A Charming Corpse

Excerpt

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Chapter One
“Why are you still out?”

The fireflies darted around Mr. Prince Charming and me as we made our way down the hill toward the town of Whispering Falls.

The light-orange tint of a hint of dawn illuminated over the hills that hid our little magical town from the real world.

“Shouldn’t you be going to bed?” I asked them, knowing they were the souls of the teenagers that’d left this world too early and came back in the form of the lighting bugs.

Really it made perfect sense if you sat down and truly thought about it. Teenagers loved to stay up all night and sleep all day, so it was perfect that they would come back to the earth in the form of the cute little nightly creatures who seemed to have a field day tormenting my fairy god-cat, Mr. Prince Charming.

Mewl! Mr. Prince Charming swatted a couple of fireflies before he darted down the hill faster than I was walking.

“Now see what you did,” I scolded the teens. “He’s going to be aggravated all day long. Shame on you.”

They whizzed behind me, heading toward the woods, lighting a long path with their tails. I turned around and watched them circle my house and disappear.

Coo-coo, coo-coo, said the faint voice from the bag I’d strapped across my shoulder.

Purple, pink, and orange lit up the bag so brightly that the light helped navigate a path through the grassy field and into the sidewalk on the cobblestone street.

“Yes. Teens can be a little odd,” I said to the light, knowing it was Madame Torres, my crystal ball. “We don’t have time for them.” A twinge hit my gut. I stopped. I looked both ways down the street to see if something there turned on my intuition. I sucked in a deep breath, lifted my shoulders to my ear, and then let it out. “Yes, Madame Torres, it’s going to be a busy day.”

Something in the air told me so, and it wasn’t the warm smell of cinnamon and sugar spilling out of Wicked Good Bakery or the mix of incense curling around Eloise Sandlewood.

“Early morning.” Eloise stopped in front of me. She continued to swing the light lantern with its special protection powers to and fro. Her short red hair really contrasted with the dark-green cloak draped over her shoulders. Her emerald eyes twinkled.  “You are out early.”

Eloise was an Incense Spiritualist. Her job, in Whispering Falls, was to cleanse our magical town every morning before dawn. Her practice helped ward off any evil spirits and keep our secret community safe from the outside world.

Not that we were bad, but some people didn’t like our way of life. Like our ancestors before us, we’d be hung in the middle of town for telling the future or using our special “gifts,” as we liked to refer to our talents.

I, June Heal, was a homeopathic spiritualist. I created special potions to help customers in their daily lives.

“Oscar had to go to work early, so I thought I might as well get a jump on things.” I glanced around trying to look to see where Mr. Prince Charming had run off to, but the street lights weren’t bright enough for me to see too far in front of me.

“My nephew is always hard at work.” She smiled and swung the lantern toward the police department a little farther down the street.

Oscar Park, a wizard, was not only our town officer, but he was also my husband. He loved his job to keep law and order in our little town. Though Eloise and I might be biased, he was very good at his job.

“I must go.” Eloise glanced toward the mountains. “The dawn is yawning.”

It was always interesting for me to watch the other spiritualists in the community use their gifts. We were all different, which was what made our little town feel so magical to the tourists who loved to visit our shops.

Our town was a perfect place for friends to come and shop or even for a romantic vacation.

Coo-coo, coo-coo, Madame Torres chirped from the bag.

“Stop that,” I protested. “Eloise is not coo-coo. She’s amazing.”

Why on earth would Madame Torres say that? The question crossed my mind but floated away as soon as I saw Raven Mortimer tossing some dough in the air through the Wicked Good Bakery Window. The logo on the window made it hard for her to see me, and I did need to grab the June’s Gems for the day.

I gathered my cloak around my legs and darted across the street, exposing my laced-up black boots. The click of my heels echoed off the shops. Faith looked up and out the windows.

A smile curled on the edges of her lips, and her black eyes sparkled as she waved me in.

“Awww, just in time,” she greeted me with a cheerful voice. “I just took out the June’s Gems, but Faith could’ve brought them down for you.”

“Oscar had to work early, so I figured I’d get a jump on the day.”

