I noticed that a new table had been brought out, and what was left of my cake was set up next to Garnet’s. Elizabeth must have donated it so it didn’t go to waste.
Both cakes were cut and the slices were on little ivory plates. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I watched as people came up, took slices of my cake, and then devoured it. It pleased me greatly to see so many people taking my cake and enjoying it.
So, of course, Garnet had to go up to the table and start handing out her cake to guests who walked up. People stopped taking mine because she was practically shoving hers into their hands.
“What do you think?” she’d ask after they took a bite. Or, “Do you like it? It’s my special recipe.”
I noticed that Elizabeth was within earshot, and Garnet was trying to make sure that she heard how many times people said her cake was delicious. “Two can play at that game,” I said and stood up.
“Fern, you should just let it go. She looks desperate,” Jenny protested.
“I’m not going to do it her way,” I said. “Besides, you’re my assistant, so please get up and assist me.”
Jenny let out an exasperated sigh, but she did get up and follow me over to the cake table. My approach was a little more subtle. I didn’t shove the cake in people’s faces the way Garnet did, and I simply thanked them when they took a slice.
It worked. People started to give Garnet a wide berth, and they started happily taking my cake again.
The only problem was that some people had taken slices of both cakes. The magic in them did not mix well, and people started to experience strange magical side effects.
Chapter Nine
“We have to do something,” Jenny said.
“We don’t really have to do something…” I said. “I mean, there was nothing wrong with the magic in my cake. You and I both know that. If people are acting a little weird, it’s because there is something off with Garnet’s cake.”
“Fern Moonfall, you are a better person than Garnet. You’re not just going to let these people suffer.”
“But they’re not suffering,” I said as I watched an older gentleman giggling hysterically to himself while doing the waltz with a partner that only existed in his imagination. “See, that guy is having a blast.”
“Fern,” Jenny said sternly.
“Fine,” I said. “It’s not like I have a lot of supplies with me.”
“We could sneak into the kitchen or back into the magic room upstairs. You’re a kitchen witch, after all.”
“I know that,” I said. “The kitchen is a better idea than the magic room for… reasons.”
“So?” Jenny asked.
“Okay. Let’s go into the kitchen and see what herbs they have. I can probably find something to take the edge off the worst of the effects.”
Sneaking into the kitchen wasn’t as hard as I thought. The staff was meager. My guess was that not all of the employees who worked the lunch shift had shown up yet before the storm cut off access to the manor. That left a skeleton crew, and they were busy cooking food and running it out to restock the buffets.
“I think the best thing to do is just act like we’re supposed to be here,” I said. “If we do, no one will question us.”
“That’s pretty bold,” Jenny said.
“You’d be surprised how well it works. If you act like you have nothing to hide, people won’t question you. Plus, look at how busy these guys are. They’re running ragged. As long as we don’t cause trouble, I think they’ll let us be.”
“Okay, but if we get busted for trespassing, I’m telling the cops you made me do this,” Jenny said.
“We’re not going to get busted by the cops. We’re just going in the kitchen. We’re guests of the manor.”
“Uh huh.”
We’d had enough talk and it was time for action. My only response was a nod of the head, and then I strode confidently into the kitchen. A couple of people glanced at us, but no one stopped or said anything.
“Where do you think the spices are?” Jenny whispered.
“Stop whispering,” I said.
“Oh, right,” she said. “We’re supposed to be here.”
“Right,” I said, though I wished she wouldn’t talk about it. “My guess would be over by the stoves. They probably need them when they are cooking.”
“Those would be dry herbs. What about fresh?”
“Those are probably in the walk-in cooler, but I’m not going in there.”
“Afraid you’ll get trapped?” Jenny asked.
“No. Not in a cooler. Besides… we could get out.”
“Oh, right,” Jenny said. “I mean, I could probably get us out. What are you going to do? Bake us out?”
“You’re hilarious,” I said, but I smiled a little.
She was right. My kitchen witchery was far stronger than any other practical magic skills. I probably couldn’t pick a lock to save my life, but I could put together a potion that would stop the manor guests from getting hysterical. That was where I needed to focus.
“So why not fresh herbs?” Jenny pressed.
“Because the power is out. The more times people open the cooler, the more of the cool air that spills out. Their food will go bad faster. It’s like when you were a kid and the power went out. Your mom always told you not to open the fridge.”
“My mom would have just used magic,” Jenny said. “But I get the idea.”
No one was cooking anything at the moment. They were all running dishes out to the buffet, so I moved quickly over to the stove area. I found a rack of spices.
“Let’s see, I need lemon zest, mint, and fennel,” I said.
“Fresh lemon and mint would be better,” Jenny said. “I can keep the cold from escaping the cooler. It wouldn’t be for personal gain.”
“Okay,” I said. “Just in and out real quick. If we get caught in the cooler, it might upset them.”
“Got it, Boss. You stay here and put on a pot of water. I’ll be right back.”
