Book of Dark Magic

by

Sara Bourgeois

Chapter One

“So, there’s just a huge stash of stolen money somewhere in Coventry?” Reggie asked. “And you’re pregnant by the vampire that tried to kill you?”

“I mean, I don’t actually think he was trying to kill me, Reggie. I believe the plan was to save me all along. He set the whole thing up. I mean, not the whole thing. He was taking advantage of what was already going on with Liberty’s murder and all,” I said.

“Are you defending him?”

“Nooooo!” I said. “No.”

“Have you told Thorn yet?”

“I wasn’t going to tell him for a while, but then a few days ago I upchucked for like twenty minutes after he made me grilled cheese and soup for lunch. You should have seen his face. He thought he poisoned me, Reggie. I had to tell him.”

“So, how did that go?”

“He said it was okay, but I haven’t heard from him much the last few days.”

“Oh,” Reggie said softly.

“It’s okay. He’s taken a few days off work, and he’s staying at his family’s hunting cabin nearby. He promised me that he wasn’t bailing on me but that he just needed a few days to think. He still texts me every night to see if I’m okay and let me know if I really need him for anything, he’s not that far away.”

“What you probably need is him here,” Reggie groused.

“It’s okay for him to take a few days to think. He’s not that far, and he’s still communicating with me. I mean, it’s a lot,” I said. “He thought that we’d eventually work things out, and now I’m pregnant with Azriel’s baby.”

“Wasn’t his dad not his bio-dad because his mother had an affair?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah,” I said. 

“And he raised him as his own,” Reggie added.

“Yeah.”

“So, there’s precedent in his life for this very situation.” 

“I didn’t have an affair,” I protested.

“You know what I mean. I mean that he’s not just abandoning you and the baby because it’s not his biological spawn.”

“I hope that’s true,” I said. “But since when are you team Thorn?”

“I think I read him wrong,” Reggie admitted. “I think the fact that he didn’t dump you the second he found out that you were pregnant with Azriel’s child says a lot. I don’t know many men like that.”

“To be fair, he couldn’t really dump me. We aren’t officially back together,” I said.

“What is this, high school?” Reggie asked. “You don’t have to officially declare that you’re going steady to be in a relationship.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It would be nice, though. It will be nice.”

“For him to declare he’s in a relationship with you?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, I mean… I think I’ll feel more secure when he says it,” I said with a shrug.

“I can understand that, but I don’t think he’s going to ghost you, Kinsley. Jeremy said that if he hadn’t broken it off yet, he’s not going to. He said there’s no way Thorn would leave you hanging while you’re pregnant. He’s committed to you.”

“You talked to Jeremy about this?” I asked. “While he’s on the other side of the world?”

“Well, you know the line’s secure.” Reggie chuckled. “I wanted his insight on Thorn. Jeremy is one of the reasons I’m so much of a fan of Team Thorn now. I trust Jeremy, and he says we don’t need to worry about the things we were worried about. He said that while it’s hard for Thorn to open up emotionally, he’d never really do anything to hurt you.”

“He almost left me for another woman.”

“First of all, let me remind you that you married another man. Even if it was only for one day,” Reggie said, but there was no malice or judgment in her voice. “And second of all, the keyword here is almost. You hurt him, and he flirted with another woman. He was never really going to leave you.”

“That makes what I did so much worse,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t. You were preyed upon while you were vulnerable. Yeah, the whole thing is kind of a mess, but it’s not entirely anybody’s fault. Except for Azriel. This whole thing is his fault.”

“I just don’t know how Thorn is going to cope with knowing that another man got me pregnant every time he looks at the baby,” I said.

“I honestly don’t think that Thorn’s brain works that way,” Reggie said. “If it did, he wouldn’t be texting you every night to make sure you’re okay. He knows you were taken advantage of, and he’s not going to torture you or himself with that. It’s not what’s best for you or the baby, so he won’t do it.”

“You talked this part over with Jeremy, too, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I wanted a man’s opinion on it,” she said.

“Jeremy seems like a good guy,” I said. “I wish you hadn’t kept your relationship hidden so I could get to know him.”

“He’ll be back. Not soon enough, but he’ll be back. The good news is that my guy is already friends with your guy, so we’re going to be one big happy family,” Reggie said with a huge smile.

“You’re going to be an Auntie,” I said as my hand once again instinctively covered my stomach.

“I’m going to be the best Auntie that ever was,” Reggie said. “Well, maybe not better than Lilith. Nobody could top that woman.”

“She is something special,” I said. “But you can’t ever tell the other Aunties that she’s my favorite.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“I need to run to the grocery store,” I said. “I need some cilantro to make this salsa recipe I want to try, and the house doesn’t like it. So, no matter how many times I open the fridge, no cilantro.”

“Sure,” Reggie said. “I want to check and see if the bakery has any cake pops. I love those things, but for two bites it’s never worth it to make them myself.”

“They had those at Starbucks,” I said. “Back when I lived in the city.”

“That will be the day. When Coventry finally gets a Starbucks. I’ve heard they’re talking about building one over in the new section of town.”

“I suppose that won’t really cut into Viv’s business,” I said. “Maybe you should suggest she serve them at her shop. Since I know you’d never set foot in a Starbucks.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t, but it would be nice if Viv had them.”

“Well, come on. Let’s go see if Mann’s has any for now,” I said. “Meri, do you want to go to the store with us?”

“Tired,” he said, and then darted into his tunnel in the wall.

“I’ll drive,” I said as Reggie and I walked down my front porch steps.

The drive over to the store was uneventful. It was still early, so not many people were out and about yet. Reggie and I would have to go into the shop after we took our groceries back to the house. That meant we didn’t have much time to window-shop at the store.

We went through the automatic doors, and I headed for produce while Reggie went to scout the bakery. While I was looking for the perfect batch of cilantro, I noticed the sound of rattling bottles.

Across from the produce department was Mann’s ample liquor department. The town drunk, Richard Jordan, was riffling through a shelf full of bottles as if he were looking for the perfect one. His pursuit was far louder than my search for the right bunch of cilantro. I was concerned he was going to drop one of the bottles and break it. That or hurt himself. He looked as though he was still on last night’s bender.

As I was about to take my cilantro and speak with him, I noticed a young man watching him from the corner of the cross aisles. He was dressed in all black with his thick, glossy black hair tied into a neat ponytail. I vaguely recognized the young man as someone I’d probably seen around Coventry before.

It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that Mann’s probably had loss prevention associates. The young man was watching Richard the way you’d see them watching a potential shoplifter in Target or Walmart. You could always pick them out because they looked like undercover police officers. I had no idea how thieves didn’t figure it out, but it seemed they never did.

Either way, it appeared that the matter was well in hand, so I left it to the young man to handle Mann’s business. I took my cilantro and headed over to the other side of the store to meet up with Reggie. 

She’d found herself a box of a dozen cake pops over in the bakery. “They didn’t have a smaller box?” I teased.

“So, what if they did?” she shot back at me. “Maybe I shouldn’t share with you after all.”

“Oh, let’s not take things too far,” I said.

After we checked out, Reggie and I took the cilantro and cake pops back to my house. The cilantro I left behind, but we took the pops with us to work. We took Meri too, and he had a cake pop. I had three. So did Reggie, and then we handed the rest out to the few children that came into the store throughout the day. We didn’t get many kids, but every day there were at least a few.

For the first time in a long time, customers came in that unsettled me. It was two men, and from first glance I thought they were witches. But, as they got closer to me, I could sense that they weren’t.

It wasn’t that there wasn’t any kind of enhanced energy around them, but it wasn’t our flavor of magic. It was much darker. Darker even than the dark magic of the Voodoo curse.

The men were just people too. People who had summoned the dark energy that surrounded them. I was glad that Meri had come into the shop with us that morning because he could confirm that it was demonic energy surrounding those guys.

I’d suspected it, but he confirmed it for me when they were gone. They were both dressed in all black, but that wasn’t unusual for Coventry. A lot of the witches, and even a good chunk of the tourists who were into the ghost and witchy tours, dressed in all black most of the time. 

These guys were both wearing smudged black eyeliner and lipstick. The goth look wasn’t that unusual either, but these two looked like they were trying to appear more menacing. Their tattoos were unnerving as well. I didn’t mind tattoos at all. I’d briefly been married to an outlaw biker after all, but these guys had upside-down pentagrams, and one of them had Baphomet on his arm. The others were too disturbing or gory to describe.

They bought a bunch of black candles and poison herbs. It was all the stuff I kept in baskets toward the back of the store for the witches. Tourists and other non-witches never even went back there thanks to a spell I’d placed to keep them away, but those guys did. They walked back there like my protection magic had no effect on them. It was a fairly weak spell, so it wasn’t like they were a danger to me, but still.

I’d wanted to say something to them, but what? I didn’t have a sign up that said “witches only” in that section of the shop or anything. I’d have to let my family know they were around, though, so that way, if they stayed in town, we could keep an eye on them.

Again, not because I thought they were really dangerous, but because they looked like the types to try and get themselves in over their heads. Judging by the energy around them, they already had.

Plus, the one guy with the Baphomet tattoo kept looking at me like he wanted me to challenge him. He was looking for a fight or any kind of negative energy, and I wasn’t going to give it to him.

Given that he’d messed around with demons, he probably had at least an inkling about witches. Knew that section of the store wasn’t for him… He was waiting for me to tell him he couldn’t buy those herbs so he could cause a scene and feed off all of that negative energy. I felt for him because it would corrupt his body, mind, and soul. Not in the way he thought, either. It wouldn’t make him more powerful. It would just make him wither away while the demons took his energy, but I could tell by the malicious twinkle in his eye that my breath would be wasted explaining it to him.

His shoulders slumped a little in defeat when I put his items in a gift bag and said, “Have a great day. Thanks for shopping with us.”

“You know what that stuff is, right?” He went in for one last challenge. Probably hoping that I was just some chick working behind the counter who had no idea the power of some of the things the shop sold. 

“Yep,” I said, without breaking my smile. “I own this shop and get all of my herbs from friends. In fact, I’m thinking of starting my own garden and drying herbs myself too. I’ve got plenty of space in my yard. Enjoy your purchases.”

At that point, I wasn’t sure if he just gave up, or he knew that I knew what he was doing. Either way, the two of them left the store. 

“Were those guys… weird?” Reggie asked as she emerged from behind one of the shelves. Apparently, they’d scared her enough that she was unconsciously hiding from them. “Like weirder than even regular Coventry weird.”

“They were,” I said, and that’s when Meri came out and confirmed that the men were surrounded by demonic energy.

The rest of the day was somewhat dull. Lots of tourists and a few witches. Most of the witches who came in that day weren’t family. Still, I trusted a couple of them enough to ask that they watch out for the weirdos that had come in the shop earlier anyway. The Skeenbauers who came in I told for sure and asked them to pass the word around to the Coven.

When we closed for the evening, I invited Reggie over. She seemed lonely a lot without Jeremy around, and Thorn was still at his hunting cabin. I figured we could have another girls’ night. We’d been having a lot of them.

“I can’t,” she said. “Jeremy’s going to call tonight. I’m sorry. Is that okay?”

“Of course, it’s okay. You don’t have to ask me,” I said with a chuckle.

“It’s just that they’re currently in a place where he’ll be able to call me. It’s for at least a couple of days. I’m sorry. I know you said I don’t need to ask, but you need me too. Maybe I should just talk to him for a bit and then come over?”

“I’m okay, Reggie. Really. I can always call my mom or Lilith. I could even call Viv. I know she goes into work super early, but I’m sure she’d still come over.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Reggie said.

“I am. Go. Tell Jeremy I said hi.”

“I will,” she said and practically skipped to her car.

When I got home, I pulled into my driveway and got out of the car. I was halfway up to the porch before I saw the book lying there on my porch. 

“Someone left a book on the porch,” I said to Meri.

For some reason, I’d stopped in my tracks. It was just a book, but my intuition had picked up right away that it wasn’t just a book.

“Stay back for a second,” Meri said. It was apparent he’d picked up on it too, or maybe he just sensed my apprehension.

I watched as he went over and sniffed the book. He used a paw to open the cover and look through a few pages. 

“Well?” I said after he closed it again.

“It’s a strange book, but I don’t know that I’m picking up on anything truly harmful,” he said.

“Strange?”

“You’ll see. We can look at it inside,” Meri answered.

“Alright,” I said.

I picked up the book and took it into the house. After I put my purse on the hook by the door, Meri and I sat on the couch to look through the book.

“It is strange,” I said after looking at the first few pages. “Do you recognize this language?”

“I don’t,” Meri said.

“It kind of looks like a witch language, but not one I’ve ever encountered. I think this is an ancient book,” I said. “The pictures are weird too.”

The pictures in the book were the cherry on top of the weird sundae my day had been. They seemed macabre, but they also seemed to shift if you focused on them too hard. I knew I was looking at something, but I couldn’t tell exactly what. I had an idea that it might not be good, but I couldn’t say for sure.

“Yeah, they’re something,” Meri said.

“Okay,” I said and stood up. “The book is old and strange, but I’m hungry. There’s no note on the book, so I’ll ask around about it tomorrow. Let’s get some dinner.”

“Sounds good to me,” Meri said.

I put the book on the fireplace mantel, and Meri and I went into the kitchen. I pretty much forgot about it as we went about our evening. 

By the time Thorn texted me to say goodnight, it had all but slipped my mind.

I love you, was Thorn’s final text to me that evening.

He hadn’t said it in a while. How could I think about anything else after that?

I woke up, and at first I had no idea where I was. My feet were soggy from the grass, and my pajamas were wet from sweat. I found myself standing in front of the Skeenbauer Family Crypt in the big Coventry Cemetery.

“How did I get here?” I asked no one. Meri wasn’t even there. “Am I dreaming?”

But I wasn’t.

My standing there in bare feet and pajamas in the Coventry Cemetery was as real as anything. I’d gone to sleep in my bed and woken up there. 

Noises began to rattle around inside of the crypt, and a low moan came from somewhere inside. These events would have had a chilling effect on an average person unfortunate enough to find themselves near the crypt at night. Still, I knew it was just my ancestors being rambunctious. 

The crypt was the final resting place and a prison for the worst of the family. It contained witches who had done things so egregious that they could never be redeemed or forgiven. A few others, non-witches and witches from other covens alike, had been tossed in there to be lost to history. Their bones littered the marble floors long after their deaths, and their souls spent eternity searching for a way out.

They would never find one. Once you went in, you never came out.

My mother and Meri had been foolish enough to go in there once looking for something; I couldn’t remember what, but I knew better. She and Dad had made sure I knew better because while your average cemetery was no place to fear, the crypt certainly was.

As I stood there staring at the black double doors that led into the crypt, it finally dawned on me that I should wonder what I was doing there.

I had never sleepwalked in my life. Not even as a little kid. And yet, there I was, and it was the only explanation for the situation I found myself in that night.

My hand patted my pocket for my phone, but it wasn’t there. I’d left it back on the nightstand. After all, why would a sleepwalker grab their cellphone on their midnight walk to the graveyard?

It was way after midnight, though. I could tell by the moon’s position that it had to be around three in the morning. Whatever forces had brought me, they were not good.

“Looks like I’m walking,” I said to the moon.

Off in the distance, at the tree line between the cemetery and the woods surrounding the backside, I could see a man standing there watching me. It startled me at first, but he was a spirit.

Brody.

Uncle Brody couldn’t step foot on the consecrated ground of the cemetery. Still, somehow, he was able to manifest at the periphery. Where he was able to get the power to even do that was still a mystery to me. It was a puzzle I would have to solve at some point, but as long as he stayed in the outer edges of our lives I could focus on my current problem.

I had no way to call anyone, so I’d have to walk home in my pajamas and bare feet. While it was uncomfortable, I was thankful it was hot outside. Had it been winter, I might have been in trouble. Or, I would have had to use magic to keep myself warm. Using that much sustained magic for that long would have been a chore.

Other than the grass being damp and having to look out for broken glass on the sidewalks, walking home without shoes wasn’t that bad. Once I got to my street, there weren’t any more sidewalks. I didn’t think anyone was going to come along, so I walked down the middle of the road.

I did that mostly because it didn’t seem safe to walk along the side of the road. I could stumble and fall into the ditch, where there was a ditch anyway, but a shadow might also camouflage me from any car that did come along. 

There was also the creepy feeling that something followed me. I didn’t know if it was Brody or someone, or something, else. I kept looking back over my shoulder, sure I would see someone right behind me, but no one was there. 

When I finally got home, my front door was wide open. Of course, I’d just walked out and left it that way.

I went back inside and quickly made my way upstairs. I’d half expected to find Meri on the front porch waiting for me or meet me halfway on my walk back.

He was still in bed, sound asleep. I’d managed to get out of bed, leave the house, and walk all the way to the cemetery with Meri none the wiser. It was weird. Typically, if I rolled over at night or stretched, he’d move too. He’d get up and reposition himself so that he was pressed right up against me again. That’s how he liked to sleep, snuggled up right against my back. If you ever asked him, he’d tell you I was a dirty liar, but that’s how he’d always slept. Even when I was a baby. As soon as I was born, he’d abandoned my mother at night to be with me.

The briefest pang of guilt stabbed in my chest as I remembered the night I left out of my bedroom window. I had to push those thoughts away, though. It was in the past, and I was home. I’d never leave Meri again.

Not that he would have known the difference.

“Meri,” I said as I stood over him.

I’d waited a few minutes to see if he’d wake on his own. He didn’t. In fact, he was snoring.

“Meri,” I said again a little louder.

He finally opened one eye and peered through the groggy lid at me like I was insane. “What are you on about?”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine. What do you want?”

“Meri, I’m awake and out of bed, and you’re still asleep,” I said.

Finally, it dawned on him.

“Holy crud! What?” he said and jumped to attention. “Why do you look like you ran through a sprinkler? Did you shower in your pajamas?” He peered over the side of the bed. “Why are your feet all dirty? What the what have you been doing?”

“I woke up in the cemetery in front of the Skeenbauer Crypt,” I said. “I must have walked there in my sleep.”

“How is that even possible? How did I not wake up when you got up?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I was actually hoping you’d have some idea.”

“It’s that book,” Meri said.

“The book we found today?” I hadn’t even thought about it.

“I told you there was something wrong with it,” Meri groused as he jumped off the bed. “What time is it, anyway? Is it time for breakfast? I want to have another look at that book, but I need bacon first.”

“And I need coffee.” I said. “Let me take like a two-minute shower to wash off my feet, and I’ll put on clean pajamas.”

“I’m timing you,” Meri said.

“Meri, it’s way earlier than you usually eat anyway. You’re not going to starve to death while I take a quick shower,” I said.

“You’re burning through your two minutes with idle chitchat,” he said.

“Meri.”

“You’re down like thirty seconds already.”

“Fine,” I said as I quickly grabbed a new set of pajamas from my dresser.

“Whatever,” he said after me as I closed the bathroom door.

As I turned on the water, there was a little flutter in my belly. My hand automatically went to cover my lower abdomen. Regular human women couldn’t feel their babies until they were much further along. Still, my little peanut was already making themselves known. My mother had said not to expect my pregnancy to go the way a normal one would.

“Good morning,” I whispered to the flutter. “I’m just glad you managed to sleep through the rest of it.”

My shower probably took five minutes instead of two, but Meri didn’t complain when I emerged. He knew he was about to eat, and that was the only time he could contain his snark.

“Should you really be drinking coffee?” he asked about halfway through his bacon. It never took long for it to come back, though.

“Thank you for your concern, but the baby is protected,” I said. “You should know that; you helped me with the spell.”

“I know, but I’ve got to keep you on your toes,” he said and went back to his bacon.

I was going to say something about him already loving the baby, but I held my tongue. I wondered if he would take to the baby as quickly as he had me. I knew I’d better soak up my time with him as best I could until the baby came just in case he did. 

After our early breakfast, Meri had bacon and I had a massive bowl of fruit salad and a glass of milk, I got the book off the fireplace mantle. I still hadn’t decided if I wanted to add it to the attic library or not. Even if it was responsible for my sleepwalking I’d probably need to figure out something else.

“Open it up on the coffee table again,” Meri said.

He did as I requested and jumped up onto the table and began pawing through the pages. He studied it while I worked on accounting for the store on my laptop.

“Anything?” I asked when he finally jumped off the coffee table and joined me on the sofa.

“I think we should have Remy take a look at it, Kinsley. If nothing else, he can cast a spell on us so that we understand what the book says.”

“Can’t I just focus my attention on knowing what the book says?” I asked. “Why do I need a spell?”

“I believe you could try, but you’re supposed to be taking a step back from using magic. You’re supposed to be using all of your energy for the baby,” Meri said.

“You’re right,” I said.

“You should eat again,” he said.

“I don’t suppose you’re trying to score a second breakfast for yourself,” I said with a chuckle.

“But we ate so early,” Meri protested. “I’d just like a bit of salmon.”

“We did eat an early breakfast, but that was half an hour ago.”

“All you ate was fruit,” he further protested.

Right on cue, my stomach growled. “Fine, we’ll have some more breakfast, and I’ll take the book with me to the shop. That way, my dad can come in and have a look at it.”

Chapter Two

By the time I got into work, I had forgotten all about calling my father. Apparently, Meri did too because he didn’t say anything. 

The workday was utterly uneventful. The men with the dark energy around them didn’t return to my shop, which gave me a measure of relief. For some reason, I kept expecting to see them. 

It concerned me that I couldn’t forget them, but I told myself it was because their tattoos had bothered me so much. Oddly enough, it did not occur to me that they might have left some of their energy behind. 

Something else that wouldn’t hit me until later was that the ghost who haunted the shop had gone entirely silent. There wasn’t a rattle or a random toilet flush all day. Reggie even went into the back to grab stuff from the stock shelves without a care in the world. It was as if she could sense that the ghost was gone or in hiding, and neither of us put words to the change. We just sort of accepted it.

At the end of the day, I locked up the shop and we went our separate ways. She went home to have her call with Jeremy, and I went home to eat dinner with Meri and watch a movie. Meri and I had spaghetti with garlic cream sauce. Well, I had that. Meri had bacon and tuna. Fresh seared tuna. Not the stuff from a can.

