Page 11 of Seven Secret Spellcasters (Kitchen Witch Mysteries #7)

S unday morning, Grans and Mia headed into the library to try to access the coven library archives spot. Mia glanced downstairs like she could see Finn’s bedroom on the first floor.

Grans saw her and waved the concern away. “Just lock the library door. No one is getting in here unless they have a key. The library ghosts aren’t the most welcoming to the living.”

Peaches, the ghost cat who spent her time warming herself in the sun that came in the large windows, meowed as she wound herself through Mia’s legs. Mia reached down to pet her, but her hand went through the cat’s body and Peaches turned into smoke.

“Animal ghosts are unpredictable. It’s best if you don’t try to interact.” Grans nodded to a large table. “The archive connection should be on that table. At least it was when I attended school here.”

Mia sat across from her and set her grimoire next to her. “Are you sure I don’t have to be official in some way to get into the archives?”

“Of course not. Coven children can access the archives years before they take their vows. You’re overthinking this, which is not a good sign for your testing tomorrow.

Maybe you should chat with Trent about his testing.

It could put you at ease.” Grans placed the palms of her hands on the table and started humming.

Finally, she looked up. “Maybe we have the wrong table.”

Mia could hear Gloria’s laugh from the other side of the wall where Mia’s kitchen was located. “That’s enough from the peanut gallery over there.”

Grans glanced over her shoulder. “Gloria was laughing?”

“She’s been a little vocal lately,” Mia admitted. “I think it’s all the commotion around Halloween and the coven party.”

“Familiars aren’t supposed to get anxious. They’re supposed to calm you when you’re anxious.” She looked at Mia. “Where did you get Gloria, again?”

“I thought you gave her to me?” A pit was forming in Mia’s stomach. “I was staying with you the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. She was on my bed when I arrived, so I thought she was a gift.”

“When did she start talking? Making a connection?” Grans pulled Mia’s grimoire over to her side of the table and opened it to the first spell page.

“It was after I went home that fall. I was home alone one Saturday night after a football game. My friends had gone to a party, but I’d wanted to go home.

I’d found out that the guy I had a crush on was dating a freshman.

I was devastated because he’d talked to me the week before, and I thought maybe .

. .” Mia felt her face turning red as she remembered the embarrassment.

She’d told all her friends, then found out he was already dating Sharon.

“Anyway, Gloria said he wasn’t worth my tears, and I’d have a great boyfriend soon. ”

“And you started dating Bodie by Thanksgiving if I remember the timeline. Your mom was furious that you blew off the PSAT training session and went to the movies.” Grans looked at the wall of books again that separated the two rooms.

“What’s wrong?” Now Mia was concerned. It wasn’t like her grandmother to blow anything out of proportion.

Grans met her eyes. “Your familiar isn’t supposed to bond with you until after you start your journey to your acceptance.

Your mother hadn’t abdicated yet back when you were in high school.

She waited until after you were out of high school to give me her grimoire.

I had started your training as a lark, but you shouldn’t have had a familiar yet.

And there’s one more thing wrong with your story. ”

Mia watched as Grans returned her grimoire, then said, “I don’t think so. I know it was a while ago, but I think I have the timeline right.”

Grans refocused on the table. “I’m not sure it matters, but I didn’t give you Gloria.”

“Then how did she wind up on my bed that summer?” Mia was starting not to like this week at all.

“Now, that is a good question.” Grans’s face lit up as the table started to glow. “I knew I had the right table. Mia, open your grimoire to an empty page and repeat after me.”

* * *

That evening, as the group gathered for dinner, Mia noticed that Finn wasn’t in the apartment with them. She glanced at Abigail. “Where’s your apprentice?”

Abigail chuckled. “A friend came to get her for dinner. Finn’s a nice kid. Thanks for putting her up for a few weeks.”

“I didn’t have much choice, but I have a feeling it might be longer than a few weeks.” Mia sipped her wine as Abigail put the lasagna and garlic bread on the table. “We can’t have her living in her van in winter up here. She’ll freeze.”

“I still think it was very kind of you.” Abigail glanced over at Christina, who was texting on her phone. “How’s Levi?”

