Grimoires and the Ghostly Guest (Paperback)

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Spots floated in my vision as I stared down at the map of Point Pleasant that was sprawled across the couch cushions. The Retirees were talking, but I couldn’t focus on their words. I stared at the point where my tracking spell had landed.
Charlie, my feline familiar, jumped up next to the map and placed his oversized white paw on the glowing motes of light that danced over the location where my daughter was. I could feel his concern through the bond. Grace was at Meredith Walker’s house—the same Meredith who had cursed my family line. I fought to breathe as my chest constricted and my legs wobbled underneath me.
“Dani.” Sarah grabbed me by the shoulders and yanked me around to face her. She held my gaze, her gray eyes wide. “We don’t know why she’s there.”
I shrugged out of Sarah’s grasp and bolted toward the front door. Charlie scampered after me. Meredith has my daughter. He yowled beside me to stop as my feet carried me to my car. The Retirees trailed after me, their voices melding together as they called my name. I threw myself into the front seat.
Betty dashed in front of my vehicle, her salt-and-pepper hair a wild mane around her head, and slapped her hands down on the hood.
“What are you doing?” I leaped out of the car.
“Making you stop.” Betty glowered at me. “And think for just a minute.”
I ground my teeth together. “She has my daughter.”
“When has running in without a plan gone well for you?” Betty put her hands on her hips.
I faltered. She was right. When am I going to learn that panicking isn’t helpful? I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing. “What am I supposed to do?” My voice cracked.
“First, you tell us what you saw,” Betty said.
“Then we make a plan.” Sarah walked around me to stand next to Betty.
A second later, Agnes joined her. “And we go in together or not at all.”
They all crossed their arms and glared at me, daring me to disagree. Whenever they stood in a line together, it seemed as if they liked to line up from most to least white hair. Agnes’s hair was completely white, while Betty’s was a fifty-fifty mix of salt and pepper, and Sarah had one streak of silver in her otherwise-black hair. They all wore matching red track suits. Charlie joined them by giving me a disapproving glare from the hood of my car.
I sagged against the car door. “I’m still trying to make sense of it.”
“Then that’s even more of a reason not to run off.” Betty wrapped her arm around my shoulders and led me back to the porch.
I sat down on the steps and studied my hands. The initial panic was wearing off, and exhaustion set back in. The entire evening had been emotionally draining. My boyfriend, Chris, had asked for time to think about things after I hid a murder investigation from him. Did he break up with me?
I pushed that thought aside and focused on the bigger problem. In 1946, Meredith Walker cursed every member of her coven, and that curse had been passed down through the generations to me, my daughter, and the Retirees. We didn’t know how or why and had spent the last few months trying to figure that out. We finally succeeded and cast a spell to get a vision of what happened that night. But what I had seen left me with more questions than answers.
Sarah took a seat next to me and held my hand. “Why don’t you close your eyes and tell me the first thing you saw when the vision began?”
I did as she said. Charlie jumped up next to me and headbutted me. Petting him, I replayed the vision in my head. My stomach hardened like a rock. I swallowed, my mouth dry. “I was in her living room, and there was a knock at the front door. Or at least, I think there was, because Meredith answered it.”
Someone sat next to me on the other side and held my other hand. Agnes’s voice came from a few inches away. Her tone was warm and caring. “Then what happened?”
“Six women pushed past her into her home. I think they were her coven. I recognized most of them from my great-grandmother’s photographs.” I squirmed on the step. The vision had been difficult to focus on when I first experienced it, and trying to refocus on it wasn’t any easier. “I couldn’t make out who said what. It was like the vision was fighting me. Everything was distorted, but I heard someone say she needed to stop. That they knew about her deal.”
Betty inhaled sharply. “What deal?”
“I don’t know. They said a Warden was going to come if she didn’t. They threatened to strip her of her powers.”
“That can’t be right,” Sarah said.
“After that, she attacked them.” I squeezed their hands. “They put up some sort of shield around her. It was… chaotic. She kept calling them traitors. She was so angry.”
The Retirees sat there silently, reassuringly, holding my hands until I could continue.
“They confined her and were trying to figure out what to do when… I don’t know, something changed inside her. Her hair turned white, her eyes glowed this horrible green color, and she said something. I think it was ‘May all your dreams turn to ash.’ Then she attacked them again. The second before the attack landed, Beatrice, your mom, Betty, she did something. I don’t know if I can explain it. It was almost like she made Meredith part of the house.”
