Chapter 3
Chapter three
We drove past a residential neighborhood with clapboard houses in pastel colors and onto a main street where New Age stores, upcycled clothes boutiques and fortune tellers mingled with cafés, a bookstore called Words, Swords, and Wonders, which intrigued me, and past a fountain with a statue of a young woman dressed in pioneer clothes.
“The next right,” he said.
Blooms B it's only a ten-minute drive or so into the woods, or if you’re up for more exercise, you can hike there.
The last couple hundred yards you need to walk anyway.
Wisdom and enlightenment work best if it takes some work of your own and dedication to reach it. "
“Very wise,” I said.
She flashed me another smile and bustled off.
The spacious room was decorated in a mix-and-match style that felt comfortable without being cheap.
The main attractions were a four-poster bed and a velvet ottoman in a deep green that contrasted well with the cream and pink of the wallpaper and the carpet. The flower motif continued, but only in the form of easy cushions.
I let Cosmo out of his stroller.
He stretched luxuriously and sniffed around the room. “Did you feel it?” he asked me. “Feel what?”
“About her?”
“Posy?”
“Who else did we just meet?”
I forgave him that remark when I noticed how he shook himself and limbered up.
The stroller, although roomy, had obviously not been the ideal choice for the travel.
I’d have to look into a large carrier where he could lie down, fully stretched out.
“She's nice.” I closed my eyes and concentrated, to go back over a brief conversation.
“Well?”
“Can you give me a clue?”
“Who did she remind you of?”
“Ange, a little,” I said, “considering how fantastically well all the flowers outside are growing, and all the flower themes here, although that’s probably because the family name is Bloom.”
He looked at me with the patience of a teacher who's trying to prompt his favorite, not very bright, student to come to the right conclusion.
I put two and two together. “She's a garden witch?”
“Yes, although most humans simply think of themselves as having a green thumb. From what she said, you might be well prepared to meet a few more witches.”
“That's not so very surprising, is it? I mean, there were a lot of New Age stores for a town this size, and then there are the healing springs.” Witches, I’d learned, came in a huge variety.
Some were simply naturally attuned to nature, or mindfulness, or healing, and didn't need much more than crystals and herbs and a few rituals to improve their lives or the life of others in a non-mercenary way.
Others, like me, possessed natural magic that could be leveled up by the use of spell-books.
Because that included a lot of power, this kind of good witches also had to be very careful not to go over to the dark side.
Hence the strict rules about what purpose we could use magic for and what not, without risking losing parts of our soul.
I shivered, although there was no physical reason, given the comfortable temperature in the room.
My stomach rumbled. “Let's go out and have some food and then check out the auction house,” I suggested.
My familiar did another full body stretch and kneaded the carpet. “Fine with me. A stroll is always a good idea after being cooped up for so long, and we can get a feel for the town.” Cosmo held still while I put his harness on.