Chapter 3 – Woodstick Resolution

Mabel, Wendy, and Pacifica arrived at the trailer of the Love God first. They sneaked up close.

"Love God! Sound check for Love God," called a roadie.

The Love God rolled out of the back of the van. "Let's make some miracles happen. Groupies, bed-head me."

Tyler the biker and a woman Mabel didn't know tousled the rock star's hair. He staggered away with them, saying, "The Love God's about to get crazy."

"Now's our chance," said Mabel to the others.

They ran for the open back of the van, where a string of potion bottles had been left behind. Mabel picked them up.

"Let's see... Puppy Love, Inter-Species Love, Love of Country Music – eew. Here it is. Anti-love. To reverse effects of love potion, simply spray on your victim and watch their heart die on the inside."

"I don't like the sound of that," said Pacifica. "Your hearts dies on the inside? You or Wendy try it first, then I will."

"I'm not sure I want to be out of love with Wendy," said Mabel.

"Same here," said Wendy. "Not long ago we were talking about how we both had bad luck with guys, and how we should forget about them. This is a chance for a new start for both of us."

"We need to get away from the van, and then decide," said Pacifica.

They turned to go, but the Love God was standing behind them.

"Hey! You're the one who's been stealing my stuff," he said. "Ugh! I am not loving this."

"I'm sorry," said Mabel. "But I made a mistake and I have to fix it."

"Kid, like I told you, this stuff is way too dangerous. On my oath as a god, I cannot let you..."

While he was distracted with his rant, Mabel tried to slip off with the bottle, and Wendy tried to run off after her. But they both found themselves collared from behind.

"Got you!" said Pacifica. "Love God, take your potion back."

"Oh, no!" said Mabel.

"Pacifica!" said Wendy.

"Thank you, upstanding citizen," said the Love God, taking back the anti-love potion from Mabel. "You saved me having to chase them around."

"I just don't want anybody to get hurt," said Pacifica. "I want to buy a potion that can help us. They got love potion on each other, then on me. I love them and they don't love me back. Is there any way to sort this out?"

"I'll let you take the anti-love potion if you really want," said the Love God.

"But it said on the bottle my heart would die on the inside," said Pacifica.

"That's right, you would never be able to love again for the rest of your life," the Love God said.

"No good. What do you suggest?" asked Pacifica.

"I have a potion of Slavish Love," said the Love God. "You could make them do anything you wanted. It would serve them right for stealing from me."

"That might be kind of cool," said Mabel.

"Hey, don't punish me!" said Wendy. "I'm an innocent bystander."

"No," said Pacifica. "I already have tons of servants. I want to love them both as equals."

"I know what you need," said the Love God. "I have some Ménage à Trois Potion that would help." He pulled out a small bottle.

"Perfect," said Pacifica, who knew a little French.

"We don't need to bring a menagerie into this," said Mabel, who didn't.

The Love God flicked some of the contents of the bottle on them. "Match made!"

Mabel and Wendy felt their love expand to include Pacifica in a shared relationship.

"Group hug?" Pacifica suggested.

They all hugged, reveling in the joy of it,

"Will we be in love like this forever?" Mabel asked.

"This kind of arrangement can be tricky, but I gave you a good, strong dose," said the Love God. "If you treat each other reasonably well, all three of you can stay in love as long as you live."

"Whee!" said Mabel.

"This is fantastic!" said Pacifica. "I feel so lucky to have two such wonderful people in my life."

"My job here is done," said the Love God. "I'm ready to go on stage. The Love God is about to get crazy!"

A flaming balloon head crashed near the stage.

"I'll wait a bit until they clear up that mess," said the Love God.

The three lovers walked on together, with Pacifica in the middle. She had an arm around each of them.

"I wish I could invite you to the Northwest Fest at my house, which is coming up in a few days," said Pacifica. "It's a huge party we have every year, extremely fancy."

"That sounds great," said Mabel.

"I'd love to go," said Wendy.

Pacifica said, "It's the world's best party. The trouble is, I'm sure my parents will veto the invitation. You're not high society types."

"Could you get us in under some excuse? I'm one of the Mystery Twins," said Mabel. "We solve crimes and supernatural cases. What about that ghost curse you were talking about before?"

"Like the time you 'solved' the case of who cut off the head of your uncle's wax statue? Toby Determined wrote up a story of how you falsely accused him."

"We did solve that," said Mabel. "It was cursed wax figures. We totally destroyed them and got the missing head back."

"Supernatural stuff..." said Pacifica. "That could work. I could talk my parents into inviting you as ghost busters, just in case the thing shows up in the middle of the party. Wendy, you know about the curse from the lumberjack's point of view, so you can be a consultant."

"We'd be glad to do it," said Wendy.

"All right, I'll make it happen if I can," said Pacifica.

"If there's no ghost, we can spend the whole time with you," said Mabel.

"That's the idea," said Pacifica. "You're going to love the party."

"Meanwhile, what about a slumber party at my house tonight?" Wendy asked.

"Sweet," said Pacifica. "I'll just tell my parents I'm staying with friends tonight. They'll assume it's Tiffany."

"This is going to be the best sleepover ever!" said Mabel.

THE END