Gypsy Magic - J.R. Rain Page 0,2

shop took off, I might actually be ahead.

I was busy trying to break my teeth on a smile as I noted cracks, uneven floors, missing fixtures and more. Finn trailed his fingers through cobwebs and dust, wiping both away on his blue and black Spock t-shirt that said ‘Trek yourself before you wreck yourself’.

“This room is too small,” Finn said as he walked into the first room on our right. I glanced inside and figured it might make a nice office.

An office I would be putting to use as soon as I could open my store. I’d already found the perfect location—a smallish storefront in the middle of the busiest street in town (which wasn’t very busy considering the population of Haven Hollow was only 680. Well, 682 now). The potential store was the only reason Finn and I had moved to Haven Hollow. Because there weren’t any witches laying claim to this tiny town.

I knocked on a peeling wood banister immediately after the thought and even crossed my fingers.

No witches. Please, please, please.

Witches were territorial and they could make your life hell if they so chose. I never wanted to cross one, if I could help it.

The next room was larger than the first and featured a giant window that revealed a lovely view of the street below and acres of open land beyond. Our nearest neighbor was at least a quarter of a mile away.

“This isn’t bad,” I said as we walked out of the room and back into the hallway. I was immediately enveloped by cold and goosebumps popped along my arms.

Nothing other than cold weather and your aging bones. Cold weather and aging bones...

“Wait… There are only four bedrooms up here?” Finn asked as he counted the rooms off the hallway on his fingers. He didn’t seem to notice the drafty hallway, so I didn’t say anything. Yep, I needed to whip up a cleansing potion and then a consecration potion… post haste.

“Right, the fifth bedroom is downstairs… the guest bedroom.”

He nodded. “I want my room to be right next to yours.”

“Okay, well I think this is the master,” I said as we entered the last room.

It was really beautiful with the high ceilings and crown molding. Well, beautiful if you could ignore the dust and canopy of spider webs. Numerous windows overlooked the street below and the apple orchard off to the right. I walked into the master bathroom and turned around, taking in the view through one window, which showed off the orchard again while the east-facing window revealed a wide expanse of… cemetery?

Oh, no.

Finn was still in the bedroom as I stared out the window, and cursed my bad luck. A cemetery? Bordering the back yard? I walked to the window and yanked it up, the old paint on the wood breaking away in my hands. But I wasn’t concerned with it at the moment. Instead, I leaned out to get a better look at the overgrown and ratty plot of land that was home to at least twenty headstones. As I studied it, I watched a woman emerge from behind a copse of trees. She walked between the tombstones and paused before one, kneeling down. The setting sun behind her obscured most of her, bathing her in bright yellow light, making it difficult to see.

“Hey, Mom, did you see this little closet in here?” Finn called out. I turned to look at him, where he stood at the far end of the bedroom.

“Just a second,” I said and turned back to face the woman in the graveyard. But, when I looked again, she was gone. Yet… there was something still there. Something that appeared dark in the setting sun, almost clouded by a shadowed mist. Regardless, it was much larger than a human and almost misshapen. It moved quickly, but its gait was lopsided and strange. The rich yellow light of the dying sun continued to play tricks with my eyes, so much so, that I thought I was looking at something with huge antlers and long forearms that dragged along the ground as it moved between the stones. I leaned out the window a bit more, trying to get a better visual.

Is it a deer? I asked myself.

Come on… it’s way too large to be a deer! Plus, it’s walking upright. Sort of.

“This is a pretty big bathroom, Mom,” Finn said from right behind me. I immediately pulled back and slammed my head into the wooden window frame as I turned