by Kane, Zoey
“Cynthia, you witch! You haven’t got a chance in your greatest conjure!” snapped Riley.
“Humph. What got you out of sorts today…? We’ll see—huh, Zoey.” Then she turned to climb the stairs. Zo simply smiled.
“Kiss me goodbye?” Zo asked. She heard Claire say, “I’m going to say goodbye to Slobber, Mom. I’ll be back in a moment.”
The kiss was a whirlwind not even Dorothy of Oz could experience. It was all encompassing—something a girl could live in forever. I knew it had to end, and when it did, the intensity of his eyes continued the hammer of my pulse. He said, “Am I looking at you with hungry eyes?”
“I’m ready, Mom,” Claire’s voice broke in, and the bubble popped.
“I know you can drive out of here.” He stepped back from his embrace. “The firemen said the road is clear enough. I swear to you, Zoey Kane, that I will see you again, and soon.”
EPILOGUE
Driving away from Coven House, Zo said, “I was told by Anne, that the town is going to share the house with the coven sisters as a historical treasure. All they have to do is keep it looking good and take tours through on Fridays, by appointment only. The coven agrees…, if they may have inexhaustible use of the property. The council said yes. It’s in a contract, signed by the judge. Pretty good, huh? Oh, and everybody gets to take a jewel home today—even the judge who picked a little ruby.”
“Definitely good!”
“What did Slobber say?”
“He said he would drive up with Jones oncet in a while to see his almost-betrothed.”
“Oh, yes? Are you leading him on?”
“I could do worse.”
“Truer words…,” said Zo, thinking of Jack.
The fields moved by as the little yellow VW beetle drove on with some haste. Zoey and Claire were silent in their own thoughts, eager to be home where there was no one who was going to jump out at them, nothing to crawl on them, and no bodies.
Claire ran fingers through her hair in an effort to get bangs out of her eyes. She adjusted gold-framed aviator sunglasses on her nose and then looked in the rearview mirror to make sure she was lookin’ good. Zo was casually observing this ritual, when she noticed Claire taking a harder look into the mirror.
“Mom,” she said in a quiet tone. “Take a look in your visor’s mirror.”
Zo pulled down the visor and peered into it. There was a wide brim straw hat, directly behind her. A pink and blue Hydrangea blossom, pinned to a pretty ribbon, reflected back at her. Just the same, this vision made them gulp, because the flower was to the side of a metal neck band.
“Millicent!” they both said.
The end.
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Though Hexes and X’s is part of the Z & C Mystery Series, just like the others, it has a stand-alone plot.