Page 17 of Haunt Improvement
Chapter 7
ILICKED THE FROSTINGfrom my teeth and cleared my throat, swallowing a second and third time before I finally found my voice.
“Surprise would be an understatement.”I waved my cousins and aunt inside since I didn’t know what else to do.Also, it had begun to rain, and I didn’t have the heart to leave them out in rotten weather of my own making.That’s what we non-wicked witches did, I supposed.
“Lovely day for a baby shower,” Ingra noted, admiring my unintentional handiwork before I closed the front door.She took in the foyer and living room with less obvious disgust than my mother had, but I didn’t miss how she paused on the white curtains and floral pillows on the sofa.
“Can I take your brooms or cloaks?”I offered.
“No munchkins to do that for you, dear?”Ingrid tutted sympathetically.She was taller than my mother, but less foreboding, no matter how much black she wore.The bun at the base of her neck and Victorian dress were West staples, but there was something lacking in her aura that Nessa and Evillene shared.It inspired a clenching sensation in the bladder region.
Ingra handed over her broom and stripped out of her cloak.My cousins followed her lead.
Glinda was dressed more traditionally than I was used to, trading her usual biker attire for a simple black dress with balloon sleeves and a modest collar.Surprisingly, Emmy wore a black pantsuit under her cloak, which seemed to draw more of her mother’s ire than my good-witch décor.Her dark hair was slicked back in a French twist, and a dab of makeup emphasized the beauty mark above her lip.She looked fit for Dracula’s runway.
“Europe seems to have agreed with you,” I commented, hoping my flattery was sincere enough that she didn’t take offense and hex me with warts.
“Yeah,” she replied cooly.“I’m going back next summer.”
“Don’t start in with that nonsense again,” Ingra hissed under her breath as I tucked their brooms and cloaks away in the guest closet.
I hadn’t been privy to the family drama for some time, but I certainly didn’t see the problem with Emmy being far,faraway on another continent, where my name hopefully never even crossed her mind.
“The party is set up in the nursery on the third floor,” I said, pointing the way for them to walk ahead of me.I wasn’t stupid enough to give any of them my backside, but it also gave me the chance to grab Glinda’s wrist and hold her behind a few steps.
“Seriously?”I mouthed once I had her attention.
“Sorry,” she mouthed back with a helpless shrug.She opened a hand at Emmy’s back, and then Ingra’s.It was an easy puzzle to put together.Our family was tricky, but predictably so.
I was just glad Broomzilla was napping in the belfry.She’d be shedding bristles all over the place if she knew how many West witches were under our roof right now.
“Ingra West,” Zelda greeted my aunt curtly as we entered the nursery.“And you must be Emmy,” she added, nodding to Glinda’s sister.“Welcome to Assjacket, home of the Baba Yaga and company.”
“Much obliged,” Ingra said with a nod.“Your munchkins here are certainly...unique.”
“Shifters,” Zee corrected her.“Yes, they are unique, and they are all under my protection.Capiche?”
“Of course, of course,” Ingra stammered.“I’m simply here to dote on my niece and bestow gifts on her unborn.As family is wont to do, yes?”She patted the ribboned box Emmy still held.
