by Amy Boyles
It was quiet and my cousins’ prying eyes wouldn’t be anywhere near. Not that they were nosy, but after this morning I didn’t want to raise anyone’s hopes of finding a cure for Betty.
After all, it didn’t seem like anything was going to work, least of all a potion with instructions from a bird.
I stared at the box of glass vials, most of which contained things so gross I didn’t want to think about it. “What happens first?”
“First we start a fire.” Axel stretched out his arms. When his hands met in a thunderous clap, a cauldron snapped into place in the middle of the room.
A fire burned green beneath it. “Magic fire,” he explained as I eyed him incredulously. “It’s different from the fire in your hearth.”
“Well, obviously. That fire keeps all of Magnolia Cove magical.”
He nodded. “This is magic fire for potion making. It helps infuse the ingredients with more power, more magic as it were.”
I rubbed my hands. “Great because I am all about more magic.”
He chuckled. “Okay. You have Betty?”
I pulled her from the box. “Cordelia and Amelia had no problem parting with her.” I set the toad on the counter. “In fact, I’m pretty sure Amelia’s glad to be rid of her. She doesn’t like being reminded of her mistakes.”
He tipped his head down. A dark expression as if my words had flared some sort of ancient memory flashed over his perfect features. “Who does?”
“I suppose no one.”
“Okay. What happens first?”
A cacophony of spritely animal voices filled my ears. “They’re saying to add all the liquids first.”
Axel uncapped the first vial. “How much?”
Through the chatter I heard the amount and relayed it to him. “They said it’s the same amount for each component.”
“Interesting.”
I sidled up beside him and peered into the cauldron. “How’s it interesting?”
“It suggests a balanced potion. Potion work is sort of like communicating with universal magical law. Different amounts of ingredients signify different things. For instance less bat’s wing than cat’s whiskers suggests the slinking of a cat is more important in a potion.”
“Hmm. This magic stuff gets stranger all the time.”
He nudged me playfully with his shoulder. “It is fascinating and complex. It’s more intuition than it is scientific, though there is a bit of science in it. Otherwise it wouldn’t work.”
He slowly measured and added ingredients. I considered offering to help, but my nerves were frayed. I’d probably do more harm than good in my current state.
“Tell me.” Axel uncorked another vial. “Why did Betty decide to go along with Shelly? Do the animals know?”
“They said Shelly had something Betty wanted.” I cocked my head toward the parrot. “What did Betty want from Shelly?”
The parrot flapped his wings. A promise.
I frowned. “What promise?” Axel shot me a confused look. I shrugged. “That’s what the bird said.”
That she wouldn’t sell the potion, a kitten meowed.
“Wait. What?”
That’s right, the parrot cawed. The tall woman promised not to sell the potion if Betty went through with it.
I curled my fingers into Axel’s arm. “They’re suggesting that Shelly was going to sell the potion, but Betty made her promise not to. It was the only way Betty would go through with being transformed.”
Axel pulled his hair from his face and tied it back. “A potion like this in the wrong hands could be disastrous. Change all your enemies into toads and never return them.”
“But couldn’t you change them back if you used black magic?”
“Yes, probably. There’s no guarantee. You’d be sacrificing something without the promise that it would work. Betty’s smart. She realized that getting Shelly’s word on that was more important than not being a guinea pig for the potion.”
I slid onto the counter and stared at the cauldron. “But now someone else has the potion.”
He nodded. “Now they do.”
“And we don’t know who.”
“Hopefully it won’t matter. It’s not as if the sky is raining toads.” Axel grabbed another vial. “We may not even have to worry about it.”
A chill filled the room, and I rubbed my shoulders. “Maybe not. Maybe it’s just all pure coincidence.”
Axel’s gaze snagged mine. “You don’t think that.”
“No but it’s nice to dream.”
He ignored my comment and grabbed the next vial. “Okay. How much of the dry ingredients?”
I asked the animals and relayed the information. He worked silently. I watched but couldn’t stop thinking that someone had the potion. Perhaps they were simply waiting for the right time to use it. Of course, maybe Axel was right and they weren’t going to use it at all.
Somehow that didn’t feel right. I wished it were true, but my gut coiled and knotted, telling me something was wrong.
Axel turned to me and presented the finished product. “It’s all done.”
I peered into the cauldron. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” he said proudly. “Unless we’re missing an ingredient.”
“I don’t think so. I went over the list with them twice.” I stared at the baby blue liquid. “So that’s supposed to work, huh?”
“That’s what they said.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t look like the right color.”
Axel frowned. “It was more golden, wasn’t it?”
“It was like liquid sunshine. Nothing like this.”
His gaze flickered to the animals. “Ask them what we’re missing.”
So I did.
We told you everything, a kitten said.
There’s nothing else, barked a puppy.
“What about you?” I nodded to the parrot. “We’ve dropped in everything you’ve said, but something isn’t right.”
The parrot flapped his wings and flew to the table where we’d set the whiskers and wings, eyes and breath. He peered through the glass and inspected each and every vial.
They’re all right, he cawed. Every one.
“But something’s off.”
