Yuletide Blend

by Kennedy Layne

  Have you lost your ever-loving mind? Never mind. I already know the answer to that question. It was a casualty of your first day in town.

  “I’m not jinxing us,” I replied confidently, already knowing that Leo was referring to karma. I wasn’t worried in the least about tempting our fate, though. Once Halloween had come and gone, Paramour Bay had been peacefully quiet and devoid of any murders, thefts, or arsons related to the supernatural. “I was thinking more along the lines of a small mystery. You know, maybe helping Elsie find her favorite pair of reading glasses. They’ve been missing for the last two days. Besides, there are other mysteries to solve besides the odd murder.”

  The Halloween debacle was a long story, but I could summarize. You see, my great aunt still belonged to the Windsor coven, the members of which just so happened to be at war with one another. I’d officially gotten Aunt Rowena to believe that me, my mother, and my friends wanted no part in a war between the two factions. I’d finally grown a backbone and managed to use it properly.

  Uh, Raven?

  I looked down at Leo, waiting for a snarky comment about my confidence level having inched up a bit over the last month and a half. Instead, his left eye protruded a bit as he stared at something behind me.

  Don’t do it. Don’t turn around. And if you do, which I know you will, I’d like to go on record that it wasn’t me. I had nothing to do with chasing that mouse up his pant leg.

  With that kind of introduction, I couldn’t help myself. I looked over my shoulder to find Santa Claus himself standing behind me looking a bit melancholy as worry lines appeared between his bushy eyebrows. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the likeness from the pictures. The council had done a fantastic job of picking this particular Santa out of the cast of characters we usually had.

  If you say so. Personally, I think his beard could have been a bit longer.

  “I should apologize on Leo’s behalf,” I began, pausing long enough to search for the right words. What could one say when their cat wreaked havoc on a holiday display? “He’s been a bit lonely ever since the local squirrels went into hibernation, and he’s just looking for something to keep him busy.”

  “No need to apologize, dear,” Santa Claus replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach his blue eyes. We stood in silence for a moment, observing the crowd as they all began to fan out in groups around town square. Something had definitely happened at the petting zoo, and Liam was directing the horde. “My lead reindeer has gone missing.”

  You might want to step away slowly, Raven. Make no sudden moves toward him. It appears that this Santa Claus is taking his duties a little bit too seriously, if you get my drift. The opioid problem is striking everywhere and affecting people on all walks of life.

  “Missing?” I was pretty sure that this Santa Claus hadn’t been close enough to the petting zoo to know what exactly had happened to cause all the commotion. A thought occurred to me. “Is this one of the activities scheduled for tonight? Find the red-nosed reindeer? That’s a clever one.”

  “I would never use my reindeer in such a manner, my dear.” Santa had topped his outfit off with those gold-rimmed glasses, which he now adjusted on the end of his bulbous nose. “The sheriff believes that my lead reindeer has just wandered off, but I don’t believe that to be the case. This doesn’t bode well for my trip around the world. How will I find my way through the fog and snow?”

  Are we really going to stand here and listen to this malarkey? Raven, it’s obvious he’s a few presents shy of a full sleigh. We don’t even know that one of those antlered brutes is missing.

  “Raven, could you go look in the alleyway behind the shops?” Liam called out, pointing toward Tea, Leaves, & Eves. There was a narrow alleyway that ran behind my tea shop for regular deliveries to most of the stores. “One of the reindeer has gone missing.”

  Coincidence. Merely coincidence, Raven. He could have guessed.

  “How did you…” My voice trailed off as I realized Santa Claus was no longer in my vicinity. A quick look revealed that he was making his way back to his throne where some of the children were lining back up to pay him a personal visit now that their parents were distracted. It appeared that duty called, but I’d love to know how he knew about the reindeer. “Odd.”

  It’s not surprising. You do tend to attract the more eccentric sort.

