by Brenda Trim
I could deal with Hattie’s eccentricities and bed pan and dressing changes without any problems. It was cleaning animal feces from a box that made me gag. Yes, I was aware how little sense that made. But c’mon it was a container filled with excrement that had been sitting for hours.
Shrugging off that unpleasant thought, I continued climbing the stairs and stopped short when I saw a large creature through the port hole window on one of the landings. It was dark green and almost as tall as the closest tree. And it looked the dragons Hollywood depicted in countless movies. Only I didn’t see any wings on this one.
What the heck was that? I swear something new popped up every day in this place. My heart raced and I was nearly hyperventilating as I tried to figure out what the large beast was. My breaths fogged the glass, making me use the sleeve of my top to clear the glass. When I looked back out there was nothing there.
When another scan didn’t come up with the dragon, I continued up the stairs and hurried into Hattie’s room where I deposited the tray and rushed to the window. Her room faced the side of the house where I’d seen the dragon. I hoped I would catch sight of it. Something that big wouldn’t be able to disappear into the forest surrounding her without leaving a trail.
“What are you in a tither about now?” Hattie snapped at me like this more often than not. It was how someone talked to their child when they’d had enough of their odd behaviors.
I turned to my patient and pushed the table with the tray of food over to the bed. “I thought I saw a dragon in your backyard. I’m losing my mind just as much as you are it seems. Must be the stress of the divorce.”
Hattie laughed, the sound like dry leaves rattling over a sidewalk. “You aren’t seeing things, my dear. That was Tsekani. Oh, that soup smells delicious.”
I was too tired to let my surprise show over her having named this imaginary dragon. Are you sure it’s not real? You saw if for yourself. I was positive it was a bad sign that my mind was trying to rationalize my hallucinations.
I set the bowl I had brought for me down on the floor on the plate I had the rolls on. “Here’s your lunch, Tarja.”
The cat approached and sniffed the soup then started lapping it up. “She says the bay leaves were a good addition to the soup. That’s not something I’ve ever added to mine.”
My head snapped up to meet Hattie’s smile. “What?”
“Seriously. Where did you get that necklace from? I’m beginning to sense you aren’t magical at all.” Everything in me froze with her words, including my heart for several seconds.
“My best friend, Fiona had made it for me as a symbol of my new beginning. Why are you saying it’s magical? There’s no such thing.” Right? I wanted to believe I was open minded, but the past month of working for Hattie Silva and hearing her bizarre comments had me questioning that. There was no way I could jump on board with her and believe in magic.
Although, I had to admit I was beginning to have my doubts. I’d seen enough in the past four weeks to really wonder. Problem was that I’m a scientist and relied on what I could prove and see. And while I had seen more than a fair share of oddities there was nothing I could hold onto or exam all that closely.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Can you push the tray closer? I’d like to taste the soup Tarja can’t shut up about.” I shook my head and moved the tray over her bed and adjusted it, so she was able to reach her food easily.
I picked up a roll and tore off chunks while staring out the window. She had windows facing the forest and another on the wall above her head that overlooked the water. I was focused on the gentle waves and the pebbled beach when a dog raced across the area, kicking up rocks as he went.
My feet carried me closer and I watched as he bared his teeth. He wasn’t like any dog I’d ever seen. He was big and dark grey in coloring. “Do you have wolves in this area?”
The clatter of a spoon filled the room. “Of course. Layla moved here first, but several others have taken refuge here over the years.” I wasn’t surprised to discover she named the wolves prowling in her woods. She had named her house after all. Wild wolves wouldn’t have been my first choice of companions, but she had enough property to safely offer a place to as many wild animals as she wanted.
Dark coughing made me turn away from the window. I expected it to be Hattie, but it was Tarja. If she hocked up a hairball, I wasn’t cleaning it. “When does your maid come to clean the house anyway? I’ve never met her.”
Hattie cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “Mythia comes after you leave. She doesn’t care to be around mundies. Why?”
Mundies? “I have no idea what that means, but I assure you I have done nothing to upset anyone. I haven’t been here long enough to make any enemies. I was hoping to talk to her about how she gets rid of hard water around the shower faucet. I have never been able to get mine so clean.”
I thought moving home would offer me a few perks. Like not having to clean bathrooms anymore, but I’d been wrong. There was no way I could take advantage of my mother like Miles had me for so many decades. Despite working long hours seven days a week I always pulled my weight around the house.
After the hurt of his announcement settled in, I immediately began dreaming about what my life would be like without him. In my naivete I had dreamed of continuing my position at the hospital and staying in the house and hiring someone to do the cleaning.
Reality was an entirely different beast. After being fired I had spent weeks of job hunting before realizing I had no choice but to move home. Miles’s little tart worked in human resources at the hospital and made sure I wasn’t appealing to anyone interested in hiring me. I could have filed a suit for violating my rights, but after Miles had managed to fast track our divorce and screw me out of what I deserved I didn’t bother. He had friends in high places.
