Mandy M. Roth - Magic Under Fire (Over a Dozen Tales of Urban Fantasy)

by Unknown

  The watery mixture swirled into a chunky elixir, letting me know I had gotten the right ingredients to make the mother’s potion. I picked up the ladle and slowly stirred the amethyst liquid with cyan chunks that had formed, letting them melt into the potion.

  The mother was the root of the bride-to-be’s stress and the stress was causing her hair to fall out. I was confident if I could get the mother to use the special potion as a lotion, the pores on her feet would absorb the cure and it would flow through her veins, leaving her less emotional and stressed.

  “Is this your only daughter?” I popped my head around the partition and saw them over at the mojo bags.

  “Yes.” The mother fidgeted with the pink one, trying to get the drawstring open. She pulled it apart and dumped the contents in the palm of her hand.

  Over the mother’s shoulder, Faith was teetering on a small ladder hanging four straw brooms from the display window. It actually looked really cute. I couldn’t wait to see what the finishing All Hallows’ Eve display would look like.

  “Those are my mojo bags.” I glanced back at the cauldron to see if the ingredients had all melted together. The frothy mix was churning faster and faster, letting off a few sparks. There was still more cooking time.

  The shop had a few more customers and I greeted them on my way over to the mojo bags.

  “These are mojo bags and this one just so happens to be for weddings.” My voice escalated along with my brows. I pointed to the items in her palm. “That is holy water.” The small vial was just the right amount. “The stone is Tiger’s eye. I just love the swirls of chocolate brown colors.” I took it out of her palm and held it up to the morning sun popping through the front windows. “Along with Patchouli and Spanish Moss, these things bring strong love, passion, happiness, and longevity to any marriage.”

  The mother-daughter pair seemed to be intrigued.

  “You keep it, on me.” I winked at the bride. “If you’ll excuse me.” I gave a polite nod and headed back to the cauldron.

  Faith had climbed down off the ladder to help a couple of more customers who had some general questions.

  My intuition didn’t alert me that any of them needed a special potion like the mother-of-the-bride, which meant the other customers were fine with Faith picking different homeopathic cures off the shelf for them.

  “Very nice.” I hid behind the partition and used the ladle to lift the potion to my nose. “Begonias.”

  Small fireworks surged into the air letting off the sweet smell of the Odorata. The fragrance coiled around me letting me know it was finished, along with the cauldron shutting off.

  I retrieved the small, round, two ounce bottle with the tiny cork that had lit up when the mother had gotten close to the bottles. The bottles had a magical and mysterious way of picking their owner and this particular bottle was meant for her.

  With a slight wave of my hand, I spoke monotone over the cauldron, “Happiness and joy come into my life. Away with anger, stress and strife. I am happy and I am free, to live in peace and harmony. So shall it be. Harm to none nor return on me.”

  Magically the lotion filled the bottle and was ready for the mom to be the mother-of-the-bride her daughter needed her to be.

  “Are you two ready?” I called out from the register.

  “We are.” The mom grabbed the daughter. “But you didn’t give us anything for my daughter’s hair.”

  “I am going to send her to The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. Plus the mojo bag will work wonders.” I clicked the old fashioned register that had the special ingredients already keyed in. Somehow, I didn’t know how, but somehow the register was in tune with the universe. K.J., my Native American supplier of many of my ingredients blew in with the breeze and out with the wind bringing me all sorts of items I needed without me having to order them.

  If I needed something special, I would go up to The Gathering Rock, where all of our village council meetings and ceremonies were held, and whisper my needs into the wind, and K.J. would be right there.

  “Be sure to see Gerald Regiula, the owner.” I scribbled his name on a piece of paper and handed it to the bride. “Tell him I, June, sent you over for his special wedding blend. I want you to drink a warm glass of his tea with a smidge of two percent milk stirred thoroughly at night. I promise.” I put my hand on my heart. “You will have the hair you want on your wedding day.”

  The register did the math, I took the money, and bagged their potion and mojo bag sending them on their way.

