by Zoe Arden
Trixie stuck out her tongue at Eleanor and continued with her jig.
"Oh, for witch's sake," Eleanor said, finally smiling. "Let's all try one of Ava's cupcakes."
Trixie took a step toward me and Eleanor, holding out the tray. Her feet got tangled up as she tried to switch from her jig to a walk, and she toppled to the ground. The cupcakes fell to the floor along with her and when she stood up, she had a face full of frosting.
"Well, I guess David will be the only one tasting Ava's first batch," Eleanor sighed.
"Not so fast," Trixie said, running her finger over the frosting that had caked itself to her cheek. A large dollop gathered on her fingertip. She licked it off and smiled. It's delic—"
Her face turned from smiling and happy to contorted and blue. She started gagging, then fell over. I screamed.
Trixie lay on the ground. She wasn't moving.
* * *
CHAPTER
SEVEN
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* * *
I had just killed my first customer. …
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"Trixie!" Eleanor cried, running to her sister. She clapped her on the back and Trixie let out a loud gasp. Her face was a deep shade of eggplant. I stood frozen, no idea what to do.
Tootsie appeared out of nowhere. A silver flask fluttered through the air just ahead of him.
"Eleanor!" Tootsie shouted. Eleanor turned her head, saw the flask, and plucked it from the air. She held it to Trixie's lips. Two swallows later and Trixie's face was a light lavender and her breathing had returned to normal.
"What happened?" Eleanor asked.
Trixie slowly rose to her feet. She scratched Tootsie under his chin. "Thanks, Toots." He nuzzled her leg with his head.
"I think... I think there was quartz ink in there," Trixie said.
Eleanor turned to look at me. Her face had gone scarlet.
"Did you use quartz ink?" She sounded mad. "In combination with peppy extract?"
"I..." Tears were welling in my eyes. "I don't know."
"You can't use quartz ink with peppy extract. The combination is lethal for witches! Thank the sunshine Tootsie thought to get the cacti airium juice. Or else Trixie..."
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Maybe... maybe I'm a dim-witch after all."
Eleanor's face softened. "No," she said, shaking her head. "Of course you're not. You're far too powerful a witch... that's the problem. You've grown up with no formal training."
Trixie's face was a light rose color now. She was holding Tootsie in her arms, stroking his head. Rocky was still in the back room, sleeping.
"I... I'm sorry I raised my voice," Eleanor said. "This is our fault. Not yours."
"No, it's not. I'm the one who made the cupcakes. I mixed up the powders."
"If we'd been watching you more closely," Eleanor said, "we would have seen what you'd done and been able to stop you. I think, for a moment, we forgot just how new to this you are."
"Can you forgive us?" Trixie asked, her eyes watery.
Were they kidding? Forgive them? I'd almost killed my aunt and they were asking for my forgiveness?
"There's nothing to forgive," I stammered. Trixie and Eleanor both rounded on me at the same time, gathering me into their arms in a giant hug that left me breathless.
A soft voice spoke from our feet. "Tootsie does not think Ava can breathe."
Eleanor and Trixie let me go and I drew in a deep breath. A second later, we were all laughing.
"Come on," Eleanor said. "We'll resume our lessons."
I paused halfway to the back room, my face growing pale.
"Oh no!" I cried. "That customer! David! He ate two of my cupcakes."
"It's okay," Eleanor said. "David's human. Quartz ink with peppy extract is only a lethal combination to witches. Even warlocks are immune."
I breathed a sigh of relief and followed Eleanor to the back. Trixie skipped in behind us. Eleanor spun around and held up one long finger to stop her.
"Oh no, you stay out here. You sell. Ava and I will bake."
"Hmmph," Trixie said. I watched as she swirled her finger in the air and the cupcake that had stained her apron disappeared. The bell above the door chimed and a new customer walked in. Trixie turned her back without another word.
Almost twelve hours later, I was exhausted. Aunt Eleanor was like a reform school teacher. She was strict to the point of making my head spin. She'd drilled me again and again on the different types of syrups, powders, and chocolate.
