She went into her room to fetch her luggage. Something made her stop and turn around at the door. A feeling she had forgotten something seized her. Brenna looked around the bedroom. Brenna gasped. The wooden box was sitting on her unmade bed. She walked cautiously to the box and picked it up. There was nobody else in the house, yet it had appeared on her bed. She unzipped a suitcase and made room for the box and carefully placed it inside. This box obviously wanted to come for the ride.
After dumping the luggage in her car, Brenna went back into the house and wrote Maggie a note telling her where the cat food was and thanking her once again. She pulled out a box of chocolates from a cupboard and left them with the note.
Brenna said goodbye to Tiddles and left her chubby cat alone in the large two-story townhouse. She hopped into her car, reversed out of the driveway and headed for her shop.
Brenna pulled in front of the little shop and got out of her car. She fought her handbag for the shop keys once again and unlocked the ornate door and stepped inside. True to her word, Maggie had left a cardboard box on the counter. She checked out the box and rummaged through candles, herbs, and little blue bottles filled with magical oils. Brenna smiled. Maggie had packed enough spells to keep ten covens of witches busy for weeks yet, she was only going to be in Oakwood for a week. Hidden in the bottom of the box was a little piece of white paper folded in half. She pulled it out and read the note out loud. “Just in case… Love Maggie.” Brenna laughed. Maggie was always prepared for just about everything.
Brenna cradled the big box in her arms and placed it next to her luggage in the trunk and hopped into the driver’s seat. The red convertible purred loudly as Brenna turned the keys. She pulled into the early morning traffic and drove in the direction of Oakwood.
She sped past a sign announcing Oakwood was still hours away. Brenna sighed. Her arms were already rigid from five hours driving around twisty hills and steep cliffs.
A faded sign caught Brenna’s attention, Sleepy Inn, Great Food and even Greater Beds, Next turn on the left. Stop in for our great café! The sign was cheesy but if it was accurate, it sounded great. Her stomach had been growling for the last couple hours.
A dirt side-road ran off the smooth tarmac road. Brenna pulled onto the road to the hotel, eyeing a plume of dust in her rearview mirror, as she drove along the bumpy path. A wide barren space, empty apart from a three-story motel that was as faded as its sig that led her there in the first place. A large concrete car park out front looked as though it could accommodate more cars than there were rooms in the hotel. Brenna parked near the back (always a good idea to get the extra exercise when driving long distance) and emerged in scorching heat. Leaving her air-conditioned car and stepping outside was like getting into a hot bath, except you didn’t feel clean. She longed for a cool breeze as she footed it to the door, regretting parking so far away. All she could hear was the steady clomp of her (too hot) boots and the relentless racket from nearby crickets.
When she made it to the door she froze. A cockroach crawled out from under the door. She tried hard not to let out a screech and shrank against the wall, waiting for the bug to scurry past. She shook away her fear and pushed the heavy glass door and entered the building. The inside was much better looking than the outside with a fresh coat of cream-colored paint on the walls. Tasteful art had been arranged at regular intervals, showing flower-laden landscapes, or idyllic sea views. The best part about being inside was the temperature. A man slept behind a wooden desk beside a large staircase. He slouched in an armchair with a baseball cap pulled firmly down over his eyes. An open doorway with Café written above it in bright red letters just as the sign on the highway had promised caught her attention. The smell of fresh coffee beckoned her growling stomach. Her nose followed the delicious scent. A cabinet full of pastries and sandwiches greeted her as did a pretty teenaged girl who beamed a smile at her.
“What can I get ya?” the smiling girl asked as her high ponytail bobbed along with her bouncy head.
“I’ll have a chicken and brie sandwich, a large cappuccino with a piece of chocolate cake thank you,” Brenna said. Then she looked at the girl’s slim waistline. “Actually, scratch the cake and give me one of those sultana scones.” She walked to a fridge containing soft drinks, orange juices, energy drinks, and water and took a carbonated orange drink to the counter for later. The bubbly attendant bagged her items and added the prices in her head as the store was missing an electric till.
“That’s eleven-fifty, no wait, twelve…fourteen-fifty,” the attendant’s face grew red and she looked away from Brenna. Brenna gave her a twenty, telling her to keep the change. She left the hotel with a full stomach and a lighter purse.
A loud ringing sound surprised Brenna and she dropped a white paper bag containing the leftover sultana scone onto the car park ground. The cellular phone Hector had given her was screaming from her within her handbag. She knelt on the ground and prepared to struggle with her handbag for the phone but was surprised to find the phone sitting on top of everything else vibrating like mad. She pulled it out and pressed a couple of buttons until she pressed the correct one and put it up to her ear.
“Hello?” Brenna bent down to pick up the scone and juggled the phone and her handbag.
“Miss Ravenwood? This is Mr. Hector,” Hector’s raspy voice leaked out of the small phone and drilled Brenna’s ear.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Hector?” Brenna rolled her eyes, wondering what the creep wanted now.
“I was wondering if you had made your decision yet.”
“You’re kidding, right? I haven’t even arrived in Oakwood yet.”
“I’m going to call you in two days. You don’t want to know me if you say no, Miss Ravenwood.” Hector hung up the phone, leaving Brenna listening to a dull beep. To be honest it sounded more pleasant than Hector had. She shook her head and threw the phone into her bag, after briefly thinking about leaving it to melt on the searing concrete.
As Brenna walked the rest of the way to her car, she noticed a tall, striking man staring at her from the dusty road. He had long raven black hair and a large white dog stood by his side. She rubbed her eyes. It looked like a wolf. That couldn’t be a real wolf, could it? She couldn’t avoid the man’s piercing stare as he looked into her eyes. She averted her gaze from the man’s dark eyes and fumbled in her bag for her keys. Her cheeks flushed as her car keys hit the ground with a loud jingling noise. She bent down and picked up her keys, then stood back up, looking toward the strange man. The keys almost fell from her hands again. The man and his wolf were gone.
Brenna looked around the car park. She couldn’t understand where the striking man had disappeared to. Even more unsettled now, she unlocked the car and slid inside. She took one last look for the mysterious man as she turned the key. She could still feel the man’s dark eyes watching her as though he was still there as she pulled out of the parking lot.
The sun was low in the sky as Brenna sped past a sign welcoming her to Oakwood. She was looking forward to exploring the forest and cottage she’d inherited, but the cottage had no power and it would be too dark to see anything, so she decided to check into a motel for the night. And besides, the thought of spending a dark night with a bed that was probably littered with creepy crawling bugs made her shiver.