Jenny and I looked around until we spotted the walk-in on the other side of the kitchen. It wasn’t easy only using the light from my phone flashlight, but we found it.
I watched as she disappeared inside of it, and then got a pot and started some water. A couple of kitchen staff came in and threw a glance at me, but no one said anything. One of them winked at me. She must have been a witch. It would make sense that in a place where so many witches lived that the kitchen staff at the Praline Manor would be staffed by kitchen witches.
Jenny emerged from the walk-in a couple of minutes later with lemons and herbs in hand. “I even found a bulb of fresh fennel,” she said.
“I hope this isn’t stealing,” I replied.
“You’re serving the potion to the manor guests. I don’t see how it’s stealing,” she responded and handed me the ingredients. “Remember to stir it clockwise.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the advice.”
Jenny stuck her tongue out at me, and it made me laugh. I’d been tense up until that moment, but I felt myself relax into the potion making. I sighed with contentment as I stirred the bubbling mixture clockwise, always clockwise for positive spells, and let those relaxed emotions seep into the brew.
That’s what kitchen witches did, after all. We were able to channel emotions into the edibles we prepared.
“Happy and stress-free. Let them relax. Let them breathe. So must it be.”
“That was easy,” Jenny said when I removed the wooden spoon from the pot.
“Thank you for your help,” I said. “One more thing?”
“What is it?”
“Since you seem to be in the mood to cool things down, could you bring this mixture down to room temperature? Or actually, chill it.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” Jenny said.
I took the big copper pot off the stove and set it down on the counter. Jenny stepped up and waved her hand over the pot and brought the potion down to iced tea temperature. Perfect because
that’s how I intended to serve it.
“All right. Let’s haul it out there,” I said.
I grabbed a big ladle from the rack near the stoves and stuck it in the pot. It wasn’t the most beautiful presentation, but it would serve its purpose.
“How do we get the people who need it most to drink it?” Jenny asked.
“We’re going to take a glass to the people who seem to have it the worst,” I said. “Tell them they’ll be the first to try a brand-new special tea. People love to be the first to try things. It will work. All they need is one sip.”
“We should add sugar,” Jenny said.
“Well, it doesn’t need sugar to work, but yeah, that would make it taste better.”
“I saw some on a wire shelf near the cooler. I’ll grab it.”
Jenny turned her phone light on and went back over to the area with the walk-in cooler. She came back holding an open four-pound bag of sugar that appeared to have around two pounds left in it. Which she then turned over and dumped, in its entirety, into the potion.
“Jenny, that was like two pounds of sugar,” I said.
“You gotta make it like sweet tea,” she said and threw the bag away. “It’s got to be thick.”
“They only needed to take a sip,” I said.
“Yeah, but won’t you feel better if people actually enjoy your lemon mint potion?” She batted her eyelashes at me.
“You know me too well,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
It wasn’t hard to spot the people who needed the potion the most. Not only were they all being goofy, like dancing guy, but people were starting to move away from them. Very slowly and politely but moving away from them just the same.
Jenny and I quickly handed out glasses of the potion to the ones who needed it. Telling them that they’d be the first to try the new beverage worked, and all of them downed it in a few gulps. Probably due to the insane amount of sugar.
Elizabeth looked over at me gratefully when her cousin, and one of the bridesmaids, stopped telling everyone that the storm was bringing in a llama apocalypse. A llamapocalyopse, as it were.
Detective Landry was off to the side just observing the room. Once most of the weirdness had died down, I saw him get a plate and join the buffet line.
Jenny and I put the rest of the potion on the drink table. It was safe for anyone to imbibe, so we left it for anyone who wanted it.
We sat down at a table by one of the larger windows to relax for a bit, and so Jenny could watch the storm. Much to my surprise and delight, Elizabeth and Skyla joined us.
Skyla’s eyes were rimmed with red like she’d been crying. She had a glass of our potion. Elizabeth must have told her to try it.
“You just got back from a big trip, Skyla. Why don’t you tell us all about Australia?”
Elizabeth was clearly trying to distract her.
“You know that I got stuck in security, right?” Skyla said.
“Were you trying to travel with magical ingredients?” Elizabeth asked.
“That’s the thing, sis. I didn’t get stuck in magical security. I got stuck in regular. They picked me for a random search, I guess. I had to get the full pat-down and they searched my bags. This security agent was pulling my underwear out. It sucked.”
“What about Germany?” Elizabeth asked.
“I think my best story from Germany was meeting this witch who made love potions. She handed them out like candy. In fact, most of them were candy. You could just slip them to your intended. It was weird. You could never get away with that here. At least not in our coven,” Skyla said.
“Not in ours either,” I said. “You can’t mess with people’s free will, and love potions are crossing the line.”
“Exactly,” Skyla said vehemently. “That’s what I thought too, but I guess things are different in Germany. That woman was very wealthy with her love candy.”
“I can imagine,” Elizabeth said. “Such a shame to prey on the desperate like that.”
