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Chapter Thirty-One

SUNNY

S unny got in her van and started down the highway to Charleston. The unfolded piece of paper sat on the seat next to her. The address seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place why.

The address was for a shop in downtown. She would swear she’d been there before, but she couldn’t place it. She rolled down her window and turned up the radio. Being in one place for a month was almost novel to her after spending the last couple of years traveling.

It was nice to be out on the road on a sunny day with the wind in her hair again.

Yet, with as much as she enjoyed that, it did remind her of Asher.

Yes, being out on the road was nice, but it would be even better when she returned to Asher... in her bed. A smile crept on her face at the thought of that.

She came to a sign that read Charleston 40 miles .

Glancing down at the clock on her radio, she realized it was almost 11:15. With the wind in her hair, she sang with the radio until she got into town.

When she got in town, she stopped at a pay phone. First things first, she called the workshop to see if Asher and Abe were still there. She deposited her quarter and dialed, only for a polite voice telling her to insert the correct amount of change.

Dammit. Not again. I should have called before I left town.

If she hadn’t been so keen to figure out what was up with Nox, she would have. Reaching deep into the bottom of her purse, she felt for more change, only to come up empty-handed.

She picked up the phone book and flipped to the back section with maps of the city. After searching for the street, she realized she was right. It was where she thought it was.

But she couldn’t remember what was there, just that she’d been there before. It was right next to a park her mom had taken her to.

She got back in her van and started on her way. As she found the street and glanced at the building numbers, she noticed things looked familiar. The park her mother had taken to her was on the right, when she had a fuzzy memory of her mom laying out a picnic blanket. Why had they been here?

Then she saw it. Sun & Moon Herb Shoppe. She checked the address. That was it. Why was he coming to a witchcraft store?

She pulled into a parking spot. As she turned off the van, the door to the store opened, and there was Nox Whittaker walking out, holding a little brown bag.

Sunny instantly sank in her seat, trying to hide from him. What on earth is he doing here? How is he tied to magic? If he is a warlock, surely Asher and Abe would have picked up on that. They could sniff out warlocks and even some witch hunters with ease.

Slowly, she lifted her head back up just in time to see his small blue car pull out and head down the street in the opposite direction. Her heart was pounding, but she needed to find out what was happening and why.

She headed into the store. When she opened the door, she was hit with the smell of incense. The nostalgia was overwhelming. So was the sight of herbs and crystals lining a wall. The other wall was full of books and tarot cards. In the middle of the store were a few racks of clothes.

“How can I help you?” a voice croaked from the back.

Sunny turned and saw a woman who she would guess to be in her late fifties but had lived a hard life. She was thin, with long gray hair cascading along her back. Her face was full of wrinkles, and the ones that lined her mouth pointed to a life of smoking.

As Sunny walked over, she smelled of incense, cigarettes, and booze.

“You look familiar...” the woman said as her eyes squinted. “Laura?”

Sunny shook her head. “No, Laura was my mother.”

The woman widened her eyes. “Sunshine! I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were knee high to a grasshopper. How is your mother?”

This wasn’t a conversation she’d had to have with anyone in a long time.

“Oh...” Sunny’s smile faltered. “Well, my mom actually passed away a few years ago.”

The woman’s face fell as she huffed out booze-laden breaths.

“My condolences. She was a wonderful woman.”

“Yeah, she was.”

“What can I do for you, Sunshine? Are you a seer like her?”

“Yes, I am. But that’s not why I’m here.”

She cocked her head. “What is it I can do for you?”

Sunny’s brow furrowed as she tried to figure out the best way to explain this.

“My mom was in a car accident a long time ago, but lately, I’ve been having dreams about it. Someone keeps showing up in those dreams, and I’m just looking for him.”

“Who?”

“This is going to sound crazy...”

“I’m well-versed in crazy.”

“Okay. The man who was just here. Why was he here?”

“Nox?” the woman said in a slight squawk of surprise. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“That’s what everyone says, but I’m just telling you what I see.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed on her. Gone was the face of someone happy to see her.

“Can you tell me why he was here?”

“No.”

“Please. I have to find out what happened to my mom.”

The woman crossed her arms. “I sincerely doubt he had anything to do with it.”

“Can you tell me what you gave him?”

“You know I can’t do that. You know that, while most people come here for fun and to dabble, others come here for more medicinal reasons.”

Medicinal reasons?

“Please. It would mean a lot to me,” Sunny begged.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

Sunny just looked at her with pleading eyes.

She’d come all this way, but it looked like she would be leaving with nothing but more questions.

“If there’s nothing else you need, I suggest you leave and stop poking you nose in other people’s business.”

Sunny slumped her shoulders. “Of course. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

Well... that was the waste of a trip.

No wonder all of this had slowly driven her father deep into madness. But she had something he didn’t have, a whole team of people who cared about her, a coven.

She needed to go home and tell Asher and everyone else what she found out. Maybe they could help her make some sense of it.

When she got back into her van, she just sat there, the disappointment of a wasted trip washing over her.

When she turned the key, the engine gave a couple chugs, then nothing.

“No! Not now. Come on, baby... You can do it.”

She turned the key again, and the engine gave another couple chugs before giving up. When she tried again, the engine finally turned over.

“Thank you,” she whispered into the ethos before she pulled out.

Maybe Asher could help her make sense out of what she’d discovered.

As she made her way down the highway, she checked the time. She was supposed to meet Asher hours ago at the diner. He would understand, and Betty had hopefully told him that she was going to be back. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

She needed to follow Nox to find out what was going on, but she also knew that Asher might not handle her disappearing well. When she made it back to the Hollow, she could head straight to the mountain. Even after deciding that, she realized something just felt off.