Page 7

Hannah

The low light of evening makes Main Street look wonderfully different now that trees and flowers fill the town green. Even the air smells sweeter.

“What is that?” Finn’s ears perk as soon as he sees the green. “ That wasn’t here last time!”

“You’ve been to town before?”

We pass under one of the streetlights right as he shoots me some fox side-eye. “Of course I have. It’s part of my territory.”

“Of course.” I grin.

A group of tulips gallop across the open grass of the green, the bright colors of their flower heads slightly muted by dusk’s fainter light.

Finn lets out an excited yip and dashes off.

“Don’t hurt them!” I call after him. “They’re just flowers!”

“Just a little chase.” He slows and slinks around a rhododendron, his tail held low and sneaky. “No biting, I promise.”

I chuckle and shake my head as I walk past the closed ice cream shop, for once not upset by the infamous pothole that dominates the street in front of it.

That pothole has been the bane of my existence for years, swallowing every bit of blacktop poured into it and the town’s entire road-works budget.

“I’ll get you yet,” I mutter. “I’ll get my magical fiancé to fix you once and for all. ”

Or for at least two weeks, until our initial deal runs out, because without control of my witchy powers, I’ll lose this Bachelor-style competition, and all the wonderful magical protections and perks will fade away.

No. I’ll find my magic and win these bride trials so I can marry Severin and make the protection permanent.

The key twists in the lock, the front door of I Touch My Shelf swings open, and the familiar scent of paper wraps around me like a hug.

My fingers find the light switch without fumbling, the bookstore like a second home.

Table and floor lamps snap on throughout the shop, in an eclectic assortment of Tiffany stained glass thrifted over the years, no two alike.

Their golden glow lights the display tables piled with featured books as well as the wooden bookshelves that line the walls and fill the side of the store.

I head straight for the seating area, made up of comfortable velvet-covered couches in burgundy and old-gold.

“Oh, good, you’re here!” Skye shoulders through the door, her hands full of a wide tray covered in …

“You made your special cupcakes!” My mouth waters as the sweet scent hits me.

“Of course I made cupcakes! You got engaged, and we’re finally starting a book club.”

Skye’s grandmother used to run the town bakery, but it closed a few years ago.

The old woman gifted one of her famous recipes to each member of her family, and Skye got cupcakes.

But not just any old cupcakes. No, these are cupcake perfection —moist vanilla cake topped with buttercream icing laced with the rich hint of butterscotch.

The only thing missing from the ones she carries are sprinkles, but I bet that’s on purpose.

“You mean our excuse to drink and hang out?” Autumn steps inside.

Unbleached canvas tote bags dangle from each hand, glass bottles clinking softly in time with her metal bangles.

She bustles over to the side table that holds a small coffee maker and starts setting up, pulling out a handful of liquor bottles, vodka, rum, coffee liqueur, and cinnamon whiskey.

The rest of the bags are filled with paper cups, cereal milks, flavored syrups, and ziplocked bags of cereal.

My friend specializes in three different cereal milk cocktails and makes them better than any bartender: cinnamon crunch cocktails, cocoa puffs white Russians, and crunch berry cocktails.

“You brought extra!” Skye snatches up a bag of cinnamon toast cereal and sprinkles pieces onto one of the cupcakes. She’s topped her bright-pink dress with a black shrug cardigan and changed into platform pumps to match, taking her outfit from day to night.

“Of course I did!” Autumn grins at Skye and starts making a cinnamon crunch cocktail for her. The sweet and shy librarian has a hidden spicy side.

“You guys are the best!” I step between them so I can wrap an arm around each. “Thanks for doing one of your coordinated cupcake and cereal milk cocktail nights for me.”

“It’s not every day we get to celebrate an engagement.

” Autumn gives the cocktail shaker a good swirl.

“Plus, I don’t get to do this that often.

The farm has been busy.” Her family owns a goat farm that uses the milk to make soap, and my friend’s been working extra to save up to open a retail store featuring all of their products.

“I’m glad you’re both early, because I have something to tell you, but I can only tell you two.”

They stop what they’re doing and look at me.

“The engagement and marriage to Severin? It’s all fake.”

They both shake their heads as a tiny ripple of magic zings through the air.

“Oh, my god!” Autumn presses a hand to her face. “Why wasn’t I worried about you marrying a complete stranger until just now?”

“My head feels funny,” Skye says, her face scrunched.

