The Perfect Spell
Moonlight Cove Mystery #4
Samantha Silver
Evelynne Page
Blueberry Books Press
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Also by Samantha Silver
About the Authors
Chapter 1
I woke up to the sound of tiny paws tapping against the wooden headboard of my bed. As soon as I realized I was awake and no longer floating around town on a cloud like I had been in my lovely dream, I groaned and closed my eyes more tightly. Maybe if I just pretended hard enough, I could will myself back to sleep and pretend it wasn’t morning yet. My alarm clock hadn’t gone off yet, which told me that it was not yet seven o’clock, and therefore not time for me to drag my lazy butt out of bed and make breakfast. Why on earth was Luna was so hell-bent on waking me up before my time? I wriggled further under the warm, cozy comforter and pulled my legs up to my chest in the fetal position, lying on my side. I was so not ready for this day to start.
“I know you’re awake in there,” Luna sneered as she stopped tapping on the headboard and pounced on my body, easily finding my shape under the sheets.
“Yeah, thanks to you,” I hissed.
“Good! Now, get up!” Luna demanded, pawing at my face. I wrinkled my nose and pushed up at the indentation in the sheets, propelling her off of me. She let out an indignant yelp as she bounced away from me. Worried that I might have actually hurt her, I poked my head out of the sheets, wide-eyed.
“Oh goodness, Lu, are you okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned.
I heard a very annoyed hiss from the end of the bed as she popped up, her ears flattened back and her green eyes narrowed at me. I gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry. But it’s not even seven yet. I can’t be held accountable for my actions this early in the morning. Diminished capacity and whatnot.”
“Uh-huh. Whatever. I’m trying to do you a favor, you lazy bum,” Luna snapped.
I raised an eyebrow. “A favor? Really? And what might that be?”
“Well, just yesterday you were whining about how you want to get in shape and all that, and so I decided it would be a good idea for you to get up and go join Lara for her morning yoga session,” she replied, daintily licking her front paws.
“Yoga?” I repeated, frowning in confusion. “Lara does yoga?”
Luna rolled her luminous eyes and scoffed. “Yes. Every morning. Without fail.”
“Just… in her room?” I asked.
“Yes. Jeez. What aren’t you getting about this?” Luna chided.
I pointed at the alarm clock. “I told you, it’s early! My brain’s not totally firing on all pistons just yet.”
“That’s obvious,” she replied snootily.
“Hey, wait. Why do you know about Lara’s morning yoga?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Sometimes… sometimes I join her. Lucy and I both do.”
“Join her? And do what?” I chuckled as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and scooted out, my toes curling as they hit the cold wooden floor. After all, all hope of getting back to sleep was now long gone. I padded into the bathroom with my familiar trailing behind me. She looked smug about something.
“We do the stretches! You know, the positions and stuff,” she explained, sounding a little defensive. I grinned at her.
“That is adorable,” I told her. “Truly precious.”
She glared at me suspiciously. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re being earnest or if you’re just making fun of me.”
“No, really, Luna. It’s cute. The thought of you and Lucy doing little kitty stretches on a yoga mat is downright ridiculous. I love it.”
“Pfft. Well, anyway, I thought it might be nice for you to join us,” she concluded, clearly starting to regret her decision to include me. I picked her up, despite her squirming, and kissed her on the top of her head before setting her down on the bathroom counter.
Luna wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Gross. You have morning breath.”
“Well, my little friend, that’s the price you pay for waking me up so early,” I commented with a shrug.
“Charming,” she retorted. “Well, hurry up! Are you going to do yoga or not?”
“How do you know Lara wants me to join her?” I asked as I splashed my face with water.
I tapped my finger to my dripping face and whispered, “Siccescoroa.” Instantly the water on my face evaporated, leaving my skin dewy but dry. I patted on some moisturizer I had bought from the beauty section of the apothecary downtown, and then pulled my long, black hair back into a flouncy ponytail. I braided the ponytail for some extra flair and practicality - this was a hairstyle that best kept my hair out of my face without resorting to just shoving it into a gigantic messy bun on top of my head.
“Ah, sensible and stylish,” I remarked, giving my reflection a cheeky wink. Luna snorted.
“Two words that have never been used to describe you before,” she said, a little harshly.
I gave her a scandalized look. “Well, my moon, someone is a little sour today.”
“Sour? No. I prefer ‘tart,’ thank you very much,” Luna said, preening. “Come on, come on, if you hurry you can catch the tail end of the yoga session.” She pawed at me impatiently.
I sighed. “Ugh, fine. You wore me down. But I swear by the moon, if I end up pulling a muscle or throwing out my back, I’m going to hold you accountable.”
“Fair enough!” Luna replied brightly. She hopped down off the counter and went pitter-pattering out of the bathroom and across the bedroom to the closed door, meowing at it until I opened it for her. Luna led the way down the hall to the guest bedroom where my friend - and international celebrity - Lara Lancaster, had been staying ever since her house a few blocks over had been designated a crime scene.
