by Demy Watts
After her brief meeting with Owen, Fern glanced at her watch, noticing it was lunchtime. She needed to check on a few things out back in the nursery, so she flipped the sign on the front door to state that she would be back in an hour. Any customer would presume she was on her lunch break. Fern also locked the door on the inside – what she was about to do could not be witnessed by anyone.
She walked through the shop and out into the back area. When she reached the far corner, she faced the wall. Taking a quick breath she recited some words softly and then looked up.
“Libero sigillum.” Release the seal.
Stepping back, she watched as the brick wall parted before her, creaking and sliding across to the other side. Fern smiled at the sight before her and stepped into the bright warm sunlight. Clapping her hands in glee, she looked around at her nursery, the new flowers already blooming and basking in the heat.
“Yessss! It worked!” Fern fist-pumped the air, grinning wildly. She had consulted her Book of Shadows a hundred times and was still failing at her attempts with weather charms. Until today. Each time she had tried the sun charm, it had only lasted for a few hours, before it faded. Yesterday, she tried once again, fully expecting to see the same result today, but this was a wonderful surprise! Even better was the array of bright colours and perfume that filled her senses from the young plants, which had sprouted overnight.
Fern spun around the room, enjoying the feeling of the warmth on her skin. She let out a loud giggle – if she closed her eyes, she could very well be on a beach in the Caribbean!
Walking over to her temperature dials, she looked over the instruments, making a few notes along the way. She had thankfully set it to the optimal temperature for the seeds to germinate quickly and she recorded these for the next time. The next time she’d do a sun charm! She grinned at the thought because so far, this was the hardest weather spell she had invoked. Fern felt immensely pleased with her success at last and she couldn’t wait to show Zinnia. Even though she had pleaded with her aunt many a time to set the sun charm, Zinnia had firmly refused, insisting that Fern needed to learn it for herself. And now she could do it! Leaning down and gently kissing a young tropical hibiscus, she wondered around the rest of the nursery checking on the other plants. Another day of heat would be good for them, before she’d lower the temperature slightly. It would be fantastic when the flowers would be ready to be sold in the shop – Fern was sure she’d draw customers from even further afield, once word spread about her tropical ornamentals. It would be great for attracting new business to The Magic Garden. She just had to keep her fingers crossed that her power was strong enough to set the sun charm once again.
Happy with the progress and feeling incredibly proud, Fern finally retreated from the nursery, stepping out and into the back room once again. She immediately missed the warmth of the sunshine. A shiver ran up her spine at the sudden drop in temperature and she sighed heavily. Closing her eyes, she reluctantly whispered the incantation and opened her eyes, facing the wall once again.
“Signantes litteras ostium.” Seal the door.
Fern watched as the wall slowly creaked and moved into motion, sliding across the concrete floor. A minute later, the sun was fully blocked out as the wall resumed its original place. No trace of any movement in the wall or floor could be detected. Satisfied, she turned around. And stopped short.
Fern had been practicing her gift of reading peoples’ auras but so far, she had little success. Alana had told her she just looked plain weird as she tried to concentrate, which gave her an almost glassy look. Unfortunately, when she tried to experiment discreetly behind a pair of sunglasses, that didn’t work either as it made the colours difficult to read. But something caught her eye by her desk.
Fern slowly walked over, afraid to disturb anything. There, in front of her, as plain as day, was a bright blue, small band of vibrating energy. Fern blinked a couple of times, recognising the personal signature that didn’t belong to her. If she recalled correctly, it was Lady Pince-Wittington’s! Fern let out a gasp. What on earth was she doing snooping around her back room?
Tapping her fingers against the desk, Fern quickly tried to remember the last time Cecily was in here buying flowers. She always felt intimidated by the older lady, who would mostly turn her nose up at the ornamentals. Most were apparently “too common” for her Manor estate. Fern clicked her fingers. Of course! Cecily came in last Thursday enquiring after one of the more rare type of plant that Fern stocked. She recalled their conversation.
