Drake gave me a frightened look over his shoulder as Grammy Jo led him away. I shrugged and laughed. If he wanted to learn about magic, who was I to stop him? My family would have him straightened out in no time. He’d be back on his way home before I even had to figure out what to do with him.
I dropped myself into a wooden chair and stared at the covered food waiting for our lunch. Drake’s sudden appearance had given me no time to consider how I still felt about him. A few months ago, I would’ve said I was in love. But, now? My heart wasn’t doing any talking and my head was numb. It was too early to be making any rash decisions.
“You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend,” Momma Tula said, sliding into the chair next to me. She watched Grammy Jo shake a bottle of rat tails at Drake and point to the cauldron on the stove. “He’s handsome.”
Impatience leaked into my reply. “I didn’t tell you because we were a bit busy running from your problems in Arizona at the time.”
She winced and immediately I wanted to take it back. She didn’t need reminding of that mess. We’d come so far in these five months. No need to dredge up the past.
“We broke up. It was done. I didn’t think you needed to know.”
She nodded slowly. “He still seems to like you, though.”
“Just because he shows up with some half-brained story about a charm that led him here, doesn’t mean we’re going to get back together.”
“Charm?” She shifted in her chair and her eyebrows raised in curiosity. “What kind of charm?”
“Not the good kind.” I dug in my pocket and pulled it out, displaying it on my palm for her to see. “I think it’s blood magic. Right?”
Her eyes grew wide and she shrunk into her chair, pushing my arm away. “Get that thing away from me!”
It tumbled to the ground between our feet, clinking as it hit the hardwood. She pulled her feet up as if it were a mouse running across the floor and swore.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. My heart pumped as if I’d just ran a marathon. “Is it dangerous?”
She nodded, her eyes glued to it. “That’s a cursed charm. The witches who invented it used them for revenge. I can’t believe someone was foolish enough to sell it to a boy off the street.”
My hands began to sweat, so I rubbed them together. “But, nothing bad happened. Maybe it lost its magic.”
“You said it brought your boyfriend here?” Her light brown eyes swept up to mine. “That sounds like it’s working, to me. If I remember correctly, this kind of charm sends you on a mission. It forces you to complete it. His mission must’ve been to find you.”
I gulped. Grammy Jo had taught us to never fight nature or human will with our magic. It was unnatural, she’d say. This sort of charm forced its will on its victims. Nothing good could come out of that.
“We’ll just destroy it,” I said. “Nobody will ever be affected again.”
I nabbed a floral kitchen towel and snatched the charm off the floor. Despite the heat, a small fire always burned in the kitchen fireplace. My aunts kept it going for charm work. If there was one thing they’d taught me, it was that fire was the almighty purifier. It could destroy the dark forces that held this thing together. I went to toss in the charm, but Momma Tula lunged from her chair and grabbed my arm.
“No, you can’t destroy it!”
I struggled against her tight grip. “Why not? We need to get rid of it.”
“You touched it. It’s bound to you.”
“So?”
“If you destroy it now, you’ll kill yourself with it.”
The towel dropped from my hand, along with the charm, landing on the floor. Blood fled from my face and I felt like I was going to be sick. Luckily, everyone else was still too enthralled with Drake to notice my situation.
“It’ll kill me?” I asked Momma Tula. Maybe I hadn’t heard her correctly.
“Yes, you touched it. You’re bound to it until you complete your mission. I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head. “But isn’t there a way to unbind me? A spell?”
Her pink lips pulled down into a devastated frown. “No, my dear. Blood magic is some of the strongest out there. I wouldn’t even dream of testing my spells against it. That’s too much risk. You’re going to have to ride this one out and do what it tells you.”
“And if I don’t?” I looked down at the charm and gave it a little kick in an act of defiance. This stupid little toy wasn’t going to scare me.
“If you don’t,” she took my chin in her hands and forced me to look at her, “the charm will work its magic.”
“And…?”
What? Would I get seven years bad luck? Nearly a decade of bad luck didn’t sound too awful. I could live with that.
She squinted her eyes and cleared her throat. Telling the truth had never come hard for Momma Tula. If my hair had split ends, my painting had been sloppy, or my mood a little too grumpy, she was sure to let me know. It scared me that she seemed so reluctant to get it out.
“And…?” I repeated.
“And…” she dropped her hands from my face. “You’ll either go mad or it’ll kill you. There’s no getting out of this, my dear. You belong to it.”
Chapter 4
After the unsettling news about the charm, lunch didn’t taste so great. Of course, it didn’t help that nearly everyone was fawning over Drake as if he were Oliver Twist, a sweet orphan boy off the streets. I’d unwillingly left him behind after we finished our food so that Grammy Jo could teach him more about potions brewing.
