“Certainly. If you decide to have any repairs done to the porch, just let me know. I guess some of that might be salvageable,” said Tyler.
“I can see that he got around to lying in the end,” I said to Jasper.
Jasper grinned. It was clear enough to me that my boyfriend wanted Tyler to go to the truck while he said goodbye to me privately, but it wasn’t at all clear to Tyler, who remained firmly rooted to the spot. After a couple of hopeful seconds Jasper gave up and started walking away.
As I walked along next to him he asked, “How are you planning to get to the wedding?”
“I have no idea,” I told him.
“Great. You can come with me. I’ll pick you up,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said.
Now the fact that Charlie was planning to bring everything from suitcases to the kitchen table to a fridge (she might have been kidding about that one; I just wouldn’t put it past her to choose the appliance instead of me if it came to that) didn’t matter.
Besides, I got to be with Jasper.
He gave me a quick kiss goodbye and hopped into the truck. As they went down the driveway he stuck his hand out the window and waved. I waved back. I hoped he knew I was just waving at him and ignoring Tyler.
As I turned around and walked back to the house, I ran into Karen and Paws. Both of them were looking at me with concern.
“What?” I demanded. “This night has been long enough as it is, and I still have guests coming. I’m not going to try and guess what you two are magically thinking.”
“That guy’s trouble. I don’t like him at all. I never want him on this property again,” said Paws.
“I don’t like him either,” I said, and stomped into the house, frustrated with all of them.
I disliked Tyler Spin so much that I suddenly had an overwhelming need to go look at my grandmother’s magical books. She had hidden most of them in the middle of the attic, and there were other important papers in her old bedroom, which I had left more or less untouched. She had also stored some stuff in the basement.
Basically, she’d left everything all over the house, but out in the open, and I had decided to change that. Now there were several books on spells interspersed with cooking books on the kitchen shelves. My grandmother had commandeered an entire wall in the kitchen for cookbooks. When she’d first seen it, Greer thought she’d died and gone to heaven.
Putting some of the magical books in with ordinary cookbooks meant that when I had a question about a spell, the answer wasn’t very far away. In this case the question was about Jasper’s companion, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like the answer.
Then again, I wasn’t even sure what I was searching for. It had been a long time since I’d gone looking through my grandmother’s spell books for anything other than basic spells. Paws kept telling me I was wasting resources by not using them, but I kept having other things on my mind.
Now I saw that I had in fact brought down most of the basic spell books and added them to the kitchen cookery shelves, but not the more advanced ones. I needed to make a visit to the attic.
“Paws, do you want to come to the attic with me?” I called out.
The next thing I knew the ghost cat was trotting into the kitchen. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“What makes you so excited to go?” I asked.
“I like being around your grandmother’s stuff. It reminds me of her,” he said.
“You know this whole house is hers, right? Shouldn’t it all remind you of her?” I said.
“Being such a nitpicker is very unattractive,” Paws replied.
“I have a cute boyfriend. I don’t care what you think,” I told him.
“Are we at the attic yet?” he said.
We haven’t even left the kitchen, but now we made our way upstairs. I had left some boxes of Evenlyn’s books right where she had kept them, in the middle rows of the attic shelves.
“What is it you’re looking for?” Paws said.
“Could Tyler be a dark witch or something?” I asked.
“Does he look like a waste of space to you?” he asked.
“These are modern times. I have no idea,” I said.
“It seems a lot more likely that he’s a Witch Hunter,” said Paws.
I sighed. “Why do you think that?”
“Because you aren’t as smart as me,” he said.
Exasperated, I turned away and started looking through Evenlyn’s books. I had looked for information on Witch Hunters before, but I hadn’t learned enough. I didn’t get a bad feeling from Jasper and never had, so that was something. I did get a bad feeling from his grandfather, but that was different; his grandfather was trying to protect his family. I could at least respect that even if I didn’t like it.
From Tyler Spin I somehow got a very different kind of bad feeling, and I needed to know why.
“Here’s something. This is the history of witchcraft in small-town counties,” I said.
I started leafing through the book, but most of the information was dense and very boring, and I found myself skimming along and skipping parts. I did stop for the bit about the relationships between witches and other types of supernaturals, which said that Witch Hunters were a very big part of witch history, mostly because they had done a lot of damage. Witches had spent a long time hiding from them.
I could kind of see why the coven didn’t want Jasper Wolf around. Going to a lot of trouble to hide from Witch Hunters would do no good if a Witch Hunter was brought into their midst by one of their own.
“Witch Hunters are stronger in small towns than they are in large cities. In places with a lot of people, there are also a lot of witches, and we tend to overrun the Witch Hunters. This is not the case in small towns.”
“Once a Witch Hunter has spotted you, it is of the utmost importance to perform a memory spell as quickly as possible so that he forgets you again.
“If a witch doesn’t do this, the consequences can be dire. There are countless examples throughout history.”
I frowned. There were a couple of problems with this information. First of all, I had no idea whether Tyler Spin was a Witch Hunter or not. There was a good possibility that he was, but I really couldn’t be sure without some kind of proof.
