Baffling Blend

by Kennedy Layne

  “What we need is to end this war,” I declared, following behind Rye and Aunt Rowena as they slipped out the back door. The heat from the stone against my neck was practically singeing my skin. “Something is about to happen, Leo. We need to be ready.”

  I knew we should have sent in Crayolahead. Hey, can I borrow your phone? My BFF will carry out my wishes, and he needs to know where my farewell letter is to Skippy.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Leo, this isn’t funny,” I said, setting one hand on my waist in disappointment. The other was holding open the front door while I did my best to convince Leo to enter Aunt Rowena’s house. “Gus isn’t here. Apparently, he’s with Joey on some genealogy hunt.”

  My beloved Rosemary wouldn’t want me to cross that threshold. It’s bad enough that I’m in the company of the coven that excommunicated us, but to sit down and have tea or coffee with the wicked sister who showed no support? No, thank you. I’ll sit right here on this porch in the bitter cold, freezing the bent portion of my tail off while you conspire with the enemy.

  “They all know who you are,” Aunt Rowena called out from her seat in the kitchen. “You are safer in here than out there, Benny.”

  Benny was the name that Leo had gone by when he’d been with Nan. He’d taken the name Leo during the black magic ceremony that was done to ensure that he was able to stay behind and help me learn my way. Aunt Rowena had a valid point about him being safer inside than remaining out in the open where anyone could reach him.

  That small detail written in the fine print of the necromancy spell was enough to prompt Leo to walk across the cold wooden porch. He’d just reached the welcome mat, lifting his paw to enter the house when he paused on purpose to make a statement.

  I’d like to go on record that my crossing this threshold is me agreeing to enter the Wicked Witch of Windsor’s domain of my own accord.

  “Duly noted,” I replied wryly, finally able to close the door and head back into the kitchen. Aunt Rowena’s home was the average two-story house in this neck of the woods, but the interior reminded me a lot of Nan’s style. There were numerous pieces of furniture and splashes of color here and there that could have been taken right from the cottage. A quick glance into the living room showed an almost identical hand-carved coffee table that most certainly had the same hidden drawers throughout the structure. If Nan had been given the family grimoire, what did Aunt Rowena currently use for the spells that had been past down from generation to generation? “Leo?”

  Leo had been walking beside me, but he’d meandered off somewhere without me noticing. I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but maybe he just wanted to make sure that Aunt Rowena was being truthful about Gus’ absence.

  “…don’t know why you didn’t run this by me before you decided to show up here after all these years,” Aunt Rowena was saying as I walked back into the kitchen. The delicious fragrance of coffee hung in the air, but Rye had given a slight shake of his head the first time I’d reached for my cup. I wasn’t sure if that meant that it tasted like mud or if Aunt Rowena had actually tried to poison me. Either way, I wasn’t taking the chance, which meant that I had to sit here and be tortured by the delectable aroma. Leo might have had a point about staying out in the cold. “I’ve done everything to protect you, yet here you come waltzing in here as if these heathens don’t have reason to hurt you. We—”

  Aunt Rowena broke off in annoyance after she glanced my way, as if I didn’t know that they were keeping something from me regarding Rye’s ancestors. To send two familiars off on their own to another country wasn’t a decision made lightly.

  “My dear Raven,” Aunt Rowena practically sang, changing the tune of her song. “Did you or did you not make the decision to stay out of the coven war? I granted you your wish, yet here you are. Does your mother know what you’re up to?”

  “My mother has nothing to do with this,” I said, a lump forming in my throat over the lie I’d just told. “Rye divulged to me all about the hex bag that was placed in the shrub in front of your house. Clearly, Merrick and the others aren’t beneath using black magic to win this war that you’ve started in order to gain control of the Windsor Stone.”

