Before Ana could think to respond, Elsa reached through the glass. A blue light danced on her fingers. She aimed her fingertips at Ann, beckoning.
Without meaning to, Ana felt her body being pulled back toward the mirror. “No,” Ana tried to say, but nothing came out. She lifted her hands and was surprised to see fuchsia light flickering along her fingertips. What’s happening?
Her fingers touched Elsa’s and the blue and fuchsia light fused. Memories of a time long ago rushed through her. Ana saw people doing things with magic. Flying on brooms and vacuums, talking to animals, waving magic wands… There were beasts, princesses, a poison apple, a woman with extra super long hair. Then she was swallowed up by whisperings and secret deals followed by secret promises. Several men and women dressed in robes and funny hats stood around a cauldron. Ana heard a scream. She looked to where it came from and saw Elsa. Trapped in magical cuffs and held against a black wall.
Those in the circle began to chant.
“Dillywebs and elderberries.”
“Wildernuts and elementals.”
“The curse of all curses we place upon Elsa.”
“No more will she be free, but imprisoned for her evil.”
“Until such time as her magic will be eradicated.”
Elsa screamed again as the black wall became a mirror and she was pulled through, trapped on the other side.
Then Ana knew somehow she was inside Elsa’s mind. Ana witnessed Elsa’s sorrow and loneliness. Felt her anger and fury. Watched as Elsa wandered the frigid mirror realm. Searching until she found a place to call home. Years and years went by and slowly Elsa’s powers became strong once again.
But they were no longer hers. Somehow they’d become Ana’s. She eradicated Elsa’s powers by siphoning them all… except a small part.
And Elsa became the opossum from Ana’s dreams. Cute brown and gray and white fur. Adorable pink ears and nose. White whiskers and the sweetest and darkest eyes.
“What in the world?” The little creature—now Elsa—tried to cling to Ana so she wouldn’t fall. Ana grabbed hold, pulling Elsa against her chest. Elsa had failed in her fever for revenge, but Ana would protect her and help her to feel wanted once again. “It’s okay.”
Someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Your bed is ready.”
Determined, Ana searched for a place to hide the animal, but before she could the opossum vanished. Everything Ana had been through before the weird moment rushed back. The traumatic experience. Everything hurt, especially her heart. She made a mistake. Again. She shouldn’t have sent Nate away. But she told him to go and he left.
When Ana returned from the bathroom, Megan handed her a clean gown. “You’re shivering, poor dear. Let me get you a warm blanket.”
“Thanks.” While Megan was gone, Ana changed her gown and climbed into bed. It took Megan longer than expected, giving Ana the opportunity to think about what had just happened with Elsa who had turned into an opossum. It also allowed her to berate herself for telling Nate to leave. She wanted to call him, but her phone had been taken.
Laying back, she closed her eyes. Lacey appeared in her mind. She said, “Come ‘n see.” What did that mean? Come and see what? She mulled it over until Megan returned with a warm blanket, tucking it around Ana’s body.
“Is that better?” The nurse’s features were soft with concern.
“Much.” Ana closed her eyes.
“I’m going to go. You you need anything else?”
“Not right now. Thank you,” she said, even as the words, “come ‘n see” kept replaying through her mind over and over again.
Megan wrote something on the white board.
“Megan, do you know what ‘come ‘n see’ could mean? Lacey said it to me before …” She paused, seeing the blood again and shuddered.
“Come and see…” Megan turned and thought. Then shrugged. “Come and see the new X-ray machine?” She shook her head. “I’ve no idea.”
“Okay. Thanks again.”
Once Megan was gone, Ana continued to think about all Lacey said. When nothing came to mind, she turned on the TV to distract herself until her parents and her sisters came by. They brought fried chicken with salad along with some of Lox’s sugar cookies for dessert as well as a new phone.