And even if he was, did he know I was a witch? He hadn’t let on one way or the other, but regardless of that, I could tell that he didn't like me. He might not like me for the simple reason that I was dating his boss, or it might be something more sinister.
I closed the old book and placed it back in the box. There were several other titles that looked interesting, including Ghost Cats, Can’t Live With Them and Can’t Kill Them. I held that particular book up for Paws to see.
“There’s nothing funny about that,” said the cat with disapproval.
“So says you,” I said.
“Lemmi, are you up there?” Charlie’s voice sounded at the base of the stairs.
“Yeah,” I called out, setting down the book I was looking at and leaving the attic with Paws trailing behind.
Charlie was standing on the bottom step looking very pleased. “I love August,” she called up to us, beaming.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
“So many wonderful things. I can’t believe I was upset about a lack of stuff to do. I’ve really hit the jackpot,” she said as Paws and I made our way downstairs.
“And?” I pressed. Charlie was always writing a story, even when I wanted her to get to the point.
“Mintwood has a strong history of secret societies. Who would have thought it in a small town? That’s who I think is meeting at the Daily Brew,” she said.
When we got to the kitchen, we found Greer making a vegetable casserole.
“Evening,” she said. “What’s this about secret societies?”
“Charlie thinks that’s who’s meeting at the Daily Brew once a month,” I said.
“There were a lot of craftsmanship societies throug
hout Mintwood’s history,” Charlie explained.
“So?” I asked.
“So, there’s no proof that they ever went away,” she said.
“Craftsmanship doesn’t really exist anymore. At least not with furniture guilds and stuff,” said Greer.
“No, but Mrs. Cooks still knits. Mrs. Barnett is an accomplished baker. Mayor Clabberd whittles.”
“You aren’t convincing me,” said Greer.
“I never do. I don’t care. I’m pretty sure I’m right about this,” Charlie insisted.
“What kind of society do you think it is?” I said.
“A society of witches, probably,” said Greer.
“No, we agreed it wasn’t witches. Lemmi would have known,” said Charlie.
“I hate it when she takes my jokes seriously,” said Greer.
“There isn’t any way to know what kind of society it is. I’ll just have to ask them on Sunday,” said Charlie.
“You want to interrupt a secret society meeting? Are you crazy?” Greer said.
“No, I’m a journalist.”
We ate a quiet dinner, mostly chatting about the wedding. Charlie was fascinated by the idea that two people didn’t want a traditional wedding ceremony but preferred to get married in the woods, in a place where they were most comfortable and their friends could come and enjoy some time together. And the bugs. And the coyotes. Not to mention all of the other things that were awful about the outdoors, according to Charlie Silver.
“They’re very excited. My mom is concerned. She’s called me three times today,” said Greer. “I’m thinking about telling her I lost my phone.”
“She isn’t the outdoors type, I take it?” I said.
“Not even a little bit. There’s a rustic inn that people can stay at, since Delia and Damon did want their grandparents and such to be comfortable. Camping isn’t for everyone. But my mother has never stayed at an inn before, either.”
“At least not a rustic one,” I said.
“Right. She’s stayed at those places that call themselves inns but are really mini-five-star resorts.”
“Are we staying in a cabin?” Charlie asked.
“I think so. There’s a row of them, and we’ll be staying in one,” said Greer. “Deacon says he’s staying with Jasper. They have one more bed in there, but he won’t tell me who’s staying with them.”
My stomach did a little flip flop. What if it was Tyler Spin? That was about as worst case a scenario as I could think of. Then again, I liked Jasper and Deacon so much that having almost anyone else bunk with them would ruin it.
Charlie’s future boyfriend had a lot to live up to.
“Maybe there will be some cute single guys there,” said Greer to Charlie. I knew Greer felt a bit guilty that Charlie was still single, even though it was no fault of Greer’s.
“I hope not,” Charlie snorted.
We were washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen when I heard a car drive up.
“Company. They look suspicious,” Paws yelled from the porch.
“Who doesn’t look suspicious to you?” I asked the cat as I came into the living room.
“I like to exercise a healthy dose of skepticism,” said Paws.
“Hey.” I opened the door to Josephine and Scarlett, who were wearing the same clothes they’d had on earlier. If they’d bought anything at Liam’s, they hadn’t changed into it for this visit.
“Hey! It smells amazing! Way better than the simple dishes I make,” said Scarlett.
“Greer’s an amazing cook. She can also bake,” I said.
“I suck at baking. No matter what I do it always turns out flat and tasting like cardboard,” said Scarlett, shaking her head sadly.
I could see my roommates looking at the guests curiously from the kitchen. They had seemed fine with my Aunt Harriet and even Gerry, but witches our own age were something else.
“Want to join us?” I called out to them.
“Sure! I made cookies,” said Greer, sounding excited.
“Perfect,” said Scarlett.
“There’s nothing wrong with a classic,” Greer said, passing around a plate of chocolate chip cookies while Charlie served us some tea.
We all dug in as I waited to hear what the witches had to say.
