A Charming Potion (6 page)

“What is that smell?” Belle was pinching her nose
and fanning the air in front of her face with her free hand. “It smells like. .
.”

Just then, Belle started to heave as if she was
going to get sick.

I had no time to react. The potion was almost done.
The swirling, slimy, cobalt elixir completely smelled like earwax and vomit. I
had no idea why it smelled so bad, and didn’t care.

“It’s a bad smell because it’s a bad spell!” Raven
continued to watch out the window. She shouted over her shoulder, “I’m not
kidding, June, you had better hurry up or I’m going to have to be a Dark-Sider
that you don’t want to see!”

As I whirled my hands in the air, my hair thrashed
around as if it had a mind of its own. Moving my body side-to-side, I closed my
eyes and focused on the most powerful spell I had ever created. Darla came into
my mind.

Instantly, the picture that my only living relative,
Aunt Helena, had given me of my mom and me, flew off the counter, smashing onto
the floor. The round tables that were scattered around the shop began to dance
on their legs as the bottle rattled on top.

The clinking was so loud that I threw my hands over
my ears, but I could still hear the thunderous claps of lightening outside the
shop.

“Enough!” Raven lifted her hands and prepared to
stop the cauldron.

As if her words were enough, the cauldron
immediately stopped. I fell to the ground in a rage, sobbing to my bitter core.

“Everything that I have loved has always been taken
away from me!” I screamed out into the shop. “Now, Oscar will leave me too!”

Everything stopped shaking, moving and dancing along
the floor. It was silent. I didn’t want to look up.

“I think I have completely lost my mind.” I stood up
and walked over to my mother’s broken picture frame, oddly aware that Belle and
Raven were staring at me. Both too scared to even say a word.

Ding, ding.

“It sure is wet out there.” A soaked Oscar rushed in
the door with his key to the shop in his hand. “Why was the door locked?”

Everyone stared at him.

“What happened to your picture?” He bent down next
to me and started to pick up the glass. My hands shook. He placed his hand on
mine. I stopped and looked deep into his eyes. He asked, “June, what’s wrong?”

“There is something I have to tell you,” I whispered
and stood up.

As if on cue, he stood up and left the picture frame
alone for the moment. With a slight nod to go ahead, I took him by the hands
and began to explain the mess I had caused.

“I understand if you have a change of heart after I
tell you what it is that you need to know.”

There was a deep look of concern on his face.

“Yesterday a client came in looking for a love
potion.”

“Oh, June.” He dropped my hands and ran his hands
through his dark hair. “You didn’t.”

“I did, only it wasn’t given to her.” I paused, and
looked down at my feet. I had a sudden desire to eat the entire box of Ding
Dongs behind the counter, but I refrained. “I injected the potion into the
June’s Gems, the candies that were left at the shop last night.”

Raven stood on the sidelines stroking her brows,
waiting to hear what Oscar had to say. Belle stood still, rubbing her hands
together.

“No wonder he was acting so crazy.” He laughed. “At
least he’s a cat, not a human.”

“No, Mr. Prince Charming didn’t eat them.” I had to
blurt it out. “Last night Raven said that she saw you checking on the shop and
when you showed up at my door, you had chocolate in the corners of your mouth.”

“I saw some movement in the shop after Sorcery class
and decided to check it out.” He pointed to the spot where I had left the
June’s Gems. “And Mr. Prince Charming was going to town eating all of them up.
They smelled so good, but they were gone. I grabbed one of your Ding Dongs from
behind the counter and ate it before I came to see you.”

Then it dawned on me.

Mr. Prince Charming had been acting so weird when I
mentioned the word love or anything about love. Instantly, I remembered the
Hedge Hog and how Petunia told me that he hadn’t left the Hedge Hog’s hole.

“So you didn’t eat the love potion?” I reassured myself
with what my intuition was telling me.

“Nope.” His eyes sprung to life. “Did you think that
I told you I loved you because I ate the potion?”

Slowly I nodded and tears streamed down my face.

“I didn’t think there was any way you really loved
me.”

“You are wrong, June Heal.” He took my face into his
hands. “I adore you. Quirks and all.”

My pulse quickened and my heart leapt with
excitement, as he set my mind at ease with the velvet warmth of his kiss.

Before I could say a word, Belle and Raven let themselves
out of the store into a street full of children in Halloween costumes. The sun
had reappeared and the clouds had parted. Everything was back to normal.

Everything except for Mr. Prince Charming. And there
was no way I was going to take on a Hedge Hog.

Eight

It was time to make everything right with the world,
even though I wanted to stay in Oscar’s arms forever.

“I guess I need to go take care of my ornery cat.” I
pulled away and looked outside.

The Spook-A-Luscious Festival had started without us.
It was time to join the crowd. I grabbed my bag and put Madame Torres deep in
the bottom.

Oscar took my hand.

“Are you ready?” He asked. There was hope in his
eyes. I nodded.

“Hi, Hili!” I yelled over at the face painting
station where Hili was hunched over a little girl in a fairy costume, painting
the little girl’s face with fairy dust.

“Happy Halloween.” Her brows lifted as she looked at
Oscar’s and my clutched hands. This was the first time we had publicly held
hands in Whispering Falls. By all the stares and smiles we were getting, I was
sure Whispering Falls would not be whispering.

“Cute costume,” Oscar said to the little boy that
was dressed as a zombie.

“Move over.” Constance Karima came out of nowhere
and gave Oscar the booty bump. She whipped out her stethoscope. Patience was
right on her heels with a note pad and pen, at the ready to write something
down.

