All she had was this one book. She leaned down and inhaled the scent of the pages. Was that her father’s scent stamped into the parchment as well?
Touching the spell again, she sighed. “I wish I could have known what your life was like, dad.”
Using the spell seemed like a bad idea, and yet… Lacey found a blank index card and copied the words, then tucked it into the pocket her jeans.
Couldn’t hurt.
An hour later, she was in her store, sorting through supplies before opening for the day’s business. Lucky the dog was in the back room, eating his breakfast.
A knock at the front door drew her attention away from the dog. The closed sign still hung in the window, so it had to be either someone she knew, or something urgent.
Seeing a tall, gray-haired woman clad in bright orange, Lacey breathed a sigh of relief. Tara, her good friend. She unbolted the latch and let her in.
“I’m sorry love, but I’m out of dried elderberries and I need some for a potion,” Tara said in her singsong Irish accent. “My daughter is coming over to help with the shop and I thought I’d try it out on her.”
Lacey found the elderberries. “Try out the potion or the tea?”
A twinkle ignited Tara’s gray eyes. “A bit of both. She needs to settle down and find a man.”
Matchmaker Tara, always trying to find someone for Danica. Trouble was, Danica had no interest in settling down.
“How is she doing since she came back?” Lacey gentled her voice, knowing this was a troublesome subject for Tara.
Her friend’s smile seemed forced. “Better now that she’s home. She’s studied cosmetology and enjoys cutting hair. Even though hers…”
Tara fell silent. Lacey put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Poor Danica. Tara said her daughter’s hair started falling out a few years ago, probably from hormonal imbalance from when she lived on the streets. But she was home now, and had steady work and seemed happier.
Yet once in a while, Lacey had seen a dark aura ringing Danica and wondered if it wasn’t magick that made her hair fall out.
“Are you still coming over for the children’s hour?” Tara asked, changing the subject.
Damn, she’d forgotten all about it. “Of course.” Lacey glanced at the clock on the wall. “Sorry I didn’t have a chance to pick out a book.”
“No problem. The tots program is cancelled for today. But I do need you for the Little Magick session. The kids are counting on you, Lacey.”
“I’ll be there,” she promised. “Noon, as usual?”
“Of course. I’ll have a nice cup of mocha latte waiting for you. Now, how much do I owe you for this?”
She waved away Tara’s offer of cash. “No, it’s on the house, after all you’ve done in helping me to advertise my sale.”
Tara had done much more, buying things from her when she knew Lacey was struggling, and giving advice on men and dating. She was a true friend.
The woman smiled. “Thanks love. But with all the free things you’ve given away to those in need, how can you ever make a profit?”
“I can’t,” she admitted. “But those witches needed the spells and they walked out of here happy that something might work in their lives. Hopefully something will break for me soon.”
“As long as it isn’t you, love. I worry about you. You’ve got a soft heart and a kind soul for helping witches and Others in need…” her friend glanced down and pointed at Lucky. “Strays you’ll feed before feeding yourself. You can’t stay in business if you keep giving it away.”
Lacey sighed. Tara only meant well, but she was right. “I’m not such a great businesswoman. Not like my mom was. She always made a profit.”
“And you don’t because you’re generous. You need to find your balance, love.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Forcing a cheerful smile, she waved a hand around. “I always land on my feet.”
Tara glanced around, her merry expression slipping. “Have you heard the latest? My business partner found a mutilated bat in the alley near the dumpster. There were symbols written in blood near the body. Black magick. It’s the real reason I didn’t want the Skin children in the shop today. Shifter and Otherworlder children know about the dark arts from their parents and how to avoid dark magick.”
“What kind of symbols?”
Tara took a register receipt and scribbled them, showing them to Lacey. “I’d never seen them before. Should I pour salt around our back doors and concoct a protective counter spell?”
But Lacey had, and the symbols worried her. Still, she felt the need to reassure her friend. “Oh, it’s not a big deal. They’re only runes talking about dragons like me, not witches. It’s fine.”
