A Charming Corpse

by Tonya Kappes

  “Exactly what do we go on to make a potion?” The brunette was very interested, more so than the girl with the pony tail.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “I’m Erika Minter from the East Village.” Her bright hazel eyes had a flick of interest. I could tell she really was there to learn and excel in your spiritual profession.

  “What is it that you’d like to do when you graduate?” I asked.

  “I’d like to be a doctor like they have in the hospital here. Help out my people.” She was an ambitious one.

  “That’s a very good profession and we could use a lot more doctors.” I wanted to give her some encouragement.

  It was from my past experience and being thrown into my gift as an adult that I felt like I missed out on a mentor. These girls were young, and they could be shaped and molded.

  “I can only speak from experience as a shop owner and because all my customers come in for a reason. They might think they have a heart condition.” I looked at the other girl and then back at Erika. “But in reality it’s the heart ache of something lost.”

  I leaned over the cauldron and looked inside at the translucent, thin potion that was ivory in color. I lifted my finger to my nose to shield it from the black pepper and fish smell. I stuck the tip of my finger in and put a little of the potion on my finger, bringing it to my tongue. The taste of blueberry hit my gut and the vision of a happy couple blueberry picking played like a reel in my head. I steadied myself as I watched the few seconds of the scene play out in my head.

  “It might smell a little strange, but it tastes like blueberry.” I was happy to work with them. “Blueberries carry antioxidants that’s a heart healthy fruit. This person definitely has a heart condition but from a break up.” Both girls looked at each other and then back at me with dipped brows. “Say you are my customer or my patient, I would walk over to you and ask you about your day. Let’s role play,” I suggested to Erika.

  “Good morning, how are you today?” I reached out and touched her. “Now, by me touching you, I’m starting to get in tune with my intuition.”

  “I see.” She nodded eagerly. “I’m just looking around,” she played along.

  “I see that you’re interested in the low stress lotions.” I pretended to pick out a bottle from the air. “Lavender is wonderful.”

  “Yes. Good for sleep.” She was doing a great job pretending. “I’m not sleeping well because I’ve got a little bit of indigestion.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that but I might have something you can use.” I touched her back and pretend to guide her in the other direction. “See what I did there? I touched your arm at first and didn’t get a connection, then as you talked and said you had indigestion, I touched your back to get to the core of your person and guided you to the side where my indigestion and heart products would be in my shop.”

  “So you interact with them and interpret their words while touching them in different areas.” It was like a light bulb went off.

  “Yes. And my intuition is how I know what is really bothering them. In this case,” I gestured to the cauldron, “this person needed a heart potion which you both established. So very good for that, but you have to dig deeper into your intuition to get to the root of their problem. When the potion tasted like blueberry, I got a sense of how much blueberry meant to this client and how as a couple, they picked blueberries together.”

  “I see.” Her hazel eyes opened wide.

  “Now,” I brought her back into the pretend play. “Try this one.” I pretend to put lotion on her hand. “Do you have a significant other?”

  “I did, but he died.” She continued to play along.

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.” I continued to pretend to rub the lotion on her hand. “Do you like this smell? It’s a hint of blueberry.”

  “Oh, now your tapping into the story you felt in your intuition.” Erika snapped.

  “Right.” I smiled when I realized she’d really gotten to the root of the potion and mixing. “This is how you will make a potion just for her. She’s desperately saddened. Not sleeping because of the heartache, not indigestion.”

  “That’s how we know what ingredients to use in her personal care.” The other girl spoke up and reached for some different ingredients to throw into the cauldron. “You’re good.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  It did feel good that they were starting to understand the power of really tapping into their gift. I decided it was time to let them finish on their own and took a couple of steps forward.

  Little did I realize the entire class was looking at me and listening to my analogy. When I looked up to continue walking around the room, I noticed them and the pride glowing on Aunt Helena’s face.

  “You are a sneaky one,” I said when I walked up to her.

  “I just wanted you to see how much you have to offer these girls. I don’t have the young, vibrant teaching skills anymore and we need younger, talented women like you.” She scanned the room. All the girls were busy at their work stations. “June, we could really use you and I think you’ll get so much more out of it than the good pay.”

  Mr. Prince Charming darted off one of the desks and scurried over to the door.

  “I’ve got to go. I’m limited on time, but I’ll think about it.” I gave her a quick hug before Mr. Prince Charming and I rushed into the core of the University.

  Like all mortal Universities, Hidden Hall was no different. There was an active greek life, restaurants, bars, many old buildings, students rushing around, and bicyclists barely missing me.

  “I heard through the breeze you were here.” The familiar voice of Gus Chatham came up from behind me.

  “Gus!” I turned and threw my arms around him. “Look at you.”

  “I’m all grown up with a man cut.” He laughed. Long gone was his shaggy head of hair and baggy surfer dude clothes. He actually had on a wizard hat and cape. “I’ve been teaching.”

  “You have?” I curled my arm into the crook of his arm as we continued to walk down the street. “I’m so proud of you. So, you’re not Aunt Helena’s assistant anymore?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m that too. We are so shorthanded. Now that the villages have opened up to mortals and neighborhoods, spiritualists want more freedom and not to teach the young. Look.” He nodded towards the ornery shaggy dog coming towards us.

