Page 3 of Graveyard Girls (Hollows Grove #1)

In my walk through town, passed by the thumping club, the giant pumpkin in the square, and normies and magic folk alike.

How had I never met Lunette before? Where the hell did my memory go?

It was possible I fell and hit my head while digging a plot or tending to the ghosts.

It was on my way, and the door to the clinic was open, so I stopped by Doctor Jekal’s pharmacy.

Hey, I remembered something. It seemed Hollows Grove helped jog my memory, if even in a basic sense, and the good ol’ doc was the first person I could recall. Maybe I was getting better on my own.

Dr. Jekal was a peculiar fellow with grey hair that stuck out in untamed patterns.

Oh, and he always smelled like butterscotch candies and menthol.

Dr. Jekal also embalmed a lot of dead people.

I worked with dead people and their ghosts, so I reckon that’s why I remembered the guy.

His wrinkled hands were tinkering with a bottle of pills when I walked in.

His eyes widened when he saw me, and he took off his round glasses, hastily cleaning them and positioning them back on his nose before addressing me. “Shiloh? Shiloh Solair?”

“Hey doc. Have a moment to check me out? I think I might have a concussion or something.” I inspected an amber bottle of bubbling liquid on a shelf of multicolored medicines and containers of herbs. When he didn’t speak, only stared at me with a bewildered expression, I asked, “Bad time?”

Dr. Jekal cleared his throat. “No, not at all. Please, join me in the exam room.”

The old man ushered me into a dark room and instructed me to sit on a metal table.

The one singular lightbulb hanging from the ceiling accentuated the line of creepy ass medical instruments on the stand across from me.

Without warning, Dr. Jekal thumbed my eyelid and clicked a flashlight to life.

My flinch was involuntary as he repeated the process with the other eye.

He muttered to himself, slurring so I couldn’t understand.

All I could make out was, “Dilation of the pupil, materialized skin and bone.”

Awesome. Not creepy at all.

“Whatcha’ think, Doc?” I asked, just to get him to break the eerie silence. He grabbed a pointed metal tool and whacked my knee. “Ouch!” I yelped.

The doctor took a step back and raised his palms, still clutching the instrument with his thumb.

“My-my apologies. I’ve just—I’ve never seen such a marvel.

” He took a step closer, aiming the pointed object toward my eye.

“Perhaps you would allow me a few more experiments?” The doctor pulled a small vial of bubbling blue liquid from his white lab coat.

“Here, take this, and you won’t feel a thing. ”

Oh, hell no.

Before I could protest, the old man shoved me back on the table.

I evaded the vial of liquid, but the doc was fast. Quicker and with more strength than his feeble frame portrayed, Dr. Jekal strapped my arms down with worn leather belts.

How many people had been tied to this table before me and what sort of fuckery had befallen them?

I didn’t want to know. As strong as I was, I wasn’t about to punch an elderly person, and there was no fighting my leather restraints.

Dr. Jekal was clearly taking his job way too far with this one, but I didn’t want to hurt the guy.

He was my friend—at least I thought so. Well, I didn’t exactly remember. He was vaguely familiar, at least.

Reasoning with him was my best bet, and I’d better talk reason quickly because he was muttering to himself over his scary instruments: a rusty pair of scissors, more pokers, and a couple knifes.

“Hey, man. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really not keen to be butchered up like some science experiment. How about you let me go and?—“

He stood over my head with a pointy metal probe and opened my eye wide.

He’d switched glasses to what looked like magnifying glasses, widening his stare to an unnatural level.

“You shouldn’t be here, Shiloh. I must find out how and why.

The mechanics of your existence are fascinating.

Now, hold still, you’ll feel some pressure?—“

The metal tool moved closer to my eye, and I braced for something horrible.

That’s what I get for wandering into some wacko’s den of horrors.

The cool of the instrument just touched my eye when a loud banging vibrated from the front of the shop.

The doctor paused, glancing up at the door.

“Maybe an experiment gone bad?” he mused as to the source of the noise.

After a beat, he almost resumed, when the banging continued, now louder.

“Jekal!” a woman’s voice yelled. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

The doctor’s hand trembled, and he dropped his tools.

They clanked to the ground just as the door swung open.

The singular lightbulb swayed above me and pulsed as if reacting to the power that caused the old man to shake like a twig.

