“You do know he’s married, right?” I said. “You said you knew he’d picked up his daughter.”
“Have you met his wife? He doesn’t love her.”
Another lunatic.
“I’m sorry. The shop changed hands. We don’t carry the same inventory. We don’t stock the perfume your sister bought.” I started for the shop. The woman followed.
Her expression turned to desperation. “Can you tell me who makes it? Where else I might find it?”
“No, I’m sorry. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
She grabbed my arm. I yanked out of her grasp.
Her voice cracked. “But you know Jason.”
“We’re not what you’d call friendly, if that’s what you’re asking,” I replied.
“Then why were you babysitting?”
“As a favor to his wife.”
The woman stepped away. “Oh.”
I raised my eyebrows, silently asking if she was done. She stopped and lowered her gaze. I took the opportunity to walk away.
Inside the shop, I slipped off my coat and unpacked our sandwiches. Cassandra went to the backroom to get us each a can of soda when Narcy’s sister pushed through the door.
“You said you and Jason weren’t friends,” she said.
I folded my arms, waiting for her to continue.
“But you’re a friend of his wife. You know they aren’t happy together, right?”
Grasping for straws? Regardless of my feelings about my cousin, I wasn’t going to feed Sharon’s delusion. “I don’t meddle in other people’s affairs,” I told her. “And by affairs, particularly extramarital. If I were you, I’d set my sights on someone who isn’t married.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re friends with his wife.”
“I don’t know either one of them very well, but I know enough to discourage you from trying to break up a family. From what I’ve seen, Jason loves his wife.” I hoped that was true, despite the ‘Daddy mad’ comments from Georgia.
The woman lifted her chin. “We’ll see about that.” She walked out.
Maybe they were having an affair. Was this the woman Georgia said she didn’t like?
“Wasn’t that the woman asking about perfume?” Cassandra asked.
“It was.”
“Why do I get a bad feeling about her?”
“Because you’re a good judge of character. She’s looking for advice on how to seduce a married man.”
Cassandra sputtered out a laugh. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was. She’s the sister of the woman who strung Kyle along.”
“Please tell me she isn’t as loony as her sister was. She isn’t going to try to burn down the shop, is she?”
I stared out the window while I opened my can of Coke. “She didn’t threaten me, the way her sister did, but she’s definitely not operating with a full deck. She didn’t seem to know her sister had died.”
Kyle popped into the store and I filled him in on my visitor. “Now we know why Deputy Becker couldn’t locate anything on her,” he said.
“I’d like to think I’ve discouraged her and she’ll give up on Jason, but from what she said, she’s had her sights set on him for a while.”
“Where does Jason work?” Kyle asked, taking out his notepad.
“All I know is he works for an insurance company. I don’t know which one. By the way, Nora’s driving down this afternoon.” I turned to Cassandra. “You okay if I take off early today?”
“Of course. I owe you,” she said.
“Odd that Nora would come in the middle of the week,” Kyle said.
“I had a couple of questions for her,” I said. “Family stuff.”
Kyle’s radio squawked with a message. He tilted it toward his face, and responded. “Gotta go. I’ll check in when I get home.”
“You’re not worried he’s going to cheat on you again?” Cassandra said when Kyle left.
The picture of Narcy kissing Kyle in the park was permanently embedded in my mind. I’d never forget, but I also knew there were extenuating circumstances in the form of the perfume I’d sold her. That, and the witchcraft she practiced. “A perfect storm. I trust him.” I managed a smile for Cassandra. “And just because we’re together again doesn’t mean I’m going to forget my single friends.”
“No. You’re not that kind of person.” She gave me a side-hug before she took a bite of her sandwich.
If only Jason shared Cassandra’s opinion of me. After Georgia’s appearance in the workshop, I vowed to work harder to earn his trust, before his daughter stumbled into trouble the way I had when I’d discovered my gift.
Chapter 17
Nora was waiting at the dining table when I walked into my house.
“I made us coffee,” she said as Ash jumped into her lap to say hello.
I settled in across from her. “Have you encountered anything like what Georgia’s done before? I didn’t appear to you in dreams when I was little, did I?”
“No, which is why I thought it best I come down so we could work through this together. Georgia is displaying remarkably strong gifts. You said you witnessed the telekinesis at the shop, and now the astral projection. Jason might not want his daughter to have, as he put it, a genetic malfunction, but sooner or later he’s going to have to acknowledge her gifts. Do you want me to talk to him?”
“I’m hoping his wife will reason with him,” I said. “She wants her children to know their family—all their family—warts and all. Since she’s reached out to me, I think I’ll work that angle.”
I poured myself a cup of coffee. Ash jumped to the floor and disappeared into the kitchen for a bite of food.
“It’s too easy to use the power when you don’t understand it,” I said. “Like I did.”
“Yes, better to teach her early, before she hurts someone or something.” Nora lowered her voice. “Have you consulted the grimoire?”
