Magical Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 1)

by Kennedy Layne

  “Of course, it isn’t,” Regina muttered, shoving the basket of Skittles into my hand as if the handle was on fire. Her scowl was worse than Cora’s grimace. “You won’t listen to reason. We need to leave this town, Raven. Tonight, before midnight.”

  I managed to exhale slowly at the knowledge that nothing bad had occurred while I’d left the shop to speak with Liam. Nothing in the store seemed out of place, and the street was still choked with trick or treaters wanting their sugar fix.

  Everything was status quo.

  “I’ve already told you that I’m not leaving all of this behind.” A chorus of trick or treat, smell my feet rang out. I pasted a smile on my face as I spun around and dutifully handed out the bags of candy. Leo had been wrong. Nothing bad had happened. “Mom, I’m staying. I’m not only going to live here for the next twelve months or more, but I’m also going to learn everything I can about our family ancestry. I really, really wish you’d support me this once.”

  My mother didn’t even bother to put on platitudes for the children and their parents stopping by for their Halloween treats. Her green eyes practically glowed as her irritation mounted, but I was no longer cowered by her antics.

  “You could help me, if you wanted,” I suggested, truly believing I’d learn more from her than Leo. I waited for some sarcastic remark from the old ruffian, but his silence told me that he agreed. Unless, of course, he’d gone off in search of that fish and couldn’t hear a word of this conversation. “Whatever you and Nan argued about doesn’t matter now, Mom. She’s not here to cause you any more pain.”

  For the first time since hearing about Nan’s death, tears surfaced in my mother’s eyes. Guilt slammed into me upon seeing unspoken grief consume a daughter who’d lost her mother. It was easy to forget due to my mom’s ability to compartmentalize her life. She had a lot of pent-up issues.

  I instantly stepped forward, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

  “Oh, Mom. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Regina protested, though her actions suggested otherwise. She held onto me in a tight embrace, sniffling and swiping away her tears. I could literally count on one hand the times I’d seen this woman cry. That lone reality made me pull her even closer. “Really, I’m fine. I just think back to all the quality time we missed out on because of her stubborn ways. Your Nan was so hardheaded.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at my mother’s tenacity to hold onto past grudges, because it was evident where she’d gotten her obstinate ways. Regina still managed to somehow distance herself by calling Rosemary my Nan instead of her mother.

  “Trick or treat!”

  “Go. Give those adorable creatures candy.” Regina shooed me away while attempting to fix her makeup. She’d always hated getting emotional, and today was no exception. “And we’ll not discuss this again. The past needs to stay in the past, before it’s too late.”

  It took all my might not to roll my eyes at the effort she’d put back into trying to get me to see things her way. Regina Marigold wasn’t the type of woman to give up on anything easily, and I was proud to say that particular trait ran in the family.

  I wouldn’t give up on our family, either.

  To say I felt optimistic about my future was an understatement. This was the first time we’d connected on an emotional level in a really long time.

  I didn’t doubt that Mom would continue to try and convince me to return to New York City, but I wouldn’t allow myself to cave in my determination to learn what Nan never had a chance to teach me. I had Leo and Ted in my corner, and a lot of caring customers who wanted the tea shop to succeed.

  And Liam.

  He was a special kind of man.

  What else was there to say about the attractive sheriff, other than he made my heart flutter every time he graced me with his smile?

  That left Heidi, and it tore at my heart that it wasn’t the best of ideas to tell her that I was a witch. She was my best friend. How could I possibly keep something this important from her?

  The answer was simple.

  I couldn’t.

  I would have to find a way to tell her what was happening in my life. However, it had to be in a way that didn’t jeopardize what Nan had built here in Paramour Bay.

  In the meantime, I still had candy to hand out, and Liam had a murder to solve.

  Who was I kidding?

  We had a murder to solve, and he needed me.

  I wanted to help in our endeavor, especially considering Jacob Blackleach had been a wizard trying to steal Nan’s spell book. Liam couldn’t know about that little fact.

  The rest of the hour passed by quickly, allowing me to meet more of the residents and their families. This small Connecticut town had been so welcoming, and I’d learned quite a bit about Nan’s life here, such as her love of the book club and her affinity to the wax museum. I’m still not so sure why such an odd place had captured her heart, but it was something I could ask Leo about at a later date.

  Speaking of which, I hadn’t seen him in quite a while.

  That fish he’d been hungry for must have been really good.

  “Cora Barnes looks at least ten years younger than I do,” my mother mumbled, having taken a small compact mirror out of her purse as I was closing up the shop. I carried the tray back inside that still held a stack of leftover disposable cups and the carafe of the pumpkin spice flavored tea. The only thing left outside was the high-top table, which was extremely light due to the metal being black powder coated cast aluminum. “I wonder if that was my mother’s doing.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell my mom that she was absolutely correct in that assumption. I’d seen in the ledger that she drank a special tea that contained a variation of a Celtic youth spell I had yet to study up on. According to Leo, it wouldn’t keep her young for all eternity, but it would manage to shed five or ten years during her aging process. At least, as long as she cared for a miniature live oak tree she had in her possession and continued to drink the concoction. Oddly enough, she was required to pour out the last few drops of each daily cup onto the roots of the tiny shrub and chant a few ancient Gaelic words.

