I blinked slowly as I took in the weight of her words.“Of course I was there for him, he’s my cat. And now that you’ll be living with us, I’ll be there for you, too.”
Luna began to purr.“It will be nice to have a human who loves me for a change. Virginia only loved my power. I should have taken more care in choosing, but I was hurt and distracted, knowing that Merlin and I would have to end our relationship so we could each take our full places in the magical community.” She paused for a moment. “I know we have only just met and that most of our encounters have been negative until now, but Merlin trusts you and that’s good enough for me. I love you, as he loves you.”
“Thank you, Luna,” I whispered softly. “That means a lot.”
She rubbed her nose against my face in affection, but I pulled back and let out a pained hiss.
“What’s the matter?” Luna asked, concern reflecting in her cornflower eyes.
“Dash gave me a nasty cut,” I said, raising my fingers to my face and wincing again.
“Oh, no,” she wailed. “Merlin and I were so caught up in each other that we didn’t tend to your wounds. The moment he is returned, he’ll whip you up a nice salve.”
“That would be nice,” I admitted, unable to refuse the promise of help.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Luna wanted to know.
“My shoulders are sore from being handcuffed so long, but Dash didn’t touch me at all. Except when she slashed me. It was really weird, actually. She looked at my blood and said it explained a few things. What do you think she meant by that?”
Luna shook her head.“I don’t know. Normally illusion witches can’t read biomatter, so if Dash did, she is exceptionally powerful.”
I shuddered at this.“Well, that definitely doesn’t make me any less afraid for our next battle.”
“No.” Luna stared off into the distance as if seeing something I couldn’t. “But there is a way to learn what she knows.”
“Oh?” Now she had my interest.
“Has Merlin told you about Nocturna?”
I shook my head, even though the movement caused the cut to sting all the more.
“It’s only accessible at night, but many of our kind live in the open there,” Luna explained in almost a whisper, as if the place itself were sacred. “We can take you, find a blood witch, have him tell us what he sees there.”
“Can we go tonight?” I asked, hope creeping up anew.
“I don’t see why not. It will be up to Merlin to decide, though. He’s the only one of us with a magical passport now.”
“Okay, I’ll ask when he gets home, then,” I said with a small smile of gratitude.
“Actually, sweetie. Leave that part to me. I know exactly how to get a yes from our Merlin.” She winked, then hopped away.
I cringed but thankfully avoided summoning a mental picture of what Luna’s persuasive methods might entail. I already had enough to worry about, thank you very much.
29
At this point I was just stalling. I knew I’d need to be up and active at night to visit the magical city Luna had called Nocturna, but before we could go, there was one more thing I needed to handle today.
After a quick conversation with Merlin to confirm I could actually do what I had planned, I shot Kelley a text asking her if we could meet up. She invited me to come out to the coffeehouse for another round of PSLs and frozen banana nut bread.
By the time I had fetched my car and driven over to Harold’s, I found her working with the espresso machine. A big smile stretched across her face when she spotted me.
I raced over to hug her.“You look so much better today. Does this mean you got good news?”
Kelley’s smile widened. “My dad’s lawyer contacted me today about the will. He changed it up about four weeks ago and left it all to me. He may not have taken much opportunity to get to know me, Gracie, but my father did love me.”
I hugged her again.“Oh, I always knew he did!” I cooed, even though I’d honestly had no idea. “He probably just wanted to be careful about how he approached your relationship, figuring he had more time.”
We both became somber.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Kelley said.
“Officer Dash contacted me today,” I revealed. This would be the only part of my confession that was actually true, but I knew Kelley would need to hear this in order to move on. “Your dad wasn’t murdered, after all. He had a heart attack. The medical examiner who suggested he’d died by poison was fired for getting it so wrong.”
“I’m glad he wasn’t murdered,” Kelley said, “But I’m still so sad that he’s gone.”
She finished preparing our lattes and we relocated to the big corner booth. Of course, I still hadn’t revealed the biggest part of my plan but knew I couldn’t put it off much longer or I’d risk losing the nerve.
“So what’s next for you, Kelley? Will you be going back to Ohio with your mom?”
She shook her head.“No, definitely not. I mean, why would I do that when I now have my own business to run?”
“You mean…?”
“Yes! The coffee shop is mine. I’m going to be making some big changes to the menu and to the payroll… you should definitely be making more than you currently are… but I’m going to keep the name in honor of Dad.”
“That’s wonderful, Kelley. You’ll be a great boss, and I can’t wait to hear all your ideas!”
As it turned out, she couldn’t wait to share them with me. “I can go over some of them now if you’d like. To start, PSL is no longer a seasonal item. We’ll serve it all year round. And also—”
“I hate to interrupt, especially because I love that idea so much, but there’s something I need to say,” I said, my heart thumping hard in my chest.
Kelley looked at me with concern.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I promised.
“Then what’s going on?” she pressed.
I reached into my purse and took out an empty water bottle. Merlin had helped me prepare the potion I requested, even though he warned me against it more than once. Still, I knew I was making the right decision with this.
I uncapped the water bottle and set it in the middle of the table. Nothing happened. At least that’s how it looked to those who didn’t know it held an invisible form of magic.
“What’s with the empty bottle?” Kelley asked with one eyebrow raised.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said, waiting for her to shift her gaze back to me.
I didn’t continue until her eyes met mine. “This is kind of a weird question, but I want you to tell me the first answer that pops into your head. Okay?”
Kelley shrugged, but said,“Okay.”
“If you could wish for anything, anything in the whole wide world, what would you ask for?”
She snorted.“Like a fairy godmother kind of thing?”
“Something like that,” I answered with a secretive smile. “You don’t have to blurt it out. You can take a moment if you need to, but not much longer. So, tell me, what’s your one big wish?”
A smile blossomed from cheek to cheek.“Well, I guess I—”
“Wait,” I cried, reaching over to the bottle and giving it a good squeeze. “Take a deep breath first,” I instructed, wanting to be sure she breathed it all in.
I watched as Kelley sucked in the invisible gaseous potion, waiting nervously to hear what she would say next.
But she knew exactly what she wanted.“I want to honor my dad’s legacy by making Harold’s House of Coffee the most successful coffee shop this town has ever seen,” she said with a firm-set jaw.
“You will,” I promised her.
After all, I’d just passed on my ask-for-anything familiar spell. Merlin had told me I shouldn’t, because he wouldn’t be able to make another one. And, yeah, now I could never get to be Lady Gaga, or King Arthur, or someone else crazy famous…
But Kelley needed this more than I did, and giving her this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity felt right, considering all she’d lost because of us.
I couldn’t bring Harold back, but I could make sure his daughter was well taken care of in his absence, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.