Witch School Dropout: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #7

by M. Z. Andrews

  Sweets had clammed up the minute that Louis joined the conversation. Char reached out and squeezed her hand. I wished she’d have interjected and told Mr. Bailey and Char that she’d been the one to run the place while they were on their honeymoon and put Louis in his place, but she didn’t do it.

  “Sweets is worth more than just the spells she can do. She’s personable and sweet to the customers. She’s extremely hard-working. She’s been creative and talented with all of the new treats she’s added to the menu. She has lots of great ideas to grow the business. Hiring her for just an hour a day to put a spell on the bread would be an extreme waste of talent!” Char’s booming voice made many of the party goers grow suddenly quiet. It had become a bit of a scene.

  Louis frowned as he eyed the crowd watching them now. He let out a grunt before stomping back into the kitchen.

  Sweets looked around and smiled nervously. All eyes were on them now. She clambered to her feet. “I think it’s time for cake and a toast. Are we all ready?”

  Mr. Bailey smiled. I could tell he was relieved that Sweets had changed the subject. “I’m always ready for cake! Bring it on out!”

  Sweets motioned to Mrs. Baylor and Mrs. Westminster who were waiting behind the counter, chatting with the mayor. The two women nodded and rushed back into the kitchen. Together they re-appeared pushing a cart. A beautiful four-tiered cake stood on top of the cart. The bottom layer of the ombre cake was a brilliant ocean-blue and gradually lightened to white by the top layer. Handmade edible seashells and pearls adorned the top of the cake. Filled champagne flutes surrounded the beautiful cake on all sides, but at the front of the cart, two flutes were specially decorated just for the bride and groom. The stems were wrapped in twine and one was garnished with a big starfish and little pearls and the other with a small starfish and the same delicate pearls.

  The crowd oohed and awed as the cake was presented to Mr. Bailey and Char while Sweets watched their reactions with baited breath.

  Char covered her mouth as she sucked in her breath. “Oh Sweets! It’s the ocean!” she breathed. “It’s beautiful!”

  Mr. Bailey dabbed at his eyes again. “It’s absolutely stunning,” he whispered. He looked up at the crowd. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so honored you all showed up, and I’m honored to be a part of Aspen Falls and to have such wonderful friends.”

  “Everyone take a glass,” Sweets prompted as she handed glasses to the people around her and they passed them back to the people further back in the crowd. Then she picked up the two decorated glasses in the front and handed one to Char and one to Mr. Bailey. “Okay, before we toast, I’d like to get a picture,” she said with a smile.

  Mr. Bailey nodded, looking at his bride with starry eyes. “Of course!” With his champagne flute in one hand, he grabbed Char by the waist with his other hand and pulled her in close. Sweets took several pictures of the happy couple in front of the cake that she had worked so hard to decorate for them.

  When everyone had their champagne, Mr. Bailey gazed into Char’s eyes as he raised his glass. “I’d like to make a toast to my beautiful bride. It has taken me a great many years to grow young. But my beautiful Char has finally given me the gift of youth. I feel young when I’m with her. Her spirit and zest for life are unmatched. She is my greatest treasure and my life’s reward. To you Charlotte Bailey, my wife, my life, and my best friend!”

  Char smiled broadly as she clinked glasses with him.

  “Here here!” shouted Mr. Adams holding up his glass before taking a sip of his champagne.

  The rest of the room cheered as Mr. Bailey and Char attempted to intertwine their short arms together and take a drink. The Bailey’s giggled light-heartedly as they found it next to impossible to figure out how to take a drink from their glasses with their arms intertwined. Instead, Char tilted her glass to Mr. Bailey’s lips, and he did the same for her. They smiled as they awkwardly fed each other champagne. The crowd cheered excitedly, applause and hoots deafening the room.

  As I took a sip of the non-alcoholic glass of champagne that Sweets had bought just for Jax, Holly, and myself, I looked around the room. The only person noticeably absent from the joyous celebration was Louis Albertson. My eyes darkened as I thought of the weird aura surrounding the strange man. And suddenly, I was worried about Sweets. The girls and I were going to have to do something about that man and fast.

