Spellbooks and Sleepovers

by Amanda A. Allen

  Table of Contents

  Spellbooks and Sleepovers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Also By Amanda A. Allen

  Copyright

  Spellbooks and Sleepovers

  A Mystic Cove Special Edition Short Story

  By Amanda A. Allen

  Chapter 1

  “You want a flask?” Harper asked as Scarlett adjusted her Te Fiti costume. She bent over to tie her sandals up her ankle and then scrubbed her fingers through her hair to fluff it up. She adjusted her leggings and then called the plants to her. They wound around her legs and up into her hair, leaving her a green, leafy woman.

  Scarlett glanced up as Harper cackled and shook the flask enticingly.

  “Shut it,” Scarlett said, adding, “Getting drunk while trick-or-treating with my daughters would be irresponsible. I’m an excellent mother… probably… so I’ll be having wine after trick-or-treating next to the fire while I think deep, calming thoughts.”

  “You’re gonna love the whole night, ya faker,” Harper said. “I’d go, except…you know… Quinton. Date. Romance. Fun. Probably going to set something on fire.”

  “It is Halloween,” Scarlett said, with a shrug. “You’re Harper. What else would you do?”

  “So that’s a yes, right? You want the flask.”

  “I wish. I hate trick-or-treating. I mean… I love it because I love my daughters. But I hate it because of other people’s sugared-out children. My own children, sugared-out, are almost more than I can take.”

  “But you’re building their immunity… with your cookies and cakes and cinnamon rolls, like in Princess Bride with iocane powder.”

  “Nerd. No. It’s all part of my parenting plan. It goes right before never letting my kid throw tantrums in public and right after thinking they’ll learn to play Mozart on the piano by 12,” Scarlett said. “What are you doing with Quinton tonight?”

  Harper grinned and said, “I don’t kiss and tell.”

  Scarlett grinned, shaking her head as the vines curled into her hair and blossomed. Somehow, kind of uptight, kind of shy, kind of awkward Quinton was an amazing match for Harper.

  “Mommy are you ready yet?” Luna, dressed as a puppy, came into the room followed by Ella dressed as Moana and Scarlett and Harper’s mom, Maye.

  “They look adorable,” Maye said.

  “They’re perfect,” Harper replied. She handed them both a bag for their candy, and it looked like she’d pre-filled it.

  “You’re a pushover,” Scarlett told Harper, sneaking a peek into the candy bag and grabbing a Tootsie Roll from it.

  “I’ve been thinking about Quinton,” Luna said in her piping little voice.

  Ominous, Scarlett thought. She, Harper, and Maye turned to Luna.

  Who said, “He needs a pet.”

  “No,” Scarlett said instantly. “No. Stop it.”

  “I can feel it. In my head,” Luna said cheerily. She was bouncing on her toes while she opened an oversized candy from the bag that Harper had given her. “Right Max?”

  Their dog’s tail thumped and then he barked once. He was a massive Leonburger and was the width of the fireplace. There were three young cats ranging around Max from yet another moment when Scarlett had been stupid enough to leave her daughters unattended with Harper. The squirrel that roamed the apartment whenever Luna was home was Scarlett’s fault, but Harper was fully responsible for the parakeet and the African frog, given that she was, by nature, incapable of telling the girls no.

  “Dog’s don’t get to vote,” Scarlett told Luna, attempting to use a firm tone. “Adults get to make their own life choices including pets. You absolutely may not show up at his door with a squirrel or a bird or a puppy or anything.”

  “Mommy,” Luna said in a disparaging tone, “Quinton is a cat person. And I feel it in my head.”

  “No,” Scarlett said, knowing she’d already lost. The knowing of druids was hard to ignore when you were an adult, let alone when it came from a kid. “No.”

  “Ok, Mommy,” Luna said. “But Lex needs a pet too. It’s in my head. All bright and shiny. I think Lex might be a dog person though. But not one of those little dogs. Wouldn’t that be silly? One like Max…Gram is a little dog person; a little dog that’s kind of mean, like Gram. I told her she needed one, and she told me to stick my nose back in my pocket.”

