A Charming Corpse Read online

  Rowl, rowl. Mr. Prince Charming rolled himself in front of my feet, giving his back a good scratch.

  I handed Oscar all the bags and bent down to pick up my ornery cat.

  “Are you okay?” Oscar’s blue eyes had a deep-set worry.

  “I’m fine.” Not necessarily the truth, but I was fine with him and Mr. Prince Charming. I ruffled the top of his black hair as I walked past him and into the house. “Chandra get a hold of you?”

  “She did. She was hanging out of Cleansing Spirit Spa while someone was waiting for their nails to dry. She said I needed a haircut.” He followed me inside and put the bags on the table.

  Mr. Prince Charming jumped out of my arms and scurried over to the orange couch so he could perch on the back and stare out the window.

  “It looks great.” I kissed him on the lips and then took my bag off my shoulder, hanging it on the back of the kitchen chair.

  Our house was a small one bedroom with one bath, kitchen and family room combination that was perfect for us. I was born here. This was my parents’ house, so when I moved back to Whispering Falls, Bella Von Low had been caretaker after all of those years. She simply handed the keys over to me.

  “What on earth is all this?” He looked into the grocery bag and pulled out one of the bottles. “I don’t have to use my wizard powers to know this isn’t real.” He unscrewed the small metal top and took a whiff. “Did you buy this?”

  “I did. I felt bad for this girl. She reminded me of Darla and maybe a bit of myself.” I walked over to the fireplace and gathered my matches. “I’ll tell you and everyone else about it over supper.”

  “It better be a good story.” He outstretched his arms for me to curl in to before we headed into the kitchen to prepare for our guests.

  Chapter Six

  “Come in,” I chimed. When I opened the door, Eloise Sandlewood was standing there.

  She’d been a mother figure to Oscar since his parents had passed to the Great Beyond like my own. She was his aunt. It was amazing how she stepped up to the plate after Oscar and I had moved to Whispering Falls and discovered their family connection.

  Sure, she knew it all along, but we had to discover our own path. When it was revealed she was his aunt, it was like they’d known each other all of their lives.

  “I brought you the first batch of Singing Neetles.” She pulled out the most color batch of Darla’s favorite flower from underneath her long red cape. The color matched her short red hair perfectly and made her emerald eyes pop.

  Eloise was what we called a Fairiwick. She was part fairy and part spiritualist. She had the gift of incents. She was able to sense danger which gave her the job of doing a morning cleanse in the precious space of time between dark and before dawn. There was a small window during the morning where she walked the main street of the village and cleansed the entire town.

  Some mornings I would watch her from the kitchen window. It was a beautiful ceremony and I would sip my coffee as I enjoyed the show.

  “Thank you,” I tried to answer over the low hum of the boutique of flowers.

  “It’s about their bedtime, so they’ll settle down soon.” She winked referring to the flowers since they hummed and sung cheery tunes all day. It was something only spiritualist could hear and Chandra Shango had them planted in the window boxes of Cleansing Spirit Spa.

  They sang all day long, echoing over the hills of Whispering Falls. They always lifted our spirits. Darla loved the colors and I really wished she was able to hear them, but since she was a mortal, she couldn’t. I knew she knew they were special,however. Maybe my dad had told her about them, at least that’s what I told myself because they hadn’t had any secrets between them.

  “It’s going to be a fine night for a smudge.” She stepped into the house and twirled out of her cape. It floated over to the coat stand and found a hook. She used the tips of her fingernails to fluff up her pixie cut hair.

  “Aunt Eloise.” Oscar came from the kitchen and greeted her with a cocktail. “We are so glad you and Adeline could come for supper.”

  “I hope you don’t mind I invited my mortal friend Adeline from Locust Grove.” I couldn’t remember if I’d told her. “She needed to make a trip into Whispering Falls to get a new supply of potions, um. . .lotions.” I winked because that’s how I marketed them to customers.

