Haunted Hex (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 10) Read online

  When the water started to go cold, a hint that the house had had enough of my lingering, I got out and dried off. After moisturizing thoroughly, I sprayed some of the hair tonic Lilith had made for me all over my damp hair. I wound the damp strands up and clipped them so they wouldn’t be stuck to my neck. I’d let them air dry that way, and it would give my fire-engine red tresses a nice bouncy wave.

  I threw on fresh sweatpants and a t-shirt, my new mommy uniform, and headed downstairs. Mom was standing in front of the fireplace feeding Laney a bottle. She swayed back and forth while gently humming a tune. Meri had fallen asleep at her feet.

  He was woken abruptly when she heard me coming down the stairs and turned around. “She’s a hungry one,” Mom said.

  “She does have a good appetite,” I confirmed. “It means she sleeps a lot too.”

  “That’s okay,” Mom said. “The business of growing is intense. Has she shown any signs of magic?”

  “Nothing other than she has slept through the night since she was born,” I said. “That’s pretty magical, in my opinion.”

  “I’m sure her powers will grow with her,” Mom said. “Whatever is going on with magic, maybe that’s what will happen rather than her having to learn to harness being born with so much power.”

  “You mean like with me?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It was great knowing that you were so powerful, but it was also scary sometimes. Especially when you would outgrow Amelda’s binding spells and we didn’t know it until you did something crazy.”

  “What if she never has magic?” I asked. “What if she’s more like Thorn? She could be…I don’t want to say just a person because it makes it sound like people are less than us. But, what if she’s not a witch?”

  “That’s impossible,” Mom said. “Even if her father isn’t a witch, there’s no way a child born to your bloodline could ever be anything but a witch.”

  I didn’t say it to my mother, but there was a small part of me that hoped Laney was born without magic. I’d tried to have a normal life, but it never worked out. If Laney wasn’t a witch, she could have the boring, regular existence I’d always wanted.

  “She’s going to get magic,” Mom said as if she could read my thoughts. “Someday, we’ll figure out what’s going on with all of our magic too. You will go back to being a powerful witch, and your daughter will become one too. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but you’d better accept it. You’ll be so much happier if you embrace who you are instead of wishing you were someone else.”

  She was probably right, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. I just kept hoping that whatever had happened to our magic would hold.

  I looked down and Meri and noticed something. “He’s getting bigger,” I said.

  “Way to change the subject,” Mom said before putting Laney over her shoulder to burp her.

  “Maybe it’s not really a subject change,” I said. “If the spell I did to grant his wish is wearing off…”

  “Let’s not talk about that,” Mom said quickly.

  At first, I didn’t understand why she would be so upset, but it dawned on me that we had a lot of standing spells. Many of them were anti-aging spells and the reason that so much of our Coven was still alive. If that magic began to wear off, then I would have to do something about it. I would do it with a happy heart too because I wasn’t just going to let my Aunties die.

  Our conversation ended there, though. My phone rang, and I answered quickly when I saw it was Reggie. I hadn’t talked to her for a couple of days, and I missed her terribly. It was still early in the morning, and I figured she was trying to get a call in before she opened the shop.

  “Long time no talk,” I said cheerfully when I picked up.

  “Kinsley, I hate to do this, but you’ve got to come down to the shop,” she said.

  “Oh, okay. Do you think it’s going to be busy today?”

  It hadn’t been busy at any of the businesses around the square since the tornado. People were rebuilding as quickly as possible, but it hadn’t even been two weeks yet. It was slow enough that Reggie ran the shop by herself, and most of our business came from local witches.

  The demand for supplies had only increased since the dip in magic. Witches were having to work harder and be more precise with their rituals in order to achieve any results. It meant that the shop was making a killing, and I could afford to pay Reggie a premium to keep things open throughout the chaos surrounding the store.

  “It’s not that,” she said. “Someone broke into the store. We’ve been robbed.”

  “Oh, no,” I said.

  “I wasn’t going to call you about it, but Jeremy says that since you’re the owner, you need to come down here. I’m so sorry,” she said. “I tried to handle things myself.”

  “Thank you for that,” I said, “but you don’t have to handle this yourself, Reggie. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “What is it?” Mom said as soon as I hung up.

  “The store was burglarized,” I said. “I have to go down there. Reggie tried to handle things, but Jeremy says I have to come in. I feel so bad that she didn’t think she should call me.”

  “Well, you did just have a baby, Kinsley,” Mom said. “I can understand why she didn’t want to call you.”

  “I have to go,” I said. “Did you bring breakfast?” I hadn’t noticed the smell of fresh-baked biscuits and fried chicken until just then. Mom knew I loved a fried chicken breakfast biscuit.

  “I did,” she said.