"What's this?" she asked me just when I'd thought we were done.
"Plain white chocolate," I said, smiling because I knew I'd nailed it.
Eleanor nodded approvingly. "And this?"
I thought for a second as I looked at the ramekin of chocolate chips. "Venus chocolate?" I asked.
"Precisely. And it's named so because...?"
"Because... it makes people feel warm like the planet Venus and romantic like the Goddess Venus. The name is actually a misnomer because there's no Venus dust in it, just pixie dust. It's used primarily in love potion cakes."
"Very good, Ava," Eleanor said, smiling. "I think we're through for today." She set the ramekin down and begin to wipe off the counters.
"How do you make two people fall in love using cake?" I asked suddenly.
Eleanor looked up at me. "You don't. That type of thing is strictly forbidden by both the Witch's Council and the Council on Magic and Human Affairs."
"Then what does love potion cake do?"
"It opens you to the possibility of love," Eleanor said. "Sometimes, people try to deny their true feelings. All love potion cake does is prevent you from doing that."
"I see," I said. Though I wasn't at all sure I did.
"Oh, my roses," Trixie said, coming into the back. "Ava, did you make all these?" she asked, looking around the room at the stacks of cookies and cakes I'd been busy with.
Eleanor beamed proudly at me.
"Caramel calming cupcakes with Venus chocolate frosting," I said, pointing at a decadent-looking bunch of cupcakes that stood piled high on a cupcake tower. The moist, buttery cake was more fragrant than New York in springtime.
"And these?" Trixie asked, pointing at a stack of golden brown rolls with a silvery-cream frosting. They shined like precious metal.
"Crispy morning cupcakes—"
"Crispy morning cupcakes?" Trixie asked. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"Ssh!" Eleanor hushed her sister. "Let her finish."
"—deep fried in happiness-infused butterscotch oil and topped with thick layers of satisfaction frosting." I smiled at her, proud of my own creation. "So that whoever eats them will feel satisfied not just with their cupcake, but with their day. Get it?"
Trixie wiped a tear from her eyes and embraced me. "It's wonderful! Your mother would be so proud!"
The bell above the door chimed. Trixie turned to go back out front, her arms still wrapped around me so that she pulled me with her.
"Oh, hello, Sheriff Knoxx," Trixie said, wiping the corners of her eyes. "How are you? This is our niece, Ava." She pushed me toward him, showing me off. "She's here helping out. She's taking over her mother's side of the business."
Trixie smiled brightly at me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't sure about 'taking over' my mom's side of anything. I was here to learn, and I'd see where that led me. Sheriff Knoxx turned to me and nodded. He was smiling, but the smile looked unnatural on his face.
If Trixie hadn't just called him Sheriff, I might have suspected he was a criminal. There was something dark about him. He was tall and wide. Not fat, just big. Like a wrestler. He had an oafish face with dark bushy eyebrows and eyes that distrusted everyone he met.
"We were just closing up, but I think we can make an exception for the man who keeps Sweetland safe. What can I get you?" Trixie asked.
"An explanation," Sheriff Knoxx said. He pulled a plastic baggie from his overco
at and held it up for us to see.
Eleanor stepped up next to me, holding a caramel cream luck-infused lava cake. "What's that?" she asked the sheriff.
"A receipt," he said, running his hand through his thinning hair and smoothing it down.
He was about forty-five and might have been good-looking once, but his features had frozen into a permanent look of irritation that no woman could find attractive. He used a pair of tweezers to remove the paper from the baggie.
"A receipt for your store," he said more emphatically. It looked like he was waiting for an answer, but I hadn't heard him ask a question.
"I don't get it," I finally said.
Eleanor squeezed my hand, and I took the hint. Be quiet.
"We found David Buyer's body about an hour ago," Sheriff Knoxx said.
"His body?" Trixie and Eleanor gasped.
