by Tonya Kappes
“Who is Petunia Shrubwood?” I didn’t even bother savoring my chocolaty treat. I just stuffed it in. I needed instant gratification.
There were so many questions floating around in my head that I couldn’t help but spurt them out.
“Petunia will be able to tell us if Ann is back.” Chandra giggled.
“Shh!” Izzy took Chandra aside and whispered something that I couldn’t understand. Chandra glanced back and me. She smiled.
I’m getting out of here. I stood up.
“Where are you going?” Gerald looked up from the cup, and then at Izzy. “Where is she going?”
“I’m going home.” I grabbed my purse. “And by home, I mean Locust Grove.”
There was no way I was going to stay another minute in this crazy town. These people were nuts.
Before I could make it to the door, a woman walked in. Her brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun that overflowed. There were flowers stuck in the mess of locks.
“I came as fast as I could.” She had a leash dangling from her wrist, but no dog on the other end. “I checked the kennels. I looked around the streets, the lake, but nothing. Not a sign of a new animal.”
Mr. Prince Charming sniffed the leash and batted at it. He didn’t care that I was upset. Traitor.
“That is not what I wanted to hear.” Izzy took Petunia into her arms. Petunia let out a little weep, the leash dragging along side of her. “Petunia runs Glorybee Pet Store, along with the SPCA and the grooming business.”
I didn’t even know there was a pet store around here.
“That means Ann was a bad soul.” Chandra’s snort was more of a sorrowful sigh. “Bad soul.”
“Bad soul?” I looked towards Izzy. She seemed to be the glue that held Whispering Falls together. “Didn’t you see her dead body?”
Were these people delusional? Ann was not coming back to life. I knew it and Oscar knew it. Where the hell was Oscar?
“If she had had a good soul, I bet she’d been a pig.” Chandra drew back and covered her mouth like she had just let the cat out of the bag.
“She might have looked like a pig, but she wasn’t cute and sweet like one.” Mr. McGurtle joined in on the conversation.
“That’s enough.” Izzy tried to stop them from saying anymore.
“She not only threatened to sue me, but she called me in front of the council and I’m on the council.” Chandra reminded everyone in the room. I took note because it was the first time I heard it. “The nerve of her thinking that the front step of our shop caused her to slip and hurt her back.”
“That’s right, she sure did.” Petunia agreed. “I remember the two of you fighting about that right in front of your shop, and her holding on to her back like she had hurt it.”
All of the sudden it was dead silence.
“But I never wanted her dead,” Chandra nervously chuckled.
Just for a moment, I looked around the room. Gerald was whispering in Petunia’s ear while she tried to cover her smile with her hand. Chandra traced the lines of her hand with her long, blue fingernail, and Mr. Prince Charming continued to do figure eights around my ankles. Oscar was still nowhere to be found.
“What is going on?” I asked. The madness had to stop. I brushed my bangs to the side to make sure I had a good view of everyone.
“Honey, if Ann was a good soul, she’d have come back as an animal.” Petunia stared at me with a baffled look on her face. “That’s my spiritual guidance. I’m the animal spiritualist.”
“What is that?” I was beginning to see what Whispering Falls was all about.
Palm reader, crystal ball, tea leaf reader, and now animal spiritualist? What have I gotten myself into?
She shrugged like I knew what she was talking about, and I wasn’t going to stand around any longer. Izzy planted herself in front of the door alongside Mr. McGurtle.
“June, can you please sit down.” Mr. McGurtle pulled a chair out at the closest tea table. “I told Darla I would look out for you.”
“You’ve said that over and over, Mr. McGurtle and look where that got me.” I crossed my arms. “I’m going to jail for a murder I didn’t commit, and you let me move to a crazy town!”
“Honey, we aren’t crazy.” Petunia shook her head back and forth, a few leaves falling out of the mess. “We are a spiritual village, as in psychics. And apparently you are too.”
Everything around me spun around my head, and the room darkened to a dull grey. I gripped the chair to keep myself steady. Petunia’s words twisted in my head.
