by Linnea West
“Oh yes, of course,” Linda said. She tried to smile, but the resulting facial expression didn’t even come close to looking pleasant. It looked more like Linda was baring her few teeth at them. “I’m going to take the class too. Tell Ned not to wait to start. There are a few more things I’d like to do before I come over there.”
Esmeralda took Maggie by the elbow and steered her toward the other half of the store. There was a table at the front where Ned had set up his workstation. He stood beside it now, his arms in front of him, each hand tucked into the opposite bell sleeve of his robe. His long white beard flowed down to his knees. The only things moving were his eyes, which flicked around the room from person to person as he seemed to be counting them.
The rest of the room had six tables set up, two columns of three each. Each table had two small cauldrons set over little camp burners with a variety of bottles in between. A few other people were bustling around the room as the time ticked closer to when class was supposed to start. Esmeralda steered Maggie toward one of the tables at the front and bustled off to tell Ned not to wait for Linda. Maggie had hoped to hide toward the back of the room, but of course Esmeralda wasn’t about to let that happen.
Glancing around, Maggie looked at who else was there for the class. She had called up Jill and asked if she could come, but Jill had to be home with the kids because her husband was working late. It would have been nice to have another buffer between herself and the real world.
There was an older woman whose name was Nancy. Maggie only knew that she worked at the bank and apparently during the fog, she turned into some sort of hag. Abby, the shop assistant, was sitting on a stool picking at her vampire fangs. Despite being an assistant, she was not assisting anyone in the shop, but she had managed to find herself the only chair in the place. There were a few other townspeople who Maggie only vaguely recognized, but she ducked her head down before she had to make eye contact and wave to them. Who knew what they would want to talk about?
She tried to steel herself. All day, Maggie had been telling herself to try to relax and enjoy the class. As a real witch, she didn’t really need potions. All of the magic she needed was contained inside of herself. Esmeralda had said that most potions Ned and the others brewed would do nothing more than have a placebo effect. Maggie and Esmeralda were the only ones who would be able to actually infuse their potions with real magic, if they wanted to. Either way, Maggie started to take deep yoga breaths. She was going to have fun and enjoy herself, no matter how hard that was for her to do.
Then Maggie spotted the one person who she really did not want to see, not in this class, not ever. Mariah Brank was striding into potion class like she owned the place. Her long, dark hair was perfectly curled into beach waves and it flowed like a wave as she walked. As soon as she appeared, the woman at the other front table started waving frantically at her and Maggie realized that it was Mariah’s best friend, Ann. Mariah had probably requested that Ann get there extra early to reserve a front row spot for them. Mariah fancied herself something of a magic aficionado, even though the only people with real magical powers were Maggie and her mother.
“The class can start now,” Mariah announced as she set her purse on the floor next to the table. “I’m here and ready to brew the most potent good luck potion that’s ever been brewed.”
She smiled an evil smile that made Maggie hope the potion didn’t go right. There was no telling what Mariah would use it for. She was used to getting everything she wanted and a good luck potion would only make it ten times worse. As Lou Brank’s daughter, she was handed everything on a platter. Mariah ran a failing business in a prime location on Main Street. In the normal world, Mariah sold products from whatever MLM company she happened to be signed up for. This month, she inexplicably sold cleaning supplies. Maggie wasn’t even sure she made any money at all, but her father owned the building so Mariah paid no rent for her store and no rent for the beautiful penthouse apartment on the second floor of the building.
“What are you staring at?” Mariah asked. She snarled at Maggie, who hadn’t realized until that second that she was sort of staring at Mariah. Mostly, Maggie had been wishing Mariah would disappear, but she was using all of her magic to make sure that wish didn’t actually come true.
“Alright, everyone is here except for Linda, but we are going to begin,” Ned said. He moved back behind his cauldron and put his arms out. “I’m so glad to see you all here this evening. This is my first potion making class. I was hoping to make this a monthly thing, but I’m not so sure I will be able to continue, seeing as the proprietor of this shop has refused my reasonable request for a refund on a shoddily-made cauldron. If anyone else would be willing to volunteer space to hold the class, we could move the class elsewhere.”
