Page 66 of A Ghost’s Guide to Haunting a Witch

He’d just been about to kiss me, she thought, loss bitterly running through her, before she shook her head. No, he wasn’t, she reminded herself. Because it wasn’t you, remember? In fact, you barely know him. He’s basically a stranger.

Still, she couldn’t help herself from staring at the place where he’d been, wondering if he might simply reappear if she just waited long enough.

But he didn’t.

* * *

The bell above The Priestess Reversed chimed loudly as Maddy stumbled into the shop, her coat in one hand and about four shopping bags filled to the brim with cat food in the other.

“Maddy,” Augustine intoned from behind her till, taking in her haphazard appearance. “What’s all that?”

“It’s for Bird,” Maddy announced, dumping the bags by Augustine’s feet. “It was on special offer. So cheap. I was getting a Tesco meal deal anyway, so it was no trouble.”

Augustine took in the with dismay. “Maddy, that’s enough food to sustain a small army of cats. Bird doesn’t need all that.”

“Of course he does. He’s a growing boy.” Maddy threw her coat at the stand by the door, missing the hook entirely. It slid straight to the floor, but Maddy didn’t even notice. “Also, there were different flavours. You don’t not get all the flavours.”

“He’s a cat,” Augustine reminded her. “He doesn’t care about flavours.”

“Even cats have preferences, Ags.”

“Well, Bird doesn’t. Sometimes he catches flies and eats them whole. Occasionally he drinks out of the toilet. Trust me, flavour is not on his list of priorities where his stomach is concerned.”

“So far as you know,” Maddy replied easily, not at all offended. Abruptly, she squinted her eyes at Augustine, staring at her. “Wait. Why do you look like that?”

Augustine stood. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.”

Augustine froze for half a second. “I’m fine.”

Maddy narrowed her eyes. “Sure.”

“I’m fine,” Augustine said again, already turning away, gathering up the bags of cat food and placing them — neatly and pointedly — on the counter. “It’s just been a long day.”

“Mmm.” Maddy kicked off her boots and wandered further into the shop. “Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

“I disagree. The vibes in this place are weird today. You’re weird today. Something definitely happened.” She paused, then added, “Was it a customer? Did someone try to haggle with you? Because I’ve told you, you have to be meaner. You have to look them in the eye and—”

“It was him,” Augustine said.

Maddy stopped. “Him?” she repeated slowly.

“The man,” Augustine clarified, crossing her arms over her chest. “The one who asked me to read the cards. He came back.”

A look flickered across Maddy’s face. A look Augustine couldn’t read.

“And we talked. It was . . .” Augustine went on hurriedly. “It was fine. Really fine. He carried a pumpkin into your salt circle without issue. He’s clean.”

Maddy didn’t look reassured. Instead, she crossed the room in two quick steps and dropped down onto the floor in front of Augustine, sitting cross-legged and looking up at her with an almost unsettling focus.

“Ags, what happened?” she asked. “Tell me everything.”

Augustine opened her mouth and then closed it again, because she didn’t quite know where to start. I mean, how did you even begin to explain what she’d been through in the past few days? She chewed on her lip, deliberating, before deciding to go for blunt honesty. After all, this was Maddy, her baby sister, who always had her best interests at heart. Besides, there was no use even trying to lie to her. Maddy had worked as a PA too long and saw through any kind of bullshit with the inference skills of 007 on speed.

“Okay, so, um,” she began, a little weakly. “So, I read the tarot cards for him. And then I kind of accidentally possessed his girlfriend in the past and experienced their formative romantic moments from her perspective.”