Faerie Dust Dead (The Luna Devere Series Book 2) (10 page)

With Halloween closer than
ever, chunky pumpkins would adorn spiced cupcakes. I made bats for cakes that
would be covered with a heavy white glaze. For chocolate cakes I formed yellow
marzipan moons to sit within a cluster of chocolate sprinkles. I’d recently
taken to making filled cupcakes and considered using various creamy whipped
frostings for their center fillings.

The conversation I’d had with
Calis ran over and over in my mind while I worked. Riddles sat on a nearby
stool and watched from a distance. He’d been sprayed so often with water from
the squirt gun I kept handy, due to his efforts to place his fat butt square
and center on my work station, that now he feared it. When he looked as though
he’d jump onto the counter, I merely brandished the plastic toy and watched him
scurry off in a huff. Lately, Riddles stayed seated on the stool and kept me
company, rather than interfering in things that didn’t concern him.

I smiled at the humongous beast
and said, “I refuse to listen to what Calis says about trolls and that lot. He
could have an agenda of his own, right?” The cat didn’t answer – but then that
was nothing new. I finished up, put the cake toppers in the refrigerator and
began to clean frosting bowls and gather marzipan scraps, when the upstairs
phone rang.

I took the steps two at a time
and answered the call. Devin was on the line.

“Hello gorgeous, you sound
winded.”

“I just ran up the stairs,” I
said with a laugh.

“It’s good to hear your voice.
My time here is growing longer and longer and I miss you. Won’t you join me
just for a day or two?” Devin asked on a pleading note.

“We’ve had this conversation
before. I can’t take off at the drop of a hat, Devin. With a new helper
beginning tomorrow, I can’t think of leaving,” I said with finality. It was
then I realized something. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He hesitated for so long, I
worried that we’d been disconnected. “Hello, are you there?” I asked.

Devin chuckled. “I’m here,
Luna. I’ve found a great spot to build a house that isn’t far from William and
Ida’s home. Would you consider moving your business? Once you see the location…?”

I interrupted him. “Not funny.
I have a business here that’s flourishing, and it’s just what I want. I don’t
plan to move anywhere,” I snapped.

“Have you had a bad day? You
sound out of sorts,” Devin remarked.

Did he think of me as
dimwitted, too? To ask me to move my life and livelihood to the western reaches
of Massachusetts, was more than I could take after the past few stress-filled
days.

I counted to ten, took a deep
breath and asked, “Where is this coming from, Devin? You were supposed to work
on William and Ida’s house for a week or two and then return home to me. Now
you find you want to stay forever and expect me to drop everything and join
you? And what about our engagement?”

“We’ll get married here; no
worries,” Devin exclaimed.

I tapped my fingers against the
glass cupcake case. “We’ll discuss this at another time, when I have less on my
mind. Right now, the faeries are being murdered by someone who’s draining them
of dust, which leaves them vulnerable. On top of that, I made the mistake of
hiring Stephanie Jones’s mother, whose husband was killed in the wood last
year, and that’s just for starters. There are other things here that need
dealing with, too.” Still unwilling to mention Calis, I waited to hear Devin’s
ideas on the faerie situation.

“I’m sure you can manage all of
that and still visit me for at least a day,” Devin insisted.

Was I speaking a foreign
language?
Wasn’t he listening to what I said? Heaven help me. I held the
phone close to my mouth and yelled, “Somebody is killing the faeries, Devin.”

When I pressed the phone back
against my ear, I heard him say, “I heard you the first time. There are faeries
here, Luna, if leaving the ones there bothers you. I saw a couple of them in
the valley the other day.”

Angered beyond reason at his
disinterest in what was happening around me and our life in this area, I cut
him short. “Look, I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to you soon, I
promise.”

“Think about my invitation,
Luna. You’d really like it here. I know you would.”

“Right.” I hung up and muttered
to the empty room, “What planet is he on?” I shook my head, returned to the
creation station and stopped dead at the bottom of the staircase. Riddles sat
atop the stool, marzipan scraps stuck to his fur, and frosting on his whiskers.
He gazed at me with the innocence of a newborn babe. I couldn’t help it, I
laughed until I cried while summoning the beasty to me. “You really are a bad boy,”
I said softly.

