by Amy Boyles
I righted an overturned end table. “I’m glad y’all think it’s funny, because the last thing this situation is, is humorous.”
From the landing Mattie yawned. “You sure are right about that, sugar.”
Cordelia and Amelia fell to the floor they laughed so hard.
I shook my head. “Y’all need to get up and clean this mess. I will not be held responsible for how Betty is going to react.”
Cordelia swiped tears from her eyes. “Sorry, it’s just so ridiculous. All of it.”
“What’s so ridiculous?”
Betty’s voice boomed from the kitchen doorway. My eyes widened as I took her in. The small, rotund woman with glasses glared around the room, her hawk eyes sharp on what she saw.
“Let me guess.” Betty folded her arms. “Amelia found out Cordelia invited Cousin Molly on that stupid all-day hike?”
Amelia burst into another fit of giggles. “How’d you know?”
Betty glared at her. “Because I know everything. Nothing slips past me.”
There was some truth there.
“Girls,” she commanded. “Get up and get my house and yourselves fixed. Now.”
Cordelia and Amelia rose, looked chastened.
“Is that all?” Amelia said. “You’re not going to punish us?
“Oh, I’m going to punish you,” Betty said. “From now until the wedding, the two of you are grounded.”
Their jaws dropped. “Grounded?” Amelia shrieked. “You can’t do that. We’re grown women.”
Betty boobed her way across the room until she stood right in front of Amelia, who I have to admit, cowered like a puppy before our miniature grandmother.
“I don’t care how old you are. You’re lucky I don’t make you grab a switch so I can give you a whippin’. Y’all are grounded and that’s the end of that.”
She pushed her glasses up on her face. “Now. Get to work.”
My cousins hung their heads and in unison said, “Yes, ma’am.”
And that was the end of that.
Chapter 6
Being grounded, it turned out, meant that my cousins had curfews of eight p.m., no working magic inside the house, no electronic devices unless they were outside of the home and no dates.
That’s right, no dates.
I thought they might revolt, seriously. But they both sucked it up and complied with Betty’s rules, even as archaic as they were, to be grounding grown women.
But who was I to judge? I had stood and watched. I did try to get them to stop, but to be honest, I hadn’t wanted to end up with green hair or a wart on the tip of my nose.
In the end I did tell them about the house Axel had bought and about the dream catcher that Mint and Licky had given me.
“You’ll need to hang it above your bed,” Amelia said. “I’m sure it will help do nothing.” She laughed. “But it’s the thought that counts.”
As the day wore into night, I affixed the dream catcher above my bed and settled under the covers with a good book.
Mattie jumped on top of the comforter and kneaded the cotton. She curled up beside me, snuggling against my thigh.
“Mattie,” I started, “when I move, will you come live with me?”
“Sugar, wolves and cats don’t get along. You know that.”
I bristled. “Mattie, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”
One of her eyes opened a slit. “I know it ain’t, but it’s the truth. But for you, I will make an exception. I’ll live with you as long as he don’t mind cats.”
“He won’t.” I turned toward Mattie and pulled her into a snuggle.
“Don’t go gettin’ all emotional on me,” she griped. “I’m not into all that sappy stuff.”
“I know,” I said. “Me neither.”
I flipped off the light switch. “Good night.”
“Night, sugar.”
I fell into a deep sleep. But it wasn’t an easy one. The events of the day scrolled like a movie, filling my head with images of Misery. The picture shifted to my cousins and how horrible they looked by the time the fight was over, to images of Hugo landing in that gigantic backyard at the house Axel had bought for us.
The image flitted back to the grotesque Amelia and Cordelia. The stood separately before converging. My cousins melted together to form a completely different being.
The creature was neither Amelia nor Cordelia, but both of them. The thing wore a baby doll dress but it had green skin, a giant nose and giant hairy toes.
