doors just in time.
“I’m at the hospital. The receptionist told me June was here to see Petunia. Can you get a hold of the dean?” Colton snapped his phone shut and walked into the hospital.
“Just in time.” I stood up and watched him walk up to the receptionist desk. The receptionist was there sipping on a cup of coffee, which was where she must have been when I left.
A few words were exchanged between the two of them.
“Is she still there?” Colton’s voice came from my bag. I opened it. Madame Torres glowed like fire as Colton’s conversation came through her like a speaker.
I looked in the doors and the receptionist touched the beach picture hanging behind her. Instantly it showed Petunia in the glass box. No one was there. Including me.
“Where is she?” Colton demanded to know.
The receptionist spit a little bit of her coffee out of her mouth.
“She was here.” The woman swept her finger across the screen, rewinding the video. The only images it showed was Aunt Helena checking on Petunia. There wasn’t any sign of me or Mr. Prince Charming being there. “I swear she was here.”
“You’re welcome.” Madame Torres showed Aunt Helena’s face. “Go!”
Aunt Helena had erased the security tape, giving me a little
time to try to figure out exactly what had happened to Petunia.
“Get the tea cup tested,” I whispered into the globe before I stuck Madame Torres deep within my bag and headed out on my long destination to Azarcabam.
Chapter Twenty
“This should be fun.” I stood at the wooden arm in the wheat field trying to figure out exactly which way I needed to go to get to Azarcabam. It wasn’t like I could go to the airport or bus station and check departure times.
Plus I had never ventured any further than the city limits of Locust Grove or Whispering Falls. I had to rely on my intuition and magic to get me there.
Meow. Mr. Prince Charming’s long white tail was like a finger and pointed to the wooden sign. There was a new finger added with the picture of a train.
“I guess we are going on a train ride.” I reached out and touched the arm. Like magic, the wheat field parted, exposing an old locomotive.
“All aboard for Azarcabam!” The conductor hung out of the engine window.
Wooh, wooh! The train whistle screamed. Steam blew from underneath the big hunk of metal.
“I guess he means us.” Looking around, I shrugged because there was no one there but us.
There was only one passenger car attached to the engine. The big heavy doors slid open and some stairs lit up, giving Mr. Prince Charming a way to get on.
Mr. Prince Charming wasted no time and darted up the steps.
I looked back toward the wooden sign and the direction of Whispering Falls. There was a tug at my heart. I couldn’t imagine leaving Oscar Park behind, but I knew if we were ever going to have a chance at a future, I was going to have to do this.
The train didn’t wait until we were seated before the metal wheels began to turn, causing the shrill noise of hot metal on hot metal. The door slammed shut right as Mr. Prince Charming and I took a seat on one of the two red velvet benches. Mr. Prince Charming curled up and closed his eyes.