Enchanted, A Paranormal Romance / Fantasy (Forever Charmed) (8 page)

Mandy got ready quickly, pulling her wet hair back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. She couldn’t be bothered to blow it dry like some girls. It was too time consuming and it didn’t ever come out looking the way she intended anyway. She found her mother downstairs scrambling eggs.

“Um, not really. It was dark. I don’t know. I was in a weird place. I can’t really put it altogether,” Mandy tried to sound nonchalant, hoping her mother would drop the subject.

“Mom, I’m fine. I’m a big girl now, remember? I’ll eat when I’m hungry. But I gotta go or I’ll be late,” Mandy threw a half smile at her mother, trying to look reassuring.

“Okay, Hon. Well tell Nana I’ll be in in a little bit.”

“’Kay.” Mandy grabbed the key to the boat off the hook by the door and slipped out, breathing a sigh of relief. She felt like she had escaped, but only for the moment. Soon she would be at Dew Drops, facing another day of the curious and the weird. Mandy sighed again, this time in defeat.

She parked around the back of the store and took a deep breath.
I will get through this day
. She told herself. Her favorite saying came to mind.
This too shall pass
. This too shall pass. Mandy seemed to always be telling herself that. Anytime she had to do something she didn’t particularly like or feel like doing, or that made her uncomfortable, she took comfort in those words. They rang true every time.
Besides
, she told herself,
you have to get through today so you can get home and finish reading those weird letters!

Mandy could see the old-fashioned script staring up at her from the crackled yellow papers, almost beckoning to her. Okay, so she would suck this up. Go do her job, pretend she was Teen Barbie or something and be outgoing and spunky and friendly… okay, maybe just friendly… and then she was going to go home and figure out those notes. It would all make sense, and then she could forget about all this weirdness that was probably all in her head anyway. She would finish senior year, and then this town would become just another memory. She would look back on it and laugh at her foolishness.

Pep talk completed, Mandy took in another deep breath and let herself into Dew Drops using the key her grandmother had given her, the little bells announcing her arrival.

“Nana?” Mandy called.

“Back here, Love.”

Mandy followed the voice to the back room where she found her grandmother arranging bouquets. “Grab an apron, child. You can come help me until it’s time to unlock.” It was just barely past 8 a.m., the store didn’t open until 9. Mandy was off at 2 p.m. today. Six more hours. Mandy realized it probably wasn’t smart to begin counting down the seconds so early in the day. She tried unsuccessfully to stifle the sigh that snuck out. Mandy’s grandma eyed her seriously.

“Sorry, Nana. I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Oh?”

Suddenly Mandy remembered hanging out with Ally’s friends and the conversation that had taken place. “Nana, actually I wanted to talk to you…” Mandy trailed off, unsure what to say and feeling almost foolish for bringing up such obviously made up tales.

“Well, I don’t know, Nana. It sounds stupid now, but he was saying some stuff. Maybe trying to scare me or get a rouse out of me or something…”

“Saying what, Dear?” Nana’s green eyes looked coolly at Mandy.

“Well, he was talking about some supposed witch that used to live here forever ago…Mary Nasson? He was saying crazy stuff, like we were her descendents and that his grampa, Hank, thinks you’re a witch!” Mandy snickered. Hearing it out loud made it sound even more absurd.

Mandy looked up at Nana, realizing she was not joining in the laughter. She was still looking in Mandy’s direction, but it was as if she was seeing something else. “Nana?” Mandy asked, slightly alarmed.

“What do you mean it’s not nice? I think it’s just bizarre! I mean, come on! This is not the Dark Ages! Everyone knows there’s no such thing as witches!” Mandy spit out.

Nana eyed Mandy seriously again. “Sometimes, Mandy, you will find that things in this world are not as they seem. Everything is not black and white. There is a grey area.”

“Yeah, we’re in it,” Mandy snorted.

“Child, there is color in everything if you look for it. There is excitement in with the dull. There is light in the dark. There is new in the old. There are things yet unknown. And there is mystery in knowledge.” Nana nodded her head pertly at Mandy.

“What? Nana, really, in English!” Mandy was getting exasperated now. Here she was just trying to clear up some stupid nonsense, and it was like her grandma was just making it more confusing for her on purpose.

“Deary, Mary Nasson was no witch. But she did have a certain kind of ability. She was talented in healing and in helping, and that made people leery of her. Rumors spread that she was a witch. But we prefer the word healer, or if you must, white witch. The term
witch
just infers a different kind of image, a darker one. Say from a nasty fairy tale…” Nana’s voice trailed off, weighing the different meanings of the term.

Mandy’s mind was beginning to spin again, but she had latched on to one word her grandmother said that seemed to be a door to more information. “We?” Mandy asked.

“Wait. Nana, what are you saying? You are a healer, or a white witch, and there are others?” Mandy was shaking her head, not quite believing this conversation was actually happening.

