“I met Mazie a time or two when I was a young girl, but that was when your grandmother still had a few lingering ties to the coven.” My mother paused, which told me she was carefully selecting her words. My interest piqued even more. Nan and my Aunt Rowena had stopped speaking many years ago due to an argument over a man—supposedly around the time that my grandmother was pregnant with my mother. It was also around the same time Nan had been formally excommunicated from the coven I’d never met, all because she’d gotten personally involved with someone outside of the coven’s purview. “Mazie and Strifle were definitely a handful, but strict adherence to the coven rules kept them in line. Who knows what trouble Mazie is capable of now that she’s crossed over?”
Had someone thought this through along the same lines as my mother? Was Strifle purposefully being kept from following Mazie to the other side? Or was Mazie right in her accusation that the council members were the ones to abduct Strifle?
Regardless of the mischief the two might have concocted on this earth, it wasn’t fair for anyone to keep the two of them apart now that they’d done their penance here on this side. My situation had been different. Nan had purposefully bribed Leo to stay behind to help me transition, and I’d grown so attached to him in such a short time.
Sure, Leo could be a pain in my tush, but he’d say the same about me. I couldn’t help but smile, knowing full well that we found companionship by being in each other’s lives in spite of our stubbornness.
There was something that I didn’t understand, and I’d love some clarification while I had my mom on the line.
“Speaking of the coven, is there a reason no one has reached out to me yet?” I didn’t want to come across as being hurt over the perceived slight, but that was rather hard to do when I didn’t know the reason they were shunning me. I mean, you’d think the council would want to welcome a brand-new witch who’d just come into her powers, regardless to whom she was related. Then again, I had broken one of their main rules for behavior two months in by telling an ordinary human about the supernatural realm. On top of that, I was dating a man quite prominent in the community who didn’t have any ties to the supernatural. I guess I could see the coven’s point in ignoring my existence. “Is it because I told Heidi or that I had a date with Liam after coming into my powers?”
“No, dear. The Marigold history with the coven goes way back, though your Aunt Rowena remained with them after your grandmother moved to Paramour Bay. They have kept their distance ever since.” My mother muffled the phone with her hand. It was obvious that she was talking with someone, and I wondered if whoever it was had to do with that lunch date she’d had a while ago. “You never value my opinion, Raven, but at least trust your grandmother’s judgment. She made a life for herself outside of the council’s reach and its other witches, and I suggest you do the same. Stay far away from them.”
“It’s not like I know who they are to even reach out to if I wanted,” I said dryly, turning down the heat and reaching for the passenger side seat to grab my purse. That cup of coffee had been sounding good all day, but now I was craving the caffeine within the rich beverage. It was a good thing I was one of the lucky ones who could absorb caffeine in copious amounts without it affecting my sleep cycle. “Don’t worry, Mom. I also have no desire to be at the beck and call of wayward witches and their affairs, so I’ll make sure to burn the sage tonight. Hey, where are you, anyway?”
The long pause was conspicuous, and it didn’t surprise me when my mother pulled one of her standard getaway cards.
“What’s that, dear? It seems we’re getting some bad reception. We’ll talk tomorrow. Don’t forget about the sage over three fresh hardwood logs!”
With that last directive, my mother disconnected our call without a by your leave. This bad avoidance habit of hers had started the day I’d moved to Paramour Bay. Granted, she’d stopped bugging me about moving back to New York City, but I had no doubt she hadn’t given up on that objective quite yet.
It didn’t take me long to kill the ignition, tighten my scarf, and pull on the door handle. I’d braced myself for the cold, but one never really prepared themselves enough for that biting wind coming off the lake. Seeing as the front door was no more than forty feet away, it was pointless for me to put my gloves back on.
I grabbed the freezing latch on the wrought iron gate, not surprised when the squeak alerted anyone within a half mile radius that it had been opened—not that anyone was that close to the property. Nan’s cottage had been built on the edge of town, but I’m relatively certain she’d done so on purpose to keep prying eyes away.
Curiously, Leo was no longer parked on his pillow in the window.
I very briskly made my way down the sidewalk before sliding my key into the keyhole, but the deadbolt had already been turned. The door had already been unlocked, which was rather unusual.
I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t an intruder and it certainly wasn’t Mazie Rose Young.
“Hey, guys,” I called out happily, stomping my feet on the slab of rock before stepping inside. It was good to be home. The warmth enveloped me, and I was tinkled pink to see that a fire had already been made in the hearth. “Leo, you’ll be happy to know that Mom said sage will work on Mazie and Strifle. And as for you, Ted, I was able to order the suit today that you liked so much online.”
I don’t know why you keep ordering him suits. Have you seen the man’s closet?
“What is Mr. Leo complaining about now?”
“Nothing you need to worry about, Ted,” I responded, frowning to let Leo know that it wasn’t nice to be rude. I set my purse down on the entry table next to the antique coatrack. There used to be a beautiful bowl I set my keys in, but Leo had broken it last month with his normal casual disregard for anyone else’s possession besides his own. In its place was a wooden bowl that I’d found in the cabinet that held pestles and mortars instead of the usual china found in most homes. “Your new suit will be here by the end of the week.”
