Holly walked with me back to my delivery van. I opened the back doors to get a box to put the globe inside but stopped short, cringing at the pile of unwrapped gifts waiting for me. “You wouldn’t happen to have a gift-wrapping spell, would you? I ran out of time yesterday and ended up stashing everything down here.”
She laughed and waved a hand, sending the boxes to one orderly stack on the other side of the van. I waited, eagerly anticipating her next spell, when she stopped and rolled up her sleeves. “Sadly, no. But I’m a fast wrapper. Hand me some tape and paper and let’s do this!”
Laughing, I found a box for the globe, tucked it inside with a sheet of spare tissue paper, and handed it to her. I pulled a roll of tape and bright green wrapping paper from one of the shopping bags and passed them over to her side of the van.
We worked side-by-side, wrapping the pile of gifts. I occasionally caught Holly out of the corner of my eye, using a twirl of her fingers to form a bow. She might not have a particular spell, but she couldn’t help adding a little magical flair. Within half an hour, the gifts were wrapped and packed into the large box I’d used to bring them down to the van in the first place. Holly flicked her hand, levitated the box, and sent it flying up the back stairs to land softly at the front door. “Save your back,” she said with a wink.
“You’re a lifesaver, Holly.”
“My pleasure.”
“Wait right here,” I told her, holding up a finger. I dashed inside the back door of my flower shop and grabbed one of the few remaining potted poinsettias from the front counter. I quickly—though without magic—tied a bow to the front and rushed it out to present to Holly. “Just make sure Boots doesn’t start munching on it. Pretty sure poinsettias are bad for cats, magical or not.”
Holly laughed and promised me she would keep it from the tubby tabby cat that served as her familiar, and then gave me a quick embrace. “Have a Merry Christmas, Scarlet.”
I smiled. “Merry Christmas, Holly.”
Hayward and Gwen were alone in the shop when I went downstairs after stashing the presents. I hung the delivery van keys up on their rightful peg and walked in on them sharing a sweet kiss under the mistletoe I’d hung in the front window display. Silently, I tiptoed back into the shadows, smiling to myself as I caught sight of the sparkling necklace resting against Gwen’s chest.
“Merry Christmas, Hayward,” I whispered and then slipped up the back stairs to return to my bed.
THE END
A Witch’s Best Friend: A Beechwood Harbor Short Story
Introduction
Holly and her friends have a bad case of senioritis as they enter the final week before graduation. When a classmate throws one final hurrah, she tip-toes into the night to attend.
But with a legendary monster lurking on the school grounds, she’ll soon find out that she would have been better off staying in bed.
Note from Danielle:
A Witch’s Best Friend is a short story that tells the tale (or, should I say tail?) of how Holly and Boots met.
As you know, Boots and Holly are inseparable, but there was a time when Holly didn’t have her forever fur ball at her side. This story is set before the events of any of the books and send you into Holly’s final week at magic academy.
A Witch’s Best Friend
What do you think you’re doing?”
The harsh whisper lashed out at me and I froze in place, my heart surging into a triple-time rhythm. It took a second for my brain to register who the voice belonged to, and I slowly turned to find my friend, Beverly King, peeking out at me from the doorway of our shared dormitory suite. The breath I’d sucked in left in a silent whoosh. “Bev! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
She crossed her arms and gave me a hard stare. “Are you trying to get expelled less than a week before graduation?”
I smiled. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“No.” Her scowl deepened. “I don’t.”
My carefree grin fell and I sighed. “I’ll be fine, Bev. Go back to sleep.”
“Where are you going?” she demanded, not budging an inch.
“Out,” I replied, tension pulling the word taunt. Bev was one of the first friends I’d made at school, but we hadn’t bonded because of similar personalities. We were pretty much oil-and-water in our approach to life. She was cautious and analytical about everything. The type who has to see the stones along the bottom of the river bed before considering dipping in so much as a toe. Whereas I had a tendency to Tarzan-style jump into the deep.
