Enchanted, A Paranormal Romance / Fantasy (Forever Charmed)

by Rachel Wells

  “We’re all really lucky,” Ally said. Ally and Mandy met eyes and then looked at Steve, who looked away trying to push back the memories of what had almost happened. After Mary had chased Lucas quite literally over the edge, Mandy had turned her back on the haunting scene and gone back into the little lighthouse to find Ally and Nana hovering over Steve, who was still lying on the floor, limbs bent at odd angles and bloodied. The only difference was that he was moaning and beginning to stir a little bit.

  Mandy had run over to the group, using every last bit of strength to stifle the anxious feelings for Steve that were building in her gut. “Nana, what should we do? 9-1-1?! Who has a cell phone?” Mandy remembered the words spilling out of her mouth pell-mell in a tumble.

  “Shh, child,” Nana had cooed. “He’s just coming around. Give him a moment.” Giving him a moment had seemed like the farthest thing from what Mandy’s instincts told her to do. She wanted to take Steve to the emergency room, he needed medical attention. Stitches, x-rays, heart monitor, morphine…the works. But Nana had put a soothing hand on Mandy’s arm and instructed, “Just wait.”

  Waiting was hard, but Mandy didn’t have much of a choice. Steve had moaned some more and his fingers had clenched and unclenched a few times until he finally slowly turned over onto his back and opened his eyes. His face was streaked with rivulets of red blood but his eyes were bright and focused. “Mandy! Where is he?” Steve had gasped out, not realizing what had happened after he had struggled and fell.

  Mandy was on her knees at Steve’s side in an instant. She brushed his hair back off his forehead, stalling while she looked for words that might not upset someone who had just been knocked unconscious by a bunch of evil demons and a wannabe warlock. “Lucas, is um…he’s,” Mandy faltered, not sure how much to reveal to Steve.

  “He’s dead. You might say by his own hand,” Nana cut in, getting right to the chase.

  Steve blanched and tried to sit up, Mandy’s hand on his back helping him into a more comfortable position. “Dead?! I don’t understand…what happened?” Nana had filled Steve in on the details while Mandy rubbed Steve’s shoulders and Ally listened quietly, looking as if she was in shock. Steve actually appeared to be handling the gruesome story better than Mandy had expected. Some of what Nana shared was actually news to Mandy too, like the part about the mysterious glass globes of water, like the one Mandy had smashed, that seemed to be everywhere Nana was. “They’re called Soul Savers. It’s actually an ancient practice, but like many ancient practices, they seem to have gone off the radar as of late. Essentially what it is is ocean water, or salt water, and a token symbol of a deceased loved one that was wronged or has reason to make something right in their earthly life. The globe is under a special enchantment. If it is broken by the right person at the right time, the soul of the deceased is released. The conditions must be right however. The globe must only be broken and the soul will only be released if doing so will benefit both the lost soul and that of the person that releases them. For this reason, globes can be passed down through generations until the right time is finally achieved. In this case, I knew Mary’s time to right her name was near, in part due to my dear friend Ophelia’s predictions,” Nana had concluded.

  At the mention of Ophelia’s name Mandy and Steve had both gasped, each remembering all the weird occurrences involving Ophelia. The notes, the hushed warnings, the strange prophecies. “So that’s all real? Ophelia is actually a psychic?” Mandy gaped and she couldn’t help asking the question that seemed to have a very obvious answer.

  “Oh, quite,” Nana had concurred. “Time travelers have a certain flair for psychic tendencies. It’s easy to predict the future when you’ve been there and back,” Nana had chuckled at this like it was a good joke. Mandy and Steve both stared at Nana mutely. It seemed that anything was becoming possible lately. Ophelia was a time traveler. That could only mean one thing.

  “So that means the Ophelia mentioned in Mary’s letters…” Mandy trailed off. It seemed pointless to even say such an absurd sentence out loud.

