A Charming Wish (2 page)

“
You?” I tapped the bottle
and smiled. I had been waiting for the supplier of my smudging
ceremonial grass, a Native American who blew in with the wind and
out with the breeze, to come in before I used this particular
bottle. It had dropped out of the last batch of sage he had brought
in. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to have it or if it was in the
bundle by mistake. But it sure was pretty. “Alrighty
then.”

Carefully I picked it up and gently
placed it on the counter next to the cauldron.

“
I do wish I knew how to
get a hold of your owner.” I eyed the bottle once more before I
gently stirred the potion. The Native American didn’t leave a way
to reach him. He always said he knew when I needed a new supply and
he was always on time.

I looked back over my shoulder,
glancing at the smudging ceremony bundles. There was only one
bundle left, which meant he’d be here soon.

With the ladle full of level
twenty-eight protection potion, I dripped a little around the
perimeter of the shop. What was left would go in the bottle and be
put on a shelf for sale. It would sell in no time.

“
Thrice around, circle
bound. Evil sink into the ground,”
I
chanted as each drop hit the floor.

The scent of chocolate
chip cookies wafted around the room. That was the thing with
potions. When I made a potion tailored to a customer, the potion
took on the customer’s most favorite scent. But that was
before
level
twenty-eight. I made a mental note to figure out why this
protection potion smelled of chocolate chip cookies. Not that I
minded, but it definitely wasn’t
my
favorite smell.

Which reminded me of my delightful
stash of Ding Dongs behind the counter. With the last drip dropped,
and before I put the leftover potion in the bottle, I took the
foiled treat and carefully unwrapped it and took a bite.

Mmm, mmm.

Mr. Prince Charming darted out from
under the table and jumped up on the counter. He was the first in
line for a pinch. Lucky for him, he wasn’t like every other cat who
can’t have chocolate. Fairy god anythings can eat just about
everything, and he loved Ding Dongs just as much as I
did.

I checked my watch. “I’ve got to get
back to work.” It was almost time to open and I wanted to make sure
to get the lovely protection potion on the shelf.

Slowly I unscrewed the pointy tip and
pulled, and then pulled harder.

“
This must be really old.”
I tilted it to the side to show Mr. Prince Charming.

Hiss, hiss.
His claws hit the glass bottle, shooting him off
the counter and to the ground. Landing on his feet, he scurried
across the room and scratched at the front door.

“
What is your problem
today?” I yanked the cork off and the bottle glowed red, burning my
hand. “Ouch!”

I dropped the bottle, watching it
bounce like one of those kid bouncy balls all around the
room.

RROWR!
Mr. Prince Charming ran back under one of the tables as the
bottle bounced to and fro, landing on its side in the middle of the
floor. Indigo smoke spewed up and swirled around, dancing to the
sound of a kazoo.

Damn level
twenty-eight.
I really should have read
the Magical Cures Potion book all the way through before I tried my
hand at it. “Damn, damn, damn!”

Something told me there was more to
level twenty-eight than what was in the potion book, but I was
sticking to what I knew.

I reached down to pick the bottle up
off the floor. It rolled to the left, and then to the right, making
it difficult for me to grab.

Hiss, hiss.
Mr. Prince Charming was nowhere to be seen, but
he was letting his presence known.

Dropping to my knees, I reached over
and pulled up the tablecloth.

“
Finally!” the voice
boomed out from behind me.

“
Ouch!” I rubbed my head
after I jumped up and hit it on the table. Potion bottles tumbled
down and crashed on the floor.

“
Oops,” the same voice
said, only a little more meekly this time. “I guess I should have
said what I’m supposed to say.”

My mouth dropped open.

“
Yep. Your wish is my
command.” The large purple man stood before me with his hands on
his hips. Rotating his body side to side, his bones cracked with
every turn. He took his hands and placed one on each side of his
face, twisting his head until it made a popping noise. “It gets a
little cramped in there, especially after five-hundred
years.”

“
You did it this time,”
Madame Torres, my snarky crystal ball, chirped from on top of the
counter. “This isn’t good. I’m going to have to agree with Mr.
Prince Charming on this one.”

“
Well, you could’ve warned
me,” I hollered out, not taking my eyes off the man. Not because he
scared me, but because I’d never seen a seven-foot tall
purple-tinted man with a belly protruding over a yellow banana
hammock and a pair of gold shoes sporting a jingle bell on each
pointy tip. “What?” He glanced down his body to see what I was
staring at. He patted his belly. “Yeah, I’m a little out of shape
after five-hundred years.”

“
I. . .” I stumbled when I
remember how the Gazette said something about a purple…hhmm…I
tapped the palm of my hand on my head trying to remember exactly
what the purple comment was.

Purple?
Nah, it had to be a coincidence, even though he
had created a little storm in my shop. But that was going to stop
right now.

Hiss,
hiss
, Mr. Prince Charming wasn’t amused
with Whispering Falls newspaper headlines or the man.

“
You have to unsubscribe
from the newspaper and get that…that…whatever
that
is back in his bottle!” Madame
Torres turned a flaming red, glowing throughout the entire shop.
Her purple eyes appeared, taking up all the space in the ball.
“Half of Faith’s newspaper stories don’t even come true! She’s just
too young to be a spiritualist. She needs to go back to Hidden Hall
and work on her clairaudience skills.”

Madame Torres rambled on and on about
poor Faith Mortimer’s spiritual gift. Granted, she should be able
to hear anything inaudible from spirits, wind, or angels when they
are predicting the future. There was one small, well, big problem.
She only got half of it right. “And he is nothing but trouble I
tell you!”

“
Argh!” I was at a loss
for words. The man hovered in the air with his arms crossed. I held
up a finger. “Wait right there.”

