Page 15 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches

“This place seems…” Sebastian started, making eye contact with a flock of crows that had assembled atop a boarded-up store that looked as if it had once sold antiques. His lips twitched toward a frown. “A bit unsettling.”

“Understatement of the century,” Kieran grumbled. “The sooner we can get the Hilt and get out of here, the better.”

Sebastian nodded his agreement.

Not long after, the sign for the local pub, the Sunken Soul, came into view.

It hung askew from a metal rod and creaked faintly in the wind.

Through the window, Kieran could see that the entire place had hardwood flooring and matching wood paneling on the walls, the only breaks in color coming from old portraits nailed to the wall.

People crowded around tables and squeezed in at the bar, sipping from steins of golden ale.

In the corner, some young women played darts, but that seemed to be the most exciting thing going on.

One of these people must know something about the Hilt.

Briar pushed the door open and held it for the others. A little bell rang overhead as they stepped inside, and every eye in the pub immediately turned their way.

Kieran’s skin crawled. Every person in the pub had gone silent, staring at them as if they’d come in and fired off explosive spells in every direction.

While a few stopped after a beat, most just kept looking.

Others whispered behind their hands while some not-so-subtly pointed at them.

Anxiety tightened Kieran’s throat. Suddenly, he had a newfound understanding of how zoo animals must feel.

Seemingly unruffled, Briar said, “Looks like there’s room at the bar over here. Come on.”

As they waded deeper into the pub, more of the stares fell away, and Kieran remembered how to breathe again. Townsfolk scooted away from the four of them as they took the last group of open seats at the bar. Kieran took one between Delilah and Sebastian.

“Could I get a whiskey?” Briar asked the bartender. “On the rocks?”

The barmaid—an older woman with thick, gray-streaked black hair and brown skin—turned at the sound of Briar’s voice and cocked an eyebrow at her. Silently, she grabbed a bottle off a shelf and poured the contents into a glass, then pushed it in Briar’s direction.

“Water’s fine for me,” Kieran said, knowing that his incredibly low tolerance for alcohol would catch up with him if he wasn’t careful. Delilah nodded in agreement and asked for the same.

“I’ll have the house red,” Sebastian said.

The barmaid was silent as she poured everyone their drinks and slid them across the bar. She wrote out the tab for each and passed it to them, still not speaking a word.

Before she could turn away, Kieran cleared his throat. “So, um—sorry to distract you while you’re working, but we’re new in town, and I was hoping to ask a few questions about the lake.”

The barmaid blinked at him as if that was the dumbest statement she’d ever heard. Color flooded Kieran’s cheeks as she drawled, “It’s a lake. Not much else to know.”

“Is it a warm spring?” Delilah asked. “We saw steam rising when we came in.”

The barmaid nodded. “Yup.”

They waited a beat for her to continue, but it seemed that was all they were going to get out of her on the subject.

She began to reach for a dirty glass to clean when Briar took a big swig of whiskey, sighed, and said, “All right—let’s cut to the chase: We’re looking for a magic-imbued item that’s supposed to be in the lake. Part of a scepter. You familiar with it? Know how we might get to it?”

For the first time, the barmaid’s face changed. Her eyes widened for a moment, her fingers tightening around the glass she’d picked up. For a second, Kieran could have sworn he saw her lip tremble.

In a quieter voice, she said, “Unless you’re looking to die, you’re better off leaving that lake well enough alone. That’s witch stuff, and we don’t trust witches here anymore.”

That, it seemed, was her final word on the subject. While Kieran sat agog, she turned and walked to the other side of the bar to take an order from some surly-looking men. Kieran turned to see Sebastian’s reaction, but he was just sipping his wine.

“Well, that was ominous,” Briar grumbled.

Delilah pulled her hair back from her face, twisting it around as if she were going to put it in a bun. Kieran recognized it as a nervous habit that tended to get worse the more anxious she grew. “What do you think she meant by witch stuff ?”

