A Charming Cure (6 page)

My
eyes followed as the path gained momentum and ended at a small yellow cottage
that had window boxes under each window that overflowed with Geraniums, Morning
Glories, Petunias, Moon Flowers, and Trailing Ivy leaving a rainbow of colorful
explosion.

The
awning flapping in the light breeze read Intuition School in lime green
Calligraphy.

“I
guess it’s time to go to school.” I shook my head, grabbed my suitcase, and
followed Mr. Prince Charming up the path.

I
would have never thought that at twenty-five, I’d been going back to school,
especially one for spiritualists.

“You’re
late.” The door swung open before I made it to the top of the step of the
schoolhouse. The woman’s voice preceded the swift swing of her purple cloak,
revealing a much-welcomed face.

“Eloise!”
My nerves gave way once I saw Darla’s best friend Eloise Sandlewood who just
happens to be Oscar’s aunt standing at the door.

Her
emerald eyes darkened as she picked at the edges of her short, razor-cut hair.
“We didn’t have time to wait for you.” She tapped her watch with her long-red
fingernail. “Class started ten minutes ago.”

She
backed out of the way to let me through.

“I’m
sorry.” I pointed behind me. “I would’ve been here on time, but I didn’t know
you had to touch the sign to. . .uh. . .”

Blankly
they all stared at me. There was an entire group of college-aged students with
their eyes all on me.

“Huh,
some psychic she is.” The petite, long blond-haired woman, who looked to be the
same age as me, snickered to the other woman sitting next to her.

“I’m
sure she’ll have privileges. I heard the Dean is her Aunt,” the other one
whispered back and pulled her long black hair around her shoulder pretending
she wasn’t talking.

“
She’s
the Dean’s niece?” the blond bimbo asked as her onyx eyes glared at me before
she scribbled something down on a piece of paper, and then slipped it into her
bag.

I
put my suitcase next to the door, and ran my hands down my new outfit. These
girls were definitely more high-fashioned than I was.

Only
four days
,
I repeated over and over in my head. Four days was easy peesy.

The
waving arms of a girl sitting in the front row caught my eye. “Over here.” Her
round face lit up as she patted the stool next to her. She pushed the files and
books lying on the table in front of the empty stool.

I
smiled and took my place next to her. Mr. Prince Charming jumped on the stool
behind me. “Comfortable?” I whispered, looking at him cross-eyed. I swear he
smiled back.

“Let’s
welcome June Heal.” Eloise gave a brief introduction to the class of ten.”
She’s just discovered her psychic talents. She lives in the Whispering Falls
village. Please be sure to welcome June.”

My
cheeks deepened to crimson as she bought attention to me. I wanted to crawl
under the table and blend in with the floor.

Every
one of the girls were very feminine, from their long dark lashes to the very
last perfectly pedicure toes. I slid my heels under the stool in hopes they
didn’t see my manicured toes I had attempted on my own. . .not a great job. But
I was proud of my nails that Chandra had done.

“Okay,
let’s get back to class.” Eloise grabbed the mortar and pestle. She ground and
mixed the concoction before she added it to the copper cauldron along with a
dash of topaz flakes, cobalt globules, and some mandrake root.

The
frothy, glowing mixture with the color of gold smelled exactly like nuts and
grapes.

“Umm.
. .” Collectively the class breathed in the fragrances and continued to write
something. Feeling a little left out, I took out a pen and opened my notebook.
I doodled a couple of potions I had been working on to help cure my nightmares.

Luckily,
I hadn’t had one in a few weeks, but I wanted to be prepared just in case they
ever came back.

I
looked down at the bracelet, touched it and recalled the real Nightmare School.

“June,”
Eloise brought me out of my thoughts, “would you like to test the new potion?”

Was
this a trick question?
My eyes narrowed, looking at her suspiciously.
“No.”

The
bubbly girl next to me nudged me, taking me off guard and I fell off the stool.

The
class erupted in laughter.

“I’m
so sorry.” The spunky woman jumped off her stool and ran over to help me out.
“But you better volunteer. I’m Hili.”

Hili
helped me up and I got back on my stool. Mr. Prince Charming hung his head.

Really?
Was he ashamed of me?
Instantly I wished Mr. Prince Charming were only a cat and
not
my
fairy-god cat. I was beginning to miss the days I didn’t feel self-conscious
around him.

Eloise
slid across the floor to my table, and stood directly in front of me. “And why
won’t you have a little taste?” She smiled, holding the ladle up with the
potion bubbling to the top and held it close to my lips.

“Because
it will taste bad,” I said and fanned my hand in front of my nose.

“You
can’t smell the juicy grapes?” The snide question came from the blonde. Her
hand shot in the air. “I’ll taste it, Professor Sandlewood.”

Eloise
didn’t wait for her to ask a second time. She scurried over and dumped the full
scoop of potion in the girl’s mouth.

The
angelic face so fair and lovely contorted and squished up. Her onyx eyes were
as big as the night’s full moon. Suddenly she jerked and her eyes focused on
mine.

“How
does rot and spit taste?” I cackled with a smile tickling my soul. I couldn’t
help it. She deserved that nasty taste and what was about to come next.
“Nighty-night.” I waved my fingers.

“You
are a b. . .” Her eyes rolled back in her head and down she went. Smack dab on
the floor, down for the count. Her limbs were sprawled every which way, smoke
coming from the stench that oozed out of her pores.

The
room fell silent, as every death eye fell on me. Horror showed in their faces.

Slowly
I stood up, clapping, and cheering all at once. “Whoo hoo!! What’s her name?” I
nudged Hili.

She
leaned away from me. Even
her
eyes showed fear. “Umm. . .I don’t think
you should be laughing.”

“Why?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “She’ll be fine. What’s her name?”