  Some of my potions had gotten in the mortal bath and body industry. Those sales channels were going great, but it was the shop that had my heart because it was Darla’s that I wanted to make sure went well. Once word got out about how well my lotions made mortals feel, I’d gotten a big contract with a very popular body lotion chain and a few stores like the Piggly Wiggly in Locust Grove.

  “I don’t mind at all. She’s lovely.” Aunt Eloise gave me a quick kiss on each cheek and headed into the kitchen to help Oscar cook.

  I wasn’t the best in the kitchen. In fact, I was horrible. Oscar was amazing and didn’t even use his wizard magic to help.

  In the distance, I could see Adeline’s car pulling up the driveway. I stood at the door waiting for her as she parked next to The Green Machine, what I lovingly called my old, green El Camino that I couldn’t part with.

  “I’m so happy to be here.” Adeline’s big smile was a much-needed breath of fresh air. She had her sandy blond hair pulled up in a top-knot on top of her head, making her features stand out. She was such a lovely woman on the inside and outside.

  She had been my biggest customer since the beginning. If I had stayed in Locust Grove, I’m sure we’d been inseparable. I’d even classify her as a sister.

  “I’ve missed you so much.” I gave her a great big hug, making sure not to crush her tiny frame. “I can’t believe I have to bribe you with a home cooked Oscar meal to get you here.”

  “I’m here for the goods.” She joked and headed into the house. “Hey, there,” she called over to Oscar and Eloise, as she walked straight over to the couch and picked up Mr. Prince Charming.

  His purr was so loud, I was sure people in Locust Grove could hear his happy heart.

  “I’ve missed my snuggles from you,” Adeline spoke baby talk to him.

  “Please stop,” Oscar snarled from the kitchen in a joking manner, though I knew better.

  He and Mr. Prince Charming had that love hate relationship where both of them wanted to keep me safe, so they fought over it on a regular basis. I wasn’t willing to get rid of either, which meant they were just going to suck it up and get along.

  “He’s so smushy and warm.” She curled him even more into her arms.

  “There’s no use,” I told Oscar. “He’s got her heart.”

  “Look what June brought home in that bag on the table.” Oscar pointed to the Piggly Wiggly bag.

  “From the Piggly?” Leah asked and put Mr. Prince Charming back on the couch.

  He didn’t stay there. He jumped off the couch and was under her foot the entire time.

  “No. There was a girl that is doing the Lifestyle oil parties and I bought some.” I walked over to the table and began to take out the oils one at a time. “Oh no.” I gasped when I saw the one that had Gabby written on it. “This belongs to the girl. I need to put this in my bag and give to Leah.”

  Immediately, I grabbed my bag off the back of the chair and stuck it in there so I wouldn’t forget or worse, use it.

  “Why on earth did you buy all of these when they aren’t. . .” Eloise’s eye drew down her nose and she glanced over at Adeline. “yours?” She finished, though I knew she meant magical.

  “They are a bit plain and not like your amazing bottles but I have heard of them.” Adeline picked them up and opened each, taking them to her nose and smelling them.

  “I just wanted to take a look at them and see if they worked. That’s all.” I took the business card out of the bag and handed it to Adeline. “I told her I’d give you her card in case you wanted to showcase her as a local business, but she’s making six figures with this stuff.”

>   “A Charming Cure has been losing customers and sales. We think it’s because of these home oil parties popping up.” Oscar didn’t waste any time getting to the root of the matter.

  “June, they can’t hold a candle to yours.” Eloise scolded me. “I can’t believe you wasted money on these imposters.”

  “I don’t know.” Adeline held a bottle with the price facing Eloise. “The hardest part of selling one of June’s product at the Piggly Wiggly is the cost. This is half of the cost.”

  Eloise opened her mouth to protest.

  “But.” Adeline stopped Eloise from talking as she put up her finger. “When I tell them to try June’s product, they forget all about the cost and it’s a sale.”

  That was because I’d made a special potion for the retail outlets. I’d come up with a formula that was specific to what the customer was looking for. Inside the lotion was an active spell ingredient that read the customer’s needs like I did when they were in front of me at the shop, making the lotion magically evolve into the spell the customer needed. It was the perfect way to specialize the lotion without actually having them in the shop.

