Page 27 of Real Fake Hauntings

Bagley cackled. “That’s Ms. Bagley to you.”

Dru pursed her lips, clearly unhappy that now she’d have to deal with the resident ghost.

“Now, about these pentagrams,” Bagley said. “I hate to break it to you, but those symbols mean nothing.”

Hated to break it to me? Hah. The evil spawn liked nothing more than rubbing my lack of knowledge in my face.

“They could be some sort of shorthand,” I insisted.

“And you could be a successful witch, but wishing for unicorns doesn’t make them real, does it?”

Dru sipped on her soda and remained silent.

I felt a blush creep up my neck. “Wishing is its own kind of magic, Ms. Bagley, and I am extremely sad you never learned this in your long life.”

“If that were true, I wouldn’t be stuck with you,” she muttered.

I summoned my best customer-facing smile and turned toward the laptop. “As I was saying?—”

“Which was nothing much.”

“—even if the symbols are gibberish, the person used human blood and performed some kind of spell.”

“What kind of spell?” Dru asked, interested again.

“I don’t know.”

“Dark magic?” she guessed.

We both turned to look at the ceramic pumpkins.

“It happens a lot more than you imagine, my dears,” Bagley said in her grandmotherly persona.

The common occurrence of dark magic wasn’t something I wanted to think about. “I don’t know if it was dark magic or not. The human blood could’ve been given willingly, or be the perpetrator’s.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask Bagley if she knew who might’ve drawn the pentagrams, but I held the question in. Asking the evil witch meant giving her power over me, and I refused to end up in that scenario. Bagley might haunt my shop, but I wouldn’t let her haunt me.

“The Cabinet of Curiosities bothers me,” I said. “Why choose it? The other three spots are paranormal-owned, but not the Cabinet. Unless…?” I arched my eyebrows in question.

Dru shook her head. “I never heard anything about it being paranormal.”

“I haven’t heard it mentioned in the PBOA meetings, either.” Not that I had attended that many.

“Maybe it’s someone from out of town who assumed the Cabinet is paranormal-owned because of all the creepy stuff inside.” Malevolence gleamed in Dru’s eyes. “Someone like Preston trying to get back at everyone for going against him.”

“He’s already on the list, but Janet was on his side during the PBOA negotiations,” I pointed out. “Besides, he’s still opening in Olmeda. Why mess with his future clientele?”

“Why not?” was Bagley’s useful contribution.

“Because we don’t all exist to make other people’s lives impossible,” I told her very primly.

“I’d like to know your mother’s opinion about that.”

I unhooked the laptop and pointed at the pumpkin arrangement. “If you’re not going to be nice, you can go haunt someone else.”

Head held up high, I strode my way into the back, laptop in my arms.

Bagley’s creepy laugh followed. “The truth hurts!”

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