by Sonia Parin
“So… Where do the gnomes live?” Lexie asked as she tried to catch sight of them again.
“Underground,” Jonathan said. “Good luck trying to find the entrance to their homes.”
“Did he really turn to stone?”
Jonathan nodded. “Clay. That’s where the idea of garden gnomes comes from. Or so I’m told.”
“Here we are.” Cat made a grand gesture with her hand. “The Oak.”
Lexie strode around it, taking care not to trip over the gnarly roots protruding from the ground. Covered by a carpet of springy moss, it looked so inviting she sunk down onto it. “This is lovely.” Holding the rosemary to her nose, she inhaled its sweet fragrance.
“Well?” Jonathan stooped down in front of her. “Did it trigger something?”
She stared at him, her eyes fixed on his eyes as if they held all of life’s mysteries. When she looked down, she saw his lips moving but she didn't hear him. Didn’t hear him or couldn't hear him?
“Huh? I didn't catch that.”
His lips moved again and again, she didn't hear a thing.
Luna appeared beside him, her little head tilting from side to side. “What's going on with you?”
“Oh, I can hear you. Tell Jonathan I can't hear him.”
Jonathan grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet and away from the tree.
“Hey! What's going on?” Lexie asked.
“You tell me.”
“Oh, I can hear you now. I wonder what that was about.” She turned and looked at the tree. It appeared to shimmer in the light.
Had the combination of sitting under the tree and smelling the rosemary triggered something? Why would it affect her hearing?
“Perhaps you're supposed to sit in silence,” Luna suggested. “I wonder if you can actually manage it? I know you've been meditating and that is supposed to help quiet your mind, but I'm guessing you still struggle to switch the inner chatter off.”
“It’s practically impossible with you around. Do you hear absolutely everything I think?” Lexie asked.
“For starters, feline companions are supposed to be chatty, as for me hearing everything, there's nothing I can do about that because your thoughts are quite loud.”
“How am I supposed to meditate with you around all the time?” She pressed her hand to the tree and could have sworn she felt it stir.
“Would you mind explaining what you two have been talking about?” Jonathan asked.
“This tree might be the key to something.” She turned to Cat. “Do you know if your gnomes get out and about beyond your garden?”
Cat shrugged. “They must do. Mr. Ellsworth is always introducing plants from other parts of the world.”
“Do you think he could get around the lockdown you imposed?”
“Maybe. What’s on your mind?”
“Would he be willing to do some reconnaissance work for us? If he can move around without being seen, he might be able to bring us some news.”
“He’d be willing but I'm not sure how Mrs. Ellsworth would feel about it. She never lets him out of her sight.” Cat lowered her voice. “He used to be a bit of a hell raiser but Mrs. Ellsworth put a stop to that.”
“We're in the dark,” Lexie said. “As far as either of you know, there's been no confirmation of Mirabelle's death.” For all she knew, the whole thing might have been a ruse to get her out of the city... out of the country. “We need news from the outside world.”
“I’ll ask him but I can’t promise anything. After the scare you gave him today, he might have gone into hiding.”
Luna pressed her paw on the mossy ground. “You should try to meditate here. If you couldn't hear Jonathan, then the tree might be providing some sort of shield. Before you say anything, no. I won’t make myself scarce. Someone has to keep an eye out. As your loyal feline companion, it is my duty to stick by your side.”
“Cat, do you think I could have some more rosemary?” She held the twig to her nose. They needed a starting point. Lexie gasped.
“What?” Jonathan asked.
“Nothing.” Nothing but a swelling of emotions clogging up her throat. She didn't want to think about Mirabelle being dead. If something had happened to her, she'd move heaven and earth to find the culprit.
Cat handed her a bunch of rosemary and said, “I'm going to see if Mr. Ellsworth is over his shock. I hope they haven't packed up and left. This garden would wither without them.”
“So you actually know where he lives.”
Cat rolled her eyes. “Yes. They trust me.”