Even though by now the magical caution tape and crime scene technicians were long gone, she was still here. I didn’t hold that against her, though. After all, not only had Lara’s assistant been murdered in that home, but Lara had almost lost her own life in the attack. I certainly wasn’t going to kick her out and make her go back there until she was good and ready.
Sure, I might have been losing out on some revenue by having one of my guestrooms in use by a friend rather than a customer, but I didn’t mind. Business was going well, anyway, and besides, I rather liked having Lara around. She kept to herself for the most part; she was quiet and helpful, never getting in the way or asking too much. When we did spend time together at the bed and breakfast, it felt like an old-fashioned sleepover with a good friend, and when we didn’t spend time together, it was easy enough to forget I wasn’t home alone. After all, she had retired from acting, from being in the limelight. Nowadays she just wanted to live quietly and happily in our modest but picturesque little seaside town in this corner of the world.
Moonlight Cove was the perfect place for her retirement. She was still young enough to really enjoy what little nightlife and recreational activities our area had to offer, but mature enough to be happy with a quieter, slower pace of life. It was a good fit, overall, and I was glad to have her around.
Luna meowed softly at Lara’s door and I heard an equally soft mew in response from the o
ther side. That was Lucy, Lara’s fluffy white cat familiar. At first, Luna and Lucy had been mortal enemies, squabbling and swatting at each other every chance they got. But nowadays they were more like sisters. They fought on occasion, but most of the time they got along just fine, even snuggling up to each other from time to time. Which was, of course, incredibly adorable.
The sound of soft footsteps made their way towards the door, and a second later Lara opened it, looking down instinctively to greet Luna. She looked slightly startled when she saw that I was standing there, too. I beamed at her and she smiled back.
“Good morning,” I said softly. “Luna woke me up to do yoga with you.”
She giggled, covering her mouth to muffle the sound, then she gestured for me to come in. “Come on. I’m finishing up soon, but you can join in, of course!”
I followed her and shut the door, looking around the room. Even though it was a guest room that I had decorated to suit my own tastes long ago, Lara had put her own spin on it. Her fancy, elegant clothes hung in the closet, and she had put a very expensive-looking Persian rug on the floor. There was a little jewelry stand on the dresser with priceless necklaces and bracelets draped over it. Lucy’s fluffy pink cat bed was in the corner of the room by the floor-to-ceiling window, and of course, there was a big purple yoga mat on the floor.
Lara sat down on the mat and waved me over. A little nervously, I sat down across from her. As usual, I was rather taken aback by how stupidly pretty she was. No matter how much time we spent together, I was always in awe of her seemingly natural white-blonde hair, flawless skin, full lips, and crystalline-blue eyes. She looked, well, like the human version of her familiar.
“Alright, so how do I do this?” I asked her.
She grinned. “Just follow my lead. And don’t worry if you can’t do the poses exactly right. That’s to be expected if you’re just starting out. Just do what you can.”
For the next half hour, Lara tutored me through several poses that, when she did them, looked simple. But when I tried them, it was like my body was more like a stiff plank of wood than a bendy pretzel. I was shocked and a little embarrassed about how terrible I was at it, but as usual, Lara was upbeat and positive, complimenting my “form” and telling me I was doing a great job. By the time we finished up, I was sweaty and ready for a shower. There were muscles I didn’t even know existed in my body that hurt.
I took as much time as I could get away with in the warm shower – wondering if I’d ever be able to raise my arms above my head without pain again - and got dressed for the day, drying off instantly with the help of a quick spell, then tying my hair back with a green ribbon. I put on a pair of thick dark gray leggings and a knee-length black dress with long sleeves and a cowl neck, then pulled on my favorite black boots and smacked my lips together after giving them a smear of garnet-colored gloss. I added a dash of mascara, smiled at my reflection in the mirror, and cheerfully bounded down the stairs to start cooking breakfast for my guest.
I had an elaborate, spicy dish planned out, and I was excited to get started on it. My current guest was a 35-year-old woman named Daphne Wright, and she was planning to check out this morning, so I wanted to give her a proper send-off. She had been in town to visit her sister and to convalesce from a surgery she’d had recently, but now her time was ending. I was a little sad to see her go; she was a sweet lady, very talkative and open about, well, everything. Daphne had told me all about her surgery to remove her uterine fibroids, about how cute her male nurse was, about how brusque and rude the surgeon had been. She had shared all kinds of childhood anecdotes, talking incessantly about her sister Desiree and how much fun they had growing up together down south. I actually kind of knew Desiree, at least tangentially, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. Moonlight Cove was a pretty small town, and even though I spent much of my time cooped up in the Manor working and being a homebody, it wouldn’t take long to walk around town and get to know just about everyone if I so chose.