  It didn’t take me long to check the alleyway. A few other residents had done the same, and we made our way back to town square in a small group. I managed to spot Liam still standing near the petting zoo, so I made my way over to him to let him know that I was willing to do whatever I could to help facilitate the safe return of the reindeer.

  “What happened?” I asked after letting him know that there was no sign of the large animal in the alleyway. “Did someone unlatch the gate?”

  “The owner isn’t sure,” Liam replied, unhooking the flashlight from his utility belt. He handed it to me, already ensuring that the switch had been turned on. “He did a head count, which he claims to do every fifteen minutes. One of the reindeer is missing, but the gate wasn’t open. I’m fairly sure that he didn’t fly out of the pen, either. Everyone in the vicinity is claiming they didn’t see a thing. The mayor is with the owner now, reassuring him that we’ll have this situation resolved in a matter of a few minutes.”

  I glanced back over to where Santa was listening intently to a little girl’s list of Christmas wishes, deciding not to burden Liam with my suspicions. My palm hadn’t reacted in any way, so the Santa Claus whom the town council had hired bore no ill intentions toward the residents or the animals. I might have forgotten to mention that energy formed in the palm of my right hand whenever danger was near, and no such reaction was happening at the moment.

  If you recall, we have determined that your witch-signal is a bit defective at times.

  “Leo and I will go check the alleyway behind the tea shop again,” I promised, lacking any better alternative. I adjusted my scarf for the upcoming search. “I mean, how hard can it be to find a reindeer in Paramour Bay?”

  You realize that this might be the consequences of that jinx you wrangled up earlier.

  “Leo, I didn’t jinx us,” I disputed as we came upon the sidewalk, stepping up while being mindful of any slick spots. “One of the children could have simply opened the gate to the pen when the owner wasn’t looking. Like you said, the reindeer probably walked away in hopes of finding Bobby Hurst and another dose of sugar. I imagine that caribous are very highly intelligent animals.”

  You must be thinking about Skippy and his tribe of ninja squirrels, because you couldn’t possibly be referring to those thick antlered brutes. Have you seen the size of those things? Their noses are bigger than my face, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for brains. I bet they can sniff out a granular speck of sugar from a mile away. We should check the bakery.

  It was a good thing I could hide my smile behind my scarf, because I’m pretty sure that Leo was attempting to figure out which direction the reindeer had wandered off. My plan of distracting him had worked, just a little differently than I had originally planned. Truthfully, the bakery wasn’t such a bad idea. I did have to wonder how no one had seen a five-hundred-pound animal walking out of our rather crowded town square.

  This is where the jinx comes in, Raven. Don’t you see? You might have actually gotten us involved with an honest-to-goodness reindeer-napping!

  Chapter Two

  “I heard about all the commotion last night. Did they ever find poor Rudy?” Heidi Connolly asked as she breezed into the tea shop the next morning. She was wearing one of her expensive pantsuits from when she’d lived in New York City. Either she had an appointment with one of the founding families of our little town or she was making a day trip into the Big Apple for business. “Hi, Leo. Did you know that Cupcake now has her own pink, fluffy pillow in the boutique’s display window? I don’t know why you don’t like her. She’s got the sweetest disposition, always eager to be scratc
hed behind her ears.”

  My best friend was a like a mini-tornado of glitter and all things frivolous—invariably full of energy and optimism. She was one of the only two humans who I’d informed of my not-so-recently discovered supernatural secret. Not that I was part of my ancestors’ coven, but confiding in Heidi and Liam had gone against one of the top five rules established by the governing council, which was a fairly common stance taken by most organized covens from what I understood. Needless to say, I wasn’t my fellow witches’ and warlocks’ most favorite person, not that they were fully aware of my indiscretions.

  That orange con artist has everyone fooled, even my beloved Heidi. This moment of realization has brought a tear to my slightly bulging eye. I’m not sure how, but this has all got to be tied in with the squirrelpocalypse. I’m going to be forced to invade my emergency edible catnip treat supply, aren’t I? I was saving those for a truly momentous occasion. They are the last of my one-time organic Honduran premium acquisition. Truly a primo year for the Honduran crop, you know. Unequalled in decades of experimental catnip quality enhancement efforts.

