Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“I left it in the shop area so I could keep an eye on it today,” I say as we set our things down in the kitchen and move through to the apothecary. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Breena frowns at my question.
“I didn’t say anything.”
I shake my head. Why do I keep thinking that I hear someone speaking? I can’t make out the words, but it sounds like I’m missing part of a conversation directed at me.
“Sorry.” I flip on the lights when we enter the shop. “I thought you said something. You’re welcome to read the letter first, just so we’re all on the same page.”
Lorelei and Breena huddle together to read the letter, and both have to swipe at tears on their cheeks when they finish.
“Damn,” Lorelei mutters. “I sure miss her.”
“Me, too,” Breena agrees. “That was sweet, and I could hear her voice as I read it. Okay, let’s not keep us guessing any longer. Open it up.”
I reach into the box and pull out something hard, wrapped in a red velvet cloth. Embroidered on it in black is a protection rune.
“I can feel the power from over here,” Lorelei murmurs. “Your mother was a talented witch.”
“But not too talented to fall at the hands of a murderer,” I reply softly and feel the pain of it as swift and sharp as I did on the morning I found her.
“If you don’t unfasten the knot on that package, I’m going to scream,” Breena says. “I’m dying of curiosity over here.”
With a deep breath, I unfasten the knot in the velvet and fold it over, exposing a dark wooden box.
“I remember this.” I run my fingers over the engraving of my mother’s initials on the lid. “My father gave it to her when he asked her to marry him. She said that he was so nervous about it, but he built this for her and engraved it himself.”
“That’s so sweet,” Breena says softly.
“I wondered what’d happened to it after she died because I couldn’t find it with her things. Now, I know.”
I take a deep breath and lift the lid.
“I don’t get it.” I take a step back in frustration. “A deck of tarot cards and a pendulum? That’s it? No letter with advice or her Book of Shadows, which I also haven’t been able to find? Or something else helpful?”
“I suspect this is helpful, we just don’t know how yet,” Lorelei says and bites her lip. “Maybe we’re supposed to do a tarot reading with the cards. Or use the pendulum.”
“I’ll have to ask the aunts,” I mutter, more than a little disappointed. “I’m getting so tired of what-ifs.”
“May I hold the cards?” Breena asks, holding her hand out for them. When I pass them to her, her eyes widen. “Wow, I can feel the magic pulsing on them.”
“What?” I frown down at them. “I didn’t feel anything.”
“Here,” she says and passes them back to me. “It’s like a heartbeat.”
But when I hold them in my hands, I don’t feel anything at all. It’s just…blank.
“I don’t feel it. Here, Lorelei, you’re the tie breaker.”
I pass the deck to her. Immediately, her eyes also widen. “Wow. Holy shit, Aunt Aggie, you’re a damn powerful witch.”
“Okay, that’s just not fair. And I know she’s here because you’re talking to her.” I scowl at the room at large. “If you’re going to block me and not be helpful, you can just go, Mom. I love you, but I’m so mad at you.”
A door slams upstairs, and Lorelei winces.
“She’s gone,” my cousin informs me. “You two always did fight like cats and dogs.”
“It was simply a passionate relationship,” Breena says, ever the peacekeeper. “Don’t worry, Lucy, you’ll feel it when you’re supposed to.”
I sigh, and before I can reply, Lorelei nods to the box in the corner. “What’s in that?”
“Oh, I forgot. It arrived just as I was closing. Breena came to take photos, and I just pushed it to the side. I’m so excited because it took me forever to find just the right piece. You know how I’ve wanted a nice big piece of moss agate for the shop. A really pretty display piece, you know?”
“You didn’t buy it through Giles?” Breena asks and then clears her throat. “Not that such things matter, of course.”
I grin at her. “Actually, he found it for me and had it shipped directly here.”
I find my box cutter, slice through the tape, and pull out a huge ball of bubble wrap.
“I love that they package these things well, but man, is it a buzz kill to have to fight your way to the treasure inside,” Lorelei mutters.
But between the three of us, we have it unpacked in five minutes.
“Wow,” I breathe as I hold the stone in my hands. It’s egg-shaped and the size of a football. “It has to weigh fifteen pounds.”