“I leafed through it last night out of curiosity.” I glanced toward the kitchen. “Do you think there’s something in it?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. In the generations of wiccan before us, surely one of them came across a child prodigy.” She studied me, her eyes taking on the mysterious glow that always unnerved me. “What did you find?”
I scowled. “I thought it would be better to be forearmed after what happened last time. I found a spell for protection, and one that would have guarded me against the fire Narcy set. Speaking of which, I met her sister today.”
Nora set her coffee mug down with a thump. “And?”
“They were foster sisters, and you’re going to love this. She works with Jason, but that’s not all.” I told Nora how the woman had requested a transfer at the cost of her own career to be near Jason.
“Oh, my. Is Jason aware?” Nora asked.
“I don’t know. We’re not exactly on speaking terms.”
“Tread carefully. Did you get any feeling she might have gifts, too?”
I shook my head. “No, she seemed normal, aside from being overly infatuated.” Normal. A relative term, and a stark reminder.
I wasn’t normal.
I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. I’d come to terms with who I was. “What do you think we should do?” I asked.
“You need to tell Jason. About his daughter. About that woman. He isn’t going to like it, but he probably already knows. Otherwise he wouldn’t have made a special trip to meet us, don’t you think?”
“Confirm his worst fears.”
Nora agreed.
“I don’t have any recourse if he chooses to push us away,” I pointed out. “How am I supposed to convince him I can help? That I’m not a wicked witch?”
Nora’s features relaxed into good humor. “Remind him this isn’t the Wizard of Oz. That you don’t have a criminal record. That if you could, you’d exert your influence, but that isn’t what you want. You want to help. To teach Georgia about her gifts. Where they come
from and how to use them.”
Hadn’t I drawn my own Wizard of Oz comparison when I’d first met Nora? I’d come around to the truth, but there were other forces at work. Forces that led me to Hillendale and brought me to Nora. “Maybe I shouldn’t be trying to influence the situation,” I said. “Intentional actions come with unintentional consequences. Let the powers that be guide us.”
“I’d say the powers that be have guided Jason to us. He came for help, even if he doesn’t realize it.” She leaned over the table. “Georgia is visiting you in her sleep. She’s only just discovering her talents. He’ll need to know how to deal with the things she can do.” Nora tsked. “And so young.”
I gripped my coffee mug between my hands and stared into the dark liquid. “Maybe I should consult the grimoire again.”
She studied me several moments, and I sensed the uneasiness coming from her. She was as afraid of it as I was.
The hidden grimoire held the spells from those who had gone before, those who had had to call on the magic. I’d read the spell to repel fire, one that would have been useful before that fateful day with Narcy.
The sensation crept up on me, the inability to breathe, the smoke surrounding me. I cleared my throat as heat washed over me.
“Brynn.”
When I opened my eyes, Nora knelt in front of me, clutching my wrist.
“Where did you go just now?” she asked.
Into the fire. “Bad memories,” I croaked. Memories that reinforced my desire to read the hidden grimoire, to discover ways to protect myself next time. I closed my eyes and called to the grimoire.
As the book came to a rest on the table, Nora sat back on her haunches. “Are you sure you want the book?”
I’d never known Nora to be so uneasy. “That’s what it’s there for, isn’t it? Reference?”
Nora resumed her seat, her eyes glued to the book.
“Show me what I should do,” I said to the book.
“Hello? Anybody home?” Kyle called from the kitchen door.
Nora and I both looked up but when I checked the table again, the grimoire was gone.
Chapter 18
Kyle and Nora and I talked about wedding plans over dinner. Nora announced she would stay the night, ostensibly hoping Kyle would go home. He didn’t leave.
Nora and I retreated to the workroom and Kyle made himself comfortable in front of the television in the living room.
Nora pulled out a tray of soap and spoke quietly. “I always closed the door when I was working.”
I quaked with the memory of the door slamming shut, of being locked inside the workroom while that woman watched the fire burn from outside the windows, waiting for me to die. Was that only six weeks ago? “I’m not closing the door.”
Nora patted my arm. “She’s gone, sweet Brynn. She can’t hurt you anymore.”
I nodded, cleared my throat, and inhaled deeply.
“All things considered, however, I think we should wait to finish the project we discussed earlier until the morning, after Kyle’s gone to work.”
“Tomorrow’s Kyle’s day off,” I told her.
“Well, then. We’ll have to put our heads together tonight.” Nora stamped her brand on the soap bars she’d cut and I wrapped them. “Do you think the little girl will visit you again?”
I shot a glance to the corner of the room, where Georgia had appeared. “I don’t know. I’m hoping she’ll be more settled now that her mother’s home.”
“How do you know her mother’s home?”
“LeAnne texted me.”
Nora stopped and set her hands on the worktable. “And Jason isn’t angry about that?”
I shrugged.
“You should be careful not to cause issues between them,” she said. “He’s already unhappy with you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m aware, especially with Narcy’s sister waiting for her chance at him.”
