“All sorts. In this case, being unable to decide between crystal white or candlelight.” Corette smiled. “That’s all handled now. But back to Nina. She didn’t come up in the database, but her family name did. The Hascoes are an old line and go back nearly to the 1800s. That much I can tell you.”
“How about that,” Pandora said. “Then she’s definitely more than a rare witch. That’s too long of a family history not to have some serious power.”
“Like we saw,” Mattie said.
Corette nodded. “I agree. Her rare witch comment was clearly meant to fool Undrea into underestimating her.”
“It worked, too.” Undrea shook her head. “But what do we do about it? Every minute Ethan’s with her could be his last. We have no idea what she intends to do with him, despite the fact that she hasn’t harmed him yet. I just don’t trust her.”
“I don’t either,” Mattie said. “Especially now that I know what she’s capable of.”
Corette set her teacup on the gleaming wood coffee table. “I need to finish my research on the family and see if I can find anything about her that might be useful.” She glanced at her daughter. “We could also reach out to Alice.”
Undrea shook her head. “I’d rather hold off on that until it’s a last resort kind of thing.” Getting Alice Bishop involved seemed like taking one step closer to having her secret revealed. “How long will it take you to finish your research?”
“Depends on how deep the Hascoe records go and if there’s any mention of Nina in particular. There should be, considering the family’s lineage. So it could be a few minutes, but more likely it will be much longer. I’ll get started immediately.”
Undrea nodded. “Thank you. What else can we do?”
Pandora inched forward on her seat. “Mom, what about casting a protection spell around the house? Something to keep Nina from using any witchcraft that might cause Ethan harm?”
“Can you do that?” Undrea asked. “Because that would be great.”
Corette shook her head with reluctance. “It’s a wonderful idea, but it would end up protecting Nina as well. And that might not be something we’d want to do.”
Mattie pulled open the neck of her sweatshirt and whispered, “Shh, later,” to her chest. Then she smiled apologetically. “Sorry. Blueberry smells the cookies.”
“Let him come out,” Corette said. “He won’t bother anything.”
“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” Mattie said. But she pulled the neck of her sweatshirt open again. “Come on.”
The imp flew out of her shirt and hovered near the plate of cookies. Mattie quickly grabbed one, broke it into quarters and gave him the smallest piece. “Here. No more fussing now.”
He took it and flew off, perching on a nearby lampshade to eat. Crumbs fell like raindrops.
With the soft clearing of his throat, Stanhill reentered the room. “Ladies, I don’t mean to intrude, but couldn’t the spell be cast so that it only protected the young man in danger?”
Corette smiled knowingly. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Me? Hardly.” He winked at her. “I was just coming in to see if you needed anything else.”
“I see,” she said. “As for your question, it could be. But we’d need something of Ethan’s. Something personal enough that the magic would respond to it. A few strands of his hair, a fingernail, some tears…” She looked at Undrea. “Any chance you have any of that?”
“He did leave his things at my house. There might be a strand of hair in his comb.” Undrea straightened. “Wait. I do have his cat. And Ethan loves Bowie dearly. I don’t think there’s much that could be more personal than that. Outside of that other stuff you mentioned. Could you use Bowie?”
Corette’s smile turned sly. “His cat, hmm? I believe there’s definitely something we can do with him.” She took a breath. “Ladies, we have work to do.”
Pandora smiled. “Do you want me to call Marigold and Charisma?”
“No need,” Corette said. “We have three already.” She glanced at Mattie. “That’s assuming you’re willing to help us create this spell and cast it?”
“Absolutely.” Mattie hitched one shoulder up. “Thanks. Considering I’m not in the coven.”
“You should be,” Corette said with a motherly tone. “But I know we all have our reasons for doing what we do.”
She stood. “Undrea, we’ll need you to go get Ethan’s cat and bring him back here.”
Undrea got to her feet. “No problem.”
Mattie held out her keys. “Here you go.”
Undrea grabbed them and started for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Provided he lets me put him in the carrier.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to persuade him. And while you do that, we’ll prepare. The sooner we can do this, the sooner I can go back to the database to complete my research. Ladies, if you’ll follow me to my practice downstairs, we’ll begin.”
Undrea drove straight back to her house. She parked but took a good look around before getting out. Just to be sure Nina wasn’t there. She even rolled the window down a crack and sniffed for sulfur. Nothing.
She got out and made a run for the door just in case Nina was lying in wait. But apparently, she wasn’t, because Undrea got into the house without incident.
She locked the door behind her and turned on all the lights just for good measure. That earned her a meow as Bowie trotted over. She put Mattie’s keys on the little table in the foyer and crouched down.
“Hey, baby. How are you doing? Missing your dad?” She felt sorry for him. Did he have any idea what was going on?
He sat a few feet away and meowed at her again.
“I know. I miss him too. And I’m worried about him, just like you are. But I promise, we’re doing something about it. We being me and my friends. I hope you’re cool to get in the carrier and come with me, because we need your help.”
He just stared, his bicolor gaze peering into her.
The carrier was still in the foyer where Ethan had left it. She pulled it closer and unzipped the opening. Bowie stood, like he knew what was coming.
“Please don’t run and hide,” Undrea said in her sweetest voice. She straightened, still smiling at him. “We just need to go for a visit.”
Bowie backed up a step.
That seemed like a warning sign that he was about to bolt, so she abandoned the carrier for the moment and tried something else. “Bowie, you want a treat?”
Ethan had left the bag with Bowie’s food in the kitchen. He’d set up a food and water bowl against the wall where the table was, too, making certain the cat had everything he needed. Which was why she was sure she’d seen a packet of treats in that bag.
She headed for the kitchen. “Come on, Bowie boy. Treat time. Come on. Here, kitty kitty.”
Whether he was just curious or knew the word treats, she wasn’t sure, but he followed. Thankfully. She found the container, pried off the top, and took a few out.
The first one was just to whet his appetite. She tossed it to him. He watched it arc through the air and gobbled it down a second after it touched the ground.