Magic & Monsters (Starry Hollow Witches Book 12) Read online

I turned away from the garden. “These are Marley’s herbs. I try not to interfere.”

  Wren clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Ember. Herbology is tough.”

  “Is that why we do incantations together?” We started toward the woods behind the cottage.

  “We can study herbs if you like.”

  “No thanks. I’ll leave that to Calla and Marley. My knowledge tank is spilling over because I can’t contain it all.”

  We arrived at the clearing and I was relieved that Raoul was nowhere in sight. I wasn’t in the mood for accountability suggestions.

  “If you don’t want to focus on brains today, what about brawn?”

  “Brawn?” I echoed. “You want me to lift things like with telekinesis?”

  “I was thinking about a strength spell,” Wren said.

  I contemplated the idea. “That sounds promising. What kind of strength are we talking about? Character? Upper body? Superman?”

  “How about lifting the garbage can without pulling your lower back?”

  I wagged a finger at him. “You need to stop stalking me, Wren, but I like this idea.” My hand dropped to my side. “Wait. You’re not suggesting this because you think I’m getting old and fragile, are you?”

  He looked at me askance. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that Hazel suggested a chromopathy…Forget it.” I shook my arms. “I’m ready. Hit me with all the strength.”

  “That’s probably not a smart move. If I hit you with all my strength, you’ll die.”

  “Then let me hit you with all the strength.” I planted my feet shoulder-width apart and prepared to do some damage.

  “Why don’t I just bounce you around the woods a little bit? That way nobody ends up at the healer’s office.”

  My mouth split. “Does Delphine like it when you toss her around like a tennis ball?”

  “What’s with the goofy grin? Can’t you just ask with a normal face?”

  I touched my face. “Lips. Teeth. It feels like a normal smile. Are you sure it’s goofy?”

  “It’s goofy.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry. I like you. I like Delphine. I’m rooting for this relationship to go the distance.”

  “Me too. What about you? Are you and Alec going the distance?”

  “Why? What have you heard?”

  He chuckled. “What makes you think I’ve heard anything?”

  “This is Starry Hollow. The residents have nothing better to do than gossip and buy figurines.”

  He tossed a branch aside and hefted another one, testing its weight. “I like you. I like…Well, I like you.”

  I glared at him. “Gee, thanks for your support. What’s your problem with Alec?”

  “I don’t have a problem with the vampire. I just think you deserve better.”

  My goofy smile faded. “Why would say that? What has Alec ever done to you?”

  Wren’s expression turned serious. “Nothing. Look, I should have kept my mouth closed. Let’s forget it and focus on the strength spell. Here.” He tossed the branch to me and I let it fall in front of me without catching it.

  “Sorry, I don’t want to risk an injury. I have too many tasks on my list and I’m supposed to be checking them off like some kind of witchy Santa.”

  “I think that’s a naughty and nice list, not a task list. See if you can pick up that branch without magic.”

  I leaned down and grunted as my lower back twinged slightly.

  “Bend with your knees,” Wren scolded. “No wonder you’re worried about injuries if that’s how you pick things up.”

  I lowered myself to the ground and tried to lift the branch but to no avail. I could only raise the top half.

  “Okay, let it go and try again, only this time I want you to lift with the spell. Concentrate on your magic.”

  I closed my eyes and inhaled through my nose. I felt the energy coursing through me, ready to be triggered. My magic seemed more accessible lately rather than like a temperamental toddler that only came out to play when she was in the mood. Either my lessons were finally starting to pay off or Ivy’s magic was having an effect on me.

  “Now say the magic word and lift,” Wren gently urged.

  “Fortis,” I said. I lifted the branch with so much force that it slipped from my hands and went flying through the woods, only stopping when it crashed into the trunk of a giant oak tree.

  Wren gaped at me. “Well, what do you know? I think it worked.” He grinned at me. “You might want to close your mouth before you catch a mosquito or two. They’re not picky about where they bite.”

