A Taste for Magic (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 5) Read online

  Contents

  A Taste for Magic

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  A Taste for Magic

  by

  Sara Bourgeois

  Chapter One

  “So, he asked you to marry him while he was making a grilled cheese sandwich?” Viv asked before taking a sip of her dirty chai latte.

  “And then you ran into the bathroom and upchucked again?” Reggie interrupted before I could answer.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “And then what happened?” Reggie leaned forward as if I hadn’t already told her the story three times and the ending would change.

  “Then I sat on the sofa for a while, and when I felt better, I ate my sandwich,” I said.

  “You didn’t say anything about him asking you to marry him,” Viv pressed.

  “I actually started to think I might have imagined it, and he didn’t bring it up again. He did act a little weird the rest of the night, but the next day, everything was back to normal,” I said.

  “And neither one of you has said anything about it since?” Reggie asked.

  “You know something else no one is talking about?” Viv swooped in to save me. “All that money. That sack of money that Liberty left somewhere in Coventry. No one has found it yet, and I can’t believe that it’s not the topic of the town.”

  “Maybe because people think it’s cursed,” I offered. “The witches in this town would know to be wary because it might be cursed, and perhaps even the humans that have heard the rumors. I bet there are people looking for it, though. They just aren’t saying anything.”

  “Do you think it’s cursed?” Reggie was deflated we’d moved on from discussing the proposal, but she seemed to light up at the prospect of cursed treasure.

  “I would say that there is a better chance that it is than it isn’t,” I said and sipped my hazelnut latte.

  Viv and Reggie both let out a simultaneous disappointed sigh. After a few moments, Reggie’s face brightened.

  “Wait, if we really think it’s cursed, doesn’t that mean we have an obligation to find it? Like, we can’t just let someone else get hurt because we’re afraid. That’s not who we are,” Reggie said.

  “So, you want to find the money for the good of the people?” I asked, but I couldn’t contain my giggle-snort.

  “I mean…” Reggie started to say something but she trailed off.

  “I’m sorry. That was a jerk thing for me to say. I know that both of you could use the money,” I said. “I’m not judging you. I promise.”

  “We know you’re not,” Viv patted the top of my hand. “And I couldn’t say I need the money. There are some things that I could pay off, and that would make my life much easier.”

  “I could really use the money,” Reggie said. “I don’t want to get cursed again, though.”

  “You guys realize that someone might have already found it and just not mentioned it,” I said. “I probably wouldn’t if I found it.”

  “Yeah, but you’re different,” Viv said. “Most people would tell everyone they know, and then post it on every social media site they could think of because the money wouldn’t be enough. They’d want recognition too.”

  “You guys aren’t like that,” I countered.

  “I think I might be,” Reggie said and then she let out a cackle.

  We laughed along with her for a minute until someone new walked into the Brew Station and glared at us. Viv recognized her.

  “Hell, Hollie. How are you today?” Viv asked.

  Hollie hurried by our table and mumbled something about being “just fine.” She rushed up to the counter and placed her order without loosening the death grip on a couple of books she had tucked in her arms and pressed against her chest. She also had one of those one-arm laptop backpacks slung over her shoulder.

  For whatever reason, Viv only partially turned her attention back to us. She also kept an eye on the counter and Hollie’s interaction with Jack. Jack was the assistant manager who Viv left in charge whenever she wasn’t working.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “She’s just not herself. Hollie is usually a bubbly, happy young woman,” Viv said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so glum, and she comes in here to study a lot.”

  “Is she in high school?” Reggie asked and looked at her phone. “Shouldn’t she be at school?”

  “She goes to the college in Blue Mound,” Viv said. “Hollie graduated from high school early, and she’s actually gearing up to graduate undergrad next year, but for her junior and senior year, she’s been doing the dual credit program. She’s working on her master’s at the same time.”

  “Whoa,” I said. “That’s got to be intense. Maybe that’s why she’s a little down. I imagine it’s hard to be bubbly all the time with all of that on your plate.”

  “That would be true for most people, but Hollie is one of those driven people who thrive on having too much to do. Maybe her summer coursework isn’t enough to keep her busy,” Viv offered.

  “That’s the college with the cemetery out front, right? It’s the first thing you see as you come into town?” Reggie asked.

  “Yep, that’s the one,” Viv said. “And you need to get out more. That’s one town over and you sounded like you weren’t sure if it was the right one. You’ve got to get out of Coventry more, girl.”

