by Amy Boyles
“Greetings,” Sylvia said, gliding over.
Like many of the female residents of Magnolia Cove, Sylvia Spirits had red hair. Hers shimmered cherry red and hung straight, parted directly in the middle. Sylvia wore a crimson mermaid-shaped gown, and she slithered over the floor as if sliding on rollers.
I was immediately intimidated, to say the least. Most of the other shop owners that I’d met were regular people. They weren’t extras from the cast of The Addams Family, as Sylvia seemed to be.
She air-kissed both my grandmother’s cheeks. “Betty Craple. What a wonderful surprise.” She stood about a foot taller than my grandmother, though Sylvia made bending to kiss her appear effortless. They parted and her gold eyes landed on me. “And this must be the granddaughter that the entire town has buzzed about.”
I gave an embarrassed wave. “Pepper. How do you do?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“All these niceties are great, but we’ve got a serious problem, Sylvia.”
Sylvia waved the air dismissively. “Yes, yes, I’m sure. But first, why don’t you take a look at my newest collection?” She slid over to a row of pointed hats in autumnal colors. “Fall will be here in a few weeks, and to prepare for Halloween, I’ve created a new conical that’s guaranteed to amplify any holiday spells you might make.”
“Conical?” I said.
“The shape of the hat,” Betty said behind her hand. My grandmother rolled her eyes.
“Got it.”
Sylvia took a beautiful nut-brown hat from a peg and placed it on my head. “This would look absolutely wonderful on you. Try it out. Give it a whirl.”
“Sylvia, she can’t,” Betty said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Sylvia’s eyes widened. “Oh?”
“Rufus got in.”
“Impossible,” she hissed. “Rufus Mayes? You must be mistaken.”
Betty shook her head. “I am not mistaken. He attacked my granddaughter this morning, placed some sort of spell on her.”
“But I didn’t feel any breaking or thinning of the spell.”
Betty cocked an eye at her. “Are you sure?”
Sylvia opened and shut her mouth. “No. Yes. I’m positive. Come. Let us see.”
She tapped a wall lined with hats. The wall swung back, revealing a dark room. Inside, a bubbling cauldron with icky yellow liquid bubbled and boiled.
Sylvia grazed her hand across the opening and shut her eyes. A rainbow of light shot up from the center and then crashed back down, hovering over the cauldron. It looked like a miniature galaxy. It was amazing.
“What’s that?” I said, totally mystified.
“That,” Betty said proudly, “is the spell that keeps Rufus locked out of Magnolia Cove. At least it was.”
Sylvia studied the lines and circles, the dots and swirls. “Nothing appears to be wrong. Everything’s in place, but you say he got in?”
Betty drummed her fingers on the lip of the cauldron. “He broke in and, as far as I know, is still here.”
“I don’t see where the spell has been tampered with,” she said. “Every line is perfect.”
Betty frowned. “If it has been messed with, that can only mean one thing.”
I tucked a few strands of crimson and honey hair behind my ear. “What?”
Betty’s lower lip trembled. Oh crap, it had to be bad if her lower lip was acting that way. I never, and I mean never, saw her in any way, shape or form, reveal the tiniest hint of vulnerability.
The shinola had finally hit the crap fan.
When Betty spoke, I held my breath. “That spell was fine-tuned to Rufus’s body, the magic inside of him. He couldn’t have broken it.”
Sylvia scraped black-tipped nails down her face. “It can only mean that someone helped him.” She stopped and took a moment to stare at the two of us in turn. “Someone inside Magnolia Cove found a way to sneak Rufus inside. Someone’s working with him.”
FOUR
“But who? Who could be helping Rufus?”
The three of us sat at a table in the back of Sylvia’s shop. She’d poured us cups of coffee. Luckily I had a stash of jelly beans in my purse ready to plop into the bitter liquid.
Sylvia shook out her mane of hair. “That, I don’t know. It’s the sort of information the police will have to drag from him.”
