Хармони Харт - Basic Witch

“Is that—?”

“Mortimer Montcrief’s blood?” She asked in a sing-song voice. “Mmmhmm. I tried to clean it off, but the old man didn’t know how to properly care for books. The leather hadn’t been oiled in ages, and it was so dry and cracked that it just soaked his cranky blood right up!” She laughed, a high-pitched, nervous cackle. “So, I decided to keep it as a trophy, a celebration of my accomplishment.”

“What accomplishment?” I moved behind the desk, putting as much distance between us as possible. “Go,” I told Titus. “ Get help!” Clara eased around the edge of the desk, and Titus vaulted across it, sprinting down the hallway into Cook’s Books.

“ Door is open! I’m getting help!” she cried.

“Why, saving my family’s legacy, of course,” Clara explained. “This bookstore has been here for centuries. It’s was my father’s pride and joy! And that nasty old man was going to evict me,” she shrieked. “Can you imagine the nerve?”

“That’s what happens when you don’t pay your rent,” I said.

“You—” she stalked toward me, pointing her finger at my chest, just like she had done with Patrick McAllister. “—don’t know the first thing about what it’s like to be a woman in Salem. She stabbed her fingertip into my breastbone, and I swallowed hard, gritting my teeth.

If I could just be patient enough to let her devolve into a full-fledged temper tantrum like the one she threw back at the bank, she might be distracted enough for me to escape through the passage. But that meant holding my tongue and not reacting to her outburst.

“You just prance in here, with all your newness and your helpless magical idiocy, and all of the eligible bachelors fall all over themselves to stand at your side.”

“That’s hardly the case,” I argued.

“Oh, please,” she said. “I heard about Max Townsend hitting on you. Word at Legend’s is that every single man on the Council is thinking about asking you out. And I saw Clarence Hakim fawning over you like a precious jewel.” She narrowed her eyes, glaring daggers at me. “And do not get me started on Beauregard Bacchus. Now that you’re in his life, I’ll never have a chance with him.”

She had me cornered. All I could do was try to reason with her. But how do you reason with a crazy person?

“I never intended to hurt you, Clara. I was just trying to protect myself from going to prison, same as you were trying to protect yourself from being evicted. We’re not that different, you and I.” Except for the fact that you’re a total psycho, I thought. I offered her a hopeful smile, praying my eyes didn’t betray my true opinion of her. I slid a hand down to my belt and wrapped my fingers around my wand, willing myself to focus. It was a long shot, but if I could immobilize her long enough to get around her, I might be able to escape with my life.

“You’ve ruined everything with Beau,” she shouted as she grabbed the ledger from the desk, raising it high overhead. “I won’t let you ruin my store too!”

And I won’t let you take another life, I thought.

She lunged at me, bringing the heavy book down with a thud as I ducked, narrowly missing her strike. She screamed, pivoting toward me before taking aim at my head again. I drew my wand and pointed it at her, drawing on every ounce of focus and energy I could muster.

“INMOTUS!!!” I screamed.

My incantation was deafening, enough to make the crystal trinkets on the bookcase rattle. I gasped as I saw Clara, frozen in place before me, the deadly ledger poised just inches from my face. I snatched the ledger from her hands and scrambled over the desktop, making a beeline for the front door.

As I rounded the corner of the hallway into the bookstore, I slammed smack into a solid wall of muscle.

“Beau!” I panted. “Clara killed Morty. Ledger… secret passage… office.”

“Shh,” he whispered, smoothing my hair. “Get outside. Now. I’ll take care of Clara.”

“But the passage—” I protested. I wasn’t sure how powerful my freeze was, and I didn’t want her escaping.

“Detective Otto is circling around through Montcrief’s. We’ll handle this.” He drew his wand and pushed me toward the front door. “Go!”

I stumbled outside, clinging to the ledger as I called for Titus. She flew out of the shadows, frantically dancing at my feet.

“I tried! ” she said “But Smallish was stuck in the shop, and Beau couldn’t understand me like you do! But I tried! I was afraid I wouldn’t make it on time. And then who would feed me, and pet me, and love me?”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I whispered. And neither did I, thank goddess. “ You did great, sweet girl.”

The door to Montcrief’s opened and Clara walked out, guided in handcuffs by a smug-faced Detective Otto as she twisted and squealed, trying to break free of his one-handed grasp. The Detective nodded at me, a silent promise that I was finally off the hook for Morty’s murder, and I finally released the breath I’d been holding.

Beau appeared, taking the ledger from my shaking hands and passing it off to Detective Otto before gathering me into his arms. I melted against him, my breath ragged with anxiety.

“Thank goddess you came,” I said. “I didn’t think I’d make it out alive.”

“But you did,” he said. “And without my help.”

“No, you don’t understand,” I argued. “Clara, she was—”

“Still frozen in place when we found her. You achieved the third level of the immobilization spell, just when it mattered most,” Beau said. He stepped back and stared at me, his mouth parted in surprise as if he was seeing me through new eyes for the very first time. He caught my face in one hand, brushing the pad of his thumb over my cheek as he whispered, “Clever witch.”

Those two little words were all it took to break the dam holding back my tears. All the fear, the frustration, the joy, the pride, the relief came rushing out in a flood of salty sobs. I flung my arms around him, holding on for dear life as I cried.

To his credit, he didn’t try to stop me. He simply held me as I finally let go—for the first time in forever—and allowed him to see the real me, the messy, broken parts, the weakness and jealousy and feelings of inadequacy, all mixed in with a strength and sense of fierce loyalty I never knew I possessed.

And when I was finally finished crying, he draped an arm around me and guided me inside. And then the saint of a man set a tea kettle on to boil while he spruced up the tub—with a magic spell, but still—and drew me a hot bath. Which, in case you’re wondering, does not actually involve running water. Something about not wasting the earth’s resources when we could use magical energy to clean things. It’s no wonder I nearly drove myself insane getting the faucet to work.

I laid back in the bathtub, every muscle relaxing into a blanket of golden, lavender-scented heat.

Somewhere in the living room, I could hear Beau laughing as Titus and Smallish chattered in short, chirping mews.

And for the first time in my life, in this rundown old-man apartment with its shabby furniture and Hoarders -worthy collection of nonsense, harboring unknown powers and navigating a tenuous potential romance...I felt like I was home.

Hex & Candy

Gemma Bradbury Magical Cozy Mystery Book 2 is coming soon! Preorder your copy on Amazon now!

II

A Taste of Salem

Alphita’s Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

4 C Einkorn flour

1 t sea salt