I think I might cut my little vacation short, was the first text from Thorn.

Tonight? I tried not to get my hopes up, but I missed him more than I realized.

I wish I could, honey. It rained a lot here today. Cabin is surrounded by mud. I’m afraid I’d get stuck. Hopefully, the sun will dry it tomorrow. I’d call, babe, but the signal isn’t good enough. Just glad my texts are going through. Miss your voice, he responded. 

I could come get you. Mud is no match for me, I texted back.

I don’t want you out in the woods at night trying to rescue me, Kinsley. We have a baby to think about. I’ll find a way back tomorrow even if I have to hike to the road. I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long, he texted.

We have a baby…

That’s what he’d said. I could feel my heart practically leap out of my chest. Something splashed on my thigh and I realized I was crying. Happy tears streamed down my face as I felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. I should have never had any doubts that he’d come back to me, but if I was honest, there had been times I was terrified he wouldn’t.

I’ll see you tomorrow, then, I answered.

I love you, Kinsley. Tell the peanut I love them too. Oh, and tell that cat I said hi.

I laughed at his text, but it also made me cry even harder. I guessed we were calling the baby peanut until we knew for sure if it was a boy or girl, but it didn’t matter. Thorn said he loved us both. That was all I could ask for in the whole world. 

I love you too. We love you too, was my last response.

After the conversation ended, I found myself starving. It hadn’t been that long since I’d eaten, but the stress of wondering about Thorn must have suppressed my appetite. Knowing that he was coming home to me had opened the floodgates. Meri watched me eat with a mixture of horror and appreciation. But he also seemed to approve.

He’d told me more than once since Thorn left that I needed to eat more. I’d always figured it was because he was angling for more food. Maybe it had been because I genuinely wasn’t eating enough for my magical pregnancy.

My phone vibrating pulled me out of a deep sleep, but at least when I woke up I was still in my bed.

“Hello,” I said groggily.

“Kinsley Skeenbauer?” a man on the other end asked.

“This is.”

“I’m calling because Regina Harlow says you’re her emergency contact.”

“Oh my. Is this the hospital?”

“No, this is Steve. I’m a bartender at the tavern,” he said with a sigh. “Your friend is the drunkest person I’ve ever seen, and in my line of work I’ve seen a lot of drunk people. She’s also crying all over the bar and five dollars short on her tab.”

“What is she even doing at the tavern?” I asked.

“Look, lady, I don’t know. Are you going to come get her? I can call the police if she doesn’t have anyone to come get her. Sorry, but that’s the policy.”

“No, don’t bother the police. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I said. “Please give her some water.”

“I’ve tried three times,” he said with another sigh. “She just keeps shouting more gin at me.”

“Tell her I said to drink the water or else, and I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

I jumped out of bed and debated whether I should even put on my clothes or just go in my pajamas. Pajamas won just because I needed to get over to the tavern. The only people out at that hour were probably on their way to being as drunk as Reggie, so I doubted they would care.

“Where are you going?” Meri asked with genuine alarm.

“Reggie is drunk as a skunk down at the tavern. I’ve got to go get her, or they’re going to call the sheriff’s office,” I said.

“Good grief,” Meri said and stretched. “Just give me a second.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You stay and sleep. I can handle a drunk best friend.”

“If you insist,” he said and flopped back down. “Just don’t fall asleep and end up out in the middle of nowhere.”

“You’re hilarious,” I said.

His eyes were already closed, but he cracked one open to look at me again. “But, seriously, you’ll be okay, right? I can get up.”

“I’ll be fine, Meri. I’m driving over to the tavern to get Reggie, and then we’ll be right back.”

“You’re bringing her here?” he groused as I pulled on a pair of socks.

“Obviously, something is very wrong that she went to the tavern and got rip-roaring drunk instead of coming to me. So, yes. I’m bringing her here. Don’t worry, I’ll have her sobered up by the time we get back.”

“Whatever,” he said.

“Whatever,” I retorted, but he was already snoring softly.

As I walked out the front door, I looked over at the spot where the book sat on the mantle. I felt a pull in my chest. It was almost like a craving. Suddenly, I wanted to hold the book again. It was probably a good thing I had to be somewhere because some part of me just wanted to sit there on the sofa turning the pages. I could almost feel myself running my fingers over the ancient parchment.

I shook my head as if to clear the fantasy and pushed myself out of the front door. The book wasn’t important. I was being ridiculous.

I had the same problem as I drove through Coventry’s quiet streets toward the tavern. My mind kept telling me that I could just go back and get the book first, but that was ludicrous. The book didn’t need me. Reggie did.

Cars lined the street in front of the tavern, so I had to park nearly two blocks away. I got out of the car, locked it, and walked quickly up the street toward the tavern.

Although Coventry had felt like an oven lately, there was a bit of a cool breeze. Unfortunately, it was still in the eighties, so all the breeze did was make me shiver as it hit my sweaty exposed face and arms. I’d only walked half a block, and my skin was already clammy. My hair had begun to stick to the back of my neck, and I wished I’d pulled it up before I left. The slight wind hitting my damp pajamas was more disconcerting than it was refreshing. I wondered if there was a storm coming.

I opened the door to the tavern and was hit with the overwhelming scent of beer and those pizzas the bartender made in a little oven in the back. Usually, it would have been a good thing, but in my condition it made me feel queasy. I wanted to run back outside. At least there was fresh air out there. I would have chosen clammy over nausea any day. 

Fortunately, Reggie wasn’t hard to find. She was still at the bar with her head in her hands, bawling. Anyone with a stool near hers had scooted it as far away as they could. I walked up to the bar and slipped fifty dollars to Steve, the bartender.

“I’m here to clear Reggie’s tab,” I said.

“Let me get your change,” he said glumly.

“The rest is for you. I’m sure if she didn’t have enough to clear her tab, she didn’t tip you properly. So, keep it.”

“She’s just been drinking cheap beer. That’s more than ten percent,” he protested.

“Keep it,” I said. “Thank you for helping.”

“Thank you,” he said. His expression softened considerably. “She’s right down there.”

“Yeah, I see her. You can’t miss her.”

With her tab cleared, I headed down the bar to collect Reggie. When I put my hand on her shoulder, she looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and a huge clump of hair stuck to half of her face. Probably from snot. It was not a good look for her at all.

“Thanks for inviting me to the party,” I said.

“Kinsley, I just…” But before she finished whatever it was she was going to say, she started blubbering again.

“Hang on just a second,” I said to her.

It only took a bit of healing magic to sober her up completely. I grabbed some napkins off the bar and cleaned up her face using the water she refused to drink.

“Oh my gawd,” Reggie said as soon as she was sober and realized how horribly she’d behaved. “Can we get out of here?”

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Let’s do that.”

“Oh my gawd, Kinsley. I’m so so sorry.” She said as we headed quickly for the door.

“It’s okay. What are friends for?” I asked as I pushed the tavern’s door open. “Are you okay? What brought this on?”

“I got in a fight with Jeremy,” she said.

I didn’t get a chance to respond. As soon as we were outside, a bottle came flying at my head. I ducked and used a little magic to make sure it didn’t shatter on the wall right behind my head. The last thing I needed was shards of glass flying at my face and head.

“Look what you made me do!” a woman named Esadora Darkmore screamed at Richard Jordan.

“Come on, honey bear.” Richard slurred the words out. He also swayed on his feet like he was about to fall over but caught himself before he faceplanted on the sidewalk. “I’ve got a brand-new bottle of Jack back at my place. Let’s go make up.”

“I hate you!” she screamed. “You’re lucky I don’t…”

I had to put my hand up and stop the magic that Esadora was about to inflict on Richard. She was a witch, after all. One with a reputation for loving dark magic a little too much. We kept an eye on her, but I doubted Richard had any idea. If she’d succeeded in the spell she’d tried to cast on him, my Coven would have had to punish her. That kind of thing was not allowed.

“Walk away,” I said to her. “Walk away now.”

“I’m sorry,” she said when she realized who had just stopped her spell, but Esadora didn’t really sound like she meant it.

She’d only said it to keep me from passing a judgment on her right then and there. Still, she cast her eyes down and walked away without another word. Esadora might not have liked it, but she knew better than to trifle with me or my family.

“We’ll talk about this soon,” I said as she walked away.

“What’d ya do that for?” Richard slurred in my direction, but seconds later he seemed to have forgotten the whole thing.

As Richard stumbled toward the street, I turned back to Reggie. We started walking toward my car when I heard the sound of tires screeching, metal scraping, and then shouted curses.

Reggie and I whirled back around. Richard was sitting in the road, rubbing his eyes. A truck must have swerved to avoid hitting him and had rammed into the parked cars across the street from the tavern.

I rushed over to Richard, but he was unhurt. He must have just fallen when he stumbled into the road.

The man in the truck was the one yelling. He pried his driver’s side door open and started screaming even louder when he saw the damage to his truck and the other cars.

I bent over and tried to help Richard get up, but he took a drunken swing at me. “Get away from me you *$%@!”

I jumped back from his wild attempts to hit me with his balled-up fists. All he managed to do was fall the rest of the way over so that he was sprawled on the street.

“How dare you attack a woman!” the man from the truck yelled as he started over toward Richard. “And she’s trying to help you! What a piece of trash. I’m going to scrape you off that pavement and teach you a lesson!”

Reggie and I backed up against the tavern wall as the man, whom I finally recognized as Al Peterson, yanked Richard up off the road. Before Al could do anything, one of the deputies turned the corner. The red and blue lights of his cruiser lit up the dark street, and he turned on his siren as he saw the melee about to go down.

He flipped it right back off when he had everyone’s attention. “Drop him, Al,” Deputy Wayne said through his speaker.

I liked Deputy Wayne Fontaine. He was one of the newer members of the Coventry Sheriff’s Department, and that’s why he was on the night shift. Wayne wasn’t the newest deputy that Thorn had just hired, but he’d started alternating night shifts with the newest guy. His wife was a nurse, and she’d been promoted to charge nurse on the night shift at the hospital, so Wayne wanted to be home during the day as much as he could.

Al dropped Richard as instructed. Richard hit the street with a thud and a moan of protest.

“Al,” Wayne said through the speaker.

“Just doing as instructed,” Al retorted.

I could see Wayne let out a huge sigh. He put the mic for the speaker down and got out of the cruiser. 

“Is anyone hurt?” Wayne asked.

“No,” Reggie and I said.

“Just my truck and these cars,” Al responded. “I’m pretty sure Richard here is too drunk to feel any pain.”

“What are you ladies doing out here this late?” Wayne asked me.

“We were just trying to go home when this happened,” I said. “We were walking to my car.”

“You should get out of here,” he said. “Did you see who was at fault with the accident?”

“Richard stumbled out into the street between parked cars. Al was just trying to avoid hitting him,” I said.

“Alright, thanks. Go on now. I’ll find you tomorrow if I need anything else.”

I looked back over at Al as we started to walk away. He mouthed “Thank you” to me. No doubt I’d spared him a ticket and a hefty increase in his insurance premiums. I offered him a slight wave in return, and Reggie and I hurried to my car.

It wasn’t until we got back to my house that I realized Thorn had texted me at least a dozen times. Not to talk to me but wanting to know if I knew where Reggie was and if she was okay.

Apparently, Jeremy had called him frantically looking for her because they’d had a huge fight, and she wouldn’t answer. Jeremy was beside himself with fear.

“He didn’t try to call me,” Reggie said as she patted her pocket. “Oh no. I must have left my phone at home. I didn’t even know he was trying to call me. Oh gawd.”

I shot Thorn back a quick text letting him know I had Reggie and that she hadn’t had her phone. I told him she’d be calling Jeremy from my phone and that I was going back to bed.

“Here,” I said and handed my phone to Reggie. “Call him on my phone. Take all the time you need. I’m going back to bed.”

“Thank you so much,” she said and hugged me.

Fortunately, neither of us had to work the next day. The tour company didn’t have tours one day a week, in addition to Sunday, and those were our days off. I didn’t know what we were going to do if they ever started doing tours seven days a week. I’d probably have to hire someone to help at the shop in addition to Reggie and make an actual schedule.

“I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,” I said when Meri looked up at me. “Right now, I want to sleep.”

He didn’t say anything else as I collapsed into the bed. Meri scooted off the covers a little so I could tuck myself in and then snuggled up against my back as my eyes drifted shut.

I woke up standing in the middle of the road outside Hangman’s House. I’d sleepwalked again, and at first I was happy that I hadn’t gone very far.

That was before I realized I was standing there in my underwear with my biggest kitchen knife in my left hand. I’d just been standing out there facing the house with a big knife in my hand practically naked. 

I hurried out of the street and back up to my front porch. It was still really dark out, and at least no one was around.

When I went inside, there was no one in the living room. Reggie must have gone to sleep in one of the guest rooms. 

I took the knife back to the kitchen and found that every canister, pot, and pan from my cabinets were lined up on the counters and the floor. In the center of it all, I’d arranged the rest of the knives into the shape of a pentagram. It had to be the upside-down kind too because the other side of it was too close to the counter for me to have made it from that side.

“What is going on?” I asked no one as I quickly picked up the knives and put them away.

The book.

I didn’t want to be up the rest of the night putting the other things away, so I used a little bit of magic to guide them back into their places. After that, I found my pajamas folded neatly in the pantry and put them back on.

The book was on the mantle, and as I went back into the living room I felt that familiar pull from it. It was as if I craved the thing.

I plucked it off the mantle and went over to the sofa. When I opened the book, it took my breath away. I still couldn’t read the words, but they were softly glowing red.

When I ran my fingers over them, they felt warm, soft, and comforting. My heart rate started to slow as if I’d taken something to relax. It was like a drug, and that euphoria began to wash over me.

Then I sensed that familiar flutter in my belly. It was more forceful and more insistent than it had ever been. The baby was moving. It was as if they were having a rave dance party in there.

It snapped me out of the stupor from the book. The words began to glow even brighter, and the pull felt more intense. It was insistent, but I could sense the baby was warning me. They were trying to get my attention, and there was nothing in the world that could make me ignore my little peanut.

I got up and put the book back on the fireplace mantle. “I need to get that book to my dad,” I said as I turned to walk away.

But even as I started up the stairs to go back to bed, I’d pretty much forgotten the whole thing. The baby had quieted, and all I wanted to do was get back to sleep.

Chapter Three

“Kinsley, what are you doing up?” Reggie said as she stretched and walked into the kitchen. “Oooh, is this coffee from those beans you bought from Viv?”

“Huh?” I asked, not quite aware yet of what was going on around me.

“The coffee, silly? Did you make it from the beans you got from the Brew Station?”

I then realized there was a hot cup of coffee in my hands, and I was sitting at the kitchen table. I had no recollection of getting up and coming downstairs. At least all of the stuff wasn’t out of the cabinets again, but I’d managed to sneak past Meri twice in one night.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” I said. “Sorry, I’m a bit foggy this morning.”

“Me too. I feel like I just went to bed, but my sleep schedule is so rock solid that I can’t go back to sleep. I guess I’ll just have to go to bed early tonight,” she said as she grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee. “I’m so sorry about last night. I don’t know what got into me.”

“It’s okay. It happens to us all,” I said and finally took a sip of the coffee. “Is everything okay with you and Jeremy now?”

Reggie took a big breath and let out a long sigh. “Yeah. Everything is fine. It was a big misunderstanding, and the whole thing never should have happened. We’re going to be more careful with our emotions over the phone. He and I can get a little over the top sometimes, and we have to remember that we’re half a world away. We’ve got to remember to slow it down if we think we’re upset because most of the time, it’s just crossed wires.”

“I’m glad you guys worked it out,” I said as I got up to get some milk for my coffee. “Will he be coming back soon?”

“It could be as much as another month, but then he should be back for sure,” she said.

“That’s good news,” I said.

“Yeah, it is, but right now a month feels like an eternity.”

“I can imagine,” I said.

“So, any word on when Thorn is coming back?” Reggie asked as she plopped down at the kitchen table.

“That’s right, I didn’t get to tell you,” I said. “He’s coming back today. He told me last night. He was going to come home yesterday, but I guess there were some storms, and he said it was really muddy.”

“Yeah, that storm system just missed us,” Reggie said. “I forgot he was in the area that got hit.”

“Amazing how different the weather can be when two places are just a couple of miles apart,” I said.

“I’m so sorry that you had to come to get me last night. I hope it doesn’t mess up your plans with Thorn today.”

“I’ll be alright,” I said. “I got some sleep, and obviously, I was up and at ’em this morning.”

For some reason, I didn’t want to tell Reggie about the sleepwalking. We both had a lot going on, and it was a little embarrassing too.

I didn’t realize that my reluctance to tell her was the book’s way of keeping me from reaching out for assistance. If I had told her, she would have been one more person who might have helped me get the book to my dad. 

“What are you freaks doing?” Meri asked as he sauntered into the room. He shot me a look that told me he knew I’d sleepwalked again, but he didn’t say anything about it. “Where’s my breakfast?”

“Oh, breakfast is a good idea,” Reggie said. “Should we make something or go out. Then I’ve got to get home. Since it’s my day off, I’ve got to get over to the nursing home.”

“Let’s go to the diner,” I said. “We’ll sneak Meri in, and he can have some bacon. I’ll take you back to your car after.”

“You’re the best,” Reggie said.

We both finished our coffee quickly, and I grabbed the bag I used to haul Meri around when I wanted to take him places that didn’t allow cats. Not that anyone at the diner would say anything to me about having him with me, but I would at least pretend to follow the rules.

The book called to me as I walked by it, but I felt that familiar flutter in my stomach again. I ignored the book, and by the time I got out to the car, and we were backing out of my driveway, I’d forgotten it.

There weren’t many cars in the diner parking lot because we’d apparently missed the morning rush. The “Seat Yourself” sign was out, so we grabbed one of the corner booths.

I opened my menu to look while Reggie flagged down the waitress to get coffee. “The coffee’s pretty decent here,” she said before the waitress got to us. “Not as good as Viv’s.”

“I think I’m going to have a big glass of iced tea,” I said. “I’ll stop at one coffee.”

“Suit yourself,” Reggie said. “I’d get the tea unsweetened and put sugar in yourself unless you like it as thick as syrup. The sweet tea is real Southern sweet tea here.”

My mouth started to water, and the baby began to flutter again, but that time it felt excited instead of frightening. I put my hand over my belly. “Ooop, I think the little peanut wants the sweet tea,” I said with a laugh.

“Hey, then give the little prince or princess what they want. Do you know what you want to eat yet?” Reggie asked.

“I just need a minute to look. I’ll know what I want by the time she comes back with the drinks. I promise.”

“Coffee and sweet tea,” Reggie said to the waitress as soon as she was at the table. “We’ll order when you get back. Thanks.”

“Thank you,” the waitress, whose nametag said Amanda, replied.

I looked over the menu until I spotted the maple bacon pancakes with a side of more bacon. My stomach growled reading the description, so I knew it was the choice for me. 

“I’m going to have the maple bacon pancakes with bacon,” I said as I closed my menu and put it away.

“That doesn’t sound like enough bacon. You should get an extra side of bacon,” Reggie teased.

“You know, I just might,” I said. “It would actually be two extra sides of bacon because we need one for our little stowaway. Do you think the waitress would be horrified?”

“Nah. Probably impressed given how thin you are, but when you work at a place like this, you definitely see worse.”

“Well, that’s good…” I started to say something else, but the two strange guys from the other day walked into the diner.

They sat down at a table close to us even though the diner was almost empty. The one who had actually spoken to me the day before sat so that he could look at me. And he did…

I tried not to pay attention to them, but I wasn’t as good at tuning them out as Reggie. Every time I’d glance over, he’d have his gaze fixed on me.

“They’re so creepy,” Reggie mumbled under her breath. It was just loud enough that I could make out what she’d said, so I hoped they didn’t hear.

“I know,” I whispered back. “I thought they were gone.”

When the waitress brought our food, we shoveled it in as fast as we could. We must have looked like complete pigs as we forked huge bites of food into our mouths and hastily swallowed. I didn’t care. I wanted to get out of there or, at the very least, disgust those guys enough that they’d stop staring.

It didn’t work, though. In fact, when I glanced up again, the guy was smiling. 

As soon as the waitress came to ask if we wanted drink refills, I said we needed the check. “Can I get you anything else?”

“No, please. Just the check,” I said through a forced smile.

“Those guys bothering you?” she said and cast a look over her shoulder. Obviously not afraid of them at all. “I can call the sheriff’s office,” she declared loudly.

“No, not at all,” Reggie said, trying to defuse the situation, but you could tell by the tone of her voice that she appreciated the gesture. “I’ve just got to get over to the nursing home. I don’t want to be late for activity hour.”

Amanda, the waitress’s face set in a grim smile. “Alright. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

But while Amanda was gone, the guys got up from their table and came over to ours. I was shocked when they actually slid into the booth with us. I was so surprised that I nearly used magic on them out in the open.

“You ladies look like you could use some company,” the one who’d been staring at me all the way through breakfast said.

“Unless you’re together,” the other one piped up. “You work at the store together, and here you are having a nice cozy breakfast. Maybe you’re an item.”

The sound of his voice was slimy. While I didn’t have any problem with people loving whomever they loved, his accusation raised my hackles. He wasn’t trying to be kind or polite. There was something darkly lascivious in his tone.

“Get out of the booth.” Reggie’s tone was defiant and loud enough for the few people in the diner to hear. She wasn’t playing around, and either these guys didn’t intimidate her or she was good at hiding it. “We have no business with you.”

“Calm down, honey,” the guy next to me said. “Don’t worry, we’re leaving. We’ve got important business of our own today.”

And then they left. The guy who’d been next to me threw a few wadded-up bills on the table they’d been sitting at, and they walked out the doors.

After I dropped Reggie off at her house, I went back home to relax until I heard from Thorn. His text came a few hours later while I was watching a movie and eating that cheddar and caramel popcorn mix.

Mud’s gone, but I blew a tire. Might be late. Trying to figure out what to do, Thorn texted. 

Let me come get you, I texted back.

You don’t need to do that, he answered.

