Page 45 of Upside Down Magic

“WasItargeted becauseIwas recognized as a witch, which means whoever is doing this is likely to be a witch themselves rather than a paranormal buying someone else’s spell, or were all of us random targets?Whichmeans whoever planned this might be also giving this potion to non-paranormals who aren’t being affected.”

“Ablanket potion-ing to see what paranormals pop out?”Imulled this. “Itcould be.”

“Iassume there are other paranormals who frequent the shop?”

“Yes,I’vegained more and more paranormal customers.Mydemon friend used to work at the shop, andIalso have a wolf shifter picking up shifts now.Noneof them have been affected.”

“Orthey haven’t noticed yet,”Ianput in.

Lilianappeared pleased with his comment, as if she was glad to be surrounded by intelligent people for once. “He’sright.Ifthe paranormal doesn’t use their magic often or has a low level of power, they might not have noticed yet.”Refocusingon me, she asked, “Whowants to hurt you or the shop?Anyonecomes to mind?”

Iglanced atIan. “IanandItalked about this.Ican’t think of anyone, but it might not be me personally who they’re after but the shop itself.Ifit were me, they would’ve harmed people who are closest to me.Thefire mage andIare friends, but there are others who are part of my closest circle here.Plus, why would they target you?”

“Indeed.Whatabout the shop itself?”

Ihoped my poker face was up to scratch. “Therewas an incident with someone starting a harassment campaign against the shop whenIfirst took over, but it stopped after two or three weeks.”BecauseVickyhad met her end in the pack’s territory, but being honest about her and why she had wanted to sabotage the shop would mean being honest aboutBagley’sdark magic deeds, which in turn would put the spotlight on why hadn’tIreported any of that to theCouncil.Asopen-minded asLilianseemed to be,Ihad no way to know if she’d keep the secret, blackmail me with it later, or call theCounciland haveIantake me in for questioning.

OfcourseIanwould never do that, but the rest of the possibilities remained.

Lilianstudied me closely. “Andyou’re sure this harasser isn’t an issue anymore?Theymight’ve gone away then come back and tried another way.”

“I’msure.Plus, it’d be too much of an escalation from bad reviews and things like that to this kind of spell or potion.”

Sheconceded the point with a nod. “Someonenew, then.Butwhy the shop?Evenif that specific building is shut down, theCouncilwill open another location eventually.Olmedahas too many paranormals not to have an officialCouncilpresence.Itwould be like playing whack-a-mole.”

“Unlessthis person is in theCounciland wants this to happen for their own reasons,”Iansaid. “Adeal with a seller for another place.”

Ileaned towardLilianand whispered, “Heworks in construction.”

Lilianlet out a good-natured laugh. “Thatcould be motive, but the kind of spell or potion we’re talking here is very powerful and highly complicated.Adark witch willing to do this would ask for more money than whatever a possible kickback for a sale is.”

“Ifthey’re not the one doing the spell,”Iansaid.

“Thereis a third possibility that might account for the randomness,”Liliansaid, showing no shock or horror at the notion theCouncilmight harbor dark witches.Butthen, she was friends withDorsey, so she definitely kept an open mind about these kinds of things.

Couldshe be the one causing this mayhem?Ifrowned, going through the scenario in my mind: she might’ve arrived earlier than she said and toldDorseyto cover for her, then she had poisoned people around the shop having had no time to do a real deep dive into my relationships, then poisoned herself to not be counted as a potential suspect.

Literallythe plot of the fourth book inLilyHale’ssuspense mysteries.

Butwhy would she need to go through all that?Ifshe wanted the shop or me gone, she was high enough in theCouncilhierarchy that she could’ve done it behind scenes without the need for all this drama.Unlessdrama was the point.

Shedidn’t seem the type, though.

Iarchived the idea to be shared withIanlater, then realized they were both looking at me expectantly.

“I’msorry, what?”

“Itmight be a spell or ward that has been around for a long time but laid dormant until it was triggered recently, somehow,”Liliansaid.

“Butwouldn’tIhave triggered it before now?”

“Yourpower might be too weak, or it needed a certain level of combined steps to be triggered and it has reached that point.”

“Butmy detecting spells…”

“Theymight not have been enough.Buildingslike your shop, where magic has been happening for a long time, have a way to absorb magic.Itmight interfere with detecting spells.”

“WhataboutBagley, the previous owner?Shewas a strong witch, wouldn’t she have triggered it?”

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