“Thank you, Miss Raven.”
Go ahead. Tell the reader what Ted is so that we can get the usual shock and awe routine out of the way. We have sage to burn and spells to cast, and we shouldn’t waste another minute on sentiments, which are lost on Ted anyway.
Okay.
So, most of you know what Ted is, but for those of you who are visiting Paramour Bay for the first time…well, let’s just say that once upon a time I thought Ted might be an actual zombie.
Don’t worry, he isn’t.
But…I’ll insert the drumroll here.
Ted is technically a wax figure brought to life.
There’s no “technically” about it. He used to be made of wax, now he’s a mystical automation. I’m pretty sure Rosemary opted for the bargain basement model with half a brain. Go ahead, ask him if he brought sage with him tonight.
“Ted, did you bring sage?”
“Of course,” Ted answered as he slid the fire poker back into its stand.
I’ll make this quick. You see, Nan mixed a golem enchantment with some form of an anthropomorphism incantation. It’s a mouthful, I know. Anyway, she’d done so once before with terrible ramifications, but she’d learned to tweak the spell so that no one questioned Ted’s identity.
Ted is basically Lurch from “The Addams Family” without the sense of humor. Where did he put the sage?
Leo was scratching through a basket of herbs that Ted had brought with him this evening, as he does every day. I have no idea where he obtains such rare ingredients such as Galangal Root, Devi’s Shoestring, and Kava Kava to name a few, but I’d found it was better not to ask certain questions if I didn’t’ need to know.
You might want to let them know that Ted lives in the backyard shed. It’s not every day that a homeowner has a six-feet, six-inch giant with a couple broken teeth as a caretaker.
What Leo is trying to tell you is that there’s a small house—
Shed.
Fine. There’s a rath
er small shed in the backyard where Ted lives.
There’s no sage in here, Raven. No sage at all. I’m trying to keep myself together here.
“What is Mr. Leo carrying on about now?” Ted asked, his words a bit stilted.
It was par for the course, and something that I’d gotten used to since meeting him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a witch, so therefore he couldn’t hear Leo. I usually ended up translating his meows and strangled noises so that everyone was on the same page.
There won’t be another page to be had if we don’t burn some sage!
“Leo is searching for sage. He thought you might have brought it in the batch of ingredients this evening.” I managed to get my dress coat off and hung up on the antique coat rack, as well as exchanging my favorite pair of knee high boots for my fuzzy slippers. “Are you ready for this, Ted?”
“I’m not sure,” Ted answered in his usual formal and succinct manner.
Leo continued to search inside the basket as I made my way across the hardwood floor. I know I mentioned that the interior of the cottage was stunning, but my words didn’t do it justice.
Nan had the best taste when it came to design, whether it be in clothes, jewelry, or the inside of a home. The modern décor, sprinkled with exquisite antique furniture, was something off the front page of Better Homes & Gardens. Anyone who managed to get by the appearance of the outside was equally as surprised by the interior.
Are we really talking about interior design when we might be under attack by a spirit looking for a fairy? They’re vicious little buggers, Raven. Just vicious!
Ted tugged on his lapels, as if he were bracing himself for some bad news. Leo’s frantic digging became even more so, but it was better to let him exhaust himself out than try to reason with him at a time like this.
Technically, it was a quick fix…at least according to my mother.
Anyway, that vintage china cabinet I was telling you about was to my right, along with a matching dining room table. To the left of me was the living room furniture, made of a beautiful cream-colored microfiber material that Leo couldn’t ruin with his claws. The kitchen was ahead of me, with every modern appliance you could think of and a small island with stools that were just the right height. The bedroom loft was visible above, accessed by the spiral staircase near the bathroom on the right-hand side of the room.
My sights were focused on the coffeemaker that sat next to the stove, and I made a beeline for the essential machine that brewed the most delicious beverage in the world.
I know, I own a tea shop.
Sue me.
“We were visited by a bona fide, honest to goodness ghost at the shop this evening!”
A part of me was actually pretty excited now that the shock had worn off. I quickly shuffled across the dark hardwood floor to get started on the coffee, needing a cup to warm me up after having come in from the cold.
“Her name was Mazie Rose Young. Get this, Ted. She said we were the talk of the afterlife! Can you believe that? I was getting ready to close up shop, so I walked to the back room to grab my dress coat, reentered the main shop…and lo and behold, she was sitting at one of the high-top tables drinking a cup of tea as if it was the most normal thing in the world for a ghost to be doing. It was absolutely crazy! She purposefully sought us out to figure out why her familiar didn’t cross to the other side when it was both their times to go, and it was then that Leo remembered…”
My voice slowly trailed off after I turned around and realized I had been left talking to myself once again. Ted was nowhere to be found. He’d simply left the house without a word as per his usual MO.
Leo was still fiercely digging through the various roots and herbs as if looking for world salvation. Tidbits, fragments, and dried up verdures were going this way and that in Leo’s attempt to locate the sage.
