Haunting Blend

by Layne, Kennedy

  The fact that Leo had been relatively quiet upon my reflection of the townsfolk had me glancing over at him with curiosity. Sure enough, he wasn’t in his usual spot near the display window, as I’d thought. I’d even fluffed the soft pillow for him this morning. I’d hoped to shake off the cold due to the glass becoming a bit frosty in the winter months.

  “Leo?”

  No answer.

  I wondered where he’d gotten off to.

  Well, now was as good a time as any to call my mother.

  Hmmm, not even the mere mention of Regina had Leo scurrying back to tell me that it was a bad idea to involve her. Unfortunately, she was the only one who might have the names of the witches associated with the coven’s welcome wagon. I’d asked Ted late last night when he’d came back to retrieve his basket, but he hadn’t met any of the witches in the coven, either.

  It made me wonder if Nan’s creating Ted wasn’t against one of the coven’s rules, as well. I doubt that his creation would have aided in the council giving Nan any type of forgiveness.

  My cell phone began to chime in my purse, so I quickly made my way to the checkout counter. I set down my coffee next to the cash register so that I could dig my phone out from the endless void that was my everyday purse.

  Surprisingly…or not so surprising…it was my mother’s name appearing on the lighted display.

  “Mom? I was just going to call you.”

  “Whatever it is that’s sending rather cagey energy waves my way, you can stop it right now,” Regina declared, all but telling me that Leo was the culprit. “You burned the sage that I told you to last night, didn’t you?”

  “About that,” I began, leaning my forearms on the counter as I continued to look out the display window. Tuesday mornings were fairly quiet, but I spent the entire day yesterday restocking the shelves. I suppose I could rearrange some of the new merchandise I’ve been meaning to get to in last week’s shipment, but I’d probably use this downtime to create a flier to put in the window advertising for my part-time help. “The sage didn’t quite work. Mazie and a friend dropped in for a visit before I could burn the sage.”

  The long pause on the end of the line was expected, but it was drawn out to the point where I wasn’t sure if my mother had actually disconnected the call.

  “Mom? Are you still there?”

  “Please, please, please tell me that you sent Mazie and whoever she brought with her on their merry way.” My mother wasn’t that easily rattled, especially when it came to witchcraft and the mystical ways of the magical world. Sure, she didn’t want me to have anything to do with our family heritage. She’d been very vocal about her displeasure of my choice, thus far. Regardless, she always came through when I needed her. “Where is Leo? Is he there? Put me on speaker.”

  It was true that all witches could hear familiars, but too long of a distance put a damper on communications.

  “Leo’s out making his morning rounds.” At least, I was hoping he was just taking a morning stroll through town. Fairies weren’t the only ones who liked to stir up trouble. “Mom, Leo agreed that we should attempt to locate Strifle and remove the binding spell. Apparently, it’s rather painful for familiars to be separated from their host unwillingly. We couldn’t stand by and do nothing, knowing full well that a magical creature was in agony.”

  “Then recommend to Mazie that she seek out another witch, preferably one familiar with the coven.” I could tell from my mom’s tone that she hadn’t intended the pun about familiars. I also recognized the losing battle ahead, but even she could understand why Leo and I couldn’t turn away a spirit in need. “Mazie must know someone who can help her that wouldn’t risk upsetting the balance of things as they are now. I was rather young the last time your grandmother and I ran into her, but she seemed to fit in with the other witches just fine.”

  “That’s the thing, Mom. Mazie mentioned that the coven was in a bit of disarray before she passed. She’s also pretty confident that someone on the council prevented Strifle from passing over the veil, so at least we know who the suspects are.” I reached underneath the counter and pulled out the laptop that Nan had used for business purposes. It was relatively new, purchased within a year of her death, and I didn’t see the need to replace it. It took all of two minutes to guess Nan’s password—Witch01. “Mazie doesn’t know who she can trust, so I was hoping you could give me a list of names of potential witches who might still be with the coven.”

