Page 73 of Midnight Witch

Mae glanced at the orange orb in the sky. The Harvest Moon would reach its peak in just under two hours. Five minutes passed. She crossed her arms and started tapping a foot.

“Stop doing that,” Alicia muttered. “You’re making me antsy.”

Another five minutes passed. A couple exited the tent. Three giggling college girls took their place. The queue shuffled forward.

Mae frowned. “This is taking too long.”

Sable crooned worriedly on her shoulder.

Do you want me to bite them?Brimstone suggested.

I can make mincemeat out of them in a flash, my witch,Hellreaver contributed spiritedly.Just say the word!

Mae clenched her jaw. She knew what she was about to do was reckless but they couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

“I’ve got a better idea.”

She unleashed a subdued version ofWind Furyand stormed toward the tent’s entrance.

“Great,” Jared said leadenly as people went flying into the muddy field with shocked cries. “Just…great.”

“Go, go, Mae!” Popo squawked.

“Don’t encourage her!” Cortes snapped.

The tent’s opening flapped violently around her when she entered.

Lady Luna, née Gloria Espenoza, stared at her with rounding eyes from where she sat behind a foldable metal table, the tarot cards she was about to deal out frozen in her hands. The black cat on her lap hissed and arched its spine when Brimstone and Tarang padded in after Mae.

The three girls turned.

“Out,” Mae ordered coolly.

The first girl scowled. “How about you wait your turn, lady?”

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.” Jared took out his badge. “This is a police matter.”

Girl Number One squinted. “That’s an NYPD badge.” Her lip curled. “You don’t have jurisdiction here.”

Her friends smiled triumphantly.

Jared lowered his brows. “What are you, a law student?”

“She is, actually,” Girl Number Two retorted.

Number One smiled smugly.

Alicia sighed and showed them her FBI badge. “This should do. Now, scram.”

Girl Number Three sneered. “That could be a fake for all we know.”

Alicia narrowed her eyes. A cold wind made the tent tremble.

The three girls paled as her form lengthened, their heads tilting as if on a wire as they looked up and up. The shadows inside the tent raced across the ground and thickened into an inky cloak that wrapped about the Reaper Queen’s skeletal form.

A choked gurgle left Gloria. She fell off her chair.

Alicia leaned on her scythe and lowered her face close to the petrified girls staring at her with bulging eyes. Redness bloomed in her orbits. “Will this suffice?”

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