Celestial Chaos (Blackmoore Sisters Cozy Mysteries Book 10)
Chapter 1
Something didn”t feel quite right…
Morgan Blackmoore stood at the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee in her hand and a funny feeling buzzing through her entire body.
She paused, the mug halfway to her lips. A strange tingling raced across her skin, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Her intuition—usually a gentle hum in the back of her mind—spiked sharply.
Something was off.
She glanced out the kitchen window above the sink. The herb garden stretched before her, neat rows of magical plants glowing softly in the dawn light. A light mist curled around the leaves and stems. Beyond the garden, the woods loomed dark and shadowy, the trees barely visible through the fog.
A flash of movement at the edge of the trees caught her eye. Belladonna, the family”s sleek white cat, trotted purposefully into the shadows. Morgan frowned. Belladonna hardly ever went into the forest.
Unease unfurled in Morgan”s belly as she sensed a sudden undeniable shift in her magical intuition. She took a deep breath and reached out with her senses.
She focused on letting her awareness drift outward. The currents of magic that usually flowed steadily around her were churning and chaotic. She probed deeper, trying to understand the disturbance. That was when she saw it—a faint glimmer pulsing through the magical currents. She narrowed her focus, willing the glimmer to take shape. It was something important—she could feel it. The glimmer solidified into a glowing orb, flickering and shifting, almost forming into...
”Penny for your thoughts.”
Morgan jerked, the coffee mug slipping from her fingers and shattering on the floor.
She whirled around, heart pounding. ”Luke! You scared me half to death.”
Luke grinned, leaning against the kitchen doorway. ”Sorry, didn”t mean to startle you. You looked pretty deep in thought, though.” His green eyes glinted with amusement as he took in the puddle of coffee and broken mug at her feet.
Morgan exhaled forcefully, pressing a hand to her chest. ”It”s okay. I was just...” She trailed off, frowning. The magical currents she”d been sensing were gone now, dispersed by Luke”s sudden appearance. But those magical currents had been real, and she was certain they were an indication that things were not right.
”Just what?” Luke prompted.
”I don”t know exactly,” Morgan said slowly. ”I was trying to get a sense of something... a disturbance in the magical currents. But then you surprised me, and I lost my concentration.”
Luke straightened, his amusement fading. ”A magical disturbance? Here in town?”
Morgan nodded. ”It felt chaotic, like the magical energy was swirling violently. And my intuition was going haywire right before you walked in. Something”s wrong.”
She knelt and began picking up the larger shards of the broken mug. Luke grabbed a towel and mopped up the spilled coffee.
Morgan frowned as she dumped the broken pieces in the trash. ”I”m not sure what it was exactly. My intuition doesn”t usually spike like that over nothing.”
Luke leaned back against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. ”Well, it”s probably not nothing. Dorian mentioned that some sort of celestial alignment is coming up in a few days. She said to be on high alert.”
Dorian Hall was Luke”s boss at the secret government paranormal agency for which he worked. The Blackmoores often did work for that agency.
”Celestial alignment?” Morgan echoed with a puzzled look. ”What”s that?”
Luke ran a hand through his shaggy dark hair. ”I”d never heard of it either. She said it only happens once every five hundred years. Something about crystals on all the planets aligning. It creates a massive surge in magical energy across all the realms.”
Morgan”s eyes widened. ”A magical surge? That would definitely explain the disturbance I was sensing.” She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. ”But why does Dorian want us on high alert?”
”The last time there was a celestial alignment, it left cracks between the magical realms that evil forces exploited to cross over to Earth,” Luke explained grimly.
”Well, that sounds ominous.”
Morgan turned to see her younger sister, Celeste, padding into the kitchen, stifling a yawn. Her blond hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and she was wrapped in an oversized knit sweater against the morning chill. She made a beeline for the fridge and started to pull out ingredients for her morning staple drink, a green smoothie.
”Have you heard of this celestial alignment?” Morgan asked her.
Celeste paused, carafe in hand. ”Celestial what now?”
Morgan quickly recapped what Luke had said about the rare planetary alignment and its effects on magical energy. Celeste”s ice-blue eyes widened as she listened.
”Huh,” she mused, pausing to turn on the blender and then pour the pureed contents in a glass. ”That”s really weird. I wonder why we”ve never heard about this before.”
Morgan shook her head. ”No idea. But listen, did you feel anything strange this morning?”
Celeste tilted her head thoughtfully. ”Now that you mention it, I did get a weird vibe when I woke up. Kind of an anxious, jittery feeling. Like the feeling I get when a ghost wants to talk, but no one was there.”
”I sensed a disturbance in the magical currents,” Morgan said. ”My intuition went haywire right before Luke walked in. Something big is happening.”
Celeste sipped her coffee, frowning. ”Well, that”s not good. Your intuition is never wrong.”
Johanna Blackmoore bustled into the kitchen, her gaze zeroing in on the trash can. ”Is that one of my favorite mugs in there?”
”Sorry, Mom.” Morgan gave her a hug. ”I dropped it.”
Johanna waved her hand dismissively. ”No worries. I have more.” Then she turned her knowing gaze on her daughters. ”What”s going on? I sense you were discussing something serious.”
Morgan quickly explained about the coming celestial alignment and the disturbance she had sensed in the magical currents. Celeste chimed in about the strange vibe she had felt upon waking.
Johanna”s brow furrowed as she listened. When they finished, she nodded slowly. ”You know, I think I might remember hearing something about a celestial alignment when I was a girl. It was very rare. I don”t recall the details. If both of you felt something strange, that”s significant. We need to pay attention to this.”
Morgan felt a swell of validation upon hearing her mother confirm the importance of what she had sensed.
”We should check with Fiona and Jolene, see if they noticed anything odd this morning,” Celeste suggested.
”I”m heading to the shop soon. I”ll ask Fiona,” Morgan said.
”I”ll see if I can get more information from Dorian,” Luke added.
”Hopefully, she”ll know more about this and what we should do.” Johanna filled a mug, identical to the one Morgan had broken, with coffee.
”Yeah, hopefully, someone will.” Celeste sipped her smoothie.
Morgan glanced out the window uneasily, looking at the spot where Belladonna had disappeared into the woods. ”I think someone might, but unfortunately, it”s not someone who can actually tell us what we should do.”