“No idea,” Kieran muttered. “But something tells me we might want to lay off on any magic until we learn more.”

“I suspect we may need to change our approach,” Sebastian said, using his thumb to wipe a droplet of wine from his lip. He set his empty glass down. That was fast, Kieran thought. “I…have an idea, if you’re willing to let me take the lead.”

“At this point, I’ll do anything,” Kieran admitted.

Sebastian nodded, then said, “Briar, Delilah—maybe see if you can strike up a conversation with any amenable townsfolk here. In the meantime…Kieran, would you mind coming with me?”

“Me?” Kieran blinked. “Why?”

“I have a plan that I suspect might work better with just the two of us.” Sebastian nodded toward the pool tables and dartboards at the back of the pub. “Any experience with darts?”

Kieran thought back. He’d never played. But he’d done a lot of archery as a child on the Pelumbra estate and had always had good aim, so maybe that would translate to darts. If not, well, what did he have to lose? Other than an eye, maybe.

“No, but I can certainly try.”

“Right, then.” Sebastian nodded to the girls. “We’ll be back shortly.”

“Sorry to interrupt, ladies. Mind if we join you?”

The two women playing darts paused their conversation, turning to find Sebastian smiling warmly.

They looked to be in their early twenties at most and shared a likeness that made Kieran think they might be sisters or even twins.

Both had straight blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin and wore heavy woolen dresses to keep out the cold.

One had the flush of someone who’d had a bit too much to drink, while the other seemed sober.

“I don’t recognize you,” the sober sister said, swirling sparkling pink wine around in her glass. “You tourists?”

“Tourists.” The drunker girl laughed. “No way. What tourist would want to come to a horrible place like this? They must have family here or something.”

“We’re just passing through,” Sebastian replied breezily.

“Thought we’d try our hand at mingling a bit with some kind locals like yourselves before we head out tomorrow.

Learn about the town, get a sense of what there is to do around here—you know.

I’m Sebastian, by the way, and this is my friend Kieran. ”

The drunker one scoffed. “You think we’re kind ?”

“I suppose that remains to be seen.” Sebastian ran his hand back through his hair, offering her a wink. “I probably shouldn’t just assume that every beautiful woman is kind, should I?”

Kieran’s stomach flipped as the color drained from his face.

Is he…flirting with them? He’s definitely flirting with them.

Shit, does that mean he wants me to flirt with them?

Because he’s made some wildly incorrect assumptions about me if he thinks I’m well-versed in wooing women.

The last girl I kissed was my mother when I was five.

“Well, aren’t you smooth?” The drunker girl laughed, not seeming to notice Kieran’s internal meltdown. “But you’re not gonna have much luck mingling around here. Nobody wants to be in Raven’s Roost anymore.”

Her sister immediately shot her a sharp look, and it was obvious she’d said too much. The drunker sister rolled her eyes.

“ What, Deena?”

Before the more sober woman—Deena—could respond to her sister, Sebastian cut in: “It sounds like this place has a bit more going on than meets the eye.”

“What’s it to you?” Deena asked, though she didn’t sound accusatory as she said it—more wondering why in the world Sebastian would even be interested.

He shrugged. “Just a sense I got. We were thinking of checking out the lake tomorrow before we leave, since it’s a warm spring, but no one we’ve met wants to tell us about it. Why is that?”

Deena froze and quickly shot her sister a look before she could say anything. “It’s a…touchy subject.”

Sebastian just chuckled. “Well, fair enough. But what if we made a friendly bet on it?”

The drunker sister barked a laugh. “A bet? What kind of bet?”

“Lila,” Deena warned.

Sebastian hooked a thumb toward Kieran. “How about a few rounds of darts? If Kieran and I can beat you, we get to ask you one question about Raven’s Roost and you have to answer truthfully.”

The drunker sister, Lila, broke into a grin. “Sure. But I should warn you, we’re very good at darts. Maybe the best in town. And I might ask a little favor if we beat you.”

“Ask away.”