  3

  W hispering Falls was coming alive with all the fun fall decorations for the All Hallows’ Eve celebration.

  Izzy had painted black bats on the windows of Mystic Lights. She hung sheer black drapes and strategically placed several light fixtures behind it, creating a spooky scene for her window display.

  Florist owner, Arabella Paxton, had fodder stalks on each side Magical Moment’s door with a barn wood wheelbarrow filled with a variety of sizes of pumpkins along with some bright red mums. She had painted fall colored leaves on the window to add to the colorful season. A door sized scarecrow hung on the door creating a fun atmosphere for the children who would be visiting our fun All Hallows’ Eve celebration.

  Ever After Books’ owner, Ophelia Biblio, had a couple of wooden ladders on each side of the bottom of the steps of her shop. Each rung had something different to celebrate. A pumpkin with a witch’s hat on one, three small pumpkins lined up on another, a couple of candy buckets that still needed to be filled, and on the top rung of each was a stack of children’s Halloween books.

  Petunia put Clyde the macaw’s cage in the front window and draped black sheets around it in an Edgar Allen Poe way. The animals in the window were enough to draw the children to her shop, Glorybee Pet Shop.

  Gerald, Petunia’s husband and owner of The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe, had painted pictures of his delicious fall treats and a couple of coffee cups with swirly, twirly steam on his windows. Before the festivities, he’d set up a stand outside with all sorts of teas and treats for the families. Thanks to him, pumpkin spice filled the air during the festival.

  Then there was Bella, of Bella’s Baubles. She was simple, but made the most impact. Her shop door was adorned with jewels of all sizes, shapes and colors. It was spectacular on its own, but she added a cobweb over the jewels and a big spider clung to the corner of the door. The spotlight on the jewels made the scene come to life in a colorful creation.

  I had no idea what else Faith was going to do and I was going to have to wait to find out. I had to get to Two Sisters and a Funeral and get my visit with Patience out of the way.

  “June!” Raven Mortimer rushed out of Wicked Good Bakery, stopping me in my path to Two Sisters and a Funeral.

  “Do you have a minute?” She asked with an uneasy tone in her voice, her eyes stared into my soul sending chills along my spine. “It’s a little important.” She held her fingers an inch apart in front of her face.

  The window display at Wicked Good was fun. She had hung four witch’s brooms from the ceiling and they dangled in the window along with stacks and risers of the Halloween decorated treats. She had glass containers filled with an assortment of orange, red, and yellow candies on some of the stands. A real treat for children.

  I looked up at the sun to catch the time of day. It was getting close to suppertime and I still had to go see Patience for Constance because if I didn’t, Constance would be at my door seconds after the sun went down. Plus I was sure Oscar was waiting for me at my cottage. He was going to meet me there after work so we could go to the rehearsal dinner together. After all, it was our wedding.

  “It’s important.” Raven grabbed my arm and dragged me in the front door of Wicked Good.

  “This was a mistake.” My stomach growled at the sweet chocolaty smell of the June’s Gems, my eyes grew big at the sight of them. “But I guess one won’t hurt.”

  I reached up to the counter to retrieve Raven’s version of the Ding Dong, wh
ich was my favorite go-to stress treat.

  The pink and green decorated shop was adorable. The room to the side was filled with short café tables for customers to enjoy their homemade pastries.

  “June!” Arabella Paxton, and Bella Van Lou, owner of Bella’s Baubles, were enjoying a cup of coffee and one of Raven’s famous pumpkin scones. “I’m so excited for you to see the flowers for your wedding.” Her smile crept up her high cheek bones and overtook her blue eyes.

  “Me too.” I let out a happy sigh. There was something so magical about flowers at a wedding and true magic was in Arabella’s creations. I gave her full control.

  “And Oscar’s ring came in.” Bella’s mouth opened into a grin, exposing the gap between her two front teeth. Her cheeks balled from the wide-open smile. Her long blond hair cascaded down one of her shoulders. “It’s. . .” She let out a happy sigh. “Amazing.”

