Prelude to a Witch, Amanda Lee [ebook reader web txt] 📗

I sat up straighter and peered into the shop window. Aunt Willa was a few feet from the door, conversing at the counter with Mrs. Little. “I don’t like that they’re chummy,” I admitted. “It makes me suspicious.”

“I’m suspicious of those two whether they’re working together or separately.” Landon moved his hand to the back of my neck and rubbed. “Go back to the shades. The guys in Salem did it to themselves because they probably thought they were going to get caught. This was a way for them to evade law enforcement. Where did our shades come from?”

Another question for which I had no answer. “It’s possible they’ve always been here and we simply never realized.”

“How could you guys not realize? You’re flitting around with magic all the time. It seems to me that you would’ve stumbled across them at some point, even if only by dumb luck.”

“I don’t know. They’re active now, and there must be a reason.”

“You think it’s the girls?”

“I don’t know. I wish I could be certain they didn’t remember anything. There must be a reason Paisley was the first victim.”

“Do you think the other girls are in danger?”

“It’s a definite possibility. We don’t know why Paisley was killed. Maybe Amelia is right and she hooked up with the wrong guy. Maybe none of them remember anything. Maybe this is all a coincidence.”

“You don’t believe in coincidence.”

“Some things are coincidence,” I argued. “This feels different.”

“What’s your next step?”

“Research.” That’s all we had to focus on. “Until I can figure out how these shades operate, where they came from and what they want, I don’t see we have much choice.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “Do you have the right books?”

“Maybe. I’ll get Clove and Thistle on it too. Clove can’t do much these days but research. Stormy’s great-grandmother was a bust. She can’t answer our questions because she’s separate from what’s going on.”

“The answers are there,” Landon insisted. “I think you’re blocking yourself from finding them because you’re so agitated.”

“I’m not agitated.”

“You’re blaming yourself for the girls acting like zombies. We have Brian Kelly running around threatening us. Say what you want — and there’s no sense denying it — but I know that you’re worried he’ll do something to get me in trouble at work.”

“I am worried about that,” I admitted. “He’s determined to pay us back. Oddly, he seems more focused on you than me.”

“I’m the one who threatened him. I warned him what would happen if he kept messing with you. He has ego issues. He’s an insecure man who pretends he’s secure. He wants people to believe he’s the king of all things, but he’s really a peasant selling potatoes.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Potatoes?”

He shrugged. “Or some other root vegetable he has to dig in the ground to harvest. He believes he’s bigger than he is, which means he needs people to believe that or his entire sense of self-worth goes down the drain.”

“Now who’s the shrink?” I teased.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about him since he returned. I don’t trust him.”

“Nobody trusts him. He’s a tool.”

“Well, he’s going to move ... and soon.”

“We need to get these shades under control so we can focus on him.”

“Definitely.” Landon inclined his head toward Aunt Tillie. “She’s on the move.”

I watched my great-aunt start across the street. I could now see the animal she had with her more clearly. “Is that ... ?”

“A wolverine.” Landon straightened and glanced around, seemingly dumbfounded. “Where did she get that thing?”

“Aren’t wolverines extinct in Michigan?”

“They were never actually prevalent here. I think the last wolverine sighted here was in 2004.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“I’m a genius. What I want to know even more is what she’s doing with that wolverine.”

I watched as Aunt Tillie crossed the street. She seemed to be conversing with the animal, which trotted along next to her as through trained. My mouth dropped open when she reached the sidewalk directly in front of the Unicorn Emporium. What had once been a wolverine broke into six smaller animals, and those animals were easily recognizable.

“Skunks.” I jumped off the bench and ran to the middle of the street. Landon chased me.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

Was he kidding? “Do you really think she’s not going to do something horrible with those skunks?”

He stood, his eyes moving between me and the skunks. He looked torn.

“If you go over there, she won’t stop whatever she has planned,” I warned. “I won’t be able to share a bed with you if you smell like skunk.”

“That’s cold. I can’t believe you’d banish me from our bed simply because I smell bad.”

“There’s bad and there’s skunk. I can’t deal with skunk. If it becomes a choice between sleep and you, I’m going with the sleep.” The words were barely out of my mouth before a barrage of wind slammed into me with enough force to lift me two feet off the ground. “What the ... ?”

I careened toward the pavement, an ugly collision in my future, when another burst of magic swooped in from the left and tossed me toward the grass in front of the police station.

I hit hard, the air forced from my lungs, and I rolled to my knees.

“Bay!” Landon, the skunks forgotten, raced in my direction. He looked panicked.

I wanted to soothe him, but I didn’t have time. I felt malevolence as I looked up at the police station window. The shades were all there, grouped together with their gray faces and demonic eyes, and they appeared excited.

Another invisible wave of magic caught me at the shoulder, slamming to the ground again, whispers rolling over me. The shades were excited enough that I could hear them, though their words remained a mystery.

“Bay!” Landon picked up his pace and put his head down. He was going to get to me even if it killed him.

I didn’t have time to think, so I forced myself to my