I accepted the hug with a laugh, giving him a big squeeze in return. One of the things I always loved about Marty was his squishy middle. He definitely had a dad-bod, but it didn’t bother me at all—something which might have been strange, considering my boyfriend previous to Marty, Roy the Sasquatch, was built like he’d been first in line when God was handing out muscles.

  Though I might have forgotten about our date, I was always happy to see Marty, even if I was having difficulty with the transition from friends to… more than friends.

  On the one hand, Marty was handsome, nice, funny, and he was great with Finn. Not to mention he took to all the weird in my life without even batting an eye. Of course, he was also a professional ghost hunter on the side so the ‘weird’ didn’t really bother him. For his day job, he had a graphic design business.

  On the other hand… well…

  I liked Marty, I did. He was my friend, maybe even my best friend (or that title might have been shared with Wanda, actually). It was just that I’d never really felt anything for him beyond that platonic friendship—sure there had been moments when I might have felt mildly jealous when Fifi expressed interest in him, but that was about it. Otherwise, my relationship with Marty was pretty much just like my friendship with him, plus the physical stuff. And the physical stuff was taking some getting used to. While Marty was definitely keen to do more, I was having a tougher time with it. We’d talked about it and agreed to take things slowly and I was definitely grateful to him for that.

  I didn’t know what my problem was, but I was just struggling with the transition from friends to more. I kept expecting something to spark to life, that excitement, the rush of new love, but it hadn’t happened yet. We’d had sex, of course, but even that had felt somehow… off. I couldn’t really explain it—it was just this overarching feeling of… friendship and not much more.

  The other part was that I was petrified of ruining the friendship we’d built. The idea of messing it all up and losing Marty scared me to death. He’d been my rock since the day I moved to town, and I honestly didn’t know what I’d do without him, or what Finn would do without him. For however close I was to Marty, Finn was just as close. I hoped that no matter what happened between Marty and me, nothing would destroy the bonds of friendship that existed between us.

  The last relationship I’d had, with Roy, hadn’t gone too terribly after we’d broken up, but Roy and I were still a bit awkward around each other. But Roy and I had never been friends like Marty and I were—Roy had let his interest in me be known from the start. Marty had been much more covert about it.

  I gave myself an internal shake, trying to knock the negative thoughts out of my head as Marty gave me one last squeeze and then let go. It was then that I thought I was just being silly. Not every relationship had to be a romance novel, with instant lust and clothes flying. Some were built slowly, more like a fire that would burn for a long time. More ‘cozy’ than ‘raging inferno’. And that was just fine—that was probably exactly what I needed.

  Once Marty walked inside, I closed the door and then took his arm as I led him into the kitchen. I couldn’t wait to show him the book.

  “What’s up, Mr. Finn?” Bailey asked as she walked into the living room.

  Bailey was still dressed for her job at the Spook Society, where she worked as a medium, though she’d slung her suit jacket over one shoulder. Outside of work, Bailey tended to be a yoga pants and T-shirt kind of gal. Sort of like me, only minus the potion stains.

  Potions stains… right, I still needed to change.

  Finn looked up from the couch with a wide grin. “Bailey and Marty!”

  “Hey, buddy!” Marty crossed the room, holding out his fist for Finn to bump before bracing his arms on the back of the couch to peer down at the book that was lying on the cushions. “What have you got there?”

  If Marty was amazed at all when the book flipped over, waggling its bookmark eagerly, he didn’t give even a hint of it. In fact, other than his eyebrows reaching for the ceiling, he didn’t even appear mildly surprised.

  “Isn’t he cool?” Finn stroked along the book’s spine carefully, as though showing Marty how to do it.

  “Super cool,” Marty answered and studied the book as if he were later going to try to draw it from memory. “Where did you get it?”

  “He showed up at Mom’s store tonight,” Finn answered, his tone super excited. “I named him Vellum.”

  “Hey, that’s a pretty fitting name,” Marty answered with a quick nod and then ruffled Finn’s hair with his mitt-sized hand. “How’d you come up with it?”

