Witch's Wheel Read online

  “And where would that be, sir?” He turned around and looked at Teagan.

  “A watch shop,” Teagan said. “Caroline should have texted you the address.”

  Charles leaned forward and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yes.” He looked at Teagan through the rearview mirror. “I have it. It’s located in kind of an out of the way place.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yes. Not unsafe or anything. But it’s where, you know, self-healers, acupuncturists, and their kind hang out.” Charles nodded. “But I know exactly where this is.”

  The watch ship was in an area that Charles wouldn’t have ever thought Teagan Bales would care to visit, but he would do as he was told after confirmation. He glanced at his boss. “And, it’s definitely not on the way to your party.”

  “The party can’t get started without me. So it’ll be fine. Just take me there,” Teagan said.

  Charles pulled off from the upscale condo building that Teagan called home. He hadn’t always lived in such a small confine, not even owning the four walls that made up his three bedroom, two-story abode. He’d once lived in the spacious Gabrisette House. Expansive, its foyer as large as one of his bedrooms. It boasted a chef’s kitchen, complete with a chef, a library with books that filled shelves that reached the room’s 12-foot ceilings, and acres of land, all dedicated to his grandmother’s vineyard.

  He peered out of the window as they drove by trees that were just beginning to burst into their fall finery of bright yellow, burnt orange, and vibrant reds. Beautiful autumn days had at one time been his favorite. Harvest time. Cool weather. Ripe grapes. And everywhere you’d look, if you worked a vineyard, life was bustling with activity.

  He missed those days, and that life. And not having them hadn’t been the original plan. The house and the land were all supposed to be his. His grandmother had fostered in him a love for the vineyards and the wine they produced. She had nurtured him, just as she’d done her winery, to be the best and to carry on her legacy, and he had promised her that he would. But after her death all those aspirations had been lost to him. He had tried, but it was the one thing he hadn’t been able to overcome.

  He’d kept the house and the estate only as long as was mandated, because he knew that keeping it hurt his heart more than he could bear. So he sold it – to his grandmother’s friend, Yvonne Giordano. She owned a neighboring vineyard and had called him yearly to ask him to sell it to her. “Your grandmother would want someone to have it who would care for it as she had,” she’d say.

  That surely wasn’t Teagan.

  Perhaps that was why the recent nightmares – because tonight he was trading a piece of his grandmother’s heart and soul in the hope it would heal his heart. It was something that had at one time been precious to him. Priceless. But truth be told, it genuinely seemed that ever since he’d agreed to convey the property, his disposition had been like wine that had become dormant before fermentation, he was stuck. It had been unwanted and unintentional, but the grief that he had buried himself in wouldn’t set him free, and rather than try, he conformed to his state of loss, just like he’d done so many years ago.

  Teagan Bales had spent the last twenty plus years trying to forget what his grandmother had ingrained in him his first twelve. And in so, he did things quite the opposite of how he’d been raised. He’d became an acquisitioner of things. Things coveted by the wealthy and the materialistic, and in doing, so he’d made money – lots of money and that, he decided, gave him all the comfort he had been missing.

  He reached inside his pocket and wrapped his hands around the brooch. In it he found comfort as well.

  He gazed up at the sky and wished for the afternoon to be over. For the Olivia Grafton-Bales Children’s Fundraising Gala’s last hurrah to be hurried to its place of rest.

  He sighed and thought about that last one that had been held. He was supposed to be there that night. At the gala. The night she died. And he had opted to go to a friend’s house instead. He remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.

  “But I need you, Pumpkin,” she had said. She sat at her vanity and eyed him through the mirror. Picking up her favorite brooch – a watch passed down to her from her mother – she pinned it onto the jacket of her evening gown. Then she swiveled in her seat turning toward him.

  “My friends need me too,” he had told her. “And I’ll come back early tomorrow, Grandmother. I’ll help you put all the unused wine back into the cellar. Make sure it goes in the right place.”