It chased me through a forest—the forest behind my new house. I couldn’t get away from it. I scrambled over fallen logs and wet leaves, doing my best to gain ground, but the creature stayed right on my heels, its clawed hands grasping at my clothes.
I shot magic at it, but my attack did nothing. It didn’t even hurt the thing. I opened my mouth to scream for Axel, to beg anyone nearby to help me, but the sound knotted in my throat.
The only thing that escaped me was a sigh as the creature reached for my leg and grasped it.
I bolted awake. My heart raced. Sweat poured from my forehead. I flattened my palm to my heart and gulped down several deep breaths of air.
The oxygen helped calm me. I closed my eyes tight and opened them back up and realized daylight had arrived.
I shook out my arms, trying to rid myself of the icky feeling that gnawed at the pit of my stomach. I exhaled one more shot of air and glanced around for Mattie.
She was nowhere to be seen. Probably downstairs getting some breakfast.
I slowly pushed myself from the mattress, showered, dried my hair and dressed in a pair of jeans, a chocolate-colored turtleneck and brown, calf-high boots.
I grabbed a nut-colored jacket and accented my outfit with an orange scarf and headed downstairs.
Betty sat at the table, grinning from ear to ear as Cordelia and Amelia served her grits, sausage gravy, biscuits, eggs and country fried steak.
I sat and poured myself a cup of coffee from a carafe.
Betty winked. “They think I’ll decrease their punishment if they kiss my butt.”
I choked on a laugh. Cordelia grabbed a jug of orange juice. “Would you like some, Betty?”
“Sure,” Betty said, puffing up her chest. “I’ll take a glass.”
Amelia appeared by her side with a hairbrush. “What about I brush your wig? Would that be okay?”
Betty waved her away. “I use magic to freshen it every morning. Don’t worry about brushing it.”
Amelia’s face fell until she directed her attention to me. “It’s so weird you brought that dream catcher home because last night I had the weirdest dream.”
I scooped eggs onto my plate. With the wedding looming I had decided to cut most carbs, minus sweet tea with jelly beans, of course. Which meant that biscuits and just about everything else that Betty cooked were now off-limits.
I couldn’t wait to eat them again.
“What happened?” I asked.
Amelia sat beside me. “Well, I was at the Vault. Erasmus needed me to find one of the objects—an arrow that whenever it’s shot, always finds its target. I was looking and looking for it and finally found it.”
Cordelia dropped into a chair. “What happened then?” She grabbed an orange from a bowl and started peeling. “Was the thing broken?”
“No.” Amelia shook her head. “When I found it, the arrow was aimed straight at me. Next thing I knew it was flying through the air. Right when it was about to hit my heart, I woke up.”
She shuddered. “Scared the living daylights out of me.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, recalling my own experience.
“You call that a dream?” Cordelia scoffed. “I had an even worse dream than that last night.”
“Since when did this become a competition?” Amelia said, her voice lilting in surprise.
“It didn’t,” Cordelia said. “I’m only saying that your dream sounds scary, but it’s nothing compared to what I experienced last night.”
“Please, fill us in.” Amelia nibbled on a biscuit. “I would love to know what you experienced that was worse than almost being killed by a magical object.”
“Well,” Cordelia said as if she were the expert on such things, “what happened in my dream was that I kept trying to reach Garrick, kept trying to talk to him, but he kept blowing me off.”
“Did you invite someone to have dinner with the two of y’all? You know, someone who shouldn’t have been there?” Amelia asked, hinting about last night’s fight over Cousin Molly. “Could that have been a possibility?”
“I’m not discussing that,” Cordelia said. “All I’m saying is that when I called him, he wouldn’t answer. When I tried to talk to him, he avoided me. It was as if I’d done something wrong, but he wouldn’t tell me what. Worse—”
“It gets worse?” Amelia said with sarcasm in her voice.
Cordelia glared at her.
“Sorry.” Amelia shrugged. “Just doesn’t seem that scary to me.”
