Pet Psychic Mysteries Boxset Books 5-8 (Magic Market Mysteries Book 2) by Erin Johnson (simple ebook reader .txt) 📕

Heidi lifted a half-empty vial of pink liquid and downed the rest of it in one shot. She tossed the vial over her shoulder and it clinked to the floor, then rolled around the linoleum until it stopped under one of the chairs.

Will shrugged. “Who cares, sister? We have like a thousand of them, and they’re all worthless.” He grabbed a folded-up newspaper and held it out to me. I reached over and opened The Conch.

The front page read “Potent Potions or Deadly Draughts?” A magically moving photograph of Pearl Litt being hauled off by the police, soaking wet, took up half of it. I skimmed the first few lines, then handed it back to Will.

“You don’t look surprised.”

I shrugged. “Who do you think helped drag her out of the ocean?”

Will chuckled, but Heidi’s eyes grew wide, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth as she hiccupped again. “Wow—hic—way to go, Jolene! We should—hic—celebrate.”

She fished a green vial out of the nearest golden chest and held it up to me. “Ooh. This one’s pretty. Want it?”

I shrugged. “It might turn me into a lizard, but at this point….”

She giggled as she stumbled over and handed it to me. I eyed the swirling green liquid inside. “What’s this one do?”

“Mm.” Heidi pulled a glossy pamphlet out of her pocket and ran a finger with a painted gold nail down the page. “Ah! Says it’s calming.”

I popped the cork off with my thumb. “Beautiful. Cheers.” I downed the liquid. I grimaced—it burned my throat on the way down and warmed my stomach. “Is it supposed to burn?”

“Who knows?” Will threw his head back and cackled, and Heidi, between hiccups, giggled along.

I shook my head at them. “You guys are toasted on potions.”

“Catch up!” Will chucked a vial at me. It flew past, hit the wall behind me and shattered. The potion foamed and burned a divot in the linoleum.

I curled my lip. “Snakes!”

Will slumped lower in his chair. “Sorry.”

I shot him a half-hearted grin. “We spoke with Madeline L’Orange, the reporter, not long before we arrested Pearl Litt. Sorry her exposé hurt your chances of selling this stuff.”

Will barked out a humorless laugh. “We got caught and cleaned, lady. We weren’t going to have a fireball’s chance in the sea.”

Heidi nodded. “Duped.” She let out a wistful sigh. “I’ll probably never move out of my parents’ house. They’ll be doing my laundry and cooking my dinners till I’m eighty.”

Will and I exchanged looks. Didn’t sound so bad.

He rolled his enormous eyes. “Yeah, well I’m a—” He sniffed. “Mature man, shall we say, barely eking out a living, and I just lost what little I had saved on tiny amounts of worthless liquid.”

I slumped into a chair next to Will and leaned my head against his beefy shoulder. “Well, if it makes you two feel any better, Ludolf summoned me again last night.”

Will stiffened.

“And he decided it was cool to test potions on me against my will, so there’s that.” My chest grew tight as I stared, unfocused, at the coffee table littered with vials of potions and old magazines.

Heidi gasped.

“Um.” Will leaned away and grabbed me by the shoulders, searching my face. “Are you serious? That’s messed-up, Jolene.”

I sniffed. “He’s ‘the law,’ so I guess I have no choice.” I shrugged it off, but it felt nice to have friends who could at least sympathize with me.

I sat up straighter. “Here’s the thing I can’t get over—why, though? Get this, he had Emerson, my old boss, in his pocket. Years ago, I was working this case and had a hunch he was behind it all. I got too close to the truth, and he’s the one who cursed me.”

“No.” Heidi slumped into a chair, gaping at me.

I shrugged. “Well, I mean, he had one of his goons give the curse to Eve to use, which definitely threw me off his trail—”

“Hold up.” Will held up a huge palm. “You’re sure about this?”

I nodded. “He told me himself.”

“Holy sea snakes,” he breathed.

I pressed my lips tight and nodded, eyes wide. “Uh-huh—and get this, he told me it was a bonus that he got to test potions on me.” I looked from Will to Heidi. “Why is that a bonus? Why is he testing potions in the first place? He has these three creepy old ladies working full-time as hex makers—to what end?”

Will frowned. “That is weird.”

I nodded. “I’d been right all those years ago—he had that kid I was defending taking the fall for him. Who else has gone down for his crimes? And if he had Emerson in his pocket, a top lawyer in Bijou Mer, who else has he bought?” I raised my brows even higher. “This is big.”

Will looked like he might be ill. He lurched forward, fished two random vials out of the nearest small chest, and uncorked both, downing them together. He scrunched up his face. “Eck!” He shook his head, ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth, then turned to me. “Last time you tried to expose Ludolf, you got cursed, Jolene. I just want you to remember that.”

I nodded. “How can I forget?” Not having magic was a daily hindrance, and not being able to shift was like losing a piece of me. “But it’s different now. He’s not going to stop, and Opal Whittaker, before Pearl killed her, told Peter and me that trying to cure a curse with the wrong potion can cause even worse damage—even be deadly.”

Will groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Heidi’s lower lip quivered. She scooted over the chairs until she sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “You’re in danger.”

I nodded. “I mean, what’s new, but—yeah. Worse danger, that’s for sure.”

“How can we help?”

I gave Heidi a sad grin and squeezed her hand. “Thanks, friend. I’m not sure. I think I need to look into Ludolf more—see what I can learn and go from there. Hope I live