Spells A La Carte (Mystic Cafe Series Book 3) (8 page)

Tom turned toward the café. He spotted us at the window. We backed away as if we could pretend we hadn’t been watching. “What do you think will happen now?” I asked Grandma Imelda.

“It’s probably not good, dear.” I could count on Grandma Imelda to always tell me like it was.

As soon as Tom stepped back into the café his phone rang. We watched as he picked up the call. Grandma Imelda and I tried to listen to the conversation. I didn’t even care now if he knew that we were eavesdropping.

Tom glanced my way several times. By the look on his face I knew the call wasn’t good and I could tell that the conversation was about me. My stomach was twisted into knots.

Tom shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Sorry, Elly. There’s nothing I can do.”

What was that supposed to mean?

I soon found out what Tom had meant. Two women and two men dressed in professional attire filed into the café. They glanced over at me but didn’t speak. They immediately headed to the back of the café and into the kitchen.

“What do they think they’re doing?” I demanded.

Tom stopped me. “They’ve come to take the spellbooks.”

My stomach sank. I glanced over at Grandma Imelda. I had never felt this low. I had let her down. Just when she thought she could trust me with the café, I let this happen.

“They can’t do that,” I said.

“After the last spell it has to happen. I’m sorry, Elly.” Tom looked as if he was sorry.

“I don’t know what went wrong. I’m using the spells that I’ve always used. You believe me, right?” My voice wavered.

“Of course he believes you,” Grandma Imelda said.

I wanted to hear the words from Tom.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this, Elly.”

That wasn’t exactly what I had wanted to hear from him. But I really hoped he could find out what was going on. The men and women emerged from my kitchen with the books in their arms.

One of the men looked at Tom. “You told her no more spells, right?”

Tom nodded. “She’s aware.”

What would happen if I did another spell? Not that I was going to try. I watched as the group took the books out of the café. As far as I knew the books had never left the café. All those years Grandma Imelda had kept the books and now they were gone because of me. I couldn’t let this happen.

The men and women came back into the café. I had hoped they were gone. I didn’t even want to look at them as they went back into the kitchen.

“What are they looking for now? Haven’t they taken enough?” I asked.

“They’re just making sure they got all the books,” Tom said.

After a few seconds, the group exited the kitchen in single file. One of the men summoned Tom over, away from me. Why couldn’t they just say whatever it was in front of me? Tom came back. The look on his face was even worse now.

“What happened this time?” I asked.

Tom shook his head as if he really didn’t want to tell me, but knew he had to. “They found something of Reagan’s.”

I was completely confused. “What does that mean?”

Tom showed me the small brown leather book. “It has her name on it. They found it in the kitchen.”

“I don’t know how that got there. I’ve never seen it before. You believe me, right?” I knew my voice sounded panicked.

His expression didn’t suggest that he believed me. Was Tom suspicious now? I guessed I couldn’t blame him. How many things could happen before he finally started to question whether I was being honest? I knew the truth and I had to convince him. Even Grandma Imelda might be suspicious of me now. I had no idea how the book had ended up in the kitchen. Reagan had never even been back there. What would happen to me now? What would happen to the café?

“The Organization isn’t making the café close.”

I pushed the hair behind my ear. “Well, that’s a surprise. What made them change their mind?”

Tom glanced at Grandma Imelda.

“Oh, I see. They won’t close the café because Imelda is here this time.”

This was more than a little embarrassing. I wished that I could use magic to disappear right now. Even if I had a spell that would do it, I’d just get in trouble with the Organization. Honestly, I didn’t care what the Organization thought.

The group moved closer to us. Tom motioned at them. “Elly, this is Carol McGuire, James Hannah, Evan Cross, and Julie King.”

I nodded an acknowledgment, but didn’t speak. I had nothing to say to them. Apparently they took the hint because they moved toward the door. Tom stepped outside with the group. I hoped that was the last I saw of them.

Again Grandma Imelda and I watched from the window. “I wish I could hear what they are saying,” I said.

Grandma Imelda just looked at me.

I sighed. “Okay, you’re right. Maybe it’s better that I don’t know.”

After just a couple of minutes Tom headed back toward the café. Grandma Imelda and I hurried away from the window. When Tom stepped back inside we just stared at him. I knew he could tell that we weren’t happy.

I crossed my arms in front of my waist. “Well, what did they say?”

Tom paced across the floor before finally turning to face us. “You can’t make food. Like I said, they won’t make the café close, but you can’t cook either.”

“I can’t believe this. That puts a huge burden on Grandma Imelda.” I placed my head in my hands. “I suppose we’ll have to find someone else to help.”

I didn’t want Grandma Imelda to have to do all of this alone. One thing was for sure, I wouldn’t stand back and wait for Tom or the Organization to get to the bottom of this. I would have to solve this on my own.

