Peach Pies and Alibis (8 page)

“Who would make that kind of sacrifice?” Ella Mae was astounded. “You’d have to be
insane to offer to spend the rest of your life as a tree. Does the Lady of the Ash
keep her human memories? Is she conscious inside that skin of bark? What happens if
she regrets her choice?”

Sissy made a sympathetic noise. “I’ve often asked myself the same questions, Ella
Mae. And, yes, I believe there are times when the Lady
aches
for the past. I believe she is most lonely right after her transformation. Many of
us will visit her. We’ll talk to her and play music for her, but you’ll see all these
things for yourself at the harvest.”

Ella Mae reached out to touch the ancient ash, but after recalling how the tree had
caused her such pain a few minutes ago, she withdrew her hand. “Did you know this
woman? Before she changed?”

“No,” her mother answered. “She became the Lady during your grandmother’s time. And
she has guided us well. She has been firm, but fair. Melissa would have been the same
way.”

“Do you think she was murdered?” Ella Mae whispered, seeing Melissa Carlisle’s open
mouth stretched into a crooked yawn.

Reba snorted. “I’m gonna look into it, don’t you fret. But for now, we’ve got to get
you back to town. You have to rest after the Awakening and I’m off to find Dee.”

“Wait!” Ella Mae grabbed Reba’s wrist. “I need to hear the truth first. About all
of you. It’s time I knew.” She looked at her mother. “I know your gift involves growing
things. Mostly roses. But what about the times I’ve seen you with young couples in
your garden? Standing in front of the Luna rosebush?”

“I can predict whether or not their love will last,” her mother replied. “It only
works during full and new moons.
Before taking their marriage vows, people who’ve heard of my gift will travel to my
garden to find out if they’re meant to be together.”

Ella Mae nodded. She’d seen such a ritual from the window of the guest cottage. At
the time, she hadn’t known what she was witnessing. Now she did. She turned to Sissy.

“Your gift involves music, right? Are you like a muse?”

Sissy smiled. “I
am
a muse. Music can influence people, so I try to increase its power. At my school,
I only accept girls of good character. After they complete their training, these young
women will go out into the world and make it a better place through their music. Mind
you, they’re not all magical, but I treat them as if they were.”

Verena put her hand over her heart. “My talent is much more subtle. I know for certain
whether or not someone is telling the truth. You cannot lie in my presence! I get
a tingling whenever someone does. And I’m a politician’s wife. Can you imagine all
the tingles I get each day?” She guffawed loudly.

“Dee captures the spirit of animals and preserves them in her sculptures,” Ella Mae
said. “But what about you, Reba? I’ve never seen you do anything out of the ordinary.”

Reba rolled her eyes. “’Course not! I don’t use my superpowers unless there’s a fight
to be had. When I make a fist, there’s nothin’ ordinary about me.”

“She’s our protector,” Adelaide said simply. “For years, she’s kept an eye on both
of us, but now it’s her sole task to keep you safe.”

Ella Mae was stunned. “So you’re like a fairy ninja? One who does housework on the
side?”

“More like a pixie assassin,” Reba replied matter-of-factly. “And we’re not fairies
or pixies or jinns or angels or any of those things. Those are just names folks gave
us. But I am a different breed than you or your mama or your aunts. My kind serves
your kind.”

Ella Mae didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?”

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled on my account,” Reba said. “It’s an honor to be chosen.
A guardian needs to be sharp witted, loyal, and willin’ to endure years of intense
trainin’. I can take out a threat in a hundred different ways.” Her expression softened.
“It was always my dream to do this, Ella Mae. I just never counted on how much I’d
end up carin’ about all of you. We’re supposed to keep an emotional distance, but
that went out the window the first time I bounced you on my knee.”

Ella Mae’s mother stood up and brushed a few blades of dried grass from her pants.
“This isn’t the time to answer all of your questions, Ella Mae. We need to talk to
Dee and find out exactly what happened to Melissa Carlisle.”

Sissy continued to glance at the ash tree. “And we
must
choose a replacement.”

“We should all be especially vigilant until the harvest!” Verena shouted, allowing
Adelaide and Reba to pull her to her feet. “Opal and Loralyn Gaynor would like nothing
better than to see a woman of their choosing become the next Lady.”

“I knew it.” Ella Mae groaned. “Always Loralyn. I am never going to escape her, am
I?”

