2 A Charming Cure

by Tonya Kappes

  With a few laughs and a smiling Madame Torres, class was over. With my back to Gus, I wanted to make sure Madame Torres made it back into my bag without a love connection.

  “Wait.” She begged, her eyes darted back and forth trying to see around my arm. But, I stuck her deep in the bag and strapped it over my shoulder.

  As I gathered up my books, I heard some other students talk about getting lunch and a few were going to the library. It was lunchtime and I bet a lot of professors were also out eating.

  “So what do you think about all the craziness since you came.” Someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to find Gus and his goofy half-cocked grin standing behind me.

  “Me? Since I came?” I put my hand up to my chest. Why, all of a sudden, did they think this started after I got here?

  “Well, I did find that note and all.” He shrugged and threw his crystal ball into his back pack like it was a baseball. “Aren’t you a little old to be coming to school?”

  “If you must know,” I huffed. (Old? When did twenty-five become old?) “I had no clue I was even psychic until a few months ago. So I came here for a few days to learn all about it. But it looks like I’m going to be here longer.”

  There was no way I was leaving in a couple days with Eloise being kidnapped and Faith on her deathbed. There had to be something I could do.

  The students filed out behind us, but not before I overheard someone say something about Faith not being able to put out the gossip paper.

  “Did you hear about her nails?” A few students gathered around the gossiping one. “I heard that her dad put a spell around her. If an intruder comes in and tries to mess with her, her nails are full of poison and will strike.”

  “That’s enough. Run along.” Helena motioned for them to leave.

  I couldn’t help but smile when I heard the gossip about the nails. If only they knew. But the UnHidden Hall rag paper was another story. If Faith really were the master that uncovered the hidden truth behind the magic, it would open the door for many people who would want to hurt her. In fact, they might even want her dead.

  Mr. Prince Charming came running in and made his signature figure eights around my ankles just as Gus was leaving.

  “Where have you been?” I reached down and picked him up as though he was really going to tell me. Then I turned to Gus. “Are you walking back to the main campus?”

  “Something like that.” He threw his head back and laughed.

  “Oh, I forgot. Teletransporter.” Damn! Why couldn’t I have that kind of power? Nonchalantly I asked, “So did you check out Faith’s newspaper?”

  His head gave a slight tick, and his eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?” he asked, making it sound very suspicious.

  “Doesn’t everyone?” I laughed, shrugging off the ignorance. “Everyone knows its Faith, but won’t admit it. Do you have any copies lying around?”

  “Nope.” He grabbed the edge of his backpack and right before my eyes, he was gone.

  Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming jumped up on the table and batted at something that wasn’t there. At least nothing I could see.

  Faith Mortimer had pissed someone off and I wanted to read all of the newspapers. I grabbed Mr. Prince Charming off the table.

  There was a piece of paper on the table that wasn’t there before. I picked it up.

  Meet me by the library in twenty minutes. Don’t tell anyone! Gus.

  I wondered why my hippie friend wanted to meet with me. What was so important that he couldn’t tell me before?

  I glanced around, wondering who else was in the room with me. I had a feeling I wasn’t alone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the time Mr. Prince Charming and I got back to the main campus, it was time to meet Gus at the Library.

  This better not be a waste of time, I thought. I really could’ve spent this time working on a new potion for Faith or going through her laptop. Or, I could’ve gotten into the files quicker. But I was going to take any tips I could use. And with Gus being able to go here and there without anyone seeing him, maybe he did see something.

  The café shops were filled with students eating their lunch between classes, as well as professors grabbing a quick bite.

  It was up to me to find out when it would be a good time to sneak in and take a peek at the student files. Maybe I could lurk around after I meet with Gus.

  From a distance, I could see Gus was already there. His cargo shorts hung low like most the college boys were wearing them, and his t-shirt was ratty and halfway tucked in.

