Page 31 of Midlife Witch Unexpected

“But there wasn’t food there and now there is,” I said.

“Well, everything you see was already here,” Trina explained. “I just put it together and baked it in a split second so you didn’t see it happen. You think it’s magic, but it’s just my specialty. To bake things out of stuff that is already there. I’m not a conjurer. You’ll understand better once you figure out what kind of a witch you are.”

“What do you mean what kind of which I am?” I wondered. How could there be more than one type of witch?

“Well, you know how I use flowers,” Drake explained, “and Hilda is obviously the green thumb.”

“Thanks for dumbing it down for me,” I said with a smile. “I appreciate it.”

“So do you get how it works?” he asked.

“Not at all.” I laughed at myself.

Drake shrugged. “It’ll come,” he said warmly.

I appreciated all the help I could get. This was a brand-new world; I needed to understand it better if I was even going to help myself, much less look after a coven and protect a cemetery from the vampire and whatever else was coming. My hands were pulsing purple and green electricity. I didn’t know what sort of magic I had, but I was pretty sure I couldn’t control it. I could feel it just under the surface and the only reason why it wasn’t coming out had nothing to do with my self-control.

The magic simply stayed close to me, buzzing around my hands and fingertips.

“All the things you see in front of you,” Anita explained, “I pulled together in the house using telekinesis. It just took a matter of seconds. You know magic isn’t anything unusual, it’s just usual stuff happening so fast you don’t see how all the work gets done.”

I motioned to the fairy lights, flowers, and pastries flooding the table. “I’d say this is pretty unusual.”

Hilda pointed her fingers above the backyard and dark green vines stretched through the air with garden lights dangling from them. Drake drifted by the vines and soon flowers were hanging in glorious spots of fuchsia and gold blossoms.

“There’s nowhere on the face of the earth where this is usual,” I said. “Just think about it from a normal person’s perspective. Hey, what do you even call us? Harry Potter had the Muggles and other books called them Dick and Jane’s but what do you call normal people? You know, people like, well, people like I thought I was.”

“Normies,” Anita said with a slight shrug. “I don’t know what they call them in grown-up circles because we live here and really only hang out with the coven.”

I was still wrapping my brain around the fact magic existed and this was going to be my life. I had just signed on for a lifetime of being The Hayes. Perhaps I had even signed my daughter up as well. But the reality was there was something different about me and I could tell just by looking at my hands at any given moment of the day. It wasn’t something crazy and just in my mind. This was something real and concrete that I had to deal with.

“Once we figure out your specialty, then we will hone in on those spells. We will make you better and faster at doing what you were born to do. With your pedigree, you should be quite the powerful witch,” Anita said.

I raised my eyebrows but turned away to watch the party being laid out in front of me. It looked like a scene from a Disney movie come to life. I was just waiting for the music to start. As if on cue, the twang of a guitar floated through the air and I looked over at Branson, who was playing with the sound system, and an old school Merle Haggard tune flooded the yard.

“Your aunt always had music playing.” He turned the music up to just the right amount where you could still make out the lyrics, but it wouldn’t interfere with your conversation.

I turned away from him. I had no idea why he had made love with me in the cemetery but whatever it was, it needed to not be a thing.

At all.

Apparently, he had some official role with my house and my ancestors, but as soon as I could figure out the rules, I was going to work them, so he was no longer here. He was just going to be a thorn in my side until I could find a solution.

A very awkward, uncomfortable thorn.

Chapter 19

An air of joyful relaxation filled the backyard even though there were only a few of us at the party.

Cougar Creek Coven.

They were my new family, and I didn’t even know them well. My heart twinged for my daughter. I needed to call her. I could see Trina glaring at me out of the corner of her eye, but I didn’t mind. She knew I was not up to the job of being High Priestess. Hell, I didn’t argue that point with her at all. I wasn’t. I had no idea what the magical world was. All I knew was that this was my next indicated step on my path to keep the vampire out.

And at least this way I wasn’t dealing with him alone. I didn’t know how to be their High Priestess. And I was sure Trina didn’t want me to be. I didn’t know if I was up to the task. I enjoyed seeing the principles of magic at work and I was happy they showed me a frivolous use of magic powers. But I knew there had to be more to it than just throwing random tea parties in the middle of the forest. This was fun, but my guess was it wasn’t the purpose of magic.

Hours later the table was cleaned up in the same effortless manner it had been created and in its place was a fire pit with a circle of comfortable chairs around it.

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