He snaps his fingers and the file in Helga’s hand flies to him. “Enough of that, Helga.”
She crosses her arms and glares at him. He waddles to the table not too far from where Helga is seated at the bar. He motions for Ruby and Jay to join him. They scurry over and sit down. Higgins pulls out a few manila folders and places them down on the table before them.
He gets his glasses out and adjusts them onto his nose while he pulls out the papers from the first folder. He then grabs a pen from one of his pockets.
Agnes pops out of the kitchen with six glasses and places one in front of everyone, including a spot next to Helga. Agnes then whistles and a pitcher of milk wafts out of the kitchen and goes to each person’s glass to pour a cup.
“Brownies will be out in a minute,” Agnes says and heads back into the kitchen with the pitcher following close behind.
Higgins takes a small sip from his glass before he places it back down. He looks up at Jay and begins, “Jay, how are you adjusting?”
Jay plays with the salt shakers, ignoring his cup of milk. “Oh fine, I guess.”
“What’s wrong?” Higgins asks.
“Nothing, it’s just a pain, that’s all,” Jay complains, “with needing to take a potion at exact times with exact dosages or else.”
Higgins clears his throat. “Yes, I can see how that would be a pain. What about your magic lessons? I see that you have been doing exceptionally well in advance defense and attack spells.”
“Yeah, those have been fun . . . but like I said—it’s a pain when I’m trying to do something complicated and I get interrupted by the ‘time to take your medicine’ alarm.” Jay lays his head on the table. “I can’t do anything that requires massive concentration with that always on my mind.”
Higgins’s bushy mustache waggles back and forth as he sits back scratching his chin. He pats Jay on the head, encouraging, “Buck up, son, our magic team is working on that cure, but for now you’ll have to continue taking this serum.”
“Whatever,” Jay groans.
Turning to Ruby, Higgins asks, “Now, Ruby, how are you doing?”
Ruby fusses with the ends of her shirt, not making eye contact. “Fine, I guess.”
“Hmm, Jay tells me that you have not been taking your serum as instructed. Is that true?” he gently prods.
She looks up with wide eyes, retorting, “No.”
“Come now, I can smell lies.” He taps his nose.
Helga chimes in, “Yeah, he can,” pointing to her ankle bracelet.
Ruby clenches her shirt into her hands and answers, “Okay, yeah, maybe once or twice . . . but . . . but I only wanted to see what would happen, honest.”
Higgins chuckles, promising, “Don’t fret, dear. You’re not in any trouble.”
“For real?” she asks.
Adjusting his glasses, Higgins clears his throat again. “All I ask of you is that you take your serum as instructed from this point on, alright?”
“Okay.”
“Brownie time,” Agnes sings as she walks out of the kitchen with a tray full of hot delicious brownies.
Helga nabs some as Agnes passes her, and Ursa calls a few to her with magic. Agnes presents the plate before Higgins, Jay, and Ruby, who grab some.
Jay bites into the hot chocolaty goodness and moans, “Agnes, these are awesome, I’m so glad y’all weren’t shut down.”
“I agree,” Ruby says with her mouth full, “Say, how did you pass the inspection?”
Jay nods asking the same, “How did you pass the inspection?”
Ursa replies, “The Order Of Magic helped out.”
“OOM helped out?” Jay asks in a higher tone.
Nodding her head, Ursa responds, “Yeah, they did. They wiped that inspector’s mind along with all those that saw the flooded shop that day.”
“Why?” Ruby asks.
“Um,” Ursa looks over at Higgins, “because of what Helga did . . .”
Ruby squints her eyes at Ursa. “What Helga did? Um, wasn’t she the reason why the shop filled up with toads and frogs in the first place?”
Agnes tries to answer, “Helga was able to help OOM find more of the TRUE spies within their headquarters and—”
Helga jumps in, “Look, all you need to know is that OOM decided to help because they are the good guys.” She shoots a mischievous grin at Higgins, adding, “They can’t let a place that has awesome brownies be shut down, now can they?”
