by TJ Green
“Okay, I think this counts as general weirdness,” Eli said, striding around the shop. “Shit. There’s a sapling behind the counter, too.”
Briar inspected the Christmas tree in the shop window. “This has grown roots, as well—in my windowsill!”
She turned around, taking it all in, and despite its unexpectedness, she smiled. “It looks pretty cool, though!”
“It looks amazing!” Cassie said, stroking one of the branches that protruded from a shelf. “So natural!”
“Ha!” Eli scoffed. “There’s nothing natural about this!”
Briar sighed heavily. “Part of me loves this! I mean, it’s great when magic gets a little bit cheeky and the Green Man does his thing, but this could seriously impact all of us!”
“I know,” Cassie said, desperately trying to subdue her glee. “Why don’t I stroll around White Haven and check to see if anything else has happened?”
“Sure. And be careful,” she added, as Cassie headed to the herb room for her coat.
In seconds Cassie had returned, fully wrapped up with hat, gloves, and scarf. “If I spot anything, I’ll take photos.” She smiled apologetically at Briar and Eli. “I know this is worrying for you, but it’s great for me!”
Once Cassie had left, Briar placed her coffee on the counter. “Let’s check the stock, Eli, and see if it looks magical.”
“And how will that look exactly?” Eli asked, already heading to a display.
“I don’t know. Sparkly, glowing, distinctly not normal?” She frowned at him. “This is odd for me too, you know.”
For the next ten minutes they opened all the products, relieved to find that everything looked as it should.
“Some good news, then,” Eli said.
“For now. But this seems to be escalating. What if customers use my products and something happens at home?”
“Well, seeing as you only wish good things for people and make positive spells, nothing too ominous should happen… Except maybe someone losing ten years in wrinkles overnight, and no one’s ever complained about that!”
Briar settled behind the counter, spelling her cool coffee warm again. “Whatever’s happening is strong magic, Eli—to counter your natural magic, to do all this…” Her arm swept out to encompass the shop. “To bring dryads out of their trees. If it gets too much stronger, the glamour won’t work on you!”
“Or you either, maybe.” He stared into her eyes. “The green glow is back.”
“I should call the others to see what’s happening with them. Let’s hope Stan turns up soon, somewhere, because we have a lot of questions.”
All morning, all Avery heard was how Ravens’ Wood had come alive during wassailing and tried to swallow the villagers, and time and time again, she had tried to persuade everyone it was just the effects of spiced cider and wine in the twilight.
“Oh, come on, Ave, pull the other one,” one of her oldest customers called Treeve said with a knowing smile. “Were you summoning spirits up there last night?”
Avery looked at him, appalled. “No! Absolutely not. Why would I do such a thing?”
“I’m not judging,” he said, holding a hand up. “But we all know Ravens’ Wood has got more going on than most places, and you’re not averse to that.”
For a moment, her mouth opened and closed soundlessly before Sally came to her rescue.
“Stop teasing her, Treeve! You know Avery would never frighten people.”
“I think you mean would never summon spirits, Sally,” she said, finally finding her voice. And after all, that wasn’t a lie. She didn’t summon spirits; that was Alex’s strength, not hers.
“Of course, that too.” She smiled breezily. “Now Treeve, shall I ring up your book?”
“Oh aye, that’d be lovely.”
Sally examined his selection. “This is all about pagan customs! A present?”
“No,” he said archly, “bedtime reading. Ever since that pillock, Rupert, has been bouncing around town as the Master of the bloody Hunt, he’s been stirring up trouble.” He bristled. “Asking people to nominate someone for the stocks! Appalling. Thought I’d do a bit of fact checking. This has got a whole section on the Lord of Misrule.”
“Don’t you like Rupert?” Avery asked Treeve, composed once more.
“No. Nasty piece of work. Suggested I should nominate you. But I didn’t,” he said, noting her alarmed expression. He leaned forward and winked. “I’m going to nominate him! Don’t worry, love.” He pocketed his book. “No one will suggest you for the stocks. You’re too well respected here. I’ll be seeing you ladies soon,” he said with a cheerful nod.
Avery managed to contain her anger until Treeve had left. “He nominated me! What have I ever done to him?”
“Nothing,” Sally said, patting her arm reassuringly, “other than having talent he’s jealous of.”
“But he’s stirring up trouble, and I don’t like it. I’m sure Stan wouldn’t like it, either. This was supposed to be fun, but it’s feeling very mean.” She lowered her voice. “Did I tell you that Briar phoned this morning?”
“No! Is she okay?”
Avery scanned the shop to make sure no one was approaching. “Her shop has turned into a woodland grove overnight! All of her fresh garlands have gone mad, and there’s a tree behind the counter!”
Sally froze. “No way! How did that happen?”
“We think the Green Man’s magic went haywire. It certainly wasn’t Briar’s doing. They’re all pretending it was intentional, and they were planting all night.”
“How do you disguise a tree, Avery?”
“They put stuff around it and pretended it was in a pot.”
They both fell silent while they scanned Happenstance Books, anxious that nothing should appear amiss, and reassured Sally said, “We’re okay here.”
