by Rose Pressey
Chapter 12
Nicolas stepped forward, letting me know that he wanted to speak to Arthur. I knew he was going to question Arthur.
“Arthur, you remember Nicolas.” I motioned, hoping that they would shake hands.
Arthur stuck his hand out toward Nicolas. “Nice to see you again.”
Nicolas moved over and reluctantly grasped his hand. I could tell by the way he moved his body he was trying to be intimidating. Either Arthur wasn’t intimidated or he wasn’t picking up on it because it seemed to have no effect on him.
“Just exactly what are you doing here?” Nicolas asked.
Arthur stared at him for a moment without speaking. I couldn’t believe Nicolas had asked him that. After all, so far Arthur had been nothing but nice. And he hadn’t been here during the incident with Cora. Of course that didn’t mean that he was completely innocent, but I just didn’t pick up that vibe from him.
“I’m in Enchantment Pointe for business. I thought this was a bed-and-breakfast with rooms for rent.” His jaw tightened.
I hoped this didn’t turn into a fight. I stepped forward between the two men.
“Yes, this is a bed-and-breakfast and I’m renting you a room. I’m delighted to have you staying here.” I smiled.
Nicolas’ tension radiated from behind me. Arthur looked at me and then back at Nicolas. They had a stare-off for a few minutes.
“Let me know if you need any recommendations for dinner. Hopefully without a magic spell involved.” I chuckled.
I knew that my nervousness was coming through. Arthur smiled at me for a couple seconds and then turned and went up the stairs.
I turned to Nicolas. “What are you doing?”
His jaw was clenched tight and his fists at his sides. I placed my hands on his chest so that he would snap out of it.
Finally, he looked at me. “I’m sorry, Hallie, I just don’t want a repeat of what happened to you.”
“I appreciate that, but I also don’t want to lose business. Things are just now turning around.”
He touched my cheek. “I’ll do better.”
“Besides, what makes you so sure that he’s up to no good?”
He shrugged. “Nothing, I suppose. It’s just the way he looks.”
“He looks nice to me,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s part of the problem,” Nicolas said.
“So you don’t think I’m a good judge of character?” I asked.
“If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, no, I don’t.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Now I’ll have to prove you wrong, won’t I?”
“I’d like nothing more than to be proven wrong by you.” He leaned down and kissed me again.
I was still a little mad at him at first, but then my tension eased. I supposed I could see where he would think I was a bad judge of character. I’d been wrong on many occasions. I was just being stubborn and needed to admit when I was wrong. Except this time I didn’t think I was wrong and I would prove that to him.
When the front door opened, we spun around. Liam stormed through to the parlor.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He ran his hand through his hair. “I came to make sure you’re okay. I just couldn’t shake off that bad vibe.”
With his dark hair and piercing blue eyes, Liam looked a lot like his half-brother. They had the same father, who had remarried after his first wife had been turned by a vampire when Nicolas was just a baby. There was only a couple years’ difference in their ages. That had been back in the 1800s.
Liam and Nicolas exchanged a look and nodded. I got the feeling they had already discussed this.
“You guys need to calm down,” I said.
They offered no response.
I waved my hands. “Hello? Don’t treat me like I’m a damsel in distress who needs to be protected.”
“Nicolas, would you go with me out on the front porch? I need to talk to you about something.” Liam gestured.
I rolled my eyes. As if I didn’t know what they were talking about.
“We’ll be right back,” Nicolas said and then headed toward the foyer with Liam.
How long should I let them continue this little game? Obviously, they didn’t think I could handle myself. I’d thought they knew me better than that by now. Sure, I had self-doubt sometimes, but deep down I knew I could get things done.
I paced the hardwood floor as I waited for them to return. After a couple of minutes, they walked back in. They stood in the room’s entrance, side by side, and looked at me.
I quirked an eyebrow. “Are y’all done yet?”
“What do you mean?” Liam gazed at me with his big blue eyes.
They tried to act as if they had no clue what they were doing wrong, but the looks on their faces gave them away.
“I’m upset with both of you,” I said.
They frowned.
“Why are you upset with us, Hallie?” Liam asked.
I placed my hands on my hips. “I can handle myself, in case you all didn’t know.”
Nicolas moved close and touched my arms. “Hallie, we will never let anything happen to you. If that means being a little overprotective, then that’s what we have to do.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s not what you have to do.”
“Then what do you expect us to do?” Liam asked.
“Be there when I need you? We don’t know that anything is wrong yet. So you all need to calm down. Do you understand?” I stared at them with my stern face, which I was pretty sure didn’t appear intimidating in the least.
The men reluctantly nodded, but I knew they didn’t want to agree.
“You have to tell Liam what’s going on.” Nicolas gestured with a tilt of his head.
“There’s more?” Liam’s voice raised a level. They really had formed a bond since that rainy night when they’d shown up at my front door.
“I have quite a few guests,” I said.
“That’s a good thing,” Liam said.
“One of them claims the other one killed her.”
