Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
“How old is it? Dark Ages?” Nolan asked, speaking barely over a whisper.
Maddox shrugged as they continued to watch Sky work. “No idea. Probably older than that. There have never been schools or standardizations of spells. Witches learn magic from their mentors, or you learn it from what you can pick up through life. Though the latter way is the right way to blowing yourself up. And getting another witch to teach you her spells and skills is fucking hard. Most learn it from family. Mothers passing down the knowledge to daughters. Or in Sky’s case, grandmother to grandson. Thanks to the Internet, we’ve got more online forums for sharing ideas, spells, and theories.” Maddox paused and scratched his aubergine-tinted hair. “But Sky is right. Witches are territorial and just vindictive. Lots of them like to post faulty spells in hopes of hurting other witches.”
“They willfully hurt their own people?”
Maddox’s grin was crooked. “Yeah, we’re not a tight group. Not even against the others. At least vampires will stand together against witches, and shifters will always join forces against vampires even if they’re from warring clans. But witches?”
“As the saying goes, witches be bitches,” Sky chimed in as he took the small cork out of the bottle.
“But those in a single coven will stick together tighter than family,” Maddox pointed out.
Sky nodded. “Because we are family.” Shaking the bottle three times in front of him, Sky sprinkled water on the floor and walls. The purple that was hit with the water instantly turned black and crusty like a marshmallow that had caught fire. But instead of expanding, the purple retreated, making bigger and bigger circles to reveal shining hardwood floor, soft maroon walls, and elegant furniture.
“That’s it! I knew you’d kill this shit!” Maddox crowed, pumping his fist in the air.
Sky rolled his eyes and continued to work, turning the four compass points. Nolan had to duck out of the way when his date was suddenly facing him. The water flew past him and onto the wall, where the purple was instantly pushed away. A snort escaped Nolan as Sky turned to Maddox and purposefully splashed the water on his friend’s face.
“Thank you, Sky,” Maddox muttered as the bright colors crawled back to reveal pink skin and brown eyes.
“That’s a better look for you,” Nolan teased, getting a snicker from Sky.
Maddox waved a dismissive hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve earned it.”
The moment the bottles were empty, Sky placed them in the box. He lit the bundle and blew it out again so that it smoldered, sending up a steady stream of smoke. “Do you have another bundle of sage?”
“I do. Want me to get it?” Maddox offered, all joking disappearing from his voice.
Sky nodded. “Give me your hands.” When Maddox extended his hands to him, Sky circled them several times with the smoke. “Bring it to me and open your chimney flue. I’m going to toss one into the fireplace to help get rid of the cloud over your house while I take this one through all the rooms.” Sky turned to Nolan and grinned. “This is the last step, I swear. I just gotta sage each room quickly to chase out the last of the nasty. Afterward, we can leave. Feel free to move now. You can walk or sit anywhere there isn’t purple.”
Nolan shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned forward, stealing a kiss from Sky’s perfect lips. “Take your time. This has been educational and interesting.”
Sky gifted him with the best, meltiest smile before blowing out the candles and dropping them back into the box. He then continued through the house, waving his smoking sage in every direction.
“Can I get you something to drink while you wait for him?” Maddox inquired.
“Uh…no, I’m good. Thanks.”
Maddox snorted. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. Even with Sky’s cleansing, I’ll probably throw out all the food in the house and start fresh. This shit was too freaky.” Maddox disappeared into another room. There was a rustling sound as he dug around, likely searching for the bundle of sage Sky requested.
From basement to attic, it took Sky about fifteen minutes to sage the entire house and admonish Maddox yet again for daring to cast a “hinky spell.” Maddox sighed and hung his head, pleading with Sky to not tell Red.
When they stepped outside, nearly all of the people on the street were now gone. A few were still standing about, though they didn’t seem as interested in the house anymore and were just gossiping about the other neighbors on the street.
Nolan threaded his fingers through Sky’s and walked with him to the car. “That was a very nice thing you did to help your friend.”
Sky swung their joined hands and smiled. “Yeah, it was. Especially since we had to put our date on hold. At this rate, we’re going to have less than half an hour to look at art before our dinner.”