  “Get this,” Heidi said before I could answer her, walking straight to the small coffee station I’d set up in order for my customers to sample a variety of products. “I have a meeting with Cora Barnes to go over her year-end numbers. I thought for sure she was going to find another accountant when she discovered that I was the one who’d taken over the firm from Beetle. It’s not like I haven’t tried to touch base with everyone in town, but Cora never saw fit to respond to any of my calls. Yesterday afternoon? Bam! There was this voice message out of nowhere, asking for a meeting.”

  Okay, the reason for the coffee samples might have been a tiny white lie. I’d always been a covert coffee lover through and through. Besides, I’d made sure that the coffee selection only took up one of the high-top tables so that could I maintain the original tenor of my Nan’s tea shop. I was currently expanding our selection of premium coffee station accruements, while ensuring that we continued to provide for the experienced tea aficionado.

  “Cora only has a problem with my mother, as far as I know,” I refuted from my position on the stool behind the counter. I then thought over my statement. “Well, she doesn’t like me very much either, but you’ve got the experience of a major New York City firm backing you up. That’s prestigious in the eyes of her circle. Cora and Desmond Barnes would never forego that kind of opportunity to up their ante.”

  Heidi had cut a deal with her old firm, and the contract she’d put in place had definitely been a goldmine. She had the best of both worlds while owning her own business, taking over an established setup that Beetle had structured here in our small town, all the while living close to her best friend. I wasn’t sure what had been included in the fine print of the sale of the town’s only bookkeeping business, but it had definitely been to her advantage from the looks of Heidi’s new briefcase.

  “I never thought of it that way,” Heidi said with a frown, probably pondering if maybe Cora didn’t think she was up to the task of handling the malt shop’s accounting needs. “I better be ready with my A game. A good word from her could bring in new business from some of those lakefront property owners.”

  Heidi finished adding a few sugar cubes and a dollop of fresh cream from a small ceramic pitcher that I kept out on my new Peltier chill plate I’d plugged in over on the high-top table. She then made sure to grab a hardwood stir stick before joining me at the counter. She’d gotten her hair cut recently by Candy, our local hairstylist, and it was shaped in the cutest bob that had an abundance of loose curls framing her face.

  “How’s Jack been?” I asked, setting down my pen on top of the town map I’d collected from the back. Usually, I used the various maps stored in the inventory room to locate missing items. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything from the reindeer that I could utilize in order to scry for his location. No one had been able to find him, and Liam had been forced to call the sheriffs in the surrounding towns to be on the lookout for a five-hundred-pound Norwegian reindeer with a sweet tooth. “Did you finally meet his parents for dinner?”

  You just had to bring up that oaf of a detective. Is there a reason that you don’t want me to have a good morning? Any chance you want to wrap my paws in tape to amuse the local cretins?

  “No,” Heidi frowned, carefully setting her briefcase on the floor while managing not to spill a drop of her coffee. I usually wasn’t so graceful. “Jack got called out to an armed robbery case that turned into a prolonged hostage situation. We had to reschedule. I’m telling you, it’s fate. Mrs. F doesn’t want me to meet his parents.”

  It’s nice to see that my karma is turning around for the better. Hey, where is my BFF? He’s due to come into work this morning, right?

  “Fate has nothing to do with two canceled dinners,” I reassured Heidi, reaching for my own cup of coffee. “It has everything to do with Jack’s crazy schedule that is inherent with his kind of work. Leo, Beetle should be here any moment with your morning treats.”

  Heidi was used to me carrying on two different conversations at once. It hadn’t always been so easy in the beginning, but now it had come to be second nature.

