Page 70 of Surviving in Everton

“I’m not. It was absolutely worth it. The potion worked better than expected. She sang like a canary and didn’t know anything was out of the ordinary. I wouldn’t say I knowallof her secrets, but I know a few. Enough to send her to jail for a long time.” He pulls back from me and reaches behind his back, throwing a book on the table. “That’s her spell book. Both the spells she used are in there.” He points to the small black book on the table.

It’s so ordinary and plain. I would never have guessed thatthatbook held the power to ruin someone’s life. I step back, away from the table and the book that started this whole thing, bumping into a hard body.

“It’s okay, Sugar. It’s just a book. It’s not evil. That was all the user.” Hudson wraps his arms around my waist holding me to him. “I’ve got the spells dogeared. Ayden and Declan, you two get to work reading them so we can get this potion made. I want this over with.”

Ayden grabs the book off the table as Declan walks over to me, kissing me on the cheek and offering more reassurances before he follows Ayden to the solarium to get the spells figured out.

The rest of us stand there, the silence suffocating. We’re so close to this all being just a bad dream, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. It still might not work. Anything could go wrong. I mean, yeah we have the spells she used, but BB has sucked at using any kind of magic, what are the chances she fucked up the spell? And if she did, who’s to say using a counter spell to the spell she fucked up will even work? I just… I can’t let myself believe it until it happens. Trying to distract myself, I look over at Quinn to find her sitting beside West. That’ll do nicely.

“So what did y’all do while we were gone?” I quirk a brow at them.

Quinn side-eyes him with a small smile. If I wasn’t specifically studying her face for any reaction to the question, I would have missed it. It was just a split second, teasing look shared between the two of them. Enough to let me know they did more than just watch the BB show.

“Nothing much. Ate some dinner, then shit hit the fan. Thank god. I wouldn’t have been able to eat after seeing that. Hell, I’m lucky I kept it down,” Quinn attempts nonchalance, but I know her better than that.

“Sure, sure.” I nod slowly, like I’m actually buying what she’s selling. “What’d you have for dinner?”

“What is this? Twenty questions? We had Chinese, damn,” she grumbles.

“Cool, cool.”

Rolling her eyes at me she groans. “Shut up.”

I bust out laughing and Kayden and Hudson share a knowing smile. Looks like I’m not the only one that thinks something went down while we were gone.

Chapter 29

Ayden

“Okay, I’ll study the love spell and you study the control spell,” I suggest.

At Declan’s agreement, I rip my page right out of the book. I’m burning this fucker when we’re done anyway. It doesn’t need to stay intact. It looks like your everyday, run of the mill love spell. Shouldn’t be too hard to do. I’m sure Declan is going to have a harder time than I will.

Declan magics a table then places a box on it. Wonder what’s in that… Oh! It’s probably the supplies he got from Mrs. Rosenglade. Duh.

“Whatcha got there?” I jerk my head toward the table and supplies that are now covering it.

“Should be everything we need. Luckily, I went to the flower shop first and when I told Mrs. R. about the potion, she helped me gather everything on Dr. Johnston’s list and then a little extra.”

“That’s great! Mrs R. is the best. This love spell BB used looks like the simplest one I’ve ever seen. Shouldn’t surprise me, considering who used it. Why use something more complex and stronger when you can settle for this, less likely to actually work, spell? Works out to our advantage though, because we could perform this spell in our sleep. How’s your spell look? Think we’ll be able to do it?”

He glares at me. “If BB was able to do it, I’ll be able to do it.”

I laugh as he actually looks at the spell for the first time. Not that I have any doubt he’ll be able to do it. He’s right if that nincompoop can do it,anyonecan.

“This is actually a fairly complicated spell. I’m surprised she could do it. Although, I suppose being able to make anyone do what you want would be a pretty big motivator. The reward was worth taking the time to practice.”

“How long will it take you to learn it?”

He ignores me as he continues to read, his mouth moving as he silently practices the words of the spell.

I decide to leave him to it and go check on Rowe. We’ll need everyone to make the potion as soon as Declan is ready to do the spell. I walk into the kitchen and find Rowe teasing Quinn. She’s got this glint in her eyes as she plays an impromptu game of twenty questions.

“What’d y’all talk about while we were gone?” she asks with this huge faux innocent smile on her face.

Quinn looks like she wants to kill her, while West is smirking at their exchange.

“We talked about what a pain in the ass you are.”

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