by Amy Boyles
“Well as long as you don’t think it’ll do me in, that’s enough for me.” He grinned widely. It was contagious. I smiled back.
“It won’t. I’m pretty sure.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged tightly. So tightly I was surprised Axel didn’t pry me from him and wonder who the madwoman was who’d leeched on to him.
It was true though; I didn’t want to let go. I rubbed my lips over his thick cotton shirt and inhaled his scent.
“Thank you for believing in me,” I whispered.
He wove his fingers through my hair. “No. It’s I who needs to thank you. You’ve never given up on me. I owe you a lot for that. The least I can do is drink the potion. But I won’t just drink it. I’ll believe in it.”
“I hope it works.” I squeezed him again.
“Me too.”
We lay like that for a while. I started getting tired.
“We forgot about the puzzle box,” I murmured.
“It can wait,” Axel whispered.
I must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was back in my own bed, the sheets pulled to my chin and the sun streaming through the windows.
Amelia shook my leg. “Pepper, wake up.”
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. “Good morning.”
“Morning.” She clenched and unclenched her teeth. Amelia’s anxiety practically busted through the ceiling. I frowned and pushed myself up. “What is it?”
She tugged my arm. “Come on. I’ve got something to show you.”
EIGHTEEN
I rubbed goopy sleep crap from my eyes and followed Amelia down the stairs. Hugo and Mattie were already there. Hugo had draped himself across the rug. He opened his mouth, and a short burst of fire streamed forth.
“Hugo,” I chided. “Not in the house.”
He dropped his head to the floor.
“Sugar, dragon fire is the least of your worries.”
“What is it?”
Amelia rubbed her hands with all the guilt of Lady Macbeth. “I was trying to help. I thought that maybe my wishing skills were getting better. I managed to grant one of my dad’s yesterday.”
Fear spiked down my spine. “What did you do?”
“See, I was trying to make things better.” Amelia cringed. “But I’m afraid I made them worse.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, “I understand that. But you need to tell me what you did so that we can see if things can be fixed.”
But Amelia wouldn’t spit it out. “I just saw a need and tried to fill it. I wanted to help. I’m a helpful person.”
“We all know that.” I shot a look to Mattie. “Don’t we know that?”
“We sure do, sugarbear. We all know how much Amelia wants to help.”
I reached for my cousin. “What is it?”
She shrank three sizes as her spine bowed. “Promise you won’t be mad?”
No. “Yes.”
Amelia moved away from the dining table.
I gasped. “What did you do?”
“You promised not to be mad!”
I stared at her as if she had three heads. “I’m not mad. I’m really not.”
“I would be mad,” Mattie said.
Amelia nibbled her fingernails. “You’re not?”
“No. I’m not mad. There aren’t words to describe exactly what I am, but mad isn’t one of them.”
But then the words hit me—horrified, astounded, defeated, homicidal. No, I wasn’t angry with my cousin.
I was furious.
“How could you have done this?”
Amelia pressed her balled hands to her cheeks. “I know! I’m sorry. I don’t know. It just…I’m sorry.”
“It’s not me you should be apologizing to. It’s Betty.”
Betty the Toad sat on the floor beside the table. Her gullet pulsed, and her eyes blinked.
“What happened?” It was horrible.
Amelia approached Betty. “I thought maybe if she was bigger, that maybe things would work out.”
“She had me wish that Betty was back to her normal size.” Mattie jumped on the table. “And this is what happened.”
A five-foot toad squatted in the middle of the floor. Betty was Betty-sized all right, but she was still an amphibian.
“Why didn’t you just have Mattie wish her back to herself?” I couldn’t believe Amelia would be so careless. “Besides, wasn’t it already discussed that wishing wouldn’t work?”
“Yes,” she squeaked. “But I wanted to try.”
“Well you tried all right.”
And failed miserably. How could Amelia do this? She knew her wishes weren’t ready to be granted yet.
I pressed my palms to my temples. “You did this because of Cordelia, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
I shot her a scathing look. “You might as well just admit it. Did you do this because you wanted to prove to our cousin that she’s wrong about your dads and about your powers?”
Amelia sank onto a chair. There was no denying how miserable she looked. I knew my cousin was sorry, but why? Why would she have asked Mattie to do this?
I raked my fingers through my hair, relishing the feel as my nails scraped my scalp. The stress was building up in me, and I needed some sort of release.
“I’m afraid of what she’s going to eat now.” Amelia trembled as she glanced at Betty.
“It’s still Betty in there.”
Amelia shuddered. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Pepper, I hate to say it, but I think she’s gone.”
I sighed. My cousin had only been trying to help the situation. Granted she’d made it worse, but at least she was doing something. I had to give her credit for that—like maybe I’d make Amelia her very own pan of dressing next Thanksgiving.
I mean, who doesn’t want an entire pan of dressing? I know I would snatch that up mighty quick.
I exhaled a shot of air. “Okay. Since this is the situation, we need to do something about it. Let me call Axel.”
“No,” Amelia wailed. “I don’t want anyone to know.”
