Whitley sighed. “It takes longer than you’d think. First we have to find the right person. Then Essy has to convince them to take the snow globe and her home with them. Then they have to shake the globe, speak the words, utter the wish… it takes a while. Then once they make the wish, they have to seal the deal.” Whitley shot a furtive glance up at Evanee.
“Seal the deal? How does one seal the deal?”
Whitley swallowed hard and glanced over at the dress she’d hung up on Evanee’s reclaimed vintage oak hall tree. “They have to try on my dress.”
Evanee followed Whitley’s gaze. The dress was even more beautiful in person than it had been in the snow globe, with its long layers of satin and beautiful gold piping and its full skirt and drop waist. She’d never seen a more beautiful dress. She was sure it would look lovely on her, but it just didn’t make any sense.
“Why would they need to try on the dress to get the wish?”
Whitley giggled nervously. Her eyes flitted around the room shiftily, and then finally, she leaned across the table, her torso sprawling out. “Oh, fine. Here’s the truth. Each of the dresses in my armoire comes with a free wish. In order to get out of our present condition, my sister and I have to get rid of the all the dresses. In order to do that, you have try the dress on. If the dress fits, then bam, you get to keep it and you get a wish, and I get rid of a dress and am one step closer to freedom.”
Waving a hand in the air, Evanee furrowed her brow. “Wai-wai-wait a minute. So let me get this straight. I get to keep the dress and I get a wish?” She frowned. “I don’t get it. What’s the downside to this?”
“No downside,” chirped Whitley, glancing over at her sister. “You get a dress and a wish. How can there be a downside?”
Evanee shrugged. “I don’t know. My parents always taught me that if something sounded too good to be true, it usually was.”
Whitley thought about it for a second. “Mmm, that doesn’t apply here. This is magic we’re talking about. Magic is always too good to be true. That’s why it’s magic! What you’re thinking of is reality. Reality can be too good to be true. Not magic.”
Evanee glanced over at the dress. The fact of the matter was, she would be thrilled to own the dress. She had been going to have a seamstress make it for her anyway, and now all she had to do was the try the dress on and she got a free wish, which was to find her prince? How could she go wrong?
“Maybe I need a bit of magic in my life.”
Whitley’s head bobbed up down, her eyes wide. “Maybe you do! So how about it? Do you say yes to the dress?”
Sliding her mug of cocoa across the table, Evanee put her palms down and pushed herself up. “What the heck? I guess it can’t hurt to try it on!”
7
Swirling around in the dress, Evanee felt like a true princess. The cinched waist and poufy skirt made her waistline look tiny and the low-cut scoop neck made her breasts look divine. She would be proud to parade around in it all day long.
“I love it!” she breathed, turning around and around so she could look at herself in the mirror. “I just found out yesterday that I’m going to be in a Renaissance Festival our town puts on. This will be perfect!”
“Oooh, exciting,” cooed Whitley. “Don’t you think, Es?”
Esmerelda ground a furry paw into her eyes and sat up, blinking several times. “Don’t I think what?”
“That the dress would be perfect for a Renaissance Festival.”
“Well, it’s certainly not going to work for a prom dress,” said Essy. “It’s very old-fashioned.”
“It’s made for an event like this,” said Whitley with a smile. “You just have to tell me you’ll take the dress.”
Evanee squealed with delight. “Oh, I’ll take the dress alright. I’m just in shock that you’re willing to give it away. There has to be a catch.”
“Well, there is something you should know,” said Whitley, wringing her hands in front of herself.
The smile on Evanee’s face vanished. She stopped moving and tossed her hands on her hips. “I knew it! I knew there was going to be a catch. Spill it.”
“The dress isn’t new. It’s preowned. Or ‘pre-loved,’ as I like to call it.”
Evanee glanced in the mirror. Though it was an old-fashioned dress, it certainly didn’t look like an old dress. It looked like it had never been worn before, in fact. Perhaps the snow globe had preserved the fabric over the years. “That’s alright, you can’t tell. And besides, for these kinds of events, I’m sure people don’t wear new dresses anyway. If I’d gone online trying to find one, I’m sure I would have ended up buying an old costume from eBay or something. I’m sure it would’ve been used too.”