"That's right. We couldn't understand it at first. No signs of physical trauma. No signs of anything, in fact. Then... we found this." He held the receipt out for us.
"David was here this morning. So?" Trixie asked defensively. "He has a sweet tooth. You know that. What's your point?"
"The point is, we finally came to a working theory." Sheriff Knoxx was clearly enjoying us hanging on his every word. "Cake poisoning."
Eleanor dropped the cupcake she'd been holding. It splattered on the floor. The sheriff started for it, like he was going to clean it up, then stopped himself. He squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest.
"Whatever he ate today killed him. And it looks like it came from your bakery. So tell me, ladies. What did David eat? And who made it?" He fingered a shiny pair of handcuffs that hung from his belt.
Eleanor and Trixie turned to me.
"Oh, my roses," I murmured, thinking the same thing Trixie and Eleanor were thinking. David had eaten two of my cupcakes this morning.
I had just killed my first customer.
* * *
CHAPTER
EIGHT
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* * *
He just doesn't like me. …
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"I made them," I said. My breath caught in my throat. It felt like I was choking.
Trixie grabbed my hand. "But I'm certain—"
"We're both certain," Eleanor interjected.
"—that there is no possibility Ava's cupcakes could have killed David."
I tried to hide my disbelief. I had nearly killed Aunt Trixie. What made either of them think I hadn't succeeded in killing David?
"How do you know that?" Sheriff Knoxx asked, mirroring my own question.
"Because," Trixie said defiantly. I waited for her to finish, but apparently because was all she had.
"It might not be as simple as a bad extract or two," Sheriff Knoxx said. "It could be misuse of a wand by an inexperienced witch. A miscast spell could mimic cake poisoning.
He glowered at me. I considered telling him about my arrival on the island—seeing David in the boat arguing with someone. But that would mean admitting a human had seen me perform magic.
"There's only one way to tell." The sheriff stretched his hand toward me. "May I see your wand, Ava?" he asked, his voice dripping with sickly sweetness.
Eleanor came to my rescue. "Ava didn't even use her wand today. She didn't have to." She looked proudly at me before continuing.
"David Buyers ate two cupcakes. He was here at nine this morning. When he left our store, he was perfectly fine. You say you found him an hour ago? You know perfectly well that cake poisoning acts much quicker than that. If Ava's cupcakes were going to... harm David, they would have done so almost immediately. Or certainly within the first few hours of his eating them."
Sheriff Knoxx reluctantly nodded. "Did Mr. Buyers purchase anything else while he was here?"
"Just some of our hazelnut-happiness chocolate-heaven cookies," Trixie said. "And I dare you to find anything wrong with those!" She folded her arms across her chest.
"Are those the ones with the little bits of pixie chocolate in them?" he asked, licking his lips.
"They are," Eleanor said.
"Do you have any left?" Sheriff Knoxx's eyes looked past us to the counters. "Perhaps I should sample a few. To check them for... inconsistencies."
"We sold out," Trixie said.
"Too bad." His face fell. I had the feeling Sheriff Knoxx had a bit of a sweet tooth himself. "And the cupcakes Ava made?"
"Gone as well," Eleanor told him. Though I noted she failed to mention I'd almost killed Trixie with them.
"Well, then," he said, puffing out his chest. "We'll just have to wait until Dr. Dunne furnishes his toxicology report." I felt that strange, dark energy flow out of the sheriff again and wondered if my aunts felt it, too. "I'll be back when we know more. Until then," he said, looking directly at me, "don't go anywhere."
The moment he was gone, we all exhaled.
"Now, don't worry, Ava dear," Eleanor said, patting my shoulder. "Trixie and I know you did nothing wrong." But she was biting her lip as she said it.
That night, I found myself missing my father for the first time since leaving New York. I hadn't talked to him since arriving on the island. I found a sheet of paper and wrote him a letter, letting him know I was safe. Tootsie strolled into my room just as I was finishing.
"Are there any stamps?" I asked him.
