Lacey was already gone.

  I stood there, panting, and searched for that flash of pale blonde hair, but there was nothing. I even walked down to the road, and looked both ways, but I didn’t see any sign of her.

  My heart sank. I’d really upset her, if she was willing to run off across someone’s lawn just to avoid my house.

  I stood there for a second, feeling guilty all over again for how I’d acted to someone who could have been a new friend, and then turned and shuffled back into the house.

  ***

  Finn had arranged to have one of his school friend’s parents pick him up that morning. Not that he’d said two words to me since the night before. I didn’t know what was up until I was dressed and ready to drive him, when a car pulled up out front and tapped the horn lightly.

  Finn was then out the door with his school bag, and didn’t even stop to say goodbye or good morning, or even grab anything for breakfast. I tried not to show how much that hurt. I’d been warned that the teenage years could be a drag, but I wasn’t sure if this was teen angst or something else.

  I moped around the house for a little bit, thinking about heading to my shop before I stopped myself and wondered why I was even going. I didn’t have potions to sell; I didn’t have stock set aside for the festival, and the few ingredients I did have were suspect at best. A very big part of me thought it would be a great idea to just stay home and have a pity party instead.

  At least there wasn’t much left to do for the festival, other than my personal stuff. Everything was booked and organized, but none of us could set up until Saturday morning, so I was in a holding pattern, there.

  My phone rang, and I frowned, curious as to who might be calling this early, since Wanda was still asleep, and Finn couldn’t have even made it to school yet.

  I checked the call display and blinked in surprise when Fifi’s name came up. And that didn’t shed much more light on anything, because I had no idea why Fifi would be calling me so early.

  Only one way to find out. “Hey, Fifi. What’s up?”

  I heard her take a deep breath. “Okay, don’t freak out.”

  I wasn’t sure why people kept telling me that, since the very words were guaranteed to send a bolt of pure terror running down anyone’s spine. “What’s happened?”

  Please, don’t let anyone have been hurt, I thought to myself. It had been a while since some supernatural nasty had crashed into town, and I’d have really liked to keep it that way.

  “No, no, nothing like that,” Fifi quickly reassured me. “It’s, well. It’s about the Summer Solstice festival.”

  That didn’t fill me with confidence, but at least it didn’t sound like anyone was bleeding. So, there was that. “Okay…”

  Over the line, I heard Fifi take a breath, like she was steeling herself for something. “So, you know the field that the festival is being held on? The big one, by the woods?”

  My stomach clenched, a sour taste flooding my mouth. “You mean the only one big enough to host everyone, and to be a minimum safe distance from the trees to hold a bonfire of that size? Literally the only place in town limits where the festival can be held? That field?”

  Fifi laughed nervously. “That’s the one. So, it looks like one of the water mains in the area kind of ruptured. And flooded the field.”

  “Kind of?” My heart dropped so hard and fast I was surprised I didn’t see it flopping around on the floor like a landed fish.

  “Okay, it didn’t ‘kind of’ burst. It definitely burst.”

  I couldn’t help my sigh. “Fifi, the festival is in two days. Two days.”

  All the planning, all the work, organizing everything, and it was going to be for nothing? What about all the vendors? what about the ad campaign we’d been running in town for weeks? It was just now nothing but a total waste of time? Sorry folks, no festival this year, but please be sure to enjoy this soggy field. We couldn’t even reschedule the thing, since it was for the freaking Summer Solstice. It wasn’t like we could move the turning of the seasons.

  “Okay, don’t panic. Poppy, I can hear you hyperventilating. it’s okay. Please trust me.”

  “How is it okay?” I took a deep breath and tried to force my voice into less of a shriek. “There’s nowhere else to host anything this large. It can’t be moved indoors. The coven has been working on weather charms for a month to make sure we didn’t get rained out, and this happens?”

  “I know, I hear you, but it really will be okay, I think.” Fifi spoke fast, the words tripping over each other. “Look, I called in some favors.”

  “What sort of favors?”

  “Do you remember the dryads and nymphs that took over the old garden center?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, I asked them to do what they can. The nymphs are pretty sure they can coax the water to flow down another path after Roy caps the main. And the dryads are confident they can have the field in stable condition before Saturday.”

  Hearing that, it was like my lungs unlocked and I could finally breathe again.

  “Thank God for you, Fifi.”

  She laughed and it sounded like the ringing of bells. Then her tone turned soothing and gentle, like she was trying to comfort a small animal. “This was all more of a heads up. It’s being handled rather than dropping the problem on your plate. I just wanted you to hear about it from me before you found out on your own.”

  “Okay. I do appreciate that and your quick thinking.” A couple of deep breaths and the panic receded back to low grade anxiety. “Thank you, Fifi. You did awesome. I really, really appreciate this.”

  She laughed. “Oh, no problem. I think it’s all going to go great. I’ll be helping Roy out at the Half-Moon food truck, so I’ll see you there.”

  Once she’d hung up, I just sat on the couch for a few minutes. I couldn’t seem to get rid of that thrum of anxiety that made me feel like something was twanging my nerves. Something was going to go wrong; I just knew it—I could feel it. And this sort of thinking—well, it wasn’t like me. I was usually the positive one—the one who looked for the silver linings in all things.

