“Okay, back to the ghosts,” Tara says, pressing her lips together like she’s trying to keep from laughing at us.
I start to rake a hand through my hair, but then remember I just slicked it back.Great, now I’m going to look even worse.
“Right.So they were throwing stuff at me and Pru, and then I remembered something, but I couldn’t remember what?—”
“I’m going to cut you off there,” Prudence announces, leaping out of my purse to sit on the sink basin.“She was spelled to forget we found a grimoire, and long story short, we sealed up the store again but we’re going to need more firepower for a real cleansing.Whatever’s hanging out in the bookstore is a nasty piece of work, and we need more people to get rid of it.”
I could be annoyed that the cat’s cut me off, but I just shrug.“Yeah, that about sums it up.We need help.”
“It’s so weird because my ghosts are friendly.”
My nose scrunches up.“Even the possessed doll?”
“She means well,” Em tells me, then elbows Tara.“Your ghosts weren’t happy.”
“They weren’t, but they just wanted peace.They didn’t… It wasn’t like whatever this haunting is.”
“So you’re a witch, too?”I ask Em.
“Focus!”Pru yells.
“I guess.I see ghosts, can kind of communicate with them, but I don’t like… do spells.Not like Tara.”
“You just don’t know that you’re doing them,” Prudence says, annoyed at being ignored.“I can smell them on you.”
“I’m surprised you can smell anything after our cleaning day,” I tell her.
Tara pinches her nose, then crosses her arms over her chest.“Okay.Are you safe for the night?”
“Yeah, the door sealed again.Whatever is in the bookstore isn’t going to get out.”I don’t know much about magic, or running a bookstore, but somehow Iamsure about that.
“She’s powerful.The house itself is safe,” Prudence says, agreeing with me.
I grin at the little black cat.“Thanks, Pru.”
“Okay, so like, I feel like I shouldn’t be cavalier about all of this,” Em says.“Considering the whole ‘I see dead people’ thing I have going on.But the cat talking is throwing me off.”
“Cool, huh?”Tara laughs.“Wild times in New Hopewell.”
“You get used to her.She’s actually pretty cool to have around.”I wink at Prudence.
A loud rumbling purr begins in her throat, and the sound makes me feel less on edge.
“The grimoire my witch found has a lot of local history in it, including what we assume is about the restless spirits in our bookstore.”
Our bookstore, the cat says.Like we’re partners.
I can’t say I hate the idea of it.It certainly is better than thinking of me having to do it all on my own.
My fingers find the spot Prudence likes scratched below her ear, and she leans into it.
“There is a set of pages that have moving words, and we both get the feeling that they’re about whatever’s trapped in the bookstore, but we didn’t know how to decipher it or unlock it or,” I pause because I have no idea what the right witchy word is for what I’m trying to say, “whatever.We’re pretty sure we need help to figure it out and to get rid of the bad juju.”
“Bad juju,” Prudence repeats, moving her head slightly so I can get a new spot.“I like that.That sums it up.”
Em blows out a breath, her hands on her hips.
Tara’s eyes are narrowed, her foot tapping on the tiled bathroom floor.
