Cursed at First Sight: A Witchy Cozy Mystery (Cursed Coven Cozies Book 1)

by Daphne DeWitt

  “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, Bobby,” I told him, turning the doorknob to leave the room.

  “No, listen to me. He started coughing up pink dust, and then he started acting differently. It was the strangest thing,” he said, shaking his head. I had never heard of anyone coughing up pink dust or any dust for that matter. I narrowed my eyes. Other than Mason’s own proclamation, this was the first clue that there had been a spell placed on him. Pink dust could very well have been a side effect of the spell, or even an after effect. For all I knew, the spell had been on Mason for ages and was only triggered recently. I just needed to find out what kind of spell it was and who was responsible for it.

  “This isn’t even close to the first thing I’ve seen in this town that doesn’t make sense,” Daniel said, getting compassionate looks from everyone in the room. Everyone knew Cat’s Cradle had a potentially worrisome relationship with the impossible. Something Daniel was just now learning.

  10

  “I still can't believe you are making me do this,” Agnes said, dragging her feet through Mrs. Abernathy's yard. She didn't want to do it, but I drug her out of the door kicking and screaming. She was my only hope to get Mrs. Abernathy off of my back.

  “At least you have the voice for the day,” I told her, smiling. I didn't care if she was an introvert who didn't want to leave the house. I was a lawyer who was working on a murder case and didn't have time to deal with a lady who thought a dog was stalking her. So, that meant I needed her help.

  “A voice that I am using to talk to a dog. What’s his name again?” she asked, sighing.

  “Rex, his name is Rex,” I answered, looking around the yard for any signs of the dog. It didn’t take long to spot him. Rex was sitting on Mrs. Abernathy’s front porch and growling, but there was no one there. The dog needed a chill pill.

  “This is how every horror movie starts, Malady, every single one. The dog is always the first one to get creeped out, and everybody knows that when the dog is creeped out, it's time to leave,” she said, turning around to leave.

  I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me. “Oh, no you don’t, missy. You are going to help me. I don’t have time for Mrs. Abernathy’s crazy problems. I almost brought Daniel with me because he’s a dog too,” I said, pulling Agnes in Rex’s direction.

  “I thought Daniel was a human and a very handsome at that if I remember correctly,” she said, smirking at me. That was the only time in the history of my life I wished Abigail had the voice.

  “Oh, honey, you misunderstood me. He is a two-legged dog, the worst kind. I would never compare that cute dog to Daniel. It would be an injustice to Rex,” I said, causing her to laugh. She could laugh all she wanted I was serious. I would have rather had to work with Rex any day.

  “I think you like him,” Agnes said, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows at me.

  Gasping dramatically, I playfully swatted her shoulder. “Agnes Marie Norwood, don’t make me clean your mouth out with soap,” I said, placing my hand over my heart.

  “Look, if you want to pretend like you don’t like his face and those dimples than that’s fine by me, but can we please get this over with? I have important things to do … unlike you,” she said, walking to Rex and kneeling down beside him.

  “Like what? Watch Hallmark movies and eat hot Cheetos? That's hardly important. And I have the stuff to do that's important. Like you know to get an innocent man out of jail for a murder that he didn’t commit and find out who’s using their magic badly,” I said, getting an eye roll from Agnes.

  “He better not talk about bacon or chew toys because if he does, I'm leaving,” she said, with a deadly serious expression.

  She leaned down to look in Rex’s big brown eyes and gently rubbed his head. “Hey there, Rex. My name is Agnes, it’s nice to meet you,” she said, using the gentle tone of the voice she shared with her sister. Abagail was much fonder of the sassy tone.

  Rex stopped growling from the empty front porch and looked at my sister. He started barking, but it was friendly like he was telling Agnes it was nice to meet her too.

  Laughing, she looked at me. “He just said it's nice to meet me too. Also, he has a British accent for some reason,” she said, playing translator and actually enjoying it.

