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

perfect for the sacrifice ritual. Urgh. It still felt weird to be talking about my real mom. She was such a foreign concept to me; someone I had never met and had no memory of. She was real, she had lived on this very island, but then something had happened, and she’d left here and given me away.

A sudden burst of music blasted out from behind sofa and caused us both to flinch. Walter, more prepared than me, leapt onto his feet and turned to face the sound. He had his hands raised as if he were preparing to engage in a fist fight.

“Show yourself!” Walter yelled. I stood up too, wondering what my move would be if someone rushed at us. I knew I had magic, but I wasn’t skilled with it yet. Walter would have to defend both of us. Why hadn’t I let Ryder know where I was going?

There was a radio on the nightstand beside the bed, nestled among piles of notebooks. A silver figure emerged in the dark corner of the room and stepped forward into the light. I recognized him instantly as Jake. His ghost was here.

Walter lowered his arms into a neutral position, but I remained tense.

“Do you hear this?” Jake asked. “I can’t believe it.”

He pointed to the radio and I glanced quickly at the wall clock. It was time for Kate’s show at The Trident, this was an entry for Battle of the Bands. The voice was familiar.

“Don’t think that I’ll forget, that binding choice you will regret, I’ll do whatever it takes because I know what’s at stake,” the band sang.

“I wrote that for her, I wrote everything for her!” Jake sobbed. “You look just like her you know.” He was staring right at me now and I realized that the words the band were singing were lines from one of the love letters Jake had written. It was Max’s voice. I gasped as I put two and two together. Max had stolen Jake’s words for his own song.

“Exactly,” Jake sighed. “But it’s going to get worse. They are back at that clearing on the hill and we have to stop them before they kill again.”

What on earth was going on?

16

Jake announcing that the band were back up on the hill made everything feel even more real. Not only had Max and his buddies set up the clearing with the intention of carrying out some dark magic ritual, it seemed that they were trying to do more.

The radio continued to play as I desperately tried to form a plan in my mind. Kate’s voice began speaking as the song trailed off. “And as you know, I hate that song. But thanks to many faithful listeners calling in to request it every twenty minutes, I’ve been forced by the owner of the station to play it again. Are you happy now?” she barked.

“What do we do?” I asked. Jake looked back at Walter for an answer, but Walter was looking at me with a blank expression. He shrugged apologetically.

“I don’t really know what’s going on, what clearing is he talking about?” Walter asked.

“Oh yeah, I forget that you weren’t here. Didn’t Greta fill you in?” I said.

“She was just here for a few minutes, but I haven’t spoken to her in days,” he replied.

“Some humans are trying their hand at dark magic to propel their music into the mainstream so that they can get famous. It sounds ridiculous, I appreciate that, but that’s what’s happening. They had Effie’s book and—”

“The black one with the gold on the front?” Walter asked. I nodded. “That’s all I needed to know. Come on.”

“Wait, you want to go up there with just the two of us?” I said. This felt like a situation where Kate and Effie would be needed. I didn’t actually know if they were good with their magic or if they would be able to make any difference to our attempts to stop the ritual, but they seemed confident enough.

“No, we should take your guardian,” he replied.

I paused. It would have to be Ryder. I wasn’t sure how to contact him if he wasn’t in the store, and it would be crazy for a hiking place to be open at this time of night. But the time didn’t seem to be stopping any other business on the high street, so maybe there was a chance.

Walter and I thundered down the stairs into The Guitar Yard, raced toward the door and faced down the street towards ‘Opt Out’, Ryder’s workplace. Even from a distance I could see that the lights were on.

“This way,” I instructed, my feet pounding on the sidewalk as we hurried. It was only a hundred yards or so but mixed with the adrenaline rush that was flooding my system I was rendered almost breathless. Ryder was hanging crampons on the wall when we entered, and I could see the concern in his eyes when he saw us.

“Sadie?” he said. “Wha- what’s happening?”

“We need to get back up to that clearing, right now,” I wheezed, clutching my side as a stitch kicked in. “Can you get us there? I don’t know if I can do it in the dark.”

“We need you, you are her guardian,” Walter interjected. “If she comes to any harm then you will be living with it for the rest of your life, trust me.”

Ryder recognized Walter. Greta had toyed with hiking in the interests of spending more time with Ryder, hoping that enough exposure to her would cause him to fall in love. It didn’t go down that way, but she must have mentioned him to her dad. They locked eyes for a moment, almost as if sharing a private conversation.

“Let me get my crossbow,” Ryder announced.

“Oh, hold on!” I protested. “That sounds like a bad idea, we don’t need to be shooting anybody with arrows and—” He had disappeared into a back space of the building and quickly re-emerged with the weapon. I