Spell Maven Mysteries- The Complete Series

by J L Collins

  He blinked, looking stunned. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  And there was that smile I’d been waiting for. “You and Fiona-Leigh free tomorrow evening? I’m off for the day.”

  “Oh. Well . . . she’s supposed to be finishing up her project with Marina. So I guess she’ll be going over to Marina’s house then . . .” I let my voice trail off.

  It was like watching a light bulb go off over his head. “Dinner for two, then. If you’re willing.”

  Nothing could hold back the ridiculous grin on my face. “I’m willing. What’s on the menu?”

  He slid closer. “Lady’s choice.”

  My heart could not beat any faster. I was sure I was going to suffer from cardiac arrest and end up being the next body Sully would have to examine. I chased away the thought, because now was certainly not the moment to be thinking of Sully examining my body… “Fine. I’ll pick, but you’re responsible for any dessert.”

  Something flashed in his dark eyes, his hand closing over mine. “I can handle dessert.”

  I didn’t know when or how we’d gotten rid of the space between us, but his other hand cupped my jaw, and somehow my hand wound itself in his curls. Our eyes were locked. My body tensed.

  He brushed his lips against mine, sending all sorts of sparks through me that had nothing to do with magic… or did they? I kissed him back just as softly, tasting the tang of the beer.

  When had I decided to do this? I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the moment I knew he saw me for me. Or maybe when I saw him sitting here looking so blissful and relaxed. Either way, I was kissing Sully Pritchett.

  And I was loving it.

  Everything else in my mind died down, and all that remained was Sully’s lips on mine. I would allow myself this. To have this little piece of happiness, however brief, because I deserved it. If things didn’t work out between us, then c’est la vie, and I won’t have to stress over my secret anymore. And if it did…

  We would cross that bridge when we came to it.

  The End.

  Tragic Magick

  1

  The Whole Famdamily

  “Are you sure? Are you really, truly sure?”

  I smiled up at Sully. “Yes. I really, truly am.”

  He gave me a fake pout, the very same lips I’d just been kissing looking rather perfect. I wondered if it would even be possible for me to pull myself away long enough for him to leave.

  “But I could stay here with you. I go to my parents’ cabin every Christmas.” His dark eyes regarded me in earnest this time, searching for a flicker of a chance.

  I wound my fingers back into his dark curls, never tiring of how soft they were. “Go. It’s okay—we’ll be fine here, I promise. Besides, Fiona-Leigh and I are used to doing our own thing.”

  “And you don’t need help with stringing up the lights or anything? No light-up reindeer? None of those ugly inflatable things that look like dead balloons in the daytime?”

  I rolled my eyes, still grinning. “No. I told you we’re not really into all the decorating. Just a small tree in the corner. A few presents. Sometimes she likes to string some popcorn up around the living room. No big deal here, really.”

  He cupped my chin in his hand, the smell of the fresh rosemary he’d chopped still lingering there. “You’re not giving me a whole lot to work with here, Brady.”

  “As much as I hate to deprive you…” I let my voice trail off as I stared at the smirk on his face, “You really should get going. Unless you want to be stuck behind the last-minute shoppers downtown at rush hour.”

  He made a face. “That is very true. Fine, fine. I’ll get out of your pretty purple hair. But we’re still on for Christmas night, right?”

  I leaned into him, imagining what it would be like to wake up next to him while the snow piled up outside the window. I’d never considered myself a hopeless romantic until Sully showed up outside my door the night after we had our first of many kisses. The rain had been pouring and he was soaked—his dark curly hair a drowned mess. But he stood there with a funny smile on his face and asked me if I needed extra flashlights since the whole streets’ power had gone out during the storm. I’d stared at him utterly transfixed at his armful of flashlights. I knew I was in trouble, ever since. Sully wasn’t just some guy to get my mind off the crazy summer in Spell Haven. He was the guy.

  “Christmas night, definitely,” I mumbled into his shoulder. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  A very obvious hiss issued from underneath my bed and I quietly kicked at the footboard.