  Harper couldn’t hold back her laugh, so she snorted and ran from the apartment. They could hear her howls in the hallway, so her flight hadn’t done anyone any good.

  “Oh, my goodness.” Scarlett crossed to the counter where Harper had left her bag and dug through until she found Harper’s flask. Scarlett took a swig, coughed, grinned at her daughter, and said, “Just leave me out of it. Ok? I don’t want to meet the animal or see it until after Lex or Quinton have said no.”

  “They’re not going to say no,” Luna said cheerily and then whispered to Ella who giggled.

  “What are they saying?” Maye asked. Given the adjustment in her tone, Scarlett was sure her mom knew those two were up to something.

  “It’s better not to know,” Scarlett said. “Then you have to intervene instead of being surprised. If they’re conniving against some else… that’s someone else’s problem right?”

  “Mmmm,” Maye said.

  “Mommy, Gertie, and Lisa are going to be in the Central Park, and they’re getting cocoa before trick-or-treating. Can we go too?”

  “Yes,” Scarlett said, hoping the conniving only went as far as cocoa. “Yes. Let’s go. But the first rule of Halloween, I get all the 100 Grande bars. It’s the mommy tax.”

  “You want some rum for your cocoa?” Maye asked. “It’s gonna be chilly.”

  “Why is everyone trying to get me drunk?”

  “You’re just uptight,” Maye said. “A little sip isn’t going to hurt you while you walk around getting candy. I’m worried about you.”

  “Mommy you can have my snickers bars too,” Luna said. “Mommy’s ok, Nana. She just needs a nap. And probably a kitten.”

  Scarlett’s eye twitched at that comment but she bit back a scathing reply to Luna given her baby was only 5. If one more thing that pooped came into their house, she was going to go mad.

  “And my peanut butter cups,” Ella said without a hesitation since she didn’t like peanut butter.

  Little did the little girls know Scarlett would be going through the candy that evening while she sipped her wine.

  Scarlett paused, shook her head, and said, “Don’t try to help me, please. After we trick-or-treat, the girls are watching Monster House in their room, and Mommy gets a fire and her berry wine.”

  “Be safe. Have fun. Take and send me a thousand pictures,” Maye said. She crossed to Scarlett and said, “You work too hard, love. I’ve got to go. Maeve wants to go to a slumber party. She went over after school, but I have to drop off her sleeping bag and change of clothes.”

  “Mommy, can we go now, please?” Ella asked, circling Scarlett and then without an ounce of her usual disdain said, “Thank you for dressing up with me.”

  “You guys should have been dogs too,” Luna said happily. “Let’s get candy!”

  * * * * *

  Scarlett followed the girls down yet another street. She’d lost count of the number of houses, but she was enjoying every second of the way they giggled and compared treats and laughed with the other kids. Ella had seen about seven million Moana’s, but she was delighted every time instead of upset. Probably because she had Te Fiti trailing her with 100 Grands tangled in her vines. They were in front of a house with two little girls on brooms. The other girls were, o
f course, dressed as witches, but given that their mom was Janet from the PTA and the Mystic Cove Coven, Scarlett wasn’t surprised to see them flying on those brooms.

  “Hey Scarlett,” Janet said while the girls went up to the house, “Are you going to attend the meeting for the winter holiday festival? It’s this Thursday at 4:00 p.m. There will be coffee. We could really use some more help.”

  Scarlett paused and sniffed, her mind searching for a way to evade helping. She tried for a smile, coughed, and then said, “My schedule is pretty full, but you can count on us for cookies for the bake sale.”

  Janet’s face was a smooth veneer of snideness. “I already had you down for that, of course.”

  Janet’s follow-up laugh didn’t even attempt to be camouflage how unamused she was. Neither did Scarlett’s corresponding smile.

  “But we need help decorating. If we don’t all pitch in, the children’s holidays won’t be magical.”

