Magical Midway Paranormal Cozy Series Books 1-3

by Leanne Leeds

  “Perhaps,” she smiled.

  “I really think that’s gonna start to bug me awful fast.”

  “So what do we do now?” Gunther asked.

  “Well, are you really going to stay at the Magical Midway? I know that Ethel Elkins decided that we're all gonna be roomies, but I feel like your dad is not going to be thrilled at the idea.”

  “Probably not,” Gunther said. “I can see some advantages to it, though. We have to go to Imperatorial City in a month or so for the Council meeting, and we’re not prepared. Well, we were prepared. I think this week has changed a lot of things. Our approach may have been…”

  “Too respectful?”

  “I guess that’s one way to put it,” Gunther smiled.

  “I will be attending both of you in Imperatorial City,” Devana said as we walked. “Part of my role here is to ensure the protection of the both of you, as well as to witness what is to come.”

  I stopped walking and stepped back to look at Devana. She slowed and then turned back around to face me. With her hands folded in front of her and her head held high, she looked like a queen.

  “Are you on our side?” I asked her.

  “Of course,” she answered.

  “No perhaps? You’re just flat out on our side?”

  “I serve the balance, ringmaster. You are working toward the balance, and so I am on your side,” she said.

  “If I wake up tomorrow and decide to, I don’t know, put my thumb on a hypothetical scale?”

  “If you wake up tomorrow and you no longer serve the balance, if your motives are no longer correct, if your goal is no longer moral and righteous, then no, ringmaster. I would no longer be on your side.”

  “That’s a pretty fickle ally,” Gunther said after considering her words.

  “When has any war had anything other than fickle allies, Mr. Makepeace?” Devana asked him. “We all serve who and what we serve, do we not?”

  “Perhaps,” I answered. She raised her eyebrow as we stepped across the barrier and reentered the Magical Midway.

  We are in your yurt already, Samson said as soon as my foot hit the path. Fiona, Ningul, your uncle, and I. Anya has retired to her yurt with Avalon. Alessandra is taking care of her.

  Thanks for the update, but do we have a meeting or something?

  Your uncle wants to talk to you about the new additions to the Magical Midway. As you can imagine—

  I can speak for myself, Samson. Charlotte, get here as soon as you can. Without Gunther, Devana, or that obnoxious old woman, please.

  I'm on my way.

  Though I must admit, I wasn't all that excited about going.

  “Everything okay?” Gunther asked.

  “It appears that the peanut gallery is waiting for me in my yurt, and they have requested that I attend this little shindig without either of you.”

  “That's not surprising, Ringmaster,” Devana said. “In fact, I'm glad they are concerned. It shows they have a sense of awareness of the seriousness of the situation.”

  “I'm glad you approve,” I told her. “I'm going to head over there.”

  “Between the three of you, I can’t get a word in edgewise!” I hollered over the small crowd that certainly didn’t sound small.

  “There are four of us, Charlotte,” Fiona said.

  “Yes, but Ningul isn’t biting my head off, so I didn’t count him. You and Uncle Phil are talking over each other and Samson figured he just sneak into my head.”

  Guardianship has its privileges, Samson said.

  “Look, I don’t know much about this prophecy, and for the most part, you all know what I know at this point. Actually, you probably know more because if history is any indication somebody in this room is withholding something from me that I probably really need to know,” I said, pointedly staring at my uncle.

  “Charlotte, we just don’t know much about these people.”

  “We know Gunther, and frankly if his dad’s cool with him staying at the Magical Midway that probably works out much better for us, anyway. He and I have a whole lot of work to do before we go to the Witches' Council meeting and not a lot of time to do it in,” I pointed out.

  “And you don’t think having your boyfriend here is going to be a distraction?” Uncle Phil asked me.

  “I don’t think whether my boyfriend is staying on my Magical Midway or not is, frankly, any of your business. We are so past the ‘whoops Charlotte dropped the carousel in Egypt’ level of complications and problems. The training wheels are off.”

  “Well, it’s not like we have to worry about the two of you… well… you know…” Uncle Phil said as he sat down and crossed his arms.

  “No, I don’t know.”

  “You two can’t… Oh, come on, Charlotte, are you going to make me say it?”

  “What your uncle is trying to avoid saying is that you and Gunther have no ability to consummate your relationship. You no doubt would have figured this out if you really thought about the situation with the kiss, but you’ve been distracted,” Fiona said.

  “The kiss? I don’t understand what…”

  I didn’t understand. And then, suddenly, I did.

  Oh my God.

  “Yes, you do. You’re lucky he was polite and just went in with his lips. If he’d gone in with a lot of tongue, well…” Fiona held out her hands. “That boy may not have been able to speak for a week. And you should be very, very grateful that he didn’t point something else at you.”

  Oh my God.

  “The damage that could have been done—”

  “Oh my God, you have to stop talking,” I whispered as my face felt like an exploding tomato again.

