Enchanted, A Paranormal Romance / Fantasy (Forever Charmed)

by Rachel Wells

  “Angry!” Mandy barked.

  “That’s good! That’s it! Let the anger guide you!” Nana sounded hopeful.

  Mandy peeked out the door again at the old woman. She was wearing a blue knee length dress that buttoned up the front, with three quarter length sleeves. The dress was kind of modest and old-fashioned but fitting for the woman who donned it. She had a blue kerchief tied around her head, covering her hair. Mandy bet she had just come from the beauty parlor and didn’t want to mess her hair up. She stared at the woman hard, watching her every move. She had bent to smell some roses and was now slowly straightening back up, her chin lifted in the air a bit, one hand on her hip. “Now what?” Nana urged.

  Mandy felt a new sensation wipe out her anger filled determination. She grappled around for the right adjective to describe it, confused by the sudden change in feeling. “Proud? Proud…” Mandy said quietly.

  “That’s it! That’s right!” Nana exclaimed. “Anything else?”

  Before Nana had even finished talking Mandy felt a searing pain in her knees, back, and wrists. “Ow!” she shouted. “What is going on?” She stepped back from the door she had been holding ajar, letting it slam but not before she caught a glimpse of Ally’s irritated face looking back at her. Mandy didn’t care. She shook her hands as if to shake the pain off and put her hand on her hip in an exact mimic of the way the old lady was standing out in front of the flowers. “What is happening?” Mandy cried impatiently.

  “It’s not real, it will pass. What do you feel?” Nana pushed.

  “My wrists hurt, my knees hurt, my back hurts. But…” Mandy trailed off clearly confused by her own thoughts.

  “But what?” Nana asked.

  “But for some reason I feel like I’m not supposed to complain about it. I’m too proud,” Mandy said shaking her head.

  “Yes! Yes that’s it!” Nana was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Don’t you understand Mandy? You’ve finally harnessed your abilities. It’s not your feelings you’re feeling, it’s the customer’s! The little old woman out front is in pain, probably just from old age, but she’s too proud to mention it. She doesn’t want to bother anyone or be a burden to anyone. You are feeling pain where she is feeling pain and you are feeling her emotions that are attached to that pain.”

  Mandy gasped. “I did it, I finally did it,” she said quietly, disbelieving, more to herself than to Nana.

  “Of course you did, silly girl. I knew you would. You just had to figure it out, just once, and now it will be easy for you,” Nana said, pleased with herself. “You’re not done though, so don’t go get all caught up in the moment just yet. The woman is here as a customer, remember. She’s waiting for her flowers.”

  “Oh right. So what do I do?” Mandy questioned, feeling slightly stupid for having to ask.

  “Well often times the customers will come in knowing what they want and giving you an order to fill. Sometimes, they will just ask for a bouquet of a certain flower and leave it up to as to what you fill up the extra space with. And sometimes, but more rarely than the other two scenarios, a customer will come in not knowing what they want and leave it completely up to you to put together something pretty for them. Now in the case of our friend out front, she just asked for asked for something colorful and happy. That leaves us free to choose what will benefit her most. Now if someone came in with a detailed description of exactly what flowers they would like included in their bouquet, you could use the alternate route of adding ground herbs and such to the stems themselves…same effect, just an extra step.” Nana was unfolding a piece of clear cellophane as she talked. “Now, think back to your books, Dear. What would be a good choice for an elderly woman with pain in her joints?” Nana looked expectantly at Mandy waiting for her to make the final decision.

  Mandy could see the flower books in her head with the pages and pages filled with an overwhelming amount of information. She could see Steve and his notecards. A million different varieties of flowers sped through her mind until suddenly the answer seemed to fly into her mind of its own accord. “Arnica and Daisies,” Mandy said without hesitation, sure of her answer.

  “Good girl!” Nana said proudly. “You’re well on your way, Mandy. Well on your way. Now go grab the ingredients, Dear. We can’t keep our friend waiting for too long, it’s bad customer service.”

  Mandy went to the special refrigerator they kept in back with all the less than normal flowers that were not usually found in a typical flower shop. Arnica was a bright yellow bloom with lots of tiny petals. They had a variety of daisies of course, but Mandy was drawn to the white, thinking it would look nice with the bright yellow arnicas. She grabbed a few stems of each of the flowers and took them back to the counter. Her Nana came over with some green ferns and baby’s breath and laid them down on the cellophane. She motioned for Mandy to put down her flowers on top of the ornamental sprigs and then she wrapped the cellophane around the bunch in a cone shape, taping it as she worked. She held it up, admiring it. “That sure is pretty, isn’t it?” Nana asked gazing at the bouquet. “Now, one final step before we give it to the old Dear. You must focus on this part of the ritual as much as you focused on the customer to assess her. If you don’t believe, it will all be for naught.” Nana looked Mandy in the eye firmly.

