Faith smiled. “I bet she told you not to mention her name.”

I let out a chuckle despite the gravity of the situation. “She said it would make things worse.”

Faith’s face lapsed back into worry. “She’s right, in a way. She probably felt that she was endangering you by being friendly, and I’m sure she didn’t want to endanger me, either. Poor girl.”

I cocked my head, my expression growing thoughtful. “She mentioned shopping at Grandma’s store, too. Was she friends with the both of you?”

She ran a couple fingers along her jaw, considering. “I don’t know the entire Farrow coven too well, as I try to keep my distance. I’ve had interactions with Theresa, mainly at the shop, and she’s always been pleasant. She shopped there in secret, trying to keep us safe. I imagine not all of the Farrow coven members enjoy being under Chandra’s thumb, especially those who were born into it and never chose that life for themselves.”

A frown grew on her face as she focused on me. “I’m not sure I like the idea of you trying to find her, Sage.”

I shook my head stubbornly. “It might be my fault that she was captured. We were eating out at Deena’s, and she got some kind of text that really scared her. And she decided to be my friend, even knowing that I’m part of the Black Family. I owe it to her to find her.”

Faith pressed her lips into a thin line, but didn’t protest. Motioning to the book, she shrugged.

“I’m sure you’ll find something in there to help with your investigative work. It’s really the best guide for beginning spell casters. I’ll see if I can think of anything too, okay?”

I smiled. “Okay.”

Picking up the book, I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Thank you so much, Aunt Faith.”

A sad sort of smile crossed her face. “Thanks for coming to visit me. Even though I don’t think it’s a good idea, I’m…I’m glad you’re in town.”

She gave me another warm hug before Jade and I made our way outside. “Please come and see me anytime. Both of you.”

You provide the crackers and cheese, and I’ll provide my company.

Faith and I both laughed as Jade jumped up into the car through the driver’s side door. Faith waved to us as we drove down her driveway. I tried to keep her in sight in my rearview mirror as long as possible.

Neither Jade nor I talked very much on the way home. My mind was filled with the horrific revelations from Faith. I couldn’t believe how out of hand this feud had gotten, even to the point that my mother had been killed.

No wonder my father had been so strict and uptight. He must have lived all these years wondering if I would die too, and I’d walked right into the kind of situation he’d tried so hard to prevent all my life.

On the other hand, I felt a boiling anger in my gut at Chandra and those who willingly followed her. Had my mother felt this way, too? Had she sought revenge for a family member? Or had she merely fought to provide a safer and happier life for her young daughter? Either way, she’d obviously felt it was important to not just accept Chandra’s reign of terror in Woods Crossing, and I wouldn’t, either.

Are you all right?

The surprisingly tender question from Jade instantly brought tears to my eyes. I struggled to keep them down as I nodded. “More or less. I’m glad to finally have at least some answers.”

Jade scooted across the seat to sit next to me. It’s a lot to take in. There’s such a history of hatred in our family and this town.

I realized that Jade had actually hit upon a profound truth. It was uncomfortable to learn that your family’s past could be complicated. I’d always pictured my grandma as a kindly old lady, likely to bake cookies and take me on adventures, but she’d been a refugee of sorts from a rival coven bent on destroying her life. The knowledge was unsettling, at best.

We reached the old townhouse, and I found myself going through all the rooms, pausing to look around, wondering how Grandma had dealt with all the sorrow in her life. She’d only ever had Faith as she got old and feeble, but how often had she even seen her sister? Her sons had abandoned her, and she hadn’t gotten to see her grandchildren grow up.

You ever going to crack open that spell book?

I gave Jade a sarcastic look. “Thanks, teacher.”

She gave one of her kitty glares. Hey, I’m just trying to help. You’re the one who wants to know magic right this second.

Heaving a sigh, I lugged the heavy book to the kitchen table and sat down. Opening it, I skimmed the table of contents.

Physical Spells

Mental Spells

Emotional Spells

Elemental Spells

Time Spells

Sensory Spells

Control Spells

Necromancy Spells

Both chapters seven and eight had a note written next to them:

Use only with extreme caution and sanction from CRWA.

“Jade, what’s the CRWA?”

She let out a hiss from the chair she occupied. The Council for the Regulation of Witchy Activity. Why?

I held the book out to her, showing the handwritten note. A sarcastic chuckle sounded in my mind. Yes, they used to regulate things like that, but they’ve become corrupted over the years.

I frowned. “Corrupted?”

Jade yawned and stretched. Long story. Don’t feel like getting into it right now.

With an irritated groan, I turned back to the book. Within each chapter were several subheadings, detailing the types of spells you could do within that category. Glancing through the pages, I saw spells for mind reading, enhancing the senses, navigating through time, causing rain or drought, and even changing someone’s thoughts or opinions about a topic.

I found the last spell under the emotional spells heading, and wondered why the warning wasn’t included for that chapter. Something about influencing someone’s opinion felt wrong.

Timidly, I peeked through Chapter Seven and immediately understood why someone had scrawled the note next to it. I found spells for forcing someone to do what you wanted them to, for controlling large groups of people, and even ones for controlling the dead. That spell had footnotes for Chapter Eight, so I turned over to the related pages. Chapter Eight was even worse as it was all about magic to do with the dead.

Shuddering, I turned back to Chapter One. Physical Spells all seemed to deal with physical matter, including the human body. The book was organized to feature easier spells, like changing a sharp needle to a blunt one, to more complicated spells, like healing internal organs.

I decided to try the blunting spell on an old kitchen knife. Following in the instructions in the book, I was pleased to see the tip of the blade soften as if it was melting. I rounded it enough to render it a butter knife.

I spent the rest of the evening absorbed in the book. Though there were a lot of awful spells in there, I found a lot of good ones, too. There were spells for soothing an upset stomach, or easing the pains of a broken heart. I found a spell for helping a garden flourish. It was fascinating.

Jade snoozed on the couch next to me while I read and practiced. A light rain started to fall outside, making the room feel cozy. I remembered that I’d hoped to find some spells to help me with investigation, so I turned to the back to look through the large index.

“Bingo!”