The Halloween Spell Read online

  I sat down on the nearest chair, feeling as though I already needed a nap. I wondered how much it would be to have a bed or a hammock installed in the shop, but I knew that once I figured out how to stop the spell, or if the spell stopped working of its own volition, then the store would go back to normal. I felt a little bad about taking all of this money when it was my spell that was making people buy so many cupcakes, but at least it was an accident, and I couldn’t exactly deny customers just because they were more friendly than normal.

  “Would you like a cupcake?” Thyme asked me.

  “No, thanks. Thyme, I need you to listen to me.” I sat up straight and cleared my throat. “The reason everybody is being so nice is because of a spell.”

  “What do you mean?” She sat on the only other chair behind the display cases.

  “A woman called Selena came over yesterday, and long story short, she wanted me to do a love spell for her,” I explained.

  “Oh, did you do it?” Thyme asked, still smiling.

  “No, of course not,” I said. “Well, sort of. She wanted me to do a love spell, and I didn’t want to do that. So I used a kind of ‘like’ or ‘happiness’ spell to make him friendlier and be as positive toward her as he could possibly be.” It had evidently been a bad idea to cast the spell, and Thyme would know it.

  “Aww, that’s so sweet, Amelia!” Thyme beamed. “What happened next?”

  I resisted the urge to throttle Thyme and decided that I might as well tell her all the details. Even under the influence of the spell, she might have an idea how the spell could be reversed or otherwise undone. “Well, when I cast the spell, the strong wind blew it all over town. But it gets worse,” I said, waiting to see Thyme’s reaction.

  Of course, she was sitting still, smiling, and nodding enthusiastically. I realized that this kind of super-optimism wasn’t all that out of character for Thyme, but now it was heightened. “Thyme, the man I was targeting with the spell was murdered. I don’t know how, but I do know that if I hadn’t cast the spell, then he wouldn’t have met Selena at the restaurant. In other words, he died because of me.” I struggled to fight back the tears.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Amelia,” Thyme said happily. “He’s dead! He won’t be upset with you.”

  I sighed deeply, realizing that this wasn’t going to get us anywhere. Still, talking with—or rather, talking at—Thyme was almost therapeutic. It was good to get it off my chest. “I think I’m the only one who can solve the murder,” I continued. “The police have been affected by the spell, so they’re all being too nice and happy to actually solve anything. Can you imagine if they tried to interrogate a suspect?” I asked.

  Thyme giggled loudly. “I can! That’s hilarious.” A wide grin spread over her face.

  I sighed again, not knowing what I really expected from Thyme in her current bespelled state. “My only real hope is that the detectives were out of town when the spell was cast. It seems likely, since they tend to move around a lot, and...”

  Before I could finish, Detectives Greene and Jones walked through the front door. My stomach clenched tightly, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I stood up and walked around the display cabinets.

  “Hi, Detectives,” I said. “How can I help?”

  “Hello, Amelia,” Jones smiled. “Sorry to bother you. We wanted to know your whereabouts the day leading up to the murder.”

  Despite the question clearly placing me as a suspect, or at least in some kind of suspicious light, I felt immense relief at the question. The two detectives had obviously been out of town when the spell had been cast, or they would no doubt find it too rude to ask a question like that.

  “No hurry, though,” Jones said with a grin. “Just let us know when you’re ready. We’d much prefer you tell the truth, of course, but there’s no great rush.”

  Or not. I hadn’t even noticed at the time, but Detective Greene had walked straight past me to strike up a friendly conversation with Thyme. Ordinarily, Greene would have been gruff and even angry, but he seemed like a completely different person.

  “Follow me,” I said wearily, leading the two detectives into the back room where we could talk in private. Even though the spell would probably make it so that nobody cared, I didn’t want to be seen being questioned by detectives in my own store. I’d had enough troubles for one lifetime.

