Chapter 21
With nearly an hour and a half to go before the shop was supposed to be open, Sabrina sat in the back room with Trip and Korrin, drinking the rest of Gideon’s delicious coffee and wishing she had a solution to her sprite problem.
Korrie was currently explaining to Trip how to repair the cracked lid of a tiny ceramic jar. Trip, oddly enough, seemed to be listening. Korrie was so kind to Trip. Occasionally, he’d reach over and scratch Trip’s cheek. Trip would close his eyes and lean into Korrie’s small hand.
It was the sweetest.
It broke her heart to think Amelia might take Korrie’s magic. Or worse.
Sabrina had known before she’d talked to Gideon that he was going to tell her what she already suspected. Which was, of course, that Amelia knew about Korrin. She was a witch. They could sense magic. It was undoubtedly why she’d bought the music box in the first place.
Did Sabrina dare talk to Amelia? Tell her the truth? That in the process of repairing the music box, the sprite had been released?
It wasn’t like Sabrina had done it on purpose. But she kept coming back to the part where Amelia had told her to leave the magic alone. Sabrina had been warned. She sighed. Sitting here was pointless. She had no solution. No solution she liked, anyway.
She took a sip of coffee. Telling Amelia might work out, but it might also lose Sabrina the repair job. If she waited until the music box was done, Amelia would at least feel obliged to pay her.
Wouldn’t she?
The coffee went cold in Sabrina’s mouth. What if Amelia got so angry she didn’t pay?
This was not good. All that time and effort for nothing. And she’d still owe Gideon. This was very quickly becoming a nightmare.
She got out of her chair and paced toward the other end of the room. She had to think of something. Could she ask Amelia what kind of magic she’d been referring to? That was vague enough not to let the cat out of the bag.
But then again, just by asking, Amelia might assume that Sabrina had discovered something.
Ugh. Her stomach was starting to hurt from nerves. She thought about going to see Gideon again, but this wasn’t his problem. She’d gotten him into this. She had to figure it out.
She was feeling more and more like she should just push forward with the repair, get Korrie back into the music box, and return it to Amelia.
But then what? He’d be trapped again until Amelia released him, fate unknown. She couldn’t do that to him. So how did Sabrina help him? How did she make this right?
She had an idea. Probably not a good one but the only one she could come up with.
She drained the last of the coffee, rinsed the cup out, and left it in the sink. She took out her phone and texted Julia. You awake?
A quick reply came. Barely. What’s up?
I need to talk to you.
I’m here.
Sabrina dialed.
Julia answered, the sleep obvious in her voice. “What’s going on?”
“What if I needed you to do some magic?”
Julia groaned. “You know my magic’s no good.”
“But is that all the time? What if it was just one little spell?”
“The odds of it going wrong are far greater than the odds of it going right.”
“Okay, but what if I’m willing to take that risk?” She moved farther away from the table where Korrie was working and lowered her voice. “I have to help Korrie. I can’t let Amelia drain his magic.”
Julia sighed. “I agree. But you don’t know that’s what she’s going to do.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve already figured out I can’t exactly ask her.”
Julia grunted. “I would not do that.”
“Which is why I need you to try your magic. To help him.”
She yawned into the phone. “Sorry. What exactly do you want me to do?”
“I was hoping, when the music box is finished and ready to return, you could … I don’t know, put some kind of spell on it to make it seem like Korrie was still in there? Is that even a thing?”
“I’m sure it is. Some kind of mimicry spell. But I haven’t had coffee. I’m not even out of bed yet. Let me wake up, consult a few books, maybe ask a friend from my coven, and I’ll have an answer for you when I come in today. Does that work?”
Sabrina exhaled. She couldn’t ask for more than that. “Yes. Thank you.”
With a new possibility to hope for, Sabrina went to work, opening the shop early. Might as well. She was there. She started by tagging and displaying all the jewelry Korrie had fixed—after checking online to see how it should be priced. It really filled up the display case.
She owed Stella a big thanks for that box.
Sabrina made herself a note to send her a card.
Once she’d dealt with the jewelry, she started on the project she and Julia had taken on the day before.
