Page 7 of Blood Match

I rub at my face, feeling the heat of embarrassment creep up my neck. “Great. Just great.”

Kara’s expression softens. “Hey, it’s okay. We all have off days.”

“Yeah, but your off days don’t involve turning clients blue and giving them uncontrollable hiccups,” I grumble.

My sister laughs, then quickly stifles it when she sees my face. “Sorry. It’s just… Hiccups? Really?”

I can’t help but crack a small smile. “Yeah. It was a freaking disaster.”

Kara rolls up her sleeves. “Well, let me help you clean up. Then maybe we can go over that locator spell together.”

As Kara and I clean, I hear a familiar chittering at the window. Poppy’s back, her flowery tail swishing behind her as she scampers inside.

“Oh, thank goodness,” I sigh. “Poppy, I’m so sorry about your tail.”

“Sorry? I don’t think sorry cuts it this time!” Poppy shoots me a glare, her little paws twisting in front of her. I reach for her, but she darts away, clearly not in a forgiving mood.

“Here, let me try to fix it,” I say, raising my hands.

“Oh, hell no!” Poppy’s eyes widen in alarm, and she leaps behind a stack of books.

Kara chuckles. “Maybe I should handle this one, sis.”

I slump, nodding. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

With a graceful wave of her hand, Kara murmurs a spell. In an instant, Poppy’s tail returns to its usual bushy state. She inspects it, then gives a satisfied nod.

“There,” Kara says. “Good as new.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, feeling a familiar pang of inadequacy.

Poppy simply glares at me, her expression accusatory.

“Hey, don’t blame me!” I retort, feeling my patience waning. “If you hadn’t been fooling around and distracting me with those funny voices, none of this would have happened!”

Poppy tilts her head, looking confused. “Voices?”

“Don’t play innocent,” I say. “I heard you. That deep voice with the accent? ‘That’s not what I said, damn you!’ Remember?”

Poppy shakes her head vigorously, looking genuinely perplexed. “Honey, if I could do accents, I’d be in Hollywood, not stuck in this magical circus you call a cottage.”

“What are you talking about, Ro?” Kara asks, pausing in her cleaning.

I frown, suddenly uncertain. “I… I heard a voice. During the spell. It wasn’t Poppy?”

Kara and Poppy exchange a look. “I didn’t hear anything,” Poppy insists. “Seriously. It wasn’t me.”

I shake my head, trying to clear it. “But I’m sure I heard…something. Someone.”

They’re staring at me now. “Um…maybe it was um…your imagination? You know how our heads can play tricks on us when we’re under pressure.” Kara gives a small smile.

She doesn’t believe me. Neither does Poppy. And now I’m starting to wonder if I imagined it, too.

Did I?

But it was so clear!

“I…I guess,” I mumble, feeling like an idiot.

---