“Sorry,” Lexie mouthed.
Cat rolled up her sleeves and trotted off muttering, “Mend fences…”
Chapter Six
“Here you are.” Luna stopped in her tracks and peered inside the bedroom. “What’s that smell?”
“Rosemary.”
Luna crinkled her little nose. “Why is it so pungent?”
Because she’d scattered it around the bedroom. Lexie tucked the last twig under her pillow. If this didn’t trigger her memory, she had no idea what would.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to make a potion?” Luna asked as she sniffed her paw. “I might never be able to get this smell off me and I’ve only been in the room for a minute.”
“I’ve been smelling this for the past half hour and I still can’t remember going to see the Crone.” She must have. A vague memory had been slipping in and out, but it simply refused to settle in her mind.
Since taking up her place in the Mackenzie Coven, Lexie had been all out at sea, making it up as she went. The Crone had offered to give her some guidance.
When?
Lexie shook her head. It would come to her. Growling, she thought it would come to her a lot quicker if she had a ready-made spell to cast.
Mirabelle and Cat had given her some instructions but had repeatedly told her they didn’t want to overwhelm her with too much information. Apparently, the ten years sabbatical she’d taken from the Coven had been her most formative years when she should have learned the basics of being a witch.
In hindsight, she felt nothing but relief for the time she’d taken to lead an ordinary life. Growing up outside the Coven had given her a different perspective on life. Now she could do everything her way, make it all up as she went because she didn’t know any better, and Mirabelle and Cat could like it or lump it.
“Ugh! I can’t get it off me.” Luna screeched and launched into a frenzy of licking her fur.
Lexie laughed. “If you don’t like it, why are you here?”
Luna rolled on her back. “You’re testing my loyalty. Admit it.”
“I’m doing everything I can think of to get us out of this,” Lexie said, “I have to start somewhere. At least we have a roof over our heads and food.”
Luna harrumphed. “If you can call it food. Did you know milk comes from cows?”
“Huh?”
“Exactly. I saw Catherine going out with a pail. Curious to see what she planned on doing with it, I followed her along a winding path. It led to a paddock where she keeps a cow. She sat on a little three-legged stool and began pulling on the cow’s udders. Would you believe it? Milk started squirting out.”
Lexie laughed. “And your point is?”
Luna shrugged. “All this time I thought milk came from a bottle. No one told me it came from a cow. It’s like drinking milk from a surrogate.”
“You mean a wet nurse.”
Luna scrunched up her little face. “Clearly I’ve been living in blissful ignorance. What else aren’t you telling me?”
“The moon isn’t made of cheese,” Lexie said.
“I don’t eat cheese.”
“Fish swim in the sea.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “I’ve never seen the sea.”
“It’s like the sky but wet. Remind me to take you to the aquarium when we get back.” Lexie plumped up the pillow and straightened the bedspread. “Come on, I think I smell dinner.”
“Oh, now
I remember why I came in here. Be prepared to eat lots of vegetables. As in, large quantities of them,” Luna warned.
“I don’t mind vegetables.” Within reason, Lexie thought.
“From what I have observed, you think of them as side dishes and not main courses,” Luna murmured as they strode along the hallway. “The table is laden with them.”
“Maybe Cat is waiting for everyone to sit down before she serves the main course.”
“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Luna said.
* * *
“Cat served you a veritable feast. What are you waiting for? Dig in,” Luna said, her voice loaded with sarcasm.
“This is the strangest looking… I don’t know what it is.”
“Falafel. I believe she said it’s made with chickpeas.” Luna pointed to another dish. “That is hummus. Also made with chickpeas. And the dish next to it is a chickpea salad. And the little balls next to it are chickpea patties.”
“You were clearly paying attention when she set the plates on the table. Is there anything not made with chickpeas?”
Luna looked over her shoulder to see if Cat had returned from the kitchen. “You should express your appreciation for her efforts. Remember, we’re guests here.”
