Without any warning, Gigi Martin raised her hands in the air and said, “Goddess of witches, light our path. Give us light to guide us to your wisdom.”

  All seven of the white pillar candles flared to life, illuminating our faces in the dark night.

  Charlotte stared as if she’d never seen a witch magically light a candle before.

  “From fire and earth to air and sea, we call our goddess of witches,” Gigi called. “We humbly ask for answers to the questions we seek. From our hearts and minds, we pray you grace us with your presence and knowledge and wisdom you speak. With open souls, we request that you reveal yourself, so mote it be.”

  “So mote it be,” the coven said in unison.

  A small ring of fire flared to life around Charlotte, making her gasp and take a step back. Then she took a shaky step forward again so that she didn’t get singed.

  “It’s working,” Iris whispered to me.

  I had no doubt about that. Magic coated my skin, making me feel almost invincible.

  “Raise your arms,” Gigi called, and everyone except Charlotte put their arms up. “Raise them, Charlotte!” Gigi ordered.

  This time Charlotte complied.

  The wind picked up, but it wasn’t cold. The surf became louder, and as a large wave crashed against the bluff, a slight mist of saltwater settled over us.

  The moon seemed to put Charlotte in the spotlight as the coven chanted together in what I figured must be Latin.

  Then suddenly, the wind stopped and Charlotte stood tall, blond hair replacing her red locks and fanning out around her as if it had been charged with static.

  “Hecate,” Gigi murmured. “Goddess,” she said reverently as she performed a slight bow. Each of us followed her example as Charlotte gave us an indulgent smile. No, not Charlotte. Hecate, the goddess of witches.

  “Child,” she said with a nod and then glanced up at the bright full moon. Her smile became softer and more appreciative. “You’ve chosen your coven circle well.”

  “Thank you,” Gigi said. “And thank you for heeding our call. We seek only answers.”

  Hecate gave Gigi an approving nod. “Proceed.”

  “Our friend Charlotte, the witch who is hosting you, has been unable to control her magic recently. Which has, unfortunately, caused some unintentional havoc. We were hoping you could help us understand why.”

  “It is simple, my children. Your friend has been cursed to curse people. But you already have the answers you seek. You just need to open your eyes to them. Be wary of adversaries, especially those with sway over your heart.”

  The wind picked up again and just like that, the small ring of fire went out, leaving us all bathed in candlelight.

  Charlotte seemed to sway on her feet. She stumbled once before she regained her balance. Her gaze landed on mine. “What just happened?”

  “Hecate was here,” I said, my voice hoarse with emotion. The goddess of witches had just graced us with her presence. I’d heard of covens summoning her before, but the success rate was low and I’d never heard of an experience where she spoke directly to the witches who’d summoned her. She always left a cryptic message and vanished. And while the one she’d left for us appeared to be cryptic, it didn’t seem that hard to decipher.

  We already had the answers we sought and should be wary of adversaries who had influence over our hearts. It seemed clear as day to me that the power Charlotte and I shared would break her curse and that we needed to be wary of our mother. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever was happening to Charlotte was somehow caused by our mother.

  Iris did her best to explain what had happened. Charlotte appeared to be in a state of shock. She kept shaking her head and insisting that she didn’t remember anything.

  “It’s okay, Char. She relayed the message to us, and that’s all that matters,” I said. “Let’s go home and get dinner. We’ll decide how to move forward after we’ve had some food.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” she said.

  “You were before we did the summoning,” I reminded her. “I’m sure once you smell dinner cooking your appetite will come back.”

  She didn’t look convinced but nodded anyway.

  Joy cleared her throat. “Uh, guys? I sort of already let the cat out of the bag.”

  “Which cat?” Grace Valentine asked as she collected the candles and placed them into a drawstring bag.

  “The one about us planning to ask Marion to join the coven.” She gave them all a nervous smile. “It just sort of fell out of my mouth.”

