“You should come over and meet him. I bet you would like him.” He said, his eyes flashing with something dark and sinister.
Abruptly, my hackles rose. Our friendly banter suddenly felt like it had been a trap, and warning bells fired off in the back of my mind.
Slowly and carefully, I stood up and edged my way to the front door. He tracked my movements with that predatory look on his face, and I felt like an idiot for engaging with him at all.
I’d just pulled the tower card for Hecate’s sake, and here I was, talking to a strange man, alone, in the middle of the night.
Goddess, I had zero survival instincts.
“Not happening, buddy. Like I said, I don’t often waste my time with the company of strange men.”
“Mmm. We’ll see about that, Harper Bishop,” he said ominously, and all the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I slipped into my house, closing and locking the door behind me.
My heart was racing in my chest, and I suddenly felt out of breath.
What the fuck?
Some weird ass shit was going on, and I didn’t like it.
I resolved to cast a protection spell before bed and make sure I wore my obsidian necklace for the foreseeable future.
However, something told me that all the obsidian in the world wouldn’t keep that man away if he truly set his mind on getting to me.
Ugh. What the fuck was going on?
After work on Monday, Luna and I made plans to meet up with Willow at Gulu-Gulu, a local cafe that made amazing lattes.
We liked sitting on the patio, as Luci was a welcome guest and usually lounged in the shade beneath our table while we enjoyed our coffee.
“How’s the new job?” I asked Willow, using my paper straw to stir my iced latte lazily as I watched several tourists take pictures next to the statue of Samantha from‘Bewitched’that was erected in the town square.
She sighed, wrinkling her freckled nose and slouching in her patio chair.
“It’s okay. Tammy and Sophie are a pain in my ass. They organized a themed day last week, and everyone was supposed to come dressed as their favorite pop-culture witch, but they neglected to tell me. So, I was the only one who showed up in jeans. It was shitty… but I’m working on trying to make them like me.”
I frowned, anger swirling in my gut at Willow’s admission.
“What is this, fourthgrade?What a couple of dish rags,” Luna grumbled, looking just as pissed off as I was.
“I’m sure they just… forgot. I don’t know. Maybe it was a mistake.”
I didn’t think it was a mistake. I knew Sophie and Tammy, and they were the definition ofmean girls.But I didn’t want to burst Willow’s bubble.
“Anyway, they invited me to go to this weird church with them later. Apparently, the preacher is‘super hot,’and they’re kind of obsessed with him.”
I stopped stirring my iced latte, and my mouth dropped open.
“What!?” I gaped. “You’re going tomass,like, a Christian mass?”
She might as well have slapped me across the face.
“I know, Iknow.Trust me, I don’t really want to go, but I’m trying to fit in with them. Everyone at work loves them, and it would just be easier if they didn’t hate my guts.”
“This isn’t theChurch of Seraphimby any chance, is it?” Luna asked suspiciously, and Willow’s brown eyes widened in surprise.
“Yeah! How’d you know?”
“Some guy named Axel came by the shop the other day asking Harper for her blessing.” Luna frowned. “You’re WillowNurse. You sure they’re not just trying to indoctrinate you the same way? If word gets out that aNurseis attending their mass, I’m sure it would turn some heads.”