“Quite,” Higgins agrees, finishing up his brownie and emitting an unexpected, “HEE-HAW.” Quickly he places his hand on his mouth. “Oh my . . .”
Everyone laughs as they too start to intertwine their outbursts with occasional HEE-HAWs.
Jay wipes the tears from his eyes, “Agnes, *HEE-HAW*, these are some awesome, *HEE-HAW* brownies.”
“Yep, *HEE-HAW*” Agnes agrees.
Ursa laughs, “Thank you, Mr. Higgins, *HEE-HAW* for getting us *HEE-HAW* the joke *HEE-HAW* goods permit.”
“You’re *HEE-HAW* quite *HEE-HAW* welcome,” he coughs.
They all bust out into laughter again as they continue to erupt donkey sounds for the next few minutes. A half-hour passes as several more non-joke goodies are enjoyed by the party.
Jay spies Helga trying to file her anklet off again. He tells her, “Helga, stop it, please.”
“Mind your own business,” she hisses and works the file again on the plastic.
Higgins snaps his fingers. “Where are you getting these?” he huffs as the second file flies out of Helga’s hands and lands in his outstretched palms.
He closes his fingers around it, asking, “Helga, please, do you seriously want to go back to prison?”
“No,” she grumps.
“How long does she have to wear that?” Jay asks in-between gulps of his drink.
“About six months.” Higgins gives Helga a dead stare and adds, “IF she behaves.”
Helga sticks her tongue out at Higgins and then turns her back on him. Higgins grabs one of the manila folders and pulls out two envelopes before he rises from his seat. He walks over to Helga and places one of the envelopes before her and hands the other to Agnes who is leaning idly on the countertop munching on a cookie.
Agnes, startled, drops her cookie, and asks, “What are these?”
“Your official examination invitations, Agnes,” Higgins replies.
“Hey, genius,” Helga asks, “how do you expect me to go take them when I’m under house arrest?”
Higgins leans against the countertop, “You, Helga, will be escorted to your test. I have personally received permission from OOM for you to leave these premises to go do your examinations.”
“How nice.” Helga cracks a half grin.
“Heh, I thought I already took these,” Agnes laughs as she waves the envelope in the air.
With a sigh Higgins answers, “Sadly, you did not. You were on the docket, but you never showed up.”
Agnes blinks a few times as her lips purse. “Oh.” Then with a sheepish grin, she admits, “Guess I forgot. Ha ha.”
“Yes, but you won’t forget this time,” Helga hums, “We’ll have an escort.”
Ursa asks, “What time?”
Helga takes another look at the papers and pales, moaning, “Ugh, at the butt crack of dawn.”
Jay and Ruby laugh at Helga.
Ruby still snickering turns to Agnes, “Agnes, how did you forget to take your exams in the first place?”
Agnes scratches her head. “Uh, I really can’t remember . . . I think it had something to do with ice cream and a sudden date with a vampire?”
“VAMPIRE?” the group shouts.
“Er, yeah, back then I was dating some vampire. The facts are a bit hazy, but I think he was one of the reasons why I never got to my exams.”
“It wasn’t Dracula, was it?” Ruby asks as she hides her face behind her hands.
Higgins interrupts, “No, it could not have been Dracula. He’s still over in Transylvania and was back the
n too. It must have been some other vampire.”
“Ugh, I can’t believe they’re real,” Ruby shudders, “I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to the magic world.”
Jay rubs her shoulders trying to soothe Ruby with a soft voice, “Hey, we’ll take one step at a time, alright? No mean vampire is gonna hurt you, Ruby, I promise.”
Agnes turns to Helga, “Hey, are their potions ready? It’s almost time for Jay and Ruby to head out. We don’t want them to be late for school.”
“Hold your horses.” Helga leaps off the stool waving her hand dismissively at Agnes. “Don’t get your panties in a wad.”
She gets to the kitchen door when the lights flicker. Helga hitches her hip and rests her hand on the door jam while she examines the cuticles on her other hand. The ghost makes her appearance right in front of Helga. She looks up at the girl floating before her, blocking her entrance into the kitchen.
