by Tonya Kappes
“Don’t you worry about her,” Hili whispered and patted my hand.
Who was I kidding? I looked around the room, taking in every single face that I didn’t bother to notice the day before. Each of them was younger and way smarter in the magic department. Especially the Dark-Siders, which I knew nothing about. That wasn’t going to stop me from finding out everything I could.
Helena cleared her throat. “As you all know, today is the day that Professor Sandlewood was going to announce who the intern will be this year.”
A hushed excitement filled the air. This was the first time I had heard of any internship. Hili had her eyes closed and her fingers crossed in the air. She obviously knew what was going on and was praying it was her.
She opened her eyes and bounced up and down while her blonde razor-cut hair stayed tight to her head.
“Okay.” Helena tried to settle down the electricity in the room. “Since Professor Sandlewood is a little incapacitated, I’ll be picking the winner.”
A little incapacitated? What was with all the secretive talk? Everyone knew about Eloise, so I found it strange that no one even mentioned it.
I raised my hand. Helena nodded toward me.
“I’m a tab bit confused. What is going on with Eloise and what is this internship thing?” These were valid questions for the new girl.
“Eloise will not be back this semester.” Her lids darkened her cheeks, creating a scary shadow. “Every year we pick a student with exemplary grades as well as skills. This year Faith Mortimer was in the lead, but with her sudden illness, I’m going to have to pick Hili Windover.”
“Ya hooo!” Hili jumped up and pumped her fist in the air. Never once letting go of her wand. As she bounced, sparks flew from the tip.
I shielded my face with my hand as Helena’s words rang in my head. Sudden illness. I didn’t realize that intentional poisoning had become a sudden illness. There was little room to think with Hili jumping around like one of those Mexican jumping bean toys I had when I was a kid. The ones that could be bought at the local gas station, in a little clear box.
“Hili, you will immediately be going to Whispering Falls since they have lifted the ban on Fairiwicks.” She talked, but I couldn’t quite focus on everything she was saying. “You have raised my eyebrow with your behavior last night, but I’m willing to give you a chance. And since June is here for a few days, you will go and work in her shop, A Charming Cure.”
“What?” There was no way I was going to allow dingbat Hili to destroy my shop. I stood up and pounded my fist on the table, and then reached down in Hili’s bag, holding up her soiled high-heeled shoe. “Aunt Helena, Hili is not a potion maker. She can’t even keep her shoes on or prevent her little finger from sparking” I wiggled my finger in the air.
Helena put her hand in the air to silence me, but my words were like a spewing volcano.
“There is no way she will be able to come up with cures.” Not to mention how Oscar was going to take it. He couldn’t stand pretentious girls like Hili.
Helena pulled her crystal ball out from her bag that was sitting on Eloise’s desk. With a swipe of the hand, a picture was appearing under the copper colored illumination. A Charming Cure was still in a disarray of sorts. A far cry from Oscar standing by the counter with my apron on.
“I see that you left your precious shop in the capable hands of a sorcerer that has never been to the University and doesn’t even know how to use his wand.” Her voice mimicked the pleasure on her face. “At least Hili can get the crowd under control and use her wand.”
Hili nudged me. “I can’t believe you don’t trust me with your shop.”
I turned toward her. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that you’re young and you aren’t psychic to what people really need in their cures.”
“And he is?” Hili pointed to poor Oscar who had completely given up and planted himself on the stool behind the counter. His handsome features were already worn and his blue eyes even looked ashen. My apron was soiled with spilled potions.
“Fine.” I glared, knowing that Oscar was going to be beside himself with little Miss Priss coming to take over. “You screw something up and you will never practice your casting.”
“Is that a threat?” Hili pulled back. Her eyes darted between me and Helena. “Did she just threaten me?”
“No. It’s a promise.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming ran into the classroom with his back arched and batted once toward Hili and once toward Helena.
Helena rolled her eyes.
“Hili will be fine, June. We all know how much you have worked on A Charming Cure and she is only going to see what it is like to run a business and see if she wants to continue down that path.” Swoosh, swoosh. Helena’s cloak created a breeze as she briskly walked up and down the aisle of the classroom. “Go on, Hili. Your transportation is waiting by the cottage dorm.”
I wasn’t sure who Helena was trying to convince, herself or me. She knew better than I did that Hili was incapable of doing anything with business. I was definitely going to have to get a hold of Oscar to let him know what was going on.
“Ta-ta.” Hili grabbed her bag and waved over her shoulder. She didn’t even look back as the door shut behind her.
The only good thing that could possibly come from this was that I could definitely keep working on a cure for Faith without anyone finding out.
“Since we are still looking for a replacement for Professor Sandlewood, we have decided to have you go to Crystal Ball Class early.” Helena made her way back to the front of the room and carefully rolled her ball back and forth in her hands. She looked deep into the globe, her eyes grew big. “You are dismissed. Everyone but you.” Her long finger uncurled and pointed straight at me.
Helena’s eyes shot a dart straight to my gut, causing my lungs to take in a sharp breath.
Chapter Twelve
Every student filed out one-by-one with eyes on me. I was not making a good impression on my fellow students. Helena set my bag on the table.
