Page 17 of Wallflower Witch

“Bring us a bottle of pinot noir and pinot grigio. We will go through the preset menu for tonight,” Matt answers without looking through the menu.

The man bows slightly and retreats from the room, sliding the door closed behind him.

My eyes go wide as I look over at Josh, thinking maybe I should have taken him up on his offer to come alone, but also knowing we are a team and I need to be here.

Josh snorts. “He’s not that bad, Mor. He just pretends to be a stuck-up ass.”

Matt chokes on the sip of water he had just taken, then beats his fist on his chest. “Well, there’s the Josh I grew up with. Always snarky. But he’s right. I’m typically more laid back. I just came here because we had some bad reviews, and I wanted to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing.”

“And coming into a private room is how you are doing that?” asks Patrick. “Wouldn’t being undercover be a better way to assess what’s happening here?”

Matt raises his hand, rubbing it across his short beard. “That’s a good point.” He shrugs. “But Josh made your needs seem urgent and personal. So I thought the party room was best.”

We are saved from answering by the door sliding open again. The server returns, carrying two bottles of wine. He opens the first, pouring a small amount of red liquid into a wide glass. Matt takes a sip and nods before the server finishes pouring the wine.He does the same with the white wine except the glass is taller and skinnier.

“Thank you, Gerald. We will take the appetizers now.”

The server nods at Matt, then leaves the room as quietly as he came in.

“That was weird,” I say, then blush. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”

“It’s okay, ma cherie.” Matt smiles gently. “It takes some time to get used to, and if you’re wondering, yes, I do feel like a prick when I act like this. But this is what our clientele expect when they come here. At least with me, the staff won’t get screamed at or threatened to be fired.”

I don’t know how to respond, so I nod and stay silent.

Josh and Matt catch up on life while we wait for the first course. In addition to buying part of the restaurant, Matt has had some high-profile cases go to court in the past few months. There were death threats involved, so now he is trying to lie low for a while.

The door slides open, and two servers appear carrying something that’s either a deep plate or a shallow bowl. They set one in front of each of us before leaving the room. It looks kind of like overcooked pasta.

I look at the multiple spoons and forks on the table, and my anxiety simmers into a boil. I have no idea which one to use, and all three men are looking at me.

Matt clears his throat and points to the spoon the farthest from the plate. “If you want to use them all, you use them from the outside in, but I honestly don’t care. Pick whichever one you like the best.”

I snort a laugh, throwing my hands up to cover my face. “Oh God, sorry! That’s embarrassing, but also, I don’t have strong feelings towards silverware, so I guess I’ll use the one on the outside.” I pick up the spoon and take a bite. “This is so good! What is it? Wait, do I want to know?”

The guys all laugh before Matt answers, “It’s risotto. A rice dish. It is one of our most popular appetizers and can be served with lobster or scallops on it.”

The nerves of meeting a new person seem to have passed, and I allow myself to get sucked into the small talk until the desserts are brought in and placed before us. When the room is empty except for us, Matt turns back to the table.

“Now that the food is done, Josh said you wanted to ask me about a stone you found?” Matt states. “Can I get some more details on where you found it? And I’m guessing you brought it with you?” He waits for my nod and then holds out his hand.

I reach up and carefully untangle the string from my hair, then slide the necklace out from under my shirt. The green stone hangs heavy and dull from the end of the chain.

Passing it over, I relay the story of finding it in a tree and thinking it was glowing but leave out the part of the ghost child handing it to me. I’d only just met the man, and while Patrick and Josh seem to accept ghosts, who knows if Matt will be as understanding?

Matt holds it up to the light, licks it, and scratches it with one of his knives. He even squeezes a slice of lemon over the bit he scratched off. I watch, fascinated and worried at the same time because what sort of person just licks something a stranger hands them?

I was able to find a section in the grimoire about power stones on the drive down. The witches of Spells Hollow used crystals in their magic. It amplified the witches’ powers, and spells could be boosted by different types of stones.

It also said each founding house had a stone of power linked to its house. Each family had their own magical specialty, and based on that, they each received a stone. There was one paragraph about protecting the stone because if it was stolen, that would boost the other houses while weakening ours.

I’m not sure if this is my family’s power stone or another family’s or just a crystal that was used when the town was active, but the first step had to be learning what type of stone it is.

Matt clears his throat. “My best guess is that this is azurite.”

“And how sure would that guess be?” asks Patrick.

“About ninety-five percent sure,” Matt answers. “I don’t have my full testing kit here, and I haven’t got samples to compare it to, but from what I can see, that’s what I’m guessing.”

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