Free A Charming Spell (Magical Cures Mystery Series) by tonya kappes

It’s a poison dart and it’s filled with poison!” He lifted the dart in the air for the gathered crowd to see. A collective gasp ripped through the crowd.
    Constance Karima whipped out a clear baggie with the word evidence written in big black bold letters across it. This was right up her alley.
    “Are you sure?” I tapped Gandolf’s forearm. There was no reason to alarm anyone if it wasn’t truly murder.
    The ostrich pranced back and forth. It’s head jabbed into the bushes coming back up with another dart.
    “Positive,” Gandolf confirmed when the bird gave him the second dart. “Two holes. Two darts. And blood.” He pointed to a little spackle of blood on the sidewalk.
    “So much for keeping it under wraps,” I murmured under my breath.
    The crowd was no longer in a hushed whisper. They were more like a gang of gaggling geese, all taking at once.
    Patience Karima took the yellow crime tape and not only draped it across the Ever After Books front door, but looped it around every inch of the outside of the shop. Ever After Books was now a full-on crime scene.

Chapter Twelve
     
    On my way into the shop the next morning, I couldn’t help but notice how thick the fog was that made a quilt-like blanket over the entire community. Not only was the village in mourning, so was the land.
    Alexelrod was the realtor to many spiritualist communities and traveled all over. He was liked by so many people.
    If he had been murdered, as Gandolf believed, it could take months to visit all of those communities and interview potential suspects or witnesses. Unfortunately, murder wasn’t good for a business community. Who would want to come to shop where there might be a murderer on the loose?
    Though Gandolf was in charge, I still felt it was my duty to do a little investigating myself, only to see what I came up with.
    There was a lot that I needed to do today, which was great because it would make my day go faster, and I was really looking forward to my Chinese takeout date with Oscar tonight.
    I made a quick to-do list, but it became a to-see list before I headed off to work. Murderer or not, the village shops still had to open for business.
    I glanced at my list one more time before I put it in my purse. Gerald and Raven were at the top. Each of them had seen something and neither wanted to tell.
    I flung my bag over my shoulder and headed down the hill. Mr. Prince Charming darted in and out of the fog like he was chasing a string. The fog parted as he ran, leaving me a good path to see my way.
    “Good fairy god-cat!” I yelled after him.
    The fog might detour some of the tourists from coming into town, which would be fine with me since I had to get through my to-see list. I also wanted to keep working on a cure for Oscar. Plus I still had the “Mysteries and Magical Spells” book I had found outside of Ever After Books to thumb through before I gave it back to Ophelia.
    Just as I was about to unlock the gate of A Charming Cure, I heard a little scuffle on the other side of the street, but couldn’t see through the fog.
    “June.” Someone called out.
    Instantly, a small circle of fog lifted and Ophelia was standing in the center.
    “Hurry.” Her eyes glowed red in a worrisome sort of way. She waved faster. “Now.”
    There was a purple orb floating to the right side of the gate in front of Ever After. The fog lifted with each step she took until she leapt into the orb, sending a swirl of gold like one of those childhood kaleidoscopes.
    “Come on June.” Ophelia’s voice echoed into the air.
    Without giving it much thought, I jumped through the small purple opening when the gold stopped spinning, landing right smack dab into what looked to be a bookstore. I quickly ducked when a book with wings flew right over my head.
    “Oh my…” My mouth dropped when the book soared through the air and landed on a bookshelf right before another one took off, and then another, and another. It was like I was in the movie