I glanced at Betty. “Speaking of that, maybe we should see where they are in their search.”
“Good idea. Sylvia, thank you for the coffee.”
Sylvia nodded. “Pepper, are you sure you wouldn’t like to try on a hat?”
I shook my head. “No thanks.”
“Now’s not a good time,” Betty said.
Sylvia walked us to the door. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
When we got inside the Camry, I turned to Betty. “So where are we headed?”
“To the police station. I want to see how Garrick’s getting along in his search for Rufus.”
I cranked the engine just as a horn blared outside. It sounded like a tornado siren—a sound I’m all too familiar with living in the South. In the springtime sirens blare in cities at the first whiff that there’s a twister nearby. It’s a good thing, too, because Alabama is practically its own tornado alley.
“What’s that?” I said.
Betty smirked proudly. “Just listen.”
The siren died, and a voice boomed from behind it. “Citizens of Magnolia Cove. You are currently under lockdown. Please leave your places of business and go to your homes. Close the doors and windows. Do this now.”
“Garrick’s voice,” I said.
Betty nodded. “They’re looking for Rufus. They haven’t put the town on lockdown in years. They mean business. Come on, let’s get home and see what’s going on.”
“Why don’t they just tell everyone to stay where they are?”
Betty snorted. “Tell a bunch of witches they can’t go to their homes where they’re safe and sound with their cauldrons and potions? That would never fly in this town.”
It took a few extra minutes to reach the house as folks spilled from their businesses, jumped on their cast-iron skillets and flew off. We had to wait as pedestrians crossed in front of us. A few cars piled up. Not many folks drove in Magnolia Cove, so the small traffic jam was a first to see.
Anyway, when we reached the house, Mint and Licky were there, along with my cousins, Amelia and Cordelia.
“Why are we on lockdown?” Amelia said. “Our mothers wanted to wait until y’all got here before they told us anything.”
Licky flicked her hair over one shoulder. “We just didn’t want to rehash it a thousand times.”
“There’s only two of us,” Amelia said, pointing to Cordelia.
Mint crossed one leg over the other and bobbed it up and down. “We often have to spoon-feed the two of y’all every little bit of information.”
“I resent that,” Cordelia said. She glanced at Betty. “What’s going on?”
“Rufus is in the town,” I said. “He attacked me this morning. Well, not in a punch-and-knife sort of way, more of in a sneaky I’m-going-to-steal-your-powers manner.”
Amelia and Cordelia exchanged glances. “So did he steal your powers?”
“No, but apparently he cast some sort of spell so that when I work magic, he absorbs it. He did say he wanted to get my powers, after all.”
Cordelia nibbled her bottom lip. “And I guess he planned on getting them.”
Betty turned to my aunts. “What happened at the station?”
“Well,” Mint said, “that nice new sheriff we have, that Garrick, didn’t want to listen to us as first.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Licky snapped and a nail file appeared in her hand. She sawed at the edge of her fingers as she spoke. “Well, you know, with the whole Cotton and Cobwebs fiasco, I guess he thought we were a little, you know, loopy.”
My aunts, caring as they may seem, are actually chaos wi
tches. Pretty much wherever they go, chaos and destruction follow. In fact, I wasn’t sure how keen I was on having them in the house at all. I wasn’t in the mood for dealing with a caved-in roof. Not that they could help it. It was just the nature of their magic.
“But he eventually listened,” Cordelia said.
“Interested in what your boyfriend’s doing?” Betty snarled.
Cordelia rolled her eyes and didn’t respond.
Mint pulled her hair over one shoulder. “He listened. Got his men looking.”
“Garrick knows about Rufus’s history,” I said. “Garrick was here when the council voted to allow Rufus inside for his mother’s funeral, so it shouldn’t have been too big a deal for him to get his men moving.”
“But we are talking about our mothers here,” Amelia said.
They shot her dirty looks.
“No offense, but you don’t exactly have the most respectable reputations around town.”