Ned flicked his eyes toward Mariah, who crossed her arms and showed absolutely no indication that she would be taking him up on his offer. Despite having one of the most spacious shops on Main Street with the least amount of customers, Mariah was not going to be doing anything without getting paid.
“No matter, just a suggestion,” Ned said, busying himself with moving a few bottles around on his table while he regained his composure. “Now, I will go slowly and show you exactly what ingredient and how much to use to create a very worthwhile good luck potion.”
Esmeralda appeared next to Maggie’s elbow, snorting at the thought of Ned doing anything worthwhile with his magic. The way it had been explained to Maggie, some mortals did have a very tiny amount of magical power that they could use. Ned was one of those humans and he did everything he could to harness his power and use it. It was a bit like trying to harness and use a miniature horse to pull a wagon, however, so most of his magic was not only useless but also harmless.
Maggie looked around the room just as Nancy’s hand shot into the air. She waved it around until Ned finally noticed and pointed toward her.
“Yes you, what do you want?” he asked, flustered enough that he was stuttering over his words.
“Linda’s supposed to be takin’ the class too,” Nancy said. She gestured toward the cash register where Linda was helping a customer. “What about her? I won’t let you leave her out. We might not always get along, but at the moment I’m on her good side and I don’t want this class starting early to get me on her bad side.”
“I’ll start her potion for her,” Ned said. “No worries. We can get her up to speed when she can get here.”
“Maybe her shop assistant should help her out a little bit,” Nancy grumbled. “You know, like assist her?”
Abby sighed and rolled her eyes from the table across the aisle from Nancy. So far potion making class had been much more about people picking fights than anything having to do with good luck. Maggie’s stomach was doing flip-flops. Between Mariah’s cool eye sweeping over her every once in a while to assess how Maggie was doing and the fact that everyone was fighting in public, Maggie’s anxiety was on high alert. She tried to stand as still as possible, hiding the fact that she was currently wringing the life out of her hands underneath the table with the cauldrons.
“I’m here to make this potion, not listen to everyone complain,” Esmeralda said. She turned slowly, looking at each person in turn. As Esmeralda’s glance made her way around the room, most people smiled sheepishly or shrugged, trying to assure Esmeralda that they were on their best behavior. Only Mariah wouldn’t make eye contact, choosing instead to roll her eyes the moment Esmeralda looked at her.
“Thank you very much, Esmeralda,” Ned said. “First, I’d like you each to find the bottle labeled ‘Daisy Wine.’ This is the base of our potion. It should be a yellowish color.”
Maggie took a deep breath and focused on following Ned’s instructions. As the class progressed, Maggie grew more and more at ease. As long as she didn’t look to her right, she could forget that Mariah was there and Maggie was able to relax more into the rhythm of the class. Ned was a good teacher. He seemed to know when people would need extra time
or extra instructions and he gave them without being asked. Maggie was actually starting to enjoy herself.
After the first few instructions, Linda stomped up the aisle and stood in front of Ned’s table. She put her fists on her hips, her ratty ponytail still swinging back and forth. In the paranormal world, her hair was not the nicer shade of gray that it normally was. Now it was a disgusting green, like the color of a child’s booger. Between that, her unfriendly face, and the fact that her main emotion seemed to be standoffish, Linda was someone that Maggie did not find pleasant.
“Where’s my potion?” she demanded.
Ned calmly took a small cauldron and ladled a few spoonfuls from his cauldron into hers. He handed it to her, managing to keep a neutral expression despite their previous encounter and his dig at her before class started. Linda grabbed it away from him and stomped to the table beside Nancy.
The potion became more and more difficult and Maggie started to wonder if Ned knew what he was doing. Sure, he seemed like a well-read guy and he certainly studied magic enough. The bookstore that he ran was fastidiously clean during the normal world but during the fog, it was dark and dusty, a byproduct of the fact that he spent all of his time trying to learn magic.
