by Kali Harper
“It’s kind of nice, in a weird sort of way.”
“What’s that?” Lance asked, now standing beside the bed.
“I thought you all had these amazing powers and would look down on me or something for being so new.”
“If they do, it’s because of their own insecurities.” He paused and took out his pen and pad of paper. “You didn’t really say much over the phone, so you’ll have to forgive me, but what was it you saw today?”
“Colors. Bright at first, then faded. They were at Mr. Clark’s stand.”
“On the fruit?” Lance asked, scribbling down his notes.
“Yes, but it only lasted a few seconds. I thought it was magic at first, but then the headache came on, so I figured it might be a migraine.”
“Seeing spectrals, much like your colored auras, is the natural order of growing into your own magic. That isn’t to say it’ll be your lifelong ability, but as your body adjusts to the magic, so will everything you see.”
“I was hoping all I’d have to do for this awakening was find a spell book, go through a cloud of smoke, then be done.”
“For some, it might work that way,” Lance said, “but remember those in town were raised around magic. You weren’t, so your awakening may happen differently.”
“So I’m normal, then.”
“For now, but you have an insider’s view of our tiny town.”
“Unlike before.”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, but it still made me feel a little better. “I guess I’m not a magic inspector after all.”
“A magic inspector?” Lance asked, laughing. “What would that entail exactly?”
“Scanning for toxins or seeing if something’s poisoned without having to test it.”
His wide grin reached all the way to his eyes. “Like I said before, we have to depend on science for that sort of thing. Speaking of, I did get some of those reports back. I was going to tell you in the morning, but seeing as I’m here…”
When he turned his gaze, I knew it wasn’t good news. “You didn’t find anything.”
“No. Maggie’s report was clean as was the fruit you gave me the other day.”
“I thought you said it would take time.”
“I had a buddy of mine rush things along. I’m sorry, Astrid. I was really hoping we were wrong.”
Me too. “So now that everything’s done, is there any chance I can get into Every Last Crumb? I may have inadvertently agreed to make something for the Harvest Festival this weekend.”
“That was brave of you.”
“More like foolish, but I can’t back out now. I can make Maggie’s pumpkin chip cookies here, but there are a few supplies in the bakery I’d need in order to do them justice.”
“We’re still finishing things up, but if you give me a list—”
“I need to go in and find them. I don’t know the names.”
Lance considered my words for a long moment. I half expected him to say no and wish me luck for the following year. Instead, he said, “If you’re not feeling terrible tomorrow, I can let you in, but only for a few minutes.”
“It shouldn’t take me too long. I’ll know what I need when I see it.”
Walking into Every Last Crumb the following morning without the mouthwatering smell of Maggie’s cooking in the air was too much. Even though she’d joined us along with Sammy, I knew the bakery would never be the same again. She’d teach me how to run it, but I didn’t know charms.
In fact, the only other person in town authorized for their use was currently stuck behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. No matter what happened between Maggie and Harris, he didn’t deserve to take the fall for someone else, and I hoped our trip to the bakery would help.
Beside me, Maggie stared wide-eyed at what was once her kitchen. Many of the cabinet doors sat open along with the walk-in freezer where all the food had since gone bad.
“My strawberries,” Maggie squeaked, gravitating toward the freezer. “They were right here.”
“They were taken for evidence,” I said, smiling when Lance looked at me. “Maggie’s a little upset.”
“She should’ve stayed home.” His words were kind, his tone gentle. “This was her livelihood, though I promise to put everything back to the way it was after the funeral.”
“Funeral?”
“Not everyone can see Maggie’s ghost,” he reminded me. “A small service will give the town a chance to pay their respects. Offer them a bit of closure.”
“But I haven’t even met with—”
“It’s all taken care of. Given the circumstances, Max and I thought it would be best if we made the arrangements for you. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Thank you.”
“Anyway, do you see what you need to make those cookies?” Then, as if I hadn’t heard him when we first walked in, he said, “You shouldn’t be in here.”
“Yet you let me,” I reminded him, opening the oven behind me to gather what I’d need.
“On the condition you’d be quick. I don’t mean to sound so insensitive, but this is still under investigation.”
“A pointless one seeing as it wasn’t where… Maggie wasn’t here.” My voice caught and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. “We need to figure this out, for Maggie.”
“We? Might I remind you you aren’t a detective?”
“I know, it’s—”
“Grab your things. We’ve been here long enough.” His jaw tightened then.
Knowing better than to argue, I handed a pile of cookie trays to Lance, then gathered the set of mixing bowls from one of the open cabinets.
Lance let us out of the bakery and locked the door behind him. “You want a lift? I could always keep this stuff in my car until later and drop by once I’m done for the day.”
I considered his words carefully and was about to accept his offer but thought better of it. “After spending most of yesterday in bed, I could use the air. You can drop them off tonight. I need to see Mr. Clark about some fruit anyway.”
“Special favors?”
“More like a request. He’s the one who convinced me to try my hand at baking, but I hope he doesn’t expect much. Maggie never let me near an oven.”