I know I don’t need to, but I can. I want to. You said the mud is gone, so it won’t be difficult or dangerous, I responded.

It was a couple of minutes before he answered me. I figured he was thinking it over.

Alright. The little dirt road the cabin is located on is navigable with GPS now. I’ll send you what you need, he finally replied.

My heart began to flutter at the thought of seeing Thorn again. It had only been a few days, but I honestly did miss him more than I’d let myself believe.

“I’m going to get Thorn,” I said to Meri. “He blew a tire and needs help.”

“He didn’t have a spare? That seems pretty irresponsible,” Meri said.

“I can ask him about that when I pick him up if you’d like. Or, you’re welcome to come along. Did you have any big plans for the rest of today?”

“I was going to nap down here until the sun moved to the other side of the house, and then I was going to nap in the upstairs hallway,” he said. “Very important stuff.”

“So, are you coming with me? Or, are you staying here to do your nap thing?”

“Doesn’t he have any friends he can call?” Meri groused.

“I suppose he does, but I volunteered,” I said.

“Whatever. Let’s go.” Meri stood up and stretched.

“You really don’t have to go,” I said as I got my purse off the hook by the door and slipped my shoes on.

“I know that, but without me you probably won’t make it. I can just imagine you lost out in those woods. Can’t happen.”

“I have GPS,” I said as we stepped out onto the porch.

“Doesn’t fill me with a ton of confidence.”

“Whatever,” I said and opened the passenger side door for him.

“Whatever.”

The GPS in the car got us to the little dirt road that led to the cabin just fine. Meri had worried about that for no reason, but I still appreciated his concern. I wouldn’t tell him that because he’d been a snarky butthead about it, but I did appreciate it.

The dash map said I was about halfway down the road to Thorn’s cabin when I saw something in the trees. At first, I thought it was an animal and slowed down. The last thing I needed was a family of deer darting out into the path of my car. 

If I knew they were there, it was better to just slow down and let them pass safely. I knew if I did hit an animal, I could heal it and use magic to repair the damage to my car, but I hadn’t thought to bring snacks. By the time I did that and fixed Thorn’s tire, I’d be depleted.

Meri had warned me not to use too much magic while I was carrying the baby. My energy needed to be focused on the little peanut growing inside me.

When the shape behind the trees moved again, I realized it was a person. They came out long enough for me to see them as I passed and then darted behind a tree.

“You should probably keep going,” Meri said. “Maybe a little faster.”

He was up with his back feet on the door handle area with his paws clinging to the car’s window ledge. I’d never seen him do that before, but it was the only way he could look out the window in his tiny kitten form. Whatever it was out there, whoever it was, had a strong enough pull to get his attention without me saying anything.

I didn’t dare put the pedal down, but I did go a bit faster. An icy chill ran down my spine as whoever it was hiding came out from the trees again. Without thinking, and completely ineffectively, I reached out and turned down the car’s air conditioner.

When I glanced into the rearview mirror, the man was standing in the middle of the road. Out in full view like that, I recognized him instantly. It was Richard Jordan.

I hit the brakes a little too hard.

“What are you doing?” Meri asked as he tumbled onto the passenger seat. He’d been trying to climb down from the window, but I’d made the transition much quicker. Completely to his dismay.

“It’s Richard Jordan. That’s who was in the trees. He’s in the road now. I wonder if he needs help,” I said as I put the car in park.

“Maybe we should call someone,” Meri said. “This seems like the setup to a horror movie.”

“I’ll send Thorn a text,” I said. “We’re like a half-mile from the cabin. He can jog here or something.”

“Maybe call the police,” Meri said as I picked him up and put him in my bag.

“I don’t know that we need the police. Maybe he just got drunk and lost,” I said. “We’ll see if he needs a ride. He looked sad, but he didn’t look hurt.”

“We’re going to get murdered,” Meri groused.

“We’re not because I’m still a witch and you’re still a familiar. Plus, Richard is a drunk, not a serial killer,” I said as I walked down the road toward where he was standing.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Hey, Richard,” I said and waved at him. “Do you need some help?”

Completely unexpectedly, he took off running back toward the trees. He hit the tree line and the forest swallowed him up. It was as if he vanished.

“Well, now we should definitely follow him into the forest,” Meri said sarcastically.

“We’re just going to take a quick look,” I said. “We won’t go too far in.”

“I was joking,” Meri said.

Half-mile up the road. Richard Jordan in trouble. Going to try and help him. I shot the text off to Thorn as I walked to the trees.

“I texted Thorn. I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” I said. “We’re just going to have a quick look. I swear.

“I can’t just leave him out here,” I said. “He looked distressed. We can handle anything that’s out here.”

“Fine,” Meri relented, but I hadn’t been waiting for his permission.

We walked a few hundred feet into the forest when a horrible smell hit me like a truck. I turned and wretched but fortunately held it together. Laced with the odor of death was some sort of spicy incense and the smell of burnt candle wicks. 

“Okay, now will you go back?” Meri asked. “Come on, Kinsley.”

“Richard?” I called out as I completely ignored Meri. “Richard, it’s Kinsley Skeenbauer. I can help you, but I can’t find you.”

Despite Meri’s warning, I walked deeper into the woods for another minute. That’s all it took to come across a clearing with what looked like an abandoned campsite in the middle.

Except that at that point I had to use a bit of magic to cover the smell coming from the area because it was nearly enough to make me dizzy. My mind didn’t want to believe what I’d found, so I just told myself that campers had left their site and their food had rotted.

“But what does that have to do with Richard?” My brain was starting to put the pieces together as to what I’d stumbled upon. I wasn’t quite there yet.

“What?” Meri asked as he clawed his way out of the bag and dropped to the ground. “Kinsley, seriously, we need to get out of here. We should back out the way we came.”

“Richard!” I called out. “Man, I hope he didn’t have anything to do with these people abandoning their campsite.”

“Are you okay?” Meri asked. “Why am I asking that? Of course, you’re not okay. Kinsley Skeenbauer, for the good of your child, turn around right now and walk back the way you came,” he demanded.

“What?” I asked. “Why are you acting like this?”

But before he could answer, my mind cleared. The scene before me snapped into focus with what almost seemed like an audible click in my brain.

“We should go back out to the road,” I said.

For the briefest moment, I considered whether I should go over to Richard and make sure he was dead, but I knew he was. When I saw him in the trees and in the road, I’d seen his ghost.

While I knew it wasn’t likely that anyone or anything in those woods could hurt me, I could’ve still been in danger of an attempted attack. The smell of the candle smoke told me that they had only recently gone out.

It was more likely that the murder had happened in the middle of the night. The perpetrator or perpetrators had left them burning. I couldn’t know that for sure, though. While I told myself that I could easily handle an attack, it was better to not take the risk.

After all, some things could hurt me. My mind flashed back to being stabbed in the back with the Voodoo knife as I fled the woods as quickly as possible.

Once I got back to my car, I got in and locked the doors. What had I been thinking? I started the car and began driving in the hopes that I’d soon run into Thorn on his way down the road.

I didn’t have to go far to meet up with him. He was sweaty, red-faced, and out of breath, and it was apparent he’d been full-on sprinting to get to me. I pulled the car over and unlocked the doors so he could get in.

Meri jumped onto the center console as Thorn slipped into the passenger seat. He immediately reached over and cranked up the air conditioning.

“I forgot to bring drinks or snacks with me,” I said. “Let’s go back to the cabin and get you some water.”

“Don’t you still have the emergency kit in your trunk? The one I put in there for you?” he asked in between breaths.

“You’re right. I do,” I said as I popped the trunk. “I forgot about that.”

“There’s water in it. If you don’t mind me having some, I promise I’ll replace it.”

“Of course, I don’t mind. You put it in there anyway. Let me get it for you. Just rest for a minute in the AC,” I said. “Richard’s dead, by the way. I found him in a clearing through those trees. Looked… like some sort of ritual murder.”

“Kinsley, baby, I can get the water myself. I’m not that out of shape. I want you to stay in the car in case the killer is still around.”

“How about we both get the water,” I said and gave him a wink.

I could tell Thorn was about to protest, but I was out of the car before he could actually say anything. He joined me at the trunk as I opened the large black case containing the kit and retrieved two bottles of water. Thorn downed the first one in a couple of gulps and then slowly sipped the second.

“This heat is insane,” he said. “You should drink some too. If I’m this depleted from running a half-mile, you know it’s bad.”

Thorn was accustomed to running several miles most days of the week, so what he said was true. I’d only been out of the car for a few minutes when we walked into the woods, and the trees had protected me from the worst of the blazing summer sun. Standing there on the road, I could already feel my shirt getting damp.

“Alright, I’ll drink some water, but we’ve got to get back out to the main road so you can call this in,” I said.

“Yeah, let’s do that, and then you can show me where he is,” Thorn replied.

We both got back into the car, and I turned around to head for the main road. As we drove past the spot where I’d entered the woods, I made a mental note. I knew as time went on, I’d start to forget where I’d seen Richard’s ghost. The trees would blend together. I quickly memorized some yellow flowers I saw at the base of the two trees.

As we got closer to the main road, I lamented that Thorn and I’s reunion had been interrupted by another death. I’d so hoped that he’d wrap me in his arms and kiss me until I was sure we were okay. Of course, there wasn’t any time for that. We had to get the body reported as soon as possible, and Thorn had to be the law enforcement professional that he’d trained to be. 

Still, he put his hand on my knee, and when I looked over at him he smiled at me. “Are you okay?”

I felt my shoulders relax. “I am,” I said. “This is getting to be old hat for me, unfortunately.”

“It shouldn’t be that way,” Thorn said. “I’d say we should move to a nice, safe small town to get away from all of the crime…”

“But, Coventry is already supposed to be that place,” I said through a tight smile. “I love our little town, and we are safe.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to reassure him or myself at that point.

“How’s the little one? Everything good?” he asked.

“Peanut is great,” I said. “It’s so weird because normal women usually have to wait until they are much farther along to feel their baby move, but I can already feel them.”

“But, they’re too small for that, right?” Thorn asked me as I turned onto the main road and pulled the car safely onto the shoulder.

“They are,” I confirmed. “But, I’m guessing he or she is using magic to make the fluttering I feel. They can project their feelings outward. Babies have so much raw magical power. Some of them even more than the most accomplished witch.”

“So, you think that the baby is going to be a witch.” Thorn said. “Not a vampire.”

There wasn’t a trace of malice in his tone. He was merely curious. My heart constricted with love and gratitude for Thorn in that moment. He was not going to let jealousy ruin things between us, and I had to awe at what kind of man it took to be that strong.

“I think it’s possible that they will be a combination of both. What that will be, I don’t know for sure, but I can definitely tell they’re a witch. I can feel that energy.”

“I guess we’re going to find out together,” he said, and took my hand. “Our little peanut will be something extraordinary.”

“I’m so glad you see it that way,” I said.

“There isn’t any other way to see it. That baby is a miracle and a gift from the universe, Kinsley. I refuse to see it any other way, but I do have to call in the murder. Okay?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“Don’t apologize,” Thorn said as he got out of the car. “We’ll have more time to talk later. We have all of the time in the world.”

Thorn got out of the car and quickly placed a call to the county sheriff. When he got back in, I drove back to the spot where I’d entered the woods.

“It’s straight through there?” he asked and pointed at the spot where I’d entered the woods, chasing Richard’s ghost.

“Yeah. It’s maybe a few hundred feet in. I’m not exactly sure how far, but you’ll come to a clearing.”

“Alright, you stay here. I’m going to go find it and start marking off the crime scene. Did you approach the body?”

“No, I stayed at the edge of the clearing. It was obvious he was dead. You’ll see.”

“I don’t have my cruiser here, so I’m just going to take what I can from the emergency kit and set up an initial perimeter. I’ll do what I can until the county sheriff arrives.”

A couple of minutes later, Thorn had taken what he wanted from the trunk and set off into the woods. I sat in the car with the air conditioning running while Meri snoozed along beside me. His gentle snoring lulled me into a nap too. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until the sound of cars driving up the dirt road behind me rattled me from my light slumber.

Thorn emerged from the tree line, and I assumed he’d been waiting in the shade. He came over toward the car first.

I got out and met him halfway. “Why didn’t you come sit in the car?” I asked.

“You were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you. I was fine in the shade. It’s not so bad.”

“Let me get you another water. There are still a few more in there.”

“Then you should go home,” Thorn called after me as I walked back to my car to retrieve the water from the trunk. “I can catch a ride with one of these guys or call one of mine.”

As if on cue, one of the Coventry Sheriff’s Office cruisers rolled up the dirt road. I grabbed Thorn another bottle of water and closed the trunk.

“I’m not leaving you out here again. I’ll wait,” I said. “I’ll go back to the hunting cabin and have a look at that tire. I don’t suppose you have any food?”

“I’ve got a bunch of canned goods. Some soup, chili, stew, and a bunch of canned fruits and veggies,” he said. “Pancake mix and powdered milk too.”

“See, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll go wait there.”

“You can go with her too, Thorn,” a man said from behind us.

I hadn’t noticed, but the county sheriff had walked up behind us. Jim Halperin stood just over six-three. He was in his sixties, but you’d swear he wasn’t a day older than forty-five. His blond hair had a hint of ash gray around the temples, but otherwise it stayed the same golden rich hue of someone much younger.

“You’re taking over the case, then?” Thorn asked. “That area could technically still be inside of Coventry.”

“We’re discussing that, but as of right now it’s a county issue. I want to bring you in, though. We’re stretched as thin as we can be. I don’t have the manpower to run an investigation like this. Plus, the man is a Coventry resident, yes?”

“He is,” Thorn responded. “Should we get the GPS coordinates of his location? We can figure out the jurisdiction for sure.”

Sheriff Jim sighed. “No need for that, Wilson. If you want it, it’s yours. Like I said, I don’t have the manpower to deal with this anyway. I can leave a couple deputies to assist you with the crime scene if you want, and then we’ll back off.”

“I appreciate it, Jim,” Thorn said.

Deputy Lincoln Raines stepped out of the Coventry’s Sheriff’s Office cruiser that had pulled up. His face was grim and his mouth pulled in a tight line as he hurried over to where we stood.

“I’ll let you tell your man,” Jim said as Lincoln approached. “Do you want me to have one of my guys go out to the main road and call in more of your deputies?”

“I would appreciate that too,” Thorn said.

“Great. Thanks, Sheriff Wilson,” Jim said.

“What’s going on here?” Lincoln asked gruffly.

“County is going to let us handle the investigation,” Thorn said to Lincoln.

Since I hadn’t finished discussing going back to the cabin with Thorn, I didn’t want to just leave. I did back out of the conversation and wait near my car. I could still hear what they were saying, though, and I was baking in the sun. Considering, I thought about getting back into the car and sitting in the air conditioning. Still, I was frozen there like a deer in headlights.

It was something about the look of contempt borderlining on fury that came over Lincoln’s face when Thorn said they were taking over the case. His expression, and anger, were completely unexpected. I would have thought he’d have been happy to have the county sheriff trust them with the case.

“That’s completely ridiculous,” Lincoln sputtered.

“Excuse me?” Thorn asked. “If you have a problem with it, I can call in one of my other deputies to assist me.”

“No, what you need to do is recuse yourself from this case. You should let the county handle it.”

“What’s gotten into you?” Thorn asked him.

“What’s gotten into me? What’s gotten into you, Thorn? You and your girlfriend here found the body. Allegedly, anyway. How do we know that she doesn’t have anything to do with this?”

“What is wrong with you?” Thorn stood up straighter, and he instinctively puffed his chest out. A vein in his neck bulged as his protective side kicked into high gear.

“You know that things have gone sideways since she showed up in town, and the fact that you’re covering for her doesn’t look good for you either. You were out here alone in these woods last night. Why don’t I just go ahead and ask you for your whereabouts last night? Was the woman with you? Do either of you have alibis for the time of the murder?” Lincoln rapidly fired the questions at Thorn, who, in turn, start huffing out of his nose like a bull ready to charge.

“I’m tempted to relieve you of duty, Deputy,” Thorn said while miraculously not losing his temper completely. “You are out of line.”

“Thorn, I like you. I respect you, even. If you know what’s good for this department and for Coventry, you’ll recuse yourself from this case. Otherwise, I’m calling in the state police. The county might be fine just letting all of this drop, but I doubt the state will. Not once they find out that you were out here alone last night. You’re too close to this.”

Thorn’s nostril’s flared again, and his skin deepened to an even darker shade of red. I was about to send a small wave of calming magic to him, but I didn’t need to do it. He took a step back from Lincoln and took a deep breath.

“Fine, you’re in charge of the investigation, for now. You handle the rest of the deputies, and I’ll back off. Once I’ve completely cleared myself of any chance of a hint of an inkling of suspicion, I’ll be back. You better do this right,” Thorn said. “Oh, and when this is all said and done you and I will have a serious conversation.”

Thorn turned and walked around to the driver’s side of my car before Lincoln could say another word. I got into the passenger side as Thorn started the car.

“We’ve got plenty of time now, so I want to go back to the cabin and get my stuff and my truck,” he said. “Is that okay?”

Chapter Four

I took Thorn back to the cabin and fixed the tire. While I did that, he made sure everything was locked up, and then we drove back to Hangman’s House.

Lincoln glared at me as I passed the sheriff’s department cruisers on the way back by. I wondered if he glared at Thorn the same way. Probably not.

It seemed as though I was a suspect again, but I tried not to worry about it. That situation was as old hat as me finding bodies by that point. I knew I hadn’t killed Richard, and proof would come to light soon enough.

Thorn pulled his truck in behind me in the driveway and we went inside. “I need a shower if that’s okay,” Thorn said as I closed and locked the front door behind us.

“I’ll make us some food. I’m starving,” I said and headed to the kitchen.

“I can do that,” Thorn responded and followed behind me. “I can make you something to eat before I shower. What would you like?”

“It’s okay, babe. I can handle it. Go take your shower. You have fresh clothes in the guest bedroom dresser still,” I said. “Put your dirty laundry in the basket on the washer, and I’ll get to it after lunch.”

“I can do my laundry,” Thorn contended.

“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug. “But I’ll do it if you want.”

“Hey, Kinsley?” Thorn asked.

“Yeah?”

Instead of saying anything, he pulled me into his arms and pressed his lips against mine. We stood that way for a long while. Locked together, and both of us seemingly afraid to let go.

When we finally did, Thorn said, “Sorry to get you all sweaty.” He laughed and had a mischievous twinkle in his sparkling blue eyes.

I swatted playfully with a dishtowel. “Go wash your stinky behind.”

He laughed and left the kitchen to take his shower. I felt like I’d played it all off casually, but the moment had actually taken my breath away. Relief like a tidal wave washed over me.

While he showered, I made chili and cornbread. I had to use a little magic to get the food done on time, but I figured that was okay because I was going to get to eat a ton of cornbread with lots of butter and a drizzle of honey.

By the time Thorn emerged from his shower, I’d already set the table and served up our food. I didn’t know if it was nervous energy or what, but I hadn’t been able to sit down since he went into the bathroom.

“That smells incredible,” Thorn said.

He was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. His blond hair was still slightly damp as if he’d tried to dry it with a towel but had skipped the blow dryer. He’d used a rich lavender and pine soap that I’d made just for him. While Thorn didn’t live at the house with me, he’d had enough occasions to shower there that I’d either bought or made him some toiletries.

“You smell incredible,” I said and then felt a furious blush color my cheeks.

“That soap you made is really nice,” he said.

I was just standing in the kitchen wringing my hands like an idiot. Thorn being back in my house made me as nervous as when we’d first begun dating. I felt awkward too, because I wasn’t sure where to go from there. I wanted to rush over and kiss him until the food got cold and I had to use magic to warm it back up again, but I didn’t know if that was okay.

“Thorn…” I started to speak, but I stopped. I wasn’t sure how to express the thoughts on my mind without sounding like I was asking permission to kiss him, but I sort of was asking for just that.

“Kinsley, what’s on your mind?” he asked me gently. “I can see that you’re holding something back, babe. You don’t have to do that.”

“I just want… I mean… I just want to….”

“What, babe? What do you want?” For the first time, I noticed Thorn was holding back too. He seemed to be restraining himself as well. It gave me the courage I needed.

I crossed the room and threw my arms around him. “I missed you so much, and I’m so glad you’re here,” I said and held my breath.

He didn’t push me away. In fact, Thorn wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. His lips met mine; I felt magic spread through me. Not like the magic I wielded as a witch, but something different. It was primal and natural. The magic I felt between us was the very stuff that made up the universe.

“You taste like strawberries,” Thorn said when he pulled back for a second.

“I haven’t been eating strawberries,” I responded.

“I mean, you always taste like strawberries. It’s the most remarkable thing, but it’s not the most remarkable thing about you.”

Before I could say anything else, his lips were pressed against mine again. We didn’t part again until my stomach growled so loudly that it made Thorn laugh.

“Okay, we’ll eat now. There’s plenty of time for kissing later,” he said.

“There is?” I asked tentatively.

“Yeah. We have our whole lives. Don’t we?” Thorn asked as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

“We do?” I didn’t want to get too excited.

It was exactly what I’d been hoping for, but it was more than I would’ve let myself expect. We were finding our way back to right where we’d left off.

Thorn looked like he was going to say something important, but right then my stomach growled. “We do,” he said with a chuckle. “Please sit down with me and eat.”

I knew that it was my elation over my reunion with Thorn, but still, the food never tasted so good. The honey on my cornbread had never been sweeter, and the butter never creamier.

We spent the rest of the day together just hanging out. Thorn helped me with some things around the house, and even though I could have used magic, he helped me move some of the furniture out of the room I intended to use for the nursery.

“When do you go to the doctor?” Thorn asked as we were settling down for dinner.

“I don’t,” I said.

He furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“I’m a witch. I don’t need a doctor. Especially not for this.”

“I know I’ve heard your mother mention she saw a doctor when she was pregnant with you,” he said.

“It was a midwife,” I said. “That was decades ago, babe. We know now that we don’t really need checkups and all that. I will see one before the birth, though. Someone in the Coven.”

“What about a sonogram?” Thorn asked.