  Finn nodded in earnest. “I read the word once in a book, and it’s got something to do with paper.”

  I couldn’t stop the soft smile that crept over my face, watching Finn and Marty together. Finn’s whole face was alight as he told Marty the story of how Vellum had appeared on our doorstep and how shocked we’d both been.

  It only then occurred to me that since the book had shown up in our lives, neither of us had been feeling as tired. Finn was certainly more animated now than he’d been in weeks and I could even feel a hop in my step that wasn’t there before. Hmm, interesting.

  “They are too cute together,” Bailey said as she walked over to me and turned to watch Marty and Finn as they laughed with each other. Meanwhile, Vellum bounded between them, red ribbon flapping.

  “So, what’s the deal with the book?” Bailey asked.

  I looked at her and shrugged. “I don’t know. It just showed up outside of the store, and that’s all I know.”

  “Hmm,” Bailey answered as she turned back to face Vellum and her eyebrows furrowed.

  Marty and Finn were busily petting Vellum, which was a very strange sight to see, one made even stranger with the reaction of the book. I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched Finn hold out his hand for Vellum to nudge before giving it a gentle pat on the spine.

  “Maybe once he settles in, he’ll even let you fill up some of those blank pages,” Marty said. “You could write a book about your adventures together.”

  Finn frowned up at him. “Blank pages?”

  Marty nodded. “Yeah, looks like you’ve got a lot of story to write!”

  Finn shook his head. “But the pages aren’t blank. I read the first few…”

  I heard my own gulp as I walked back into the living room and faced my son. “What do you mean?” Just to be sure I wasn’t losing my mind, I glanced down at the book and found the empty pages staring back at me as though they were shrugging. “The pages look blank to me too.”

  Finn shook his head and looked down at Vellum as he leafed through the pages in the center of Vellum’s… belly, I supposed you could call it. “They’re filled with writing,” Finn said as he looked up at us both and Marty frowned at me.

  “What… what do they say?” I asked, swallowing hard as my heartbeat started up. I looked over at Bailey and she just shrugged.

  Finn looked down at the pages again. “Well, they’ve got instructions on how to do magic tricks.”

  “They do?” I didn’t know what else to say.

  Finn nodded hard enough that some of his hair flopped into his eyes. “Yeah, see? Roll over, Vellum.” Then Finn patted his lap like he was encouraging a puppy to jump onto it, and the book flopped over onto its belly again, this time on his lap.

  The pages fanned open, and Finn tapped his finger against them. “This one’s a card trick.”

  Marty leaned closer, a frown creasing his forehead. I stepped forward so I could peer down over the back of the couch to see what Finn was pointing at. The book was lying open, wriggling a little in place as if it were fighting to stay still while Finn paged through it, pointing out this or that passage.

  As far as I could see though, the pages were void of anything, not even lines appearing on them.

  I glanced over to Marty, and he gave his head a little shake, his face unusually serious.

  I was instantly uneasy. The book had seemed harmless, friendly even. But what if that was just a trick, to get people to trust it so it could lure them into whatever insidious plans it might have had? If it was only willing to reveal its secrets to one person, why was that person my son? And what, exactly, were those secrets?

  Suddenly, everything about the book felt sinister, like a dark cloud had just been dropped right into my living room and the book that had previously seemed so… likable for lack of another word, now seemed possibly threatening. Visions of gingerbread cottages with wicked-witch laughter in the background started to fill my mind.

  Marty shook his head. “Sorry, bud. The pages look blank to me.”

  “Are you serious?” Finn’s brows scrunched together. He scooped the book up in his arms, holding it up closer as if that would make a difference. But, no, it didn’t. He was still the only one who could see anything on the pages. “You can’t see any of the writing, but what about the pictures?” he asked.

  “I don’t see anything,” Marty answered.

  Finn turned to face me. “What about you, Mom?”

