How to Date a Witch

by Rose Pressey

  “Who are you?” he called out.

  “We just want to ask you about witches,” I screamed.

  “Did you bring me a gift?” he asked.

  I exchanged a look with Nana and my mother. They were still slumped down in the seat.

  “I don’t know you. Why would I bring a gift?”

  “Why would you go to a person’s house without a gift? Don’t come back without a gift. Now get out of here.” He waved the gun.

  “In hindsight, I should have known he would want a gift,” Nana said.

  Now she told me. Before he shot again, I backed the car out of the driveway, squealing the tires and kicking up dirt in our wake.

  “What is that crazy man talking about?” I punched the gas.

  “Apparently we should have known better than to go there without a gift,” Nana said.

  “What the hell kind of gift does he want?”

  “I guess we’ll go to the nearest store and find something,” my mother said. “I saw one in town.”

  “But we don’t even know what he wants.” I glanced in the rear-view mirror to make sure by some crazy chance he wasn’t following us.

  “We could get him a tie,” my mother said.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “He didn’t look like he wants a tie. He didn’t have a shirt on,” I said. “Unless he wants to strangle someone with the tie. He might like that. I refuse to buy the murder weapon he would potentially use on us.”

  “He probably just got out of the shower,” my mother offered.

  I shook my head. “Regardless, we’re not going to buy a tie.”

  Sure, I was being a bit snippy, but I’d been shot at. My stress was kind of understandable under the circumstances. We finally reached the Walmart and went inside. The overhead lights seemed brighter than unusual. The beeping from the cash register seemed overwhelmingly loud. I was having a panic attack. I tried to slow my breathing so that I didn’t pass out in the middle of aisle two.

  “Where do we start?” I asked.

  “Just go to every department and grab something,” my mother said.

  “I can’t do that. I don’t have that much money.”

  “Let’s just buy him food. Men like food,” Nana said.

  We gathered up potato chips, beef jerky, and cupcakes—a lot of junk—and then headed back toward the house again. I couldn’t believe that I was actually going back. I should probably stay far away, but I was kind of desperate for answers. When we pulled into the driveway, the man immediately appeared at the front door.

  “We brought gifts,” I screamed out the window.

  I wanted to catch him before he shot at us again. He stared for a moment and then waved for me to come closer. I hoped that he was being truthful and that the gifts would work. I clutched the steering wheel with a death grip and then pushed down on the gas pedal.

  “Here goes,” I said.

  “We should have called all the werewolves to come here with us,” my mother said.

  “That would just make things worse,” Nana said.

  When we were in front of the man’s house, I lifted the bags so that he could see that I was being truthful about bringing gifts.

  “Stay in the car until it’s safe,” I instructed Nana and my mother.

  “Be careful, Rylie,” my mother said.

  I opened the door and inched out toward the front porch with an armful of plastic bags.

  “Hand it over,” he said as I got near.

  I placed the bags on the porch. He used his rifle to move the bags slightly so he could see the contents.

  He met my stare. “All right, you can come in and bring the bags.”

  Couldn’t he carry his own bags? I gathered them up anyway. I wasn’t going to put up with much more out of this guy, gun or no gun. I was a werewolf. I could take care of myself.

  The inside of his place was dark and dusty, but otherwise fairly neat and orderly. I hoped he wasn’t a serial killer. He did have dead animals mounted on the walls. His hunting trophies. I didn’t want to be his next trophy. He pointed to the chairs around the dining table. They seemed rickety, but I sat down anyway, hoping mine wouldn’t break. Nana and my mother followed my lead and sat down. They should have stayed in the car. I didn’t trust this guy. What had Nana said was this guy’s name? Oh, yeah, Roger Newsome.

  “You said you’re here about witches?” he asked and then took a bite of a cupcake.

  “Yes, Mr. Newsome, I have some questions about a witch. She has green glowing eyes.”

  He shook his head.

  “What does that mean?”

  “She’s a powerful witch. I wouldn’t mess with her if I were you.” He licked the frosting off his fingers, making a loud sucking noise.

  I already knew that much.

  “She’s been following me. I haven’t done anything to her.”

  “That you’re aware of,” he said.

  “Well, how can I find her to get her to leave me alone? I need to know her name.”

  “I might know where she is,” he said.

  “Great. I need that information,” I said.

  “Sorry, I can’t give that to you. I don’t know you. When you bring me another gift it will have to be more than junk food,” He narrowed his eyes and glared at me.

  Okay, that was totally uncalled for.

  “What do you want? Can I give you cash?”

  “You’ll figure it out. Now it’s time for you to go.” He pushed to his feet while waving his hands, shooing us away.

  “What do you mean? You have to tell me what to bring. I don’t know you,” I said as I rushed toward the door.

  “Again I repeat, you’ll figure it out. Now it’s time to get out of my house.” He opened the door and gestured.

  His eyes were narrowed. A deep line creased his brow. The glare he shot my way let me know he was serious. I didn’t want to jeopardize getting more information from him, so I motioned for us to leave. Mother and Nana hurried out to the car in front of me. We rushed in and locked the doors. I didn’t even take the time to buckle up. There would be time for that once I was safely off his property.