“I think at some point I’ll be able to see the baby in my mind’s eye. That’s the feeling I’m getting about it,” I said. “But, if you want a sonogram, we can do that. We’re still a few months away from it, though.”

“Right because it’s usually around five months,” Thorn said.

“You have experience with these things.”

“Not really,” he said. “The cabin didn’t have a phone signal, but it did get the internet. Slow internet, but internet just the same. I looked some things up.”

“Because you were deciding whether to be involved?” The question slipped out, and I instantly regretted it.

“No,” he said and shook his head for emphasis. “I doubt my staying with you and the baby was ever really in question. When I came back to you and said we’d work through anything, I meant it. I just needed some time to think. I think you believe that I’m not a jealous man at all, Kinsley, but that’s not true. I just didn’t want to show it around you. I had to get all of that out of my system so I could be a good man for you and a good father for the baby. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” he said with a shrug.

Thorn stayed in the guest room that night. He didn’t want to leave me, and I didn’t want him to go either. Unfortunately, I didn’t wake him when I left the house.

I woke up standing in front of a crappy little run-down house. The yard was overgrown with weeds, and paint was literally peeling off the siding. A big dog was barking loudly a few doors down, and I assumed that was what woke me up.

But why was I standing in front of that house? I looked around and confirmed I was in what would have been considered the wrong part of town. It was a former working-class neighborhood that was mostly dilapidated homes. I’d guess nearly half of them were abandoned entirely. It was the sort of thing the town council would have worked on having demolished if we still had one.

Not that I wanted there to be no housing for low-income folks in Coventry, but it felt like we as a community could do better. I made a mental note to start coming up with a plan. If civilian organizations couldn’t or wouldn’t handle it, then the Coven would.

A light came on inside the house, and I ducked behind a huge, poorly trimmed bush at the edge of the yard. When I peeked my head around the corner to look, I saw Esadora through the house’s big, but slightly cracked, glass front window. She was dressed in a red kimono type robe with her hair tied up in a matching red scarf. It looked as though she was coming out of the kitchen and into the living room with a steaming cup of coffee or tea in her hand.

“Why am I in front of Esadora’s house?” I whispered to myself. “Doesn’t matter.”

It might have mattered, but at that moment I was standing out in front of a stranger’s house in my pajamas. What I needed to do was get home before dawn. At some point, I needed to figure out how to stop the sleepwalking, but as I walked back I wondered if it was just a quirk of pregnancy.

Maybe there was nothing I could do about it other than put alarms on my doors. If the dog woke me up, the door alarm would too. It was quickly beginning to look like the alarms would be a necessity.

I felt unsettled as I walked home. Again, it felt like something was behind me, but every time I’d look there’d be nothing there.

It was the first time I really had the time to think about what I’d seen in the woods when I found Richard’s body. The murder scene had a tremendous amount of symbolism, and it hadn’t been lost on me. Thoughts about what it could all mean had been dancing around the periphery of my brain all day, but it took that walk under the moonlight for me to finally admit what I’d seen.

It was satanic. The pentagram made of black stones had to have been upside down. There was no way any witch would have made a regular pentagram and then killed someone inside it. Even in the darkest of our days, we didn’t do that. The incense had been the kind they used in church services.

We didn’t use anything like that in our magic, but Satanists did to mock the church. The candles had been all black. While that in itself hadn’t been any indication of Satanism, the Baphomet statue indicating the bottom of the pentagram had been. My mind had glossed over seeing it until I was alone with my thoughts.

When I got home, I didn’t bother going back upstairs. I was still pretty exhausted, so I plopped down on the sofa and pulled the throw I kept over the back down on me. A couple of minutes after I rested my head on one of the velvet pillows, I was asleep.

I woke up again to Meri swatting my face with his paw. “What are you doing down here. Did you take off again?” he whispered.

“I did,” I said. “Why are you whispering?”

“Thorn’s in the kitchen making coffee and toast. I told him you probably just came down here because you got hot or your back was hurting. He was talking about buying you a new mattress.”

“That’s sweet,” I said and sat up. “Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

“I wasn’t sure when you wanted to tell him about the book. You guys seemed to be having such a good day yesterday, I didn’t want to ruin it by telling him someone left an evil book on the porch and now you keep escaping the house at night.”

“I’m starting to wonder if that book had something to do with the murder,” I said as I stretched.

“I thought about that too, but if we tell him that we’ll have to turn that book over to the police. We might never know what it’s about, and who knows what will happen if it gets into the hands of non-witches.”

“So, I’m just supposed to keep the whole thing from him?” I asked. “I don’t know that I’m comfortable with that. Not given everything we just went through.”

“Just for a little while until we can figure out the book?” Meri pleaded. “Think of it as being for his own protection. Do you really want to give that book to him considering what it’s done to you?”

“Not really, but…”

“Just think about it for a day, okay? Give me a day to figure it out. You go to work, and I’ll spend the day up in the attic library looking for any reference to the book I can find. Between the library and the internet, if I don’t find anything, we’ll tell him tonight. Or tomorrow… this is witch business.”

“Alright,” I said. “I’m sure he’s got to get back to work today anyway. He’s got another murder, and he’ll have to deal with Lincoln.”

“Now that’s cleared up, what about breakfast?” Meri said. “I was thinking…”

“Let me guess. Bacon?”

“Already on it,” Thorn said when he appeared in the living room doorway.

He hadn’t heard what we were talking about. Thorn wasn’t the kind to linger hidden on the other side of the doorframe eavesdropping.

“Thank you,” I said as I folded the throw in half and replaced it.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve already eaten. I’ve got to get down to the station and deal with Lincoln. It’s important that I get back to working on Richard’s murder,” he said. “But, I can come over after work. If you want?”

“That would be great,” I said. “I can make dinner.”

“No, babe. I’ll bring takeout. Do you want sandwiches or pasta?” he asked.

“Both,” I said. “But I can pay.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s my treat. We have at least a few dates to make up for. I can pick up subs and pasta for dinner.”

“They have those hoagies at Bella Vita,” I said. “They have the hot Italian sub and Italian beef. You can get both at one place.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Yes. Please add mozzarella and pepperoncini to my Italian beef,” I said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and reached out a hand for me. “Until then, let me make you some eggs to go with your toast, and then I have to go.”

When I got to work, I set my purse down on my desk. It flopped over, and the book slid out.

“What?” I asked the empty room.

I’d picked it up and put it in my bag without even realizing it. Without really thinking about it, I sat down at my desk and started going through the book.

The next thing I knew, someone was knocking on my office door. “I’ll be out in a minute,” I called back without taking my eyes off the book.

“Kinsley, I’m coming in.” It was my mother.

“Mom?” I said, and finally closed the book. “Hey, come in. What are you doing here?” I asked as she walked into the office.

“Reggie was worried about you, so she called me,” Mom said softly.

“Worried about me? Why?”

“Because she said you’ve been looking at that book for a really long time, and it was starting to scare her.”

“That’s silly. I was just looking it over before we opened,” I said.

“Kinsley, sweetie, it’s three in the afternoon.”

“What? It can’t be,” I said. “Why wouldn’t Reggie come back here and say something. That doesn’t even make any sense,” I said and shook my head like I could clear the fog in my brain.

“It may not make sense, but it’s the truth,” Mom said. “Look at the clock.”

I shook the mouse on my computer to wake it up. Sure enough, the little digital clock in the corner said it was three in the afternoon. I’d been sitting there just staring at the book for hours.

“Hand it over,” Mom said.

I felt the book tug at me. It didn’t want to be handed to my mom, but I knew that meant I had to do it.

“Thank you,” she said as I placed the book in her hand. “Whoa. This thing is intense.”

She hadn’t even opened it. A troubled look came over her face. She understood the book just from touching it. Not the words that were inside, but what it was doing to me. I could see the recognition.

“What?” I asked.

“I feel like I should offer to take this thing off your hands, but I don’t know if that’s to protect you or if the book is trying to trap me. Besides, you’re the most powerful witch I know. As much as I don’t want to leave it with you, I know that’s the safest thing to do.”

“Well, I know there’s got to be something we can do to lessen its effects on me. Like you said, I’m supposed to be the most powerful witch in the world. I shouldn’t be letting my life be ruled by a little book.”

“We should bind it,” Mom said. “I don’t think it’s witch magic in this thing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bind it.”

“If it was Voodoo magic, we probably couldn’t,” I said. “I think it’s…”

“Let’s give it a try anyway,” Mom said. “If it doesn’t work, then we can try something else.”

We wrapped the book in a black ribbon and lit some white candles. Mom and I chanted that the book was bound and had no power over our Coven. We kept chanting until the words began to sound foreign and strange. Until they ran together. That’s how we knew we’d said it enough. It was like a trance we put ourselves in.

When she left, I felt like it might have actually worked. While we might not have power over the dark magic in the book, we could have successfully bound ourselves against it.

“You alright now?” Reggie asked as I emerged from my office. “You were starting to spook me. I went back there several times, and even though I stood right in front of you, it was like you couldn’t hear me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” I said.

“No reason to be sorry. It’s not your fault. You did get me worried, though.”

My stomach growled. “I guess I missed lunch,” I said.

“There’s a burger and chips in a container in the mini-fridge in the back. I got your lunch when I had mine delivered. You’ll probably have to reheat it.”

“Thank you so much,” I said. “Sorry I left you out here alone all day.”

“I managed,” Reggie said with a shrug. “I do have a couple of messages for you. Witches who want to know about certain ingredients. It was interesting trying to watch them talk their way around the fact that it was real magic when they realized the veil wasn’t working on me. Anyway, I told them you’d call them.”

“I will do that right after I eat,” I said.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I called the witches who had questions and then dropped the herbs they wanted off at their houses after Reggie and I closed up the shop.

I arrived back at Hangman’s House about the same time as Thorn. He had all of the takeout food he promised plus Tiramisu for dessert.

Our evening together was pleasant but also uneventful. We watched a couple of movies together until I got too tired to keep my eyes open. I didn’t mention the book to Thorn because even though Meri didn’t find what he was looking for during his research, I was convinced the binding would work.

I was so confident that I put the ribbon-wrapped book in the nightstand when I went to bed. I no longer felt it pulling at me, so that felt like the safest place to keep it. I didn’t want anyone accidentally picking it up. Thorn stayed in the guest room again, and I didn’t know what kind of effect it would have on a regular person. I didn’t want to find out.

So, it was a bit of a shock when I woke up standing in the clearing where I found Richard’s body. I let out a heavy sigh as I took in my surroundings. The book had tricked me.

I didn’t get my bearings before I started the trek back to the road. At first, I went the exact opposite direction.

But, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found the knife on the ground. I nearly stepped on it. It would have cut my foot if I hadn’t seen the glossy black handle shine in the moonlight.

I knew what it was before I even bent down to pick it up. The ruby jewel at the top of the hilt didn’t reflect any light at all. It was unusual, to say the least, but it also told me that the gem contained something dark. Something evil.

While I wanted to throw it down and run, I knew I couldn’t. The knife had kept the deputies from finding it so that I would. I sensed it. The dried blood on the blade told me it was the murder weapon.

Despite wanting to get rid of the knife, I carried it back with me. I passed over the place where I’d seen Richard’s body, and where he’d lain the day before was one single crushed rose.

It reminded me of when people placed flowers at the scene where someone had passed. Like at the scene of a car accident. Only Richard seemed to have just one person to leave such a tribute.

Finding the flower meant I wasn’t surprised to also find Esadora’s car on the dirt road when I emerged from the forest. What I didn’t expect was to see her slumped over at the wheel.

At first, I’d thought she was dead, but when I went to open the driver’s side door, she sprang to life. Tears had utterly destroyed her makeup. She’d cried so hard that she’d fallen asleep in her car. I had no idea how long she’d been out there.

“Kinsley Skeenbauer?” she asked as she wiped under her eyes with the back of her hand. It further smeared her melted mascara across her face. “What are you doing out here?”

“Sleepwalking,” I said. It sounded ridiculous, but what else could I say? If I’d tried to lie and say that I was somehow investigating Richard’s death in the middle of the night, it would have sounded even stupider.

“All the way out here?” she asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know if I should be horrified or impressed with myself,” I said.

“Well, I’m sure you had a bit of help. It’s not like we’re completely subject to the laws of physics,” Esadora said.

“Yeah, you’re right about that, but now I’m miles from home,” I said. “I don’t want to openly use magic to get home. It will take me an entire day or more to get out to the highway.”

“Well, I guess you lucked out that I’m here,” she said. “I’m not just going to leave you out at the side of the road.”

“You sure?” I asked.

“Leave the head of the most powerful Coven I know of out in the middle of the woods alone? Are you crazy?” she said with a chuckle. “I’d give you my car and walk home myself if you asked. The last thing I want to do is tick off the Skeenbauers. But seriously, I’d offer just about anyone stranded out here a ride.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll take you up on that.”

I walked around and slid into the passenger seat of Esadora’s car. As soon as I got in and shut the door I smelled clove cigarettes. The scent was overpowering, and I felt my stomach lurch.

She must have seen me turn green. “Sorry about that. Is it the clove?” Esadora asked.

I nodded my head and quickly rolled down the window.

“Most people don’t like the smoke smell. I can’t get enough of it, but I guess I’m the weirdest of the weird.”

A second later, she pulled a small metal spray bottle out of her center console storage. She spritzed it into the air, and the car was filled with the scent of fresh peppermint. It instantly calmed my rebelling stomach.

“That better?” she asked.

“Much. Thank you,” I said. “I don’t normally mind clove. I wouldn’t say clove cigarettes are my favorite thing, but I’ve never had them bother me like that.”

“It’s the baby,” she said with a smile. “I’ve heard being knocked up can change your senses dramatically.”

“I didn’t tell you I was pregnant.”

“I’m a witch too, honey. Not like you can hide that kind of thing from us. I could feel the power coming off that little one from a mile away probably. Well, maybe not that far, but I can definitely feel it from here.”

“Oh,” I said. “I guess I won’t have to make any kind of formal announcement, then.”

“Nope. That little guy is like a shiny magical beacon,” she said. “So, you live at Hangman’s House, right? I know where that is. We used to run up and knock on the door when I was a kid. Okay, not exactly. We used to dare each other to do it, but nobody ever would. We were all too afraid of your family.”

“That’s where I’m going,” I said.

“I’ll have you there in a jiffy.”

We made it most of the way back to my house in silence. We’d actually just turned into Coventry when Esadora said something else.

“I’m sorry about that night outside the bar,” Esadora said. “The night Richard caused the car accident.”

“It’s water under the bridge now,” I said. “It’s not like it was your fault.”

“I guess in a way, it kind of was. I never should have gone to the bar to meet him. We’d broken up, and I should have left it that way. I don’t know why I was always going back to him. He was never going to change. My mother was always telling me I could do better.”

“Love makes us do strange things,” I said.

“Yeah, I get that, but I don’t know that I ever really loved Richard.”

“You didn’t?”

“I believe that I thought I did, but how could I have? He didn’t love himself. I don’t care what people say; you can’t love someone that doesn’t love themselves. That man was so full of self-hatred, it was… It was sad.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I was exhausted, and I mean, what do you say to something like that?

When I didn’t respond, Esadora continued talking. “He could be vile too.”

“Oh?”

“He cheated on me. He cheated on me all of the time, and most of the time I don’t think he even knew he’d done it.”

“He didn’t know he cheated on you?”

“If I didn’t go to the bar with him, he’d go home with women, but he wouldn’t remember it the next day. A few times, he brought women home to his house, but they’d leave before he woke up from his binge. I don’t think he remembered that either,” she said.

“How did you know?”

“Word travels fast in this town,” Esadora said. “Plus, sometimes I’d see him.”

“You’d see him with them?” I asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t trust him one bit. Sometimes I followed him.”

Her admission didn’t sit right with me. The more Esadora talked, the more obsessive she sounded. Their relationship was dysfunctional to the max. Richard was the town drunk, and she was an obsessed witch who stalked him.

“He’s lucky I never…” she said and then shut her mouth quickly.

“Never what?”

“Nothing. It’s not good to speak ill of the dead.”

By that time, we’d pulled onto my street. Esadora dropped me off in my driveway and then backed out like a bat out of hell. She was in a hurry to get away from me, and I couldn’t help but think it was because she’d almost admitted something she didn’t want me to know.

But what was it?

The next day was Richard’s funeral. I’d slipped back into the house after my sleepwalking excursion to the murder scene and hid the knife.

Meri was suspicious when I got back in bed, but I made sure to go to the bathroom and flush the toilet. I also washed my hands, so they were wet. When I got back in bed and woke him, I said I’d been in the bathroom. Which I had.

You could tell he didn’t exactly believe me, but Meri wasn’t sure how to challenge me on it. I figured I’d tell him eventually. I’d have to tell him about the knife, but I wanted to wait. If I told him right then, he might have gotten ahold of my parents or Amelda. They would have tried to take the book. They might have tried to destroy the book.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d decided that I had to protect the book. I wanted to keep it close. It meant so much to me.

It was fine…

“You’re going to the funeral?” Meri asked me after we ate breakfast. I put on a black dress that was much fancier than what I usually wore to the shop.

“I am,” I said.

“What about the shop?” Meri asked.

“Reggie proved she can run things for a couple of hours on her own. I’ll go in right after the funeral. I probably won’t even miss a couple of hours. How long is the funeral going to last anyway? Like an hour at most?”

“Whatever,” Meri said and sauntered out of the room.

My dress was a little snug around the waist, and I had a hard time zipping it up. Nothing a little magic couldn’t fix. It was an incredibly frivolous use of magic, but I didn’t have another appropriate dress.

Interestingly, I didn’t feel nearly as bad about it as I suspected I would. Since it was even a little fun, I swirled my fingers above my head and used my powers to style my hair into the perfect updo. I ran my hands over my face, and when I looked in the mirror I had a professional quality makeup job too.

When I was satisfied with my appearance, I went downstairs and slipped on my dress shoes. They had a three-inch heel on them, but it was a wide, chunky heel. I was thankful that they weren’t any harder for me to walk in than regular dress flats.

I half expected Meri to follow me out to the car and insist on going to the funeral with me, but he didn’t. I told myself that perhaps he was going to do more research on the book, but I was glad that I had it in my bag. I slid my hand into my purse and ran my fingers over the ribbon covering the book.

By the time I pulled my car into the cemetery, I’d completely unwound the ribbon. I’d done it entirely unconsciously, not even realizing I was tugging at the silk length until I’d freed the book entirely.

“Oh well. It’s not like it helped anyway,” I said to the empty car.

There were a few more people at that funeral than I expected. Most of them had glassy, bloodshot eyes and looked rumpled and disheveled. I assumed they were Richard’s drinking buddies.

Esadora’s car pulled in a few minutes after I arrived. She and another witch I’d seen around got out of her car and made their way over to the casket. They avoided Richard’s friends like they were trying to avoid stepping in something gross.

She and her friend went over to the minister whom Richard’s family must have hired to conduct the services. Though, I didn’t know if anyone else present was his family.

One person I didn’t expect to see at the funeral, but he showed up minutes after Esadora, was Al Peterson. He was the guy who wrecked his truck trying to avoid hitting Richard the night I went to the tavern to get Reggie.

He was dressed in a navy blue suit, but after being out in the heat for a while he took the jacket off and put it in his car. After that, he took a seat in the back row of metal chairs and waited for the services to begin.

A Coventry Sheriff’s Department cruiser pulled into the cemetery and parked off the gravel road on the grass. At first, I thought it might be Thorn, but when the person rolled the window down, I saw it was Lincoln.

Thorn had stayed over at my house the night before, but he’d been up and gone before I woke up. He’d left me a note with a little heart drawn on it that said he had to go, but he’d see me soon.

He made good on the promise when, a short time after the funeral started, he slid quietly into the chair next to mine. I’d thought I heard another car pull up, but I’d been listening to the minister talk and hadn’t turned to look.

What struck me was how white Thorn turned when a woman near the front of the small crowd turned around and offered him a soft smile and a brief wave. He looked stunned but returned the wave.

“Who is that?” I whispered into his ear.

“I’ll tell you as soon as it’s over,” Thorn said. “I’ll introduce you.”

As soon as the minister was done speaking and they began to lower the casket into the grave, the woman who had waved at Thorn stood up and headed in our direction. “It’s my sister,” he whispered to me.

“Oh, okay. But why would your sister make you turn as white as a sheet? I didn’t know things were bad between you guys.”

“It’s not,” he said. “I mean, we don’t talk much, but things aren’t bad between us. The problem is why she’s here.”

“Right,” I said. “Oh yeah. Why is your sister here?”

“I mean, I’d heard rumors… but I never…”

Thorn’s sister walked up before he could finish.

“Hello, Thorn,” she said and went in for a hug. “It’s good to see you. It’s been so long.”

“I can only assume if you’re here, then the things I’ve heard are true?” he said as soon as their hug broke.

“What’s true?” I asked, unable to hold back.

“Amelia, this is Kinsley,” Thorn said.

“Nice to meet you, Kinsley. I wish it was under better circumstances,” Amelia said and stuck out her hand for me to shake.

I took it and offered her a smile. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m sorry to have blurted that out. It’s just that the suspense is killing me.”

“It’s okay,” Amelia said. “Thorn, I wish I would have come and talked with you sooner, but I just barely made it into town in time for the services. I should have called.”

“It’s fine, Amelia,” Thorn said.

“So, yeah. Richard is our half brother. I guess Mom had him while she was living with… You know what, I don’t even know who she was living with at the time, but I don’t think that guy is Richard’s father either. He was raised by a cousin or an aunt. I’m not entirely sure who Mom left him with, but she didn’t want him, so she dropped him off with some relative on his father’s side and never looked back. Pretty sure he lived in an orphanage for a while too.”

“How did you find out?” Thorn asked. “I mean… all these years… I’d heard some rumors, but I never knew for sure. It’s not like Richard ever wanted anything to do with us either, but I should have talked to him.”

“Our uncle called me. He was nearly gleeful to break the news.”

“Oh,” Thorn said. “Well, that figures then.”

I had to wonder if that was the uncle who was most likely Thorn’s real father. His dad’s brother. The psychopath.

“Do you want to have lunch with us?” I asked Amelia. “I have to go to the shop later, but we could all eat first. Thorn, do you have time?”

