Page 3 of Witches of Honeysuckle House
Evie had done exactly that, sharing her magic with the town. Every month Angela joined Evie in delivering her candles to the various businesses along Main Street (much to Florence’s disappointment), and, slowly, their dying town came back to life. Even business at the bookstore boomed despite Florence’s refusal to burn Evie’s candles. Over time, Evie had grown lonely. She’d invited a handful of guests into her bed, hoping for someone who might want to stay, but nothing ever came of it. Until her daughter, Clara.
Evie gripped the curtain gently and smiled. The fabric brushed against her hand, then her cheek, a reminder of all the love she’d fostered behind these walls.
She turned back to the bureau she’d set up in the attic above her room, once a place her mother wouldn’t allow her, now claimed for her own spellwork. Yes, her mother may have died in the room, but it had the best view in the house, and Evie was done with letting her mother have a hold on her. Before her lay a deck of tarot cards and a black taper candle. For a Caldwell witch, the power of their magic was twofold—the creation of the candle with the intentions they poured into each dipping of string in wax, then the release of those intentions once they set the wick to flame.
This one she’d infused with love and protection, dusted it with basil and rosemary between the layers, and the all-too-familiar words:May my magic be good, my loved ones be safe, and my work be a blessing.
She pushed the sleeves of her burnt-orange sweater up to her elbows as she whispered the words again, then poured a circle of salt around the candlestick holder. Then she struck a match and lit thewick. For the third and final time she said, “May my magic be good, my loved ones be safe, and my work be a blessing.”
She lifted a slip of paper on which she’d written the names of four people—Evie, Clara, Florence, and Angela—and held it to the fire. As the flame burned through the names, a scream echoed through the house. Evie stilled, the paper turning to ash and the fire licking against her fingers. She pulled them back before they could burn.
Then, she ran for the sound.
Down the spiral steps to her bedroom, across the hall of the third floor to the main staircase, to the landing on the second floor where the guest rooms were.
“Where did it come from?” she asked.
The floorboards shifted beneath her feet, pushing her to the right. She hurried down the hall, past cobwebs that hung in corners and photos of the Caldwell witches who’d come before her—both a reminder of who she didn’t want to become and a part of the story she sold her guests of a haunted house in a small Tennessee town—until a sconce flickered beside one of the rooms.
Evie stopped abruptly in front of it and rapped on the door. The sound of shuffling feet came from the other side. When no one answered, she pulled her keys from her pocket and started through the ring looking for the right one. Before she found it, the door creaked open on its own. Evie dropped the keys as she reached for the handle.
“Hello?” she asked.
The door opened further, and Evie found a woman with light brown skin, dark brown hair, and a bright red lip standing on the other side. Evie racked her brain for her name.
“Harper,” she said as it came to her. “I heard a scream. Are you alright?”
“Just a little scare,” Harper said.
Her wife—Quinn, Evie remembered—sat on a small couch eyeing the four-poster bed warily. Her curly red hair was disheveled, and she held a fair, freckled hand over her pregnant belly.
“The mattress threw me out of the bed,” Quinn said.
“Threw is a bit of an exaggeration,” Harper said.
Evie’s brow furrowed. The house played tricks on the guests as much as it did on Evie and Clara. Turning doorknobs, fluttering curtains, flickering lights. But it wasn’t supposed to touch them.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Evie asked. “Do you need me to call someone?”
Quinn waved a hand. “I’m fine. It surprised me is all.”
“I’m terribly sorry,” Evie said. “This visit is on me.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Harper said. “We knew the house was haunted, but none of the reviews mentioned falling out of bed. We might’ve waited to come another time.”
“I insist,” Evie said.
The two women shared a glance. When the pregnant one nodded, the other one said, “That’s very generous of you. We’ve had so much fun. We’ll definitely be back.”
“If you need a little extra time before you check out, please let me know,” Evie said.
“We were just heading down for breakfast, then plan to hit the road,” Harper said.
“And you’re sure you’re alright?” Evie asked Quinn.
The younger woman nodded. “Sorry to make such a fuss.”
“Not at all.” Evie backed out of the room. “Come find me when you’re ready to leave, and I’ll give you a hand with your bags.”