Whitley gave a half-smile but still seemed somewhat nervous about the situation. “Well, it’s not just that.”
“Oh, right. It’s the wish too. So how does that work? Is a prince just magically going to appear in here? Or do I have to have like a glass slipper and a pumpkin, or what?” Evanee smiled. She was actually starting to get excited about the idea that maybe her dream really was coming true. Maybe this whole wish thing could actually happen! She was wearing the dress from the snow globe, wasn’t she? That had actually happened. Why couldn’t finding her prince happen?
“Umm, actually, there’s a tiny bit of a catch that I may have neglected to mention,” said Whitley, pinching her thumb and her forefinger together.
“A catch?” Evanee wrinkled her nose.
Whitley’s head bobbed. “It’s really not that big of a deal, but we actually need you to do something for us before you get the dress and the wish.”
“Do something for you? Like what?”
“It’s no big deal, really,” sighed Whitley.
Evanee nodded. Suddenly she felt a bit of anxiety. She’d known there had to be a catch. Here it came. “Yeah, I caught that part. What do I have to do?”
“You have to help us solve the mystery of the dress,” said her sister from across the room.
“Mystery of the dress? What mystery?”
Whitley shot her sister a look of annoyance that clearly read, Let me handle this. She let out a nervous titter. “Well, each of the dresses in my armoire has a mystery attached to it. Even Essy and I don’t know what those mysteries are, exactly. We just know that they all have a mystery. And we’ve been tasked with solving all of them. In return for helping us solve the mystery, you get the dress and a wish.”
Evanee lowered her brows and glanced back and forth between the two girls. “But what kind of mystery?”
Whitley threw her arms out on either side of herself. “Oh, you know. It might vary. Maybe the dress was stolen.”
“Ohhhkay. And how exactly are we supposed to figure that out?”
“Mmmm, not exactly sure about that.” Whitley lifted a shoulder.
Suddenly a thought hit Evanee. Esmerelda had previously mentioned something about “the other girl.”
“I’m not the first one you’ve done this with, am I?”
Whitley’s green eyes widened. “First one?” She swallowed hard.
“Yeah. Esmerelda said something earlier about me being better than the last girl. There are other mysteries you’ve already solved, haven’t there!”
“Only one,” said Essy nonchalantly.
Whitley sighed as if she hadn’t wanted to admit that they had done this whole thing before.
“Aha!” Evanee exclaimed. “So you have solved a mystery before this. What kind of mystery was it? Was the dress stolen?”
Whitley glanced over at her sister. She was quietly grooming herself, pretending not to be paying attention to the conversation anymore. “Not exactly.”
Evanee couldn’t be sure, but it almost sounded like Whitley’s voice had risen a couple of octaves. “Not exactly? Well, then, what exactly?”
“I really didn’t want to have to tell you what the other mystery was.”
“Too bad. If you want me to help you, then I need to know.”
Whitley groaned and fell backwards onto the bed, rousing Prim for about three seconds before she promptly readjusted herself and fell back asleep. “It was a murder mystery,” she finally admitted.
“A murder?!” gasped Evanee. She shook her head. Oh, no, no. This was not something she wanted to get involved in. A stolen dress would be one thing, but solving a murder? Nope, it just wasn’t happening. She spun around and tried to work on the dress’s zipper. “You want to help me with this?”
Whitley sat up and looked at her glumly. “Oh, come on, Evanee. It won’t be that hard. I’m sure it happened a long time ago. The last one did. It’s not like your life will be in danger or anything.”
“Don’t be so sure about that, Whit. You remember what happened last time, don’t you?”
Whitley’s eyes widened. “Es! Hush! We need her help!”
Esmerelda finally took it upon herself to leap to her feet. She jumped down off the little cat tree and strode over to stand in front of Evanee. “Here’s the thing, Ev. I like you. I really do. You’re a lot better than the last girl. You know how to properly apply makeup. You understand the importance of a good dress. You’re looking for your Prince Charming. And most importantly, you recognize me for the queen that I am. But I hate to break it to you—you put on the dress. You’re now contractually obligated to help us solve this mystery.”
