Three
Calix
What in the MC Escher hell was this?
I suspiciously looked about my shop, waiting for a candid camera to pop up. Everything appeared as it should be, with the glass jars still neatly lining the shelves and the bulk jars available near the front counter undisturbed. My books were all in order along their shelves. Even the herb-infused blankets and throws were all in order along their racks, looking decorative and enticing.
My shop, for once, was organized. (Rare thing, let me tell you.) And yet, here I stood over my candy jars, eyeing the creature curled up around a peppermint stick and looking guilty but possessive of the candy.
“You.” I pointed a finger at it. “Out of the jar. Yes, yes, take the stick with you. That’s fine. Well, it’s not, but I can’t sell it with your teeth marks all in it anyway. Out you come. Sit on the counter. I open the doors in ten minutes, so you have till then to explain to me how you got in and what you’re gnawing on peppermint for.”
It crawled out and sat on my counter, the wood so old it was black with age, still clutching at its prize and blinking up at me with sad, liquid eyes. The peppermint was nearly as tall as the one holding it—maybe a foot tall? Its skin was so pale as to be almost translucent, and it had brown eyes with no pupil and thick brunette hair in an untidy fall down its back and to its knees. It was dressed in a ragged fashion—literally a rag wrapped around its body—and it seemed to be all knees and elbows.
Poor thing looked half starved. I felt my already fragile willpower crumbling. I had a weakness for cute things in distress. I gentled my voice and tried to duck down so I didn’t loom so much. “How did you get in?”
It pointed timidly toward the side door, which was open a crack. Because of course the door hadn’t seated properly and had blown open again. I really had to get it fixed. “I see. And the scent of sugar enticed you? Is that it?”
It gave a ginger nod, clutching the peppermint and not looking up at me.
“I’m not angry, you know. Worried, but not angry.” And I seriously had no idea in hell what I was even trying to speak to. At least it didn’t look dangerous.
Turning its head up, it gave me a tentative smile. Wow, that was a mouth full of teeth right there.
Sighing, I stood up and gave my surroundings a look, as if inspiration would leap out at me. Nothing did. When I’d first come to this small town in Connecticut, I’d thought it would be a good place to just be for a while. My sister and I had made the move together, in fact, opening up our businesses side by side. We’d lived in this general area our whole lives but had shifted over to this town specifically because we felt business would be better. It had seemed a good idea at the time, and we’d done our market research. We knew the town would support us—and business was good.
I just hadn’t researched the town quite as thoroughly as I should have.
Looking down at the creature once more, I resigned myself to taking care of it today. I had no more time before I needed to open. In the three years since I’d been here, I’d gained a steady clientele, and most of them were early birds. They saw me before they went into work, picking up their necessities and remedies. I couldn’t afford to figure out this situation just yet.
“Look, I need to open. So why don’t we do this? I’ll set you up in a comfy blanket near the cash register, and you can eat that peppermint all you like. And when I have a minute, we’ll properly sort this out, okay?”
I got an immediate nod of agreement. Cheerio.
I snagged my favorite throw blanket—the shop sometimes got a bit chilly—and bundled it into a comfy ball, stuffing it into a semi-empty drawer near the register. It was out of line of sight unless someone leaned over the counter. Then I carefully picked up my intruder with both hands and gingerly settled it onto the blanket before tucking an edge around it. With fall approaching, and it wearing such scanty clothing, they had to be a little cold. It certainly felt chilled to me.
They gave me a sweet smile, acting bashful, and tugged the blanket more snuggly around its body before resuming eating the peppermint with gusto.
All right, my stray was settled. I was ready for business. I ducked around the counter and went straight for the door, unlocking it and flipping the sign to Open before turning and retreating to my padded stool behind the counter.
None too soon, either. My first customer hurried in and barely gave me a greeting. “Morning, Calix! I need some Moon Drops, and do you have any of that infused chocolate?”
“Morning, Maggie. And I have both. How much do you need?”
“At least a box of each, please.” Maggie grabbed the box of Moon Drops herself. She looked a bit scattered this morning, with a distinct tilt forward as if her monthly cramps were killing her.
Being a man, I couldn’t sympathize, but I could supply the goods to relieve her suffering. My shop specialized in helping everyday ailments with a touch of magic. Not that most of my clients were aware of that last bit.
I picked out a box of chocolates from the back row of shelves. I’d learned not to leave these out for regular clients, as kids couldn’t seem to resist getting their hands all over them. The chocolates were infused with rosemary, magnesium, and a bit of moon-touched sugar. The sugar was one of the key ingredients, as the crystals soaked up the moon’s power and cooled the heat of the body’s cramps. My clients craved it badly during their monthly cycle because it eased their symptoms.
I rang Maggie up, putting both items in a bag, but not before she opened the Moon Drop box and swallowed a pill whole. That bad, huh?
She smiled, then took her goodies and ran.
Most of the next hour went much the same, with people dashing in for a quick purchase and then dashing out again. I’d have to do something about my stock of chocolate, as they almost wiped me out in the course of that hour. Maybe a bit of cooking was in order tonight.
But with my morning rush over, I had ten minutes to spare for my guest. The peppermint stick was mostly devoured by now, leaving it in a sleepy sugar-induced coma on the blanket. I took a picture of it and shot it over to my sister. What is this ?
