How Sweet Magic I

by Amy Boyles

  “And Betty?”

  Florence’s bottom lip stiffened. “Betty made sure every person in charge was out of office by the next election cycle. Did it single-handedly. Went door to door, made each resident cookies and tea and reminded them of what kind of town Magnolia Cove is—the kind that doesn’t stand for that sort of prejudice. We’re all witches who choose to live in a place where we can be ourselves. That’s what she made us remember.”

  “But the girl committed murder,” I said.

  “She was a child,” Florence pleaded. “If she’d been given the support she needed from the beginning, if we’d known of her condition, the town would’ve helped her. But the mother was looked at differently because there wasn’t a father. If she’d trusted us enough to explain Georgia’s curse, things might’ve turned out differently.”

  So Betty had turned the tide in Magnolia Cove. A smile tugged on my lips. It was a relief.

  A jolt ran through my body. Crap! I couldn’t just stand around dillydallying.

  I grabbed Florence’s shoulder. “The mending cauldron. I need it. Where is it?”

  Florence yawned. “Oh that? I sold it. A nice lady stopped by earlier in the evening and bought it.”

  “A lady?” Panic clambered up my throat. Funny. It tasted a lot like bile. “What lady? Who bought it?”

  “Now what was her name?” Florence pursed her lips in thought. “It was something like out of a cartoon.”

  “That doesn’t help me.”

  Florence pressed her fingers to her forehead. “She did say something…she was new in town. Just moved in.”

  Cartoon name. The Flintstones! “Wilma. Was her name Wilma?”

  “Yes,” she said, smiling. “It was Wilma. Very nice lady. Said she needed the cauldron for some purpose. I don’t know what.”

  I hugged her. “Thank you! You’ve just saved us.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I released her and made to run back to the truck but stopped. I turned to Florence. “When this is over, there’s someone I want you to meet. Someone who I think is going to be very special to you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I won’t tell you who, but you’ll be elated.”

  With that, I barreled back to the truck and hopped in.

  “Where’s the cauldron?” Axel said.

  I folded my arms. “She sold it. But luckily I know exactly where it is. Take a right down here and head back over to Sugar Hollow Road. We’re going to the white house with pink shutters.”

  “That sounds like a horrible combination,” Rufus said.

  I shot him a dark look. “We’re not judging a beauty pageant. We’re saving Magnolia Cove. Besides, just because it isn’t red on black doesn’t mean it’s hideous.”

  “Right.”

  We arrived at the small cottage a few minutes later. Spiders crawled down the street. The police were wrangling them, but the arachnids climbed over bushes, up trees, and even napped on fire hydrants.

  “I’m going to circle around,” Axel said. “Looks like Garrick’s heading them straight for us.”

  “This shouldn’t take too long,” I said.

  I hopped from the car. Axel drove off.

  “Pepper!”

  My stomach dropped. What now? Garrick Young came striding up to me. He had a long rod in one hand and a trail of spiders lagging behind him.

  “Axel got out last night?” He was fuming.

  I grimaced. “Yes, but we made sure he didn’t harm anyone. He didn’t. Ended up on Hillbilly Hill.”

  Garrick’s tan face paled. “The giants?”

  I slapped my thighs. “How is it everyone knew about the giants except me?”

  He shrugged. “We like to keep secrets in this town.”

  “So I’ve discovered,” I mumbled.

  “What?”

  I waved it off. “Nothing. Listen, I’ve got to get inside. There’s a cauldron I need.”

  “Lookie there, Roy!”

  “Oh no,” I groaned.

  I turned around to see Roy and Douglas rushing up the sidewalk. “There’s a whole herd of those dog spiders over here,” Douglas called. “You thank we can ride ’em?”

  “Woo-wee,” Roy hooted. “I betcha we could.”

  Dear Lord, had no one given Roy and Douglas tranquilizers yet? But no, the rednecks from Hillbilly Highlands or wherever they came from were still going strong.