Glancing around the charming confectionary, I couldn’t help but think how far our relationship had come. Faith and Raven were sisters. We’d met while attending Hidden Hall, a Spiritualist University. They were classmates in my intuition class.

Besides Raven’s amazing pastry talents, her spiritual gift as an Aleuromancer was what had customers coming back. Messages and answers came to her in the form of her baking. The dough formed itself into shapes unbeknownst to her while little messages for incoming customers stuck in the back of her head. Those customers always picked out the perfect pastry for them. Sometimes she could read like a medium, only the spirit wasn’t standing there as most mediums say they are.

Faith was a Clairaudient spiritualist. She heard things beyond the naked ear. She could hear spirits, guides, and angels, or simply see into the future in some sort of mystical way, which made her an excellent newspaper reporter.

“These turned out so great.” Raven crossed the black-and-white-checkered floor, wiping her hands down her pink Wicked Good apron before she grabbed one of the lime-green-and-pink-striped boxes with the Wicked Good logo on the top. “You have to have one right now,” she insisted and opened the box.

The chocolate treats, their white cream filling injected in the middle, and the chocolate glaze that spilled over the top made my mouth water. My eyes grew at the sight, and I picked out the one that appeared to be the biggest.

“Mmmmm…” Satisfaction poured out of me with the first bite. “Perfection.”

I never dreamed I’d have a dessert named after me.

“These are better than Ding Dongs.” It was hard for me even to say those words, seeing Ding Dongs were my favorite go-to snack. Especially when I had a stressful day.

“That’s why I named them after you.” Raven winked. She jerked her head toward the window like something had caught her attention.

I turned to look.

“Was that Mr. Prince Charming?” I asked when the hint of a white tail zoomed by the display window.

“I think so.” She drummed her fingers, her brows furrowed as though she was going to say something, but the kitchen timer sounded, and she hurried off. “I’ve got to get my day started,” she called from over her shoulder. “Watch out for birds today!”

“Birds?” I questioned and shrugged, heading back out the door with my box of June’s Gems in my hand.

Coo-coo, coo-coo. Madame Torres couldn’t resist.

 

 

Chapter Two
“It’s gonna be a fine one.” Constance Karima saddled up to me when I stepped out of the bakery.

“Fine one,” Patience, Constance’s twin sister, repeated and settled in on the other side of me. “What’s in the box?”

“Happy morning, sisters.” I smiled and held the pastries close. “These are treats for my customers.”

“Customers.” Constance’s green eyes snapped at me. She leaned over and eyed Patience. “Did you hear that, sister?”

“Customers.” Patience gave a hard nod. The swoosh of their housedresses rubbed up against their legs as they tried to keep up to my pace.

When I stopped in front of the Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe, they nearly fell their feet.

“We have a customer.” Constance let out a nervous laugh and dug at the ends of her short grey hair.

“Mmmhmmmm. Dead one,” Patience dug at her short hair like her sister.

“Oh?” If they were trying to get my attention, it worked.

“Now you’re interested,” both said together.

“I did smell something funny in the air this morning.” I looked between them and used my free hand to gather the cloak around my neck when I felt an early-morning chill crawl along my spine, giving me a few goose bumps. “I’d not heard you had a client.”

The Karima sisters were ghost whisperers, and owning Two Sisters and a Funeral was a perfect cover-up for the real clients they helped in the spiritual world.

“We have a new spiritual client.” Constance put her hand on Patience when Patience was about to repeat her. Patience always did repeat most of what Constance said. “I think she came in with a tourist, and I need you to find out who it is.”

Just then, a bus full of tourists rolled down the street. They had their faces plastered to the windows.

“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” I asked and looked down at my watch. It was still a little early for a bus load of visitors, but that was okay. Eloise had smudged and cleansed Whispering Falls, so we were ready for anything.

“I’ve never been involved with ghosts or seeing them. I’m definitely not sure how to find someone among the living they were trying to connect to.” Instead of looking at the sisters, I watched the tourists file out one by one, six of them looking like the other.