  “Okay, ladies.” Raven had two to-go Wicked Good sacs and dumped each of their scones into them. “Time to go.” She held them out.

  “We just sat down.” Arabella’s brows furrowed.

  “And you are now leaving.” Raven grabbed the back of the steel lattice design on the back of the chair giving Arabella a tilted boost.

  I stood in complete shock at Raven’s actions. She never shut the bakery down if customers were in there. Sure we had operating hours, but we never kicked anyone out.

  “Do you need help, Bella?” Raven rubbed her hands down her apron.

  “Nooo.” Bella’s head slowly shook back and forth, her mouth formed a nice long O.

  “I’ve never,” Arabella gasped. “I guess we will see you tonight, June.” Arabella jumped up and grabbed the bag. She stopped shy of the door, turned around, sucked in a deep breath. When she blew it out, she stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry at Raven before she stomped out.

  Bella quietly followed and Raven wasn’t far behind locking the door.

  “What was that about?” I asked, blinking in bafflement.

  “You. That is what this is all about.” Raven shook her finger at me and rushed behind the counter grabbing a large white cutting board.

  She walked back over to the table. The cutting board landed with a thunk in front of me.

  “Do you see that?” She pointed to the unbaked dough she had rolled out into a nice flat pancake. I squinted and leaned a little closer. It look like dough to me, but her gift was Aleuromancy which allowed her to see future events in the dough as she created it.

  On more than one occasion she’d helped me when I’ve been in a little bit of a pickle, but now I was just plain old confused.

  “I’ve made six batches of my pumpkin scones and six batches of June’s Gems for your rehearsal dinner, and had to throw the Gems away because of the bitter, nasty taste this symbol puts off into the dough.” She pointed out something that could be considered a set of cross-bones, but this wasn’t my gifted field of expertise. “It wasn’t until I had to sit down and go through my head about why on earth would someone want to use Asafetida.” She put her finger in the air. “Then it dawned on me. June uses this herb in potions during exorcisms. But it possibly couldn’t be June.” Her black eyes popped wide. “Then I made another batch of pumpkin scones and all of them turned out delicious.” Her eyes narrowed, she leaned over at the waist. “Which means my reading is spot on. So, what are you planning?”

  “I. . .” I stuttered.

  “Oscar?” She bolted up to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. “Because if it’s Oscar, you know as well as I do that any single woman around here would be happy to have him. And he is a good man. Just because you are a little stressed over this wedding it doesn’t give you the right to even think about killing him or slipping him something.”

  “I didn’t do anything.” I protested, my mind filtered back to the potion I had made this morning for the bride-to-be, actually for her mother. “Oh my Goddess.” I lifted my hand to my mouth. “I was making this potion for another bride’s mother and when my hand slid over the Asafetida bottle, I had a thought or maybe I said it out loud.” I waved my hand in front of me waving off the thought. “I didn’t say it out loud.” I shook my head. “But I had the thought of how I could stop Aunt Helena and Eloise from even coming to the wedding.”

  I ran my hands through my hair and rubbed down the back of my neck, tilting my head to the side.

  “I would never hurt either of them, but they are trying to take over the wedding and planning. I just can’t take it.” I rested my elbow on the table and used my hand to rub my forehead.

  “The wedding is tomorrow night, June.” Her face had softened. The news of me not killing my aunts seemed to have put her at ease. “Why can’t you tell them?”

  “I have told them. Oscar has told them.” My stomach hurt at the thought of them being there and creating a scene. “They insist on—” I snapped my fingers and pointed at Raven.

  “What?” She took a step back. “I do not like the look in your eyes.”

  “You are a Dark-Sider and Oscar is a Dark-Sider. They both want a certain ritual ceremony to be performed at midnight. I need your help on how to get around the Dark-Sider ritual. If you can’t help me, one of them is going to be dead or I’m going to be dead.” I grinned.

