Page 7 of The Soulmate Bakery

‘No,’ she replied, her voice sounding hazy, but then she cleared her throat and stepped out of her stupor. ‘No.’

‘So, why did Inspector Vale confess to you like that?’ I asked, bewildered. I waved my arm around at the chaotic Maple Falls. ‘And what is going on with Frost? He and Granny are practically like siblings.’

‘They look love-struck,’ Raven muttered. I could practically see her mind whirring, eager to put the puzzle together.

Ivy’s expression morphed into one of horror. ‘They look like they’re under a love spell,’ she whispered.

‘A love spell?’ I asked, alarmed.

Ivy moved quickly, rummaging behind the stall to pull out a thick blue scarf. ‘I’ve seen something like this before.’ She wrapped the scarf around her neck and stepped to the front of the stall. ‘I need to tell your mother, Maya. Watch the stall for me, would you?’

I nodded, watching as she hurriedly pushed through the crowd. I turned my gaze away from her retreating form to Raven. My best friend watched me, her lips pursed, eyes worried.

‘What?’ I asked, nervously.

‘Don’t freak out,’ Raven began, and I gave her an exasperated glare.

‘Why would you say that? You know I’m going to freak out now.’

‘Well, it’s just –’ Raven let out a sharp breath. ‘Ivy said the town appears to be under a love spell. And last night you were casting a love spell.’

‘No.’ I stretched the word, even as my stomach had started to knot together. ‘I cast a soulmate spell.’

‘That didn’t work.’

‘Because I don’t have a soulmate,’ I countered, evenly. ‘And it’s not like I gave out the cookies to anyone besides myself.’

‘But didn’t you make a whole batch?’

I blinked. Once. Then twice.

‘Maya, where are the cookies you made yesterday?’ Raven asked, her voice eerily calm.

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut again.

‘Maya?’ Raven probed, more urgently this time.

‘Let me think!’ I said, rubbing my temples. ‘I remember calling you after the cookies didn’t work, and we stayed on the call while I cleaned up the kitchen. You told me to give the spell some time, so I left to go back home and …’

The memory rose in my mind; my key locking the door to the Wishing Well Bakery, me turning away and sneaking through the streets back home.

And the cookies. The cookies.

‘I left them on the counter. In a jar,’ I said, slamming my hand to my forehead. ‘I totally left them there.’

‘And where are they now?’ Raven questioned.

Something pulled my gaze to the stall I was leaning against – maybe it was intuition, or the lure of my own magic, but it took me less than a second to find what I was looking for.

Right on the middle of the table was my empty glass jar, with not a single heart-shaped chocolate-chip cookie in sight.

CHAPTER THREE

The first time I got a point on my witch licence wasn’t just because I’d cast a forbidden spell to remove Everly Catacomb’s fangs. It was also because I couldn’t bring her fangs back.

I had stared for what felt like hours at Everly’s regular, non-pointy teeth, tears wet on my cheeks, as I said the counterspell and repeated the finger movements, trying to get my magic to do something. But after several tries, nothing happened. I simply couldn’t focus my magic on Everly again.

In the end, Rani – my older sister – had to step in and do the spell. Everly’s parents had reported me to the Coven; hours later, I had a small ‘x’ on my licence. After that, my fear of spellcasting was born. Every time I tried to cast a spell, the memory of my mother’s disappointed face would unearth itself. When it came to baking magic, I could let my thoughts shift, and my focus locked on to the recipe, not the magic. Culinary magic was maybe the only thing I had going for me.