Chapter One
I eyed the lit candle at the corner of the cash wrap, absolutely sure it was conspiring to singe off my eyebrows.
Okay, maybe that was overstating it just abit,but the candle flame wasdefinitely burning with more enthusiasm than I was used to. It flared at odd moments, whipping this way and that, burning more brightly than it had a right to. Maybe that was what I got for accepting a candle from Wanda’s closet. She’d offered me an array of them for resale when she’d done her last spring cleaning. Okay, she’d madeLorcando the spring cleaning while she sipped a cocktail, but the sentiment had been nice all the same. Now I was wondering if I’d been a fool to light one of them inside my shop. The magic on it simply wasn’t right, and I had a bad feeling Wanda might have spilled one of her disastrous potion experiments on it before promptly stuffing it into a closet, forgetting about it until it blew up in my face.
It didn’t help that I was also dragging, with several more hours to go. It was my own fault for reading into the wee hours, but it felt irresponsiblenotto, now that I was officially an alchemist. The journals my grandmother had shipped to my front door were my only instruction manual on handling the powers coming online at frightening speed. I’d already managed to turn a bottle of bleach into an accelerant on accident. I shuddered to think what I could do if I actuallyapplied myself.
God, even calling myself ‘alchemist’ felt silly. It made me think of a mad scientist locked in a lab, feverishly trying to turn lead into gold. I wasn’t even sure if that cliché was possible—if you actually could turn lead into gold. And even if there were some way to achieve it, there was probably some arcane code that forbade it. Having gold on hand would have been justas life-changing in the Middle Ages as it was today. It would definitely solve any financial problems I ran into. Though with my luck, I’d run afoul of a cabal of ancient alchemists and have to go on the run. That was the real problem. I just didn’tknowwhat this ability entailed,and being in the dark scared me.
I was so muddled with worry and exhaustion that I must have missed the tinkle of the bell above my door. The only reason I did notice someone was in my shop was when they cleared their throat and muttered an impatient, “Poppy?”
My gaze snapped up in surprise, and I had to bite back a yelp of surprise. There was a witch in my shop. A very familiar, inhumanly gorgeous witch who just happened to be my best friend. I still had no idea how we’d managed it since we were such polar opposites.
Wanda was a middle-aged witch who’d moved into Haven Hollow after being booted from her last coven. Through a series of mishaps, she’d wound up with a new coven of her own and a vampire boyfriend she couldn’t shake—well, now husband. The funny thing was that she managed to make herself look good the entire time she was doing it.
Wanda had pulled her inky hair into a high ponytail today, keeping it out of her way as she worked. It looked natural and stylish paired with the athleisure wear she’d donned this morning. Apparently, Taliyah was serious about roping Maverick and his whole crew into regular exercise. Cardio was necessary when you were chasing or being chased by something that wanted to eat your face off. Unfortunately, we’d gained enough enemies in the interim that the precaution was probably necessary. I just hoped Taliyah skipped me when leg day rolled around. I was more of a yoga kind of girl.
Wanda sashayed forward on the wedge heels she’d paired with the ensemble. The wedges were her own defiant middle finger to the tyrannical faerie princess trying to force us into anexercise program. Yes, Wanda had attended the workout class, but no way was she going to sweat.That was Wanda for you, always flouting the rules where she could.
“Did I scare you?” she asked.
“No,” I answered automatically. The word came out as a squeak, thoroughly pulling the rug out from under my lie.
Wanda at least had the grace not to tease me for the pathetic deception. This time. Instead, she closed the distance between us and leaned one rounded hip against my front counter, giving me a once-over. The sensation of phantom fingers brushing my aura was ticklish and made me squirm. I would have snapped at her to stop it if she weren’t likely to do it harder, just to spite me.
“Ah, I see. You’re tired. Late night with your lover, Poppy? You’re beginning to be as bad as me.”
The wicked smile she flashed me made me nervous, because I was sure it would be followed with a demand to disclose all the dirty details of my latest tryst with my British boyfriend, Andre. Worse, she might demand the details at the next Black Cat Cocktail Club. As far as the girls were concerned, they’d never met a penis they didn’t want a report on.
“I was up late, yes,” I started, giving her a frown. “But not with Andre. With my grandmother, actually.”
“Gross.”
I smacked her bicep harder than I meant to. Wanda’s lip actually jutted into a pout, and she rubbed the skin of her arm with a reproachful look.
“Ow!”
“Can you be serious for once?”
“I could be serious if I understood what you were trying to tell me.”
I frowned at her again. Harder this time. “I was up late reading the journals my grandmother gave me.”
“Oh.” A pause. “I was hoping for an Andre sex story.”
“I know you were. Sorry to disappoint.”
She sighed. “It’s okay.” Another pause. “So, what are you reading your grandmother’s book for?”
“It’s a journal,” I corrected. “Or maybe more of a diary. And, at the moment, I’m trying to sort out what’s relevant and what’s not. I don’t need to know about the neighbor’s love affair; I need to know how to control my powers.”
“I’dlike to know about the neighbor’s love affair.”
“Actually, I don’t think you would.” I gave her a look that said from what I could tell from the diary, the neighbor didn’t exactly sound like a catch.
“Okay, so you’re trying to figure out how to control your powers?” Wanda repeated.
Or how to get rid of them entirely. I felt like I was juggling on a tightrope, but someone had replaced my bowling pins with nitroglycerin. I was doomed to burn down the entire circus.