  “Elroy!” I bent down and put my arms around the cuddly crystal ball spiritualist that come back in dog form.

  “He’s even back to teach.” Gus gave him a good scratch.

  Mr. Prince Charming and Elroy seemed to be connecting on some sort of animal level, so Gus and I didn’t bother them. Elroy was so darn cute with his small turban on his head and the necklaces of bead around his neck.

  Hidden Hall was a very special place and all of my friends here made me feel so welcomed.

  “I did hear that you were extended an invitation to teach next semester and I can only hope that’s why you are here?” He patted my hand.

  I squeezed his arm.

  “I think Aunt Helena must’ve put you up to greeting me.” I winked and stopped as soon as we got to the front of Wands, Potions and Beyond. “I’m thinking about it, but I’m still a newlywed and have the shop and all.”

  “That’s minor details. It’s not like you can’t go home to see him.” He rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. “What about your heritage? Your family? We’ll be extinct if you don’t help.”

  “I doubt that.” I gave him one last hug. “I’ve got to get my cleaner and head back to Whispering Falls before it’s time to open my shop.”

  He placed both of his hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes.

  “June, please, I beg you to consider taking the teaching position. The deadline is next week before they extend it to someone else,” his voice held concern. “No one is as good as you and no one can motivate these young girls to carry on like a vibrant and hip witch like you.”

  “Fla
ttery will get you everywhere.” I joked and hugged my sweet friend one last time before I headed into the store.

  Wands, Potions, and Beyond was somewhere I could get lost in for hours, not to mention spend all my money. It was one of those places that I walked in to get one thing but walked out with a million more items that I truly didn’t need.

  There were aisle and aisle of ingredients, potions, bottles, wands, clothing, and different things sold exclusively from different villages. It was tempting to buy the latest model cauldron but I knew mine was nice and seasoned, so I hurried away from them so I wouldn’t change my mind and stopped in the next aisle over where the cleaner was located.

  “I swear I smell June Heal.”

  I turned and looked up the aisle.

  “Tilly, my friend.” We started to walk towards each other and met in the middle. We hugged and asked how each other had been doing.

  “I see your hair is still amazingly purple.” I was always jealous of her free-bird style attitude.

  “I’ll never change.” Her white eyes glowed. “What on earth are you doing here so early?”

  “I need cauldron cleaner.” I pointed to the shelf.

  “June,” she tsked, drumming her black tipped fingernails on the cleaner bottle. “Don’t you know that we sale the latest in self-cleaning cauldrons.” Her head tilted. “It’s the latest rage.”

  “I’m good. I like to care for my own.” I grabbed a bottle.

  “I hear there’s a bit of trouble in Whispering Falls.” She led the way to the front of the store so I could check out. “What’s going on?”

  “A spiritualist from Atlanta was accused of killing a mortal. How did you hear?” I pulled the money out of my bag.

  “The Order of Elders were here to work on the shortage of professors and they had to go out west for something, then changed their plans to head your way.” She warned.

  “It doesn’t look good, but I told her I’d help her because I know she didn’t do it. Though the gal that was murdered did see her do some magic and I think she told her mortal friends about it.” I shrugged.

  “Are there any other suspects?” Tilly asked.

  Tilly had always been such a good ear to lean on during my time at Hidden Hall and she’d been able to offer some really good insight on my relationship with Aunt Helena. She had a tendency to look at things in a different way.

  “There is this one girl that claims to be Gabby’s best friend.” I quickly told her about Beth and about Nina. “When I asked Beth who the father of Gabby’s baby was, she took off. Do you know KJ?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “Tall, dark, handsome, and good at what he does.”

  “That’s the one.” I winked. “He opened Happy Herb in Whispering Falls and he’s sent an owl into Locust Grove to follow Beth. I’m curious to see who she talks too and if she can lead me to anyone who else might know Gabby.”

  “You mentioned that Nina left you business card.” Her eyes narrowed. “Not that I want to put you in danger, but why don’t you go see her and try to be a consultant and see what you find out.”

  “Me?” I laughed.

  “Why not?” She drew back. “You don’t need the job, but you could you know.” She twirled her finger in the air. “Use a spell or two to get a party together.”

  “Or I could see if Gabby already had a party lined up and just fill in.” I shrugged and thought that sounded like a good idea. “I just don’t have time to get a full client list because of the Marys. Gabby called on the Marys the night Oscar questioned her.”

  “I heard something about that.” She gave me a sympathetic look.

  “Oh no.” Gossip in the spiritual world was just as bad as in the mortal world.

  “Whatever you decide to do, you better hurry up because I overheard that their mission in the west village was going fast and would be wrapped up a day early.” She handed me the bag with the cleaner in it.

  “A day early?” I gasped and rubbed my bracelet. “Bye!”

  I rushed out the door and met Mr. Prince Charming.

  “We’ve got to hurry up and get back. We’ve only got twenty-four hours to figure out who killed Gabby before the Elders shut us down,” I told him as we ran into the direction of the wheat field.

