Page 2 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

Willowbrook, still plunged into the height of tourist season, was abuzz with townspeople and outsiders passing through as Daisy and Tessa made their way back to Fields’ Herbals .

The weather was exceptionally warm with a decent breeze, so they walked from Gray Manor back towards Main Street.

Business for the shop remained bustling, and though Daisy felt like she was being pulled in two different directions sometimes, her business and the rest of her life, she wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

Besides, as she glanced over at Tessa to her right, who remained eerily quiet, Daisy believed the business to be a blessing, a much-needed reprieve from the strife at hand.

“How is Steve doing?” Daisy asked, desperate to see the despair taken off her friend’s angular face.

Tessa blinked a few times, shaking her head as though she was pulled out of a reverie. “He’s in Sarasota,” she replied. “When we spoke last night, he seemed to be on the brink of something good with the company.”

Daisy watched her, waiting for Tessa to regain some of her spunk.

They continued walking, and eventually, the silence seemed to pick at the wall Tessa was holding up around her heart. “Though,” she drawled, “before he left, Steve planted new daffodils in the garden.”

“Those are your favorite.”

Tessa beamed. “They are.”

The next words hesitated on the tip of Daisy’s tongue.

She wanted to talk more about the situation they found themselves in, the mission they had taken from the Council.

As Coven Inquisitors, it was their duty to act as the eyes and ears of the Elders, something they were both more than excited to do earlier in the week.

But, as the questions and concerns arose from the note found within Riven’s petrified hands, Daisy could not shake the feeling that lingered in the back of her mind.

There was something else going on with the case, something they had yet to uncover.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

Daisy glanced at Tessa. “Well, if you’re a telepath, I –”

“You don’t have to go through this alongside me,” Tessa interjected, her voice growing somber despite the joke Daisy tried to make. “I know, considering everything, that the Council doesn’t trust me. If you can’t, I-I can understand that, too.”

“Tess,” Daisy murmured, pausing in the middle of Main Street’s sidewalk.

She held onto her friend’s hands, pulling her away from the oncoming row of tourists.

“There isn’t anyone else in Willowbrook that I’d want to do this with.

Do you think I would’ve taken up the position as a Coven Inquisitor if you weren’t given one too? ”

“Why? The note said –”

“Everything we’ve done for Willowbrook happened because of the two of us,” she said in a firm voice. “Not just me, and not just you. The only way we managed to succeed was because of working together, not apart. You see that, don’t you?”

Tessa shrugged.

“All I needed to hear was that the note wasn’t true.” Daisy smiled. “That was enough for me.”

“How?”

“I trust you, Tess. Sometimes, things can be as simple as that.”

Tessa took in a deep breath and let her eyes close. She remained like that for a moment or two before her eyes popped back open, a smile slowly tugging across her face. She squeezed Daisy’s hands, the fear slowly disappearing from all around her.

“If you say so,” she said.

Daisy tucked her arm around hers, beginning to lead her back towards Fields’ Herbals . “I’m sure we’ll be quite busy today,” she mused.

“Looks to be a lot of people out today,” Tessa said as she looked across the street. “I mean, lots of people.”

Daisy followed her gaze. Almost directly across from the shop was a salon, the most popular one in town.

Many people went there, Daisy and Tessa included.

While there was normally a steady trickle of people flowing in and out of the salon’s doors, that wasn’t what was happening then.

A group was beginning to grow in front of the squared windows, their murmurs growing so loud that they could hear them from across the street.

More people flocked there with every passing minute, causing Daisy’s curiosity to increase.

“Maybe Lora’s running another sale,” Tessa mused.

Daisy huffed. “Without telling us? We supply her with ointments every few days. If we’re not the first on the list –”

Tessa was already tugging her, trying to get across the street. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

They waited for a few cars to pass, then Daisy and Tessa jogged across the street, joining the group of people outside of the popular salon.

The lights were on inside, and a few people were passing by the window as they worked.

