Dragging her eyes away from the tits that made flat-chested Ria green with envy, she focused her brief scanning on the tiny, elf-like creature beside Bootsy.Willow was pure human, of course, because everyone knew elves weren’t real—or if they were, no one told Ria—but the small witch still radiated an ethereal beauty.From the long snow-white hair that was shaved on one side, to her ears that didn’t quite curl over like most people’s did, not to mention the fact she dressed in flowy gowns that made Ria assume she danced with woodland creatures on the weekends, it was obvious she was more than average.
The last chair was occupied by possibly Ria’s favorite witch in the group.Kelly, currently dressed in ripped jeans and a faded Linkin Park T-shirt, was the most normal of the witches in Ria’s mind.Kelly worked as an office manager for a dental practice and tended to keep quiet during the meetings, a fellow mouse in a room full of very outgoing quokkas.
“Ria?”
At the sound of her name, Ria glanced up to see her mom standing in the center of the circle, peering down at her, the eyes of the other coven members similarly fixed in her direction.
“Sorry, I missed that,” Ria squeaked out, blushing.“What did you say?”
Of course they’d been talking to her while she was struggling to remember names.Because she didn’t feel awkward enough as it was.
African Violet, Alder, Amaranth.Listing herbs alphabetically in her head always helped calm Ria when she felt nervous.
“I was saying,” her mom announced loudly as if there was anyone who wasn’t already watching their interaction like a hawk, “that you should stand up and tell everyone what’s been going on in your life.We missed the opening chant, but they were still in the middle of catch-up time when we arrived.”
Ria didn’t miss the pointed look in her mom’s eyes that informed Ria of just how she felt about their late arrival.
“Right, okay,” Ria said, climbing to her feet.“Well, as most of you know, I’ve been back in Seacliff for about six months.Mostly I’ve been trying to get my online potion business up and running.I used to do marketing, so I’ve managed to create a decent presence on social media.”She tried not to cringe as she told the coven how she basically embraced the technology that had been the reason she lost her job to begin with.Her boss wasn’t wrong that times were changing, and if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them.
“That sounds so exciting,” Cordelia gushed.“How’s it going?Jess and Jenna, weren’t you talking about doing something similar?”
The twins both nodded their heads enthusiastically, their beads bouncing wildly around their faces.
“We thought it would be a fun way to get Hecate’s name out to the world,” Purple Beads said.
“The more we get people worshipping her again, the more she might bless us,” Blue Beads added.
“So true,” Cordelia agreed as the rest of the coven murmured their agreement.“Maybe Ria could help you.”
“Uh, yeah.I probably could help,” Ria said, actually feeling a little flare of excitement in her stomach that she might get to use her marketing skills again.
“So you only sell potions?”
Ria shifted to face Booby, the witch who had spoken.No, not Booby.Her name was Bootsy and Ria knew that.She needed to stop thinking about the woman’s boobs.
While Bootsy was a lesbian like Ria, there was a firm no dating within the coven rule to prevent messy relationships from destroying the supportive dynamic.A rule that was needed, given they were all either lesbian or bisexual save for Jess.Or was it Jenna?She was a hair’s breadth away from asking if they’d consider name tags.
The lack of heterosexuals in their group wasn’t abnormal either.Most witches tended to find females considerably more attractive than males.One could only participate in so many naked moon rituals without feeling the pull toward the feminine form.
“Yeah, just potions,” Ria confirmed, answering Bootsy’s question.“Unfortunately, most people think it’s a gimmick, so I’m having trouble generating actual sales.”
“Oh,” Hailey piped up.“Have you tried offering destiny love spells?Everybody wants to find love these days.It might help bring in customers who would then buy potions.”
Ria opened her mouth to object, then paused.If she recalled correctly, the destiny love spell was fairly easy.It was a handcast spell since there was no such thing as a love potion, but the gestures weren’t too intricate, and she could probably find the words in one of her mom’s books.Susan Lewis’s spell library was something impressive, so much so that it even brought in witches from other towns who wanted to peruse the collection.
Although, her mom would tell her a proper witch should know every spell by heart.Like anyone could realistically memorize a thousand rituals and handcastings.That’s why potions were better.As long as a witch knew each herb’s properties, they could brew up just about anything.
“That might actually be a good idea,” she told Hailey.“I could try offering a destiny love spell on a trial basis and see how it goes.”All that mattered was how she marketed it.If one knew how to appeal to the public’s base desires, they could be nudged in whatever way she wanted.Marketing was pretty much its own kind of magic.
“Hecate’s popping buttons, I think this is a perfect plan,” her mom crowed, clapping her hands.Of course she would be thrilled at anything that got Ria handcasting again.
“How exciting,” Cordelia exclaimed.“You simply must attend next week’s meeting and let us know how it goes.”
“Sure,” Ria agreed, lowering herself back into the seat as Cordelia continued on about their upcoming full moon celebration.
Destiny love spell, she mused, tuning out the conversation about who would bring wood for the bonfire.It would be the first time she tried a handcasting in years, but it was worth a shot.Worst case scenario was it didn’t work and she’d have to refund her client’s money.Yeah, definitely worth a shot.
What could go wrong?
