How to Date a Witch Read online

  “I heard that there’s a witch following you. Actually, doesn’t surprise me with all the things you do wrong.”

  “Did you just come over here to criticize me?” I asked.

  “Actually, I came over here to offer my help,” Lily said.

  “You want to help me? What’s the catch?”

  “I’m just trying to be a friendly neighbor. Isn’t that ever good enough for you?”

  “It’s because you never want to do anything just to be nice,” I said. “If you’re here to do something nice, I’m not sure I can trust you since you never do it.”

  Lily jumped up and stomped over to the door. “You know what, Rylie, I should have never offered to help you. Let the witch get you for all I care. You’re on your own.”

  “What was that all about?” Jennifer asked.

  “Just Lily being Lily,” I said.

  Now that Lily had gone, I studied the page that Jennifer had pointed out. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. To top it off, the font on the page was too small. It was as if the author didn’t want me to be able to read the spells. Needless to say, I wasn’t confident in my abilities. Jennifer was right, I should do a tiny spell first. One that wouldn’t matter if I messed it up.

  “I guess that one is easiest to read,” I said. “I don’t have the stuff it lists here though.”

  Jennifer reached for her giant black leather tote. “I thought you might say that, so I took it upon myself to buy a few things.”

  I sorted through the bags of ingredients that she’d purchased. “Bay leaves, garlic cloves? Don’t let Jack see those.”

  “Let’s get this spell started.” Jennifer wiggled her hips.

  I placed the baby cauldron on my desk and then tossed in the ingredients listed on the page. Jennifer and I held hands and chanted the words. Absolutely nothing happened.

  I opened one eye. “It didn’t work.”

  “It can’t work instantly. I think the magic has to build up a little.”

  I let go of her hand. “This was ridiculous. I shouldn’t have tried a spell for financial gain.”

  “What could it hurt?” Jennifer asked.

  “With my luck it will make me even poorer.”

  Jennifer picked up her bag. “After all this magic, I’m hungry. What do you say we get lunch?”

  “I’m not arguing with that.” I grabbed my bag.

  As we headed for the door I wanted nothing more than to forget about the crazy witch following me around, but every time I stepped out of the building. I worried she would be waiting for me. And this time was no different.

  “Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I bet you that your magic will work great. After we have some lunch, maybe later this evening, we can do the actual spell.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” I looked over my shoulder.

  “She’s not there, I promise,” Jennifer said.

  The witch wasn’t there, but nevertheless, I was going to be extremely careful. There was one thing that the witch couldn’t do and that was catch me if I ran. Not unless she cast a spell on me. I guessed I hadn’t thought about that.

  As I headed down the sidewalk, I stepped on something. It was stuck to my shoe. I reached down and picked up the envelope.

  “What’s that?” Jennifer asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s thick.”

  Since it wasn’t sealed, I opened it up. There was a bunch of cash. When I counted the twenty-dollar bills it totaled two hundred dollars.

  “Wow, the spell actually worked,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you cast a spell for money, and now look. You stepped on it.”

  “I guess you do have a point. So maybe if we did cast a spell later tonight it will actually work.”

  “I told you there’s absolutely nothing to worry about,” she said.

  That did make me feel a little bit better, not much, but a little bit.

  “I have to find who lost the money though.”

  “You’ll probably never find the person.” Jennifer took the envelope and stuffed it into my purse.

  We reached the café and went inside. Luckily, there was no witch in there either. Thank goodness. I ordered my usual roast beef sandwich and we sat down at the table in the corner. From this vantage point, I could see if anyone entered the door. Luckily, I didn’t have to watch over my shoulder since I was against the wall.

  I’d just taken a couple bites of my sandwich when the door opened and in stepped the witch. I dropped the sandwich and gasped. She looked directly at me. Her eyes glowed green.

  “Holy witch on a broom,” Jennifer said.

  Now that Jennifer saw the witch in the light of day she knew the full scale of what I was talking about. As if seeing the witch at night wasn’t scary enough. This woman was terrifying-looking. Just the way she glared at me made my skin crawl. I was going to have to shift right here in the restaurant and show her that I wasn’t taking any of her bullying.

  Just a couple of quick steps and she was standing next to the table. Jennifer whimpered. I stood from the chair and glared at her. My insides were shaking. She laughed, which made her face contort into an even uglier expression. She reached out and with one touch shoved me. I fell to the ground, landing on my side, hurting my shoulder. Jennifer screamed and jumped to the floor. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to see if I was okay, or if she was trying to hide under the table.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  The witch laughed again manically. I tried to get to my feet before she decided to push me down again. The employees and the few customers had taken notice of the ruckus. Soon they’d want to kick us out.

  “I want to torture you,” she said.

  “Torture me for what?” I asked.

  The witch reached out and pushed me again. Okay, this was getting old. I wasn’t going to put up with her beating me up. My skin began to tingle and I knew that I was getting so angry that I would turn soon. I didn’t want to do it in the café and scare everyone. Little did they know an evil witch and a mild-mannered werewolf had entered the building.

