by Tonya Kappes
“Raven Mortimer?” I put my hand behind me, luckily catching the counter. If I hadn't grabbed the counter, I would’ve been face first on the floor from the shock that Raven’s last name was Mortimer.
“Yes, yes. The Mortimer sisters.” His stubby legs looked even shorter in his suit. He’d been away on business, not sure what type of business, but he always wore a suit when he was on business. “When I got Izzy’s call this morning about you being expelled and Faith Mortimer’s condition, I knew that Henry D. Boyle was going to have to wait.”
“Henry D. who?” Mr. McGurtle was very good at talking in circles.
“Henry D. is the little boy I’m working with that is half Fairiwick, half mortal, sorta like you.” He wrung his hands together. Mr. McGurtle had lived next door to me and Darla in Locust Grove. I didn’t know it until a couple months ago that my pain-in-the-ass neighbor was really a spiritualist, that was ordered to move to Locust Grove and watch over us. No wonder he was always in my business. He would give monthly reports to the Whispering Falls council about me. When Darla died, he became especially nosey.
After I took over A Dose of Darla at the flea market, I began doing my own potions in the shed outside of our home. Mr. McGurtle was always calling Locust Grove police on me; luckily, Oscar was the one who always had to come bail me out from under Mr. McGurtle’s wrath.
That was when Mr. McGurtle knew I had the spiritualist in me. He reported back to the council and Izzy showed up at my door. The rest was history.
“As if being expelled wasn’t enough. Poor Darla. Love her soul.” He did a sign of a cross and kissed his fingers before he shoved them toward the sky as if he was blessing poor Darla.
Poor Darla?
“Great! You have no idea what went on to get me expelled.” I grabbed another Ding Dong. There was no way I was going to share with him this time. The nerve. “I was trying to save Faith Mortimer!”
“Well, we can’t fight about that now. We have to do something to get you back to Hidden Hall.” He pulled out a toothpick from his pocket and with a flick of his hand, the small piece of wood grew into a wand. “I’m a sorcerer that can get you back in, once we have figured out what’s going on.”
I didn’t understand a word he was saying and didn’t try to figure it out. Some things in Whispering Falls you just accepted as real. This was one of those things.
“I can tell you what’s going on.” Now I knew the truth behind the Mortimer sisters. I licked out the white creamy middle from my Ding Dong. “Raven is jealous of her sister. She is the one that wants the Ultimate Spell and she would stop at nothing to get it. Even trying to kill her own sister.”
I wasn’t sure how Eloise fit in, but she did. . .somehow.
“I knew you going to that school was going to make you even crazier.” He babbled on about how I had innate intuition and that you couldn’t teach the real thing.
“Oh shut up and figure this out,” Madame Torres shouted from the counter.
“Grrrr…” Mr. McGurtle snarled and picked Madame Torres up and rolled her around.
“Umm. . .” I took her back and placed her back on the stand. “I wouldn’t do that. She gets sea-sick.”
I looked in and there was a scene of a tumultuous ocean swirling and twirling around. A sure sign Madame Torres was sick.
“Doesn’t she have an off button?” He pointed his wand toward her. “I can shut her up!”
“No!” I shouted and threw myself in front of her. “This will get us nowhere. You obviously know that Eloise is missing and we need to find her.”
Slowly he waved the wand back to toothpick size and put it back in his pocket. “I’ll deal with her later. Besides, you are wrong about Raven Mortimer. She’d never hurt her sister.”
My wide-eyed expression was merely a smoke screen. “How do you know the Mortimer’s?”
“I watched over that family when they went on vacations.” He looked off into the distance and smiled. “I recall how important it was for the family to incorporate the Good-Siders and Dark-Siders values in each of the girls. It was some sort of gene mutation that Raven got.”
“So, that still didn’t make her good.” Another thought crossed my mind. “When did you go on vacation with them?”
As far back as I could remember Mr. McGurtle was always with Darla and me.
“Do you remember when Darla would take you to the beach during summer breaks?”
“Yes.”