  Garrick cursed under his breath. His gaze slashed to Roy and Douglas. “These guys. I should’ve locked them up days ago.” He fisted his hands to his hips. “Pepper, I’m hoping you and your family have this situation under control?”

  I nodded. “Yes, that’s where I’m headed. I only need one more thing and we can mend the time watch.”

  He tipped his hat. “Get to it. I’ve got to stop these two idiots from trying to ride a spider.”

  I flashed him a grin. “Maybe they’ll get bitten.”

  “I couldn’t have such good luck.”

  I left Garrick to round up Roy and Douglas, and dashed up the steps to the cottage. I pounded on the door.

  “Wilma! Are you home?”

  No answer. I pounded again. “Wilma!”

  The door opened. There stood the little woman with her pink hair and round glasses. “Oh, Pepper. I’m so glad to see you. Come in.”

  She ushered me inside. Her cottage was small but well decorated with lemon and carnation-pink pillows dotting the taupe-colored couches. It would’ve been beautiful in the daylight.

  If we ever had daylight again.

  Wilma brushed past me. “I was just thinking of you, Pepper. I made some tea. Would you like a cup?”

  “No thank you, the reason I’m here is because—”

  She slowly ambled around to face me. “I hope you’re here because of the cauldron.”

  “Oh my gosh. Yes! I am. How did you know?”

  Wilma pressed a finger to her nose. “I had an inkling it might be useful to you, so I bought it. I planned on bringing it by today, but haven’t made it to your house yet. Sure you don’t want that cup of tea?”

  I followed her to the kitchen. It was a small galley type tucked between the living room and the next room over, probably a bedroom.

  My heart pounded against my chest. “No. I really need that cauldron. I hate to barge in and take it, but—”

  “I’ll empty out the cauldron if you drink it.” She ladled brown liquid from a cauldron into a cup.

  I pointed to the hunk of black sitting on the tile counter. “You mean that’s the cauldron?”

  “Oh yes,” she said. “That’s it all right.” Wilma pushed the cup across to me. “It’ll help.”

  She smiled widely. I brought the cup to my lips. It smelled horrible—like bark and blood. Ugh. There was no cotton-picking way I was going to drink that nasty stuff. But I couldn’t be rude. I am a good Southern gal, and the last thing we are is rude.

  I pressed my lips tight and pretended to drink. “Oh, that is so good,” I said. “Thank you.”

  Wilma leaned in close to me. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yeah, sure. Fine.” I arched a brow. “Why?”

  “Just wondering, my dear. Just wondering.” She eyed the cup. “Be sure to drink it all.”

  “Of course.”

  Wilma turned to rinse the cauldron. I took that opportunity to toss the rest of the liquid into a nearby plant. Hope it didn’t die, because I was pretty sure I would if I drank any of the stuff.

  “Here you go,” Wilma said, handing me the mending cauldron.

  “Thank you.” A wave of relief washed over me. Finally. We could right this whole stupid time watch problem.

  Wilma walked past me and headed toward the front door. “Did you ever find the werewolf? The one who had his chain cut.”

  Something tickled the back of my brain. “What?”

  Wilma smiled pleasantly. Her left hand was on the doorknob. She was about to turn it. I was about to be out of there. Why did I have to que
stion what she’d said?

  “How’d you know the chain was cut?” I said.

  Wilma blinked a couple of times. “Oh, it must’ve been something Betty said. I went over earlier.”

  Betty wouldn’t have told anyone that. At least, no one outside the family. That was the only way we’d discover who actually tampered with it.

  Wilma’s smile faded. “Oh well, I can’t remember. I thought it was something Betty said.”

  “It probably was,” I squeaked out.

  Crap. I had to get out of here. It all made sense. Wilma moving in on Halloween. She was from a far-off magical town that no one had heard of. She happened to be nearby when Mythica was turned into stone, but no one had questioned Wilma because she was Betty’s new best friend.

  “I need to go,” I said.

  Wilma shook her head. “I tried so hard to keep my mouth shut. I just had to open it at the wrong time, didn’t I? Just had to.”

