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"Trixie!" Eleanor cried, running to her sister. She clapped her on the back and Trixie let out a loud gasp. Her face was a deep shade of eggplant. I stood frozen, no idea what to do.
Tootsie appeared out of nowhere. A silver flask fluttered through the air just ahead of him.
"Eleanor!" Tootsie shouted. Eleanor turned her head, saw the flask, and plucked it from the air. She held it to Trixie's lips. Two swallows later and Trixie's face was a light lavender and her breathing had returned to normal.
"What happened?" Eleanor asked.
Trixie slowly rose to her feet. She scratched Tootsie under his chin. "Thanks, Toots." He nuzzled her leg with his head.
"I think... I think there was quartz ink in there," Trixie said.
Eleanor turned to look at me. Her face had gone scarlet.
"Did you use quartz ink?" She sounded mad. "In combination with peppy extract?"
"I..." Tears were welling in my eyes. "I don't know."
"You can't use quartz ink with peppy extract. The combination is lethal for witches! Thank the sunshine Tootsie thought to get the cacti airium juice. Or else Trixie..."
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Maybe... maybe I'm a dim-witch after all."
Eleanor's face softened. "No," she said, shaking her head. "Of course you're not. You're far too powerful a witch... that's the problem. You've grown up with no formal training."
Trixie's face was a light rose color now. She was holding Tootsie in her arms, stroking his head. Rocky was still in the back room, sleeping.
"I... I'm sorry I raised my voice," Eleanor said. "This is our fault. Not yours."
"No, it's not. I'm the one who made the cupcakes. I mixed up the powders."
"If we'd been watching you more closely," Eleanor said, "we would have seen what you'd done and been able to stop you. I think, for a moment, we forgot just how new to this you are."
"Can you forgive us?" Trixie asked, her eyes watery.
Were they kidding? Forgive them? I'd almost killed my aunt and they were asking for my forgiveness?
"There's nothing to forgive," I stammered. Trixie and Eleanor both rounded on me at the same time, gathering me into their arms in a giant hug that left me breathless.
A soft voice spoke from our feet. "Tootsie does not think Ava can breathe."
Eleanor and Trixie let me go and I drew in a deep breath. A second later, we were all laughing.
"Come on," Eleanor said. "We'll resume our lessons."
I paused halfway to the back room, my face growing pale.
"Oh no!" I cried. "That customer! David! He ate two of my cupcakes."
"It's okay," Eleanor said. "David's human. Quartz ink with peppy extract is only a lethal combination to witches. Even warlocks are immune."
I breathed a sigh of relief and followed Eleanor to the back. Trixie skipped in behind us. Eleanor spun around and held up one long finger to stop her.
"Oh no, you stay out here. You sell. Ava and I will bake."
"Hmmph," Trixie said. I watched as she swirled her finger in the air and the cupcake that had stained her apron disappeared. The bell above the door chimed and a new customer walked in. Trixie turned her back without another word.
Almost twelve hours later, I was exhausted. Aunt Eleanor was like a reform school teacher. She was strict to the point of making my head spin. She'd drilled me again and again on the different types of syrups, powders, and chocolate.
"What's this?" she asked me just when I'd thought we were done.
"Plain white chocolate," I said, smiling because I knew I'd nailed it.
Eleanor nodded approvingly. "And this?"
I thought for a second as I looked at the ramekin of chocolate chips. "Venus chocolate?" I asked.
"Precisely. And it's named so because...?"
"Because... it makes people feel warm like the planet Venus and romantic like the Goddess Venus. The name is actually a misnomer because there's no Venus dust in it, just pixie dust. It's used primarily in love potion cakes."
"Very good, Ava," Eleanor said, smiling. "I think we're through for today." She set the ramekin down and begin to wipe off the counters.
"How do you make two people fall in love using cake?" I asked suddenly.
Eleanor looked up at me. "You don't. That type of thing is strictly forbidden by both the Witch's Council and the Council on Magic and Human Affairs."