“Good morning, Lady Pince-Wittington. May I help you?”
Cecily Pince-Wittington had eyed Fern up and down before bothering to answer. Fern bristled but kept the smile plastered on her face.
“I’m not sure, dear. I’ve heard you stock Perovskia. Or Russian Sage as it’s more commonly known.”
“Yes, in fact I do. But I need to run out to the greenhouses out the back to check if they’re ready to go. Would you mind waiting for a few minutes?”
She looked at her watch impatiently. “Fine, dear. Just as well I have a little free time this morning.”
So that was it. That was when she must have snuck into the back. But, for what? What was she after? When Fern had returned from the greenhouse, it now made sense why Cecily seemed so keen to leave at the time.
It was most confusing, but Fern decided to confront her as soon as she could to find out the truth.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, but Fern had a lot of things on her mind so she didn’t mind the lack of traffic.
Just as she started proceedings for closing, she looked up and saw Angela Barker coming into the shop, dressed in her staple farm gear of wellie boots and overalls. In her early thirties, she was always pleasant with Fern.
“Hi Fern. Is it okay to grab one of your seasonal bunches before you close up?”
“Certainly, Angela. Let me wrap that up for you.” She took the selected bunch out of Angela’s hand and set to work with wrapping it in film paper. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She looked up and smiled casually.
“So, did you have a nice weekend? Do anything nice?”
Fern noticed Angela momentarily freeze before she quickly blinked. “Er, yes, you know, just the usual.”
“You mean, you stayed at home all weekend?”
Angela looked at her quizzically. “Well, yes and no. I had a few things to do, but I was mostly around.” She glanced at her watch. “That’s fine, Fern. I’ll take them as they are.”
“I’ll only be a minute longer. I just need to grab a new roll of ribbon.”
“No. Leave it, honestly it’s fine.” Angela reached out and practically snatched the bunch of flowers out of Fern’s hand. Hastily throwing down a note, she quickly headed for the door.
“Wait! I need to give you your change.”
Angela pulled open the door and hurriedly stepped outside. “Keep it.” She called over her shoulder.
Fern looked at her fast retreating back in shock. That was very odd behaviour indeed. Fern thought she’d try and discretely find out Angela’s whereabouts over the weekend, but hadn’t expected such a cagey response. Could she have anything to do with the poisoning of the sheep?
Fern knew she’d have to dig deeper.
Half an hour later, armed with her invoice books in hand, Fern crossed the road to head in the direction of the small police station, where she was going to deposit her books to Willie.
Glancing at her phone, she became distracted and felt herself bump hard against someone.
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Fern looked up apologetically, into the face of Charles Pince-Wittington. Sir Chesterton and Lady Cecily’s son.
“No problem, Fern. My apologies too for not looking where I was going either. Are you alright?”
Fern offered him a smile. Just over ten years older than her, Charles very much looked like a younger version of his father.
“I’m absolutely fine, thank you.”
“Jolly good, then.
Well, right-ho, I’ll be on my way, then.”
He went to step by her.
“Charles? I’m very sorry to hear about your father’s sheep.”
In the pale evening light, she noticed his lips press together and he frowned at her. “Yes. Thank you for the condolences but I can’t say they’ll be missed!”
“Oh. Why’s that?”
“I’m afraid I must go, Fern. I’m running late.”
Without another word, this time he stepped past her and briskly continued on his way.
Fern contemplated his bitter words. That was a pretty harsh thing to say about his father’s beloved sheep.
Could he have poisoned them?
Fern’s mind was now spinning with possibilities. She couldn’t wait to get home and discuss her suspicions with Zinnia and Essie.
Suddenly, it felt like there were a lot of plausible suspects.