“That’s when I’d go. It was sort of a break for me.” He folded his hands in front of him. “I’m telling you, Raven is not the one who did this to her sister.”
I wasn’t going to buy it completely. There still wasn’t an answer to why everyone in Whispering Falls was falling ill, and their spiritual gifts seemed to be disappearing. Nor did standing here discussing the good Mortimer sister against the bad Mortimer sister solve the issue of Eloise.
“This isn’t helping matters.” I walked over to the cauldron and picked up the spray bottle next to it. I smiled. “I bet Hili made me some of Izzy’s cleaner,” I whispered and sprayed the cauldron.
There was never a better time to get it good and clean as the beginning of a cure for Faith.
“More importantly,” I threw in a pinch of sandlewood, and then Chamomilla to start the bubbling process. My intuition told me to even throw in some Eupbrasia/eyebright. With a handful thrown in, the swirling, watery tonic rose to a beautiful ivory color. Like the skin tone of Faith.
A good sign already. This lifted my spirits a little more, telling me that I was on the right path.
Chapter Twenty-Five
With a swing of the front door, Izzy, Gerald, Chandra, and Petunia bolted in the room. Each looking a little more under the weather then earlier.
“After talking with Mac,” Izzy pointed to Mr. McGurtle, “We believe that whatever is going on at Hidden Hall is taking a toll on the entire spiritualist community. As the village President, I took it upon myself to contact other community Presidents. They are all reporting the same thing. Each shop is slowly losing its power and the shop owners have fallen ill.”
“Just like us.” Petunia coughed in the crook of her arm. Gerald reached over and patted her back.
“There has to be something you can do.” Chandra leaned against the counter. Her strength getting weaker. “I wonder what’s taking Oscar so long.” She ran her hands up and down her cubby arms.
“Where is Oscar?” I begged to know.
“He was kind enough to run to Locust Grove to get some medicine.” Gerald said, “You weren’t here for a cure. And the intern Dean Helena sent was no good.”
Ignoring his comment about Hili was best. They didn’t know that Hili wasn’t a potion maker, but was only here to help Oscar keep the shop in order. Although the ingredients were low, she seemed to do what she was sent to do. . .keep it in order.
It was just like Oscar to do what he could do. I only wished he’d hurry up.
“I know you are busy trying to find a cure for the Mortimer girl, but do you think you could do a quick smudging ceremony of purification for Whispering Falls?” Izzy’s eyes dripped with worry. Wrinkles deep set between them.
“Of course I can.” It was going to be a while before the potion was going to be done. A quick smudging ceremony could take place. “Go on up and I’ll meet you there in five minutes.”
I started to gather the ingredients before they left the shop. With sage and juniper as the main ingredients, I run up to the Gathering Rock as fast as I could to start the purification.
Everyone was gathered around, holding hands. Even Mr. Prince Charming stood at the foot of Izzy. They opened a little path for me to walk through. Carefully, I laid the ingredients on the Rock. The Rock was known for the cleansing spirit and this was why it was the gathering place for the village.
“White sage, sweet grass, root, and cedar.” I wanted everyone to know what I was using in case anyone was allergic. We had this happen before and it didn’t turn out all t
hat good.
I rolled them in a bundle and lit it. The smoke rose quickly to the dark, gray sky. With the bundle in one hand and a peacock feather in the other, I walked around and fanned the smoke.
“WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH....” I took a breath between each chant as I circled around everyone, focusing on the center part of their bodies. . . their heart.
I prayed the positive energy would focus on the good of Whispering Falls, the good of having Eloise in the village, and even the good of Faith Mortimer.
I laid the bundle on the Rock for it to smolder out. Walking over to the group, I felt a hand on my arm.
“Oscar.” My heart soared when I looked into his blue eyes. Calmness filled my soul, telling me that everything was going to be okay, but it had to happen now.
Without a word, he reached for my hand and led me to the group. We all stood in a circle with our eyes closed. I was sure we were all praying for the same thing.
Oscar squeezed my hand. I opened my eyes.
“It’s time to figure this out.” There was a thin smile on his lips as he gestured toward the shop.