“I resent that,” Licky said.
“We’re the ones who caught Mayor Peter Potion,” Mint added.
“If it weren’t for us, that old guy might’ve killed Pepper,” Licky said.
That was true. Not long ago my aunts had saved me from near death at the hands of the town mayor.
“Yes, yes, you’re heroes,” Betty said. “So they’ve got us on lockdown, which means someone else must’ve spotted Rufus.”
I cracked the knuckles on my right hand. “Why do you say that?”
“Because your aunts headed to the police station before we had a chance to speak to Argus.”
“Oh, we stopped for ice cream first,” Mint said.
I rubbed the worry line wedging its way between my brows. “Nice.”
“Betty’s right,” Cordelia said. “Someone else probably did see Rufus, which means they’re closing in on him.”
Amelia brushed her hands as if ridding them of dirt. “And then they’ll just toss Rufus out and throw away the key.”
“Wait,” I said. “They can’t toss him out.”
Betty waddled over to the ever-burning fire in her hearth and tapped the empty cauldron with her finger. The bowl immediately filled with water. “He cast a spell on Pepper. We need Rufus here.” She shot Mint and Licky a dark look. “You did tell Garrick about the spell, right?”
Mint grimaced at Licky. “We told him, right?”
Licky clicked her tongue. “I’m pretty sure we did.”
“I almost remember doing it.”
“I’m nearly one hundred percent positive that you mentioned something about the spell,” Licky said with confidence.
“Oh, I thought you were the one who mentioned it,” Mint said.
“No, it wasn’t me. If either of us said anything, it was you.”
“I thought I heard it come out of your mouth.”
I clenched my fists in frustration. “Will one of you please just say if you told him?”
“I didn’t,” Licky said meekly.
“Me neither,” Mint said.
I bit back the geyser of panic rushing up my throat. I held the fear roiling in my stomach at bay as I studied Betty. “They didn’t tell Garrick. What does that mean?”
Betty scratched her chin. “It can only mean one thing—that as soon as Garrick catches Rufus, he’ll send the sorcerer on his way.”
I took a deep, cleansing breath, hoping for the best outcome before I asked, “But what does that mean for the spell?”
Betty pulled at the silver, curled wig covering her head and said, “Why, it means we’ll never be able to break it if they let him go.”
I grabbed my purse and rushed to the door. “Come on. We’ve got a sheriff to catch.”
FIVE
As soon as we stepped outside, I saw several police officers on cast-iron skillets zoom overhead.
“Grab your skillet, Pepper,” Betty said. “We’re going on a chase.”
I ran inside, grabbed my long-handled skillet that was meant for one thing and one thing only—riding high in the sky. I rushed back outside. “Where’s yours?” I said as I hiked a leg over the handle.
“I’m riding with you.”
Oh boy.
Now the only other being that had ridden with me was a cat I liked to refer to as Sweetie Death Wish, but who’s real name had turned out to be Sprinkles.
And Sprinkles had weighed a heck of a lot less than Betty Craple, who was mostly head and boobs.
I cocked a brow. “How exactly is this supposed to work?”
“I’ll get on the back and hug your waist. It’ll be easy, and don’t worry about the extra weight. I’ll cast a spell that makes me light as a feather.”
“Oh? Can you cast one like that on me? Except make me lose ten pounds?”
She shuffled up behind and wrapped her arms around me. “Doesn’t work like that.”
“Okay, five then? I’d settle for five pounds.”
“No.”
“How about you just get rid of the love handles on my sides.”
“What love handles? Kid, you weigh what I weigh and you’ve got love handles that keep on giving.”
I settled onto the tip of the cushioned skillet. “I don’t want those kinds of handles.”
Betty took up the very back of the seat. “Neither do I. Hurry or we’ll lose them. Fly this thing.”
I focused on lifting off— “Wait! What about using my magic and powering Rufus?”