“That’s because you haven’t heard the worst part. Because you keep interrupting.”
Amelia stared at her blankly. “Okay. Tell me the worst part about it. The part that will make me want to start crying or hide in a closet or something.”
Cordelia seethed. “I don’t appreciate your sarcasm.”
“It’s not sarcasm.”
Cordelia waited a full beat before moving on. “Anyway, the worst part was that I saw Garrick driving off in his truck with another woman. I’d never seen her before in my life.”
“Ouch.” I winced. “That is bad. So in the dream you think he was cheating?”
My cousin nodded. “It was too real a dream. One I’d like to forget.”
“Well, I’ve got one for you.”
I went on to explain about the monster in the woods and how I was running from it and couldn’t escape.
They listened intently until I was finished. “And that was that. I’d hate to meet that creature in a dark alley or anywhere else.”
“That’s a creepy dream,” Betty said sharply. “But I’ve got one better. This will make the hairs on the back of your neck lift up. It’ll make you pray you don’t have to go to sleep tonight because it’s way too real.”
“You know,” I started, “we are talking about dreams. Not reminiscing about a horror film we watched twenty years ago.”
“I know what y’all are talking about,” she snapped. “And I’m about to tell you what I dreamed.”
Amelia folded her napkin over her plate and pushed it away. “As long as I won’t be too afraid to go to work, you can tell us.”
Betty waved a hand over the table. “Let me set the scene. It was winter. A storm was blowing in. A cold, frigid storm. The sort that makes deadly icicles. The sort where you lose power and can’t see the hand in front of your face because of white-out conditions.”
“So it’s bad,” I said, trying to speed things along. “We get it.”
“Yes, it’s bad,” she continued in an ominous tone. “But there’s a cabin. The only safe place in the entire town.”
Amelia’s hand shot up. “Um. Why is the cabin the only safe place in town?”
“I don’t know,” Betty said flatly. “It’s a dream. Not everything in it makes sense.”
“And does the whole town have to fit into this one cabin?” Cordelia asked. “I mean, is it like, very big? Or is it a small cabin that sleeps maybe four?”
“It’s a medium-sized cabin,” Betty explained. “It’s not meant for the whole town. It’s only safe for the four of us.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Amelia added. “I don’t understand.”
Betty slammed her fist on the table, making the flatware and plates jump. “I don’t know! It’s only a dream. Will you let me finish?”
“Okay,” I murmured.
“Anyway,” she continued with the hand waving. “This is the only safe place in town, so the four of us are there. We think we’ve got it made. We think nothing can harm us.”
“But let me guess—something can harm us,” Cordelia said flatly.
“Will y’all let me talk?” Betty screeched.
We each, in turn, made a gesture of locking our lips and throwing away the key.
When Betty was satisfied that we’d be quiet, she kept on. “We’re all in the cabin, safe and sound, until one of you goes outside to get something.”
She glanced at us as if waiting for an interruption. When it doesn’t come, Betty reveals more.
“But the thing is, that person doesn’t return. I won’t say who it is because the dream kept going. One by one, each of y’all disappeared until I was the only person left inside. I was the only one and I had to sit there, in front of the fire, and wait for whatever it was that had come for y’all to take me, too.”
She stared at us, satisfaction glowing in her eyes. I wasn’t sure if I should be annoyed that the dream seemed to satisfy her or happy that she finally got it out.
Either way, Betty had been right—the dream was freaky as heck.
“So…is that it?” Cordelia asked. “We all just disappeared?”
Betty nodded. “Told you it was scary.”
Cordelia snorted. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe we were just playing a joke on you? Making you think that something had taken us so that you’d be scared.”
Amelia laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I’m betting. We abandoned you for a reason, Betty. Because we don’t like being grounded.”
“Dagnabbit!” Betty pounded the table again. “I’m telling y’all something was outside the cabin, snatching you up. Taking y’all away. You can make fun of it as much as you want, but it was a very real dream—at least it was to me. The best part was, y’all went first.”