  “The blessing,” Raven groaned, easing back into the chair. “I do know that ritual, but it’s not going to be easy to get around.”

  “I know you can help me.” I felt a little less stress. If anyone would find a way around the law, it was Raven. She’d done it so many times when we were in Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University together. She was always getting around the rituals somehow to her advantage. She was going to help me, she had to.

  My heart even smiled feeling a little hope.

  4

  I skipped down Main Street the entire way thinking about how Raven was going to help me get Eloise to calm down on the whole marriage blessing thing. It would be easier to change Eloise’s mind than Aunt Helena’s and with Raven born and raised a Dark-Sider, she knew better than anyone their marriage blessing and how I could. . .I mean we, Oscar and me, could come up with a plan to make everyone happy.

  Two Sisters and a Funeral was located at the end of Main Street and sat on a small hill. The spiritual world believed that if you kept your dead on the outskirts of the town, it would send their souls out into the world and not into the village to be stuck in the in-between.

  I had only been to Two Sisters a handful of times and that was a-okay with me. There was just something about dead bodies all in one spooky looking house that gave me the creeps.

  I walked up the big concrete stairs and up to the glass doors. This building was the only building that looked out of place in Whispering Falls. It really was too normal for our community, but it was a funeral home and normal probably was needed for what was inside.

  I pushed the door open and stepped across the threshold and Mr. Prince Charming darted in before I could get the door closed.

  “Exactly where have you been?” I asked the ornery cat as if he was going to answer me back. He sat down next to me at full attention.

  The long wide hallway was dark. The walls were draped in long deep-red fabric that hung from ceiling to floor. Definitely a designing style I had never seen. The pale yellow carpet with small red diamond designs lined the floors. Four large heavy ornamental wooden doors, two on each side, were shut. The massive staircase at the end opened up to a wraparound balcony.

  The sound of footsteps made me straighten my shoulders and look around.

  “I’m not sure.” A familiar voice came from down the hall. “I guess I can look into it, but without knowing what souls went where, I’m afraid you might have to ride this one out.”

  “My sister won’t have that,” Patience responded to the voice.

  The shadow of the hall opened up and Patience and Petunia Shrubwood appeared, deep in conversation.

  “Why, June.” Petunia rubbed the hanging sling that was tied around her neck. B
aby Orin was in there snug as a bug. “What a nice surprise to see you. I figured you were not only getting ready for All Hallows’ Eve, but the big wedding. Plus the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

  Petunia owned Glorybee Pet Shop and was married to Gerald Regiula, the owner of The Gathering Grove.

  “He’s getting big.” I walked over and patted baby Orin on the hinny.

  “He eats just like his daddy.” Petunia rolled her eyes and pushed a finger in her brown messy up-do. A leaf fell out and landed on Orin’s head. She picked it up and twirled it in her fingers. “Give this to that ostrich of yours.” She handed it to Patience. “June, I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Constance isn’t here.” Patience stepped behind Petunia as if Petunia had taken the role of Constance. Her green eyes narrowed and hardened. “She left me here while she went to pick up a body.”

  “And you didn’t go with her?” I asked. Her five-foot-tall plump body stopped like a dead possum in front of me. Her grey hair was in tight little curls all over her small round head. Glass perched on the bridge of her nose magnified her green eyes.

  Rarely did Constance leave the house without Patience and vice-versa, so when Constance pushed her way into the shop this morning, I knew something was off with them.

  “If you’ll excuse me, this little bundle of joy is due to wake up any minute and he will be hungry.” She shook her head and more leaves fell out. “His hungry cry is worse than any sound in this world. Patience, I’ll see you later.”

  She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder.

  “Mr. Prince Charming,” she called, “it’s feeding time.”

  Mr. Prince Charming jumped to his feet and scurried behind Petunia, and the yellow ball rolled with him but stopped at the door.

  My mind rewound to when Mr. Prince Charming ran in after me and I didn’t recall the yellow ball near him.

  I bit back a nagging feeling in my gut and slid my eyes toward Patience.