  “That’s fabulous. I’m sure you two will be fast friends, but can we please get to the part where you find out why he’s stalking Mrs. Abernathy, please?” I begged, tapping my watch letting her know I didn’t have time for her to make small talk with a stalker dog.

  “Oh, all right. Rex, why do you show up in Mrs. Abernathy's yard every day and growl? It's kind of freaking her out, and she won't quit bugging my sister here.” Rex's eyes landed on me, and he smiled.

  “He said you’re pretty,” she said, getting a kick out of it. I’m glad that made her happy.

  Looking at her, I titled my head to the side and looked at her. “I’m flattered. Agnes, can you please do the job I need you to do?”

  Rex whimpered and looked down at the ground.

  “Aw, don’t be sad. You may still have a chance with her. She has a thing for dogs even if she won’t admit it,” she said, winking at me to let me know she was talking about Daniel. She came close to joining Allison that day.

  “What was that, Rex?” she asked him, wrinkling up her forehead. Finally, she was finding out something for me.

  She leaned her ear down as if he was whispering something to her. She slowly turned her head to me, and I knew immediately something was going on. And it wasn't good.

  “What is it? What did he say?” I asked, wishing I had Agnes’s gift.

  “He said that there’s a bad energy in that house,” she said, rubbing his back.

  “Ask him for more details. He's even stingier with details than Abigail after a date,” I said, looking at the house. It was beautiful red brick home with colorful flowers in every color of the rainbow and a bright yellow door. A welcome mat sat below it, and that's exactly how the home made you feel.

  Looking over at Agnes, I saw that Rex was gone. “Where did he go?” I asked, looking behind her.

  “He said there’s something bad in that house, but that’s all he knew. He had to go. I tried to make him stay, but he wouldn’t listen,” she said, holding her hand over her eyes to block out the sun. I didn’t like the sound of that. Animals were much more in tune with the world around them than humans. Even witches came to animals for help with deciphering the clues the world often lays out as warning or guidance, case in point. If the animal was so intent on staying away from this place he wouldn’t even watch us enter, then that meant there was bad mojo in there.

  Normally, I wasn’t the type of woman to run headfirst into any mojo. Least of all the bad kind. Mason was in trouble though, and I needed to find the truth to help him. So I sighed, and mentally put on my big girl pants.

  “We have to get in that house,” I said, placing my hands on my hips and tapping my foot.

  “Oh no, I see those wheels turning in your head, and I don't like it. I am not breaking into that sweet old lady's house,” she said, looking at me as if I had lost my mind.

  I must have missed the part where I asked her to break in Mrs. Abernathy's house. “In case you have forgotten, I'm a lawyer, Agnes. I'm not going to break into her house, but we are going to get inside and find out what was going on.”

  “What do you mean we? There’s this really great Hallmark movie coming on that I just have to see,” she said, twisting her face into an expression that said "I’m sorry".

  She was going in that house with me whether she like it or not. Not that I was scared of whatever was in the house because I wasn't. I just didn't want to get sucked into to spending my afternoon watching game shows and eating pimento cheese with Mrs. Abernathy. That had happened way too much for my liking. When her husband passed away, she started seeking out company with anyone who would talk to her for more than five minutes. She was a sweet old lady, but she was just so clingy
. She once asked me to move in because Grandma Misty had enough people living in that big creepy house. Her words, not mine.

  “You need to get out more. There’s a great big world out there, Agnes, and by 'we' I mean 'us',” I told her, point her and then at myself. “And I know just the way that we are going to get inside.” I knew that she was going to go with me. She liked to act like she wasn’t, but she was way too nice to say no.

  She stomped her food and pursed her lips. “I hate you so much right now. So, what's your big plan? Is it legal?” she asked, looking completely terrified. For a witch, she was a big scaredy cat.

  “Of course it’s legal. We’re going to run home and have Sadie whip up a batch of those perfect lemon bars and bring them to Mrs. Abernathy. You know lemon bars are her jam. Once we’re inside we are going to search the house for anything that seems weird,” I said, feeling super proud of my plan. It was sure to work.

