A Charming Cure (17 page)

“Raven
Mortimer?” I put my hand behind me, luckily catching the counter. If I hadn't
grabbed the counter, I would’ve been face first on the floor from the shock
that Raven’s last name was Mortimer.

“Yes,
yes. The Mortimer sisters.” His stubby legs looked even shorter in his suit.
He’d been away on business, not sure what type of business, but he always wore
a suit when he was on business. “When I got Izzy’s call this morning about you
being expelled and Faith Mortimer’s condition, I knew that Henry D. Boyle was
going to have to wait.”

“Henry
D. who?” Mr. McGurtle was very good at talking in circles.

“Henry
D. is the little boy I’m working with that is half Fairiwick, half mortal,
sorta like you.” He wrung his hands together. Mr. McGurtle had lived next door
to me and Darla in Locust Grove. I didn’t know it until a couple months ago
that my pain-in-the-ass neighbor was really a spiritualist, that was ordered to
move to Locust Grove and watch over us. No wonder he was always in my business.
He would give monthly reports to the Whispering Falls council about me. When
Darla died, he became especially nosey.

After
I took over A Dose of Darla at the flea market, I began doing my own potions in
the shed outside of our home. Mr. McGurtle was always calling Locust Grove
police on me; luckily, Oscar was the one who always had to come bail me out
from under Mr. McGurtle’s wrath.

That
was when Mr. McGurtle knew I had the spiritualist in me. He reported back to
the council and Izzy showed up at my door. The rest was history.

“As
if being expelled wasn’t enough. Poor Darla. Love her soul.” He did a sign of a
cross and kissed his fingers before he shoved them toward the sky as if he was
blessing poor Darla.

Poor
Darla?

“Great!
You have no idea what went on to get me expelled.” I grabbed another Ding Dong.
There was no way I was going to share with him this time. The nerve. “I was
trying to save Faith Mortimer!”

“Well,
we can’t fight about that now. We have to do something to get you back to
Hidden Hall.” He pulled out a toothpick from his pocket and with a flick of his
hand, the small piece of wood grew into a wand. “I’m a sorcerer that can get
you back in, once we have figured out what’s going on.”

I
didn’t understand a word he was saying and didn’t try to figure it out. Some
things in Whispering Falls you just accepted as real. This was one of those
things.

“I
can tell you what’s going on.” Now I knew the truth behind the Mortimer
sisters. I licked out the white creamy middle from my Ding Dong. “Raven is
jealous of her sister. She is the one that wants the Ultimate Spell and she
would stop at nothing to get it. Even trying to kill her own sister.”

I
wasn’t sure how Eloise fit in, but she did. . .somehow.

“I
knew you going to that school was going to make you even crazier.” He babbled
on about how I had innate intuition and that you couldn’t teach the real thing.

“Oh
shut up and figure this out,” Madame Torres shouted from the counter.

“Grrrr…”
Mr. McGurtle snarled and picked Madame Torres up and rolled her around.

“Umm.
. .” I took her back and placed her back on the stand. “I wouldn’t do that. She
gets sea-sick.”

I
looked in and there was a scene of a tumultuous ocean swirling and twirling
around. A sure sign Madame Torres was sick.

“Doesn’t
she have an off button?” He pointed his wand toward her. “I can shut her up!”

“No!”
I shouted and threw myself in front of her. “This will get us nowhere. You
obviously know that Eloise is missing and we need to find her.”

Slowly
he waved the wand back to toothpick size and put it back in his pocket. “I’ll
deal with
her
later. Besides, you are wrong about Raven Mortimer. She’d
never hurt her sister.”

My
wide-eyed expression was merely a smoke screen. “How do you know the Mortimer’s?”

“I
watched over that family when they went on vacations.” He looked off into the
distance and smiled. “I recall how important it was for the family to
incorporate the Good-Siders and Dark-Siders values in each of the girls. It was
some sort of gene mutation that Raven got.”

