Page 17 of Grimoires & Glamoury

When I rolled to my feet, I staggered and had to grab for the sofa to keep from pitching over. Using magick like that came with a physical price, and I needed to get my blood sugar level back up right away.

Making my way carefully to the kitchen, I snagged a bottle of sports drink from the fridge and a package of pre-sliced cheese. I pulled out a kitchen chair, sat, ate and refueled.

By the time I arrived back at New Moon Books it was almost four o’clock in the afternoon. And the store was packed with a long line at the check-out counter. Hustling over, I saw Dex ringing up a purchase, while Taylor bagged the books.

“I’m sorry that I was gone for so long,” I said.

“It’s cool.” Taylor smiled, her long ponytail bouncing. “I hopped over from The Apothecary Shoppe to give Dex a hand.”

“No worries,” Dex said. His blue eyes met mine, and in that one glance I understood that he already knew about the theft of the funds for the ball.

Tucking my purse under the front counter I turned to the next customer and realized they were one of the Witches—and a coven leader to boot—from Five Points South. In fact, as my eyes traveled over the other six folks in line, it soon became clear that they were all from the magickal community.

And they all knew.

Taylor moved out from behind the counter and went straight into the stacks, picking up stray books. As Dex and I worked on ringing the customers up, Taylor competently tucked any rogue books back into their correct place.

Once everyone had been rung up, Dex put his hand on my elbow to get my attention. “I’m going to ask Taylor to watch the floor for a few. We need to talk.”

“Yes, we do need to talk,” I agreed.

Dex called Taylor over and she was happy to stay a bit longer.

“I’m going to pay you time and a half for the hours you’ve put in here today,” I told her.

“Not gonna argue with that,” she said, shooing us toward the back room. “Y’all go have your meeting. I got this.”

While I truly appreciated Taylor pitching in, I was beginning to realize the time had come to add a part-time employee. Perhaps I could find someone who had some office experience and also have them take over Shelby’s position... I’d have to think some more on it.

Dex followed me into the back room, and I walked directly over to the chair at my desk. I dropped down in it, closed my eyes and sighed. “Imagine you’ve heard about the money from the Witches Ball being stolen.”

“Hey,” Dex said.

I opened my eyes to see that he’d knelt down in front of me. He was holding out a bottle of water. “Drink this, you could use it. You look beat.”

Taking the bottle, I twisted the top off and took a big drink. “Thank you.”

“This situation is way bigger than the ball,” he said, pulling up a folding chair beside me. “I can’t quite see the details, which is odd for me. It’s like there’s been a glamour thrown—”

I coughed mid-swallow at the term glamour. A glamour was typically the Fae term used to describe a concealment or an illusion spell.

“—and I can’t see the details,” he continued. “But I have this feeling in my gut. Has there been a death?”

“There has,” I said and then told him most of what I knew. However, I did not mention my astral projection trip to Shelby and Sawyer’s house, and once again I left out the information that the stolen book from Montgomery’s collection was actually a Fae manuscript.

The comment Dex had made about a glamour was making me very uneasy. Was Fae magick at work in this whole mess? I wondered.

Dex sat silently for a long moment after I finished speaking. “I’m trying to wrap my mind around Sawyer and Shelby being involved in something like this,” he said. “But I have to admit, it certainly doesn’t look good.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I’m glad you went and saw Nash,” Dex said. “It was the smart thing to do.”

“Well sugar, I try.”

He grinned at my sass. “When is Ruth coming tonight to discuss how to try and save the ball?”

“About six,” I said. “After close.”