If what Cosmo said was right, losing my special talents would hit Rick’s bottom line hard. I grinned.
“The kid has a power alright,” he said. “A bit quirky, but that’s a Merriweather for you.”
I waited, while he washed his face. Powers or not, it seemed that deep down he was still a cat.
“Alex can cook up a storm with any ingredient she finds, before it goes off.”
“Handy for a student.” A chuckle rose in my throat. “She’s not a full witch yet, right?”
“Nope, and there’s no guarantee she’ll become one.”
“So, it’s not hereditary?”
“It is, but it doesn’t have to be the direct line. Think of it as –” He paused for another quick groom. “A lottery. You all have the potential but when the time comes to pass on the gift, only one wins the jackpot.”
“But if anything happened to me?” As much as I loved being back in Willowmere, I wouldn’t want my daughter to have to give up her life to bury herself in a small town.
“Then it wouldn’t be her, probably. Not yet anyway. To inherit the full powers and responsibility, you have to be of a certain age.”
I could almost hear the air quotes. “You mean menopausal? What about men?”
“With them, it doesn’t matter.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Stop being so prickly. Would you want to run after your kids and do your duty as a witch? It’s not like it’s a 9 to 5 job.”
My stomach growled. How long had we been chatting?
Cosmo, who among other things appeared to be a mind-reader, ran to the door. “We should head down.”
“We?”
“You might need me. Anyway, people love me. They’ll want to see that I’m okay.”
I picked up his harness. “Please?”
He let me put the contraption on him with good humor. I’d eat and then I’d decide what to tell Alex about my change in fortune.
“Don’t forget we need to return to the house as soon as possible,” Cosmo reminded me.
“I’ll try. Now shush.” I mimed zipping my lips as I opened the door.
We were halfway down the stairs, when a searing pain shot through my head and my body threatened to burst into flames. I slid down against the wall. “What’s wrong with me?” I whispered.
Cosmo put his mouth so close to my ear, his whiskers touched me. “It’s the witch in you reacting to bad vibes somewhere in the neighborhood. If you don’t learn to control your reactions to any form of evil or magic, you’ll be in for a lot of nasty surprises.”
Chapter five
To say I was shaken when I carried Cosmo through the games room to the main part of theBlue Moonwas an understatement. I’d decided I’d let him roam as far as the leash would allow once I’d made certain people were fine with that. Especially Harper.
Because it was still the late afternoon, I hoped the bar would be quiet. I was right. Only three people sat at the tables, and they all turned to stare in my direction when I entered.
“There she is.” A woman a little younger and a lot better maintained than me, rose and held out her manicured hands to me. I took it as a symbolic gesture, since I cradled Cosmo, and cat hair would show up on her cream-colored pants suit. “I’m so sorry about your aunt. Is there anything I or the rest of the garden club can do to help you?”
Now I recognized her. Mimi’s stockbroker husband was the wealthiest man in town. He raked in the money, and she brought a lot of it back into circulation. To be fair, she loved good causes as much as she adored shopping. Wooden benches for the elderly strategically placed close to the stores and throughout the cemetery, donations for the playground, and tools for the garden club - all were paid for by Mimi Nicholson. She also frequented the lending library on occasion, although she could have afforded any book she wanted as a signed first edition.
“Thank you,” I said.