Her voice came out as a snarl, and the three of us stared at her before bursting into laughter.
I rose from my chair. “Well, glad all that’s over and that those were only dreams. I’d hate for any of that to come true.”
I grabbed my purse as Cordelia and Amelia cleaned up the table. Betty still munched away on a biscuit. Right before I exited the door, her voice filled the room.
“Yeah, sometimes dreams come true. Let’s hope those weren’t that kind.”
Something about her words caught in my throat. My gaze landed on hers. Betty narrowed her eyes.
“Yep,” she said, “let’s hope nothing snatches you up.”
I shivered and opened the door. Gray clouds filled the sky. “Let’s hope not,” I said before shutting the door behind me and starting my day.
Chapter 7
When I arrived at Familiar Place, a crow sat perched on a bench outside the door. I stopped and stared at the bird.
Was this the same one from yesterday? Surely it wasn’t. No way could the same crow be on the bench staring at me.
I strode past, keeping an eye on the creature in case it tried to peck my eyes out a la The Birds.
The crow did nothing as I opened the door and let myself in. But just to be on the safe side, I shut the door quickly and took another glance.
The crow cawed once, flapped its wings and lifted into the sky. I didn’t know why but that made me feel better.
After all, it wasn’t as if the creature was spying on me, was it? Surely not. That was ridiculous.
I went about my business, taking a delivery for a crate of doves that would be released on my wedding day. I cooed at the birds, and they chatted back that they were excited to be a part of the occasion.
Just as I settled them in their own cage, the door opened. In strode Carmen, my cousin.
She held out a bag of jelly beans and smiled brightly. “Thought you might be running low.”
I squealed. “I am! Oh, I am!” I took the heavy bag. Boy, Carmen had been generous with her beans. “Thank you.”
She ran her fingers through her thick crimson locks. “You’re welcome. These are fall flavors—lots of pumpkin, apple spice, wassail, cider. I think you’
re going to love them.”
“There’s no thinking about it. I know I will.” I dipped my hand in and plucked a dark orange bean from the lot. As soon as it hit my tongue, the rich flavor of pumpkin infused my mouth.
I moaned. I could eat these all day, but my waistline and my complexion would hate me for it. “Oh my gosh, Carmen, this is so good. Why were you ever missing from my life?”
She threw back her head, and a soft laugh trickled from her throat. “Sweetheart, I say the same thing about you. But anyway, I’m glad you like them.”
We stared at each other for a moment. My cousin shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. I felt tension rise.
“Carmen, is there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
I had a feeling I knew what it was, but I wasn’t going to come out and say it. This was Carmen’s moment. She needed to say what was on her mind, not have me feed words into her mouth.
“So, Pepper.” She twisted her fingers. “I wanted to let you know that Rufus Mayes and I have started seeing each other.”
Yes, I already knew this, but Carmen hadn’t spoken to me about it. Time to play dumb.
I arched a brow. “Oh? Is that right?”
She rubbed her lips together. Seriously, she didn’t need to be so nervous about it.
“Yes,” she admitted. “That’s right. He’s really nice and kind and not the bad guy he used to be, though.” A nervous laugh escaped her lips. “I had a dream last night that he turned evil and tried to destroy Magnolia Cove—again.”
I laughed. “That’ll never happen. I think Rufus’s days of being evil and doing bad things are over. At least I hope so.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear in a shy gesture. “Yes, they are. But we’ve become close, and I wanted to let you know because I think…you and Rufus may have had some feelings.”
I nodded. “We’re friends. We have been for a while and that’s that.” I crossed to my cousin and wrapped her in a hug. Carmen’s hair smelled of gingerbread. Wow. I needed to work in a bakery so I could smell like food, too.
I released her and squeezed her shoulders. “There’s nothing for you to feel awkward about. I love you, and he’s my friend. I hope it works out between the two of y’all.”
