by Amy Boyles
“Have you ever wondered why you can’t see a match for yourself?”
I was in the process of removing the stone, standing on one foot. Her words caused me to lose my balance. I lurched forward, but May’s strong hand clasped my arm in a vise.
“Steady,” she said. “But have you?”
“Not really. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I’m helping others and am not supposed to be helping myself.”
Her lips formed a thin, amused smile. “Do you think it’s that simple?”
“Well, I did until now.” I fished the rock out and steadied myself. “Thank you.”
We continued on our walk. “I’m not asking you because I have the answer; I’m asking only because I’m curious why you can’t see your own match.”
Unsure how to answer, I remained quiet.
“Have you ever wondered if it’s because if you found out, you wouldn’t believe the truth?” May prodded.
I hiked a shoulder in uncertainty. “I think it’s more that I’m supposed to serve others with my powers and not myself. My job is not to find my own soul mate but to find another person’s.”
Her lips curled into an amused smile. “And what if you did know? What if the soul mate was the last person you wanted it to be? Would you believe your own powers, or would you disregard them?”
Why the heck were we having a philosophical discussion among a pack of crows?
May studied me. Clearly she wanted an answer, and I had the feeling that unless I played her game, I wouldn’t get the information I wanted.
“Okay,” I said slowly, chewing on the words before they left my tongue. “I suppose it’s possible that if I saw my soul mate and then I met him, would I act differently around him, knowing what I know? Like what if I knew who he was and then met him and assumed he would ask me out but he didn’t? What if he was dating a woman at the time we met? Would I trust fate, or would I move on and date someone else? What if I was married to someone when we met? What do all these things mean?”
The more I theorized, the more insane my thoughts seemed to be. “I really don’t know. It’s best that I don’t know who my soul mate is. That’s how things have to be.”
“And what about magic? Do you believe the prophecy?”
My shoes stuck to the ground. “How do you know about that?”
May touched her nose and winked. “I know all sorts of things. The crows show me. Tell me—do you want the prophecy to come true?”
“Do I want magic to suffer because of me?” I hissed. “Absolutely not. But I’m here in this town not only because I’m under contract to do my job, but also because I like this place. I want it to thrive. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“And how does your mother feel?”
Boy, were my shoes getting used to being stuck to the ground here. This woman’s questions had me in knots and unable to move.
“My mother wants me to be careful. She’s worried, but who’s to say the prophecy is right? That old witch was drunk on boiled peanuts when she made it. What she saw could be wrong.”
May eyed me slyly. “And what about the new powers you’re not using?”
She had me there. I did have new powers that I wasn’t exactly probing into because yes, I was afraid that if I learned what to do with them, the future might sour.
The last thing I wanted was to have a prophecy weighing on my shoulders.
“I don’t know an earth witch or air witch who can easily teach me. Besides”—I lowered my voice—“if people discovered I could wield both elements, what would they think? They’d think I was some sort of freak—or that I was lying.”
“No one thinks Glinda Calhoun is a freak,” she murmured.
She started walking again and I followed. “That’s because she’s powerful. She doesn’t wield more than one type of magical element.”
May was silent for a moment; the only sound that floated between us was that of the crunch of pebbles under our feet.
When she spoke, her voice became a funnel filled with mystery. “But you came here to find out something else? Yes?”
Finally.
“A witch arrived in town yesterday. She cursed a woman named Reese and took her identity. I feel responsible for Reese and want to know why the witch who was murdered would have taken her place.”
May stopped suddenly and pivoted toward me. “You want a name, is that right?”
I nodded. “It would be a good start.”
May chewed on that for a moment. She stroked the crow’s back on her left shoulder as she peered at me. “I wonder, Charming Calhoun, what will you do when the answers to some of your questions scare you?”
Sheesh. More riddles? As much as I wanted to make a sarcastic remark, I hiked both shoulders to my ears.
“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have no choice but to embrace them.”
“Wise answer.” She ran a finger down the crow’s beak. “The name you seek is Corley Duvall.”
I opened my mouth to ask how she knew the woman. “That’s as much as I know. Sorry I can’t be of more help in that regard. But that’s the name. Do with it what you will.”
“Thank you.”
I wasn’t sure if I should stick around and walk the grounds with her more or if it was rude of me to leave.
I hesitated. “So, um.”
“You may leave,” she said. “But there’s something you should ask your mother.”
“How she plans on fixing her hair?” I said.
May didn’t understand the joke. Her mouth didn’t even crack halfway into a smile. “You should ask her why she’s never told you about her own earth power.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
May flicked her wrist and started to walk off, but her voice floated back to me. “Oh, and tell her Frankie Firewalker is coming. Glinda will want to know.”
With that, May disappeared behind a flock of birds that had swooped down as if right on cue. A sea of black swallowed her, and I turned and left.
Chapter 7
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had earth powers?”
I dropped my purse on the counter in the kitchen, fully expecting my mother to be in there still sipping coffee, for some reason, and found the room empty.