  She stood up and reached out her arms. “Well, okay.” She gave him a hug. “I’ll surely appreciate that.” She tousled his hair. “You go on and have your fun. I’ll make out alright without you. I’ve actually hired an entire crew for the afternoon.”

  “See,” he’d said. “You probably won’t even miss me.”

  “That could never happen,” she’d told him, her love for him evident in her eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll tell you all about all the fun you missed.”

  Only she wouldn’t be alright. And she wouldn’t see him tomorrow. Indeed, Teagan would never see his grandmother again.

  After his grandmother’s death, he and his father moved out of the Gabrisette House. Per his grandmother’s instructions, all was left to Teagan with instructions that it couldn’t be sold until he was graduated from high school. So he and his father covered all the furniture with sheets, packed up a few things, and hired caretakers for the grounds and left. Neither one of them ever looking back.

  Until today.

  And today would not only mark the first time he set foot there after he’d moved out, but it would be the last time. The deal he’d struck with Yvonne Giordano made sure of that, permanently ridding him of the last vestige of the life that had been taken away from him

  Chapter Four

  The day was bright and clear, the blue sky dappled with pillow-like clouds. A gentle wind blew past Teagan as he stepped out of the chauffeured car. Glancing up he squinted, then raised his hand over his eyes to shield the glare of the sun. Warm rays streamed down onto his face, and prompted him to pull off the trench coat he’s donned over his tuxedo and throw it into the back seat.

  Charles had pulled up to the curb right in front of the shop Caroline had found. A cobblestoned walkway ran up to a wooden door that had three horizontally placed stained glass panels. Above the shop was a sign with a surreal, Dalian-styled watch and the name, Altered Times.

  The temple bell hanging from the door knob jangled as he opened it, and a short-haired black cat greeted him. Weaving between his legs, it let out a purr, and looked up, its green eyes looking directly into Teagan’s.

  Still holding onto the door’s knob, Teagan broke free of the cat’s gaze and let his eyes wander around the shop as it took hold of his senses. There on the shelf were dried flowers and juicy fruits. A subtle smell of coffee swirled around a light nutty aroma that mingled with the sweet smell of potpourri. Lit scented candles set high on open shelves along the walls gave off an amber glow and a trail of smokiness.

  “Hello,” a woman standing behind the counter said.

  “Hello,” Teagan said. Letting go of the door knob, he tried to step forward, but stumbled over the cat that paced around him as if it had been tasked to investigate the store’s new arrival.

  “Don’t mind the cat, she can be such a witch sometimes,” the woman said wrinkling her nose. “Do come in.”

  Teagan side-stepped the curious cat and slid forward toward the glass counter. As he neared the woman he discovered that she was flipping through a deck of tarot cards, arranging them in a crisscross pattern.

  “Hello,” he said again, this time an edge of uncertainty in his voice. “I’m looking for the watch repair shop.

  “You’ve found it,” she said. The woman that spoke to him was a fair skin black woman with springs of crinkled red hair, and freckles place randomly across her face. Dressed in a multicolored broomstick skirt, she wore two different colored spaghetti strapped
tees, and a jumble of turquoise and silver bangles that clanked as she gestured him to come close.

  Standing at the counter, he noticed the glint of the single necklace of gold and peridot, a green that matched her eyes. She put a stray strand of hair behind her ear, revealing the matching gemstone earrings that dangled from her ears. She had a child-like exuberance about her, although she was certainly older. But trying to pin down an age didn’t seem possible to Teagan.

  “I’m Calayiah,” she said piling more cards on her stack. “But you can call me Layah.”

  “I’m Tegan Bales.”

  “Teagan Bales,” she said it at the same time he did.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Do I know you?” he asked narrowing his eyes. “Have we met before?”

  “Only at this moment,” she said.

  His eyes caught hers. “You knew my name.”

  “I repeated your name,” she said. A look of mischief in her face. “You’ll find I repeat things a lot.” She smiled at him.

  “So. You repair watches here?” he asked as she stacked up the cards.

