by Adele Abbott
“Mirabel Millbright, what are you doing?” she said. “You’re the most powerful witch in Candlefield. Why can’t you sort this out? Come on, woman! Pull yourself together. How do you expect anyone to have any respect for you if you can’t control your own magic?”
I’d never heard her speak like this before. She sounded—vulnerable—that was the only word for it. This was not the Grandma I’d come to know; the Grandma who was so sure of herself. It was like watching a different person. It upset me to see her like this.
“Come on, Mirabel,” she said, again.
I felt like an intruder, and wanted to leave, but I seemed to be frozen to the spot. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually felt sorry for her.
“Come on, Mirabel!” she shouted. “Enough’s enough! Sort this out!”
Suddenly, she went into some kind of trance-like state, and her whole body seemed to be vibrating. Then, just as quickly, she snapped out of it.
“And about time too! Don’t ever do that again.” She scolded herself.
If she knew I’d seen her, she’d either be devastated, or so angry she’d tear me in two. I crept slowly back downstairs, and left quietly through the front door.
This was a side of Grandma I hadn’t known existed.
I magicked myself back to the office, and was still trying to figure out what I had just witnessed when my phone rang. It was Kathy.
“Thank you so much, Jill.”
“What’s happened?”
“I assumed you must have found your grandmother because the Everlasting Wool is working again now. Everybody’s calling to say it’s okay.”
“Yeah, I found her. She said she’d got it sorted.”
“Thanks, Jill. You’re a lifesaver.”
“No problem.”
So that’s what Grandma had been doing. The spell, whatever it was, which was behind the Everlasting Wool, had obviously failed for some reason, and she’d struggled to correct it. She wasn’t used to failing at anything magic related, so it must have come as something of a shock to her. Even so, she’d dug deep and found the strength from somewhere to overcome the problem. But I could never—ever—let her know that I’d seen her.
This had to be my secret.
***
That night, I didn’t sleep well. I kept dreaming about Winky. What was wrong with me? Why was I dreaming about a stupid one eyed cat? What did I care if he left? I should have been glad to get him out of my life. He caused me nothing but grief. And yet, there was something adorable about him when he wore that eye patch.
Still, there were plenty more cats at the re-homing centre. I would go down there in the morning and choose a sweet, little kitten. One with two eyes, and minus the attitude. Yeah, that’s what I’d do. Stuff you Winky!
Chapter 23
The next morning, I rushed out of the flat, jumped in the car and made my way into town at break-neck speed. I couldn’t let Winky leave. If I could persuade Bella’s neighbours not to take him, then he would have to stay with me.
When I rang the doorbell, a well-dressed woman, probably in her sixties, answered the door.
“Yes, can I help you?”
“I’m here about Winky.”
“What is Winky?”
“My cat. His name is Winky; he’s got one eye.”
“That’s all very interesting, but what’s it got to do with me?”
“I understand that you’ve agreed to take him in, and I just wanted to let you know that it won’t be necessary. He’s going to stay with me.”
“Arthur!” she shouted. “Arthur, come here quickly. There’s a strange woman at the door.”
Only then did it occur to me that the woman in front of me wasn’t a witch.
“What’s going on here?” Arthur was a big man—six feet three if he was an inch. And most definitely not a wizard. “What do you want?”
“Are you adopting a cat later today?”
“Are you kidding me? I hate cats. Smelly, horrible things—ruin your furniture.”
“I must have the wrong flat. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”
I got out of there as quick as I could.
It was all a con! Winky must have come up with this charade to get me to agree to his demands. He obviously expected me to arrive at work today, and beg him to stay.
Well, we’ll see who ends up begging who.
When I got into my office, the suitcase was still on the sofa. Winky was fast asleep, but when I closed the door behind me, he stirred.
“Still here?” I said.
“I’ll be leaving shortly.”
“Make sure you take all your rubbish with you.”
A look of uncertainty crossed his face, but was gone in an instant. “You’ll miss me when I’ve gone.”
“Yeah, whatever.” I took out my phone, and made a call. “Hello? Is that Kitty Cat Rehoming Centre? My name is Jill Gooder, I called you last night. Yes, about a kitten.”
I glanced at Winky who was now staring at me in disbelief.
“A Persian? That sounds ideal. Can I collect it later this morning?”
Winky jumped onto my desk, and began to wave his paws around frantically.
“Just a moment,” I said, into the phone. “What is it, Winky?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” He yelled at me.
“Arranging to collect a kitten.”
“Why do you want a kitten?”
“Well, now you’ve decided to leave me—”
“I might stay, if you can see your way clear to meeting my demands.”
“No. That wouldn’t be fair. I know you have your heart set on moving closer to Bella.”
The expression on his face was a picture.
“What time can I come over there?” I said, into the phone.
Winky snatched it from my hand, and ended the call. “It’s okay. I’ve decided to stay.”
