Page 78 of Sigils & Spells

HIDE AND SEEK

Andra Dill

CHAPTER1

WillDalton popped the latches on a clear plastic storage container. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you need cremated remains?”

At five-nine, he was a few inches taller than me. Neatly trimmed steel-gray hair peeked out from beneath his Milwaukee Brewers ball cap. Will had the leathery, tanned skin of a man who’d worked a lifetime outdoors. His age was hard to judge. Having gray hair didn’t mean much. A simple illusion magic spell could give you any color of hair, and sometimes hair grayed prematurely. Mine had turned white, with liberal streaks of gray and silver, in my twenties (as had my grandmother Girard’s and her grandmother before her). If he were a witch I’d guess his age near the eighty-year mark based on the deep wrinkles creasing his face, but he was a natural so I lowered my estimation to late fifties or early sixties.

“I’m going to set a bone and ash perimeter around the barn and dry lot.” The musky tang of goats and damp wool permeated the air, making my eyes water. “It will be the best first-line defense and anchor my other spells.”

In the past month, someone had stolen a pot-bellied pig, a sheep, and two fainting goats from Dalton’s petting zoo. The police recommended installing security cameras after the second theft. When the robber magically fried the cameras and stole the goats, Mr. Dalton called me. My usual clients were supernaturals who needed boundary wards and protective spells cast on their businesses or home. Thanks to the marketing efforts of my employee, Priya, I was getting more calls from naturals—non-magics like the Daltons.

Will took the lid off. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to my wife.” Wispy puffs of ash spiraled up as he poured the chalky remains of a Shetland pony into a super-sized muck bucket. “We had Feisty for twenty-nine years. Livie took it hard when he passed.”

“I won’t say a word,” I assured him. Not a problem since I hoped to never cross paths with Livie Dalton.

Ever.

Normally, I enjoyed answering potential clients’ questions. In the ten excruciating minutes I’d spent on the phone with her, Mrs. Dalton had bombarded me with the relentless precision of my senior year Potions Master. To say I was relieved she couldn’t be here today was an understatement.

He stepped back, resting his elbows against a wooden fence rail. A black calf with dark, liquid eyes approached and sniffed at his jeans pockets. Chickens pecked the ground near his booted feet. I liked birds, at a distance. I hadn’t realized they could be so territorial. My ankle still stung from an aggressive hen’s bite.

Mentally crossing my fingers the chickens didn’t venture any closer, I poured a Ziploc bag of finely chopped herbs into the bucket and stirred.

“So what all are you putting in there, Ms. Girard?”

“Please call me Marin.” I added half of a second bag to the mix. “Rosemary, flax, sage, and a few other things I need for the spell.”

“Will there be enough to go around the barn?” Will patted the calf’s head.

“Enough for the barn and dry lot.” I eyeballed the bucket’s contents and shook in a bit more. I had a third bag on hand, though I doubted I’d need it.

“My neighbor recommended you,” Will said. “Deacon Finley.”

The name didn’t ring any bells.

“He’s a hawk shifter. Told me you did the protection spells on Murphy’s Restaurant. Heard some wild claims about people being magically hauled out of there when they tried to start a fight. Deacon claims it’s true.” He paused, looking expectantly at me.

“It’s myDo No Harmspell. The claims are true. If you try to harm someone physically or with magic, the spell removes you from the premises.”

Do No Harmhad its genesis in an Advanced Defensive Magics college project. I’d had a crush on the Teaching Assistant and, hoping to impress him, threw myself into creating a spell that would prevent fights. My brilliant idea didn’t pan out the way I expected. Instead of halting aggression, I wound up with a paralysis spell that immobilized the attacker. My achievement didn’t wow the handsome TA.

Even though I’d earned an A on the project I hadn’t been satisfied with the results. I continued tinkering with the concept after graduation. When I merged my experimental anti-aggression spells with my protection wards,Do No Harmmoved from theory to reality.

Will nodded. “Deacon also mentioned his wife and daughter love your shop.Besoins, is it? Funny name.”

“It’s the French word for ‘needs.’ My father’s family came from Rouen, France.” My spell shop catered to both do-it-yourself witches and those in need of ready-made spells. Since I hired Priya two years ago, the clientele had expanded to include naturals and shapeshifters.

He fell quiet as I murmured the binding incantation taught to me by my paternal grandmother. The occasional bleat of a goat or an animal stamping its hoof, along with bird chatter, were the only other sounds.

By this point, most of my clients would have left me to work. Will followed me, offering to haul the muck bucket as I sifted ash and bones onto the ground in a thin line. His sun-weathered skin took on a faintly greenish tinge as the gray-white matter disappeared into the crusted earth.

The bone and ash ward would keep two-legged and four-legged predators out and had the added benefit of preventing the animals from escaping. Because magic was used to destroy the security cameras, I decided to add a second layer of protection. For the right price, anyone could buy a spell, that’s how I made my living after all, but a spell of that caliber couldn’t have been activated by a natural. A witch was the likely candidate, and I doubted they were stealing the animals for some warm-and-snuggly reason.

Since the area was open to the public during the day (and the thefts had all occurred at night) I set a dusk-to-dawn protection ward on the barn and dry lot fence, using the perimeter spell as an anchor. I keyed the secured area with hair from Will, his wife, and his handyman, so they could pass through freely.

As I ran through the emergency deactivation procedure with Will a car horn sounded, two short beeps. I looked over to see a white SUV pulling into the long driveway.

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