Page 122 of Sigils & Spells

As far as Pippa was concerned, this was a valid fear given Morana’s status as one of the strongest necromancers in modern history.

Too bad she also had zero control when using her powers.

She’d been known to raise entire graveyards, causing chaos and outrageous hours of overtime for the Witches Council and their enforcers.

It was actually quite a miracle they hadn’t stripped Morana of her powers yet, particularly after her last disastrous summoning.

Pippa’s theory was they were afraid of Morana’s reaction should they try. No one wanted to face off against an army of zombies commanded by a witch necromancer.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Natalie said. “Dead people simply do not qualify as eligible.”

“Depends on your definition,” Morana muttered.

Pippa grimaced. She had to agree with Natalie on this one. Dead was the very definition of ineligible as far as she was concerned.

“Look, it can’t be that difficult,” Natalie said. “All we’ll do is cast a spell asking the universe to send eligible men and women to settle in Zero.”

“We chose this town for a reason,” Rowan protested. “The minute you cast a spell like that, our sleepy town of seventy-three residents will suddenly become an overpopulated metropolis and we’ll have to move again. There’s no way we can keep our powers from revealing themselves in the middle of a city.”

“So, we’ll cast a spell for eligible paranormals,” Natalie said. “Problem solved. Then we won’t have to worry if someone notices our magic going astray.”

Astray was one word for it.

Berserk was another.

Maniacally destructive yet a couple more.

“If we cast for paranormals, we run the risk of pulling other covens to us,” Jo protested.

Natalie sighed. “Then we’ll cast for non-witch paranormals. Can we get on with it now?”

“Hold on a minute,” Tempest said. “Are we just pulling them in for a visit or are we looking for people to actually move and make a life here? Because that makes a big difference, don’t you think? I mean, what if they don’t want to live here, but our spell makes them stay and being a prisoner makes them so angry, they go on a murdering rampage and the next thing we know, we’re all victims of a psychopathic serial killer?”

Dead silence as everyone stared at Tempest, who finally shrugged and muttered, “It could happen.”

“Okay,” Natalie said, drawing out the word, “so we’ll cast for eligible paranormals who are seeking a new start.”

“In a quiet town,” Amaryllis spoke up for the first time since she’d put forth the need for men. Her head was down, her eyes trained on the patterns her fingers were making on the table’s wooden surface. “A quiet town,” she repeated, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Amaryllis was pathologically shy. She rarely spoke, even with them, and when she did, she never made eye contact.

“Of course, Amari,” Natalie said gently. “We all want this town to remain quiet and peaceful, so we’ll weave that into the spell as well.”

“So,” Pippa drawled out the word. “A spell for non-witch, non-serial-killing, eligible paranormals who are seeking a new start in a quiet, peaceful town.”

“Exactly!” Natalie said cheerfully. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of this earlier.” She stood and clapped her hands. “Come on, everyone. We’re going to transform this town and solve all our problems at the same time.”

Pippa shook her head and climbed to her feet, trying not to think of all the things that could go wrong, a list that was practically endless when considering they’d never cast a spell as a coven before.

Given how complicated this particular spell had become after one small conversation, it really wasn’t the spell to start with either.

“Cheer up, Pippa,” Morana said, bumping shoulders with her. “At the very least, our days of celibacy are soon to be over. What could possibly be wrong with that?”

Great. If things weren’t already destined to fall apart, that challenge sent out to the fates ensured they now were.

“We’re doomed,” Pippa muttered as she followed her coven outside to their circle of power.

*.*.*.*.*

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