“For now,” Avery said ominously, sure they wouldn’t be excluded from the madness. “Sally, we have to find out where the Court of Fools got their costumes from. They have to be the key!”
“Oh, talk of the devil!” She nodded to the window.
Rupert was across the road dressed in his outlandish costume, but no one seemed willing to talk to him. In fact, people openly moved aside as he approached.
“That’s odd,” Avery noted. “His occult tours make him quite popular, normally.”
“Not if he’s been stirring up trouble for you,” Sally said. “You’re White Haven born and bred, and he’s a newcomer. People remember that.”
Rupert crossed the street, and in seconds the shop door banged open as he entered, causing everyone to look at him. A few gasps resounded around the bookshelves. As soon as Avery saw his face she immediately recoiled, and felt Sally do the same. No wonder people were avoiding him. Rupert looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them dark, and his hooded gaze seemed more intent than usual.
He strode to the counter, and despite her annoyance, Avery asked, “Rupert, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Your eyes are red, so I wondered if you had a cold or something?” Actually, she thought there was much worse than that, but she kept it casual.
“No. I’m fit and well. Never felt better, actually.” He sneered down his nose as he looked at her shop. “You seem busy.”
“We always are,” Sally said smoothly. “Your costume really is amazing. Where did they all come from? I mean, I presume they were all found together—the Court of Fools, that is.”
The praise deflected his animosity, and he patted his costume, releasing a waft of the strange scent. “Yes, it is magnificent, isn’t it? This was my favourite, so I kept it for myself.”
Avery frowned. “Did you find them, then? I thought they were Stan’s.”
He glared at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. This whole thing is my idea, but Stan insisted on being the Lord of Misrule. Said it would legitimise the idea.”
“To be honest,” Sally said, sympathetically, “it really
does. It puts the council’s weight behind it. And besides, why worry? You have a great role and the best costume.” She leaned across the counter. “My kids always need great costumes for school and things…where did you find them?”
“Not in a fancy-dress shop, that’s for sure! It was an antique shop—very unusual—in Bath, of all places.”
“I love antique shops! Can you remember the name of it? Just in case we decide to visit Bath for a long weekend?” she asked, wide-eyed with excitement.
“Not really. Something about ‘springs’ I think.”
Sally was now on full-charm mode, for which Avery was very grateful, because she was still seething about his suggestion of putting her in the stocks.
“I’m sure it will come back to you. I love Bath,” Sally continued. “Such a beautiful place. Did you live there?”
“No, it was a holiday. We found this shop quite by accident, and well,” he faltered in a very un-Rupert-like way, “it was odd, really. The man brought them out for us to see. It wasn’t even like we’d asked for something like it. He just said we’d probably like them because we had such discerning taste.” Avery tried not to roll her eyes as he continued, “We just couldn’t resist them. They really were so special, and at the time we were thinking about the occult tour and wondered if they’d work for that.”
Avery had never heard him talk so much, so perhaps people had been avoiding him all day, because now it seemed he wouldn’t shut up.
Sally offered him a biscuit. “Are you keeping them anywhere special? Because they carry such a lovely scent. I noticed Stan’s did, too.”
“Scent?” Rupert sniffed loudly as he lifted his arm to his nose and his pupils dilated. “I can’t smell a thing.”
“Maybe it’s just something we’re sensitive to,” Sally said casually. “Did they come in some interesting packaging?”
“An old box, lined with very old newspapers. Nothing special.”
Sally shrugged. “Oh well, perhaps something had been stored in there before.”
“Mmm.” Rupert frowned, sniffing again. “Maybe I should check with Stan. The box is at the council office now. Obviously, I shall have the costumes back when we’re done.” He crunched his biscuit aggressively.
For the next few minutes, Sally chatted easily with Rupert until he eventually left them to it, and Avery looked triumphantly at Sally.
“You were quite brilliant!”
Sally grinned. “Thank you. Although, it pained me to be so nice to the idiot. Was that useful information, though?”
Avery nodded slowly, thinking through the possibilities. “Very useful. None of the court can smell their own costumes. Rupert’s pupils dilated when he sniffed his arm—like he’d smelt a drug! And he looks awful. We need to see that box!”
Six
“Well, at least no one was put in the stocks today,” El said brightly to the other witches as she raised her glass in The Wayward Son that evening. “Cheers to that!”
Reuben chinked her glass. “Great. So that leaves me as the only one who’s been in so far!”
“You were a good sport,” El said, squeezing his arm. “It made everyone laugh and alleviated quite a few fears.”
Newton grimaced. “Not quite. A group of teenagers were caught mucking around with it the other night, and a couple of PCs had to intervene. The damn thing is padlocked at night now.” He shook his head, annoyed. “I can’t believe it wasn’t before.”
Briar smiled at him across the top of her wine glass. “That’s because Stan likes to think the best of people.”
“He’s a bloody idiot!”
El winced. Newton was crankier than normal today, but that wasn’t surprising. The wassailing event had stirred up a lot of chatter around the town, and the police had been out for hours on Sunday evening.
Newton continued to gripe, glaring at each of them accusingly. “What other magical mayhem has happened today I don’t know about?”
