Page 5 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

Biting back her laugh, Daisy did her best to remember the grief on Anne’s face when she noticed the writing on the salon window.

Gossip, though tempting, was more harmful than it was good – a fact that Daisy was trying to hold on to.

But as she stared up at the billboard, no longer paying attention to the ‘leaving Willowbrook’ sign, Daisy could only feel the slightest bit of retribution and pride.

Perhaps there was a thing as karma, and it was working in her favor, rather than against.

Marigold Shadowbrook is unstable and dangerous. No man should date her.

Beside her, Tessa stared up at the billboard with her hands on her hips, a grin crossing her face. She shook her head slowly, not bothering to hold back her laughter.

“Well, I’ll be,” Tessa murmured. “Bless Hecate for some karma like this.”

Daisy eyed her. “Aren’t you one of the victims of this serial gossip, Tess?”

“I don’t think it’s the same.”

“Why not? It is gossip, after all.”

Tessa faced her with her arms stubbornly crossed over her chest. “What was said about me didn’t hold the slightest bit of truth to it. Marigold, on the other hand…”

“Sure, sure,” she mused. “I see what you mean. But just because this one happens to be true doesn’t make it right.”

“We’ll go back to solving the problem soon, Daisy. Let’s sit with this for a moment, though.” Tessa shrugged. “Marigold scorned you , after all. Maybe this note is doing the men of Willowbrook a favor.”

Daisy eyed the billboard again. Though she supposed the statement written out was true about the vengeful woman, Daisy couldn’t ignore the pit beginning to grow in her stomach. Perhaps, after all this time, she still couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman.

Marigold had attended school alongside her and Tessa, and ended up dating Gary for some time, before Daisy ever did.

Gary mentioned his relationship with Marigold every now and then, mentioning that her jealousy and possessiveness was more dangerous than it was helpful.

That being said, he never had a sour word for her, thanks to that heart of gold he carried around.

It wasn’t until Daisy’s wedding that Marigold showed her true colors, arriving halfway through the ceremony to demand it to be halted.

Her breath had reeked of liquor as she stormed up and down the center aisle, pulling the flowers from the pews and throwing them in the air.

While she had tried to ruin the wedding, Gary had handled it as calmly as Daisy had expected him to.

He’d guided Marigold out of the chapel before having a taxi called for her, and had never once implied that she was in the right.

When the ceremony continued, Daisy had felt more bound to him than ever before, entirely convinced that he was the Prince Charming she had always dreamt of.

Marigold never seemed to recover after that.

Her relationships were public knowledge, especially when she tried to make it down the aisle herself, but only ended up having her partner leave her at the altar.

Needless to say, Marigold had a difficult life, one that, unfortunately, came from her own hands.

Daisy looked up at the sign again and let out a heavy sigh. “This hardly makes any sense,” she grumbled, growing more frustrated than satisfied. “Everyone knows Marigold’s bad luck with love. What’s the point in putting this up?”

“Well,” Tessa said, holding onto her chin thoughtfully, “we know that there are some false things in Riven’s book.”

“The Book of Gossip.”

Tessa side eyed her. “Do I have to call it that?”

“I think so.” Daisy wiggled her eyebrows, nudging the empath on. “Come on,” she whined. “I just know you wanna say it!”

After a moment of silence, Tessa sighed but could hardly fight the amused smile that tugged across her face.

Sometimes, Daisy wondered if she’d managed to absorb Tessa’s empath abilities because of how she could make her smile.

But then the truth of the matter arose, bringing a bright smile to her face: Daisy just happened to be able to make Tessa feel better – and that was more than enough.

“The Book of Gossip had things about me and Anne, but it wasn’t true. This –” she pointed up at the sign “– is as real as they come. Maybe some of the gossip is real.”

Daisy frowned, none of it adding up. “So, what, the culprit is just picking and choosing, with no rhyme or reason?”

“I guess that doesn’t make much sense.” Tessa pressed her lips together, still staring at the sign.

The humor had drifted from her, something wistful replacing it.

