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Yvette followed Jacob as he hauled Kariann out of the house and into the SUV. He placed her in the back seat and then slammed the door.

“I hate that she’s in the Sequoia,” he said, scowling at the door.

“Me, too, but what else can we do?” Yvette said as color from the garden caught her eye. She walked a few feet over to get a better look and saw that there were now five tall sunflowers, all with their faces tilted to the sun.

“Does the house look… better than it did when we first got here?” Jacob asked.

“What do you mean by better ?” she asked, but as soon as she focused on the house, she knew exactly what he meant. The paint, while still faded, wasn’t peeling, and she could no longer see any dry rot. One of the windows that she’d have sworn was broken was now a solid piece of glass that gleamed in the sunlight. “Is it healing itself?”

“Maybe?”

“The garden is trying, too,” she said, turning around to look at the sunflowers once more. “The weeds are dying off on their own, and the sunflowers seem to be taking over. Marylin told me that the weeds are her sister’s contribution. Marylin planted the sunflowers.”

“Do you think expelling Kariann from the house will return it to its former glory?” Jacob asked.

“I hope so.” But Yvette had more important things to worry about. “Let’s do that finding spell. If the broom is here, we don’t want to leave without finding it.”

Yvette grabbed the first aid kit and a small bag of supplies from the back of the SUV. After cleaning her own hands, she applied antiseptic ointment to her scrapes and then to Jacob’s wrists, covering them both with clean bandages. Then she grabbed the spellcasting supplies and motioned for Jacob to follow her to a clearing away from the house and the garden.

They both got to work creating the pentagram and salt circle. Once that was done, Yvette took the lead at the northern most point while Jacob stood across from her.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready.”

They both raised their arms in the air. The wind immediately picked up, swirling around them while a fire came to life right in the middle of the pentagram.

“Goddess of the earth,” Yvette called. “We seek knowledge. Wind and fire, fire and wind, combine our magic and give us the sight. Reveal the broom we seek. Fire and wind, wind and fire, reveal the broom. Help us reverse another witch’s ire!”

The wind whipped around them as the fire grew, forming a massive ball in the pentagram, obscuring Jacob from Yvette’s view. She stared into the flames, mesmerized by the force of it until suddenly the wind stopped and a scene formed in the fireball.

Yvette let out a gasp and cried, “It’s back at the bookstore!”

The fireball instantly disappeared, leaving Yvette and Jacob staring at each other.

“Can that be right?” Jacob asked. “The broom is at the shop?”

She shrugged. “The book was there at one time. I suppose it’s possible the broom is there now. All I know is that I saw an ornate hand-carved broom that I don’t recognize in the corner of the stockroom, hidden behind a bookcase.”

Jacob held out his hand to her. “Then we better go.”

After checking on Kariann and finding her awake but still fully restrained, Yvette climbed into the passenger seat and took one last look at the Victorian home. Flowers had popped up around the border of the porch, and the field off to the right had a couple of bushes of lavender that were blooming.

Yvette turned around in her seat and met Kariann’s gaze. “Looks like the place is happy to see you go.”

Kariann jerked and squirmed, obviously trying to loosen her restraints. When it didn’t work, she just glared at Yvette. Yvette glared back.

Jacob hopped into the SUV and took off back down the gravel road without a word. It didn’t take long to realize that there weren’t nearly as many potholes on the way out as there had been on the way in.

Yvette shook her head at Kariann. “It appears your brand of poison had a long reach.”

Kariann let out a grunt and then stared out the window.

Yvette settled back into her seat, wishing there was a way to teleport back to Keating Hollow. It had already been a long day.

“It doesn’t look like anything has changed,” Yvette said with a heavy heart when they finally made the turn onto Main Street. The gas lamps were all out, and weeds had popped up between the cobblestones on the sidewalks. All of the businesses were shuttered except for a few of the restaurants, and even those looked like a ghost town.