“Really? You seemed so set on moving.”
“I can’t do it to you. It would hurt you too much.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ll stay.”
“Okay then.”
“Shouldn’t you call them back? To tell them you’ve changed your mind?”
“Who?”
“Kitty Cat Rehoming Centre.”
“Oh, them? They don’t exist. I just made them up.”
“Huh?”
“I’m on to your little scam, buster. I talked to Bella’s next door neighbours. They don’t know anything about adopting a cat. What do you have to say about that?”
He jumped down off my desk, and began to unpack his case.
This was a red-letter day. It was the first, and probably the only time I’d ever got one over on Winky. And certainly the first time, I’d seen him speechless.
It felt so good!
***
The weather was so beautiful that I decided to have my lunch in Washbridge park. I had hoped I’d get a seat near the lake, but they were all taken, so instead, I sat facing a large grassed area where several people were enjoying the sun.
“Some crazy people in here, aren’t there, love?” The woman sitting next to me said.
“Sorry?”
“I said, there are some crazy people in here.”
Was she talking about me?
“What do you mean?”
“Look! Can you see that woman over there? She keeps pretending to throw something. Then she waits a minute and does it again.”
Sure enough, the young woman did appear to be doing just that. Every now and then she’d bend down as though she was picking something up, then pull her arm back, and perform a kind of throwing action. Except that she didn’t actually have a ball or anything to throw. And there was no one to throw it to.
“I see what you mean.”
Just as I said that, the ‘crazy woman’ turned to face me, and I realised it was Mad. I hadn’t recognised her at first because I still wasn’t used to seeing her dressed as a librarian. She had her hair in a bun, an
d was wearing what appeared to be a grey knitted suit. I thought I’d better go and check that she was okay.
“Mad!”
She turned around. “Jill! Hi. I didn’t realise you came into the park at lunch time.”
“I don’t very often. I was on the bench over there when I saw you. What exactly are you doing, anyway?”
She laughed. “I suppose it must look a bit strange.”
“Yeah, just a bit.”
“I’m throwing a ball for Albert.”
Albert had been Mad’s dog when she was a child. I looked around, but I couldn’t see him or the ball.
“Is Albert here now?”
“Yeah, he’s there look. Oh, wait! You can’t see him, can you?” She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a pair of the ghostvision glasses which I’d worn once before. “Put these on.”
“Won’t I look a bit conspicuous?”
“Not really. They look like sunglasses.”
Once I was wearing them, sure enough, there was Albert, the German Shepherd, looking every bit as fierce as I remembered. He had a ball in his mouth.
“I didn’t think he was able to come to the human world.”
“He can only stay for short periods, so every now and then, when it’s a nice day, we like to come here during my lunch hour. It breaks the day up. Why don’t you throw the ball for him?”
“Okay. Why not?”
I bent down, picked up the ball and threw it as far as I could. Albert chased after it, grabbed it in his teeth, then came rushing back and dropped it between me and Mad.
“Do you like it any better at the library?” I asked, as I threw the ball again.
“Not really. It’s so boring. I spend all day stamping books, looking for books, putting books on shelves, and trying not to fall asleep.”
“Isn’t there another job you could do?”
“That’s what I keep asking my bosses in Ghost Town. Surely there has to be something that’s more exciting than this. But they won’t budge; they insist that the more boring the job, the better the cover. Well, they’ve certainly achieved that because I’m bored out of my skull.”
“We should have a night out sometime,” I said.
“What about Kathy? Would she come with us?”
“Don’t mention it to her. If she comes, she’ll be on my case all night. Let’s keep it to me and you; just like the good old days. It’ll be a laugh. Anyway, I’d better be making tracks.”
“Okay. I’m just going to throw the ball a few more times, and then I’ll get back to the excitement which is Washbridge Public Library.”
***
That evening, I arrived five minutes early for my date with James Keeper, and recognised him immediately. He was just as handsome in the flesh, but he did have a curious dress sense. His shoes, trousers and jacket were all black, which in itself wasn’t too unusual, but his shirt and tie were black as well. Even his hair was jet black.
“Jill?” He had a lovely smile.
“James?”
“Call me Jim, please. I’m so pleased you agreed to meet me. I read your profile, and thought we were a perfect match. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’ll just have a soda water, please.”
Jim seemed quite interested in what I did for a living, and why I’d decided to use Love Spell. He talked about himself, but didn’t tell me anything of any substance. I tried a couple of times to find out what he did for a living, but he seemed to sidestep the question.
About thirty minutes in, there was a commotion at a table in a corner of the bar, and I heard a woman scream. When I glanced over, I could see a man lying on the floor with people gathered around him.
“Excuse me, Jill,” Jim said. “I’d better go and see to this.”
“Oh? Okay.”
He bent over the prone man. Was he trying to revive him? Perhaps he was a doctor? I quite liked the idea of dating a doctor. A few minutes later, Jim came back.
