Page 30 of Perpetual Potion (Hedgewitch 4)

In the meantime, though, I had pizza to eat.

* * *

Our little party broke up a bit after nine-thirty, when it became obvious that no more trick-or-treaters planned to come by that night. Calvin and I said goodnight to Hazel and Chuck, and then Calvin walked me over to my car.

“I wish I could come back with you,” he said, “but I have to be at the station at seven-thirty, and I don’t want to wake you up that early.”

A morning person, I was not. Oh, it wasn’t as though I slept until noon every day or anything like that, but rolling out of bed around eight most of the time definitely suited my circadian rhythms.

“It’s all right,” I told him. “I still need to do my Samhain ritual before I go to bed. But maybe you could come over for dinner tomorrow night? I could whip up some Day of the Dead enchiladas or something.”

His dark eyes gleamed in the reflected light from the streetlamp a few yards away. “That sounds great — as long as it isn’t too much work.”

“No work at all,” I assured him. “Besides, I’m sure you’d rather I was distracted in the kitchen than out hunting down leads in Danny Ortega’s murder…leads I’m starting to run out of anyway.”

“It would probably be a good thing to have at least one day where I didn’t have to worry about you butting heads with Henry Lewis,” Calvin replied. “But since it’s not my jurisdiction, I’ll leave it up to your discretion.”

“Wise man,” I said. “Swing by after work. Maybe I’ll make margaritas, too.”

“A woman after my own heart.”

He bent and kissed me then, a soft, gentle kiss that didn’t linger for too long. Hazel’s street appeared deserted, but it still probably wasn’t a good idea to share a passionate lip-lock in such a public place.

“I’ll be by around six-thirty,” he promised, then touched my hand briefly before heading down the street toward his official-issue Durango.

I got in my Beetle and pointed it toward downtown. About five minutes later, I was pulling into the parking space behind the building that housed my shop and my store. Everything appeared to be utterly tranquil, which didn’t surprise me too much. All the stores and restaurants in the area had long since closed, and the closest residents were in the old boarding house turned apartment building a few blocks down Broad Street.

The place wasn’t dark, however, because I’d left the light by the back stoop on, as well as the overhead light in my storage area downstairs and the sconces on the staircase. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the dark, but more that I hated blundering around someplace without proper lighting. However, I turned off each fixture as I went, and then let myself into the apartment.

Everything looked exactly as I left it. Archie was sleeping on the middle cushion of the sofa, a spot he’d adopted for the times when he wanted to know exactly when I got home. After I’d closed the front door behind me and set my purse on the dining room table, he cracked an eyelid.

“Have fun with the kiddies?”

“Yes,” I said severely. “We all had a good time. I assume it was quiet here?”

“As a tomb,” Archie replied. His head tilted slightly as he added, “If it’s all right to say so.”

“Fine by me,” I said. “I’ll be in my office for a bit. How’s your water sitch?”

“It’s fine,” he said, wincing a bit at the slang. Well, I suppose it was a bit much to expect someone with that many Virgo placements in his chart to be okay with informal language. “But I could do with a salmon treat.”

Part of me wanted to argue with him. Then again, I’d left him alone while I was slinging candy for a bunch of kids I didn’t even know. Archie had probably earned that salmon treat.

“Just a sec,” I told him.

I went into the kitchen, got out the box of treats, and placed one in his food bowl. He got up from the couch and headed straight for the bowl, ignoring me as I slipped off down the short hallway that led to the bedrooms.

As Archie had promised, my altar remained untouched in the office, waiting for my return. I dipped my fingers in the bowl that held water freshly charged from a sojourn under the recent full moon, then touched the water to my pulse points — elbows, wrists, throat, temples — rather like I was applying perfume. This wasn’t anything anyone had taught me, but a little ritual I’d adopted as a way of purifying myself to perform a rite.

Once that was done, I closed my eyes and breathed in, then out, letting myself settle into the space. Soon enough, I would light the candles and call in the powers of the four quarters, call out to Cerridwen, goddess of darkness and rebirth, to power the ritual, but for now I needed to get rid of the fun — but jangly — energy I’d picked up at Hazel’s house.

“Selena.”

My eyes flew open. Danny Ortega was standing a few feet away, watching me with interest.

“That all looks pretty cool,” he remarked, nodding toward the altar.

“Danny!” I exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

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