“Holly,” she exhaled, dropping her arms. “Please, don’t do this. Some party isn’t worth getting into trouble.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “If you knew about the party, then why are you giving me the third degree?”
“Because I can’t believe you’re actually crazy enough to try and sneak into the boy’s dorms in the middle of the night.”
“I’m not planning on getting caught,” I said with a shrug. I started walking again, turning to call over my shoulder, “If you think I need a babysitter, you’re welcome to tag along. You might even have fun.”
A dramatic sigh was followed by a hurried set of footsteps. “Fine! But only because you need someone to watch your back.”
“Right.” I grinned. Bev was a stick in the mud, but she was still a seventeen-year-old girl who was curious about what might be going on in the boy’s dorms on the other side of the sprawling property of Stars Academy, a school for young magic wielders. The student population was mostly made up of witches and wizards, but there were also a few shapeshifters, telepaths, and high-level fairies in attendance.
The girl’s dormitories were on the other end of the acreage from the boys, a good twenty-minute walk. This time of year, the weather was mild enough that all I needed was a lightweight jacket over my black shift dress to keep warm. I’d also put on a pair of thick tights before sneaking out of the dorms. A pair of red high heels dangled from the fingertips of my left hand so I wouldn’t make click-clack sounds as I sneaked away. I’d slip them on right before going inside.
The first time I’d tiptoed into the night to attend a party, I’d been filled with anxiety and fear. I’d peeked over my shoulder every few steps, ensuring I hadn’t been followed. Now, it was second nature. The last party was right before winter break and I’d barely bothered to cover the tracks I left in the snow.
A sense of melancholy hung over me. As excited as I was to get to the party, I couldn’t fully shake off the realization that it would be the last one. The weeks leading up to it had been grueling and exhausting, filled with back-to-back final assessments and tests as members of the graduating class worked to earn acceptance into a myriad of apprenticeships. It left us all needing a night to blow off some steam, but it was bigger than that, too. It was a final hurrah. A farewell. Within the next four days, we would all depart the school and never look back as we embarked on our new lives.
Whatever that meant.
We reached the end of the hall and I held open the door for Bev. “Last chance to turn back.”
Her jaw set with determination and she took a defiant step outside.
“I always knew you had a rebellious side,” I teased, following her.
An unseasonably warm wind kicked up as we began our walk across the grounds. My auburn hair was pulled back in a braid that hung to my waist, but a few flyaway strands fluttered in the breeze. The grass was thick and felt like a lush carpet under my stocking-clad feet. Bev was still wearing what she’d worn during the assembly earlier that afternoon; a pair of dark jeans, green sweater, and black ballet-flats. Her blonde hair was cut just above her shoulders and she had the top section twisted back, away from her face and held in a tortoise-shell clasp. She didn’t look ready for a party, so much as a jam session at the library.
“Are you wearing a tank top under your sweater?” I asked her.
“A camisole. Why?”
“Well, I was just thinking you m
ight want to ditch the sweater. There’s going to be a lot of people in a small amount of space. You’ll get hot. Besides that, a tank would look more … I don’t know, fun.”
She raised her thin eyebrows but after a few more yards, she squirmed out of the sweater. “Better?”
I nodded. “Much.”
Bev smiled and then raked her fingers through her hair, smoothing down the stands blowing in the breeze. “Who’s going to be at this thing?”
My stomach swooped. I knew one person would be there, and as far as I was concerned, he was all that mattered to me.
I started to answer her when something moved in the bushes beside the path we were taking and we both went stiff. Magic pulsed at my fingertips, charged with the anxiety that raced along every nerve ending. Bev looked ready to bolt. “Easy,” I whispered to her as I took a tentative step toward the movement. My mind was trying to convince the rest of me that it was probably Tricia—also known as Tricia the tattler—one of our other roommates. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’d attempted to follow me on a midnight escapade.