  The lack of sleep wasn’t helping, that was for sure. My eyes felt gritty and swollen in their sockets. A couple good nights would have me feeling like my old, perky self, or at least I hoped such would be the case. I just needed to figure out how to get there. Preferably before I alienated everyone with my bad mood and ran my business into the ground.

  With a sigh, I flopped backwards onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. How was I ever going to get everything I needed to do done before Saturday? Even if I found a perfect supplier right now, there was no way to get the ingredients I needed and have time to brew the potions.

  I was sunk.

  Something banged against my front door, and I jumped so badly, I fell off the couch with a shriek.

  I pushed myself up with one hand, shoving my hair back out of my face with the other as the one knock turned into rapid fire pounding that shook the wood door in its frame. Who in the world would be knocking on my door this early in the morning, and why would they be doing it like they were going to break it down?

  I grabbed my phone from where I’d dropped it, my heart in my mouth. I was trying to decide if I should call Taliyah, when whoever was outside decided to yell at me through the door.

  “Poppy, open this door before I hex it into an armadillo!”

  Wanda. It was Wanda.

  I scrambled for the door, flung open the lock and yanked it open, only to be facing someone who was dressed like a Halloween ghost, under a gray blanket.

  “Wanda?”

  She made a sound as she immediately rushed into the safety of my house and slammed the door behind her. Then she threw the blanket off and started trying to smooth the static out of her long dark hair. “What the spell took you so long?”

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone,” I said, bewildered. With no real idea what to do, I picked up her discarded blanket and started folding it up. “Why in the world are you dressed like an old-school ghost?”

  Wanda snatched it away from me, rolling her eyes. “Vampires can’t go out during the day, of course. So, I have to keep myself covered.”

  Another reason why I was so confused as to what she was doing in my living room at nine in the morning. “But why are you here?”

  Wanda just tossed her hair back over her shoulder and looked down her nose at me.

  “Hello?” The front door opened again, and a plump, gray haired woman bustled in carrying a big box. “Vere should I put zis?”

  I blinked, surprised into speechlessness for a second. “Oh, hi Olga. Um, what is it?”

  She beamed at me. “Supplies!”

  Her familiar, Franz, a racoon in surprisingly accurate lederhosen, gave a creepy little laugh as he scuttled through the door and into the kitchen. A tall, slender woman with graying red hair carrying another box sidled in sideways.

  “Olga, grab the door, would you?”

  Olga set her box on my coffee table and hurried to grab the door to let Betanya in. Betanya’s familiar, a skunk named Willie Ray, was right on her heels.

  I hovered, still not quite sure what was happening. “Um.”

  Maverick came in next, carrying about three boxes, a scowl twisting his handsome face. “I really don’t see why I had to come. I have things to do, you know,” he said to Wanda and then gave me a nod, which I returned.

  “Aw, Mav.” The coven’s newest member, a witch named Imani, caught the door with her hip before it could swing closed again. “We needed someone to complain, and since we couldn’t bring Hellcat, you were our only other option.”

  He glared at her, but his lips were twitching like he was fighting a smile. “You’re insufferable.”

  Imani flashed him a winning smile and tossed her braids back over her shoulder. “Takes one to know one,” she sang as she brushed past him.

  Maverick snorted, looking around my house with his nose wrinkled up. “Do you have a kitchen in this… place? Or just some kitschy easy bake oven stashed out in the barn?”

  I pointed a slow finger towards the kitchen, and Maverick hauled his burden through the doorway.

  I still wasn’t sure why most of Scapegrace Coven was standing in my living room with a bunch of boxes, and I was almost afraid to ask. Gingerly, I lifted the flap of one of the boxes and found dozens and dozens of bottles, some filled with liquids, some filled with dried herbs.

  “What is this?” I asked slowly.

  Wanda crossed her arms over her chest and cocked one hip to the side. “What does it look like? Honestly, I worry about you sometimes, Poppy.”

  “It eez a potion making party! Ya!” Olga clapped her hands, looking more like a teenaged girl than a seasoned witch. “Ve are here to help you make ze potions!”

  My heart gave an extra hard thump. “What?”

  Wanda scoffed, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “You were being all mopey and pathetic the other day and that’s not a good look for a coven member, so... we’re here to get you back in stock and back on track.”

  “Wanda, that is so nice—”

  “—so you can start representing Scapegrace the way it deserves to be represented,” she interrupted, giving me a look. I swallowed what I was about to say and just gave her a smile to let her know how much I appreciated her help, whether or not it was disguised as something else.

  “We brought supplies, and between us, we should be able to get a bunch of potions made, at least,” she continued. “I, of course, will not be making anything but I will be drinking—heavily—and I’ll assume the mantle of quality assurance.”

  I laughed at that before I faced everyone around me. “Thank you all... so very much. I don’t even know what to say. I’m so surprised and touched.”

  “It’s what a coven does,” Imani answered.

  “Not in my experience,” Olga said cheerfully, as she rooted through one of the boxes.