Maybe you don’t believe enough, said a kitten.
Yeah, maybe you’ve lost your Christmas spirit, added a puppy.
I flared my arms. “This is not Peter Pan. I’m not going to make a wish over pixie dust and have this thing turn out right. There’s no way.”
Axel sighed. “There probably was pixie dust added.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Betty’s blood.”
My breath caught. “What?”
He scrubbed his knuckles down his cheek. “Shelly might’ve tailored the potion to Betty. The only way to do that would’ve been to use at least a drop of her blood.”
I turned to the animals. “Well? Do you remember any blood?”
They were silent.
“It doesn’t look good,” I said to Axel.
“It’s the only thing I can think of that’s missing. It makes sense. It wouldn’t have been a sacrificial potion, but to do a transmutation spell, you might still need blood.”
I glanced at the toad. “So are you saying we have to prick her?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I’ll hold her. I’m not doing any pricking. No matter what.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
I exhaled a shot of air. “Good because there’s no way I’m going to draw blood from Betty. Do you have any idea what sort of heck I’d have to pay for once we returned her to normal?”
He chuckled. “I’m sure she’d be grateful.”
I cocked a brow. “Do you know Betty Craple?”
“Good point.” Axel touched his fingers together. When he pulled them apart, a silvery needle hovered between them. “So I get the privilege.”
I gestured toward the toad. “She’s all yours.”<
br />
“Help me hold her.”
We shuffled Betty over to the cauldron. I closed my eyes as Axel pricked her foot.
“Blood makes me queasy. At least Betty’s blood does.”
“Chicken.”
As much as I wanted to keep my eyes closed, I had to see. I had to know what was going to happen. I mean, we were saving Betty. Axel and I would be heroes.
Not that I was doing this so I could be adored by Magnolia Cove society. Absolutely not.
But I was doing it to earn brownie points with Betty. One could always use as many good points with her as possible.
I wasn’t above admitting that.
A drop of blood dripped into the mixture. The potion contracted, as did the air in the shop. The room seemed to suck in and quickly expand as the potion shimmered.
The pressure returned to normal, and I exhaled a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.
“What was that?” I said.
Axel gently released his hold on Betty. I hugged her to me. “Sorry for hurting you,” I murmured into her toad ear.
“That was the potion receiving the final ingredient.” Axel winked at me. “Here goes nothing.”
I glanced in the cauldron. The potion still wasn’t quite the right color. It was close but just slightly off.
I set Betty on the counter. Axel ladled a spoonful of potion and placed it in front of Betty’s nose. The toad spindled forward a step.
“Here goes nothing.” Axel tipped the spoon. The potion slid down Betty’s back. I wrung my hands, anticipating what would happen next.
TWENTY
I bit down on my lower lip so hard I was waiting for blood to bloom on it. Axel took my hand, and I grasped it while we waited for Betty to change.
And we waited some more.
I pressed at the worry line sprouting between my eyes. “Something isn’t right. When Shelly turned Bo back into himself, it happened quickly. It didn’t take this long.”
“And when Betty became the toad, it was fast.” Axel frowned. “You’re right. Something is wrong. But what?”
Betty the Toad blinked at us. I raked my fingers down my face. “I’m so sorry. I thought we had it figured out.” I glanced over my shoulder at the animals. “Thank you for your help. We wouldn’t have made it this far without y’all.”
The room buzzed with you’re welcomes. My gaze flickered to Axel. “Should we wait a few more minutes?”
“I don’t see why not.” He threaded his fingers through mine. His touch gave me some comfort. Axel had a way about him. Often just seeing his smile not only made my heart soar, but it also filled me with warmth all the way to my toes.
I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. “It’s not going to work, is it?”
“No.”
I released his hand and rubbed the heels of my hands to my eyes. “What are we supposed to do now? Wait for Betty to disappear into the toad and be lost to us forever?”
Axel took my hand and tugged me to him. He wrapped his concrete arms around me. I felt his lips brush the top of my glamoured hair.
Seriously, the New Year was not kicking off to a fabulous start. It pretty much sucked rotten eggs.
“Everything will be okay.”
I tipped my head back and caught his gaze. “How can you be so sure?”
His grip tightened. “You forget—we have a poppet.”
I almost jumped from his grasp. “Oh my gosh! That’s right. We need to talk to Bo. You know where he lives, right?”
Axel’s razor-sharp jaw hardened. “I know where he’s been staying while in Magnolia Cove. He and Shelly had rented a place, and yep, he’s still there.”
“We know you taught Gale East how to make poppets.”
Axel and I stood at Bo’s front door. We’d clearly gotten him out of bed. He wore flannel pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. His hair spiked around his head.
He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “What are y’all talking about?”
I yanked the poppet from my purse and threw it on the ground. “This is what we’re talking about.”
He shrank back. “Where’d you get that?”
“It’s from Gale East’s personal collection.” Axel motioned to the doll. It rose in the air until it was eye level with Bo. “Looks a lot like Shelly, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Axel grabbed Bo by the collar and yanked him forward. “Would you like to start talking to me or do you want me to call the police?”