There had to be something in the
Magical Cure Potion book…something, anything.

“
I knew I should’ve taken
those potion classes with all the levels.” This had level
twenty-eight written all over it.

“
I’m waiting to hear what
you want.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice. “Honestly, I don’t think
you know what you want.”

My mouth popped open, and my brows
drew together. “Great, that’s all I need…another smart-alecky
spiritualist to deal with. Trust me, as soon as I figure out how to
get you permanently out of that bottle so I can put my protective
potion in, the better off we all will be.”

“
Amen.” Madame Torres
clapped and did spirit fingers. “And good luck with that
task.”

“
What do you mean?” It was
the first bit of advice she had offered up. “Madame Torres?” I
questioned the coal-black crystal ball and tapped on the glass. She
had gone into hiding. “Fine, be that way.”

Before I could make it around the
cauldron and look at my potion book, the front door of the shop
flew open blowing in a gust of wind and Mr. Prince Charming ran
out. The purple man disappeared into thin air and his bottle
magically landed right back on the shelf where I found
it.

The bell that hangs over the front
door dinged as the Karima sisters bolted in.

“
Did you hear the
newspaper headlines?” Constance Karima waddled over to the broken
bottles with her sister, Patience, closely behind her. “See,” she
pointed to the bottles and eyed Patience, “looks like the storm has
already started in here.”

“
Now, now.” I grabbed the
broom and dustpan. I had to defuse the situation before it got any
messier. Making sure mister purple man was staying put on the
shelf, I kept one eye on him while I swept up the mess he had
created. “Mr. Prince Charming did it when he was playing with the
hem of the tablecloth.” I pointed out the unraveled red thread.
“You saw him dart out the door as soon as you opened
it.”

“
Yep.” Patience wrung her
hands together. She curled her nose, causing her beady black eyes
to squint. With her nose in the air, she took big long sniffs. She
repeated, “Already started.”

Chapter Two

The headlines in today’s paper were a
little strange and making a little morning visit to Faith Mortimer
seemed to be in my future.

Faith was young, fresh out of college
and starting to learn how powerful being a fortune teller could
be.

“
Are you going to find out
what she’s talking about?” Constance twiddled her little plump
fingers. “And can you ask if there is going to be any deaths in the
future?”

“
Yes, deaths.” Patience
repeated, but didn’t take her bulging eyes off the potion bottle on
the counter. The purple man’s bottle faintly glowed. She took a
step toward it. Quickly, I untied my apron and casually tossed it
on the counter, covering most of his glimmer.

“
No. I’m not asking about
any deaths.” I brushed my hands off, and then crossed my
arms.

“
Single handedly, you are
killing our business, June Heal.” Constance’s housedress swooshed
as she shifted to the right, planting her hands on her hips. Her
dress hiked up on one side revealing a tattered pair of black
pointy-heeled shoes that were warn around the toes, making them a
little more round than pointy. “And I mean that
literally.”

Patience’s nose curled, causing her
lips to furl. Intently she stared at me, making me a bit
uncomfortable. They owned Two Sisters and a Funeral Home and
handled all the services for all of Whispering Falls and most of
the surrounding cities.

I’ve been told that the
sisters had a way of making a service feel a little more like a
celebration of life instead of the smell of death. Everyone walked
away from A Two Sisters and a Funeral services, saying they felt
their loved one was there and it was a
little…well…
magical
.

I hadn’t figured out their entire
business, but my gut told me that I was about to learn more than I
wanted to know.

“
I’m sorry you feel that
way, but I haven’t saved any soul that was meant to go to the great
beyond.” I walked around, taking a few bottles from here and there,
replacing the ones that had taken a tumble from the little storm
that happened during the mister purple guy entrance.

“
You give them all sorts
of witchy medicine to prolong a broken heart, gout, or even
protection.” Her eyes drew together, casting a shadow on the balls
of her cheeks.

“
Mm, hmm. Protection.”
Patience’s eyes darted toward the front window of the store.
Petunia was flailing her hands above her head as she ran down the
street. Her empty dog leash that was usually attached to her wrist
was replaced with a long rope that reminded me of a cowboy’s
lariat.

We hurried over to get a better look.
I opened the shades fully and we glued our noses to the
glass.

“
Is that a…” Patience
Karima pushed her glasses on top of her nose.

“
An ostrich,” I gasped,
unable to take my eyes off the plush feathers. “I need one of those
feathers.”

“
What?” Patience
snarled.

“
Come on!” I tugged on
Patience’s arm to get her to follow me.

“
I’m not going out there.”
Constance declared. “I need protection!”

We all stood there in awe.

The ostrich was getting the best of
Petunia as they darted around and around in a circle.

“
What are you doing,
sister?” Constance toe-tapped her shoe and crossed her
arms.

Patience was jabbing to the right and
then to the left, looking as if she and the ostrich were in some
sort of battle.

A bird and several small sticks flew
out of Petunia’s messy up-do as she tackled the feathery beady-eyed
bird to the ground and threw her legs over the body of the
creature. The ostrich jumped up and darted around as Petunia rode
it like a horse, guiding it back to Glorybee.

“
I guess that is one of
the animals Faith was talking about.” I referred to Faith’s little
newspaper report. “Ostrich,” I sighed, making a mental note to stop
by Glorybee. I did need some cat supplies, and maybe I could score
a couple of ostrich feathers while I was there.

I could easily redo that level
twenty-eight potion.

“
Yep. All coming true.”
Constance shook her finger in my face, and drew near. Her eyes
looked deep into my soul. “I’m telling you, June Heal, you’d better
get this village back on its feet or we are all in
trouble.”