Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (books to read fiction .txt) 📕

I’d always known that I was adopted. As far as I knew my only family was the woman that raised me, so when she died I figured I was alone in the world. I now knew that wasn’t true. The previous owner of the café had been my cousin, Greta. She had been murdered and I had inherited her witch powers and her responsibilities. It was still a lot to wrap my head around.

“Are you in ‘the biz’, Kate?” I asked.

“Why yes, yes I am,” she smiled. “I host—”

“She hosts a show in the middle of the night. Her audience is mostly insomniacs and pets that can’t switch off the radio if their owners leave it on by mistake,” Effie teased.

“The point is, yes I work for the radio,” Kate added. “It’s actually a ton of fun and it’s a welcome break from serving pizza to people on the high street.”

Kate worked at ‘Pete’s Za’, and Effie worked with me at ‘The Sand Witch’. They were my unofficial guides into the world of witchcraft. My dead cousin, Greta, was filling in the blanks as she was haunting my new house. I could see ghosts too, it was weird.

“Do you get to meet celebrities?” I asked. Effie began laughing as she picked up a mop to clean the floor.

Her hair was lavender on one half of her head and pink on the other. The color of her bangs changed just above her nose. Both her and Kate had such interesting hair, I wondered how long it would be until I felt brave enough to add a pop of color to my locks.

“Not exactly,” Kate mumbled.

“Kate, take her with you,” Effie hollered from the far side of the café. “Show Sadie around the station and let her push a few buttons. The peacekeeper should know about every part of the island, right?”

I was still getting used to that title. Peacekeeper. That was me, the peacekeeper witch of Hallow Haven. Before me, the role had been filled by Greta. Hallow Haven wasn’t just one island, it was a group of them and each one had its own unique history.

Rivalries were deeply entrenched between the families here, the main island acted as neutral ground, but the smaller islands were occupied by territorial witches and humans. It was my job to keep the peace, make sure treaties were adhered to and diplomatically oversee the activities here.

There were police here of course, it wasn’t a lawless place. The problem was that many of the islanders wanted to be governed by a witch, not the human police. It seemed that I was from a family that had both witches and humans in it; my family tree acted as my credentials for the job.

I had seen a couple of the islands and met a few of the witch families, but I still knew so little about my own heritage. This was a learning curve that was shooting straight to the sky.

“Are you up for that?” Kate asked.

“Sure, do you need me here?” I asked Effie.

“I could have my magic clean this place like that,” Effie replied, clicking her fingers. “But sometimes I like to zone out and do it all manually. It gives me longer to chat to you two, as if I don’t see enough of my sister already. You guys go, I’ll lock up.”

“Thanks, Eff,” I said. I took another stack of plates through to the kitchen and loaded them into the dishwasher before following Kate through the door of the café.

The Sand Witch was the best beach café around, and also the only one. It was built right on the sand and had a steady stream of customers lining up every morning. Even in the short time I had been here, I was starting to recognize people and remembering their breakfast orders.

My arrival had also proved to be a selling point, Effie told me that the sales had increased since I got here as people were dropping in to see what the new peacekeeper was like.

The night air was warm and humid. The sun had set over an hour ago, leaving the beach to be lit up by the stars above us and the faint glow of activity from the high street.

“Are you and Miller official yet?” Kate asked.

“Official?” I said, blushing slightly. “I don’t know… it’s complicated.”

“Complicated? How is it complicated? The hot sheriff is besotted with you and he is obviously a total smoke show. You are the envy of every woman on the island,” Kate smirked.

“Kate! He’s your cousin!”

“Second-cousin!” she corrected. “That doesn’t mean I can’t see that he is the closest thing we have to Ryan Gosling. My eyes still work, Sadie. Come on,” she laughed.

“He’s cute, obviously,” I smiled. “He has a lot going on right now, we haven’t hung out much recently. I haven’t seen him for a few days actually.”

“He’s probably writing you a love song,” Kate said, matter-of-factly.

“What?” I scoffed.

“The station is this way; I’ll explain when we get there. My show is a special one tonight.” We walked down an alley off the main street in town, turning again and again until we reached a wooden door under a rusty streetlamp.

“This looks like the opening scene of a horror movie,” I said, looking anxiously over my shoulder to see if we were followed. Kate knocked three times, then paused, before knocking twice more.

“Secret knock,” she winked. The door swung open and we stepped inside. “What’s up Scott? How’s the leg? Annie! Looking good tonight girl!”

Kate was waving and high fiving people as we walked along a corridor. Everyone seemed thrilled to see her, then they spotted me. They all looked stunned and began whispering among themselves.

“Come on guys, she puts her pants on one cloven hoof at a time, just like everybody else,” Kate teased. The others laughed and then went back to whatever they had been doing before we walked in. “Let me show you something.”

We walked into