  5

  Sweets

  It was a little after two-thirty in the afternoon when we finished cleaning up after Char and Mr. Bailey’s welcome home party. Char and Mr. Bailey had offered to stay and help us clean up after the party, but I wasn’t about to let them clean up the mess from the reception I threw for them. When Louis also insisted they go and let us do the clean-up, I wondered if all the nice things the Bailey’s had said about me had suddenly given Louis a new appreciation for me. I cheerfully waved them goodbye while Mercy, Alba, Holly, and Jax finished their slices of cake in the booth at the back of the bakery.

  The second Mr. Bailey’s car pulled away from the curb, Louis pulled his apron off of his head and hung it on the hook next to the walk-in freezer. He’d claimed he was suddenly feeling under the weather and was going to take off. Beyond frustrated with the man, I could do nothing but watch him go while holding my breath so I wouldn’t explode on him. He had done nothing to help with the party, even though he claimed we both did it. He had been right in suggesting a cake recipe to me, but it wasn’t like I wouldn’t have come up with a great idea myself. I’d only wanted to humor him so that he’d feel like he was a part of things and would help with the rest of the party. But not only hadn’t he helped with the party, he’d also done little else all week.

  Honestly, if he’d done little to help, that would have actually been appreciated. What the man did was to be a burr in my saddle the entire time the Bailey’s were gone. He’d pulled rank on me, and cherry picked every assignment that suited him. He’d assigned me all the menial cleaning tasks and prep work. I’d had to do several of his early opens and all of the closes. He’d made me re-organize the pantry, the walk-in cooler, the walk-in freezer, and Mr. Bailey’s potions supply closet in his office. Which, if I must say, I’d done a darn good job of organizing. They all needed it. It had been far too long since Mr. Bailey had done an inventory on any of those rooms.

  And while I’d busted my butt on the thankless jobs, he’d done the majority of the fun baking jobs. Every time I spoke to Mr. Bailey or Char on the phone and they asked how things were going I tried to sound positive and tell them how well Louis and I were getting on. It wasn’t that I enjoyed lying to my bosses. I just didn’t want to cause any waves and mess up the Baileys’ honeymoon. And so, I’d kept quiet. Only my friends knew exactly how Louis treated me.

  Once Louis split, my friends pitched in and helped me finish the clean-up so we could get out of there. The bakery closed at noon on Mondays. So once I’d hung my apron next to Louis’ and locked the doors behind me, I drove the girls over to Habernackle’s.

  I fastened my seatbelt and glanced up at Mercy in my rearview mirror. “Why are we going to Habernackle’s again? I’m exhausted. The party took a lot out of me to plan, and I was looking forward to getting back to my dorm room to do some studying and then I was planning to turn in early tonight.” I fought to stifle a yawn that wanted to come out.

  Mercy sighed. “I just wanted to check on my mom and brother. They didn’t make the party. Plus, I wanted to see if they knew why Gran didn’t show up either.”

  I groaned as I turned down the next block and parked in front of Mercy’s family’s bed and breakfast. I shut off the engine.

  “I know Sweets. I promise this won’t take long,” said Mercy staring back at me in the rearview mirror.

  “Fine,” I grumbled.

  Jax bounded out of the car and to the front door with an energy that was beyond me. I grudgingly followed her into the restaurant. Surprisingly, even though it was well past the noon hour, the restaurant porti
on of Habernackle’s was hopping. Linda Habernackle, Mercy’s mother, had a towel slung over her shoulder and was waiting on a booth in the far corner. She finished up and took their menus and then quickly bussed another table.

  I watched her quietly as she moved. She looked just like Mercy. Medium height, slim build, long red hair and green eyes. Truly Mercy and her mother could pass for sisters. The only thing Linda had that told of her age were the long white hairs mixed in with the red ones. Mercy liked to give her mother grief over those white hairs.

  “Hey Aunt Linda,” chirped Jax, breezing over to Linda.

  “Hey Jax,” said Linda, throwing her free arm around Jax’s shoulders and giving her a side hug. She looked up at the rest of us. “Hi girls! What are you all doing here? Party over?”