Evanee glanced over at Whitley to see if this was true. Whitley had covered her face with her hand and was now shaking it from side to side. Evanee sucked in her breath. “But you didn’t even tell me that that was going to happen before I put the dress on! You can’t possibly be serious!”
“Listen. There are three things in life that I don’t joke about. Men, money, and magic. Okay? I want out of this furry costume! I want my normal body back. My sister wants out of her snow globe. We want our lives back! You hear me?” The cat pointed her furry paw at Evanee. “You shook the globe. You made the wish. And you put on the dress. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t make you do anything and neither did my sister. Facts are facts. You want the dress and you want your prince. If you help us, you get both. Just like that. What’s the big deal?”
Evanee frowned. The big deal was, she’d have liked to have known all of this before she’d put on the dress! She shook her head. “No, you can’t make me help you. So what if I put on the dress? I don’t want it. I can buy a different dress, and I don’t need your help finding a man. I can find my own man, thank you. I’m not exactly hideous. I’m just picky.”
“You might not exactly be hideous, but you do exactly have to help us,” countered Esmerelda. “Because if you don’t help us, you and Whitley trade places. And Prim? He becomes the next me. Got it?”
Evanee sucked in her breath. “Are you blackmailing me?”
Whitley waved a hand in the air then. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about blackmail?! You’re getting a little carried away now, Evanee.”
“No, I’m not. This is ridiculous. You two can’t possibly be serious here.”
“Oh, we’re serious alright,” said Esmerelda. “You help us, or you can kiss your life out here in Mayberry goodbye.”
Evanee glanced over at Whitley. The young woman couldn’t even look her in the eye. Her heart lurched in her chest. What was she supposed to do? She glanced over at her sleeping kitty. If Esmerelda was telling the truth, what would Prim do without her? Who would feed her her special cat food and take her to the vet for checkups? Who would make sure she got treated like the royal kitty she was?
She shook her head. This whole thing just didn’t make any sense. She rubbed her face. She felt like she’d been up for hours and this was all just a bad dream that she would wake up from in the morning. Evanee finally lowered her hands. “I can’t do this right now. I’m too exhausted.”
From across the room, Whitley nodded. “Yeah, I’m exhausted too.”
“Can we talk about this in the morning, then? When I’m a little more clear-headed?”
Esmerelda waved a paw in the air. “Just don’t go getting any funny ideas tonight. Sleeping won’t change anything. You’re still committed to helping us.”
“Yeah, I know.” Evanee could only hope that when she woke up in the morning, this whole mess would be gone.
8
The next morning when her alarm clock went off, Evanee sat up in bed. With her eyes still closed, she stretched and let out a yawn. Then she swiveled her legs over to the side of her bed, slipped them into her furry white kitty cat slippers and padded wordlessly towards the bathroom. A minute later she was out, and with her eyes still partially closed, she strode over to the Keurig on her counter, added a new flavored coffee, and pressed start.
It was early. The sun hadn’t even broken over the horizon yet. Most people in Stoney Brook wouldn’t be awake for another hour or two, but Evanee was an early riser. She had a six a.m. yoga class to teach, and she couldn’t do it without a cup of coffee in her body and at least forty-five minutes of uninterrupted alone time before she made contact with the public. The coffee needed time to kick in.
While she waited for the coffee, she sat at her kitchen table with her head in her hands. Her brain was slowly turning on, and at some point, she began to recall the most vivid dream she’d ever had in her life. The snow globe she’d purchased at the Brattleboro Flea Market had come to life! And the furry gray cat that had been guarding it could speak English! Evanee gave a half-smile. What a funny dream! The girl in the snow globe had given Evanee the dress she’d been wearing. How surreal was that?
With the pads of her fingers, Evanee rubbed her head around her scalp line. Then she lifted her head, her eyes finally open, and looked straight ahead to the other side of the room for the first time that morning. And there, hanging from her reclaimed hall tree, was the ball gown that had been inside the snow globe!