“I do,” Thorn said. “Have lunch with us, Amelia. My treat.”

“I have to get back home when Lucy gets out of school, but I’ve got a little while. Sure.”

Chapter Five

On our way to the cars, Lincoln jogged over and cut Thorn and me off. Amelia looked over at us, but Thorn waved her on to her car.

As soon as she shut her car door, Lincoln laid into Thorn. “I overheard your conversation, Wilson. Do you really think it’s appropriate for you to have anything to do with the case when the victim is your brother?”

Thorn pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “We already had this conversation. I thought we agreed…”

Lincoln cut him off. “That was before you were related to the victim. You’re really going to make me threaten you with the state police again? Really, Wilson?”

“How about you just don’t threaten me, Lincoln, and I won’t have to fire you. This is getting out of hand. I promoted you because I thought you could handle the job. I had no idea you were going to start acting like you were the sheriff of this town.”

“I’m doing my job,” Lincoln protested. “You aren’t acting professional, and somebody needs to say something.”

“You needed to say it here? You needed to cause a scene at a funeral? Man, your head isn’t on straight. Go home for the day. We’ll talk about this tomorrow when you’ve had some time to think and calm down,” Thorn said.

“You can’t do that,” Lincoln hissed.

“I can, and I am. Take a day off, Lincoln. Take one day, or you can take them all.”

Lincoln stalked off with his head bowed, and you could see the tension in his shoulders. Thorn had ticked him off royally, but I understood where he was coming from, and hopefully, after a day to cool off, Lincoln would too.

Amelia followed us in her car down to the square. We’d decided to have lunch at the Brew Station instead of the diner. 

Usually, the place was busy around lunchtime, but I noticed right away that there weren’t very many people. When I looked around at the people seated at the tables, I started to understand why.

“It’s been like this all day. People come in and see them, and then they leave,” Viv said.

The them Viv was referring to were what looked to be a bunch of goths on steroids. Satanists. They looked like Satanists.

It was more of the guys that had come into my shop and who had harassed us at the diner. Those guys were there too, though.

Thorn looked around the room at them all. “Any of them bother you?” he asked quietly.

“No, not really. They stare at other customers funny, but that’s not against the law.”

“I don’t mind if we go to the diner,” Amelia said. “It’s okay.”

Viv looked stricken by that. It was apparent she’d been relieved when we came into the coffee house. She was not looking forward to being left without backup again.

“No, it’s okay,” I said. “We’ll stay. Viv’s lunch specials are way better than the diner food. Not that the diner food is bad.”

“Great,” Viv said. “Three of today’s specials?”

“Yes, please,” Thorn answered. “I’ll wait here for the food. You ladies can go find a table.”

“I’m going to go to the restroom,” Amelia said.

“Okay, I’ll grab a table,” I replied.

A table near the window seemed like the best choice. There were two tables of probably Satanists flanking it on either side. Still, because it was by the window, it wasn’t completely surrounded. That was something I noticed as I sat down.

They all looked like they would have been together, but they had spaced themselves out so that they were surrounding any tables they hadn’t taken. It seemed they were intentionally trying to ruin it for any other customers and for Viv.

When I looked around at all of them, most sneered at me or tried to appear intimidating. They didn’t like it when I just rolled my eyes and chuckled. You could tell each and every one of them was unaccustomed to someone not caring about their appearance.

Whatever. I thought. While I didn’t exactly like people who worshiped evil, they didn’t scare me. Lilith was scarier than those clowns. Heck, if they knew me they’d know I was more terrifying. Just because I wasn’t wearing thick black eyeliner and covered in Satanic tattoos didn’t mean I couldn’t do some damage. Not that I would.

For whatever reason, I reached into my bag and took the book out. I set it on the table with the spine facing out. It wasn’t intentional, but I was glad I did it.

One of the guys, a small dude with stringy blond hair and gray eyes, looked shocked. I guess I was hoping subconsciously that they would reveal something about the book or why I had it, but most of them just looked taken aback or confused.

“What’s that?” Thorn asked as he slid our tray onto the table.

“Nothing,” I said and quickly put the book away. “Just an odd old spell book.”

“Cool,” he said and started taking our plates off the tray. “I hope Amelia’s okay. I figured she’d be back by now. Maybe I should go check on her.”

“I’ll go,” I said. “Don’t need you busting into the lady’s room.”

“I would have knocked,” Thorn said. “But, thanks. I’ll take Viv’s tray back to her.”

I walked back toward the bathrooms, and like something out of a horror movie all the weirdos’ heads turned in unison to watch me. It was definitely unnerving, and I had to wonder if they’d practiced it, or had they all actually tapped into something evil? It wasn’t lost on me that they could all be possessed by demons. I wished Meri was there. He probably would have cleared the place out.

My steps got quicker, and I pushed through the door to the women’s restroom without looking back. It was just a small bathroom with two stalls and a single sink. Amelia was in one of the stalls, and she was on the phone.

It became apparent that she hadn’t heard me come in. “I’m going to get out of here as soon as I can,” she said into the phone. “Thorn and that weird chick he’s dating wanted me to go to lunch. I couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough, so I’m stuck here eating in this crappy little coffee shop.” She paused for a moment. “Oh yeah. Yeah. So get this, not only is this coffee shop full of bizarre witch stuff, but all of the customers are like grown-up goth kids. This town is just the worst. I’m going to choke down whatever sandwich they give me and get the heck out of here ASAP.” Amelia paused again. “Yeah, would you? Yes, thank you. Call me in like ten minutes and I’ll pretend it’s an emergency at Lucy’s school. I didn’t even want to come here today, but it would have looked really suspicious if I didn’t.”

I heard something I shouldn’t have, so I cleared my throat. “Hey, Amelia, Thorn wanted me to come to check on you,” I said.

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute. I just needed to call my kid’s school,” she lied. Clearly, she didn’t know I’d heard her.

“Okay, then. I’ll tell him you’ll be out in a few.”

“Thanks, Kinsley.”

“You’re welcome,” I said and pulled the bathroom door open.

As I walked back to the table, I debated if I should tell Thorn what I’d just heard.

Ultimately, I decided that we could talk about it later. He rarely saw his sister, and I didn’t want to start a fight between them there at the restaurant. Especially not with all of those strangers sitting around staring at us.

Thorn and I started eating. He ate quickly, probably because he was in a hurry to get back to work, and I ate fast because I was starving. 

Amelia eventually joined us, and she began eating as soon as she sat down. I watched as she stuffed her sandwich into her mouth and took one bite after another. It was apparent she was avoiding conversation, but then again, that might have just been because of what I’d overheard in the bathroom.

Right on cue, ten minutes after she sat down, her phone rang. She answered it. “Oh no. Okay. I’ll be right there.”

“What is it?” Thorn asked when Amelia hung up.

“Lucy’s school. I have to go right away. Sorry to eat and run.”

“Is Lucy okay?” Thorn asked as Amelia picked up her purse.

“I’m sure she’s fine, but I have to go now. Sorry.”

Amelia sprinted out of the Brew Station like the devil himself was on her tail. Thorn looked concerned, and I kept eating my sandwich.

“I hope Lucy’s okay.” Thorn looked distressed.

“Her daughter is fine,” I said between bites. I couldn’t stand seeing him looking so worried. “I overheard her in the bathroom on the phone, Thorn. She didn’t want to come to lunch with us, so she had a friend call and pretend it was an emergency.”

Thorn just sat there quietly for a moment. When he finally did speak, he sounded resigned. “We’re not that close.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry she just bailed on you like that.”

“I wonder why she even came to the funeral,” Thorn said.

“I was going to talk to you about this later, but I’ll just tell you now. Whoever she was on the phone with, she told them it would look suspicious if she didn’t go to the funeral,” I said. “I don’t know what that means, though.”

“Did she say anything else?”

“Nothing other than to trash Coventry and the coffee shop.”

Thorn let out a deep sigh. “I mean, it’s not like she killed Richard, so I have no idea. It’s probably best if I stay out of it.”

“I should get back to work so Reggie can take a break,” I said. “I’m just going to grab a special to go for her and head over to the shop.”

“I’ll see you after work, then?” Thorn asked.

“Yeah, come on over,” I said.

He cleaned up the table while I got Reggie some lunch. We kissed goodbye outside of the Brew Station, and I headed across the square to my shop.

When I walked in, Reggie looked like she was completely frazzled. The store was a mess too. She was picking up stuff off the floor, and the shelves were in complete disarray.

“What happened?” I asked.

“A group came in here. They all looked like those guys the other day. They were buying stuff, but they also trashed the place. I think they stole a ton of stuff too. I called the sheriff’s office, and they said they’d send someone but no one has come yet. I’m just trying to clean up so that maybe we can figure out how much was stolen.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come to help you.”

“You were at a funeral. I didn’t want to bother you,” she said.

“It’s not like I was at a funeral for someone I loved. I was just… involved in a murder case I should have stayed out of. I’m so sorry, Reggie.”

“You’re sorry? Why are you sorry? I said I could handle the store and look at what happened.”

“This isn’t your fault. There are some very shady characters hanging about in Coventry right now. I might have to call my family in to take care of this.”

“But what if they killed Richard? If you drive them out, they might never catch his killer. Maybe that’s what they want. They want to cause so much chaos that they can’t get caught.”

I thought about what she said for a moment and then sighed. “You’re right. Well, let me help you clean up and take inventory. If a deputy doesn’t get here soon, I’m calling Thorn.”

About an hour later, Lincoln rolled up in his personal vehicle. He was dressed in jeans and a brown t-shirt that had a Sheriff’s Department logo on it. He was supposed to be taking the rest of the day off, so I thought surely they hadn’t sent him to deal with the possible shoplifting.

“I thought this place was supposed to be trashed,” Lincoln snarked as he strolled through the door. “They called me in on my day off, and this place looks fine. Do I need to charge you all with filing a false police report?”

“We haven’t filed a police report yet,” I said back. “We’ve had plenty of time to clean since it took so long for someone to get here.”

“Yeah, we make a good team.” Reggie bristled.

“Uh-huh,” Lincoln said and stroked his emerging five o’clock shadow. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

“We can talk out here,” I said indignantly. “Reggie was here to witness the thefts, so she’ll help give our statement.”

“I need to talk to you about more than that. Please, can we step into your office?”

“Fine,” I said. “Reggie, please come get me if you need me.” She shot me a look, but all I could do was shrug and say, “There are no customers now, so why don’t you go ahead and eat the food I brought.”

“Alright,” Reggie said. “Thanks again for the food.”

“We won’t be long.”

As we walked through the storeroom and into my office, a box of candles fell off one of the shelves. “What was that?” Lincoln jumped a little from what I presumed was being startled.

“You knocked a box off the shelf,” I said, knowing full well it was the ghost that did it.

“I didn’t even touch that shelf,” he protested. “I’d heard this place was haunted.”

He really looked like he had the willies. With all his bluster, Lincoln Raines was not someone I would have suspected believed in, and was afraid of, ghosts.

“I think it was just on the edge of the shelf, and the vibrations of us walking across the floor knocked it down. Reggie and I were in a hurry when we cleaned up. She probably just didn’t put it away properly, but if you’re rethinking this private talk, we can go back out front. Same difference to me,” I said.

“No, it’s fine,” he said and shrugged it off.

I closed my office door behind us as the sink turned on in the bathroom by itself and the tapping against the door started. If he’d heard that part, Lincoln didn’t let on.

“Sit down,” I said and motioned toward the chair I’d put across from my desk. Well, across was a bit of a misnomer. It was up against the wall, and there was barely enough room for legs between it and the desk. My office was kind of small. It was also rectangular, and the desk ran the long way.

“I’m fine,” he said, but then thought about it and sat down. “Thank you. I do want this to be a friendly conversation.”

“Alright,” I said. I could tell he wanted me to be conciliatory, but I wasn’t giving him an inch. Something about Lincoln Raines struck me the wrong way, and I knew better than to give someone like that an inch. He’d take a mile if given half a chance, and frankly, being in a closed office with him felt like being stuck in a cage with a hungry predator. Lincoln was power-hungry, and he was looking for an angle to take Thorn’s job. What he didn’t know was that it would never happen. My Coven would never let someone like him run law enforcement in Coventry.

“I’m more coming to you as a friend right now, Kinsley. If you’re not honest with me, then I’ll be coming back as a deputy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said flatly. “Could you get to the point? I need to get back to work.”

“People have seen you out roaming the streets at night,” he said, and it took the wind right out of me.

“I…” I wasn’t sure what to say because I didn’t think anyone had seen me.

“Do you deny it?” he demanded.

“Am I being interrogated?” I asked because that was how it felt.

“Should you be? Do we need to take this down to the station?”

“That’s unfair,” I said. “And frankly, it’s ridiculous. You’ve gone from veiled accusations against Thorn to now doing the same to me.” 

“You were seen acting suspiciously on the night of Richard’s murder,” Lincoln said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Can you explain that?”

“By out acting suspicious, do you mean walking? I was out walking around at night? Is that what you’re saying implicates me in his murder? Because this whole town has people who are out walking around at night,” I retorted.

“What I don’t understand, Kinsley, is if you’re just out walking around, why are you getting so defensive about it?”

I was caught in a stupid trap. I’d let the likes of Lincoln Raines snare me in a double bind. I looked guilty when I defended myself, and I would have looked evasive if I hadn’t. I felt foolish for even letting him put me on the defensive.

There was no way I’d killed Richard while I was sleepwalking. Why had I even participated in the conversation at all? Why had I let Lincoln bully me into talking to him alone in my office?

Thoughts flittered through my mind like butterflies in a field of thorny roses. What if it was me? What if I had killed him? How could I really know?

“No,” I said out loud. More to the thought than to Lincoln.

“Excuse me?” Lincoln huffed and uncrossed his arms so he could puff out his chest.

“No. I’m not having this conversation with you. I’m not participating in your fishing expedition. I know you,” I said and narrowed my eyes. “I know your type. You want Thorn’s job, and if you can’t discredit him, you’ll settle for me. It’s not happening.” I stood up and walked over to my office door. When I opened it so Lincoln could see his way out of my office, he didn’t budge. “We’re done here. Unless I’m under arrest, but even in that case, I’m done talking to you.”

“I’ve heard that Richard cried out about a redheaded witch when he died,” Lincoln said as he stood up.

He was close enough to me that he twirled a strand of my hair, which had morphed into a deep shade of blood-red since Thorn had returned, around his finger. My hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. I yanked it away from my hair, but unfortunately, the strand was still wrapped around his finger and it smarted like crazy.

“I could arrest you for assaulting an officer.” He sneered at me. I’d given him exactly what he wanted.

“You would bring down the wrath of my family on your head,” I said, and I could almost feel the fire burning behind my eyes. He even shrank back a little. That bravado and fake courage withering away under the confidence of a powerful woman. It was delicious. “Any part of you that ever touches me again, you won’t get back.”

Lincoln’s mask of calm slipped away, and I saw his pure, unadulterated rage simmering under the surface. He looked like he wanted to kill me, but Lincoln just turned and fled my office like the scared little man he’d revealed himself to be.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he said as he stormed out.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” I said and gave him a mock salute.

Chapter Six

The rest of the afternoon went by in sort of a blur. Reggie and I had customers galore when the afternoon tours let out. I told her a little about the confrontation with Lincoln, but we were so busy that we didn’t have much time to talk about it.

After work, she had to head over to the nursing home. Her grandmother had refused to eat most of her meals. Reggie was trying to get over there to eat dinner with her as much as possible. She told me that if she was there her grandma would eat all her dinner and dessert.

“Is something bothering her?” I asked on the way out of the shop.

“I don’t know for sure. She won’t talk about it, and I don’t want to press it to the point where she won’t eat with me,” Reggie said with a shrug. “I don’t want them to change her meds again. It’s so hard on her when they do.”

“Well, I’ll send you home with a protection spell bag for you to put in her room. Maybe if she feels safer, she’ll open up to you,” I said. “I’m sorry I hadn’t done that before.”

“You didn’t know,” Reggie said. “But, I would appreciate that.”

After that, I went home. Next thing I knew, Thorn was coming through the front door, and I was sitting on the sofa reading the book. Meri sat on the floor near the front door staring at me with a combination of concern and anger in his eyes.

“I’m just going to tell him,” Meri said. “I know at first I said we shouldn’t, but this has gotten out of hand.”

“Meri, don’t,” I warned.

“No, if you’re not going to tell people what’s going on, then I will. It’s my job to protect you. That’s how I’m going to do it.”

“What is the cat talking about?” Thorn asked as he took off his hat and hung it on the coat rack.

“Tell him,” Meri warned.

I closed the book and set it on the coffee table. “This book is kinda bad,” I said.

“Then why are you sitting there reading it?” He crossed the room to join me on the sofa.

Thorn sat down and tossed a couple of beige file folders down at the end of the coffee table. “I wasn’t reading it,” I said with a shrug. “Not consciously, anyway. I can’t read it. I can’t understand the language, but I find myself staring at it. Sometimes for hours. I just lose the time.”

“That’s not all,” Meri said. “Don’t you dare leave it hanging there.”

“What is he talking about?” Thorn asked.

“Ever since the book showed up on my porch, I’ve been sleepwalking,” I said and let out a deep sigh.

“Sleepwalking? Around the house? But I’ve stayed here. I haven’t seen you sleepwalking.”

“It’s not around the house,” I said. “I wake up other places. Sometimes far away from here.”

“Show him what you found,” Meri said.

I’d completely forgotten the dagger I found in the woods until Meri said something about it. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide what could have been evidence in a murder. I’d legitimately forgotten about it. Probably because of the book.

That was about the moment I realized I was in over my head, and I needed help. My whole life, I’d been told I was this all-powerful witch that was destined to save the world, and I’d sworn I’d never let it go to my head. It was times like that when I realized that it had gone to my head.

“I found a dagger out in the woods,” I said and went right to my purse. “It has some dried blood on it, and it definitely looks ceremonial.”

“Kinsley,” Thorn said. “You hid evidence?”

“I didn’t hide it,” I protested. “I put it in my bag, and I forgot about it.”

“You forgot about finding a bloody dagger in the woods near where someone was murdered? When did you find it?”

“I mean, you guys didn’t find it either,” I said. “I found it when I was sleepwalking. I woke up out there.”

“What?” Thorn asked. “You walked out there in your sleep?”

“I did,” I said. “I found the dagger and a rose on the spot where Richard was killed. I assumed Esadora put the rose on the spot.”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Well, when I came out of the woods, I found her sleeping in her car. She fell asleep crying out there, but it’s a good thing she was out there because she gave me a ride home.”

“And you didn’t tell me any of this?” Thorn’s face started to turn red. I could see a little vein popping up in his neck.

“I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t think about it? Kinsley, this is insane. You hid all of this from me…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Did you sleepwalk the night he was killed?”

“I did, but not out there,” I said. “I would have told you that.”

“Would you have?” he demanded.

“Thorn, please…” I was at a loss. He was so angry, and he had every reason to be, but I couldn’t deal with him losing faith in me. Not again.

“I’m sorry,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “I’m sorry, babe. I know you had nothing to do with this. You’ve just put us both in a terrible position, and I don’t understand it.”

“It was the book,” Meri piped in my defense. “That’s why I wanted her to tell you. She needs help.”

“Mom and I tried to bind the book, but it obviously didn’t work. I didn’t realize that it was still having such a huge effect on me.”

“Maybe your father could read it,” Thorn said.

“What?” I asked, but even as I wondered, something clicked in my brain. A fog cleared and it became apparent. “Wait, you’re absolutely right. My father could probably read the book, and even if he can’t, he’s the one witch I know who could use a spell to learn the language.”

“Hey, the human is onto something.” Meri seemed in better spirits. “I’m a little shocked.”

“The book doesn’t work on him,” I said. 

“I’m going to put this dagger in my trunk so I can register it into evidence, and then I’m going to call your father,” Thorn said.

“Just don’t let Lincoln know about the dagger, okay?” I asked.

“I can’t do that, Kinsley. He’s my second-in-command. Why, though? Why don’t you want me to tell Lincoln? Is it because he suspects me? I can handle that, babe,” Thorn said.

“He doesn’t just suspect you,” I said. “He knows about my sleepwalking, and I think he’s trying to build a case against one or both of us. I have this feeling he’s after your job, and he’ll take us down to get it.”

“Anybody with eyes and ears knows he wants my job, but you don’t need to worry about that. When Jeremy comes back, he’ll go back to being my second-in-command. Lincoln was told from the beginning that his promotion was temporary.”

“That’s why I think he’s trying to do this now,” I said. “He’s making a move.”

“Where is all of this coming from?”

“I called in a bunch of shoplifting that took place in my store today after some of those weirdos went through. He’s who showed up to take the statement. Lincoln took me back in my office and made it pretty clear he’s trying to pin this on you or me.” Then I told him the rest. Thorn’s breathing became short and staccato as I told him about my hair and Lincoln’s threat.

“He was supposed to go home for the day,” Thorn said. “Dispatch told me a deputy handled your call. I had no idea it was him. He shouldn’t have been there, Kinsley. I’m so sorry. I should have handled the report myself. I should have been there for you, or jeez, at least asked you about it. I’m so sorry.”

“We both have a lot on our minds,” I said. “I should have called you when he left the shop, but it’s all sort of a blur. I think I just wanted to get back here and have time with the book. It’s crazy.”

“Okay, I’m going out to bag the dagger, and then I’m calling your father. When he’s on his way, I’m going to go handle Lincoln.”

“You can’t stay with me?” I suddenly felt more frightened than I expected.

“I’ll be back. Lincoln needs to be put in his place right now. I cannot risk him thinking he can get away with this garbage. I also need to get the report from him so I can do something about these creeps invading my town.”

“Okay,” I said. “Just call my dad now. He’ll come right over; I know it.”

“Sure thing,” Thorn said and then kissed me before going outside to put the dagger in his cruiser.

I watched him through the window. He had the dagger in one hand and the phone up to his ear with the other. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I knew he was speaking to my dad as he walked out to the car.