“And for good reason,” he laughed, placing the cookware in the backseat of his car. “Word on the street is you’re a terrible cook.”
“It was one time,” I said, stomping my foot. “I almost burn down the kitchen one time and I’m scarred for life.”
“Burned,” he deadpanned.
“You’re just like Maggie and Kat.”
He smiled at me. “Make sure you have the fire department on speed dial before you try to make anything.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Why don’t I put your number on there instead? Then you can witness it firsthand. I’ve heard it’s rather entertaining.”
“How long did it take for your brows to grow back?”
Man, you’re relentless, aren’t you? “I’ll have you know my brows were perfectly fine. It was the hair on my forearms I had to grow back.”
“And?’
“A month?” I honestly couldn’t remember. “Anyway, I know what I’m doing now. It wasn’t my fault Maggie’s oven dials were in another language.” More like a series of dots. Fortunately, there was a normal oven with numbers and everything back at her house.
“You should be able to read them now.”
“Of course everything in this town is magic.”
He shrugged. “You get used to it, but don’t worry, the feeling you have right now of being an outsider will pass. It took a while for me, but now I fit right in. Remember, you don’t need to use magic in order to live here. You just need to be open to it.”
So I’ve been told. I was starting to think most magic was a myth. “Thanks for letting me back in. You didn’t have to.”
“No, I didn’t. Then again, if I’d refused, you would’ve do
ne so on your own.”
“You’re a little too good at your job sometimes, you know?”
“It’s why I can’t do anything else.”
I thanked him again before heading over to Mr. Clark’s fruit stand.
Lance lingered a moment more, his eyes on me even as I entered Mr. Clark’s shop. By the time I left with a sample of fruit, Lance and his car were gone.
After four different attempts to season the pumpkin Mr. Clark gave me, I was ready to throw in the towel. Maggie hovered behind me and corrected me when I put too much sugar into the mix. More than once, I’d silently wished her away, but every time I opened my eyes, she was still there.
“Can’t I use magic?” I asked, collapsing in my chair at the kitchen table. Surely there was a spell I could use that didn’t require me to know a specific class of magic.
“Astrid Elizabeth Marks, there are no shortcuts in baking.”
“Says the woman who charmed everything she made.”
“Yes, but the baked goods were genuine. A physical product must always be handled with care. Magic is chaotic and hard to control for even the most seasoned witch. Using it to make baked goods would be disastrous.”
“Okay, okay. It was just a suggestion.” If only the cookies could appear out of thin air, then I’d be set. Instead, it was well past dinnertime, Lance had already come and gone, and I’d forgotten to eat which probably explained the throbbing headache I had. Leaning my head back, I rolled my shoulders and worked the kinks out of my neck. It helped, but only a little. The longer I stared at the recipe Maggie had me write down, the more my eyes crossed. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” I said, pushing the index card aside before placing my head on the table.
“You can’t quit,” Maggie said. “You’re so close. All you need to change is the nutmeg.”
I lifted my head and picked up the bottle of spice which was empty. If she thought I was going to the store this late at night, she had another thing coming. At this rate, I’d be lucky to make it up the steps at all.
“Maybe a touch of magic won’t hurt,” Maggie offered, smiling at me when I met her gaze.
“But you said it was a bad idea.”
“Conjuring edible items out of thin air is, but one ingredient shouldn’t hurt.”
“I don’t have any magic yet.” I wouldn’t even know where to start.
“It’s in your blood, and I can give you the words if you—”
“Actually, Mags, I’m calling it a night. We can try again tomorrow.” I stood and immediately dropped to the floor.
Black specks crowded my vision as the room spun out of control. Above me, I could make out the very faint outline of Maggie’s spectral form before it was replaced by one I couldn’t recognize. Large golden eyes stared at me, a long red snout between us. Taking a breath to steady my nerves, I thought back on everything Kat and Maggie had told me, but it wasn’t until the newcomer picked me up when I realized who it was.
“Thomas?”
The dragon peered down at me, then broke eye contact as the world went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
Waking up in the hospital is as disorienting as it sounds. Monitors beeped as bright fluorescent lights hung overhead. The headache I’d had from before was gone, now replaced with my inability to move.
Someone shifted at my feet. A moment later, Lace’s face came into view, his eyes full of concern. “Don’t move.”
“What happened?” The last thing I remembered was working in Maggie’s kitchen.
“You overexerted yourself,” he said, sitting in the chair beside the bed. “Thomas found you.”
“How? Sammy’s wards—”
“Were untouched. When you said you were going to try your hand at one of Maggie’s recipes, I didn’t think you’d pick up her late night habit of cooking as well.”
“It wasn’t that late.” Was it?
“Three in the morning is late to me, and I know for a fact you aren’t a morning person.”
Wincing from the light, I released a sigh of relief when Lance closed the blinds. “I hadn’t realized the time. I guess I was so determined to prove everyone wrong, the hours slipped by.”
“You need to take it easy for a few days. No running out there to save the world.”