Phaedra called me immediately. “ What do you mean, what is this ? Did you pay absolutely no attention when Grams went over European mythology ?”
“In my defense, I was growing that year and I slept through practically everything but herbology.”
She sighed, an older sister exasperated with her younger brother. “ That is a Brownie. ”
“Oh. It’s sort of cute.”
“ Yes, they are. Why do you have one ?”
“It snuck into my shop last night. I caught it licking a peppermint stick.”
“ And of course you’re now taking care of it. ”
I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. What was I supposed to do, throw the poor thing out on its ear?
“ All right, well, this might be a good thing for you. If you’re interested in actually inviting it to be part of your household, at least. ”
“Uh…why?”
“ Brownies are caretakers of a home. Or a shop or wherever. If you come up with a good bargain, it will stay and help you maintain the place. Offering it its own place in your house, with meals and such, is a good way to win over its loyalty. ”
I thought about not doing my own cleaning again. Wow, yes, let’s do that. “So three solid meals a day and its own place. Is that all? Oh, and can you tell gender?”
“ Yes, that’s all. And you can by asking. ”
“Cool beans. Thanks, sis.”
“ Wait, did the Brownie get through your side door ?”
“Yeah. I really need to get it fixed.”
“ You’re a witch ,” she reminded me patiently. “ Fixing spells are well within your capabilities. Why aren’t you using them ?”
“In this small town? Where everyone notices everything and will ask me who fixed it? Yeah, no. I’ll skip that possible quagmire and hire a handyman.”
“ You’re exasperating, Calix. You really are. ”
“It’s my job as your little brother. I’m doing an amazing job at it.”
“ I want you to take a vacation from it for once. Bye. ”
Now where would the fun be in that? But I could tease her more later. Right now, I had a Brownie to settle.
I sat back on the stool and gave the napping Brownie a gentle tap on the arm. “Hey. Wakey wakey. I need to talk to you.”
With a slow blink, the Brownie came awake and stared at me with their head canted.
“Hey, so you can understand me fine, right?”
I got a nod.
“Cool. So here’s the thing. If you’re breaking in here, I assume you don’t have a good place to go?”
The Brownie made a sad noise and wilted in front of my eyes.
Ouch. I think I just poked a sore point. “Sorry, didn’t meant to make you sad. Just trying to understand. If you don’t have a place to go, would you like to stay here?”
Their head came up again, expression hopeful on its mobile features. They made another noise, this one lilting up.
“Yeah, I understand you’re a Brownie? I’m a witch. If you promise to help me keep the house and shop clean, I’ll give you a space to live in and three meals a day. Sound good to you?”
The Brownie chittered at me, more like a rapid clicking of the tongue—a happy sound—and reached up to grab my hand with their own, shaking to seal the deal. My dark mahogany skin was in high contrast to its translucent skin, and I had to wonder if that skin color was healthy for my new Brownie. Or was it a sign of malnourishment? Something to ask Phaedra later.
“All right, done deal. You tell me what you want to eat, okay? I don’t have the faintest clue. And let’s work on better clothes for you, yeah? You’ve got to be cold.” I scooped them up, blanket and all, and carried them back into the connecting apartment above the store. The chime would alert me to a customer if someone came in, but I rarely had customers at this time of the day. Usually lunch was my next rush hour.
The door chime promptly went off.
Fucking hell. I raced the rest of the way upstairs, settled my Brownie on the couch with the order “Make yourself at home, be right back,” then raced back down.
To find not only the door open, but my crush standing in the doorway looking the worse for wear.
Rhett worked at the computer and phone repair shop next to my store. He’d helped me out a few times with my shop computer and was a really nice guy—and damn cute to boot. He’d only been here about four months, and I knew his aunt had died only a month after he’d gotten here. I hadn’t yet found the moxie to ask him out on a date. Mostly because I wasn’t sure if he was straight or not. Plus, the timing seemed really bad, as he’d just lost someone precious to him. I was trying to give him some time to settle in first and grieve.
Right now, the twenty-two-year-old looked like something the cat dragged in. His thick brunet hair normally was styled into a pompadour, but today it was just everywhere—like he’d not bothered to style it—and damp from a shower. Those all-American boy looks were ruined by dark circles under his brown eyes, and while he was in his usual Henley and jeans, for some reason he looked rumpled.
“Rhett, you okay?”
He passed a hand over his face. “That is the fucking question. I inherited my aunt’s house. I told you about that, right? Well, yesterday I moved in, and it’s gorgeous, but sleeping in a new space, y’know? With all the creaks and groans of an old house. I’m convinced it’s haunted. Things have been moving, I’m hearing weird noises, the works.”
The nonchalant way he told me he was in a haunted house was a bit alarming. I was used to the otherworldly, but I hadn’t expected him to be. Was that why he was here, for advice and maybe some help?
“Plus, I got adopted by a cat, and I’d forgotten how nocturnal cats are,” he said.
I nodded along sympathetically. Dude looked beyond sleep deprived. A cat settling into a new house and ghosts would absolutely kill any chance of real sleep. “Want an Energy-Tea?”
“I’ll give my left pinky toe for one.”
“A sacrifice I do not need. I’ll repay the favor of computer repairs.” Honestly, it was nice to return the favor, and it made me happy to help him for once. While I did that, maybe I could pump him about some things while giving him tea. There was something about him…something about his aura that was a little off. I just couldn’t immediately put my finger on it.