Chapter Five
Once Fern dropped off her books to Willie, she set off home. Walking along the stream, she tried to gather her thoughts. Certainly, both Angela and Charles were acting suspiciously, but it was also a mystery why Lady Cecily was snooping around her things. She needed to get to the bottom of it – after all, it was to Fern’s benefit in order to clear her name from the suspect list.
On the other hand, when she thought about her successful sun charm, a grin spread across her face. It certainly was an eventful day at work.
Opening the front door, she called out for Zinnia, but the house was empty. Fern thought that she was most probably still in the field with Roman.
Zinnia was known as the unofficial animal trainer and healer in the village. Due to her gifts, she had a special affinity with animals and had been training them over the years, ranging from service dogs to royal cats. Her reputation carried her far past the village and at times, she could be away for up to two weeks at once. The only animal that seemed least affected by her, was Essie, who refused to give into her wiles. He proclaimed he was his own man. Fern had bit her lip at the time from pointing out that he was in fact, a British Blue.
Hanging up her coat, she glanced around.
“Essie? Are you home?”
She heard a strangling noise coming from upstairs. Fern’s heart rate immediately spiked and she bounded up the stairs in search of the noise.
“Essie! Essie! Are you up here?” She was met with another strangled sound.
Eyes sweeping over the hallway, she didn’t spot him in his favourite cat tree, which overlooked the stairs. The noise seemed to be coming from the direction of her bedroom, so Fern ran that way.
Pushing open the door, heart thumping, Fern spotted Essie lying down in the middle of her bed.
“Essie, are you okay?”
He groaned again.
“Essie! Talk to me!”
“I almost died today.”
“What?!” Fern ran towards the bed, eyes scanning his body for any obvious signs of blood or torn fur. “What happened?” She gently sat down on the bed and lightly stroked his back.
“Those awful barn cats. That’s what.”
“Wait. Barn cats?” Fern screwed up her forehead in concentration. “You mean the ones that live at the Manor with the Pince-Wittington’s?”
“Precisely. Those foul creatures. They practically attacked me earlier.”
“What were you doing there, Essie?” Fern spoke gently, waiting for his answer. Slowly Essie stood and rearranged himself, before plopping back down. Fern hated to say it, but he looked absolutely fine to her.
“I decided to do some investigating of my own. I thought I’d try and persuade them to talk to me so that I could provide some answers for you.”
“Oh, Essie. Thank you. Did you have any joy with them?”
He shuddered. “Well, no, not exactly. They rounded on me as soon as they saw me. Naturally, I could have very well held my own, but I was in no mood for a fight today.”
Fern nodded. “Of course. I’d hate for you to get hurt.”
“Thanks, dear girl. Well, anyway, they rounded on me and started hissing away. I tried to reason with them, but they weren’t having a bar of it. They spat out that I was living a privileged life and that I wasn’t their kind.”
“Oh, Essie. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, dear. I’m certainly not. I’d hate to be living a life like them – scrounging around for food and all sorts. Gosh, I couldn’t help but ask them when was the last time they even washed.”
Fern covered her mouth, stifling a giggle. “You said that to them?”
“Well, yes and let’s just say that things quickly went south from there onwards. I’m afraid I left with my head in the air – I’m certainly not going to go pleading with such low-lives like that for information.”
Fern bent down and hugged him. “Thank you for trying. Are you okay now? When you said you nearly died, I was scared stiff.”
“Yes, well, I could have nearly died. And it would’ve probably been from an infected scratch from their filthy paws!”
“Oh, Essie. I do love you, so.” Fern smiled and rubbed her face against his silken fur.
She felt him purring against her and was thankful that those cats didn’t attack him. “I’m so happy that you’re okay.”
“So, how was your day?”
“It was…interesting. Lots to tell you, but we’ll wait for Zinnia to get home.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be awake. I have missed out on a lot of snoozing time today, you know?”
Fern smiled. He could be very spoilt sometimes. “Okay, since you’ve had such a traumatic time, I’ll tell you my highlight of the day.”
