by Rose Pressey
“I don’t believe you,” Mary Jane said.
“If you don’t leave I will have to call the police.” She glared at us.
I looked over her shoulder, but didn’t see Rory anywhere. I knew she was lying.
Chapter 14
I placed my hand on my hip. “I know he’s here because his truck is here.”
She smirked. “There is no truck here.”
What kind of game did she think she was playing? Of course his truck was here. “I just saw it in the driveway.” I gestured and looked over my shoulder.
The truck was gone. How had that happened? I would have heard it if it had started. The thing was loud.
A spark of glee flickered in her eyes. I knew she was proud of this. Something tricky was going on and the thought sent a chill down my spine.
A tingle prickled the skin on my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood. Something stirred in the air and I knew exactly what it was… magic. She was using magic, but I had to prove it. I also had to find out why she was trying to deny it and pretend as if she didn’t know the magic even existed.
She watched me for a moment and I wondered if she knew I sensed the magic. She had to know. That wasn’t something she could hide, although she was trying her best.
I knew that I had to confront her about the magic. She couldn’t continue to lie her way out of this.
“You can leave now,” she snapped.
“Not so fast,” I said.
Her eyes widened. I glanced at Mary Jane and even she looked stunned. I was a little surprised that I was being so bold too. What did I have to lose at this point?
“I sense the magic around your house. It’s in the air and I know you’re casting spells. Why are you lying?” I asked.
She scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
She could say it all she wanted, but I knew she wasn’t being honest. I glanced over her shoulder again, hoping that I would see Rory inside the house. Maybe he would finally tell me the truth.
When I looked at the table beside the door, I spotted a small book. I recognized it right away. It looked just like the book that Tom had showed me at the café, the one they claimed belonged to Reagan. It couldn’t be the same book. Or could it? Books had been appearing and disappearing at random lately. Did Tom still have Reagan’s book?
“You have to leave now.” Meredith’s voice was stern, as if she was losing patience with me.
I had lost my patience with her a long time ago. She looked at me and I knew that she’d seen me eyeing the book. I wasn’t sure if I should ask about it. Obviously she wouldn’t be honest. And now she already knew that I was aware of the book, so there was probably no point in bringing it up. She smirked and I knew that she was happy with the way she was getting one over on me.
Mary Jane grabbed my arm. “Let’s go, Elly.”
It was probably a good thing she led me down the steps toward the sidewalk. Otherwise I didn’t know how long I would have stood there waiting for an answer from Meredith. She had threatened to call the police and she probably would have soon.
“We were getting nowhere,” Mary Jane said.
I glanced over my shoulder. Meredith stood at the door, watching us. “She had a book on the table next to the door. It looked exactly like the one Tom showed me that was found in my kitchen. They said it belonged to Reagan. It was full of spells.”
“Do you think it’s the same book?” Mary Jane asked as she slipped behind the steering wheel.
I shut the car door. “I don’t know, but I need a look at that book.”
“Oh, no. How do you think that’s going to happen?” Mary Jane started the car.
Meredith still stood at the door. I knew she wasn’t going to step away and close the door until she was sure that we had gone.
“There has to be a way for me to get a look at that book,” I said.
“This doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a good idea,” Mary Jane said.
“Maybe not, but I don’t know what else to do.”
She pulled away from the curb. “What about a spell?”
I glanced over at her. “What about it?”
“You could use a spell to get a look at the book? Is that possible?”
I tapped my fingers against the arm rest. “Maybe if there was a spell that could get her out of the house so that I could go in and look at the book. I don’t think she would leave the book, so it would have to be a spell that would get her to leave the house.”
“Do you think that’s possible?” Mary Jane asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Even if it was, how would we get the spell to her?”
“Make food,” Mary Jane said as she drove down the street.
“I can’t make food with magic, remember?” I released a deep breath.
“You can’t, but Grandma Imelda can.” Mary Jane smiled.
“I like the way you think.” I pointed at her. “Now we just have to figure out the right spell.”
“I bet your grandmother will know just what to do.”
“If anyone knows she does,” I said.
“We need to get back to the café and find out.” Mary Jane made a left and we headed back to Mystic Café.
We pulled up to the café and hurried inside. Grandma Imelda had prepared food for the next wave of customers and was just ready to open the door.
“Whoa. What’s going on? Is someone chasing you?” she asked when we rushed through the door.
I explained about seeing the book at Meredith’s house and how Rory’s truck had disappeared.
She rubbed her temples. “I don’t know how that is possible.”
“We need to give her a spell that will get her out of the house long enough for me to look at the book.”
Grandma Imelda tapped her finger against her chin. “Well, that should be easy enough. Let me think.” She paced across the floor. She’d only made it across the floor a couple of times when she stopped. “I think I know just the spell.”
“There’s only one problem now. How will we get her to eat the food? I doubt she would eat anything I gave her. As far as she’s concerned, I am the enemy,” I said.