  “He’s a crazy man, Nana. Why did you bring us to a crazy man?” I backed out of the driveway with the man standing on the porch, watching to make sure that we left.

  “I didn’t know he was that nutso,” she said.

  “Now what?” Mother blew the hair out of her eyes. “He’s lucky I kept my cool and didn’t shift.”

  “I guess we’ll have to figure out exactly what he wants. That seems impossible since we don’t know him. And it’s best that we don’t shift right now. We need information from him.”

  Nana patted my hand. “We’ll figure out something, dear, don’t worry.”

  After calming down while listening to Nana and my mother sing on the ride home, I dropped Nana off at her place, then my mother, and headed for home.

  Chapter 11

  How to Date a Witch Rule #11

  Don’t ask if she cast a love spell

  Keeping a secret from my mother or Nana was tough, but that was exactly what I intended to do. I was headed back to the witch shop for advice on what Roger Newsome wanted as a gift. Then I’d go back to his house. Or better yet, the witch at the shop could just tell me where I could find the witch with the glowing eyes. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of that in the first place. But I digressed. She hadn’t offered to tell me the first time I’d been in her shop. What made me think she would this time?

  The sky looked like a blue canvas with white cotton balls glued on for a kid’s art project. Perfect weather to take a walk and relax. With the witch after me though, that wasn’t something I had the luxury of doing. So instead I rushed down the sidewalk toward the shop.

  That undeniable feeling that someone was following me wouldn’t leave me alone. This time when the feeling came over me, at first, I assumed it was the witch, but when I glanced back, no witch was in sight. When I kept seeing the same man trailing me like
a shadow, I knew it was him causing my trepidation. What was this creep up to? He was definitely making me angry. Who cared if he was good-looking with dark hair and a muscular physique? Ted Bundy had been good-looking as far as some people were concerned. Look how that had turned out.

  One thing was for certain, the fact that he was following me and making me angry was setting off my werewolf senses. Before long I would change right there on the sidewalk. Everyone would see me. That would be slightly embarrassing, so I had to figure out a place where I could change safely and get away from this guy. He did not want to encounter me as a werewolf. I would definitely give him a smackdown.

  Up ahead was the graveyard. I figured since there weren’t any tours at this time of day, I could slip in and go unnoticed. I’d find a good secluded spot where I could change. If the guy found me, he’d get a piece of me, and not in a good way.

  When I glanced back, he was definitely still behind me. He tried to act as if he wasn’t shadowing me by looking at shops and people, but I knew differently. I turned left, disappearing behind the cemetery’s gates, and headed straight down the middle path. Next I made a quick left over to the section on my right. The graves over there weren’t visited as much as ones like Marie LaVeau’s.

  I made it to the spot. This was the place where I’d hidden from werewolves in the past. Yes, I had a history with hiding in this labyrinth of the dead. The large grave was perfect to hide behind. As soon as I got back there, I started stripping off clothing. Yes, this was definitely a strange part of shifting, but it had to be done. There was no way I would get my new Chanel blouse dirty. I just hoped that no one came back and saw me naked. Having no clothes on would definitely draw attention to myself—I didn’t need that. Plus, the fact that some strange man was following me made it worse. If he saw me taking off my clothes he might think that was an invitation to come on over. Would he ever be sorry for that thought.

  My skin prickled along my arms and tiny hairs started to sprout. I knew that my eyes were changing because I always felt it when it happened. My skin grew hotter and the next thing I knew I was completely covered with hair. Not exactly the most attractive thing, but I’d grown used to it by now.

  I peeked around the side of the tomb. So far, there was not a single soul in sight, not even one of the ghosts who haunted the graveyard. I inched out from the crypt and looked down the aisles to see if the guy had followed me. Obviously he had decided to move along. That was a wise decision on his part. Now that I had changed I would no longer have that wild itch coursing through my veins. I’d calm down and I could proceed on with my day.

  I returned behind the vault to retrieve my clothing. Thank goodness it was still located on the ground, folded nicely just as I’d left it. That was always a fear that some animal would carry it away. I released a few deep breaths, trying to calm down even more. Now that the hair had slowly started to disappear from my skin, I was once again becoming my normal Rylie Cruz self. Changing into a werewolf wasn’t so bad, but I much preferred my hairless look. The only hair I wanted was the dark hair on top of my head. Oh, and eyebrows. I definitely needed those.

  I slipped back into my clothing, grabbed my bag, and headed out of the graveyard as if nothing had happened. I looked like every other person strolling down the sidewalk. The guy and witch were nowhere in sight. Yes, this was going to turn out to be an okay day after all. It was amazing what allowing myself to shift did for my mood. Sometimes I just needed to learn not to fight it.

  Finally, I reached the witch shop. It had taken extra long with my detour through the graveyard. When I entered, the shop owner was standing by the counter, staring at me as if she had expected me to show up earlier. She didn’t speak at first, which made the silence even more awkward. Did I have a remainder of hair on my face or something from the shift? It was like the time I’d eaten tacos and had cheese all over my face. No one had told me for like an hour.