“And you don’t think the sister has gifts?” Nora asked.
“I didn’t sense any, and I also didn’t realize Narcy was the source of the evil until it was almost too late. Which reminds me, why couldn’t I see that Narcy was a witch right away? I see the glow in your eyes, and in Georgia’s.”
“Like with the telepathy, when you don’t want someone to see, you can put up a block.” Nora let out a loud breath. “I wonder if we should visit Hannah.”
I lined up the next batch of bars to be wrapped. “And who is Hannah?”
“Oh, don’t you remember? You met her at the summer solstice. She was the woman who led the spiral dance.”
I hadn’t officially met any of the people at the solstice celebration, at least not that I could remember. I’d spent the day trailing after Nora up until the point of my revelation. “I don’t think I knew her name.”
“She owns a retreat for corporate customers.” Nora lowered her voice with a glance toward the open door, “Or for wiccan gatherings. She has a broad range of knowledge. I’m sure she’s run across prodigies before.”
She kept her attention focused on the soaps. Was she suggesting I shouldn’t consult the grimoire? “In case we can’t find anything in the book.”
“Yes. Or in case she’s dealt with something more recently.”
I chose not to press for more answers, at least not while Kyle was in the next room.
As I wrapped the last of the bars of soap, I glanced at my phone to check the time. “Georgia had already visited by this time last night. She must be sleeping better tonight.”
“You don’t think Jason would hurt her, do you?” Nora set her hands on the worktable. “Jason’s parents never did you physical harm, did they?”
“No. For the most part, Uncle Jerome tried to be kind. Aunt Theresa was the one with the chip on her shoulder, but no, they never hurt me.”
Nora furrowed her brow. “I keep wondering why this little girl is worried about her dad, Jason, being angry—if she feels threatened.”
“I wondered the same thing. She snuggled into him when he picked her up the other day. She wouldn’t have done that if she was worried he’d hurt her, would she?”
“Children are born with an innate need to please,” Nora said. “She might think snuggling with him would pacify him.”
“Or she snuggled him because she felt safe with him,” I said.
“Whatever the case may be, Jason needs to be made aware. Now.” She brushed her hands and surveyed the workshop. “What stock are you still replenishing here?”
“I’ve been using a lot of turmeric. Arthritis season. And I used a fair amount of thyme recently, so I should pick more of that to dry.”
Nora inspected the crock pots and the still I’d bought, humming her approval and asking questions about the features her old equipment didn’t have. I showed her the multicooker, something she’d never had, and explained how it reduced the time it took to process some of the oils.
Kyle leaned into the room to say goodnight and I promised to follow him upstairs shortly.
When I returned to the worktable, the hidden grimoire lay open.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Nora whispered. “It’s just I’ve never heard of gifts manifesting themselves on one so young.”
I settled onto the stool beside hers and looked over her shoulder. “What did you find?”
She closed her eyes and held a hand over the book. The pages turned slowly, by themselves. When they stopped, I laid a hand on her arm. She opened her eyes and we looked at the text together.
The drawing showed a baby on a cloud, with a triquetra marking the cloud.
Raise thy children with love that they may know empathy.
Raise thy children with truth that they might learn honesty.
Raise thy children with discipline that they might learn self-control.
Teach thy children to respect the earth, the sky and the sea. Dance with them in the rain, show them the bounty of the earth, the might of the oceans.
“She isn’t my child,” I said.
I scowled. “That’s not even funny.”
“Funny or not, it’s true.” She cocked her head as she studied me. “Maybe you can’t raise her, but you can teach her. Take from the text what you can.”
“That requires her parents to trust me with her.”
“Her mother does.”
I glanced toward the staircase Kyle had climbed. Raise thy children. The tingle at my temples told me Nora was tuned into my thoughts. She took my hands and leveled her gaze on me.
“In the time I’ve known you, your cycles have been all over the place,” she said. “Have you always been that way?”
“You mean my periods?”
She nodded. “That’s often a sign you aren’t ovulating. There are some remedies to try, but as much as it pains me to say, you might not be able to have children. Will he mind very much?”
My eyes burned and, for the first time, a hungry emptiness opened inside me. My voice came out choked. “He said no, although he wants to revisit the subject.” I let out a shaky breath. “But this isn’t about me.”
The book flipped more pages on its own. I swiped at my eyes and focused on what was written. The drawing, an eye inside a triangle. I hesitated to read the text, which was marked by another skull and crossbones.
To Separate a Witch from her Powers.
Chapter 19
“I’m sure the book showed you that page as a last resort,” Nora said while she donned her wool, winter cape. “But I’m going to call Hannah this morning to see if she has time to meet with us. She might not have anything to add, but at this point it doesn’t hurt to gather whatever knowledge we can.”
I hugged myself against the morning chill and nodded.
“In the meantime, try to keep the lines of communication open with Jason’s wife. If anyone can persuade him to another way of thinking, it will be her.” Nora gave me one last hug and left.
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