  “I make sure to keep an employee at her display all day long so we don’t miss out on a customer.” Adeline had been such a great friend and businesswoman to work with. She really knew her stuff.

  “Trust me when I say that business will pick up. I can feel it.” Eloise curled a fist to her chest. “I can really feel it’s going to be…soon.”

  The way she said soon was as dramatic as the lift in her brows when she said it. My mouth went dry, the room tilted left and right. I grabbed the edge of the kitchen table to steady myself, taking some really deep breaths. As much as I wanted to smell the delicious food Oscar was making, the scents of Geranium, Fennel, Carrot Seed, Palmarosa, and Vitex took a dive down my nose and into my soul. Making my senses and intuition perk to life like a live wire.

  Chapter Seven

  On the way down the hill to A Charming Cure to get the tools needed for the smudging ceremony, I glanced around the village to see if that wave of darkness had returned. Though I was doing a smudge to welcome in the full summer season, a little added protection from what I’d seen earlier wouldn’t hurt.

  The carriage lights that were dotted along the main street glowed. Arabella Paxton stood on a ladder at the base of one of the lampposts. She appeared to be stretched to her limits with one arm holding on and the other trying to hook a beautiful flower arrangement on a rod.

  “Here.” I placed my hands on the ladder to steady it. “Give me the hanging basket. When you get up there, I’ll hand it to you.”

  “You’re a lifesaver.” She smiled with gratitude, her ice blue eyes melting into her high cheekbones.

  Carefully, I grabbed the hook off the basket and kept ahold of the ladder with my other hand. Arabella was much steadier using two hands to climb. Once at the rung she needed to be at, she held her arm out, extending her hand.

  “These are so pretty,” I said and lifted it up to her.

  “Begonias, Lobelia, and Million Bells can make any arrangement beautiful this time of the year. Plus, donating these to the village helps get my name out there.” She referred to Magical Moments, her flower shop. “Oh, poo.” She looked down and around the ladder. “Do you mind terribly to run into my shop and grab the wire snips? I’ve got to make an adjustment to the baskets and I thought I had them.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” I shook the ladder slightly to make sure she was stable. “You okay up there?”

  “I’ll be fine.” She nodded. Her long black hair flowed down her back. “They are probably just inside the door,” she called after me.

  The front gate of Magical Moments was amazing. Instead of plain wrought iron, the slats were made to look like long-stemmed flowers with the blossoms on the top. When the gate was touched, the iron rods turned green like a flower’s stem and the top of each one blossomed a different colored flower. Arabella told her customers that it was sorta like one of those childhood mood rings.

  The babbling water from the small creek that ran right through the middle of her shop was soothing to my soul. I stood inside of the door taking big, deep breaths. The aroma of fresh flowers, moss, and wet soil circled around me. The wire snips were exactly where she said they’d be. I bent down to pick them up just as a butterfly darted past my nose.

  I watched as the beautiful orange and black creature dipped and floated a few times until it rested on one of the living flowerbeds alongside of the creek. It was amazing how beautiful and inviting Arabella had made the shop.

  Customers could walk along each side of the creek by walking over a small, wooden bridge. She’d displayed her arrangements on tiered black tables with lines of black vases filled with all sorts of bright and colorful flowers.

  Many times, if I needed a special flower for a cure, Arabella was able to provide my request. It was wonderful.

  The butterfly floated by again, bringing me back to the present. I squeezed the wire snips in my hand and rushed back out of the shop.

  “I’m so sorry.” I lifted my hand up in the air and gave Arabella the snips. “I get lost in your shop every time I go in there. Like a little spa. But don’t tell Chandra I said that.”

  “Don’t tell Chandra what?” Chandra had big ears. She loved to gossip and she just so happened to walk up on us.

  “I must confess.” I drew my hands together. “I told Arabella her shop rejuvenated me like a spa.”