  “Well, you can’t act like it’s something you couldn’t do if you wanted to,” I suggested, storing the table off to the side until morning. I’d already seen the response Leo gave me when talking about using magic for oneself. It would be interesting to witness my mother’s reaction. “You have all the required tools at your disposal, right?”

  “Did Benny not talk to you about the consequences of abjuration magic?” Regina asked, snapping shut the compact mirror in horror. “Raven, dear, you can never—and I mean never—use magic to alter your own destiny. The ramifications are just…well, don’t do it. You’ve seen the cat.”

  “Then I guess you’ll have to help guide me, won’t you?”

  It was rare that I managed to get my mother in a corner, but this was definitely one of those sporadic moments that I would totally take advantage of before she could wiggle her way out of it.

  “I will not—”

  “So you’re going to just sit back and allow me to dabble in spells and witchcraft, knowing full well there could be unknown consequences for my actions due to my family’s negligence in seeing to my proper training?”

  Oh, you’re good.

  “Raven Lattice Marigold.”

  “Leo, where have you been?” I asked, ignoring my mother’s pronouncement of my full name. It had taken awhile, but I was glad she was here to celebrate my birthday. We’d always have cake and a bottle of wine, usually joined by Heidi. We could always FaceTime her when we got back to the house, though I was still wary of engaging in a conversation with her where I might let it slip I had been born into a family of witches. “I was getting worried a dog got to you or something.”

  I really wasn’t, but I’d rather talk to him than continuing the conversation with my mother.

  I went to find that fish, but I ended up at the library.<
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  “Benny, stop worrying about eating fish and start looking after my daughter,” Regina said before she began pacing in front of the counter. “I’ve tried every which way to get her to see reason, but only you can tell her how she’ll end up old, alone, and shackled with the role of the odd eccentric cat lady who lives on the edge of town.”

  That’s Mr. Leo to you. The part of me that was Benny—and how glorious he was—passed on to the other side with your mother, bless their souls.

  “Wait, you can hear Leo?” I was confused, seeing as Ted couldn’t hear Nan’s familiar. “I thought only I could hear him.”

  “Unfortunately, anyone in the Marigold bloodline can hear that cretin. I ignored him earlier, because I’d hoped to be back in New York City by now.”

  Take that back. I’m not a cretin. I saved your hide a time or two, now didn’t I, missy?

  “Would you two please stop?” I exclaimed, resting my hands on my hips to show them I wasn’t messing around. “Today is my birthday, and I’d like to end it on a peaceful note and a bottle of red.”

  Well, you should have thought about that before you gave Cora Barnes only part of her order. She’s about to make an entrance in three, two, one…

  “Raven, I’m going to assume you didn’t realize you’d made a mistake with my order.” Sure enough, Cora came through the glass door like a tornado. The scent of her rather musky perfume hit me first, if that were even possible. “There wasn’t nearly enough in this bag to cover what I paid for earlier.”

  Leo swooshed his bent tail in satisfaction that he was right about Cora’s reason for barging into the shop after hours. He sashayed his way toward the storage room, giving my mother a sideways glance of satisfaction that he hadn’t caved to her will. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was about to chase him the rest of the way.

  “I’m so sorry,” I apologized, trying to be sincere about my mistake, all the while covering up the brewing argument between a witch and a cat. Cora made it rather hard for me to be genuine with the way her accusing eyes were focused directly on me as if I’d burnt down her shop. “I’ll—”

  That can be arranged. It’s just a flick of a kitchen match.

  “Shut up,” Regina snapped at Leo, obviously having been out of practice at the fact that familiars continued to talk without regular humans hearing the conversation. Unfortunately, Cora instantly assumed that my mother had lashed out at her given her understanding of the context. “Now, Cora, I wasn’t—”

  “If you think for a second that you and your daughter can waltz into this town and take it over as if you never left, you have another think coming, Regina Marigold.” Cora’s cheeks had flushed in anger way past the capability of her makeup to disguise. This wasn’t a situation I was going to be able to smooth over. “I had a business arrangement with Rosemary, and I expect Raven here to honor that agreement. You have nothing to do with it, so you mind your own business.”

  “Mom, why don’t you go in the back room while I take care of this business transaction?” My mind was like a tsunami with every thought crashing in my mind on how to charm my way out of the upcoming confrontation. My training as a receptionist came back tenfold—the caller was always right. Isn’t that the same phrase used in retail? The customer was always right. “Cora, my apologies. I must not have seen the additional bags Nan had set aside.”

  For once, my mother must have realized the trouble she’d caused me with her outburst. She silently left the main area of the shop and slipped past the protective string of ivory-colored fairies. Her compliant behavior told me that she took our heritage seriously, and understood how important it was to keep our magical powers hidden away from the world.

  “You’re new.” Cora feigned the process of picking an invisible piece of lint off the sleeve of her dress. It was very hard to like a woman who thought herself better than others due to her station in life. I was honestly surprised that Nan continued to take her orders, unless Cora had respect for Rosemary Marigold…unlike the obvious distain she displayed for her protégés. “Mistakes are bound to happen.”

