A. Mayes - A Slice of Christmas Magic

One More Chapter

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Copyright © A. G. Mayes 2019

Cover design by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Cover images © Thomas Marchessault / Alamy Stock Photo (window frame); Leeyakorn06 / Shutterstock.com(cakes)

A. G. Mayes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008319151

Ebook Edition © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008319144

Version: 2019-10-03

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page A Slice of Christmas Magic A. G. MAYES

Copyright One More Chapter a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019 Copyright © A. G. Mayes 2019 Cover design by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Cover images © Thomas Marchessault / Alamy Stock Photo (window frame); Leeyakorn06 / Shutterstock.com (cakes) A. G. Mayes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008319151 Ebook Edition © November 2019 ISBN: 9780008319144 Version: 2019-10-03

Dedication For Chris and everyone who loves pie, puppies, and magic

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Acknowledgements

Also by A. G. Mayes

About the Author

About the Publisher

For Chris

and everyone who loves

pie, puppies, and magic

From the outside, the cottage nestled in the snowy countryside at the bottom of a hill looked as if it belonged on the pages of a storybook, but for the Drake family inside life was no happily ever after.

Dennis and Stan, father and son, were playing chess by the fire when a woman with graying brown hair and sharp green eyes stormed in and threw back the hood of her cloak. The younger man felt all the muscles in his body tense.

“Did you get it?” she asked.

“No,” Stan answered quietly. Dennis stared at the board.

“What?” she asked sharply. Both men flinched. “We would be in control of all the magic in Hocus Hills by now if you two blundering buffoons didn’t fail at every little task.” She spoke as though all the magical residents in the town of Hocus Hills were just objects for her to possess.

“We thought Alice was our star, but then she set us back when she got caught. I should have never let her convince me she could control people through altered magic spices. She didn’t have the skills. I mean, cookies? Come on!” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think her heart was in the mission. She was too distracted by the loss of her sister, Nellie.”

Sometimes his mother just liked to hear the sound of her own voice, Stan thought.

“We can try something else,” Dennis offered, not taking his eyes off the chess board.

“Of course, we’ll try something else,” Brenda snapped. “We need to figure the magic out. Only two days before Ivan gets here. Two! ” She slammed her hand on the table and chess pieces bounced off the board, clattering to the floor. “He’s not as kind as I am.”

“We have a plan for getting new recruits,” Stan said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“We need more than your plans. We need more people before Ivan gets here. That part shouldn’t be hard though. There’s always magical people who want more than to hide out in a small town.”

She paced up and down the room, her shoes clicking sharply against the floor. Stan watched his mother pace.

“Erma, she’s always a problem. She’s been keeping those spices under lock and key,” Brenda was muttering under her breath now. “But think of how happy Ivan would be if we got her magic.”