  “Yes we do,” she said and ran her fingers along the edge of the display case, a sudden glow coming from within it. Teagan looked down to the now lighted case and saw rows of watches gleaming on the shelves. “We were just waiting for you.” She looked up at him, her green eyes gleaming, they seemed to catch the sunlight that filtered in through the stained glass door.

  “Waiting for me?” he asked.

  “Our next customer,” she said and smiled. She pointed behind her and there sat a work bench, one that Teagan hadn’t noticed before. Wooden, it was covered with instruments of some sort, and an oversized tapestry bag with wooden handles sat atop it. Along with a desk lamp, there were pieces of watches scattered about.

  “You’re our next customer,” she said.

  “Oh.” Teagan blinked his eyes. “Of course,” he said. He looked down at the cat that hadn’t left his side since he entered, and moved his leg. The feline seemed to be fascinated by it.

  “Let me see your watch,” she said getting Teagan’s attention. She held out her hand, wiggling her fingers.

  Pulling it from his pocket, he slowly extended his arm across the case handing it to her, unsure if he should entrust something that valuable and sentimental to the offbeat and unconventional shopkeeper. But before he could have any second thoughts, she clasped both of her hands around his and held on tightly. He felt a tiny spark flow between them and tried to pull away. But she held onto him for seconds longer than he liked, then loosened her grip. As she did, his hand opened up and she took the brooch. Turning it over, in almost a caress, she gently stroked it.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  “It’s a family heirloom,” he said.

  “I know.”

  “You know?” a thin smile crossed his lips.

  “It’s old,” she said. “And I wouldn’t think you’d wear something like this.”

  “No. It isn’t something I’d wear.” Thin sarcasm in his voice, which seemed to rouse the cat at his feet, making her purr. “Is this your cat?” he asked.

  “Bothersome thing, isn’t she?” Calayiah said, a grin curling up at the end of her lips.

  “Perhaps you should get her,” Teagan said.

  “How long has your grandmother been gone?” Layah asked, not heeding his request.

  “H-How did you . . . Why would you ask me that?” Teagan asked.

  “Sorry,” she said and looked up at him. “Sometimes I have to remember to be careful with my curiosity. How about I just take a look at this? I won’t be but a minute.” She momentarily studied the back of the watch, then seemed to glide over to the table. Teagan noticed that under her ankle length skirt she was barefoot, and it made him wonder what Caroline had been thinking when she texted the address of this place to Charles.

  Calayiah pulled the watch out from its gemstone casing, sitting it down she looked for a tool among the clutter on the table. She picked up a three-prong watch wrench and aligning it with the notches on the back of it, she pushed down and twisted it off.

  She looked down into the exposed watch back, then up at Teagan. “It’s doesn’t work,” she said.

  Teagan raised his eyebrows, a smirk on his face. “Exactly,” he said. “Can it be fixed?”

  “Of course we can fix it,” she said, a laugh barely escaping telling him his question was silly. “Of course we can.”

  “Who is ‘we?’” Teagan asked. “You speak as if someone else is here.”

  “Someone is,” she said as if questioning his doubt. “It’s my sister, Lybbestre,” Calayiah said and at that the cat scampered off, leaving Teagan’s side and running behind the counter.

  Teagan looked around the store. “Is she here now?” he asked.

  “Who?” Calayiah asked.

  “Your sister?”

  “Oh. Of course she is. She’s right there.” Calayiah pointed with her head to the left of where he stood.

  A woman with hair as black as the cat’s appeared in the corner of his eye, seemingly stepping out of nowhere. And like the other woman, and the feline Teagan noticed, she had green eyes. But her skin was white, and while there may have been some resemblance between the two, Teagan determined that it wasn’t possible that they were really sisters. He leaned over the counter and tried to see where she’d emerged from.

  Calayiah noticed his inquisitive stance and spoke. “She’d been in the back. Hadn’t you, Libby?”