I nearly fainted. “Oh Amelia, I think we’ll be lucky if the entire town doesn’t find out. Lucky. This is so bad. We need help. I don’t know how to deal with this.”
“Yes, you do. You can turn her back.”
“Amelia, you and I both know witchcraft can’t mingle with genie magic. It won’t work.” I snapped my fingers. “Your dad and uncle. Call them?”
She slumped off the chair, shoulders hunched, as she made her way to her purse and called them.
Within minutes Morgan and Bean had arrived. I didn’t know how they made a living, but I was glad their schedules were so flexible.
Bean surveyed Betty. “What happened?”
Mattie answered. “That daughter of yours had me make a wish that Betty was back to normal size, and now look at her—she’s a giant toad.”
Morgan’s hands twitched. “Well at least she isn’t any bigger. This is something we can deal with.”
Hope filled Amelia’s eyes. “You think?”
Bean squeezed her shoulder. “I think Morgan’s right. But here’s the deal—no more granting wishes unless we’re around. You’re simply not ready for it.”
She agreed. “I’m not. I know that.”
Morgan shot her a wide smile. “It’s fun though, granting them. But sometimes this is what happens.”
“Things go wrong, sweetheart. Especially in the early days of using your power.” Bean gazed at Amelia gently, as if she were an injured animal.
I realized then exactly how much her dad loved her. Both Morgan and Bean had never wanted to leave their daughters. But for the safety of their girls, there’d been no other choice.
“And we don’t know how your chaos witching mothers affect you,” Morgan said. “I’m sure they’ve got some kind of influence, but we don’t know exactly what.”
Bean nodded toward Betty. “But right now let’s focus on this problem and see if we can turn your grandmother back t
o normal.”
“Yeah, before she eats me,” Mattie said. “I don’t like the way that toad’s been eyeing my thighs.”
I grimaced. Mattie was right. Betty did glance around the room, but there was something oddly vacant in her gaze. Something had vanished, like my grandmother. I couldn’t see her in those eyes anywhere.
I wanted to crumple on the ground. But instead I locked my knees and shoved my shoulders back. “Let’s see if we can get this solved. There’s somebody I need to speak to.”
Morgan’s gaze slid to me. “Wish for her to return to frog size.”
My stomach knotted. “Is this going to work?”
“As well as anything.” Bean moved some chairs away from the table. “Just make sure your intention is clear when you make the wish.”
“So don’t think about her returning to Betty.”
“Right,” Morgan said. “Just wish her back to the way she was earlier.”
I threaded my fingers together and cracked my knuckles. “Here goes nothing.” I inhaled a deep shot of air. “I wish that Betty would return to regular toad size.”
Morgan nodded his head. “As you wish.”
Glittery magic whirled in the air. It circled Betty, and in the blink of an eye she’d returned to normal.
Well, sort of.
She was still a toad after all.
I slumped into a chair. “Thank goodness. I’m so glad she’s okay.” I shook a finger at Amelia. I felt guilty shaking a digit at my cousin, but she’d been incredibly irresponsible. And not ditzy irresponsible, just plain old out-of-character bad.
“No more wish granting.”
She shrank. “I won’t.”
“I mean it.” It shot from my mouth as a growl.
Amelia flinched. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Bean placed a gentle but firm hand on my shoulder. “We’ll make sure she doesn’t do it again.” He nodded to his brother. “Perhaps we need to lock down your powers until you have a chance to really learn them. We’ll give both you girls lessons and take it slow.”
“Okay,” she whimpered.
I hated to say it, but I had no sympathy for Amelia. Not right now. “Can y’all take care of Betty?”
Morgan nodded. “We’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“Great. I’ve got some things to do.”
“Do you think you could snatch the poppet from Garrick’s office?”
“Since when did you start committing crimes?”
I’d opened Familiar Place on time, thank goodness, and had called Axel, who came over.
The store was full of yapping, chirping animals. I raised my voice so I could be heard about the chatter. “It’s not that I want to commit a crime, but we need to force a few things. Like, what did Garrick say when you told him that Gale accused Bo of being the person who introduced her to poppets?”
“He said he’d look into it.”
“Not good enough.” I curled my fingers into the back of a chair. “It’s not good enough. We need results now. There’s no more time to waste.”
He rubbed my back. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I know you seem to think that Betty is slipping away, but if she’s inside, she won’t forget. She’s just trapped, Pepper. That’s all. It will be fine.”
I jerked away. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see a giant toad-Betty staring blankly at me. Axel, we’re losing her. We’ve got to get that potion or find a replacement or sacrifice something.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I’m desperate!”
The animals stopped all jabbering and stared at me. I lowered my voice. “I’m desperate. We need a miracle and Christmas is over.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
Axel kissed my forehead and left. I sank onto a chair.
The animals immediately started back up. What’s wrong? meowed a kitten.
She looks sad, dummy, retorted a puppy.
I know she looks sad, spat the kitten.
Tell us what’s wrong, Pepper, said a parrot.
We want to help, yelped a puppy.
