2 A Charming Cure

by Tonya Kappes

  “He’s my fairy god-cat?” I knew it. I looked to Petunia for some answers. “Can you talk to him?”

  “He is a fairy god-cat. He didn’t come back from the dead like the animals that I talk to do.” She rushed over; leaves fell out of her beehive of a hair-do and onto the floor. She gave Mr. Prince Charming a good rub under his chin. “He’s done a fine job. He continues to do exactly what he was supposed to do.” She turns and glares toward Aunt Helena.

  “Fine.” Helena rolled her eyes and let out a big sigh. “Regardless. All of you know that every new village member has to go to school. It just so happen that it’s my heir this time. And we all know what that means.”

  “I don’t know what that means!” There was a nervous tickle in my stomach. Mr. Prince Charming ran over and did figure eights around my ankles. He knew actually what I needed, his reassurance that I was going to be okay.

  “It means that you will tap even further into your spiritual gift. You might even have another ability you don’t know about.” She drew her cloak close to her.

  Hmm . . . so, I might just be a little Samantha Stevens? Or maybe have cool magical and psychic abilities like the Fairiwicks.

  “You are not a Fairiwick.” Her eyes were icy and unresponsive.

  Did she just read my mind? I eyed her suspiciously. You’re a whack job, I hoped she read that thought too, but she didn’t flinch.

  Fairiwicks were bred of spiritualists that were half fairy and half witches. Just recently, the village council approved Fairiwicks to join the community. Before that, only psychics lived in Whispering Falls.

  “We are an inter-communal village now.” Izzy’s eyes narrowed, zeroing in on Helena.

  “Umm, hmm. I heard.” Helena pursed her lips. Disgust dripped in her voice. “In my day. . .”

  “We aren’t in your day.” There was a confidence building in me that I couldn’t explain.

  If what she was saying was true, my grandparents were the royalty of the village, leaving my father as the heir. Of course, I wasn’t here to take over, so it went to my Great Aunt Helena. I was here now.

  “You are a smart one.” Helena crossed her arms in front of her. “You have to go to school. Your father would expect it. Besides, it’s a rule. See section F in the village handbook.”

  Oh, throwing in the family card?

  “Just how well did you know my father?” It was a valid question. If she was such a wonderful Aunt and cared for my well-being, where was she when I was framed for murder a few months ago?

  I admit that I had not read all the way through the rule book that Izzy had given me when I moved to Whispering Falls. All I knew was that there was a village council that included Izzy, Gerald Reguila, Chandra Shango, and Petunia Sandlewood.

  “And one day, we were hoping you could take over as council President.” Izzy brushed her long wavy blonde hair behind her shoulders away from her face, revealing her beautiful hazel eyes.

  Petunia bent down and picked Mr. Prince Charming up. “Everyone loves your sweet nature and fresh presence. You would make a very popular village council President.”

  Council President? This situation was getting weirder by the minute.

  “I’m getting old, June, and we need fresh voices.” Izzy’s chest heaved in and out with each breath. “And Helena is right. You do have to go to school in order to make the cures. You have only lightly tapped into your psychic powers.”

  Tapped? Knowing how to make cures with my intuition was enough power for me. But what would happen if I did have some cool power I didn’t know about? I admit I was a magic wannabe.

  “Do I have to go away to school?” There was no way I wanted to leave A Charming Cure or Whispering Falls. I was just getting use to the move and embracing the village. Plus, business was booming. The extra income was exactly what I needed to buy more ingredients to produce more products. Especially for the made-to-order customers. Some of those required ingredients from all over the world.

  “It’s preferable, especially if you are going to be the Village president.” Helena pushed back her auburn hair exposing a scar that started at her ear and ran along her jaw line. Quickly she pulled her hair over her shoulder when she saw me staring at it. “Or you can go to the two-day quick class with a few of the chosen.”

