“I see you found some.” She grinned at me. “Since I’m the one that recommended them to you, I really hope you like them.”
“Hey, they combine two of my favorite topics, what wouldn’t I like about that?”
She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure the authors don’t really understand how the real-life witch thing works.” She wrinkled her nose. “I hope that doesn’t upset you.”
“It would upset me more if the authors did know and exposed us to the world. I like things the way they are.”
Mabel considered that for a minute and then gave me a short nod. “I think you might be right about that. A person might be smart, but in general people are...”
“Stupid.” We finished it together. It was an old saying that we loved. Meaning of course, that any single person might be intelligent and understanding, but get enough people in a group and things could get ugly quick. Just look at politics.
“You’re going to need a bag for these,” she said, reaching up to the top shelf to bring one down. When she did, the stretching movement caused her short top to ride up just enough for me to see the large bruise underneath.
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Not after seeing that.
“Did Ralph give you that bruise?”
She whirled around and tugged the top down, shaking her head. “Just me being clumsy.”
I didn’t need Ruby’s truth spell to know she was lying. But what could I say? Maybe it was time for me to pay a visit to Ralphie boy after all. If my magic was going to hurt someone, I couldn’t think of a better person to turn it loose on.
The sight of that bruise and its implication of exactly the kind of man Ralph was had me more than a little distracted. I almost ran right into Billy Myers as he was coming into the library. It was a little like running into a brick wall. Or, a more accurate description, running into a wall of pure, hard muscle.
He put a hand out to steady me. If he hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have stopped until I reached the bottom of the library’s stone steps. And I wouldn’t have been on my feet at the bottom.
“Thanks, Billy.”
“No problem.” He looked past me into the library. “Are they busy today?”
“As far as I know I was the only patron in there, and I’m leaving.” Then curiosity got the better of me. “Why do you ask?”
He blushed. “Ms. Mabel is teaching me how to read better. She’s real patient, and I’m already up to the Hardy Boys books. She says if I keep practicing, I’ll be ready for the Black Stallion books soon.” He ducked his head. “I really like horses. I’m hoping to read them this summer.”
“Then I’m sure you will, Billy. You’re a pretty smart guy, you know?”
He gave a short laugh. “Maybe at building things and stuff, but not book learning smart.” He took a deep breath. “I really owe Ms. Mabel for helping me.” He shrugged. “Everyone else just kind of wrote me off. Not her.”
Yeah, Mabel was good to her friends.
She just had lousy taste in husbands.
Chapter 3
I STOOD ON THE SIDEWALK for a few minutes, debating my next step. Luckily, I could do so in silence as Crazy Al must have been taking a break. I didn’t want to hesitate too long, though, because his milk crate was still there. He wouldn’t leave it for long.
As much as I wanted to pay Ralphie a visit of the witchy variety, I knew in my heart that wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. If I blew it now, the council would have me for sure.
But that didn’t mean I would sit around and do nothing when my friend was in trouble. Heck, no.
The sheriff’s station was only a few doors down, so I decided to hoof it, instead of having to mess with my bike lock. Not having a car had been a mere inconvenience back before I’d ever had one. Now, it seemed a much more dire situation. I was really hoping the insurance company kept their promise, and I got that check from them tomorrow.
My eyes had almost bugged out when they’d told me the amount they were sending me. At first, I thought I’d made out like a bandit. Then I’d looked around at some used car lots. Yeah, not so much. I could get a ride for the insurance payout, but it wasn’t going to be anything as nice as my precious Challenger. The only plus was that this one wouldn’t be an affront to women everywhere with nasty slogans and symbols all over it.
Goddess, but I missed that car.
Squaring my shoulders, I started walking. Walking was good for me. I should probably join a gym or something. Even that short time period that I’d had my baby had made me soft. I couldn’t afford that.
All the eyes in the station rose as I walked in. The station house and jail were all one big, interconnected building. You could get in the front door, but if you wanted to get behind the bullet-resistant glass, you had to ring the buzzer.
Unless your boyfriend saw you first and opened the door for you.
Opie grinned at me. “This is a surprise.” Then he paused. “It’s a nice surprise, isn’t it? You didn’t get into trouble, did you?”
I just looked at him. “No, I’m not in trouble, but I need to talk to you about Mabel.”
His look sobered instantly, and he led me over to his desk. Opie was, in my opinion, the best deputy the sheriff had. It wasn’t normal for him to be on desk duty, but until they released him from medical care over the buckshot wounds he’d taken to his leg while trying to protect me and my family, well, desk duty it was.
He sat at a station which was surprisingly clean. The surrounding ones were covered in paperwork. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“No, I’m not goofing off. I should be back on regular duty in a day or two. I'm trying hard to convince the doc to finally sign off on my release. I think he will after my next visit.”
That was good news. Kind of, anyway. I worried about him. Having an officer of the law as a boyfriend was hard on the nerves. It was a good thing that Wind’s Crossing didn’t have many serious criminals. Just a few nutcases.
