Page 15 of Wicked Witch of the Wolf

Even then, we'd both agreed I was the only real earth witch in town. And we'd been right about that. One hundred percent.

“The thing is, I can’t figure out what’s wrong with Maya, but maybe it’s because I’m incapable of approaching it like an elemental witch would. That’s something I know you can do, because you are one.”

I thought about it. No, Desmond didn't behave like a proper elemental witch, but that didn't mean hecouldn'tuse his elemental powers. Maybe Bronwyn had a point.

“Obviously, the coven can’t know you asked,” I said.

She nodded. “Even if you don’t take the job, please keep this between?—”

“Oh, I’m taking the job. Though, even if I wasn’t, I don’t sell out my friends.”

A tiny smile tugged at her lips. “Thanks for considering me a friend.”

“Well, you know, that’s what you are,” I said, putting as much cringy discomfort into the words as possible.

Clumsy intimacy was my superpower. I’m as smooth as a calm sea when it comes to surface-level friendships and sexualrelationships but ask me to dive a little deeper and you’ll find me floundering in awkward-infested waters.

“Cecil, come on out. I want to get your take on this.” I reached under my hair for the gnome. He was gone.

“Over there.” Bronwyn pointed at her desk where Cecil was bent over a ring dish, inspecting a pile of small stones. He’d already pocketed several, which I knew because he clinked with every shake of his tiny hips.

“Put them back. If you want something from Wicked, you can purchase it like everyone else. We don’t steal.”

Cecil scrunched up his nose and dumped the stones out of his pockets and back into the shallow dish.

“He’s only taking basalt pieces. I don’t mind.”

“Stop right there.” I held up a hand when Cecil started to dig in the dish again. “Don’t encourage him, Bronwyn. Also, you can see him?”

She was, after all, human.

“Not until a minute ago.” She held out a finger for Cecil to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Bronwyn.”

Cecil’s hat flopped back, and I caught a glimpse of his beady little eyes. His bulbous nose twitched, and he ever so gently took hold of Bronwyn’s finger and shook it.

Whoa. He’d allowed her to see him,andhe was being nice?

“What’s your take, Cecil?” I asked. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

He picked up one of Bronwyn’s pencils and scratched out a picture of a zombie. Or a mummy. Or Frankenstein’s monster. I got the point.

“Mortui viventes, or another type ofliving deadspell,” I said. “If he used soil as a base, it would be nearly undetectable to anyone but another elemental.”

“Do you think that’s what this is? Can we even fight it?”

“We,” I pointed to Cecil and myself, “can fight it.Youstay out of it. Margaux Ramirez won’t take kindly to you bringing me into this.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Betty. I know how much you hate our coven.” She pushed three irregularly shaped stones toward Cecil. “I hate to even ask, but I don’t know who else to turn to.”

“Don’t be sorry. Like my mom before me, I really dislike it when witches use their power to control others,” I said. “Besides, getting to bring down a member of the coven is a bonus. If I didn’t need the money, I’d pay you for the opportunity.”

Cecil snickered. He didn’t like the coven either. Some of the members had tried to get rid of him before I came along but hadn’t been nearly as courteous about it as me—and I’d shoved him into a spelled bag.

“One thing, though. What was the last straw that made Maya file for divorce?” I asked.

“She told me Desmond said he was going to kill her.”

Chapter

---