Psychic village. . .everything went black.
Chapter Eight
“Does she do this a lot?” The giggle rang in my ears.
I didn’t have to be fully conscience to know Chandra was standing next to me and that I had passed out. . . again. I was sort of hoping all of this had been a nightmare and I was going to wake up in my bedroom in Locust Grove. After all, they had sprung the whole spiritual village thing on me without a warning.
One minute I was flying by the seat of my pants mixing ingredients to sell at the flea market, and the next minute I was number one murder suspect AND a psychic rolled up in one June Heal.
The rough tongue licking my nose reinforced that I was, in fact, in Whispering Falls. And it wasn’t a dream.
“I’ve known her all my life and I’ve never seen her do this.” Oscar’s much welcomed voice rung in my ears. It was not a nightmare. “June, can you open your eyes?”
There wasn’t a sweet smell to the room. It was more sour. Vitamin like. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Oscar sat on one side and Chandra on the other.
“Hi sleepyhead.” Chandra patted my hand. Her turban reminded me that she was a palm reader.
I tried to keep my thoughts free of any negative thoughts or mean-spirited words. Izzy had made it clear that she could read some of my thoughts.
“Welcome home.” Oscar smiled as if nothing had happened.
“Are you kidding me?” I whispered. “Firstly, someone is framing me for murder, and secondly, I find out that this is a psychic town. Third, “I held up three fingers, “Mr. McGurtle is involved. And I’m psychic. What’s next, you?”
“We need to talk.” Izzy came out of a different room with another cup of whatever concoction they gave me at the Gathering Grove.
“No thank you.” I pushed the cup aside. “I like my tea without the leaves and tons of sugar.”
All the lights in the room came into focus. The little family room had all the comforts of home. The natural wood walls accented the vibrant orange fabric on the chairs and couches. I sat up, taking in my new home. I wanted to go back to my little Cape Cod in Locust Grove.
I shook my head when the last few hours of memories crept back into my head. “Mr. Primrose is a psychic?” I recalled how strange it was that he would just show up at my house with an offer I couldn’t refuse. “Why do you want me to live here so badly? Was Darla. . .psychic?”
Psychic or not, I didn’t want to be here anymore. Selling remedies at the flea market was looking pretty good right about now.
Fear knotted in my stomach. How could Darla, my mom, be psychic and me not know it? We were poor. We were at our flea market booth every day trying to make ends meet.
“No, she was not. But your dad was.” Izzy’s words were lagging as she carefully picked them. “He was a spiritualist and your mother was not. But she had a wonderful spirit that was very welcoming to the village. We loved her store.”
Oscar didn’t seem as taken aback as I was.
“Did you know this?” I asked him.
“Not until today.” He looked at Izzy for approval. She nodded for him to continue. He held up a manual of sorts. It was thick. “Izzy felt it was important for me to understand how the spiritual village laws work.”
Izzy and Chandra set a cup of tea and plate of cookies in front of me as if I were a child. It was all crazy to me and something I couldn’t even begin to understand.
“Your father w
as our police officer. By Whispering Falls law, there can be only one shop per spiritual family and that includes if you are dating, living, or married to a spiritualist. One shop.” Izzy took the packet from Oscar and flipped it open. She pointed to Number Three under the Bi-Laws page. “Your mother opened a little shop and sought some outside spiritual guidance since she wasn’t psychic. She made the perfect cures.”
Was she talking about my Darla? Darla couldn’t find half the ingredients her recipes called for and then she’d substitute. Most of her remedies didn’t work.
“Outside guidance?” I questioned.
“Someone who doesn’t live in the village.” She handed the packet back to Oscar. “You don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, when your father passed,” Izzy looked out the window like she was playing it in her mind like a movie, “Darla, your mother, tried to keep up the shop, but it was hard with a toddler. You.”
“You were so cute.” Chandra’s adjusted her turban. “So cute.”