  Mandy quietly nodded, inhaling deeply though her nose, catching the scent of the blooms as she did so. She knew Nana was about to begin the chant which always accompanied a bouquet with a purpose such as this one. Mandy remembered the first time she had heard Nana performing a chant without knowing what she was doing. She had thought Nana was whispering to herself. Mandy knew better now though. She had watched Nana do a few of these over the past week or so, but Mandy herself had never been allowed to participate in this step yet because she had never been able to correctly identify a customer’s ailments up until today. Nana was adamant that Mandy had to be able to perform all of the necessary steps in the necessary order in order to be successful at healing. So without being able to connect to the customer and assess their particular situation it would be pointless to perform the chant.

  “Ready?” Nana asked breaking into Mandy’s silent reverie.

  “Yes,” Mandy said without skipping a beat, and she was.

  “Say it with me, Mandy,” Nana shut her eyes and put her hands on the flowers laying on the counter in front of her. Mandy did the same. She was surprised to feel almost an electric tinge as her hands brushed Nana’s. The feeling seemed to grow stronger and spread outward towards the flowers and back up to Mandy’s core. It was quite a weird feeling. Mandy hoped it meant she was doing this right.

  “We believe in the healing powers of the Earth and all its endless offerings. We believe in the body’s ability to heal. Let the beauty of these blooms bring peace, beauty, and healing to the bearer. We beseech you, Mother Earth, to spread your generosity on the kind soul who has been brought to us in pain, that she may leave in peace, free of all afflictions.” Mandy opened her eyes, not even remembering when she had closed them. Her hands felt warmer than usual and as she looked at them she realized there was a slight pinkish gold glow about them. Nana’s hands seemed to glow as well, only in shades of lavender and gold. Nana pulled her hands back and abruptly the colored glow dissipated. Mandy copied her grandmother and pulled her hands back as well, watching the glow fade from them and feeling them instantly cool down.

  “Very good, Mandy! Now we just need to bring these out front to her,” Nana said as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. A bright smile lit up the old woman’s face as she was handed the bouquet. She seemed to walk out of the store a little straighter and a little lighter on her feet. Mandy felt happy.

  The next week passed in much the same way. Mandy successfully assessed people and made bouquets accordingly. She participated in the chants and felt progressively more confident in herself and her new found skills. She caught on so quickly after the first experience that Nana even began to branch out a little i
n what she showed her. She felt wonderful, like a weight she hadn’t even realized was pressing down on her was lifted up. She felt like she could conquer the world, even as the threat of the second article hung over her head.

  * * *

  Chapter 24

  “So, do you want me to read it to you?” Steve asked, as he took his seat next to Mandy in the cafeteria the following Friday.

  “Eh, if you feel like it,” Mandy said taking a big bite of her hamburger.

  “If I feel like it?” Steve asked, doing a double take at Mandy. “You’re not curious as to what it says this week?”

  “Nah. Not so much,” Mandy said swallowing her bite. Steve was holding the local paper in his hand that contained the second article of the promised three. “I mean, I’m slightly curious I guess, but it’s definitely not consuming me like it was last week.”

  “Wow. I’m impressed. What brought this on?”

  “I don’t know exactly. I guess you’ve been right all along. Thing aren’t usually as big a deal as I make them out to be,” Mandy said shrugging.

  “Good for you. Well, I read it already anyway…” Steve seemed to hesitate for a moment before he continued on. “Your grandmother’s name was mentioned, as well as Lucas’s father.”

  Mandy simply shrugged her shoulders. “Well, we knew that was coming. At least we were warned.”

  Steve looked at Mandy, clearly taken aback by her lack of reaction. “I’m really impressed, Mandy! It’s like a whole new you,” he laughed, relieved the article was being taken so easily. “Do you want to look at it, at least?” Steve asked laying the paper down next to Mandy.

  Mandy scanned the article quickly as she ate her lunch. As promised the letters from the trunk between the doctor and Mary were reprinted in the article, which Doris touted as “the verifiable truth”. Following the correspondence was a summary paragraph promising an interview with Mary’s descendent, Dolly Brighton, in the article to follow next week. “Well, Doris certainly has a way with stringing people along,” Mandy snickered.

  Steve raised his eyebrows at Mandy’s only comment after reading the article. “So you’re really not going to freak out right now?”

  “No, I’m really not going to,” Mandy said wiping her mouth with her napkin and pushing the newspaper aside. Steve continued to look at Mandy as if waiting for a freak out to ensue regardless of what she had just said. “What?” Mandy asked calmly. “You’re looking at me funny.” Mandy squirmed a little on the bench.

  “This just isn’t like you,” Steve said finally. “Usually I can count on you for some good entertainment.”

  “Sorry to let you down. There’s no point in worrying about something I can’t control or change anyway, right?”

  “Um, yeah…”

  “So do you want to do something tonight?”

  “Don’t you have to practice?”

  “Nana let me off the hook for tonight. She said she’s surprised at how quickly I’m catching on. She said I deserved a break, and frankly, I could use one. If you’re up for it that is.”