  I thought about Oscar and smiled. He was always so neat. He liked his t-shirts wrinkle free, even though he didn’t tuck them in. Oscar had a relaxed style and it worked for him. Gus on the other hand, was sloppy. Like most of the college boys at Hidden Hall.

  “Hey, thanks for meeting me.” Gus walked ahead is if I knew to follow him. “You know you shouldn’t be going around asking about the newspaper thing.”

  “So now you admit to it?” I asked. He walked a few steps ahead of me and I tried to keep up. “Slow down.”

  Meowl, meowl. Mr. Prince Charming darted across the road to our cottage dorm. He must’ve been sick of listening to us, and didn’t think I was in danger.

  “No can do. If anyone sees me talking to you, they are going to know.” He meandered a little further to the right.

  “Know what?” I jutted forward. I looked around. No one seemed to pay any attention to us.

  “Know that I’m Helena’s assistant and that I’m talking to you.” The closer I got, the quicker he got.

  “No one knows? Why?” I questioned.

  “I’m really not in school. I’m in disguise to make sure the University runs well.” He continued to get faster and faster. “I’m the best Teletransporter in the spiritualist’s community.”

  Wow! If Aunt Helena really wanted me to help, why hadn’t she clued me in on all this? After all, she never told me that Gus wasn’t a student and that he worked for Hidden Hall.

  “The administration knew that a Dark-Sider was trying to get the Ultimate Spell, and UnHidden Hall came out with an issue a month ago saying that they knew who it was and was going to expose them in this month’s issue. This month’s issue was due out today. And it’s not out, so we can all assume that Faith really does put out the paper.”

  Ultimate Spell? What the hell was that? I smacked my forehead with my hand. There was still so much I needed to learn. And why couldn’t they know it? There was only one way to find out. . .ask.

  “What’s the Ultimate Spell?” I ran up next to him. In a flash, he was gone.

  Damn it! I looked around to see if he Teletransported across the street or a little further up the sidewalk. The more I stood there and thought about it, the more I realized standing there was getting me nowhere.

  A chill ran up my spine and a cold breeze brushed my cheek.

  “Who’s here?” I jumped around. My eyes darted into the air. I was not alone.

  “Are you okay?” A girl asked as she walked by. She stood back as if I was just released from a psychiatric ward.

  I brushed her off. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  She nodded and went on her way. I turned around and realized I was standing in front of the admissions office.

  Gus had leaded me to the place I needed to be. Only I wanted to go back and raid Faith’s computer to figure all of this out.

  The sign on the door read that the administration was out for their lunch break and the office was closed.

  “Ms. Heal.” Professor Dunwoody came out of nowhere and cleared his throat. Suspicion crossed his gaze. “Can I help you with something? The building is closed.”

  I thrust my hand in my bag and felt around for a Ding Dong. Finally, I felt the foil and pulled it out. I made a mental note to replenish my stash when I got back to my room at the cottage.

  “I’m just taking a look around at the beautiful campus.” I took a bite to stall for time. “I never had the o
pportunity to go to college when I was younger. I love all of this old architecture.”

  “I guess I could let you in.” He opened the front of his suit coat, and hooked on his belt was a bunch of dangling keys on one of those pulley-type key chains that janitors wear.

  How many keys could one man have? I thought as I watched him open the door with what looked like a normal key, not a skeleton key like the one Helena gave me.

  Quietly we passed several doors with leaded glass, a nameplate on the outside of each. Nothing sparked an interested or created a stir.

  One door that did catch my eye was the one marked Basement. I eyed the old door and noticed the key hole didn’t match the others. That was where my key went. Not only did my intuition tell me, but my bag glowed bright amber.

  Madame Torres was well aware that the basement was where I needed to go.

  The admissions office was just across the hall. A small wooden bench sat to the left of the door.

  “I think I’ll wait here until they get back from lunch.” It groaned as I plopped down.

  “Fine, suit yourself.” Professor Dunwoody ran his hands through his hair, and then wrung them as he shuffled down the hall. Never once did he make eye contact with me.

