Page 30 of Vampire so Virtuous

“No, I suppose not.” Cally frowned. “Do you know any of the others? The witches in her coven at the time? Any I could contact?”

“Not that I can think of,” he said. “Why would you want to?”

“Just to see what they knew of her magic.”

“You mean, like her rituals and spells and stuff?” He blinked, a faint shift in his posture betraying his surprise. “Why would you be interested in that?”

“Oh, asking for a friend. You remember Eve, right?”

“Of course,” he said. “How’s she doing?”

“She’s good. Still weird.” Cally took a sip of her beer. “So, do you know anything about the spells Mom could do?”

“Do?” He studied her. “You know it’s not actual magic, right? It’s notreal.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course not.” Cally’s pulse wasn’t thudding anymore. Her heart felt like it was hardly beating.

“I don’t think she got much into that. Her interest was social, mostly. Feminism. Some appeal of the occult. Amateur hobbyist, I guess you’d call her.” He smiled. “The only magic your mom did was in her cooking.”

“You mean that figuratively too, right?” Then, at her dad’s expression, added in a mutter, “Just checking.”

“If you’re interested,” he said, his expression softening, “I’m pretty sure some of her Wicca paraphernalia is in the attic. I don’t know what’s there, or what state it’s in, but…?”

“Yeah,” Cally said eagerly. “Yeah, that would be great.” Even if there was nothing to find about her magic, it would still be amazing to look through her mom’s things—especially that part of her life. “How much of her stuff is there?”

Her dad smiled whimsically. “Quite a lot.”

*

“I brought you coffee,” her dad announced, climbing the steps into the attic with two steaming cups in his hands.

“Lifesaver.” Cally knelt back on her heels and eased her spine. “There’s more stuff up here than I ever imagined.”

“Well, I didn’t want to throw it out.” He handed her a cup, then sat on a box, casting his eyes over the contents she’d laid out on the thin carpet. “Find anything interesting?”

“Interesting? Loads. Useful? Not so much.” She smiled fondly at some of what she’d uncovered—yearbooks, graduation photos, mix tapes on old cassettes, a stack of letters. The concert tickets she’d found caught her eye. “You guys saw Bob Dylan?”

“Yeah. That takes me back. We both gotsodrunk.”

“And why does she have an MIT hoodie in a man’s size?”

“It’s mine.” He smiled, full of nostalgia. “She wore it more than I did.” He glanced around. “Yours is in one of these boxes somewhere.”

Cally carefully set her coffee down, away from her mother’s things strewn across the floor, then held up a Kodak packet of photos. “SCUBA diving? I didn’t know you could SCUBA.”

“Haven’t been in years.”

Twenty-six years, Cally filled in. It had just been the two of them for so long. “We could’ve gone together.”

He shook his head. “I’ve forgotten how.”Or maybe he didn’t want to with anyone else.

Cally opened the packet again, flicking through to the photo she’d seen before, and pulled it out. “You guys were cute. But that bikini is scandalous.”

He pushed off the box and walked over, taking the photo from her and stared at it. “Looks fine to me,” he said, straight-faced, and slid the photo carefully into the pocket of his sweatpants.

Cally grinned. “Not much Wicca stuff, in the end. Some books.” She nodded to another pile. “There’s a first edition ofThe Spiral DanceEve would love, if you think Mom wouldn’t mind?”

“Take what you want, honey. Your mom would be delighted.”