  Reggie just stuck her tongue out at Viv.

  Before we could continue our conversation about Hollie and her college, the actual Hollie yelled at Jack. “I said no mustard!”

  We turned to look, and Hollie shoved her sandwich across the counter so hard that it slid all the way off and landed at Jack’s feet. Jack’s face turned bright red, and he began to mutter an apology.

  “What is wrong with you? I told you that I didn’t want any mustard three times! Three times! Why can’t you listen?!”

  Viv was out of her chair and up to the counter in two seconds. “Jack, why don’t you go in the back and see if Kim needs any help,” Viv said as she went around behind the counter.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said and practically ran through the door to the kitchen.

  “Hollie, I’m sorry he messed up your order,” Viv said with cool, confident professionalism.

  “I am sorry that I knocked it on the floor. I didn’t mean to do that,” Hollie said. “I just…”

  “It’s okay,” Viv offered her a soft smile. “Let me make you another one. I know it’s a pain in the butt but give me your order one more time so I can make sure I get it right.”

  When Viv was done making the sandwich, she pushed it gently across the counter to Hollie. “On the house. For your trouble.”

  “Thank you, Viv,” Hollie said. “Please tell Jack I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw my sandwich on his feet.”

  “It’s okay,” Jack said as his head popped out from the kitchen. He cautiously walked out to the counter and joined Viv. “We all have bad days. I’m sorry that I messed up your order. I wasn’t thinking, and I will use this as an opportunity to improve my listening skills.”

  “They are really good at this,” Reggie said and popped a chip in her mouth.

  “I’m sure you had to deal with angry customers when you worked at the diner,” I said.

  “Oh, all of the time,”
she said as she chewed her chip. “But I never handled them like that.”

  “How did you handle them?” I asked.

  “We don’t need to talk about that,” she said before shoving another of the house-made potato chips in her mouth.

  “Reggie.”

  “What?” she said and shrugged.

  “You’re right, never mind. Some things are better left in the past,” I said.

  Viv came back and joined us at our table while surprisingly, Hollie took her order and sat down at a table in the back corner of the dining area. Picking that table wasn’t the surprising part. What shocked me was that she stayed at all after her outburst, but Viv had done an amazing job defusing the situation.

  I watched as she opened one of the old books to a marked page and then set up her laptop. Hollie barely noticed anything going on around her as she dove into her work. She began furiously typing while frequently glancing at the book.

  “Everything okay?” I asked Viv.

  “Yep, it’s all good. Jack has dealt with worse. I think everyone is going to be fine.”

  “So, about the proposal.” Reggie had obviously been waiting for the opportunity to bring it up again.

  “Weren’t we talking about lost treasure?” I protested.

  “Reggie’s right. This is far more interesting. We can worry about the lost money when we’ve got your life in order,” Viv said with a chuckle.

  I noticed that during our conversation, Hollie’s phone kept going off. She’d check it and then look angry all over again. Eventually, she turned the phone off and shoved it in her bag. Whatever, or whomever, was bothering her wouldn’t let up until she finally silenced them completely. When she did, though, Hollie looked a great deal more peaceful. Her expression softened, and she was able to concentrate.

  Unlike me.

  “Earth to Kinsley,” Reggie said and then poked me in the arm.

  “Sorry,” I said and sipped my latte. “I’m really not ignoring you guys’ question. I just don’t know what to tell you.”

  “Do you think he changed his mind about asking you when you didn’t answer him?” Viv asked as gently as possible.

  “No,” I said, but I swallowed hard and betrayed myself.

  “But you’re worried about it. We can see it written all over your face, Kinsley,” Reggie said.

  “Maybe a little,” I admitted. “But I try not to worry. Seriously, guys, Thorn’s not the kind of guy to change his mind like that, right? He’s not going to want to marry me one moment and then not the next, right?”

  “No, he’s not like that at all,” Reggie answered. “Not like somebody we know…” She stuck her tongue out at me.

  “That’s not fair,” I protested, but I knew she was right.

  “Just keeping you on your toes,” Reggie chuckled and went back to drinking her espresso and cocoa.

  “You guys are really going to have to learn to communicate better,” Viv said. “I’m not saying you’re doing a bad job, but you guys do tend to dance around each other like scared teenagers sometimes. You’ve got a family situation on the way. You’re going to need to be more direct with each other.”

  “The last time Thorn was too direct with her, she married another dude,” Reggie said and then quickly sipped her drink again.