“Becky likes you some, now that you’re a little less mean,” the little girl ghost informs Helga.
“But I’m still really tired of you,” Helga responds and then grabs her wand from her back pocket and zaps the ghost. Her whole arm flashes with intense pain. She manages to holler, “Go haunt someone else’s pantry for a while.”
The ghost shrieks, “Fine!” She stomps about in midair and then fades away.
“Good riddance,” Helga snorts rubbing her hand to soothe the stings.
She walks on into the kitchen to get the two potions bubbling on the burners. She quickly tests the contents to make sure that they are the correct serum before cooling and corking them.
Returning back to the front she hands Jay one of the bottles and Ruby the other, giving the following advice, “Take the serum as directed, once in the morning, once at night. Three drops each, nothing more and nothing slight.”
Jay gives her a thumbs-up. “No problem. Right, Ruby?” He ribs Ruby.
“Yeah, sure, no problem,” Ruby mumbles.
“No experimenting,” Helga orders.
“Fine,” Ruby gripes while rolling her eyes, “I won’t experiment, I swear.”
Helga turns to Jay to say, “Make sure she doesn’t experiment.”
He grimaces, “I’ll do my best.”
Higgins pulls out his pocket watch, declaring, “Hey, you two should get going or you are going to be late.”
Jay and Ruby head for the door with Higgins following close behind. They all pause for a minute as Jay and Ruby say their good-byes and then leave.
Higgins, still at the door, glances at Agnes first and then Helga. “Tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. sharp—be ready and good luck.”
The bell above the door jingles as it closes shut. The sisters watch as Higgins waddles away from the shop.
Helga pulls another file from her pocket and starts working on her anklet again.
Her sisters protest, “HELGA!”
“What?” she cries, “What did I do?”
18
All Clear
Another week passes after Helga and Agnes take their exams. Ursa continues to ask them what happened at the exams that would cause OOM to call in their special forces. The two refuse to talk about it and blame the other for whatever happened that day.
Helga is sitting on the bar stool again, looking at herself in the mirror, admiring her original flesh-tone color since the green finally faded away. Ursa is at the register handling the customers that come in to grab their to-go orders.
“Uh, Helga, I hate to interrupt,” Ursa asks biting her lip, “but could you mind the register for a bit?”
Helga places the mirror down on the counter. “Uhngh, why can’t you do it?”
“I have to hit the little girls’ room,” she answers with urgency.
“OH!” Helga jumps up and rushes over to the counter, shooing Ursa off to the bathroom.
Ursa scoots past Helga as she hurries off to take care of business. More customers come in asking for various joke goodies, telling Helga that these are the talk of the town. Helga half-heartedly listens to the customers drone on about their fandom for Agnes’s baked goods. Her attention is brought back when one of the customers places a bottle with a tattered label down in front of her.
“Wanna explain this?” the woman’s voice demands.
Helga stares at the bottle and then looks up to see one of her most faithful customers standing there, arms crossed, and foot tapping on the floor.
“Mabel?” Helga inquires.
“Yeah,” she starts, “your Vivacious Vixen potion was a dud.”
“Huh?”
“It was a dud,” Mabel goes on, “Instead of my date falling MADLY IN LOVE with me—he leaves me at the dinner table to go run some stupid midnight marathon.”
She sniffs, “I was devastated! I’ve never been so humiliated in my whole life. I didn’t have my purse, so I had no money and I ended up doing the dishes to pay for my bill.”
Mabel leans in and says through clenched teeth, “It wasn’t cheap.”
“Um, I’m sorry?” Helga offers.
“You should be.” Mabel primps her hair.
Helga takes another look at the bottle as she hears Ursa come out from the bathroom.
“What’s going on here?” Ursa asks.
“Mabel apparently got an energy potion instead of the love potion.”
Ursa snatches the bottle from Helga. “HEY!” Helga shouts.
Taking a closer look, Ursa starts to peel the label away to reveal the original one hidden beneath it. They both look at the false label and the real one on the potion bottle. Mabel raps her fingernails on the counter, waiting for something.