Odd they were. They all wore wide-brimmed hats, multi-pocketed khaki vests, pants that zipped away at the knee, and pairs of ankle-type hiking shoes. They had hiking sticks in their hands and pairs of binoculars hanging from straps around their necks.

“I don’t know.” Constance shrugged. Patience mimicked. “Do whatever hivvie jivvie stuff you do.” She fluttered her fingers in the air.

“Yeah. Hivvie jivvies,” Patience mocked.

“What if I do this.” My brow rose. “What if I keep my keen senses open, and if I come across someone I’ll let you know.” I tapped my temple because they knew I had an innate intuition.

Of course I put any notion the Karima sisters had in the back of my head when the two sisters appeared to be happy with my suggestion because they turned to focus on someone else.

“Excuse me.” Constance stopped one of the tourists when she passed. “Do you recently have someone who died in your family?”

“Yes.” Patience took a couple of steps closer to the poor lady who looked frightened. Patience bent down and started at the lady’s mid-section, giving her a good long sniff. “Yes. You.”

“No.” The woman’s eyes grew big as she slowly shook her head back and forth.

“I’m sorry.” I winked at the woman, hoping she’d believe the Karima sisters had lost their minds. “My friends are a little odd.”

Coo-coo, coo-coo, chirp, chirp. Madame Torres made it sound like a bird was in my bag.

I pinched a smile and jerked my bag close to me, fighting off Patience as she tried to pry it from me to see what was inside.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized again, giving the two sisters a hard look.

The woman scurried along with the rest of the group into the Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe.

“You two have got to stop this,” I warned them. “You know we can’t go around letting people know our spiritual gifts. Besides, it’s a rule.”

“Where in the rules would that be?” Constance called me out on it.

We had many rules to follow. The number-one rule was that we couldn’t read another spiritualist without their permission.

“The rule where you don’t go around scaring people.” I tsked, gave them the wonky eye, and darted across the street.

“Keep your intuition open, June!” Constance reminded me. She pinched Patience.

“Ouch!” Patience winced, rubbing her arm.

“No dilly-dallying.” Constance gestured them to keep moving. “We’ve got business to take care of.”

I shook my head at the sisters and then headed into the Gathering Grove to get the tea I served with the June’s Gems at A Charming Cure.

“I’m so sorry about the sisters.” I practically knocked into the woman they’d scared half to death. “They are harmless, and unless you’re using them for your funeral, I’m sure you’re not going to run into them again.”

“I hope not, then.” The lady smiled and stuck her hand out. “I’m Paris Rush. I’m here with the Audubon Bird Watching Society.”

“That explains all the gear.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Gerald briskly waving his hands over his head to get my attention. “Are you here for a specific species?”

I knew Whispering Falls had many special creatures, but most were unseen to the mortal eye.

“We are here to look for a bird.” She shrugged.

“Not just any bird,” another one of her friends chirped up. Both were dressed alike. “Lucia Bobb.”

I couldn’t see the top of her head because her hat covered it, but the ends of her hair were dyed a bright purple.

“June Heal.” I shook her hand and smiled. “Love the hair.”

“It’s in honor of the rare bird we are here to capture on film.” She patted her vest with excitement and hurried off to put in her coffee order.

“You’d think she was the new member of the group.” Paris rolled her eyes. “I tried to tell everyone not to get too excited about the supposed sighting of the rare bird because they aren’t known to be in the United States, much less Kentucky.” Her brow rose.

“June, I’m swamped and don’t have the tea ready.” Gerald must’ve gotten sick of trying to grab my attention, so he ran over. “When Petunia gets here, I’ll bring it over.”

“No problem,” I told him. I turned back to Paris. “If you have time to stop by A Charming Cure before you leave town, come see me. I’d love to know if you found the bird.”

“Wish us luck.” Paris smiled.

I  looked around quickly to see if Mr. Prince Charming had come in to get a few treats from the customers. When I didn’t see him, I headed out the door.

 

 

Chapter Three
I stood on the sidewalk in front of A Charming Cure and smiled at the small sign that hung in front of the charming small cottage shop.

