Page 45 of Castings & Curses

Natalie fanned her face. “Maybe. I don’t know. This is a mess.”

“Youdid,” Tempest accused. “How are you doing that? You’re not a garden witch. Are you?”

Natalie sighed. “It’s the curse of my line.”

“What does that mean?” Rowan asked.

“Why do you think I didn’t want the role of High Witch? You guys kept insisting and I kept saying no, but apparently the staff doesn’t care what I want.

“So now I’m not only struggling with all the powers of my entire line, of which there were legion, but I also get a snippet of your powers as well.

“Basically, I’m—”

“The WitchQueen?” Amari exclaimed, her voice the loudest Natalie had ever heard it.

“I thought that was a myth,” Jo said.

“There hasn’t been a queen in centuries. Right?” Tempest asked.

Natalie sighed. “The line’s been dying, it’s true. Too much power plays havoc with fertility, which honestly, isn’t a bad thing. I expected the line to die with me. That was the plan anyway. I’m the last of my former coven since my grandmother died and I inherited the staff. The problem is the staff has apparently accepted The Zero Cum Laude Coven as a new branch in its line of power.”

“What does that mean?” Morana asked.

“It means whoever steps into the role of High Witch after me will inherit the staff, even if they’re not my child. The staff’s future is now tied to the coven, not to my specific genetic line.”

“Oh my good goddess,” Amari whispered.

“What is it, Amari?” Tempest gave her a concerned glance.

“That’s why she dresses like royalty and carries the staff everywhere. She’s not being dramatic or stereotypical. She’s theWitch Queen.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Look. I’m the same Natalie you’ve always known. I just can’t help the way I dress. It’s the way my grandmother raised me and it seems disrespectful to stop now, simply because she’s gone. I don’t care that some people think I’m being dramatic or playing into witchy stereotypes. It’s how I honor my grandmother and the entire line of Queens who came before me.

“Now forget about me and the staff. How are we going to clean this shit up?” She glared around her at the foliage that had pretty much taken over the entire first floor of their coven house.

It took her a moment to realize the rest of the coven was just staring at her in silence.“What?”

“Natalie, you’ve got thestaff,”Jo said, “and you don’t know how to fix all this?”

“Hey. It’s not like I’ve had the staffthatlong, you know. And my powers, which were pretty out-of-controlbeforeI inherited the staff aren’t exactly of any help here. I mean, sure the power of foresight helped lead us here, but they’re certainly not going to help clean up this mess.”

“But you’ve got thestaff!” Jo repeated.

“So?”

“So, you’ve got access to the powers of every witch queen throughout history. Use some ofthosepowers.”

Natalie groaned. “You have no idea how difficult it is to control someone else’s powers. I mean think about it—you guys struggle to control your own powers. Now imagine trying to control the powers of a crazy-powerful queen, then imagine trying to control the powers of every queen in existence!”

“Huh. Never thought about it like that,” Jo said. “Still. What’s the point of having the staff if you’re not going to use it?”

Natalie sighed. “Fine. But don’t blamemewhen things go wrong.”

* * *

When Corwin,Jared and Pippa arrived at the coven house for breakfast that morning, they found the entire coven standing on the front lawn, staring at the house, which was completely covered in vines.

Corwin sidled up behind Natalie, who stood with the staff in her left hand and the demon-cat winding between her legs. “So. What’s going on?”

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