That means you, Raven, in case you didn’t know where your mother was going with that little innuendo.
“When you didn’t answer your phone, you left me little choice but to drive the two hours it takes to get here.”
Tell me you didn’t left swipe her, Raven.
I might have swiped a phone call…or two. In my defense, I’d been a little busy this morning. Okay, I swiped four times, but that was only because I was a horrible liar and she would have figured out something was wrong.
It’s a good thing your grandmother can’t fire me. I’d have been unemployed and left for dead long ago.
“Would either one of you care to tell me what’s happening here?”
Both Leo and I remained silent as we all entered the tea shop, but it wasn’t like I could prevent my mother from detecting the aftermath. After all, the smell of smoke hung heavy in the air. I snagged my malt from her gloved hand before she could drop it and took a fortifying drink of the thick chocolate substance. It wasn’t coffee, but it would do in a pinch.
If you’re getting your caffeine, then I’m eating the rest of those edibles Beetle left me this morning. Fair is fair.
“Oh, my word! What on earth happened here?” My mom quickly ascertained that the shop was still standing, but her gaze did land on the ivory-colored fairy strings pulled back on one side of the doorframe. “Did you set fire to the storage room? Please tell me that you weren’t casting—”
“I was not casting a spell in the back of the shop, Mom,” I defended myself, leaving out that I did have a habit of casting smaller incantations on the tea leaf blends for my holistic customers on occasion. There was no need for my mother to know every little detail about my life. Even young adults deserved their privacy. “There was a small fire in the back alleyway. The garbage can had been left right next to the door and the smoke seeped in. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of smoke damage. It could have been much worse.”
“So, no one went to the hospital?” My mother untied the belt around her waist before unfastening the buttons on her dress coat. It wasn’t like I could send her back to New York City after that long drive, but I was tempted to send her over to the cottage. “Raven, if no one was hurt, why did I get the feeling that something was horribly wrong here?”
Don’t answer that question. It’s a trap. Your mother is so good at interrogating the unwitting.
“Leo, are you suggesting that my daughter shouldn’t answer me?” My mother arched her brow in that holier than thou way she’d perfected. “Why is that?”
I plead the fifth…and any others that might apply here in this instance.
“Fine,” I grumbled, knowing this was a losing battle. “I cast a spell that might have gone off the reservation. It’s nothing I can’t fix with the proper material ingredients.”
The thing about staring at my mother was that it was like looking into the future in twenty-three years. We were practically the spitting image of one another, minus a couple of wrinkles and the fact that we had completely different sense of styles. Mom favored the more classic sophisticated look, while I took after Nan with a more whimsical flare of a modern witch.
You know, maybe it’s the addition of that whimsical flare that always gets you into trouble.
“Mom, why don’t you go on over to the diner?” I suggested, hoping to get her out of the way so that I could finally locate Ted and take care of my minor mishap. “It’s in the middle of the afternoon, and I haven’t even had lunch. Grab us a table, and I’ll be over there shortly.”
“What exactly do you mean that a spell went awry?”
The fact that my mother had taken off her dress coat told me that she had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. She even set her purse down on one of the high-top tables before draping her coat over the seat of one of the matching stools.
“It didn’t go as planned, but it’ll be an easy fix.”
You’re getting better at fudging the facts, I’ll give you that.
“Leo, you aren’t helping my cause,” I exclaimed, glaring at him when my mother disappeared into the storage room. “Mom can hear every word you say, so eat your edibles and keep quiet!”
I believe the two are mutually exclusive. If I thought I could have the five minutes it would take to enjoy my snack, I would. Unfortunately, our afternoon is about to go from bad to worse. Wait, that already happened. From worse to…hey, Raven, what’s worse than a complete disaster?
Sure enough, Ted came sauntering through the shop’s door as if I hadn’t been waiting anxiously on him for hours. He wore his usual suit, along with the long black coat I’d purchased for him to ward off the bitter winter winds. The cold temperatures didn’t harm him in any real manner. It just slowed him down on the odd occasion. Besides, it would have seemed rather odd for him to go walking around town without something warmer than his suit jacket on while moving at a snail’s pace.
What is your mother doing back there? She’s taking a rather long time just to survey the damage.
“Ted, where have you been?” I whispered, taking the basket of ingredients I’d asked for so that I could reverse the charm spell. I, for one, was grateful that my mother hadn’t returned from her little trip out back just yet. It gave me time to hide the basket. “Leo has been looking everywhere for you. We thought—”
“Mr. Beetle offered me a ride,” Ted replied in his typical monotone manner, not bothering to expand what he meant by his answer.
I quickly walked around the cash register so that I could store the basket next to the heart-shaped glass container. Both were now together, and it wouldn’t be long before everything returned to normal.
I’m not so sure about that. Who is your mother talking to back there?
“What do you mean, Beetle offered you a ride?” I asked, just now realizing the consequences of Ted’s statement. My mother could wait. “We saw Beetle and Wilma following a fire truck to his residence around an hour ago. There had been a small fire at his house, but the fire department was able to get the flames under control.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” Ted explained, stopping when a few choice words came drifting from the alleyway.
