Witch of Apple Hill ~ Part 26

Rosemary put a gently hand on Elise’s arm. “You can this one. This town had down well for Apple Hill and the valley you love. They have earned your forgiveness and you have earned the right to stop being angry.”

“I wish you would stop,” snapped Elise.

“But I only just got here,” said Cage from the doorway. He looked at Rosemary. “And who is this?”

Chapter 8

Elise stepped in front of Rosemary, giving her ghostly friend a moment to escape, but to her surprise, Rosemary simple glided around her and extended a hand. “I’m Rosemary Monroe and you are the hunter, Cage Martin. So have you come to destroy us?”
“As I told Elise this morning, I’d rather not,” answered Cage. “I need the magic.”

“Elise explained as much,” said Rosemary, glancing back at her friend. “So you want to live peacefully.”

“That would be the best option,” said Cage, looking directly at Elise.

“There’s a but,” countered Elise.

Rosemary raised her eyebrow at Cage. “She has to stop cursing the founding families.”

Cage nodded.

Rosemary turned back to Elise. “Elise, darling, you know I love you, but I’m with the hunter on this one. It’s time to let it go.”

Rosemary floated up and disappeared.

“Traitor,” Elise called to the ceiling.

“Sounds like she’s being a good friend,” said Cage.

Elise brushed past him and back to the circulation desk. “You’re not supposed to be back here and I’m done talking about this.”

Cage retreated to the other side of the circulation desk. “Oh, you don’t have to talk. You just need to listen.”

Elise folded her arms and tapped her foot. “Go on.”

“You were very busy this morning after our chat,” he started. “Which made me glad I followed you.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did,” he said nodding. “The owner of the café found bags of sugar and salt mislabeled. An odd occurrence, but nothing anyone should get fired for. He has closed the restaurant for the day, called in all the staff, making sure they know they all have their jobs, but they’ll spend the day making sure the ingredients are as labeled. Which means, no one will have molasses on their pancakes instead of maple syrup. The Nelsons were scared for a bit, but once they went back in the house with the pesticides, they couldn’t find a single bug. Odd isn’t it?”

Elise sighed heavily. “Let me guess you undid everything.”
“To the best of my ability,” said Cage, “but you did cause a stir. The whole town is talking. Here is what you didn’t take into consideration. The people at the grocery store, well, once they heard about the checkout malfunction, they came back and paid what was due and I heard one of the choir members state she’s never laughed so hard in her life after your helium curse. They’re still laughing about it and probably will for years to come. The den of rat snakes, well it turned out that City Hall had a serious rattlesnake problem, but the rat snakes took care of that. Someone could have been really hurt. The snakes have all been relocated to a safer place for all species.”

“And my books?” Elise whispered.

Cage gave her an ornery smirk. “I think I’ll let that one stand. This town could use a little romantic steam.”

Elise shook her head and fought the tears. “What they did to me …”

Cage reached over and gently took Elise’s hand. “What those three men did to you wasn’t right and Roark had every right to tear them to bits, but this town has more than made up for it. Why not listen to Rosemary? Why not let the town curse go?”

Elise hurried into the back room and was surprised to see Cage follow her. Her tears ran freely down her cheeks. Roark ran up her side and perched on her shoulder, snuggling his large, black body into her cheek.

Cage closed the door causing Roark to growl. The hunter raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. “I won’t hurt her, in fact, if she’ll cease this curse, I won’t let anyone hurt her every again.”