Page 15 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

For the fifth time that early evening, Daisy dumped a bucket full of water over the sidewalk.

The last few streaks of red paint slid down the pavement, washing away the rumor that once sat upon it.

It streamed down Main Street quietly, taking away the shock for that evening, finally.

The sun still loitered against the horizon, not entirely fallen, despite the moon looming overhead.

It was pretty bright out, thanks to the summer season.

A few groups of people lingered nearby, not entirely eyeing them but still curiously peering over their shoulders.

Before anyone got too close, Iskra arrived with enchanted soap, hurriedly washing away the words that plagued her good name.

Iskra Veilshade uses dark magic.

Ever since she had arrived, the witch had remained incredibly quiet.

There was a feverish look in her dark eyes, her sharply white hair almost glowing in the growing evening.

Iskra had the soap enchanted by Zirelle, making sure that the culprit was rendered incapable of writing the same words a second time.

Her cheeks were a bright shade of red when she arrived, especially as she looked over the words for the first time.

Iskra mumbled a few thanks as they got to work with cleaning it.

Daisy was eager to talk, to press her about the rumor and the Council’s position upon on their case.

Tessa remained quiet, but Daisy was in no mood to walk on eggshells.

Someone deserved a well mannered and thoughtful apology.

As the last bit of the paint washed away, Iskra lowered her bucket, and released a heavy sigh. “I would like to apologize to you two,” she finally said, her eyes lowered. “As a matter of fact, the entire Council would like to apologize.”

Daisy crossed her arms. The exhaustion and tiredness threatened to turn her into a grouchy mess, but she held it in as much as she could.

As if Tessa could feel her growing unrest, she stepped closer, the empathic magic already spreading between all three of them.

Daisy held onto her annoyance as much as she could.

If Tessa wouldn’t fight for herself, Daisy had every intention of doing it for her.

The amount of times that Tessa defended Daisy over their years of knowing each other were innumerable.

Daisy ignored the magic and kept her anger close to her chest.

“I don’t think anyone saw it,” Tessa said into the silence, her voice small but effortlessly kind. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”

Iskra chuckled humorlessly. “We will have no true way of knowing,” she replied. “If there is one good thing that might come out of this, it is that the Council is now more than aware that the rumors spread throughout town might not be true at all. We should have listened to you both long ago.”

Daisy almost let her true thoughts out, but she held them deep within.

The last thing they needed was an outburst in the middle of Main Street, or something to turn Tessa’s mood sour.

Daisy only wished for her friend to retain the confidence she once had in herself, and not be so run down by the Council’s selfish thinking.

The only reason why they turned over a new leaf was because one of their own names had been drug through the mud.

The moment the magic users of Willowbrook lost faith in their Elders was the same moment that unrest could take over the town.

Unrest mixed with reckless magic was a recipe for disaster.

For Tessa’s sake, Daisy would try her best to move on.

The feeling she carried would remain, perhaps left to be wielded on another day.

For now, Daisy was far more intent on finding out the truth behind the gossip, and where Riven’s book might be.

If anything, she only grew more and more determined to see the case solved with each passing rumor left for her to see.

She remembered what Willowbrook used to be, and would not stop till it returned to what it once was.

“I can’t help but wonder why no one has seen the culprit,” Iskra murmured as she looked around.

Daisy’s brow furrowed. “I hadn’t quite thought about that.”

“Well,” Iskra continued, “we haven’t heard any reports about people painting on windows or sidewalks, have we? Or even the one you found on the side of a truck. How are those things able to go unnoticed like that?”

Tessa pressed her lips together thoughtfully. “An invisibility spell?”

“I think a paintbrush floating through the air would be more noticeable than the actual culprit,” Iskra said.

Crouching down, Iskra’s white and thin overcoat flew gently in the air behind her.

She pressed her fingers against the sidewalk, where the words once had been.

Iskra’s eyes grew clouded and far away as she lingered there.

“Iskra,” Daisy whispered, taking a step closer. “Are you seeing something?”

Divination was an odd ability to be a master in.

The foresight came and went, even if the user tried to reach out to it without both sides meeting in the middle.

Sometimes, the power was entirely elusive, and never showed itself for years.

Other times, the ability was on the forefront, showing itself more times than it really needed to.

Daisy wondered if Iskra was such a master that she could control it, giving herself glimpses of the future without needing to wait.

But Iskra shook her head, color slowly returning to her face. “No,” she murmured. “I’m afraid we might be on our own.” Her fingers continued to run over the pavement. “Are either one of you familiar with the ancient passageways that run beneath the town?”

Daisy nodded. “My mother used to tell me about them.”

“She knew them very well.”

“They have been around for a long time,” Daisy explained, noticing Tessa’s perplexed expression.

“Perhaps even longer than Willowbrook itself. Old magic users built them for protection, to practice their power without being caught by normal people. They remain as strong as they did centuries ago, probably from the magic itself.” Daisy focused back on Iskra.

“I didn’t think the passageways were accessible to the average townsperson. ”

Iskra shrugged. “It isn’t like they’re closed off. Any magic user can find them. It’s up to the magic itself, or even the caster’s inherent power, to be able to use them.”

“We can get maps at Town Hall,” Daisy said. “I’ve seen them there before.”

“Very well,” Iskra replied as she stood back up. “I will report back to the Council. Thank you both again for…for…” She pressed her lips together, looking rather embarrassed again. “For your patience and help. I will make sure the rest of the Council knows.”