  Wanda made a face like she’d bitten into something sour. “Well, it’s what they should be like,” she muttered. Her hand whipped up and she pointed a dramatic finger at me, still scowling. “But the deal is off if you get too emotional. And don’t even think about crying.”

  “Okay,” I said, trying to sniff back the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks.

  Wanda threw her hands up in the air. “Oh, for spell’s sake.” She stalked off into the kitchen, her ears looking a little pink.

  I turned to Olga and Betanya, who were still sorting through some things, and Imani who was still looking around with a small smile on her face. “Thank you for this. I mean it. This is amazing of you.”

  Olga patted my cheek with one plump hand and bustled into the kitchen.

  Imani, meanwhile, stepped up beside me, still examining my couch and the framed nature print on the wall.

  “I like this house,” she said eventually. “It’s got good energy.”

  She’d never been to my house, I realized with a start. We’d have to ask Imani if she wanted to join the Black Cat Cocktail Club.

  As if she was reading my mind, she winked at me, and half-drew a larger bottle from the box she was carrying, exposing just enough of the label that I knew it was rum.

  “If the potions are going well, I figured we could mix up a few other things later.”

  “I’m mixing it up now,” Wanda called from my kitchen, clearly proving the fact that her hearing was as good as a vampire’s.

  I laughed, I couldn’t help it. The sheer relief I was feeling was making me giddy. This was more than I’d ever thought to ask for, and with all of us working together, I might actually be able to not only restock my store, but have some things to fill out my little stall at the festival. I was going to owe the coven so big, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

  Finally, things felt like they might be turning around.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Saturday rolled around and somehow, in spite of all of my fears, things actually seemed to be going well.

  Fifi was as good as her word, and the dryads and nymphs had not only managed to drain away all the extra water so the ground no longer was a soggy mess, but they’d also managed to coax the grass to grow extra thick and so green, it looked like a carpet of plush velvet. Even with crowds walking on it for hours, none of it flattened or turned into muddy patches.

  Everyone had arrived early to get set up for the festival, and there weren’t any last-minute problems with placements, or anyone setting up in the wrong spot. By the time the festival opened to the public, everything was ready, with games and stalls of all sorts of items. And the most delicious smells from Roy’s food truck wafted in and around all the stalls and festival goers. From the look of things, Roy had decided to sell funnel cake for dessert, and my mouth was watering just seeing it.

  My stall was all set up with potion bottles of every hue in the rainbow, each filled and neatly hung with a paper tag to explain what each particular potion was for, and how best to use it. With the coven’s help, I’d even managed to anoint a bunch of pillar candles, and they sat in pretty glass holders, ready to be lit. But I’d left the work of drawing customers’ attention to the fairy lights I’d strung up, draping them all around my stall. My dreams were still full of fire, and I couldn’t bring myself to light any of the candles, no matter how good an advertisement they’d be.

  Imani was nice enough to volunteer to watch over my things so I could go and double check that everything was going well and to make sure no one needed anything. She didn’t have a stall of her own, since she ran the salon in town, so she was here to lend a hand and to do some shopping of her own.

  I hurried around the grounds, checking in on the vendors and the people running the games, and promised myself that before I headed back to my stall, I’d be sure to grab some funnel cake for Imani and myself.

  I knew Finn was here somewhere with his friends from school. I’d managed to get that much out of him, at least. He still wasn’t talking to me, not more than a handful of words, at least. I kept trying to catch a glimpse of him in the crowd, but didn’t have much luck. I just hoped that once all the planning and restocking, and the tracking down of suppliers was all over, I’d be able to sit down with my son and have a discussion with him.

  I didn’t want to hold him back. I wanted him to be happy, and I was so, so proud of him. Of the boy he was, and the man I knew he’d become, vision or no vision.

  Andre had said he’d make an appearance later, and I was looking forward to seeing him again. I needed to talk to him, too. I hadn’t liked how things had been left with us at all. And I didn’t want him thinking that I wasn’t willing to take a chance on him—because I was. In fact, I was determined to try, even if the thought was enough to make me want to run for cover. But it was something Andre had said that had helped me to get through my fear—that all the relationships I’d been in had failed, because I wasn’t meant to be with any of those men. And maybe he was right—maybe a relationship between the two of us wouldn’t fail because we were destined to be together—well, if the red ribbon business was anything to go on.

  But at this very minute, I didn’t have time to think about Finn or Andre. I was on the job, and I was kind of alone in it. Roy was tied up with his food truck, even with Fifi’s help. There was a line long enough to keep them jumping. Stanley Stomper was covered by a glamour to hide the horse half of his centaur body, so he was able to man the ice cream booth for the creamery with his wife, Shelby. So, he needed to stay put, where the counter of their stall helped keep him hidden.

  Wanda would be there to lend a hand later, but she and Lorcan wouldn’t be making an appearance until after the sun had set and that was hours from now. Daytime jailbreaks to my place for potion making aside, it was safer for her to stick to nocturnal hours. I really appreciated her coming to bail me out with the coven, but I still felt bad that she’d put herself at risk in order to do so.