Read Online Dizzy Spells by Morgana Best - Free Book Online Page A

his
shoulder and asked, “What happened?”
    “We decided to paint,” Thyme said simply.
“We painted a Ming Vase, a Victorian statue, and a jade dragon. We
were terrors. It wasn’t until high school that Mint decided her
life’s goal was to be boring.”
    “I am not boring!” Mint protested. “Last
week I went line dancing.”
    “Line dancing?” I said without thinking.
    “I had a really nice time,” Mint said
defensively as she busied herself cutting the cake.
    “Dancing?” Thyme appeared to be dubious at
the claim.
    “It was a nice time. I even talked with a
man from out of town.”
    I noticed Ruprecht and Camino exchanging a
look of surprise. This was apparently news to them.
    “While dancing?”
    “No, Thyme! I didn’t dance. Happy?” Mint
huffed and scratched her arm. “I break out in hives when I’m
totally surrounded. Sue me!”
    I was relieved that none of my embarrassing
childhood stories would ever come to light. They would never let me
live them down.
    “I apologize, Amelia.” Ruprecht reached out
to pat my hand. “We’re getting away from ourselves. The whole point
of the evening was to help you with your problem. Is there anything
we can do?”
    Suddenly, the reality of the whole thing
came crashing back—the body on the porch, and Alder Vervain’s claim
that someone had hired him to investigate my possible involvement
in the matter.
    I plastered what I hoped was a cheerful and
reassuring look on my face. “Oh what, what can I do? Hopefully, the
police will solve the murder soon, and find out what the man was
doing at my house.”
    No one seemed convinced. Thankfully, they
didn’t try to press the matter but instead helped themselves to the
lemon cake. It was Thyme’s creation of course. Amelia was barely
able to make lemonade unsupervised, let alone a cake.
    Thyme seemed appeased at the explanation.
“How are you sleeping? Would you like me to stay over tonight, and
Mint too?”
    “No!” Camino and Ruprecht exclaimed in
unison. The harmony of their tone and expression hinted that they
had years of experience shutting down sleepovers after the Ming
Vase incident.
    I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’m okay.”
    “The house did feel a little extra
temperamental the last time I was there,” Mint said. “I imagine it
wasn’t too happy having someone die on its porch.”
    “Trust me, I feel the same way.”
    “Now to business,” Ruprecht said. “Thyme
tells me she’s filled you in about Alder Vervain.”
    “Even his name is a mockery!” Camino
snapped.
    I was puzzled. “What do you mean? He can’t
help his name.”
    Ruprecht shook his head. “To the contrary,
my dear, that is not his birth name. He legally changed it some
years ago. He was born as Tommy Hopkins.”
    I nearly choked on my lemon cake. “Tommy
Hopkins? He doesn’t look like a Tommy Hopkins at all. Surely it
doesn’t matter that he changed his name, though?”
    “It’s the context, Amelia,” Camino said
stiffly. “Those of us who are hereditary kitchen witches in this
town have names of herbs that are important to magical practices.
Alder is from a long line of people strenuously opposed to witches,
and so he changed his name to herbs.”
    I was beginning to catch on. “So you think
he changed his name to a kitchen witch name to mock you?”
    “Yes!” everyone exclaimed in unison.
    “Alder is a strongly protective herb,”
Camino explained. “Both its roots and leaves offer powerful
protection from enemies. It undoes jinxes, too.”
    “And vervain?”
    “You probably know it as verbena,” Camino
said.
    I didn’t, but I nodded anyway. Clearly I had
a long way to go in my witch education.
    “Vervain is also used against evil and to
break a jinx. It was one of nine herbs traditionally used in
European witchcraft as a protection against witches.”
    “That’s right, Camino,” Ruprecht said. “So,
Amelia, you can see that Alder Vervain’s name is ironic. He chose
to name himself after two