“I’ll do everything I can to help,” Tom said.

“You will find out that my granddaughter had nothing to do with the woman’s disappearance, whoever she is. Plus, Elly had nothing to do with the missing spellbooks.” Grandma Imelda used her stern voice. The one she used when she was extremely unhappy with someone. Like when the neighbor kid had mowed over her daylilies thinking they were dandelions.

Right now I knew she was angry with Tom. I knew he was just doing his job.

He studied my face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m peachy. If I were any peachier I’d be a cobbler.”

He chuckled. “Call me if anything changes.”

I nodded. “You got it.”

Tom turned and walked out the door. Grandma Imelda and I sat there for several minutes in silence.

Finally, she said, “Well, at least I can still do magic.”

“You don’t have any of the spellbooks.”

She waved her hand. “I have all the spells I need memorized.”

I leaned back in the chair. “Yes, I guess you would have after this many years.”

The bell over the door jingled and we looked up to see Mary Jane entering. “Sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” She stopped in her tracks. “Wow, what happened? Why the sad faces? Wait. Don’t tell me yet.” She hurried over and pulled out a chair. “Okay, now I can listen.”

“It’s just that I can’t do any magic right now. I gave someone a spell this morning and she went crazy like that man did earlier.”

Mary Jane frowned. “How does this keep happening?”

I tapped my fingers against the table. “I don’t know, but I plan on finding out right now.” I pushed to my feet. “Before it gets busy again, I’m going to talk with Rory. I am not calling. I want to see him in person. Are you coming with me?” I looked to Mary Jane.

She nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

Grandma Imelda stood and walked over to the door. She turned the sign in the window to
Closed
. “I’ll stay here and get ready for the next wave of customers.”

After grabbing my purse from the back, I said, “We’ll be back soon, Grandma Imelda.”

Mary Jane and I got into her car which was parked the nearest to the front door.

“Where to first?” she asked as we pulled away.

“We’ll go to the farm. I think that’s where he’ll be.”

We hadn’t even gotten out of town yet until I spotted what I thought was for sure his truck.

“I think that’s him.” I pointed.

Mary Jane sped up. “Do you want me to follow him?” She glanced over. “Silly question. Of course you want me to follow him.”

Mary Jane kept back a good distance so that he wouldn’t see us.

“Where do you think he’s going?” she asked.

“I don’t know. This isn’t the way to the farm. I feel bad doing this, but with his strange behavior I don’t think I have a choice.”

“With the way things have been, I don’t think you do,” Mary Jane said.

He turned left up ahead and Mary Jane made the same turn.

We followed him a short distance until he pulled into the driveway of a big white house.

“Who lives here?” Mary Jane asked.

We watched as he went to the door. Meredith opened the door and Rory walked in.

“That’s who lives here,” I said.

“I’m going up there to confront him.”

“Not without me, you’re not.” Mary Jane shoved the car into park and turned off the ignition.

We got out and headed toward the front door.

“What are you going to say?” Mary Jane asked

“I’m going to just ask him about the books. I want to see what he says to my face.”

My hand shook as I rang the doorbell. Within a couple seconds, Meredith opened the door.

She scowled. “What do you want?”

“I came to see Rory,” I said.

“He’s not here.”

Mary Jane snorted. “We just saw him walk in.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “You’re welcome to come inside and look for him. He’s not here. Or would you prefer that I left so you can break into my house and look around?”

“I don’t believe you,” Mary Jane said.

“If you don’t leave I will have to call the police.” She glared at us.

I looked over her shoulder, but didn’t see Rory anywhere. I knew she was lying.

I placed my hand on my hip. “I know he’s here because his truck is here.”

She smirked. “There is no truck here.”

What kind of game did she think she was playing? Of course his truck was here. “I just saw it in the driveway.” I gestured and looked over my shoulder.

The truck was gone. How had that happened? I would have heard it if it had started. The thing was loud.

A spark of glee flickered in her eyes. I knew she was proud of this. Something tricky was going on and the thought sent a chill down my spine.  

A tingle prickled the skin on my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood. Something stirred in the air and I knew exactly what it was… magic. She was using magic, but I had to prove it. I also had to find out why she was trying to deny it and pretend as if she didn’t know the magic even existed.

She watched me for a moment and I wondered if she knew I sensed the magic. She had to know. That wasn’t something she could hide, although she was trying her best. 

I knew that I had to confront her about the magic. She couldn’t continue to lie her way out of this.

“You can leave now,” she snapped.

“Not so fast,” I said.

Her eyes widened. I glanced at Mary Jane and even she looked stunned. I was a little surprised that I was being so bold too. What did I have to lose at this point?

“I sense the magic around your house. It’s in the air and I know you’re casting spells. Why are you lying?” I asked.

She scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How many times do I have to tell you that?” 

