The Trouble With Witches Read Online Free Page A

an idea.
    I moved on to the next one.
    Ansuz . "
Awn- sooze
." I repeated it as I had Othlia . Hmm, to take the advice of someone. Someone older and respected. Well, that definition certainly fit Abby. So the advice of the runes was to listen to Abby. What a big surprise.
    I hesitated before turning over the last rune. It was in the "future" position. I knew enough about magick and the runes to know they didn't lie. Did I
really
want to know the answer? What if the answer was one I didn't like? The future always had the potential of holding some nasty surprises. My hand hovered over the last stone. With a sigh, I flipped it over.
    Perthro . "
Perth-row
." I said it softly. Mystery, secrets, the occult. Now what in the hell did that mean? The occult? Because most people associated the occult with witches, and Abby and I were witches? Mystery? No kidding, mystery. We had a missing girl on our hands.
    Frustrated, I picked up the notebook and pen. I tapped the pen on my chin while I stared thoughtfully into the candle's flame.
    The flame seemed to brighten and dim in a rhythmic pattern, while the air currents eddied around it. The sight was mesmerizing, and I don't know how long it held my attention. When I finally shook myself out of staring at the flame, I was surprised to see how far the candle had burned down. I'd only stared at it for a few moments, hadn't I?
    I looked down at my lap at the notebook and my hand that still held the pen. Suddenly, the pen slipped from my nerveless fingers and rolled toward the candle.
    Across the once clean, white surface of the paper, written about a hundred times, and in my loose scrawl, was one word. Magic
.
    And I didn't remember writing it.
     
    Monday morning I stood at the bottom of the flight of steps leading to the library and looked up at the old limestone building. Until last fall, the library had been my home away from home. When I'd taken the job of Summerset's librarian five years ago, after Brian's murder, I used the job to hide emotionally from everyone except Abby. I'd come to Summerset broken, swamped by feelings of guilt over my failure to stop Brian's murder in time. The vision I'd had witnessing the murder had come too late to save him.
    It had been Rick and the events leading up to Adam, Benny, and Jake's capture that had finally knocked down the wall I hid behind. I'd been forced to accept who and what I was, to embrace my talent, to follow my destiny. And for that, I owed him.
    Now I had to face my next problem. How to explain my trip to my assistant? Darci was a leggy, busty blonde who most people wrote off as an airhead. I shook my head. If they only knew what went on behind those big blue eyes. She possessed a sharp mind and the ability to figure things out faster than most. Sometimes it seemed like she was the psychic, not me. And she always wanted to be right in the middle of what she called "my adventures." And when I told her about Rick's phone call, she would insist on going to
Minnesota
with Abby and me.
    But my answer had to be no.
    Reluctantly, I trudged up the stairs. Pausing at the top, I hoisted my backpack firmly on my shoulder and swung open the door.
    Darci stood behind the counter, filing library cards. Her long red fingernails clicked against the countertop as she picked each card. When she looked up and saw me standing there, she smiled. "Good morning. Hey," she said, pointing a figure at me, "that eye makeup looks really good on you. Makes your brown eyes pop."
    I touched my face self-consciously and nodded. Thanks to Darci , my medicine cabinet was full of things she had assured me I needed—blush, eye shadows, mascara, and all the girly stuff I'd never paid much attention to. And if I didn't use the entire gunk she picked out for me, it hurt her feelings. Now my morning routine had been extended by twenty minutes.
    "How was your weekend?"
    I crossed to the counter. "Okay," I replied, and stowed my backpack on one of the shelves. "Nothing too