Witchy Sour (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 2)

by Gina LaManna

  “You talk like that and I’ll switch up Dragon’s Breath with Foxtail when you’re not looking. Then we’ll see who’s laughing when you have hives across your forehead.”

  “I’m just asking,” I said, taking the twig from Gus. “What do I do with this?”

  “Slice it very thinly.”

  “Is it toxic?”

  Gus raised an eyebrow. “No.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “It’s a damn vanilla bean,” Gus said. “Nothing except flavoring.”

  My cheeks colored. “Oh, okay. Never seen one like this before.”

  Gus’s sigh sounded frustrated. “Well, then learn.”

  We lapsed into silence. The task took much longer than five minutes. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. The time had been pleasant, and Gus had been surprisingly cordial as he explained in great detail the process of scooping out the seeds.

  “Thanks,” I said once we were all done. “That helped take my mind off things.”

  “You’re gonna need someone else to distract you now,” Gus said. “I ain’t yer babysitter.”

  I stifled a smile as Gus’s gruffness returned. “Maybe I’ll see what my cousins are up to.”

  “Maybe that’s a good idea.”

  I put the ingredients away and filed each jar in its rightful place before starting up the stairs to the attic. “Thanks for everything, Gus. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “That’s a lie. You did it all on yer own, I just supervised.”

  “Have a nice night, Gus.”

  “Lily,” he called, almost as an afterthought. “You did good. That’s a hard thing for even an experienced Mixologist to do.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it,” Gus said. “Creating The Elixir is just the start. It gets more difficult from here on out.”

  “Did I do the right thing?” I asked, taking a few steps back down the stairs. “Because it doesn’t feel like it.”

  “You did what you had to do, and that is the nature of your job.”

  “I just wish the last Mixologist was still alive. I have so many questions about everything.”

  Gus thunked his cane across the room and came to a stop in front of me. “You don’t need to hear opinions from the outside when it comes to your instincts. You don’t need me, or your aunts, or your cousins, telling you what is right or wrong.”

  “I don’t like making those decisions.”

  “The Mixologist is chosen based on many criteria,” Gus said. “Part of the criteria is the notion of good and evil. By nature, you are a good person. We have never had an evil Mixologist, and I doubt it’s possible.”

  “I thought it was all based on blood lines.”

  “Blood lines play a role in it. Zin, Poppy, all of Trinket’s other rascals—they all could’ve become the Mixologist based on blood alone, yet you were the one chosen. Trust that you inherited this place for a reason,” Gus said, gesturing to the storeroom. “The knowledge and instincts run through your veins. Instead of turning outside to find the answer, you must turn inside and listen. When you learn how to listen to your heart, you’ll find the difference between right and wrong.”

  “What if I can’t hear it?”

  “You can, and you will. It takes time, like all things.” Gus returned to the table, a sign the conversation was rapidly coming to an end. “Next time you’re faced with a tough decision, use it as practice. Take a moment to be silent...and just listen.”

  Chapter 6

  Thirty minutes later, I’d showered, splashed on a bit of makeup, and slipped into a light, summery dress. My mind whirred at an incredible rate, but Gus’s words had helped calm my pounding heart. Standing in front of the mirror in my bedroom, I did a quick twirl and watched as the dress floated around my knees.

  It felt good to get cleaned up and put on a nice outfit. I rarely had a night away from the shop, and when I did, it was usually reserved for dinner with the family. In recent weeks, Mimsey had forced Gus to let me out early once per week, and she was a strict enforcer of family meals. It was nice to have someone watching out for me, since most of my life, I’d fended for myself.

  The sun was setting outside, casting beautiful glows of red and orange and pinks across my room. The attic had been converted into a quaint bedroom with fluffy white pillows and a snowy, lush comforter. I was sorely tempted to crawl under the soft covers and just sleep.

  “No you don’t, Lily Locke,” I said, muttering to myself in the mirror. “You have one night off, and you will not spend it sleeping.”