Chapter
8

As time will, it passes in what seems the
blink of an eye. We were armpit deep in customers shortly after the doors
opened and not very long after that an ill wind blew in, in the form of a sensuously,
beautiful woman – her body svelte, her hair hung long, dark, and unruly over
her shoulders. Lengthy lashes, I swore were fake, fluttered over her jet orbs
that held a mischievous gleam. Her garb turned heads as she strolled through
the room toward the cupcakes displayed in the case. All she needed was a witch
hat to finish off the outfit.

“Dona DeMaie,” she said as I
stepped up to take her order.

“That’s lovely, what can I get
for you?” I asked with a light smile and a full-on sense of dread.

“Would you happen to have any
faerie wings to go with the faerie cakes?” Dona asked conspiratorially. “I
adore faerie wings, they melt in my mouth like spun sugar.”

If she was talking cotton
candy, she sure wasn’t from around here. Nobody called it spun sugar, and I was
certain that’s what Dona meant.

I gave her a look, like the one
your mother gives you when you’ve said something bizarre. “We’re fresh out.
Would you like a cupcake and a cup of tea?”

Following a huge, dramatic
sigh, Dona shook her head in despair. “I really wanted faerie wings. You’re
sure you don’t have some stored in the cupboard?”

“Ms. DeMaie, we don’t serve
faerie wings, chicken wings, or any other kind of wings, at Faerie Cake
Junction. You have your choice of cupcakes and tea – no wings.” I smiled
patiently. Had the woman escaped the funny farm? Was I having a bad dream?
Would somebody kindly wake me up?

Ms. DeMaie spread her hands on
the glass, her gaze measuring me. With a chilling glint in her artistically
made-up eyes, she said, “I said I wanted faerie wings, not chicken wings. What
kind of place offers faerie cakes, but no wings?”

“Madam, cupcakes are the
American equivalent of Britain’s faerie cakes. I’m sure the Brits don’t serve
faerie wings either.” Okay, so my patience had run its course. I was on the
verge of asking, no, telling her to leave my shop when the door swung open and
things took a turn for the worse. Calis stood in the doorway, an ominous
expression on his face and his eyes were as dark as any fierce storm known to
mankind. Oh, my.

Our gazes locked as he strode
forward. DeMaie turned… She stiffened when she saw him, and then she scooted
along the corridor and out the back door with Calis hot on her heels. The door
slammed shut as he exited. Uncertain of what had just happened, I held my
breath and then expelled it slowly.

The patrons gaped at one
another and then gawked at me. I gave them a wide smile and said, “She’s an
actress from Boston. I heard she’s trying out for a new play in Portland.” When
they nodded and returned to their pastry, I heaved a sigh of relief.

Annie sidled up and whispered,
“What on earth is going on?”

I glanced at her, shrugged my
shoulders, and said I hadn’t a clue before I headed for the gift shop.

Dilly followed me. “Luna,
wasn’t that Jones woman supposed to start today?”

I glanced at my watch. Eleven-thirty
and counting. “Yes, I wonder what’s happened, she hasn’t called and neither has
Stephanie. I should call and see what’s held her up.”

With a nod, Dilly said, “I’ll
keep watch over the gift shop and handle the customers. The dining room crowd
is thinning.” Dilly walked away, stopped, and turned. “Luna, I didn’t realize
you knew actresses.”

I nodded, smiled, and turned
toward the kitchen, muttering under my breath, “I’m such a liar.”

I’d picked up the phone when
Leslie Jones entered the Junction by the rear entrance. She apologized for her
tardiness and said Stephanie’s car was acting up, or she’d have been on time.
“We were stuck on Old Cottage Road and luck would have it that Steph couldn’t get
a phone signal. Honestly, I’m so sorry, Luna.”

“Not to worry,” I said and
beckoned to Annie. “Annie will to show you the ropes, and your apron is in the
kitchen.” I handed her off to Annie and scooted toward the backyard.

I’d walked the path and
lingered behind a cluster of poplar trees after I heard Calis say, “You’re not
to come here again, understand? This isn’t a good place for you.”

“Don’t get high and mighty with
me, Calis. I know what’s going on. As much as you’d like me to stay out of your
way, I won’t do it.”

“Just give me space, then,” he
remarked coldly.

“All fluttery over the human,
are you?” DeMaie said in a seductive tone.