The words failed to reassure Tara, who knew better. Her friend’s eyes widened. “Oh dear, do you think someone wants you gone? Or worse, wishes you harm?”
It didn’t make sense, for at the rate she was going with business, she’d have to close soon. A shiver skated down her spine. She and Tara were the only Others operating stores in this area and for years, had co-existed peacefully with the Skins, never bothering anyone.
“It might be a witch who came in for the sale and was disappointed.”
Tara shook her head. “You’ve always had quality products, Lacey. This was something far more ominous than a disappointed customer. Maurice said the bat had been… disemboweled. Almost like a warning... as if the culprit wants this to happen to you.”
Gorge rose in her throat. It was exactly what the runes had said, but she did not wish to worry Tara. So she covered her fears with a grin and a joke. “Maybe Maurice interrupted a Lupine having a meal of fresh bat. I’m sure it is fine and has nothing to do with me.”
Although she knew it directly did.
“If you say so.” Tara looked uncertain and then thanked her and squeezed her hand. “If you need help, love, I’m next door. Not now, because I have to run home. But I’ll be back later to open up around 11.”
Lacey thanked her and watched her friend head outside.
Mutilated bats, black magick spells. She needed to act quickly if there was bad juju in the area. Because her life always had enough bad juju.
Leaving would be best. She could close up the shop and take Lucky and split. Lacey had a bad feeling that if she stuck around, much worse would happen. No way would she risk endangering her friend Tara or the innocents at the coffee shop.
Yesterday’s loss leader of the free spell she’d offered to witches had resulted in $200 in cash for the day. The amount was a drop in the ocean compared to what she owed the bank. Owed the bank? Hell, she didn’t even have enough cash in her drawer to open the shop today.
In the delicate parchment pages of the Book of Shadows, she’d found a spell to increase what one presently had. Not the scary, dark spells at the book’s back that made her spine crawl, but a whimsical, fun one that seemed harmless.
Surely Drust’s warning was intended for the dark spells, not this one.
This spell, written in runes she found easy to translate, as if she’d studied them before, had glowed when she’d opened the book. Scary, but desperate times…
It called for use of a magic wand…
Looking around, she spotted a cup holder on the counter containing pens for customers to sign credit card slips. A simple ink pen should suffice.
From her purse, she withdrew the index card with the spell she’d copied from the Book of Shadows. The Percent Spell, it was called.
Lacey took all the cash out of her register and spread it on the counter. No, not good. A clear space, away from anything else, in case it backfired.
The back room had plenty of room so she laid out the cash on the floor. “I sure hope this works,” she told the pen.
Clearing her throat, she pointed the pen at the stack of money and recited the words on the card, her voice low and clear.
“Power of shadow, power of light, turn this object of my delight into fifty percent more of what it appears
at night,” she sang out.
The pen trembled in her hand, then bounced up and down like a water diving rod. It glowed dark gray and then pure white.
Lacey flicked the pen at the cash on the floor. A line of pure energy engulfed the money with such blinding light, it made her eyes water. Lacey squeezed them shut.
When she opened them, she gasped.
The slim stack of bills had grown. Considerably. In fact…she grabbed the money, feeling her palms tingle as if the magick still worked on the bills, and counted.
Instead of $200, she now had $400.
Stunned, she dropped the pen and index card. Her spirits soared. It worked.
Clutching the money to her chest, she did a happy dance around the room. “I did it!”
She waved the bills at Lucky, who barked and circled around her.
But why limit it to only $400? She could conjure enough cash to at least stave off the bank with foreclosure, and pay the rent this month and next on the shop.
Lacey stacked the bills on the floor again, picked up the index card and the pen. “Get back, Lucky,” she warned.
After repeating the bill, she checked the cash. It had doubled once more to $800.
At this rate, she could go all day. So why not? It’s not greedy. You deserve it.
But deep inside, she knew it wasn’t good. Lacey tapped the pen against her teeth. She’d stop now, see how business did. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t finish doubling her cash later.