Lox was much better at icing the sugar cookies than Ana ever would be. But that was okay. Baking was Lox’s passion and it showed. Every morsel she baked tasted like heaven. Her family asked about Nate. Ana tried not to cry as she told them what she heard and what she’d done. Her parents seemed disappointed, but they all supported her. Even Chandi. She didn’t say I told you so or scowl. Finally, around nine o’clock, they all left.
The hospital was quiet. Too quiet. Of course, she spent a lot of time in hospitals, especially the Denver Hospital, but only to see patients. Ana really didn’t like being a patient herself. It was stressful. She turned up the TV. An old movie, Overboard, was playing. It was one of her favorites and for a few moments, she allowed herself to forget where she was and laugh.
When it got to the part where the main character began speaking French, something clicked.
Ana found her phone, determined to call Lox. As she reached over to pick it up, a shadow darkened the doorway. Pausing, she glanced up, thinking it was Megan, though usually she knocked first.
Instead, it was Jack aka Jacque, the French man from the coffee shop on main street. Followed behind him was the same woman who came into Goldie’s several times during the week. Marshmallow Woman. “Hey, Jack. Hi.” Ana went for her phone, as her nerve endings danced with anxiousness. Her phone fell to the floor. Crap, she thought. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We just wanted to see you, make sure you’re all right.” Jack came forward. He had his hands behind his back, like he was thinking. A sinister smile lifted one side of his lips and he made a tsk-tsk noise, like Ana did something wrong. “You just needed to mind your own business, Ana. I mean, you don’t even live here. What do you care what’s happening in Fable Town?”
Ana’s heart raced. In that moment she knew. Jack was behind everything! She guessed as much after watching the silly movie Overboard. Lacey hadn’t said, come and see. She said comme ci, which was French and something Jack said the day she and Nate went and got coffee.
Marshmallow Woman smiled, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. It looked evil and it made Ana uncomfortable, as did the fact that Jack was moving over to where her IV stand hung. All that was in there was saline, to keep her hydrated.
“How do you two know each other?” Ana asked, hoping to distract them as she searched around her bedding for the button to call for the nurse.
Jack seemed to notice what she was doing and took the pager from her. “You don’t need this.” He put it behind her and out of her reach.
“Hey, I do need that.” At her agitation, a flurry of newfound magic began to form in her chest. It was strange and strong and felt uncontrollable. If these two didn’t leave, she might accidentally kill them with it.
“What you need, Ana, is to die.” Marshmallow Woman with the not-so-funny accent, who incidentally wasn’t wearing ski gear at that moment, but all black like a blonde barbie ninja, came around to the other side, removing the black scarf from around her neck.
Ana tried to scream, but the woman was too fast, forcing the scarf over Ana’s mouth, making it impossible to breathe.
In an instant, the opossum appeared and tried to bite the woman, but she growled and flung the animal away. “Disgusting creatures,” she hissed. Then her eyes found and held Ana’s.
“Take it easy, Ivy. You don’t want to bruise her,” Jack said. “Let me get this into her IV and then she’ll just drift into oblivion and finally die.” Jack took a syringe from his jacket pocket, removing the cap and shooting it into the IV.
“Hurry up,” the woman said, pressing the scarf down on Ana’s neck.
Ana clawed at the woman’s hands, but Ivy was wearing gloves and long sleeves and Ana’s na
ils were having no effect. She next tried kicking her feet at the woman too, but they’d been tucked up tight when Megan brought her in the warm blanket and her efforts did no good. She couldn’t believe she was going to die at the hands of Marshmallow Woman and Jack the Frenchman. But it all made sense. She’d heard Jack say comme ci comme ça the night before at the mayor’s office too as well as in the coffee shop.
“You should just let me knock her out,” Marshmallow woman complained. She really did have the whiniest voice.
“But if you do that, they will know there was foul play. You want to take over Fable Town, right, not spend the rest of your days in jail?” Jack finished pushing whatever was in his syringe into her IV. “I’m done.”
“About time,” Ivy spat.
Ana felt whatever Jack put in the IV hit her system and all of the magic that had been forming in her chest sort of melted away. The medicine made her woozy and she closed her eyes.