Skyla looked as though she was feeling better for a moment, but then her shoulders fell again. “I appreciate you trying to distract me, sis, but I’m still a mess over Bearberry. One minute he was there, and the next he was just gone.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” Elizabeth said and squeezed her hand. “We’ll find him. I promise.”
About that time, Detective Landry brought his plate over. “Mind if I sit with you?” he asked.
“Sure, go ahead,” I said, and Elizabeth and Skyla nodded their heads in agreement.
“Who did you lose?” he asked. “Sorry. I wasn’t eavesdropping. I couldn’t help but overhear on my way to the table.”
“My puppy, Bearberry,” Skyla said. “He got out of my room and disappeared. I can’t find him.”
“Hang on a second,” Landry said and stood up. “What’s he look like?” Mitch nodded his head and wrote down what Skyla said. “Okay, I’m going to go let my team know. We’ll keep an eye out for him.”
“Oh, thank you so much,” Skyla said.
“Not a problem, ma’am.”
After a few minutes, Mitch had gone around the room and spoken with his team. He returned to the table and told us that everyone would keep their eyes peeled for the pup.
His return to our table drew Garnet over. She plopped down without asking as Mitch began eating his meal.
I looked out the window rather than at her. The sky was almost black at that point, and the waves were getting closer and closer to the manor. Thankfully, it was a stone building built up off the sand on solid rock. The sea could roil and boil all it wanted, but it would not take Praline Manor. Still, the sight was slightly terrifying.
“So, have you caught Janice Brown’s killer yet?” Garnet blurted from out of nowhere.
The room got quiet, and then I heard murmurs begin to travel around in waves. There were guests in the banquet hall who hadn’t been at the shower. They must have known of the murder, but by listening to some of the whispers, it was obvious they didn’t believe Janice was murdered.
I saw Mr. Pope bristle from across the room, and he strode over to our table. He didn’t sit down, but he did stand there and insert himself into our conversation. Garnet loudly asking about Janice’s death clearly had him rattled.
“Please,” he said and cleared his throat, “we’re all having such a nice time despite the challenging circumstances. Do we have to bring up such unpleasant things? Ms. Brown’s death was a tragic and horrible accident. I think for everyone’s sake, we should just let her rest in peace right now. The police are more than equipped to handle this matter.”
“If it was just a tragic accident, then why was the window she fell out of the only one that was unlocked?” Garnet challenged.
“Please, can we not discuss this here?” Mr. Pope pleaded, but Garnet paid him no mind.
“In fact, I’ve been conducting a little investigation of my own, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve almost found the culprit,” she announced, once again, loudly.
I leaned over and whispered to Jenny, “She is just showing off like she always does. It’s like she can’t help it.”
Chapter Ten
Mr. Pope was pulled away from our table because people had their fill of the food and were starting to trickle out of the banquet hall to return to their rooms. He kept insisting that everyone stay together on the main floor because of the power outage, but people kept leaving anyway.
I watched with relief as Garnet breezed past him to return to her room. She must have been satisfied that there was no more attention to grab for herself, and that meant a little bit of peace.
A glance out the window told me that the waves were getting closer. The sound of thunder shook the walls of the sturdy manor, and the waves themselves began to create a raucous rumbling. I hoped that Gumbo was okay at home. I knew he was tough, but the sheer volume of the storm was starting to unnerve me.
“I’m going to go see how Byran is doing,” Jenny said. “He didn’t leave with Garnet.”
“Okay. I think I’m going to get some more chicken.”
The staff had just brought out a fresh round of fried chicken, and since I didn’t know when I’d be back to have it again, I decided to indulge. Just one more plate couldn’t hurt anything. I told myself. I’d hate for it to go to waste.
Jenny laughed. “Stress eating again?”
“I’m worried about Gumbo again,” I admitted.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to laugh. I’m sure he’s fine, Fern.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I am being silly, and I am eating a lot of chicken.”
“Just holler if you need anything. I’ll be right over there,” she said and pointed toward the table where Byran was sitting, trying to read a book in the candlelight.
She walked off and I got in the short buffet line. I wasn’t the only one sticking around for another plate.
A woman in line in front of me, who I didn’t recognize from the shower, was piling her plate high with etouffee and hush puppies. I hadn’t seen them bring out the hush puppies, so I grabbed a few of those too.
She took the last three chicken breasts. “You weren’t waiting for one of these?” she asked me sheepishly.
“No, please, go ahead. I like the drumsticks best,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, good,” she said. “There are plenty of those.”
She looked as though she was going to say something else, but her head turned, and she glanced out the window just as another huge wave rolled in. Instead, she offered me a tight smile and then hurried off. I watched as she left the banquet hall with her plate. My guess was that she’d decided it was safer to eat in her room on an upper floor.
I went back to my table to watch the waves and eat my chicken. The ocean was getting closer with every minute, but I knew it would never flood the manor. Even if it did, all it would do is cause water damage on the first floor. No matter how scary the storm got, we were safe. That’s what I kept telling myself anyway.
Cauldrons & Cake Page 6