  “Just as long as we're clear. I don’t want anything getting damaged,” Fiona said. “You do understand what I’m trying to tell you, Charlotte, right? I just want to be sure that you understand your little metal robot psychic shield thing extends all the way to—”

  “Oh, please, please, for the love of all that is holy and all that is good in this world, please, Fiona, stop talking!”

  “It’s a safety issue, is all I’m saying,” she said as she settled back on the couch. Ningul wrapped his arm around her and hushed her.

  “Oh, now you’re jumping in to tell her to be quiet?”

  “I’m sorry, Charlotte, but I do have to agree with Fiona,” Ningul said as he shifted uncomfortably next to her. “Just thinking about it makes me—”

  “Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it, stop talking about it. In fact, never talk about it again.”

  “Do you think I should have a talk with Gunther?” Ningul asked.

  “I will banish you both from this midway,” I warned him.

  “I think Charlotte can handle it, dear,” Fiona told him, patting his hands. “It was lovely of you to offer.”

  “Of course, anything for Charlotte,” Ningul said and nodded.

  If I close my eyes and click my heels three times, maybe I can get back to Kansas.

  You never lived in Kansas, Samson said, confused.

  Forget it.

  “I’ve heard your concerns. But right now, Gunther being here is practical, Devana being here will allow us to understand her motivations more, and Ethel Elkins being here…”

  “Will drive us all crazy, you realize that, don’t you, Charlotte?” Uncle Phil said.

  “Maybe,” I told him. “But she saw me that first night I went to the Makepeace Circus. She saw me when she wasn’t supposed to see me. That woman knows things. She’s come to me in dreams, and she’s known Gunther since he was a child and has never harmed him in any way.”

  “You think Roland will go for it?” Fiona asked.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I’ll let Gunther deal with explaining all of this to his father. Devana and Ethel claim they are bound to the Magical Midway, anyway. If they are, and I can’t affect that bond, they’re going to move with us no matter what.”

  “So don’t bond them,” Uncle Phil said. “Let’s
see if they move with us.”

  “Okay.”

  “Where are we going to next?” Uncle Phil asked. “We don’t have any fairs scheduled for several months, though we could pop up somewhere.”

  “I’m going to get a hold of Mom and Dad. I think we're going to head back to Mickwac. I haven’t spent any time with my parents for a while, and I want to check their wards. Since the Magical Midway financially supports the animal shelter, maybe I can give it added protection somehow. I can’t believe if this gets much worse that they won’t be a target again.”

  “Never thought of that. The wards issue, I mean. That’s possible,” Uncle Phil said, thinking.

  “You never had to think of it. No one wanted to squash us like bugs until I showed up.”

  16

  “It looks fine,” Fiona said as she took in the larger room.

  As everyone at the Magical Midway was milling about saying goodbye to the new werebear friends they had made, I was remodeling my yurt. The rustic one-room traveling tent was transformed into a four bedroom home with a large common area in the center.

  It still looked like a yurt from the outside. In fact, it looked like one-quarter of a yurt only from the outside. Inside, I had added thousands of square feet and living quarters for Devana, Ms. Elkins, and Gunther.

  “It looks like a college dormitory from that movie that you showed me on your carry glass,” Fiona observed. “It even has a library in the corner and everything.”

  I told her it was a tablet. She told me she had never seen a stone that looked like that. I gave up. Carry glass it is.

  “Gunther and I were really stretched for space before this ever started,” I told her. “So, this actually isn’t half bad. It’s not like I ever had any privacy in my yurt, anyway.”

  “And the kitchen is fantastic,” she said. “The table is much more suitable considering how much we use it.”

  Devana came out of her room and bowed to me in thanks. “My sleeping quarters are wonderful, Charlotte. I am incredibly grateful that you have gone to such trouble.”

  “No problem,” I told her.

  “With all the bedrooms right off of the main room, we should all be able to meet whenever we need to without much complication,” Fiona said.

  “Are you in here often?” Devana asked, tilting her head.

  “I’m in here enough,” Fiona answered with a smile that was as fake as a three dollar bill. “I’m sure we will spend lots of time getting to know each other!”

  “Perhaps,” Devana answered. She bowed and walked back to her room.

  “I don’t trust that woman,” Fiona said quietly.

  “Anything in particular?”

  “It takes a troublemaker to know a troublemaker. She’s a troublemaker.”

  “Well, so am I, if you really think about it.”

  “Oh, Charlotte, you stumble back into trouble. That woman flings it out in front of her and then jumps in after it.”

  Gunther walked into my yurt and paused so quickly that he skidded on the new wooden floor. “Am I in the right place?”

  “If by the right place you mean the ringmaster’s new gorgeous four bedroom house, absolutely. You’re totally in the right place,” I told him. “What do you think?”

  “I think you did a great job, Charlotte. Wow, these floors look just like the floors from our cabin back at the Makepeace Circus,” Gunther said. “Nice job.”

  “Is your dad okay with you staying here for a while?”

  “Yeah, he wasn’t thrilled at the reason for it. He’s concerned about the Witches' Council escalation of attacks, obviously. But he said he could do without me for a month or so. He just wants me to keep in touch and keep them informed of what’s going on.”

