suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.
Ivy shook her head hard enough to make her dizzy. “Hook me up! Baby factory is shut down until further notice.”
Rowena gave her two thumbs up and disappeared into her stock room, reappearing with a thin gold chain in her palm, the green stone winking in the light. It matched the ring on Ivy's left index finger, and Rowena smiled as Ivy offered her wrist.
“You know the drill. It won't come off or lose potency until you verbally make the decision to start trying for babies.”
“Got it,” Ivy confirmed, letting the light catch the stone when Rowena finished clasping the bracelet around her wrist. Practical magic at its finest. “Thank you.”
“Of course. I'm really happy for you,” Rowena said genuinely.
Kerrigan carefully set the pot of Ivy's fairy flowers down on the table. “I'm really happy for you, too. And really jealous. That is one sexy beast.”
“So hot,” Juliet agreed, fanning herself as she curled around the glass of wine she held.
“And so kind,” Astrid sighed wistfully.
Ivy opened her mouth to confess she was struggling to adapt to so much change in so short a time, but the loud slap of the broom positioned by the front door made all of them jump and flinch.
“Company!” Astrid sang, lifting her glass with a loud whoop.
Kerrigan snorted into her wine, her eyes a little glassy. “Whatever it is, we don't need any! Unless your care bear is bringing friends for us to play with.”
They were expecting a physical person to come down the drive, not for the huge crystal shard on the table to light up.
The flat piece of clear quartz looked like a decorative, artistic centerpiece on the table, but it was the flat-screen of crystal balls used to communicate with other covens around the globe.
Rowena kept the crystal under a constant security spell, allowing an outsider to contact them, but not be able to hear or see them until the password was spoken. Like a pleasant alarm, the crystal gave a rhythmic chime to alert them of an incoming call.
Callie leaned forward, squinting with one eye closed. “I know I'm drunk, but that looks like Farrah Fairchild.”
“Le Douche's assistant secretary?” Juliet croaked, having choked on her last sip of wine.
“Yeah!” Callie waggled her fingers, her voice rising incredulously. “Only she doesn't look like Farrah anymore. She looks like Le Douche Junior.”
When giggles erupted all around, Rowena waved a hand for silence, before reaching out to touch the chiming crystal.
“Popcorn Puppy Toes... Farrah, to what do we owe the pleasure?”
The young woman with her dark blonde hair pulled back into a ruthless bun, wore what looked like a cape around her shoulders and a pearl brooch at her throat.
Ivy remembered Farrah wearing beautiful designer dresses and styling her hip-length hair in loose curls that shimmered in the sunlight. The harshness of the black outfit she had on now made her skin seem lackluster and her chocolate brown eyes flat and dull.
“Miss Little,” Farrah greeted in a coolly formal voice. “I'm calling on behalf of Headmistress Le Doux—”
“Since when does that old battle-ax foist off her calls when addressing us peons?” Kerrigan interrupted tartly.
Farrah's eyes narrowed, she lifted her pointed chin, and pressed her mauve-colored lips together. That was definitely the Headmistress’s preferred shade of lipstick.
“Three nights ago, the Headmistress was found dead in her office. She was murdered, and at this time the school council has no answers as to who is responsible.”
Ivy felt as though she went through the stages of sobering up in a sickening instant. She hadn't ever liked the Headmistress, but to hear she'd been murdered on the school grounds was... impossible.
With hundreds of students all between the ages of seven and twenty-three, there were layers upon layers of spells preventing magical violence or injuries. Callie's experiments alone had proven them to be one hundred percent effective. Murder couldn't happen, not on the school grounds.
“Farrah... I'm so sorry,” Rowena murmured, reaching out a hand to Juliet, who put down her glass and reached out to Callie, one by one, the six of them joined hands.
Farrah gave a stiff nod, visibly struggling to keep her composure. “Thank you. There will be a ceremony held after the culprit has been caught. Per the Headmistress's wishes, I have a letter and a package to deliver to Ivy Greene. She is still a member of your coven?”
To her credit, Rowena didn't glance away from the crystal or give any indication Ivy was there at the table. Farrah could