  “What if I don’t want to be President?” I didn’t run for any office when I was in high school, much less President of an entire village. “Besides, I’m too old to go to a University”

  Anticipation and excitement lay like a lump in my throat as they all stared at me like I had five heads, which really wouldn’t be that unusual in a spiritualist community.

  “Okay fine.” I inhaled, not believing what just came out of my mouth. Going to college was something I wasn’t cut out for, but maybe I could just do my four days and be done with it.

  Izzy smiled and clasped her hands together. “Thank you, June.” She tilted her head towards Helena, and a wide smile covered her face. “Since that is settled, why don’t you come to The Gathering Grove and visit with Gerald?”

  “Well, I could use a real cup of tea. Hidden Hall can’t seem to serve a decent cup. Which is odd, since we have so many tea leaf readers going to school.” Helena’s attitude had made a complete 180 degree turn. “And it would be good to catch up with old University friends.”

  The two of them headed toward to the door.

  “Oh, he will be delighted to see you, and laugh about old times.” Izzy put her hand on the door, and then glanced around. “June? Petunia? Are you going to join us?”

  Petunia held the bee pollen potion in the air. “No. I have some bee issues to take care of.”

  I shook my head. “No, I had better settle a few things here before I go on my mini-school trip.”

  “Don’t worry about A Charming Cure. We will make sure it’s taken care of.” Izzy held the door open and swept her hand in front of her and said, “After you, Helena.”

  Once out the door, Helena looked back in the shop. “Oh, June, there are no electronics allowed at Hidden Hall. You must rely on your own abilities and not the abilities of Mr. Google or a cell phone. You’d be surprised on how many students would cheat that way. I’ll see you tomorrow, June.”

  “Tomorrow.” I nervously smiled. There was something about tomorrow that didn’t sit well, which gave me bit of a worry. When something didn’t “sit well,” that meant my intuition was trying to tell me something. Only I didn’t have time to listen to it. I had limited time to tell Oscar goodbye and talk him into looking after the shop while I was gone.

  Chapter Three

  “Okay, spill it.” I watched Helena and Izzy get reacquainted as they walked down the street to The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. “What is my Aunt Helena all about?” Saying Aunt Helena made my eyes roll.

  “You know I don’t do idle gossip. “ Petunia peeked out the window and watched them. “But I can tell you that Gerald isn’t going to be happy to see her.”

  I made a mental note to ask Gerald about his history with Helena since Petunia wasn’t going to give in it idle gossip. A few customers came in the door.

  “Welcome to A Charming Cure. Let me know if I can mix up a homeopathic cure for what ails you.” Immediately I knew what ailed the blond. Deep down I knew it wasn’t the big zit sitting on the edge of her pointy nose that was her problem. The tall blonde politely smiled and nodded.

  I motioned for Petunia to follow me to the counter and let the customers look around. Usually it took new customers a while to mosey around and see what the store was all about. I always give them a little time before I draw out what they came in for.

  “Hmm. . .if she is my aunt and so concerned about me, why didn’t she come to my rescue when the entire town accused me of killing Ann?” It was a valid question. And it would’ve been nice to have had a living relative back me up when someone had framed me.

  I smiled at the blonde who looked up after glancing over the facial remedies of the shop.

  “Sh
e’s keeping a secret,” I whispered to Petunia about the blonde customer with the zit. “I wonder”.

  “Huh! Wonder about what?” Petunia looked up her up and down.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but I know she’s torn over it. Let’s get back to Aunt Helena.” I knew Petunia had some information about why Gerald wasn’t going to be happy to see her. After all, she and Gerald had been dating on the down-low for the last few months.

  “Gerald did say that he knew she was going to come because he happened to read Izzy’s tea leaves when she left the other day.” Petunia’s hand flew over her mouth as her brows rose. “But I’m not gossiping.”

  “Oh, I know you aren’t.” I shook my head, knowing good and well she was dying to tell me.

  “And the leaves said. . .” she proceeded with caution in her voice until she was interrupted.

  “Excuse me,” The blonde woman walked up. “I need a little help.”

