Witches, Recipes, and Murder

by Zoe Arden

  "Fine," I told Trixie. "Get rid of it."

  Trixie nodded, relieved that I'd come to my senses. Colt led me outside, and I covered my face with my hands, not wanting anyone else to see me this way.

  "Lucky for you I drove here," he said and opened his car door for me. He was one of the few residents in Sweetland Cove who insisted on driving everywhere. The island was so small, and Sweetland Cove even smaller, that most people didn't use cars unless they were driving to Mistmoor Point, the only other town on Heavenly Haven.

  "Yeah, real lucky," I muttered and got in. If Dr. Dunne couldn't fix me, I might just hide in my room forever and sell my share in the bakery. I sighed and hoped for the best. Even though Dr. Dunne was human, he was one of the best doctors in the witching world. If anyone could fix me, it was him.

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  CHAPTER

  THREE

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  I took a second look in the mirror at the bakery the next day and smiled, relieved. Dr. Dunne was a miracle worker. He'd seen me as soon as I'd arrived Sweetland Hospital and placed an immediate call to Amanda Hollyberry, a magical elixir expert living in Mistmoor Point who sometimes helped him out with potions and spells. Since he was human, he needed occasional help when dealing with the magical world.

  That was one of the many things that made him such a terrific doctor though. Where most doctors would not want to admit they needed help, Dr. Dunne did not hesitate to ask for it if he thought it might help his patient.

  "Don't worry," he'd told her. "This isn't nearly as bad as the wart situation. Now that," he laughed, "was a disaster."

  I didn't see what was so funny about it but kept my mouth shut as he worked on me. Colt had excused himself to take a phone call from Dean Lampton, his boss over at COMHA, also known as the Council on Magic and Human Affairs. Dean oversaw the headquarters, which were on Florida's mainland and hidden in plain sight of humans, disguised as a toilet plunger manufacturer.

  Most humans were forbidden from knowing anything about the witching world, though there were a few exceptions like Dr. Dunne. Strange as it was, humans seemed to make the best doctors when it came to the magical world. I didn't just mean witches and warlocks, either, but goblins, fairies, and almost every magical creature, excluding perhaps vampires, benefited from a human doctor. Provided that it was the right human, of course.

  The bell above the door chimed, and I looked up to see Natalie walk in beside Lottie Mudget. Lottie was a lot like Natalie, a big gossip. She was rather short, coming in at no more than five feet three inches tall, with a large nose and slightly larger body. Natalie was taller and more slender, but their love of spreading gossip was identical.

  "You’re back," I said to Natalie. "That's two days in a row."

  "So what?" Natalie said defensively. "Are you saying I'm not welcome in your bakery? You don't want to sell me your brownies?"

  I looked at Eleanor, who was busy putting the finishing touches on a small vanilla cake shaped like a flower. It was for a little girl's birthday, and her mom was coming by any minute to pick it up.

  "That's not what she meant, Natalie," Eleanor said.

  "Of course not," I told her.

  Lottie put one hand on Natalie's shoulder. "Relax. You've been jumpy all morning. What's with you, anyway?"

  I shot another look to Eleanor to see if she found Lottie's comment as strange as I did—two days in a row that Natalie was on edge? —and saw she had gone back to her cake. Trixie and my father were in the back, so I couldn’t look to them to see if they'd noticed anything weird.

  "Your hives are gone. You look a lot better," Natalie said as means of an apology.

  "Thanks. It only took Dr. Dunne a few hours to make them all vanish."

  "Any idea what was wrong with your extract?" she asked, though she seemed rather distracted. She had stepped farther into the bakery, Lottie following along behind her, and now proceeded to look around as if she'd never been inside our shop before.

  "A few ideas," I told her. Though I left out the part about not being sure which idea was the right one. I decided to give up on the extract altogether for now and focus on something else. We needed a new batch of Fluffernutter root extract, and that I could make with my eyes closed.

  "Well, that's good, I suppose," Natalie said.

