“Rodent on the loose!” Lorcan called out. “Where are the rat traps when you need them?”

  “It’s not a rodent!” I answered as I ran in the direction of the little cretin. “It’s someone’s familiar.”

  “Quite a vile familiar,” Lorcan answered, scrunching up his face in distaste. “Though I suppose he’s better than a skunk.”

  “I could do without your commentary,” I reprimanded him. “How about you try to catch the thing?”

  “Ugh,” he grumbled.

  When the raccoon reached the rack, it skidded sideways to make its escape. It slipped on the edge of the clothing rack, though, and lost its balance. Then it tumbled head over heels before it got its feet under it again.

  Looking like a shooting star, Lorcan streaked across the store. He whizzed between the raccoon and its escape route just as the raccoon plunged towards the door and barreled straight into Lorcan’s arms.

  I don’t know who screamed louder—the raccoon or Lorcan. Regardless, Lorcan had the dastardly thing in his grip, even as it kicked and thrashed and hissed, but Lorcan had it overpowered. He held it between his outstretched arms and wore his distaste on his face.

  “What should we do with it?” he asked.

  Meanwhile, the thing tried to break free of his iron grip, shifting and moving this way and that as it made a whole litany of horrible noises.

  I narrowed my eyes at the animal—but it wasn’t just any animal. I’d been correct—this creature was a magical familiar. I could tell by its keen eyes. There was intelligence there and magic. I could feel the magic bouncing off its fur, but I wasn’t surprised to find I didn’t recognize the magical signature of whoever it belonged to.

  “Tell me who you serve,” I addressed the thing.

  It didn’t respond.

  “Don’t make me bewitch you into telling the truth… or, better yet, I could feed you to the vampire.”

  Lorcan revealed his fangs to the creature and the raccoon squealed in response as it tried to twist in Lorcan’s arms again. Then it attempted to bite him, but Lorcan wrapped his strong fingers around it and held it even further at arm’s length, which only upset the creature more.

  “Who are you and why have you been breaking into my store?” I demanded. “Who sent you?”

  The thing let out ear-piercing shrieks and looked like it had no inclination to answer. It gnashed its teeth and its fur stuck out all over its body, looking like it’d just shoved its clawed little finger into an electrical outlet.

  I took a deep breath and paused before asking, “What’s your name?”

  The creature went into an even more frantic struggle to get free. It rolled its eyes in all directions and its squeaks rose to a din.

  “May I propose something?” Lorcan suggested.

  “What?”

  “I do not believe the rodent speaks English,” he answered.

  I frowned at him. “And what makes you think that?”

  He nodded toward the newest scratches on the floor. “Look.”

  I followed the direction of his gaze. The raccoon had scratched the same curlicue patterns as before, but this time, the creature had formed what potentially looked like letters… or maybe they were pictograms or… drawings of snakes.

  “What does it say?” I demanded. “I can’t understand it.”

  “It says Helfen Sie mir,” Lorcan breathed.

  “Is that its name?”

  “Nein,” Lorcan answered with a laugh. “It’s German. It means, Help me.”

  I looked up to meet Lorcan’s eyes as understanding finally began to dawn on me. German...

  I turned my attention to the raccoon again as I gathered my resolve to try to communicate with it one more time. I extended my hands and closed my eyes as I felt my magic brewing at the tips of my fingers.

  “May our words reveal more than language obscures!” I yelled the spell and threw the enchantment at the creature. The magic surrounded its furry body, looking like it was captured by a glittering cloud.

  The animal kept contorting and shrieking in the worst possible way. It looked at me like I was the Devil Incarnate until I spoke to it again, saying, “Do you understand me now?”

  And then it calmed down, simply looking at me dumbfounded.

  “Ah, perhaps it does understand English… at least now,” Lorcan said, cocking his head to the side as he speared me with a candid smile. I frowned at him, before returning my attention to the raccoon.

  “No one will harm you,” I started. “Please tell me your name and… you belong to Olga Fischer, don’t you?”

