"Impossible," Deva shook her head in disbelief as we stepped back into the front. "There's no way the entire restaurant could be cursed... Could it?"
"Seems that way," Beth said, awe lacing her words. "This place must have been cursed over and over again."
"This is horrible." A shiver rolled down my spine at the thought.
"Shh," Deva said, holding up a hand for silence. We all froze in place, our ears straining for any sign of danger. Then, without warning, the sound of shattering glass sliced through the air.
"Get down," Deva shouted, diving to the floor. We all followed suit, dropping to our knees.
When nothing happened for a few moments, we got up and looked for the source of the shattered glass.
Deva found it after lifting the black cloth over the mirror. She looked back at us, her eyes wide with fear. "I think this magic is even more powerful than we thought."
Powerful enough to shatter glass in a room far from the person? Yeah, that sounded bad. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t as bad of a sign as I thought it might be.
Then, a thought occurred to me. "Does the shattered mirror mean the person who cursed us knows we know?" I asked, my voice shaky.
Please say no. Please say no.
"Maybe." Beth looked thoughtful. "Or it could just be a side effect of the curse itself."
"Either way, we're not any closer to finding out who did this by hanging out here."
Then, Deva’s voice came, smaller than I’d ever heard it. “If this whole place is cursed, does that mean everyone around me could be in danger from the curse?”
Her words fell like bricks around us, and all eyes turned to Beth. Except, she didn’t have to say a word. The answer was clear.
Deva stood up a little taller. “If you want me to handle this on my own–”
“Like hell!” Beth said.
“We’re all in this with you,” I said, surprised that she thought for a moment we might abandon her.
Carol grinned. “Who could miss out on an investigation like this? Certainly not me.”
"Right," Deva said, her hands curling into fists. "Let's see what else we can find."
I had no idea where to begin. This wasn’t exactly Karma’s wheelhouse, so I hoped they had some ideas. Because whoever burned down Deva’s restaurant was clearly dangerous. We couldn’t just leave them walking the streets for long.
"Okay, so we know this place has been cursed multiple times," Carol said, folding her arms across her chest. "Now what?"
"First things first, we need to find a way to break these curses," Deva declared, her tone business-like. "Then we can worry about tracking down the person responsible."
2
EMMA
"Nothing like some good ol'breakfast to wash away the memory of curses and chaos." I tried to lighten the mood as Deva, Carol, Beth, and I walked down the street. My stomach betrayed my attempt at humor with a loud rumble. "See? Even my stomach agrees."
"Breakfast does sound nice after all that," Deva said, a smile finally breaking through her worried expression. The warm sun shone on our faces while the breeze carried the savory scent of bacon mixed with freshly baked bread.
“Although we can’t go to our favorite place, we can settle for second best,” I said, grinning.
Deva bumped my shoulder playfully. “Thanks.”
The thing was, I meant it. Her restaurant was on a level all its own, so it wasn’t even second best we were settling for today, it was more like fifth best. Her food was justthatgood. No doubt the other restaurants in town would make a killing until Deva’s Delights was back in business since everyone in town seemed to prefer her shop over the rest.
"Let's try that place down the street, The Morning Griddle." Carol pointed in the direction of a local café we didn't frequent much anymore. We always went to Deva's. "They have some amazing pancakes."