When she spoke next, it came out like a murmur, as if she wasn’t entirely expecting Daisy to answer her. “Do you think she’s any better?”

Daisy turned to face Tessa, one brow raised. “Who?”

“Marigold,” she replied. “Last time we saw her, she swore she was getting it together. Or, at least, swore to get to that point eventually. You think she did it?”

During their search for the culprit behind the curse placed upon Daisy, they’d arrived at Marigold’s home with the idea that she was behind all the trouble.

But all they’d found was a broken woman, one who drowned her sorrows in the bottle and could hardly remember where she was.

Daisy recalled how she had been dressed in her wedding gown, the amber color from her liquor bottle splattering against the fabric.

Marigold had spouted nonsense, though the pain behind it all was quite real.

At the end of it, Daisy had realized Marigold was not the one they were looking for, but she’d still managed to break through her despair.

The woman promised to recover and spend time getting rid of her addiction.

Whether or not she followed through with it remained to be seen, though Daisy always carried the hope close to her heart.

What she was slowly becoming certain of, however, was how no person deserved that sort of treatment – even if that person happened to have tried to ruin her wedding.

No matter what the circumstances were, the gossip needed to be stopped, and soon.

“I hope she did,” Daisy finally said. “What about you?”

Tessa shrugged. “My empath professor would tell me to always believe in the lighter side of things, since it’ll help my power flourish.

To hold onto hope that Marigold has changed and that this message is nothing more than a rumor now.

But…” Her voice trailed off as she lifted her shoulders again.

“Some people are just not good. And some people also just deserve things like this to happen to them. Marigold is destructive and completely nuts. Maybe karma has finally come her way. My vote is that we leave it and let her deal with the consequences.”

“Well, I had no plans to remove it.” She didn’t. Not only would it be a lot of trouble, but some part of her felt that the message wasn’t mean gossip, because it was true.

“Oh, really ?” Tessa nudged Daisy with her elbow. “Look at you! I knew that rebel girl was still there somewhere.”

Daisy pointed up towards the sign. “You expect me to get up there?” Putting her hands on her hips, Daisy faced her with a furrowed brow. “Rebel girl? Weren’t you just calling me a goodie-goodie?”

“Good grief, no,” Tessa drawled, though the humorless look in her eyes told an entirely different story. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to say we should get up there.”

Looking back towards the billboard, Daisy pressed her lips together, a curious instinct urging her forward. Unable to ignore the question tugging in the back of her head, Daisy began to trudge forward. “Well,” she murmured, “unless that’s where the book is…”

Daisy stepped closer to the billboard, leaving the road and pushing through the tall grass. The spiky edges nipped at her fingertips as she drew nearer. With a furrowed brow, Daisy glanced around wherever she could, searching for anything that might resemble a book, but came up empty handed.

“What’s the big idea?” she snapped. “There isn’t a book here!”

Tessa jogged up behind her. “Did you get the potion wrong?”

“I don’t think so,” she murmured. “Though, I can’t quite remember. I could’ve sworn it was as right as rain.”

“And you’re sure it’s meant to find the entire book, right?” Tessa asked as she raised her head to the sky, staring up at the sign. Her eyes narrowed as she kept the sun out of her eyes, a knowing look passing her face.

Daisy could hardly pay attention. She was too busy recounting the recipe of her tracking spell, remembering her mother’s notes in the margins of her grimoire.

None of it was out of the ordinary, or anything Daisy wouldn’t expect.

She even followed what to do afterwards, with the beads and everything.

Frustration began to nip at her. “Of course!”

Tessa sighed. “Looks like our job just got a lot harder.”

“What do you mean?”

Nodding towards the billboard, Tessa pointed towards the top. There was a tall ladder attached to one side of the erected pole, and a short and narrow balcony pointed out of the sign. At the very top, stuck within a crack of the railing, was a torn piece of paper, which shimmered in the light.

Golden edges!

“Well,” Daisy drawled, the dread settling into her stomach, “looks like we’ll be going up there after all.”

“Hey, wait a –”

“There isn’t anything else, Tess!” Daisy interjected, already walking towards the bottom of the ladder.