  The creature squealed again and started fighting Lorcan’s impossible grip. “One question at a time, I think, dear,” he murmured.

  This was getting ridiculous. I frowned at the creature and plopped my hands on my hips. “What is your name?”

  The raccoon stopped fighting Lorcan, most probably because it realized doing so was pointless. It huffed out a big breath and then drooped in Lorcan’s hands.

  “Franz,” it finally said. Its accent was distinctly German and its voice was tinny and high.

  “All right, Franz. You came from Olga Fischer, didn’t you?”

  “Ya, ya!” it responded, sounding like it was getting worked up all over again.

  “You’re her familiar?”

  “Ya!” Franz said again, sounding irritated in his high-pitched buzzing voice. “I be Olga familiar!”

  “Hmm, well its English isn’t very good, is it?” Lorcan asked.

  I looked at him and shook my head, before turning to face the raccoon again.

  “What are you doing here, in my store, Franz?”

  “Olga need help,” he answered.

  “Olga needs help, why?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at the creature because this could all be a load of crap designed to get my attention off the fact that the little bastard had broken into my shop repeatedly.

  “Olga ist captured! She locked up in zee mountainz!”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Who locked her up?”

  “Zelestine!” the creature blurted. “She bad vitch.”

  The small hairs stood up on the back of my neck. Why would Mother lock Olga up when Tabitha said Mother had been searching for her? Hmm… unless Mother didn’t want Tabitha to know she had Olga locked up…

  “Why did Mother lock Olga up?”

  “Olga vant to leave zee coven. Zelestine fery angry. She fery bad vitch. She curse Olga. Lock her in zee mountainz.”

  Lorcan winced, as if the thing’s ability at forming sentences was causing him physical pain.

  “In the mountains!” I repeated, shaking my head because this whole thing sounded preposterous.

  “Ya! In zee mountainz!”

  “Where? What mountains?” I demanded.

  “Zee Conifer Houze—houze in zee mountainz,” the creature explained.

  The Conifer House was Mother’s retreat cabin in the Blue Shadow Hills, maybe an hour or so outside of Haven Hollow. I looked at Lorcan. “He might be telling the truth because The Conifer Cabin is Mother’s.”

  Franz nodded. “Ya-ya!”

  I faced him again. “So, what are you doing in my store and how did you get in?”

  “Olga zend me to curze clozing for Zelestine.”

  “Charming,” Lorcan muttered.

  “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” I demanded.

  Franz reached out one of his paws and touched my hand. Whereas before I couldn’t detect the imprint of his magical signature, owing to the fact that it was Olga’s, now I could detect another imprint, one that had been hidden before… Mother’s magical imprint. I felt my mouth drop open as shock raged within me and Franz dropped his hand again. “He carries Mother’s magical signature.”

  “What does that mean?” Lorcan asked.

  I faced Franz again. “It means he’s telling the truth. Mother gave him her signature so he’d be able to get into my store.” I swallowed hard as the realization rang through me. Mother’s magical imprint was the only thing that had allowed Franz entrance—because the wards and hexes recognized the magic within me, magic that had been passed down from her. Thus, her magical signature was nearly identical to mine. And when I’d set my wards and hexes, I’d warded out those who didn’t bear the same magical imprint as my own, figuring I’d never have to ward the place against those of my own lineage. How stupid I’d been. How very stupid!

  I looked at Franz again. “Then I imagine Mother forced Olga, who was a teacher of potions, to create the curses on my items? And Mother sent you to deliver those curses because Olga was trapped in the cabin in the Blue Shadow woods?”

  Franz nodded repeatedly. “Ya-ya!”

  “Then it was Mother all along,” I said, sounding as shocked and mortified as I felt. All this time, I’d never thought Mother would stoop so low. I’d never thought she’d go this far to prove herself right and me wrong. I never thought she’d go to every length to try and destroy my life. And yet… she had.

  “So Olga was never missing from The School, was she?”

  “Nein,” Franz answered.