I dropped my head to the counter. “My grandmother is a toad. The one I brought in before. She’s become a toad and there’s no way to help her except this stupid potion that this one woman made and I don’t have the potion and I don’t have a way to save Betty unless one of you wants to become a ritual sacrifice and I don’t want that to happen to any of you.”
I took a deep breath. “So I can’t save her. She’s slipping away, becoming more like a toad every day. Heck, if we ever do find the potion, she’ll probably be so far gone there won’t be a way to bring her back. It’s horrible. Absolutely horrible and I don’t expect any of you to be able to help.”
Of course by this time I was sobbing. I grabbed a tissue box, yanked out several tissues and blew my nose something fierce.
You talking about a potion that turns people into toads? It was a kitten again.
“Yes, I’m talking about that stupid potion. Why did she have to do it?” I stared up at the ceiling accusingly. “Betty, why did you let Shelly talk you into the potion?”
Oh, that’s easy, said the parrot. Your grandmother let Shelly talk her into it.
“But why?”
Because Shelly had something the old lady wanted, a puppy said.
I stopped and stared at the group. This was getting weird and making no sense. A chill trickled down my spine. My gaze dragged from the puppies to the cats and back to the birds. The animals eyed me expectantly, as if I was about to reveal some deep, dark secret.
“And how would you even know that? About Shelly having something Betty wanted?”
Because we were here when they made the potion, the parrot said.
The world stopped. It tipped to one side. Every coherent thought slipped from my brain. My mouth dried, and I swallowed a few times to work up the saliva for words to form.
I rose and crossed to the parrot. “I’m sorry. Can you say that again?”
I said, we were here when Shelly and Betty made the potion.
I swallowed a knot in the back of my throat. “Do you think you could remember the recipe?”
It was a long shot. One so long I nearly crossed my legs along with my fingers. My hair nearly stood on end when the parrot answered.
Yes.
NINETEEN
I rolled up my sleeves. “Okay. What do we need?”
They all shouted at once—a rose kissed by a frog, newt eyes, frog’s breath, warts from a speckled toad.
There was more. There were so many ingredients I grabbed a pen and jotted as quickly as possible.
“Slow down!”
They didn’t. In fact, I think they shouted faster.
Legs from a bat, said a turtle.
They didn’t use them, remember, barked a puppy. They substituted for fur from a black cat.
“Does anyone have anything else?” Silence filled the air. “Anyone want to offer any other ingredients?”
No, squawked a parrot. We don’t have anything else.
I ripped the sheet from a notebook and hugged it to my chest. “Do you remember the order?”
The animals stared at one another. Which, let me confess, did not make me feel very good about what they were going to say. Long stretches of silence didn’t bode well in my opinion, but what did I know?
“So is everyone in agreement? Is this right?”
Finally a macaw answered. It’s correct! It’s correct! But just to be sure, tell us again.
I bit back my frustration and went down the list line by line. When I finished, I took a deep breath and gazed at every animal in turn. “Can anyone remember anything else? Anything at all?”
They shook their heads.
I took one last look at the page before folding it and pressing it to my chest. “Okay. Time to see if we can make some magic.”
“They went through the potion at Familiar Place.”
Axel was back at his house, and my nerves we
re stretched so thin I was surprised they hadn’t snapped off and slapped someone in the face.
“Who went through the potion?”
“Betty and Shelly.”
He quirked a dark brow. “How do you know that?”
“The animals told me.”
Every muscle in his body tightened. At least the muscles I could see. Not sure about the ones I couldn’t see. But those probably tightened, too.
“They worked the spell?”
I pulled the paper from my pocket and unfolded it. “Yes, and the animals told me the ingredients. They all agreed.” I had to stop myself from shoving the slip of paper up under his nose. “This is the ingredient list.”
His gaze swept down the sheet. “I have most of these things. The others we can get at the supply store, Magical Elements.” He tapped a finger to his lips. “It’s an interesting potion. I wouldn’t have put some of these things together, but I’m not surprised it worked. Hmm. Maybe Shelly Seay was smarter than any of us gave her credit for.”
“She used to teach potions at the school—before Saltz Swift came in, remember?”
He sank back. “Before I forget.” He pulled the wax poppet with the red lips from a box. “Voila!”
I curled my fingers around the wax form and then shrank back. “I don’t want to hurt it.”
“You have to know who you’re hurting before you can do that.”
“Oh good.” I threw my arms around his neck. “But you got it! That’s awesome. Hopefully we won’t need it. Fingers crossed we can release Betty with the potion.”
Axel gently pushed me back. “And what sort of reward do I get?”
I perched up on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. “How’s that?”
A slow smile crept over his lips. “I’ll take it.”
We stared at each other for a long moment before I hooked a finger into his shirt. “Well? What are we waiting for? We’ve got Betty to save.”
Gathering the ingredients took less time than I’d thought. We decided to build the potion back at Familiar Place so the animals could talk us through it.
I could’ve done without a couple of animals, like the squawking parrots and meowing kittens, but the shop was really the best place to work.