  Part of me wanted to barrel past her. I considered shoving her out of the way, but Wilma was an old lady and it was just plain wrong to strong-arm the elderly.

  I plastered on a bright smile. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Thanks for the cauldron, but I need to get going.”

  Wilma flipped the lock. “Young lady, you’re not going anywhere.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  I tried to play cool. “Oh, Wilma. You know I need to get out of here.”

  “No,” she said.

  The little old lady wedged her back to the door and yanked off her glasses. “You know there’s only one thing that can kill a gorgon, right?”

  It felt like I had a fist in the back of my throat. I swallowed hard. “I’ve actually heard a couple of things. A gorgon can kill another gorgon, or you can cut off a gorgon’s head. So technically two things can be used to end a life.”

  Her eyes flared red. “Miss Smarty.”

  “Well in that case—” I moved to dash through the house.

  “Take one more step, and I’ll turn you to stone.”

  I stopped. “I have to be looking you in the eyes for that to happen.”

  Wilma laughed. “I’m sure I can arrange that.”

  She snapped her fingers. A chair rode up behind me. I fell onto the seat. I tried to rise.

  “You have magic?”

  “I’m multitalented. Move and I’ll shoot you.”

  I glanced at her hand. Wilma was now holding a pistol. “Where’d that come from?”

  “A side cabinet. What’d you think? I only rely on my gorgon’s abilities?”

  “It would make sense.”

  “Nah. Too hard to coordinate. But you know, I really, really didn’t want any of this to happen. I thought, I’ll go down to Magnolia Cove, kill Mythica and leave, but then this”—she waved the air—“mess happened.”

  If I was absent long enough, Axel would come looking for me. He’d have to. He’d be worried. All I had to do was keep Wilma talking.

  “Why’d you kill her?”

  Wilma hit her fist to a table. “Because she ruined my life. That gorgon was my sister. Yes, yes, I know she looked beautiful when you saw her, but she was as old as me. Older.”

  Wilma rubbed her forehead. Her face sagged. She was tired, worn-out from the past few days.

  Join the coven.

  “We were best friends when we were young. The best of friends. But something happened when we grew older. We discovered boys. Mythica, though, was always so competitive.

  “If you bet she couldn’t do something, Mythica would spend however long it took to prove you wrong. That was fine until it came to men. She stole my husband. Just snatched him right out from under my nose. Went on to have children with him.”

  Wilma raised her fist. “She lived my life, damn it. My life! Not hers. Oh, there were plenty of times I could’ve done something about it. Why’d I wait until now? When we were old and gray? Because she didn’t want that stupid time watch to make gorgons the queens of the world.”

  “She didn’t?”

  “No.” She waved dismissively. “How stupid is that? She wanted to go back and do it all over again. All of it. Steal my husband one more time. He’s dead. Died last year. So this was her big chance to live with him again.”

  Wilma paused. I spoke in a low voice so that I wouldn’t set her off. “How do you know?”

  “Because the idiot told me. Oh, she was surprised when she saw me here. She did, you know, right before she died. Ha! You should’ve seen the look on her face.” Wilma screwed her own face in surprise. “It was worth it.”

  “But what about Sylvia Spirits and Mayor Battle? Why’d you turn them to stone?”

  “Oh that? Pfft. They figured out who I was. I walked in on them when they were trying to do something with that shield. Stupid shield. Bane of my existence. Battle had some sort of sixth sense when it came to gorgons, so I zapped them both.”

  “And the giants?”

  Wilma pulled a small chair up and sat. She crossed one leg over the other and draped her gun hand over the opposite wrist.

  “Oh, well, I need to get out of here. I figured if they came through and stormed the town big enough, they might be able to tear a hole in whatever was keeping us here. I could leave. So I did everything I could to piss them off. Turned one of them to stone. I mean, they’d figure whoever did it came from Magnolia Cove.

  “Betty had told me about the werewolf. Mentioned it in passing, but I was smart enough to figure out that if I snooped around town enough, I’d figure out when and where. I can be very persuasive when I want to be. So I weakened the chain hoping that he’d tick the giants off even more.”

