Page 34 of Practically Magic

“Problems caused by you,” I say.

Harry glares at me under her frizzy, wild hair. “I canceled a party. Why would that break the house?” she asks, but she sounds nervous as she walks into the kitchen.

“The nexus,” comes a voice, and we both jump.

There’s a girl in a bonnet and floral dress our own age sitting at the kitchen island. Her skin is translucent, and I can see through her chest to the stove clock, which is flashing 12:00. Funny because my alarm clock was flashing that this morning too. Did the power go out?

“Kat, go get the family spell book,” Harry whispers. “Because I’m seeing a ghost in our kitchen.”

“Psshh,” I reply, unfazed. “This is like the sixth ghost I’ve seen today.”

Harry looks at me incredulously.

“What are you going to do, exorcise her?”

“Maybe,” Harry snaps.

“Excuse me,” the girl says. “Please don’t exorcise me. This is my house too.”

Harry pinches her nose, holding back a sneeze. “You’re a Hadley.”

She nods. “Eleanor Hadley. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I think I’m named after you,” I say excitedly. “My name is Katherine Eleanor Hadley.”

“To be remembered in such a fashion is a compliment,” Eleanor says, then looks up at the ceiling with a frown. “I died in this house the first winter it was built. It was a bad winter. Although it seems you’re in for a worse one.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Harry says.

“I’ve made my peace with my passing,” Eleanor says matter-of-factly. “Though I do like returning at Samhain to watch Hadley magic at its finest. People believe Harold Croft is the founder of Mystic Hollow, but it’s my grandmother, Beatrice Shannon Hadley.” She smiled wickedly. “That’s why we placed Beatrice’s spell book and some of her crystals inside the base of the monument after her passing. That monument belongs as much to the Hadleys as it does the Crofts,” she insists, and points a finger at me. “Please tell me you two are not this year’s casters.” She frowns.

“You think the house falling apart is our fault?” Harry says, taking it personally.

Eleanor’s smile is thin. “The location of this house is no accident. Our foremothers built it atop the nexus of magic in Mystic Hollow. If the house is falling apart, magic itself could be failing.”

“We didn’t break the house,” Harry says stiffly, crossing her arms.

“We sort of did,” I mutter under my breath.

Harry gives us a look. “I know what my intention was. And it wasn’t to do anything to the house.”

Okay, so that’s the Harry Hadley glare.

“A house is not just four walls and a roof,” Eleanor says carefully.

“She doesn’t even live here,” I say, but my hands tingle with my magic, like it knows better.

Harry won’t look at me. “Kat’s right. This isn’t my home. Because she’s not my family.”

The floor starts to shake again and the next thing I know, a crack has split the kitchen island in half. A whoosh of cold air and snow rises from inside the fissure. Harry and I look at each other and bolt from the room.

“What just happened?” I cry. “Did you do magic?”

“No, did you?” Harry argues. I shake my head.

And then both of our phones start to ring.

“It’s Aunt Diane,” I whisper, my heart pounding.