“The festival—”
“Has been postponed until next weekend. You need rest, Astrid. We all do. The way you’re body and mind are changing, the exhaustion you’ve faced these last couple of days is only the beginning. There’s a balance between the body and the mind. If you overexert one, the other will fail. That’s what happened last night. You were so busy with Maggie’s recipe along with the migraine you had the day before, your body simply shut down.”
“Which is why everything felt so heavy. I was afraid I’d been poisoned or cursed.”
“Because of Mr. Clark’s fruit?” When I met his gaze, he smiled. “I’m not dumb, Astrid. I know the angle you’ve been working and I’ve let you up to a point, but this all has to stop.”
“No more snooping, I promise.” I crossed my heart and closed my eyes. “I’m not cut out for this detective work anyway. I don’t know how you ever sleep.”
“It’s definitely not a job for everyone, and if I didn’t enjoy it as much as I do, I’d quit.”
“But putting yourself in danger every day?” Even if I hadn’t been cursed and had only fainted because of a magical drain, the first thing that came to mind was what I’d eaten or how someone broke through Sammy’s wards with magic of their own.
“Like I said, it’s not for everyone. It has its rewards, though.”
“I think I’ll stick with baking,” I said, cracking open an eye. “Told you I wouldn’t burn the place down.”
“It’s a good thing you weren’t baking when you passed out, otherwise you might have.”
“Did Thomas say how he found me?”
Lance shook his head. “Probably was doing one of his nightly flights around town and sensed your distress.”
“But how did he get in?”
“Did you lock the doors?”
What kind of question was that? “I thought I did. It’s force of habit. Besides, Sammy’s wards—”
“Aren’t locks. Thomas brought you here as soon as he found you. The ER contacted me soon after. Until you’ve come into your powers, you should leave the detective work to the professionals.”
“After the week I’ve had, I think I’m done chasing clues. I wasn’t much help anyway.”
“Then what will you ever do with all this extra time you have?”
“I’ll think of something. I’ve heard gardening can be nice. Oh, and sorting through books in Kat’s shop.”
“That’s one job you’ll never be able to finish.”
I had to agree, smiling as Lance excused himself from the room. Once he was out of sight, Maggie took his place, a worried expression on her face.
“I shouldn’t have pushed you,” she said, though I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about the recipe. “There are other people who can handle this.”
“There are, but I’m invested.”
“And stubborn,” she added, reaching out to touch my hand before realizing she couldn’t.
“The gesture still counts,” I said, slowly sitting up. “I don’t know how to handle things anymore, Mags. Lance is right, though. You need a funeral.”
“I’m not going in the ground. No fires, either.”
“Maggie, it’s for your body. You’ll still be here, though you might have to haunt someone else.”
“Are you volunteering?”
“I think I might have to since no one can see you.”
“I could always rattle the blinds or flicker the lights,” she suggested, glancing out the window. “I won’t say I like the idea of moving on, but not being able to interact with others in the world I’ve grown to love is difficult.”
Not being able to touch her broke my heart, and since Maggie couldn’t interact with anyone else, she must’v
e felt the same way I did, only ten times worse.
“I want to wear my blue dress,” she said after a long moment, “for the viewing. A lady must look her best before she’s put in the ground.”
“The one you snagged on Kyle’s fence?”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t my favorite. It’s not my fault Sadie got loose.”
“And there was no one else around to run after her,” I teased, knowing half the town had been there.
“I was closest,” she went on, dismissing my previous comment. “You have any idea how hard it is to run through an open field in heels? It’s impossible.”
I nodded and continued the story as she told it every holiday since. “Not to mention the one heel broke, then you ran barefoot in the mud and had to ask Adelle to scrub the stains out of the fabric.” Why she didn’t have it tailored once everything was said and done I’d never know. “I could sew it up for you, I think.”
“If your sewing is as bad as your baking…”
“Maggie!”
“I know you can do it. I’ve seen what you’ve done with your own mishaps.”
At least mine happened from climbing trees. “Sammy’s due to get stuck out back any day now.”
“And you’ll be the one to get him down.”
I always was. “You can stay if you like, but I really should get some sleep.”
“I’ll be here when you wake up. They won’t let Sammy in, but they can’t chase this ghost from your room.”
Smiling, I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes. Knowing Maggie would be there when I woke caused an odd sense of calm to wash over me, and as it did, I slept.
The hospital released me on Friday once I agreed to let Kat take me home. Sitting in the passenger seat, I watched as the town scrolled by. It was strange seeing it now. Everything was the same, but I’d started to pick out the tiny differences in those who lived here. Outside his shop, Felix and Thomas repositioned the pair of gryphon statues so they were closer to the street, their carved eyes catching the sunlight just right to make them glow.
There was also Harris’ bakery where Connie busied herself out front with the flowers they had in boxes on the windowsills. I’d never admit it to Maggie, but I always envied their kitchen. I’d never been in it, but I could tell from the dining room it was a lot bigger than the one Maggie had at Every Last Crumb. It was one reason why I never understood the arguments they had over the location of her bakery. She may have opened in the center of town, but at least they didn’t have to worry about bumping into one another.
