Page 7 of Hexes and Hiccups
The gentlemen nodded sadly, squeezing their lips shut to minimize the hiccups that were gathering attention. Daisysighed before pulling the bottles back out, and pressing them within her palms. Lowering her lips to their tops, she plucked a healing spell out from her brain, a simple one that was capable of soothing annoying and pesky hexes. Zirelle was an expert at hexes, but it didn’t mean she had the time to use anything other than a simple manipulation hex on a pair of thieving and hungry old men.
“Heal their will, heal their might,” Daisy whispered. “Heal it before they give us a fright!” The potion bottles glowed and shimmered ominously as she handed them over to the men. “Try to down it in one go,” she instructed. “And hold your breath afterwards, as long as you can.”
“And that’ll –”Hiccup!“Do it?”
She nodded. “That’ll do it.”
Daisy watched as the pair of men followed her instruction. With a simple smile and a sigh, Daisy turned her back and headed back towards the front of the store, feeling rather accomplished with herself. Despite the ruckus going on with the gossip and Riven’s predicament, Daisy managed to run the store and solve a few hexes. She was more than satisfied, it seemed.
As a few patrons approached the counter with bottles to purchase, Daisy slipped behind Susy to crouch beside Anne, resting a hand over her knee. “How are you feeling, Anne?”
Anne sighed, still rocking. “Well enough, I suppose,” she murmured. “Would you like for me to do some cleaning? I hate sitting here, I can –”
“Don’t worry about it for a second longer, Anne.” Daisy gave her the widest smile she could muster. “As long as you’re here and feeling better, alright? That’s all I could ask for.”
“Working might take my mind off of it.”
Daisy pressed her lips together. “Anne,” she began, “is there any chance you’d know of someone who would wish to spread rumors like that about you? Anyone at all?”
“You mean,” Anne gulped loudly, “like anenemy?”
“Probably nothing that harsh, but…” She shrugged.
Anne’s face flushed. “I could hardly say, Daisy! The only things I do are work here and volunteer at the shelter. Whoever would believe such a thing…Oh, it just riles my blood!”
“I-I understand, Anne,” Daisy said, squeezing the woman’s knee reassuringly. Standing back up, she glanced over her shoulder at Tessa, who was sweeping up after the rush of customers began to file out of the shop.
Anne suddenly grasped onto Daisy’s hand with a tight grip. “Tell me you plan on catching whoever did this.”
The urgency behind the woman’s voice caught her off guard for a moment. She watched the woman's brown eyes turn incredibly serious, the determination behind them more surprising than she thought it would be. Daisy gripped onto her hand back, hoping her face looked as confident as she wanted it to be.
“We are going to do everything in our power to figure it out,” Daisy replied. “There are only so many places where a person can hide in Willowbrook, where everyone knows everyone.”
“I can only think about the next victim of this gossip attack,” she continued. “Some people might only call them words, but they hold more value than you may think. Gossip can be as harmless as you make it to be – and it can be as harmful all the same.”
Daisy took in the woman’s words. While gossiping seemed to roll off Daisy’s shoulders, she felt quite naive for not considering the consequences it might have on someone else. Seeing how Tessa’s future as an empath was being tested alongside Anne’s reputation was all she needed to solve the case. The last thing she wanted was for someone else to fall victim to a baseless rumor, one that could turn the entire town in a different direction. For a community that was full of powerful magic, itwas odd to believe that a few simple words could have more hold over the mind than a well thought out spell.
Daisy pressed her lips together. “We’ll figure it out, Anne. I promise. Susy,” she turned her attention towards the young girl, her familiar pig tails swinging every time she moved around, “with how busy things have been lately, would you prefer us to hang around longer?”
“Oh,” Susy drawled, looking incredibly carefree, “there’s no need for that! I’ve got Anne, don’t I?”
Rising from her rocking chair, Anne pocketed her badge and straightened her clothes, pulling a smile across her face. “You certainly do, dear.”
“Well,” Daisy started, still hesitating, “I –”
“There’s really nothing to stress about!” Susy’s smile beamed across her face. “We can handle the store with no problem. You and Tess are free to head out, if you need to.”
Retrieving the pouch full of beads once more, Daisy curved around the counter, pulling Tessa along with her. With a wave over their shoulders to Susy and Anne, the pair left the store behind, slipping into the alley beside the shop discreetly. Daisy opened up the pouch with a little tug, revealing the shimmering beads once more. They were incredibly fragrant because of the juniper berries, and Daisy kept telling herself they’d taste just as good.
Tessa reached into the pouch and retrieved one of them. “So we just eat it?”
“More like,” Daisy mused, “rest it on your tongue.”
Tessa shuddered. “This better taste good, Flowers.”
Holding back her laugh, Daisy pulled the ripped paper out of her pocket, holding it out in front of them. “Focus on the paper, and it should lead us to the book.”
“You keep saying ‘should.’”