  As for Leo’s BFF and my part-time employee, that would be Beetle. Think the mad scientist from Back to the Future, white hair and all. The only difference was that Beetle had an affinity for bowties, cardigan sweaters, and a tendency to repeat words when talking. He was also the one who owned the accounting firm before selling it to Heidi. The only reason he worked a few days a week for me was to keep busy, but I wasn’t sure how long he’d be under my employment now that my mother was back in the picture. After all, he was courting her.

  That’s right—Beetle was now engaged to my mother. The very woman who once said a team of wild horses couldn’t drag her back to this town.

  You hate me, don’t you? Next, you’ll bring up that pixie leaving her sprinkles of glitter on my fur!

  I tried unsuccessfully not to laugh, commiserating with Leo fully on his list of taboo subjects. With that said, Leo thought of Beetle as his own personal supplier of addictive feline edible treats, all of which were liberally laced with catnip. My familiar wasn’t going to be worrying about anything after he’d consumed his special morning delicacy. It was sweet, really. Beetle always brought Leo a catnip edible to start his day.

  My BFF gets me. We have that kind of bond, like all kindred spirits do.

  “What’s that?” Heidi asked, nodding toward the map in front of me. She looked over her shoulder as if to see who else was around when she knew darn well that I’d just flipped over the open sign. She then feigned we were conspiring against the world when she lifted a hand to hide her lips. “Who are we looking for now?”

  “Rudy, if you get my drift,” I replied, touching my nose. “The reindeer that escaped his pen last night is still on the lam. Liam had all the residents searching into the wee hours. The owner, whose name is Barry Mina, was just beside himself. I guess his family is Norwegian, or maybe one of those other Scandinavian countries. I’m not sure.”

  “How far could a large animal like that get?” Heidi asked with a confused frown, looking at the map upside down. She pointed to one of our least favorite places. “I mean, reindeer can’t fly, can they? Did anyone check the cemetery? That place is usually deserted—from living people, that is.”

  I’ll ask Ivan. Our weekly poker game is tonight, though the resident warlock won’t be in attendance. He’s on some odd mission for the Wicked Witch of Windsor. And before you ask, no—I didn’t question him about the family related subjects we’ve been hoping to ignore.

  “What did Leo say?” Heidi asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

  “His weekly poker game with the ghouls is tonight,” I relayed with a smile, wishing Leo hadn’t told me about Rye Marigold and his work with the coven’s warring factions. He was the warlock who wouldn’t be playing in tonight’s game. “Rye is apparently out of town, running errands f
or my Aunt Rowena.”

  “You’re the one who insisted you didn’t want any part of that war,” Heidi pointed out, though I knew her to be in full agreement. “Let them do whatever it is they’re going to do. Besides, your mother is keeping an eye on the situation. She can handle your aunt.”

  My mother, whom I had a love/hate relationship with, had moved to Paramour Bay last month after becoming engaged to Beetle. She had previously agreed wholeheartedly that we shouldn’t and wouldn’t get involved in coven business, but she was never one to be kept in a box. She preferred to know what was going on around her at all times, with freedom of action ultimately her chief concern, even though she was the one who’d left town at the young age of twenty-three. She’d sworn she was giving up witchcraft, raising me without any knowledge of the supernatural, until it had all blown up in her face when Nan made me beneficiary of her estate and the family legacy.

  Now the Mistress of the Dark has returned to lure my BFF over to the dark side. We need to save him, Raven. Would you at all be interested in poisoning your mother? I mean, we have the perfect beverage at our disposal. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to put a few drops of poison into a cup of tea.

  “Beetle has no idea about the Marigold lineage,” I reminded Leo, hoping that it stayed that way. Beetle reminded me of a nervous nelly, so there was no telling what he’d do if he discovered the existence of the supernatural. “Can we just focus on the missing reindeer for now? Heidi, the answer to your question about searching the cemetery is a yes. Liam had groups assigned to each and every area around town. There was no sign of Randy.”

  “Randy?” Heidi asked, confusion written all over her face. “I thought we were looking for Rudy. Are there two missing reindeer?”