Page 20 of Wolf Unseen

I instantly felt at home, and if I were a legitimate student at Moonfall Academy, I’d buy breakfast here every weekend for the next three years without fail.

By the time I’d filled my belly with coffee and baked goods, the line to the counter had vanished, and the wood sprite was flitting around collecting empty plates and cups.

“Hey,” I called, “Mind if I ask you something?”

She hurried over, a bright smile in place. “Sure! I can tell you which hiking trails offer the best viewpoints and also recommend places to stay!”

“Um, I was actually hoping you’d help me with something else.” I found a photo of Lorna on my phone. “My sister was staying here in Trinity Falls, but she’s stopped replying to my messages. Do you know her?”

The wood sprite’s expression shuttered. “I’m not sure…”

“Sukie, go help Monique serve,” a sharp voice ordered. I looked up to see an older female with silver hair braided down her back. She wore a flowing lilac dress embellished with pretty beads and charms. Definitely a witch, from the runes tattooed on her arms.

The female sat down opposite me, her expression cagey.

“Your sister, you say?” She scanned me from head to foot, apparently skeptical that we were blood-relatives. “And your name is?”

“Riley.” I tapped on another photo of me and Lorna grinning at the camera. “That’s Lorna with, um, our other sister. We share a father but not a mother.”

The witch went silent, and I felt a subtle brush of magic wash over me. She could probably tell I wore a glamour, and I couldn’t stop myself from fidgeting nervously under her intense scrutiny.

“I see,” she said eventually. “My name’s Miranda, by the way.”

“Hi, um, Miranda.” I chewed over the questions I had before deciding it was best to be upfront about everything. “I’m worried about Lorna. We talked every day after she left, and then she stopped replying. The last time I heard from her was just after the August full moon party.” Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I hurriedly brushed them away.

To my surprise, the witch reached out and took my hand. “Come with me, sweetheart.”

Praying I wasn’t about to be hexed and thrown into a cauldron by a vengeful witch, I followed Miranda behind the counter, through the kitchen, and into a small living room that smelled of sage and witch weed.

Miranda gestured for me to sit on a green velvet couch. A fluffy white cat glared at me from a nearby cushion, but it didn’t bother moving. It could probably sense my wolf. Not that she cared about a cat—she’d barely cracked open one eye since yesterday.

“You are who you say you are, despite the glamour spell you wear,” Miranda told me. “But I won’t ask why that is. Anyway, Lorna worked here. I let her live in the apartment upstairs for free.”

“Yes, she told me,” I confirmed, grateful she wasn’t pressing me about why I wore a glamour. “Lorna loved this town, so I don’t understand why she would have disappeared.” Emotion clogged my throat, but I swallowed it down. I needed information, not a hug.

“Your sister worked her shift as usual on August seventeenth. She failed to show up the morning after, and I assumed she’d stayed out and lost track of the time, but when she still hadn’t shown up by the following day, I asked around.” She sighed. “Nobody has seen her since the seventeenth.”

I threaded my fingers together and tried hard to fight the rising tide of panic before a sudden idea occurred.

“Did you cast a location spell?”

Miranda shook her head. “I didn’t feel it was my place. Lorna confided to Sukie that she planned to move on after a couple of months, so I assumed she’d left of her own volition.”

“Did she clear out her apartment?”

The witch frowned. “No, that was the odd thing. After a few days, I went up to check, but all her stuff was still there.”

“And you didn’t think that was concerning?”

Miranda’s lips flattened at my accusatory tone.

“I was concerned, yes, but Lorna’s an adult and entitled to her privacy. I liked her, but I knew nothing about her beyond a few cursory details. None of us did. She worked hard, was good with the customers, and that’s all I cared about.” She stood, sending a cloud of cat hair into the air. The cat hopped down off its cushion and wound itself around the witch’s ankles. Was it Miranda’s familiar? I’d read that witches often had cat familiars.

The temperature in the small room dropped by several degrees.

“I have work to do, so I think it’s best if you leave.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, realizing I needed to rescue the situation. Pissing off a witch was not a great idea. She might hex me. “I didn’t mean to imply that you were negligent.”