The more peculiar thing was how none of the onlookers were trying to get inside.

They merely crowded around the front window, pointing at it and continuing their murmurs.

Daisy, who was shorter than most people, stood high on her toes, desperate to get a look at what their attention was focused on.

Though she never wanted to consider herself a gossip, the herd mentality grabbed ahold of her just as much as the next person.

Tessa gripped onto Daisy’s hand with determination.

Though Daisy wasn’t a practicing gossiper herself, she knew very well that Tessa was.

Not in the cruel way most people assume when they hear the term, but rather with the idea of knowing more than she already did.

As an empath, Tessa sought out - Daisy shook her head, stopping her own thoughts short.

Let’s be real, Daisy thought to herself. Tessa was a gossip just like the rest.

Holding back her laugh, Daisy allowed her friend to pull her through the crowd, slipping in and around the onlookers.

As they peered around the throngs of people, Daisy’s eyes finally landed on the salon’s window, where words had been written in an unavoidable red.

Daisy’s lips moved as she read over the sentence.

Anne Fairfax drops cats off in the middle of nowhere to get rid of them.

Daisy gaped and felt the color drain from her face, her knees wobbling for a moment. “That can’t be right at all,” she whispered.

Beside her, Tessa looked as still as a statue. “It’s just a complete lie. A vicious rumor.”

“Who painted this here? In broad daylight like this? For everyone to see?” Daisy shook her head. “This is more than simply ruminating over a rumor o-or a ploy at gossip.”

Tessa pressed her lips together. “All these people have already seen it.”

“You know as well as I do that Anne would never do something like that,” Daisy said, her voice beginning to rise.

“She volunteers at the local animal shelter and runs their adoption expos in town center! Every time I see her, all she can do is talk about the strays, and eventually try to convince me to adopt one myself.” Daisy shook her head again, her hands clenching into small, angry fists. “Whoever did this is low.”

“Low?”

“Unrespectable,” Daisy said. “A delinquent!”

Tessa shrugged. “Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like the note Riven had.”

Daisy’s anger was bursting at the seams. Not only was the culprit behind turning Riven to stone directly harming her best friend, but they were also turning against the most kind-hearted people in Willowbrook.

There wasn’t a chance that Anne did such a terrible thing.

She was an older woman who spent all her free time in animal shelters.

How could she just turn around and do something cruel at the same time?

The laughter and whispering from the crowd of onlookers finally caught Daisy’s attention.

Perhaps that was the culprit's goal. To destroy a good reputation, or bring out the bad side of people.

Everyone in Willowbrook knew Anne and her ways, but then, with a simple phrase written on a random window, they were quick to change their minds.

Daisy could hardly hold herself back any longer, undeniable heat rushing to her cheeks.

Tessa, beginning to notice the anger, grabbed onto Daisy’s wrist. “Hey, now,” she murmured. “I know that look. Don’t do anything –”

Daisy yanked her hand away, already stomping towards the window. Though she was small, she stretched her arms out in front of the red lettering, blocking it all out as much as she could. The murmurs and laughter trickled out, the onlookers watching her with perplexed expressions.

“Every last one of you should be ashamed of yourselves!” Daisy exclaimed, making sure to look at as many people as she could.

Most of them were familiar, patrons in her shop or simply people she passed on the street.

They shrunk back slightly. “We all know Anne! She is a kind woman, one who would never do something as heinous as this gossip suggests!”

Murmurs spread throughout the group as a few stragglers left.

“Participating in this gross gossip is just wrong,” Daisy snapped. “The next time one of you is looking to adopt a stray and wants to turn to Anne, I hope you remember the feeling you have right now. This is just –”

Daisy felt her words stop short as something to her left caught her attention.

Stuffed within the window’s opening was a note, the edge poking out whipping around from the wind.

Daisy’s eyes narrowed, her attention caught.

Flipping around, Daisy reached for the paper and snatched it out.

The same words written on the window were on the sheet, resembling the note they found in Riven’s hands.

