Spells (Bayou Magic 2)

“Good plan,” I say, then clink my glass to my sister’s. “To new beginnings.”

“And to sisters,” Brielle toasts. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I show them around the first floor. They both about swallow their tongues when they see the library.

“Yeah, that was my reaction, too.”

“It looks like the library from Beauty and the Beast,” Brielle says. “I want to be Belle.”

“Later, you can climb up there and I’ll push you along, and you can sing the song,” I assure her with a laugh. “Now, let’s keep going.”

I take them upstairs and show them the guest suites. “We’re going to furnish all of these. Not that I ever have anyone visit, let alone five at once. But it’ll be nice to have them. It seems silly to leave them empty.”

“You can make one an office,” Brielle suggests. “And maybe one can be a spell room or something. They don’t all have to be guest rooms.”

“That’s true,” I say, thinking it over. “I’ll have to do some research.”

“We need to go up here.” Daphne lays her hand on the knob of the door that leads to the attic. “This is important.”

“What do you see?”

“I don’t know yet.” She opens the door, flips on the light, and leads us up the stairs. “It’s empty.”

“Yeah. Over there is the hole where I hid our things.”

I turn on my phone’s flashlight and shine the light into the hole.

“Nothing in there now,” Brielle murmurs. We sit in a circle on the floor and set our empty glasses aside.

Daphne reaches out and touches the hiding hole. “Oh. Oh, Mill. It’s so sad.”

“What is?” Brielle asks.

“She was devastated when Lucien died. She pined for him. Wrote a letter to him, and hid everything in here.”

I don’t think I told them about the letter.

“Did you read it?” Daphne asks.

“Yeah. It’s sad. Like, really sad.”

Daphne grins. “But there’s a lot of happiness in this house, too. You and Lucien had a lot of fun here. And still are.”

“For sure.” I turn to Brielle. “Do you see any shadows here?”

“I don’t want to tell you,” she admits. “I just want you to be happy here.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’ll be happy if I know the truth. Come on, B, I don’t want to lower my shields and look. You know it’s too dangerous.”

She blows out a breath. “That’s not fair.”

“Please, tell me.”

She glances around the attic. “I don’t see anyone up here. There was an old woman downstairs who kept following us around. Not in a creepy way; more in a nosy way. Like, what are you doing in my house kind of thing.”

“Oh, great. I have a nosy old-lady ghost.”

“She didn’t follow us up here. I also heard a baby crying but that’s stopped.”

“Huh. That’s weird. But I guess babies were probably born in this house at some point. It’s almost two hundred years old.”

“Probably,” Daphne agrees. “I don’t sense a baby.”

“It could just be an echo,” I suggest. “Not a conscious spirit, just an energetic moment in time that repeats.”

“Absolutely,” Brielle agrees. “And that’s likely in this case. The only thing I’ve seen is the old-lady shadow. Which, honestly, isn’t bad for a house this old.”

“True. I guess I shouldn’t complain. I’m glad you guys are here. And I’m really glad you’re coming to the ceremony tomorrow.”

“Cash thinks he has to dance naked,” Brielle says, laughing behind her hand. “I haven’t corrected him. Does that make me a bad wife?”

“No, that’s hilarious.” Daphne laughs. “Maybe I’ll mention it in the car on the way there. That I’m nervous about being naked in front of all those people.”

“Poor Cash,” I say, shaking my head. “He married into a family of tormentors.”

“Eh, he loves it.” Brielle shrugs. “And he gives as good as he gets.”

“You have a point.” I grin at my sister. “Do you think we can actually get him naked before he discovers it’s all a hoax?”

“We can certainly try.”Chapter Twenty-FiveMillieThe air is cool in our bedroom this morning. The day is finally here, my favorite day of the year.

All Hallows’ Eve.

When the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest.

And this year is particularly special, with not just a full moon, but a full blue hunter’s moon.

It’s as sacred as it gets, and I get to spend it with the man my soul is linked to, along with my sisters, the brother of my heart, and my coven.

I’m so dang excited, I can hardly contain myself.

But I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm and centered. It’s early morning, and Lucien is still sleeping beside me. Which is unusual. The man hardly sleeps. I’m constantly waking to find him either gone or lying awake beside me.

And now that I think about it, it’s usually me who has trouble sleeping. Plagued with dreams, I never slept much.

Until Lucien came back into my life.