My neck ached as I strained to behold my savior.

The woman’s nimble fingers slipped in between the bindings around my ankles and unhooked me before moving to my wrists.

“You should know better,” she scolded. “Memory loss or not.”

Standing above me, brows furrowed and lips tense, was my Lunette, her white hair brushing against me.

The doctor mumbled his words, “White Witch, oh, White Witch, forgive me. I did not know she belonged to you. A marvel, a masterpiece, truly, you attract only the most exquisite. You see, I am a man of science, and Shiloh came and found me of their own volition.”

My reply died on my tongue as Lunette freed me and gripped my bicep, helping me sit up before pointing an accusatory finger at the doctor. “White.”

Rubbing my wrists, I cocked my head at her in confusion, but the doctor seemed to understand as he dropped to his knees, pleading, “Please, please, have mercy. I hardly believe this tiny misunderstanding warrants a curse.”

“You’re cursing him? Damn, you really are a witch, huh?” I asked in proud surprise. It made sense. I should have realized it sooner.

Lunette looped her arm in mine, leaving the doctor a blubbering mess on the floor. “Come on. You’re in trouble.”

Tell me why a flurry of heat flooded my core at that statement. “Trouble?” I smirked down at her, liking the feeling of her holding my arm. “I’d like to get into some trouble with you, Miss White Witch.”

“You were just almost lobotomized, and you’re flirting with me.

You’re so incredibly lucky I was walking by on the way to the graveyard.

” She rolled her eyes as we fell into a stroll outside.

The night air was crisp and smelt of freshly carved pumpkins and wilting maple leaves.

She was a beam of opalescent light in the dreary night.

Starlight. Moonlight. “Quit looking at me like that,” she scolded without conviction.

I didn’t realize I was looking at her in any sort of way, however, as a witch, she could probably sense my desire and attraction. “Not sure I can look at you any other way,” I admitted. “But thanks for saving my brain and eyeballs.”

Lunette giggled. “You’re welcome. Dr. Jekal is a menace. I’ve wanted to curse him for a long time.”

“What’s his curse?”

“Oh, he can only eat white things, smell white things, and hear at a white noise frequency. I believe he can only touch white, as well, but I’m not sure anyone’s ever stayed human long enough for me to confirm.

It drives most to madness. It’s a trickier curse than it may sound.

” Dimples poked her cheeks in such an innocent display for such an aggressive use of magic on my account.

“Well, I hope I don’t piss you off and get cursed, too.

So, what’s a white witch? Is it different from a purple or pink witch?

” I nudged her playfully. She was still holding my arm, and I liked it a lot.

We’d only just met, but we were falling into a casual intimacy I couldn’t describe.

It felt as if I’d known this witch for lifetimes.

“I won’t curse you unless you try to harm someone else. White witches deal in light magic. Mostly nurturing, protecting, healing, those sorts of things.”

“And you took that quite literally with the wardrobe, I see. Is that common for witches, too?”

“No, the all-white dresses are a me thing. Well, and wearing my wedding dress to the graveyard.”

Stopping, I let go of her arm and took a step back, taking her in. “This was your wedding dress?”

She nodded. “Same one I wore last night. Do you like it?”

Spinning my finger, I gestured for her to twirl. “Give me a spin, let’s see it.”

A soft smile warmed her pink lips as she twirled, her long-sleeved, corseted gown fanning out and sparkling as she did so.

“Custom made,” she said, swishing the skirt back and forth.

“I wore it every night in my room for weeks after I bought it. Heck, I bought it the night he proposed. My seamstress stayed up all night crafting it for me. He never got to see me in it, though. You see, he died five days before our wedding. Alaric was my one true love.”

That stung more than it should have. One true love. Would there never be another? I hoped so. Even if it wasn’t me, everyone deserved love. But really, I selfishly wanted it to be me.

“We only needed more time. We’d only been engaged for a few weeks,” she added wistfully.

I swallowed the night air as a streetlight flickered to life. “May I ask what happened to him?”

“Oh.” She sighed, looping her arm in mine again and coaxing us back onto the pathway toward the graveyard. “He was murdered.”

“Murdered? Like actual murder?” I asked in shock.

“We have a couple of hours until the moon is at its highest point,” Lunette remarked, glancing up at the sky.