  Throwing a thick shawl over my shoulders, I made my way downstairs. Gus was gone already, so I did one final sweep of the storeroom, careful not to step on any of the yarn or wires still out from our theorizing the night before. Both the interior and the outside bar were deserted, so I turned the key in the lock and bounced down the front steps.

  I trudged through the sand, the warm, dazzling crystals cascading over my toes as I walked. I’d lived in flip-flops ever since I’d arrived because really, anything else was impractical. I strolled toward The Twist, the garden labyrinth outside of Hettie’s house that kept visitors—welcome or not—at bay.

  My plans for tonight were simple. First, I would stop by The Twist to see if my cousins were available for a stroll. I wanted to return the extra coins Liam had left on the counter, and I figured the walk across The Isle would be a lot more fun with company. After that, maybe the three of us would grab a bite to eat at the restaurant near the B&B. Knowing the girls, all I had to do was offer to pay for food and they’d leap at the opportunity to join.

  However, my plans went off track before I made it to The Twist.

  Spotting one of my cousins on the way, I stepped from the sandy beach onto a green expanse of grass, raising a hand to shield the setting sun. Ten feet away, Zin sat as still as a stone statue, her eyes shut and her hands on her head. Close to me stood my grandmother, Hettie, dressed in a tiara that dazzled from the glow of the lake and a hoodie that read “Dance Mom” in blinging letters.

  I walked up to Hettie and nodded at the hoodie. “Do any of your kids dance?”

  “Not yet,” Hettie said. “But it’s never too late.”

  I sized up the rest of her outfit, and then quickly wished I hadn’t. She wore purple leggings over her starting-to-sag legs, the fabric tight as latex. Over the leggings she’d pulled up leg warmers so woolly she may as well have attached two cats to her calves. The thick gold chain hanging around her neck wouldn’t look out of place on Mr. T.

  “You like my outfit?” Hettie asked. “I see you peeking at all the hot stuff I’ve got to offer. I can get you a matching one if ya like.”

  “Oh, no thanks,” I said. “I don’t think I could quite pull it off like you do.”

  “You’re darn tootin’ you can’t. I didn’t work eighty years on this body for nothin.” She gave her booty a slap with her hand then cackled. “Give yourself another few years and you’ll have the confidence to wear this.”

  “If I’m ever that confident, then shoot me,” I mumbled. “Put me out of my misery.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing. What is Zin doing?”

  “I’m training her.”

  “Training her to do what...fall asleep?”

  Hettie turned and winked. Then she gestured for me to take a few steps away from the clearing. “She wants to become a Ranger, so I offered to train her.”

  “Training includes napping? Maybe I want to be a Ranger, too.”

  “Nah, I’m teaching her how to not be an idiot.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “I told Zin to sit down and put her hands on top of her head and close her eyes. She’s been sittin’ there not moving for an hour now. She didn’t even ask why.”

  “And you’re just watching her?”

  “It’s hilarious!” Hettie threw her head back and laughed so hard she choked a little on her own spit. Then she wiped the tears from her eyes and pu
t on a very serious expression. “No, that’s not funny at all. I’m instructing her. See, she needs to learn to question authority. No good Ranger ever became famous because they followed all the rules.”

  “So you’re just trying to get her to ask questions.”

  “Ask questions, fight back, rebel against The Man—you name it.”

  I shook my head. “You have a funny way of instructing people.”

  “I learned from the best.”

  “What do you mean?” I glanced at this tiara-wearin’, booty-slappin’ grandmother with a wary eye. “Who did you learn from, and what were you learning?”

  “Come to Ranger HQ with us, and I’ll show you.”

  “You’ve been to Ranger Headquarters?” I couldn’t keep the astonishment out of my voice. “I don’t even know where that is.”

  “I worked for the Rangers,” she said. “In fact, how do you think Poppy got her job? I helped her out. But do I get a kick back from her salary? No...”

  I was stunned into silence. “Wow, I had no idea.”

  “Never judge a grannie by her leg warmers,” she said with another cackle. “That’s a second lesson for you today. I’m even teaching you for free. How do you like that?”

