by N. M. Howell
Table of Contents
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
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This book is written in collaboration with J.A. Armitage.
Chapter 1
Rain pattered drearily on the glass beside me as I gazed through the small, second-floor window. The streetscape below the Brimstone Press office was eerily quiet. Small goosebumps made their way up my arms from the dampness of the window, and I strummed my fingers on the desk along with the rhythm of the heavy rain drops.
A single red umbrella slowly made its way along the sidewalk below the office, but apart from that one poor soul braving the chilly spring rain, the streets were deserted. There was nothing going on today in dreary little Brimstone Bay. There hadn’t been anything going on over the past few months, and I was in a funk. I couldn’t come up with any idea for a new story. Without any ideas, I was left to stare out the window, watching puddles form on the streets in a cluster of dark shapes and patterns. My life really had grown quite dull.
JoAnn, my editor, was away doing research for a story in the next town over, so I got to take over her desk for the afternoon and enjoy the view. Not that it was a particularly nice day, but it sure beat staring into the far corner of the cubicle on the other side of our tiny, one-room office.
I yawned and leaned back in JoAnn’s chair, hoping desperately of an idea for a new story to write for the paper. I had been overwhelmed by a crushing boredom because nothing exciting had happened in the past few weeks.
Things had been a bit anticlimactic since Christmas, to be honest. Not that I’m complaining, or anything. But once the holidays were over, everything at home had gone back to normal and work at the Brimstone Press had become predictable and boring. A typical day in the life of a journalist for the Brimstone Press consisted of daily write-ups of birthday parties and newborn babies, with the occasional funeral tossed in the mix. Now that spring had come, I at least had nicer weather to look forward to. The snow had nearly all melted, and I was itching to get back into running. I did my best thinking when I ran along the boardwalk, but there had been too much snow and ice all winter that I had let myself become a lazy blob.
I made a mental note to go out and buy a new pair of running shoes. I had that to look forward to, at least.
I checked the time on my phone and realized I was supposed to meet Bailey downstairs, and I was already five minutes late. With one last deep yawn and a long overhead stretch, I shut my laptop. After grabbing my keys, I headed down the stairs to meet Bailey at Jordan’s new restaurant. I may be biased, but my boyfriend sure knew how to run a restaurant. By the way he schmoozed with the customers and the massive grin he would get every time someone walked into the place, you never would’ve known that he was an ex-cop from Boston.
He finally found something he loved doing, and it was extremely convenient that I now had an endless supply of coffee and dessert only one story below my office. Not that I needed it, as JoAnn kept an endless supply of those gross licorice candies on her desk, and between that and the ten thousand boxes of leftover sugar cookies from Mrs. Pots’ bakery down the road, I had enough sugar to last me through to the Apocalypse. But still, I spent as much time down there as I could. He’d even let me help out at times to take my mind off of the stresses of my own work day. There was something therapeutic about pouring coffee and chatting with people. It was easy to see why he loved the place so much.
Bailey hadn’t arrived at the restaurant yet, so I went in and took a seat at the booth at the coffee bar that lined the far wall and waited for her. A moment later, Jordan came out of the back kitchen and walked over to give me a big hug. He kissed my cheek and ran his fingers through my long curly brown hair as he always did. I couldn’t help but grin up at him as he kissed me gently on the nose.
“Coffee?” Jordan smiled at me knowingly.
I nodded and yawned again. “Better make that a large. And one for Bailey, too, if you don’t mind.”
Jordan waved down one of his waiters and signaled for him to bring over some coffee. He then leaned casually against the bar and inspected me up and down. I raised my eyebrow and leaned back in the stool, waiting for him to say something.
When he didn’t speak, I finally asked, “What are you looking at?”
He grinned and shrugged. “Nothing. Just that you look like you haven’t slept in a week. Is everything okay?”
I yawned again and couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, it’s the opposite. I’ve been sleeping way too much. We’re going to need another crazy adventure like we had over Christmas to spice things up a little bit, or else I might just die of boredom.”
Jordan laughed and shook his head, this time running his fingers through his own long sandy-blond hair. “No, thank you. I think that was enough excitement to last a lifetime. You witches and your magic are too much for a guy like me, sometimes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe a guy like you is too much for a witch like me. Hmm?”
It was Jordan’s turn to roll his eyes. A young waiter brought over two coffee mugs and a large pot of coffee, and I immediately reached out and poured myself a hot steaming mug. I sipped my coffee and looked out over the restaurant, surprised at how busy it was at four o’clock in the afternoon. “Wow, Jordan. You’ve really done well for yourself here.”
“Seems that way,” he smiled. He reached for my coffee and made to grab it, but I pulled it away out of reach.
“Get your own damn coffee,” I sneered. “It’s not like there’s a shortage here.” Honestly, we’d been together five months now, you’d think the man would learn not to get between me and my coffee.
