“Are you moving?” Gemma asks, looking inside the drawer. The girl is so damn nosey.
Lyra gives us a guilty look. “I’ve been considering it for a while now. My sister lives in Florida and has been trying to get me to move south with her. She has three wonderful children who I just adore. I hoped to retire soon too.”
“I’ll miss you and the store.” Gemma pouts.
“I know!” Lyra reaches over the counter and takes her hands. “It’s been my reason for staying open these last few years. But it’s becoming a lot. With more and more people accepting Wicca and witchcraft nowadays, business is great. Which sounds like a strange reason to want to retire, but it’s hard to keep up.”
“You have to do what makes you happy,” I say, knowing I suck at this kind of motivational talk. “And winters in Florida sound a hell of a lot better than winters here.”
Lyra laughs. “That’s part of my motivation.”
We buy a few things, chat with Lyra for another few minutes, and leave when a group of teenage girls comes in. We still have to go to the grocery store, and the lack of sleep and early morning are starting to catch up with me. I need to get a good power nap in before sunset. Something tells me I’m going to be up all night.
Once we’re home, Gemma and I work together to put the groceries away. Then we take a stab at the cameras. They’re way more expensive than the ones I tried before, but this old house requires the big guns since I can’t just mount a camera anywhere and connect it to my Wi-Fi. I’ll have a few wires exposed for the time being, but I’m not worried about that right now. I’m usually able to figure things out. I’m smart, and being on my own for years taught me to be self-sufficient.
But I’m not a tech genius.
Giving up on getting things to sync—for the time being, that is—I go around the outside of the house and figure out the best place to install everything. I have a few pieces of equipment that will need to be plugged in, but most is wireless. I’m dragging a ladder out of the rickety shed in the backyard when a car pulls down the driveway.
It’s Jared, a teenage boy who lives down the street and had his first real run-in with magic not that long ago when he was kidnapped by a vengeful spirit. The guys and I saved him, and we haven’t had much of a chance to talk since that night. Jared was fine—thanks to us—and made a complete recovery.
Physically, that is.
Mentally, well, I’m not so sure. The kid was eager to learn anything he could about the paranormal before. I assume he’s going to be even more gung-ho about it…unless he’s too freaked out.
“Hey,” I say, holding my hand up to my face to shield the sun from my eyes. Jared gets out of the car and comes down the driveway to help me with the ladder. I don’t need help, but I let him take it anyway. “How are you?”
“I’m good.”
“Really?”
He rests the ladder on the gravel driveway and meets my eyes. “Yeah. Ready for the next adventure.”
“Sure you are.”
“Fine,” he huffs. “I was hoping we could talk.”
I offer a small smile. “Of course we can.”