I wasn’t even going to think about how hard it was having a Light Witch as a girlfriend. Of course, neither of us had known about that when we’d upgraded our relationship status from best friends.
His finger was tracing the sheriff star on his desk pad calendar over and over. Finally, he looked back up at me. “Look, about Mabel...” Then he trailed off.
“Yes, about Mabel. Well, really about Ralph. Did you know he hit her?”
He wouldn’t look me in the eyes. He knew.
“Half the town knows what goes on behind their closed doors, Amie. But there isn’t anything we can do about it until either he messes up and does it with a witness around, or she makes a formal complaint. Neither of which has happened yet.”
“So, we just sit around and do nothing?” That couldn’t be right.
Opie squirmed in his chair. “It goes against my grain, too, believe me. But from the side of the law, there isn’t anything I can do.” Then he realized what he’d said. Maybe it was the calculating look on my face. “And don’t you go doing anything, either.”
When a couple of people looked our way at his slightly panicked tone, he lowered his voice. “Promise me you won’t do anything to Ralph.”
I considered and then shook my head. Here’s the thing. I believe in the power of promises. It might be a witch thing, but if you wanted to keep your life going in the right direction, you kept the promises you made. This wasn’t one I felt comfortable making.
Someone had to do something. Mabel didn’t deserve this.
“Look, I’m not telling you not to do anything. Talk to Mabel. Try to convince her to call us the next time an incident occurs. Or better yet, try to get her to leave the jerk. But Ralph himself is off limits.” He glanced around and lowered his voice even further. Practically a whisper. “You can’t draw attention to yourself right now, and you know it.”
I glared at him, but yeah, I knew he was right. It would be incredibly stupid of me to draw attention to myself by taking Ralph on.
But then, I’m not
particularly known for my intelligence.
I was starting to think Crazy Al might not be so crazy after all.
I TURNED ONTO THE DRIVEWAY to the farmhouse at five minutes till three. How’s that for timing? I’m a master at procrastination.
But when I saw the white van parked out front, I regretted taking my time. We had visitors. Lily had come to call. If I was really lucky, she’d be here for a reason—to help with the spelling lesson.
I stashed my bike in the little lean-to and headed inside. Everyone was gathered in Mom’s living room. She’d done a good job of getting it all fixed up after the whole firebomb thing. The new furniture was nice. Even more comfortable than what she’d had before. And that was saying something.
“Hey, Lily, you here to join me and Opal for some potion brewing?”
The hope must have come through in my voice. Or maybe it was the desperation. Either way, she laughed.
“As a matter of fact, yes. Or, well, not with potion brewing. That really isn’t my specialty. Opal asked me to come and help the two of you establish the threshold wards that I have on my house.” She paused, looking me in the eyes. “That particular ward takes a lot of power. It took me and the Minehearts three days to get it down on all my windows and doors.”
She didn’t have to go on. This would be yet another test of just how powerful I was. I got that now. But if the end result was a home that no one bad could walk into, that was fine by me. I couldn’t think of a better use for my power.
Well, if you didn’t count ending a low-life named Ralph. But that would have to wait.
“Are you joining us too, Mom?”
Mom met my eyes, and I could tell I wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.
“Actually, dear, I’m heading back to Oak Hill tonight.”
There, see, I was right. I had really been enjoying having Mom back home. If you didn’t count the times when she was driving me crazy with the whole meditation thing.
Of course, with her no longer in residence, maybe I’d catch a break on the whole peace of mind training bit. I had to admit, that part of it sounded kind of nice. And it wasn’t like Oak Hill was all that far away.
Now that I knew where she was, I could visit her whenever I wanted. That would be much easier once the insurance company came through with that check. On a bike, her new town might as well be on the moon.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I’ve made arrangements with Ruby to continue your meditation training.”
Dang, I just couldn’t catch a break. But what I said was, “Oh, good.”
She gave me a big hug and then the same to Opal. I was kind of surprised when Opal returned it. My aunt wasn’t usually the affection-showing type. But then, the last few weeks had been hard on all of us. Maybe I wasn’t the only one that had changed.
We all walked Mom out to her car and saw her off. Then Lily and Opal turned to me.
“Let’s see how this goes, shall we?” Lily asked.
I took a deep breath and nodded. It wasn’t like I really had a choice in the matter, now was it?
They had already laid out all the necessary ingredients to do the ward. No kitty litter this time. This was more spell than potion. As such, very little was actually needed, other than sheer magical power.
I guessed that when Lily and the Minehearts had done this on her house, there had been a trinity of them. Trinities were powerful in and of themselves. Add in a Light Witch and well, the magic kind of goes off the charts.
What took them three days? Took us less than three hours. But by the end of it, I was exhausted. That power mostly came from me and using that kind of power can really drain a person.
Maybe I should do this kind of thing as a full-time job. I couldn’t really get in trouble with my magic if I kept it depleted on a regular basis, now could I?
But then again, it was me we were talking about.
I’d probably find a way.
Chapter 4
IT WAS A GOOD THING our postman ran early out here in the country. I don’t think I could have taken any longer of a wait. As it was, I was standing at the window with my binoculars, watching the mailbox for his arrival. The insurance company had promised the check would be here today.