“Tricia? Is that you?” I said, keeping my voice from shaking.
The bushes rustled in response.
Then, a low growl.
Bev yelped. “It’s the snareback!”
“It can’t be,” I replied, hoping I was right. There’d been word of a snareback lizard being loose on the grounds for the last few weeks. A sighting here or there. No other proof. Snarebacks were a supernaturally enhanced crossbreed that were something between an iguana and a feathered dinosaur. Throw in a little magic and it was a really nasty little sucker. Razor-sharp teeth and talons, hard-muscled body, and a rope-like tail that it used to lure and then trap prey.
Most people were saying it was a hoax—that a snareback couldn’t possibly have found its way to Stars—but that growl had me thinking maybe there was more than a sprinkle of truth to the tall tales making the rounds.
A split second later, a huge animal barreled from under the brush and lunged at us. Bev’s yelp turned into a full-throated scream and the magic in my fingertips slammed harder, begging and straining to be let loose. A spell twisted together in my mind, but I stopped short when the animal let out another growl. It wasn’t the roar of a snareback lizard.
It was a cat.
Granted, it wasn’t just any cat. No, this was a huge cat. It had to be pushing twenty pounds.
But still … a cat nonetheless.
Bev’s cry cut off in a strangled sputter.
“That was anti-climactic,” I quipped.
The cat, still arched, was orange with white stripes, and a pair of huge, amber eyes glowed as it perused us.
“Must be a stray,” I added.
It growled again, but didn’t move closer toward us.
“A big, mean tom cat!” Bev said.
“Maybe it’s got a litter of kittens back there,” I said, pointing past the cat. It very clearly didn’t want us going anywhere near that part of the wooded area. I took a few measured steps backward and the cat lowered its hackles. “Come on. Let’s go,” I said, tugging at Bev’s elbow.
She concurred with a nod but continued watching over her shoulder as we took a few steps away.
“We’re almost there,” I told her, my own pace ticking up a notch. I turned to glance back and the cat was gone. “That was so weird.”
“Do you think it works for the school somehow? What if it was a professor? Are there any tabby-cat shifters?” Bev asked, her voice nervous and flighty.
“If it were a professor, they would have busted us. It was probably just a stray, like I said. Lets’ just forget about it.”
We arrived at the dormitory a few minutes later. Bev shot me a confused look when I bypassed the front doors and veered off the paved pathway and walked along the side of the large building. Silently, I bobbed a finger through the air, counting the windows. “That one,” I said, pointing at the sixth one in from the front.
We stopped at the window I’d indicated, pausing only long enough for me to slip my high heels on. I caught Bev fussing with her hair out of the corner of my eye and smiled. “Ready?”
She licked her lips and then nodded. “I think so.”
I murmured a spell and tapped on the glass. A green circle appeared on the pane, spreading until a blossoming lotus appeared. When the colors faded, the window slid open and a ladder dropped down alongside the building. “So cool!” I marveled, hauling myself up and over the ledge. Although the room was on the first floor of the building, the window was a few feet off the ground. The ladder wasn’t necessary, but it made things easier. Especially while in heels.
The inside of the room was at stark odds with the peaceful quiet of the early summer evening. Loud music blared, and neon lights flashed in accordance with the bass. The suite was a cookie-cutter copy of our own room. Same layout, same paint on the walls, same furniture. We’d entered into the main room; a couple of couches sat opposite one another with a large glass coffee table in between. There was kitchenette arranged at the opposite end with a round dining table adjacent. A pair of study nooks framed the door to the bathroom. Three bedrooms branched off the nuclear space, each set up with two twin size beds.
The room was wall-to-wall with students, some dancing, some noshing on the assorted foods spread across the dining table. A series of punch bowls, each one bearing a different-colored liquid, formed a line on the kitchen counter. There weren’t any labels, but if I had to guess, all of them would be laced with alcohol. The coffee table had a few open pizza boxes, but it looked pretty well picked over. That was fine with me. I hadn’t come to eat.