  Chapter Twenty

  The thought of taking over Gabby’s parties on a temporary basis, though I wouldn’t tell Nina that, did roll around in my head on my way back to Whispering Falls. It wasn’t like I had to work too hard to know what was in the product. I could even put a little spell in them to make them want to come see me and I’d let them know where I was located. It was a win for me investigating the case and getting business up.

  Too bad it was too close to opening time by the time I got to A Charming Cure. The visit to Nina would have to wait.

  “Leah.” I was a little stunned to see her sitting on the step of the shop. “What’s going on?”

  “I wanted to bring you these papers before it got too messy in here when the Order of Elders arrive. I’d rather you get a look at them first.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I really do wish that I didn’t call my parents that night.”

  I put my hand on her arm for a little comfort.

  “First off, you’re very lucky that you have parents who can give you advice.” My eyes softened as I smiled at her. I could feel her body start to release the stress underneath my fingertips. “Secondly, you’re here. You’re learning your way in the world and if there was a next time you get in trouble, which I’m sure there won’t be, then you’ll know what to do instead of running home. You’re growing up.”

  “You always have the right words.” She gave me a quick hug.

  “Come on in.” I moved past her and put the skeleton key in the door, unlocking and flipping on the lights once inside. “We can chat about some things I’ve found out.”

  “Really?” There was a peek of interest in her tone.

  I flipped the sign to open and took a quick look outside to see if Mr. Prince Charming was around then realized I was so caught up in my thoughts on the way back, I didn’t even notice which way he went. With a quick feel of my bracelet, I sucked in a deep breath of the morning air and shut the door.

  “I’ll put these papers on your counter.” Leah walked to the back of the shop and I walked over to the chalkboard to change the daily special, but when I was reminded about the baby potions, I decided to keep it up there.

  “Did you know that Gabby was pregnant?” I asked and headed behind the counter.

  “No. She always said she was tired, but I had no idea.” Leah sat on the stool next to the counter. “I didn’t know much about her. Like I said, I went to one of those parties and she came to my shop. Once she saw my little bags, it was her that wanted to collaborate. I figured it’d be a good idea. Boy was I wrong.”

  “So just to be clear.” I reached underneath the counter to grab the cookies from Wicked Good to go on the hospitality table for the customers. “You two made a deal. On the whim, you agreed to get your name out in Locust Grove or with her customers by making the bags. In turn, you agreed to host a Lifestyle party,” I said on the way over to the table to arrange the cookies and turn on the cauldron of warm tea.

  “That’s right. And after I got to know you and the rest of the village, I knew I’d made a mistake and I couldn’t just worry about myself anymore.” She fiddled with her fingers.

  “See, you’re growing up. When you become a village member, you realize that you’ve got to look out for everyone.” I felt like I was teaching her and it reminded me of the time I’d spent with the young witches this morning at Hidden Hall.

  “I just wish I could take it all back. When she walked in on me, I was trying to do a spell in the bags that would make her forget our deal,” her voice fell away.

  “Let’s take a look at these papers.” I didn’t want to beat her mistake into the ground. It wasn’t anyway for her to learn her mistake. It was just time to move forward as quickly as we could.<
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  “Are you sure you have time this morning?” She asked.

  “Of course I do.” I dragged them to me and flipped to the last page to see what lawyer had put them together. “I don’t recognize this name.”

  “You know a lot of lawyers?” she asked.

  “I grew up in Locust Grove and so did Oscar. We didn’t move here until we were adults.” I left out our age since we were just newly considered adults. “It’s not a big town, but I’ve been gone a few years.”

  “Even if you did know the lawyer, what does that matter?” She leaned over the counter and looked at the name I was pointing to.

  “I would go see them and tell them this was ridiculous.” I tapped the name and my eyes drew over to Nina Teeter’s business card that was resting on the keys of the cash register. “I wonder if this is the lawyer for Lifestyle?”

  “I can’t believe that she’d sue me.” Leah let out a nervous laughter. “It says right here that she’s going to sue me for liability and defamation.”

  “The liability is because of your bag in the hands of her customers. And if something happened to a customer with your bag, not that something bad could happen, but her insurance wouldn’t pay for it since you didn’t hold up on your end of the deal. The defamation is that you’re gaining customers because you’re using her name and product to get your product into their hands.” I hated to say it, but it looked pretty binding. “This alone would be enough for a prosecutor, a mortal one,” I was sure to point out because this was a mortal we were dealing with, “to say that you killed her out of passion. It’s the black locust seed poisoning that makes it look like murder one, pre-meditation.”

  “So you’re telling me that you found out nothing to help me and I’m in big trouble.” She gulped and pushed her brown hair behind her shoulder. “And my only hope is the Order of Elders?”

  “Not at all. I do have a suspicion that Gabby’s best friend might have a motive, but I’ve got to go to Locust Grove to check out a few things.” I grabbed the business card and stared at it. “I don’t want to burden you with the details because you already have a lot on your plate, but the rules never stated that you can’t work in a shop in the village, you just can’t work in your shop or perform your gift.”