He knew we had to find a cure and standing here wasn’t getting us there any quicker.
Quietly we left everyone standing around the Rock to wait for the bundle to completely burn out. I looked back as the smoke continued to roll up into the dull sky. For a brief moment, I saw a little ray of sunshine where the smoke hit the gray.
“We are going to figure this out.” I realized I still had Oscar’s hand in mine.
“Yes we are.” He continued ahead, briefly stopping to run his free hand down the side of my face.
“Oh, Oscar,” I whimpered under his touch.
He put his finger up to my lips. “Shh. We will have a lifetime to figure this out.” He gestured between us. “That means you have to find a cure.”
We made it back to the shop in silence. The cauldron was at a rolling boil when I went over to stir it.
“You better hurry up.” A weak voice came from Madame Torres. “Time is wastin. . .”
I picked her up. “Madame Torres?”
A faint smile crossed her red lipstick stained mouth. Her eyes filled with tears. “Hurry, June.”
This was one time I wished Madame Torres had made a smart-aleck comment. But she didn’t. Slowly she faded into the depths of the glass ball.
Hurriedly, I grabbed the potion bottle from behind the counter that had a subdued glow. It was the one I need to put the potion in.
With the ladle, I poured the potion in the bottle. It was so bright when it when in, but dulled as it settled.
Setting the bottle aside, I reached for the spray bottle cleaner.
“Where did this come from?” I held the plastic spray bottle in the air and sniffed it. “Ahh…” The smell of my favorite chocolate swirled in my nose. It smelled exactly like Ding Dongs. I didn’t recall the scent earlier. Probably because Mr. McGurtle had filled my head with all sorts of new ideas.
“Hili. I did a little digging on her.” Oscar seemed a bit annoyed. “She was always so bossy, telling me what to do with the cures and how I needed to fix them.”
I laughed.
“You know she’s a perfectionist. And if something doesn’t go her way she throws a little tantrum.” He lifted a brow.
“She’s a young girl. What do you expect?” I took a cloth and rubbed the inside. “This is the best stuff.”
“I expected her to be a little more mature, but she wasn’t.” He handed me a stack of papers. UnHidden Hall newspapers to be exact.
“Where did you get these?” Frantically I thumbed through the stack that dated back to a few years ago.
There were things underlined, circled, crossed out, and some pictures even had mustaches on them.
“At Eloise’s tree house.” He shrugged. “That’s where she said Dean Heal told her to stay. So I took her there on the first night.”
My eyes grew the size of the full moon, my mouth dropped open.
“What?” He asked, pausing to examine the paper that I was looking at.
“I. . .um. . .had no idea she was staying at Eloise’s.” I dropped the papers on the table and shoved then toward him. As a matter of fact, I never even questioned where she stayed while she was here on her internship. I pointed to the headline. “Read it.”
IMPOSTER: There is a Dark-Sider posing as a Good-Sider
It has come to my attention that there may be a Dark-Sider posing as a Good-Sider. This person is a rich spoiled brat who will do anything with her daddy’s money to get what they want. This person has tried to buy off Good-Siders for the ULTIMATE Spell. The spell that only Good-Siders have and keep secret. . .for good or evil. . .
Watch your backs, Good-Siders.
“What does this prove?” He pushed it back.
“Now read this one.” I handed him the next installment of the UnHidden Hall Chronicles.
IMPOSTER STRIKES AGAIN. . .
We are almost close to exposing the Dark-Sider that is posing as a Good-Sider. Only this time, they have made a misstep and have proven who they are.
She will stop at nothing to get her hands on the ULTIMATE Spell.
Watch your backs, Good-Siders!
The quickest way for me to figure out what the Ultimate spell was, was through Madame Torres.
“Madame Torres, what is the ultimate spell that only Good-Siders know?” I peered deep into the ball.
Flashes of lightning bolts radiated as if there was a storm brewing in the globe. Madame Torres had mustered up enough strength to come through when I needed her to.
“Death.” Her voice cracked. The flashes continued to dart around the ball. There was no sign of Madame Torres. “Death is the one spell that Spiritualist cannot perform. The Good-Siders are the only spiritualists that know the ingredients for death.”