“Okay.” Betty exhaled. “So she’s part of the house, and your daughter is at the house. I think that would scare anyone.”
“That’s not what scared me.” I swallowed. “Not entirely.”
I opened my eyes. Betty was crouched in front of me.
“Meredith’s magic looked exactly like Grace’s. Or at least how Grace’s looks now. Her sparkles used to be purple, but they’ve been turning green. Just like Meredith’s were green.”
Betty rocked back on her heels and almost tumbled to the ground. She caught herself at the last second and surged to her feet. For an older woman, she was still nimble. Holding her hands behind her, she paced back and forth in front of me.
“Sometimes, magic changes in appearance,” Agnes said. The hopeful edge to her voice sounded forced. “Especially during a witch’s developmental stage. Grace is still young.”
“It can?” I grabbed on to the sliver of hope.
“It’s possible.” Sarah’s voice rose, almost like it was a question. “But the same color? In such a short period of time?”
“It’s impossible to know without investigating further,” Betty said. “And the best place to start is at the source. We should go see what Grace is up to.”
“And do what when we get there? Confine her like our ancestors did to Meredith?” My words came out shrill as I lost the battle against the panic bubbling inside me.
Charlie shoved himself onto my lap and nestled his head against my neck, purring gently into my ear.
Sarah interjected, “No. Repeating history is foolish. We should…”
“Figure it out when we get there?” Agnes stood. “There are too many unknowns for us to make a plan. Let’s do recon. And if things get tense, at least all of us can access our magic right now.”
All our curses had manifested differently. For Grace and me, the Williams line, we had no control over when or how our powers of divination activated, which was stressful on the psyche. Agnes’s curse prevented her from ever leaving Point Pleasant. She was stuck on Whidbey Island, never able to even visit Seattle, which wasn’t far away. Betty’s magic always had unintended and often negative side effects. And Sarah could only access her magic during the full moon. I glanced up at the sky. Clouds covered the full moon. If it was going to be a confrontation, now was the best time.
Charlie leaped off my lap as I stood. He stared up at me, trust in his eyes. I squatted down to pet him. “This might be a bit too dangerous for you, buddy. Do you mind staying home?”
He growled and turned back to the house, his tail swishing angrily behind him. I let him back inside then walked toward my car. The Retirees scurried after me. Betty power walked until she was ahead of me by a few paces. She closed my car door and continued to her truck. “I’ll drive.”
I opened my mouth to object but closed it without saying anything. The panic was still bubbling under the surface. It wouldn’t take much for me to become reckless again, so it was a good idea to have someone with a clear head driving. I hugged my arms to my body and followed Betty to her truck.
No one said a word as we drove through town. We followed the roads into one of the older neighborhoods, which was filled with post–World War II construction, and pulled to a stop half a block from Meredith Walker’s house. The night was quiet, and most of the houses on the street were dark. Sitting across the street from Meredith’s house was Grace’s car. In the dim light, I could make out her shape sitting on the hood. My eyes flicked between her back and the house.
Meredith Walker’s house was the creepiest building on the block. The Wardens of the West had placed an illusion over the building to make it look like an abandoned home, with a touch of magic that scared people away. It was an eyesore that no one would ever want to approach or do anything about. Under the spell, it was a well-preserved time capsule. The home hadn’t been occupied since that fateful night.
I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth as I tried to calm my nerves. It was so quiet—too quiet. I exchanged glances with the Retirees. They gripped each other’s hands, their eyes full of apprehension. It was the moment of truth. And the truth had the potential to be very scary. None of us wanted something to be wrong with Grace, but I also couldn’t imagine any of us thinking something wasn’t wrong with her either. It was the degree of wrong that we were there to figure out.
Squaring my shoulders, I flung the passenger door open and climbed out of the truck. Before my confidence faltered, I strode down the road toward my daughter. With each step, I scrambled to figure out what to say when I reached her. I came to a stop next to her car, and every option fled my mind as she looked up at me, her eyes red rimmed.
“Mom?” Grace cried. “How did you know I would be here?”
“I…” I stared into her eyes. What if the color change doesn’t mean anything? “I was worried about you when you didn’t show up for the witches’ school lesson.”
Grace nodded and wiped at her eyes. She glanced at the Retirees as they fanned out behind me. “I’m sorry. I know I should have been there. It’s just I… I couldn’t bear it if the spell failed. I’m used to not knowing what happened. But the thought of never figuring it out… of being stuck with our curse forever, I couldn’t face that.”