  “Right. Mother just made that story up because she pulled Olga from her banishment in order to force her into making potions to curse me.” I looked at Lorcan as the story started to make sense. “Mother didn’t want me to know she was the one who was responsible for the cursed items, and she knew I would’ve recognized her magical signature. But, she knew I wouldn’t know Olga’s signature since Olga had been banished the entire time I was alive. Not only that, but because Olga hails from a German coven, I would never have been able to detect Olga’s lineage through her magic either.” I took a deep breath. “That’s why Mother kidnapped Olga.”

  “Ya-ya!” Franz said, grabbing my attention again.

  I snorted as heat began to burn within me, but the anger was slow to ignite because I was still in a state of disbelief. As much as I’d alienated Mother by refusing her ‘help’, I’d never thought she’d resort to this. No matter how hard I tried to move past it, the shock kept holding me prisoner.

  “Mother really has outdone herself this time,” I sighed. Then something else occurred to me. “Olga brewed the potions you used to curse my objects, but how were you able to actually curse the items?”

  Franz paused for a moment and then reached out to touch me again. As soon as his fingers touched mine, I could suddenly see an image of the front of my store dropping before my eyes as the here and now faded into the background. In the vision, I watched as one of my customers, who had visited in the last week or so, walked out of my store. As she did so, Franz suddenly appeared directly behind her, only through the vision I understood that he’d been invisible to the customer, courtesy of Olga’s magic. As I watched, Franz emptied a vial of something onto the customer’s bag and then the vision faded and I found myself facing the inside of my dark store yet again.

  “You cursed the items as soon as the customers left my store and through Olga’s magic, you were able to remain invisible,” I said as Franz nodded. “So… if you cursed the items after the customers left my store, why did Mother give you access into the store in the first place? And why did you continue to scratch up my floors?”

  “Zelestine vant me to steal your money and your items from zee store,” Franz answered.

  “She wanted you to steal the cash as well as the clothing items in order to make me give up on the shop and Haven Hollow,” I said, more to myself than Franz. He nodded. “So, why didn’t you?”

  “I need you to help me zo I not steal from you.”

  “Instead, the little bloke tried to leave you messages on your floor, but apparently, he can’t write especially well,” Lorcan finished. “Which is why we couldn’t understand what his messages were trying to say.”

  “Ya!” Then Franz turned from Lorcan to me again. “You help me!” he shrilled, getting all worked up again. “You help Olga!”

  I frowned. “And why would I help you after everything you’ve done to ruin me?”

  The raccoon immediately shook its head. “Nein! I not intend to curse zee objectz! Not mean you any harm. Franz no steal from Vanda.” The raccoon started moving his rotund little body, his eyes wide. “We only do vat Zelestine force us to do! Ve have no choize.”

  “I think we should help the little chap, Wanda,” Lorcan interjected. “After all, Olga did all this at your mother’s behest.”

  “Hmm,” I mumbled as I faced Franz again.

  “I try to give you mezzage. I try to tell you ve need your help. You not understand.”

  I sighed, long and hard.

  “You see?” Lorcan continued. “He tried to give you message, but you not understand.”

  I frowned at him, not appreciating his attempt at humor. “This whole situation is so irritating,” I said, shaking my head as I looked up at the ceiling and tried to count to ten—it was something Poppy told me to do to keep my temper under control. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t working.

  “If Olga is your mother’s prisoner and this portly little creature went to such lengths to enlist your help, I don’t see what choice we have other than to help them both,” Lorcan continued. “not to mention… he didn’t steal from you, even when your mother ordered him to do exactly that.”

  I looked at Lorcan and frowned. “Since when did you decide to become Super Vampire?”

  He chuckled. “I try to do the right thing when I can, my dear.” He was quiet for a moment. “Although I must admit, I quite like the title ‘Super Vampire’. Perhaps we can have it printed on t-shirts and sell it at your…

  “No, we can’t,” I interrupted.

  He laughed again. “And as to Olga?”

