Page 21 of Magic Blooms
A surge of hot blood rushed to my cheeks. I hadn’t even considered him in that way. The first night we’d met it had been too windy and rainy to focus on much. And today there had obviously been more important things to deal with.
But now that I honestly thought about it, Joshua was quite appealing to the eye. And he was protective of Lorraine. Going out of his way to protect her animals in the storm and to help her with this fiasco. Our goals matched, and I liked that. I was quickly coming to appreciate this new life, and it seemed he’d already had it all along.
Admirable, indeed.
“Whatever the case, I need to get back home to Dante,” I insisted, shaking my head in denial. “Besides, I can guarantee you that Joshua is not impressed with me.” I’d done nothing to help him today, and yesterday I’d almost gotten him killed. Not that he knew I was the one who’d caused the storm, but still.
Now it was Lorraine’s turn to shake her head. “You’re right. This is no time to bother with the menfolk. They’re good for nothing most of the time anyway. That reminds me, I have an important job for us to do. Follow me.”
She went down a hallway to one of the first-floor guest bedrooms and opened the door. Before I even stepped inside, I had a bad feeling. The dream-like image of the woman sprawled across the stretcher returned to me. Her puffy red hair, lifeless blue lips, unseeing eyes.
“This was her room, wasn’t it?” I asked, my voice shaky as the memory finally left me.
“Her name was Karen Harrison. She was visiting from Ohio. A widow who’d been busy blowing through her late husband’s life insurance. Wasn’t my favorite to deal with, but I wouldn’t wish this fate on anyone. Fox’s End is meant to be an escape from the real world, not an escape from life itself. She was healthy as a horse, far as I could tell. There was no reason for her to go so suddenly.”
“Are horses especially healthy?” I asked as I took in the unmade bed, the scattered luggage.
Lorraine frowned. “Huh. Well, I guess I don’t know for certain. But they don’t have an obesity epidemic, I suppose. Anyway, Karen went for hour-long walks every day. She’d been a guest here for six days with two more to go. No one at the inn had anything against her.”
“That you could tell,” I pointed out. “Some people conceal their true feelings well.”
“Nonsense. I know everything that goes on here,” she snapped back.
Although we both knew that wasn’t true, I kept that bit to myself. Instead I chose to bring focus back to the job she had planned for us. “Why did you want me to come here?”
“You’re an earth elemental. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know you have a strong relationship to plants and nature. Right?”
I nodded.
“If a magical being or witch is the reason for Karen’s death, then chances are there was a potion or mixture slipped to her. So, think you can use your elemental sniffer to look around the room for organic matter that could do this?”
I blinked a few times as I tried to imagine how she thought this was going to work. “Well, I’m not so su?—”
Lorraine shook her head and held up a hand, stopping me. “I don’t care how crazy you think it is. There’s no reason why you can’t at least try. Please.”
She had a point. I needed to at least try, even if it was only to show Lorraine how much I cared, how much I was willing to help in whatever way I could. Besides, my magic had been acting strange ever since I’d crash-landed in that field. It felt like it had been so long ago, but no… I was still new to this place and still finding out what was possible.
I took a tentative step into the room, willing my mind to stay blank so the magic could act without the interference of my expectations.
The woman who had lived in this room for the past few days was no longer in this world—Karen Harrison—and I’d never been of it. She had been snuffed out like a flame, and here I was, the least likely person to investigate the aftermath.
No. Don’t think.
Just feel.
Listen to the echoes of what was.
I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the energy surround me. When I opened them again, my eyes roamed around the room, taking in each detail passively. This bright and sunny room certainly didn’t look like it held any darkness within the airy cream-colored walls.
A thick white quilt lay bunched in one corner of the bed. A series of gold pillows lined the base of a golden fabric headboard. One of them had fallen to the ground.
The rest of the room carried through the gold, beige, and white color scheme. It was certainly nicer than the room Lorraine had provided me, but since I didn’t actually have any currency to provide her, I had no complaints.
Thinking back to my temporary room, I remembered the plant I’d discovered there.
Were there any in Karen’s room, too?
Organic material, that’s what I needed to bring my magic to life.
