A Charming Cure (3 page)

“Tomorrow.”
I nervously smiled. There was something about tomorrow that didn’t sit well,
which gave me bit of a worry. When something didn’t “sit well,” that meant my
intuition was trying to tell me something. Only I didn’t have time to listen to
it. I had limited time to tell Oscar goodbye and talk him into looking after
the shop while I was gone.

Chapter Three

“Okay,
spill it.” I watched Helena and Izzy get reacquainted as they walked down the
street to The Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. “What is my
Aunt Helena
all
about?” Saying Aunt Helena made my eyes roll.

“You
know I don’t do idle gossip. “ Petunia peeked out the window and watched them.
“But I can tell you that Gerald isn’t going to be happy to see her.”

I
made a mental note to ask Gerald about his history with Helena since Petunia
wasn’t going to give in it idle gossip. A few customers came in the door.

“Welcome
to A Charming Cure. Let me know if I can mix up a homeopathic cure for what
ails you.” Immediately I knew what ailed the blond. Deep down I knew it wasn’t
the big zit sitting on the edge of her pointy nose that was her problem. The
tall blonde politely smiled and nodded.

I
motioned for Petunia to follow me to the counter and let the customers look
around. Usually it took new customers a while to mosey around and see what the
store was all about. I always give them a little time before I draw out what
they came in for.

“Hmm.
. .if she is my aunt and so concerned about me, why didn’t she come to my
rescue when the entire town accused me of killing Ann?” It was a valid
question. And it would’ve been nice to have had a living relative back me up
when someone had framed me.

I
smiled at the blonde who looked up after glancing over the facial remedies of
the shop.

“She’s
keeping a secret,” I whispered to Petunia about the blonde customer with the
zit. “I wonder”.

“Huh!
Wonder about what?” Petunia looked up her up and down.

I
shrugged. “I don’t know, but I know she’s torn over it. Let’s get back to Aunt
Helena.” I knew Petunia had some information about why Gerald wasn’t going to
be happy to see her. After all, she and Gerald had been dating on the down-low
for the last few months.

“Gerald
did say that he knew she was going to come because he happened to read Izzy’s
tea leaves when she left the other day.” Petunia’s hand flew over her mouth as
her brows rose. “But I’m not gossiping.”

“Oh,
I know you aren’t.” I shook my head, knowing good and well she was dying to
tell me.

“And
the leaves said. . .” she proceeded with caution in her voice until she was
interrupted.

“Excuse
me,” The blonde woman walked up. “I need a little help.”

Damn!
I put my finger
up to Petunia, and said, “Hold that thought.”

I
wasn’t going to let her forget what she was going to say. I needed to know what
the tea leaves said and I needed to know all about Helena. There was something
fishy with her and I wanted to know everything I could before I went to Hidden
Hall A Spiritualist University.

“What
can I do for you?” I rubbed my hands together. I wasn’t sure how I was going to
draw the truth out of her. Fact was, I already knew from my intuition that she
was harboring a secret that needed to come out. Hence the zit. Stress does
wonders on the body.

“I
was looking at your facial remedies and there doesn’t seem to be anything
specific for zits.” She walked over to the beautiful glass bottles that were
displayed on the shelving in the middle of the store. She tapped the tip of her
nose. “I’ve been having a little acne issue for a couple months.”

Ahh.
So,
she’s been keeping this secret for a couple months.

“I
see.” Lightly, I ran my fingers along the front of the bottles trying to decide
how to handle the situation. Just asking could work. “Has something changed in
your life to make you stressed?”

“Nope.
Nothing.” She shook her head so fast; I thought it was going to spin off. She
stepped back and looked away.

There
was no way I was going to get the truth from her, but the real remedy would.

“And
are you getting a cluster of pimples or just one at a time?” I let her presence
take over my gut, my senses. I had to know exactly what she was feeling in
order to get the right cure, and it wasn’t for zits.

“It’s
the strangest thing.” She picked up a couple different bottles to check out the
label. Her energy started to surround the two of us, and I got a good feeling
about the truth brewing inside her. “I get one
big
one every week, and
then it goes away before the next one.”

Yep,
a sure secret keepers sign.
I rolled up on my toes just a little to
get a better look, but the eyes told the story. Her secret was deep rooted and
she needed a stronger remedy than normal.

“Hmm.
. .” I glanced at the bottles one more time, pretending to see if there was a
cure, but I knew I was going to have to make one with a little extra
something-something in it. “I’m all out of the particular one you need.”

Worry
settled on her face.

“It’ll
only take me a moment to whip one up.” I lifted my finger to reassure her.

“Yes,
please.” Her blonde hair flung around as she nodded.

“Great.
I’ll be right back.” I turned to go make the perfect cure for acne and a dose
of the truth. Plus, making the remedy would give me more time to pick Petunia’s
brain about Gerald reading Izzy’s tea leaves, even though it was against
council rules to read any spiritualist without the spiritualist knowing. One
thing I did know, Izzy would never let anyone, and especially not Gerald, read
her.

Glancing
around the shop as I hid behind the partition, I didn’t see Petunia. Quickly I
looked in the back where I keep a mini-refrigerator and couch for those
‘just-in-case I stay later than normal’ nights, but she wasn’t in there.

Mr.
Prince Charming followed.

“Hmm.
. .She must’ve left. How convenient.” I walked back to the counter and prepared
myself to make the customer’s cure.

Meow,
meow
.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped on the counter. A small silver owl charm dropped
from his mouth.

Oh,
no.
My heart fell into my newly pedicure toes. My intuition told me this wasn’t a
good sign. Mr. Prince Charming was good at “stealing” charms that had the
meaning of protection. And it just so happened that when he did give me a
charm, it was when I needed extra safe keeping.