When they’d driven through Moonstone Ridge, the post office building had looked freshly painted, and to her surprise, there were half a dozen cars at the gas station. The drivers were buying snacks and waiting their turn to fill up at the single gas pump. Yvette had hoped that meant Keating Hollow was healing, too, but no such luck.

Jacob reached across the console and squeezed her hand. “I’m sure once we reverse the curse, everything will go back to normal.” He glanced in the rearview mirror briefly before turning his attention back to the road as he pulled into the parking lot of the sheriff’s department.

They’d called to warn Drew Baker they were coming as soon as they got to a spot with a cell signal, and he walked out of the building just as they parked. He wasted no time opening the back door and hauling Kariann out of the vehicle.

“Thanks, Drew,” Yvette said. “Be careful with her. She’s powerful. As near as we can tell, she’s harboring two magical souls. So up the security or you might find one of them trying to escape.”

Drew sucked in a sharp breath. “The Magical Task Force is already on the way, but I’ll personally keep a close eye on her until they get here.”

“Good plan,” Jacob said, clapping his brother-in-law on the back.

“What’s this?” Drew asked as he looked at the pink handcuffs.

Yvette felt her face flush with heat and said, “We made do with what we could find. You probably want to put some real magical cuffs on her, but I wouldn’t remove the gag until the MTF gets here. She’s… not super pleasant.”

Drew chuckled. “Pink fuzzy handcuffs. Now I’ve seen it all.”

“I’m glad you’re amused,” Jacob said. “You might be singing a different story if she’d been trying to use them on you.”

“Pardon?” Drew asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Jacob said. “Right now, we’re going to see if we can figure out how to reverse this curse that’s ruining Keating Hollow. We’ll be back to make our statements.”

Yvette clung to Jacob’s hand, itching to get to the bookstore.

Without any traffic and no tourists, it didn’t take long to get to Hollow Books. Yvette grabbed the book and jumped out of the car. She was so anxious to get inside that her hands were shaking as she tried to unlock the door.

Jacob gently took the key from her and then calmly opened the door.

Yvette stepped into her store and wrinkled her nose when she caught a whiff of stale, musty air. Normally when she walked in, she was greeted with the lovely scent of bound leather and coffee. It had turned into her favorite scent combination because it represented one of her favorite places on earth. But now, all she could smell was dampness and mildew. It made her stomach churn.

She hated what the curse had done to her shop, her family, her town. And no matter what she and Jacob had been through, it was worth it to bring back everything they loved.

Yvette took off for the stockroom. She tore through the door and ran for the bookcase that she’d seen in the fire. But when she got there, the broom was nowhere to be found.

“What?” she cried out. “I saw it here. Right here.” She pointed to the spot near the bookcase. “Right, Jacob? That’s where it’s supposed to be, isn’t it?”

He nodded, his expression grim.

Yvette spun back around, searching everywhere for the broom. Had Brinn been there today? She didn’t think so, but she picked up the nearby phone and dialed anyway.

It went straight to voice mail.

“Dammit.” She left the stockroom and went into her office. After practically tearing it apart, she then scoured the bookshop sales floor, looking anywhere and everywhere for the broom.

Nothing.

“It’s not over here either,” Jacob called from the coffee shop area.

“It has to be here somewhere!” she cried as she went back into the stockroom, walked up to the bookcase, and started to move it. Just as she nudged it to the left, she heard something clatter to the ground. But as she scanned the old wood floor, she didn’t see anything.

Certain that she was losing her mind, she dropped to her knees and started to run her hands over the wood. Almost immediately, her hand wrapped around something hard and grooved. As she tightened her grip, the broom revealed itself.

“Son of a monkey,” she said under her breath. “It’s been here the entire time?”

“Yvette?” Jacob called from the doorway.

“I’ve found it,” she cried. And then with tears of relief in her eyes, she went to join him and said, “Let’s go. It’s time to reverse this spell.”