  I clamped my mouth closed. “You saw that, right?”

  “I did, indeed.”

  “I’m like the Incredible Hulk but without the horrible skin tone.” I jogged in place and rolled my neck, getting ready for the next experiment. “What else can I throw?”

  “Slow down, Ember. Let’s talk about the spell. How do you feel?”

  “Amazing.” I’d never been particularly strong. I couldn’t even open a jar of mayonnaise without a lot of swearing and banging the lid on the edge of the counter.

  “Good. Now what questions should you be asking?”

  “I already asked what else I can throw. Is there a better question than that?”

  Wren crossed the clearing and placed a hand on each of my shoulders. “Check in with yourself. You said you feel amazing. Do you still feel the magic? Are you able to do this again or has the spell worn off?”

  I considered his questions. “I still feel energized. I think the spell is still active.”

  He released his grip on me. “It’s the kind of thing you want to know before you act, right?”

  “How long should the spell last? Is it like a coupon—one use only?”

  “This one isn’t one-use, but there’s no set timer on it. The extent of the spell is personal to the user—it depends on you and your magic. That’s part of the lesson.”

  “Part?”

  “Well, there’s the actual use of the spell and then there’s examining how you feel afterward. Are you drained? More energized? Unconscious? If a strength spell knocks you out after you’ve used it, then it’s not a great choice for you.”

  “Okay, I’m clearly conscious. Now what?”

  Wren pointed to a fallen log. “See what you can do there. Just don’t hit me with it.”

  I jogged over to the log and hugged it before lifting it upward. It separated from the ground like I was lifting a pool noodle from the water.

  “Great. Put it down and tell me how you feel.”

  I continued to hold the log. “Can’t I throw it?”

  “What’s with you and throwing things?”

  I shrugged. “Jersey rage?”

  Wren contemplated me. “Is this because of Alec?”

  My brow creased. “No, it’s because I grew up there. It’s part of the curriculum.” I dropped the log and it landed on the forest floor with a heavy thud. “So wait. What’s your problem with Alec?”

  “I don’t have one. I just wish you could see him the way others do.”

  “Why would I want to see him the way others do? He’s my boyfriend. Not theirs.”

  Wren rubbed the back of his head. “You deserve to be happy and I’m not convinced that Alec Hale is someone who can contribute to that. Someone as isolated as he’s been is likely someone who’s inherently selfish.”

  “Or someone who’s experienced trauma and retreated from the world to regroup. I don’t hear anyone describing Winston York as selfish and he was a recluse for the past year.”

  “Emphasis on the past year. York dedicated his life to a cause he believed in. The situations aren’t even close.”

  He made a fair point. Still, I didn’t like him attacking Alec. “Let’s drop it before it becomes an argument. Now that I have super strength, you won’t like me when I’m angry.” I flashed a smile to let him know there were no hard feelings.

  “Check in with yourself. How do you feel? Still
tingling from the spell?”

  I focused inward and realized he was right. My whole body tingled from the effects of the spell.

  I grabbed Wren by the collar and yanked him toward me. I hoisted the wizard over my shoulder and proceeded to catapult him across the clearing. He landed hard on his side and groaned. It took me a moment to register that I was the reason he was writhing on the ground.

  Guilt overtook the magic in my veins and I raced across the clearing to check on him. “Wren, I’m so sorry,” I said, crouching beside him. “Is anything broken?”

  He twisted to grimace at me. “I can’t believe you did that. That was incredible.”

  “Uh, thanks?”

  He rolled to a seated position. “Seriously. Can we do that again?”

  I laughed. “Are you serious? I could kill you.”

  “Exactly. I need to know that you could—that it wasn’t a fluke.” He pulled himself to a standing position and rolled his neck and shoulders in preparation.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked.

  “Yes. I would expect the spell to have worn off by now, but you seem to have retained one hundred percent of its potency.”

