Page 74 of Best Hex Ever
Someone at work has a litter of kittens, do you want one? Immy is making me take two. Can’t bear to split the siblings apart.The text was accompanied with a photo of six adorable-looking tabby kittens.
Let me ask Dina, not sure how HRHH would react.HRHH standing for Her Royal Highness Heebie, of course.
Smart man, came the response.
Scott spent the next ten minutes daydreaming about presenting Dina with a new kitten, and seeing the way her face would light up as she held the small wriggling thing. A few nights ago they’d found themselves talking about children. He could still feel the palpable relief at Dina telling him she knew she didn’t want to be a mother. That she was happy being the fun aunt to the kids Eric and Immy would likely have. He would have done it, if that’s what she wanted, but he harbored the same feelings. Whenever he pictured his life, kids were never part of that dream. But a house full of pets and Dina and traveling the world with her hand in his—that was Scott’s dream. And by some lucky chance, he was getting to liveit.
He tried to shake himself back to reality and focus on the task at hand. He only had around ten minutes before the Reading Room closed for lunch. Cold winter light shone in through the windows, the outside air scented with the oncoming snowstorm, and the room was silent apart from the shuffling footsteps of librarians and archivists returning books to their shelves.
He’d promised Dina he’d find out more about her Amazigh heritage. While they still weren’t certain which tribe she was from, he’d found a book of Moroccan folk tales from the area east of Rabat that her family was from. And as museum staff, Scott could take the book out on temporary loan.
If the location was correct, then all he needed to do was climb this wooden ladder, and the book would be on a shelf halfway up. It looked a little flimsy, and he hoped it could carry his weight. Scott checked to make sure that the wheels that allowed the ladder to circle the shelf were locked in place. The ladder creaked ominously as he stepped onto the first rung.
He climbed higher until he spotted the book. He only needed to lean out a little to catch a hold of it. Then Scott heard a snap, and the ground rose up to meet him as it all went dark.
Chapter 31
Heebie let out a high-pitched yowl that could only mean one thing: Dina was a cruel, cruel mother who deserved to go to jail for never feeding her poor, precious cat.
“Yes, I know, I know. Jail for mother. Jail for a thousand years,” Dina muttered in her best Heebie voice, resemblant of a rich old lady of the landed gentry.
Heebie was being particularly antsy this morning as Dina got ready for work, slipping on a cream turtleneck jumper that would keep her warm. She slid open her window a touch, the chilly November breeze sending Heebie bounding for the still-warm duvet. There was nothing better than that first breath of fresh air in the morning.
She slept better when Scott was with her, but they’d spent last night apart since she’d stayed late at Serendipity to bake today’s pastries. Dina had been working on a recipe for madeleines that reminded you of the feeling of your first kiss, but Scott kept popping into her head and before she knew it she’d made Scott-infused madeleines that were far too horny and carnally minded for her to serve to any customers.
How quickly her life had adapted to having Scott in it, and how natural it all felt. Dina had found that as the days ticked past, Scott’s life intertwining with her own in more and moreways, she thought less about the hex. She still checked his tea leaves, and Scott still wore the evil eye necklace, and it all seemed to be working. Maybe it wasn’t as powerful a hex as she’d thought. Maybe it had weakened over time.
Dina sniffed the cold air and felt her magic twinge in anticipation. Perhaps that was why Heebie was meowing and seemed restless. There was a snowstorm in the air. The crisp sting of ice on her nose and the scent of ozone gave it away.
As a familiar, Heebie had an uncanny way of noticing things even before Dina’s witchy senses did. Dina turned around to see the cat sitting by her food bowl, scowling in her owner’s direction, entirely unimpressed. Or perhaps it was just hunger after all.
She ate a quick breakfast of porridge with caramelized bananas and apples, adding enough cinnamon to warm her cheeks and get her circulation moving. Her phone buzzed from the bedside table.
“Hi, Mama, what’s up?” Dina answered.
“Dina, it’s your mother.”
“Yes, I know, Mama. Is everything okay?” There was a skittish energy in her mother’s tone that did not bode well.
“No, habiba. I had a dream last night, about you.” Nour’s voice was grave. Dina didn’t blame her—her mother’s dreams had always tended to act more like visions, with even the strangest, surrealist dreams coming true in some respect.
“What happened in the dream?”
“You were building this wall, and it was huge. And I was on the other side, with your father, and Scott was there, and we kept shouting at you to stop building. But you didn’t listen. The wall grew and grew and all I could hear was you crying on the other side and I couldn’t come and comfort you. And then I woke up.” Nour let out a long sigh on the other end of the line. “Does that mean anything to you?” she asked.
Dina stared off in silence, her eyes fixed unblinking on her kitchen counter.
A numbness seeped into her body. It did mean something to her. It meant that her worst fears were coming true. Her mother’s magic never lied. There was a very real wall between them, in the shape of the hex. But if Scott was on the other side of that wall—well, that meant he wasn’t safe. Her mouth opened to speak, to tell her mother about the hex. But shame gripped her throat, suffocating her.
So Dina said, “No, Mama. I don’t know what it could be about. I guess I should expect some bad news?” She probably sounded far too cavalier and wondered if the falseness in her voice was that obvious.
“You sure you don’t know what it’s about? Could it be about Scott?” her mum prodded.
“Of course not!” Dina replied, with a little too much enthusiasm. Thank god her mum hadn’t video-called. She doubted she’d have been able to hide the way the blood had drained out of her cheeks, or the heavy feeling in her limbs.
“Well, all right then. But keep your eyes open, all three of them!” Nour said, a muffled sound coming from her end.
“I will—what is that sound?” Dina heard a faint crackling.