“This is a great farmhouse. All sorts of character. Your grandmother must have been some kind of lady,” said Josephine.
“She was true to herself, that’s for sure,” I said. “She also never threw anything away. I don’t know if clutter is a design aesthetic, but if it is she’s the master.”
“My grandmother’s the same way,” said Scarlett.
We chatted for a while longer. All of us had grown up around here, so there was plenty of local lore to make small talk about.
“My mother moved here when she was a teenager and never looked back,” said Josephine. “She’d just had me. Single mother and all that.”
“And a witch?” Charlie asked, leaning forward with interest. It was the first time she had spoken, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth she seemed to regret it, as if she was afraid Josephine would be angry. But Josephine seemed to appreciate being asked about her mother.
“She was a witch, but she wanted to retire as early as possible. She started working hard at a young age, and I think she just wanted to relax. She moved to Florida after she retired, but she visits often. She also knew that Caedmon was in good hands. I just can’t get over the fact that you two know about witches, but aren’t . . . witches.”
“At first I knew about ghosts and just the witch headlines,” Greer explained.
“When my boyfriend and I broke up I decided to move in, and they had to tell me as well,” said Charlie. “It would have been almost impossible for me to live here without finding out.”
“Amazing,” said Scarlett.
Josephine cleared her throat. The two had obviously come for a purpose, and it was time to wrap up the idle chit-chat.
“Is this about the séance?” I asked.
“I’m afraid it is,” said Josephine. “We think it has to happen, it’s just that we’ve never gone against Rosalie’s orders before.”
“I saw all those dark ghosts,” said Scarlett. “Rosalie doesn’t get it, but we can’t let them overwhelm Mintwood. There are too many of them. Who knows what they’d do next! I don’t want to have spent days in the woods worrying my grandmother for nothing.”
“Will Rosalie find out if we perform a séance?” I said. Rosalie looked formidable, and given that she was diminutive and over eighty years old I imagined that she therefore was formidable.
“Oh, yes. That much magic, she’ll know. Séances are rarely performed anymore. They’re very protective. They also require several witches,” said Josephine.
“We don’t think three or even four is enough,” said Scarlett. “Our first idea was to come over tonight and try it, but then we realized that it just wouldn’t work.”
“How many do we need?” I asked, feeling an acute sense of disappointment. I didn’t think I had much time.
“Five or six. The more the better. I don’t know,” said Josephine, the frustration showing through. “When I was a kid my friend and I tried to have a séance, just the two of us. We spent an hour listening to the wind. Nothing happened. I’ve tried two more since then, but they were both with my mother. We had eight witches each time and it worked perfectly.”
“The more powerful the witches taking part,” said Scarlett, “the more likely it is to succeed. My grandmother said she’d help. I don’t want to repeat the language she used when saying we didn’t have to listen to Rosalie, but it was strong.” She grinned at the memory.
“The only trouble is, we still don’t have enough witches,” I said.
“Yeah, plus we do actually have to listen to Rosalie,” said Josephine.
Once we finished our tea and cookies we decided to head outside so that I could at least show my new friends the property.
“Is Sicily co
ming tonight?” I asked.
“No, she couldn’t come,” said Scarlett. “We’re leaving for the weekend, so we wanted to stop by first. She doesn’t think a séance will work even with her, but she said the three of us should try it anyhow so we can at least get an idea of how it works. She asked for the weekend to try and get someone else here to help. She thinks five witches might be enough, as long as one of them is herself.” Scarlett ended with a bright smile.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “It’s so nice of you to help. And Sicily.”
“You helped us plenty,” said Josephine. “Rosalie is being entirely unreasonable. She doesn’t want to admit there’s any problem or any threat at all. She’s stuck in the old ways of witches not helping each other, but I’d like our generation to be different. If we’re going to be attacked by dark witches and dark ghosts, we’re going to need to stand together. That’s how I feel about it.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said. “I’m ready. Any time any of you need me, just call.”
“We already have,” said Scarlett with another grin. “Shall we get going?”
Charlie and Greer couldn’t help with this experiment, and there was even a small risk that they could get hurt, so they decided to stay inside. Three witches were going to try and perform spells beyond their capabilities, so there truly was some danger. Having no sense of self-preservation and being dead already anyhow, Paws did decide to join us, mostly because he wanted to heckle us from the sidelines.
“You can come. Just stay out of our way,” said Josephine.
Paws was infinitely offended. “You’re on my turf. This is my house. And you’re telling me to stay out of your way?”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing, and I’ll thank you not to pretend you’re surprised,” said Josephine.
As the three of us marched through the fields, I really felt like a witch in my grandmother’s green cloak. Josephine and Scarlett had also put on cloaks, Scarlett’s with a high collar edged with silver stars, Josephine’s a midnight blue that shimmered and billowed behind her.
This would be the first time I tried to perform spells with anyone my own age, and I felt good walking through the fields with Scarlett and Josephine. I had learned a lot from Harriet and Sicily, but it wasn’t the same as having comrades from my own generation.
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