I edged closer to peer through
the branches. Calis offered DeMaie a cool smile.

“Not at all, she’s merely a
means to an end. You and I both know it, and I’m aware of who’s pilfering dust
from the faeries, which has to stop.”

DeMaie nodded in agreement and
said slyly, “
Mm
, dead faeries – that is a problem.”

“Leave this place and keep away
from these woods. As a matter of fact, go back to wherever you were,” Calis
ordered.

I heard her sultry laughter
before she diminished in size. Iridescent wings popped through gaps in the
filmy fabric Dona wore. She raised her arms away from her body and flew toward
the field on other side of the wooded landscape. A faerie? Dona was a faerie?
What
kind of faerie?
Why wasn’t she more concerned about the demise of her
fellow faeries?

Dumbfounded, I realized then
that she was joking when she’d asked for faerie wing treats. A faerie had never
before entered the Junction. That
she
did so stirred something deep
within me that I didn’t know how to deal with.

I heard Calis mutter under his
breath as he turned his rich gaze to my hiding place. He’d known I was spying.
“You may as well join me. It’s bad manners to eavesdrop, but I’m sure you
couldn’t help yourself.”

I traipsed past thick the stand
of trees and stood before him. “She’s a faerie?”

His brows rose as he said, “I’m
afraid so. One with her own agenda that will complicate matters at hand, and that
bodes ill for us. Stealth will be our only solution to avoiding her. Dona isn’t
able to use invisibility like other faeries, and that’s to our advantage. We’ll
know when she’s around, so worry not.”

“Easy for you to say. I’m
human, while you’re, uh, well… I don’t know what you are. I’ve never dealt with
this much faerie business before. They keep their business to themselves, and I
manage my own. I’m thinking we should let the situation play itself out and
take it from there.” I watched his eyes grow darker until their rich blue color
turned nearly black. Yep, he’d become annoyed, or worse, at my idea. “Oh, and
by the way, I’ll be away for a bit this weekend.”

“Visiting your lover, I
assume?”

“Not that it’s any business of
yours – but yes. I’ll leave Saturday after the shop closes and return on Sunday
afternoon. I can’t be away longer than that,” I said. Somewhere along the line,
I had subconsciously made the decision to visit Devin. It would be a nice
surprise for him, William, and Ida, if I popped in for a brief stay. I’d become
worried over Devin’s change in attitude and unwillingness to return home.

“Who’ll take care of the
beasty?” Calis smiled, but there was no humor in it.

“I’m sure Annie will. She has a
key to the shop and can come and go when it’s convenient for her.”

While we’d been talking, Calis
had guided me along the path and into the yard behind the shop. I gave him a
quick glance and then mounted the porch steps. “Keep your eye on faerie things
while I’m away, will you?” Why I trusted a
man
, for lack of a better
word, like Calis kept me wondering about my marbles, and if maybe – as the
police suggested – I’d misplaced a few.

“Sure, I have nothing else to
deal with, so why not? Would you like me to make the cupcakes, too?”

I rounded on him. “Listen
smarty-pants, I’m not asking for miracles. I’m merely ask that you take care of
the faeries while I’m gone. Since that’s what your job is all about, surely it
won’t be too much of a task for you.” I flounced into the Junction and let the
door close with a snap behind me.

The customers had dwindled and a
small group left the parking lot in one car. Two customers browsed giftware and
a few cupcake fans indulged in their favorites. Otherwise, the place was quiet.
It had been a long day and it wasn’t over yet. I’d headed into the galley for
tea and a cake of my own when the phone rang. I stepped behind the cake-filled
glass case and answered the phone.

“Help, help,” Arianna cried.

“Hello? Hello?” Bewildered, I
held the phone away and stared at it. Annie stood in the opening to the galley,
watching me. I hung up the phone and rushed toward the door as I said, “I’ve
got to leave. Hold down the fort, okay?”

*   *   *

Fading afternoon sunlight
dappled the ground as I hastened along the path toward Arianna’s house. Halfway
there, I’d rounded a sharp bend and skidded to a halt, my arms flailing in an
effort to catch my balance. A giant-sized mound of pulsating brownish-green
guck barred my way. Every time I moved to get past it, it would spread. When I
moved back in place, it moved as well. I sniffed the air. No aroma emanated
from it. I leaned in closer and sniffed again. Still nothing.