  “I’m going to have to agree with you.” Chandra smiled. “Are you ready for the ceremony?” She looked up as a big dark cloud covered a fourth of the moon.

  “After I get her off this ladder, I have to run into my shop to grab my things.”

  Chandra used her hip to bump me out of the way.

  “I’ve got it. You go and get the stuff. There’s a good episode of Bewitched on tonight. You know the one where Darrin meets Endora for the first time.” She giggled, shaking her whole body.

  “How many times have you seen that one?” I asked and let her take my stance at the bottom of the ladder while Arabella snipped away at the hanging basket.

  “Go on,” she instructed and nodded towards A Charming Cure.

  “See y’all soon.” I gave a full hand finger wave and continued down the street, only a shop down really.

  Between A Charming Cure and Magical Moments, my longtime friend and Native American, KJ opened a much-needed herb shop. The lights in his shop were already off.. I looked up and down the street, noticing all the shops had turned out their lights which meant they were probably under the moon at the Gathering Rock waiting on me. I really wanted to return that bottle of Gabby’s oil to Leah, but it’d have to wait until after the smudge.

  I hurried through my gate, up the steps to the shop, and quickly unlocked the door with my skeleton key. Without much thinking, I flipped on the light switch.

  Meow, mewl! Mr. Prince Charming was sitting on the counter.

  “How did you get in here?” I asked him.

  It was a completely stupid question because he couldn’t answer me and I’d never figured out how he’d gotten into different places that required a key.

  He walked along the edge of the counter and dragged his tail to the back wall where I kept all my bottles of herbs.

  “You are trying to tell me something.” I bit my lip and eyed him to try and figure out what he was doing. “When you know what you want me to know, tell me.”

  I went ahead and gathered the supplies I needed. When I went behind the partition to retrieve the Magical Cures Book that Darla had left for me, I noticed the cauldron was on. There was a purple substance with a ribbon of light purple swirling in its depth.

  “Mr. Prince Charming, did you turn on my cauldron?” I asked and peeked out from behind the partition.

  He was teetering on the edge of the counter with his tail stiff and pointing directly at the bottle of black cumin seeds. The white ceramic jar fit perfectly in the palm of a hand an
d had little red dotted shaped diamonds all over the bottle. The clear glass cork top glowed with a vibrant purple. It was a sure sign that it was to be used by me in some sort of capacity.

  “If you say so.” I reached up and picked up the bottle. In normal circumstances, and for a customer, I would drag my finger along the shelf of herbs and when the bottle lit up, that’s how I knew it was to be used in that customer’s cure. Not tonight. Apparently, I was to use it during the smudge ceremony.

  This was a first for me. Mr. Prince Charming rarely aided in the ingredients of a potion. After I took it off the shelf, he returned to himself, using his paw to make two quick swipes in the air before he jumped down and darted under a table.

  The cauldron had turned a lighter shade of purple and was bubbling. Carefully, I uncorked the top of the seeds and sprinkled a dash of them in the bubbling mixture. The light purple moved into a swirl of pink with red accretions that lay on the top. A strange mix of Geranium, Fennel, Carrot Seed, Palmarosa, and Vitex floated and curled up in a puff of smoke above the raging cauldron.

  I took a step back and lifted my hands overtop the cauldron, letting the smoke cover them fully so I could deliver the spell intended for the smudge ceremony.

  I closed my eyes and let the words that’d formed in my gut pull through my soul and out my mouth, “Protect from the Eye which has looked on me or the village for harm. Protect with light that is pure and loving. I reject the Evil Eye. Hand of Fatima, send it away from me.”

  There was a loud crack of fireworks over the cauldron before it shut off and my hands dropped. I brought my hands close to my face and noticed the glow around them. As though I didn’t have control over them, they floated over top of the Magical Cures Book.

  The cover flipped opened and the pages were turning so fast, my short black hair blew behind my ears. It was as though I was in an air tunnel and then it suddenly stopped, arms dropping to my side, rendering me breathless.