“Oh, sweetie.” My heart broke as she slipped off the car hood and collapsed into my arms. I patted her back, careful not to touch any of her exposed skin. Grace’s psychometry abilities were incredibly strong. She could pick up the emotional residue from any object or person with a touch, and it frequently overwhelmed her as it created vicious feedback loops. I didn’t want her to feel my fear, not when it was clear she was already feeling so lost herself.
“Did you guys do it already?” Grace whispered into my shoulder.
I nodded. “I’m still trying to make sense of it, to be honest.”
“What did you see?” Grace pulled back. She pulled her sweater down to cover her hands.
My eyes flicked between them and her face. She wasn’t wearing gloves. For the past few months, she barely took them off because they helped protect her from an overly emotional world. Why isn’t she wearing them? The pressure in the back of my head began to build. There was something important about her missing gloves. My heart skipped a beat. What had she touched when she hugged me? Was she checking to see how I felt? I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if I could trust my daughter.
I forced a sad, sympathetic smile onto my face. I had practiced the expression and perfected it over all my years as a claims adjuster. Frequently, when people were meeting me during the claims process, it was on one of the worst days of their lives. A sympathetic smile went a long way to make them feel understood and seen. “I saw Meredith Walker in her living room, and her coven arrived. I think I’m going to have to sleep on it to figure out what else happened, because it was very distorted.”
Her expression fell, and she hugged her arms to her body. “I was really hoping you would have seen more.”
I chewed on my lip. She seems normal. What if the sparkle color doesn’t mean anything? I could be overreacting for no reason. I couldn’t be sure, and as my gran always said, better safe than sorry. “Me too. But I might understand more of it after a good night’s sleep.”
“Are we good to go, then?” Agnes sidled up next to me and tried to catch my eye.
“Yeah…” I glanced between the Retirees and Grace. “I think we all need to rest, and we can figure out what to do in the morning.”
“Did you need a ride home, Mom?” Grace asked.
I glanced back at Betty’s truck. I didn’t have a good excuse not to get a ride from my daughter. We were going to the same place. I nodded. “Let me just check the truck to make sure I’ve got all my stuff.”
The Retirees drifted off to the truck, while Grace opened up her car door and took the driver’s seat. I followed Betty and climbed in. I stared at Grace’s car. It was too far for her to listen in without using magic, and there were no sparkles coming from her vehicle.
“What do you want to do?” Sarah whispered, her eyes flicking from me to the car.
“I don’t know. She seemed like herself.”
“She did. But you never know what Meredith’s ghost, if that’s what she even is, did to her. Why come here?” Agnes fidgeted in her seat.
Betty grabbed my hand. “There is something wrong. I can feel it.”
I nodded. The hairs on the back of my neck hadn’t gone down through my entire conversation with Grace. “Don’t worry. I’m calm now. I won’t do anything reckless.”
Agnes grabbed her purse from the floorboards and fished around inside it. “Do you still have your protection amulet I made you?”
“Yes.” I retrieved it from the inside pocket of my bag. “Just in case we ever had to go back into Meredith’s house.”
Agnes held up a small vial. “Put it on, and if anything seems off, anything at all, I want you to drink this.”
I wrinkled my nose. It was one of the tinctures we had made that helped protect against mind-altering magic. The things tasted awful. I took it from her and shoved it into my pocket. “I promise.”
I had been in the truck long enough, so I put on the amulet and scooted toward the door.
Betty grabbed my arm before I got out. “We need to talk about what to do. Meet us tomorrow for brunch at Slice of Life.”
I nodded and hopped out of the truck, then I lowered my head and marched back to Grace’s vehicle. A weight had settled over my shoulders. I didn’t know if it was possible for this week to get any worse. I climbed into her car and put on my seat belt.
“I love you, Mom.” Grace started her engine and pulled away from the curb.
The pressure at the back of my head pulsed. My Sight was desperately trying to tell me something. Betty had been right. Something was wrong with Grace. But I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. She looked and sounded right. I studied her out of the corner of my eye as I clutched the vial Agnes had given me in my pocket. Grace had put her gloves back on. She never took them off, not if she could help it. Why wasn’t she wearing them when we arrived? I swallowed.
“I love you too,” I said.

• Potions and the Pleasantly Poisoned
• Tomes and the Tangled Trail
• Divinations and the Disappearing Dead
• Hexes and the Haunted House
• Spells and the Suspiciously Silent
• Grimoires and the Ghostly Guest
• Enchantments and the Eerily Ensnared
• Rituals and the Restless Remains
• Charms and the Cursed Coven