Haunted Witch by T. Thorn Coyle

Author:T. Thorn Coyle [Coyle, T. Thorn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PF Publishing

17

After Stefon and I cleaned up, we were both hungry. I’d also had a text from Uncle Cyrus, wanting to meet up for dinner. He wanted to eat at his usual fancy-pants place on the water, but Stefon and I were both in the mood for tamales.

Besides, I wanted to question the chaneques who took care of the gardens outside the Vargas family’s restaurant.

If anyone knew about pixies, they would.

I sighed as Stefon pulled into the parking lot.

“You okay there, babe?”

I scanned Main Street. The Widening Gyre was next door, Tetris’s fossil shop and Angie’s cafe down the way. The daylight was fading, lighting up the banners and flags as the sun dropped west, over the ocean.

Maybe we should have taken Uncle Cyrus up on his offer for dinner on the water.

But there was just too much to do, and I needed carbs and fat to it.

Maybe even a margarita.

“There’s just so much we don’t know, and too many people and beings I need to question.”

He reached across the seat and slid a warm, enormous hand over mine.

“You’ve got help, as usual, babe. The teens are on research, the Vargases will help…and surely Cyrus knows something. Right?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m in over my head.”

Which was a strange thing to say, considering that the last case had involved someone actively trying to kill me. This one should have felt like a piece of cake, except that I didn’t have a plate, or a fork, or even a napkin.

Gah. I dropped the tortured metaphor and got out of the car.

The scent of freshly made tortillas mingled with the salty air, and my stomach rumbled in reply.

We walked around to the entrance, which was past the courtyard on the other side of the building from the parking lot. I looked toward the garden, a pleasant place filled with native plants placed around spiral walkways. A large rock cairn with tiny plants growing in the crevices took up one corner of the garden.

That was the entryway to the chaneque’s underground home. I peered through the shadowy cracks past the plants, but didn’t see any of the stocky, flat-faced beings.

Stefon was already at the door of the tamale shop, waiting for me.

Patient guy, which was one of his selling points. Unless you crossed him, then watch out.

I grinned. Stefon’s quick protection of all who mattered to him—including strangers he considered vulnerable—was another selling point. Yeah. Dating a medieval gamer geek knight made me feel better about the current uncertainties in my world.

There was one safe harbor for me. All I had to do was ask.

He smiled back at me and opened the door with a slight bow, waving me through.

I paused to kiss his cheek.

“What’s that for?”

“Because you’re you.”

He squeezed my hip as I walked into the bright, fragrant restaurant.

Terra-cotta tiles covered the floors and the tables all sported different colored bright serapes sandwiched beneath their glass tops. Uncle Cyrus sat at a table near one of the big windows facing Main, chatting with Davíd Vargas, who wore a red apron over jeans and a white dress shirt.

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