  Another long pause that I had fully expected.

  “Mom, I don’t even know where the coven is located. That makes it rather hard for me to look into Strifle’s kidnapping, or whatever you want to call it.” I took a sip of coffee while the laptop booted up. I was relatively pleased with how this phone conversation was going, considering the alternative. “All I’m asking for is one name of someone who might be able to help me get to the bottom of this. I’ll reach out to him or her by phone, if that makes you feel better. I don’t have to go anywhere near the coven.”

  “A phone call only?” my mother asked warily.

  “Phone calls only,” I promised, though I felt the need to tack on an addendum to that oath. “Unless I can’t reach anyone. Then I might have to take a little road trip, but it’s not like I can do that in the middle of the week. Heidi mentioned she might be able to visit this weekend, so I can promise you that I won’t go alone…if it comes to that eventuality.”

  Maybe I should have left off the addendum.

  “Mom?” I decided to hammer in the nail just a bit. “You really don’t want me going on social media, asking anyone if they know of a coven that’s located in Connecticut, do you? Mazie said there’s a warlock, a gold-digger, a redhead, and someone who’s rather clueless. That doesn’t leave me a lot to go on.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at envisioning Mom’s look of horror. I’d never in a million years do something that drastic unless it was a life or death situation. Technically, Strifle’s circumstances were life and death. Still, I wouldn’t resort to that level and risk outing an entire population of witches.

  “Merrick Bronach.” The name was said after hearing my mother’s audible sigh of parental frustration. “Do not, I repeat, do not go see him personally. Phone calls only, but he can provide you with the information you need.”

  I couldn’t understand how my mother was this wealth of information when it came to witchcraft when she’d had nothing to do with the supernatural growing up. By the time Mom was born, Nan had already severed ties with her own sister and the coven.

  “I’m surprised that Nan shared all of this information with you, considering your disposition toward the supernatural.” The laptop had finally come to life, and I maneuvered the square mousepad until the little arrow on the screen was hovering over the PowerPoint icon. “I was afraid you wouldn’t know of anyone who could help.”

  “You know your grandmother,” my mother replied, attempting to smooth over the realization I’d just made. She’d made a major mistake, though. I hadn’t known Nan that well, and it was all due to my mother’s decision to move far away and expunge any use of witchcraft from our lives. “She was a talker, that one.”

  “No, she wasn’t.” I straightened my shoulders, deciding that I could handle a few more answers regarding our past history. “Mom, you went behind Nan’s back and looked into the coven when you were a teenager, didn’t you? What did you find out? Better yet, who did you talk to? It was Merrick Bronach, wasn’t it? He talked to you back then, which is why you think he’ll talk to me now.”

  “Raven? I didn’t hear your last question.” Mom was pulling her usual stunt, but I’d lost any humor at her attempt to evade the topic of discussion. “I think we have a bad connection.”

  “No, we don’t. You’re trying to wiggle your way out of telling me what I need to know, just like every time we talk about—”

  I pulled the phone away from my ear once I realized the line had gone dead.

  It figured.

 
I wasn’t going to let my mother ruin a perfectly good day, though.

  I’d gotten a name of someone who might be able to help me locate the coven and just possibly Strifle. My to-do list was mounting. I still needed to find part-time help for the tea shop, and I needed to find something to wear for my dinner date this Friday night with Liam. On top of all that, Leo had left me alone long enough to enjoy the rest of my coffee.

  Raven!

  Apparently, I spoke too soon.

  “Yes?” I pulled the stool behind me closer to the counter so that I could sit down while creating an advertisement for part-time help. I’d make it colorful enough to catch someone’s eye. “And don’t tell me that Ted walked into town this morning after I offered him a ride. He said he was going to stay home today and do inventory on the ingredients I needed for all of the Valentine’s Day orders I have lined up for next month.”

  I was going to try my hand at a love blend, similar to the one that Nan had created for Pearl and Henry. Those two lovebirds had jetted to Florida to escape the cold, and I couldn’t be happier that they’d found each other in their early seventies.