Helga takes the cue and opens the register, “Here,” she hands Mabel some money, “I’m sorry there was a mix-up with your potion.”
Mabel seizes the money from Helga, remarking, “Thank you, that will do nicely. I accept your apology.”
She walks over to one of the tables and sits down. She picks up one of the menus to peruse its offerings.
Ursa whispers, shaking the false label, “How did this happen?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Helga replies in a hushed tone, “Remember, there were a lot of potions that got mixed up. We can only expect more to come in over the following weeks.”
Helga snaps her finger, rushes over to the coffee counter to sift through the junk drawer. Then she pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. She waves it in the air a few times to release some of its wrinkles and brings it back over to Ursa.
“Remember this?” she asks Ursa.
“What about it?”
“I recall someone a few weeks ago was in charge of labeling the bottles,” Helga states.
“So?”
“So, I remember it was YOU who was in charge of labeling them,” Helga explains, jabbing her sister in the chest.
Ursa is about to reply when Agnes comes out from the kitchen, calling, “Mabel? No one told me that you were here!”
“Agnes!” Mabel stands up and rushes over to Agnes. They both hug, and Mabel pulls back, explaining, “I came to get another order of the love potion since the last one was a dud.” She jerks her thumb back at Helga and Ursa.
“Err, about that,” Agnes begins.
“What?” Mabel asks, eyes searching.
“We’re not really in the potions business anymore,” Agnes says while rubbing the back of her head.
“Oh dear.” Mabel bites her fist, querying, “I have a date tonight, what am I to do?”
“Be yourself?” Ursa suggests.
Mabel scoffs, “Fine for you to suggest that, toots, but not all of us were blessed with your confidence.”
Helga jumps between the two. “Enough with the cat fight.” She faces Mabel, “Look, I’m sorry we don’t carry that one love potion anymore. Until Agnes and I get our potions license we are forbidden from making ANY potions unless permitted by OOM.”
Mabel blinks a few times looking confused. “I thought you were licensed already.”
“Nope,” Agnes adm
its with a weak grin, “sorry.”
“You mean,” she asks, looking between the sisters with her mouth wide open, “I’ve been taking unlicensed potions?”
“Oh, get over yourself,” Helga pushes, “It’s not like you got any side effects.”
“Thank goodness that I haven’t.” Mabel sits down at one of the tables and lets out a sigh.
Ursa turns the bottle over in her hand, and Agnes sees it, noting, “Hey, that’s one of ours.”
“Yeah, Mabel returned it to us,” Ursa answers.
“Any clue as to how these potions got mixed up?” Agnes asks her sisters.
“I do,” Helga answers.
Both sisters, including Mabel, turn their heads, waiting for Helga to spill her theory on the mix-up. Helga waits a moment to add to the dramatic silence.
“Get on with it,” Mabel prompts.
“Fine,” Helga says, “Here’s what I think happened . . .” She begins to pace about the room.
“It was getting late, and I had more potions to make for my ‘book club’ but you now know they were really for Lady Ava. I had a stack of labels for Ursa to put on the bottles. I put them here,” Helga indicates close to the register, “and told Ursa to label the bottles while I was out.”
“Yes, I remember that,” Ursa adds.
“It is possible that a gust of wind or some malicious spirit may have knocked over the stack scattering them onto the floor,” Helga rubs her neck, “thus changing the order. Someone must of have seen the labels on the floor and hastily restacked them.”
“Oh YEAH!” Agnes volunteers, “I remember! There was a whole bunch of labels on the floor when I came out of the kitchen to put more brownies on display. I picked them up and put them right back next to the register.”
“Okay, that confirms part of my theory,” Helga goes on, “but it doesn’t explain how the bottles still got mislabeled, for we all know to test a potion first before slapping a label on it.”
Helga stops before Ursa, who is filing her nails. “So, Ursa, how come you didn’t test the potions first before applying the labels?”
She stops filing, and her mouth slightly opens and turns into a sheepish grin. “Um, Helga, can I be honest with you?”
Potion of the Hound: Mystical Mishaps Series Book 1 Page 21
