Page 2 of Cursed Beasts

“Yes!” he shouted. “That’s exactly what she did.”

“Ok.” People were acting strange today. “Thanks, Karl.”

“Here, you can take this with you now.” He put a bag on the counter, and I noticed it was the hand cream with my favorite bath salts. “Take a bath tonight, use the salts and these too.” He showed me a vial with herbs. “Holy basil for good luck, juniper and lavender for cleansing, and rosemary for protection.”

“A bath sounds lovely,” I said, taking the bag.

“Do it tonight or when you get home,” he said, with all seriousness. “It has to be tonight.”

I felt a prickle of awareness brush against my skin. I didn’t have any magic, but I had a great sense of intuition.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure I do it when I get home.”

He looked forlorn as he waved bye. I blew him a kiss as I left, feeling like I was missing something.

My last stop was our local bookstore. One of my favorite places, but not just for the rare grimoires, spell books, or their amazing candles. The owner was also Serena’s best friend, Daisy.

She started a small section of romance novels that was replenished on the regular. Serena and I had become obsessed with the holy trinity of authors. Whitney West, Willow Winslet and Wander Whitlock. We just devoured Wander’s ‘Temptation’ and now we needed something else. I hope they ordered Whitney’s ‘Broken Halos’. Mafia romance seemed to be our favorite lately.

I walked into the store, smelling one of the best smells in the world, books. My body instantly relaxed. Daisy always kept a peaceful environment, her energy was always calming, giving off chill vibes.

“Katarina?” Daisy yelled, from the back.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I replied.

“I just got it!”

I squealed as I ran to the back of the store to see Daisy coming up to me with two books in her hand.

“I got Whitney’s book and I hear Willow has a new audiobook,” she said, as she passed me two books.

“Oh, we only need one. You know we just share,” I said, giving her back the extra book.

“Nah, just take it. I don’t want to see you two fight over this,” she laughed, walking to the front of the store.

I smiled because she wasn’t wrong, but that was the fun part of having a sister; all the fighting and arguing you do.

“You also have a package,” she called out.

“A package?” I walked behind her.

“Yeah, it got here with the shipment this morning. I figured you had books sent here.”

“That’s strange. I usually get things sent to the house,” I said, setting down the books next to the register.

She set a package down that was a little bigger than notebook size and a couple of inches thick, looking really beat up. I looked for a return address, but all it had was a label for the store. She handed me a pair of scissors to open the package, and I cut it open.

“Wow, this is beautiful!” Daisy looked over at the grimoire in the package. “Did you buy it off of eBay?”

“I don’t know where it came from,” I said, grabbing it, when a jolt of déjà vu hit me. The feeling of what I could only assume was magic coursed through my body, causing goosebumps to pepper my skin.

“Katarina?”

I look up to see Daisy looking at me with concern in her gaze.

“Sorry, the grimoire mesmerized me,” I said, noticing that there was something else behind the book. Another grimoire was behind it and this book gave me a terrible feeling. It was slightly smaller, with a binding that was purple and that had writing that I couldn’t decipher.

“It is beautiful. Maybe Caston bought it for you. I think everyone knows you have an obsession with them,” she said, looking a little dreamy.

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