  Without another word, the witch turned and strolled out the door.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I yelled. “She didn’t want a piece of me once I went all full werewolf on her.”

  “Easy, killer,” Jennifer said as she scrambled up from the floor.

  “She did not want to see my claws and fangs.”

  Jennifer waved her hands in front of my face. “Snap out of it.”

  I blinked several times and finally came out of my rage.

  “Jennifer, are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” She stood a little taller. “I was totally going to grab her legs and pull her down.”

  I straightened my shirt. “It’s okay, Jennifer, you don’t have to fight the witch.”

  “Really, I was going to do it,” she said.

  “Well, regardless, she’s gone now.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Jennifer said, and yanked her ginormous bag form the table.

  I grabbed my sandwich, and stuffed it into my purse. I wasn’t going to leave without my food. “I’m ready.”

  We ran out of the café, looking around for the witch. She was nowhere in sight, so we took off. I scanned the crowd the entire time we moved down the sidewalk.

  “Rylie, she said she wanted to torture you. What’s that all about?” Jennifer’s voice trembled.

  “I don’t know, but now it’s up to me to find out. Don’t worry though. I have everything under control.”

  I totally didn’t have things under control. I was shaking in my consignment-shop Jimmy Choos.

  After our brisk walk, we made it back to our building. We rushed inside the foyer and to my office. I slammed the door behind us.

  “That was an interesting lunch,” I said, tossing my purse on top of my desk.

  “Well, since you know the spell’s going to work you should do it now. She obviously is
n’t going to give up.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It can’t hurt anything. Even if it doesn’t work it won’t make things worse. We’ll do it now.”

  I grabbed the little cauldron toy again. Actually, now that I thought of it, the thing was kind of cute, and the perfect size for a non-witch to cast spells. I opened the book to the page with the spell that we needed. We repeated the ritual as we’d done with the other spell, only this time the words were different. Would the outcome be good? Only time would tell.

  Chapter 10

  How to Date a Witch Rule #10

  Don’t ask her to give up her coven

  Later that evening, I picked up the phone to call my mother. I hadn’t wanted to make this call either, but I knew that I had to. There was a slim chance that it would help, but perhaps she knew something about this witch.

  “Rylie, I’m so glad you called. I wanted to tell you about the sale at Bath and Body Works. We really need to go. They have buy three, get two free on body care.”

  “That’s great, Mom. Yeah, we can go, but I have something important I want to talk to you about.”

  “No, really. I really want to try that new strawberry shower gel they have. It sounds so delicious.”

  “Focus, Mother, focus. You have to listen to me.”

  “I’m sorry. Now what is it that you want to say?” she asked.

  “I have to ask you about the curse.”

  “Oh, honey, I thought we already went over all of this. The curse is done. It’s over with now. You got rid of it.”

  “Well, that’s just the thing. There’s this witch who’s following me. I wondered if her appearance has something to do with the curse…”

  “How could it? The curse is over. Who’s the witch following you? I’ll take care of her. She does not need to mess with my baby. I will unleash a horror on her unlike anything she’s ever seen.”

  “She’s shown up at a lot of places where I’ve been. I don’t know who she is, but one thing is very obvious about her appearance.”

  “What’s that, dear?”

  “Her eyes. She has these glowing green eyes and I’ve been told that she’s some powerful witch of some sort.”

  My mother was silent.

  “Are you still there?”

  “I’m here,” she said softly.

  “Why are you quiet now? That’s not like you. Have you heard about the witch?”

  She sighed. “Yes, I’ve heard about the witch, but I don’t know much. I just know that it’s not good and now I’m scared.”

  My mother was always on the dramatic side, so I wasn’t completely panicking yet. Just because she was upset didn’t mean anything for sure, but the fact that she had heard about this witch was something.

  “What do you know?”

  “I just know she’s powerful, like you said. Also that when she sets her sights on someone it usually doesn’t end well.”

  Okay, that was a little bit scary to hear.

  “What I need to know is if she’s really following me and why she wants me. Where can I find out who she is?” I asked.

  “I know someone who could probably tell us a little bit more,” my mother said.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Your grandmother.”

  “Really? Nana can tell us something?”

  “I think she can, but we’ll have to go visit her. You know she can’t hear well on the phone.”

  “Okay. When can we go?” I knew my voice sounded eager. My mother knew I was impatient.

  “When can you be here, dear?”

  “I can be there in the next hour,” I said.

  “All right, well, drive safely and please beware of the witch.”

  She didn’t have to tell me that. I was already paranoid.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I said and hung up the phone.

  Within an hour, I had pulled up in my parents’ driveway. I didn’t even have a chance to get out of the car before my mom rushed out the door of the red-brick house and to the passenger side. Everyone said my mother and I looked alike with the same dark hair and brown eyes. Ironically, we were dressed similar today in black pants and blush-colored shirt. People would think we’d planned it, but this was totally random.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” She peered into the car.

  “No, that’s okay.” I rushed behind the wheel.

  My mother had a bit of a lead foot. We weren’t in that much of a hurry.

