Things That Dwell Downstairs: Witch Cozy Mystery (Dark Lake Chronicles Book 8) by Raven Snow

Author:Raven Snow [Snow, Raven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Althea’s home was a cozy, kitschy place. With its colorful, overgrown garden surrounding it, it looked like the kind of storybook home a nice old witch lived in. And one did.

“Do we know the history of the place?” asked Al. She was on her knees in the kitchen while everyone else sat around the table with their untouched tea and sugar cookies. It felt awkward.

Horace looked like he felt especially awkward. It was him Al was kneeling in front of. Lady had decided to swing by and pick him up on the way there. Conners had suggested he see if Al could help him with his ankle. They had bigger things to worry about, but it was because of those bigger things that Lady wanted her brother taken care of. She couldn’t take more of his complaining right now. She just couldn’t.

Destiny and Dom had left for the hospital. They had wondered if Al might be able to help Destiny and save them the trip, but she had just shaken her head at them. Magic is no substitute for a tetanus shot, she’d said. Don’t be stupid.

So it was only Ms. Poole, Crispin, and Lady seated around the kitchen table. Lazlo had been left behind to mind the inn. Horace sat in a chair dragged a few feet away over the linoleum. He had removed his shoe and rolled up his pants. He shifted in his seat as Al prodded around his ankle. He’d shown some hesitance initially. He was still dragging his feet when it came to believing in magic. Al had reassured him that she had spent most of her life as a nurse. She was qualified even without the magic.

“It used to be a video rental shop,” said Crispin. His hands were around his tea cup, absorbing the warmth but not actually drinking it. “Before that… I think there was housing there. There’s an old cellar. The rest of the building was built in the last twenty years.”

Al released Horace’s ankle and stood. She kept talking as she walked to the kitchen counter and started opening cabinets. “Any traumatic events there? Any reports of hauntings from past employees?”

“This is all very recent,” Ms. Poole explained. “There hasn’t been much investigating done. There hasn’t been a chance.”

“Well, that’s where I’d start.” Al took a mixing bowl down from the cabinet. She reached up a shelf and began to pull down mason jars full of something dark and viscous. “Figure out the history of the place. That’s usually where the answers are with something like this.”

“And in the meantime?” Crispin sounded impatient, maybe even a little annoyed. It wasn’t like him. He didn’t take that tone with his elders. He didn’t take that tone with anyone usually.

“I can go there.” Al opened one of the jars. It gave a pressurized pop as she pulled the lid off, releasing an herby, medicinal musk into the room. “I plan to go there and have a look. Millie knows more than I do, though.

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