by Tonya Kappes
Chapter Five
“Plantain?” I questioned Mr. Prince Charming as we walked up and through my gate in front of A Charming Cure. “This is not good.”
Plantain was a special herb used for protection from evil spirits and snake bites, removing weariness, healing headaches, house & business blessings.
Darla always placed a pinch of dried Plantain leaves in the flame of a candle or she threw it into an east wind for healing. She also hung Plantain leaves in the car for protection from evil and jealousy.
A fierce wind came sliding down over the mountains and blew dried leaves around the village.
“Let’s go,” I said to my fairy-god cat and scurried up the steps and let the waiting customers in the shop.
I flipped the sign and turned on the lights. An instant calm swept over me as I took off my cape and hung it on the coat tree next to the counter. My eyes shifted up to the framed photo of my parents on the wall next to the counter. It was the only photo I had of them.
“Good morning.” I greeted everyone as they walked around and picked up the different potion bottles, uncorking them as they brought them to their noses and smelled the contents.
The satisfaction on their faces told me the incredible magic that was individualized was working. Whenever they smelled one of my potions, it took on a smell that that individual enjoyed.
I walked behind the counter where my cauldron was hidden behind a partition, away from wandering eyes and flipped it on.
I smiled as the cauldron filled with a watery mixture and swirled, ready for the day’s work ahead. I added the Plantain to the smudging bundles so I wouldn’t forget to use it during the lighting.
The Magical Cures Book from Darla, my mother, caught my attention as it flipped open from underneath the counter. The book was full of magical potions for me, but to the naked eye it was only a book of recipes. Thank goodness because I didn’t want it to get into the wrong hands.
The book flipped open to a candle lighting ceremony using a honeycomb candle and a pinch of Plantain.
Mewl, Mr. Prince Charming walked around the corner of the desk and dragged his tail along the shelf where the book was sitting.
“You know exactly what I need.” I bent down and picked him up. He purred in my arms.
I continued to hold him as I retrieved the candle I’d gotten from Scented Swan. I pinched a piece of the Plantain off of the bundle KJ had given me. Before I lit it and did a quickie spell, I looked around the shop to make sure no one needed me.
Since it didn’t look like a spell, and I was simply lighting a candle, I decided to do it on the counter so the flame could flicker all day. I set Mr. Prince Charming down next to the candle. He sat with his eyes on the wick.
Eckla, va, brum, de, sar, la, tom, I repeated in my head a couple of times as I lit the candle. Protect the village with all your might, especially on the night of fright. All Hallows’ Eve is a place for fun for all the spirited ones.
The candlewick flickered as I dropped the pinch of Plantain on the wick, but completely blew out when the door opened and two new spiritualists walked in.
“That’s just a coincidence.” My eyes drew down to Mr. Prince Charming who pawed at my wrist. I quickly lit the flame again and took out the business cards Chandler Swan had given me to place next to the honeycomb candle.
“You must be June Heal.” The young man trotted up to the counter with his hand out. I gave it to him and he pulled it to his lips, kissing it gently on the back.
“You must be Patch Potter.” My eyes danced as he entertained me with his bowing, blowing, huffing and puffing as he pulled a pumpkin from the pocket of his overalls.
“This is my brother Patty Potter.” He rolled his hands until they opened to display another young man standing with him. “I’m here to invite you to a special preview of the pumpkin patch tonight and give you this amazing pumpkin for your window.”
“Thank you, Patch.” I was happy to see another happy new citizen to our village.
Patch was a little different. He was tall and lanky with orange hair just like his pumpkin. He wore a pair of worn brown laced boots and overalls with a patch on the right knee along with a black plaid shirt underneath.
“I’m beyond thrilled to have moved to the new development.” He pointed to Patty. “Patty is in town only to help me move.”
“Oh, you won’t stay?” I asked Patty. He offered a gentle smile and shook his head. “Not even a little bit of magic will keep you here?” I winked.
