Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman

Author:Jody Gehrman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: romance, paranormal, magic, young adult, teens, witchcraft, ya, teen witch
Publisher: Jody Gehrman

Chapter Fifteen

Saturday afternoon, I surprised myself by helping Sadie in the garden. I’d never had much interest in plants, but for some reason I wanted to do my part. Sadie had kept the yard up in Mom’s absence, thankfully. I’d have felt terrible if it had all gone to seed. It was October sixth—Mom had been gone a month and summer was just a memory—but the flowers still looked fresh and the beds were mostly weeded. Mom had an amazing gift for plants; her garden always stayed fragrant and cool, filled with butterflies and hummingbirds and huge spires of color that towered over us as kids. I remembered my dad saying her gardens were what Monet would paint if he was drunk and in love. He was right; any artist in a good mood would be thrilled to feast on the seashell pink of her roses, the Chinese red of her poppies.

As I steered a wheelbarrow full of raked leaves toward the compost, my phone chimed. I fished it from my pocket and read Bridget’s text: Having party 4 G tonight. Want 2 cm? I wiped a drop of sweat from my brow and considered the invitation. Most of the time Bridget’s overprotective parents drove me mad with their fussy weirdness. They seemed to inhabit a different universe, one that closely resembled Leave it to Beaver. Still, I didn’t exactly have tons of people begging for my company. Julian hadn’t called after our bizarre encounter last Saturday, and I hadn’t worked up the nerve to call him. Plus this presented the perfect opportunity to study Gretchen up close. So far all I had were theories based on Bridget’s information. A party in Gretchen’s honor meant I’d get to do some reconnaissance without drawing attention to myself.

I texted Bridget back. We agreed I’d come over around four to help her make a cheesecake. When I told Sadie my plan, though, she looked worried. She asked a bunch of questions about Gretchen—what sort of person she was, what Bridget had said about her behavior after the accident. I answered honestly, which didn’t take long since I knew very little. Ever since the incident in the forest the night before Sadie had been a bit twitchy. The bat-face apparently freaked her out more than me, which seemed odd. In the end, though, she agreed to let me go so long as I took my phemebula and left immediately if things got weird.

Bridget’s house always made me feel claustrophobic. Her mother’s decorating style involved a lot of ruffles, gingham, porcelain dolls, and paintings of kittens. Mrs. Sorenson had allegedly painted all those kittens, which totally spooked me out. They had huge eyes and sat on day glow cushions, staring out at the viewer with distinctly demented expressions. Just surveying the décor mildly traumatized me.

Bridget led me into the kitchen right away, but we had to pass through the living room, where Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson sat doing a jigsaw puzzle. We went through a polite round of hellos and how-are-yous.

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