  I had to curl my fingers into the Afghan draped over the back of the couch to avoid yanking the book out of Finn’s arms. It hadn’t done anything, except let Finn read it, and while that made me uneasy, it wasn’t overtly threatening—at least, I didn’t think it was. Not yet, anyway. “Sorry, sweetie, but it’s blank to me, too.”

  Bailey walked over then, the heels of her shoes loud against the old flooring. She tossed her waterfall of blonde hair back over one shoulder and came to stand near the arm of the couch. “Hi, Finn. Do you mind if I take a look?”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Bailey was one of the strongest mediums in town. She had an affinity for spirits, and for sensing their presence, the equal of which I’d never seen before, well aside from Darla. Thus, if there was something hinky going on with the book ghost-wise, Bailey would be able to sense it in a heartbeat.

  Finn coaxed the happily wiggling book to lie on the couch cushion so Bailey could sit down beside it. She closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath, and then held her hands out just above the embossed leather cover.

  The tick of the old kitchen clock sounded unnaturally loud as we all waited for Bailey to give her declaration regarding whether or not the book was possessed, evil, cursed, whatever. For three glacially slow minutes, Bailey sat unmoving, her fingers twitching occasionally. Finally, when I was going to beg her to stop keeping us in such suspense, she dropped one hand to rest it against the book’s cover. Even though she still had her eyes closed, she smiled as the book wriggled around like a pet, begging for a scratch.

  She let out a breath and leaned back, her eyes opening at last. “I don’t feel anything bad coming from it.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked.

  She nodded as she faced me. “I’m pretty sure that if the book—”

  “Vellum,” Finn corrected her.

  She looked at him and gave him a big, apologetic smile. “If Vellum were possessed, I’d feel it.”

  “But you didn’t feel it?” I asked. She shook her head. “You didn’t feel anything then?” I continued, just to be sure.

  “There’s no ghost anchored to it, or bound up in it, I can say that much confidently.”

  I tugged the sleeves of my shirt down over my hands, and crossed my arms. “So, it must be animated by magic, then?”

  Bailey nodded. “That would be my guess.” She hesitated. “Magic isn’t really my wheelhouse, but I didn’t sense any kind of malicious intent, for whatever that’s worth.”

  I wanted to trust her instinct, I did. Bailey was incredible at what she did, and I knew she’d be extra careful regarding anything potentially dangerous, especially where Finn was concerned. But she’d said it herself; she was a psychic, not a witch. And I couldn’t risk Finn being exposed to dangerous magic, not again. He’d been through enough in the relatively short time we’d been living in Haven Hollow.

  I started flipping through my mental catalogue of potions I had stocked at the house, wondering if any of them might help me determine what exactly was going on with the book and whether or not it was a force of good or bad. There were a few divination oils I could use, even Dream Time Oil, but that worked best on the nights around the full moon and involved sleeping while the anointed candle burned, and I didn’t want to wait that long. Still, there had to be something I could do.

  I glanced over at Marty, who was laughing with Finn as they tickled Vellum and the book rolled this way and that. I knew Marty wouldn’t be upset if I cancelled our date in order to stay home and figure this all out, but I’d still feel guilty asking.

  In the end, I decided to turn to my phone instead of my potion cupboard. This seemed like a case of witch magic, and while Wanda was probably busy with her vampiric boyfriend, doing mostly x-rated things, I was sure (and I was also sure she’d fill me in on all those x-rated things in exacting detail, no matter how much I begged her not to), there were other options.

  If the magic animating the book was witch magic, and I’d bet it was, then Betanya and Olga would be able to do a lot more than I could.

  The phone rang twice before Betanya picked up. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Betanya.” It still felt weird calling her by her first name, but she’d insisted, saying that ‘Ms. Tayir’ sounded stilted and made her feel old. I didn’t point out that she had an adult grandson, and was, in fact, a few centuries my senior. “It’s Poppy Morton.”

