Upside Down Magic (Good Bad Magic #6)

Chapter 11

ELEVEN

Thursday dawned warm and wonderful in Ian’s arms. Outside , it was the same cold, foggy morning as the last few days.

Feeling pretty great about life, I took a shower and went downstairs to get Bagley started on her audiobook while Ian walked the dogs.

“ Do you know who the dark coven members were?” I asked, pausing right before our audiobook heroine jumped into a warehouse full of bad guys.

“ Hope Avery !” she screeched. “ Press that play button right now!”

Inside , I cackled. “ Coven members?”

“ No , of course I don’t know. Those things are kept secret. Now , continue the book.”

“ In time,” I said smoothly. “ So nothing at all? No hints of who might have belonged? Someone called Philleas Leeman , perhaps?”

“ I don’t know who that is.”

“ What about the coven leader?”

“ What about her?”

“ Do you know who it was?”

“ Everyone knows who it was. Forsythe .”

“ Why didn’t you tell me when I asked about the coven before?”

“ You didn’t ask, did you?” My silent cackle had nothing on hers. I needed to work on that.

Or maybe not. Maybe her cackles were her way to lure me into the dark side. “ Did you investigate her? Is the family still in town?”

“ I don’t know. Now , start the audiobook again.”

“ I find that hard to believe. You must’ve tried to find out more about her.”

“ Why would I want to know more about a dark witch who got caught?” She sounded genuinely baffled.

“ You should study the failures as well as the successes,” I told her sagely. “ If you can’t recognize the former you will never achieve the latter. Maybe we’ll listen to one of my favorite affirmation books next.”

“ Just leave me to rot in the rust bucket and be done with your torture.”

I poked the locket. “ Don’t tempt me.”

After restarting the audiobook, I waited for Ian to get back to update him on Bagley’s knowledge. The dogs greeted me like they’d been gone for hours rather than five minutes, and their eagerness made my chest expand with happiness until I thought I might burst.

“ I have a job this morning,” Ian said, leaving Fluffy and Rufus to frolic in the backyard. “ I’ll see if I can track down Ellis’s family after that.”

“ I’ll ask around about Forsythe .” We had agreed yesterday to divide and conquer again, and it’d be more natural for me to investigate the evil witch. Unfortunately , today I only had Natalia for a couple of hours, so I was going to have to stay at the shop all day. That meant my phone was going to get a lot of use.

We’d run some basic searches on the names, but nothing useful had popped out in Montel , Olmeda , or surrounding areas. Either the families had ended up marrying into other names, or they were survivalists.

I returned Bagley to the locker, then opened the door for Natalia . She gaped at Ian , who had made himself at home at the counter and was eating a muffin with another cup of coffee, and almost ran into the heater trying to get behind the counter without taking her eyes off him.

Ian , legendary bad-ass bounty hunter and older brother of Clawstone Park’s alpha, tended to have that effect on pack members.

Once she was situated and everything was ready, I flipped the closed sign and brought up the blinds.

A man was standing right outside the front door, hands cupping the glass, trying to peer inside.

I jumped back with a startled squeak. Natalia made a strangled sound of surprise. Ian went still.

“ Good morning,” I said tentatively as I opened the door.

The man stormed inside. He paused at the sight of Ian .

“ Cavalier ,” he said in acknowledgment, then rounded on me. “ You’re the witch, right?”

“ Uh , yes?”

“ Good . I need a potion.”

“ What kind of potion?” I had a moment of kinship with deer being caught in eighteen-wheeler’s headlights.

“ A potion for the sickness.”

That snapped me out of my temporary run-over status. “ You’re sick?”

“ Not yet ,” he snapped ominously.

“ I’m afraid no potions can stave off physical illnesses. A good tea, however, will improve your overall health, which?—”

“ I’m not talking about the flu,” he said impatiently. “ I’m talking about the curse.”

Oh , no. Had the upside-down magic story gotten out, or was this a new problem? “ What curse?”

“ The one that’s making paranormals sick. Someone died because their tongue froze in their throat and they choked on it!”

“ A …frozen tongue?”

He crossed his arms and scowled. “ That’s right. I want a potion so I don’t get this curse or whatever it is. I don’t want to choke on my own tongue.”

Rather than asking if any tongue would do, just not his, I chose the professional approach. “ I’m certain there have been no frozen tongue incidents and nobody has died. You’re perfectly safe.”

“ Are you sure you’re the witch?” At my nod, he added, “ Then give me a potion!”

Fine , then. I had plenty of experience with giving away placebos. I brought out my brightest smile. “ Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”

I marched into the back, grabbed a relaxing potion from the batch in the kitchen and returned. Luckily for me, I used a coloring system rather than labels to sort my potions.

“ Here you go.” I handed over the vial. “ Mix a fifth in your breakfast every day for best results.”

He eyed the vial as if gears were turning in his head. “ Only a fifth?”