Along the border of the torn note were the same golden ribbons, shimmering in the bright sunlight.

It was another page from Riven’s book! Daisy quickly put the note in her pocket, careful not to tear it further, her eyes looking over the red lettering across the salon’s window once more.

While Riven wasn’t entirely left out in the open for all of the town to see, the rumor about Anne was.

Even though they were a part of the same book, Daisy couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else going on.

Why would the culprit leave gossip like that out in the open, something that would certainly tarnish someone’s good reputation?

“What’s going on over here?”

Daisy’s spine straightened immediately. Anne!

Whipping back around, Daisy watched as the crowd began to part, the gossipers scattering before Anne got too close to see them.

Tessa shouldered by the remaining onlookers to stop Anne from coming to the window, but she was far too late.

Anne, like everyone else, was curious about what was written upon the window.

And it didn’t matter how much Daisy waved her hands over the red letters - all of it remained blatantly visible.

Anne stepped onto the sidewalk, leaning forward slightly because of the crook in her back.

She was dressed in a slight blue dress, a shawl pulled over her shoulders.

In the sun, Anne’s rust-colored skin burned brightly.

Her brown eyes grew wider as she peered around Tessa’s narrow frame, easily seeing over Daisy’s head.

Daisy winced as the older woman’s face began to change, the despair hitting her much harder than she’d expected it to. Anne raised a trembling hand to her lips, tears already welling up in her gaze.

“What on earth?” she croaked. “Who would say such a thing? I-I’d never –”

Tessa wrapped her arm around Anne’s shoulders, trying desperately to steer her away from the salon windows. “Everyone knows it to be not true, Anne,” she cooed, the comforting magic radiating off her in waves.

“But it’s written on the window for everyone to see!

” Anne shook her head as she began to weep.

“Right on Main Street! Oh, heavens, if the city board were to see this, they wouldn’t let me volunteer at the shelters for another second!

Oh, heavens!” Anne leaned against Tessa’s chest as the cries racked through her.

She had been rendered inconsolable within seconds.

Daisy’s heart broke at the sight of her.

If the words written on the window were at all true, Anne would’ve never had such a reaction to them.

Not that she’d doubted the older woman before this, not even for a second.

“You listen here, Anne,” Daisy said as she walked towards her, taking the woman’s shaking hands within her own.

“You’re going to let us take you back to Fields’ Herbals , alright?

Tess and I are going to sort this out for you. Don’t worry for one second.”

Though Anne meekly nodded, still letting the tears course down her button cheeks, Daisy knew that it would take a lot more than a few simple words to rid the woman of her fears.

As Tessa began to slowly pull Anne back across the street, ignoring the eyes of onlookers that still clung to them, Daisy turned back towards the window, just as the salon door swung open.

Lora, the salon owner, stepped onto the sidewalk beside Daisy. “Good gracious,” she blurted. “I was wondering why I had a crowd outside the door.” She began to read the words, her eyes growing wider. “Golly! I can’t believe that –”

“Then don’t.”

“Huh?”

Daisy sighed, unable to find the anger any longer.

She was merely distraught, by that point.

The growing case surrounding Riven’s predicament had grown larger than she’d expected.

There was another story resting beneath him being turned to stone, one that Daisy was growing more and more restless to figure out.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Anne and Tessa almost at the shop.

Seeing the people she cared for rendered into such a state of despair was far more than she ever wanted to see.

Daisy turned back to the salon owner, who watched her curiously. “Can you do me a favor, Lora?”

“Sure.”

Daisy nodded towards the window. “Can you take this down?”

“Believe me,” Lora said, “I don’t want it up here. For Anne’s sake.”

“Thank you, Lora. I’ll send you some extra ointment this week.”

After making sure she still had the slip of paper in her pocket, Daisy began to cross the street after her friends, each step filled with more determination than the last. Whatever was plaguing Willowbrook now would find its end at her hands, no matter what it took.