Jordan rolled his eyes again and reached for another mug over the counter. He then rolled his eyes as he filled it and took a careful sip of the hot liquid. “Jeez, sorry. I forgot about your weird obsession with coffee.”
“It’s not an obsession,” I corrected as I held my mug protectively with both hands. “It’s a loving two-way relationship that benefits both me and the world.”
“How so?” Jordan flinched as he burned his tongue on his coffee and I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh. Poor, weak tea-drinking mortal.
“Well, first of all it benefits me in that I become a friendly, energetic contributing member of society.”
“And the world?”
“…and it benefits the world because I become a friendly, energetic contributing member of society.”
Jordan nearly spat out his coffee as he snorted in response. He then sat down his mug and laughed that gorgeous whole-hearted laugh of his as he and I both wiped the coffee spray from our faces. “Alright, whatever you say, weirdo. I’ve gotta get back to work. You okay waiting here by yourself for Bailey?”
I shook my head in amusement at his outrageous reaction, but then nodded. I sat my own coffee down, out of reach of his sneaky grasp, and sat forward on the stool to lean in and kiss him. �
��I’ll be fine on my own. Get back to work, you slacker.”
Jordan winked at me and turned to leave back into the kitchen. He spent most of his time in the back helping out the kitchen staff, and I was used to sitting out front alone, observing the endless trails of people who came through the restaurant. He really did create something amazing, there. The café that once sat here never saw that sort of traffic, and people flocked towards Jordan like bees to wild flowers. And, why wouldn’t they? He was charismatic and kind. He also happened to be absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous. Which, under normal circumstances made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be with him. But when groups of girls came into the restaurant and flirted mercilessly with him, I must admit I’ve had the urge to cast a spell and turn him into a toad on numerous occasions. That never happened, of course. Er, well… I never fully completed the spell, anyway. Boundaries, and all that. Whatever.
I sat in the busy restaurant, sipping my coffee and staring mindlessly out the front window into the dreary grey street. The place was packed and there wasn’t an empty table in the entire restaurant. Yet, for some reason, it seemed particularly quiet. The typical energetic buzz was replaced with an eerie mindless chatter. I scrunched my face as I looked out over the patrons, and couldn’t help a strange chill that made its way up my spine.
I spotted someone I recognized in the far corner, and carried my still-full pot of coffee over to him.
“Hi, Gerry,” I smiled down at him as I reached out to fill his empty coffee mug.
“Oh, hey River. Didn’t know you worked here.” Gerry was a friend of JoAnn’s, and often came to stop by the office. He was a retired journalist and editor himself, having worked for the Boston Herald for the greater part of his journalistic career. He was always good for a chat when he stopped by, as he so often did whenever he got wind of a potential news story. Gerry was always ahead of the town gossip, and it would be a lie to say we didn’t base a number of our stories off of his leads. He had settled in for his retirement in Brimstone Bay about a year before I arrived, and I was always happy to see him.
“Nah, I just help out when I have some free time.” I sat the pot down on his table and leaned against the empty high-backed chair across from him. “Haven’t seen you around the office for a while. Any juicy stories for us, Gerry?”
The old man laughed and shook his head as he graciously lifted his coffee mug to me and took a sip. “Nothing good, no. Too many retired old farts like me around. The town needs more young people like you to liven it up a bit.”
I rolled my eyes. “I saw you at the Christmas party, Gerry. Not many people my age could liven up a space as well as you could.”
A wide grin spread across his sun-weathered face. “Girl after my own heart, you are. Promise me you won’t let this town dull your light, River. A gal like you needs adventure and excitement.” Gerry tilted his head down and looked up at me through his bushy grey eyebrows and smiled.
“Plenty of that with you around,” I winked.
He laughed and went back to reading his paper. The Boston Herald, I noticed. I groaned and carried the coffee pot back to the bar and reached for one of the Brimstone Press papers from the large pile in the corner. I then tossed it onto Gerry’s table before settling back on my stool at the bar.
He grinned a sly, mischievous grin at me and then sighed, tossing his own paper aside and reaching for the smaller, and I’ll admit probably far more boring Brimstone Press. A smile spread across my own face as I reached for my mug and looked on in approval.
Bailey was late and I checked my phone to see if she had messaged me. I sighed and turned my attention back to the room. It was eerily quiet, which was strange as it was late afternoon on a weekday, and you’d think people would be a little more upbeat.
I glanced from table to table, and something struck me as odd. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to put my finger on just what it was that made me feel so uncomfortable. I couldn’t quite place it, but there was something unnerving about the energy in the room. I didn’t need to use my witchy senses to feel it. Anyone with even a lick of sense would have felt the strangeness of the room.
