Page 47 of Bright Dark Curses

Was I talking to the movie saboteur? This was too coincidental.

“They do,” the caller insisted. “You have to help me. I’ll pay whatever it costs.”

I considered my options. If this was the movie saboteur, I needed to know who it was so I could present him to Key and Brett, and possibly paranormal justice. If it was unrelated, something bad must’ve happened for someone to contact me like this.

In either scenario, they were asking for help. And wasn’t that what counted in the end?

“Come to the Tea Cauldron tomorrow, and we’ll sort this out. You can use the back door so nobody sees you.”

“No! Just tell me what to do to fix the curse, or send me a potion or something.”

“I have a strict no consults over the phone policy.” At least, I did now.

“I can’t go there,” the robotic voice whined.

“This kind of thing can’t be talked about over the phone,” I said, making it up as I went. “What if someone’s listening?”

There was a burst of static, then an alarmed, “Someone’s listening?”

“You never know.”

A different music track filled the air as my anonymous caller mulled over their options.

“I guarantee complete discretion,” I assured them. At least until I figured out whether the sabotage had been some kind of prank gone wrong, if Brett was going to be fully okay, and how repentant this person was. Plus, as long as I didn’t promise witch-client confidentially, I figured I was good.

“Okay, fine. But not at your shop.”

I ran through other options in my mind, then settled on the best: “Meet me tomorrow morning at the east side of Greenhill Cemetery.”

If my caller was a local bad paranormal, they wouldn’t want anything to do with Ian or the shifters.

“Sure. Ten thirty. Be there.” They hung up, and I was left with a dial tone.

Not a local, then. My initial suspicions seemed to be correct: he was likely part of the filming crew, and this was the saboteur we’d been looking for. Excitement bubbled inside of me at the thought. Finally, a suspect delivered on a silver platter!

As I returned to the kitchen, I pondered whether to call Key or not. While I was almost a hundred percent sure this person was our UNSUB, until I was fully sure, I couldn’t tell others about their problem. If they had nothing to do with the movie curse, then I’d be breaching one of my moral confidentiality pillars as a witch shop owner, and that wouldn’t do.

The mess on the kitchen counter was worse than expected.

Puddles of moon water covered the circle of herbs and crystals, and the black jade stone rested submerged inside the bowl, dead and dull. I touched it to make sure. Whatever energy it had contained, it was gone now.

I only had the one, and it would take longer than 2 nights to recharge.

Oh, boy.

Deep breaths, Hope. This was why I’d cultivated a wide range of suppliers, I reminded myself, trying to soothe the tendril of icy anxiety slithering down my spine. I would order a charged crystal, and yes, it would be an extra expense that’d hit me in the budget, but Council witch customers who were testing my abilities as a shop witch owner came first.

I cleaned up the mess, repeating this mantra, then returned upstairs. Rufus was keeping guard at the door while Fluffy was passed out on her blanket. She appeared to be in doggy dream heaven, so instead of waking her up, I kneeled by Rufus and threw my arms around him.

He let out an affronted woof, but allowed me to hug him close and bury my face in his fur, taking comfort in the warmth and vitality emanating from him. Slowly, I felt the anxiety retreat and a new sense of calm flood through me.

With a sigh, I pulled back and smoothed his fur before giving him some scritches. Fluffy was the best, of course, but Rufus had his own way to ease my nerves. “Thank you, Rufus,” I whispered before standing and getting ready for bed. I left the jade on the kitchen’s windowsill, but without an inkling of moonlight, it would simply remain a lovely paperweight.

Once in my long sleep T-shirt, I grabbed my phone and got under the covers.

Charged black jade for sale was much rarer than its uncharged counterpart—easier for the buyer to do the charging as they preferred—but I eventually found a store with some in stock. I put in an order with the very expensive rush delivery option that guaranteed it’d land on my step by tomorrow evening at the latest, and told myself that not every potion went smoothly, and that’s why I’d told the Council witch two days instead of tomorrow.

Expect the best, but allow for the bumps.

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