The bell on the front door rang two more times during the class and Maggie wondered if the class was the reason for the extra business. Perhaps the customers wanted to check it out and see if they’d like to take the next one, even though Ned had implied there would be no next ones. Each time, Linda scowled to herself but bustled away to help. She had a quota to meet for the month. Each time, Nancy stepped in to work on Linda’s potion while she was gone.
On the other hand, Mariah wasn’t really making her own potion at all. Ann was running back and forth between the two cauldrons on their table, stirring ingredients into both, her own dark hair becoming limp with the sweat and moisture of the potions.
A magnificent crash sounded from one of the tables behind Maggie and when she turned, she saw that Nancy was staring at a pile of liquid and broken glass that was pooling on the floor. Esmeralda waved a finger toward it and it disappeared.
“We’re out of bramblewood elixir,” Nancy said.”I used some in my potion, but ran out before I could use some in Linda’s potion.”
“Oh dear, I suppose there is probably more in the back,” Ned said. “I did bring my entire trunk of potion supplies. Abby, you could go get some more.”
Abby opened her mouth as though she were about to retort, but she soon clamped it shut as she realized that Linda was still helping a customer. She grimaced at Nancy as she got down off of her stool and grabbed the bottle from the hag, stomping off to the storage room. Soon enough, she was back with a full bottle of bramblewood elixir. Judging by the look on her face, she was not happy to be the one to fetch it.
“We only have one more step and then our potions will be complete,” Ned said.
“Wait, I want to finish my own,” Linda yelled, unceremoniously shoving the customer out the door and dashing over to her own cauldron. Huffing and puffing, she waved her hand. “Okay, continue.”
“The last step is to drop in exactly two apple seeds,” Ned said.
He raised his hand above his own cauldron and flipped it over slowly, dropping in two tiny seeds that made the smallest splashes as they dropped in. Ned looked to the sky as he did it, as though the heavens were about to split open and shine a light on his marvelous potion. But nothing happened. In fact, the potion didn’t seem to change at all.
“Now what?” Abby asked.
“Now we drink it,” Ned said. “Just a taste. Obviously you’ll want to save most of it for a time when you actually need good luck. Unless that time is now, in which case, drink up!”
Little splashes sounded around the room as everyone dropped their apple seeds in. Maggie glanced at Esmeralda, who seemed to be holding back laughter. Esmeralda was a wonderful woman and the best mother, but if she had a downfall, it was that she was a bit haughty about her magical powers. Sure, the Ferndale women had been tasked with protecting the town, but that didn’t mean that they were better than anyone else.
Maggie wasn’t sure she actually wanted to drink hers. What if she had done something wrong? What if she had unknowingly infused it with her magic? Instead, she stuck a funnel in one of the bottles and started to fill them up. If nothing else, the shimmery green liquid would look pretty on a shelf somewhere.
A loud thud behind Maggie made her jump. Turning around, Linda was on the floor, lying flat on her back. Her eyes were as wide as they could be, considering the deep wrinkles that surrounded them. A loud, phlegmy sound escaped her mouth as her tongue fell out to the side. Nancy started shrieking at the top of her lungs, frantically shaking her hands beside her face as she looked back and forth, unsure of what to do or where to go.
Esmeralda brushed past Maggie, rushing toward the hag. At the last minute, she grabbed Maggie’s hand, pulling her along. Dropping to her knees, Esmeralda pulled Maggie down with her. Maggie only had to take one look at Linda’s face to know what had happened.
Chapter Three
“Help her!” Nancy cried.
The rest of the class had crowded around them now. Mariah shoved her way to the front, took one look at Linda and pushed her way back out of the crowd. Abby stood wide-eyed, swaying slightly back and forth as though she was thinking of fainting, but decided not to. Esmeralda leaned forward and gently shut Linda’s eyelids.
“She’s dead,” Esmeralda said.
