Tansy

Chapter 1

I skid to a stop in front of Jewels Cafe and pull open the door. The bell jangles and a voice from the back shouts out, " I'll be with you in a minute!"

I head behind the counter to the back room to find my cousin Julian up to his eyeballs in boxes of... dildos?

"Hey cuz, what's up? " I ask, raising an eyebrow and giving him a wink while looking meaningfully at the 6 foot tower of boxes.

Flushing slightly, he says, "There was a minor mix-up at the post office. The Magical Rooster got all my coffee beans and I got Junipers dildoes. The mailman should be here soon to sort out the delivery."

"Well I'm glad you aren't planning to put those in the coffee.", I joked.

Just then a large truck pulls up to the back door and a uniformed woman steps out. " I'm sorry about the mix-up Julian. I will have this all fixed in no time!", she says.

Within minutes the stock room is emptied of dildos and full of cases of coffee beans. And Julian and I are sitting down with cups of coffee.

"So, what happened?", he asks me.

I explain to him that none of my spells ever work out right, especially the spells for all my Green Witch classes. The ones that I should have excelled at. I am named after the Tansy plant after all and my power is drawn from the Earth and plants. I'm a Green Witch for Goddess sake! Dad always used to say that my hair was as bright a yellow as a Tansy and he always called me "his pretty little flower ".

"So why does everything go wrong?!", I wail. "I'm on academic probation at school. If I don't fix this before the spring semester ends they will expel me! And to make matters worse ", I say " my professor offers to "Help" me with "private tutoring" at his house" I tell Julian. Using air quotes to emphasize my point.

"You've got to help me pass! I know you graduated from Witch University so you are the perfect person to help me.", I say.

"OK, T. I'll help as much as I can. First thing is to go to the library on Monday and research what is going on with your magic. Until then you can help out here in the Cafe as long as you promise not to use your magic or make any Pumpkin Spice Lattes. We had a problem with the spice mixture and I need to get a fresh batch.", he says.

This intrigued me do I asked him what the problem was.

"Well", he says fidgeting, " It kinda had a mate spell on the spices. Anyone named after jewels found mates. Lots of mates."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I am named after a flower.", I say as I grin at him.