Liam’s mouth dropped open a little and he just stared. “You’re kidding.”
I released a deep breath and then said, “Jolene’s kind of been reanimated.”
Liam leaned against the sofa. “Hey, that’s just like you used to do. Back when you used to mess up spells, of course.”
“Did you really have to remind me?” I asked.
“Sorry,” he said. “So what makes her think this?”
I shrugged. “Apparently, they were trying Cora’s love potion and Jolene says that she died after drinking it.”
“Did Cora want her to drink it so she could bring her back, or was it an accident and then Cora had to bring her back? Plus, where did Cora get the power to reanimate?” Nicolas asked.
That was what made me wonder if it was really me who had done it. I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I don’t know. I’m trying to prove that it actually happened at all.”
“There should be a way to do that,” Liam said.
“We want to sneak into her room and see if the remainder of the love potion is there.”
“That sounds like it should be easy enough,” Liam said with a smile.
“You haven’t met Cora,” I said.
“Oh, how difficult can she be?” Liam asked.
I quirked an eyebrow.
“That difficult, huh?” he said.
I nodded. “Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean that we should give up. We’ll just have to find a way to get the potion.”
Liam crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Can’t you just ask for it?”
“You’d think that asking Cora would be the simple thing to do, but she’d just get rid of the potion before handing it over to me… if she hasn’t already.”
“I guess you’ll have to use magic,” Nicolas said.
“What do you mean? Like put her under a spell?” I asked.
Liam nodded. “That sounds like the best way if you ask me.”
“Okay, but what will we do after that?” I asked. “Should I just walk in and start looking around?”
Liam stood up a little straighter. “I’ll do it.”
He acted as if he was going into battle. Liam relished these kind of obstacles, almost happy for the chance. Nevertheless, I was willing to let Liam do it. Cora would be less suspicious of him than of me. All I had to do was lure her out of the room. I’d cast a little spell and bake cupcakes. Cora would be in the kitchen and Liam could go into her room.
We gathered into the kitchen around the cauldron. As I recited the words, Liam and Nicolas repeated after me. The water bubbled and lights sparkled around the room.
Once the magic had settled, I said, “I think that should just about do it. Let’s go see if she comes down soon.”
Liam motioned. “Let’s see what she’s doing.”
We hurried back out to the foyer and peered up at the staircase. Footsteps echoed from above. That had to be Cora. After a couple seconds, she appeared at the top of the stairs with a big frown on her face. She probably had no idea why she was coming down, just that she had to. Cora stared at us as she made her way down each step. We backed up a few steps when she reached the bottom. She glared at us.
I said, “Cora, would you like cupcakes? I made some for you that even have sprinkles.”
“I don’t know why I’m saying this, but yes, I do want cupcakes. I have a suspicion that you’ve done something to make me feel this way.”
“Of course not, why would you say that?” I motioned toward the kitchen. “Let’s go have a cupcake.”
She walked through the parlor. When I looked at Liam and Nicolas, they shrugged. They took the opportunity and raced over to the stairs to head up to her room. Cora and I went into the kitchen. She sat at the counter while I whipped up the cupcakes. In her somewhat dazed state, she didn’t even notice my spellcasting.
This spell would speed up the baking and frosting process. After a couple minutes, I had picture-perfect cupcakes. I’d made these with pink frosting and white sprinkles. Her eyes widened as I placed the plate of cupcakes in front of her.
“I need to watch my waistline while I’m here.” She patted her hips.
“Would you like something to drink?” I asked.
She eyed me suspiciously. “Milk, I guess.”
Why was she suspicious of me giving her something to drink? Did she think it was a potion?
I poured her a big glass of milk. “My cupcakes don’t have calories.”
She peeled back the paper. “I don’t believe that for two seconds.” She took a big bite, getting chocolate all over her face. “This is the best cupcake I’ve ever had.”
Cora had just finished the cupcake when Liam and Nicolas stepped into the kitchen. When Cora wasn’t looking they nodded. That was all I needed to know. Mission accomplished. She glared at us and then took a big drink of milk. She seemed crankier. The spell was probably wearing off.
“Enjoy as many cupcakes as you’d like, Cora. We just have something that we need to take care of.” I placed another cupcake on her plate.
Liam and Nicolas offered smiles to her as well. We looked suspicious with our silly grins. More than anything we needed to get out of the house with the potion bottle before she figured out it was gone. We needed to make it to my mother’s shop to possibly figure out what was in the potion.
We backed out of the room, smiling the whole time. Cora stared at us, but she was torn between looking at us and looking at the cupcakes.
We raced through the house and out the front door. I moved so quickly that I almost tripped over my own feet. Once on the porch we stopped and stared at each other.
“Now what do we do?” Nicolas asked.
“I think we should go to my mother’s shop. We can figure out there what to do next.”
We jumped in Liam’s BMW and headed to town. When we pulled up in front of my mother’s shop, I realized that I would have to tell her why I needed to know what was in the potion. I could try to hide the truth from her, but eventually she would find out—she always did.
