Karma's Shift (Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow Book 2), Lacey Andersen [amazing books to read txt] 📗

it felt like midnight… like I’d fought a jungle cat and the darn cat had won. Yesterday, I’d spent the rest of the night being questioned by the police until finally Daniel had chased them off to give me some peace and quiet so I could sleep.

Yeah, right. Like that had happened.

I’d barely slept a wink. Every creak or bump I heard was the killer coming back to get me or the ghost about to terrorize me and drag my soul to hell with it, because as callous as it may seem, I had no doubt that was where Roger was going to end up. It should’ve helped when I realized Daniel was positioned outside of my house in his truck, but it only added to my sense of unease. I went back and forth wondering whether or not to invite him to sleep inside or if that was inappropriate. I mean what if the killer did come back and attacked Daniel because he was there? I didn’t think I could handle that, but then I didn’t think I could have him sleeping on the couch either. Even though I went back and forth for hours, I ended up never inviting him in. There was some part of me that would have been too tempted to make a move on him if the big man had been in my house, which on top of everything else, would have been a disaster…

And then, this morning when I’d finally dragged ass out of bed, we’d been out of coffee.

Ugh! What a way to start the day. But, at least, not having coffee gave me an excuse to pick some up and head to Private Psych, Beth’s private detective business. I was almost in a decent mood until I sat down with my coffee, because the darn cat wouldn’t stop glaring at me like I was the one that murdered Roger. I knew that wasn’t what she was thinking, but Marble just had this way of making me feel like I was in her space. Which, I guess, I was.

“Enjoying the sunlight?” I asked the cat, who was lying in a patch of sunlight near the front door.

Marble’s glare seemed to deepen. “I was, until you got here.”

I snapped. “Oh, has it been so hard to sleep and eat all day?”

The cat began to lick its paw, stopping just long enough to say, “With whiny humans disturbing my relaxation. Yes, it has been hard.” She let out a small huff before going back to cleaning her paw.

Carol laughed, seeming to enjoy the banter as well as the coffee I picked up for her while I was on my way over. My promise of coffee had talked her into taking a short break from Yarns and Yards. If Deva had been there as well it would have been perfect, but morning was the busiest time of day for her business. Carol sighed and said, “You’re never going to have a pleasant conversation with Marble. She hates everyone, except for Beth.”

“Beth feeds me,” Marble muttered, still licking herself.

I looked at Beth, who was grinning over the top of her own coffee. We were all a bunch of caffeine and sugar addicts, and I didn’t plan on quitting any time soon. After taking a sip from her mocha she said, “What? I know the way to a cat’s heart.”

“I think I’m going to get a dog,” I replied, knowing it would insult Marble and not caring.

Marble hissed slightly, then stood, turned around so her butt was facing me, tail high so everything was on display, and sat back down.

“So, should we talk about the elephant in the room?” Carol asked, her blue eyes locking onto me.

I blew on my coffee again and tried in vain to calm my racing heart. Maybe coffee hadn’t been such a good idea since my heart already felt like it was trying to break through my ribs. Caffeine wasn’t exactly known for its calming effects.

I sighed as my mind spun, remembering everything that happened. Yeah, we needed to talk about it all. No, I didn’t want to. As much as I enjoyed the supernatural world, I wasn’t exactly excited about the new dangers I was facing. I’d hoped everything would calm down and just be fun after we got Henry back, but it just seemed to be getting crazier. It made my cheating ex seem… less like the worst thing that happened in my life.

Was that a good thing?

I wasn’t sure.

At the very least I could now officially say there was nothing special about him. Was I about to forgive and forget though? Unlikely.

“Do you think there’s a connection between my ex and the notes?” Beth asked, diving right into the mess that was our lives. Her blue eyes sparkled as she took in every miniscule detail and movement I made, analyzing, and trying to figure out what was going on. She was smart as a tack and put puzzle pieces together in a way I never would have even thought about.

I shrugged and opened my mouth to tell her I had no idea, when a hedgehog I hadn’t been introduced to muttered something. Of course, the hedgehog had thoughts on the situation. I was sure the zoo of animals around us, of which there were many, all had thoughts on the current predicament. I just didn’t think anything they had to say would be useful. Or very nice.

But maybe I was still mad at Marble.

“Did you have something to say?” Carol asked, sounding way too chipper given the situation.

Great, now we were asking the animals their opinions? I couldn’t decide if that was super annoying, or if I just needed more sleep. Glancing at my coffee, I sipped the liquid gold. Maybe after the drink was done, I’d feel more forgiving of the animals. Provided I didn’t combust from all the caffeine I’d been consuming. Going back to bed did sound amazing though.

Beth pulled me away from my dream of