She could say it all she wanted, but I knew she wasn’t being honest. I glanced over her shoulder again, hoping that I would see Rory inside the house. Maybe he would finally tell me the truth.

When I looked at the table beside the door, I spotted a small book. I recognized it right away. It looked just like the book that Tom had showed me at the café, the one they claimed belonged to Reagan. It couldn’t be the same book. Or could it? Books had been appearing and disappearing at random lately. Did Tom still have Reagan’s book?

“You have to leave now.” Meredith’s voice was stern, as if she was losing patience with me.

I had lost my patience with her a long time ago. She looked at me and I knew that she’d seen me eyeing the book. I wasn’t sure if I should ask about it. Obviously she wouldn’t be honest. And now she already knew that I was aware of the book, so there was probably no point in bringing it up. She smirked and I knew that she was happy with the way she was getting one over on me.

Mary Jane grabbed my arm. “Let’s go, Elly.”

It was probably a good thing she led me down the steps toward the sidewalk. Otherwise I didn’t know how long I would have stood there waiting for an answer from Meredith. She had threatened to call the police and she probably would have soon.

“We were getting nowhere,” Mary Jane said.

I glanced over my shoulder. Meredith stood at the door, watching us. “She had a book on the table next to the door. It looked exactly like the one Tom showed me that was found in my kitchen. They said it belonged to Reagan. It was full of spells.”

“Do you think it’s the same book?” Mary Jane asked as she slipped behind the steering wheel.

I shut the car door. “I don’t know, but I need a look at that book.”

“Oh, no. How do you think that’s going to happen?” Mary Jane started the car.

Meredith still stood at the door. I knew she wasn’t going to step away and close the door until she was sure that we had gone.

“There has to be a way for me to get a look at that book,” I said.

“This doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a good idea,” Mary Jane said.

“Maybe not, but I don’t know what else to do.”

She pulled away from the curb. “What about a spell?”

I glanced over at her. “What about it?”

“You could use a spell to get a look at the book? Is that possible?”

I tapped my fingers against the arm rest. “Maybe if there was a spell that could get her out of the house so that I could go in and look at the book. I don’t think she would leave the book, so it would have to be a spell that would get her to leave the house.”

“Do you think that’s possible?” Mary Jane asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Even if it was, how would we get the spell to her?”

“Make food,” Mary Jane said as she drove down the street.

“I can’t make food with magic, remember?” I released a deep breath.

“You can’t, but Grandma Imelda can.” Mary Jane smiled.

“I like the way you think.” I pointed at her. “Now we just have to figure out the right spell.”

“I bet your grandmother will know just what to do.”

“If anyone knows she does,” I said.

“We need to get back to the café and find out.” Mary Jane made a left and we headed back to Mystic Café.   

We pulled up to the café and hurried inside. Grandma Imelda had prepared food for the next wave of customers and was just ready to open the door.

“Whoa. What’s going on? Is someone chasing you?” she asked when we rushed through the door.

I explained about seeing the book at Meredith’s house and how Rory’s truck had disappeared.

She rubbed her temples. “I don’t know how that is possible.”

“We need to give her a spell that will get her out of the house long enough for me to look at the book.”

Grandma Imelda tapped her finger against her chin. “Well, that should be easy enough. Let me think.” She paced across the floor. She’d only made it across the floor a couple of times when she stopped. “I think I know just the spell.”

“There’s only one problem now. How will we get her to eat the food? I doubt she would eat anything I gave her. As far as she’s concerned, I am the enemy,” I said.

“We could ask Tom to give it to her,” Mary Jane said.

I shook my head. “No way can he know about this.”

“Oh, I know Agatha at the bakery would do it. She could pretend she is welcoming her back to town,” Grandma Imelda said.

“Okay, but she has to make sure she eats it.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll give her a call.”

Grandma Imelda placed the call and I paced waiting for her answer. Finally after what seemed like an eternity Grandma Imelda hung up the phone and came over to Mary Jane and me. I watched her for the answer.

“Okay, she agreed to do it.”

“Wow. I can’t believe she’ll do it,” Mary Jane said.

“She’s up for just about anything,” Grandma Imelda said.

“Now what do we do?” I asked.

“I’ll make her cupcakes and we’ll take them over to Agatha. Then we’ll follow her over to Meredith’s house.”

I still had my doubts that this plan would work. But I supposed I had to give it a try anyway.

Grandma Imelda grabbed a big white ceramic bowl and added the flour and other ingredients. Next came the spices. As comfortable as I’d become with the magic, she still made it seem effortless. I doubted I would ever reach her level of expertise.

When she added the spices, a wave of energy swirled through the air, leaving all of us feeling a little dizzy. I glanced over at Grandma Imelda. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. After making such a powerful spell and using so much energy, her hair looked more like a melting ice cream cone, drooping to the right.