Two little windows were covered in moss, and the rest of the outside was covered in the most beautiful wisteria vine. The purple and white flowers grew up and around the front door. Darla had planted these flowers, and they had lived on for years after we’d left Whispering Falls and now years after her death.

Every shop in Whispering Falls was a small cottage with a gate and a very distinctive door. I opened the front gate and headed up the steps to get the shop ready for all of those tourists. I put my skeleton key into the door.

Laa, laaa, laaaaaa.

The faint song blew into the early morning breeze.

“Good morning,” I called over to the two large window boxes filled with Drowsy Daisies, Moonflowers, and a couple of Singing Nettles.

Only in the spiritual world could one hear the beautiful sounds of the Singing Nettles. Their tunes always put a smile on my face.

I twisted the key and opened the door, running my hand along the inside of the shop to flip on the lights.

A Charming Cure’s floor was filled with display tables draped with red cloth, and all tables bore different shapes, sizes, and colors of bottles. Each table’s bottles were assigned to a genre of alignments. One was for feet and all the things you might buy to help with sore feet. Another was for your hands or arthritis. A table of digestive products was very popular. The home spa kits were also big sellers.

The extra little oomph I added to the bottles really made the customers come back for more. That was why my products were carried in the national chain Head To Toe Works across the country, as well as a few stores in the neighboring town of Locust Grove, where Oscar and I had grown up across the street from each other.

The tables also held tiered dishes where all the homeopathic soaps were placed in a very cute display.

I opened the box of June’s Gems and organized them on a plate that sat on a round table next to a small cauldron that would soon be filled with hot tea from the Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe. It was my little way of making customers eat a special treat while they took their time and looked around the shop. Offering snacks also bought me time to feel out each customer to see exactly what was wrong with them.

As I walked past each display, I ran my hand along each tablecloth and any wrinkles that needed to be pulled out. The small details made the shop sparkle with the special touch.

My crossbody bag glowed. I took it off my shoulder and hung it on the back of the chair behind the counter so I could take my cloak off and hang it on the coat rack.

I reached into my bag and took out the crystal ball. Madame Torres was illuminated with all yellow, red, orange, and purple lines. The lines parted, and her face appeared.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” I blew my blunt bangs out of my eyes and walked around the partition where my cauldron was located.

I ran my hand along the black bowl and turned on the switch. In only a few seconds, the bowl became warm and ready for the day ahead.

When I walked back to the counter, Madame Torres’s eyes were gaunt, her lips were rosy red, and her skin was pale.

Chirp, chirp, Madame Torres sang.

“Why can’t you be like most crystal balls and tell me what you want me to know instead of beating around the bush?” I asked her and ran my finger along the ingredient shelf behind the counter, stopping at the Star Anise Powder. “Strange.”

I made a mental note about how this particular powder was used to stop misfortune. I’d used this powder only once in my life, and it wasn’t a very good memory. Maybe it would be different this time, but the ping in my gut told me something was lurking.

I glanced around the shop and wondered exactly where my fairy godcat had gone.

“Ahem,” Madame Torres cleared her throat before she started to chirp again.

“It’s much easier if you tell me what you have to say.” I tapped her glass globe on the way back to the cauldron.

As soon as the Star Anise Powder hit the inside of the cauldron, it bubbled into a murky, thin rose-colored fluid. I waited to get the aroma and looked deep into the cauldron when I didn’t smell anything. The smell connected the intended customer to the final potion. This told me who to look for when the customer entered the shop—only this time, lightning strikes and bolts swirled into the mixture.

“Very odd,” I noted and shrugged as I made my way back around to the counter. There, I grabbed The Magical Cures Book, the leather-worn journal written by Darla, my mom.

I glanced up at the framed photo of her and my father on their wedding day. It was the only photo I had of them. My eyes glanced at the framed photo next to theirs. This one was a photo of Oscar and me on our wedding day.

I couldn’t help but smile as I ran my hand over the leather-bound book that Darla had left me. It was filled with potions and her journaling, making me feel somewhat connected to her. It took me a few years to realize this was her way of teaching me after she’d been taken from this world way too early. The book also taught me how smart she was even though she was a mortal married to my spiritualist father.

