“Oh, I doubt it,” Lissa replied dismissively, trying to move around Bootsy.“I’ve only lived in Seacliff for a few years.”
Bootsy tapped her chin.“No, I do know you.I’d never forget that pink hair.You’re the girl who dated Lexi last year.Don’t you work at—”
“Hey, are those scones?”Lissa asked loudly, practically shoving past Bootsy to dive at the plate on the coffee table.
“Yes, they’re from Mixie’s,” Cordelia said, popping up beside Lissa so suddenly that she bobbled the treat for a moment before securing a firm grip on it.“Help yourself,” the perky witch added.
“Definitely will,” Lissa replied, and Ria chuckled as she watched Lissa shove half the scone into her mouth.
Taking Lissa’s arm, Ria guided her to a pair of empty chairs in the circle of witches that were all doing a poor job of trying not to stare at them.The only one she really cared about, though, was her mother.She’d never told Lissa her mom was in the coven as well, and the last thing she wanted to spring on Lissa today was a parental meet and greet.Ria needed to make sure Lissa was still interested in her before opening that can of batshit crazy worms.
“At least the stares are friendly,” Lissa murmured into Ria’s ear.
Nodding, Ria stood.Might as well get the awkward over with.“Hi everyone,” she said to the coven while Cordelia and Bootsy took their seats.There was only one empty chair left which Ria guessed had to be for the mysterious High Matron she still had yet to meet.“I’m sure you’ve all figured out this is Lissa, the one I told you all about.Thank you for helping me remove this spell and for being so nice about it.”
“Of course,” Hailey said, leaning forward to pat Ria’s knee.“What is a coven for if not to support one another?”
“And we’ve all been there,” Jess chimed in.“I once turned my hamster into a bulldog who crapped all over my mom’s white carpet.”
Ria laughed along with everyone else and took her seat again, gently laying a hand on Lissa’s warm thigh.
“Ooh,” Bootsy chimed in, bouncing in her chair and commanding everyone’s attention with her jiggling tits.“I got you beat for biggest fuckup.My first girlfriend asked me to turn her blonde hair red, but instead I turned her skin red.Like, flaming red.She had to call out sick from work for a whole week!”
The circle of witches laughed again, and the sound loosened a little of the anxiety in Ria.“I don’t know if that’s worse than mine, but it makes me feel better, for sure,” she admitted.“Anyone else care to share a spell gone wrong?”
“My essence fell into a pickle jar, and the brine consumed my spirit.”
The circle fell silent as everyone glanced over to Willow who looked like she was tapping out a morse code message on her inner wrist while staring wistfully at a hanging plant.
“Um, yeah, I can see where that would be a huge mistake,” Ria said, smiling politely at the somewhat bizarre witch.
“Oh, I’ve got a good one,” Kelly announced, the mood in the room settling back into something more relaxed.“I accidentally gave myself seven fingers on each hand once.I wanted to be better at the piano and probably should have been more specific with my spell.”
More laughter filled the room, so it was only because Ria was sitting next to Kelly that she overheard Hailey whisper, “I bet you could do some pretty fun things with those extra fingers.”
Kelly turned bright red, but everyone was already paying attention to Jenna telling her own story about dissolving her hair with a growth ritual gone wrong.
“I do believe I have you all beat,” Ria’s mother chimed in, and Ria tensed, knowing exactly what story was about to be told.
Please don’t mention me, she silently begged her mom, trying and failing to catch her eye.Her mom had agreed to keep their familial connection a secret, but her mom had also agreed to respect her privacy when she moved back home, yet she broke that promise on a near daily basis.
“I was preparing a potion to help my elderly neighbor with her arthritis,” Ria’s mom began.“Little did I know my ten-year-old daughter had taken my nettle leaf so she could make her own potions.I guess she wanted to be like her mom.”
Not even close, but okay, Ria thought, remembering how she’d only wanted to brew a potion so the boy who kept pushing her around at school would turn into a toad.
“Since she didn’t want me to know what she’d done,” her mom continued, “she replaced the nettle with wormwood, thinking they looked the same so it would be close enough.”
The entire room groaned, and Ria sank down in her seat a little.At least no one was looking directly at her and giving away the identity of said daughter.
Leaning in, Lissa whispered, “What’s wormwood?”
Ria just sighed and shook her head, knowing her mom would get to that.
“Needless to say, my eighty-three-year-old neighbor did not appreciate making the news for being the crazy old lady who had to be rescued by the fire department because she climbed onto her roof and was shouting obscenities at the moon.”
Everyone laughed, save for Ria.Even though she had yet to live down the embarrassment of that mistake, she was pretty sure Mrs.Grennel’s little adventure had ignited her love of potions.Once she realized they weren’t actually capable of turning someone into a toad butwerecapable of doing so much more, she became obsessed.Although, she had yet to ever touch wormwood again.
“Okay,” Marella said.“I think we can all agree Susan is the winner here.”
