Page 17 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

“Need a ride?” Melissa asked Kassie. She was standing in the kitchen, drinking her coffee, and contemplating fixing breakfast or just finding something at Incantation Café. It was another paperwork day. She had reports to go over before she left town for the next two days.

“Do you mind? That would save me from having to ask Briggs to pick me up,” she said. “Something tells me he wouldn’t be too happy about that.”

There was no doubt about that. After Kassie’s over-the-top videos, Briggs would likely be even more annoyed than ever. Besides, as far as Melissa was concerned, they didn’t need to be spending any time alone together. Not unless Briggs found a way to control his magic.

“I don’t mind. But I’m going out of town tomorrow for a few days, so I won’t be here to play chauffeur. There is a bicycle in the garage that you’re welcome to use.”

“You want me to ride a bike… in January?” she gasped out.

Melissa shrugged. “It’s only a couple of miles into town, so I suppose you could walk if you don’t want to take the bike. But there’s no rain in the forecast, so there’s no reason why you couldn’t take it if you wanted to.”

“Gods,” Kassie said, wrinkling her nose. “I can’t believe this is my life now.”

“You mean the one where you have over five hundred thousand followers, just came off a successful tour, and are recording a new album?”

“No. The one where I’m stuck in Keating Hollow, living with my ex’s fiancée and riding a bike to work,” she spat out.

Fiancée. Melissa had almost forgotten about that lie.

“What I don’t understand is why you two don’t live together already. Isn’t that what engaged people do?” Kassie asked, studying Melissa.

“Some do, I suppose. It takes all kinds, right?”

“Looks like it.” Kassie poured her tea into one of Melissa’s to-go mugs and said, “I’m ready.”

“Great.” Melissa grabbed her laptop and her red faux fur coat and led the way outside.

Kassie ran to catch up with her, and when she jumped into the Audi, her teeth were chattering from the cold. “No one told me I’d have to endure Siberian temperatures.”

“It’s forty-five degrees out. Hardly Siberian temps,” Melissa said.

“Well, it’s not seventy like it is in LA right now,” Kassie grumbled.

Melissa let out a disbelieving laugh. “Is there anything you don’t complain about?”

“This week? No.” Her phone rang. She looked at the screen, frowned, and then answered it. “I told you, I’m fine. I’m on my way to work now.”

Melissa could hear someone talking on the other end of the line but couldn’t make out the words.

“No. Do. Not. Come. Here.” Then she ended the call.

“Was that your mother?” Melissa asked as she turned onto Main Street.

“My mom? No.” Kassie gave her a crazy look. “Why would you think that?”

“I dunno. Last night you said she was a pretty aggressive stage mom. I just thought maybe she wanted to see what you were up to.”

“Oh. That. Well, she doesn’t really have the means to follow me around the state, otherwise she would be here,” Kassie said bitterly.

“It was one of the perks of recording here. That was a… um, friend. Well, more like a fan who wants to come and save me from my living situation.” She smirked.

“People take my TikTok videos too literally.”

“Maybe if you were more honest, they wouldn’t get so riled up,” Melissa offered.

“If they didn’t get riled up, they wouldn’t be super fans,” Kassie said.

“I suppose they wouldn’t.” Melissa pulled into a spot right beside Briggs’s truck.

Kassie jumped out and hurried into the studio.

Briggs popped his head out the door, and when he spotted her still idling in the space, he hurried out and stopped at her door. After she lowered the window, he said, “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hey yourself. Did you sleep well?”

“No. I kept reaching for a gorgeous brunette, only she wasn’t there. Made my bed feel awfully empty,” he said, staring at her lips.

“I know the feeling,” she said breathlessly.

“You were also missing a gorgeous brunette?”

She gave him a cheeky grin and ran her hand through his dark hair. “Yeah. I was.”

He bent down, cupped both of her cheeks, and kissed her so thoroughly that even her toes tingled. When he stepped back, she was breathless.

“Can I take you to dinner tonight?” he asked.

“And leave Kassie on her own?”

He nodded. “She’ll survive.”

“I suppose she will. Pick me up at six?”

“I’ll be there.” He winked and strode back into the studio.