  “I don’t think your cat likes me very much,” Sully chuckled, tilting his head to see Oisín slip out from under the bed and saunter down the hallway to wherever Fiona-Leigh was sitting. “Which is weird because animals usually love me.”

  “I don’t doubt it. I mean about the animals loving you part… though Osh is a pretty picky pers—ah, cat,” I corrected myself. “He doesn’t much like anyone. Except for Fiona-Leigh of course.”

  Right on cue, Fi was talking to Oisín in the baby voice she reserved only for him. Sully and I both shook our heads as I pulled away from him.

  After a few more attempts to get serious about our temporary separation for the holidays, I gave Sully one last kiss before he headed out the door.

  Desperate to hit the road myself, I let out a long breath. “We’ll just wait until he leaves. He said all his things are in his truck already so it shouldn’t be much longer.”

  Fiona-Leigh was already at the front window, watching. A few minutes later we heard the tell-tale sound of Sully’s truck roaring to life. She peeked through the slats of the blinds, her eyes narrowed. “Okay, the coast is clear.”

  Oisín let out a long yawn, followed up by a yowl. “I thought he’d never leave. And really, Gwen. Do we have to be subjected to those disgusting displays of physical attraction between you two? If I have to watch any more of that I will have no choice but to claw my own eyes out. Which is rather a shame as I have beautifully luminous eyes.”

  Fiona-Leigh snickered as she picked him up, cradling his fat furry body in her arms. “Be nice, Osh.”

  “It’s not my fault you cozy up in the one place around here I have a little privacy. Maybe go lounge in your own room,” I called out over my shoulder as I headed into the bedroom. “Perv,” I added quietly.

  “You do realize I can hear you?” he shouted back down the hall.

  Rolling my eyes, I yanked the already-packed suitcase out of my closet and hauled it up on top of the bed. “Good Gorgon’s eye, how much did I pack in here?”

  I’d had my bags packed since the beginning of the week, knowing I would be in a rush to get on the road as soon as Sully left today.

  Fi sidled up to the doorway, watching me. “I don’t know why you’re making this some big secret, anyway. Why does it matter if Sully knows we’re going out of town or not?”

  I unzipped the suitcase, silently double-checking that I’d packed enough socks. For some weird reason I always ended up needing more socks. “It’s just a precaution. If I tell him we’re going to visit our family, then down the line he might want to actually meet them. He’s just one of those kind of guys—which I totally appreciate but it won’t help in our situation. And if I tell him we’re just going off to our own little cabin or something, he might want to tag along. I don’t know… I just want to be careful.”

  She sighed. “Okay. But maybe we could invite everyone over to our house? Sorta like a middle ground?”

  I’d thought of that too, at one point. But then I imagined the look on Uncle Gardner’s face if I told him about me and Sully… and the thought instantly evaporated. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Erie, sure. She comes across as normal enough to a human. Aunt Bedelia, perhaps. And I don’t doubt that Aunt Ginevra would mind. But…”

  She crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe, her dark blue eyes like steel. “Uncle Gardner. You still haven’t told him and you have no pla
ns to either, do you?”

  The suitcase somehow felt heavier as I pulled it back down to the floor. “I don’t know. It’s not a conversation I really want to think about.”

  “It doesn’t matter what he says! It’s not like you work for him anymore. And who cares if he’s a jerk about it?”

  “I care, believe it or not. Because I’ve already been down this road with him. It’s not pretty.”

  Her eyes flickered at the suitcase as I lugged it toward the door. “It would be nice if he didn’t feel like humans are garbage. I didn’t turn out to be so bad.”

  “It’s not that, honey. He just doesn’t trust them to act as calmly as you did. Not to mention the fact that he hasn’t really been around many humans.” I groaned with effort as I dragged the heavy thing behind me, wishing the wheels hadn’t broken off in an earlier trip. I was definitely going to have to invest in a new luggage set if I was going to be visiting Spell Haven every holiday.

  “Look, I know that people are scared of what they don’t know. Hence, literally everything in this world,” she said, waving her hand around. “But he shouldn’t take your choices so personally. You’re both rational adults. And you shouldn’t worry about how he’ll react. He’s got you back now, and with all the help you’ve been to him and the rest of the Shadow Hands, I don’t think your taste in guys should negate that.”