Someone banged at the front door. Lacey went into the shop and saw a few people standing outside. Customers! Maybe her luck was turning.
Glancing at the clock, she gathered the cash, tucked the index card into her pocket and hurried to open her store.
For ninety minutes, customers flowed in and out of the shop. Most were credit card receipts, but a few paid cash as they purchased herbs and scented candles.
A happy whistle came from her lips as she put up the CLOSED FOR LUNCH sign at noon, locked her store and walked to Treats & Eats. The coffee shop bustled with customers. Several twenty-something Skins worked on their laptops at the counter or at the small round tables Tara set up for customers. Lacey noticed the clear, glowing aura of Others scattered throughout the shop. Wi-Fi was free, and for those who needed a mobile office, it was a perfect partnership, Tara had told her. The business people kept eating more and ordering more, and often bought pastries and tea to take home.
Lacey waved to the two workers behind the counter – one of them Tara’s daughter as she wended her way through the tables toward the back room. There was a feel good aura in the air created by Tara’s gentleness and cheerful disposition. Small wonder her business succeeded. Tara had powerful magick in her shop and tendrils of it weaved through the air.
I should ask for advice on how I can increase sales, but my heart really isn’t in the shop. I only kept it going because it meant so much to my mother.
The realization startled her. So if my passion isn’t the shop, what is it?
The answer came to her as she pushed aside the beaded curtain separating the coffee shop from the area Tara had designated as a play area for children. Laced with a magick shield, the curtain prevented anyone from seeing into the room, or hearing anything as well.
Twelve beaming faces greeted her with cries of “Lacey!” They scrambled up from their pillows and beanbags on the floor to hug her knees.
The depression and worries of the day slid off her like water cascading down glass. This was the highlight of her week, and no matter how tired or busy she was, she always made time for the kids.
It was a child who’d saved her own ass when she was younger. If not for her determination to shield Evie and teach her to love, Lacey would have quietly surrendered to despair.
Would she have turned to the dark arts, forcing the Brehon to destroy her? Perhaps. She thought about that as she bid hello to the children. Only one person had not come over for hugs. It was a baby who recently started attending these weekly reading and informational sessions, always with her mother, a lovely, ethereal woman Lacey thought was a Fae or nymph, but could not tell for certain. Asking would have been rude. Some Others preferred to hide and not to reveal their magick forms.
She went to greet the woman and the giggling baby. “Hi Ciara. Can I hold her?”
The woman nodded and lifted the baby up. The child wore a white dress dotted with pink flowers. Lacey bounced her in her arms. “Good morning Sonia! Can you say dragons rule, just like I taught you last week?”
“Dragons rule,” Sonia shouted, and then she put a finger in her adorable, heart-shaped mouth. “I luvs mamma and papa.”
“Yes, you do. You love mama and papa.” Lacey bounced her a little more, wondering why the child and her mother looked familiar. Yet she felt certain she’d never seen them before they started coming. She didn’t want to question Ciara, for the woman had an aura of power that made Lacey wish to leave her alone.
But the baby, so sweet and pretty with her blonde curls, dimples and blue eyes, was adorable.
“Listen, Sonia. I’m going to teach you a new thing to say to Papa when he gets home tonight. Dragons can fly and touch the sky and they are pretty, and so am I!”
She repeated the words again, as Ciara’s eyes sparkled with interest. When Sonia babbled them back to her in a clear, enunciated voice, Lacey laughed.
So did Sonia’s mother.
“You’re a good teacher, Lacey,” Ciara told her, taking the baby back. “We enjoy visiting here with you. Sonia’s vocabulary has greatly improved since these sessions.”
“She’s a little sponge, a smart one.” Lacey shrugged off the praise. “I like teaching children.”
Ciara’s gaze sparked again, this time with mischief. “Her daddy is certainly going to be surprised when we see him tonight, right Sonia?”
Sonia laughed and clapped her tiny hands.