Evanee sucked in her breath as her eyes widened. That wasn’t possible, was it? She glanced over at Prim, who still lay sleeping at the foot of her bed. Prim was a late riser. She always had been, and now was no exception. She lay sprawled out on her back, with her head cocked at an uncomfortable-looking angle, and her paws out wide. She didn’t seem to notice anything had changed.
But Evanee’s eyes continued to prowl the room. There was no sign of Queenie—or was it Esmerelda? Evanee was no longer sure what her cat’s name was! But there was a definite lump in the bed next to where Evanee had slept. With her heart beating in her chest, she strode over to her bed. Her hand shook as it reached down to pull back the thick gray-and-white-striped duvet. With one big toss, she yanked it back, half-expecting to see the young woman from the snow globe lying beneath her covers. But there was only a lump of pillows there.
She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm the racing adrenaline she felt. But the dress was here. That had to make everything that had happened the night before real. Right? But there was no one else in her tiny loft. If Whitley and Esmerelda Snow existed, where were they?
Evanee padded back over to her coffee machine, pulled her mug from the dispenser and went about fixing her morning drink. Then she pulled on her yoga clothes, grabbed her yoga mat, and headed downstairs to begin her day.
At seven, Evanee was back in her loft. She was now her usual bright-eyed bushy-tailed self. Her yoga class was, as always, relaxing and stress relieving. One of the reasons she enjoyed it so much was that it boosted her serotonin levels, leaving her with a feeling a serene happiness when she was done. Plus she’d gotten to stretch out her body and now she felt limber and energetic and ready for whatever the day threw her way.
In addition to all that, she’d had her shot of coffee and she’d gotten the machines in her shop fired up for her eight a.m. opening time. Now it was just a matter of showering and getting dressed, and she’d be on with her day. Concentrating on her long to-do list, Evanee had all but forgotten about the dress hanging in the corner of the room.
After showering and dressing, Evanee tossed open the bathroom door. Towel-drying he
r hair, she strode into her bedroom to grab her boots.
“Good morning!” sang a voice from the other side of the room.
Evanee’s heart froze in her chest. She spun around, her green eyes wide, to see Whitley Snow sitting in the corner with Esmerelda curled up on her lap. “Ahhhhh!”
Whitley clapped a hand over each ear, wincing.
Esmerelda covered her head with her paws too.
Panting now, Evanee’s hand went to her chest. “Oh my gosh! You scared me!”
“I’m so sorry,” said Whitley, lowering her hands. “We didn’t mean to.”
Evanee’s eyes darted around the room. “Where did you come from?”
“Do we really have to go over all of this again?” asked Esmerelda.
Evanee put a hand on her hip. “I didn’t mean where did you come from. I meant where have you been? I assumed when I didn’t see you this morning that I’d just dreamt all of that last night.”
“And you thought that dress over there was just a byproduct of your imagination?” asked Esmerelda, the whiskers above her left eye cocked.
Evanee’s brows lowered. “Well, no. I—I wasn’t sure what to think about that, but honestly, I didn’t even think about it after my yoga class. Where have you guys been?”
Whitley pointed towards the shop downstairs. “We thought maybe you needed a little alone time to sort everything out,” she said. “We found your quilt collection down there. I hope you don’t mind, but we piled up a couple of them to soften the floor and we slept down there.”
“My quilts! Those are brand-new!”
“Don’t worry. We didn’t get them dirty or anything, and we put everything back where we found it, I swear,” said Whitley. “And someone started your coffeemakers down there. Oh my gosh, it smells so good. That’s what finally woke us up. We were pretty tired.”
“Yeah, I was pretty tired too,” said Evanee glumly. She’d hoped she wouldn’t encounter these two again. She’d hoped that everything had, indeed, been a dream. She grabbed her boots and sat down on the edge of her bed and slid her feet into them. The stain that the man from the day before had inflicted was now a distant memory. She’d used some cleaner she had to buff out the marks. “So, you’re back. What does this mean exactly?”
Snow Way Out: A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery (The Mystic Snow Globe Mystery Series Book 2) Page 6