“There’s no need to run from her, honey. You’re about to come into your own. No one’s
ever gonna bully you again.” Reba smiled and put out a hand.

Ella Mae took it and then gasped in surprise as the tiny woman pulled her off the
ground in a quick, effortless motion.

“How did you—” she began and then waved off the question. “I guess there are a few
things I need to get used to.”

“Yes, and there’s so little time.” Her mother beckoned for her to walk toward the
wall of boulders. “Your most important task is to learn to keep our secrets. We can’t
go over all the rules now, but you mustn’t talk about your gifts
or this place to anyone. If you do, the pain you felt during your Awakening will feel
like a mild pinch in comparison to what happens to an oath breaker.”

Reba pulled a licorice twist from her pocket and bit off the end as if to emphasize
the point.

“I won’t breathe a word,” Ella Mae promised. “But people already think I’m a bit odd.
It’s like they sense I’m different.”

“You are different. It’s why you’ve always felt like you never fit it anywhere but
here,” Verena said. “Wasn’t the rainbow’s call the first sound that reached right
down into your heart and sang inside you like the sweetest song you ever heard? Wasn’t
it like coming home after a long, long trip?”

Ella Mae nodded. And yet, there was one other thing that made her feel that way, though
she wasn’t about to mention it aloud. She’d been in grade school the first time she’d
heard Hugh Dylan’s voice. It had rung through her like church bells, deeply resonant,
and uncannily familiar.

“Yes. It was like something I’d been waiting for all my life,” she told Verena instead.

Passing between two apple trees, Ella glanced at the boughs, momentarily awestruck
by the glistening green, gold, and ruby fruit hanging from every branch.
I bet I could make an amazing pie with those apples,
she thought and then hurried to catch up to the rest of the women.

One by one, they put their hands against the rock wall and the rocks became as transparent
as vapor. Suddenly, they were on the other side, standing on the well-worn path in
the middle of the blue green hills.

“How does that work?” Ella Mae asked, still feeling a little dizzy.

“We have a few wild places left. Places only our kind may enter. They’re usually deep
in the woods, but some are underground,” her mother said. “We protect our sanctuaries
with our lives. Only those with our gifts can find the entrance.”

Ella Mae thought about Melissa Carlisle’s secluded house. “You all live apart from
everyone else. Except for Verena, none of you can see another house, and Verena’s
blocked her view of her neighbor by growing a hedge row maze between the two properties.”

“Our gifts only flourish close to nature,” Sissy said.

“And Ms. Carlisle? What was her talent?”

Reba looked grim. “She spoke the language of bees. That meant she was a mighty good
seer. The bees would whisper of things to come. They were mostly about crops or weather
and such, but they’d also warn her if bad things were afoot.”

“And don’t go asking about the bad things!” Verena cried. “There’s no time to talk
about them! We need to get to Melissa’s hives and see if they left us a message. Since
Dee’s undoubtedly busy with the authorities, it’s up to us to search for clues.”

“Not you, Ella Mae,” her mother said firmly. “You need rest.”

Ella Mae shook her head. “I’ll rest later. I found Ms. Carlisle. I need to know what
happened to her.”

“Then I’m drivin’.” Reba reached for the Jeep keys. “You sit with Chewy, drink down
a big Gatorade, and eat the peanut butter and banana sandwich I fixed you. Havin’
an Awakenin’ is like runnin’ two marathons back-to-back. If you don’t feel like a
complete jellyfish when we get to Ms. Carlisle’s, I might let you out of the car.”

Knowing that Reba enjoyed fussing over her, Ella Mae smiled wearily. She then wriggled
her fingers and said, “Don’t boss me around. Now that I’ve found my mojo, I might
bake you into a pie.”

Reba stopped and took her by the elbow. “None of this is a joke, ya hear?” She gestured
at the mostly empty parking
area. “You don’t know who’s listenin’. You’d best practice that vow of silence startin’
right now.”

Chastised, Ella Mae got into her Jeep, sank back against the seat, and tried to eat
her sandwich with one hand while fending off Chewy’s eager tongue with the other.
Reba was right. Once she’d finished her food and guzzled down the Gatorade, she closed
her eyes, too exhausted to hold them open a second longer. Every inch of her body
hurt. Even her bones ached. If the seat belt hadn’t been holding her in place, Ella
would have slumped over like a top-heavy bag of flour.

