Charmed and Dangerous: A Crystal Beach Paranormal Cozy Mystery (Crystal Beach Magic Mystery Series Book 10) by Karen McSpade

Author:Karen McSpade [McSpade, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Newcastle Media
Published: 2023-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Six

“Okay,” Ada-Mae said after looking thoughtful for several agonizing moments. “I think we could bind the ritual once it has started to stop it from reaching a conclusion.”

This was encouraging. I mean, Ada-Mae didn’t sound one hundred percent like her normal “this will be easy” confident self, but it looked like her mind was ticking it over, working on the problem. That always gave me hope.

We had felt the power that Lennon and Janis could summon when Sam’s ghost had been caught in their grasp. They were likely at least two hundred years old, maybe much older. I could not imagine the experience of all those years using magic. The knowledge they must have, the second-nature familiarity with having it flowing through your body.

The idea of going up against that scared me, but Ada-Mae seemed to think that our knowledge of the coming ritual—assuming we had surmised correctly—gave us an advantage in countering it.

Zoe, Jessie, John, and I met the others at the Kelp Seafood Grill. Everyone was there: Ernie, Judd, Wendy Howie, and my mom and dad, who were sitting right next to each other. Having joined two tables together, we were all eating a late lunch. Eileen buzzed around us like she sensed something important was afoot. No one had even ordered anything, yet food kept turning up on the table until we had a feast laid out before us.

There was bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus hummus and pita to start with. Then, a tray of cornbread and cheesy grits appeared. At the same time, a great bucket of prawns in a lime and chili dressing was placed in the middle of the table, followed by crab sandwiches in a secret sauce of Eileen’s own devising.

Despite the lurking presence of danger for Crystal Beach and the daunting confrontation to come, the food and the company lifted everyone’s spirits. Judd was laughing at something Howie said. My mom and dad kept slipping into a private conversation, and just down the table from me, I saw Jessie’s hand slip across to cover Zoe’s, and the magic shop owner-slash-shifter smiled and blushed.

My own feelings in this moment were two-fold. On the one hand, I had never felt more at home in my life. These were my people, the ones sitting around this table. I could not have been anywhere in that moment that would have been more perfect for me. On the other hand, all of them were in terrible danger. And I knew that before the end of this day, it would fall to me to save them.

This is what I was being prepared for, perhaps the real reason I was here.

Ada-Mae’s pragmatic presence was reassuring, and I was not the only one with power around this table. Every one of them could play a part. Yet before this was over, I knew it was my power that would be tested. And, in a strange way, that made me feel alone, even among all my favorite people.

For the first time, I was at peace with that.

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