I whirled around. Broom jiggled up and down as if to say it didn’t know where she was, either.
“Mama!”
“In the spell room,” she called.
Ugh. I’d almost forgotten my mother had the house construct a spell room for her. I stomped through the downstairs until I came to the room and opened the door. Potions sitting atop burners bubbled milky steam. A brown powder sat in a mortar, the pestle dusted with the ingredient. The entire room stank of magic, which can have quite a wang to it, and baby powder.
I wasn’t sure where the baby powder came into play in all this.
The room was dark and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust and when they did, I realized Reese was lying on a raised platform in the middle of the room.
I rushed to Reese’s side. “You got her. She’s here!”
Pig snorted from her spot on a chair while Rose dabbed sweat from Reese’s brow.
Mama sniffed like a snob at a cotillion who’d just been asked to dance with the geekiest boy in school.
“Really, Charming, did you think I was wrong when I said the vampire would need our help?”
I stared at Reese’s pale face. Her lids didn’t flutter. There was no sign at all that she truly lived in her shell except for rosy cheeks and a pulse.
“I never doubted you,” I said quickly. “What sort of spell is on her?”
“I think it’s a coma spell.” Rose dropped the cloth on the table and pinched Reese’s arm. “A coma spell for sure.”
Mama rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s a type of coma spell, but what specifically?”
I didn’t have anything to offer as far as that went, but I had one thing I could do. “I got the name of the woman who took Reese’s id
entity. Corley Duvall.”
“Duvall,” Mama mused. “I feel like I know some Duvalls.”
Rose poured one of the steaming milk potions into a cup and drank it.
I blanched. “Should you be drinking that?”
Rose smiled. “It’s only tea with a fog potion cast on it. I bet your mother that you’d be concerned if I drank it. Now she owes me twenty bucks.”
Rose winked at Mama. Mama scowled at me. “You disappoint me, Charming. I thought for sure you’d know the difference between a fog spell and poisonous potions.”
“Let’s say I don’t,” I growled. “Can we please get back to the important stuff?”
“Like what?” Rose said.
“Like Corley Duvall.”
Mama opened a book and placed it on a lectern near Reese. “She wouldn’t have been a Chattanooga Duvall, would she?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea where the train departed from.”
“I do.” Rose smiled and pulled a train case from a shelf. “Let’s see. Her ticket is in here somewhere. I know I saw it earlier. Lipstick, eyeshadow, a pen. Oh, here it is!”
Rose pulled a golden ticket from the depths of the travel case. “The Witch’s Forge Express departing from Chattanooga. I think we have a Chattanooga Duvall right here.”
Mama didn’t glance up from her book. “That family owns a premier witch shop in the city. If Corley was one of them, calling the shop may give us an idea of where to begin looking.”
Mama dragged her gaze from the tome. Her laser-like stare bored a hole in my head. I glanced at Rose. She smiled eagerly at me.
“Oh no, y’all are not getting me to call and ask about Corley.”
“Why not?” Mama said. “You’re the most obvious person here.”
“Why am I the most obvious?”
“Because you can tell them you were matchmaking the woman. Simple as that. Just call.” Mama jerked her head toward Rose. “Rose will get you the number. Besides, every time I work my magic, my hair gets worse.” She shot me a pointed look. “I believe the shop’s name is Duvall’s.”
I marched from the room and called. “Hello,” I said when the woman on the other line answered, “my name is, um, Charmaine and I’m looking for Corley Duvall. Is she in?”
I certainly didn’t want to give the woman my real name. That could come back to bite me. Not sure how, but it was possible.
The woman’s voice came out gruff and angry. “Corley don’t work here no more.”
A bubble of hope expanded in my chest. “Oh? But she used to?”
“Did up until a few days ago. Who’d you say you were again?”
“Charmaine.” I paused, trying to think up a lie and quick-like. “We were friends. Do you know where I can find her?”
“I don’t know. She ran off. Probably with that man she’d been seeing.”
What? A man? How could there have been a man if she’d hooked up with Jamison?
Might as well ask. “What man?”
“Oh, the boss walked in. Gotta go.”
The line went dead. I leaned against the wall and tapped my finger against the phone. “What man?”
The house rumbled and shook. A second later a heat vent opened and a photo of a man was spit out. He had dark hair and the picture was black and white. When I looked closely, I realized the man wore a suit from at least fifty years ago.
I picked up the picture and laid it on a table. “Thanks, House. But I’m not sure that’s what I need.”
I returned to Mama and Rose. “Corley ran off with a man only a few days ago. Whoever I spoke to had to run—Corley leaving must’ve been a big deal or a sore spot with the family. But she left. Problem is, if she left with one man, why would she hook up with Jamison? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Life doesn’t make sense. Especially bad hair days,” Mama quipped.
I frowned at her and suddenly remembered what had happened at the station. “That weird man in the fur coat. At the station he and Corley had an argument, right, Rose?”