The way Butch was hollering this morning, he’d kill me if I was even a minute late back to rehearsal. So here I was, jogging across the fairgrounds toward my fellow actors, the blood magic charm burning a hole in my pocket. Momma Tula had forced me to take it with me. She said I’d know as soon as my mission was clear.
Maybe, my mission would be to get through rehearsal without strangling Butch. That seemed difficult enough. Especially the way he was staring at me now.
“You’re nearly late,” he squeaked as I slowed my jog into a respectable walk and went to pick up my costume. Kat huffed at my heels. He wasn’t a fan of this running thing.
“Nearly late is not late,” I said with an obvious eye roll.
“We need to begin on time.” Butch tapped his Green Lantern watch and it began to glow. “We can’t begin without everyone ready and dressed.”
I grumbled a few unpleasant replies to myself as I pulled on my costume and Butch ran away to chew someone else out. Around us, the park was beginning to bustle. They’d finished setting up the outdoor bar and now a few other food vendors had begun to set up. The beginnings of a petting zoo had been erected far from the food tent, along with some fair games and rides. The fairground bordered the northern part of the Witch Trial Reenactment Park, so a small rollercoaster and Ferris wheel made up the backdrop for the setting.
An argument to my right caught my attention. A man and woman had just broken off from a bigger group of people and drifted my way. They whispered in shrill tones that just happened to reach my ears. I closed my eyes and pulled on the wool pants, but I couldn’t help listening in.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” the man demanded.
“Just having a bit of fun,” the woman hissed. “I’m allowed to have fun, Carter. After all, in a few more weeks, I’ll no longer be married to you.”
I squinted through my legs at the couple that appeared upside down. From the flair of long bleach-blonde wavy hair, I recognized Krista Green. She wore a skimpy teal tank top that skimmed the top of her tight jeans, flashing a bit of tanned belly every time she moved. Chunky jewelry lined her wrist and hung from her ears. Krista was only three years older than my cousins and me, so we saw a lot of her at the Jazz Club, flirting and dirty dancing with the out-of-towners.
Standing opposite from her was her husband. Her soon-to-be ex-husband, apparently. Carter Green was my family’s dentist. He owned Happy Smiles in the southern part of town a
nd lived in one of the fancy homes in the new subdivision on the east side. Already in his mid-thirties, he was a good looking guy with short dirty-blond hair and a smile that reached his eyes. He wore a shamrock green t-shirt with Uriville Town Council stamped on it in white loopy writing.
I pulled on my boots and began to lace them slowly. They were standing only feet behind me and if I made any sudden movement, surely they’d realize I’d been listening in. The only way to avoid an awkward situation was to move slowly, as if nothing was going on. And besides, I kind of wanted to hear the rest of the argument.
“You can’t hit on my friends in front of me,” Carter said, raising his hands to his own skull as if he wanted to crush it in frustration. “This is the last straw. I’m not going to agree to your alimony demands. You know my lawyer will win that argument.”
“Oh, calm down.” Krista pursed her lips and placed a manicured hand on her bony hip. “It was only flirting. And you’re going to pay that alimony. You know why?”
I peered over my boots at Carter’s reddening face. He’d dropped his hands to a defensive position, in front of his chest. Grammy Jo had never understood why Carter married his dental hygienist. Blythe said it had something to do with the size of her assets. Either way, I’d never really liked Krista Green and right now was no exception.
“You’re going to pay that alimony,” Krista continued in a hiss, “because you don’t want this whole town to know the truth about you, Carter Green.” She stabbed a finger at his chest and he took a step back, fear trickling into his frown. “That you’re not just some rich philanthropist with a golden heart. No, they’ll get to know the real you. That’s why you’re not going to fight this alimony agreement. You’ll pay up and I’ll shut up.”
At that moment, Butch hollered my name. Krista and Carter both turned toward me and caught me staring at them over my poorly laced boot. My face flushed with embarrassment as Krista’s eye’s narrowed and Carter went ghostly pale. I mumbled a poor excuse for an apology, grabbed my woolen jacket, and stumbled down the field toward the rest of my coworkers.
“Coming, coming,” I wheezed.
Already, the costume was trapping in the heat, cooking me like a stuffed sausage over the giant grill that Raven had returned to work on. I waved at her as I found my place in the line of soldiers. She stood in the middle of the grate, looking less than pleased, and nodded her head at me. All during lunch she’d been complaining about Butch’s demands for the upcoming festivities. Fix this, fix that.
It’d taken her nearly all morning to get the old bathrooms up to snuff. It would take several more hours to patch the new canon-sized hole in the stage floor. But first, she had to make sure the giant grill pit would work for the hundreds of pounds of meat that would be sizzling come this weekend. I shuddered at the thought. Nothing made me craze a soy burger more than the thought of that grill firing up.
“How long has it been since you last cleaned this thing?” Raven yelled at Butch. She had her hands on the hips of her skintight black jeans. A tan tool belt circled her waist. “It’s not going to work with all this gunk in here.”