  “Yes, they are.” Seeing as there had only been eight bags or so left on the tray, I’d stored them underneath the cash register in a locked cabinet. The brief walk to grab them gave me the time to phrase my next statement. I wanted it to be clear that I wasn’t my grandmother. Whatever social understanding they had died with Nan. No one spoke to my mother in such a disrespecting manner. Well, except Leo, but there was nothing I could do to erase that bad blood. “My one mistake was not conducting this latest business as I saw fit.”

  Sure enough, there were two other brown bags with Cora’s name written on them. I’d picked them up before finishing my sentence, which gave me the distinct pleasure of seeing the woman’s expression of caution.

  You go, girl.

  Leo must not have wanted to be with my mother in the back room. He rounded the counter with me, though Cora’s squinted gaze was solely on me.

  “I don’t know the history between you and my mother, nor do I know what arrangement you and my grandmother had regarding your orders. There is one thing I can tell you for certain, and that is that you and I won’t be doing business anymore due to your unkind disposition.” I held out the two bags for Cora to take from my grasp. “Have a good night, Mrs. Barnes.”

  “You…you can’t do that,” Cora protested even while taking the bags from hand. “We need this special tea.”

  Yada, yada, yada. Whine, whine, whine. The clients are all the same when they no longer have access to the one thing they want—magic.

  “And had you welcomed me to town the way everyone else has done, then maybe we could have continued doing business in a polite and civil manner,” I pointed out, recalling very well our first encounter at the diner. Even Flo had mentioned Cora’s rude behavior stemming from her family’s money. “But you’ll have to buy your special blend of tea elsewhere.”

  Cora obviously wanted to protest my decision, but she gave a small huff and walked out the door without another word. I’d never been too good at confrontation, so my hands were still trembling.

  You know that she’ll be back, right? Just wait until she notices that first wrinkle in the mirror.

  “Then it better be with a sincere apology.” Although I would somehow have to make sure my mother did the same, considering it had been rude of her to shout the words shut up for all to hear. “Cora Barnes hasn’t been nice to me since she first met me at the diner earlier this week. I do feel bad about not giving Desmond his tea blend.”

  Out of everyone I’d met in this town, I’d been so sure that the person responsible for hitting Jacob Blackleach over the head was Cora Barnes. She was the only one mean enough to do that sort of thing.

  Desmond? Why would you think Desmond drinks that stuff?

  “Doesn’t he?” Leo was giving the ivory-colored fairies a sideways glance, as if making sure my mother wasn’t about to materialize through the strands. “Cora kept saying we when talking about who the tea was for.”

  My dear Raven, the magical blend was for Cora Barnes’ auxiliary group. Those women are obsessed with their youth. You should have seen—

  To say that Leo’s left eye was on the verge of popping out of its socket was an understatement. It was as if I were watching a cartoon. You know, when one of the animated characters’ eyes zoom in and out on something crazy.

  “Leo, what it is it?”

  I remember who killed Jacob Blackleach. Oh, this is bad. Really bad.

  “Who? And what’s so bad? Remembering?”

  Leo had me so confused with his confession that I took a step closer to him to see if I could comfort him. I came up short when the bell above the door rang out, but I didn’t turn around right away to see who it was…because this ominous dark energy surrounded me until I was almost choking to breathe.

  The person responsible for Jacob Blackleach’s death had just walked into my tea shop. Of that, I was drop dead certain.

/>   Leo bared his teeth and hissed while rising up on his claws, bending his body until his back was arched higher than his head. His hostile reaction told me that he was fearful about what was about to take place.

  Yes! And there’s a reason for that, Raven. You don’t know any magic. We’re doomed. We’re all going to die. I’m going to die looking like a monstrosity that was almost certainly Frankenstein’s best friend.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Flo.”

  I somehow gathered the courage to turn around after saying the murderer’s name, still unable to connect the friendly waitress to the persona of a cold-blooded killer. The redhead stood really close to the door, making it all but impossible for me to take that route to safety.

  There was an exit out back, but I’m not sure I could make it that far without Flo reaching me first. And what if she had a weapon?

  A gun? You know, I can sneak out and try to lure the sheriff over this way. I’m sure he’s still outside somewhere, making sure that everyone made it safely to their vehicles.

  I didn’t bother to respond to Leo’s panic, knowing full well he could easily slip away without being seen. He could disappear at will, yet the terror this situation invoked seemed to have him forgetting that particular gift.

  My mother, on the other hand, was still in the back room. Hopefully, she’d heard the exchange between me and Leo. She could dial 911 and get ahold of Eileen.

  Not if Regina doesn’t have her cell phone. It’s over on the counter. Oh, and Heidi’s called you both numerous times. You might want to take care of that little problem later.

  “Raven, Cora was just telling me that you’re no longer going to be making us our special little blend of tea. You can’t do that. Seriously, I’ve never looked better. I even got Albert to notice me at the diner the other day. What will it take for you to continue to make the tea for us? What is it that you want?”