I was already dressed and prepared for a fun day of car shopping. My plan was to hit the bank and then scope out the local car lots. If I had to, I would even rent an Uber to go a little further afield. I hoped that didn’t happen. It’s not like I would be all that picky. If it had four wheels and ran, I was pretty much good with it.
Good looks would be a nice extra, but not much of a requirement with me.
When Ruby walked in with her yoga mat, I groaned.
“Not today, Ruby. You know the check is coming today, right?”
She nodded but didn’t look very swayed from her original path. Ruby took responsibility very seriously. Mom had entrusted her with my meditation training, and from the looks of things, that was going to happen. Whether or not I wanted it to. Unless...
“Want to go car shopping with me?” It was worth a shot.
Ruby grinned at me. “I’d love to.”
Yes!
“Just as soon as we finish up with our meditation. I’m pretty sure the car lots won’t sell out in the next few hours.”
Ah, well. But I still had one tarot card up my sleeve. “What if I throw in a set of keys so that you can use the car when I’m not? We could totally share it.”
It was a bribe, and we both knew it. The only question was, would it work? I saw the wavering of purpose in her eyes. Following her own game of not talking first, I waited.
It was worth the wait.
“Well,” Ruby drawled out slowly. “I guess there isn’t anything in the meditation rule book that says it has to happen in the morning. As long as you agree to spend some time with me and the mats this afternoon, I guess I’m with postponing it.”
If my head hadn’t been so firmly attached to my neck, it might have come off with all the enthusiastic nodding I was doing. “You bet!” Then I was looking back out the window again, bouncing on my heels.
“I’m going to go change. Give a shout when he gets here, okay?”
I nodded, and I assumed that Ruby left for her own apartment across the hall. It wasn’t like I could hear her leave with that dang quiet shoes spell. I loved it when people couldn’t hear me coming, but it was a different story when people used it against me.
This morning, of all mornings, the postman was running late. Ruby was back with me at the window before his plain brown Jeep pulled up beside the box. Within seconds, we were grabbing our backpacks and running down the stairs.
This would be fun.
We almost ran over Aunt Opal on the way to the mailbox. She usually took the stroll down to get it. I briefly saw her raised eyebrows as we raced past. That might have been because we’d almost stampeded her on our way, or it could have been because she’d assumed we were upstairs doing the whole meditation thing.
Either way, it really didn’t matter. We got to the box first, and Ruby looked over at me, jerking her head toward the box.
“Go on.”
I held my breath and reached out to pull the little metal door open. I didn’t start breathing again until I saw the envelope with the Insurance Company’s logo and the obvious check inside. Now we were both bouncing on our heels.
Come on, give us a break. We were going to go car shopping. As this was our very first time to do so, it was a big thing to us. Especially to me. I knew the new one won’t be as nice as my old one, but I could live with that.
Opal strolled up to us and looked in the box, taking out the rest of the mail. “I take it you got the check, huh?”
I nodded even as I was ripping open the envelope. Everything was just the way the company had promised.
“Yup.” Then I thought about it and swallowed. Ruby and I had a couple of different choices. We could get our bikes out and ride into town. However, that would leave us with our bikes in t
own and no way to get them home. That wouldn’t be good.
Or we could take a deep breath and follow through on our second, even less appealing option. I took the deep breath, but come to find out, it wasn’t even needed.
“I’m getting ready to go into town myself if you girls want a ride.”
You could have knocked me down with a feather. Opal knew we needed a ride... and she wasn’t going to make us beg for it? Wow. She really was changing. I think I liked the newer, kinder version.
“That would be great, Opal. Thanks.”
She shrugged. “No big deal. I need to check on the store and make sure everything is all right there. Plus, I have a delivery coming today, and I want to pick up some supplies for our spelling session this afternoon.” Opal looked into my eyes. “Three o’clock sharp. Don’t forget in all your excitement about getting another car.”
Opal looked at Ruby and looked like she was going to say something, but she didn’t. Most likely, from Ruby’s blush, the look was all she needed to convey her thoughts that we were shirking our morning meditation duties. But hey, I’d already promised to make it up later, so I wasn’t about to feel guilty about it.
THERE WERE THREE USED car lots within walking distance of the center of Wind’s Crossing. The first one we visited had nothing that looked like it would last for any length of time. I wanted something I could get into and drive wherever I wanted to go without the worry of being broken down at the side of the road. The cars there didn’t give me any assurance that would be the case.
The second one had real beauties of cars. Unfortunately, they had the prices to match. The salesman assured me that we could work something out, and then he mentioned that they did buy here slash pay here deals, so that if my credit wasn’t the best, it wouldn’t matter.
It was tempting, especially when I saw a late model Challenger on the lot. But the last thing I needed right now was a car payment. If I couldn’t find something that would work for me in town, I could always ask Opie to take me to the city on his next day off. I was pretty certain that the selection would be larger there.
Un-Familiar Magic (Accidental Familiar Book 3) Page 2