Butch huffed and threw his pointy chin toward the sky. “I don’t know. Can’t you do it?”
Never the one to get his hands dirty, Butch was notorious for pawning off that kind of work to other people. But Raven wasn’t just anyone. She didn’t take that kind of crap.
“Butch Hall.” She stomped off the grill, grabbed a shovel, and marched in our direction. Butch shrunk into himself, grimacing at the sight of her wielding the tool. “You will get in there right now and help me clear it out. You’re never going to get a good heat going with all that junk clogging up the pit.”
He held out a weak wrist and sucked in his cheeks. “Are you sure you can’t do it?”
“Do you want a working grill for your big event or not?” She shoved the tool into his hands, nearly pushing him to the ground. “Get to work.”
If I was him, I wouldn’t ignore her. Raven didn’t often say much, but when she did, it was best to listen to her. Especially when it came to machinery and fixing things. Thankfully, Butch wasn’t totally daft. He jumped to attention and scurried after her, yelling over his shoulder at us to begin practice without him. Everyone around me sighed in relief and began to relax. I dropped the heavy coat on the ground and stretched in delight. Practice would be so much better without our manager around, barking orders. Maybe we’d finally get a thing or two done.
“Alright,” I said clapping my hands to capture everyone’s attention. “Who needs a coffee break?”
About a dozen heads nodded and we all split different ways. Kat and I cautiously approached the grill pit as Butch dug his shovel into the ashy remains caked in the bottom. No way was I going to miss this. Butch Hall getting his hands dirty. We needed documented proof of this event. We needed photos.
As I pulled my phone out with its handy dandy built in camera, Butch tossed a shovel full of ash into a red wheelbarrow standing nearby. He paused to wipe a dusty hand over his forehead and then struck the shovel into the dirt again. The ashes had to be nearly two feet deep. There was no telling how long ago the grill had last been cleaned. Maybe never. It’d been installed in this field when I was a kindergartner. Almost twenty years of soot and ash had built up nearly to the metal grate that sat on top.
With my camera in hand, I raised it to shoot. Butch had sunk his shovel again into the dirt and already managed to coat himself with a thick film of dirt. I took a picture just as he was raising his shovel to the wheelbarrow. He’d managed to get a good hunk of the gunk to break away from the pile. It tumbled from his shovel into the barrow with a loud clunk. I smiled at the picture that appeared on my screen. I’d remember this day forever. Raven needed to come around the Reenactment Park more often.
Just then, a piercing scream caused me to nearly have a heart attack. I looked up from my phone to find the source of the noise. Butch – with his mouth stretched open in an O and his eyes equally as huge. He was staring at the wheelbarrow and screeching. In a fit of panic, he kicked it over and threw his shovel, barely missing Kat with the wooden part of it.
“What the…?” Raven came around the other side of the grill. “What’s wrong?”
“There…there…it’s there.” Butch pointed at the tipped wheelbarrow. “Right there.”
She met my gaze with a skeptical tilt of her head. We followed his finger and rounded the pit until we could see the contents of the rusty little wheelbarrow.
Gray ash and soot spilled out onto the browning grass. The remnants of a few burnt logs had rolled out as well. But the thing that captured our attention was the smooth and round object that had frightened my manager. No bigger than a football, it sat upright in the middle of the mess, smiling up at us with a mouthful of sharp and perfectly aligned teeth. Two gaping holes stared at us where eyes should’ve been.
It was a skull. A real life skull. In the middle of Uriville’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration.
My pocket began to heat up as if someone had shoved a branding iron down my pants. I stripped off my costume pants to reveal my jean underneath, dancing as if I had fire ants in my pants. Maybe they were fire ants. It felt like they were stinging my skin. I shoved my hand in my jeans and pulled out whatever was burning my thigh. With a few curses uttered under my breath, I held the red hot offender out and slowly unfurled my fingers.
Laying in the middle of my palm was the blood magic charm, glowing bright red.
About the Author
LACY ANDERSEN is the author of several series, including the Aya Harris Collection, Heart of a Demon series, and the Half-Moon Witches paranormal cozy mysteries. When not writing or dreaming up stories to tell, Lacy is busy playing with her daughter, watching Netflix with her husband, or reading the latest releases. She has a serious addiction to cotton candy, loves to compete in any type of game, and is currently planning her next trip around the world.
Lacy loves to hear from her fa
ns, so drop a line, send a tweet, IM her, or whatever the latest app does – she’d love to hear from you!
Follow Lacy Andersen:
TWITTER | FACEBOOK
If you want to be notified when Lacy Andersen’s next novel is released and get access to exclusive contests, giveaways, and freebies, sign up for her mailing list here.
Your email will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Table of Contents
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
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
An Excerpt from A Bone to Pick
About the Author
Thorn to Die Page 14