  “The only thing that hex bag proves is that Merrick is under the assumption that I’m stronger than him. Basically, it verifies that I’m a threat to their desire to send us back into the Stone Age.” Aunt Rowena glanced down at my untouched coffee as she took a sip from her own cup. My taste buds watered, but I managed to refrain from snagging the hot beverage out of her hand. “That’s in my favor, and I don’t anticipate that what the two of you have to say is going to change that. Leave now, and I’ll explain to the others that this was all a big misunderstanding.”

  “You don’t know who created that hex bag, which is why we’re here.” Rye seemed to weigh his words carefully. “You’re still in danger, and there is no telling what lengths some of these coven members might go to in order to win. Besides, there’s been another threat.”

  Maybe it was a good thing that I hadn’t been drinking the coffee, otherwise I might have spit it out over the table. Rye and I had agreed that we wouldn’t bring up the premonition about my mother.

  “I’ve stood aside while you did what you thought was best for the coven, but it’s now time for me to publicly stand by your side,” Rye declared, purposefully sliding his coffee farther away from him on the table to prove a point. “I spoke with Raven after she rid herself of the dreamcatcher, and I explained to her why the relic had been so important to us. She and I also talked at lengths about how this war could end without anyone else falling victim to one another’s schemes.”

  While Rye continued to try and convince Aunt Rowena that she should hear out our plan before automatically dismissing it as fodder, I realized that Leo had been a little too quiet since he’d joined us in the house. I resisted the urge to go find him, not wanting to miss a single word of this conversation.

  It wasn’t like Leo could tell me something in private. Aunt Rowena and Rye would be able to hear every word exchanged between us. If he’d discovered something that was important to our mission here, then he would have to wait until we had some privacy.

  “…and there is nothing you can say that is going to change my mind, Rye. The Windsor Stone has been quiet for decades. The last time it worked—”

  Aunt Rowena broke off as if she’d almost revealed too much information about why she was so adamant to fight half the coven. It left me wondering as to the reason why the other half would follow her. Exactly what had she promised them in return?

  “When was the last time the Windsor Stone permitted the coven to speak with our ancestors?” I asked pointedly, taking Rye’s note regarding the coffee. I cried a little inside when I pushed it away from me even farther in defiance. I could only hope that she’d chosen some sleeping aid and not actual poison. “I want an answer this time, Aunt Rowena. It’s not like we all haven’t spoken to someone who’s crossed over at one time or another, and I’m still relatively new at this. I get that the Windsor Stone allows full access to those dearly departed, but there are other ways to reach them.”

  “Those other ways are not always when advice or detailed information is needed,” Aunt Rowena said haughtily, dismissing the two coffee cups that were now in the middle of the table. It was clear that she’d made some sort of internal decision. For the first time in a while, there was a warmth in the palm of my hand to warn me against the danger to come. “Rye, all I’ve ever wanted to do was protect you. This war is becoming dirty, more than I ever imagined, and it’s imperative that you don’t get hurt in the crossfire. You’re leaving me little choice but to—”

  “We have the dreamcatchers,” I blurted out, stunning Rye and causing Aunt Rowena to pause mid-sentence with her red lips in a not-so-perfect O. Apparently, only Heidi had the ability to look like a 1950s movie star. It wasn’t like I had a choice in fending off whatever bad decision that Aunt Rowena had been going to make in an act of
desperation. “If we don’t continue to check in every fifteen minutes with the individual guarding them, then they will be frozen for all eternity.”

  Had I lied, Aunt Rowena would have seen right through the meaningless threat. I had to tell the truth, though stretched it might be. If anything were to happen to Rye or me, those dreamcatchers would be frozen for all eternity. They were currently in a bakery’s freezer, protected by an incantation. I’d definitely told the truth.

  “Your mother is off with that odd fellow who repeats phrases, the man you’re seeing is tending to his sister, so that leaves your best friend,” Aunt Rowena said in a rather strategic manner. She was betting the odds, and she was going to lose. I smiled smugly so that she couldn’t mistake my self-assuredness in this matter. “The local grim reaper, perhaps? The werewolf librarian? I can’t see either of them wanting anything to do with witch’s business.”