“We could ask Tom to give it to her,” Mary Jane said.
I shook my head. “No way can he know about this.”
“Oh, I know Agatha at the bakery would do it. She could pretend she is welcoming her back to town,” Grandma Imelda said.
“Okay, but she has to make sure she eats it.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll give her a call.”
Grandma Imelda placed the call and I paced waiting for her answer. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Grandma Imelda hung up the phone and came over to Mary Jane and me. I watched her for the answer.
“Okay, she agreed to do it.”
“Wow. I can’t believe she’ll do it,” Mary Jane said.
“She’s up for just about anything,” Grandma Imelda said.
“Now what do we do?” I asked.
“I’ll make her cupcakes and we’ll take them over to Agatha. Then we’ll follow her over to Meredith’s house.”
I still had my doubts that this plan would work. But I supposed I had to give it a try anyway.
Grandma Imelda grabbed a big white ceramic bowl and added the flour and other ingredients. Next came the spices. As comfortable as I’d become with the magic, she still made it seem effortless. I doubted I would ever reach her level of expertise.
When she added the spices, a wave of energy swirled through the air, leaving all of us feeling a little dizzy. I glanced over at Grandma Imelda. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. After making such a powerful spell and using so much energy, her hair looked more like a melting ice cream cone, drooping to the right.
“Agatha was actually a little excited to do this,” Grandma Imelda said.
“Really? Why is that?” I leaned against the counter and watched as Grandma Imeld
a prepared the cupcakes. It felt strange being in the kitchen and unable to make any food.
“She sounded excited when I asked. Plus, she met Meredith and said she didn’t like her much.”
“I have a question,” Mary Jane said.
“What’s that, dear?” Grandma Imelda said.
“Will Meredith be able to sense the magic? I know Elly did when we were there earlier.”
Grandma Imelda placed the batter into the oven. “Perhaps. But that’s a chance we’ll have to take. It is such a low dose of magic though, I doubt she will sense anything.”
Mary Jane started to lick the wooden spoon. “That’s a relief.”
I stopped her. “Don’t lick that, it has a spell in it.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, lowering the spoon.
“How will we get in?” I asked.
“The spell will make her just walk right out. She won’t lock the door.” Grandma Imelda winked.
After Grandma Imelda took the chocolate cupcakes out of the oven and finished them off with her signature buttercream frosting, we walked over and met Agatha in front of her bakery. Agatha had short gray hair and she wore a powder-blue dress. Everything in her bakery was powder blue.
“Your grandmother’s cupcakes could put me out of business.” She laughed.
Grandma Imelda did make the best cupcakes I’d ever had.
Grandma Imelda rode with Agatha and we followed them in Mary Jane’s car. We pulled up to the curb a safe distance back from Meredith’s house, but we could still see the front door. I hoped that she didn’t spot us. Grandma Imelda walked back to our car and climbed into the backseat so that we could watch what happened.
Agatha walked up to the door with the cupcakes in hand and rang the bell. I had to remind myself to breathe. “At least we have a good spot to watch from,” Grandma Imelda said as she leaned forward from the backseat.
Meredith answered the door. At least she didn’t slam the door right away. They talked for a couple minutes and she took the cupcakes from Agatha.
“We have no way to guarantee that she will even eat the cupcakes. Or maybe she won’t eat them until tomorrow,” I said.
“You seem to forget that the cupcakes are mine. Of course she won’t be able to resist them right away,” Grandma Imelda said.
“That’s true. I wanted to eat one as soon as she made them,” Mary Jane said.
Agatha walked back to her car. In order to keep from being discovered, Grandma Imelda stayed in the car with us. “I will thank Agatha later.”
“I definitely owe her one,” I said.
“How long will we wait?” Mary Jane asked.
I tapped my fingers against the leather seat. “Hmm. I hadn’t thought about that.”
“I told you all it wouldn’t take long.” Grandma Imelda pointed.
I looked over and spotted Meredith walking out her front door.
“I bet she even still has chocolate on her face.” Grandma Imelda laughed.
“Well, you certainly aren’t modest about your cooking, are you, Grandma?”
“No need to be, dear. When you’ve got it, you got it.”
I laughed. “I hope she doesn’t see us.”
“She’s still thinking about the delicious cupcakes, she won’t even look over this way,” Grandma Imelda said.
Meredith had a spring in her step. She must have really enjoyed the cupcakes. We’d gotten lucky that she had eaten one of them. Based on Grandma Imelda’s ego, she probably thought Meredith had eaten all of them. Meredith got in her car and, just as Grandma Imelda had said, she didn’t even look over at us. This almost seemed too easy.
Meredith backed her car out and drove away. Now I had to discover if she had left the book. Maybe she had taken it with her. There was only one way to find out. I couldn’t delay it any longer.
“We have to hurry, ladies.” Grandma Imelda opened the back door and climbed out.
