Chapter 20
Prim was always delighted to go to Gothic Books. The majestic building had a welcoming energy that always seemed a little counterintuitive to the stone exterior and the dramatic lines of the architecture. It just felt romantic to her.
Or maybe that was because it was where Dante had bid on her at the bachelorette auction.
As they walked up the pathway to the front door, there was movement behind a gorgeous blue hydrangea bush, followed by a real-life version of the velveteen rabbit poking its head out to peer at her.
Prim squeezed Dante’s hand and said, “If I haven’t told you before, thank you for reopening this place. It truly is one of my favorite places on earth.”
He tightened his grip on her fingers. “It has turned into something special, hasn’t it?”
“Very special.”
Once they were inside, the fresh scent of gardenias wafted over them, and Prim took a deep breath, feeling as if she’d just stepped into another world. One where all her problems had magically slipped away.
If only.
“I need to go balance the books before I tackle the restocking,” Dante said. “You can come join me in the office or hang out in the store. There are plenty of nooks for reading or just relaxing. Your choice.”
“I’ll hang out in the store. I want to restock my to-be-read pile. Then I think I’ll find a nice overstuffed chair to read in. Unless you need me to help with anything. Then I’m all yours.”
He smiled at her. “I’ve got it for now. But thank you. Go enjoy the store. I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
She gave him a kiss and waved as she disappeared into the stacks.
The spines of numerous books lit while she wandered through the romance section.
Prim read the descriptions of a few, chose one, and kept going.
When she rounded the corner of the paranormal section, the entire row lit up and she cackled.
Because she was a witch who loved to read just about anything, the spell that matched interests with readers had assumed she’d want them all.
She had to admit it was probably true. That didn’t make it any easier choosing, though.
After choosing randomly based solely off the cover art, Prim went in search of the nonfiction section and perused the spell books.
She was always interested to see if there were any new titles that had come out.
When she didn’t find anything that caught her attention, she retreated to a nearby alcove to start her reading.
“Over here, Dee,” a woman called.
Footsteps clattered on the wooden floor. “Finally. I thought we’d never find the spells section.”
Prim looked up from her book and peered around the corner, spotting two women who were dressed in similar corseted dresses.
One was a rich sapphire blue, and the other was a deep violet.
Both were covered in lace and had handkerchief hems. The women had on matching lace-up boots and were wearing long necklaces with pentacle pendants.
She blinked. Was there a cosplay witch event going on in Befana Bay that she didn’t know about?
Because the only thing missing from their outfits were the pointy witch hats.
“We need one that neutralizes spells,” the tall one in the violet dress said, her long wavy black hair cascading around her as she perused the shelves.
“But this one has an attraction spell,” the other one in sapphire said, flinging her white-blond locks over her shoulder. “If I can’t get Dillon to notice me soon, I’m gonna have to resort to desperate measures.”
“No!” Violet grabbed the book out of her hands. “Look at what happened the last time one of us messed around with a spell. We’re not doing that again.”
“We didn’t spell those needles!” the other one said in a loud whisper.
“Shhh! We said we’re never talking about that again. What if someone hears you?”
Prim jerked back, hiding in her alcove, her heart racing. Had these women been the ones to attack Bree? She leaned as far over as she could without being seen and strained to hear the rest of their conversation.
“All I’m saying is we don’t know what went into that spell,” Sapphire continued. “All we did was help form the circle.”
“And participate in a spell to dim Bree’s star. She was stabbed with knitting needles the very next day. Getting fired from the production definitely dimmed her star, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, but… No one wanted that.”
“Maybe one person did. And now weird things are happening to all of us. Look at that giant zit on your face. You haven’t had acne in two years, and suddenly the day after Bree is cursed, you look like you’ve got a horn growing out of your forehead.”
“I’m going to the healer this afternoon,” the woman exclaimed.
“You’ll be lucky if you aren’t fired first. Even the best makeup in the world isn’t going to cover that up.”
There was sniffling followed by, “You’re mean.”
“No, I’m realistic. I’m not unscathed either.
” There was a rustling of fabric before the woman continued.
“Look at this rash on my thigh. It looks like I’ve been rubbing up against poison oak, but I haven’t been in the woods once since we got here.
I swear, babe, we’ve been cursed. I read that when you use magic for nefarious purposes, it comes back threefold. ”
“I’d hardly say a zit and a rash are worse than being stabbed in the cheek with knitting needles.”
“You’re right, but I’m not taking any chances. Things just feel… off. Are you with me or not?”
“Yeah, I guess. But I’m still taking this spells of attraction book.”
“Fine,” the other one said, sounding exasperated. “I’ll get this other one. How to Cleanse Your Magical Space. That should do the trick.”
Prim wanted to tell the woman that if they were part of a curse strong enough to attack someone, then that book wasn’t going to help, but she didn’t want them to know that she’d overheard their conversation.
It sounded pretty certain that they were involved with the spell that resulted in Bree’s attack, and she didn’t want them to be suspicious that someone knew about it.
Careful to give the women some space, she waited for a brief moment before she made her way up to the cash register.
She wanted to ask them a few questions, find out their skill level, maybe even their names.
But when she emerged from the shelves, the women were nowhere to be found.
She searched the entire bookstore, including the library on the upper floor, and then hurried to the office just behind the checkout counter, where Dante was still doing the books.
“Hey,” he said, looking up from the computer. “What do you need?”
“Did you help two women that were dressed up as witches a couple minutes ago? They were buying some basic spell books.”
“No.” He frowned. “Did they come to the register?”
“I don’t know. I overheard them talking about the attack on Bree, and I think they know what happened. It sounded like they may have been involved somehow. I was going to try to get both their names to pass on to Niko, but they just disappeared.”
Dante let out a curse and then tapped a few buttons on his computer. Cameras from his surveillance system appeared on the screen, and a few seconds later, there was video of the two women leaving with no books in their hands.
“Are you sure they were going to buy those books?” Dante asked.
“That’s what it sounded like,” she said. “Though I suppose they could have ditched them onto another shelf before they left.”
“Let’s see.” He tapped a few more keys. His frown deepened into a scowl as he pointed at one of the screens. “Look here.” He tapped the replay button.
The two women were standing in another alcove, hiking their skirts up. After tucking the books into the waist of their undergarments, they dropped their skirts and strolled out of the store.
“Those disgusting little thieves,” Prim snapped.
“Do you have any idea who they are?” Dante asked.
“No, but it sure sounded like they are working on the movie,” Prim said.
“I’ll call Niko so he can run this down. With the video, we’ll at least be able to press charges for theft.”
“With any luck he’ll get the truth out of them, and the sheriff can drop the charges against me,” Prim said, grateful they at least had a tiny lead.
“Those charges will be dropped either way, Prim,” Dante said, getting up from his chair and pulling her against him. “One way or another, Niko will find the truth.”
Prim could only pray he was right.