Page 59 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

‘Years! Shit!’

Raven nodded sadly. ‘My ex-girlfriend wanted me to suffer.’

‘You haven’t tried to talk to her and ask her to remove the curse?’

He raised his hands in the air, exasperated. ‘I would, but I don’t even know where she is!’

At least my ex wasn’t as vengeful as Raven’s. ‘I suppose lifting a curse is high-level witchy magic?’

‘Yes, it is. That’s why I need your aunt to do it once we’ve found a suitable spell.’

Realisation hit me. ‘But she can’t do that without the mirror, can she?’

‘What mirror? The one you broke?’

‘It’s where Aunt Ruth stores energy for powerful magic.’

A shadow passed over Raven’s face. ‘Shit.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway, we haven’t found the right spell, so the mirror isn’t the problem at the moment.’

Did this change anything? No. It just gave me more reason to find the stolen witch’s spell book so we could afford to get the magic mirror fixed.

‘And where does that leave us?’ I asked. ‘Regarding dating, I mean? Are you always going to take flight?’

‘I should get it under control soon enough, once...’

‘Once you become used to being with me.’

‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘It’s not a very romantic notion, I know, but it is what it is.’

‘And what about if we want to have sex?’

Raven froze, his expression unreadable for a moment before a flash of light made me close my eyes. When the spots before my eyes cleared and I opened them, Raven was gone—at least, he was gone in human form. A black bird sat on the back of the chair, glaring at me. It launched itself into the air and out of a nearby open window. It disappeared into the distance.

Aunt Ruth rolled in. Maybe I’d made a noise, or she’d seen the bright flash of light. ‘What on earth did you say to him, Heather?’

‘I’m sure it was nothing he didn’t want to hear, Aunt Ruth.’

Aunt Ruth peered past the chair. ‘Cantankerous cauldrons! He’s gone and pooped on the desk.’

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