  “So,” Greene said with a grin. “Jones was following procedure earlier, but we actually don’t care why you were at the restaurant. I know, I shouldn’t tell you that, but I thought I could save us all some time.”

  “Oh, good thinking,” Jones said, nodding.

  “Thank you, Jones. Anyway,” Greene continued, “we were just wondering why you were there. I’m sure you didn’t go there to murder anybody, of course, but we just need to fill out some paperwork.”

  I leaned back in my chair and felt a headache coming on. Not only did I have to solve this crime entirely by myself, but I would have to sit through the most bizarre police questioning in history. “Look,” I began, “I met a woman named Selena Simpson earlier. She was a friend of my Aunt Angelica’s, and came to the house looking for her. Then she left to go to the restaurant to have lunch with the man who died. Selena doesn’t really know anybody else in town, so when Nick died, she called me. I just went down there to check if she was okay.” I finished talking and leaned forward, ready for the barrage of fact-checking questions.

  “Well, that checks out,” Jones said. “See you later, Amelia.”

  Greene and Jones stood and went to leave. “Wait, what?” I asked. “I mean, wait. Are you sure?” I certainly preferred not to be questioned thoroughly, but it was more than a little disheartening to see that the spell had made them so bad at their jobs.

  “Oh, yes, quite sure.” Greene nodded. “You’re basically automatically off the suspect list at this point, Amelia. You have a habit of attracting terrible things without being directly involved. I even joked about it on the way in this morning, didn’t I, Jones?”

  “Oh, yes,” Jones said with a laugh. “We always make a good crack or two about you, Amelia. All in good fun, of course, but you have to admit that you have a streak of terrible, terrible luck.”

  I was less than amused, but decided I should try to squeeze as much information out of the two as I could. The spell had made them terrible detectives, but maybe that meant they would be more willing to share information with me. In the past the two detectives had been tight-lipped, but that obviously wasn’t the case any longer.

  “So, why were you two in town today?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

  “Oh, no, of course not.” Greene grinned. “Just a routine matter. Ordinarily, we probably wouldn’t even have gotten involved, but it’s been quiet lately, so we decided we could use the trip. Good thing, too. Imagine that a murder would occur just as we arrived!”

  Jones laughed. “Yes, wonderful! What timing. I wish all murderers were so considerate.”

  I sighed. “Oh, yes, I bet the two of you would much prefer it if death and destruction followed your every step.”

  The two detectives smiled and nodded at me, my scathing wit apparently lost on them entirely. “Well, I’ll see you later,” I said, hoping they’d take the hint.

  “I hope so, Amelia,” Jones said with a smile, waving goodbye as he walked away. Greene followed suit, and I heard the two saying a friendly goodbye to Thyme as they left the store. I rested my head in the palms of my hands and tried my best to stay calm.

  My spell had not only potentially gotten a man killed, but also made the detectives, my friends, and the local police totally useless. I felt terrible. On top of all that, Alder’s phone was still going directly to voicemail. What if he’d fallen for another woman because of my spell? I couldn’t bear the thought. It was all too much.

  Chapter 5

  This was the first time I had gone to Ruprecht’s with a feeling of worry and concern. Ruprecht was the one who usually made things right,
but now, I alone would have to be the one to right matters.

  Ruprecht opened the door and then hugged me, planting a big kiss on my cheek. “Amelia, what a surprise. How lovely to see you.”

  I was puzzled. “You knew I was coming. Are the others here yet?”

  Mint pushed past him and hugged me, she, too, kissing my cheek, which left me in no doubt that she had been affected by my spell. Up until now, I had been wondering.

  Mint and I followed Ruprecht through the labyrinth of antiques into his apartment directly behind his store, where Thyme and Camino were waiting. They all looked like Stepford Wives, with big smiles plastered across their faces. I shuddered.

  I took my seat at the table and wasted no time in coming to the point. “I know you won’t believe me, but you have to trust me on this.”

  “Of course,” everyone said in unison.