  “It’s not Heidi, so you’re more than welcome to risk the dreamcatchers in your bid to stop us from talking with the rest of the coven,” I advised, very pleased with this turn of events. My mother would have been very proud of me for the way I’d just handled that situation. “They have a right to know about this solution.”

  “There is no solution,” Aunt Rowena declared with a sniff of annoyance. She shifted her focus to Rye. “Did she talk you into this? You cannot allow—”

  “Rowena,” Rye began, reaching out and gently taking her hand in between his. “You could have seriously been hurt by whoever put that hex bag next to your home. You’re all I have, and I refuse to lose you just because you’re blinded to some compromise by your desire for power.”

  Did I just walk into one of those soap operas that Wilma and Elsie are addicted to? I’ll admit, a tear almost formed in my bulging eye.

  “Are you done snooping around, Benny?”

  Mr. Leo to you, witch.

  “It’s time,” Rye announced, rising from his chair with caution. He still wasn’t sure if Aunt Rowena had fallen for the bait regarding the dreamcatchers, but it had literally been our only safeguard in this situation. “You’ll hear our proposal along with the others. I hope you keep an open mind.”

  My heartstrings tugged a little when Aunt Rowena appeared a bit lost. Her love for Rye was obvious, but her need to control the Windsor Stone was also evident. She was completely torn on how to respond and what to do about the upcoming meeting.

  Oh, don’t let the Wicked Witch of Windsor wiggle her way into your heart, Raven. Did you know that she’d planned on putting you and the cheater into a slumber until she figured out a way to disassemble the crowd gathering at the town hall? I saw the leftover components in the pestles and mortars in that secret room the cheater here helped her build.

  “You told them about my personal space?” Aunt Rowena asked in horror, pushing back from the table in anger. “Rye, I don’t understand this change of heart.”

  “I didn’t have a change of heart,” Rye explained, seemingly at his wits’ end that he couldn’t get Aunt Rowena to understand his motives. “Why can’t you see that someone is going to get seriously hurt if this war between the factions of the coven doesn’t come to a peaceful end?”

  You haven’t figured that out yet, warlock cheater? The Wicked Witch of Windsor doesn’t want a peaceful end to this war. She wants to the Windsor Stone all to herself, and I now know why.

  The fact that Leo had confidence to talk back to Aunt Rowena told me that he no longer feared being turned into a toad. At least, not by her. He must have found dirt on her that she didn’t want the others knowing about, thus giving us the upper hand.

  That’s right, Raven. She never changed the spell to the secret drawer in the coffee table that contains the pages she tore out from the family grimoire before my beloved Rosemary was kicked to the curb.

  “Leo, you might want to get to the point,” Rye warned, motioning toward Aunt Rowena’s hand. She was seconds away from hurling an energy ball his way. “We also need to get to the town hall before they all decide we’re a no-show.”

  By the time Rye was done speaking, Leo had quickly and wisely wobbled his way over to me as fast as he could in order to hide behind my right leg. It gave Aunt Rowena a chance to see that I’d curled my own fingers into the palm of my hand in readiness to protect what was mine. She narrowed her gaze in his direction, but she held off from doing something that would forever sever whatever relationship we had between us.

  “Leo, what pages were ripped from the family grimoire?” I asked softly, not appreciating the fact that Aunt Rowena had done something behind my grandmother’s back at what must have been the most stressful time in her life.

  The ones that concern the Windsor Stone, of course. My faulty memory made a few zips and zaps upon connecting a few wires. It wasn’t pretty, but I survived. Anyway, I remembered that the blood of a Marigold ancestor was used to create the portal within the veil between us and the afterlife.

  “The blood of a…” I stared at Aunt Rowena in shock as some of the pieces over the last year began to fall into place. She’d made sure that Rye had moved to Paramour Bay near Nan, she’d sought me out after discovering that I’d come into my powers at the age of thirty, and she had done her best to become friendly with my mother over the last few months. “You think one of us holds the key to bringing life back into the Windsor Stone, don’t you?”

