Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
On that note, I shot Mum a glance as I slipped into the passenger seat.
“Have you heard from him today?”
She blushed like she was even younger than I was. Her cheeks were bright pink, even in the dark. I could feel the heat from them. I could hear her heart thumping fast.
“Who?” she asked, but I laughed at her.
“You know who!”
She shrugged. “Yeah, a little. We’ve been messaging.”
“A little? Right. Yeah, sure.”
I knew she was underplaying it. Her grin made it obvious, not to mention I could feel the joy coming off her.
Who’d have ever thought that my dad would be dating my mum again after eighteen years apart? They could play it cool all they wanted, but it was a facade. Both of them wanted to end up together. Mum couldn’t stop blushing as soon as Dad’s name was mentioned, and Dad lit up like a beacon at the word Serena every time I’d seen him in London. They were as much fated mates as me and Hans were.
I could only imagine the weirdness of going out on double dates.
Maybe one day…
“Are you still spending a lot of time with him?” Mum asked.
“Yeah. He’s nice.”
“You’d hope so. He’s your father.” She paused. “You look more like him now you have those fancy teeth, you know?”
I grinned to show them off. She was right. Everyone said it. I definitely looked like the daughter of the occult master of Britain, and I’d definitely inherited some traits from him. I was lucky to have been born of two bloodlines with such complementary talents.
Dad was quite a character, and I was still getting used to him. Serious, people called him, and they weren’t lying. He was a very stern man on the outside, but I could see through that to his tender heart. Literally. I could see it beating when he was in the same room. It was a strong one. If I wasn’t his daughter, I’d have probably wanted a shot of it.
Before I knew it, we were pulling into Garway community hall, the lights glowing out of the windows.
There were five other cars there…
Five. Hmm. Ok.
I took a breath, staring at the doorway. There were people already in there, I could feel them. But there were eight of them, not five.
I could hear all eight beating hearts.
“Wish me luck,” I said to Mum, grabbing my bag from the back seat.
“You won’t need luck,” she said. “They’ll be so pleased to meet you. But have some good luck, just in case.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“Ping me a thought when you need a lift back.”
I will, thanks, I thought as I walked away, knowing full well she could hear me. It was another great thing about being a witch with a witch for a mother. Mobile phones could get stuffed.
I arrived at the entrance to the hall and took another deep breath.
So, here goes nothing…
I pushed open the doors as Mum drove away, and my undead heart was pounding like crazy. I felt like I was stepping into some kind of trial – a newbie schoolgirl entering a schoolyard, with no idea who I’d meet. I was probably the most skittish vampire in the world right then.
I tried to be a psychic about the group and who was a part of it, but I had no chance. Even with my skills, the walls had been wrapped up tight with not an inkling in sight. I guessed these witches were good at it.
I didn’t bother calling out a hello before I entered the main hall, somehow summoning up the courage to walk on in tall.
Sure enough, there were a circle of chairs laid out in the middle of the social room.
Nine seats in total, with one empty one right in front of me. The other eight were filled, and eight smiling faces looked right at me, without so much as a hint of shock.
They’d been expecting me.
I took my seat on the plastic chair like it was a crochet club meeting and cast my eyes around the group, trying to get a measure of them. And of course… I laughed out loud, honestly, because it was too obvious to be true.
My stupid guesses about local witches hadn’t been stupid guesses at all.
There was Edna who walked her old Labrador every morning through Orcop village, and the goth girl who lived at the old pub in Garway, with the faded sun tarot card as a tavern sign. And there too was Amy, who everyone knew as the crystal healing lady.
There was Jenny from the post office, and her cousin Jacqueline who lived with her at Hillside Farm, and the very elderly woman, Geraldine, from the apartment above the egg farm, who sometimes drove through the village in her electric wheelchair, even though she must have been going on 90.