Witch of Mintwood Mysteries 7-9 Page 2

  “You don’t say,” I said grimily.

  The three of us stared at each other’s blue faces.

  If it wasn’t one thing it was another.

  Chapter Two

  “But lots of things around here are magic. That doesn’t explain why we’re all sparkly blue all of a sudden!” Charlie cried, totally dismayed and starting to panic.

  I couldn’t really blame her for freaking out.

  “Did you know the pie was going to do this?” she asked.

  “No, of course not,” I scoffed. “It’s never done this before.”

  “You never used your wand before, though,” pointed out Greer.

  “You mean last summer Lemmi hadn’t used her wand yet so the magic blueberries weren’t real yet?” Charlie asked.

  “Exactly,” said Greer.

  “That’s ridiculous,” said Charlie.

  “I’m just thinking out loud,” said Greer.

  “Think out loud less ridiculously,” Charlie said. Then her shoulders slumped forward and she added, “I’m sorry. I’m just thrown off by the fact that I’m blue. My skin doesn’t hurt or anything, but it’s very strange.”

  “At least your blond hair still looks good with your skin tone,” said Paws, who had trotted over and was now sitting beneath the window looking up at us. “It could be worse. You could be Greer.”

  The dark-haired bartender glared at the ghost cat.

  I started to ask Paws a question, but he saw the mouse he’d been chasing out of the corner of his eye and scampered off again.

  “I need to fix this,” I said.

  We tried several spells, each more frantic than the last as our skin stayed a sparkly blue through all of them.

  “None of us can go anywhere until I reverse this,” I muttered.

  “Let’s go out to the back yard. There’s more room out there for you to try spells,” said Greer, standing up.

  “Are you going to try spells on us?” Charlie asked, sounding a little concerned.

  We did go outside, and I did try a few spells, but none of them worked. After a while Greer went inside to finish washing up and use the phone.

  “I just called out of work,” she said when she rejoined us in the yard. “My manager isn’t happy, but I told him he really didn’t have a choice in the matter.” She examined her hands, which were still a bright blue. “It would be a nice party trick if only we could get it to stop when we wanted.”

  “I’m really sorry,” I said again. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, and I haven’t seen anything in Evenlyn’s books about blueberry magic. At least it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm, though I suppose that’s not much consolation.”

  “Your aunt Harriet would know. I wish she’d come back,” said Charlie. She looked around the side of the house as if she half expected to see my aunt strolling into the back yard at that very moment.

  “I’m trying to get her back,” I said, “but I bet she got sidetracked. She’s never wanted responsibility. She probably thinks I can handle everything on my own.”

  Perish the thought.

  I sincerely hoped Aunt Harriet didn’t think anything of the kind. Maybe I could have handled the situation with the other witches by myself at one point, but that was before I’d received a notice from the Witches’ Council or had witches from out of state show up for the proceedings.

  “I’m surprised she left at all given the presence of the witch hunters around Mintwood,” said Greer.

  “I don’t think she had a choice. She had a lot to do. She couldn’t just drop everything and stay in Mintwood indefinitely. Still, it would be nice if she checked in from time to time,” I said.

  “I bet she’d come back if you asked,” said Greer. “Or if you sent her a picture of the three of us right now.” She looked down at her arms and flinched.

  “I’m going to message her and ask her to come back to Mintwood when she can,” I said. “With the Witches’ Council so angry, I think she should be here. I was going to ask Funnel to get a message to her since I don’t know where she is, but I can’t even get to the cemetery to talk to him while I’m blue.” Funnel was a ghost dog of our acquaintance who lived at the Muddled Mintwood Cemetery.

  As I waved my wand around idly, a few stray green sparks floated into the air and dissolved. None of the spells I’d tried had reversed whatever magic was in the blueberries, and I didn’t have a clue what to do next.

  “You’ll have to go under cover of darkness,” Charlie agreed. “I’d better go call Lena and tell her I’m not coming into work either. It’s good that we live in the middle of nowhere. And that the bushes are so tall.”