  I turned around, stunned. When did my spunky, freckle-faced little girl suddenly turn into an intelligent adult?

  “I appreciate it, Fi. And I’ll… consider what you said. I might tell him eventually. If things work out between me and Sully.”

  She gave me a nod, slipping her feet into the heavy snow boots by the front door. “I’ll go get Osh’s crate in the jeep.”

  I knocked the snow off my feet against the threshold and warmed my hands up for a moment before pulling my wand out of my coat and summoning all of our belongings from the carriage transport. The back hatch opened up, with our suitcases and bags neatly floating along to us at the front door. Jax barked as Fiona-Leigh let him out on his leash, with Oisín bringing up the rear, scuttling up to the door as quickly as he could in an effort to avoid the light wind and snow.

  “Get me inside, woman!”

  The door opened on its own accord and the four of us huddled inside Brady Manor’s cavernous foyer, our stuff stacked against the nearest wall. I shut the door behind us.

  “We’re here!” Fi called out, brushing off the snow that still clung to her rosy cheeks and red locks.

  There was a loud noise upstairs, followed by scrambling. At the top of the stairs, a familiar face peered down at us, grinning.

  “Hello there, strangers,” Erie said, making her way down the grand staircase. “Looks like that’s the last of us.”

  “Is everyone else already here?” I asked, unwrapping the scarf from around my neck. “That’s a first.”

  Erie snorted. “Tell me about it. Reaghan was already in town for some kind of art show. So, she decided to grace us with her presence. The kids are here with her, too. Even the new boyfriend.”

  I thumped my chest, coughing. “The uh, new boyfriend?”

  “Yeah. The last husband didn’t really work out too well. He was secretly dealing dragon’s blood on the side, without a license or anything. Real class-act, that one,” she said, making a face. I knew how Erie felt about the illegal animal trade. If there was one thing in this whole Realm that made my cousin angry, it was Witches mistreating animals.

  “Yikes. She sure does know how to pick them. How’s Isobel doing?”

  “She’s perfectly fine!” A strong voice rang out from around the corner of the sitting room. Isobel, my oldest cousin and Erie’s oldest sister, threw her curly blonde hair over her shoulder. “It’s so nice to have you around again, Gwennie,” she said, pulling me in for a hug. “And you too, lass.” Fi smiled as she hugged her back.

  “Are Lyra and Sean here?”

  Isobel nodded. “Somewhere around here. Upstairs trying to sneak peeks at the gifts, I imagine.”

  And with that, Fiona-Leigh was on her way up to see her older cousins. I was so glad that she finally had family her own age to hang out with.

  I glanced back at Isobel and Erie. “And where are your better halves?”

  “Houghlin’s in the kitchen as usual,” Erie said as she bent down to pick up a whining Jax. “Hey sweet boy, I’m so glad you finally came for a visit.”

  Oisín huffed at our feet. “What am I, chopped liver? Actually, you know what? Forget it…” he lifted his head and sniffed the air, his long whiskers twitching. “Speaking of chopped liver… I smell Ginevra’s cooking. I always did love her food.” His fluffy tail flicked back and forth as he padded out of the room.

  The three of us laughed. “You know, for a practically immortal ex-Witch, he sure is a grumpy thing,” Erie said, shaking her head.

  “I think it’s the animal instincts. Cats by nature, are very grumpy. Right? I mean you’re the expert, not me,” I said.

  We headed into the sitting room where the stone hearth was already brimming with orange and yellow flames nearly big enough to swallow one of us whole. The tapestries and portraits hung up around the room told stories of all the Bradys who came before us. In a far corner by a lonely old desk was the painting of our Great Aunt Milly, surrounded by fifteen different cats of various sizes and poses. Great Aunt Milly was like the Mecha-Cat-Lady, as Fi once put it—the cat lady to rule them all. And she did it with a rather bewildered look on her thin face, which only made the portrait that much better in my opinion.