“Severin did some kind of spell to make our fake engagement seem real and to get people to accept the fae,” I say. “Me telling you the truth broke its hold on you.”

“You just said fake engagement. You’re not going to marry him?” Autumn asks as Skye just gapes at me, her eyes filled with worry.

“Oh, I’ll marry him,” I mutter. “But it’s all fake. It’s only for a year, and he made it crystal clear he’ll never feel anything for me.” I’m just a “simple” little human, after all .

“Then why are you doing it?” Skye asks.

I outline his promise to protect Ferndale Falls from people unfriendly to magic. They both frown at me, so I add on the part about him getting new businesses for the town.

“You’re going to marry a stranger just to protect the town?” Autumn says. “That’s a bit much.”

“Hey! You’ve seen the movies! What do you think will happen if we don’t have some kind of protection? I don’t want to wind up in the magical equivalent of Area 51.”

My friend’s lips twist, but she doesn’t tell me I’m wrong.

When the door handle jiggles, indicating someone else is about to enter the shop, I blurt, “We can’t talk about the marriage being fake in front of the others. It’s part of the agreement.” As the door swings open, I whisper-hiss, “So act happy for me.”

“Yo, bitches!” Jasmine bursts through the door in a whirl of bright color and smiling joy, her turquoise top making her warm brown skin gleam.

A matching satin scarf lifts her brown hair high so it fountains from the top of her head in a riot of curls.

She’s about as tall as me, except she’s got better curves.

“Hello!” I laugh, trying to act as happy as I’d be if I genuinely got engaged.

An amused expression covers Kayla’s light face as she steps inside and puffs her purple bangs out of her eyes. Tall and plump, she wears distressed jeans and one of her slogan tees, this one saying: I’m not always sassy. Sometimes I sleep.

Violeta comes next, a smile dancing over her tan face. The golden highlights in her long brown hair catch the light, framing her features perfectly. She’s short and curvy, and a cream-colored cropped sweater falls off one shoulder to show the pumpkin-orange tank top underneath.

The three of them surge forward, eyeing the drinks and cupcakes as more women pour through the door behind them, Willow, Emily, Abril, Madison, Destiny, and Rachel. The next ten minutes are a whirl of Autumn mixing cocktails and Skye sprinkling matching cereals onto cupcakes.

We overflow the available couches, so I perch on the arm of one, my hip brushing Skye’s shoulder. I take a sip of my cocoa puffs white Russian. Yum. The cereal milk makes the coffee cocktail wonderfully mocha, and Skye has sprinkled chocolate cereal across the top of my cupcake.

Autumn takes the arm opposite me, holding her crunch berry cocktail as she bites into her cupcake topped with fruity cereal bits.

For several minutes, everyone eats and drinks, complimenting both Skye and Autumn. Then Kayla shoots me a questioning glance. “You wanna say why we’re here?”

“All of you could see Severin fly, right?” I ask. “And how he turned the green into a garden?”

Everyone nods, and Jasmine teases, “You mean the flying shadow daddy of hotness who’s your fiancé?”

Wow, that spell Severin did to make everyone accept the fae is seriously powerful. The other women aren’t batting at eye that a guy just flew out of the sky!

“Okay, so…” I take a quick sip of fortification. “You remember that day a month ago when all of those people filmed a fantasy movie on Main Street?”

“You mean the one with orcs?” Kayla says.

“Yep. Only… it wasn’t a movie, and those we ren’t actors,” I say. “They were fae.”

Skye and Autumn gasp, but the rest of the women nod as if it’s no big deal, still swayed by Severin’s spell.

“That’s the day Naomi opened the door to Faerie and brought magic to Earth.”

“Naomi, as in our Naomi who owns this bookshop?” Skye asks.

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe you kept this from us,” Autumn says, sounding hurt.

Skye gives a small nod, her bright-pink mouth making a sad moue.

“Sorry. I didn’t know how to talk about it.

” I wince, hating that I’ve hurt their feelings.

“The only reason I have any idea is because I barged in and demanded to know what was happening in my town.” I meet their eyes, one after the other.

“It turns out the door to Faerie lets magic flow to Earth, specifically here to Ferndale Falls. It was a trickle at first, but I think it’s getting stronger.

There was a big pulse of magic earlier today right before Severin showed up.

Have you felt a strange electricity in the air? ”

This time, everybody gasps.

“Oh. My. God!” Jasmine says. “I thought I was losing my mind!”

“Me, too.” Violetta nods. “I didn’t know who to talk to about it.”