Page 39 of Wicching Hour

Mom stood at the front of the case and looked in. “You have a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie on the bottom shelf.”

Bracken, surprisingly spry, crouched easily and held his hand over the cookie. He nodded. “Yes.” He checked the few items left in the case. Two more had been poisoned.

I grabbed a trash bag from under the café sink and threw everything in, whether it was poisoned or not.

When I got to the cookie, Mom said, “Wait. If you touch it, can you see who poisoned it?”

“No!” Declan roared.

Mom jumped but Bracken patted Declan’s shoulder. “It’s not that kind of poison, son. It has to be ingested. Arwyn will be perfectly fine.”

I slipped off my glove and Declan said, “Wait.” He came over, sat in front of the open door of the display case and then pulled me down into his lap. “You’re not hitting the floor.” He wrapped his arms around me and then rested his chin on my shoulder. “Be careful,” he growled.

I reached out and touched the cookie with my fingertip.

“Come here, child. You remember what I told you, don’t you?” An older woman with pale skin, pale eyes, and dyed black hair crooks her finger for her grandson. Milo. “You heard what she said about the power we’ll have if we help her.” She places a small fabric pouch in Milo’s hand. “I spelled it to keep her away from you. We don’t need her getting nosey.”

“What if someone dies?” he asks, staring in fascination at the pouch.

She waves away the concern. “People die every day. They get hit by cars. They get sick. We have to destroy that half-breed, the whole Corey Council, and then we’ll have the real power in this town.”

“And the money that goes with it,” Milo says on a grin.

“Good boy,” she says, curling his fingers around the poison in the fetish bag. “Now hurry up. You’re going to be late.”

The vision goes black and then…

Melissa claps her hands. “Okay, all. Time for a break, and judging by the smell, Ms. Corey has cookies for us.” She waves the crew out the back door.

“I’m just going to grab a cup of tea,” Milo says.

Melissa nods absently, following the crew out for honey treats.

Once he’s alone in the gallery, Milo pulls the pouch from his pocket, steps behind the display case, and slides open a door, his eyes on the deck. He casts a look-away spell and though he’s not a powerful wicche, it’s a simple spell. It helps that the bear shifters are completely focused on cookies as well as the arrival of Carter.

Milo sprinkles the poison on a muffin, a shortbread cookie, and the peanut butter cookie. He slides the door closed and then, with the few grains of poison he has left, he drops them in a tea leaf jar on the back counter.

When my eyes blinked open, Declan pulled me to my feet and was then washing my hands in the sink.

“Bracken? Could you check these jars too? He dropped poison into one of them as well.”

“Who?” my mother demanded.

Declan was on the third wash of my hands. “Come here,” I whispered to him.

He leaned down and I gave him a big kiss. “Thank you.”

He took the tea towel from the counter and dried my hands. As Declan had already touched me, I didn’t need to worry about seeing visions of whoever had last touched the towel.

“Yes,” Bracken said. “This jar has poison in it.”

“Arwyn?” Mom was getting annoyed.

I turned around and said, “Milo and Catherine Swan. Cal promised them untold power and wealth if they helped her bring down the Council.”

NINETEEN

I’ve Always Wanted One!

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