“ If you use too much, the potion might lose its effect.”

“ That makes no sense.”

I amped the smile voltage. “ Please follow the instructions. I’m only permitted to sell one every five days.” A complete lie, but I wasn’t ready to scam the guy with a daily potion simply because he believed a tale. Hopefully by the time he was done with the potions, the rumors would have died down.

“ Hmph . How much?”

He paid for the potion and made his exit. The moment the door closed behind him I turned to Ian . “ Choking on frozen tongues?”

Ian shrugged. “ Haven’t heard a thing.”

“ Have you?” I asked Natalia .

She shook her head, but a guilty look crossed her expression.

Oh , good Mother Earth , what were people saying? “ Are you sure?”

“ Well …” She licked her lips, then words all but exploded out of her. “ Sally texted me last night. She said her friend Rick told her a shifter lost all his teeth when he shifted back to human and wanted to know if I knew who, so I messaged Paula , who knows everyone, and she said she heard it wasn’t a shifter but some air mage, and he went blind, nothing to do with teeth. She said Mandy might know, but Mandy is a lying asshole so I wasn’t about to ask her , so I asked Luis , and he said nobody had lost his teeth but he also heard something bad had happened to a paranormal, but he didn’t know who. So , I went to Bosko’s because Lydia knows a few people, and she said that a demon grew her horns inside her skull and it was a whole mess and they had to take her to the clinic, but when I asked Cindy because her father’s new girlfriend’s nephew knows someone who works there, she said that nothing like that had happened but to be careful not to eat from the gyro stand over at Fisher’s because she and her bestie had some yesterday and they were sick all night.”

She stared at me expectantly, taking in deep gulps of air. “ So ? Is it true paranormals are getting sick and dying?”

Wow . Olmeda’s paranormal community could win prizes for its telephone game talent. And how had the story gotten out anyway? Chance , or was the culprit trying to stir the pot? “ No ,” I said firmly. “ Nobody’s dying.”

“ But they’re getting sick?” she asked a little too eagerly.

“ Someone had a slight hiccup, but it was fixed.”

“ Aww , okay.” Her mouth dipped in disappointment. “ If you’re sure?”

“ Very sure. You’re safe here, don’t worry.”

She blinked, clearly taken aback by the notion she might be in danger. “ Oh . Sure , that’s great.”

“ Excellent ! Now let’s concentrate on the tea, okay? If anyone else comes in asking for a potion to ward off any paranormal sickness, give them a relaxation potion and don’t tell them what it is.”

“ Isn’t that kind of unethical?”

Asked by the girl who wanted an illegal love potion not two months ago. “ Relaxing helps with mental health, which helps your body’s general health.”

“ I guess that’s true.”

“ Indeed .” I turned to Ian to find him fighting a smile. His phone chose that moment to ring, and he slipped into the back to take the call.

I decided it was as good a time as any to leave Hutton another text asking him to call urgently, since he hadn’t answered my three voice messages.

The front door opened, and Dru breezed in. I automatically started preparing her coffee while Natalia selected a chocolate muffin and presented it on a plate.

“ I see you’ve trained her well,” Dru commented.

“ Natalia is a great addition to the shop, and I’m lucky to have her,” I declared proudly.

Natalia preened at my words, and I almost patted her on the head. Shifter not dog , I reminded myself at the last second.

Dru huffed and made grabby hands toward the mug of coffee. I studied her for a long moment. Was she jealous of Natalia ? She hadn’t been of Brimstone , but maybe seeing another young woman in her space made her miss her job here. That was so cute.

“ What ?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “ I swear to God , Hope , if you start crying again…”

“ Crying is a stress reliever.” I set the mug in front of her. “ We should all do it more often.”

Dru thumbed toward the bead curtain. “ Do it on your boyfriend’s shoulder, not in front of me.”

“ I’ll try. Say have you heard?—”

“ Uh oh.”

I ignored that very rude interruption. “ Have you heard the rumors about paranormals choking on their own frozen tongues?”

“ Frozen tongues?” She nodded in approval. “ That’s impressive.”

“ You’ve heard?”

“ I heard about the water mage who had water coming out of his ears and the witch who woke up from a nap with the name of her sixth-grade crush written on her forehead.”

I shuddered at that last one. Dire fate indeed. “ And you didn’t tell me rumors are going around?”

She lifted her mug. “ Coffee first.”

My phone vibrated in my back pocket. Finally , Hutton calling back. But when I took a look at the caller ID , it was another unknown number. Someone wanting a protection potion? Another business owner demanding to get into the Christmas event? At this point I gave either a fifty-fifty chance.

“ Yes ?” I said into the phone.

“ Avery , get to the B ’n’ B now,” a familiar croaky old voice demanded.

I mentally sorted through the people I knew. “ Dorsey ?”

“ The witch is sick.”