  “And of course, I have to go,” I looked at Laney and felt my heart sink.

  I was not ready to leave her yet. Not even with my mother. The thought of walking out the front door without her sent a wave of panic through me. Mom must have seen it written on my face.

  “We’ll come with you,” she said. “We’ll bring the biscuits and chicken. I’m sure Reggie could use a meal, and whatever deputies are there will appreciate it.”

  “Really, Mom?”

  “I recognize that look,” she said. “It’s hard to leave them with someone else for the first time, and you’re nowhere near ready. It’s too soon anyway.”

  “Thank you, Mom,” I said.

  “But you get to change her diaper while I get breakfast packed up.”

  Mom handed me Laney, and I changed her diaper at the changing table. I also put her in a fresh outfit and combed her wisps of curly blonde hair. By the time I had done that, Mom had the food packed up into a basket she found in the kitchen.

  “I’m driving,” Mom said.

  “That’s good because I’m not cleared to drive yet,” I said.

  “Oh, honey,” Mom said. “I keep forgetting that you’re having to go through so much more than I did. We had enough healing magic that I was back to my old self the same day I had you.”

  “That has not been my experience,” I said as I walked slowly out to her car.

  Meri had managed to heal me enough at the hospital that I wasn’t in any pain once I came home, but I was still getting exhausted easily. I hadn’t had anything to eat yet that day, and the walk out to the car felt like a marathon.

  I could have used a strong cup of coffee too and cursed myself for lingering in the shower for so long. When I finally made it to the car, Mom grabbed a sandwich from the basket and shoved it into my hands. She pulled a bottle of Coke out next and put it in the cupholder between us.

  “I don’t care if you eat in the car,” she said.

  “Thank you,” I said after she’d walked around and gotten behind the wheel. The car was self-driving, but she liked to be there just in case.

  Since she didn’t have to drive, Mom ate a sandwich too. We shared the Coke since there wasn’t enough time for me to drink the whole thing before we got to the shop. Mom had strapped Laney into her car seat while I was getting myself situated, and my baby was snoozing quietly in the back seat.

  Thorn was getting out of his cruiser when we pulled into one of the spaces outside of my shop. H
e reached back into the car and took out two coffees from the Brew Station.

  He put them on top of his car and then helped me get out of my Mom’s. “For you,” he said and handed me a coffee. “I figured you didn’t have a chance to have much coffee.”

  “I haven’t had any,” I said and drank about half of it in two gulps. “You are a god among men, Thorn Wilson.”

  He actually blushed. “It’s just coffee,” he said. “I’m sorry about all of this. We’ll get what we need from you, and then you can go home.”

  “I’m not going to just leave my shop like this,” I said.

  I hadn’t been inside yet, but I could see that someone had smashed the front door in. At least they hadn’t taken out the windows. It would have sucked to have had the shop survive the tornado only to have all the glass broken by a thief. I’d had it all replaced with some sort of safety glass after the last burglary, but I was sure it could still be broken. Especially with all my protective wards weakened.

  “No one was killed, right?” I asked Thorn as we walked up to the shop. “No dead bodies?”

  “Thankfully, no,” he said. “That would have been a heck of a way to welcome me back to work. Unfortunately, we’re going to need an inventory of what’s missing, though.”

  “Reggie has already started on that,” Jeremy said as we went inside.

  “Be careful of the glass,” I told my mom. “You and Laney can hang out in the office. Would that be okay?”

  “She could go upstairs too,” Reggie said. She was standing by a set of shelves with a clipboard in her hand counting candles. “But not before I get to give that baby a kiss.”

  My mom took Laney over to Reggie. She gave the baby a kiss on the forehead and pinched on of her pink cheeks gently. Laney cooed and latched her little hand around Reggie’s finger.

  “So strong,” Reggie said.

  After a couple of minutes of Reggie fawning over Laney, my mom took the baby to the back. Reggie spread her arms wide. “Now, come over here so I can give the mama a kiss too,” she said.

  I laughed, but I walked over and let her pull me into a tight hug. It would have been painful if my innards were still tender, but since they weren’t, a Reggie hug was nearly the best thing in the world. Of course, she kissed my head and pinched my cheek too. It made me laugh hard.

  “Okay, ladies,” Jeremy said gravely. “Now, there’s been a burglary, so we’ll need to get the serious business out of the way. All right?”

  “Oh, chill out,” Reggie said and stuck her tongue out. “Fine,” she said when he threw her a look. “I’ll keep taking inventory.”

  “Kinsley, can you look around the shop and let me know if you see anything strange?” Thorn said. “We’ve got someone from the state police coming to dust for prints on and around the cash register. We’ll have them dust anywhere you see anything out of the ordinary too, but I’m not sure if it will do any good.”