  When I was standing in front of her, she had no choice but to acknowledge that I was actually there.

  “May I help you?” she asked with a curt tone.

  “Actually, yes, you may. I came back to ask you some questions.”

  She nodded. “What are your questions?”

  “I want to find out more about the witch with glowing green eyes.”

  She started sorting through papers on the counter. “I don’t know anything about her.”

  I knew where this was going, and it wasn’t going in my favor. I might as well just ask her the other question and get out of there.

  “Well, I have another witch. He wants me to bring him a gift in order to give me some information that I need.” I smiled smugly so that she would know I had other means of finding the glowing-eyed witch. “Anyway, can you give me any idea what he might like from your shop?”

  “I can give you some herbs and spices. He might like a cauldron to use for his spells if you really want to spend money.”

  “I don’t think I can carry a cauldron all the way there. It would be too heavy. I’ll just go with the herbs and spices. Please toss in anything else good you can.”

  She wandered around the shop, gathering up items. I followed along behind her. She glanced back several times as if I was annoying her. With her arms full, she went back to the counter and then rang up the items and placed them in a bag.

  “Your total is ninety-three dollars, fifty cents.”

  “Ninety-three dollars? Seriously?”

  She stared. “They’re good quality.”

  I handed her my credit card and then took the bag. What a ripoff.

  “Enjoy,” she said with a smirk.

  After glaring at her for a couple seconds, I headed for the door with my ninety-three-dollar bag. This guy had better be worth it.

  With the gift in hand, I headed back home. I thought about going directly to the guy’s house again, but I figured I’d wait until the morning. If I showed up too late he would not be happy. Although in the dark I might be less of a target for his bullets. I still wasn’t telling my mother or Nana about the upcoming trip. I would do this on my own. I didn’t want to put them in any kind of stress.

  I rushed down the sidewalk toward my place so that I could relax and have a juicy steak dinner. It had been a while since I’d had a relaxing evening alone. Jennifer had a date and of course Jack had already left for New York City. After dinner, I watched television for a bit and then decided to turn in for the night with a good book.

  With the book still in my hands, I’d started to doze off when a noise right outside my window caught my attention. I sat bolt upright in bed, tossing the book in the air. A tingling sensation came over my skin. I jumped up, ran over to the window, and peered down into the alleyway below.

  People were down there fighting. After shoving the window open, I yelled down to them, but they didn’t acknowledge me. I ran to the front door, down the steps, and out of the building around to the alley. My skin still tingled and I figured if this tension kept up I would probably change soon. When I got around the side of the building, I saw that it was no longer two people fighting—one had shifted into a werewolf. The fact that the other one hadn’t turned meant that this person was not a werewolf. Once one werewolf shifted, then the other one soon followed.

  “What’s going on?” I yelled out.

  They continued to fight. I noticed the reddish hair of the werewolf and then I saw the gold necklace around her neck that read Lily. I should have known it was her. When I saw the face of the man she was fighting, I realized it was the guy who had been following me. This was bizarre. The guy managed to break free from her hold. Lily was freakishly strong and especially so when she was in werewolf form. I knew because I had fought with her on a number of occasions.

  The guy took off down the alley, running for his life. Lily chased after him for a while, but then she stopped. I guessed she was tired of playing his game.

  “And don’t come back!” she yelled.

  Lily strolled over to me with a smirk
on her face. A smirk was an interesting sight. She was already turning back into her human form. Lily never liked to stay in werewolf form long. She said that staying too long made her hair less shiny. I wasn’t sure that was the case, but if that was what she liked to believe, whatever.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked. “Why were you fighting with that guy?”

  “I saw the creep trying to peek into your window. He was climbing on that Dumpster. So I just attacked him. You can thank me now,” she said smugly, looking at me with her arms folded in front of her chest.

  Thanking Lily always left a bad taste in my mouth, but I supposed I did owe her that much.

  “Thank you, Lily.” I smacked my lips afterward to get rid of the bitter taste.

  She had potentially saved me, I supposed.

  “Say it nicer,” Lily said.

  “Don’t push your luck,” I said. “Exactly what was the guy doing?”

  “I told you. He was looking in your window like some sort of perv. Do you know the guy? If you’re dating him, I would seriously think twice about that.”

  “I’m not dating him. I’m dating Jack,” I said. “I don’t know who he is, but I saw him following me earlier.”

  “I should have known. If I find him again I’ll wring his neck.” Lily twisted her hands together.

  I’d had no idea Lily would be so protective of me. That was kind of odd, and strangely enough, kind of sweet. I never thought I’d say that about Lily. Sweet? What did she want?

  “What were you doing back here, Lily?” I asked.

  “Never mind that. Just be thankful that I was here to save your ass,” she said and then she stomped away.

  Chapter 12

  How to Date a Witch Rule #12

  Dead flowers are okay. She can actually use them for her spells

  The next morning, my mother was calling. It was almost as if she’d read my mind. I answered, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. I knew she would sense that I was up to something.