Crescent Calling: The Crescent Witch Chronicles - Book One by R Nicole (essential reading TXT) 📗

met his, surprised at the accuracy of his declaration. It was like he could read my mind or my emotions or whatever. Either that or I was transparent as hell. My heart was stapled to my sleeve, or whatever the saying was.

“That seems rather farfetched,” I said, making a face. “You’ve known me for five minutes. Are you sure you want to invite me into the clubhouse?”

Boone laughed, his roguish smile making my heart flutter.

“Of course,” he said. “McKinney blood runs in your veins. You’ll always be a part of Derrydun, no matter where you are.”

As we sat there on the fence overlooking the village, I couldn’t help the feeling of hope that tugged at my heartstrings. It would be nice to belong somewhere even if it was only for a moment.

Chapter 6

That night, the tabby cat came back, and by the time I’d woken the next morning, he’d disappeared again.

This went on for a few more days, and each time, I would search the house to find the spot where the little Houdini had wriggled out of but never found a crack big enough for a cat to shimmy through.

As for the cottage, I slept in the main bedroom, but I never ventured further, let alone opened the silver box on the nightstand again. I needed to make a choice, and knowing Aileen wouldn’t make it any easier, so I decided not to know her at all. It would be easier that way.

I spent another few days in Derrydun, sitting in Irish Moon with Mairead and getting to know the lay of the land before I made my decision. The longer I stayed, the further away I floated from the life I knew. The familiar was blurring, and nothing felt like home anymore.

I thought about Boone and his scruffy handsomeness and Yodaesque philosophy on life. I thought about Mairead and Maggie, the two unlikely friends I’d made since being here. Then I thought about Robert O’Keeffe, the lawyer, and his dry sense of humor. He seemed to have disappeared after the funeral, and I wondered where he’d scurried off to. He probably had another orphan to deliver an inheritance to.

I thought about everything that had happened since I’d arrived, and it wasn’t enough.

I woke up on the morning of my seventh day in Derrydun and decided I was going to sell.

When I arrived at Irish Moon, Mairead was waiting for me outside like she did every morning. Rattling the keys, I picked the right one and shoved it into the lock. Twisting, I heard the mechanism click, and I shoved inward, but the door didn’t budge. Trying again, I swore under my breath. I didn’t need this today.

“Stupid door,” I cursed, kicking the doorjamb.

“That’s never happened before,” Mairead said, looking just as puzzled as I felt. “Let me try.”

Taking the keys from me, she rattled them in the lock and pushed inward, but the door was stuck fast.

“Don’t push too hard, or the glass will break,” I said, watching over her.

“I know. I’m tryin’.”

Elbowing her out of the way, I grabbed the door handle, turned the key, and shook. “Open,” I commanded. “I said open!”

Abruptly, the door swung inward and crashed against the wall with a bang. Luckily, the glass didn’t break, but Mairead and I stood there for a full minute with our mouths hanging open.

“Well, that solves that then,” I declared, dusting my hands. Mairead just stood there, so I added, “C’mon. Get inside.”

Mairead went in and started turning on all the lights on her way to the storeroom at the back where she usually dumped her bag. The displays full of crystals began to shimmer and sparkle, and the stand of Irish themed wind chimes rattled musically as the outside breeze came in with us.

Closing the door, the bell rattled, and I rounded the front counter.

“I’m going to sell the business. Just so you know,” I said, retrieving the laptop from the shelf under the till.

“No! You can’t!” the girl exclaimed, emerging from behind the bookshelf.

“I’m sorry, but I have to.” I thought about rattling off all the reasons I’d used to convince myself last night but shook my head. I didn’t need to explain myself.

Mairead pouted and turned her back on me. Ignoring her, I fired up the laptop. I knew she was counting on the extra money, but I couldn’t put my life on hold so I could do a girl, who I didn’t really know, a solid.

Connecting to the shop’s Wi-Fi, I opened a browser, typed in a search term into Google, and waited for the results to come up. The arrow turned into a colored wheel and started spinning as the laptop began to think a little too hard. There was a reason people had dubbed it the spinning wheel of death. Moving my finger over the trackpad and clicking, I knew the whole thing had frozen. Seriously?

Holding down the power button, I restarted the laptop and tried again, but the same thing happened. Kaput the moment I fired up a web browser.

“It keeps freezing!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air. “How am I supposed to get anything done with this piece of rubbish?”

“It’s a brand-new laptop. Aileen got it six months ago.” Mairead glanced over the display of tumbled stones and made a face. “So it’s an omen.”

“An omen for what?”

“That you should keep the shop,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Duh.”

“I don’t want to keep the shop,” I declared. “This isn’t the life I signed up for!”

“First, the door got stuck, and now your laptop won’t work,” the Goth girl went on, lifting a cardboard box from where it was hidden underneath the display. Opening the top, she began filling up the citrine, mixing the older stones with the new. “It’s a sign.”

“Don’t signs come in threes?” I asked with a pout.

Mairead shrugged. “Who knows?”

Ignoring her, I turned my attention back to the laptop, which had restarted. Waiting for it to connect to the shop’s Wi-Fi, I