“How is he?”
“He’s passed.”
Shortly after, the ambulance arrived. It was rather upsetting to see them put the man in a body bag, and take him away.
“Are you a doctor, Jim?”
“Me, a doctor? No.” He appeared to find that quite amusing.
“It didn’t say on your profile what you do for a living.”
“Look, Jill, I had hoped this might not crop up on our first date, but the truth is, I know you’re a witch.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I realise this will come as a bit of a surprise, but I’m not a human, either.”
“Really? What kind of sup are you then?” I could usually sense what kind of sup someone was, but I couldn’t get a read on him at all.
“I’m not a sup either.”
“So you’re not a human and you’re not a sup?”
“That’s right.”
“What are you, then?”
“I’m a reaper.”
“Like a farmer?”
“No, not that kind of reaper. The grim variety.”
“A grim reaper?”
“Shh, don’t say it too loudly. It tends to scare people.”
I wasn’t surprised; it scared me. “So what do you do exactly?”
“Pretty much what you’d expect. When someone dies, I come along and help them to the next place.”
“Ghost Town, you mean?”
“Some go via Ghost Town.”
“Is that what happened just now?”
“Yes. I’m not really supposed to be on duty, but seeing as I was close by, it seemed silly not to process him.”
“Process?”
“Sorry, that’s the technical jargon. Maybe ‘help him’, would sound better?”
Then something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. I’ve just realised—you’re Jim Keeper the grim reaper.”
“That’s not actually my real name.”
“I thought not. So what is it?”
“Timothy.”
“Tim Keeper the grim reaper?”
“Jim sounds so much better than Tim, don’t you think?”
I was lost for words.
“I hope this doesn’t change anything?” he said. “The whole grim reaper thing?”
“No, no, of course not.” Let me out of here! Now!
“Good. Maybe we could meet up again, then?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll give Love Spell a call.” The day after the tenth of never.
Chapter 24
I thought, at first, that it was one of those phone calls. You know, the heavy breather type. I was just about to give whoever it was a mouthful, when I realised, it was Amber. She sounded absolutely awful.
“Amber? Are you okay?”
“Jill, can you come over?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Pearl and I are both poorly. Could you come over, please? We really could do with some help.”
I could hardly say no because she sounded at death’s door.
“Okay. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. Are you in the shop?”
“We’re upstairs. The shop’s closed at the moment. See you soon.”
“Was that one of those giddy cousins of yours again?”
“Yes. They’re not well.”
“Tough! They should just power through.”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every time you have a snuffle, you think you’re dying.”
“I do not!”
“Of course you do—you’re a man.”
When I arrived outside Cuppy C, sure enough, it was closed. There was a handwritten note on the inside of the door which read: Open in thirty minutes. They must have been confident that I would come over.
I let myself in, and locked the door behind me. Then I hurried upstairs, and checked the first bedroom where Amber was tucked up in bed.
“Are you awake?”
“Aaghh.”
“Amber? Are you okay?”
“Aag
hh.”
I made my way over to the bed, and saw two eyes peeking out from under the duvet.
“Hi, Jill. Thanks for coming over.”
“What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got some kind of twenty-four-hour bug, I think.”
“Is Pearl the same?”
“Yeah, we’ve both got it.”
“Why didn’t you ask your assistants to run the tea room?”
“It’s their day off. I tried to ring them, but they didn’t pick up. They must have gone out already. So we thought you could run the tea room today.”
“By myself?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“You two are always telling me that I’m useless behind the counter. How will I cope alone?”
“You’ll be all right. It’s only for one day. It’s usually quiet today, anyway. Will you do it, please? We don’t want to leave the shop closed all day.”
“I guess so. Is there anything you’d like me to get for you?”
“No, I’m okay, thanks. I just want to go back to sleep.”
“I hope you feel better soon. See you later.”
Poor Amber.
I made my way along the corridor to the next bedroom.
“Pearl?”
“Hello, Jill.”
“Are you okay?”
“No, not really. We’ve got flu. Did Amber tell you?”
“Yeah.”
“Did she ask if you’d look after the shop?”
“Yeah, I will. As long as you trust me to.”
“Of course we do.”
“Is there anything you’d like me to get for you?”
“A glass of water, please.”
I fetched her the water, and put it on the bedside cabinet.
“Anything else?”
“No, that’s all, thanks.”
“Is Barry at Aunt Lucy’s?”
“Yeah, we took him over there yesterday.” She rolled over. “I’m going back to sleep now.”
“Okay. Don’t worry about the shop. I’ll see to it.”
“Thanks, Jill.”
I always felt like the twins were watching me when I was behind the counter—watching and waiting for me to make a mistake. If I was on my own, I wouldn’t have to worry about that. This was my opportunity to show the twins what I was made of. The more I thought about it, the more I was warming to the idea.