“You’re mad at me?” Meri asked from behind me. “Not that I care…”

“I’m not mad at you,” I said. “You did what you thought was best for me. I appreciate you protecting me and peanut that way.”

“Don’t make it weird, lady,” Meri said and sauntered toward the dining room. “A little bacon would be a better way to show appreciation.”

While I was fixing some bacon for Meri, Thorn confirmed that my dad was on his way and would arrive in a few minutes. He kissed me and left to deal with Lincoln. 

“I promise I’ll be right back, honey. I’ll probably get here while your dad is still here. If he’s up for it, maybe he and I can have a beer.”

“I’ll make sure and tell him that’s the plan,” I said.

Thorn was right. Like three minutes after he left, my dad’s car pulled up outside. I half expected my mom to be with him, but he was alone.

“Is Mom okay?” I asked as I opened the front door for him.

He chuckled. “She knew you would worry, but she and Amelda are over in the next county helping with a healing thing. She said she’d leave and come with me, but I told her to stay. It was an Amish boy who was run over by a tractor. They actually came to your mother and Amelda for help. It’s highly unusual for them to reach out beyond their people for help, but the boy’s situation was grave.”

“What? Do they know we’re witches?” I asked. 

“They don’t know that specifically, but they’ve been around long enough to know that our family’s prayers are answered. They see us as blessed, but it was a big deal for them to reach out for help. You know they shun traditional medicine. They were going to disobey and take him to the hospital, and someone in their village suggested that they come to your mom first.”

“Wow, that’s cool. Mom and Amelda agreed to help them?”

“Without a second of hesitation,” Dad said.

“Is the boy going to be okay?” I asked, hopefully.

“He will. He’s in no pain, so don’t worry. Your mom and great grandmother have to heal him slowly; otherwise, their magic will be too obvious.”

“I’m just glad they were able to help,” I said.

“And now I’m here to help you. Why don’t you let me have a look at that book?” Dad said.

“That’s the darndest thing. I don’t know where it is.” I didn’t realize the book was making me lie.

“It’s in your purse,” Meri piped up.

“Why would it be in there? I thought I took it out…” I said, starting to feel a familiar sort of comforting fog descend on my brain.

“You put it in your purse so you could pretend like you don’t know where it is,” Meri said flatly. “I watched you do it.”

I felt my cheeks turn bright red. “I’m sorry, Dad. I don’t mean to lie to you,” I said sheepishly.

“From what I understand, this book has that effect. Your mother didn’t even tell me about it.”

“But, we bound it,” I said. “She didn’t tell you even after that?”

“Nope,” he said with a shrug. “Why don’t you grab it from your purse for me, sweetie?”

I was about to argue with him. In my head, I started to think we could have some tea and maybe talk about something else for a while, but I realized that it was just the book trying to distract me. I couldn’t let that happen. Not that Meri or my dad would have allowed it. He seemed less affected by the book, and I wondered if that was because he would be able to read it.

After handing Dad the book, I sat down on the sofa. He sat in one of the chairs and began to look through the pages.

“Can you understand it?” I asked.

“Parts of it,” he said and turned the page. “The symbols I can decipher for the most part. The language I don’t understand, but I can tell you that whatever is in this book, it isn’t good.”

“I didn’t think so considering what it’s done to me,” I said. “Would you like some tea?”

“Can you make some tea with star anise and lavender?” he asked without looking up from the book.

“To open your third eye,” I said as I headed to the kitchen.

“Yes, sweetie. Thank you.”

I went into the kitchen and made the tea quickly. By the time I came back, Dad had made a salt circle on the coffee table around the book. It was open, and he’d sprinkled lavender, rosemary, and juniper around it. He’d lit three black candles.

“We already bound it,” I said. “It didn’t work.”

“I know, but I’m not trying to bind it. I’m actually opening it. I know a spell to help me learn the language,” Dad said. “But, you need to be sure that’s what you want. We can skip the whole understanding part and go right to destroying it. I can call Amelda and your mother back. We’ll get the whole Coven involved.”

“That’s what you want to do. I can tell by the tone of your voice,” I said. “I don’t want you to put yourself at risk. If you think that’s best.”

He thought about it for a moment. “I’m not worried about putting myself at risk, so you don’t need to worry about that either. I guess I’m just weighing the value of this knowledge to the risk it so obviously carries. The book will have to be destroyed either way. Especially once I can access its knowledge.”

I knew that my father had trouble in the past with getting too close to the darkness. It’s one of the reasons I’d been gifted at my birth with the power to walk in, and control, the shadows. My Coven knew it was better to help me harness chaos than to try and unsuccessfully shield me from it.

“We need to know what it’s about. If nothing else, maybe that will help me figure out where it came from, and then I can protect the town and our Coven. It isn’t just about the book because it came from somewhere,” I said. “I think I know who too, but let’s be sure.”

Minutes later, my dad’s ritual was complete, and he could read the book. “I’m not sure if we should talk about what’s in here, sweetheart. Some of this is vile.”

“If it’s Satanic, then it’s just about summoning demons and stuff, right?” I asked. “I can handle that.”

“It’s a ritual to bring evil into this world, yes,” he said and his face turned an ashen shade.

“So, it’s just an old book about summoning demons,” I said with a shrug. “Must be a pretty powerful one. Or maybe my sleepwalking is the result of my pregnancy and I mistakenly thought it was the book.”

“It’s both,” Dad said.

“What?”

“The book isn’t about summoning demons,” Meri interrupted. “That’s not what he means by bringing evil into the world.”

My subconscious mind made my hand protectively cover my belly before my brain could catch up to their insinuation. “You mean…”

“I’m taking this book right now,” Dad said and shot up out of his chair.

“Where are you taking it?”

He narrowed his eyes slightly and focused on me. “Why do you want to know, honey?”

“Not because I want the book,” I said indignantly. “Not if it’s coming for my child. I just need to know what you’re doing with it so I don’t wonder. That would fill me with so much anxiety.”

He thought about it for a moment and then blew out an exasperated breath between pursed lips. “I’m taking it to the Skeenbauer Crypt. As horrible and powerful as this book is, I don’t think it put itself on your front porch. It’s a ritual. It’s all a ritual, sweetie. They are waiting for the book to finish working its magic on you, but that’s not going to happen. I’m taking it now. None of those little punks are going to be able to get into the family crypt and get it back. Not without what lurks in there destroying them.”

A shiver passed down my spine. When I was little, I had no idea what was in the family crypt. As I’d gotten older, they’d finally filled me in. It was the worst of the worst in our family Coven. The evil witches who had betrayed us. That was how the Skeenbauers dealt with them. They were tossed in the mausoleum where they never really died, but they could never escape either. Word had it that my Mom had accidentally stumbled in there one time. There were also whispers of others, not Skeenbauer witches, who’d been thrown in there as punishment for grave transgressions.

My Aunt Annika had a pig familiar named Gertie who’d almost been tossed in there. She was a murderer, but for some reason the Coven had shown her mercy. They’d turned her into a pig and made her a familiar. Gertie was a little strange.

“In the crypt,” I said to my dad.

“You don’t need to worry about this anymore,” Dad said. “If the best of us can’t protect you, then the worst of us will.”

For a moment, I thought I saw his eyes turn black, but I blinked and they were just their standard shade of rich chocolate brown. He smiled at me and then rushed out the front door. I stood at the window and watched him drive away.

With my dad gone, my attention immediately turned to the file folders on the table. The air felt lighter. So much so that the thoughts of Satanic cults trying to use my baby to bring a demon, or the devil, into the world drifted peacefully from my mind.

I reached out for one of the files and opened it. It was the file on Richard and Al’s accident. My interest perked up immediately.

“What are you doing?” Meri asked as he hopped up on the sofa next to me.

“Thorn left these files here,” I said absentmindedly. “This one has the police stuff on Al and Richard’s accident. I’m curious as to why it is important enough for Thorn to be carrying it around with him.”

“Curious, why?”

“Because maybe it had something to do with Richard’s murder. Duh,” I said and continued looking over the accident report.

“Kinsley, your dad just said that the murder was part of the ritual in the book.”

“Maybe,” I said. “It’s also possible that all these creeps running around town are just wannabes, and they left the book on the porch. They might not have had anything to do with Richard’s murder other than they provided cover for it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What if someone else, like Al, killed Richard, and he just did it all creepy and Satanic as a cover,” I said.

“That seems like a stretch. Especially given that you started sleepwalking to strange places when the book arrived,” Meri countered.

“I think we have to explore all the options before we make up our mind,” I said. “It’s just good detective work.”

“For one thing, you’re not a detective. Your boyfriend is the sheriff, and I’m sure he’d want you to stop looking through confidential files. For another thing, you’re pregnant, and you need to stay out of things.”

“We’re just talking about Al here. He’s not a supernatural and therefore poses no threat to me or the baby,” I said.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Meri asked.

“Maybe part of me would rather that it’s just a mundane case of murder. I don’t particularly want to think there’s a Satanic cult in Coventry trying to use me and my baby to… I don’t know. Dad didn’t tell me what they were specifically trying to do. Summon a demon in human form? It seems like a lot of trouble for something like that when a demon could just possess someone. They do that all of the time, right?”

“Yeah,” Meri said.

“So, it’s got to be something more. Like bringing the devil into the world? That’s a thing they do in movies. So, they’d be trying to bring about the end of the world or something. That’s kind of like the prophecy. I’m supposed to stop that. I don’t really want to think we’ve gotten that far yet. I just got back to Coventry not that long ago. I feel ill-prepared to save the world right now, so I’d like to believe that maybe this is all a coincidence. I can at least look into it,” I said defiantly.

Before Meri could say anything more, the front door opened and Thorn walked inside. His eyes went to the file in my hand, but he didn’t look angry.

“What are you doing?” he asked, but there was no edge of annoyance or anger to his voice.

“Um, I was curious about the files, so I picked this one up and started looking in it,” I said.

He looked a bit taken aback by my brazen honesty. “Well… okay… you probably shouldn’t be doing that.”

“Sorry. Here you go,” I said and extended the file out to him.

Thorn had taken off his hat and shoes, and he crossed the room to get the file from me. “Thank you.”

“So, why are you bringing the report on the accident home with you? Is it important?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Al’s insurance company wants to set up an in-person meeting with me about the accident. I haven’t gotten any specifics from them yet, but I’ll fit them into my schedule soon. I told them I have a murder investigation as my top priority,” Thorn said.

“Oh, okay,” I said with a shrug.

I dropped it after that, but I couldn’t help but think that it had to be something important if they wanted to meet with the sheriff in person. Thorn didn’t know what it was about yet, but I bet Al did. I wondered if there was a way I could casually work that into a conversation. It would have to wait until the next day, though.

“You okay?” Thorn asked. “Did your dad help you with the book?”

“He took it, and he’s putting it in the Skeenbauer crypt,” I said and swallowed hard.

“There’s more?” Thorn pressed.

“He did a ritual to learn how to read the book. Apparently, it contains some sort of ritual. Something to do with the baby,” I said.

“The baby? What would it have to do with the baby?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure because he didn’t want to talk about it. My best guess is that it’s some sort of ritual to bring evil into the world using the baby.”

“Like the antichrist?” Thorn’s face began to turn red again.

“Something like that. Maybe,” I said. “I’m still not entirely sure that’s what’s really going on here, Thorn.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Even if that’s what the book says, it doesn’t mean that the people here in town, the weirdos turning up everywhere, can actually do this stuff. They might be wannabes or something. I’m not convinced Richard’s death was part of the ritual.”

“That’s a stretch,” Thorn said. “It’s a big stretch, Kinsley. Someone using the Satanists’ presence in the town to cover for a murder. They’d have to coordinate that. Plus, I would think anyone as self-serving as Satanists would have declared they didn’t do it.”

“Unless they want people to think they did,” I said. “Maybe they don’t mind if everyone is terrified of them. It could all be some sort of sick game.”

Thorn sighed. “I just want to know that you’re okay.”

“I am. I’m doing fine. My dad got rid of the book; I’m sure it’s going to be okay. Maybe these weirdos will leave town now,” I said.

“Well, if you’re not going to sleepwalk tonight, I suppose we can put a pin in this until later,” he said.

“We can. Or, maybe they will all leave tomorrow, and we can just forget about it,” I said. “But, what about Lincoln. Did you fire him?”

“I put him on administrative leave,” Thorn said. “Just for a couple of days, but I did tell him that if he didn’t take the leave I would fire him this time.”

“You’re actually considering keeping him on the force knowing what you know?” I said. “He wants us to go to jail, and I have serious doubts that he’ll ever stop trying to take your job.”

“The mayor is never going to give him my job,” Thorn said. “I want to fire him, but I need to figure out the best way to do it. There’s too much going on right now for me to have turmoil bubbling over in my department. Him being on leave for a couple of days gives me some time to think.”

“Alright,” I said. “That makes sense.”

“But now you know he’s not supposed to be on duty. If he comes around again, then you call me right away.”

“I can do that,” I said. “But if he touches me again, my family will handle it. What I made was a promise, not a threat.”

“Kinsley, I’m your family too.” 

“Well, then hopefully he won’t be stupid enough to mess with any of us.”

Chapter Seven

Thorn spent the night on the sofa. I offered him the guest room again, but for some reason he wanted to be downstairs. I wondered if the conversation with Lincoln hadn’t gone as smoothly as he’d made it out. I thought perhaps it was all the talk of Satanic rituals to harm the baby too.

Whatever it was, he stayed there all night, facing the front door. The back he’d barricaded while cursing the fact that the old security cameras his father had installed for my mom were long since broken. I didn’t even think those things worked when she was younger. They were ancient, but even then the house’s magic had destroyed the electronics in them. Either that or one of the creepy things that occasionally slithered up from the basement had ruined them. At one point in the house’s history, many demonic and malevolent entities used to hang out in the basement. They’d occasionally power their way into the house, and Meri would have to dispatch them.

That had been a long time ago, and at the current moment there were no demons and no working cameras on the back door. “I’m going to get security cameras,” Thorn groused before I kissed him goodnight.

“You can do that, but I’m pretty sure the protection magic over this house can handle just about anything that comes to either door,” I said.

“I’m still staying down here tonight,” he replied.

“If it makes you feel better, sweetie,” I said and kissed him goodnight.

He was gone by the time I got up in the morning. I imagined he’d gone running at dawn and then to work. Sure enough, there was a new towel in the wash. In the kitchen, I found freshly baked cheddar muffins and a massive stack of bacon.

“He’s starting to grow on me,” Meri said.

“I’ll be sure and tell him,” I said with a smile.

“I’ll deny it,” Meri retorted. “Whatever.”

“Whatever,” I said with a laugh and grabbed two of the warm cheddar muffins.

I brought extra muffins with me when I went to the shop to share with Reggie. When I got there, I found her talking to the glass man. He’d come to put in the permanent front windows.

“He says we have to close for the day,” Reggie said and gladly took the muffins. “Something about the giant sheets of glass being too dangerous. Can’t have people walking around.”

“That’s fine. I have something I want to do anyway.”

“Ooooh, what is it?” Reggie asked. “I just never know with you, but considering that there’s been a murder, I’m going to guess it’s something at least slightly illegal.”

“I’m going to go talk to Al Peterson,” I said and watched Reggie’s shoulders fall.

“That sounds so boring,” she said. “Can I come?”

“You just said it sounds boring.”

“With you, there’s no way it will end up being boring. I want to be there when you go full Kinsley,” she said with a snicker.

“Full Kinsley?”

“Yeah, you know. Something will happen, and we’ll end up summoning demons or breaking into the sheriff’s station,” she said. “Maybe get some criminal vampires involved.”

“Too soon,” I said dryly.

“Really?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said and playfully punched her arm. “Come on, but I promise you, we’re just going to talk to him. He seems like a nice guy, and I don’t see how this could possibly go sideways.”

Al worked at Fairly Green Landscaping. I knew that because I’d seen it in the file.

We went there and were told he wasn’t at work that day. “Oh, okay,” I said to the receptionist behind the counter.

“Yeah, he doesn’t have a truck right now, so they sent him home.” She let out a little giggle. “Guess I’m probably not supposed to talk about that. Anyway, he’s not here. Probably at home because that truck was his only vehicle after his wife left him and took their car.”

“That’s interesting,” Reggie said. “Hey, while we’re chatting, you wouldn’t happen to have his address?”

“Oh, I totally can’t tell you that. I’d get fired for sure,” the receptionist said, but for a second I thought she might actually give it to us.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I remember it.”

“You do?” Reggie asked.

“I do indeed.”

“I guess we could have just Googled it,” Reggie said as we left Fairly Green Landscaping.

“It’s okay. I saw it in the police report. He lives over on Linden.”

I drove over to Linden Lane and pulled the car up in front of what I assumed was Al’s neighbor’s house. While I did remember what street he lived on, I didn’t exactly remember the house number.

That turned out to not be an issue, though. Al came out of his house as we were getting out of the car and went to his mailbox. He grabbed a few envelopes from the box, and as he headed back up to his front door, he spotted us.

“Hello,” I said with a wave. “Al, do you have a moment?”

“Okay,” he said and stopped walking. “What’s this about?”

I bridged the distance between us with Reggie right behind me. “How are you?” I figured I’d start with some polite conversation.

“About as good as can be expected,” he said with a huff.

“I’m sorry you’re having a hard time,” I said, hoping that a little empathy would make him want to talk to me.

“A hard time? It’s so much more than that,” he said, and I watched as his face turned bright red. A vein popped out on his forehead, and another joined it on his neck. “Not that you would understand.”

I was a little taken aback by his anger, and it seemed to be directed at me. Al didn’t look at all like the man who I’d encountered the other night.

“Maybe I would. What’s going on?” I tried to sound like I was just friendly and concerned.

“None of your dang business.” Al’s nostrils flared, and he balled his hands into fists at his side like he was ready to throw a punch. “Neither of you have any business here sniffing around. I’ve heard about your reputation. Did the insurance company put you up to this? Are you some sort of private investigator?”

“No, not at all.” I said. “We just wanted…”

“I don’t care what you want. Get out of here, or I’m going to take this mail inside and get my gun.”

“What!” Reggie cried out.

“Get out of here, or I’m going to get my gun,” Al repeated.

“Reggie, let’s go,” I said as Al took a step toward us.

We hurried back to my car, and I drove away from the curb with Al watching to make sure we left. I didn’t go far, though. We pulled around the block and up to the curb of a house one street away from Al’s. I cut the motor, and we got out.

“What are you doing?” Reggie asked.

“We need to get into his house. I have to find out what’s going on with him. Did you see the way he was acting?” I asked.

“Hah! I knew this was going to get good,” Reggie said and rubbed her hands together. “But, Kinsley, he’s in there. Oh, and he said he had a gun.”

“I have an idea; just wait,” I said as we walked back around the block and toward Al’s house.

We stopped two houses away and hid behind a giant lilac bush growing next to the sidewalk. I pulled out my phone and got ready to dial.

“Wait, there he is,” Reggie whispered. “He’s getting in his truck to leave. How did you do that?”

“I didn’t,” I said. “We just got lucky.”

“What were you going to do?” Reggie asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” I said and slid my phone back into my purse.

Fortunately, Al drove off in the other direction. We walked up to the house, and I just prayed he didn’t turn around and come back.

“I thought that receptionist said his truck didn’t work,” Reggie said.

“Well, it looked all mangled. Maybe they just won’t let him use it like that. It didn’t sound too good either,” I said.

“Yeah, it did sound like it was struggling. I wonder if it will break down wherever he is going.”

We hurried up the driveway and around to the back of the small, yellow cracker-box house. It was a squat, rectangular thing that had been built after the war. A lot of them seemed to be yellow too. In Al’s neighborhood, they were mixed in with a sprinkling of older houses and a few new ones. The new ones were built where dilapidated tract housing had been torn down. It was quite a different scene than the bad part of town where you found streets and streets full of dilapidated old postwar tract houses. Kind of like Richard’s place. In fact, Al and Richard’s houses were practically identical other than their location, and Al’s was in a much better state.

We went around past the detached garage and to the back door. I listened for a moment to make sure there wasn’t a huge dog waiting to attack us on the other side and then used a touch of magic to open the back door.

Reggie and I slipped inside and closed the door just as I heard feet crunching on the alley’s gravel. Al’s backyard was enclosed with a chain-link fence, so if we’d let them get close enough they would have seen us.

I peeked out the kitchen window above the sink to make sure it wasn’t Al. His truck might have broken down a few blocks away and he had to hoof it back, but it wasn’t him. Looked like a gangly, dark-haired teenager cutting through the alley to get home.

“We’re good,” I said.

“We probably should have brought the cat,” Reggie said.

“Who me?” Meri said and made us both jump half a foot off the floor.

The voice came from inside my bag, so I opened it. Sure enough, tiny little Meri was stowed away inside.

“You’ve been in there this whole time?” I asked.

“I mean… no,” Meri said.

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Okay, so sometimes, I can go from one location to another, like through space-time or whatever. I hadn’t done it for a very long time. Mostly because it usually requires me to use a particular tunnel in the house, and I lost it.”

“You lost a tunnel?” I asked.

“It’s complicated,” he said. “But here I am. So, what are we doing? Does this guy have anything good in the fridge?” Meri asked.

“We’re not here to burgle him,” I said.

“I just want to see what’s in the fridge,” Meri protested.

“Meri,” I warned.

“Fine, we won’t borrow any of his food.”

“You can’t borrow food,” Reggie said. “I mean, unless you go to the store and buy new food and put it back.”

“Nobody asked you,” Meri snarked.

“I’m going to start looking around. We don’t know how much time we have,” I said.

“What are we looking for?” Reggie asked.

“Anything that might tell us why Al would have murdered Richard,” I said.

“I think breaking into this man’s house to prove he killed Richard when you already know it was a Satanic ritual murder is as dumb as taking food from the fridge,” Meri said.

“Oh! If we think Al might be a Satanist, I’ll go check the back of his closet for Satan-type stuff,” Reggie said and darted off down the short hallway that led from the living room/kitchen area to the bedrooms and bathroom.

“I just want to dot all of the I’s and cross all of the T’s,” I said to Meri. “This is important, so we need to turn over every stone.”

“I’ll keep watch out the front window for his truck,” Meri finally relented.

