Gypsy Magic - J.R. Rain Page 0,14

maybe she was the one doing the cursing? I had a bad feeling about my ancient, bad-tempered realtor. Soured milk and spoiled food could and did happen around witches...

“You think she’s a witch?” Finn asked, looking at Marty before he turned his worried expression on me. I immediately shook my head.

Ophelia wasn’t a witch. I would have felt the power coming off her if she were. And, besides, Ophelia didn’t look like a witch—she was way too old. Witch magic was strong—enough to slow the aging process down to a crawl. A witch had to be a century and a half old before she’d look anywhere close to my age. And that meant Ophelia would have to be close to four or five hundred to look as old as she did. Thanks to my own magic, I looked good for forty-three, but I’d never outlast a witch.

And there was that other thing about witches. They were fiercely territorial and jealously guarded their homes and land. So, the last place you’d find a witch was in a realty office. But there was something... off, about Ophelia, all the same. So much so, that I wasn’t surprised to hear she and fresh produce didn’t get along.

“A few friends of mine are doing an experiment on Ophelia,” Marty continued.

“An experiment?” I repeated.

“Huh?” Finn asked.

Marty nodded. “RJ and Henner rigged up some homemade ghost hunting equipment for this side gig we’ve got going. Henner is monitoring every fruit Ophelia comes into contact with.”

“How does one even do that?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I dunno, but leave it to Henner. He can accomplish the impossible. Anway… So far? Every fruit has gone bad as soon as she gets within five feet of it.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

Marty shrugged. “At first we thought maybe she had a ghost attached to her or something.”

“A ghost?” Finn asked, his eyes widening in worry.

Marty shook his head. “Yeah, it wasn’t a ghost, so far as we can tell. But it’s something. The readings around Ophelia are off the charts.”

“Is that why she was so mad at you?” I asked. “Because she didn’t want you doing experiments on her?”

He cocked his head to the side. “I mean… it could be. She gets annoyed with all our investigations.”

“What kind of investigations?” Finn asked.

“Well, mainly fruit and vegetable investigations where Ophelia is concerned. But her annoyance doesn’t end there. She gets irritated when we do our ghost investigations too. She mainly gets exasperated at those.”

“Ghost investigations?” Finn repeated.

Marty nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a ghost hunting business on the side.”

“Oh,” I said and looked at Finn, worried how he’d react to this news.

The tremors in Finn’s hands were all the warning I had before he pushed away from the table. “I’m gonna play Super Mario in my bedroom, okay?”

He tossed the words over his shoulder as he crossed the hardwood kitchen floors and disappeared up the stairs. In other circumstances, I’d have called him back to apologize for being rude. Tonight I didn’t have the heart to do more than stare after him as he dragged a veritable bridal train of cobwebs after him.

“Okay, I’ll be up in a little bit!” I called after him.

Marty’s brows pushed together over those intense blue eyes. “Did I say something wrong?”

I sighed. “No, Finn’s just creeped out by this place and angry I didn’t mention the cemetery, which I didn’t even know was on the property or I never would have bought it.” I took a deep breath. “He doesn’t like haunted houses, as you may have gathered.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, neither do I. It’s why I started my ghost-hunting business in the first place. Henner’s grandmother was subject to a malevolent haunting a few years back. Since then, we’ve banished a few more ghosts.”

“And how do you banish ghosts?” I asked, knowing I probably wouldn’t approve of his methods.

Marty seized a handful of candy corn that had scattered in the bottom of the wicker basket and popped them into his mouth. “Well, we always try to involve a psychic friend of mine. She works for a firm in town called ‘Spook Society’. I leave most of the reasoning with spirits to her, if she’s available. Henner, RJ, and I only make first contact. If the spirits are open to using the ghost box Henner made, we can usually get them to move on, ourselves. Except I think the wires keep getting crossed because every voice that comes out either sounds like