Page 10 of The Accidental Witch

“My God. Your skin is flawless. Why don’t you have any pores? You have zero pores. How can that be?”

Nina’s eyes narrowed, shooting angry daggers at her. “Stop deflecting and promise to sit your ass in that chair or I’llmakeyou sit in the chair.”

Remember the devil, Robbie. There was talk of her fighting with the devil. You’re scrappy, but you’re notthatscrappy.

Marty came up behind Nina and squeezed her arm. “Nina, put her down now. She’s terrified. Surely you can smell that. Stop scaring her.”

But Nina shook her head. “Not until she promises to fucking stay put.”

Looking at this sitch logically, Robbie knew she could never in a million years outrun this woman who was quicker than NASCAR, so she nodded with resignation. “I promise.”

Nina unceremoniously dropped her back in her chair, where Tottington came to her side and Wanda put a gentle hand on her shoulder, her eyes soft and sympathetic.

“We would never hurt you, Robbie. I promise. But you will be shocked, maybe even a little scared. However, in order for us to explain the paranormal nature of what’s going on with you, you have to know who we are so you understand we’re capable of helping. Okay?”

“Okay,” she replied numbly, sinking into her chair.

Nina cackled and cracked her knuckles. “Then let the fucking good times roll!”

Robbie sat next to Tottington—who’dfinally agreed to sit at Marty’s insistence, and whowouldn’tafter that demonstration of all the things paranormal—taking deep breaths as Wanda sat on her other side, smoothing her fingers over the flushed skin of her left hand.

“Robbie, are you all right, honey? How can we make this easier?”

She finally focused her bulging eyeballs on the lovely, calming Wanda for the first time since they’d shown her what being paranormal was all about.

Reaching a hand up, she plucked something from Wanda’s now unkempt hair and showed it to her. “Hair ball.”

Wanda smiled and took it from her fingers before blowing it to the floor, where the rest of them floated about like tumbleweeds after their change…er shift. That’s what it was called. It was called a shift. “Thank you. Now, how are you?”

This couldn’t be real. Had they drugged her? Hypnotized her? Maybe they were… “Are you guys magicians? I feel likeDavid Copperfield just put on the show of a lifetime. He’s a really nice guy, by the way.”

“You know David Copperfield?” Marty asked as she smoothed out her silky black palazzo pants and straightened the draping silver chain belt around her waist.

“I don’tknow him, know him. I met him on a trip to Vegas after we saw his show. My mother owns—” She stopped herself from saying anything more. It would only sound pretentious.

“This ain’t a fucking magic show. If it was some Vegas act, would my hair be doing this?” Nina plucked at the half of her head Robbie had burned and, as predicted, it was already growing back. In fact, she’d gained about four inches since this all began. “I’m a damn vampire, and it looks like you’re a fucking witch with a talking broom.”

“Oui-oui!” Hervé called out.

Robbie couldn’t deny what she’d seen, but she could sure as heck come up with loads of explanations. Some feasible, some maybe a little shaky. But Nina’s hair actually growing back?

How could she refute that? It was literally happening before her eyes.

Tottington, still silent, grabbed Robbie’s other hand. “Wedidsee that, Roberta,” he confirmed with so much conviction, spittle formed at the corner of his mouth. “We did. That truly happened. Vampires and werewolves exist. As fantastical, as mad as that sounds to my ears, they exist. By God,they’re real.”

“And so are witches,” Greer said.

“Are you a witch, too?” she asked, her voice wobbly and weak.

He nodded. “I am.”

Robbie looked down at her hand and winced. “I can’t…”

“Process?” Wanda asked, patting her knee when Robbie nodded. “It takes a little time, honey. Your whole life has just changed, and going forward, everything’s going to be different. It’s only fair you should have the time to acclimate.”

As Wanda’s words sank in, Robbie froze. “Wait. Did you just say mywholelife? This can’t be fixed? We can’t make this go away?” She held up her hand and stared at it before looking to Greer. “Am I always going to set people on fire with your grandmother’s hand?”

Her ears buzzed at the ludicrous words. His grandmother’s hand…

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