CHAPTER NINE
“Hello, Lorna,” I said. “I suppose you overheard?”
“I did.” She nodded. “Dex also spoke to me earlier this morning about Hattie. However, I want you to brief me on the situation. Don’t leave out any detail. Tell me everything. Since the first meeting with Hattie about the gown, to what happened this morning.”
“That may take a few.”
“We have a half hour before open,” she said. “Come over to the bookstore, Kate, and let’s talk.”
“Go.” Circe shooed me away. “I can get the point of sales program booted up and the lights switched on for you.”
I walked over to the bookstore with Lorna where we encountered Dex carrying a stack of new books in one arm. As soon as he spotted me his face went pale. “Are you all right?” he demanded, setting the books aside and rushing over to me.
“I will be,” I said.
Dex reached out and gently pulled me close. It was more of a comforting gesture—nothing romantic about it really—yet my stomach did a hard flip at his touch.
I felt his breath hitch and realized he was using his retrocognition. He was ‘seeing’ what had happened a short time ago.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “I’m okay.”
He leaned back and his eyes locked on mine. “I’ll go clean up the broken glass for you.”
“I appreciate that.”
He stepped back and turned to go, his hand giving mine a light squeeze as he left.
Lorna had stood to the side through that whole thing, and now that Dex had left, she inclined her head and I followed. We went straight back to her small office in the backroom, and she shut the door behind us. I took a seat in the chair in front of her desk and filled Lorna in.
Beginning with Hattie’s first visit, thinking her wedding dress had been cursed, to all the bad luck and scares the couple had been experiencing.
I explained my impressions of the spider-web like shawl of energy that had been wrapped around her—plus Dex’s reading of the vintage wedding gown, and him also picking up on the spider webs—to the spellwork I’d done on Samhain to break the curse.
I told her about the phone call and ER visit yesterday, and how I’d given Hattie my own amulet for protection.
I showed her the video of Hattie’s accident, and finally I shared with her how my morning had gone.
“Now, I’m wondering,” I said, as I finished up, “if somehow I took on Hattie’s curse. Is it even possible that it could have transferred to me? Or did giving her my personal talisman open me up to an attack?”
“You should have come to me sooner,” Lorna said.
“I didn’t want to bother you with this,” I insisted. “I know there are many demands on your time. You are the community leader, and there’s the private book club with the covens.”
“You mean my New Moon Book Club?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.
I smirked. “Circe and I figured out a long time ago that the New Moon Book Club was a cover for the local coven leaders to gather together and check in with you once a month.”
“And here I thought we’d been so discreet.” Lorna smiled.
“You might be, but the coven leaders tend to dress the part whenever they arrive for the ‘book club,’” I said, using air quotes around the last two words.
“Bless their hearts, they really do.” She smiled at that. “But honestly, the book club does gather to discuss a wide variety of topics. Books, current events, and so forth.”
“I have no doubt.”
Lorna rested her arms on the desk and leaned forward. “This situation with Hattie and her fiancé is serious. It seems to me that the hex started slowly. First there was the financial problems.”
“Her debit card. The car issues,” I said, counting them on my fingers, “and the difficulties with their mortgage paperwork.”
“Then things ramped up with Johnny and his severe allergic reaction.” Lorna shook her head. “I’ve not seen a curse that was so destructive in quite a while.”
“Terrific,” I muttered.
“My working theory is that when you gave your talisman to Hattie yesterday, you lessened your own personal protection. It likely gave the negative magick a new target since it couldn’t get to Hattie so easily any longer.
You’ve already worked against the curse once.
It may have very well recognized your energy, and so the spell’s focus shifted—”
“To me,” I said.
“I think this may indeed be the case,” she agreed.
“And so now the hex is trying to remove the obstacle that’s keeping it from fulfilling it’s goal?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “That obstacle being you.”
“Well, shit.”
Lorna steepled her fingers as she considered me.
“Hex-breaking is much more complex than most practitioners realize. In fact, this one damn near killed three people already. First Johnny and the out-of-nowhere anaphylaxis, and Hattie getting knocked down a flight of concrete stairs, and now your close call this morning.”
“So, what’s my next move?” I asked.
“Our next move,” Lorna corrected as her entire posture changed. “You’re not dealing with this alone, Kate. Not any longer.”