Bo cowered. “Okay. Okay. I’ll tell you everything.”
“That’s better.”
We followed Bo inside. Axel picked up the poppet and brushed it off. Bo pointed to a couch. Neither of us sat.
“Tell us everything,” Axel demanded.
Bo sank onto a recliner. He scrubbed his hands over his hair and shook his head. “Yes, I taught Gale how to use poppets, but only because she asked me. Gale is trouble, okay? I don’t know if you’ve figured that out yet.”
“We know that Shelly took Gale under her wing.”
“Right.” Bo yawned. He sank back and folded his arms over his chest. “They became friends and Shelly taught her things but Gale wanted more. She wanted to know about poppets. Some kids were bullying her at school. Gale told Shelly, but Shelly just told her to hang in there. Shelly had a reputation as a sorceress, but she was a kind person.”
Bo scraped a hand down his face. “Gale wanted a way to stop the bullying. I offered that.”
“By showing her poppets? That’s dangerous.” I shook my head. Of all the ways to teach someone to deal with their problems, showing them how to use poppets to hurt someone was not the way to do it.
“I felt for her, okay?” Bo snapped. “The kid wanted help so I showed her.”
“With a poppet that looks like Shelly, a woman who was just murdered.” Axel voice sliced with accusations. “If I looked around, would I find rotten eggs in your house, too?”
Bo paled. “You never know when you’ll need a rotten egg. There are spells that call for them.”
Axel nodded. “There are. I just happen to know that commanding a poppet also calls for the use of rotten eggs.”
“I didn’t do it.” Bo sighed. “Look, I taught Gale how to make poppets, I did. I admit it.” He wrung his hands as if he were trying to come up with something, anything that would get him out of this.
“You think I didn’t know about Shelly and Saltz? Everyone knew. Do you think I cared?”
“I would care,” I said. Both men looked at me. I shrugged. “Well, I would.”
“I didn’t. I never cared about that. Who did Shelly come home to at night? Me, that’s who. She had to get her kicks from somewhere. Yes, she got them from Saltz, but I wouldn’t have hurt her because of it.”
“That’s hard to believe,” I said. “She was cheating on you, and you’d taught Gale how to make poppets. How do we know you weren’t in on it together?”
Bo’s arms dropped in defeat. “Okay. The truth is that Gale wanted to make a poppet, Shelly knew about it and offered to be the guinea pig.”
I shot Axel a look that said, Likely story.
“One night we all sat down together, and I showed Gale how to use it on Shelly. She made one of me, too.” He sighed. “Shelly’s dead, so she can’t corroborate it. You’ll just have to believe me.”
“It’s hard to trust any of that.” Axel crossed his arms. “The dead can’t confirm a story.”
Bo hung his head. “I know. Ask Gale to show you the poppet of me.”
I nudged Axel. “There was a male poppet with her things.”
“I know.” He sighed. “There was.” He turned back to Bo. “Poppets are illegal.”
“I know,” Bo wailed. “I know they are. I’m not saying what I did was right, but I trusted Gale. Both Shelly and I did. Besides, I know I may look guilty in this, but who’s had more access to magic than anyone else?”
“Who?” I had to know.
&nbs
p; “Saltz Swift. He runs the contest. He knows where everyone is at all times. If anyone had ample opportunity not only to kill Shelly but to steal, it would’ve been him.”
He rubbed the bags under his eyes. “Shelly had just broken their affair off. I have it on good authority that Saltz didn’t take it well. So he’s who you need to talk to.”
“But why take the potion?” Axel slid a thumb over his jaw. “Why not just kill her? Why do it in public?”
“He was jealous,” Bo exploded. Apparently he’d been keeping a few things locked up. “Shelly had taught potions before Saltz came in. He never felt that he matched up to her.”
I raised a hand. “Wait. That doesn’t make sense. He was the potion master before he ever even started at the school.”
Bo’s gaze narrowed. “That doesn’t mean the man doesn’t lack an inferiority complex. Why else start the affair with Shelly in the first place?”
I frowned. “Why?”
“To see if she knew something he didn’t, of course. The man’s horribly insecure. Can’t you tell?”
No, not really. “But why would he want the potion?”
“Because he didn’t think of it first!” Bo slammed a hand on the table. “Why else?” He closed his eyes and exhaled. “Look, I’m as much in the dark about this as you are. But what I do know is that I didn’t do it and if anyone had reason to kill Shelly, it was Saltz. Maybe you should be targeting him instead of me.”
He had a good point. If Saltz had the ego that first impressions suggested, then the fact that another teacher was smarter than him would irk Saltz to death. It wouldn’t matter if he was having an affair with Shelly or not. The point would be that she was smarter than him.
I had the feeling Saltz didn’t take too kindly to anyone more brilliant than himself.
Axel studied Bo for a moment longer before tugging my arm. “Let’s go. I think we’ve learned all we’re going to here.”
I took the poppet and let Axel lead me from the house. Once we were secured in the Rover, I turned to him. “So you don’t think he’s guilty.”
“Hard to tell, but I think he had a point about Saltz. Who had the most to gain by Shelly’s death?”