  Would you stop yammering about hearts and flowers? We have an emergency!

  “What emergency?” I asked, finally looking up from the laptop to find that Leo was pacing back and forth in the display window.

  Oh, Leo’s angst wasn’t a good sign.

  I slowly stood from the padded seat, taking time to sense the air around me. Sure enough, there was a low hum of distressed energy vibrating all around us.

  Unwelcome visitor incoming! Batten down the hatches! All hands on deck!

  Chapter Seven

  I held my breath as Rye Dolgiram set his hand on the silver handle of the glass door, but he didn’t enter. Instead, he paused long enough to pull his cell phone out of his winter jacket. I could see rather than hear that he was receiving an incoming call.

  “What on earth could Rye want with me?” I murmured, sitting back down on the stool before my knees gave out in anticipation. “This is strange, Leo, but I don’t sense that he’s a danger here. Do you?”

  Something is seriously wrong with that man, Raven. Go lock the door and flip the sign. It’s a subtle hint, but I think he’ll get the gist. We have enough to worry about in our quest to wrangle a pesky fairy.

  I wasn’t going to do anything of the sort. Granted, I didn’t trust Rye any farther than I could throw him, but I wasn’t going to be rude, either. He was a handyman of sorts, doing odds and ends for the businesses and residents alike of Paramour Bay, but there was something very secretive about him that didn’t sit right with me.

  Gertie, the owner of a New England manor house inn here in town, which was very reminiscent of the Nickels-Sortwell House in Wiscasset, couldn’t praise him enough.

  Apparently, Rye performed all the maintenance on the old Federal style buildings on her estate. Maybe he was a relative or something, though they didn’t look anything alike. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, whereas Gertie was rather petite and had to have been a blonde back in her heyday, judging from her light complexion. Plus, they had completely different facial features.

  Rye stood outside in the cold on the sidewalk talking to someone as if it weren’t twenty-some degrees with piercing winds that could cut through three inches of solid steel. Nothing seemed to faze him, not even the fact that both Leo and I were studying him with curiosity. He’d stepped away from the door and shifted so that the gusts weren’t hitting him directly from the front.

  Rye had to know he had an audience, right? Oddly enough, he lowered his head as if he was consorting with the devil himself before slowly walking away.

  You’re right. That was strange. I’ll follow him and discover all his secrets.

  Before I could tell Leo to leave the man alone, he disappeared fast enough to have a few orange and black cat hairs floating in his wake. It had been strange the way Rye had decided not to enter the shop, but it was more likely that one of the residents in town had an emergency that couldn’t wait to be resolved.

  At least, that’s what I told myself. Anything else was just wild speculation.

  Rye wasn’t a tea drinker that I knew of, especially considering he’d never stopped into the shop to buy anything before. That didn’t mean he wasn’t used to ordering his supply of richly exotic tea online, but he also struck me as the type of man who drank coffee—strong, black, and scolding hot. He definitely wasn’t one of those frou-frou coffee drinkers with the latte crowd.

  I guess I’d just have to wait for either Leo to return or Rye to make his way back to the store. I had noticed that there seemed to be a little spark between him and Heidi when they’d first met, though she currently only had eyes for Detective Jack Swanson. In my opinion, she’d chosen wisely this time.

  The rest of the morning was spent attempting to concentrate on something else besides the rather peculiar almost-visit by Rye and wondering what Leo was discovering while following the reserved stranger. I didn’t like that Leo was being underhanded and snooping around in something that wasn’t his business. I mean, what if someone decided to do that to me? They’d find out a lot more than they bargained for, and my life here in Paramour Bay would be over before I could ever utter a word in my own defense.

  It was wrong to violate anyone’s privacy.