I couldn’t believe it, but just as Grandma Imelda had said, Meredith hadn’t locked the door behind her when she’d left. That would make it simple for us to walk right inside and look for the book. Plus, I hoped that she had left the book on the table by the door. I didn’t want to go into the house much. If we just stepped inside the door it would be much better. I was still worried that she would return at any second. I kept looking over my shoulder for her car.
“Don’t look for her, just hurry inside,” Grandma Imelda said as we walked toward the front door.
We stepped up to the door.
“Who’s going to look?” Mary Jane said.
“I can go in,” Grandma Imelda said.
“No, Grandma, I got us into this mess. I will be the one to go in and look.”
She nodded. I was glad that she understood that this was something I needed to do. I didn’t want anyone taking care of my messes. I had already dragged her into this too much. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and twisted. Sure enough, the door was unlocked.
I still couldn’t help but think this was too easy. The table came into view as soon as I opened the door. Even better, the book was still sitting in the same spot.
“The book is there.” I rushed over and picked it up.
Of course I hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the one Tom had found. I flipped open the cover. It was a book of spells. And Meredith had said she didn’t perform magic. I highly doubted that. It had her name on the inside cover. Now I had to see the one Tom had found so that I could compare.
Chapter 15
As I stood there leafing through the book, Grandma Imelda called out, “She’s back.”
Without thinking, I flung the book out of my hands. It landed on the floor. Grandma Imelda and Mary Jane rushed into the house and slammed the door.
“What are you doing? If she’s back then we need to get out of here,” I said with panic in my voice.
“We can’t go out the front door. She’s right there in the driveway. She’ll see us.” Grandma Imelda was leaning with her back against the door as if that would stop Meredith from coming inside.
“What do we do?” I knew my voice revealed my panic.
Mary Jane waved her hands. “Okay. Stay calm. We’ll go out the back door. There has to be a back door, right?”
“Yes, there probably is, but with Meredith, I’m worried what kind of surprise we’ll find once we step out the door. She could have booby traps back there.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, she didn’t have any at the front door.”
Okay, Mary Jane was right about that.
Grandma Imelda peeked out the little side window at the door. “She’s coming up the path. Run.”
We took off across the hall. Our footfalls against the hardwood floors echoed through the house. We sounded like a bunch of horses racing.
“The door is probably off the kitchen,” Grandma Imelda said.
“Yes, but where is the kitchen?” I said.
We raced through the living room, weaving around the sofa and chairs. Next we dashed through the dining room. The china cabinet clinked as we moved through the room. The kitchen was attached to the dining room. The sound of the front door opening came all the way back to where we were. If we didn’t get out of there soon she would catch us.
I looked to my right at the open door leading to a small room. I froze when I saw what was inside.
Mary Jane grabbed my arm and pulled. “What are you doing?”
“Look.” I pointed at the room. Spellbooks lined the shelves. “It’s the books.”
Grandma Imelda looked back, but didn’t stop. “We don’t have time to look,” she said over her shoulder.
I forced myself to move, even though I wanted a better look at the room. So that was where she had moved the books. Now I could tell Tom. Or maybe not. How would I explain being in her house?
That would be tough to explain. Grandma Imelda was waiting for us at the back door. She motioned for us to hurry. I stumbled as I rushed out, but caught myself before falling on my face. We ran around t
he house. I glanced back and thankfully didn’t see Meredith. There was a small white fence that separated the back yard from the front yard. I panicked even more when I saw it. Climbing over it wouldn’t be too difficult, but it would definitely slow us down. There was a gate, but would it be unlocked?
Grandma Imelda opened the gate with ease. I released a sigh of relief and hurried through the open gate. I didn’t bother to close it behind me. That would take too much time. At least we could see the car from this spot. We ran across the lawn and reached the street. I didn’t want to look back, but I knew I had to take a quick peek. When I glanced over my shoulder, I spotted Meredith standing at the front door, watching us. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. So much for not getting caught. She wasn’t coming after us, but I had a feeling she had something much more sinister planned.
We slipped into the car.
“Oh, there she is.” Grandma Imelda had just spotted Meredith.
“I think it’s safe to say that she knows we were in her house.”
Mary Jane started the car and pulled away from the curb. Meredith’s stare was focused on us the whole time. As we drove away, I stopped looking over at her. It was just too awkward.
“What do you think she’ll do?” Mary Jane asked.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling that it won’t be good,” I said.
“She can’t prove we were in the house and we didn’t take anything,” Grandma Imelda said.
Grandma Imelda always had a way of making me feel better. She was right. Meredith didn’t know for sure that we were in her house. It would be her word against ours.
My cell rang, making me jump. I was a little on edge. I pulled the phone from my pocket, hoping that it would be Rory. I wasn’t expecting the call to be from Tom. There was no way I was going to answer his call right now.
“Aren’t you going to answer the call?” Grandma Imelda said.
I touched the screen and dismissed the call so that it would go to my voicemail.
“It wasn’t Meredith, was it?” Mary Jane asked as she steered the car.
