Page 6 of Hexes and Hiccups
“They should lead us straight to the rest of the book,” Daisy explained. “Though, ithasbeen a while since I’ve done that particular spell.”
“Is that doubt I hear?”
Daisy shrugged as she pocketed the little pouch. “All I know is that once we pop them, we won’t be able to stop moving. Might make it a bit awkward, but,” she paused as she stepped back into the storefront, “what else is new?”
Out in the front of Fields’ Herbals,a handful of customers lurked within the aisles. Susy was still behind the counter, organizing things beside the register. Near her, sitting in a rattan rocking chair, was Anne. Though she was no longer weeping, Anne rocked herself back and forth with a sour expression, her badge provided by the local animal shelter resting within herhands. The moment Daisy saw her, something seemed to tighten around her heart. Seeing the normally cheerful woman in such a state of despair was hard to swallow, and it only made Daisy more determined to find whoever was behind the gossip.
“Daisy!”
With her attention caught, Daisy turned towards the line, where there was a pair of older gentlemen hiding behind a rack of herbs. She moved around the growing line of patrons to the odd couple, one brow raised.
Daisy gave them a smile. “Can I help you two –”
The man on the right, with an obvious toupee, let out a sharp hiccup. “So sorry, Daisy,” he blurted, a red hue covering his button cheeks. “We’ve been –”
Another hiccup snapped through the air. The second man, the one on the left, blushed harder than his companion. “This is a very terrible case of the –”
Daisy bit back her laugh. “Hiccups, I see!”
They nodded their heads rapidly, moments away from speaking when they hiccuped at the same time, their eyes wide as people started to eye them.
“Relax, gentlemen.” Daisy faced the aisle and retrieved a pair of bottles. “One drop every few hours on the tongue,” she explained, “and you’ll be as right as rain.”
“Really?”Hiccup!
“Yes, sir, I promise.”
“Oh, wow!”Hiccup!
Daisy watched them closely. Welts were beginning to sprout along their necks, slowly nearing their throats. They itched every so often, scratching roughly before another hiccup rocked through them. Her eyes narrowed.
“I have to ask,” she mused. “When did those hiccups start?”
The man on the right, his toupee flapping as he rattled his head, said, “I couldn’t possibly say.”Hiccup!
“Neither can –”Hiccup! “I!”
Daisy pressed her lips together. “Marks likethose,” she gestured towards their necks, “make me believe this isn’t just a bad case of the hiccups. Sounds a lot more like –”
Hiccup!
“A hex, to me.”
The pair of gentlemen eyed each other, their faces growing red with embarrassment.
Daisy crossed her arms, tucking the bottles away. “Now you two might not know this, but hexes require a different sort of solution. I’m afraid these won’t cut it. Perhaps if you told me the truth…”
They hesitated silently, the man on the left looking more and more like he was ready to combust. Toupee Man shook his head till his hair went off center before his companion practically burst at the seams.
“Alright, Daisy, alright!” He sighed, each word followed by a sharp and irritating hiccup. “We…well, there’s no good way to say it. Zirelle Duskwither makes the best apple pie you’d ever taste. The ripest of apples, the sweetest of combinations. The cinnamon alone –”
The hiccups came again, in rapid succession.
“Zirelle refuses to share the recipe,” the man continued. “Refuses to even share a slice or two. This morning, when she made a fresh pie, she set it on the windowsill in Gray Manor, and we just had to get our fingers on –”
Hiccup! Hiccup! Hiccup!
Daisy raised a hand to her face, desperate to stop herself from bursting out in laughter. “I see,” she murmured. “It seems the Elder had enough of your grubby, greedy fingers, didn’t she?”