Rose fed Pig chocolate again. “Oh yes. That’s right. They did.”
I scratched my chin. “What if that’s the man? What if they came together, but something happened and she broke up with him? Maybe the only way she could get away from a real creep like that was to be someone else.”
I sank onto a chair. “Maybe that’s too stupid. Probably not possible.”
“We can find out,” Rose said. “All we have to do is track him down. In a town this size it couldn’t be too hard. The mayor introduced him last night.”
I snapped my fingers. “That’s right. She’ll know something. Rose, you’re a genius.”
Rose fluffed her hair. “It wouldn’t be the first time I was called that.”
“Charming,” my mother said, “was there something you were saying to me when you first arrived? I couldn’t quite hear what you wanted to talk about.”
I’d completely forgotten that there was serious business to discuss. I folded my arms and glared at her. “You have earth powers,” I stated.
Mama sniffed. “That’s ridiculous. What are you talking about?”
“The same witch who gave me Corley’s name told me that.” My eyes narrowed. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that you can harness the element of earth?”
Mama tried coiling a frizzy strand of hair behind her ear. Needless to say, the strand popped right back up and stuck out at a ninety-degree angle.
“That’s preposterous. I don’t have any sort of earth powers. The witch who told you that was wrong.”
“You’re lying.”
Mama gasped. Rose gasped. Even Pig gasped.
Broom shook.
I had succeeded in rattling the group.
Never, not once in my entire life had I called my mother a liar. I’d never had reason to.
The boundary I had just crossed was a serious one. I respected my mother, and to knowingly step over that boundary of respect was a bold, if stupid move for me. In doing so, I could lose my mother’s respect.
This could seriously harm our relationship, but I had a feeling I was right.
Mama glared at me. “What did you say?”
I folded my arms. “I said I know that isn’t the truth. You’re keeping it from me. You have earth powers. Admit it.”
“You would believe an old witch before me? Your own mother?”
I cocked my head to one side. “It’s not like you have the best track record when it comes to honesty. You didn’t tell me anything about the prophecy.”
She sniffed. “For good reason.”
“Then what’s your good reason for keeping this a secret?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not keeping secrets. I don’t have earth powers. I’ll forgive you for calling me a liar because you have a lot of weight on your shoulders with the prophecy and all.” She wagged a finger at me. “But don’t do it again. Now. Don’t you have a mayor to talk to?”
I nodded dumbly. How could May Little have been right about Corley but so wrong about my mother?
That’s when I realized she hadn’t been. Mama just didn’t want to talk about it.
She started skimming her book and staring at Reese, trying to figure out what was wrong with the woman.
I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to get any more information out of my mother—at least not right now.
There was no other choice. I had to find out where Rots Smythe was staying, and the mayor could help me with that.
But first, there was still one thing to tell my mother. I rose and stretched my arms.
“Don’t dawdle too long, Charming,” Mama said. “We may need you back here.”
“Okay, but that witch told me that one of your friends would be visiting town very soon.”
Mama’s brow curled into a question. “Oh? Who is that?”
I smirked. “Frankie Firewalker.”
Mama blanched as I turned to go. “That’s what she told me to tell you. Care to explain
more about your nemesis?”
“Please. I don’t have a nemesis.” Mama dismissed me with a wave. “Find out what the mayor knows. The sooner we can help Reese, the better.”
I nodded and, without another word, left.
The mayor wasn’t in when I arrived. India sat behind her desk clicking away at her computer.
“The mayor is out,” she said when she noticed me peering into the mayor’s office.
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
India glanced at the clock. “She’s just out to lunch. Maybe an hour or so.”
I smiled. The nervous little mouse of a woman’s gaze darted away.
“Maybe you can help me.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll try.”
I tried to keep my tone light, as if I wasn’t too interested. “What can you tell me about Rots Smythe?”
“I can tell you he wouldn’t be a good man to match.”
The voice that came from behind me made me bristle.
My shoulders hiked to my ears, and my entire body tensed. I slowly turned around and glared at Thorne.
“You know, just because you can sneak up on people doesn’t mean you have to.”
Amusement flashed in his silvery eyes. “I didn’t sneak up. I opened the door and stepped in.”
“But you did it with your vampire powers. That makes your movements swift and silent. You have an unfair advantage.”
Thorne strolled in. The scents of grass just after a rain and a sort of musky vanilla preceded him.
“Why do you want to know about Rots Smythe?” he asked.
Oh, this was tricky. If I told him, he’d be irked. “I understand he’s doing some sort of interesting work. I thought maybe I could talk to him about it.”
Thorne sat on the lip of an empty desk. “You wouldn’t be looking for him because he had an argument with the deceased, would you?”
I shook my head. “Oh no. Not at all. Speaking of the deceased, you didn’t find out how she was murdered, did you?”
“Still working on it.”
But the light in his eyes suggested Thorne knew and he wasn’t telling.
“How’s your mother coming with the spell breaking?”
“She’s working on it.”
