Page 13 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

His head was nodding, and his smile was so wide she thought he might split his lips open. ‘I get that, cool, that’s so cool. You’re a bloodline witch, following in Grandma’s footsteps. I totally dig that, sorry for telling you what to do. I should know better than to meddle when I don’t know the circumstances.’

‘Don’t be sorry, I’m grateful for the advice.’

She tapped her phone against the card reader, and he passed a small purple bag across, all her ingredients carefully wrapped in green tissue paper.

‘Hey, let me know how it goes.’

‘I will.’

Morana hurried out, having to squeeze past a group of six women on the way in, who were laughing loudly and all wearing black felt witch hats. She went back to her apartment clutching the paper bag as if it was full of illegal drugs. Mrs Danby was still nowhere to be seen which suited Morana just fine. Hopefully, once she’d cast the spell, the woman would keep well away from her and leave her be.

ELEVEN

When the Uber dropped Dora off on Chestnut Street outside her aunt Sephy’s beautiful pink house, she let out a deep sigh of contentment. Saying goodbye to Mabel and Katie had been hard, but she’d left them with the chance of starting fresh, being able to live out their lives without the worry of finances for the foreseeable future, and it had eased the tightness inside of her heart, making her able to breathe again. Telling her friends about Ambrose had helped too. They had been surprised yet excited to hear she had finally found a guy she really liked. Had she been waiting for their blessing without even realising that was what had been holding her back? Maybe now she could focus on their relationship.

After learning that her entire life had been one huge secret, Dora had sworn to herself that from now on she would be as honest as she could with everyone. Lenny had stayed behind in London to sort out her affairs, which she had promised wouldn’t take longer than a couple of days.

‘Dora’s home.’ Hades’ voice croaked at her from the branches of the oak tree, and she laughed.

‘Yes, I told you I wouldn’t be long. Did you miss me?’

‘Forever and a day.’

‘Good afternoon, Dora, how are things, how is Sephy?’

Dora turned to see Mrs Pitcher, who lived a couple of houses away, standing near to the white picket fence, keeping a safe distance from the black crow that she was eyeing warily. ‘She’s okay, thank you.’

‘It’s so hard losing a sister. I lost mine and I don’t think I ever got over it.’

‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Pitcher.’

The woman smiled wistfully, eyes a little cloudy. ‘Oh, it was a very long time ago and most of the time I don’t think about it, except for when I get reminded and then it pricks at my heart as if it was only yesterday.’

Dora knew what she meant. She had lost her mom, a woman whom she had barely got to know this lifetime, and it hurt her deeply. She couldn’t say this to Mrs Pitcher though.

‘Grief is tough huh?’

She nodded at Dora. ‘Give Sephy my regards.’ Then she was striding down the street as if she was on a mission to get somewhere fast.

Dora exhaled not even realising she’d been holding her breath. There was a lot to contend with, but she was home where she belonged and that was all that mattered. As if to prove this, Hades swooped down and landed on her arm that she had held out for him without even realising.

‘I think Mrs Pitcher is a little scared of you.’

Hades tilted his head and began to rub his beak along her arm.

‘You don’t care though, do you?’

Opening the pastel pink front door, she let herself into Sephy’s beautiful home, inhaling the scents of Sephy, vanilla, lavender and lemon – it smelled divine. Ophelia, Sephy’s black cat, was sitting in her usual place on the second step up of the staircase.

‘Oh, hey Ophelia.’

Ophelia didn’t even glance in her direction which made Dora smile. Cats were so picky about who they befriended. If someone had told her she’d have a crow for a pet because the family cat didn’t like her, she would never have believed them. As if to prove her wrong Ophelia jumped down and slinked towards her, rubbing against her leg. Dora bent down and scratched between her ears. ‘You’re only being friendly because you’re hungry, but I can take the rejection.’

Hades had taken off into the air before she’d gone inside and hadn’t even said goodbye, but she was getting used to him flitting off. He’d been doing that a lot the last week before she’d left for London. She wasn’t sure if it was his usual thing or if he was up to something. Did birds get up to stuff? Hard to know, really. There was a huge note stuck to the refrigerator, Sephy’s beautiful handwriting read:

Dora, come to the shop if I’m not home. Missed you. Xx

Dora had missed her aunt too although it had been the quickest trip she’d ever taken. Shrugging off the bat-print backpack and hooking it over the back of the chair, she opened the fridge door and took out the never empty glass jug of fruit juice that Sephy always had in there. Pouring herself a large glass she downed it. She grabbed a couple of crackers out of the jar and headed to Sephy’s beautiful apothecary on Essex Street.