“Not in the slightest,” Patch rolled his eyes. “Who wouldn’t love this village?” He handed me a flyer with the location and times the pumpkin patch would be open to the public.
“Thank you for the invitation.” I walked around the front of the counter and began to walk them to the door with the pumpkin in my hand. “I will definitely be there.”
I waved them off and shut the door behind them. The front window display of my shop had already been transformed into an All Hallows’ Eve celebration display with pumpkins, hay bales, a fodder shock and a scarecrow. I placed Patch’s pumpkin at the feet of the scarecrow. I stuck his flyer on the glass of the window and slid my eyes across the street to Ever After Books.
It was dark and sad. Not like a bookstore should be.
“Hello! June?” Faith’s voice brought me out of my stare and I took a deep breath.
“Over here.” I walked out and offered my friend a hug. “You did wonders with the window display. I just added a pumpkin from Patch Potter.” I pointed to the door. “Did you see him and his brother on the way out?”
“No.” A look of sadness drew across her face. “Shame too. I heard his pumpkin patch is amazing and I can’t wait until I can go see it and take pictures.”
“I heard about the big gallery display.” I was excited for my friend. I ran a hand down her arm and didn’t feel the same excitement. “Are you okay?”
“Let me guess who told you.” Her eyes narrowed. She brushed back a strand of her blond hair. “Raven.”
“No, Cherry Perry told me.” I couldn’t help but wonder what the tone in her voice meant. “Raven seemed happy. Is she not?”
“It’s nothing.” She shook it off. “I just wanted to pop by and make sure you liked the display.”
“I love it.” I watched her give Mr. Prince Charming some love before I waved her off as she left.
I drew my eyes back over toward Ever After Books and then down the street toward Wicked Good before the smell of pumpkin circled around my head and I followed the scent to the honeycomb candle.
Chapter Six
“It’s your active imagination.” Oscar sat at our kitchen table finishing up the last bite of homemade cornbread and beans I’d fixed for supper.
There weren’t too many nights we were home together and I generally never cooked, but beans and cornbread were one of Oscar’s favorites that Darla made when we were growing up. It was one of few dishes she made that wasn’t pulled straight from her garden.
“I’m telling you. Somehow Wicked Good, Ever After Books and Patch’s Pumpkins are in a universal bond.” I knew it was risky telling Oscar about the feelings I’d been having all day about the three shops, or maybe the three shop owners. “You know that my intuition is rarely wrong.”
It was true. My intuition just so happened to be one of my spiritual gifts and if I didn’t listen to it, that’s when trouble happened.
“You know that candle I bought from Scented Swan?” I asked and took his plate from him. “It smelled like pumpkin.”
I put the plate in the dishwasher and finished cleaning up the dishes.
“Oh, no,” Oscar’s voice trilled a spooky tone as he joked. “Maybe everything in Whispering Falls smells like pumpkin.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I bit the edge of my lip trying to get the gnawing feeling from my gut. From the spiced lattes at The Gathering Grove to the pumpkin squash and buffet at Full Moon Treesort, pumpkin was floating through the air.
“Have you seen Colton?” I asked, wondering how Ophelia was doing and where she had gone. “I wonder what he did to her?”
“He did to her?” Oscar laughed sarcastically. “She’s the one who left town.”
“Exactly. He must’ve done something awful for her to do that.” I sighed and looked out the kitchen window and down on the village that was now only visible through the gas lamp carriage lights that dotted the sidewalk.
“I can’t help but think she did something and skipped town.” Oscar’s words bit my insides.
“I’m not going to argue about who did what. All I know is that he said that he needed time off and that he was going back west to visit family.” Oscar’s eyes saddened. “I hate this. I wish the spiritual world was free of such acts between a couple.”
“Well,” I squeezed him tight. “It’s not going to happen to us.”
“No it’s not.” All of my stress relieved as soon as his lips covered mine.
Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming jumped up on the counter interrupting us as someone knocked on the door.
“Perfect timing.” Oscar lifted a brow at Mr. Prince Charming. He opened the door while I put the last dish in the dishwasher. “Aunt Eloise.”
Oscar fully opened the door and his aunt, Eloise Sandlewood, glided into the house. She pulled off the hood of her cape and ran her fingertips through her short red, spiky hair. Her emerald eyes glittered with delight.
“I was on my way to the pumpkin patch and I saw some lights on.” She hugged Oscar and then slid across the floor to embrace me. “Are you two going?”
“We were just about to leave.” I hugged back before I pulled away. “Let me change my clothes and we can all go together.”
“Fabulous.” She drew her hands together. “How is the shop?”
“It’s going great. Have you been to any of the new shops yet?” I asked from the bedroom. I walked over to Madame Torres, my crystal ball, and waved a hand over her. “You are going to love the new candle shop.”
“Scented Swan? I’ve already been there.” Her voice echoed down the hall.
The inside of Madame Torres was a calming sea of blue. Twice I tapped the top of her globe to see if there was anything I needed to know. She didn’t appear, so that set my mind at ease.
Quickly I changed into a pair of jeans and a thicker sweater. When Eloise came into the house, I felt the wind whip right on in.
“Are you ready?” I asked the two of them after I was finished.
Everyone, even Mr. Prince Charming nodded.
“Walk or ride?” I pointed to The Green Machine, what I loving called my green El Camino.
“It’s such a lovely night.” The full moon shone bright overhead. “Why don’t we walk?”
“There isn’t anything I’d like more than to be with my favorite women.” Oscar got in between me and Eloise and put his arms around our shoulders.
Eloise and I laughed.
“Did you see KJ today?” She looked around Oscar as we walked down the hill toward the village.
Potter’s Pumpkin Patch was in the area behind the police station. Mr. Prince Charming led the way through the night as his white tail glowed and waved in the air ahead. The fireflies played tag with one another as they made a straight path for us to walk.
“I was so shocked when I saw Happy Herb. I instantly knew it was him.” There was such a sense of relief to know that he’d come to live in Whispering Falls.
“With all the new shops, I’m going to have to start extra early in the mornings.” Even though she already got up before the first rooster crowed, Eloise loved and took her job very seriously as she cleansed our village every morning in her incense ritual.
I loved being with her. She and Darla had been best friends when my father was alive and we lived in Whispering Falls. Since Darla wasn’t a spiritualist and my father had married a mortal, Darla couldn’t live here any longer and that’s when she moved me to Locust Grove and where I met Oscar. Who. . .long story short, was also a spiritualist raised by a mortal uncle. Another story, another time. What mattered now was the here and now and that Oscar and I were now happily married.
“I’m sorry to hear about your friends Ophelia Biblio and Colton Lance.” Eloise paused and continued in a silky tone, “Sometimes things do not work out and it’s best to find out young.”
Oscar and I didn’t say anything. Colton was his friend and Ophelia was mine. It was natural to take opposite sides.
The village street was nice and quiet. Arabella Paxton, florist and owner of Magical Moments, always did a beautiful job on the hanging baskets from the carriage light posts. This year she’d hung carved pumpkins with bright yellow and red mums coming out of the top. Instead of the pumpkins having the traditional faces, some had Whispering Falls carved out while others had All Hallows’ Eve etched into it.
As soon as we walked past the police station, we could see a big bonfire off in the distance.
“Need a ride?” Petunia Shrubwood pulled up next to us. She was in a wagon pulled by two horses. The wagon was filled with hay and a few of the new citizens from the new development.
“We’d love one.” My insides jumped with giddiness.
Oscar helped Eloise and I up. We found an empty bale to sit on with a couple of blankets folded up just for our laps. Mr. Prince Charming sat in the riding seat with Petunia. I smiled when I saw them talking to each other. He loved Petunia. She understood him because of her spiritual gift as an animal reader.