  “Is the same Ophelia that you and I know? Yes, that’s correct dear. She travels about, taking on cases she sees fit to improve. Lives can be bettered with her assistance, a little push in the right direction.” Nana nodded seriously as if this shouldn’t be such a hard concept to swallow.

  Unable to find any words, Mandy had been unable to question Nana any further, and hence Nana finished her account of what had happened since Steve had blacked out. “So, you see dears, when Mary had achieved her just revenge, she was able to return to the hereafter and rest in peace. When she did so any black magic still lingering here from Lucas’s abusive spell was dissolved and any injuries to you were healed, allowing you to wake, good as new.”

  Mandy looked at Steve and for the first time realized that the bleeding had stopped, and in fact, there was no trace of the bloody scratches at all. His hair was rumpled, his glasses askew, his clothes hung in tattered shreds, but his body looked completely unharmed. “Mary’s finally at peace, after all these hundreds of years,” Nana said quietly, picking something up from the floor by her feet. The glass globe, the Soul Saver, that Mandy had smashed not long before, was now whole again. The water was calm inside and on its surface floated a small branch of yellow flowers. “Mandy, do you know what flower this is?”

  Mandy stuttered, surprised at the flower but sure she was right. “Goldenrod. It symbolizes good fortune.”

  Nana crinkled her eyes in that way Mandy loved so much. “That’s right,” Nana replied, holding the globe out towards Mandy. “This is yours now. You’ve earned it.” Mandy hesitated, taking the globe gingerly from her grandmother. She felt as if she had a million questions she needed answered, but knew it would be impossible to answer them all at the moment. One seemed more pressing than the others.

  Mandy turned to Steve and looked from him to Ally, who had been sitting so quietly up until this moment. “I know it’s none of my business, with the way I’ve been acting lately, but are you guys…you know…” Mandy couldn’t bring herself to finish the question or meet their eyes any longer.

  Ally looked at Steve and then back to Mandy, making the connection of what Mandy had been trying to ask. “Us? As in together?” Ally squeaked out. “No! I mean, no offense Steve, you’re a nice guy and all, but not my type.”

  Steve laughed good-naturedly and said, “And vice versa!”

  Ally acted mortified, exclaiming, “Hey!” but laughing along with Steve.

  Mandy sucked in a deep breath of air. “So I don’t get it. Why’d I keep seeing you guys together and how’d you find me tonight?”

  It was Ally’s turn to suck in a deep breath. “Well, when you and Steve started getting serious, I guess I got a little jealous. You didn’t seem to have any time for me. One day I decided to wait for you after school by your locker, just to try to talk things out with you. I was waiting on a bench a little ways away from your locker, that way I figured I had a good vantage point and would be able to see you guys coming. Only that day Lucas got to your locker before you. I saw him put in a flower and I saw you guys react to the flower. I thought it was a secret admirer thing and I guess I got super jealous at that point. Here you already had a good boyfriend and the hottest guy was leaving you roses in your locker. It didn’t seem fair. So I decided not to talk to you. But I kept watching because I was jealous and I guess curious. I would sit on the bench after school every day just watching to see if Lucas would do anything. I got suspicious when I saw him leave you a dead rose one day. So even though I was still insanely jealous of you and a bit mad, I was worried about you too. I started trying to sidle up with Lucas, just to find out what was happening,” Ally stopped, momentarily caught in the memory.

  Mandy gasped. She felt ashamed of the way she had ignored Ally when all she was trying to be was a friend. “So after I got to know Lucas a little better I got even more suspicious. He was guarded at first, but he slowly began to let out real pieces of h
imself. I was over at his house a couple of times and caught a glimpse of some really weird stuff in his room, black magic books, black candles, weird looking herbs and stuff. It gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach I knew I couldn’t ignore, only I didn’t know what to do. It’s not like I really had a case against Lucas. I was the only witness to the flowers, and so what if he liked to do a little dark reading? It was only when Lucas suddenly dumped me and started exclusively hanging out with you that I knew something was horribly wrong. I knew you weren’t the type of person to just ditch Steve like that. So I confided in Steve. I knew he’d listen and help,” Ally finished and looked at Steve.

