A minute later, I heard the sound of a door being thrown open. Carol came out of the house first, lugging a big duffel bag behind her. Deva wasn’t far behind her with her arms full of bags as well. It looked like we were vacationing for a week. But this was my first supernatural adventure, so I wasn’t about to second-guess the things they thought we needed.
We all piled into the car, and Carol started handing out small burlap bags. “Hex bags,” she explained.
“Aren’t those dangerous to keep in the house?” I asked.
Carol giggled as she untied the long string on one. “Here, put it under your shirt; wear the hex bag like a necklace. And they aren’t dangerous, not if you’re an experienced witch and don’t make careless mistakes.”
“Oh, I feel silly.” I laughed and tied the leather string around my neck. “What does this do?”
“If you yank it hard enough, it will tear away from the leather. Then you throw them at someone’s feet and it’ll temporarily incapacitate them.” Carol handed Beth one as she started to pull away from the curb, then stopped and pulled her phone out of her pocket instead.
I glanced over to see her son’s name on the screen.
“Oh,” Beth said with pleasure. “It’s the twins. They’re at St. Bartholomew's college.”
I knew how much of an unexpected joy it was to get a phone call from your teenager who was away at school. And also how it made that little ball of worry form in your stomach until you answered and knew they were okay.
She hit the speaker button. “Hey, cupcake!”
“Hey, Mom. What are you up to?” The deep voice of her son rang out over the speaker.
“Nothing, sweetie. Just hanging out with my girls.” Beth shrugged as Carol handed Deva a sharpened wooden stake out of her bag and then, after a moment's debate, handed Deva and me a small blade each. “How are you and your sister?”
“I’m here too,” a young woman’s bubbly voice said, which must be Ava. “Are you having book club?”
Deva and I hid our snickers behind our hands while Beth silently laughed and Carol slapped her thigh in amusement.
“Yep,” Beth said. “Book club.”
“Well, we just wanted to check in,” Noah said. “I hope you enjoy your boring Saturday night. Try not to get too crazy with all those books and wine.”
We all chuckled.
“I happen to like my books, thank you very much," Beth said in a teasing voice. "Anyway, we're about to start. Do you need anything before I go?
"Nope, just wanted to say hi!" Ava sounded just like her mom and it warmed my heart to think that somewhere out in the world there were two people who had the same goodness and strength in them that Beth did. I wondered if they had any abilities. I'd have to ask Beth the next time we had a chance to talk.
"Goodnight, sweeties. Be safe. Love you!” Beth tapped on the red end call button. For a moment after she hung up, she just looked at her phone, and I wondered if she was thinking about what had just happened with her ex and what her kids would think of it.
I knew I had the same reaction to a lot of the encounters I'd had with Rick since we split up. Eventually she just smiled and shook her head before putting the car in drive and pulling away.
“Boring. I wish. They really think anyone older than them just curls up around a fire, don’t they?” she asked with a laugh lacing her voice, sounding more like herself than when her ex had stopped by earlier. I wasn't sure why it bothered me so much, but I was sure that one of the things I had come back to Mystic Hollow for was to help my friends, and for Beth that seemed to be helping her see her self-worth again, and give her the ability to give her ex the middle finger if she wanted to. I wished someone had done the same for me and Rick, but if wishes were fishes and all that.
“My son is the same way," I said. "Travis seems to think I'm best at laundry and cooking dinner for him when he's home from college and not much else. At least not right now. I'm sure that will change as he gets older. At least I hope so."
“Eat this.” Deva handed us each a sugar cookie, which was a good distraction before my thoughts turned melancholy. “It should make any powers you already have even stronger.”
I bit into the treat and moaned. “How do you do this? I've baked a million cookies for school bake sales and none of mine ever turned out like this. You're a goddess in the kitchen, I swear.”
Deva beamed, her smile so wide she got dimples. “Every time you eat something I cook, it’s the best compliment ever.”
“Oh, here, I almost forgot.” Carol pulled out a baggie of ear plugs from the duffel. “These are the kind that they use for the shooting range. It’ll keep us from being swayed by the sirens’ songs.”
We all put them in, and the only person that it was at all noticeable on was Deva because of her very short hair.
“You better hang between us to try to keep them hidden,” I suggested.
“Or don’t put them in until needed,” Beth suggested with a shrug as she glanced in the rearview mirror at our friend.
Deva nodded her head. “They’re uncomfortable, anyway. I’ll put them in at the first sign of trouble.”
“That’s it, then,” Carol said. “Deva’s got another cookie for protection and I’ve got some necklaces for protection as well, but other than that, we’re ready. Probably best to eat the protection cookie when we get there. Same for putting the necklaces on. I want to make sure that we're all covered for as long as possible.”
I turned and nodded at Carol, agreeing with