“Ted, focus.”
I’d share my edibles…if there were any left.
“I told Mr. Beetle that I didn’t need a ride,” Ted clarified, frowning when it was clear that my mother wasn’t the only one offended. “Miss Raven?”
Ted wasn’t one to mince words, and I got the gist of his question. He wanted to know what I was going to do with my mother, who apparently had run into Cora Barnes out back. There was only one person in this town that riled my mother to that extent, and that was definitely Cora.
Ted still hadn’t explained what had kept him so long, but I couldn’t allow a catfight to erupt between my mother and her nemesis while I fiddled with Rome.
You could, but I guess that would invite that karma you want to keep away, wouldn’t it? I’m beginning to think you’re a little late on that front. Karma, meet Raven. Raven, meet Karma. Two ships that crash in the night.
“You aren’t funny, Leo,” I muttered, glad I hadn’t had time to remove my coat. I made my way through the storage room and out through the open door to the alleyway. Sure enough, my mother was making a ruckus. “Mom, what on earth is going on between the two of you?”
“This…moneygrubber…believes you’re the one responsible for the fire,” my mother all but bellowed before leveling Cora with a look that might not kill, but would certainly maim. It was a good thing my mother had sworn off witchcraft. I wasn’t so sure Cora would come out of this confrontation unscathed, as it were. Then again, my mother’s definition of giving up magic had a lot of somewhat sketchy loopholes. “You can take your opinion and—”
“Cora, you know very well that I didn’t have anything to do with the fire,” I clarified, pretty confident in what Cora had been suggesting with her accusation. My mother just wasn’t one to turn the other cheek. Neither was I, but th
ere were times it was better to walk away than draw attention to one’s self. “Chief Mason has had to attend two other fires this morning, and he believes it is the work of an arsonist.”
“It was your mother who first suggested that one of my employees could have been the culprit,” Cora shared, the two women now in a staring contest. “Sam has assured me that he and Billy did not set foot in this alleyway to smoke cigarettes or anything else.”
“And I believe Sam, especially since there was another fire at Monty’s hardware store shortly thereafter.” I slid my hand through my mother’s arm to hide the fact that I poked her side. She knew better than to engage with Cora. “I’m sure my mother didn’t mean anything by asking her questions.”
“Bonnie doesn’t smoke, either,” Cora tagged on defensively, wanting to ensure that I didn’t blame her young manager, either. Cora glanced down the long alleyway, both of us coming to different conclusions. I saw an opportunity for almost anyone to be the guilty party, but Cora had to go and make it personal. “From what I’ve gathered, Beetle has been acting exceedingly strange this morning. Was he inside with you at the time of the fire?”
I tightened my grip on my mother’s arm when she moved to take an aggressive step forward.
“Beetle was with me, along with Wilma and Elsie. Cora, there are a lot of shops along this alleyway. Had this been one occurrence, I could agree that maybe someone had been smoking and tossed a cigarette butt into the trashcan without thinking about it.” The fact that two other fires had taken place within hours of each other told a different story. “I think Chief Mason is right about someone out there purposefully settings these blazes. We’re just lucky this one was caught before any real damage was done.”
“Mrs. Barnes?” Sam poked his head around the back door to the malt shop. “Your husband has been trying to reach your cell phone. When you didn’t answer, he called the shop’s phone. He’s on hold now.”
Cora didn’t even bother to say a word as she turned on the high heel of her dress boot and followed Sam inside her place of business, slamming the steel security door and turning the bolt with an audible click. I would have loved to say the tension from such a confrontation eased from my shoulders, but I still had my mother to deal with…and it wasn’t like I could send her back to the city without first taking care of the business at hand.
“You’ll be pleased to know that I now have the ingredients to reverse the charm spell that didn’t go quite as planned,” I offered up, instinctively stepping away from her and toward the door. “Like I said earlier, go ahead and grab a table at the diner. I’ll take care of this itsy-bitsy snafu so that we can enjoy a nice meal before you return to the city.”
“Charm spell?”
Drat.
I’d been so careful to avoid saying what type of enchantment had gone awry.
“It’s not that big of a deal, Mom.”
I quickly made my way back inside, not bothering to wait for her. She could close the door behind her, but I wanted to reach the front of the shop before she did. That way, I could send Ted on his way before she could trap him and ask more questions. Ted had a way of blurting out the truth without thinking of the consequences.
Sure enough, Ted was still in the shop when I came through the doorframe free of beads. Unfortunately, he and Leo were staring out the display window as if a parade was marching down River Bay.
“Please, please tell me that nothing else has happened,” I practically begged, not even taking the time to remove my jacket as the sound of sirens began to get louder with each passing second. I simply ran to where they both stood, joining them in staring out the window at the spectacle in dismay. “This can’t be happening.”
“Raven Lattice Marigold.”