Melissa was just about to raise her window when she spotted King’s Toyota pulling in beside her.

“Hey,” she called once he was on the sidewalk.

King jerked his head up, spotted her, and immediately made his way to the driver’s side of her Audi.

She said, “Are you recording again?”

“No. I’m just here to keep an eye on Briggs. And to get Kassie to pull that damned video.”

Melissa knew he was referring to the one that speculated about their sexuality. “Do you think she will?”

“If she wants our single to come out, she will. If not, I’ll bury it.

If she makes a fuss, I’ll sue for libel.

” His expression was stoney. “The harassment is getting worse. Last night, random people started texting Sadie, and she had to turn her phone off. I think she’s getting a new number today, so if you have trouble reaching her, just wait until she contacts you. ”

A pit of unease settled in the middle of Melissa’s gut. “Sadie’s getting unsolicited texts?”

“You could say that. She’s gotten questions asking how much she’s been paid as a beard, others that are AI images of me and Briggs acting like a couple, and still others that are soliciting her for when she breaks up with me.”

“That’s awful.” Bile rose to the back of Melissa’s throat. “Maybe I should go over to her house.”

“She’s already left, but if you hurry, you might catch her at Incantation Café,” he said.

“Then I better get moving. Keep an eye on our boy,” she added and then raised the window and drove the three blocks to the café.

“Sadie!” Melissa called, spotting her friend coming out with a drink carrier in her hand.

“Mel?” Sadie peered at her and then smiled. “Is it a café workday?”

“It was going to be, but now that depends on you. What are you up to?”

“I’m taking this coffee to Imogen’s to check out her new party space. Want to come?”

Melissa gripped her steering wheel, knowing that she should go inside and get to work, but she really needed to talk to her friends about everything she’d learned about her ability to disrupt magic and her insane insistence to house Kassie Kinny.

“Let me get my coffee and pumpkin bread, and then I’ll be ready. ”

Fifteen minutes later, Sadie and Melissa walked up the stairs onto Imogen’s porch. It had been freshly painted white with slate blue shutters and trim, and there were inviting wicker chairs where Melissa could imagine her friend having her afternoon coffee every day.

“Sadie!” Imogen called as she opened the door. Then she spotted Melissa. “Oh, excellent. You came, too. Perfect. Come in.”

The three of them walked into the cozy house, and it was so warm that Melissa had to instantly ditch her red coat. She placed her coffee and pumpkin loaf on the nearby table and glanced around. “Imogen, this is really charming.”

“Thanks,” the other woman said. “I’ve been working on it.”

Working on it was an understatement. The place looked like something right out of Architectural Digest .

The wood floors had been sanded and refinished, making the wood gleam.

The entire inside had been painted, and the furniture looked like something right out of a Pottery Barn catalog.

But the kitchen was the real beauty. She’d refinished the cabinets to a seafoam green and added new white marble countertops and a white farmhouse sink. It truly was lovely.

“Will you come decorate my place if I ever get around to updating it?” Melissa asked.

“Your place is already perfect,” Imogen said. “But if you want a change, of course I’ll help.”

Melissa smiled and said, “It really is perfect, isn’t it?”

“Shut it,” Sadie teased. “If anyone needs a home makeover, it’s me.

You girls don’t know what happens to your place when a man moves in.

I now have a television screen that covers my entire wall and the surround sound speakers to go with it.

I feel like I’m living in a movie theater, only there’s no stale popcorn or thirty-dollar drinks to be had. ”

They all laughed. Then Imogen gave them a tour of her place. “It’s small, but I think it’s going to be perfect.”

“I don’t think there’s any question. It’s already perfect,” Melissa said, smiling at her friend. “I’m just so happy for you.”

Imogen moved in for a hug. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me after everything I’ve been through.”

“We have an idea,” Sadie said, squeezing her hands and staring pointedly at her.

About a year before Imogen had moved to Keating Hollow, she’d been possessed by a ghost. An evil one.

Imogen had almost lost everything, including her sister, due to the ghost’s antics.

Eventually, her sister Harlow had broken the curse and Imogen had gotten her life back.

Now she was dating, running her own business, and had even purchased the property that included her small house and ginormous barn.

