Page 56 of Sigils & Spells

Turning, I held the bowl out to Ramsey.

“Keep this amulet on you.”

He fished the amulet out of the dust that my magic had reduced the mixture to.

“I’ve got a leather cord you can use to wear around your neck. It will work better if you keep it against your skin.” I put the bowl down and rummaged through a drawer. I knew I had leather cord in here somewhere.

“Merle, you can’t be serious. I can’t wear this,” he said.

“You don’t have to, but you should keep it on your person. Against skin is best.”

“Merle!” He held out his hand with an emphatic gesture.

I looked at the charged amulet resting on his palm and groaned.

My amulet box was a collection of junk jewelry picked up from garage sales or the thrift shop. Amulets needed to be real silver. People tossed out tarnished silver thinking it was crap pot-metal all the time. I never bothered to polish the pieces, but I cleansed them in an open crystal container of salt under a full moon. I also didn’t bother to really look at the jewelry, after all it wasn’t for aesthetic purposes, it was for magical use. It didn’t matter what it looked like.

#1Mom. Yep, even that.

It was my turn to shrug. “Keep it tucked in. It’ll work.”

“I’m not someone’s mother. Give me something else,” Ramsey demanded.

“Ah, just tell anyone it means number one motherfucker, or man of the moment. I can’t charge a second amulet right now.”

“Merle!”

“Ramsey,” I barked back. “I’m tapped out. It’s not that I don't want to, I can’t.”

I carefully made my way back to my chair and sunk into it. It held me like a hug, with no judgment to my post conjuring weakness. Ramsey left, muttering random impotent curses.

I passed out shortly after I heard my front door close.

CHAPTER5

Pandora

“You abandoned me at the Guild!” I whined the next time I saw Claudette.

“You were well ensconced into their little stitching circle, I wasn’t about to pry you out,” she laughed. “So how did it go? Did you get the information you needed?”

“I was trapped between Nan Weiss and Chris’s mother. I know more about everyone else’s business in this town than I ever wanted to know. Do you know Kolby Devin? Apparently, her chickens got attacked recently.”

Claudette gasped. “No, oh no, she must be devastated.”

“It’s worse than that. She’s in the hospital. She’s pregnant and the stress of losing half her pullets and her big rooster—.”

“Shit, not Marmalade. He was her prize winning cock after Tyler.”

“Tyler?” I had to blink a few times to get my brain to catch up. He wasn’t one of the names I could recall. Oh… Oh! “That’s her husband. Bejeezus! Claudette, I was trying to figure out if that was the bird’s name. No, not Marmalade. Something like Sagittarius, or maybe Capricorn? Yeah, so… they have her on bed rest and are watching her. I guess the threat to the baby is real.”

The pleasant expression on Claudette’s face turned serious. “I should take over a casserole. I knew she was nervous about being pregnant. It’s taken them a few years of trying. You’d like her, Kolby is a real kick in the pants. Her Tyler is Ash’s cousin.”

“Ash as in Fire Chief Weiss? Isn’t everyone in this town his cousin?”

“I’m not. You’re not,” Claudette pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m not from around here.”

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