You’re in trouble now. Mommy knows what you’ve been up to.
I cringed when my mother clearly saw the sight before us—a red fire truck with a waving and smiling Richard, Beetle and Wilma following behind in his red VW…and Candy in the backseat.
“What have you gone and done?” my mother whispered in horror, placing her hands on either side of her face in disbelief.
Regina, have a seat. This explanation might take a while.
Chapter Six
“THE REPORTS OF another fire were a false alarm,” I exclaimed with relief, tucking my cell phone into the pocket of my skirt. Liam had not only made my day bearable with caffeine, but he’d also made the next few moments possible. “Let’s reverse the charm spell so that this town can get back to normal.”
Well, somewhat normal for a small town like this one.
If it turned out that the tiny fires breaking out all over town had nothing to do with my mishap of enchanting a magic item, then we still had a mystery to solve. Actually, two.
Where do you keep coming up with this “we” stuff? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?
“Ted, you keep watch. Mom and I will be in the back room reversing the spell.” I began walking across the shop, knowing that Leo wouldn’t miss this round of free entertainment for all the catnip in the world. “Leo, leave the edibles. We both missed something I did last night with the charm spell, and we can’t have anything go wrong this time. Beetle and Wilma will be heading to Vegas by midnight at this current rate.”
I’m surprised they aren’t already halfway to the airport.
The heart-shaped container that I’d used hadn’t been just some trinket. In order for items to be enchanted, they were required to be made of the best materials available, and specifically prepared to accept powerful magic.
It was apparent that Nan had used this item before for some special purpose. She must have labored many hours to construct the glass using her most powerful spells. Why then, had it been laying around the kitchen at the cottage as if it had been another worthless piece of Tupperware or a vase left over from a flower delivery?
“I’m beginning to understand why your grandmother granted Ted life,” my mother muttered after I’d passed through the ivory-colored fairy beads that I’d pulled back into place. It wouldn’t do to have someone inadvertently see us performing magic. The beads magically provided the barrier we needed to shield us from prying eyes. “Where does he get these more uncommon ingredients?”
I could answer that, but I’m not sure you want to know.
“I find it better not to ask,” I replied, meaning every word. Some things were better left a mystery…though not in the case of arson. “Okay. I’m as ready as I’m going to get.”
Fine. I won’t tell you where Ted gets those ingredients, but don’t come crying to me when the police come knocking on your door about his hydroponic grow operation.
It seemed my mother had everything set up on the wooden counter the same way I would have done had I been at home. There was a large pestle and mortar placed in the center of various smaller bowls that held each herb, root, and petal that was needed for the spell. The ancient family grimoire had been propped up against the wall behind my workbench, and Mom had even lit some candles to aid in the flow of energy that we’d need to gather from the earth.
“Wait.” There was something missing. “Mom, where’s the heart-shaped glass container?”
“Do you really think that I’m that foolish as to touch an enchanted item like that?” My mother crossed her arms and arched her right brow the way she used to do when I was younger and attempting to talk my way out of something. She then wiggled her fingers to let me know that I could retrieve the pink glass vessel myself. “Go.”
She doesn’t trust your spells, Cupid.
I could see their point, and I definitely didn’t have the right to be frustrated. Even so, they didn’t have to be so harsh.
Have you ever seen an episode of Abbott and Costello?
“Don’t even go there,” I warned, slipping back through the beads to fetch the heart-shaped glass container that still held Dee’s so-called holistic tea blend that I was scheduled to hand over to her at some point this afternoon. A quick check revealed that
Ted was still standing next to the door to keep a lookout, so I hastily made my way back to the storage area. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
My mother gestured for me to begin with her while Leo monitored every herb, root, and petal I minced together in the pestle. His guidance was constant as always, with measured tones and sound time-honored methods. The grimoire had been turned to the page needed to reverse/dispel an enchantment, so I was finally able to take my place at the center before giving another onceover of the items in front of me.
Everything was perfect.
Briefly closing my eyes allowed me to center my spirit. I let everything around me fade away, though I instantly noticed the intense flowery fragrance wafting from the various copper bowls. There was also a hint of peppermint in the air, but I chalked that up to—
Did you say peppermint?
“Peppermint?” my mother echoed in disbelief. “Tell me you washed out the container before you put the tea leaves inside of it?”
I distinctly remember walking by the counter in the kitchen and thinking Nan had probably gotten the small vessel from one of the quaint shops down past Mindy’s boutique. When I spotted the heart-shaped glass gift box sitting on the shelf amongst the other curios Nan had collected—along with literally a ton of other knickknacks—I knew it would be just a perfect touch to Dee’s Valentine’s Day purchase.
Unfortunately, there had only been one among Nan’s collection—for all I knew, the heart-shaped container had probably been once served as a display item containing peppermint candies to catch a shopper’s eye.
Oh, it did more than catch your eye. It delivered the town of Paramour Bay into a vast pit of artificial infatuation.
Charming Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 5) Page 5