“Just to remind you, Newton,” Avery said, her green eyes flashing, “that this is not our doing!”
“I know.” He stared into his pint. “I was hoping for a less eventful Christmas, though.”
As usual, all six of them were seated around a table in the back room of Alex’s pub. They didn’t normally meet on a Monday evening, but the current crisis had changed that, and El was pleased they had. It seemed they were all anxious about the escalating events, and talking it through was helping.
“We all were,” El said, reassuring him and thinking they also had their solstice celebrations to plan. “But other than glowing jewellery, nothing else has happened today for me. I’ve turned a few extra lights on, and that has seemed to help disguise it.”
“No glamour spell?” Briar asked.
El groaned as she recalled their early morning experiments. “Nope. Magic of any kind just magnifies it, so all day I’ve been trying to tone down my natural abilities. It’s shocking to realise how much I use it without thinking.”
“At least your shop hasn’t turned into a woodland grove—pretty though that is!” Briar looked at Alex. “This place feels normal enough.”
He shrugged, uncertain. “The spell on this room seemed to be working a little too well earlier. Tourists seemed to be repulsed, rather than discouraged. A couple of people complained of headaches after sitting too close.” His hands tapped his pint glass. “There’s not really much I can do until after closing to try to rectify it, but like you say, El, any magic I do will be exacerbated.”
“Well, I’m pleased to say that nothing odd is happening at the nursery,” Reuben said, leaning back in his chair. “But seeing as we are out of town and haven’t been visited by the Court of Fools, that’s not surprising.”
Avery nodded, pleased. “Which lends even more weight to our belief this has to do with them.”
“No issues in your shop, then?” Newton asked her.
“No. Well, maybe.” She paused, pushed her hair back from her face, and rested her chin on her hand. “I have a spell that helps people find that perfect book they never knew they wanted. Nothing to make people spend money, it’s more of a helpful thing…I don’t do it for profit. But today I must admit we sold more than normal. I’m wondering if my spell has become bigger somehow.” Her fingers ran across her lips. “Maybe I should check it later.”
“I wouldn’t,” El said. “You could make it worse.”
“Anyway,” Avery continued, “I have news.” She quickly updated them on Rupert’s visit. “I’ve already discussed this with Alex. We’re going to break into the council building tonight and look for the box.”
Newton groaned. “Did you have to say that in front of me?”
Alex laughed. “Pretend you didn’t hear us. And you know we’ll be in and out of there without any issues.”
“Normally! But your magic isn’t behaving how it’s supposed to, is it?”
A flash of worry ran around the table, and El nodded. “That’s true. But how else do we investigate the costumes?”
“But what do you think you’ll find?” Newton asked, puzzled. “A spell written in the box?”
“It’s possible. Some of our grimoires were found in spell-bound boxes,” Alex reminded him. “We have to check, and if we find nothing, then we must think of other options.”
El had an idea. “Did you find out the name of the antique shop? Perhaps Harlan could investigate it for us.”
“No, unfortunately,” Avery said, frowning. “Just that it was something about springs.”
“I’ll ask him anyway. You never know…the shop might have a reputation, and Harlan could recall it straight away.”
Newton seemed to perk up at the suggestions, break-in notwithstanding. “Well, I guess it’s something, but it won’t stop the problem. Is there anything else we can do?”
“Other than keep our magic in check? Not much right now,” Reuben told him.
“I know what I’d like to do,” Newton said decisively. “I want to stroll around the town
and get a feel for the place. I might see something you guys don’t. Anyone want to join me?”
“Not me,” El said shooting him an apologetic smile. “It’s been a long day!”
“I’ll come with you,” Briar said, smiling. “Other than walking to the pub, I don’t feel I’ve strolled around the town for ages. And it’s so pretty at night!”
“Great,” Reuben nodded, rising to his feet. “I’ll leave you two to it, later, but I will treat everyone to another round first.”
White Haven Town Council was situated in a nineteenth century building on a road off the centre of town. Solid, grey, and unimaginative, it was perfectly suited to legislation and rules. Alex pulled Avery around the side to the staff entrance, her warm hand in his, and squeezed it reassuringly.
“I’ll disable the camera and then the alarm.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t have waited until after midnight?” she asked him, sounding nervous, despite the fact that they were well cloaked in their shadow spell. “I mean, I know there’s no one around, but even so…”
The squat building of the town library was across the road, and on either side were office blocks, all older buildings, all deserted at this time of night.
“You worry too much.”
Alex didn’t waste time, shorting out the camera over the door with a blast of magic, before running to the doorway and spelling the door unlocked. His magic worked well, and nothing happened to expose them. In seconds they had slipped inside and disabled the alarm system, and they waited in the darkness for their eyes to adjust to the light.
“You know,” Avery whispered, “we are far too good at this for law abiding citizens. We’re slick.”
He grinned at her. He loved her energy and humour. “I couldn’t do this with anyone else. You make it fun.”
“Please don’t suggest we rob a bank next. I’m not Bonnie to your Clyde.”
He subdued a laugh. “Silly bugger. Any idea where Stan’s office is?”
“No. I guess we need to check the foyer for directions.”