  Viv swatted her. “Hush. That nonsense was all a bunch of malarkey and it’s in the past.” Viv turned to me. “It’s in the past. What matters is now and your future together. You should bring it up with him. Reggie might be right about Thorn being scared to be too direct with you. He might not want to push.”

  “I don’t want to push either,” I said. “I’ll give him a little bit of time, but if he doesn’t say anything soon, I will.”

  After our coffee date, I planned on going over to the shop to open for the afternoon. It was supposed to be my day off, but I knew there were some witches who would come in for supplies. Plus, the tour company in Coventry had expanded their tour schedule on the weekends until winter.

  There would be an afternoon tour that day, and that meant business. Reggie didn’t need to work because we wouldn’t be that busy. Most likely she’d need to go visit her grandmother and then talk to Jeremy on video call in the evening. He would be returning to Coventry soon. I knew he was back in the States, but he hadn’t been released to return home and to his regular Guard schedule just yet.

  As I walked through the square, I noticed a small group of people standing across the street from the shop. It took me a moment to realize they were looking up and pointing. One of them was on their phone.

  My eyes drifted up in the direction they pointed, and my heart nearly stopped. There was smoke pouring out from the second floor of the building. It was supposed to be vacant space, but I didn’t have access to it as part of my lease.

  There was a back entrance to the building that opened to a small hallway and a stairwell to the second floor. None of it was accessible from inside the shop, and my keys wouldn’t work on the back door.

  But I didn’t need keys.

  Coventry had a small fire department that consisted of a few full-timers and a handful of volunteer firefighters. As the town had grown, so had the fire department. But their new station was over in the new section of town.

  It wouldn’t take them more than a few minutes to get to the shop, but I couldn’t fathom waiting. Not when I could do something about it.

  I ran around the block so I could get to the back of the row of buildings. Vaguely, I could hear Viv and Reggie calling after me. By that point, they must have seen the smoke too.

  After sprinting down the alley, I waved my hand over the handle and deadbolt that secured the back door. I expected a blast of heat and smoke when I swung the door open.

  But there was nothing.

  I told myself that maybe it was because all of the smoke was near the front of the building, and I was at the back. So, in a flash of brilliance, I ran up the stairs to check.

  Fire was nothing I couldn’t handle. I had control of all of the elements, and it was nearly my favorite. Mostly for making food faster, but it came in handy for things like putting out burning buildings as well.

  Interestingly enough, when I got upstairs and flipped on the wall switch, there was nothing. I was standing in a room that looked very much like the back room of my shop, but it was empty. There was no smoke.

  Then the water turned on in the bathroom and the toilet flushed. The bathroom in the second story was in the exact same location as in my shop.

  I prepared myself for when whoever was in there came out. At first I thought there might be someone squatting, but not only was there no furniture in the place, there wasn’t even a sleeping bag.

  When I looked through the doorway that led into the front portion of what was an apartment, I saw that about where my counter and register sat downstairs was a wall. The doorway in it led into a small, narrow kitchen.

  Still no one came out of the bathroom. I was about to leave and go downstairs when the scratching started in bathroom. I’d never given much thought to the empty space above the shop. It never occurred to me that it could be the source of the haunting. Mostly because I hadn’t known there was a living space up there. The landlord had never mentioned it, and he obviously didn’t rent it out. Thinking back, my assumption had been that it was a large, empty attic space.

  Confident at that point that the noises coming from the bathroom were of a spectral nature, I started to walk to it. About that time was when two firemen came running up the stairs and busted into the apartment. Viv and Reggie must have told them I was up there. I wondered if smoke still appeared to be pouring out of the front of the building.

  My question was answered by the expression on the firefighters’ faces. They took their masks off and surveyed the room with dismay and confusion.

  “There’s no fire,” one of them said. I recognized him. His name was Clarke Green.

  “There has to be. Did didn’t you see all of that smoke? It must be in the
walls or something. I’ll go check the front of the apartment. Ma’am, please exit the apartment for your own safety.”

  “I don’t…” I started to say.

  “Kinsley, please,” Clarke said. “Thorn would have our hides if he found out we let you get hurt.”

  I wanted to stay because I knew there was no fire, but there was also no point in arguing with the fire department. Unless I wanted them to call Thorn. Which I’m sure they could and would do when they had a citizen refusing to leave a potential fire scene.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll go, but there’s no fire.”

  “How can that be?” the other firemen called from the other room.