  Mercy nodded as she strutted over to her mother and furrowed her eyebrows at her. “Yeah Mom. Party’s over. What happened to you and Reign? Sweets said you got invited.”

  Linda sighed as she unloaded her handful of plates on the bar in the back of the restaurant. “I’m sorry Mercy. We had a bus of senior citizens from Roscoe stop in. I couldn’t believe it when I saw them come flooding in. Reign and I had it worked out. He was going to cover the b&b while I ran over to Bailey’s for a piece of cake, but then the bus showed up. I was hoping maybe the party would still be going on,” she said looking down at her watch. “What a bummer I missed it all. Did Char notice I wasn’t there?” she asked, wincing.

  I shook my head. “You’re fine, Linda. There were so many people at the party, and it went by so fast. There’s no way Char noticed who was missing.”

  Linda’s shoulders relaxed in relief. “Oh, thank goodness Sweets! And if I haven’t said it already, how nice of you to throw the Bailey’s a party! I bet they really appreciated it!”

  “They did. They both cried,” said Holly. Her eyes were drawn away as the double swinging doors behind the bar were suddenly thrown open, and Mercy’s brother burst out carrying two plates of food in each arm. She visibly lit up at the sight of him. “Oh, hello Reign!”

  Reign tossed his head back, throwing a long lock of his wavy, black hair out of his onyx eyes. My heart sped up at the sight of him too. Reign was a total fox. Mercy and Jax were related to him, and Alba was married, but Holly and I were completely aware of his foxiness each and every time we saw him. Holly’s attraction was more of an in-your-face thing than a subtle, beat-around-the-bush thing. She really didn’t believe in playing hard to get.

  “Hey ladies!” Reign replied generically, careful not to make eye contact with Holly. For some reason, her attention seemed to make him uncomfortable. Which I could never understand, Holly was gorgeous. With her long blonde, California beach waves, bright blue eyes, and voluptuous figure, most boys at school loved to get attention from Holly. So why Reign didn’t seem impressed with her, I wasn’t completely sure. Perhaps it had something to do with the potion I’d put in Holly and Reign’s dessert the one time they’d gone out together. The spell was only supposed to be a short-term harmless prank, but now I had to wonder if the effects were longer lasting than I’d intended.

  When Reign didn’t give Holly the time of day, a pout scuttled across her face. In true Holly form, she recovered quickly and rushed over to him and quickly took two plates from his hands. “Let me help you,” she begged, sweetness oozing from her voice.

  The other two plates Reign had in his arms swayed precariously as the two dishes were taken from his hands. “No Holly! Don’t –” he hollered. He leaned forward, trying to regain the balance of the other two plates, but it was too late. They began to fall.

  Quickly, Mercy pointed one finger at the near catastrophe, while Alba did the same. Both plates hovered just above the ground, avoiding a collision with the wood floor. Mercy lifted her finger, and one of the plates rose into the air where it hovered in front of her brother. “Here ya go, Reign,” she said with a smile.

  Holly’s face flushed pink with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry Reign,” she mumbled.

  Alba lifted the other plate into the air with her powers. Curling her finger, she pulled it towards herself. Her mouth was agape. “Red!” she breathed. “Since when can you do that?!”

  Mercy smiled at her. “I’ve been waiting to tell you guys!” she said excitedly. “I’ve been practicing it all semester in my kinetic energy class, and I finally got it mastered! Of course, I can’t lift anything very heavy yet, but hey, I started with a pencil, and I’m up to a plate of food. I’m making progress!”

  “I’d say!” said Reign proudly. “Way to go, Sis!”

  The few customers having lunch in the restaurant clapped. Aspen Falls was a pretty progressive town. Residents knew about the Institute and that witches and wizards walked among them. Of course, since we paranormals looked like everyone else, it was always hard to differentiate a witch or a wizard from the “normal” people.

  Mercy’s cheeks flushed as she took a little bow for the customers. She then turned curtly and looked at her mother. “Mom, Reign, do you have a minute? Can I see you in the kitchen?”

  Linda finished wiping the table she was bussing, and then handed Mercy, Jax, and I each a stack of dirty dishes from a nearby table. “Sure thing. I’ll be right in. Stack those by the dishwasher, please? Alba, Holly, do you two mind keeping an eye on the lobby?”

