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So much for lazing by the pool and visiting with family. I ran both hands through my hair. Well, I tried. My fingers got caught in frizzy tangles. Okay, it probably wouldn’t hurt to get it cut into a more manageable style.

Ma turned to me and smiled as she handed back my phone. “The world looks bright when your hair is right.”

I nodded because I knew mocking her snarky rhymes might get me cursed with an uncomfortable rash in the wrong place. Bridget O’Malley didn’t suffer disrespect from anyone, including her own daughter.

ChapterTen

When I got there, I got the strangest feeling that the woman at the counter had been waiting for me. She took a good, long look, though, and then rolled her eyes.

My eyes sparked in irritation. Neither of us had spoken a word yet, and already I didn’t like her.

“Hello. I’m Aran. I’m looking for Mulan.”

The woman pointed at her face as she slid off her stool. “Do you see any other Asians in here?”

After noting she and I were nearly the same height, my eyes traveled the shop. It was as diverse as any other hair shop in Salem, Massachusetts. I looked back at her. “Is Mulan an Asian name?”

Muttering to herself in what I guessed was a Chinese dialect, the woman turned and walked away. She must have assumed I would follow her because she never looked back. Several stylists stopped snipping on their clients to wave me forward with their scissors. I watched Mulan disappear into another room without checking if I’d followed.

Wondering what I had gotten myself into—no, what Ma had gotten me into—I walked through the shop trying to locate her. Eventually, I found Mulan standing next to a glass wash bowl in a small room full of hair washing stations.

She pointed at the seat, and I sat.

Seconds later I was draped in a hair cape, lying back with my head in the sink, and staring up at Mulan as she vigorously washed my hair.

“How long do you wear your hair?”

“Longer than this, but it needs a new style.” I shrugged under my cape, but soon realized she was asking me a serious question and waiting to hear my answer. “I normally wear it as long as I can grow it. My daughter cut off the non-silver part for me years ago. I need a style that looks better than what I have, but that’s also easy to care for. It can be long because I don’t mind wearing it up when I need to.”

Mulan grunted. “Your hair looks uncared for.”

“I haven’t done much to it for seven years,” I said to her.

Mulan stared at my hair as she worked. “Women need good hair to walk proud. Why did you let it go?”

“My keepers didn’t allow me to get a haircut while I was in prison.” I chuckled when her eyes widened, but her fingers never stopped.

“Prison? Are you a criminal?”

“No, I’m a witch who picked the wrong man to marry. It’s complicated. The net result is that I got incarcerated and he got a job promotion. I divorced him the moment I got out.”

Mulan mumbled something under her breath. “Did you turn him into something reflective of his dastardly character?”

Ya had to appreciate a vicious woman. “No. I wanted to do that, but we have a daughter together. It would have upset her... and Fiona’s a crier.”

With that, Mulan’s fingers froze on my head. “Now, I remember. Bridget told me your story. You have a sweet daughter and a handsome husband. I saw pictures. He looked too old for you.”

A stylist’s chair was holier to a woman than a confession booth, but the reason for Jack aging still pricked my ego too much to talk reasonably about it. I closed my eyes to focus on what she was doing. “Ma talks too much. What’s your story, Mulan? I feel your magick.”

“I’m a Wu Shaman. I help crops grow and cast out demons. Not much work here in America for my magick skills. Doing hair pays bills.”

I laughed at the way she stated her shamanism like it had been her major in college. What in the world was Ma thinking of sending me here?

Conn chose that time to pop into existence. He still looked like my brother. Mulan growled at him as she rinsed me, but she didn’t seem overly surprised to see him. Conn must have tagged along when Ma and Fiona came here.

Mulan mumbled an incantation in a language I’d never heard before. After that, she wrung my hair out, wrapped it in a towel, and frowned at Conn.

“I cast you out of my life, Connlander. Stay gone.”