Page 62 of Dark Moon Secrets

I stood to the side, not wanting to be seen, pushed the lace curtain away, and glimpsed out.

My shoulders slumped when I didn’t see the wolf. I moved closer to the glass to get a better look.

The wolf was not there.

I wished he was.

These feelings confused me. The wolves had killed my parents, and I couldn’t feel drawn to the wolf like this.

Maybe it had me under a spell?

I moved away from the window, the curtain falling back into place, regaining my privacy.

The dream came to mind, reminding me this wolf protected me. Was this why I wanted to see it?

But what did this all mean? It shouldn’t be so mixed up like this, and I wished everything had clearer boundaries—black and white and no hints of gray.

What I could do is to keep learning my magic and do my investigation.

I slowly opened the door to my bedroom. Luna was sleeping downstairs in the small room out back on a blow-up mattress. She refused to take my bed.

I didn’t want to wake her, not after injuring her twice with my magic. She needed to sleep and heal. Plus, I didn’t want her to stop me from snooping around the books.

Socked feet kept my steps muffled as I slid over the wooden floorboards to the top of the stairs. I held on to the railing tight to keep my balance. It was much harder doing this in the dark.

I went down step by step, skipping the second to last step, which creaked, and walked into the storefront, eager to find information to ease my muddled feelings.

I listened for any sound coming from where Luna slept. I exhaled, and all was quiet. This was my chance to find out something about myself and my magic.

At the bookshelf, I ignored the space on the shelves where the books that had been singed by my magic earlier in the day had been, which were now in the recycle bin. No doubt I’d have the tedious task of learning how to reorder stock and how to enter the tax details in the computer sometime soon.

I flicked on the Himalayan salt lamp on a nearby side table and searched the books on the shelf. These books were way too modern with bright covers, catchy titles, and authors with PhDs or other qualifications. These were the sort of books a non-witch would want to read, especially if they thought they had some kind of power.

These weren’t the sort of books I was looking for. I needed reading material for witches.

I pushed the book I had scanned back into the stack, then pulled the knitted blanket tighter around my shoulders. The air had a chill to it tonight.

Snooping around the shop, I began to have my first honest look at the place I was meant to be managing. So far, that hadn’t happened, though I had to admit finding out I had magic was much more exciting.

An assortment of crystals lay in wicker baskets on a long table. Dream catchers and sun catchers hung from the ceiling, and a jewelry cabinet with set semi-precious stones was to the side. These were all things I never connected to, even though my parents had tried to change my mind. It looked like they would all be part of my life whether or not I wanted them to be.

Crushed velvet maroon curtains hung on the wall as if to soften the room’s aesthetics, giving it a more mystic feel. It worked, though I don’t know if I would’ve decorated the place like this. Did I get to redecorate?

I didn’t know if I wanted to do that, but how else would I pass the day? It wasn’t as if many customers were coming into the shop.

I ran my hand over one of the curtains, pulling it a little. Something caught my attention, and I doubled back, moving the material.

A cupboard, old and dusty, as if rarely used, stood in an enclave, hidden deliberately but with easy access. I tried the door, but it was locked.

The key must be here somewhere. I carefully ran my hand on the top of the cupboard, then underneath, even the side, but only managed to find years of dust.

Curious to test my magic and see if I could create my own spell, I called my magic to my fingers. Imagining the lock in the cupboard to unclick, I let the soft magic swirl toward the lock.

A metallic click set my pulse racing.

I had done it. I opened the door. My first spell, and here I was opening locked cupboards.

Should I be doing this?

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