  Holly nodded, thankful to have a way to redeem herself after her klutzy encounter with Reign. “Sure thing, Linda.”

  Jax and I followed Mercy to the kitchen. Reign was already there waiting, and Linda was only a few seconds behind us with another stack of plates.

  “What’s up, Mercy? We don’t have a lot of time to visit. We’ve got a lot of work to do to start prepping for dinner.”

  “This won’t take long Mom. I was just wondering if anyone has seen Gran since the Bailey’s wedding? She didn’t show up for their party and since she’s one of Char’s friends. I thought for sure she’d be there.”

  Shadows darkened Reign’s eyes as he frowned. “I haven’t seen her. I think we need to find her though. I’ve waited years to understand why I was given away and to find out what happened all those years ago. Knowing that she’s in town with all the answers to my questions is frustrating, to say the least.” His jaw clenched tighter as anger seethed inside of him.

  Linda put a hand on her son’s arm. “Sweetheart, I know you’re angry. I’m angry too, but hate in your heart will eat you up from the inside. That’s how the powers of evil find cracks to get into our hearts. We don’t want that.”

  “Char said that Gran’s been house sitting for her while they were gone,” chimed in Jax.

  I elbowed Jax. “She’s not your grandmother,” I whispered to her. “She’s Mercy’s grandmother.”

  Jax looked up at me patiently. “She might as well be. She’s my cousins’ grandmother.”

  Mercy rolled her eyes but ignored the two of us. “I think she’s been avoiding us.”

  Reign harrumphed. “Well, I think that much is obvious. She knows where to find us, and yet she hasn’t made a single effort to contact us. That woman has a ton of explaining to do. It wouldn’t surprise me if she bolts the second she has to leave Char’s house.”

  Mercy looked up at her mother sharply. “Gran wouldn’t leave Aspen Falls without saying goodbye to us!”

  Linda dropped her towel on the counter and leaned backwards, crossing her arms across her chest. “She knows we’re pretty upset with her. I could see her leaving.”

  Mercy took a step towards the kitchen door. “Well, maybe we should all go pay her a visit at Char’s house. I have a million questions to ask her. I hate what she did to my brother, and it’s not fair that we’re not getting any answers.”

  Linda gave the kitchen a once-over and shook her head. “I wish we could go with you right now, Mercy, but Reign and I just have too much work to do today. Maybe tonight after the restaurant is closed.”

  I could tell by the disappointment on Mercy’s face that she didn’t want to wait, bu
t she had no choice. “Fine, we’ll go to see her when you close. Swear?”

  Linda smiled at her daughter. “I promise, Mercy bear.”

  I giggled. It always cracked me up when Linda called Mercy “Mercy bear.” My cell phone rang just as I heard Mercy tell her mother not to call her Mercy Bear. With a smile on my face, I dug my phone out of my sundress pocket and groaned as I saw who was calling on the caller-id. “Oh, my gosh. I completely forgot you were coming today,” I said into the phone before the person on the other end could get in a word.

  A man’s voice came through muffled on the other end. “Is there someone around who could unlock the door?”

  I sighed. Preparing for the party had given me a one-track mind. I‘d completely forgotten about the early order I’d placed with our food supplier. They delivered to our areas on Mondays and Thursdays. Louis had forgotten to place several things on the order the week before, so I’d placed an early order. “I can be there in a couple of minutes. You can just leave the stuff on the dock in the alley. I’ll come haul it in shortly.”

  “Sure thing Sweets, but I’ll need a signature before I can leave,” said Abraham Abner, our usual delivery driver.

  “Of course, I’m leaving right now. By the time you have the stuff unloaded I’ll be there.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll start unloading then, thanks,” he said before hanging up the phone.

  I shoved the phone back in my pocket. Everyone was staring at me. “We have to go, girls,” I said with a sigh. “I forgot I had a food delivery coming today and I need to go sign the form for the driver and put the food away.”

  Mercy nodded. “It’s fine Sweets. I’m ready.”

  After giving Linda and Reign a quick goodbye, I ushered the rest of the girls to my car, and we all loaded up.