“Star Anise,” I repeated to myself as I thumbed through the book of cures to see what was in there and how exactly someone would use it.

The book had a mind of its own and flipped to the third eye page. I smiled and felt my bracelet where I’d received a very special third eye charm.

“Binoculars?” I looked at the hand-drawn images Darla had doodled on the side of the page. “Campfire?” I questioned.

The click of the cauldron shutting off was its way of telling me the potion was perfectly concocted and ready to be placed in its own special bottle. The sound took my attention away from The Magical Cures Book.

I heard a light rap at the shop door and looked up to see who was there.

The sun was already filtering through the display window in the front of the shop, illuminating all the small round display tables full of my homeopathic cures.

When I noticed Petunia Shrubwood waving at me, I put the book back under the counter and then headed through the shop to let her in.

“It was going to be a beautiful summer day,” I opened the door and greeted her as a nice breeze curled around my ankles.

“Good morning,” she greeted me. Mr. Prince Charming ran in the shop right before we shut the door on him.

He stopped at my ankles and began to do figure eights around them.

“There you are.” I bent down to rub on him. “I’ve been looking for you.”

He let me rub my hand along his back until he trotted off.

The carefree feline jumped up on the counter next to Madame Torres and curled his long white tail over her glass ball.

“Aaaaaachhoooo!” Madame Torres’s nose turned beet-red. “That’s it! I’m allergic to cats, and you need to get rid of him now!” Her red Medusa hair flowed beyond the boundaries of the glass ball.

It was no secret my fairy godcat and my crystal ball didn’t get along, but I needed them both. And she wasn’t allergic to cats.

“Mewl! Mewl!” Mr. Prince Charming smacked her with his paw and then jumped off the counter and darted underneath one of the tables, nearly taking the red tablecloth and all the potion bottles with him.

“Will these two ever get along?” I rolled my eyes and walked over to the wall, where I dragged my finger down the line of empty bottles to find the perfect home for the Star Anise Powder potion.

“Apparently, he came in this morning when I opened. I found him sitting in the tree.” Petunia’s brown hair was pulled up in an overflowing messy bun. Flowers were stuck in the mess of locks. She had a leash dangling from her wrist but no dog on the other end.

Petunia owned Glorybee Pet Store and had the spiritual gift of animal reading, so it was very natural Mr. Prince Charming would want to be around her.

“I told him to come on while we went for our walk so I could just drop him by. And your tea.” She had a bottle of tea from the Gathering Grove Tea Shoppe.

“Thank you. That was so kind.” I had really good friends here, and I loved our small village. “Can you pour the tea into the cauldron on the table next to the June’s Gems?” I asked her since she was still near the front of the shop. “I’m trying to figure out how my gift is going to help someone that’s having misfortune.”

Yes. “Gifts” was how we referred to our little magical village. All the shop owners had a talent, and their shops were their cover-ups. It wasn’t like we could tell the world that our little town was magical and filled with potions, wizards, talking snow globes, grinning cats, and singing flowers. We’d all be burned at the stake.

Owning A Charming Cure allowed me to create magical potions that customers had no idea they needed. It was my way of helping the world one person at a time. Today, Petunia was taking a spirit dog on a much-needed walk, so I couldn’t see anything attached to her leash. She could, but I couldn’t.

“Where is baby Orin?” I asked about her toddler, who really wasn’t a baby, but he was a baby to all of us in Whispering Falls. My hand continued to go down the shelf of glass bottles.

The lime-green hourglass one glowed when my finger touched it, so I knew this bottle was meant for the potion in the cauldron. I couldn’t explain how these things worked. It was just the way it was.

“I just left him at the tea shop with Gerald.” She picked up one of the lavender soaps and lifted it to her nose. A bird popped out of her hair and sang a few chirps. “Yes. I like it too,” Petunia said to the bird.

I smiled and watched her have a little conversation as the two looked at the soap. I had no idea what they were saying, but Madame Torres lit up and began to chirp.

The bird flew from Petunia’s messy up-do, flying around the shop until it finally landed on top of Madame Torres.