  Aunt Rowena shifted on her red high heels as she titled her chin in defiance of my accusation. She didn’t seem to have one regret that we’d discovered the lengths she’d go to in order to win this war.

  “Our family has been part of the foundation of this coven, and it’s fallen to us to ensure the survival of lineage.” Aunt Rowena pushed in her chair and tapped her long red nails against the wooden backrest. “Remember, Raven, you’re the one who wanted no part in this coven. You also convinced your mother to do the same, which means that the responsibility for our family’s legacy in this coven is all mine. I will rejoin the others at the town hall, but don’t expect to me to compromise to whatever grand scheme the two of you have come up with regarding the Windsor Stone.”

  I’d like to point out that the Wicked Witch of Windsor didn’t address the fact that you or your mother might be the vessel of blood that revives the Windsor Stone.

  Had that been what Nan had meant about me being the one?

  “Unlike the two of you, I keep my word. I swore not to involve you, your mother, or good ol’ Benny here.” Aunt Rowena glanced at Rye before swallowing what seemed to be her disappointment. “Rye, I don’t know what to say, other than I’m disappointed that you felt the need to go behind my back. We clearly have some things to air out after this so-called meeting that the two of you are about to host. We’ll talk then.”

  What is wrong with all you coven members? It’s Mr. Leo.

  Without addressing Leo’s rant, Aunt Rowena quietly left the kitchen to fetch her red coat, matching scarf, and leather gloves. The heavy silence was suffocating, but at least we weren’t draped over the table in an unconscious state the way Aunt Rowena had previously intended.

  I’d say that went rather well, wouldn’t you?

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I just need a minute to think this through,” I stated for the fourth time outside the side door of the town hall. From what Rye said, we had a full house ready to hear our proposal. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to locate Bridget Gablore. “Why didn’t you tell me that the Marigolds were connected with the Windsor Stone, Leo?”

  Good question, but could we take this conversation elsewhere? Preferably to Paramour Bay? My confidence about standing out in the open now that we know you might be the key to getting that rock to work is at an all-time low. We’re back to being snake food, and snakes are ranked on my phobia list right next to spiders and…I know there’s something else, but the stress of this situation is now short-circuiting my memory. It’s like I’m standing next to the only cure for some horrible disease that could wipe out all living things on the face
of the earth.

  “Thanks,” I said wryly, shoving my hands into my coat pockets to keep them warm. “I don’t like the thought of being the key to making an ancient relic come to life, either.”

  “Your blood must be the reason why Bridget is targeting your mother.” Rye closed the side door so that we could have a few more moments to go over what we knew so far. “Speaking of which, we have no idea how long it takes for those dreams of yours to come true, so it’s best we go inside and give them our idea. Maybe you can tell both sides that you’ll give them each a vial of your blood.”

  My beloved Rosemary is rolling in her grave that the coven has turned into a bunch of vampires.

  “I’m not giving anyone my blood,” I countered, not comfortable with the idea of creating vials of my life source. “What I don’t understand is why the premonition showed Bridget trying to kill my mother. Why would they want her dead?”

  Um, Raven?

  “I mean, would I be next?” I asked, knowing full well that Rye didn’t have the answer to my question. I looked down at the tips of my boots, seeing a few blades of grass poking through the thin layer of snow. Windsor hadn’t gotten as much as Paramour Bay the other day. “Someone has targeted Aunt Rowena, and we know that Bridget is trying to kill Mom, so it stands to reason I’m next in line.”

  For all the warts on toads, would you put a cork in—

  “Bridget is the key to this entire fiasco,” I murmured, ignoring Leo’s bid to get this over with as quickly as possible due to the imaginary red bullseye that had been drawn on my back. “We need to talk to her before explaining our plan to the others.”

  Oy vey. Don’t say that I didn’t try to warn you. I’m now in need of my catnip pipe. You didn’t happen to bring it from the car with a little of my stash, did you?