A Potion to Die For: A Magic Potion Mystery by Heather Blake Read Free Book Online

strawberry-blond hair, a button nose, and naturally plump red lips. She wasn’t beautiful, but she was pretty, and had immediately caught the eye of Dudley Pritcherd, the accountant who kept the books for her café and catering business. One of my love potions later . . . and they’d been happily married for more than a year now.
    She fanned her face. “Oh, I’m fine. It’s Dudley I’m worried about.” Her eyebrows drew downward, and her voice dropped as she added, “I finally had a chance to give him the potion you made, but so far I can’t hardly see any effects, despite my pulling out all the stops. All. The. Stops. I don’t hardly know what else to do. You have to help me!”
    Two days ago, Emmylou had stopped into the Little Shop of Potions, looking for a potion for Dudley, who’d suddenly gone from Dudley Do-Right in the bedroom to Dudley Do-Wrong. Very wrong. Very, well, dud-ly.
    I had concocted a virility potion, one of my lowest doses. I’d found it was better—much better—to start off on the mild side, or risk side effects that rivaled those of the popular little blue pills men of a certain age took to combat bedroom . . . dudliness.
    Although some potions (and liquid hexes, too) could be splashed on another person or worn like perfume, Dudley’s potion had to be ingested. And, trust me—a little went a long way.
    “You don’t think that . . .” Color rose high on her cheeks.
    “What?”
    Her nose wrinkled. “You don’t think he’s fallen out of love with me, do you? Could that be the cause?” Waving a hand, she shook her head. “No, that’s crazy. The potion you gave us guarantees love, right?”
    “Well,” I began, “people can fall out of love, but I don’t think that’s the case here. Dudley loves you.”
    She nodded. “Of course he does! I was just being a little neurotic because it’s been so long since—”
    I held up my hand to cut her off. I did not need to know. Even at a low dose, the potion should have worked—my potions were, after all, magical.
    Unless . . . Was this a case of the Backbone Effect at work?
    If so, since force of will was more powerful than the Leilara drops, the potion wouldn’t have worked because Dudley
wanted
to stay dud-ly.
    But that didn’t make much sense, so I searched for another reason why the potion might have failed. “Did you give him the whole bottle?”
    “Oh yes. Poured it straight into his after-dinner beer.”
    Aha!
“That particular potion wasn’t supposed to be diluted.” Some potions could be mixed with other liquids, but not that one. “It lessens the effect. Remember?” No wonder he’d been such a dud. Emmylou and I talked about the necessary steps to take before she left the shop yesterday. Plus, the instructions had been printed on a nice, neat little tag.
    She rocked on her heels and smoothed her lavender miniskirt, then fluffed the ruffles on her bright purple blouse. “I remember. But it didn’t just
lessen
the effect. It did
nothing
. Not so much as a—” Her gaze lingered on the limp flag.
    I held up my hand, palm out. “I don’t need the details.” Why did people always think I needed the details? “The potion needs to be in its pure form for maximum”—I stressed the word—“
potency
.”
    “But, Carly, I can’t just give him the potion straight from the bottle.”
    “Why not?” Dudley hadn’t ever had trouble taking one of my concoctions before. When she didn’t say anything, realization hit. “You didn’t tell him you came to me for a potion?”
    This happened more than I liked, someone slipping another person a potion. If not for the Backbone Effect it would make me a nervous wreck. But because of that rule, I knew that the potions would have little effect on unsuspecting targets—unless they were unconsciously amenable to the potion’s treatment.
    She fidgeted with her big-hooped earring. “I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He’s already feeling so poorly about not being able to .