Page 98 of Love's a Witch
Mandy Meadows was already at my house, in pink snow pants and a pink jumper with Après Ski knitted across the front. The rest of the Charms gathered around the dining room table, including Broca, who had left her lounge chair to join the meeting. Felicity’s absence was louder than her presence.
Blue flew to his pile of blankets in the corner and dug his nose in, burrowing until he found a perfect spot, ready to warm up after being out in the cold.
“Sloane, you’re bleeding.” Lyra jumped up, concern on her face, but I just waved her away.
“Not mine.” Toeing my boots off, I stomped to the kitchen sink and rinsed my hands under the hottest water I could, not even noticing when my tears joined the blood that ran in thin rivulets down the drain.
An arm came around my shoulder. And another around my waist.
My sisters. Forever at my side.
“We heard,” Lyra said softly.
“I’m so sorry,” Nova said.
“I think we need to leave,” I choked out. I hated saying it, I hated admitting defeat, I hated uprooting everyone. But this was why I never let myself hope. This was why I never let myself gettoo attached. It just hurt, impossibly so, when inevitably we had to move on. I don’t know who we were kidding this time around, but nothing had changed.
Nothing.
“Broca has called an emergency meeting of the Charms.” Mandy Meadows sniffed, her disapproval clear, as she tucked a piece of blond hair behind her ear and eyed the tray of biscuits in front of her like they were crack. Drying my hands, I took a seat at the table with my sisters and tried to gain control over my feelings. But still, tears tracked down my face.
“So I did. I’d like to introduce an emergency ordinance. Like the one we did for my daughter years ago.” Broca smiled.
“I’m certain I don’t know of which you speak.” Mandy Meadows sniffed and stared harder at the plate of biscuits, ignoring eye contact with Broca.
My magick escaped, unable to stay tamped down with my swirling emotions, and the tray of biscuits exploded into a pile of frogs, leaping every which way. Mandy Meadows screeched as one landed directly on her face, its little webbed legs splayed out across her cheeks, holding on for dear life as she clawed at her face.
Tam laughed, catching one and putting him on her shoulder.
“There’s a good lad.” She booped another on its nose and bent to gather them up.
Raven pressed her lips together and spoke sharply when Mandy Meadows went to slap one off the table. “You’ll do no harm.” Muttering under her breath, Raven gathered the frogs, and then Broca raised her hands over them. In moments, they’d returned to biscuits, though I was certain nobody would dare take a bite of the snacks now.
“As I was saying, I’d like to invoke Ordinance 33.3, wherein the Charms band together to help one of theirs in need. In this case, four of us in need.” Broca swept out her hand to encompass all of the MacGregor witches sitting at the table.
“Wouldn’t this be the time to focus on helping Felicity?” Deidre asked, tapping away at her phone.
“What could you possibly be discussing right now?” Surprising us all, Nova shot out of her seat and swiped Deidre’s phone from her hand. “There’s no way in hell you’re selling real estate in this snow. For once, just focus.”
“My, my, this witch doesn’t even have her power yet and she’s getting mighty feisty.” Deidre focused on the phone in Nova’s hand.
“Ouch,” Nova hissed, dropping the phone to the floor, and shaking her hand. “Stupid witch heated it.”
“That was dumb,” Lyra said, smiling at Deidre. “You’ll likely just melt the internal components.”
“Worth it,” Deidre muttered, reaching into her bag.
“I swear to the goddess, if you pull out another phone I don’t know what I will do. Remember, we can’t trust my magick.” I slapped a hand on the table, and Deidre stopped, glaring at me.
“Brilliantto have you all back,” Deidre muttered, and I winced. Making more enemies was probably not the best idea for us at the moment.
Mandy Meadows beamed, delighted with the exchange, and it was hardly any wonder why. She’d been pretty clear about not wanting to help us from the start.
“Deidre’s right. We need to figure out a collective way to help Felicity, not to invoke some ancient ordinance that requires us to put in unnecessary work.”
“Felicity is going to be fine.” Raven held up a hand, stopping Mandy Meadows from talking over her. “I healed her internal bleeding. She needs some help from the doctors, but the intense healing is done.”
“Och, you poor thing. Why didn’t you tell me?” Tam sprung up and went to her bag, rummaging around until she pulled out a vial. Coming back, she poured a few drops in Raven’s tea. “Drink.”