As I considered her, I felt the energy shift around her. I was speaking to the Magistra now, and so I chose my next words carefully. “Magistra, I greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide.”
Lorna inclined her head. “I’m going to work some protection for Hattie and her fiancé, and also for you—right away. Afterward, I’ll put out some feelers and call in a few favors. The book club is gathering tonight. Let me see what I can uncover.”
“I appreciate it, Lorna,” I said.
“Do you suppose Circe would have a candle I could use?” she teased.
The door to Lorna’s office swung open without warning.
“Way ahead of you,” Circe said, plunking a large purple jar candle in the middle of Lorna’s desk. “One hex-breaking jar candle. On the house.”
***
Despite the fact that there was a dangerous hex that needed to be broken, I also had a business to run, as did Circe and Lorna. I returned to The Apothecary Shoppe, determined to not let some hex mess with me or my business. Not any longer.
Honestly, I was also a bit pissed that someone had the balls to come after me with magick. The anger I could work with. Because I much preferred being angry to being scared.
I could also admit that I felt better knowing Lorna was on the case so to speak.
Admittedly I was curious as to what sort of information she thought she would glean from the local coven leaders.
Maybe I should have asked Lorna if I could have attended that night…
but then again I was a solitary Witch, so I wasn’t sure what the protocol was for being invited to a gathering of magickal community leaders.
Circe walked over a short time later and handed me an ice pack she’d put together using ice cubes and a couple of plastic freezer bags.
I accepted the ice pack and held it against my ribs by keeping my arm down for a while.
I did take a couple of ibuprofen capsules for the pain, and then I got on with my day.
Dex popped in to let me know that he’d called Taylor—simply saying I’d slipped and had dropped the crockpot—and she was going to stop on her way in and pick up a new one for me.
Once Taylor arrived, she washed it out and set up the mulled cider.
It was a fancier crockpot than I’d originally had…
bigger too. When I asked for the receipt to reimburse her, she informed me that Dex had already taken care of it.
At noon, Dex walked over with a couple of sandwiches. Taylor shooed us to the back, and we sat around my desk and ate. He had an egg salad sandwich, and he’d gotten me a turkey melt.
“This is a nice surprise,” I said.
“Our second date,” he said, lifting his bottled water in a toast.
“Maybe we’ll actually get to finish our meal this time.” I laughed but winced at the soreness of my ribs.
“How bad is it?” Dex asked.
“Not too bad,” I assured him. “A bit sore. I imagine tomorrow it’ll be worse.”
“Try and keep moving,” Dex suggested, “so it doesn’t stiffen up on you.”
I nodded and took a bite of my sandwich.
After we finished our food, I wondered what Dex would do now that we were alone.
But he kept it casual. He cleaned up the paper our sandwiches had been wrapped in and tossed everything away.
Before he left, he pressed a sweet kiss to my cheek and told me to call him if I needed any help.
“Thank you for replacing the crock pot,” I said. “And for lunch.”
With a nod and a smile, he strolled back to the bookstore, and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.
Later that afternoon I got a text from Johnny.
After being kept overnight for observation, Hattie was being discharged.
I called a local florist and had a big bouquet of blue hydrangeas sent to her home.
I did so for three reasons. One to cheer her, and secondly for protection—hydrangea blooms were often used in hex-breaking and herbal protection spells.
And lastly, the blossoms were a particular favorite of Hattie’s.
It had been another busy day, with lots of culinary spice sales. Next door, the sound of talk and laughter drifted over to The Apothecary Shoppe. The book club had gathered for their monthly meeting and were making their way upstairs to the lecture space.
As we ran the closing reports, Taylor reminded me that we needed to restock my bespoke pumpkin pie spice mixture and the mulling spices for the weekend.
“I plan on working on both of those blends tonight,” I assured her. “I’ll bring them down with me in the morning.”
“Good,” she said, as she swept the hardwood floor. “Cuz we’re nearly out.”
I nodded. “The containers came in the other day. I’ll get them all packaged up this evening.”
“Hey Kate, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” I said.
“I was wondering...” her voice trailed off and she checked around making sure we were alone before she continued. “What’s a Magistra?”
I kept my expression neutral and friendly as I spoke. “Why do you ask?”
She leaned on the broom handle. “Well, I overheard a few of the ladies from the book club that were shopping over here earlier talking about it. I assume it’s a person?”