Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
But when I grabbed the frame and attempted to push it up so I could get it off the nail it was hanging on, it wouldn’t budge. I tried again with the same result—it felt like the portrait of the Demon had been glued to the wall!
“What the hell is going on here?” I muttered. Giving up on pushing the portrait up or down, I tried instead to work my fingertips under the outer edge—with the same result. Nothing. The portrait was stuck fast to the wall and there was nothing I could do to loosen it.
I thought about trying to find a crowbar—but wouldn’t that damage the wall? Also, I didn’t think this was a problem with a physical solution. I could feel the tingling of magic in my fingertips when I touched the place where the heavy wooden frame and the wall were connected. I was going to have to ask a witch who had more power than me to get the damn thing down. Maybe I could get Sarah to come try her hand at it after the party tonight…
Deciding to put the problem off until later, I went to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready. I didn’t want to look like a mess for my own surprise birthday party. No, I wasn’t upset with Goody Albright for spoiling the surprise—I was glad to have some advance notice so I could look presentable. I don’t like sudden surprises.
I had no idea I was in for a big one that night.
CHAPTER THREE
The party went well—Goldie’s was packed with all my friends and regular customers. I was suitably “shocked” when I walk in and everyone shouted “Surprise!” I made my eyes wide and gasped, “Oh my God—you guys!” in a very convincing way, if I do say so myself.
Goody Albright seemed to agree.
“Very nice, my dear,” she murmured in my ear as she hugged me. “If you ever get tired of baking you could have a whole second career in Hollywood!”
I laughed and hugged her back. I was about to ask her about the portrait and how to remove it, when Sarah swooped in and grabbed me for another hug.
“Happy Birthday, Celia!” she said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “I’m so glad I get to celebrate it with you!”
“Aww, thanks so much, hon,” I said, hugging her back. Sarah is such a sweetheart—I might be a little jealous that she found her Heartmate literally on the first day she came to Hidden Hollow, but I could never be mad at her. Also, she’s another curvy girl, like me so seeing her with a hot, muscular Orc like Rath gave me hope that I might still find someone myself.
The party was a smash and people kept coming in. Somehow they all fit, though normally Goldie’s is a pretty small space. She must be using an expansion spell for the night, I thought as I watched Chester the deaf Centaur and H’rux the Minotaur walk through the door and somehow find space at one of the tall standing tables.
Goldie had paid for extra help and it was a good thing she had—business was booming. The Brownies she’d hired were running to and fro, serving up her special cheeseburgers and onion burgers as well as lots of frosty milkshakes in all flavors—strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and fresh cut grass which actually isn’t half bad. I also saw quite a lot of crispy hay salads going out to the herbivorous Creatures in the room.
Once the eating finished, some room was cleared and the dancing started. Goldie’s is set up like a 50’s diner with tiny little juke boxes on every table where you can pay to pick a song. People started feeding silver pieces into the tiny machines and soon song after song was rolling out.
As the night started winding down, I found myself in the corner with Goldie herself, the two of us watching as people slow danced to Earth Angel, a golden oldie classic even I wasn’t old enough to remember. The music was sweet and caused a sense of longing in my heart as I watched Sarah and Rath drift by, wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Warms your heart to see, doesn’t it?” Goldie murmured as we watched them dance. Like me she was somewhere around middle age with a full, hourglass figure and blonde hair that looked good on her although it obviously wasn’t her natural color.
“Yes, it does,” I said and sighed deeply.
“You know when she first came in here, she couldn’t say a word? To me, anyway. Rath had to do all the talking,” Goldie remarked, nodding at Sarah.
“I heard about that,” I said. Sarah had confided to me that she used to have Selective Mutism—a condition that was caused by a binding spell which had kept her magic and her voice wrapped up tight. It had to do with a curse on her family which she had managed to break, with Rath’s help. Now she could talk to anyone, though she still got a little shy at times.