“When you got older, she realized you didn’t have any spiritual gifts, and wanted you to have a normal life. That is when she decided to open the booth in the flea market.” Izzy ignored Chandra and watched me, intently.
I tried not to show any unusual facial features or freak out. Who was I fooling? They were psychics.
Chandra took my hand and followed the crease along my palm.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Joy bubbled in her laugh and shone on her face.. “We thought you didn’t have any spiritual gifts, but your palm says differently.”
I pulled my hand away and tucked it under me.
“You have the gift of homeopathic remedies like your father.” The pleasure was apparent in Izzy’s smile. “Have you noticed how your remedies really work much better than Darla’s? She tried to imitate Otto’s, but it was fruitless.”
Otto. I hadn’t heard my dad’s name in years. Darla never talked about him. Now I know why.
“When Otto died, Darla really wanted to make your life whole. Complete.” There was a relief in her eyes. She sat down and gently crossed her legs. “She left the village and continued to keep the shop open because we all used and relied on her homeopathic remedies.”
“Not that they ever worked.” Tee-hee, Chandra paced nervously in the round room.
Izzy shot her a look that would make Mr. Prince Charming shudder. Chandra disappeared into another room.
“Mac told us about you making all these new concoctions and how the flea marketing booth was flourishing.” She nodded to Mr. McGurtle. “That is when I suspected you might be a spiritualist.”
Spiritualist? That didn’t’ make sense. Just because I have combined some ingredients makes me a spiritualist? My eyes narrowed with speculation.
“As you can see, every shop owner is a spiritualist where their shop name camouflages their gift since we are open to the public,” she said.
“What about you?” I questioned Mr. McGurtle. For a spiritualist, he could use some lessons in manners.
“I moved to Locust Grove when Darla took you there.” He looked to Chandra who did a little shimmy-shake into the room. “I was watching over the two of you. Orders from the village council.”
“Nasty.” Chandra chuckled.
“What’s with her?” I ran my hands through my hair to make a ponytail using the rubber band around my wrist. I was going to deal with Mr. McGurtle later.
“Locust Grove is nasty. All those wandering spirits crawling around, rubbing their legs together.” Chandra did an extra shake with a dramatic finish. “Eeck! Makes me itch thinking about them.”
“Spiritualist’s that aren’t the cleanest of souls or people for that matter, generally come back as the creepier insects.” Izzy dusted her hands together.
“Like bees?” Bees scared the living daylights out of me. Once Mr. Prince Charming batted at a bee and the bee turned around and stung me. I told Mr. Prince Charming to never touch a bee again, or if he did, I hoped it stung him.
“Absolutely not!” Petunia drew back, and put her hands on her hip. “Bees are loyal, loving creatures.”
She retreated to the back of the room with her head down, nervously fiddling with the flowers in her hair. I guessed I had to be careful about what I said about animals since she was the one who could talk to them.
“We are going to have to explore all of this later. What matters now is that you get situated and figure out how Ann got your charm bracelet.” Izzy’s A-line skirt and hair cascaded down in unison as she stood up.
“So you know that I didn’t kill her since you’re psychic and all.” I needed them to confirm that they believed me. I rubbed the new charm bracelet and glanced over at Mr. Prince Charming. No wonder he was obsessed with cicadas. Was everything he had done, even picking out the new charm a coincidence, or was he back as someone else?
Nah. He was lying back with his hind leg straight up in the air while he licked himself. No self respecting spiritualist would come back and do that. . .would they? Nah.
Izzy snapped her fingers and Oscar handed her the packet. . .again. She flipped it open and pointed to Number Two in the Bi-Laws. “Spiritualists can’t read other spiritualists.” She handed it back to Oscar.
“Which reminds me.” Oscar stood over me with a Ding Dong outstretched for me to take. “I’m going to have to separate friendship from professionalism. Although I don’t think you did it, you are the only suspect at this time.”
I jumped to my feet and snatched the Ding Dong. “You can’t possibly think that I killed Ann. I only knew her for under an hour, and although she was mean, I’d never kill anyone.”