  Scarlett thought longingly of the rum she should have added to her cocoa and took a long sip to hide her reaction before she said the wrong thing. She fought for and won a light voice. “This is Mystic Cove. Their everyday is magical.”

  Before Janet could lay more pressure on, Scarlett called to her daughters, “You ladies ready to move on? Mommy’s toes are numb.”

  It was a blatant lie given that she and the girls all had warming charms on their bracelets. Scarlett was a single mom with little kids and her own business. The chance of her helping out with parties was zero even if it wasn’t fair to the moms who did help. She just… couldn't.

  Scarlett called her girls again, “Ella! Luna?”

  The girls didn’t come. Luna was probably telling whoever lived here that there was a rabbit in the garden who needed to be loved and was named Cleon and he liked spinach the most of all things or some variation thereof. Scarlett started up the walk after her girls, hoping that Janet would stay behind. Daring a look back, Scarlett saw Janet and her daughters across the street. She sighed in relief and then called, “Lady loves!”

  There was no answer.

  Chapter 2

  The mama lioness in Scarlett came out, but she wasn’t that worried yet. The girls couldn’t be far and they were sugared up. It wasn’t surprising that they weren’t responding like they normally did. They might not even hear Scarlett over their sugar-racing blood pumping through their ears. There were old trees planted in the yard that blocked Scarlett’s view of the door. They were massive and friendly, and Scarlett suspected they’d been planted by a druid.

  “Luna?”

  No answer.

  “Ella?”

  “Here, Mommy,” Ella said.

  Scarlett grit her teeth fighting back the desire to snap at them for not answering her.

  “Mommy,” Ella’s voice was serious as she said, “The door is wide open. We called and knocked and no one came, but the dog is barking and Luna says it’s upset.”

  Luna’s moss-green eyes were wide and worried under her puppy makeup.

  Scarlett couldn’t garner up too much concern about the dog when she was flooded with the dueling emotions of irritation that her girls hadn’t answered her and joy that they were fine.

  “Ok,” Scarlett said, struggling to not snap at the girls during their holiday. “Well…”

  She thought for a moment. The door was wide open. And that was weird. She stepped into the grass to peek into the windows. They were blacked over. But not with fabric. Scarlett frowned and tapped into the nature magic around the area, but… goodness. She recognized the magic that had connected to the trees out here. She bit back a curse and crossed to the door with Ella and Luna right behind her.

  The windows were blackened with magic, the door was wide open, but no one was replying to her. The nature magic she recognized belonged to Scarlett’s newest sister, Maeve, who’d been adopted only recently. Something was off with the way that Maeve was connected to the magic here and that was triggering Scarlett’s knowing. There was no way, Scarlett was going to keep trick-or-treating with her daughters until she knew her sister was ok.

  “Hello!” Scarlett called. Luna echoed Scarlett with a pipping, “Helllooooo!”

  While Ella said, “We tried that.”

  “Hello,” Scarlett called again but this time the knowing of the druids amped up, whispering that Maeve needed Scarlett. All was not well. She closed her eyes and took a breath, she’d been hoping to find her way to her couch and fireside soon. There was no time for frustration or exhaustion. She called the sheriff, Lex, instead.

  “Scarlett,” he answered.

  “We’re… I don’t know where we are. You can find us though, right?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “Anyhow,” Scarlett said, cutting in. “The door to this house is open, something’s wrong. And Luna says the dog is upset. I’m going to see if they’re ok.”

  “No, don’t,” Lex said, but Scarlett couldn’t leave someone potentially hurt. Especially when Scarlett sensed her sister, Maeve.

  “It’ll be ok,” Scarlett said. “Girls, go to the end of the drive, hold hands, and wait for Lex.”

  “Scarlett,” Lex said and there was a snap of irruption in his voice, but Scarlett handed the girls her phone, considered, and then told Ella, “Call Nana.”

  It took Scarlett several more moments before she added, “And Gram.”

  “Lex is saying naughty things,” Ella told Scarlett while Luna giggled.