  “Yes. I had,” the woman said. “Repairing watches. It is what we do here.” Her green eyes met with Teagan’s leaving him the feeling that he’d looked into them before.

  Lybbestre wasn’t dressed anything like her “sister.” For starters she wore shoes – three inch heels with an ankle strap. She had on a black A-line skirt that fell mid-calf, and a matching mandarin-collared blouse. Her long hair fell in loose, soft curls and hung all the way down her back. She had a peaches-and-cream complexion, and like the other woman, it was hard to determine her age.

  Teagan looked at both women, becoming increasingly unsure of their capabilities with every moment he spent with them. “Do you think you can repair my watch?” he asked for the third time.

  “Libby,” Calayiah said instead, again ignoring Teagan’s question. “I need you.” She stood behind the work bench and was studying the inside of the watch Teagan had brought in under a loupe lamp.

  “What is it, Layah?” she asked. She too ignored Teagan’s question and walked over to her sister.

  “I think you should look at this,” Calayiah said.

  Lybbestre gingerly took the watch from Calayiah. “What a beautiful timepiece,” Lybbestre said, she turned and smiled at Teagan before she picked up a magnifying glass from the table. Grasping the handle, she held it over the watch and examined it for a long moment before she spoke again. “The assembly on this was done by hand.” Her words came out breathlessly, and there was passion and admiration in her voice. “Expertly manufactured by a quality craftsman.” She nodded her head. “I can see why your grandmother was so fond of it.”

  Teagan let out a grunt. “And how do you know about my grandmother?” Teagan asked.

  Lybbestre looked at Calayiah and back at Teagan. “My sister told me,” she said.

  Lybbestre walked behind the chunky table and sat on a stool next to where Calayiah stood. She gently laid the gemstone case of the brooch inside a velvet lined box, and concentrated on the watch inside.

  “Mr. Bales, come.” She looked up at Teagan and beckoned for him. “Let me show you how your watch works.”

  “It doesn’t work,” Teagan said, but did as directed, going around the glass display case, he strode over to the table standing on the opposite side of the women.

  “Layah, may we have some light, please?” Lybbestre asked.

  Calayiah moved her hand over the wall as if she’d flipped a switch, and the entire back area was flooded with light.

  “How did you do that
?” Teagan asked, surprise in his voice.

  “The switch,” Calayiah said, a sly smile appearing on her face, and pointed to one on the wall.

  “Was that there before?” Teagan asked.

  Calayiah giggled. “Of course it was.”

  Lybbestre moved the loupe mounted lamp directly in front of her. She put latex cots over the tips of her fingers and began to disassemble the watch under the lighted magnifying lens. Speaking in even tones, she shared her movements with Teagan.

  “You use the stem, here,” Lybbestre said and pointed to it, “when you wind a watch up. I’m sure you knew that, Teagan.” She looked up at him. “May I call you Teagan?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Teagan said, the lack of interest cut deep in his voice.

  “But what you are actually doing is building up energy,” she said. “The energy needed to make everything inside work.” She picked up a small metal tool, changed her mind about using it and laid it back on the table, then searched for another one.

  “How do you find anything in all this mess?” Teagan asked. He waved his hand across the expanse of the table, it seemed more cluttered close up.

  “Things come to you in time,” Lybbestre said.

  Teagan didn’t know what that meant, but he did know he was losing patience. He looked down at his watch, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

  Lybbestre located the tool she wanted and after a few twists and clicks on the innards of the timepiece, she laid what had been inside out on a smooth, brown cloth. “Do you know what these are?” she asked, pointing to the pieces she’d assembled on the table.

  “Gears?” Teagan said and shrugged.

  “Wheels!” Calayiah said. “They’re wheels!”

  “Gears? Wheels?” Teagan said not understanding Calayiah’s excitement. “What difference does it make?”

  “They are the same,” Lybbestre said. She passed her hands over the top of the shiny objects. “But what my sister is saying is that each of the gears, as you called them, has the word ‘wheel’ in its name.”