"Ava has letter?" Tootsie asked. "Tootsie will mail it." Before I could stop him, Tootsie jumped into my lap, grabbed my letter between his teeth, and trotted out of the room, carrying it in his mouth. I watched him go, wondering how he would ever reach the mailbox, let alone find me a stamp, then decided not to question it. Tootsie had his ways.
The next day at the bakery, the energy had shifted. My first day there had been intense, but there'd also been a lightness to it. I'd had fun learning and Trixie and Eleanor had had fun teaching me.
Today, David Buyer's death had left a heavy cloud hanging over our store. When nine-thirty arrived and we still hadn't had a customer, I began to worry.
"This is all my fault," I muttered. "People are scared to come in here."
"Nonsense," Eleanor said. "Business ebbs and flows. By noon, this place will be packed."
An hour later, our first customer finally filed in.
"Good morning, ladies," Eleanor said a little too cheerily. "Ava, this is Anastasia Peacock and her daughter, Polly. They run The Alchemic Stone. It's a magical rock and gem shop here in town."
I smiled at a pretty girl about my age with long blond ringlets, a snow-white face, and the pinkest lips I'd ever seen. She wore no makeup, yet looked like she'd just stepped out of a salon.
"Hi," I said.
I'd never had many friends growing up. It would be nice to make a few here. But I could see from the suspicious way Polly was looking at me that the rumor mill had already been hard at work. It was probably even worse in a small town like Sweetland Cove. Aunt Eleanor had said there were only about five thousand of us on the whole island.
"We also sell magical herbs and plants now, you know," Polly's mom said, looking down her nose at Eleanor. "We find they quite often go with gemstones, don't you agree?"
"Oh. Yes," Eleanor said politely.
Trixie leaned over and whispered. "They're part pixie."
Pixie? Like fairies? Cool. I looked at the two women again with more curiosity.
Anastasia was wearing a billowy dress that looked more like a robe. She had platinum hair that hung in loose curls around her head. Her skin was as white as her daughter's and her lips just as rosy. "Do you have any apricot dream enhancers today? My metaphysical impressions tell me you may be running low."
Metaphysical impressions?
"Certainly, Anastasia," Eleanor said, going to a shelf and pulling out a tray of gooey orange bars that were drizzled with caramel. Sweet syrup oozed out of them, sticking to the tray.
Trixie sidled up next to me and whispered, "Anastasia's psychic." The way Trixie s
aid it, though, made me doubt whether she was really psychic or only thought she was.
"How many would you like?"
"That depends," Anastasia said, turning her eyes on me. "Who made them?"
I could feel Eleanor tense up. "I did," she said. "But even if I hadn't—"
"I'll take a dozen," Anastasia said, cutting her off.
Eleanor bit her tongue and boxed up the apricot dream enhancers. On her way out, Anastasia paused at the door and turned back to me.
"I see great danger in your future," she said dramatically. Polly blushed and tugged on her mom's sleeve.
Danger? I glanced at Eleanor and Trixie to see how seriously I should take Anastasia's warning, but they were busying themselves with laying out some cupcakes.
The customers began to flow more frequently after that. By noon, we were packed, just as Eleanor had predicted. Even rumors of tainted cupcakes couldn't keep people away when they had a lunchtime sugar craving.
Unfortunately, with the people came their stares. Their obvious suspicion. Everyone wanted to know which products I'd made so they could stay clear of them. When the rush was over, my head was aching and my blood was boiling.
"These people don't even know me and already they're judging me," I complained to my aunts.
"It's not uncommon to be suspicious of strangers, especially in the witching world," Eleanor told me. "Your Aunt Trixie and I... well..." She smiled slyly.
Trixie began to bounce like an overactive toddler.
"We're going to have a party! In your honor!"
"A party?" I asked. "I'm not sure that's the best idea."
"Sure it is. What better way for the townspeople to get to know you?" Eleanor asked.
"I suppose..."
"What you need now is some air," Trixie said.
"Trixie's right. Get out of here for a bit. Go see the island."