Instantly, I realized that Faith was not dead, because the Dark-Sider didn’t know the Ultimate Spell, and the Dark-Sider doing this needed to keep the one Good-Sider that might tell the secret alive.
But how did Eloise tie into this?
“I’m telling you Hili is a weirdo witch.” He tossed it on the table. “I’m just saying that she’s a little weird marking stuff out beans or berries, and then I found a boatload of these.”
He handed over a small drawstring sack that contained a bunch of little red beans with black tips.
“She was always standing behind your partition, using that big cauldron.” He pretended like he was stirring a pot. “When I asked her what she was doing, she told me to mind my own business. Then she’d say, ‘I don’t tell you how to arrest people, do I?’”
I grabbed the Magical Cures book off my counter and the pages flipped quickly as if I was turning them.
“What in the world?” Oscar walked backwards. “Are you doing that?”
Shrugging, I never looked up. I completely concentrated on the book.
The whirlwind above the book stopped. The pages stopped flipping and it was open to the picture glossary in the back. I had seen these beans before, but I couldn’t remember what they were used for.
There was a picture of the exact bean. The Rosemary Pea. I scanned the page, reading all I could in that split second. I began to shake as I realized that this was the deadliest bean of all, if ingested in the right potion.
“Oh my God, I think this is the main ingredient in the Ultimate Spell!” Suddenly I felt feverish. I had been giving Hili all the information I knew. She had me believing that Raven was the one who was going around trying to harm Hidden Hall A Spiritualist University students and facility, when it was really her.
Hili had spent her time as an intern trying to duplicate the Ultimate Spell, but she couldn’t.
“The cleaner?” I picked up the bottle and smelled the tip. Exactly what I liked. . .Ding Dongs. “She replaced Eloise’s cleaner with a poison, and she knew I wanted one. And it smells exactly like Ding Dongs.”
There was confusion written all over Oscar’s face. It was an explanation I was going to have to tell him later. There was no time to dilly-dally.
I jumped up. The chair fell backwards and crashed to the ground. I grabbed my bag, put Madame Torres in, and flung it across my shoulders.
“What?” Oscar forcefully held me by my arms to stop me. “Where are you going, June?
“Oscar,” I stared up at him. There was a fright so deep in my body, I couldn’t stop shaking. “She is more than a weirdo. Hili is the one who tried to kill Faith. And I think she has Eloise somewhere.”
“We have to stop her.” He let go and ran out the door with me.
“Don’t forget the potion.” He held it in the air.
“It’s poison!” I ran out the door and yelled over my shoulder, “Come on! I’ll explain later!”
Without another word between us, I knew where Eloise was. My greatest fear was that I was too late.
“Please let her be safe.” I begged to the heavens as we ran through the woods to get to Eloise’s tree house.
Tree house.
Little by little, things began to add up in my head. Eloise lived in a tree house. She was banned from Whispering Falls for being a Fairiwick. Only the Good-Siders know the Ultimate spell. Hili took Eloise because as a Good-Sider, Eloise would know the spell. She hasn’t killed Eloise because Hili needs the spell. Only Eloise doesn’t know it.
I ran faster. Hili might not know the Ultimate Spell, but she could use other means to kill Eloise, if she hadn’t done so already.
Once we got to her house, we bolted up the stairs that climbed the trunk of the tree, two-by-two, until we reached the top. The door was wide open and a cauldron was bubbling over. A plume of smoke hovered.
“Pine needles.” I gasped as the smell from the copper pot twirled around me.
“Pine needles?” Oscar questioned.
“Yes. Hili was making a potion with Faith or Raven in mind.” The words came spilled out of my mouth had a slight chill behind them. If my hunches were right, Hili would stop at nothing to get the spell. “Just like the cauldron cleaner smelled like Ding Dongs.”
I had to hurry up and find Eloise. I had to stop Hili. She was more than just a caster. She had a lot of magic in that little prissy body of hers. But she didn’t have the one thing she needed. . .a Good-Sider.