No Crones About It

  “And you’re sure Raisin is okay?”

  “She’s fine. She sat next to you in the clearing while we waited for my father to arrive. I wanted to take you to the hospital, but everyone talked me out of it.”

  “That was probably smart. There’s nothing they could’ve done for me. I was magically drained, and that’s not something they’re trained to deal with.”

  “I get that, but ... you looked so vulnerable.” His hands attacked the tight muscles in my back, causing me to groan. “Eventually I agreed to bring you home. Whistler sat with you and cleaned the cabin until I could get back. I hated being away from you, but I’m really glad it was him because he’s a neat freak. I believe he also had a talk with Merlin about his toilet paper fetish.”

  I laughed at the visual. “I’m sorry I missed that.”

  “Yeah.” He exhaled heavily and rested his chin on my forehead. “Flint said they knew that Nexus cast a curse on them. They’d been searching for years to find someone who could lift the spell ... and came up empty.”

  “Are they the ones who killed the people watching me throughout my childhood?”

  “Flint says no.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I ... don’t know. Flint said they were aware of the bodies that were dropped throughout the years but didn’t realize it had anything to do with you. They were following someone else who happened to be in the same locations with you. A woman.”

  I jerked up my head. “What woman?”

  “All he knew was that her name was Claudette.”

  There was that name again. “So Claudette was in the same locations I was. They were following her and bodies dropped in each location. That can’t be a coincidence. They had to be responsible.”

  “I tend to agree, but Flint denied it. Given what was happening at the time, I’m not sure what he gained by lying.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense otherwise.”

  “Unless we’re still missing a piece of the puzzle, which is entirely possible. Flint said they modeled George’s death on the other bodies because they thought it would help them get away with it. They threatened George to remove the spell, but he either couldn’t or wouldn’t, and they killed him in a rage.

  “They had one of the witches in the pack cast a spell to keep him awake for the torture. It was a terrible death,” he continued. “They used your name because they thought it would distract me, which was their ultimate goal. Flint swore up and down that he had no idea you were affiliated with Nexus as it was going down. I tend to believe him because he misunderstood what we said to him and swore he was going to torture you to remove the curse.”

  “He was nothing if not predictable,” I muttered.

  “I don’t know that he’s lying in this particular instance. We need more information. Drake is hanging around, so he might be able to provide some answers. We also have a name — Claudette — which is more than we had a week ago. I know it doesn’t feel like much, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “It definitely doesn’t feel like much,” I agreed, pursing my lips. “I thought we would get more answers out of all this. It felt like we were close.”

  “We still might get answers.”

  “Not with Cyrus gone.”

  “I admit that’s a blow. I thought he was telling the truth. I should’ve insisted my father put a guard on him. But at the time we assumed Drake was guilty.”

  “Because Cyrus told us he was.”

  “He was also technically guilty.”

  That was true. “I can’t help looking at it as a disappointment,” I admitted as I rubbed my forehead. “I wanted answers.”

  “You’ll get them. I promise. I’ll be there with you when it happens. What we really need to do is write all of this down and go through it from beginning to end. I’m not suggesting we do that today, but once you’re feeling better we’ll find a new angle. I guarantee we’re not done here.”

  I was thankful for his enthusiasm, even if I couldn’t join in. Instead of prolonging the conversation, I rolled to look at his face … and caught sight of something plush out of the corner of my eye. When I focused on it, I realized it was a stuffed wolf, one that reminded me of the one I coveted as a child.

  “What’s that?”

  Gunner grinned when he saw where my eyes went. “That’s your first toy. I bought it for you yesterday. It’s a get-well gift.”

  I didn’t know what to say. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Sometimes it’s not about ‘have to’ as much as ‘want to’ and I wanted to get you something. Besides, now you’ll have that to sleep with every night. You can name it Gunner Jr.”

  I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing. “I see.” I ran my hand over the wolf’s soft head. “Thank you.”

  He hugged me tight. “You’re welcome.”

  For the next few minutes, we eased into comfortable silence. I was the first to break it. “What do think we should do with our day? I mean ... we can’t grill Drake for information and Cyrus is gone. It seems we have an open day with nothing to do.”

  A sly smile spread over his face. “I’m glad you asked, because I have a few ideas.” He edged lower on the bed so he was staring directly into my eyes.

  “I bet I can guess what those ideas consist of.”

  “I bet you can, too. I thought we would start with breakfast. I can cook — Whistler filled your refrigerator with every sort of food you could possibly want — and then we’ll eat in bed. Then we’ll watch some television and wrestle.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Wrestle? Is that what we’re calling it?”