“Thank you,” I said.

With Reggie looking through the bedrooms, I decided to focus on the kitchen and living room area. There was a small dining table between the two rooms, and it was covered with envelopes and paper.

I started sorting through them and noticed right away that many of them were past due bills. At first, it was just his utilities, but I found his mortgage statement too. Al was already two months behind on that, and the bank was letting him know that if he got six months behind they would begin foreclosure. The letter implored him to call them so he could get back on track before that happened. He’d circled the number with a black pen and then drawn a sad face next to it with a blue pen. I touched the sad face with the tips of my fingers, and when I closed my eyes I could see him on the phone near tears. He’d already gotten bad news.

Underneath the mortgage and past due utilities was a ton of credit card bills. All of them were behind, and most of them were threatening collections or a lawsuit. There wasn’t anything really extravagant around the house, so I had no idea what Al had charged to those cards to run so many up so high. I thought, at first, that maybe he had some sort of expensive hobby that wouldn’t be evident in the house. Maybe his garage was full of toys, or perhaps he had some kind of health condition.

My suspicion was confirmed when I started combing through the actual credit card statements. All of the payments were either to various doctors, the utility companies, or the grocery store.

Al must have had some sort of medical issue that had him on the verge of bankruptcy. Then with the accident, he couldn’t work. His whole life was about to collapse, and it was all because of Richard.

But why hadn’t his insurance paid to fix the truck? I found that answer in another stack of paperwork next to the bills.

He’d missed an insurance payment on the truck. I found a letter stating that while he’d made up the missed payment, the accident had happened during a fifteen-day waiting period to reinstate coverage. The insurance company wouldn’t cover the damage because of some arbitrary nonsense. He’d paid his premiums, but because he was late they got him. My blood boiled for him.

Under that were letters from two separate lawyers. The people who owned the parked cars he hit were suing him personally. Well, their insurance companies were anyway.

Al was toast legally and financially, and it was Richard’s fault. If Richard hadn’t been stumbling around Coventry drunk off his behind and fighting with his girlfriend, Al’s life wouldn’t have been good, but it wouldn’t have been as much of a disaster.

It seemed like a motive for murder to me.

The only problem was that the letters arrived after Richard was already dead. It had happened so fast after the accident that it was hard for me to tie the two events together in my mind.

Sure, maybe someone had told him the information over the phone. Then he’d gotten the official letters days after he’d already killed Richard. But it seemed unlikely. What insurance company moved that fast?

Nobody would have given him an official decision within, like, a day, right? These seemed to add up to a terrible coincidence.

“We’ve got company,” Meri said.

“Is it Al? Is he back?” I asked as I put the papers back down.

“No,” Meri said and jumped out of the window. “It’s Esadora.”

“What?” I asked. “Are you sure she’s here?”

Reggie appeared in the hallway. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah, she’s parked in the driveway. She was getting some bags out of the back of the car. We need to scram,” Meri said. “Unless you want to get busted in here.”

“She can’t do anything to me,” I said, but even as I said it, I was heading for the back door. If she got too close, she’d feel the baby. Esadora had told me as much.

“Not magically, but she could still call the police,” Meri reminded me.

“Okay fine.” I really wanted to ask her what she was doing there, but Meri was right.

I put him back in my bag, and Reggie and I slipped out the back door just as Esadora came in the front. We couldn’t leave the way we came because Esadora was parked in the driveway, so instead, we ran across the backyard and left through the back gate.

Chapter Eight

As we were leaving, Reggie got an emergency call from the nursing home. The doctor had changed her grandmother’s medicine again, and her grandma was having some sort of anxiety attack. The nurse on duty begged Reggie to come help calm her down.

“Do you want me to take you?” I asked.

“No, it’s okay. Just take me back to my car,” she said, but I could tell she was distressed.

“I don’t think you should drive like this,” I said as gently as possible.

“I’m fine. I need my car. I might have to stay there into the night, and I don’t want to depend on anyone to come get me.”

“Alright,” I said and reached over to place a hand on Reggie’s shoulder.

I would never interfere with someone’s free will, but a little empathy magic to calm her nerves was okay. I watched Reggie’s shoulders relax, and the tears threatening to spill over dried up. She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“You just magicked me, didn’t you?” she asked with a chuckle.

“I don’t want you driving upset,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said with a relieved sigh. “You’re right, but I feel much better now. It’s better for my gran if I go in there calm too.”

“I’m going to go back to the shop so you can get your car. After I check on the glass guy, I’m going to make you some protection and calming items for your grandma’s room, okay?”

“Thank you,” Reggie said and almost started crying again. “Thank you so much, Kinsley. You never had to do any of this for me.”

“Yes, I did,” I said. “You’re my sister.”

“Best friends forever?” she asked and offered me her pinky.

“Of course,” I said and linked mine with hers. “Best friends forever.”

It was a silly gesture that kids did all the time. I remembered pinky swearing over everything as a child, but at that moment it wasn’t silly at all. It was one of those little rituals that meant more than anyone could ever know. A promise stronger than blood or magic. Even Meri emerged from my bag and booped his little nose against our interlocked fingers. He understood.

After I’d parked the car and given Reggie one last hug, I found the window guy packing up his things.

“Excellent timing,” he said. “I’m all done here. The shop is yours again. Now, I’m off to get some of that amazing coffee over at the Brew Station.”

He left, and I set to work making things for Reggie’s grandma. Meri lounged on the counter next to me and swished his tail back and forth. He’d reach out a paw and touch my hand whenever my magic needed a boost. Or, whenever he thought my magic required help.

By the time we were done, it was the regular closing time. I locked up the shop and headed home. All of the day’s excitement and my afternoon of magical workings had left me exhausted and starving.

I went home and sent Thorn a message asking him what he wanted for dinner.

Can’t come in time for dinner. Short-staffed because of Lincoln thing. If I’m too late, okay to let myself in? Want to check on you, he texted back.

Yes, use your key. I’ll leave you a plate in the fridge. Love you, I answered.

Love you too, babe.

I was really craving a cheeseburger and fries and thought about picking up takeout from the diner. But I was exhausted. The easier solution was to make some burgers and throw fries in the air fryer, so that’s what I did.

After I ate, I tried to stay awake waiting for Thorn to show up, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to fall asleep on the sofa if Thorn wanted to sleep there, so I dragged myself upstairs to my room.

I threw on my alien print pajamas and fell into bed. After devouring two hamburger patties, Meri seemed more than happy to go to bed too.

“You realize that not even toddlers go to bed this early,” he said as he settled in next to me.

“Need sleep. Don’t care,” I said as my eyelids forced themselves closed. “Good night, Meri,” I said as I felt his tiny back press against mine. He didn’t always sleep right up against me, but most of the time, he did.

What I thought was just a few seconds later, I rolled over and felt something scratchy against my face. When I opened my eyes to see what on earth in my bed could be causing the strange sensation, I realized I wasn’t in my bed.

I was lying in a pile of hay. It wasn’t until I tried to push myself up to a sitting position that I realized I had the black book in my hand. My father had taken it to the crypt, and I’d retrieved it.

In my sleep.

The first order of business was to figure out where I was. I set the book down close to me and sat up. There was moonlight coming in through a window, and it gave me enough illumination to vaguely see my surroundings.

The floor beneath me and the walls around me were both rough wood. I stood up and walked over to the window first. It was just a giant square hole cut in the side of the building, so I wasn’t in any house. The straw sort of gave that away…

Looking out the window, I could tell that I was on the second floor of the structure. There were bales of hay and a tractor parked outside.

That gave me a pretty good idea of where I was. Well, at least what kind of building I was in, and my suspicions were confirmed when I walked over to the edge of the loft.

I was in a barn up in some sort of hayloft. I had no idea why I was up there, but I needed to get out of there so I could figure out where I was and how I would get home.

I climbed down and found a door. Outside it became apparent that I was out in the middle of nowhere. There was one house on a hill off in the distance. All of the lights were out in its windows because it was… probably around three in the morning again.

It wasn’t like I could go up and knock on their door. I was trespassing on their property in my nightgown, holding a book that contained a powerful Satanic ritual. At the very least, I’d scare the bejeezus out of them. At worst, they’d defend their house with a shotgun or call the county sheriff.

“What am I going to do?” I asked the muggy night air.

How had I gotten out that far? I mean, obviously, I’d used magic to walk faster than any other human could, but how had no one seen me? 

The magic veil.

The spell that protected Coventry kept anyone who did see me from registering what they saw. Once I got out into the country, there just wasn’t anyone out there. 

Was I going to do the same thing to get back? That time there wasn’t anyone asleep in their car to give me a ride, and once again I didn’t bring my phone.

Then I remembered what Meri had done. He’d used some sort of magic to teleport into my purse. He said he’d used one of the tunnels in the house wall, and I couldn’t do that. But, maybe there was still a way. If I could stop myself outside of Hangman’s House instead of going all the way back inside.

I’d need his help. The problem was that he didn’t wake up when I went on a sleepwalk. He was home in bed, blissfully unaware that I was out in the middle of nowhere.

If I could reach him, though. Maybe he could teleport out to me and help me get back. I needed his help creating a port big enough for me to move through, but perhaps I could create one big enough for me to send a message all on my own.

I closed my eyes and imagined that all of the space between us was a very narrow tunnel. I couldn’t walk through it or even reach my hand through, but when I moved it the right way, I could see Meri sleeping peacefully on my bed.

Meri

The word didn’t come from my lips, but instead, I said it using the connection between us. The silver thread that connected us snaked its way through the tunnel all along, but when I said his name, it lit up like the moonlight suddenly hit it.

Because it had. Meri was then connected to where I was. His eyes opened, and he stretched.

It took him a second to realize what was going on, but when he did, Meri jumped to his feet.

“Kinsley.” He said the word out loud, but we were connected through space-time, and I could hear him.

“I’m here. I’m out here all alone. Please use your tunnel and come get me,” I said.

I felt a sudden wave of nausea, and the connection closed. I was woozy, and just opening and maintaining that connection had drained me. If he could make it out to me, it would take everything I had to get back. I’d have to lean on Meri’s magic to even have a chance.

He appeared next to me.

“Meri!” I said and clapped my hands together. “You’re here. Oh, thank goodness.”

“Where are we?” he groused.

“I don’t know. Somewhere out in the country,” I said. “But what’s important was that I could reach you. And you could come here to me.”

“Yeah, but now we’re both stuck out here,” he said. “Well, at least we’re together.”

“We’re not stuck,” I said hopefully. “You can teleport us back. We can do it together. I think I can stop us before we hit your tunnel in the wall.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“We have to, Meri. I think it will take less energy to do that than for me to try and speed us back. I don’t know exactly where we are, but I have this feeling it’s really far away. I must have unconsciously used so much of my magic to get out here. Porting back is our best option.” I tried to convince him.

“We should just wait here for a couple of hours until dawn. We can go up to that house and ask to use their phone. Maybe they’d even give us a ride,” he replied.

I felt a chill run down my spine. “Something’s wrong. We can’t wait,” I said.

He narrowed his eyes and studied me for a moment. Then, I watched as the hair on his back stood up and his little tail fluffed out. Meri could feel it too.

“Alright, fine. We’ll give it a try, but if it doesn’t work we just have to wake those people in the house up. I’m sure you can convince them, either with magic or a good story, into helping us. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said.

“Okay, so do the same thing you did before, except that you make the tunnel bigger,” he said.

“I can’t, or I would have just done that before. I would have just come home,” I protested.

“Right, that’s why you have to connect with that tunnel in the wall. I’ll augment your magic to make the tunnel big enough for you to move through. You will have to use some speed because we won’t be able to hold it for long.”

“I don’t know what the tunnel in the wall looks like. I’ve never been in there,” I said.

“You just start the vision, and I’ll join you. I can fill in that part. Now, here’s the most important piece. Once we move through it, you have to stop us before we get to the house. Otherwise, you’ll end up squished in the wall,” he said.

“Your best bet is to count to five when we step through and then stop us,” he said. “No, three. Do three.”

“Is it three, or is it five?” I asked. “Be sure.”

“How can I be sure? I’ve never done this. Anyway, do three. Even if we just get back to Coventry, we can walk the rest of the way. Closer to the ley line, it will be easier for you to use other magic.”

That’s why I had drained so fast. I was so far from the ley line that ran through Coventry and gave us our extra magical strength.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said. “We’ll open the tunnel. When it’s big enough for me to walk through, I’ll step in, count to three, and hopefully end up on the front porch.”

Meri gave me a nod, and we began. I opened the vision, and just as he’d said, he joined in. I felt a little dizzy as I tried to open the tunnel, but with Meri pressed against my leg, I had the strength to do it.

He joined the tunnel to the house, and it grew large enough for me to enter. I didn’t hesitate because I feared it would snap shut at any time. I barely held it and myself together.

I bent down a little, and Meri jumped into my arms. One step into the tunnel…

One

Two

Three

I opened my eyes again, and we were in the road that ran in front of Hangman’s House. We’d done it!

There was just one problem.

The danger I’d sensed before came in the form of dozens of robed figures standing in a circle around my house. The black robes they wore sheltered them from the moonlight, and it almost made them appear as shadows or apparitions instead of humans.

All of them were chanting something in a language I couldn’t understand, but somehow I knew it was the one from the book. I still had the book, and it started to feel hot in my hand.

I looked down, and it glowed red. Tendrils of that heat and the red glow began to snake up my arm.

“Meri! Meri, I can’t drop it,” I said as I fought to let go of the book.

Meri gazed at me with terror in his eyes. I watched as he looked back and forth between the book in my hand and my belly. I knew right away that whatever he would normally do to the book to save me would put the baby in danger.

He was at a loss as to how to protect us.

“What are we going to do?” I asked, but even as I did, the red-hot tendrils got closer to my heart. For some reason, there was no pain, and while my mind fought the onslaught, my body did not. I knew that if it got to my heart, it would travel immediately to the baby.

“You have to fight it, Kinsley. You have to,” Meri said.

I was getting woozy, and my vision was beginning to blur. When I was about to tell Meri that I didn’t have the strength to fight, my front door opened.

Thorn stepped out onto the front porch in his boxer shorts with a shotgun in his hands. He racked it and pointed the barrels at the closest dark figure.

“Y’all better run,” he said in a deep, growling voice I’d never heard from him before.

The chanting stopped.

“One,” Thorn said. “Two.”

As soon as the chanting stopped, so did the tendrils. I was able to drop the book.

The robed figures all took off running. They hadn’t been able to summon their devil, and apparently, none of them wanted to die for the cause. They began to file around the side of the house, and Thorn gave chase.

I left the book there in the middle of the road. No part of me wanted to pick it up again. I had to get inside, and then I’d summon the Coven.

There was no need, though. As I reached out to open my front door, I heard something behind me.

When I turned to look, the three women’s shimmering white specters hung from the tree in the front yard. The ghosts of three of the women executed in that tree.

They dropped down from their nooses and started walking toward the book. More joined them from the cemetery. The ghosts of the witches that came even before the Skeenbauers. It wasn’t just my ancestors, but the ancestors of all of the witches from… well from just about everywhere. Mom had always told me that some of the first were buried there. I hadn’t known what that meant, and she said she didn’t really know either.

I could see that some of them were older, and they glowed brighter than the others. They all surrounded the book. None of them were still of this world, but they were still powerful enough to interact with the book.

The witches took it with them back into the cemetery. As they retreated into their dark resting place, the remaining fire damage in the trees disappeared. The foliage around their final resting place became thick and lush again.

“Thank you,” I called into the night.

I was answered with a brief, cool breeze.

Thorn ran back into the house a few minutes later. “They disappeared into the forest,” he panted. It was obvious he was out of breath. His feet and calves were covered in cuts and scrapes from where he’d chased the Satanists in his bare feet. “I can go back after them if you want.”

“No, stay here,” I said.

I was standing in the kitchen, drinking a half-gallon of chocolate milk. It was nowhere near enough to restore my strength, but it had been sufficient to keep me from passing out.

“I can’t just let them go,” he protested. “But, I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“You can just let them go,” I said. “Sit down at the table, and let me take care of your feet.”

“I’ll be fine,” he grumbled.

“You will,” I said. “Especially after you let me heal your feet. There’s no way we can just let that go. When your adrenaline wears off, it’s going to hurt like the dickens. Plus, you’re not going to be able to walk tomorrow. I can promise you that.”

“Fine,” he said and sat down at the table.

I didn’t have much strength, physical or magical, but with Meri’s help I was able to heal the cuts on Thorn’s feet.

“I have to go to bed,” I said when it was done. “I need a nap, and then when I wake up I’m going to need a lot to eat.”

Thorn had really taken it to heart when I said I needed a lot to eat. I’d fallen asleep on the sofa because I just couldn’t make it any further. When I woke up, I found him and a buffet in the kitchen.

“You didn’t go back to sleep,” I said as I walked into the kitchen.

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands, and as soon as I pulled them away Thorn pushed a steaming cup of coffee into them. The kitchen counters were lined with bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, waffles, pancakes, and the stuff to assemble both hamburgers and hot dogs. Meri skittered into the kitchen, and his eyes lit up when he saw the mountain of bacon and two salmon fillets Thorn had set off to the side for him.

“I feel like I could run a marathon,” Thorn said. “Seriously, whatever you did to fix my feet, it affected more than that. I have so much energy. I may have gone a little overboard with the food.”

I chuckled. “I love it. Thank you so much.”

“It’s a good thing you have a magic refrigerator. I think this stuff will probably keep. Right?”

“Yeah, it will. Well, let’s eat then,” I said as my stomach issued a loud rumble. The scent of the buttery waffles and bacon alone was enough to make me feel like a ravenous wolf.

I ate until I thought I would burst, but my body just used it all to replenish my magic. Minutes later, I was ready to eat again. Thorn watched with a combination of horror and amusement. There wasn’t going to be nearly as many leftovers as he’d previously believed.

Just before Thorn left for work, Viv called me. She said that the haunted and witch tours had been canceled and that she had not opened the coffee shop that day.

“What’s going on?” I asked, but I already knew.

“It just seems too dangerous with them around, and I wasn’t getting any real customers anyway. You know we have sort of an informal downtown committee, and you’re part of that now, but that committee has decided that we should stay closed to protect people. At least until we can figure out what to do about these… people.”

“Is it really that bad?” I asked.

“Well, they are down there right now. They’re all over the square and around the statues. Someone even said they thought they might try to pull them down. Nobody who goes to work at the courthouse can go in either.”

“How many of them are there?” I asked.

“It’s just maybe two dozen, but they’re walking around in those black robes now. At first, people thought it was something the town was doing, but then they started menacing people,” Viv said.

“I’ll send Thorn down there on his way into work,” I said. “Call me if you need anything.”

Thorn was studying me when I hung up the phone. “What’s up?” he asked.

I told him everything Viv had relayed to me. “I don’t think anyone is opening up today.”

“That’s good. I was going to say something to you about that anyway. This is much easier.”

“Why? Because you know I’d probably go in anyway?”

“I know you, and yes. I don’t think you’re afraid of those guys, but you need to be more cautious. You’ve got the baby to think of now. But when this is over, you should think about hiring another assistant in the shop. You’ll need to be able to take days off without having to close down when the baby comes. Or even when you’re just really far along.”

“You don’t think I can handle it?” I teased.

“I don’t want you to have to handle anything, babe. I want you and peanut to have the best of everything. I don’t want you to have to just grin and bear it through things.”

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you too,” Thorn replied. “Now, I’m going to get to work. I’ve got to get these… whatever they are out of this town.”

“I’m going to call Lilith,” I said. “Mom and Amelda might not be around, but the rest of the Coven is. The Aunties will help you drive them out.”

“We probably should have done that in the beginning,” Thorn said as he put on his hat.

“Yeah, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

Chapter Nine

Later that day, around lunchtime, Thorn called me.

“Hey, sweetie. Is everything okay?” I asked when I picked up.

“Yeah, I’m okay, but I’m swamped. It’s lunchtime, and nothing is open. I think the places over in the new section of Coventry are, but I can’t get away to get over there.”

“You want me to bring you some lunch?” I asked.

“Normally, I wouldn’t ask, but no one has seen hide nor hair of those Satanists since me and Deputy Fontaine chased them off this morning. I think it’s safe for you to make a run down here.”

“I would say so,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m not going to hide in the house, Thorn. I had a bad night last night, but I’m completely refreshed. There’s nothing for me to be afraid of now.”

“I know,” Thorn said with a sigh that told me he still wouldn’t accept that I could hold my own. He wanted to protect me, but I loved that about him. “But, bring the cat.”

“I’ll be down there in fifteen. Any requests?” I asked.

“Whatever you’ve got. I’m starving.”

When we hung up the phone, I set to work, making him a couple of sandwiches, chips, carrots, and two apples. I also packed a container of breakfast leftovers. There wasn’t much left after my feast, but there was enough for another decent meal. I had a feeling Thorn might be stuck at work for a while and wanted to make sure he could eat again later.

Fifteen minutes later, I walked through the front door of the sheriff’s station. I’d made it exactly on time.

“Go on back,” the receptionist said with a nod. “He’s been expecting you.”

“Must have been hungry,” I said, and she laughed with me.

I walked into Thorn’s office, and he was opening a Coke he’d probably gotten from the station’s vending machine. “Oh, thank you,” he said when I handed him the bags.

We chatted for a bit while Thorn ate the sandwiches. He was happy to see I’d packed a little container of peanut butter to dip the carrots in. Not a lot of people ate them that way, but Thorn and I both loved it.

He cleaned up the sack lunch and got ready to put the breakfast leftovers in the break room refrigerator when we heard shouting coming from the lobby. “What in the heck,” he said and rushed around the desk.

I started to stand up, but he told me to stay put. He disappeared out of his office door but came back a minute later. “Two deputies brought people in at the same time, and we’ve got a bit of an issue out in the lobby. I’m going to have you go out the back door of the station, okay?”

“Sure, yeah,” I said and got up. “See you tonight?”

“I’ll get there as soon as I can, sweetie. I’m going to have a talk with Lincoln this afternoon, so we’ll see how that goes.”