“I sent someone to retrieve your bag from Hili’s room.” She stood over me. Her cloak hung loosely down from her folded arms.
A red glow came from my bag. I reached in and pulled out a pissed off Madame Torres. I set her next to me in case I needed some sort of backup with Helena after the class was gone. How on earth could a fiery red, mad crystal ball help? I had no idea, but there was a little relief knowing she had my back.
My stomach clenched as the boy who sat in the back of the class with his head down the entire time, left. He was the last to go, and I didn’t know what Helena wanted with me.
Before leaving, he turned just enough for me to notice his white eyes. A flash shot through me, sending a small electric volt to my hands, causing me to let go of the edges. He smiled and darted out the door.
“Who was that?” I asked and pointed.
“Gus Chatham.” There was a faraway look in her eyes. “A strange bird. But we aren’t here to talk about him. You pulled a very serious stunt last night and I don’t care if you are my niece. You are here as a student and will conduct yourself as one.”
“You know as well as I do that Eloise didn’t try to poison Faith.” I stood up and planted my hands flat on the table. There was still a tingling on the tips of my fingers where Gus had done some sort of magic. Not sure what, but I was going to find out. He wanted me to know he had something to say, my intuition told me that. “And she doesn’t deserve to be shackled.”
She put her hand up to her mouth, and drew in a long breath. Her fists notably tightened.
“Oh my, God.” Suddenly my intuition told me that Helena didn’t know the full story. “Where is Eloise?”
Her head slowly dropped toward the ground, her eyes closed. Her confidence was broken, an attribute of hers that I’d never seen or even knew she possessed. She almost seemed human.
“That is another thing I
was going to ask you about. You didn’t take her from the holding cell?” She pinched her lips together. “I was afraid of this.”
Suddenly my fear beaded across my forehead. I swept my bangs out of my eyes to wipe the sweat. Something was not right, and I was almost afraid to ask.
“Aunt Helena, what is going on?” I reached for Madame Torres. “Show me Eloise.”
The globe went from her fiery red to silver, showing the ill-fated destination of Eloise chained to the wall. She rolled a small petal from a Mandrake flower in her fingers, as if were the only thing keeping her alive.
Helena withdrew her eyes from the globe once she saw the shackles, and her voice trembled, “She has been missing and we couldn’t find her.”
“You mean to tell me that you have all of this magic surrounding you and no one can find her? Someone kidnapped her?” I pounded my hand on the table.
“No.” Shame, defeat resonated in her voice. “I was hoping that you found something in your snooping around. Even though I’m not condoning it in front of the other students.”
“Actually, Madame Torres showed me Eloise. I snuck out to see if I could find something on my own.” I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about Raven and how she was in Eloise’s house. “Hili did tell me that Eloise was considered a Dark-Sider, which was complete news to me.”
“Dark-Sider, or Good-Sider, either way, we are all here and living among each other. No one can come into Hidden Hall unless they are invited.” She cleared her throat as her posture tightened. “Someone on the inside took her.”
My heart jumped at a quick, erratic pace. “Do you think it was the same person that tried to set her up? The same person that tried to kill Faith Mortimer?”
Helena’s eyes locked with mine. Never once looking away, she confirmed my deepest fear.
“Yes. And if you aren’t careful, I’m afraid they will be after you.” She pulled a piece of from underneath her cloak, and handed it to me.
Potions, wands, and fairy tales,
Won’t keep you safe as well.
Eye of Newt won’t be your friend,
You’re snooping around better end!
“Where did you get this?” I could steady my quivering lip, but not my trembling chin.
“Gus found it on your bed while he was retrieving your bag.” Her eyes widened.
“Gus? That strange bird is who retrieved my bag from my room?” I huffed and rolled my eyes.
“He’s a Teletransport psychic, plus my assistant. Still a strange bird, but he gets the job done and is great at keeping secrets.” She peered out the window. “He’s on our side.”
“You mean he can vanish into thin air, going from place to place?”
She nodded her head.
I was going to let that slide. . .for now. I tapped Madame Torres and Eloise reappeared. “You don’t know where Eloise is? You don’t recognize the room?”
She shook her head. “I banished her to the holding cell. Gus was there and left her alone while he scoured her house for anything. When he got back, she was gone.”
“And what about all the magic ability here? Can’t we find her? Can’t anyone use their ability to find her?” This seemed like a pretty normal thing. After all, before I found my spiritual gift, I thought psychics could find out anything.
“That is not how all of this works. Whoever took her is good at making their magic tracks disappear. But my real question is why? Why did they harm Faith and why did they kidnap Eloise?”
Helena brought up some great questions that I wasn’t able to answer. The person obviously wanted to kill Faith, but what good was it to keep Eloise chained up…or alive for that matter.
“I know I shouldn’t be asking you to do this, and the campus police are doing everything they can to solve this crime. But you have more power than you know.” Her voice was flat, monotone. She held a skeleton key from the tips of her fingers. I reached out and took the cold metal object; the eyes hollowed out were worn and tarnished. “This is the key to the student files. I’d love for you to use your intuition skills by reading through them. Maybe something or someone will catch your attention. Be sure not to get caught.”
