“Oh yeah.”
She thought about it for a second. “I guess they’ve had some experience trying to make deaths look accidental that really weren’t.”
I shuddered. I didn’t really want to think about that. Instead, I said, “How about some herbal tea?”
“Sure.”
While I brewed the tea, she paced up and down my living room. Nyx came downstairs, yawning, to see what was going on. I’d thought she might be out, but I almost got the feeling she’d been waiting for us to come home. Jennifer barely broke stride and bent to pick up the cat and hoist her over her shoulder. There was nothing Nyx enjoyed more. And the two of them paced back and forth. I watched them from my kitchen, filled with affection for the pair of them. I mean, I’d always had a special relationship with Jennifer, but now it seemed like we had something even more special in common.
I brewed a special calming tea for us, knowing that we’d be having a hard time getting to sleep since we were both so wired.
I came out of the kitchen with the two mugs of tea and caught her as she turned from the end of the room and came back towards me. “Smells great,” she said, sniffing appreciatively.
“Hopefully it will help us sleep.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
Yeah, I’d pretty much got that, since she’d been pacing up and down. I had the same habit. It seemed to help me think too.
She said, “It’s great that we figured out who killed that witch, but we definitely need to break the spell on that alchemy book. It was obviously Karmen’s.”
I’d been thinking, too. I looked at her. “You don’t think it would be smarter just to destroy it?”
Shock showed in her face and stopped her in her tracks. “Lucy, she went to a lot of trouble to protect it. I even think she made sure it ended up with Rafe. Didn’t you say that it was kind of mysterious that he ended up with the book?”
I nodded. “The people in New Zealand that he supposedly bought it from didn’t know anything about it.”
She shook a finger at me. “That’s witchcraft right there.”
I set the two mugs of tea down on the table. “But why would Karmen want Rafe to have her spellbound alchemy book?”
“I don’t know that yet. I have a couple of theories. One, he’s known to be an expert in that area, and it would be such a curiosity, she’d know that he would keep it. Then she could come back and get it. Because she obviously distrusted her assistant.”
I nodded. I sat down on the couch, then I sipped my tea. “That makes sense.”
“And my second theory is that she knew that you and Rafe were close. I wonder if she intended for you to have it.”
“I think you’re reaching there. She wasn’t a witch who liked to share her secrets.”
“But if she thought she was in danger, she’d want to know that that book would end up in safe hands.”
“And you think she saw Rafe’s hands, or mine, as a safe haven?”
“Well, they are.”
I knew it was true, but I still appreciated the vote of confidence. “That still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to hang on to it. She put a strong spell on it for a reason. If that book fell into the wrong hands—” I didn’t even want to finish that sentence.
“But to destroy that kind of knowledge seems wrong.”
I didn’t know what to do. So I sipped more tea. She finally sat down, and Nyx very diplomatically curled up between us, her back end resting against Jennifer’s thigh and her head against mine. I stroked her soft fur absently.
Jennifer said, “Before you make any decisions, we need to break that spell.”
“You sound pretty confident. Can you do it?” I knew she was a witch, but I didn’t know how good she was.
She shook her head. “I could tell right away that I wouldn’t be able to break it. Not on my own. You and I together, I suspect, are pretty powerful. But we need a couple more witches. What about your grandmother?”
I shook my head. “Gran’s a vampire now. Her witch powers weakened the minute she was turned.” I shifted, wishing I could come up with a better idea, but I couldn’t. “My cousin Violet is pretty good. And you should probably meet Margaret Twigg anyway. She’s the head of our coven. She’s very powerful.”
Jennifer nodded. “Okay. How’s tomorrow night?”
I startled. “You don’t waste time, do you?”
She sipped her tea. “I want this whole thing wrapped up before you get married. You want to start with a clean slate, not having old witch business hanging over you.”
I totally got what she meant. “Okay.”
And so the next night we found ourselves in the middle of the standing stones at midnight. Jennifer, me, Violet, and Margaret Twigg.
“This would be better under a full moon,” Margaret said, but I believed our joint magic would be enough to break the spell. At least, I hoped so.
Jennifer insisted that I be the one to carry the book and set it in the center of our circle. I’d never seen her when she was in full-on witch mode, and she was surprisingly take-charge. Margaret Twigg, who was normally the bossy one, seemed a little put out but didn’t say anything.
Jen cast the circle and lit the candles with a bit more dramatic flair than I’d seen when she lit them in my flat. I was certain she was showing off for Margaret and Vi.
I could feel a current, almost like electricity, buzzing between us.
Jen raised her hands over the book and said,
“Goddesses of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, we call on thee
Release the spell from this book so the message is free
Keep its secrets we will
Using it for good not ill
So we will, so mote it be.”
At the final words, she brought her hands down toward the
