Page 49 of Minnie: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

I go through the motions, hug Zachariah goodbye, and lead Natty back to the lockers. I load up our wagon on autopilot, but the whole time, I can’t seem to get Zachariah’s shocked, wide-eyed look out of my mind.

The moment we exit into the courtyard, Natty jumps up in his wagon. “Witch, Witch, Scratch that Itch,” he shouts.

I look up and gape at the two dozen people gathered in the courtyard. They’re all wearing black robes with matching pointed hats. Their hands are cuffed behind their backs and a bunch of brooms lie discarded on the ground at their feet.

I pull Natty’s wagon to the gate, where Vigga’s standing next to Marty with a D.

“You missed the event of the century,” she says, eyes bright.

“What happened?” I ask, staying just inside the warded gate in case I want to ask follow up questions, and holding on to a fistful of Natty’s shirt, since he’s leaning out of the wagon, trying to get a better look at the witches.

Vigga grins. “The witches tried to take down the ward, but it only worked for like a second, and then they fell from the sky.”

“No, what happened is a bunch of F-U-C-K-S thought they could break in.” Marty with a D spells it out for Natty’s benefit. “Well, we showed them. The Silver Springs Penitentiary is impenetrable.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Isn’t penetrate literally in the name?”

He pauses. “Huh. Never noticed that.”

Vigga grins. “Good one, Minnie.” Then she breaks into a rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men’ except in her version, it’s raining witches.

Her voice echoes behind us as we head into town, Natty now singing ‘It’s Raining Witches.’ But my mind drifts back to Zachariah.

He may be my fated mate, but that doesn’t mean he has feelings for me. And that’s now, when he knows literally none of my problems. I’ve never told him that Natty and I are squatting at the bakery, or about my reliance on Formula M, not to mention the curse. And possibly a chameleon fated mate in the mix.

There’s no way in hell he will be interested when he gets out of prison and gets to know the real me. And even if, by some miracle, he is… I can’t date. I can’t even use a vibrator without thinking about Julian. How am I supposed to fuck a real man? I’d probably just ruin things by screaming Julian’s name.

Chapter 25

Minnie

Natty munches on some crackers as we head back into town. I have some time to kill before the speech from hell, so I detour by Jewels Cafe to get Tiptoe… and hopefully some free lunch.

The moment Amber spots us, she waddles around the counter at top speed. “I heard the prison got swarmed by witches. Are you okay?”

“They were pretend witches,” Natty says.

Amber shoots me a questioning glance and Chase looks up from his laptop.

“Long story.”

Amber frowns. “Why don’t you ever check your phone? I was worried.”

“I forgot to charge it.” Even though I stayed at Zoe’s, where I had access to working electricity. But it’s not like anyone ever texts me—unless there are witches literally falling from the sky.

“Can I charge it?” Natty asks, even though I’m pretty sure he has no idea what that means.

I ruffle his hair. “Sure thing, bud.”

Amber shakes her head. “I don’t know how you do it. I can’t function without my phone.”

I shrug. “It’s whatever.” Which is much better than saying I don’t have any friends I can text, Screech just makes me depressed, and cute animal videos just make me wish I had full access to my powers.

“Come on. We can plug it in upstairs. Juli can watch the counter.”

“I’ll be right out,” he shouts from the back room, and I’m really glad he didn’t pop out so we could exchange awkward hellos. I’m even more glad he’s not up at the apartment.

“Wes is making lunch,” Amber says as we slowly make our way up the stairs. “Are you two hungry?”