  Carly snorted. “Yep, can confirm.”

  “Well, what did you say, Marion?” Hope Anderson demanded with one hand on her hip and plenty of expectation in her dark gaze.

  “Nothing yet, I—”

  “Say yes!” all six of them chorused.

  My insides turned to jelly as their outpouring of love washed over me. How had I gotten so lucky to make such good friends in my new town? Sure, Carly and I had already been friends when we lived down in LA, but that didn’t guarantee her coven circle would invite me in so wholeheartedly. With a lump in my throat and a soul full of gratitude, I said, “Yes.”

  CHAPTER 11

  “Mom did not curse me,” Charlotte insisted. “I’d know if she had.”

  “How?” I asked, shoving a piece of pie in my mouth. We were back at my place, sitting on the couch while eating blackberry pie that Aunt Lucy had left for us. Minx was positioned between us, watching diligently for any crumbs we might drop.

  “What do you mean, how? Surely if she cursed me, I’d feel it, right?”

  I shrugged. “I guess so. But what if she did it while you were sleeping? Or drunk? Or slipped it to you in something you ate or drank? I think it’s impossible to know for sure. Besides, if you were cursed, then someone did it, right? You already said you can’t think of anything out of the ordinary that happened to cause this.”

  “I know, but… Mom would never curse me. I’m sure of it.” She’d said the words, but there was no conviction in her tone.

  “Char,” I said.

  She closed her eyes. “I know, Marion. I. Know. I just can’t wrap my head around how a mother could curse her own daughter.” Anger flashed bright in her eyes. “There has to be some thread of evil lurking inside of a person to do something like that. I know our relationships with her are complicated, I just never imagined that they’d be this complicated.”

  “I know.” We sat in silence for a long time, picking at the pie. I placed mine on the coffee table. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

  “Me either.” Charlotte stood, picked up my plate, and took them both to the kitchen.

  I glanced at the clock. It was well past ten in the evening, and for the first time all night I thought of Jax. Hadn’t he said he’d call me? After fishing my phone out of my pocket, I checked my messages. Nothing.

  That was very strange. Even though we hadn’t made any plans, it was unusual for us to spend the night apart. And when we did, we always talked before bed. A tiny thread of worry took up residence in my gut. It wasn’t like Jax to not even call, especially after he’d said he would.

  I quickly scrolled through my contacts and then hit his number. The call immediately went to voice mail, indicating either his phone was dead or it was turned off. “Jax, it’s Marion. Call me when you get this. Today has been one for the books.”

  Charlotte reappeared and raised a curious eyebrow. “No hot contractor tonight?”

  “I guess not.” I didn’t tell her that he wouldn’t come over because of her dog. After bonding with her earlier, I didn’t want to ruin that by bringing up something that might make her feel bad.

  “That’s too bad.” She gave me a cheeky grin. “I have to admit that running into him in the middle of the night was the highlight of my week. Damn, Marion. For an old guy, he’s droolworthy.”

  “He’s not old,” I insisted. “And yes, I agree. He’s very handsome.”

  “Not old. Sure, just keep telling yourself that. Before you know it, AARP is going to come calling, and you’ll be outside yelling at people to get off your lawn.” She snickered, and even though she was needling me about my age, I didn’t care. I liked this Charlotte. The playful one who was all smiles and fun to be around.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “I’m already getting mail from AARP, and just last week I yelled at some kids for riding their bikes through my flower bed.”

  “Not through the tulips!” she said, sounding horrified. “They deserved flat tires and butt sores.”

  I let out a guffaw. “You can say that again.”

  A quiet lull fell over us, and after a moment, I said, “I think we should test what our magic can do.”

  She blinked at me. “What?”

  “I’m fairly certain the answer to breaking your curse is for us to combine our magic. If that’s the case, I think we should explore it. Then once we’re comfortable, we can scout out the people who were at Hallucinations the night you got into town so we can cure them of their ailments. Maybe even find your ex and reverse that compulsion spell you cast on him.”