“Oh, I know you haven’t. I did my research before hiring you. Speaking of, how did you piss off Tara so thoroughly? She had nothing good to say about you when I called. And Mythia won’t share her secrets with me, so she won’t share anything with you.”
My head started pounding and I clenched my jaw then balled my hands into fists. Miles got his little girlfriend to sabotage my only shot at a job in this area, too? “Tara is the jailbait that slept with my husband and blacklisted me at all the hospitals in North Carolina. My ex-husband didn’t want to be reminded of what a jerk he is or that his girlfriend isn’t much older than our son.”
Hattie laughed so hard she started coughing. Tarja jumped onto her lap and placed a paw on her chest. Their connection was more than obvious. The cat was always close and offering comfort when Hattie had bad moments. I shifted Hattie forward and rubbed circles on her back until she stopped coughing.
“I was right about that one it seems. When I saw the written record of your employment, it made no sense to me that you suddenly started making fatal mistakes after twenty years of pristine performance reviews. She did her best to convince me that you were stressed out and upset over your husband leaving you and could no longer be trusted with patients.”
I gently set her against the pillows again and returned to the window. “I was upset that Miles left me like he did, but it never affected my ability to do my job. I can assure you I will not cause you harm in any way.”
Hattie waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, I know that dear. What do you say we curse her with premature winkles? Or maybe make him impotent!”
That made me choke out a laugh as I turned away from the beach outside. “I would love nothing more, but that would make me like them, and I will never be so malicious. I believe that you reap what you sow. They will both get what’s coming to them one day.”
“You’ve got that right, dear. Fate gets her way, even if it takes years and several unexpected turns.” I bobbed my head in agreement as I gathered the lunch dishes from her tray.
*****
I turned my Land Rover off and couldn’t help but smile. Keeping the nice SUV along
with half of the house when it sold were the only concessions the Judge awarded me which was why I was forced to move back with my mom and grandmother.
I couldn’t afford the house payments on the lake front house and no one would hire me. I couldn’t buy a house on the money I would be given whether Miles sold or bought me out. We owed too much on the property.
Looking up at the house I had grown up in, I couldn’t help but think about the differences between Hattie’s house and the house I left back in North Carolina compared to this one.
My grandparents moved into this modest one-story Cape Cod style home almost seventy years ago. The yellow siding had been repainted half a dozen times and the windows were replaced with double-pained ones last summer. The kitchen had been updated fifteen years ago when my mom moved in with my grandmother but not much else had been done.
The wood floors were scuffed and scarred and the marks measuring my height were still in the doorway to the garage alongside my mother’s. Unlocking the front door, I entered to the familiar smell of lemon polish and baking bread.
“I’m home,” I called out as I set my keys in the dish on the table in the entrance. “Where is everyone?”
My mother poked her head out of the kitchen. “We’re in here, just finishing up dinner. Did you eat with Ms. Silva?”
I headed down the hall and caught the door before it closed after my mother returned to the sink. “Hi, nana. How was your day?” I bent and kissed her cheek while she sat in a chair at the table. She was the same age as Hattie but in much better shape.
She patted my cheek and smiled up at me. “I made some rye bread for you to take to Hattie tomorrow and finished the book I was reading.”
“And you got in a good nap,” my mother interjected. “Anything new happen out at Nimaha today?”
Both enjoyed hearing about the events, saying the house had been haunted as long as they could remember. I shrugged my shoulders. “Hattie has given refuge to wild wolves living in the woods around her house and she has a dragon named Tsekani.”
Grandma nodded her head. “She owns something like five acres, so she probably does think she is giving them a place to live. But a dragon? Is it dementia? Many of my friends have succumbed already.”
My mother shut off the water and leaned against the counter drying her hands. “Good thing we have excellent genes, and you don’t have to worry about that mom. You might want to start looking for another job soon, sweetie. Sounds like she’s going downhill fast.”
“Who’s going downhill fast?” Nina asked as she entered the kitchen and approached me with her arms open.
“Ms. Silva,” I replied for my mom and embraced my daughter. She looked a lot like me except her brown hair was longer than my short cut and she didn’t have crow’s feet around her brown eyes. I had always loved the fact that she looked so much like me. Until I was fairly certain that was the reason Tara didn’t want Nina around anymore.
Nina released me and went to the fridge. “She’s been cra-cra since the day you started there. You don’t have to worry about finding another job.” I could hear the panic in Nina’s voice. She was by my side when I struggled to find a position and celebrated with me when Hattie hired me to take care of her.
“I am giving her gold start treatment to make sure she sticks around. Do you want me to make you a snack?”
Nina gave me a side smile and shook her head. “No, you sit down and rest your feet. You work too hard. I’ll grab you some rocky road.”
I sat next to nana and held back the emotion choking me. I might not have the fancy house or the cushy job, but I had more love than Miles would ever know and that’s all that mattered.
When my daughter asked my mom and grandmother what they wanted and proceeded to get them some vanilla ice cream along with a cookie, I realized Hattie didn’t have this. She was all alone in the world and had no one to shower her with love and affection.
