It Takes a Witch: A Wishcraft Mystery Read Free Page A

welcome.”
    Cherise rubbed her ears as if they were still ringing. “She’s tiny, but she has a pair of lungs that can rival an opera singer. Sometimes spells come in handy, don’t you think?”
    I fidgeted, not sure what to say.
    Before I could come up with a response, she added, “I just wish Dennis could be here right now. He’s really missing out on an important event in his daughter’s life.”
    She stared expectantly at me.
    She had me. As a Wishcrafter, I was obligated to grant the wish. However, if Cherise wasn’t pure of heart in her motives for making the wish, my spell wouldn’t work no matter how hard I tried to grant it.
Do no harm
.
    My nerves tingled as I said softly, “Wish I might, wish I may, grant this wish without delay.” I winked my left eye twice, which would look merely like a twitch to a mortal, but other Crafters would know my spell had been cast. “You’re sneaky.”
    “I know. Sorry about that.” She gave me a mischievous smile. “You just can’t trust anyone these days.”

Chapter Two
    T en minutes later, my cell phone, tucked into the car’s cup holder, bayed like a bloodhound. The loud
arr-­oooo
told me the caller was my sister, Harper, the tone chosen because of Harper’s tendency to be all bark and no bite (most of the time). I answered.
    “Where are you?” she asked in a tense whisper. “It’s like I’ve been fed to the wolves. Questions are coming at me left and right.”
    Harper was being a bit melodramatic, especially since
she
was more of a wolf in sheep’s clothing than anyone.
    I said, “I’m in the car. I was waylaid by a wish.”
    “Did the wish come true?”
    She was still skeptical about our talent and hadn’t cast any spells since arriving in the village.
    “It did.”
    A (justly) confused Dennis Goodwin had stormed into Amanda’s house as I was on my way out. He took one look at me and started grumbling. Obviously, he hadn’t been impressed with my glitter or my eyelashes, either. Like daughter, like father. He especially wasn’t pleased to learn he’d been
wished
there.
    I gave Harper the shorthand version of my night, and ignored her laughter at Laurel Grace’s “stranger danger” reaction. “I’m almost to the village. Where are younow?” I’d expected to hear noise from the village meeting in the background, but there was only silence.
    “I ducked into the back alley. I’m surprised someone hasn’t followed me out. Vultures.”
    “I thought they were wolves?”
    “Close enough. I’m still being picked apart, torn limb from limb.”
    I wasn’t worried in the least about her being alone in a dark alley. Sure, she was tiny, but she was mighty and quite a fighter. Always had been, ever since she was born prematurely, twenty-­three years ago. My chest tightened as it always did when I thought about Harper’s birth. And how it had also been the day of our mother’s death.
    Besides, the Enchanted Village was about as scary as a baby duckling. Nothing bad ever happened here. That alleyway was as safe as safe could be.
    “I’m still not sure this village is right for us. I sense some seriously bad juju at this meeting.”
    Lightning flashed in the distance, highlighting dark cloud cover. I shuddered. I hated electrical storms with every fiber of my being.
    Focusing on what Harper had said, I knew I’d be a fool to ignore her instincts—­they were finely tuned—­ but I thought this village was exactly where we needed to be. So much had gone wrong over the last few years in our lives, from my divorce to Harper’s brushes with the law.
    “It can’t be worse than where we were, right?” I said.
    “It was one little arrest, Darcy. Six months ago,” she added impatiently. “Can we let it go now? I don’t really want my arrest record to follow me around for the rest of my life.”
    She should have thought of that before she was caught shoplifting a puppy. Harper swore up and down it was the first and only time she’d ever