  “Maybe you should sign a waiver first.”

  He laughed. “Just focus that Jersey rage on me, Ember.”

  It wasn’t hard. I threw him across the clearing without even grunting from the exertion. I stared in wonder at the dirt-covered wizard on the ground.

  I did that.

  He climbed to his feet and stretched his back. “How?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  Except I did know.

  Ivy.

  “Have you been taking any potions?” Wren asked.

  I decided not to reveal my theory. I couldn’t tell anyone in the coven except Marley. Anyone else was too big of a risk. The memory of how a powerful witch like Ivy was treated by the coven was still fresh in my mind. There was no way I trusted anyone enough to share the information and I certainly didn’t want it getting back to Aunt Hyacinth. She’d probably tie me down and extract my blood in an effort to access even a tenth of Ivy’s power.

  “I’ve been putting a lot more effort into my magic lessons,” I said. “Ask Marigold. She and I swapped bodies and she was really impressed that I managed to learn the spell so quickly.”

  He shook his head. “Well, color me impressed. I know the story of how you ended up here and you’ve shown flashes of power here and there, but I honestly thought those incidents were the exceptions rather than the norm.”

  “So you were wrong about me?” I pressed.

  “It seems so.”

  “And if you were wrong about me, you can be wrong about Alec.”

  Wren rolled his eyes. “We’re back to that, are we? I thought we agreed to disagree.”

  “You said you wish I could see him the way others do, but who are these others? Aunt Hyacinth thinks very highly of him. Bentley worships him to the point of triggering my gag reflex.”

  “Your aunt has strange and unattainable standards and Bentley has to worship him or he wouldn’t be assigned any decent stories.”

  “Tanya dotes on him like a mother hen and Marley adores him.”

  Wren heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry, Ember. I shouldn’t have brought it up. Your relationship is none of my business.”

  “You’re right. It isn’t. And what other residents think of Alec makes zero difference to me.”

  Wren continued to look at me in a way that suggested he had more to say on the subject. “You don’t seem happy to me, Ember. That’s all I want to say. I’ve been spending time with you since you moved to town, since before you started dating, and, to be honest, there’s been a change in your energy and it’s not a positive one.”

  I blinked at him. “A change in my energy? Do you mean recently?” I thought of Ivy’s Book of Shadows and wondered whether it was having an effect on my personality as well as my magic.

  “No, I mean since you’ve been romantically involved with Alec Hale.”

  Anger began to simmer below the surface. Wren must’ve sensed my mood because he pulled me in for an unexpected hug. “I’m sorry, Ember. I said more than I should have. Honestly, I have nothing against Alec. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  I patted him on the back before extricating myself. “It’s fine, Wren. I know your heart is in the right place.” My phone vibrated and I was grateful for the distraction. “Hey, Granger. You found something?”

  “Jarek Heidelberg’s location. I thought you might want to interview him for your article, see if you can get a read on him before I make a move.”

  “I’m happy to do that if we’re still keeping the situation under wraps.” I was careful not to say ‘murder’ within earshot of Wren.

  “I think that would be best for now. As it turns out, he’s staying at Palmetto House, so it should be easy for you to make a nonchalant inquiry.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I think I can manage. I’ll head over there now and let you know what I find out.” I dropped the phone back into my bag to find Wren observing me.

  “Duty calls?” Wren asked.

  “Afraid so.”

  “But that was Sheriff Nash, not Alec.”

  “Correct.” I offered no further information.

  “Watch yourself, Ember. You’re already broken his heart once.”

  “I’m not breaking anybody’s heart. He asked for my help with a confidential matter and I agreed. He’s still a friend.”

  “If you say so.”

  I gave him a pointed look. “I definitely say so.”

  The wizard held out his arms. “Do we need to hug it out again?”

  “I think we’re good,” I said, and strode out of the clearing with Wren beside me. It was only when I spared a glance over my shoulder that I noticed a trail of wilted grass behind me.

