“Good to see you Shauna,” I said awkwardly.
A few witch children were wandering the shop with their parents, dressed in festive shades of orange, red, and ochre.Almost every child in the village frequented Shauna’s Confectioneries.Grandma only allowed us to come on each of our birthdays, claiming that eating too much candy was an early, sugary death.The visits totaled to about three times a year, once for me, another for Christabella, and the last for Sonny.
“May I ask why you’ve come back?”Shauna asked as I grabbed a small striped paper bag on the counter, bypassing the medium and large sizes.The other customers were filling theirs up with scoops of multi-colored candies.One child, teetering on her small feet, held a bag almost as large as she was.
“For candy, obviously,” I said with a smile.
Shauna laughed.“I meant to the village.How is everything aboveground?”
One of the children's parents shot us a dirty look at the word “aboveground”.
“Fine,” I said in a lower voice.I glanced down at the other two sizes of bags.I traded my small one for a medium.Why not?Ma wasn’t paying for my candy anymore.“I’m here on a Witch Committee assignment.”
Shauna nodded.“Does it have to do with bringing humans down here?”
I raised my brows.“How did you know?”
The parent shot us another dirty look.Shauna rummaged through a drawer and handed me a pair of clean linen gloves.“Here you are.Help yourself.”
I slipped on the gloves and wandered to the far wall.Had news spread about Edmund after all?Beatrice had sworn she wouldn’t say anything, but rumors had a tendency to fly here.With any luck, they weren’t too scathing or sensational.
I surveyed the shelf of colorful sweets before me.
Gumballs?Definitely not.Marshmallows?Yuck.Peppermints?Perhaps those might help with Edmund’s parched throat.
I shoveled a small helping of them in my bag, then added some salted caramels in for good measure.Edmund seemed like he’d enjoy salted caramels.
On the bottom shelf was an assortment of roasted nuts.Honeyed almonds, sugared pine nuts, roasted peanuts in shells.Edmund liked roasted peanuts.And, apparently, so did everyone else in the village.The shelled peanuts were entirely gone.
When the family paid for their candy and exited the shop, I stood up.“Shauna, are there any more peanuts?”
“I’m afraid not,” Shauna said, brushing her hands on her apron as she approached me.She looked oddly nervous.“A human came by and bought all of them from me a few days ago.Did she come with you?”
I blinked.“She?”I wondered if Shauna had mistaken Maddox for a woman.He did have long hair, but it was nearly impossible to mistake him for a woman, even in skirts.
“Yes.A human woman, older than you,” Shauna said.“Bony stature, mousy hair.Not the friendliest, I daresay.”
“Perhaps she’s a guest of some other witch?”
Shauna nodded.“Perhaps.”
I left the shop uneasily, knowing neither of us really believed that possibility.Had Shauna been mistaken, or was there really a human I didn’t know about in Witch Village?Who else would bring a human down here?For all I knew, the witches who were amenable to humans all migrated aboveground.
When I reentered the shack, Maddox, Edmund, and Beatrice were all inside.There was hardly room to take more than two uninterrupted steps without bumping into anyone, so I stayed where I was at the entrance and closed the door behind me.
“Oh good, you’re back,” Beatrice said.“We need to move this man.”
“My name is Edmund,” Edmund said.
“This man,” Beatrice continued, “is fully healed.We must not suffocate him in close quarters lest he falls sick again after all my trouble nursing him back to health.”
Sweat pricked the back of my neck.I thought that I’d at least have a few more days to decide where to take Edmund next.Wherever Edmund went, I would have to go.As his tour guide, I couldn’t very well leave him alone.We couldn’t return to Alexander’s place since he had extended family over, as he’d told Christabella.I tugged on my braid in frustration.
“Beatrice, is there any way you can keep Edmund here for a little longer?”I pleaded.“Just one more week?”
Beatrice frowned.“You heard what I said, Giselle.Plus, I don’t want anyone to know I’ve been harboring a human.We must move him elsewhere.”
I blushed as Edmund blinked from his spot on the bed.I knew him to be a courteous man, but Beatrice’s utter lack of manners might be too much for him to handle.