I walked into the kitchen and pointed my finger at the big, heavy tome of a cookbook on the counter. “Patatas bravas,” I said to it, and the pages flipped themselves to the correct page for that recipe. My plan for that morning was to make that spicy, tomato-y potato dish along with a garlic aioli, freshly-chopped herbs, poached eggs from my parents’ coop, and a big, luscious ball of burrata made in a local cheese shop. I was obsessed with using as many local, fresh ingredients as possible, both to help support my community and because it just simply tasted better. To my surprise, Lara, Luna and Lucy all came trailing into the kitchen after me.
“Can I help?” Lara asked brightly.
“Oh. Uh, sure!” I replied. “Can you start chopping those Yukon golds over there?”
“Yukon… what?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.
I smiled. “The potatoes.”
“Oh!” she said, laughing. “Sorry, I don’t know a Yukon gold from the Yukon Territory.”
I giggled at her joke as we both got to work, humming and singing together as I turned on my record player to churn out oldies tunes. I was a little surprised at how much guidance and tutelage Lara needed in the kitchen, but I didn’t hold it against her: I had a feeling a spoiled celebrity like herself had never really needed to learn how to cook on her own. Besides, she had spent a half hour teaching me how to do yoga, so it was a fair trade-off.
Lucy and Luna wandered around the kitchen, evidently waiting for some errant pieces of food to make their way to the floor, but they quickly found themselves disappointed.
Within an hour or so, we had managed to parboil the diced potatoes in baking soda water, roast them until crunchy and golden in the oven, simmer a delicious sauce of crushed tomatoes, spices, and herbs, whip up a fragrant garlic aioli, perfectly poach two eggs, and arrange it all on a plate for Daphne. As she came trudging down the stairs, I plopped the ball of burrata in the center of the plate and sliced the top of the knot open with a sharp knife. Fresh cream came gushing out of the mozzarella ball, mingling beautifully with the spicy red sauce. I shredded some more fresh basil on top of the dish and served it to a very sleepy-looking Daphne. As soon as I set the dish down in front of her, though, her eyes lit up and she gasped aloud.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried that I had somehow missed some hidden allergy she had or something. But she patted me on the arm and grinned.
“This looks absolutely amazing, Arti,” she exclaimed. “Why, this is a meal fit for a princess. I feel like I should be wearing a tiara.”
“Well, if you really want one, I’m sure I’ve got a tiara somewhere in my luggage,” Lara commented cheerfully
Daphne chuckled. “Oh no, dear, I think I’ll be alright. But thank you.”
“Enjoy your meal, Daphne,” I told her happily. “And don’t feel rushed about checking out - you can stay as long as you like.”
“Thank you, Arti. You are a drop of sunshine, you know that?” she remarked as she dug into her meal. “I’m going to get an early start, though. I think I’ll finish this off and head right off back home and get out of your hair.”
Lara gave me two thumbs up as the two of us made our way back into the kitchen to get our own plates. This day certainly had started out on the right foot!
Chapter 2
About an hour later, I stepped out onto the balcony with a piping-hot mug of coffee in my hand and set it on the railing, watching the steam rise up into the cold air in a lazy stream. Daphne had finished her breakfast and left, promising that next time she was back in town she’d absolutely be back. Taking a deep breath, feeling the air chill my lungs, I took a moment to appreciate the scenery from where I stood.
It wasn’t often I got to enjoy the B&B when it was relatively empty like this. Of course, Daphne gave me the distinct impression that she could be a big personality when she wanted to be, but whenever she was preoccupied, it was like I had the house all to myself. I couldn’t decide if I preferred it one way or the other.
As I watched t
he quiet water and waited for my coffee to cool off to a sub-scalding temperature, I glanced at the mug. It featured a cartoon doodle on it of a couple of cats playing. One was a fat black cat, and the other was a gray tabby kitten, both of them playing with a ball of pink yarn. I tapped the mug with my finger, and just like that, the two cartoons started moving on the mug.
The images chased each other around the outside of the mug before the kitten took the ball of yarn in its mouth and scurried up the handle. I rested my face on my hand as I watched the two cats chase each other up, and when they reached the lip of the mug, they jumped. The next instant, the steam coming off my coffee changed into the shape of two tiny cats. They chased each other along the rim of the mug for a while until the fat cat lost its balance and fell down, turning back into the cartoon doodle on the side of the mug. It started licking its paw indignantly, pretending nothing had happened while the kitten peered down at it with a swishing tail, yarn in mouth triumphantly.
When I picked the mug up, the two cats darted back down to the bottom of the mug and tried to swat at my hair while I took a drink and promptly burned the inside of my mouth.
Sure, it was a novelty mug, but mom got it for me when I first took over the B&B, so it had always had some sentimental value.
It also reminded me in that moment that I didn’t actually have the B&B to myself. Lara was still living here, after all.
But Lara was full of surprises. She surprised me back when we first became friends with how down-to-earth she was, and she surprised me now with how low a profile she kept in my house. I never heard her, and if we hadn’t passed each other on the way to the kitchen for a midnight snack that one night, you could have persuaded me she had snuck out to sleep somewhere else at night.
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