“See, cheri, it’s working already.” His clammy hand brushed some hair off her forehead.
“Why, Jack?” Ana demanded, peeling her eyes open. Her words were slurred but understandable. She wanted to know before she died.
“I see the way everyone in this town looks at me, like I’m just a small, little man. Like I’m just a coffee maker. But I am so much more than that.” Jack’s voice was smug.
“Where does she fit in?” Ana’s forced her eyes to reopen.
“She’s my sister.”
Ana didn’t see that coming. Both her attackers were hovering over her now, but Ana was too loopy from the drugs to care much. “Sister? Accent.” She knew she wasn’t making any sense. Her thoughts were starting to blur together.
“That’s right. She’s my sister and together we’re going to take over all of the businesses in Fable Town as well as the government.”
“Get away from her!” That was a new voice but she recognized it.
Nate Decker. Ex-husband. Captain Handsome. Her hero. Relief rushed through Ana like a warm river. “You came back.” Then Ana’s eyes closed, and she drifted into darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
When Ana awoke, she found herself still in the hospital. That was okay. She was alive! One question filled her mind. What happened to Jack and his sister? She glanced to her right and saw Nate sleeping in the chair. A light sob escaped her lips and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, determined not to wake him. But she was so happy. She remembered him coming into her room, but she believed it a dream or that she was dying, and he was a figment of her imagination.
He opened his eyes and they locked with hers. “Hi,” he whispered softly.
She blinked back tears. “I thought I dreamed you.”
“I’m here.” He stood and stretched. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
“But your vacation!” She knew she sounded melodramatic, but after everything that happened the last few days, her emotions were shot. “Your girlfriend!”
His eyebrows rose in question. “There’s no girlfriend, Ana. What makes you think I have a girlfriend?”
Tears filled her eyes. “I thought… I mean, I heard you talking to someone about meeting them. I don’t want to hold you back.”
“Ana.” He shook his head. “That wasn’t a woman. I was speaking with the captain of my boat. He and I are fishing buddies. Whenever I’m down there, we fish and surf. It’s a blast. But if there’s one thing the last few days has taught me, it’s that I love you and I never want to go on another vacation without you with me.” He took her hand and kissed the palm. “And believe me when I say the captain of my boat isn’t my type at all.” He smiled. “You are.”
She wiped at her tears. “I’m sorry for what I said. So sorry. I didn’t want you to go. I love you. So much.” She closed her eyes, working to gain some composure. When she opened them again, he was still there and smiling.
“I’m going to kiss you now, Ana Oldenberg, and then I’m going to demand you take my last name again.” He leaned down and kissed her lightly.
“Demand?” She eyed him mischievously when their lips parted. He was a giant of a man but had never thrown that weight around with her.
“Ana, will you marry me again? This time, let’s make it last forever.” His face was close to hers and his breath sent shivers along her body.
“Of course, Nate. Yes.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “I promise that no matter the struggle or hardship we have to deal with in the future, I’ll keep you by my side. I’ll talk to you, not push you away.” She thought about Elsa and the magic and wondered when would be a good time to tell him about it.
“And I promise to let you in. No matter the challenge, we can conquer it together.” He kissed her forehead. “Together we will live happily ever after.”
“Yes. Together.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her so that she could kiss him.
Someone cleared their throat. Ana scowled, and they both turned to see who it was.
Sheriff Buck leaned against the doorframe and stuck his thumbs in his pockets. “Sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to get your statements.”
“Sure.” Ana pushed herself up into a sitting position. “But first I want to know what happened.” She glanced at Nate, curiously. She thought she was going to die when Jack put the solution in her IV and she went to sleep.
Nate stood, crossing his arms. “I’m not sure about the IV, but I took quick care of Jack and the woman.”
Ana’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”
He glanced at Sheriff Buck before speaking. “Jack came at me swinging, so I punched the little guy in the face. Knocked him out cold with one hit.” He shrugged. “There isn’t much to him.”
