AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the water had cooled, perfuming the kitchen with herbs and fresh flowers, Salma set the copper pan on a wire rack in the middle of the kitchen table, sweeping aside a demolished Tupperware of calming shortbread biscuits, and nudging Maisie’s nest aside.
On her friend’s instructions, Joy grabbed several mason jars off the big cabinet against the wall—the shelves bowed with the weight of spell ingredients—and handed out St John’s wort, fleabane, and ground ivy.
Chairs scraped as Gus and Victoriya stood—spells cast much stronger when a coven stood in a circle. Without instruction, the six of them took their places, and Maisie climbed to her feet, too, her eyes bright and fierce.
“Good,” Salma praised. “Now add each element—slowly.”
A steady calm washed over Joy as, in turn, each of them added a herb or stirred clockwise or crushed another ingredient into the concoction. This was familiar; this was home.
“Alright,now!” Salma ordered, her voice rich and compelling, and Joy crowded close to the table with the rest of her coven.
Five wands lifted—ash, birch, elm, hazel, and crystal—and they all peered into the perfectly transparent potion. It should have been murky with hers floating in it, but it was as clear and glimmering as opal. It worked.
Joy let out a rough breath. But just because it had worked didn’t mean they’d find the killer.
Salma grabbed a ladle and with a look of unwavering confidence that inspired the same in Joy, she put a small amount of the potion into mugs for each of them.
Joy clutched her amethyst wand tight to remind herself it was still hers, still here. She could still feel the wrench, the emptying of her soul, when Paulina snatched it from her hand. But she had to put that out of her mind; only a clear mind would work for this.
Joy held the cup tight when Salma handed it to her and waited for her cue with a mix of nerves and butterflies. If they found the killer, if Gabi could prove it was them, Joy would be safe.
“Drink on three. Maisie, can you reach?” Maisie gave ayipof confirmation. “One. Two.” She made eye contact with them all, settling nerves with her unwavering strength. “Three”
Joy lifted the mug and threw the liquid down her throat like a shot. Warmth instantly sloshed in her belly, and a thrumming rush built, making her shudder. This wasn’t exactlyusual, but witchcraft was so changeable that a spell rarely worked the same way twice, even if it had the same outcome each time. There were too many changeable factors.
All at once, and without really meaning to, Joy’s mouth opened and she intoned, “Witch.”
Her coven spoke all at once, voices overlapping, creating an eerie harmony.
Joy shivered and shoved the cup aside to touch her mouth with shaky fingers. The witchcraft had given her an answer, but it felt like it hadusedher. She noticed the thrum had faded, and she exhaled all at once, stumbling back from the table until her back met the countertop. But her lips still didn’t seem to belong to her.
“Let’sneverdo that again,” Gus rasped, visibly shaken as he lit the end of a smudge stick to dispel the power of the spell. His hand shook like Joy’s, she noticed.
“I agree. That was foul.” Salma drew a chair and dropped heavily into it. “Joy? Are you okay, honey?”
Joy swallowed, inhaling sage-scented air that didn’t quite fill her lungs.Wasshe okay?
It was Victoriya who came around the table and touched her, fingers grabbing Joy’s chin hard enough to bruise. Victoriya lifted Joy’s head, scanning her eyes, and Joy stared back at her friend, gradually coming back to herself.
Victoriya’s mouth pressed into a dangerously thin line when Joy gasped, “I’m alright.”
Victoriya dropped her hand and stepped back, looking pissed off or worried or both. “You let the power take control.”
“I didn’t.”
She hadn’t. But what Joy had felt, the magic taking over her, using her as a mouthpiece … that would haunt her for a very long time.
“You’re weak because of all this shit,” Victoriya growled, stalking around the kitchen, almost pacing. “Your ex showing up, and being dragged into this investigation, and being locked up and all the fucking rest. Sit out the next spell.”
Joy’s mouth fell open at the clear order, and she spun to entreat Salma, gripping her wand amethyst tight enough that her bones creaked.
“Do as Victoriya says,” Salma said gently, looking surprised to hear the words coming from her own mouth. Her expression was cloyingly sympathetic when she added, “I won’t risk you, Joy. We’ll be fine with the five of us.”
Joy hung her head, feeling small, feeling useless. If they didn’t want her, that was fine. She’d find a way to prove her worth.
“Fine,” she agreed, and went to stand by the window as far away from the table as possible, looking out into the garden as her chest caved in. She hadn’t felt like this since she’d been freed from the cells, this sinking feeling that she’d be easily forgotten.
She gasped, jumping out of her skin when something bit her ankle.