“Yes, Dear. Actually I’m quite surprised you made it this long without noticing or hearing!” Nana’s eyes crinkled up in that familiar way again as she laughed quietly. Mandy just stared at her grandmother. She was pretty sure her mouth was open but for some reason didn’t feel the need to close it. “Mandy, didn’t you wonder what made your parents move so suddenly up here when you’ve lived in Boston your whole life?”

“Dad got a job offer…my parents like it up here…you live here…they said it was time we lived closer because we’re family…” Mandy stuttered.

“Well, those things are all true. But there’s one more reason, Mandy. You’re not a little girl anymore. You’re practically grown. It’s time you learned the gift.”

“My
mom
?! She’ll
never
believe you!”

Nana chuckled again, only this time the sound of Nana’s laughter was beginning to grate on Mandy’s nerves. What kind of demented game was Nana playing here? “My darling, she not only believes, but knows and utilizes her skills!”

“What? Nana, you’re talking like a crazy person!” Mandy was beginning to feel more and more agitated.
Maybe Nana has finally lost it
, she told herself.

“No, Nana hasn’t lost it just yet, Love,” Nana’s laughter was growing. Mandy stared at her grandmother, shocked and not knowing what to believe or what to say. She couldn’t even be sure she was following this conversation correctly. It seemed like something from one of her dreams. “That’s all right, Sweetie. Take some time to mull it over, to let it sink in. You’ll come around. When you do, come talk to me. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions that will need answering. Now, c’mon, go unlock the doors for me. It’s time to open up for business!” Nana smiled at Mandy as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Mandy had to force her legs to move. She felt as if she could have stood there in a daze, staring at the wall all day long. The next hour passed in a blur. Mandy felt like she couldn’t focus on anything but she didn’t care. She went about her duties robotically, answering the phone, doling out change, greeting customers without thinking about what she was doing. The words white witch and healer kept clunking around in Mandy’s brain. She was getting a headache and wished it would go away.

During a lull in the shop while Mandy was staring into space for about the tenth time that day, Ally finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s your deal today, Mandy? You’ve got like a vacant sign posted where your eyes should be.”

Mandy untied her apron and went to hang it up in the back. She was grabbing her bag when her grandmother walked in holding a bouquet of lavender branches. “Here, sweetie, take these with you.” Mandy looked questioningly from the bouquet to her grandmother. “Put them in a vase of water on your nightstand and take a nap. You’ll feel like a new person when you wake up,” Nana’s eyes crinkled up.

“Um, ok, Nana.” Mandy took the aromatic flowers and went out the back door to where the Boat was waiting silently for her. She drove home without even bothering to turn on her radio. It was nice to just be immersed in the silence, alone with no one else to distract her. Her mind began to swirl at a fast pace over the crazy conversation from that morning. She felt like a tornado was whipping through her mind, taking her sanity along with it.

It was crazy that her grandmother would even hint at such a ludicrous story, even crazier to expect that Mandy would even consider believing it. What was the craziest, and perhaps the scariest detail, was that Mandy was finding herself considering it. What ifs were running through her head at the speed of a train.
What if Nana was telling the truth? What if she was able to heal people? What if she some sort of ability? What if Mandy also had that ability? What if that wasn’t so crazy?

Another part of Mandy was not about to accept those ideas without a fight however. That part was screaming at the first side. Screaming not to consider the what if’s because it was crazy, no doubt about it. Nana was crazy, and Mandy might be too if she was sitting here trying to unravel it all and put it back together in a way that would make it coherent. There was no such thing as witches, and the only healers were doctors. Not crazy old ladies and wishful teenagers.

The constant battle waging between both sides of herself left Mandy feeling completely confused as to which side was right. She pulled up to the house, realizing that she would have it to herself. Her mom must have already left for the shop and her dad was at work. Maybe Mandy’s grandmother was right about one thing…she was going to go lay down like Nana had suggested. She just needed some sleep and then she would sort it all out.

Mandy grabbed an empty vase from under the kitchen sink on her way up to her room. She filled it with water and plopped the lavender branches in, setting it on the nightstand next to her alarm clock. She kicked off her sneakers and fell back onto her pillows, a big yawn escaping Mandy’s mouth. She nestled her head into the downy softness and was asleep in seconds.

* * *

Chapter 8

Mandy curved her toes down towards the bed stretching her legs and sighing contentedly. She was awake, but she hadn’t opened her eyes yet. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She was so comfortable here in her nice, soft bed surrounded by that lovely smell. What was that smell anyway? Something tugged at the corner of Mandy’s memory. She had the vague feeling that there was some other reason besides just being so comfortable that she didn’t want to open her eyes. Mandy inhaled deeply, letting the perfumed air completely saturate her. Lavender. Headache. Nana. Witch! Mandy’s eyes flew open.