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Last night she’d been ready to run, to load up her car and hit the road, taking her chances with an expired driver’s license and plate. But where would it end? If Blake could find her here, he could find her anywhere. At least here she wasn’t alone.

It was a pretty Saturday morning, and she had just a couple of appointments on the books. That was unusual. Normally Saturday was her busiest day. If she believed everything Silas said about the magic in this town she might consider that maybe some of her usual clients had psychically known it was going to be a bad day. Maybe some of them thought she’d be gone by now.

They’d almost been right.

She was tempted to hang a “closed until further notice” sign on the door, but she needed the money, dammit, and even if she didn’t, she liked her business. She liked her customers. Blake had taken a lot from her. Her sense that she lived in a safe world. Her self-worth. The idea that love conquered all. She wouldn’t allow him to take this, too.

Today there was a parade between her house and the shop. She couldn’t leave Mia with Cindy or anyone else, not while Blake was in town. She’d never seen him physically hurt anyone other than her, but she didn’t doubt that he would. Since Mia was with her, naturally Judge was nearby. Silas refused to leave her behind, so he was right there with them. She didn’t mind having this small parade with her, not at all.

Gabi normally got to the shop at least half an hour before her first scheduled appointment. It took a little bit of time to set up, and she never knew who might be early. She didn’t want any client arriving to find a closed up, dark shop. Today she trembled a little as she unlocked the door, remembering what she’d found yesterday. Taking a deep, stilling breath, she pushed the door in and flipped on the light.

The shop was spotless. There was no sign of yesterday’s rodent invasion. In fact, the place had never been so clean!

“Who did this?” she asked as she walked in, her crew right behind her.

“What’s wrong?” Silas stepped around Judge to intercept whatever had alarmed her.

“Nothing. It’s sparkling clean, not a hint of… well, you know.”

Silas relaxed. “Damian’s mother. She’s a whiz.”

Gabi looked up at the ceiling fan, which had been dingy with dust the last time she’d bothered to look up. It was now spotless. There had been an old water stain in the rear right corner of the main room, but that too was gone. Her station gleamed, it was so clean.

If anything could make her believe in magic…

No, she couldn’t let her mind go there. She’d been trying to make sense of everything Silas had told her and shown her, lying awake for hours last night while he slept beside her. Her logical mind fought it. Weird town, yes. Magical village with powered people? No way. It just wasn’t possible.

At least he’d stopped trying to convince her of his ridiculous claims. He said she needed time to comprehend it all. There wasn’t nearly enough time for her to accept that she’d somehow stumbled into a bubble of magically-inclined people.

Judge and Mia kept one another entertained, as Gabi cut one head of hair and then another. If either of her clients found the crowd in the shop odd, they didn’t mention it. Seymour Walford, an older gentleman who’d only been to her a couple of times, talked to Silas as Gabi cut his hair and trimmed his ear hair. It was man talk, all about football and baseball and fishing. Lisette Miller, a teacher at the local school, talked to Gabi as usual, about her daughters and grandkids. When Lisette was finished she nodded to Silas and asked how he’d been, and as she left she smiled widely at Mia. As if nothing was at all odd, as if everything was normal.

Through it all Silas sat in one of the customer chairs, obviously uncomfortable. Those dainty chairs had not been built for a man like Silas Hollister. But he stayed, even after she told him if he had things to do he should go.

The man was stubborn.

She’d just about decided there wouldn’t be any walk-ins today, when the door burst open and two young women walked in. Felicity and Bria could be seen out and about on a regular basis, going for ice cream, or a book at the library, or for a treat at Ivy’s. They were pretty young girls who’d matured a lot in the past year. They were chatty and carefree, always wearing bright smiles. But not today.

Felicity passed Gabi and went straight to Silas. “Do you think I don’t ever want to go to the beach or the mountains again? What if I want to go to college? You can’t do this, you can’t make this decision for me and for everyone else in town.”

Gabi was completely confused, but oddly enough, Silas was not. “There are pros and cons, I know…”

“There are way more cons,” Bria said in a calmer voice than the one her friend had used.

“It wasn’t my idea,” Silas said as he stood.

“Maybe not, but you went along with it and didn’t tell anyone! What if it’s too late? What if it happens and we’re trapped here?”

Gabi moved so that she was between Silas and the girls. “Can someone explain to me what’s going on?”

“Later,” Silas said sharply.

Felicity turned to Gabi. “He’s lying to you, too. Do you know it was his job to run you out of town?”

Gabi looked at Silas. “What?”

“She asked him to do it, and he went along with her plan.”

“Who’s she?”