Half-Baked Curses: A Paranormal Cozy Mystery by Sarah Noffke

Author:Sarah Noffke [Noffke, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: One-Twenty-Six Press
Published: 2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

Anything But Ordinary

Again, Apothe-Cadabra felt different when we stepped into the shop the next morning. Malcolm and I had spent last night trying to help him recover his lost memory, but nothing we tried seemed to break through the barrier. That last memory, the one where he closed the Gloaming and lost Elaine, was key to remembering everything else. It was the block, but for some reason, we couldn’t remove it.

We’d considered going to the Gloaming, thinking that the location might spark something, but the darkness of night prevented it. The wellspring didn’t just attract animals at night, but also magic seekers like hedge witches and various magical races. Malcolm and I agreed it was best to wait for daylight.

Exhausted from multiple attempts at memory exercises, Malcolm went to sleep early. I curled up on my beat-up old sofa with Bagpipes and flipped through the new books that Tyler had given me. They definitely made my small house feel warmer when stacked on the bookshelf. It was as if new life had sprouted in my home. Books, like plants, felt like potential and growth. They had a grounding effect, as well as symbolizing reaching toward the sun.

Refreshed from our attempts at magic and memory retrieval, Malcolm and I entered the apothecary, hoping to make a break in the case. Ophelia had said she only needed a day to analyze the samples we’d given her. Just like the day before, Shadow beat us to Apothe-Cadabra. Also, like yesterday, the shop of herbs and magical potions seemed different, like it grew overnight, even if just in potential.

“I determined what killed that baking judge,” Ophelia said, crushing dried herbs in a mortar with a pestle. “It was a very impressive spell, not something I’ve seen in a long time.”

“That’s interesting.” Malcolm arched an eyebrow. “What was it?”

“The chocolate and pistachio cookie,” Ophelia answered, nodding at the samples sitting on the counter sealed in their plastic bags.

“That was the last cookie that Preston ate,” I reasoned, inspecting the dark cookie, like trying to see the ingredient that made it deadly.

“Timing was everything with this particular baking spell,” Ophelia explained, putting down her pestle and pinching a bit of the herbs in her fingertips, checking their consistency. “Like I said, this was advanced magic. A person has to really know what they’re doing in order to pull off the right results with something like this.”

My eyes widened as Malcolm and I exchanged nervous glances. We had to be thinking the same thing. Hilary was the most experienced baker in the competition, both in terms of baking experience and magic. Bonnie didn’t know advanced magic. According to her, she didn’t really know how to bake.

“What was in the cookies that was lethal?” Malcolm asked, refocusing on Ophelia.

She’d poured the contents from the mortar onto a set of brass scales. “The cookies included a magical rising agent known as lewis powder. That ingredient is fairly common in magical baking. It was combined with a much rarer component never used in baking.

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