Page 34 of Upside Down Magic

Itapped the table absentmindedly. “That’swhatIwas thinking.Hisfamily moved away, though.”

“Doesn’tmean they aren’t back and unregistered.”

“Goodpoint.”Idipped a fry in the ketchup and stuffed it into my mouth. “Iwonder if it’s related toVicky.”

“Oh?”

“Duringone of her ramblings, she said her great-grandma or something was connected to the dark dealings inOlmeda.Maybesomeone else in the family figured out what happened to her and wants to take revenge on me?”

“Thenwhy not grab you and torture you?”

Ichoked on my second fry. “What?”

“It’sa possibility.”Hefrowned, clearly unhappy with the thought, andIhad an inkling the shop andIwere about to get audited for our security measures. “Butif someone wants revenge on you without directly targeting you, they would go for me orKeyor the dogs, notShaneandBrimstone.”

Myphone pinged with a new message notification from the dark web magic marketplace.

Writeme down for theChristmasevent.

Wasthis my fate now, being accosted about the event every timeIhad a nice lunch withIan?

“Whatis it?” he asked.

Ishowed him the message. “Someonein the dark web marketplace wants in theChristmasevent.”

“Who?”

“Goodquestion.”Ichecked the sender, it was hidden. “Ihave no idea.”

Whois this?Ityped back.

Youknow who.

Well, that wasn’t creepy at all.

Pleasemake your request in person.Iwas halfway to pressing enter when the conversation poofed out of existence.Awesome.Ilooked up atIan. “Theydeleted the convo.”

“Thenthey didn’t really mean it,”Iansaid in a definitely amused voice.

Easyfor him to say.Hewouldn’t have to deal with some randomOlmedaparanormal business owner showing up at theTeaCauldrondemanding his share of stickers.

“Maybewhoever is behind the dark magic spell didn’t have the opportunity to reach you orKey, so they had to make do withShaneandBrimstone,”Isaid, refocusing on our problem.

“Maybe.”Iantook another bite of his sandwich.

“Ithink it’s worth tracking down the coven leader’s family.Seeif they still live here.Leeman’svictim too.”

Iannodded, then stole one of my fries.

Ilaughed and stole two of his.

ELEVEN

Thursdaydawned warmand wonderful inIan’sarms.Outside, it was the same cold, foggy morning as the last few days.

Feelingpretty great about life,Itook a shower and went downstairs to getBagleystarted on her audiobook whileIanwalked the dogs.

“Doyou know who the dark coven members were?”Iasked, pausing right before our audiobook heroine jumped into a warehouse full of bad guys.

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