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Chapter 10

  I wasn’t really expecting to see Kyran’s girlfriend anytime soon. I mean, what did time even mean to an elf? I was told they were immortal, and Kyran had confirmed himself that he was at least hundreds of years old. For all I knew he might tell her a year from now, and that would feel like a day to him.

  That was why I was incredibly surprised when she walked into the coffee shop that afternoon, about an hour before we were set to close.

  The coffee shop was practically empty by then, with just a couple of customers sitting at their tables enjoying a late-afternoon caffeine hit before heading home for the evening. A woman with long, brown hair and blue eyes walked into the coffee shop, followed closely by two other women – one with wavy brown hair who looked around at everything like it was the first time she’d ever seen a coffee shop, and another with red hair, green eyes, and more freckles than I’d ever seen on a person.

  “Hi,” I greeted the three of them, assuming they were tourists. “What can I get for you?”

  “I’ll have a vanilla latte please,” the woman replied. “What do you guys want?”

  “How do you order coffee in the human world?” the second one asked.

  “I’m guessing you can’t add potions to these ones?” the third said. “I’ll just have a hot chocolate. It’s too late in the day for coffee and I have to train early tomorrow.”

  “You order it like any other coffee, Ellie,” the first woman replied.

  “Fine, I’ll have a latte, but I also want to try one of these muffins. Has anything been added to them?” the second woman asked, peering closely at one of the two lemon poppyseed muffins we had left.

  “Well, they’re made with fresh lemon zest,” I offered, but Ellie shook her head.

  “No, silly. I mean potions. Have these muffins been magically enhanced?”

  My mouth dropped open, and the first witch smiled. “I’m sorry, we should have introduced ourselves. I’m Tina, Kyran’s fiancé. Wow, it feels awesome to say that,” she added, a blush rising up her face as she lightly fingered the small, but elegant diamond ring on her finger.

  “Aww, congratulations,” I gushed, and while the red shade of Tina’s face grew deeper, at the same time a smile of pure joy spread across it.

  “Thanks. He proposed to me just the other night and I couldn’t be happier. This is Ellie, by the way,” she said, motioning to the woman who had asked about the muffins. “And Sara.”

  “Isn’t that ring gorgeous?” Ellie said, looking proudly on at her friend. “It’s so elegant and strong, just like Tina.”

  “We all knew it was just a matter of time before he proposed to her,” Sara said. “They’re just perfect for one another.”

  “They really are. I’m thinking a summer wedding would be perfect. I’m trying to convince them a destination wedding would be fantastic. Maybe Mexico.”

  Tina laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure Kyran with his super pale elf skin would just love Mexico. Honestly, I don’t care where we get married. I just want to spend the rest of my life with Kyran, and I want you guys to be there when we celebrate our love.”

  “Stop it, you’re going to make me cry,” Sara complained.

  “Alright, moving on, no one answered my question about the potion.”

  “There’s no magic in any of the baked goods. My cousin Kaillie has a hang-up about using them in food being served to people,” Leanne said. “She’s the one who does all the baking.”

  “Wow, if I were a witch in a world full of humans I’d be using magic in everything,” Ellie said, looking closely at the food. “Can I try one of them anyway?”

  “Sure,” I said, grabbing one of the muffins for her and putting it in the microwave for a few seconds.

  "Kaillie doesn't like the fact that we've been banished from the paranormal world and is super conscious about doing anything that might make us seem like bad witches. She considers giving potions to people to be one of those things. Personally, I wouldn't mind, and I love taking potions that help make life easier, but I guess I'm in a rather unique situation," Leanne continued.

  "So you must be Leanne, then," Tina said with a smile. "Kyran told me about you. Your father is a wizard, so you know all about magic, but you have no powers of your own."

  "Yeah, and it sucks. You have no idea how much I could use magic. I'd be using it all the time. Magic is wasted on Kaillie; of the two cousins I should have been the one to get the powers. She won't even use them to give her baked goods a bit of a boost."