She turned to look at the group. As soon as she spoke, the rest of the group all took a step back as though whatever had caused Linda’s death would spring out and grab them too. At that point, Mariah shoved Ann so hard the poor vampire fell to the floor as the banshee rushed past.
“I am out of here,” Mariah said. “I do not want to be around that dead hag any longer than I already have been.”
Maggie popped up to walk over and helped Ann up off of the floor, wanting desperately to ask her why she insisted on remaining friends with someone who would willingly push her around, literally. But she refrained from questions as she grabbed Ann’s arm and helped her up. Ann smiled a bashful smile at her, as though she could read Maggie’s mind and she didn’t really have an answer to Maggie’s question. The smile put Maggie at ease where the slight glimpse of fangs did not.
“Not so fast,” Esmeralda said. “We need everyone to stay here until we have done a thorough investigation. Did anyone see what happened?”
“I watched her fall on the ground,” Nancy said. She put her hand over her heart as she spoke, clutching at the front of her ugly brown dress for dramatic effect. “It was like it was in slow motion, but I couldn’t think fast enough to catch her. All of a sudden, she was just splayed out on the floor. It must have been that darn ticker of hers. She’s had heart palpitations for a while.”
“Had she taken a drink of her potion?” Esmeralda asked.
“Yes, in fact she had slurped down quite a large drink of it,” Nancy said. “I remember because she made a disgusting noise and I was about to get mad at her. She always does that, just to make me mad. From the time we were little girls, she would slurp anything she could just to get a rise out of me.”
Esmeralda stood up from her squat and took a quick examination of the table as Nancy droned on about their childhood tiffs. Everyone watched as Esmeralda eyed every bottle between Nancy and Linda’s cauldrons. A flash of motion caught Maggie’s eye and she could just barely see Mariah trying to inch her way to the door.
Maggie’s head snapped to the side and she made eye contact with Mariah. She really didn’t want to draw attention to herself by yelling at Mariah, but she couldn’t just let the banshee walk out of here without them figuring out what happened. Her heart started fluttering even faster. She didn’t know which was worse, the dead body or having to stand up to Mariah.
As Maggie thought through what to do, the din of the crowd was getting louder and louder. The noise pressed in on Maggie from
all directions, making it hard for her to make a decision. Everyone seemed to be yelling their version of the events all at once until finally, Esmeralda made a firm announcement.
“Everyone must take their places,” Esmeralda said. With a wave of her hand, a stool appeared for each person behind their table. “Mariah, that includes you. No one may leave until I say so.”
Maggie glanced at Mariah again. The banshee had her arms crossed over her chest and her mouth was hanging partially open as though she were trying to decide whether or not she should use her powerful scream to get away from the dead body.
Arching one eyebrow, Mariah took a step back toward the door. THUD A large boom sounded and Mariah turned around. Maggie could just barely see around her to the large piece of wood that was now holding the door shut. Turning to look at her mother, Maggie had to laugh. Esmeralda was raising one eyebrow back toward Mariah, mirroring the stunned banshee’s expression. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Mariah walked back to her seat next to Ann, pretending like it had been her idea in the first place.
“Now then, we are going to take turns talking about any and all interactions we had with Linda tonight,” Esmeralda said, clapping her hands together like she was describing a group project for a high school English class. “Ned, as the leader of the class, I’d like you to start.”
“Sure, sure,” Ned said. He stood up and shuffled around the table until he was standing in front of everyone, swaying a bit from side to side. Clearing his throat, he put one hand up like he was about to give a speech he had prepared. “As the class started, Linda was helping a few customers so I allowed her to use the beginnings of my potion for her own. It was easier than having to stop and walk her through the first few steps again.”
“That was not your first encounter with her today, though, was it?” Esmeralda asked. “What about the confrontation the two of you were having when we first walked in?”
Ned shuffled his feet and took his pointy hat off of his head, scratching until his long white hair was all mussed up on top. Instead of fixing it, he slapped the hat back over top. He opened his mouth to answer, but then clamped it shut as his cheeks went red.