  “We should also keep away from those blueberry bushes,” Greer suggested.

  The bushes themselves were strung along the path to the little hill at the back of the property. If I kept walking on that path I got to where my grandmother was buried. I had walked past the blueberries a million times; they’d been part of the fabric of the farm for my whole life. Now that I knew their secret, they took on a new meaning. This year’s crop wasn’t quite ready yet, but when it was, would the blueberries be magical again?

  “Maybe someone switched out your blueberries for magic blueberries and they aren’t your grandmother’s at all,” Charlie suggested.

  “Hard to imagine given that the freezer is in the basement,” I said. “Maybe we’ve had a couple of unwelcome ghosts, but I don’t think Ellie has snuck in without our knowing it.” Ellie was a hostile dark witch who had caused me some trouble in the past, a former friend of my grandmother’s from long ago who was convinced that she was the rightful Witch of Mintwood.

  “True,” said Charlie, biting her lip. “Okay, I guess it’s your grandmother’s fault then.”

  The next thing I did was go up to my room and grab a book I hadn’t tried yet, A Beginner’s Guide to Random Spells. If any magic was random, this was it; all we’d done was eat some blueberries. After ten minutes of searching, I hadn’t found anything in the entire book that said we would turn sparkly blue after eating a blue fruit.

  Back downstairs, I found Charlie searching through some of Evenlyn’s old potions. She looked up with a frown when she heard me coming. She had called Lena and explained that she wasn’t available that evening, but those weren’t really words that Lena comprehended, so Charlie had been forced to explain it to her several times.

  “Any luck?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “If it’s in one of her books, I don’t know where it would be. I’ve searched everywhere I can think to try.”

  Charlie shook her head. “Frustrating.”

  “Should we go outside again and I’ll just try a couple more things?” I said hesitantly. My friends looked really funny with blue skin, and I wondered if I looked just as odd.

  The three of us headed out back to where Paws had been chasing mice a little earlier. I desperately wanted to fix the situation before night fell and the ghosts saw us, then I could be on my way to talk to Funnel.

  Dusk was already falling, the brilliant gold sky now looking as if it had been overlaid with a layer of gray, turning the whole panorama a shade darker as night prepared to lay its blanket of darkness over the scene.

  We spent the rest of the evening with me trying spells that didn’t work.

  In the end, all the ghosts came out to watch.

  Paws came around the corner, apparently tired of chasing mice, and called over his shoulder, “Best Friday night TV you’ll ever see!”

  It didn’t take long for Mrs. Goodkeep, Mr. Bones, Gary, Tank, and the tea ladies to come hurrying over. Soon the whole lot of them had arrived to laugh at us. Even the mice and birds were entertained, though they chose to watch from the opposite side of the yard from Paws.

  The tea ladies actually moved their table to the back yard so they could still sit and drink tea while they enjoyed the spectacle.

  “How’d you turn yourself blue? Food coloring?” Karen asked.

  “We don’t know,” I
admitted after several more failed attempts at spells.

  “We ate Evenlyn’s blueberries, and not long afterwards this happened,” Charlie explained, pointing to her cheek.

  “I hate pie,” sniffed Karen. “I hope it was worth it.”

  “It was really good pie,” Charlie admitted, “so long as we change back to our normal skin tone soon. I’m used to being pasty in the summer and I’d hate to be deprived of that.”

  “Any other ideas?” Greer asked as I lowered my wand in disgust.

  I thought and thought, but nothing came to me. “I’m really sorry, but I just don’t know,” I muttered in despair. “It’s never happened before.”

  “I still think we’ll just sleep it off,” said Charlie. “We’ll wake up in the morning and it’ll be like none of this ever happened.”

  “Except we’re never making pie with Evenlyn’s blueberries again,” said Greer. She got no argument on that score.

  It had gotten late, and it was pretty clear that nothing would be solved tonight, so we might as well stop trying.