  “Zelestine say she free Olga once Vanda return to zee coven.”

  I turned to face Lorcan, translating though I wasn’t sure I needed to. “Apparently Mother won’t free Olga unless I return to the coven.”

  “Then your mother wants you to join the coven again?” Lorcan asked and understandably appeared confused because I’d been kicked out of the coven, owing to the fact that I was a Blood Witch.

  I shook my head. “No, Mother will never allow me back into the coven as long as I’m a Blood Witch. All Franz means is that Mother still wants me under her thumb so she can control me. Being the head witch of the coven and not having control over her daughter doesn’t look good. And everything Mother does, every decision she makes and every action she takes, is strategic.” I took a deep breath. “But where returning to Mother and the coven is concerned, I simply won’t.” I meant those words with all my heart and soul. “I’m finished with Mother from this point forward.” I looked at Lorcan. “You can let him go now.”

  He set the raccoon on the floor. Franz cast a hasty glance up at me and shook out his fur, but he didn’t run away. “You help Franz and Olga, ya?”

  Lorcan looked at me, a question in his eyes.

  I exhaled a big breath and nodded. “We’ll help you.”

  “Zank you,” Franz said and if it was possible for a raccoon to smile, he did.

  “What’s all this ‘we’ stuff about?” Lorcan asked.

  Chapter Twenty

  I checked the store one more time, noticing how empty it felt. Lorcan and Franz had left over an hour ago and I’d just stayed here, unable to leave, but unable to do much else. All I could do was think.

  And all my thoughts centered around Mother.

  She’d interfered in my life for the last time. This most recent stunt went beyond simple trickery. She’d tried to completely obliterate my reputation and she’d succeeded—trying to rebuild Wanda’s Witchery was going to be no easy feat. But, I wouldn’t give up. No, now I was too angry to give up. Too determined to give up. Because Mother’s interfering hadn’t just nearly cost me my livelihood—in trying to make me incapable of supporting myself, she’d threatened Astrid, too.

  And that was one step too far.

  Before Franz had left, he’d shed light on one other subject that had been perplexing me—that being what Gail Montgomery, Ronda’s mother, had to do with this whole subject. Apparently, Gail had owed Mother a favor. Once Mother realized Gail knew Gemma, and realized Gemma was the fashion editor at a popular magazine who might be interested in writing an article about Wanda’s Witchery, Mother decided to phone that favor in. The plan was for Gail to encourage Gemma to purchase her dress from my store, all the while Mother and Gail plotted to sabotage the wedding in exactly the way in which it had been sabotaged—with Olga’s potions.

  At Mother’s behest, after Gail convinced Gemma to purchase her dress from me, Gail also convinced Gemma to write a piece for the magazine about her enchanted dress and Wanda’s Witchery, in general. All the while, Mother and Gail knew Gemma would write a scathing article about me after her wedding was destroyed by my apparent curses.

  And the day when Gail had come in pretending to be Gemma in order to pick up Gemma’s dress, I’d basically given her free reign to douse the dress in whatever curses Olga had whipped up. The only reason I hadn’t seen Gail when I’d reverse tracked the cursed dress was because I’d asked to see the person responsible for cursing the dress and that person had been Olga. Because Mother’s wards were protecting Olga and obscuring her in the cabin, I hadn’t been able to see Olga, only Franz. As Olga’s familiar, though, Franz still bore her magical signature, which was the only reason I’d seen him at all.

  And all those questions Gail had asked me about ‘Ronda’s mother being something seemingly supernatural’ when she’d pretended to be Gemma? She was simply attempting to glean whether or not I was onto her—whether or not I’d detected the part she was playing in Mother’s betrayal.

  The last part that Gail had to play in this divisive scheme was ensuring I attended the wedding. Mother’s goal here was to make sure I saw everything fall apart, in the hopes I’d close up shop and give up right then and there. But, when I hadn’t given up, Mother had gotten creative and decided to send Franz to start cursing other items as they left the store.