“Okay, enough about me,” Imogen said as she invited them to sit at her small table. “What is going on with the pair of you? I heard the rumors about King and Briggs. Has that turned into a thing?”

“Yes,” Melissa said at the same time Sadie said, “No, not really. That doesn’t mean he’s not pissed as hell, though.”

Melissa and Sadie looked at each other and then started to laugh.

“It’s only a thing with Briggs because he keeps getting irritated with her, and it makes his magic flare out of control,” Melissa said.

“And King is angry because we’re both being harassed,” Sadie explained. “He’s been asked by every publication out there how long he and Briggs have been an item. I mean, what do they expect him to do, accidentally spill some tea for their gossip rags? Instead, we just ignore it all.”

“That’s the best plan,” Imogen agreed and then turned her attention to Melissa. “Tell me about this magic thing. Has it happened again?”

Melissa nodded and told her about the window shattering at Hollow Books. “He literally can’t control it. I’ve had to intervene a few times to help avoid disaster.”

“How?” Imogen asked, her brow furrowed. “What did you do? Throw your body between this woman and one of his spells?”

“Now that would be exciting,” Sadie said with a snort.

“No. Not like that.” Melissa explained how all she had to do was touch Briggs and it interrupted his magic. “Like I did at the pizza place. But I also learned that I could control his magic if I concentrate.”

“You can?” Imogen’s eyes were wide with wonder. “Have you always been able to do that?”

“No… Well, I don’t know, I guess,” she said. “I always thought I didn’t have any power, but it looks like I can wield other people’s magic, which is quite the gift.”

“Or weapon, depending on how you look at it,” Imogen said.

“Definitely. I just didn’t want to voice that because I’m not interested in weaponizing any magic. I just want to make sure that Briggs and all of my friends are protected and safe.”

Imogen moved closer to Melissa. “We need someone who has magic so we can test the theory and see if you can control it.”

“I don’t—” Melissa started, but she was cut off when the front door slammed and in walked Amelia Holiday-Riley in her Keating Hollow Fire Department uniform.

She glanced around. “I’m here to inspect the barn for the activities permit.”

“Right,” Imogen said. “Can you believe that I forgot all about that?”

“It’s not sexy like wall color or light fixtures. Most people just don’t care,” Amelia said.

“Come on,” Imogen said, taking her arm. “Let’s go do that, and then we’re kidnapping you so you can get caught up on everything that’s been going on.”

Sadie and Melissa sat at the counter, sipping their coffees as they waited for Imogen and Amelia to return. When they did, the two were laughing and in good spirits.

“Good news, Melissa,” Imogen said. “Amelia has offered to be your guinea pig.”

“What?”

“You heard me. She’s a fire witch, so if you really can control other people’s magic, this will be an easy one to test.”

Melissa looked at Amelia with trepidation. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said excitedly. “I’ve never met someone who can take over another person’s magic. I’d love to be your test subject.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure. Let’s do this outside though… just in case,” Amelia said.

Melissa followed her toward a soggy place behind the barn.

Amelia abruptly turned and said, “Try your magic now.”

Caught off guard, Melissa had to center herself first, but then reached out with her mind to see if she could sense Amelia. She did, almost instantly.

“Good. Now see if you can stop this.” Amelia tossed a bolt of fire toward the soggy pond.

Melissa struggled to focus at first, but then just as she was about to give up, she felt the tingling thread of magic tethered to her friend’s fingertips. She met Amelia’s gaze, nodded once, and then made the bolt of fire dance around the makeshift firepit.

“Oh my gosh,” Sadie said with reverence as she stared wide-eyed at Melissa. “It’s official. You are a witch!”

“No, I?—”

“You are,” Amelia confirmed. “Only someone who is very powerful could do something like that.”

“Well, I used your magic,” Melissa reminded her. “That’s the reason why it’s so strong.”

“Do it again,” Amelia ordered.

Melissa did as she was told and sent the fire straight up in the air, managing to avoid burning anyone or anything.

Everyone stared at her, their mouths gaping open. Then they laughed, and Sadie said, “I sure am glad you’re on my side.”

“Always,” Melissa said. “Now, let’s go look at this barn.”