A Charming Cure (12 page)

Won’t keep you safe as well.

Eye of Newt won’t be your friend,

You’re snooping around better end!

“Where
did you get this?” I could steady my quivering lip, but not my trembling chin.

“Gus
found it on your bed while he was retrieving your bag.” Her eyes widened.

“Gus?
That strange bird is who retrieved my bag
from my room
?” I huffed and
rolled my eyes.

“He’s
a Teletransport psychic, plus my assistant. Still a strange bird, but he gets
the job done and is great at keeping secrets.” She peered out the window. “He’s
on our side.”

“You
mean he can vanish into thin air, going from place to place?”

She
nodded her head.

I
was going to let that slide. . .for now. I tapped Madame Torres and Eloise
reappeared. “You don’t know where Eloise is? You don’t recognize the room?”

She
shook her head. “I banished her to the holding cell. Gus was there and left her
alone while he scoured her house for anything. When he got back, she was gone.”

“And
what about all the magic ability here? Can’t we find her? Can’t anyone use
their ability to find her?” This seemed like a pretty normal thing. After all,
before I found my spiritual gift, I thought psychics could find out anything.

“That
is not how all of this works. Whoever took her is good at making their magic
tracks disappear. But my real question is why? Why did they harm Faith and why
did they kidnap Eloise?”

Helena
brought up some great questions that I wasn’t able to answer. The person
obviously wanted to kill Faith, but what good was it to keep Eloise chained
up…or alive for that matter.

“I
know I shouldn’t be asking you to do this, and the campus police are doing
everything they can to solve this crime. But you have more power than you
know.” Her voice was flat, monotone. She held a skeleton key from the tips of
her fingers. I reached out and took the cold metal object; the eyes hollowed
out were worn and tarnished. “This is the key to the student files. I’d love
for you to use your intuition skills by reading through them. Maybe something
or someone will catch your attention. Be sure not to get caught.”

I
gripped the key with an unsettled feeling in my gut. This was going to be much
harder than I thought.

I
tapped the crystal ball again, and Oscar appeared in the center of Charming
Cure. Hili stood in front of him barking orders while pointing. He was putting
bottles on their perspective shelves and nodded at each of Hili’s commands.

“Well,
at least I’m not going to have to worry about the shop.” Glad that Hili was
there, fixing all of the mishaps, I was going to be able to focus all my
attention of finding two things. Find a cure for Faith. And finding Eloise.

“One
more thing,” I turned back around before I left. “What’s the history between
you and Gerald?”

A
stark look crossed her face. Her scar turned a visible red, but the rest of her
face stayed the same.

“Go.”
She drew her arm out from under her cloak and pointed to the door.

I
did what she said, only for now. I would find out that secret too, one way or
another.

Chapter Thirteen

I
tucked the key in the front pocket of my jeans to make sure it was safe and
sound, and then hurried off to crystal ball class. Helena had assured me that I
wouldn’t be in trouble for being late, and that she had Gus tell the professor
that Helena was keeping me a bit after class.

“I
hate being late.” Madame Torres groaned from the depths of my bag.

Once
I got to the arrowed signs in the middle of the wheat field, I tapped the arrow
pointing toward Crystal Ball School and the field parted as it should, and lead
me down the path.

At
the end of the path stood three red-bricked buildings. Each one with a covered
porch held up by four very tall pillars. A sign dangled from each stated the
level of skill: beginners, intermediate, and advanced.

Obviously,
I was a beginner. After all, Madame Torres seemed to run the show more than I
did. That was a problem.

I
took her out of my bag, and she appeared quicker than a jackrabbit. I held her
up to eye level and gazed in. “Are you dressed up?”

Her
red wavy hair was partially covered by a hot pink turban. Her eyelids smeared
in purple eye shadow and lined in black liner didn’t over power her long lashes
that she batted words trickled out of her fire engine lips. “This is my time to
shine. I’m single and ready to mingle.”

“There
will be no mingling.” I assured her. “We are here on business. One, find out
who poisoned Faith and two where they kidnapped Eloise. Plain and simple.
No
mingling.”
I warned her, but knew I was talking into the air.

Granted,
I knew I was here to go to school, but a lot can change in a couple of days.

“What
can happen in four days?” I whispered under my breath and rolled my eyes as I
pushed the door open to begin my first ever class of Crystal Ball School.

“Yep,
yep, yep.” The professor paced back and forth in front of the class. He wrung
his hands and looked to the floor. His grey suit was much too big for his
narrow shoulders, and much too long for his six-foot frame. The hem of his
pants dragged the floor, and exposed only the tips of his black, soft-soled
shoes. His jacket was hanging open and his white collared shirt was untucked
and unevenly buttoned. He ran his hands through his thin, unruly hair and
stopped pacing. Looking up, he pointed at me. “I heard about you, June Heal.”

It
didn’t sound like a good ‘heard’ either.
Professor Dunwoody,
his name
was scribbled on the chalkboard behind him.

He
looked back down and started his pacing. His hands continued to wrap around one
another. “Go on, take a seat.”

I
should’ve looked to see what seats were available before I jumped at the first
one I came to. Madame Torres glowed a bright pink, and slightly rolled to the
left side of the table toward my tablemate.

When
I reached over to roll her back, I glanced up to see the person sitting next to
me.

Gus.

He
smiled. His crystal ball slightly rolled toward me and a man appeared in a
turban. His eyes locked eyes with Madame Torres.