  “And how do you expect us to snoop around her house without her getting suspicious?”

  I was starting to think that Agnes wasn’t really a Norwood witch because she sure didn’t think like one.

  Grabbing her hand, I pulled her to the car. Climbing inside, I looked over at Agnes who still waiting for an answer. “We’re going to put a spell on them of course. A sleep spell that she wouldn’t wake up even if a tornado blew through town and transported her house to Oz,” I told her, and I would have patted myself on the back if it wouldn’t have looked so weird.

  “Whatever, just call Sadie and tell her to prepare the lemon bars. I'm staying in the car because if Abigail sees me, she will try to take the voice and I feel like being selfish today,” she said, making me so proud. She was finally putting on her big girl panties.

  Putting on my seatbelt, I held on for dear life as Agnes sped toward our house.

  I couldn't believe I was on my way to pick up hexed lemon bars. I guess there was a first time for everything.

  11

  Lemon bars in hand, we waited for Mrs. Abernathy to answer the door. It felt like we were already in the new year by the time she finally let us in. Sadie had made some lemon bars and, as always, they turned out just perfectly. Sweet, gooey, and crisp at the edges...

  “Sadie made some of her lemon bars. She mentioned how much you liked them, so we thought we would bring you some by,” I said as the old lady opened the door. Before I could finish talking, Mrs. Abernathy grabbed them out of my hands and took a bite out of one.

  “That was so thoughtful. Yum. Everything Sadie bakes is just perfect,” she said, taking another bite.

  “Imagine that,” I said, rolling my eyes. If she only knew.

  Sadie even wrapped up the lemon bars perfectly. They were nestled in a small wicker basket with a yellow bow perfectly tied on the handle. Some curse she had if you could even call it that. I could never be happy if I wanted everyone I loved to be safe and she could do no wrong. I had broken people's legs and started fires. I was the problem child, and she was the golden child.

  “Oh, Agnes, I didn’t see you there. How are you?” Mrs. Abernathy asked, smiling at her. Agnes answered by smiling back at her. It was all she could do at the moment.

  Agnes tried to hide from Abigail and keep the voice, but Abigail found her and snatched it right up. As a result, Agnes was back using facial expressions to say what she needed to say. Agnes spent the whole drive back to Mrs. Abernathy's house thinking of ways to kill Abigail and make it look like an accident. Or, at least, that's what the expressions looked like to me.

  “Well, that’s good,” she said, drawing her eyebrows together. She sat the lemon bars on the table in the hallway and led us into her den.

  “Would you girls like to stay for a while? I was just about to watch The Price is Right, and I made some pimento cheese,” she said, her eyes wide with excitement like she didn't do that every afternoon.

  “We would love to. I mean who doesn’t love pimento cheese and The Price is Right?” I asked, doing my best to appear excited.

  “Isn’t it just the best?” Mrs. Abernathy asked, giggling with so much joy. “How about you? Do you like The Price is Right too?” she asked Agnes, waiting anxiously for her answer. I was anticipating for her to ask us to join her Price is Right fantasy league.

  I would have bet anything that she had Bob Barker posters all over the walls of her bedroom.

  Agnes nodded shaking her head a little too hard and hitting it against the wall. Grimacing, she closed her eyes and held the back of her head.

  “Is there something wrong with her? I mean she’s always been the strangest Norwood in my opinion, but I thought she could talk,” Mrs. Abernathy asked, completely ignoring the fact that Agnes could hear every word.

  Agnes tapered her eyes at Mrs. Abernathy.

  “She has laryngitis,” I said, looking at Mrs. Abernathy who didn't look tired at all. Maybe the spell wasn't strong enough. Either that or she was as strong as a bull. I was going with her being too strong because Sadie was the one who put a spell on the lemon bars and I knew she didn’t mess it up.

  “Oh, that explains it. I had that last year for three months. I could barely utter a word. It was quite the quite the …” she muttered, her words drifting off along with the rest of her. Her eyes started to get heavy, drooping and then closing. Laying her head back, she started snoring.

