Page 27 of The Accidental Witch

“Hey, Greer?” Wanda called out from the other end of the table. “Can I get you to give me a hand with something?”

“Shouldn’t we clear the table first?” he asked, reaching for his plate.

“I’ll get it.” Robbie offered with a smile that never failed to make him smile, too. “You go ahead. We’ll meet back in the murder basement for another magic date when you’re done, yes?”

Nina laughed as she helped Robbie gather plates. “Gotta love the newb callin’ it the murder basement, Ass Sniffer. There’s no shakin’ it now. It’s official. Murder basement, it is!”

Carl chanted, “Murrrder…base…ment. Murrder b-basemeent!” Leaving them all laughing.

Wanda dropped a kiss on Carl’s forehead and rose from the table. Greer followed her out to the living room, where she waved her hand at Nina’s velvety red couch, indicating he should sit.

She looked pretty serious, so he sat, waiting until she sat opposite him, pulling a pillow to her lap. “What’s up, Wanda?”

Letting loose a long exhale, she looked him directly in the eye. “Any word from your coven or about this Siobhan woman?”

When Robbie had told them what her neighbor said about the woman who’d lived in her apartment before her, he almost instinctively knew his grandmother had been involved. Somehow, that poor young woman’s death had something to do with Gwinnifer storing her magic in that planchette.

His lips thinned as he shook his head. “First, I couldn’t find anything on Siobhan. Not on social media, not anywhere, and I’m not having much success finding a connection between her and my coven. I even looked up any incidents at Robbie’s apartment building and didn’t find a single mention of a body found there—which suggests magic was involved. Like maybe an erasure spell. Either way, I can’t say for sure if she was a witch or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if my grandmother somehow got hold of her, drained her, and left her magic stored in the planchette.”

Wanda visibly cringed. “If what Robbie’s neighbor says is true, that poor girl. What a horrible thing to happen. But why did your grandmother store her magic there?”

“I can’t make the connection between them, either. Maybe Gwinnifer knew the coven was onto her? If I knew the exact date, or one close enough to when this happened to Siobhan, that might help. But Robbie called Mrs. Campisi, and she can’t remember the exact time frame. And since Siobhan’s death,the apartment building itself has changed hands several times, which means we can’t get answers from whoever rented Siobhan the apartment.”

Wanda wrinkled her nose. “Okay, so for now, that’s a bust. What about your coven? Any word?”

Greer stiffened. “No. Nothing—and I don’t understand it at all.”

“It’s pretty strange, I’ll admit. I asked January for some advice about it, but she said she couldn’t comment on the rules from other covens and what happens in an instance like this. However, you’d think after leaving them all those messages, and knowing Robbie has Gwinnifer’s magic, they’d at least acknowledge you.”

If he were honest, he’d have to admit it stung a little. In fact, Soledad’s last words to him before she left him to steep in his grief were, “We’re always here whenever you’re ready, Greer.”

“That sure would help, but what else can I do until I hear otherwise except teach Robbie how to use the magic, so no one ends up hurt?”

Wanda clucked her tongue, putting her folded hands in her lap. “So Robbie just keeps your grandmother’s magic, no harm, no foul? That feels off. Yet, I can’t say why. It just feels like this is much too easy. Take it from someone who knows, an accident of this magnitude is never this easy, Greer.”

His sigh rasped its way out of his throat. “I know what you’re saying is true. I’ve heard the stories about you and OOPS and the battles you’ve fought on behalf of your clients, but…”

“But…you haven’t really been connected with your coven in a very long time, and you think maybe they’re simply avoiding you? Then why don’t you go to them and ask in person? We’ll go with you, Greer. We’ll keep Robbie safe, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“It’s not that I’m worried they’d hurt Robbie. We’re peaceful witches, Wanda. Well, most of us, anyway. I don’t even think they’d turn me away if they saw me. The problem is…I can’t find where they live.”

Wanda’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Say again?”

He raked a hand through his hair. This is what he’d worried over since he’d sought out Robbie. “Our village, Moonfall Cove, is protected by magic so no one will find us, or it could be 1692 all over again. You know what it’s like to live as a paranormal in the real world. Well…we created a place where we don’t have to. It’s protected by very powerful magic, no human can get in, and only our magic—my coven’s, that is—allows you entry.”

Wanda inhaled sharply. “Well, you’ve already left dozens of messages for them. Are you’re afraid if you bring Robbie to Moonfall Cove, and she uses her magic, they’ll turn you away because it’s your grandmother’s magic? Maybe that’s why they’re not answering?”

“Maybe. I mean, I don’t know. They can certainly sense an outside force using magic. We haven’t tried a locator spell yet, but it appears as if it’s the only way I’m going to be able to get in touch with them. I need her to be much stronger before we do that.”

“Okay, so we put that on pause, but this thing with you and your coven, this has been going on since just after your mother’s death, correct?” Her words were gentle, but he saw the suspicion in her eyes.

January clearly knew enough about his coven to know about his mother. Though, what happened wasn’t exactly a secret among witches, white or not. He’d been surprised Wanda and the gang didn’t know already about it.

“Yep,” he said softly. “Since her death. I don’t know if that’s the reason no one will get back to me, but I do wonder if that’s not part of it.”

Wanda frowned, folding her hands on the decorative pillow. “Would they really abandon you, though? Why have they shunned you?”

“They didn’t exactly abandon me, Wanda. I…I drifted.” An understatement if there ever was one.

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