  “I remember back in the day when I was a mountain guide,” said Mr. Bones as we approached the watching group of ghosts. “We used to avoid these strange-looking brown berries because they made our heads all funny. Come to find out, Evenlyn said the Witch of the Mountain would magic them to make us dizzy because she enjoyed watching us stumble around.”

  “Do you know how she did it?” I asked eagerly. This was the first I’d heard of magicked food, though to be fair, stumbling wasn’t the same as turning blue.

  “No idea,” said Mr. Bone. “Back in those days I thought witches were a hoax. Probably why I’m now a ghost.”

  Back to square one.

  Chapter Three

  I shoved the gray hoodie off my head. I had worn it as a precaution, though as it turned out I hadn’t run into anyone on my trip to see the ghost bloodhound. Paws opened one eye a slit as I walked past him onto the porch.

  “Burglar! Sound the alarm!” the animal yelled.

  “It’s only me, and you know it,” I muttered.

  “I guess you can’t steal anything if you already own it. Just stay away from my pearls,” the cat cautioned me.

  “Sure thing,” I told him. He rested his chin on his paws again and closed his eyes.

  I was feeling weary, and the soft glow of the lamps cast a comforting light as I walked into the living room.

  Greer was sitting by the empty fireplace reading, while I could hear Charlie banging around in her room behind the kitchen.

  “Hey,” said Greer, looking up from her book as I came in.

  “Is that Lemmi?” Charlie yelled.

  There followed an epic amount of stomping.

  “No, it’s someone else. Of course it’s Lemmi,” Greer yelled back.

  My blond roommate came tumbling down the hallway from the back of the house.

  “How’s Funnel?” Charlie asked. Her hair was in a messy bun and her cheeks were red, as if she’d just scrubbed them.

  Well, reddish.

  For the most part, we were all still blue. Our plan for the rest of the night was to relax in the living room and stay as far away from the dangerous pie as possible.

  “Why are you wearing pink?” Greer wanted to know, twisting around to look at Charlie.

  Greer was wearing old black sports shorts and a white t-shirt, while Charlie had on pajama bottoms and a top in a bright pink that made Greer blanch.

  “I wanted my outfit to complement the blue,” Charlie explained. She did a couple of poses for our benefit. “I think they go rather well together.”

  “You look swell,” said Paws from his perch on the crate. The window was open and I sent Greer a glare to stop her from going over and closing it.

  “Thanks,” said Charlie, beaming. “I could get used to this whole blue thing, except that I feel like other people would wonder about it.”

  “Just a little bit,” said Greer dryly.

  Charlie sat down on the green sofa and curled up comfortably. “I thought the color would be going away by now, but it doesn’t appear to be.”

  “It’s terrible,” I said. “Why is it that Evenlyn’s books cover all sorts of arcane topics, but nothing practical?”

  “Like the woman herself,” said Paws. “She was a mystery and a force of nature. I sure do miss her.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Charlie assured me.

  “Paws, I hope you aren’t holding something back,” said Greer.

  “Whatever do you mean?” the cat wanted to know.

  “I mean usually when we have questions, like where is Lemmi’s wand, you know the answer and you lie about it. Do you know how to fix blueberry-magicked skin?” asked Greer, a note of warning creeping into her voice.

  “This one’s new to me,” said Paws. “Never seen this before. Evenlyn never went for the blue-skinned look.”

  Greer sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

  “It’ll go back to the way it was,” I promised them.

  But honestly, I didn’t feel as sure as I made myself sound.

  “Of course it will,” said Greer. “Sorry for being such a downer. Tell us about Funnel!”

  “When I got to Funnel’s shed with the light,” I said, “I tried to stay in shadow in case anyone was around. Luckily, no one was. Funnel wondered why I would turn myself blue. Then he asked if I could do the same for him.”

  “Good old Funnel,” said Charlie.

  “He’s a dog. No cat would want to be turned blue. Lowly being,” Paws sniffed.

  “More’s the pity,” said Greer, rolling her eyes.

  “A cat or dog would look ridiculous with blue fur,” said Paws. “Like you do with blue skin.”

  “Let’s just to go to sleep. Maybe by morning our skin will have returned to normal,” said Charlie hopefully.