  "Do you have any peanut butter dream bars right now?" Lottie asked, stepping up to the counter. "Or has Sheriff Knoxx eaten them all?"

  Eleanor lifted her head from the cake she was now boxing up. "I can't help it if my husband has good taste," she said to Lottie. "And anyway, we have a few. I made an extra batch last night. Would you like one?"

  "I'll take half a dozen," Lottie said.

  Eleanor paused and bit her bottom lip. "We only have five. Will that be all right?"

  Lottie rolled her eyes. "That'll be fine. However, might I suggest that you start making more than just one extra batch per day?"

  Eleanor's cheeks reddened. "Point taken," she said and set the cake aside, boxed and ready to go.

  "I'll get them," I told Eleanor, already heading to the case where our last five dreams bars sat.

  "I'll ask Trixie and Eli to make up a fresh batch." Eleanor paused and glanced at Lottie. "Or two."

  I boxed up the peanut butter dream bars for Lottie and rang her up at the register. She paid for them, and I turned back to Natalie.

  "Do you want anything?" I asked her.

  "Chocolate fudge happiness brownies," Natalie said. "I'll take a half dozen. No, make that a full dozen."

  I lifted my eyebrows. "You've had quite a sweet tooth lately, haven't you?"

  Her mouth dropped open and she looked at me as if I'd just called her a warthog. "They're for my kids."

  "Sure they are," Lottie muttered under her breath, which only made Natalie angrier. Her face grew three times redder than it already was, and her eyes widened to golf balls.

  "Are you saying that I intend to eat the entire dozen brownies myself?" she squealed.

  Lottie turned to face her. "No. I've already watched you scarf back two Brass Monkeys from Coffee Cove, along with three chocolate chip cookies, two raspberry shortbread cookies, and about five vanilla almond chocolate clusters, and you're still in a bad mood. I couldn't imagine you wanting another dozen brownies all to yourself." The sarcasm in her tone was unmistakable.

  My own mouth dropped open. "You drank two Brass Monkeys?" I asked, shocked. A Brass Monkey was Trixie's favorite drink. My best friend, Lucy Lockwood, had invented them. She was one of the baristas at Coffee Cove and had created the drink when Trixie had complained that their large vanilla lattes weren't large enough for her.

  The drink itself was a frozen vanilla latte about the size of a two-liter of soda, with extra shots of espresso and vanilla. Trixie drank them weekly, though not daily, and I'd never seen her drink more than one at a time. The idea of drinking two in one sitting was unheard of.

  "Mind your business," Natalie snapped at me. She turned back to Lottie. "And you mind yours, too."

  "I am minding mine," Lottie said, taking a step closer to Natalie. "It's not my fault that you're acting like a temperamental princess this morning."

  Natalie stepped closer to Lottie. "If I'm acting like a temperamental princess, then it's only because you're acting like a petulant diva."

  Lottie's eyes widened. "I am acting no such way. You're acting like a spoiled child." She stepped closer to Natalie.

  "I'm acting the same as I always do." Natalie stepped closer to Lottie.

  "Then you must always act like a spoiled child. I've just never noticed before."

  "Now you listen here," Natalie said and stepped close enough to Lottie that they were now nose to nose.

  "Hey, who wants some hot chocolate?" I said, trying to think of a way to stop them from coming to blows. I could hardly believe it. Normally Natalie and Lottie were arm in arm, not nose to nose.
<
br />   Luckily, Eleanor came out of the back room just at that moment. She took one look at Natalie and Lottie and stepped into action. "What's going on here?" she demanded, going right up to them and separating them.

  "Nothing," Lottie snapped. "I was just about to teach Natalie that even spoiled children don't always get what they want."

  "And I was about to teach Lottie that petulant divas don't always get the last say," said Natalie.

  The door chimed, and we all turned to look as the mother of the child whose cake Eleanor had been finishing stepped into the store. She looked slightly unnerved as we all stared at her, her eight-year-old tugging on her arm.

