Page 14 of Signed in Incubus

“I see. I might be interested, but I’m not exactly the type to work law enforcement.”

The EA was basically the police force for magical folk. I was surprised they even took my likes into the ranks these days. I remembered a time when the Secret Enforcement Agency had been in cahoots with the Wizards’ Elder Council, and they were both in bed with the church. Those snooty bastards would never have worked with demons in a million years. The world had sure changed a lot.

“Can I back out if I decide not to take the job?” I wanted to keep all my options open.

“Oh, sure. They’ll need to interview you and do a background check, which will come up as nothing because you didn’t exist in the system until a few months ago. They’re a lot stricter about hiring ever since they had a system overhaul and booted a bunch of bad apples. You can cancel anytime before you sign your contract. I’m just putting you forward as a suggestion because I know they’re looking. And you’ve proven yourself not to be a psycho.”

“Wow. Is the bar that low? Well, I guess they did take you.”

The wizard rolled his eyes. “I’m their guy on the inside for anything regarding the WEC.”

I took a step back. “Guy on the inside? I didn’t know you were WEC.” The thought that I’d let a WEC wizard know the location of my treasures made me sick in my nonexistent stomach. The Wizards’ Elder Council was a group of wizards who fancied themselves elites of the world and set out to rule it by any means necessary, in the past by controlling kings and emperors and now by controlling governments and corporations. The goal was never to rule outright but to control the puppets.

“Not anymore. I left with what you’d call a bang. Come on, look at me.” He gestured to his punk-rock-meets-eighteenth-century-poet attire. “And with Liam? They’d all have had fucking conniption fits.”

“I see not everything in the world has changed.”

“Nope. And the EA is most definitelynotin their pockets anymore. If anything, they have a bone to pick with the WEC for secretly controlling them for so long. No one likes finding out they’d been duped.”

“All right. Put in a word for me with the EA.”

I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life now that I was free. But I did know what I wanted to do right now, and that was to check up on my little witch.

Chapter 8

Penny

My online store, TheBasic Witch, was doing just fine, thank you very much.

The charms and bottled potions I’d started with back in college now only made up a tiny fraction of my sales, with merch like “Just a Basic Witch” mugs and t-shirts outselling them. The lion’s share of the income from the shop, though, came from selling tutorials to newbie witches just getting into the practice. They were step-by-step instructional videos for very basic spellswith a lot of hand-holding designed for those who had tried spell books but found they learned best with someone there guiding them.

That had been me when I started. If it hadn’t been for Griselda and Lily acting as my own personal witchy tutors and explaining everything to me at the beginning, I would’ve never been able to cast a single spell.

Somehow, to me, words on the page were just that. Words. On a page. I had trouble even with spell books meant for children.

It was so weird. I could read the words aloud and make the right gestures, and there would be a surge of magic signaling that somethingshould havehappened…but nothing ever did. But watching someone else do it and copying their words and motions? That worked immediately. It was like a light bulb switched on in my head.

These days I could figure out a spell from a book on my own, but it had taken me years to get there. I referred to myself as aspecial ed witch.We weren’t any less; we just learned differently.

Anyway, it wasn’t until I put my tutorials out there that I realized there were plenty of other special ed witches, too. This was particularly noticeable after the fall of The Wall. Many women— and some men—realized they had magic but didn’t have mothers or grandmothers (or fathers, for that matter) to learn from.

I knew some members of theLet’s Talk about Hexforum thought my website was silly, and some people who just didn’t get it went so far as to call it a scam. They couldn’t understandhow anyone would pay money for a video tutorial when it was “right there for free!” But my tutorials kept on selling. Eventually, those who got into witchcraft through my videos started to defend my site on the forum. That felt good.

To hide my identity in my tutorials, I had an adorable cartoon avatar of myself up in the corner of the screen and filmed only my hands, showing whatever I was working on. The great thing about that was I only needed to wear a cute top and paint my nails to film. No pants or makeup required.

My avatar even had a familiar! Chomps was a cartoon shark who I used to help me explain things better. He also provided occasional comic relief. I’d found lessons were more effective and memorable when they were funny.

So that was all great, except I’d teased a new tutorial soon and had thought I’d make it at my new home once it was all set up. But now? Uh-uh. I couldn’t very well film there now with all the negative energy that place had gathered. Plus, I didn’t want that location immortalized forever in one of my tutorials.

I looked around Griselda’s place. I could do it here, but I’d have to set up all my recording equipment and move her things around so nothing identifying her would make it on screen.

Also, Triscuit, Gigi’s parrot, was currently flinging his toys none too quietly around the large flight cage pushed against the wall. He had a habit of randomly breaking out into song. It was cute, but an African Grey busting out Rob Zombie at the top of his lungs would be hard to edit out.

Not to mention, the home was filled with Griselda’s things, and it all vibrated with energy. It was almost as if the walls themselves had been infused with her essence. The longer I was here, the more I was aware of it. From the hand-crocheted afghans tossed over the couch to the apothecary shelf modified lovingly to hold artifacts and relics, Griselda’s home was very much a piece of her.

Suddenly, I realized that the universe had done me a favor. I would never be able to fully settle in a place partially owned by my parents or shared with Travis, even if my name was on the deed.

I needed a place like this. A place to call my own. A witch’s hearth.

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