No time for stories, Raven! Ted went to get more sage, though he swears he packed some in this basket. Grab the lighter and get ready to—
The sudden drop in temperature had me abruptly stopping midstride to help Leo find the sage so that he could calm down a bit, but I might have been too lax in accepting his insistence that we should hurry in that endeavor. The chilled air hadn’t come before Mazie’s previous visit, but after. What was so different now?
“Um, Leo?” I cautiously looked around for any sign of Mazie, but she never appeared. That sinking feeling when trouble was near had definitely settled in my stomach, but the palm of my hand remained cool. Did that mean Mazie couldn’t cross over the veil that existed between us? Then again, the sensation in my hand hadn’t alerted me to her presence the first time around. “I don’t think Mazie has enough energy for another visit quite so soon.”
You’d be wrong.
Sure enough, Mazie began to slowly materialize on one of the stools at the counter—two feet from where I was standing. The tea cup and matching saucer she’d brought with her the first time around were positioned in front of her, and she was wearing the same floral print dress with the pink floppy hat as before.
There was only one difference, and I couldn’t prevent my eyes from widening in shock—Mazie wasn’t alone this time around.
Chapter Five
“Raven, I’d like for you to meet Lucille Rebecca Barnes,” Mazie said with delight. She leaned forward and covered her pearls with her fingers as she shared what seemed to be a secret. “Lucy and your great-great-great-grandmother go back more years than you can count.”
“I just had to meet the infamous Raven Lattice Marigold!” Lucy exclaimed from her standing position next to the counter. My gaze darted down to her feet, but I could barely make out anything below where her knees should have been. She was dressed very conservatively in a grey buttoned down cotton dress from a bygone era. She was in total contrast to Mazie’s bright presence. The only thing the two had in common were their wide smiles. “Your family on the other side are ecstatic you’ve finally found your calling.”
Leo’s continued silence was rather alarming.
Mazie and Lucille’s unexpected visit had Leo scrambling off the coffee table, which by far was my favorite piece of furniture in the room. It could do without any more scratches from Leo’s claws, but I couldn’t even be mad at him for potentially leaving more marks on the surface, because the panic he was currently experiencing had made its way to me.
The roots, herbs, and rose petals that Ted had so meticulously collected and segregated inside the basket were now scattered everywhere in Leo’s attempt to flee. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten that he could disappear at will.
“Mazie, I—”
“Let me have my say first, Raven. My time is limited. Earlier, we were interrupted before I could reply to Mr. Leo’s description of my character. You see, I wanted to come back and clarify a few things before you start your search for Strifle,” Mazie explained as Lucille patted the tea drinking spirit on the shoulder. Both apparitions looked over their shoulders to where Leo now sat ramrod straight next to the front door, his larger left eye glued to our visitors. “I might enjoy a good trick every now and then, but I’m not intentionally cruel. Life should be enjoyed, my dear, not endured. Every day should count for something learned or loved, and laughter should be had either way. That’s how I lived my life, and that’s how I intend to carry on in my existence beyond the veil.”
I love hearing my proper title, but not enough to throw myself into a headlong search for a fairy. Raven, send them on their way, please.
Leo had regained his composure, allowing me to breathe a little easier. My coffeemaker was beeping, but I didn’t make a move toward the other side of the kitchen. I had a feeling I was going to need something stronger than coffee to get me through the entirety of this evening.
“You don’t believe you can rest in the afterlife without Strifle,” I said after clearing my throat a couple of times to make sure I sounded as if I had some measure of self-control. This ghost thing had a way of rattling a person right down to their socks. “Mazi
e, I’m…honored that you think I can help you.”
Good start. Good start.
“And Lucille, it’s always nice to meet a dear friend of a relative who died long before I was born,” I tacked on, not wanting to offend the other apparition with her tenuous ties to my family. It was rather unsettling to know that spirits could make an appearance anytime they wanted to, and also offensive that Nan hadn’t thought to pay me a visit as of yet. I’d have to think on that bit of knowledge later…after all the sage Ted could find was burning in every corner of the cottage. “Unfortunately, I’m not the witch to help you solve your mystery. My suggestion would be to call on one of the witches who are in good standing within the coven, who have better access to the individuals who would have likely had the ability to keep your familiar from crossing over into the afterlife.”
Well done, Raven! Wait. Why aren’t they fading away?
Silence had descended, though I wasn’t sure it was because of my little speech or the fact that Mazie was taking another sip of her tea. Lucille sat there staring at me as if I was the one who’d surprised her with a visit.
Where was Ted with more of that sage?
Good question. I’ll go find out. Stay safe.
And just like that, Leo vanished into thin air. He’d left me to deal with two spirits on my own, and I had no choice but to wait until he came back with the sage.
“You are precisely who I need to help find my itty-bitty Strifle,” Mazie announced, carefully setting down her tea cup as if it could shatter with the slightest impact. I was pretty sure she had nothing to worry about there, but maybe old habits die hard. I winced at the pun. “I’m certain my passing occurred due to natural causes, but toward the end of my existence in the living realm…let’s just say the coven was in somewhat of a disarray. Simply put, I don’t trust anyone associated with the coven to handle this tragedy properly. Between you and me, I’m pretty sure the gold-digger is responsible for abducting Strifle.”
Haunting Blend Page 4