  Damn! I put my finger up to Petunia, and said, “Hold that thought.”

  I wasn’t going to let her forget what she was going to say. I needed to know what the tea leaves said and I needed to know all about Helena. There was something fishy with her and I wanted to know everything I could before I went to Hidden Hall A Spiritualist University.

  “What can I do for you?” I rubbed my hands together. I wasn’t sure how I was going to draw the truth out of her. Fact was, I already knew from my intuition that she was harboring a secret that needed to come out. Hence the zit. Stress does wonders on the body.

  “I was looking at your facial remedies and there doesn’t seem to be anything specific for zits.” She walked over to the beautiful glass bottles that were displayed on the shelving in the middle of the store. She tapped the tip of her nose. “I’ve been having a little acne issue for a couple months.”

  Ahh. So, she’s been keeping this secret for a couple months.

  “I see.” Lightly, I ran my fingers along the front of the bottles trying to decide how to handle the situation. Just asking could work. “Has something changed in your life to make you stressed?”

  “Nope. Nothing.” She shook her head so fast; I thought it was going to spin off. She stepped back and looked away.

  There was no way I was going to get the truth from her, but the real remedy would.

  “And are you getting a cluster of pimples or just one at a time?” I let her presence take over my gut, my senses. I had to know exactly what she was feeling in order to get the right cure, and it wasn’t for zits.

  “It’s the strangest thing.” She picked up a couple different bottles to check out the label. Her energy started to surround the two of us, and I got a good feeling about the truth brewing inside her. “I get one big one every week, and then it goes away before the next one.”

  Yep, a sure secret keepers sign. I rolled up on my toes just a little to get a better look, but the eyes told the story. Her secret was deep rooted and she needed a stronger remedy than normal.

  “Hmm. . .” I glanced at the bottles one more time, pretending to see if there was a cure, but I knew I was going to have to make one with a little extra something-something in it. “I’m all out of the particular one you need.”

  Worry settled on her face.

  “It’ll only take me a moment to whip one up.” I lifted my finger to reassure her.

  “Yes, please.” Her blonde hair flung around as she nodded.

  “Great. I’ll be right back.” I turned to go make the perfect cure for acne and a dose of the truth. Plus, making the remedy would give me more time to pick Petunia’s brain about Gerald reading Izzy’s tea leaves, even though it was against council rules to read any spiritualist without the spiritualist knowing. One thing I did know, Izzy would never let anyone, and especially not Gerald, read her.

  Glancing around the shop as I hid behind the partition, I didn’t see Petunia. Quickly I looked in the back where I keep a mini-refrigerator and couch for those ‘just-in-case I stay later than normal’ nights, but she wasn’t in there.

  Mr. Prince Charming followed.

  “Hmm. . .She must’ve left. How convenient.” I walked back to the counter and prepared myself to make the customer’s cure.

  Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming jumped on the counter. A small silver owl charm dropped from his mouth.

  Oh, no. My heart fell into my newly pedicure toes. My intuition told me this wasn’t a good sign. Mr. Prince Charming was good at “stealing” charms that had the meaning of protection. And it just so happened that when he did give me a charm, it was when I needed extra safe keeping.

  I rubbed my hand down his back, and then pushed the charm to the side. It was going to have to wait until I could see Belle from Belle’s Baubles to figure out if he stole it and what the owl meant.

  I reached into the Ding Dong box and grabbed one.

  The customer milled around, picking up the bottles and reading the contents. She looked over when I unwrapped the foil on my chocolaty treat and took a bite.

  “It’s almost done.” I smiled with the round, dark goodness stuck to the front of my teeth.

  Truth be told, I hadn’t even begun to make her cure. With a big bite in my mouth, I flipped the cauldron on high.

  I reached on the shelf for the sack of Antmonuin to help with her skin condition. I carefully untied the drawstring bag, and took a pinch of it. I threw it in the cauldron and watched the liquid froth.

  “Eh, a little more?” I shrugged and looked at Mr. Prince Charming.

