Page 8 of The Soulmate Bakery

That’s why it simply wasn’t possible that my cookies could have caused this mess. Sure, there was a chance I might have cast the soulmate spell incorrectly, but, crucially, nothing had happened to me last night and I’d eaten several of the cookies. There was no delayed reaction, no sudden burst of love in my heart. I was still completely myself.

‘No, it can’t be,’ I said, confidently, arms folded over my chest. ‘I ate them last night, and nothing like this happened.’

‘You still only like Silas then?’ Raven probed, her gaze running over me like I was hiding another secret crush in the pockets of my jeans.

‘Yep, and I certainly don’t feel the need to publicly declare my undying love for him,’ I scoffed.

Raven sighed with relief. ‘Good, like you always have.’

I made a humming noise in the back of my throat that wasn’t total agreement. I didn’t lie to Raven – we never lied to one another. But I didn’t correct her now either. Raven didn’t know how for one brief moment, last summer, my crush on Silas had slightly waned. All she knew was that we didn’t talk about last summer because that’s when I got the second point on my licence – the deeper whys and whos were a little vaguer.

The Reverie household, also dubbed the mayor’s home, sat conveniently at the edge of Main Street; and, truthfully, it was one of the only reasons I was happy about my mum’s job. The farm-style house had these sage-green walls, a big white porch, a sun-dappled gable roof and a stone chimney that puffed out purple smoke in the winter. It was beautiful and, thankfully, very empty when I arrived home.

Except for Jinx.

Our black cat was lounging in his usual place: the armchair in the living room. He barely raised his head to look at me, which was expected. Jinx and I have never quite gotten along. He always preferred cuddling up to Rani or Mum over me. I wasn’t jealous; the feeling was mutual. It wasn’t like I was the one who’d begged my mother for a cat in the first place.

I slipped off my shoes and then dragged myself up the stairs to my bedroom, locking the door behind me. After Main Street had emptied and the cursed townspeople were guided to their homes under Chief Inspector Hawthorne’s instruction, Raven and I spent the rest of the day helping with clean-up. Now all I wanted to do was collapse on to my bed and take a nap.

But, of course, just as I was falling asleep, I heard the door to the house open.

‘Maya!’ Mum called from downstairs. ‘Would you please come down?’

My mother’s voice was sugar-sweet, almost too sweet. After years of being her daughter, I was attuned to the undertone to her voice; the sharp edge that said, ‘Get down here right now.’ I heard alarm bells ringing in my head as I quickly headed downstairs; keeping Mum waiting was never a good idea.

When one looked at my mother, or me, or Rani, you’d see different versions of the same person – same light-brown colouring, same dark eyes, same heart-shaped face, same curly hair. But Rani was the grungier one, with her oversized T-shirts and purple lipstick. Mum was preppy, always dressed to the nines in an enchanted blazer that changed colours and fabrics depending on the weather.

And me? Well, I’ve always been a clutter. A mix of fashion choices depending on seasons and feelings. Like a scrapbook, maybe.

Or a disaster waiting to happen.

I ignored the whisper of my familiar inner voice by focusing on my mother, who looked like she’d been through an ordeal today.

What was more concerning was the presence of the Coven, standing behind my mother.

Five senior witches, some older, some younger, all stood in a huddle. Usually they all wore matching green cloaks, but someone had the closet door open and was hanging up the garments. Every magical town has their own coven; it’s been Rani’s wish to be a member since we were kids, but it’s been my wish to avoid ever having to see them after I got the last point on my licence.

Obviously, not all wishes come true.

‘Mum,’ I said, before shooting a smile over her shoulder. ‘Elders.’

The Coven didn’t smile back – well, except Elder Sabrina. She wasn’t really an Elder – she was probably only around thirty and had always been the most lenient when it came to my mistakes, though even she couldn’t show me much sympathy for my second point.

Not that I could blame her. Finding out a then sixteen-year-old was casting a forbidden spell on herself isn’t something she could just ignore. I get that. I’m reasonable, you see.

The person hanging the cloaks up finally stepped out of the closet, and my gaze slid to them.

I felt my body still, hand curling tightly around the staircase railing. When our eyes met, my heart started to beat furiously.

‘Maya, Orion’s kindly helping the Coven with our, uh, issue in town,’ Mum said, gesturing to Raven’s older brother like it was nothing. ‘He’s graduated early from MAC, with his degree in Curses and Incantations, and just got back into town. Isn’t that perfect timing?’

This was the exact opposite of perfect.

I met Orion the first time I went over to my, at the time, new friend Raven’s house. We were seven and had finally worn down our mothers enough to get a play-date. When I went to the Hawthornes’ house, I’d met Raven’s mum, Chief Inspector Hawthorne and, of course, her nine-year-old brother, Orion.

He was the most serious nine-year-old I’d ever seen.

He barely spoke, wore a perpetual frown and left all the crusts on his peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich. At first, I was sure that I would never be his friend. But, eventually, even Orion couldn’t ignore the lure of a good game of hide-and-seek, or pirates and mermaids, or any one of the other games his sister and I had played in their backyard.