  “For now. Then we’ll have lunch in bed and repeat the process throughout the entire day. This is after you shower and brush your teeth, of course. Oh ... and shave your legs. We can’t have leg stubble in this bed.”

  I laughed despite myself at his reaction. “And that’s what you want to do with your entire day?”

  He nodded. “As long as we spend it together, I honestly don’t care what we do. I think that’s a marvelous idea, though. I don’t know how you could possibly argue with it.”

  That made two of us. “I want pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Like, a big pile of bacon.”

  Merlin perked up and meowed.

  “I think the entire family wants bacon,” Gunner agreed, leaning forward and resting his forehead against mine. “I want something else, too, but you won’t allow it until you brush your teeth. By the way, I’m going to break you of that habit.”

  “You wouldn’t be the first to try. They all failed.”

  “Yes, but I’m special.”

  Ah, another thing we agreed upon. “You can try. It’ll be harder than you imagine.”

  “I happen to love a challenge.”

  “Then we’ll get along fine.”

  “I already knew that.”

  We both did, which only proved that we were in for a magical adventure – and I was looking forward to it.

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  About the Author

  I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my novels. I have a particular brand of humor that isn’t for everyone – and I know that.

  If you liked the book, please take a few minutes and leave a review. An independent author does it all on their own, and the reviews are helpful. I understand that my characters aren’t for everyone, though. There’s a lot of snark and sarcasm in my world – and I know some people don’t like that.

  Special thanks go out to Heidi Bitsoli and Phil VanHulle for correcting the (numerous) errors that creep into a work of fiction.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the auth
or’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  An Avery Shaw Mystery

  Who, What, Where, When, Die

  If it Bleeds, it Leads

  Buried Leads

  Shot Off The Presses

  The Preditorial Page

  Misquoted & Demoted

  Headlines & Deadlines

  Misprints & Mistakes

  Bylines & Skylines

  Off the Record

  Unwritten & Underwater

  Extra! Extra! Dead All About It

  On Deadline & Under Fire

  Above the Fold & Below the Belt

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery

  Any Witch Way You Can

  Every Witch Way But Wicked

  Witching You Were Here

  Witching on a Star

  Something to Witch About

  Witch Me Luck

  Life’s a Witch

  Charms & Witchdemeanors

  The Trouble With Witches

  Murder Most Witchy

  A Witch Before Dying

  A Breath of Witchy Air

  Witch, Interrupted

  Flip the Witch Switch

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short

  Careful What You Witch For

  Wicked Brew

  On a Witch and a Prayer

  You Only Witch Once

  The Christmas Witch

  Bewitched

  A Solstice Celebration

  Witchdependence Day

  Happy Witchgiving

  Merry Witchmas

  Four-Leaf Clover

  Thistle While You Work

  Landon Calling

  I Dream of Twila

  How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Fantasy

  Witchy Tales

  A Witch In Time

  Make A Witch

  A Witchmas Carol

  All My Witches

  Close Encounters of the Witchy Kind

  An Aisling Grimlock Mystery

  Grim Tidings

  Grim Offerings

  Grim Discovery

  Grim Reunion

  Grim Expectations

  Grim Holiday

  Grim Rising

  Grim Tempest

  Grim Vows

  Grimlock Family Shorts

  Grim Like Me

  Grim & The City

  Now & Grim

  Grim & Bear It

  Grim & The Dead

  Death Gate Grim Reapers

  Only the Lonely

  Only the Quiet

  A Mystic Caravan Mystery

  Freaky Days

  Freaky Lies

  Freaky Hearts

  Freaky Games

  Freaky Places

  Freaky Rites

  Freaky Witches

  A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery

  The Bigfoot Blunder

  The Chupacabra Catastrophe

  The Werewolf Whoops

  The Megalodon Mix-Up

  The Undead Uproar

  A Moonstone Bay Cozy Mystery

  Witchin’ USA

  Witch Out of Water

  Freaky Deaky Tiki

  To Spell With It

  A Spell’s Angels Cozy Mystery

  Bad to the Crone

  Covenant College

  Awakening

  Whispering

  Conjuring

  Waxing & Waning

  Graduating

  Living Covenant Trilogy

  Rising Covenant

  Dark Covenant

  Eternal Covenant

  Dying Covenant Trilogy

  Haunted Covenant

  Desperate Covenant

  Everlasting Covenant

  2019 Shorts

  Wolf on the Job

  Luke on the Loose

  Cupid in Crisis

  Millie on a Mission

  Elemental Witches of Eternal Springs

  Bat Out Of Spell

  Spell on Earth

  Hotter Than Spell

  Spell or High Water