  "I have to say, these are very good," Ellie said, taking a bite of the muffin I handed her a moment earlier. "Where is Kaillie? I'm going to see if I can't get that recipe off her; I think these would do really well at The Witching Flour. I can see it now: Feel Powerful Poppy seed and Lemon muffins. Great for that morning when you're going in asking your boss for a raise." Ellie lifted her arms and moved them across like there was an invisible banner announcing the muffins.

  "Kaillie is just at the back," Leanne said, motioning towards the door leading to the kitchen. "Feel free to head over there and have a chat with her."

  "And try to get her new recipe for raspberry and white chocolate cookies, too," I said. "They're absolutely divine."

  "Will do, thanks for the tip," Ellie said with a grin as she made her way towards the door leading to the kitchen. Leanne motioned to Sara and the two of them left the counter area.

  "So you're Eliza," Tina said to me, and I nodded.

  "That's right. I'm the one who grew up here and had no idea I was a witch until about a month ago. It's been quite the discovery, let me tell you."

  Tina laughed good-naturedly. "You don't have to. I've actually been through your exact same situation. Almost two years ago, I fell through a tree in downtown Seattle that was actually a portal to the paranormal world. That was how I found out I was a witch."

  "What about your parents? Didn't they know?"

  Tina gave me a small smile. "My mother died, and my father... well, it's complicated. I was abandoned in Seattle and adopted by a wonderful couple that I consider to be my parents. They passed away before I found out I was a witch."

  "Oh, I'm sorry. My mom died when I was a baby, and my father only recently. It's so heart-wrenching."

  "It really is," Tina agreed. "How have you been finding your introduction to magic? Kyran tells me you've been having some trouble with more advanced spells?"

  I nodded. "Yes. It's been a lot of fun, I have to say. I am enjoying the lessons, but it's hard to try and cast spells when you're around humans and you have to hide the fact that you can do magic. And I don't quite know what to do when I get a spell wrong. How do I reverse something that's incorrect in the first place? How can I try to catch up to everyone else fast enough? Kaillie has twenty-plus years of spell casting experience on me. I don't know. I guess I just feel a little bit overwhelmed, and I'm afraid of... I guess of messing everything up somehow. I'm worried that I'm going to make a big mistake, or multiple big mistakes, which I have to be especially cautious about given how there are people all over the place who can't know about magic."

  I was expecting Tina to tell me I was just being silly, but to my surprise, she nodded in reply. "I know just how you feel. I went through a lot of those same feelings myself. Of course, I didn't have to deal with the added pressure of not being able to use magic in front of humans, so it must be even worse for you that way. How has your family been? Are they supportive?

  "They're wonderful, actually," I said. "So much more so than I could have expected. Dad never wanted me to know them, and I guess he had his reasons - apparently, he never quite liked the fact that Mom was a witch - but they've been nothing but supportive and friendly. Everyone has done whatever they can to make me feel at home."

  "That's good," Tina said. "And I'm guessing you're a little bit hesitant to let them know about everything you’re feeling?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, if I’m completely honest, I think I am. I just feel… inadequate. Everyone else knows what t
hey’re doing, and I don’t. Plus, I’m just getting used to trusting other people. It had always been Dad and me. And it’s really cool that I have this new family and all, and I love them, but I’m not the type to bare my heart open without building up a significant amount of trust first.” It was funny; I didn’t know Tina at all, but she was easy to talk to. Maybe it was the fact that she lived in a completely different world. Or maybe it was because she had been through exactly the same thing I did. It might have also been the way she didn’t seem to judge me at all, but something about Tina made me want to tell her everything.

  “If I can give you one piece of advice, it would be to let go of that hesitation and try to take the leap and ask for what you need,” Tina said. “Having a supportive group of friends or family is the most important thing in the world. You need that support network, and it sounds like you have it, so use it. They’ll be happy to help you. They want to help you, and if you let them in, trust me, the results can be spectacular.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a small smile. “I appreciate it.”

