Page 76 of Best Hex Ever
Dina replied,Cute, let me send you my mulled wine recipe, to which Rosemary responded:Yes please! And no creepy Santa but they did have axe-wielding elves, had so much fun.
Her friends were insane—and she adored them.
Dina hummed to herself as she pulled out an empty jam jar from a busy cupboard. It was still labeled “Apricot Jam” from thebatch her mum had made for her last year—jam that tasted like bottled sunshine.
There wasn’t an exact science to the magic, but Dina often found that the best tea blends were ones she put into second-hand jars, ones that had been full of delicious, wonderful things.
She clipped her curls out of her face and headed into the pantry. The walls were lined floor-to-ceiling with all manner of jars and boxes, all individually labeled in Dina’s messy handwriting. She kept her spices together, along with other baking essentials like fresh vanilla, cake flour, and a tin that was labeled “Eye of Newt” but actually contained nutmeg.
Her tea selection had several shelves dedicated to it. Aside from the specialty blends she made for the shop, Dina kept a collection of tea and tisane ingredients, which she could mix into more personal blends at a moment’s notice. Dina never felt more in her element as a kitchen witch than when she was looking through her pantry.
Scott’s tea blend needed to be something that encapsulated his energies yet also helped him in some way. A tea to drink in the middle of a long work day, Dina decided.
She twirled a curl around her finger as she focused. She hadn’t met any of his fellow curators yet, but from what Scott had told her they could be a bit of a handful. So the kind of tea that would help him get through a long meeting. Something to sharpen a tired mind. Dina knew just the thing forit.
She scooped up several jars and laid them out on the counter before her. Black tea—afull-bodied assam, cacao nibs, dried ginger and…it was missing something. Dina stepped back into the pantry and surveyed her shelves with her hands on her hips.
She knew that this would need one more ingredient to be perfect for Scott. Lion’s mane mushroom? Perhaps a little too earthy. Clove? Too heavy: It would overpower the other flavors.As her eyes skirted over the rows of jars, she spotted it. A small glass jar with a dark red powder in it. Dried beetroot! Perfect! Energizing yet slightly sweet and smooth, and it would make Scott look like he was drinking some kind of red-velvet-themed drink. Which was also his favorite cake flavor. Dina smiled as it all came together.
She didn’t want to rush this. It wasn’t every day you made your first magical tea blend for the man you were in love with.
Dina made two jars full of Scott’s blend—one for his office and one to keep at home. She scrawled his name on the two labels and stuck them onto the jars. She even added a love heart; she couldn’t help herself. She lifted one of the jars to her face and took a deep inhale. Warm, spiced, and sharp—just like Scott.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Hello, is this Dina Whitlock?” A woman’s voice she didn’t recognize.
“It is.”
“My name is Claire, I’m a paramedic and Scott has you down as his emergency contact. I don’t want you to worry, but we have Scott in our ambulance at the moment, and we’re taking him to hospital.”
Her blood froze.
“What happened?”
“He had a fall at the British Museum. A ladder broke underneath him, we think, and he hit his head.”
Oh god,no.
“Can I talk to him?” she said. Her body felt numb; her voice belonged to someone else.
“Not right now, I’m afraid: We’re still waiting for him to regain consciousness. Because it’s a head injury, we’ll need to take him for some scans once we arrive at the hospital, just to make sure there’s no internal bleeding.”
Dina heard the beeps in the background, pictured Scott lying unconscious in the ambulance, blood seeping into his hair.
This is all your fault. You did this.
“I’m coming. Tell me where to go,” she heard herself say, and she bundled on her coat and left the café.
Wake up—please, Scott. Wakeup.
Chapter 32
The first thing Dina did on her way to the hospital was call Scott’s mums. And then Eric. They were all on their way, but it would take them another hour at least. She paced around the waiting room, casting every kind of spell and charm she could think of from a distance.
Guilt rotted its way through her body. This was her fault. She’d known the hex was still in effect; she’d seen the signs and chosen to ignore them. If anything happened to Scott, she was the one to blame.
He had to wake up. He had to be okay.