  Meow.

  That was enough of a yes from him to throw in a couple more pinches. You can never have clear enough skin.

  Gently stirring counter clockwise, the liquid became a murky pink color. Steam rolled up, leaving a smell of peach in the air.

  “Now for the good stuff,” I whispered and shivered with excitement.

  My newly found abilities were still fresh and exciting.

  Carefully I picked a bloom from the Land Kelp plant and tossed it in. Slowly I hovered my hands above the cauldron clockwise causing the mixture to change directions and thinning out the mixture and color.

  “Mmm…I love peach,” the customer hollered from the sleeping remedies side of the store. “What smells like peaches?”

  She snapped me out of my focus. I peeped my head around the partition, and said, “I’ll be right with you.”

  Little did she realize, that when I make a particular potion for someone in mind, somehow the potion takes on flavors and smells the recipient loves, making the potion a wonderful disguise for what it was really meant to do. And in her case. . .the truth shall set you free…of stress and zits.

  I returned back to the cauldron and smiled, wondering how the customer was going to feel about the peach smell but the cucumber taste.

  The cauldron shut off, leaving the glowing pink mixture simmering at a slow bubble.

  The red and gold glass bottle on the far end of the empty glass bottle shelf, glowed, letting me know it was the perfect container for this particular potion. Unscrewing the delicate triangular lid, I held the bottle down into the liquid. Instantly, the potion cooled and seeped into the bottle. Sparks flew up and bounced off the ceiling and landed on top of the customer’s head.

  A patch of her blonde hair turned charcoal and a puff of smoke rose from it.

  Oh crap! I bit the edge of my lip. I wasn’t responsible for the sparks, or at least I hoped I wasn’t.

  “How much longer?” She looked up and asked. The smoke changed directions with each turn of her head. She was either unfazed or unaware that she was emitting smoke. “I’ve got to get home. I feel a sudden urge to tell my best-friend her no-good-for-nothing husband is cheating on her with her own cousin!”

  She let a big sigh of relief as if a ton of bricks was lifted off her shoulders.

  And there was the secret. Just like magic, the zit on the edge of her nose disappeared.

  “All done.” I held the bottle up and ran over to her before she could catch her reflection in on
e of the hanging mirrors in the shop. I put a dab of liquid on my finger and touched her nose. “Now, don’t look in the mirror until you get home.”

  “But I thought I was supposed to drink it.” She eyed me. “Oh, well. How much do I owe?”

  She followed me back to the other side of the counter where the cash register was. On a scrap piece of paper, I wrote out the receipt and handed it to her.

  “I love your shop.” She smiled, handing me the cash and walked out waving bye over her shoulder, just as Oscar Park held the door for her with his foot while juggling two coffees.

  “Good morning, June.” He held his gaze and flashed his million-dollar smile.

  No! My heart fluttered the closer he got. His clear blue eyes locked with mine, sending chills up my legs. Look away, look away. But I couldn’t. For the past couple of months, something unusual was happening to my feelings toward my childhood best friend.

  Meowl. Mr. Prince Charming let out one long sigh.

  Oscar grew up across the street from me and Darla in Locust Grove. Overnight he went from being awkwardly scrawny, to hunky handsome. Especially after he saved me from a murderer’s hand our first week in Whispering Falls. Another story for another time, but I was sure that was when it had happened.

  What woman didn’t like to be rescued? I questioned, taking in his freshly cut black hair that was perfectly short. Plus, he looked great in a Whispering Falls police uniform.

  “What’s that?” I pointed to the new accessory on his belt, while taking a cup of coffee from him with the other hand.

  His eyes lit up and he took out the small stick that was too small to be a Billy club. He flipped it up in the air, caught it and waved it around. “My sorcerer’s wand.”

  Oscar and I had found out at the same time that we were both from spiritualist families. Mine was boring psychic, while he was a cool Fairiwick.

  “Wow!” I reached out to touch it, but he pulled it away.

  “No touchy!” He put it back in the holster.