“I guess that means you’re over the shock of being served milk straight from a cow.”
Luna’s whiskers twitched. “I might have developed a severe case of lactose intolerance which will last for the entire duration of our stay here. Please back me up. Here she comes.”
“Cat! This is all too much.” Lexie nudged Jonathan who appeared equally stupefied by the amount of chickpeas they’d been served.
Jonathan straightened. “Yeah, it all looks great.”
“Wait until you see the dessert,” Cat said. “I didn’t have much time so I threw together some ingredients and made some macadamia chocolate fudge brownies. Oh, and I have some honey ice cream to go with it.”
“Don’t be surprised to find the macadamias are actually chickpeas in disguise and that she used chickpea flour for the brownies,” Luna purred.
“This is really too much, Cat. As much as I’m enjoying my visit, we all have to remember why we’re here.”
Luna cleared her throat. “Um… I don’t see anything for me.”
“Have some chickpea salad,” Lexie suggested.
Sighing with satisfaction, Cat glanced around the table. “It’s so lovely to have visitors. Not many people come out this way… Oh…” Cat jumped to her feet. “Oh, my apologies. I forgot about Luna. I’m not used to my feline companion eating at the table with me. Smidgen tends to behave more like a domestic cat than a magical feline companion and eats in the kitchen.” Cat looked at Luna. “Would you like to join her?”
Luna did her best to pretend she hadn’t understood Cat.
Lexie jumped to her rescue. “Luna will be happy with any leftovers you have and I think she wants to hang around here. She’s quite good at helping me solve all those pesky little mysteries you throw my way.”
“I don’t have Game Indulgence,” Cat said, “I’ll see what I can find for her.”
Luna waited until Cat had disappeared down the hallway to ask, “May I try some of that falafel, please?”
Lexie chuckled. “Of course.”
Luna sniffed it and took a dainty bite. “Tasty.”
Taking a bite, Lexie said, “I actually like falafel, but I was slightly overwhelmed by the sight of so many chickpeas dishes. I guess that makes Catherine a vegetarian.”
“Possibly a vegan. Some more, please.” Luna ate in silence and then said, “I’ve been thinking. If you don’t clear your name, we’ll have to go into permanent exile and eat strange food and be at the mercy of strangers’ generosity.”
Lexie shrugged. “We’ll feel right at home. After all, New York is a melting pot for international cuisine.”
“Yes, but I imagine it all somehow tastes different elsewhere.”
Lexie watched Jonathan play around with his food, an unusual sight for someone with a healthy appetite. “I feel I should offer you words of comfort and encouragement.”
“You seem to forget I have a business to run. I can’t be away for a month. What will happen to my pub?”
“You have reliable staff to step in when needed,” Lexie said. “Do you think they’ll call the police?” Lexie’s eyebrows shot up. “Hey, should we maybe try to contact one of the O’Rourke detectives?” Every case she’d been involved in had introduced her to a different detective from the O’Rourke Group. They’d all shared the same physical features right down to the color of their eyes and the deep voice that carried layers of other voices, but each one had a unique personality. Lexie knew she needed to take care because if she uttered the name out loud, a hundred of them would descend upon her. She’d experienced the tsunami of O’Rourke detectives a couple of times and knew better than to invoke their wrath.
Jonathan shook his head. “You want to risk being hauled in and thrown into the Coven’s dungeon, go ahead. I hear they like to throw away the key.”
“They wouldn’t dare. I’m an incoming High Chair.”
“An incoming High Chair who is currently under suspicion of killing the High Chair of the British Isles and all Circumferential Domains Pertaining to the Mackenzie Coven.”
Lexie frowned. “Is there any way of shortening that? It’s such a mouthful.”
Cat returned with a small bowl for Luna. “Sardine Deluxe. Actually, it’s just sardines. Sorry, it doesn’t have a fancy name and I couldn’t find Smidgen’s food. I think she’s feeling slighted by Luna. She might have hidden it all.”