  By noon, I’d hung up the flyer I’d created and printed off for part-time help, waited on a couple of my usual customers, and also tried to do an online search for one Merrick Bronach. Unfortunately, the last item on the agenda hadn’t panned out so well. Not everyone had an online trail to sniff out, especially folks who avoided technology. As for the gold-digger, redhead, and clueless one…well, it wasn’t like I could search those keywords and come up with answers.

  I stayed in the tea shop during my lunch hour, not wanting to give up the search for the one person who might be able to figure out why Strifle hadn’t crossed over the rainbow bridge with her mistress. There was no indication that anyone by the name of Bronach lived anywhere in the state of Connecticut since before the state had even become a state. It was at least not since the witch trials of the 1600s. There was mention of an Irish Saint in the sixth century, but I dismissed that connection out of hand.

  I even widened my search to include other areas, but still to no avail.

  I mean, we’re talking a general Google search, a social media query on multiple sites, and I was still in the midst of searching for the name my mother had given me when my cell phone chimed at a little after one o’clock in the afternoon.

  “Jack just mentioned to me that a man who goes by the name of Beetle is retiring and closing up his accounting firm there in Paramour Bay,” Heidi exclaimed in a mixture of excitement and irritation without her standard greeting. She was never one to waste time on anything that didn’t have substance, and she always got straight to the point. Living in the huge city of New York City had definitely rubbed off on her demeanor. “Were you intentionally keeping this from me or were you planning on denying me this opportunity out of apathy?”

  “I was waiting for when you took a moment to breathe,” I corrected her, shoving the laptop back on the counter a bit while I took a break from the endless search of what could possibly be a nonexistent person. My mother wouldn’t do that to me, would she? Give me a name to pursue endlessly like Leo chasing his bent tail just to keep me busy while she handled things on her own? I was afraid I already knew the answer to that question. “I know how busy the beginning of the year can be for you, and I didn’t want you to think I was putting pressure on you during tax season.”

  I stood from the stool and stretched my back. Another cup of coffee sounded wonderful, but I’d already consumed the two cups that I’d brought with me. Maybe I should try the new tea blend that came in on the delivery truck yesterday called Dandelion coffee. The name was definitely attractive, but I hadn’t wanted to be disappointed with the taste. My idea to diversify the shop’s offerings by including gourmet
coffees was becoming more attractive by the day. Maybe I should even start offering hot takeout beverages like a tea and coffee bar from the city.

  “So, it’s all true? The accountant who takes care of nearly every small business in Paramour Bay is retiring?” Heidi couldn’t contain her enthusiasm, which was part of the reason I’d kept quiet. She’d spend every waking hour outside of her current position to try and make this work, all but running herself into the ground. On top of that, I was dealing with a grieving spirit who’d lost her familiar. I was afraid Heidi would attempt to take the rest of the week off. Her loyalties to friends knew no bounds, but I wasn’t about to be the reason she was dismissed from one of the top firms in New York City. “Raven, you know how long I’ve waited for an opportunity like this—an established accounting business of my very own.”

  “I do, but you should get through these next three months first and leave your employer on good terms. I heard that Beetle isn’t going to close his firm until after tax season, anyway, so that gives you time to decide if you truly want to leave behind the Big Apple and all the twinkling lights.” I decided now was the time to voice my concern. “My situation was different. I was in a job that was going nowhere, behind on my rent, and looking back…a little lost in every single direction available to me. Nan left me something so much more than a tea shop, Heidi. You said yourself last month that I’ve created my own little family in the small town of Paramour Bay.”

  The contemplative quietness that filled the line wasn’t the same as my mother’s silence. Heidi had heard me, and she was taking my advice to heart.

  “I know you have dinner with Liam on Friday night, but maybe I can squeeze some time to take the train out there on Saturday afternoon. I’ll stay until late Sunday, and we can go over the pros and cons like true small business entrepreneurs,” Heidi suggested, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief. She was taking this seriously and not jumping in with two feet, the way she usually did with everything in her life. “How is everything there? Did you and Leo get to store all those decorations back into the storage room?”