  "Um, I'm here for my cake," the woman said.

  "Yes, of course," Eleanor said. "I have it right here. It's all ready for you."

  "I was thinking of adding a platter of brownies and cookies as well, if it's all right," she said, stepping around Natalie and Lottie.

  "No problem at all," Eleanor said and hurried over to me. She leaned into my ear and whispered, "Get them out of here now before they start throwing cookies at each other and drive all our customers away."

  I looked where Lottie was standing, right next to a display table filled with boxes of various types of cookies. Her hand was resting on top of a dozen chocolate chips. She could open the box and start slinging them at Natalie like hockey pucks any minute now.

  I quickly walked over to them. "Why don't we get some air?"

  "I think I can manage to get my own air, thank you," Lottie said and turned huffily away. She walked out the door, leaving Natalie behind. I breathed a sigh of relief. One down, one more to go.

  "Me, too," Natalie said but continued to linger. She turned her glowering gaze from me to the woman with the child. The woman looked at her uncertainly.

  "Come on," I said suddenly. "It's my break time, and I could use a Brass Monkey. I'll buy you one."

  Natalie's eyes shot back to me. "A Brass Monkey?" she asked and I nodded. "All right."

  She walked out the door ahead of me, and I saw Eleanor exhale a sigh of relief as big as my own. I hurried after Natalie before she could get away.

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

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  Coffee Cove was busy when we got there. It wasn't the only coffee shop in Sweetland Cove, but it was the best. The owners, Melbourne Hammond and William Carney, had done a great job of turning the shop not just into a place to get coffee but a local hangout as well.

  Lucy Lockwood smiled at me and Natalie as we came in.

  "Back so soon?" she said to Natalie. "Let me guess, you want another Brass Monkey." She snorted laughter, clearly thinking the suggestion so ridiculous as to be a joke.

  "As a matter of fact," I said, "we'll take two."

  Lucy's laughter subsided. "Are you serious?"

  She looked at Natalie as if to confirm what I'd said. Natalie nodded, and Lucy's jaw almost hit the counter.

  "Oh, my roses," Lucy said. "Three Brass Monkeys in one day." She gulped. "That's gotta be a new record." She paused, giving Natalie one last chance to change her mind. "Coming right up," she said then hurried off. I saw her stop and consult with Melbourne, who glanced our way. His eyes widened as Lucy spoke to him, and he hurried over to William to repeat the news. William was standing by the milk frother and when Melbourne told him, he accidentally leaned against the frother, pushing one of the buttons and causing the coffee shop to momentarily fill with steam.

  Lucy smiled at us, shooting furtive glances over her shoulder as she went about making our drinks. She was probably afraid Natalie would drop dead from caffeine poisoning.

  "Why don't we grab a seat?" I asked Natalie. "Lucy will bring us our drinks when they're ready."

  Natalie nodded and followed my lead. It didn't matter which table we sat at. Every table at Coffee Cove had a silencing charm around it so that you couldn't eavesdrop on other people's conversations. I selected one near the window so that we could look out at the sunset. I always enjoyed the different colors the sky made when the sun went down.

  "So, what's going on with you?" I asked her, getting straight to the point. Natalie and I weren't exactly friends, but we were far from enemies. "Lottie's right. You've been acting weird."

  Natalie looked around the coffee shop as if she was afraid we were being watched. "Do you think it's safe to talk here?"

  "Safe?" I asked. "What do you mean? Safe from what? What is it you want to talk about?" Then, to lighten the mood, I made a bad joke. "Do you have government secrets you're trying to sell?"

  Natalie's face paled. "Never mind."

  "Hey, come on. I was only joking."

  She took a deep breath and looked around the room again. "I just haven't been sleeping well. That's all."

  "Why haven't you been sleeping well?" I asked, still feeling there was more to this than she was letting on.

  She looked down at the table, only lifting her eyes when Lucy brought us our drinks.

