The Haunted - Jessica Verday [58]
He murmured a good-bye and hung up.
As soon as I put the phone down, I went over to my supply box and dug through my oils until I found the one labeled MACINTOSH APPLE. Then I pulled out a bottle of Burnt Vanilla and returned to my desk.
Flipping to a fresh notebook page, I jotted down the ingredients from the back of the FALLOWEEN label: one part cinnamon leaf, one part clove, two parts patchouli, and two parts Peru Balsam. Filling a new transfer pipette with some of the apple oil, I carefully squeezed two drops into the bottle. Then I grabbed a second pipette and added one drop of the vanilla.
Re-capping it, I gently shook it again.
When I smelled it for the second time, it had a nice hint of apple resting on the edges of smoke and leaves. But it wasn’t quite where I wanted it yet, and I knew some aging would be necessary.
I placed the bottle back on my desk and glanced through my notebook. On one of the pages I had scribbled some notes for an idea to make perfumes based on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Specific scents for Katrina, Ichabod, Brom, and the Horseman. It was actually a pretty good idea. Tourists could come tour the cemetery and town, and then stop by Abbey’s Hollow and take home a sampler pack of perfumes based on the legend.
I could design the packaging to look like old-fashioned apothecary bottles with medicin-al-type labels, and set up a section of the store to mimic the Sleepy Hollow setting. I’d have vintage schoolbooks, and pumpkins, with scatterings of dried leaves. Maybe I could offer hot cider and pumpkin pie when people came in.
I tried to capture some of my thoughts, and suddenly my fingers were flying across the page. My mind was racing a mile a minute, and my handwriting grew wilder and wilder as I wrote down everything I could think of. Pumpkin pie? Old books? Apothecary bottles?
Nikolas? But my pen stilled when I wrote Nikolas’s name. What would a scent for him be like?
Immediately, chocolate came to mind. Warm and sweet. And almonds. Something that added an edge. Leather was an obvious choice. Remnants of old boots and a horse saddle, worn with age. Maybe taffy, or cotton candy and caramel-covered apples. Sticky Halloween treats that made you sick to your stomach and set your teeth on edge. Danger wrapped in a sugary coating.
But Katy… Katy was gingerbread cookies and lemon tea. Lavender sachets, or honeysuckle growing wild on the vine. And fresh peppermint, of course.
I wrote and wrote until my fingers cramped up and my eyes were crossing. I could feel the lack of solid sleep starting to catch up with me. And when I finally put my head down, I found myself dreaming of cemetery dirt and snickerdoodle cookies.
Several hours later I woke up with a pounding headache. It was probably due to the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything yet. I went downstairs and found Dad at the kitchen table, holding a newspaper.
“Hey, Dad.” I sat down next to him. “Watcha reading?”
“An article on greenhouse gases and produce. Scientists are starting to study the link between them. Some farmers have reported that mutant tomatoes are being grown.” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Mutant tomatoes? How do they know that’s because of greenhouse gases? What if it’s due to water pollutants, or the fertilizers they use? Or maybe it’s the giant, unexplained asteroid that crash-landed near their fields.”
“That’s just silly,” he said. “This is a very particular study that they spent a lot of money on, and it’s their duty to report their findings.”
“It’s their duty not to spend so much money on stupid reports,” I mumbled. “How do they choose where to do these studies, anyway? If I grow a giant mutant tomato, do you think they’ll pay me to study it?”
“I’m sure they have their methods for choosing people and towns. They probably look for ones that are produce-y and… gassy.” He looked at me and cracked a smile. “Okay, I give up.”
Yawning, I leaned back in my chair. “You do know that you can find updated news online anytime, right? Instead of day-old articles. It’s called the internets.” He looked