  Steve nodded. “After all I’d seen with you, I knew not to dismiss anything. If Ally said Lucas was no good and after you, I believed her whether or not it involved anything incredulous like black magic voodoo stuff. We knew we had to keep tabs on you, but we didn’t think it would be wise to go one on one. We let people think we were a couple just because it would appear normal if we were always together, and it was safer to spy together. We didn’t know what Lucas was capable of if he caught us, be we knew it wouldn’t be good. We figured it was safety in numbers. I’m sorry if we hurt you,” Steve said softly to Mandy.

  Mandy shook her head. “No. I should be the one apologizing. Lucas threatened me, he threatened all of you. So I felt like I had to do what he said. I’m sorry. I should have talked to Nana or something, but I was scared,” Mandy wiped her eyes that were filling up again. “So how’d you know we were here tonight?”

  “We were at the dance, trying to keep tabs on both of you,” Steve continued. “We knew he must have some ulterior motive. No offense, but we didn’t think he was interested in you for you. When you guys left, we left and we followed you from a distance. The rest is history,” Steve said shrugging.

  “That was so brave of both of you. Thank you! But don’t ever be so stupid again! You both could have been killed!” Mandy scolded. Mandy felt the need to just feel both of them and stretched out her arms for a hug. All three awkwardly fell in on each other.

  “Well, dearies, as touching as this is, we are going to need to get out of here, or people will be talking. You know how it is in a small town,” Nana chuckled and got up, heading towards the door. They had left the house and got to the mainland and back home before the authorities had shown up, finding Lucas’s body on the rocks and deciding that the boy must have been on some reckless or drunken teenage spree or prank and fallen to his untimely death.

  The town ran its article and the people accepted it. Only a select few knew the truth and they had no desire to tell. Mandy was right anyway, no one in their right mind would believe the sensational story that had actually taken place on those rocky cliffs. Steve crumpled up the newspaper into a ball and flung it into the trash basket on the post across the sidewalk. “Score!” he shouted gleefully.

  Ally and Mandy shook their heads at him the way a mother might to a rambunctious little boy. “I gotta get to work. I’ll catch up with you guys later!” Ally announced, rising from the bench. She gave a little wave and headed up towards the center of town and Nana’s flower shop. Mandy and Steve waved back, watching her go. “She’s a good friend. I’ve never had one before,” Mandy said softly, interlocking her fingers with Steve’s.

  “Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?” Steve feigned offense.

  Mandy laughed. “You’re a good boyfriend, and I’ve never had one of those before either,” she admitted.

  Steve smiled at her with admiration in his eyes. “Want to go for a walk?” he asked, pulling Mandy up off the bench as the same time.

  Mandy went along willingly. They passed Ophelia’s little shop. The gate was down and locked in front of the storefront. A sign read, “Mission accomplished. Gone home.” Mandy and Steve smiled at this conspiratorially. They passed the Goldenrod restaurant, back open for business. After the incident, Lucas’s dad had issued a public apology on behalf of his family and more specifically, his ancestor, for any wrongdoing against Mary Nasson. Perhaps the townsfolk had taken pity on Lucas’s father after hearing of his loss, or perhaps it was morbid curiosity, or perhaps they just simply accepted his apology, but whatever it was the restaurant was thrumming with customers. The silver arms of the taffy machines were back at work in the window, pulling and stretching the decadent goo as it had always done and all seemed right with the town again. Its heart seemed to be beating again, and the sun was high in the sky casting a golden glow about York and its inhabitants. The air was warm and soft and everything that had once seemed so bleak and grey, seemed to shine and sparkle for Mandy. Everything was right with town, and everything was right with Mandy. She knew in that instant that she was where she was supposed to be, that her life had a purpose after all. She felt as if the golden sunshine had filled her up to brim and she wanted to taste that golden deliciousness forever. She squeezed Steve’s hand and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. She was home.

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