Ghost Garages_A Boston Technowitch Novel by Erin M. Hartshorn

Author:Erin M. Hartshorn [Hartshorn, Erin M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hartshorn Publishing, a division of Eimarra Press
Published: 2017-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

The ward around Maggie’s house went all the way to the edge of her property line. One moment, I was walking down the sidewalk, shoulders bowed against the onslaught of vengeful anger from the ghost, and the next, there wasn’t even a hint that the ghost had ever been there. I stopped and blinked, just as if I’d been in a dark room and someone had turned on floodlights. Surprising that anyone walked past her house rather than lingering on her doorstep, basking in the peace.

Maggie’s cats sat on the porch step again. They had new charms on their collars, pretty little clay things with spiral designs — their personal wards, no doubt. I bent to pet Bast and felt a slight resistance when my hand was a couple inches above her back.

“Other magic can’t touch them,” Maggie said.

I hadn’t heard the door open. “Not even neutral magic?”

“It’s easier to block everything than to try to create a filter. Although someone who’s good at computer programming could probably make a nice Bayesian ward,” she added thoughtfully.

“Not me,” I said.

I knew my limits — a simple app that hooked into social media APIs, like Bitter, not a problem. Programming a ward from scratch, and then finding examples of enough different types of magic to train it? Although … it would, of necessity, only permit magic from people or creatures who were friendly enough to me to agree to help. And I did know a handful of magical people, as well as several witches. Something to think about.

Something of my thoughts must have crossed my face because Maggie just hmmmed and said, “You’re prompt returning the dress. You did clean it?”

“Just picked it up from the dry cleaner on my way over.”

“I suppose you’d better come in, then.” She held the door open for me, but her brow was creased. “And I’ll put some water on for tea.”

“You don’t already have it brewed?” In all the time I’d known her, Maggie always had the tea ready when I arrived, whether I told her I was coming or not. She said it was an advantage of having the Sight.

“No.”

We danced around each other in the narrow space before she turned and headed for the kitchen, leaving me to close the door behind myself. I waited to see whether the cats were coming first before shutting it. I brushed past the chairs and table, then hung the garment bag on the same hook in the closet that I’d taken it from the previous week.

I called around the corner, “Do you need some help in the kitchen?”

“I’ve got it. Make yourself comfortable — I’ll be out in a few.”

Without the tray sitting on it, the end table clearly displayed its Ouroboros motif, surrounding a globe centered on Europe. Waves and clouds decorated different portions of the world serpent, and small circles dotted the area outside the serpent’s orbit — circles marked with spirals like the cats’ wards. I rubbed my finger along one of the spirals.

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