Her white hair was piled into a tight bun, her eyes as sharp as ever.
“Well, bless my soul, it’s Owen McAllister,” she cooed.
She bustled around the desk, skirts swishing, and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug.He shot me a sheepish look over Louise’s shoulder.
“Hey, Mrs.Sandpepper,” he managed, patting her back before prying himself loose.“You remember Piper Wakefield?”
Louise gave me a once-over that managed to both judge and dismiss me in one sweep.Then she harrumphed.
“Hello, Mrs.Sandpepper,” I said brightly, refusing to flinch.“You look well.”
Louise pivoted right back to Owen and smiled as if I had ceased to exist.“What brings you here, dear?”
“I was wondering if you could show us the town archives,” he said.He slipped his hand into mine, clearly making a point.“We’re looking for some history.”
I tried not to beam like a teenager at the small gesture of solidarity.
“For you, dear, anything,” Louise said, then leaned in to Owen and stage-whispered, “I’m not sure about her, though.”
“Hey—” I started.
“Piper is the new owner of Enchanted Blossoms,” Owen announced like he was dropping a trump card.
Louise’s eyebrows shot up.She spared me another quick look, then jerked her head.“Follow me.”
“Why’d you tell her that?”I murmured as we trailed behind.
“I thought it would help,” he whispered back with a helpless shrug.
Louise led us down a short hallway and into a small room.She flipped on the light.The “archives” turned out to be several tall, scarred filing cabinets lined up against the far wall.Late-afternoon sun streamed through wooden blinds, dust motes spiraling lazily in the light.
“Have at it,” she said, and left without another word.
I stared at the cabinets.“That’s it?How are we supposed to find anything in this?”
“I’ll start down there, you start down here, we meet in the middle,” Owen suggested.“Divide and conquer.”
He looked so proud of himself I couldn’t argue.“Fine.”
I opened the top drawer of the far-right cabinet.It was stuffed with hanging files and old manila folders in absolutely no discernable order.
“Do you know what we’re looking for?”Owen asked as he pulled open another drawer.
“Not really.All my aunt said was there was an old legend that mentioned Hickory Hollow.That long before it was a town, people said this land was… enchanted.A magical place.Somewhere the borders between worlds wore thin.”The words felt strange on my tongue now that I knew magical wasn’t exactly metaphorical around here.
Owen froze, eyes going wide.“Before it was a town?”
“Yeah.”I glanced over at him.“Why?You know something?”
He snapped out of it fast.“No.Just… sounds familiar.Let’s keep looking.”
I frowned, but turned back to the cabinet.File after file yielded nothing helpful.Zoning disputes, land deeds, property taxes.Perfectly boring things for a perfectly boring town that apparently sat on a supernatural freeway.
Every so often I sneaked a look at Owen.He’d migrated to a shelf of bound newspapers, carefully turning the brittle pages of ancient editions of the Hickory Hollow Mirror.I could smell the mustiness from across the room.
I moved to the next cabinet and, to change it up, started with the bottom drawer.When I tugged it open, I expected more chaos.
Instead, there was only one thing inside.
