Storytime Blog Hop April 2026 - Florals

Hi friends! Welcome to another blog hop post, please do read the other authors who have contributed at the bottom of this post!

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Val figured winning the county fair’s gardening exhibition for the third year in a row meant the most drama she would ever face would be her and Margaret Johnson’s courteous and not-so-friendly debates about the amount of water a Chinese marigold needed. After all, Val had always presented herself as a skilled botanist, and so none of the other gardeners in her club had any idea she was also a skilled necromancer.

Val liked to keep this to herself. Toting the label of necromancer, let alone a necrobotanist, carried a certain kind of stigma.

However, when Val suspected a faery was eating her petunias, she figured a bit of black magic might help.

Val set her trap and hoped it would be enough to scare the faery away. Unfortunately, when she returned to her garden in the morning, and found a very chubby, dead faery lying among her trimmed and manicured flowers, Valeria knew her reputation was on the line. Sure, faeries were little more than a nuisance in these parts but considering the new laws about trapping rather than killing the things, Val knew she was in trouble.

Val ran for her spade, came back to the scene of the crime, and began to dig a hole. That was around the time George, her neighbor, came home, and Val could see him coming up the shared driveway.

That was when Val began to panic. George was friendly, to be sure. But he was also a Creature Care Detective.

Val had little time to think. She started to dig faster. All the while, she was sweating bullets thinking about what George would do if he spotted her and the deceased faery. Creature Care Detectives specialized in the care and management of magical creatures, and while Valeria knew many of them were quick to take a bribe, or look the other way, George would do no such thing.

“Gods almighty,” she swore, wiping some sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. There was dirt everywhere, this was no where close to a perfect gardening hole, and yet Val only had seconds to deposit the faery before George would be able to see what she was doing. Valeria reached back, grabbed the creature, tossed it into the hole unceremoniously, and then frantically began to cover it back up.

“Afternoon, Val,” George’s kind voice came from his side of the driveway.

Valeria jerked her head up, her sun hat nearly toppling off her head with the motion. She jerked her hand up to fix it, but that hand had the spade in it, which had dirt in it, and the dirt went flying every which way.

“Uh, hi George,” she managed to mutter before quickly standing to brush herself off.

George looked like he was hiding a grin. “You alright? Seems I caught you red-handed,” he remarked cooly.

Val tensed. “Wh-what do you mean, red-handed?” she suddenly asked, then scolded herself. Be cool, Val, be cool… she tried to tell herself.

A little too late.

George furrowed his eyebrows then. “It was a joke,” he added, his gaze now staring off to the left where Valeria had definitely not buried a dead faery.

Val smiled with too many teeth, and laughed loudly in spite of herself. “Right! Sorry, I’ve had a long day in the sun, my brain is a bit fried,” she tried to write off her odd behavior.

George seemed to accept that.

“Well, if you’re alright, I’ll be off. Nice seein’ you,” he smiled, then headed into his house where Val could hear Trevor, George’s beagle, start to whine with the return of his owner.

Valeria let out a breath, feeling relieved, and a little silly. She was about to turn back to her petunias and cleaning up the dirt all around her walkway, when the sound of George’s yelling came from over by his house.

Val jerked her head up just in time to see Trevor come bounding out of the house, George right behind him. “He’s friendly!” George called.

But that wasn’t what Valeria was afraid of.

She tried to get in front of Trevor, succeeded for a few moments too, but he was just too quick, and before Val knew it, he was diving for the spot where she’d just buried that faery.

“Oh no!” Valeria yelped, eyes wide as she stared in horror.

George caught up then and was about to yank Trevor back when the dog suddenly grabbed something, and drug it out of the dirt and onto the walkway.

“Sorry about your flowers… ” George started, then noticed what Trevor had. “Is that…?” he bent down, examining the dirty creature. “A faery.”

Val’s eyes started to water before George spoke again. “I’m sorry… I swear it was an accident! I was just trying to stop them from eating my petunias, but… I think I went a bit overboard with the hexing,” she admitted, blubbering like a baby.

George sighed, then turned to look at Val. He didn’t seem all that upset. “You didn’t kill it,” he said then.

Val blanched. “I… what?”

George sighed again, holding up the dirty creature so Val could get a better look. “This faery has the bloat, see its stomach? It’s round, meaning it ate too many fermented berries in the woods. Looks like she was just looking for a nice place to keel over,” he explained.

Val exhaled, then drew her hand across her face, feeling even more silly. “And here I am, acting like a criminal,” she sighed, laughing a bit.

George shrugged. “Bury this little guy properly, set out some milk and honey, and we’ll call it even,” he grinned.

Val smiled, taking the creature gently, and nodding. “Proper burial, I have the perfect shoe box for it,” she remarked, then added. “Thanks for not arresting me.”

George shrugged. “Day’s still young,” he laughed.

Val didn’t think it was that funny.

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OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS:

Baba Yaga Babysits by Katherina Gerlach

Florals by Angelica Medlin << YOU ARE HERE

The Price of Freedom by Amy Keeley

Danger on Raylon 4 by James Husum

The Little Cloud Ray by MJ Vergo

Rise by Barbara Lund