“Back the fuck up.What did you mean when you said I was a witch?Because I can guarantee you I’ve never been able to do…that,” she waved her hand at the older woman who was no longer the familiar barista.
Mixie laughed, and the tension in the room eased.All except for Ria.Lissa could feel the anxiety wafting off her as she fidgeted in her chair.
“Did you guys all know?”Ria asked, glancing around the circle.“Did you guys know Mixie was the High Matron?”
“Of course,” Bootsy replied, reaching for a scone.“How did you think we always had these treats at the meetings?”
“I assumed you bought them,” Ria cried, exasperation filling her voice.“Not one of you mentioned our High Matron was running a coffee shop?”
“You never asked,” Hailey chimed in and everyone nodded in agreement.
“You told me she was on a soul-searching journey,” Ria replied, and Lissa was tempted to take Ria in her arms and give her a hug.She looked so lost and confused, something Lissa could more than sympathize with.
“Iwason a journey,” Mixie answered before anyone else could offer an explanation for her.“I’ve been preparing to turn over leadership of the coven, and I wanted to see what it would feel like to run a coffee shop for my retirement.”
“You’re planning to continue that, right?”Lissa asked, her own distress taking a brief back seat to her love of Mixie’s scones and lattes.There was no way she was going back to the corporate coffee shop in town.After discovering the bliss in a cup she got from Mixie’s, anything else would basically taste like sewage.
The High Matron chuckled and folded her hands in her lap, a picture of bemused serenity.“I do think I am, yes.It has been a most wonderful experience to provide joy to my community.Not to mention, I get to keep my magic fresh by infusing the tiniest hint into everything I make.”She winked at Lissa.
“I’ve been eating magic muffins?”Lissa breathed out, her brain switching from Twister to Jenga as each new fact she learned threatened to topple her entire way of life.
“Scones,” Mixie corrected.“But, yes.Much like the woman next to you, I am very skilled at potions, so I put a drop of my contentment concoction into everything I make.”
Well that explained a lot.
As a couple of the witches began peppering Mixie with questions about her ingredients, Lissa shifted to face Ria.“You reallyarea witch, aren’t you?”
How do you even apologize to someone for doubting such a core aspect of their identity?Although, in all fairness, Ria never turned into another person to prove her authenticity.
“I am,” Ria confirmed.“I never lied to you Lissa, not about that.I would never lie to you about something so important.”
Ria might as well have literally punched Lissa in the gut given the impact her words had.There weren’t enough scones in the world to put Ria in a good enough mood to forgive Lissa now.How had she screwed this up so badly?
“I’m so sorry,” Lissa said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“It’s okay,” Ria replied, rubbing a hand over Lissa’s thigh.“It’s a lot to ask someone to accept.And I’m the one who owes you an apology.I should have told you I messed up the spell the moment I realized it.I hate that I kept that from you, Lissa.I would never want to deceive you in any way.I care about you too much for that.”
And the gut punches kept on coming.Ria could give Muhammad Ali a run for his money at this point.
“High Matron,” Ria said loudly, shifting her attention away but leaving her hand on Lissa’s thigh.“Is there any chance we can do the reversal ritual now?It’s not fair to Lissa to leave her in this state of altered emotion on top of everything else she’s just learned.She doesn’t deserve to be put through this.”
And there it was.The knockout.Lissa was done for.She was officially a monster for lying to Ria and definitely didn’t deserve her forgiveness.
“I am sorry, Sangria Lewis, but I’m afraid I cannot help you with a reversal,” Mixie replied.
“Why not?”Ria demanded, and Lissa noticed a few of the other witches tense up at the tone Ria used.
The High Matron, however, maintained her pleasantly calm demeanor.“Because there is no spell on Lissa,” she stated plainly.“You cannot perform a ritual on another witch without their explicit consent.It is Hecate’s protection for her children so they may never harm one another.And while Lissa consented to the destiny love spell, that is not what you did that day, was it?”
Ria frowned.“No, I messed that up and did the love ritual instead.”
“Precisely,” Mixie stated, her lips curling up just a hint at the edges of her mouth.“And since Lissa is also a witch, it did not take.I can tell you both,” she said, looking from Ria to Lissa, “while love may feel like magic, there is no actual witchcraft involved here.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lissa interjected, refusing to even acknowledge the L-word.“We still haven’t covered that bit.Why do you keep saying I’m a witch?”
“I can feel it,” Mixie answered as if that explained everything.Lissa stared blankly at her, and Mixie let out the tiniest sigh.“You are a descendant of the witch, Alice Parker, are you not?”
Lissa frowned.“I don’t think so.I mean, anything’s possible.My family originally settled in the Salem area, but we never traced any genealogy.”Lissa paused for a second, something tickling her brain.“Wait, didn’t you say Alice Parker never had any kids?”she asked Ria.