“Do tell. I’m not getting any younger, here.”
“Have you ever heard of patience, Essie? I’m trying to build it up!”
He purred some more, his way of an apology.
“Okay, so remember the sun charm that I just couldn’t crack?”
“Yes, of course. You’ve been trying for months to get it right.”
“Well…I did it!”
“Really?” Essie even opened his eyes, giving Fern his full attention. “As in, I could go in there and bask in the warm sunlight?”
“Yes!” Fern’s grin split her face. “At least I hope it’s still working. It’s been going since yesterday.”
“That’s wonderful, Fern. I was waiting for you to get it right. God knows, sunshine in in this country is a rarity as it is. Can I come into work with you tomorrow? My old bones could do with a blast of warmth.”
Fern laughed. “Of course you can.”
“Yoooo-hoooo! Is anyone home?” Fern heard the front door slam shut.
“Aunt Zinnia. We’re upstairs!”
Fern heard her movements downstairs as she peeled off her outer garments. A few minutes later, Fern heard the stairs creak as Zinnia made her way up them. A moment later, she came into view.
“Hello, loveys.” She walked into Fern’s bedroom and perched on a chair. “What’s going on? Everything okay?”
“Essie had a run-in today.”
“You mean I was practically attacked.” He interrupted.
Zinnia’s eyes widened with concern. “Oh my goodness! Are you okay, Essie?”
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. But it could have been a lot worse.”
Fern quickly explained what happened and visibly saw Zinnia relax. She winked at her.
“Well, I’m glad you managed to get away in time.” Zinnia gave Essie a few scratches around his ears, which seemed to appease him.
“How’s Roman, Zinnia?”
A smile spread across her face. “He’s fantastic.”
“What? He came around at last?”
“Yes, he did. He was so much better behaved. I think the thought of being sold off to a different farm, made him reconsider his attitude.”
“That’s fantastic. I’m so pleased he’s changed.”
Zinnia reached over and patted Fern’s knee. “Thank you, darling. We still have some way to go, but Farmer Jerry was most
pleased this afternoon.”
“Good work, Zinnia.” Essie yawned and stretched. “Fern had a busy day too. I’ve been waiting to hear all about it.”
Zinnia tucked her short hair behind her ears. “Anything exciting, Fern?”
Fern grinned. “I have successfully invoked a sun charm!”
“Really? It worked? The seeds germinated?”
“Not only have they germinated, but I have young tropical plants in the nursery.”
“Fern, that’s wonderful.” Zinnia stood up and held up her hand. “Put it there, girl!” Fern laughed and high-fived her aunt.
“You must stop by tomorrow so that I can show you.”
“I will-“
“Can you take one of my cushions with you, please?” Essie interrupted Zinnia with his request. “Fern said I can bask in the sun and have a little siesta there.”
“Of course, Essie.” Zinnia rolled her eyes playfully at Fern. “Your wish is my command, sir.”
Fern then told them about the events of her day. They were all silent afterwards, whilst they thought about it. Finally, Zinnia spoke.
“Fern, I’m really proud of you. You are getting a lot more in tune with your powers and you’re becoming stronger. Detecting that small band of Cecily’s aura is absolutely brilliant.”
Fern coloured lightly at her words. Zinnia was an incredible witch and mentor – for her to be so complimentary was a big deal. “It’s taken me ages to get any sort of grasp on it.”
“Trust me, Fern, not as long as I’ve experienced before. Some of the girls I used to teach just never got it. It was rendered a weaker power for those few.”
Fern nodded, happy with the confidence boost. Years ago, when Fern was still living with her mother and sister at home, Zinnia used to be a teacher. She spent a lot of time in Romania, tutoring the young witches there about prescient dreams and aura reading amongst other subjects.
“But anyway, back to the matter at hand. Why on earth was Lady Cecily going through your things?” Zinnia frowned in concentration. “It doesn’t make sense.”
