Page 15 of Witches of Honeysuckle House

Evie’s mouth fell open slightly. “You summoned a cat? With your magic?”

“Apparently she heard the two of you talking about how lonely I am,” Florence said.

“It’s true,” Evie said.

“I might’ve let more people in over the past thirteen years if you’d listened to me.”

“Instead, you gave up your magic without knowing if it would even make a difference,” Evie shot back.

Neither of them knew for certain if their efforts to break the curse would work until the thirteenth came, but as far as Florence saw things, one less practicing Caldwell witch might just be enough to tip the balance the tarot cards had pointed to, undoing the damage wrought by the magic of the witches who had come before her.

“That’s better than doing nothing!” Florence said.

“Helping this town isn’t nothing,” Evie replied.

“So, you’re going to sit in that house and hope the curse doesn’t come for you?” Florence asked.

They’d had the argument so many times that Florence knew what Evie would say next, so when Evie opened her mouth to respond, Florence cut her short. “You havepeoplein the house. You have Clara!”

Evie took a step forward, pointing directly at Florence. “Don’t bring my daughter into this.”

“How can I not? You’re putting her at risk.”

“Keeping her magic from her is an even greater risk,” Evie said. “Look at the beautiful things she can do. If I’d raised her the way you would’ve had me do it, there’d be no wonder in her world.”

Behind Evie, Clara had taken Angela’s hand as her eyes tracked back and forth between Florence and Evie, her lip trembling.

“I think maybe that’s enough for now,” Angela said.

Evie whirled around. “Oh Clara, honeybee, I’m so sorry.” She looked back over her shoulder at Florence. “I raise my voice a lot less when you’re not around, you know.”

“Funny, so do I,” Florence said.

“Come to the house. We can talk through this there,” Evie said. “Your tarot card—”

“Was a warning,” Florence said.

“Your own shop wants you to come home.”

The lights flickered overhead. Evie arched her eyebrows.

“I’m not going to that house,” Florence said. “Not until after the thirteenth.”

“If my efforts haven’t been enough to break the curse—which is a bigif,since the tarot cards made it clear that using our magic is how we fix this—the danger isn’tuntilthe thirteenth,” Evie said. “So come before then.”

“I thought you said the house turned a few of your guests out of their beds this morning,” Angela said.

Evie winced. Florence crossed her arms.

“It’s October,” Evie said. “The house was having fun. The festival is coming up.”

“One of those guests was pregnant,” Angela said.

Evie sighed. “You weren’t supposed to say anything.”

“I couldn’t keep it to myself,” Angela said. “Not with everything else that’s happened today.”

“Fine. It’s a little worrying, but notsomeone is going to die in our houseworrying.” Evie shrugged.