I
rubbed my hand down his back, and then pushed the charm to the side. It was
going to have to wait until I could see Belle from Belle’s Baubles to figure
out if he stole it and what the owl meant.

I
reached into the Ding Dong box and grabbed one.

The
customer milled around, picking up the bottles and reading the contents. She
looked over when I unwrapped the foil on my chocolaty treat and took a bite.

“It’s
almost done.” I smiled with the round, dark goodness stuck to the front of my
teeth.

Truth
be told, I hadn’t even begun to make her cure. With a big bite in my mouth, I
flipped the cauldron on high.

I
reached on the shelf for the sack of Antmonuin to help with her skin condition.
I carefully untied the drawstring bag, and took a pinch of it. I threw it in
the cauldron and watched the liquid froth.

“Eh,
a little more?” I shrugged and looked at Mr. Prince Charming.

Meow.

That
was enough of a yes from him to throw in a couple more pinches. You can never
have clear enough skin.

Gently
stirring counter clockwise, the liquid became a murky pink color. Steam rolled
up, leaving a smell of peach in the air.

“Now
for the good stuff,” I whispered and shivered with excitement.

My
newly found abilities were still fresh and exciting.

Carefully
I picked a bloom from the Land Kelp plant and tossed it in. Slowly I hovered my
hands above the cauldron clockwise causing the mixture to change directions and
thinning out the mixture and color.

“Mmm…I
love peach,” the customer hollered from the sleeping remedies side of the
store. “What smells like peaches?”

She
snapped me out of my focus. I peeped my head around the partition, and said,
“I’ll be right with you.”

Little
did she realize, that when I make a particular potion for someone in mind,
somehow the potion takes on flavors and smells the recipient loves, making the
potion a wonderful disguise for what it was really meant to do. And in her
case. . .the truth shall set you free…of stress and zits.

I
returned back to the cauldron and smiled, wondering how the customer was going
to feel about the peach smell but the cucumber taste.

The
cauldron shut off, leaving the glowing pink mixture simmering at a slow bubble.

The
red and gold glass bottle on the far end of the empty glass bottle shelf,
glowed, letting me know it was the perfect container for this particular
potion. Unscrewing the delicate triangular lid, I held the bottle down into the
liquid. Instantly, the potion cooled and seeped into the bottle. Sparks flew up
and bounced off the ceiling and landed on top of the customer’s head.

A
patch of her blonde hair turned charcoal and a puff of smoke rose from it.

Oh
crap!
I bit the edge of my lip. I wasn’t responsible for the sparks, or at least I
hoped I wasn’t.

“How
much longer?” She looked up and asked. The smoke changed directions with each
turn of her head. She was either unfazed or unaware that she was emitting
smoke. “I’ve got to get home. I feel a sudden urge to tell my best-friend her
no-good-for-nothing husband is cheating on her with her own cousin!”

She
let a big sigh of relief as if a ton of bricks was lifted off her shoulders.

And
there was the secret
.
Just like magic, the zit on the edge of her nose disappeared.

“All
done.” I held the bottle up and ran over to her before she could catch her
reflection in one of the hanging mirrors in the shop. I put a dab of liquid on
my finger and touched her nose. “Now, don’t look in the mirror until you get
home.”

“But
I thought I was supposed to drink it.” She eyed me. “Oh, well. How much do I
owe?”

She
followed me back to the other side of the counter where the cash register was. On
a scrap piece of paper, I wrote out the receipt and handed it to her.

“I
love your shop.” She smiled, handing me the cash and walked out waving bye over
her shoulder, just as Oscar Park held the door for her with his foot while
juggling two coffees.

“Good
morning, June.” He held his gaze and flashed his million-dollar smile.

No!
My heart
fluttered the closer he got. His clear blue eyes locked with mine, sending
chills up my legs.
Look away, look away.
But I couldn’t. For the past
couple of months, something unusual was happening to my feelings toward my
childhood best friend.

Meowl
. Mr. Prince
Charming let out one long sigh.

Oscar
grew up across the street from me and Darla in Locust Grove. Overnight he went
from being awkwardly scrawny, to hunky handsome. Especially after he saved me
from a murderer’s hand our first week in Whispering Falls. Another story for
another time, but I was sure that was when it had happened.

What
woman didn’t like to be rescued?
I questioned, taking in his freshly cut
black hair that was perfectly short. Plus, he looked great in a Whispering
Falls police uniform.

“What’s
that?” I pointed to the new accessory on his belt, while taking a cup of coffee
from him with the other hand.

His
eyes lit up and he took out the small stick that was too small to be a Billy
club. He flipped it up in the air, caught it and waved it around. “My
sorcerer’s wand.”

Oscar
and I had found out at the same time that we were both from spiritualist
families. Mine was boring psychic, while he was a cool Fairiwick.

“Wow!”
I reached out to touch it, but he pulled it away.

“No
touchy!” He put it back in the holster.

My
intuition told me that he wasn’t sure how to work it, but I wasn’t going to ask
him. “I’m glad you are here. I need a favor.”

Prrr.
. . .
Mr.
Prince Charming purred as he jumped down and did his signature figure eight
move around Oscar’s ankles.

I
told him about Aunt Helena and Hidden Hall A Spiritual University . “I’m sure
you’ll be going.” I informed him and left out all the ‘how they want me to
become Village president’ one day details. I didn’t understand it enough to
even explain it. “Here’s my favor,” I took a deep breath and continued, “I need
you to work the shop while I’m gone for my four days of school.”