  “That’s…” She shook her head. Then she closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. Finally she muttered, “What if I end up cursing you?”

  “Obviously, I can’t say that it won’t happen, but I’m willing to take the chance.”

  She emerged from behind her hands. “Why?”

  “Because I was there when we cured Bradley. I know what that felt like, and I really just don’t think it’s going to happen. After what Hecate said—”

  “That was really vague, Marion,” she insisted.

  “It wasn’t that vague. And this just feels right to me. I trust you. Can you trust me?”

  “Dammit.” Charlotte gritted her teeth and then finally stood. “Fine. Let’s do this, but I want it noted that I am skeptical and can’t promise you won’t end up with a wart on your nose.”

  “I’m pretty sure Lance has a procedure that can help with the wart. But this might make you feel better about the entire thing.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the dagger that had chosen me only weeks earlier. With my hand wrapped around the hilt, the blade shimmered blue and a thread of magic pulsed up my arm.

  “What exactly are you going to do with that? Stab me in the heart if my curse gives you the female version of ED?”

  “Female version of ED? What exactly is that? A lack of sex drive? I promise you, there is no chance of that. Not with the hot contractor boyfriend hanging around. But either way, I promise not to stab you. This is just to help me control my magic. I’ve been told it makes me more powerful. If you try to curse me, I’ll ward it off with this.”

  “I’m not sure about this, Marion.”

  “I know, but you’re going to do it anyway, right?”

  “I guess.”

  “Good. Now come over here.” I pointed to the spot beside me in the middle of the living room.

  She did as I asked and then frowned. “Now what? Do you just want me to try to spell you or something?”

  “No. You’re going to spell something else, and then together we’re going to reverse it.”

  Minx jumped up from the couch and hightailed it to the guestroom.

  I laughed.

  “Smart dog,” Charlotte said.

  “Definitely.” I glanced around the room, looking for something that we could use to practice our skills on. There. The wooden owl clock that I’d picked up at a rummage sale a few months ago. I turned and pointed at it. “Do you think you can spell the clock to do something? Like make the owl’s eye’s move?”

  “I can try, but I hope you’re not attached to that ugly thing. Seriously, Marion, what possessed you to buy that? I think it deserves to be cursed.”

  She had a point. The owl was standing on a surf board and was wearing a shirt that read If it swells, ride it. “It made me laugh.”

  “Old people are weird,” she said with a smirk.

  “Guilty. Now do your thing.” I took a step back and waited as she thought for a moment.

  It wasn’t long before she walked over to the clock, touched the owl’s head and said, “Watch over my sister. Keep an eye out for bad actors.” Magic flashed from her fingertips, lit up the clock, and then quickly blinked out.

  Charlotte stepped back, taking a place beside me. We both peered at the clock.

  “It doesn’t look like—”

  Before I could get my sentence out, the clock began to shake violently. And for a brief moment, I thought the entire thing was just going to come apart. But then the shaking stopped and the owl’s eyes began to vibrate.

  “Holy crap, this is weird,” Charlotte said.

  “Weird, but also fascinating, don’t you think?”

  She gave me a what-the-fuck look before turning her attention back to the possessed bird. The vibrating stopped, and one eye popped completely out of its head and then fixated on Charlotte. The other eye roamed around, appearing to take in the entire room over and over and over again.

  “Good goddess, that’s creepy,” Charlotte said, moving to stand behind me. The eye followed her every movement.

  “Very,” I agreed.

  “Marion!” Charlotte exclaimed as she moved to the other side of me. “Look at it! That thing is going to be watching me for the rest of my life. I’m never going to be able to leave my room again.”

  That would solve Jax’s problem, I thought, but kept it to myself. The owl really was fixated on my sister, and even I had to admit that it was enough to give a person nightmares for the rest of their days. “Okay, let’s put it out of its misery.”