  “That’s your room,” I told him and pointed to a door on the far right.

  “My room?” he asked.

  “Yep. That’s yours, there’s mine, Devana is over there, and Ethel’s in there. I think she liked it. She grunted and then went in slamming the door, and she hasn’t come out yet. So, I’ll take that as she probably likes it.”

  “Oh,” he said. “I see.”

  Well, don’t act so excited. Sheesh.

  “Each bedroom is pretty big and has a sitting area with a pullout couch in case we need to bunk people in with us,” I told him. “Did you bring Delilah with you?”

  Oh no. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that. But I didn’t think about that, Samson said as he jumped down off the new sectional couch and trotted toward my closed bedroom door. Cat door? Did you really make a door that closes without a cat door?

  With all your superpowers, Samson, you can’t open a door?

  Make a cat door, please.

  I waved my hand, and a cat-sized flap appeared in my heavy wooden bedroom door. I motioned toward Gunther’s door and installed one there as well.

  Thank you. Going to try out the new king size bed. You kept my favorite pillow, didn’t you?

  Yes, Samson.

  Samson’s lithe black body disappeared through the door.

  Gunther had pulled out his kitten, and Delilah was squeaking after Samson as he disappeared.

  “Tomorrow, Delilah,” I told the kitten.

  “You understood her?”

  “Remember, I grew up in an animal shelter. I speak cat even when they can’t shout into my mind.”

  “Right, then,” Gunther said as he looked at his closed bedroom door. “I guess I should head off to bed. Good night, Fiona. Charlotte.”

  As the door closed, Fiona turned to me. “That man was not expecting and did not want his own bedroom,” she told me. “Did you not talk to him about the sleeping arrangements before you did all this?”

  “No,” I whispered to her, grabbing her arm and heading to the opposite end of the room away from Gunther’s bedroom. “Us moving in together was not exactly an option that I wanted to entertain, Fiona.”

  “You haven’t told him about the shield, have you,” she whispered back. I shook my head no. “Oh, Charlotte, I know I teased you about it, but you have to tell the man.”

  “How do you have a conversation with someone you may be falling in love with to tell them that if they try to be intimate with you, it will break their… I mean, how does someone even broach that?”

  “You just do,” Fiona said, embracing me. “Oh, my friend. I am so sorry for the complications that you have to endure.”

  “Thanks,” I squeaked.

  “You two will work it out,” she said as we pulled apart. “There’s an answer to all this, Charlotte, I know there is. And if anyone can find that answer, it’s you.”

  Go grab Go for the Juggler, the next book in the Magical Midway series right now or keep reading! I’ve included Chapter 1!

  Thanks so much for reading the first three books of the Magical Midway Paranormal Cozy Series!

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  Go grab Go for the Jugglar, the next book in the Magical Midway series right now or keep reading! I’ve included Chapter 1!

  Leanne Leeds

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  Read Chapter 1 of Book 4, Go For the Juggler

  “Well, they came,” I told Fiona as I walked out of my yurt. “Devana, Gunther, and Ms. Elkins. I didn’t bind them to the Magical Midway at all. They just poofed over here with us.”

  “At least you know some of what those two women claim is the truth,” Fiona said. “I wonder if Gunther knew he was tied to us? And how? How are they tied to us? And since when?”

  I took a deep breath to fill my lungs with the hot Texas air. It was the beginning of summer in central Texas, and I could smell the dryness. After the cool forests of the northwest, the
difference was striking.

  It smelled like home, though.

  “I don’t know. Right now, I don’t want to think about it. I need to decompress my brain for a day or two.”

  “Was your Mom excited that you were coming?”

  “Yep. Dad seems to have given up his prejudice against the circus, finally. We’re on land just to the west of the shelter.” I gazed to the east and pointed to a large house on a gentle slope. “See that? That’s where I grew up. The shelter building is just a little bit ahead of it.”

  “It’s quaint,” Fiona said. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere, though. I don’t see anything else for miles.”

  “That’s Texas, at least outside of the cities. I know our address is Mickwac but, honestly, I don’t even think we’re technically part of the town. It’s just the nearest post office to us.”

  “Likely better, anyway, since we just dropped a circus in the middle of your county,” Fiona said. “How do we avoid being seen when we do that, anyway? I’ve always wondered but never bothered to ask.”

  “It’s just part of the magic. People would think they saw us drive up, even though they didn’t.”

  It felt good to be back home. I hadn’t been back to the house since all of this started. Not since the day that I walked into the cat shelter and found Samson glowing like he was radioactive. It was appropriate that I was made ringmaster of the family circus on Halloween in a lot of ways.

  Since every day now was basically Halloween.

  “Charlotte,” Mark said as he walked up, arm in arm with Serena. “I think I came through here once when I was human. It’s a nice part of the state. I look forward to taking Serena out to dinner in Austin.”

  Serena smiled and nodded. “It reminds me of the plains in Africa a little bit. I feel very at home here.”

  “We’re on the same latitude line as the plains of Africa, so there are some similarities. There are some ranches that have a lot of African animals in Texas.”