So surprising was their reaction that Eloise looked around the dark graveyard to look for anyone not out of their minds with bourbon.
"Girl, curses were made to be broken." Tilly said pointing to Ursula who nodded emphatically.
"Yeah. The Brawny Man was cursed and then he bumped into me and bam." She clapped her hands together, her drink sloshing over the side and onto her hand which she licked with feline movements. "He said he suddenly felt this calmness around me and I broke it."
"What? How have we not talked about this? How did you break it? Wait," she said holding up a hand. "I am too drunk for this conversation. Let's talk later."
"Do you want to break his curse?" Kelsea asked waggling her blonde eyebrows. There was whipped cream dotting the arch over her right eye like a small moon shining over the starlight of her glassy eyes and Eloise gently wiped it off.
Eloise made a distressed noise and then said, "Yes. But I can't go there right now. Too much going on."
"True," Tilly agreed.
"And he smells like sweet oranges and smoked hickory which makes me feel safe and like I want to curl up with him and rest, and I swear I smelled it in Florida when I knew I needed to come here." The confession made her head feel less full.
"Oh, maybe smell is her witchy thing," Tilly said.
"Witchy thing?"
"Yeah, anyone who lives in The Lost Souls House gets kind of a witchy gift. Although, I get witchy inclinations sometimes," Tilly explained. "But nothing like Ursula's gift with plants."
"What do I smell like?" Jen asked.
"Fresh hay and sweet cinnamon apples," she replied easily.
Her mouth dropped open. "I love the smell of hay. Grew up with horses. And my best childhood memories are hayrides while drinking spiced apple cider. Wild," she said.
"Oh, do me!" Tilly said jumping a little.
Eloise tilted her head and closed her eyes. "A hardware store and sugar and yeast."
Tilly had a similar reaction to Jen as her eyes widened behind her red cateye glasses. "My dad used to take me to the hardware store when he would work on projects and he'd always get me a vanilla glazed doughnut. It was the only time I felt I could breathe with someone in my family." Tilly's eyes had gone hazy with memories; rides in her dad's truck, both silent as they listened to an old radio station. She followed him around the hardware store quietly until she was rewarded with a doughnut dipped in vanilla glaze and more quiet with her father.
"Holy crap, our little mermaid is also a little witch!"
"Shhh," Kelsea said looking around. "Remember there is a hunt for witches right now."
"Oh, should we hex Carol Weatherby?" Jen asked.
"We cannot hex Carol," Ursula and Kelsea said together.
Jen shrugged and tipped back the rest of what was in her glass.
"I love this. I love all of this," Eloise said as she leaned into Kelsea who started playing with her hair.
"Are we a coven yet?" Tilly asked, looking at Crystal.
They all looked at Crystal who twisted her white hair up into a clip. "Why do you all look at me with these things?"
"Oh come on," Jen rolled her eyes throwing the blackberry from her drink at Crystal who laughed, unbothered by the dark purple stain left on her top.
"I do know we should get rid of some of this dark energy," she said, delicately sidestepping the question.
"Oh yes!" Tilly said jumping up shakily followed by the other women in various states of wobbliness. Anyone looking in would see a scene of women trying to balance themselves amongst graves and cats and an outrageously large hound, laughing at the audacity of gravity as they held out arms to link for steadiness.
Bunches of herbs were laid on the tops of graves in offering, and the women, now appropriately tipsy on drunken blackberries and good conversation, danced around as music started to play from nowhere, the notes gentle and calming, as the smells of spiced bourbon and rosemary filled the air.
"Speak his name, take away his power," Crystal said to a swaying Eloise. Before, Crystal hadn't asked for his name. Before, she'd simply charmed what he left behind turning an omen into a shield.