  “Poppy, how are you? Is everything alright?” I heard the clink of cutlery being put down, and the low murmur of Henner’s voice in the background. Because Betanya had opted to move into the newly declared Coven House with Olga, in the center of town, I had to imagine they were having Henner over for dinner.

  I bit my lip. I hated to interrupt, especially if Betanya was having dinner with Henner and catching up, but I couldn’t take any risks with Finn’s safety.

  “I was actually hoping I could get your help with something.” As briefly as I could, I told her everything I could about the book, from its appearance at the store, its strange, doglike behavior, to the fact that only Finn seemed to be able to read it, or even see the words on the pages.

  “Well, that does certainly sound interesting,” Betanya said as she whispered to Olga and Henner about what was going on. I could hear the two of them agreeing in the background that the book was definitely something unusual. “We’ll head over just as soon as we finish up here,” Betanya continued.

  “Ya, ve come over soon!” Olga called out.

  “Don’t worry, Poppy. Olga and I will look into it,” Betanya continued. “You can expect us in… let’s say, an hour?”

  I thanked Betanya before hanging up, a little kernel of relief blooming in my chest. Despite all the monsters and mayhem, this was the reason I could never regret moving to Haven Hollow. There was just so much community here, evidenced in the way everyone pulled together to help everyone else. I’d made better friends in the short time I’d been here than I had anywhere else; and these new friends of mine made the scary times way less scary.

  “Okay,” I turned back to the room, slipping my cell phone back into my pocket. “Betanya says she and Olga will be over soon—in about an hour.”

  “Great.” Bailey flashed me a wide smile. “I’ll hold things down here and let them in when they arrive. You and Marty can head out.”

  “Oh.” I chewed my lower lip. “I’m not sure—”

  “Come on, Mom.” Finn sat up on his knees so he could see me easier over the back of the couch. “Everything’s fine. You should go. Vellum’s not going to do anything bad, anyways.” He looked down at the book and rubbed its… tummy. “He’s a good boy, aren’t you, Vellum?”

  The book wagged back at him, and I swallowed hard.

  It didn’t feel right to leave. Not when everything was so uncertain. Finn might trust the book, but what if that was part of its magic? And yet, here Finn was, encouraging me to go and have fun. When was the last time he’d felt comfortable enough without me by his side? It was a good sign. Yes, that was how I needed to look at it.

  Bailey must have seen something of my thoughts on my face. “You should go, Poppy.”

  “I’m just worried,” I started, but Bailey interrupted.

  “Just go have a quick dinner and come right back again, if that makes you feel better. But everything will be fine. I’ll call you if anything interesting happens, and it sounds like Betanya and Olga will be a little while before they arrive anyway, so there’s no point in sitting around here waiting for them.” She gave me a big smile. “Besides, maybe you could bring something back for Finn and me.”

  “Yeah, Mom, can you bring me back some mac and cheese?”

  “And Marty knows what I like,” Bailey added, giving us both a big smile.

  “What do you think?” Marty asked as he looked at me and I could tell he’d been looking forward to our date and still was. I just wished I shared his enthusiasm.

  I took a deep breath and then nodded.

  I still felt uneasy, but the book didn’t seem to be actively, if at all, harmful, and Bailey would be right here, keeping an eye on everything, Finn included. Surely, she’d sense something happening if anything did and she could call in the cavalry just as well as I could. Marty and I would only be an hour or two at the most.

  Yes, everything would be just fine.

  “Okay,” I said, giving in. “Let’s go.”

  Marty’s smile was blinding.

  Chapter Four

  We didn’t go to the usual spot in town, the Half-Moon Bar and Grill.

  Under the circumstances, it seemed a little heartless to go there, considering I’d only recently broken up with Roy, the partial owner. Our breakup was for his benefit, since he was destined to actually be with Fifi, our resident gorgeous succubus. Regardless, I still didn’t think it was a great idea to flaunt my new relationship with Marty in front of Roy, especially when Roy hadn’t taken the breakup very well and he seemed to have a problem with Marty.