“Hex?” I said, shock in my voice.
Malene wagged a finger at me. “I’m not saying that I approve of hexing, because I do not. But ever since the beginning of time, humans have come to witches looking for cures. What’s wrong if humans know we’re here? I don’t see a problem with it.”
“You see, they used to,” Urleen said. “They used to live in Peachwood and ask for the help of the witches.”
“But what about abuse of spells?” I asked.
“You’d never give a human a spell that was too powerful for them,” Malene said, “and the humans weren’t so stupid that they ran off and told everyone else.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because if they did, then they wouldn’t have the help of witches that they needed. Why ruin a good thing?” Norma Ray explained. “So it used to work out in Peachwood. The humans came to the witches for help, and the witches were left in peace. No one yelled Satanism or tried to burn us at the stake.”
“What about the humans now?” I asked.
Malene shrugged. “Some of them remember, but none of the witches here can work any spells of significance, thanks to Hannah. So I doubt anyone cares anymore.”
I thought about the fact that Rufus and I could see the spells, but for some reason I didn’t want to reveal that piece of information yet. I wanted to keep it close.
“Malene, is that why you disliked Sadie so much? Because of her mother?”
Malene scowled. “No, I disliked Sadie because I disliked her.”
Urleen and Norma Ray exchanged a look.
“You might as well go on and tell her,” Urleen said.
“What harm’s it going to do?” Norma Ray asked.
Malene shifted in her seat, her gaze bobbing around the room as if she was looking for an escape, which she may have been.
“Here’s the thing,” Malene said. “I used to have a son. He’d be about your age now.”
“A son?” I said.
She waved at me as if to stop me from talking. “Yes, a son,” she said hurriedly. “I was married, if you can believe that?”
“Did you shoot his butt up with shotgun pellets?”
Norma Ray snorted and Urleen laughed. “No,” Urleen answered, “but you can bet that Malene thought about it a time or two.”
They laughed some more and I didn’t quite get the joke, but I let it go. “Okay, so tell me what happened.”
“My son fell for Sadie.”
Urleen cleared her throat.
“What is it?” Malene snapped.
“Aren’t you going to tell her about that exactly?”
Malene glared at her.
Norma Ray spoke. “If you don’t, I will. Malene believes that Sadie put some sort of love spell on him, which was ridiculous, because everyone knew that Sadie didn’t have magic.”
“She was no spell hunter, I’ll say that,” Urleen added.
Norma Ray shook her head. “No, she wasn’t. But you know sometimes magic skips a generation. We all know that Hannah had power, and no one ever saw Sadie work a spell, so it was assumed that she didn’t.”