  If my timing was right, the staff wouldn’t be back for another forty-five minutes, which gave me plenty of time to get to the basement. Probably not enough time to look through the student files, but I’d worry about that once I got down there.

  I waited for a few minutes just in case Professor Dunwoody came back, but he didn’t. I tiptoed over to the door and slipped the key out of my pocket.

  “Here goes nothing.” The key scrapped the edges, and let out a faint cry as if it hadn’t been opened in quite a while. The door swung open without me forcing it. A rush of cold air swept up the dark wooden floors, causing my bangs to part in the middle.

  Something didn’t want me to go down there, but Madame Torres remained amber. I opened my bag to look in, hoping her glow would light up the inside of my bag and I could get another Ding Dong. There were none.

  Madame Torres showed me a picture of Eloise hunkered over. Instantly my fear went away. I had to do this for Eloise. She had been there for Darla and me. I was going to find her and whoever had done this to her. As well as Faith.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The bare light bulbs hung from the ceiling with old tube and knob wiring, along with several cob webs, actually worked when I pulled the chain that hung from them.

  Careful not to touch anything, I rubbed my owl charm that dangled off my bracelet between my fingers.

  “Make wise decisions,” I repeated over and over, hoping it would spark a little more courage in my gut. There was nothing telling me to turn around other than the pure scaredy-cat that I was.

  I made it to the landing and peered down the other set of wooden steps. It was much darker than the first half of the steps and I didn’t see any hanging bulbs. With a series of short breaths, I gained a little more courage and bolted down the steps.

  I ran my hand up and down the wall looking for a light switch. It was cold and there was nothing there but dust. At the top was a stream of light, a small stream, but a stream no less. I felt my hand around toward the light and felt some sort of bag. I pulled the bag down, only to be covered in dust and a plume of it created a fog. I closed my eyes waiting for it to settle.

  I squinted to see if the coast was clear and a light shone through. The bag had been covering a window to the street. I could see the student’s feet as they walked by.

  It was just enough light to see the many rows of filing cabinets that filled the large basement.

  I reached in my bag and grabbed Madame Torres.

  “Can you shine a light over there?” I held her up and she did exactly what I needed her to do. Thank God she didn’t give me any fits. From the looks of it, she was about to take a nap. Regardless, I needed to see exactly who Faith Mortimer was and where she came from. There were many more families I wanted to look up, but surely there had to be something in Faith’s past to lead me to a clue as to who she really is.

  Why would she be best friends with a Dark-Sider when Raven clearly distastes Good-Siders? Did Raven have something against Faith in order for Faith to befriend a Dark-Sider?

  “They are all alphabetized.” She blurted out, and shone a light on the letter M.

  “You knew exactly what I was thinking.” I carefully made my way over the cabinet.

  “This place gives me the heebie jeebies and I want to get out of here.” She focused on the cabinet, lighting my way.

  Stay focused, I repeated in my head because I knew I could easily get distracted. This place was definitely not somewhere I wanted to stay for a long period of time. Plus my time was limited. Eloise didn’t look well.

  I ran my finger down the drawers, looking for where ‘Mortimer’ would fall into the filing system. Luckily, it was the middle drawer. With a little extra pull, the drawer opened. With a little more effort, the drawer squeaked and was much too slow. I yanked harder and it opened a little quicker with just enough space for me to thumb through the old files.

  A slight cold breeze blew at the nape of my neck, causing me to pause and look into the darkness behind me.

  Stop it. You’re overreacting, I told myself. Only, there was an unshakable sense of something wrong. With one hand in the files, I used the other hand to find a Ding Dong.

  Damn! I had forgotten I was out. I turned my attention back to the files and quickly found a tab that had ‘Mortimer’ printed on it.

  Using Madame Torres as a flashlight, I thumbed through the old papers briefly reading about Faith’s family history. Flipping through, I stopped when a letter addressed to Aunt Helena caught my eye.