“Oh
no you don’t.” I picked her up and placed her on my right side, out of sight of
Rico Sauvé. I couldn’t help but get the smooth singing Latino hunk out of my
mind when I noticed Gus’s crystal ball seemed to look a bit like a Latin lover.
Tan, dark, and handsome.

“She
was a little spitfire when I put her in your bag this morning.” Gus swung his
head to the right. His long blonde hair lay perfectly against his chiseled jaw
line. I didn’t realize the surfer dude look was still in. Nor did I ever
imagine a spiritualist to have such a look.

“Tell
me about it,” I groaned and rolled my eyes. I turned my attention toward the
professor.

He
rambled on about the history of crystal balls and how they chose you, not the
other way around. He talked about how obedient they were and accommodating.
He’d obviously never met Madame Torres.

Nothing
in my spiritual world was exactly like everyone else’s, but that was okay. I
was beginning to like my world. And that included Eloise. I felt my jean pocket
to make sure the key was still there. After crystal ball class, I was going to
muddle around the campus and take note on what everyone was doing and when a
good time to snoop around would be.

“Miss
Heal?” The professor brought me back from the land of daydreaming.

I
sat up straight, and tall. “Yes.” I answered without even knowing what he had
asked.

“Well?”
He stood still, his feet pointed outward making a V. “Can you tell us about
it?”

About
what?
My nerves did summersaults on my stomach. I knew there was a reason I had never
gone to college. Being called on in class was my worst nightmare.

“Tell
us about how you found your crystal ball.” He paced back and forth waving his
hand in the air, never once looking at me.

With
what seemed like a waste of precious time, I hurried through the story of how I
had walked into Mystic Lights in Whispering Falls. Plus, I had no idea that I
was a spiritualist when Madame Torres picked me.

With
a few laughs and a smiling Madame Torres, class was over. With my back to Gus,
I wanted to make sure Madame Torres made it back into my bag without a love
connection.

“Wait.”
She begged, her eyes darted back and forth trying to see around my arm. But, I
stuck her deep in the bag and strapped it over my shoulder.

As
I gathered up my books, I heard some other students talk about getting lunch
and a few were going to the library. It was lunchtime and I bet a lot of
professors were also out eating.

“So
what do you think about all the craziness since you came.” Someone tapped on my
shoulder. I turned around to find Gus and his goofy half-cocked grin standing
behind me.

“Me?
Since I came?” I put my hand up to my chest. Why, all of a sudden, did they
think this started after I got here?

“Well,
I did find that note and all.” He shrugged and threw his crystal ball into his
back pack like it was a baseball. “Aren’t you a little old to be coming to school?”

“If
you must know,” I huffed. (
Old? When did twenty-five become old
?) “I had
no clue I was even psychic until a few months ago. So I came here for a few
days to learn all about it. But it looks like I’m going to be here longer.”

There
was no way I was leaving in a couple days with Eloise being kidnapped and Faith
on her deathbed. There had to be something I could do.

The
students filed out behind us, but not before I overheard someone say something
about Faith not being able to put out the gossip paper.

“Did
you hear about her nails?” A few students gathered around the gossiping one. “I
heard that her dad put a spell around her. If an intruder comes in and tries to
mess with her, her nails are full of poison and will strike.”

“That’s
enough. Run along.” Helena motioned for them to leave.

I
couldn’t help but smile when I heard the gossip about the nails. If only they
knew. But the UnHidden Hall rag paper was another story. If Faith really were
the master that uncovered the hidden truth behind the magic, it would open the
door for many people who would want to hurt her. In fact, they might even want
her dead.

Mr.
Prince Charming came running in and made his signature figure eights around my
ankles just as Gus was leaving.

“Where
have you been?” I reached down and picked him up as though he was really going
to tell me. Then I turned to Gus. “Are you walking back to the main campus?”

“Something
like that.” He threw his head back and laughed.

“Oh,
I forgot. Teletransporter.”
Damn!
Why couldn’t I have that kind of
power? Nonchalantly I asked, “So did you check out Faith’s newspaper?”

His
head gave a slight tick, and his eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?”
he asked, making it sound very suspicious.

“Doesn’t
everyone?” I laughed, shrugging off the ignorance. “Everyone knows its Faith,
but won’t admit it. Do you have any copies lying around?”

“Nope.”
He grabbed the edge of his backpack and right before my eyes, he was gone.

Hiss,
hiss.
Mr. Prince Charming jumped up on the table and batted at something that wasn’t
there. At least nothing I could see.

Faith
Mortimer had pissed someone off and I wanted to read all of the newspapers. I
grabbed Mr. Prince Charming off the table.

There
was a piece of paper on the table that wasn’t there before. I picked it up.

Meet
me by the library in twenty minutes. Don’t tell anyone! Gus.

I
wondered why my hippie friend wanted to meet with me. What was so important
that he couldn’t tell me before?

I
glanced around, wondering who else was in the room with me. I had a feeling I
wasn’t alone.

Chapter Fourteen

By
the time Mr. Prince Charming and I got back to the main campus, it was time to
meet Gus at the Library.

This
better not be a waste of time,
I thought. I really could’ve spent this
time working on a new potion for Faith or going through her laptop. Or, I
could’ve gotten into the files quicker. But I was going to take any tips I
could use. And with Gus being able to go here and there without anyone seeing
him, maybe he did see something.

The
café shops were filled with students eating their lunch between classes, as
well as professors grabbing a quick bite.

It
was up to me to find out when it would be a good time to sneak in and take a
peek at the student files. Maybe I could lurk around after I meet with Gus.