Page 9 of Hexes and Hiccups
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 scornedyou, 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 wasmorethan 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 weshouldget 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?”