  “Another thing that’s so important when you’re casting spells is confidence. If you’re not one hundred percent dedicated to the spell, it just won’t work. It takes time to build that kind of confidence, and it’s easier to build it with simpler spells. You might want to try absolutely nailing them before you move on to the others, even though I know it’s tempting. And try to focus on spells that you can do inside your home, with the blinds drawn. It’ll probably be easier for you to feel completely confident when you’re working magic with no chance of any humans being able to see you.”

  “That’s great advice,” I said. “I wish I’d thought of it. I think the others mean well, but they can’t understand what it’s like to come into these powers so late in life.”

  “You’re right, they can’t. You’re going to have to help them understand it. They probably don’t think about things like being worried about casting spells in front of humans because they’ve been avoiding doing it their whole lives. But if you let them know, I’m sure they’ll try harder for you. As for how to reverse spells – make sure someone else who can do magic is around when you’re casting spells to start with. That way, you can give it a shot, and if you mess it up, someone else can fix it before it becomes a problem. Of course, sometimes spells go wrong and they end up being a good thing. Sara trying to stop me from falling off my broom and completely messing up the spell is how we got a swimming pool in the backyard,” Tina said with a laugh.

  “That sounds like a story I’d love to hear over all the drinks I’m going to buy you for this amazing advice,” I said. “That is, if you’re willing to stay for a little while longer.”

  “That’s very sweet of you. I’ll ask the others, but I’m sure they’ll be happy. I assume Ellie has found someone who likes baking as much as she does, and Leanne seems happy to explain the concept of radiators to Sara,” she said, and I looked over to where Leanne was pointing at the pipe at the bottom of the radiator in the corner while Sara put her hands up close to it to feel the heat.

  I laughed. “I guess they’re not a thing in the paranormal world?”

  “Nope, basically all heating is done by magic.”

  “That’s insane. I can’t imagine. I thought finding out I was a witch and moving north two states was about as crazy as things could get.”

  “You have no idea,” Tina said with a laugh, then quickly covered her mouth as if realizing what she had said. “Sorry. I don’t want to make you feel bad about the fact that you can’t go there.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head. “Kaillie would love to travel to the paranormal world more than anything, but frankly, right now, I think this has been enough of a life change on its own. I’m not sure I could handle an entire new world on top of that, and I’m in awe of you for managing to not only discover you were a witch, but also get used to being one in a whole magical land.”

  Tina smiled. “Thanks. It wasn’t easy, I will say that.”

  “What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?” I asked.

  “We’re pretty open. We didn’t know what you’d want to do, if you wanted to practice some magic with us, if you wanted to just chat somewhere, if you wanted us to go away and leave you alone. We’re fine with whatever. Amy, one of our other friends, is back in Western Woods holding down the fort, which basically means making sure the familiars don’t burn the house down if we’re not back in time for dinner.”

  I laughed. “Boy does that sound, well, familiar. Mine is a cat named Cleopawtra, and boy oh boy does she ever live up to her queenly name.”

  “Mine is a cat named Mr. Meowgi who thinks he’s a martial arts expert. Which reminds me, I would like to stop somewhere that sells DVDs and pick up a few things for him to watch.”

  “Sure, Kaillie and Leanne will know where to go for that.”

  The conversation moved on, and before I knew it, the two customers in the shop had left, and closing time had come and gone. Aunt Debbie came out from her office and looked at us in surprise. “Haven’t the two of you started cleaning up yet?” she asked Leanne and me.

  Whoops. We had gotten so caught up in getting to know the witches from Western Woods that I’d completely forgotten about closing up.

  “Hey, Aunt Debbie, these are witches from the paranormal world,” Leanne said. “Kyran asked them to come by, since Tina only found out she was a witch a couple years ago.”

  “Oh, how lovely,” Aunt Debbie said, looking approvingly at Tina and the others. “What coven do you belong to?”

  “Jupiter,” Tina answered proudly. “We’re from the coven of Jupiter.”