  “There are so many people in and out of the store every day,” I said.

  “Exactly, but we’re going to try,” he confirmed.

  “Have you found anything missing?” I asked as I began walking around.

  “Nothing yet,” Reggie said. “It definitely wasn’t a smash and grab. It’s like they broke in to steal something specific, but I haven’t figure out what yet.”

  “You said you were going to dust the cash register for prints. Did they steal the money?” I asked.

  “The cash register doesn’t look like it was even touched,” Jeremy said.

  “We keep the money in the safe anyway,” Reggie added.

  “They didn’t even try to get into the cash register?” I asked.

  “Doesn’t look that way,” Thorn said. “But we’re going to dust it for prints. Maybe they just didn’t try very hard.”

  “That seems strange,” I said. “That they would bust the glass on the front door but not even try to pry the register open. Unless they weren’t here for money.”

  “Or unless they looked around and saw the safe,” Jeremy added. “Maybe they knew there was no point in trying the register.”

  “If whoever it was had shopped here before, there’s no telling what they knew,” I said.

  “You think it might have been a customer?” Reggie asked.

  “It’s always a possibility,” I said. “Or someone desperate for something.”

  As I spoke the words, I noticed that a display of spell bags was knocked over. Could a witch have broken in to steal supplies? Were times so desperate that they would rob me if they couldn’t pay?

  Why would anyone do that, though? I would have helped anyone who needed it. And taking a chance of angering my family Coven was a dumb move.

  Or, it had been stupid at one time…

  What could we really do now? Two horrible possibilities sprung to mind. The first was that without my Coven’s awesome powers, witches would begin to get out of line. The other was that, in our weakened state, someone would decide to try and get revenge.

  For what, I didn’t know. We’d upset a lot of people throughout our history.

  I crouched down to look at the spell bags, but I moved too quickly and had to put a knee on the floor to keep from keeling over completely. Thorn almost magically appeared at my side.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I answered. “Please don’t fuss over me.”

  “I just…” he started to say, but I cut him off.

  “Well, if you’re going to hover, could you hand me that basket?” I said and pointed to the one on the shelf that had previously contained the spell bags.

  “What are those?” Thorn asked as I put them neatly back in the basket.

  “Spell bags,” I said. “They do different things. You keep them in your pocket, in your purse, or tied to the loops on your pants. They’re very popular now that witches can’t just handwave their magic spells anymore. Tourists love them too, though they don’t do much for them.”

  “They’re different colors,” he observed as I put a couple more of the little velvet bags in the basket.

  “Red is for love, blue is for clarity, and green is for luck or money,” I said. “Basic stuff that most people are looking for. I think for most people, they really just make them feel better or more confident, but that can be its own kind of magic.”

  “What’s that one for?” Thorn asked sharply.

  “I told you…” I started to say because I thought I’d explained all of the little spell bags we had.

  I hadn’t.

  There, hidden under the others, was a black bag. It wasn’t one of ours. Well, the bag itself could have been. We sold black velvet bags and ingredients, but we did not sell them as ready-made spell bags for unwitting tourists. I would never sell a black magic spell that way.

  “This isn’t…” I said and picked the bag up. “Someone put this here.”

  I quickly slid the little sachet into my purse. Thorn’s eyes went wide with surprise.

  “Kinsley, you can’t just take that. It’s evidence,” he said.

  “I don’t want to file a report,” I said. “I’m sorry we wasted your time.”

  “Kinsley, don’t,” Thorn said softly. “You can’t file a claim with the insurance company without a police report.”

  “That’s fine,” I said. “I’ll pay for the damages myself. I don’t want to file a report. Thank you, gentlemen, for coming. Reggie, my mother and I will handle this.”

  Thorn leaned over close to me. “Are you okay?”

  “I am,” I whispered and patted his arm. “I just don’t want to have to explain any of this to Jeremy. I can feel from the bag that this is a witch matter, and the Coven will handle it.”

  “All right,” he said. “Come on, Jeremy. Let’s go get started on that mountain of paperwork you left on my desk.”

  “Boss?” Jeremy was thoroughly confused.

  “You heard me. The business owner is declining to file a report, so our work here is done,” Thorn said.

&n
bsp; Jeremy shot me a look, but I returned a smile. “Thank you for everything,” I said. “There’s nothing here for you to worry about, and we’ll handle it.”

  The spell that kept non-witches from noticing us and our magic was weakening thanks to the magical reset, but thankfully, it wasn’t gone completely. Jeremy nodded his head and left with Thorn. He would accept whatever Thorn told him about the robbery or, thanks to the supernatural veil, his brain would just make something up.

  “I’ll meet you back at the station,” Thorn said to Jeremy.