  “You all know about Marina Mercer. Aunt Angelica did a spell for her every year, and this year her sister wanted me to do a love spell. Instead, I did a ‘like’ spell, a happiness spell, to make the man she targeted as happily disposed toward her as possible. A strong wind took the spell all over town, and that’s why you’re all acting very happy.”

  “We’re always happy,” Camino said, and the others hurried to agree.

  “That might be so,” I said, “but you’re even happier than usual.”

  My proclamation was met by another round of huge grins. “So I’m going to do a reversing spell,” I said.

  “I’m sure there’s no need for that,” Ruprecht said, as the others nodded.

  “I would be very upset and unhappy if you didn’t allow me to do a reversing spell,” I said carefully.

  “Well, since you put it like that,” Ruprecht said, “go ahead, by all means.”

  I put my head in my hands with relief. I hadn’t expected it would go as well as that. I had never done a reversing spell, and I had only heard about reversing spells that reversed harm sent to someone. I didn’t want to send away all the happiness and end up by bringing bad stuff upon myself. Most reversing spells were done to return something such as evil to the sender, but I had to avoid that. With that in mind, I decided to use a reversing oil made from eucalyptus and rye, rather than the normal reversing oil made with black pepper, cayenne pepper, and crabshell powder.

  I had also brought along a mirror, as well as a white candle, because I did not think that the two-colored double-action candles would be good in this specific instance. I did not want to reverse the spell onto me, the spell caster, but I did want to reverse the spell. I thought it was walking a fine line.

  When I tried to express these concerns to Ruprecht, he merely smiled and blew kisses to Camino. I could see I was on my own.

  I set the white candle on the mirror in the middle of the table. I decided to take a piece of everyone’s hair for good measure. “Ruprecht, do you have any scissors? Just a small pair will do.” Ruprecht hurried from the table, and soon returned with a pair of nail scissors. “It would make me very happy if everyone would cut off a little bit of their hair and put it on the mirror,” I said hopefully.

  To my relief, everyone did as I asked. My books hadn’t thrown any light on how to reverse the spell, and a quick look through Grandmother Thelma’s Book of Shadows had been no help, either. I was sure there was such a spell in there, but the spells were mostly in Latin and in quite a flowery script that was difficult to read. I would have to make sure I read some of the book at least once a day. It was certainly in my own interests to do so.

  I would just have to play it by ear. I called for quiet, and the response was a nervous ripple of giggles. Everyone held hands. “You don’t need to hold hands, this isn’t a séance,” I said, and then everyone laughed as if I had said the funniest thing imaginable.

  I rolled my eyes. Still, it was my own fault they were all like this. I shut my eyes and focused, and then opened my eyes and lit the candle. As I stared into the flame, I focused on the spell being reversed. The candle lit easily, which was always a good sign, and then after a while, it flared. I looked around the table. Ruprecht had stopped blowing kisses to Camino, and she had stopped looking at him with puppy dog eyes. That was good, but I pushed on. I couldn’t make a half baked attempt at the spell. I focused again, and the power around me and within me gathered. I gathered the power and spiraled it around and around me. At the right moment, I released it, sending the energy to each one of my friends. At that moment, the candle went out, but the room was still illuminated by the many black and purple candles around the room.

  “How do you all feel?” I asked anxiously.

  No one spoke for a moment. “We were all under a spell,” Ruprecht announced unnecessarily.

  I nodded. “Yes, I know. That’s why I had to do a reversing spell. Are you sure it’s been completely reversed?” I looked around the table.

  “I feel weird,” Thyme said.

  Camino agreed. “I feel a little queasy.”

  “I’ll make everyone a nice cup of lemongrass tea,” Mint said, as she lifted herself unsteadily from the table.

  “Do any of you remember what happened?” I asked them.

  “That was a powerful spell, Amelia,” Ruprecht said. “Only a Dark Witch could cast a spell as effective as that, especially a solitary spell.”