“Agatha was actually a little excited to do this,” Grandma Imelda said.

“Really? Why is that?” I leaned against the counter and watched as Grandma Imelda prepared the cupcakes. It felt strange being in the kitchen and unable to make any food.

“She sounded excited when I asked. Plus, she met Meredith and said she didn’t like her much.”

“I have a question,” Mary Jane said.

“What’s that, dear?” Grandma Imelda said.

“Will Meredith be able to sense the magic? I know Elly did when we were there earlier.”

Grandma Imelda placed the batter into the oven. “Perhaps. But that’s a chance we’ll have to take. It is such a low dose of magic though, I doubt she will sense anything.”

Mary Jane started to lick the wooden spoon. “That’s a relief.”

I stopped her. “Don’t lick that, it has a spell in it.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, lowering the spoon.

“How will we get in?” I asked.

“The spell will make her just walk right out. She won’t lock the door.” Grandma Imelda winked.

After Grandma Imelda took the chocolate cupcakes out of the oven and finished them off with her signature buttercream frosting, we walked over and met Agatha in front of her bakery. Agatha had short gray hair and she wore a powder-blue dress. Everything in her bakery was powder blue.

“Your grandmother’s cupcakes could put me out of business.” She laughed.

Grandma Imelda did make the best cupcakes I’d ever had.

Grandma Imelda rode with Agatha and we followed them in Mary Jane’s car. We pulled up to the curb a safe distance back from Meredith’s house, but we could still see the front door. I hoped that she didn’t spot us. Grandma Imelda walked back to our car and climbed into the backseat so that we could watch what happened.

Agatha walked up to the door with the cupcakes in hand and rang the bell. I had to remind myself to breathe. “At least we have a good spot to watch from,” Grandma Imelda said as she leaned forward from the backseat.

Meredith answered the door. At least she didn’t slam the door right away. They talked for a couple minutes and she took the cupcakes from Agatha.

“We have no way to guarantee that she will even eat the cupcakes. Or maybe she won’t eat them until tomorrow,” I said.

“You seem to forget that the cupcakes are mine. Of course she won’t be able to resist them right away,” Grandma Imelda said.

“That’s true. I wanted to eat one as soon as she made them,” Mary Jane said.

Agatha walked back to her car. In order to keep from being discovered, Grandma Imelda stayed in the car with us. “I will thank Agatha later.”

“I definitely owe her one,” I said.

“How long will we wait?” Mary Jane asked.

I tapped my fingers against the leather seat. “Hmm. I hadn’t thought about that.”

“I told you all it wouldn’t take long.” Grandma Imelda pointed.

I looked over and spotted Meredith walking out her front door.

“I bet she even still has chocolate on her face.” Grandma Imelda laughed.

“Well, you certainly aren’t modest about your cooking, are you, Grandma?”

“No need to be, dear. When you’ve got it, you got it.”

I laughed. “I hope she doesn’t see us.”

“She’s still thinking about the delicious cupcakes, she won’t even look over this way,” Grandma Imelda said.

Meredith had a spring in her step. She must have really enjoyed the cupcakes. We’d gotten lucky that she had eaten one of them. Based on Grandma Imelda’s ego, she probably thought Meredith had eaten all of them. Meredith got in her car and, just as Grandma Imelda had said, she didn’t even look over at us. This almost seemed too easy.

Meredith backed her car out and drove away. Now I had to discover if she had left the book. Maybe she had taken it with her. There was only one way to find out. I couldn’t delay it any longer.

“We have to hurry, ladies.” Grandma Imelda opened the back door and climbed out.

I couldn’t believe it, but just as Grandma Imelda had said, Meredith hadn’t locked the door behind her when she’d left. That would make it simple for us to walk right inside and look for the book. Plus, I hoped that she had left the book on the table by the door. I didn’t want to go into the house much. If we just stepped inside the door it would be much better. I was still worried that she would return at any second. I kept looking over my shoulder for her car. 

“Don’t look for her, just hurry inside,” Grandma Imelda said as we walked toward the front door.

We stepped up to the door.

“Who’s going to look?” Mary Jane said.

“I can go in,” Grandma Imelda said.

“No, Grandma, I got us into this mess. I will be the one to go in and look.”

She nodded. I was glad that she understood that this was something I needed to do. I didn’t want anyone taking care of my messes. I had already dragged her into this too much. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and twisted. Sure enough, the door was unlocked.

I still couldn’t help but think this was too easy. The table came into view as soon as I opened the door. Even better, the book was still sitting in the same spot.

“The book is there.” I rushed over and picked it up.

Of course I hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the one Tom had found. I flipped open the cover. It was a book of spells. And Meredith had said she didn’t perform magic. I highly doubted that. It had her name on the inside cover. Now I had to see the one Tom had found so that I could compare.