Seeing Tara at the doorway, she went to her as her friend whispered to her about the little snake shifter girl. Lacey nodded. Oh yeah, she knew how to deal with this.
Carrying the latte Tara had handed her, Lacey settled on the chair and picked up the book her friend had selected. Clearing her voice, she began to read aloud as the children sat in rapt attention.
But less than fifteen minutes later, she glanced up, then shut the book and swept her young audience with a stern gaze.
“Why is not one sitting with Willow?”
Guilt flashed across eleven young faces, while Willow curled up in a corner, as if trying to make herself invisible.
Finally Billy, a Lupine shifter, raised his hand. When she called on him, he piped up. “She’s a snake, Miss Lacey. My dada says snakes can’t be trusted. And they’re scaly and ugly, not like us when we shift.”
This started a chorus of other young voices agreeing with him and saying cruel words, all but Ciara, who frowned deeply. Yet Ciara waited, as if to see what Lacey would do.
Lacey took a deep breath. “Scaly and ugly?”
Setting down the latte, she stood and summoned all her magick. Because she hadn’t eaten properly, it was hard to pull off, but she had to teach them a valuable lesson now, before they settled into their opinions.
Iridescent sparks filled the air as she shifted into her dragon form, a much smaller version of normal. The size of a St. Bernard dog, Lacey faced her pupils. They gasped.
She growled and snapped at them and they all cringed backward. Then she crawled over to Billy, and nudged his hand upward.
Trembling, he touched her scales. Lacey grinned at him and his fear eased. The other children relaxed and soon all of them were touching her scales, marveling at her dragon self.
Lacey crawled over to Willow, who finally stood. She lowered her head to Willow.
“I think she wants you to climb on her back,” Ciara said softly.
Thank you. Lacey nodded. Willow did, and when the little girl was firmly gripping one of her spikes, Lacey strode around the room as the other children shouted with glee.<
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Finally she stopped, lowered her head and Willow climbed off.
With some effort, she resumed her human form and clothed herself by magick. Hellfire, that drained her, but she had to do it, and let them know this would stop. Now.
“Do you think I’m scaly and ugly?” Lacey asked her class.
Eleven sets of eyes widened and then looked guilty.
“No,” said a small voice from the back. “You’re beautiful.”
Lacey smiled at Willow. “And so are you, sweetheart. And when you get older and shift like your parents can, you’ll be even more so. Never let any Otherworlder tell you anything different.”
When Willow ran up front and threw her arms around her, Lacey startled, but hugged her back. A lump clogged her throat as she told Willow to resume her seat. The little girl got past all her carefully woven defenses. But damn, she loved kids and loved Otherworlder children most of all because she knew how tough it was being different.
Especially being different when you had no parent to love you and reassure you that everything was going to be okay, even when you suspected it would not. Because children needed that reassurance.
She’d never had it, not until Tristan reunited her with her real mother. For that she would always remain grateful to him.
When Willow resumed her seat, Lacey swept the group with a stern look. “Snakes are beautiful. Repeat after me. Snakes are beautiful.”
They did.
“Dragons rule,” Billy yelled out. “I wanna ride a dragon.”
Oh boy, this wasn’t working out how she intended. Lacey sighed.
“Remember kids, don’t mess with dragons, like I told you last week. Anyone remember why?”
Baby Sonia babbled. “Dragons are dangerous. Dragon fire. Dragon roar. Dragon can destroy all life.”
Unease crept over her, though Sonia’s mother had a smile on her face. “Well, not all life. Dragons are contained by the Coldfire Wizard, just as all Others have a wizard to keep them in line.”
“Sometimes,” Ciara murmured.
Ignoring that odd comment, Lacey began reading aloud. After, she spent a few moments asking the children what they thought of it, and then answering questions about dragon shifters. About five minutes before story time ended, a soft pop of air, blue smoke and a shimmer of magick indicated the arrival of a wizard.
THE MATING CLAIM: Werewolves of Montana Book 14 Page 10