Page 92 of The Soulmate Bakery

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The two of us whipped around, Orion standing behind me, to see something terrifying coming towards us.

Inspector Vale.

His wings erupted on his back as he flew towards me and Orion, his grey hair flying wildly and his gold eyes blazing. The crowd of townspeople that we had blocked out started to come into focus and the reality of what had just happened finally hit me.

‘Under arrest?’ I echoed, shocked. ‘Why would we be under arrest?’

‘Not we, lass,’ Inspector Vale said, his tone full of rage. ‘You! You are under arrest.’

‘What for?’ I squeaked out, horrified. Seriously, how long was his wingspan? His wings looked like they could envelop me in one go and crush me.

‘For cursing this town,’ Inspector Vale said, and his gold eyes flashed. ‘For cursing me.’

OK, so I hadn’t accounted for possibly getting arrested for all of this. I thought I’d get another point on my licence and a grounding. But arrested? I couldn’t go to jail. Could you bake in jail? Who was even in the Maple Falls jail? Wasn’t it just people who drank too much faerie punch and people Granny Fable found annoying – seriously, that woman had too much influence on the town. Maybe she could get me out of jail.

Jail.

My panic was mounting, my chest rapidly rising and falling. The day’s events were catching up to me, and I could feel myself veering into a panic attack. Behind me, Orion made a sound of concern, but when he moved, Inspector Vale let out a low growl. He wasn’t letting me leave here without cuffs on, and no one could save me. Not even Orion.

‘Inspector Vale.’

Mum’s voice was cool, like a droplet of condensation going down a glass of water on a hot day. She strode up our front pathway with Ivy right behind her. And behind both of them was …

‘Is that my father?’ Orion said, confused.

‘Walking with my mother?’ I added.

The two of us must have looked like spooked animals, because we definitely felt like it.

‘I understand you’d like to arrest my daughter,’ Mum said, when she’d stopped right before our little unlikely trio.

Inspector Vale drew himself up to his full height, his wings curling behind his back in a sign of respect. Whether it was for my mother or his boss, I didn’t know.

‘Yes, Madam Mayor,’ he said, and then he inclined his head to Orion’s father. ‘Chief Inspector Hawthorne.’

‘Vale,’ Chief Inspector Hawthorne greeted him, looking amused. ‘Glad to see you’re done spouting poetry.’

I felt a smile twitch at the edge of my mouth, but I stamped it down because it really didn’t feel like the right time to give in.

‘I understand that Maya is being accused of cursing the town,’ Mum said, and I felt my face flush. I waited for Mum to agree with Inspector Vale. I waited for the Coven letter to arrive right before me. ‘But it appears that my daughter had no intention of cursing anyone. In fact, the cookies she’d made were distributed, incorrectly, by –’

‘Me.’ Ivy Blackthorn stepped in. ‘I’m the one who distributed the cookies on the day of the fall bake sale. I was flustered, and I didn’t check my inventory before I put the cookies out. If I had, I would’ve noticed that I wasn’t the one who baked them. I would’ve checked with Maya.’ Her gaze found mine and her eyes were full of an apology I wasn’t even sure I deserved. ‘So, if the fault lies with Maya, it also lies with me. Here, arrest me.’

Dramatically, Ivy raised both her hands in front of a very flushed looking Inspector Vale. I imagine it was probably hard for him to forget just how he’d spent the last few weeks lovesick for Ivy.

‘On top of that,’ Mum said, casting a side-eye at Ivy. ‘We’d need to consider the whole picture.’

I stared dumbfounded at my mother. The whole picture? When had that ever happened?

‘Maya cast an incorrect spell, which many, many young witches do,’ Mum said, her tone conversational because she knew the whole town was listening with eager ears. ‘Ivy accidentally spread those cookies. Once Maya found out about that spell, she worked with Orion to fix it.’

‘Exactly,’ Orion cut in, his voice pitching louder. ‘If you want to arrest Maya, you’ll have to arrest me too, because I didn’t alert any authorities about a still provisional-licenced witch casting the spell.’

Orion raised his hands too. Inspector Vale looked like he would rather give himself dental surgery than actually cuff the chief inspector’s son.

‘Instead, the two of them worked together to save the town,’ Mum said, capturing our attention again. ‘They studied the spell, and Orion’s conclusion was correct: the only way to break the curse was for Maya to find her soulmate.’ Then her eyes dropped to where Orion and I were linked together by the silver thread. ‘Albeit I’m not sure it needed to be done right outside our house. On the street, for that matter.’