  “What about the witch? Did she follow you?” my mother asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

  “I haven’t seen any sign of her at all. Maybe it’s just me being paranoid. Maybe she’s gone now.”

  “Well, better safe than sorry,” my mother said.

  I backed out of the driveway and pointed the car in the direction of my grandmother’s house, which was another hour’s drive.

  “And you complain about my driving,” my mother said, looking in the rear-view mirror.

  My mother turned the radio to the 60s station and started singing along with Born to Be Wild. She was in good spirits, even though there was possibly an evil witch tracking down her only daughter. I was a little too anxious wondering what Nana would say.

  My mother’s singing along to every song was just as well. I wasn’t in the mood for talking anyway. We traveled the back roads, passing overgrown brush and dense trees. Streaks of clouds dusted the fading blue sky.

  Turning down the gravel road, we neared Nana’s house. Dirt kicked up under the tires as I eased down the driveway. The house came into view and I parked out front.

  “When is Nana going to move closer to us?” I asked.

  “She loves the quiet. I can’t make her do anything. She’s stubborn.”

  My mother took after Nana in her stubbornness. I hoped I wasn’t as difficult.

  Nana’s place was a cute little white cottage with an ocean of flowers coloring the front yard. As we headed up to the front door, memories of sitting on the old porch swing came flooding back. On hot summer days Nana made ice cream and we’d swing until the sun went down. She’d also taught me a lot about being a werewolf.

  “Maybe we should have called first,” I whispered.

  My mother waved her hand. “No, that’s a bad idea. She would have told us that she would clean first. She would have cleaned forever before we got here. It’s better that we just surprise her.”

  I shrugged. “If you say so.”

  As I reached up to push the doorbell, the door swung open. Nana squealed. Now I knew where my mother got that from. Did I do that too? I knew I had my quirks, I just hoped that wasn’t one of them.

  “What in the world are you doing? Get in here.” Nana grabbed us and pulled us inside.

  We stepped inside the house and she embraced me in a hug. Her White Shoulders perfume encircled me as she squeezed me in a hug. Nana wore her usual fashion of black jogging pants with matching jacket. Nana didn’t jog.

  “Why didn’t you call? I look a mess,” she said, fluffing her still-brown hair. It was sprinkled with just a little bit of gray, but mostly still remained brown in spite of her age of eighty. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? I know something’s wrong. Why else would you be here?” She looked from me to my mother.

  “Mother, can’t we just come to visit? We wanted to check on you,” my mother said.

  “Yeah, Nana,” I added.

  Nana placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, hogwash. Now tell me the truth.”

  I cleared my throat and then said, “Well, there is one thing, Nana, we’re looking for information about a witch.”

  Nana pointed. “Ha, I knew it. Something’s wrong.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say anything is wrong, per se, but it’s a little concerning.” My voice wavered.

  I was terrible at calming her anxiety.

  “Come to the kitchen and tell me everything.” She motioned.

  We followed her into the kitchen where she proceeded to grab the cookie jar, then pull gl
asses from the cabinet. Nana reached for the milk in the refrigerator. I remembered sitting at this kitchen table many times as a child, eating out of that same cookie jar. Though I was starting to get the itch for a steak. Maybe I could have a midnight snack.

  The best part was that she kept the jar stocked full of homemade cookies, not store-bought ones. Nana placed a chocolate chip cookie on a plate and then a glass of milk in front of me. She finally took a seat now that she had us situated like she wanted.

  Nana nibbled on a cookie. She watched me the entire time. I knew she had something to say.

  After chewing another bite, she said, “What’s this I hear about a witch following you?”

  “Yes, almost everywhere I go.”

  “She’s lucky she didn’t follow you here. I don’t care how powerful she is. I’ll let her have it. She doesn’t know who she’s messing with.”

  Did I mention how feisty my Nana was?

  Nana told us about a witch who lived not too far away. He knew everything about the witches in Louisiana, so he would be able to tell us who this witch was and how to get rid of her.

  I ate the last of my cookie. “So what are we waiting on?”

  “I don’t know if he will be friendly enough to talk to us,” Nana said.

  “Well, Nana, what other choice do we have?” I brushed the crumbs from my shirt.

  Finally she stood from the table. “All right. Let me get my purse.”

  I wasn’t sure why she needed her purse for the trip, but I didn’t argue. I’d brought mine so who was I to judge? In my defense, I’d needed my driver’s license. We got in the car and headed toward the man’s house. Nana sang along with my mother. They acted as if we were going to a concert. I turned down the radio, as if that would allow me to find the address better.

  When I turned onto the road, I said, “Okay, ladies, I think we’re here.”

  “Yes, this is the place,” Nana said.

  It was a weather-beaten little place back off the road. As soon as we pulled into the driveway gunfire rang out. I was pretty sure a bullet whizzed by the car. I had the windows down and heard the bullet as it whizzed by.

  “Get down, everybody,” I yelled.

  My heart thumped wildly in my chest. Where had Nana brought us? When I peeked up from the steering wheel, I saw a man standing on the front porch with a shotgun aimed at my car. I didn’t know what to say.