First, I should be prepping for poker night. My low-grade panic over it was making my bones ache. Ever since I’d told Elwood about my plan to lease the bakery, everything about my contribution to the event’s food table felt more significant. And if tomorrow didn’t go well…
Second, if I couldn’t prep, I kind of wanted to just stare through the window at my new bakery—well, mypotentialnew bakery. The contract hadn’t been signed yet.
And lastly, I wasn’t convinced we’d arrive there in time for it. And if we were going to miss it, I would’ve been happier to have just stayed home in the first place.
Avery was a sweet, scholarly hedge witch who always had bits of leaves caught in her curly hair and a notebook sticking out of her bag, but she drove like she was part snail.
Even Hazel, who was in the front passenger seat and much more accustomed to Avery’s driving than me, was rocking gently as if that’d help us arrive at our destination sooner. Any minute now, I expected her to hang one of her spiderweb blankets out the window to act as a sail.
“I always loved this stretch of road,” Avery mused, as she maneuvered the hybrid sedan around a bend in the road. “It’s so peaceful.”
If this drive was any more peaceful, I’d be asleep before long. I guzzled the dregs of my coffee, wishing snapping my fingers would fill my cup again. It was a true shame that magic didn’t work that way.
I yawned. Sleep had been the last thing on my mind when I crawled into bed last night. I'd been too excited about the bakery. I stayed in my room at Elwood’s because I knew that I’d be awake all night. And with the pub so busy this week, I hadn’t wanted to keep Gideon awake.
He’d been a little disappointed, although I’d made sure we’d both been very happy and sated before we parted ways. But if I’d stayed with him, I’d have just kept him awake as I hunted for inspirational photos to add to myPinterestboards, compiled lists of all the things I wanted to change in my new bakery, and brainstormed my menu.
I was itching to go hunting for décor, grab a bazillion paint samples from the hardware store, and finalize a menu. I had so many notes on my phone that, at about three in the morning, I’d started color-coding them, just like Eugene had his murder board. And then there were my wish-lists. My online shopping carts were overflowing with things from chalkboard sandwich signs to gorgeous cake stands.
But until the lease was signed and the place was mine, it’d be premature to spend money on the place. I didn’t want to jinx it by counting my cupcakes before they were baked.
Another yawn hit me. Hazel turned in her seat to study me.
“You're a little pale, dear. Are you getting enough protein? Or did you eat something that didn’t agree with you this morning? You humans always eat so many different things, it’s no wonder your tummy aches. Mr. Webber and I… we eat a steady diet of live flies. You know your food is delightfully fresh if it is still twitching.”
Nope.Nope, nope, nope.
My coffee churned in my stomach, and bile teased the back of my throat. I rolled down the window for some fresh air and prayed Hazel would quit talking about flies. Somewhere outside the car, a bird squawked, as if alarmed at my discomfort. And I knew it was Licorice.
“Oh, dear,” Hazel muttered. “I’m really quite concerned about you.”
Before Hazel pulled out some emergency bug supplies from her purse—God, I really hoped she didn’t actually carry around anything like that—I tried to think of something to distract her.
“The roads are quiet today,” I said. “When we came out this way for the brewery tour the other day, there was a lot more traffic.”
Avery hummed. “I heard the brewery is closed for now because the police are still poking around out there. I don't think Roy’s neighbors will be too upset about that.”
That sounded like the perfect opening for me to ask Avery about the hexes Hazel had mentioned a few days ago. It didn’t make sense for Avery to make hexes for Roy if Kim was her friend, but someone must have. And if the price was right, people did all kinds of things, including things that went against their morals.
I suspected saying, “Oh, by the way, did your hexes get Roy killed?”might make things a little awkward.
All I came up with instead was an amazing single syllable. “Oh?”
Luckily, Hazel understood what needed to be done. “I guess you won’t need to make those hexes for Kim now.”
“Jinxes,” Avery said as she nodded. “But, yeah. I hadn’t wanted to do it anyway. Jinxes sound harmless on the surface, but they can get out of hand, too.”
I leaned forward, not wanting to miss anything that Avery said. “I still have a lot to learn. Elwood hasn’t taught me how to hex,” I said. Although the likelihood of Elwood teaching me that was somewhere between slim to none. “Are they difficult? Or since your magic is so different from mine, I guess it might not be something I can do.”
“Jinxes, hexes, and even curses are mostly about intent,” Avery said. “Only a little magical ability is needed to make a basic one. Where people need more magic is if they try to get fancy or complicated.” She met my gaze in the rearview mirror. “But what I do isn’t really a hex; it’s more of a jinx. Minor inconveniences that don’t last long, a few days at most, like your drink dribbling down your chin each time you try to use your favorite cup or having your hair stay frizzy no matter what product you put in it. Things like that.” She shrugged. “Kim said she wanted a hex, but she knows I don’t do anything too dark. I wouldn’t want to get in trouble with the authorities.”
“But she asked for a hex?” I asked.
“Kim’s a shifter, so she doesn’t understand a lot about my—or our, I guess I should say—kind of magic. Just like I couldn’t tell Kim, a cat shifter, how to shift. If you aren’t a witch, it’s common to confuse jinxes, hexes, and curses.”
“Interesting. I didn’t know there was a difference either.” Based on her description, I figured that jinxes were at one end of the spectrum and curses at the other, leaving hexes somewherein the middle. Perhaps we should be happy that whoever used the hexes hadn’t decided to use a curse instead.
I also wondered if Gideon knew the differences. I suspected he did. He knew more than the average shifter, either because he was friends with Elwood or because he was the alpha.