Ana’s eyes got big. “And his sister?”
“The woman, who Sheriff Buck says is Jack’s sister saw what I did to Jack and held up her hands, screaming, ‘I surrender!’.”
“We’ve learned the woman’s name is Ivy,” Sheriff Buck supplied. “Please continue.”
Nate cleared his throat. “The nurse heard the commotion and came running in. She helped me with Ivy while I called the police. Then Sheriff Buck showed up.”
“That’s crazy. This all seems so surreal.” She told them what Jack and his sister had said while they were in her room. Sheriff Buck filled in the gaps.
Apparently, when Sheriff Buck spoke with the mayor, she came clean about her part in the whole thing. It wasn’t much. Jack was blackmailing her with some photos and a video of Stella she didn’t want to get out. When Stella heard about it, she said she didn’t want her mom to get into trouble because of something she’d done in her early twenties. Ana respected that. No one was going to press charges, but the mayor had agreed to step down, if that’s what the people wanted. She was going to hold an impromptu press conference later that day.
“So, everything is good?” she asked the sheriff.
“Yep, Jack and Ivy are behind bars. They’ll be going away for a really long time.”
“I’m so glad to hear that. But…” she paused. “What about the solution they put in my IV?” Jack said it would kill her.
Sheriff Buck cleared his throat. “We tested the syringe and saw it was a lethal poison. Hard to trace, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “There wasn’t anything in your system,” he finished.
The magic she’d siphoned from Elsa. It truly was in her system and it had saved her. How could she explain that? She couldn’t so she didn’t try.
Nate shifted toward her. “What, Ace? It looks like you’ve got something on your mind.”
She shook her head. “What about Mr. Wang? Is he all right?”
“Yes, right as rain,” Sheriff Buck said, apparently relieved to be off the strange and weird. “He’s been released and is back to work at Poochie’s.” The sheriff smiled when he spoke the name.
“Good.” Ana was happy about that. “And what about Zaren’s Pizzeria and the clothing store? Are the owners going to return and reopen?”
&n
bsp; “We’re still in the process of contacting them,” the sheriff said. “But that is the hope.”
“So everything is going to get back to normal in Fable Town?” It was a relief. She loved this town, especially because her family did.
“Except Jack’s Java Hut. It’ll be closed.”
“That stinks. The man could make a mean cup of coffee,” Nate said.
“Agreed,” Sheriff Buck added.
“It’s just…” Ana was no longer thinking about coffee or Jack, but something else.
“What is it?”
She couldn’t bring up the magic. “I’m so grateful to be alive and that you’re here.”
“Me too, Ace.”
“I guess we’ll never know who the plaid material belonged to,” Ana said.
“Actually, we do. It belonged to Jack’s sister.”
“Well then, I guess it’s all wrapped up.” She sighed with relief.
“Yes, it is,” the sheriff said, brushing his hands together like he was ready to be done with the case.
At that moment, her parents, Chandi, and Lox came in.
“All we need is a priest and a license, and we could get married right this minute,” Nate said with a chuckle.
“You’re right. You think the mayor could get us a license and Pastor Jenkins would marry us last-minute?” she asked her dad. Nate was joking, but she was serious. She wanted to be Mrs. Nate Decker again right this very second.
Sheriff Buck cleared his throat. “Let me call the mayor,” he said, swallowing and shifting uncomfortably. His eyes lingered on Lox. Ana noticed.
“I thought you were going to say you’re a preacher and the sheriff,” Lox said. “I’ll ask Pastor Jenkins if he’ll perform the ceremony.” Her eyes twinkled happily.
Sheriff Buck cleared his throat again. “Well, I am also a priest.” He looked like a racoon caught in the trash.
“Shut the flipping door,” Lox blurted and then covered her mouth. “I mean wow. That’s great.”
“I’ve found in my line of work, there are times when someone is… in, uh, in need of communing with God before they leave this Earth.” His gaze found his boots.
Iced Raspberry Cookies and a Curse Page 11