  “How are we going to do that?” she asked.

  “We’re going to will it to stop creeping on us. With our combined magic.”

  She snorted. “I don’t know why you think you need me to do that. Why don’t you just wield that dagger and see what happens?”

  “Well, my hunch is that we need each other to break any curses, but if you want me to try first, then okay.” I tightened my grip on my dagger and walked over to the clock. The protruding eye stayed focused on my sister, while the other swirled faster and faster the closer I got to it.

  I averted my gaze, trying to ward off the sudden nausea. “That thing is gonna make me vomit.”

  “It was vomit worthy before I cast that spell,” Charlotte said, making me laugh.

  I shook my head. “How did I ever get along without you?” I asked.

  “You clearly didn’t if you were decorating with that trash.”

  “It’s funny,” I insisted.

  “If you say so.” There was humor in her tone, and even though we were dealing with a serious problem, I felt even lighter than I had since I’d moved to Premonition Pointe. Like maybe my sister had been the final piece in the life I was building in my new home.

  “Better get on with it,” she said. “Or else I’m going to obliterate it. Being watched like that is really disturbing.”

  “Okay, calm down. Let me see what I can do.” It wasn’t every day that I tried to use magic. I hadn’t even had the dagger all that long. In the past, I’d only used my newfound power when it was a life-or-death situation, so summoning my magic was sort of foreign.

  Taking a deep breath, I gripped the dagger, felt the magic surge up my arm, and then focused on the clock. Instead of making a command, I envisioned the owl in his original form. My power crawled from my fingers, still wrapped around the dagger, up that arm and down the other. As I reached out to the clock, the magic burst from my palm, coating the owl. It burned bright, sparking with energy. The owl suddenly righted itself, its eyes back where they belonged.

  “See, I told you it probably didn’t have anything to do with me,” Charlotte said.

  I lowered my arm, but as soon as I did, the owl returned to its creepy form, one eye tracking me and the other focused on Charlotte.

  “Oh, hell. It’s possessed,” Charlotte said. “If we throw it out, is it going to come back to haunt us? It’s going to show up in my bed, isn’t it?”

  “Oh, hell no. We’re not letting that happen.” I dropped the dagger and grabbed my sister’s hand. Together, we touched the clock face. Magic swirled around it, coating it just like it had coated Bradley’s face. Everything popped back into place on the clock, and before we even moved our hands away, the magic disappeared. Confident our job was done, I dropped Charlotte’s hand.

  We stood together, watching the clock tick for a full minute before she turned to me and said, “I’ll be damned.”

  “Looks like you were right when you said we were a team.” I grinned at her. “Tomorrow we start tracking down the victims from Hallucinations.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The air was heavily saturated with fog when I turned onto Jax’s street the next morning. It was still early, just after seven. I’d woken to a text from Jax with an apology for not getting in touch earlier. He’d had a full day at work and then got home and immediately went to work on the water heater.

  Instead of returning the text, I quickly got dressed, ran by the coffee shop, and headed to his house unannounced. Thankful to find his truck still parked in the driveway, I pulled in beside him and quietly let myself in the front door.

  His bed was rumpled but empty, and once again, I heard the rush of water in the pipes. With his coffee cup in hand, I slipped into the bathroom and grinned when I caught a sweet view of his backside through the clear glass door.

  Damn, that man was sexy.

  He turned at that exact moment, saw me standing there, and crooked his finger.

  I put the coffee down and pulled my clothes off. When I opened the shower door, he pulled me in and pinned me against the wall.

  With his lips already on my neck, he said, “I was just thinking about you.”

  “Is that right?”

  He glanced down at his naked body, his gaze lingering on his hard shaft.

  “I see. I guess I need to do something about that.” I turned us so that he was against the tile and with the hot water sluicing over us, I kissed my way down his neck, his pecs, and took my time tasting his abs until I kneeled down, wrapped my hand around him, and opened my mouth.

 

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