Jinxed | A Halloween Romance | Coven Corner #1

Chapter Eight

The day of the autumn equinox was awash in shades of gold, peach, and crimson.

Sky's familiar, Ceylon, curled up in a ball of long, silky gray fur on the pillow beside her and patted at Sky's cheek with one soft paw.

Sky kissed Ceylon's paw and flung the covers aside, eager to get the day started. Ceylon huffed and wormed into the warm indent on the mattress, left behind by Sky's body.

Sky flew into the closet and emerged with an armload of clothes.

"What do you think?" she said. "Wine red?" She held up a plaid skirt to her body, coupled with a long-sleeved black v-neck shirt. "Or creamy white?" She held up a sheer lacy skirt, one that Hazel had suggested and Sky never had a reason to wear.

Ceylon squinted sleepily at her.

"You're no help."

A knock echoed at Sky's door. Sky shoved the clothes into a ball on a nearby chair and she grabbed her bathrobe. She tugged it on as she hurried into the kitchen, peeking out the window to see who the visitor was.

Bryony peered over the window sill in a cloud of carrot orange curls. She raised a hand in greeting and Sky opened the door.

Three young Torres children tumbled into Sky's kitchen, their knees stained with mud.

"Merry Mabon, Miss Sangrey," they said together.

Bryony stepped in after them and pulled them back on their feet, straightening their clothes and wiping dirt off of their faces as best she could.

"I told you to wait on the steps with your brooms," she said. "You're a mess and now you're getting Sky's kitchen all dirty."

The children scuttled out again, tripping and stumbling over each other as they lined up on the steps, poking each other with their brooms.

"Sorry about that," Bryony said. "Mom insisted that I take at least one of them and somehow I ended up with three."

Sky glanced past Bryony to the children—two boys and a girl—all them mirror images of Bryony.

"I have some cookies left over from the bakery if they'd like some," she said in a loud whisper.

The children stopped fidgeting, eyes wide. Their gazes darted up to Bryony's face in a silent question.

"They will eat you out of house and home, Sky," Bryony said.

Sky grinned. "You know I don't mind. And anyway, I need helpers to move all this tea to your place for the celebration tonight."

She retrieved the bag of cookies and opened it, holding it out toward the children.

"Seline," Bryony said. "You first. Take only one cookie," she added with a stern look.

Seline stepped up to the bag and gingerly selected one cookie with fat chocolate chips and gooey marshmallows. She nibbled at it as she cast a spell over a vat of tea and sent it floating into the air. She guided it out of the kitchen and onto the grass.

"Basil and Emryk," Bryony said, waving the boys up. "You're next. Be careful and don't spill the tea."

Basil and Emryk jostled each other to get to the cookie bag first. After they had each taken a cookie for themselves, they spelled the vats into the air and moved out to the grass to wait with their sister.

A spike of jealousy pinched in Sky's chest that these young children could control magic better than she had ever been able to. But that was the nature of magic. Some witches and warlocks simply had more of it in their veins than others did.