  “Ah, a lightning coven,” Aunt Debbie said. “Good for you. Well, I’m sure you don’t want to spend your time speaking with an oldie like me. Leanne, if you all want to leave and spend some extra time getting to know each other, I can handle closing here.”

  “Thanks, Aunt Debbie,” Leanne said. “That would be awesome. Let me just go grab Kaillie and Ellie and tell them we’re ready to go.”

  Chapter 11

  Fifteen minutes later the six of us were piled into a booth at Otterly Delicious, having placed our orders.

  “I haven’t been to the human world since we came with Tina to grab her stuff when she first moved to the paranormal world,” Ellie said, looking around. “It’s so quaint. Look at the skills that human has, balancing that huge tray of food instead of just using a wand to move it around.”

  “You probably shouldn’t be calling them ‘humans’ out here so loudly,” Sara warned. “People will think you’re a psychopath. They’re called ‘people’, right?”

  “That’s right,” I said, doing my best to hide my amusement.

  “So apart from teaching Eliza here how to be a witch, what do you guys do out here?” Sara asked.

  “Well, right now we’re trying to solve an attempted murder,” Leanne replied. “Although I’m not sure that falls under the category of normal fun things we do.”

  To my surprise, Ellie clapped her hands together. “Oh good, let us help! It’s been ages since we’ve gotten to help solve a good murder.”

  “Seriously?” Kaillie asked, her mouth dropping open.

  “We’re not Enforcers or anything like that. We’re not even private investigators,” Tina said quickly. “But after I arrived in Western Woods there were a string of crimes committed, and for various reasons we ended up thinking we were the best people to solve them.”

  “We were right basically every time, too,” Ellie said, crossing her arms.

  “Yeah, when we didn’t almost die,” Sara replied.

  “Oh please. We never did die, and that’s just the cost of justice,” Ellie said, waving away Sara’s concerns. “Anyway, spill. Who almost got murdered, and what have you got so far?”

  Leanne immediately began telling the whole story, giving the Western Woods witches the entire low-down on what had happened, what we knew, and who we suspected. A
s soon as she finished, the waitress arrived with our food, and we spent a few minutes digging in while the other witches digested the information.

  I’d ordered the chicken carbonara, and the creamy pasta did not disappoint.

  “So,” Ellie said when we’d all enjoyed a few bites and taken the edge off our hunger. “You’ve got three suspects. I assume Kyle is still in Seattle with Karen?”

  “Yeah, as far as I know,” I replied. “And to be honest, I think we should probably do as much as we can without having to talk to him. Life is probably pretty traumatic for him right now if he’s not the murderer.”

  “That’s a good point,” Sara said. “Although personally, I really like him for the murder.”

  “You do?” Kaillie asked. Sara nodded.

  “Yeah. We have some of the same problems in the paranormal world, where witches are expected to do a lot more of the work. Of course, it’s slightly different. Dishes and the like can be cleaned with a wave of the wand. But little witchlings and wizardlings still need to be taken care of, and that often falls on the witch, even when she also has a job.”

  “You and Kyran are going to have to figure out how that’s going to work out with the two of you,” Ellie said to Tina, giving her a light nudge in the ribs. “After all, Kyran is what, hundreds of years old? Maybe thousands? He’s probably pretty set in his ways.”

  “Please,” Tina scoffed. “Have you seen his place? Kyran is neater than I am. Besides, you know he’s not a typical elf. We’ll be fine.”

  “I know, I’m just teasing you,” Ellie said. “The two of you are going to live a fantastic life together. Although I am going to miss having you around the house.”

  “Hey, it’s not like I’m going to be far,” Tina said. “I’ll still come and visit. Besides, with all of my studies to become an Animal Healer, I’m going to need a lot of help from Amy. And I’ll still help out at The Witching Flour when you need a hand.”

  “Good,” Ellie said. “Now, about solving this murder. Six heads are better than three, and frankly, I miss these sorts of things. Besides, this is just a human world murder. How hard could it be to solve?”