  Chapter Seven

  “Hey, Linnea.” I greeted my cousin in the kitchen of Palmetto House, the inn that she owned and operated. She and her teenaged children, Bryn and Hudson, lived downstairs. Linnea managed to disappoint her mother not once, but twice. First, she had the gall to marry a werewolf rather than a member of the coven. Then she had the nerve to divorce him. Divorce wasn’t in the Rose vocabulary until Linnea made it so. The only way out of marriage was death and a few of us had the misfortune to experience that option firsthand.

  “What a nice surprise.” Linnea swept a few wayward strands of white-blond hair off her brow. She was a natural beauty and a natural disaster who resisted the use of magic to solve her problems. I wasn’t sure that relying on a loser ex-husband was a way to solve problems either, but I had my own messy life to live.

  I sniffed the air. “Something smells delicious.”

  “I’m trying out a recipe for baked apple crumble. Rick thought it would be a nice change from the all the processed sweets we’ve been devouring lately.” Her hand drifted to her stomach. “I can’t say I disagree with him.”

  “I’m happy to provide my taste-testing services.” I climbed onto a stool and joined her at the counter.

  Linnea smiled at me. “I’m sure you’re not here to scavenge food.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Do you know me at all?” It seemed like ages ago that I’d first met Linnea in the burning apartment that Marley and I had rented back in Maple Shade, New Jersey. If it weren’t for my cousins whisking us to Starry Hollow, Marley and I would have died thanks to an angry and vengeful mobster.

  She retrieved a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge. “A drink while you wait?”

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  She poured the tea into two tall glasses and slid one across the counter. “What really brings you here?”

  “What? Can’t a woman visit her cousin without an agenda?”

  “Sure she can. When I invite her for dinner or drinks. But she never drops in unannounced unless there’s a reason.”

  I took a swig of the iced tea and was pleased to discover it was brewed to taste with just the right
amount of lemon and sugar. Iced tea is one of those beverages that’s tricky to get exactly the way I like it, but Linnea and I apparently shared similar taste buds.

  “Would you rather I pop in without warning and interrupt your sexy times with Rick while the kids are at school?”

  She laughed. “He has a job, you know.” The attractive minotaur devoted many hours to the local garden shop he co-owned with a friend.

  “How’s everything with the two of you?”

  “Pretty good. He’s wanted to throttle Wyatt a few times this month, but otherwise no issues.”

  “I think we’ve all wanted to throttle Wyatt a few times this month whether we were married to him or not.”

  She took a thoughtful sip of iced tea. “The kids asked if we’re getting married.”

  “Probably a natural question. You’re obviously good together and very much in love.”

  “Yes, but they asked Rick. In front of me.”

  I stifled a laugh. “Oops. They’re Roses, Linnea. The family isn’t known for holding their tongues.”

  “I’d never seen Rick thrown off-guard before. He looked like a minotaur in headlights.” She laughed at the memory. “I thrust an ice cream cone into each of the kids’ hands and told them to go play video games.”

  “Wow. Ice cream and video games? You were pretty desperate to get rid of them. What did Rick say afterward?”

  “Nothing,” she admitted. “I changed the subject and he didn’t try to pursue it.”

  “And how did that make you feel?”

  Linnea leaned her elbows on the island. “Is it possible to feel both disappointed and relieved?”

  “You don’t want to marry him?”

  “Not today. I’m not ready for round two of married life. I’d rather spend this time focused on getting the kids through school and improving Palmetto House.”

  “Do you think Rick senses that? Maybe that’s why he didn’t pursue it?”

  “It’s possible. He’s an intuitive guy. It’s one of the qualities I like about him. Sometimes he understands me better than I understand myself.”

  For a moment, I reflected on my relationship with Alec. Did he understand me that wholly and completely and, if not, did I mind?

  “You didn’t come here to ask me whether I was getting married again, so what’s up?”