When they reached Melissa’s cabin, there was no outward sign that a woman had been
found dead and taken away via ambulance. All was quiet. Even the birds and squirrels
seemed reluctant to chirp or chatter.

“How’d you get in?” Reba asked.

“The back door was unlocked.”

Reba nodded. “Stay here with Chewy. I’m going to check out the house. Your mama and
aunts might need you to go with them to the hives.”

Ella Mae was too tired to argue. While Chewy danced across both front seats, whining
to be let out, she kept her eyes shut until she heard cars approaching.

“You’re chalk white!” Verena exclaimed after opening the Jeep’s passenger door.

“I’m fine,” Ella Mae insisted and all but fell out of the car.

Luckily, Verena grabbed her before she could. “Melissa’s honey will restore you. She
made a few jars with each harvest that have healing powers the likes of which I’ve
never seen. And I know where she kept those jars. Come with Aunt Verena, Charleston
Chew!”

Like the rest of Ella Mae’s family, Verena insisted on calling Chewy by his full name.
In truth, he seemed to behave better when they did. Hastening to obey, he pranced
over Ella Mae’s legs, making her wince in pain, and straight into Verena’s strong
arms.

“I am not carrying you, you spoiled thing!” Verena declared, hugging him even tighter.
That small gesture told Ella Mae how much of an effect Melissa Carlisle’s death had
on her unflappable aunt.

Too weak to walk, Ella Mae watched her mother and Sissy leave their cars and disappear
down the path leading to the beehives. Anxious to join them, she was more than happy
to accept the handful of crackers slathered with honey that Verena offered her.

“These will perk you up!” her aunt said and stood back to watch the results of Melissa’s
golden elixir.

The first thing Ella Mae tasted was sunlight. Following that initial note was a burst
of sweetness and warmth. Ella Mae envisioned a field of buttercups, thistles, and
rain-drenched grass. She sighed in contentment as a final hint of lavender coated
her mouth, and reached for a second cracker.

The honey began to work right away. To Ella Mae, it felt like a salve was coating
her muscles and sinking into her flaccid bones. Enveloped in a blanket of gentle,
restorative heat, she greedily finished the rest of the crackers.

“There!” Verena cried triumphantly. “Your cheeks look like your mama’s roses again!”

Taking a long drink of water from the large bottle Reba had left in the car, Ella
Mae jumped out of the Jeep, refreshed and energized. “That honey is amazing. What
else can it do? Cure cancer?”

“Sadly, no,” Verena said. “But it’ll knock out a cold or flu in one punch.”

Chewy wriggled out of Verena’s arms and headed for the narrow path between the trees.
In the clearing, Sissy and Ella Mae’s mother were standing in front of one of the
hives, their heads close together as they murmured softly to each other.

“The bees are gone,” her mother said without turning.

“Was there a message?” Verena asked.

Sissy opened the closest box, revealing a dead spider and cluster of tiny red petals
stuck to the honeycombs within.

“I don’t know the meaning behind the spider, but the flowers are
Achillea
blossoms,” Ella Mae’s mother said. “
Achillea
is a symbol of war. The bees gathered these blooms to tell us that Melissa’s death
was no accident. And then they fled. They don’t believe Havenwood is safe anymore.”
She looked at Verena, the firstborn of the LeFaye sisters, with a question in her
eyes.

“We must prepare!” Verena’s voice was steely and cold. “Sissy, you and Adelaide find
a suitable replacement to become the next Lady of the Ash. We have—”

She stopped and pivoted. Reba had entered the clearing, silent as a breath of air.
Striding over to them, she held out her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Nothin’s
out of the ordinary inside the house. Did the bees have anythin’ to say?”

Sissy pointed at the flowers adhering to the honeycomb. “They’ve confirmed our greatest
fear—that we have enemies who are willing to commit murder to gain control over the
Lady.”

A guttural snarl rose from Reba’s throat. “I’m ready. I dare them to come out from
the shadows and into the open.” She cracked her knuckles and grinned wickedly. “I’ve
been waitin’ for a chance to show off my skills.”

Verena’s gaze was distant. “Reba, I’d like you to move into Partridge Hill until after
the harvest. Once you’re settled, you and I will begin the hunt for Melissa’s killer.”