  "Thanks," I told Lucy, who shot me a questioning glance. I didn't make a habit of having coffee with Natalie, and I was sure that Lucy was burning with curiosity to learn why.

  Lucy wasn't quite as big a gossip as Natalie and Lottie, but she was getting there. Her gossiping was a lot less malicious though. It was all meant in good fun, and she would never have repeated a rumor if she'd thought it meant someone would get hurt.

  When Lucy was gone again, Natalie took a big sip off her drink. The liquid was still semi-frozen and so thick it was like slurping an ice cube up through a straw. I covered my ears as the slurping sounds grew louder. Finally, Natalie got a strawful down her throat and decided to let the rest melt a bit more before continuing.

  "Do you ever see your ex-boyfriend?" she asked, surprising me with the randomness of her question.

  "You mean Damon?" I asked. She nodded. "No. Not really. Why?"

  "Do you think Colt would be mad if you did?"

  I considered her question for a moment. "Not if I told him what I was doing and why I was doing it." I paused and looked at her face. It was still pale, but her cheeks were red as apples. "Is that what this is about? An old boyfriend?"

  She shook her head. "Not exactly." She took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

  Lucy returned to the table just then. I looked up at her, irritated for the interruption just as Natalie was about to divulge something important. She must've caught the look in my eyes and sensed my irritation.

  "Sorry to interrupt, but someone left this for you." Lucy handed Natalie an envelope. It was one of those long white security envelopes that you couldn't see through and had her name written across the top in small, rigid letters.

  "What is it?" Natalie asked.

  Lucy shrugged. "I don't know."

  "Well, who gave it to you?"

  Lucy shrugged again. "It was sitting on the counter when I turned around. I have no idea who left it."

  She turned around and headed away from our table, back to make some more lattes and espressos. Natalie opened the envelope and quickly scanned the latter. It was one single sheet of paper. Whatever it said, it must've been short, because the back side was blank.

  I shifted in my seat so that I could get a better look and caught sight of part of the last sentence.

  It's not too late, I still need your help.

  Natalie caught me looking at her letter and quickly folded it up and put it into her purse. She rose from the table.

  "Thanks for the drink," she said.

  "You're going? Already?"

  "I have to get home. The kids had dinner at a friend's house tonight, but they'll be home soon. So will Bill."

  "Okay. If you ever want to talk—"

  "I won't," she said and took her drink with her as she made her exit.

  Lucy watched her leave from behind the counter then made her way back over to my table.

  "What was that al
l about?" she asked.

  "What?"

  "Since when do you have coffee with Natalie Vargas?"

  "Since she almost got into a fistfight with Lottie Mudget in our bakery."

  Lucy's eyes widened as I filled her in on what had happened at The Mystic Cupcake.

  "That's strange behavior even for Natalie," Lucy said when I was done.

  "Tell me about it. I tried to get her to tell me what was going on, but she clammed up on me. All I saw was part of that note you gave her."

  "What did it say?"

  "It said 'It's not too late. I still need your help.' That could mean anything, though."

  "Who would need Natalie's help with anything?" Lucy asked and laughed.

  "She's not that bad," I said.

  "Remember when she started that rumor that I purposely got stung by that jellyfish just to get attention?"

  "It wasn't Natalie who started that rumor, it was Megan. And that was five years ago." Megan was Lucy's younger sister.

  "Oh, well... I forgot that part. Okay, so maybe she's not that bad, but you have to admit she's a bit of a drama queen."

  "Are we still talking about Natalie, or are we talking about you now?"

  Lucy made a face at me, and I laughed.

  "I'm only teasing," I told her.

  "Careful or I might have to retaliate with some jokes about that new extract of yours."

  "You heard about that, huh?"

  "You were seen by like two dozen people in Sweetland Hospital, plus Natalie helped spread the word. So, yeah, I heard."

  I shrugged. "Even Edison failed sometimes."

  "So, are you gonna try and fix it?"

  "What for? No one would buy it now even if I did. They'd be too afraid of breaking out in hives."