Chapter 17
Griselda
“My help?” Marcus asked. “How? You’ve been here longer than I have. Unless that sign in your coffee shop is lying.”
“No, it’s right. This used to be my Granny’s place when I was little, but my mom had no use for it, so she passed it to me. My grandmother used to sell potions. She was great at it. Me, not so much. I can brew potions, but not like her. She was exceptional. I don’t have a knack for brewing anything unless it involves beans.”
“And your mother?”
“Never appreciated her talents. My parents were more modern. Thought magic would be and should be replaced by technology. They never imagined the two existing side by side like it does now. But it was before The Wall fell, so I understood.” I grimaced, trying to remember the times I’d visited my grandmother as a kid. “I was raised in the suburbs.”
I’d loved coming to Granny’s because, like her, my magic worked and recharged with objects and things. Not only had her home been infused with all the magical artifacts she’d brought in, but there’d been the antique shop two doors down. I spent plenty of weekend afternoons hunting for treasures in there, and had even spent my first bit of saved-up allowance there for a tiny hand mirror I still owned.
“I think I know who might know more,” I said. “Evyenia and Andreas.”
“You mean the old couple who owned the antique shop before I moved in?”
“Yeah. They’ve been here since forever. Maybe even longer than my grandmother. But I don’t have a way to reach them.”
“I have their numbers. It was a private sale, so we didn’t go through an agent.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
He dug his phone out and looked for the number. “Want to call them now?”
“They’re retired, right? Nothing better to do.”
Evyenia picked up almost immediately.
After the usual greetings and a little bit of explanation, she invited us over to her new place, which, as it turned out, wasn’t too far away. It was perfect because I had a bunch of baked goods that weren’t going to get sold today. I packed those up, threw on a cute sweater dress, some tights, and a pair of ass-kicking boots that made me feel like a million bucks, and we were on our way.
We took Marcus’s truck, which had the Bullseye Fitness logo emblazoned on the side and the old address taped up. Evyenia and Andreas had moved out to a cute little midtown bungalow that merged the best of both downtown and suburban living. Plus, they didn’t have to worry about those pesky stairs.
I was surprised to see that unlike their old antique shop, the place was not, in fact, filled to the brim with knickknacks. However, they did have one curio cabinet stuffed to the brim.
“Look at you two, so cute together,” Evyenia gushed.
“Stop matchmaking, woman. They’re here for information.” Andreas shook Marcus’s hand, all business-like, then gave me a pat on the head like I was still a little girl.
This was how he’d greeted me for years, and I guess to him, I was still the little girl who’d sneak candy out of the bowl at the front counter. The one who’d saved every penny she could to buy the next trinket she had her eyes on. When I moved in after my grandmother, they’d joked that many of the pieces were coming home.
“Those assholes at Arcane Development bothering you now, are they?” he asked.
“Andreas!” Evy gasped at the bad word.
Evyenia told us what she remembered over some tea and my offerings of baked goods.
“When I was a girl, the row of shops hadn’t been there at all. It used to be a cute little cabin owned by a really old witch. She was ancient, really.”
“Oh yeah, I remember her.” Andreas had a smile on his face as if he was being transported back to another time. “It used to be a skating rink across the street, remember?”
“That’s where you took me on our first date. Of course I remember. And the witch would offer hot chocolate to all the kids and couples skating in the winter.”
“That sounds really nice,” I said. Across the street was a bank now, and all that was left of the skating rink was a tiny fountain and a plaque.
“I didn’t know much about her. The witch, I mean,” Evyenia said. “She was really old, and we were still young back then. Andy was my high school sweetheart.”
“I knew she was the one the moment I saw her with those pigtails.”
That line probably wouldn’t fly in today’s world, but I was glad it had worked out for them.
Andreas turned to Marcus. “Gigi here is a good girl. She always came to visit her Granny. And she makes the best coffee in town. You should snatch her up like I did Evy.”
Evy scoffed. “And you were telling me not to matchmake.”
“This is different,” Andreas huffed. “Man talk.”
“Whatever you say, dear.”
“I’m already on it,” Marcus said, sending me a smile that had my belly flip-flopping like I was a teenager with a crush.
“Smart man,” Andreas said, nodding approvingly.
“So, what happened to the witch?” Marcus asked, bringing the talk back on track.
“She got too old,” Evy said. “We got the news that the house was being torn down. She’d passed away. Her son had moved to the big city to seek his fortune and didn’t have use for a little house in Darlington. So he tore it down and built the current building on top of it. Shops on the bottom, homes on top. Enough for three families. He sold the units for a profit, and we’ve never heard from him again. We were one of the original buyers.”
“We found out something about the condo development company,” I said. “It’s owned by a bunch of wizards. I was thinking that maybe it’s not the land for condos they’re really after.”
The two exchanged a glance. Then Andreas got up and closed the blinds. “They probably already know, but why help give them confirmation?”
I felt around with my magic and realized the home was already warded.
“It was rumored,” Evyenia began, “that they’d kept the original cellar when they tore down the old home and simply built on top of it after sealing it off. It was faster and cheaper that way.”
“But we haven’t found anything that would prove it in all the time we’ve lived there. And we tried,” Andreas grumbled. “Many times. We checked every single inch of that basement. We did own an antique shop, after all. We’re the curious type. If there was something there, we wanted to find it.”
“There’s a basement?” I asked. I didn’t have access to any basement. But it did make sense. The foundation needed to be below the frost line.
“I have access to it,” Marcus said. “Below the gym. Now that I think about it, I have a double unit, but there’s only one access, and it’s through the stairwell for the unit that belonged to you.”
“Yes, we had the only entrance to the basement.” Andreas reached for his third cookie. He always did like the raspberry thumbprints. “We found nothing and used it as extra storage.”
“I hired an inspector when I bought the place, and aside from the older pipes and the roof needing to be replaced soon, he didn’t say anything about the basement.”
“Could be magic hiding it,” I suggested.
“We thought of that,” Andreas said. “But we couldn’t nullify it. Eventually, we just gave up. Forgot all about it after many years, until Arcane came knocking. Say, you don’t know anything about that fight with the troll in front of our place, do you?”
The investigation was over, and they’d just given us the information we needed, so I told them the truth. “A friend of mine messed up a love spell, and instead of sending the man of her dreams, it sent a bunch of randoms. She came looking for my help.”
There was a silence before Evyenia cracked up laughing.
“The spell sent her a troll?” she cackled, stepping over from sweet little grandma to wicked witch territory for a brief moment. “Oh, poor child. I hope you were able to help her.”
“Yes. We were able to nullify the spell.” But not the love of a very devoted incubus, although I kept that detail to myself.
“Don’t be so quick to judge, Evy,” Andreas said, wisely. “That troll might end up as some woman’s ultimate man. You know how it is. One man’s junk—”
“—is another man’s treasure,” they finished together.
“You’re right, Andy.”
I wasn’t so sure, considering how much the troll had stunk up the place. I thanked the older couple for having us over and promised that if we found anything interesting, we’d let them know. They told us to call or visit at any time. It must be nice to be retired with all that extra time on their hands.
Explaining that we’d had our windows smashed last night and the repair company was due to arrive after lunch, we apologized that we couldn’t visit for longer. And with our newfound knowledge, Marcus and I headed home, eager to search in this mysterious basement.