“Where is Baby Orin tonight?” I asked when I noticed he wasn’t attached to her like he normally was.
“He’s home with Gerald. Way past his bedtime.” She shoo’ed the fireflies away from the horses as they teased them. “Teenagers,” she grumbled and flung the reins for the horses to move.
The fireflies darted off into the night. They were the teenagers of the spiritual world. Like most teens, they stayed up all night bugging the heck out of anyone that would be bothered with them and slept all day.
There was so much going on at Patch’s. There was a stand for caramel apples, apple cider in a big cauldron, and hayrides into the field filled with the biggest and heartiest pumpkins I’d ever seen. They were still attached to the vines that came up out of the ground and curled around.
After we got off the wagon, I decided to walk around and take it all in. All of my old friends and new friends were gathered around, smiling and having community time. Mr. Prince Charming walked next to me with his tail swaying in the nighttime air.
I walked along the vines and was amazed at how they curled and ended at the stem of the big pumpkins.
“Look, Mommy!” A little girl with her brown hair braided in pigtails ran over to Mr. Prince Charming. “A cat!”
Mr. Prince Charming looked like a show pony prancing around the little girl. I swear if I didn’t know better, the darn cat was grinning ear-to-ear. He dragged his tail along the little girl’s legs making her giggle.
He looked at me and I shook my head before he went back to making her laugh.
“I’m so sorry.” The mom came up and took the little girl by the hand. “She’s been dying to get a cat since we moved here.”
“She’s fine. He loves children.” I tilted my head to get a good look at the mom. Her hair was cut in the cutest pixie haircut. “Have you been to Glorybee Pet Shop?”
“We have and Jo Ellen wants every animal in there.” She laughed and patted her daughter on the head. “Isn’t that right?”
By this time, Mr. Prince Charming had jumped up on top of the big pumpkin and walked in circles as his tail dragged back and forth under Jo Ellen’s nose, making her laugh even more.
“I want this one.” Jo Ellen picked up Mr. Prince Charming.
He didn’t seem to mind dangling from the grip she
had around his waist.
“Honey, this nice lady.” The mom searched my face.
“June. June Heal.” I couldn’t help but try to read the mom and see what her spiritual gift was, but my intuition told me nothing. Which was very odd. The first thing I had done when I realized I was a witch was go to Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University and attend intuition classes. “I own A Charming Cure right down from Glorybee.”
“This is Ms. Heal and that’s her cat,” the mom said.
“June. You can call me June.” My heart nearly stopped.
I sounded just like Darla. My mom had never liked to be call Mrs., Ms., Miss, or even Mom.
“June, can I come to your store and play with him?” Jo Ellen asked.
“Anytime.” My gut tugged at the little girl’s smile and joy that was in her eyes.
I gulped. Oscar and I had never talked about having our own children and I’d never planned on it, but there was just something so endearing seeing the little girl play with Mr. Prince Charming.
“Hi,” Oscar walked up and put his arm around me. “I see Mr. Prince Charming has made a friend.”
“Mr. Prince Charming?” the mom asked and chuckled. “He’s definitely living up to his name because Jo is in love. I’m Tish Chapman. We moved into the new subdivision.”
“The development.” I nodded. “I haven’t been over there yet.”
“Oh, you must come visit. It’s amazing.” Tish lifted her brows. “I knew, as a single mom, that I wanted Jo Ellen to not only live in a beautiful neighborhood with other children, but also eat healthy.”
“Eat healthy?” Oscar asked.
“I’m sorry, this is my husband and police officer Oscar Park.” They shook hands. “What did you say about eating healthy?”
I wasn’t following what she was saying.
“There is a twenty-five acre farm that is in the middle of the subdivision. We have a little market where we can get all the fresh fruit and vegetables we need.” There was excitement all over her face.
“You work on a farm?” I asked.