“Faith,”
Hili whispered, not looking at me. She leaned back as if she didn’t want to
associate with me anymore.

Everyone
stared with disbelief.

“What?”
I circled around the room giving every one of them eye contact. They ducked
away from me as if I were some wicked witch. “Eloise gave her a sleeping
potion. She’ll wake up soon. It smells wonderful, but tastes nasty. Eeck.” My
tongue darted in and out as if I was trying to get a bad taste out of my own
mouth.

“You
mean Professor Sandlewood?” The black-haired girl next to Faith didn’t seem to
worry about her friend as much as she seemed to worry about my relationship
with Eloise. “Or are you on a first name basis?” Her eyes glowed with a savage
fire.

Hiss,
Hiss.
Mr. Prince Charming didn’t like her tone.

Chapter Five

Eloise.
. .er. . . Professor Sandlewood dismissed class early on account of sleeping
beauty. According to Eloise. . .er. . .Professor Sandlewood, that was a lesson
in itself. You can’t judge a potion by the smell. That was why they worked so
well. Someone could slip you a potion that tasted like chocolate, but had a
death wish inside.

The
entire class freaked when she passed out, but what kind of student were they if
they didn’t use their intuition in Intuition School of all places? The sleeping
potion was one of the easiest potions out there. According to the potion book
that went along with class.

“June,
not everyone is born with the intuition gift like you. You are a natural.”
Eloise straightened the bottles on her desk. She strained to pick up the copper
cauldron.

“They
have to have some type of intuition.” With both hands on one side, I helped her
empty the pot in the sink.

“Just
because you are born into a family of psychics or Fairiwicks doesn’t mean you
have the ability.” The sleeping potion slid out of the cauldron and oozed down
the drain. She nodded toward sleeping beauty that was still laid flat-out on
the floor. “Faith Mortimer is a prime example.”

“Is
she a Fairiwick or psychic?” Really, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference
between the two worlds. Fairiwicks were recently welcomed into the Whispering
Falls village. They were a product of an interracial relationship between a
witch and fairy. Eloise and Oscar were both Fairiwicks. Me, I was a psychic,
but for some reason I felt a little magic in my tippy toes. But this was all so
new to me. I had no clue as to what my abilities were. I relied on my intuition
to guide me.

Just
like the sleeping potion. I’d never made it before, but I had skimmed through
the class book and most of the ingredients were pretty simple. As I had watched
Eloise mix it, my intuition put them together creating an image of a pillow in
my head.

Images
were powerful to me and when one vividly came to my mind, I paid attention.

“She’s
a Fairiwick from the East coast.” She smiled. There was a wicked glow
illuminating from her emerald eyes. She tapped her temple. “She’s not very
intuitive. That’s why she is here.”

Eloise
cleaned the cauldron. I made it a point to watch. Working with cauldrons was
unfamiliar to me, but I had begun working with the one at Charming Cures. They
were much faster than the test tubes I had used in Locust Grove.

She
used a towel to wipe the remaining ooze and then a dead man’s finger to scrape
the sides. She sprayed a mist from a bottle that I had never seen.

“Why
am I here?” My intuition was my greatest gift that I knew of.

She
fanned her hand over the cauldron and with her eyes closed she chanted, “Around
the spirits, aura, and dreams, make this cauldron clean for its means.”

A
thin substance rose with grey oddiments and dissipated into the air.

“Now
then,” Eloise said as if nothing was going on. She rubbed her hands down her
apron. “Let’s talk.”

She
grabbed my suitcase, glanced over at Faith, and wrapped her other hand around
my shoulder guiding me out the door. Mr. Prince Charming followed.

“What
about her?” I pointed to sleeping beauty.

“The
teenagers will watch over her.” The day had given over to nightfall and the
fireflies had already gathered near the window. “They love to really bother
people after they pass out during intuition class.”

We
walked back down the pathway to the sign. Behind us, the path disappeared with
every step we took.

“Hidden
Hall A Spiritualist University is top secret. Hence the name. You will find
it’s more magical than psychic because every psychic has a little bit of magic
in them.” She looked out into the wheat field that stretched for miles in front
of us.

Mr.
Prince Charming danced ahead of us. His tail swayed above the wheat as he
trotted along until Eloise tapped the sign that read
Hidden Village.

A
small town appeared in the distance. Mr. Prince Charming darted off.

“What
is that?” My mouth dropped open. I had no idea why I was surprised. There was
just no getting use to the life I had been thrown into. Not that I minded it,
but I was eager to learn all about it.

“That’s
University housing. This is where you will sleep.” Eloise continued to walk
down the new path she had created. Without a word, I followed her.

The
closer we got, the more anticipation grew and deposited a lump in my throat. I
recognized a few of the students gathered at Black Magic Café enjoying their
mochas until they stopped and stared at us.

“Don’t
pay any attention to them.” Eloise smiled at them and nodded politely, her
hands clasped in front of her. They went back to talking among themselves.
“They are all curious about the Dean’s niece. We didn’t know she had any
family. Darla never mentioned her to me either.”

“So
am I,” I muttered. I wasn’t use to this attention now or ever. We stopped at a
gate in front of a small white cottage that was situated across the street from
Once Upon a Spell Library.

“That’s
strange.” I pointed to the burst of blue sitting directly overtop the library
with the brightest rays of sunshine beaming down on it.

“Oh,
it’s always sunny in the library.” Eloise lifted the latch on the gate and
pushed it open. She set my suitcase on the sidewalk. “Home sweet home. This is
where you will stay every time you have to come to school.”

Mr.
Prince Charming was already at the door. Eloise bent down and touched a wilted
patch of Gerber Daisies. They sprung back to life along with the rest of the
flowers near the same soil.