  “Thanks for the praise,” I said, “but I’m just wondering if you remember it. The spell has gone all over town, and I’m wondering if the townspeople affected by the spell will remember what happened after the spell has been reversed.”

  Ruprecht shook his head. “Amelia, I can remember. As for reversing the spell, I’ll give it some thought, but my first instinct is that you won’t be able to do so.”

  “If it’s a matter of getting hair,” I said, “you were all happy enough to hand it over to me. If everyone’s in such a good mood, I’m sure they’ll give me some hair samples. That’s why I asked if you remembered, because it will be hard to explain that away if everyone remembers that I asked for it.”

  “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Amelia,” Ruprecht said, tapping his chin. “I will look into it further, of course, but I’d say you were able to reverse the spell on the four of us because we’re all witches, that is to say, we have protective measures in place. I think the spell will wane in time, but I really doubt that you will be able to reverse it on the townspeople.”

  I was dismayed. “How long before it reverses itself, do you think?” I asked him.

  Ruprecht shrugged. “I have no idea, but I’ll do some research.”

  Chapter 6

  “Here you are,” I said, offering the best fake smile I could muster as I handed the customer her order. I would have loved to flash a real smile, but it was getting harder and harder to compose one.

  Thyme and I had been working furiously all morning to serve the influx of customers. Since I had accidentally cast the spell over town, every working day was a nightmare, even if it was a profitable one. Just about everybody in town was coming in to buy cupcakes for their friends and family, and they all left enormous tips. I could hardly complain, but the money felt ill-gained, on top of the work being exhausting.

  I briefly wondered how I should spend the money that the store had earned. I was in something of a pickle, as I imagined Camino would say, because it was impossible to tell how much the store would have earned without the spell. I thought maybe I should give back to the town somehow, but I’d been too busy selling cupcakes and solving a murder to think much on the subject.

  After spending several minutes explaining to a customer that he really didn’t need to pay five times the price just because his cupcake was, I quote, ‘mind blowing,’ I decided Thyme, Camino, and I should take a break. I scrawled, ‘Closed for lunch,’ on a piece of paper and stuck it the front door.

  “Since we’re taking a break, why don’t you try cooking again, Amelia?” Thyme asked me.

  As always, the notion struck fear into my heart, but I knew I had to try. Besides, my last atte
mpt had gone relatively well until I’d turned the cakes into premature fossils. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot. At least the fire officers will be nice about it,” I muttered. I’m fairly sure Thyme heard me and mercifully decided not to say anything. It was good that Thyme was so nice even without the influence of a spell.

  I steeled myself for the worst as I prepared the mixture. I was becoming something of an expert at this, even if I hadn’t gotten the actual baking part quite right just yet. I mixed all the ingredients at record speed and put them in the oven. I closed the door and gulped, hoping that they would turn out anything other than something that could be used in chemical warfare.

  “How are you doing?” Thyme asked from behind me.

  I turned around and sighed. “Oh, not too bad, all things considered. It’s a big relief that you’ve all regained your senses, but I still feel terrible for causing all of this in the first place.”

  “Oh, don’t be silly, Amelia,” Thyme said. “You couldn’t have known what would happen. If you had known, you wouldn’t have done it. Besides, we don’t really know if the spell had any effect on what happened to Nick Smith or not. You have to stop blaming yourself.”

  I knew she was right, but it was hard to feel that way. Even if there was no solid evidence, it was likely that my spell had caused Nick to go to meet Selena, and then he’d been murdered. I almost certainly had some hand in it.

  Thyme, Camino, and I had a quick, simple lunch as we waited for the cupcakes to cook. I had asked Thyme not to tell me when she thought they were done so I could figure it out for myself, but it was a decision I immediately regretted. I set a timer as per the recipe, of course, but I knew that the exact moment they were done would vary from batch to batch.

  Finally, I gave in and decided to go and check them. I turned off the oven, grabbed my mitts, and pulled out the hot tray, setting it carefully on the bench.