  “Yeah, totally. We’ll figure it out after school,” Steve said grinning. “We gotta get you to class right now though.” The bell rang indicating the end of lunch. Hand in hand they left the cafeteria and headed to class. The afternoon thankfully sped by. Steve was waiting for Mandy outside the door to her last class.

  “T.G.I.F.,” Steve said with a grin as Mandy approached. “Want to grab a coffee?”

  “Yeah, sounds good. Let me just swing by my locker and throw these books in real quick. I don’t need them this weekend,” Mandy said. Mandy entered the combo to her locker and opened it, ready to launch her unneeded books inside and leave her education behind for the weekend. When she opened the locker she found an unexpected surprise waiting for her inside. “Not again…” Mandy muttered in astonishment.

  “What?” Steve asked, curiously looking from Mandy’s face to her locker.

  Rather than answer, Mandy pulled from her locker two roses. One was a sunny shade of yellow, but the other was brown, dead, and crumbling. One of the brittle petals fell off as Mandy moved it out from the locker and fell to the ground at their feet. “Geez, if I was trying to win a girl over I’d try harder to get a nicer looking flower, myself…” Steve trailed off, gingerly touching the dead stem. “What do the notes say?”

  “Notes?” Mandy asked.

  Steve motioned to the flowers. Under the yellow rose was a folded piece of paper, tied with a yellow ribbon in a bow to the stem. On the dead flower, an identical piece of paper was tied up under the dead bloom with a thin black ribbon, blowing ever so slightly in the breeze. Mandy was surprised she hadn’t noticed them from the start. The dangling paper reminded her of something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Suddenly her breath caught in her throat as she realized the ribbon holding the paper to the stem was tied in a miniature noose. The paper blowing in the light breeze reminded her of that horrible dream she’d had a while back of Mary Nasson, hung from a tree and dangling in the wind. Mandy got goose bumps up and down her arms. She unfolded the paper attached to the yellow rose first and read, “This can stay friendly…” She had a bad feeling growing in the pit of her stomach as she unfolded the note attached to the dead flower and read, “Or it can get ugly.” She let the note fall from her hands, staring at the way it dangled.

  Steve put his arm around Mandy’s shoulders protectively. “Did you piss anybody off recently that I don’t know about out?” Steve asked, only half joking.

  “No. I can’t imagine who would leave this in my locker or why,” Mandy said crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Well, we’ll figure it out. There must be some reason. Maybe you should go see about getting a new locker in the office,” Steve suggested.

  “No way. Then whoever did this will think they scared me and they win,” Mandy said defiantly.

  “So what? At least maybe you wouldn’t have to deal with this crap anymore,” Steve said.

  “No. Besides if they can bust into this locker they’d be able to find my new one and do it to that one too. Maybe it was just a fluke, maybe there won’t even be a next time,” Mandy said, tossing the two flowers into the same waste basket she had thrown the last rose she had gotten into. “Let’s not let this ruin the evening. We haven’t had any time to just hang out in forever. I want to have some fun.”

  Steve sighed, trying to expel his nervous energy. “All right, but watch your back all right? There’s obviously some sort of maniac on the loose.”

  “I will. Maybe he’s a mixed up maniac. You know, he could have the wrong person…” Mandy tried to laugh the situation off.

  “Mandy that’s the second time you’ve found flowers in your locker. I kind of doubt they’ve got the wrong person.”

  “Hey, aren’t you the guy always telling me not to worry so much? Take your own advice,” Mandy said giving Steve’s hand a squeeze. She slammed her locker shut behind her and they walked away, never noticing Ally lurking a few lockers down, taking everything in silently.

  * * *

  Chapter 25

  As hard as Mandy was working to control her reactions to situations that were completely out of her control, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t deny the fact that things were different. She could deny her normal tendency to worry and rethink things too much and to obsessively analyze every little fact, but she could not deny the fact that things had changed recently and were very different, for better or worse.

  The biggest difference of late was Mandy’s increasing power over her abilities. She seemed to really have grasped a sense of who she was and what she was capable of. She didn’t have to struggle to read people, she didn’t have to search through pages of notes in her head to find the correct remedies anymore. It was almost as if the customers coming into Nana’s shop revealed themselves to Mandy and just as simply the correct combinations of flowers and herbs found their way into Mandy’s hands. Even though it had only been a few weeks s
ince Mandy had figured out how to harness her abilities, it was becoming very apparent to Mandy as well as Nana, that Mandy was capable of more than either of them had even dared to hope for. Already Nana felt Mandy to be her equal in her craft. She did not feel the need to look over Mandy’s shoulder as she put together magical bouquets or question her in any way.

  The old Mandy would have worried about this sudden onset of freedom. It would have added to her stress to know that Nana was not double checking her readings and concoctions. The old Mandy would have “what-iffed” herself to death. The new Mandy however only felt more confidence in herself as Nana let go of her leash on Mandy’s magical abilities. She felt secure and powerful and for the first time in a long time, really good about herself. She found the less she thought about her abilities and what she was doing, the more that her magic unveiled itself to her.