Spells Trouble by Kristin Cast (mystery books to read .txt) 📕

mind, Mercy popped up off the couch the second her twin pushed open the door. “We’re doing a spell? To talk to Mom? To see her?”

For a moment, Mercy was herself again. But it faded as quickly as it came. She knew just as well as Hunter that the magic needed to lift the veil was its own form of evil.

The quarterback shoved past Jax and Emily into the house. “What’d I tell ya? My girl and I are on the same page.”

Mercy dropped the tassel-rimmed pillow and stepped forward. “Kirk, what are you—”

“Hey, numb nuts,” Emily began before squeezing past Hunter and extinguishing another pink bubble. “Hunter already said that’s not what we’re doing.”

Hunter stepped aside as Jax entered and held up the jars of moon water and gave each a little shake. “We are doing a spell, though.”

Kirk’s long legs quickly carried him to Mercy’s side. “Dude.” He draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him. “Hunter said not to make a big deal about it.”

Hunter carried her cauldron to the middle of the room and set it on the floor. “Yes, Mag, we’re doing a spell.” She rubbed the bumpy moonstone outlines in her pocket. “All five of us. To help you.”

Emily hooked her arm around Hunter’s. “Because we love you.”

Jax set the jars down next to the cauldron and twined his calloused fingers around his best friend’s. “And care about you.”

Kirk kissed the top of Mercy’s head. “And want you to be okay,” he said and buried his cheek in her dark waves.

Mercy chewed her lip in that dramatic way she did when she wanted to impulsively shout yes but instead added a few moments of silence for effect. Even in the clutches of grief Mercy knew how to command an audience. “I’ll do it.”

The moonstones vibrated in Hunter’s pocket. They’d heard the promise of a spell, sensed Hunter’s energy and the fuel from the rising moon, and were ready to get to work. Hunter dug them out and motioned for her sister and friends to gather around the cauldron.

“Mag, you’re next to me. The rest of you will sit here, here, and here.” She pointed to the floor in three specific areas that surrounded the copper bowl. She used her free hand to gather the jars of moon water as Jax claimed the remaining spot next to her and Emily shuffled to the open space between Jax and Kirk. If Hunter ever got a girlfriend, she hoped Jax wouldn’t be as sullen about it as Emily was about Kirk. Although, none of them, Mercy excluded, were completely convinced that Kirk wasn’t a cloudy bag of old douche. But none of that really mattered. If Hunter was being honest, there was zero reason for her to think that she’d have a girlfriend any time before graduation. At Goodeville High, if anyone else’s sexuality landed outside of the hetero portion of the spectrum, Hunter and company definitely didn’t know about it.

The moonstones thrummed and sizzled against Hunter’s palms as she cupped them and held her hands over the empty cauldron. “Pick whichever stone calls to you.”

Jax, Emily, and Kirk blinked at one another before each shrugged and nodded like they shared a hive mind.

Emily tucked a stray curl behind her ear, leaned forward, and plucked a stone from the pile. “Whoa. It’s warm, like, really warm.”

Jax went next. He wrapped his fingers around the pearlescent orb and smiled. “It’s magic. Real magic.”

Kirk’s eyes widened as he picked up a stone and inspected it. “Have you ever seen Sabrina?”

Hunter ignored him as Mercy carefully stared at the final two stones. “I can’t feel anything, H. I’m all blocked.”

Hunter chose for her sister, handing her a lovely pink-tinted moonstone that was the smallest of the bunch. “You’ll be good as new after this.”

Jax rolled the charged rock between his palms. “What exactly is this?”

Mercy clutched the little stone against her chest and cocked her head. “You’re going to scry, aren’t you?”

Hunter didn’t want to share with the group. What if she failed? It was quite possible she’d bitten off way more than she could chew, and they’d all end up holding warm and aggravated moonstones while staring at a basin of room temperature water. No, she wouldn’t tell. She’d pull a Mercy and leave it up to her friends’ imaginations.

The wood floor made a hollow clank as Kirk set his rock in front of him. “Scry? Is that what it’s called when you take out an emotion, kill it, and bury it in a hole?”

Emily sucked the air from a bubble and placed her stone on the back of her hand. She spoke as she balanced the moonstone and studied her perfectly manicured nails. “It’s the act of using a crystal ball or something reflective, in this case I’m assuming it’s the jars of water, to see, like, the future and stuff.”

Hunter clenched her teeth to keep her mouth from flopping open. Emily was right. Unfortunately, Hunter wasn’t gifted enough to see into the future (at least, she wasn’t gifted enough yet), but she could perform small spells—or, in this case, a medium-sized one.

The stone rolled off Emily’s outstretched hand and she caught it before looking up. “Gawk much?” She fisted the moonstone and crossed her arms over her chest. “What? The pretty girl can’t also know things?” She cocked her head and squinted at Kirk. “Try reading a book instead of streaming. There’s no way H would remove an entire emotion from Mag. That’s insane.”

Hunter opened her mouth to agree, but Mercy’s sniffle pulled her back to what mattered most. “We should begin.” Hunter set her stone in her lap and picked up the first jumbo-sized Mason jar and unscrewed the lid. “So, I’m going to say a few things while I pour the water.” Her mouth went dry as she spoke and she dragged her tongue across her lips. She didn’t have a script or any words prepared or a book to quote. She’d