“My, my, your crystal ball must be saying something to my little friend.” Petunia hurried over to the counter. I followed closely behind her, grabbing The Magical Cures Book on my way. “What are they saying?”

“I have no idea.” I looked behind my shoulder at them as I walked back behind the partition. There, I could finish the potion before I had to open the shop for the day. “She’s been making bird noises all morning.”

I plucked the cork lid off the bottle and held it over the cauldron. The liquid poured up and into the bottle like a streamline fountain. I placed the cork in and set it next to The Magical Cures Book. Darla had left me with all the combinations of homeopathic cures, only mine had magic and hers didn’t.

“Your shop is fully stocked and ready to go for today.” Petunia continued to walk around.

“I have to get everything ready for Faith Mortimer. She’s going to work for me today while I head back to Hidden Hall to clean out my classroom for the summer break.” I noticed the time on the wall clock that was located above my parents’ wedding photo. “It’s almost time to open.”

I reached over the counter and grabbed the feather duster, walking around the shop and knocking off any dust the sunlight was making visible. I took a lot of time and effort into making the shop cute and inviting.

I noticed a few customers were already lined up on the steps when I swiped the duster around the door.

“A few minutes early won’t hurt.” I shrugged at Petunia and flipped the sign to Open. “Good morning,” I greeted them after I opened the door. “Welcome to A Charming Cure.” I held the door for them. “Let me know if you need any assistance.”

There were five customers in all. They had to have come from the tourist bus because they were all dressed in the same gear.

“I’m here!” I felt a slight push back on the door when I tried to close it. “I’m sorry I’m late.” Faith Mortimer pushed through the door when I took a step back and let go of the handle.

She smiled and pulled her long blond hair around one shoulder. Her onyx eyes glistened. Faith was a delight. She was young and full of energy. She was one of those women who could pick up on anything very fast, so I felt comfortable with her running my shop for a few hours.

I twirled around on the soles of my laced-up black boots, nearly knocking down a customer.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized.

“You have to have one. They are delicious.” Faith had grabbed the plate of June’s Gems and shoved it in the customer’s face.

“The Karima sisters asked you strange questions, and now I tried to knock you down,” I apologized when I noticed it was Paris.

“It’s fine. Just an unfortunate misfortune.” She turned, and my gut clenched.

“Misfortune?” I saddled up to her.

She smiled. “I say that about everything when something doesn’t go right.”

In that moment, I knew the Star Anise Powder potion was for her.

“I’ll be right back.” I put up a finger and hurried back to the counter to grab the specialty.

“I’m Paris Rush,” I heard her introduce herself to Petunia and Faith.

“I’m Petunia Shrubwood, and this is Faith Mortimer. Welcome to our village.” They nodded at Paris.

“I’m sure you’ll find a lot of neat creatures in our woods,” Faith said.

“Audubon?” Petunia’s hot pink A-line skirt swayed with each step she took in her pointy-toed black, laced-up boots, focusing on the tourist, interrupting us.

“Yes. We are a chapter in the global National Audubon Society. We protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas, using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation.” Paris sounded like she was reading off a brochure or something. “We believe there is a rare bird in your area. We’re here for a few days. We all have a section of the woods to comb through to look for the bird for a recording and get it into the rare bird database.”

Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming’s mouth opened in a growl as his body curled up, making a huge hump in his spine. His hair stood on end.

The bird flew off Madame Torres. Mr. Prince Charming pounced into the air to try to catch the bird.

“Spangled Smoky Momoko!” Paris screamed, frantically feeling around for something in the fanny pack she was wearing.

“Spangled what?” Petunia’s mouth fell open as she watched the bird glide past her hair and out the door when another customer came in.

“That’s the bird!” Paris pushed past everyone and darted outside.

“Wait! You forgot your lotion!” I hollered after her, dangling the bottle from my fingers. It was too late. She was gone.

Rowl! Mr. Prince Charming batted at the air, dropping something from his mouth.

Petunia and I looked at each other with big eyes when we both noticed he’d dropped a bird charm on the ground.

 

end of excerpt