The morning sun woke me a few hours later while I stretched overused muscles. I couldn’t wait to see Ian again, and yet I wasn’t keen on the gossip that would follow, or flaunting him in front of Kyle.
Kyle. He’d said he found Daria. The sooner I resolved the spell, the sooner I could leave that part of my life behind.
I stroked Ash and got out of bed, heading to my workshop at the bottom of the stairs. I needed to consult the hidden grimoire once more to make sure I didn’t screw something else up in my attempt to return the spell to Daria.
The workshop was as I’d left it. No books lay open on the worktable. Odd, and yet it wasn’t the first time they hadn’t called out any special orders. I paused to consider the failures of the mixtures I’d sold the day before. Had I used stale product?
I sat behind the worktable, closed my eyes and summoned the grimoire.
It didn’t come.
I rushed to the utility room and tried to open the cache in the wall where the hidden grimoire rested, but I couldn’t pry the brick loose.
Was something disrupting the magic?
Chapter 17
Returning to the kitchen, I tried to retrieve a coffee cup from the shelves using my telekinesis. Nothing happened. I opened my hand to summon my phone from the table—it didn’t move.
Maybe nerves blocked my energy. I drew a calming breath and closed my eyes to concentrate on my phone once more.
Nerves devolved into panic when it didn’t move. I grabbed my phone and called Nora.
“Something’s wrong,” I told her.
“Take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.”
I related how the potions I’d mixed yesterday failed, how I couldn’t access the hidden grimoire and how my telekinetic ability was on the fritz. “On top of all that, Kyle says he’s found Daria, but what if I can’t return the spell to her? If my magic isn’t working, I might make matters worse.”
“I agree. Until you know what’s interfering with your magic, you shouldn’t attempt to send the spell back to Daria.”
“I’m not even sure he’ll go along with the plan. Lately, he’s of the opinion what I do is all power of suggestion.” I massaged my forehead. “There’s one more thing I need to tell you. Cassandra and I are closing the shop. I plan to request a meeting with the downtown business owners’ association to let them know so they can approve a sale.”
“Are you sure you want to give up?”
“Sales are down, and when the gossips get hold of my latest breakup with Kyle, they’ll want to run me out of town for sure this time. I don’t see another option.”
She sighed. “You may be right. Are you sure the spell didn’t jump to you? This is a lot to go through all at once. Has anything else new happened to you?”
My body heated at thoughts of Ian. “Actually, I met a man at the Indian market.”
“And?”
I hesitated. Nora had married a man who had his own mystical talents. A man she’d kept secret for half of her life. “How did you manage to stay away from Fletcher for so many years?” I blurted.
She laughed. “I think you know the answer to that, which is I didn’t. We simply didn’t go public.” Her voice grew serious. “This man you met, there’s something special about him?”
“I saw the magic in his eyes.” No, that wasn’t what had drawn me to him, although it had inspired trust because of our common gifts. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”
“I guess there was a reason you had your doubts with Kyle. Is it possible this new man is interfering with your magic?” she asked.
I’d had a passing thought, but hadn’t seriously considered the possibility. I stopped to think it through. “I can’t imagine how.”
She hummed. “I suppose time will tell. Oh, dear. I have to run. I’ll call you when I get back.”
I set my phone on the worktable and wandered outside to check the garden. After Nora’s last visit, the herbs were picked over. Likewise, the flowering plants. I plucked a couple of ripe tomatoes and when I turned to walk into the house, Kyle was headed my direction.
He gave me a once over, reminding me I’d come out in my pajamas. “I thought you might have called this morning,” he said.
“It’s still early,” I replied.
“You were out late.”
He’d been watching the house? “I suppose I was.”
“I came to share what I’d learned.”
We stood silently, navigating the new awkwardness between us. “Would you like to come in?”
His gaze flew to the open workroom door, then to where Ash sat in the window. “I’d rather talk out here.”
I waved him to the patio table and set down my tomatoes. “You said you’d found Daria.”
He remained standing. “I have an address. I thought I’d surveil the place. See if she has a routine. From what you told me, she isn’t likely to cooperate with your plan.”
My plan. Did he have a different plan? “What are you thinking?”
“Whatever you did for her transferred to me, right? Even though I didn’t know what was going on. And you want to transfer it back to her, right?”
I ground my teeth. “Right.”
“If we can figure out how to do this without calling attention to ourselves, you can do whatever—” he rolled one hand, “—magic you think you need to do without bothering her.”
Despite the fact he presented the same plan I’d proposed as his own, he wouldn’t suggest it if he didn’t believe in the magic at least a little. Discounting my talents was most likely part of his process of uncoupling. Denial was easier for most people.
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
He made a sarcastic face, as if to say of course, it was. “Then we can go our separate ways. Publicly,” he added.
I laughed. “You want to throw me over on Broadway for the whole town to see?”
He averted his eyes.