  Dear Dean Helena Heal,

  As you know, my daughter, Faith Hope Mortimer, will be attending Hidden Hall A Spiritualist University starting in the fall. We hope that our donation in the amount of one million dollars will go toward new and exciting research that will benefit Faith’s educational career at Hidden Hall.

  As you know, my wife and I value education as well as the internship program at Hidden Hall. We believe that Faith has a wonderful chance at obtaining the qualifications as the top student. As for other business we discussed on my last visit, I’m sure you have taken the necessary precautions to help keep the information sealed. Especially the Ultimate Spell situ…

  “Especially the Ultimate Spell what?” I turned the page, but the proceeding pages had been ripped out of the file. It was gone. What was the other business he was talking about and what was the Ultimate Spell?

  With the file back in place just like I found it, I slammed the old metal door shut.

  “What have I gotten myself into?” I stared deep into Madame Torres eyes searching for answers she wasn’t able to give me. Carefully I slipped her back in my bag and headed toward the stairs.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I slipped out of the administration office unseen and ran across the street to the cottage dorm.

  First thing was first. I had to get on Faith’s computer. Not only did I want to get my hands on the old editions of UnHidden Hall, but I wanted to figure out this Ultimate Spell. Why was it so secretive?

  Everyone seemed to be out of the house, so I darted up the steps, and stopped when I heard a slight scuffle and door slam coming from the hallway. My hallway.

  Hili was gone to Whispering Falls, and Faith. . .well, we knew where Faith was. So who was in my hallway and why?

  The lights turned on like falling dominoes in the dark hallway as I rushed toward my room. The door was opened. I flipped on the light switch to a ransacked room. The contents of my desk drawers were emptied. The mattress was thrown on the floor as if I had something to hide between them, and the contents in my suitcase had been strewn about. Everything that I had purchased at Potions, Wands, and Beyond was gone.

  “Oh my god!” I grabbed the box of Ding Dongs that was full when I left my room, but was no
w empty. “This is war. No one messes with my Ding Dongs.”

  I threw the empty box on the floor and ran into the hallway to see if I saw anyone, but there was no one there. Someone was looking for something or trying to send me a message. Wasn’t the note enough?

  I took the threatening note out of my back pocket and remembered that Helena had told me that Gus found it.

  I plopped down on the jumbled up sheets on my bed where the intruder had ripped them off to read the note for the hundredth time hoping something…anything would pop out at me, but when I did, my heel hit something, causing that something to roll under the bed frame.

  Bending down, I looked between my legs and saw a small bottle way under there that was slowly coming to a stop.

  For a moment, it looked like it was one of the ingredients I had gotten from Potions, Wands, and Beyond, but the bottle was way too beautiful with the swirls of colors and a cork top.

  I got on my belly and reached as far as I could. With a little luck, I turned my head to the side and slid just far enough under the frame for the tips of my fingers to reach it and roll it towards me.

  With the bottle firmly in my grasp, I pulled myself out and bringing it to my face, got a closer inspection.

  “Cimicifuga?” I read the label phonetically. “Cimicifuga, cimicifuga!”

  I recalled the strange ingredient from spying on Raven that night.

  Raven.

  I grabbed my Magical Cures book from bag and quickly thumbed through it. Obviously Raven was the one who broke into my room, but why did she have the ingredient with her?

  The ingredients were listed alphabetically as I ran my finger down each page, turning them when I reached the end. Finally, I made it to Cimicifuga.

  “Black snakeroot.” I quickly scanned the notes until I found out what it was exactly used for. “Ward off unwanted illness. Sprinkle on the floor for unwanted visitors. Get rid of evil jinx.”

  Meow, meow. Mr. Prince Charming tapped the bottle.

  Was she trying to get rid of me? Or did she drop it when I unexpectedly came home? Was the potion really for Faith? Was Raven on her way to finish Faith off after she found what she was looking for here?