Page 36 of Mochas and Minotaurs

Evyenia told us what she remembered over some tea and my offerings of baked goods.

“When I was a girl, the row of shops hadn’t been there at all. It used to be a cute little cabin owned by a really old witch. She was ancient, really.”

“Oh yeah, I remember her.” Andreas had a smile on his face as if he was being transported back to another time. “It used to be a skating rink across the street, remember?”

“That’s where you took me on our first date. Of course I remember. And the witch would offer hot chocolate to all the kids and couples skating in the winter.”

“That sounds really nice,” I said. Across the street was a bank now, and all that was left of the skating rink was a tiny fountain and a plaque.

“I didn’t know much about her. The witch, I mean,” Evyenia said. “She was really old, and we were still young back then. Andy was my high school sweetheart.”

“I knew she was the one the moment I saw her with those pigtails.”

That line probably wouldn’t fly in today’s world, but I was glad it had worked out for them.

Andreas turned to Marcus. “Gigi here is a good girl. She always came to visit her Granny. And she makes the best coffee in town. You should snatch her up like I did Evy.”

Evy scoffed. “And you were tellingmenot to matchmake.”

“This is different,” Andreas huffed. “Man talk.”

“Whatever you say, dear.”

“I’m already on it,” Marcus said, sending me a smile that had my belly flip-flopping like I was a teenager with a crush.

“Smart man,” Andreas said, nodding approvingly.

“So, what happened to the witch?” Marcus asked, bringing the talk back on track.

“She got too old,” Evy said. “We got the news that the house was being torn down. She’d passed away. Her son had moved to the big city to seek his fortune and didn’t have use for a little house in Darlington. So he tore it down and built the current building on top of it. Shops on the bottom, homes on top. Enough for three families. He sold the units for a profit, and we’ve never heard from him again. We were one of the original buyers.”

“We found out something about the condo development company,” I said. “It’s owned by a bunch of wizards. I was thinking that maybe it’s not the land for condos they’re really after.”

The two exchanged a glance. Then Andreas got up and closed the blinds. “They probably already know, but why help give them confirmation?”

I felt around with my magic and realized the home was already warded.

“It was rumored,” Evyenia began, “that they’d kept the original cellar when they tore down the old home and simply built on top of it after sealing it off. It was faster and cheaper that way.”

“But we haven’t found anything that would prove it in all the time we’ve lived there. And we tried,” Andreas grumbled. “Many times. We checked every single inch of that basement. We did own an antique shop, after all. We’re the curious type. If there was something there, we wanted to find it.”

“There’s a basement?” I asked. I didn’t have access to any basement. But it did make sense. The foundation needed to be below the frost line.

“I have access to it,” Marcus said. “Below the gym. Now that I think about it, I have a double unit, but there’s only one access, and it’s through the stairwell for the unit that belonged to you.”

“Yes, we had the only entrance to the basement.” Andreas reached for his third cookie. He always did like the raspberry thumbprints. “We found nothing and used it as extra storage.”

“I hired an inspector when I bought the place, and aside from the older pipes and the roof needing to be replaced soon, he didn’t say anything about the basement.”

“Could be magic hiding it,” I suggested.

“We thought of that,” Andreas said. “But we couldn’t nullify it. Eventually, we just gave up. Forgot all about it after many years, until Arcane came knocking. Say, you don’t know anything about that fight with the troll in front of our place, do you?”

The investigation was over, and they’d just given us the information we needed, so I told them the truth. “A friend of mine messed up a love spell, and instead of sending the man of her dreams, it sent a bunch of randoms. She came looking for my help.”

There was a silence before Evyenia cracked up laughing.

“The spell sent her a troll?” she cackled, stepping over from sweet little grandma to wicked witch territory for a brief moment. “Oh, poor child. I hope you were able to help her.”

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