“If we win”—Lila giggled—“you have to give me a kiss.”

Sebastian gave another smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I think I can handle that.”

Kieran’s hands turned clammy. He suddenly wondered if he’d misread Sebastian. Did he only like women? Not that it mattered, of course. It wasn’t as if Kieran cared who Sebastian kissed. They’d just met, after all, and Kieran had Ash. Kind of.

So why did he have to fight to stop his jaw from clenching and his fingers from tightening at his sides?

“Well, then.” Lila dimpled, fluttering her eyelashes. “Get ready to lose, pretty boy.”

Lila tossed her hair and went to retrieve the darts from the board.

As she did, her sister shook her head, letting out a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. If Kieran had to guess, this was far from the first time Lila had agreed to a challenge like this and dragged Deena along with her.

Part of him wanted to commiserate with her, but that would probably blow his cover if he was, in fact, supposed to pretend he had any interest in flirting with women.

Meanwhile, Sebastian met Kieran’s gaze. He offered a quarter smile and flexed his eyebrows.

An entire kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttered to life in Kieran’s stomach.

Lila returned with the darts the next moment and passed three each to Kieran, Sebastian, and Deena. Jutting her chin toward the board on the wall, she explained: “Let’s keep it simple: The team with the highest combined score wins the round. Best two of three. Ready?”

Kieran and Sebastian nodded, and Lila turned back to the board.

She narrowed her eyes and held her tongue between her teeth as she lined up the shot.

She flicked her three darts at the board, landing them all in the twenty- and eighteen-point slivers of the board.

Kieran’s eyes widened while Sebastian nodded.

Lila giggled and lifted her skirt to curtsy before sidestepping to let her sister take a turn.

“Not bad,” Sebastian said.

“And that’s after four drinks,” she said with a wink.

Kieran’s jaw twitched. Why do they keep winking? Do they think winking is attractive? I certainly don’t. It looks like they have dust in their eyes, and eye irritation is serious business.

Deena took her turn, landing one shot in the twenty-point sliver while her others flew somewhat askew.

She cursed as Lila tallied up their points and retrieved their darts to give Sebastian and Kieran their turn.

Kieran found himself going next, lining his shoes up with the strip of tape on the floor.

He weighed the dart in his hand. If I mess this up, we’re out of leads and I have to watch Sebastian kiss some random girl. Oh, I’m so fucked. I’ve never even done this before! I should just tap out now—feign stomach problems. Well, not feign, exactly. I do think I might actually puke—

Just then, Kieran felt a gentle nudge against his hand.

He glanced down to find Sebastian’s pinky brushing his own, so softly it was almost imperceptible.

Kieran tried to look at him, but he was facing the other direction, chatting with the girls.

Still, the touch was there, like a secret whispered between the two of them.

Kieran inhaled, lifted the dart, and flicked it forward with his wrist.

It hit the dead center of the bull’s-eye.

Lila gasped, breaking the focus of their conversation. Deena let out a low whistle. A small smile warmed Sebastian’s face.

Feeling their eyes on him, Kieran threw his other two darts, bolstered by the first shot.

They didn’t hit the bull’s-eye, but he did manage to get them in the green circle outside it.

As each one hit with a satisfying thunk, his smile grew wider, his back straightening.

There was a lightness in his chest he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

“Damn,” Deena muttered while her sister just gawked. “Well done.”

Kieran bowed, eyes and smile sunny. “Thank you.”

“Gonna be tough to follow that,” Sebastian said. He slid into Kieran’s spot in front of the tape line. Lining up his shot, he told Kieran, “You’re very impressive, Kieran Pelumbra.”

Kieran’s face warmed. “Oh, no, I mean—I’m sure it’s just beginner’s luck.”

In lieu of immediately responding, Sebastian threw all three of his darts in quick succession.

Bull’s-eye.

Bull’s-eye.

Bull’s-eye.

Kieran’s jaw dropped.

Sebastian shot him a sly smile. “I guess we make a pretty good team.”