Reassessing the value of things. Julia had managed to do quite a lot, but some of the larger items still needed checking.
Sabrina looked up a queen-size headboard and footboard. They’d been in terrible shape when she’d found them. Scratched up, chipped, the finish worn from years of use. She’d sanded them down, repaired the damage, and painted them a beautiful Wedgewood blue.
She had a price of thirty-five dollars on the set.
A quick search online and she found a similar set in plain white for a hundred and twenty-five dollars.
She blinked and searched a bit more, quickly coming to the conclusion that they were definitely underpriced.
She still wanted to offer a good deal, though. She changed the tag to seventy-five.
She made her way around the store, swapping out price tags as she searched. She shook her head. How had she gotten things so wrong?
Offering a great deal was all well and good, but her prices were too low. She realized that now. And she had to wonder if customers had assumed something was wrong with her items because of that.
The shop door opened, and a woman came in. “I didn’t think you’d be open.”
Sabrina checked the time. Still forty-five minutes before she’d usually be unlocking the door. She smiled. “I came in early today. Testing out new hours. Anything I can help you find?”
The woman nodded. “I’ve been searching all over for a toy chest. It’s such a specific item, I know. Do you have anything like that?”
“I do!” She’d found it at a yard sale, paint peeling, hinge broken.
She’d replaced the hinge, sanded it, repainted it white, and decoupaged it with colorful letters that spelled out TOYS.
She’d also just repriced it from twenty dollars to fifty after seeing them go for twice that online. “It’s right over here.”
She held her breath, hoping the woman didn’t think it was too much money.
The woman gasped. “It’s perfect. I’ll take it. If you can help me load it into my car? I have an SUV. It should fit in the back.”
“No problem.”
By the time Julia came in, Sabrina had made a handful of sales and had more people in than ever before. There were five people browsing in the shop at that very moment, causing Julia’s eyes to round as she walked up to the counter.
She looked toward the man contemplating an enormous gold-framed mirror against the back wall. “I guess that ad is working.”
“Today was the first day for it in the paper,” Sabrina said. “I’m so glad we worked on prices yesterday. I finished them up this morning.” She leaned in. “I’ve already made a hundred and thirty-five dollars in sales.”
Julia’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the new price on that mirror?”
“Two twenty-five. Not a small purchase.”
Julia tapped her fingers on the counter. “Be right back.”
She was, too, with the man. She rang him up with a bright smile, and then the two of them helped him carry the mirror out to his truck.
“Wow,” Sabrina said as he pulled away. She looked at Julia. “I had no idea that ad would help so much.”
Julia shrugged. “Everyone reads the paper in Shadowvale.”
“I’m glad.” She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “Did you think about our phone call?”
Julia nodded and inched closer to Sabrina. “I did. Also did some research. I think I can come up with a spell that will make it seem like Korrin’s still in the music box, but when Amelia opens it, the magic will burst forth and fizzle out. It’ll seem like she did something wrong on her end.”
Sabrina blinked. “You mean like … she accidentally killed Korrin?”
“I don’t know if she’ll think that, exactly. More like the magic released him somewhere else. And that’ll be the end of that.”
“You really think you can pull that off?”
Julia snorted. “No. But for him—and you—I’m willing to try. And my friend Nheema’s going to help me write the spell. There is one thing, though. I’m going to need some of Korrie’s breath.”
“Breath? How in the blue blazes are we going to get that? I really don’t want to tell him what we’re doing. In case it goes wrong. And also so he can have plausible deniability.”
Julia’s grin was oddly big. “Have you looked at his list?”
Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Yes. Don’t remind me of how much there is to do.”
“Well, one of those things is just what we need to make this happen. Leave it up to me.”
“If you say so.”
“I do and—” Julia leaned in toward Sabrina suddenly. “Your aura’s changed.”
“What’s that mean?”
Julia shook her head. “It’s all pink and purple. Those are the colors of love and romance.” She looked at Gideon’s shop, then back at Sabrina. “Something you want to tell me?”
“Yes,” Sabrina said tightly. “We need to get back to work.”