“So,
that still didn’t make her good.” Another thought crossed my mind. “When did
you go on vacation with them?”

As
far back as I could remember Mr. McGurtle was always with Darla and me.

“Do
you remember when Darla would take you to the beach during summer breaks?”

“Yes.”

“That’s
when I’d go. It was sort of a break for me.” He folded his hands in front of
him. “I’m telling you, Raven is not the one who did this to her sister.”

I
wasn’t going to buy it completely. There still wasn’t an answer to why everyone
in Whispering Falls was falling ill, and their spiritual gifts seemed to be
disappearing. Nor did standing here discussing the good Mortimer sister against
the bad Mortimer sister solve the issue of Eloise.

“This
isn’t helping matters.” I walked over to the cauldron and picked up the spray
bottle next to it. I smiled. “I bet Hili made me some of Izzy’s cleaner,” I
whispered and sprayed the cauldron.

There
was never a better time to get it good and clean as the beginning of a cure for
Faith.

“More
importantly,” I threw in a pinch of sandlewood, and then Chamomilla to start
the bubbling process. My intuition told me to even throw in some
Eupbrasia/eyebright. With a handful thrown in, the swirling, watery tonic rose
to a beautiful ivory color. Like the skin tone of Faith.

A
good sign already. This lifted my spirits a little more, telling me that I was
on the right path.

Chapter Twenty-Five

With
a swing of the front door, Izzy, Gerald, Chandra, and Petunia bolted in the
room. Each looking a little more under the weather then earlier.

“After
talking with Mac,” Izzy pointed to Mr. McGurtle, “We believe that whatever is
going on at Hidden Hall is taking a toll on the entire spiritualist community.
As the village President, I took it upon myself to contact other community
Presidents. They are all reporting the same thing. Each shop is slowly losing
its power and the shop owners have fallen ill.”

“Just
like us.” Petunia coughed in the crook of her arm. Gerald reached over and
patted her back.

“There
has to be something you can do.” Chandra leaned against the counter. Her
strength getting weaker. “I wonder what’s taking Oscar so long.” She ran her
hands up and down her cubby arms.

“Where
is Oscar?” I begged to know.

“He
was kind enough to run to Locust Grove to get some medicine.” Gerald said, “You
weren’t here for a cure. And the intern
Dean Helena
sent was no good.”

Ignoring
his comment about Hili was best. They didn’t know that Hili wasn’t a potion
maker, but was only here to help Oscar keep the shop in order. Although the
ingredients were low, she seemed to do what she was sent to do. . .keep it in
order.

It
was just like Oscar to do what he could do. I only wished he’d hurry up.

“I
know you are busy trying to find a cure for the Mortimer girl, but do you think
you could do a quick smudging ceremony of purification for Whispering Falls?”
Izzy’s eyes dripped with worry. Wrinkles deep set between them.

“Of
course I can.” It was going to be a while before the potion was going to be
done. A quick smudging ceremony could take place. “Go on up and I’ll meet you
there in five minutes.”

I
started to gather the ingredients before they left the shop. With sage and
juniper as the main ingredients, I run up to the Gathering Rock as fast as I
could to start the purification.

Everyone
was gathered around, holding hands. Even Mr. Prince Charming stood at the foot
of Izzy. They opened a little path for me to walk through. Carefully, I laid
the ingredients on the Rock. The Rock was known for the cleansing spirit and
this was why it was the gathering place for the village.

“White
sage, sweet grass, root, and cedar.” I wanted everyone to know what I was using
in case anyone was allergic. We had this happen before and it didn’t turn out
all that good.

I
rolled them in a bundle and lit it. The smoke rose quickly to the dark, gray
sky. With the bundle in one hand and a peacock feather in the other, I walked
around and fanned the smoke.

“WA
KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN TAAAWNKAAH.... WA KONNN
TAAAWNKAAH....” I took a breath between each chant as I circled around
everyone, focusing on the center part of their bodies. . . their heart.