The Elder witch gathered herself quickly and retreated to her car, gathering up the dripping buckets. Daisy and Tessa watched her go, both inherently reaching for the other as she drove away. Daisy gripped onto the empath’s hand tightly.

“You okay?” she asked.

Tessa pressed her lips together. “I will be, once we find out who’s behind this.”

“Right.”

Daisy began to lead the way back through Main Street and towards Town Hall.

The building sat within the plaza behind Main Street, a tall clock tower in the very middle of it.

It was the oldest structure that was not directly on Main Street, with impressive colonial architecture still standing.

Daisy used to go to Town Hall often with her grandmother, Lotta.

The older woman always insisted on attending City Council meetings, making sure she knew every single thing that was going on within Willowbrook.

While Daisy fell out of attending them, she missed the time she once had with her grandmother, and the lovely walk home they always had afterwards.

“Do you think the passageways are really what the culprit’s using?” Tessa asked as they neared the front doors.

Daisy shrugged. “I’d take any lead at this point. I hadn’t considered them before, but if we can map out a real route, it might prove to be the most reliable evidence we’ve found yet.”

“Right,” Tessa mused thoughtfully. “If the passageways manage to open up around every place we’ve found the torn pieces, we could predict the next one, couldn’t we?”

Daisy’s eyes widened as she held the door to Town Hall open. “Well,” she murmured, “I didn’t really think of it like that, but I guess you’d be right. Way to go, Tess!”

As a sheepish blush crawled across Tessa’s nose, she shrugged and crept into Town Hall.

What was normally a quiet building, almost with the same air as a library, was full of echoing shouts as the pair entered Town Hall.

Local police and government officials had offices within Town Hall, which meant the rooms were normally full of quiet and polite chatter.

Shouting, however, was not what Daisy expected to find as they approached the front receptionist counter.

“Don’t you have any respect for our town?”

Standing in front of the counter with a hunched back was Wesley Sharp.

He had quite a long face, with large ears with hanging earlobes.

Wrinkles wrapped around his lips and forehead, creating a series of ridges across his face.

His eyes had an angry air about them, judgemental and pointed.

Wesley had his attention focused on the young woman behind the counter, who shrunk against her chair with every shout he launched her way.

Wesley waggled a shaking finger in the woman’s direction. “Those hooligans have been swimmin’ and stealin’ from Lake Silverpine for weeks ! That deserves to be protected, don’t it? Don’t it ?”

“Mr. Sharp,” the woman said, her voice calm and impressively leveled. “I understand your concerns, but local officials have made it clear that, if the kids aren’t endangering themselves or the lake itself, we don’t see the need to –”

“I pay good money to this town every year!” Wesley didn’t let up for a single second. Despite the woman’s calming voice, he raged on without even pausing for a breath. “If I say they’re hurtin’ the lake, then darn it all, they’re hurtin’ the lake!”

She breathed in deeply. “Mr. Sharp, we –”

“You say the officials have made their decision already,” he spat, “but I’ve been here every day, and not a single one has made an effort to speak to me!

That don’t sound right to you, don’t it?

Now, I’m tellin’ you, those kids have been makin’ a mess out there!

You can’t even imagine the things they’re pullin’ out of the lake! ”

Daisy pressed her lips together. The receptionist had an enormous amount of patience for him.

If Daisy was in her shoes, she couldn’t imagine how she’d be able to handle that sort of an outburst. She shook her head.

The girl hardly deserved to be berated for such a silly reason.

Gathering herself, Daisy held her chin up and marched forward, feeling Tessa’s presence close at her heels.

“Mr. Sharp,” Daisy called out as she neared the counter. “I’m sorry, but I happened to overhear your issue, and I can’t help but say that those boys are hardly doing anything wrong at Lake Silverpine.”

Wesley blinked and jumped, turning around to stare at her with wide eyes. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out. He looked completely surprised.

“If anything,” she continued, taking his silence eagerly, “they’re doing the town a favor by cleaning the lake floor of whatever junk lies down there, don’t you think?”

Wesley mumbled under his breath a few times, already gathering his fraying hat and coat. “Well,” he finally said, loud enough for them all to hear, “I think I’ll take my leave now.” He gave them all a placid half-smile. “Good day.”

Daisy watched as the old man wobbled out of Town Hall, not bothering to say another word.

If she hadn’t already been burdened with so much to do, she would’ve wondered why Wesley was so caught up with keeping the kids out of the lake, but she assumed it was for their own safety.

Wesley Sharp was an old man – perhaps he knew the lake to be more dangerous than it seemed.

Turning back towards the receptionist, Daisy leaned forward. “Good evening, dear,” she greeted. “Is there any chance my friend and I could take a look at some of the maps of town? Ones that show those historic passageways beneath Main Street?”

The receptionist beamed from ear to ear, obviously relieved to have been saved from hearing more of Wesley’s insistent complaining. “Of course,” she replied, already pushing herself off her spinning chair. “Give me one moment, and I’ll get copies for you.”

As she went around the corner, a key in hand, Tessa leaned her back against the desk. “Well, that was easy.”

“Sure,” Daisy replied with a shrug. “They’re public property, after all. It’s actually looking at them that’ll be hard.”

“Oh, I thought you were a master map reader?”

“Don’t tease,” she said, though there was a smirk creeping over her face.

As they waited for the receptionist to come back with the maps of the passageways, Daisy let her mind wander over the case at hand.

Perhaps the passageways were the missing piece of the puzzle she had been looking for, and everything would quickly return to normal.

The rumors would fade, and Willowbrook could become what it once was.

Daisy hoped at least.