I wanted to press the issue and make sure Thorn was still going to fire him, but I could tell by his expression he had no time to talk. He walked me to the back door of the station and unlocked it so I could leave. Thorn gave me a quick kiss and then closed the door behind me to attend to the mess in the lobby.

As I walked through the alley to get back to my car, I passed the dumpster behind the station. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but when I realized what I saw on the ground around the dumpster I stopped in my tracks.

Rose petals.

It was an odd sight for sure, so I walked over and lifted the lid to the dumpster. Inside were dozens upon dozens of drying roses.

“What would those be doing behind the sheriff’s station?” I asked.

“What?” Meri piped up from inside my bag.

“There are dozens of roses in this dumpster,” I said.

“So.”

“I just… I found a dried rose at the spot where Richard died,” I said.

“Roses are pretty common,” Meri responded. “You really think it’s something?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m going to take a picture of it and get out of this alley. This trash smells gross.”

What I didn’t say was that I suddenly felt like I was being watched. I looked up and down both sides of the alley, but I hadn’t seen anyone lurking about. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling. When I got those feelings, I listened to them.

After I snapped the picture, we walked back around the building to my car. The entire drive home, I kept checking my rearview mirror and the rear camera. There was no one following me, but I couldn’t dismiss that oily feeling like someone had been there in the alley watching me.

Usually, when I got that feeling and there wasn’t a person there, it was a ghost. None manifested themselves, though.

I still had that feeling later that night when someone pounded on my front door. I jumped half out of my skin. I leapt off the couch so fast that I threw Meri onto the coffee table. He hissed and scrambled to the front door.

Meri sniffed under the door. “It’s just a person.”

“Should I answer it?”

Meri just looked at me like I’d asked the dumbest question he’d ever heard.

“I’m going to answer it,” I said.

“You probably shouldn’t,” Meri finally piped up.

“You said it’s just a person.”

“Kinsley!” a man called through the door. “Kinsley Skeenbauer?”

“Yeah?” I hollered back instinctively.

“Um… Sorry if I scared you, but this is Amelia’s husband. Can I talk to you for a minute?” he called through the door.

“Oh. Thorn’s brother-in-law,” I said to Meri. “Coming!”

I opened the door to a handsome man with dark hair and light brown eyes. He was dressed in a red and white plaid shirt and jeans. His eyes were rimmed red like he’d been crying.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Is Amelia alright? I can call Thorn.”

“No, it’s okay. I just need to ask you something. I know I’m a stranger. I don’t even need to come in,” he said and took a step back onto the porch.

I stepped outside and closed the door behind me, but not before Meri darted out and joined us. “Okay. Ask away.”

“Was my wife at a funeral with you the other day?” he asked.

“She was,” I confirmed.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Okay, good.” But then he thought about it a little more. “Was she with you all afternoon?”

“No. We were going to have lunch with her, but she got a call from her daughter’s school and had to go,” I said. I knew Amelia had been lying to Thorn and me, but I didn’t want to lie to her husband.

Tears spilled over onto his cheeks, and he balled his hands into fists. He immediately relaxed them and then wiped the tears away from his eyes.

“Would you like something to drink?” I asked. “And I’m sorry, but I can’t remember your name.”

“Dave,” he said. “My name is Dave, and I would take a soda if you’ve got one. I’d say a beer, but I’m going to need to get back on the road soon.”

“Have a seat,” I said and pointed to my porch furniture. “I’ll be right back with a soda.”

We chatted for a while after that. He told me about Amelia and how she’d had an affair. Dave had thought they were past all that, but apparently she was cheating again. He spilled all the beans to me like he hadn’t had someone to talk to in a long time.

Eventually, Thorn pulled up in the driveway. He convinced Dave to stay for a while, but Dave still insisted on sitting on the porch. He and Thorn did have an ice-cold beer while they talked, though. Something to cut through the heat, but Thorn made sure Dave was good to drive before finally sending him off.

As I was getting ready for bed, I realized that probably meant that whatever suspicious things Amelia had said during her phone call were about her affair. They had nothing to do with the murder. Not that I’d really thought she had anything to do with Richard’s death, but it was still one person off the list. Even if she had been at the very bottom of that list.

Chapter Ten

The next day, Thorn went into work, and I went to my shop. Viv had decided to open up the Brew Station as well. The weirdos weren’t all gone yet, but it seemed as though Thorn had convinced them to back off. We couldn’t stay closed forever, after all. I could because I had a magic house that gave me money when I needed it, but Viv depended on her coffee shop to survive. Reggie needed her job with me too, so in a way I had to stay open as well.

Other than a few of the creepers walking by the front window and staring in at us, the day was pretty uneventful. The ancestral spirits had dragged the book into their cemetery, so I wasn’t sure why some of the Satanists were still around. Maybe they thought they’d be able to get it, but I knew they wouldn’t.

I hadn’t had a sleepwalking incident the night before, and I was convinced it was over. My father must have put the dark book near the entrance of the family crypt, and so it was able to reach me. I was able to enter it to retrieve it fast enough that the occupants of the tomb had no time to get me. Heck, my mother had been in there for minutes before and had escaped with her life. It wasn’t farfetched that I could reach in and grab a book.

The ancestor spirits of the witches dragging it into the earth of the old cemetery was a different story. They didn’t always rise up to interfere with the business of the living, but for the book they had.

I was lost in these thoughts when the bell over the door startled me out of them. A witch named Lina walked in, carrying something wrapped in a blue cloth. Judging by the shape, it was the giant crystal ball she’d purchased from me a while back.

“Hello, Lina. How are you?” I asked as she approached the counter.

“Oh, I’m okay, Kinsley. I hope you’re not mad at me, but I was wondering if I could return this crystal ball. I don’t need my money back. I’d be happy with store credit, but I just… I don’t think I can use it,” she said and then bit her bottom lip.

Lina wasn’t a member of the Skeenbauer Coven, and she seemed afraid to ask me for a refund. Some, but not all, of the non-Skeenbauer witches in town were a little afraid of us. I couldn’t blame them.

“Sure,” I said and watched her relax. “Is there something wrong with it, or you just decided it’s not your thing?”

“I don’t know if there is something wrong with it or if it’s something wrong with me, but either way, I can’t use it anymore.”

“Tell me about it,” I said as I got her a store credit receipt ready.

“Well, every time I look into it to see the future, I see… bad things. I see death and destruction. I don’t know, Kinsley, but it’s not going to be a good year for me and my loved ones if even half of that stuff comes true,” she said with a shudder.

“Maybe it’s cursed. And even if it is true things you saw, you know that’s only one possible outcome. The future can change. You can change it,” I said as I slid the receipt for the credit across the counter to her.

“You’re right. I can’t let it become self-fulfilling prophesy just because it scared me,” Lina said with a smile. “Thank you, Kinsley. I’ll be back later this week to use this for some supplies.”

“We’ll see you then,” I said and gave Lina a wave as she left the store.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the crystal ball when I put it up for sale. It came from an estate sale, and I’d cleansed it with salt and sage smoke before putting it out in the shop.

Now, I felt drawn to it. I hadn’t used a crystal ball to see the future since I was a kid. Most of the time, I didn’t want to know the future for the exact reason I told Lina. It was too changeable, and worse yet, you could talk yourself into a future that had never been real.

But what about the past?

Sometimes, you could use a crystal ball as a window into the past. It didn’t always work, but if I did it just right, I thought that perhaps I could see a clue about who killed Richard. If I concentrated all of my focus on that, maybe the ball would show me a glimpse of his death.

Admittedly, in hindsight, it was a dumb idea. Lina had just told me the thing didn’t work right. Who knew what kind of person had used it before? I’d purchased it from an estate sale, but the seller could have lied about who owned it previously. Sometimes even I forgot that everything on the internet had a tint of lie to it.

Still, if it let me solve the murder and move on with my life, I decided it was worth trying. “I’m going to use this crystal ball to see if I can figure out who killed Richard,” I said to Reggie. “I’ll be in my office.”

“How long is that going to take?” Reggie asked. “Just these creepers skulking around makes me nervous.”

“Like five minutes, I swear,” I said. “It’s nothing like the book. I promise. In fact, the next tour doesn’t get out for fifteen minutes, so you can lock the front door if you want. I’ll be right back.”

As I was heading to my office, Reggie headed to the front door to lock it. She’d grabbed the “be right back” sign from the front counter and hung it in the window.

In my office, I put the ball on the stand and sat down. I’d turned off the lights, so I grabbed a candle and lighter from my desk drawer. Yes, witches kept candles and lighters in their drawers like regular people kept pens and sticky notes.

I lit the candle and looked into the ball. Seconds later, I found myself in a graveyard looking down at a small, pink granite headstone. I couldn’t read the name or date on the tombstone, but there was a teddy bear and a pair of wings carved on each side of the name. It was a baby’s grave. Tears streamed down my face, and though I couldn’t see Thorn, I could feel his hand on my shoulder. I felt pain in my back, arm, and legs. I looked at the arm and leg that throbbed with torment, and they were both in a cast. My chest constricted with a deep, shuddering sob.

A knock at my office door brought me out of the vision.

“Yes,” I called out and wiped the real tears that had spilled over my cheeks.

“Kinsley, can I come in? Lincoln Raines is here. He says he needs to speak to you.”

“Yes, come in,” I said. Reggie flipped the light switch as she came into the office, and I blew out the candle. “Did you let him into the store?” I asked.

“I tried not to, but he pushed his way in. He’s waiting up by the front counter.”

“Okay, I’m going to go talk to him. Call Thorn from back here,” I said.

“Can’t you just stay back here. We’ll wait for Thorn,” Reggie said.

“It’s okay, Reggie. I’m not afraid of him. I’ve got no reason to be. Let me get rid of him so we can open the shop,” I said.

“Did you see anything in the ball,” she asked when I was halfway out the door.

“Nothing of use,” I replied over my shoulder.

Lincoln was waiting for me at the counter when I emerged from the back of the shop. “Reggie is calling Thorn,” I said. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

It wasn’t until I got up to the counter that I saw he had a few dried lavender sprigs, two smudge sticks, and three white candles. “I’m just here to say that I’m sorry. I heard this stuff works for clearing negative energy.”

“The smudge sticks and the candles will, and the lavender will provide protection from negative energies.” I passed the shelf with dried juniper berries on my way to the counter, and I picked up a satchel of them. “These juniper berries will protect your home if you sprinkle them in the corners of your rooms. They’re on the house.”

He smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes as I walked behind the counter and placed the satchel of dried berries next to the rest of his intended purchases.

“I really am sorry,” he said as I rang up his items.

He didn’t sound the least bit sincere, but I told myself that he was trying. Not that I believed he was trying for good reasons. Lincoln just didn’t want to get fired because he’d have to go to a new town and start his little quest for power all over again.

“I hope that these help you,” I said as he handed me the cash and I handed him his bag. “Many blessings.”

Two minutes after Lincoln was gone, Thorn pulled up in his cruiser. He rushed inside. “Where is he?”

“He left,” I said. “Sorry to have bothered you. He bought a few things, gave me a thin apology, and then he left.”

“No, it’s good he left,” Thorn said. “So, he didn’t do anything department related while he was here?”

“Not at all,” I said with a shrug. “But, I did tell him as soon as I saw him that we’d called you.”

“Good,” Thorn said. “You did the right thing.”

“You going to be working late tonight?” I asked.

“Probably. I assume you’ll be staying home,” he said with a hopeful smile.

“You don’t want me out on the streets tracking down this killer for you? You guys are short-staffed, and I have grown to be somewhat of an expert,” I said and poked him playfully in the arm.

“Kinsley.”

“I’m kidding. Yes, I will stay at home. If I fall asleep before you get there, I’ll leave a plate of food for you. You know the drill.”

“Thanks, babe. It might be a late one. I got a preliminary autopsy report on Richard. I’ve got work to do.”

I just stood there looking at Thorn for a second, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t say any more, I spoke up. “Well, are you going to tell me about the report?”

He let out a sigh. “Okay, I’m only going to tell you anything about this because I know if I don’t you’ll break into my office or the coroner’s office.”

“Yep,” I said.

“But, if I tell you anything, you have to promise me that you’ll stay home. You’ll leave this to me.”

“Okay. I promise,” I said.

“Swear it,” he insisted.

“I swear that I will stay home tonight, and I will stay out of it,” I said with my hand over my heart.

“Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Okay, so the coroner said he thinks Richard was left out in the woods to die slowly.”

I cringed. “Oh. I mean…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t go into the details as to how he knows that. It’s pretty… unpleasant. But, he does think it took Richard hours to die. Unless they all stood there for hours waiting for him to pass, they most likely did their ritual and left. It makes sense. They thought they needed a death for the ritual, but I’d bet most of these punks are pretty young and not cold-blooded murderers.”

“They are now,” I said.

“Yeah, they are now but leaving the scene meant they didn’t have to see him die. It allowed them to put psychological distance between themselves and the hardest part. At least, that’s my working theory.”

“So, they’re just callous jerkwads,” I said. “Not all psychopaths.”

“Pretty much,” Thorn agreed. “Oh, and I had the blood on the dagger tested. It’s not Richard’s, so that wasn’t the murder weapon. I’m having them run the DNA against all of the databases because I still believe they used it in the ritual. If we can find one of these punks, maybe I can make him sing. We can get him to turn everyone in to us in exchange for immunity. Maybe figure out who’s the ringleader. I feel like one actual psychopath had to put these people up to this.”

When Thorn left, Reggie joined me at the counter. She stood on the customer side while I stayed behind the register.

“Huh,” she said and bent over.

“What is it?”

“There are rose petals on the floor here. Dried rose petals.”

I felt my stomach clench. “How long have they been there?”

“I don’t know,” Reggie said. “They could have been here for hours. I don’t look at this spot on the floor much. Do you?”

“I think the killer was in here,” I said. “Or maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Reggie asked. Her eyes darted around the store like a murderer could be hiding behind one of the shelves, but I was sure if they had been there, then they were gone.

“The rose petals can be used to signify unfolding wisdom. Because of the way the flowers bloom,” I said.

“Oh, okay. So, Lina might have had rose petals on that cloth she wrapped the crystal ball in.” Reggie’s shoulders relaxed, and the color returned to her face.

“If she’d just wrapped the ball up in whatever she was using for her setup, yeah. It’s kind of a stretch, though. That would be a huge coincidence.”

“Maybe not,” Reggie offered. “And I heard you tell Thorn you would stay out of this. He’s got leads. He seemed determined. Besides, it would be more likely that it was Esadora and Al. That’s where my money is.”

“What? Why?”

“Think about it. Maybe when Richard stumbled into the street and Al almost hit him it wasn’t an accident. Maybe Esadora and Al set that all up. When they didn’t manage to kill him that way, they made it look like these weirdos did it. It was, like, an opportunity for them.”

“But why?”

“Well, duh, obviously they were having an affair,” Reggie said and rolled her eyes.

“But Esadora and Richard weren’t married. They didn’t need to kill Richard. She could just stay broken up with him and move on to Al.”

“I don’t know,” Reggie protested with a shrug. “People are weird. Maybe that’s not what happened, but either way, you promised Thorn you’d stay out of it. I should go see my grandma tonight, but I can cancel it and come babysit you.”

“No,” I said. “Go see your grandma. I will stay out of it.”

Chapter Eleven

I stayed home like I promised. I’d just begun to think about going to bed when there was a frantic knocking at my door.

“Again,” I said to Meri, who was already on his way to the door. He jumped back when the person outside shouted through the door.

“Ma’am, this is Wayne Fontaine. I need to speak to you right away! It’s about Thorn!” he called out.

All of the blood drained from my head, and ice gripped my spine. If a deputy was coming to tell me about Thorn…

I ran to the door and flung it open. Wayne stood there with his hat in his hands. He bit his bottom lip so hard that I couldn’t believe it wasn’t bleeding.

“What is it? What happened to Thorn?” I demanded.

“He’s been arrested,” Wayne said.

I blurted out a nervous laugh. It wasn’t good, but finding out he wasn’t dead was such a huge relief I couldn’t contain myself. “I’m sorry. I thought you were going to tell me he was dead. Okay, what has he been arrested for? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Lincoln arrested him for murder,” Wayne said. “He’s in the holding cell down at the station. Lincoln said that since Thorn is under arrest and will go to prison, he’s the sheriff now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said and squeezed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “Thorn was supposed to fire him.”

“I’d heard that rumor, but nothing official had happened yet. I mean, officially Lincoln was just taking a couple of vacation days,” Wayne said. “Should I let Thorn out? I came here right away because I know your family has… some sway in this town.”

“It’s good that you came to me,” I said. “But no, you shouldn’t let him out. I don’t want you to get yourself into the middle of this. Are you the only deputy on duty tonight?”

“I am,” he said.

“So, where are you going to patrol right now?” I asked.

It took a moment, but I saw the lightbulb go off in his head. “Oh, I’ve got some things to check way over on the outer edge of the new section of town. That will take me a while. Guess Thorn will just have to sit there,” he said and winked at me.

“I guess he will. Thank you for letting me know.” I winked back.

As soon as Wayne was gone, I snatched up Meri and got into my car. I didn’t see Lincoln’s car on the way, and he wasn’t parked outside the station. Just to be sure, I went all the way around the building and parked my car in the alley.

It took a little magic to unlock the back door to the station and disable the alarm, but it wasn’t difficult. Once inside, I closed the door behind me and re-engaged the security system.

I found the door to the holding area and once again used my power to get in. Breaking Thorn out of jail would be surprisingly easy.

Thorn shot up off the concrete bench he sat on when I walked in. “What are you doing here? You said you’d stay home.”

Again, I had to laugh. “Well, I would have if you’d kept yourself out of trouble.”

“I can handle this, Kinsley.”

“It looks like it,” I said. “So, was the arrest lawful?”

“Of course not,” Thorn said and came closer to the bars.

“Then, oops,” I said and waved my hand over the cell’s lock mechanism.

The door opened.

Thorn thought about it for a second and stepped out. “He’s lost his mind, Kinsley. He was raving about a book, and he smelled like roses. I swear I saw at least a couple of rose petals fall out of his pockets.”

“They keep the demons away.” Lincoln’s voice made us both whirl around. “The lesser ones anyway. Demons hate roses, but the more powerful one we… I was trying to work with could brush them off as just an annoyance. Some of the lesser demons don’t care or don’t understand their hierarchy. So, we all took precautions to keep them from possessing the wrong person or causing havoc where none was needed.” He had his service weapon in his hand, and Lincoln leveled it at my head.

“You can’t hurt her.” There was a slight crack in Thorn’s voice, but when I looked at him he quivered with rage.

“I can, and I will,” he said and casually pulled the trigger.

But I’d already disabled the gun. Lincoln looked at the weapon in horror.

“Did you really think that was going to work?”

“I thought that if I sacrificed you…” Lincoln trailed off.

“Well, you’re terrible at catching someone by surprise. Maybe if you’d shot me as soon as you came in here, but you just had to try and get the last word. Your ritual is canceled. Your demon is canceled,” I said.

“And you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison,” Thorn said as I moved out of the way.

Meri had taken a seat at Lincoln’s feet and cast a spell on him so he couldn’t move anything but his head. Thorn dragged him into the cell he’d just emerged from, locked the door, and then Meri released the spell.

“I’ll tell everyone. I’ll tell them everything. I’ll spread the word far and wide not only about the immense power people can summon using those books but also what you are,” he said, looking at me. “I’ll tell everyone.” He clung to the bars pressing his face between two of them as if he could somehow slide out.

“And then you’ll spend the rest of your life in a mental hospital for the criminally insane,” Thorn said matter-of-factly. “Either way, prison or a mental hospital, is fine with us.”

“Books,” I said. “He said books.”

“Yes,” Lincoln said with a huge smile. “There’s a whole library of those infernal volumes. Some of them are out in the world. Some are still at the Order’s library. Others are protected by people… on your side.”

“The Order?” I asked.

Lincoln began to laugh. “They’re going to come for that book. You may think that you and your little ghost friends have saved this town, but the Order will come.”

Epilogue

“A large stash of secret money no one can find, and now this Order is coming for the book the Ancestors took into the cemetery. Life in Coventry is a whole lot more exciting than I remember,” I said.

“Not for you,” Thorn groused. “I think you should give boring and safe a try for a while.”

“Not a chance,” I said. “You don’t really think you’re going to keep me locked away in this house for my own good, do you, Thorn Wilson? I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe you can make your own grilled cheese too.”

“Let’s not go too far,” I retorted.

We were in the kitchen. Thorn was standing at the stove melting butter in a pan to make a grilled cheese sandwich. I was sitting in a chair that I’d dragged over. I was getting fatigued more easily as my baby grew, and I found myself needing more rest and more food to sustain us. The little peanut had gone quiet during the time I was using too much magic, but when I’d stopped they’d begun to flutter regularly again. I would never admit to Thorn that he was probably right about me needing a little more boring and safe in my life..

Just a little, though. I wasn’t going to live my entire life like that. No thanks. It’s what I’d thought I wanted when I left Coventry as a teenager, but the short time I’d been back had already proven me wrong.

I was at home in Coventry, and not only that, I was at home with who I was too.

Being a witch.

In fact, I’d decided that at some point, after the baby came, I’d take my powers out for a test drive. I was finally curious about what I was truly capable of doing with my magic. After all, being who I was and not using it was a waste.

Many fences needed to be mended in Coventry. There was a lot of rot that needed to be carved away. Some things had been ignored for too long. I didn’t want to just live in Coventry. I wondered how amazing the town could be with all of us working together.

It wasn’t all curiosity, though. A small part of me, deep down inside, knew that I needed to harness my powers to protect my family and my town. A storm was brewing, and while I couldn’t see it on the horizon yet, I could feel it in my bones.

“Hey, Kinsley?” Thorn broke me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, babe?”

“You wanted provolone, right?”

“Yep.”

“And cheddar?”

“Yes, please,” I said.

“And you said muenster too?”

I chuckled. “Yes, all three, please.”

“Oh, and Kinsley?” Thorn inquired.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Will you marry me?”

Thank you for reading!

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A Taste for Magic

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© Sara Bourgeois 2020

This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is a coincidence.

© Sara Bourgeois 2020

This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is a coincidence.