Luna looked at her bowl and sniffed it. “Is that a fish head? And are those eyes?”
“Luna’s so overwhelmed with gratitude she’s speechless, but she says thank you,” Lexie offered.
Cat poured them each a cup of peppermint tea. “Sorry, I don’t have fizzy drinks. I find their high sugar content makes me sparkle even more.”
“We don’t want you to slave away in the kitchen. Perhaps we can go into town tomorrow and get some supplies,” Lexie suggested. “Did you manage to have a word with the gnome?”
Cat gave a small nod. “Mr. Ellsworth promised to do his best. He’ll try to work it into the conversation with Mrs. Ellsworth tonight. He’s been promising her a second honeymoon, so he hopes that will do the trick.”
Still, it would take time for them to make the round trip and bring back news. There had to be another way for them to find out what was going on.
“Hey, how did you both hear about Mirabelle?” Lexie asked. “Is there some sort of Coven grapevine delivering newsflashes?”
Jonathan looked at Cat. They both shrugged.
“You don’t remember?”
“Cat appeared at the pub and I… I sort of already knew why she’d come.”
“You must have heard the news somewhere.” Unless…
“What?” Jonathan asked. “You have that wide eyed surprise look that always means you’ve thought of something and if it can get us home tomorrow, please spit it out.” Jonathan looked down at his plate full of chickpeas and sighed. “Not that I don’t appreciate your hospitality, Cat.”
Lexie held up a finger. “There are gaps in my memories but how can I be sure the little I can remember is real? Is it possible to cast a spell that implants thoughts and memories?”
“Magic is magic. Anything is possible,” Cat said.
Lexie held up another finger. “Assuming we’ve been given fake memories, we can probably assume they were meant to hide the truth. Who would want to fake Mirabelle’s death?”
“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about being framed for her fake death?” Luna asked as she pawed the fish head.
“We need a list of enemies. My enemies and Mirabelle’s.”
Chapter Seven
A strange little shiver raced through Lexie. “Excitement or apprehension?” She couldn’t tell. Lexie looked around the bedroom. Everything appeared to be n
ormal. Had she fallen asleep? Had she dreamed? “Did I encounter the dark presence again?”
“Are you talking to yourself?” Luna asked from the window seat where she’d curled up for the night.
They hadn’t made any headway with the list of enemies. After dinner, they’d sat by the fireplace trying to piece together all the events that had brought Lexie face to face with people who might recent her enough to frame her for killing Mirabelle, but no one had been able to remember enough to mention even a single name.
Swinging her feet off the bed, she strode to the window. The rosemary had also been a dismal failure. She hadn’t remembered anything.
“What time is it?”
“After midnight. You couldn’t sleep either?” Luna asked.
“I went through the motions of closing my eyes. My body feels rested but my mind wouldn’t shut up. It sounded as if a two year old had taken up residence, moaning and whining. Why? How could this happen to me?
“Did you sense anything malevolent?” Luna asked.
“Nope.”
Luna looked up at her. “Are you sure?”
“I’d tell you if I had.” Lexie shook her head. “Don’t give me that raised eyebrow look. I would tell you.”
“Even if you know we’d probably have to lock you up?”
Lexie rolled her eyes and peered out the window. The inky black sky sparkled with stars and the forest looked alive with... “Are those lights?” She rubbed her eyes and looked again. “Those are lights.”
“Yes, I’ve been watching them. When I saw the first one appear, I thought it might have been a firefly, but then one swooped up to the window.”
“Wow. Are you kidding me? Fairies?” She scratched Luna’s head. “Put your claws away, Luna.” From experience, Lexie knew Luna and fairies did not go together. They’d recently encountered… “Hey, I just remembered something. We met one of those.”
“Must you remind me?”
Lexie swung away and strode around the bedroom. “We met a fairy at the Crone’s cottage.” She clicked her fingers. “Her name is on the tip of my tongue.”