“Bored.” Christina grinned as she put away her phone. “I told him he didn’t have to work shifts when we got back. It’s not like we’ll be here long, but someone called in, so he jumped.”

“He was afraid we’d rope him into party prep,” his mother interpreted. “Levi can smell hard work a mile away.”

“Abigail, that’s not nice to say about your kid.” Mia didn’t think Abigail was wrong, but she didn’t want Christina to start having cold feet.

“What can I say? He’s the baby.” Abigail fluffed out her napkin. “And this one here wouldn’t let me do anything for him. Trent was an independent soul from the day he went to kindergarten and found out there was a world out there away from the family.”

“She says of the one son who actually works in the family business,” Trent commented as he picked up a slice of garlic bread. “Maybe you should insist she get her head examined, Mia. She may be running your business into the ground.”

“I keep my finger in the pie so I know what’s going on.” Mia was used to the teasing that went on in the Majors family. “Now I’m glad Finn’s not here. She might think you all are actually fighting.”

Everyone chuckled at that. Then Abigail set her fork down. “That being said, I am worried about our newest employee and roommate. She seems so disconnected from any family or friends. When this guy showed up to take her to dinner, I was shocked. She hadn’t said one word about dating anyone.”

“Maybe they’re not dating, Mom,” Trent said between bites. “Maybe they are just friends, like she said. Sometimes you need to take people at their word.”

A dragon call echoed through the room, and Cerby, who had been sleeping on the window seat, jumped up to look out the window. He barked three times, apparently answering the question, then curled up again.

“Then there’s Buddy.” Trent sighed as he looked out the window and watched the dragon go back and hop onto a tree branch. “It’s going to be hard enough to figure out how to train a hellhound. What am I going to do with a dragon? Having another human here, besides Christina, is asking for trouble.”

Grans waved her fork at Trent. “Don’t worry at all about Buddy. Humans don’t notice magical creatures. They don’t have the mental capacity to know they’re real. Sorry, Christina, I’m not trying to be mean.”

“Well, since I can see Buddy, maybe I’m extraordinary for a mere human?” Christina rolled her eyes as her phone buzzed with another text. “Levi’s going to have to wait until I’m done eating. He’s so needy.”

Gloria giggled, and Christina burst into a wide smile.

“Right?”

Grans and Mia shared a look. Christina could see Buddy and hear Gloria.

Two things that a human shouldn’t be able to do.

Trent shouldn’t even be able to tap into Mia’s familiar, but he also heard Gloria at times.

The coven had been right to send out Howard to investigate Trent and Cerby since Trent should have been as human as Christina now that Levi had the generational magic that Abigail would pass when she left the world.

But things weren’t always predictable as far as the rules of magic went.

Not here in Magic Springs. Mia shouldn’t be focusing on the outlying issues surrounding the magical community tonight.

She should be studying for her final exam tomorrow at coven headquarters.

She’d already taken the day off from work, promising Blake she’d have her report on Friday’s dinner no later than noon on Tuesday.

Now that she knew Blake was a witch, she didn’t even have to make excuses for the kitchen witch duties that took her away from work.

After dinner, Grans pulled Mia aside. “I’m going into the library to use the archives. I’d like to explore Finn and Christina’s family trees a little more.”

“Do you have what you need?” Mia assumed she’d need birth certificates even to start a genealogical search. And besides the fact that she’d grown up in Nampa, which was four hours away, they didn’t know much about Finn’s history.

“Don’t be silly. The archives have back doors in all the official vital records departments all over the world.

It was one of the first projects they completed to build the archives.

We need to do a deep dive into what’s available to you now.

I’ll order a study guide that you can pick up tomorrow at the coven.

Cleo can have it available for you once you finish your exam.

” Grans picked up her phone and texted someone.

“There, now, make sure I’m back in the apartment by ten.

You know I can get lost in research, and I need my beauty sleep. ”

Not to mention that the library had at least two ghosts—one with a lot of power who didn’t like the living being in their domain.

“I’ll set my alarm on my phone,” Mia assured her. She watched as her grandmother moved toward the door. “Maybe I should go with you?”

“Don’t be silly. You have a houseful of guests. Nothing’s going to happen to me,” Grans reminded her as she opened the door. “Besides, Christina’s here, and you two probably need to catch up.”