  Scarlett glanced back, told herself to scold Lex later and took one step inside. She felt something snap into place around her and realized it was the energy of some sort of spell. Scarlett paused and looked back. The doorway flickered, and Scarlett stepped back towards it, but she couldn’t quite push through. The doorway had been blackened on the other side, and Scarlett wondered if her girls could see her struggle to get out. She hoped not.

  “Well crap,” Scarlett muttered. She might have pushed and tried to fight her way out, but… Maeve. Instead, she turned to the dog and said, “Can you tell Luna to stay outside with Ella and not to come in?”

  The dog growled at Scarlett, darted forward, yipping and then skittered back.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Scarlett said and sniffed, fake kicking at the dog to get it away from her ankles before she got bit, she glanced around looking for signs of her sister. She didn’t like the ominous feeling in the air and tried to feel for the east wind. The wind was outside but couldn’t reach Scarlett with the spell in place. She wasn’t quite ready to break through the window given that she’d yet to find Maeve and make sure she was all right. “Hello?”

  The entry was black and white tile and there was an open doorway to the right that had a pile of sleeping bags and backpacks. Scarlett recognized the one that Maeve carried ever since Bridget, Maeve’s sister, had died. Scarlett peeked into the living room, but there wasn’t any sign of Maeve—or anyone—in there.

  “Hello?”

  It was silent in the house except for the dog who was still yipping and darting at Scarlett before skittering away just before Scarlett got chomped.

  “Get off ya punk,” Scarlett said, realizing that this type of dog would be the perfect mutt for Gram. Luna really was remarkably intuitive.

  “Scarlett?”

  “Lex?”

  Scarlett turned back to the door and said, “Here.”

  “Did my mom come?”

  “Ella was talking to her when I got here. I left your girls with Janet.”

  “By the stars,” Scarlett said, “Now I’m going to end up on the leprechaun committee and have to cover the school with green glitter and clovers.”

  “What?” Lex asked, shrugging his lackadaisical shrug. She wanted to smack him. She hadn’t quite gotten past the things he'd said when he was investigating her ex-husband for murder. It hadn’t been his fault—he’d been bespelled, but she had to wonder… how much of it was what he really thought and how much of it was the spell?

  “Maeve is here,” Scarlett said.
r />   “So, I can’t talk you into going back out to your girls?”

  “Have you tried?”

  He paused and shook his head.

  “There’s no getting out that way.”

  Lex’s brows rose and she heard him mutter under his breath. She’d have taken a steep bet that he was cursing up a storm.

  Lex went into the kitchen, calling out for those who lived here, but Scarlett knew enough about sleepovers to find the family room. It was in the basement with a large TV, a big couch, and a series of girls slumped over. They were in a loose circle surrounding an ouija board and two old open leather books. The light in the room was out, but the room was bright because of a circle of candles and a set of candelabra on either side of the TV.

  Scarlett crossed to Maeve and checked for her pulse. She was breathing lightly. Scarlett reached for her magic and let the energy of it flutter over Maeve. Something was… off. But Scarlett couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

  Either way, Maeve hadn’t killed herself with whatever stupid thing she and these other girls had done. Now, to figure it out, get her sister back to herself, and then get herself to her couch with some wine and Netflix.

  “Scarlett?” Lex called.

  She glanced towards the door but couldn’t see him. Hands on her hips, she shook her head at the pile of preteens. What had they done and how bad was this?

  “Down here,” she said loud enough to carry up to him.

  “I’ve got a couple up here, passed out next to a bowl of candy and some coffee. Nothing seems off, except I can’t wake them up.”

  That’s pretty big, Scarlett thought, but she saved her sarcasm. Now that the fun had come to an end, the extra baking she’d been doing over Halloween season was catching up to her.

  “I’ve got a slew of pre-teens down here,” Scarlett said, “With open spellbooks, an ouija board, and… I think… spelled candles.”

  Lex cursed, and she could hear him tromp down the stairs, but she was too busy trying to wake Maeve. Scarlett shook her newest sister’s shoulder lightly, tapped her cheek, and then looked over her shoulder to meet Lex’s gaze.