Page 5 of Of Magic and Murder

How could I when it was that very curse he used against me that kept me from using my ability as a cursebreaker to help him first?

As far as I’m concerned, I have unfinished business, so it’s not a bad thing that Serena is leaving me be. Maybe I can blame it on how I spend more time than the common witch around spirits of the dead, but ever since I realized exactly what Riordan’s curse is capable of, I can’t bring myself to leave town until I’ve figured out how to break it. If that means waiting him out until he returns? That’s what I’m going to do, and it doesn’t hurt that Serena’s satisfied, knowing that there’s a loyal witch onsite to keep an eye on the Moonburrow coven.

Olivia was the face of the mutiny. She was eager to steal Morrigaine’s mirror for herself, but she promised many of her sister witches a share of the power that comes with the charmed compact. It was up to Delilah—the head witch of the Moonburrow coven—to deal with any member who betrayed her leadership. She says she did, that she doesn’t know how Olivia escaped, but by the time Serena approved my staying in town, I couldn’t bring myself to trust any of the local witches after they targeted me as an outsider to take the fall for Olivia’s ‘murder’.

Delilah has made it clear that I’m welcome to join the coven whenever I’m ready.

I’m not ready. At this rate, I might never be.

Luckily for me, I made a handful of friends in town. It took me a moment to warm up to Max Lobo, Riordan’s younger brother and the Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack. Another wolf, he is the sheriff who interrogated me after I was initially arrested on a murder charge, and the male who believed me when I explained that Olivia just wanted to steal the compact from the antique shop that Roxy owns. I did adore Max’s mate from the moment I met her, though. Honey Lobo is a sweet, friendly opossum shifter—and Ash’s cousin—who owns the local bakery in town, Dough You Believe in Magic.

She’s also the one who was so grateful that I helped her cousin while she was out of town on her honeymoon that she offered me the use of the apartment over her bakery so that I didn’t have to stay at the coven house any longer.

Roxy, too. She is mouthy, but incredibly loyal. She has a bone to pick with Olivia, and she insisted I take the compact even after it came out just how priceless it is. She’s also taken me under her wing. She took it personally that one of the local witches broke into her shop, shot at her with silver bullets, and tried to steal from her. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she hated all witches after that, and while she’s no fan of Olivia, she decided that my helping Ash meant that I was one of hers from now on.

Ash is devoted to Roxy, plus grateful I managed to discern that he had been stabbed in the heel with a silver needle. We get along well, especially since he loves books as much as I do. In fact, shortly after he moved to Moonburrow, he went to work at the local library.

And then there’s Gus.

Oh, Gus…

Gus is a wild opossum that Honey lovingly refers to as her sidekick. He imprinted on the opossum shifter while he was a young joey. He’s been her companion ever since, though I met him while Roxy was on babysitting duty because Honey and Max had left Moonburrow to celebrate their recent mating.

He’s also the opossum I accidentally made talk when I was trying to use a simple spell to converse with the shade of Ashton Morgan. The spell backfired like it usually does, and I got to find out that Gus thinks of me as the ‘magic lady’ before it wore off and he went back to his chitters and squeaks.

Of course, that’s just one more reason I should know better than to use simple magic. After three decades, you’d think I would give up on trying when I know that my spells backfire nearly one hundred percent of the time.

I’m excellent at cursebreaking. It’s an innate gift, passed down through the witches in my family, and it comes as naturally to me as breathing. I can see a curse, trace the way the green wisps of the dark magic are wrapped around its victim, and—more often than not—figure out how to unravel it.

Speaking to the dead is another gift I was born with. Ghosts don’t scare me. Curses don’t intimidate me. Wolves… that’s an entirely different situation that I thought I might be able to deal with until what happened after Riordan—whether he meant to or not—turned his curse on me.

But ask me to perform a basic spell any witch child should be able to manage? Yeah. It just doesn’t work, and yet I keep on trying anyway.

And that’s how I put Moonburrow Library out of business for the time being.

It’s early afternoon when I push open the door to the library.

I’ve gotten into the habit of stopping in at least a couple of times a week. There’s only so much research I can do on Morrigaine’s mirror, witch history, and other missing artifacts before every book starts repeating the same legends and I’m searching for something else to distract me. Since Serena has decided that this is where I need to be and Riordan still hasn’t returned so I can take a crack at his curse, I have a lot more free time than I’m used to and reading helps.

Most days, I hang out with Honey and Gus in the bakery. At first, I kept to the apartment over Dough You Believe in Magic because I didn’t want to run into any of the coven witches in town. Honey is part-witch. Her Grandma Jean used to own the bakery before she passed it on to Honey, and though she’s gotten into a little trouble herself with a magic recipe book and charmed treats, most of the witches are too snooty to patronize a part-witch.

And Delilah doesn’t understand why I don’t want to join the Moonburrow coven even for the time I’m in town? No, thanks. I’d much rather do my research on my own, keep the compact somewhere safe since I at least know better than to use its amplification powers on my own unpredictable magic, and pretend like I don’t have an ulterior motive when it comes to waiting for my chance to confront Riordan Lobo about what happened…

Hanging out with Honey has perks. Her mate is the top wolf in Moonburrow, but her shop is a nexus for every gossip in town. I don’t have to venture off Main Street to know what’s going on. Heck, half the time Roxy slips in through the back, helps herself to the pastries in Honey’s case, and tells us what she heard from her ‘birdies’.

But while I enjoy spending time in the bakery—and I’m happy to taste-test Honey’s magic-free treats—I don’t want Honey to think that she has to entertain me. She’s already letting me stay in the attached apartment so I see her daily, but when I feel like I’m being too much, I take a drive around town in the silver car that I still haven’t returned.

Today, I’ve taken a ride over to the library. I enjoy how quiet it is, how peaceful, and even if it isn’t as large as the coven library back in Salem, it has more than enough books for me to find something to read.

It’s even more quiet than usual when I walk inside. Though it isn’t considered a hotspot for the small supernatural town, there are usually a few readers browsing the stacks. Not right now. In fact, I don’t see anyone at all at first. No readers. No staff, either.

A shiver runs down my spine as my anxiety kicks up to eleven. Is it closed? Did I miss a sign on the door that says they’re not open currently? I mean, the door was unlocked… but was that a mistake? Am I supposed to go⁠—

“Penelope,” calls a male voice out to me warmly. “It’s so good to see you.”

Turning to greet him, I’m stunned enough that I can’t help but think: wish I could say the same.

The first time I met Ashton Morgan, I couldn’t see him. I sensed he was there, and I caught a hint of black shadow surrounding the space where Roxy told me he was. I knew instantly that he wasn’t cursed; otherwise the black shadow would’ve been neon green. That he was trying to materialize and couldn’t… odds were that he wasn’t a ghost, either.