I
prayed the positive energy would focus on the good of Whispering Falls, the
good of having Eloise in the village, and even the good of Faith Mortimer.

I
laid the bundle on the Rock for it to smolder out. Walking over to the group, I
felt a hand on my arm.

“Oscar.”
My heart soared when I looked into his blue eyes. Calmness filled my soul,
telling me that everything was going to be okay, but it had to happen now.

Without
a word, he reached for my hand and led me to the group. We all stood in a
circle with our eyes closed. I was sure we were all praying for the same thing.

Oscar
squeezed my hand. I opened my eyes.

“It’s
time to figure this out.” There was a thin smile on his lips as he gestured
toward the shop.

He
knew we had to find a cure and standing here wasn’t getting us there any
quicker.

Quietly
we left everyone standing around the Rock to wait for the bundle to completely
burn out. I looked back as the smoke continued to roll up into the dull sky.
For a brief moment, I saw a little ray of sunshine where the smoke hit the
gray.

“We
are going to figure this out.” I realized I still had Oscar’s hand in mine.

“Yes
we are.” He continued ahead, briefly stopping to run his free hand down the
side of my face.

“Oh,
Oscar,” I whimpered under his touch.

He
put his finger up to my lips. “Shh. We will have a lifetime to figure this
out.” He gestured between us. “That means you have to find a cure.”

We
made it back to the shop in silence. The cauldron was at a rolling boil when I
went over to stir it.

“You
better hurry up.” A weak voice came from Madame Torres. “Time is wastin. . .”

I
picked her up. “Madame Torres?”

A
faint smile crossed her red lipstick stained mouth. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Hurry, June.”

This
was one time I wished Madame Torres
had
made a smart-aleck comment. But
she didn’t. Slowly she faded into the depths of the glass ball.

Hurriedly,
I grabbed the potion bottle from behind the counter that had a subdued glow. It
was the one I need to put the potion in.

With
the ladle, I poured the potion in the bottle. It was so bright when it when in,
but dulled as it settled.

Setting
the bottle aside, I reached for the spray bottle cleaner.

“Where
did this come from?” I held the plastic spray bottle in the air and sniffed it.
“Ahh…” The smell of my favorite chocolate swirled in my nose. It smelled
exactly like Ding Dongs. I didn’t recall the scent earlier. Probably because
Mr. McGurtle had filled my head with all sorts of new ideas.

“Hili.
I did a little digging on her.” Oscar seemed a bit annoyed. “She was always so
bossy, telling me what to do with the cures and how I needed to fix them.”

I
laughed.

“You
know she’s a perfectionist. And if something doesn’t go her way she throws a
little tantrum.” He lifted a brow.

“She’s
a young girl. What do you expect?” I took a cloth and rubbed the inside. “This
is the best stuff.”

“I
expected her to be a little more mature, but she wasn’t.” He handed me a stack
of papers. UnHidden Hall newspapers to be exact.

“Where
did you get these?” Frantically I thumbed through the stack that dated back to
a few years ago.

There
were things underlined, circled, crossed out, and some pictures even had
mustaches on them.

“At
Eloise’s tree house.” He shrugged. “That’s where she said Dean Heal told her to
stay. So I took her there on the first night.”

My
eyes grew the size of the full moon, my mouth dropped open.

“What?”
He asked, pausing to examine the paper that I was looking at.

“I.
. .um. . .had no idea she was staying at Eloise’s.” I dropped the papers on the
table and shoved then toward him. As a matter of fact, I never even questioned
where she stayed while she was here on her internship. I pointed to the
headline. “Read it.”

IMPOSTER:
There is a Dark-Sider posing as a Good-Sider

It
has come to my attention that there may be a Dark-Sider posing as a Good-Sider.
This person is a rich spoiled brat who will do anything with her daddy’s money
to get what they want. This person has tried to buy off Good-Siders for the
ULTIMATE Spell. The spell that only Good-Siders have and keep secret. . .for
good or evil. . .