“Mommy! Mommy!” The kid ran away screaming.

“Nope, not near dead at all.” Constance looked at
Patience and shook her head.

They both stopped and gave Oscar and me the stink
eye.

“Happy Halloween, sisters,” Oscar waved their way,
but I didn’t say a word. I already knew their feelings, and getting to Mr.
Prince Charming was way more important at this time.

Besides, no matter how much I try to convince them
that I wasn’t saving every soul on the planet, they still wouldn’t listen.

“Happy Halloween.” Gerald Reguila trotted down the
street with his top hat firmly planted on his head.

He looked like he was headed in the direction of
Golly Bee Pet Shop, the exact place I knew I was going to find Mr. Prince
Charming.

“It’s a beautiful Halloween night.” The crisp night
air whiffed of apple crisp and pumpkin pie as it floated down the street from
The Gathering Grove, where Gerald serves the delicious goodies from Raven’s
Wicked Good Shop.

“Nice night, indeed.” He twirled the edges of his
grey mustache, and then pushed his round glass back on his nose. “Are you
headed inside?” He held the door open for us.

“We are.”

“June! Wait!” Raven came running up behind us. Her
black hair was still pulled up in the high ponytail and her apron was covered
in flour.

I motioned for Gerald and Oscar to go ahead.

“What’s going on?” My nose wrinkled with curiosity
on her sudden need to talk to me.

“I…um…need to tell you something.” She gazed over my
shoulder and nodded. “I know it’s against the rules to read another
spiritualist, but there is a woman who won’t leave me alone.”

I bounced from foot to foot trying to keep the
excitement contained, and then fear struck me.

“She wanted to validate that she was there when you
were having your little break-down at the shop earlier, but Belle and Oscar was
there and I wasn’t sure what to do” She bit the edges of her lips. “She claims
to be your mom. She even told me a story about how Oscar used to step on her
homeopathic plants that she left underneath every single window in your house.”

I turned away and covered my mouth. I didn’t want
Raven or the rest of Whispering Falls see me fall apart…yet again.

“Are you okay?” Raven put her hand on my forearm,
bringing my hand away from my mouth.

“I’ve always dreamed she’d come to me.” I looked
left to right, trying to see if I could feel her.

“She’s not here now, but she wants to tell you
something.”

“What?” Instantly my stomach knotted like a big ole
dump of worry was left there.

“I’m not sure.” She looked around, and then leaned
in closer, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear us. “Are you giving me
permission to call her back?”

More than ever, I wanted to talk to Darla again.

“Yes,” I assured her.

“Fine. Meet me Eloise’s house tomorrow after work.”
She rushed off, leaving a trail of flour dust behind her.

It only made sense that Darla would want Eloise
there; they were best friends.

I clasped my hands under my chin and let out a little
prayer. I wasn’t sure, but I felt like my face was shining like all the lights
in the pumpkins that were surrounding Whispering Falls.

I was going to keep my little secret, even from
Oscar. It was special feeling that Darla had sought me out.

“Are you coming?” Oscar peeked out of Golly Bee.

“On my way.” I smiled and held onto the amazing
feeling that I might be connected with my mom in just twenty-four hours.

I walked in and instantly heard Mr. Prince Charming
before I saw him.

Mewwwwl, mewwwwl.

“Mr. Prince Charming?” I held my hand over my mouth.
He was lying on the floor, his long tail waving back and forth, but his face
was stuck in the Hedge Hog’s hole.

“He’s been here all day,” Petunia informed me. “He
hasn’t moved. I’ve offered him treats, tried to pick him up, but he won’t
budge.”

Gerald, Petunia, Oscar and I stood watching my poor
pitiful heartbroken cat as I told them the story about me and my love potion
gone wrong.

“He did it for you!” Madame Torres yelled out from
the bottom of my bag.

“Shh!” I whispered, hoping she’d hear and be quiet.
There was nothing more embarrassing than being scolded in front of your peers
by a crystal ball.

Cough, cough.
Gerald cleared
his throat. “I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

With a scowl on my face, I pulled the crimson,
glowing bulb. Her eyes matched the deep purple eye shadow that looked like it
had been painted on around her lids.

“Fine.” I held her high in the air for all of us to
clearly hear what she had to say. As her owner, she had yet to really help me.
“What is it?”

The glow went from red to burnt orange, bright
yellow, and then muted into a deep murky brown as her flaming red hair came to
life around her.

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea, but you
continued.” Her voice boomed out, leaving a little echo in the air. “And he
knew it too, so as your fairy god-cat he knew he had to stop you.”

“Oh no,” I pleaded, trying to keep my hands from
shaking. Dropping a crystal ball definitely couldn’t be in my future. I was
sure that would give me years of bad luck.

Was it true? Did Mr. Prince Charming save my place
in this spiritualist world and eat those June’s Gems, knowing good and well he
was going to fall head-over-tail in love with some other creature?

“Yes, he did,” Madame Torres’ brows crossed, her eyes
fixated on mine. “I can read your mind. Don’t drop me!”

Gerald and Petunia let out a light snicker.

I put Madame Torres back in my bag and bent down
next to Mr. Prince Charming.

Meow, meow
. His normally
vibrant speckled eyes were dull and sad.

“You are such a good fairy god-cat,” I stroked his
back, knowing it was going to take a few more hours for the potion to rub off.

Weakly, he batted at my hanging charm bracelet,
letting me know that he was always protecting me, even tomorrow night—at least
that’s what my intuition told me.

About The Author