  “Osh is a rather odd fellow, isn’t he?” Isobel said, crossing her ankles as she sat across from me in one of the wing-backed chairs. She reminded me of a princess, so prim and proper in comparison to me and Erie. Isobel was the sweet and reserved one, content to let everyone else have their fun and sit back to watch the spectacle. Her kids, Lyra and Sean, were very similar. They weren’t spoiled like Reaghan’s three were.

  A petite woman with golden eyes emerged from the kitchen, carrying a platter of tea and biscuits. “Anyone hungry?”

  Isobel smiled as she took one from the silver tray. “Thank you, sweetheart. I was just about to summon them myself.”

  I stopped in mid-sit and stood back up. “Lyanna! I’m so glad you made it—I missed you last time. Isobel told me so much about you.”

  She set the tray down on the coffee table between everyone, giving me a shy smile. “It’s very nice to meet you. And likewise—she’s told me quite a bit about you as well. A legendary Shadow Hand, I think she mentioned?”

  I snorted. “Hardly. I think ‘disgraced former Shadow Hand’ is about right. But I appreciate the sentiment anyway,” I added with a grin.

  The four of us sat down with some of Aunt Bedelia’s sweet hyssop tea and settled back into the comfy seats.

  From somewhere inside the kitchen came a great bang and Aunt Bedelia shouting, “Get out of here you overgrown bedroom slipper! And don’t you even dare try to sneak off with another one of those salmon filets…”

  The kitchen door creaked open and out dashed Oisín, carrying something pink in his mouth, hurrying into the next room.

  We all exchanged glances, doing our best not to laugh.

  “I swear that cat. I’m not trying to be harsh here, but I’m so glad he decided he’d rather stick it out with you,” Isobel said, blowing off the steam from her cup. “I was not prepared to deal with all of that.”

  “He’s a handful to say the least. You know, I never really did find out the whole reason behind that. When he showed up on my doorstep, I had no idea he was planning on staying. And then he just… hung around. Back then when Fi was a toddler, I didn’t mind if he would talk, but he never discussed it with me. Just said he’d ‘grown weary of Spell Haven,’” I said, shrugging.

  Erie leaned forward. “Oh, you don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  Isobel sipped her tea before setting the cup down on the saucer, her mouth purs
ed together in a scandalous smirk. “Apparently not.”

  “Please tell me he wasn’t booted from Spell Haven for attempting another coup d’état at the town hall. I can just see the Archmage’s face now…” I groaned. While Oisín was now a pesky cat who’d love nothing more than to sit around all day while beautiful Witches fanned and fed him, in his hey-day he was known for being an even more mischievous Witch with the power to shape-shift into a cat. Back then his aspirations were a little more dictatorship related.

  But Erie waved my worries off. “No, no. Nothing like that. You might not believe it, but it was because he got rejected. Big time.”

  I raised a brow at her, glancing between her and her sister. “Rejected?”

  They both nodded and Lyanna and I shared curious glances.

  “I don’t know how he found her, but one day he came home with another cat trailing behind him. We think she was a cat, anyway,” Erie explained.

  “He tried to say she was a shape-shifter, and that she was just more comfortable in her animal form. But she never spoke a word. In fact, all she did was follow him around and lie around all day until he brought her some wild mice to eat,” Isobel added.

  “Sounds about right,” I mumbled.

  “When she hissed at Mom and ran up her curtains, we were concerned that maybe she hadn’t been around Witches or any other shape-shifters in their Human skin. But she tore up the curtains, curled up on Mom’s settee and then proceeded to vomit all over it…” Isobel trailed off.

  “And we all came to the conclusion that she was just an ordinary cat who was following Oisín around because he was feeding her. He was sore about it, claiming that we were just jealous that he’d finally found a kindred spirit. But when he tried to confess his feelings to her, she attacked him, yakked on him as well, and then relieved herself behind one of the plants over there,” Erie said, pointing behind me. “Needless to say, she skedaddled out of here and Osh was distraught. Whether it was because she was an actual animal, or whether it was because she left him, we still don’t know.”