  Finally, Zin peeked one of her eyes open. “What are you two talking about? Hi, Lily.”

  “Just watching the training,” I said with a shrug. “Very interesting stuff.”

  “Hettie, will you tell me if I’m doing this right?” Zin asked in annoyance. “I’ve been sitting here forever, and I’m starting to get hungry.”

  “You’re doing it right,” Hettie said. “Just keep going.”

  Zin snapped her eyes shut and let out a long sigh. “This is stupid!”

  “You’ve got to stop this,” I mumbled to Hettie. “You’re making her look like a fool.”

  “I’d rather I make her look like a fool than someone else,” Hettie said, twirling to face me, a sharp cut to her words. “The Ranger career path is not an easy one. She’s got to learn.”

  “But—”

  “You think I want her to be a Ranger?” Hettie grabbed me by the arm and pulled me a few steps away. “Do you?”

  I was a bit taken aback by her forcefulness. “Uh, Zin wants the job, so I suppose she’ll try for it regardless.”

  “Of course she wants the job. She can do it, too,” Hettie scoffed. “I didn’t raise any imbeciles, and neither did my daughters. Zin can be anything she wants to be. But a Ranger? That’s a hard life. It’s a tough path, and the likelihood of her makin’ it another ten years in that business is slim.”

  My palms began to sweat, and I wondered if maybe I should encourage Zin to pursue a career with a lower mortality rate. “I didn’t realize you felt so strongly.”

  “I know the truth because I worked there,” Hettie said. “And if my granddaughter is going to take that job, you’d better believe I’ll be proud of her. I’ll wave her flag from every rooftop these old knees can climb, but what I will not do is send her in unprepared. If she’s going to succeed at the Ranger lifestyle, she needs to learn.”

  I swallowed, feeling a bit out of my league with some of this island business. A couple of weeks was not long enough to understand its nuances and culture. Plus, Hettie had a point. I’d rather Zin be rejected from the Ranger program until she was ready to face what was waiting for her on the other side.

  Zin peered through one eyelid again. “I’m really starting to need to use the restroom. Any chance I can take a break?”

  “No,” Hettie said shortly. “Keep going.”

  I made a disgruntled noise in my throat, but my grandmother silenced me with one look. We stood in silence for another minute, watching Zin sit there in pseudo-meditation.

  “Why are you here anyway?” Zin asked with another peek at me. “Who knows how long I’ll be here. This training business isn’t for wimps.”

  “No, it’s not,” I said, hiding a small smile. “However, I was wondering if you and Poppy were available for dinner tonight?”

  “You’re not inviting your old Gran?” The gray-haired, sparkle-covered head whipped toward me. “Bummer, dude.”

  I cleared my throat and revised. “You too, Hettie. You can come if you’d like.”

  Hettie waved a hand and laughed. “I’m just messin’ with y’all. You both need to stop taking everything I say so seriously. I have plans, anyway. Spend some time with your cousins.”

  “Are we going to be done training by then?” Zin asked. “How much longer will this take?”

  “How much longer do you want it to take?” Hettie looked nonchalantly down at her nails. “I never told you how long to sit there.”

  “What?” Zin’s screech could likely be heard back at the bar. “You were making me sit here for no good reason?”

  “Oh, there was a good reason,” Hettie said. “I always have my reasons.”

  “Are you going to share what that reason was?” Zin let her hands fall to her sides and opened her eyes. A cloudy expression covered her face as she pieced the puzzle together. “Were you just messing with me?”

  “Sorta.” Hettie grinned. “I’m teaching you to make your own rules. I was just telling Lily that well-behaved women rarely make history.”

  “That’s not what you were telling me,” I mumbled. “You were saying—”

  Hettie waved a hand to shut me up. “Same thing. I am teaching you to think critically. I told you to sit there, and you did it for an hour. You didn’t even ask why!”

  Zin flew to her feet. “That’s it. I knew you were going crazy, old lady!”