Mr. Prince Charming ran over and did figure eights around my ankles. He always knew when I was upset. I’ve always heard that animals have great instincts when it comes to their owner’s emotional ups and downs.
“I’m not accusing you. Besides, village law states that no one is to be arrested for a crime. They just can’t move out of the village until the crime is solved. Including murder.” This time Oscar opened the packet and pointed out Number Five.
“Are you. . .” My mouth dropped thinking that Oscar could be a spiritualist. “a spiritualist?”
“You need to rest.” Izzy pushed Oscar out of the door before he could answer my question. “And you need to get settled into Whispering Falls. You will find all the supplies you need to get started at the shop. Here is the key.” She put the old skeleton key on the kitchen counter.
Everyone left, even Mr. McGurtle, who assured me that he would answer any questions I might have dealing with my new life.
I looked around my new home, trying to forget about the murder and my bracelet in Ann’s grasp, but it wasn’t working. Even Mr. Prince Charming paced along the walls.
How did Ann get my bracelet? Was my nightmare about her? If it was, would these nightmares stop? Why did Darla keep this secret from me? Who was I?
There were many questions I needed answered. And sitting in this house was not the way I was going to get them.
Chapter Nine
My first day in Whispering Falls was turning out to be the worst day in my life. Not only did my lost charm bracelet show up in a dead person’s hands, but I’d passed out twice, and found out I was a spiritualist. And I didn’t even understand what that was.
Even though it was already dark, surely someone was out and about. I grabbed a Ding Dong off the counter along with the skeleton key to my shop, and Mr. Prince Charming and I headed out on the town.
The fireflies danced around and dotted the night sky creating a little trail down Main Street. No one or nothing was out. It made me wonder if they had locked their doors tight because the new girl had killed one of their own, or just locked their doors out of fear.
Not me. I was on a mission to find out anything I could to clear my name.
Glorybee Pet Shop was the only store with a light on. Petunia was probably feeding all the animals. I hoped she was up for company.
The instant smell of anima
ls hit me when I pushed the heavy electric blue wood door open. It had wavy yellow metal detailing that resembled the branches of a tree. One thing was for sure, all the shops in Whispering Falls had the most beautiful doors that led into amazing stores you’d never knew existed.
No wonder Whispering Falls was a heavy tourist town. I’d only wished I could’ve shared it with Darla or my dad.
Meow, meow. As if he could read my mind, Mr. Prince Charming stood up on his hind legs and batted at my new charm bracelet, reminding me that the Celtic knot was going to keep me safe. At least thinking that was getting me through this crazy mess.
There wasn’t anything normal about Glorybee. I wasn’t sure, but I swear I saw a hedge hog run and then roll across the grassy floor over to the real life tree that stood in the corner of the room. As sure as I was standing there, a bird skimmed the top of my head and landed on a branch next to a grey squirrel.
“You behave yourself.” I scolded Mr. Prince Charming before he could get into any trouble. He had been known to chase several birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. I walked over to the tree and as sure as I was standing there, the tree was real all the way down into the grassy floor. It was as if they had built Glorybee and forgotten to lay the foundation.
No wonder I didn’t see any animals in Whispering Falls. They all lived here and were living the good life in harmony. Even Mr. Prince Charming sniffed around a few dogs, finally following one to the tree. In a blink of an eye, Mr. Prince Charming was sitting on the same branch as the squirrel, licking his paws.
Please don’t swat the squirrel, there was already an accused murderer in the family, we didn’t need two.
“I thought I heard someone in here.” Petunia peeled the canvas gloves off her hands, exposing the empty leash that was still attached to her wrist, and ripped the Velcro of the beekeeper’s veil from her head. “I was collecting the sweet stuff.”
She didn’t bother batting the handful of bees buzzing around her ear. I cringed at the thought of getting stung by one.
“I was walking by and you had your lights on so I thought I’d stop in and say hi.” I wasn’t going to jump in and ask about the psychic stuff.