“We came for the book, and found another torn page instead. Maybe we need more pieces to have enough strength for the potion.” She shook her head, the words sounding ridiculous and nonsensical.

“Whatever it is, we need to get that page.”

Tessa released a dramatic sigh. “You think the Witch Council offers health insurance?”

Grabbing a hold of the metal ladder, Daisy planted her feet on the first step and lifted herself up.

The wind seemed to pick up quickly, already whipping her hair around and causing the billboard’s legs to wobble.

Beneath her, Tessa climbed forward as well, her trembling hands slippery against the steps.

“Relax, Tess!” Daisy called out to her, though there was an obvious shudder in her voice. “Just keep your eyes up and – ”

“If you say what I think you’re gonna say,” Tessa screeched, “I’m gonna do it!”

Daisy kept trudging upwards, pressing her lips tight together.

They pushed themselves further and further, the ladder shaking as the wind grew stronger.

Once they’d come halfway up the ladder, the steps began to creak and moan, bending at the center when Daisy pressed her foot against it.

She yelped at the lack of stability, her shoes slipping from the grass.

“ Oh! ” Daisy’s balance wavered as her foot flew off the step, her hands already loosening their grip out of reckless fear. Moments before she could fly off the ladder, Tessa’s hand snapped out, snatching onto her foot and replacing it against the ladder.

“You can reach it, Daisy!” Tessa shouted, her eyes clinging to the rails.

The note had slipped down the crack it was shoved into during the time it took them to crawl up the ladder.

It was on the verge of flying away, coaxed forward by the wind as seconds passed.

Daisy breathed deeply, ignoring the wind that kept slicing by her skin, how her clothes seemed to fly behind her like a cape.

Releasing the ladder, Daisy stretched out her fingers towards the edge of the railing, listening to the flapping page slip out from the crack.

“ Almost –” Daisy hissed between clenched teeth, her foot still secure from Tessa’s tight, reassuring grip, “– got it !”

The page flew from the crack and Daisy snagged it out the air, jerking it towards her chest instantly.

“Alright, Flowers!” Tessa cheered, already shuffling down the ladder.

Daisy gripped onto the paper as tight as she could, following after Tessa.

She kept her attention focused on the grassy floor, up until the very last second, when she finally leapt off the final step.

The moment her feet hit the ground, relief washed through her, her head growing dizzy and legs wobbling.

Beside her, Tessa pressed their shoulders together, keeping each other afloat, even when neither of them could stand quite right.

“Blessed be,” Daisy breathed as she held up the page. “All that for this little thing.” She carefully tucked the page into her pocket, feeling the rest of the slips beside it.

Tessa sighed as she stretched her arms into the air. “I’m proud of us. We didn’t fall.”

“Sure,” Daisy murmured. “But I’ll be having nightmares about that for days.”

“It’ll be worth it,” she replied. “Hopefully.”

As they began to walk back towards the road, heading in the direction of Willowbrook’s busy main street, Daisy tried to imagine what their next steps might be.

“Maybe we need to just try again,” she finally said.

Tessa raised a brow. “With the beads?”

“What else is there to do?” Daisy shook her head, feeling like she hit a stump. “There’s still so much left, and if it leads us to another place, maybe it’ll be another page, but it could be the book.”

“All I know is one thing.”

“And what would that be?”

Tessa slapped her hand against her belly, rubbing her stomach in wide, slow circles. “There is nothing more to be done, till I get some food in me.”

“I should’ve guessed,” Daisy replied with a laugh. “I can eat.”

“After that, I deserve something tasty.” Wrapping an arm over Daisy’s shoulders, Tessa held her close to her side. “And so do you, Flowers.”

Daisy sighed, letting her arm tuck around Tessa’s waist. They continued towards Main Street, and though Daisy was rather looking forward to a break from their search, the eerie feeling of something wicked creeping around the corner remained deep within her.

She looked over her shoulder often, but there was never a set of eyes peering back at her.

There was nothing. Just the hint that something was wrong in their small town.