  She slapped her thigh. “For goodness’ sake, I’d turned the girl to stone over a day earlier, and those stupid giants hadn’t done anything about it.” She shrugged. “I had to make them angry.”

  “I think they were still hoping she’d turn back to normal,” I said. It made sense. Though Billy Bob was smart, the rest of the giants were several pennies short of a dollar in the brains department.

  “What about the cauldron?” I said.

  “Oh that?” Her gaze shifted to it. “Florence told me about it. I know enough about magical objects to realize unicorn hair would be helpful, so I bought it.”

  I did a double take. “You mean, you actually bought it to help us?”

  “Yes. What do you think, I’m some crazy woman who wants to be trapped in a never-ending Halloween in this podunk town? You’re out of your mind. Yes, I bought the stupid thing for you to use. Of course,” she mumbled, “now you’ll never get to, because you had to go and figure things out.”

  Wilma’s attention shifted back to me. No. I still needed more time. “Wait. What about the tea? What was that whole thing about?”

  “Finally got you to drink it. What a great achievement.” She cackled. “That tea changed you back to the way you were.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  She tapped her forehead. “The gorgon eye. It got rid of it. What’d you think? I could let someone walk around who could kill me? No. That needed to be dealt with first.”

  “Dealt with?”

  “A gorgon can kill another gorgon. We can die of natural causes, of course, and that stupid Greek guy cut off Medusa’s head but that was dumb luck. The way to kill us dead is to turn one of us to stone. With you having that power, my dear, it put my life in jeopardy. But now I don’t have to worry about you being able to kill me.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yep.” She rose, adjusted her cardigan to sit squarely on her shoulders. “Now all I’ve got to do is turn you to stone and tell your little boyfriend or whoever shows up that you went out the back door. He’ll spend so much time looking for you, he’ll forget about me. Easy as can be.”

  Wilma cleared her throat. “All I have to do is make you look at me. Luckily we gorgons have a little magic that can do the trick.” She licked her lips and pointed at my chest.

  Up until this point I’d done
a good job of glancing just to the side of her, making sure I wasn’t making eye contact. But when Wilma pointed at me, her powers targeted my eyes, and I found myself slowly meeting her gaze.

  “Now, my dear,” she said, “your time is finished.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  I couldn’t look at Wilma. Had to look away. But I couldn’t. Her power was too strong. All I wanted was to look Wilma in the eyes.

  So many ideas flashed through my head. The first was that this was it; my death would leave Magnolia Cove in perpetual Halloween. Then I realized that was ridiculous. They’d get out of this. The people of this town were resolute and smart.

  But Amelia would probably be fired from the Vault. Maybe thrown in jail. That was definitely my fault. I’d coerced her into smuggling out the time watch.

  I’d never be able to ride Hugo. He was nearly large enough for me to ride, and I wanted to throw one leg over him and race to the sky. Now I’d never get the chance.

  And Paige…I needed to pair her with her family. I hadn’t told anyone what I’d discovered. I wasn’t sure if I was correct, but I at least had to try.

  My family. I never had the chance to tell them goodbye and let them know how much I loved them. They needed to know that. I had to show them.

  And finally, Axel. I loved him. I did. He needed to know how my heart swelled when he was near. How he made me feel as if I could float like a hot-air balloon.

  If I died now, he’d never know. It wasn’t fair. I knew his heart, but he didn’t know mine.

  I had to tell him.

  All these thoughts danced through my head as my gaze slowly ticked toward Wilma.

  She changed. The little old lady grew. Her bones cracked, her skin stretched. Her hair changed. It thickened to black coils. Then those coils started hissing.

  Y’all, at first I thought her head was steaming. Then I realized what was going on—snakes. The strands were changing into snakes.

  The flesh on her arms became a pallid gray color. Still my gaze was ticking, ticking toward her eyes, which at this point I assumed were nasty red coals ready to turn me to stone.