Chapter 13
We arrived at Bewitching Bath and Potions. I didn’t think Annabelle was working right now, but I knew my mother was there. I was still formulating how I was going to break the news to her gently. I didn’t want to freak her out and cause her to have chest pains or something.
Liam was still clutching the bottle of potion. It was a clear bottle with green potion inside. It looked like it was from the 1700s or something. It might be that Cora had dug it up from our yard. It had caked-on dirt.
Windows took up space on most of the exterior walls. Tons of light flooded through and glass potion bottles lined the walls. Bath products filled one side and beauty products the other. The middle of the room had round tables with long white tablecloths where my mother displayed some of her bestsellers, like eye cream and facial creams for wrinkles. Merchandise included soaps, scrubs, lotions… you name it, she had it. But the magical oils were her speciality. The counter with the register was at the back of the store, and beyond it there was a store room where my mother made most of her potions, although she did have a big black cauldron behind the counter.
When we walked through the door, my mother looked up immediately. A scowl formed on her face and she asked, “What’s wrong? It’s bad, isn’t it? I just know it’s bad.”
Well, it was kind of bad, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. She wasn’t prepared to handle that kind of news right now. “It’s not terrible, but yes, it’s a bit of an issue.”
She swayed a little and then grabbed the counter to steady herself. Finally, she looked me in the eyes. “Okay, let me have it. I can handle it.”
I took the potion bottle from Liam. “One of my guests gave one of the other guests a potion… a love potion.”
My mother shook her head. “Oh, dear. And then what happened?”
I wouldn’t get into the full details right now. “Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned.”
“I’m just glad it wasn’t you making a mistake this time,” she said.
Way to make me feel a whole lot better. I still wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t responsible somehow.
“Here’s the potion bottle.” I handed the old bottle to her.
My mother took the bottle from my hand and studied it for a moment. “This is old stuff.”
“What do you mean, old stuff?”
“This bottle. I’ve seen this before. I have a book with a picture of it. It’s an antique. They don’t use them anymore.”
“What do you mean, they don’t use them anymore?”
She sighed and then said, “Are you guys going to repeat everything I say?”
I placed my hands on my hips. “I’m just a little excited, that’s all.”
“Annette, do you think this potion is old?” Nicolas asked.
“I don’t know about the potion, and I really don’t want to test it out to see. The bottle definitely is old.” She held up her index finger. “I have a book with a picture of these bottles. Hold on, it’s in the back. I’ll go get it.” My mother hurried back toward her office.
She had a shelf full of books on antique witchcraft items. It was one of her hobbies, and now I was thankful for her interest.
“You think I need this stuff?” Liam held up a container of wrinkle cream and pointed toward his eyes.
Nicolas picked up the anti-cellulite thigh cream. “I’ve seen you in your gym shorts. I think this is better suited.”
I bit back a laugh and grabbed the bottles from them. “Quit goofing off, guys. This is serious.”
“You could use a few more sit-ups,” Liam added as he flashed a quick look at Nicolas.
After a few seconds, she returned with the brown leather-bound book and placed it on the counter in front of her. She flipped through a few pages until she came to a place in the middle of the book. My mother tapped it with her finger. “Here it is.”
We gathered a
round closer for a better look. When I scanned the page, sure enough, there was a picture of the exact bottle that held the potion.
“This one was last used sometime around the mid-1800s,” my mother said.
“Where do you think she got this from?” I asked.
“There are a few antique shops in town. You could ask them more about the bottles. She could have gotten her bottle anywhere though.” My mother closed the book.
“Maybe you should go check out the shops,” Liam said.
I peered over at the book again. “We’ll definitely go check out the shops in town.”
Of course it was no guarantee that we’d find anything, but it was worth a shot.
“I just wonder how she got info for this potion, and why she used this bottle?” I asked.
“Maybe she likes antiques,” Nicolas said.
“But why was she trying to do this spell in the first place?” my mother asked.
“Apparently, my other guest Jolene asked for a love spell. I didn’t even know they could do magic until after this had happened.”
“Did she do anything with your other guests?” Nicolas asked.
“I’m not sure, but I want to find out,” I said.
Right now I just need to find out what was really in the potion.
“I just wish we could find out exactly what’s in the potion.”
“I don’t think that’s something we can do right away.” My mother frowned. “However, I have a test that will let us know if it’s poisonous.”
My eyes widened and I stared at her. “You’re not giving it to me.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Do you think I’m that crazy? Of course not. We’ll put it on something and see what happens.”
“What did you have in mind?” Liam asked.
“The store next door.” She pointed. “They never clean out the flower boxes by the door. They have a bunch of weeds in there. Go pick some and put the potion on them. We’ll see what happens.”
“They’re weeds. They’ll just die anyway,” I said.
“Not like this, they won’t,” she said.
What did I have to lose at this point?
She patted my hand. “Don’t worry, this will all work out.”
It was kind of sad that everyone was always having to tell me not to worry, that things would work out. Why did I always find trouble?
