covencraft 02.5 - carnival moon Read Free

more powerful than nearly all witches in the coven, she was woefully under-schooled and had to learn magic from the bottom up. A fact that Josef was gleefully taking advantage of.
    “I’ve got to go to a ball tonight!” she said, waving the envelope in his face. “An honest to God ball.”
    “I’ve heard all about your invite from the weres. Still doesn’t get you out of sewer duty.”
    She groaned, slouching back in her chair, her face screwed up in disgust. “Tell me I don’t need the hip-waders this time.”
    “Good news,” Josef said and Jade perked up a bit. “We’ve got you a full decontamination suit this time.”
    “Awesome,” she deadpanned. It looked like her carnival attire was going to have to wait.
    ***
    Unlike last time Jade was down in the sewers when she’d found Bruce, her familiar, this time the trouble in the pipes turned out to be a mixture of Patti Lachanges spell to help ease her teenaged daughter’s broken heart and Solomon Drake’s spell to keep his mold allergies from flaring up. They were both getting a stern ‘talking to’ from Josef on the proper way to dispose of their spell materials when finished, which did not include flushing them down the toilet or sink. The resulting confluent of their work had led to some kind of spongy, fermenting mixture that Jade had to break up. It took four counter-hexes and a swift kick from her boot before the blockage broke, leaving the pipes running free again.
    What it did not do was leave her very much time to get ready for the werewolf carnival. Jade stripped off her decontamination suit at Counter-Magic and grabbed the box the weres delivered, hoping she still had time to talk to Paris about it. She found a post-it note on her monitor in Paris’ pristine writing (tiny little all caps) saying he’d pick her up at her place at six. It was four-thirty now which gave Jade just enough time to race to the bus stop to take the four-forty bus home, grab a shower and get dressed.
    In the shower, scrubbing down with the unscented shower gel the weres had provided, Jade supposed it made a sort of sense (no pun intended) that they would prefer unscented material. If they were anything like their wolf animal kin, they probably had sensitive sniffers. Jade wondered if the barrage of perfumes and chemicals on a daily basis was hard on them. She was careful to use all the products they sent, pulling her hair back in its customary ponytail and forgoing hairspray when she noticed none was in the box. She may not know much about werewolves, but she knew how to follow instructions and it was no skin off her nose in this case to do so.
    At the bottom of the box she found a simple sports bra and a pair of straightforward underwear - the kind you would wear at the end of the week, when all your pretty underthings were in the laundry. Comfortable, but hardly noteworthy. The black slacks and top they sent were soft. She checked for a label and found none. If Jade had to guess, she would say they were some kind of cotton-silk blend. Maybe rayon? They weren’t linen as they were unwrinkled even after being in the box all day. Everything seemed to fit okay - not great, but not bad. For an outfit picked out by people she hadn’t met and to Jade’s knowledge hadn’t ever seen her, it was all she could have hoped for.
    Bruce, her lizard familiar, gave her the once over with his snout when she came downstairs, sniffing up one side of her, across the backs of her knees, and down the other leg. He then pushed up against her leg firmly and ‘whuffed’ in her pant leg - a sharp, hot exhale of breath coming through the fabric and reaching her skin.
    “Is that approval or disdain?” Jade asked, reaching down and petting his supple, scaly head. He flicked his long, forked tongue at her, making his customary ‘pffft’ sound and Jade laughed. “I’ll take that as approval.”
    A knock at the door had her checking her watch - five-forty-five. Paris was early, as usual.