  “Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to think it wasn’t going to work, and we were going to have to eat that,” I said, looking at the pimento cheese placed on the small table beside Mrs. Abernathy’s recliner.

  Unzipping my purse, I retrieved a purple candle, but not just any candle. The flame would let me know if anything was in the house and show me exactly where it was by extending its flame and pointing me in the right direction.

  Waving my hand over it, I watched as the flame ignited. Times like this being a witch came in handy.

  Gripping the candle tightly, I beckoned for Agnes to follow me. The blaze swirled around until it finally flowed up the staircase. Taking one step at a time, I anxiously awaited the candle's next clue. Sliding my free hand up the banister, I watched as the flame shot straight up almost touching the ceiling. Glancing up, I saw a string hanging.

  Standing on my tiptoes, I pulled it, and a ladder fell. Quickly handing the candle over to Agnes, I climbed the ladder up to the attic. Agnes was halfway up the ladder, so I reached for the candle. The flame hit the wall and made a slash along the wallpaper. Something was glowing, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. Agnes walked to it and pulled away the loose wallpaper revealing a glowing symbol. It was a huge circle with an eye in the dead center of it.

  It looked familiar to me, but I just couldn’t seem to place it.

  Looking over at Agnes, I saw her just staring at red glow radiating from the symbol. She had no clue what it was either, but judging by her eyes, she didn't think it was good. I didn't either.

  It could have meant rainbows and unicorns were about to take over the world and when it rained candy was going to fall down instead of raindrops, but it looked menacing to me. And the red glow radiating from it gave me the creeps.

  I moved closer to the symbol and slowly edged closer to touch it, but before I could, the glowing got more intense. It looked like it could have given me a third-degree burn, so I did the only rational thing there was to do. I backed up. I didn't have time to hit up the burn unit at the local hospital.

  Whipping my head around, I saw that Agnes had made her grand exit and hadn’t bothered to let me know. Snapping my fingers, the flame disappeared. Slipping the candle back in my purse, I climbed down the ladder and was out the door in record time.

  “Agnes!” I called, forgetting that she couldn't talk. Running to where we parked the car, I saw it was gone. Agnes left me stranded. For all, she knew something could have crawled out of the eye and killed me, but apparently, she didn't care. I was disposable to her. That was good to know.

  She was officially my least favorite sister. No, I take that she had landed her
self the spot of my least favorite family member.

  Our house was on the complete other side of Cat's Cradle and of course, I was wearing heels, so walking was completely out of the question. As I was thinking of a way to get home, I heard someone call my name.

  Looking over my shoulder, I saw the last person I expected to see. Allison Talbot.

  She was standing there with her with the same "I'm better than you" expression on her face and that hand that was always on her slender hip like it had been superglued there. Rubbing my eyes, I wanted to make sure she wasn't just a figment of my imagination. Looking at her again, I saw that she was wearing the same outfit she had on the day she was murdered.

  I’m sure my face looked like I had just seen a ghost because I had just seen a ghost.

  Literally.

  12

  Speechless. It wasn't a word anyone would ever use to describe a lawyer, but that's how I would describe myself at that moment. The words were sitting on the tip of my tongue just waiting to be said. The more I tried, the more frazzled I got.

  As a witch, I had seen a lot of things, but never a ghost.

  Werewolves? Sure. Banshees? All the time. Vampires? Sadie dated one. Ghosts were like the unicorn of the paranormal world.

  “What’s the matter, ‘Calamity’ Malady, cat got your tongue?” she asked, cackling with laughter.

  Witches were supposed to cackle, but that girl was a witch at heart, and I don’t mean the good kind. She was the absolute worst, and that was on a good day.

  “Y-you’re d-dead. How are you here right now?” I stuttered, causing her to laugh harder.

  The only way I could describe Allison's personality or lack thereof was that she was a mix between Regina George and the wicked witch of the West. She was a horrible person with great hair. Really great hair.