Bev appeared beside me and adjusted her tank top with a self-conscious glance around the room. “Whoa. I wasn’t expecting so many people,” she said, barely loud enough for me to hear her over the music. “How is this even possible?”
Leaning past her, I pulled the ladder in and the window snapped closed. The spell would automatically reset until the next partygoer came with the password. “They put some kind of soundproofing spell on the door to the hall and the windows. You also can’t see inside from out there.” I tapped on the glass for emphasis. The view was unobstructed. “Almost like a two-way mirror. You saw for yourself that you can’t see any of these flashing lights from the outside.”
“Impressive,” Bev replied. “Should we get something to drink? Or eat?”
“Go ahead,” I told her, my attention drifting away.
“You want anything?”
I shook my head as I scanned the crowd. “I’m good. You go ahead. Have fun.”
Bev hesitated, but after a moment, she got the hint and wandered off. There were far more people in attendance than I’d expected, and within a minute, she was chatting with Toby Lars, one of the hosts of the soiree. A few more people arrived at the window and I had to sidestep to get out of their way, immediately returning to my search from my new vantage point. My heart started to sink but quickly buoyed back to the surface when a warm hand took my arm.
“You’re late,” a smooth voice purred into my ear, sending shivers dancing over every taut nerve.
A smile spread over my face and I turned, finding myself staring up into the eyes of Gabriel Willows. “You came!”
“Of course I did.” He flashed a half-cocked grin. “You want something to drink?”
Heat crept up my throat and I suddenly wasn’t sure what to say. All I wanted to do was get lost in his eyes and spend the night wandering under the stars. Slowly, I shook my head. “I think we should get out of here. Let’s go for a walk.”
His eyes flashed and without a word, he took my hand and led me back to the window I’d climbed in only minutes before. Across the room, Bev looked up, her brows knitted together. I mouthed it’s fine and slipped out the window behind Gabriel.
The night swallowed us up. We wandered aimlessly through the woods surrounding the campus. A warded fence was in place at the very perimeters, but there was still plenty of wooded area t
o traverse. We talked about school ending, my new apprenticeship, as well as his. We ended up entertained together, under the branches of a willow tree, kissing in the dappled moonlight.
“Gabriel,” I murmured, resting my head on his chest as he held me. “There’s something I want to tell you before we graduate and life goes crazy.”
“Okay?”
I met his eyes, normally blue and bright, but they appeared almost black in the low light. “I’ve fallen—”
For the second time that night, a growl interrupted me.
Gabriel jerked away from me at the sound. “What was that?”
From between two thick trees, the orange cat once again made an appearance. “Seriously?” I groaned, glaring at the cat.
“He with you?” Gabriel asked, scowling.
“Hardly.”
The cat bared its teeth as it crept closer, hunched low to the ground with its amber eyes fixed on Gabriel.
“Psst, psst,” I hissed, waving my hands at it. “Go away!”
The cat refused to move. His bushy, bottle-brush tail flicked violently as another low growl vibrated from him.
“Here kitty, kitty.” Gabriel stooped over and extended a hand to the cat.
It swiped at his hand and from the string of words that left Gabriel’s mouth, it connected.
Gabriel kicked out a foot and the cat lunged for it, hissing and swatting.
It wasn’t the lazy, get-away-from-me-I’m-napping kind of hiss that my Aunt Bethany’s cat Mage usually made either. This was full-on hellcat with its tail caught in a doorjamb.
The howl sent chills up my arms and down my back. Gabriel jumped back, a grimace on his face. “Come on, Holly. Let’s go back to my dorm. My roommates are at the party.”
He took my hand and shuffled away from the angry cat.
That was all it took.
The cat lunged, claws extended, going right for Gabriel’s legs. “Go!” I shouted above the growls and hisses. A ball of blue light pooled in my palms and I threw it toward the cat. A stunning spell, nothing that would cause permanent damage.
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