Page 47 of The Accidental Witch

Yes, they’d definitely bonded over these last couple of weeks, taking steps toward a deepening friendship that, according to Greer, would last as long as Robbie was alive.

Patting him on the top of his handle, Robbie gave him a weak smile. “Not right now, buddy. I just need a sec.”

Nina grunted. “Listen, my little Casanova, go see if the mop needs a new friend, eh? Or the Dyson. I hear she’s lonely. Right now, Mommy’s resting from all things magic.”

Hervé purred at Nina. “Hervé loves when ze beautiful beast tells him what to do! Eets so sexxxy!”

Robbie gave him the sternest look she could summon, as tired she was. “Hervé, what have we talked about? No objectifying women, buddy. Now scoot!”

He chuckled as he scurried off. “Objectify, obschmectify. Is it so wrong to appreciate ze beautiful woman?”

“Hervé!” she shouted.

“Hervé is going already!” he called back, sweeping out of the murder basement.

Plopping down in one of the new client chairs that had been delivered earlier in the week, Robbie ran her hands over her eyes, grainy and tired from hours and hours of practicing this locator spell.

She’d been lots of places while trying to perfect this stupid spell. Like Calabria, Italy—which, by the by, was beautiful this time of year. But somewhere in the East Antarctic Plateau? Not as much.

Still, she’d had zero success locating Greer’s Moonfall Cove with her magic.

Zero.

As Wanda, Carl, and Marty entered the room with Tottington right behind them, carrying a silver platter chock full of cut vegetables and yogurt dip for her, she felt like crying. “I’m failing, guys. If I don’t get this right, Greer’s coven could be in serious danger.”

Carl tugged on a strand of her hair, leaning down to kiss her cheek with a lopsided grin. “No fail. Best…wiii…witchhh ever.”

Grabbing hold of his duct-taped hand, she pressed it to her cheek. “I love you, Carl. You’re the best zombie ever.”

Marty pulled up a chair next to her in what they’d dubbed the cheerleading section of the basement and shook her invisible pom-poms. “But! Look at all the places you’ve been these last couple of days. You’re going to get there, honey. I know you will.”

Clenching her magical hand, she shook her head, sick with disappointment in herself. “I have to get this right, Marty. Ihaveto.”

Nina sat on her haunches. “Listen, kiddo, this isn’t something you perfect fucking overnight. Greer had years to get his shit together. You were just thrown into this by accident. You can’t expect to remember it all in two GD weeks.”

Tears welled in her eyes, knowing the stakes. “But by now, after hours of doing the same thing on repeat, I should be able to make it work.”

Wanda took her hand, frowning. “Said who?”

Robbie’s head popped up. Um…yeah. Said who?

Her and perfectionism, that’s who. The tiny voice in her head that said she was a failure, and constant embarrassment said so.

“Said me, that’s who,” she replied stiffly.

“And maybe your mother?” Marty asked.

Her, too. Her mother hadalwaysdemanded perfection. And now, unwittingly, as a result of years of conditioning, Robbie did, too. She wasn’t willing to give herself a break until the job was done right.

It’s why she hadn’t asked any questions of Greer before he’d willingly offered answers. She’d been taught to put her head down and work until the job was done. No excuses, no back talk. No time for fun unless it made the Tisdale’s money or a new connection, and even then, you only pretended you were having fun. The laughter was always hollow.

But after spending her days with these people who’d become so dear to her in such a short amount of time, she’d come to consider this magic a gift, and this group of people—people she wanted to accept her—a byproduct of that gift. A fun, warm byproduct.

They made her laugh They laughedwithher—and yes, sometimes at her. But they let her laugh atherself, at hermistakes. They shared their joy with her, and they let her share theirs.

They weren’t scary anymore. Not at all. She admired them. She wanted to be like them. She wanted to help people like them.

Her magic wasn’t scary anymore, either. It was thrilling, knowing the things she could do with it, the coven she could be a part of because she shared the same power as others.

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