  “Calm down! It’s a proper lesson,” Hettie said, shaking her finger at Zin. “When you become a Ranger, you will be given assignments. Sometimes those assignments will be hard, and sometimes they won’t make sense. Are you going to be one of those Rangers who just blindly follows orders like a big, clumsy giant? Or are you going to think for yourself?”

  Zin fell silent. “You said when. You really think...When I become a Ranger?”

  Zin was hung up on the first part of that question, while the last part had resonated with me. Maybe Hettie’s musings were directed at more than one person. Based upon the glittering look in her eye as she swiveled her gaze toward me, I was all but convinced she knew what I was thinking.

  “Of course when,” Hettie said. “All of my granddaughters can become whatever they’d like in their lifetimes. It’s a matter of deciding what you want, how badly you want it, and what you’re willing to do to get there.”

  “How is she supposed to know when to break the rules and when to follow them?” I blurted out. “You know, when she’s a Ranger.”

  Hettie sized me up with her calculating eyes. “That’s the second step. The harder step. Unfortunately, that is something I can’t teach, and neither can anyone else. Not even the best of Rangers.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Zin grumbled. “Doesn’t leave me a lot of hope.”

  “On the contrary.” Hettie peered at both of us closely before responding. “That should give you the greatest hope of all.”

  “How?”

  “It should reassure you because at the end of the day, the truth comes from inside you,” Hettie said. “No amount of teaching or rules or regulations can tell you what is right or wrong. In order to decide that, one must look within and listen to what their heart is saying.”

  “That’s not very clear,” I said, slightly annoyed by all of this ‘look inside yourself’ junk. I thought I’d left Tony Robbins behind when I’d left the mainland. At the moment, I was trying my best to look inside, but the only thing I found was a bit of fear and a lot of confusion. “How about more of a ‘paint by numbers’ style of learning?”

  Hettie tsked. “You’ll learn in time. You’re thinking about this in all the wrong ways. You already have the answers.”

  “But it doesn’t feel like it,” I said, my voice growing louder. “I don’t feel like I know much of anything at the moment.”

  “I didn’
t say it was going to be easy,” Hettie said. “But it’s true. You already have the answers. It’s like a gold coin that’s been buried under a mound of dirt for centuries.”

  Zin squinted. “Now we’re talking money?”

  Hettie shook her head. “At first, you don’t even know that coin is there. Maybe it’s buried on your lawn, and you don’t even know to look for it. Then one day, someone tells you that you have all of the money you need, you just need to start digging.”

  She paused a minute, looking between us and leaving a moment of silence for us to catch up. “You start digging, but it takes some time. See, there’s no road map to this coin, you just know it’s there. Somewhere inside of your yard. So you dig, and you dig, and you dig. You make mistakes and dig in the backyard when it’s buried in the front. Maybe you don’t dig deep enough, or wide enough, or fast enough.”

  Zin moved a few steps closer, and we stood shoulder to shoulder as Hettie faced us both.

  “Then one day, you find that gold coin. It’s buried in your yard alright, it just took some time to find it.”

  “That’s it?” Zin asked. “Then it’s over?”

  “No, then the hard part is just getting started,” Hettie said. “See, now that you’ve found the coin, it’s likely crusted over with mud, maybe a bit tarnished and dirty. Slowly, carefully you need to polish it. Dust it off. Let it sit for a bit and clean it a little every day. Then one day out of the blue, you’ll look over and that dirty gold coin you never knew existed will shine like the sun itself.”

  I stood still, listening to every word.

  “Throughout all of this, you can’t forget one thing.” Hettie’s eyes slid between the two of us. “At one time, you never knew that coin existed. Patience, girls. You must work a little at it every day and have patience. Then one day, you will see exactly what I’m talking about.”

  Chapter 7

  Hettie wrapped up her lecture and, a few minutes later, called an end to training for the day.

  “What’s next?” Zin asked. “I thought you were working tonight, Lily.”

  “I was looking for you and Poppy,” I said. “We closed up shop early, so I wanted to see if you two wanted to go out to dinner. On me.”