  “We’ve already canceled our plans for the evening, so we might as well call it a night,” Greer agreed.

  I was just getting up to go upstairs when I heard a noise. Glancing out the window, I saw headlights beaming around the corner toward the farmhouse.

  I froze.

  “Who is that?” Charlie threw herself off the couch and still managed to land gracefully on the floor, ducking as low as she could as the vehicle came into the driveway.

  Much more slowly, Greer slid out of her seat and crouched down. In that position she made her way over to the front door, while I stood as still as I could in the kitchen doorway, totally visible through the open curtains.

  Greer motioned for me to join her at the front entrance. Not knowing what she had planned, I quickly made my way over to her before whoever was coming got close enough to see us inside.

  I caught a flash of the vehicle as it turned to park, and then I knew who it was.

  My entire life flashed before my eyes.

  As my boyfriend, Jasper should, in fact, be able to just show up. On a normal night I’d have been happy—no, overjoyed—to see him. On a normal night I wouldn’t have turned blue from eating pie.

  With one deft flick of her wrist, Charlie managed to turn off the side table lamp, plunging the living room into darkness.

  Jasper definitely couldn’t see into the house now, but the relief didn’t last long.

  All three of us stood silently holding our breath, then Paws yelled from the porch, “He’s coming up the stairs!”

  I jumped a little; I could never get used to the fact that most people couldn’t hear Paws yammering on.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “It’s Jasper! I forgot he said he’d come by to look at the porch!” I whispered desperately in Greer’s ear, my heart sinking.

  This was even worse than it might have been; it wasn’t that he’d just shown up uninvited, I had invited him! But with the craziness of the evening, I had forgotten all about it, and now he was here. As if I needed one more thing to fret about, the fact that he’d come by to look at my falling-down porch reminded me that we were from very different b
ackgrounds.

  A war waged inside me: to open the door and let him see the dangers of pie-eating, or to stay put.

  Now that I wasn’t answering the door immediately, I was sure he would finally realize that we weren’t meant to be together after all.

  Greer turned around and put her finger to her lips, ordering me to be quiet. There was nothing else for it. We were all still very blue, and thus utterly unable to answer the door.

  I felt a vibration in my pocket, and I knew what it was without even checking: my boyfriend was calling me. Who would’ve thought it? At least the fact that my phone was on vibrate was a small mercy.

  The fact that he got signal to call me—very unusual in Mintwood most of the time—wasn’t ideal either, to put it mildly. After my phone started vibrating there was a moment’s silence, and I thought maybe he’d just leave and not pursue his quest any further for tonight.

  But then I saw a shadow by the window and realized that Charlie had crawled that way and was now peering out from behind a curtain. I closed my eyes in consternation just as a blaring noise filled the silence.

  All three of us jumped. Luckily, none of us yelled. But now Jasper was calling the house phone.

  I let it ring.

  My grandmother had never changed the answering machine message, and after she died I hadn’t either. As result, a familiar recorded voice crackled, “Hi, you’ve reached Evenlyn’s residence. At the moment also probably the residence of an assortment of animals, although I doubt they’re expecting any phone calls. If you’re calling for one of the chickens I do believe you’re a bit confused about how this device is supposed to work. If you’re calling about the milk delivery I’ll be home on Saturday. Judy dear I very kindly already told you that I’m not baking pies for next week’s town meeting. Ask the mayor to ask someone else. All other messages please just wait for the beep! Have a lovely day!”

  Charlie was now covering her mouth and trying not to laugh. Since I rarely let the phone get to the message stage when we were at home, she had never heard Evenlyn’s rambles before.

  Jasper’s voice came into the living from behind us now. “Hi Lemmi, and Greer, and Charlie, in case any of you hear this I came by tonight to check on the porch. I thought we had plans but maybe I was wrong about the day or time or something. I hope everything’s all right. I tried your cell as well but the service is probably bad. Just let me know when you get this and that everything’s okay. I can come back anytime, obviously. Have a good night.”