I made a silent vow to ignore the crazy and show her how much she was appreciated. She was cranky, and adored cats, but she was funny and made me laugh all the time. And there were times when she had these little nuggets of wisdom that were priceless. Like when she told me to stop complaining that my daughter was asking for a car of her own.
Hattie had just finished the cookies Nina had dropped off at the end of my first week on the job when I started complaining about her latest request. I would never forget the way Hattie had scowled at me as she said, “Be grateful she doesn’t want it to go joy riding. She wants to give you and your mother a break from taking her to and from practice, and a way to get to and from a job. Yeah, she told me how much she wanted to earn money to ease your burden. Most children her age are selfish critters with no care for anyone else, let alone how much their parents sacrifice to give them what they have.”
I blinked and shoved the memory aside when Nina kissed my cheek and placed the bowl in front of me. “Thank you, peanut. You’re the best daughter ever born.”
“Agreed.” My mom and grandmother both spoke at the same time while enjoying their dessert. My midlife makeover wasn’t what I had hoped it would be when I was twenty something, but I couldn’t ask for more.
EXCERPT FROM My Magical Life to Live BOOK #4 Midlife Witchery
“I am ready for life to settle without chaos and fighting evil.” I loved having my best friend living full-time in Cottlehill Wilds for the past eight months, even though along with Fiona came trouble.
"You do realize you’ve jinxed us now. You’re part of the magical world now. You can’t go around inviting the bad guys to surface.” I locked my bookstore and scanned the street. Ever since the first murder in our small town, I had a hard time walking home at night.
“We killed the evil King. There’s no one left to attack us.”
“Fiona Grace Shakleton. Watch your mouth. That’s asking for trouble. Besides, we still have a murderer out there,” Isidora, her grandmother, said in the background. It was still odd to hear her voice and see her. I was with Aislinn when we discovered her dead in the living room. None of us understood what Fiona did to bring her back to life or how long she would remain alive. All spells lost their power eventually unless you continued to feed it energy. You couldn’t add to what you didn’t understand.
Fiona sighed. “That’s exactly what Violet just told me. Did Mae stop by today?”
I stuff my free hand into my purse and clutched my pepper spray. My magic had been acting up ever since I was injured in the battle in Eidothea, so I didn’t want to rely on it in an emergency.
“She did. Apparently, Lance is stumped over the murder of that human months ago. It's no surprise that he is frustrated by the lack of leads. While the supernatural office of investigations is inundated with evidence. Gardoss reported that his office is analyzing as fast as they can. Mae said Gardoss told her they’d detected Dark, demonic magic.”
“That’s not surprising. Did any murders occur after we killed Vodor? Bas assured me his lackeys would have felt his demise and given up and gone into hiding.”
“I didn’t get a chance to ask her for more information. A customer came in, and she left. Did Isidora hear anything useful while we were gone?” The night closed around me like a cloak. Close and all-encompassing. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation.
“She lost her connection to the dead when I resurrected her. The last thing she discovered was from Tunsall’s sister when she crossed to the afterlife. Her murderer had grey skin and black horns on his head and red scales on his arms. Grams thought she was confused.”
“A bilge changes their appearance and mimics other creatures when they kill, but they don’t leave evidence behind. They wouldn’t be the best assassins if they did. It doesn’t make any sense.” We were convinced the culprit was a bilge, one of the King’s assassins. Now, it seemed unlikely. I was torn between hoping it was one and wanting it to be something else. Neither option was appealing.
“I never considered it as anything other than the bilge. What Grams describ
ed sounds like a demon to me. Please tell me they don’t exist.”
“Unfortunately, they are real creatures. However, they don’t cross through the veil that often,” I said at the same time Grams responded in the background on Fiona’s end of the call. “Of course, demons exist. And I would bet there is one stalking supernaturals in Cottlehill Wilds. Our town is a veritable buffet for a creature from the Underworld.”
My heart picked up speed, making me dizzy for a split second. The skin where I had my new marking prickled and stung. During the fighting in the Fae realm, a Dark elf’s spell sliced into my chest. When the skin healed, the image of a burning bird was left behind. Now it flared to life anytime my blood surged through my veins.
“That doesn’t sound very good. Is there a system in place to deal with rogue demons on Earth? It sounds beyond Gardoss’s ability to handle. He seems like a competent cop, but he isn’t all-powerful or anything.” Fiona wasn’t wrong about that. Most in our law enforcement didn’t have experience with anything demonic.
I looked into the shadows along the road as I walked past closed businesses. I had lived here all my life, yet it felt like a foreign town now. There was an energy in the night that I couldn’t identify. At times, it seemed to be coming from me. And others, it was foreign magic outside of my body.
“Maybe it isn’t a demon. We could be dealing with a sloppy bilge. The deaths have all looked as if various creatures were responsible. First, it seemed like a werewolf was the culprit. Then we found the dragon scale. Mae mentioned one with fang marks as if a vampire had drained her. That fits with our original theory. The Dark magic calls that into question. They don’t mimic anything demonic.” My head ached, and I wanted to forget all about these cases.
