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Chapter One
The box of potions in my arms slipped as I reached for the door, and I gasped as I scrambled after it.
I managed to catch a corner of the box before the whole thing dropped onto the ground. Leaning back against the wall in the farmhouse’s entryway, I fought to get my breathing back under control.
That had been a little too close. Dozens of hours of work were carefully packed into that box, not just to restock my shop, Poppy’s Potions, but for the big Summer Solstice festival coming up at the end of the week. It wouldn’t look good if one of the people organizing the whole thing had an empty stall.
With everything that had been going on in Haven Hollow lately, (including but not limited to: vampire attacks, curses, and Faerie wars breaking out), a lot of people were nervous. Some weren’t even sure that the Hollow was any kind of protection anymore, and were moving away to other Hollows, or just striking out on their own. The whole point of a Hollow was that everyone was supposed to respect the rules and leave their grievances at the door. When I’d moved to town (three years ago, come November), Haven Hollow had been a safe place, where all the various supernatural people could come together and live among their mundane neighbors in peace, if quietly. I was pretty settled here now, what with the farmhouse and my business, and Finn had his school and his friends, but I couldn’t blame other people for leaving—things had certainly been getting out of hand lately. Though I did have to admit that it hurt to see businesses closing on Main Street, with big ‘For Sale’ signs up in the windows.
In an effort to convince people that Haven Hollow was still a safe place to be, the town, and mostly the Supernatural Council, had decided to throw a festival to celebrate the solstice. There were going to be games, market stands, and food, and the festivities would wrap up with a huge bonfire after sundown. I was all for it, hoping it would help to shore up the community, and provide a draw for tourists, human and monster alike.
It was a lot of work though, keeping on top of everything I needed to do at the shop and at home, and then throw in all the planning and organizing for the solstice festival, as well as chasing people down for answers—well, it was tiring, to say the least. No wonder I hadn’t been sleeping well. Strange dreams hovered at the edges of my sleep, but I could never seem to remember any of them once I woke up. It made for some restless nights and groggy mornings.
“Finn,” I called back towards the stairs. “Come on, buddy. We’re going to be late.”
I was running slow because I had about three hours of sleep in the tank. Finn was running late because he was a teenager and such was what they did. He was probably checking his hair again. But we needed to, as my ex-ghost, now friend Darla might say, ‘get a wiggle on’, so I could get Finn to school, get to the shop and do what I needed to before it opened. I wouldn’t have time after work, because Andre was coming by to give Finn a magic lesson.
My heart gave a little flutter when I thought of Andre and that handsome face, and British accent. We’d been kind of dancing around each other for months, trying to feel out what we were to each other. I loved being with him, but the timing just never seemed right. When we first met, I’d been seeing my best friend, Marty. And when I finally admitted to myself that I saw Marty more like a brother than a romantic partner, well that had been the beginning of the end. Finally, I’d had the courage to tell Marty as much and things hadn’t been the same between us since then. Not that I’d thought they would be, but a girl could still hope. Regardless, I hadn’t wanted to jump into anything new with Andre and risk hurting Marty. The truth was that I still loved Marty (and probably always would), just not in the way he wanted me to.
I told Andre I wasn’t ready for anything, and might not be for a while, but he’d been happy to be friends... at least, for now. But none of that stopped my lips from curving into a smile at the thought that I’d get to see him tonight.
I’d known Andre a little over a year, and yet, I felt like I’d known him my entire life. Everything just felt so easy and comfortable around him. But I also had a terrible track record with men. I never picked the right ones. I couldn’t regret that, since one of those relationships had given me Finn, and he was the best thing to ever happen to me. But it made me a little shy about getting into another relationship any time soon.
And then there was the guilt. The guilt about things not working out with Marty, the guilt about keeping things between Andre and me on pause, when I could tell he wanted more. He’d even moved to Haven Hollow, giving up his lifestyle of being a footloose and fancy-free magician so he could teach Finn how to control his budding magician powers. Even given my shoddy radar when it came to men, I could tell Andre was one of the good ones.
The sound of footsteps thundering down the old wooden staircase had me straightening up from my slump against the wall. Finn was finally ready, and if we hurried, I could still get Finn to school on time.
Somehow, I managed to ease the big cardboard box through the doorway and down the creaky front steps. Sweat beaded along my hairline as I huffed my way towards the white Jeep in my driveway, the back hatch already open and waiting.
And then disaster happened—a stone turned under my foot and I tripped. Scrambling forward a few steps, I attempted to regain my balance, but the box slipped from my sweaty fingers to land on the gravel with a tinkling crash. Sweet florals, rich citrus, and amber rose up in a cloud of ruined work, as oils leaked from the corners of the box to stain the driveway.
I clenched my hands into my hair and tried not to cry.
Gravel crunched behind me as Finn stepped onto the driveway. “Are you okay, Mom?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I managed. “But all those potions aren’t.”
He dropped down into a crouch next to the box, all loose and lanky limbs. Finn was now nearly 5’10 and skinny as a tree branch. His brows pinched and he chewed his bottom lip. “Maybe not all of them broke. We might still be able to save a few.”
I shook my head. “Leave it.” Maybe one or two of the pretty glass bottles had managed to survive, but I didn’t want Finn reaching into the box and cutting himself while trying to find out.
“I’ll sort through them later.” I tried to smile. From the way Finn’s face creased, the dusting of freckles across his nose all but disappearing, I wasn’t very convincing. I probably looked overwhelmed and close to tears, which was exactly how I felt, but I didn’t want Finn to have to deal with it.
He looked over at me. “And I can tell you’re not telling the truth, Mom. You’re not fine.”
I couldn’t argue, because Finn would know it was a further lie. He’d always known when someone was being untruthful, even before his powers as a magician had started manifesting, so I always tried to be honest whenever I could. But at that moment, I felt like sitting down in the gravel and just giving up.
I knew the feelings were owing to the fact that I was stressed and hadn’t been sleeping well, but all I could think of was how much I had to do, and now I’d have to remake every one of those potions. Not to mention I’d need to order more supplies in order to do so. It was all just a bit too much.
“Don’t worry about it. Really,” I tried to reassure Finn. “I’ll get it sorted.”
“And what about yourself?”
I nodded. “I’ll get myself sorted, too. But we still need to get you to school, so let’s get going.”
Maybe if I had a slow day at the shop, I could try to remake some of the potions with the things I kept on hand, there. It didn’t make me want to kick myself any less, but at least it was a step towards fixing things.
I pushed my hair back off my face and was about to further convince my son I was just fine when a voice interrupted.