Betty smacked her lips. “Right. Move your head to the left. I’ll fly this thing from behind.”
And so she did. And did she ever. Betty lifted the skillet and zoomed up into the sky, giving me a healthy mouthful of bugs along the way.
I spat out something that I didn’t want to analyze. “Gross.”
“You should’ve worn goggles,” she shouted.
“I don’t have any.”
Suddenly a pair of goggles rested over my eyes. “I need a mouth guard.”
“No can do,” Betty yelled. “Goggles are all I can manage at the moment. Gotta focus on the trail.”
“What trail? I don’t see any police.”
Half a second later a green line of smoke traced the sky in front of us.
“Did you do that?”
“No, the Easter Bunny did.”
“I don’t see an Easter Bunny, only an old witch with a wig who likes to smoke a corncob pipe.”
“Very funny. Yes, I did that. We’re following their trail.”
We zipped over oaks and pines, magnolias and dogwoods as we flew across town. I glanced below. The houses melted away on our path to the Cobweb Forest.
The trail of green smoke disappeared into the thick woods.
“Hang on,” Betty said. “We’re going down.”
We punched through a hole among a copse of pines and settled on the ground, where we found ten police officers, including Garrick, had surrounded Rufus Mayes.
Rufus dragged his gaze from the police officers and studied Betty and I with his dark eyes. He smirked as if he’d just won the lottery.
“Come to tell your dogs to go home?” he said, referring to the cops.
I jumped from the skillet.
Garrick flashed me and Betty a scathing look. “What in the world do y’all think you’re doing here?”
“You can’t send him away,” I said.
“I can and I will,” Garrick said. “Men, take him to the barrier.”
“No,” I shouted, jumping in front of the line of men. I didn’t know where this barrier was, and I wasn’t sure if it would affect me, but worse things could happen than receiving an electric jolt.
I mean, hadn’t they already? I was freaking tied to Rufus Mayes, a dude who had made no bones about the fact that if I didn’t go with him on certain occasions, I would die.
Actually I was beginning to think that was a bluff. After all, he couldn’t use my power if I was dead, now could he?
“Pepper, if you don’t move out of the way right now, I’m going to arrest you,” Garrick said.
Betty nearly poked Garrick with her boobs. “Then you’ll have to arrest me, too, Officer, and boy, you’d hate to have me in jail. I’m pretty sure I’d need someone to dig the dirt out from under my toenails.”
Garrick rolled his eyes.
I flared my arms wide. “Seriously, you can’t send Rufus away. He cast a spell on me. A spell that connects my magic to his. Anytime I use my power, it gives him strength.”
Garrick narrowed his gaze. “A spell?”
“I’m not lying. Trust me, I want him gone more than you know. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Garrick turned to Rufus. “Is that true?”
Rufus opened his arms as if in surrender. “It’s as the lady says. I’ve cast a joining spell on her. What she does fuels me.”
Garrick squinted at him. “Are you freely admitting you sneaked into Magnolia Cove illegally and then worked magic on a resident?”
Rufus smiled. “It is true.”
“Then I have no choice but to arrest you.”
Rufus lifted his palms. “Arrest away.”
Garrick nodded to one of his men. “Rufus Mayes, you are under arrest for working magic on a resident of Magnolia Cove. Until such time as you are sentenced, you will be placed in jail. Do you understand?”
Rufus smiled as an officer shackled a pair of glowing handcuffs to his wrists. “Oh, I understand indeed.”
The officers dragged Rufus through the forest. Rufus shot me a smile that made vomit creep up the back of my throat. “It looks like I won’t be going home, after all.”
Garrick crossed to me. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, pulling a stunt like showing up during a lockdown and arrest. For goodness sake, at the worst one of us could’ve blasted you with magic.”
I folded my arms. “And at the horrific, which in my opinion is a thousand times worse than the word ‘worst,’ you could’ve sent Rufus back to be free in the world, and I’d be tied to him for the rest of my life.”