My eyes finally found their way to two large men sitting at one of the small tables next to the window. Both were staring blankly at each other without saying a word. I thought that strange, and sipped my coffee as I watched them for a long few minutes. Neither of them spoke, and neither of them even seemed to really breathe. I tilted my head and waited, watching, but they both continued to stare at each other like silent zombies. Maybe I wasn’t going to have to wait that long for the Apocalypse, after all.
Chapter 2
Maybe it was my intrinsic journalistic expertise that was making me smell out a story there, or maybe I was just plain old nosy, but I got off my seat to go and speak to them to find out more. The door chimed and Bailey came striding into the restaurant before I reached them, though, with a giant smile spread across her face. My roommate was tall, blond, and beautiful, and always had an air of friendly excitement about her. She was one of those people that you just couldn’t help but want to be around, and her personality was contagious. Bailey skipped up to the bar and accepted the spare coffee I had just poured. I grinned as she slid onto the stool next to me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the two men near the window. There was something about them and it was making me twitchy. I could usually smell a story a mile away and even though my journo senses were dulled to the point of decay after so long with nothing happening, there was still enough there to pick up on the weirdness of these too. A strange excitement buzzed through me and my synapses began firing as I imagined just what the two of them could be up to. As neither had picked up their coffee for at least the last ten minutes, and the two plates of scones in front of them were both untouched, I knew they weren’t there for Jordan’s delicious cooking or caffeine.
“I’ve got something I need to talk to you about,” Bailey said as she blew on her hot coffee.
I barely heard her. I took another sip of coffee and continued to stare at the men.
Bailey sat and watched me for a long moment and then followed my gaze when I didn’t respond. “River?”
My eyes flickered to her for a short moment then immediately turned back towards the men.
“Does that seam weird to you?” I finally asked.
Bailey narrowed her eyes and watched the two men as well, then turned back to me and raised her eyebrows. “They seem fine to me. Are you feeling well, River?”
I let out a loud sign and forced myself to push the two men from my mind. “Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?”
Bailey beamed again, and I couldn’t help but smile along with her. She looked unnaturally happy, though, and I had a feeling I knew why. “Never mind, that can wait.” Sometimes I had to pull my mind away from a potential story and actually be...you know...a friend. This was one of those times.
I raised my eyebrow and nodded as I emptied my mug and refilled my coffee. I had a feeling I was going to need the caffeine. Bailey watched me intently as she bit her lip. She was practically bouncing on her stool, waiting for me to ask how she had been, I presumed.
I rubbed my eyes with the palm of my free hand as I fought back a yawn, and couldn’t help laugh at her restlessness.
Bailey rolled her eyes. “Another long day at work?”
I nodded and sipped my coffee. “You know it.”
“Anything news worthy?”
I scrunched my face trying to think of at least one exciting thing to tell her about my day. But of course, I came up blank. That was just the type of week I was having. “Nothing new, really. Same old birthday parties and same old funerals. Nothing really new or exciting has happened in town for a while. Which, frankly, is great in the sense that it keeps us out of trouble, but it also makes for a very boring newspaper.” I flicked my eyes back to the men for the briefest of seconds, before bringing them back to Bailey. Boring until now, at least!
“Enjoy it while it lasts,�
� Bailey smiled. “I suspect things will get busy again when the weather gets nice.”
“I imagine you’re right.” I took a small sip of the steaming coffee and even though I was actively trying to keep my concentration on Bailey, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander again as I stared back at the two strange men.
Bailey bit her lip and followed my gaze. The men still sat in silence, staring at each other, and it was beginning to feel very strange. It was unnerving to watch. My attention was brought back, though, when Bailey snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Earth to River,” she giggled.
I shook my head and swiveled around my stool to face the back of the restaurant. Bailey did the same and leaned into me for a sideways hug and squeezed my shoulder as I leaned into her.
“Sorry,” I laughed as I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus. “I’m here.”
Bailey grinned and sipped her coffee, eagerly watching me with sparkling eyes. She bit her lip again and I could tell she was bursting at the seams, wanting to tell me something.
I took another slow sip of my coffee as I watched her squirm. Finally, I asked, “So, how are things with you?”
Bailey squealed with delight and took a quick sip of coffee before placing the mug down on the counter and reaching out to grab my shoulders with both of her hands. Her smile spread from ear to ear, and she was practically oozing with new love. It was mildly sickening, actually. I swore I could see little hearts in her eyes. “Brett is taking me for dinner at that new sushi restaurant in Boston.” She squeezed my shoulders as she smiled at me with that beautiful, heart-melting straight-toothed smile of hers.
“It’s a little far to go for sushi, isn’t it?” I couldn’t help but grin at her excitement. The girl really did have a way of making other people smile. She also had a knack for falling in love with boys that broke her heart, so I really wanted to do my best to make sure that she didn’t get her heart broken over this guy, too. Last year, she had fallen for the son of the man who owned the café that was in the building before Jordan opened his restaurant. The guy turned out to be a murderer, and is now in Jail.