I gripped the key with an unsettled feeling in my gut. This was going to be much harder than I thought.
I tapped the crystal ball again, and Oscar appeared in the center of Charming Cure. Hili stood in front of him barking orders while pointing. He was putting bottles on their perspective shelves and nodded at each of Hili’s commands.
“Well, at least I’m not going to have to worry about the shop.” Glad that Hili was there, fixing all of the mishaps, I was going to be able to focus all my attention of finding two things. Find a cure for Faith. And finding Eloise.
“One more thing,” I turned back around before I left. “What’s the history between you and Gerald?”
A stark look crossed her face. Her scar turned a visible red, but the rest of her face stayed the same.
“Go.” She drew her arm out from under her cloak and pointed to the door.
I did what she said, only for now. I would find out that secret too, one way or another.
Chapter Thirteen
I tucked the key in the front pocket of my jeans to make sure it was safe and sound, and then hurried off to crystal ball class. Helena had assured me that I wouldn’t be in trouble for being late, and that she had Gus tell the professor that Helena was keeping me a bit after class.
“I hate being late.” Madame Torres groaned from the depths of my bag.
Once I got to the arrowed signs in the middle of the wheat field, I tapped the arrow pointing toward Crystal Ball School and the field parted as it should, and lead me down the path.
At the end of the path stood three red-bricked buildings. Each one with a covered porch held up by four very tall pillars. A sign dangled from each stated the level of skill: beginners, intermediate, and advanced.
Obviously, I was a beginner. After all, Madame Torres seemed to run the show more than I did. That was a problem.
I took her out of my bag, and she appeared quicker than a jackrabbit. I held her up to eye level and gazed in. “Are you dressed up?”
Her red wavy hair was partially covered by a hot pink turban. Her eyelids smeared in purple eye shadow and lined in black liner didn’t over power her long lashes that she batted words trickled out of her fire engine lips. “This is my time to shine. I’m single and ready to mingle.”
“There will be no mingling.” I assured her. “We are here on business. One, find out who poisoned Faith and two where they kidnapped Eloise. Plain and simple. No mingling.” I warned her, but knew I was talking into the air.
Granted, I knew I was here to go to school, but a lot can change in a couple of days.
“What can happen in four days?” I whispered under my breath and rolled my eyes as I pushed the door open to begin my first ever class of Crystal Ball School.
“Yep, yep, yep.” The professor paced back and forth in front of the class. He wrung his hands and looked to the floor. His grey suit was much too big for his narrow shoulders, and much too long for his six-foot frame. The hem of his pants dragged the floor, and exposed only the tips of his black, soft-soled shoes. His jacket was hanging open and his white collared shirt was untucked and unevenly buttoned. He ran his hands through his thin, unruly hair and stopped pacing. Looking up, he pointed at me. “I heard about you, June Heal.”
It didn’t sound like a good ‘heard’ either. Professor Dunwoody, his name was scribbled on the chalkboard behind him.
He looked back down and started his pacing. His hands continued to wrap around one another. “Go on, take a seat.”
I should’ve looked to see what seats were available before I jumped at the first one I came to. Madame Torres glowed a bright pink, and slightly rolled to the left side of the table toward my tablemate.
When I reached over to roll her back, I glanced up to see the person sitting next to me.
Gus.
; He smiled. His crystal ball slightly rolled toward me and a man appeared in a turban. His eyes locked eyes with Madame Torres.
“Oh no you don’t.” I picked her up and placed her on my right side, out of sight of Rico Sauvé. I couldn’t help but get the smooth singing Latino hunk out of my mind when I noticed Gus’s crystal ball seemed to look a bit like a Latin lover. Tan, dark, and handsome.
“She was a little spitfire when I put her in your bag this morning.” Gus swung his head to the right. His long blonde hair lay perfectly against his chiseled jaw line. I didn’t realize the surfer dude look was still in. Nor did I ever imagine a spiritualist to have such a look.
“Tell me about it,” I groaned and rolled my eyes. I turned my attention toward the professor.
He rambled on about the history of crystal balls and how they chose you, not the other way around. He talked about how obedient they were and accommodating. He’d obviously never met Madame Torres.
Nothing in my spiritual world was exactly like everyone else’s, but that was okay. I was beginning to like my world. And that included Eloise. I felt my jean pocket to make sure the key was still there. After crystal ball class, I was going to muddle around the campus and take note on what everyone was doing and when a good time to snoop around would be.
“Miss Heal?” The professor brought me back from the land of daydreaming.
I sat up straight, and tall. “Yes.” I answered without even knowing what he had asked.
“Well?” He stood still, his feet pointed outward making a V. “Can you tell us about it?”
About what? My nerves did summersaults on my stomach. I knew there was a reason I had never gone to college. Being called on in class was my worst nightmare.
“Tell us about how you found your crystal ball.” He paced back and forth waving his hand in the air, never once looking at me.
With what seemed like a waste of precious time, I hurried through the story of how I had walked into Mystic Lights in Whispering Falls. Plus, I had no idea that I was a spiritualist when Madame Torres picked me.