The possum's hissing fades to heavy breathing.
The raccoon stops rattling the drawer.
Minutes pass. My knees start to ache against the wooden floor, but I don't move. The fear in the animals slowly ebbs, replaced by exhaustion.
The squirrel curls into a ball atop the lavender crate, eyes drifting shut.
The crow tucks its head under one wing.
The possum's tail loosens around the rosemary, its breathing evening out into sleep.
The raccoon flops onto its back, a pestle clutched to its chest like a teddy bear.
Asher frowns. “Pops? Is an impromptu nap time what you were going for?”
“Ah, nope. Not really.”
"Now what?" Mica whispers.
Izzy bites her lip. “Don’t wake them. They are much cuter when they sleep.”
I survey the sleeping animals scattered across Wildflowers & Wellness, the shop's usual mystical ambiance now enhanced by gentle snores and the occasional sleepy chirp.
“I think the answer is WWSWD.”
Asher snorts. “What would Snow White do? Good question, P, but what’s the answer?”
I shrug. “No idea.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It’s been a long day, but after the excitement at the apothecary, I’m not ready to go to bed. Instead, I decide to give the witch detective thing another run.
From the kitchen, the sound of Asher setting a pan on the stove to make us hot chocolate echoes. “So, what’s the plan?”
"I’m trying a new tack. Instead of opening each coven, and searching the rosters like I was doing, I’m tracking Laurel’s encounters with other covens.”
“That sounds arduous.”
“A little, but there’s a record of joint initiatives going back decades. Believe it or not, covens don’t work together as much as you might expect.”
He snorts. “Baby girl, after what Laurel and the other witches of Emberwood did to your family—their own members and friends—them working well with others didn’t even occur to me.”
Fair.“Yeah, well, I’m hoping the two mystery witches might be members of a neighboring coven that worked with her in some kind of joint initiative over the years.”
Asher joins me, carrying two steaming mugs of chocolatey bliss and, as always, his presence is warm, solid, and settlesmy soul. “Assuming they were witches and not some other empowered race.”
I accept my mug and roll my eyes. “Dude, why did you put that out into the universe? That would make things so much harder.”
He sips at the edge of his mug. “Sorry, Pops. Just keeping it real.”
The two of us settle in, and I start with the listing of collaborations from the time of Davina Draven’s disappearance and earlier.
“We know this has been going on for at least a decade.” I take a long drink. “Yum, you added Baileys.”
He holds his mug up for a cheers. “I know my audience.”
We scroll through the reports, opening the tabs for each of the covens involved and then go through the profiles of the members.
