“Knowing the bride, it’ll be a wild night.” She smiles again. “Have a good day.”
“Thanks, you too.”
I go back outside and continue walking down Main Street, going in and out of shops and spending more money today than I did all last month combined. I order food to-go from Maria’s, a Mexican restaurant downtown, and go back to the house. I sit in the kitchen this time, texting Laney as I eat, and then spend the rest of my daylight hours walking around the property and exploring the house again, desperate for something to jog my memory again.
I have another early morning, so after packing up the snacks and washing the few dishes I used, I shower, change, and sit in bed so I can leaf through the Book of Shadows.
“Aunt Estelle?” I whisper and look around the room. “You said you’d give me answers somehow.” I wait a beat, as if she’ll knock three times to let me know she’s here. I roll my eyes when I get no reply. Of fucking course. Out of all the ghosts to inconvenience me over the years, the one dead person I want to talk to isn’t speaking.
Sighing, I get under the covers and fluff up the pillows to comfortably continue reading an entry in the book that reads more like a journal. The first few sentences are too faded to make out. I skip to the most recent entry, knowing it was written by Aunt Estelle by the tiny script.
“‘I predicted another disturbance in the Ley line before the High Priest was able to sense it. The cards are never wrong,’” I whisper to myself as I read out loud. Ley line? I think I’ve heard that phrase before. Maybe? I carefully flip through the book as quickly as I can, certain I’ll find a page about Ley line.
I make it only three pages before I’m distracted again by a page about telekinesis. According to this, most witches are able to learn how to manipulate energy around them, in turn using it to summon objects to them or push them away. Some witches are born with the natural ability, using their telekinetic powers as a second nature.
There’s a note in the margin, thankfully not written by Aunt Estelle, saying the best way to get started is to put a bay leaf in a bowl of water, wait until it stills, and then try to move it with your mind. There aren’t any bay leaves in the house, but I can pluck a leaf off of the rosebush outside, which is exactly what I do.
Sitting at the island counter, I stare into the bowl of water and wait for it to go completely still. I give myself a headache trying to push the leaf around with my mind, and as a shock to no one, it doesn’t move at all.
My phone rings right as I’m dumping the water in the sink. I turn the bowl upside down and set it on a towel to dry. Wiping my hands on my pants, I go back to the island and grab my phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Anora,” Ethan says. “I thought you might want some company tonight so you don’t get freaked out.”
I’m glad he can’t see the big smile that breaks out on my face. “I would very much like that.”
Chapter Eleven
“It’s good to be home,” I say, patting the couch cushion next to me. Hunter jumps up, doing his best impression of a lap dog. “Ugh,” I huff, leaning back so I don’t get completely squished by my heavy dog. Romeo is bouncing around the living room, happy to be out of his little carrier.
I’ve been back in Indiana for several hours now, and had lunch with Mom and Dad so I could show them all the photos I took. I just got back to my little house, and I miss the old Victorian and the quaint town of Thorne Hill already.
“I missed you,” I assure Hunter. “I definitely sleep better knowing you’re with me.”
His tail thumps against the couch and he turns his head up to lick my chin. It’s been a long day already, and I didn’t get much sleep last night. Ethan and I talked for two hours, and then I couldn’t fall asleep until the sun was rising. I got up barely two hours later and can never sleep on planes. My plan is to take a quick nap, go for a short, three-mile run, and then go to