"Then what does love potion cake do?"
"It opens you to the possibility of love," Eleanor said. "Sometimes, people try to deny their true feelings. All love potion cake does is prevent you from doing that."
"I see," I said. Though I wasn't at all sure I did.
"Oh, my roses," Trixie said, coming into the back. "Ava, did you make all these?" she asked, looking around the room at the stacks of cookies and cakes I'd been busy with.
Eleanor beamed proudly at me.
"Caramel calming cupcakes with Venus chocolate frosting," I said, pointing at a decadent-looking bunch of cupcakes that stood piled high on a cupcake tower. The moist, buttery cake was more fragrant than New York in springtime.
"And these?" Trixie asked, pointing at a stack of golden brown rolls with a silvery-cream frosting. They shined like precious metal.
"Crispy morning cupcakes—"
"Crispy morning cupcakes?" Trixie asked. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"Ssh!" Eleanor hushed her sister. "Let her finish."
"—deep fried in happiness-infused butterscotch oil and topped with thick layers of satisfaction frosting." I smiled at her, proud of my own creation. "So that whoever eats them will feel satisfied not just with their cupcake, but with their day. Get it?"
Trixie wiped a tear from her eyes and embraced me. "It's wonderful! Your mother would be so proud!"
The bell above the door chimed. Trixie turned to go back out front, her arms still wrapped around me so that she pulled me with her.
"Oh, hello, Sheriff Knoxx," Trixie said, wiping the corners of her eyes. "How are you? This is our niece, Ava." She pushed me toward him, showing me off. "She's here helping out. She's taking over her mother's side of the business."
Trixie smiled brightly at me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't sure about 'taking over' my mom's side of anything. I was here to learn, and I'd see where that led me. Sheriff Knoxx turned to me and nodded. He was smiling, but the smile looked unnatural on his face.
If Trixie hadn't just called him Sheriff, I might have suspected he was a criminal. There was something dark about him. He was tall and wide. Not fat, just big. Like a wrestler. He had an oafish face with dark bushy eyebrows and eyes that distrusted everyone he met.
"We were just closing up, but I think we can make an exception for the man who keeps Sweetland safe. What can I get you?" Trixie asked.
"An explanation," Sheriff Knoxx said. He pulled a plastic baggie from his overcoat and held it up for us to see.
Eleanor stepped up next to me, holding a caramel cream luck-infused lava cake. "What's that?" she asked the sheriff.
"A receipt," he said, running his hand through his thinning hair and smoothing it down.
He was about forty-five and might have been good-looking once, but his features had frozen into a permanent look of irritation that no woman could find attractive. He used a pair of tweezers to remove the paper from the baggie.
"A receipt for your store," he said more emphatically. It looked like he was waiting for an answer, but I hadn't heard him ask a question.
"I don't get it," I finally said.
Eleanor squeezed my hand, and I took the hint. Be quiet.
"We found David Buyer's body about an hour ago," Sheriff Knoxx said.
"His body?" Trixie and Eleanor gasped.
"That's right. We couldn't understand it at first. No signs of physical trauma. No signs of anything, in fact. Then... we found this." He held the receipt out for us.
"David was here this morning. So?" Trixie asked defensively. "He has a sweet tooth. You know that. What's your point?"
"The point is, we finally came to a working theory." Sheriff Knoxx was clearly enjoying us hanging on his every word. "Cake poisoning."
Eleanor dropped the cupcake she'd been holding. It splattered on the floor. The sheriff started for it, like he was going to clean it up, then stopped himself. He squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest.
"Whatever he ate today killed him. And it looks like it came from your bakery. So tell me, ladies. What did David eat? And who made it?" He fingered a shiny pair of handcuffs that hung from his belt.
Eleanor and Trixie turned to me.
"Oh, my roses," I murmured, thinking the same thing Trixie and Eleanor were thinking. David had eaten two of my cupcakes this morning.
I had just killed my first customer.
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